Gerard sighed as he looked through the camera, focusing on the laughing group of teenagers across from him.

He was in the school cafeteria, using the experience camera Mr Carlson had given him. The red head was trying to get as many shots of smiling kids as possible, but he wanted it to be natural; so he would take the photos now and then later ask if the person was okay with it.

"You look insanely creepy." Mikey stated as he watched his brother shift around and lean back to get the perfect angle.

"Shut up, Mikes." The boy mumbled nasally.

He had stuffed paper tissues up his nose to stop the bleeding. It was working, but unfortunately he had also cut his lip when he fell, and he couldn't exactly stuff tissues in his mouth. That was a slightly more problematic ordeal.

"You look like a pedo." Pete laughed, taking a bite of his peanut butter sandwich.

"You're just jealous because you can't take a good picture for the life of you." Gerard mumbled, blurting an 'ah-ha!' when he managed to take a cute picture of Brendon and Ryan laughing together.

The red head out his face near the camera again when a voice spoke up behind him.

"I'm just gonna assume you're doing something not creepy." Frank laughed, taking a seat next to the bleeding boy.

Gerard looked up at Frank with a dead look. He went to say something but Mikey spoke up for him.

"Nope, he's taking pictures for his collage of faces. Something that's taped up in his room." The younger boy said with an innocent smile.

"That's incorrect." The pale boy said angrily, "And even if I did -which I don't- at least I don't have a poster of Kurt Cobain I chronically masturbate to!"

Mikey gasped and his cheeks went as red as Gerard's hair. Pete and Frank burst out laughing, almost chocking when Mikey grabbed Gerard's camera and took pictures of his crotch with it.

"I hope Mr Carlson likes my dick pics!" Mikey yelled childishly tossing the boy back his borrowed camera.

"He probably would, who wouldn't want to see a micro-penis?" The red head mumbled, swiftly deleting the photos.

Frank snorted, causing Gerard to feel accomplished.

The four of them were quiet for a moment before Pete spoke up out of the blue.

"So, Frank, why're you here? Or I'm assuming you're Frank.."

"Yeah, I'm Frank. How'd you know?" He asked with a quirked eyebrow.

"Oh, Gerbear talks about you a lot." Pete laughed, ignoring Gerard's shocked expression and Frank's blushing face. "Apparently you're the one who punched him." He laughed again.

Gerard let out an internal sigh of relief, at least this way he didn't seem like a complete obsessive stalker. Something Gerard of course wasn't.

"I, I said sorry for that." Frank said quietly, his guilty tone making Pete want to smash his head against a table.

"Oh- we know- I just... Gerard is obsessed with you." Pete chocked out, his head getting slapped almost immediately by a disappointed Mikey.

"Wh-What?!" Gerard shrieked, looking frantically between the three of them. Frank's eyes wide in shock, and what Gerard assumed to be disgust.

"That's not true- I'm not- Pete, what the fuck?" The pale boy's face was so red it looked like it was about to explode.

"Um, I think I should go..." Frank mumbled awkwardly, shifting out of his seat slowly.

He almost immediately bolted off, leaving the cafeteria promptly.

Gerard looked at the other two, his eyes watery and his mouth agape.

"How.. How could you do that to me?" He asked quietly.

"Gee, I didn't mean to make him leave- I thought he'd just laugh." He said quickly.

Gerard merely scoffed and ran off to the bathroom.

- -

Gerard didn't know what came first, the passive aggressive painting, or the animalistic growling and snapping of paint brushes.

All he did know was that he was not stable at the moment. And that he had a fuckton of splinters in his palms.

He had done a pretty good job of ignoring his brother and mother. He wouldn't say he was ignoring or shitting on Pete though, because Pete was technically dead to him so he didn't want to speak ill of the dead.

Gerard had around seven calls from him and thirteen messages, all of them unattended and unread. The red head couldn't care less what Pete had to say.

He had somehow managed to ruin his friendship with someone who he was only 8.9% sure was his friend. Which to Gerard, seemed like a close buddy.

Gerard's now pencil snapping came to a stop when his phone rang for the eighth time, and he had finally had enough.

He answered it quickly and shoved the phone beneath his flock of red hair, "Pete, I swear to God I will fucking crucify you if you call me again. Got it?"

"Uh, it's not Pete..." Said the all too familiar voice.

"Oh." Was all Gerard could get out. "Look, I-"

"I'm sorry for running off during lunch." Frank said quietly.

Gerard felt his eyebrows furrow, why the fuck was he sorry? If Gerard had heard someone was helplessly obsessed with him, he would probably run away too.

"What? You don't have to be sorry. I was gonna apologise for Pete." The pale boy said with a tone void of certainty.

"Um, okay." Frank mumbled, sounding awkward, which was usually Gerard's job.

"Yeah."

An uncomfortable silence took over the two, and Gerard didn't know wether to hang up or say something else. Though, thank God Frank decided that for him.

"D'you wanna hang out tomorrow?" He asked quickly. The red head felt his cheeks light on fire at the question.

Hang out?

Sure, they'd hung out before, but that was for a school project. This wasn't, so essentially Frank wanted to be around him after school hours. It was unbelievable!

Never had Gerard had someone who asked him to hang out- in hopes of actually spending time together.

He would definitely have to talk to Mikey about this. Even if that meant breaking his whole 'shunning' thing.

"Hello? Are you still there?" Frank asked.

"Oh- um, yes. Yes to both things, I'd love to hang out." He blurted out quickly, receiving a chuckle in return.

"Rad," The other said slowly, "just come by at like anytime past one."

"Okay, will do." He whispered, still a bit taken off guard.

They soon said their goodbyes and hung up. The moment they did, Gerard busted open his door and ran down the hall to his brother's room.

"Mikey! I need your help!" He shouted through the door. He receive a grunt which he took to mean he could enter.

Once he did, he flopped on his brother's bed and looked at the lanky boy.

"Frank invited me to hang out tomorrow." He said with wide eyes, still not having grasped the situation properly.

Frank Iero, feared punk and rib breaker, invited Gerard Way, clumsy piece of human waste, to his house.

Mikey turned in his seat at his desk completely. He had on a cocky smile that showed all his teeth.

"You've got yourself a date." He said with a certain nod.

Gerard choked on air and went into a coughing fit, almost throwing up at the aggressiveness of his breathing.

"Wh-What?! No I don't!" He exclaimed, flailing his arms around madly.

"Then answer me this; where are you two gonna hang out?"

"His house." Gerard stated with a quirked eyebrow.

"Okay, and how did he say it?" Mikey asked curiously.

"All he said was 'do you wanna hang out tomorrow?'."

Mikey gasped, "I fucking knew it- he's in love."

"Mikey, you're being ridiculous and it's not helping!" Gerard snapped, sitting up straight on the bed. "I just wanted to know if he thinks of me as a friend.."

"Aw, Gee, of course he does! Or else he wouldn't have invited you to his house." The younger boy smiled.

"So he's not gonna like make fun of me when I show up and yell 'Geetard actually thought he had friends'?" The red head asked sadly, recalling the last time someone invited him to his house. Which was eighth grade.

"He's not criminally insane." Mikey sighed, patting his brother on the shoulder. "Now get out, I need to finish my English essay."

The older boy laughed and nodded, "Thanks, Mikes... For being there for me."

"Anytime, big bro." Mikey smiled warmly.