Stars

Chapter 1

4 MONTHS AGO...

Mikey swung his bag over his shoulder, grabbing the door handle as the weight of what felt like hundreds of records and books pulled him off balance, and his glasses fell to the ground. As he picked up his glasses and adjusted them so they just about rested on the tip of his nose, Mikey heard a voice yell out from the top of the stairs,

"HEY! MikeyWay! Not leaving without us, are you?" Mikey rolled his eyes.

"Hurry up Gee, Ray's gonna think we fucking died or something!" He heard a small yelp, and a familiar voice cursing. "Oh, hey Frank!" he shouted up the stairs to Gee's boyfriend, who seemed to spend every hour of the day at their house. Mikey kicked the doormat, scuffing his black boots, and nearly falling again. He sniggered as there was a terrible crash and a small 'Oomph,' as Frank came running down the stairs, tripping and falling on his face at the last step.

"For fuck's sake Frankie, get your life together," Gerard called from the top of the wooden stairs before clomping down them as if it were his life's goal to bring down the entire house. Mikey rolled his eyes,

"Finally, now can we please leave the fucking house? Ray probably thinks we got kidnapped or some shit like that."

"Calm your face Mikes, Ray's not an idiot, he knows we're the slowest motherfuckers on the planet. Besides, when have we ever actually been on time?" Gerard smirked. Mikey flipped off both him and a giggling Frank, then opened the door and left the house, stepping into the street under the grey-clouded sky.

When they reached Ray's house after a 10-minute drive in Gee's questionably stable car, which was driven by Mikey, as usual, the 3 of them walked through the ever-unlocked door.

The house was quiet, except for the odd shuffles and occasional flashes of scratchy music from upstairs, due to the lack of either of Ray's parents in the house. The three headed through the open plan kitchen/living room, and up the stairs to Ray's room. Ray's head, or rather, the huge curly bush of hair that they could see, was bent over the needle of a broken record player, which he promptly stabbed himself on when Frank slammed open the door with a flourish.

"Rise and shine, Toro, and get that needle out of your goddamned finger," Frank announced loudly, flopping down onto Ray's bed, which looked like it had been made at some point that day, but was now a disheveled mess of dark green bedcovers and plain white pillows.

"I wouldn't have a needle in my finger if you hadn't come barging in like you own this house in the first place!" Ray retorted, turning away from the record player. Gerard sniggered, and Mikey rolled his eyes for what felt like the 666th time that day. Before he could comment, however, a voice rang out from the next room, which Ray's family had recently turned into a guest room.

"Hey Toro! You never told me you had so many fucking guitar picks!" Frank raised an eyebrow at Gee, who simply shrugged in reply.

"Toro?" Gerard asked, but Ray was already leaving the messy, merch covered room, followed cautiously by Mikey, who hit his head on the too-short doorframe, as usual, in the exact same place where Ray's far-too-floofy fro got constantly stuck. Ray beckoned for Gee and Frank to follow, and he led the three into the guest room, where a black-skinny-jeans-clad pair of legs was visible from the closet.

"Hey Wentz, get your emo ass out of the closet," Ray said, earning a snort from Mikey and Frank. The boy stood up, turned around, threw a hand in the air, and proudly exclaimed,

"I am a Gay child!" accentuating his last word with a snap. Ray rolled his eyes, still smiling,

"Guys, this is Pete, the one I told you about, from Band Camp?" Pete quickly began to talk to Frank and Gee, and somehow, the three managed to get into a heated argument about Iron Maiden. While this argument was going on, Mikey was captivated, his eyes tracing the inked swirls and lines that covered Pete's arms. They were entrancing, it was impossible to look away, he found himself trying to memorize each tattooed pattern.

Mikey was snapped out of his revere by Pete raising an arm to gesture violently at Frank. Taking a deep breath, Mikey walked over to the three, and began to join in the argument, taking Gerard's side, as usual.

"Well, I think they have a fucking sick bass," Pete said, with a snap. Frank and Gee's heads immediately turned to Mikey, who ignored them, fighting the urge to slap them both.

"Umm, so, do you, umm, play bass?" Mikey asked, keeping a poker face, but fiddling awkwardly with the hem of his shirt. Pete out a hand on his chest dramatically,

"FUCK YES, I've been playing bass since I was, like, 7, it's the best instrument ever!!!" he exclaimed excitedly. Mikey almost smiled, the corner of his mouth twitching upwards.

"Yeah, I've been playing bass for a while, I guess I'm ok at it," he said, shrugging.

"Shut up Mikes, I've heard you playing nearly every fucking day, and night, for that matter, you're amazing," Gee said, punching his brother in the arm. Mikey blushed bright red, and attempted to hide behind his badly-cut hair. Pete reached up a hand to move Mikey's choppy fringe out of his eyes,

"Dude, we have to play together sometime," he said enthusiastically. Mikey struggled to contain the huge blush welling up inside him, somehow maintaining his trademark poker face as Pete's fingers brushed against his forehead. He shrugged, and half nodded, still fighting the blush.

"Hey, bass buddies, you wanna get food?" Frank said, punching Mikey in the elbow. Pete snorted and giggled, while Mikey rolled his eyes,

"If you ever call Pete and I 'Bass Buddies' again, I will rip out your cold heart and throw it out of this fucking window." Frank looked over at the window, which had a fly screen, blinds, and was closed.

"Good luck with that, fucker," he said, smiling so the corners of his eyes wrinkled up. Gerard put his arm around Frank's neck, and began to pull him out of the room. Frank scrabbled at Gee's arm with his black-painted fingernails, trying to get free, while laughing the entire time. Pete and Ray were almost choking on laughter, watching the 5' 4 boy struggle in the grasp of the boy 5 inches taller than him, who was slowly dragging the short boy out of the room, fighting back laughter.

"Come on you idiots, do you want food or not?" Ray said, pushing Gerard's head to the side, and marching past into the kitchen. A $20 bill lay on the countertop, along with a note that read,

'Get yourselves some pizza- Mom XXX' followed by the number for the local pizza place, Pete reacted a little too enthusiastically, kicking the edge of the countertop island, and drawing blood from his shin, which was visible through the holes in his jeans.

"I am an injured gay child," he said, and Mikey laughed, his eyes crinkling up. The two looked at each other, and then started laughing again, everyone else except Ray, who was ordering pizza, watching. When they stopped, both Pete and Mikey stared at each other, red faced, while Frank and Gee gave each other a look. Ray turned around to see the situation,

"The Hell did I miss in 5 minutes?"

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AN: I am perfectly aware that Frank is not 5' 4, the guys' (current) ages are as follows:

Gerard: 18

Moikeh: 16

Fronk: 17

Peter Kingston Wentz III: 16

Sorry if this chapter updates 666 times, I have no idea how to save changes I've made to the chapter bc there's no in-chapter progress save button so I'M A PEASANT PLEASE HELP- Planetary