Pete:

It's 8:30 am when I finally give up on trying to get some sleep. Mikey's passed out, our legs knotted up in the blue and white striped duvet. He won't be up for a few more hours. Luckily, it snowed more last night, so our friends don't have to go to school either. I put on some of Mikey's slippers and his red sweater and I walk down the stairs to the kitchen.

"Morning guys," I say with a yawn. I run my hands through my messy morning hair, trying to look half decent.

"Morning Pete. May I ask why you're wearing my boyfriend's sweater?" Frank asks, looking up from the coffee he's brewing, probably for his Way. "Do you need any coffee for Mikey? There's plenty to go around for our coffee fuelled, incredibly lazy boyfriends that are definitely not morning people."

"Do you want it? I thought the sweater was Mikey's. They have an obnoxiously cute sibling relationship." I say, grinning bashfully at the floor. It's nice to hang out with Frank, without our boyfriends. I push myself up onto the kitchen island and I cross my legs at my ankles, letting Susan steal my slippers from me.

"No thanks, it's got your sticky night sweat in it." Frank says, shoving me gently. He drops his voice to a whisper. "How's project promise ring going?" He asks.I blush bright red, thinking about my beautiful boyfriend curled up in his bed asleep.

"He's still got no idea. I'm going to give it to him the night we arrive in Chicago." I explain. "He doesn't know this yet, but that'll be the first of the surprises. My dad knows a guy who knows a guy who knows Billy Coogan, so we're surprising him with an acoustic set of songs by The Smashing Pumpkins. He owes my dad one, so we got him for free, the day before Christmas Eve." I say, looking at the floor.

"He'll love it, Pete. You're a hopeless romantic. If it makes you feel good to see me being a worse boyfriend then you, I got Gee two new binders and tickets to go and see American Idiot on Broadway. It's perfect, he's like a punk theatre kid." Frank says, running a hand lazily through his almost perfectly styled hair.

"Is Gee up yet?" I ask tentatively. I'm a bit scared of Gee. I think he still sees me as a threat to his baby brother's purity.

"He's still zonked. I'm not brave enough to go in there yet." Frank says with a grin. "What would you say to a quick game of Mario Kart before breakfast?"

"Iero, I swear we share a brain cell." I say with a smile, jumping off the kitchen countertop, being careful not to put too much strain on my ankle. "Where are all our friends?"

"They went to Denny's. Lindsey was nearly homicidal without being treated to pancakes, so Ray took her. I think they're also swinging by Hayley's to get some stuff. Andy went with them, which leaves Joe and Pat." Frank explains. "What's with those two? I swear the last time I spoke to Pat he was all over Toro."

"He just can't resist Joe, dude. He's been like this since Freshman Year. He knows that Joe will mes him about like he's done every other time, but he's been warned." I say, pushing enough menace into my tone to show him that I'm serious.

"Dude, Joe's solid. He's your bandmate. All of you guys treat Pat like he's your baby and you guys are his three parents. Pat will be fine." Frank says, reassuring me.

"Fuck Iero, I know that. I can't help but be worried, though. Pat and I basically grew up together. It nearly broke me when I had to leave Chicago before Junior High. It's a miracle that he's even here with me." I say. I'm tired. I want to be back upstairs in Mikey's bed, cuddling with him and sleeping.

Joe and Pat walk into the living room, both of them looking tired. Speak of the devil, and all that. "Morning guys," Joe says, throwing a peace sign.

"Morning Pat, morning Joe. Did you guys sleep well?" Frank asks. We're about to play Mario Kart, if you guys are up for that." Frank says, loading the disc into the Wii. "We'll have to be quiet though, Mikey and Gerard are still asleep."

"Still? I'm amazed they still can sleep with the amount of coffee they both consume. Do you remember back in freshman year when Mikey would order eight shots of espresso and milk from Starbucks just to wake himself up?" I shudder at the memory of my over caffeinated boyfriend.

"How isn't he dead? I'm pretty sure that much caffeine could kill a large horse with a high tolerance for the stuff." Frank says. I wince, worrying about him. Freshman year was a bad time for him, something that I don't want to think about too much.

"I'll give him a bit of time to wake up. Besides, I'm tired too, and now you've got Joe and Pat, I'm going back upstairs to Mikey." I say, shooting Frank an apologetic glance. "We'll hang out later, okay Frankie?" I say, ruffling my friend's hair.

"Bitch." He calls after me jokingly, no malice in his tone.

"Whore." I reply, flipping him off as I jog back up the stairs to my beautiful boyfriend.

I stand in his doorway and just watch him for a few minutes. It's less creepy than it sounds, I promise. His eyes are closed delicately and his cheeks are tinged pink. I walk over to his bed, and sit down as gently as I can on the mattress, and I swing my legs up to be on the bed next to him. He stirs a bit in his sleep, and throws an arm across my hips, snuggling his face into it. I ease myself down, lying on my back and putting an amr loosely around him. I love being able to hold him close to me. We're practically invincible like this.

We stay like this for a further two hours until Mikey finally cracks an eye open. "Morning sweetheart." I coo, kissing his forehead.

"Coffee?" He asks sleepily, yawning in such an adorable way I feel my heart soar.

"Very soon baby boy. You're going to have to let go of me, though." I say, trying to wriggle out of his seemingly iron grip. I have to ignore his puppy dog eyes, and that's almost an impossible task.

"But you're warm. Please don't leave me Petey." He says from the bed, and he sounds so genuinely upset I practically sprint back to him. He looks at me, an evil grin on his face. "I was kidding, Pete." He says, kissing my cheek. My face heats up.

"Do you still want that coffee?" I ask him, looking at him. He's squinting back at me, he can't find his glasses, and he's still 'too sleepy' for them.

"Yeah, I need to get tongue-kissed by God's greatest gift every morning or else I will actually die." He's being over dramatic, but I find it cute. I extend my arm and cup his cheek, bringing our faces closer together, our lips almost touching. "I was talking about coffee, fucker." He whispers against my lips, and I hold eye contact with him for a few more seconds before I start giggling. He then starts to laugh, and soon enough, we're almost hysterical from laughing at our own joke. Our foreheads are pressed together, and we're making intense eye contact.

Frank's standing at the door, smiling at us. "I see Pete's managed to wake you up. They bailed on Mario Kart with me for this. Here's your coffee, dude." Mikey sits up and makes grabby hands at the cup, wanting to taste the warm, rich mixture so he can wake up.

"Thanks Frankie. Is Gee up yet?" He asks after taking a long drink. His coffee consumption skills never fail to amaze me.

"I've just had to do the same with him, but with a lot more kissing. I'm shocked that you two still sleep with the amount of coffee you both drink." He says, pushing his hair back with his hand.

"So's everyone, Frank." Mikey replies, making lovey eyes at me. Trying to get Frank out of a room is harder than I first thought it would be. I guess we're just going to have to take things into our own hands.

I start by taking Gerard's sweater off and throwing it onto Mikey's bedroom floor and lying down on the bed. I pat my chest, hoping that Mikey gets the idea. He looks at me, confused, his left eyebrow raised. "Lie on my chest. I want alone time, and we can't get that with Frank in your doorway." I whisper. Mikey nods slowly - he's got the hint now.

"Guys? Oh I know what you're doing. I'll go back downstairs so you can have your alone time. So much for being best friends since the seventh grade." He says, sounding hurt.

"Frank, wait!" Mikey says, getting up off my chest and following him down the stairs. "I promise we don't want to ostracise you. You're our best friend, dude, and you know that."

"Have that chat with Pete, and then maybe I'll be more willing to hear you out." He calls over his shoulder, obviously angry at me.

Mikey walks back into his room, looking dejected and thoroughly miserable. He shuts the door behind him. "You need to talk to Frank, Pete." He says, sitting down on the mattress. "He's probably feeling left out, because Gee's so busy with school and exams and trying to find a job that'll take him next year so he can stay with me a little while longer. Plus, he's been kicked out. We don't know what he's going through. Something as simple as playing Mario Kart with him this morning would've helped. I love you, but sometimes, you need to make others your priority." I'm shocked to say the least. I had no idea. I think back to all the times I chose Mikey over one of my closest friends, and I shudder slightly. Frank's one of my best friends, besides Mikey and Pat, he's probably my best friend.

"Shit Mikey, this makes me a terrible person doesn't it?" I say, ashamed of myself. "I need to go and talk to him. Explain myself. God I'm such an awful person. I'm so sorry, Mikes." I say, covering my face with my hands.

"You're not a bad person, Petey. Sure, you can be a bit stupid and make misakes, but at the end of the day, you're only human. Everyone fucks up and makes mistakes. Hey, look at me." He says, trying to pull my hands away from my face. "You're okay, babe. You just need to go and talk to Frank. Give him a bit of time to cool down first, though." He says, holding me as close to his chest as he can without causing himself any pain.

"Can you come with me?" I ask him, my voice small.

"I don't think that would be the best idea, considering the nature of the argument." Mikey says, running his fingers through my hair.

"How did you get so smart, Mikeyway? I love you." I whisper, wanting to get some sleep. It's only 11 am, but it feels like I've been awake for hours.

"I like to think that reading the Percy Jackson series in elementary school did it." He says with a small smile. "Made me smart and gay, I mean."

"Solid choice, baby. I'll go and talk to Frank and get you two Ibuprofen to try and ease the pain in your shoulder. Speaking of which, how is it today?" I ask, massaging his scalp.

"It hurts, but not too badly. Two ibuprofen would be great, thanks." Mikey says, burrowing down into the duvet. "You got this, Petey."

I take a shaky breath and walk down the stairs to the living room. I see all my friends laughing and joking together, and I hope none of them acknowledge my existence, for once in my life. Andy seems a safe guy to ask about where Frank is.

"Hurley, buddy? Have you seen Frank? I really need to talk to him." I ask my band mate. He points to the door leading to the basement.

"He's in there. I think he's alone, but I can't be too sure." Andy says.

"Thanks dude, I owe you one." I say, running to the basement door, knocking twice and then running down. It's really dark and quiet, but sure enough, I see Frank lying on Gerard's bed.

"What do you want Pete? If you've come to rub you and Mikey's relationship in my face again, then I'm not interested." He says, his face still buried in Gerard's duvet.

"That's not what I came to do, and we both know it. I acted like an asshole to you this morning, and I know I was wrong to do what I did. You're still one of my best friends, Frankie, despite me wanting to spend more time with my boyfriend. You know how it is. The Way brothers have unfairly good genes." Frank cracks a smile at that.

"It's sweet that you came down here to explain things and apologise. I'm sorry for the way I acted towards you guys. I'm just going through it at the minute." Frank says, looking at his knotted hands in his lap.

"It's me, Frank. You can rant at me if you need to." I say, lying down next to him.

"I know I can." Frank says, moving over to me and putting his head on my chest. "If it's okay with you, though, I'd really like to stay here and cuddle. Just the two of us."

"Dude, I'm always down for platonic bro spooning, no matter the person. Come here." I say, wrapping an arm around my friend. "You comfy?"

"Yeah. Thanks Pete. You're a great friend. I doubt that Ray would even do this." Frank says into my chest.

"We can talk about whatever you want, too. That's a condition of Pete Wentz's platonic bro spooning time." I say, fondly ruffling his hair.

"There are rules to this shit? Okay, you're weird, but you're cuddling me so it's not like I'm going to stop you, weird rules or not." Frank says.

We lie there together in silence, occasionally one of us moving to un-numb our limbs. Frank's actually a good cuddle buddy. I think he fell asleep on me. I gently shake him awake. "Frank, Frank, FRANK. Wake up. It's 2:30 and I'm hungry. Besides, don't we both have two very needy fuckers up there who happen to get over dramatic easily, especially when they haven't had affection?" I say, shaking him.

"Jesus fuck Pete, get off me." He grunts, shoving me off the bed. "Was I asleep for that long?" He asks, coughing slightly.

"You're not sick are you?" I ask him, narrowing my eyes.

"It's probably just a cold. It happens every winter, the whole Epstein-Barr thing." He says, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand and smearing it on Gee's sheets.

"You disgust me, Iero." I say, rolling my eyes.

"I wouldn't sweat it, Wentz. These sheets have seen far worse. Does my hair look okay?" Frank says, rubbing his eyes.

"Fan fucking tastic. Are you feeling any better?" I ask him, trying to get my own hair to look halfway decent.

"Yeah, there's something about snuggling with the homies that makes a man feel better." Frank says, slingin his arm around my shoulder.

"Us short friends need to stick together or else the beanstalks will overthrow us." I say.

"I hope you're referring to your boyfriend when you say that." He replies.

"My broken beanstalk. Speaking of which, I need to see him." I say, messing up my hair.

"Dude, he's not Tinkerbell. He won't die from lack of attention."

"More like twinkerbell." I reply, earning a snorty giggle from Frank.

It's oddly quiet when Frank and I emerge from the basement. And it's tidy. The Way's house is rarely tidy with the lack of parental supervision. Gee's running around with a bin bag, only wearing his binder and skinny jeans. Mikey's arms are full of old pizza boxes, and he's also shirtless. I find myself staring at him, looking at his toned muscles.They seem like they're in a trance. They don't even notice Frank and I.

Until they do.

"Frank? Pete? What are you guys still doing here?" Mikey asks, putting the empty boxes in the bin bag his brother is holding open.

"We were in the basement. I was talking to Frank about something. You're going to tire yourself out cleaning this up. You go and rest, I'm sure Frank will be willing to take your place and help. Why are you guys cleaning up so suddenly, anyway?" I ask. Mikey kisses my head as he runs upstairs, presumably to rest or put a shirt on.

"Somebody read the date that Mom and Dad were coming back in British." Gerard said, shouting up the stairs to his brother. ""Turns out, they're coming back on the 12th of November instead of the 11th of December." Gerard says, running a hand through his messy hair. Shit. This isn't good.

"Do you need us to do anything?" Frank asks, putting a hand on Gee's shoulder.

"Yeah, we do. Frank, introduce yourself to the vacuum cleaner. It's in the under stairs closet. Pete, run some hot water in the sink and start wiping down any stained surfaces. We've already set a load of laundry going. They'll be home in half an hour. We have to get - at least - the kitchen and living room spotless." Gee says. He's like a stressed out parent on Christmas morning.

I jog over the sink and start filling it up, like Gerard asked me to. I love Mikey, I really do, but sometimes he just needs to think. It'll be the Irvine Welsh books he's reading all the time. I start cleaning, and we work in silence.

Mikey comes down the stairs fifteen minutes later, and swaps jobs with Gee. He probably showered. I love post-shower Mikey. He cleans up nicely, "Are you guys good with each other now?" He asks Frank and I.

"We're great, Mikey. Turns out your datemate, a term coined by yours truly, is an excellent cuddler." Frank says, smirking.

He finally found a word for it. Datemate. Now Mikey can stop feeling like a cowboy.

"I'm happy for you guys. Come here." He says, extending his good arm and wrapping us up in a hug. He kisses both our foreheads in turn. "Let's hope Gee has finally calmed down a bit."

I survey the room. They've done a good job. Mikey's sitting in my favourite chair, and he pats his lap, signalling me to join him. I do.

"You know, we all make a pretty good team." I say. He hums in response, close to falling asleep.

hey y'all, and a very happy holiday season !! so long 2020, you were awful :) sorry about the slow update, i promise that in the new year, i will try and stay on top of this book :)

thank you for reading, i hope y'all are doing okay :)

--ted x