Coffee and Cigarettes

3

Gerard's physics class felt like it would never end, watching the clock was like watching paint dry and no matter how long he stared at it the paint was no closer to being solid. Lunch felt hours away until the bell rang. Gerard jumped up from his seat and nearly sprinted down the hallway to his younger brother's chemistry class. "Mikey!" He exclaimed.

Mikey sighed, noticing his classmates weirded-out stares at his brother. "Yes, Gerard?"

"Remember what I texted you about? My friend?" Gerard was almost as hyper as Frank is on stage at this moment.

"Yes I do, but if you act like this around him I'm pretty sure you won't be friends much longer. I know you don't have a ton of friends but why on Earth are you this excited about it?"

"Alright, first of all, let's be honest. No friends. Second, because he's like, really cool and yknow, he's just really nice to me and-"

"Gee, I'm going to stop you right there. Let's start this conversation again: Gerard tell me all about this boy you have a crush on."

"Shut up," Gerard muttered. "I don't need the entire school knowing I'm gay Mikey, my social status is low enough. Either way I accidentally spilled a cup of coffee on him and now we're friends, which is great, right!"

"Mhm, you said I knew him?" Mikey was very deadpan no matter how excited he was most of the time, even still, his brother could tell he was happy for him.

"Yeah, he's in jazz band with you and he plays the guitar, his name is-"

"Gerard Arthur Way. Do not tell me you have a crush on Frank Iero. Do. Not."

"I'm not telling you, you figured it out yourself." Mikey sighed until his lungs were completely deflated.

"Gerard, that kid will be the death of you." Mikey looked half amused and half disappointed in his older brother.

"What makes you say that?"

"Well... Frank is excessively hyper and overall disliked and you are... Well you're the quiet art kid who doesn't want to be noticed by anyone positively or negatively."

"Opposites attract."

"Gee, when people start noticing you hanging around him they might start *noticing* you in a not so positive way."

"True, but if I were to start dating any of the guys in this school that would happen. Guess it's a go big or go home situation here but, you can't help who you like right?"

"Gerard, I want all of the best in the whole world for you. You've always looked out for me and have always been there for me, which is why I am trying to be here for you now. The people Frank is at... Odds with, for a lack of a better word, will kick the living shit out of you for even being around him, and it'll only get worse if you guys start dating. Frank goes out of his way to fuck with people who don't like him, which only escalates things. I just don't want you to be pushed too far out of your comfort zone, to put it lightly."

"Mikey, I appreciate it and love you to death but I don't think it'll be that big of a deal, have to be honest. Like really, who would find out anyways?"

"You're not the most subtle about your feelings."

"True, but I'd be careful."

"I'm not going to stop you, I'm just telling you to be careful and think things through. Also, we don't even know if he likes guys. You met this guy like 2 hours ago and you're defending him like you're already married."

"Ok, ok. I'll be CaReFuL. Catch you later, I'm going to get lunch." Mikey sighed as his brother ran off, more giddy than a kid with a whole binder full of shiny Pokemon cards.

***

Frank never ever ate school lunch. Ever. He'd heard horror stories about kids getting food poisoning since elementary and was not taking any chances. He was vegetarian anyways so it wasn't like he was missing out on a wide variety of options. When he wakes up on time, (fault of his alarm) he usually grabs something out of the fridge, or if nothing else at least a bagel from Starbucks to eat on the drive over when he has time to stop on the way in, but due to his late arrival he was left lunchless. "Ray. My guy. Spare me some Goldfish? I'm starving over here!" He begged. Ray begrudgingly handed over a Ziplock bag full of orange crackers. Frank practically pounced on them, leaving Ray to chuckle a bit. "Listen, I didn't have time to get anything this morning. I'm STARVING."

"For someone as short and light as you are, you sure eat a lot." Ray remarked.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm a medical mystery. I get it all the time. Anyways, so I was thinking, what if you and I covered some songs?"

"What gave you that idea? It's not a bad one but, seems a little out of the blue."

"I was talking to this guy and he suggested covering some Black Flag songs and I haven't been able to get the idea out of my head. And being the, *amazing* guitarist you are, I thought why not ask you to help us out."

"Stop tryna flatter me to get me to join Frankie, I can see right through you, you little egotistical maniac. I'm not sure you'd need two guitarists for a Black Flag song anyways."

"Come on Mr.President-of-the-guitar-club, it'd look great for your club if it got a lot of views on like, Youtube or something, and either way plenty of people would want to watch since you and I are both like, the best guitarists here and super popular and stuff. Also, why wouldn't I want to do this with my bestest friend in the whole wide world?"

"Correction, your only friend in the whole wide world. And, what popularity? Your beef with Brendon kind of killed any shot you had of being popular, the whole football team AND choir are on your back at this point. I guess I'll consider it. Who's the kid you were talking about this with? I'm surprised you've talked to anyone besides me and your mom this month."

"Very funny Ray, but I've actually talked to the guy at the music store too when Pansy's tuning pegs got too bad to ignore anymore and I had to replace them. Brendon Urie and his posse of athletic numbskulls and stuck up tenors are not going to stop me from considering myself popular. The guy I was talking to was even a choir kid. His name's Gerard."

"I'm shocked he didn't try to punch you. Brendon's got all of those kids in a trace of some kind with the way they're obsessed with him."

"Nah, not this one. He might have spilled my coffee on me but he seems like a real nerd. Not like, nerd nerd but our kind of nerd yknow? A little out there, kind of shy and quiet like you, not the type to get caught up in Brendon Urine's shit."

"I see what you did there. Well I'll give him a shot. Expanding our social circle isn't a bad thing. Not that we have enough friends to make a circle."

"See, now you're getting it. We're gonna have so much fun!"

"If you say so." 

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Author's note: What do we think so far? Feedback PLEASE I haven't written frerard in years and  years and years. Would we like actual chapter names rather than just the numbers? MCR pics from my pinterest on the top? What would make it more interesting and ofc tell me how to improve my actual writing if you think I could do better. Thank you for reading so far! I'm going to try to update pretty regularly so will be active!