Not!fic - Mikeway is Not An Artist (But He Does Have Some Happy Accidents)
Title: Mikeyway is Not An Artist (But He Does Have Some Happy Accidents) - not!fic
Pairings: Mikey/Frank, Gerard/Ray
Rating: PG
Word Count: ~2800
Summary: Mikey just wants to be able to draw a dog, dammit.
Notes: What can I say? Inspiration for this came from watching iCarly with my son, don't judge, my world is small. Anyway, it devolved into not!fic, but I'm sharing it thanks to cheerleading from
cincodemaygirl and alpheratz - they are the best, and all errors and ridiculousness are my own. Title inspired by Bob Ross, because the Joy of Painting is soothing and awesome.
The first time Mikey walks by the flyer he doesn’t really read the words, it’s more just a bright yellow blur in his peripheral vision. It’s not interesting enough to distract him from the hot cup of coffee he’s sipping, eyes slitted in contentment. It had been a shit day, the rain made his hair fall limply into his face, his favorite boots got all waterlogged when he stepped into a puddle and he had been stuck working by himself most of the morning because Ryan was late to work again. That kid was such a fucking flake. Plus, Mikey’s glasses were smeared all to hell from hair product, and his boots made a really ridiculous squelching noise with every footstep. While he and Gerard might tease each other about their crippling caffeine addictions, Mikey firmly believes in the power of coffee. He closes his eyes and takes another sip.
The second time Mikey passes the flyer he stops to read it. Or he intends to at any rate. It is a much better day. He’s heading in to a closing shift at the bookstore, which means was able to sleep in. His favorite boots had dried out nicely and he’d even found some clean socks hiding under his bed, where Gerard must have missed them when he came by to scavenge laundry. Gee always swore he didn’t do this, but Mikey could easily count the number of times he came home to find Gerard in his last clean(ish) shirt. Clearly, when their mother had told them they were grown boys who needed to be more responsible for themselves, Gerard had interpreted this slightly differently than Mikey. Rather than wash his own clothes, he seemed content to siphon off clean things from Mikey’s closet and sneak some of his own things in with Mikey’s washing. Which was ridiculous, because Gerard lived in the basement. Next to the laundry room. But, Mikey prided himself on knowing how to pick his battles, and this wasn’t one he was going to win any day soon. His brother was crazy awesome at a lot of things, but not cleaning. In fairness, Mikey wasn’t particularly skilled at cleaning either, but it was one of the things he could do better than Gerard, and he felt compelled to rise to the challenge.
So, it’s a good day, and Mikey has plenty of time before work to stop and get a coffee, flirt a little with the cute barista he runs into at shows sometimes, and read the postings on the noticeboard near the shop’s door. The bright yellow flyer proclaiming “Art! Music!” had just caught his attention when his phone beeped at him. Attention diverted, Mikey fished his phone from his pocket to read Pete’s latest text: gabes a dick, wont lemme shave his bals. And while Mikey has not had anything to do with Gabe’s balls for quite some time, he lets Pete pull him into a far too involved, poorly spelled, badly punctuated conversation until he really has to get to work.
Later that evening, however, Mikey finds himself back at the coffeeshop, picking up a caffeine fix before meeting some friends for a show. He’s reading about a lost dog named Andrew and feeling kind of sad when another posting catches his eye. It’s the yellow one he started to read earlier, advertising art and music lessons at the Community Center. Mikey thinks about the bass he hasn’t picked up in months. His fingers itch a little thinking about it and he finds himself programming the phone number from the flyer into his phone. There was only so much he had been able to pick up from the videos and manuals he’d gotten from the bookstore when he’d first bought his bass. Maybe he’ll call in the morning...
So! Mikey wants to take a music class, and calls the number on the flyer, but they are all full! However, there are still spaces available in the art classes, but Gee is the artist in the Way family. Mikey just wishes he could draw a dog. He sucks so hard at Draw Something and even in school he always got kinda bummed at how Gerard would get all the art awards and recognition, and he didn’t and people always had something to say about it. Not that he didn’t think Gee deserved the honors, because he totally did. Gerard is AWESOME and TALENTED. But stupid jokes about Mikey’s lack of artistic ability, that kind of sucked. Mikey is good at lots of things! He had a very successful DVD pirating business! (until the FBI got involved). He can quote all the words to Back to the Future, and he knows where all the best parties are and the best bands and he can totally do laundry, unlike some basement dwellers he knows.
And seriously, Gerard is awesome, the best. He’s a great big brother and he’s tried to help. In his way. He used to always give Mikey like paints and a canvas and tell him to paint his feeeeeelings. :| Or he’ll play music and ask Mikey to draw what it makes him see. Mikey just wants to be able to draw damn dog. He does not want to paint his feeeeeelings. He can’t share his “artistic vision” like Gerard can, which Gerard refuses to believe! “Everyone has an artisitc vision! Look in to your soul, Mikey!”
But he thinks about those art classes. He bets they could teach him how to draw a dog. Hell, he’d be happy if he learned how to draw a cube. He tried drawing a cube of tofu for Pete in a game of Draw Something the other day and it sucked. He hates that fucking game.
So he signs up for the art class. Only, he feels like he has to keep it a secret from Gee. he’s pretty sure it would gut Gerard to know he was taking art classes from a ~stranger. And it’s not that he wants to undermine Gee, because he is the best big brother Mikey has ever had! He just thinks a different approach might work better, and he doesn’t want to hurt Gerard’s feelings.
It turns out the art class is very different from Gerard’s approach. The teacher “Hi, my name is Mr. Toro. Um, you can call me Ray” is young and totally chill and super encouraging. He wears t-shirts for heavy metal bands, and he doesn’t talk about feelings. He teaches them the color wheel. They talk about perspective and shading. He asks them to draw the guitar on the table in the front of their classroom, not ‘what’s in their soul.’ Mikey’s still not an artist or anything, but he learns how to draw a cube.
It’s awkward, because Gerard and Mikey live in each other’s pockets so much, and Mikey is no good at lying to Gee. So he looks shifty and says he’s going out and tries his best to sound plausible. But he’s pretty sure Gerard didn’t believe him when he said Dewees needed him to come over and help him shave his back. And once, he has to say that the pencils he bought for class were a gift for Gee. And Mikey can tell he must be acting weird about the whole subterfuge, because Gerard seems alternately worried and suspicious.
Meanwhile, it turns out art class is kind of fun! Mr. ‘call me Ray’ Toro, might look a little like Bob Ross (minus the beard), but he doesn’t try to get them to paint happy little trees. He’s full of praise for their efforts and the only time he ever even remotely lost his cool was when this other student Frank got paint in his hair. And Mikey doesn’t blame him for that one bit. Hair is important.
Frank is always doing shit like that. His still lifes always seem to include incredibly phallic and suggestive fruit and his landscapes have like bats and shit hiding in the trees. He always sets his easel next to Mikey’s, and seems intent on getting Mikey to crack a smile. Mikey finds it pretty easy to smile at Frank. He is little and fierce and funny. He has great taste in music and movies. And he is really hot. So, Mikey kind of likes this art class.
Until one night, after Mikey had to hedge around the truth and tell Gerard he was going to help Pete and Gabe change a lightbulb, the worst thing happens. Everyone is working on a still life of some instruments Ray has set up. It’s kind of tricky, and Mikey is trying really hard to stay focused. Frank is not really helping. Mikey is pretty sure Frank is including gremlins playing all of the instruments in his picture. It’s actually pretty cool and totally makes him think of Gerard. Which is when Gerard BURSTS INTO HIS ART CLASS!
Mikey wants to sink through the floor. Gerard stands there, arm extended, finger pointed accusingly at Mikey. His mouth works but he’s not saying anything that makes sense. Mikey sighs, looks up from the floor and mumbles ‘Hey, Gee.’
Gerard crosses the room to Mikey’s side, talking a mile of a minute, shock wearing off. And he’s all ‘what is this nonsense’ and ‘how could you’ and ‘I would have helped.’ Because Gerard is a GREAT big brother. It makes him sad that Mikey didn’t come to him. There are wounded puppy eyes. And Mikey is not immune to that shit. But he is also kind of dying of embarrassment, and he maybe hisses at Gerard a little bit to settle down. Frank is looking way too interested in this drama and Ray’s hair is looking slightly alarmed at the unhinged intruder in the classroom.
And suddenly, Gerard rounds on an unsuspecting Ray all “YOU! You are corrupting the purity of my baby brother’s vision with your rules and your assignments and, and your lines, where is your soul!? Art requires passion!!!!” and Ray takes a step back and is all “Yeah, see, I’m from the music department? But they were short a teacher for this intro class? Um, I play guitar and stuff? But they gave me a syllabus and so we’ve just been doing that.” Which does not placate Gerard AT ALL. Even though Mikey is kind of interested, because hey! Ray plays guitar and that is RAD. And explains some of the subject matter they’ve been drawing.
Anyway, Gerard has worked himself into full-on diva mode and is all “fine Mikey, if you want to take art classes from this ~impostor instead of your brother, an actual artist, you go right ahead” which is really a pretty shitty thing to say, to Mikey and to Ray. So, Mikey lets Gerard storm out and does not follow him. Things are AWKWARD to say the least.
Then Frank just starts cackling. And he’s all “dude, your brother is a freak.” And that might be true! But Mikey will not let anyone call Gerard names! Even hot guys he’s kind of been flirting with. And he might reach over and crumple up Frank’s picture. Which is pretty stupid, but it’s always been a super effective fighting strategy in his house, growing up with Gee. Frank just kind of gapes at him and Ray, who has been staring at the door since it slammed behind Gerard turns to Mikey with sad hair and a disappointed face. And Ray might not be an actual art teacher after all, but he is a really nice guy and he “runs a classroom where we respect and support each other Mikey.”
So, Mikey is asked to leave. And he is feeling super terrible about everything! He just wanted to learn how to draw a dog! And now, Gerard’s feelings are hurt. And Ray is disappointed in him. And he was totally going to ask Frank for his number tonight, and now Frank probably won’t even want to talk to him ever again because that was kind of a dick move, plus his brother is a freak. He’s not sure he’ll even get to SEE Frank again, since he was kicked out of class. Damn.
He winds up at an all-night diner, drinking shitty coffee and feeling sorry for himself and a little at a loss about how to make things right. Eventually, after the waitress starts giving him the stinkeye for not ordering anything else, he heads home.
He slinks down the basement stairs, intending to apologize to Gerard. He’s pretty sure Gerard will apologize to him too now that he’s had time to cool off. Because they are BROS and that’s what they do. BUT THEN, Mikey opens the door to Gerard’s room and sees Gerard MAKING OUT WITH MR. “call me Ray” TORO!
“Omigod Gee what the hell?!” and Mikey is maybe a little taken aback! This was not what he expected to walk in on! Gerard and Ray spring apart looking flushed and guilty. It turns out Ray knew Gerard from some class they had together a while back, and Ray has felt kind of bad about not being a ~real art teacher so he came to talk to Gee about taking over the class. Then Ray would have more time to do music lessons and such in his own department! He also felt pretty bad about kicking Mikey out of class, seeing as how there were some very extenuating circumstances there.
Which doesn’t really explain why Mikey walked in on them mid-liplock! But it seems Gerard’s talk about art and passion had led to Ray sharing his own feeeeeelings about making music. And apparently, that is a lot of passion that cannot be communicated in words only. Or something. Mikey really doesn’t want to know the details.
As Mikey turns to head up to his room to let Gerard and Ray resume their ~activities, Gerard calls to him “Hey Mikes, I saw some of your pictures. They were really good.” And Mikey knows that is kind of a stretch, but he also knows Gerard is a terrible liar, so he just says ‘Thanks, Gee. And thank you too, Ray.” Because he’s no artist, but he knows he really did make some progress.
And Mikey is pretty relieved to have things settled with Gerard, and he thinks Ray is coming out ahead in this situation, so won’t hold the whole kerfuffle against Mikey too much. Plus, he can totally, kind of, draw a dog now! So really, Gerard and Ray go on to be kind of sickeningly wonderful together, and Mikey draws a completely recognizable tree and he would count the whole art class thing a win. BUT, he kind of misses Frank. And there is a lot of sighing and some pining. And some angsty texting with Pete. It’s just that Frank was really kind of awesome and funny and he was always so full of energy and he seemed to really like Mikey! And Mikey never even got his number. :( Plus he acted really childish, crumpling up Frank’s picture, and what if Frank is actually a secret asshole who really does think his brother is a freak? Because that shit is not okay.
Then, one evening Ray drags Mikey out with him and Gerard to see one of his guitar students play at the local coffeeshop. Mikey doesn’t really pay attention to the details. He is not too keen to be a third wheel, but Ray has been really nice to him and Mikey does like coffee. So Mikey gets a big ass cup of coffee and kind of hunches in the corner and tries to participate in the conversation because Ray is really cool and is gonna help him with his bass, and Gerard is so super happy and they are really going to make Mikey puke with how great they are together.
Then, while Mikey is distracted and reading the flyers on the noticeboard by the door, someone taps on the microphone they’ve set up on the little impromptu stage. And it’s Frank! With his guitar! And he looks beautiful and is playing with barely contained energy, and Mikey can’t look away. And Frank is LOOKING RIGHT AT HIM. And they are HAVING A MOMENT. And Mikey doesn’t notice, but Ray and Gerard are totally giving each other high fives.
Frank plays two more songs and then he’s done and coming over to Mikey and he is smirking and he is still really fucking hot. He’s all ‘hey’ and cracks a joke about Mikey breaking his guitar strings and Mikey is all *facepalm* “I am so sorry,” and Frank says “No man, I’m sorry. I can be an asshole sometimes.” And Mikey is all, “Well, my brother can be a freak sometimes. So no hard feelings” and Gerard says “Hello, I’m right here Mikey.” But Mikey isn’t really paying attention to Gerard and Ray anymore.
Mikey and Frank buy each other coffees, and before Frank leaves Mikey gives him a napkin with his number written on it, next to a picture of a little dog. Frank thinks he might be in love.
Pairings: Mikey/Frank, Gerard/Ray
Rating: PG
Word Count: ~2800
Summary: Mikey just wants to be able to draw a dog, dammit.
Notes: What can I say? Inspiration for this came from watching iCarly with my son, don't judge, my world is small. Anyway, it devolved into not!fic, but I'm sharing it thanks to cheerleading from
cincodemaygirl and alpheratz - they are the best, and all errors and ridiculousness are my own. Title inspired by Bob Ross, because the Joy of Painting is soothing and awesome.The first time Mikey walks by the flyer he doesn’t really read the words, it’s more just a bright yellow blur in his peripheral vision. It’s not interesting enough to distract him from the hot cup of coffee he’s sipping, eyes slitted in contentment. It had been a shit day, the rain made his hair fall limply into his face, his favorite boots got all waterlogged when he stepped into a puddle and he had been stuck working by himself most of the morning because Ryan was late to work again. That kid was such a fucking flake. Plus, Mikey’s glasses were smeared all to hell from hair product, and his boots made a really ridiculous squelching noise with every footstep. While he and Gerard might tease each other about their crippling caffeine addictions, Mikey firmly believes in the power of coffee. He closes his eyes and takes another sip.
The second time Mikey passes the flyer he stops to read it. Or he intends to at any rate. It is a much better day. He’s heading in to a closing shift at the bookstore, which means was able to sleep in. His favorite boots had dried out nicely and he’d even found some clean socks hiding under his bed, where Gerard must have missed them when he came by to scavenge laundry. Gee always swore he didn’t do this, but Mikey could easily count the number of times he came home to find Gerard in his last clean(ish) shirt. Clearly, when their mother had told them they were grown boys who needed to be more responsible for themselves, Gerard had interpreted this slightly differently than Mikey. Rather than wash his own clothes, he seemed content to siphon off clean things from Mikey’s closet and sneak some of his own things in with Mikey’s washing. Which was ridiculous, because Gerard lived in the basement. Next to the laundry room. But, Mikey prided himself on knowing how to pick his battles, and this wasn’t one he was going to win any day soon. His brother was crazy awesome at a lot of things, but not cleaning. In fairness, Mikey wasn’t particularly skilled at cleaning either, but it was one of the things he could do better than Gerard, and he felt compelled to rise to the challenge.
So, it’s a good day, and Mikey has plenty of time before work to stop and get a coffee, flirt a little with the cute barista he runs into at shows sometimes, and read the postings on the noticeboard near the shop’s door. The bright yellow flyer proclaiming “Art! Music!” had just caught his attention when his phone beeped at him. Attention diverted, Mikey fished his phone from his pocket to read Pete’s latest text: gabes a dick, wont lemme shave his bals. And while Mikey has not had anything to do with Gabe’s balls for quite some time, he lets Pete pull him into a far too involved, poorly spelled, badly punctuated conversation until he really has to get to work.
Later that evening, however, Mikey finds himself back at the coffeeshop, picking up a caffeine fix before meeting some friends for a show. He’s reading about a lost dog named Andrew and feeling kind of sad when another posting catches his eye. It’s the yellow one he started to read earlier, advertising art and music lessons at the Community Center. Mikey thinks about the bass he hasn’t picked up in months. His fingers itch a little thinking about it and he finds himself programming the phone number from the flyer into his phone. There was only so much he had been able to pick up from the videos and manuals he’d gotten from the bookstore when he’d first bought his bass. Maybe he’ll call in the morning...
So! Mikey wants to take a music class, and calls the number on the flyer, but they are all full! However, there are still spaces available in the art classes, but Gee is the artist in the Way family. Mikey just wishes he could draw a dog. He sucks so hard at Draw Something and even in school he always got kinda bummed at how Gerard would get all the art awards and recognition, and he didn’t and people always had something to say about it. Not that he didn’t think Gee deserved the honors, because he totally did. Gerard is AWESOME and TALENTED. But stupid jokes about Mikey’s lack of artistic ability, that kind of sucked. Mikey is good at lots of things! He had a very successful DVD pirating business! (until the FBI got involved). He can quote all the words to Back to the Future, and he knows where all the best parties are and the best bands and he can totally do laundry, unlike some basement dwellers he knows.
And seriously, Gerard is awesome, the best. He’s a great big brother and he’s tried to help. In his way. He used to always give Mikey like paints and a canvas and tell him to paint his feeeeeelings. :| Or he’ll play music and ask Mikey to draw what it makes him see. Mikey just wants to be able to draw damn dog. He does not want to paint his feeeeeelings. He can’t share his “artistic vision” like Gerard can, which Gerard refuses to believe! “Everyone has an artisitc vision! Look in to your soul, Mikey!”
But he thinks about those art classes. He bets they could teach him how to draw a dog. Hell, he’d be happy if he learned how to draw a cube. He tried drawing a cube of tofu for Pete in a game of Draw Something the other day and it sucked. He hates that fucking game.
So he signs up for the art class. Only, he feels like he has to keep it a secret from Gee. he’s pretty sure it would gut Gerard to know he was taking art classes from a ~stranger. And it’s not that he wants to undermine Gee, because he is the best big brother Mikey has ever had! He just thinks a different approach might work better, and he doesn’t want to hurt Gerard’s feelings.
It turns out the art class is very different from Gerard’s approach. The teacher “Hi, my name is Mr. Toro. Um, you can call me Ray” is young and totally chill and super encouraging. He wears t-shirts for heavy metal bands, and he doesn’t talk about feelings. He teaches them the color wheel. They talk about perspective and shading. He asks them to draw the guitar on the table in the front of their classroom, not ‘what’s in their soul.’ Mikey’s still not an artist or anything, but he learns how to draw a cube.
It’s awkward, because Gerard and Mikey live in each other’s pockets so much, and Mikey is no good at lying to Gee. So he looks shifty and says he’s going out and tries his best to sound plausible. But he’s pretty sure Gerard didn’t believe him when he said Dewees needed him to come over and help him shave his back. And once, he has to say that the pencils he bought for class were a gift for Gee. And Mikey can tell he must be acting weird about the whole subterfuge, because Gerard seems alternately worried and suspicious.
Meanwhile, it turns out art class is kind of fun! Mr. ‘call me Ray’ Toro, might look a little like Bob Ross (minus the beard), but he doesn’t try to get them to paint happy little trees. He’s full of praise for their efforts and the only time he ever even remotely lost his cool was when this other student Frank got paint in his hair. And Mikey doesn’t blame him for that one bit. Hair is important.
Frank is always doing shit like that. His still lifes always seem to include incredibly phallic and suggestive fruit and his landscapes have like bats and shit hiding in the trees. He always sets his easel next to Mikey’s, and seems intent on getting Mikey to crack a smile. Mikey finds it pretty easy to smile at Frank. He is little and fierce and funny. He has great taste in music and movies. And he is really hot. So, Mikey kind of likes this art class.
Until one night, after Mikey had to hedge around the truth and tell Gerard he was going to help Pete and Gabe change a lightbulb, the worst thing happens. Everyone is working on a still life of some instruments Ray has set up. It’s kind of tricky, and Mikey is trying really hard to stay focused. Frank is not really helping. Mikey is pretty sure Frank is including gremlins playing all of the instruments in his picture. It’s actually pretty cool and totally makes him think of Gerard. Which is when Gerard BURSTS INTO HIS ART CLASS!
Mikey wants to sink through the floor. Gerard stands there, arm extended, finger pointed accusingly at Mikey. His mouth works but he’s not saying anything that makes sense. Mikey sighs, looks up from the floor and mumbles ‘Hey, Gee.’
Gerard crosses the room to Mikey’s side, talking a mile of a minute, shock wearing off. And he’s all ‘what is this nonsense’ and ‘how could you’ and ‘I would have helped.’ Because Gerard is a GREAT big brother. It makes him sad that Mikey didn’t come to him. There are wounded puppy eyes. And Mikey is not immune to that shit. But he is also kind of dying of embarrassment, and he maybe hisses at Gerard a little bit to settle down. Frank is looking way too interested in this drama and Ray’s hair is looking slightly alarmed at the unhinged intruder in the classroom.
And suddenly, Gerard rounds on an unsuspecting Ray all “YOU! You are corrupting the purity of my baby brother’s vision with your rules and your assignments and, and your lines, where is your soul!? Art requires passion!!!!” and Ray takes a step back and is all “Yeah, see, I’m from the music department? But they were short a teacher for this intro class? Um, I play guitar and stuff? But they gave me a syllabus and so we’ve just been doing that.” Which does not placate Gerard AT ALL. Even though Mikey is kind of interested, because hey! Ray plays guitar and that is RAD. And explains some of the subject matter they’ve been drawing.
Anyway, Gerard has worked himself into full-on diva mode and is all “fine Mikey, if you want to take art classes from this ~impostor instead of your brother, an actual artist, you go right ahead” which is really a pretty shitty thing to say, to Mikey and to Ray. So, Mikey lets Gerard storm out and does not follow him. Things are AWKWARD to say the least.
Then Frank just starts cackling. And he’s all “dude, your brother is a freak.” And that might be true! But Mikey will not let anyone call Gerard names! Even hot guys he’s kind of been flirting with. And he might reach over and crumple up Frank’s picture. Which is pretty stupid, but it’s always been a super effective fighting strategy in his house, growing up with Gee. Frank just kind of gapes at him and Ray, who has been staring at the door since it slammed behind Gerard turns to Mikey with sad hair and a disappointed face. And Ray might not be an actual art teacher after all, but he is a really nice guy and he “runs a classroom where we respect and support each other Mikey.”
So, Mikey is asked to leave. And he is feeling super terrible about everything! He just wanted to learn how to draw a dog! And now, Gerard’s feelings are hurt. And Ray is disappointed in him. And he was totally going to ask Frank for his number tonight, and now Frank probably won’t even want to talk to him ever again because that was kind of a dick move, plus his brother is a freak. He’s not sure he’ll even get to SEE Frank again, since he was kicked out of class. Damn.
He winds up at an all-night diner, drinking shitty coffee and feeling sorry for himself and a little at a loss about how to make things right. Eventually, after the waitress starts giving him the stinkeye for not ordering anything else, he heads home.
He slinks down the basement stairs, intending to apologize to Gerard. He’s pretty sure Gerard will apologize to him too now that he’s had time to cool off. Because they are BROS and that’s what they do. BUT THEN, Mikey opens the door to Gerard’s room and sees Gerard MAKING OUT WITH MR. “call me Ray” TORO!
“Omigod Gee what the hell?!” and Mikey is maybe a little taken aback! This was not what he expected to walk in on! Gerard and Ray spring apart looking flushed and guilty. It turns out Ray knew Gerard from some class they had together a while back, and Ray has felt kind of bad about not being a ~real art teacher so he came to talk to Gee about taking over the class. Then Ray would have more time to do music lessons and such in his own department! He also felt pretty bad about kicking Mikey out of class, seeing as how there were some very extenuating circumstances there.
Which doesn’t really explain why Mikey walked in on them mid-liplock! But it seems Gerard’s talk about art and passion had led to Ray sharing his own feeeeeelings about making music. And apparently, that is a lot of passion that cannot be communicated in words only. Or something. Mikey really doesn’t want to know the details.
As Mikey turns to head up to his room to let Gerard and Ray resume their ~activities, Gerard calls to him “Hey Mikes, I saw some of your pictures. They were really good.” And Mikey knows that is kind of a stretch, but he also knows Gerard is a terrible liar, so he just says ‘Thanks, Gee. And thank you too, Ray.” Because he’s no artist, but he knows he really did make some progress.
And Mikey is pretty relieved to have things settled with Gerard, and he thinks Ray is coming out ahead in this situation, so won’t hold the whole kerfuffle against Mikey too much. Plus, he can totally, kind of, draw a dog now! So really, Gerard and Ray go on to be kind of sickeningly wonderful together, and Mikey draws a completely recognizable tree and he would count the whole art class thing a win. BUT, he kind of misses Frank. And there is a lot of sighing and some pining. And some angsty texting with Pete. It’s just that Frank was really kind of awesome and funny and he was always so full of energy and he seemed to really like Mikey! And Mikey never even got his number. :( Plus he acted really childish, crumpling up Frank’s picture, and what if Frank is actually a secret asshole who really does think his brother is a freak? Because that shit is not okay.
Then, one evening Ray drags Mikey out with him and Gerard to see one of his guitar students play at the local coffeeshop. Mikey doesn’t really pay attention to the details. He is not too keen to be a third wheel, but Ray has been really nice to him and Mikey does like coffee. So Mikey gets a big ass cup of coffee and kind of hunches in the corner and tries to participate in the conversation because Ray is really cool and is gonna help him with his bass, and Gerard is so super happy and they are really going to make Mikey puke with how great they are together.
Then, while Mikey is distracted and reading the flyers on the noticeboard by the door, someone taps on the microphone they’ve set up on the little impromptu stage. And it’s Frank! With his guitar! And he looks beautiful and is playing with barely contained energy, and Mikey can’t look away. And Frank is LOOKING RIGHT AT HIM. And they are HAVING A MOMENT. And Mikey doesn’t notice, but Ray and Gerard are totally giving each other high fives.
Frank plays two more songs and then he’s done and coming over to Mikey and he is smirking and he is still really fucking hot. He’s all ‘hey’ and cracks a joke about Mikey breaking his guitar strings and Mikey is all *facepalm* “I am so sorry,” and Frank says “No man, I’m sorry. I can be an asshole sometimes.” And Mikey is all, “Well, my brother can be a freak sometimes. So no hard feelings” and Gerard says “Hello, I’m right here Mikey.” But Mikey isn’t really paying attention to Gerard and Ray anymore.
Mikey and Frank buy each other coffees, and before Frank leaves Mikey gives him a napkin with his number written on it, next to a picture of a little dog. Frank thinks he might be in love.