Danger days - Chapter six: "I'm gonna make a mistake (I'm gonna do it on purpose)"
Word count: 9k
Summary: Things are getting awkward in the tour bus when Gerard and Joey have to spend some time together. Mikey ain't in a good place. Ray is getting more into his father role. Frank is trouble, and we love him for it. Also, Joey is getting some hate from the fans and the band doesn't deal with it the right way. Matthew might hate Frank.
Warnings: Cursing, a little angst.
A/N: Hi! thank you for reading! hope you enjoy this chapter!
Not my gif and all this shit is fiction.
Masterlist
Chapter one | Chapter two | Chapter three | Chapter four | Chapter five | Chapter six | Chapter seven | Chapter eight | Chapter nine | Chapter ten | Chapter eleven | Chapter twelve | Chapter thirteen | Chapter fourteen | Chapter fifteen | Chapter sixteen | Chapter seventeen | Chapter eighteen | Chapter nineteen | Chapter twenty | Chapter twenty one | Chapter twenty-two | Chapter twenty-three | Chapter twenty-four |
::: At the bus, October 27th, 2011 :::
The bus ride from Edinburgh to Amsterdam was over 11 hours. Joey was in the back lounge of the bus all alone writing. She would spend a lot of time back there after she managed to convince the band they couldn’t leave their dirty outfits there. Her drum kit was there too, so she could practice the song she felt she could do better. Mikey was always there with her at practice time to help her and encourage her.
But now, she was alone.
She felt good traveling with those guys. They felt like they could be trusted, at least a little, especially Ray and Mikey. The two of them were amazingly nice and considerate with her. She felt at home with them. Frank was still a little bit of a flirt, but she had learned it was just who he was, and she even joked about it with him. He was always fun to be with, and he always knew how to make her laugh, even when they were fighting over Call of Duty, which happened every single fucking day.
Joey was happy with them. She wasn’t good at making friends, so it surprised her to get along with the band so quickly.
But everything was still weird with Gerard. Every time he looked at her, her knees felt weak. Weak! She had to make an effort to act normal around him, even when in her head she kept picturing the most sinful, dirty, and delicious scenarios to fuck with Gee.
That made her feel like the worst human on earth. Even when it was just in her head, and she knew she would never do it in real life, Joey felt she was cheating on Matthew.
- "Hey"- Joey nearly jumped as a voice surprised her, and Gerard Way showed up in the room with her- "Sorry! I didn’t mean to scare you. I just wanted to know if you don’t mind I come to read here too. The guys are making too much noise at the front of the bus playing."
The laughter and yells from the band could be heard pretty loud with the door open.
- "Sure."
Joey smiled and watched him sit on the couch next to her. Silence in the room was thick. Gerard would stare at her from time to time and pretended to be concentrated on his reading when nothing could be farther from the truth. Meanwhile, Joey stopped writing and looked outside the window, making her best not to turn to Gerard, fighting her body with everything she had. Until she failed and turned to him. He was so deep concentrated on his reading… she didn’t know how suddenly she asked.
- "And what are you reading?"
- "Dune"
- "Frank Herbert, classic"- Gerard smiled, and Joey returned to her notebook.
- "And what are you writing?"
- "I was working on the lyrics for a song. “Shit! No!”- and just like that, Joey knew she had made a huge mistake.
- "Awesome, wanna share it?"- the singer got too excited with those words.
- "Never"- and Joey blushed right away.
- "Come on, let me see"- Gerard stood up and sat next to Joey.
- "It’s too embarrassing."
- "Why?"
- "I don’t know… ‘cos you are you and I am me.“Worst excuse ever, Joey!”- Gerard frowned and sighed.
- "Care to explain?"- Joey pointed at him
- "You are an amazing singer in a kickass rock band writing songs for years"- and then pointed at herself- "I am a young drummer learning how to put lyrics on music."
Joey made a pause and took a deep breath, trying to concentrate on what she was saying. I shouldn’t be so hard, but Gerard’s eyes on her weren’t making talking very easy.
- "Music I can handle, but lyrics… that’s hard"- she whispered and looked down at the paper again.
- "Not really."
- "Sure, dude, make me feel bad."
- "No, come on, just show me."
- "You are gonna laugh"- that whole conversation was high school level, both of them blushing.
- "I just want to be friendly"- and he even pouted.
- "Not cool, you are being sweet and manipulator at the same time."
- "Come on, I’m just extra nice, so you won’t think I hate you,"- Joey chuckled and made her best to act normal, though she was dying inside.
- "Fair point… "- and so the girl gave in pretty quickly and passed Gerard her little black notebook- "If you laugh, I’ll smother you with a pillow. I know where your bunk is."
Gerard only raised his eyes for a second and smiled, to then continue reading.
- "Do you have the music?"
- "Yeah, it’s a rough mix. Do you want to hear it?"
- "Fuck yeah"- Joey grabbed her iPod and looked for the song while Gerard kept reading.
- "You know, this is not too shabby."
- "For Rachel?"- and the girl chuckled nervously as Gee smiled confused, not getting the joke at all.
- "I mean it"- and she didn’t respond to that, mostly ‘cos their eyes were stuck at each other, and the two of them remain silent.
- "Here is the song"- she whispered after a good thirty seconds of silence- "I’m gonna go hide of embarrassment while you listen to it."
- "Oh! Come on! You don’t have to go"- and he grabbed her hand as soon as she stood up.
Joey’s cheeks were burning red. Gerard wasn’t any better anyway. The girl didn’t know how to speak at that point, so she just sat back on her spot and played with her fingers like a nervous wreck. He moved his head slowly, following the rhythm. It was a torment for the drummer.
- “Heimskulegt!! (Stupid!) Why didn’t you lie? Why didn’t you tell him you were just doing nothing? Why did you have to talk in the first place?? You two could have stayed quiet for hours, and it would have been great!! And awkward, but great! Shit! He is gonna laugh at me… or worst, he’ll say is good out of pity and think I am a total failure.”
The girl’s head was running a hundred miles per hour as Gerard hummed for a second and paused the song.
- "Can you sing it?"
- "No way, José!"
- "Come on!"
- "No, dude! it’s not even finished"- he pouted again, and Joey sighed- "No! stop that trying to force me."
- "I’m not trying to force you! I’m just being adorable…"
- "To push me to show you my song and now singing it"- Joey was giggling, feeling like a twelve years old school girl. Gerard pouted again- "I hate you."
- "I don’t hate you, see? I’m friendly"- Joey sighed defeatedly and looked around. She grabbed a guitar and checked if it was in tune.
- "If you laugh at me..."
- "I’m not gonna laugh at you!! Now sing!"
Joey closed her eyes and took a deep breath before she started playing. Her song was based on the time people had betrayed her and how friendships can end as fast as they had started. She did the first verse and the chorus she was working on before she stopped at Gerard.
- "And so far, that’s all I’ve got."
- "I like it"- and she snorted- "I mean it! It’s really... Seattle."
- "That’s what I was aiming for,"- she sniggered and left the guitar aside- "Anyway, it’s a work in progress, it’s been taking a lot of time, it’s the first time I put lyrics on a song all by myself, I would usually do that with a band."
- "Do you want some help?"- he suggested, more like a whisper than a question, and she shook her head right away- “Of course she doesn’t, you stupid asshole.”
- "I just… want to try to do it on my own, thanks"- she murmured- "I don’t mean to be rude or anything. I just want to challenge myself to do it alone for the first time and see what happens."
Gerard nodded and smiled, making his best not to look disappointed, which he was. Writing a song was an excellent way to spend more time together.
- "Sounds like an awesome plan"- that smile, Joey felt her head was spinning as she stared at him- "But you have to promise you’ll play it for me when you are finished."
- "Deal"- she grinned and looked down.
- "You have to shake it"- the girl turned to him, confused until she saw him reaching out his hands to her.
- "Right!"- and so she did, shivering.
- "So… do you wanna watch a movie with me?"- he asked in a desperate attempt to find something else to do with her but being awkward and silent.
- "The guys are using the tv."
- "So? We’ve got another back here"- Gerard frowned, surprised Joey didn’t know about it, and stood up to open a little door on the wall that showed a tv and a DVD player.
- "Shit! That’s brand new information!"
- "What do you wanna watch? We’ve got… The Shinning… Night of the living dead, The Rocky Horror Picture show."
- "The Shining"- Joey answered and left the guitar (probably Ray’s) at the other side of the room.
- "Alright"- Gerard set the movie and sat next to Joey on the couch.
- “This is not weird, this is just two bandmates killing time on the bus, you don’t feel anything, you are not nervous, you don’t wanna jump on him and fuck him, No Joey! No! You’ve got a hot boyfriend you love. This guy is just a weird crush, and that’s it. You are never doing shit! Never!”
- "Joey?"- she turned to him and watched him staring back at her, confused
- "Sorry, what?"
- "I’m gonna get some water. Do you want anything?"
- "No, thanks, I’m ok"- she smiled and watched him walk out the room… staring at his butt- “Stop it bitch!”
Frank looked around and realized he hadn’t seen either Joey or Gerard in a long while. Where the fuck were they? He stood up and looked around. Not in the bunk, there weren’t many places to hide
- "Hey!"- and he found them sitting on a couch watching tv- "What are you doing?"
- "Hello Frankie"- Joey said with a serious expression on her face- "Come and play with us."
- "What?"- Frank frowned, confused
- "Come and play with us, Frankie, forever... and ever... and ever"- the girl repeated in a creepy voice, making Gerard chuckle.
- "What?"
- "Oh! Come on! We are watching The Shining! You didn’t get the reference?"- Frank looked at Joey and smiled.
- "Shit, you suck at jokes!!"
- "Fuck you, Jersey!!!"- the girl argued and threw him a pillow. Gerard sighed. That was the end of his moment alone with Joey. Frank sat next to her and started arguing for a moment.
- “Well, it’s not like I was going to do much more than just watching the movie, but… it would have been nice to… maybe… cuddle? Oh shit… now I really wanna cuddle with her, but I know if I get too close, I am not gonna resist, and if she lets me… damn.”
- "What are you guys doing?"- Mikey walked over, eating a bag of chips.
- "Gime!!"- Joey raised her arms, and Mikey handed her the bag.
- "We are watching a movie"- Gerard simply answered and made room for his brother next to him on the couch.
- "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy"- Mikey recited, and Joey giggled- "Hey, give me back my chips!"
- "Mine now!"- the girl answered with a grin. The whole situation made Gerard feel frustrated. He just sighed and looked at the screen.
But it wasn’t easy, ‘cos somehow Frank ended up cuddled with Joey. His arms around her neck and her head on his shoulder, watching the movie. And Gerard felt his cheeks burning in anger.
- “Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!!”- he couldn’t concentrate. He was genuinely jealous of Iero ’cause he could hug the girl he had a crush on- “Fuck! I really have a crush on her!”- his eyes widened at that realization- “I have to get away from her, for real!”
Gerard jumped from the couch and excused himself. Mikey quickly moved along and grabbed the bag of chips from Joey’s hands.
- "Bróðir!!"
- "My chips!!"- the oldest Way heard the girl arguing and his brother laughing as he walked away. He knew he was doing the right thing, but fuck! It was hard.
- "Everything ok?"- Ray asked Gee from the computer as the singer opened the fridge and grabbed a bottle of water.
- "Yeah, why?"
- "No reason..."
The laughter coming from the back of the bus filled the space, and Gerard groaned, making his best not to show how irritated he was.
- "Sounds like the kids are having fun"- Ray would always refer to Frank and Mikey as “the kids” ‘cos they were younger and usually the ones with the most childish ideas on the bus.
- "Yeah. Joey and I were watching a movie, but they showed up, and…"- laughter interrupted Gerard again, and he just closed his eyes and sat on a couch in silence.
- "I’m happy they get along. I think Joey is a good addition to the tour life."
- "Yeah…."
Gerard mumbled and grabbed a comic from the table. He didn’t say another word, and Ray didn’t push him either. He knew when Gee was in a bad mood, and he didn’t really want to go through whatever it was that bothered him.
Gerard Way couldn’t sleep. He heard everybody on the bus snoring, but he couldn’t close his eyes. The fact he had faced his crush over Joey hit him hard. He felt the worst husband on earth. He hadn’t even kissed the girl, and he already had the sense he was cheating on Lynz.
- “How do you turn a crush off? Seriously? How the fuck can I stop thinking about this girl in a romantic way? She has a boyfriend she clearly loves very much, and I have an amazing wife! This has to be just a phase, and I have to overcome it as soon as possible.”
Someone walking down a bunk interrupted his thoughts. He slowly peered out and saw a person heading to the back of the bus. He knew who it was. And he couldn’t just let the chance pass.
- “You shouldn’t be doing this!”- his brain warned him, but he never stopped to listen to it. It was like his body had free will, and his brain couldn’t do a thing about it.
Gerard slowly opened the door to the back lounge and found Joey lying on the couch, tears in her eyes, sobbing. His heart ached the second he noticed the girl was affected by something. His cock couldn’t get in the middle of…
- “Fuck!!”- he had to fight with his hard-on under his sweatpants as he walked over and whispered- "Hey, are you ok?"
The girl quickly whipped off the tears with the blanket she was carrying and smiled.
- "Yeah, sorry, did I wake you up?"
- "No, I couldn’t sleep"- Gerard kneeled in front of her and held her hands sweetly- "Come on, what is it? Why are you crying?"- Joey sighed, and another few tears fell from her eyes.
- "It’s nothing, don’t worry."
- "Do you miss your boyfriend?"
- "Yeah, but that’s not why I’m crying?"
- "Did someone do something to you? hurt you?"- Gerard looked honestly upset, and Joey noticed. It moved her knowing he honestly cared about what was wrong with her.
- "Nothing like that…"- the girl sighed and closed her eyes for a second- "Actually, please promise me you won’t laugh."
- "Joey, you are crying. Why would I laugh?"- he whispered, and Joey sighed, staring right into his eyes, making him feel his heart stopped for a second.
- "Your fans are trashing me on Twitter… and Tumblr... and Facebook"- she finally confessed, and a few more tears fell from her cheeks- "I knew it was gonna happen ’cause I noticed you’ve got a lot of female teenage fans. But I just never thought it would be so bad."
- "How bad is it?"
Joey didn’t answer. She just reached her phone to him and wiped the tears from her face. Gerard sat next to her and read the threat on Twitter. It was awful. Everybody insulted her. Hundreds of girls were calling her names, being incredibly offensive, and some of them even saying she should be dead.
- "I really shouldn’t be crying over this. It just felt like high school all over again."
- "Don’t say that! There is nothing right about what these girls are doing."
Gerard sat next to her and hugged her. For once, his cock understood it wasn’t time to focus on how much he wanted to be with her.
- "Yeah, but I should have a thicker skin and not let this shit affect me."
Gerard looked at her and wiped off the tears from her eyes with his thumb. She was so close, so warm, so innocent in a strange way. It made him feel deep tenderness in his heart. And a hard-on in his pants again.
- “Damn it!!!”- he sighed and stopped the hug slowly. The girl looked at his phone and sighed.
- "Thanks, Gerard."
- "You can call me Gee… wait here"- he stood up and walked to his bunk. Joey stayed still, fighting the mix of sadness and excitement that buzzed around her head at the moment.
- “That fucking hug…”- she thought, still feeling it on her skin- “That was too much for me to handle under these circumstances.”
Gerard walked back into the back lounge and closed the door behind his back.
- "Ok, let me fix this"
- "How?"
- "Easy"- he opened Twitter and started typing- “I’ve lost all hope today after reading all the bullshit you wrote about our drummer. I am ashamed you are our fans.”
- "Dude! No!"- Joey grabbed the phone off Gerard’s hands and frowned- "That’s too mean!!"
- "They were mean."
- "They worship you! You are gonna cause a mass suicide on your fanbase! You have to be nicer."
- "But I don’t wanna be nice. They hurt you"- he whispered and locked his eyes on her- "I need them to learn they can’t bash on people on the web and get away with it."
- "Then don’t bash them either!"
The singer sighed, knowing Joey had a point. He also realized the situation had affected him more than it should have, and it proved to him he had an honest and entirely out-of-place crush on the drummer.
- "Fine…"- she handed back his phone, and he started typing again. “I’ve lost hope today after reading an awful amount of bullshit about our drummer. I sincerely hope you all apologize to her. She is an amazing musician and an example for all the girls out there who want to make a career in the music industry.”
- "That’s gonna be a long thread"- the girl whispered, reading over his shoulder.
- "Better than the last one?"
- "Yeah"- she whispered and looked at him, more calmed, but still very blushed- "Thank you for doing this"- he sighed and smiled back at her, whispering.
- "You are our drummer and our friend: I’ll never let them hurt you, I promise."- Joey chuckled.
- "You know, I know that’s the lyrics of one of your songs, right?"
- "I was hoping you wouldn’t notice that,"- the two of them smiled- "Do you wanna go to bed?"
- "I’m not really sleepy"- she answered and sighed- "I know if I go to bed, I’m gonna keep thinking about all this shit until I drive myself crazy."
- "Do you wanna watch tv for a while? I can’t sleep either"- he felt it in his guts; that wasn’t a good idea, but there was no way he could resist that temptation. He wanted to stay close to her.
- "Sure… you gotta pick the movie now, I picked the last one, and you didn’t watch it."
- "The guys were making too much noise. I hate talking during movies"- he whispered, making shit up to excuse himself from running away from the whole scene ‘cos he got jealous.
- "Then you are gonna hate me ‘cos that what I do most"- Joey muttered and smiled guiltily as Gerard turned to her.
- "Really?"
- "Sorry, not sorry, I can’t help it. Matthew says I’m like the director’s cut version of every movie I see, with all the comments and jokes"- she grinned, and he pretended to be annoyed.
- "I guess we won’t be watching many movies together then."
- "Sorry..."- Gerard walked back to the couch and sat next to her, feeling her warm body next to him, covered under a blanket- "And what are we watching?"
- "Hellboy was the least shitty thing I could find in there. We should get more movies in the next stop."
- "I happen to love Ron Perlman. I think he is my Hellboy"- Joey smiled, and Gerard stayed in silence- "What? Not a popular opinion?"
- "No, I just find it funny"- he looked happy, and Joey liked that. She rested her head on the back of the couch as Gerard moved and grabbed the downside of it.
- "What are you doing?"
- "Raise your legs"- and just as she did so, he pulled a small lever, and the front part of the couch moved, creating a small bed.
- "Wow, I know nothing about this bus"- Gerard chuckled and laid back. Joey handed him another pillow and looked at him with heated cheeks- "Are you cold?"- she whispered and offered some of her blankets.
- "Thank you"- and he accepted it.
- “You know this is weird, don’t you, Joey?”- the girl couldn’t concentrate on the movie, as she felt Gerard’s body next to her and all the reactions that he caused on her- “You don’t want Matthew like this with another girl, why are you doing this? This ain’t you! Well, I am not cheating, I’m just watching a movie in my pajamas with a guy I am very attracted to, but I would never make a move on him, ever!!”
- “You know this is a bad idea, Gerard! What the fuck are you doing?! You are under a fucking blanket with her, you can feel her body next to you, and you just wanna kiss her!! You have to get out of here! You have to go back to your bunk and stay there until this massive boner fades away!”
- “Gerard Way is your friend, you’ve had a complicated relationship so far, and he is being honestly nice for the first time, ever! So stop overthinking this. Nothing is going on! So you think he is hot? Big deal! You are not gonna do anything about it! You also think Frank is hot, but you are not having any kind of weird thought about him… not like now… because it’s different with Gerard and you know it… oh! shut up, brain!”- the girl shivered, and Gee looked at her sweetly
- "Come here."
He wasn’t even thinking, he just wrapped his arm around her, and she rested her head on his chest, cuddled, watching the movie.
- “You shouldn’t be doing this, and you know it.”- he said to himself, knowing he was going to ignore his own words.
- "Thanks"- the girl whispered and breathed his smell deeply. Shit, it was good, it was… sexy…- “You know this is wrong and still, you are not moving, you are the worst Joey, and I mean it... You are actually enjoying this situation. Well, this is way too enjoyable. He is gorgeous, he is warm, he is nice. He is your friend, just your friend and nothing but a friend, and friends do not make out with each other, never”.
Gerard opened his eyes suddenly. Joey was asleep in his arms, the tv was on, the movie was ending, and he didn’t want to move. Gee wanted to stay like this. He actually wished he hadn’t woken up ‘cos he knew it had to end. He had to go back to his bunk.
He moved slowly and inhaled first. He had the urge to kiss her skin, to bring her closer. Closer than he should, considering she was too close for his good already.
- "Joey… wake up"- he whispered and caressed her arms slowly as she opened her eyes, confused. He smiled sweetly as she looked at him- "Time to go to bed."
- "Shit, sorry Gerard"- he murmured and scratched her eyes, confused and surprised to find him next to her after she was just dreaming about him.
- "Don’t be sorry, I fell asleep too"- he smiled and ran his fingers down her hair a few times. He knew he shouldn’t have, but he wasn’t able to control that. It looked so soft, and it smelled so good.
She looked at him, eyes half-open for a few seconds, then she slowly sat down, moving apart from him, but Gerard’s hand remained in her hair, touching it softly. She knew that was weird and probably wrong, but she liked it too much to fight against it.
- "Thank you"- she whispered, feeling her cheeks burning at the sensation of his finger on her hair- For defending me in front of your fans.
- "It’s really nothing. It’s my duty as your friend"- it hurt him to call himself her friend when he knew he wasn’t thinking about her that way. He was having the most sinful thoughts about her. Thoughts friends should have over each other.
- "I just hope those girls don’t get mad at you either."
- "Bashing other people is not what we do in this band, it’s not what we are made of, and not what we want to pass on to our fans"- she sighed and nodded.
- "Thank you again"- Joey wanted to stand up, but it was impossible to feel Gerard’s hand still on her neck, caressing her hair slowly. It was like a drug she was already hooked on after one sweet try.
- "It was nothing… tomorrow, we’ll see what happened."
- "Maybe they’ll hate you too."
- "I don’t care if people hate me"- Joey held her breath and slowly stood up. She waved and smiled.
- "Good night, Gerard"
- "Good night, Joey."
::: Amsterdam, October 30th, 2011 :::
Mikey Way gave up after a week of touring. His wife never returned his calls, and once she texted back. That was it. Why should he keep on trying anyway? It was clear. It was over. When he returned from the trip, he had to get his shit out of the house, call a lawyer, start doing the divorce papers and end with his agony.
It still hurt him. Fuck, it destroyed him. He loved Alicia. He still did. He just didn’t know when all the shit had gone so fucking wrong. He didn’t want to know it, though. Knowing nothing is better than knowing it all.
So he laid on his bed, now willing to leave until it was time to play the show. But Joey had other plans.
- "Bróðir!! Open up!"- she yelled, knocking on his door
- "I’m not here"- Mikey yelled from the bed.
- "Not funny"
- "I’m naked"
- "Already saw you on the bus! You are way too thin by the way!"
That wasn’t really true, but the girl loved to tease her new brother.
- "Come on, bróðir!! You promised you’d help me pick Frank’s present! And we could get something to eat too, have lunch or something."
Mikey gave up, knowing Joey wasn’t going to stop yelling until he opened the door. The girl walked in as her friend laid back on the bed and closed his eyes.
- "You are delightful to be around today"- she joked, but Mikey didn’t answer- "Hey…. are you ok?"
- "Don’t wanna talk about it."
- "Ok… do you wanna stay here on your own and do nothing? I can always go annoy Ray"- Mikey turned to her with watered-up eyes- "Shit! bróðir!! No!"
Joey moved quickly and hugged him. Mikey just burst into tears, hugging her tighter.
- "It’s really over,"- he whispered- "My marriage, it’s doomed!"
- "Come on, Mikey, what happened?"
- "I can’t lie to myself anymore! She doesn’t love me, and this is it… I’m gonna call my lawyer and get this shit over with once for all!"
- "Did you talk to her?"
- "She doesn’t even pick up my calls… she doesn’t want me around anymore."
Mikey sobbed, he was a wreck, and nothing Joey could say could ever fix that. She knew it, so she just kissed his temple and kept her arms around him. He kept crying for a long while, neither of them said a thing. Until Mikey grabbed his phone and sighed.
- "What are you gonna do?"
- "End with this"
- "Are you sure this is the best moment?"
- "It will never be a good moment to do this"- he stood up and dialed. After a long couple of seconds, in which Mikey thought his wife wasn’t going to pick up, he heard her voice.
- "Hey..." - that was all she said.
- "Hey Alicia, how are you?"
- "Good, you?"
- "Good…"
That was all he had. Joey looked at him about to fall apart and walked to him to grab his hand. She squeezed it.
- "Alicia, let’s stop this… you know we are not working… why are we doing this to each other?"- his voice was broken, just like his heart. Joey kept his handheld tight as she watched his face fall.
- "I’m sorry, Mikey… I just don’t love you anymore..."
Mikey’s eyes filled with tears, and he shut them to keep them in. Joey kissed his arm and walked to the door. Her friend needed privacy. She grabbed a pen and paper and wrote down she was going to Ray’s. Fuck, she knew she had to think of a way to cheer her friend up. But facing the end of a marriage and an imminent divorce didn’t seem to be something easy to overcome.
Gerard walked down the hall on his way to Mikey’s. He was going insane all alone in his room. They had to be in the arena in three hours, and he couldn’t handle that amount of time on his own, overthinking everything around him. Ever since the night he fell asleep with Joey watching Hellboy, he had been avoiding her. He wouldn’t really talk to her if the band wasn’t around. When Gerard caught her watching a movie, he would turn around and hide in his bunk. It was childish, it was awkward, and most of all, it was stupid, ‘cos the more he avoided her, the more he wanted to be close to her.
Spending time with his brother could be a good way to think about anything else. But Gerard wasn’t fortunate that day.
As he turned around the corner of the corridor, he saw Joey walking out of Mikey’s room and immediately hid. So, she never noticed he was around.
The fact Joey left his brother’s room all alone bothered him. He couldn’t do anything about it, though. Well, he could confront Mikey for being a married man spending time alone with another woman in his bedroom… but he wanted to do the same.
- "Hey! What are you doing here?"- Gerard heard Frank asking Joey and narrowed his eyes, still hiding around the corridor.
- "I was with Mikey ‘cos we were going out but… he wasn’t… he was busy, you?"- the drummer replied.
- "Damn, I came to hang out with him too. I stopped by Ray’s, but he was napping."
- "Fuck, I was on my way to hang with him."
Gerard’s cheeks were burning. He knew exactly what was gonna happen. And he knew he couldn’t stop it. Why should he? Just ‘cos he was jealous? Not enough excuse to come out from his hiding and stop them.
- "Do you wanna hang out with me?"- Frank asked so lightly no one could ever notice he was dying to hear a yes.
- "Sure! What do you wanna do?"
- "Well, Mikey was gonna help me pick a birthday present for you, so… wanna help me with that?"- Frank laughed at Joey’s words and disappeared to the elevator. Gerard clenched his fist and closed his eyes, hitting his head against the wall behind his back.
- “Get over it”- he commanded himself- “Get fucking over this teenager crush once for all!”
Frank wasn’t really in the mood for going out, and the number of fans outside the hotel didn’t make it more appealing. After being locked in a bus, Joey didn’t want to be locked in a room, so they walked out to the hotel terrace. There was a small pool and a few beach recliners.
- "May I offer you something to drink?"- a waitress asked as they sat down, and Frank lit a cigarette.
- "Beer, thank you"- he quickly answered- "Joey?"
- "Herbal tea"- he whispered with a shy smile, and the waitress left.
- "Aren’t you sweet"- Frank teased her right away.
- "Fuck you!"
- "Ok, not really that sweet"- the girl chuckled and looked up at the sky. Frank stared at her and sighed- "Did I ever tell you you are very cute?"
Iero simply said, not really thinking about those words. Joey turned to him, making her best not to blush- failing that useless attempt- and raising an eyebrow.
- "Where is that coming from?"
- "Mostly my brain, through my mouth"- Frank joked, and Joey laughed.
- "For a moment, I thought you were serious."
- "I am"
- "Shut up!"- Joey laughed again, entirely sure Frank was just messing with her.
- "I mean it, I’ve never told you this, but I think you are gorgeous."
- "Thank you, Jersey"- the girl whispered- "You are very cute too"- Joey was definitely awkward in that weird, odd conversation.
- "Gerard told us what happened with the fans."
- "Fuck, I didn’t want you to know"- the girl looked mortified with the news.
- "We didn’t want to talk to you about it and make you uncomfortable."
- "You telling me beautiful was uncomfortable"- Frank chuckled as Joey kept her eyes on the clouds in the sky.
- "Sorry, I was just going for nice and not for creepy."
- "You always make it sound creepy, Jersey; that what I like about you. I’m sure if I were a dude, I would definitely be you"- Frank sighed, slightly disappointed.
- “So let me get this straight: you do like her, you want her to notice you, you actually wished she was crushed on you, but you wouldn’t do anything about it? Really?”- he kept telling himself.
- "Frank, your beer."
- "Sorry"- Iero had spaced out and never noticed the waitress had left the beer by his side- "Hey, I’ve got an idea."
- "Shoot."
- "Let’s take a picture of this moment"- he grabbed his phone and moved closer to Joey- "Ok, Bug, smile!!"
And so did Joey, not aware Frank would kiss her cheek and give her a heart attack in the process. Not like it hadn’t happened before, Frank was very sweet with her, sweeter than Gerard, and way more physical than Ray.
- "Please tell me you are not going to..."
- "Too late"- Frank said and smiled like a maniac.
- "You are gonna make them hate me even more… and what about your wife?? She is gonna hate me too"
- "Why would she hate you? She thinks having a girl in the band is a great idea!"
- "Yeah, but not when you are uploading pictures of you kissing her!! Put that down!!"- Joey freaked out for real, but Frank just kept laughing. It looked like he loved making trouble.
- "I’m not gonna put it down! Those girls are gonna suffer for what they did to you!"
- "They are gonna hate me more!!"- but Frank kept laughing- "Can you at least tell your wife why you did it?"- Joey was serious about that last part- "I mean it! if I see a picture of Matthew like that…. Shit!! Matthew is gonna see it!"
- "Can you please calm down? It’s just a picture!"- but Joey wasn’t calmed at all.
- "Hey Akumu!!"- the girl said as her boyfriend picked up the line at the other side and yawned- "How are you?"
- "I was sleeping, Yami… is everything ok? Are you ok? Did something happen?"- the young man rolled in bed and sat down, suddenly scared he was too far to help her in case of trouble.
- "No, no, I just wanted… to tell you… Frank uploaded a picture with me to annoy the fans."
- "Why?"
- "Apparently, some of them hate me"
- "Are you ok?"
- "Yeah… I didn’t want to tell you anything about it before 'cos it’s stupid, but now Frank uploaded a picture to make them mad, and I wanted you to know… it’s nothing."
- "What’s going on in the picture, Yami?"- Matthew frowned and scratched his head, thinking he had to check that picture out as soon as he dropped the phone.
- "He is just kissing my cheek. I just wanted to tell you, so you won’t get the wrong idea."
- "I would never think wrong about you, Yami. You are the best girl on earth"- Joey sighed, relieved as she heard her boyfriend’s word.
- "Thank you, Akumu… sorry I woke you up."
- "I’m just sorry you are not here by my side to cuddle me back to sleep."
- "Just a few more days."
Frank sighed and looked at his cellphone, ignoring Joey’s lovely chat. Already a hundred comments on his Twitter account. He should tell Jamia what he had done, but he just texted to avoid listening to her if she got mad instead of calling.
- “Babe, I uploaded a picture with Joey to upset fans ‘cos they have been saying shit about her, don’t get mad, nothing is going on, love you”- and send. Frank looked at Joey and cut her a short smile.
- "I told Jamia, so relax, and apparently, Gubler didn’t get mad"- and the girl nodded- "Ok, so? Do you want to know what they said?"
- "Not really. I’m afraid they’ll kill me if they find me. Your fans are scary!!"
- "I would never ever let anyone hurt you, not even our fans"
Frank looked serious about his words. He actually stood up and sat next to her, holding her hands.
- "I mean it, Joey."
- "Thank you"- she whispered and cut him a short smile.
Frank made Joey nervous, not in the same way Gerard did, but in a… weird way. She felt Frank was wilder, and she liked that, but she never knew what he would do or how far his sweetness could go.
- "I have the feeling you guys are very possessive with people in the band"- she added.
- "Why?"
- "Gerard got just as serious as you just did when he found out about fans being mean."
- “Fucking asshole… I was supposed to be the one taking care of her.” "Yeah, well… we are family, and family takes care of each other." “Bullshit, you wish you could fuck her.” - Joey smiled and wrapped her arms around him
- "Thank you for being so cute with me."
- "I will always be this cute with you. I can actually try to get worse"- he answered, and Joey laughed.
- "Please don’t."
- "Now let’s see how many comments we’ve got"
- "No!"- she whined right away.
- "Oh! Come on, Bug, hater gonna hate."
And haters we’re hating. Not just a bunch of jealous fans, but also Gerard, who was locked in his room all alone looking at his phone.
- "Mother fucker!"
Meanwhile, Jamia logged into Twitter and clenched her fist. She was so mad she wanted to smack Frank’s head.
- "Mother fucker!"
Mikey was lying on his bed, curled in a fetal position. No more tears fell from his eyes. He was pretty sure there was no one left. He grabbed his phone and texted.
- "Where are you?"- less than a minute later, he got a reply.
- "Upstairs with Frank."
- "Can you come? alone?"
- "On my way"- Joey stood up and grabbed her cup of tea- "Gotta go."
- "Why? We are halfway down through all these lovely comments."
Which wasn’t a lie. There were some nice comments about Joey, right in the middle of the hundredth messages of hate that Frank kept replying in the most annoying way possible.
- "Thank you, Jersey, but I have something very important to do, and we should also get ready for the show."
- "Bummer"- he teased her, and she giggled.
- "Someone has to be the responsible one."
- "That’s usually Ray."
- "Well, Ray ain’t around, so it’s my turn"- Joey and Frank kept their eyes locked- “Shit, this asshole has the most beautiful eyes, and I don’t think I had noticed… and he is as charming as fuck today. What is it with him?”
- "What are you staring at?"- Frank asked in a deep sexy voice, making Joey’s cheek burning.
- "Your eyes actually… did you have a piercing in your eyebrow?"- the girl asked, making lights off of the whole moment.
- "Yeah, I’ve had a lot of piercings over the years."
- "You little punk"- Joey stuck out her tongue and waved- "See you later rebel, rebel… hey Gerard!"- the girl turned around and bumped into the knit of his eyebrows. Gee didn’t look happy.
- "Hey"- he whispered and tried not to even look at her.
- "Ok guys, I’ll leave you alone, see you later."
The two of them turned and watched her walk away in silence for a moment. Both of them looked disappointed she was leaving.
- "So what’s with the resting bitch face?"- Frank asked as soon as he turned to his friend.
- "What’s with the picture?"- Way spit the words, not even trying to be nice.
- "Oh yeah! I did it to piss the fans"- and Iero replied proud of his actions with a huge grin on his face.
- "And you succeeded!"- Gerard nearly yelled as he opened Twitter and read- “Bitch is going down!”, “I want to kill her,” “I wish she was dead!” Frank, what the fuck is wrong with you?!"
- "Bitches had it coming! They kept bashing her all over, and I wanted to piss them off!"
- "Well done, asshole! Now they hate her even more!"- Gerard lit a cigarette, and the two of them stayed quiet for a few minutes.
- "I’m not gonna delete it"- Frank finally said.
- "It wouldn’t help anyway"
- "Why are you so mad?"
- "We should help her!"
- "I was trying to help!"
- "Oh really?"
- "Yes!"- that conversation wasn’t going pretty well- "I was trying to be a good friend!"
- "And what will Jamia say of that picture?"
- "I already told her why I took it"- Gerard could ask about Matthew, but he didn’t really care about him at all- "You shouldn’t be so mad. I’m not gonna let anyone hurt her."
- "I am not gonna let anyone near her"- both of them were being too possessive, and they knew it- “She is mine!!”- Gerard had to stop himself from yelling.
- “I am the one taking care of her!”- Frank thought and sighed- "Why do you care so much anyway? You barely talk to her."
- "That is not true!"- Gerard felt busted and offended at the same time- "I care for her, and just ‘cos I am not running after her like you doesn’t mean I hate her or something!"
- "What??!"- Frank felt so busted his cheeks burned- "I am not running after her! I am just trying to make her feel welcome after our rocky start!"
- "Fine! I’m sorry!"- that conversation was too heated, and they both knew it. They took a second to calm down before Frank said.
- "I’m sorry about the picture, I was just too mad about what fans were saying, and I didn’t think it would make it worse…"- Frank murmured and looked down at his hands.
- "I’m sorry I said about you running behind her. I didn’t mean it. “I totally did, but I shouldn’t have said it out loud”- the both nodded and considered the argument over. At least for now.
- "And how are we going to deal with all the hate?"- Frank asked and lit another cigarette
- "No idea…"
- "Maybe we could get Ray, have lunch and think about something together."
Mikey and Joey walked around Amsterdam. Sunglasses and cap on, Mikey kept trying to go unnoticed, while the girl made her best not to look like a tourist. But she was. She had never been to Amsterdam before, and she was pretty excited.
- "Thank you for taking me out"- Mikey whispered and felt Joey holding his arm.
- "I wasn’t going to let you rotten all alone in your room"- she smiled, but he didn’t- "Just promise me if you see any threatening fan, you are gonna save me."
- "Why?"
- "‘Cos they hate me."
- "Fine"- Mikey wasn’t really into anything at the moment. He just wanted to walk around- "Worm is right there, so no one is going to get near you"- Mikey said and pointed at their security guy.
- "Thanks…"- Joey let Mikey’s arm go and walked to a window glass- "Do you think Frank would like this?"- the young man walked slowly to his friend and looked at the shirt she was pointing.
- "Yeah… I guess"
- "But he already has too many Black Flag shirts"- the girl said- "Maybe a jacket…"- and she kept on walking, followed by her friend- "Hey, you know what we need?"
- "To die?"- Mikey answered and felt Joey’s hand smacking his arm- "Ouch!"
- "We need coffee, Mikey! fucking coffee, come on!"- she held his arm again and guided him to the closest Starbucks
- "I might actually need something stronger than that."
- "You are not getting drunk before the show"- Joey said, frowning- 2If you want, we can both trash ourselves later."
- "Why are you gonna get drunk?"
- "I am not going to leave you drunk on your own! What kind of friend leaves a friend getting wasted all alone? Besides, someone needs to be there for you when you start doing weird, stupid shit"- Mikey finally smiled and messes with Joey’s hair.
- "Thank you, Bug."
- "Which reminds me… give me your phone."
- "Why?"
- "You know exactly why, Michael James"- the man sighed and gave it to her nos saying a word- "Thank you very much, you can have this back tomorrow, or in case of someone important calls you, like your mom."
- "Or my lawyer."
- "Dude, you just talked to her today, the whole paper shit won’t be ready right away, and you need to think of something else."
- "Fine… just be a good sister and get me coffee."
- "Sorry, was that a joke coming from you?"- Joey smiled, and Mikey chuckled- "Wow… you are joking and smiling. My mission has been accomplished today."
- "Don’t get cocky, Bug."
Mikey smiled again. And again. He actually laughed when Joey picked Frank’s birthday present, and he felt a little better after an hour goofing around with his friend. Until it was time to get back to the hotel.
- "Are we late?"- Joey asked, taking a look at her watch.
- "No, but Ray has to be all freaked out."
Mikey stopped to light a cigarette as they walked the last three blocks to get to the hotel. Suddenly, a girl jumped on Joey and hit her head with a glass bottle, and shove her to the ground, hitting her.
- "What the fuck?!"
Mikey’s first instinct was to run and get the girl off her friend, but Worm moved faster and did it for him, getting the fan away from Joey and stopping her or anyone else from coming closer.
- "Stay out!"- he yelled at Mikey, but he didn’t listen and held Joey in his arms.
- "Are you ok?"
- "Yeah, it’s just a bump, don’t worry"- she cut him a short smile and made her very best not to cry and to be tough, though her eyes were watering up.
- "Bug, you are bleeding!"- Mikey was in shock. He wrapped his arms around her as they stood up and wiped off the blood that fell from the side of her head- "I’m gonna get you in a cab."
- "We are three streets from the hotel."
- "I don’t care, you are not walking! Come on."
Ray was mad. Neither of the guys, especially Joey, had ever seen him that angry before. They were all in the girl’s room, a doctor had checked her head, and thankfully, she was ok. But now the band heard how Ray kept yelling and telling them off for being a bunch of assholes, according to his words.
- "How the fuck could you think uploading that picture was ever going to help stop the hate against Joey?!"- he yelled- "That was the most irresponsible thing you’ve ever done, Frank! Look at what happened to her!! She could have been seriously hurt! We are lucky she didn’t need stitches!"
- "It wasn’t my intention to…"- but Frank couldn’t even finish.
- "Of course, it wasn’t your intention! But you fucked it up!"
Ray was mad. His whole face was red. Mikey kept pressing a bag of ice against Joey’s head as she laid on her bed in complete silence. She really felt like shit. The guys were actually considering canceling the show, but she refused.
- "I’m so sorry"- Frank whispered and softly rested his hand on Joey’s leg as he sat next to her.
- "It’s ok, Frank"- she murmured- "I told you it was a shitty idea, next time listen to me when I try to be the grown-up, ok?"
- "Fine"- Joey smiled at the young man, trying to comfort him too.
- "This ain’t your fault, Frank"- she reassured- "You just uploaded a picture with a friend. That girl is the problem."
- "You shouldn’t be exposed to those girls!"- Ray continued the preach- "Why were you out on your own?"- Mikey wide opened his eyes, feeling everything was his fault.
- "We weren’t alone, Worm was there too"- Joey answered- "This shit ain’t Mikey’s fault, I asked him to help me getting Frank a birthday present, and that was it"- she paused her words and winced in pain- "Shit, please don’t move the bag!"
- "Sorry, sorry!"- Mikey replied and bit his lips, feeling guilty about the whole thing. If he hadn’t accepted going out, none of that would have happened.
- "What are we gonna do?"- Gerard asked. He was having serious problems stopping himself from kicking everybody out of the room to comfort Joey on his own. He wanted to hold her and kiss her wounds until the pain faded away. And so he kept walking around the room, biting his nails, making sure he was as far from her as possible.
- "Well, clearly we have to make a pubic statement"- Ray answered, and the band nodded in silence- "From the official Twitter, website and on our accounts. You should write it"- Ray added, looking at Gerard. The oldest Way nodded and grabbed his phone.
- "Can you stop making a fuzz?"- Joey whispered, she tried to sit down, but she was still dizzy- "It was just a stupid fan."
- "A fan that smashed a bottle on your head, Joey"- Ray kneeled next to her and looked at her so worried Joey’s heart melted- "This shouldn’t have happened."
- "Wasn’t it part of the contract?"- the girl smiled- "I’m pretty sure there was a clause that said I had to deal with stupid fan’s bullshit for being the only girl in the band. It was by the end of the whole thing… in a tiny little font."- Ray smiled and caressed Joey’s cheek.
- "Stop trying to be cool about this. We all know this is wrong, and we have to protect you."
- "I can protect myself"- she argued, ‘cos she hated feeling weak. She had fought against feeling weak or being seen as the weakest link of anything her entire life.
- "I know you can, Bug"- Ray whispered, being a sweetheart- "But that is not gonna stop us from taking care of you, you are our drummer, and like a little sister… we are fucking family. In Jersey, if you mess with family, you pay."
- "Shit… this is the moment I always knew was coming"- Joey closed her eyes and sighed- "You are coming out clean, and you’ll tell me you are part of Jersey’s mafia, right?"- Ray snorted along with the rest of the band.
- "Yes, Bug, it was time to be honest"- he said and kissed her temple- "Now rest, ok?"- she smiled and closed her eyes. Taking a nap did sound like a good idea at the moment.
That night’s show felt odd for the audience. Gerard was cold, Frank wasn’t jumping around, Mikey was serious- ok, that wasn’t a huge change- and Ray wasn’t really singing. The band was still pissed, and though they tried to give it all for the kids, it just wasn’t working.
- "I need to take a moment and talk to you guys."
Gerard said after a few songs. The audience went wild, but the singer was still serious.
- "So, today, someone felt like it was ok to smash a bottle on Joey’s head"- Gerard shouted at the mic and pointed at the girl- "I want you to know, no one has the right to hurt anyone!!"- and the crowd yelled back, probably in agreement.
- "And if you think you can hurt our friend just ‘cos you want to, and you feel it’s your right, then we are going after you mother fucker!!!"
Gerard was serious about it. Frank walked over and whispered something in his ear.
- "Frankie says he’ll spit on the face of whoever dares to hurt anyone in our band, and me or my brothers or my sister!!"
Joey blushed as she saw Gerard turning around, giving the audience his back, and throwing a kiss to her, winking. That guy was trouble in tight pants.
**
taglist @all-tings-diego @worryd0ll
Do you wanna talk about this story, or be added to the taglist? send me a message here
20 notes
·
View notes