Magic Tricks

“Are you watching closely?”

The whole bus waited with bated breath. Every face in the room was focused on one person, staring at red plastic cup in his hand. He had a handkerchief in the other hand and he was holding it just above the cup.

“1, 2, 3…”

He dropped the handkerchief on the cup, which already full of beer, as everyone had observed beforehand. The handkerchief landed on top of the cup, but then kept going, as though there was no cup there at all. As the handkerchief fell further down, the cup actually disappeared from underneath it.

The handkerchief landed flatly on the palm of the man’s hand.

“…poof.” He said, grabbing the handkerchief and showing everyone that the cup had truly vanished.

The bus broke out into applause.

Their magician, a 30-something ish white male with sandy brown hair and a boyish face took a bow and then stooped down to pull a rose out of the sleeve of his blazer. He handed it to Gerard, who was sitting on one of the bus couches. Gerard giggled and leaned closer to the magician’s face.

They kissed.

Frank averted his eyes, and looked over at Mikey, who he saw suddenly had his attention on whatever was on TV.

The affair of the new drum tech Troy O’ Connelly and lead singer Gerard Way was old news. At least, to the people who already knew about it – which was basically everyone on the bus that evening.

But not Lindsey.

Or Bandit.

Or many of their mutual friends.

It had been a hard secret to keep, as it was something most of them wished they didn’t know either. Frank had to give them some credit for at least trying to hide it at first, although even that didn’t last very long. A few weeks into the tour, the sidelong glances and subtle smiles at one another became obvious fairly quickly.

The flirting back and forth was so cliché it was sickening.

Troy liked to do magic tricks as a hobby. He always joked that he was to be the next Houdini. When he first came on board with them, he would choose Gerard as his sidekick or to be the subject of the trick itself most often. Whenever he pulled Gerard to do a trick, he’d always present him with some magical flower after the trick was done, and Gerard would always take it with a little flush in his cheeks.

Finally the cat came tumbling out of the bag when Ray asked one supper:

“So...how long have you two been fucking?”

Gerard didn’t even flinch as he replied, before spooning some mac and cheese into his mouth.

“About a month now.”

Mikey had gotten up from the table and left then, his dinner abandoned. He stalked off without a word, a storm cloud of disappointment hanging over his head.

And so here they were, another month after the big reveal. Gerard and Troy no longer bothering to hide their romance, but leaving everyone else with the task of hiding it from the rest of the world.

Frank personally had never felt that close to Lindsey Way, but he doubts he would have ever kept Gerard’s secret for him had he been just a little more fond of her. Cheating is fucked up, no matter who does it. Not that Gerard would ever tell them, but it never seemed like Lindsey had given him much of a reason to.

“Is it because he’s always wanted a guy?”

Mikey speculated once. They had never even thought Gerard was gay, at least not enough to be in a full on relationship with another male. Sure, Gerard was extremely feminine, but they had all honestly thought that was as far as it went.

Frank sometimes wondered if maybe there was another reason he was bothered by the whole thing.

Maybe he was jealous that the one guy Gerard did try out… wasn’t him?

Because Gerard did have a lot of close brushes, sure. He had flings with Bert McCracken, Adam Lazarra, Jared Leto, and of course Frank himself. But that’s all they ever were – flings. A bit of teasing and a couple of nights over in the same hotel room. Frank himself never even got to touch Gerard, not too intimately anyway. Between them had only been a few kisses and some playful touches here and there.

He watched Troy plop down next to Gerard and put his arm around his shoulders. Gerard rested his head against Troy’s shoulder, and Troy seemed to hug Gerard closer to him.

They didn’t seem like a fling.

And aside from the obvious, Frank isn’t sure why that made him so uncomfortable.

But it did.

The bus party went on, and one by one everyone began to pass out. Some made it to their bunk beds, and others just laid back where they were in their seats, grabbing some object nearby them in order to use it as some sort of makeshift pillow. Mikey retired earlier than others, as he often did since the beginning of this whole charade. Ray blacked out where he was on a chair, a bottle of Ommegang beer in his hand. Frank stayed up later than most the others, playing games on his iPhone.

He was startled when he heard movement somewhere around 3 am, and looked up to see the couple walking by him, on their way to the beds. They held hands as usual, Troy going on and on about what sounded like politics. Gerard was nodding tiredly, grinning up at the taller man’s face.

Frank pretended not to watch them, keeping his eyes on the screen but not doing anything with it.

When he glanced up again, they were about to enter the bedroom, Troy going in ahead of Gerard. Gerard stopped just behind him.

And for a second his smile faltered.

Frank thought he saw Gerard’s eyes travelling towards him, but Frank quickly looked away again before he could be sure.

At the next glance, they were gone.

Notes