Pint-Sized Romeo

GERARD WAY'S POV

Ray and Bob had arrived not 10 minutes ago, and we were already being loud enough for my mother to tell us not to annoy the neighbors. We started playing video games together and had chosen Guitar Hero, which was always a terrible idea, because two out of the five of us actually play guitar and the other three are highly competitive...

"Come on, Bob! You can beat him!" Mikey cheered, pumping his fist in the air. "Don't let the afro intimidate you!"

"I can't! He's like fucking Samson, man! We gotta cut it off in the middle of the night, or something!" Bob said as the results came up on screen, letting him know he'd lost.

"Hey, watch it. I will personally castrate all of you if I wake up with my hair missing." Ray said, narrowing his eyes threateningly.

"Note to self: never threaten Ray's hair." Frank said, giggling and stuffing some skittles in his mouth.

"Yeah, I like my balls." I said.

"You just like balls in general." Mikey said, rolling his eyes.

I looked at him with wide eyes. He was really gonna do this in front of everyone?

"What?" Bob said. "Did I miss something? Did Frankie turn Gerard gay when I wasn't looking?"

I laughed inwardly at how accurate that statement was, but still glared at Mikey.

"Hey, don't look at me. I had nothing to do with it." Frank said, holding up his hands.

"Seriously, man. Do you have something to tell us? We'll accept you, no matter what. You know that." Ray said in a comforting tone. He always was the Mama Bear of the group.

"Yeah, about that." I said, my voice shaking from the nerves. Frank reached over and took my hand in his, smiling encouragingly at me.

"You can do it." he whispered.

"I'm gay." I said. "You all have the right to know, so... I'm telling you now." I waited for the reality of what I'd just said to sink into my friends, for the yelling to start or them to get up and grab their bags to leave.

"'Bout time you came out." Bob said. "We've known for like, years."

"What?" I said, shocked. I thought I'd done pretty well hiding it...

"Remember that TA we had last year? The young one with the amazing fashion sense, as Frankie put it?"

"Yeah." I said, blushing slightly. I'd had a slight crush on my English TA that came in for a month or two last year.

"Well, straight guys don't tend to practically drool whenever another guy bends over." Ray said, sounding slightly apologetic. "We kind of guessed."

"Wait, how did I miss this?" Frank said. "No one tells me ANYTHING! I didn't know Gee had a crush on the hot TA!"

I blushed even more and ducked my head, trying to hide it.

"That's because you were too busy checking out Gerard to look at the TA." Mikey said, smirking.

"Fuck you." Frank said, tossing a pillow at Mikey's head.

"Hey, that hurt!" he said, pouting.

"Just 'cause I'm gay, doesn't mean I like every guy around me." Frank said.

"Yeah, yeah, we know." Mikey said. "Anyways, since we've already started gossiping like a bunch of girls, who wants to play a good ol' game of Truth or Dare?"

Oh shit. This is NOT a good idea.

"Sounds good to me." Bob said.

"I've got nothing to hide." Ray shrugged.

"Do I have to?" I groaned.

"Well, it's my birthday, so.... Yes. Yes, you do." Mikey said, smirking.

"Fine."

"I guess I'm in, too." Frank said. "How are we gonna do this?"

"Anyone got a bottle?"

"I've got an empty Coke can?" Bob volunteered.

"That'll work." Mikey said. "Who wants to go first?"

No one volunteered.

"Okay, since it's my birthday, I'll spin first." Mikey spun the Coke can and it landed on Bob. "Truth or dare?"

"Let's start out with truth. Nice and easy."

"Okay, umm.... this is a lame one, but who is your celebrity crush?"

Bob went bright red, cheeks seeming like they would catch on fire at any moment.

"Ooooh, Bobby's embarrassed!" Frankie squealed.

"So, who is it?"

Bob mumbled something unintelligible.

"That is NOT an appropriate answer."

"Fine. It's Miley Cyrus. And you're all douches." Bob said, looking pissed off.

"Aww, it's okay Bobby, we still love you." Frank said, laughing.

"Yeah, it's not an issue if you're in love with Hannah Montana." I said, smirking.

"All right, all right. Make Fun of Bob time is over. My turn to ask!"

Bob spun the bottle and we continued playing. Dares involved running around the house once in only your boxers (Mikey), singing and dancing to Nobody's Perfect (Bob) and waxing a strip of your leg (Ray). I stayed away from dares, because I was a pussy, according to Mikey. But luckily, the bottle had only landed on me once, and it was Bob who was asking, so I didn't have to worry about Mikey trying to get me to admit my feelings for Frank.

Every time Mikey touched the can, I got a little more worried. I knew that it was going to land on me, and there's no way Mikey would let me off without asking me something about Frankie or daring me to do something to Frankie, and I couldn't quite decide which would be worse.

"My tuuurrrnnn!" Mikey said, looking excited. He reached out and spun the coke can, looking up at me and winking.

I watched, heart beating fast, hoping that the can wouldn't land on me, praying to any and every god that anyone has ever prayed to that I wouldn't have to admit my feelings for Frankie.

Apparently no one was listening.

I never thought that looking straight at the tab side of a Coke can could be so scary.

There was no denying it: the can had landed on me.

"So, Gerard. Truth... or dare?"

Fuck.