Stars

Chapter 15

Mikey stayed silent for the entire ride home, as Frank and Gerard sang obnoxiously loudly along to the radio. The singing seemed dull, almost blurred out, as Mikey sat in the back of the stifling car. The battery of his phone was considerably lower by the time the three got back to the Ways' house, due to the amount of times he had picked it up to check for texts from Pete, and to half-heartedly lurk in the group chat of internet friends that refused to shut up.

When the car finally stopped, he peeled himself from the hot, sticky, black seats of the Trans Am, and climbed out, hitting his head on the top of the door. After flipping off the doorframe, Mikey rubbed his head and followed the joking Frank and Gerard through the door that never failed to make the most horrible squeaking noise when it was opened.

While Frank went to get sodas from the kitchen, Gee put a hand on Mikey's shoulder, pulling him to the side.

"Hey, did something happen with you and Pete? He just, like, left and you seemed kinda upset I guess." Mikey looked down at the ground, pushing his glasses further up his nose before he lifted his head to look into his brother's concerned brown eyes. He cleared his throat and shook his head,

"Yeah, um, he just felt sick, he said it was probably just the heat though." Mikey ran his hand down the front of his hair, and turning to look at the front door.

Gerard raised a concerned eyebrow, "Ok Mikes. Just... don't be afraid to tell me things, ok?"

Mikey nodded, and was pulled into a quick hug before his brother went to join Frank in the kitchen. After barely catching a poorly thrown can of soda from Frank, he made his way up the carpeted stairs and into his room, occasionally holding the can to his head to cool himself from the Summer heat. As he lay back on his dark blue and black bedsheets, Mikey pulled out his phone and pulled up Pete's contact hesitating momentarily before pressing 'call.'

The phone rang for a few seconds before Pete's voice came over the speaker,

"Hey this is Pete. Sorry I can't get to the phone right now but, uh, I'll call you back when I can... ok, um, bye!"

Mikey couldn't suppress a small smile at the awkward tone of the voice mail, and the small laugh at the end. His face soon fell, however, as he realized that Pete should have been home at least ten minutes ago, and always had notifications turned on with sound.

He rolled over onto his side, the pain of his glasses digging into the side of his nose countered by the relief that the cold sheets against his face brought from the sweltering heat.

Mikey lay in the same position for almost an hour, drifting in and out of a heat induced sleep with blurred dreams that were forgotten seconds after he woke up. Every time he opened his eyes, the internal struggle of 'I should get off my bed but it takes so much less effort to not' took place, each time ending with the same result until Mikey was jolted awake by the buzzing of a phone against his head.

He picked up the phone with bleary eyes to see the emoji-less caller ID of 'Pete' flashing on the screen. He fumbled with the small screen, eventually sliding his thumb across the screen to answer the call.

"Hey, um, hey Mikey. Sorry about, y'know, earlier and not picking up and everything, I was busy I guess," Pete cleared his throat before speaking, his voice cracking halfway through the sentence, for which he mentally cursed himself.

Mikey sat up on his bed and crossed his legs, flattening his hair down on top of his head, "No it's fine, I guess I kind of wanted to just check if you're... ok, I don't know. Yeah."

"I- yes. I am now, thanks for caring. I just wanted to apologize and stuff and yeah, um, sorry I left early at the mall. I was just like not sure about stuff and I didn't- didn't want to, I didn't want to be around any-anyone and it just... There were too many- too many people and too many eyes and it was all just... a lot, I don't know. But yeah, I'm sorry, you didn't do anything wrong and it- it was just that one- that one guy, I'm sorry."

Pete ran his hand over his short hair, the sensation of the short bristles of hair was calming in a way, a reminder of the fact that he was who he said he was, not a 7-year-old in his dad's tie, not a 12-year-old using kitchen scissors to cut waist-length hair to something choppy and messy looking just above his shoulders. He was the pirate he had been at six years old with his best friend, a friend who never stopped calling him 'Pete' from when they were 4 to 14, when he first got a pirate's outfit for his birthday. He lay back on his bed and breathed out slowly, keeping his hand on his head.

"Yeah. I'm sorry about him, he was a dick and you shouldn't- he shouldn't have... I don't know. I'm sorry," Mikey's voice snapped Pete out of his revere, and he shook his head, slowly realizing that Mikey couldn't, in fact, see him over the phone.

"No it's ok, you don't have to be sorry, you didn't do anything wrong, I promise. He was just a dick, you're right." He closed his eyes and slowly opened them again at a call from downstairs. "I have to go, sorry Mikes."

"It's fine, I'll see you at school I guess."

"Ok, love you, bye," Pete's face went bright red the second he hung up the phone. He smashed his face into the pillow from embarrassment. "Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck, anyone but Mikey. Peter you fucking idiot, what the fuck is wrong with you?"

Mikey's face mirrored Pete's, a bright shade of pink from the mindlessly uttered phrase that, even though he knew it meant nothing, made him break his poker face and grin like an idiot for at least a few minutes. He sat on his bed, looking around the framed pictures and torn posters covering his forest and sea green walls, a colour combination he had chosen at 13, and hadn't yet grown tired of.

At Gerard's call of "DINNER!" Mikey made his way to the bathroom, splashing cold water on his face to attempt to stop blushing, and then made his way downstairs, about to turn the corner before he heard a muffled crash and the falling of what he soon realized was Frank sinking to his knees, surrounded by spilled pasta. A muffled thumping revealed Frank banging his head repeatedly against the cupboard.

Gerard sat down next to his boyfriend, wrapping his arms around his shoulders while trying to hold back laughter. Frank let himself fall sideways and be enveloped by Gerard's hug, laughing with tears in his eyes.

"I'm a fucking mess," he gave a watery laugh, resting his forehead on Gee's shoulder.

"I know Frankie, I know."

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Hello to those of who that haven't deleted this story from your life because it takes me 3 weeks to update,
Sorry this took so long, I'm still in a weird place so I've been either doing school, dancing, or sleeping.
I'll be away until next Friday on holiday so next chapter might be A: written on my phone or B: take a while and be written and edited on my laptop
Sorry for the long AN
-Planetary

Also quick poll: I'm going to post pictures and songs that I'm using to write this so would you prefer them on a chapter after the story is finished or in a separate book where I'll update it for every chapter I post? comment your preference please.