Categories > Celebrities > My Chemical Romance
This is my one-shot that I wrote for asherschick cause she won a contest. It's basically 4000 words of pointlessness. It's really happy though!
Ending Time
No one knew me for a long time. I wasn’t even sure if anyone saw me at all. My hand was always ignored; my opinions never mattered. Spotlights never actually fell on me, even if I was the star of the show. I was always just that chubby, pasty-faced boy in the back of class. To be honest, I didn’t mind at all. In my imagination, I was the world’s next superhero. The class “weirdo” was just my secret identity. But unlike Superman, I wasn’t very strong. I hadn’t been bitten by a radioactive arachnid like Spiderman either; I couldn’t shoot webs from my fingertips. Hell, I didn’t even have cool gadgets like Batman did. No. My power was invisibility. For the first twenty four years of my life, I remained unseen, without saving anyone’s life. Who knew that when I actually began my work as a hero, when I found my own personal “Justice League”, I’d lose my one and only power?
I would have never guessed in a billion light years that I, Gerard Way, would ever be chased. Not even in my dreams did I imagine that cameras would be following me around everywhere. It was so… weird. I supposed that I should have been getting used to it by now. After all, years had passed since my band “made it”. However, the random camera flash caught me off guard every single time. I’d never get accustomed to pushing my way through a crowd of reporters, fan girls, and cameramen, with two burly bodyguards by my side, even if I’d done it a million times already.
High-pitched screaming drilled into my ear.
“You rock!”
“Sign my forehead!”
“I love you!”
“Will you marry me?”
Goodness gracious, those fans were excited. I took hurried steps, avoiding a young girl who had just thrown herself in my direction. If my band mates and I could have it our way, we would have stopped to sign autographs for these people. There was nothing that could quite compete with the warm, fuzzy feeling that attacked you when someone said, “I’m your biggest fan.” Unfortunately, our schedule was tight; almost suffocating. A six hour drive, a meet and greet, two interviews, one concert, and another three hours on the road lay ahead of us. We barely had enough time to even take a bathroom break.
One of my body guards pulled open the door to the tour bus, waiting for me to step inside. I edged myself against the side of the bus to let my band mates go in first. Before I ran in after them, I was sure to turn around and blow one huge kiss to the fans. The response was deafening. The door slammed shut on all the noise.
In the sanctuary of the tour bus, things were much more serene; quiet. Five weary men and a driver occupied the space. The way I saw it, there were five different personalities as to how a guy behaved while on tour. He could be a Mikey, a Ray, a Bob, a Frank, or a Gerard. Mikey was probably the preferred persona. He was quiet, sensible, hygienic, and kind. He hardly ever got upset about anything. Yes, my little brother was crossing the borderline towards perfect. Ray tended to be rather silent himself. His eyes almost always remained glued to the X-Box 360 we had installed. However, at random times during the day, he would get bored and start annoying the others with complaints such as; “Dude, you smell.” He wasn’t as bad as Bob, though. I didn’t think Bob was truly mean, but rather just homesick. Due to this, he was very touchy. The smallest thing could cause his temper to flare. And boy, there were a lot of tiny, peeving things on the My Chemical Romance tour bus. One of these tiny things went by the name Frank Iero. Frank was the youngest band member; the most energetic. His liveliness never died down. He could usually be seen bouncing around the vehicle, singing loudly and doing whatever could piss the rest of us off. Once in a while, he decided it would be fun to play a prank on one of his poor band mates. This usually resulted in someone plotting to kill him at the next possible chance. It took a Gerard to fix the problem. I was just there, watching everything happen, speaking only when spoken to. Often times, I was glad to catch up on some sleep. I only stepped into the scene to save Frank’s ass. Then, it was back to snoozing or quietly staring out the window.
While the engine revved up, I took a seat and breathed a sigh of exhaustion. My eyes drooped shut and I let my head loll for a little while. I was jolted awake by somebody poking my side. It didn’t surprise me when I saw Frank’s crooked little teeth grinning at me. Unable to stop myself, I smiled back. His happiness was like a deadly virus.
“So, Gerard,” he said, sitting down next to me, “We haven’t had a lotta time to uh… hang out during this tour.”
I nodded in agreement. Dating while on tour was always difficult. Some might think that just because my boyfriend was in my band, things automatically became easier. This was a wrong assumption. There wasn’t really a lot of privacy when we spent most of our time in a metal tube. And apparently, the whole “gay” thing still drove people nuts. Displays of affection weren’t okay unless they happened onstage. Honestly, that logic didn’t make much sense, but I didn’t like unnecessary attention being drawn towards me anyway. I could settle with the few hours Frank and I could scrape each week. Sometimes, though, I had these cravings. Yeah, Frank cravings. My heart would clench up into a little ball and sink down into my stomach. No amount of junk food, hugs, or cigarettes could make me feel better once I fell into that state. Only a passionate kiss from my true love could raise my spirits. Well, that was my excuse to kiss Frank in any case.
“Everyone else is in the bunk room,” I whispered.
Frank’s green eyes sparkled mischievously and his lip ring glistened. I felt his hand press down on mine as he moved a little closer. My ears popped so that I could only hear the erratic sound of my heartbeat. It was getting uncomfortably hot and I considered getting up to turn on the air conditioning. Seeing Frank’s expression, I changed my mind. Sitting right there was a good idea, too. My eyes slowly closed again, but this time my mind wasn’t concentrated on getting rest. A soft, warm breath blew against my lips. I was left lingering, mouth agape. Frank liked to leave me hanging and slightly horny at all times. I patiently waited for the bus to brake and lurch forward so that my guitarist friend would come crashing into me. Finally, I decided I would have to take action myself and inched forward.
“Hey Gerard, we—oh!”
Eyes flickering open, I groaned out of frustration. Frank had drawn away, blushing bright red. I pouted. He shrugged, giving me a small kiss on the cheek before darting in the direction of the bunk room. If I knew him as well as I thought I did, whoever interrupted us was in for it. I switched my attention to the wretched man who dared to disrupt our romantic moment. Ray approached me, holding onto the seats for balance.
Embarrassment had taken over his face, “Sorry ‘bout that,” he mumbled, looking somewhere else.
I rushed the apology away, “What’s up, Ray?”
He took a seat beside me, “Well, a couple of things. Brian thinks it’s time we start looking over the record contract again…” he said, referring to our band manager, “…because it’s almost over. I just thought we should get it over with, you know?” When I nodded, he continued, “The other thing is all this shit about us being a death cult or whatever. The people at Reprise are saying we need more…hopeful songs.”
I scoffed, “They want more hopeful shit than I am not afraid to keep on living? That’s so fucking stupid.”
“Yeah, I know. I don’t think you should write anything you don’t want to…and I guess we’ll just see where that takes us,” he paused for a minute, “Oh and another thing. Apparently, there’s a photo shoot right after this next meet and greet thing. We gotta do some sort of wardrobe change before that.”
“What?!” I yelled, stomping my foot, “We have an interview! What about that?”
“I dunno, it’s all messed up…” Ray sighed, shaking his head, “You know what? Let’s not do the contract thing right now. You look dead tired. And I’m gonna go see what the hell Frankie’s up to. I think I’m totally screwed.”
I laughed half-heartedly and waved him good-bye. Just thinking about the next two days made me want to collapse. I pressed my face against the clear window, staring outside. A rush of scenery swept past my eyes. The blurring colors along with screaming from the other room made me dizzy. My head was throbbing. I let my eyes blink a few times before giving into weariness. The bumpiness of the road soon became unimportant and everything faded into a soundless black. After what seemed like only two seconds, a loud, unpleasant noise and a sharp pain ran through my skull. I found myself on the floor, moaning. Drowsily, I got to my feet, rubbing my head. Sleepiness dragged itself away from me, in time to hear a string of curses come out in Bob’s voice.
I heard him yell from somewhere up front, “God damn it! Dude, what the fuck? Why the fucking hell did the bus stop? We have a motherfucking signing in…”
I ignored the rest and sluggishly made my way to the front of the bus, where everyone else had already gathered. I asked what happened but nobody, not even Frank, seemed to hear me. Maybe my superpower was getting restored.
The bus driver, Carl, appeared to be extremely flustered. He was a fat, dirty looking man with beady brown eyes and no hair. Well, not on his head anyway. The amount on his arms and chest made up for that. His face resembled a tomato, as he was always sun burned. His favorite clothes included a lowly cut tank top, tucked into his jeans to make his bulging stomach jut out even more.
Criticizing the way he looked was a cruel thing to do, though, because he was a nice guy most of the time, “Shut up! Stop! I’m gonna need you morons out of the fucking bus!”
Several protests and whining noises later, the five of us and our shouting chauffeur filed outside. The first thing I noticed was that we weren’t on a paved road but rather a dirt trail. There were absolutely no other vehicles driving past us. Or in front of us, for that matter. I scrutinized the surroundings extra carefully. Nothing but grass and trees met my eyes. My heart sank, but this was no Frank craving. I whimpered to myself and leaned against the side of the bus. We were seriously in the middle of nowhere. Instead of freaking out like Bob, standing back and watching things unfold seemed like the best solution to me.
“Wh-where are we?” Mikey asked nervously, eyes darting around.
“I don’t really know,” Carl confessed, much to my horror. He didn’t know? “But don’t worry…I’m gonna call Triple A. Let me just—”
At this point, Bob had to intervene, “How the fuck are you gonna tell Triple A to get here if you don’t know where the hell we are?!” He threw his arms up in the air dramatically.
I looked to Ray and Frank, who both had their cell phones out. Reading their expressions, I guessed that there was no service here. Nevertheless, I crossed my fingers, hoping for the best.
As things would have it, “There’s no signal!” Ray called out.
“Does anyone find it weird that we ended up here in the first place?” Mikey asked no one in particular.
“Everyone just calm down. I’ll take a look at the engine,” Carl hobbled away, mumbling something about it being a shortcut.
“Fan-fucking-tastic!” Ray exclaimed.
“I’m hungry,” Frank whined, “Gerard, can I eat you?”
“Oh for God’s sake!” Bob’s face looked on the verge of exploding, “Stop trying to be cute Frank, you’re twenty eight fucking years old!”
This sent a few giggles through the rest of the group. I gave in to the temptation of snickering along. My boyfriend wasn’t too pleased and threw me a dirty look. With his arms crossed over his chest and his bottom lip sticking out, he looked a lot like a little kid. A really sad, cute little kid. Getting him to forgive me wasn’t much of a task though; kids could be bribed. To redeem myself, I approached the cluster of people. Dragging Frank forward by the shoulders, I kissed him softly on the mouth. The small sliver of metal pressured against my lips. I felt Frank smile.
“Stop it!” Bob hissed jerking Frank away from me.
“What the fuck is your problem, man?” Frank snapped.
“My problem is that we’re stuck in the middle of nowhere and I don’t wanna watch gay porn right now,” Bob retorted.
I shot him a warning glare. He was taking this a little too far. Despite my usual friendly nature, there were instances which simply begged me to vent all my fury out. This was a dangerous situation for anyone standing in my way. Bob fortunately knew this and said nothing more. Silence fell into the air. It was interrupted by an unpleasant noise from the bus, which resembled a belch of some sort.
“Uh-oh,” I heard Carl groan.
I breathed in deeply, only to let the air out as a sigh. Our bus driver strolled back over to us. His mannerisms were sheepish. He scrolled his dark eyes over each of us. In order to comfort each and every one of the five personality types, he had to choose the perfect words. Too harsh and Bob might fly into a rage; too subtle and Frank might not understand. At last, he seemed to give up, staring at the ground. I think he realized no matter what, this wasn’t a likeable circumstance.
“We might be here for a while,” he kicked his shadow, “The engine overheated.”
“What?!” Mikey squeaked, “No! We gotta get to that signing, the fans…!”
“Yeah, we have so much shit to do!” Bob’s fingers had curled into a fist at his side, “I’m gonna beat the fuck out of you if you don’t fix the bus in five minutes, Carlos,” he menaced.
Carl took a step backwards, probably unsure whether this was an empty threat or not. Bob took one forward, growling. If things kept progressing like this, our bus driver would be road kill. It was time for Gerard Way to save the day.
“Bob, dude, calm down,” I grabbed onto his wrist, holding him back. He snatched his arm away, giving me a death stare. My eyes automatically rolled, “Carl, it’s okay, ignore him. Just tell us how you’re gonna get us out of here.”
“Right…uh…” he scratched his head, confused, “Well…I’ll go look for help. You boys stay here, just rest for a while. I promise, I’ll get you to wherever you need to go if it’s in any way possible.”
“You better!” Frank piped, “Or we’re gonna set Bob on you!”
Carl was the only one who forced out a laugh; the rest of us were serious. He nervously walked around us and the bus, saying he would be back as quickly as possible. As his figure left our line of sight, Ray asked if one of us should go with him…just in case he got lost. None of us answered, unanimously reaching the decision of no. With the departure of that question came a brand new one: what now? There was nothing to do. The feeling was unfamiliar. God knows how many months had passed since any of us actually did nothing. What were we supposed to do? We all blinked at each other, sensing that our thoughts were identical.
“I’m bored,” Frank announced.
“Well…I guess we could just hang out, right? Read a book? Talk?” Mikey suggested.
Shrugging our shoulders, we decided it was a good idea. While the others went inside the bus to get their individual forms of amusement, Frank and I loitered outside. He never looked directly at me; all I received were bashful glances out of the corner of his eye. Seeing him so shy was an unusual sight, yet a cute one. It made my heart fill up with a strange glee. Grinning from ear to ear, I swung my arms around him, pulling him into a hug. I heard his muffled laughter.
“Let’s go sit down, babe,” he said into my shirt before breaking the embrace.
I trailed behind him as he sauntered towards a large, shading oak tree. I had never noticed this earlier, but the way Frank walked was adorable. He didn’t take a single step without adding a little bounce to it. It was almost like an unexaggerated gallop. I smiled. His constant cheeriness came out in all of his daily actions. Sliding down with his back against the tree trunk, he batted his eyelashes up at me. My heart went on a roller coaster ride towards my stomach. I sat down beside him quietly. He rested his chin on my shoulder, a goofy grin smothering his face.
“Gerard Way,” he brushed his lips against my cheek.
I shivered and mumbled a barely audible, “What?”
“Nothing. I just like saying your name.” Frank giggled, playing with the back of my hair. He stopped when my hair had formed a black bandage around his fingers. Then, he widened his sleepy eyes and stared at me, “Have you ever felt really happy, Gee?”
I frowned at the obscurity of that question. Had I ever felt really happy? I spent a few moments analyzing his words. Finally, I gave in, “Maybe. I don’t know. I don’t get what you really mean.”
“I mean, have you felt really good?” he repeated himself, “Really, really good. Like have you ever been so happy that you just want everything to end right there?”
“What?!” I yelped, first just out of confusion. Then, a terrible thought passed through my mind, “Frank are you saying you wanna die? Is anything wrong?”
“No, not like that. It’s not a bad thing. I was asking you if you’ve been that happy.” I furrowed my eyebrows, perplexed. Frank stared at his knees, unraveling his hand from my hair, “Never mind, you’d know what I mean if you ever felt it.” His whole body slumped down with disappointment.
I would have done anything to make his face light up again, but my vocal chords were in a knot. What did he want me to say? Instead of risking it and blurting out something stupid, I let my hand wander around in the grass until I found his. Our fingers entwined. I pulled his palm up to gently press my lips against it. Frank’s face glowed with satisfaction. In a matter of seconds, he rolled to the ground, resting his head on my lap. I stroked his soft hair. We sat in blissful silence, listening to birds chirp above us. Soon, our three friends joined us near our tree. Mikey sat next to me, with his nose already buried in a comic book. Meanwhile Ray lay down on his stomach in front of us, chin resting in his palms. He looked ready for a snooze. Bob, who apparently didn’t find anything to occupy his time with, remained standing.
“This really sucks,” he complained, shaking his blond hair from his eyes, “I have nothing to do.”
Frank shot up, “Let’s play a game!”
Bob feigned excitement, “Let’s not!”
Frank either didn’t hear or didn’t care, “So one person says the name of a song and the next person has to say another song which starts with the last letter of the first song. Get it?” he answered his own question when nobody else responded, “Yeah! Okay, I’m goin’ first. Sabotage. Who’s next?”
Mikey poked his head out from Marvel world, “Enter Sandman.”
Bob reluctantly sat down, saying, “Nevermore.”
The game continued on for a good thirty minutes, with me and Ray joining in towards the end. It was a surprisingly amusing way to entertain ourselves, especially when people started resorting to nursery rhymes. Once the fun died down, we went back to our personal ways of killing time. If anyone painted a picture of us at that moment, the title would have been Pure Laziness. Mikey had fallen asleep, comic book lying open over his face. Ray was playing on his phone, while Bob lay on his back, doing nothing in particular. His prior rage seemed to have cooled down quite a bit. I supposed all he needed was some time to relax. Frank was singing Nerf Herder songs under his breath whilst weaving blades of grass together. He was apparently making a grass necklace for me. The thought was so sweet that it almost made me have a sugar rush.
I let out a loud, “Ahhhh!”
Mikey awoke with a start and all eyes fell on me.
I blushed because of the unwanted attention, “Um…” I paused, “Hey, Carl sure is taking a long time, huh? Do you think he got lost?”
“Maybe…” my brother drawled, “Or maybe he just left us here to die of starvation and lack of fans,” he looked down pessimistically.
“Dude, I am not gonna starve,” Frank said firmly, “If we can’t find any food, I’m gonna have to resort to cannibalism. Bob, you’re first in line.”
Ray shook his head, causing his afro to jiggle, “Dude, Bob’s big enough for all four of us to eat,” he laughed as an annoyed blond shoved him violently, “Why don’t you start off with someone small, like Mikey?”
Frank solemnly disagreed, “No, I’m really hungry. Mikey’s too skinny. Not enough flesh.”
I cracked up but Mikey had turned rather pale, “Okay can we please talk about something other than eating each other?”
“Awww,” Frank cooed teasingly, “Wittle Mikey’s scared.”
The response to this was the flipping of a bird.
Exhaling happily, I gazed skywards. Rays of sunlight drifted through the leaves and branches of the tree, gently fading into the air. A cool breeze blew pleasantly against my face. What happened to all the worries of the world? How could they have just disappeared like that? Everything felt bizarrely good. It was like an all-time high. Sudden realization hit me; I was so lucky. It was a weird epiphany to have at a time like this…when there was no way of knowing whether Carl would really come back, whether we’d make it to our destination in time. Strangely, though, I wasn’t too anxious. As long as I wasn’t alone here, everything would be absolutely perfect.
“Frankie,” I whispered, nudging him, “Can I tell you something?” He hummed. I put my arm around his shoulder, “I feel really, really happy right now.”
He wrapped his arms around my chest, nearly choking me in a death hug, “I do too. I’m really, really happy whenever I’m with you.” He brought his face close to mine, smiling. Somebody pretended to gag, but I didn’t bother to see who it was. I was in a trance, my eyes locked in place with Frank’s. He clasped my hand in his and pressed it against his cheek, “I just want everything to stop sometimes, you know? I want everything to end so that I can hold on to that feeling forever…so I can die happy...and my last memory will be of you. You get it now?” I sat there dumbly, flushing bright red. The only thing I could manage to do was nod up and down, like one of those bobble-head dolls. Frank climbed on top of me, “You’re really amazing, Gerard.”
“I-I…you are t-too,” I stammered.
“Can I have some wine with all this cheese?” Bob snickered.
Frank gave him the finger while smashing his lips onto mine. I fell back, hitting the ground. It lasted for barely ten seconds; the heated breath, the guttural moans, the collision of two restless tongues. No sooner had we come in contact, God created a disturbance. A voice shouting, “Hey, boys!” killed the peaceful air. Frank ripped his mouth away, staring apologetically into my disappointed eyes before crawling off me. Carlos was bounding towards us, beer belly and hairy chest bouncing as he ran. He was a truly revolting sight to me at that moment.
“Hey, I got help!” he panted when he reached us, hands on his pudgy knees, “They’re…they’re back there, fixing the bus right now. It’s gonna take a while. I got you boys a ride though,” he heaved in, straightening himself and pointing to a black car, which had pulled up behind the bus, “I’ll get you your instruments in time for your show. Now, go ahead,” he gestured towards the car once more as he turned to walk back to the broken bus.
None of us moved for a moment; we just looked around at the little meadow. I wasn’t sure about the others, but I was trying to soak it all in. The trees, the birds, the clear blue sky…they were all just worth absorbing; everything was so fresh. I had to make sure this place would stay just as bright in my memory. Ray was the first to stand, followed by Bob and then Mikey. Frank rose too, but I grabbed ahold of his arm. I puckered my lips slightly, begging for a kiss. He turned around and dropped to his knees. Softly holding the back of my head, he kissed me. I wanted what he wanted; I wanted time to end. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the equipment necessary to make that happen. Frank slid his mouth away at an excruciatingly slow speed. He held my face in his hands for a while, just smiling. He then stood up again, tugging me with him.
His green eyes shone, “Let’s go, Gee. We’ve got a bunch of girls just waiting to watch us make out.” He giggled at his own joke and hurried towards our ride, cantering away.
I smiled, taking one last look around. A sigh left my mouth as I slowly followed behind him. It was back to the daily grind now; fans, autographs, cameras, interviews, and whatnot. However, I didn’t feel so tired anymore. That constant sleepiness and the suffocation that came from being cooped up inside a bus had worn off. There was a strange, new energy boiling inside from the pit of my stomach. I sucked some air in, bringing that energy to my lungs; to spread all through my body. Feeling recharged, I broke into a sprint. I guessed all I really needed was a break. Even superheroes deserved a day off.
Review and rate...maybe? Pwease?
Disclaimer:
This is not true.
I don't own My Chemical Romance or their bus.
I own Carlos.
Asherschick owns the idea of the MCR tourbus braking down.
I own the rest of the writing, so please don't steal from either of us.
Ending Time
No one knew me for a long time. I wasn’t even sure if anyone saw me at all. My hand was always ignored; my opinions never mattered. Spotlights never actually fell on me, even if I was the star of the show. I was always just that chubby, pasty-faced boy in the back of class. To be honest, I didn’t mind at all. In my imagination, I was the world’s next superhero. The class “weirdo” was just my secret identity. But unlike Superman, I wasn’t very strong. I hadn’t been bitten by a radioactive arachnid like Spiderman either; I couldn’t shoot webs from my fingertips. Hell, I didn’t even have cool gadgets like Batman did. No. My power was invisibility. For the first twenty four years of my life, I remained unseen, without saving anyone’s life. Who knew that when I actually began my work as a hero, when I found my own personal “Justice League”, I’d lose my one and only power?
I would have never guessed in a billion light years that I, Gerard Way, would ever be chased. Not even in my dreams did I imagine that cameras would be following me around everywhere. It was so… weird. I supposed that I should have been getting used to it by now. After all, years had passed since my band “made it”. However, the random camera flash caught me off guard every single time. I’d never get accustomed to pushing my way through a crowd of reporters, fan girls, and cameramen, with two burly bodyguards by my side, even if I’d done it a million times already.
High-pitched screaming drilled into my ear.
“You rock!”
“Sign my forehead!”
“I love you!”
“Will you marry me?”
Goodness gracious, those fans were excited. I took hurried steps, avoiding a young girl who had just thrown herself in my direction. If my band mates and I could have it our way, we would have stopped to sign autographs for these people. There was nothing that could quite compete with the warm, fuzzy feeling that attacked you when someone said, “I’m your biggest fan.” Unfortunately, our schedule was tight; almost suffocating. A six hour drive, a meet and greet, two interviews, one concert, and another three hours on the road lay ahead of us. We barely had enough time to even take a bathroom break.
One of my body guards pulled open the door to the tour bus, waiting for me to step inside. I edged myself against the side of the bus to let my band mates go in first. Before I ran in after them, I was sure to turn around and blow one huge kiss to the fans. The response was deafening. The door slammed shut on all the noise.
In the sanctuary of the tour bus, things were much more serene; quiet. Five weary men and a driver occupied the space. The way I saw it, there were five different personalities as to how a guy behaved while on tour. He could be a Mikey, a Ray, a Bob, a Frank, or a Gerard. Mikey was probably the preferred persona. He was quiet, sensible, hygienic, and kind. He hardly ever got upset about anything. Yes, my little brother was crossing the borderline towards perfect. Ray tended to be rather silent himself. His eyes almost always remained glued to the X-Box 360 we had installed. However, at random times during the day, he would get bored and start annoying the others with complaints such as; “Dude, you smell.” He wasn’t as bad as Bob, though. I didn’t think Bob was truly mean, but rather just homesick. Due to this, he was very touchy. The smallest thing could cause his temper to flare. And boy, there were a lot of tiny, peeving things on the My Chemical Romance tour bus. One of these tiny things went by the name Frank Iero. Frank was the youngest band member; the most energetic. His liveliness never died down. He could usually be seen bouncing around the vehicle, singing loudly and doing whatever could piss the rest of us off. Once in a while, he decided it would be fun to play a prank on one of his poor band mates. This usually resulted in someone plotting to kill him at the next possible chance. It took a Gerard to fix the problem. I was just there, watching everything happen, speaking only when spoken to. Often times, I was glad to catch up on some sleep. I only stepped into the scene to save Frank’s ass. Then, it was back to snoozing or quietly staring out the window.
While the engine revved up, I took a seat and breathed a sigh of exhaustion. My eyes drooped shut and I let my head loll for a little while. I was jolted awake by somebody poking my side. It didn’t surprise me when I saw Frank’s crooked little teeth grinning at me. Unable to stop myself, I smiled back. His happiness was like a deadly virus.
“So, Gerard,” he said, sitting down next to me, “We haven’t had a lotta time to uh… hang out during this tour.”
I nodded in agreement. Dating while on tour was always difficult. Some might think that just because my boyfriend was in my band, things automatically became easier. This was a wrong assumption. There wasn’t really a lot of privacy when we spent most of our time in a metal tube. And apparently, the whole “gay” thing still drove people nuts. Displays of affection weren’t okay unless they happened onstage. Honestly, that logic didn’t make much sense, but I didn’t like unnecessary attention being drawn towards me anyway. I could settle with the few hours Frank and I could scrape each week. Sometimes, though, I had these cravings. Yeah, Frank cravings. My heart would clench up into a little ball and sink down into my stomach. No amount of junk food, hugs, or cigarettes could make me feel better once I fell into that state. Only a passionate kiss from my true love could raise my spirits. Well, that was my excuse to kiss Frank in any case.
“Everyone else is in the bunk room,” I whispered.
Frank’s green eyes sparkled mischievously and his lip ring glistened. I felt his hand press down on mine as he moved a little closer. My ears popped so that I could only hear the erratic sound of my heartbeat. It was getting uncomfortably hot and I considered getting up to turn on the air conditioning. Seeing Frank’s expression, I changed my mind. Sitting right there was a good idea, too. My eyes slowly closed again, but this time my mind wasn’t concentrated on getting rest. A soft, warm breath blew against my lips. I was left lingering, mouth agape. Frank liked to leave me hanging and slightly horny at all times. I patiently waited for the bus to brake and lurch forward so that my guitarist friend would come crashing into me. Finally, I decided I would have to take action myself and inched forward.
“Hey Gerard, we—oh!”
Eyes flickering open, I groaned out of frustration. Frank had drawn away, blushing bright red. I pouted. He shrugged, giving me a small kiss on the cheek before darting in the direction of the bunk room. If I knew him as well as I thought I did, whoever interrupted us was in for it. I switched my attention to the wretched man who dared to disrupt our romantic moment. Ray approached me, holding onto the seats for balance.
Embarrassment had taken over his face, “Sorry ‘bout that,” he mumbled, looking somewhere else.
I rushed the apology away, “What’s up, Ray?”
He took a seat beside me, “Well, a couple of things. Brian thinks it’s time we start looking over the record contract again…” he said, referring to our band manager, “…because it’s almost over. I just thought we should get it over with, you know?” When I nodded, he continued, “The other thing is all this shit about us being a death cult or whatever. The people at Reprise are saying we need more…hopeful songs.”
I scoffed, “They want more hopeful shit than I am not afraid to keep on living? That’s so fucking stupid.”
“Yeah, I know. I don’t think you should write anything you don’t want to…and I guess we’ll just see where that takes us,” he paused for a minute, “Oh and another thing. Apparently, there’s a photo shoot right after this next meet and greet thing. We gotta do some sort of wardrobe change before that.”
“What?!” I yelled, stomping my foot, “We have an interview! What about that?”
“I dunno, it’s all messed up…” Ray sighed, shaking his head, “You know what? Let’s not do the contract thing right now. You look dead tired. And I’m gonna go see what the hell Frankie’s up to. I think I’m totally screwed.”
I laughed half-heartedly and waved him good-bye. Just thinking about the next two days made me want to collapse. I pressed my face against the clear window, staring outside. A rush of scenery swept past my eyes. The blurring colors along with screaming from the other room made me dizzy. My head was throbbing. I let my eyes blink a few times before giving into weariness. The bumpiness of the road soon became unimportant and everything faded into a soundless black. After what seemed like only two seconds, a loud, unpleasant noise and a sharp pain ran through my skull. I found myself on the floor, moaning. Drowsily, I got to my feet, rubbing my head. Sleepiness dragged itself away from me, in time to hear a string of curses come out in Bob’s voice.
I heard him yell from somewhere up front, “God damn it! Dude, what the fuck? Why the fucking hell did the bus stop? We have a motherfucking signing in…”
I ignored the rest and sluggishly made my way to the front of the bus, where everyone else had already gathered. I asked what happened but nobody, not even Frank, seemed to hear me. Maybe my superpower was getting restored.
The bus driver, Carl, appeared to be extremely flustered. He was a fat, dirty looking man with beady brown eyes and no hair. Well, not on his head anyway. The amount on his arms and chest made up for that. His face resembled a tomato, as he was always sun burned. His favorite clothes included a lowly cut tank top, tucked into his jeans to make his bulging stomach jut out even more.
Criticizing the way he looked was a cruel thing to do, though, because he was a nice guy most of the time, “Shut up! Stop! I’m gonna need you morons out of the fucking bus!”
Several protests and whining noises later, the five of us and our shouting chauffeur filed outside. The first thing I noticed was that we weren’t on a paved road but rather a dirt trail. There were absolutely no other vehicles driving past us. Or in front of us, for that matter. I scrutinized the surroundings extra carefully. Nothing but grass and trees met my eyes. My heart sank, but this was no Frank craving. I whimpered to myself and leaned against the side of the bus. We were seriously in the middle of nowhere. Instead of freaking out like Bob, standing back and watching things unfold seemed like the best solution to me.
“Wh-where are we?” Mikey asked nervously, eyes darting around.
“I don’t really know,” Carl confessed, much to my horror. He didn’t know? “But don’t worry…I’m gonna call Triple A. Let me just—”
At this point, Bob had to intervene, “How the fuck are you gonna tell Triple A to get here if you don’t know where the hell we are?!” He threw his arms up in the air dramatically.
I looked to Ray and Frank, who both had their cell phones out. Reading their expressions, I guessed that there was no service here. Nevertheless, I crossed my fingers, hoping for the best.
As things would have it, “There’s no signal!” Ray called out.
“Does anyone find it weird that we ended up here in the first place?” Mikey asked no one in particular.
“Everyone just calm down. I’ll take a look at the engine,” Carl hobbled away, mumbling something about it being a shortcut.
“Fan-fucking-tastic!” Ray exclaimed.
“I’m hungry,” Frank whined, “Gerard, can I eat you?”
“Oh for God’s sake!” Bob’s face looked on the verge of exploding, “Stop trying to be cute Frank, you’re twenty eight fucking years old!”
This sent a few giggles through the rest of the group. I gave in to the temptation of snickering along. My boyfriend wasn’t too pleased and threw me a dirty look. With his arms crossed over his chest and his bottom lip sticking out, he looked a lot like a little kid. A really sad, cute little kid. Getting him to forgive me wasn’t much of a task though; kids could be bribed. To redeem myself, I approached the cluster of people. Dragging Frank forward by the shoulders, I kissed him softly on the mouth. The small sliver of metal pressured against my lips. I felt Frank smile.
“Stop it!” Bob hissed jerking Frank away from me.
“What the fuck is your problem, man?” Frank snapped.
“My problem is that we’re stuck in the middle of nowhere and I don’t wanna watch gay porn right now,” Bob retorted.
I shot him a warning glare. He was taking this a little too far. Despite my usual friendly nature, there were instances which simply begged me to vent all my fury out. This was a dangerous situation for anyone standing in my way. Bob fortunately knew this and said nothing more. Silence fell into the air. It was interrupted by an unpleasant noise from the bus, which resembled a belch of some sort.
“Uh-oh,” I heard Carl groan.
I breathed in deeply, only to let the air out as a sigh. Our bus driver strolled back over to us. His mannerisms were sheepish. He scrolled his dark eyes over each of us. In order to comfort each and every one of the five personality types, he had to choose the perfect words. Too harsh and Bob might fly into a rage; too subtle and Frank might not understand. At last, he seemed to give up, staring at the ground. I think he realized no matter what, this wasn’t a likeable circumstance.
“We might be here for a while,” he kicked his shadow, “The engine overheated.”
“What?!” Mikey squeaked, “No! We gotta get to that signing, the fans…!”
“Yeah, we have so much shit to do!” Bob’s fingers had curled into a fist at his side, “I’m gonna beat the fuck out of you if you don’t fix the bus in five minutes, Carlos,” he menaced.
Carl took a step backwards, probably unsure whether this was an empty threat or not. Bob took one forward, growling. If things kept progressing like this, our bus driver would be road kill. It was time for Gerard Way to save the day.
“Bob, dude, calm down,” I grabbed onto his wrist, holding him back. He snatched his arm away, giving me a death stare. My eyes automatically rolled, “Carl, it’s okay, ignore him. Just tell us how you’re gonna get us out of here.”
“Right…uh…” he scratched his head, confused, “Well…I’ll go look for help. You boys stay here, just rest for a while. I promise, I’ll get you to wherever you need to go if it’s in any way possible.”
“You better!” Frank piped, “Or we’re gonna set Bob on you!”
Carl was the only one who forced out a laugh; the rest of us were serious. He nervously walked around us and the bus, saying he would be back as quickly as possible. As his figure left our line of sight, Ray asked if one of us should go with him…just in case he got lost. None of us answered, unanimously reaching the decision of no. With the departure of that question came a brand new one: what now? There was nothing to do. The feeling was unfamiliar. God knows how many months had passed since any of us actually did nothing. What were we supposed to do? We all blinked at each other, sensing that our thoughts were identical.
“I’m bored,” Frank announced.
“Well…I guess we could just hang out, right? Read a book? Talk?” Mikey suggested.
Shrugging our shoulders, we decided it was a good idea. While the others went inside the bus to get their individual forms of amusement, Frank and I loitered outside. He never looked directly at me; all I received were bashful glances out of the corner of his eye. Seeing him so shy was an unusual sight, yet a cute one. It made my heart fill up with a strange glee. Grinning from ear to ear, I swung my arms around him, pulling him into a hug. I heard his muffled laughter.
“Let’s go sit down, babe,” he said into my shirt before breaking the embrace.
I trailed behind him as he sauntered towards a large, shading oak tree. I had never noticed this earlier, but the way Frank walked was adorable. He didn’t take a single step without adding a little bounce to it. It was almost like an unexaggerated gallop. I smiled. His constant cheeriness came out in all of his daily actions. Sliding down with his back against the tree trunk, he batted his eyelashes up at me. My heart went on a roller coaster ride towards my stomach. I sat down beside him quietly. He rested his chin on my shoulder, a goofy grin smothering his face.
“Gerard Way,” he brushed his lips against my cheek.
I shivered and mumbled a barely audible, “What?”
“Nothing. I just like saying your name.” Frank giggled, playing with the back of my hair. He stopped when my hair had formed a black bandage around his fingers. Then, he widened his sleepy eyes and stared at me, “Have you ever felt really happy, Gee?”
I frowned at the obscurity of that question. Had I ever felt really happy? I spent a few moments analyzing his words. Finally, I gave in, “Maybe. I don’t know. I don’t get what you really mean.”
“I mean, have you felt really good?” he repeated himself, “Really, really good. Like have you ever been so happy that you just want everything to end right there?”
“What?!” I yelped, first just out of confusion. Then, a terrible thought passed through my mind, “Frank are you saying you wanna die? Is anything wrong?”
“No, not like that. It’s not a bad thing. I was asking you if you’ve been that happy.” I furrowed my eyebrows, perplexed. Frank stared at his knees, unraveling his hand from my hair, “Never mind, you’d know what I mean if you ever felt it.” His whole body slumped down with disappointment.
I would have done anything to make his face light up again, but my vocal chords were in a knot. What did he want me to say? Instead of risking it and blurting out something stupid, I let my hand wander around in the grass until I found his. Our fingers entwined. I pulled his palm up to gently press my lips against it. Frank’s face glowed with satisfaction. In a matter of seconds, he rolled to the ground, resting his head on my lap. I stroked his soft hair. We sat in blissful silence, listening to birds chirp above us. Soon, our three friends joined us near our tree. Mikey sat next to me, with his nose already buried in a comic book. Meanwhile Ray lay down on his stomach in front of us, chin resting in his palms. He looked ready for a snooze. Bob, who apparently didn’t find anything to occupy his time with, remained standing.
“This really sucks,” he complained, shaking his blond hair from his eyes, “I have nothing to do.”
Frank shot up, “Let’s play a game!”
Bob feigned excitement, “Let’s not!”
Frank either didn’t hear or didn’t care, “So one person says the name of a song and the next person has to say another song which starts with the last letter of the first song. Get it?” he answered his own question when nobody else responded, “Yeah! Okay, I’m goin’ first. Sabotage. Who’s next?”
Mikey poked his head out from Marvel world, “Enter Sandman.”
Bob reluctantly sat down, saying, “Nevermore.”
The game continued on for a good thirty minutes, with me and Ray joining in towards the end. It was a surprisingly amusing way to entertain ourselves, especially when people started resorting to nursery rhymes. Once the fun died down, we went back to our personal ways of killing time. If anyone painted a picture of us at that moment, the title would have been Pure Laziness. Mikey had fallen asleep, comic book lying open over his face. Ray was playing on his phone, while Bob lay on his back, doing nothing in particular. His prior rage seemed to have cooled down quite a bit. I supposed all he needed was some time to relax. Frank was singing Nerf Herder songs under his breath whilst weaving blades of grass together. He was apparently making a grass necklace for me. The thought was so sweet that it almost made me have a sugar rush.
I let out a loud, “Ahhhh!”
Mikey awoke with a start and all eyes fell on me.
I blushed because of the unwanted attention, “Um…” I paused, “Hey, Carl sure is taking a long time, huh? Do you think he got lost?”
“Maybe…” my brother drawled, “Or maybe he just left us here to die of starvation and lack of fans,” he looked down pessimistically.
“Dude, I am not gonna starve,” Frank said firmly, “If we can’t find any food, I’m gonna have to resort to cannibalism. Bob, you’re first in line.”
Ray shook his head, causing his afro to jiggle, “Dude, Bob’s big enough for all four of us to eat,” he laughed as an annoyed blond shoved him violently, “Why don’t you start off with someone small, like Mikey?”
Frank solemnly disagreed, “No, I’m really hungry. Mikey’s too skinny. Not enough flesh.”
I cracked up but Mikey had turned rather pale, “Okay can we please talk about something other than eating each other?”
“Awww,” Frank cooed teasingly, “Wittle Mikey’s scared.”
The response to this was the flipping of a bird.
Exhaling happily, I gazed skywards. Rays of sunlight drifted through the leaves and branches of the tree, gently fading into the air. A cool breeze blew pleasantly against my face. What happened to all the worries of the world? How could they have just disappeared like that? Everything felt bizarrely good. It was like an all-time high. Sudden realization hit me; I was so lucky. It was a weird epiphany to have at a time like this…when there was no way of knowing whether Carl would really come back, whether we’d make it to our destination in time. Strangely, though, I wasn’t too anxious. As long as I wasn’t alone here, everything would be absolutely perfect.
“Frankie,” I whispered, nudging him, “Can I tell you something?” He hummed. I put my arm around his shoulder, “I feel really, really happy right now.”
He wrapped his arms around my chest, nearly choking me in a death hug, “I do too. I’m really, really happy whenever I’m with you.” He brought his face close to mine, smiling. Somebody pretended to gag, but I didn’t bother to see who it was. I was in a trance, my eyes locked in place with Frank’s. He clasped my hand in his and pressed it against his cheek, “I just want everything to stop sometimes, you know? I want everything to end so that I can hold on to that feeling forever…so I can die happy...and my last memory will be of you. You get it now?” I sat there dumbly, flushing bright red. The only thing I could manage to do was nod up and down, like one of those bobble-head dolls. Frank climbed on top of me, “You’re really amazing, Gerard.”
“I-I…you are t-too,” I stammered.
“Can I have some wine with all this cheese?” Bob snickered.
Frank gave him the finger while smashing his lips onto mine. I fell back, hitting the ground. It lasted for barely ten seconds; the heated breath, the guttural moans, the collision of two restless tongues. No sooner had we come in contact, God created a disturbance. A voice shouting, “Hey, boys!” killed the peaceful air. Frank ripped his mouth away, staring apologetically into my disappointed eyes before crawling off me. Carlos was bounding towards us, beer belly and hairy chest bouncing as he ran. He was a truly revolting sight to me at that moment.
“Hey, I got help!” he panted when he reached us, hands on his pudgy knees, “They’re…they’re back there, fixing the bus right now. It’s gonna take a while. I got you boys a ride though,” he heaved in, straightening himself and pointing to a black car, which had pulled up behind the bus, “I’ll get you your instruments in time for your show. Now, go ahead,” he gestured towards the car once more as he turned to walk back to the broken bus.
None of us moved for a moment; we just looked around at the little meadow. I wasn’t sure about the others, but I was trying to soak it all in. The trees, the birds, the clear blue sky…they were all just worth absorbing; everything was so fresh. I had to make sure this place would stay just as bright in my memory. Ray was the first to stand, followed by Bob and then Mikey. Frank rose too, but I grabbed ahold of his arm. I puckered my lips slightly, begging for a kiss. He turned around and dropped to his knees. Softly holding the back of my head, he kissed me. I wanted what he wanted; I wanted time to end. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the equipment necessary to make that happen. Frank slid his mouth away at an excruciatingly slow speed. He held my face in his hands for a while, just smiling. He then stood up again, tugging me with him.
His green eyes shone, “Let’s go, Gee. We’ve got a bunch of girls just waiting to watch us make out.” He giggled at his own joke and hurried towards our ride, cantering away.
I smiled, taking one last look around. A sigh left my mouth as I slowly followed behind him. It was back to the daily grind now; fans, autographs, cameras, interviews, and whatnot. However, I didn’t feel so tired anymore. That constant sleepiness and the suffocation that came from being cooped up inside a bus had worn off. There was a strange, new energy boiling inside from the pit of my stomach. I sucked some air in, bringing that energy to my lungs; to spread all through my body. Feeling recharged, I broke into a sprint. I guessed all I really needed was a break. Even superheroes deserved a day off.
Review and rate...maybe? Pwease?
Disclaimer:
This is not true.
I don't own My Chemical Romance or their bus.
I own Carlos.
Asherschick owns the idea of the MCR tourbus braking down.
I own the rest of the writing, so please don't steal from either of us.
Sign up to rate and review this story