i'm the lonelier version of you, i just don't know where it went wrong

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It wasn't even a question if Patrick was going to stay with Pete after his hospitalization stay. Despite Pete bringing it up, and sort-of wanting an answer, the fact that when they got to Patrick's place and all Patrick did was pack a quick bag and head out to the car seemed to answer that without any words.

The truth was, Patrick didn't trust himself to be alone at this point. Despite the fact that he didn't want to be a burden on his friend, he knew for a fact that he couldn't promise Pete, or anyone else for that matter, that if they dropped him home then he wouldn't find himself back in the liquor cupboard that night. It wasn't something he was especially proud of, but the fact that Pete suggested this in the first place gave him a good reason to get out of that stupid apartment.

"That's all you need to bring?" Pete asked, getting back in the driver's seat.

"Well, I mean, my place isn't a far drive, and I can always just come back if I need something." Patrick responded, trailing off into uncertainty.

"Yeah, sounds good."

The drive home was mostly silent, with Patrick occasionally taking a few sips of water from the water bottle the doctor had given him. He was better now, but he wasn't taking any chances. There was no way in hell that Patrick was going to be admitted to hospital again based on something as stupid as dehydration.

"So, we never really talked about your session with Dr Histon." Pete brought up quite randomly, and Patrick immediately tensed up. "I mean, you went and stuff but like, what did you talk about? Did it help?"

"Help with what?"

"I don't know Patrick, whatever you talked about."

Patrick was silent for a moment, thinking back to the session and the topics of conversation. "Well, I think the label or Bob or someone really must've gone and talked to them beforehand because she was really pushing chatting about the whole being on stage thing." He admitted uncomfortably.

"Did it help? Did you like... I don't know, make progress?"

Pete had been to many a therapist in his life, much thanks to his bipolar disorder, but he knew for a fact that Patrick had never experienced anything like this in his life, and therefore wouldn't really understand the system or how it worked. He wasn't surprised when Patrick just shrugged his shoulders.

"That's all good, just as long as you're comfortable talking to her, yeah? You know I've gone through all this shit and I get it, so don't like, feel that nobody gets it because I do and if you need to chat about it then, yeah."

"Thanks." Patrick murmured quietly.

The conversation ended there, and the two sat in mostly silence on the way back to the house. Pete carried Patrick's bag inside and placed it on the spare bed on top of the new bed linen he'd purchased only a few days prior. 1000 thread count sheets were quite pricey, but only the best for Pete's best friend.

"I'm not being too intruding, am I?" Patrick asked, sitting down on the edge of the bed.

"What? No, of course not. I'm the one who even suggested it in the first place."

"Oh, yeah."

Pete stood up and put his hands on his hips. "Do you want a sandwich or something? I got jam and peanut butter and regular butter and all sorts of spreads."

"Peanut butter would be great, thanks." Patrick got up. "Let me help you."

Pete didn't argue. He handed Patrick the bread and the peanut butter and let him make the lunch while Pete cleaned up some dishes that were sitting in the sink.

"Do Andy and Joe know I'm staying here?"

"Not at the moment, but I'm sure they'll find out sooner or later."

"Yeah, I guess so."

"But don't stress about it, they're decent guys, they'll understand."

Patrick was silent, and the conversation ended there while he cut the sandwiches into triangles and the two sat down to eat. Pete sensed the awkward tension and attempted to make conversation.

"So, I was thinking maybe tonight we could rent a couple of movies and have a quiet night in?"

"Yeah, cool, whatever you wanna do is fine with me."

"Any picks?"

"Your house, Pete."

"Our movie night, Patrick."

Patrick just shrugged. "Look, I'll probably just fall asleep anyway, so just watch want you want."

Pete wasn't happy with that. After 10 minutes and a ride in the car, the two found themselves in Pete's local Blockbuster. Patrick just stared blankly at the new releases wall, while Pete would occasionally pick one up and read the back, and with no response from Patrick, would put it back.

"We're gonna be here for hours if you don't pick something." Pete joked, picking up another DVD case.

Patrick sighed, and picked up one of the ones that Pete had read the blurbs of, and handed it over. "Here. This is my pick. Let's go."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes I'm sure." He answered flatly, clearly unamused and not wanting to be in this store and longer.

Pete grabbed quite a few more and headed to the checkout, and then dragged them both to the corner store to choose some snacks. Patrick knew for a fact that he really wasn't interested in any sort of candy or anything, but he also knew for a fact that Pete wasn't going to let him out until he picked something. So he grabbed the first chocolate bar he saw on the shelf and handed it to his friend, before moving outside the store to wait in the car.

Patrick really did appreciate everything his friend was doing, but for the love of god, he didn't want to be outside the house right now. He was so, so tired, and had just gotten out of hospital. He wanted to curl up on those remarkably soft sheets he hadn't noticed in Pete's house before, and just sleep for the next eternity or two.

"Got them!" Pete grinned, holding his gigantic shopping bag full of candy up high like a small child would. It was a little bit stupid, both of them had to admit, but Pete was having too much fun to care. They had a pile of action movies and a bag of candy – tonight was going to be amazing.

He carried that belief into the car, Pete talked all about all the movies they'd gotten and the stars that were in it and the reviews that said they were amazing movies and how great it was going to be considering they hadn't had a good movie night in ages. He was so caught up in his own conversation that he didn't realise that Patrick had dozed off into a light slumber in the passenger seat.

In fact, he only really noticed when he got inside and realised that his friend hadn't actually even got out of the car yet.

Patrick was having quite a good sleep when he was shaken awake on the arm. He groaned and tried to swat this unwanted intruder away, but Pete was pretty stubborn, and reluctantly Patrick groaned and opened his eyes. "I was sleeping, Pete!"

"Yeah, in my car. C'mon, you can sleep in bed." Pete sighed.

It was only then that Patrick realised where he was. "Oh, sorry."

"C'mon." Pete extended a hand and helped him up. Patrick wandered inside and kicked his shoes off before curling up in bed and quickly going back to sleep.

Pete ate the entire bag of candy and watched those movies on his own.











Another day, another midnight writing/posting session. This is why I can't stick to schedules. I get excited and then I just wanna share everything with everyone and I can't control my insatiable desire to do so. Oh well. Enjoy xxx

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