𝑎𝑛𝑛𝑖𝑒

When you pulled up to the house, you have to admit that it was bigger than you expected.

After walking up awkwardly to the giant double doors, you weren’t quite sure where the door bell was, but thankfully you were saved when Roe opened them.

“Hey! You made it!” He said giving you a firm hug before taking your hand and stepping to the side to lead you in.

“This doesn’t seem like ‘just a few people’, are you sure your dad is okay with this?”

“Ahh, what he doesn’t know won’t hurt him.” He said with a wink. “Won’t be back till tomorrow night anyways.”

He kept holding your hand as he led you to the kitchen, all the while you were just trying to take in your surroundings. Everything was immaculate, with tons of music memorabilia on the walls.

Once you reached the kitchen, he let go of you, handing you a cup and giving you a quick kiss on the cheek.

“I’ll be right back, alright? Help yourself to whatever party poison you want. My dad doesn’t drink, so we had to grab shit from the store. Not too many options, but you should be able to find something you like”.

“Yeah, okay, thank’s Roe”. You blushed as he hurried into the living room that was crowded by people. Going to parties really wasn’t your thing, but you had made a promise to yourself to get out of your box more this last year, and having the alcohol surely helped.

You looked around seeing your options, deciding to go with your usual - a tequila sunrise. You didn’t see any shot glasses out, so you just poured what you thought was right, wincing once you realized how strong you had made it.

After loitering in the kitchen for a few moments, you wandered your way out to the living room hoping to find anyone you knew. Despite not finding any familiar faces (let’s blame your lack of going out), you did notice things you knew on the walls. A framed album, some signed comics, and lots of old video game posters. You were shocked at how quickly your drink was hitting you, and jumped when you felt two arms wrap around your waist. Turning quickly, you giggled a little when you realized it was Roe.

“Seeing anything you like?”

“Yeah, actually. I love all these games. I kind of grew up playing them cause of my sister.”

“Oh, cool. My dad’s really into old video games. He kind of collects them now, I guess. We used to play them together a lot when I was little.” Roe looked over your flushed face, stopping for a second at your lips before meeting your eyes again.

“So, uh, pretty much everyone’s outside smoking right now. Did you want to join them, or…?”

“Yeah, we can go out. I made my drink too strong, I wouldn’t mind fresh air and a little high to calm me down.” Smiling at you, he took your hand again, leading you outside to the patio.

“You have a pool?! How come you’ve never mentioned that?!” You shoved his shoulder playfully, looking over at your peers who had decided to undress and take advantage of the opportunity in front of them.

“I guess I never thought about it. Kind of ‘out of sight, out of mind’ thing, you know?”

“Oh yeah, I’m sure. You totally haven’t spent all that time sweating over your final and thought, ‘I’m gonna go for a swim to relax a bit after class’”.

“Hey, maybe I was just waiting for the right time to tell you about it. I don’t really bring people around here too much. It’s a lot to explain sometimes.”

You weren’t sure how much time had passed, finishing your fourth drink about a half hour ago. Your nerves had definitely calmed down now as you looked over at him and passed the joint, taking in his features. His somehow bright brown eyes, dark hair just barely touching his shoulders, and slightly upturned nose. If you looked really close you could see a faint brushing of freckles spreading across it. You couldn’t help but think that maybe you should ask him to model for your next piece, just so you could capture him like this. Your high had finally settled in when you realized he was staring back. With a quick wink, he put the joint out and moved to grab your hand again.

“Come with me, I want to show you something.”

You followed him, hand still in his, up the large staircase back by the front door. Most of the party goers had gone home now, maybe only 10 people left. As you trudged up the stairs, your fuzzy head couldn’t help but take note of all the old photos on the wall. It was hard to tell what were pictures of him and what were ones of his dad. He really looked just like him, greasy hair and all. It popped in your head for just a moment that despite never meeting the man, you recognized him more than you should.

The thought escaped your mind as you reached the top of the staircase, taking a left down the hall.

“So that’s the bathroom, that’s my dad’s room, that’s my room, and this…”

He opened the door slowly, letting you walk into a completely dark studio. The light from the moon was the only thing allowing you to see, but it was more than enough. The room was beautiful, with large windows overlooking the hills that you couldn’t see from the ground level. Along every wall were pinned, flat canvases that were partially done. The floor had at least five easels spread out across it, and buckets of different media to choose from scattered between them. There were chalks, pastels, paint of every kind and colour - all of it looking like it came straight from your dreams. It truly was one of the greatest things you’d ever seen,with every tool imaginable available to use for someone to create.

“This is my dad’s studio… I thought you’d appreciate it.”

As you walked around the room, you took note of the small couch tucked in one corner, with a mountain of sketchbooks strewn across the table. You reached down, picking one up and began to flip through it, moving closer to the window on the far side of the room for a little more light. In your inebriated state, you couldn’t place where you’d seen some of these sketches before, but the familiarity of what you were looking at again settled into your bones.

Still searching through your mind for an answer of “why”, you feel warm arms begin to wrap around your waist from behind, and Roe’s breath on the side of your neck. You set the sketch pad down on the window sill before turning to look at him. Your breath catches as the moonlight lights his face in a way you can only think of as beautifully haunting. It perfectly accentuates his sharp features, and you melt into his grasp. As he moves one hand up to cup your jaw, you wrap your arms around his neck. He leans in slightly, looking into your eyes for permission to move his lips closer to yours. With a small nod, your lips finally collide. With your joint intoxication, it isn’t long before the kiss turns messy. Your hands are tangled in the hair at the nape of his neck and he trails his up your sides, slipping under your shirt. A small moan leaves your throat as he cups your bare chest under your shirt, only for you to break away and pull it off yourself.

“God you’re beautiful.” He groans out, starting to walk you backward towards the couch, knocking into a small cart of paints next to one of the easels. Too intertwined in the heat of each other to care, you continued to move toward the couch - only stopped by the flick of the lightswitch.

“What the fuck is going on?!” Head turning in shock, you look towards the doorway. It takes longer than it should for you to register what’s going on, as Roe rushes to stand in front of your bare frame.

“Dad, what the fuck?! You weren’t supposed to be home until tomorrow?”

You look over Roe’s shoulder in cross faded awe as you take in the man in front of you. All at once, the familiarity of everything comes crashing in. You’d know that voice and face anywhere, so why couldn’t you place it before? Why had you never seen the similarities in them? You’re in Gerard Way’s house for a party he didn’t know about or agree too. You were just making out with Gerard Way’s son - hald naked - in his fucking HOME STUDIO.

You look between Gerard and Roe as your brain continues to try to catch up, praying that their fighting will give you a small chance to escape with at least a little bit of dignity. You quickly raise your hands to cover yourself, moving to find your shirt and putting it back on while babbling about how sorry you are under their yelling.

“Are you fucking kidding me Roe?! You throw a party in my house AND bring someone into the one place that’s fucking off limits on top of it?!”

Realizing that this may be your opportunity to leave semi-unnoticed, you beeline to the door, only to be stopped by a strong hand on your shoulder.

“You’re not going anywhere sweetheart. Sit down over there while I handle my son.” You freeze, looking again between the two before nodding and silently going to sit at the couch you just moments ago were trying to get to anyway. You watch as Gerard grabs his son by his shirt collar.

“Come on, you’re gonna go tell whoever is left here of your friend’s that the parties fucking over. Then you’re going to wait in your room for me so we can talk about what the hell you were thinking.”

“Dad, come on, don’t make me leave her -”

“No. Go.”

Gerard turns to you, shoving his son out the door while pointing at the tipped over cart in the middle of the floor, your eyes following where he directed.

“You - stay right there. I’ll be back to talk to you about respecting people’s property and the damage you just did.”

Looking at the tipped over cart, you see how much of a mess you two had actually made. Not only did you tip over all the supplies in the cart, but there must have been an open pot of paint on it. You put your head in your hands, peering through your fingers at the black paint all over the once clean floor as well as what was a half finished painting. Noticing a roll of paper towel on the floor nearby, you get up with a huff.

“I guess it’s the least I can do…” You mumble to yourself as you begin to start cleaning, sobering up fairly quick due to the circumstances.

“This is so fucking embarrassing. Literally the worst fucking day of my life.”

Kneeling down, you begin to wipe the paint. To make everything worse, you realize that the paint isn’t acrylic but in fact oil paint. Tears began to well as the mess spread, sticking to everything it touched, making its way steadily up your wrists and under your nail beds . No matter how hard you wiped, it just wouldn’t come off, leaving traces of you in its wake. You straightened up when you heard the door click open, Gerard standing in the frame.

“I-I’m so sorry Mr. Way. It was dark and I couldn’t see where I was going. I didn’t even k-know this was your house. I know Roe from school and I-”

“You can call me Gerard.”

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