I'll Remember This Night When You're Gone.

I was awakened by an angelic voice, coming from a teenager, or maybe a college student.

“Hello? Sir? Are you well?” He questioned, trying to help me up. I opened my eyes, taking in his features. He had deep, black hair and hazel eyes that I could’ve got lost in. He was wearing a white button up with a black tie and a black suit. I stared into his eyes, wondering why he’d come to help me.

“I’m well, thank you.” I replied. I glanced past the gates of the funeral home to realize that all the cars parked outside the gates were old fashioned, and all the people walking in had ordinary colored hair with ordinary clothes. “Do you happen to have today’s paper? I’m not sure how long I was out.”

“I hope I do,” He pulled a newspaper from his briefcase which was entirely filled with art besides it, and handed it to me. I read the paper, checking the date and realizing where I was. It was still October and I was still in New York City, but I had travelled back into the year 1920. I looked up at him, waiting for him to speak.

“Thank you so much, My name is Frank Iero, what’s yours?”

He spoke up, nervous about people seeing him for some reason. “My name is Gerard Way, trust me, I have an awful reputation and you want nothing to do with me.”

I sat confused as a rock was thrown at him, forcing blood to flow down from his forehead.

“Are you alright, Gerard?” I asked.”What was that about? Why shouldn’t I be seen with you?”

“Nancy boy!” A voice yelled from across the street, but I couldn’t define the gender of the person.

“What does that mean?” I asked, confused.

“You’re from outta town, huh?” He continued. “It means homosexual, I like other men.” He wiped the blood off his forehead.

“Oh….” I understood. I wanted to reply with a “I am too” but this wasn’t the time nor the place to say it.

“Do you have a house? I can drive you.” Gerard rambled.

“I don’t have anywhere to go, I was just here to see my Nonna and I passed out.”

“Would you like to stay with me? I’ve got an extra room.” I nodded and Gerard motioned to his car, which was probably just an average car for that time, but it seemed so interesting to me. “Do you have any clothes or shoes?”

“Um no, I’m running away. I like other guys and my family found out…” I half lied. My family did know, but they were okay with it since it was 2013.

“Oh, I see…. You may stay as long as you need.” Gerard put his briefcase in the backseat and we drove towards what I assumed to be his house, stopping occasionally to fill the gas tank. He lived in an apartment building, and not a nice, clean one. He lived in a shitty, dirty hotel which was probably filled with Gang members, prostitutes, and drug dealers. He led me to his door and opened it, revealing a small living room with barely any furniture along with two other rooms. It had tan walls with green carpet and there were mouse traps along the windows. “Sorry it’s a mess.”

I expected this beautiful man to be in a mansion, or at least a quality apartment. “So, Gerard. What do you do for a living?” I asked.

“I have a few jobs… I draw but my paintings don’t sell. I work as a waiter at some cheap restaurant, and I’m a personal assistant for a CEO and he pays me close to nothing.” He groaned.

“Oh…”

“What do you do?”

“I used to be in a band, but it didn’t work out…” I continued. “I used to work in a little bookstore in Sacramento.” I lied.

“I wish I could be in a band…” He continued. “Or just sing in general…. I wish I could go out in public without getting called a faggot or a nancy boy. The terms just sound so idiotic.”

“So, how did people find out about you being….Queer?” I asked, changing the subject.

“Queer? That’s the term for strange around here… But I guess it does make sense…” He rambled on. “I was kissing a boy in an alley. He killed himself a few days later so he never had to go through all this Nancy Boy-Faggot bullshit. I was 16 when it happened.”

I stood there, realizing how upsetting being different was back in the 1920s. Even in the most accepting places, kissing another guy was completely and utterly disgusting. I decided to tell him what happened since I never really came out.

“My mother caught me having….” I paused. “Relations... With a boy about my age. Not quite sure what happened to him, I hit the road shortly after.” I wasn’t totally lying, because I accidentally did hit the road a year after, and I had no clue about that boy I met at the club.

“Oh… I hope no one else found out about him…”

“He was open about it though, lots of people knew.” I commented. “I don’t think it’s weird or unnatural. I think putting me with a girl would be weird and unnatural.” I joked, trying to brighten up the mood. He laughed, agreeing.

“So, I am 21, how old are you?” Gerard asked.

“I’m almost 20, my birthday is the 31st.” I replied.

“So… Do you need any clothes to wear? I assume you don’t want to wear that suit all day….”

I nodded. “If it’s not too much to ask, yes please.”

Gerard brought me a pair of pajamas, showing me to the guest bedroom. “We have rum and vodka in the fridge if you’d like a drink.”

“I’ll go for a few drinks, thank you, sir.” I tried to make it seem as though I wasn’t some gay teen from 90 years in the future. “How often do you drink?”

“Enough to forget a good amount of my life…” He started laughing, but I didn’t. I sat there, confused at what to say. He was an alcoholic, and he couldn’t get a decent job, and he was also gay and trapped in his time period.

“What would you say if I told you I was from the year 2001?” I asked.

“What place am I in to deny it? I’m not important here, how can I deny if you’re important there?”

“I’m kidding, do you want me to pour a drink or two?” I asked, covering up the fact that I really wasn’t from here.

“Depends, how drunk are we planning on getting?” He laughed a bit, grabbing all his rum, vodka, pop, and tequila from the fridge.

“Damn, why do you even have tequila?” I joked. “Last time I drank that, I woke up on some guy’s couch after what I assumed to be a party!”

“Just in case.” He started laughing again, but I didn’t want to say anything, because his laugh was adorable and I could listen to it my entire life, and it would never fail to sound beautiful to me.

“So, get as drunk as you want, I’ll get just as drunk.” I was joking, until he grabbed two bottles of vodka and two bottles of tequila. “What time is it anyway?”

“Half past eight.” He responded. “You up for this?” He pointed a bottle of vodka towards me.

“Can we only drink the tequila?” I asked. “Vodka’s pointless if we drink it.”

He handed me two bottles of tequila. “Deal.” He started drinking before me, and he finished it way too quickly. I finished one in the time it took him to down both of his. I drank the last one, falling over, laughing, and not being able to remember a thing afterwards.

Notes

Here's the new story! It's off to a decent start hopefully... I'm getting them drunk so they can fool around without me having to write about it. Thanks for checking this out!