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A new chapter all for you my dears!Sorry for any mistakes. I couldn't be bothered to proofread it. I'll fix it later :P



***



Gerard

"Brit?"

"What???" The growl came from the other side of the door.

"Uhm," I stepped around uncertainly, knowing that I shouldn't have bothered her. You'd think after eighteen years Iwould know my sister. The sad part was that I knew what a bad idea knocking was, but I still did it. "Can I get you anything?"

"No." It was short reply, but I wasn't complaining. Instead I quickly scrambled away and found refuge in the kitchen. The kettle finished boiling water just as I entered. Mikey was taking long drags from him cigarette. However, he paused this action for a few seconds in order to laugh at me.

"Dude, you should know by now not to poke the lion."

"Yeah, I know, but I thought like... Fuck, Idon't know what I was thinking."

"You weren't thinking," he laughed, pulling an extra mug from the cupboard and filling both with coffee before handing me one.

"Thanks," I murmured in appreciation, taking a large gulp of the scalding liquid. "It's worse than ever this time, though."

"Maybe she's frustrated," my brother gave his opinion. "You know," he finished with his eyebrows hiding behind his fringe.

"First of all, I don't want to know that and second of all, gross."

I stole a cigarette from his supply and lit it up.

"She's going to be hell on two legs these next couple of days. Fuck."

Mikey nodded in agreement just as Frank came flying into the kitchen.

"Morning!" the pint-sized guitarist greeted cheerily. "You guys have more coffee running through your veins than blood, Iswear," he noted, looking from me to Mikey, both sipping greedily at our coffees.

"Be jealous," Mikey said petulantly to which Frank stuck his tongue out.

"Would you like some?" I asked, turning to pull a clean mug from the cupboard next to my head.

His attention turned from Mikey to me.

"Yeah, thanks."

"What brings you around so early in the morning?" I enquired from my best friend. "I thought you were sick."

"I was, but a lot of soup, hot tea and love cured that."

"Or maybe it was just a lack of sex," Mikey piped in, causing mine and Frank's heads to turn toward him.

"Uhm, what?"

"You're not here to see Brittany?"

"Well, yeah, but why would I be here for sex? Maybe I just wanted to hang out considering I've been sick these last couple of days."

"Good," Mikey smiled. "Otherwise you would've been terribly disappointed."

An evil grin formed on Mikey's face. "That's right. Frank is Brittany's boyfriend now."

I looked at him confused, not quite sure what he was getting at.

"It's a boyfriend's duty to keep his girlfriend company," he explained with wide eyes.

"What am I missing?"

"Nothing," I shrugged. "Except that Mikey wants to send you to your premature death."

If Frank could keep her busy then she would be distracted from taking her wrath out on us.

"Why?"

"Brittany's sick."

"Oh, why didn't you just say so? I'll go check on her. Maybe she needs something," he said, putting his half empty cup of coffee on the table before heading for the door.

"No, dude, trust me, you don't want to go in there. She's /sick/," I said pointedly.

"I heard you the first time," he nodded bemused. "Like I said, I'm going to make sure she's okay."

With that he disappeared from the kitchen.

"Your funeral," I muttered under my breath and Mikey laughed, "This should be very entertaining."



*



Frank

Brittany's door was closed and I could hear music coming from the other side so I knocked.

"What?"

"Hey, it's me."

It could've been my imagination, but Icould have sworn that I heard her sigh loudly. I pushed the door open to find her still in bed, surrounded by magazines with music coming from her radio.

"Hey."

"Hello to you," she murmured uninterestedly continuing to read the magazine in her hands.

"Is everything okay?" I asked tentatively, stepping into the room and closing the door behind me.

"Peachy," she grimaced. "Ugh, can you believe this guy won the /Kerrang! /Award for 'Hero of the year'?" she frowned, holding the book up for me to see. "The guy's a jerk. Our youth is going to ruins if this is the type of person they regard as a hero nowadays. And the music they listen to." She shook her head, dropping the magazine down on the pile next to her.

"The guy isn't so bad," I gave my opinion."If the kids regard him as a hero, more power to him. There's nothing wrong with that."

She looked at me sharply. "What are you doing here?"

Something was definitely up with her. She hasn't been this cold in weeks. We've barely argued at all and yet here she was being her old self it seemed. Something obviously had her in a foul mood.

"I thought we could hang out, but I can tell that it's a bad time. How are you feeling? Can I get you anything?"

"I'm fine," she said curtly and then winced.

"Brittany..."

"I'm fine. Just... Can you please hand me those pills on my dresser?"

I walked over to said dresser and found asmall bottle of pills and walked back to her bed with it while glancing at the label. My eyes grew wide as I realized what they were for. She snatched the item from my hands and removed two pills before reaching over to her bedside table where a glass of water stood.

"I can tell that you'd rather be alone," I muttered awkwardly, in a hurry to get away. "I'll call you later?"

She nodded dismissively, swallowing her medication.

"Hey, Frank," she spoke just as I reached the door.

I turned around to look at her expectantly wondering what was coming my way. Maybe it was better to keep moving or maybe even take cover somewhere.

"Sorry. I'm not mad at you. I'm just having a bit of an off day."

I bit back a smartass remark and nodded. Iturned the doorknob and slipped out. Mikey and Gerard were still in the kitchen when I returned and I scowled at the pair.

"Why didn't you warn me?"

"What?" Gerard gaped, stopping his laughter from before.

"I could've died going in there and you didn't say anything!" I said accusingly.

"I told you she's sick."

"Yeah, but there is a huge difference between being sick and being /sick/."

"Did you want me to spell it out for you?"he retorted. "Next time I'll be clear. Hey, Frank it's that time of the month when a girl is biologically programmed to b..."

"Gah!" I covered my ears with my hands. "I know! I get it."

"Yeah, Frank for a smart guy you can be real slow," Mikey added.

"My relationship is very fragile!" I said somewhat annoyed. "If we had a fall out and ended up breaking up it would've been entirely your fault."

"Dude, if you guys broke up over something this stupid then that's just sad," Mikey gave his opinion, pushing his glasses higher up the bridge of his nose. "On the bright side, you'll have an estimate date of when you'll be breaking up every month which is still actually sad, but then again it's not like you guys don't break up every few weeks anyway."

"Mikey, shut up," Gerard told his little brother sharply.

"Yeah, shut up, Mikey!" I repeated huffily.

"So I'm assuming that you won't be spending time with Brittany then. Can I lay claim to your free time?"

"Of course. What's up?"

"I need to find a birthday present for Melania and I have no idea what to get her," Gerard explained, staring at me over the rim of his coffee mug.

"Sure, I wanted to stop by the music store to get some new guitar picks anyway."

He gulped down the last of his coffee and put the empty mug in the sink.

"You coming, Mikes?"

"Let me just finish my coffee."

"Seriously? People are worried about you guys killing yourselves smoking when in fact they have no idea how over-caffeinated you actually are!"

"Coffee doesn't kill any organs last time Ichecked," Gerard said snappily. "Besides, I didn't make any new coffee since you came blowing in here like a hurricane earlier."

"No, you just conveniently finished the cup you made me."

"You weren't going to drink it. It would've been a waste," he said defensively to which I laughed.

"Yeah, Gee. Whatever floats your boat."

"Ready to go," Mikey announced, interrupting our conversation.

"Shot gun!" I yelled while Gerard went to get his wallet.

Mikey and I walked outside and over to the car, him getting in the back and me on the passenger's side. I reached over and turned the volume up on the stereo, Iron Maiden blasting from the bad speakers. Gerard got in and shook his head with a smile, starting the engine and backing out of the driveway.

"So," I started after a few minutes, turning the volume down slightly. "What do you plan on getting Mel for her birthday?"

"I have no idea. Why do you think I'm bringing you and Mikey along?"

"Not that I would be much help," the younger Way chimed in.

"How about an engagement ring?" I suggested with a huge smile on my face.

Gerard glanced at me from the corner of his eye while I waited for his response.

"No, Frank I'm not going to ask her to marry me."

"Why not?"

"Several reasons, the first being that her only response would be to strangle me."

I cracked up. "What? That's not very romantic."
"Well, she's only turning twenty one in a couple of weeks while I'm still only twenty two. We're still kids. We can't get married yet. We've only been together for about a year and a half anyway. Besides, I'm so broke, I probably won't be able to afford an engagement ring for the next ten years." He exclaimed. It was a fair point. After all the recording and other expenses that came along with starting a band we were all flat broke. My budget was practically in the red.

"Then buy her a sweater," I joked, sitting back in my seat.

"Yeah, Frank of course she'll love me then."

He pulled into a parking lot on the main street and we got out automatically starting to walk in the same direction. We've roamed these streets so many million times before it came naturally. We would always found ourselves first visiting the music store, then the record store maybe stopping at a coffee cart along the way and then the comic book store. After all these years it hasn't changed.

"Hey," I greeted the guy standing behind the desk at the pay point. "How you doing, Marty?"

"Frank, back for more plectrums already?Didn't you buy a bunch just the other day?"

"Maybe," I drawled out innocently, digging around a box of plectrums standing on the counter. "Appreciate me while I still bother coming here. One day I'll be famous and have my guitar picks custom made." I looked up at him and grinned.

"Then I'll be able to say that I sold you more picks than even Einstein could possibly calculate."

"Look who's here," Mikey spoke up, pointing to the back of the store.

I turned around and saw Ray sitting on achair strumming away at a guitar. I dropped the items in my hand back in the box and started towards the guitarist.

"Yo, Torosaurus!"

He didn't respond and stayed completely focused on playing.

"Hey, Toro! Ray!" I waved my hand in his face and finally he looked up.

"Hey guys!" he smiled, removing the headphones from his ears. "What brings you in here? Need more picks, Frank?"

"Why is that the first guess everybody makes?"

"Because it's true," Mikey offered.

"Whatever, Frank this guitar is sick! You should hear it," Ray continued excitedly.

"Why don't you buy it then?" Mikey suggested.

"Because there's no way I can afford it. Dude, I'm living off bread and water."

"Pretty soon we'll make plenty of money then you can buy this guitar and Gerard can buy Mel an engagement ring."

"You're planning to propose?" the male with the afro gaped at Gerard.

"No," the latter scowled. "It's an idea Frank got and now he won't let it go," he finished, glaring at me.

"You're perfect for each other. I don't see why not." I shrugged.

"Again, it's too soon. Besides, I can't get married right now. We're busy doing shows and pretty soon we'll be on the road and then what? Mel will stay behind in the house that we don't have with her, wait no, her new husband is on tour with his new band."

"Okay, I get it. You're not proposing," I said, putting my hands up defensively.

"Why don't you just buy her the new Pumpkins CD? She likes them right?" Ray suggested, putting the guitar back in place on its stand and straightening up, pretty much towering over me. Gee nodded in agreement.

"What? That's it?" I gaped at him in disbelief. "That's all you're going to get her?"

"What else would you suggest?" Ray was the one to ask.

"Anything! A twenty first is a pretty big deal. One CD is not going to cut it, especially not if you're the boyfriend of the past year and a half!"

"Frank's a romantic," Gerard explained calmly. "He just hides it well."

"That's why he dates Brittany. That way it appears that his only interests are physical," Mikey piped in to my great surprise.

Ray chuckled, "That's what you guys think. Frank and Brittany are really mushy. Behind closed doors it's all sweet, and innocent and cuddle-cuddle."

I scowled. When did this become pick-on-Frank day?

"You don't know what you're talking about."

"It's true," Mikey agreed. "He came over this morning, not for sex as he pointed out himself, but simply to spend some time with her. It's so sweet."

"Can you guys please stop?" I pleaded."This isn't funny."

"Funny? It's fucking hilarious," Gee laughed. "Look at you blushing."

I smacked his hand away from my face.

"You don't get to touch me anymore. I'm giving you the silent treatment now," I said snippily, turning on my heel and marching back over to the check-out counter.

I wasn't mad, but the only way to stop their teasing was to leave. I could hear them all laughing as I walked away and my shoulders slumped forward slightly.

"Your friends piss you off?" Marty asked with a chuckle.

"You could say that."

I started looking through the box of plectrums again and chose four, paying for them before patiently waiting by the door for my idiot friends to come from the back of the store.

"You okay there, Frank?" Gee asked me with an amused expression still plastered across his face once they reached me.

"Yeah, I'm cool," I grinned broadly, stepping out of the store with the guys short on my heels.

"Any ideas on what to get her then?"

I whipped around to face the tall male and found his hazel eyes looking at me expectantly.

"Dude, you really suck at buying people presents. You always have, but... Go with the Pumpkins CD. I like that idea. And then you can buy her some nail polish."

"Seriously?"

"Yes, from the looks of her chipped off black nails, she's in desperate need of a new supply," I remarked to which Gerard exclaimed, "Frank!"

"What? It's true," I shrugged innocently.

He sighed, "Okay, fine. What else?"

"Make her dinner," I suggested as we crossed the street.

"Hey, guys. We're going to go in the other direction," Ray informed us. "I have to get groceries and your mom just called Mikey asking him to do the same, but we'll catch up with you later?"

"Sure," we nodded in unison.

"That's creepy. You guys spend way too much time together," the guitarist muttered.

"In my opinion they should get married and get it over with."

"Really, Mikey? Does that mean we have your blessing?" I exclaimed excitedly. "See, Gee I told you Mikey wouldn't mind!" I gushed, grabbing Gerard's arm.

"I was joking!" the younger Way said wide-eyed. "Kidding. Hahaha, haha?"

"Let's go pick out the rings," I carried on, grabbing Gee's hand, entwining our fingers and dragging him away from the other two.

"I'm telling Mom!" Mikey yelled after us, causing both of us to laugh.

We walked into the store and instantly found the vanity section. Can you tell that we came here a lot? Gerard came to a halt in front of the nail polish selection and scanned over the options.

"Black, red," he murmured, letting go of my hand and pulling the different colors from the shelf.

"No, not red, Gee," I disagreed, taking the item from his hand and putting it back in its place.

"Frank!" he hissed. "What are you doing?"

"Red is wrong. Mel won't wear it."

"But red is her favorite color," he argued.

"Granted, but red nails and red clothes are a bit much, don't you think?"

"No, I don't think." He took the red nail polish from the shelf again.

"Gerard, have you ever seen Mel wear her nails red?" I asked, grabbing it from his hand yet again. He contemplated my question for a second and then sighed. "Fine, what other color then?"

I looked at our options. "White?"

"Seriously?"

"What else then?"

"How about silver?"

"I'm calling Brittany," I said, pulling out my phone. It rang and rang and rang.

"She's not going to pick up," Gerard said with a shake of his head. "You've got bad timing."

"Shh!"

"Missing me already?"

"Always," I smiled in response. "Hey, Brit. Gerard and I have a bit of a problem."

"You guys have a lot of problems."

"Yeah, thanks for pointing that out. Seriously, we're trying to buy some nail polish for Mel for her birthday, but have no idea what colors to choose. We want something that would go with all her black and red clothes."

"Black?"

"Already got it," I told her.

I could hear her breathe in deeply and then say, "Try white or a dark purple. Maybe you could take silver or something."

I grinned smugly at Gerard. "I also thought the white would work. Thanks a lot. I'll leave you alone now."

"Thanks," she muttered sarcastically and Icould picture her rolling her eyes.

I hung up and relayed her words to Gerard who went ahead and grabbed all three suggested colors from the shelf.

"Might as well do it properly," he shrugged when he saw me laughing.

"Yeah, no kidding."

Gerard paid for the nail polish receiving astrange look from the cashier, but simply ignoring it. By the time we stepped out of the store, I was bursting with laughter. We found our way to the supermarket where we met up with Ray and Mikey again. We were going to get ingredients for the meal Gee would cook Mel for her birthday. Gerard decided that his hair also needed a dye and we bought that too.

"I'm gonna catch a ride home with Ray,"Mikey informed us once we were done shopping. "See you at home."

"I wish we lived at the beach," I murmured on our way back to Gerard's car. "I could do with some proper sun exposure and adive in the ocean."

"I'm cool with Jersey's weather."

I snorted. "I know you are... Vampire."

I caught him looking at me from the corner of his eye before his fist flew out and connected with my shoulder. I grabbed the spot, feigning hurt and laughed heartily.

"Ooh, I see I touched a nerve."

"Shut up, Frank. You could always walk home."

"Okay, okay!" I held my hands up in a mock gesture of surrender.

We reached his car and pretty soon we were on the road back towards home. Gerard was too focused on the road for my liking and a way to distract him occurred to me. I started playing with the buttons on the radio as well as flipping the windscreen wipers and blowing the car horn.

"Frank, stop it!"

I turned the radio up to a deafening volume and mouthed that I couldn't hear him. He smacked my hand when I reached for the blinkers.

"Stop it! I'm going to pull over and leave you by the side of the road... Frank, I swear!"

I cracked up and if it weren't for the seatbelt I would probably have been rolling around on the car floor. Then again if it weren't for the fact that he was driving, Gee probably would've strangled me by now.

"Thank sanity!" he exclaimed when we were finally parked in the Way's driveway and he scrambled out of the car only to be met by Brittany coming from the house. "Please take your boyfriend off of my hands. He's driving me crazy and I might just end up murdering him."

"Sorry, no can do. I'm on my way over to Kasey's," she said flatly, casting a quick glance in my direction.

"Take him with you!" her brother pleaded.

"He's your best friend. Better you kill him than me," she responded sweetly, planting a kiss on my lips and starting off in the direction of Kasey's house.

"I guess you're stuck with me for the rest of the day," I grinned broadly, turning to face Gerard again.

"Fine. It's not like it will be the first time, though it has been a while since we spent a day together like this."

"Great! I'll do your hair."

"Yeah, and you're going to help me wrap Mel's presents."

"Deal, though I'm not promising much on that account," I replied as we sauntered into the house. "I'm a guy, you know."

"So am I! Maybe I should just let my mom wrap it."

I giggled, "That might be your safest bet. At least that way her gifts won't look like they've been run over by a train."

"Come on, let's go do my hair. I'm going to look all sexy and you'll be my boyfriend rather than Brittany's," he said all sassy causing me to laugh.

"Aw, Gee, you know I'm already yours. Brittany is simply my distraction until you and Mel break things off."

"I'm sure about that," he chuckled, leading the way to the bathroom where we set about coloring his hair. It was always amess when we did, but the aftermath was usually worth it. There was still some dye left after we were done with his hair and we decided to turn mine black too. I missed hanging out with my best friend. This day was going to be great.