~peterick oneshots~

rejected II

months passed before pete had actually thought about him. patrick. the days passed by slowly and pete tried his best not to look at the blonde- watch him as he took small sips from his coffee. he did not. pete mostly ignored the man, serving others, tiptoeing around him and allowing other workers to serve him.

until one day. this day specifically pete remembered well.

patrick was rather early. he came in the shop around one, clearly distraught. tear stained cheeks; teary, bloodshot eyes, disheveled hair. he was a complete mess.

pete frowned, watching him enter the small shop. concerned, he brought over a water bottle, offering it shyly. "a-are you okay...?" he asked quietly.

patrick looked up at pete, sniffing as he nodded slightly. it was clearly a lie. "y-yeah," he whispered, sitting at his usual table.

"um... do you need anything? someone to talk to?" pete offered, feeling mostly like he should ask just because it is a common decency. though, he did really want to know what bothered such a sweet man. did someone die? did he and his boyfriend break up? what could cause him such distress?

patrick took a moment, staring down at the gray table, letting his breathing even out. he tried to compose himself, get his thoughts and all together. he took in a long breath, holding it for a few seconds, as he turned to look at pete, who stood awkwardly in wait for instruction.

"some water and a blueberry muffin, please." patrick breathed out his shaky breath.

pete nodded quickly, sitting the bottle of water that he grabbed on the table. "i-i'll be right back." he said, scurrying off to get a fresh muffin for the upset man.

patrick nodded slightly, staring at the table as he waited for his muffin.

soon pete returned, placing the muffin in front of patrick. "is there anything else I can do?" he asked quietly.

"y-yeah," patrick nodded, looking up from the muffin. "um... would you mind talking to me...? things are kind of... shit."

pete nodded some. "I would love to talk and help you out, patrick," he started, kind of happy that he remembered the guy's name. "but I can't at this exact moment."

patrick nodded, offering a small smile. "well, thanks an-"

"no, no! I was going to say, I have a break in ten minutes. I will gladly talk then."

"oh, alright... thank you." patrick said quietly. "you should get back to work then." he said, offering another small smile.

pete nodded, leaving the small man to his muffin that he only picked at.

eventually the ten minutes passed and pete was on his break. he made his way to patrick's table, offering a smile as he sat across from him. "what's going on?" he asked softly.

"well, um, I'm sure remember the boyfriend I told you about?" patrick asked, kind of feeling bad for bringing him up to pete. considering the last time he and the guy had any type of interaction was because patrick was faithful to the cheating bastard.

though, patrick received a nod, pete listening intently.

"yeah, I remember."

"right... well, I found out today that he had been cheating on me with some guy named ryan..." patrick spoke, scoffing as he remembered walking in on the two- remembered seeing ryan and brendon- the way brendon looked as he fucked his whore.

patrick shook his head slightly, glancing away from pete. "I trusted him. I gave him so much, and he just... he threw it all away! I don't know why I keep falling for these assholes! they say they love me and then cheat on me or leave me because I'm not enough or because they just stopped loving me-" patrick rambled on, getting only for flustered and frustrated- mostly with himself, it seemed.

pete let him, listened quietly, not yet stopping to interject. not yet telling patrick that he deserved better. he just let him get it out.

eventually patrick sighed, realizing he had been rambling over his ridiculous relationship with brendon. he came to the conclusion that he simply was not good enough, staring down at his half eaten muffin. "I'm sorry," he whispered. "wasting your time..."

"no, no!" pete shook his head quickly. "you've not wasted my time. I'm happy to listen if that would help." he explained. "patrick, I know nothing about you. but, from the interactions we've had, you seem very nice, and I'm positive all those guys- brendon especially- made a huge mistake with letting you go. no, I'm not just saying this to make you better. not because it's what you need to hear, and not because I like you. I'm telling you this because I genuinely believe that, yes, they made an enormous mistake."

patrick watched pete for any signs that he was lying, but who was he kidding? if he could spot signs of that, he would not be here right now. he only nodded in response, no energy to argue over how stupid he was, and how right the men were to leave him.

"listen, I'm always here if you want to talk. we don't know each other, but you seem very nice." pete said, writing his number on a napkin and sliding it over to him. "text or call, I don't care. I'll answer." he stood, flashing patrick a smile as he began to walk away.

"uh, w-wait!" patrick said, reaching out to stop pete.

"yeah?" pete turned to face him, offering that same smile.

"um..." patrick mumbled, face flustered as he tried to think of his words. it took him a moment, but he choked down the growing lump in his throat. "w-what time do you get off? maybe- maybe we could go out for drinks or something...?"

"I get off work at nine. if that's something you would want to do, then I'm up for it."

patrick nodded slightly, giving a small, shaky smile. "yeah, that'd be nice."

"alright, I'll see you at nine." pete nodded before leaving to start his shift again.