HOME | DD

Description
Chapter 2:

“She agreed?” Bob said, grinning slightly.
Gee nodded, stirring his coffee a bit sleepily. “She sent a fax just last night. Said she’d like to ‘rise to the challenge’. I think…she’ll do a good job.”
“She’ll definitely do well,” Ray said, trying to be cheerful. “You know Tracy.”
Gee nodded, a bit more enthusiastically this time. “Yeah. Yeah, I do.”
“Frank!! What the fuck? I can’t believe you’d do something this…this…”
“If I thold you fonce, I’fe thold you a fousand thimes; I cornot she the minishcule, microshcopihc ‘M’ on the fottom of the thoothfrush when I’m half-awakshe!”
“Stop spiting that froth on me, take my toothbrush out of your mouth, and trash it! Jeez!!”
“Now, kids,” Ray called in a mocking, sarcastic tone. “Play nice.”
“Shut the fuck up, Ray! I’m not in the mood.”
Mikey stormed into the dining room, his face covered in white froth.
“What happened?” Gerard asked, looking at the scowl on his younger brother’s face.
“Frank mixed up our toothbrushes.” Mikey growled. “To think someone would be that dense-“
“Is it my fault that our toothbrushes are the same color?” Frank asked, running in and waving the two toothbrushes in mid-air.
“Frank! There’s an ‘M’ on my toothbrush! You can’t possibly be that blind!”
“A tsheeny, tchiny, minishcule, microshcopic ‘M’!” Frank pointed out, slamming Mikey’s toothbrush on the table. “Beshides, I should be the annoyed one here!”
“Why??”
“Cosh now I have your nashty germsh in my mouth!!”
“Gee,” Bob cut in. “What’s with the camera?”
The two looked up. Gee was grinning from behind the digital camera.
“Oh, no.”
“Oh yes.”
“Gerard Arthur Way, you did not-!”
“Guess again,” he said, shaking his head. “This video’ll be the perfect thing to make Tracy laugh.”
Mikey picked up his mug and aimed it at Gee’s head. “Erase that file or the coffee mug flies!”
“Let it fly! I don’t care.”
Mikey flung it, but missed Gee by inches.
“Mikey!” Ray yelled, standing up and staring at the pieces of broken china. “You seriously…you really…”
“DAMN!” Mikey yelled, standing up and storming to his room.
He slammed the door shut. Gerard, still chuckling, pressed the ‘stop’ button, and then hooked up the camera to his laptop.
Ray, still grumbling, reached for a broom and dustpan.
Bob shrugged and returned to his coffee.
Frank looked at Ray, then at Gee, then at Bob, then shrugged.
“I’m going to go gargle.”

Tracy giggled as she replayed the video.
“Hey, Tracy. Breakfast.”
She looked up. Lucy, the nurse in charge of her, entered the door, smiling brightly as she carried the tray. Being only a few years older than Tracy, the two of them had hit off right away. Now, she and Tracy spent a few times talking about random stuff.
“Thanks.” She said gratefully as Lucy placed the tray on the table.
“What was so funny?” Lucy asked.
“Oh…nothing. Nothing.” Tracy quickly exited the page and turned her laptop off. She and Gerard had agreed long ago to keep their…’relationship’ secret from the general public.
Lucy looked a bit hurt, then shrugged. “Okay. If you say so.”
“Sorry, Lucy,” Tracy said, “but…well…you know how it is. Everyone’s got skeletons in their closets.”
Lucy nodded, smiling slightly. “I know, I know. I understand.”
“Thanks.”
As soon as she left, Tracy reached for the song Gerard had asked her to work on.
So far, she had come up with the chorus, but the verses still didn’t sound…right.
What’s the worst thing I can say
Things are better if I say
So long, and goodnight…so long and goodnight
“Gee,” she said aloud, “good luck with the tune for this.”
She chuckled slightly, imagining Gerard’s face when he’d read her lyrics – if he’d read her lyrics.
Slowly, the smile slid off her face. Sure, she was never one to act all mushy and sappy when it came to him. She never said the typical; “you’re my angel,” or “you’re my world” – or whatever crap lovers often said to each other – to him. When she’d send him text messages, they contained simple stuff like; “Hi. We still on for later?” or an even simpler “Good morning.” She never, ever went “I miss you so much,” or “It’s agony being apart.” No. They never carried it that far.
However, now…now…
Now she really did miss him, and it really was agony to be apart. Sometimes, in the middle of the night, she’d wake up from a dream she’d been having about Gee, and then she’d realize she was actually crying.
Okay, too much drama, Tracy, she told herself, shaking her head a bit, tone it down.

*****

Tracy,

I don’t know about you, but I never really paid much attention to my English teacher. She was a bitch. So I can write a letter that doesn’t start with ‘dear’.
Okay. Sorry. On to more serious things.
I’ve got only 5 more days to go. Maybe sooner, if we can somehow break through the stubborn head that is the Big Kahuna. Don’t get your hopes up, though. He seems unshakeable.
So…did you get my video e-mail this morning? Yeah, Frank mixed up the toothbrushes. I kept telling them to get different colors, but no. Frank said it was a waste of time, money, and energy to trash a toothbrush and go buy another one. Now look. Mikers is sulking, and Frank keeps gargling. You know about his almost obsessive-compulsiveness.
Anyway, I hope you’re not sore. I really, really want to be there, but I…don’t think I have enough courage to venture off alone. You know what I mean.
Will see you soon, I hope.

Gerard

Gee put down his pen and sighed. For some strange reason, he was feeling really bummed.
A small shot couldn’t hurt, he thought, thinking about his favorite brandy, I mean…it’s not like I’m going to do it for pleasure. I’m really doing it to forget…
No! He shook his head, as though trying to clear his thoughts. The whole band hates my drinking habit. Even Tracy. I promised them…
He folded his arms and stared out the window. Now what?
He couldn’t just sulk around here. He wasn’t that depressed. And he didn’t feel like writing a longer letter to her. He had said all he really felt like saying. That was enough…right?
I might as well take a long walk on a short pier, he half-joked as he stood up and stretched.
Suddenly, a sharp rap on the door knocked him back to earth.
Ray peeked in, holding a bright orange basketball in one hand. “Feel like some hoops?” He asked, smiling slightly. “I know this is totally random, but the other’s are busy, and I really don’t feel like doing this alone.”
Gee glanced at the basketball to Ray’s hopeful face, then back to the basketball. It wasn’t like he was that dense. He knew why Ray was really asking him to do it. It was some plan to get him out of his little dilemma.
I appreciate the effort, he thought, but…I…don’t know…
“Come on, Ray,” he said, shaking his head, “you’re seriously asking me? You’ll have to do better than that.”
Ray shrugged. “It was that obvious?”
“Yeah.”
Ray sighed and dropped the basketball. “Can’t say I didn’t try. Look, Gee…we just don’t like seeing you this way.”
“So you all decided to try and make me focus on other things.” Gerard guessed, sitting on the bed.
“…yeah. That pretty much sums it up.” Ray grinned. “I guess a game wasn’t exactly the brightest idea, huh?”
“Unless you wanted me to remember the whole ‘kickball-easy-peasy-motherfucker’…or whatever it was I said…fiasco, no. It wasn’t.”
Ray sighed. “Good point.”
“But thanks anyway,” Gee said, grinning. “The thought that counts, you know.”
Ray smiled. “No problem.”
Suddenly, the door slammed open. Bob appeared, eyes wide. “You…might wanna see the shit that’s going on in the kitchen.”
“What shit?” Gee asked, standing up.
“See for yourself.” Bob said, pointing to the kitchen.
The two of them walked in. Nothing was out of the ordinary. Gee frowned and turned to Bob.
“What? I don’t-“
“Wait.” Ray silenced him. “What’s that clicking noise?”
Bob grinned and jerked his thumb to the ceiling. “From above, the wicked shall receive their just rewards.”
Gee looked at Ray cautiously. “Er…why do I have a feeling were going to see a picture of Bozo the clown pasted to the ceiling?”
“Whoa. That was random.”
“Just look already.” Bob said impatiently.
At the same time, Gee and Ray looked up.

*****

“Shut up! Shut up, shut up, shut up!”
“I’m serious!” Ray said, shaking his head. “There was this loud clicking sound…”
“You don’t have to remind me!” Mikey yelled, covering his ears.
“Dude,” Gee said, shaking his head, “I never knew lizards could move that fast.”
“I said shut up!!”
“It was kinda disturbing, and kinda freaky, like something out of a bad horror movie.” Bob said, grinning. “I mean, I never knew that was how lizards mated.”
“BOB!” Mikey yelled.
“It was so weird!” Bob continued, holding up to fingers. “It was like they were connected at the butt, their tails dragging around. It was like watching Siamese twins move! If he went forward, the other was forced to move with him.”
“Way to describe it.” Gerard said, blowing the bangs off his face.
“It was weird, Mikey. Seriously.” Ray said. “Everywhere they went, they left some sort of trail of shiny, transparent stuff-“
“Do you really need to tell me that??” Mikey yelled.
“Then Bob, here, just for fun, decided to throw a plastic spoon at them.”
“Hey, come on!” Bob protested. “If they wanna make new baby lizards, they can do it in a bedroom, not on the kitchen ceiling!”
“Anyway, the moment he threw it at them-“
“I don’t want to know!”
“-it was like watching a zombie lose his arm or something.” Bob connected his two fingers. “Okay, they were like this, right? After I threw the spoon at them, this one disconnected from the ceiling. It didn’t fall right away, though. It was still connected to the other lizards butt. So they ended up looking like this.” He formed an upside-down ‘L’ with his fingers. “So the lizard that got disconnected hung there for, like, two seconds or something.”
Mikey let loose a ‘squee!’ and covered his ears again. “Bob! I’m serious! You stop describing it on minute detail or-“
“-and then,” he interrupted, “the one still attached to the ceiling couldn’t hold on anymore-“
“And they both fell with a loud ‘shkweaghlch’!” Frank said, mimicking the sound perfectly. “It was creepy and awesome!”
Mikey let loose a squee again and covered his ears.
“Okay, guys, I think we grossed him out enough.” Gerry chuckled. “Come on. I’m starving. Pizza?”
“Why not?” Ray said, grinning. “Let me just change.”
Without another word, the others went to their rooms, a shadow of a grin still plainly etched on their faces.
Gerard opened the door to the room he shared with Mikey. Deftly, he reached up and flicked the light switch on. In a few seconds, the bedroom was flooded with warm light.
In moments, he crossed the room and opened up the closet, scanning the rack for his favorite jacket.
“One of these days, you guys are going to pay for making me squee like that.”
Gerard looked up at the sound of his brother’s voice. He spun around, a grin on his face.
“Come on, Mikers. That’s life.”
Mikey simply grunted in reply.

Description
Chapter 2:

“She agreed?” Bob said, grinning slightly.
Gee nodded, stirring his coffee a bit sleepily. “She sent a fax just last night. Said she’d like to ‘rise to the challenge’. I think…she’ll do a good job.”
“She’ll definitely do well,” Ray said, trying to be cheerful. “You know Tracy.”
Gee nodded, a bit more enthusiastically this time. “Yeah. Yeah, I do.”
“Frank!! What the fuck? I can’t believe you’d do something this…this…”
“If I thold you fonce, I’fe thold you a fousand thimes; I cornot she the minishcule, microshcopihc ‘M’ on the fottom of the thoothfrush when I’m half-awakshe!”
“Stop spiting that froth on me, take my toothbrush out of your mouth, and trash it! Jeez!!”
“Now, kids,” Ray called in a mocking, sarcastic tone. “Play nice.”
“Shut the fuck up, Ray! I’m not in the mood.”
Mikey stormed into the dining room, his face covered in white froth.
“What happened?” Gerard asked, looking at the scowl on his younger brother’s face.
“Frank mixed up our toothbrushes.” Mikey growled. “To think someone would be that dense-“
“Is it my fault that our toothbrushes are the same color?” Frank asked, running in and waving the two toothbrushes in mid-air.
“Frank! There’s an ‘M’ on my toothbrush! You can’t possibly be that blind!”
“A tsheeny, tchiny, minishcule, microshcopic ‘M’!” Frank pointed out, slamming Mikey’s toothbrush on the table. “Beshides, I should be the annoyed one here!”
“Why??”
“Cosh now I have your nashty germsh in my mouth!!”
“Gee,” Bob cut in. “What’s with the camera?”
The two looked up. Gee was grinning from behind the digital camera.
“Oh, no.”
“Oh yes.”
“Gerard Arthur Way, you did not-!”
“Guess again,” he said, shaking his head. “This video’ll be the perfect thing to make Tracy laugh.”
Mikey picked up his mug and aimed it at Gee’s head. “Erase that file or the coffee mug flies!”
“Let it fly! I don’t care.”
Mikey flung it, but missed Gee by inches.
“Mikey!” Ray yelled, standing up and staring at the pieces of broken china. “You seriously…you really…”
“DAMN!” Mikey yelled, standing up and storming to his room.
He slammed the door shut. Gerard, still chuckling, pressed the ‘stop’ button, and then hooked up the camera to his laptop.
Ray, still grumbling, reached for a broom and dustpan.
Bob shrugged and returned to his coffee.
Frank looked at Ray, then at Gee, then at Bob, then shrugged.
“I’m going to go gargle.”

Tracy giggled as she replayed the video.
“Hey, Tracy. Breakfast.”
She looked up. Lucy, the nurse in charge of her, entered the door, smiling brightly as she carried the tray. Being only a few years older than Tracy, the two of them had hit off right away. Now, she and Tracy spent a few times talking about random stuff.
“Thanks.” She said gratefully as Lucy placed the tray on the table.
“What was so funny?” Lucy asked.
“Oh…nothing. Nothing.” Tracy quickly exited the page and turned her laptop off. She and Gerard had agreed long ago to keep their…’relationship’ secret from the general public.
Lucy looked a bit hurt, then shrugged. “Okay. If you say so.”
“Sorry, Lucy,” Tracy said, “but…well…you know how it is. Everyone’s got skeletons in their closets.”
Lucy nodded, smiling slightly. “I know, I know. I understand.”
“Thanks.”
As soon as she left, Tracy reached for the song Gerard had asked her to work on.
So far, she had come up with the chorus, but the verses still didn’t sound…right.
What’s the worst thing I can say
Things are better if I say
So long, and goodnight…so long and goodnight
“Gee,” she said aloud, “good luck with the tune for this.”
She chuckled slightly, imagining Gerard’s face when he’d read her lyrics – if he’d read her lyrics.
Slowly, the smile slid off her face. Sure, she was never one to act all mushy and sappy when it came to him. She never said the typical; “you’re my angel,” or “you’re my world” – or whatever crap lovers often said to each other – to him. When she’d send him text messages, they contained simple stuff like; “Hi. We still on for later?” or an even simpler “Good morning.” She never, ever went “I miss you so much,” or “It’s agony being apart.” No. They never carried it that far.
However, now…now…
Now she really did miss him, and it really was agony to be apart. Sometimes, in the middle of the night, she’d wake up from a dream she’d been having about Gee, and then she’d realize she was actually crying.
Okay, too much drama, Tracy, she told herself, shaking her head a bit, tone it down.

*****

Tracy,

I don’t know about you, but I never really paid much attention to my English teacher. She was a bitch. So I can write a letter that doesn’t start with ‘dear’.
Okay. Sorry. On to more serious things.
I’ve got only 5 more days to go. Maybe sooner, if we can somehow break through the stubborn head that is the Big Kahuna. Don’t get your hopes up, though. He seems unshakeable.
So…did you get my video e-mail this morning? Yeah, Frank mixed up the toothbrushes. I kept telling them to get different colors, but no. Frank said it was a waste of time, money, and energy to trash a toothbrush and go buy another one. Now look. Mikers is sulking, and Frank keeps gargling. You know about his almost obsessive-compulsiveness.
Anyway, I hope you’re not sore. I really, really want to be there, but I…don’t think I have enough courage to venture off alone. You know what I mean.
Will see you soon, I hope.

Gerard

Gee put down his pen and sighed. For some strange reason, he was feeling really bummed.
A small shot couldn’t hurt, he thought, thinking about his favorite brandy, I mean…it’s not like I’m going to do it for pleasure. I’m really doing it to forget…
No! He shook his head, as though trying to clear his thoughts. The whole band hates my drinking habit. Even Tracy. I promised them…
He folded his arms and stared out the window. Now what?
He couldn’t just sulk around here. He wasn’t that depressed. And he didn’t feel like writing a longer letter to her. He had said all he really felt like saying. That was enough…right?
I might as well take a long walk on a short pier, he half-joked as he stood up and stretched.
Suddenly, a sharp rap on the door knocked him back to earth.
Ray peeked in, holding a bright orange basketball in one hand. “Feel like some hoops?” He asked, smiling slightly. “I know this is totally random, but the other’s are busy, and I really don’t feel like doing this alone.”
Gee glanced at the basketball to Ray’s hopeful face, then back to the basketball. It wasn’t like he was that dense. He knew why Ray was really asking him to do it. It was some plan to get him out of his little dilemma.
I appreciate the effort, he thought, but…I…don’t know…
“Come on, Ray,” he said, shaking his head, “you’re seriously asking me? You’ll have to do better than that.”
Ray shrugged. “It was that obvious?”
“Yeah.”
Ray sighed and dropped the basketball. “Can’t say I didn’t try. Look, Gee…we just don’t like seeing you this way.”
“So you all decided to try and make me focus on other things.” Gerard guessed, sitting on the bed.
“…yeah. That pretty much sums it up.” Ray grinned. “I guess a game wasn’t exactly the brightest idea, huh?”
“Unless you wanted me to remember the whole ‘kickball-easy-peasy-motherfucker’…or whatever it was I said…fiasco, no. It wasn’t.”
Ray sighed. “Good point.”
“But thanks anyway,” Gee said, grinning. “The thought that counts, you know.”
Ray smiled. “No problem.”
Suddenly, the door slammed open. Bob appeared, eyes wide. “You…might wanna see the shit that’s going on in the kitchen.”
“What shit?” Gee asked, standing up.
“See for yourself.” Bob said, pointing to the kitchen.
The two of them walked in. Nothing was out of the ordinary. Gee frowned and turned to Bob.
“What? I don’t-“
“Wait.” Ray silenced him. “What’s that clicking noise?”
Bob grinned and jerked his thumb to the ceiling. “From above, the wicked shall receive their just rewards.”
Gee looked at Ray cautiously. “Er…why do I have a feeling were going to see a picture of Bozo the clown pasted to the ceiling?”
“Whoa. That was random.”
“Just look already.” Bob said impatiently.
At the same time, Gee and Ray looked up.

*****

“Shut up! Shut up, shut up, shut up!”
“I’m serious!” Ray said, shaking his head. “There was this loud clicking sound…”
“You don’t have to remind me!” Mikey yelled, covering his ears.
“Dude,” Gee said, shaking his head, “I never knew lizards could move that fast.”
“I said shut up!!”
“It was kinda disturbing, and kinda freaky, like something out of a bad horror movie.” Bob said, grinning. “I mean, I never knew that was how lizards mated.”
“BOB!” Mikey yelled.
“It was so weird!” Bob continued, holding up to fingers. “It was like they were connected at the butt, their tails dragging around. It was like watching Siamese twins move! If he went forward, the other was forced to move with him.”
“Way to describe it.” Gerard said, blowing the bangs off his face.
“It was weird, Mikey. Seriously.” Ray said. “Everywhere they went, they left some sort of trail of shiny, transparent stuff-“
“Do you really need to tell me that??” Mikey yelled.
“Then Bob, here, just for fun, decided to throw a plastic spoon at them.”
“Hey, come on!” Bob protested. “If they wanna make new baby lizards, they can do it in a bedroom, not on the kitchen ceiling!”
“Anyway, the moment he threw it at them-“
“I don’t want to know!”
“-it was like watching a zombie lose his arm or something.” Bob connected his two fingers. “Okay, they were like this, right? After I threw the spoon at them, this one disconnected from the ceiling. It didn’t fall right away, though. It was still connected to the other lizards butt. So they ended up looking like this.” He formed an upside-down ‘L’ with his fingers. “So the lizard that got disconnected hung there for, like, two seconds or something.”
Mikey let loose a ‘squee!’ and covered his ears again. “Bob! I’m serious! You stop describing it on minute detail or-“
“-and then,” he interrupted, “the one still attached to the ceiling couldn’t hold on anymore-“
“And they both fell with a loud ‘shkweaghlch’!” Frank said, mimicking the sound perfectly. “It was creepy and awesome!”
Mikey let loose a squee again and covered his ears.
“Okay, guys, I think we grossed him out enough.” Gerry chuckled. “Come on. I’m starving. Pizza?”
“Why not?” Ray said, grinning. “Let me just change.”
Without another word, the others went to their rooms, a shadow of a grin still plainly etched on their faces.
Gerard opened the door to the room he shared with Mikey. Deftly, he reached up and flicked the light switch on. In a few seconds, the bedroom was flooded with warm light.
In moments, he crossed the room and opened up the closet, scanning the rack for his favorite jacket.
“One of these days, you guys are going to pay for making me squee like that.”
Gerard looked up at the sound of his brother’s voice. He spun around, a grin on his face.
“Come on, Mikers. That’s life.”
Mikey simply grunted in reply.