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Patrick heaves himself off his bed, looking himself in the mirror in the corner before sighing heavily.
“It’s going to be fine. They’re still going to like you.” He mumbles under his breath to himself, “None of them are straight either. It’s not like they’re going to kick you out.”
He takes a deep breath, puffing his chest out feigning confidence, but when he lets it out, his shoulders slump down.
Patrick finds the rest of his band in the living room, Pete is stretched across the couch, foot tapping to a beat only he can hear, Andy is sat in the floor, eyes fixed on the TV, playing a game on the Nintendo, Joe is sat in a chair near the couch, his guitar in his lap, finger plucking something. When Patrick enters the room Pete sits up a bit, making room for him but it’s the only acknowledgement any of them give him.
“Can I talk to you guys about something?” Patrick says, stuffing his shaking hands into his pockets.
“Sure.” Joe says, looking up at him.
“Sup?” Andy nods from the floor.
“No, like it’s kinda serious.” Patrick mutters, feeling his face already getting hot.
Andy pauses his game, looking up at him from the floor, “Everything okay?” He asks.
“Yeah, just something I need to tell you, something I’ve been thinking about for a while and it’s important to me that you guys know.” Patrick says, voice steadier than he thought it would be.
Pete sits up a bit more, tucking his feet under himself. Andy pushes off the floor and sits on the other end of the couch from Pete. Joe sets his guitar against the side table near the couch. All three of them look at him expectantly and now Patrick feels himself sweating.
“Okay.” Patrick sighs, “It’s not a big deal. I’m sure it’s not even going to surprise you guys but…” Patrick takes a deep breath, “I don’t think I’m straight.”
His bandmates just blink up at him, all three wearing matching soft, supportive smiles so Patrick continues.
“Not think. I don’t think I’m not straight. I know I’m not straight.” Patrick looks down, picking at one of his cuticles, “I’m not fully gay either because I do like some girls but I don’t really know if bi is the right term for me either. I don’t really know what I am but I like guys and I like girls and I just thought you should know.” He looks back up and his friends are all smiling wider now.
“Congrats, man. It’s hard thing to figure out and I’m glad you’ve kept an open mind.” Joe says, standing from the couch clapping Patrick on the shoulder before pulling him into a hug. Patrick hugs back gripping Joe tightly.
“Thank you for trusting us with this. You know we love you no matter what.” Andy says somewhere behind him. Patrick feels another set of arms around him and a chest pressed against his side.
“I always knew we were just a bunch of queers.” Pete’s voice says, while his body is added to the pile. He worms his arms around Patrick’s middle, shoving one of them between Joe and Patrick’s stomachs.
They stand like that for awhile, Patrick doesn’t know how long. Seconds, minutes, maybe even hours. The longer it goes on the closer Patrick feels to crying. He doesn’t know how he got so lucky to find not one, not two, but three amazing friends who love him no matter what. How he found such amazing bandmates who are so supportive and wonderful to him.
Just when Patrick thinks the tears might start to spill, Joe’s voice pipes up next to Patrick’s ear, “Do you guys think we should tell him now?”
Patrick pulls back as much as he can, still being held by three sets of arms, “Tell me what?”
The guys slowly untangle a bit, looking at each other in sequence, casting knowing looks at each other.
“Come on, you’re making me nervous, tell me what?” Patrick whines.
“You should probably sit down.” Pete sighs, guiding Patrick to the couch by his waist.
Patrick sits in the middle, Pete on one side, an arm still around his waist, Andy on the other, an arm around his shoulders, Joe slides to the floor near Patrick’s feet.
“Okay. So you know none of us are straight.” Pete says.
“Yeah?” Patrick says confused. Of course he knew, they’d come out to each other one at a time over the past few years. Andy having been the last one a little over 8 months ago.
“There’s something else you should know about us.” Pete says, eyes darting from Andy to Joe then back to Patrick.
“Okay?” Patrick says brows furrowing, it bothered him to think that his roommates, his bandmates, his friends, had been keeping secrets from him but technically he’d been delaying coming out to them for weeks so maybe it was even.
“We’re in a relationship.” Andy says, placing his free hand an Joe’s shoulder.
Patrick looks from Andy to Joe, “Oh. Well, that makes sense I guess. That’s not that surprising. I’m happy for you two.” He says smiling.
“No.” Joe says from the floor, reaching a hand towards Pete who takes it easily like it’s the most normal thing in the world, “We’re all in a relationship. Like Andy, Pete, and I are all dating.”
Patrick’s eyes flicker from Andy’s hand on Joe’s arm and Joe and Pete’s connected hands. Wheels turning in his head, the gears grinding trying to make sense of how he has missed this seemingly obvious thing. How long had this been going on? How has he not noticed? They live together for fucks sake, how did he not know all three of his roommates were dating each other.
“How-when-what?” Patrick breathes out, all of his words stringing together into one confusing noise.
The guys exchanged looks again, Pete and Andy tightened their arms around Patrick, Joe reaching his free hand out resting it on Patrick’s knee.
“I know this is a lot. Take your time. We can answer any question you might have. We’re open books.” Joe says, leaning against Patrick’s legs.
“How long?” Patrick says, trying to organize his thoughts, while also trying not to make him sound like he was judging them.
“Just over six months now.” Pete says, squeezing Joe’s hand, “Joe and I had started talking and realized we kinda liked each other and wanted to be more than friends. But Joe also had some feelings for Andy, which I told him completely understood because, well look at him.” Pete waves his and Joe’s connected hands towards Andy, who blushes but doesn’t look away.
“Right, so I decided I wanted to talk to both of them about it. And we did, we talked about it for hours. Andy told us he liked both of us but didn’t know how to process that. Plus, he had just come out to us recently so he was completely new to talking to us about having crushes on guys at all, let alone having crushes on two of his friends at the same time.” Joe explains further.
“Exactly, so after many hours of discussion we came to the conclusion that the easiest thing would be an open relationship between all three of us. No need for jealousy or keeping secrets from each other because we all find each other attractive and care about each other. It’s just like one big happy family.“ Andy adds, smiling at Joe and Pete.
“And we were planning to talk to you about it, but we didn’t want to just spring it on you, you know? We figured if the topic of sexuality or relationships came up it would give us a good in and well, you did just that.” Pete says, giving Patrick’s hip a squeeze where he’s still holding it.
Patrick sits, mouth agape, for a moment. A slurry of information swirling around in his head.
“We know this is a lot to take in.” Joe repeats, “It was a lot when we were originally discussing it but it’s kinda normal to us now.”
Patrick almost didn’t want to admit the thing he was thinking about them doing the most. But his curiosity got the best of him and he finally asked, “Have you guys like done stuff together?” his face now burning hot.
Pete, Joe, and Andy all glance at each other and chuckle lightly.
“Yeah, sometimes.” Andy shrugs, “It’s been hard since we were keeping it kinda secret from you, because we didn’t want to freak you out. But, yes, we’ve all done stuff together.”
“All three of you at once?” Patrick asks staring at Andy with wide eyes. He couldn’t lie, even to himself, the idea of all three of his bandmates being intimate together sounded hot as fuck.
“A few times, yeah.” Pete says, “We’ve also done stuff just between two of us. Sometimes it’s just me and Andy messing around, sometimes just me and Joe, sometimes just Joe and Andy fool around. Sometimes we watch each other fool around, it’s just whatever we’re feeling into that day.”
“We’ve really tried to just be flexible with each other and always listen to how the others are feeling.” Joe adds, “Communication is the main thing, just checking in with each other, making sure everyone’s comfortable and no one feels left out or anything.”
“It sounds complicated.” Patrick mutters.
“I thought so too.” Andy says, leaning into Patrick’s side, “I really thought it was going to be harder than it is. But we all really care about each other so much and just want everyone to be happy, you know?”
“Do you go on dates and stuff?” Patrick asks.
“Kinda, I mean, we spend most of the time hanging out together anyway. We just make sure to take time to make each other feel special and cared for. One on one time, group time, gifts, doing stuff for each other, whatever, you know?” Pete says.
Patrick sits for a minute. This was the most healthy relationship dynamic Patrick had ever seen especially amongst people their age. Patrick could tell just looking between them that they cared about each other a lot, they clearly wanted to make sure everyone felt seen and heard and it made Patrick’s heart ache just a little bit. He’s never had anyone who cared about him that much, never had anyone who cared about his happiness more than anything else in the world.
“What does this mean for the future?” Patrick mumbles, not outright wanting to ask if they had ever even thought about him in that way but couldn’t help but be curious.
The guys look at each other before turning back to Patrick.
“We really don’t know.” Andy says, “Like we talk about the future of course, we really care about each other and we really think this could be a long term thing.”
“We really just focus on the day to day.” Joe adds, “We know that we care about each other and you and the band. That’s all that really matters to us right now.”
Always being the one who can basically read Patrick’s mind, Pete adds, “Yeah, and I want you to know, you’ve got a place in this relationship if you want it. But if you’re totally not comfortable dating all of us we completely understand.”
Patrick’s head whips towards him, “You guys want to date me too?”
“Of course.” Andy says softly, rubbing his shoulder comfortingly, “But only if that’s something you’re interested in. We won’t be offended if you don’t want to be apart of what we’ve got going on.”
Joe and Pete nod, smiling softly at Patrick. Patrick looks at each one of them in turn.
“Have you guys talked about this already? Why would you guys want me?” Patrick mumbles, sounding almost embarrassed.
“Oh yeah. We’ve talked about it a bunch. Mostly just in passing like, ‘hey wouldn’t it be great if Patrick was gay too then we could all just be together’ but like yeah we’ve talked about it some. I mean, you have to already know we like you, right?” Joe says, resting his chin on Patrick’s knee.
Patrick shakes his head slowly, because no, he didn’t know that. He had no idea that all three of his best friends had crushes on him.
“Oh, Tricky.” Pete coos, leaning his head on Patrick’s shoulder, “Of course we like you. Look at you. You’re sweet, and smart, and sexy as hell. You’ve got the voice of an angel and more musical talent in your pinky finger than I’ve got in my whole body.”
“I mean Pete literally can’t get through a single show without kissing all up on you or falling to his knees at your feet.” Andy chuckles.
“Shut up. You’re just jealous that you can’t because your trapped behind your kit.” Pete says.
“Yeah but I get to stare at his cute little ass all night so I’m fine.” Andy says shooting a look at Pete.
Patrick is bright pink sitting between them, not used to this level of attention.
“Guys, stop it. He hasn’t even said if he wants in or not. You’re just making it weird.” Joe says, eyes trained on Patrick, “Tell me what you’re thinking Rick?”
Patrick takes breath, “I don’t know really. I mean, I feel like I’ve just gotten so much information all at once.” He sighs.
“Understandable, take all the time you need to process, no hurry.” Andy says, giving Patrick a bit of space on the couch but Patrick grabs his leg before he can move too far.
“I can’t lie, hearing how you guys talk about each other makes me insanely jealous.” Patrick says, pulling his hand away from Andy’s leg and fidgeting with a hole in his jeans, “I’ve never had anyone who cares about me the way you guys care about each other.”
“We would.” Pete says quickly, “We do. We just want you to be happy.”
“Yeah, that’s what’s most important. Whether you decide you want to be with us or not, we can discuss boundaries to make sure everyone stays comfortable here at home and when we go out too.” Joe says, patting Patrick’s leg.
“I think I do. I mean listen,” Patrick sighs, turning to Pete, “I’ve had a crush on you since the day I met you. You’re the reason I began to question my sexuality. You’re like the boy of my dreams.”
Pete smiles shyly at him, “I felt the same way. I wanted to rip that adorable argyle sweater off of you right there in your parents basement.”
“Thanks for your self-control. I don’t know if I would’ve survived seeing that.” Joe chirps from the floor, patting Pete’s leg hard.
“And you,” Patrick says turning to Joe, “you’re just adorable. You’re my guy, you know. You and I have been in it together from the start. I don’t know where I’d be without you.”
Joe flushes, fluttering his eyelashes up at Patrick.
“And Pete was right about you.” Patrick says turning to Andy, “Just look at you, who wouldn’t be into you?”
“Literally, like look at all this man over here.” Joe sighs, squeezing Andy’s thigh.
“Shut up.” Andy says, rolling his eyes but leaning down and pecking Joe’s lips softly.
“They’re so annoying. They can literally go back and forth like that for hours. It’s exhausting sometimes.” Pete says, leaning into Patrick’s ear.
“Like you can talk, we have listened to you whine about crushing on Patrick for years.” Andy snips back.
“Yeah, hello? Look at him!” Pete says, cupping Patrick’s chin.
“Oh whatever dude.” Patrick says, jerking his face out of Pete’s grip.
“No seriously. You’re such a catch Patrick. We’re lucky to just be your friends let alone your boyfriends.” Joe says, sitting up on his knees to get closer to Patrick.
Boyfriends. Patrick went the first 19 years of his life thinking he would never even get to have *a* boyfriend let alone boyfriend*s* plural. There was a lot left to talk about, a lot left for him to process but he liked the sound of boyfriends.
“Boyfriends.” Patrick breathes out, smiling down at Joe, “I like the sound of that.”
He was met with three identical bright smiles back at him.
“I do too.” Joe sighs, grabbing Patrick’s hands, squeezing them lightly, “Can I kiss you?”
Patrick nods slowly, then leans in tentatively as Joe cups his cheeks, and gently presses their lips together in a chaste, sweet kiss. Joe’s lips are soft and supple, exactly like how Patrick thought they’d feel. When he pulls back he smiles a small smile at Patrick, before sitting back on his heels, hands resting on Patrick’s knees.
“My turn.” Andy says, scooting closer to Patrick, their thighs pressing together, “If that’s okay?”
“Sure.” Patrick says, turning towards Andy a bit, Pete not moving from his shoulder, just following him as he moves.
Andy leans in and softly presses his lips to Patrick’s. Andy’s lips are thinner than Joe’s but somehow even softer. He moves his lips carefully against Patrick’s, pulling back after a minute. Smiling softly, before making eye contact with Pete, still hanging on Patrick’s shoulder.
“I think someone else wants a turn.” Andy says, nodding towards Pete.
Pete peels himself off of Patrick’s shoulder, sitting up straight as Patrick turns towards face him. Pete licks his lips nervously, Patrick chews on his bottom lip for the same reason.
“Can I kiss you Patrick?” Pete breathes out, almost vibrating in his seat.
“Please.” Patrick says, before Pete surges forward, cupping the sides of Patrick’s face bringing their lips together.
Kissing Pete is so much better than Patrick thought it would be. His lips are plump and slightly chapped but sweet. Their kiss is slow but passionate, Pete moves his lips gently. He pulls back after a moment, sitting back with that iconic Pete Wentz smirk across his face.
Patrick looks between his three boyfriends, leaning into Pete’s side, holding onto one of Joe’s hands and putting the other on Andy’s thigh.
After another hour of kissing and talking, they all settle onto the couch to watch a movie together. Eventually, they all fall asleep, draped across each other, limbs tangled and bodies pressed together. Patrick falls asleep with a small smile on his face and warmth in his chest that he had never felt before.