Although Gerard's lovelife was blossoming like never before, which was seriously so unreal that Mikey was starting to believe that they'd sold their soul to the devil for this to somehow work out, but in the case of Mikey Way, things couldn't be more different.

He had still fucked up with Pete, and things were still awkward between the two of them as Mikey continued to struggle to figure out just what this had meant and just what he wanted it to be, because if there had never been anything in the first place, perhaps he would have been complacent with the nothingness and dull heartache of loneliness and fucking the odd girl every month or so, but with this... no, not anymore.

It had happened and Pete had made it something- well, Mikey had made it the kind of something that was destroying him: Pete had just done something, even if that something was getting drunk and kissing him, but Mikey had really made it something, and that was something to cry and scream about in silence as he watched from his bedroom window as Frank made his way down the driveway again: another date with Gerard or something - Mikey didn't particularly want the details, and he most definitely didn't want to be here when they were fucking with no concern for just how loud they were being.

But Mikey just hadn't got Pete to run to and laugh it off with whilst getting drunk anymore: that was all weird and it was different, and Mikey didn't like it at all, and he wanted out - he wanted quits but the game had already begun and he was forced to stick it out until the end.

Mikey sighed out, hearing Gerard and Frank greet each other downstairs and groaning internally, because fuck, he'd rather go and fuck everything up with Pete than force himself to witness this- and you know what? Maybe he fucking would.

Perhaps there was just no better motivation than the fear of hearing Gerard having sex with their boyfriend. Whatever, Mikey didn't care all that much for the specifics of it, as long as it got him pulling on the nearest hoodie he found as he grabbed his cellphone and made his way downstairs, grabbing the attention of Gerard and Frank as he reached the foot of the stairs.

"I'm going out, don't worry, I'm not here to listen to you two make out or, worse." Mikey groaned, pulling his hood up, and barely making eye contact with Gerard as spoke, leaving Frank to raise his eyebrows a little at the friend that he hadn't really spoken to in a week or so now: truth be told, Frank was spending an awful lot of time with Gerard, and by an awful lot, Frank was practically spending all of his time with Gerard, but it wasn't like Mikey was jealous, because this wasn't a gay thing and Mikey already had one life ruining gay thing going on, and fucking hell, he was not in the mood for another.

"Shut up." Gerard blushed as they spoke what was the least enthusiastic retort, and really, was generally nothing but laughably pathetic. "We're not going to fuck on the sofa, Mikey."

"Of course you're not." Mikey wasn't convinced to say the least, but really, he didn't have the time or motivation to actually stick around and argue his way through this mess. "Whatever, just remind me not to sit there for like ever."

"Mikey, we're not-" Frank protested, his eyes widening as he shook his head like a fucking liar, because really, Mikey saw how this was - he really did.

"Oh, but you are. Come on, I know what it's like - empty house and you're already downstairs- look, I've done it before." Gerard made a disgusted face. "On other people's sofas, asshole - I'm not gross enough to want to sit in my own semen, unlike some people."

"Mikey-" Gerard's efforts were useless, as Mikey only shrugged it off, brushing past the two of them and making his way through the door, leaving them the trouble of locking it behind him, because fuck it, Mikey had to time to waste by pacing throughout the neighbourhood as he tried to psych himself up into texting Pete and arranging some sort of friendly non-homosexual thing.

Then again, Mikey could just burst in and demand that Pete explained the homosexuality of the situation to him, but like, Pete's mum could be there, or Pete could be home alone jacking off, and if there was one sure-fire way to make this situation a million times worse, it was most definitely walking in on that.

And perhaps just that was motivation enough to have Mikey's cellphone out of his pocket and in his hands: his fingers tapping out the least homosexual message he could muster, which really was ridiculous, because Mikey was actually supposed to be straight, and really Gerard, who was probably fucking their boyfriend right now could probably do a better job than him.

Pete texted back far too soon, and Mikey cringed at his text-tone, putting off reading the response by grabbing his headphones from his pocket and putting them in: putting his music on shuffle, and finding himself horribly unsatisfied with the music choice at least seven times before actually just resorting to finding the one track he actually wanted to listen to and playing that instead.

And by then, Pete had already texted back three times, and fuck it, Mikey was not at all prepared for this, and really, he would chose the sounds of Gerard and Frank fucking over this, any fucking day- well, maybe not, maybe, just maybe- fuck.

Fuck, Mikey was indecisive, and fuck, it was killing him, and really, he was doing a pretty good job of just keeping on walking and pretend that the message notifications were somehow invisible, but of course, then Pete texted a fourth time, and Mikey had to completely screw himself over by accidentally clicking on the pop up out of habit.

And fuck his life, because Pete knew he'd seen them now.

Perhaps it wasn't as bad as Mikey had been expecting because in response to his simple, yet awkward and nowhere near heterosexual enough 'hey, uhh can I come over just to like hang and talk and shit?' Mikey received nothing more but fucking Pete Wentz being an asshole 'I don't know, can you?'.

It had taken Pete all of two minutes to decide that his first response wasn't quite cutting it before he responded with 'okay sure I guess, mikeyway x', and then another minute break that Pete had spent debating the next message, 'you bring the condom', and then the final one, most likely in 'regret' of the one prior, 'I was joking, unless you actually want to because then... ;)'.

Seriously, fuck Pete Wentz.

It took Mikey the whole of four minutes to gather the strength to message him back with something either blatantly homophobic or blatantly homosexual - it was one or the other with Mikey right now, and with no hope of the calm and just grey in-between that would be the heaven of normality and not having this awkward fucked up not quite relationship with his best friend who he once thought slept with his ex-girlfriend.

'No thanks pete. I'll be like five minutes.'

And that was all Mikey managed in four minutes of talking down his homosexuality and the urge to respond with a series of highly homosexual and very indiscreet emojis, that Pete would make awkward by failing to understand at first, and then like showing it to his mum to explain, who would totally get it and be like what the fuck and then ground Pete and shot Mikey through the chest on his way to school tomorrow.

Thankfully, Mikey had gone for the non-homosexual option, as really, he didn't at all fancy dying: see, this was why it was just better that he left the whole thing with Pete as it was, because guys and well, doing them, maybe that was more of Gerard's thing than his, and maybe that was okay, because being a massive fucking virgin was another one of Gerard's things, and that most certainly didn't apply to Mikey, even in an alternate universe where they lived on Jupiter and Pete was a camel with four breasts and a milky asshole.

Mikey arrived much sooner than he'd promised Pete, and hated himself for it: hated the way his feet had almost seemed to trick him and lead him right to Pete's doorstep, because fuck, it was like he was trying to kill himself here, and really, it did look like it was on its way to success right now.

Mikey's phone buzzed, causing him to jump a little, and totally interrupting him from staring awkwardly at the chipped paint on Pete Wentz's front door.

'I know you're outside. The fucking door's open, asshole.'

Mikey blushed like hell, looking up to see Pete peering out his bedroom window and grinning down at Mikey.

He flipped Pete off in response, because damn, he fucking deserved it like that, however Pete opened the window in response, and god, this was getting ridiculous.

"That's really rude." Pete commented, narrowing his eyes a little, and watching as Mikey stood back a little to see Pete more easily, and most likely to have some hope of catching him when he inevitably fell from his bedroom window. "Come on, inside, Mikeyway."

"You're going to fall and die." Mikey commented like the happy optimistic person he was, and of course, Pete, being Pete, only shrugged in response, and Mikey wondered just how he could possibly be quite so indifferent to falling out his bedroom window and dying as he cracked his skull open on the pavement outside, right in front of his best friend, who was having a little bit of a gay dilemma with him right now.

"Don't be so negative!" Pete stressed, grinning that 'my parents aren't home so I've drunk like six beers' grin that Mikey had grown to hate, because dear god, right now, that fucking smile and just what it meant was going to get him killed. "Hey- oh my god- I can do that Romeo and Juliet thing with the window- Mikey stand there and be Romeo and ridiculously handsome- what am I talking about you are ridiculously handsome already but stand there and look like you're from the eighth century."

"I don't think Shakespeare was from the eighth century, Pete." Mikey's eyes widened up at his friend, not at all sure as to what to make of this, but somehow, he found himself standing exactly where Pete wanted him to, and maybe, just maybe, it was something to do with the fact that Pete had called him 'ridiculously handsome', hell that wasn't helping his desperate claim to heterosexuality, but it was most certainly helping his ego.

"Romeo, Romeo, where art thou, Romeo?" Pete called, fanning himself with his hand and giggling like the amount of beers he'd had was closer to sixty than six. "Come on, say your bit!"

"You know what, I'll just go inside and we can talk upstairs and not... not... re-enact gay Shakespeare." Mikey blushed a little as he pulled his sleeves up and made his way towards the front door.

"Stop cockblocking yourself, Mikey - Romeo totally gets laid!" Pete's knowledge of Shakespeare was rather limited, to say the least, but Mikey wasn't exactly in the mood to correct him.

"He also dies." He added as he slammed the front door behind him and thought twice before making his way upstairs, because really, was forcing himself to go through this gay Shakespeare shit with Pete the best idea right now, but as he heard a bedroom door slam, it became rather apparent that perhaps Mikey just didn't have any choice in the matter.

"Romeo, you know you're fucking stupid it's totally your fault we both die in the end." Pete groaned as he made his way downstairs, almost tackling Mikey with a hug at the bottom, before dragging him into the living room and forcing him into the sofa beside Pete.

"Can we cut out the gay Shakespeare?" Mikey suggested, eyebrows raised entirely more than he'd deem necessary, but fuck it, he was shaking a little and god, Pete was not doing him any favours here, but fuck, at least he wasn't doing him any sexual favours, at least not right now anyway.

And Mikey just hoped that things would stay that way, but it was Pete, and the likelihood was that it wouldn't.

"Okay, we'll get down to the real reason you're here, Mikey - now tell me, did you bring the condom or will I have to go get one?"

"Pete, just-" Mikey shook his head, getting up from the sofa and making his way towards the door before his conscious could stop him, because fuck, this was all nothing more than the world's biggest train wreck, and he could do absolutely nothing to stop it.

"What? Mikey? This is simple and you know it." Pete's tone turned all too serious and all too soon, and god, it had Mikey's head spinning like crazy, because Pete wasn't supposed to make sense, because if Pete started making sense then soon enough he'd seem like the fucked up one, and really, that was just not something that his head was quite ready to stomach just yet.

"It's not simple, Pete, it's anything but simple." Mikey shook his head, promising Pete as he slowly wandered back into the room and towards his best friend, who he was finding far more attractive than he should, but fuck, fuck these stupid feelings and fuck everything, because Mikey's head was spinning and Pete was smiling the cutest smile Mikey had ever seen and now it was just a matter of holding back himself from just jumping Pete and kissing the hell out of him.

Mikey reckoned that would spark an interesting reaction, to say the least, but as to what kind of reaction, with Pete you could never tell, and maybe it was just better if Mikey didn’t know, but fuck, it was killing him regardless, and maybe, just maybe, he'd have to deal with that someday.

He knew that, and realistically the inevitability of that fact, but god, he just hated how it looked like that would be a fact that he'd have to deal with today - he doubted he could handle that if he was honest.

"It is - you either like me or you don't: fucking sort yourself out and make your mind up, because I've made a decision - I've made many, and really I'm not going to stop making you feel awkward by relentlessly flirting with you until you make your mind up, just so we don't say in this awful limbo forever, okay? But if you say that we're just friends and that that's your final decision, then fine, I'll stop, but I won't half call you a liar first, because if this really was nothing and we're just friends, then you're making an awfully big deal out of nothing, don't you think?"

Mikey sighed out, sitting back down on the sofa beside Pete and pulling his knees up to his chest, curling himself in and sighing out: his face pressed into his knees, before pulling away from the foetal position to face Pete again. "I don't know how I feel, Pete, I honestly don't."

"Well, you've had forever to think about it, don't you think?" Pete snapped in response: impatience clearly getting the better of him, and perhaps Mikey didn't entirely blame him, because damn, he was the one who'd come here for answers and he was the one fucking everyone around, and he was the one who'd spent at least fifteen minutes stalling by pacing the roads between his and Pete's house - that was all him whilst all Pete had ever done was kiss him with the aid of too much alcohol, and tripped the homosexuality censor that had thrown Mikey's sanity off several galaxies away.

"I'm sorry." 

Mikey didn't apologise a lot of the time, and especially not to people that weren't Gerard: perhaps Gerard was the only person Mikey really cared about wholeheartedly, and even then, he still acted like the world's biggest asshole to them, so really, if he was actually making an effort to speak to and maybe sort things out with Pete, god knows how he feels about him, and fuck, it most certainly a heterosexual kind of feeling, to say the least.

"And what does that mean?" Pete sighed out, shaking his head in Mikey's direction: sick and tired of this and just wanting it to end, no matter how it did, even if it ended in fallout and disaster, that would still surely be better than this hell of a limbo, because Pete's heart was beating in double time or just not at all.

"I'm sorry." Mikey repeated, his tone a little more questioning this time, but Pete didn't seem to care.

"What does that mean? Is that a 'I don't like you, I'm sorry' or a 'I'm sorry, I want to kiss you', or a 'I'm sorry I'm pathetic and god for nothing and can't make my mind up' or a 'I'm sorry I've kept you waiting so long for an answer but here it is', or a 'I'm sorry your dog's dead', because Mikey, like this, I don't have a fucking clue - words, use them."

"That's an I'm sorry. An I'm sorry that I don't know what's going on in my own head, that's an I'm sorry that I spent fifteen minutes pacing and psyching myself up to actually arrive, that's an I'm sorry that I care so much, and this is an I'm sorry that I have to say sorry, because I don't say it a lot, and there's even fewer occasions on which I actually mean it, but this is for real and you're my best friend, and my head's spinning because everything's a mess right now."

"Okay." Pete sighed out: not entirely expecting that and hating how this only served to draw out the hell of not knowing further, because fuck, Pete wasn't sure that was something he could take for all that much longer, but maybe, just maybe, for Mikey, he'd try. "Tell me about what's going on and why your head's a mess, and then, maybe when it's cleaned up you can think of a yes or no answer, huh?"

Mikey smiled a little at that, because the way Pete phrased it did really make it sound nothing but ridiculous, and perhaps it was, and perhaps he was just being the asshole here, but whatever, he only nodded in response, and Pete turned to sit facing him and smiled, he really smiled.

"I'm sorry too." Pete added, sitting cross-legged. "I did sleep with Alicia. I'm sorry."

Mikey's eyes widened so much that they nearly popped out of their sockets. "What the fuck, Pete? You could have told me!"

"Okay, I was scared, but now it doesn't matter, so it's okay- I mean, I've heard rumours that she's like dating Lindsey Ballato now-"

"Are you serious?" Mikey exclaimed, his eyes almost falling onto his lap at this point. "I missed the lesbian part? I never once asked her about having a threesome the whole time we were dating fuck my life, Pete, I fucked up-"

"Yeah, you did. You fucked up with her because you were being an asshole about it so she dumped you and she's not your girlfriend anymore, and we're here because you can't decide if you're going to allow yourself to date me or not - that’s what's happening here, Mikey." Pete reminded him, smiling just a little at the 'allowing yourself' part, because they both really knew that there wasn't a chance in hell that Mikey didn't have even the tiniest crush on Pete by now.

"So would you have a threesome, Pete?" Mikey asked, grinning just a little, and generally just doing all he could to pull the subject away from homosexuality, and really, having a threesome with his best friend wasn't exactly the best method to do so, but whatever, he'd tried. 

"Who with?" Pete asked, raising his eyebrows a little, because this really wasn't the most heterosexual question Mikey could have asked, and it certainly wasn't helping his case at all.

"Me and Alicia." Mikey shrugged it off like it was nothing.

"Yeah, because Alicia's going to ignore her girlfriend to fuck two guys she doesn't even like-"

"Invite Lindsey and make it a foursome." Mikey suggested, shrugging it off and leaving Pete to reconsider even bringing it up in the first place.

"Come on, you're supposed to be talking to me, like really talking, and not just going on about foursomes with the only lesbians you know, anyway, if Alicia dated you then that makes her bisexual, doesn't it?" Mikey shrugged in response, clearly not all that bothered about the technicalities of his weird sexual fantasy that just happened to involve Pete Wentz.

"Gerard came out as non-binary about a week ago." Mikey started, knowing he'd regret talking to Pete about anything that mattered soon enough. "They use they/them pronouns now, and it was a bit weird at first, but it's okay and they're much happier now, and they're dating Frank- and fuck, that's something I'm not supposed to telling you, but Gerard and Frank are dating and it's really kind of cute actually. I'm just glad he's happy, but then again, I feel like shit because I can't do romance and relationships for shit: I'm just a failure and this is the living proof of that.

"I'm glad for him. Didn't expect that though-"

"Them." Mikey found himself correcting within seconds, leaving Pete blushing a little: embarrassed, because he hadn't meant to be an asshole about it: he just wasn’t exactly experienced with this.

"Sorry. I'm glad they're happy." Pete corrected himself with an awkward smile. "You really care about Gerard, don't you? I know you pretend to hate them, but you two are really close, like you want them to be happy more than you want anything."

Mikey only shrugged in response: blushing a little, because damn, that was totally giving his sensitive side away and that really wasn't the best idea in front of Pete Wentz.

"Gerard's been through a lot, and I'm just happy that they're not sad anymore. Things weren't all that good a few years ago - not my shit to tell, but it wasn't a good time for them, to say the least." Mikey sighed out, leaning into Pete's side in a totally heterosexual manner. "Also my mum keeps grounding me for smoking weed like every five seconds, and it's totally annoying, because it's not like I'm prostituting to make money for crack cocaine or something."

"Yeah, that's just what she doesn't know." Pete teased, grinning a little as he slid an awkward homosexual arm around Mikey. "You totally prostitute for crack: you're a total whore for crack, you crackwhore."

"Mhhmm..." Mikey smiled a little, blushing because god, Pete had lured him into a gay trap with those stupid jokes and now they were practically cuddling and Mikey was so fucking fucked. "It's you, it's mainly you, you're everything and the mess and I care too much and I don't know what that means."

"It means whatever you want it to." Pete promised him, running his hand through Mikey's hair, and leaving Mikey to just accept how gay this was and just how much gay it was going to get, when Mikey got the guts, that was, of course.

"I don't know what I want, though." Mikey sighed out, leaning back into Pete's touch: homosexual, but relaxing nonetheless. "I just want everything to be okay and for everything bad to go away, and I want to smoke weed and not get grounded."

"You could smoke weed in my bedroom if you want: my mum has this fucking crazy air freshener thing that like gases the whole room out and nearly kills you in the process but totally eradicates the room of any suspicious smells."

"Do you use that after making meth or something?" Mikey asked, wide eyed.

"Usually only after jacking off like really damn hard - pun totally intended because puns are great, but you know, when you're parents aren't home and there's some really great porn involved and maybe there's this boy that you can't stop thinking about it..." Pete trailed off, knowing he'd gone entirely too far then.

"Jacking off sounds really good now, you know, that makes me less stressed and it really fucking helps me clear my head, god, smoking weed and jacking off, that'd be cool... fuck... I'm sorry-"

"You know what's better than jacking off?" Pete smirked, meeting Mikey's gaze, intimidating him just a little, but fuck it, it was Pete: he'd heard it all a million times already.

"What?"

"Blowjobs." Pete grinned, grabbing Mikey by the hand and pulling him up from the sofa. "Come on, let's go upstairs - I think I have some weed at the back of my cupboard or something, actually."

"Pete's that's like really fucking gay, though."

"So?" Pete stood there, staring Mikey straight- well, really not, in the eye. "You were about to jack off with me here - what's the difference? Look, come on, I know you like me - it's obvious and you don't know the fucking meaning of the word 'subtlety', all that's holding you back it's this stupid innate homophobia, and fuck it, Mikey, it's like when they tell you that smoking weed is bad, yet you do that anyway. Come on, you're already going to hell, please let me suck your dick."

"Fuck it, whatever."

Mikey rolled his eyes, pulling off a total 'no homo' as he struggled, but somehow succeeded in masking the real response he wanted to give, which of course was nothing more than an eager 'yes please'.

Fuck it, Mikey Way was not straight, to say the least, and Pete Wentz was living proof of that.

-

hey guys:) well lmao this was going to happen eventually wasn't it come on, now we just have to hope that pete doesn't end up dead because that somehow always seems to happen when i write petekey oops:') votes and comments would be cool also ily all lots<3