The Beautiful People

Ray knew there was always something weird about the Way brothers he’s come to know and love.

First, there’s Gerard. A happy and smiley guy, and even though he’s had his fair share of the opposite emotions Gerard always climbs out of it. Unscathed, that’s debatable. But in any mood, Ray always feels more happy and bright when he’s near Gerard. It’s like this weird… aura-like thing that sticks around with the elder Way brother everywhere he goes. He attracts people because of this, and Ray notices that, well, at least body-language wise that other people are happy around him as well. It’s not just Ray being weird. Gerard is also scary when he gets mad, due to his usually cheerful nature.

But then there’s his polar opposite, Mikey. Mikey’s even weirder in that… well… it’s very hard for a simple being like Ray to explain to someone who likely hasn’t been in the presence of this Mikey. He’s very quiet, where as Gerard is fairly loud. He keeps to himself, while Gerard is a clear extrovert. He’s not happy often, and keeps whatever spark of enjoyment behind a thick wall of extreme neutrality on the outside. While Gerard has that weird content feeling around him a lot, Mikey has almost this… dark and depressing aura sticking to him always. Ray knows that when he goes near the younger Way brother the room seems to dim, and Ray gets a feeling of hopelessness and pure despair. Although, it was much worse when they first had met (Ray almost avoided Mikey because of this), and Ray thinks that’s because he’s just gotten used to it by now. He rarely ever smiles, but boy when he does it lights up the whole room. And don’t even get him started on his laugh, it’s a twinkling giggle that makes Ray’s whole day. A surge of accomplishment rushes through Ray each and every time he makes Mikey smile or laugh, because yes it is that hard.

Ray was suddenly pulled out of his thoughts by Gerard shoving past him in the tiny aisle of the tour bus they had all been packed into, Gerard muttering a quick sorry before entering into the living room portion of the bus. Ray just sighed and kneeled down to slip into his bunk, grabbing for the magazine lying in the sheets as he tried to squeeze his tall self into the tiny confines of the bunk. He was honestly extremely glad they’d be staying in a hotel tomorrow night, this was starting to get out of hand and they all needed a break from being this cramped to be honest. Well, except for Frank. That tiny man could fit anywhere in here and still feel comfortable.

The bus fell silent for a short while, the only sounds being Bob and Frank’s quiet conversation, the bus’s wheels against the asphalt of the lonely road they were driving on, and Mikey’s light snoring from the bunk above. Mikey was like a cat, he did sleep quite a lot. And eat a lot. Mikey was generally a weird person though, so it didn’t really bother Ray.

Ray yawned as he leaned back in his bunk, taking a look at the cover of the magazine they had appeared on. It was one from a couple of months ago, back in February of 2005. It was September now, so more like seven months ago. Which that meant that Mikey’s birthday was coming up really fast, and it seemed as though everyday Gerard was getting the teeniest bit clingier to his younger sibling. Something was going on, Gerard kept dragging him out of the room for hushed conversations, and speaking of Gerard actually, strangely, it was like he kept disappearing into thin air. Literally, Ray would be talking with Gerard for a minute, go out the room for one second to fetch something, and when he came back Gerard would be gone. Ray would look for him everywhere on the tour bus, not finding him anywhere, and then Gerard would appear in his bed or in the living room or some shit like nothing ever happened, making Ray look like a idiot in the process although he clearly looked wherever he had appeared. It was fucking weird, okay?

Mikey was acting strangely, as well. Each day he was getting more and more jittery, and Ray was sure the predicament with Gerard constantly chatting with him and clinging onto his younger sibling was not helping at all. Mikey would come off stage shaking in his damn boots, and Ray knew it wasn’t just his stage fright. Something was deeply bothering him, and it got worse each and every day closer to his birthday. Ray had asked what was wrong, what was bothering him so strangely, but Mikey had always found a way to dodge the question. Ray had asked Gerard and he too dodged it, always changing the subject or just outright ignoring the other. It was all very strange behavior, and Ray was starting to get worried for what was happening to the two.

Ray was brought out of his thoughts by someone poking at his head, and he looked up to see a tired and glasses-less Mikey hanging down from the bunk above, poking at Ray’s head with his freakishly long fingers. Despite his weirdness, especially as of late, Ray always had a certain soft spot for the younger Way, and he didn’t exactly know why. But he couldn’t dwell too long on that thought now, as he was starting to talk.

“What’s wrong?” Mikey asked, cocking his head at Ray as he brushed a little bit of his golden brown hair out of his darker amber eyes.

“Oh, uh, nothing.” Ray replied, eyes flickering up to meet Mikey’s own. “Why do you ask?”

“Just noticed a sadder expression and I just wanted to ask if anything was wrong.” Mikey responded, his hoarse and croaky voice from disuse making Ray’s lips twitched upwards in a smile as he shook his head, wanting to reassure the other that he was fine.

“I'm fine, just thinking about some things…” Ray said, Mikey cocking his head at the elder bandmate.

“What sort of things?” Mikey said, fingers now gripping at the bars of wood holding up the top bunk as he obviously tried to get more down to Ray’s level, but failed in doing so and just stayed up top.

“Why do you want to know?” Ray asked, figuring it would be kind of weird if he told the bassist that he was thinking about him. He didn’t really know, however, but just decided to play it safe anyways.

“Oh, because.” Mikey said, returning back up to his bunk for a moment before grunts of effort were heard, and Mikey’s feet hit the floor with a soft and light thud on the floor. Now he sat on the floor in front of Ray, strange and unfocused (from the lack of glasses) amber eyes glinting with equally strange amusement looking at Ray’s own calm brown ones. “I was just asking. Wanted to see if everything was okay, you know?”

“Alright, I’m fine.” Ray said with a laugh, letting out a sigh as the bus went over yet another pothole. “You doing well?” He asked, knowing in mind that again, Mikey was acting very nervous and wary of almost anything, and that was starting to show through Mikey’s finger tapping on the floor and the slight but noticeable eye shifting around the place. It was clear that Mikey was hiding most of these symptoms, but the ones he mostly could not control were absolutely showing.

“I’m okay. Tired.” Mikey said, eyes widening in much surprise as they went over yet another bump, but eventually calming down as he let out an exhale. Another example of Mikey’s jumpiness.

Ray let out a laugh. “Tired? How could you be? You’ve been sleeping all day!” Ray remarked, Mikey shaking his head and shrugging as he rubbed his tired eyes.

“I don’t know!” Mikey said with a slight giggle, making Ray smile as well. Hey, it almost seemed contagious, that damn smile and that fucking giggle. “I guess just the days leading up to my birthday have been kind of stressful, really excited for it though and excited to get back into playing. I can’t believe such a man like Gerard made a whole week break from the tour for my birthday, wow.” Mikey said, blinking rapidly in surprise. “Also, did you hear? Fall Out Boy’s gonna be at the motel we’re staying at. They’re staying in the same place for a couple of days.” Mikey switched topics very quickly, but Ray didn’t mind that as his own eyes widened, letting out a hmph.

“They are?” Ray said, not knowing this. Mikey nodded. “Cool! I don’t know about you all, I’m gonna go and say hi when we get there.” Mikey shrugged at that.

“Well, they’re playing nearby the first night that we’re there, then leaving a couple days after my birthday. But I’m sure they’ll come over-”

“Fall Out Boy’s gonna be at the motel?” They both twisted their heads around to see Frank from the living area of the tour bus, a smile on his features. They both nodded, causing Frank to let out a small squeal and Bob to look at him nervously. “Awesome! Oh I’ll have to drop by…” Frank said, Mikey letting out an almost giggle before returning back to Ray.

“Well, I’ve told you that, and there’s really nothing else to say,” Mikey said with a yawn as he stood up, Ray letting out a chuckle at his awkwardness. “So I’m gonna go back to bed.” He said as he climbed his way up to his bunk.

Sleeping again? Wow. That little dude must be tired. “Sweet dreams, Mikey.” Ray said, hearing a playful scoff from the bassist up top, and it wasn’t long before light snores soon resumed sounding out through the quiet that now befell the bus.

Notes

i'm having so much fun writing this!!!! i hope you guys like it as well.