Just One Mistake (Patrick Stump Imagine Short Story)

Part 2

"I missed you too," Patrick replies, slipping his hands into the pockets of his pants and smiling at you.

"Well you're home early," You remark as you make your way down the curved staircase, "Don't you have some after party to go to tonight?"

"Yeah, but um, an emergency came up and we had to cancel the after party," He lies.

"Oh, I hope everything's okay..." You say, not detecting his fabrication, before wrapping your arms around his neck connecting your lips with his, kissing him passionately.

He begins to melt into the kiss, snaking his hands around your waist and pulling you closer to him when he hears a gasp followed by a "Daddy?"

The two of you pull out of the kiss and look into the living room, where your son is sitting on the floor, surrounded by the wood blocks he's been playing with, stacking them one on top of the other.

"Ethan!" Patrick exclaims, detaching himself from you and making his into the living room, where he swoops down and pulls the two year old into a tight hug. The boy wraps his short arms around his father the best he can.

"Not only are you married, but you have a child!"

Patrick leans back so he can see Ethan's face and smiles, "Did you miss me?" He nods his head eagerly. "Aww, I missed you too." Patrick gives his son a kiss on the forehead before standing up. He looks down at the blocks Ethan was playing with and notices the blocks he had stacked together.

C
H
E
A
T

Patrick blinks a few times to make sure he was seeing what he was seeing. He even rubs his eyes, but the letters on the blocks don't change.

C
H
E
A
T

"He talked about you all night," You chime in. Patrick glances over his shoulder and sees you standing in the threshold between the living room and the front entryway, your arms crossed over your chest. "He wouldn't go to sleep, he was so excited you were coming home."

Your husband smirks, but it doesn't last very long, the guilt he'd had forgotten about when he saw your beautiful face and Ethan's bubbly smile resurfacing.

"He even made you a card, let me go get it!" You say before walking back upstairs. Patrick squats down, staring at the blocks Ethan had put together. A combination of anger, disappointment, and shame boils inside of him before he raises his hand and knocks the small five-block high tower down.

"Hey!" Ethan shouts, pouting and crossing his arms, "I wanted to do that..."

Patrick meets his son's gaze and immediately feels bad. "Oh, I'm sorry, Ethan. Let me build it back up and you can knock it down this time. Okay?"

Ethan's frown lessened a bit as his dad begins to put the blocks back together, not caring about the order, as long as the combination didn't spell "CHEAT".

Just as Patrick places the last block on top of the tower, you return with the piece of construction paper. Your husband takes it into his possession and looks at the crayon picture Ethan had drawn for him. It's just of you and your son, holding hands with squiggly grins stretched across your lopsided faces and uneven black dots for your eyes. Written on top of the page is "Welcome Home Daddy!" in what obviously is your handwriting.

"So what do you think?" You question, smiling down at him.

"I-I love it," He stammers, the corner of his lips curling up into a grin, "Thank you, buddy."

Ethan pushes over the five blocks Patrick had assembled and meets his dad's gaze, a small-toothed smile crawling upon his face.

He gets back to his feet and says, "I love it so much that I'm going to put it up on the fridge so I can look at it every day." He turns around and makes his way into the kitchen, where he grabs a magnet and sticks the card up on the steel refrigerator.

You follow him in there and walk over to him, "Patrick?"

"Yeah?" He glances over at you.

"Are you okay?" You ask him, genuinely worried about him.

"Of course I'm okay," He chuckles, "Why wouldn't I be?"

"I don't know. You just seem a little...off today, that's all." You bite your lip, "Are you sure you're okay?"

Patrick cups your face in his hands and looks into your gorgeous (color) eyes, "Yes, (Y/N). I'm fine." He leans and plants a soft, gentle kiss on your lips. He pulls away and tucks a piece of your hair behind your ear, "Everything's just fine."