Gerard didn't say anything. The two strangers that had appeared were both older than Frank and Gerard, probably in college. They were both around the same height, one of them was blonde and tough looking, and the other had a huge mop of curly brown hair.
"What are you two doing here?" the curly-haired one asked.
"We could ask you the same thing," Frank retorted, hopping down from the stage with Gerard in tow.
Gerard nudged him in the ribs. "Be nice," he murmured under his breath.
He could feel Frank mentally rolling his eyes at him. "We just came to spend the night," he relented at last. "What about you?"
"This is our place," said the tough-looking one. He looked past them and onto the stage. "And that's our mattress. This is our place, we found and broke into it a few months ago."
Well, that explained the lights.
"Why?" Gerard asked.
The two strangers exchanged a glance. "We come here to practice," said the curly-haired one. "Music, that is. We had nowhere else to play, until we discovered this place. Sometimes it's used as a venue for unknown bands to play in."
Gerard nodded in understanding. "So the posters in the room..."
"Are flyers and ads for bands that play here. Although it hasn't been used as a venue for a while."
"Cool!" Gerard jumped off the stage and walked up to them. Frank followed behind him, hesitant. "I'm Gerard, by the way." Gerard held out his hand.
"I'm Ray." The curly-haired one, Ray, shook Gerard's hand. "And this is Bob." He pointed to his friend, who also shook Gerard's hand, albeit a bit gruffly.
Gerard realized Frank was hovering silently by his shoulder. "This is Frank," Gerard introduced him. Frank stepped forward and briefly shook Ray and Bob's hands, then stepped back so that his and gerard's shoulders were pressed together. He didn't seem too comfortable around Ray and Bob.
"So, you guys play music?" Gerard asked attempting to break the tension.
"Yeah," Ray smiled, "I play guitar, and Bob plays drums."
Frank allowed a small smile. "I play guitar too." Gerard could feel some of the tension in Frank's shoulders start to loosen up slightly.
"Awesome," Ray nodded in approval. "So, you two said you were here to spend the night?"
"Yeah. We looked around for a while to find something to sleep on and... I guess we stumbled across your mattresses." Gerard tried his best to look apologetic.
Ray smiled lopsidedly. "We don't really use them much anyway."
Gerard frowned. "What do you even need them for?"
"It's handy if we want to practice for a few days in a row or if we have a gig," Ray shrugged. "Instead of having to carry all the equipment back and forth all the time. And sometimes people at the gigs need a place to crash for the night." He glanced at Bob. "But I guess you can use them tonight."
"Seriously?" Gerard smile, relieved. Ray, he had decided, was a pretty cool guy. "Awesome, thanks. We'll leave as soon as we can tomorrow."
"Don't worry about it, you can come back anytime you want. We don't own the place, nobody does; we don't decide who can stay and who can't. Unless it's a gig, of course. That's a bit different. Just bring your own mattresses or something if you decide to stay again."
"We'll remember next time," Gerard smiled at Ray again.
"Are you staying here tonight?" Frank asked.
