Chapter Text
“So I won’t be back here after the tour,” I told my live-in girlfriend, Patty.
“You won’t?” she screeched. She did that a lot. The screeching. Andy called her a harpy- whatever the fuck that was.
“Nah. I’m letting the lease expire next week. That should give you enough time to find a new place.” I probably sounded like a jackass but in my mind that would make it easier for her to move on.
She kept ranting about god knows what as I packed what little stuff I owned. I already moved out my most prized possessions- my record collection and poetry books- into Patrick’s mom’s basement. Patty didn’t even notice them missing weeks ago.
It felt like a huge weight was being lifted off my shoulders as I left the shoddy apartment building. I hailed a taxi and gave the driver directions to the recording studio which was our departure point.
When we arrived my heart sped up as I spotted the other, slightly smaller van that would carry our opening act. In an effort to get to the group sooner I overpaid the driver significantly and ran.
I almost ran into Mikey- which had been my plan all along. He looked slightly different than he did on stage. His outfit was jeans and a t-shirt. Most surprisingly of all- very thick-framed glasses- something he didn’t wear on stage.
“Hey,” I said cheerfully. “You guys ready to hit the road?”
Mikey turned to me and smiled, but it was his older brother who answered. “We are definitely ready. Thanks for inviting us to join you.”
“No problem.” I would have preferred to talk solely to Mikey. Unfortunately I’d come to find out he was a man of few words.
Patrick was waving frantically at me to join him. “How did it go with Patty?” he asked when I joined him.
“About as well as can be expected.” I shrugged to show it didn’t bother me one bit. And it really didn’t.
“Pete, you need to play it cool this time,” Patrick continued, lowering his voice to a whisper. My best friend could have been referring to many things- my alcohol problem, my drug problem or my new ‘Mikey problem.’ I didn’t even have to say anything to Patrick about my attraction to the other bassist. He just knew. Plus he’d told me before I had a certain look when I was about to fall hard and fast for someone. I must have had it when we’d gone to Haunted Candle’s show a few weeks ago.
Patrick was the only one who knew about my attraction to men. Not that the other guys would have cared one way or the other, I just had never told them. In fact I hadn’t told Patrick either. He just kind of stumbled upon the conclusion.
“It’ll be fine,” I replied. And it should be. My entire band and crew were on what they called ‘Pete-watch’ making sure I only had one beer and that no drugs were within fifty feet of me. As for my newer problem… well Mikey had barely spoke more than two words to me. Sure I wanted him, but I wasn’t going to chase him down. There’d be other distractions along the way.
“Is that all you brought?” Joe asked, walking up to us. “I hope you brought more than one outfit because I know you hate doing laundry.”
“Don’t worry, mom. Patrick can handle my laundry. Can’t you bud?” I patted our lead singer on the back as the both of them rolled their eyes.
Andy was already on the bus reading something. I knew better than to ask him what book it was. Still I was feeling like a masochist and in the mood to be bored to tears so I went ahead and inquired.
Apparently it was a book of Greek myths. It was actually pretty interesting. So much so I didn’t even notice when we left Seattle.
We’d already agreed that our first night we’d treat the other guys to dinner at a place of their choice. When we arrived outside the semi-decent hotel we were going to stay at we unloaded what we needed for the night and headed out.
Gerard was obviously the leader of the other group, but I couldn’t help but notice he quietly deferred to his drummer, Frank, on most decisions. I found that very interesting. I’d have to keep a closer eye on them. Maybe Frank could lure Gerard away from his brother for me?
They’d chosen a diner, pretty standard stuff. I felt bad because Andy probably wouldn’t be able to find much on the menu to eat. He was the only vegetarian in our group. He was too polite to say anything though. When I shot him a concerned looked he simply shrugged. “They probably have a salad.”
Ray and Joe had become fast friends, probably lamenting the carelessness of their respective lead singers. Joe would be doing most of the lamenting, but Ray was a sympathetic ear. Patrick had joined their booth and I was preparing to follow when Frank waved me over.
“Come sit with us,” he said cheerfully. Frank was sitting as close to Gerard as humanly possible, which meant that the only open seat was right next to Mikey.
I hesitated for a moment, unsure if Mikey wanted me next to him. He smiled at me meaning that he didn’t mind.
“So…” I began as I sat down. “This should be a great tour.” Wow, Pete, way to show off your great conversational skills, I thought to myself.
“For sure,” Mikey replied in a soft voice. I nearly jumped out of my seat. Fuck I was nervous.
Frank and Gerard launched into a silly argument over god knows what. I guessed that this was my chance.
“Why’d you choose the bass?” I asked him. Probably a stupid question, but I still wanted to know.
Mikey cleared his throat before replying. “Well Gerard already had Ray picked out for our guitarist so…”
“So you learned an instrument just to be in your brothers band?”
He smiled sheepishly. “Yeah. I was always the little brother who wanted to do everything the older one did.”
“I’m an only child, so I can only imagine what that’s like.” I’d always wanted a brother- older or younger- it didn’t matter. I thought it would be like having a built in best friend. That was definitely the case for the Way brothers.
Mikey patted my hand reassuringly. “Looks like you found your family, though.”
“You’re right about that. They put up with a lot from me.”
“That’s what family does.”
Behind Mikey’s quiet countenance was obviously a guy who was pretty fucking smart- or at least observant. I liked that about him. People rarely paid attention to the people around them. I couldn’t help it- it was like I had a radio antenna tuned into everyone’s emotions. Definitely the main reason I used.
Gerard’s attention had been diverted away from Frank now so Mikey and my conversation was cut short. Still I had hope. He was even better than I imagined. And I had imagined him a lot.