FicWad

(Heatwaaaaaaave D; Been steadily getting addicted to Harvest Moon and the Shin Megami Tensei series again... Damn. Oh also, my boyfriend almost burned the house down by leaving shopping on the hob, gg.)

Frank smiled to himself as he sat at the table. He’d never sat with more than one person before- he’d only made the odd friend wherever he’d switched schools to, and he’d never had enough time to really know them. But here he was, dissecting his sandwich in the cafeteria instead of in a secret spot around the back of school, listening to Ray, Matt and Mikey discuss unrealistic jobs they’d like to have after school. And Frank was actually enjoying himself.
He didn’t really know how it had all happened, all he knew was that he’d somehow managed a conversation in the middle of english class, and then he... he had friends. He’d even done something for his birthday, even if it had just been dressing up like a kid and knocking on random doors for candy. His own mom seemed happy about it, especially when Frank had gone to her for help on his costume. It was just like he was a kid, and she was his mother again...
“I dunno, I think I’d stick with media.” Ray mused, “I like getting a bunch of scenes and cutting it together so it makes sense. I’ve already written short films and stuff...”
“Really?” Mikey raised an eyebrow, chewing on a Twizzler, “I didn’t think you’d have to actually make films in that class.”
“It’s only like a half-hour film for the final project, I’ve already got something planned.”
“Enlighten us,” Matt grinned, “I bet it’s about a guy whose fro gets bigger and bigger until it outgrows him and-”
“It’s ABOUT,” Ray interrupted, “A guy addicted to eggs.”
“What?” Frank asked, a mouth full of bread, “Eggs?”
Matt chuckled.
“No, hear me out!” Ray frowned, taking a sip of his juice, “It’s actually serious- He’s obsessed with eating eggs, it’s all he eats-”
“He cooks them, right?” Mikey stared at Ray.
“Well, yeah dude. Why would he eat them raw?”
“Ray. You’re writing about a guy addicted to eggs.” Frank pointed out. “Anything’s possible.”
“...Right. Well, he finally opens up this egg carton one day and he only has one left, but he can’t crack it open. So he goes insane.”
Frank and everyone else stared at Ray. Where did he even get these ideas?
“What if he hit it with a hammer?” Matt asked.
“Nope.”
“Does he try it, though?”
“Well, no, but that’s not the point.”
“But how does he know? Maybe it’s hard-boiled or something.”
“No! Look, it’s supposed to be a serious thing, believe it or not.” Ray scratched his fro. “It’s just something I thought up...”
“God knows what else you’ve got hidden in that fro.” Frank laughed, wrapping up his leftovers in his foil as always before tossing it into the nearby bin.
“Why do you do that?” Mikey nudged Frank, curious.
“The foil thing...? It’s just easier, I guess.” Frank shrugged, a little self-concious.
“No, I mean... You take everything out of your sandwich and just eat the bread.” He pointed out, “It’s like an empty sandwich.”
Oh. Frank felt heat in his cheeks a little. He didn’t like the attention, but he supposed it was a little weird to everyone else.
“It’s uh, a habit. I like butter sandwiches, it’s sort of an addiction.”
“SEE?!” Ray suddenly pointed at him, “Food addictions happen!”
“Alright, Princess FroFro,” Matt patted Ray on the head, winking at Frank, “No need to throw a fit.”
Frank smiled again. It was nice that even Matt took him into consideration. Whenever Frank had seemed uncomfortable since he’d started hanging around with the guys yesterday, Matt had drawn the attention away from him. He was like a big brother, Frank supposed. Still, he was going to have to get used to attention now that he was being social...
“So, here’s something new!” Someone said from behind Ray and Mikey as they approached the table, “James is in a fucking band!”
Frank turned, to see two girls and a lanky guy that Frank now knew to be James. And of course, with none other than Gerard Way.

~

I always wondered what it was like, when they didn’t know each other. Of course, I never knew them myself, not really. I wished and wished I could, but everyone was too far away.
They were young then, like me. They knew nothing about each other, but he was trying. He wanted to be around people, also like me. He was always alone, so it was nice to be around them.
He didn’t know her either, of course. He didn’t even look at her, and would be a while until he did. That’s when the bad things would happen, but it would bring them closer. I didn’t like thinking about that time, but it was important for everyone.
They were all important. They just didn’t know.

~

Gerard froze.
Frank Iero? What was he doing here?
He wasn’t bitter about Frank, not even now, but he’d never expect to find the guy sitting at the lunch table with his friends.
“Uhhh...”
On second thoughts, was it a good idea to point it out? Drawing attention could make matters worse..
He glanced at James, who was also looking a little puzzled, and remembered his original point.
“Uh, yeah- James is in a band!” he announced with the tone of accusation as he dragged the culprit to his side.
“Wait, what?” Matt blinked.
James scratched the back of his neck.
“Well, I didn’t wanna make a big thing of it. Y’know, in case it went to shit.”
“No!” Gerard growled, “You guys were awesome, it was just... You never mentioned it!”
“You never mentioned your lady-friends here,” James pointed at Amber and Katrina, “No offense.”
“A band’s a bit bigger than having other friends,” Gerard rolled his eyes, “You have two girls in your band too, and that guy Steve.”
James shrugged.
“How big are you guys?” Ray asked, still looking surprised.
“We’ve played like 10 gigs, nothing amazing.” James said defensively. “I wasn’t hiding anything...”
“You dirty liar!” Gerard nudged him, “Me, Amber and Kat went to his gig last night, and he announced they’re bringing an album out next week.”
“That’s nothing either!”
“That’s something, man.” Matt agreed, “I’m backing Gee here.”
Sighing, James pulled up a chair on Frank’s other side, and Gerard followed suit-with Amber and Katrina still looking a bit dishevelled at being dragged over to a table of strange guys.
“Alright, I should’ve mentioned it earlier. But I wanted to keep stuff separate for a while, that’s why I have a stage name and shit.” He admitted.
“Stage name?” Mikey grinned crookedly, “Here we go.”
“Jimmy Urine.” Amber put in, and then almost recoiled as all the guys turned to her like a huge wave of attention. Gerard laughed inwardly. He’d brought the girls in case he needed an alibi, but it had been a wasted effort. They seemed a bit out of place, especially when they were equally as awkward as the guys. It looked like Gerard wasn’t allowed to keep them separate though, so maybe if they warmed to the group a little...
“Just brilliant,” Matt laughed, patting James on the back, “That’s gotta be your official name now.”
“I dunno-”
“Jimmy.” Ray pondered, “It actually suits you pretty well...”
James smiled, looking almost modest for once.
“Alright, alright. Well, is anyone gonna explain the new addition to our table of retardedness?”
Frank, who hadn’t said anything up to this point, attempted to shrink back a little behind Ray, but James extended an arm and pulled the poor emo into plain view.
“Frankie here has made his existence known at last,” Matt shrugged, taking a sip of his soda, “To us, anyway. We all went trick-or-treating while you guys were playing your too-good-for-us gig.”
Gerard blinked. Frank went with them...? Why hadn’t Mikey told him about this as they walked to school that morning? Though... Mikey wasn’t one to draw attention to anything that needed more drama.
“Yeah, Frank’s one of us now,” Ray nodded, “If he wants, anyway. And as long as it’s cleared with the diva of the group.”
Hmm. Gerard was still pondering how Frank had suddenly just switched like this, when he realised everyone was looking at him for input.
Oh, right. Diva.
“Uh.. Yeah, sure.” He stammered, trying to tread lightly, “I mean- Why are you even asking me? It’s his choice..”
“Well, Frankie boy?” James- Jimmy, even- asked.
Frank looked around at the table quickly, gaze flashing to Gerard for only a moment. But there was no resent in that look, only...
“Sure.”
~

Ray was a little taken aback by how well things were going the past week. Not only did Frank and Gerard seem to be getting along, but it had turned out that one of Gerard’s new- well, new to him- friends was ...her. Amber. The girl from the library.
Of course, he hadn’t properly spoken to her. He spent most of his time trying to make Frank feel comfortable- to Ray, he was a damaged social introvert, and he needed gradual introduction into such a big group of people instead of just throwing him into the deep-end- but occasionally, he would look over to the girls, Kat and Amber. They spent most of their time sharing Skittles (thus being attacked/begged by the rest of the group for some), writing fanfiction, fangirling over bands or discussing their bucket list- which so far included making a life-size figure out of sushi, filling a bath full of jelly, surfing down the stairs on a sofa, that sort of thing. They weren’t like the majority of girls. In fact, other than the odd conversation about hair and makeup with Gerard, they were ...boyish.
And Amber had an amazing laugh, to Ray. Though, he supposed it was more of a giggle. A bit too high-pitched at times, but it was cute in a way. Especially when he would be talking to Matt about the latest video game release in the cafeteria and then they would both turn to find the girls in fits of giggles, usually at Katrina’s own laugh which differentiated between odd snorts, ‘mhmmhmmmuhmm’ or some other weird sound that only she could manage.
Either way, it was nice having new additions, although Ray would never have the guts to invite girls over to his house- Matt, Mikey and Gerard were one thing, but subjecting Amber to his brothers would be Ray’s worst nightmare. That said, Gerard didn’t seem to have any trouble talking to Kat and Amber. He would chat to them, hug them, and as far as Ray knew, they’d been to the Way residence before. Frank was coming out of his shell a bit too, he would occasionally help Kat with ideas for the bucket list and offered to film whatever they had planned. It was all new to Ray...
“Um, hello.”
Amber looked up from drawing stitches across her knuckles with a ballpoint pen, to look at Ray standing awkwardly next to the outdoor table she was sitting at.
This was a mistake, Ray thought to himself instantly, what was I thinking, talking to her alone? I look like a creep...
Today was the day he’d finally plucked up the courage to talk to her, and just as Ray had headed over to her from the field (where the rest of the guys were sat in the shade on this particularly hot summer’s lunchtime), Katrina had gone to her locker. So he was alone with no way of backing out.
“Hi..?” She looked a bit puzzled. Ray couldn’t blame her.
“Sorry.. Just thought I’d see how you were doing, I’ll-”
“Thanks.” She smiled awkwardly, squinting at him in the sun. “You’re.. Ray, aren’t you?”
He nodded, not sure what else to say.
“Uh, Amber. Though you probably-”
“I know, yeah..”
“Right.”
They looked at each other uncomfortably.
“So... what’s that you’re doing?” Ray asked, nodding at her ink-covered hand.
Amber almost moved her hand out of sight, looking embarrassed.
“Stupid habit, I’ll probably die of ink poisoning.” She joked, shrugging.
“It looks cool, actually...”
“Thanks.. Do you wanna sit down or something?”
“Oh! Yeah, uh..” Ray sat on the bench across from her, feeling instantly intrusive. I bet she’s just being polite to get me away... he thought to himself.
“Nice fro by the way.” She smiled.
“I get that a lot, thanks.” Ray laughed, then instantly froze up again. That sounded arrogant, ugh.
“You should stick a comb in there too, go all jazzy on everyone.”
“You should’ve seen it on Halloween,” Ray pointed out, “It was as far from jazzy as possible.”
“You dressed up?” She looked surprised.
“It was only for Frank.”
“Oh right. I didn’t know you guys were like that-“
“No!” Ray blushed furiously, “No, I mean we went trick-or-treating, with Matt and Mikey- We’re not like... I’m uh, straight.”
Amber laughed.
“Right, sorry! I just assumed, I mean.. Gerard’s bi, James- or Jimmy now, I think- is definitely bi, so yeah.. I’m bi.” She shrugged. “I have a boyfriend, but she-crushes.”
“Oh.” Ray’s heart sank. Boyfriend. He hadn’t taken that into account, but it was silly of him to assume...
“What? You don’t think I have she-crushes?” Amber grinned.
“Well... Maybe.” Ray shrugged, thankful for the coverup. “You could easily be lying, everyone says they’re bi these days.”
Amber shook her head.
“Kat Von Dee. That is all.”
“What about Kat Von Dee?” Kat said, tossing a copy of Kerrang! Magazine onto the table and sitting next to Amber, “Also, Ray’s here?”
Ray waved.
“I was about to go, actually.”
“Oh, really?” Kat blinked, and Amber looked slightly crestfallen.
Ray scratched his ear, eager to leave before he did more damage to himself.
“Yeah, Jimmy’s getting a little...”
He looked over at the culprit himself, who had been whooping and making kissing noises at Ray for the past minute.
“Ah right.” Amber shrugged. “You’d better go, then. It was nice talking to you, Princess FroFro.”
“You too- wait... Did Gerard...?”
“Yep.” Amber grinned. “Talk to you some other time, Ray.”