Worry Rock

---Rene's POV---

Mick is a gentleman.
I know he's a pervert when he talks, but that's only his sense of humour. When it comes to actions, he's really considerate. He doesn't touch me inappropriately in public. He doesn't ever go too fast (hell, sometimes I speed things up for him). He's really not kinky, no matter what he likes to say. And if I want him to stop, he does. So in that sense, Mick is a true gentleman. Perverted words. But the most sweet approach to contact out of anybody I know.
I wonder what Mick is to me. I know I like him, and I know he likes me. But he's not my boyfriend. We've gone to second base, as they said when I was in second grade. In my head, I say we're together. That sounds right, huh? Not officially going out, okay with seeing other people, but preferring each other. Friends with benefits isn't even the right term. Just... together.
"Hey, Nay!" I hear, snapping out of my thoughts when Mick jumps over the couch to sit next to me, his muscular drummer arm wrapping securely around my shoulder. He gives me that signature cheeky grin of his and continues, "Guess where we're going today!"
I smirk, "Uranus?"
"Yours, baby."
I laugh, and he smiles a little brighter. "Okay, smartass, where are we going?"
"The zoo!" he says excitedly. Mick really acts like an eight year old sometimes.
I smile. "The zoo, Mickey?"
"Mmmhm." I give him a look. Since when do I seem like the type who goes around just looking at animals all day? So in return for my skeptical eyebrow quirk, I receive a pair of puppy dog eyes. With Mick, puppy dog eyes aren't meant to make you melt. They're meant to make you laugh. Which I do. "Please?"
I sigh. "Fine..."
"Yay!" He hugs me, making me laugh before jumping up off the sofa. "And to keep with the animal theme, maybe you could wear that sexy tiger print underwear I know you brought with you," he teases with a wiggle of his eyebrows.
"You can't look through my stuff!"
"Too late, huneybun! But don't worry, I'm sure we can make very good use of that underwear later. Rawr." He make a clawing motion and smirks in that for-show perverted way he does and turns away, starting to run. Because he can guess that I'm up off the sofa within moments and chasing after him.
"Get back here, you ass!"
He laughs, quickly turning the corner and skidding a little on the rug underneath. "You love my ass!"
I can't help but return the laugh. "Fuck off!"
"That's not what you said last night!" I finally catch up to him and tackle him to the ground, earning a surprised "Oh shit!" from the drummer. We laugh, and he rolls over onto his back as I sit on his stomach. "Actually, this is much closer to what happened last night," he laughs.
I slap his chest playfully. "Shut up."
"Or what?" he asks and reaches up, tickling my stomach lightly. "You'll have to punish me?"
I let out an involuntary squeal, jumping off of him quickly. "Don't do that," I giggle. "You know I'm ticklish."
"Do I?" he asks with a smirk and sits up, tickling me more.
I'm soon in a hysterical laughing fit at the feel of his fingers on my stomach. "Y-yes... s-stop it!"
He laughs at seeing me completely vulnerable beneath him, his fingers not stopping. "Say please..."
"P-please!" I laugh, trying to push his hands away and failing miserably.
"What? I didn't hear you."
"Please! F-fuck, stop it, M-Mick!" I laugh, my chest hurting from laughing so hard.
The next thing I know, his lips are pressed hard against mine. I giggle into the unexpected kiss, still jumpy from the torture I endured only moments ago. I feel his fingers tickle my stomach one last time and squeal again into his mouth, causing it to curve into a grin.
"And you thought you were safe just because you're a good kisser," he laughs. I can't help but laugh more, but I stop quickly at the pang in my chest.
"You are an asshole," I tell him matter-of-factly.
"But you love that about me," he says with a grin and stands, helping me up.
"Could you both just shut up?" asks the voice of Mick's ever so grouchy brother. "I have a hangover."
"You always have a hangover," answers Mick. "Besides, you said you'd come with us to the zoo today. Boom already bailed out on us to go spend the day with Jake and Char writing songs and shit... take an Aspirin. You'll be fine."
"I'm not coming."
"What? But... Warren, you promised!" I don't think I even have to describe the childish look of hurt on Mick's face.
"That was before I had a killer hangover which you are making worse... Just go with your damn girlfriend and be happy."
"She's... not my girlfriend..." he says quietly, though I know he doesn't mind it. What he's upset about is not being able to spend time with his brother like he used to.
"Your whore then, your groupie, what the fuck ever... just go."
What. Did he just...? Oh, no, he did not. I step forward, ready to slap him so hard I knock a tooth out but feel Mick's strong hand take a grip on my arm. "Don't call her that, Warren. She's my friend, and I swear, you say that again, and I will break your damn jaw bone." I glare at Warren but don't try to attack him again. Maybe because part of me is just being grateful for Mick being so quick to defend me.
"Whatever," he mutters and vacates his spot in the doorway, heading away to what I assume is his bedroom.

***

The ride to the zoo was considerably more cheerful than our encounter with Warren. We spent it singing along loudly to Ramones songs and making jokes about anorexic pop stars. Not that we don't do those things all the time, but we still never seem to tire of them anyway.
"Come on, Nay, I'll beat ya to the ticket booth!"
I roll my eyes and jump out of the car after him, following him full speed towards the ticket booth. "Get back here, you dumbass!"
"Make me!"
I jump onto his back, wrapping my legs tightly around his waist as he laughs and stumbles. "Don't fall, you fucktard!"
"Well don't jump on me! I mean, damn, I know I'm sexy, but..."
I shut him up by slapping him lightly over the head. "You are a moron," I laugh.
"I'm your moron."
"You're my pain in the ass."
"Literally." He smirks, making me roll my eyes.
"Just get us the damn tickets..."
Minutes later, we're standing in the zoo with a very colourful map and no idea of where to go. "Come on, Mr. Rockstar. You wanted to come here. Choose which animals you wanna go stare at first."
"So now I'm Mr. Rockstar?"
"Uh huh. And you have to lead the way to wherever we're going."
He looks at the map again then up and around. "Let's go, um, that way!" He points, and then grabs my hand, pulling me along before I even get a chance to see which way 'that way' is.
'That way' just happened to be the way to go see the elephants... after which we saw a ton of other animals. Obviously. The monkeys were most interesting for us, because Mick decided he was going to get a pet spider monkey. Which he's going to name Jack. Unoriginal goob.
So now, we're sitting on so-called 'Monkey Hill.' This is where the kiddies usually play, but oh so surprisingly, nobody's here today. I guess the zoo isn't a popular place on a weekday in January.
"You think polar bears like ice cream?" asks my companion, looking contemplatively at his cone.
"No," I reply, rolling my eyes and licking my own.
"Why not? They're cold... polar bears like cold..."
"And more than likely would get them sick."
"Ice cream gets me sick sometimes. I still like it."
"Yeah, but polar bears are smarter than you," I say with a smirk, earning a playful shove.
"Are not."
"Are so."
"Are not."
"Are so."
"Are not infinity! Ha!" I roll my eyes, like I so often do at my childish friend.
"Are so, infinity squared."
"Are not, infinity cubed squared cubed times a gazillion!" I can't help but burst out laughing as he grins triumphantly.
"What the fuck?"
"I bet you are so jealous of my awesome infinity skills now."
"Oh, let me tell ya." I grin, and he leans in closer to kiss me, stopping when he hears my phone blasting out my Dresden Dolls ringtone, Girl Anachronism. I smirk as he pulls back and retreive my phone. "Hello!" I say into the speaker.
"Hi, Rene..." Oh god, my mother.
"Oh, uh, hi, Mom. How are you?" I slap Mick's arm as he laughs, holding back my own giggles.
"I'm okay. Just missing you... when are you coming home?"
"I don't know. I'm having a good time here..."
"You're not sleeping with those boys, are you? I don't want you getting pregnant."
"Mom!" I say through my blush. "I'm almost nineteen!"
"I know that, but I also know about bands and people in them. I don't want you sleeping around."
"They're not some asshole band with a bunch of groupies to call at whim, Mom... they're normal guys... and please, I'm not that goddamn shallow."
"Rene Dorothy Brown, do not speak to me like that!"
"You're the one calling me a slut!"
I don't hear the next thing she says, because the phone is very rudely yanked from my ear. "Hello, Ms. Rene's Mom!" says Mick cheerily. See, this would be one of his sweet moments. He likes fixing things like this. I guess fighting just does not fit into his mindset.
"Mick, gimme back the phone."
He shakes his head and continues speaking. "Yeah, this is Mick..." A pause and a laugh. "No, I'm not her boyfriend. A lot of people think that though... Nope... Yes... Yeah, she has her own room and everything, I swear... Of course not! We wouldn't do that to our Nay-Nay." I roll my eyes. Now I'm their Nay-Nay. "Don't worry, Ms. B, we're taking good care of her, I promise... yes, ma'am." A laugh. "Well, thanks... Okay... Bye." He starts laughing as he hangs up the phone and hands it back to me.
"What did she say?"
"Your mom thinks I'm charming," he laughs, making me laugh as well.
"Charming? Seriously?"
"Mmmhm... Am I?"
"I don't think I've used the word 'charming' before... ever."
"Well use it now." He rests his head on my shoulder, hugging my arm and smiling. "Am I charming, Nay-Nay?"
I can't help but grin. "Sure, Mickey... you're a charming gentleman." He smiles and picks his head up to peck me on the lips before standing.
"Hey, look! A cool tree!" He says, pointing and beginning to run towards said 'cool tree.' I laugh at his obvious ADHD and get up to follow him, careful not to drop my half eaten ice cream cone.
"You know, they have Ritalin for that," I smirk to the boy in the tree.
"I know, I've taken it... that stuff is shit." He gives me his signature Mick grin. "Come up here with me, Rene!"
"Can't. Ice cream," I laugh.
"Oh, come on," he says and reaches his hand down to me, and I sigh before taking it and letting him help pull me up into the tree with him.
"Happy now?"
"Yup," he says and grabs the ice cream from my hand, licking it.
"Hey!"
"What?" he says and takes a bite of the cone before giving it back to me. "I just got you out of trouble with your mom. I deserve a reward."
"Asshole," I mutter, also biting the cone.
"But you love it."
"Says who?" I smirk.
"Well... if you didn't love me, why would you be here with me?"
"Free ice cream. Duh."
He laughs. "Aw, so you don't like me, Nay?"
"Psh, who would like a sexy drummer with badass green hair?"
"Maybe a sexy singer with badass red and black hair?"
"I don't sing," I laugh.
"You sang with me in the car. And you sing in the shower. I think it's pretty."
I feel my cheeks burning a little. "You were listening to me while I was in the shower?"
"Yes... and I didn't know you like the Beatles." He grins and sings, "I wanna hold your hand!"
I hit him playfully. "Shut up."
"I wanna hold your haaaand! I wanna hold you hand! Come on, sing with me, Nay."
"No, I don't want to."
"And when I touch you, I feel happy inside."
"Shut up!"
"It's such a feeling, that, my love, I get high! I get high! I get high!"
"Shut the hell up, Mickey!" I say, hoping the burning in my cheeks is not amounting to a blush.
"You know you wanna sing, Rene, come on..."
"No."
"You don't wanna hold my hand?"
"No... It's not like your my boyfriend or anything. Though you could be if you asked me."
He grins. "Nah, don't think I will."
"Then I'm not holding your hand."
"Fine, then I'll just take something else."
Before I can ask what, my face is cupped in a pair of rough hands, and I suddenly feel my lips crashing against Mick's. My eyes widen in surprise before I allow myself to relax and kiss him deeper. I'm sure he's scooted closer on the bark of the tree, or did he just pull me over with the hand now around my waist? Whichever way, I don't mind this impromptu make-out session at all.
Except.... dammit. I pull away and slap Mick in the chest, to his great surprise. "Wha-"
"You made me drop my ice cream, you asshole!" He laughs as I pout. "What? It was good ice cream..."

***

I resisted singing along to Mick's Abbey Road album as we sit in the car on the way home. That bastard was teasing me, I know it. But really, who doesn't love the Beatles?
"Stop it, Mickey!" I yell. I know from the side mirror that my cheeks are red again, and it's not something I appreciate.
"Why? C'mon, Nay, you know you love Mean Mr. Mustard!"
"Yeah, so stop teasing me about it!"
He parks his still fucked up and faded black pickup in the driveway and grins to me. "So you like the Dresden Dolls, Black Sabbath, and the Beatles?" He quirks an eyebrow. "Are you sure you don't have a mental disorder?"
I hit him playfully on the arm. "Shut the hell up, Mickey. You like all of them too," I say, getting out.
"Yes, but I don't deny my mental disorders." He laughs and comes around to my side, earning a smirk from me.
"Oh, right. You're openly retarded."
"Ah-ah-ah. Not retarded. Just mentally unique."
"Unique? Is that what your mommy told you?" I ask, walking towards the door of the house.
"It's what your mommy told me... before she called me charming." He grins at me yet again rolling my eyes.
"She hasn't seen you."
"Does she think you're charming?"
"She thinks I'm a waste of her time and should act more like my sister."
"Does she know you listen to the Beatles?" he grins, opening the door to the house and running before I can get a chance to respond.
"Shut the hell up and get back here, you dumbass!" I laugh, running after him.
I nearly run into him as he's stopped short in front of the sofa, staring toward it with a more worried expression on his face than I've ever seen. I follow the path of his eyes and see-
Is it just me, or is Warren paler than usual?