(self harm)

the blade drops to the floor as the knocks persist.

"fuck," he mutters, hiding the small razor in a drawer.

"peter!" patrick whines, banging on the door. "pete, c'mon, I've got to pee!"

"y-yeah, just a second!" pete called back, crudely wiping blood from his thigh, wincing in pain from the dry, rough fabric of the washcloth scraping over the fresh wounds.

"peeeete!" patrick bounced, hitting the door again. "I'm going to pee my pants!"

"hold on, 'trick!" pete sighed, wrapping up his thigh with a few bandages as to not let it bleed through. he would finish cleaning them later, but for now, he just pulled up his jeans and opened the door. "hey,"

"it's about time!" patrick looked up at pete.

"sorry, bub."

patrick said nothing as he pushed past pete and went into the bathroom.

pete sighed, tossing himself in his bed to wait for patrick to return.

"hey, petey?" patrick's voice sounded a moment later, a small frown on his face as he watched pete sit up.

"yeah, 'trick?"

"is everythin' alright...?" it was a scared and hesitant question. patrick knew the right answer either way, he just hoped pete would tell him first.

"yeah, why?"

"w-well," patrick mumbled, hands twisting together as he approached the opposite bed.

"what's wrong, bub?"

"u-um..." patrick knew the answer, and he was a bit scared to bring it up, really. "I saw some blood on the floor..."

"oh," pete mumbled, glancing away.

"petey, is somethin' wrong?" the voice comes out wobbly and high-pitched. the same way it does when patrick is on the verge of crying. he hated the thought of pete getting hurt, and the thought of pete doing it himself was much worse.

pete frowned, hating the sound of that voice- loathing it even. "hey, hey," he said, quick to fix the problem. "nothing's wrong, bub. everything is alright." he had sat up, reached over and gently held patrick's hands in his own. "it's okay, I promise."

"p-pinky promise...?" patrick looks up from their hands, sniffing and wiping his teary eyes.

"pinky promise," pete nods, standing from the bed. "I'll go clean that up, and then after, we can snuggle and watch cartoons, okay?"

patrick nods, offering a weak smile. "okay," he mumbled, crawling into pete's bed to wait for him.

it was not long before pete returned and pulled patrick to his chest to watch cartoons.

patrick may not have known exactly what was wrong, but that was good for both of them. that is what pete decided anyway.