The next morning after game night at Joe's, Pete woke in his bed wrapped in his thick, paisley patterned blanket. He didn't have to worry about his alarm blaring his ears off because it was the weekend and that meant no early mornings and coming home smelling like stale coffee for the next three days. But as much as Pete wanted to stay in bed and cuddle with his pillows, he had something important to do today.

Grocery shopping.

His fridge is pretty much empty and only contained foods that were useless without their counterpart, such as jelly but no bread and milk but no cereal. Ordering out and getting fast food was really putting a hole in his wallet so getting a month's supply of food would be the best idea. He untangled himself from the blanket and swung his legs over the edge of his bed, standing up and shuffling over to the bathroom to shower and get ready.

Once he's finished, he shuts off the water and steps out of the tub, wrapping a towel around his waist and nearly slipping as he went over to the counter. After wiping off an area of the mirror with his hand, Pete looks at his reflection and pulls a tuft of his hair between his fingers. It was almost completely in its natural state, loosely curled and damp from the humidity in the bathroom, looked like it was time to straighten it again. Pete opens the bathroom door as to let some air flow into the room and get rid of the heat, the remaining steam on the mirror begins to clear up.

He picks up his phone and scrolls through it, looking for a song to play while he did his hair and dressed himself for the day. Marina and the Diamonds' Bubblegum Bitch is the song he chooses, then lightly moves his hips to the music as it plays.

***

By the time he's finished straightening his hair, he's half dressed and has gone through about ten songs before finally turning it off and locking the phone's screen. He unplugs the flatiron then sets it down on the counter before exiting the bathroom, flicking off the light as he leaves.

The thought of what he's going to wear with the black skinny jeans he decided to wear runs through his mind. He's thinking maybe the burgundy off-the-shoulder sweater in his closet, or the navy one with the white cross on the front, or maybe he'll just keep it simple and wear one of his band tees. But he was only going to the supermarket, there wasn't really a need to dress up, although he might end up hanging out with a couple friends later since it's the weekend and all. Maybe he'll see if Joe was free --which he probably was-- and ask if Patrick wanted to join them in... whatever it was they were going to do.

Pete felt his face heat up when his mind wandered to Joe's friend, though he wasn't entirely sure why. It's not like he thought Patrick was the cutest person known to man or anything like that, pffft. He was just a guy who went to college with Joe, nothing more and nothing less, he's just Pete's acquaintance. Or maybe he could become way more than that sometime, Pete rolled his eyes at himself as the thought came and went. He doesn't even really know him like that, he should just stop thinking about it.

"He's just a guy," Pete whispers to himself as he absently searches his closet for something to wear. "Just a... really cute guy with pretty eyes and soft looking lips." And when he realized what he had just said, he put a hand over his face and groaned a frustrated 'fuck' into his palm. He mentally scolded himself for two reasons: thinking about Patrick, and talking to himself.

He finally settles on wearing the burgundy sweater.

***

A loud slam emanated from the car as Pete shut the door, putting his bag on his shoulder as he pressed the button on his keys to lock up the vehicle. Before he could step through the automatic door of the supermarket, he's stopped by his boss calling out his name while riding on the back of an empty shopping cart.

"Pete! How's it going?" Brendon smiled as he put a foot down to stop himself from rolling any further.

"Eh," Pete answered, shrugging his shoulders slightly. "Gotta make sure I don't starve to death later."

"Don't we all." Brendon smiled, shielding his eyes from the blinding sun with his hand. "But it's good you're here, I have something important to tell you." A questioning look took over Pete's face, tilting his head in a way of asking what it is Brendon has to say. But his boss just answers with, "It can wait until after the shopping though."

Then the man in question got down from the back of the cart, going to the side and attempting to climb up into the basket. When it began to tip over, Pete quickly reached out to hold the cart steady as Brendon got inside. His legs hung over the front as he sat up, his hands gripping the edges on both sides. It didn't look very comfortable but Pete didn't question it. "Alright, get pushing, Wentz."

Pete rolls his eyes, looking around the parking lot to see if anyone was witnessing this. They were, and people stared a little bit, but otherwise just walked past without a word. Sometimes he couldn't believe he worked for this man.

So Pete got behind the cart and pushed the oversized child through the automatic doors, earning a few curious, judging, and amused glances from the other people in the store. A few kids stared at Brendon, to which he responded by smiling at them, causing some of the kids to beg their parents to let them get in a cart as well.

"So, what's first?" Brendon asks, eyes scanning some of the items on the shelves.

"Cereal." Pete steered the cart down an aisle containing bread, cereal, and pasta among other things. He stops them beside the boxes of Frosted Flakes and Fruit Loops. "Dude, if you weren't shopping then why did you have this cart?" Pete asked as he pulled a box of Apple Jacks from the shelf and put it in the basket beside his boss.

"I actually just needed to get some flipflops." He shrugged. "But I like riding on the carts, it's fun."

Pete chuckled. "I figured. I'll take you over to the shoe section to grab some flipflops, then."

"You're a life saver as always, Pete."

***

Halfway through the shopping and Brendon's torso covered in various food items, the red of his t-shirt was barely visible anymore but he didn't seem to mind. Pete had got him his flipflops, --which Brendon held separately from all the food, grasping them tightly in his hand that hung over the side-- then headed towards the freezer aisle for some quick fixes.

Just as he's about to grab a few frozen pizzas from one of the freezers, he nearly bumps into a guy with a brightly colored mohawk. He immediately recognized him as Josh, the guy Tyler went out to lunch with the other day.

"Hi, Josh." Pete greeted as he pulled the cart backward a few inches as to open the freezer door. Josh turns around, a confused look on his face until he sees who it was that called his name. He was toting a small grocery basket containing a few beanies and scarves.

"Oh, hi, um... Pete, right? Tyler told me who you were." He smiled, waving slightly before he saw Brendon sitting inside the cart. "And uh, you're the boss-man."

"Why yes, I am. Nice to meet you." He held out the hand that wasn't gripped around a pair of flipflops to shake hands with the guy standing beside the cart. Josh laughed slightly before accepting the handshake.

At that point Brendon began running his mouth, basically interrogating the man about his relationship with Tyler as if Josh was the new boy his son was currently dating. While the two spoke, Pete thought he'd shoot Tyler a quick text to tell him who he bumped into while shopping.

Petesicle: Hey, Ty guess what?

Tyler responded quickly, he must not have had anything else to do if he answered a message that fast. Either that or he was hoping it was Josh.

TyPantaloon: Wht?

Petesicle: I ran into Josh at the supermarket

TyPantaloon: Srsly??

Petesicle: Yeah, and Brendon's here bugging the poor dude

TyPantaloon: Nuu

TyPantaloon: Jish is mY FREN

Petesicle: Yeah, I know but you know how Bren is

TyPantaloon: Tell him i said GIT YUR OWN FREN

Petesicle: You can tell him yourself, hang on

Pete then calls Tyler so that he can tell Brendon himself to step off of his friend. He picks up right after the first ring and Pete immediately puts him on speaker. "It's for you, Bren."

He takes the phone from Pete and looks at the screen to see a picture of Tyler doing a weird not-smile before answering, "Hello?"

"Get your own friend!" Tyler raised his voice. Josh and Pete just cracked up while Brendon looked completely confused. His confusion made them laugh even harder.

***

After everything was paid for and bagged up, Josh had said goodbye to them and walked through the parking lot to find his car. Brendon got out of the cart finally --with some help from Pete-- after Pete had put everything up on the conveyor belt to be scanned. He walked out beside his employee, holding his flipflops, and looking up at the now dimming sky.

"What was that thing you had to tell me, Bren?" Pete asked as he began to lead the way to his car.

Brendon sighed and looked down at the ground, as though the thought of it saddened him. Sad wasn't a thing that Brendon was very often, so seeing him that way really made Pete uncomfortable and worried. "I think it'll be best to tell everyone at once. I'll call Tyler, Hayley, and Joe... tell them to meet me at my place tonight. You think you can swing by?"

Pete hesitated a bit, this must have been really important if Brendon was asking all of his employees to meet him at his home --which he only did one time for New Year's about three years ago. Pete had no choice but to show up, it seemed to be urgent.

"Yeah, of course. What time?"

"Um," His boss scratched the back of his neck in thought. "Seven...ish?"

Pete nods in agreement. "Okay, I'll be there. See you tonight."

Brendon smiles sadly without making eye contact before waving goodbye and going to his own car a few rows over from Pete's. He wonders what it could be that's making Brendon act this way.