April 24th, Saturday
The microphone clipped onto Gerard's shirt was starting to piss him off.
Well, it wasn't the microphone itself, but the wires running down his shirt did. They tickled his skin and the tape to keep it down was irritating. He didn't even know why they didn't have those damned wireless microphones like everywhere else in the world.
"Gerard, hun," said Juliet as she patted down his unruly black hair, "are you sure you don't want me to come out there with you? I can, if you want?"
The dark-haired boy laughed and swatted at her small hands playfully, smiling indulgently at her. She was much more like a mother to him than his own ever was and he loved it. "No, I will be fine, but thank you, Juliet," he chuckled.
Mikey and Frank sidled up beside him, both tugging at their clothes nervously, Frank more so than Mikey. Because that kid gave Mona Lisa a run for her money. "We're on in five," stated Mr.Poker Face, who then straightened his shirt again and flicked off a piece of lint.
"You ready, Gee?" Frank asked smiling at the boy. He nodded and beamed back. Frank leaned up onto his toes and kissed his cheek, making them go a faint red. Gerard still wasn't entirely sure how to react to these displays of affection, but he sure as hell wasn't going to reject them. It's a funny notion, really.
A man with a headset on and a clipboard skidded to a stop in front of them, panting out a "Go on set" before sprinting off again. The boys nodded to each other and shuffled out onto the set, sitting on the bright red couch that kind of hurt Gerard's eyes if he looked at it for too long.
Minutes later, as the friends bantered lightly, their host came trotting in, immaculate blonde hair combed perfectly and pencil skirt sticking to her legs. She looked nice enough, although her somewhat heavy makeup reminded Mikey of his mother.
"Good morning, boys," she chirped, settling herself gently into the chair next to the couch. She too had a clip-on microphone on the lapel of her maroon blazer. "You must be Frank, Gerard, and Michael, right?" she asked, gesturing to them respectively.
At least she knew their names.
"That's right," confirmed Frank, nodding in affirmation.
She grinned. "Great! Well, my name is Cathy Dion. It's very nice to meet you guys. The show should be starting in a few seconds, so get comfortable."
Gerard looked at Frank, who smiled reassuringly and patted his knee gently.
"And we're live in three, two, one!" the same guy in the headset counted, pointing at them when he reached the last number.
"Good morning, New Jersey! This morning, we have the famed 'Boy in the Basement', Gerard Way, and his brother and their friend, Michael Way and Frank Iero. Now Gerard," she said, turning to him now rather than the camera, "tell us, exactly how long were you in the horrid basement?"
Gerard looked incredulous. "I would not call it horrid; I spent the best years of my life down there." Cathy looked surprised and confused. "I spent pretty much all of the years of my life in that basement. They are the best by default."
She laughed genuinely, seemingly enjoying the conversation. "You're very technical, aren't you?"
Frank and Mikey burst into abrupt giggles, gaining raised eyebrows from the spectators. "Oh man," Frank wheezed, "You have no idea. When we first found him, he didn't know any of the idioms. One day, I said something about 'The cat's out of the bag!' and Gerard actually started looking through my bag for a cat!"
Gerard did not look amused.
"Oh my," she chortled, "well, Gerard seems like quite the character. Anyway, could you answer the question, Gerard?"
"Oh yeah, it was about fourteen years, more or less," he said, looking to the ceiling for affirmation. Mikey nodded sadly, squeezing his brother's knee tightly. Gerard glanced over at him and grinned.
Frank sighed, shaking his head and gazing solemnly at the boy. He just didn't see the gravity of his situation. He didn't realize just how detrimental this whole event was. But maybe that was for the best; his mentality was fragile enough as it was.
Cathy looked on pityingly. "Oh dear, that's unfortunate. Frank, do you mind telling us how you found Gerard, please?" she requested, smiling gently at the boys.
He looked at his friends, who nodded slowly, Gerard with more enthusiasm than his brother. "Alright, sure. Well, my Mom, Juliet, needed counseling for an undisclosed reason, so we went to the Way's. Mrs.Way told me not to go to the basement. Because I'm a teenage boy, I completely disregarded her orders and went right in, first thing. And that's where I found Gee; curled up in the corner and sounding like he hadn't spoken in a while," he concluded, shooting glances at Gerard, who looked thoughtful and completely enraptured in the story he had experienced himself.
"Actually," he muttered, "at that point, I had not spoken in about a week."
"Oh," she cooed, "I could just eat you up!"
"Please don't."
A smile suddenly sprang onto Frank's face. "Hey, you're using more contractions now!" he exclaimed, eyes lighting up.
He shrugged. "You seem to be rubbing off on me."

Notes

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