So...Who Are You Again? My Chemical Romance? Never Heard of You.

"It has come to my attention recently that fish need food," Frank stated after taking a bite of eggs the next day during breakfast with Gerard, Ray, and I- The others had decided to sleep in. Ray choked and spit his drink back into the cup while Gerard's eyes widened upon hearing Frank.

"You haven't fed it yet?!" Ray whispered hoarsely between coughs.

"Nope," Frank replied lightly, as Gerard rolled his eyes and took a sip of coffee.

"Frank, you realize you'll be a murderer if that fish dies."

"Yeah and in order to maintain my perfect conscience, I need to go get some fish food. Anyone want to come with me?"

"I'll go," Gerard replied softly, setting down the white, Styrofoam cup. Frank's eyes darted to Gerard, looking to be silently criticizing him.

"You're not Julie."

"And?" he asked calmly, slightly arching an eyebrow.

"By anyone, I meant Julie."

"Well you got me." Gerard smiled sickeningly sweet, and Frank blinked several times.

"I don't want you," Frank persisted bluntly.

"That's not rude or anything at all," Gerard huffed with a frown, furrowing his eyebrows.

"How about both of us go," I offered to compensate for Frank's bad manners, nudging Gerard, who grinned victoriously as if to say, "Take. That."

"Oh yeah guys- Let's all not invite Ray while he's here," Ray grumbled, choosing to roll his eyes, showing obvious signs annoyance.

"But you don't like going places," Frank replied simply.

"Well you could at least ask," he said.

"Ray, do you want to go with us?" Gerard asked in a kind tone.

"No," he immediately declined loudly, "but that's not the point."

"Exactly. We just wasted precious time," Frank exclaimed dramatically as he stood up quickly, his chair tipping backwards behind him and hit the ground noisily. Ray sighed as Frank scrambled to pick up the seat, mumbling, "Oops."

"Frank you're a danger to society," Ray murmured, getting up less drastically with a tired glance around the table. "I'm going back to sleep...You know Mikey's gonna want to come with you," he reminded, nodding toward Gerard before leaving.

"Let him." He shrugged, to which Frank groaned, bothered that things weren't going his way. Gerard's eyes flashed toward Frank with his eyebrow arched before asking, "What's your problem, Axl Rose?"

"Well, I-" Frank looked flushed as he tried to find an excuse. "I just- What if people recognize us? If three of us go we'll be bombarded, Gee! Bombarded!" he repeated loudly with a mortified expression, grasping Gerard's shoulder, bunching up the dark material of his shirt. "I can't take another fan girl attack!"

"Relax," Gerard mumbled, rolling his shoulder to shake off Frank. "We can just wear masks."

"Masks?" I questioned in a doubtful voice. The topic of masks made me think of Halloween, which inadvertently reminded me of little children's costumes, such as The Incredible Hulk or Batman, which I'd seen on sale at CVS. That led me to the very questioning mental image of Gerard dressed as The Hulk and Frank as Batman.

...Why could I picture that so clearly?

"Yeah," he insisted, leaning back in his chair, as Frank frowned. "Then we can paint them red...and purple, and green, and beige, and crimson-"

"Isn't crimson red?"

"And yellow, and periwinkle, and orange, and maroon, and gold-" Gerard spouted energetically with a smile as if Frank hadn't interrupted.

"You could at least answer my question," Frank pouted.

"And pink, and manila, and brown-"

"Gerard for the love of God-" he growled, balling his fist, growing impatient with Gerard, making me giggle.

"And burgundy, and silver, and teal-"

"Don't make me tie you to the roof again," Frank threatened, which made Gerard snap his mouth shut as he stared forward obediently, Frank's words sparking something in his memory. His eyes slid back and forth between us, as if contemplating something.

"And black," he finally stated softly after a few of seconds, tracing silence behind him after he spoke. Frank looked at him, incredulously.

"Are you done now?" Frank asked with a glare, his eyebrows rising slightly.

"Why Frank, if I added anymore colors, that would just overdo it."

"Actually, no offence Gerard," I spoke up, "but I'm pretty sure the mask currently looks like crap if all those colors were added together."

"I dunno," Gerard contradicted optimistically, stroking his chin. "It looks pretty good in my mind."

"I'm just not seeing it," I replied, shaking my head. My thoughts were cut off when I noticed a tall mass of Gerard's brother stumbling into the room, almost toppling over, after stopping for a turn from his fast pace.

"Ray said you were going to the mall," Mikey breathed when he noticed us from the doorway, still balancing himself out. "I wanna go. There's this-"

"Mikey please, these people are trying to eat a lovely breakfast in peace," Gerard yelled back, motioning toward the two others across the room, who looked up from their cereal in confusion. "Have some Goddamn decency and stop making so much noise."

"Can we just go?" Frank requested, obviously put out, as he began to walk around the table. Gerard and I stood up as well, me taking the time to stretch.

"Yeah, I'll call us a cab," Mikey offered, disappearing around the corner to the main lobby.

A cab- Why didn't Frank and I think of that?

Casually, Frank grabbed my wrist that was still in the air as he walked by, leading me behind him. Gerard followed close behind, hands in his pockets and head down. I guess were all going to the mall.

--

"Hey look Gerard, here's a controller on sale," I said, catching his attention at the electronic store, pulling out the encased game controller from a half-price bin. "You still owe Ray."

"Um, Julie," he scoffed when he looked up, and tried to contain his laughter once he saw my frown. "That's for the Playstation."

"Where does it say that?" I demanded, inspecting the box. A simple grin remained on his face when he turned the box over to the front where it spelled out, in bolded skinny lettering, PS2. "Oh," I whispered, embarrassed, setting the box back down.

"At least you tried." I could tell he was still amused by my ignorant mistake.

"More than you've done and you're the one who broke it."

"Yeaah," he purred contently with a smile, chuckling to himself. I glanced behind him toward Frank and Mikey who were playing a Street Fighter game. Their attention was 100% fixated on the screen as they pressed buttons, staring mindlessly with open mouths. My eyes remained on Frank, in a trance of my own with him. Despite looking as if all brain power was absent, his eyes were attentive as he continued. His hazel, beautiful, irresistible-

My focus was suddenly broken when a box got shoved in front of my vision, making me shake my head as I embraced reality again.

"This is an Xbox controller," Gerard stated, reminding me of my excursions with James Bond. I had completely forgotten Gerard was even there momentarily.

"Yeah," I said meekly, pointing to it. "I can tell now by the green X in the middle."

"Think I should actually get it?" he asked, looking down at the box. "I mean, I owe Ray and stuff like you said."

"That would be the mature thing to do."

"Ew," he uttered, scrunching up his face then thrusting the box away from him as if it were the most disgusting thing in the world. "Mature."

"You've had a few birthdays since you were seven, to quote you I believe."

"If Frank gets an exception, so do I." He nodded his head defiantly and crossed his arms. "I vow to never grow up."

"You're no Peter Pan." I grinned and his face lit up with amusement as he took a breath, holding up a pointer finger.

"Actually-"

"YES!" Mikey cried simultaneously with Frank's aggravated, "FUCK!"

Gerard and I silently turned in their direction curiously, and I was able to quickly infer the results of the match by Mikey's triumphant grin and Frank's distraught frown. Gerard stepped a little closer with a teasing smile of his own.

"I see the Way gene pool has not disappointed."

"Then you and your genes play," Frank grumbled, shoving the controller into Gerard's chest, stomping past him angrily. Gerard let out a snicker, side glancing to Frank who leaned against the shelves a few feet away, not looking happy. As Gerard and Mikey began another match, Frank's eyes caught mine, except he had no resemblance of a sore loser anymore. An eager smile formed as he motioned with his eyes to the door I automatically followed his gaze to.

My initial thought was to stay, not to ditch the other two. But then another voice trickled into my head that I still wasn't accustomed to acknowledging.

Dooo it.

Surprising myself, I listened. I walked to the door as he made his way over, being careful not to catch Gerard or Mikey's attention, though I severely doubt that would, or even could, happen. Stealthily we left the store, walking at a fast pace, laughter growing between us.

"We're horrible," I commented, sending a second glance to the electronic store, feeling remorse for my actions.

"You and your feelings," Frank teased, grabbing my hand so I'd keep up with our original pace. "You're such a girl."

"Well I apologize for not really knowing how else to act," I replied as we rounded a corner. He allowed us to slow down since we were a good distance away, beginning to swing our hands back and forth lazily as we walked.

"Stop thinking and just live in the moment," he advised simply. "Just have fun."

"Ditching people is fun?"

"It's the only kind of fun," he informed mater-o-factly. "Besides, you owe me."

"Oh really?" I racked my memory for anything that suggested I did. I hoped he wasn't referring to the meal I was supposed to make him to compensate for his smashed cigarette.

"Yeah," he insisted with a click of his tongue. "I lost on purpose back there so we could leave. As much as it hurts my pride, I took a hit for you."

"You are a God among men, Frank Iero," I complemented with a playful smile.

"I know. Lucky for you we met. So you've got to have fun. For me," he added after seeing me narrow my eyes, debating.

"Oh, anything for you," I laughed, lightly bumping him in the shoulder with mine. As we continued walking in silence, smiles still present from laughter, it felt...right. I couldn't really describe it any other way but just that- It felt right. I enjoyed everything about the boy next to me, even if he did have a tendency to be an ass at times. I found it actually difficult to be angry with him for anything, which I found kind of strange. I could easily get mad at the boys I'd dated in the past- What made Frank so special?

"Colors of the world, spice up your life! Every boy every girl, spice up your life! People of the world, spice up your life!"

"And that would be Gerard," Frank laughed loudly as he let go of my hand to remove his cell phone from his pocket that continued blasting The Spice Girls, attracting a few odd glances from people around us. "You wanna talk to him?"

"No!" I immediately declined, taking a step back from him as his ringing phone, allowing the tune to continue. "He's gonna get mad at me!"

"And you think he's not gonna get mad at me?" he countered, still laughing at the numerous strange looks we were getting, a few of which I could tell recognized him. Frank wasn't very good at subtlety.

Unexpectedly, he shoved his phone towards a random teenage girl standing near him whose eyes widened.

"Do you want to talk to Gerard?" She continued standing there speechless, looking rather dumb actually. I noticed the words My and Chemical at the top of the shirt peeking from under her zipped up jacket, so I was pretty sure this was the best moment of her life...and I was there to whiteness it. How cute.

After she shakily extended her arm to take Frank's phone, it stopped ringing.

"He hung up," she stated the obvious, offering the phone back to Frank, who flapped his hand dismissively in the air.

"He'll call back."

Right on cue, Spice Up Your Life filled the air, startling the girl. She looked uneasily to Frank who urged her to answer it, then sent a smirk in my direction.

"H-Hello?" she answered, voice raspy and paling a few shades. I actually began to fear she was about to faint. "This is Re-Rebecca. No, I don't think so. Uh- Yeah, sure. It was nice talking to you too. Bye."

"Thank you, Rebecca," Frank said gratefully, receiving his phone back. "I hope that wasn't too much trouble or-"

"Oh not at all," she cut off, beaming, beginning to get over her initial shock. "But he told me to tell you something."

"And what would that be?" Frank asked distractedly as he put his phone away.

"Fuck you."

"Excuse me?" His smile wavered into a frown, as well as mine.

"No wait-" she said quickly, looking up in thought before reciting, "He said, 'Tell Frank to go fuck himself.'"

"Well that's lovely," I commented, glancing between Frank and Rebecca. He scoffed before shrugging his shoulders indifferently.

"Should have expected that one," he mumbled, shaking his head.

"We should really go back," I persisted, beginning to feel bad again. He sighed then placed both hands on my shoulders to assure me.

"They'll be fine. Besides, you owe me," Frank reminded with a confident smile.

"Sorry," Rebecca spoke up again, "but c-can I have an autograph?"

"Me too!" I heard ripple through the crowd that was now forming around us that I just noticed, and apparently Frank too. I could tell he tensed up as he glanced around apprehensively at the eager faces that were merging into a mob before our eyes.

"Um- Sorry-" Frank stuttered with intimidation, slowly backing up. "Really, really sorry. But we have somewhere to go."

I turned toward him, wondering why he didn't want to sign autographs. I'd seen him at shows- He usually lapped up the attention. But now he looked like a scared and hopeless child as his shoulders shrunk inward.

"Julie-" He eyes danced around me nervously. "Darling- Honey- Sweetie- Babe-" he coaxed, grabbing my hand loosely and throwing all the pet names he could think of at me so I'd move faster. "Please, we need to move like now."

I glanced side to side, beginning to feel the full effect as the loud bunch closing in on us like some sort of predators.

"It's nice to see everyone, honestly!" he called out before turning his heel and leading us away from the crowd...that of course followed us.

"Frank!" someone screamed, causing several others to do so. I silently obeyed as Frank picked up the face- I was worried about how frightened he looked, staring downward. As flashes began to go off and more people noticed, a couple mall cops made their way over to disperse the crowd. I didn't see the results because Frank wouldn't slow down, but I didn't really want him to. I didn't enjoy that experience.

After a couple minutes of treading silently to a more discrete portion of the mall, we slowed down and finally came to a complete stop in a side walkway, obscured from traffic. He collapsed on the ground, his back to the wall, and closed his eyes.

"You okay?" I whispered shortly after, taking a seat next to him as he sank lower.

"I hate when that happens," he said briskly, his breath still constricted.

"I'm confused," I stated, cocking my head to the side. "I've seen you meet tons of people before- Why choke up now?"

"I'm ready for those," he explained, rubbing his eyes. "When fans randomly crowd like that, I completely freak out. I know it probably seems mean to you, but I just freak out and have to get out. I can't help it." He took in a sharp intake of air, still trying to breathe, his limbs actually shaking.

"It's okay," I assured softly, embracing him warmly from the side and allowing him to lay his head on my shoulder with a sigh. His breaths evened out as I rubbed my thumb along his shoulder to relax him.

After several seconds, he lifted his head up and placed his forehead on my temple, making my heart speed up as my eyes wondered to him. We hadn't been close like this before.

"Thank you," he whispered into my ear and I could feel his breath run down my neck. He hovered closely to me for a couple seconds before placing a soft kiss on my cheek; I was sure my cheeks flared up after that. I continued sitting, letting out the breath I didn't realize I was holding, as he buried his head back into my neck.

And in those ten minutes we simply sat there, I couldn't get my heart to stop racing once.