Archive of Our Own ^beta

Pete was staring out the window, his arms crossed on the sill and his head resting on top. The sky was bright today. Big fluffy clouds dotting the pale blue and Pete wished he could rest upon one of those clouds. Maybe then he could finally escape this place he liked to refer to as a prison. He wasn't like the other kids, he didn't like to play outside, participate in games of any kind or watch mindless cartoons. Not anymore. It was like his childhood spirit was sucked out of him the second he realized where he was going.

An orphanage.

Of course, that's not what people liked to call them anymore, but that's what it was. Pete wasn't placed there from a lack of parents or guardians, he was put there because his parents agreed that they'd be able to afford better things without a child. Such as an endless supply of liquor for his father and his mother just plain out didn't want him since the day she discovered she was pregnant with him. It confused Pete as to why they waited so long to give him up. He was five when they dropped him off, someone else would think to do it while the child was younger. At least then, Pete wouldn't know his real parents and wouldn't be stuck remembering so much neglect and hate.

That was five years ago. He's ten years old now and feels so depressed knowing that no one will ever adopt such a broken and wounded child. He gave up the hopes of adoption after his eighth birthday. It seemed like everywhere he turned, a couple was coming into the orphanage for every other child except for him. Like they could see inside his heart and could see how shattered it was, how many pieces it had been broken in to. And so, he no longer wanted to join the rest of the kids for 'show and tell', as he liked to call it, when couples came in. He just wanted to sit at the window and watch the lucky bastard leave with their new family. He envied them, wished he could be in their place, wanted to know what it was like to have a loving family. But he knew that would never happen, because he knew that he was unwanted.

A car pulls into the parking area. Another woman looking to adopt a lucky soul no doubt. But she's holding a boy, sleeping heavily in her arms as she approached the building. Drop off? The boy had to be young, maybe four or five years old. It grabbed Pete's attention, his curiosity. He got up and went over to the bottom bunk of where his friend Andy slept. Pete shook him gently, knowing Andy was a light sleeper and it didn't take much to wake him.

Andy groaned and blinked rapidly, trying to focus on the blurry figure standing over him. He reached for his glasses that he kept in a box underneath the bed and jammed them onto his face. He blinked some more then groaned again once he could make out Pete's face.

"Ugh, what is it now, Pete? And it better be important for you to be waking me up."

"It's too late for you to be sleeping anyway, it's, like, one o'clock or something." 

Andy flops backwards on to his pillow. 

"I think someone's here for a drop off."

Andy sits up straight in the bed and almost knocks his head on the top bunk. Newbies were a pretty big deal. "What'd they look like."

"It was a boy, maybe five years old. I couldn't see much else from the window."

"He'll probably have to bunk with Joe then," Andy comes out from the bunk and slides on his pair of flip flops. "He's too young to bunk with any of us."

"I know, so you should probably go get Joe so we can go see the kid." Pete's been through this routine before, which is how he got Andy to bunk with him. If they bring Joe along to meet the new kid then the director might allow the boy bunk with Joe due to their close age. "You know how bad Joe wants a friend."

"We're his friends." Andy says, running his fingers through his sleep-tangled hair.

Pete rolls his eyes. "I mean someone his age. Hurry up and grab Joe before the other kids get down there." Then Pete is out the door and running downstairs to the lobby.

He gets down the stairs hoping to be the first one but two other kids were already there, Travis and Gabe. Pete goes up and gently slaps the back of Gabe's head then pulls at Travis' curls. "You know he's too young to bunk with you guys, right?" 

Gabe glares at Pete and Travis is so used to Pete doing things with his hair from pulling it, playing in it, to sticking pencils in it, that he's grown an immunity. 

"I don't need a new roomie," Travis says. "It's already bad enough that I have to bunk with the 'snake charmer' over here." He points to Gabe with his eyes.

"Hey, I don't want to hear butt from you. Mr. I-fart-in-my-sleep-and-wake-everyone-up-with-my-toxic-fumes."

Pete can't help but laugh at the two of them.

"What's so funny?" Asks Andy, coming down the last few steps with Joe trailing close behind him.

"Gabe's talking about butt again." Travis answers and Gabe punches him in the arm.

The front door of the building opened up and the boys immediately shut their mouths. The woman Pete had seen carrying the boy earlier stepped inside and was instantly greeted by the director. They talked for a moment about why the woman was dropping off the boy, but Pete didn't hear any of it. He was too distracted by the young boy in the woman's arms. A mix of blond-red hair sprouted from the boy's head and was so small Pete thought he might be put with the toddlers. The boy was very pale and had a round face that looked soft to the touch and rosy cheeks. He's so adorable, Pete thought innocently, Why would anyone want to leave him here? 

"Peter." The director's voice snapped him out of his trans.

"Hm?"

"I asked if you'd like to go with Joseph and Andrew to show Ms. Stump where Patrick will be staying."

Patrick, Patrick, Patrick. "Oh, yeah, sure."

Pete and Joe lead Mrs. Stump to Joe's room where he already shares with William. Inside, Joe shows Ms. Stump where Patrick will sleep.

"I thleep on the top bunk," Joe tells her, his lisp prominent in his words. "Patrick can have the bottom one and hith thtuff can go in that drether over there." He gestures to a dresser on the opposite end of the room.

Ms. Stump nods and bends down to gently place Patrick into the bottom bunk, the boy doesn't even stir. 

"Your son's a pretty heavy sleeper." Pete comments.

Ms. Stump drapes the blanket over Patrick, kisses his forehead then straightens up. "Oh, no, he's my nephew. His mother asked me to bring him here, she thought it'd be safer." She explains.

Pete nods, understanding. "Sorry."

She smiles lightly and kneels down, getting to Pete's level. "It's quite alright. As long as you boys are here to watch over him, Patrick's mother and I will know he's just fine. Can you boys promise me something?"

They all nod.

"Could you promise me that Patrick will always be in good hands?"

Pete brings his hand up and extends his pinky, Joe and Andy follow his action. Ms. Stump looks down at their hands and smiles brightly, her eyes shining with unshed tears. She holds out her hand and connects her pinky with the boys'. 

"We promise." Pete says.

***

That night, Pete and Andy decided to sleep over in Joe's room to make sure Patrick would be okay. Pete was the only one awake though, Joe had clocked out a few hours ago and Andy was asleep on the top bunk beside him with his legs hanging over the edge. But Pete couldn't sleep sometimes and even when he did, he found it difficult to actually stay asleep. 

He sat on one end of the bed hugging his knees as he watched Patrick. He wanted to know his story, why anyone would want to abandon someone like Patrick; innocent and harmless. Patrick turns over to his side and fights with the blanket for a bit before Pete gets an answer to his questions. A big ugly bruise had flawed Patrick's otherwise perfect skin. His left arm alone had three of them, purple in the center and outlined in blue-green. Patrick, abused? No way, he's too young, too sweet, too small. But Pete was seeing it with his own eyes. Whoever did it had to be truly evil. And I thought I had it bad. Poor kid.

Pete readjusts himself into a laying position, still staring at the ugly bruises on Patrick's arm. Evil, he thought, truly evil. Then his eyelids became too heavy to keep open and he drifted into a dreamless sleep.

***

"Pete! Pete!" Patrick shouts as he runs into Pete's room. His voice scared Andy out of his sleep and he bumped his head on the top bunk.

Andy's hisses and his hands fly up to his head, trying to rub away the pain. "Ow! Oh my god, that hurts. Ah," He lays back down and continues to soothe his pain.

Pete just laughs at him and answers, "Yeah, Patrick. What's wrong?"

Patrick's eyes are full of tears and his face is contorted into pure agony. He sits down on the floor and shows his knee to Pete while he sniffles and his lip quivers. It really shouldn't be as cute as it is because Patrick is in pain, but Pete can't keep that thought out of his head.

"Okay let me see," Pete sits down in front of Patrick to examine his knee. There's a little blood and some gravel around it but it's nothing too bad. "What happened?"

Patrick sniffled and wiped at his eyes. "Me, William, and Joe were playing tag (sniffle) and I tripped and fell on a rock." He sobbed.

"It's okay, Patrick. We'll clean it up and then you can go play again as if it never happened. Okay?"

Patrick nodded.

"I'll be right back, alright, I'm going to get some first aid stuff." 

The second Pete leaves the room, Joe and William come running in.

"Ith he okay?" Joe asks in a panic, going over to see how bad the damage was.

"Wait, don't look at it. There's blood." Andy warns.

Joe stopped in his tracks and squeezed his eyes shut, backing away slowly. Joe does not react well to seeing blood of any kind, whether it be a small amount or not. He was ridiculously squeamish and would either faint or vomit which would be very unpleasant for everyone. So he goes to sit beside Andy instead. 

Pete soon returns with peroxide, some ointment, and a bandaid. He cleans up the wound and puts the bandaid over it.

"There. You're good to go." Pete says, patting Patrick on the shoulder.

Patrick sniffles one last time. "Thanks, Pete."

***Three years later***

"Joe! We have a drop off. Little kid, dark hair, maybe five years old." William shouted from beside the window.

"Patrick, tell Pete to get Ryan." Joe says.

Patrick hops up from his bunk and goes next door to Pete's room. "Pete."

"What's up, Lunchbox?"

"Joe says to get Ryan, there's a drop off coming in."

Pete climbs down from the top bunk and kicks Andy's leg, disturbing his reading. Pete ignores his glare and says, "Grab Ryan and meet me in the lobby. Chop chop, Hurley." Then Pete's out the door and running downstairs into the lobby where he, again, sees that Gabe and Travis have gotten there first. 

Pete goes up and gently slaps the back of Gabe's head then pulls at Travis' curls. 

Gabe rolls his eyes. "Y'know that is getting really old."

"It's getting old?" Travis says. "It was old after the first time." 

"You bringing another one of your friends to meet the new kid?" Gabe asks.

"Kind of. Think of me as a match maker, except I make life long friendships. I mean, look at Joe and Patrick."

"Yeah sure, they're pretty close. But you and Patrick are closer, you guys are like peas and mashed potatoes." Travis says.

"Peas and mashed potatoes? Man, that doesn't even-"

"Shutup Gabe. You get my point right, Pete?"

Pete nods. "Sure."

Andy comes down the steps with Ryan behind him, Patrick and Joe following closely, at the same moment the new kid arrives. He comes in alone, whoever brought him here is quickly walking the other way as seen through the glass door. The boy's eyes are puffy and red from crying and he's holding a teddy bear by its arm, letting the rest drag on the floor.

Patrick goes over to him and kneels down in front of him. "Hey, are you okay?"

The boy shakes his head.

"Well you'll be fine with us. We'll look out for you. I'm Patrick," He says softly then turns to point out the other boys, introducing them. "That's Travis, Joe, Andy, Gabe, Pete, and Ryan. What's your name?" 

"Brendon." The boy almost whispers.

"Alright then, Brendon, you want to play a game?"

Brendon nods.

Patrick raises his hand slowly and Brendon gazes at it curiously as Patrick gently places it on Brendon's shoulder.

"Tag," Patrick says and Brendon's face begins to brighten."you're it."

Patrick runs for the stairs and the other boys quickly catch on and scramble as Brendon runs after them, his teddy bear still tight in his grip.

***

That night, Pete sat with Patrick on his bunk. He was unable to sleep and decided to bother Patrick instead of Andy who would just kick him and ignore him all night. It's silent and dark and Pete isn't entirely sure if Patrick is awake until he says, "Hey, Pete?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you think anyone will ever adopt us? I've always imagined that my new parents would have a big house and a puppy and maybe a playhouse in the back yard." Patrick said, awed by his own fantasy and a light smile growing on his face.

"No." Pete says bitterly, shooting down Patrick's sliver of happiness. Patrick looks at Pete, his smile disappearing. "No one wants us, Patrick, don't you see that? That's why we're here in the first place. Because nobody wanted us."

Patrick sighs. "I'm so tired of you doing that. Inflicting your own pain onto others like they deserve it. I get it, you've been here forever, but why can't you let anyone else be hopeful?" He speaks conversationally and keeps his voice down as not to wake Joe.

Pete doesn't respond for a moment, letting Patrick's words sink in. Then he says, "Because I want everyone to feel the way I feel."

"Andy's been here almost as long as you have. You want someone to feel you're pain? Andy already does. You should be talking to him, not me."

How does the eight year old know this and not me? I should pay more attention to my friends.

***One week later***

Joe wakes up one morning, the sun filtering in through the blinds and nearly blinding him. He stretches and leans over the small railing like he does every morning to see if Patrick's awake. The bed is empty and the blanket is balled up in the corner.

"Hey, Bill, have you theen Patrick?"

William shakes his head, not looking up from his comic book. "Maybe it has something to do with his drawer being empty."

Joe looks over to the dresser where Patrick's clothes were. The drawer was open and empty. Now that could mean one of two things: he ran away or he's been adopted. And Joe is putting his money on the latter. He climbs over the side instead of taking the ladder and nearly falls but he manages to get over to Pete's room.

"Pete, have you theen Patrick?"

"No," Pete observes the concerned look on his friend's face, fearing the worst. "He's not...gone, is he?"

"Hith drawer hath been emptied out."

"Andy?" Pete desperately hopes that he's heard something about this, but Andy shrugs.

Pete climbs down from his bunk and races to the lobby with Joe. The lobby is  empty except for the director sitting behind the desk. So Pete goes up to her and asks, "Hey, where's Patrick, has he been moved or something?"

The director clicks the mouse and taps on the keyboard, then a sympathetic look crosses her face.

"Patrick's been adopted, he left about an hour ago. I'm sorry, Peter."

He's gone? Without saying goodbye to me? Pete didn't know how to take this, how to handle what had just happened. The boy that he promised would be in good hands is now gone. Patrick's gone. How, how could they let him leave? He didn't even say goodbye.

"Pete, it'th okay. He didn't thay goodbye to anyone." Joe says, then Pete realizes he said that last part aloud. "But he knowth we care. Being adopted ith a good thing, Pete, you should be happy for him."

He is. Pete is so happy and yet so pissed off that Patrick has been adopted.

Please come back, Patrick.

***One month later***

Everything is too quiet. The orphanage is getting more empty as the days go by. William had been adopted, so Joe is completely alone in his room. Brendon and Ryan had become the best of friends, then they got separated when a couple came for Ryan. It's almost like Patrick being adopted was the worse thing to ever happen to this place. Although the kids being adopted is great, it's like the life had been sucked out of everything. No one wanted to play or visit each other, the glue that kept everyone together was gone. The boys drifted away from each other and barely spoke, the director actually thought that everyone was sick. It was terrible, truly awful. But at least Pete still has Andy and Joe.

***Eleven years later***

Pete and Andy were standing in the lobby of the orphanage. The place hasn't changed since the day they left, even the director was still the same. 

The two were waiting for Joe to finish packing his things. Joe had just recently turned eighteen and had to move out, but it couldn't have been any sooner because, god, it felt like centuries ago when they were all here.

Joe finally comes down into the lobby with all of his things dragging behind him in a suitcase and two duffel bags.

"Hey guys!" Joe exclaims, dropping his things to the floor.

Andy and Pete go over and hug him tightly, on the verge of hugging his guts out like a tube of toothpaste. Then Pete notices that, "That god awful lisp is finally gone. Dude, I thought you'd never grow out of that."

The boys all break apart and examine each other. "No," Andy says. "it's still there. I can totally hear it."

"It's not as bad though, is it?" Joe asks.

"Really, it's not. Come on, grab your shit so we can go home."

While on the drive over, Joe wants to take a little detour.

"Hey, can we so somewhere first? I want you guys to meet someone."

"Sure, why not," Pete says. "Direct Andy's horrible driving."

Andy takes one hand off the wheel and flips Pete off. "Where to, Joe?"

Joe pulls up the navigator on his phone and directs him based off of that. After twenty minutes or so they arrive in front of a mid-sized two story house.

"Okay so who is this someone that we're meeting?" Andy asks.

"His name is uuhhmmmmuuuhhhpaul. Yeah, Paul."

Pete makes a confused face. "You don't sound too sure about that."

Joe avoids Pete's comment. "Seriously, he's cool guys."

The three get out of Andy's beat up Toyota and go up to the front door. Joe rings the bell and the boys all wait for someone to answer. A moment later the door opens and a boy is standing there. He was wearing a trucker hat and a Bowie tee and he had this really soft looking face, kind of like...wait.

"Patrick?" Pete asks.

"No, Paul." Joe snickers from behind Andy.

Pete smiles so wide his eyes nearly shut. "Where the fuck have you been all my life?" He gathers Patrick up in a bear hug, lifting his feet from the ground.

"Right here, pretty much." Patrick manages to get the words out as Pete squeezes the air out of his lungs

"You're in good hands, right?" Joe asks Patrick.

Pete puts Patrick down so he can answer properly. "Um, yeah, why?"

Because we promised.

"Just making sure." Andy says.

And in the end

I'd do it all again

I think you're my best friend

Don't you know that the kids aren't all, kids aren't alright

          -The Kids Aren't Alright, Fall Out Boy