A Modern Myth

When we were on tour, I was almost always the first one awake. Unless I had stayed up all night because of a mission and only slept for a few hours, I would be the one to start making coffee to gradually get the rest of the guys up. Unfortunately for them, I didn’t feel like waking up early this time.

“We’re out of coffee!” Frank shouted, sounding panicked. I sighed and crawled out of bed.

“Calm down, Frank. I’ll make a Starbucks run,” Gerard said, grabbing his sunglasses to cover up his tired-looking red eyes.

“I’m going with you,” I said, trying not to sound too hasty. He shrugged, grabbed a light jacket from the hook on the wall, and opened the door. I followed him closely, the characters inscribed on the knife glowing in my mind as we were hit with a sharp wave of cold air. I hoped I was wrong about the name. The rest of the guys considered him a close friend, and he and I were on decent terms. At least, until now.

At the risk of being noticed too soon, we drove to the nearest Starbucks, just outside of our usual walking distance. He kept his sunglasses on the whole way, leaning his head against the passenger window of the car and leaving puffs of air on the frigid glass. I fought back the urge to spill everything at that second. It wasn’t the first time I had wanted to tell them all, but keeping secrets from Gerard always seemed to end badly. He and Mikey were the most vulnerable of the group, but while his younger brother would let us know what was wrong most of the time, Gerard sealed his emotions into a jar and tucked it away into the back corner of his mind. It was something he had to do in order to be the person everyone loved, the hero they all expected him to be, but sometimes I wanted to help him open up and finally work through some of his old problems instead of letting them build up and rot him from the inside out.

Of course, looking at him now, no one would consider him a deeply tortured soul who had no idea what he was missing about one of his closest friends. Most would simply say he was an eccentric, extremely tired man who needed his morning coffee just like everyone else.

We stepped out of the car and walked into the café. Instantly I recognized something familiar. A trace of pine threaded the air, fresh and thick like the trees that had formulated it. I trailed one eye to the farthest corner of the angled room. Sure enough, the assassin was calmly sitting in the shadows, staring at us across a steaming cup of coffee next to his dark sunglasses sitting on the table. He unfolded his arms to remove the long, dark scarf wrapped around his neck, revealing black motorcycle gloves that exposed his fingers. The nails were mostly chewed off, but their distinct black coating set off an alarm in my mind.

“Hi, what can I get for you?” a young voice asked, snapping me out of my thoughts. Gerard took off his sunglasses, and I nearly rolled my eyes. The only reason he ever did that was for free coffee.

“Yeah, I-”

“Are you Gerard Way?” she said excitedly, instantly clamping a hand over her mouth upon realizing she had interrupted him. He gave a soft smile and a single nod before saying whatever it was he wanted. She insisted on not charging him for it, and though he tried to protest, he gave up quickly enough, having experienced this kind of thing many times before.

He stepped out of the way and headed to a table, thankfully in the opposite direction of the man. I managed a small smile as I ordered coffee for the rest of the guys. The girl was practically ready to explode from excitement.

I picked up Gerard’s coffee and brought it over to him, then sat down to wait for the rest of the order. I furtively glanced at the man, only to see he had moved from his chair and was now on his way over to us, hands resting in his pockets. The smell of the fresh pine wafted past my nose, stronger than ever as he approached. I glanced at the floor and saw that he had stepped on a few piles of crumbs, leaving ribbed patterns with triangles at the ends, like pencils had been pushed into them. His shoes must have had folding spikes in the bottom so he could hang in the trees, and from what I could tell, they were more than an inch long. I tensed up, readying myself in case he tried anything. Off the top of my head, I could think of seven ways he could kill Gerard without using a weapon, never mind the knives and poisons and who knows what else he was hiding.

“Gee, maybe we should le-”

“Gerard! I haven’t seen you in months!”

Gerard turned around halfway, and his eyes lit up. “Hey, Jared. Finally took a break from making movies?”

“Only for a week or so,” he answered, giving us as genuine of a smile as he could manage. Just when I thought I wouldn’t be able to put up with his little charade any longer, a container of four coffee drinks landed in front of me like a gift from God. I looked up and smiled gratefully at the girl, who gave a lighthearted squeal before returning to the cash register to take care of the line of people formed in front of it.

“Hate to break up the little reunion, but we have things to do,” I said suddenly, standing. I picked up the container in one hand and grabbed Gerard’s arm with the other. He reluctantly stood, knowing I could hurt him, even though I never would.

“But-”

“It’s okay, Gerard. I understand how rough touring can be,” Leto said sympathetically. There was another note in his tone, and combined with the scheming gleam in his eyes, it was obvious he had recognized me for what I truly was. “I’ll catch up with you later.”

I dragged Gerard out the door, not bothering to glance back and see the smirk I knew Leto was wearing. Gerard didn’t say anything until we were in the car and on the way back to the venue where the bus was parked.

“What was that all about?”

“I just think we should get back to the bus,” I said through slightly gritted teeth, getting more frustrated by the second. My tone set him on edge, and he hesitated for another second before speaking again.

“I haven’t seen him in almost a year.” He paused to take a sip of coffee and relaxed a little. “It would’ve been nice to have a normal conversation with someone I don’t have to spend every second of my life with for months at a time.”

“Sorry you feel that way,” I said, trying not to sound too bitter. His face fell a little, and I took a slow sigh to help myself calm down. “Look, don’t worry about it, okay? I’m sorry. I won’t drag you away next time.”

I had to stop talking at that point. I was only trying to keep him from getting hurt, and he didn’t even know it. The worst part was that if I did tell him, either he wouldn’t believe me or he would tell someone else, and I couldn’t let that happen.