St. Peter

Pete brought the last sparkly green bag to the car where Patrick was waiting, stowing it in the backseat. He had a major love for glitter lately, and Patrick would have been lying if he said he didn’t find it absolutely hilarious. There was always some color sparkle in Pete’s hair now, usually red.

“Ready?” Patrick asked. Pete recounted the bags, ten total, and slammed the door.

“Ready,” he replied, brushing the glitter off of his hands. Of course he used Patrick’s shirt.

Their first stop was an apartment building a few blocks away from theirs. Pete went inside with a blue bag while Patrick waited in the car. When he came back out, they went to another building, and Pete took four bags inside, all silver. Patrick stayed in the car. Another apartment building, three more bags. Finally they arrived at a house, and both of them went to the door. Pete had two red bags and Patrick had the only green one.

“What do you want?” were the first words out of Frank’s mouth. He opened the door wide enough to stick his head out and glare at Pete.

“I have something for you and Gerard and Mikey,” Pete said, holding up the bags. Frank walked away from the door. Following him, Pete gestured for Patrick to follow him in to the house. They ended up in the living room, where Frank flopped down on the couch, half-landing in Gerard’s lap. Gerard turned to see who it was.

“What do you want?” he asked. Pete smiled, about to speak, when Gerard noticed Patrick. “Hello, Patrick.”

“Hi,” Patrick said. Frank looked back and smiled.

“I didn’t notice you around all the asshole,” he said, earning a laugh from Gerard.

“Nice to see you too, Frank,” Pete muttered.

“It’s your fault for the thing with Mikey,” Patrick noted. Scowling, Pete threw the bags in his hands over the back of the couch.

“Those are yours,” he said. “I didn’t know if Mikey is still anti-me, so I'm leaving his bag with you, but don’t open it.”

“Are these Christmas presents?” Frank asked, enthusiasm pushing past his annoyance with Pete’s existence.

“Sort of,” Pete answered. “They’re pre-Christmas presents, so you can open them. And it has who you’re doing secret Santa with, so open it before the twenty fourth.”

“Who said we’re doing secret Santa?” Gerard chimed in.

“I did. See ya later,” Pete said. He grabbed Patrick’s hand and led him back out.

“Do I get a pre-Christmas present?” Patrick questioned once they were in the car.

“You get a lot of pre-Christmas presents,” Pete replied with a wink.