Since When Did You Become a Romantic?

Chapter 3: A Tale of Dollars and Dicks

"Suck my dick," Brendon rolls his eyes. The coffee he's drinking makes him look all too much like a porn star. Ryan steps too close and pushes Brendon's glasses up for him.

"Is that a threat, Urie?" His face looks sarcastic if that was even possible.

Brendon sets the mug down. "Depends... should it be?" The prolonged eye contact is all too sexual.

"Kiss, kiss, kiss." Light chanting from behind them makes Ryan turn around. Sitting in the breakroom is Pete. Pete Wentz.

Ryan rolls his eyes and snatches the bagel right from Pete's hand. "You wish," he mumbles. While Pete fights for his food back, Brendon starts talking because when is he not.

"So do you guys think that the new guy and Gway are gonna fuck? My bets two weeks till they do."

"Eh, I doubt it. Frank admitted to being like Robert. Gerard would never get with a Robert after ya know," Andy jumps in from the coffee maker.

"I liked Robert. There's nothing wrong with fucking a sugar daddy," Ryan remarks while Pete is literally jumping to get his bagel back.

"Wait, you never heard?" Brendon looks to him in disbelief.

"Never heard what?" Ryan asks while being a little too focused on Pete.

Brendon put on his storytelling voice. "Well, gather around children and prepare for a tale of dollars and dicks."

Andy chuckles and walks out because, really, who wants to hear a story about dicks from Brendon?

"So," Brendon begins with ridiculous hand gestures. "Gerard was in his third and final year of college and pretty broke. Since he was sixteen, he had been providing for Mikey and himself by hopping from job to job. This week, he was at a Millard Fillmore's High which he knew wouldn't last, but he needed the money."

"Wait, why did he have to provide for them?" Pete asks while he finally eats his bagel.

"SSHHH," Ryan shushes him like they're in the library.

"Right, so Gerard is working a here and one day this guy comes in," Brendon continues.

"Is it you?" Pete asks.

"Quiet. So this guy works there and it's Robert, but everyone called him Tyler then. Apparently, this guy had a thing for Gerard and he gave him some extra dough. Like, a lot of extra dough. Like, enough to bake a few dozen cakes. Before long, Tyler convinced Gerard to go out with him, but they didn't go to any normal place they went to-"

"A prison with clowns that eat live rats in front of the prisoners," Pete adds.

"Worse. The alphabet house." A devilish grin crawls onto Brendon's already contorted face.

"And that is?" Ryan asks.

"It's a fuck house. Each room stands for a different kink. Like, R is rope, C is costumes, and, my personal favorite, T... toys."

"TMI, but also I'll save it for future referance," Ryan whispers to himself.

"Tyler took him into B."

"That's fucked up," Pete mumbles

"So what's the big deal?" Ryan asks.

"Well, Tyler lowkey fucked his brother," Brendon dropped to a whisper. "But it wasn't just casual. He had been taking him to the alphabet house and gone to room O." Pete looked confused for a moment and then understood what the O stood for. "And then Tyler kinda took advantage of Mikey's instability."

"Wait, what he do?" Pete is talking like a rapper now.

"He got him hooked."

"ON PHONICS!" Ryan yells.

"Shut up, no. On the marriage iguana and hardcore heroin. Gerard found out and well, that's a story for another times boys," Brendon highfives Andy as he enters the room again and walks out.

---

"I'd be happy to die for a taste of what Angel had. Someone to live for unafraid to say I love you!" Gerard cries.

"I can't believe this is goodbye," Frank looks at him as if his heart is shattering.

"I should have left years ago," Gerard whispers.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry I couldn't give you what you needed," Frank is so close to Gerard that he can feel his hot breath.

"All I needed was you," Gerard looks him right in the eye. The slight head tilt makes Frank's heart jump. He leans in close enough to press a soft kiss, but then pulls away. "See Rent is a cool play." Gerard tosses the script he was reading from onto the ground.

Frank is still in a daze, but managed to get out a, "Yeah."

"So I'm gonna try to convince the school board to put it on, but we need to pretend it's Hamlet until opening night because we won't get cleared otherwise," Gerard sits on the floor of the theater stage, the really dirty, graffitied theater. Frank sits next to him still mesmerized by Gerard. "We won't have to clean the theater up much. It's already perfect," he says, looking around.

"Yeah, perfect," Frank says, looking at him.

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