The Church Boys ➸ Peterick/Brentrick

5: The Sandlot and The Hallelujah (While My Guitar Gently Weeps)

By the time they were home, both parents were shocked to see the brothers practically singing kumbaya. Both showered, then Patrick was in his room for the rest of the day. He'd been rather settled before glancing at his phone and seeing a text from Scott, which fairly surprised him.

unknown number: hey, it's scott hoying... wondering if you'd be interested in stopping by the choir room at lunch on monday/tomorrow? you don't have to join choir, that's not what i'm asking, but you know some stuff about music and i was wondering if you could help my friends and me. you just like...idk, know a lot about music n stuff.

pdiddy: hey! yeah, sure, sounds cool.

✨ scott: thanks, dude! i'll let them know.

Patrick smiled, glad he could be of help to them. He glanced at the clock once before heading downstairs to fix himself a quick dinner. Though his family was at the table, and his mother attempted to get him to sit down to join them, he simply shook his head and took the offered plate to him back upstairs. His sister had tried to say something, but it was returned by Aaron with a "the world doesn't revolve around you" remark.

Eating in his room alone was comforting, mostly because he wasn't being watched nor forced to do anything. He had a show on his computer turned on as he ate his dinner, occasionally texting Brendon but otherwise just taking the time to himself. Afterwards, he did finish up some homework from Friday that he didn't do and checked the time again.

8:30.

It blinked back at him almost menacingly until he figured that it maybe was actually time to go to bed, and he could benefit from the extra few hours of sleep. Shutting off his computer and cleaning up for bed, Patrick ruffled his hair before he crawled under his blankets to sleep it all off.

-

Lunch on Monday came rather quickly, to his surprise. He'd told Brendon that he was going to the choir room at lunch for something, and his friend (though seemingly rather deflated) had nodded and said he was going to hang out with his stoner friend Ryan. Hesitantly entering the choir room, Patrick looked around and observed his surroundings. It was relatively big, more or less empty, and quiet except for a few voices speaking from the center of the room in hushed tones.

As he set his stuff down and approached the small group, he put on a small smile. Scott, at least, seemed glad to see him. It took a minute, too, before it clicked for Mitch and he smiled as well. It was reassuring, at least.

"Kirstie, Avi, this is Patrick. He's in band."

The only girl there, who Patrick was assuming was Kirstie, smiled. "Yeah, I know. Kevin'll be here soon, he got out of class late."

There was a small nod as he sat himself down to get comfortable and make small talk with them. Eventually, the one he presumed was Kevin walked in with a sports bag. Kevin, unlike the others, was african american, and while Patrick was used to Scott towering over him, he wasn't expecting Kevin to as well. Still, he put on a smile allowed himself to be fairly surprised.

"I'm Kevin, sorry I'm late," he introduced, offering Patrick his hand to shake.

"Don't worry about it," he'd said, shaking his head and smiling slightly as he took his hand. It was a nice handshake, not too long and still firm. "So, um, Scott said you guys needed some musical advice, so what am I here to give?"

Though he wasn't quite sure why they'd come to him for advice, he wasn't going to question it too much unless they chose to answer his question for him. Upon them all standing up, Patrick realized he was very short compared to almost all of them. Except, however, Kirstie, who upon when he stood up as well discovered they were the same height.

"Yeah," Mitch said, glancing back at the group before back at Patrick. "Since you're nice and all and were probably the only person who would actually help us with this, we...um, well, need help getting our sound together. And like, if you want to stay and keep helping us, if you could not hold back, that would be cool."

"You're a band? What instruments do you play?"

Kirstie shook her head as the five got up onto the steps that the choir usually rested on and got into a small formation. "We don't play instruments."

Intrigued by this, Patrick stepped away and nodded. "Yeah, um, okay, cool. So, start with your best then, I guess."

After sharing a quick word, Mitch looked back at Patrick. "Most of the stuff we've done is Christmas, since that's sort of easier to convert, but we have another one we'll try."

Patrick had shifted his weight to watch, taken slightly by surprise when they started singing softly, keeping it quiet but also keeping it a cappella. Hallelujah was one of his favorite songs, mostly for the value it held to him. Looking back up at them, he found himself humming quietly along when they got louder and more confident.

When they'd finished, Patrick had simply nodded, smiling. "That was good, you could be a little louder and the beginning, maybe a little bolder too, but it was good." He nodded once more. "Yeah."

They spent the rest of lunch working out the song further under Patrick's guidance, which sounded weird, but he really did have an ear for music. Though a cappella wasn't what he was most comfortable with, expanding to something new was a little fun.

Still, Scott's point was proven when the five were walking away from the music building only to hear a remake of Prince's solo from a joint cover of My Guitar Gently Weeps. Being late to class was worth it to watch Patrick horsing around with the other band kids while they played a mock version of the song with Brendon Urie singing with him.

It was amusing to watch, even for Mr Flowers.

The only thing was that the amps were turned up quite loud, which led to a noise complaint from one of the more uptight teachers, but that just reminded them to get back to work and get to class. At least, Patrick figured it was partially a blessing, mostly because he couldn't do the entire solo to the standard he'd prefer.

Most of practice had gone into getting the new kids situated, giving them basic instruction while Patrick and Brendon fucked around with the drum set (this had led to a "how many instruments can you fucking play" remark towards Patrick, though he'd responded with "a lot" and left it at that).

That had just digressed into Brendon playing guitar and Patrick playing drums for the title track and Holiday from American Idiot. No singing, just the two instruments. They'd tried a part of Platypus (I Hate You) by Green Day as well, but that ended in Mr Flowers telling them to stop being so distracting.

So they went to Heart instead because it was a little more gentle. A little. At least it was less distracting than punk rock.

As soon as Mr Flowers had finished, however, Brendon had started shout-singing Why Don't You Get a Job by The Offspring. Dallon had quickly picked up the bass he'd brought just in case and joined in, mostly because he knew the song. Either way, he was welcomed and it was greatly amusing for the rest of the class.

After Patrick's sixth period let out, he wasn't expecting to be joined by anyone on the walk to his car. Yet, sure enough, Brendon was there, a smile on his face as he walked with him.

"I thought you didn't have sixth period," Patrick asked as he headed into the parking lot.

"I don't. Just wanted to hang out, say hi I guess."

"Well, hi?"

"Want to go see a movie sometime? Get dinner before or after or something?"

Patrick paused, glancing at Brendon almost without words to say.

"Life is short. You're hot. Go out with me." Brendon looked down at him with a small smile. "What?" he'd asked, "you practically scream at my gaydar."

Patrick chuckled to that. "Alright, sure. Text me later."

- - - - - -

you're welcome.

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