We Aren't Nerds! {{PETEKEY}}

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Michael had lied when he told Gerard he was looking forward to the party. He wished he was looking forward to it, it was a good chance to meet new people and make some friends, but he was still hesitant about going. It was too late for that, however, as the Way brothers were already standing on the host's doorstep. Michael wasn't even sure who was hosting the party, and since he wasn't actually invited he didn't imagine he was going to be met with the most warm welcome.

Gerard knocked on the door, but, as they could hear music coming from the house even before they'd got to the door, was left waiting. He knocked again, this time with a lot more force, hoping he and his brother would be let in. Again, there was nothing. Michael noticed the slightly open window and suggested shouting there and seeing if anyone noticed. Gerard thought that seemed like a pretty good suggestion, so he went over to the window and tried to get someone's attention.

"Guys!" Gerard yelled, knocking on the glass, "Let me in, I brought Mikey!"
"Michael--" Michael corrected, before being cut off by the door almost opening on his face.

Michael had never met the person who opened the door, so was surprised when she gave him a huge hug and started trying to talk to him. He looked over to Gerard who just laughed and shrugged his shoulders.

"Mikey! You're so tall!!" she cried, confusing Michael even more.
"It's, uh, Michael," he said, awkwardly correcting the stranger, "do I, uh, know you?"
"It's me! Lindsey? Did you forget about me?!"
Michael looked down in shame, "I must have, sorry."

Lindsey tutted and turned her attention to Gerard, who was still laughing at his little brother's confused expression.

"I can't believe you let him forget about me, Gee," Lindsey laughed, "has it really been that long since I've been at your house?"
"It must have been," Gerard admitted, "are we going to go back inside or...?"
"Oh yeah, okay."

Michael followed Gerard and Lindsey into the house. He'd never been to a party like this, so was surprised to see so many people everywhere, all of them dancing or chatting. The music was almost unbearably loud, but Michael didn't want to let Gerard down, so he stuck with him and did his best to socialise. He'd taken his homework with him, like Gerard had suggested, just in case it got a little too much for him. Since there were so many people in that one room, he doubted it would be hard to find somewhere with less people.

After a while, there were even more people filling every corner of the room, and Michael thought it would be easier to excuse himself and escape the situation. He briefly looked around, then rushed up the stairs and tried to find a room without anyone in it. Surprisingly, no one had gone upstairs, so he went into the first room he saw.

It was quite cute. Michael assumed it was probably whoever's party this was's bedroom. There were a lot of posters of bands, but also pictures of family and friends. Michael wished his relationship with his family was so good that he would want pictures of them in his room, but it wasn't. He also wished that he enough close friends to put pictures of them all in frames the way this person had.

They had one of those cool beds that had enough room underneath for a desk and chair. Michael was getting jealous of whoever's room this was, they had a lot of space to themselves. Back at home, Michael had to share with Gerard and it was annoying to not have some space of his own. He scanned the rest of the room for a few minutes before settling at the desk and starting his homework. He had a few pages of notes to revise from, so it wouldn't keep him busy all night, but he figured he'd just cross that bridge when he came to it.

Michael was part way through his reading when he heard frenzied running coming up the stairs. He was worried that someone was going to come in and yell at him, but he could justify why he was there if they did, so it wasn't actually a huge problem. The door suddenly swung open and another person rushed into the room and sat against the door, breathing heavily. They looked panicked, but Michael wasn't sure what he was supposed to do.

"Are you okay?" he asked, hoping the person wouldn't be even more freaked out by him being there.
"What are you doing in my room?!" he yelled, obviously not expecting to see another person there.

Michael was going to explain himself, but he realised that he recognised this person. He was the one from all the pictures on the walls, and this was his room.

"My brother dragged me here," he explained, "I had a lot of homework so I came up here to do it. There wasn't anyone in here so... It made sense for me to come in here."

The person nodded, now looking a lot calmer than they did at first. He stood up, came closer to Michael and outstretched his hand.

"I'm Pete," he said, "who's your brother?"
"Gerard Way," Michael said, "I'm Michael."
"Oh, you're Mikey. Everyone downstairs is asking where you are, you must be pretty popular. Do you want to go back down now, or...?"

Michael shook his head. He didn't want to go back down to talk to a group of people who only saw him as a little kid. He hated how no one respected that he preferred being called Michael, especially by people he didn't personally know. Pete seemed okay, Michael liked the fact that he had gotten over the initial shock of seeing someone in his bedroom quite quickly, and then introduced himself properly. Michael didn't know why that stood out to him, but he liked it.

"I'd rather not," he admitted, "my brother is kind of irritating, and I'm not a huge fan of his friends."
"I'm hurt," Pete said, in mock horror, "your brother is actually okay, but you're his brother, so I doubt you can see it that way."
"That must be it. I really hate the way he calls me Mikey, though, I've told him not to and he still does it."
"Don't worry about it, Michael Way, he loves you, even if he annoys you. Believe me, he talks about you all the time."

Michael was shocked to learn that Gerard didn't hate him. He always assumed that the feelings of "sibling hate" were mutual. He felt kind of bad for Gerard, and the way he'd never shown him how much he actually loved him. Michael had always thought that siblings weren't supposed to like each other, so had never let his big brother know. He felt slightly stupid now he knew Gerard shared the same feelings.

"What has he said?" Michael asked, "Recently, I mean."
Pete thought for a second, but then he said, "He's been talking about how he thinks you need some better friends, because the ones you have don't talk to you much."

Michael nodded. He knew Gerard was right. His friends never spoke to him, their entire relationship was all in school, outside of school they might as well have been complete strangers. He didn't think Gerard was so concerned about him that he'd speak to others about him, but he'd been wrong. Michael was surprised to learn about how much Gerard really did care, but it was a pleasant surprise that he could definitely live with.

"Do you want to go back downstairs now, Michael?" Pete asked, "I think you should probably talk to Gerard."
"I'll talk to him when we get home," Michael said, "I need to get this reading done. You should go back downstairs, though, this is your party, after all."
"I'm okay up here," Pete laughed, "no one's going to miss me too much."

Pete wished his party had been his party, but he felt like it had been stolen by some people. He hadn't even invited that many people, but so many people had brought others with them that there was barely any breathing room. It ended up being too much for him, which is why he'd retreated to his bedroom. He hadn't expected to meet Michael, but he was glad he had. Pete felt like he needed another friend who wasn't obsessed with going to parties and being with other people all the time.

"If I need some more friends, and you don't think anyone will miss you," Michael began, "do you want to be my friend?"
"I'd love to," Pete smiled, "I need to get to know you a little better, though. What's your favourite colour, Michael?"
"I don't have a favourite colour, Pete. I'm not a seven year old girl."
"Humour me then," Pete insisted, "what would it be?"
"Yellow," Michael replied, "it's bright and happy."
"My favourite colour is blue. It's because it has so many shades, and they all mean different things. Light blue is like the sky on a nice day, but dark blue is sad, like dark clouds."

Michael just laughed. He'd never put that much thought into colours, but he couldn't argue about Pete's reasoning.

"Yellow is always happy," he said, "I wish I could be that happy."
"You will be one day," Pete said, "I promise you, Michael, everything gets better."
"Thanks, Pete."