When I Come Around

{hospital waste} pat&derek

Patrick looked at Derek shove chips in his mouth and he laughed- that boy could eat. Once again, it was like looking into a mirror- if Patrick was high and had the munchies. He chuckled at himself, and then looked down at the bad of chips in his hands; they didn’t really look satisfying. Actually, Patrick just wasn’t really hungry at the moment. But, he held the bag of chips for Derek and he watched him eat, which just seemed to make Patrick feel even more- full.

When he said thank you back with a light hit on the arm, Patrick blushed and smiled. Derek was a great guy, honestly, and he was really glad they found each other- he’d be a great person to spend time with, he already knew that. “Yeah and well, I guess it’s cool not to be the only child anymore,“ Patrick playfully mocked Derek, and then let out a laugh, and when Derek invited him up to his room, Patrick grinned and nodded his head. “Yeah, yeah sure.”

Patrick and his little brother walked out of the kitchen and made their way upstairs to Derek’s room. Saying it wasn’t that far of a distance, they were their super fast and as soon as Patrick walked inside he gawked. His room was decked out in soccer, hockey, and football posters- awards and stuff popped throughout his room, the dark blue walls contrasting the awards silver and gold. Patrick grinned, he was definitely into sports from the look of it.

“Damn, Derek,” he said casually as he walked over to his huge bed, probably a queen size from the looks of it, “You play sports much? Just kidding, but wow- are all these-” he motioned towards the trophies, “yours?” If they were, and he didn’t steal them, he’d be so proud.

#kinda short fuck #hospital waste #patrick

Once they reached Derek’s bedroom, Derek plopped onto his bed, noticing Patrick looking at everything on his walls. His room was pretty full of anything sports- posters, trophies, you name it. Sports were the only thing he was really good at. He actually wanted to be a sports broadcaster after college.

“Yeah, I’ve been playing since I was a kid,” he shrugged. “Hockey’s my favorite. I’m on the Ice Hounds team at Degrassi.” He patted the spot beside him on his bed, letting Patrick know he could sit.

“You should see TJ’s room. He’s got posters covering the walls completely. With bands, of course. He hates sports.”

He laid back on his bed, his arms resting underneath his head as he kept his eyes on Patrick. He felt they should catch up, since they missed about seventeen years of each others lives.

“Did you go to Degrassi too?” He asked with raised eyebrows.

{hospital waste} pat&derek

It was weird, not being the one to back down from everything. Instead, Anthony left upstairs in a fit, a sound of a door slamming upstairs signalling match one was won by nonetheless than Patrick Cooper. “Well, that was something,” he muttered and then looked at Derek as he said practically the same thing. That brought a smile on his face, and when he asked if he wanted food, Patrick just laughed, “Yeah sure, why not.” he chuckled, and then followed Derek into the kitchen. Once he was there though, he went to one of the counters and leaned back against it, more chuckles escaping his mouth.

Then the chuckled turned to laughter and he couldn’t stop. His eyes were brimming with tears, not because he was sad, but just because this whole thing was ironic. “Jesus Christ, Derek,” he managed to begin, chuckling a little bit, “How fucked up and great is this situation? The only good thing coming out of this seemingly is you, not gonna lie- I mean, did you see the look on his face? I mean yeah, he looks distraught but I just man, if he couldn’t handle that, that’s his problem because sorry but he had it coming.” Patrick sighed and then walked over to stand next to him.

“Is he always like that? I mean probably not because it’s not every day your child comes back home with another child of yours but damn-” Patrick sighed and then chuckled, “Thank you.” Patrick whispered genuinely, a grin formed on his lips.

“I always wanted a brother, and now I have one- two, and you’re doing a great job so far.”

It seemed that Patrick and Derek had the same reaction to their father storming off, and Derek couldn’t help but laugh a bit. Chuckling, he lead Patrick to the kitchen, opening up the doors to the pantry as Patrick leaned against a cabinet. Scanning the pantry, he pulled out a bag of potato chips, hearing Patrick beginning to laugh hysterically. Narrowing his eyebrows, he chuckled a bit. “What’s so funny?” He spoke between soft chuckles, tossing the bag of chips to Patrick.

Patrick said he was the only good thing from this situation, and Derek felt his lips form into a smile. He was pretty glad that Patrick felt that way, because Derek was actually pretty excited that they had found each other.

He shook his head, closing the pantry and looking up at Patrick. There was only about an inch difference between them. “Not at all. He’s usually pretty put together. He never even cusses around us.” He rolled his eyes, shrugging as he leaned his shoulder against the pantry door. “I don’t know, maybe he’s only normal because of my mom.”

Derek pulled the chips bag from Patrick’s hands and opened them up, pulling a few from the bag and stuffing them in his mouth. Patrick thanked him, and Derek smiled, swallowing down the chips. “No problem, dude. You know what? Thank you.” He lightly hit his arm and smiled.

“Well, I guess it’s cool not to be the oldest anymore?” He said with a grin. “Wanna come up to my room or something? I don’t think he’ll be coming out of his anytime soon,” he added, referring to their father.

{hospital waste} pat&derek

Patrick listened to Anthony, and while he did he walked over to Derek- just to be near him, because he felt safer near him in a way. It was hard to explain, but being near Derek while their dad was in the room made it seem like it was going to be okay in some weird and twisted way. When he asked what he wanted him to do, Patrick sighed and threw his hands up in the air.

“I don’t know! And that’s the thing, I don’t know you- like I know you’re my father now I guess, but I don’t know you- I don’t know this family- this whole situation is just a big, I don’t know what to do, let alone know what I want you to do. You know? Cause I don’t!” Then Patrick looked over at Derek, and smiled. That could’ve been him, standing there in this house with a family that seemed perfect- but behind the curtain it was just a mess.

“Thank you though,” he turned to look at his father, “For not messing up with Derek, I guess that’s the one good thing that came out of this, you learned from you’re mistake I guess and Derek is an alright guy,” he chuckled and playfully hit him in the arm, “but hey, one more thing-” he looked at his father and sighed.

“Is there another brother we don’t know about or?”

Derek noticed Patrick move so he was beside him again, and Derek put a hand on Patrick’s shoulder, letting him know he’d stay with him through it. Even if things didn’t work out and Patrick never spoke to their father again, he knew he’d still keep in touch. They had just met, but were already kind of forming a bond.

Derek flinched slightly as Patrick began to yell, but he didn’t blame him for it. If he were in his shoes, he’d probably be just as angry, but wouldn’t be holding himself back as well as Patrick was.

Ironically, though, Patrick congratulated Anthony for not messing up with Derek, and that seemed to set their father off. He didn’t even listen to Patrick after he mentioned Derek. Instead, he groaned angrily and turned around, storming back up the stairs. The two could hear the footsteps above them, and then a door slammed. They didn’t understand why mentioning Derek made him so mad.

“Well,” Derek began, letting out a sigh as he looked over at Patrick. “That couldn’t have gone worse. Wanna grab some food?” He gave him a forced smile, trying to lighten the mood a bit.

{hospital waste} pat&derek

Anthony’s reaction to the news that his mother was dead didn’t surprise him. Actually, nothing past this point was surprising. The surprise ended once he came down the stairs- Anthony was a no good, no show and abandonment filled piece of trash. As soon as he said how he could help him, Patrick’s eyes widened and he took a step forward. In the background, Derek yelled but Patrick walked up to the man- clearly pissed off.

“How about,” he spoke slowly, his bitch face in full blast. Patrick forced his arms to his side, because even though he wanted to throw a punch at the guy, he figured violence wasn’t the best answer. “You answer me this, or at least try to explain to the simplest degree why-” he trailed off some more, and then tilted his head. How could he put this in the most hurtful, yet strong way?

“How could you have had a kid, and leave them only to about a year later have another one- when I doubt in a years time you could’ve been a better parent. You left a family, so soon only to start another one? If you weren’t ready to have one in the begging, what makes you think you could go off and create something else that was probably destined for failure? Especially, if you couldn’t tell your own sons that you had another kid out there, somewhere, and that you left him in trailer trash, because guess what? That’s what he became.”

Patrick shook his head and took a step back.

“You are not best father of the year, after the mess you made, and just- tell me how you could’ve let that all happen; because you’re mistake has messed up so much in my life that I can’t even begin to explain. Thanks for that, by the way.”

Everything was playing out in front of Derek like a movie. Before he knew it, Patrick was up in their father’s face, and although Derek considered stopping him, he didn’t. Patrick probably had a lot of built up anger, and Derek almost felt his dad kind of deserved it.

He listened to Patrick’s rant carefully, his arms crossed over his chest, and he nodded his head in agreement at what he had to say. He was completely right; his father had absolutely no excuse.

Once he stepped away from their father, Derek focused his gaze on their father, and the male sighed heavily, running a hand through his hair.

“Patrick, you have no idea,” Anthony began, shaking his head as he tried to put some words together. “I was young, I was fucked up, and I always knew how I’d fucked up.” But he knew he couldn’t explain the real truth without revealing to Derek about his real mother.

“If I go back and take you with me, I would. I didn’t know you’d end up all messed up, I-” he groaned, a hand over his own face.

“What do you want me to do?” He muttered.

{hospital waste} pat&derek

Everything seemed like it was happening so fast. Derek and Anthony were in the room, and everything was silent. Until their dad had muttered a quiet, but audible ‘Oh my god’, and Patrick wanted to laugh. It was like looking into a mirror. Then Derek tried to speak, and ask questions that showed that he wanted to know the truth- but their dad shut him down, and Patrick felt his heart hurt at the pained look on Derek’s face. It took everything in Patrick to not go up and punch the guy in the face, for snapping at Derek even when he’s the most innocent in this room, and just for being himself.

Anthony Cooper was his father, it was quite clear now. Patrick’s whole life was a lie, and just a fucked up version of what could have been. John Cooper wasn’t his father, he was probably just a rebound for the guy standing in the same room- but how could his mother love someone so terrible like Anthony?

His mom.

As soon as his dad asked him about her, Patrick felt his eyes brim with tears, and he knew he had an angered look on his face. Everything was all his fault- if he didn’t leave them, hell if he left and took Patrick with him, nothing would be like how it played out.

“She’s dead, Anthony,” Patrick retorted in anger.

There was so much tension in the room that it made Derek fill a little sick. He almost felt out of place- in reality, this wasn’t exactly any of his business. He contemplated leaving for a moment, to leave Patrick and their father alone, but he felt that Patrick would probably need his support. For the first time in his entire life, Derek didn’t see his father as great of a guy as he thought he was.

Patrick responded, quite angrily, and Derek shut his eyes tightly. He was surprised he hadn’t thrown up already.

“Oh, fuck,” Their dad muttered, taking a step back. Derek instantly looked up at his father, his eyes widened slightly- his father hardly ever cussed, especially not around him or TJ.

His father was a fake.

“I can’t believe this,” their father spoke, a small, stressed out sounding chuckle escaping his lips, “Well it’s nice to see you, Patrick. How can I help you?”

Derek’s mouth dropped. “Dad, what the hell?” He had never seen his dad act like that before.

{hospital waste} pat&derek

Patrick followed Derek wherever he went, and when they went into the house, Derek told him they could sit. Patrick followed Derek, sitting next to him on the couch- sitting closer than normal, but only because he was nervous and Derek had an upper hand at this situation. Derek had called for their dad, and Patrick could hear footsteps upstairs, and his heart began to race. He swore he could hear that too, and he looked at Derek nervously. This was really happening.

It wasn’t until that a man started walking down the stairs, that Patrick kinda wanted to ditch this whole thing and go back to his old life. But, as soon as the guy was in view, and Patrick could look at every aspect of him, Patrick felt like he was glued to the seat. It was almost like looking at an older version of himself, of course some aspects weren’t all there because he had only half of his genes, but it was still half- and Patrick could see it. Every part of him was screaming that this guy, this stranger, was his father.

Derek introduced him, but when he trailed off, Patrick found courage to stand up and when he did, he felt the whole world spin, but he didn’t fall- he wouldn’t, because he had one question itching to be asked.

“Are you my father?”

Silence filled the room, and he was glad he got it out in the open. It was what he came here for, anyways.

Derek could see the confusion his father had at first, and how as soon as he said his name, his expression changed to shock, making Derek realize that his father knew. This shocked Derek as well, but also made him a little mad. Patrick had a crappy life for no reason; he could have been with them all along.

“Oh my god,” he heard his father speak as soon as Patrick asked if he was his father. His dad put both of his hands on top of his head and took a deep breath, staring at Patrick in complete shock. Derek stood up beside Patrick and looked at his dad with narrowed eyebrows, trying to figure out what could possibly be going through his head.

“He is, isn’t he?” Derek spoke, his gaze not leaving his fathers. “How could you not tell me? Does Mom know? Why-”

“Derek!” His father raised his voice, and Derek instantly shut up. He could tell he was stressed out, and he gulped.

“Patrick, I’m-” he sighed, hesitating before nodding his head slowly. He didn’t say it out loud, but they now knew that he really was.

“Where’s your mother, Patrick? Does she know you’re here?” Their father asked, and Derek looked down at the floor silently.

{hospital waste} pat&derek

As soon as Patrick mentioned James, it seemed like Derek cringed at the name. Patrick looked at him with his bitch face, and when he talked about James, it took everything in Patrick to not grab a hold of the steering wheel and crash the car. That was his James, and no one could talk about James like that instead of him and Esther. Even the aids comment ticked Patrick off, but he knew he said it as a joke.

“Just so you know, you may hate the guy,” Patrick looked at him seriously, “But he’s the reason I’m still alive, so if it wasn’t for him, you probably wouldn’t have ever found me.” Patrick sighed and went to look out the window. Could he really be mad at Derek, though? Patrick didn’t know what to think, and when they parked at a house- a relatively average house, a little on the big side, but nothing like James’- Patrick nodded his head to Derek’s question and opened his door, stepping out of the car.

Although, before he could even take one step, he turned to Derek and smiled softly. “Hey uh, Derek-” he breathed in, trying to calm his growing nerves, “I know, this whole thing is insane, and I’m still trying to wrap my head around it, but I just wanna say, even if this guy is my father too, and lets say I end up hating him- because let’s be honest, he’s not father of the year in my book, I want to say thank you, for taking me here and just, being cool- I guess.”

Patrick grinned and looked down at the ground, then a second passed and he looked towards the house and sighed, “Well, lead the way little Coop.”

Derek could tell that his comments about James made him a little, well, irritated. He could tell by the glare he gave him, and his response of him still being alive because of him. He bit down on his lip slightly, hoping he didn’t already ruin what could have been a good brother-ship, and he glanced at Patrick as me muttered a simple, “Sorry.”

They both exited the car, and as Derek began to walk toward the front door, he stopped when Patrick began speaking. Turning around, he kept his eyes on Patrick as he listened to him speak, and he smiled a bit. It was probably bound to end up horribly- obviously, Derek didn’t know about Patrick for a reason, but at least he would finally know the truth. “No problem, dude.”

Nodding his head toward the door, he motioned Patrick to follow him as he started to walk. Once he got to the front door, he used his keys to unlock it and entered, leaving the door open for Patrick to enter, as well. Once they were both inside, he closed the door behind them and let his gaze go toward the stairs.

“Hey, Dad!” Derek called, his hand still resting on the doorknob. “Can you come down here, please?!”

He could hear footsteps above them, and he looked at Patrick. “We can, uh, sit down.” He walked over to the nearby couch and sat down, leaving space for Patrick to sit beside him. Right as the two of them sat, Derek heard his father coming down the stairs to where they were. Once his dad was in sight, Derek glanced from his father to Patrick.

“Dad, this is uh, Patrick- Patrick Cooper. We met at the doctor’s, and had a few questions..” He trailed off, a feeling of uneasiness starting to wash over him.

{hospital waste} pat&derek

Patrick kept his gaze locked on Derek as he talked about his life, and himself. He was just a year younger, which sort of pissed Patrick off on account that if his father couldn’t raise Patrick, how could a year difference change that for another child? He rolled his eyes to himself and then when Derek went to talk about his brother, Patrick noticed he had a hard time describing him, and when he finally said he was going through an emo phase, Patrick chuckled.

“God, I wish I went through an emo phase, much safer than drugs, you know? Did you go through an emo phase?” Patrick commented and asked him, genuinely interested. If the guy did go through an emo phase, Patrick swore to himself he’d have to search for evidence to use it against him- in a brotherly way, of course.

Patrick adverted his gaze, when Derek looked at him, and Patrick blushed slightly- he probably shouldn’t stare. “Yeah, my buddy James. He’s a great guy, was a great boyfriend too, but I mean we realized we we’re better off friends especially when we found out I was sick- he didn’t wanna deal with the stress, and I completely understand him, I feel the stress with my current relationship-” Patrick spoke slowly, not really thinking about what he was saying, but just letting anything out. Then he thought about Cam, and he felt goosebumps rise on his skin. Pictures of him in the hospital ran through his head, and he felt his eyes brim with tears. “It sucks, but hey, it’s life- and death, I guess.”

“We’re actually living with his girlfriend too, Esther, and god, she’s sick too, with Aids. You’d think it’s James’ karma, one sick person for another, but then again-” Patrick looked at Derek, “He’s sick too, liver problems.” Patrick sighed and then shook his head at the irony.

“It’s like the rich sick house, I swear.”

When Patrick said he wished he had an emo phase, Derek felt a laugh escape his lips, although he stopped laughing when Patrick mentioned drugs. He felt pretty bad for Patrick; it seemed he got the opposite of an ordinary life.

He continued with the conversation, though, despite being a little hesitant after he mentioned drugs.

“Luckily, no. I was more of a punk-ass, fuck-boy type, you know?” He shook his head, chuckling slightly as he thought of his younger self.

As soon as Patrick mentioned the name James, though, he swore he cringed.

“James the Drunk? You’re joking, right?” He spoke, glancing at Patrick with raised eyebrows. “God, I hate that dude.” He shook his head.

He had met James only a few times, and Derek thought he was absolutely disgusting. He was obnoxious and cocky, and smelled like booze. Derek was surprised Patrick could actually tolerate him.

“Aids? Did she get them from him?” He spoke, only half kidding. He didn’t exactly expect an answer, though, because he was then pulling into his driveway. Turning off the car, he pulled the keys out of the ignition and looked at Patrick as he opened his door.

“Ready?”

{hospital waste} pat&derek

Patrick followed closely behind Derek to the guys car, and Patrick just couldn’t stop thinking about this whole situation and how fucked up it was. Some nurse, who Patrick doesn’t know, tells him he has a brother, to someone he doesn’t know. It was just ridiculous, but Patrick just kept to himself and went along with the ride- literally.

Sitting in the passengers seat of Derek’s car, Patrick thought about his own car, and then let out a sigh. “My car is here, by the way, do you mind taking me back when we’re done with-” he trailed off, and gave him a small smile with eyebrows raised. Then Derek told him their dad was pretty chill, and Patrick bit his tongue as he tried not to say what he was feeling. Leaving your own child is not chill at all. But, Patrick just nodded along to Derek, and then when he asked how old he was, Patrick looked at him.

“Eighteen, and I just graduated, if you were gonna ask that,” He chuckled barely, and then tilted his head, “So, how old are you? And I remember you saying something like you have a little brother? What’s his name? What’s he like?” Patrick just kept asking questions in all honestly because he didn’t really feel like talking at the moment, he just wanted to listen.

He wanted to listen to the life he could’ve had.

When Patrick asked if he could bring him a ride back, Derek nodded his head. “Yeah, no worries. I don’t live far, anyway.” He shrugged, keeping his focus in front of him.

Patrick began questioning Derek about his own life- his age, his brother, and Derek chuckled slightly. At first, Derek felt that Patrick wasn’t really interested, but it was probably just the shock that made him seem that way. Now, though, it seemed he wanted to know as much as he could.

“I’m 17, I’ll be a senior next year. My little brother is TJ, who’s gonna be a sophomore. He’s, uh-” he paused for a moment, trying to find a way to describe TJ.

“Different. Kind of going through an emo phase, I guess? But he’s my brother, so I gotta love him.”

His gaze went to Patrick for a moment before looking at the road again.

“So, you live with your best friend? That’s pretty cool.” He spoke, trying to keep conversation going. They were already almost to his house, anyway. He was actually a bit nervous about his dad, though. Would he be mad?

{hospital waste} pat&derek

As soon as Derek apologized for Patrick’s life, he just kind of sighed and let out a chuckle. “Oh, it’s alright, you kind of get used to the shit life throws at you, so it’s no big deal I guess.”

Patrick listened to Derek say that their dad was some guy named Anthony Cooper, and all Pat could do was furrow his eyebrows and try to connect a name to a face. Well, he couldn’t even do that because he didn’t know a fucking Anthony Cooper. Although, when Derek said he had a little brother, Patrick straightened up and his eyes went wide. He could have another relative? Jesus Christ, everything was getting even more crazy.

Then Derek asked him if he wanted to meet Anthony, and Patrick nodded his head. “Yeah, yeah I do because-” Patrick trailed off, not sure of what to say. If John Cooper wasn’t his real dad, and this Anthony guy was, his whole life would be a lie. If Anthony was his real dad, son of a bitch left him and fucked his whole life up. It would be Anthony’s fault he got into drugs, and lived such a terrible life. He didn’t even know him yet, and Patrick felt anger just thinking about him. Taking a deep breath, Patrick tried to calm himself down and just shook his head. “N-Nothing.” He finished with a sigh.

“So, take me to him, then, I guess.”

Derek couldn’t quite relate to Patrick in that moment. Patrick seemed like he lived a very unfortunate life, while Derek’s was just plain ordinary. Never in his life had Derek felt bad for having a normal life.

He was actually a little surprised when Patrick said yes to meeting his- their dad. By Patrick’s original reaction, he wasn’t quite sure he’d wanna meet their dad. He seemed a little hesitant, but that was probably to be expected.

Derek nodded his head, pulling his keys out of his pocket and unlocking his car that was only a few parking spaces away from where they were standing. Nodding his head toward his car, he walked up to it and got in the drivers seat, starting the car as Patrick got in the passenger’s seat.

“Don’t be nervous or anything, he’s honestly really chill.” Derek spoke, glancing over at Patrick after he pulled out of the parking space.

“So uh, how old are ya?”

{hospital waste} pat&derek

After Derek introduced himself, and they shook hands, Patrick chuckled again. God, this was so strange. Patrick was kind of hoping he was sleeping, and this was all a dream, but then if he woke up, his life would go back to being boring. Patrick sighed, at least this was an interesting turn of events. Then Derek asked him if he knew their dad, and Patrick shrugged, and then sighed. He didn’t really want to explain his whole biography, but he figured it was bound to happen.

“The only dad I know is John Cooper, but he wasn’t much of a dad because he left me and my mom as soon as I got diagnosed with Cancer, and then my mom? Well, she’s dead and I’m just gonna be honest, I’ve never really had any good parental figures in my life- they’ve were both drug using alcoholics who could only afford a god damn trailer in a trailer park,” Patrick tried to explain his life as simply as possible, but as he reflected on what he said, he realized how sad his life actually was. “I’m currently living with my best friend, at the moment though, so-” He felt like he should’ve added that in there.

“So I mean, unless you know John Cooper and that bitch is living another life, whats your story, then?”

While everything that was happening seemed like a dream, or something that would happen in some weird movie, it was completely real, and Derek couldn’t really wrap his head around that. But, at the same time, he was honestly pretty stoked; nothing in his life was ever really interesting. Everything was too ordinary.

Patrick explained his situation, and Derek’s eyes instantly widened as he mentioned cancer. He had cancer? Was that why he was at the doctors?

“Holy crap man, that’s, really shitty. I’m sorry.” He spoke, frowning slightly. However, he narrowed his eyebrows when he mentioned a John Cooper.

“No, my dad, well, our dad is Anthony Cooper. My story is literally just living in a house with my mom, dad and little brother. You must be mistaken about John or whatever.” He shrugged slightly.

“Do you wanna meet him? I mean, if you don’t know him. It seems like you don’t.” He was acting a little unsure and awkward, but he wasn’t quite sure how else to act.