Author's Note: Yes, my way of honouring this momentous day for the world [Obama's election to US President] is to write commentfic about Pete and Patrick in politics. But then my reaction to pretty much anything these days is to write Pete and Patrick. 😛
It had all been Pete's idea, of course. Egged on by years of exposure to Andy's speeches (sometimes Pete accused Andy of spreading The Message subliminally in morse code via his drums), Pete had ended up getting a PhD in PoliSci and then decided that the only way to change things was to get involved.
He'd pulled Andy out of his gazillion bands, reasoning that he needed Andy to make sure that Pete didn't "sell out", and then went on to recruit Joe, who'd been at the university newspaper with Pete. Joe was very happy to be able to present his parents with a respectable alternative to med school, especially after they managed to get Pete elected into the town council their very first year together. Despite his tattoos and sometimes unfortunate tendency to run his mouth, most newspapers claimed, but Joe insisted that it was actually because Pete managed to connect with the young voters. It even got them into the state government - and Pete started to think that maybe, in a few years, they could make it into the White House.
That was when Joe introduced him to Patrick, who he'd run into at some of the ralleys. Patrick had never really wanted to become a politician - he didn't like the publicity and preferred to work as a behind-the-scenes advisor. But Pete took one look at him, eyes gleaming, said "Moms all across the nation will love you!" and next thing Patrick knew he was running for a seat in the Illinois parliament. He also found himself part of a completely crazy political campaign that still managed to be totally serious about changing the nation.
Pete wrote most of his speeches for him, as well as his own, and Patrick made sure they resembled something like regular English instead of freeform verse. When Pete held a speech and got a bit lost in metaphors, Patrick was always there to make sure the point was still made. When Pete kissed him loudly on the cheek and called him his soulmate, Patrick did not even flinch (although he might have blushed a little, it was hard to tell under his hat), and Joe and Andy exchanged knowing looks and made sure gay marriage legislation was one of their top issues.
A couple of years later America had their first tattooed President. Peter Lewis Kingston Wentz III was considered brilliant, but a bit of a loose cannon and everyone knew that what had gotten him elected was Patrick Stump, his tiny, serious-looking running mate/life partner. Few were aware that Joseph Trohmann's crazy networking skills and overall awesomeness had gotten them the best press coverage in the history of presidential elections. And what no one knew was that Andrew Hurley had played the drums on every single song they'd used during their campaign.
