“Guys, the silence is killing me,” Frank grumbled, lifting his arm away from his face and glancing down at the two bunks closest to the floor, both curtains drawn. He looked over at Ray who was bobbing his head to whatever streamed through his headphones and sighed. It had never been so awkward. “Hello?”

The curtain to one of the bunks pulled back slightly and Mikey poked his head around it, his eyes bleary from sleeping. “What?”

“I said this shit is fucking awkward,” Frank repeated and leaned over the side of the bunk. “What the fuck is going on?”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Mikey grumbled, disappearing back behind his curtain.

“Are you kidding me?” Frank grabbed a stuffed monkey shoved beside his pillow and tossed it across the aisle. It hit the closed curtain with a soft thud and fell to the floor. When no one responded to his half-hearted attempt at being annoyed, Frank shuffled around for something heavier and grinned when he pulled a tennis ball from the depths of his comforter.

“What the fuck, man!” Gerard exclaimed when it smacked the curtain and disappeared behind it. The fabric ripped back and Gee glared up at him, his eye twitching and he lobbed the ball back at him.

Frank dodged it and it hit the wall of the bus and bounced onto the floor, rolling under a pile of clothes scattered under the bunks. He flashed a shit eating grin and Gerard scowled, pulling his ear buds from his ears and setting his iPod aside.

“What do you want, Frank?” he grumbled, resting his chin on his hand.

“I want to know why it’s so fucking awkwardly silent. What the hell happened?” Gerard opened his mouth to reply but Frank held up his hand, cutting him off. “And don’t even say you don’t want to talk about it.”

Gerard groaned and rubbed his eye, “Mikey’s mad at me.”

“Why?”

Before Gerard could reply the curtain hiding Mikey ripped back and he leaned out to glare at Frank. “Because he’s a dick.”

Rolling his eyes, Frank rested a hand behind his head, “That doesn’t answer my question.”

The brothers turned their glares on each other and Mikey scowled. “He’s been putting the moves on Dom for almost six months behind my back. I think I have the right to be pissed off.”

“If you’d just let me explain—” Gerard started but Mikey flipped him off and closed the curtain to his bunk again. “God damn it!”

Frank couldn’t help but chuckle at the small tiff but stopped when Gee turned his glare back on him.

“What?”

“Fuck you.”

“Hey, I just wanted to know what’s going on,” Frank shrugged, glancing at Ray for help only to see him bobbing his head and writing in his beat up notebook, completely oblivious to the tension in the small space.

Gerard shook his head, disappearing behind his curtain, the room returning to its awkward, tense state. Frank leaned back into his pillow and sighed. “Well that changed nothing.”

For a few minutes the silence endured until Mikey emerged again, ignoring Frank as he made his way toward the front of the bus. The aroma of coffee filled the air and the microwave beeped. He was reheating a cup of Starbucks they’d grabbed before they left. When he returned he leaned against the bunks and crossed his arms over his chest, blowing the top of the paper cup and taking a quick sip.

“Ow,” he grumbled. “Hot.”

Taking his chance, Frank broke the silence, nudging Mikey with his knee. “So what happened while I was off with Nat?”

“I don’t want to talk about it, Frank,” he grumbled into his cup, keeping his eyes on his beverage.

“Well too bad. If you don’t tell me I’m going to call Dom myself.”

“Don’t!” Mikey turned, his eyes wide. For a split second he stood there frozen, a look of sheer panic on his face before he realized his action and his face relaxed into it’s calm demeanor.

“Then explain to me why you’re so pissed off about this girl. I could have told you they were sneaking around from the day it started, man. It was so obvious. That fact that you’re so surprised is cute, actually,” he chuckled.

“You knew?” Mikey scowled at him.

“Yeah,” he nodded. “Who didn’t know? Hell, Brian knew and he hung out with Dom, what, once?”

“Great,” Mikey groaned. “Fucking great. And nobody thought to tell me that my fucking brother was porking my best friend? Wouldn’t you think that’s something I’d want to know?”

“Well, I didn’t know they were sleeping together or anything, they were just spending a lot of time together and shit. And there was definitely a lot of tension between them.”

“You know I can fucking hear you,” Gerard yanked the curtain to his bunk back and climbed out. Frank rolled his eyes.

“Maybe I want you to hear,” Frank grinned and Gee flipped him off, his glare on Mikey.

“Why don’t you just hear me out?”

“Because I don’t want to hear your stupid excuses.”

“I’m not making excuses, Mikey!” Gerard yelled. “I’m trying to tell you that I wasn’t trying to sneak around behind your back. I understood what she was going through and I offered my help, man. She didn’t want to dump all her shit on you because she didn’t know how you’d take it. She had herself busted in two trying to be this perfect girl that you made her out to be and still deal with all the shit on her plate. She just wanted a shoulder to lean on and we ended up becoming really close. I don’t know why you’d hold that against me.” Gerard’s chest heaved from speaking so quickly. He raked his hair from his face and rested his hands on his hips while Mikey eyed his older brother.

The electricity between the two was almost tangible and Frank waited eagerly to see where all the pent up aggression would lead. He bit back a laugh when Mikey’s fist balled at his side, his other hand tightening around his coffee cup.

“You knew I loved her, Gee,” he finally said, the hurt in his tone breaking the angry tension.

Gerard shook his head, “No you loved this perfect idea of her. You might have helped with her sobriety but you don’t know half the shit she had to go through that she couldn’t tell you.”

Mikey’s brow furrowed, “That doesn’t justify you sleeping with her for six months,” his voice broke and he took a sip from his cup and coughed.

Frank shifted uncomfortably in his bunk, suddenly aware of his intrusion into the obviously personal conversation. He tried to keep still, trying hard to quietly shuffle around his small space to find his iPod. When he couldn’t find it he groaned, not wanting to jump down from his bunk and interrupt the heavy silence. Lucky for him, Ray slid his legs over the side of his bunk and hopped to the floor, his headphones resting at the base of his neck. He glanced from Gee to Mikey with a stern face and stood between them, his arms crossed over his chest.

“Really guys?” he muttered.

Both Ways turned their eyes on him, eyebrows raised.

“What?” Mikey was the first to voice the question on their minds.

Scratching the back of his head, Ray sighed, “You’re brothers, you love each other regardless of Dom’s bullshit. The fact that you’re letting her problems get between you because Gerard felt a connection to her and acted on it is ridiculous.” He clapped his hands on both of their shoulders and pushed them toward each other. “Now hug it out or we’re stopping this bus and resolving the bullshit.”

Gerard tried to tug away from Ray’s grip but he only squeezed his arm tighter. Mikey winced, clearly trying to attempt the same but Ray meant business. Sighing in defeat, Mikey took a step forward, wrapping his arms around his older brother.

“I can’t believe I’m doing this right now,” he grumbled into Gerard’s tee shirt. “But he’s right. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologize,” Gee muttered. “I should be the one on hands and knees begging your forgiveness. I fucked up, dude. I should’ve at least talked to you about this shit before sneaking around.”

Nodding, Ray let them go, pulling his headphones over his ears and returning to his bunk. Frank watched with an amused smile as Mikey and Gee broke apart, Gee scratching the back of his neck awkwardly while Mikey stuffed his hand in his pocket and glanced around, still casually holding his coffee. Felling the need to break the awkwardness, Frank sat up and clapped his hands together.

“So, who wants to play some Halo?”