What happened? I wanted to know, I needed to know. Maybe if I ask Gerard, he won't tell me anything, what can I do? Ask Mikey! So I called him.

“Hello?”
“I'm Frank”
“Oh, hi Frank, what's up?”
“I'm really worried. Yesterday Gerard and I went to Starbucks...” I heard him squeal. I continued. “... but suddenly he started crying and finally ran away. I can't help but feel guilty because I feel it was all my fault but I don't even know why or what made him run away.”
“Well, there are some possible reasons. First of all, believe it or not, he's really self-conscious.”
“What?”, I asked, thinking it was a joke.
“No, really. He's never considered himself good enough. And I think he's afraid that you know his past and his struggles”, he said, calmly.
“What do you mean?”
“Yeah, I knew it all along. Well, I don't think that's something that can be discussed by phone. Are you at home?”
“Yes, why?”
“Can I come over to explain you everything?”
I was even more worried than before, but I needed to know the truth in order to help him.
“Sure. 5 pm?”
“Okay, see you then”.

I took a quick shower and I went to the supermarket to buy something to eat. I returned home, I put the food on the table and I wandered through the neighborhood until 4:50 pm. Then I came back home again. Five minutes later, I heard a knock on the door. I looked through the window to see who was there. If it was this guy offering this supposedly natural painkiller cream, I wouldn't answer, of course. But no, it wasn't that guy. It was Mikey. He arrived early, as usual.

“Come in”, I said, opening the door.
Mikey didn't look joyful and happy as usual. In fact, he looked quite somber and concerned.
“Shall I start telling you the story?”, he asked.
“I... guess...”, I replied. “Want some coffee?”
“Yes, please”, he said, and sat down on a chair. I went to get coffee for us, and then I came back with two red cups and a bag full of cookies.

“Well, let me tell you. He's always been looked down on, by everyone. He was bullied a lot during his childhood, and this hell continued even during his early teens. Did he tell you he used to play in a band?”, he asked me.
“Yes, Gerard Way and the Nameless Soldiers, right?”
“Yup, that one. Well, half of the people bashed him because of his voice and the other half praised him. He never knew which half he should trust.”
Bashed because of his voice? What? Is that even possible?
“He's always been a good actor. So he is an expert pretending he's self-confident and careless. He never reacts the way he did yesterday. Look at these photographs. He was sixteen. Always smiling and making funny faces in front of the camera, jumping and laughing”
“Like you?”, I asked, surprised.
“Kind of”.

“To top it all off, his last boyfriend committed suicide. This happened at the middle of a tour. Gee has always thought it was his fault, because he wasn't there. His bandmates instead of supporting him, started saying he was a crybaby and that he was not professional, that he should leave his problems backstage and then play and have a good time, as if it was that easy... And when he ended up at a psychiatric hospital because of a suicide attempt, they never showed up. They tried to continue the tour with another singer, but it didn't work so they disbanded.”

Notes

I actually thought I wasn't gonna write anything until tomorrow but suddenly I found myself with this stuff already typed. Thank you for reading, tell me what you think.