FicWad

Lauren trudged in through the back door and looked around her boss's messy office. She had now been working there for the past week or so and she earned her own set of keys fast. "Hello?" No one replied and she shrugged her shoulders and walked past loose papers full of doodles of skull-headed soldiers, gas masks, and a few note pads that had random scribbles across them. Placing her cup of starbucks on his desk, she made a grimace at the general creepiness of her boss and grabbed the keys for the front door. "May as well open," she jingled the keys as she walked a hummed a bit as she jiggled them into the lock. Tonight she was going to the party and she was both excited and nervous. Grant had already texted her a "good morning" and left a coffee at the door of her dorm room. So sweet of him.

The lock seemed to be sticking that day and she jimmied the key around a bit. "Having a TERRIBLE time?" A loud and gurgly voice growled into her ear. She screamed and turned to face a garish skull grinning only inches away from her. "WHAT THE HELL?!" She smacked the skull in the face and jumped-ran a few steps away only to stop her retreat when she heard genuine laughter from the ghoul. A very familiar laugh...

"GERARD! What the hell is wrong with you?!" She clutched her shirt above her heart and felt the tears coming to her eyes as she struggled to catch her breath. She always cried when she got this scared, she couldn't help it and as much as she wanted to hold it back she still needed to release the stress. That and... well she didn't want her thoughts to go there again.

She took in a shuddering breath and let out a half sob as she tried to get her heart to slow down. The once laughing Gerard looked at her in concern. "You ok?" He was wearing a black bandana over his red hair and his usual black shirt, jeans and converse.

"No! Why would you do that? Damnit!" Her heart was slowing down enough for her to go from stressed to down right pissed.

Gerard took a step back and raised his hands defensively. "Hey! If you got a chance to scare someone, wouldn't you take it?"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"NO!"

"Yeah, yeah you would, stop lying!"

"What the hell are you wearing?"

"Oh this? Uh... I got randomly inspired to play with makeup and I was finishing it in the bathroom when you came in. How does it look?"

She stared at where her hand had smeared the white and black lines into a swirl on his cheek when she had smacked him, but other than that she had to admit it looked impressive. "Too good."

"Sweet!" He was grinning again, "But seriously, you ok? I didn't expect a reaction like that..."

She could finally smile again, now that she was used to it was kind of funny to see a skull-headed man act like a sweet goofball. "Yeah... I'm fine now."

"Ok good, you finish opening up and I'm gonna go take this stuff off before like kids see me or something," he jerked his thumb to the back office area and she nodded her head as he started walking backwards...

Right into Sheldon. "BAZINGA!" It was now Lauren's turn to laugh at someone being startled. Gerard shrugged it off and laughed as well.

-

Lauren had been waiting 10 minutes now for Gerard to clean up and stared out the window in boredom. "What should I wear tonight?" She muttered to herself, still thinking about the party.

"You really can't go wrong with ballet flats, jeans, and a cute top. Something with flowers on it; feminine and cute yet still comfy," she raised an eyebrow and turned to see a brunette man in his twenties leaning against the counter across from her.

"Oh um, thanks... Can I help you with something?" His golden eyes lit up and he raised a tattooed hand to smooth his hair, he gave her a large smile, "Sure you can! I came to see my boyfriend!"

"Um... who?"

"Gerard!"

"Gerard's your boyfriend?" She could feel her jaw moving down towards the floor. She could've sworn... Damn. Another one lost to the other team.

"I didn't know he was..."

"Gay?" The man leaned closer and winked at her, "He's not."

"But you said he's your boyfriend..."

"He is."

"But he's not gay...?"

"Straight as an arrow. And a VERY good kisser."

"I'm so confused..."

"Frank, stop confusing her. If her brain heats up too much it shuts down," Gerard walked out from the back, a blackened paper towel in one hand and one side of his face cleared up. He had yet to wash off the rest.

"Hey, if girls get to call their female friends "girlfriends" why can't--DUDE."

"It's good?"

"Yes... but why are you practicing stage makeup?" Lauren noticed the hopeful smile that growing on the man's face.

"I got that random urge, y'know?" Frank did nod knowingly.

"So," he gazed closer at the skull makeup, his shrewd gaze taking in all of Gerard's appearance. "What other random urges have you been feeling lately?" Lauren gulped and she could feel her cheeks redden at the not so subtle inuendo.

Gerard seemed unphased, "Well... I started writing again..."

Frank deflated a bit, "Another comic book?" Gerard shook his head and smiled sheepishly. Frank's eyes grew large, "No!"

"Yes."

"Oh Gerard, you make me the HAPPIEST man in the world!" He hugged the red head tightly, "Can I see?"

"No! It's not ready...I don't know if it will ever be and I have a lot of stuff on my plate right now," he thought of the upcoming lecture he had to prepare for.

"I don't care! Just please, give me some hope, huh? I talked with Bob yesterday."

"Oh? How is he?"

"BORED. Just like I am, just like Ray and Mikey are, and just like you SHOULD be!"

Gerard frowned, he really didn't need to pressured into something else right now. "Frank, please, just give me a break here."

"Gerard, you've had a break long enough. Our band can't be on hiatus forever," Gerard rolled his eyes at his friend's persistence.

"Frank, I gotta go finish cleaning this stuff off," he left without waiting for a response.

The shorter man glared at the writer's back as he left the room and turned back to Lauren. "Take care of him, will ya? He's more use to me alive than dead otherwise I'd have killed his ass long ago." It was his turn to leave now.

The rest of the day passed in an uncomfortable silence from Gerard who would only speak when asked a question and even then his answers were short and clipped. Lauren decided to let it roll, she was sure it was only a passing storm.

"Is he your boyfriend?"

"No."

"Are you gay?"

"No."

"How does he know you're a good kisser?"

"Experience."

"Do you... do you often where makeup?"

He ignored her.

The hours passed and Lauren notived it was time to go. "Hey Gerard?" He grunted in reply, "I need to get going now. I'll see you tommorrow, ok?" Another grunt. She shrugged her shoulders and grabbed her purse and left.

Gerard watched her go and decided it was time to close the shop a bit early. He locked the front door and headed towards the back. He stopped when her phone caught his eye. He picked it up and hefted it in his hand, he supposed if she was going to a party she'd probably need it for tonight. With a sigh of annoyance he got into his jeep and started driving towards Fraternity Row where he knew it would then be an easy task of finding the right house. Just look for the chaos.


A/N: ooooh and now we're getting somewhere! Expect the results from the other auditions in the next few chapters! Hopefully they will be up soon. =)