darkangel_0410 | this is you and me and me and you... (Reply)

“Hey, can I ask you something?”

Pete stopped texting Patrick to look at Frankie’s uncharacteristically serious face. “Sure, Iero. What’s up?”

Frankie dropped onto the sofa next to Pete; all around them people were getting ready for the concert that night.

He fidgeted for a minute, picking at his pants nervously, before he said in a rush, “When did you know you were mated to Patrick?”

Pete debated for a minute on not answering, but mentally shrugged it off; he hadn’t promised Bob anything. Besides, it wasn’t like he was telling Frankie he was mated to Bob, all he was doing was answering a question.

Sometimes semantics were your best friend.

“I just kind of…knew. Even before I saw him, his scent just seemed right to me; he smelled like home and want and heat and something that made him mine. Then he opened the door,” Pete paused, a small, secret smile on his lips.

“He opened the door and there was this quiet click in my head, like something was finally back where it belonged. It felt like I finally found something I didn’t even know I was searching for.

“Argyle and all, he was mine. And I was his.”

It was more sentimental than Pete usually got; he figured he was allowed once in a while.

“But, like, how did you know it wasn’t just, like, a friend thing?” Frank asked quietly.

Pete burst into laughter and waved a hand at the resulting scowl on Frank’s face. “Trust me, Frankie, I never wanted to fuck any of my friend’s quite that badly,” Pete snickered. “But there’s this insane rush to touch the other person; to mark them, make them yours. You’re lucky if you stop fucking long enough to eat for the first week or so.

“Patrick missed almost a full week of school when we were first mated,” Pete remembered smugly.

“Is it always like that?” Frankie wondered, eying the bruises on Pete’s neck.

“Not usually,” Pete answered wryly. “It mostly evens out after the first few months; by then, you’re pretty much assured of your place in each other’s lives.

“It’s only when someone threatens or challenges your claim on your mate that this happens,” Pete told him, waving at the various bruises littering his body.

Frank was quiet for a minute, absorbing the information. “OK, but humans –can humans be mated to shapeshifters?”

“Jesus, Iero, what kind of question is that?” Pete scoffed and rolled his eyes. “Of course they can; Patrick’s dad is mated to a human.”

“But I thought I heard Patrick say that both his parents were dragons,” Frank said with a frown.

“They are,” Pete confirmed and raised an eyebrow at Frank’s obvious confusion. “Patrick’s parents aren’t mated; they met in college and liked each other enough to have Kevin and Patrick.

“Patrick’s dad met his mate when he was in his thirties. It happens that way sometimes,” Pete said with a shrug.

“But he just left? Like, he moved out and everything?”

“Well, yeah. Dude, he found his mate; no one would have expected him to ignore that, Frank. Hell, if you had asked me before now, I would have said not acting on a mate bond was impossible.

“Patrick’s mom understood,” Pete went on, his voice quiet. “They both knew when they decided to have kids together, that there was always the chance they would find their mate. It’s not like he abandoned them or anything, he just moved out.

“So, yeah, to answer your question, humans and shifters can mate; it usually ends up that way, honestly –there are a lot more of you guys than there are of us.

“And to answer the question I can practically see you asking next,” Pete grinned smugly. “I have no idea if a human would feel the bond the same way; I’d assume, though, from what I’ve seen, that they at least feel the bond enough to want to be around their mate, that they feel that inexplicable pull to them, even if they don’t understand what it is at first.”

Pete waited until Frank wandered off with an absent “thanks,” before he pulled his phone out and texted Patrick, snickering the whole time.

ull nvr guess wht frnke jst askd me…

The end of July rolled around and Pete was ready to kill Mikey; he hadn’t repeated the incident from earlier in the month, hadn’t even put his arm around Pete’s shoulder. What he was doing was crowding Pete, sitting next to him if Patrick wasn’t around, texting him when Pete was avoiding him. Patrick had already broken his Sidekick twice and the record company told Pete that if he lost or damaged another one, he had to pay for it out of pocket. Patrick was getting increasingly possessive, snapping and growling at anyone who got too close to Pete and he had been getting into more fights; it was getting to the point that Pete was starting to think that if he just let Patrick beat the shit out of Mikey it would get everything back to something approaching normal.

The only plus side as far as Pete was concerned was the fact that he was getting laid all the time. He was pretty sure that he and Patrick hadn’t fucked this much since they were first mated. Any time Patrick smelled Mikey on Pete –which was actually a lot easier to make happen than people assumed- he dragged Pete off for sex.

Not only that, but he was making sure Pete had plenty of bruises and hickeys that were visible; the humans on the tour were starting to give him concerned looks and even the other shifters were starting to reach the point where they were losing patience with Mikey.

None of them wanted the kind of attention that a fistfight between Patrick and Mikey would bring, especially since it was likely to go on until one of them couldn’t move enough to get up any more. But it was looking more and more like it was going to come down to that.

It was almost two in the morning when there was a knock on the door; Joe looked over at Pete and Patrick questioningly but they both shrugged.

Joe got up and there was a murmur of voices Pete picked out as Gerard and Joe before Patrick tensed and he caught Mikey’s scent along with Ray’s right before Joe led them back into the front lounge where they were watching The Lost Boys.

“Hey, guys,” Gerard said sheepishly, waving awkwardly.

Pete moved closer to where Patrick was on the couch and draped his legs over Patrick’s, hoping to stave off the inevitable growling and snarling that was going to follow if Mikey was going to stay on the bus for much longer.

“I was, uh, wondering if we could stay here for a few hours, until we get the room keys for the hotel?”

“Why?” Patrick asked, his voice deeper than normal as he eyed Mikey suspiciously; he placed his hand on Pete’s knee in a proprietary manner that made Pete smile fondly at his mate even though he was mentally rolling his eyes; he couldn't wait until shit went back to normal -he was starting to feel like some heroine in a crappy romance movie.

“Bob and Frankie finally got their shit together,” Ray answered with a wry smile. “And they're being kind of, uh, loud.”

“No shit?” Pete asked, sharing a grin with Patrick and a high five with a giggling Joe.

“Yeah, Frank started yelling at Bob, telling him that he could make his own decisions and that no one would ever tell him –Frankie- what to do,” Gerard explained, a pleased smile on his face. “Next thing we know, he's latched onto Bob and he looked like he was trying to swallow Bob's tongue.”

“Can you shut the fuck up, please?” Andy called out from the bunks, his voice grumpy and sleepy. “I’ve grown used to my three jackasses, but everyone else needs to be quiet.”

“Dude, Bryar and Iero finally started fucking!” Joe told him, his voice gleeful. “Now Gabe owes me $50 and a dime bag.”

“Joseph,” Andy said and just that one word was enough to stop Pete and Patrick from snickering as well Joe; Andy using your full name never meant anything good. And if he progressed to middle and last names –well, it was something to be avoided at all costs. He was a lot like parents in that way; although, Patrick had never run into anything that scared him as badly as Andy had been known to.

Ray and Gerard still looked amused; even Mikey’s mouth twitched into a smile for a second. Patrick figured they could be forgiven –not only didn’t they live with Andy for three-thirds of the year, they had never seen Andy get really angry before.

“Joseph,” he repeated, his voice losing it's sleepy quality. “I don’t care if they decide to go fuck half of Warped –I’m trying to get some fucken sleep here. Understand?”

Joe winced and nodded quickly even though Andy couldn’t see him; after a minute there was a quiet rustling that meant Andy had turned over to go back to sleep and all three of them breathed a sigh of relief.

“Right,” Gerard drawled, his amusement obvious. He understood their reactions, though; Bob was epic once he actually lost his temper –maybe it was a drummer thing. He did make an effort to lower his voice, it was only funny as long as he –and his brother- didn’t get caught in the crossfire.

No matter how annoying said brother was being, Gerard thought and mentally sighed as Mikey kept sneaking glances at where Pete was draped over Patrick.

“So, can we stay here? It would only be until seven or so; that's when Brian's usually awake enough to get the rooms sorted out.”

Joe shrugged and opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, Patrick growled, “No.

“I can't,” Patrick paused for a second, clearly trying to get himself under control; Pete placed his hand on Patrick's thigh and squeezed comfortingly. “Mikey can't stay,” he went on, his voice a little more even. “It's already taking all my self-control to leave him alone now, if he stays for much longer...”

Patrick trailed off but kept his gaze on Mikey, hard and analyzing; for a second Mikey couldn't understand why it made him feel off balance but then he realized it was exactly the same way a predator watched it's prey, patient and knowing eventually you'll move the wrong way and then he'll have you.

Mikey dropped his eyes and for the first time he wondered if this was really the right road to go down.

“Alright,” Gerard said with barely concealed irritation and Mikey knew he wasn't imagining the angry look his brother leveled at him. “We'll go over by the Midtown bus; Gabe, at least, should still be awake.”

They turned to go and Mikey glanced over his shoulder as he left the lounge area; Pete's head was bent close to Patrick's, grinning as he listened to whatever Patrick was murmuring to him.

Neither Ray or Gerard commented on Mikey's quietness for the rest of the night; the Midtown bus was more than loud enough to distract everyone so that they left him alone.

Almost a week later, Patrick found Pete sitting at one of the many tables that were scattered around, talking to a women around their own age; Patrick narrowed his eyes and almost growled when she shoved Pete's shoulder playfully. She wasn't flirting with Pete, wasn't even sitting too close to him, but Patrick still felt like he needed to go over and insert himself into their conversation.

Part of Patrick's brain realized exactly how ridiculous he was being, but the Shapeshifter part of him kept telling him that there was already one person questioning his claim on his mate, better to go over there and let this women know that Pete was taken, was already his before she tried to take him.

Even as he laughed at himself, Patrick headed towards the two of them.

Pete looked up and grinned. “Patrick, this is Alicia. Alicia this is my mate, Patrick.”

“Hey,” Alicia greeted him, offering him a wide smile. Patrick nodded, trying to place her scent; human, definitely, but there was the familiar smell of fur and snow there, too.

“My parents are wolves,” Alicia explained as he sat down next to Pete. “But I'm human; I was adopted when I was two.”

“I was just telling Alicia about Bob and Frank,” Pete told him and smirked. “I'm never going to let Bob forget this; a fucken year, Christ.”

“I still have no clue how he managed to stay away from Frankie for so long,” Patrick mused, absently pressing his leg against Pete's.

“Because he's a dumbass,” Pete scoffed as he turned to include Alicia in the conversation; he dropped his right hand down onto his mate's thigh and unconsciously started trailing his fingers along it. “He finds his mate and what does he do? Pout for an entire year with out even bothering to ask Frankie if he might be interested in something besides being friends.”

“Pete,” Patrick admonished, but it lost any sting it might have had since he was snickering along with Alicia.

“What, Lunchbox?” Pete asked, mock innocently, a smirk still fixed on his lips.

Patrick shook his head but before he could say anything, he caught sight of Mikey out of the corner of his eye and he stiffened, unable to stop the rumble of possessiveness that started in his chest and came out as a growl as Mikey spotted them and headed over.

Pete looked up and mentally braced himself for the inevitable fight even as he pressed closer to Patrick's side.

“Don't worry, it's not you,” Pete assured Alicia quietly when she started to look worried.

Patrick's eyes were fixed on Mikey, watching his progress intently; mentally cataloging every move he made and filing the information away to be used later.

About halfway there, Mikey abruptly halted and tilted his head to the side, a confused expression on his face. He inhaled sharply, obviously enough that Patrick caught it and raised an eyebrow, completely baffled about what Mikey was doing.

After another long minute, Mikey's gaze zeroed in on them. No, not them, Patrick realized, he was completely focused on Alicia. As Mikey got closer, Patrick easily recognized the look on his face.

“No way,” he said, his voice colored with disbelief and amusement. Pete turned to him questioningly and all Patrick could do was gesture at Alicia and chuckle.

Pete frowned, still confused and looked at Alicia just as she glanced over her shoulder and caught sight of Mikey. “Oh,” he breathed out, suddenly understanding as Alicia bit her lip and shifted in her seat, making the scent of arousal obvious.

“Hey,” Mikey said when he got there, his eyes still fixed on Alicia.

“Hi,” Alicia told him, unable to stop herself from giving him a quick once over.

“You want to go hang out or something?” Mikey asked, his voice breathless but the intent there was obvious.

“Sure,” Alicia answered and got up; Mikey tangled their fingers together and after looking at her again, he turned and left, Alicia keeping up with him eagerly.

Patrick looked at his mate and did the only thing he could at this point: laugh. After a startled noise, Pete joined him, just as relieved that now Mikey would stop it and that everything could go back to what passed as normal during Warped Tour.

The last week and a half of Warped was a scramble; Gerard and the rest of the band put out the word that Mikey had a bad case of food poisoning and they scrambled to find substitute bass players for the shows. Pete took a hefty amount of them, shrugging it off when Gerard thanked him profusely.

“We're friends, right? Or, at least, we will be now that this-” Pete waved a hand to indicate Mikey's semi-stalking of him all summer and the consequent fall out- “has finally worked out without Mikey ending up in the hospital.”

Even Patrick was happy to lend a hand during a song or two, to the delight of both the crowd and his mate. “'Trick's talent is fucken ridiculous,” Pete told a group of fans when they went outside to sign after one of the shows. “He can literally play circles around everyone we know. I'm just lucky he decided to stay with my dumb ass.” He gave Patrick a quick peck on the lips to the delighted cooing of said fans and the blushing embarrassment of Patrick.

“Was it this much of a pain in the ass finding replacements for us?” Bob wondered one day while one of the techs tried to learn one of their songs.

“Worse,” Gerard answered, keeping an eye on the tech. “We were lucky enough to have a couple days off mixed in the week you guys were, uh, busy, but we had to find two replacements instead of one and at that point, neither Pete or Patrick would come near the stage while we were on, so. Yeah, definitely worse.”

Bob looked apologetic for all of three seconds before he caught sight of Frankie and he grinned his eyes following his mate. Gerard rolled his eyes; did mating make everyone act like idiots?

At that moment he caught sight of Pete leading Patrick to the stage and Patrick looking annoyed but there was no mistaking the gleam in his eyes when his gaze rested on Pete.

Gerard snorted; yeah, it definitely did.

On the last day of Warped, Patrick was standing around, saying good-bye to everyone when Mikey came up to him, an uncomfortable look on his face.

“I just wanted to apologize,” Mikey told him; he glanced around before finally looking Patrick in the eye. “I shouldn't have -well, you know.

“I didn't understand the bond or anything and I'm sorry. I should have backed off as soon as Pete told me he wasn't interested, but I get tunnel vision sometimes, you know? And I don't give up easily.

“It's never happened with another person before, though,” Mikey mused thoughtfully; he shook his head and went on when Patrick just continued to look at him steadily. “I get now what Bob meant when he said that Pete would never leave you, that he would never want to.

“I guess I always kind of thought that you tricked or trapped into it, that he never had a choice in the matter. But now I know that it's not like that. Or, if it is, that both of you are trapped together, that neither one of you had a choice. And, really, that you wouldn't have wanted one, not once you met Pete.

“And Pete wouldn't, either. So, I'm sorry, for the whole summer.”

Patrick eyed him up for a minute before he said, “I really don't think I'm the only one you should be apologizing to.”

“I already told Pete I was sorry,” Mikey admitted with a rare smile. “He waved it off and told me he understood. Which I know is bullshit, but I appreciate the sentiment.”

Patrick made him wait a few more minutes before he nodded slowly. “I guess we're good.”

“Awesome,” Mikey said, looking relieved. “I've got to go collect Alicia and let Gerard know we're ready to leave, but you should come hang out if you guys are ever in Jersey.”

Patrick watched him go; the human part of him content to let it go, but the shifter in him insisted on watching him leave, not sure if this was a trick to try to make him less cautious. After all, a dragon doesn't change his scales overnight, that part whispered to him.

He relaxed as he felt Pete come up behind him, wrap his arms around his waist. “Told you this summer was going to be crazy,” Pete murmured as he rested his chin on Patrick's shoulder.

Patrick rolled his eyes but he leaned into Pete's weight contentedly. “You are the master of understatement sometimes, Wentz.”