Who's the Kid in the Basement? Gerard Way

The next morning I woke up around 10:30 and decided to go work a serving shift for lunch and dinner when my dad asked me to. Toni came to work as well since he apparently has to start paying for his own car insurance.

It was pretty busy through lunch and dinner so I ended up making 229$ in just tips for the day and Toni ended up making 243$. He's usually so much more talkative with his tables, him being way more outgoing then me and all, so he normally makes a little more then I do. That's a trait I wish I would have gotten, he's always able to talk to anyone he meets and carry conversation effortlessly. Usually for me after basic small talk I never know what else to talk about with a random stranger. That's why Toni's made friends from other schools at shows, he really does have a lot of people he's at least acquaintances with that have jammed with him over our house. He's dated a lot of girls because of it too, usually every show I go to with him there's a least one girl he doesn't know that comes up to him to try and talk with him and get his number before he leaves.

When we arrived back home that night after work I looked at the caller ID and found that Mikey had called and was probably going to ask me to hang out with him today or something. Since it was about 10 pm I decided not to call him back even though it was a Saturday night, and I would love to go over and hang out with him and as a bonus hopefully get to see and or hang out with Gerard as well. But I figured I'd give him a call back in the morning. Maybe I could invite him, Ray and Gerard over here instead of going to their house.
The rest of my night I played the new video game Toni bought with him for a couple of hours then decided to head to bed.

The next morning I woke up around the same time, took a shower, got dressed and headed downstairs for coffee.

"Hey, do you mind if I have a few friends over today?" I asked my mom who had been doing dishes in the kitchen near me.

"No, I don't mind, just vacuum the living room and the basement before they come please, and make sure your room is clean."

"Ok, I'll start vacuuming after my coffee," I kind of pointlessly informed her. While I was finishing my coffee, I figured I'd go tell Toni I was inviting Gerard, Mikey and Ray over.

"Hey," I said knocking on his door.

"Come in.." I head him mumble. He had been sleeping.

"When I'm done vacuuming the living room, basement and my room, I'm going to call Mikey and invite him, Gerard and Ray over."

"Ok, what time is it?" He asked sitting up and rubbing his eyes.

"It's 11:26."

"Ok, I'll go get in the shower in a few minutes." He said before I shut his door and walked back down stairs. After I finished my coffee in a few minutes and decided to start vacuuming downstairs first. Usually Toni vacuumed down there since he keeps his Mesa half stack down there and some of his other music equipment. Our basement was finished and that was the area Toni usually jammed with people in and had band practices with a few of the bands he was in.
In about 20 Minutes I had finished vacuuming all 3 rooms and was sitting on my bed ready to call Mikey.

"Hello?" I head after 3 rings. It sounded like Gerard instead of Mikey.

"Hey is this Gerard?"

"Yeah, what's up?" He said recognizing my voice.

"Nothing much, I was calling to see if you and Mikey and Ray want to come hang out with Toni and I at our house today."

"Oh, Let me go get Mikey," I head him put the phone down on something. I was actually glad he had picked up instead of Mikey since maybe it would increase the chances of him coming over. That way instead of Mikey telling him he can come it won't come off as 'I'm inviting Mikey because HE'S my friend and I'm throwing the invite to you because you're his brother, our age, and I don't want to be rude.'

"Hey!" I head Mikey's voice pick up the phone.

"Hey! Do you and Gerard and Ray and to come hang out with Toni and I over here?"

"Yeah, when do you want us to come?"

"Whenever, but can you invite Ray? I would invite him but I don't have his number yet."

"Yeah I'll call him, we'll head over after I give him a call."

"Ok, awesome, I'll see you when you get here,"

"Yup! Bye!"

"Bye!" We hung up. I sat on my bed a few minutes before noticing some unorganized stuff sitting on top of my dresser, I decided to not necessarily 'clean' my room up a little more but, 'neaten' it up a bit. After that which didn't take too long, I headed downstairs to go sit on the couch in the living room and Toni happened to be playing his new video game.

"When's everyone supposed to get over here?"

"I'm not sure they'll probably be here any minute since they said they'd head over after giving Ray a call and I'm assuming that was probably like 15 or 20 minutes ago."

"You want to go to a show with me this weekend?"

"Sure, what night is it?"

"Friday," Toni had informed me and a second after we heard the doorbell ring. I made my way over to let them in hoping Gerard would be there with Mikey and Ray. I opened the door and to my disappointment Gerard wasn't there, it was only Mikey and Ray, not that I disliked hanging out with Mikey and Ray, I just wished Gerard would have come as well... obviously..

"Hey Mikey! Ray!" I greeted them and stood back so they could enter the house. "How are you guys doing?"

"Good!" Mikey spoke up first.

"Pretty good, how are you?" Ray asked me back as Mikey quickly made his way straight ahead to the living room hearing the video game Toni had bought with Ray and I following.

"I'm alright, not bad, not bad."

"Yaaaooooow!" Toni greeted them.

"Hey brah!" Mikey said lightly punching his shoulder and sitting next to him on the almost horseshoe shaped couch. If you are standing behind it the left side of the horse shoe is a little longer then the right. It's a couch my parents got custom made. It was a rusty orange color, not an in your face or 70's looking orange, but a mellow rusty, reddish orange.

"How'd writing your essay go?" I asked making conversation with Ray. Him and I talked a little as Mikey intently watched Toni finish the round of the game up he was playing. Then he started a new one and plugged in the 2nd controller so we could have play offs like at Mikey's house. We had been the game taking turns for about an hour. I had been barely playing since I hardly ever won, which didn't bother me but, I kept wanting to ask Mikey why Gerard didn't come over but I didn't want to just ask out of no where that'd be kind of weird. I kept thinking I probably should have asked right when they arrived so it would be somewhat relevant to something. Except I was too worried that it would seem weird if that was the next thing out of my mouth right after greeting them.

"Are you guys hungry?" I asked everyone I had only had coffee so far and nothing to eat yet so I was pretty hungry.

"Yeah, kind of.." Mikey admitted.

"What do you feel like having? I can go make something.." I volunteered.

"You can throw some of those mini tacos and beef or chicken burritos in the over and make some popcorn.. or something like that" Toni suggested. "I feel like eating shitty food."

"Would that be ok with you guys?"

"Yes! I love those mini tacos!" Mikey chimed in excitedly.

"Yeah, anything's good with me," Ray said while trying to beat Toni in their round. I went and threw 20 of the mini tacos in the oven with 3 beef and 2 chicken burritos and I grabbed a bag of some tortilla chips threw them in a bowl and started making this dip that goes with them really well.

"Do you need any help out here?" Mikey came in and asked me.

"Nah, It's ok I've got it, do you want a drink though?"

"Sure! What do you guys have?"

"Coke, sprite, orange soda, hawaiian punch, milk, water, ice tea and lemonade flavor packets.."

"I'll take sprite actually," He decided, I handed him one out of the fridge and he sat down on a bar stool at the island in my kitchen I was making dip at. "Hey.."

"Yeah?"

"What do think the new girl who's in a few of our classes is like?"

"The one that sits right in front of you in History?" I asked giving him a little bit of a squinty eyed stare, I had a feeling where this conversation was going.

"Yeah,"

"Well, I don't know her at all obviously, she's kind of quiet, but I'm sure she's probably nice, why do you ask?" I asked giving him a small smirk which made him start to laugh a little and then begin to blush the tiniest bit.

"Well, cause I was thinking about talking to her.."

"..Because?.." I pressed chuckling a little holding my squinty eyed stare and smirk. I could tell he wanted to talk to her probably because he thinks she's hot, I thought it was pretty funny he didn't want to just come out and say that.

"Because, I want to be friends with her? If she's nice.." He said as I held my gaze which made him laugh even more.

"Because?..." I pressed again and he laughed even harder he probably knew exactly what I was trying to get out of him.

"Because... she seems.. like she'd be... a cool person to hang out with....." He sort of stumbled on his words which made me laugh as well.

"Or! Because you think she's hot and want to get to know her so you can go out with her!" I spat out at him and we both started cracking up and his face turned a bit of a darker shade of red. "You could have just said that initially!" I said we were both still laughing.

"Yeah, I guess I could have.." He agreed. "Do you think she'd want to talk to me? I'm kind of worried about trying to approach her.. I mean it seems like it would be pretty easy since she doesn't seem to really have friends at school yet, but what if she shoots me down for even being friends?" He asked me it made me think a little about how I felt with Gerard right after I met him.

"I don't think she'll do that! She doesn't seem like that kind of person, I bet she doesn't hang out with anyone yet because she's shy, she seems like a pretty quiet person so far. I think you definitely should go up and talk to her some point Monday. Maybe she's waiting for people to talk to her since she's new." I told him as I pulled out some sour cream to go with the mini tacos and grabbed some paper plates for everyone to use.

"Yeah you're right, I guess I'm just nervous about. Honestly I've never really went to go approach someone I've liked before.." He admitted to me.

"Well, if you want I can help you out, we can both go approach her if you're that nervous." I suggested. "Hey Ray what would you like to drink?" I quickly called out to the living room.

"uhh..coke if you have it?" He called back.

"Yeah, that would probably be a good idea." Mikey lit up a little.

"But, Monday if you end up feeling like you want to try approaching her by yourself, that's cool too. I think if you do that it might send the signal that maybe you want to be more then friends with her too." I told him grabbing the food out of the oven.

"Yeah, that's a good point, do you think it would be bad then if we both approached her?" He asked before I ran out to the living room to go hand Ray his coke and put the tortilla chips and the dip out on the coffee table.

"No, I don't think that would be a bad thing, I think it just wouldn't be as obvious that you would like to date her if we both came up to her. But that doesn't mean you can't make it a little obvious after that though..." I said leaning on the island waiting for the tacos and burritos to cool off still.

"Ok.. so I think I or we should do it during lunch."

"Yeah, that would probably be the best time and we can invite her to sit with us or ask to sit with her,"

"Yeah!" Mikey exclaimed excitedly. "Wow! I can't wait for Monday now! I'm glad I ended up telling you about this," Mikey smiled warmly. It made me wish that I could tell him about how I like Gerard. I think it would be awesome to tell him because maybe then he could tell Gerard and maybe Gerard and I could end up dating or something and it would be awesome! But I also wondered maybe he would discourage me from liking Gerard, I mean I don't know why but maybe he'd feel weird about it or something.. I don't know. I was just totally unsure of how he would react. "I think if I decided not to tell you about her, I bet I wouldn't even think about acting on it and approaching her." Mikey added.

"I'm glad you told me too! If you want to get to know her, I'm you're friend so I'll totally support it and even be your wing-man if you need it." I returned the smile, then started taking the tacos and putting them onto a huge plate with the burritos. Mikey walked back out to the living room with me while I took the rest of the food out.

"Dude, we need to go jam then after this!" I heard Toni say as soon as I sat down on the couch next to Ray.

"Definitely! I can go grab my guitar if you want..." I hear Ray offer, I realized Toni was just finding out that Ray was a guitar player.

"If you want to, you don't have to though I have one here you can play and I'll bring one of my amps downstairs too. Guys Ray and I are jamming after we finish all this food!" Toni said passing the controller to Mikey since Ray beat him.

15 minutes Toni and Ray were running up stairs to go grab the equipment to go play down stairs. I was sitting on the couch with Mikey while we were finishing up our food. I was thinking about popping the question about why Gerard isn't here and decided on it since it probably wouldn't be that out of place.

"So, how come Gerard didn't end up coming over with you and Ray?" I went for it.

"Oh, he was going to, and went and called Shop Rite to see when he was supposed to work next and they told him today for 1 to 5. He said that if Ray and I were still here when he gets out of work he'll stop by and hang out until we all leave."

"Ohh, that's cool," I said nonchalantly but inside I got really excited. I was looking forward to him coming over and hoping that he would. Part of me believed that he would decide not to after working, maybe since I was let down that he hadn't come earlier, but I was very hopeful he would show up. I looked at the clock and saw that it was 2:58, so there was probably about 2 and a half more hours until Gerard got out of work. I was definitely going to be counting down, I just hoped I would be doing it discreet enough.

For the next hour and a half Mikey and I had played a couple different games on the TV in the living room while Ray and Toni were still playing guitar together in the basement.

"Hey, can we pause the game for a second? I have to pee.." Mikey admitted.

"Sure, the closest bathroom is right over there," I said pointing to it from the couch.

"Ok, no cheating while I'm gone!" He joked before getting up off the couch.

"Ok... I will try my hardest not to... but I don't know if I can do that.." I admitted glancing at the clock real quick it was 4:49 and I felt a rush of excitement course through me as I told myself, only 41 more minutes! I smiled to myself and got off the couch and stretched before picking up the empty plates, two bowls and two empty soda cans. I brought them out to the kitchen then grabbed Mikey and myself another can of sprite and coke before sitting back down.

"You didn't cheat did you?!" Mikey said frantically hurrying over to the couch to take his seat again.

"No! I didn't aren't you proud?! I was able to control myself!"

"That is wonderful! I am proud!"

"Thanks!" I said excitedly. Then I head my mom coming downstairs, she'd been up there the whole time Ray and Mikey had been here.

"Are you guys getting hungry for dinner yet?" She asked walking up behind Mikey and I.

"Uh... we ate about 2 hours ago but I'm starting to get a little hungry again, what about you Mikey?"

"Yeah, same here." He said a little sheepishly.

"Mom, this is Mikey and Mikey that's my mom." I informally introduced them.

"Nice to meet you," She responded to turning and waving at her.

"Ray is over as well but he's playing guitar in the basement with Toni." I informed her.

"Oh, what do you guys feel like having for dinner? I was thinking about making some lasagna, and we have stuff for salads as well.."

"I'm ok with that, do you like lasagna Mikey?"

"Yeah I do.."

"Ok cool, do you think Ray does?"

"Yeah, I think he's had it at my house before."

"Hmmm... ok cool." I said as we finished up the round in the game we were playing my mom walked out into the kitchen. I also wondered if Gerard liked lasagna too but didn't want to ask in case he wasn't going to come. I know Mikey said that Gerard would come over if Mikey and Ray were still here, but I still have the feeling that there was really a 50, 50 chance of him coming. By the time Mikey beat me in that round we heard Ray and Toni walking up the stairs out of the basement.

"YO!" Toni announced his presence as soon as he stepped into the living room and sat down on the couch with Ray joining.

"Are you two hungry? Mom's making lasagna for dinner, do you like lasagna Ray?"

"Cooooooolio," Toni blurted in a monotone voice.

"Yup, I do." Ray said after chuckling at Toni's weirdness. I glanced over at the clock noticing that it was 5:21! I was figuring Gerard would hopefully be knocking on the door any point in the next 20 minutes hopefully.

"What do you guys want to do until dinner?" Toni asked probably wanting to do something else besides playing video games since that's what we've basically done since Mikey and Ray got here.

"I don't know.." Mikey said.

"Let's play a card game.." I suggested looking over at the deck of cards that was sitting on the end table near the recliner that was in the room.

"Ok.." Toni said going to grab the deck then sitting on the autumn on the other side of the table. We began to play a game of bullshit and half way through Mikey's cell phone went off.

"Hello?..." He picked up his phone, "Oh, you're here?" My heart leaped I knew it was Gerard as soon as he said that "Ok. Bye." He hung up the phone and stood up. "Gerard's here," He announced to us all.

"I'll go get the door with you," I suggested trying not to fly up off the couch too quickly. Mikey and I made our way to the front door to let Gerard in. He was just getting out of the car when we opened the door.

"Hey, Is it ok if I park there?" Gerard asked he had parked in the behind Toni's car which was on the part of the drive way that extended past the garage to the left side of it.

"Hey! Yeah that's fine," I smiled at him as he approached Mikey and I.

"How was your shift?" Mikey asked him.

"Eh, it was alright, I would have rather hung out with everyone here then worked, but I need money.." He said as Mikey and I moved so that he could enter the house.

"Do you like lasagna?" I asked him.

"Uh.... yeah..."

"Ok, cool, my mom's making that for dinner.." I told him Mikey, myself and Gerard sat out in the living room.

"Let's start over Gerard's here!" Toni said throwing down his cards on the coffee table.

"What are you guys playing?"

"Bullshit." Ray answered Gerard as Toni gathered up all the cards and began shuffling them.

"Figures you want to start over... I think I was winning.." Mikey frowned jokingly.

"Of corse! We can't have you winning now Mikey, I have to win... I'm sorry." Toni responded to him.

"In that case... mayyyybe I should shuffle the cards," Ray joked along putting out his hand out to Toni. I looked over at Gerard who was sitting next to Mikey who was on my right. He didn't look like he had just gotten out of work, he must have taken the grocery store shirt off in the car. He still looked good though His hair kind of messy but clean looking. He some black jeans on with a greenish colored tee shirt on with zip up Queen band sweatshirt over top of it.

"Awwww, but then that would totally offset the deck I organized so I could win.." Toni said in monotone voice but handed the cards to Ray. By the time we were finished with our game My mom had told us the lasagna was done. She said she was going to go eat in her room since my dad was going to be at the restaurant to close it tonight.

We all got up and started getting ourselves some lasagna and some salad, I introduced Gerard to my mom right before she started heading upstairs.

We ended up eating in the living room on the couch while watching some comedians on comedy central. When everyone was done eating we ended up talking for a while and I unfortunately didn't get any alone time with Gerard, but he did end up being a little more outgoing in the group setting then last time. Toni invited Ray, Mikey and Gerard to come to the show with us on Friday and they all accepted. By 9:30 They decided that they were going go head home.

The rest of my night consisted of trying a delicious Schadenfreude pie my dad brought home from work, he made it there and was thinking about putting it on the menu as a special. My mom, Toni and I liked it. I ended up starting an English assignment that wasn't due for another week then going to bed around 11:30.