Mikey Way didn't "do" sports. Not because he couldn't, but just because it wasn't his "thing". Mikey was interested in concerts more than anything nowadays. And as far as Mikey was concerned, any venue with a decent band playing was a concert. Needless to say, Mikey had attended more "concerts" in his life than he cared to count. The walls in his bedroom were blanketed with ticket stubs, band flyers, concert wrist bands, posters, drawings his brother had made him, and even a few CD's. His bedside table had a funny, yet tastefully done charicature of Billy Corgan etched into it, that his brother had done when he'd been drunk. Covering the carved-in image was a lava lamp that Mikey had had since he was nine, and a VHS of "The Last Unicorn" without a case, sitting beside it. The comforter on his bed was black, but had patches of all his favorite bands sewn into it, and while his bed was hardly ever made, the Star Wars bed sheets from his childhood poked out from underneath. Mikey had a CD, Record, and Tape collection that most of the local Music stores would envy. Mikey was a music junkie. And as he sat, bored out of his mind, watching his school's pep rally through half-lidded eyes, he wondered how the marching band could ever be considered "real" music. His brother would argue that anyone who can play an instrument in front of an audience without fainting from fear was a truly talented individual. He had a point, and it wasn't as if Mikey didn't think these people weren't talented, hell, he'd never played a single instrument in front of anyone in his lifetime! The thing was, Pep Rally's in general, had a way of making Mikey altogether completely and utterly unenthused. Most of the time, some bored jerk would find it necessary to call Gerard a faggot. Gerard, who was usually hunched over the notebook he had resting on his lap, with a pen or pencil in his hand, sketching, writing, whatever. He would ignore them, and lean a little closer to his notebook, as if his retreating figure would be enough to block out anything else they were going to yell. When the jerks realized that Gerard wasn't going to acknowledge them, one of them would either throw something at his head, or snatch the notebook away from him, and proceed to make rude and obnoxious comments about it's contents before ripping the pages out. This meant that Mikey would have to step in. Usually, Mikey was able to get them to leave by just using words. Most of the time, he wasn't as lucky. And when Mikey heard the words "Hey, pansy!" he knew exactly what was going to happen next. Mikey would tell them to fuck off, and with luck they would listen. But in a practical world, they would probably start a fight, which would end in Mikey getting detention, a bloody nose, and his third pair of glasses this month being shattered. He would spend most of the afternoon helping a gracious Gerard pick up the torn pages from his notebook, and locking himself in his room, to listen to some Anthrax, while Gerard cooped himself up in the basement to work on his art for an hour before deciding that he was more interested in getting drunk. Mikey felt relieved when he turned around and only saw the smiling face of Frank Iero. "Pansy" was a nickname Frank had been given a long time ago, apparently. He brushed his hair out of his face and took a seat behind Gerard. As Gerard and Frank instantly engaged in a conversation, Mikey turned back to the soccer game that was in progress. Mikey had little to no athletic knowledge whatsoever, so it was hard to tell who was winning. He played kickball sometimes with Gerard and his friends, but that was just for lack of better things to do, and aside from that; Mikey was fairly sure that half of the rules they played by, had been made up along the way, just to make the sport easier for them. His muddy brown eyes covered the length of the field and then looked around on the sidelines. He instantly recognized a few kids who had the same classes as him, acting like complete imbeciles simply because they could, and a few others who, like him, were paying absolutely no attention to the game. But the girl with the long black hair looked completely new. She was chattering on and on with a couple of other kids that Mikey wasn't sure if he knew or not, and he tried to squint, to get a better look. But then Frank threw a jellybean at the back of his head, and laughed hysterically. Mikey was not amused. ** Ever since ninth grade, Mikey liked getting to his classes early. It gave him time to get his things together, and get situated before anyone else could bother him. Gerard told him that the same effect could be accomplished, simply by being more organized, but Mikey found his own organization amongst his clutter, and he liked it that way. As he was digging through his book bag, for a pencil, and some paper that didn't have coffee stains, or writing already covering the length of the page, he could hear the rest of the classroom filling up around him. The buzz of other kids all talking at once around him, the thumps and thuds of their books on the desktops, shuffling of papers, whispers, loud laughs, chair legs scraping against the floor, and finally, the door closing, and the teacher's voice. At that, Mikey zipped his bag back up, and swung it around the back of his chair. He'd managed to find a couple of clean sheets of paper, and a pencil that really needed to be sharpened, but he wasn't complaining. He arranged the objects on his desk, and looked around the rest of the room for Bob, who sat too far away from Mikey for him to be able to actually have a conversation with him, without being caught, but at least they could talk after class was over. Mikey's seat was on the end of the middle row, close to the window. Bob's was in the front, but on the opposite side of the room. He let it register that Bob looked exhausted, and he made a mental note not to bother him about this later, but then he noticed the girl sitting next to him. She looked oddly familiar, but Mikey couldn't place her. Yesterday, his teacher had metioned a few students would be transferring classrooms, and he took that as the answer as to why he no longer had to sit next to the boy who Gerard knew for a fact spit on people, and didn't wash his boy parts after gym class. She had long black hair, straight, with over-grown bangs which framed her face, and Mikey instantly registered her as the girl from the Pep Rally. She wasn't wearing any make-up, as far as Mikey could tell, aside from her eyes which were heavily rimmed in black eyeliner, with a bright red eyeshadow standing out in contrast to it, long lashes, and oh god, this girl was all eyes. Mikey wasn't the kind of person to become immediately attracted to anyone. It took him weeks, even months at a time before he could fully develop a crush, and he narrowed that down to the fact that Gerard hadn't had very much success with relationships in the past, so maybe it was just that Mikey didn't want to bother with it. She was drumming her fingertips against her desktop, bobbing her head from side to side, like she was consumed in a song that no one else could hear. Her big brown eyes shut, and she pursed her lips, dancing around in her seat, and Mikey wondered if that was something normal people did, but he didn't care because it seemed natural, and maybe it was, for her. She had a glow to her skin that made her seem almost luminescent, and a very feminine curve to her jawline that looked like it was something made of music, which was a little too much for him. Her entire face looked like some brilliant book of sheet music, that felt a little like home, and a lot safe. Just the way that her hair flowed around in a liquid motion, like a big pool of ink as she moved, Mikey's breath caught in his throat for a second and he almost choked. When he coughed and gasped, no one except Bob, who'd turned his head to look at him, took notice, especially not the girl, who had stopped dancing around in her seat, and was now staring off into space. His eyes ran over her, she wasn't terribly skinny, she was average sized, with curves in all the right places, and a little bit shorter than Frank. she was wearing a sleeveless black shirt with The Misfits on it, and some tight, black and white zebra striped pants. Her shoes that she was tapping against the floor, under her desk were red hightops, the laces didn't match, one shoe had black laces and the other had white ones, they were scuffed, and tattered-looking. He noticed that there was duct tape placed over a spot on one of the shoes, in the shape of an X, and Mikey guessed that was to cover up a hole or something. "Charlotte?" The teacher's voice jerked Mikey out of his thoughts, and back into the classroom with everyone else. She was standing at the front of the classroom, in front of the black board, with a book under her arm, and a piece of chalk in her hand. "Charlotte, are you getting all of this?" The girl next to Mikey - Charlotte - didn't seem to hear her. "Charlotte!" the teacher said. Charlotte's head snapped around, and she looked straight ahead at the teacher. "Yeah?" "Why don't you come up to the black bored, and show us all how to solve this problem." She smiled, sitting down at her desk. As Charlotte got up, the rest of the class room filled with quiet giggles. She approached the black board, and looked at the problem: 1/sin^2(x) + Sec^2(x)/Tan^2(x) Charlotte sighed, picked up the chalk, and started writing. "sec^2(x) = 1/cos^2(x) tan^2(x) = sin^2(x)/cos^2(x)." She paused, and looked at the rest of the class. "So, basically… Substituting this in the equation, what we're gonna get is: 1/sin^2(x) + (1/cos^2(x)/(sin^2(x)/cos^2(x) = 1/sin^2(x) + cos^2(x)/sin^2(x)cos^2(x) = 1/sin^2(x) + 1/sin^2(x) = 2/sin^2(x) = 2cosec^2(x). And that's how it's done." She said, placing the chalk back in it's place, and walking back to her seat. The teacher raised her eyebrows, and smiled. "Well done, Charlotte." she told her, returning to the front of the class. Charlotte opened her notebook, grabbed out a pencil, and started writing something down. The sunlight hit her ebony hair, and it shined so dark, it almost put off a blueish sheen. Mikey couldn't look away from her. He hadn't even actually met her yet, but he was captivated. It's like there was something about her, that he couldn't pull himself away from. Even as she stared off into space, doing a drum solo on her desk, and looking completely bored, an energy came off her that hit Mikey right in his chest. It made him feel happy and excited, warm and safe. And more importantly, it made him feel like, no matter what happened, and despite all of the drama of highschool, and whatever it was that was going to come after that, he was going to be best friends with this girl, because she felt like the songs he would listen to on repeat in his bedroom at night, she felt like a force that related to everything, and that as long as that existed, he would never be alone. ** He tells his friends about it later, on the way home from school. "I don't know what it is, I mean… This has never happened before.." Mikey said, in his fluctuating-teenage boy voice. "Hormones," Gerard told him, as they were nearing the park a couple blocks away from their home. "Definitely hormones." Mikey frowns. "I think I might have an asthma attack if she ever talks to me." he says, and they all laugh. Trouble is, he's serious. "Aw!" Frank exclaimed. "Lookit, Gee! Our baby's all grown up and having his first crush!" he teased. "You've gotta be kidding me." Gerard chuckled. Mikey smiled, and stared down at the sidewalk. "God, Frank, shut up. You've been talking all day, nonstop. I'm tired of your bullshit." Jamia said, as she took a drink of her coffee. Frank pouted. "I need new friends." he said. "You need an evaluation." she replied, smirking. Frank grinned, and pelvic thrusted at her. "Ew." she said. "Shut up, you want me." he smiled. "Bert knows her." Bob said, randomly. They all looked at him. "Who?" Ray asked. "Charlotte. Call's her 'Challa'.. Or, um… 'C-Beezy'…" Bob said awkwardly. "Wait, Bert knows her?" Mikey asked. Bob opened his mouth to say something, about the time that a short, sickly-thin boy came running up to them, with his greasy-looking tangly blonde hair flopping around in his face as he ran. The shirt he was wearing was inside-out, and the skater shorts he had on were too big for him. He bounded over, giggling like a psychotic five-year old girl. "Gee-Gee!" Bert cried. "Berty-Bert!" Gerard exclaimed in response. "Oh dear Lord." Jamia said. And Mikey laughed when Bert licked a long line from Gerard's neck, up to the curve of his jaw. "Dude.. Not around me." Bob said. Bert smiled that crazed yet somehow adorable smile of his. "I just had sex like… 30 minutes ago!" he said, digging his hands into the pockets on his shorts. "Animal cracker?" He asked, when he pulled his hand out to reveal some frosted animal crackers, mostly broken, and mixed in with pocket lint, and what Mikey thought might have been a tictac. "No thanks." Ray said, and Bert shrugged in response, popping a piece into his mouth. "So where are we going, Gee-Gee?" Bert asked, walking so close to Gerard that the side of their hips collided each time they took a step. "To hell if we don't change our ways." Gerard told him. "I'd rather go to the fucking zoo, man." Bert said through a mouth full. "Did you know we have hippos now?" he asked, looking at Frank. "Dude, no way?" Frank asked. "Way." Bert smiled. "Gerard Way." They laughed, and Bert said "No, seriously though. We have fucking hippo's, motherfucker." "Score." Frank said, taking Jamia's hand in his. "We should go to the zoo." "I like the leopards." Ray noted. "Do you know Charlotte?" Mikey asked, looking at Bert, who appeared to be picking his nose. "The fuck's Charlotte?" Bert asked, withdrawing his finger from his nostril, and flicking a booger to the sidewalk. He took Gerard's hand, while they walked. "Well, that's sanitary." Ray said, sarcastically. "Um… she's a girl I have in math." Mikey said. Bert looked like he was thinking about it. "Charlotte," Bob said. "Isn't that, that little spastic girl you were hanging out with last weekend?" "Dude," Bert laughed. "I do good to remember 5 minutes ago. What makes you think I remember last week… Bob.. we have the same name, did you know that?" "Good point. And yes, that's a very good observation, Bert. Good job." Bob said, careful not to show too much interest. "Gee-rawr-duh!" Bert said. "Bee-urt." Gerard replied. Bert burst into a fit of giggles. "Anyway," he said, once he'd managed to calm the fuck down. "What the fuck were we talking about?" he asked. "Charlotte." Mikey said, watching as Frank jumped onto Jamia's back, and she craned her arms around to hold his legs up, giving him a piggy-back ride. "You aren't talking about Challa, are you?" Bert asked. Mikey shrugged. "She's got black hair.. A little shorter than Frank. Brown eyes. Kinda tan.. Ring any bells?" "That's a big hell yes, 10-4 motherfucker, my friend." Bert told him. "That's C-Beezy. She's my lab partner. We set shit on fire. It's pretty magical.. Why, she owe you money or something?" Mikey gave him a weirded out look. "Um, no.." he said. "He wants her." Frank said, and Mikey shot him a dirty look. Bert laughed dryly. "I didn't know you even knew C-Beezy." "I don't," Mikey said. "But I want too." Bert smiled. "She's into that arty shit.. Like Gerard!" "Nice to know you think my art is "Shit"." Gerard frowned. Bert just stuck his tongue out at him. "She did a few ink designs for Jepha. She's pretty good." "You think she'd like me?" Mikey asked. "Fuck if I know." he giggled. "So, she likes art?" Gerard asked. "Yeah." Gerard smiled at his younger brother. "I could draw you something, and you could give it to her.. From you." Mikey smiled. "Thanks." ** The bell rang, making Mikey's skin crawl, and everyone started putting their things away. Mikey watched as Charlotte reached down to retrieve her bag, and realized he only had a few seconds to talk to her before she left the room. From across the room, he could feel Bob staring at him. He looked up, and Bob gave him a thumbs-up. Mikey nodded, swallowed hard, and turned his gaze back onto her. She was standing up and turning toward the door when Mikey stood and said, "Charlotte." She turned around and gave him a cold, dirty look, as if he had no right to say her name. Mikey didn't know what to say next. He opened and closed his mouth a few times, and stuttered a little. Bob covered his eyes with the back of his hand. Charlotte sighed and tapped her foot. "Do I know you?" She asked. "I'm Mikey," Mikey blurted out. Charlotte stared at him. "Well isn't that super. Call me 'Charlotte' again, and I'll kill you, and hurt you very badly.. Also I might make you cry." she said, and she walked out into the hallway. Mikey just stood there, breathing like he'd just ran a marathon. Bob came up behind him, and placed a motionless hand on Mikey's shoulder. Bob breathed in through his nostrils, sighed, and said "She scares the fuck out of you, doesn't she?" "Undoubtably." Mikey answered. "You still like her?" "Yeah," Mikey nodded. "Yeah, I.. I think I like her more." ** On Wednesday, exactly a week after Mikey's failed attempt at talking to Charlotte, when Charlotte was sitting in her chair writing on her notebook, Mikey mustered up the courage to try again, and this time he was equipped with Gerard's drawing. With a quick glance to make sure Mrs. Kindle was too busy discussing trig to notice him, Mikey leaned across the aisle and slid the folded up piece of paper onto her desk. Charlotte looked up from her notebook, and Mikey smiled at her. "I um, I thought you might like that.." he whispered. Charlotte looked down at the piece of paper, picked it up, and unfolded it to reveal a picture of a half-decayed dancing unicorn. "Oh my God that's so awesome!" Charlotte said, loud enough that half the class turned to look at her. "Did you do this yourself? How long did it take? It looks real as fuck!" She leaned over, and snatched Mikey's notebook out of his hands. "Do you have anymore in here? Fucking bad-ass." "Charlotte!" Mrs. Kindle called out. "Sorry," Charlotte said, the notebook still in front of her face. "It's just that I think I just found God. And he's on a piece of paper." Mrs. Kindle gawked at Charlotte for a moment before she returned to her lesson on trig, and Charlotte handed the notebook back to Mikey. "You don't draw in there, I guess?" she asked, a lot quieter this time. Mikey shook his head no. "Actually, I had my brother draw that for you.. He's really good with art, and--" "Was the zombie unicorn your idea?" she asked. Mikey nodded. Charlotte leaned so far over the side of her desk that Mikey was sure it was going to topple over, and send her crashing to the floor. "Hey, could you get him to draw me a picture of Glenn Danzig having a tea party with Eddie from Iron Maiden except could you put Eddie in a dress, and give Glenn fairy wings?" Mikey pushed his glasses back into place, blinked and said "I would love to." ** Mikey really doesn't want to fucking do this. "I really don't want to fucking do this." "Dude," Gerard says, "You're my little brother. Whatever it is you're going to say, just say it." Mikey sighed. "Can you draw a picture of Glenn Danzig having tea with Eddie, who's wearing a dress?" Gerard smiled. "That is the most beautiful thing I've ever heard." Mikey rolled his eyes. "And Glenn has to have fairy wings.." "Oh," Gerard said, with fake drama. "Oh, now that makes my soul weep.. Actually, I may just fucking cry." ** By the end of the class, the next day, Mikey had 2 different versions of the cross-dressing punk rock tea party for Charlotte. In one of them, Glenn had these really dark fairy wings, with holes in them, was wearing all black leather, had sunglasses on, and a cigarette in his mouth, and the tea pots, cups, ect. Were made out of bones and skin, and Eddie was wearing this big puffy black dress that kind of looked like a wedding gown, and Gerard did have a point, it was pretty soul-shaking. The other one was brighter, with Eddie in a pink sun dress, and Glenn wearing just pants and boots, and pouring some tea out of a pink tea set for Eddie. That one kind of freaked Mikey's shit out. As they were walking out of the class, Mikey handed Charlotte the drawings. "Dude, these are awesome!" Charlotte squealed. Then without any type of forewarning, she hopped up and kissed Mikey's cheek. Mikey had to stop and catch his breath and try to get his heart to slow down. Charlotte had kissed him. Oh my God, Charlotte had kissed him, and now he was going have a heart attack, smother to death, and die. "So, I'm Charlotte," she said. "Call me anything but that." Mikey smiled, and nodded. "Yeah, I know.. My brother's good friends with Robert McCracken, so.." Charlotte leaned against the doorway, smiling smugly. "Bert's good friends with everyone, the drunk slut." "Okay, yeah, that's kind of true.." Mikey said, because it was. "So, do you like comic books?" she asked. "Yeah," Mikey answered. "My brother and I have a million of 'em. It's crazy." "I know. Bob told me. That's why I asked, 'cause… I thought you might let me borrow some?" Mikey's eyes widenened. "You know Bob? I mean.." Mikey smiled. "Yeah, sure, any time, Charlie?" "Sweetness." Charlotte said. ** Charlotte first took notice of the fact that Mikey's house was like any other she'd seen before. But with his almost always expressionless face, to be honest, she was expecting it to be a spaceship, or some weird shit like that. They cut through the yard, and in the back excited voices could be heard, and the sound of laughter. Mikey opened the front door, and they went inside. "What the heck is all that crazy noise?!" Charlotte asked. Mikey tossed his book bag down next to the door. "Gee!" he called. When he got no answer, he looked at her, and shrugged. "Someone's probably killing my brother in the back yard or something… Wanna see my room?" Mikey asked, his voice flat. Mikey's bedroom was like musical education. There wasn't a single spot that didn't speak of tunes. It was like a broken-in music shop with some homely touches to it, rather than a bedroom. "Wow.." Charlotte said. "Your room is like amazing!" "Thanks." Mikey said. She picked up one of the books of sheet music. "You play guitar?" "Bass," Mikey said. "I'm learning bass." Charlotte sat the book down. "Bert play's some shit. You should talk to him about starting a band or something." she said. "Do you know Frank? He plays guitar. I wanna start a band with him, but he's really busy with stuff a lot of times.. He's already in some other bands." "Frank Iero? I've seen that kid around. He's like a fucking wind-up toy." she laughed. "Yeah, definitely," Mikey said. "You should see him when he's playing. It's like hell on earth. Seriously. He accidentally smacked me in the nose with the neck of his guitar once, and it bled for forever." "Damn! That little tattooed creep…" she said. Mikey smiled. "Jamia keeps him under control for the most part.. That's his girlfriend." he said. "Do you have any Buffy comics? I will love you forever if you have Buffy comics." Charlotte asked. "Yeah, we have like every issue of Buffy. Gee used to have a huge crush on Buffy." Mikey laughed. "Gee?" "Gerard. That's my brother." "No way? I have a cat named Gee! Well.. GeeGee, but whatever." Mikey giggled, actually giggled, and Charlotte kind of felt like that was the cutest noise she'd ever heard. "Aw, I love cats." Mikey said. She swallowed the lump in her throat. "You do?" she asked, looking surprised. "Yeah. I want one, but.. Gee's got a couple of dogs, so…" Mikey rubbed the back of his neck with his hand. Charlotte blinked and said "I think we have to be best friends now." ** Years later Mikey was hanging out under a tent at Warped. He was sipping on a latte, and listening to the sound of some other band playing on one of the stages, and tuning his bass. He heard the sound of footsteps, and Charlotte came into view, carrying Frank's guitar. "Here," she said, handing it to Frank. "Bert said you might want to wash that off. He said he might have accidentally peed on it." Frank frowned. "Um, thanks.." She noticed Mikey then, and smiled. "How's my Mikey-Face?" she asked. Mikey forced a small smile. "Good. How's Ronnie?" Mikey asked. Charlotte had been dating a vocalist named Ronnie for only a few weeks, but they'd been spending a lot of time together, and it wasn't like he didn't see Charlotte anymore. She still came to every one of their shows, she still had backyard wrestling match's with Frank, and she still argued with Gerard over who was the better artist, and yeah, they still hung out a lot, but still.. Charlotte looked at Mikey seriously. "Is that coffee?" Mikey smiled. "No." "Liar." Charlotte took the cup out of his hand, and took a sip. "So, it's really fucking hot out here and I think the sun is a bastard." she said. Mikey chuckled. "You wanna go in the bus? It's still pretty stuffy, but… we have air conditioning at least." "Air conditioning is dope." she smiled. They walked into the main lounge area of the bus, and Charlotte plopped down on the cushy leather couch. "God I hate tour buses," she sighed. "They always smell like Gerard's pits, or Bert's underwear, or… sweaty jockstraps.." Mikey didn't respond, or for that matter, react. He propped his bass against the wall, and kicked an abandoned pair of batman boxer-briefs out of his way, that he was pretty sure belonged to Frank, but he wasn't judging anyone. "Are you listening to me?" Charlotte asked. "It smells like ass in here." Mikey threw a sock at her. "Mikey Way if I catch the herp from this filthy fucking sock I'm going to kick your ass to venus and back again." She said, tossing the sock back at him, Mikey popped his hip to the side to avoid contact with the stinky sock. "Herpes from Ray's sock," Mikey paused to consider this. "I'm going to say that's the most colossally ridiculous thing you've ever said, half pint." "Not true, I say I love you, don't I?" she challenged. "Used to.." he said so quietly he was sure only he heard it. "What's that?" Charlotte asked. "Nothing. Your tiny Charlie brain wouldn't be able to understand it." he forced a smile. "My brain is not tiny Michael!" she pouted. Mikey laughed, folding his arms across his chest. "Your body is." Charlotte blinked. "Don't make me go Jersey street scene on you." Mikey cocked an eyebrow. "Those are some big words," his face broke into a grin. "For such a small person." "That's it!" Charlotte said, she jumped up, grabbed Mikey by the waist, and tackled him, the both of them crashed to the floor, knocking the coffee table over in the process. "Gagh--Owch!" Mikey yelled. "What the fuck, you fucking spastic ass?" She reached over and grabbed the sock which was now laying beside them. "This dirty piece of footwear is symbolic of my heart, which you have shattered into a million pieces and broken very badly. I will now make you eat it." Mikey was laying on his back, pushing at her shoulders, trying to push her off of him, as Charlotte straddled him, holding his shoulder down, and trying to shove the sock in his mouth. "Stop it!" Mikey said. "Stop calling me names!" Charlotte snapped. "Stop having ADHD." "Stop… telling me what not to have!" "Get off me," Mikey told her. "Apologize." "Take some freaking Ritalin." Charlotte grabbed Mikey's hair and jerked it. "Ow! Fuck!" Mikey grabbed Charlotte's forearm and tried to shove it away, but he only succeeded in having his hair pulled even more. Mikey reached out, and snatched the sock away from her, throwing it across the room, away from her reach. "What now, huh?!" he challenged. When Ray walked into the bus, he found Mikey lying on his back repeating "No biting! No biting!" and wrestling Charlotte who was straddling him, holding him by the hair, with one hand, and trying to strangle him with the other. Neither of them noticed he was there until he cleared his throat and said, "Um, Mikey?" Charlotte looked up from where she knelt with her hands around Mikey's throat. "This isn't what it looks like…" she said. Ray raised a brow. "It looks like Mikey's getting his ass kicked." he said. "Oh," Charlotte smiled. "Well then it's exactly what it looks like." "I can see that," He pointed at Mikey, who was still ineffectively trying to prod Charlotte off of him. "Don't leave marks on him, Lottie. Seriously. Be nice you two." Charlotte released her grip on Mikey's throat. "Thank you," Mikey muttered as he rubbed his neck. She climbed off of him, and Mikey pulled himself up into a sitting position. "You suck at fighting." Charlotte said, playfully pushing Mikey's shoulder. He grinned. "Do you want me to be good at it?" he asked. "I don't think that's possible." she teased. Mikey grabbed her, and pulled her into a headlock. "Okay, okay," she said, trying to wiggle away from him. "I get the point!" Mikey released her and the two of them started giggling like little kids. Ray smiled. "Awww. You two are cute." Mikey felt his cheeks beginning to flush, and Charlotte gave a short nervous chuckle. "Well," she stood up, and brushed some floor lint off of her pants. "I should go." Mikey took his glasses off, and wiped the lenses with his shirt before putting them back on. "You sure?" Charlotte smiled. "Yeah. Ronnie'll be wondering where I am anyway, so… yeah." "It's my hair isn't it?" Ray joked, pretending to be hurt. Charlotte laughed. "Of course not. You know I have mad love for the 'fro." "I know. I was referring to your jealousy of my bounce and volume." Ray grinned. "My envy for that is forever strong." Charlotte said seriously. Ray opened his mouth to reply, but Mikey spoke before he had the chance. "You should hang out today, Charlie… I feel like I never get to see you anymore." he paused. "I miss you." Charlotte looked at Ray like she needed confirmation that someone else besides her had heard that, and Ray just raised his brows. "Um," Ray began. "I think I hear someone calling me!" he rushed out of the room. Charlotte looked back at Mikey and sighed. "I know we don't hang out as much, but it's just that--" "It's alright, I understand. I'm just being stupid." Mikey told her, but Charlotte looked unsure. "Hey, how bout I come over later? We could just hang out and watch movies or something.. You know, like we used to?" She suggested. Mikey stayed quite, and looked at the floor. "I'll bring GeeGee," Charlotte tried. Mikey smiled. "Okay." Charlotte raised up on her toes and gave Mikey a kiss on the cheek, like she always did, and the feeling of her breath on his cheek sent a chill down his spine, and his breath caught in his chest. And Mikey thought that he was way too old to still be getting butterflies whenever she came into contact with him. But Charlotte was always doing that to him. Making him feel like he was a teenager again, and just a couple years shallow of having complete control over his body. A few moments after Charlotte had left, Ray appeared in the doorway with a sandwich in his hand. "You might want to breathe again at some point." he said, before taking a bite. -- Charlotte walked into the bus' front room, stood in front of the TV, and said, "So, what do you think about Ronnie?" Mikey leaned to the side, in an attempt to get a clear view of the television. She sat the bowl of popcorn down on the couch, beside Mikey, still not budging from her position in front of the tube. Mikey managed to lean just far enough aside that he could get an OK look at the screen, and he pressed Play on the DVD remote. The Main Menu image for "Dawn of the Dead" displayed, and he once again selected Play. "Miiikeeeyyyy," Charlotte whined. "I'm talking to youuu." Mikey grabbed the TV remote, and turned the volume up. Charlotte stomped her foot. "Listen to me you little jerk!" Mikey was not going to listen to her. And it was not because he was a "little jerk", it was not because he didn't want to tell her that he didn't like Ronnie, and was was most definitely not because he was jealous. He was just extremely excited about watching this movie. So excited in fact, that he was just not going to listen to anything other than the sound of zombies munching on people. "Watch the movie, Charlie." Mikey said. But Charlotte wasn't having any of that, and she reached behind her, and pushed the power button, turning the TV off. Mikey blinked, sighed, slid his glasses back into place so they wouldn't fall off, and looked at her. Charlotte moved the bowl of popcorn aside, and sat down next to Mikey. "What do you think of Ronnie?" she repeated. Mikey wondered why his opinions on Ronnie mattered. Then he turned the TV back on. Charlotte sighed, looking at the screen. "C'mon, Mikey. You've seen Dawn of the Dead a million times. I really need to talk to you." Mikey breathed in through his nose, and looked at her. "Shoot." Charlotte scooted back, and pulled her feet up, tucking her legs underneath her so that she was sitting on her knees, and scooched closer to Mikey. "I -- I think I might be in love… And I need to know what you think, because.." She trailed off, looking down at the cushions of the couch, and playing with a strand of her hair, and to Mikey, in the dark room with the light from the TV, she was all dark hair and long lashes, carrying a mournful expression hidden under silky locks, and Mikey thought that she was the most beautiful sad person he'd ever seen. Mikey leaned back into the couch cushions a little farther, and looked straight ahead of him, at the screen, although he was hardly paying attention to the carnage anymore. "I think… Ronnie's an okay dude, I guess.. I don't really know him." he muttered, shrugging as he talked. Charlotte looked up, and Mikey could see her looking at him through the corner of his eye. "I'm in love." Charlotte said. Mikey's eyes shifted back and forth, for the first time actually registering and taking in the colors on the movie screen. "I'm happy you're in love." Mikey replied softly, but even he could hear the uncertainty in his voice. The room was quiet, all except the moans coming from the television, and for one desperate moment, Mikey felt like a child. He felt like the room was too big, and his skin was too tight. He felt like He'd fallen off of his bike, and had the wind knocked out of him. And it was one of those times when he really needed his Mom to tell him everything was going to be alright, or Gerard to give him one of his motivational speeches. He needed Bob to sympathize with him, or Ray to pat him on the back. He needed Frank to make funny faces at him until he laughed. It was one of those times, when Mikey really just needed music. As they sat there watching what was by all honesty, one of Mikey's favorite movies of all time, he found himself just wishing that the movie would hurry up and end, so that he could lock himself in his room with nothing but his ipod. And then GeeGee jumped onto his lap, Mikey was so surprised that he jumped a little when she did, but it wasn't enough for Charlotte to notice. GeeGee looked up at him with wide greenish eyes, and Mikey ran his fingers through her black and white fur. "She's gotten heaps bigger than she was when we first met," Mikey pointed out. "She was just a kitten then." Charlotte said. Mikey petted her gently. "I miss those days.." Charlotte nodded, and leaned her head on Mikey's shoulder. "I know," she said. "It isn't fair." Mikey put his arm around Charlotte's shoulder. "No it isn't." -- That night Mikey faked an upset stomach, and told Charlotte he was going to go to bed early. He went to his room, turned the light out, and turned his ipod on. He crawled underneath the blankets, and sunk back into his pillows, staring into the darkness as the music played. And before the song was even over, Charlotte was crawling into bed with Mikey. It wasn't anything unusual. Mikey was more than accustomed to sharing his bed with Charlotte. It had started in high school, when they would have sleep overs, and Charlotte didn't want to sleep by herself. Not because she was afraid, but because she didn't want to be alone. And Mikey understood. He was used to Charlotte napping with him on the couch, whenever she tagged along with them on tours, and it was almost natural by now, but it hadn't happened in a long time, so it was a bit surprising. But it wasn't like he minded. Charlotte got underneath the covers, and snuggled in close to Mikey, laying her head on his chest, and draping an arm around his waist. Mikey pulled the headphones off, and sat his ipod down on the bedside table. "Everything okay?" he asked. It was a question that Mikey asked often. Everyone came to him for advice, and that's how it always started. With a simple question. Charlotte nodded, and Mikey kissed the top of her head, and let his arm slide around her. Mikey closed his eyes, and listened to the sound of their breathing. Charlotte moved even closer. "GeeGee loves you a lot.." Charlotte said into Mikey's neck. Mikey grazed his fingertips along her arm. "I love GeeGee a lot, too." he said while yawning. The room went quiet, and voices could be heard from the other rooms, and the sound of music playing in the distance. The smell of Charlotte's hair, and the feeling of her warmth was driving him insane. "You seemed upset earlier, do you feel ok?" Charlotte asked cautiously. Mikey took a moment before he answered. "Yeah," he said. "Yeah I'm just.. Tired I guess." "Why do you lie? You're no good at it," Charlotte said. "So what's really wrong. And don't try to lie to me, or I'll take away your parental rights on GeeGee." she teased. Mikey shifted, so that he could more comfortably rest his head on the top of Charlottes. "It's nothing.." he said. "If it were nothing you wouldn't really be upset about it." Charlotte pointed out. "It's just -- did you ever think that no matter how bad you want something, it's not worth losing what you've already got?" he asked. "What do you mean?" Charlotte asked. "I don't know…" Mikey mumbled. "Jamie…" Charlotte said, and Mikey recognized this to be one of her rare serious moments, considering she only used his middle name when there was an important issue on hand. "I'm jealous of your Ronnie." Mikey blurted out, instantly wishing he hadn't. Charlotte sat up so that she could see his face. "You're jealous of Ronnie?" Mikey sat up too. "Look, it's no big deal. That's why I didn't want to say anything, it's stupid, and I --" Charlotte kissed him. They'd kissed before, everything from pecks on the cheek to quick and innocent pecks on the lips, but this - the way Charlotte was cradling his face in her palm, the deep, slow kisses, the press of Charlotte's body against his, and the feeling in his chest that his heart was going to explode - this was new. And when they pulled apart, for the first time in his life, Mikey felt like he could breathe. "I'm in love," Charlotte said against Mikey's lips. "I realized I'm in love a long time ago." Mikey's face was expressionless, but his breathing was rapid. "I mean I knew I loved you," Charlotte said. "But I realized I was in love with you, when everything you said mattered, when your opinions meant more than mine." "So earlier.." Mikey trailed off. "I was talking about you." she finished. Mikey's eyes widened, then flickered to the bed. "I've loved you since the first day I met you," he said. "And when you breathe it's like you radiate music, and I feel really stupid saying this…" Mikey chuckled nervously. "But you've always been my favorite song." Charlotte smiled in a way that made her entire face light up, Mikey leaned forward, looking down at Charlotte, with sparkling eyes. Inside her face, he felt completely validated, and for the second time in his life, it made him realize that, no matter what happened, no matter how many stupid mistakes he made, or how many times he felt like he couldn't catch his breath, there was one thing that would always be solid. One thing that was always going to be just the right size for him. One person who was always going to be his best friend. And he was by all honesty, stupid in love with her. And everything was going to be okay. "Stop being so flawless," Charlotte whispered, and when she kissed him, all he heard was music.

Notes

Also a requested fic for someone that I used to know/be very close to. I came close to deleting it, as thinking about that certain person makes me sad. However, I am happy with the way the story goes in general so I decided to keep it. Hopefully others will like it. Thanks. (:
xox
E.