To nobody's surprise but Frank's, My Chemical Romance lost money on the T-shirts. Frank sold a couple at their shows, and the band members' parents and siblings bought a few, but it wasn't enough to break even, let alone make a profit. They had fun making and selling them though, and before long, Frank was like a fifth member of the band. Gerard sang, Ray played the guitar, Mikey played the bass, Matt played the drums, and Frank did everything else, from booking shows and practice spaces for them to carrying their gear to selling their merch.

The one thing that Frank couldn't do was get them a record deal, but Mikey took care of that. He had worked at Eyeball Records for a while, and he somehow managed to convince his boss that MCR would be the next big thing. Eyeball signed them right away, and now, the only thing left to do was to record their first album.

"Hey, that means we're labelmates now!" Frank exclaimed when Gerard told him the good news.

"Yeah, I guess so," Gerard said. He didn't admit that the real reason he'd agreed to sign to Eyeball was because Pencey Prep was on that label too.

Geoff had agreed to produce the album, but they had to wait to record until after the Thursday tour, so for now, My Chemical Romance was stuck in New Jersey, playing basement shows while they waited for their producer to come home. Gerard didn't mind: he'd grown to like performing live. He sang and screamed and just went wild at every concert, and over time, he came to love the roar of the crowd instead of being afraid of it.

Ray complained that he was playing to the merch table instead of blasting it to the back row, which was probably true. He always found himself stealing glances at Frank, but who could blame him? Not only was he the prettiest boy in the room, but he was also their biggest fan. If anyone deserved their own personal My Chemical Romance show, it was Frank.

It wasn't all fun and games though. Other than the band being practically bankrupt, their producer being on tour, and Gerard being way too afraid to tell Frank how he really felt about him, there was also the fact that Matt's car was too small for all of their equipment. It always took the band members forever to stuff all of their instruments, amps, and unsold T-shirts in the car, and once they were done, there was barely enough room for Matt to squeeze himself into the driver's seat.

As Frank and Gerard packed up the merch table one day, Matt ran over to tell them that his car wouldn't start. "I'm pretty sure it's just because of the cold, but what are we going to do about all of our stuff?" he asked.

"We could use Ray's car," Gerard suggested.

"We'd have to make two trips," Matt said.

"You know, you guys could use Pencey Prep's van," Frank said.

"Wait, really?" Gerard said. "You'd do that for us?"

"Yeah, it's really no big deal," Frank said. "My Chemical Romance is my favorite band." He suddenly turned toward Gerard and smiled. "And it doesn't hurt that they have a very handsome lead singer."

Gerard turned away, blushing. He couldn't believe what he had just heard. Maybe Frank was just making a joke, but he wanted to think that he was serious, that he actually liked him. If that was true, then he couldn't believe his luck.

He didn't have time to reply before Frank said, "Anyways, I'll go get the van. I'll be back soon."

Frank left the venue, Matt ran off to talk to one of his friends, and suddenly, Gerard was alone again. He paced around the room, wishing that he had the nerve to say something to Frank. He wanted to tell him how he felt as soon as he came back. He wanted action and decision, but at the same time, he was terrified of what Frank might think of him if he knew how many hours he had spent dreaming of his hazel eyes, his adorable smile, and his gorgeous tattoos.

Frank came back with the van before too long, and the band loaded all of their equipment in there before driving off. They borrowed it for every show after that, and Frank was more than happy to lend it to them. Sometimes, an eagle-eyed concert goer would be mad that Pencey Prep wasn't playing, but for the most part, the arrangement worked.

"Thanks for letting us borrow the van," Gerard said to Frank after one of their shows. "You really are the best."

"Yeah, no problem," Frank said. "I'll need it back when we go on tour though."

"You're going on tour?" Gerard said.

"Pencey Prep is playing some dates in the Midwest in April and May." Gerard frowned, and Frank asked, "Is there something wrong?"

"No, it's nothing," Gerard said. "It's just...it's just that I'm going to miss you a lot."

"I'll miss you too," Frank said.

Thankfully, April was a long way away, or so Gerard thought. The hours and days and months seemed to fly by whenever he was around Frank, and the tour drew closer and closer. Soon, My Chemical Romance's biggest fan left to go on tour with Pencey Prep.

Frank promised that he would call, and he did, but Gerard's life still felt empty without him. He would wake up every morning looking forward to seeing Frank, thinking that they might see a movie or read some comic books or play with his dogs. Then, he'd remember that Frank was on tour, and he would crash back into bed, feeling hopeless. He'd known that his friendship with Frank was something special, but he hadn't known just how much he meant to him until he was gone.

Working on I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love was something of a distraction, but even that wasn't enough sometimes. Gerard, Matt, Ray, and Mikey all worked hard on perfecting the songs that would go on the album, and when Geoff finally came home from his tour in mid-May, they were ready to go. They only had two weeks to record the eleven songs that they had picked for the album, but they knew that they could do it.

They started with "Honey, This Mirror Isn't Big Enough For The Two of Us." Geoff recorded them in his parents' basement, and after Matt, Mikey, and Ray were all done, it was Gerard's turn. He took a deep breath, wishing that Frank was there to comfort him, to wish him good luck. Then, he stepped up to the microphone, but just as he was about to open his mouth, there was a loud whirring sound.

"Mom!" Geoff shouted as he ran upstairs. "I thought I told you we were recording today!"

"You never told me that," Geoff's mom said as she unplugged the vacuum cleaner.

As Geoff argued with his mother, Gerard took another deep breath. He had a few more minutes to get himself together. However, his mind kept drifting back to Frank. He wondered how he was doing out there, touring the country with his band. He wondered if Frank felt as lonely as he did. Life just wasn't the same without him.

They ended up scrapping that recording anyways. Ray thought that it didn't sound right, and everyone else agreed with him. "I think it's something in the guitar part," Ray said. "I'll rewrite it later."

However, every time Gerard asked Ray about it, he said that he was still working on it. "We just need a fuller sound, and I'm trying to figure out how to do that with just one guitar," Ray said. "I could overdub it, but then we would never be able to play this song live."

That wasn't an option. They'd played "Honey, This Mirror Isn't Big Enough For The Two of Us" a few times at their concerts, and the fans loved it. They couldn't just take it off of the setlist. There had to be another way.

While Ray worked on rewriting the guitar part, the whole band kept on recording their other songs. By the end of the week, the album was starting to come together. However, there was one huge problem.

It started with a toothache. Gerard woke up one morning, and there was a soreness in the back of his mouth. He thought it was nothing, so he left to go record the album, but the pain grew worse over the course of the day. However, he only realized that his toothache might pose a problem after he'd already started recording.

"And if they get me, take this spike and...OW! I can't do this. This really fucking hurts."

"Just give it one more try," Geoff said, and he did, but it didn't feel any better.

The pills didn't help. They numbed the pain, but he couldn't get the sound he wanted. Meanwhile, his suffering only became worse as the days went by. After every recording session, he would go straight home and take as many pills as it took for the pain to go away. Then he would lie on the couch, hoping that Frank would call.

He was more miserable than he'd been in years, even though he had no right to be. The band was doing well, and he told himself that he should be excited about it. They were recording an album, after all. They were creating a piece of art, but he just couldn't appreciate it without their biggest fan. Without Frank, there just didn't seem to be a point to it all. Why make an album if nobody was going to listen to it?