(no subject)
One of the good things about being internetless for a few days is that I actually sat down and wrote!
Gerard's waiting for Ray when he gets home that night, leaning against the wall next to his door with a bag over one shoulder. He's holding something in his hand, and when Ray gets close enough, Gerard holds it up for him to see. It's a DVD case, and Ray honestly doesn't know how to react.
Ray burst out laughing when he sees it. “That's. I don't even. Cheerleaders?”
Gerard laughs, and it's a nice sound to hear. Clear and open, even though its softened by exhaustion. “Hey, it's motivational.”
“It's aimed at teenage girls, Gerard.”
“Motivational!” Gerard reiterates. “Besides, I figured it couldn't hurt to watch it.” Gerard's mouth pulls up into a tired smile. “Who knows, we might learn something.”
Ray wants to point out that cheerleading and marching band are a little different, pretty much in every conceivable way, but then actually stops to think about it for a moment. He usually does, when he's dealing with Gerard.
It's been a long, draining week, and he could use some time to not think. Watching movies with a friend who will undoubtedly nitpick wardrobe and make-up choices among other things Ray really doesn't care about might not be completely terrible.
It's also possible that they could learn something, and besides.
Gerard's looking at him hopefully, giving him these ridiculously huge puppy-dog eyes and Ray caves.
“You do realize it's not actually a documentary, right?”
“I think I got that, yes.” Gerard says, and Ray can see him bouncing a little on his feet from the corner of his eye.
“Wow. You totally have a thing for Kirsten Dunst, don't you?”
Gerard smiles cheerfully and flips Ray off as he brushes past him and sets his bag by the couch. He stretches his arms out and makes old man noises as his spine pops and cracks and stumbles towards the kitchen. “Tell me you have coffee.”
Ray honestly has no idea if he has coffee or not. He hasn't gone grocery shopping for himself in a while, and he's been living off Starbucks and the shitty break room coffee at school in between everything else.
“Uh - “
“Oh my god, Ray.” Gerard calls from the kitchen, opening and closing cabinet doors. There's a horrified gasp when Ray hears the refrigerator door open. “Do you even live here anymore?”
Ray's trying to work up a good sense of indignation or righteous anger or something like that because Gerard of all people does not have the right to say shit like that. Like he knows exactly what Ray's thinking, Gerard pops his head out of the kitchen and waves an empty container of coffee at him.
“Shut up.” Gerard points at the couch. “Sit down and put the movie in. I've got this covered.”
It isn't exactly horror, but something uncomfortably close to it that has Ray rushing towards his kitchen, visions of fire and sparking appliances springing to mind with frightening clarity. “No!”
Gerard doesn't look amused. “Seriously, shut up. I think I know how to work a phone.”
Ray stares blankly at him and Gerard holds up a handful of flyers from local takeout places. Ray's feels absolutely no shame in admitting that he knows all of the numbers by heart or that he knows the names of each and every delivery guy.
“You're not going to do any cooking yourself?” Normally Ray would feel bad for being a dick about it, but he likes his appliances. Loves the way they don't spontaneously burst into flame when he uses them or explode or do anything they're not designed to do. He just wishes his friends would learn to keep their damn hands to themselves.
“Jesus Christ, Ray. It was just that one time, and Mikey already apologized for it a dozen times already.”
Ray stares at Gerard, because really.
Gerard rolls his eyes and turns back to the counter, setting the flyers down and flipping through them until he finds one for a pizza place a few blocks away. “You want breadsticks or what?”
“I... Yeah. Breadsticks sound good.”
Gerard nods and peers at the menu, glancing up when Ray just stands there watching him. “What?”
“Nothing. Just, you know.” Ray flaps his hands in a vague gesture meant to encompass the takeout flyers, stupid teen movies, and Gerard in general. He doesn't know a lot of people who would actually take him on an offer to become a color guard instructor without prior experience or anything resembling interest, blackmail material or not.
After another minute of useless flailing Ray drops his arms to his sides, feeling like an even bigger dork than usual because he can't seem to find a way to actually thank Gerard. “I'm gonna.” Ray points towards the living room. “Go. Now.”
Wings!
Wherein Gerard and Mikey take over their father's airline business, Frank and Bob do mechanic-things, Joe runs the diner across the street, Andy and Patrick work in the tower (Andy's training Patrick), Ray is maybe Antonio! He has a little cab business and actually likes people unlike most of his friends working at the airport! Brian (of course) is like the director/manager of the tiny, tiny little airport. Joe has these college kids he has wait tables and whatever else he trusts them not to kill themselves doing. The get paid in tips and whatever food Joe has to get rid of before it spoils at the end of the day. There's always enough for the three of them, and sometimes Joe or Jon messes up people's orders, so it's either give it to Ryan, Spencer, and Brendon or throw it out, you know?
Pete comes along as this pretentious writer who keeps talking about how he's writing the Great American Novel about Truck Stop America (only with planes or something). He makes the mistake of trying to dine and dash at Joe's place, and falls asleep in the terminal across the street where Gerard and Bob find him. They drag him back over to Joe's and Gerard asks Joe what he's going to do with Pete after he finishes working off his meal by washing dishes. Joe shrugs and says that it's tough running the place now that it's just him working there.
Gerard's all "Yeah, I know how it is." While Spencer and the others go around waiting on customers and Jon's in the back working the grill. "It's got to suck keeping this place going by yourself."
Joe just smiles.
A few months down the road Gerard notices that he and Pete have a lot in common, and he brings Pete along on one of his routine flights because Mikey's balancing the books or something, and Pete's all freaked out that Gerard's just trying to get Pete alone so he can shove out of the plane over the water for messing around with Mikey that one time.
Gerard's all "HAHAHAHA. No. If I wanted to kill you? You'd know. HAHAHA. :D" And they just fly in silence, but after a few more flights Pete brings his notebook along and starts writing again. Pete never hides what he's writing from Gerard, but Gerard never looks because he gets it.
And then. One day they catch Patrick working the tower and Pete is all "WHO IS THAT?"
Gerard's all "Er. Patrick? Short guy, wears hats? You've probably seen him around?"
But no! No Pete has most certainly NOT seen this angel-voiced little dude around!
Pete starts working at Joe's diner more and more because he wants to stay close to Patrick and he maybe buys a little neon sign that they put up out front that cracks him up because it says "Eat At Joe's." He totally loses it, though, when some of the letters burn out and it just reads "Eat Joe" for almost a solid month before Brian has had ENOUGH and makes them fix it.
Pete and Patrick quickly become the Love Story Of An Age at the airport because Pete is serious about wooing him and Patrick is forever running away form the weird, slightly shady guy who declares his love for him by standing on the tarmac in his underwear holding a boombox over his head. (Pete maybe fell asleep partway through that movie, but he got the gist.)
Meanwhile, Gerard and Frank are dancing around one another because they used to be a Thing, but Gerard had a problem with alcohol/breakdown at one point early on after he and Mikey took over for their dad and things weren't going so great, and even though Frank is the best mechanic ever, THE ONE THING HE COULD NEVER FIX WAS THE TWO OF THEM.
*cue bad '80s music*
And then...shenanigans!
Pete gets his book published, and it's a bestseller! Alicia comes looking for him because everyone thought he was dead in a ditch somewhere after he started traveling (Pete was maybe trying to kill himself slowly on his Journey of Discovery when he found himself wolfing down Joe's food and passing out in the airport terminal) so she kicks Pete in the shin and hands over Hemmy. Pete's other Ex gave Hemmy to Alicia because she didn't want anything to do with Pete anymore, not even little Hemmy. Patrick's in a corner watching this touching (Pete's shins will never be the same) reunion and trying to pretend he's not jealous, only Alicia sees him and realizes that Patrick is the dude in Pete's book and marches over and hugs him and then slips him the number for a support group because seriously, PETE, right?
Mikey and Alicia meet and it's Love At First Sight, and they go on to torment their many pets with atrocious clothing choices they show the entire internet. Ray and Bob maybe go off and commiserate over their asshole friends and maybe accidentally kiss. Or something. Frank and Gerard maybe get locked into a storage room somewhere along the way and end up kissing and doing other things that don't necessarily require clothes.
Brian invests heavily in Febreeze and Aspirin, and they all live happily ever after.
The End.
This is what happens when I don't have access to the internet for my regular fix.
Gerard's waiting for Ray when he gets home that night, leaning against the wall next to his door with a bag over one shoulder. He's holding something in his hand, and when Ray gets close enough, Gerard holds it up for him to see. It's a DVD case, and Ray honestly doesn't know how to react.
Ray burst out laughing when he sees it. “That's. I don't even. Cheerleaders?”
Gerard laughs, and it's a nice sound to hear. Clear and open, even though its softened by exhaustion. “Hey, it's motivational.”
“It's aimed at teenage girls, Gerard.”
“Motivational!” Gerard reiterates. “Besides, I figured it couldn't hurt to watch it.” Gerard's mouth pulls up into a tired smile. “Who knows, we might learn something.”
Ray wants to point out that cheerleading and marching band are a little different, pretty much in every conceivable way, but then actually stops to think about it for a moment. He usually does, when he's dealing with Gerard.
It's been a long, draining week, and he could use some time to not think. Watching movies with a friend who will undoubtedly nitpick wardrobe and make-up choices among other things Ray really doesn't care about might not be completely terrible.
It's also possible that they could learn something, and besides.
Gerard's looking at him hopefully, giving him these ridiculously huge puppy-dog eyes and Ray caves.
“You do realize it's not actually a documentary, right?”
“I think I got that, yes.” Gerard says, and Ray can see him bouncing a little on his feet from the corner of his eye.
“Wow. You totally have a thing for Kirsten Dunst, don't you?”
Gerard smiles cheerfully and flips Ray off as he brushes past him and sets his bag by the couch. He stretches his arms out and makes old man noises as his spine pops and cracks and stumbles towards the kitchen. “Tell me you have coffee.”
Ray honestly has no idea if he has coffee or not. He hasn't gone grocery shopping for himself in a while, and he's been living off Starbucks and the shitty break room coffee at school in between everything else.
“Uh - “
“Oh my god, Ray.” Gerard calls from the kitchen, opening and closing cabinet doors. There's a horrified gasp when Ray hears the refrigerator door open. “Do you even live here anymore?”
Ray's trying to work up a good sense of indignation or righteous anger or something like that because Gerard of all people does not have the right to say shit like that. Like he knows exactly what Ray's thinking, Gerard pops his head out of the kitchen and waves an empty container of coffee at him.
“Shut up.” Gerard points at the couch. “Sit down and put the movie in. I've got this covered.”
It isn't exactly horror, but something uncomfortably close to it that has Ray rushing towards his kitchen, visions of fire and sparking appliances springing to mind with frightening clarity. “No!”
Gerard doesn't look amused. “Seriously, shut up. I think I know how to work a phone.”
Ray stares blankly at him and Gerard holds up a handful of flyers from local takeout places. Ray's feels absolutely no shame in admitting that he knows all of the numbers by heart or that he knows the names of each and every delivery guy.
“You're not going to do any cooking yourself?” Normally Ray would feel bad for being a dick about it, but he likes his appliances. Loves the way they don't spontaneously burst into flame when he uses them or explode or do anything they're not designed to do. He just wishes his friends would learn to keep their damn hands to themselves.
“Jesus Christ, Ray. It was just that one time, and Mikey already apologized for it a dozen times already.”
Ray stares at Gerard, because really.
Gerard rolls his eyes and turns back to the counter, setting the flyers down and flipping through them until he finds one for a pizza place a few blocks away. “You want breadsticks or what?”
“I... Yeah. Breadsticks sound good.”
Gerard nods and peers at the menu, glancing up when Ray just stands there watching him. “What?”
“Nothing. Just, you know.” Ray flaps his hands in a vague gesture meant to encompass the takeout flyers, stupid teen movies, and Gerard in general. He doesn't know a lot of people who would actually take him on an offer to become a color guard instructor without prior experience or anything resembling interest, blackmail material or not.
After another minute of useless flailing Ray drops his arms to his sides, feeling like an even bigger dork than usual because he can't seem to find a way to actually thank Gerard. “I'm gonna.” Ray points towards the living room. “Go. Now.”
Wings!
Wherein Gerard and Mikey take over their father's airline business, Frank and Bob do mechanic-things, Joe runs the diner across the street, Andy and Patrick work in the tower (Andy's training Patrick), Ray is maybe Antonio! He has a little cab business and actually likes people unlike most of his friends working at the airport! Brian (of course) is like the director/manager of the tiny, tiny little airport. Joe has these college kids he has wait tables and whatever else he trusts them not to kill themselves doing. The get paid in tips and whatever food Joe has to get rid of before it spoils at the end of the day. There's always enough for the three of them, and sometimes Joe or Jon messes up people's orders, so it's either give it to Ryan, Spencer, and Brendon or throw it out, you know?
Pete comes along as this pretentious writer who keeps talking about how he's writing the Great American Novel about Truck Stop America (only with planes or something). He makes the mistake of trying to dine and dash at Joe's place, and falls asleep in the terminal across the street where Gerard and Bob find him. They drag him back over to Joe's and Gerard asks Joe what he's going to do with Pete after he finishes working off his meal by washing dishes. Joe shrugs and says that it's tough running the place now that it's just him working there.
Gerard's all "Yeah, I know how it is." While Spencer and the others go around waiting on customers and Jon's in the back working the grill. "It's got to suck keeping this place going by yourself."
Joe just smiles.
A few months down the road Gerard notices that he and Pete have a lot in common, and he brings Pete along on one of his routine flights because Mikey's balancing the books or something, and Pete's all freaked out that Gerard's just trying to get Pete alone so he can shove out of the plane over the water for messing around with Mikey that one time.
Gerard's all "HAHAHAHA. No. If I wanted to kill you? You'd know. HAHAHA. :D" And they just fly in silence, but after a few more flights Pete brings his notebook along and starts writing again. Pete never hides what he's writing from Gerard, but Gerard never looks because he gets it.
And then. One day they catch Patrick working the tower and Pete is all "WHO IS THAT?"
Gerard's all "Er. Patrick? Short guy, wears hats? You've probably seen him around?"
But no! No Pete has most certainly NOT seen this angel-voiced little dude around!
Pete starts working at Joe's diner more and more because he wants to stay close to Patrick and he maybe buys a little neon sign that they put up out front that cracks him up because it says "Eat At Joe's." He totally loses it, though, when some of the letters burn out and it just reads "Eat Joe" for almost a solid month before Brian has had ENOUGH and makes them fix it.
Pete and Patrick quickly become the Love Story Of An Age at the airport because Pete is serious about wooing him and Patrick is forever running away form the weird, slightly shady guy who declares his love for him by standing on the tarmac in his underwear holding a boombox over his head. (Pete maybe fell asleep partway through that movie, but he got the gist.)
Meanwhile, Gerard and Frank are dancing around one another because they used to be a Thing, but Gerard had a problem with alcohol/breakdown at one point early on after he and Mikey took over for their dad and things weren't going so great, and even though Frank is the best mechanic ever, THE ONE THING HE COULD NEVER FIX WAS THE TWO OF THEM.
*cue bad '80s music*
And then...shenanigans!
Pete gets his book published, and it's a bestseller! Alicia comes looking for him because everyone thought he was dead in a ditch somewhere after he started traveling (Pete was maybe trying to kill himself slowly on his Journey of Discovery when he found himself wolfing down Joe's food and passing out in the airport terminal) so she kicks Pete in the shin and hands over Hemmy. Pete's other Ex gave Hemmy to Alicia because she didn't want anything to do with Pete anymore, not even little Hemmy. Patrick's in a corner watching this touching (Pete's shins will never be the same) reunion and trying to pretend he's not jealous, only Alicia sees him and realizes that Patrick is the dude in Pete's book and marches over and hugs him and then slips him the number for a support group because seriously, PETE, right?
Mikey and Alicia meet and it's Love At First Sight, and they go on to torment their many pets with atrocious clothing choices they show the entire internet. Ray and Bob maybe go off and commiserate over their asshole friends and maybe accidentally kiss. Or something. Frank and Gerard maybe get locked into a storage room somewhere along the way and end up kissing and doing other things that don't necessarily require clothes.
Brian invests heavily in Febreeze and Aspirin, and they all live happily ever after.
The End.
This is what happens when I don't have access to the internet for my regular fix.