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"Brace yourself. We've reached the Way residence."
Jen hoped that wasn't supposed to inspire confidence. She had already spent the greater part of the drive trying to figure out how she let herself be talked in to doing this at all.
"I'm kidding. It won't be that bad," he reassured her.
It didn't help.
"Does your brother know I'm coming?" She was still skeptical
"Honestly, he doesn't even know I'm coming. I forgot to call him after I left yesterday. Don't worry. He won't care."

Images of what Gerard could be flooded her head and she couldn't push them out. She had no clue what to expect. All she knew of him was the image of him standing behind a pulpit, whispering menacingly. Not only that but there were three other guys she didn't know do deal with too.

The apartment building loomed up in front of her and she walked as slowly as she possibly could to the main entrance with him. He turned and smiled knowingly at her several times on their way up until they were standing right outside the apartment door.

"Relax. The girl who isn't afraid to make out with the person driving on the highway does not need to be scared of my stupid brother," he may have had a point.
Anyway, it made her smile.
"He doesn't bite," he rested his forehead on hers in reassurance.
She smiled under the pressure of his forehead on hers. She forgot for a minute that they were standing outside of the world of the unknown.
"No, but I do," she couldn't help it.
"And I like it," his eyebrows rose and he kissed her.

"Hellloooo..." They heard someone yell, startling them.
The apartment door had opened without either of them noticing and a guy with black hair and a scorpion tattooed to his neck stood in the entrance with an amused look on his face.
Jen felt the color creep up from her cheeks into her face, turning her a nice shade of pink.

"I'm sorry. I thought I heard Mikey out here. You look like Mikey but you don't look like anybody Mikey would ever be able to even speak to," he laughed at himself.
"Fuck you Frankie, " Mikey mumbled.

She watched as his body language instantly changed. He had gone from standing straight and having this self-assurance about him to slouching and directing his eyes to the floor in a matter of seconds.

"Gee! Some dude claiming to be your brother is home!" Frankie turned and yelled into the apartment, leaving the two of them in the hallway to follow him.

Mikey smiled at her and lead the way.
Another guy came out from the depths of the apartment and stopped abruptly at the site of Jen. She recognized him as the guy from the video, making him Gerard. His hair was shorter and messier and he looked as though he had lost some weight. He also looked as though he had just gotten out of the shower, judging by the towel he was wearing around his waist.

"Where the fuck have you been," he directed the comment at Mikey but he kept glancing at Jen.
"Uh, I was with Jen. Jen, this is my brother Gerard and the asshole who answered the door is Frankie. Guys this is my...this is Jen," Mikey did the introduction thing.
She smiled and said 'hi' in a tinier voice than she realized she had.

Frankie waved from the place he had seated himself on the couch. Gerard started to wave before remembering that he was only wearing a towel and had to hold it up.
"Nice to meet you. I'm just going to go, uh, get dressed," he grimaced and quickly left the room.

"See what happens when you do something weird like bring home a girl? He gets so confused that he nearly shows us all Little Gerard," Frankie.
"The only thing 'little' in this apartment is you Iero," Gerard appeared back in the living room fully dressed in a black sleeveless t-shirt and a pair of black jeans.
"Don't you have a girlfriend you should be spending time with while we're actually home dude?" Mikey seemed to be gaining back a little of that lost confidence with his brother on his side.
"Yeah but she's at work so you guys get me all night long. Aren't you lucky," Frank said, burping.

Jen couldn't help laughing a little at Frank's disregard for the fact that the Way brothers clearly wished he would go home.
He put his feet up on the coffee table and made himself even more at home on the couch.

"So, you're a friend of Mikey's?" Gerard chose to ignore him and turned back to Mikey and Jen instead.
She would be more than happy to get this part over with. Being the object of scrutiny wasn't her favorite thing on earth.
"If, by 'friend' you mean do they make out in the hallway outside the apartment, then yes, she is his very good friend," Frankie smiled
"You'll have to excuse Frank. He's hit himself too many times in the head with his own guitar. You'll also have to excuse us both for the slight amazement but my little brother isn't exactly known for talking to the girls, much less kissing them in the hallway," Gerard again, ignored Frankie.

Jen had to admit that she felt slightly more at ease knowing that Mikey had been straight with her when he said he didn't do this kind of thing. It was hard to believe the guy she'd spent the last two days with was bad with girls but the sudden personality change he had undergone since they had entered his apartment explained some of that. She also felt more comfortable coming to the conclusion that Gerard did really seem to be a nice guy and even Frankie was nice, even if he did seem to be well versed in just how to make Mikey completely embarrassed.

"Jen's going to stay with us for a little while if that's cool," Mikey tried to ignore that comment but the color in his cheeks betrayed him.
"Does that mean we need extra plane tickets?" Gerard seemed cool with it.
Did he say tickets? As in plural?
"To Miami? Yeah." Mikey affirmed
"And to England? For the festivals the couple days before the VMA's?" Gerard asked
He hadn't mentioned a trip to England.
He looked at Jen, clearly as confused as she was, recognition slowly crossing his face.
"I completely forgot about that. Damn, can't we even get a couple weeks to ourselves?"
"No," Gerard turned to Jen. "You don't happen to have a passport by any chance do you?"
She shook her head.
"OK, so we have to get that done too. No problem. We can do it. It'll be insanely busy but we can do it," he assured them both.
"Ok, well I'll show you where you can put you stuff," Mikey was back to speaking softly when he turned back to Jen.
She couldn't help wanting to take his hand and reassure him, of what she wasn't sure but seeing him act like that made her sad.

He took her into his room and threw the bag he was carrying on the floor next to the bed. She followed suit as she looked around his room. It was quite a bit different that hers. He had no plans to leave this room any time soon. There were posters covering the walls and pictures of him with the band. There were laminates scattered over one dresser along with other random knick-knacks. On the nightstand, there was an alarm clock and a stack of magazines. Shoes were scattered around the floor and clothes were falling out of the hamper. It felt like a home.

"It's kind of messy. Sorry. I didn't clean before we left," he shrugged.
"It's perfect," she was a little bit in awe.

It had been a long time since she had been anywhere that felt like a home. Her apartment was a place she was staying, nothing more. Her home was gone.

His was clearly here, with his brother and his band. That felt good. She was just beginning the remember traces of what good felt like, what anything felt like at all.
She noticed he was staring a few minutes later and realized she had no idea how long she had been standing there, staring and taking it all in. He had just a hint of a smile on his face and she felt her face break into a smile just looking back at him.
"You're different here," she let that thought escape her mouth.
He looked down for a split second and when he looked back up it was with that bashful look he had given her on the bus when he had spoken of his band.
"I kind of dreaded bringing you here a little bit because I knew I would be," he admitted and she could tell it was hard for him to say that.
"Why are you so open with me and so closed with them?"
It wasn't that she didn't understand closing yourself up but he barely knew her. Then, it occurred to her that maybe that was exactly the reason he could be open with her.
"I don't know but I like who I am with you," he shook his head and shrugged.
"I like who you are with me too. And I'm here now so you can be him all the time," she took his hand like she had been aching to do.
The spark she had been so attracted to the first day returned to his eyes. Mission accomplished.

"So, it was pretty presumptuous of you to think that I would just be going with you to England. I didn't sign on for that one," she teased.
He pulled her in so that they were inches from each other again.
"I got three weeks. I wasn't letting you out of that. We never said it had to be three weeks in New Jersey the whole time. You'll love England."
"I'd love to just stay here in this room more." she whispered
It seemed as though they couldn't be near each other for more than a few minutes without wanting to be right back to where they started.
"Me too, but we've got some time right now."

Their lips met and Mikey picked her up before walking back toward the door and kicking it closed. He then turned toward the bed and they fell backwards together.
"Hey!" there was pounding on the wall. "It's very rude to play huggie-bear-kissy-face in another room when you have company!"
The two of them looked at each other and laughed at Frankie yelling through the wall.
"Rain check?" he looked pained but there was really little else as options went.
"Later," she agreed.

"Your mother would be appalled with your etiquette. Both of your mothers," Frank greeted them.
Gerard laughed from the chair he had taken.
"I think they would both agree that unwanted guests who were already asked to leave didn't deserve to be considered," Mikey didn't hesitate.
"I don't like your tone Way! I think this girl is a bad influence." Frank said putting his hands on his hips.

"I think I like her influence so far if it helps anybody put you in your place. What I would like to know is just how this whole thing came about to begin with, my brother," Gerard chimed in.

Mikey and Jen just looked at each other, recalling the events that had transpired, and smiled secretively.