The Crumbling Pyramid

The last two weeks of October were literally the most painful weeks of Gerard's life. He spent his lunches and about an hour after every rehearsal, not to mention almost all of the weekends, dancing. Carol kept him after rehearsals and weekends, and he made himself work during lunch. But it wasn't all in vain thankfully, because Mikey commented at some point that he had really improved and he hadn't known Gerard to work harder at something in his entire life. Gerard agreed - he hadn't worked this hard ever, physically anyways.

Halloween week was also Homecoming, and that meant the Homecoming Dance would be on Halloween, and it would be a costume dance. This actually made him want to go this year, even though he had never been to a school dance before and had never planned on it.

"Really, dude?" Frank asked him when Gerard told him his plans during Chemistry. "You're actually gonna go?"

"It's a costume party, it'll be sick," Gerard said, pausing to check that he and Frank were doing this experiment right. Not like he needed to worry, because Frank was there and Frank was a huge science nerd and would never let Gerard mess something up unless it was sure to end in something awesome.

"I'll take your word for it."

"We should go together. And make Ray and Mikey come too."

"Ha ha asshole, you'll have to drug Mikey and probably tie Ray up if you want that to happen."

"Fine, just you then."

"I don't wanna go."

"Please man? We're gonna have the best costumes ever, we should at least show it off."

Gerard was right. He was going as Hellboy, and Frank, as Captain Kirk from Star Trek.

"Plus you know, more of a chance to piss people off."

Frank sighed, put some powder into the vial of water they had, then giggled his awkward, endearing giggle. "Alright, fine. But only 'cuz we're going to be the gayest motherfuckers there."

"That's the spirit," Gerard said, smirking.

-

It turned out that Ray did want to go, because who would pass up being fuckin' Darth Vader at a school dance, and so then Mikey got unwillingly dragged into it. At least he was going to be Batman, which was pretty cool in Gerard's opinion, but not as cool as Hellboy.

When Homecoming King and Queen nominations went up, Gerard was indeed surprised. Andrew wasn't the football nominee this year as he had expected, but Chase Skyridge was, and he was dragging Anette along with him. Andrew instead was escorting the cheerleading nominee Rachel, and Dawn was Student Council's. Not that Gerard really cared who got it, but he at least voted for Chase and Anette in hopes that Andrew wouldn't win and get bragging rights.

That night at the dance, everyone was dressed up and having a good time, even Mikey to some extent. Ray got into a lightsabre fight with a kid who was dressed as Qui-Gon Jin, which Ray won of course, but he had found a new friend. Mikey sat in the corner most the time until Gerard dragged him out to socialize.

"Fuck you Gee, I don't want to deal with these assholes."

"Come on, just be a nerd like the rest of us."

About half-way through the night came the king and queen crowning. Gerard crossed his fingers behind his back that it wouldn't be Andrew. But when it came down to the last two couples, he gave up hope.

"And our runner up, Chase Skyridge and Anette Baker!" the announcer called, and there were cheers. Chase was smirking and Anette blushed, accepting her princess crown. Gerard groaned.

"And our Homecoming King and Queen are Andrew Callhart and Rachel Peters!" the announcer said with gusto, and most the hall cheered. They accepted their crowns with pleased smirks, and Gerard swore.

"The fuck do you care?" Mikey questioned.

"I didn't want that asshole to win it. He doesn't deserve it."

"Whatever, dude."

The rest of the night, Gerard and Frank danced together. It was a really weird sight, Kirk and Hellboy grinding each other, and they got a lot of "Faggots!" and "Get a room!" comments, but this was exactly what they wanted. Nothing was funnier than people freaking out over two guys whom they thought were gay together.

"Hey Gerard," came a voice, and he turned around to see Anette by herself, smiling and wearing a princess crown. Gerard's jaw dropped.

"Anette, are you Luna Lovegood?" he asked, surprised.

She laughed. "Yes! You're only the second person tonight to guess who I was." She looked the part, too. Her white-blonde hair was wavier than usual and she was wearing a Ravenclaw Hogwarts uniform, and carrying a wand. She even wore a pair of earrings fashioned to resemble radishes.

"Fuck, you look awesome!" Frank exclaimed. "Like, holy shit!"

She blushed. "Thanks guys."

"It sucks hardcore that you didn't win," Gerard said, halting his dirty dancing and leading them over to the wall where Ray and Mikey were chilling.

"Not really. I didn't want to win anyways. I only did it 'cuz Chase asked me to, and it would have been weird if he had gone with someone else, seeing how we're dating."

"Yeah, but Andrew won," Frank pointed out. "It's not like he needs more bragging rights."

"True. I'm kind of wondering if he rigged it somehow."

"Anette, you look so much like Luna Lovegood," Ray commented as the group reached the wall.

"That's 'cuz I'm dressed as her."

"Hell yeah."

The song changed, and Anette's expression brightened even more. "Love this song! Ray, we're dancing!" she yelled excitedly, grabbed Ray's hand, and dragged him back into the crowd. Gerard and Frank almost pissed themselves laughing at Ray doing an extremely awkward dance, and anyways, since when did Darth Vader and Luna Lovegood dance together?

"Gee, this is great," Frank wheezed, bending over in laughter. "You win, this was actually fun."

"Told you it would be. Besides, we're gonna have an after party at Ray's house, his mom's out of town."

"Booze!" Frank giggled, excited.

"Fuck yeah," Gerard said, and he kissed Frank on the mouth full-on.

It wasn't like he'd never kissed Frank before - they messed around with each other all the time, and the last time they were drunk together they had pretty much fucked - but they had never done it in public, and Gerard was half terrified, half exhilarated. Frank, too, seemed to be enjoying it, especially when people around them started gasping. But it was cut short when Mikey shoved his pointy elbow into Gerard's ribs and said, "Asshole alert," in his ear.

"Look at the shitty little faggots, being disgusting," came a voice, and Gerard and Frank broke apart gasping to see Andrew standing there, an arm around Rachel's waist, two of his thug friends behind him, and a sneer on his face.

"Yeup, look at us, being hot little faggots," Gerard said with a grin. "You only wish you could join in."

"The only thing I wish is that I could take a knife to your faggot face," Andrew growled.

"The fuck did they ever do to you, Andrew?" Mikey asked, getting aggravated like he always did when people called Gerard or Frank names.

"The faggots existed and tried to spread their buttsex across the world, that's what. God gave women pussies for a reason."

Rachel looked slightly offended at this comment, but didn't say anything. But Gerard thought that she had, because he heard a girl's voice say, "And your point is, Andrew?"

Anette and Ray were back, and Anette looked pissed. Andrew rounded on her. "Don't even get me started, you little slut. Why are you even with these guys anyways? Chase don't let you suck his cock enough?"

Anette flushed, but whether it was from embarrassment or anger, Gerard wasn't sure. Maybe both, but it wasn't like Anette's sex life was any of his business. "Look Andrew, you got your dream crown, how about you go and do something else besides degrade people like Gerard just because you don't understand them?"

"Don't understand them? I get it perfectly, they just want to be Hell-worthy sinners and destroy the world with their cock-sucking."

"You are such a homophobe Andrew, now leave them alone!"

"Don't tell me what to do, whore."

"Don't you dare call me a whore, Andrew!" Anette yelled, and she slapped him hard across the face. Everyone but the two of them gasped, and the crowd watching them barely got to recover from this before Andrew shoved Anette as hard as he could to the floor. She fell, her skirt nearly flipping up, and landed right at Ray's feet.

Everyone was in shock except Andrew, who looked like he might hit Anette next. Andrew's friends looked at each other, unsure of what to do. Rachel looked scared. Ray took Anette's arm and helped her up. But just when it looked like Andrew would win this round, Gerard saw something he had never seen before. Frank pulled back a fist and punched Andrew straight in the jaw, sending him stumbling. Frank was a tiny little shit, but he sure packed a punch. Literally.

"What the hell's going on?"

Chase had arrived on the scene to see Ray still holding Anette's arm and Andrew looking at Frank like he was going to kill him, and Frank was giving him a very similar look. "Don't you know not to shove a lady, you fuck?" Frank yelled, and Gerard moved to hold him back. Chase looked quickly between everyone on the scene and before Andrew could move, Chase grabbed him and threw him against the wall.

"What the fuck did you do to my girl?"

"The bitch was asking for it!" Andrew yelled back, trying to kick Chase, but Chase punched him in the face too.

"You touch her again and I'm gonna fucking kill you. Get going," Chase said, practically throwing Andrew away from the wall and into his friends.

"That's what you said last time," Andrew sneered, but he left all the same.

Chase turned to Anette. "You okay?" he asked, reaching for her, but she pulled herself away from him.

"Yeah, no thanks to you." She looked at Ray. "Thank you, Ray. And you Frank, though it wasn't really necessary," she added, smiling at Frank.

"It was completely necessary," Frank said, massaging his knuckles. "He pushed you, and every idiot knows not to push or hit a lady."

"Apparently not that idiot," Chase said, reaching for Anette again. "Come on, let's dance."

"No Chase, don't touch me. You've been useless all night, and I'm having fun with these guys."

"Anette-"

Before he could finish his sentence, she stormed away, and he followed after her.

"Think we should follow?" Frank asked.

"Nah man," Gerard said. "Ray, can we just go to your house? I'm done here."

"Sure. Let's go," Ray said, and they left the dance for Ray's car and house.

Everyone but Gerard hit the booze immediately. He instead nursed a single beer all night. This was unusual for him, but he really didn't want news of ragingly drunk Gerard to get out and for Mr. Wind to have to find another Danny. He did make sure Mikey didn't do anything stupid though, which was good, 'cuz it would have been a shame if he had gotten kicked off light crew, which he had actually been enjoying.

And all Gerard could really think about was Andrew and as many theories as he could as to what could have driven a guy to be filled with so much hate.