Chapter Text
Pete Wentz was sat in the dressing room, drumming his fingers on the stand in front of him. Patrick and the others had wandered off to who knows where. Andy had told him twenty times he looked okay and tried to drag him out of the room with the rest of the band, but Pete hadn't felt like going. Something wasn't right.
He couldn't understand why he was nervous. It wasn't the usual anticipatory nerves that he got before a show; it was different somehow. He stared at his reflection in the mirror. He loved the way the bulbs reflected back in his eyes.
Then it dawned on him. Eyes. Gig. Eyeliner. This was their first live performance since recording the new album, and in all the excitement he'd forgotten about putting on his lucky eyeliner. It seemed ridiculous, that ever since their first gig he'd put the same brand of eyeliner on before a show. As far as pre-show routines go, it was pretty simple, but it was his, and the only time he used a different brand, the whole arena was evacuated due to a fire.
He rummaged around in his bag, pulling out a practically non existent stump of an eye liner. He tucked his leg under him and leant forward, resting his elbows on the bench. His face was practically right up to the mirror as he started to pull the pencil along under his eye.
It felt strange to put on eye liner after so long. He managed the left eye with only a little wobble which was easily fixed. Half way across his right, he decided he wanted to do something special, something...well, something Ryan Ross.
He was momentarily distracted by the thought of Ryan, of how he'd been relentless over MySpace trying to get his band Panic! at the Disco signed. MySpace. He chuckled at the notion of how long ago that felt, everything was all about Twitter now, MySpace just an abandoned relic of their relative youth.
His thoughts returned to his eyeliner and with it, to Ryan and his favourite time he'd seen Panic! live. Their guitarist had looked amazing with his eye makeup running into a flock of birds. When he'd found out that Ross always did his own makeup, he was blown away.
He was still absentmindedly thinking of Ryan's eyes when he got to the corner of his right eye and tried to draw a fancy swirl at the end. Instead, he ended up with some kind of teardrop shape that looked like a five year old had drawn it. He sighed loudly before pulling a tissue out of the box in front of him and tried to remove his poor attempt from his face. After a minute of furious scrubbing at the eyeliner and only managing to create more of a mess, he picked up the eyeliner from the bench and threw it across the room in frustration.
"Ow! What the hell, Pete?"
He was so surprised to hear the voice of someone else, Pete went to stand, forgetting his leg was tucked underneath him and promptly fell out of his chair. He ended up sprawled out on the floor, his face a couple of inches away from a pair of shoes. His gaze followed the shoes to the legs to which they belonged. When his eyes reached the person's knees, the owner crouched down, leaning his head over to the side down to his level. Pete found himself face to face with an upside down Ryan Ross.
"Hey Pete, whatcha doing?" Ryan's tone was playful with a hint of curiosity. "Is there any reason in particular you're trying to make out with the floor?"
The laughter that accompanied the question was almost a giggle, which for some reason sent a small shiver up Pete's spine. Not wanting to look more of an idiot than he already did, he scrambled to his feet. "Are you trying to kill me?" He dusted off his jeans before looking a Ryan sternly. "Patrick would murder me if I broke an arm before we get on stage!"
Ryan was about to retort with a comment about how little they would miss him if he couldn't play when he noticed the large smudge on Pete's right cheek. Ryan chuckled. "What in the world were you doing with that?" He brought his hand up to Pete's face, running his thumb across the black mark.
What Pete really wanted to do was lean into Ryan's warm touch, but instead he just stood there not quite able to come out with a response. Ryan let out a soft laugh. "Honestly Pete, it's not that bad." He tilted the other man's face slightly to get a better look at the damage, cocking his own head as he did so. "Um....maybe?" Ryan let loose another giggle before taking his hand away from Pete's face.
He walked over to the doorway where the eye liner had rolled to and picked it up. Ryan then made his way to the counter and began rummaging around in a makeup case that had obviously been left by someone on the back stage crew. "You want something special, right Pete? Because if you want, I think I could rustle something up for you. I mean if you didn't mind."
Pete still hadn't moved from where Ryan had left him standing, but when he realised he was being spoken to, he turned around and went over to join Ryan, hopping up on the counter and leaning over to look at what Ryan was doing. "Of course I don't mind." Pete ran his hand through his hair as he spoke. "I was trying to do something special for the gig, you know? So yeah, do your worst Ryan Ross." He grinned as he issued the challenge to his friend, leaning back on both hands.
A smirk appeared on Ryan's lips as he stepped over to stand in front of Pete, spreading out several pencils on the counter. He picked one up in his hand and took a hold of Pete's chin gently, turning his face to the side. "You're going to have to sit really still mind." Ryan left go of his chin and went to move a little closer, coming into contact with Pete's knees. Needing to get really close brought an idea milling through his head to life. Ryan put his hands on both of Pete's knees, pulling them apart and stepping right up against the counter in between them.
Pete was taken completely by surprise by Ryan's action and went to turn his head to look at him. He caught a glimpse of the grin on Ryan's face before his own was pushed back to the side. Ryan was still grinning when he spoke. "C'mon Pete! Sit still. It's not like I'm going to hurt you..... much."
It took all of Pete's self control not to make a retort, so he had to settle for biting his bottom lip. He sat as still as he could while Ryan started to work on his makeup, starting with small compact containing eyeshadow. The small brush strokes were so light on the side of his eye and cheek that he was starting to squirm.
Ryan finally finished with the coloured powders, which was just as well because Pete's fidgeting was driving him crazy. He placed the compact to one side and picked up the black eyeliner. He gently placed his fingers either side of his work so far, pulling the skin taught so he could work more precisely.
It took all his concentration to finish the outline of his work, and it was clear that was the case because Ryan's tongue was sticking out of his mouth. He finished the last line with a flourish, leaning back slightly to inspect the fruits of his labour.
No sooner had the pencil left his face, Pete turned to face Ryan. "Is it finished? Can I see? Pleeeease?" He was practically bouncing off the counter.
Ryan laughed, placing his left hand on Pete's knee to still him. He leant over and picked up a hand mirror, holding it up so Pete could see the finished article. It was a beautifully detailed phoenix flowing out from the corner of his eye and out across his cheek.
Pete opened his mouth to speak, but quickly closed it again before he could say anything, which made Ryan panic a little. "Don't you like it?" Ryan asked, trying to hide his disappointment at the reaction.
He was still staring at the mirror, more than a little distracted by the combination of the amazing creature that had emerged from his earlier poor attempt at something special, and the fact that Ryan's hand was still exerting a light pressure on his lower thigh. He finally managed a few syllables. "It's amazing, Ryan. Really! You are seriously fucking talented!"
Putting down the mirror, Ryan smirked. "Oh I already knew that." He placed his other hand on Pete's left leg gently. "It helped that I had the perfect canvas to work on though." Ryan couldn't resist giving his thigh a soft squeeze, having wanted an excuse to get his hands on Pete for far too long.
Pete blushed a little when Ryan's hand tightened a little around his leg. He wasn't even sure that Ryan was aware he was doing it. He had no idea what to do, so Pete tried to change the subject rather than blurt out how much he'd missed Ryan. "Thanks for coming, Ryan. I know this can't be easy for you, but we're all really glad you came."
Ryan couldn't help but smile as Pete rushed to fill in the silence between them, well aware that the other man was letting his nerves get the better of him. Subtlety was not one of Ryan's more obvious qualities. He leant forward a little, sliding his hands up Pete's thighs, closing the gap between his face and Pete's. "I'm not here for them Pete," he said softly.
Having Ryan so close was becoming unbearable now, and when Pete saw him leaning towards him, he knew he was going to be unable to resist kissing his friend like he'd wanted to since they first met. Pete shifted forward until he was almost touching Ryan's lips with his, closing his eyes at the last moment before contact.
Suddenly Pete heard the door burst open and felt Ryan remove his hands from his legs as he skittered back and away from him. He opened his eyes just in time to see Brendon Urie standing in the doorway looking a little confused.
Brendon wasn't sure what he'd just walked into because Pete had his eyes closed and Ryan was standing a couple of steps away from him looking a little shell shocked. "PETE! Why are you still here? You're on in a couple of minutes. Come on, they're waiting!"
Pete blinked a couple of times before registering what Brendon had said. He really wanted to throw something at Brendon and tell him what a jerk he was for ruining his first and now probably last chance at making out with Ryan. Instead, he just smiled. "Alright! I'm coming. Ryan was just making with the pretty." He proudly displayed his cheek to Brendon.
Brendon smiled at how amazing the phoenix looked on Pete, and how happy he looked before the gig. It reminded him of how Panic! had been before their split. He glanced over at Ryan. "Oh, didn't know you were here, Ryan. By the way, you're looking good." Even though he was trying to play it cool, there was still an awkwardness between him and Ryan.
Ryan shifted his weight slightly, nodding once at Brendon. "Yeah, thanks. Hey Pete, I'd better be heading off too. You should go with Brendon before they go on stage without you." He side stepped past Brendon to get out into he hallway. Ryan poked his head back around into the room. "By the way, when you need to get that off, just use some baby wipes, okay? And break a leg Pete." With that, Ryan disappeared.
Pete slid off the counter, smiling at Brendon, even though he was bitterly disappointed that Ryan hadn't stuck around. "Guess we should get going then?"
Brendon walked over to Pete and grabbed his arm, speaking as he dragged him out of the room and towards the stage "Absolutely. Go kill them dead!"
END