Sitting on his bunk, he couldn't help but look over the things in the old wooden box she had made for him years ago, his fingers itched to open it and look through its contents yet again. It was ugly, painted a deep green color because she had told him that it matched his eyes, teal tripes were painted over the olive color, little red stars were randomly placed on there as well. He couldn't part from it, as much as he had wanted to, as many times as he had tried, something just always stopped him.

He thought it fitting that he put all his memories of her in there, where they belonged, stowed away and out of his conscious mind. Out of sight, especially of those with prying eyes, which he knew Anna had acquired as of late. Anna wondered about her, she had a right to, he never spoke about her when all the others did, but it was obvious how much it pained him, how much he still felt.

It wasn't fair to his loving girlfriend, he knew, but he couldn't part from the stupid thing, or from the things inside of it for that matter. They held at his heart strings even though he had long since tried to cut them away, they always managed to grow back, or maybe they had never been severed at all.

He didn't look at the things often, he tried not to anyway, it was too painful, made him too angry. When he looked over the pictures taken, the sketches drawn and paintings made, the notes and stories written, the tokens of her affection for him, little memoirs...it just made him rageful. But, even now he couldn't help but wonder where she was, if she thought of him, if she missed him, if she still...loved him.

He knew that he shouldn't, he had a girlfriend after all, plus it was never good for one's self to dwell in the past. But, when it came to her, he couldn't control himself, and that had been the problem all along now hadn't it?

Mikey had told him that he was being to harsh on himself after these past years, Ray told him to stop being such a drama queen about the whole thing, the past was the past and to let resting dogs lie. But, none of them had been there, they hadn't seen the look in her eyes, hadn't heard the words tumble from her lips. No. They would never truly know. Frank had been the only one with any useful advice; go after her.

Sometimes he wished he had.

He knew that he didn't have much time to sift through the things, they were due onstage in an hour or two, but he couldn't help the longing he felt. With a sigh he pulled out the pictures, thumbing through them until he found the one he wanted, the one he always started with. He should've known then, he did know then, what he would eventually feel for her.

Things were so simple back then, what he would give to be there once more, to be with her again...

---

"Gerard, this is Marjorie, you remember her don't you? Now be a good boy and go play while Grandma talks to her friend Auntie Sylvia."

Gerard looked at the girl in question, Marjorie, what a silly name. Of course he remembered her, she was tall for a girl her age, skinny with long legs. She wasn't ugly, like some of the girls in their class, she had long pale strawberry-blonde hair that curled and waved around her, and wide ocean colored eyes. Her skin was uncommonly pale, like his, and he could clearly see the freckles that populated her nose and cheekbones.

She walked over to him, smiling wide, and extended her hands towards his. "Wanna go play?" She looked him over, shaggy black hair, pale skin, olive eyes, dirty jeans and a collared shirt.

Of course she remembered him, they'd only been playing together practically since birth. Their parents were both working class stiffs that shipped them over to their grandmother's whenever they could. Elena and Sylvia were best friends, it was only natural that when they had their grandkids over, they would join them together. It had only been a month or so since they last saw each other, before school let out. Why people thought six year olds were stupid was beyond her.

"I'm not playing Barbies," He thought for a moment, looking her over. "or dress up."

She rolled her eyes at him and took his hand, dragging him across the yard to where little Mikey sat next to a wooden picnic table, playing with his toy trucks. On the table was paper, crayons, markers, and more. Gerard was instantly excited and picked out all the colors he wanted before sitting down and starting a picture. The mid-July sun beat down on their pale faces as they colored and talked about school and their friends. They would be starting First grade in September and Marjorie obviously seemed to be more excited than Gerard.

"Why aren't you excited, Gee? We're going to be First graders now, thats like, up there. People are gonna have to listen to us."

He shrugged his shoulders, "I dunno, I just don't like school. You know the other kids make fun of me...I just wanna draw all day." his eyes got a far off look in them and she couldn't hep but get excited with him.

"So, you wanna be like a real artist, Gee?" He nodded, going back to work on his picture intently. "Well, when you get famous you can't forget me okay and you have to paint a picture of me on the beach. No! In New York City."

He chuckled at the pitch of her voice. "Okay, Ree."

"Promise?"

He looked up into her eyes, suddenly serious. "I promise."

The smiles returned to their faces and they continued to draw in silence, the only sounds were the traffic coming from up the road, until Gerard put down in colored pencil and exclaimed, "Done!" Marjorie looked up at him and he handed her the picture. It was simple, a field of dandelions, a tree with a swing and the sun setting. Simple, but beautiful nonetheless. Even as a six year old Gerard had big talent, and big dreams.

"One day, when we're old, like twenty, I'm gonna to buy us a house with a backyard like that."

She smiled, "It's beautiful, Gee." If only she knew, she would come to say that phrase many times in her life, and for many different reasons.

"You'll live with me, right?"

"Duh."

He smiled bright, and watched as she ran her fingers over picture softly. "Keep it." She looked at him with confused eyes, "The picture, keep it. So you'll remember."

Marjorie tucked a lock of hair behind her ear and smiled at him. Elena and Sylvia called them in for lunch, Gerard took Mikey's hand and followed her inside to eat.

---

Four years later and things hadn't changed...much...

"And again." the piano part started over, making him groan and glance at the clock. "Come on Gerard, we have to practice, the show is this weekend."

He rolled his eyes and continued to sing. He enjoyed singing, he was good at it and it made his Grandma happy, he liked to see her happy. But, if he had known that auditioning for their school's production of Peter Pan would've meant this much work and dedication, then he most certainly would've resisted a bit more at Marjorie and his Grandmother's pleas.

He saw Mikey laughing silently from the kitchen, where he sat at the bar eating a bowl of cereal, and when his grandmother wasn't looking he flipped Mikey off. "Gerard Arthur! I don't want to see you do that again. Do you understand me?"

He sighed, "Yes, Grandma."

He watched Marjorie walk into the room and smack Mikey upside the head softly, he chuckled at Mikey's appalled look and at Marjorie's wink. She walked over to where he was standing beside the piano, her eyebrows raised at his attire. "Ah, and here's our Wendy now. You're staying for dinner I presume."

Marjorie smiled, "Yeah, my grandma said she'll come around eight, is that okay Aunt Elena?"

Elena smiled at the young girl, she really was the spitting image of her dear friend Sylvia. It's funny how things skip a generation, like how her daughter had no musical talent whatsoever, but her grandson Gerard had the voice of an angel. She watched as her grandson looked at Marjorie shyly for a few moments, moving around consciously in his tights.

"Of course its fine, dear."

She giggled lightly, looking at Gerard’s outfit. "I didn't know we were wearing our costumes, I would've brought mine."

Gerard blushed slightly, "She made me wear it."

Marjorie pinched his thigh, snapping his tights, giggling as he yelped and swatted her hand away. Elena suppressed a smiled and started the song back up again for both of them to sing, "And, a one, and a two, and a..."

They sang together as Wendy and Peter Pan, flying around the living room while Elena laughed and played. It was charming to see her grandson so comfortable with himself while in the presence of little Marjorie, but she wasn't blind, she could see the look starting in his eyes, the blush on his cheeks. They had better end up together before she died, or she would be really pissed in the afterlife, that was for sure.

While they were rehearsing the play, Gerard brought Mikey in to play Captain Hook, although, that didn't turn out too well. During the "Sword Fight" scene, Gerard jabbed to hard and pushed Mikey over, making him cry. Elena decided that was enough practice for the day and went to start dinner as soon as Mikey calmed down.

"You okay Michael?"

He looked up, teary eyed, at Marjorie and nodded his head. She sat down on the carpet next to him and smoothed down his unruly brown hair. She always found it odd, the differences between Michael and Gerard. While Gerard had long-ish black hair and olive green eyes, Michael had lighter brown hair that stuck up at odd angles naturally and hazel eyes. She handed him his glasses, which he put on after wiping at his eyes with little fists, and managed a smile at Marjorie.

"Ree, do yo wanna play Go Fish with me?"

She smiled at him and nodded her head, he jumped up and ran to get the cards. They played Go Fish while she waited for Gerard to finnish getting changed. She sighed and shook her head, her brows furrowed. "Michael, how is it you always win?"

"Cause he's a cheat."

Mikey looked up at Gerard, who came bounding down the stairs in jeans and an Iron Maiden shirt, with a frown on his face. "I don't cheat Gee! I'm just good at card games."

Gerard rolled his eyes and stuck his hand out for Marjorie to take, "Come on, lets go listen to music."

She looked over to Mikey and smiled before standing up with Gerard and going with him up the stairs. "We'll play later Michael, okay?" He smiled at her, cleaning up the cards. "Okay Ree."

---

"Are you nervous?"

She looked over at him from where he stood a few curtains up from here, she bit at her lip and furrowed her brows. "Kinda."

He nodded, "Yeah, me too."

She smiled wide at his blatant response, he knew her too well. She was nervous, just as he was, but them being them, they would never admit it. He was too stubborn, she was too, they were the same and so different.

He looked over her costume, she was the perfect Wendy, with her pale strawberry hair pinned back from her face and curled wonderfully, the light blue night gown that she donned brought out the seafoam of her eyes instead of its usual greenish hue. She would be spectacular, just as she had told him that he would be, he had faith in them, they would be perfect.

They came out and took their bow, smiling like fools. People cheered and clapped, and gave a standing ovation. They held each other's hand for the rest of the night, posing for pictures and receiving praise and flowers. They walked over to their parents and Grandmothers, "Did you like it?"

"Were we good?"

"You were so right, I did need to hit that note in the second song."

Questions like that flowed out of their little mouths and the answers came, they went out to dinner with their families, still in costume and for once didn't mind when Mikey laughed at them.

---

It was days after Belleville's production of Peter Pan that Gerard announced to his grandmother that he didn't want to sing anymore. Sporting a black eye helped sway her into accepting his decision. "Gerard! What happened?"

He looked down at his old trainers, "I got beat up."

Elena looked appalled, she had been making dinner when she heard Gerard come in the front door from school. "By whom?!"

He looked up at his grandmother, whom he loved very much, anger, sadness, and humiliation shown brightly in his green eyes. "By some of the older boys, they called me a fag because 'I like to sing'." Elena gave him ice covered in a towel and told him to press it gently against his face. She honestly didn't know what to say, boys had beat up her grandson because he showed a passion for singing.

"I'm-I'm not singing anymore. I don’t want to be known as this weird singer kid, I’m into other things like comics and Iron Maiden."

Elena just nodded her head, not knowing what else to do. She couldn't force Gerard to do something he honestly didn't want to do, if he didn't want to sing anymore then that was his choice. She watched as he furrowed his eyebrows in concentration, "The worst part was that Marjorie was right there when it happened. She yelled at them to stop and I thought they were going to beat her up too, but they didn't. They knew they'd get in even more trouble if they did."

As if on cue, the door burst open and Marjorie stormed in. "Gerard? Gerard, where are you?" She ran into the kitchen and over to him, hugging him tight. "You're okay?"

He nodded his head, obviously embarrassed. Marjorie turned to Elena and proceeded to tell her the whole story of what happened, seeming as though she wasn't breathing once.

Notes

Just starting off with their friendship, next chapter is older them. Tell me how you like it.