Did We All Fall Down?

*Frank's POV*

I banged desperately on the door. No one was answering.

"Ray, man. Open up!" I yelled. After a moment I heard footsteps approaching. The door swung open to reveal a very disheveled Ray.

He glanced at his watch, "Frank, i-it's 7:38 in the morning! J-just go home." he said, bleary-eyed. He yawned and looked me over. After a minute he realized just how freaked out I was. He ushered me inside so we could talk.
I went straight for his messy living room and plopped down on the sofa. He took a seat across from me in an armchair covered with laundry.

"Frankie, what's up?" he asked.

"Okay, well, shit... um," I began, "I'm kinda, no, I'm really in love with Gee." I blurted out. Ray nodded. He was taking this much better than I had expected.

"You're, you're not surprised...?" I asked, slightly confused. He shook his head. "Oh..." I whispered.

"Frank, I've had my suspicions. I don't know about the other guys, but I definitely thought that you might be in love with Gerard. And after that lunch, when you ran out on us while we were all talking about Lavender --"

"I'm that obvious?" I asked apprehensively. "Do you think Gerard knows?"

"I'm not sure. I was kind of focusing on you, what with the freaking-out and all." Ray said.

"Oh.. great." I said sarcastically. "But, what am I gonna do? He's my friend, and - and, I don't wanna mess with the dynamic of the band. I mean, if he found out and freaked -- it could ruin everything. I-I could ruin everything."

"No, he wouldn't freak out. Gee's cool. Everything would be okay. And don't worry about the band. We've been through a lot together, something like this couldn't break us all up now." Ray reassured me.

I stood up and began to pace, I was being the perfect love-sick cliche and I hated it.
"What about Lavender? I don't wanna screw with what they have. Not that I'm saying Gee could ever be interested in someone like me. I mean he's straight, and even if he wasn't... But still -- I don't know what I'm doing." I rubbed my eyes with my palms and continue to pace.

"Frank, you need to relax! You're on the verge of a nervous breakdown here." He jumped up and stopped my pacing by wrapping me in a big hug.

"Chill out." he muttered into my shoulder. I gulped and nodded.

"Lemme get you some water." he ran to the kitchen and grabbed a couple of water bottles. He walked back into the living room and handed me one. I accepted it quickly and began to drink like a man just rescued from the desert. We sat down, and I continued talking, this time, more calmly.

"I don't know, I've always been attracted to him. But it's more than that now. He's so kind, smart, talented, funny, strong... God, I sound like a love-struck teenager."

Ray laughed, "It's okay. He is all of those things. You picked a good guy to fall for (not that you can really choose)."

I nodded half-heartedly. Part of me was simply smitten with Gee, another was disgusted with myself; he was one of my best friends for Christ's sake. And he was straight, and dating Lavender. Ray seemed to read my mind.

"It's okay. There's nothing wrong with falling in love. It's nor--" I stood up and cut him off,

"Not when it's one of your best friends who happens to already be in a relationship. God, I hate this! Every night I dream about him. It's like a fucking obsession. I can't get over him. I don't know what to do! I'm sorry to wake you up and yell and everything... I-I'll just go."

Before Ray could protest, I was out the door and in my car, running away again.

*Mikey's POV*

"Gee, what's wrong?" I asked my brother. He was sitting at the foot of my bed dressed in the same clothes he had on yesterday, only more wrinkled. He ran his hands through his already-messy hair in frustration.

"Lavender broke up with me... because I didn't really love her. And now she's back with her old boyfriend, John." he told me. I took my glasses off my bedside table and put them on, just staring at him.

"Oh my God. I'm so sorry. I --"

"Yeah, and the best part is: I don't really care..." he chuckled ironically and held his head in his hands.

"Wait... what?" I asked, utterly confused.

"Just what I said. I don't care. It just fucking dawned on me that I was in a relationship for a year and half with someone I didn't even really love. I was working so hard to be mature and have a steady romantic life that I didn't even notice that I was working for absolutely nothing!" he said in disbelief.

"I never realized things weren't working between you guys... I'm a shitty brother." I said.

"No, I didn't even realize things weren't working, which makes me a shitty boyfriend." he sighed.

"Come on," I said. I led the way downstairs into our kitchen and pulled a plate of cookies out of a cabinet. "Cookies make all things better... sort of." I offered him the plate. He looked at it and smiled.

"You are the best (and weirdest) brother on the planet." he said as he grabbed a cookie. We scarfed them down together, a bonding ritual that we hadn't practiced in a while.
After the last crumb had disappeared, we burst out laughing.