Chapter Text
It was just Gerards luck.
Of course he would come home for the summer at the exact same moment his brother was getting his back blown out.
And his mom wasn't even home so he could pretend to not hear it while they talked over coffee.
Instead he was sitting in the living room drinking coffee by himself, his music impossibly loud.
After probably the longest 30 minutes of his life the noises stopped and Gerard was able to enjoy the comfort of his home in silence.
He heard shuffling downstairs then the familiar thumping of his brother's footsteps going up the stairs.
The door swings open and there he is, the man of the hour!
Mikey is pantsless and in a shirt that's way too big for him followed by a dorky little blonde guy who's wearing a "I ♡ Bingo!" hat and plaid pajama pants.
"Do you want juic-'' Mikey turns his head towards the kitchen and sees Gerard sitting on the couch.
"Uhhh" Mikey stands a bit slack jawed, frozen in his place.
Bingo boy just stares at him, eyes a bit wide.
"Rockin' sideburns man" Gerard says, words just tumbling out of his mouth.
"Thank you," Bingo boy says politely.
"Um," Mikey's shoulders hunch, letting the shirt fall lower to cover up more of his body "This is my boyfriend Patrick."
Patrick waves lightly, wearing a smile that’s directed towards Gerard but eyes looking at Mikey.
"Cool," Gerard nods his head, trying not to make a big deal out of it. Gay is okay and all that shit.
"I didn't know you were coming home today..."
"Yeah obviously," Gerard snorts.
Mikey goes red.
"Um let me go get decent and then we can talk."
Mikey ushers Patrick back into the basement leaving Gerard alone again.
Gerard laughs lightly to himself, it was kinda funny watching Mikey stumble around awkwardly while still trying to hold onto a bit of that signature stoic coolness.
After a few minutes they come back up, Mikey wearing one of his own shirts and Patrick wearing the shirt Mikey was wearing before.
Mikey walks into the kitchen, grabbing two cups from the cupboard. He pauses.
"D'you want anything to drink, Gee?"
"Uh no I'm good."
Gerard is watching Patrick fidget nervously on the other side of the couch.
If he was a cruel man he'd laugh, they were both so obviously still kids even if they were "technically" adults.
19 or not Mikey Way was still an awkward little boy and it was pretty obvious his boyfriend was too.
Mikey comes back with a granola bar, two glasses of juice, and a small container of sorts.
He sits down on the arm chair so he can look Gerard in the eyes.
He hands the granola bar to Patrick who opens it and starts eating it before he even looks at the glass of juice.
"So how is art school?" Mikey asks, a bit like a 40 year old woman who's over curious about her teenage son's life. All he's missing is the cardigan and the glass of wine, he was drinking grape juice though so he was pretty much already there.
"Uh pretty good," Gerard answers.
It's incredibly awkward. Silence envelops the room, only being interrupted by slight chewing from Patrick. There’s tension, not necessarily bad but uncomfortable enough to weigh down all of their chests like anchors.
The door makes an unlocking noise.
Oh thank God , Gerard thinks to himself.
Who knew accidentally walking in on your brother with his boyfriend would make this uncomfortable.
Donna Way walks in the home, wiping her feet on the rug and throwing her purse down on the floor.
"Patrick honey have you taken your meds?" She asks, temporarily ignoring her eldest child.
"Workin' on it," He makes grabby hands at Mikey who hands him the container he was holding before.
Patrick takes a pill out and swallows it down easily with the help of his apple juice.
"Now Gerard sweetie get up and hug your mother."
Gerard stands up easily and lets himself be hugged tightly by his mother.
"Now look at your hair, it's so long!" She tugs on a strand on the back of his head.
She pulls back, hands still on his shoulders, and examines his face closely.
"Are you eating enough? Getting enough sleep?"
"Yes mom, I'm fine."
"Good." She pats his shoulder once and turns to the rest of the room.
"I have to do some work on my computer, I'll be back out in time for dinner I promise."
She smiles at everyone before walking down the hallway into her room.
"So how long have you guys been," Gerard waves a hand between Mikey and Patrick.
He figures it's a valid question since his mother knew Patrick's medicine schedule.
"Um," Mikey looks at Patrick for a second "Like 8 months."
So basically as soon as Gerard left.
"Oh, cool." Gerard nods his head "How long has she known?"
"Um." Mikey's eyes shift down, "She doesn't know yet."
Oh.
"Oh." Gerard repeats, outloud this time.
"Do you plan on telling her?" He then asks.
"No."
"Mikey.. she won't mind she's our mother."
"And she definitely won't mind not knowing." He says quietly.
Gerard decides to drop it. He didn't understand they both knew their mother was accepting but it wasn't Gerard business. He wasn’t going to force him to come out, he couldn’t force him to come out and he sure as hell wasn’t going to out his baby brother.
"Whatever," He shrugs.
Patrick looks uncomfortable but is fidgeting significantly less.
Mikey looks at him, eyes dragging down his face, saying nothing.
"You can go put your stuff downstairs if you want."
Gerard nods, deciding he might as well.
He picks up his duffel and messenger bag and heads down to the basement.
It was an unspoken agreement that he'd be down there, that's where he slept when he lived with them and that's where he'd sleep now
Gerard looks at the messy unmade bed and mixture of clothes on the ground and shakes his head lightly.
He puts his bags down on the futon that's pushed into the corner of the room.
Nothing has really changed since he’s left.
The only difference is that the horror posters Gerard took with him when he moved have been replaced with pictures of Mikey and Patrick.
He steps closer to the taped up photos on the wall.
He recognizes a few of the people.
He remembers Frank, a short rowdy guy who played guitar just like he acts (loudly, obnoxiously, and with so much energy you could get out of breath just from watching.) He also knows Gabe Saporta, hell everyone knows Gabe Saporta. But most of the pictures are Mikey, Patrick and a man who Gerard has never met. He’s got the typical emo bang and is wearing a shirt that makes no sense. “Stump Club.” Gerard doesn’t pretend to understand.
He looks at more of the pictures, some are just with Stump Club, others are just of Stump Club and Patrick together.
It’s sweet that Mikey keeps pictures of his friends.
Gerard comes back upstairs and sees that Mikey has moved onto the couch and is probably sitting way too close to Patrick.
“I like your pictures down there.” Gerard says, returning to his spot on the couch. “Who’s that guy, with the” he swoops his hand on his forehead “the bang?”
Patrick looks at Mikey as the taller boy’s entire face lights up.
“Oh that’s Pete! He’s awesome, he plays guitar and the bass too.” Mikey explains with childish joy.
Gerard opens his mouth to speak but is interrupted.
“And he’s got this fashion thing going on right now where he designs his own clothes,” He squares his shoulders and pulls the fabric of his shirt out to show the design properly “See he made this.”
Gerard takes a better look at the shirt, it read “Please Call Gabe Saporta (917)400-0979”
Gerard laughs, “That’s his actual phone number isn’t it?”
Patrick says “Not anymore” and Mikey laughs, his entire face crunching up as he looks at his boyfriend. Gerard can’t help but laugh with him.
“It’s great he designs so much. It’s like he’s always doing something. Using his mind in some way.” Mikey explains.
Patrick nods “Writing lyrics or designing clothes, always .”
“Shit he writes music?” Gerard asks.
“Yeah, like the best music ever.” Mikey says “He plays guitar and Patrick sings, you should hear it.”
Gerards eyes widen, Patrick did not seem like the kind of guy to sing and be good at it.
“Do you guys have any recordings?” He asks Patrick.
“Uh, not yet, we've been having some conflicts,” Patrick tries to explain.
“It’s not really a conflict, I just suck at the bass.” Mikey shrugs.
Gerard’s eyes widen even more, “Didn’t take you as the band type, Mikes.”
“I didn’t either until Pete forced me to learn how to play his bass.” Mikey smiles fondly.
Gerard looks over at Patrick, a bit surprised the shorter boy isn’t dripping with jealousy.
“That’s awesome you guys should play for me sometime before summer ends.”
“Yeah for sure man,” Patrick seems to be more in his element when talking about music.
“I mean it might be a while because I like really suc-”
Mikey is cut off by the beeping of Patricks watch.
“Oh shit, I forgot I’ve gotta go pick up Pete from soccer.” Patrick shoots up off the couch, smacks a kiss to Mikey’s forehead and scrambles out of the house with a shout of “I’ll be back in a minute!”
“You guys are sweet,” Gerard says, looking at the now closed door.
“Yeah he’s perfect,” Mikey is looking down, face tinged red.
“I’m excited to meet this Pete guy,” Gerard says.
Mikey doesn’t say anything.
“What kind of music do you guys make?” Gerard asks, trying to keep his little brother a little engaged.
“Would you laugh at me if I said emo,” Mikey smiles slightly.
“Of course not thats fucking awesome. I still can’t believe Patrick sings, let alone stuff like that.”
“Oh Gee, he’s absolutely phenomenal. Probably the best singer I’ve ever heard.” Gerard can basically see the hearts in Mikey’s eyes when he speaks. “And Pete can scream , like actually scream. He was made for punk.”
“And get this he’s a political science major, so he's like educated also.” Mikey keeps talking.
If Gerard didn’t just meet his boyfriend he would’ve thought Mikey had a crush on Pete.
“Oh, he’s like educated .” Gerard pokes fun at Mikey.
“Mhm and he’s in allstar soccer. He’s practically perfect.” Mikey jokes.
The door flings open without a warning “Oh my God,” a new voice groans.
Gerard’s head snaps towards the door.
Pete .
“Mikey,” The boy groans louder, flopping his body over the couch, his and Mikey’s heads almost colliding.
When Pete opens his eyes he’s looking at Gerard.
“Who are you?” He says, with no hesitation.
Patrick snorts quietly, covering his mouth with a quick hand.
“That’s Gerard,” Mikey answers “Y’know, my brother who I said would be visiting over the summer.
“Oh awesome! I’m Pete Wentz,” He shoves his hand towards Gerard trying to act polite even while draped over the top of the couch.
“Nice to meet you Pete Wentz,” Gerard nods slowly and smiles politely.
Pete was not really the kind of person he expected Mikey to hang around.
“D’you wanna go downstairs? I have an idea and I need to talk this out right now or I'll explode.” Pete says after pulling his hand away from Gerard.
Mikey nods.
“You mind if I join?” Gerard asks, he needs to see inside this kid's brain.
Pete looks at Patrick who shrugs.
Pete nods, “Mi casa es su casa..” He then remembers whose house he’s in and tries to correct himself “err, su casa es.. Su casa..” He trails off.
Mikey smiles gently and rolls his eyes, heading down to the basement.
Pete talks while stomping down the stairs.
“Okay so I’m thinking, the title is like.. An abbreviation or something. Something hidden just for us, you know?”
Patrick nods.
Pete flops himself down on the messy bed, throwing Mikey’s skinny jeans on the floor.
“Okay so I wrote some stuff down,” He pulls a mini notebook out of his pocket.
He hands the notebook to Patrick, who reads through it smiling a bit.
“So it’s like a love song.” Patrick hands the notebook to Mikey.
“Yeah in a fucked up way.”
Mikey reads it, nodding his head. He passes it to Gerard.
‘ You hold me up even though you don’t really know who I am. Sometimes I wonder what it’s like to be you when we're making out in crashed cars, when we're sleeping through memories. I used to waste my time dreaming of being alive but now I waste my time dreaming of you and I've never felt more alive. Turn off the lights, turn on the confidence, all of our moves are making up for your silence. God, the way your makeup stains his shirt and my pillowcase. I’ll never be the same. I've got headaches and shit luck but you still hold me up. Nothing bad could ever touch you the way I do.’
Some of the lyrics didn’t make sense to Gerard but he had to admit they were raw poetry .
“This is fucking awesome man,” Gerard says, taking a second to absorb the words.
Pete smiles lightly, “Thanks.”
“I already kinda have an idea for the bass line,” Pete starts.
Mikey doesn't have to be asked before grabbing his bass from the corner of the room and handing it to Pete.
“Thanks babe,” Pete mutters, taking the bass by the neck.
Gerards eyes widen.
The other boys have already moved on by the time it take him to even think “what the fuck?”
“Okay so I'm thinking a little bit faster. More like rock.” He plays a fast bassline, only fumbling a little bit.
“Patrick, can you go get my guitar out of your trunk?” Pete asks, looking up at him with the biggest puppy eyes Gerard thinks a college student can muster.
Patrick sighs but gets up and presumably heads to his car.
“Okay so Mikes,” Pete scoots over to Mikey until their thighs are touching.
Mikey looks at Pete like he’s hung the stars, Gerard cringes.
“So we're gonna start off on the D string, the low one,” Gerard realizes the bass is tuned in drop D “3rd fret 3 times then 5th fret 4 times alright?”
Mikey nods as Pete slides the bass in his lap.
“Kinda in a dun-dun doo doo doo pattern okay?”
Mikey nods again, slowly, and tries to play what Pete told him too.
He goes slower then Pete did but he gets down the first part pretty well.
Patrick’s footsteps echo down the hallway and neither of them move.
Gerard raises an eyebrow, Wouldn’t Patrick think it was weird that they were basically sitting on top of each other?
“Got your guitar. Might be out of tune though.” Patrick says, setting the instrument down on the bed lightly.
“Perfect.”
Pete finally scoots away from Mikey so he can grab the guitar.
“Okay.” He plays a few notes at random. “It’s in tune enough, yeah?”
Patrick shrugs in response, “I mean for practice sure.”
Patrick picks up the notebook from the bed and rereads the lyrics.
“We're gonna have to change a few of these lines so they can fit a pattern,” He says.
Pete grunts in response, playing power chords over and over again.
Gerard looks over at Mikey who is moving his fingers up and down the strings without actually plucking them. His eyes are glossed over and focused between the two boys in front of him.
A knock on the basement door grabs their attention easily.
The door creaks open and Donna’s voice drifts through the stairway “Dinner’s ready boys!”
Pete sighs melodramatically and puts down the guitar.
Patrick slides off the bed and Mikey follows him leaving Gerard sitting down still.
They all scramble up the stairs and Gerard follows them, albeit much slower.
When Gerard finally makes it up stairs Patrick and Mikey are setting the table and Pete is getting a glass of water while talking to Donna.
“Donna you’ll never guess it actually. I got hit in the head by Siska and we still won.” Pete talks with his hands, almost sloshing water from his cup onto the floor.
“That’s so great Pete,” Gerard stifles a laugh at his mother treating Pete like a child.
“Yeah I know I swear, this is our season.” Pete says finally setting the glass of water down where he wanted to sit.
Gerard just stands and watches them, he doesn’t know where to fit himself into the situation.
Patrick sits down after pulling a chair out for Mikey to sit down on. Pete joins them shortly after, on the other side of Mikey.
Donna sets down a casserole dish with a concoction of rice, cheese, and chicken then sets down a small plate of rice, broccoli, peppers, and cheese in front of Pete.
Gerard raises an eyebrow but doesn't say anything as he sits down.
“So I already heard about Pete’s school week,” Donna starts, scooping out portions for everybody “What about you Patrick?”
“Uh,” Patrick says, “I started tutoring this new kid, and she’s like a prodigy.”
Donna nods.
“She’s probably better than I am honestly, and if she isn’t now she will be in a week.”
“That’s nice, you know it's so good to see more kids getting into music like that. It’s hard to find real talent these days.”
Pete nods solemnly.
They eat in silence for a bit.
“So how’s art school, hon?” Donna finally asks Gerard.
“Oh, It’s good. I’ve been painting a lot. Writing a comic, you know how it is.”
She nods as if she understood art school at all.
Donna tried to be open minded but she had a hard time understanding her eldest son's interest in physical art.
“That’s great!”
Gerard nods.
“And I’ve been talking to this girl, Lindsey. She’s in my intro to 3D art class.”
“Oh honey! That’s great, I’m glad you were able to find somebody,” She smiles kindly.
The rest of dinner passes in silence besides the occasional small talk from Donna and Gerard.
Once Mikey finishes his food he grabs his and Pete’s plate and carries them to the sink. He stands at his seat and waits for Patrick to take his last few bites before doing the same for him.
“We’re gonna go downstairs and practice some more.” Mikey says.
Donna nods and allows the boys to go back downstairs.
They all rush away and down the stairwell.
Patrick comes back up the stairs a few minutes later saying he has to go grab an instrument from his house.
Gerard and his mother eat in silence for ten more minutes before Gerard decides he wants to join his younger brother and his friends in the basement.
Gerard opens the door and starts walking down the stairs, he stops when he hears a small whimper.
He creeps down the stairs slowly, he’s lived in this house long enough to know which stairs creaked and which didn't.
He peaks around the corner to see if he can see what's happening.
The sight of Pete laying on top of Mikey kissing him aggressively is enough for Gerard to whip his head back into a safe zone.
He clenches his eyes shut, oh poor Patrick .
Gerard stomps his feet lightly on the stairs to try and “warn” them of his presence.
He hears shuffling of fabric when he stops, gives them an extra second and walks into the room.
Mikey’s lips are a bit puffy but besides that they look almost normal. A bit guilty, as they fucking should be , but overall normal.
“You guys practicing?” Gerard asks after clearing his throat.
“Not right now, we gotta wait for Patrick.” Pete says.
Mikey nods his head.
Gerard can't help but feel like they don’t want Patrick back.
“We’re probably gonna practice for a little bit longer then watch a movie,” Mikey says, his voice cracks a little bit at the end of his sentence.
“Cool,” Gerard nods his head, still a bit uncomfortable with the knowledge that his brother was cheating on his boyfriend.
“So what’s the Stump Club shirt about?” Gerard asks.
“Oh man,” Pete starts.