I'll Carry You Home Tonight.

The sound of the club rumbled in Ray's ears, almost making them hurt. The band that was was supposed to be playing is taking their good old time getting started and the crowd is starting to get rowdy. But he didn't care. He loved the club scene. He loved the smell of liquor and the dried up vomit on the floor that smells putrid. Most of all he loved having his best friends around him and enjoying every minute with them.

Gerard, Mikey, and Frank are with him at the bar taking shots, killing time until the band starts to play. Frank's telling dirty jokes that are almost funny, and Gerard is complaining about how shitty this club is and that they should bail.

"Dude, are you kidding?" Mikey says to Gerard, "This place is fucking awesome! Hey, bartender, another round over here!"

"I think you've had enough, dude," Frank tells Mikey, kind of concerned. "Aren't you driving?"

Mikey shrugged. "I'll make sure I sober up and then drive, no biggie."

"Mom will fucking kill me if you get into an accident, Mikes. Bring the alcohol intake down a notch," Gerard comments with raised eyebrows.

With a small smirk, Mikey takes a shot anyways, and leaves the bar to go find a bathroom.

Gerard rubs his eyes out of frustration. "Guess who's gonna hear shit from mom in the morning when he wakes up with a nasty hangover," Gerard said with a groan.

"His drinking has gotten pretty bad," Ray commented. He's been noticing it for a while now. Every time Mikey goes out and claims he's 'just going to get a little buzzed,' he comes back piss-faced drunk. It's a routine that's becoming more dangerous, Ray feels. Ray really cares about Mikey. He's kind of like the little brother that he never had.

Gerard shrugs. "It's not like I haven't confronted him about it. He just doesn't seem to fucking care."

Before Ray could add anything, he felt his pocket vibrate. He walked outside to answer it.

When he was done with the conversation, Ray came back to where Gerard and Frank were at the bar, and he was clearly unhappy.

"Ugh, fuck," Ray complained. "That was my boss. The asshole wants me to come in tomorrow. Early."

Frank giggled a little. "Didn't he promise you he wasn't going to call you in on your days off?" he asked.

"We're short on people. Everyone is quitting, I don't fucking blame them either. Anyway, I need to take their place," Ray said, and checked his phone. "It's already 11, I have to be in at 7AM. Why the hell would he call me at 11 at night to ask me to come in first thing in the AM?"

"I don't understand why you just didn't say no," Gerard said. "He can't bring you in just because he needs people."

Ray sighed. "I am not gonna risk being fired. I'm gonna go."

"You okay to drive?" Frank called to him.

"Yeah, I'm fine. My place is only a few blocks away. Hey, what about mikey?" Ray remembered. "Who's gonna take him home?'

Gerard looked at Frank, and Frank immediately shook his head. "No. No. No. Fucking. No." Frank said. "He fucking threw up in my car last time! It took months for the smell to go away."

Gerard sighed loudly and punched frank in the arm. "Next time you want a favor, don't even think about coming to me!" Gerard hollered.

Ray laughed at the entire situation. "Alright, make out when I leave, god. Goodnight, lovebirds," he giggled.

Ray at first decided to try to find Mikey and say goodnight to him too, but he's nowhere to be found. He probably won't remember anyway.

Ray was kind of more tipsy then he assumed, because driving was sort of a challenge. He had maybe 5 shots, maybe more or less. Luckily there was no flashing lights pulling him over, so he got home just fine. Before falling asleep, Mikey came to mind. He really hoped that Gerard would actually take him home. But then Ray remembered that Gerard had always picked him up in the past, it's no different now. Ray also hoped that Mikey would get his shit together and realize that maybe his drinking really is a problem. Ray had lost a lot of people in his life, he didn't wanna lose him.

What seemed like five minutes later, Ray's phone buzzed on his bed side table. It had to be late. The sun isn't even up, it's still pitch black outside.

Prank caller, Ray thought. Or maybe just a wrong number. Ray let it buzz and tried to fall back asleep.
When his phone buzzed for the third time, Ray sighed loudly and picked up his phone to see who it was.

Mikey.

Ray checked the time. 3am. Why is he calling him so late?

"Hello?" Ray asked sleepily.

"Raaayyyyyyyy!" said a very, very drunk Mikey. "He-Hey man."

Ray rubbed his eyes. "What are you doing. dude? Do you know what time it i-"

"Hey," he said. "Can-Can you pick me up?"

Ray's heart stopped. He knew he shouldn't have left Mikey at the club. "Where's your brother? Where are you?"

"I dunno," Mikey stuttered.

"What do you mean you don't know? You don't know where your brother is, or you don't know where you are?"

Mikey giggled. "Both, I guess," he said. "I'm in a pretty coo-cooed sit-uation, hm?"

Even though Mikey was laughing hysterically, Ray went into panic mode.
"Stay where you are Mikey! I'm coming to get you!" Ray got up and started putting pants on and a shirt, holding the phone in the crook of his neck. Just his fucking night. He had to be at work in four hours and now he had to save his very, very drunk best friend. He doesn't even know where he could possibly be.

"I'll be there soon, okay?" Ray assured, and went to hang up.

All of a sudden, Mikey spoke up. "Wait! Ray!" Mikey said.

"What?" Ray asked.

"I..I love you." he said.

Ray laughed at this. "Yeah, Man, love you too."

"N-no, you don't-you don't understand," Mikey stuttered. "I really l-love you. I've be-been in love with you, Ray."

Ray froze. He's just drunk, he told himself. Very, very drunk. He doesn't mean it.

"Mikey.." Ray started

"You don't believe me!" Mikey screamed over the phone to Ray's end. He sounded like he was crying, or close to it. "Or you don't l-love me back! Why won't anyone e-ver love me back!"

Mikey sound like he's gasping for air from crying so hard. Ray never heard Mikey sound so broken and sad. Usually he keeps his head up and is always happy. Even when he's drunk he's a huge ball of energy. He must be more trashed than Ray thought.

Ray tried to calm him down. "Shh, Mikey, hey, dude, please relax. You're going to give yourself a panic attack. Listen. Are you listening?"

Ray heard Mikey give a small 'mhm' with a sniffle.

"I'm going to hang up the phone and call your irresponsible piece of shit brother. Stay where you are and don't go anywhere else. Okay? Tell me that you understand, Mikey."

After a long pause, Mikey replied with "I under-sn-stand."

After getting off the phone with Mikey, Ray called Gerard with no answer. He called him at least seven times with no reply. Finally Ray gave up and said fuck it and just went to go find Mikey himself.

The search wasn't as difficult as expected. Ray found Mikey passed out under a streetlight a few blocks away from the club. Ray was able to carry Mikey and put him in his car and drove him to his place. Fortunately for him, Mikey was passed out the entire time. He didn't even throw up in his car like he did in Frank's car which was a blessing in itself.

When he arrived at Mikey's, it was almost four in the morning. He didn't want to wake up his parents so he crawled through Gerard's bedroom window (which was not easy. at all. Ray didn't understand how people in the movies he saw could do it. He promised after he was done doing this shit that he's never being a nice person again).

Ray found Gerard sleeping like a sleeping beauty in his bed, and Ray turned on his light and took one of his pillows and hit Gerard across the head with it.

"Get up." Ray demanded.

'hu-the fuck?" Gerard asked groggily. "What time is it?"

"It's time for you to get the fuck up and get your drunk ass brother out of my car." Ray said. "What the fuck Gerard? You said you were going to take him home!"

"Quit fucking yelling! My parent's room is literally right across the hall," Gerard said angrily, rubbing his eyes. "Look, he told me he was going to get a ride home from someone he met at the club. So I left."

"Well, apparently that never happened, because he called me and told me to pick him up." Ray kinda decided to let the part out that Mikey basically confessed his love to him. He doesn't really want to think about it at all.

"I found him under a fucking streetlight, Gee! He could have been mugged! Or killed! And why would you trust the fact that he would get a ride? He's drunk, dumbass!" Ray added. He's getting more livid and loud the more he thinks about it.

"Oh my god, stop talking to me like you're my mother! I'm sorry, okay?"

Ray checked his phone again. It's passed 4AM. Work in the morning is gonna be brutal.

"Let's just get him inside and in his bed, okay?" Ray is past the point of exhausted to yell anymore.

Gerard and Ray went out to Ray's car and worked together to carry Mikey out of the car, into the house, up the stairs, and into his bedroom. Seriously, Ray thought he was going to collapse on the floor by the time their mission was accomplished.

"Sorry for yelling at you," Ray said to Gerard after they got Mikey situated.

Gerard smiled a little and shrugged. "Hey, it's cool. You're tired. I'm sorry, though. I should have picked him up and ignored the fact that he said he had a ride." Gerard checked his phone. "Oh man, you work in three hours."

Ray shook his head and rubbed his eyes. "I'm not even gonna bother going back to sleep when I get home. It's pointless."

Even if he had the chance to the sleep, Ray probably wouldn't take the offer anyways. He always thought the whole "Drunk minds speak sober hears" thing was bullshit, but this was different in his eyes. The way Mikey said he loved Ray sounded kind of sincere, even though there was a lot of liquor to back it up. He thought about asking Gerard for his opinion, but decided against it.

Work was indeed brutal for Ray a few hours later. He really thought he wasn't going to make it. But as soon as 4:00 came around, he practically ran to his car, sped home, and literally leaped into his bed and fell asleep instantly.

But Ray dreamed.

Not just any dream, it was with Mikey. Ray can't remember some of the events, but he distinctly remembered sex being involved. The kind of sex that he craves on a daily basis, but never really gets.

It was weird for him, considering he has never really thought of Mikey in that way. He never even really thought he was gay. Dudes were weird to Ray. They were attractive, sure, but sex was an off limits thing in his mind, so he never thought of it. Up until, now at least.

And the thing that made matters worse for him, is he couldn't fucking get it off his mind. His pants were always tight when he thought about it and bathroom trips for him became more of a common ritual. He just really wanted Mikey. And by want he meant physical, yes, but he'd be lying if he said that he wasn't having feelings for him too.

Two days after the whole picking up a very drunk Mikey thing happened, Ray revived a knock at his door.

It was Mikey Way.

"Hey, dude," Mikey said casually.

"Uh, hey," Ray said as casually as he could back. His head was spinning. He didn't expect to see Mikey until the weekend when they would go clubbing again. Talk about unexpected.

"What's up?" Ray asked.

Mikey sighed. "I never thanked you for helping me out the other night," he said. "I mean, at least that's what Gerard told me. That you picked me up?"

Ray nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, I did."

Mikey nodded back. "I'm..really sorry." he said, looking embarrassed.

Ray's heart jumped.

"You..are?" he asked, surprised.

"Well, yeah, I wasn't thinking. I was fucking stupid. And drunk off my ass." Mikey replied.

Ray smiled. He felt a little lighter. "It's okay, dude. This..won't change our friendship, right? I mean..We're still cool?"

Mikey looked a little confused. "Uh, I would hope our friendship won't change? I mean, I won't make you come out and pick me up from under a streetlight at 3AM anymore." Mikey giggled.

Suddenly Ray feels like fainting. He doesn't fucking remember.

"Oh," Ray chocked out, and cleared this throat. "Right. Hopefully not."

"I..decided to find some sort of help with my drinking. Maybe this is more of a problem than I thought," Mikey said.

"We're all really worried about you, Mikey," Ray said. "We hoped that you would realize that this was a problem eventually."

Mikey gave a sad smile and it faded a little. "This whole thing kind of opened my eyes. I wouldn't have realized my problem if it weren't for you, Ray."

Ray smiled at this, and gave him a tight hug.

"You're the best friend ever," Mikey said with a smile.

Ray's heart sank a little, but smiled back. "You too."

After Mikey left, Ray promised himself he wouldn't cry.
About five minutes later, that promise was short lived.

Two weeks later, it was the weekend, and Frank, Gerard, and Ray are all back at the same club. Mikey is at the bar with them drinking a coke.

"I gotta say, Mikes," Frank said, "I thought this whole 'no more drinking' thing was going to be short lived. And you're, what, two weeks sober now? That's fucking awesome."

Mikey smiled. "These AA classes I'm going to are really helping. If it weren't for Ray, though, I wouldn't be doing this."

Mikey smiled at Ray, and Ray smiled sadly back and took a sip of his own drink.

"Oh, fuck yeah, the band's starting," Frank exclaimed, and dragged Mikey to the floor where the band was playing, practically ripping Mikey's arm out of his socket in the process. Mikey yelled at Gerard and Ray to come join, but Gerard insisted that he needed to talk to Ray real quick.

"What's up with you, lately?" Gerard asked. "Literally ever since you saved Mikey's drunk ass, you've been acting kinda bummed. You should be happy! Mikey's sober, this is what you wanted!"

Ray sighed. "There's something I didn't really tell you that happened before I picked Mikey up that night," Ray explained.

"What happened?" Gerard asked attentively.

Ray sighed again. "Mikey..kind of drunk-idly told me he was in love with me over the phone."

Then, Gerard's laughing. No, Gerard's howling. Ray's sort of confused.

"What?! What's so fun-"

"HOLD ON! HOLD ON! I GOTTA GO GET FRANK FOR THIS! OH MY GOD!" Gerard squeaked in between laughs and ran off to grab Frank before Ray can protest.

When Gerard came back with Frank, he was still laughing his ass off.

"Pay, up," Gerard said to Frank. "100 bucks, come on."

"No way! You totally made him say it," Frank protested.

Gerard turned to Ray. "Did he, or did he not tell you he was in love with you?" he asked.

Ray was confused. "Uh, yeah. When he was drunk two weeks ago he sa-"

"He was drunk! That doesn't fucking count!" Frank argued.

"The bet was if Mikey told Ray he loved him, I get 100 bucks. He told him! So pay up!" Gerard argued back.

"YOU TWO KNEW THAT MIKEY WAS IN LOVE WITH ME AND YOU DIDN'T EVEN TELL ME?" Ray screamed.

"If we told you he was in love with you that kind of ruins the purpose of the bet," Frank said.

"Plus, we wanted him to tell you himself. It wouldn't be right of us to spoil it. I'm surprised you didn't know, actually. When he told me and Frank it wasn't a secret to us." Gerard added.

"You're fucking oblivious," Frank chimed in.

Ray shook his head in disbelief. "I gotta go find Mikey," he said, looking around with a smile on his face.

Frank's jaw dropped. "Wait..you're..in love with him too?" he asked.

"Ha Ha! Go get him, Ray!" Gerard said happily. "And hey, when you two come back, make sure you buy Frank a shot. He's kind of 100 dollars in debt right now."

"You're off your shit if you think I'm going to pay you. It didn't count." Frank argued.

Ray left the two of them to bicker like a married couple to find Mikey. When he did, he told him he wanted to talk to him alone, and the two of them went outside to smoke a cigarette.

"What's up?" Mikey asked.

Ray gulped. "Well..So, I..kind of, know that you love me?" he said.

Mikey's eyes widened and immediately went to defend himself.

"Wait, did Gerard and Frank tell you this? Because, well, they're lying. I don't, I don't love you.." Mikey stuttered. It was kind of like he was dunk all over again.

Ray shook his head. "No, They didn't tell me. You did." he said.

Mikey looked confused, and then realization spread across his face.

"Oh..oh god. Fuck. I remember..I mean, I sort of do. Was it the night you picked me up? It was..over the phone. Fuck. I thought it was a dream. I didn't think.." Mikey groaned and sort of covered his face. "That's..that's what you meant when you asked if we were cool when I went to your place to apologize." he said quietly.

Ray nodded. Mikey looked so defeated and embarrassed, it pained him to see him like that.

"Would it make you feel better if I told you that I loved you too?" Ray asked.

Mikey's head shot up and looked at Ray in the eyes.

"Y-You do?"

Ray giggled. "Yeah. I do."

Mikey made the biggest smile that Ray has ever seen. It made him feel a lot lighter.

The two of them walked hand in hand back into the club to find Frank and Gerard waiting there for them.

For the rest of the night, Frank told dirty jokes that are almost funny, and Gerard complained about how he swears to god if Mikey and Ray do not stop making out he's going to jump in front of a moving car soon.

Ray took Mikey home that night and showed him everything he's wanted to do with him since the night Mikey expressed his feelings toward him.

They were officially a couple. Mikey stayed alcohol free for Ray, so 3AM trips were in the past. They loved each other unconditionally.

All was well and they lived happily ever after

(Frank never payed up 100 dollars to Gerard, though).