Chapter Text
The apartment was a mess, but so long as you weren’t, it’s fine. You straightened your beautiful brown coat, you had bought it last year but it had been too warm out to wear it, so it's just been collecting dust in the corner of your closet. Now that it’s fall, you’ve finally pulled it out from the depths of the closet shadows. It’s a wonder really, that it doesn’t have moth holes in it already.
The date was just at a cute local cafe. You had begged Pete to not drag you out of the house on a Saturday morning, but he had insisted that you should get out more and meet more people. He said his friend had a similar problem to you. ‘It’s like a match made in heaven! Seriously!’
You still had your comic to outline, and it was due soon, but he has managed to convince you (somehow) into agreeing. It was probably for the best, you can’t remember the last time you properly stepped out. It had just been a constant repeat of finalizing sketches and painstaking lettering. You enjoyed it, really, it just… got tiring sometimes. At the very least you aren’t doing accounting like the rest of your family.
You checked yourself in the mirror again, smoothing out the sweater under your coat subconsciously. Despite not really wanting to do this you couldn’t help but be a little excited, it’s been a while since you’ve gone on a blind date, or any date for that matter. Not ever since the other guy… . It could be a nice change of pace in your (admittedly) dull life. The weather was nice out anyways, so it wouldn’t hurt to go out for a little walk.
Hopefully, he’s a nice, cute guy. You seemed to have trouble finding them in your life.
***
Patrick tried to smooth out his hair, before he jammed his cap back on his head. There was only so much he could do without a mirror. He had tried using his reflection in the window as one, but after realising how weird he probably looked to the passerbys he stopped. He wasn’t really sure if it had changed anything for better or for worse, but it calmed his nerves.
The fact that it was earlier than he would usually wake up also didn’t make matters better.
He came a bit earlier than his date, and he felt bad for just taking up space in the back, so he bought some coffee. He wasn’t really a big fan of it but he knows good coffee when he tastes it. The fact that Pete managed to find this place (and supposedly be a regular here) is quite surprising. After all, it seemed like the man basically ran on Starbucks all day.
Pete had advised him not to wear a hat for the blind date, going on about how ‘’you’re supposed to show your date your true self, so wearing a hat would be like hiding yourself from your date! Don’t be afraid to show your beautiful self out to the world!’’, or something like that. Andy told him to do whatever he felt was right, and Andy was always the one with solid advice, so he decided to listen to him instead.
Other than the coffee, the cafe that Pete had chosen for them was actually pretty nice. He had reserved a seat for them (apparently he’s friends with the baristas and managed to convince them to do that) in the back of the cafe. There was a window looking out to the sidewalk and its red-orange trees, leaves decorating the road. The warm brick red walls matched perfectly with the outdoors, and the draping plants scattered around tables and walls made the place pop out a bit more. It’s a pity really, that the place didn’t have as many customers as other places.
Calm, flowy music poured through the speakers. It was nice as background noise, but hearing it made him itch to be back in his studio, fiddling around with Garageband. He should try his hand at making music like that. With nothing better to do, he started humming softly and drumming his fingers along the table, trying to come up with a nice bossa nova beat to the melody in his mind.
***
You had arrived at the cafe after a short walk and bus ride, relishing in the way the leaves crunched under your shoes. You never really handled the cold very well (hilarious, considering the fact you decided to live in Chicago of all places), but today the wind seemed to take some pity on the windy city and had lifted itself to a pleasant little breeze. Surely that must be a good sign?
You reached out to the beautiful bronze handle of the front door and stepped inside, a little bell ringing as you swung the door open. The inside of the cafe looked like fall had spread itself inside, though with a more comfortable temperature.
Pete hadn't told you what your date looked like, merely leaving a text saying that ‘’he’d be in the back of the cafe (*winky face*)’’. Which was really great and very helpful. The cafe wasn’t as crowded as you thought it would be, so it wasn’t really as big of a problem as you envisioned it to be. You winded through the empty tables and chairs, before you saw him sitting in a booth seat by a window.
He was the only one in the back, so there really was no denying that he was your date. He’s actually… really cute! Actually, he’s so cute that maybe he’s a little out of your league. …a lot out of your league. God, what was Pete thinking?
The early morning sunlight seemed to make him glow a bit. He's wearing a hat, but that doesn’t stop the few soft, light brown hairs sticking out from catching the sun, making it look a bit more blonde than it probably is. The light bouncing off of his cute, nerdy glasses. He has his eyes closed right now, seemingly humming a song and drumming something onto the table, but you would bet a good amount of money that his eyes were really beautiful too. He also had sideburns, which was a bit of a surprise but endearing nonetheless.
He’s wearing a simple deep blue hoodie, making him pop out from the otherwise warm coloured interior. He looks like he has a chubby figure by the way his arms fill up the hoodie sleeves and middle, as well as cute chubby cheeks. He also looks like he has… really… soft lips… (they look like they would be nice to kiss buttttttthat’sathoughtforanotherdayyyyyy…!).
He seemed to be really concentrated with whatever he was thinking of, with the song or something else, and you felt kind of bad for disturbing his concentration by slipping into the booth but you figured it would be a lot less awkward than just standing there in awe. You slipped into the booth, adjusting your long coat so it didn’t pool on the floor as you sat. He must have heard the fabric shifting and slowly opened his eyes while blinking, trying to focus on the person in front of him.
***
Patrick faintly heard the bell ringing in the background, but he decided not to open his eyes, it was probably just another customer. He was still humming along before he heard someone shuffling around in front of him.
Crap, that was probably his date. He was too busy thinking of his music to realise. Hopefully she isn’t too mad at him… . Great, thought Patrick, this is the first few minutes of the date and I’ve already fucked it all up.
He pulled up his glasses and rubbed at his eyes, muttering, “Sorry, sorry, I didn’t— I didn’t realise… seriously, sorry…”.
“Oh, it’s fine really, you seemed to be really concentrated on something. It was probably important, and anyways I don’t think I could ever get angry at someone as cute as you… .”, Patrick heard the other person laugh softly.
What the hell? That doesn’t sound like a girl's voice, that sounded like… a guy's?
He opened up his eyes, trying to adjust to the sunlight after closing them for so long. Finally, his eyes adjusted.
“Y-you…”
“Eh… yes? What about me? Is my hair a mess right now? Crap, the wind messed it up didn’t it…”
“N-no!”He adjusts his glasses, moving his bangs to the side to better see the person in front of him, “You look really hot…!”. Patrick immediately turned red after realising what he had said, blushing so hard it reached the tips of his ears. The… guy… in front of him was really hot, way hotter than he probably deserves. What was Pete thinking?
“I-I mean, you are—y'know, hot… I just…” He laughed nervously, scratching absently at his sideburns, “I just… wasn’t expecting my date to be, uhhh, a. Man.”
“Oh! Did Pete not tell you…?”, the person in front of him laughed nervously, tugging at his sleeve. Great Patrick, another fumble. If he missed his chance with dating this hot guy he will actually never forgive himself.
“No! No! Don’t uh, take it that way… I just wasn't expecting a man, that’s all. I-I am… gay…”. He mumbled out the last part, looking out the window at the leaves blowing in the wind.
“I’ve just… never actually been on a date with a man before.”, he mumbled this out too, you probably wouldn’t have heard him if there were more people in the cafe chatting.
***
You smiled softly at the cute boy looking out the window in embarrassment. You yourself were blushing a bit, it’s not everyday that you were complimented so truthfully like that. The boy pulled his hat a little closer to his eyes, almost like he was trying to hide away. Usually, you were never the bold one in the relationship, but the fact that he could blush so easily really pushed you to tease him a bit. You wanted to see if you could make him turn redder.
“Well…” You reach over to him and flip his cap up so that you could see his bangs and eyes again. After that you ran a finger down his cheek—feather light—before pulling back again and resting your chin on your hands.
“I really don’t mind, I’ll try to be a good first date.” (and hopefully the only one, I really wouldn’t mind going on another one with you…)
He looked back at you, somehow a darker shade of red, his mouth hanging open in shock.
He gulps before nervously smiling, trying to say something, “Uh. Wow, uhhhh”. It seemed like his brain had short circuited after you did that.
Well… his reaction was— really cute, but that. Probably. Wasn't. A very good thing to do on the first date. You probably just crossed a bunch of boundaries or something, it’s seriously been a long time since you’ve done this.
“Wait! Waitwaitwait!” You reached out to him before deciding to just keep them in your lap, nervously clenching and unclenching them. You looked down at them before looking back up at the man. The blush had turned into a soft shade of pink dusting his cheeks, His eyes just staring sweetly at you.
“I’m, really, really sorry!” You pleaded to him. If you absolutely destroyed your chances with this cute guy through that stunt you pulled you were going to actually cry when you got home.
“I don’t… I don’t know what I was thinking… . Sorry, sorry, that was a lot for the first meeting,” Now it was your turn to blush, but out of embarrassment.
“I’m not like that usually—that is unless you want me to be!” You nervously laughed really loudly, drawing some attention from the baristas. The laugh slowly died out into a half-hearted chuckle. The both of you just stared at the table in awkwardness. You’ve really fucked it up hadn’t you… .
***
Patrick looked up at the other man. Honestly speaking, he didn’t mind what the other guy just did (in fact, he probably would have asked him to keep doing stuff like that throughout the date, but realised that that was probably a bit weird this early on) . The fact that he was apologizing afterwards though… not only was he hot as hell, he was really sweet and polite as well… . Patrick leaned forward, resting his chin on his hands in the same way that the other guy did before, laughing a bit.
“It’s fine, really, I don’t… mind you doing that. It was really nice of you to apologize though.”
The other man nodded, still not daring to look up at him. Patrick couldn’t possibly keep on calling his date ‘the guy’ for the rest of the time in his head, so he decided to take matters into his own hands.
“I think we had, uh, quite the awkward beginning to this date, so lets set things straight again.”.
He leaned back into the chair, taking off his hat and fiddling with it while introducing himself.
“My name’s Patrick, Patrick Stump, and I’m 24 years old. My last name used to be spelt with a ‘ph’ at the end, but I changed it so people didn’t misspronounce it.”. He twirled the cap in his hands, starting to feel a bit shy again.
“I make music for a living. I'm in a band, I’m the lead singer and rhythm guitarist, but sometimes I rather be the one playing drums in the back. I really like aquariums and marine animals, I could probably also talk your ear off when it comes to obscure bands and just music in general, so hopefully you don’t mind that too much… .”
***
You finally look up after he introduces himself. Patrick is a really nice name, you think it suits him well. Patrick looks expectantly at you, hair sticking up from when he took off his hat.
You take a deep breath and start introducing yourself, the basic information about your name and age. You’re a comic artist and writer, and you make enough money to live, but not a lot. You still do it though, because you love it. You love going to art galleries and museums to look at the paintings and sculptures, you also enjoy a warm meal when it’s raining outside.
Sometimes you go overboard when it comes to impressing people, as is evident by the incident beforehand (he chuckled a bit at that, it’s a lovely noise that makes you warm all over), though you’re trying to get better.
You let out a deep breath that you didn’t realise you were holding the whole time. You looked up at his beautiful baby blue eyes for a moment, before the both of you burst out into laughter. You had a feeling that Patrick would be by your side for a long, long time.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The two of you hadn’t realised how long you guys had spent talking about everything and nothing in particular, Patrick's coffee had gone cold and you were so engrossed in the conversation that you had forgotten to order one. The more you talked to him, the more you felt drawn to him. At some point, you had hooked your foot around his ankle in an attempt to get closer with the table in the way (Patrick had realised and had stumbled on his words when you did, but he after he recovered he continued to rambling on about how dolphins were actually demons of the ocean, but not without a slight blush).
You had lived near the ocean as a kid, so you were able to ask him some questions and add on to what he was talking about. Ever so often you would joke about the best way to cook the sea animal he was talking about (often earning a gasp of mock horror), though further down the line, the recipes started getting more and more nonsensical. Somehow, the topic changed to paintings you had seen at the art gallery for local artists.
You were about to go on about how the artist was able to capture the way the light reflected on the glass before a nervous barista walked up to the table to kindly inform the two of you that you both had been sitting in the corner for about 3 hours. You looked back at Patrick and apologized profusely, taking it as your cue to end the date there.
The bell above the door signaled the end of that wonderful morning, the sun was now higher up than it had been before, and the sidewalks were bustling with people. You stood side by side with Patrick, leaning slightly on him as the two of you walked out, still talking about the paintings you saw. You’ve never felt as happy or as light as you did now, with him.
The conversation eventually died out, leaving a comfortable silence behind. The both of you had left the busier streets and were walking towards the metro using a quieter route. That is, before Patrick suddenly stopped at an empty street corner.
He nervously shifted from foot to foot, you looking on fondly, “Y’know… today has been really nice… .”
You nodded and smiled, “Yeah, I think the same.”.
He smiled back, “Yeah, so, I was… wondering. If. we could… maybe… have another date…?”
You laughed, “I mean, of course! I would never say no to that.”. You gestured to walk and talk at the same time.
Patrick smiled, it almost seemed like there were stars in his eyes, “So, is there any place you want to go? We could get lunch together next week—”
“Let’s go to the aquarium.”
He blinked in surprise, “Oh! Are you… sure? I mean, I don’t want to make it feel like you need to do it because I like it or anything like that—”
You shushed him, “You aren’t the only one who likes marine life, I’d like to know more about them too.”
“Oh, a-alright then. I didn’t realise you were actually listening to me…”
You shake your head, “I don’t think I could ever get tired of listening to you talk, you have a beautiful voice. I haven’t really heard you sing live yet either, remind me to ask you to do that sometime.”
He blushed at that, “It’s not that good.”
“Patrick, you’re the lead singer of Fall Out Boy, I’m pretty sure you’re a good singer.”
The both of you had reached the end of the quiet route, the bustling of the rest of society breaking the quiet little bubble you had with him.
“So, it’s decided then, yeah? Next week, aquarium date.”
You nodded, about to leave before remembering something and immediately rushing back.
“Patrick! I almost forgot! We haven’t exchanged numbers yet.”, you hurriedly pulled out your phone.
Patrick pulled his out to, the both of you switching phones and typing your respective numbers in. Afterwards, you were about to leave again, before deciding against it. Instead, you ran straight back to him and pulled him into a tight hug, burying your face in the crook of his neck. He really was as soft as he looked, his soft body relaxing to you, it was like hugging a human-sized teddy bear.
He was caught a bit of guard, but quickly returned the favour, burying his face into your neck as well. You could feel the soft rises and falls of his breaths, and the way his heart was fluttering every so often. The two of you stayed like that for a while, just feeling each other's warmth against the crisp fall air. It’s a lucky thing that Patrick was short like you, the two of you fit each other perfectly, like puzzle pieces slotting together.
You grazed your lips on the small stretch of his neck, earning a pleasant shudder from Patrick.
Eventually you let go, your arms still around Patrick's neck and his arms around your torso. He was blushing, whether it was from the cold or your lips on his neck, you don’t really know.
“Okay… I seriously need to go now…. Unfortunately I’ve still got several comic pages to outline and stuff.”
Patrick hummed in acknowledgement, still smiling almost dreamily at you. He definitely got over his shyness of dating a man pretty quickly after the both of you started actually talking. You turned around to walk to the metro, but not without looking back and waving at him. He smiled and waved back, also heading off in the opposite direction.
The both of you could hardly wait for the next meeting.