Telegraph Avenue Kiss

I was running early this morning. Though how you run early still eludes me.... Anyway, I was already halfway done with my bowl of Count Chocula when Mikey came stomping through the house rather loudly. He threw himself into the seat next to me and huffed really loudly. He wanted me to look up and ask him what was the matter, but I kept on eating my cereal like he wasn't there. Which became a daunting task as Mikey threw himself upon the table and whined until I was forced to look at him. He had a big black streak across his forehead. I sighed and licked the palm of my hand, then scrubbed at the black mark. Mikey scrunched up his face but I ignored him. The black stuff was coming off too easily for it to be a marker.

"Alright, Mikes, what happened?" I asked, raising my eyebrows. He got in his 'story telling' position.

"Wel, I was just minding my own business, then Gee attacked me this morning with eyeliner." he told me, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Why did your brother have eyeliner?" I asked. He looked down at the table before answering.

"Ah...he wears eyeliner, now. It's really weird. He's changed so much since the last time I saw him. I mean, I'm not saying I don't like the change, but it's not..like him. He doesn't look the same, and he doesn't act the same. He was sitting in the living room when I left the house this morning." Mikey said, sounding like he was about to freak out. This must have been a big thing for him. Gerard never left the basement before he left. And if he wore makeup, neither of us knew about it. He could have just been hiding down there so people wouldn't see the makeup....ugh, why do I care? I hated thinking about Gerard's basement. It still creeps me out.

"Okay, well, shall we go to school, then?" I asked. Mikey groaned and rolled his eyes.

"If we must. You're only going so you can see Kali." he growled. I shrugged, since basically he was right. I probably would have been more up to skipping the whole day and going to see Gerard if Kali wasn't here, but I figured it couldn't hurt to just do that after school.

Mikey and I walked to school as usual and was greeted with a torrent of cans and shit as we passed the 'jock corner'. They always got under Mikey's skin, contributing to the reasons he always wanted to skip school, but I tried not to take it too personally. The never tried to hurt us, exactly, just break our spirits and make us feel like freaks.

Kali was standing with a group of girls that I wouldn't have expected her to be friends with. The ones with a cake of foundation on their faces so thick you just want to take a pick and scrape it off, and hair...that was poofy. Yep, I said it, poofy. When Kali waved me over they gave her a little glare, but she ignored them.

"Hi, Frank." she chirped, putting an arm around my shoulders. Ha, she was just a little bit taller than me.

"Hi, Kali." I said with a bit less enthuiasm than her, but compensated by leaning up and planting a kiss on her cheek. Some of the other girls, several of whom were my ex-girlfriends, gave me evil glares. I waved at them.

The bell for first period rang, and we started the day. It sucks, but what can you do? It's just one of those annoying little things that make life a pile of shit.

Mikey had been slowly self-destructing this whole time, never letting up for a second about his brother, so right after third period, I caught up with him in the hallway. He was leaned up against the wall, looking very jumpy. When I grabbed his arm, he twitched and nearly hit me. Something was really wrong with him. Usually he's relatively calm.

"Woah, Mikey, what's wrong?" I asked. He shook his head and glared over at a really tall guy who was talking and laughing with his friends. I huffed and rubbed his arm.

"Come on, Mikes, we're leaving." I told him, pulling him toward the door. He perked up as my words slowly registered, and soon I was the one being pulled. We made it outside, and started in the direction of Mikey's house. While we were walking, I took the opportunity to interrogate him about what happened earlier.

"Mikey, what did that guy do?" I asked. Mikey shook his head and did his best to flatten his hair over his eyes.

"Mikey..tell me. Did he say something, or did he do something? Am I going to have to kick his ass? Because you know that I will find that fucker and kill him for you." I growled. No one messes with Mikey if I can help it. He is the only fucking person in the world who hasn't tried to change me/pick on me for all my weird habits. I have gotten in plenty of fights on his behalf. The kid has asthma for god's sake! There's no way I would let him fight the assholes who pick on him.

We arrive at his house, and he stops me before we go in. He looks like he has something important to say, but what spurts out of his mouth is more talk about his brother.

"Gerard's a lot different, okay? I know you didn't like him before-"

"It's not that I didn't like him. He was always really nice to me. But he scared me...there's always been something a bit...off about your brother. I'm not one to talk, I'm definately freaky, but he took it to extremes." I said, trying not to think back into the past. It is way the fuck back there in my memory, and I don't feel like thinking. Mikey opened the front door and pushed me in.

I could see a black mass hunched over on the couch moving slightly. When Mikey closed the door, the mass jerked his head up, revealing...Gerard Way. Or, rather, a dazzlingly pale-skinned guy that had little resemblance to the Gerard that I knew. What the fuck happened?

He stood up and waved at us both. Me, being the hyper little whelp that I am, bounded up to him and threw my arms around his shoulders. He glanced down at me and raised his eyebrow. I thought he was getting ready to push me away, but instead I felt his arms circle around my waist.

"You haven't grown one inch, have you, Frankie?" he asked, grinning.

"Ah, only in my dick, sadly." I fake sighed while Mikey and Gerard laughed. I poked Gerard's stomach and looked up at him with a frown.

"You're wasting away just like Mikey!" I exclaimed. He shrugged it off.

"Hey, what can I say, I'm taking the term 'starving artist' literally."