So Long and Good Night

He glanced down at his watch and saw that the time read '9:37'

"Jesus, I really need a different schedule." The man muttered under his breath. Letting out a quiet sigh, he kept pressing on. The air around him was gradually losing its warmth, and fading into cool night air.

He turned his gaze upward and, despite the brightly lit city streets, saw the faint glow of stars peeking out in the dark night sky. The horizon was still glowing a soft shade of orange and was fading off into the deep navy ocean of the sky. Looking around a bit, he finally spotted the silver, crescent moon floating among the stars.

Smiling slightly to himself, he looked back down to the ground around his body and then down to the black Converse sneakers on his walking feet. Then up to his stretching legs, clothed in dark denim skinny jeans. Then finally to the hem of his jacket that hit him at the top of his thighs.

The man was rounding the last corner that lead to the little corner shop that he always stopped at after was shift at the studio. The Starbucks a block away from his Manhattan apartment.

He sped up his pace slightly, taking longer strides, to get to the glass door. His feet carried him up the steps as his arm was already reaching for the cold metal handle. He quickly grabbed it and pulled the heavy door into himself with ease, and stepped through the threshold in one long stride.

Taking in a deep breath through his nostrils, he smiled on the inside and glided over to the front counter on quiet feet.

"Hello, Sir. How may I help you tonight?" Asked the young girl that was standing behind the counter.

"Why hello, April," He replied, reading the woman's name off of the gold nametag pinned to her work apron. "I'll have an iced coffee with a shot of vanilla."

"All right, iced with vanilla," She replied, tapping the computer screen in front of her, "is that all for you?"

"Yes, thanks." He replied with a smile, reaching around and fishing is wallet from his back pocket.

"Great. Your total will come to four dollars and 37 cents." She stated, watching the man in front of her file through the bills in his leather wallet.

He smiled, and pilled out a five dollar bill and placed it down on the counter.

"From five. Okay, Sir 63 is your change," she stated, handing him a small pile of coins. "and here's your drink."

"Thanks." He said, taking the change and his plastic cup.

"Have a good night." She said as he turned and walked over to a vacant table in the corner, in front of the large shop window. He gently set down the coffee and slid up onto one of the stools that were positioned around the table. Leaning forwards, he reached around and pulled out his iPhone from the pocket sewed onto the butt of his jeans, and quickly turned it on, talking a sip through the green straw in the process.

As he was flicking his finger across the screen, scrolling through his Twitter feed, the phone started vibrating in his hand, startling the man slightly.

"Mikey: hey man where are ya..." Read a little banner that popped up at the top of his screen.

"Really Mikes? While I'm on Twitter?" he thought to himself. Sighing, he tapped the little banner right as it was flipping away. He waited impatiently for the text messages to load. Showing the conversation from his brother at the top. A little blue dot right beside it.

The man clicked on the rectangular box that held messages to and from his younger brother in it, and read the full message he had sent.

"hey man where r ya? u were supposed to b here 20 min ago."

He leaned back and rubbed his palm across his forehead, remembering now that he had promised that he would be at his brother's right after work.

"Damn, Mikes. sorry, I'm sitting here at starbucks. be there in a little bit." He finished typing and concluded the message by pressing send.

Shortly after, the 'Delivered' under his green message bubble turned to 'Read' and Mikey was typing.

"Kay, see you then." Was his simply stated reply as the bubble appeared on his screen. And with that, he was out of his seat and grabbing his coffee and was walking to the door with quiet steps. His fingers wrapped themselves around the cool silver handle as he pushed on it lightly.

With a slight skip to his step, the man hopped down the stoop stairs and onto the paved sidewalk. Walking east to his brother's house, just a few blocks down from his own apartment. As he walked, his hand wondered up and brushed his long fingers though his messy, dyed red locks, and flopped them over to one side of his head.

The few short blocks to the house were rather boring, seeing as this man wasn't a good multitask-er. So, he had to just walk, not be on his phone and walk. Because, we all know how that might end, especially in the dark.

With a short sigh, the man quickly knocked on the red front door and stepped back, stuffing his hands down into his pants pockets and shrugging his shoulders up slightly. As he kept shifting his weight back and forth between his feet, the door opened, to reveal Mikey.

"Hey, man. 'bout time you got here." He chuckled, stepping aside and gesturing his brother inside.

"Sorry, dude. I got stuck at work and then I just forgot." he replied, stepping inside and patting Mikey on the shoulder.

"Well, you missed Alicia..." Mikey started slowly, "we wanted to tell you together, but she won't be home again tonight."

"Oh? Why's that?" The man asked, sitting down on the couch.

"One of her girlfriends invited her over for a girls' night after dinner. Ah well, I don't wanna push this off any longer." Mikey stated, sitting down opposite his brother.

"Well, get on with it then." He insisted, a smile pulling at his lips.

"All right, all right. So, as my brother, you deserve to know first. So here it is," Mikey hesitated, a huge grin plastered across his face the whole time, "Alicia and I are pregnant."

"Holy shit! That's amazing news, Mikes!" The man cried, standing up quickly to hug his brother. "You're gonna be a daddy, huh?"

"Yes, sir." Mikey stated proudly, the smile on his face only growing.

"When did you guys find out?"

"Oh about two weeks ago. We would have told you sooner but with it being our first, we didn't want to jump the gun and find out it was false or whatever." Mikey replied.

"Well, either way, congratulations." The man said, hugging his little brother once again.
"Thanks man." Mikey beamed.

"Hey listen. I'm sorry, Mikey, but I gotta run." The man said, inching towards the door.

"Oh it's no problem." He said reassuring his brother.

"All right, cool. Hey and you take care of her." The man teased, waving at his brother before stepping out the door.

"I will." Mikey chuckled, closing the door behind the man.

He jumped down the steps and back onto the sidewalk, heading back to his own apartment. He made this commute home a bit slower than normal, just to contemplate the fact that in nine moths, he would be an uncle for the first time in his life. Sure, he was a but jealous that his litter brother had settled down before him and was already starting a family, but he was overjoyed for him all the same. And, to think about it, this man had a special case scenario . But that detail gets explained shortly.

The man smiled slightly to himself as he was walking up the flights of stairs to is top-floor apartment, just glad to be home after a long day. As he rounded the sharp corner the lead to the last flight of steps, he was stopped short in his tracks. stopping himself just short of running into the man that stood in front of him.

He looked down, slightly started to see someone coming down the stairs at this time on night. Especially from the top floor, because he himself as the only one that lived up there. the only other complex had been vacant for years.

"Excuse me, sir. I do apologize for that." The man blurted out frantically.

"Hey, it's no problem. should have been paying attention. I'm just not used to anyone else on this floor." He replied with a small smile.

"Oh okay. So you're my new neighbor then!" The shorter man stated happily.

"So you're the lucky one that finally moved into 6-H." He stated matter-of-factly.

"Yes, I suppose I am. And by the way, my name is Frank, Frank Iero." The man said, extending his hand quickly.

"Hello, Frank. I'm Gerard, Gerard Way." He smiled, taking Frank's hand firmly in his own, and starting the beginning of something amazing.

Notes