FicWad

“Dude, get your feet off the fucking coffee table. ” Gerard muttered the next morning, entering into the darkened den, “If mom wakes up and sees that she’ll go all anal.”
The short guy lounging on the couch made a displeased noise as he flopped his bare feet onto the floor. He had shiny black hair that was closely cropped on one side of his head, but fell heavily over his eye on the other side. His nose and lip were both pierced and his nails were coated in flaking black paint.
“Frank Anthony Iero! You get your feet off my coffee table right this minute, and stop acting like a hoodlum!” Mikey’s voice screeched at a high, mocking octave, an almost disturbingly good impression of their mother. “And take those piercings out when you’re in my house. You look like a delinquent!”
“Fuck you, man.” Frank laughed, hurling a couch pillow at Mikey’s head.
Frank was one of Gerard and Mikey’s best (and only) friends. He was a sophomore, the same grade as Gerard’s younger brother. He didn’t attend Belleville High School anymore, however, his parents had sent him to Queen of Peace Catholic School this year in hopes of molding him into the ‘normal’ son they had always wanted. Frank had responded to this by getting the piercing in his nose and a tattoo of a creepy Halloween pumpkin on his back, completely shattering their hopes of reforming him.
“So how’s Pencey Prep coming, man?” Gerard asked, in reference to his friend’s band, as he lazily flipped through channels on the TV.
Frank huffed and slouched farther into the couch, stuffing Cheetos into his mouth. “Not so great.” He grumbled, “We keep hitting all these snags. Kinda feels like we’re not going anywhere. I mean, we’ve managed to hook one gig this month.”
“Bummer.” Gerard replied, “I really like the shit you guys play.”
“Me too, man.” Frank sighed, wiping his cheesy fingers on his jeans. “We’ve got great music, but we need to find a new singer.”
“Why?” Mikey looked up from his comic book, smiling deviously, “Finally realized you suck, Frank?”
Frank rolled his eyes, flinging a Cheeto at Mikey’s face before he had time to react.
“Stop throwing things at me!” The boy whined, removing his glasses and cleaning the smear of cheesy powder off the lens.
“It’s just that I’m more into my guitar than the singing.” Frank explained, flopping onto his stomach onto the couch and wiggling around for several seconds trying to get comfortable, “I just feel like I can’t put all my energy into my music when I have to sing.”
Gerard raised a brow, but his eyes remained glued to the television screen, “Heaven knows you have enough of that to put on a show by yourself.”
It was true. Both Way brothers had experienced Frank’s jam sessions on several occasions. He was a kid with immense talent and an unfathomable amount of energy that, when combined, resulted in sick tunes and a little black-haired ball of fire flinging himself around the room and rolling about on the floor. He was notorious for kicking and slamming into objects, needless to say, things got broken often.
“Exactly, Dude!” He exclaimed, throwing his hands up in exasperation, “Which is why I need a new frontman.” He thought for a moment. “Hell, I need a whole new band all together. Everyone’s so stressed that we’re falling apart anyway.”
“You should let Gee sing for you.” Mikey suggested, still nose-deep in his comic.
“Hell no.” Gerard scoffed, “I don’t sing.”
“You were in a musical.” His brother retorted without looking up.
The oldest boy narrowed his eyes, “I was a child.”
Frank was always entertained when the two brothers fought, he silently hoped some violence would break out soon as his eyes flicked between the two, an excited grin stretching across his face.
“You still always wanted to be in a musical.” Mikey reminded him slowly, “That’s kinda gay.”
“You’re obsessed with unicorns!” Gerard exploded, “Like, what the fuck, Mikes??”
Mikey’s mouth clenched tightly as he threw his comic book down and stood up, fiercely shoving his glasses back up the bridge of his nose.
“Unicorns are beautiful and majestic creatures.” He said evenly, with as much dignity as he could muster, and then turned and stalked out of the room.
There was never a dull day in the Way household.
Gerard sighed and leaned back in the chair, rubbing his forehead wearily. He seriously needed to sleep more, but he’d had a terrible case of insomnia lately. Mostly things such as his artwork or the typical teenage angst kept him awake at night. Last night, however, his mind had been swimming with thoughts of Barbara. He still could barely believe that she had truly shown up in his bedroom yesterday. That had happened countless times in his dreams but he had never imagined it would happen in reality. When he got into bed, he had still been able to smell the musky sweet smell of her perfume. He had even found one long stray hair on his blanket; he had briefly contemplated keeping it as proof, but decided that would be too creepy and brushed it onto the floor. He would give anything to have her come back….
“Don’t you think, Dude?” Frank broke into his thoughts.
Gerard snapped to attention, shaking his head slightly. “Errr what?”
Frank rolled his eyes and made a dramatic show of exasperation, throwing his head back and flinging his arm over his face. “You never listen to meeeee.” He whined, in the most diva-like voice he could manage. “I talk and talk and it just goes in one ear and out the other. All I ask for in this relationship is a little respect!”
“Would you grow the fuck up?” Gerard launched the television remote at Frank’s face so fast that he nearly didn’t have time to duck out of the way.
This sent Frank into a fit of giggles before he finally repeated his words from earlier. “I was saying, I know that you claim to not be into the whole ‘rockband scene’, with your art and all. BUT if you and me actually started a band together that would be totally rad, Man.”
“Oh.” Gerard said, “I guess it would be fun to fuck around with, but you’ve got bigger plans, Frank. You’re gonna do big things with your music someday, Dude, and I’m not much of a performer. You don’t want me holding you back.”
“I don’t think I could feel anymore restricted than I do now.” Frank grumbled. “What am I gonna do without a band?”
“Why don’t you audition for one of the garage bands around the neighborhood? I heard the Lovely Masochists are looking for a guitarist. They’re pretty decent too.”
Frank sighed, “I might. Seriously though, Man, just think about it. Even if we just fucked around with the idea, sometimes that can take you big places.”
“Yeah. Yeah. I’ll think it over. Maybe after graduation.”
“Sweet!” Frank grinned, jumping up from the couch. “Now, go make me a grilled cheese while I go take a shit.”
Gerard shot a finger toward the front door, “Leave my house.”
Frank narrowed his eyes and pouted, “Grumpy ass vampire.”
“Go.”