Getting Surreal

Fifteen minutes later, and Becks was climbing aboard the MCR bus. After a small discussion and a vote, the group had (in an extremely heart-warming gesture for Becks) unanimously decided to keep their Taste of Chaos touring situation, and have Becks on the band bus with them. Plopping down on the front lounge couch next to Ray and shooting him a smile in greeting, but not wanting to interrupt his conversation with Gerard who was sat on his other side, Becks fiddled with her hands in her lap and let her thoughts wander back to the conversation a couple minutes prior with Brian.

“They want you on their bus,” he said. She smiled at the memory. “We all do.”

Her body was still buzzing and she was still blushing from the happiness and excitement she was feeling.

Hearing some sudden laughter from the table, Becks looked up and saw Frank and Mikey sitting across each other, talking happily about something. When her eyes landed on Mikey, seeing him so candid, mid-conversation, looking like that and smiling like that…

And Becks realized that maybe, her apparently constant blush and buzz of happy energy today wasn’t just because of the news that the band all wanted her on their bus. And maybe, just maybe, Frank may have been on to something with the questions he was asking her in the car earlier.

Had their interaction in the hallway earlier really happened? Had she lost control of herself and truly gotten all in his personal space?

Had they really almost kissed?

And then, as if Mikey could feel her stare upon him, he slowly turned his head and caught her gaze. Becks’ breath caught and she truly didn’t think she could ever get used to him without his glasses. Yeah, he’d looked good with them (good genetics are good genetics, regardless of glasses) but without them? Holy shit.

The pair just stared at each other for another long moment, intense and wondering and Becks could almost swear that there was some sort of electricity there – one that, she was realizing, had always been there, but she’d just never noticed before.

How the fuck had she never noticed this before?

And suddenly, the thought of, ‘will this change our friendship?’ struck Becks and she started to feel a little anxious, but then, just like that, he gave her a small – shy but goofy – grin and turned his attention back to Frank, falling right back into step with their conversation, the gesture completely lifting her from her worrying thoughts.

Feeling at ease once more, Becks was able to pay attention as Brian climbed on board and immediately started to rattle off all the info that the group would need for the tour as the bus lurched forward and away from the convention center.

---

“Becks.”

She was vaguely aware of a voice calling her name, so she slowly opened her eyes, squinting up to see Mikey staring down at her.
“God, I love your eyes.” In her sleepy state, she just couldn’t stop the words from falling out of her mouth and mentally smacked herself as Mikey broke out into a wide grin.

“Well, thank you,” he said, leaning back so Becks could sit up. When she did, she drowsily took in her surroundings and realized that she must have fallen asleep on the front couch after Brian had finished his lecture.

“How long was I out for?” She asked, rubbing at her eyes.

“Hmm…about an hour.”

“Okay,” dropped her hands and yawned, the fact that the bus was still moving dawning on her. “Wait,” she looked at Mikey who was sitting to her right, “we’re not there yet?”

“Uh,” he glanced out the window then back to her, feigning shock. “Nope.”

“But…” Becks huffed out a small, pseudo exasperated sigh, “why’d you wake me up then?”

At this, Mikey gave a small shrug and looked at his hands in his lap. “Everyone else was asleep and I was…bored?” He looked up and gave her a tiny, sheepish smile. “A-and, I, uh…” he gave a quick exhale through his nose and averted his gaze for a second before looking her dead in the eye, a small flush appearing low on his cheeks. “Haven’t seen you in a while…I missed you.” He said quietly, looking away again.

Becks just stared at him for a moment, torn between being incredulous that he would dare wake her up and knowing without a doubt that she’d do the exact same thing if she were bored and he were sleeping. Especially since the last week where they hadn’t hung out truly did feel like ages. All in all, she couldn’t blame him for his decision.

Slowly, finally, after what felt like ages for Mikey, who had been feeling like his idea to wake the tech was a mistake, Becks gave him a dopey grin and shifted sideways, leaning her back against the arm of the couch and swinging her legs up onto Mikey’s lap, earning a start of surprise and a clear drop in his visible tension.

“Yeah, okay,” she said, stifling another yawn and giving herself a moment to appreciate Mikey’s shy, tiny smile that she’d always adored. “Whatcha wanna do?”

“Oh, uh…” he looked at her with his eyes slightly widened, his expression a clear one of ‘I didn’t think that far,’ and Becks dopey grin spread wider.

“Rrrright....So, how’s bout…you get me some coffee and I’ll pick which video game I kick your butt in?”

Mikey flashed her a happy grin.

“Deal.”

---

“Go! Go, go, go, go. Mikey, go!” Becks was shouting her encouragement from the edge of her seat on the couch in the back lounge, leaned forward as far as possible, as she watched Mikey play through a round of Halo against Ray.

She and Mikey had been playing against each other until Gerard and Ray had come back to see what all the bickering and smack-talking was about. From there, it had turned into a one-on-one, with Mikey immediately picking Becks to be his partner, earning a whine of betrayal from Gerard (who apparently thought that brothers were supposed to be on the same side), and a wide smile from Becks (who had promptly given the singer her middle finger to gloat at his loss of childhood ideals).

From there, Becks faced Gerard and lost. It was a tight competition, but, as Becks whined, “you just got lucky with that last grenade throw,” Gerard won. Becks’ grumblings didn’t last long, though, because the next round, Mikey vs. Ray, started up immediately, with Mikey giving her a consoling pat on her leg as he grabbed his controller, promising to her that he’d “make it right.”

Unfortunately, he was doing worse out the gate than Becks had, and she was watching, totally invested, as Ray lined up his last shot and took out Mikey’s character to win the round.

“Nooooo!” She yelled dramatically when the end screen popped up and threw herself back on the couch, covering her face with her hands.

“Oh,” she heard Gerard mimick her voice, “Mikey and I could totally beat you,” he jested.

“Yeah,” Ray joined in, his voice in a high falsetto as he, too, tried to imitate her earlier smack-talks, “we’ll wipe the bus with your faces!”

“Good thing you didn’t bet on that one, Becks,” Gerard retorted, speaking normally. “Oh, wait, Ray?” He said in a sing-song voice and turned to Ray who gave him a look of sincerity, “Correct me if I’m wrong, but, someone,” he shot a pointed look at the girl on the couch, “isn’t allowed to make any bets on this tour. Am I right?”

“Well, Gerard,” Ray answered as dignified as he could, desperately fighting the smile pulling at his lips, “I do believe you would be correct. Good thing, too. Who knows what this one would do next for a bet.” He gestured right at Becks as he said it.

The pair of them then burst into laughs and Becks just groaned into her hands. “Fuck off, the both of you,” she whined, her voice coming out muffled, earning more laughs. Suddenly, a very unexpected weight was on top of her, causing her to let out a light, “oof!” and she withdrew her hands to see Mikey had thrown himself on top of her, limbs sprawled everywhere and his face tucked into the corner of her neck and shoulder.

“I am sorry, my lady,” he said, he face smushed into the couch, “for I have failed thee.” Becks chuckled, his sudden actions and words highly amusing her.

She let out a sigh of faux disappointment and brought her hands down, one petting his hair, and one smoothing itself across his shoulder blades. “It is tragic, indeed,” she replied, playing into the old-timey act he was using. She felt him nod a little into her neck. “We are naught but a pair of losers. But, we will press on…” she paused for dramatic effect, her hands still working to sooth her friend, “perhaps someday, we will press on.” Try though she might’ve, she just couldn’t keep the giggle escaping her at the end of her sentence, and she could both hear feel Mikey chuckling on top of her as he nodded again.

“Perhaps someday…” he repeated, nuzzling his face into her neck a little more, causing her to let out another giggle.

“Fuck, they’re being weird again,” Becks heard Gerard say to Ray from somewhere behind Mikey, and lifted her head to try and see over Mikey’s body, just then being able to catch sight of the tops of their heads. Ray chuckled a little, looking at what Becks assumed looked like a mess on the couch, and muttered some sort of agreement. “Wanna see what Frank’s up to?” She saw Ray’s hair bounce as he nodded.

Then, the two of them were walking by, both looking down at her with very amused expressions as they went by and waving to her.

“Let the losers commiserate,” Ray said, shooting Becks a playful wink. She rolled her eyes and stuck her tongue out at him, letting her head fall back onto the couch.

As they left the room, Gerard shut the door, muttering quietly something along the lines of privacy for sexy times, and Becks looked towards the door and removed her hand from Mikey’s back (earning a very unhappy grunt from the lanky bass player) to give the singer her middle finger, and the last thing she saw was Gerard’s shit-eating grin before the door clicked shut.

Letting out a small sigh of content, Becks nestled back in to her awkward position under Mikey on the couch, and let her hand return to his back, gently rubbing up and down, to which Mikey gave a hum of happiness.

Nothing happened for the next few minutes, just the two of them soaking in the silence before Becks finally piped up.

“Are you even comfortable?” She asked him, her amusement more than evident in her voice. Mikey just lifted his head a little and squinted down at her a little, and Becks felt (not for the first or even third time that day) her heart flutter a little bit at just how fucking good he looked without his glasses. She still couldn’t believe it.

He chuckled a tiny bit, bringing her out of her thoughts. “What?” She inquired slightly defensively, furrowing her brow at him and that tiny little smirk he wore whenever he was amused with her. Mikey just kept looking down at her.

“You’re staring again.” He stated plainly, matching her stare for stare to which Becks felt her heartrate pick up a little and let out a tiny, silent prayer that he couldn’t feel it even though he was literally laying on top of her.

“Am I?” She asked, her voice oozing with defiance.

“Mm, yeah,” he said quietly, perking an eyebrow infinitesimally at her. It was so slight that Becks figured most people wouldn’t have noticed. But she could see it all so plainly. He was so guarded with the emotions in his face, but she could see it all. And wasn’t that something….

“You were doing that earlier.” His voice brought her out of her thoughts once more. And she narrowed her eyes in response, fighting the instinct to look away, to shy away, and instead to hold his steady, beautiful gaze in a battle of will.

“Oh, really?” She tilted her head slightly to the side.

He pursed his lips in fake-thought. He knew the answer, the little shit. “Yep.”

“Hmm…” Becks gave him a steady look of consideration, thoroughly enjoying their back and forth. “Well…” She hesitated for a second, trying to decide if there was a joke she could crack when it just tumbled out. “Have you looked in a mirror lately?”

Becks fought to keep her expression steady and challenging when all she wanted to do was show the surprise she was feeling at her own words being spoken aloud. When she got over her own shock, she focused back in on Mikey’s face which was impassive and devoid of which or any emotion he may have been feeling and Becks wished more than anything she could take it back.

Finally, his expression softened and he gave her a tiny, shy smile.

“You know,” he said slowly, holding onto Becks’ gaze and keeping her full attention, “I was nervous about the surgery. Not for the surgery, itself…” he paused and frowned to himself, looking down for a second at the couch, choosing his words before meeting her eyes again. “But I was nervous about how I’d look without my glasses to other people.”

Becks felt her heart stir (with what, she didn’t know) a tiny bit at his words and looked up at him, an expression of barely-masked fondness written all over her face. It took all she had not to reach up and cup his cheek as he looked down at her shyly after uttering those vulnerable words.

Feeling as though there was more he had to say, but realizing he wasn’t about to speak without prompting, Becks let out a quiet, “oh?”

Mikey exhaled a little through his nose and dropped his face down into the crook of her neck for a moment. When he lifted his head a second later, he was giving her that rare smile of his-the same one he’d given her when she’d been hurt and he had given up his bunk for her and she felt like she could live in that moment forever.

“Yeah,” he said, his voice just barely above a whisper. Then, “I know I made the right choice, now.”

The room was practically spinning, and Becks tried her hardest to ignore the blush she knew was spreading across her cheeks like wildfire.

She was just trying to figure out what to say to him next, when suddenly, the bus slowed to a halt and the both of them were thrown to the floor in a heap at the sudden stop.

“Oh my God!” Becks giggled, not able to move for a second because she was laughing too hard. When she finally pulled herself together enough to sit up a little, one look at Mikey all splayed across the floor, long limbs everywhere, was all it took to send her spiraling into another laughing fit, one that he was joined in on, and she laid her head down on his chest while she waited for them both to calm down a little.

“I thought that only happened in movies,” he eventually got out in between laughs and gasps for breath.

“I know,” Becks half chuckled, half groaned. “What even.”

They laid there in silence for another minute or two when she spoke up again. “You okay?”

“Yeah,” he sighed out his last laugh, nodding. “You?”

“Yeah.”

Mikey brought his hand up to play with Becks’ hair, and between the soothing sensation of that and the come-down from a vaguely emotional moment she’d just shared with him, and her hangover still lingering from her night out with Frank before, and Becks was suddenly feeling very sleepy again, allowing herself to nuzzle her cheek into Mikey’s hoodie-clad chest. She was just about to drift off into dreamland when the door burst open and Frank, in a very Frank-like fashion, made his entrance into the back lounge very noticeable, jolting Becks awake immediately, and she picked her head up off Mikey’s chest.

“Ladies,” he addressed to them both, earning an eyeroll from stone-faced-Mikey and an eye roll and a smirk from Becks, “we have arrived at our first stop.” He threw his arms out and bowed his head a little. “The master Brian should like to see you up front. Now.” And with that, he gave a whole bow before shuffling out the room.

“Nerd!” Mikey shouted after him, causing Becks to let out a small laugh as she let her head drop back to Mikey’s chest to calm down from the fright that Frank had given her.

“So…” She finally got out a minute later after just laying there and enjoying the feeling of Mikey running his fingers through her hair. “We should probably get going, right?” Mikey let out a sigh and dropped his hand to the floor.

“Yeah, probably. Don’t wanna get kicked out or anything.” When Becks lifted her head to give him a questioning look, he just shot her a cheeky grin and said, “kidding. But I’m so stoked for this tour.”

As she got off of him and held out a hand to help him up, Becks couldn’t help but agree with every fiber of her being.