(Love)letters <<<ON HOLD>>>

Frank could see the alarm clock on Gerard’s nightstand from here, it was 3:46 and he was still awake. He was not even a little tired if he was honest. He just stared at the dark ceiling, trying to get tired, but nothing happened. Around 4:06, Frank heard something upstairs, voices, voices and footsteps. He quietly went over to Gerard’s bed and shook him until he woke up.

Gerard turned on the little light on his nightstand and looked at Frank in confusion. Frank pointed to the basement door and Gerard understood what Frank was talking about. He reached for his whiteboard and markers and wrote. ‘Parents just got home, probably drunk, very loud, don’t worry’. Frank read it and immediately felt relieved, until, not even a second later, he heard the footsteps coming downstairs. He looked at Gerard wide eyed and Gerard pointed to the bathroom. Frank ran for the bathroom and just closed the door without locking it and without turning the light on.

The basement door swung open and the lights were turned on. Gerard and Mikey’s dad was standing in the door opening. “Hellow boyyss” He said way too loud. The boys on the floor had woken up and they just mumbled some response that no one could understand anyways. “Why are you here dad? It’s the middle of the night” Mikey said, while hiding his head in his pillow. “Your mom just locked the bathroom upstairs in front of my face so i thought i could just use this one?” Their dad said. Gerard already wrote down his response before his dad was done finishing that sentence and he gave his whiteboard to his dead who read it out loud, way too loud. “‘You cannot use the bathroom, i need it now.’ That’s not very nice Gerard!” He called after his son who was now walking over to the bathroom and turned the light on to find Frank asleep on the floor. He smiled and locked the door in case his dad came in anyways. But he could hear Mikey say that their dad could use his bathroom instead so he had probably left.

There was a knock on the bathroom door. “you guys can come out now, he left” is what Mikey said. Gerard was just very happy that his brother did not make any comments about him liking Frank because he was starting to think he did and Mikey could pretty much read his mind when it came to things like this. Gerard quietly opened the door, trying not to wake Frank up. Mikey was standing outside and Gerard held his finger to his lips, trying to tell Mikey to be quiet. Gerard walked over to get a piece of paper and a pencil because he couldn’t find his whiteboard. He did his thing and handed the paper to Mikey. ‘He probably didn’t sleep all night so can you guys carry him over to my bed, i’ll sleep on the couch tonight.’ Mikey gave him a nod and told Pete and Ray to get up. Gerard was no use when it came to stuff like this, he was not strong or anything so he just watched as the others carried Frank to Gerard’s bed. He did not wake up through the entire thing. Gerard laid down on the couch and he fell asleep before the lights were turned off.

The next morning all the boys were woken up by the alarm on Mikey’s phone. When Frank woke up he was just very confused so he was the first one to speak up. “How did i get here?” Mikey and Pete explained it to him while Gerard jumped in the shower and Ray ‘needed a few more minutes’. Pete had offered Frank some of the clothes that he brought because they were about the same size, Frank was just really happy that these clothes actually fitted him. They made a shopping list of everything they needed, it included: shoes, shirts, pants, underwear, socks, jackets and hoodies.

The boys decided to go upstairs and get breakfast while Frank went to get a shower. They just took way too much cereal and milk downstairs and a few bowls and spoons. They had breakfast and then it was time to go.

They threw everything they would need in Gerard’s backpack, mainly just money and a few snacks for later. Gerard looked for his whiteboard but he couldn’t find it anywhere. He kept looking and traced all the steps he took that morning but i didn’t find it. “Gerard you look pathetic, what the hell are you doing?” Gerard took another piece of paper from his desk and just wrote ‘whiteboard???’

“You lost it?” Pete asked him. Gerard nodded sadly, this was his only way of communicating when he was out of the house. He could not just take a thousand pieces of paper with him. “We need to go Gerard, we’ll just figure it out i guess.” Mikey told him. Gerard wasn’t at all comfortable with this, but he knew that they really had to go so he gave in and he decided that they should just go.

Mikey went to check if their parents were upstairs so that they could sneak Frank out, and apparently luck -or their parents hangovers- was on their side because they were still asleep. Gerard wrote a note to their parents and left it on the counter

‘Hey, me and the boys went out to the mall, don’t know what time we will be home. Dad, can you put the lock in my door please? Text me when you want us to come home! -G’

The boys shuffled outside to Ray’s car and before they knew it they were on the way to the mall.

The mall was only a 20 minute drive away but Ray’s car was so small that it seemed like an hour. When they finally arrived, they decided to look for clothes first and at 11am they had pretty much found everything but shoes and jackets. “Frank i think there’s a Vans shop somewhere around that corner if you’re interested in that.” Ray told him. Frank decided that Vans would do because they were comfortable and not way too expensive. They started walking that way until they walked past this small comic book store. “Geraaaaard?” Mikey began, this was his ‘asking for a favor voice’ Gerard just looked at him. “Can we please go in and meet up somewhere with you and Frank for lunch?” Gerard rolled his eyes and gave his little brother a small nod. “Cool! I’ll text you Gee!” Mikey said before disappearing in the store.

Gerard and Frank got to the Vans store and while Frank was looking for the perfect shoes, a worker came up to Gerard to ask if he could help him with anything. This was probably Gerard’s biggest fear. Someone was talking to him, there was no way he could respond and the only person he knew was checking out shoes on the other side of the store.

Gerard started pointing to Frank and then quickly walked over to him. “Are you okay, you look like you just saw a ghost.” Gerard nodded his head and even though he didn’t believe it for a second, Frank just went with it. He finally settled on simple black high-tops and Gerard paid for them. As they walked out of the store Frank told Gerard that he could wait with buying a jacket since it was still summer. Gerard was okay with this and he decided to text his brother.

‘Hey Mikes, we’re done. Where did you wanna meet for lunch?’

He got a text back in less than 10 seconds.


‘We’re at Rosie’s Diner, we’ll wait with ordering until you guys get here.”

Gerard showed the text to Frank and lead the way to the diner where he and Mikey ate at least once a week.

At the diner they just had lunch in silence until three very specific people came in to ruin it, Gerard was the only one who saw them coming in and he instantly hid in his brother’s lap. “What’s wrong Gee?” Mikey asked him but when he looked around he saw the problem. Bert, Quinn, and Jeph, all three of them were here. In this exact diner. “Guys” Mikey said to the others who seemed very confused. “we gotta go now, no questions” They paid right away without finishing their food and shuffled out of the building. They went back to the mall where all the people were. “Unbelievable that they didn’t even notice us” Mikey said eventually.

“Can you please tell the rest of us what that was about?” Pete asked Mikey. Mikey explained that he saw Bert and his little slaves at the diner and Ray and Pete didn’t need a further explanation. Frank, on the other hand, had no idea what that was all about but Gerard was so freaked out that he clung to his brother’s arm so now might not be the best time to ask.

“So what are we gonna do now? I suppose we won’t go home yet?” Pete asked the others. “No, we can’t” Mikey said “Our dad is probably still working on the lock.” “Are you saying that we have some time to kill?” Pete said with the widest grin on his face. “ooh i do not like that look” Ray said quietly, but loud enough for everyone to hear. “What do you wanna do Pete?” Mikey asked him. “Let’s go to Velocity 17! It this laser tag place and it’s probably like a 10 minute walk!” Everyone agreed to Pete’s laser tag idea and so they followed him to his mysterious laser tag place.

“You’re way too happy about all of this.” Mikey told him when they entered the building. “Just happy that i can do something fun with my best friend!” Pete finished the sentence with a wink and Mikey instantly looked down. Pete just giggled at his reaction. Ray was walking in front of the two but since Frank and Gerard were behind them they saw this little occurrence. “Something going on between your brother and Pete?” Frank whispered in Gerard’s ear, sending chills down his spine. Gerard shrugged, because he was both very confused and very.. well he actually didn’t know how he currently felt. He was just very confused.

They checked in and paid for 3 rounds of 15 minutes, Gerard paid for Frank, even though he had told him that he could just wait outside while they played but Gerard completely ignored him and paid for him anyways. The boy behind the counter told them that hey needed at least 8 people to play and apparently the other team was already complete so the next three people that would come in would join their team. The boy was very clumsy and looked really stressed out. Just after he handled all the payments he knocked over his can of coke. His boss, who had been watching him all the time started shouting at him. “Dammit Ross not again! What is wrong with you this is the third time today!” The boy looked terrified. “i--i am sorry s-sir, i will clean it up!” He told the man, who left while mumbling some insults at the boy. Gerard felt sorry for the boy but he wouldn’t be able to ask him if he could help him so he just kind of stared at him while the boy cleaned up.

After about 30 minutes a boy and a girl walked in and went to check in. The boy at the counter pointed over to the place where Gerard and his friends had been sitting for a while now. The two walked over to them and that's when Gerard recognized the boy. It was Brendon, the boy who had taught him some sign-language in gym class. "Hi Gerard! Hey Pete!" Brendon said, Gerard tried to remember and managed to sign 'Hi Brendon' Brendon just smiled at him. "Whoa, when did you learn that? And who are you?" Gerard just smiled at his brother while Brendon introduced himself.

"I'm Brendon, i'm in Gerard's and Pete's gym class, my dad is deaf that's why i know sign language and i taught Gerard some easy stuff. This is my friend Lyndsey, don't worry about her she'll be one of the boys, right Lynn?" The girl punched him in the shoulder and glared at him. "Do. Not. Call. Me. Lyndsey! And i can speak for myself as well." Everyone just laughed at her and they started chatting with their new teammates. Turns out that Lynn just moved here and went to their school as well, she was Brendon's neighbor so his parents forced him to hang out with her because they wanted him to get a girlfriend. Which was funny because both Brendon and Lynn were gay.

"ROSS" The man walked up to the boy behind the counter who looked like he was ready to run. "y-yes sir?" The boy asked him. "How long have these kids been waiting here?!" The man kept coming closer to the boy and everyone was watching them now. "i-i don't know s-sir, 45 m-minutes maybe?" The boy backed away until his back was touching the wall. "He is fuckin' shaking" Brendon said before he got up and went over to the boy and the man. "Excuse me, sir?" He said without really waiting for an answer. "I noticed you getting mad at my friend over here for letting us wait, but we are just waiting for our friend to get here so i guess you just misunderstood." The boy looked at Brendon in shock. "Your friend?" the man said. Brendon just nodded in confusion. "Your friend eh? I guess you can have him then 'cause he's fired!" The man handed the boy his leather messenger bag and took his 'Velocity 17' cap from his head. Brendon motioned for the boy to come over. The man took the boy's place at the counter.

Brendon took the boy over to the nearest chair and he grabbed another chair so he could sit next to him. "Are you okay?" he asked the boy. The boy broke at this moment and shook his head while tears were streaming down his face. Brendon just hugged the boy while he let it all out, it took a good ten minutes before the boy pulled back. "thank you so much" was the first thing he said. "no need for thanking me, you needed help and i cannot watch people get hurt without doing anything." the boy smiled. "I only worked here so i could support my mom, i'm too young to get a job anywhere else and she needs money 'cause she's sick and..." he broke down in tears again. "listen" Brendon said, "you are gonna join me and my friends over there in a game of laser tag and then we will all figure out a way to get you money, i promise." "why?" the boy asked him. "because i feel like it's part my fault that you just got fired as well." Brendon got up and held his hand out for the boy to help him up, even though no one really needs help with getting up from a chair.

"Hey everyone this is... wait.... did you ever tell me your name?" "i don't think so." the boy said. "anyways, i'm Ryan, Ryan Ross, i think i saw some of you around at school, anyways, your friend over here, who never introduced himself either, invited me for a game of laser tag." "I'm sorry about that, my name is Brendon. And this is Lynn, Pete, Ray, Frank, Mikey, and Gerard." Everyone said hi to Ryan and they got ready for their first game. Ryan knew how everything worked and he said that the other team was ready to go already. He gave everyone their vests and guns, they were gonna be team RED. He briefly explained how everything worked and then they met team GREEN. Team GREEN consisted of a few boys who looked like they were between 12 and 14 in age. They wished team GREEN good luck and the first game started. The boys ended up winning the first two rounds and losing the last one on purpose.

"guys wait up" Ray said while everyone was walking out of the Velocity 17 building. "my mom texted me and she wants me home before dinner so i guess i'm not staying the night, i can drive you guys home though." "No you don't have to do that Ray, it will only take more time for you to get home, we'll figure something out." Mikey told him. Ray was actually very happy with that. They all said their goodbyes and he left. "And there's only seven left." Pete said, as if it wasn't obvious.

Mikey whispered something in Gerard's ear and Gerard nodded at him. "how about you guys all stay the night at ours? we'll all be able to go to school together." Everyone agreed but Ryan had to call his mom to see if she would be okay with taking care of herself for a night. She assured him that she was feeling stable today so he could stay the night as well.

"First things first" Mikey said. "How did you get here?" he pointed at Ryan. "i took the buss" Mikey nodded. "How did you two get here?" He pointed at Brendon and Lynn. "My car" Lynn answered. "We only have 3 seats in the back but i think we'll be able to make it work"

They all went over to Lynn's car. Mikey got shotgun because he had to show her the way. "who's going on who's lap?" Pete said "'cause i'm not doing that" Ryan ended up sitting in Brendon's lap and Frank had somehow convinced Gerard to sit in his lap, even though Gerard was like twice as tall as him and his legs were hurting from the way they were folded. He was not complaining though. Sitting on the lap of a pretty guy, who would complain? He could just fall asleep right then and there. And he honestly never wanted to go home.

That was where their only obstacle was, at home.

Notes

Hey everyone, this chapter is a bit longer because i had more time today, about 3000 words i guess. So enjoy! I'm starting on chapter 9 right away.

Tell me what you think about this chapter because i was really excited about it!

-Nyxx