Fueling inevitable gossip, Miley Cyrus croons "It Should Have Been Me" to Pete Davidson

The national pastime that is being unaccountably interested in Pete Davidson’s love life got another jolt of lookie-loo energy on last night’s Tonight Show. That’s where Davidson sat beaming while Miley Cyrus took her performance of Yvonne Fair’s “It Should Have Been Me” right into Davidson’s lap. After addressing her pal and Miley’s New Year’s Eve co-host Davidson directly, claiming, “Pete Davidson, this song is for you. When I saw those photos, this is what I played,” the singer turned her impressively committed performance of the enduring lost love anthem into a direct plea to Pete. And, we’re off!

Cyrus and Davidson, slated to preside over the Lorne Michaels-produced NBC New Year’s special on New Years Eve (duh), had already told Fallon of their long and storied friendship, matching tattoos and all. All right, so Davidson, as part of his ongoing campaign to scrub his heavily inked body more or less clean of the some 40 tats famously covering his pasty flesh, is in the process of getting his “We babies” wrist tattoo removed, while Cyrus still proudly sports her forever catchphrase on an ankle. (The tats came from a music video sketch on the Larry Davidson SNL episode Cyrus guested on back in 2017. “I stopped smoking weed the next day,” Cyrus joked.)

Still, the two seem undeniably tight, what with them showing off the prom-style pictures they took in preparation for the Miami-set New Year’s bash, where Cyrus promised “He’ll be funny and I’ll be naked.” Breaking off from the pair’s tandem sit-down with Fallon, Cyrus then joined The Roots to sing a sultry version of “It Should Have Been Me.” (Written by Norman Whitfield and Mickey Stevenson and covered many times, but Cyrus’ arrangement is clearly copying the 70's strings-and-synths of the late Fair’s version.)

Inserting a lyric about how it should, indeed, have been her driving away from “that nice-ass restaurant” in that Lamborghini, Cyrus belted her musical lament right into the grinning Davidson’s kisser, draping a long leg over his lap for good measure. Referencing Davidson’s current maybe-relationship with recent Saturday Night Live host and fellow figure of slavering media coverage, Kim Kardashian, Cyrus repeatedly turned her performance into a playfully heartbroken accusation. (“On the week of our special?,” Cyrus boomed out in mock-outrage at one point, “What the fuck?”)

As to whether the two friends ever were/are an item (“I’m going to watch a movie in freaking Staten Island!,” Cyrus lamented to the blushing Davidson), only time and the inevitable, rabidly unnecessary media speculation that surrounds Pete Davidson’s ridiculously well-chronicled romantic life will tell. Hey, wait a minute.