Listen (Patrick Stump / Fall Out Boy Fanfic)

Chapter 23 - The Voice Inside My Head

  A/N: I'm so sorry this is so late! Things have been crazy with school, and I also went out of town last weekend to see Fall Out Boy, and I was in this crazy post-concert daze all week, and I couldn't write. So I'm really sorry if this chapter is kind of crap, but I tried, so I hope you enjoy it anyways. I'll update again next weekend, and probably a few times the week following, because of spring break, but again, bear with me and my slow updates as I'm student teaching. Anyways, I'll stop babbling, but I love you guys, and I hope you enjoy!

          After two months of constantly being on the road, we finally had a weekend off. The busses pulled up in front of a five-star hotel in southern California, and within a matter of seconds, we were all pouring out onto the sidewalk. Overnight bags in one hand, I reached back with my free hand to help Aria down the bus steps. She took my hand tightly in hers and carefully climbed off the bus, smiling tiredly at me. I moved my hand to the small of her back and guided her towards the building, following behind Pete and Joe.

As we all filed into the building, Pete took care of checking in and passed a key card back to Aria and I first. "Room 416," he told us, turning back to the receptionist. I nodded and led Aria to the elevator, handing the key to her as I shifted our overnight bag on my shoulder. Once inside the elevator, I pressed the button for the fourth floor and leaned against the back wall. Aria moved to lean against me, her head on my shoulder. I kissed her hair and smiled to myself. When the door opened on our floor, I took her hand again and led her down the long hallway to our room. She put the key card in the lock, waited for the light to turn green, and then pulled it back out as she twisted the handle. We walked into the darkened room and I hit the light switch to illuminate it.

Aria headed straight for the window, pulling the curtain back and looking out at the beach that wasn't too far from the hotel. I dropped our bags at the foot of the bed and went to join her, standing behind her as I slid my hands around her waist. Even just two months along, I could notice a very slight swell of her belly. I smirked to myself and kissed the side of her head, sighing as she leaned back against me. We stood there for a moment, just looking out at the waves that crashed on the shoreline, and I began to sing softly under my breath. Aria could feel it reverberating in my chest, and she pressed closer to me, turning her head slightly to rest her forehead against the skin of my neck.

"Hello there the angel from my nightmare, the shadow in the background of the morgue, the unsuspecting victim of darkness in the valley," I sang the first song that came to mind, which just happened to be Blink-182, and I swayed gently with her in my arms. "We can live like Jack and Sally if we want, where you can always find me, and we'll have Halloween on Christmas, and in the night we'll wish this never ends. We'll wish this never ends." I stopped then, swallowing hard and frowning. Aria felt me stop singing, and she lifted her head. She turned to look at me, her hands coming to my chest, and smiled up at me. I forced a smile back, but she could tell it wasn't genuine. She knew something was wrong, because she reached a hand up to touch the side of my face. I reached up and held my hand over hers, closing my eyes.

I wanted to sing to her. I wanted to sing every song in the world to her, and I wanted her to hear the passion in every word that left my lips. But she couldn't. I didn't understand why it was hitting me so hard now, in this simple moment, as we stood in our hotel room, but it did. It hit me like a ton of bricks, the idea that she would never hear me. On one hand, I could continue to remind myself that it didn't matter, that she loved me as much as I loved her, but that just brought up another bad thought. Would I ever hear her say it?

"Patrick," her voice broke me from my thoughts and my eyes snapped open to look at her. I could feel the tears in my eyes, and I knew she could see them. She brought her other hand up to my face and pulled me down to her, kissing me softly. I kissed her back slowly, bringing both of my hands to her waist. She slowly slid her hands up and around my neck, standing on her toes to press closer to me. It was a strangely innocent kiss, being that I knew where it was leading, but it was beautiful. I splayed my hands over her back and parted my lips to run my tongue over hers. As she granted me access, I was faintly aware of the sound of laughter coming from the room beside us, telling me how thin the walls are, and I could make out Pete's voice answering the laughter.