Chapter Text
Part 1- Before
Pete was terrified and doing his best not to show it.
Today was his first day at Naperville Central High after moving across Illinois from a tiny Bible-belt town in the far south and he was standing next to his locker in the crowded hallway, looking for someone he could ask for directions from. Getting lost on his first day wasn't part of his plan. The strange combination of his wanting-to-talk-to-people extroversion and fear of messing up within the first five minutes left him looking around for someone who looked like they might not punch him if he said something wrong. Then he noticed the boy at the locker a few down from his. He was a little shorter than Pete and was hugging the stack of books in his arms to his chest instead of putting them in his bag. Worth a shot.
"Hey, do you know where room 220 is? I'm new here," Pete added.
The boy glanced up at Pete and he couldn't help but notice how cute he was. Blue eyes behind thick-framed glasses and ginger-brown hair. From his clothing and the way he stood, shoulders hunched, Pete got the impression that he was trying his hardest to blend in. There was something telling him that he recognised this guy from somewhere- some distant memory.
"Is- is that your homeroom?" His voice was quiet.
"Yeah."
"It's mine as well, you can walk with me if you want…"
"Sure." Pete was relieved to have not been pushed away by the first person he talked to. They started to walk down the hall together. Pete felt like he was being constantly shoved by everyone, a feeling that he'd almost forgotten in his three months of online school. Nobody had yelled anything at him yet, though, which was something. "So, what's your name?" Pete asked, trying to distract himself from how self-conscious he felt.
"Patrick." Pete almost stopped walking. It can't fucking be-
"Did you- did you go to Harrisburg Elementary? Small town down the state?" Pete asked, mouth dry.
Patrick frowned. "Yes, but- Pete?" He looked about as surprised as Pete felt.
"Yeah…" Pete hesitated for a second before grinning. "Holy fuck."
Patrick gave him a small smile. "It's good to see you after almost five years." He stopped outside a classroom and pushed open the door. "Here." Pete followed him inside, waiting to see where Patrick sat before choosing the desk next to him. A few people were staring, but he knew that was to be expected as the new kid.
After watching the room for a few seconds, Pete turned back to Patrick. "How have things been?"
"Not much has changed, if I'm honest… I started playing guitar, after you kept telling me I should. A little bit of bass, as well."
"Fuck, how many instruments do you play now?"
Patrick shrugged. "I don't have drums or trumpet lessons anymore, so I can only practice drums in school and I have no time for trumpet. And I'm self-taught on guitar and bass, so it doesn’t really count. I still have piano lessons, though."
Pete decided against asking why he'd stopped drums and moved to another safe topic- "What classes are you taking?"
"All the required ones, German for my language elective and music and computer science."
"I'm doing music as well," Pete offered. "Can I see your schedule?"
Patrick nodded, before pushing up his glasses which had slipped down his nose. "He leaned down and took a laminated copy of his schedule from his bag and handed it over. Pete skimmed over it. "We have the same music and English classes- wait, you're taking AP calc?" Pete would have sworn that Patrick blushed. "Guess you're still good at math, then."
Patrick hesitated. "You know how I used to do textbook work in math because I finished everything? I did that all through middle school, too. So freshman year I was allowed to start in pre-calc."
"What are you gonna do next year, then?"
"I'm doing a dual credit class, I think. It's nice that we have two classes together." Patrick swiftly changed the subject. They talked for the rest of homeroom. Patrick was different to how Pete remembered him, which wasn't a surprise after how long it had been. But it was still weird, how much quieter and cautious Patrick seemed now. He guessed growing up did that to everyone.
When the bell rang for first period and Patrick told him, "See you in music," Pete tried to ignore the flutter in his stomach. Fuck off. He was not planning on doing that stupid thing where he ended up falling for the first person who was nice to him, especially not someone who had made everything a lot more complicated. Because he was sure that Patrick would be doing what he was, comparing his memories of Pete and how he was now. Sure, he hadn't been there when everything had gone wrong, but it meant that this wasn't as much of a clean start as Pete had hoped for.
I can live with this, Pete told himself as he walked to Health.
***
In music, they were set a practical exercise, so Pete joined a group with Patrick and one of his friends, Ryan. The work was easy enough, so they spent most of the time talking- about Pete's old school, music, Pete asking about the teachers. He hadn't realized that he'd missed this about public school. Being able to talk to people face-to-face and have actual friends.
"I missed music class," Pete commented without thinking.
"Your old school didn't offer it?" Ryan raised an eyebrow. Shit.
"I did online school for a couple months- you know, while we were sorting out moving and stuff. So it was just music theory, no practical." It was mostly true and Ryan seemed to believe him, nodding before turning to Patrick to ask about the drums for their piece. Pete let himself relax a little- he hadn't realised how on edge he'd been for the entire conversation. Talking about the past without mentioning anything that had happened in it was more difficult than he'd anticipated.
The day passed in a blur- Pete had to get back into taking notes as the teacher spoke, working with the background classroom noise, writing down homework assignments so he didn't forget them. It was exhausting. He was enjoying it to some degree, though. It was better than not leaving the house all day, every day.
In art, his final class of the day, they were assigned a group project. Pete was told to work with Brendon and Gerard. He recognised Gerard from some of his earlier classes (and had no idea who Brendon was). They were sat together at the front, so when the teacher told them to move Pete stood up and walked over to the spare desk to the right of Gerard. "Hey."
"Hey, I'm Gerard, this is Brendon." Brendon nodded at Pete as he sat down. Brendon looked like a stereotypical popular guy- styled hair, clothes that weren't creased and an easy smile. In contrast, Gerard had jaw length black hair and was wearing all black. He kept pulling at the strings of his hoodie. "So, uh. Art," he offered, making Pete laugh.
"Yeah, that's the plan."
"For you maybe, I'm just here because I need class credits," Brendon replied. "Gerard's going off to art school and I'm trying not to drop out."
"I'm not great, but I can get by," Pete said. Gerard told him that he was probably better than he thought, and with that they started discussing what they were going to do for the project. They quickly discovered that they all had some shared tastes in music. Brendon hadn't struck Pete as a punk sort of a person.
"I'm sure we can fit this into the theme somehow," Gerard decided.
Pete frowned. "What the fuck even is the theme, anyway?"
"Love, apparently."
Brendon started laughing, "Yeah, Gerard-"
"Say one more fucking word and I'll slap you."
"What?" Pete leaned over his desk.
"His boyfriend gave him a hickey and I haven't stopped making fun of him all day," Brendon explained. Gerard didn't seem that embarrassed. It took Pete a few seconds to process the fact that Brendon had said boyfriend. He hadn't thought about the fact that there might be people who were out here. That every school wasn't as bad as his last.
"I'm assuming you don't have a problem with me being gay?" Gerard said at the end of class as everyone started to make their way out.
"No, I don't care about that sort of thing. It's fine."
Gerard nodded. "Okay. Cool.”