New York dreams and Comics - Music is still the core.

Waking up the next day, the young man felt more relaxed than ever.
Slowly waking up, he admired the soft sunrays falling onto his skin trough the big window across the room, embreacing the big city of fame in a warm light.
It was pure beauty.
After burning the picture into his mind, he slowly got up, streching his muscles and taking a moment to get used to being awake.
He made his way into the bathroom, took a long and comforting shower, then, went to the living room.
He just stopped there to grab his keys and jacket before going out of the flat.
Sitting down into his red car, he turned on the radio - surprised to hear some rock songs flowing through the speakers.
Normally, the radio channel just played some Pop or Rap stuff. Maybe they finally found a good taste in music, huh?
Stopping at Starbucks to grab a coffee, he immediately went on to the big shopping mall. He ran out of colour a few days ago, so Gerard had to buy it new, not wanting to even think about the fact that he wasn't able to paint what's on his mind. It made him sick, the stronge urge to paint crawling up his skin, haunting himw henever he would look to a sheet of paper.
It got this bad after he quit the drugs and alcohol. Where he started to express his feelings on a canvas with paint. It was like cutting his skin, but instead he used a brush to cut color into the canvas. Dramatic beauty, how he called it.
That was nearly as bad as a morning without coffee. But just nearly as bad. Because THAT would really cause the next world war. Hell, in no way he would miss his coffee, he would even murder for it.
After finally finding a parking spot, he threw the empty coffeemug away and entered the huge building.
There was everything you could wish for inside.
from beauty stores to paint stores over to normal little supermarkets. The little fast food shops shouldn't be missing, too. And they weren't. Basically - there was everything a human needs. Okay, not everything. But still, you get what I mean.
He followed, of course, his normal routine.
First he went to the art store, ordering new canvases which would be delivered along with some new notebooks and paintbuckets to his home. Then he grabbed his bag with new pens and brushes and finally he talked, as always, to the nice old woman behind the counter, assuring her that his own comic is on a good way to get published.
Second, he would go to Hot Topic, buying a new jeans and a new Misfits T-Shirt. They jsut got new in, so it was a hella good day so far. It always made him happy to wear a T-Shirt from one of his favorite bands.
Third, the beauty shop. Just for new eyeliner. He wore it still, and it fitted nicely to his red hair - adding a little contrast to the bright colorfull theme. It was always fun, too, how some people were looking at him. It's New York after all.
Fourth, grabbing food for the week and then leaving.
It wasn't much, some frozen Pizza, a shitload of Coffee, some fruits and vegetables and something to drink.

At home, he quickly put everything of the food in the fridge, storing the coffee away and get his brushes to the others, throwing the old ones away.
Then, he thought about painting. For a long time. Looking around the room, out of the window, just nothing seemed to get into his mind or inspire him right now.

Sighing, he decided to call his younger brother.
"Hey Mikes." He cheered into the phone, the sorrow about not being able to find something to draw already forgotten.
"Hey Gee! What's up?" He heard his brother's voice.
"Nothing much, just can't seem to find any ideas for a new painting. What'cha doing right now?" He asked.
"Oh, getting ready for band practice! Want to come over? We're at mine and Ray's!" In the background, Gerard could hear voices, which were clearly from the other band members.
"Sure. Will be there in a bit, then. Let's hope traffic will have mercy with me." He joked, earning a light giggle from Mikey. They said their goodbyes and after grabbing his black leather jacket along with his car keys, he was already on the road.
It took Gerard just 15 minutes, traffic being nice today, until he reached a small house. It was still looking sweet and welcoming to him.

As soon as he wanted to knock on the big brown door, it went open itself, revealing Mikey and Ray.
"Hey there." He greeted the younger boys.
"Hey Gee! Come on in, we're abiut to start, actually." Mikey chirped, running back inside to - what seemed like - the living room.
He gave Ray a questioning look about Mikey's strangely good mood, but he just shrugged it off with a smile, signalising him to follow.
In the room, there was just one couch and a TV, the walls full of different guitars and band posters. On a big black carpet was a drum set, lining up along to three guitars and a few microphones. Several speaker were plugged in and already ready to make some noise.
"Oh, hey Gerard." Bob greeted him, smiling friendly.
"Hey Bob, nice to see you again." He answered.
"Hey big one." He heard Frank's voice behind him, so he turned around, revealing a smiling boy.
"Hey small one." He laughed as he saw Frank putting on a pouting face, making big cheeks.
"Okay let's start like usually. Frank, this time, please try not to smash anything, thank you." Ray said, glancing at Frank who scratched his neck while grinning wide.

They started off with the same songs as they played inside the little bar yesterday, but something seemed off this time, something was missing.
Ray and Mikey seemed to have noticed too. Glancing over to Gerard, Mikey stopped in his tracks, symbolising the rest of the band to stop, too.
"What's wrong?" Bob asked, looking confused about the abrupt break.
"Something is missing. Gee, you noticed it too, or?" Mikey asked, furrowing his brows in thoughts.
"Yeah. I think you need another singer, actually. Nothing against you Frank, but it's somehow just not fitting. A voice which can go deeper should fit better. You need someone who is not focused so much on playing the guitar while singing, it will work better, trust me." He explained matter of factly, giving Frank and apologetic look. Frank just shrugged it off, seeming to understand and agreeing on what Gerard meant.
"Yeah... Gee! How about you try?" Mikey asked, suddenly excited about the idea.
There was no way he would get off without that now. Shit.
"W-what?" Blankly, he stared at his brother as if he had just said he's in love with the president or something.
"You can sing! We used to practice together, come oooooooooooon Geheheheheeeeeeeeeeee." His younger brother whined, putting on his puppy face.
Sighing loudly, he said: "Fine. But don't you dare on actually plan and take me into the band. You got some Lyric sheet or something?".
"Yay! Of course, wait." Putting down his gutiar, he ran out of the room, coming back with a folder full of papers. Explaining the row of the songs, they started again.

"Give me a shot to remember,
And you can take all the pain away from me.
A kiss and I will surrender,
The sharpest lives are the deadliest to lead.
And light to burn all the empires,
So that the sun is ashamed to rise and be.
In love with all of these vampires
So you can leave like the sane abandoned me!"

After the song was finished, there was a long silence, until the clapping of Bob broke it. Slowly, the others added in.
"Holy shit, Gee! That was amazing!" Mikey nearly shouted, throwing his hands up in a dramatically way.
"Yeah, damn man, you got some awesome voice there." Bob admitted too.
"I think you should sooooooooooo join the band." Frank blurted out, causing all the heads to turn into his direction.
"What... I.. Uh.. I don't, I mean um..." Gerard stuttered, getting red in an instant and looking down at his hands shyly. Why did he made him blush so hard?!
"Why not? You will still have enough time to draw your comics! If you finally get into the job, you can still quit, promised!" Mikey tried to convince his older brother, seeming more than just desperate with the thought of not getting him in the band.
"L-let me sleep about this okay? That's still a hard decision. Let's try to go trough the other songs first anyways." He said, causing his brothers eyes to light up in an instant. At least he would think about it.

After practice was done, they decided to order Pizza and watched some shitty Horror movies.
Glancing over at the little clock on the wall, Gerard noticed that he should probably head home now, since it would be getting dark soon.
"Alright, I'll head home now. Someone need's a ride? It's getting dark soon." He asked around.
"Got my own car, but Frank could use one, as I know him." Bob said, clapping Frank on his shoulder.
"Yeah, that would be actually cool." The shorter boy said, smiling shyly at Gerard.
"O-okay... Let's go, then." He said.
They said their goodbyes to the others and jumped in the car.
Starting the engine, the radio started to blast some Misfits, making both of them slightly jump in shock.
"Sorry!" Gerard yelled over the music, turning it down so they could talk in a normal volume.
"Damn, I love Misfits! Got that always so loud?" Frank asked with a big grin on his face, which caused gerard to start grinning too.
"Yeah, they're awesome. So where do I actually need to go?" He asked the younger boy.
Frank gave him the address, explaining that he lived with his mother.
"Damn, that's like on the other side of the road from my flat. I never saw you around there, actually." Gerard said, still thinking about how he never saw Frank or just didn't noticed him. But he would notice someone like him instantly.
"Yeah, I don't really go out much. If I do, I'm at Mikey's or Bob's... But it's not that often." He answered a bit more quiet than before, glancing down at his tattoo'd hands.
"Oh, okay. Well, if you wan't you can always come around, it's not far away y'know." Gerard laughed, causing Frank to laugh too, the atmosphere in the car lighting up.

Parking the car infront of the building he lived in, they both got out.
"That door?" Frank asked, as he pointed to the big brown door Gerard used all the time to get in and out of his flat.
"Yeah. Just ring at Way's. That's mine." He said and facepalmed himself in his thoughts. As if he didn't knew, you fucking genius. Why was this boy making him so damn nervous?
"Alright. Thank's for driving, again. I'll see you around then!" Frank chirped and went to his own door.
Gerard waited until the boy was out of his sight, before he entered his home, standing confused in the living room, trying to get into his thoughts what just happened.
One thing was clear, he fucking needed to paint something right now. Or his thoughts would dare to eat him up completly.
This boy would be the dead of him someday.
Or the fact that he had a crush on him, or just both.
But things started to get chaotic, that was a fact.

Notes

Hey guuuuys!
I struggled a bit with the chapter, but it's up.
Hope you like it!

I feel like things gone too fast now, actually.... thought it was the thing i was trying to prevent from happening. Crap. :D

Let me know what you think, as always!
Stay beautiful, keep it ugly.
Love you all, thanks for reading