The Chasing of Moons

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"So," Frank hears Ray's voice before he sees him, and he's curious about the odd tone. Like he's mad but not mad, but also still kind of mad.

"Yes?" Frank asks.

"I hear that someone asked Gerard Way out this weekend. And I wasn't invited."

"He said you were at Kmart," Frank replies.

"Well I was, but I would have liked to have been invited anyway," Ray says, and Frank doesn't know how to respond to that.

Pete does it for him, saying through a mouth full of potato chips, "none of us actually witnessed the actual asking out of him."

"Dude," Brendon says, looking at Pete like he's a small child, "say it, don't spray it."

"Are you actually nine?" Frank asks him.

"You're a jerk and I hate you," Brendon says.

"Fine," Frank says, "if you hate me then go sit on the other side of the table, that way Gerard can sit next to me."

"You asshole," Brendon says, squinting his eyes at Frank like he's thinking about the best way to dispose of a body, but he shoves his food to the other side of the table and walks around it to sit next to Pete who makes a face at him. There was once a time when Frank all but forbade the two of them to sit next to, or across from each other, because they kicked each other so much under the table that they started to have bruises up and down their legs, but not the good kind. The good kind being the ones that do not develop through force, but rather through other means that may or may not include Gerard in Frank's fantasy.

Frank turns to Ray and he says, "Don't look at me, I'm not moving."

"I didn't ask you to," Frank says, "I only need the one spot, and Pete doesn't care about Brendon as long as he gets to sit next to Mikey."

"Why should I care if I sit next to Mikey?" Pete asks, looking absolutely puzzled.

"Dude, do you really think we're that stupid?" Brendon asks him.

"What do you mean?" Pete questions.

"Okay, seriously, you're not that oblivious to your own thoughts," Brendon says, somehow arguing with Pete, when there's really not a good reason to. Frank thinks he should just leave it alone, leave Pete and Mikey to their own devices, maybe giving them a few shoves in the right direction here and there, but their relationship seems to be a lot more natural and unprotested than Frank's and Gerard's. At least with those two, one of them isn't pretending to hate the others guts. But Frank did still manage to ask Gerard out, and that's more than either of those two have managed, so it's really anyone's guess as to who would be categorically winning if this were a competition.

"Pete, are you under the illusion that we don't know you're in love with Mikey?"

Pete's eyes widen, similar to the way a frogs eyes widen, but also similar to the way a cartoon character's eyes widen, except instead of little heart eyes, he's got pupils the size of a small moose, almost completely devoid of the already extremely deep brown, nearly black color.

"What?"

"Oh, he's going to deny it," Brendon says, as if this is the most unamusing thing in the world to him.

"Deny what?"

"That you're in love with Mikey."

"I don't even," Pete says, "what is...? Who is Mikey? I don't know what you're talking about. I'm just, like, I don't even know what the words coming out of your mouth mean. I'm totally like, whoever you think I'm in love with you're wrong, because I don't even, I'm just, and, like, and yeah. But I don't even know anyone named Mikey. Who's Mikey? What are you talking about. But- so- and- I'm- no- but- like- and- there's- what- me... what?"