Save Yourself, I'll Hold Them Back

Beth’s P.O.V.

After Gerard left, I felt very, very uneasy. What if they caught him? What if they took him away? Or any of them, for that matter.

My thoughts were interrupted by someone or something slamming the door open. I tried to make my nervous breath as quiet as possible, but my heart was another matter. It’s our first day here, and we’re already being hunted for. Well, we chose to stay. It’s our fault, really.

Chris took my hand and I squeezed it hard. Then, footsteps entered the bathroom. I felt my eyes go wide and my heart beat got louder in my ears. How could they not hear it? Chris ran his thumb across my knuckles in attempt to soothe my nervousness. After a little while, the footsteps left the room and I mentally sighed in relief.

After another half hour in the cramped space, I heard the door slam shut and the motor of a car start up. I waited till one of the Killjoys came to get us. Sure enough, Gerard came and got us after about two minutes. When he opened the cabinet door, I looked up at him and everything clicked.

“Oh my God, you’re Gerard Way.” I blurted out. He smiled.

“I was honestly waiting for that. Yes, I’m Gerard Way. Kobra Kid is my brother, Mikey, Fun Ghoul is Frankie, and Jet Star is Ray.” I felt my eyes grow huge. I just met my favorite band of all time and I didn’t even realize it. Okay, now I can’t go all fan girl here. I have to compose myself.

“Oh, cool. I guess it just didn’t click at first. I gave him a small smile and he gave me one back.

“So, are you two gonna get out, or what?” Mikey asked from the doorway. I felt my cheeks heat up and I scrambled out of the cabinet and so did Chris. We all then walked to the living room and sat down. I sat next to Chris again and took his hand and looked over at Gerard. I saw a conflict of emotions cross his eyes as he looked at us, but it was gone in a flash. Weird.

“So, are you guys’ hungry? We got the food.” I groaned and looked at Frankie.

“But I just sat down!” I complained. Frankie chuckled and shook his head.

“Well, when you want it, there’s food in the kitchen.” Suddenly, I was confused. Wait, if BL/ind just started today, how were the Killjoys already rebels, and how had they already ran out of food? I decided to ask Mikey exactly that.

“Oh, well, BL/ind has been around for a while, working on their testing and their pills. They just finished their final touches today, so they made the broadcast. And we’ve been trying to stop them ever since they started a few years ago.” He answered. I nodded in understanding. No wonder I hadn’t heard from them in a while.

“So, you guys don’t play anymore?” I asked. This time, Gerard answered me.

“We play, we just haven’t had the time to publish and put out an album. Danger Days was actually written at the beginning of this crisis.” He said, leaning forward a bit. I nodded again, satisfied.

“So, you guys still play, you just aren’t putting out any albums.” I stated. Gerard nodded. “Oh, okay, cool.” We all sat on the dusty couches and talked a bit about ourselves. As it turns out, the guys are way cool than I planned on. Gerard and Mikey talked about their grandma and how ‘Helena’ was written for her, Frankie told us about his vegetarianism, and Ray told us about the time he broke his first guitar by accident.

Chris told them about the first time we met in fifth grade. I was being bullied by some random girl and ran off crying and sat behind a rock wall that no one ever played on. Then, Chris came over and just sat by me and talked about random things. After a while, I stopped crying and we talked and talked until recess was over. We’ve been best friends ever since. Sure, we’ve had our fights, and truthfully, Chris is my only friend that would make me cry, but we always made up in the end. They all awed at the last part, and I felt my cheeks heat up. I saw Chris’ cheeks turn a bit pink, too.

I again saw that flash of emotion in Gerard’s eyes, but I just let it go. If he wanted to tell me, he would. Just then, my stomach rumbled a bit. I giggled a little.

“Well, I suppose I’m hungry now.” I giggled softly again and got up, pulling Chris with me. I went into the kitchen to find the food that they were talking about. I opened a cabinet and found many, many cans of stuff called ‘Power Pup’. Hm, alright.

I took down a can and then took down another for Chris. I handed one to him and searched for a can opener. When I couldn’t find one, I walked out to the living room where the guys were lazing around.

“Hey, where’s the can opener?” I asked them. Ray looked up at me with a cocked eyebrow.

“We don’t have one. There’s a tab on the top of every can…” I looked down at the can and sure enough, there it was. I blushed and muttered a quick thanks before returning to the kitchen, where Chris was leaning against the counter with a smirk on his face.

“Oh, shut up…” I muttered, but I couldn’t keep the smile off my face as I pulled off the top of the can to revile what looked like beans. I gave it a quick sniff, and sure enough, they smelled like beans, too. I found a spoon and took out a spoonful. I shoveled it into my mouth, not realizing how hungry I actually was until the whole thing was gone in two minutes flat. I threw away the can and put the spoon in the sink and looked at Chris, who was only halfway done.

“Well, someone was hungry!” He said with a chuckle. I smiled and got his keys to get some gum out of our car.

I went and grabbed my gum and brought the whole pack inside. I took out a piece and popped it into my mouth, and then I threw away the wrapper. When I walked into the kitchen, Chris was still eating. I walked back out to the living room, only to find all of the Killjoys asleep on the couches. I smiled at their sleeping faces and walked back into the kitchen to wait for Chris to finish eating.

When he was done, we went to our room and fell asleep instantly, still in our dirty clothes, with his arm around my waist and his warm head against mine.