The Problem with Patrick || Fall Out Boy

the lights are on and everybody's home

Pete did go get Patrick a pie for lunch, as promised. He even drove all the way across town to find the best one, despite the doctors forewarning him that Patrick probably wouldn't be able to keep it down. If his best friend wanted a pie when he woke up from a coma, then he was sure as hell going to get one.

Pete walked into the room with a confident smile and a pie box in his hands. Patrick smiled and waved with his left hand, while a doctor was testing his blood pressure with the right. Andy was in the room now (As soon as Pete left to get the pie he made a couple of calls announcing that Patrick was awake) and greeted him as well.

"Hi Pete!" Patrick grinned widely, seemingly far too happy for someone who had just gotten out of a coma. "Look at what Andy brought me!" He held up a stuffed bear with 'get well soon' embroidered on the stomach.

"Very nice." Pete laughed, holding the box out. "I brought you the pie."

"Awww! Thank you!"

The doctor chuckled and smiled at Pete. "He's still adjusting. He'll probably be quite a bit out of it for about a week or so. He's awake but well, he's still got quite a lot of amnesia at the moment, and we're gonna run daily tests for a while to see if this is just part of the coma or something more serious. But at the moment, he's pretty happy, and is in good spirits, so everything seems to be in order."

"Thanks, doc." Pete smiled. "Other than that, is everything else in order?"

"Yeah, the vitals are mostly all normal. Blood pressure is a little high, but it's not something we need to worry about too much right now.

"Awesome. He can have the pie?"

"Yeah, but he's on some pretty strong pain medication right now, so I can't guarantee he'll keep it down." The doctor turned to Patrick. "Do you want some pie?"

Patrick just nodded.

"Yeah, that's fine." The doctor turned back. "I'll be doing rounds every half hour to check in you guys. Push the call button if anything happens. And don't let him get out of bed."

"Of course."

"Awesome. The best thing for him right now is to just sit and chat with you guys, it might help him memories and stuff."

"Pete!" Patrick interrupted loudly. "You'll be on my team, right?"

"I'm always on your team, 'Trick." Pete responded, slightly confused.

"Those two are teaming up on me and won't tell me how old I am even though I already know and want to see if they're right. So you'll tell them, right?"

"Right..."

The doctor sighed. "There's been a couple of big memory blanks. Um... he knows his first name, but not his middle and last name or age, and he doesn't know his band's name, but he knows you clearly. Hopefully that stuff will all come back soon, I'll be around."

"Yeah, alright." Pete nodded, feeling the pie getting colder in his hands. "See you soon."

The doctor smiled at all of them, put the clipboard on the end of the bed, and left the room. Pete brought over a table and gave Patrick the fork to eat his pie with, before sitting down next to Andy. Patrick did seem to enjoy the meal, getting it on the bedsheets, and on his face. He didn't seem to notice though, he was very out of it, and mostly just enjoyed getting it everywhere.

"How's he been while I was gone?" Pete asked Andy, watching Patrick with a small amused smile.

"Yeah, all good. He's been telling me all about him 'going splat'."

Pete chuckled. "I tried to make a family friendly way of explaining it."

"Mmmm." Andy nodded. "I met with Bob and a label representative yesterday about the tour and stuff."

"Yeah?"

"It's going ahead. Two months from now. Brendon's gonna sing, Patrick is gonna play lead guitar."

"What? No, no, we agreed, no replacement singers. That's just gonna crush him. Not fair."

"Pete, we wouldn't be sitting here at all if we'd made the hard call to begin with." They both looked over at the man indulging in the pie. "I love him as much as you do, but we have a contract, and we need to play the shows, and unfortunately Patrick isn't gonna be able to sing at them."

Pete shook his head. "I'm not touring with Brendon singing our songs. They're not his to sing. Besides, won't the public think it's weird that the touring singer is different to the singer on the record?"

Andy just shrugged. "I'm just telling you what the label said. You can take it up with Bob."

Pete grumbled, and buried his hands in his pockets. "I haven't even met Brendon yet. And we're supposedly touring with him in two months?"

"He's a really nice guy, Pete. Amazing vocals too, and knows how to party. I think maybe one tour with him might be what Patrick needs to break out of his shell."

"I don't think that's how Patrick's gonna see it."

"See what?" Patrick asked, looking over. "I can see great! I got my glasses back!"

Andy simply responded with a "cool" before ignoring him and turning back to Pete. "He's still playing guitar, he's still a part of the band, and he'll still come with us. We've organised everything. Like, we've got a little stool near the drums where he can sit and play, and it'll all be sorted."

"I can't believe you're going to replace our lead singer!"

"Just for one tour!"

Pete shook his head. "Just, get out. The guy just got out of a fucking coma. If you're not gonna be nice to him right now, then don't be here in his hospital room."

Andy frowned. "I'll go, but not because you asked me too. Hey, I hope you feel better Patrick." He patted Patrick's shoulder's a couple of times, before leaving the room.

"Why did he go?" Patrick asked, clearly confused.

"He... had to go play drums."

"Drums! I knew that was his instrument!" Patrick grinned. "The doctor kept asking and I knew but it was on the tip of my tongue, you know?"

"Yeah, I know. Is the pie good?"

Patrick nodded. "It's the best pie ever because you're the best friend ever."

That just made Pete smile. "Thanks, 'Trick."