"Pete, we... we need to talk... I know... I know... you don't want to, but I..." Patrick exhaled loudly, his breath heavy as he knocked for what seemed like the thousandth time on his best friend's bedroom door. His heavy breathing used only as a mask for his tears and how he needed to cover them before Pete opened the door, if ever of course. He held grudges and wallowed in his sadness to an extreme, and honestly, Patrick was terrified he'd never see the same best friend again.

Pete was always more in love with Mikey than he let on, and it was simply a matter of long-term friendship that had allowed Patrick to see just what he never told anyone.

"You matter, Pete, I promise you that. I promise you... I just... you matter, and... Right now it might not seem like it... but... but Mikey is irrelevant... let him go... go and date her, you don't need him, okay?"

"You don't understand... you don't... fucking understand- what... it's like." Came the choked up and sobbing voice hidden behind the bedroom door. "What’s it's like to love someone who'll never... who will never... who could never love you at all... not even as a friend... to love someone who hates you is just a death wish."

"I know what it's like, Pete." Patrick found the truth springing free without warning and his head spinning as he wondered where they'd go from here, because he knew that Pete would never just let this sit - he'd get it out of him, and then they'd fall apart at the consequences.

And of course silence ensued and the self-conscious part of Patrick thought that perhaps Pete hadn't even been listening, that Pete hadn't heard him at all, but of course, the truth was vastly different.

And the door opened, revealing Pete - red face clad with tears and his fringe falling messily across his face like he'd been pulling at it. "What?" Came his response - not in a questioning or demanding manner, but a shocked one, like the thought that Patrick would let anyone break his heart hadn't even crossed Pete's mind.

"I know what it's like to love someone who doesn't love you back." Patrick finished, his voice, for once, steady, and most because he spoke as his eyes locked with Pete's, watching for his best friend's reaction with an open mind, ready to be completely cut out of this friendship if things went sour, because god, Pete wouldn't stand for this - he'd surely think it weird; we'd been friends for years now and sometimes he told me that I was more so his brother than his friend.

"Tell me who the fuck this bitch is so I can slap her across her fucking whore face." Pete exclaimed at once, and Patrick couldn't help but chuckle at his response, but for what reason he hadn't a clue, perhaps it was the fact that his best friend though that the subject here was female. That was just funny.

"Him." Patrick found the word tumble from his lips without a word of warning, much like before, leaving him to the rather sincere conclusion that he was pretty much screwed here. "That's a funny way to come out, I guess, but Pete, it's a him."

"I'll fucking kick him in the balls then." Pete laughed it off, but Patrick started crying, because Patrick knew who he loved, and he could see just how fucking selfless Pete was, how he would do anything for the people he cared about and how far too many people barely even seemed to notice.

And it broke Patrick's heart more than the fact that Pete would never notice him like he noticed Mikey.

"Pete.." Patrick just let his voice slip audacity as he stepped forward into Pete's now open bedroom, his eyes falling upon the scene before him, and wondering how the hell either of them could carry on from here. "That's your blood. Isn't it?" He finally addresses the situation and the dark red stains on the sheets and their horrifically obvious cause.

"Pat-... Patrick, I... I..." And Pete started crying again, tugging on Patrick's arm in a half-hearted attempt to get him out of the room, and perhaps lead them into a situation where the blood stains were never mentioned again. "Please, just... just go... just forget... I-"

"Pete." Patrick snapped at his best friend, or perhaps anyone, for the first time, his eyes meeting sternly with Pete's. "No, like heck I'm going to just forget about this! Come on," he gestured inside, grabbing Pete's hand, only for him to flinch away at the touch, leaving Patrick to release a knowing sigh, conveying a thousand words he daren't speak aloud, "please, Pete, let's just talk about this, please. You don't deserve to do this to yourself."

"You have no idea, Patrick, you just, just no... no, no." He finished, meeting Patrick's eyes and pushing his friend back a little - something he thought he'd never and of course would never want to do, but things never work out the way we want them to. "Just go, please... you don't understand, and you can't understand."

"I can-" Patrick protested, pushing against Pete, determined upon getting something out of him, because if he knew something for certain it was that he wasn't leaving Pete alone like this at all. "And whatever you say, Pete... I... I'm not leaving you alone like this, because... because you can't do this to yourself... it's you that doesn't understand-... how... how... perfect... y-you are-"

"Bullshit." Pete snapped in Patrick's face, frightening his friend, who despite the mean intent behind the gesture, still couldn't find it in himself to blame him - Pete was going through a lot right now, and really being in love with him gave Patrick such a terrible bias.

"It's not, Pete, it's... it's not..." Patrick finally managed to draw out, holding his breath as he contemplated providing the reason why, and then logic took over, reminding him just how easily that could ruin both his life and their friendship, and anyway, of course Pete couldn't deal with that today - he'd been through too much already. That satisfied Patrick's conscience at the very least.

"It's not... what? Not true? Oh, believe me, I already know-" He began to proclaim; his words thrown about everywhere, and he just wasn't listening to the screaming inside Patrick at all.

"You don't! You goddamn don't, Pete. You don't know what you're doing here and you don't know what's going through my head right now, and you just know what mess is going on through your own-"

"I barely even know what's going through my own head these days." His words took the place of Patrick's; his tone quiet and perhaps just a little scared, but not quite scared just anxious regarding the reaction he'd receive. "It's just mess, it's just madness... my emotions are like quick sand and I'm sinking deeper and deeper by the day."

"And I'm always going to be there to pull you back up and out again - I promise you that, Pete." 

And if there was one thing that anybody knew, it was that Patrick kept his promises.

-

"Did I ever mention just how I absolutely can't believe that this is happening - that we're going on an actual date?" Mikey exclaimed in a voice akin to an overly excited, female, sixth grader, causing Alicia to roll her eyes in response, an amused smile skimming her lips.

"If you want there to be another one, then I suggest you tone down the fangirl behaviour - start acting like you're my boyfriend and maybe you'll be just that." She passed a casually flirtatious comment in his direction as they began on the walk to Alicia's house, which as they discovered was at least twice the distance Mikey's was away from school, however aforementioned casually flirtatious comment, seemed to have absolutely killed Mikey in the process, his pace slowly and his eyes imitating the ones of a rabies victim.

"Yeah..." Mikey exhaled audibly, picking up pace and grinning at Alicia like she just hadn't prompted him on the whole boyfriend behaviour, "you're my date." He smiled to himself like a lovestruck idiot once more before sliding his hand into Alicia's, who couldn't help but giggle at the cheesiness of the gesture, before squeezing her hand back into Mikey's in return.

Mikey seriously could not fucking believe that was happening at all - if you'd have told him this morning that this would have been happening today then he probably would have passed out on the spot, so honestly it was probably for the best that no one had done so.

"You're cheesy as fuck, though. Who do you think you are? Brad fucking Pitt?" She burst into a fit of laughter at Mikey's 'oh fuck god what have I done?' face, giving his hand a squeeze in the reassurance that everything was fine and that she was only joking, for the moment at the very least.

"You're hardly Angelina Jolie, though are you?" Mikey added, biting his lip, praying to every God he knew the name of that he hadn't somehow miraculously offended her, because really if there was one word to describe how Mikey was with girls, it would have to be nothing other than absolutely clueless, or perhaps pathetic.

"Yeah, my face doesn't resemble a duck - I reckon that's a positive." And Mikey was thrown into a fit of laughter at that point, Alicia simply wearing a smug expression like it was nothing.

"You have a very nice face." Mikey told her with his best complimenting skills, of course.

"And a very nice ass, as you've already told me." She added, let a smirk twist over her vaguely innocent smile as Mikey descended deep into a horribly vibrant blush at the very notion.

"Well... it is..." Mikey stumbled over his words, Alicia simply rolling her eyes and leading him into a house which he presumed to be hers, as he hoped that Alicia's idea of a date wasn't a house robbery, not that he'd mind all that much - he'd probably shovel shit on a farm if it just meant spending time with Alicia, which was of course terribly creepy, but simultaneously terribly characteristic of Mikey Way.

"My sister's downstairs - just don't bother talking to her, she's a bitch, and we're going straight upstairs - stay in my room all the time, unless you want her to interrogate you like you're in a prisoner of war, because believe me, it will happen." Alicia met his eyes with sincerity at that, leaving Mikey to wonder whether the hell this was another a joke or whether he should be seriously scared - a query to which he went without an answer.

"Oh, it's fine... I get the whole protective thing with my parents. How old is she?"

"Six." Alicia added with a pure fucking grin, breaking out into laughter lines.

"Oh."

-

"Wow... you actually like... wow... Metallica... Ray bet me you wouldn't as well... wow... you're fucking awesome." Mikey exclaimed, stood in the middle of Alicia's bedroom, staring, for once not at her ass, but at the posters that her walls were covered in.

"What? Just because I'm on the netball team, huh?" She asked, one eyebrow cocked up as she sat down on her bed, patting the space next to her in gesture for Mikey to join her, who really didn't look like he was going accomplish moving anytime soon because Alicia had just asked him to bed with her, well... to sit on it, but in Mikey's mind this was beyond wonderful.

"Mainly because you're like the most popular girl in our year and this is Catholic school." Mikey admitted with a blush, as he finally managed to sit down beside her, of course then she decided to link their hands, sending Mikey into state where he was pretty sure these weren't butterflies in his stomach but fucking earthquakes.

"What do you think this? A fucking high school movie, grow up." She rolled her eyes, chuckling a little as she threw her head back against the bed, leaving Mikey sat there in awkward state of uncertainty regarding whether he ought to mimic her actions or not.

"I just... I wasn't aware girls liked Metallica. I mean, Frank's got a girlfriend and she likes music like that, but it's well... Frank." Mikey just fell into a constant state of blush as he continued to talk.

"Frank's got a girlfriend?" Alicia exclaimed, snorting at that, catching Mikey's confused expression and sending him a smirk in response. "Don't you think... he's a bit... uhm... gay?" Her words having an effect she could never quite imagine on the teenage boy sat awkwardly on her bed besides her wondering just what he'd done for God to grant him this.

"I.... I.... Frank's not a fag...." Mikey finally managed to push out, his eyes almost popping from their sockets as he met Alicia's inquisitive gaze; who didn't feel strongly either way of the 'gay debate', accepting both homosexuality and homophobia's existence, taking them both at face value as they seemed not to concern her all that much.

"Hmm... if you say so. He does wear really tight jeans though, and he hangs around with Jamia - a lesbian, and he sits next to Pete in math." Alicia continued, pointing each ridiculous suggestion out on her fingers, leaving Mikey ending up fixating upon her fingers and not her words.

"It’s not like anyone would willing sit next to Pete though, and as I've said he's got a girlfriend... her name's Georgia." Mikey didn't quite know why he was almost standing up for Frank like this, and perhaps he reckoned he was more standing up for his complacency in savouring his safe little bubble of heteronormality - little did he know just how close that bubble was to popping.

"Georgia..." Alicia ran the name through her head as she tried to put a face to the name she'd been presented with. "I don't know any 'Georgia's-"

"She goes to a different school." Mikey finished, smiling up at his date in a rather dumb fashion as she connected her biased evidence together with the well known 'different school' bullshit story, concocting a biased yet, for once true, theory as to Frank's questionable sexuality.

"Different school, of course." Alicia grinned to herself, choosing not to point this out to Mikey, letting his best friend take it up the ass, or whatever he liked. She didn't care all that much, and Mikey would find out eventually, of course.

"I kind of feel sorry for Ray though, because now me and Frank aren't single, he's going to feel kind of left out, y'know?" Mikey burst out, utterly forgetting that nothing was entirely official between him and Alicia yet, causing a smirk to break her lips as Mikey fell into a terrible blush.

"Who ever said you weren't single, Mikey Way?" She asked, smirking up at him as she sat back up, facing the panicking boy on her bed - she reckoned it was kind of empowering, but more amusing than anything else, and perhaps since it was Mikey, it was just a little cute.

"Shit... I... I'm sorry... I..." Mikey stumbled in his words as Alicia simply sat there grinning her head off, before she grabbed his hands, his eyes practically bulging enough to fall from their sockets at that moment.

"I would love to ensure that you weren't single, Mikey Way," she paused on purpose, letting his heart beat so fast he was practically sick all over her and her bed, which thankfully didn't happen, as the one thing Mikey knew about girls was that they didn't like being thrown up on, and unfortunately, this was from experience. "But I wouldn't want to upset Ray, would I?"

And the smirk that followed her words was nothing short of legendary.

"Fuck Ray." Mikey snapped out, rolling his eyes in an almost tantrum like manner, extracting a giggle from Alicia's lips.

"Wasn't sure that something like that would be your intentions." And dear god did Alicia regret one thing she said - not at all. Not at fucking all.

Mikey, however, was stunned into silence.

"What? Do you think I'm gay too?" He asked, his tone slightly aggressive, as it was made perfectly clear that comments like these didn't work the best on people as blinded by homophobia as Mikey.

"If I thought you were gay, do you really think I would invite you on a date with me?" She countered, raising a particularly good point that stopped Mikey mid-thought. "I was just joking. The whole gay thing a touchy subject with you, or what?"

"No, uh, no... It’s just... wrong." Mikey finally managed to push out, eyeing Alicia nervously, unsure as to what her response could possibly, because anyone he cared about the opinion of had never cared the slightest about homosexuality past homophobia before.

"God also said not to have sex before marriage as well, and it's your opinion, but if you're going to follow one thing the bible says then you might as well follow everything." Alicia all too casually and completely unintentionally, messed up Mikey Way's head to the point he actually began to question his views on homophobia, which was a serious change.

"Do you spend all your dates discussing the bible?" Mikey asked with a smile, slowly regaining his sanity and confidence in what he believed, or whatever he could get back of it now.

"Only the ones with Catholic boys." She let a smirk slide onto her lips. "When I date stoners we usually spend the time getting high, and when I date whores we have sex. And really that just about covers it."

"You've had sex." Mikey let out in a dazed voice, the blood going down to his dick as he began imagining it, which was really nothing but a terribly stupid idea, especially in presence of Alicia herself.

"Haven't you?" And there came the blush, because no, Mikey had not.

"No... I-"

"That's something we'll have to work on." Mikey's eyes lit up at that, almost as if someone turned his pupils into fucking strobe lights. "But you're not quite enough of an asshole to fuck me on the first date, Mikey Way. Come back tomorrow, perhaps - we'll see."

And if Mikey came out of Alicia's house with one piece of knowledge, it was that Alicia Simmons was a fucking bitch, and honestly, he'd never been so in love with her for it. 

-

The fact that Pete walked through the doors of school that morning had surprised Patrick incredibly, causing him to stop at his locker and turn to stare at his best friend practically strut into school as if he owned the whole fucking place, only for Patrick's eyes widen as he pushed through a few people, getting a better view of his best friend and putting a name to the face beside him - Gabe Saporta. And oh dear god they were holding hands.

Patrick stomach plummeted instantly, at first at the fact that even if it wasn't Mikey Way, Pete had found someone else, and that Pete still thought the person Patrick loved and didn't love him back needed kicking in the balls, and even now Patrick didn't, and just couldn't agree. But the longer he looked, he pieced it all together, knowing Pete and knowing that this was just an idiotic ditch to get back at Mikey, even when the boy hadn't done anything but acquire a girlfriend, which in Mikey's head was most certainly not a bother to Pete, but Mikey didn't know Pete like Patrick did - that was something he couldn't deny.

And Patrick couldn't help but wish Pete could have fake dated him to get back at Mikey. Why did it have to be Gabe fucking Saporta? Popular, funny, and fucking handsome, Gabe Saporta, who for someone godforsaken reason was prepared to take all the bullying he'd get for this, being Pete Wentz's boyfriend, even if it was only fake, and even if it was only for a day - why he'd fuck up his whole reputation for some stupid drunken idea Pete had conjured up, Patrick hadn't a clue.

"Pete-" Patrick began to call out his best friend's name, pushing through the small crowd that had gathered around what appeared to be the new 'celebrity' couple of the school, most people gawping at the fact that Gape Saporta was not only associating with Pete Wentz, but in an awfully homosexual manner too. Pete however felt the need to be oblivious towards that fact, smiling and waving as they walked through the halls as if he was the fucking queen or something, generally lapping up all the attention he could get in a typically Pete esque manner.

"Pete fucking Wentz." Came the response Pete had been searching for in the form of an extremely pissed off Mikey Way, Alicia joining him by his side, looking on at the scene with nothing more than raised eyebrows, which brought quite the contrast to Pete's untameable fury. "You've spread it to him too, haven't you? Fucking made him gay, huh? Was it fun fucking his ass? Well fuck you, I'm so fucking done with you - you're a fucking disease... nobody wants you here!"

Patrick’s, "I want him here," was lost amongst the yelling as Mikey pushed through the crowd, leaving Alicia to make her way to the side-lines with some other girl on the netball team that wasn't quite important enough on the social ladder for her name to be well known.

"What an asshole you are, Wentz." Gabe stepped forward, letting go of Pete's hand and stepping forward so him and Mikey Way were eye to eye; Gabe considerably taller and more muscular than Mikey, intimidating just about everyone with the stone cold gaze he hadn't out like flyers nobody wanted but felt morally compared to hold onto just until they were out of sight of the person who'd handed them the flyers.

"You know I've always been gay, and you know the fact that Pete had the guts to stand up and say this to you of all people is extraordinary, and you know what, I have the guts now too. I like guys, but don't worry that I'm going to come after you, Mikey Way, I'm already rather preoccupied with my boyfriend here." He glanced back to Pete at that moment, the two of them sharing a knowing smile, almost as if they'd scripted this, but smiles and the emotions were all too real.

"Boyfriend?" Mikey practically choked out, his eyes widening as he had trouble processing the information he found himself presented with, Pete savouring his reaction like it was something he needed more than oxygen.

"You got a problem?" Came Gabe's response all fiery wild eyes full of rage and a step closer to Mikey Way, causing Alicia to push through the crowd with the intentions of ensuring that her not quite boyfriend didn't end up with a black eye or several broken ribs.

"Come on, Mikey." She grabbed him by the hand, pulling him away from Pete and Gabe, and reluctantly back through the crowd that had gathered in stunned silence, perhaps mainly just in search of a fight to brighten up the time before math class or something. "Fucking move, you assholes, what are you looking at, huh?" Alicia screamed as she pulled Mikey's scowling body through the crowds and back down the nearest corridor, the crowds diminishing with them and leaving Patrick stood in the same spot his eyes finally meeting with Pete's; Gabe still glaring just a little violently in the direction Mikey had left in.

"What are you doing, Pete?" Was all Patrick could say as his best friend approached him. "I know you seem happy and perhaps Mikey deserves this, or perhaps he doesn’t, but in the long run this is really stupid idea... you and Gabe aren't for real... it's just to get back at Mikey, and that's just not healthy-"

"Fuck you if you say I don't love him." Came Pete's harsh and rather unexpected and terribly unaccounted for response. "I thought you'd understand what I did, and thought you'd accept me and want and who I want to love, but you know what, Patrick, you're just as bad as the rest of them, aren't you?"

"Pete-" Patrick began to exclaim, his eyes falling wide open in a shock he'd never felt before, his heart desperately feeling the need to pound in his chest, but he felt nothing at all instead. Just emptiness, nothing.

"Just fucking go. I don't want to see you ever again, Patrick."

And perhaps then did Patrick really know what it felt like to be Pete, what it felt like to have the one you love hate you unconditionally, and just how it ate away at you until your breathing stopped and your veins ran dry; devoid of blood, having bleed it all out long ago, and all for him.

-

Perhaps this was just about the worst day Frank could have arrived late to school for, as apparently, by the shower of information he was hit with by a wide eyed Ryan Ross, whom he met outside English as he arrived at school just before lunch break, only having woken up half an hour prior, and most definitely hadn't stayed up to ridiculous 'o' clock in the morning texting his stupid fucking boyfriend.

"Frank, you seriously will not believe what's happened today. It's literally been just about the most eventful day in school history, it's like World War Three or something... more of World War Pete, though-" Frank didn't let him finish, guessing the end of his sentence easily, as if it had something to do with Pete Wentz, it was usually his fault.

"So let me guess, Pete Wentz did something incredibly stupid and that's set off some kind of school wide war whilst I was sleeping through half the day?" He asked in a casual tone, knowing before Ryan nodded in response that he was right.

"Pete started dated Gabe Saporta basically-" Ryan began to exclaim as the two of them made their way through the corridors to the back of the school where Ryan and Brendon usually hung out with a few others guys that Frank couldn't name. He wondered if he could sneak a quick smoke in with Jamia before he exposed himself to Mikey's most likely incredibly strongly homophobic views regarding what had he'd missed this morning.

"What?" Frank exclaimed, not knowing whether to be more shocked at the fact that Gabe Saporta was gay, or the fact that anyone would willingly agree to date Pete Wentz. Perhaps the latter - he'd heard rumours in like middle school, not they were trustworthy by any means, but whatever, it was middle school.

"Yeah, you heard right, and the two of them walked into school this morning holding hands. I didn't see that first bit; I only came in when there was a massive crowd and Gabe was threatening to beat Mikey up or something. Brendon was there though, and a few people were staring at the two of them holding hands, and then Mikey and Alicia came down the corridor and she tried to stop him freaking out but it's Mikey so he didn't listen and pretty much screamed his head off at the two of them, Pete stood there basically trying not to laugh as Gabe practically scared Mikey shitless and then Alicia dragged him off before he got kicked in the balls. Apparently he was a massive dick to Patrick afterwards, as well - I don't know why but the kid just came up to Brendon earlier and was with him all day, looking rather sad and saying something about Pete."

"Oh Jesus Christ when you say I've missed the beginning of a war you weren't really joking at all, were you?" Frank let out a sigh as the walked through the doors, cool air hitting their faces, and Mikey jumping up from the bench he was sat at, just at the sight of Frank alive and unaware of just how pissed off he was with Pete Wentz, but Frank would argue that really his face said it all.

"No, I wasn't." Ryan added as he let out in involuntary wary look in Mikey's direction as he approached Frank. "I'll leave you to deal with him - good luck." Frank could only pass him pleading looks as he walked over to the corner where Brendon and Patrick were sat, the latter of the two with his knees pulling up to his chest and his fringe and fedora covering any emotion that his face could have held.

"Frank, oh my fucking god, you will not believe what fucking Pete's done now!" Mikey exclaimed, grabbing his friend by the arm and dragging him over to where Mikey and Ray had been sat, Ray passing Frank an apologetic glance as Mikey forced him to sit down.

"I've heard from Ryan, it's alright." Frank began, knowing Mikey wouldn't find that an acceptable enough reason to let Frank off from his 'reasons why I hate Pete Wentz rant' of the day, at least he wasn't bitching about his brother who Frank definitely wasn't fucking behind his back, at least, Frank thought.

"No, but you don't understand - he's turned Gabe into one of them..."

"What? A vampire?" Ray piped up, clearly tired of Mikey's speech already, and from Frank's absence, he guessed Ray had been forced into experiencing this at least five times by now, and seriously he owed Ray for that big time.

"No," Mikey continued, his tone scarily serious, "a homosexual."

"Mikey, homosexuality doesn't work like vampirism-" Frank began in an explanation he knew Mikey just wouldn't accept no matter what evidence he provided him with, perhaps even the fact that Mikey had spent everyday the past few years with him and he was still perfectly straight, but he doubted just how well that would go down, considering what Mikey'd experienced with Pete this morning already for him.

Frank began to reckon that homosexuality was a traumatising experience for Mikey, and he did quite literally bring the phobia into homophobia.

"No, Frank, have you seen just how gay Gabe is now-" Thankfully, Mikey never got to finish what Frank reckoned could just about be the stupidest sentence to ever leave his lips.

"Frank, we need to talk." He turned up to glance at Jamia, who stood behind him, her phone in her hand as she furiously bit down on her bottom lip.

"He's busy-"

"It's about Gee, c'mon." Jamia gave as an explanation, leaving Frank to deal with the aftermath of who 'Gee' was, and wonder whether Mikey would connect it to 'Georgia' or 'Gerard' first - that'd be interesting, surely.

"Yeah, sorry, Mikey - it's important." Frank answered in the tone he thought totally didn't give away the fact that he was fucking Mikey's brother the best.

Its efficiency however would have to be tested with time and against the whole 'Gee' situation, Jamia had nearly ruined Frank's life with.

Then again, a day in the life of Jamia Nestor, huh?

- 

Hey guys:) I hope you enjoyed this chapter, despite it being mainly Pikey and Frank is barely even in it and Gee isn't, but whatever I like writing Pikey;) Anyways I always really appreciate your comments and votes, and I love you all<3