Maddie and My Chemical Romance had closed the last show of the tour, and were all itching to get home. Gerard and Mikey had already made plans to let Maddie go back home and recuperate for a while and gather up her belongings before they went back on the road to start recording their next album. The brothers figured they would let her breathe for a moment before getting sucked back into their crazy, inconsistent lifestyle. They also noticed that she had been spending more and more time on her phone during the last couple performances.

"Who ya texting?" Gerard pried as she turned her phone screen away from him. The bus was not a good place for privacy, especially since all the bunks were full of people or garbage or piles of laundry so Gerard really had nowhere else to be.

"My roommate. He's just not used to me not being home all the time. He gets lonely." It wasn't a complete lie - Maddie was texting Alex, and he was anxious for her to come home. What Maddie didn't really want to discuss with her brothers was the nature of her relationship with him. There were some conversations that she never wanted to have with them, especially since she'd really only known them for a couple days.

As the bus pulled to a screeching stop, she got up from the seat and grabbed her backpack from the overhead compartment. "I'll see you guys in a couple days, assuming you don't forget about me!" Gerard scoffed in mock offense before getting up to grab her in a big bear hug.

"We'll be here to pick you up, I swear. And if you ever need anything, just give us a ring!" She grinned and went to say goodbye to everyone else before hopping out of the bus and up the steps to her and Alex's apartment. She barely had time to watch the bus pull away before the door swung open and Alex's large hands grabbed her around the waist and pulled her inside.

"Someone sure missed me," she grunted as he buried his face in her neck and pushed her up against the nearest wall. Now, she wasn't going to lie to herself and say she wasn't enjoying his roaming hands on her body and hot breath on her neck. She wasn't going to pretend that she didn't get a little tingly when he picked her up and threw her onto the bed, and she sure wasn't going to make him stop anything he was doing.

"You've been gone for so long," he whispered against her ear, shedding both of their pants and pressing himself against her. Maddie finally gave in and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him close and attaching her lips firmly to his. After a while they separated, panting heavily and covered in sweat. He leaned up on his elbow and looked at the exhausted girl laying on his bed, but it wasn't his face that she was seeing in the darkness...

---

"Do you ever think it's weird, the things we do?"

"What do you mean, Mad?"

"Like, we just screw sometimes. When we're bored, when we're lonely, when it's 5:00 in the afternoon. That's not weird to you?"

"Why would it be weird?"

"I dunno, is that ok for friends to do?"

"Why not?"

Madeleine had pulled her clothes back on and was sitting at the foot of the bed, looking down at her sneakers and ignoring the phone that kept periodically lighting up every few minutes. She had never really questioned it before - she and Alex were close, but there was never any kind of romantic attraction between them. Sex was just something that happened one night when the two of them were drunk together, and it leaked into their every day lives. What worried her is that this time, of all times, she had been thinking about Frank during.

Alex never had any problem in bed. He took care of her, she took care of him, they rolled over and went to sleep. She never imagined anyone else being there instead, but this time she had - and she felt bad.

He just got you all hot and bothered because you've been fangirling over him for the last few years she thought, trying and failing to convince herself that that was the case. You're just a big softie and the second anyone is nice to you you fall for them. And he has tattoos. And a nose ring. And he's so gorgeous... She was so deep in thought that she hadn't realized Alex scooted up to her and put his arm around her shoulder.

"It's been a few years of this, Mads. If you're tired of me, I won't be mad." She looked up at him, biting her bottom lip and leaning into his side. "Just let me know and I'll back off."

Hearing that made her hurt inside. She wasn't tired of him. She just didn't want to be fake about it, thinking about someone else while Alex was there physically with her. Maddie didn't know how long those feelings would last and how long she would still see Frank's face hovering over hers instead.

"You know I love you, right Alex?"

"I know. I love you too."

"And no matter what, you're still my best friend?"

"Yeah. So which one of them has you second guessing my prowess in bed? Madeleine gasped and frowned when she saw Alex laughing. "I'm totally joking, unless of course you really are second guessing me in which case I'm going to have to meet this guy because I'm impressed."

She let out a small laugh and flopped back onto the bed. "They invited me on the road to write their new album, Alex. I have to leave again in a few days."

He lay back down next to her. "So if I'm feeling... lonely again I'm going to have to find some other way to deal with it."

"I guess so."

"I'll live. I just want you to be happy, you know that right?"

"Right."

Notes

OH BOY I'm so sorry I haven't updated. I was away at camp for two weeks! So here's some more background of Maddie and Alex, just to get the ball rolling on our big FrankxOFC story line :)