The Only Thing I Ask

Matthew was at the front stage, singing his heart out to Beast and The Harlot. There were a line of strippers at the backdrop, doing their thing with the poles. It distracted them a bit but they went on with it. Except for Johnny. He was practically staring at them while playing his bass, his ass facing the crowd. Brian went over to Zacky and put his one leg up to the small platform, in fact he climbed it up and stood next to him.

Despite the loud and echoed singing from Matthew, they were having a conversation together.

“Dude, look at Johnny.”
Zacky glanced over at Johnny, and shook his head.
“Poor guy.”
Then they both laughed and moved on with their harmonic dual guitar solos.

Right now they were playing in Amsterdam, together with My Chemical Romance who will be up just after this song. On the first week of touring together, Brian didn’t talk to any of the guys of MCR at all. He was giving a cold shoulder, even at the other innocent members.

He knew it wasn’t their fault, it was entirely his jealousy towards Gerard. He’d thought about it again and again. He was reassured by Michelle that she belonged only to him and that Gerard didn’t mean anything. But he just couldn’t figure out why he felt so raged whenever he saw that pale guy’s face.

“YEAARGHHHHHH!!!!!!”

The song ended with Matthew’s screaming and running across the stage. And of course with a few of drum solo from Jimmy. 15 thousand people screamed like crazy.

“WOOH. THAT WAS…INTENSE. I HAVEN’T WORKED OUT IN DAYS BUT TODAY I JUST COVER ALL OF IT, JUST BY BEING HERE WITH YOU MOTHERFUCKERS.”

The crowd screamed again. At this rate they will scream to just about anything.

“WHO’S UP FOR MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE?!”

They yelled, and Matthew was amazed by the unity of their fans together with MCR’s fans.

“WOW. SO MANY OF YOU. I’M JEALOUS. SERIOUSLY. WITHOUT FURTHER A DUE, PLEASE WELCOME ON THE STAGE, MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE!!”

The band appeared from beside the stage. They all wore suits and ties, far too different from Avenged Sevenfold who only wore their sleeveless shirt, showing off their sleeve tattoos. The snappiest dresser among them was always Brian. He started to wear his fedora hat with bandana underneath. It was because his hair was getting longer. A bit too long to do spiky style anymore. Believe it or not, Tona was the one who suggested it. Being the only female species to follow them around, she became their stylist eventually.

“YO, MAN. WHAT’S UP?” Matthew greeted them warmly with microphone still in his hands.

“WE’RE GOOD. AVENGED SEVENFOLD, EVERYBODY.” Gerard addressed them politely, and the fans screamed again. Brian walked away from the stage with his pinstriped Schecter strapped on his shoulder, but he was walking past Gerard.

“Synyster Gates, how’s your girlfriend doing? She bored of you yet? 3 months is a long time.” Gerard, who apparently was drunk, greeted him with his microphone down.

Brian stopped in his steps. He was the only Avenged Sevenfold member to remain on stage, in fact at the center of it. He turned his cold gaze at Gerard. The crowd was curious as to what was happening on the stage actually. They looked intense.

“We ended the tour sooner than you guys. I can be with her anytime I want while you – are out here feeling lone-”

Brian grabbed his collar. The crowd yelled in panic. The microphone let out a stinging sound, and members of MCR trying to calm them down.

“Gerry, you’re drunk. Stop agitating him.”

Brian’s cold eyes pierced into Gerard’s, his breathing heavy. After somewhat a minute had passed, Matthew came back again to retrieve his lead guitarist from the stage.

“Brian, let’s go. The fans are watching.”

Brian was forced to let go of Gerard’s collar and he was taken to the backstage by Matthew.

“What the fuck were you thinking going into a fight with him, on the fucking stage?” Matthew nagged as they reached their dressing room. Brian was still furious, his rage hadn’t gone down. At times like these he only needed Michelle to calm him down. But Michelle wasn’t around.

“Answer me goddammit!”

He gazed at Matthew. “I swear to God, Matt. I’m gonna marry the hell out of Michelle as soon as we get back.”

All five of them including Tona dropped their jaws.

******************************************************************************************************

“You guys, look here.” Tona called while looking at her macbook. The guys who were bullying Johnny again at the time hurried over to the lounge/kitchen area of the bus. Tona showed them a video of Brian and Gerard on stage, having a talk then Brian went into his fighting mode suddenly. The video was recorded by a fan and it was called “Synyster Gates Strangling Gerard Way”. It was uploaded last week.

“This video is all over the internet right now.” Tona said, mainly to Brian.
“I don’t give a flying fuck.” he said, while drinking his beer.
“I do. This will look bad on us, Brian.” Matthew commented.
“Can’t we just let it go?”
“No we can’t Brian. The video says you strangled him. Larry would be on his first flight tomorrow if he found out about this.”
Not long after Matthew finished talking, his phone rang. He looked at the number.
“Speak of the devil.”

Brian sat in front of Larry Jacobson, their manager and surprisingly, Tona. Larry asked her to come and ‘discuss something’ together with Brian. They were now in the nearest diner from where the bus had parked.

“I want you to apologize.” Larry started after a long while of silence and the waitress busy taking their orders. Brian didn’t order anything. His eyes still cold, watching Larry.

“Suck. My. Dick.” He muttered angrily, protesting towards the suggestion.

“I see no other way. Gerard is also as famous as you are. They probably have more fans than you guys. We don’t want to set a war between their fans and Avenged fans. You must apologize publicly.”

Brian leaned his body to the front. “Why should I? He was the one provoking me in the first place.”

“But you made your move, Gates. Fans didn’t know who’s right and who’s wrong. Hell, they didn’t even care. They will think what they like, and assume what they want. And you’re the one at lost here.”

Brian didn’t answer. His hands busy playing with his fork while his eyes looking down.

“Tona, I want you to record him apologizing to the fan and send it to your HQ first thing tomorrow morning, okay?”

Tona raised her eyebrows. So, that was her job.
“You’re not the boss of me, but whatever. Yeah. No problem.”
“Believe me, they will give you a raise once you start sending the video in.”

Tona glanced at Brian who looked at her back. She pitied him a lot. He was just being a jealous guy, a human being. And that motherfucker just provoked him at the wrong place and a wrong time.

“I’ll see what I can do.” She said, while still looking at Brian. Brian closed his eyes. Even Tona was taking Larry’s side. He really needed Michelle right now.