Mikey tried to compose himself when he heard Bob wake up, he had joined him in the lounge and thankfully, due to not being a morning person at all, didn't say anything other than a rough 'good morning'.
Ray woke up half an hour later, right before Frank and Gerard came back on the bus and somehow Mikey felt some relief at the lack of space around him.
It meant that he didn't really have to think about Pete and what he might have done, but could rather just sit around and listen to his brother, Frank and Ray talking while Bob was making another pot of coffee.

"Bob come over here for a second" Gerard called towards their so-called kitchen, he seemed slightly nervous and Mikey could already guess what he was about to say from the sweet and hopeful smile Frank was giving him.
The drummer shuffled back to the lounge, sat down next to Ray and clunked the coffee pot down on the table, roughly enough to spill a few drops "help yourselves" he grunted.
Gerard took a deep breath "so".
"So what" Bob again grunted.
Mikey nodded towards his brother to continue, he didn't really understand what was so hard about confessing something as obvious as his love for Frank.
Gerard scraped his throath "Frank and I made up and now we're dating" he spilled out almost too quick to sound coherent.
Suddenly Bob looked ten times more awake and he shared a quick look with Ray who then turned to Frank and Gerard.

"So when was your first date" he asked sickly sweet.
"Uh..this morning actually" Frank answered, now holding Gerard's hand like he'd done earlier this morning.
"Hmmm" Bob hummed "and who asked who out?".
Both Gerard and Frank looked a little confused now and shrugged "it was kind of a mutual agreement to go for breakfast I think?" Frank said a little unsure.
Now Mikey sat up and raised his hand "well actually, I now understand why my brother abandoned me by only asking you for breakfast, it was a date" he declared.
Ray's eyes lit up "so Gerard asked Frank out".
"I guess?" Gerard answered, not understanding the sudden concern of his band members.

"I knew it! I win, I told you so Bob" Ray said with a giant, smug grin on his face.
Bob angrily crossed his arms and sunk back into the couch "damn it" he muttered.
"Wait, what the fuck is going on?" Frank asked.
Bob sighed "we had a bet on which one of you dipshits would ask the other out first".
Ray nodded proudly "yes, and thanks to Gerard, Bob here gets to be my loyal servant for the next 24 hours".
Mikey snickered "ah great, can't wait to see how that turns out".

Their conversation was interrupted by a loud banging noise coming from the door, and when no one else took the effort Frank got up to see who was trying to smash in the window to their bus door.
He opened it and was pushed aside by an anxious looking Pete who made his way to the lounge.
"Well hello to you too asshole" Frank muttered before following Pete to join his bandmates, however he didn't expect to see one of his bandmates staring at Pete with tears in his eyes.
"Mikey what's wrong?" Gerard asked his little brother, casting invisible daggers at Pete with his eyes.
Mikey got up and folded his arms "you could better ask him" he bit angrily and all five of them were now staring at Pete, who was standing in the middle looking lost and ashamed.

"Mikey please I can explain" he asked and now it was Gerard who got up and took stance infront of Mikey, completely showing off his role as protective older brother.
Their gazes shifted when Ray scraped his throath "guys I just remembered, Frank, Bob, Gerard and me have this..thing Brian wanted us to do so why don't we just leave the two of you alone for a little while".
Bob and Frank looked at eachother and muttered something in agreement while they made their way towards the door, followed by Ray who gave Mikey a reassuring look.
Frank however, walked back and tried to pull Gerard with him who wouldn't budge "no Frank, I'm not leaving Mikey here alone" he said.
Mikey turned Gerard around and whispered something in his ear, after which Gerard backed away a little and looked his brother in the eyes "are you sure?".
Mikey nodded and gave Gerard a kiss on his cheek, Frank smiled and grabbed Gerard's hand to lead them outside.

Bob and Ray were already a few feet ahead of them, bickering about their bet, Ray's victory and Bob's loss.
Frank wrapped an arm around Gerard's waist and pecked a kiss on his neck "hey don't worry, it's probably nothing".
Gerard reciprocated the move by putting is own arm around Frank's shoulder, pulling him as close as he could while walking "I know but I just don't want to see him get hurt".
"Mikey is a big boy and if him and Pete are going to have a mature relationship they'll fight every now and then, I won't expect anything different from you and me" Frank casually said.
Gerard was surprised by this "so you think you and me will have fights too, why would we fight, I didn't even do anything, why would you want to have a fight?" he stammered.
Frank laughed "would you calm down already, I'm not saying that we have to fight, but it's healthy every now and then, as long as we make up it doesn't matter dipshit".
"Hey!" Gerard protested stopping right in his tracks.

He looked hilariously cute with his lips pouting and his greasy bangs covering his frown "come here" Frank giggled and he cupped one hand behind Gerard's head to pull him closer.
Their lips touched and Frank softly sighed as he pulled away "I'll never get tired of kissing you" and he looped his arm back around Gerard, who took this as the cue to start walking again.
"You only like me for my lips don't you" he said dramatically.
"Hmm yes, they are so soft and sweet" Frank murmured dreamily.
Gerard giggled and rolled his eyes, they were slowly catching up on Ray and Bob when they heard the word party.
Frank let go of Gerard and jumped on Bob's back, who made a pained noise "damn it, get off of me you little shit".
"Who said something about a party?" Frank asked holding on for dear life as Bob tried to shake him off "Ray could you please tell Bob to keep still".
Ray laughed "sorry Bob, I think Frankie deserves a ride, his short legs must be tired".
Now it was Gerard who laughed at the sight of a pissed off Bob and a Frank who looked annoyed by the mentioning of his height, or rather the lack of it compared to his bandmembers.
"Ha ha very funny Toro, now as I was saying: what party were you guys talking about?" he asked.

"Brian just texted me, since I seem to be the only one who ever checks his phone, that they're throwing a party at some mansion tonight to celebrate the end of the tour" Bob explained.
Gerard raised an eyebrow "but we have bus call at 7 tonight".
"If you would actually listen to what Brian's saying every now and then you'd know that our final tourstop is in a town only two hours away, we get there at 9, party our asses off and wake up somewhere around noon".
"Sounds good to me" Frank said.
Suddenly Ray stopped walking "wait guys, where are we going?".
The other two stopped walking too and Gerard looked at Frank "we were just kinda' following you guys" he shrugged.
Ray checked his phone "well we've only been walking for about 10 minutes, so who's up for coffee, there's a Starbucks down the road".
"Always" Gerard said and he already started walking again with Ray followed closely behind him.
"Well you heard the fine gentlemen, Starbucks it is, giddy up horsie" Frank smirked and dug his heels in Bob's side.
"I fucking swear Iero, I don't give a shit about that bet, do that again and I'll stuff your ass in the nearest trashcan" he grunted as he started to trudge after Ray and Gerard.

-
They remained silent until they heard the bus door close and Mikey sat back down in the couch "so is this the part where you're gonna tell me that it wasn't what it looked like?" he muttered bitterly.
Pete nervously ran a hand through his hair, bounced on his feet a little uncertain before taking a step to sit down next to Mikey, who slid away to the edge of the couch.
Pete stared at the floor "no, it was what it looked like" he admitted quietly.
Mikey snapped his head and stared at Pete "you aren't even gonna try to hide the fact that youcheated on me?" he bit angrily.
"No, you deserve better than having a cheating boyfriend, let alone one who lies about it" Pete said sadly, staring up at Mikey with tears in his eyes.

He pulled his knees up and wrapped his arms around them, not bothering to kick off his shoes, in an attempt to fend off the pain of betrayel that krept up on him "why?" he asked, barely loud enough to hear.
Pete reached a hand out to touch Mikey, but immediately pulled back when he saw him flinch "because I love you" he whispered.
Mikey's eyes went from surprise to rage in two seconds tops and he jumped up from the couch, his arms pressed against the sides of his body with his fists clenched thightly "you did it because you love me?".

When Pete didn't respond Mikey ran both his hands through his hair and shook his head "No..No you don't fucking love me, because I love you and I would never, ever cheat on you" he spat bitterly.
Now Pete got up, he silently walked over to Mikey and took his hands to grab his from his hair and held them in his own "that's because you're a better man than me Mikey Way, stronger, but believe me when I tell you that I love you."
Eventhough he wanted to, Mikey didn't pull his hands from Pete's grip, instead he stood still with tears starting to run down his cheeks "then why Pete? Please it hurts so bad" he pleaded.

Pete had wrapped his arms around himself and was no longer trying to hold back; tears were tracing wet patterns from his eyes down to the edge of his jaw "you love me too much, and we need to be fucking honest with eachother, tomorrow is the last day of this tour and after that we won't even see echother for atleast six months."
"So you fucking cheat on me and you don't even try to hide it, just right in the parking lot for everyone to see?" Mikey yelled out in desperation.
"I needed you to see, I need you to let go of me because summer is almost over and what happens to us after that? We'll be on one side of the world each for six months, we'll die a slow death, this way you can forgive me one day and be friends again".

Mikey listened and became angrier with every new word that spilled from his so called lover's mouth "and who the fuck are you to decide that for me? What is my say in this? I thought we could pull through, for fuck's sake I believed in us".
He started pacing "and why the hell are you telling me about your master plan now, you could've just told me that I'm not worth the fight?".
Pete walked up to Mikey and grabbed his face between his hands "don't you ever say that, you are worth the fight, it's just that I'm too much of a coward to fight, I'd rather hurt than be in pain myself and the moment Joe told me that you were looking at us I knew that I'd made a mistake. Not just with the cheating but the whole idea was stupid".
He leaned his forhead against Mikey's "you're right: you are a fucking coward, because I love you so fucking much and I would've done anything to make this work-" he didn't finish his sentence but instead put his hands on Pete's face and pulled his lips against his own.
The kiss was harsh and desperate, a last plea on Mikey's behalf to show that Pete had nothing to be afraid of.

When he pulled away Pete was staring at him wide eyed and lost, all Mikey wanted to do was hold him in his arms and tell him that they would make it through.
But looking at Pete and what he did shattered that whole idea; Pete loved him, he loved Pete but in a case like their own love apparantly wasn't enough, atleast not for Pete.
Mikey suddenly felt defeated, he could've known, he looked at the man infront of him one last time before he muttered "get out".
Pete reached out for him "Mikey.." he said desperately.
"No Pete, please, I can't, just go" Mikey slumped down to the floor and leaned back against the wall, he had to be alone, he needed a moment of sollitude to accept what just happened and how big the contrast between today and yesterday was.
Pete just nodded and turned around, he slowly made his way to the door, opened it and before he stepped down the stairs he looked back one last time at Mikey who suddenly looked years younger.

Mikey watched Pete close the door behind him from his spot on the floor, where he remained until he heard his friends outside, he dragged himself to his bunk before they even got on the bus, he wasn't ready to pretend he was alright, that was a show he'd perform on stage in an hour or two.