---Gerard---

The Black Parade.

Mikey smells like The Black Parade. He smells like death, but I don't mind it. I don't mind the smell of him, no matter how alien the scent is. I love the smell. It reminds me of Dad. I reminds me of how life used to be before he passed. It reminds me of all those times we'd cuddle up on the couch or watch the snow fall outside. It reminds me of cold, groggy mornings and first days of school when he'd send us off to go learn. It reminds me of his face, filled with joy and his bright eyes, always happy, never sad or angry. He smells like The Black Parade. He smells like Dad. Dad's parade. The sweet giggles and all the times we visited Elisa, Lindsey, and Sarah. It reminds me of everything I miss. It brings back so much nostalgia I actually see Dad in my vision despite the fact that he's under the ground next to a mausoleum right now. Right beside Patricia's grave.

"Gerard quit squeezing me," Mikey whimpers. I don't let go, though. I can't let go. I'm scared that if I let go, he'll leave again.

"You're here... How? Why are you here so early? What happened?" I ask, my head buried in his shoulder.

"I wanted to surprise you guys and... Mr. Gray said I could get out a lot earlier than originally planned... So... here I am..." He says with a smile. I hug him tighter but I let go, not wanting it to go any further, "How's your life? What's been going on?"

He walks inside and sets his bags down in a neat pile on the living room floor. I glance at Patrick who has his phone out, and I'm guessing he's texting Brendon to tell him what happened.

"We were just about to go to Brendon's with Pete and Joe and Frank and Ryan," I say.

"And Andy. Joe's gotta have his boyfriend, too." Patrick mumbles, "He told me that we should just bring Mikey along. You wanna go?"

Mikey looks over at us, "I have no idea who and of those people are but... sure? Are you two dating by the way? And why are you here? And... What the hell even happened?" He laughs slightly.

"I'll explain everything on the way there," I promise.

"O-okay..."

"Ready to go?" Patrick asks softly, I can tell he's kind of anxious, but I quickly lace his hand in mine trying to tell him it's going to be okay.

I nod, looking to Mikey who nods back. We leave, heading towards the bus stop. I stand between the two of them, my hand in Patrick's while I talk to Mikey.

"A ton has happened since The Black Parade, honestly..." I smile, "After a while of struggling, Patrick and I got together... He was..." I look to the blonde, asking for permission to tell him. He only mumbles out a, "Not everything..."

"He was having some problems at home... He was sent to a foster care home, but Mama ended up adopting him and... yeah... Now he lives with us..." I say, leaving out as much detail as I can because I really don't want to tell him every single thing that happened. It's way too depressing of a story.

Patrick squeezes my hand gratefully which I squeeze back as a, "No problem," The bus stop is here now. The bus isn't. I pull out my phone and check the time: 11:18. It arrives at 11:20.

"What about you? How's your life?" I ask, directing my attention back up to my brother. I can't help but wonder if he had any dates when he was at the school. Or who his friends were. Or if he ever missed us more than usual. I guess that was his way of getting over Dad's death, though, and Patrick is mine. Smoking is Mama's.

"It was... alright... I had, what, one friend? His name was Matt, but he was usually off with another group. Nobody really talked to me much. I got a few dates here and there but they never really lasted and... I think I'm gay..." He says, lowering his voice at the last part.

"Well, we're going to a house full of gay guys... A couple of them are single..." I remember Pete. No. He is not dating Pete. Pete dates for sex. I'm not letting him get his heart broken by a fuckboy, "There's one of them you probably shouldn't date. Otherwise, I'm okay with you dating anyone you want..."

"Overprotective much?" Mikey teases.

"Shush. It was four years you've been gone, and I don't want to see you get hurt." I nearly added "again" at the end but think better of it.

We hear the squeaking of the bus in the distance and Patrick leans into me, his breathing is shaky.

"You okay?" I ask quietly.

"Y-Yeah..." He whispers, "Just... thought I saw him... nevermind..."

I kiss his cheek, a smile is immediately traced on his bright face. It makes his eyes crinkle at the edges and his head to lower in a blush, "Let's go, you can hang out with Pete, okay?"

He nods, "Thanks..."

"Mhmm..."

***

Knock, knock, knock.

We wait for a bit, Mikey nervously shifting his weight from foot to foot and Patrick off to the side with his hands in his pockets and his back right up next to the door.

"Who is it?" Someone on the other side, I'm guessing Joe, says.

"Gerard and Patrick and Mikey," I answer.

The door swings open to show Joe with Andy close behind. He turns and shouts up the stairs, "Geetrick is here!"

"My OTP!" Someone, I think Brendon, yells back. I hear a burst of laughing, Patrick shyly shuffles in the door but as soon as he's inside he darts up to Brendon's room to probably talk to Pete and look in that notebook. I still haven't figured out what he writes in that goddamn book but I swear, one day I will find out.

"Your OTP?" I ask, giving Joe a questioning glance.

"One true pairing." Andy replies, "You're the cutest couple out of everyone here."

"What about Trohley?" I ask, "You two are a hell of a lot cuter than we are."

"Too much sex." Joe shrugs.

"I did not need to know that," Mikey says, pursing his lips.

"Come on, Mikes, it'll be okay. Don't be a bum." I reply, smiling, "This is the house of your sexuality!"

"I'm teetering on bi," He mumbles.

"Then go talk to Pete and Ryan!" I laugh, "Come on, lemme introduce you to everyone."

Mikey smiles and rolls his eyes, "Fine..."

"This is Joe," I point to Joe, "He's chill, drinks beer, has the best fucking music taste and is dating Andy. He's kinda new, but he managed to make it here."

"We all have good music taste," Joe argues.

"We have a strict, you listen to Green Day, Shinedown, Blink-182, Nirvana, and The Offspring, or you'll be kicked out." I sigh.

"They're not that bad," Mikey shrugs.

"I know, right?"

I bring him upstairs and drag him into the bedroom where Brendon, Pete, Ryan, Frank, and Patrick are sitting around. Brendon has a bottle of beer in his hand and Ryan in his lap while Frank is sitting to himself leaned up against the wall with his earbuds in. Pete and Patrick, I see, are seated in the corner with the notebook in hand.

"Hello, people."

They all look up, Brendon looks up and tries to hold back a laugh but fails and instead manages to get Ryan on the floor.

"Jerk," Ryan spits.

"Alright, so it's the Summer of 2001." Brendon smirks and then giggles some more, "Joe meets Patrick... and he's like, 'Yo, I know about music.' and Patrick's like, 'Yo, I know more about music.'"

Everyone's staring at him at this point, Pete and Patrick are trying to hold back a laugh, and I see Mikey just has a worried face.

"How much did you have to drink?" I ask.

"Like... Two shots of whiskey, five shots of Jameson, three shots of scotch, and like...five bottles of beer." Ryan lists, holding out his fingers to count.

"And this," Joe says, slipping past Ryan and me to hand him a red solo cup of something else.

"Oh, well, I'm out." Mikey turns, but I seize his arm and force him to stay.

"That," I point to Brendon, "Is Brendon, he... doesn't usually get that drunk... He's cool..."

"Gerard is lying. He gets drunk pretty damn often." Ryan replies from where he now sits beside Frank.

"Ryan, fucking hair goals, Frank, he's my best friend. And finally, over there is Pete, Patrick's best friend." I say, pointing to Pete. He gives a little wave, "Everyone, this is my brother, Mikey."

We're accompanied by a chorus of, "Hey Mikey's."

"Hi," He replies then goes and sits beside Frank and Ryan, I join them soon after and we talk while Brendon keeps giggling and talking about the "Summer of 2001."

After a while, though, we start to get bored, and we run out of things to talk about but that's when Joe and Andy come in (probably from the spare bedroom) and take a seat, Joe's the one to suggest it. Nobody disagrees with it. Now, we're playing Truth or Dare. Patrick and Pete came out from the corner. Someone cracked a gay joke. I don't know who. I don't want to know who, though.

"I'll go first... Patrick, truth or dare?" Joe says, directing his attention to Patrick.

"Truth."

"What's sex with Gerard like?" A few people crack up, Patrick goes cherry red in the face, I just wiggle my eyebrows at him making him blush more. Mikey's uncomfortable. I can already tell. I don't really care, though. He'll get used to it like I did.

"I dunno... I mean... Nice..." He tries to shrink, obviously extremely embarrassed.

"Kinky?"

"N-No..."

"Just... sex?"

"Yeah, I guess..."

"Okay, your turn, then," Joe concludes with a shrug.

"Pete, truth or dare?" Patrick says, turning to the boy next to him.

"Dare," Pete replies.

Patrick scrunches his nose, "Why the hell do you have to choose one I don't have?"

"When in doubt, just make them kiss someone." Brendon slurs.

"Go kiss the drunk guy, then," Patrick says, patting Pete on the back.

Pete huffs but gets up and walks over to Brendon, then turns to Ryan and asks, "You're okay with this, right?"

"Yeah, go ahead."

Pete turns back, I can tell he really didn't want Ryan to answer with that but... whatever.

"Uh..." He trails off, biting his lip nervously.

Brendon just giggles and pulls Pete's lips onto his sloppily and I think somewhere in there, he forces his tongue in. I cringe slightly at the sight of a drunk guy basically trying to eat a sober man's face.

Pete pulls away before much more can happen and scrunches his face, shoving Brendon back into the bed before he sits down next to Patrick in disgust. He grabs his friends sleeve and wipes off his lips with that look before he turns to Ryan, "Truth or dare?"

"Truth."

"Does Brendon kiss you like that when he's drunk?"

"Nope. I think he likes you over me." Ryan replies, "Mikey, truth or dare."

Mikey runs his fingers under his beanie, screwing up his hair, "Dare."

"Kiss Pete."

My heart nearly stops at that.

Mikey raises his eyebrows but doesn't seem too objected to the idea.

No, no, no. This is Pete. There's no way I'm letting my brother do anything like that. He's gonna get his goddamn heart broken, and I don't want him to relapse or anything and...

It'll be okay, Gerard. Just because he's about to kiss Pete doesn't mean they'll fall in love or anything.

Mikey crawls over to Pete and nervously looks back at Ryan who nods. He looks back, a slight blush on his cheeks, "I-I've never kissed a guy before..."

"Well, you're about to find out," Pete whispers. He presses his lips to Mikey's. It's hesitant at first, but after a moment, they have their fingers tangled in each other's hair, and Mikey's fallen on top of Pete, and I bang my head hard against the wall.

I knew it.

"Get a room!" Joe says.

"I ship it," Frank whispers with a smirk. I look over to him with a serious face, but my attention is soon diverted back to Mikey who's straddling Pete's lap, panting and looking down with a bitten lip and sharp eyes.

"Joe, where's the spare?" Mikey asks with a smirk.

I don't know what happens but I just... can't stop them. I should. Pete's going to hurt him, but I can't find my words and I know my friends will only tell me it'll be okay. They're not going to get hurt or anything.

"This way," Joe says, leading them into the spare bedroom.

"What's wrong?" Frank asks beside me.

"I don't want my brother to be with him. He's a player. He just wants sex." I whisper.

"It'll be fine. He might get his heart broken but, it'll heal in the end." Frank shrugs.

"That's the problem." I reply, growing frustrated, "I don't want him to relapse. He's been through enough with Dad and Mom smoking. I'm just... scared. Scared of losing him again."

"It'll be okay, Gee," Frank replies, rubbing my shoulder. I run my fingers through my hair, shutting my eyes, "Thanks... It means a lot..."