long broken up patrick and paul having had a fling back in the late 80s that they found deeply exhilarating, wonderful, refreshing but ended with patrick ruining everything (as he does). patrick is never the same man after that event, chases the feeling he once had with paul years after to no avail.
maybe paul had a positive impact on him and it changes the trajectory of patrick’s life (i read some vonnegut a while back, it would be incredibly fun to see him abandoning his high class ways, becoming a philanthropist because he realizes there’s a world out there that’s real. all within the constraints of his character of course. this may be OOC but it might work if the breakup messed with his character motivations enough)
or of course it could just mess him up without repair. he falls back on what is expected, goes and settles down with a wife and kids but never really forgets paul.
paul on the other hand is a survivor (or at least likes to think of himself as one). i can see him thinking wistfully about the past because patrick was one of the only people in his life that truly cared for him, but he’d move on. his relationship in the future would be actually fulfilling, happy
if they were to meet again, patrick drops everything and puts his reputation at stake just to try to woo paul again. he’s desperate, frantic, feels like he wasted his whole life for this moment. paul has to be worn down a bit, but there was always a spark patrick had that drew paul to him. patrick homewrecks paul’s happy family lol