set in 2024, ten years after team 21 (teams are often referred to by how many players are on it for the year) won a college world series.
tonight, six months after travie and patrick tied the knot, team 21 plus dr. wilson (brent), head coach ben, and assistant coach sam — and minus k*nny — will all be together for the first time since that season.
CH. 54 — PATRICK
"Baby, have you seen my purple bow tie?" I call out to Travis, who is in the bedroom of our Seattle house, while I'm fixing my hair in the bathroom.
"Lucky you. I saw it on the nightstand and assumed you had set it out to put it into your bag, so I put it in mine." Travis tells me as he walks into the bathroom, the bow tie in question in his hand. I smile widely at him, reaching up for a kiss.
He pecks my lips and sets about getting the bow tie around my neck and under my collar, tying it. "Perfect. Just like you." With that, he leaves the bathroom and re-enters the bedroom to finish getting ready. I know my face is probably bright red, still feeling the same butterflies I felt the first time he kissed me six years ago, back when I saw him as nothing more than a teammate and friend. Back when I was still hung up on Pete.
Pete. He'll be here tonight, obviously, as he was one of the main reasons we won a World Series. I haven't seen him since my first professional game with the Indians years and years ago before I requested a trade.
"You about ready?" Travis asks, and I scramble to fix my collar and button my cuffs.
"Yeah, baby, I'm ready." I say a few seconds later, and he appears in the doorway of the bathroom, looking as handsome as ever. He's wearing the maroon button-up I picked out a few weeks ago, tucked into a pair of black slacks with black shoes to match. The outfit is topped off with a black bow tie. "You look gorgeous." I breathe, telling the complete truth. Six years later, and he still takes my breath away.
Travis smiles in return, extending a hand out to me. "Let's go see our boys."
With that, we're off to the garage, where one of our SUV's stays unless we're visiting Washington. I open the passenger door for Travis, who thanks me, pressing a kiss to the top of my head, before I make my way to the driver's seat.
We listen to whatever's playing on the radio as we drive, hands locked over the center console. As we pull into the venue where the reunion is being held, I press my lips to the back of Travis' hand.
"I love you, Travis Stump-McCoy." I say, a huge smile on my face. I'm so fucking excited to see everyone and their other halves.
"I love you more, Patrick Stump-McCoy." Travis says, and we meet in the middle for a kiss before getting out of the car. Almost immediately, I wish I would've worn a blazer over my black button-up, as it's freezing out here.
Travis seems to notice me shivering and wraps an arm around me as we walk towards the door. I snuggle into him, thankful — not for the first time — that he's almost a foot taller than me.
As soon as we enter, we come face to face with William Beckett, Travis' ex boyfriend. I'm not really the jealous type, so I say a quick hello to William before leaving he and Travis to catch up as I look over the room.
Brent is standing by the punch bowl, and I roll my eyes when I see him pull a flask out and poor the entirety of it into the punch bowl, mixing it around with the spoon. He looks up to see if anyone noticed, and we make eye contact, a large smile overtaking his face.
"Patrick!" Brent exclaims, pulling me into a hug. I find myself squeezing him tight, having not seen him since 2018, when I graduated. "You haven't gotten a bit taller."
And just like that, I remember why I don't see Brent as often as I see Ben and Sam. "I was twenty-two and fully grown the last time you saw me, you ass." I punch his shoulder softly, and he laughs.
"Well, go on, and catch up with everyone else. I'll be here until this thing ends." Brent says, pushing me off towards Brendon, Jon, Frank, and Tyler, who are all standing in a group together by one of the tables.
"Patrick Stump-McCoy!" Frank exclaims as soon as he notices me, running full speed towards me to give me a hug. I brace for impact and laugh when Frank barely manages to move me, even though he sprinted at me.
"Hey, Frank." I say, my eyes locking with Tyler's — who's facial expression tells me he's either sad, tired, or both — over Frank's shoulder. Frank lets me go then, and I join the group.
"Where's Travie, man? I doubt he let you wonder off looking like that." Brendon says, pulling me into a side hug.
"He's off talking to Will somewhere. I see you're still a flirt then." I note, and Jon nods enthusiastically, earning an elbow from Brendon.
"Well, ow." Jon says, rubbing his side. Brendon gives him an innocent smile before pressing a kiss to his forehead. My eyebrows raise, but I don't say anything. Last I heard, Brendon and Jon still hated each other's guts, even after K*nny got kicked off of the team the year we won the World Series.
"How've you been, Ty?" I ask, directing my attention back to Tyler. His eyes widen, like no one's asked him that all night.
"Uh. I've been alright, actually." Tyler mumbles, and the other guys seem to buy it. I, however, do not. I make eye contact with Tyler and cut my eyes towards the bathroom. He sighs and nods, telling me he'll meet me there.
"I'm gonna step off to the bathroom. Every single one of you better give me a hug before you leave tonight." I say to the group, who all nod and laugh, promising to do so.
I walk towards the bathroom, narrowly avoiding running into Bryar, whom I know will start a conversation that'll never end. Don't get me wrong, Bob is great, but the guy can talk.
I slip into the bathroom, checking and finding out it's empty. A few moments later, Tyler comes in and leans against the door, running a hand through his hair.
"Tyler, what's wrong?" I ask, taking a few steps closer to him. He huffs out a breath, looking down at his shoes.
"Josh is obviously going to be here tonight, and I haven't seen him since we broke up seven years ago. I don't know how I'm supposed to watch him wrapped up in someone else all night." Tyler says honestly, and my eyebrows furrow in confusion. Josh and Tyler didn't end up together?
"I'm sure it'll be fine, TyJo." I place a hand on his shoulder, and he shakes his head, looking up to make eye contact with me.
"You're not worried about seeing them together? About how it'll make you feel? I know you're married and all, but I also know you loved him just as much as I loved Josh. I wouldn't be surprised if you still do. God knows I do." Tyler's words confuse me even more, and I'm sure I must have a stupid look on my face because Tyler's eyes widen. "Do you not know who he married three years ago?"
"No?" I say, but it comes out as a question. He shakes his head immediately, trying to push me away from him so he can get out of the door. "Ty, what the fuck? Why are you trying to leave?"
"I'm not gonna be the one to tell you. I refuse." With that, Tyler successfully pushes me off of him and leaves the bathroom. I feel stupid for not knowing what he's talking about.
After taking a good thirty seconds to regain my composure, I plaster a smile on my face and leave the bathroom. More people are here now — Gerard, accompanied by a woman with dark hair and bright red lipstick; Coach Sam, whose wife is holding onto his arm; and Nick, who is by himself among them.
Nick looks up, and we make eye contact, smiling immediately at each other. We meet in the middle of where he was and where I was and hug tightly. "You look great, man." Nick says, and I find myself giving him a once over — something I know I shouldn't be doing, but I do anyways.
"You do too." I say honestly, and he reaches up to ruffle my hair before taking a step back from me, probably realising Travis is across the room.
"How's Trav?" Nick asks, reaching up to run a hand through his hair. It's his left hand, and I notice there's no ring on it.
"He's great! Getting ready to release another album." I say with a smile on my face, thinking of how excited Travie gets talking about the new album. "How's Taylor?"
He smiles at me then and pulls out his phone to show me his screensaver. The picture is of a little girl, probably around three or four, with dark hair and eyes, just like Nick's. "We didn't work out, but we did make a tiny human."
"Congrats, dude! She's beautiful. Fuck, I'm sorry that I missed that." I say, shaking my head. He puts his phone away and smiles at me.
"It's okay, Mr. Baseball. You had a game the day of the baby shower, and I just forgot to tell you. I'm sorry, man." Nick says, looking equally as sorry as I feel. I wish that I'd have kept in better contact with Nick now more than ever.
"Well, if you're ever in D.C. and need a babysitter, Uncles Patrick and Travie are a hundred percent free." I tell him, and the smile is back on his face. We hug again before parting ways.
I turn my head towards the door to see Pete and Josh walking in together. My eyes widen, mouth dropping open, and I finally realise what Tyler meant. Josh married Pete. What. The. Fuck.
Travis seems to notice me staring at the door, and he quickly excuses himself from William to stand in front of me, blocking my view of my ex boyfriend and Tyler's ex boyfriend linking hands.
"You alright?" Travis asks, and I break myself out of it, nodding my head. I'm so thankful that Travis isn't mad that he caught me staring at Pete and that he understands how much we loved each other.
"Just. Caught off guard, I guess. Wasn't expecting that." I tell him honestly, and he nods, hands splaying across my lower back, fingers pushing into the pressure points to try and relax me — something he does everytime he knows I'm upset.
"You should go speak to him. It'll help." Travis says, probably speaking from his experience with William.
"Yeah, I think I will. I might wait until he and Josh separate. That's just too weird for me right now." I say, and he nods understandingly.
"Love you." Travis says, leaning down to press a kiss to my forehead.
"Love you more." I say back, hugging him tightly before we head off in different directions again. I finally find Andy, still managing to avoid Pete. "Andy fucking Hurley!" I exclaim, and he breaks out into a large smile, pulling me into a hug. His arms and hands are now completely covered in tattoos, and I can see a snake peaking out of the collar of his short-sleeved button-up.
"What's up, 'Rick?" He says when we pull away. We engage in small talk for a few minutes until Joe joins us with two bottles of water in his hands. "What happened to getting punch?"
"Someone spiked it, and you would've killed me had I brought you a cup." Joe says, familiar lisp making me smile again. He seems to notice me then, and he smiles right back at me. "Patrick, man, how've you been?"
"I've been great, man! How about you?"
The night flies by in a blur of too many cups of punch for Brendon and Brent, Ben and Sam making toasts to the good old days, and Andy and I having to stop Joe from lighting a joint with Travis in the middle of the venue. Josh and Pete stay linked together for most of the night. I can't seem to find a moment to get Pete alone, even though I know he's aware of mine and Travis' presence.
I'm standing near the food table, debating on if I want anything else to eat when a familiar voice begins speaking from behind me, "I haven't seen you all night." I shut my eyes tight before forcing a smile as I turn to face him.
"I've been around." I say, and Pete smiles softly at me. His eyes flicker down to my left forearm where I've rolled my sleeves up. I see him take a deep breath at the sight of his initials still on my arm, over ten years later.
"How's life in the Major Leagues?" He asks, gesturing to the nearest table, where we sit with an empty seat in between us.
"Great, actually. By the way, Spence sends his condolences for not being able to make it. Dallon has a family reunion, or something." I say, not for the first time tonight.
Somehow, Spencer and I both ended up on the Nationals, where we both start as second baseman and catcher, respectively. It's odd how two out of twenty-one of us made it to the Majors, and we're on the same team.
"Yeah, he texted me earlier this week and told me he and Dal had to miss." Pete says, turning his head to the side to scan the crowd. My initials stand out on the skin behind his ear, and my breath hitches. He didn't get them covered up either.
"You didn't cover my initials up." I say before I can stop myself, and his head snaps back towards me, where his eyes trail down to my arm again.
"Neither did you." He says softly, a large smile on his face now.
"Josh's are on the other side." I don't ask. I know, because I know Pete.
"Yeah." He answers anyways, turning his head to the other side for me to see JWDW with a heart around it, which tells me he at least waited to ink Josh's name until they tied the knot — I did the same with Travis. "I'm sorry things ended the way they did." Pete says suddenly, blurting it out like he's been waiting all night to say that to me.
"I am too." I tell him, and we sit in silence for a moment until Pete speaks again.
"Do you ever wish you could go back and change things?" Pete asks, chewing on his bottom lip. I swallow the lump forming in my throat.
"Sometimes." I say truthfully, and his eyes widen, like he wasn't expecting it. "I wonder where we'd be today had things worked out."
Pete looks around to make sure no one's eavesdropping before he leans closer towards my, voice barely above a whisper. "I feel like breaking up with you was my biggest mistake."
I shut my eyes tight, letting my head drop. "I feel like mine was letting you go." Pete reaches out a hand to trace his initials on my arm.
"I'll always love you, Patrick, but I'm glad you and Travie found each other. I can tell how happy he makes you." Pete says, and the 'Like I couldn't,' goes unsaid.
"Forever, Pete." I say in reference to the tattoo on my arm. "I'll admit, seeing you and Josh together tonight shocked me, but I'm happy for you both. I've never seen his smile so big."
Pete smiles sadly at me before standing. I stand with him, and he pulls me into a hug, arms around my neck. Mine instinctively wrap around his waist, and we both hold each other tight, just taking a moment to breathe.
I know this is one of the last times I'll ever see Pete, unless I'm ever in Los Angeles and bump into him, so I make sure to file every second of tonight away in my brain for later.
Travis and I leave soon after Pete and I break away from each other, and I wave to Pete once more before we walk out. Travis saw everything tonight, but I know he doesn't care. He knows how Pete and I felt about each other — similar to the way he and I feel about each other. That's why he never pressed for me to cover Pete's initials up.
"I love you, Patrick." Travis presses a kiss to my hair before heading to the passenger side.
I push away the feeling of wanting to run back to Pete and instead get into the car after saying, "And I love you, Travis."
i reaaaaally wanted to write these characters again, so here you all go. hope you enjoy !!
i realise how sad this is, but i feel like we needed an insight on how these two STILL feel about each other.
if you guys would like pete's point of view, let me know!! otherwise, this is the official end.
love u all sm !