Calibrations

New Jersey 2002

To nobody's surprise but Frank's, My Chemical Romance lost money on the T-shirts. Frank sold a couple at their shows, and the band members' parents and siblings bought a few, but it wasn't enough to break even, let alone make a profit. They had fun making and selling them though, and before long, Frank was like a fifth member of the band. Gerard sang, Ray played the guitar, Mikey played the bass, Matt played the drums, and Frank did everything else, from booking shows and practice spaces for them to carrying their gear to selling their merch.

The one thing that Frank couldn't do was get them a record deal, but Mikey took care of that. He had worked at Eyeball Records for a while, and he somehow managed to convince his boss that MCR would be the next big thing. Eyeball signed them right away, and now, the only thing left to do was to record their first album.

"Hey, that means we're labelmates now!" Frank exclaimed when Gerard told him the good news.

"Yeah, I guess so," Gerard said. He didn't admit that the real reason he'd agreed to sign to Eyeball was because Pencey Prep was on that label too.

Geoff had agreed to produce the album, but they had to wait to record until after the Thursday tour, so for now, My Chemical Romance was stuck in New Jersey, playing basement shows while they waited for their producer to come home. Gerard didn't mind: he'd grown to like performing live. He sang and screamed and just went wild at every concert, and over time, he came to love the roar of the crowd instead of being afraid of it.

Ray complained that he was playing to the merch table instead of blasting it to the back row, which was probably true. He always found himself stealing glances at Frank, but who could blame him? Not only was he the prettiest boy in the room, but he was also their biggest fan. If anyone deserved their own personal My Chemical Romance show, it was Frank.

It wasn't all fun and games though. Other than the band being practically bankrupt, their producer being on tour, and Gerard being way too afraid to tell Frank how he really felt about him, there was also the fact that Matt's car was too small for all of their equipment. It always took the band members forever to stuff all of their instruments, amps, and unsold T-shirts in the car, and once they were done, there was barely enough room for Matt to squeeze himself into the driver's seat.

As Frank and Gerard packed up the merch table one day, Matt ran over to tell them that his car wouldn't start. "I'm pretty sure it's just because of the cold, but what are we going to do about all of our stuff?" he asked.

"We could use Ray's car," Gerard suggested.

"We'd have to make two trips," Matt said.

"You know, you guys could use Pencey Prep's van," Frank said.

"Wait, really?" Gerard said. "You'd do that for us?"

"Yeah, it's really no big deal," Frank said. "My Chemical Romance is my favorite band." He suddenly turned toward Gerard and smiled. "And it doesn't hurt that they have a very handsome lead singer."

Gerard turned away, blushing. He couldn't believe what he had just heard. Maybe Frank was just making a joke, but he wanted to think that he was serious, that he actually liked him. If that was true, then he couldn't believe his luck.

He didn't have time to reply before Frank said, "Anyways, I'll go get the van. I'll be back soon."

Frank left the venue, Matt ran off to talk to one of his friends, and suddenly, Gerard was alone again. He paced around the room, wishing that he had the nerve to say something to Frank. He wanted to tell him how he felt as soon as he came back. He wanted action and decision, but at the same time, he was terrified of what Frank might think of him if he knew how many hours he had spent dreaming of his hazel eyes, his adorable smile, and his gorgeous tattoos.