Love Lockdown

Oct 17, 2008 06:34

Title: Love Lockdown
Pairing: Pete/Patrick/Bob love triangle
Fandom: FOB/MCR
Raiting: PG-13
Disclaimer: I don't know the famous people
Summary: What happens when Patrick moves in with Bob



Beep. “Hey, you’ve reached Pete and Patrick’s answering machine. We can’t come to the phone right now, but if you leave your name and number, we’ll hit you back.”

Pete slammed his cell phone shut and cursed.

[//]

“They had that Will and Grace thing going on.” Andy casually explained.

Bob watched as Patrick maneuvered a keyboard through the front door. “Uh…” He intervened in time to keep a lamp right side up. Patrick looked sheepish, mumbled a “sorry,” and let Bob grab one end of the instrument while he led it down the hall to his new bedroom.

“You know, where they moved in until they were able to ‘move on’ but instead they ended up relying way to fucking much on each other to stand on their own?”

“What are they moving on from?” His eyes met Patrick’s suddenly annoyed ones. Bob sighed and set the keyboard on top of Patrick’s desk. Speaking into the phone, he said, “I think he knows we’re talking about him.”

Patrick rolled his eyes and went back out to the moving van.

[//]

The entire place had a subtle smell of sandalwood. Patrick scrunched the steel blue carpet under his bare toes as he flipped channels on the flat screen TV and wondered why he hadn’t heard from Pete in two days. Checking his phone to make sure it still had a charge, Patrick decided to text the bass player.

Are you alive?

[//]

Beep. “Hey, you’ve reached Pete and Patrick’s answering machine. We can’t come to the phone right now, but if you leave your name and number, we’ll hit you back.”

“Hey, Not-Trick. It’s me, Pete. This sucks.”

[//]

It wasn’t long before Patrick and Bob were comfortable enough around each other; lounging together on the sofa became a common occurrence. Most nights after dinner, they would start watching a movie, each on opposite ends of the couch; around halfway through the movie, they would somehow end up with legs thrown over one another, heads resting on shoulders, or bodies leaning against each other. Patrick liked being about to cuddle against someone who wasn’t all bones.

[//]

Something that got on Bob’s nerves about Patrick was how he hummed all the damn time. It’s not that he was a bad hummer (if someone could actually be a bad hummer); it was the fact that the songs got stuck in Bob’s head hours later. He’d be driving to rehearsal and start singing “Danger Zone” or “Billie Jean.” God, it was like being stuck in a bad soundtrack from the ‘80’s.

After unlocking the door, Bob was greeted by Patrick singing something from Sinatra, “I’ve Got You Under My Skin.” In shock, Bob stood still until Patrick finished; the blonde had goose bumps running up and down his thighs.

[//]

“It’s weird being by myself.”

“I think that’s what they were trying for.” Patrick sighed into the phone. He lay down on his bed and stared up at the ceiling. “This is a good thing though. It’s not forever.”

“You suck. You suck and Andy and Joe suck. Interventions suck. It all sucks.”

“Wow, don’t you sound all of five years-old. Have you left the apartment yet?”

“No. That’s why you should be here. I would go out if you were here.”

Patrick sighed again. “You know that’s how me and you living together started. I moved in to make sure you kept a somewhat normal sleeping and eating schedule. Now you want me to move back in so I can make sure you have a social life? Joe and Andy were right. We’re not healthy for each other like that.”

“Since when is Joe ever right about anything? God, I just miss my best friend.”

“I miss you too, Pete, but we can’t always be in each other’s pockets.”

“Are you breaking up with me?”

“You are way too fucking overdramatic.” Patrick let a smile slide into his words to make them sound the way he wanted.

[//]

Managing to go to the store was a big accomplishment, if anyone were to ask Pete. He took his time, walking down every aisle, looking at every display. By the time he was on the cereal aisle, Pete realized he could get any kind of candy he wanted without Patrick getting pissy.

[//]

Living with Patrick was probably going to scar Bob in some manner; he wasn’t like anyone else he’d ever stayed with. The first time Bob overheard Patrick having sex, making noises to rival the girl he was sleeping with, it was late on a Thursday and Patrick had probably assumed Bob would be gone until much later. Bob stopped outside Patrick’s doorway and felt like a dirty old perv as he leaned forward and listened to the moaning, warm tingles zinging up and down his thighs. A few seconds later he got control of himself and banged once on the door, grinning as he told Patrick to keep it the hell down.

[//]

Patrick asked Angelica to stay for breakfast. He, Angelica, and Bob sat down at the small kitchen table, eating their respective bowls of cereal, and all the while Patrick couldn’t figure out why it didn’t feel the way he thought it would. When his phone went off with a text, he realized it was Pete.

Pete would always either stare holes into Patrick whenever one of his girlfriends were around, or Pete would try and chat her up, flirting to make Patrick jealous. Instead, Bob was just sitting there, astutely not looking at either one unless someone said something to him. Patrick was disappointed-disappointed and guilty.

[//]

“Don’t fall in love with him.” Pete warned Bob. “Once you fall for him, you’ll never get over him. And you won’t be able to keep him.”

It was four in the morning and Patrick and Angelica were at it again, moaning loudly. Bob closed his eyes tightly and tried to focus on Pete’s words while trying to ignore the erection beneath the sheets. “What? Why are you calling me at four in the morning?”

“I’m just saying. It would be a bad maneuver. Falling in love. With him.”

Bob shifted; baaaad move. He suppressed a groan as Angelica or Patrick let out a particularly loud moan. “Is that advice or a threat?”

“Are you hard?”

“What? What the hell?” Bob’s eyes popped opened at the blunt question. “Why would you think that?”

“You’re voice. I know these things.”

“I’m going to back to bed.” He hung up the phone and gave into his urges.

[//]

After Angelica left, Bob asked Patrick if he should give Pete her number.

“Why would Pete need her number?” Patrick poured out the rest of his Silk and rinsed out the bowl.

Bob shrugged. “I thought he might want to give his advice to someone who could actually use it.”

“What are you talking about? What advice?”

“He advised me not to fall in love with you. I just figured that your girlfriend could maybe use that advice more than I could.”

“She’s not really my girlfriend. I think.” Patrick sucked on his lower lip and crossed his arms. They’d only been seeing each other for about a week and Patrick wasn’t sure if she was what he was looking for. “Wait, what do you mean, he advised you not to fall in love with me?”

Bob finished off his coffee. “He called me at four in the morning to tell me that. Told me not to fall in love with you.”

Patrick shrugged. “He’s being Pete. Just ignore him.”

[//]

Bob was beginning to think he was in trouble. He downloaded all the acoustic versions of Fall Out Boy’s songs and the covers of other songs they did. “Roxanne” was probably one of his most favorites. The humming didn’t annoy him anymore either.

One evening he and Patrick were lying on the sofa watching Ninja Warrior on G4. Patrick was leaning against Bob causing Bob’s arm to circle around Patrick’s body, his thumb quietly tucked into one of the belt loops of Patrick’s jeans. During a commercial break, Patrick pulled his cell phone out and texted someone; he started humming.

Bob started getting hard.

[//]

Ryan, of all people, came to visit Pete after listening to Pete’s answering machine. It had been almost two months and Pete hadn’t changed it yet. Pete defended himself by saying he just forgot.

“You’ve got twenty-nine messages. It’s blinking. How could you miss that?” He hit play at the same time that Pete told him they weren’t important messages.

“Hey, Not-Trick. It’s me, Pete. This sucks.”

“You’re leaving the Not-Patrick messages on your answering machine?” Ryan snatched up the machine to keep Pete from erasing the messages before he could hear a few more.

“Hey, Not-Patty Cakes, it’s me again. I miss your hugs and watching Sixteen Candles with you”

Ryan relented and erased the messages; he erased Patrick’s away message too. Pete wanted to push Ryan down a flight of stairs.

[//]

“I broke up with Angelica.” Patrick slumped down on the bed next to Bob who turned off his ipod and looked apologetic. “She just wasn’t what I need right now.”

“I’m sorry.” Bob hesitated. “Do you want to talk about it?”

Patrick shrugged. He felt sad inside. He felt disappointed. “I miss Pete.”

“I’ve got to go to rehearsal. Sorry.” Bob grabbed his satchel and left without another word.

[//]

Sitting in his car, Bob put a Korn CD in and blasted it so he wouldn’t be able to think. Driving would clear his head too. He pulled out of the driveway and ignored the text message that sent his cell phone vibrating against his hip.

[//]

Patrick was pissed. The day was turning out to be really shitty. First he ended up dumping his semi-girlfriend, and then he gets a three-way phone call from Ryan and Pete accusing him of breaking hearts.

“I don’t break hearts. My heart gets broken.”

[//]

Regret was a feeling Pete was well familiar with. He wanted to call Patrick back and tell him that he didn’t mean any of it; Patrick didn’t break his heart. Pete broke his own heart; he was self-destructive like that. Pete didn’t even take his own advice.

It wasn’t Patrick’s fault that he didn’t realize his affect on others.

[//]

Later, when Bob finally read Patrick’s text, he wanted to push him down a flight of stairs.

[//]

Cornering Bob in the kitchen was a lot harder than one would think. Patrick boxed the taller man in with his arms. “What is your problem? You haven’t said two words to me since the day before yesterday.”

Bob looked over Patrick’s head and shrugged stiffly. “Whatever. I’m not mad.”

“Yeah, because your body language is totally stress-free. Please talk to me? It’s bad enough that Pete is mad at me.”

“Oh. Sorry.” Bob pushed through Patrick’s arms and headed for the door to his bedroom.

By this point, there was nothing simple about living with Bob. Patrick wanted to bang his head against the wall. He couldn’t win.

[//]

“I’m in love with Patrick” Pete sounded devastated.

“That’s why you’re mad at him.” Bob didn’t form that as a question because he knew it was fact.

“It’s confusing. I’m mad at him because he’s not careful with the way he is around people. He just lets everyone fall in love with him without even knowing it. I’m mad because he’s there and not here. I’m mad because I don’t think I can have him.”

Bob massaged his forehead with his right hand. “You’re confusing, you know that? What kind of ‘in love’ do you mean? Best Friends? Soul Mates? Gay?”

“All three?”

Fuck. Bob looked at his ipod. Fuck.

“I’m sorry for whatever it is that hurt you. I didn’t know I was being a jerk.”

Pete pulled on the hem of his hoodie. “Yeah. It’s okay. I was just being a drama queen. I’m going through Patrick withdrawals.” He paused. “But seriously, I love you.”

There was silence.

Pete stopped blinking so he could hold back the premature tears that were forming.

“Pete…”

“Yeah, it’s okay. I know. I’ll talk to you later, ‘Trick.”

[//]

Since when was he the bad guy? Patrick buried his head in his hands; a massive head ache was forming beneath his temples. It’s not like Pete was the kind of guy who really knew what he wanted anyway? How did he truly know he wanted Patrick? Patrick’s gut twisted. God, he was the bad guy. Because even though he hurt Pete, Patrick still missed him. Patrick still wanted to cuddle with him. Patrick still wanted the intimacy.

[//]

Bob was the one who called Andy and Joe. “He needs to go back. Things are too fucked up like this.” His voice was bitter and harsh. “Our world just can’t function without a Pete&Patrick.”

[//]

Beep. “Hey, you’ve reached Pete and Patrick’s answering machine. We can’t come to the phone right now, but if you leave your name and number, we’ll hit you back.”

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