Patrick is trying really hard to wrap his mind around Nick's view of the music business, but it's just not working. He knows there are ways and means to reach out to the fans, get the word out and get music heard that have nothing to do with whether a band has a label or not. The idea that the suits at a label have the last word on whether music got out to the public is bizarre.

Intellectually, he gets Nick's issues about timing and stepping on other people's toes. He understands that going some of the unconventional routes Fall Out Boy took to get noticed take a lot of work. But he keeps listening to those last three songs. Patrick can't shake the belief that these songs are worth the work. Part of him is afraid that despite everything, Nick can't see that.

Because it is possible he's biased. Too emotionally involved to see the album's going to be a huge flop, and the label is really doing Nick a favour. Maybe Patrick's getting wound up about shit that isn't even worth his time. He plays the songs again. They've become a fixture in his playlist, and if he's not careful they're going to make it into his pre-show playlist. He isn't quite obsessed enough to disrespect Nick's wishes and let Pete hear any of it.

Except Nick hadn't said Pete couldn't hear it. He hadn't said anything about Pete personally, had he? He even let Pete listen in on Safe Haven. He didn't want to be handed a Decaydance contract (which, okay, is pretty much what would happen if Patrick even started a sentence with "Hey Pete there's this great band I like...") but that doesn't mean that Patrick can't share a couple of songs with his best friend. Pete hasn't heard almost any of the album, and beyond his general "Patrick is a musical genius" thing, he never hesitates to tell Patrick when something outright sucks. So.

Thankfully it's a night when they've got hotel rooms. It makes it easier somehow to drop by to visit, burned CD in hand. Pete raises an eyebrow when he sees Patrick in the doorway, probably more at his expression than at his actual presence, but he ushers Patrick in.

"What's up Stump?" he asks, turning the desk chair backwards and sitting.

"I need to ask a favour." Patrick's biting his lip and he shouldn't be this nervous, it's Pete for fuck's sake.

"Anything for you, man. You know that."

He holds out the CD in its jewel case. "I need you to listen to this with your A&R hat on. Tell me... I mean, I know what I think..." even as he stammers his way through this, Patrick's forming a plan. "Tell me how much work you think it needs to go from demo quality to at least indie release. Something a band could put out at a merch table."

"Is this for Decaydance?" Pete frowns a little, taking it from him. "Because I trust your judgment, dude."

"No!" And okay that was a little too vehement, Pete's clearly hurt. "It's not my call on this. But no, this is almost definitely not going to end up with you giving anyone a record deal. It's fucking complicated, I don't know all of it, and I don't understand the shit I do know." He sighs, fiddles with the brim of his hat. "I just... I think this deserves to be out there, not just sitting on my computer. But I could be wrong."

"Okay." Pete nods slowly. "I'll listen, tell you what I think. Tomorrow?"

"Whenever." Patrick shrugs. It's not like there's anyone pushing this but him now. "No deadline on this thing."

"Tomorrow." And okay, that makes him feel a little better.

If Nick hadn't been a complete idiot, he would have made this call a week ago. Except, a week ago he was fighting with Patrick which made this call both unnecessary and dangerous. Now, it's just dangerous. Only an idiot gives Pete Wentz an opening when he's looking for a reason to kill you.

"Calling to arrange your funeral?" Pete growls at him. Yes, Nick is clearly an idiot.

"Probably?" Nick gulps. "I need a favour."

"Explain why those four words shouldn't make me hang up on you, Nicky?"

"Because I realized I'm an idiot and I apologized to Patrick?" It's worth a shot anyway.

"You probably owe half the tour an apology for siccing Patrick on them. Favours are still very much pushing your luck, bro."

"Because it'll make Patrick happy? I think?"

"Recent events have me believing I'm still a better judge of what makes Patrick happy than you are." Nick holds his breath, waiting. "I'm listening," Pete says grudgingly.

Nick lets out his breath in a whoosh and outlines his plan to Pete. It's not complicated, in fact, Nick's really making the whole event more complicated than it has to be, and he really doesn't need Pete's help for anything but the extra parts, but it could be fun. And maybe it'll let Patrick know that Nick still likes making music with him. Which is probably the important part.

He waits for Pete's verdict.

"I kind of hate you." Pete says, quiet and matter-of-fact. "You're good for him."

Nick resists the urge to double-check the number he's dialed, because he's clearly not talking to Pete Wentz "Weren't you just threatening my life a second ago?"

"That's why this week was so shitty," Pete explains. "Patrick's kind of isolated. Like, he's got us and we rock as friends, don't get me wrong, Carter. And there are lots of other people around who like hanging out with him. But Patrick only really relates to people through his music. Which is why it's such a downer that when he's producing people they tend to just sort of stand back in awe of his amazing musical geniusness. Even if they've been on tour with us before, they're like, surprised that this wicked sarcastic funny little dude is more than just my sidekick or whatever. It's lame."

Pete makes a noise that conveys exactly how tiring the incredible stupidity of the whole world can be.

"And then you come along and you're like, messing around with him, musically. Singing at him and teasing him and making him include you in all the steps of the album and shit. Hell, I think you maybe even managed to teach him stuff. Plus you actually... no, wait. I'm not talking about that stuff. What Patrick does with his dick is like, number one on the list of stuff I don't think about, ever. But you appreciate him, if you get what I'm saying."

"Um, yeah. And now I'm going to forget you ever mentioned that part." Nick makes a note to never even think about thinking about what Pete Wentz may or may not know about his sex life.

"Good call. What I'm saying, Carter, is you made him happy and then you fucked it up. The only reason you're not dead yet is that you apparently have the balls to suck it up and apologize."

"I know. Can you at least not deck me until after we've done our thing onstage?"

"I thought you wanted one favour. Two will cost you even more."

"So you'll do it?"

"Yeah, I'll do it, you sappy romantic ass. But only because it'll make Patrick happy."

"Thanks. See you round, Pete. I promise not to wear padding."

"I promise not to break anything Patrick really likes."

"Stump, you moron, you could have told me it was Carter's shit." Pete announces, settling himself on Patrick's bed. Pete has had the CD for sixteen hours, not that Patrick's been counting or anything. "It's not like his voice is hard to recognize or anything."

"Yeah, well by the time you recognized his voice, you were already listening to his stuff." Patrick points out. As much as Patrick has explained that he and Nick have more or less made up (except on issues like, oh, this one right here) Pete is insisting on calling best-friend rights and threatening to at least beat Nick up the next time they meet, if not worse. Somehow Patrick is pretty sure this doesn't translate into any sort of eagerness on Pete's part to do anything that might be seen as helping Nick.

However, Patrick has caught on to the fact that once he gets Pete listening to just about any music he's worked on, Pete can't stop himself from listening. Fortunately, Pete hasn't figured out that Patrick knows this yet. He also has confidence in his ability to translate Pete's bullshit and get a good idea of Pete's actual opinion.

"I can't believe you were actually nervous about this," Pete says, stretching out to occupy as much of Patrick's bed as possible. Patrick hangs on to his laptop, not willing to surrender his lap until Pete goes into more detail. "It's not exactly what the market's going for right now, but neither was Panic. Market him right and yeah, he could move a few units."

A knot in Patrick's stomach relaxes. Pete likes it. A lot. Patrick hasn't lost touch with what's actually good in music.

"Hey, did Nick mention any names?" Pete asks, utterly failing to sound casual. "Like, who the A&R guy is that passed on this?"

"Pete, you can't send death threats to other labels." Patrick explains patiently, patting his calf.

"I just don't want an idiot like that suddenly deciding to make a move over to Island Def Jam or something." Pete's innocent face is really good, but Patrick knows "innocent face" from actually innocent.

"You also can't start blacklisting people." Patrick has the idea that Jay-Z might actually listen to Pete on things like that and fuck if he knows what kind of chaos that would start up.

"Who says I can't?" Pete swats idly in the direction of Patrick's hat, too lazy to even come close. "I run a label, sort of. I can't have stupid people working for me. I do enough stupid shit on my own."

"So you liked it?" Patrick prods, both to get Pete off this tangent and to get a few more details out of him.

"He's got potential." Pete admits, sounding like it hurts to say it. "Needs more songwriting practice. Give him a few more years, scuff off some of the clean-cut that's still hanging around, let him play with you more..."

Patrick can't help the smile that creeps over his face at the thought of more hours in the studio with Nick.

"You guys go good together, huh?" The tone of Pete's voice is just a tiny bit off, but it's enough that Patrick sets aside his laptop and stretches out in the space Pete has left him.

"Not as good as you and me, Petey Wentz." Pete makes a noise and buries his nose in Patrick's shoulder. It's true. He and Pete have something that's pretty much impossible to duplicate. It's a little insane and a lot inspired and Patrick's a very lucky dude to have fallen into a second partnership that seems to be working well, but it's not the same at all. "It's a change of pace, though. Something different. It's fun."

"I promise not to hurt him too much." Pete promises solemnly. Patrick laughs and ruffles his hair.

"Thanks, man."

"Pete likes the album."

Nick sighs. He's not exactly sure why Patrick has decided to start their conversation with this, but because he likes Patrick, he'll play along for a little while.

"You played Pete the whole album?" He responds, trying very hard not to sound pissed. After all, he did tell Patrick they were his songs too. He should have figured out that would mean Pete Wentz getting to hear them.

"He liked it," Patrick repeats stubbornly. "He says it could go places."

"Like Hell?" Nick can't help asking. Despite the truce he and Pete hashed out last night, he can't actually imagine the guy liking his stuff. It's not exactly the kind of thing you expect Pete Wentz, king of emo to listen to. "Are you sure he didn't just like it because it's yours?"

"Fuck you." There's no real heat in Patrick's voice, which is a relief. Nick's not ready for another fight so soon. "I think I know when my songwriting partner is bullshitting me about music. I'm telling you, dude. He thinks it's a good album."

"Okay, okay. I'll take your word for it, dawg."

"You know, if you ever wanted to move labels..." Fortunately for both of them, Nick can tell Patrick's not really trying here. He still can't keep the sharp edge from his voice completely.

"No. Not anytime soon." Even if Jive did have the balls to drop him outright, he's not going to go work for his boyfriend's record label. But the idea that somebody might want the album does make him feel sort of warm and fuzzy, in a daydream kind of way.

"You're a stubborn bastard," Patrick says fondly. Nick smiles, picturing the look on his face.

"Takes one to know one."

"I know you are but what am I?"

Nick laughs. It's been a long day - rehearsals aren't getting any easier the closer they are to hitting the road for the holiday shows - and it's nice to be able to end it with a chat with Patrick, even on this subject. "You're five, dude, I swear."

"I hope I'm a little older than tha-at." The low, sexy register of Patrick's voice is kind of ruined by that yawn. "Dude, I'm so ready to get off the road for a few days. I'm not even sure how many days are left until break."

Nick is very aware, but he's not telling. "Fuck, man. My calendar is all the way across the room. Don't make me get up."

"Mmm, no. No, moving is bad." They're in different time zones still and the late hour is clearly catching up with Patrick. Nick envisions him curled up in bed, glasses off but hat still on, phone pressed to his ear... maybe he'll do a few sketches. "Hey, do me a favour?"

"Whassat?"

"Let Brian hear a few tracks. At least the one Brendon wrote." Patrick yawns again. "You know he's gotta be curious."

"I dunno." It's hard to tell what will set Brian off on a crusade and since he's already said he'll support Nick...

"Hey, they said they'd support you. An' you should remember what it feels like when somebody else tells you your stuff is good. Feels nice."

"Yeah?" And okay, maybe that was the point of this whole call. Nick's suddenly glad Patrick showed Pete, if it made him happy enough to want to share the moment with Nick.

"Yeah. Think about it?"

"Okay, Yoda. For you. Sleep tight now, okay?"

"Night Nicky."



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