Work Text:
It was a cold night in a small town in New Jersey. They had spent their whole life there, even though Illi always told herself she’d leave someday. They were in some half-destroyed bar where small bands usually played their music and first songs.
They finished playing their first written song, Skylines and Turnstiles. Illi was breathing heavily, sweaty and maybe a little drunk, but people liked it. It was noisy and crowded, the stage was small and claustrophobic, barely fit in the drum set. The lights were warm and it just added to that burning feeling that was making everyone sweat from adrenaline. "I WANT TO HEAR YOU ALL!" Illi screamed, looking at the crowd as they cheered. It was a bit embarrassing, the stage was not even that high. She could see every table in the place. Even one with a guy who suspiciously looked like someone she used to study with. He wasn't even cheering, just chatting with his bandmates. He didn't even live here, it must be someone who just looked like him. There is no way.
By the time they hit backstage, they are all breathing heavily, even Mikey who just spent the whole time standing there with his bass. Illi sits in a bench next to him, drinking water. "That was awesome." He says. Illi nods, she doesn't even look at him. "Yeah." She breathes out. Mikey leans back and, even though he knows it won't be well received, he confesses. "Frank will probably be here tonight." Illi looks at him in shock. It just confirmed her worst fear. "What? Why?" She spoke, faster and more desperate than she meant it to sound. Mikey stifles a laugh. "Cause he has a band. It's called something like Pencey Prep. I tried joining and they didn't want me there. So like... Good for them, I guess." Illi was flabbergasted. Was he thinking on telling her? She looks at him with resentment. "Why didn't you tell me before?" She just gets a shrug from her stupid lanky, nerdy brother. "I don't know... I thought you'd freak out."
In that same moment, Frank Iero walked into backstage area alongside his bandmates. It felt so real, but at the same time, it was like one of those dreams Illi always used to have two years ago. Of them getting together again, apologizing and hugging. In those dreams he would hold her gently and comfort her about any kind of situation. It didn't feel forced, it felt familiar. Like they didn't stop seeing each other for years now. She remembered every tiny detail of him, of course she did. It used to be her comfort model to draw. You could say she knew his face as well as her own.
In this situation, Frank didn't look at her with love in his eyes, he looked down at the bench, seeing the pair of siblings looking at him like dumb puppies with big eyes. Illi was mesmerized, while Mikey was looking to see what would happen. The ginger smiles at her, more of a formality than joy. "Illi? Shit, what are you doing here? You have a band?" He says, pretending he haven't seen her on stage just minutes ago. Illi stands up like it was mandatory for a conversation. It's kinda funny, she was still taller than him, but he is still taller than in his teenage years. He got piercings, a lip ring and his hair was styled for once. To be honest, she wanted to run into his arms. But he didn’t look too comfortable, and that rubbed off on her. "I... Yeah, we are called My chemical romance." She said sheepishly while making herself smaller and laughing a little. Her cheeks are pink, from the alcohol or the mere presence of Frank. She moves her long, black greasy hair away from her face, she looked unhinged and embarrassing probably.
Frank placed his tattooed hands on his hips. He was tense standing in front of her. He is hoping not to get into detail of each other's lives. "Y'know? I didn't know I would see you making a band. I thought your talent was art." Illi nods quickly, too desperate. It felt so one-sided that Mikey wanted to crawl under a rock and hide. "Yeah, I mean... Music is also art." She makes a little pause. "I think art school is not working for me, I moved here again last month." Frank smiles softly. She was just as weird as she used to be in high school. It was a little cute. "Yeah. Hey, you don't sound bad at all." He smirks looking at Mikey. "And I see little Mikey's dream Of getting in a band became true. Good for you." Mikey stands up, taller than Frank, but his awkwardness made him undeniably smaller. "Yeah... Little Mikey..." He speaks softer than intended.
Pencey Prep finally got ready to step on stage. By then, MCR was finally sitting at a table with free food for playing. Illi was drinking a beer while seeing Frank shredding the guitar like a maniac. It didn’t surprise her. It still felt like watching her boyfriend practice in his room again, being feral on purpose to make her laugh. Ray looks at the Way siblings. "So... Do you like it?" Mikey shrugs, clearly resented. "Meh. It's kinda mid." He says jokingly, he knows it will be interpreted as jealousy, he just feeds into it. Illi laughs at it. "Don't say that, it sounds good!" She defends him, making her brother confused. "What, still moved by him?" She shoves him off. "Shut it, I just feel maternal, okay?" They all go quiet and keep watching. No, she does not feel maternal. Well, in part she did. But anything played by Frank sounded right to her. It was just like she remembers. She kept romanticizing those times, even though they both used to hate them. When Frank's parents would yell at him for dating a "dude", when they used to get intoxicated in the park and she would wake up alone in the cold morning in the top of a slide and the only thing he left would be his jacket as a blanket in her back, when the cops caught them making graffiti in the back of the school and she was in jail for a week and he didn't pay the bail because he was saving to take her to a Metallica concert, when Frank told her he wants to move together and escape together, but he ended up escaping alone at 18... Leaving a shitty letter for her in the mailbox. Their story was filled with bittersweet moments, moments where he made her cry, but it didn't last long. It was for the best. The letter he slid into her mailbox said he was hers forever, but it didn't taste like that. It tasted like a last goodbye. And it was, until today.
By the moment Pencey Prep finished playing, the crowd started cheering louder. Frank leaned in, still sweaty and shaken. He leaves the guitar away and he leans forward, when a girl suddenly jumps in his arms. He reaches to hold her while spinning and kissing passionately under the warmth of the stage and crowd almost mashed together. The warm lights hitting them directly. Illi looks at the scene like it's the bad ending of a movie. A movie where for once, she was the protagonist, But not anymore. They stopped seeing each other years ago, what's up now? Maybe it was the fact he lied to her in that fucking letter. Maybe it's just straight jealousy and selfishness.
Mikey looks at Illi, who was staring at Frank like he personally abandoned her now for real. Mikey pauses, looking at her like he doesn't know if to talk or not. "Can we go home now?" He asks with gentleness. He knows exactly what's up and why Frank didn't want to talk to her. He escaped to totally erase his past, every part of it. Illi stands up, her face is completely paralyzed. Not a tear, not anger, not anything. Mikey wouldn't take a word out of her in a million years.