Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

- geewhiz has added moikey , morethanafro , and zoid to a bunch of hets being het -

moikey : g why

geewhiz : u need friendship mikes u are about to high school

gwwhiz : it is a dangerous land

morethanafro : esp if you’re not a het like gerard

geewhiz : excuse u ray i am the most het

moikey : do not lie to our mother like that

geewhiz : i will do what i want also where’s lynz

morethanafro : you killed her gee

geewhiz : but i’m in love with her why would i do that

geewhiz : (see mikey i’m a het)

moikey : blocked and reported

morethanafro : both of you are children

zoid : duh that’s why u r the mom friend

morethanafro : fuck

morethanafro : i’m too young for motherhood

moikey : then learn how to keep it in your pants and stop birthing us

geewhiz : don’t be a dick mikey

moikey : i cannot be a dick gerard i do not have a dick

moikey : where is my dick gerard who has it

zoid : i think she’s ready for high school

morethanafro : MIKEY IS TWELVE STOP PUSHING HER TO BE AN ADULT

Mikey and Gee both looked up from their phones. The two of them were in Gee’s room, on xer bed. Mikey bit at their nails. They knew that Gee had started the chat so that xe and Mikey could both come out to their friends. Gee was non-binary, and Mikey was agender. Both siblings figured that Lindsey and Ray would be accepting, since Lindsey was a lesbian and Ray was bisexual. Mikey and Gee weren’t straight, either, but Mikey knew that there were gay people out there who didn’t like trans people, or who thought that there were only two genders.

They were nervous. “Gee, I don’t know if I can do it.”

“Then we don’t have to.” Xe said. “If you’re not ready to come out, then we don’t have to come out.”

“No, I’m ready,” Mikey said, shaking their head, their stringy, shoulder-length hair falling into their face. “I just don’t think I can send the actual text saying that we’re both trans, you know? What if they get angry like Mom and Dad did? I don’t want to start crying again.”

“Lindsey and Ray won’t get mad. They’re both good people.” Gee said. Xe sat up, swinging their pale legs around. Over the summer, Gee had developed a weird obsession with short shorts. Mikey wasn’t sure how xer parents hadn’t noticed it yet, but Gee had been sneaking things past the parents for years. Xe probably knew what they were doing. Xe patted the seat next to xem on the bed. “If you want, you can come sit by me. That way, if either of them do take it badly, you’ll already be over here for me to hug.”

Mikey nodded. They got up and came over, sitting down next to their older sibling and resting their chin on xer shoulder. “Okay. I’m ready. Send the text.”

geewhiz : so we gotta tell you two something

zoid : omg are you pregnant

geewhiz : friendship terminated

geewhiz : no i’m not pregnant i’m trans

morethanafro : really?

geewhiz : yeah, so’s mikey. i use xe/xer or she/her and mikey uses they/them

zoid : cool

zoid : sorry for saying u were pregnant also do u guys have a gender or???

morethanafro : you don’t need to tell us everything, btw

zoid : yeah if we get too personal you can smack us through the internet or whatever

Gee looked over xer shoulder at Mikey. “Do you want to go into details with them?”

“Yeah.” Mikey said, nodding against Gee’s shoulder. “I trust Ray and Lindsey. We’ve known them since forever.”

geewhiz : what do u want to know

morethanafro : when did you and mikey find out

morethanafro : like how did u know

moikey : gee knew first. xe came out to me like a year ago and then i started thinking about gender n stuff and asked them a fuckload of questions and basically realised that my gender is no

geewhiz : idk how i knew but i think when puberty hit i got really jealous of all my more feminine friends b/c they all got really pretty and i was like “why am i not a pretty girl”

geewhiz : except i don’t actually want to be a girl girl u kno

geewhiz : i just wanna be all the genders. in like a feminine way

zoid : so do you guys want/need new clothes or is this going to be between the 4 of us???

moikey : our parents didn’t take it well so we can’t be out at home

moikey : gee has a plan for school tho

moikey : gee share ur plan

Gee flicked Mikey’s forehead, missing their glasses. “You fucking nerd, we are in the same room.”

“Okay, and?” Mikey said. “You still need to share your plan.”

“Fine.” Gee said.

geewhiz : basically me and mikey are gonna go school shopping next week for like new clothes and books and shit and buy whatever we want regardless of whether it’s “boy” or “girl” clothes

geewhiz : then we’re gonna sort the clothes by assigned gender before we get home and mikey will say they bought all the “girl” clothes and i got all the “guy” clothes

moikey : but i’m not wearing any of gee’s shit

moikey : we’re gonna go freaky friday on these bitches

geewhiz : mikey don’t say that it’s fucking rude

moikey : bitches

zoid : bitches

morethanafro : bitches

geewhiz : i hate all of u

moikey : no u don’t

geewhiz : i hate u most

moikey : i’m telling mom u still smoke

geewhiz : i’m telling mom u gave gabe saporta a blowjob

morethanafro : OH SHIT

zoid : MIKEY

zoid : THE CHILD HAS GROWN UP RAY HOW DO YOU FEEL

morethanafro : I HAVE FAILED AS A MOTHER

morethanafro : also mikey pls don’t get mouth herpes gabe saporta has stuck his dick in many places if u know what i mean

geewhiz : i regret bringing this up

zoid : u should

zoid : how dare you inform us of your siblings sex life

zoid : now how will they ever win at never have i ever

moikey : speaking of that game are we still going to ray’s house to play it and will there be shots

morethanafro : MIKEY UR 12 also yes to both

geewhiz : wine mom wine mom wine mom wine mom wine mom

morethanafro : vodka aunt vodka aunt vodka aunt vodka aunt vodka aunt

zoid : nah gee’s the beer aunt

moikey : is that even a thing

geewhiz : don’t question lindsey she knows all

zoid : yeah mikey also isn’t it past your bedtime

moikey : i am thirteen i am not a child

morethanafro : no ur a child

morethanafro : being 13 makes you the most child

moikey : bye i’m leaving it’s been fun i’m gonna make my own friends

- moikey has left a bunch of hets being het -

Chapter Text

- moikey has joined a bunch of hets being het -

moikey : someone please come get me i hate shopping

morethanafro : what’s happening

moikey : gee lied about xer gender xe is one hundred percent female

moikey : not to stereotype or anything but xe has been trying on clothes for the past 30 minutes and i have run out of twitter notifications

morethanafro : how the fuck are you twitter famous again? because no offense but you’re literally a child

moikey : i post #relatable content

moikey : and unlike gee i actually make sense

moikey : also my icon is our cat and everyone loves internet cats

morethanafro : send me a picture of one of your cats i’m gonna make myself internet famous

moikey : ray u never go on twitter

morethanafro : yes but

morethanafro : it will add to my mysterious presence

moikey : ur not mysterious sorry

“Mikey? Who are you texting?” Gee asked. Mikey looked up to see xem peering around the curtain, xer body mostly hidden. Mikey turned their phone around so that Gee could see that they were only talking to Ray. Gee’s eyes flicked back and forth as xe read the messages, and then xe looked up at Mikey. “Stop using Vaya and Vamos to get twitter followers. Also, come in here and tell me if this looks good.”

“Can’t you come out?” Mikey said, and then  made eye contact with their sibling and realised they had made a pun. The two started laughing, which got the attention of the other people in the store and made the two Way siblings stop laughing. Mikey had really bad anxiety, and Gee was weirdly shy sometimes. Xe was somewhat of a loner. Mikey bit at their nail again, ignoring how it throbbed when they ripped too much off. “But, seriously, can’t you come out here?”

“I’m nervous, Mikey.” Gee said. “I’ve never presented as a girl anywhere other than in my room. And we need to make sure you can fit in it too, while we’re at it.”

Mikey frowned, but got up anyway. They knew that Gee had gotten a lot of really girly clothing, and Mikey hated girly clothing. Skirts and dresses were not really their thing at the moment. They felt too freeing, like the fabric could flip up and expose their ass at any time.

Mikey hoped Gee knew what they were getting into. They stepped into the changing room and closed the curtain, taking Gee in. Xe was wearing a black crop top that said “I don’t need the internet, the internet needs me” and a pair of high-waisted frayed jean shorts. Mikey shoved their hands into the pockets of their baggy jeans, which they had inherited (stolen) from Gee a year or two ago. “It looks okay, I guess?”

“Okay?” Gee said, running xer hand through xer hair frantically. “Mikey, I’m planning to wear this on the first day of school! I can’t just look okay .”

“Gee, I know absolutely nothing about clothes.” Mikey said. “Also, I don’t think that Mom and Dad would be okay with me wearing a crop top to school.”

“Just wear a hoodie over it.” Gee said. “They’ll probably be too excited about you willingly wearing girl shorts to care to check what you’ve got on under your hoodie.”

“Sure, Gee, whatever you say.” Mikey said, rolling their eyes. They and Gee changed clothes quickly, so that the shop employees wouldn’t suspect anything, and Mikey realised that this whole switching clothes with each other thing wasn’t going to work as well as they had planned. While Mikey could pull off a loose crop top for the twenty minutes they would need to wear it, the shorts were way too big. Mikey could stick their hand down their pants. When they mentioned this to Gee, xe frowned. “Fuck, I forgot that we’re different sizes. Let me go get something smaller, maybe I can fit into it.”

“Gee, you don’t have to. We can just hide the shorts in a backpack or something.” Mikey said, stopping xem before xe could leave the dressing room. Gee made a face. “Are you sure? It wouldn’t be that hard to get a smaller pair and try them on.”

“I mean, if you want to.” Mikey said, even though they didn’t want Gee to. Gee left anyway, and as soon as xe was gone, Mikey grabbed their phone from the floor of the dressing room and opened up kik.

- moikey created the group halp -

- moikey has added zoid and morethanafro to halp -

morethanafro : oh no what did gee do now

zoid : do i need to go fight xem (also did i use the pronouns right i’m still getting used to this)

moikey : you got the pronouns right lindsey and u don’t need to fight xem

moikey : but i think xe’s about to start doing the Weight Hate thing again halp

moikey : i don’t want xem to hate xemself bc xe’s a little chubby this is bs

zoid : what’s the context moiks

moikey : we’re getting the gender bender clothing and suprise we’re not the same size so xe went back out to get a pair of shorts that’ll fit me even tho xe doesn’t have to bc all my clothes are baggy that’s my current Aesthetic ™

moikey : i mean one day i’d like to wear tight jeans but i would like to lessen my hips first

morethanafro : r u still wearing the original shorts?

moikey : ye why

morethanafro : pull the waistband in around your lack of booty without making it look unnatural and then when gee comes back be like “jk i figured out how to make them work i was just wearing them wrong”

zoid : good plan

zoid : xe won’t suspect anything considering you know jack shit about clothes

morethanafro : yeah watching project runway with you is literal torture

moikey : okay but consider this

moikey : i’m pretty much a straight man now

moikey : i have an excuse to not understand clothes and how to wear them

moikey : gee has returned wish me luck

Mikey dropped their phone and grabbed the waistband of their shorts just as the curtain began to ruffle and Gee reappeared, holding the same pair of shorts but in a noticeably smaller size. Xe looked Mikey up and down and raised an eyebrow. “Are those the same shorts?”

“Yeah.” Mikey said. “I was messing around with them while you were looking for a different pair and basically I still don’t know how to dress myself.”

“Oh.” Gee said. Xe stared at the shorts in xer hands. “So… should I put these back?”

“Probably.” Mikey said, adjusting their grip on the waistband. “I’m gonna put my earlier clothes on, unless there’s anything else you want me to try on?”

“Nah, if you fit those you probably fit everything else.” Gee said. Xe left Mikey alone to change back into their original outfit of baggy jeans and a band t-shirt for a local band that Mikey had seen last May. They pulled out their phone once Gee was out of the changing room.

moikey : it worked any tips for long term fitting

zoid : bobby pins

zoid : i have a fuckton if you need them

morethanafro : also most drugstores have them

moikey : thanks guys

Mikey put their phone back in their pocket and waited for Gee to return. When xe did, the two gathered up the clothes they’d be buying and headed the check out. Once they’d gotten everything and left the store, Gee turned to Mikey. “Alright, your turn to pick out a store. You need to get some clothes too, you know. Otherwise Mom and Dad will get suspicious.”

“True.” Mikey said. “Usually you come home with too many clothes and I come home with only a jacket and a pair of jeans.”

“They’re gonna be so proud of you.” Gee said. Xe lifted the two bags of clothes xe already had. “Too bad you won’t be wearing any of these. They’re all mine.”

Mikey shrugged. “Honestly, Gee? You can keep them. I don’t really like short shorts that much.”

“I love short shorts.” Gee said. “They are my entire life.”

“I know.”

Chapter Text

The first day of school started without a hitch. Gee, in the Way family’s old minivan, drove xemself and Mikey to school and the two changed clothes in the backseat and trunk in the back of the parking lot, trusting the early morning light to not give them away. Once they were both changed, they crawled to the front of the vehicle and Mikey sat shotgun while Gee applied xer makeup. Mikey pulled down the mirror and tried to salvage their hair. They needed a new hairstyle if they were going to be taking night showers and then changing once they got to school every morning.

Once they gave up on their hair (and Gee was still working on xer makeup), Mikey pulled out their phone. They intended to recheck their schedule, but ended up on kik.

zoid : guys i’m a fucking senior what the fuck

morethanafro : you can’t hear me bc i’m in the band room but i’m clapping for you congrats lindsey

moikey : lindsey i’m in high school

morethanafro : baby sibling mikey is growing up!!! so proud!!

zoid : mikey ur making me feel old

morethanafro : u r old lindsey

morethanafro : accept it

zoid : no

zoid : don’t wanna

zoid : mikey is gee awake or did xe fall asleep in homeroom already???

moikey : we’re still in the car

moikey : xe’s putting on makeup

zoid : why

zoid : it is not even 7 am does g have any chill

morethanafro : no

morethanafro : lynz u of all people know that

morethanafro : g has less chill than u have heterosexuality

- zoid changed the name of the group to no one here is heterosexual -

- moikey changed the name of the group to gay gay gay -

morethanafro : mikey change it back lindsey’s was better

moikey : #offended

geewhiz : mieky stop insulting me while i’m applying lipgloss this is a delicate process

geewhiz : *mikey

- moikey changed their name to mieky -

morethanafro : CHANGE IT BACK

zoid : where did u come from where did u go

zoid : where did u come from

zoid : cotton eyed mieky

geewhiz : i hate all of you i’m crying now

geewhiz : you have ruined my hard work

mieky : don’t listen to xem xe’s makeup is fine

mieky : xe is also not crying

mieky : filthy liar

geewhiz : now i’m actually crying thanks mikey

morethanafro : wait aren’t you two in the same car

geewhiz : yes but u know you want to be a part of this tea spillage

mieky : no one is spilling any tea gee

zoid : U RHYMED

zoid : U MUST PUT A DOLLAR IN THE JAR

morethanafro : SIN SIN SIN SIN SIN SIN SIN

morethanafro : who even has the jar

zoid : i do

zoid : i am queen of jars

mieky : queen of jar jar

geewhiz : 2 dollars mikey how does it feel to be broke af

morethanafro : ~i know when that jar jar binks~

mieky : BLOCKED

mieky : also ray now u gotta put a dollar in lindsey’s jar

geewhiz : why does lindsey still have the jar by the way

zoid : because i’m not a FLITHY SINNER like you nerds hah

geewhiz : #rude

mieky : stop stealing my brand

geewhiz : hashtags are not a brand mikey twitterfamous way

mieky : my middle name is twitterfamous now???????

morethanafro : yes

morethanafro : as your mother

morethanafro : who birthed you

morethanafro : i dub thee mikey twitterfamous way

mieky : thank you

“We should probably go in.” Mikey said, looking up from their phone. Gee made a popping sound with xer mouth and put xer makeup back in their bag. “True. Do you know where your homeroom is or do you want me to walk you there?”

“I can find it on my own.” Mikey said. “But thanks, anyway.”

The two siblings got out of the car. Mikey was in a tank top and somewhat baggy jeans (which were almost inappropriately tight on Gee) and Gee was in xer crop top and shorts, along with xer paint-stained white converse. The two walked in together, but split once they were actually in the building. Mikey pulled out their phone again to actually look at their schedule, and managed to get to homeroom before the bell rang. They found a seat near the back and settled in. Homeroom was the same as first period, so their seating choice was critical.

They were not looking forward to roll call.

mieky : honestly the worst part is gonna be when they call out my name and are like “michelle way??????”

morethanafro : i’m sorry mikes

morethanafro : maybe ur teacher will be a cool person and let u go by mikey?

mieky : i hope so

mieky : also shoutout 2 u and lindsey for being the coolest cis ppl ever

mieky : 10/10 would befriend again

Mikey looked up from their phone as another kid entered the room. She was short, with a dark brown pixie cut. She was also dressed in way too many layers to be comfortable. Mikey frowned, wondering if maybe she had some weird illness that made her cold all the time. They watched her cross the room, and managed to avert their eyes before she could make eye contact with them. She came over anyway and sat down in the seat beside Mikey.

Up close, Mikey could see that she had a lip ring and red eyeliner and there was a crudely drawn Sharpie tattoo of a scorpion on her neck. If Mikey could get a picture without her noticing they’d send her to Gee. Gee would nut from the artistic possibilities. The girl next to Mikey looked like she belonged in one of the comic book ideas Gee was always coming up with but never got around to finishing.

mieky : update: there is a cool looking punx girl beside me

zoid : f u c k  h e r

morethanafro : once you have consent

geewhiz : can u get a pic????? i need it for Art Reasons ™

mieky : not without being creepy sorry gee

geewhiz : :((((((( worst sibling EVER

mieky : shut the fuck up and let me Live

mieky : also i’m not going to fuck her lindsey i don’t want to become the resident fuckboi

morethanafro : mikey = dat (fuck)boi

mieky : idk if you need to put a dollar in The Jar for that but u need to put a dollar in my jar

zoid : u can’t just make ur own jar mikey twitterfamous way that’s not how this works

geewhiz : yeah mikey stop cheating

mieky : fuck da police i do what i want

The bell rang and Mikey’s first period teacher stood up, his eyes scanning the classroom as he looked at all of the freshmen in his class. Mikey felt bad for him, because there were about twenty-five kids and one teacher.

“Alright, my name is Mr. Armstrong and I’m going to be teaching you about high school and United States history.” He said. “Before we get started with the course, I need to take roll. When I call your name, please say here. If the name you want to be called is not the name I say, now’s the time to correct me. I don’t want to find out in November that all of your friends are calling you by Jackie when your name on here is Ryan.”

Mikey took a deep breath and willed their jaw to unclench and their heart to stop beating so quickly. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad. Mr. Armstrong might be accepting of Mikey’s gender, or at least their name.

“...Antoinette Iero?” He called out. The girl beside Mikey visibly tensed up, but shot her hand in the air. “It’s Frank, actually. And, I’m a guy. It’s supposed to be Anthony but someone somewhere fu--messed it up.”

“Frank, got it.” Mr. Armstrong said, nodding his head a little as he made a note on his roll sheet. Some of the other kids were turned around, looking at Frank, who was not a girl as Mikey had wrongly assumed. They needed to pay more attention when Gee went on rants about how gender identity and gender expression were two independent things, and how people needed to work on not assuming someone’s gender based on how that person looked.

Mikey’s heart was also beating rapidly because as far as they could tell, Frank was trans. Mikey wasn’t the only trans kid in their grade. Mikey could make friends with Frank, and start a trans gang or something.

geewhiz : so i’m going to be crying in the bathroom for a while

zoid : what happened?????

morethanafro : do i need to Mom Friend

geewhiz : some assholes called me a tranny and shoved me against the lockers

geewhiz : it’s okay

geewhiz : at least no one’s called me the f slur yet

zoid : gee no that’s not okay

morethanafro : i’m bringing tissues and also stealing drinks from the vending machine.

morethanafro : which bathroom also do you want coke, dr pepper, mtn dew, or sprite?

geewhiz : math classroom bathrooms, coke

geewhiz : also can u bring tissues i don’t trust the ones in the bathroom

geewhiz : and i’m in the guy’s bathroom, back stall, door’s locked

morethanafro : will be there soon

Mikey glared at their phone, watching each notification light up. They couldn’t leave to go comfort their sibling, even though it was obvious that Gee needed all the love and support xe could get.

“Michelle Way?” Mr. Armstrong’s voice broke through Mikey’s thoughts. “Is there a Michelle Way here?”

“It’s, uh, it’s Mikey.” Mikey squeaked out, their face heating up. They tried to ignore how everyone looked their way when they spoke. Frank looked over at them, raising one perfectly styled eyebrow. Mikey sank into their seat as Mr. Armstrong nodded and made note of their name change.

Mikey made it through first period, barely, and was ready to get the fuck out as soon as the bell rang.

“Mikey, Frank, I’d like to talk to the two of you before you leave.” Mr. Armstrong said as everyone was packing up. Frank (who hadn’t done anything but look over at Mikey and narrow his eyes at them for the past hour) and Mikey exchanged vaguely concerned looks but gathered their things and went over to Mr. Armstrong’s desk. Mr. Armstrong waited until all the other students had left and then sat down on the edge of his desk. “You can correct me if I’m wrong, but judging from the names you requested, I’m going to assume you’re both transgender.”

“Yeah.” Frank said, and squared his shoulders. “Is there a problem with that?”

“Not at all.” Mr. Armstrong said. “I just wanted to ask what pronouns you two used, so I don’t misgender you in class on accident.”

Mikey blinked at their teacher for a moment. Frank frowned. “Wait, really? You’re not gonna send us to counseling or some shit--I mean… I didn’t mean to swear.”

“It’s okay, Frank. I’ve been teaching in public high schools probably since you were born. I’ve heard worse.” Mr. Armstrong said. Mikey decided that Mr. Armstrong was their favourite teacher. They didn’t care what other teachers they had. Mr. Armstrong was officially the best.

“Oh.” Frank looked uncomfortable. “Um, okay. I use he and him. I’m a trans guy. Like, one hundred percent man.”

Mr. Armstrong nodded and then turned to Mikey. “And what about you, Mikey Way? What pronouns do you use?”

“They and them.” Mikey said. “Can I go to class now?”

“Yeah, sure.” Mr. Armstrong said. “I just wanted to make sure I wasn’t misgendering either of you. And, if you ever need to talk, and don’t want to talk to each other, I’m here for you. I know a little about what it was like to be different in high school.”

“Thanks.” Mikey said. They wondered what Mr. Armstrong meant, but they didn’t ask. They had the rest of the school year to figure it out, and right now they needed to find their next class. Mikey didn’t like algebra, but they knew their parents would be pissed if they skipped class for any reason.

Chapter Text

- morethanafro changed the name of the group to gay friends support group -

morethanafro : mikey update ur sibling is ok

mieky : thanks for doing the friendship thing ray

mieky : also i think my history teacher is gonna be a cool dude

geewhiz : mikey do not fuck your teacher

geewhiz : i don’t care how hot they are

geewhiz : U R A CHILD

geewhiz : THEIR GENITALS ARE ILLEGAL

geewhiz : NO TOUCHEY

mieky : i’m not gonna fuck him oh my god

mieky : but he did ask me what pronouns i used bc he didn’t want to misgender me

zoid : nice nice

zoid : also i need more lesbians

zoid : where r all the gay people in this town

morethanafro : we are the only gay people in this town

mieky : actually no the girl lindsey wanted me to fuck is actually a guy and he’s trans

mieky : idk if he’s gay but his name is frank and he’s in like three of my classes

morethanafro : it’s the gay people bond

zoid : befriend him mikey we need all the gay we can get

Mikey let out a sigh as they entered the cafeteria, lunch money in one hand and phone in the other. The cafeteria was larger than the middle school cafeteria, and there wasn’t assigned seating anymore. Mikey didn’t have lunch with any of their friends, because Gee and Ray were juniors and Lindsey was a senior. Mikey was the only underclassman and they were a little terrified.

They headed to the lunch line, and grabbed a tray, taking the sad excuse for food that was offered to them. They walked around the cafeteria for a few minutes, hoping someone somewhere would be friendly and offer them a seat. Mikey started to panic, and then they had to hold back tears because of the anxiety they were feeling. They wanted Gee. They also wanted to sit down so that they could eat their lunch and then get back to class.

Mikey spotted Frank’s button covered denim jacket before they actually spotted Frank. They walked over and then stood beside Frank, hoping that Frank would look up and take notice of them.

Frank looked up from his phone and removed an earbud. “Can I help you?”

“Can I sit here?” Mikey asked. Frank frowned, and then shrugged. “Yeah, sure.”

“Thanks.” Mikey said, and quickly sat down across from Frank. They stared down at their food as they ate, ignoring how their heart was beating quickly and their hands were a little sweaty. Mikey hated their anxiety. It fucking sucked.

mieky : so i found frank

zoid : ask him if he’s gay

geewhiz : omg lindsey you can’t just ask people if they’re gay

morethanafro : gee did you just attempt to quote mean girls

geewhiz : yep. fight me ray toro

morethanafro : i can’t i’m in physics

geewhiz : ok and???

geewhiz : fight me anyway

mieky : g u’ve never fought anyone in ur life get some #chill please

geewhiz : i cannot i am the Drama Queen ™

Mikey let out a snort of laughter at that, and then immediately regretted it when they felt Frank staring them down from across the table. Mikey slowly looked up from their phone. “I wasn’t laughing at you, I promise.”

“I didn’t think you were.” Frank said. He narrowed his eyes. “Are you trying to be friends or something?”

“I… don’t know.”

“Well, you’re doing a really shitty job at it.” Frank spat out. “You can’t just sit with someone at lunch and expect to be friends with them. That’s not how this shit works.”

“What do you expect me to do?” Mikey said. “I only have three other friends, and one of them is my older sibling.”

Frank took his other earbud out and wound his earbuds around his phone. “Who’re the other two?”

“Gee’s best friend since fourth grade, Lindsey, and Gee’s friend since summer bible school, Ray.” Mikey said. “Gee and I are kind of lame, honestly.”

“I’m not lame, but I do have anger management issues.” Frank said. He leaned forward, pushing his lunchbox and empty tupperware containers out of the way. “I used to go to Catholic school. I got kicked out for beating some fuckboy’s ass, and for being trans. I also almost got arrested once, for being in a fight. It scared the shit out of my mom.”

“I wonder why.” Mikey said. They bit at their fingernail. They really needed to stop doing that. “I’ve never been arrested, or almost arrested, but I do torrent and sell illegal Disney films. Not, like, a lot. But I made like fourty dollars over the summer.”

“I helped one of my friends get a tattoo when he was sixteen.” Frank said. He rolled up one sleeve to reveal a tattoo of a black star in the crook of his elbow. “And then he gave me this. My arm swelled up but I didn’t die from it. It’s real, if you wanna touch it. The one on my neck isn’t; I draw it on myself pretty much every morning. My mom hates it but I’m trying to get her used to it because I’m trying to save up to get it done for real.”

“But you’re like fourteen.” Mikey said. Frank rolled his sleeve down. “And? I’m probably going to die by, like, thirty because I’m trans, angry, and sick all the time. If I’m gonna die covered in tattoos I need to start getting them now.”

Mikey nodded, thinking that maybe Frank was right. They probably weren’t going to have a long life either, so doing shit they wanted to do was probably a good plan.

Mikey bit their fingernail, ripping part of it off with their teeth. “Do you wanna meet my friends?”

“Yeah, sure.” Frank shrugged.

Mikey unlocked their phone. “What’s your kik? I’ll add you to the chat.”

- mieky has added frnkiero_andthe_dogs to the group-

mieky : hey guys meet frank

frnkiero_andthe_dogs : hey i’m frank

frnkiero_andthe_dogs : i’m gay as shit

geewhiz : wait like actually gay or gay like you’re not a het

frnkiero_andthe_dogs : i’m bi

frnkiero_andthe_dogs : but i’m also trans so i’m gay x2

zoid : hi i’m a lesbian

morethanafro : hi lesbian i’m mom

morethanafro : i’m ray i’m also bi and i’m the mom friend even tho lindsey is the oldest

mieky : lindsey is the lesbian

frnkiero_andthe_dogs : nice. r u guys the only gays?

geewhiz : probably

geewhiz : we should start a club

mieky : don’t we need a teacher’s approval for something like that

geewhiz : tru

zoid : mikey fuck ur history teacher so he’ll sponsor gay club

morethanafro : mikey don’t fuck your history teacher but ask him to sponsor gay club

geewhiz : also make sure to call it a gsa so that closeted people don’t feel awk about having to out themselves to join

mieky : okay me n frank can ask him tomorrow

frnkiero_andthe_dogs : i can make posters unless someone else is artistic

geewhiz : i am an artistic

zoid : same

morethanafro : the three of you are in charge of posters me and mikey will handle the actual club planning

morethanafro : mikey is vp i’m president of gay club i decided it

geewhiz : i wanted to be president

morethanafro : get the posters done and then we can fight it out

- mieky changed the name of the group to gay club official -

geewhiz : thank u mikey

geewhiz : what would we do without u

Chapter Text

Mikey sat at their desk, not getting any homework done. Mr. Armstrong had agreed to sponsor the GSA, so long as the principal and assistant principals were okay with it. Apparently there was a gross bureaucracy in the high school system, and to make anything happen, it had to get approved by everyone.

Mikey thought it was bullshit, but apparently their opinions didn’t matter. They were only thirteen, after all, and the youngest in their class because their birthday was two days before the school’s grade level cutoff.

mieky : i am a bored

frnkiero_andthe_dogs : i can send u videos of my dogs being dumb

frnkiero_andthe_dogs : would that help

geewhiz : please i love dogs

mieky : gee u love all animals

geewhiz : i am pananimalia

geewhiz : i love all animals

frnkiero_andthe_dogs : um

frnkiero_andthe_dogs : please tell me you don’t actually fuck animals

mieky : no don’t worry xe’s just a furry

geewhiz : i am not

- zoid changed the name of the group to #stopfurries2k16 -

geewhiz : i see u lurking there lindsey

zoid : shh no i’m not here carry on

geewhiz : go work on your senior art project

zoid : i cannot

zoid : u have my paints

geewhiz : oh shit i do

geewhiz : i can bring them over hold on

A few seconds later, Mikey heard Gee’s footsteps coming up the stairs, and then xe was in Mikey’s room, ducking under Mikey’s bed to get Lindsey her paint back. Mikey turned around in their chair to watch Gee, and folded their arms across their chest, ignoring their boobs. “So, are you going to finally ask her out?”

“Mikey, I can’t.” Gee said, grabbing the last tube of paint. Mikey raised an eyebrow. “Why not?”

“Um, because she’s a lesbian and I’m not a girl.” Gee said like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Mikey made a face at xem. “You’re not a boy, either. Just try it.”

“If it fucks up our friendship I’m blaming you.” Gee said, pointing a finger at Mikey. Mikey shrugged and accepted it. Gee and Lindsey had been fake flirting with each other for months, and Mikey figured that Gee had mentioned xer gender shit to Lindsey and Ray before xe came out officially.

morethanafro : why is the name of the groupchat #stopfurries2k16

geewhiz : because lindsey is a horrible person and i’m divorcing her

frnkiero_andthe_dogs : wait are you two actually dating?

zoid : we are Gal Pals ™

frnkiero_andthe_dogs : someone not involved with the lesbian clusterfuck, please tell me what’s going on

mieky : they are the Gal Pals ™

- morethanafro changed the name of the group to Gal Pals ™ -

geewhiz : thank you ray for fixing this mess of a group chat

morethanafro : you created it in the first place gee

morethanafro : technically this is all your fault

zoid : wait gee aren’t you bringing me paint???? get off ur phone and get your nice ass over here i gotta art

geewhiz : i am coming my love

frnkiero_andthe_dogs : haha

frnkiero_andthe_dogs : /coming/

geewhiz : mikey i’m blocking your friend

frnkiero_andthe_dogs : wow rude i haven’t even met you irl yet

geewhiz : i don’t care you are Blocked ™

frnkiero_andthe_dogs : i’m reporting you for being a little bitch

morethanafro : don’t call gee a bitch or i will bitch you

geewhiz : what does that even mean

morethanafro : idk but i’m gonna fuck u up franklin

frnkiero_andthe_dogs : that’s not my name it’s literally just frank

frnkiero_andthe_dogs : frankie if we’re dating

zoid : was that a scooby doo reference

mieky : lindsey how do you know this

zoid : i’m secretly god

mieky : oh no

mieky : we’re all screwed

morethanafro : lindsey i don’t trust you as a god

zoid : hahahaha

zoid : i promise to be nice to you guys you are all my friends

morethanafro : thank you lindsey

frnkiero_andthe_dogs : wait even me

zoid : yeah sure

zoid : just don’t make me regret it

mieky : yeah she knows witch craft

morethanafro : lindsey can Fuck You Up

zoid : and i will

zoid : oh gee just got here hold on friends i gotta go get my art back

- mieky created the group it’s getting gay in here -

- mieky added morethanafro and frnkiero_andthe_dogs to it’s getting gay in here -

fnrkiero_andthe_dogs : is this your way of initiating an orgy

morethanafro : oedipus complex

mieky : frank ray no we are not having sex

mieky : this is about gee and lindsey

frnkiero_andthe_dogs : wait

frnkiero_andthe_dogs : so gee’s going to lindsey’s house to bang her

frnkiero_andthe_dogs : is paint some weird euphemism now

frnkiero_andthe_dogs : i am so confused

morethanafro : lindsey and gee aren’t dating. mikey what’s going on

mieky : gee’s about to ask lindsey out

mieky : xe’s finally gonna do it

morethanafro : yes good

mieky : frank you don’t understand we have been third and fourth wheeling for years

frnkiero_andthe_dogs : i am… so sorry

Mikey put down their phone to let Frank and Ray talk it out, because they had homework and unlike Frank, they actually did their homework. Frank said that school wasn’t really his thing, and that if it wasn’t for band class he probably wouldn’t be there at all. Mikey could understand that, because Mikey didn’t like school either, but at the moment, their only other alternative was to stay at home. They didn’t want to be at home unless they absolutely had to.

Mikey frowned, and let out a sigh. They hadn’t updated their twitter recently, and knew they needed to. Ray was right, they were twitter famous, and even though they didn’t care much for the fame, there were people out there who genuinely enjoyed Mikey’s tweets.

Mikey scrolled through their camera roll, hoping for some kind of inspiration. They found a picture of Gee and Lindsey, the two of them looking at each other with what Mikey had heard the internet refer to as heart eyes. They shrugged, and started editing the picture to make it look dumb and romantic. They’d add a cheesy caption on later, and then wait until they got one specific retweet.

The girl (and this time, Mikey knew she was a girl because she said so in her bio) was @pwheezie and she did lyric edits. Sometimes they were her own lyrics, and those were Mikey’s favourite because she was the most emo, over-dramatic person ever, but she was really poetic about it. Mikey had a tiny internet crush on her, even though he didn’t know anything about her other than she had a great sense of humour and apparently had bright pink hair. Gee said that @pwheezie was becoming Mikey’s pixie dream girl and that Mikey needed to stop idealising her. Mikey said it didn’t matter, because it wasn’t as though they knew each other in real life.

Mikey’s phone buzzed, and they looked down to see who it was. It wasn’t @pwheezie

-private message from geewhiz -

geewhiz : i’m probably not coming home tonight

geewhiz : tell mom or whoever i’m spending the night at ray’s

mieky : wait why

geewhiz : mikey i know ur 12 but think about it for a moment

mieky : oh

mieky : oh!

mieky : g oh my god

mieky : please use protection please

geewhiz : ohmygod calm urself we’re driving out to buy some rn

mieky : ...i didn’t need to know the details but uh

mieky : congrats?

- mieky changed the name of the group to Gal Pals ™ success -

morethanafro : u do realise this is the main right?

mieky : i know

mieky : by the way if anyone asks gee spent the night at ur house tonight

morethanafro : but xe’s with lindsey

morethanafro : oh wait never mind

frnkiero_andthe_dogs : should i congratulate the lesbians (?) tomorrow

mieky : if u wanna

geewhiz : u can congrat us now i’m getting these notifications

geewhiz : how much did u tell them mikey

mieky : all

geewhiz : lindsey says to tell you that she has a strap on

geewhiz : she’s not wearing it right now (duh) but she has it

mieky : ew gross tell ur girlfriend i don’t need to know

frnkiero_andthe_dogs : one week into a new friend group and already i know too much it is time to move again

morethanafro : frank no don’t leave us we need u

frnkiero_andthe_dogs : fine i’ll stay

frnkiero_andthe_dogs : my mom just came in apparently there’s a mass thing tonight i gotta go pretend to be a good religious catholic boy

frnkiero_andthe_dogs : have fun sinning without me

Chapter Text

frnkiero_andthe_dogs : wait mikey if u aren’t in band what’s your art class

frnkiero_andthe_dogs : because i’ve seen your drawings and i can tell why gee does all the art for ur family

mieky : first of all #rude

mieky : second i have drama???

mieky : idk why i think it’s because i forgot to sign up for an art

frnkiero_andthe_dogs : how tf do you forget to sign up for an art class????

morethanafro : i’m life shaming u mikey

morethanafro : also you should switch to band

morethanafro : band is the best

frnkiero_andthe_dogs : all hail band kids!!!!!

zoid : fuck band take art

zoid : who cares if u suck just call it abstract

mieky : or i can do drama and hope for the best

Mikey locked their phone and put it in their pocket. They were already in the drama room, sitting in the very back and hoping they didn’t get drafted into being in some musical. Mikey liked music, and all the shit that went into acting and movies, but they didn’t want to be in a musical. They had too much anxiety to handle that.

Gee would like drama, if xe wasn’t such a control freak about how things went. Xe would have to have the lead role in everything. That would probably get boring after a while, even with all of Gee’s creativity.

It was the first official day of drama class. Now that school was fully in swing, and everyone had gotten their schedules figured out, people were getting into the non-academic parts of high school. Mikey was just glad that they didn’t have to take gym until second semester. They weren’t looking forward to that, because of the whole agender thing. They felt more masculine than feminine, kind of, but they didn’t want to go in the guy’s locker room.

They were about to pull their their phone out to complain about gym class and the gender binary on twitter when the door to the drama room slammed open loudly.

“I don’t care what you think, Dallon! I dumped Ryan because I didn’t want a long distance relationship, not because I was trying to get in Spencer’s pants!” A voice called out, embarrassingly loudly. Mikey was embarrassed for whoever said all of that to a room full of people their age. They scooted down in their chair so that they could barely see above the empty seat in front of them, and watched.

“Bren, please shut up.” A very tall boy wearing suspenders said. His hair was pinned back with some bobby pins, but a single strand had fallen out and was in his face. “Can we not do this in front of everyone.”

“Oh, so now you want to keep it private.” The other person, Bren, presumably, placed their hands on their hips. They had a very prominent ass and Mikey honestly could not tell their gender from the back row. They were about the same height as the first guy, but that was because they were wearing a ridiculously high pair of heels.

Mikey opened up their phone. The group chat would find this interesting.

mieky : person of unidentifiable gender and tall af dude in suspenders having a domestic feud in drama

mieky : i have not even been here for 5 minutes

mieky : how is band/art better again? because i have enough material for about three weeks of tweets rn

zoid : wait is suspenders man named dallon

mieky : do u want me to ask? because i won’t

zoid : no i think i know him

zoid : and if he is then gender ambiguous is brendon urie and the two of them have a not thing thing going on

zoid : also ryan ross was involved?? but then he moved

zoid : idk where

geewhiz : how do u know this

zoid : i’m god remember

“That’s not what you were saying the other day on Facebook.” Bren said. “And who even uses Facebook to complain about their friend’s exes, anyway? I swear, you are such a grandmother sometimes, I don’t know why I ever fucked you.”

“You didn’t fuck me, I fucked you.” Tall suspenders boy said. Bren leaned back, in a really dramatic, over-offended way, and let out a gasp. “Excuse you?”

“Oh my God, can we please just sit down and not talk about it?” He said. He looked embarrassed, probably more embarrassed than Mikey. “Just because we're in drama class doesn't mean we need to act like it.”

“Fine. But see if I come to your house after school.” Bren said, and then turned on their heel (without falling, Mikey was impressed) and stalked over to another boy sitting in the second row. Tall suspenders guy stood in front of the class and then escaped up the side aisle to sit in the back, two seats from Mikey. Mikey could see that he was embarrassed, and felt bad for him. Public embarrassment was the worst.

Mikey pulled out their notebook and ripped out a piece of paper.

Sorry you just got dragged in front of a bunch of people you don't know. You probably also don't know me (I'm new here) so idk why I'm writing this. Anyway hi I'm Mikey and I'm really bad at social stuff.

Mikey then folded the paper and flicked it over to tall suspenders guy. He picked it up, opened it, and after a minute, started writing back.

Thanks. Me and Bren are kinda complicated. I'm just mad that they had to drag everyone into it.

I'm Dallon by the way (they/them or he/him pls)

Mikey smiled when they read the note. It was incredible, the number of trans people they were finding completely on accident. They really hoped that the GSA went through, because they wanted an official place for them and all the other trans and gay people to hang out.

I didn't realise you used non binary pronouns. I use they/them, actually. And I'm guessing Bren does too? You used they with Bren.

Mikey passed the note back. They didn't get a response, because the drama teacher came in and started explaining what the class would be doing. Apparently they were putting on Anything Goes for the end of spring semester, and fall semester would be a time for learning the skills needed for acting, as well as learning about the different characters in the play.

Dallon slipped a note back with a frown on their face.

Bren’s gonna try out for Reno, I bet you money. You need to beat them. I don't want to have to deal with them in the lead role again because they're really self absorbed.

Also Bren uses any pronouns but right now they're using they/them.

Mikey opened their phone to look up who this Reno person was, but as soon as they opened Safari, the drama teacher was standing beside them, tapping her foot. “Miss Way, please hand your phone over.”

“I was just looking up a character in the play.” Mikey squeaked out, hating that their voice got higher when they were nervous. The drama teacher raised a perfectly styled eyebrow (Frank and Gee would be jealous) at them. “Oh? And which character are you interested in? Remember to speak up. This is drama class.”

“Reno.” Mikey said. “I don't know if I want to play her” (Mikey figured that there was a gender binary in Anything Goes and that Reno was probably a girl) “but Dallon mentioned her earlier and I just thought she'd be interesting. I'm sorry.”

“It's perfectly understandable to be curious about the craft, but I'm going to have to ask you to do your research on your own time.” She smiled down at Mikey and held out her hand. “Your phone, please. I promise to give it back at the end of class.”

Chapter Text

geewhiz : mikey where the fuck have u been

geewhiz : u missed an important thing

mieky : i got my phone taken up during drama what happened

mieky : did someone die

frnkiero_andthe_dogs : no

frnkiero_andthe_dogs : but mr. armstrong told me that gay club is a go

mieky : fucking sick

- mieky changed the name of the group to welcome to gay town -

morethanafro : i see mikey heard the news

mieky : yep

mieky : yo ray since ur pres and im vp we need to choose a meeting time

morethanafro : wednesday is the only day im not free and that's because of church things

mieky : i know me and g go to ur church

morethanafro : shhhhh let me live

mieky : no

zoid : what about tuesday i don't think anyone has stuff on tuesday

frnkiero_andthe_dogs : i have tutoring on tuesday what about monday

morethanafro : i’m good with monday

mieky : g? lindsey?

zoid : ok w me

geewhiz : same as my gf

zoid : u nerd

geewhiz : <3

mieky : u two are gross don't invite me to the wedding

geewhiz : wasn't planning to

mieky : i am Offended™

zoid : g pls invite ur own sibling to our wedding

zoid : i will if u don't

frnkiero_andthe_dogs : wait am i invited

morethanafro : yes

zoid : ray u aren't in the wedding u don't get to decide that

morethanafro : i am the mother of the brides i get to decide All The Things

Mikey let out a laugh at that, getting an eyebrow raise from the girl next to them. Mikey ignored her, because they didn't know who she was and didn't particularly care to. This was algebra. People's opinions didn't matter in algebra.

They weren't paying attention, and they knew it. This was one of the three classes they had with Frank (the other being Spanish), but their algebra teacher had assigned seating in alphabetical order. Frank was right in the middle and Mikey was off in the back left corner. They liked having a last name near the end of the alphabet, because then they could get away with texting in class for the most part. They also didn't get called on as often.

“Antoinette, would you mind coming up to the board to do the next question?” The teacher asked. He had a dark grey mustache, and military like hair. Mikey decided he didn't like him the moment he refused to call anyone anything other than their given name. Frank also didn't like him, but was more obvious about it.

Frank leaned back in his seat. “I would mind, actually, because I still don't know what we're supposed to be learning right now.”

The math teacher, Mr. James, purses his lips. Frank still didn't get up. Mikey closed their eyes for a moment, praying and hoping that Frank wouldn't do anything stupid and get himself in trouble. They didn't want Frank to have to miss his first GSA meeting just because he couldn't stop being a little shit for three seconds.

“Well, why don't you come up here and do what you can, and we'll work it out with you when you get stuck?” Mr. James offered. Frank shrugged. “Can I just choose someone to help me?”

Nonononononono Mikey thought, because they knew where this was going and they didn't like it. They pulled out their phone.

mieky : frank i swear to god if u call me to assist you i will remove ur balls

frnkiero_andthe_dogs : good thing i don't have balls

“Who would you like to volunteer, Antoinette?”

“Mikey.” Frank said, because Frank was an ass but he wouldn't dead name Mikey in any situation unless it was absolutely necessary. Mr. James nodded and turned to where Mikey was slowly becoming one with their chair. “Michelle. You understand what’s on the board, I presume?”

Mikey nodded, and slowly sunk out of their seat. They walked to the board, glasses low on the bridge of their nose, and tried to look as small as possible. It was hard, considering that they were already five eight and Frank was about five four. Frank grinned at them when they finally got to the board, and Mikey had to bite their tongue to keep from swearing in front of the entire class.

“Alright, girls, make sure to explain as you go so that everyone else can follow along on their own papers.” Mr. James said. Mikey glared at Frank. They didn't hate them entirely, just in that one moment.

Chapter Text

Mikey woke up on Monday feeling more nervous than usual. They picked their phone up off of their nightstand and turned it on, scrolling through their notifications. A lot from twitter, a snap from Dallon (the two had exchanged snapchats while in drama on Friday and had been snapping about the Bren drama for the past few days), and a bunch of notifications from the group chat. Mikey opened up twitter first.

mkwy @mikey_wavy

starting a gsa at my school sounded like a gr8 idea but now that i’ve gotta do it… #nope

They posted it and then checked snapchat, to see that Dallon had sent them a snap of himself and Spencer (Bren’s friend) in bed, with Spencer’s head on Dallon’s chest and Dallon making a confused face. The caption was just ?????????

Mikey snapped back with the shrug emoji. They didn’t know what else to do.

mieky : anyone else as nervous as me

mieky : because i’m super close to throwing up from the Anxiety ™

morethanafro : mikey my pal u have no idea

morethanafro : i told my mom i needed her to drive me in because i was nervous

mieky : wait ur mom knows about gay club????

morethanafro : nah she thinks i’ve got an important test today and then philosophy club after school

morethanafro : i mean i know she’s cool with the gay shit because i’m out to her and everything but i don’t want her to be worried… and if she knew i was in a gay club at school she’d be Super Worried

morethanafro : i think she only believed the philosophy thing bc i said gee was in it with me

geewhiz : can u guys wait until not ass o’clock to start texting i just woke up

mieky : gee i’ve been up for like 20 minutes i already updated twitter

geewhiz : Good For You

geewhiz : mikey we gotta do laundry

mieky : we can’t do that now we have to leave in like 35 minutes g get ur shit together

geewhiz : yeah but when we get home

geewhiz : i have none clothes with left sadness

morethanafro : sucks

morethanafro : wait how do u not have clothes you have so many

geewhiz : i wore them all.

morethanafro : wow u guys really do need to do laundry

zoid : hey guys i forgot to check my phone this morning but i just got on the bus what’s up

morethanafro : freaking out about gsa today

zoid : oh shit that’s a thing

zoid : time to Die ™

mieky : maybe no one else will show up and it’ll just be us???

zoid : i’m okay with that

zoid : tbh i really wanted this to find more lesbians but i have a gf now so i can wait on the other lesbians

geewhiz : <33333

mieky : gee that looks like ice cream butts

geewhiz : fuck u mikey

geewhiz : go complain on twitter also have you seen my mascara

mieky : no??

mieky : did u lose it

geewhiz : …. what the fuck do you think

zoid : i have some if u want i’ll meet you outside the school where the buses let off

geewhiz : literally ur my fave person

zoid : i know

morethanafro : wow gee it’s not like i’m your literal mother or anything

mieky : yeah g i’m #offended

geewhiz : i don’t #care

mieky : u did it wrong

geewhiz : eat a sock mikey

Mikey laughed, and then panicked because they still hadn’t gotten out of bed and it was ten minutes before they needed to leave with Gee in order to get to school on time and change outfits quickly enough.

mieky : shit gee i need a clothes to wear

geewhiz : i trust u i’m gonna just put on a hoodie and jeans r u okay with that

mieky : i literally don’t care

mieky : but we gotta leave like rn

geewhiz : shiiiiiit

morethanafro : i love that you guys have personal conversations in the group chat

zoid : i feel like i’m watching a very boring sitcom

frnkiero_andthe_dogs : oh my god you guys really do never shut up

zoid : morning frank

frnkiero_andthe_dogs : so i convinced my mom to let me actually /go/ to gay club

frnkiero_andthe_dogs : she thinks it’s tutoring tho so mikey can you help me with math while we gay i need to convince her i’m actually getting shit done

mieky : maybe you should try Paying Attention

frnkiero_andthe_dogs : i cannot

frnkiero_andthe_dogs : that man makes me so angry

frnkiero_andthe_dogs : i’m gonna fight him

morethanafro : do not fight the math teacher

frnkiero_andthe_dogs : he calls me and mikey by our deadnames

zoid : fight the math teacher

“Mikey, come on! We need to go!” Gee called up the stairs. Mikey swore under their breath and dropped their phone, searching their room for clothes that they could wear and Gee could change into once they got to school. They settled on a plaid dress that was really baggy on them, and their boots. Converse would take too long to put on, and Gee was waiting on them. Gee was never the first one to get dressed. Xe spent too much time on makeup, and xer parents hated it.

Mikey grabbed their phone and their backpack and then ran down the stairs, adjusting the strap on their sports bra. It was the same one they had worn to bed, but they didn’t care. Lindsey wore the same bra for days on end and no one questioned her. Mikey’d be fine.

Their phone buzzed in their hand while Gee was driving, and they opened it up to see that they got the only twitter notification that mattered.

t(-.-t) responded to your tweet:

@mikey_wavy : sending you good vibes for the gsa (i’m probably going to come out 2 my friends today so gay power!!)

Mikey’s heart skipped a beat, and quickly typed out a reply. @pwheezie had retweeted Mikey’s tweets before, but she’d never gone out of her way to respond to them and Mikey was feeling a little bit more than a tiny internet crush right then.

@pwheezie : thanks and good luck to u too! (i hope ur friends r nice & if not i’ll kick their asses)

“Who’re you texting?” Gee asked. “Or is that twitter? Also, can you skip this track, I think I accidentally put on the parental approved driving playlist.”

“It’s twitter, and sure.” Mikey said, and skipped to the next track on Gee’s playlist. They kept checking their phone for a response, but they never got one. Maybe they weren’t interesting enough for @pwheezie to start a real conversation with them. They were twitter famous, sure, but @pwheezie had an aesthetic to keep up, and Mikey wasn’t going to stop her from keeping her aesthetic in order just because they had a crush on her.

They weren’t that selfish.

Gee parked in the back again, and xe changed clothes with Mikey. Since Mikey’s homeroom was in the back of the school building, Gee told Mikey to head on in, and that xe’d go in when xe finished xer makeup. Mikey grabbed their earbuds from their backpack and let the sounds of the Misfits drown out the early morning noises of high school.

Chapter Text

Mikey’s first two periods were a blur, because they were too busy thinking about the fast approaching GSA meeting.

They got to drama early again, because they walked fast when they walked alone, and grabbed their usual seat in the back. Dallon came in a few seconds later, which was a surprise because usually Dallon (and Bren and Spencer) came in right as the bell rang. Mikey had no idea what the three of them were doing, even though they were snapping frequently with Dallon.

“Hey Mikey.” Dallon said, dropping into the seat on Mikey’s left. Mikey raised an eyebrow at him. “You look tired.”

“Apparently Bren now thinks I’m cheating on her with you, and she’s calling me disgusting because you’re a freshman and I’m a junior.” Dallon said. He rolled his eyes. “I tried telling her that we’re friends and nothing more, and that we just bonded over the trans thing, but she saw how much I was snapchatting with you and assumed the worst.”

“That sucks.” Mikey said, making a mental note to start referring to Bren with she/her pronouns, since that was what Dallon was using and Dallon probably knew her best. “But, why me and not Spencer? You sent me a snap of the two of you together at two in the morning.”

“We didn’t actually do anything.” Dallon said. “Spencer’s… he’s trying to figure out his sexuality and he came to me and ended up staying the night.”

“Oh.” Mikey said, and then, because apparently they were impulsive when emotionally conflicted, added, “you know, me and my friends are starting a GSA. We’d be talking about gender and sexuality and all that shit. If Spencer wanted to come, he could.”

Dallon looked interesting. “Really? When is it?”

“Uh, today, actually.” Mikey said. Dallon looked more interested. “I’ll text him, see if he’s interested. You’ll be there, right?”

“Yeah.” Mikey said, “of course.”

The two had to stop talking then, because the drama teacher came in and started discussing some weird drama technique that Mikey didn’t know about (or care to know about). They spent most of the period doodling on the corner of their notebook because they were too afraid to take their phone out again. Dallon sat beside them, completely entranced with what the drama teacher was saying. It was a little weird to watch, but entertaining whenever the teacher ignored Dallon to call on Bren.

Mikey was beginning to think that Bren was the teacher’s pet, at least in drama class. She seemed to know a lot about acting, so Mikey could understand why the teacher called on her all the time. Still, they were really glad when class finished and they got to leave.

“Oh, hey, Mikey.” Dallon called out as Mikey was heading towards the door. Mikey paused and let Dallon catch up. Dallon had his phone out and handed it over to Mikey. “Can you put your number in so I can text you if me and Spencer are going to come?”

“Um, my phone doesn’t actually do texting.” Mikey said. “My parents are weirdly restrictive, and so they won’t let me have a phone-phone until I can drive. But this has internet and kik and stuff. I can give you my kik?”

“I’m Mormon so I don’t actually have a kik.” Dallon said. “But… I guess you could give me your kik and I could download it and… kik you?”

“Yeah, sure.” Mikey said, and opened up Dallon’s notes, typing in their kik. They handed the phone back to Dallon and headed to their next class.

The rest of the day went by quickly, and Mikey was surprised to find themselves in their seventh period English class, not having to pay attention to whoever was reading today’s section of Shakespeare because they’d already read the entire thing and had Ray’s notes from two years ago to help when they needed to do analysis. Mikey had their book positioned so that they could be on their phone, and once again, they were in the back row.

frnkiero_andthe_dogs : is it bad that i want us to be the only ones there

geewhiz : not really

geewhiz : i mean i want to be welcoming to all the lgbt people here but at the same time what if some asshole uses it to find out who we are and then outs us

frnkiero_andthedogs : i don’t think that mr armstrong would let that happens he gives off a punk rock vibe

mieky : frank. are /u/ fucking the teacher

frnkiero_andthe_dog s: oh my god mikey nO

mieky : i see ur learning proper text language

mieky : also it’s okay if u fuck mr armstrong honestly he’s a 10/10

frnkiero_andthe_dogs : he is our TEACHER and we are CHILDREN

geewhiz : since ray is not on (apparently) i’m gonna be mom friend and tell u both: NO TEACHER FUCKING

geewhiz : NONW

geewhiz : *NONE

- mieky changed the name of the group to NONW -

geewhiz : mikey i hate u go update twitter

frnkiero_andthe_dogs : wait mikey what’s ur twitter

mieky : not sharing >P

geewhiz : it’s @mikey_wavy

mieky : fuk u

geewhiz : that is called Incest and it is Frowned Upon ™

frnkiero_andthe_dogs : cool i’m gonna go follow u now

frnkiero_andthe_dogs : wait gee do u have a twitter????

geewhiz : yeah it’s @partypoisoned

frnkiero_andthe_dogs : that’s a weird name

geewhiz : yeah it’s for a character i made up

geewhiz : i’d rather not go into it

Mikey frowned. They’d only heard about Gee’s Party Poison character, who xe’d had since xe was about twelve years old and had just discovered fanfiction and comics and all the wonders of the internet. Party Poison was definitely a self-insert, but Gee had never clarified which universe xe was self-inserting Party Poison into.

-private message from Dallon Weekes -

Dallon Weekes : Hey.

mieky : i see u got the kik

mieky : so r u and spencer coming?????

Dallon Weekes : Yes, we’re coming. What room is the meeting going to be in?

mieky : 151; mr. armstrong is the teacher sponsoring us

mieky : also u don’t need to use ur actual name here if u have a nickname u can use that

Dallon Weekes : How are you going to know who I am if I’m under a different name?

mieky : look buddy excluding u i have 4 other friends in my kik contacts

mieky : the chances of u choosing the same name as any of them is like non existant

Dallon Weekes : Okay. One moment.

- Dallon Weekes changed their name to dadtree -

mieky : better

mieky : also my friends are probably gonna force you into the group chat so be ready for a lot of Gay ™

dadtree : Why did you use the trademark sign? Also, I’m friends (supposedly) with Bren. I’m used to a lot of gay.

mieky : it’s a meme… kind of…

dadtree : Oh, okay. Sorry, I’m not really on social media. It’s the whole Mormon thing.

mieky : nah it’s cool

Mikey heard the telltale ruffling of papers being shoved into backpacks, and realised that there were only a few minutes before the bell rang. They locked their phone and put it in their pocket, and then packed up, pulling their earbuds out. It wouldn’t be long now until they got to go to a real live GSA. They’d only heard of GSA’s in movies, and they were a little nervous.

The bell rang and Mikey dropped their phone. Maybe they were a lot nervous.

Chapter Text

“Hey Mikey.” Gee said. Xe was sitting on one of the desks near the front of the classroom, and Mr. Armstrong was at his desk, looking at some papers. He looked up when Mikey came in. “Glad to see you remembered.”

“Yeah.” Mikey said, and set their backpack down beside Gee. “This is my sibling, Gee. I don’t know if xe introduced xemself yet.”

“Xe did.” Mr. Armstrong said, setting down the papers that Mikey recognised as the quiz they had taken the previous day. Mikey smiled to themselves; at least they weren’t the only one who procrastinated on their work. They crossed over to sit next to Gee, and Mr. Armstrong sat back in his chair. “Just so you two know, I’m not just an overly friendly ally. I’m bisexual, and even though I’m married to a woman, that doesn’t mean I’m any less valid.”

Gee’s eyes widened. “Oh, wow. I didn’t know there were any LGBT teachers here!”

“Now you know,” Mr. Armstrong said. “Just don’t make a big deal about it. You wouldn’t out me if I was one of your friends, so don’t out me just because you’re excited to have a not straight teacher.”

“Can we tell other people in the GSA?” Mikey asked. Mr. Armstrong shook his head. “I’d prefer if you didn’t. The staff here don’t know about my sexuality, and I’d rather not risk losing my job. I trust the two of you, however.”

And that was the end of that conversation, because Frank walked through the door then, holding a saxophone case and a guitar case. His backpack was falling off of his shoulders, and he was still wearing about six layers of clothing. He jerked his chin up in greeting, and then carefully dropped his things in the nearest chair. It was the first time Mikey had ever seen Frank willingly sit near the front of a classroom. Mikey figured that this was different, since it was a gay thing, and Frank probably cared about this class more than he did his others.

“Hey Mikey, Mr. Armstrong.” Frank said. He didn’t take off any jackets. He looked past Mikey, to where Gee was sitting, xer posture as horrible as always. His eyes widened slightly. “Oh, you’re Gee, right? You look kinda like Mikey.”

“Thanks, most people say we don’t look alike at all.” Gee said. “But yeah, I’m their older sibling.”

“Your eyeliner is really nice.” Frank said. Mikey raised an eyebrow and leaned back so they could see Gee’s reaction. Gee stared at Frank for about three seconds before blurting out, “thanks but I already have a girlfriend.”

“What?” Frank said. Gee buried their face in their hands. “Oh my God I’m an embarrassment. You already knew that, you’re in the fucking group chat.”

“Gee, language.” Mikey said, not because they cared but because Mr. Armstrong was right there . He shrugged, though. “I don’t care about language outside of class.”

“Oh, can I say fuck then?” Frank looked way too excited. Mr. Armstrong nodded. Frank fist-pumped the air and let out a triumphant fuck yeah. At that exact moment, four other kids walked in. They all gave Frank a weird look. The one in the front had bright pink hair, and was wearing what looked like a homemade sweatshirt with a weird looking bat sewn on the front of it. The other three consisted of a chubby kid in a baseball cap that said “I heart Bingo,” one with bleached blonde hair who looked bored, and one with long reddish hair and glasses. The glasses kid also had some intense arm muscles going on. They were an odd looking group.

Pink haired kid looked straight at Mikey and asked, “Hey, is this the GSA thing?”

“Yep. We’ll be starting in about ten minutes, if you four want to grab some seats.” Mr. Armstrong said.

Ray and Lindsey came in a little after that, and introduced themselves to Frank. Frank apologised to Lindsey for accidentally flirting with her date person, and Gee smacked Frank on the arm before telling him to fuck off. Lindsey just raised an eyebrow and didn’t ask. Mikey figured she’d text them about it later.

Spencer came in while everyone was gathering desks to make a semblance of a circle and stood nervously in the doorway until Mr. Armstrong took notice of him. “Are you here for the GSA meeting?”

“Um, I think?” Spencer said. “Is Dallon here?”

“Dallon said he’d be here.” Mikey said, not sure if Spencer heard them or not. “I’m Mikey, I sit next to Dallon in drama?”

“Oh, yeah, they talked about you.” Spencer said, and immediately gravitated over to sit next to Mikey. Mikey made a mental note to start referring to Dallon with they/them pronouns, and wondered why Dallon hadn’t bothered to correct Mikey when they’d referred to Dallon with he/him in previous conversations.

Once everyone had a desk (and most people were just sitting on their desks), Mr. Armstrong crossed his feet at the ankles and said, “Welcome to the first ever GSA meeting. Officially, I’m the sponsor and I should be in control of what you guys do, but so long as it’s not too illegal, I trust you all to make the decisions. I’m also not going to control what topics we discuss here, and instead let one of the self-appointed presidents direct the flow of conversation. Mikey, Ray, if one of you want to start the meeting?”

Mikey looked at Ray, who nodded. Mikey loved Ray. Ray would save them from any social situation, and was therefore Mikey’s best friend.

Ray waved to the handful of kids. “Hi, I’m Ray. I’m one of the leaders here, but I’m more of a mom friend than a leader. Um, I guess we’ll start with introductions and pronouns. If you don’t want to say something, you can just pass. I don’t want anyone to be uncomfortable.

“I’m Ray, I’m bisexual, and right now I’m using he/him/his pronouns, but I’m starting to question my gender so that might change.” Ray said. He turned to Frank, who was on his left. Frank coughed and then spoke, looking more nervous than he did when he spoke up in class (which he did often). “Frank, I’m bisexual too, and I use he/him. Because I’m a guy and I’ll fight you if you misgender me.”

“I’m Joe, I’m pretty gay, and I’m cool with they or he or whatever. Gender’s not really high on my priority list, you know?” (Blonde, bored looking guy)

“Pete. I use whatever pronouns but right now I’ve got a preference for she/her. I’m super trans, and I don’t know what my sexuality is but it’s probably not straight.” (The one with pink hair, who smiled really big when she talked)

“Um, I’m Patrick, and actually Andy,” The one in the Bingo hat (Patrick) motioned to the red-haired person beside them, “is probably the most trans of the four of us. I’m into guys and masculine people, and I guess I use he/him? I’ve never really thought about gender and stuff before.”

“I’m Andy, I’m aroace, and I use he/him. I can probably bench most of you.” (Red hair and glasses)

“I’m Mr. Armstrong, but you can all call me Billie Joe while we’re here. I use he/him pronouns.” Mr. Armstrong said, purposely not stating his sexuality. Mikey was okay with that. They’d seen what coming out too early could do to someone. Gee and them were lucky that they hadn’t been kicked out of their house because of their gender and sexuality.

“I’m Spencer, and I use he and him. I don’t know what my sexuality is, and my friend Dallon suggested I join this.” Spencer said. “So, hi.”

“I’m Mikey, I’m the other president, I use they/them, and I mostly like girls.”

“I’m Gee. I’m Mikey’s older sibling and I use xe/xem/xer. I’m pansexual and dating Lindsey.” Gee said, leaning into her as xe spoke. “We’re in lesbians together.”

“And I’m Lindsey. I use she/her pronouns and I’m really gay.” Lindsey said. When she had finished, Ray leaned forward to look at Mikey. Mikey shrugged, because they were good at getting people to show up (apparently), but they didn’t really know how to run a meeting. They let Ray take charge, and Ray did pretty well. He kept it casual, letting people just vent and get to know each other, and at the end of the meeting, they all exchanged contact information and Ray told everyone about the kik group chat.

“It can function as a safe space, I guess, for us to get to know each other outside of GSA.” Ray said. He turned to Mr. Armstrong. “I don’t know if you’re allowed to join, but we could set up an email system too, to keep it kosher?”

“Sure. You can use my school email for that, since some of you are in my class.” Mr. Armstrong said. Ray got Mr. Armstrong’s email, and then dismissed the meeting altogether. As people started filing out, Mikey pulled out their phone to check and see if they had gotten any messages. There were none from Dallon, which concerned them.

-private message to dadtree -

mieky : hey u weren’t at the gsa meeting r u alive

dadtree : I’m sorry, I had a thing come up. It was urgent and I didn’t see it coming at all.

dadtree : Was Spencer there?

mieky : yeah he seemed a lil uncomfortable but everyone did 2 since it was the first meeting and everything.

dadtree : I should probably apologise to him for that…

mieky : yea

mieky : do u want me to add u to the gsa group chat or do u wanna come to a meeting first

dadtree : I think I should wait until I’ve actually been to a meeting. I don’t want anyone to think I’m getting special treatment.

mieky : cool

mieky : g and ray finished with meeting shit i g2g

mieky : good luck with whatever u were working on

“Mikey, are you updating twitter again?” Gee asked as xe grabbed xer art portfolio. Mikey rolled their eyes. “No, actually, I was asking Dallon where they were.”

“Wait, Spencer’s mystery friend?” Ray appeared over Gee’s shoulder. “You know them?”

“Yeah, we’re in drama together. Apparently something urgent came up and Dallon couldn’t make it.” Mikey said, and shrugged, opening up twitter because they needed to update their status now that they had survived their first GSA meeting. “I’ll probably mention it to Spencer later, once the groupchat gets updated.”

“Okay.” Ray said. “I should probably head home. I’ll see you guys tomorrow and I’ll add everyone into the group chat tonight.”

“Thanks Ray.” Mikey said. They said goodbye to Mr. Armstrong as well, who had returned to reading over the papers from earlier, and then followed Gee out. They changed into Gee’s clothes in the back of the car, and Gee changed into Mikey’s clothes and removed their makeup. Xe drove them home in companionable silence, with the playlist Lindsey had made for Gee blaring from the radio. Mikey opened up their phone and returned to twitter.

mkwy @mikey_wavy

gay club is a go! also s.o. to @pwheezie i hope ur coming out went well

Mikey didn’t usually do shout outs. They figured that they could make an exception for today. After all, they’d just discovered that their friends weren’t the only gay kids in school, and that a gay club might actually work. They were about to put their phone back in their pocket when it buzzed from a twitter notification.

t(-.-t) responded to your tweet:

@mikey_wavy : it did! they all accepted me and one of them came out as well. thanks for checking in hon <3

And in that moment, Mikey was pretty sure they died of happiness.

Chapter Text

morethanafro : why is the chat named NONW who did this

mieky : twas me

morethanafro : why

mieky : gee made a typo and as xer younger sibling i gotta make fun of it

morethanafro : so i’m gonna change that before adding in a bunch of people who we don’t know very well….

- morethanafro changed the name of the group to welcome to gay town -

mieky : u r such a bore

morethanafro : ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

mieky : wow ray way to mom

morethanafro : i am best mom

- morethanafro added p_wheezie , hatrick , joetrohfro , hurleyxvx , and spooncer to the chat-

mieky : welcome to the gay club group chat prepare for memes

joetrohfro : sick

joetrohfro : pete is the meme queen

p_wheezie : *finger guns* yep

Mikey stared at their phone. What the fuck . Was Pete, the weird pink haired girl from gay club also @pwheezie, the girl that Mikey was crushing on via twitter? That would be fucking weird. Mikey figured it was just a coincidence, and that they would never mention it to Pete in case she was @pwheezie. Mikey didn’t want to seem creepy. There was also pretty much no chance that @pwheezie or Pete liked Mikey back. It would be best, for everyone involved, if Mikey just ignored the similarity.

frnkiero_andthe_dogs : pete not to be gay but i will fight you

p_wheezie : how the fuck was that gay all i did was finger guns

hatrick : pete everything u do is gay

p_wheezie : no everything i do is trans

p_wheezie : everything u do is gay

hatrick : eat my entire ass

p_wheezie : ;)

mieky : u are gross i’m not even 14 yet

mieky : i am a child

hatrick : wait how are you in high school if ur 13??

mieky : my birthday’s by the cutoff also i’m “gifted”

hatrick : oh so you peaked early

hatrick : same tbh

hurleyxvx : no patrick ur still peaking

p_wheezie : TRU

p_wheezie : this ass is owned by one patrick stumpth

hatrick : pete please spell my last name right for once in ur life

p_wheezie : no

frnkiero_andthe_dogs : patrick we should start a hard to spell last name club

hatrick : YES

hatrick : wait whats urs

frnkiero_andthe_dogs : iero it’s italian and no one can say it

morethanafro : oreo

frnkiero_andthe_dogs : ray i will shave ur fucking head

frnkiero_andthe_dogs : and ur pubes

morethanafro : please do not

mieky : I AM STILL A CHILD

frnkiero_andthe_dogs : p u b e s

mieky : blocked

mieky : reported

mieky : removed from the group

joetrohfro : nope we’re keeping frankie

frnkiero_andthe_dogs : thanks but pls don’t call me frankie

joetrohfro : sorry dude

joetrohfro : it’s not close to the Dead Name™ is it???

frnkiero_andthe_dogs : nah i just don’t like people calling me by nicknames unless we’re dating

joetrohfro : got it. no nicknames for the frank

There was a knock at their door and Mikey locked and dropped their phone to their desk before they registered what they were doing. It was a result of years of strict, overbearing parents who didn’t give any warning before coming into Mikey’s room. Mikey picked their pencil off the desk to make it look like they’d actually been working on their math before turning around to see who had come in. It was their mom.

“Did I interrupt your homework?” She asked. Mikey shook their head. “I was almost done. What’s up?”

“Your dad and I need to talk to you and Gerard for a moment. Would you mind coming down to the kitchen, please?” She asked. Immediately, Mikey thought of all the not parental approved things they’d done in the past few weeks of school, trying to figure out what they and Gee were in trouble for now. They hoped that their parents hadn’t caught on to the clothes swapping thing. Mikey and Gee had been working really hard to hide that from their parents, and it would suck if they found out.

They followed their mom downstairs anyway. Gee and their dad were already sitting at the kitchen table, and Gee had a mug of coffee in xer hands. Xe looked up at Mikey, and there was an unspoken treaty made between the two siblings. Neither one would rat the other one out, and they wouldn’t say anything that could get themselves or the other in trouble. It was a sibling thing, and it usually stood, but it was important to be reminded that neither of them were on their own.

Once Mikey was sitting down across the table from Gee, Gee turned to xer dad and asked, “what happened?”

“It’s your grandma.” Their mom said. Mikey felt relief that they and Gee weren’t in trouble, and then anger at themselves because they were relief, and then panic because what the fuck happened to Grandma? Mikey bit at their fingernail. “Is she okay?”

“She is, but now that your grandpa is gone, and she’s getting older, your father and I don’t feel comfortable leaving her alone in that house.” Mikey’s mom said. “We don’t want to put her in a home, either, because she wouldn’t stand for that, so she’s going to be moving in with us this fall.”

“That means the two of you will have to share a room.” Their dad said, looking between them for some kind of reaction. “We still need the guest room for when other family members come visit, and we don’t want to make Elena feel like she’s a guest. So, because your room is harder to access, Mikey’ll be moving in with you, Gerard.”

“Are you two okay with that?” Their mom asked. “I know that Gerard’s your older brother, but you two get along well even though you’re opposite genders.”

Mikey and Gee looked at each other like they were both on an episode of The Office . Mikey turned back to their mom first. “Yeah, I’m cool with it. When am I moving in?”

“Well, your birthday is this weekend, so probably the weekend after it.” Their mom said. “Mom won’t be moving in until Thanksgiving break, but I want you to get comfortable sharing a room before she does.”

Mikey nodded. “Okay. Can I go back up to my room now? I still have some homework.”

Chapter Text

Mikey’s birthday was tomorrow. They were turning fourteen and so far the only people who knew were Gee, Lindsey, and Ray, and that was because they had known Mikey for more than a year. Mikey didn’t really like celebrating their birthday, because they didn’t like being in the spotlight, and also because they didn’t have many friends.

They got in the front seat beside Gee, pulling down their oversized short shorts before pulling out their phone.

mieky : good morning you gay fucks

spooncer : don’t be rude

mieky : fight me

p_wheezie : guys don’t fight then we’ll have to cancel gay club

zoid : U CAN’T CANCEL GAY CLUB

zoid : illegal

p_wheezie : i like that you removed capslock to say illegal

zoid : it’s for the aesthetic tbh

zoid : hey mikey tell your sibling to check xer phone whenever xe can

mieky : why

zoid : i sent nudes

zoid : no actually i just texted xem something important and i want to make sure xe actually reads it

mieky : sure

Mikey looked up from their phone. “Gee, Lindsey said to check your messages.”

“Doesn’t she know that I’m driving?”

“Yeah, but she said to check whenever you stop driving.” Mikey said. Gee made a face as xe continued to focus on the road, the early morning sun glaring up at the two siblings over the horizon. Mikey shrugged, squinting at the sun and then going back to their phone. “I don’t know. It’s probably lesbian code for something.”

“I don’t know lesbian code, though.” Gee said worriedly. Mikey shrugged again. They had no other advice to offer. “I don’t either. I’m not a lesbian.”

“Thanks, Mikey.” Gee said, xer voice dripping with sarcasm. “Whatever would I do without you?”

“Your best.” Mikey said.

mieky : i told xem

mieky : xe is also being an overdramatic shit and for once i want to get to school

morethanafro : wait seriously

mieky : no.

mieky : i love myself

p_wheezie : the only days i look forward to are the ones where i have class with patrick

hatrick : pete i just woke up and am on a bus with 40+ loud ass mother fuckers i do not have time for your shit

p_wheezie : why don’t you love me

hatrick : because you’re annoying

zoid : gay?

zoid : idk either of you guys’ genders atm

p_wheezie : patrick is the Most Gay™

mieky : then they’ll fit right in

- p_wheezie changed the name of the group to patrick is the Most Gay™ and i love him for it -

hatrick : disgusting

hatrick : i’m blocking you from my life

p_wheezie : how could you i’m the mother to your child

hatrick : no that’s joe

“Mikey, we’re here, get off your phone.” Gee said, grabbing Mikey’s arm and dragging them to the backseat. Gee had good reason to be frantic; they were running late and neither of them wanted to get in trouble for unintentionally missing class. Their parents were too observant, and would know that something was up. Their mom might even start making them ride the bus, which was the worst thing that could happen to an openly gay high school kid.

Mikey changed quickly, fixing their hair in the car mirror while Gee applied lipgloss. Xe waved them off, telling Mikey to get to homeroom and not worry about xem. Mikey bit at their fingernail, but grabbed their bag and left anyway. Before they closed the car door, they called out, “don’t forget to text Lindsey!”

“I won’t, Mikes.” Gee said, and waved their hand at Mikey again. Mikey slipped off, half running across the parking lot.

They were fumbling to detangle their earbuds when they heard a familiar voice call their name. Because they were an idiot, they stopped in the middle of the parking lot, pushed their glasses up their nose, and looked around. They couldn’t see anyone that they knew, mainly because they didn’t know many people, but also because most everyone had already gone inside.

“Mikey!” The voice called again, and then Mikey heard someone running and froze even more before coming face to face with Dallon. Dallon, who was smiling. Mikey stared up at Dallon, squinting because their glasses had fallen down their nose and Dallon was just that fucking tall. “Hey. What’s up?”

“I’m dating Spencer.” Dallon said. Mikey didn’t see that coming, but if it made Dallon happy, then Mikey supposed that they were cool with it. “When did that happen?”

“Last night.” Dallon said. “He's still trying to figure out his sexuality and everything, but he told me that he liked me and we agreed to try the whole dating thing.”

Mikey and Dallon had started walking towards the school as Dallon explained their new relationship with Spencer. Apparently the two were hoping to keep their relationship private, partially because Dallon didn't want to start any more drama with Brendon, and partially because Spencer wasn't out as whatever his sexuality was yet and Dallon wasn't really out as trans. Mikey got to know about it because Mikey was quiet and Dallon figured they wouldn't mention it to anyone without getting the okay from both Dallon and Spencer.

When the two got into school, they split, Mikey promising Dallon to text them about it once they got into class. This whole Spencer-Dallon-Brendon thing was really interesting. Mikey was beginning to understand why Lindsey cared about school gossip so much. It was a constant stream of entertainment.

-private message from dadtree -

dadtree : This is going to sound bad but I think I still like Bren. I definitely like Spencer, though, but I don't want him to get the wrong idea about me and Brendon.

mieky : idk spencer v well but he doesn't seem like a jealous person

mieky : also weren't spencer and brendon a thing at one point????

dadtree : I don't know. If they were, it was when Brendon and I weren't talking.

mieky : tbh i’d mention it to spencer don't give him the wrong idea

mieky : i mean don't let him think you'd cheat on him but also don't lie to him abt u and brendon and anything u 2 ever were

“Mikey, I know that no one actually cares about Christopher Columbus, but there is going to be a test in two weeks so you need to pretend that you do.” Mr. Armstrong said. It didn't matter that he was standing at the front of the classroom and Mikey was all the way in the back, with their iPod touch carefully hidden behind the person in front of them’s back. Mr. Armstrong was a teacher and apparently teachers could see everything. Mikey locked their phone and prepared to hand it over.

“You don't need to give me your phone since this is the first time I called you out on it.” Mr. Armstrong said. “Just put it away and pay attention. And get any notes you missed from Frank, since there really is a test two Friday's from now.”

Chapter Text

“Hey, can we sit with you guys?” Mikey and Frank looked up from their lunches (Mikey's was cafeteria food and Frank's was some weird vegan thing and a cup of dry cereal) to see Pete and Andy standing above them. Mikey looked to Frank, who shrugged. Frank was doing his whole cool punk thing again, where he pretended like he wasn't an excitable small dude and instead a hardcore punk who didn't care about anything.

“Uh, yeah, I guess.” Mikey said, and Pete sat down in the seat beside them. Andy rolled his eyes and sat next to Frank. Mikey picked at their pinky nail. “Why do you guys want to sit with us?”

“Because Patrick's sick and Joe has a dentist’s appointment today.” Pete said, biting into her pizza like she actually enjoyed it. “Also, we wanted to sit with you guys because then we can all be gay together. I won't be gay, because I'm just trans, but Andy and Joe and Patrick can all be gay.”

“Cool.” Frank said. “Why are you eating that pizza?”

“Because I fucking love pizza and it's the best thing they serve here.” Pete said, while chewing pizza. Frank frowned. “You're weird.”

“Have you ever even tried the pizza here?” Pete asked, and then reached over and stole a carrot from Frank. Frank slammed his hand down over Pete's and glared up at her. “I'm lactose intolerant. Let go of my carrot.”

Pete let go of the carrot but it fell on the table. Frank frowned at the carrot. Pete retracted her hand before Frank could do anything about his fallen carrot, and she nudged Mikey with her leg. “So, you must be a freshman.”

“Why?” Mikey narrowed their eyes.

“Because you got something other than pizza.” Pete said. “Look, Mikey, it doesn't take people that long to figure out that the only good thing they serve here is the pizza, and even that's kind of shitty. I was once an innocent freshman like you, who thought that I could find solace in variety, and potentially have a healthy lunch, but I soon learned. There is no hope for students here, other than greasy, cardboard tasting pizza.”

“Stop trying to make pizza poetic.” Andy said. His voice was quieter than Mikey remembered from gay club. Pete looked fake offended (Mikey was beginning to think that she was a really bad actress in general), and let out a gasp. “Andrew, how could you. I make everything poetic. I’ll even make Mikey poetic.”

Frank sputtered out a laugh, and then started coughing and Mikey handed him their milk carton before remembering that Frank was lactose intolerant and drinking milk would only make the situation worse. Instead, they handed Frank his water bottle, and got a strangled “thank you” in response. Frank coughed and sipped from his water bottle for a minute while the other three just stared at him. When he was done almost dying, Frank raised his eyebrow (still perfectly styled) at them all. “What, can’t a guy choke on air in peace? I’ve got more illnesses going on in me than you have toes. Probably. Unless someone here has a few extra toes I don’t know about.”

“Nah, I’ve got ten.” Pete said. “I’m just average.”

“Your hair says otherwise.” Mikey said. Pete smiled down at them. “You like my hair?”

Mikey blinked. “I never said that.”

“Yeah, they didn’t say they liked your hair, just that it wasn’t average .” Frank said. “Mikey could’ve just meant that your hair was fucking terrible.”

“You’re such an asshole.” Pete pouted. “Is this because I ruined your carrot?”

Frank narrowed his eyes, and said with such seriousness that Mikey knew he was lying, “yes.”

“You’re all trainwrecks.” Andy said. Mikey shrugged in agreement. They were a trainwreck, and they weren’t even fourteen yet. They’d be fourteen tomorrow, but for now they were a small child who was too young to already be a trainwreck.

The bell rang, signalling the end of lunch, and everyone packed up to head to their next classes. Pete and Mikey ended up going in the same direction, with Pete walking surprisingly fast for someone who was shorter than Mikey. Mikey knew they were tall, and still getting taller much to their mother’s surprise, but they weren’t that tall. They didn’t walk slowly, either, but Pete was making them have to quicken their pace just to keep up with her. It was kind of ridiculous.

“So are you scheduled for fall or spring gym class?” Pete said, waving at someone Mikey didn’t see. Mikey had no idea how Pete was friends with all these people. She was kind of weird. “Um, spring? I’m not looking forward to it… I’m only good at kickball and that’s just because I’m about ninety-two percent leg.”

“I’m great at kickball because I play soccer with Andy.” Pete said. “Well, not with Andy, since he’s still being forced to play on the girl’s team, but we both play for the school. And Andy can totally kick my ass. The school needs to hurry the fuck up and get over themselves and let Andy on the guys team where he belongs, because if Andy’s on the team, we might actually win a game.”

“Right.” Mikey said. Pete grinned, and waved to someone else. Again, how the fuck was she popular? It had to be the athletic thing. Also, she talked more than anyone Mikey knew, and Mikey was Gee’s younger sibling.

“So, do you want to go to a game?” Pete asked. “There’s one next Thursday, and it would be really cool to see you there, you know? Since Joe and Andy are fake friends and are going to go see Patrick’s jazz band recital instead. Even though they could totally make both. The game starts an hour after school and Patrick’s thing isn’t until eight; there’s totally enough time for Andy and Joe to go home and change.”

“Are you going to Patrick’s jazz thing?” Mikey asked. Pete nodded. They were standing outside of Mikey’s class. There were two minutes before it started. Mikey needed to get in there, because they didn’t want to be late or get stared at as they walked in seconds before the bell.

“Yeah! I’m bringing a change of clothes and everything.” Pete said. She didn’t look like she was in a hurry to get to her next class at all. “I’m even gonna bring shampoo, so that I don’t smell like shit while I’m sitting around a bunch of fancy schmancy jazz fuckers. You can borrow my shampoo, if you want. It’s fruit scented.”

“Do I need it?” Mikey said, reaching up to touch their hair. It felt a little greasy, but not horrifically so. They’d shower tonight, or maybe tomorrow afternoon, since it was Saturday and they weren’t going to be doing anything otherwise.

“No, no, not like that. Just… sometimes it gets hot out in the stands, especially early in the season, and if you wanted to shower before the jazz thing I could totally let you into the locker rooms.” Pete said. “Hell, I’d even stand guard so no one could harass you while you showered. I’m the best girl friend you’ll ever have, Mikey, and I’m not even a girl all the time.”

“Um.” Mikey said, and then the last minute rush to class started and their anxiety hit the roof. They needed to get inside the classroom now , or they would probably die. Pete seemed to realise this, and so she patted Mikey on the head and said, “I’ll see you Monday, and Thursday, Mikeyway.”

She turned and disappeared into the crowd, because she was small enough to do that. Mikey bolted into their spanish class, keeping their head low and not making eye contact with anyone. They had every intention of not paying attention, because they needed a distraction and they didn’t understand enough Spanish to be successfully distracted.

- hurleyxvx changed the name of the group to trainwreck central -

joetrohfro : what

joetrohfro : andy why

hurleyxvx : it was a lunch joke

p_wheezie : u would know that if u weren’t skipping class

joetrohfro : i had a dentist appointment let me live

p_wheezie : that’s just an excuse 4 u to leave school early joseph we see through all ur filthy lies

frnkiero_andthe_dogs : hey i’m in the nurses office how bad would it be if i went through the files and stole some Drugs

hurleyxvx : frank those aren’t real drugs

joetrohfro : do it frnk

frnkiero_andthe_dogs : okay cool

frnkiero_andthe_dogs : nvm i tried moving and almost passed out. no drugs for us tonight boiz (and pete, whatever the fuck u r)

p_wheezie : if i apologise for the carrots will u stop being mean to me

frnkiero_andthe_dogs : no

p_wheezie : well fuck you then

p_wheezie : andy kick his ass

hurleyxvx : can’t he’s a fellow vegan

p_wheezie : HE’S LACTOSE INTOLERANT HE DOESN’T COUNT

frnkiero_andthe_dogs : i didn’t choose the vegan life, the vegan life chose me

zoid : dollar in the jar

frnkiero_andthe_dogs : what the fuck?????????

joetrohfro : same dude. i’m never missing school ever again… i’m too far behind in this friend group/clusterfuck

zoid : basically we have our version of a swear jar but it’s for whenever someone makes a shitty pun or references a Really Bad Meme™

frnkiero_andthe_dogs : wait who has the jar

zoid : me

zoid : because until you commit a sin u keep the jar

zoid : i’ve been sin free since june frank get on my level

frnkiero_andthe_dogs : wait how do i know if it’s bad or not??

zoid : u don’t

zoid : but if someone calls u out on it u owe a dollar

frnkiero_andthe_dogs : that’s a shitty system

joetrohfro : no i like it

joetrohfro : what happens to the money in the jar?

zoid : every few months we get together and decide if anyone needs anything and then we count the money and see if we can get the thing

zoid : it’s also sometimes used for birthdays but not all the time since me, gee, and ray have birthdays within a few months of each other and we don’t always sin hard

p_wheezie : shit man i’m gonna go broke

p_wheezie : my entire personality is bad memes

zoid : well then you’re exactly what we need

zoid : because people are sinning less and less and it’s looking like me and gee are going to have to get real jobs if we want to achieve the art hoe lesbian aesthetic dream

p_wheezie : i wish u 2 the best and i promise to sin all the time

Chapter Text

-private chat with dadtree -

mieky : hey can i get a favour

dadtree : That depends on what you’re asking me.

mieky : can u come to a soccer game with me?

dadtree : Why?

mieky : i accidentally agreed to go to one but i’ve never been to a soccer game before and i’m afraid to go alone

mieky : also i have no transportation

mieky : u can bring spencer if u wanna

dadtree : Sure. Spencer has a car, he can drive us both.

dadtree : I’ll just need to make sure I’m not working that day. When is the accidental soccer game?

mieky : thursday an hour after school

mieky : so i don’t need a ride there just a ride home

dadtree : I think Spencer and I can do that. Are we going to just hang out after school until it starts?

mieky : i guess????? i mean we could go off campus but idk what we’d do

dadtree : We’ll just hang out in the drama room; there’s always something to do there.

mieky : k thanks

mieky : now i just have to convince g to leave me alone with ppl xe doesn't know :///////

dadtree : Good luck, Mikey.

Mikey dropped their phone down onto their chest, laying in bend and staring up at the ceiling of their bedroom. It was their birthday, officially, and they'd woken up far too early. It wasn't even nine in the morning, and already they'd been socialising. (They considered texting Dallon to be socialising, because they didn't talk to people a lot and so any kind of conversation counted).

“Mikey, honey, are you up yet?” Mikey's mom called out, knocking on their door. Mikey rolled their eyes and grabbed their glasses from the side table. They put them on and sat up, running their hands through their hair to try and fix it somehow. “Yeah, I'm awake.”

Their mom opened the door. Almost like she didn't need permission to come in, which was total bullshit because Mikey could have been naked (they would never) or they could have had someone in the room (probably a girl, but also probably no one at all), and that would have been a not fun conversation to have.

“Breakfast is ready, honey. Please come down after you do something with your hair.” Their mom said. “Be quick about it, though. I don't want the food to get cold.”

“Okay mom.” Mikey said, and then their mom left, leaving the door open in typical mom fashion. Mikey grabbed their hairbrush from the floor and headed to the hall bathroom, running the brush through their hair and wincing every time it caught on a knot. They needed to do something with their hair, because this, whatever it was, wasn't working.

They headed downstairs, smelling pancakes and bacon and internally groaning because their mom never cooked real breakfasts unless she thought it was a special occasion. And sure, in theory Mikey's birthday was a special occasion, but they didn't care about it that much and they didn't want anyone (but especially their parents) to make a big deal out of it. They knew there was no way to avoid it, and at least they'd be getting bacon out of the whole ordeal.

“Happy birthday Mikey!” Their mom, dad, and Gee all chorused as Mikey entered the room. Mikey tried to make eye contact with Gee to tell xem that they didn’t appreciate Gee siding with the parents on this one, but Gee wasn’t getting the message.

Mikey suffered through breakfast, and then escaped downstairs to steal Gee’s hair straightener and see if they could do anything with it to fix their hair. They also retrieved a clean smelling (and looking) sports bra from the floor, because the one they were currently wearing needed to get washed, and a change of clothes that weren’t pajamas.

mkwy @mikey_wavy

birthdays are ew

t(-.-t) responded to your tweet:

@mikey_wavy : why??? tbh i think they’re the Best bc friends

mkwy @mikey_wavy

@pwheezie : i’m not an attention whore irl #funfact (also sorry 4 using whore)

t(-.-t) responded to your tweet:

@mikey_wavy : its fine!! happy birthday u attention prude (idk if that’s the right word???????)

Mikey smiled down at their phone, and then almost burned themselves with Gee’s straightener because they weren’t paying enough attention to what they were supposed to be doing. Their crush on @pwheezie was getting worse, and they knew they needed to get it under control because they didn’t know @pwheezie in real life, and whoever she was, she probably wasn’t interested in a thirteen--no, fourteen, not that it made much difference--year old kid.

They put their phone down and finished straightening their hair. Before they could even unplug the straightener, Gee appeared in the the bathroom doorway with a tank top and skirt. “Hey, Mikey, put these on.”

Mikey narrowed their eyes. “Why?”

“Because I don’t wanna stay in the house all day but I don’t want to wear guy clothes so I’m dragging you with me.” Gee said, dangling the clothes in front of Mikey. “Please, it’ll be fun I promise. I’ll take you to Starbucks and get you whatever coffee you want. Please .”

Mikey rolled their eyes. “Fine. Just wear something cool. If I have to leave the house I want to look like I meant to leave the house.”

“I love you.” Gee said, and handed Mikey the clothes. Mikey closed the bathroom door and changed as quickly as they could, then returned to their hair. The straightening had helped, except now their hair was longer than usual, and they looked feminine. Mikey frowned at their reflection in the mirror. They grabbed a bottle of hairspray from the counter, having no idea how old it was or if it would even work, and pulled their bangs away from their face, spraying them down in place. They looked better now, less like a girl, and hopefully their hair would stay the way it was once they changed clothes with Gee.

“Gee, I'm ready!” They called down the basement stairs. Their mom was in the living room, and leaned forward. “Where are you two going?”

“Gee wanted Starbucks, and wanted me to come with.” Mikey said. Their mother made a face. “He's not going to buy you coffee, is he? You know you're not allowed to have coffee until you're sixteen. It's bad for your health.”

“I won't have any coffee, mom.” Mikey said, already planning out their Starbucks order in their head. If this was the kind of birthday they were going to have, they were cool with it. Coffee with Gee, away from their parents, sounded like the ideal.

“Good.” Mikey's mom nodded, and turned back to what she was doing. Mikey still hadn't heard back from Gee, so they headed down to the basement themselves, knocking on Gee’s door and waiting for a response because they were a good person and respected their sibling's privacy. “Gee, come on, it's almost noon. Let's goooo .”

“Hold on!” Gee hollered back. Mikey rolled their eyes and started knocking on the door repeatedly, because they were an annoying younger sibling and they were doing their job. Gee yelled at them to fuck off. It wasn't very loud, because xe knew that xer mom was upstairs and could possibly hear xem.

Gee opened the door and Mikey almost punched xem in the face. Xe narrowed xer eyes. “Real mature, Mikey.”

“Let me live.” Mikey said. “Can we go now?”

“Uh, yeah, but I need to tell you something before we do.” Gee said, a blush crossing xer face. Mikey raised an eyebrow, waiting it out. Gee looked over xer shoulder, into xer darkened basement bedroom. “Uh, Lindsey's kind of in here. So, we're gonna go out through the basement door, if that's cool with you.”

Mikey stared at their sibling. “Wait, Lindsey? Your girlfriend?”

“Yeah?”

“How long has she been down here?” Mikey asked, concerned because, well, their parents were literally upstairs and had made Mikey a birthday breakfast. Had Lindsey spent the night, and just hung out down in Gee’s room while xe was eating breakfast with everyone else?

“She showed up after breakfast, don’t worry.” Gee said. “We haven’t been down here alone for too long, but still. We’re going to Starbucks and you’re getting illegal coffee. Don’t tell mom and dad that I had my girlfriend over.”

“Do mom and dad even know that you and Lindsey are dating?” Mikey asked, and came into Gee’s room. Lindsey looked up from where she was flipping through Gee’s sketchbook on xer bed, the Star Wars blanket wrapped around her. She narrowed her eyes at Gee, who was standing behind Mikey because xe had just closed the door. “Babe, I’m still not wearing pants.”

“Oh shit.” Gee said. “I thought you were putting them on while I was talking to Mikey.”

“I meant to, but then I got distracted by your art.” Lindsey said. Her mouth pulled back in a little smirk, and Mikey felt like they were third wheeling. “And your ass. They’re both very nice.”

“Please stop being gross in front of me. I’m still a child.” Mikey said, covering their eyes. “And please put pants or whatever on so that this can stop being weird and we can get some fucking coffee.”

“Shhh, calm down Mikes.” Lindsey said. Mikey still had their hands over their eyes, and could hear the sound of fabric moving as Lindsey searched for her pants. They waited until Lindsey said she was covered before removing their hands. Gee was red in the face and looking at the ceiling like it held the answers to xer next art project, and Lindsey was holding back laughter. Mikey sighed. “Can we please go get illegal coffee now?”

“Let’s go get coffee.” Gee said, still staring at the ceiling.

“You two could change clothes, if we’re sneaking out through the garage.” Lindsey offered. Gee and Mikey looked at each other, trying to decide if it was worth the risk. On one hand, Mikey would get out of this fucking skirt faster (they hated skirts, they were so awkward to wear), but on the other hand, Gee’s car was parked in the driveway and there was always the chance that their mom would look out the window while they were headed towards the car and see Gee in a skirt and Mikey in what were supposed to be Gee’s clothes. And Lindsey. She’d also see Lindsey, who hadn’t been there before, and she’d start asking questions.

And then there was the question of how they would sneak in when they got back. Mikey shook their head at the same time as Gee. Gee said, “nah, we don’t want to risk it. Me and Mikey can change at Starbucks.”

“Okay, but I call shotgun.” Lindsey said. Mikey frowned. “It’s my fucking birthday, and my sibling’s car, you don’t get to call shotgun.”

“Oh, so now you pull the birthday card.” Gee rolled xer eyes. “Fine, Mikey, you can have shotgun. Sorry Linds. I love you though.”

“I love you too. Let’s get Starbucks.” Lindsey said. Gee grabbed xer sunglasses, wallet, keys, and phone and lead Mikey and Lindsey to the car, careful to make sure that xer mom wasn’t watching them leave. She wasn’t, and the three got away without a problem. Gee and Mikey high-fived because they were nerds, and Mikey turned around and gave Lindsey a high five as well, since Gee was driving and probably shouldn’t be high fiving xer girlfriend at the same time.

They pulled into Starbucks. Gee handed Lindsey a ten dollar bill and told her what xe wanted. Mikey did the same, and then got pulled to the bathrooms in the back. The bathrooms were unisex because this Starbucks was progressive, and there were two of them. Gee found the one that was empty and pulled Mikey inside. The two stripped down and traded clothes without looking at each other, and then returned to Lindsey, who was standing at the counter, waiting for the drinks to come out. She pecked Gee on the lips and took xer hand. “You look pretty.”

“Thanks.” Gee said, and nudged her shoulder. “You look prettier.”

Mikey rolled their eyes. “You two are disgusting. Where’s Ray so I can stop being a third wheel?”

“Shh, Mikey, you’ll get your twitter princess eventually.” Gee said. Mikey stared at xem. “Gee what the fuck.”

“I’m trying to be supportive, Mikes.” Gee said. Their drinks came up, and Gee grabbed Lindsey and xer drinks, letting Mikey grab their drink. Mikey glared at Gee, who smiled back because xe was secretly an asshole, and then the three grabbed a table in the back, moving a chair over so that they could all fit comfortably. Mikey let Gee and Lindsey have the side facing the door and the rest of the store because they knew that Gee got paranoid about having xer back to people in public areas. Mikey was uncomfortable, but they had anxiety so they were uncomfortable everywhere.

Mikey pulled out their phone, opening up twitter while they stirred their drink to make sure it was fully mixed.

mkwy @mikey_wavy

gee and linds are being gay and i feel like the biggest third wheel ever lol

mkwy @mikey_wavy

...i can’t believe i just unironically tweeted “lol” feel free to unfollow me, i understand (i’d unfollow me too)

“What exactly do you tweet about?” Lindsey asked. Gee’s head was on her shoulder and she was running her hand through xer hair. “Because I keep meaning to get a twitter so that I can see what you’re doing but then I remember that I don’t want anyone from school to be able to find me on the internet.”

“Is that why you still don’t have Facebook?” Gee asked around xer straw. Lindsey nodded. “Yep. Also because my mom would want to follow me, and then what’s the point? I’m just glad she doesn’t even know that tumblr is a thing, because I’d be fucked if she did.”

“Yeah, I don’t think she’d be too into softcore lesbian porn aesthetic and witchcraft.” Gee said. Lindsey stuck her tongue out at xem. “Shut up, stop making fun of my aesthetics.”

“I’m not.” Gee said. “I love your aesthetics.”

“I know.” Lindsey said. Gee nestled against her further and Mikey raised their eyebrows at xem. Gee stuck xer tongue out. “Go complain about us to the group chat, if you’re really that annoyed.”

“Fine, I will.” Mikey said. “I will complain about your dumb gay actions.”

- mieky changed the name of the group to i hate the lesbians -

mieky : gee and lindsey are being gross and gay in starbucks someone come save me from my misery

mieky : please it’s an emergency

morethanafro : which starbucks?

mieky : the one not by the school the one by the mall but not in the mall

hatrick : pete’s on the floor but she said she wants to come ruin the gay

hatrick : are you cool with the two of us showing up?

mieky : yeah sure just pls buy coffee the people here don’t get paid enough to deal with our shit

hatrick : i’ll tell pete and then have my mom drive us

morethanafro : aww ur a babie

morethanafro : (i can’t talk; my mom’s driving me because my older brother’s home for the weekend and gets car privileges because he was born first)

mieky : ur moms a homophobe 4 doing that

morethanafro : i’ll tell her you said that

mieky : wait no

mieky : ray please i like ur mom

morethanafro : she laughed and told me to wish u a happy birthday

mieky : i hate u

hatrick : wait mikey it’s your birthday? why didn’t you say anything??

mieky : bc i don’t like the attention (thanks ray)

morethanafro : no problem bro

hatrick : pete said happy birthday and that she’s gonna do something for you on monday. she told me not to tell you but i’m giving you a warning anyway because i know pete and she’s kind of… Extra

mieky : both of you two would be invited to my party if i was having one

hatrick : thanks mikey

mieky : pete’s not invited i don’t trust her anymore; patrick can come because he warned me about pete

hatrick : i told pete this and she said she felt betrayed

hatrick : @ pete get over yourself

morethanafro : hey mikey i’m almost here where r u sitting????

mikey : corner, by the window, my back is to the door but g and lindsey will be able to see you

morethanafro : okay cool

Mikey put down their phone and sipped from their drink. Part of them wished that no one knew when their birthday was because they hated how they were treated on their birthday. It was like everyone pretended to love them and acted like they were this perfect person who could do no wrong and Mikey thought it was dumb. Mikey wasn’t perfect, and they did stupid shit all the time. There was no need to turn their birthday into some big event to try and make them feel special.

“So is Ray coming?” Lindsey asked. Mikey nodded. “Yeah, and I think Pete and Patrick are gonna show up too.”

“Oh, there’s Ray.” Gee said, sitting up, a smile on xer face. Lindsey was also smiling, but there was something mischievous about the two of them and how they lit up at the same time. Mikey narrowed their eyes and turned around.

Ray was there, holding the door open so that the entirety of the GSA (and Brendon and Dallon) could come into the Starbucks. He waved at Mikey, and because Mikey was in a public place and there were adults around who would probably judge them, they didn’t flip Ray off. They did, however, turn back around to Gee and Lindsey and stare the couple down. “Did you two know about this?”

“Duh.” Lindsey said. Gee nodded and finished their drink. “Of course. We’re gonna go crash a laser tag place now. You can shoot me with lasers if that makes you feel better.”

“Only if you promise to buy me whatever food I want after dinner.” Mikey said. Gee tilted their head, looking confused. Mikey leaned back as everyone else got into line to order whatever they were getting. “Gee, there’s no way you planned this without mom and dad finding out and demanding information. And there’s no way they would send you out without food money, since it’s my birthday and apparently that means I get treated like royalty. So. You’re buying me sushi at that sushi place by the laser tag place.”

“Okay, cool.” Gee said. Ray came over with a chair, sitting down next to Mikey. “My mom and Patrick’s mom are driving everyone else… but if you want to take some people with you I am totally down for that.”

“I can take Frank.” Gee said. Ray shook his head. “No, I like Frank. Take someone else.”

“We’re taking Frank.” Lindsey said. Ray sighed. “Fine. I’m gonna kick your ass, though. I’m gonna kick everyone who isn’t Mikey’s ass.”

“No, please kick my ass.” Mikey said, deadpan as they pulled out their phone to see if they had any twitter notifications. “That’s my kink.”

“ Mikey .” Gee said. “I thought I raised you better.”

Chapter Text

Laser tag was fun. It was Mikey, their friends, and then about twelve children having a birthday party of their own. Brendon and Pete were the most competitive, but they both sucked. Ray was the best out of the group, winning two of the three games (Andy won the third). Gee and Mikey worked as a team, as always, and used their childhood code names for their game names. There was just something familiar about being called Kobra Kid. Mikey liked it the most when, in the second game, they got third place and the words Kobra Kid showed up on the scoreboard in big white letters. It was like Mikey was talented or something.

They went and got sushi later, but Gee got it to go because apparently Ms. Toro had ordered pizzas to the Toros’ house for after the laser tag, which meant that everyone was going to the Toros’ house for free food. Mikey still wanted their sushi, and Gee wasn't interested in pizza (but xe thanked Ms. Toro anyway) and so the two Way siblings ordered their Japanese food to go and Mikey held on to the boxes for the ride back.

They ended up driving Pete, Andy, and Dallon as well, so that Patrick's mom could go home and not drive a bunch of random kids around for the next few hours. Pete and Andy sat in the far back seats, with Dallon and Lindsey in the middle row. Pete kept asking Gee to change the music because she didn't like it until Gee rolled xer eyes and said, “Lindsey, can you grab the aux cord and hand it to Pete so that she’ll shut up ?”

“Yeah, sure.” Lindsey said, and ducked down to pick up the forgotten cord. Mikey had no idea how she knew where it was. They practically lived in this car and they had no idea that Gee's aux cord even existed. It was probably some kind of girlfriend privilege that Mikey would never know about because they weren’t anyone’s girlfriend.

Lindsey handed the cord back to Pete, who thanked her. A few seconds later, the entire car got rickrolled and amidst the screams, Mikey heard Andy turn to Pete and say, “I’m going to strangle you with this fucking seatbelt you meme fuck.”

“Sorry, sorry, I’ll change it.” Pete said. What she changed it to wasn’t any better, because Andy was right and Pete really was a meme fuck, and apparently all she had on her phone (or at least the playlist she was going through) was meme songs and meme remixes. It was oddly endearing, but Mikey was still really glad when they finally got to Ray’s house and Gee turned the car off.

They headed to Ray’s basement, which was cool and looked like it came straight out of a 90’s teen movie. Not a dumb movie, though, but one that got screenshots edited on tumblr and got used in soft grunge aesthetic blogs. There was a guitar stand in one corner, along with a bunch of posters, and then a keyboard and an old couch that the Toros had salvaged from a garage sale years ago. According to legend, Gee had had xer first beer on that couch, and then spilled half of it in between the cushions because Ray and Lindsey had jumped xem at the same time, unaware that xe was trying to have a beer in peace.

That had been a few years ago, when Mikey was nine and their parents were concerned about them spending all their time with “dangerous middle schoolers.” Mikey still didn’t understand why Gee’s own parents classified xem as dangerous, or why they thought that Ray and Lindsey would be a bad influence on Mikey.

“The pizza will be here soon.” Ms. Toro said, leaning in. “Gee, Mikey, if you two want to put your food in the fridge for a bit so it won’t get cold I could do that for you?”

“Thanks Ms. Toro.” Gee said, getting up from xer spot on the floor and handing the to-go bags over. Once Ms. Toro was gone, xe returned to the circle, pulling Lindsey over so that she was in xer lap. Frank rolled his eyes. “Stop being so fucking gay, Gee.”

“Absolutely not.” Gee said. Lindsey laughed, and proceeded to dip herself and Gee in a dramatic fashion.

“So, what’s the plan, Mikes?” Ray said, nudging Mikey’s shoulder. Mikey shrugged. They hadn’t had a plan in mind. They’d never been around this many people their age without some kind of adult supervision. There were so many possibilities. “I know it’s kind of early, but we could play never have I ever?”

“I don’t drink though.” Dallon said, their face going red when they said it. Spencer patted them on the head. Mikey chewed on their finger, even though there wasn’t any nail left and they ended up ripping some skin off. “Um, we could play it without drinking, then? And clap instead of taking shots?”

“It worries me that you know so much about a drinking game, but sure.” Gee said. “You start, though, since it was your idea.”

“Fine.” Mikey said. “Never have I ever… smoked.”

“Wait, cigarettes or weed?” Brendon asked. Mikey frowned. “Um… cigarettes. Someone else can get the weed.”

“Okay, good.” Brendon said, and leaned back against the leg of the couch she was sitting against. She was dressed more masculinely, in a tank top and cargo shorts, but the tank top was a girl’s tank, and she was wearing pink vans. Mikey hadn’t gotten a pronoun update from Dallon, so they assumed that Brendon was still going with she/hers.

Gee, Lindsey, and Ray all clapped. Frank clapped a second later, loudly, and said, “what? I’m from fucking Jersey, you fucks,” when everyone else looked at him weirdly. Pete quietly clapped her hands. “It was on a dare. They were nasty as fuck.”

“I’ll go next.” Ray said. He looked over his shoulder to make sure his mom wasn’t going to appear, and then said, “never have I ever given someone oral.”

“Fuck.” Gee said, and clapped xer hands. Mikey clapped as well, as did Patrick, Pete, Joe, Dallon, and Brendon. Lindsey leaned across Mikey, her hands in Ray’s face, and slowly clapped at him. Frank also clapped for that one, and laid down on his back so his head was in the middle of the circle. “I’m gonna lose.”

“Wait until we get to the drugs, then Brendon’s gonna be out in three rounds.” Spencer said. Brendon leaned over and smacked his thigh. “Fuck you.”

“Okay.” Spencer said, winking. Dallon rolled his eyes, and Mikey saw Spencer rub his thumb over the back of Dallon’s hand. Mikey was so confused by the three of them. They weren’t sure if they wanted Dallon to sit down and explain everything or if it was better for their mental health and general safety to just not know anything at all.

“Alright, you fucks, I’m about to kick your ass.” Frank said, rubbing his hands together. “Never have I ever thought I was cis.”

“Wait, so if we are cis, or if we identified as our birth gender, we clap?” Joe asked. Frank nodded, looking like an asshole. Joe narrowed his eyes at Frank and clapped, along with everyone else in the circle except Gee and Andy. Andy shrugged. “I mean, there was probably a time when I was like three or whatever when I thought I was a girl, but I’ve known Pete for most of my life and I pretty much hung out with them and a bunch of other guys and refused to let anyone call me by my full name. So, eat shit, Frank.”

“I like you.” Frank said, pointing up at Andy and then opening his hand to give him a high-five. Andy high-fived Frank and then Frank rolled over onto his side to face Gee. “You didn’t clap. You’ve always known you weren’t a cis?”

“I never identified with guys growing up, and I was always stealing Mikey’s Barbies and making them have cool supergirl adventures.” Gee said, blushing a little. “I had a whole storyline and everything… mom only got mad when I started colouring their hair. I may or may not have watched too much Sailor Moon as a kid.”

“And you read way too many comics.” Mikey added. Gee nodded. “Yeah, but you stole them or made me read them to you, so shut the fuck up.”

“Uh, never have I ever played with Barbies?” Pete said. Everyone kind of stared at them (because apparently Pete was using they/them now, and Mikey needed to make a chart or something). Pete shrugged. “What? I have two older brothers and my baby sister was born after we donated all our toys.”

“Okay, sure. Clap if you got the Barbie experience.” Frank said, and clapped. Gee and Mikey clapped, along with Lindsey, Patrick, Andy, and Brendon. Brendon kicked Spencer’s leg until Spencer clapped quietly. He slumped down against Dallon. “Brendon’s parents let us watch Project Runway and we made my sister’s old Barbies into models. It was my idea but Brendon was the one who made the clothes.”

“Yeah, Spence was just in charge of hair and makeup.” Brendon said, smiling like she’d won a bet between the two of them.

“Never have I ever bleached or dyed my hair.” Patrick said, looking pointedly at Pete. Pete flicked Patrick off--while clapping--and Joe did the same from Patrick’s other side. Gee frowned and clapped, but Lindsey didn’t, grinning. “I manage to look goth enough with my natural hair. How does that feel, Gee?”

“Horrible, baby.” Gee said, and kissed her forehead. Mikey rolled their eyes. “Gross.”

“Fuck you.” Gee said.

“The pizza’s here, guys!” Ms. Toro said, and Gee and Mikey panicked for a second before remembering that Ms. Toro was a cool mom and wouldn’t care that Gee was swearing. Mikey secretly wished that their parents were as half as cool as Ray’s parents.

Ray grabbed the pizzas and Gee headed upstairs to get Mikey’s and xer food from the fridge, and then the game resumed. Joe poked Patrick with his foot and said, “never have I ever sung in a church choir.”

“Fuck.” Gee and Ray said in unison, and clapped. Frank clapped as well, saying “I went to Catholic school, fuck you, Joe” as his excuse. Brendon, Spencer, and Dallon clapped as well, and Andy looked annoyed before clapping in Joe’s ear. Patrick had already clapped, and was pushing Joe’s face away from his own, causing Joe to fall over against Andy, who just let Joe use his shoulder as a pillow. Andy patted Joe’s bleached hair and looked around the room. “Never have I ever drunk alcohol.”

“What the fuck, man?” Brendon said. She clapped, as did Ray, Gee, Lindsey, Frank, Pete, Patrick, Joe, and Spencer. Dallon raised their eyebrows at Andy. “Are you Mormon or something?”

“Oh my God, Dal, Mormon’s not everyone’s excuse for being lame, just yours.” Brendon rolled her eyes. Andy shook his head, though. “Nah, just straight edge and vegan. It helps with the whole sports thing. A lot of people don’t take me seriously on the field because I’m trans, so I gotta prove myself.”

“Andy’s not an asshole vegan.” Pete said. “We like him.”

“Thanks.” Andy said.

“Never have I ever… um.” Dallon said. “Never have I ever smoked weed.”

“Lame.” Brendon said, and clapped. Frank nodded, clapping as well, “yeah, fuck Mormons if they can’t even smoke weed.”

“I’m Mormon, technically, but I’m a really bad Mormon.” Brendon said. Spencer leaned against Dallon. “Dallon drinks Dr. Pepper, and that’s against Mormonism because of the caffeine.”

“Wow, so rebellious.” Brendon said, her voice laced with sarcasm. Dallon frowned at her, and then looked around the rest of the room. “Wait, so are Frank and Bren the only ones who’ve smoked weed?”

“Wait, no, I have.” Joe said, and clapped. Pete and Patrick clapped as well. Ray and Gee looked at each other, nodded, and then both clapped. Mikey clapped as well, but hoped no one noticed. Everyone did, staring at Mikey like they were some kind of heathen. Frank was the first to speak. “Seriously? The same person who says ‘never have I ever smoked’ has done the weed?”

“Yes, I’ve done the weed.” Mikey said, rolling their eyes. “That’s why I clarified earlier.”

“Wait, when?” Ray asked, like he hadn’t just clapped. Mikey picked at their nails. “Back when the Gabe Saporta thing happened.”

“Oh…” Ray said, nodding knowingly. “Right.”

“Never have I ever kissed a guy.” Spencer said, moving Mikey’s friends away from the whole Gabe Saporta and weed thing.Mikey clapped out of relief, and because they’d kissed Gabe at least once. Frank clapped, as did Pete, Patrick, Joe, Dallon, Brendon, and Gee. Lindsey looked smug, kissed Gee’s cheek, and proudly announced, “I’m a fucking lesbian!”

“I’m aroace, I’m winning by fucking default.” Andy said. He reached over Frank and high fived Lindsey. Ray shrugged. “I’ve kissed a grand total of one person, but they weren’t a guy so hah.”

“Wow, Ray, so proud of you.” Gee said, but xe sounded a little weird when xe said it. Mikey raised their eyebrows and made eye contact with Gee, but Gee shook xer head. Mikey nodded; they’d ask about it later, when there weren’t other people around.

Brendon crossed her legs at the ankle, almost hitting Frank in the face. “Never have I ever… shit. This is hard when you’ve done a lot of things.”

“I know,” Gee said. “I only have two fingers left before I’m out.”

“Holy shit.” Frank whispered, sounding a little impressed.

“Yeah, and I thought I was bad.” Brendon said, nodding in agreement with Frank. “Um, never have I ever hooked up with a straight guy.”

Mikey did everything they could to not look at Dallon, because they’d been on twitter long enough to know a vague about someone when they saw it. And that was definitely a vague, and it was probably aimed at Dallon because of the whole Spencer figuring out his sexuality and Dallon not being very cis. Mikey clapped, though, because they were pretty sure that Gabe had been straight when they got stoned an hooked up at the party Mikey wasn’t even supposed to have been at. Dallon clapped as well, but Mikey couldn’t see their expression. Frank squinted at the ceiling for a while before finally shrugging and clapping.

Gee frowned. “What’s your definition of hooking up?”

“Pants are removed.” Brendon said, waving her hand dismissively. “Someone orgasms, probably. You don’t mention it to any of your friends or people you’ve dated because you’re a little embarrassed and ashamed.”

Gee nodded. “And… what if the theoretical person isn’t straight now but thought they were straight then?”

“I guess it counts.” Brendon shrugged. She looked a little confused. Mikey really wanted to know who this straight guy was. They wondered if Lindsey knew, or if she wanted to know.

“Okay.” Gee said, and clapped. Lindsey gave xem a look. Gee stared at the floor. “It was years ago, babe.”

“I don’t mind.” Lindsey said. Gee visibly relaxed. Xe looked down at xer hands, one finger still up. “Shit, it’s my turn and I’ve only got one thing left. I need to kill some of you guys.”

“Not literally.” Ray said. Gee nodded. “Duh. Um, never have I ever played an instrument successfully.”

“Fuck.” Ray clapped. Frank just started clapping really loudly, and Patrick joined in. Pete nudged Patrick’s shoulder and stage whispered, “do I count?” Patrick shook his head, still clapping along with Frank. “No, Pete, because you fucking suck.”

“Okay, cool.” Pete said. Joe and Andy each clapped once. Spencer and Brendon clapped as well, and Dallon looked a little upset. Mikey tilted their head. “Dallon, you okay?”

“I want to learn bass, but my parents said that basses were evil because they’re a rock instrument and that being in a rock band is sinful.” Dallon said. “So, until I leave the house, I can’t actually do what I want.”

“That sucks.” Pete said. “You can always come over to my house. I have a bass, but according to Patrick--who is fantastic at every instrument ever--I suck ass. We can learn together or something.”

Dallon smiled softly. “Thanks.”

Frank and Patrick had stopped clapping, because apparently they both played multiple instruments. They were looking at each other with platonic bro heart eyes, like they couldn’t wait until the game was over so that they could sit down and talk music. Ray looked pretty interested in the potential music discussion as well, and Mikey wished they had some kind of talent to contribute to their friend group. Ray and Frank had music, Gee and Lindsey had art, and Mikey had… weird hair. Weird hair and a large collection of hats.

“Hey, Mikey, if you wanna come over and learn bass, you can come over too.” Pete offered. Mikey stared up at them. “Seriously?”

“Yeah.” Pete nodded. Mikey smiled. “Thanks.”

“Can I join the bass club, or do I need a tragic backstory to be invited?” Lindsey asked. Pete nodded. “Hell yeah. We’re gonna make a band of just bassists.”

“That is the worst idea you have ever come up with.” Patrick said, burying his hands in his face. Pete wrapped their arm around Patrick’s shoulders. “Don’t worry, Trick, I’ll let you sing in the bass band. It wouldn’t be a real band without your soul voice.”

Patrick sighed into his hands. “...thanks, Pete.”

Pete grinned.

“Okay, so.” Lindsey said. “Never have I ever… had a crush on someone for months without mentioning it to them.”

“I’m out,” Gee said, and clapped. Mikey clapped, because they figured that @pwheezie counted as a long term crush. Pete and Patrick also clapped, then looked at each other and started laughing. Mikey pretended they didn’t feel jealous. Brendon let out a sigh and clapped, as did Dallon and Spencer. Mikey wondered if there would ever be a YA love triangle as convoluted as Spencer, Dallon, and Brendon.

Frank sat up on his elbows. “So, since Gee’s out, are we gonna keep playing or are we gonna move on?”

“We can keep playing, see who the prude is.” Pete suggested. Mikey frowned at them, and Gee looked ready to launch into a speech about why prude was a demeaning term. Pete put their hands up in defense and said, “I didn’t come up with the terms, but when I’d play with the soccer guys, whoever was the first out--in this case, Gee--was the whore, and whoever was the last out was the prude. I get that the terms are shitty but I don’t have any other ones.”

“I’m cool with it.” Brendon said. “I get called a whore all the time, it doesn’t matter.”

Gee still looked like they wanted to explain slut-shaming. Lindsey squeezed xer bare thigh. “Gee, it’s just a game. It’s okay.”

Gee sighed. “Fine. I’m a whore, whoo-hoo.”

“Okay, now that we’ve established that… go, Mikey.” Pete said. “It’s your turn.”

Mikey nodded. “Never have I ever… not needed glasses.”

“What the fuck,” Pete said, and clapped. As did Spencer and Lindsey. So apparently most of Mikey’s friends were blind.

“Never have I ever straightened my hair.” Ray said. Mikey clapped, and narrowed their eyes at their friend. “We should try it. You’d look really weird but it would be cool.”

“It would be a pain in the ass to do.” Frank said, and clapped. Pete and Andy clapped as well. Andy looked ashamed that he had to clap, and said that it was Pete’s fault, anyway. Pete grinned. Mikey wondered if Pete was ashamed of anything at all. Pete laid down across Patrick’s lap, waving their hands in the air. “I’m out! Second place whore, hello!”

“Congrats.” Patrick said drily. Frank rolled over and high fived Pete. “I’m proud of you. Also, never have I ever been on a sports team.”

“I’m already out, there’s no need to attack me.” Pete said, and clapped anyway. Andy and Joe clapped as well, but that was it. Most of Mikey’s friends were not athletic, which didn’t surprise Mikey at all. They weren’t the type to attract athletic, cool people. They were kind of a nerd.

“Never have I ever been in a school marching band.” Patrick said, and Ray and Frank clapped. Spencer clapped as well, looking personally attacked. “I just wanted to do drumline, I didn’t think I would end up losing a party game because of it.”

“That’s your fault for trying to be well-rounded, honey.” Brendon said. Spencer flicked her off. “Fuck you, at least I’m not in chorus and drama. Marching band’s a seasonal thing.”

“Whatever.” Brendon said. Frank sat up, and scooted back out of the middle of the circle. “I’m out. Marching band killed me.”

“Sucks.” Joe said. “Never have I ever had red hair.”

“I could fix that.” Andy said, and clapped. “It’ll only cost ten bucks and someone driving me to the nearest convenience store.”

“I’m just trying to get you caught up to the rest of us, dude.” Joe said. “Let me live.”

“First of all, fuck you.” Andy kicked Joe’s ankle. “Second, never have I ever been Jewish.”

“ Rude .” Joe said, and clapped in Andy’s face. Dallon leaned against Spencer, not being obvious at all. “Well, if we’re gonna go the religious route… never have I ever been Catholic.”

“I am already out!” Frank shouted, but Mikey and Ray still clapped, as did Patrick. Patrick shrugged. “I tried it out in middle school because they had a better chorus. The whole anti-gay thing drove me away, though.”

“Yeah, I just stay there to spite them.” Frank said. Brendon grinned. “Me too! Except, like, with Mormonism and not the whole Catholic thing. I’m probably going to get kicked out of my house when I’m eighteen, but I’m cool with that.”

“I’m probably gonna get kicked out when my mom realises that I’m trans and that my post high school plans are start a punk band and live in people’s basements until I have enough money for an apartment.” Frank said. He kicked one of his shoes off and it landed in the middle of the circle, near Spencer. Spencer pulled his feet up to his chest so that he wasn’t near Frank’s sneaker any more. He kicked his other shoe off and it hit Patrick’s calf. Patrick leaned forward, over Pete, and moved the shoe away. “Alright, I’m out. Congrats, Dallon, you made me whore number four.”

“When do people stop being whores and start being prudes?” Lindsey asked. Pete tapped their finger against their lower lip and Mikey had the sudden urge to reach over and bite Pete’s lip. In a violent, kissing manner. They didn’t, obviously, because Pete was literally laying in Patrick’s lap and Mikey knew better. Also because all of their friends were there and Pete was explaining their version of Never Have I Ever. “I think when we get about halfway through everyone… how many people are here?”

Lindsey did a quick count. “Twelve.”

“Okay then. The next two people are whores and then everyone else is a prude.” Pete said. “According to fuckboy soccer player logic.”

“Great.” Gee rolled xer eyes. Lindsey kissed xem. “It’s okay, babe, I still love you.”

“Who’s turn is it?” Brendon asked. Pete leaned their head back, stretching across Patrick. “I think it’s Spencer’s? Dallon, you just went, right?”

“Yeah, it’s Spence’s.” Dallon said. They were looking at Spencer like he was the most beautiful thing in the room, which was a lie considering that Pete was there, as well as Ray’s Les Paul in the corner, under all the posters. Dallon probably didn’t know all the things about guitars that Mikey did from being friends with Ray for years though.

Spencer looked back at Dallon with a warm smile on his face. “Never have I ever worn dress clothes to school when it wasn’t picture day.”

“Dude, I’m still not playing this game.” Frank said. “Catholic school had a uniform and it was the worst.”

Dallon clapped, but they didn’t look too mad about it. Brendon also clapped. Lindsey frowned. “What qualifies as dress clothes? Because sometimes I wear ties and vests and shit.”

“Uh, sure, that counts.” Spencer said, looking away from Dallon. Dallon was still looking at Spencer and Mikey thought that it was pretty obvious Dallon had a thing for Spencer. Mikey just hoped it worked out for Dallon, and for all three of them, because Mikey thought Dallon was a cool person and didn’t want anything shitty to happen to them.

“I’m out.” Brendon said, and put her legs on top of Spencer’s. “Lindsey, you go.”

“Okay…” Lindsey said. “Never have I ever brought an electric heater into the shower because I didn’t want to be cold during winter camp.”

“I’m out.” Mikey clapped. To pretty much everyone’s surprise, Joe clapped as well. “It wasn’t at an official winter camp, but Pete’s parents have a house in the mountains and we sometimes go up there during winter break and one time the heat wasn’t working and I wanted a shower so I just… took the heater in with me. Patrick stopped me before I could actually get myself killed, though. That was my tenth thing, though, so I guess I’m out too.”

“So who’s left?” Pete asked.

“I think it’s just me, Andy, Dallon, and Spencer.” Ray said. Lindsey leaned into the circle and grinned. “I’m still in, fuckers.”

“What?” Gee said. “How?”

“It’s because everyone else here likes guys in some form.” Lindsey shrugged, looking really proud of herself for being a lesbian. “No one’s targeted me.”

“Well it’s my turn and I’m gonna target the shit out of you.” Ray said. “Never have I ever been kicked out of a youth group for sharing my opinions.”

“They were being sexist assholes!” Lindsey said, but clapped anyway. “And your old youth leader was a homophobic piece of shit, no offense. I’m just surprised that none of you guys said anything.”

“Well, see, our parents are religious and we didn’t know that Ray’s parents were cool then.” Gee said. “Me and Ray weren’t about to out ourselves to an entire group of teenagers. We’re dumb, but not that dumb.”

On the other side of the circle, Spencer nudged Dallon with his shoulder. “Do I count?”

“We both count, Spencer, but I’m already out.” Brendon said. Dallon nodded. “Yeah, Brendon’s right. Storming out after getting in a yelling match with some other guys there definitely counts as being kicked out of a youth group.”

“Cool.” Spencer said, and clapped. “Go, Andy.”

“Never have I ever kissed someone.” Andy said. Everyone who was still in clapped. Spencer put his hands up and leaned back, next to Dallon. “I’m out. You four have fun.”

“Never have I ever… had coffee?” Dallon said, and there was a collective gasp from Mikey’s side of the circle. Gee, Lindsey, and Ray all lived on coffee at this point, even though they were still in high school, and Mikey--whenever they could--drank coffee. There was something nice about the caffeine. It made reality a bit more bearable, and there were some really interesting flavours available. Ray and Lindsey clapped, as did Andy, who added, “it’s Pete’s fault, really. They kept dragging me to Starbucks after soccer practice last year because they’re literally a basic white girl, and I caved.”

“I’m just really persuasive.” Pete said. Patrick ran his fingers through their hair. “Whatever helps you sleep at night, Pete.”

“Hey, I persuaded you and Joe and Andy to hang out with me.” Pete said. “That counts.”

“Are me and Dallon the only ones left?” Andy asked, getting a nod from Pete. Andy turned to Dallon. “Okay, so I don’t think anyone’s done this yet… but never have I ever been Mormon.”

Dallon clapped. “Never have I ever been on twitter?”

Andy clapped. “Fuck you. Never have I ever been in drama.”

“I’m out, congrats, Andy, you’re the…” Dallon paused, looking like they didn’t want to say prude. Pete, because they had the least tact ever, sat up and booped Andy on the nose, grinning. “You’re the most boring person here, Andy! Congratulations!”

“I’m not boring, you guys just focused on sexual shit.” Andy said. Pete shrugged. “Still. Boring. But cool.”

Chapter Text

-private message to geewhiz-

mieky : hey so what was up w/ u at ray’s house u were acting a little weird

geewhiz : mikey i am literally downstairs there is no need to use the chat

mieky : actually there is since it’s like 2 am and we’re supposed to be asleep

geewhiz : oh yeah i forgot time was a thing

mieky : incredible

mieky : but seriously what’s up gee

geewhiz : okay so u know that time i got grounded the summer between 8 and 9 grade because i snuck out one night?

mieky : ye

geewhiz : me and ray got some pot idk how it was his and we went to a park and smoked it and kind of… hooked up? at least according to brendon’s definition of hooking up

geewhiz : it was before ray came out as bi so we like never talked about it after

geewhiz : i already knew i was pan… i think that was back when i thought i was like 100% into guys though

geewhiz : and then lindsey happened and yea

geewhiz : mikey? ur not mad at me right?

mieky : no

mieky : i just wasn’t expecting “me and ray had a stoned hook up two summers ago” to be the explanation

mieky : but it’s cool

mieky : tbh when u 2 were in middle school i thought you were going to turn ray gay and then date him

geewhiz : plot twist i kind of did

mieky : oh yeah he came out as bi in like 9th grade

mieky : g ur the alpha gay in our friend group congrats

geewhiz : thanks

geewhiz : i’m gonna maybe go to bend

mieky : k

Mikey put down their phone for a moment, staring up at the ceiling. So that was a thing that had happened. Ray and Gee had always been close, considering how long they’d known each other, but now that Mikey thought about it, the two had stopped hanging out for the first semester of their freshman year, and Lindsey had started coming over more. Mikey had hung out with Ray, but they didn’t ask why Gee was being avoidant because they figured it was just Gee being Gee.

Apparently it wasn’t just that. Apparently it was Gee not knowing how to return to being friends with xer supposedly straight friend who xe’d… done things with. Mikey decided to not think about what Gee and Ray had done. It was probably for the better.

Their phone dinged and they rolled their eyes. Mikey picked it up, not too surprised that they had a message from Dallon.

-private message from dadtree -

dadtree : I think that Brendon is trying to break Spencer and I up.

dadtree : Also, I think she knows that we’re dating.

mieky : did u tell spencer this

dadtree : Should I tell him? What if he wants to date Brendon instead?

mieky : idk him as well as you do but… he seemed like he was more into u than brendon so i don’t think he’s gonna leave u

dadtree : I would completely understand if he did. Brendon’s prettier than I am, and a lot more interesting.

mieky : yeah but dramatic

dadtree : Mikey, all three of us are dramatic to some extent. We feed off of each other, when we’re not too busy tearing each other down.

dadtree : Also, I can’t tell if I’m jealous of Brendon or if I still like her. It’s really confusing and I feel like a bad person because I really do like Spencer.

mieky : talk to him

mieky : also i’m sorry if my advice is shit but i am literally a small child and i don’t know what i’m doing

dadtree : I’m sorry. I just don’t have any other friends besides Spencer and Brendon, and I don’t think I can go to either of them asking for advice about this.

mieky : nah it’s cool

mieky : i’m just letting u know that i might be completely wrong about everything

dadtree : At least you’re trying?

mieky : tru

dadtree : I think I’ll talk to Spencer. I’ll do it tomorrow, though. I should probably go to bed since I have church tomorrow and my parents really wouldn’t appreciate me falling asleep in the middle of it.

mieky : i have mass 2 but i also don’t sleep like at all

mieky : i am not a good role model

dadtree : As your dad friend, I’m telling you to go to bed.

mieky : okay goodnight dad friend

Mikey did not go to be immediately, because they went on twitter. @pwheezie had posted new lyrics, from the Smiths’ song Hand in Glove. Mikey wasn’t sure why @pwheezie was posting sad love lyrics, and was a little concerned.

t(-.-t) @pwheezie

[attached images]

yes, I know my luck too well//and I'll probably never see you again

@pwheezie : no offense but who hurt u (abt the last edit u made)

t(-.-t) replied to your tweet:

@mikey_wavy : not hurt, just a little in love with someone i can’t have (thnks for the support tho)

Mikey’s heart sank. So @pwheezie was interested in someone else. Mikey knew, on some level, that they had no right to be upset, or jealous of whoever @pwheezie was pining over, but they still did. They still felt like they had been robbed at a chance of having a really cute online romance, one that their followers would gush over and ask when Mikey and @pwheezie would be meeting each other offline, or if they’d skyped each other yet. That wasn’t happening, though. Mikey would just have to get over it and move on.

@pwheezie : i hope it works out for you! ur a really cool girl; you deserve the best from whoever it is out there

Mikey turned their phone off before they went to bed, because they didn’t want to hear the buzz from @pwheezie responding. They closed their eyes, and managed to get a few hours of sleep in before their lights were being turned on by their mom coming in and telling them they needed to get up and shower.

Mikey showered, half asleep, and changed into church appropriate clothing. It was a dress, the only dress they had that wasn’t fitted for Gee. It was denim, and Mikey’s dad thought it was too casual for church, but their mom was just glad it was a dress. They straightened their hair and even put on some eyeliner, smudging it because they couldn’t be bothered to get the lines perfect. Mikey looked at themselves in the mirror, and they decided that they looked really out of place in a dress. They were meant for jeans, was the thing. They couldn’t even wear shorts.

“Mikey, please hurry up so you have time for breakfast!” Their dad called. Mikey let out a sigh and grabbed their PJs from the bathroom floor, tossing them into their room before heading downstairs. They ate their breakfast in silence, letting their parents talk about whatever while they didn’t check their phone. Gee showed up, xer hair still damp from xer shower, about five minutes before the Ways needed to leave, and xe got a three minute lecture on why xe needed to work on xer time management skills before xe went off to college. Gee nodded along, pouring xemself a cup of coffee and not grabbing any cereal. It was too late for that.

Gee finished xer coffee and xe and Mikey followed their parents to the car. Mikey finally turned their phone back on, only to be bombarded with notifications. Some were twitter, some were the group chat, and one was a snap from Frank.

Mikey opened the snap first, to see a picture of Frank wearing large sunglasses and pouting against the window of a moving car. The caption was Mom’s making me go to Catholic church pls let it be the same as U/Ray/Gee

Mikey snapped Frank back with a picture of their knees, because they didn’t want their parents to ask why they were taking selfies in the car. They captioned it with the name of their church.

Frank responded with a thumbs up, half covered by the 33 mph filter and the caption rad, that’s where we’re going!

Mikey grinned. At least they wouldn’t be alone. They sent a private message to Gee, letting xem know that Frank would be at church, and Gee smiled at xer phone. Xe looked up, tucking a strand of hair behind xer ear. “Hey, mom, dad? One of our friends from school is gonna be at mass. Can me and Mikey sit with them?”

Their parents looked at each other, but eventually their dad nodded. “Sure, just make sure you tell us where you’re sitting.”

“Thanks dad,” Gee said. The rest of the car trip was in silence, with only the sounds of 80’s pop music playing from the car radio. They parked in the back lot, and Gee and Mikey trailed in behind their parents, Mikey snapchatting Frank the outside of the church so that he knew that the two of them were there. They also sent a snap of Gee, managing to get Gee’s face before xe realised Mikey was taking a picture of them.

Frank responded with a black screen and we just pulled in i’ll come find u guys

He did. Mikey and Gee hovered in the back of the sanctuary until Frank and his mom came in. Frank waved at them, said something to his mom, and came over. He immediately brushed a hand through his hair and grinned at them. The drawing of the scorpion on his neck was gone. “Hey guys. My mom said she wanted to meet your parents but I convinced her not to. She made me take off the Sharpie tattoo last night so I figure we're even now.”

“Oh.” Gee said. The concept of a parent listening to and agreeing to the requests of a child was foreign to xem and Mikey. “That's cool.”

“Where do you wanna sit?” Mikey asked. Frank shrugged. “The back I guess.”

The three of them sat together in a pew in the back. About twenty minutes into the service, Mikey realised that they could be on their phone and their parents wouldn’t know, and, after making Gee promise to cover for them if their parents asked any questions, spent the rest of mass on twitter. They even snapchatted with Dallon for a bit, but then Dallon had to go to Mormon church. Unlike Mikey, Dallon actually payed attention in church services.

For once, mass was bearable. Mikey decided that they liked having Frank around on Sundays. They just hoped that neither of their parents found out about the whole trans thing.

Chapter Text

Mikey’s week, up to Thursday went as such:

Monday, in school, was normal. Everyone who had showed up to Mikey’s birthday also showed up to the GSA meeting. Mr. Armstrong got them to figure out ways to raise money so that the club could get t-shirts or bracelets or magnets or whatever they wanted. Gee volunteered to make a design, but the rest of the club just wanted to get rainbow shit. Brendon suggested a field trip to the mall to see what kind of rainbow gear they had there.

On Tuesday, Mikey spent their lunch period explaining algebra to Frank and ignoring Pete. Pete, Patrick, Joe, and Andy had taken up permanent residence at Frank and Mikey’s table, which Mikey didn’t have too much of a problem with, except that they had a math quiz the next day, and Frank still had no idea what was going on in that class. He was freaking out that he’d fail the quiz, and then his mom would get curious about Mikey’s tutoring skills, and force them to tutor Frank from the Iero’s house instead of school.

That, of course, would be a problem, since Frank and Mikey were actually at GSA and not talking about math.

Wednesday: Andy and Frank convinced Pete to try veganism, or at least go vegetarian so they could still have pizza and not feel like they were betraying themselves. Brendon and Dallon got added to the group chat (Mikey added Dallon and Spencer added Brendon) but neither of them started any drama so Mikey counted it as a win. They did get a private message from Dallon, who was freaking out about Spencer adding Brendon to the chat, but Mikey reminded Dallon that Brendon was now a part of GSA and it made sense for her to be in the chat.

Thursday, Pete walked Mikey to class and mentioned that they were feeling more masculine, and to start using he/him pronouns until further notice. He also reminded Mikey that his soccer game was that afternoon, as if Mikey could forget. Pete was in his soccer uniform, and didn’t have his backpack because apparently he had athlete privilege. Mikey promised that they’d be there, and then spent most of biology reconvincing Gee to let them stay after school with Dallon and (probably) Spencer.

joetrohfro : pete guilt-tripped me into saying this but he has a soccer game after school today and you guys should go

spooncer : i’m already going with dal and mikey but thanks joe

joetrohfro : no problem spoon man

joetrohfro : why the fuck is ur name spooncer anyway that’s such a random name

spooncer : bren made me choose a dumb name

brebdo : it’s not dumb it’s funny and cute

spooncer : it’s kind of dumb

spooncer : idk what else to use tho so spooncer it is

mieky : @ spencer/dallon where the fuck r we meeting up after school

spooncer : idk prob the drama room

spooncer : let me ask dal

spooncer : dallon said sure

spooncer : also does dallon use proper grammar w/ u too or is it just w/ me?

mieky : they do it with me 2 it’s their thing apparently

spooncer : it’s endearing

spooncer : they’re trying so hard

joetrohfro : is dallon the dad friend then? or do they not want to be associated with masc things?

spooncer : joe their name is dadtree they’ve accepted their role as dad friend

mieky : i mean ray is our mom friend and he uses he/him

mieky : i don’t think gender determines ur role in this family

joetrohfro : cool i call weed cousin

-private message from morethanafro-

morethanafro : hey mikey can i tell u something?

mieky : ye sure

morethanafro : i already told gee but i wasn’t ready to make it public and idk if i am yet but i trust u

morethanafro : i’m probably gonna tell lindsey soon idk when

mieky : ok

morethanafro : so i’m trans

morethanafro : binary trans girl

morethanafro : i’m still cool with ray as a name (this has nothing to do with the new star wars movie and rey being the coolest space girl ever whaaaat) but when ur talking to gee could u use she/hers? i’m not ready to present feminine or be out-out but i trust u two

morethanafro : i also trust lynz i just haven’t figured out how to let her know

mieky : i’m cool with that

mieky : my friend group is slowly becoming a girl gang and i’m okay with being the token Not Girl friend

morethanafro : gee’s not a girl???

mieky : xe said xer gender is “nonbinary girl” so xe kind of is a girl

morethanafro : i guess u are the token Not Girl then

morethanafro : congrats

morethanafro : also thanks for being cool about it

mieky : duh. we’re all trans here it’s okay

mieky : well lindsey isn’t trans yet… but u never kno

The bell rang, and Mikey gathered their things, heading to English. English passed by slowly, because Mikey had already read the chapters they were going over in class and they were bored out of their minds. Dallon wasn’t answering any of their messages, either, which was annoying. Miket wondered if Dallon was one of those people who actually kept their phone off in class and didn’t try to text.

They got a message from Dallon at the end, though, telling Mikey to meet them and Spencer in the drama room, and that they’d take Spencer’s car to the Wendy’s by the school for the hour or so they had until Pete’s game started. Mikey responded with “cool” and then told Gee what the plan was so that xe wouldn’t get to anxious.

-private message from geewhiz-

geewhiz : i can still take u home if u want

geewhiz : frank’s coming over bc i told him that i understood algebra and he’s panicking

geewhiz : did u have a test or something???

Mikey rolled their eyes as they headed across the school to the drama room. The quiz yesterday had been easy--for Mikey at least--but Frank was terrified that his mom would make him quit his social life if he didn’t prove that he was a math genius. Gee was okay at math, though, and xe probably had Ray or Lindsey with xem, and both of them were fucking incredible at math for some reason.

mieky : yeah we had one yesterday

mieky : also ray told me

geewhiz : told u what

mieky : that she’s trans

geewhiz : o yeah i totally forgot about that

geewhiz : not in a bad friend way but more of a i’m stressed way

mieky : any stress in particular

geewhiz : idk

geewhiz : just feeling weird

mieky : ok

mieky : let me know if you wanna get stoned and talk about it bc i’m down for that. i know how to get weed

geewhiz : if getting weed involves sexual acts the answer is no

mieky : g no. apparently pete and joe know people who sell good weed and pete promised me some if i asked

mieky : apparently it’s his version of a birthday present, which is cool

geewhiz : pete’s fucking weird

mieky : he gives people weed coupons for their birthdays gee i am not complaining about being his friend

mieky : tbh i’d probably do sexual acts with him if it got me good weed

mieky : he’s on the soccer team apparently they know the best weed secrets and have like interesting parties that aren’t a bunch of people trying shit for the first time and then hooking up and not remembering it

geewhiz : i will never understand how you managed to have a social life while being a literal fetus

mieky : it’s my geeky looking charm. people think that i’m naive and clueless… i’m not

geewhiz : no shit

mieky : gotta go i’ll text u eventually

geewhiz : don’t do anything illegal

mieky : ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Mikey put their phone away and pushed the drama room door open. Spencer and Dallon were on the edge of the stage, leaned against each other and looking at whatever Dallon had in their lap. Mikey walked over, jumping up on the stage beside Dallon. “What’re you guys looking at?”

“Costume ideas.” Spencer said. “That and set design. Veronica let us have her notebook, which means she trusts us now.”

“Veronica?” Mikey asked.

“Ms. Jones, drama teacher.” Dallon said, turning the page over. “Everyone who’s been in drama for more than a semester calls her Veronica. She’s pretty cool, except she’s really bad about remembering people’s pronouns.”

“She’s trying though, and that’s better than most teachers.” Spencer said. He frowned and looked up from the notebook. “Some asshole pulled Dallon over between classes and tried to dress code them because they were wearing eyeshadow. Eyeshadow doesn’t have a fucking gender, it’s just a bunch of powder and shit in a little tub.”

Spencer should talk to Gee about unnecessarily gendered items , Mikey thought. They looked up at Dallon, and indeed, they were wearing eyeshadow. Dark grey, and sparkly. It looked pretty fucking cool, to be honest. Mikey voiced their opinion, and a small smile grew on Dallon’s face. “Thanks. I’ve always liked sparkly stuff, for some reason. Spencer got it for me, and I figured I’d wear it today since we’re actually doing things.”

“Speaking of which, are we going to Wendy’s or what?” Spencer asked. Dallon nodded, and closed the notebook. “I’ll take this back to Veronica. You and Mikey can head to the car.”

“Alright, cool.” Spencer said, and there was a moment between the two of them where Mikey thought that they might kiss, because that’s what couples did, but they didn’t, and Dallon just jumped off the stage while still looking at Spencer, and Spencer watched Dallon’s back for longer than was necessary. He blinked, and shook his head. “Car. Yeah. Um, follow me, Mikey?”

“You know you can be affectionate in front of me.” Mikey said, following Spencer out of the drama room. “I really don’t care.”

“I know, but other people do. And Dallon gets enough shit for their gender, even from the drama kids.” Spencer said. He sounded tired. Disappointed in his fellow peers. Mikey could relate. Being gay in high school was hard. It was even harder if you were transgender, as Mikey was slowly starting to learn.

The two of them sat on the hood of Spencer’s car (which was a slightly beat up silver Saturn from like 2000 or something) and waited for Dallon. Spencer kept kicking the headlight, which was already broken. Mikey crossed their ankles. “Dude, calm down, they’re probably fine.”

“Yeah, but what if someone corners them?” Spencer said. “Is that a common thing? Do people get beaten up for being gay in real life?”

“I mean, yeah, but I don’t know if it happens here a lot.” Mikey said. They didn’t mention how Gee had come home multiple times last year with bruises on xer arms, and how Ray’s mom had filed a complaint to the school administrators because Ray and Gee both had tried to skip school and hide in the Toros’ basement after someone outed them on twitter. Mikey figured that that information, while true, wouldn’t be helpful right then.

Dallon appeared a few moments later, and the three of them headed to Wendy’s, getting Frostys and a large order of fries to share. They grabbed a table in the back, far enough from the door that they couldn’t be seen. Mikey asked about the plot and point of Anything Goes , because they still didn’t know shit about it, and Spencer and Dallon both lit up before going into detail about the show and everything Mikey could ever need to know.

Apparently, Spencer preferred smaller roles, and working as a stagehand, whereas Dallon liked major roles because they weren’t very coordinated with props. Mikey had stage fright, which they knew from that one time Gee had tried to start a band a few years ago and had made Mikey learn guitar. Mikey, eleven at the time, had thrown up and started sobbing relentlessly before the band’s first ever show. Ray, who was the drummer, managed to calm them down and give them a glass of water so that they could go out and play.

That was the only show they played, because apparently Catholic church youth groups didn’t appreciate a girl (Lindsey) in a faux Catholic school uniform doing backbends and calling herself a witch.

“Oh, shit, we need to go.” Spencer said suddenly. Mikey pulled out their phone, and, yeah, Pete’s game was starting in twenty minutes and Mikey had no idea how to get into a sporting event.

“Do we need to buy tickets?” Dallon asked as they threw away their containers and headed to Spencer’s car. Mikey shrugged. “I think it’s free for students. There probably aren’t a lot of people at soccer games, since our team kind of sucks.”

“The guys suck.” Spencer said. “I heard the girls were really good.”

“That’s because they still think Andy is a girl.” Mikey said. Spencer and Dallon both looked confused. Mikey rolled their eyes and got into the backseat, behind Dallon. Spencer started the car and Mikey pushed their glasses back up their nose. “Andy’s the red headed guy in GSA. He’s got glasses, looks like he could kill you with one hand?”

“Oh yeah, him.” Dallon said. “Isn’t he, like, secretly really nice or something?”

“It’s not a secret.” Mikey said. “He’s just quiet, or at least that’s what Pete told me when I asked. Apparently Andy’s not the most talkative person, which makes sense. Someone in that friend group has to be quiet.”

“It’s sure as hell not Pete Wentz.” Spencer said, and then shouted, “fuck!” when he had to break aggressively because a shiny new truck cut them off. Spencer honked, holding down the horn, and in response the person in the passenger seat of the truck rolled down their window and threw their drink at Spencer’s car. Dark brown soda splashed up on the window, and the guy who had thrown it shouted out, “fuck you, fags!” before flicking Spencer off and rolling his window up. Spencer looked pissed, and Dallon threw their arm across Spencer’s chest. “Spence, don’t. Seriously. They have better insurance than you do, and we’ll get in trouble.”

“Yeah, but consider this,” Spencer said, “my car’s already messed up.”

“Dude, we’re gonna be late to Pete’s game.” Mikey said quietly, their anxiety spiking up. On one hand, yes, they did want to get back at the assholes who had done that. On the other hand, they really didn’t want Spencer to ram his car into a truck about twice their size. That couldn’t end well.

Spencer let out a sigh. “Okay. Sorry, I just… they’re fucking rude.”

“I know.” Dallon said. “But it’s not like we can do anything without getting in a lot of trouble, and I really don’t want to explain this shit to my parents.”

“Okay.” Spencer said, relaxing. Dallon lowered their hand, keeping it on Spencer’s leg, above his knee as he drove them back to the school. They parked in the back lot, by the soccer field, where people were already warming up. Mikey got out and leaned against the top of Spencer's car, squinting and trying to find Pete. It shouldn't have been hard, since Pete had bright pink hair, but Mikey couldn't see him anywhere. Mikey frowned. “I don't see Pete.”

“I mean, soccer fields are pretty big. Maybe he's just out of sight.” Dallon said, walking around the car to be next to Spencer. Mikey couldn't see it from where they were, but Dallon had taken Spencer’s hand and was holding it. Spencer looked down at his and Dallon's hands, and then up at Dallon's face. “So, do we go find seats now?”

“Yeah, sure.” Mikey said, and they did. They were seated in the back row, behind two parent couples who were in a deep discussion about their kids on the team. Mikey hunched forwards. “I don't know anything about sports, by the way. Pete just made me promise to show up because none of his other friends were gonna be able to make it.”

“You could've said no.” Spencer said. Mikey shrugged. “I mean, sure, but at least now I have an excuse to not be at home.”

“Are your parents that bad?” Dallon asked, leaning around Spencer and looking worried. Mikey was beginning to understand why people referred to them as the dad friend. Mikey made a face. “I guess? They aren't gonna kick me or Gee out but they definitely don't approve of us being… not straight.”

“That sucks.” Spencer said. Mikey nodded. “Yeah, me and Gee are used to it though. We know how to get around the things they try to do.”

“...right.” Spencer said, slowly, looking confused. Dallon was nodding, though, and Mikey figured they were just as unable to come out to their family as Mikey was. Spencer was either lucky or new enough to the whole being not straight thing that he wasn’t aware of how shitty parents could be about their child being gay.

One of the moms in front of Mikey tapped her husband on the arm. “Oh, honey, they’re starting!”

The conversations in the stands died down as the players took the field. Mikey could see Pete now, his short, bright pink hair standing out against the dark blue of the uniforms. He looked… good, which was unfortunate because Mikey didn’t need to be developing yet another crush on someone who was unattainable. They were already in over their head with the whole @pwheezie situation, which was slowly turning into a mistake because apparently @pwheezie had a crush on someone she knew in real life (obviously not Mikey, as they didn’t know @pwheezie outside the internet).

“Yeah, go Pete!” Dallon yelled out. Mikey zoned back in to see Pete running down the field with a ball under his feet. He passed it to someone else on the team and Spencer fist pumped the air. “Nice!”

“You two are like embarrassing parents.” Mikey said. Spencer nodded. “We’re aware of this. It’s why we don’t have a lot of friends.”

“Brendon’s worse.” Dallon added. Spencer’s eyes widened and he nodded even more. “Holy shit, yes. She’s fucking obnoxious sometimes.”

“Her older brother graduated last year and she got kicked out of the ceremony for throwing confetti and blowing an airhorn.” Dallon said. “I had to pick her up because there was still like an hour left and she didn’t want to stay downtown with nothing to do.”

“Wait, wait, Dallon, shut up one of our guys just got knocked over.” Spencer said. Mikey was glad that Spencer, and Dallon, from what they could tell, was enjoying himself, because Mikey felt bad about dragging the two of them to see a sporting event that they knew nothing about. Mikey turned to the field, scanning the players to try and figure out what was happening. They found Pete, who was pretty obvious to spot, and then found the player who had fallen. One of the referees blew a whistle, and the people crowded around the fallen guy dispersed.

Fallen guy got up, and got to shoot a goal, which he made. Dallon and Spencer cheered, and Spencer kept elbowing Mikey until Mikey started cheering as well. Pete looked up and flashed the three of them a thumbs-up.

The rest of the game went by with Mikey not knowing what was going on, watching Pete, and listening to Spencer and Dallon spurt out random pieces of information on their childhoods. Mikey replied with some of their own, because they weren’t completely inept. Eventually, the game ended, with Pete’s team losing two to six. Mikey had no idea if that was a good score for a soccer game or not, but they still dragged Dallon and Spencer down to the field to congratulate Pete anyway.

Pete wrapped Mikey in a sweaty hug, grinning into the side of their head. “You’re officially my best friend, Mikeyway.”

“What about us?” Dallon asked. They were standing close to Spencer again, a little bit away from Pete and Mikey. Honestly, Mikey wished they were a bit away from Pete, because Pete smelled like sweat and grass and mud. He was also kind of gross.

“I mean, you guys are pretty great too, but…” Pete said, holding Mikey closer when they tried to wriggle out from under Pete’s grasp. “You didn’t promise me you’d show up. You just promised to come with Mikey so they wouldn’t have to be alone.”

“Thanks, guys.” Mikey said, and finally escaped from Pete. They pushed Pete away with a smile on their face. “Go shower, you’re gross.”

“I’m offended.” Pete said. Mikey rolled their eyes. “I’m covered in your sweat.”

“Okay, true,” Pete said, and snatched Mikey back for a final hug. “I’ll meet you three up at the school. Then we can see Patrick the musically genius and have music orgasms. It’ll be great.”

Chapter Text

-private message from dadtree -

dadtree : so u and pete were flirting yesterday

dadtree : anything u wanna tell me

mieky : wat.

dadtree : also hey this is actually spencer i forgot my phone at dallon’s house so i stole theirs and hacked their account

dadtree : they don’t even have a passcode for their phone i’m dating an idiot

dadtree : a cute idiot

dadtree : but anyway: u and pete. very flirty. explain

mieky : i don’t have a crush on pete if that’s what you’re going for

dadtree : see i thought that about dallon but then…… well…. they’re my date person

mieky : okay but see… pete’s not into me

dadtree : sounds fake but ok

mieky : i’m serious he’s dating patrick

mieky : or at least romantically involved with patrick idk the details

dadtree : wait seriously

dadtree : i had no idea

dadtree : whoops

mieky : it’s okay; i’m not even that mad. patrick is cool n they seem cute together

dadtree : u kno the more u type the more i think u really do have a crush on pete

dadtree : shit dallon’s back bye mikey i’m gonna delete this to destroy evidence

Mikey let out a sigh and slumped further into their homeroom seat. Frank turned around and gave them a look. “You okay back there, dude?”

“I’m just tired.” Mikey shrugged. They were tired, but not a “I didn’t sleep well last night” tired. More of a “life is too much right now and I need a break” tired. It was annoying, and they just wanted their dumb, mentally ill brain to sort it’s shit out. On top of that, this weekend they were going to start moving into the basement with Gee. Sharing a room with their sibling was great, but the whole moving downstairs thing was going to be a pain in the ass. Especially since their room was a mess and their parents would probably make Mikey clean up before they could move down to Gee.

Not that Gee’s room was clean or anything. But Gee wasn’t the one moving.

“If you wanna sleep through first period I can cover for you.” Frank offered. Mikey shook their head. “Nah. We have a test next week. Also, I like this class.”

Frank shrugged. “Your loss. I was even gonna take notes for you, but if you wanna do it yourself, go ahead.”

“I don’t trust your notes.” Mikey said. Frank flipped them off. “Fuck you.”

The bell rang then, signalling the official start of the day, and Mr. Armstrong started calling role for homeroom. The point of homeroom was to cover all the shit that school didn’t usually cover, and there was even a curriculum book for it. Sometimes Mr. Armstrong followed what was in the book, but usually he’d go off on tangents and skip the school approved bullshit.

It was actually kind of interesting, and when Mikey told Gee about it, xe’d been jealous because apparently all xer teachers just read what was in the book and didn’t question if any of the material was good or not.

Mikey mused on that for the rest of the day, thinking about how school was kind of a blank, mind numbing experience where straying from the norm wasn’t acceptable. It was an interesting concept, but Mikey had no idea what to do with it.

- p_wheezie changed the name of the group to bass fuckers for president -

p_wheezie : yo where my future bassists at

mieky : spanish

p_wheezie : hola fuckers

p_wheezie : i would also like to state that i am not in a class and am instead just off school grounds with joe we are smoking the dank memes

p_wheezie : i mean weed

p_wheezie : do i put a dollar in the jar mikey

mieky : sure

joetrohfro : yo

p_wheezie : joe my dude ur a not bass man leave the chat

joetrohfro : no i’m here and i’m lurking

dadtree : I can’t believe I pulled my phone out in class for this.

mieky : dallon no offense but literally everyone is on their phone in class

p_wheezie : i’m not in class

mieky : i kno thank u pete

p_wheezie : ur welcome mikey

zoid : so is this whole bass club thing actually gonna happen???? because i have my own bass back from when me mikey gee and ray were a band for like 5 minutes

mieky : wait u still have bert mccracken

dadtree : Why did you name your bass bert mccracken?

zoid : he was a guy g had a crush on and i was an asshole friend

mieky : it was ray’s idea

zoid : yeah and we named ray’s drumset gabe saporta and you threatened to quit the band

mieky : YOU DON’T NAME ENTIRE FUCKING DRUMSETS

mieky : also just because i had a tiny little crush on him when i was like 11 doesn’t mean u can name an entire drumset after him

zoid : yeah u had a crush on him

zoid : then u sucked his dick apparently

mieky : ok but i wasn’t 11 when that happened so leave me and my thing with gabe saporta alone

p_wheezie : my bass doesn’t have a name i’m a negligent parent someone call child services

p_wheezie : have them whip my ass

p_wheezie : ;)

mieky : soooooo petition to get stoned with pete while at bass club

dadtree : Do I have to sign? I don’t do weed.

zoid : lame

zoid : no u don’t have to sign. i’m gonna sign tho

zoid : the best way to play bass is while baked apparently

zoid : this according to some guy on the internet who i’ve never met

mieky : stop talking to strangers on the internet

zoid : ok mikey twitterfamous way

mieky : shhhhhhh no one who follows me on twitter knows who i am irl

p_wheezie : srsly

p_wheezie : none of ur followers know ur a tiny child in a trenchcoat

joetrohfro : mikey doesn’t have atrench coat

p_wheezie : it’s a metaphor

p_wheezie : u put the tiny child in the trench coat but you don’t let it do the trenching

zoid : dollar in the jar for referencing john green

mieky : and another for shitposting

joetrohfro : shitposting is a crime now? fuck.

Mikey put down their phone for a moment because they needed to be paying more attention in Spanish than they actually were, and Frank kept kicking them with his foot. Mikey turned around and narrowed their eyes at Frank. “What?”

“Dude, Ms. Carzanno keeps looking over here.” Frank hissed back. “Get off your phone.”

“I already did.” Mikey said, and turned back around. They made it through the rest of the period, barely paying attention to Ms. Carzanno, and instead thinking about the bass club. They didn’t see themselves performing any time soon--stage fright had made that idea impossible--but it would be cool to play bass.

The bell rang, and Mikey grabbed their things, following Frank out of the classroom. The two of them could walk together to their last class, because they both had English, just with different teachers. While they were headed down the hall to the English classrooms, Frank paused and let out a soft, “oh, fuck.”

“What?” Mikey asked. Frank was already turning around, and he looked over his shoulder at Mikey. “We need our textbooks and I left mine in my locker. I gotta go get it because I’m one fuck up away from detention and my mom will freak if I get in trouble for something stupid.”

“My locker’s right by my class and I have the same book as you.” Mikey offered. Frank grinned. “Mikey, you are actually my favourite person.”

“Thanks.” Mikey said. They turned around, ready to lead Frank to their locker, and rammed head first into some guy. The guy turned around, and immediately Mikey wanted to die because he was about four inches taller than Mikey and had a full on beard. He also looked like the kind of guy that Gee tried to avoid whenever xe went to cons or gaming competitions. Mikey took a step back. “Sorry.”

“Aren’t you the kid sister of that tranny guy?” Beard face said. Mikey didn’t know what to do with their hands so they just put them in their pockets, which were of a reasonable size because they were wearing guy pants. “What?”

“Gerard or whatever. Wears a lot of makeup, thinks he’s a girl or something.” The beard said, and Mikey could feel the anxiety attack coming. Wow , they thought, as Frank appeared beside them, this is something straight out of a movie. This is how I die . The beard guy looked Mikey and Frank up and down. “And what, are you guys lesbians or some shit? Does being a queer run in the family?”

“Maybe it does, maybe it doesn’t, but you don’t get to fucking say that word.” Frank said. He was up on his toes, trying to look bigger, but his outermost jacket was a bit too big on him and was giving him sweater paws so he didn’t look all that intimidating. He stepped forward, in front of Mikey. “If you’re gonna call me a fucking slur, at least have the decency to use the right one.”

“What, dyke?” Beard face looked somewhere between amused and confused, and Mikey could understand the second one. What the fuck was Frank doing?

“Try again, fucker, I’m a boy.” Frank said, in a startlingly calm voice, and then reached up and fucking decked the guy. It was a solid punch, with a resounding smacking crunch that silenced the people around them. The world, at least the part surrounding Mikey, froze for three seconds, where Mikey could only hear their heart pounding in their chest and the sound of Frank breathing loudly and angrily, and then the world resumed. Fast forward, with too much sound and too much screaming as Beard face back handed Frank and Frank punched him in the gut and someone started cheering.

Mikey was pretty sure they were in two places at once during the fight, because they were frozen in place but they were also holding Frank back, telling him to just let it go, that it wasn’t worth it, that he’d get in trouble with his mom and he didn’t want that. Mikey had no idea which situation actually happened, because it seemed as soon as the fight started, there was an administrator pulling Frank and Mikey away from each other, and another pulling Beard face away from Frank.

They didn’t know how they ended up in the front office, but they were there. And then Gee was there, and xe was saying something to the administrator but Mikey couldn’t understand xem. Everything felt like static, and they thought maybe they were crying, but they still didn’t feel like they were in their own body. They didn’t know where Frank was, and so they pulled on Gee’s arm to ask xem but Gee never said anything about Frank. And then Mikey was sure that they really were crying, and then Gee was crying, maybe? It was all confusing. It was too much, and it was confusing, and Mikey just wanted to be somewhere that wasn’t so bright and didn’t have so much noise, but they couldn’t make their voice work.

Then they were in the bathroom in the nurse’s office, maybe. It was a single person bathroom, but Gee was in there with them, sitting beside them and holding their hand. Mikey wiped their face, knocking off their glasses. They had forgotten they even wore glasses. They picked their glasses up off of the floor and looked at Gee. “What happened? Is Frank okay?”

“Frank’s fine.” Gee said. “He’s probably going to get detention, or even suspended, but he’s fine. He hit the other guy pretty hard, though.”

“Do mom and dad know?” Mikey asked, because they had just remembered that they had parents. This whole forgetting obvious things was weird and a little scary and they didn’t know how to deal with it. Gee shook xer head. “Not yet. The school’s going to call them, though, but I don’t think you’re in trouble. I mean, you might get like one day of detention because you were in the fight, but me and Frank made sure to tell the administrator guy that you were trying to stop the fight, not get in it.”

“I really don’t remember much of what happened.” Mikey admitted. Gee wrapped xer arms around Mikey, pulling them in for a hug. “It’s okay. It’s okay, Mikey.”

“This is fucking weird, Gee.” They said into their sibling’s shoulder. They could feel Gee nodding above them. Mikey hugged Gee back, wondering if they’d done something exceptionally weird that they didn’t remember, and that was why Gee was so worried. Gee felt like safety, though, and so they just held onto xem and the two sat there, on the floor of the bathroom, until the bell rang and the nurse came in and told them that school was over but if they needed some more time they could stay there. Gee looked to Mikey, who nodded. “I’m okay. We can go home now, I guess.”

Chapter Text

p_wheezie : so i’m never smoking weed again

hatrick : what why

p_wheezie : apparently frank and mikey got into a fight with some rando dude and then frank ended up with a week of detention

geewhiz : mikey wasn’t in the fight they were trying to stop it

p_wheezie : o shit really

p_wheezie : kudos to mikey then i guess

morethanafro : r frank and mikey ok??

geewhiz : yeah mikey’s a little frazzled but frank’s fine

frnkiero_andthe_dogs : my mom is pissed af because i started it but she’s not grounding me (thank god) because she thinks that you guys are good influences

frnkiero_andthe_dogs : i think it’s because i told her that mikey tried to stop me from hitting the douche face and so now she thinks that mikey’s a good person

geewhiz : mikey is a good person

frnkiero_andthe_dogs : i know that but my mom didn’t

morethanafro : so since ur not grounded does that mean ur coming over so i can kick your ass at video games

frnkiero_andthe_dogs : ur not gonna kick my ass but yea i should be able to come over

frnkiero_andthe_dogs : i’ll just say that ur even nicer than mikey

mieky : i mean… ray kind of is

mieky : ray change ur name to momfriend so that frank’s mom knows ur legit

morethanafro : ugh fine

- morethanafro changed their name to momfriend -

momfriend : are u satisfied

mieky : yes

mieky : ray toro is our mother

mieky : i am indebted to out mother ray toro for without ray i would never have been born

hatrick : no offense but u guys are on a completely different level of friendship

p_wheezie : patty my love you can’t judge them u’ve known me since we escaped the womb

hatrick : that’s not how we met pete stop spreading lies

p_wheezie : i will when u stop denying ur love for me

hatrick : an unstoppable force meets an immovable object

zoid : dollar in the jar!!

hatrick : for that????????? what the fuck honestly

mieky : i agree with lindsey patrick fork over a dollar

hatrick : how it’s saturday i’m not gonna see any of you guys until like monday

zoid : leave the group chat and i’ll give u my address so u can come over and hand me that fucking dollar

zoid : i am the money witch u can’t escape me i’ll curse u

zoid : hahahahahaha

mieky : so scared

p_wheezie : speaking of witches what are we doing for halloween

frnkiero_andthe_dogs : i’m turning 15 stealing a six pack of beer from the basement and getting drunk somewhere because why the fuck not

geewhiz : wait ur birthday is halloween

frnkiero_andthe_dogs : yeah

geewhiz : dude that’s so cool

geewhiz : we should get together and do something fucking cool

geewhiz : like a haunted house or some shit

frnkiero_andthe_dogs : or we could go to a park at like midnight and get drunk and look like a gang of punk hooligans

zoid : frank we are a gang of punk hooligans

p_wheezie : man i wanted to dress up and get candy

p_wheezie : :(

geewhiz : i mean we could always do both: get candy and then get alcohol and then fuck around somewhere we shouldn’t be

hatrick : i’m good with this plan

momfriend : wait if we’re all getting drunk who the fuck is gonna drive our dumb asses home

momfriend : because i know gee’s car can fit most of us but someone’s gotta be not drunk or we’ll all die

dadtree : I don’t drink. I could drive people.

momfriend : hey dallon

momfriend : do u have a car tho

dadtree : I don’t have my own car, but I could borrow my parent’s minivan?

momfriend : that can probably fit all 12 of us

zoid : not legally but who gives a fuck

momfriend : yes because fitting 9 people in gee’s car is totally legal

zoid : shhhhh we’re small people

momfriend : ok tru

hatrick : cool now i just have to convince my mom to let me stay out on a school night

geewhiz : oh fuck halloween’s a monday

geewhiz : mikey we’re gonna have to go to school hungover we’re gonna die

mieky : whoo hoo

geewhiz : why r u not more concerned

mieky : um because we’re probably gonna tell mom and dad we’re spending the night with ray (and then we probably will) so mom and dad won’t even know we got drunk

geewhiz : yes but do u really want to go to school hungover

mieky : i mean no but like… halloween. who the fuck isn’t going to be a little hungover

zoid : boring people

p_wheezie : yeah fuck those boring people

“Mikey, honey, you need to start cleaning up your room.” Mikey’s mom said, startling them enough that they almost dropped their phone. She was standing in the doorway, and shook her head at them. “I know you don’t like cleaning up, but this is for your grandmother. You wouldn’t want her to move into a messy room, would you?”

“No, mom, sorry.” Mikey said. “I was just answering some questions Frank had about algebra.”

“Frank, that’s the one you’re helping to tutor while Gerard’s in philosophy club?” She asked. Mikey nodded, remembering that that was the lie Gee had gone with to convince xer mom to let xem and Mikey be in GSA. It worked, because it lined up with Frank’s lie to his mom, and Ray’s mom wasn’t too worried about what her kids got up to after school so long as it wasn’t illegal. Mikey pocketed their phone. “Yeah, that’s Frank.”

“Well, I hope he isn’t too bad of an influence on you.” She said, frowning a little. “I heard that he started that fight yesterday. I don’t want you getting into trouble over a guy, Mikey.”

“Mom, me and Frank aren’t like that.” Mikey stuttered out. “We’re just friends, and I help him out in math because I already know most of it from Gee and Ray and Lindsey. I don’t like him.”

“Alright, Mikey. But, it’s okay if you do.” She said, coming into Mikey’s room and toeing her way through all their clothes on the floor to come sit on the edge of Mikey’s bed. She placed her hands on her knees and faced Mikey, her expression serious. “I know you’re young for your grade, so all this hormonal nonsense might feel a bit weird, but it’s perfectly okay to get feelings for boys. You’re getting to the age where you’re going to stop seeing people like Ray as a friend or an older brother figure and start seeing them as cute. And that’s perfectly okay, Mikey, but you shouldn’t let them pressure you into sex.”

“ Mom !” Mikey said, louder than they had meant to. They could feel their face heating up, because this was not the conversation they were expecting to have with their mom, and besides, they already knew about sex. Gee, Lindsey and Ray were older than Mikey, and it wasn’t like they’d made Mikey leave the room whenever they started talking about that kind of stuff. Mikey’d also already given a blowjob. They knew what they were doing.

“Mikey, I’m just trying to prepare you.” She said. “I don’t know what Gerard’s told you, or if he’s told you anything, but you should take his advice with a grain of salt. He’s only sixteen, even though I know he seems a lot older to you.”

“Mom, I appreciate the sentiment, but this is a really weird conversation to have.” Mikey said. “If I promise to clean my room, will you stop talking to me about this?”

“Alright.” She said, and stood up. She pointed a finger at him, in that weird motherly attempt to be playful. “But you better clean your room.”

“Okay, mom.” Mikey said, and then, thankfully, she left. Mikey picked up a few pairs of pants from the floor, sniffed them, and then tossed them into the pile by their door that was the designated “needs to be washed” pile. They stared at the pile, which was pretty tall now, and figured they’d need to bring it downstairs to get washed. That would mean leaving their room, though, and Mikey didn’t feel up to leaving their bed, let alone their room. They let out a sigh.

mieky : @ my mom why do i need to clean my room it’s too much #effort

p_wheezie : don’t do it

p_wheezie : come hang out at my house instead

mieky : how

mieky : i’m 14 i can’t drive

mieky : also i’m p sure there’s a highway between ur house and mine so i’m not walking there

p_wheezie : i’ll come kidnap u

geewhiz : pete don’t kidnap my sibling; mikey i’ll help u clean ur room if u’ll go to the gas station with me to get more cigarettes i have money for them now

mieky : sure

p_wheezie : do u guys ever talk to each other in person or do you just text in the group chat

momfriend : this is normal for them esp when they’re both at home

mieky : it’s because most of what we talk about here is not parent approved

geewhiz : yeah i’m pretty sure my parents would kill me if they knew i smoked

frnkiero_andthe_dogs : hey if you guys are doing a smoke run can u pick me up? i can lie to my mom and say we’re going somewhere else if i need to

frnkiero_andthe_dogs : i just need a second pack because i think my mom knows where i’m hiding my current one

dadtree : How are all of you so sneaky?

mieky : years of helicopter parents + being gay

dadtree : I get that, but how do you get away with all of this? I tried sneaking a Dr. Pepper into my room once and my parents found out and kept me from leaving the house for a month.

frnkiero_andthe_dogs : ok first of all that sucks second u never do anything illegal at home

dadtree : Having a Dr. Pepper isn’t illegal.

mieky : r ur parents okay with it?

dadtree : No.

mieky : then it’s illegal for /u/

mieky : welcome to the wonderful world of Protective Parenting

“Mikey, make sure you bring your dirty clothes downstairs so I can start the laundry!” Their mom called up. Mikey let out a sigh and then yelled out, “okay mom!” before getting out of bed and grabbing their pile of clothes by the door. They didn’t have the energy to clean their room and get ready to move in with Gee, but they knew that the only way to get their parents off their back was to make progress. So, they did.

Chapter Text

- p_wheezie created the group bass fuckers -

- p_wheezie added mieky , zoid , and dadtree to bass fuckers -

p_wheezie : yo what day r u guys free to come over and fuck a bass with me

p_wheezie : we’re not actually gonna fuck basses tho just play them

zoid : i’m good for whenever

mieky : i have detention on friday but after it lets out i’m free

p_wheezie : cool

p_wheezie : dallon are u alive

mieky : it’s the middle of class so they probably aren’t checking their phone but i have next period with them so i can ask

p_wheezie : ok cool thanks mikey

zoid : should i bring my bass to the bass fucking orgy

p_wheezie : yes. because i don’t think that 4 people can play one bass and not kill each other

Mikey put their phone down and instead focused on what Mr. James was talking about, because they probably needed to pay more attention in this class if they were going to pass themselves off as Frank’s math tutor. Frank didn’t get called on, and neither did Mikey (thankfully), so they were able to take notes and realise they already knew what was going on in relative peace. When the bell rang, they gathered their things and headed to drama, listening to music on the way there.

Mikey and Gee both listened to music wherever they walked, because the both of them didn’t like going anywhere in silence. For Mikey, at least, the music was a bubble, separating them from the stares of their peers, making them less aware of the people who could be watching them. It wasn’t the most perfect plan, but it was good enough to keep Mikey calm whenever they didn’t have Frank or Pete to walk them to their next class.

They found their usual seat in the back row of drama, and waited for Dallon and Spencer (and potentially Brendon) to come join them. Once all three of them were settled in beside Mikey, Mikey pulled out a paper and wrote down the details they had for the bass thing that Pete was trying to do. They passed the note to Dallon, who scribbled something back and handed the paper to Mikey again.

I’m available Friday. Also, this is unrelated but Bren is now using ze/zer/zirs pronouns. Sorry if they’re a little odd; ze said as long as you’re trying ze won’t care too much. Also that they/them are acceptable but not preferred.

Mikey wrote back: It won’t be a problem. Gee uses neo-pronouns so I’m used to it.

Ms. Jones (or Veronica, as Spencer, Dallon, and Brendon called her) came in, holding a highlighter pink clipboard and a matching feathered pen in her hands. She looked everyone up and down, standing at the front of the room with a hip cocked and a freshly trimmed eyebrow arched impatiently. She gave the class a minute before she cleared her throat and got their attention. She pushed her glasses up her nose with the end of her pen. “Welcome, my actors and actresses, to what has lovingly been called the Hunger Games by previous classes, but is truly only a test of skill and adaptability.”

Mikey had no idea what was going on, but they were afraid. They dared a glance at their three friends, and all of them were watching Ms. Jones excitedly. That didn’t alleviate Mikey’s fear.

“As of today, we will begin going over the script for our version of Anything Goes.” Ms. Jones said. “Laura Jane, our assistant this year from the local community arts school, has edited the script to make it acceptable and appropriate for a crowd of teenagers. Laura Jane, a script, please.”

A girl with long, wavy brown hair stood up from the front row and walked over to Ms. Jones. She was wearing jeans and a plain black t-shirt, with tattoos already covering her arms. She stayed up there, beside Ms. Jones, with one hand in her pocket and the other by her side. She waved. “Hey, I’m Laura Jane Grace, but you can just call me Laura. I’m gonna be helping with a lot of the backstage stuff, so you’ll be seeing me around a lot.”

Mikey stared at her. Maybe it was years of being around Gee and knowing a bunch of stuff about the trans community, but they knew. She was a trans woman, and Mikey immediately felt drawn to her. Fuck being in the musical; Mikey was going to be a stage hand and adopt themselves as Laura’s younger sibling, assuming she was cool with that. They nudged Dallon, scribbling down she’s trans onto their paper and sliding it over.

How can you tell? Dallon wrote back.

I just know. It’s like gaydar, but with trans stuff. I got it from Gee, probably. Mikey said. Dallon nodded, and then focused back on what Ms. Jones and Laura were actually talking about. Ms. Jones had Laura’s script in hand and was flipping through it as she spoke. “We have enough scripts right now for all of you, but no extras, so make sure to not misplace yours, because you won’t be able to get another copy.

“We’ll begin read-throughs tomorrow, to give everyone time to go home and look over the script to see any and all adaptations that have been made to the original content. While you are looking over the script tonight, I would like you to consider which parts you wish to play, but to not settle on only one. Just because you see yourself in a certain role, does not mean that that is where you belong.” Ms. Jones said, and Mikey was pretty sure that in another life she would have been one of those motivational speakers on YouTube. “Also, for those of you who signed up for this class thinking it would be easy and that you wouldn’t have to put forth effort, I’m sorry but that is not the case here. Do not give up on an acting role and think that you belong behind the curtain or in the ensemble just because you have no work ethic or are shy. Believe me, those two excuses count for nothing in theatre.”

“The opposite is also true,” Laura added. “If you think you’re gonna get a lead role just because you’re the talkative kid in the front row of each class, you might be wrong. This class isn’t a popularity contest, or a who can hit the highest notes contest. It’s about who Veronica thinks is meant to play each role--big, small, or unseen.”

“Theatre is serious.” Ms. Jones said, nodding sagely. “I hope you take it seriously, and that you learn to love the art within.”

She turned and reached around behind her desk, pulling out a thick stack of papers. She set them on the side arm desk in the front row. “Now, these are the scripts. Everyone, please come down in an orderly fashion and collect your copy.”

Mikey had to physically block their friends from jumping over them (and everyone else) to go down and get first in line. Brendon looked especially pissed when Mikey held out their arms to keep zer from getting out. “Mikey, come on, no one actually waits for their turn.”

“Yeah but I don’t want to get trampled.” Mikey said. “Also, I’m a little claustrophobic.”

“We can get you a script.” Spencer said, pushing Brendon forward and into Mikey’s arms. Dallon rested their head on Spencer’s shoulder and gave Mikey a pout that was more funny than convincing. “Please, Mikey. We promise not to get you a wrinkled script.”

Mikey let out a sigh and dropped their arms. “Fine. You weirdos.”

“You think we’re cool.” Brendon said, ruffling Mikey’s hair as ze passed them. Mikey shoved at zer, and ze stuck out zer tongue before strutting (literally, it looked like something straight off a catwalk) down to the front of the classroom with Dallon and Spencer following behind zer like two stylish bodyguards. Ze even pushed through the crowd, pulling Dallon and Spencer in with zer, and pushed back out with two scripts in hand, one of which ze waved at Mikey. “Here you go, your majesty, since you can’t get it yourself.”

Mikey grabbed it. “I have social anxiety.”

Brendon’s expression dropped. “Oh, shit, I’m sorry. I had no idea, I thought you were just being a dramatic little shit I didn’t know it was like an actual thing-thing--”

“It’s cool.” Mikey waved it off, because they hadn’t expected Brendon to react so seriously. Yes, Mikey had social anxiety and was bad at dealing with people, but no, they didn’t need pity or whatever. Their issues were… survivable, and their coping mechanisms worked for now so there wasn’t really a problem. They pushed their glasses up their nose with their script. “Thanks for getting me a copy, though.”

“Yeah, no problem.” Brendon said, and got back into zer seat. Dallon and Spencer followed, and even though Ms. Jones and Laura kept talking and answering questions about the musical for the rest of the class period, all three of them (excluding Mikey) had their heads in the script, reading over the parts. Mikey figured that they were just hardcore drama nerds and probably over-achievers. Mikey was cool with that; they’d just read the script over when they got home, since they wouldn’t have any other homework.

The rest of the day passed uneventfully, and once the final bell rang, Mikey headed up to Mr. Armstrong’s classroom for the weekly GSA meeting. They were one of the first ones there, along with Gee and Frank, but before they could even say hi to Gee, Frank pulled them over to ask them about math stuff. Mikey pulled out their notes. “Your mom must think I’m some kind of super genius or something.”

“Are you saying I’m stupid?” Frank asked. Mikey shook their head. “No, I just don’t know why she’s obsessed with you getting a perfect grade in math. It’s really not that important.”

“Mikey, I’m not supposed to be in this school.” Frank said. Mikey raised an eyebrow, and Frank let out a sigh. “You know how I said I used to go to Catholic school and then got kicked out? That was only half true. I got kicked out last March, at the end of eighth grade, and my mom just homeschooled me after that so I wouldn’t have to go to a brand new school for two months. And then she convinced this county’s school board or whoever to let me go to high school here because most of the assholes from my Catholic school were gonna go to the high school in the county I live in. And the school board people were like, ‘yeah, sure, but only if he proves himself as exceptionally gifted.’ So basically, I have to be smart or I’ll have to transfer schools again and me and my mom both don’t want that to happen.”

“Oh.” Mikey said. They explained a few more problems to Frank and then remembered that both themselves and Frank had detention that Friday. Mikey dropped their pencil. “Wait, so you can’t get a B in math but you can get in fights?”

“It gets written off as anger issues or something.” Frank said. “I’m supposed to be going to counseling but my mom never set anything up.”

“Right.” Mikey said.

By two thirty, everyone who usually showed up had showed up and Frank and Mikey had to put their math away. They all circled up, with Mr. Armstrong at the front and Mikey between him and Ray. Mr. Armstrong had a few papers in his hands. “Alright, so because of some of the things that have been happening recently, I got an email from the administrators to talk to you all. The gist of the email was that bullying and violence won’t be tolerated, blah blah blah, and that if someone is mean to you you should go to me or an administrator and report them, but I’m going to tell you guys that that’s all a bunch of bullshit. I’ve been here for six years, and I have yet to even hear about a student being suspended for homophobic behaviour. I have, of course, heard about people being taken out of class, suspended, or even asked to leave because of their sexual orientation or how they present their gender. So, instead of reading an email full of bureaucratic bull, I’m going to say this: fight those fuckers, just do it off of school property so you can’t get in trouble.”

Frank stared at him like he was literally the second coming of Christ. “Wait, seriously?”

“Yes.” Mr. Armstrong said. “No one should have to suffer for who they are, and school administrators aren’t going to do shit because they’ve never done shit.”

“Cool, I’m gonna fight every homophobe in the Huck’s gas station after school tomorrow.” Frank said, and kicked his leg out in Gee’s general direction. “Gee, drive me there, I don’t want to walk.”

“No.” Gee said.

“Frank, don’t fight everyone.” Mr. Armstrong said, but it sounded more like he was trying to be a responsible adult and that he secretly supported Frank starting a fight club in the Huck’s parking lot. “Don’t put yourselves in danger, but definitely fight back if you can. The whole ignore them and they’ll leave you alone mantra is a lie. They’ll probably come after you no matter what, but they might hesitate if you give them a black eye first.”

“Okay, so no fighting everyone.” Frank said, and nodded. Spencer raised his hand, and Dallon face-palmed. “Wait, so if someone calls me and my friends the f word, can I run them over?”

“No, because that’s manslaughter and you’ll go to jail.” Mr. Armstrong said. It sounded like it wasn’t the first time he had to tell someone not to murder people, which was funny enough that Mikey decided to ignore how serious Spencer had seemed about theoretically going back in time and running into that truck full of dicks. Not literal dicks, just people who were more dick that human.

Spencer nodded. Ray shot Mikey a glance, and the nodded, letting her know that she could start the meeting however she wanted to because she seemed to know what she was doing better than Mikey did. Ray crossed her legs at the ankle and addressed everyone. “Okay, so. I know most of you probably won’t be going to homecoming because, well, it’s homecoming and it’s in a gym and literally no one cares, but we’re gonna talk about it anyway. Because Gee asked and I couldn’t think of anything better to talk about.”

“Can we have our own gay homecoming?” Brendon suggested. “No queens, no kings, just a bunch of gay kids dressing up however they want and having a good time.”

“Okay, that’s one option.” Ray said. “Anyone else want to do something different?”

“Do we even need a homecoming?” Andy asked. Ray shrugged. “I mean, no, but it could be fun to be ourselves. My mom would probably let me have the basement. I could get one of my brothers to be the DJ.”

“Are we gonna go out to a fancy restaurant and take pictures beforehand and pretend we’re going to the school’s homecoming or are we going to say fuck that and just do whatever?” Joe asked. Ray looked around. “What does everyone else want? And do we want to tell other people about this or keep it to ourselves?”

“Let’s keep it a GSA thing.” Patrick said. “I don’t want a bunch of straight people to show up and ruin it.”

“That sounds good in theory, but what if someone is closeted and wants to be themselves at homecoming or bring their same gender partner with them?” Gee asked. “I’m all for keeping out the straights because they already have their homecoming, but how private do we want to be?”

“We can make a Facebook page for the GSA and make gay homecoming an event on the page? And just not private it?” Patrick suggested. “Pete can be the admin, since they’re probably the most popular person in our friend group.”

“I’m not the most popular person here, man, I just have the most friends on Facebook and I’m not friends with my parents.” Pete said, and poked Patrick’s cheek. “Unlike you. You’re friends with your own grandparents.”

“I can’t just unfriend them, they’d tell my dad and be all sad and old and shit.” Patrick said, letting Pete continue to poke his face. “But seriously, we should have a GSA Facebook page. Even if we don’t use it for anything else, at least we’ll have tried to do the social media thing.”

“Alright.” Ray said. “Pete, you’re in charge of the GSA Facebook page. I’ll give you my Facebook name and you can add me as a co-admin because I don’t actually trust you to be in charge of anything important. And I’ll talk to my mom about letting us have the basement or the garage or whatever for gay homecoming.”

Chapter Text

Detention turned out to be really boring. Mikey and the other ten people there weren’t allowed to talk, and they had to put all their electronics in the front of the room. They were supposed to only be working on homework, but Gee had written down a few storylines for xer and Mikey’s characters and had given them to Mikey to look over. Gee wanted to go into comics, and Mikey supported xem because they couldn’t draw for shit but they could create shit and they figured that Gee--if xe ever got big in the comics industry--would let Mikey co-write something in the future.

After two hours, everyone was let out and herded to the front of the school. Mikey sent a message to the bass fuckers group chat, saying that they were done with detention and that whoever was going to come pick them up should come do so now.

About ten minutes later, a car pulled up and the passenger window rolled down. Pete leaned out of the car, waving at Mikey. “Mikey, quick, get in the van!”

Mikey grabbed their backpack and got into the backseat, introducing themselves to Pete’s mom while she drove them back to the Wentz’s house. Lindsey and Dallon were already in the Wentz’s living room when Mikey arrived, and the two of them looked relieved to no longer be alone in a house that wasn’t theirs.

Ms. Wentz stood in the doorway. “Pete, where are you and your friends planning to hang out? I’ve got company coming over for dinner tonight, and I’m going to need the living room for drinks.”

“Uh, we’ll probably be in my room. That’s where my amp and bass are anyway.” Pete said. Lindsey had her bass in her hands, and tightened her grip on the neck. Bert McCracken, the bass and not the guy Gee had had a crush on years before, was a pretty cool bass, complete with a bunch of tacky fourth of July firecracker stickers that Gee and Ray had bought because Walgreens was having a sale and neither of them knew how to properly spend money. Mikey’s guitar, which was sitting in it’s case in the back of Mikey’s closet, sad and a little forgotten, was covered in animal stickers, also from the same trip.

Ms. Wentz frowned. “Pete, if you’re going to have girls in your room, you need to keep your door open. And, try to be quiet while you’re up there, especially once the guests get here.”

“Sure thing, mom.” Pete said, hopping up. They turned to Mikey, Dallon, and Lindsey. “I'll show you guys to my room and then we can start this whole bass club thing.”

The four headed up the stairs, Lindsey still holding onto Bert McCracken by its neck. Pete’s bedroom was at the end of the hallway, tucked back in a corner of the house. There was an office on the other side of the hall, with a bathroom in between the two rooms. Pete let everyone in in front of them, and then kept the door halfway open. “Sorry about my mom. She’s one of those weird cishet people who thinks that if a girl and a guy are in a room together someone’ll end up pregnant. She also has no idea about non binary identities and I’m not gonna tell her because I don’t even have a name for what I am.”

They crossed over to where there was an amp and a bass guitar leaned up against the window, which was low to the ground. There were band and comic posters covering the wall, as well as a hole in the wall that looked like someone had punched it at some point. The dresser was covered in various photographs, some of which were taped to the mirror itself and others that were pinned directly to the wall beside the mirror. There were also about seventeen different eyeliner pencils on the dresser, as well as an empty box of pink hair dye and the instructions for it (which was smeared with dye and eyeliner shavings).

“Right, so, I don’t really know what I’m doing bass wise, but I figured someone here might know what to do?” Pete said, sitting down beside their bass and plucking half-heartedly at one of the strings.

“I kind of know.” Lindsey said. “I used to be in a band, kind of, and I taught myself a few songs after.”

“So, you’ll teach us?” Pete asked. Lindsey shrugged. “I’ll try.”

She did try, but after about an hour or so of them passing the basses around and breaking a bunch of picks because apparently all of Pete’s picks were just old guitar picks they’d stolen from Patrick, they gave up. None of them could drive except Lindsey, and she didn't have a car because her mom was at work. They couldn't really leave the house to go do anything, which sucked because Pete's room was boring after about twenty minutes and the wifi signal was horrible.

“Hey, you guys wanna go do something fun?” Pete asked from where they were laying across their bend, their feet dangling off one edge and their head dangling off the other. Mikey glanced over at Lindsey, who was sitting on the amp and attempting to play Pete’s bass with her fingers, and then at Dallon, who was sitting on a ripped open beanbag that was half covered in jeans. Dallon shrugged. “Sure, why not?”

“Okay, cool, we’re gonna go to the river then.” Pete sat up. Mikey frowned. “What exactly are we going to do at the river, though? Because I’m not swimming. It’s too fucking cold for that.”

“It’s the end of September, it’s not that cold.” Pete said, but Lindsey and Dallon both sided with Mikey. Pete folded their arms over their chest. “Fine, no swimming. But we can just go, and maybe get some weed on the way because one of the soccer guys lives on the way to the river, so we could get stoned and Dallon could be the responsible adult and keep me, you, and Lindsey from drowning or something.”

“That works.” Lindsey said. “You do know how to get to the river from your house, right?”

“Yeah. It’s kind of a long walk, but it’s fun and we get to sneak through people’s backyards.” Pete said, grinning. Mikey couldn’t believe they were agreeing to this. On one hand, they were always down for vaguely illegal activities with friends, but on the other hand, they didn’t like doing the illegal activities outside, especially if they involved a lot of walking around.

They headed out through the back door, Pete calling out to their mom to let her know that they were going out. Mikey didn’t even hear Pete’s mom respond before the back door was slamming shut behind Pete and they were leading everyone to the river.

Mikey, of course, had been to the river before, but usually it was while they were hanging out at Lindsey’s house and it usually involved someone driving them there. They had no idea that there was a way to walk there, or that it would take almost an hour, including the fifteen minute stop at Pete’s soccer friend’s house to buy some weed off of the guy. Pete held onto the weed, holding it in their back pocket even though they were wearing skinny jeans and Mikey was wearing cargo pants. Not shorts, because Mikey never wore shorts even if it was July and they were dying.

They eventually got to the river, and settled down on the rocks. There wasn’t much of a shore, just a patch of mud and rocks where the grass ended and the water started. Pete started rolling up joints, but they turned out to be really bad at it, so Lindsey did the rolling because she knew what she was doing. Dallon just sat on the other side of Mikey and watched Lindsey roll the joints up with mild curiousity. Mikey raised an eyebrow. “You know you can still be Mormon and not follow all the rules, right? Like, me and Gee are Catholic but we still do gay shit and have had sex before marriage. Doing bad stuff doesn’t make you a shitty person.”

“It kind of does, though.” Pete said, stealing the joint from Lindsey before she could smoke it. She swatted at their hand, but didn’t grab it back and let Pete light it and take the first drag. They passed it back to her, and then she passed it to Mikey. Mikey stared at the blunt. “You got lipstick on it.”

“Okay, and?” Lindsey said. “Since when did you care about that kind of stuff?”

“I don’t.” Mikey said, because they didn’t, they were just annoyed (maybe) that Lindsey’s lipstick was now on the joint and that was just kind of weird. They took their drag and and almost handed the joint to Dallon before remembering that Dallon was being the responsible friend who didn’t smoke. They leaned across Lindsey and handed the joint to Pete again.

The three of them passed the joint around until there was nothing left, tossing rocks into the river with Dallon and talking shit about random people at school in between turns. Lindsey rolled a few more joints, both of which were passed around, and by then Mikey was feeling really stoned and calm, which was nice because they were often just a small pile of nervousness.

“Right, so, what if we went swimming?” Pete said, laying on the shore of the river, their shoes off and their feet already somewhat in the water. Dallon raised their eyebrows. “You would probably drown, a little, and I’d let you because you’re an idiot.”

“Don’t let Pete drown I like them.” Mikey said. Pete grinned up at Mikey. “Thanks, Mikeyway. You’re the coolest. Sweetest little dude.”

“I thought you smoked a lot.” Lindsey said, kicking her feet in the general direction of Pete, but not getting anywhere near their face. “Because you’re acting really stoned right now, and I’m ready to call bullshit. And a dollar in the jar, for lying to us all.”

“You can’t do that.” Mikey said. “Right Dallon?”

“Yeah, lying doesn’t constitute putting a dollar in the sin jar. It is a sin jar, right? Because it sounds like it’s supposed to be a sin jar, and if it’s not, I’m gonna rename it the sin jar when I get it.” Dallon said. Lindsey scoffed. “You’re not getting it, because I don’t sin. And besides, the only way to get the sin jar from it’s current owner is to call them out on their mistake first.”

“Well, it’s a good thing we’re in both bass club and GSA together, then, isn’t it?” Dallon said. “That sin jar is mine, Lindsey.”

“What if Dallon got stoned from us being stoned?” Pete said, and pulled their shirt over their head. “Also, I’m going in the river. You nerds can come with me if you want.”

“Don’t drown.” Lindsey said. Pete gave her a thumbs up, took off their pants, and ran in. The let out a scream, exclaiming that the water was “fucking cold!” but ducked under the water anyway. Mikey decided that Pete was fucking weird, but that they liked them anyway.

The sun had nearly set by the time they were all sober enough to walk back to Pete’s house. Mikey texted Gee once they got there, and then asked Dallon if they needed a ride home or not. Dallon accepted the invitation, and then told Mikey (and Lindsey and Pete, since they were all three back up in Pete’s room) that they should probably spray themselves with something because they smelled like weed. Pete disappeared into the hallway and then reappeared with a bottle of Febreeze a second later, handing it to Mikey. “My mom knows I smoke, and she hates it but she also doesn’t do anything about it, but if you guys need to cover up the smell, go ahead.”

“Thanks Pete.” Mikey said, and started spraying themselves. Lindsey sprayed herself down as well, and Dallon sprayed themselves a little just in case the smell had gotten on their shirt. By that time, Gee was at Pete’s house, xer car sitting in the driveway, xer music turned down because xe didn’t know what kind of parent Pete’s mom was and xe knew better than to just play xer music around adults.

Pete waved goodbye to the three of them, and kept waving until Mikey was in the front seat and Gee was backing out of the driveway. Dallon directed Gee to their house, which was up near that place that hosted school dances. It was a newer neighbourhood, and there were still a lot of empty lots behind Dallon’s house.

Lindsey texted her mom, asking if it was okay for her to spend the night at the Way’s house (because she did that a lot), and Mikey texted their parents asking if Lindsey could just stay there for the night because their thing with Pete had lasted a lot longer than expected and it was just easier to bring Lindsey back with them. Mikey’s parents agreed, their mom saying that she’d pull out the extra blankets for Lindsey to sleep on the couch because she, Gee, and Mikey were too old to be sleeping in the same room anymore. Mikey didn’t mention that Gee and Lindsey had already slept (in a sexual and platonic way) in the same room before and that it wasn’t a big deal. They knew better. Their parents would just freak out about teenage pregnancy and all that shit that Mikey didn’t understand.

“So, how much do you wanna bet that mom and dad are going to make us and Lindsey have dinner with them?” Gee asked as xe turned onto the street that they lived on. Mikey shrugged. “They probably will. But, hey, at least your girlfriend’s sleeping over.”

“Yeah, on the couch.” Lindsey said from the back. Gee raised xer eyebrow. “Like you’re not gonna sneak downstairs as soon as everyone’s asleep.”

“Okay, true.” Lindsey said. Mikey face-palmed. “You two are ridiculous.”

“Get used to it, Mikes, because we’re not stopping.” Gee said. Mikey let out an over-dramatic sigh. “Oh no. Too much gayness. I’m going to die.”

“You’ll be fine.” Lindsey said. “Just don’t come down to the basement to hang out with Gee tonight, buddy.”

“Oh my God.” Both Way siblings said at the same time. Lindsey laughed.

Chapter Text

Mikey officially moved down to Gee’s room the first weekend of October. It seemed like a great idea at the time, but then Mikey remembered why their parents had banned the two from having “sleepovers” in each other’s rooms when they were kids. Gee and Mikey would keep each other up, and the other would let it happen.

It was three weeks before Halloween, aka Frank’s drunken birthday bash thing, and Mikey was almost falling asleep in drama class. Of all the classes they were taking, drama was the one they should have been least likely to sleep through, partially because they had three over-enthusiastic friends who would keep them awake, and partially because Laura was still there and she was getting cooler and cooler every day.

Mikey made it through the class period without falling asleep, thankfully, and decided that they were going to actually introduce themselves to Laura and let her know that she was cool.

They stood a few feet away from her until she was done talking to Ms. Jones, and then they stood there for a little longer because they weren’t sure what to say. In the end, it was Laura who came over to Mikey and said, “hey, what’s up?”

“You’re cool.” Mikey blurted out. “I mean. I mean, hi, I’m Mikey. I use they/them pronouns. If I was a girl I’d probably want to be you when I grow up. And your tattoos look cool.”

“Thanks.” Laura said, laughing a little. “I use she/her pronouns, and I’m not grown up. I’m just a college girl in a band, trying to make it in the punk scene.”

“You have a band?” Mikey asked. “Like, a real band?”

“Yeah. We even have shows and everything.” Laura said. “We were going to have one next weekend, but the place cancelled on us because you guys are having your homecoming then and the owners didn’t think anyone would show up.”

“Me and my friends are having an alternative homecoming.” Mikey said. They had no idea if they could even do this, but hey, now Ray’s older brother wouldn’t have to DJ for a bunch of weird high school kids. Assuming that Laura and her (probably a lot cooler, and older, and in college) bandmates even wanted to play. Mikey bit at their nail. “I don’t know if we could pay you, but maybe? And also, it would be a gay thing, because like all of my friends are gay and we didn’t want to go to actual homecoming but we didn’t want to stay home alone, you know?”

Laura nodded. Mikey continued to bite their fingernail. “It’s okay if you think we’re lame, because we kind of are, but yeah.”

“No, actually, that seems pretty cool. And, I’d need the parent’s permission because me and the guys are all adults, but yeah, sure.” Laura shrugged. “It’s not like we’d have made a lot of money at the original gig, anyway. We were doing my drummer’s uncle a favour, and then we weren’t because he changed his mind.”

“Oh, cool.” Mikey said. Then, “wait, you’d seriously want to do this?”

“I’m all for supporting younger gay kids. I’ve been out as trans and queer for a while, but I remember how shitty high school was.” Laura said. She turned around and grabbed a pen from Ms. Jones’ desk. She grabbed Mikey’s wrist and wrote an email address on their arm: [email protected] . “That’s our band email. Have your friend’s mom or whoever email us and we’ll get the details down.”

“Thanks.” Mikey said. Laura pulled out a late pass and signed it. “Also, take this. You’re probably gonna be late.”

“Thanks.” Mikey repeated, feeling a little dumb. They took the pass and headed to their next class, pausing in the bathroom to send a message to the group chat.

- mieky changed the name of the group to official gay homecoming -

mieky : hey ray tell ur brother we don’t need him

momfriend : y

mieky : the assistant drama person is in a band and cooler than all of us combined

mieky : also i asked her to play at our homecoming and she was like sure

momfriend : wait seriously

momfriend : is she aware that there will be like 12 people there and that we’re all a bunch of gay teenagers

mieky : ye

mieky : she’s a gay college student so she’s like the adult version of us

zoid : do u know what her band is

zoid : like does she have a name or anything or are you just blindly trusting that she’s good

mieky : the band’s email is againstmeband so that’s probably their name

zoid : hold on i’ll google them

Mikey pocketed their phone and left the bathroom after that, because they knew that if they didn’t they would probably end up staying there for the rest of fourth period and that would get them in  a lot of trouble. They quickly walked to class, handing their biology teacher the late pass from Laura and then sliding into their chair near the back.

They pulled their phone back out, because biology was boring for the most part and they didn’t need to pay too much attention in that class.

zoid : okay so they’re a legit band called against me! (i’m guessing) and i think mikey’s friend/connection is the frontwoman aka laura jane grace

zoid : who is a trans activist and trans woman herself

zoid : already i love this band and i haven’t listened to anything by them yet because i’m in class and can’t

zoid : i’ll listen to them in the hall tho

morethanafro : link me to them

zoid : no go google them urself fucko

morethanafro : don’t call me a fucko

spooncer : wait laura jane grace as in drama assistant laura

spooncer : @ mikey since when did u get socialising skills

mieky : who knows not me

mieky : i guess people just trust me because i’m small

brebdo : at least u didn’t say smol because that word is the literal worst and i hate it

brebdo : i had someone comment that i was their “smol bean queen” on instagram and i blocked them

spooncer : we get it bren you’re famous on instagram because you have a nice face

brebdo : ur face is also nice

spooncer : u know who has the best face? dallon

mieky : i have the best twitter

brebdo : spencer that’s gay

spooncer : i know you are but what am i

zoid : spencer you owe me at least three dollars for that

spooncer : i accept this

p_wheezie : we gotta get lindsey to sin she’s had this fucking jar for too long

zoid : can’t catch me sin jar thoughts

mieky : ...dollar in the jar?

zoid : no

p_wheezie : ur opinion is invalid everyone else in the chat rn vote: did lindsey sin

brebdo : no??

spooncer : yes

spooncer : do i now only owe 2 dollars?

mieky : sorry no that’s not how it works also lindsey the jar is now mine and u owe me a dollar

zoid : FUCK

zoid : that’s not fair i hate pete wentz

p_wheezie : hashtag relatable

- p_wheezie changed the name of the group to everyone hates pete wentz -

brebdo : truuuu

spooncer : surely someone loves you pete

- private message from spooncer -

spooncer : that was a vague @ u mikey

mieky : i’m going to remove you from the main chat u fuck

mieky : i don’t have a crush on pete

spooncer : lies

spooncer : dal said u, pete, and lindsey got stoned and u gave pete all the heart eyes so… u like them

spooncer : you’re gay for pete wentz

mieky : no

- mieky removed spooncer from everyone hates pete wentz -

p_wheezie : ??????

-p_wheezie changed the name of the group to who killed spencer smith -

- brebdo added spooncer to who killed spencer smith -

brebdo : welcome back

spooncer : thanks

spooncer : u can’t escape me mikey

zoid : mikey why’d u even remove him spencer has done nothing wrong

mieky : inside joke

mieky : i was gonna add him back but brendon did it first because #thirsty

brebdo : no i’m not

mieky : ok

mieky : sure jan

mieky : that sounds fake but ok

zoid : there was a sin in there somewhere i know it

p_wheezie : u just want ur jar back

p_wheezie : so no there wasn’t a sin

zoid : i don’t like u

- zoid changed the name of the group to no one likes pete wentz -

- p_wheezie changed the name of the group to no one likes pete wentz except patrick stump -

p_wheezie : i mean he’s probably gonna change it as soon as he sees it but i’m trying anyway

zoid : good luck i’ll support patrick if he changes the name of the group chat

spooncer : i support pete but sure

brebdo : i genuinely have no idea what’s happening

mieky : same

mieky : lets make a chat of our own and not include any of these weirdos and their pete problems

p_wheezie : wow mikey i’m offended

mieky : ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

p_wheezie : D<

p_wheezie : wait how do you make the penis emoji again i need to send it to mikey privately

mieky : pete that’s gross

zoid : yeah pete don’t send nudes

p_wheezie : too late

spooncer : mikey i’m sorry you have a picture of pete’s emoji dick

p_wheezie : i didn’t send it to mikey oh my god!!!!

p_wheezie : i sent nudes to someone else let me live we were dating when it happened i’m not a cam girl i swear

brebdo : i could be if i wanted to

brebdo : i’m pretty enough

spooncer : u think ur pretty enough and that’s what matters

brebdo : right

brebdo : mikey how do you remove someone from a chat i’m kicking spence out again

spooncer : wow rude

mieky : don’t actually kick spencer out he’s cool (kind of)

spooncer : i might just let myself out at this point

p_wheezie : yo we’re like the unloved squad

zoid : can it really be a squad if it’s only two people

p_wheezie : yes

spooncer : yes

- p_wheezie changed the name of the group to the unloved squad -

mieky : pete stop changing the name of the group

p_wheezie : stop kink shaming me and my life choices

mieky : no

p_wheezie : i should remove u from the group

p_wheezie : hahahaha i have power now

mieky : … i’m still here

p_wheezie : not 4 long mikeyway

- mieky has been removed from the unloved squad -

Mikey set their phone down and stared at it for a moment. Their kik messages suddenly looked very empty. They let out a small sigh, one that wouldn’t be heard by anyone else in the class, and switched over to their twitter. They might as well update that until someone put them back in the group.

mkwy @mikey_wavy

so i just got kicked out of the group chat and now i have no way of entertaining myself… q&a?

mkwy @mikey_wavy

@mikey_wavy opinion on marvel vs dc discourse?

i think it’s dumb also both teams are interesting (i’m a comic book nerd)

mkwy @mikey_wavy

@mikey_wavy how’s the gsa going?

it’s p good, we have about 12 members and they’re the same people

mkwy @mikey_wavy

@mikey_wavy opinion on cats?

yes! also i can’t have any bc gee’s allergic :////

mkwy @mikey_wavy

@mikey_wavy are you and @pwheezie dating bc i live 4 ur twitter interactions!!

nope idk if we’re even friends tbh

And that was enough twitter for the day. Mikey sent a snap to Dallon, knowing they wouldn’t see it until the end of class, and then they locked their phone and tried to pay attention for the rest of the class. As soon as class was over, they headed to lunch, turning up their music as loud as they could without feeling self conscious about it. They headed to their usual table, with Frank already there, and slumped down into the seat next to him. Frank raised an eyebrow. “You okay dude?”

“Everyone thinks I have a crush on Pete.” Mikey said. Frank frowned. “Do you?”

“No! But I can’t say that, because then they just think I do and I’m lying.” Mikey said, pushing their carrots around with their fork. “How do I convince them that I’m not interested in Pete?”

“I don’t know.” Frank said. “Are you interested in someone else? Because maybe if you bring the other person up people’ll stop asking you about Pete.”

“I do, but she’s an internet crush and she doesn’t really know I exist.” Mikey said. “So, it’s a pointless crush that I don’t have a chance with.”

“That sucks.” Frank said, and then Patrick and Pete joined them, followed by Joe and then Andy. Mikey managed to be in the middle, between Frank and Pete, and across from Joe. Pete nudged Mikey’s arm with their elbow. “You’re friends with the Drama trio, right?”

“The drama trio?” Mikey asked. Pete nodded, taking a bite of pizza. “Yeah. Brendon and Dallon and Spencer. You’re friends with them, right?”

“Pete, no.” Patrick said. Joe put his hand over Patrick’s mouth. “Shh, I want to hear what weird drama Pete has today. Let them speak.”

“Thank you, Joe.” Pete said, and turned back to Mikey. They were wearing eyeliner and their eyes were golden. “Right, so, you’re a fetus--”

“Mikey’s literally a grade younger than us,” Patrick said.

“--and weren’t here last year but you probably know Ryan Ross anyway.” Pete said. Mikey nodded, because the name Ryan Ross did sound somewhat familiar, especially in the context of Brendon, Spencer, and Dallon. Pete took another bite of pizza, swinging their legs around so that they were completely facing Mikey, while eating pizza and staring them down. “So Brendon and Ryan were a thing for like all of forever--like they started out as one of those lame middle school couples that no one believes in but then they kept going? It was weird. Anyway, so they dated for a while, but then me and Ryan had a thing on the side, Brendon found out about it but instead of, you know, doing the smart thing and just breaking up with him, ze hooked up with both Spencer and Dallon. Not at the same time. And Dallon was, like, already in high school but they were only a freshman so it wasn’t as impressive, but yeah. Anyway, somehow Ryan and Brendon got their shit together, but then Ryan moved to, like, California or somewhere really far away and Brendon broke up with him the day before he left.”

“Where are you going with this?” Frank asked, leaning around Mikey and pretending he was less interested than his body language said he was.

“Basically, that the relationships between Brendon, Spencer, Dallon, and the late Ryan Ross--”

“He’s not dead.” Patrick said. Pete glared at him. “He is to me.”

Patrick stared at Pete. Pete winked. “Not really. Anyway, it’s complicated, and I heard from three different sources--including Ryan Ross’s tumblr account that I found because I’m a sneaky fucker--that he’s coming back over winter break and that he’s already making plans with Brendon to do a thing. Do you have any idea what kind of thing he’s planning to do with Brendon?”

“No.” Mikey said. Pete frowned. “What, really? Do you talk to Brendon at all?”

“Yeah, but ze’s never mentioned Ryan Ross except for when I first met zer and ze and Dallon were arguing about him or something.” Mikey said. Pete’s face lit up and Mikey felt like they had said the wrong thing, the thing that would fuel Pete’s interest and make them never stop asking Mikey questions. Pete grabbed Mikey’s arm. “What were they arguing about?”

“I don’t know.” Mikey lied. Pete stuck out their lower lip, pouting at Mikey. “Please tell me, I promise not to make a big deal about it.”

Everyone on the other side of the table said, in almost perfect unison, “don’t tell them anything,” so Mikey didn’t. Pete let go of Mikey. “See if I ever put you back in the group chat.”

“I have other friends who’ll add me back in.” Mikey said. They turned to Frank, “can you put me back in the group chat?”

“Yeah, sure.” Frank said. “After lunch, though.”

“Thanks.” Mikey said. They finished lunch, and when the bell rang, Pete walked them to their next class again. Before Mikey could walk into the classroom, Pete reached out and put their hand on Mikey’s arm. “Wait, Mikey.”

Mikey turned around. “Yeah?”

“I don’t actually hate you, and I’m not mad at you for not telling me everything about the whole Brendon situation--if there even is one. I just like knowing shit about people.” Pete said. They dropped their hand from Mikey’s arm, looking down at Mikey’s hand. “And, also, just in case you weren’t sure for whatever reason, I consider us to be friends. You’re really cool, Mikey. You keep being you.”

“Um, thanks?” Mikey said. Pete grinned at them, saluted, and then backed off into the mass of students heading to class. Mikey shook their head, wondering how the fuck they were supposed to interpret what had just happened. They walked into class and took their seat by the back, pulling out their phone to check and see if Frank had put them back in the group chat yet. He had.

t(-.-t) responded to your tweet:

@mikey_wavy : what do u mean “idk if we’re even friends”??? if we tweet each other we’re friends that’s how it works :0

Mikey smiled at their phone.

@pwheezie : thanks (also sorry that my followers think we’re dating i don’t know where they get such wild ideas)

t(-.-t) responded to your tweet:

@mikey_wavy : i’ll be ur waifu

@pwheezie : b l o c k e d

Chapter Text

“Are you sure Ray’s mom is okay with this?” Mikey’s mom asked them for probably the twelfth time that night. Gee let out a sigh. “Yes, mom. She’s fine with it. She’s also fine with us all spending the night because she knows us. She’s also fine with it because Ray’s older brother--the one that works at that music place--is DJ-ing so there’s going to be a responsible adult there.”

“And who did you say you were picking up?” She asked, reaching out to brush Mikey’s hair out of their face. Mikey and Gee, much like everyone else who would be at Ray’s, were dressed casually, with their chosen outfits in the trunk of Gee’s car so that their parents wouldn’t see. Their mom just thought that Ray was having a casual party, not that she was hosting gay homecoming.

“Lindsey, Pete, and Andy.” Gee said. Xe and Mikey were also going to pick up Frank, because Frank lived downtown and no one else lived nearby him, but their mom didn’t need to know that. Legally, Gee could only fit four other people in xer car, but xe could physically fit more than that, especially when two of those people were small.

Mikey’s mom nodded. “Alright. Text me when you get to Ray’s house, and have his mom text me if anything happens that I need to know about.”

“Okay mom.” Gee said. Xe fiddled with xer car keys. “Can me and Mikey go now?”

“Yes, of course.” She said, like she hadn’t just been asking Gee a bunch of questions. Gee and Mikey headed to Gee’s car, Mikey in the back seat and directing them to Frank’s address. His house was behind a car repair shop, and Frank was already in a dress shirt and tie when Gee and Mikey pulled up. He jumped in the back seat and looked the Way siblings up and down. “I feel over dressed.”

“Me and Gee can’t exactly dress up in front of our parents.” Mikey said. “Our stuff is in the back.”

“Right.” Frank said. “I think my mom thinks I’m a lesbian or something.”

“Wait until she meets Lindsey, then she’ll know you’re not a real lesbian.” Gee said. Xe frowned. “Mikey, where the fuck am I going?”

“Turn left.” Mikey said. They directed Gee to where Andy and Pete lived (apparently the two lived diagonally across the street from each other) and then to Lindsey’s house. Gee knew how to get from Lindsey’s house to Ray’s, because xe’d done it so many times before. The six of them arrived in time to see Ray’s parents and older brother helping Ray finish the setup. Apparently, they were all going to be in the garage, and not the basement, and the garage doors were going to be left open so that the air could be let in.

Ms. Toro was hanging glittery gold streamers from one of the two garage doors when Mikey, Andy, Frank, and Pete climbed out of the back of Gee’s car. Her eyes widened. “Did you all fit back there?”

“Yeah,” Pete said, “we’re really small!”

“You’re really small.” Andy said. “I’m the perfect size.”

“I’m really small!” Pete called out as they ducked in under the streamers. Mikey, carrying their change of clothes, followed, and their eyes widened when they saw all that the Toro’s had done to their garage. Mikey wondered if Ray had told her parents that there would only be about a dozen people there, or if her parents even cared how many people showed up, so long as it made Ray happy.

The Toros were good people. Their daughter was even better. Mikey was really glad that Gee and Ray had been partnered together for that one Vacation Bible School event.

“Oh, Gee, Mikey, there’s a bathroom upstairs if you two are going to change here.” Ms. Toro said. “And for anyone else who needs it, feel free.”

“Thanks Ms. Toro.” Gee said. Xe and Mikey headed up to the bathroom to change, Mikey going first because they knew that Gee would take longer, since xe had to put on makeup and everything. They stood outside the bathroom and waited for Gee anyway, because they were trying to be a good sibling and not leave Gee alone. Also, because they weren’t ready to head back downstairs yet.

“Hey, are you waiting in line?” Brendon asked, appearing at the top of the basement stairs with a garment bag in zir hand. Mikey looked up from their phone. “Uh, no. Gee’s in there, I’m just waiting on xem.”

“Okay, cool.” Brendon said, and leaned against the wall beside Mikey, tapping zir feet against the floor. Ze turned zir head towards Mikey, and Mikey realised that the two of them were the same height when Brendon wasn’t wearing heels. “Do you know if anyone’s bringing alcohol, or were we supposed to come with our own?”

“I think either Joe or Pete was bringing weed, but Pete didn’t say anything about it when we picked them up.” Mikey said. “I don’t know about alcohol but I don’t think Ray’s parents will mind too much if we use some of theirs.”

“Cool, because I’m planning to get trashed.” Brendon said. Mikey raised an eyebrow, and Brendon sighed. “Look, I know you’re close to Dallon and all, and have some weird secrecy pact going on, but if I have to watch them and Spencer act all romantic while claiming to not be a thing, I’m going to lose it. Besides, I’d be getting drunk at regular homecoming anyway. Now I just have a better excuse than ‘oh, everyone else is doing it’.”

“Wait, so do you even like Dallon?” Mikey asked, which was a bad thing to ask, because they didn’t really want to be involved with the whole Dallon/Brendon/Spencer clusterfuck, but they were kind of stuck there anyway so they figured they might as well submit to the drama.

“Honestly, I don’t know anymore.” Brendon said, rolling zir eyes. “I just know that I’m jealous of at least one of them, and usually I’d just deal with it by hooking up with someone else, but no one at school is appealing anymore and Pete’s… well, you know.”

“Not available.” Mikey said. Brendon nodded. “Yeah, and I’m not that much of an asshole. If they’re not looking for no strings attached I’m not going to try and make them.”

The bathroom door opened, and Gee came out, looking more put together than usual. Xe stared Brendon down for a moment before saying to Mikey. “I’m gonna go back down and hang out with Lindsey. You can come down if you want, or you can stay up here. It’s whatever.”

“I’ll come down.” Mikey said. They had no reason to stay upstairs now that Gee was finished. As they headed for the stairwell, Brendon said, “hey, Mikey, before you do anything too stupid, you should know that a lot of the shit happening now is because of Pete. I’m not going to tell you what to do, but just. Just keep in mind that they’re impulsive and will probably hurt you at some point.”

“I’m not going to do anything with Pete.” Mikey said, “but thanks for the warning.”

“No problem.” Brendon said, and disappeared into the bathroom. Gee gave Mikey a concerned look, but Mikey shut down any thoughts xe might have had by repeating that they weren’t interested in Pete and that Brendon was probably trying to create drama that didn’t involve zer. Gee seemed to believe it, which was good because that was the truth and that was all Mikey had to offer.

By the time they got back down there, Laura Jane Grace and her three other band members were there, and Laura was talking to Mr. Toro about where to set everything up. Mikey poked Gee’s arm. “That’s the band.”

“They all look a lot cooler than us.” Gee said. “Also I feel dumb.”

“Same.” Mikey said. They bit at their fingernail. “We should probably go up and say hi. Since, you know, I kind of invited them to play for us.”

“Right.” Gee said, and followed Mikey over. Laura looked up as the two siblings approached. “Hey, Mikey. What’s up?”

“Um, hi, this is Gee, my older sibling.” Mikey said, telling Laura Gee’s pronouns as well. Gee, because xe was actually a complete dork, stuck xer hand out for Laura to shake. She did, thankfully, and Mikey had never felt so relieved at the expense of their own sibling. Gee was looking up at Laura like she was the coolest person ever, which, same, because she kind of was. She was trans, she was out as trans, she was in a band with actual demos out and actual shows and everything.

Laura turned to Mikey. “So, you have any idea how many people are going to show up? I know you said it’d probably be small, I just wanna know how small.”

“Um, there are twelve people in GSA?” Mikey said, immediately feeling like this whole thing was a bad idea. “And Pete--they’re the one with the pink hair--made a Facebook page, so probably a few more than that. Sorry.”

“Nah, it’s cool. I’m just psyched that we’re gonna be playing for a mostly LGBT audience.” Laura said. “A lot of the people who see us are gay or whatever, but there are still a bunch of straight people who come because we’re a punk band and they’re in the scene. They don’t really care about the music that much, just the whole, like, aura or whatever.”

“So you’re an actual gay punk band?” Gee said, and Mikey excused themselves to go find Dallon and Spencer because they knew when Gee was hyper-interested in something. Xe’d listen--and talk--to Laura about gay shit for hours if xe was allowed. On one hand, Mikey cared about that stuff, but on the other hand, Gee never fucking shut up about it. Ever.

So they went and found Spencer and Dallon, who were hanging out with Brendon and Patrick near the table of drinks. There was a bowl of punch, which had a sticky note taped to it saying Joe spiked this -Patrick and then a winking face which Mikey guessed was from Joe. The five of them talked about various things until Laura and her band started playing. Mikey learned that, even though he had no real interest in musicals, Patrick was an avid musician and singer and had plans to get into the drama department’s chorus and maybe show up as a supporting cast member in Anything Goes. He also mentioned that Pete was trying to get in, even though Pete couldn’t sing to save their life, and Brendon started laughing really loudly at that.

As the music started, and some kids from high school that Mikey didn’t know well at all came in through the streamers, Brendon leaned in and whispered to Mikey, “I have no idea what Joe put in the punch but I’m totally gonna suck his dick if it’ll get me more because holy fuck, I’m already buzzed.”

“Why are you telling me this?” Mikey asked as Brendon tried to get them to dance with zer. Brendon shrugged, and tried to dip Mikey. “I don’t know. I can’t tell Spencer, ‘cause, you know. Morals and all that.”

“Morals.” Mikey said, because that made total sense. They ended up dancing with Brendon, and Spencer, Dallon, Patrick, and Pete for a song or two before Brendon tugged them back over to the drinks and poured two cups of punch. Ze handed one to Mikey. “It’s your first homecoming, Mikey. And it’s a gay one. Enjoy it.”

“I’ve never had, like, actual alcohol before.” Mikey said, taking a drink from the cup and then making a face. Brendon giggled. Mikey flipped zer off. “Shut up. I stole some of my parents wine from the downstairs fridge once but it tasted gross so I put it back.”

“Duh. Parent fridge wine is the worst, unless you’re drinking just to get drunk and then it doesn’t fucking matter.” Brendon said. Ze was wearing five inch heels and a tight dress that reminded Mikey of Lindsey Lohan’s house party dress in Mean Girls. Mikey wondered if Brendon was going to end up like Lindsey Lohan’s character in that scene, and asked, “so, what, are you drinking to get really drunk or is it something else?”

“I’m planning to pass out on the couch in Ray’s basement before Dallon and Spence get over themselves and kiss in front of everyone tonight,” Brendon said, tossing back a large portion of zer cup of punch, “so, yeah, I guess I’m drinking to get drunk.”

“Okay.” Mikey said. “Don’t do anything too stupid, I guess.”

“Oh man, you do not know me at all.” Brendon said, and left their empty cup, complete with lipstick stains, on the table. Ze wrapped an arm around Mikey’s shoulders and led them back out to where a small crowd was gathering. More people had shown up than anticipated, and Mikey wondered how many of them were actually gay and how many were just friends with Pete. Brendon didn’t even stumble, which was impressive considering that ze was obviously not that sober, and wearing heels that made Mikey terrified for the safety of their own toes.

Pete bumped their hip against Brendon, making Brendon bump into Mikey and Mikey spill their drink. Mikey frowned down at their shoes and Brendon flicked Pete in the face, barely missing their nose. “Party foul, you fuck. Now you gotta buy Mikey another drink.”

“Dude, it’s an open bar and I know the guy providing the alcohol.” Pete said, and then kissed Brendon on the mouth. They smelled like weed. They slung their arm around Brendon’s neck, standing up on their toes because now Brendon was very much taller than Pete, and grinned at Mikey. “Speaking of Joe, he’s also got some weed and we’re willing to share. Mikey, you wanna come outside and get fucking baked so that these assholes can’t have any?”

“What about me?” Brendon pouted. Pete patted their cheek. “Bren, you’re on your way to wine mom status and Patrick already gave me the ‘don’t mix drugs and alcohol’ speech before downing a shot from Joe’s bottle of whatever, so no. You can go pine over Dallon and Spencer and get fucked on your own, but me and Mikey are gonna have the real fun. Right, Mikey?”

“Brendon can smoke with us.” Mikey said, because they had a gut feeling that leaving Brendon alone (so to speak) with alcohol right now probably wasn’t the smartest idea. Pete rolled their eyes. “Jeez, man, you don’t even own the weed. But fine, we’ll bring wine mom with us.”

“Fuck no, I’m not wine mom.” Brendon said, taking Mikey’s drink from them and drinking it zirself. Mikey didn’t care that much. “I’m the fucking vodka aunt. I’m drunk before the turkey even goes in the oven.”

“Doesn’t it take like three days to cook a turkey?” Pete asked, looking at Mikey as the three of them paraded through the crowd, towards the streamers. Mikey shook their head as the three of them ducked under and half ran, half stumbled (they were still all holding onto each other) over to where Patrick and Joe were sitting in the grass. Joe looked up at the three of them. “Patrick’s a really shitty responsible adult. He’s already buzzed.”

“Joe kept trying to smoke everything while you were gone, Pete, but I stopped them.” Patrick said, handing the alcohol bottle (which was a recycled empty gallon of water) to Brendon, who had started making grabby hands as soon as ze sat down. Ze took a gulp and put the jug in the center. Mikey shrugged and took a sip, almost spitting it out because it tasted worse without the punch. Pete laughed and ruffled Mikey’s hair. “Joe, please give this poor child some weed. They’re trying so hard to drink and they’re struggling.”

“Alright, whatever.” Joe said, and passed the already lit joint to Mikey, who took it and took a few puffs from it before handing it back to Joe. Before long, it was completely dark out, Mikey could hear Against Me! playing from inside the garage, and they were very, very stoned. They had their head leaned against Pete’s shoulder, and every time they said anything--literally anything--Pete would start laughing and they would fall off. They kept talking, though, because Pete had a cute laugh and they kind of wanted Pete to laugh forever.

“We should… we should go and dance.” Brendon said. Ze was drunk. Patrick was also drunk, his cheeks pink and the tie he had been wearing at the beginning of all this now being used as Pete’s headband. Pete didn’t even need a headband, because their hair was short, but Mikey didn’t tell them that because they didn’t want to be moved from Pete’s shoulder again. Pete had a nice shoulder.

“You have a nice shoulder.” Mikey said out loud. Pete laughed, and Mikey fell forward, face planting on Pete’s thigh. They didn’t move, even though their glasses were pressing against their face. Someone, maybe Joe, pet their hair. “Mikey, stop smelling Pete’s leg or whatever, and let’s go dance. It’s homecoming, we can’t sit out here and be baked the entire time, that’s lame.”

“We’re lame.” Patrick said, but they all got up and managed to get back into the garage anyway. Brendon kept giggling against Pete and Patrick, and Patrick kept trying to tell a joke but couldn’t get through it before both Pete and Brendon were laughing over him. Joe seemed to be the most put together, with Patrick’s hand in one hand and the half empty gallon of alcohol in the other. Joe dragged Mikey away from everyone else once they were inside, an arm around Mikey’s shoulders. “They’re all out of it. You and me, we’re gonna make sure there’s still enough good shit in the punch to make this fun. Not that your band sucks, because they don’t, but like, it’s homecoming. You gotta get drunk on homecoming.”

“Is that all you brought?” Mikey asked, because the punch bowl was essentially empty when the two of them got over there. Joe shook their head. “Nah, I put the rest under the table. You wanna help me make punch?”

“Sure.” Mikey said. Making punch turned out to be the easiest thing ever. They just grabbed a two liter bottle of soda--“Not the Dr. Pepper, Dallon drinks that and they don’t drink alcohol”--and mixed it with Joe’s other gallon jug of mystery alcohol. Joe and Mikey each filled a cup each, to test it, of course, and it tasted horrible, but Mikey was too stoned to really care, and drank it anyway. They told Joe this, and Joe laughed. “Of course it tastes like shit. You think people drink this because they like it?”

“I don’t know.” Mikey said. “I don’t really care.”

“Sweet.” Joe said, grabbing Mikey’s arm. “Let’s go see if we can get Patrick to grind on Andy.”

“Okay.” Mikey said. They did end up getting Patrick to grind on Andy, who covered his face the entire time while also laughing and telling Pete and Joe that he was going to kill both of them. Mikey just snapped a few pictures and a three second video to put on snapchat. They were only friends with members of the GSA, and at the time forgot that a lot of their twitter followers followed them on snapchat, including @pwheezie.

“Ohhh, shit,” Pete drawled out suddenly, when Patrick was no longer dancing with Andy and Against Me! was playing one of their original songs that Mikey decided they liked stoned and would probably like sober. Pete poked Mikey’s arm aggressively, grabbing their jaw and turning their face over to a different part of the garage. “Oh, shit, Mikeyway are you seeing this. Oh fuck. Don’t put it on snapchat, we’ll all die.”

“What are you talking about?” Mikey said, because they couldn’t tell what was freaking Pete out so much. They squinted, and then they saw it: Brendon kissing Dallon, and Dallon wasn’t stopping zer. Mikey’s eyes widened. “Oh fuck.”

“Yeah, oh fuck.” Pete said, still holding Mikey’s face. “We gotta find Spencer and keep him from doing something stupid, because he will totally do something stupid if he sees that.”

“Wait, you know about Spencer and Dallon?” Mikey said, before realising that they were kind of outing Spencer and Dallon if Pete didn’t know. But Pete was nodding, holding Mikey by their arm now, instead of their face, and pulling them through everyone to try and figure out where Spencer was. Pete ended up holding Mikey’s hand. “Yeah, dude, I know everything. Me and Brendon are like, hate-fuck buddies, or we were until I got into someone else, and ze tells me everything. Ze told me that ze thought you were fucking Dallon at first, which freaked my out because that wasn’t supposed to happen.”

“What do you mean?” Mikey asked, but they never got an answer because Pete had dragged them into Ray’s basement room and turned on the lights, to see Spencer sitting next to the sofa with a mostly empty water bottle of what Mikey knew was Joe’s weird alcohol thing. His head was half in the cushions and his eyes were red. Not stoned red, but the same red that Gee’s eyes got whenever xe’d been crying a lot.

Mikey sat down beside Spencer on the floor and Pete sat on the couch beside them. Spencer moved his head from the couch cushion to Mikey’s shoulder, and let out the most pitiful noise Mikey had ever heard in their life. Mikey looked up at Pete, who mouthed dude, hug him at Mikey. Mikey wrapped their arms around Spencer’s shoulders and held him, like they’d held Gee when xe got rejected by Bert McCracken in ninth grade and when their parents had yelled at Gee (and Mikey, somewhat) for hours after finding makeup in Gee’s room the first time.

Pete slid down off the couch and hugged Spencer from the other side. “I can kill Brendon if you want. I can kill both of them. I know where they live and the river’s really close to my house. No one would ever find the bodies.”

“I don’t wanna kill them.” Spencer said, his words slurred and muffled against Mikey’s shoulder, and Mikey could feel their shirtsleeve getting damp, which meant that Spencer was probably crying again and Pete needed to shut up. So Mikey lifted their head and said, “Pete, shut up.”

“I trusted them,” Spencer said to Mikey’s shoulder, and part of Mikey was still sober enough to want to tell Spencer to shut up, too, and that he was way to drunk to be spilling his feelings now, but most of Mikey just felt severely unable to handle the situation and just hugged Spencer tighter. Spencer let out another sad noise. “I told them I was in love with them, and that I trusted them and they said… fuck. They said they weren’t gonna fucking. They weren’t gonna do anything with Brendon anymore and they don’t even drink and I hate them.”

“Me too,” Mikey said, because it felt like the right thing to say, even though they didn’t actually hate Dallon or Brendon (yet). Spencer shook his head. “No, you don’t have to hate them. I don’t hate them, I just hate that they don’t. That they don’t. Fuck. I don’t hate them I just want to kiss them.”

Pete and Mikey made eye contact over Spencer’s bowed head. Mikey didn’t know what to say, and Pete looked like they didn’t trust themselves to not say anything stupid that would worsen the situation.

“Hey, Pete, Joe said you stole their weed and I wanted--wait is Spencer okay?” Mikey and Pete turned around to see a sweaty, startled looking Frank standing in the doorway, leaning in with one hand on the doorframe and the other hanging limply by his side. Spencer lifted his head from Mikey’s shoulder enough so that Frank could see his face, and Frank’s eyes widened even more. “Dude, are you crying? Who do I need to punch?”

“No punching,” Mikey said, at the same time that Pete--because Pete was an idiot apparently--said, “Brendon and Dallon were making out.”

“Right.” Frank said, his face dropping to something dark and vengeful (although that was probably more the weed thinking for Mikey than Frank’s actual face, but whatever) and his fist clenching by his side. “I’ll be right back.”

“Frank, no!” Mikey called out, but Frank was gone and Mikey didn’t follow him because they figured that Spencer needed them more than Frank needed to be stopped from starting anything. Spencer buried his face back into Mikey’s shoulder. Mikey hugged him tightly. “Frank’s just doing his best. We’re here for you though, you’re our friend.”

“Okay.” Spencer said. “Just please don’t hurt Dallon, or Brendon. They’re my friends too.”

Chapter Text

Mikey, Pete, and Spencer had passed out together on Ray’s couch at some point the night before, and Ray had given Mikey some blankets for the three of them so they wouldn’t get cold. Mikey woke up with Pete’s head on their chest and Spencer spooning them from the other side. Mikey felt like literal death, and they were really glad that the basement was still dark. They had no idea what time it was, and they only knew it was Sunday morning. They reached down and fished their phone out of their pocket without waking up Pete, and opened it up, squinting against the brightness. Their glasses were still on, but not broken, which was good.

They had a kik message from Laura.

trutransrebel : hey ur friends are cool (and a little ridiculous w/ the alcohol but w/e) and it was fun playing with every1. tell frank if he ever wants to jam with us he can, also we’re gonna be doing a series of shows downtown once the semesters over if u and friends want to come watch

trutransrebel : we’ll put u on the list but u guys will still have 2 pay (srry but we gotta pay the rent somehow)

Mikey typed out a reply, even though it was nine in the morning and they had no idea if Laura was even awake.

mieky : cool i’ll give frank ur kik if that’s okay

mieky : also sorry i disappeared friend stuff happened

trutransrebel : totally get it

trutransrebel : and yeah u can give frank my kik if he doesn’t already have it

Mikey gave Laura Frank’s kik, and then turned their phone off and put it back in their pocket. They only had thirteen percent of their battery left, and even though they wanted to use it to check twitter, they had a feeling they would be needing their phone for other, more important things. Like, retconning things between Spencer and Dallon, because they remembered what had happened last night and they figured that Dallon, at some point, would be messaging Mikey about it in a panic.

Mikey had no idea how they’d ended up as the advice friend. Ray was usually better at helping people sort their shit out, but maybe she and Dallon just didn’t know each other as well. Mikey would make them get along, though, because Mikey didn’t have a lot of advice stored up yet.

They fell back asleep and woke up again when Spencer did. He looked like shit, with red-rimmed eyes and a pale face. Mikey adjusted their glasses and whispered, because Pete was still asleep on their chest, “how much do you remember?”

“Enough.” Spencer said, his voice scratchy. He pressed his fingers to his forehead. “Also, I feel like I’m gonna throw up but I don’t know if I can get upstairs without dying.”

“I’ll come with you.” Mikey said. Spencer nodded, and started slowly moving off the couch. “Thanks.”

“No problem.” Mikey said. They managed to get out from under Pete without waking them up, although Pete did murmur out a soft, “Mikeyway, yeah” before grabbing at the blanket. Mikey stood up, feeling a little nauseous themselves, and headed up the stairs, arm and arm with Spencer. Spencer ducked into the bathroom, and Mikey stood outside, keeping their eyes closed because it was less painful that way. Because of that, they didn’t notice when Frank came and sat beside them, at least until Frank put an arm around Mikey. “You okay?”

“Hangover.” Mikey said. “Or something.”

“Yeah, you should see everyone else.” Frank said. “I think me and Andy and Ray are the only ones alive enough to function right now.”

“Did you actually do anything last night, or did you just yell at Dallon?” Mikey said, because they had no idea and they didn’t know when Spencer would be coming out of the bathroom. They opened their eyes and looked up at Frank. The knuckles on his right hand were bruised. Frank stared at his hand. “I yelled at them both, and I hit Dallon. Dallon left after that, I don’t know how they got home.”

“I think they drove here.” Mikey said. “Did Brendon go with them?”

“Nah, I think Brendon passed out somewhere upstairs with someone else.” Frank said. “I’m not trying to sympathise with zer or anything, but I think ze might have, like, family issues or something, because ze’s not okay. Like, at all.”

“I don’t think any of us are okay, Frank.” Mikey said. Frank let out a sigh. “True, but I think some people are less okay than others.”

“Yeah, probably.” Mikey said. Then, “is your mom gonna pick you up or will Gee take you home?”

“I don’t know. I told my mom I’d text her whenever I figured out what I’d be doing, but my phone’s dead and Ray only has iPhone chargers.” Frank shook his head. He lit up. “Oh, yeah, Ray and Andy said they’d make food whenever everyone woke up and the not GSA people all left. And also Laura said I could fill in for her band whenever her guitarist wasn’t available. Apparently he’s trying to do the whole real life office job shit and doesn’t want to give up everything to be in a cool band. So I might not have to go to college, which is good because I fucking hate school.”

“I’m proud of you.” Mikey said. Frank grinned. The door to the bathroom opened and the two of them looked up at Spencer, who didn’t look much better than before, but he also didn’t look like he was two seconds from throwing up anymore. Spencer looked down at the two of them. “Hey Frank.”

“Hey.” Frank said. “You want some water? My mom’s a nurse, she says water cures fucking everything.”

“Yeah, sure.” Spencer said. The three of them headed to Ray’s kitchen, where Ray had put on a pot of coffee and she and Andy were sitting at the kitchen table, quietly discussing something. They both quieted when Frank, Mikey, and Spencer came in. Frank, halfway to the icemaker to get Spencer a glass of water, raised an eyebrow. “What? Is there something on my face?”

“I… no. Sorry.” Ray said. She looked up at Mikey. “How’re you guys feeling?”

“Like death, mom.” Mikey answered honestly. Spencer hovered by Mikey’s side until Frank handed him the glass of water, and then he wandered over to the table and sat down beside Ray, sipping sadly on the water. Frank grabbed a mug and poured himself a cup of coffee, then turned to Mikey. “You didn’t get cheated on last night, you’re on your own.”

“Can you guys not pity me?” Spencer said, again looking a few seconds away from breaking down. Mikey frowned. “Sorry.”

“It’s not you.” Spencer said. “Just… I mean I know I’m gonna need time to get over them, but you guys don’t have to act like I’m broken or something. This isn’t the first time I’ve had this happen, okay? I’ll be fine.”

“Wait, Dallon cheated on you before?” Frank said, looking ready to steal Gee’s car and drive to Dallon’s house to punch them again. Spencer shook his head. “Not Dallon. Brendon. And we weren’t really dating that time, ze was just using me as a rebound from Ryan.”

Andy raised an eyebrow. “No offense, dude, but you three are a fucking trainwreck.”

“Andy.” Ray said condescendingly. Andy put his hands up. “What? I said no offense.”

Ray rolled her eyes. Spencer shook his head, and took another sip of water. “No, it’s okay. Andy’s right, and we all are trainwrecks. We’re used to it, though. I’ll be fine.”

Mikey poured themselves a glass of water, because they didn’t think coffee was the best idea at the moment, and joined everyone else at the table. They sat next to Spencer. “So, enough talk about the shit that went down last night. What’re we having for breakfast? Or lunch or whatever?”

“I heard bacon was good for hangovers.” Ray said, and looked over at Andy and Frank. “I have fake bacon too, so the vegetarians won’t starve. I can also make waffles.”

“Please.” Spencer said. “No one can be sad with waffles. It’s a scientific fact.”

“We have waffles. Probably.” Ray said, nodding and looking over at the freezer, probably trying to remember if there were enough waffles there to feed everyone. “And, if we don’t, I know there’s pancake mix in the pantry and we probably have eggs or whatever you need to make pancakes. Which are kind of like waffles.”

“I mean, you can make pancakes, but I still want some of your waffles.” Spencer said, looking a little more alive. When Pete came up a few minutes later and took Andy’s coffee without asking, Spencer even waved at them. Pete made a face. “You look dead, dude, holy fuck.”

“I feel pretty dead.” Spencer said. “Not that you look better. You’ve got eyeliner all over your face. I think you got some on Mikey’s shirt, too.”

“Sorry, Mikeyway.” Pete said. Mikey looked down, and sure enough, there was a smudge of eyeliner on their shirt. They shrugged. Their mom could probably get it out. They told Pete this, and Pete grinned, sitting down next to Mikey. Pete noticed all the coffee mugs and their eyes widened. “Yo, we have coffee?”

“Yeah, I figured some people might want it.” Ray said. “Me and Andy are also gonna make some food, but we were planning to wait for everyone to be up first.”

“I can go find everyone else and make them come down here. I’m fucking hungry.” Pete said. They nudged Mikey. “You wanna come with me, Mikeyway?”

“I’m good.” Mikey said. Pete shrugged, and then got up and poured themselves a cup of coffee before wandering off. Andy and Ray got up, Ray instructing Andy as to where her parents kept all of the cooking supplies. Ray popped a few Eggo waffles in the toaster and brought the bottles of syrup to the table. Mikey just watched, not awake enough to be helpful.

Joe, Patrick, and Pete returned a few minutes later. Patrick’s hair was sticking up everywhere and he was wearing a pair of Pete’s sunglasses. The lights in the kitchen weren’t even on. Pete returned to their place beside Mikey and elbowed them in the arm. “Gee and Lindsey are awake, too, but they were kind of… you know… indisposed. I figured you didn’t want to see your own sibling looking debauched.”

“Can you get me some water and never talk to me again?” Mikey asked, only serious about the first part. Pete winked, and came back with water in one hand and their coffee in the other. By the time Gee and Lindsey came down (still looking like they’d been having a lot of sex), the fake bacon was ready and Ray was almost done with the pancakes. Spencer and Mikey had switched seats so that Pete could steal some of the waffles. Mikey had ripped off about half of one of the waffles and was eating it plain, nibbling around at the edges. They weren’t very hungry yet.

No one was mentioning that Brendon and Dallon weren’t there. Mikey knew that Dallon had gone home early the night before, after Frank had punched them, but they had no idea if Brendon was still in Ray’s house. They wanted to ask Pete if Pete had even bothered to go looking for Brendon, but Spencer was right there between them. Even if Spencer didn’t want people to treat him like he was going to break down any moment, Mikey knew there were just some things not to mention.

Brendon ended up showing up on zir own accord. Zir shoes were gone, and there was a rip in the seam of zir dress. Brendon’s makeup was ruined entirely, and there were handprint shaped bruises on zir thighs, low enough that they peeked out from under the end of zir dress. Ze stood in the kitchen, toes pointing inward and looking very uncomfortable. Spencer didn’t even look up.

Frank did. “Morning, sunshine. Sleep well?”

“I, um, I need a ride home.” Brendon said quietly. Gee looked like xe was going to offer to give Brendon a ride, but Frank glared at xem and said, “me too, since Gee’s probably gonna take Spencer home, and I know that xe can fit a fuckton of people in xer car, but I don’t really believe it. So, why don’t you and I ride home with someone else.”

“I can drive.” Ray said, calmly, in a very maternal voice. Gee was looking at Mikey, and Mikey realised that xe had no idea what had happened with Brendon, Spencer, and Dallon the previous night. Lindsey was just as confused, but she was hiding it better and was just pushing a piece of pancake around with her fork, soaking up syrup. Her eyebrow was raised, though, and her face was tilted towards Brendon, even though her eyes were on the plate.

“I can’t go home in this.” Brendon said, a very distinct crack in zir voice. “I need a change of clothes, but the stuff I came in is, um.”

Ze looked at Spencer. Spencer was not looking at zir. Mikey slowly started sinking into their seat because it was too early for this much awkwardness and they kind of wanted to leave. Like, immediately. Brendon swallowed. “It’s at your house, Spencer, and… and yeah.”

“You can borrow some of my clothes, it’s fine.” Ray said. She turned and looked at Frank. “You ready to go?”

“Yeah, sure.” Frank said, and grabbed his plate, which still had two strips of fake bacon. He followed Ray out of the room, and then the kitchen fell into silence for a while. People were just staring at each other, everyone waiting for someone to break the silence so that they wouldn’t have to. It wasn’t until Mikey heard the front door open and heard Brendon thanking Ray for driving zer home that Lindsey dropped her fork and said, “so. What the fuck was that?”

“Brendon’s an asshole, Dallon’s an idiot, and Dallon and I were a thing.” Spencer said. Lindsey’s eyebrows went farther up. Mikey chewed on their fingernail. “Also, Frank punched Dallon and they left.”

“Right…” Lindsey said, slowly. “Why did you guys let Frank go in the same car as Brendon even though the two of them live on different sides of Ray’s house?”

“Um.” Mikey said, because Lindsey had a good point. Spencer let out a loud sigh. “Look, can we just go home and maybe never talk about this ever again? Because I never want to talk about this ever again.”

“Yeah, let me just call my mom.” Joe said. “She’ll pick me and Patrick up and take us home. You guys can… Gee can you fit everyone else in your car?”

“Probably.” Gee said. Xe looked over at Mikey, and Mikey knew they’d be explaining everything to Gee later, and xe’d probably be telling Lindsey most of it. It wasn’t even a gossip thing, it was just that Gee and Lindsey worked better, and were better people, when they knew what the fuck was going on with their friends. Ray already knew everything, and would probably tell Mikey, Lindsey, and Gee about whatever happened while she was taking Frank and Brendon home, but Lindsey and Gee didn’t know much at all.

The ride in Gee’s car was quiet. Andy, Pete, Spencer, and Mikey were in the back, and Spencer and Andy had the window seats. Mikey was directing Gee, and their voice was the only thing cutting through the silence during the trip. Gee dropped Lindsey off last, and xe and Mikey used Lindsey’s bathroom to change back into parent approved clothes and stuff their fancy shit in the trunk.

“You wanna tell me what happened?” Gee asked as xe drove away from Lindsey’s house. Mikey nodded, and repeated pretty much everything they remembered from the night before, as well as the part where Frank apparently punched Dallon in the face. Gee frowned at that part. “How, though? Dallon’s fucking tall, and Frank’s probably the shortest person in our group.”

“Patrick’s shorter, I think.” Mikey said. “But I don’t know. Maybe he jumped. He was pissed off, that’s all I remember.”

“Do you think Spencer and Dallon are gonna break up because of this?” Gee asked. Mikey shrugged. “I don’t know. I didn’t realise high school was like this. I thought it was just doing stupid shit with your friends.”

“Doing stupid shit with your friends has consequences, apparently.” Gee said. Xe pulled into the driveway, but didn’t turn the car off. Xe turned to Mikey. “Text Dallon. At least try to get the full story before we turn on them, or Brendon.”

“I wasn’t going to turn on them, Jesus Christ.” Mikey said, rolling their eyes. Gee made xer unimpressed older sibling face. “Mikey. Just because you’re not going to doesn’t mean our other friends won’t. Text Dallon. Hell, text Brendon if you want. But definitely text Dallon.”

“Okay.” Mikey said. “Once we get back inside.”

Gee nodded, and turned the car off. The two of them grabbed their clothes from the back and headed into their shared room in the basement. They didn’t check upstairs to see if their parents were there, because it was only a little after noon and they knew that their parents liked to have lunch at church on Sundays if they could. Mikey flopped down onto their bed and plugged in their phone before starting a chat with Dallon.

-private message to dadtree -

mieky : hey

dadtree : Is Spencer there with you?

mieky : no

mieky : what happened last night

dadtree : I’m pretty sure you already know. I feel like an idiot, and I don’t even have an excuse for what happened.

dadtree : It shouldn’t have happened. I shouldn’t have let Brendon kiss me, and I shouldn’t have kissed zer back.

mieky : u tell spencer that

dadtree : He won’t respond to any of my texts, and I tried calling him but he ignored the call as well.

dadtree : Am I a bad person, Mikey?

mieky : well i mean u kind of made out with ur ex while ur boyfriend was right there so ya

mieky : i mean it was a shitty thing to do but u should at least try to apologise

mieky : spencer was really upset

dadtree : I know. Frank said so, before he hit me.

dadtree : I deserved that, you know. I cheated on Spencer.

mieky : hey at least u didn’t have sex with brendon

mieky : that would b bad

dadtree : Everything’s just really complicated and messed up, Mikey. And I think I made it worse for everyone.

mieky : yea

mieky : like i’m pretty sure i should be conforting u but… u did. u fucked up

dadtree : I know. Can you at least watch over Spencer, and make sure he’s okay?

dadtree : I’m an asshole.

mieky : yeah

mieky : that was @ both of the things u sent me

dadtree : Thanks, Mikey. You don’t have to tell him I’m sorry, though. I’ll do that myself.

mieky : ok

mieky : i just got a message from frank hold on

-private message from frnkiero_andthe_dogs -

frnkiero_andthe_dogs : right so this is awkward

mieky : ??????

frnkiero_andthe_dogs : i think brendon has some serious home issues dude like…. really bad

mieky : like wat

frnkiero_andthe_dogs : i mean i don’t have any concrete evidence or shit like that but back in jersey b4 my parents divorced there was a kid in my fifth grade class who had like really shitty abusive parents and he was constantly acting out, being a dick, purposely doing things that would make people hate him/turn against him

frnkiero_andthe_dogs : idk

frnkiero_andthe_dogs : i just know that brendon’s parents are super religious and ze was terrified to get out of the car because ze was afraid that ze still “looked like a girl”

frnkiero_andthe_dogs : like it’s one thing to be closeted and afraid of getting caught but. like... the way brendon was acting was fucking scary man

mieky : i mean maybe

mieky : i was talking to dallon and they said that things were already messed up and they made it worse

frnkiero_andthe_dogs : no shit

frnkiero_andthe_dogs : why the fuck were you even talking to dallon

frnkiero_andthe_dogs : fuck dallon. fucker doesn’t have a fucking excuse for what they did what the fuck

mieky : i’m not saying they do but… maybe there’s a lot going on here that we know fuck all about

frnkiero_andthe_dogs : yeah no shit

frnkiero_andthe_dogs : how the fuck do we fix this shit though because i do not want to have to deal with b/s/d being weird and pissy and awkward around each other for however long

mieky : i am not the solution man idk

Mikey dropped their phone on the bed and let out a sigh. They turned on their side to face Gee. “This fucking sucks, and I’m not even that involved.”

“What did Dallon say?” Gee asked.

“That they feel like shit for what happened and that they’re trying to apologise to Spencer but he won’t acknowledge their existence.” Mikey said. Gee pursed their lips. “Well, I’m not really surprised, since, you know, it’s been like ten hours or something since it happened. If I was Spencer I’d be pissed as hell, and probably feel like absolute shit.”

“Yeah, true.” Mikey said. “Why are all of our friends trainwrecks?”

“Because we’re all gay and no one ever taught us how to deal with our problems.” Gee said. Xe let out a sigh. “You wanna go drink coffee and look at comic books so that we can avoid our parents for a few more hours?”

“Hell yeah.” Mikey said. They didn’t even bother to shower or change into fresher clothes, because Gee didn’t do either of those and they were following Gee’s lead. Getting out of the house, doing something that was just them and Gee, sounded like a great plan.

Chapter Text

By third period on Monday, Mikey could already feel their not well established friend group falling apart. Spencer didn’t even show up, and Brendon and Dallon were back to sitting on opposite ends of the room. Mikey was beside Dallon, but they didn’t talk to Dallon at all during class. They weren’t sure what to say, or if there was anything that they could say.

The GSA meeting was just as awkward, because both Brendon and Spencer showed up. Spencer sat over with Joe, Patrick, Pete, and Andy, and Brendon hovered around near Mikey without being too close to Mikey. Frank sat through the whole meeting with a scowl on his face and his arms crossed tightly over his chest.

At the end of the meeting, before Mikey could even get over to their backpack and try to convince Gee to just leave immediately, Pete cornered them. Pete put a hand on Mikey’s shoulder. “Hey, you wanna go get stoned with me and Patrick, Joe, and Spencer? Andy’s got a permit now, and he looks like he could drive so we can actually go somewhere. If you want.”

“Uh, sure.” Mikey said. They turned around and tossed the pen they’d been holding at Gee. “Hey, Gee, I’m gonna hang out with Pete. I’ll text you when I’m coming home.”

“Mom and Dad are gonna be pissed.” Gee said. Mikey shrugged. “Tell them I’m tutoring Frank more.”

“Stop using me as your scapegoat.” Frank said. He grabbed his guitar and seemed to notice who Mikey was leaving with. “Wait, if you guys are doing what I think you’re doing,” Frank knew better than to admit to smoking in front of Mr. Armstrong, even though he was a cool teacher and probably wouldn’t report them for drug use, “am I allowed to join or do I need to get initiated in first?”

“I dunno.” Pete said, turning to Joe. “You’re the one with the mom van. Can we fit everyone?”

“Yeah, definitely.” Joe said, without doing a head count.

Everyone who was going to go get stoned and have Andy drive them around left together, and headed out to Joe’s mom van. It was dark green, with a long scratch down the driver’s side and a bunch of family friendly stickers on the back. They all threw their things in the trunk, and Joe drove them out through a bunch of random neighbourhoods until they stopped at a small park. No one was there, which made sense because it was a Monday and most people were already home with their kids.

“I didn’t even know there was a park here.” Frank said. Joe nodded. “Yeah, most people don’t. Me and Pete come here to get stoned though. It’s pretty great.”

“Yeah, until you guys forget to come back to school and I have to pretend to need to piss so I can come get your stupid asses.” Andy said, not looking mad at all. Joe shrugged. “What’re friends for?”

“Stop being gay with Andy and give me the dankness.” Pete said, sitting down on the ground beside a slide. Mikey sat on the actual side, and Spencer sat next to them. He bumped his shoulder against Mikey’s. “We should totally go and do something stupid once we’re stoned.”

“Like what?” Mikey asked, rolling their eyes at Pete’s failed attempts to roll a joint. Patrick leaned over and did it for them, taking the first hit and then handing it over to Spencer. Spencer took a drag, handed it to Joe since it was probably Joe’s weed to begin with, and said, “I dunno. Something we wouldn’t do otherwise.”

The six of them (and Andy, who’s sitting a few feet away and acting like he’s interested in whatever’s on his phone more than their conversation) spend the time it takes to get baked discussing possible ideas. Frank suggests egging someone’s house, but admits he doesn’t know where anyone lives around here, and also doesn’t know the names of any of the assholes who go to school with them.

Mikey and Spencer look at each other, and Mikey retells the story where Spencer almost ran into a truck of dicks because they called him and Mikey (and Dallon, but Mikey’s sober enough to remember that Dallon no longer exists in Spencer’s world) the f word. Pete gets Mikey and Spencer to describe the truck, and the guys in it, and they’re able to figure out who it is by vehicle alone.

Andy agrees to help them out, so they finish off the little weed they have left, Mikey, Spencer, and Frank splitting it, and then pile back into the car to go to the Huck’s by the school and get some eggs.

Getting eggs while stoned is a lot harder than Mikey had expected, especially since everyone’s fucking hungry now and there’s a bunch of junk food around them. They end up leaving with about fifty dollars of food and three dozen eggs between them all, and then end up singing Disney songs on the way to the truck owner’s house. He lives in a big house a few minutes away from the high school, and his truck is parked out in the street.

None of them think about the fact that the sun hasn’t fully set yet, or that they’re all stoned (except for Andy) and probably don’t have the best aim. They just start hurling eggs everywhere.

Pete hits a window on the second floor, right in the center of the pane, and Mikey seriously considers kissing them. They don’t, because of so many reasons.

Spencer throws egg after egg at the front of the truck, and almost kicks the front light in before Andy, who looks like a frazzled single parent, stops him. Andy’s too busy with Spencer to stop Frank from climbing into the bed of the truck and shouting out, “yo, the top’s open!” with the most excited look on his face.

“Throw an egg in!” Patrick yelled, and almost dropped the carton he’s holding. Joe took the two eggs left in Patrick’s carton and tossed them up at Frank. Neither of them went in the truck. Frank gave Joe a thumbs up before hurling his own egg into the front seat of the truck and jumping down from the bed. By that point, they were all out of eggs and so they shoved the cartons in the trunk of Joe’s car, and Andy drove everyone to Pete’s house.

Pete’s parents weren’t home, and so the seven of them laid out around Pete’s living room, eating the food they’d picked up from Huck’s and laughing about what they’d done.

“That was fucking hilarious.” Frank said, biting into a Twizzler. “Who the fuck leaves the roof of their car open?”

“Dude, we’re in Happyville McFucktown,” Joe said, stealing half of Patrick’s poptart. “There’s a weird trust system going on here.”

“I’m from Jersey and pulling shit like that is what gets you robbed.” Frank said, a few pieces of chewed up Twizzler falling out of his mouth. He ignored them, as did pretty much everyone else in the room. Patrick dropped his poptart wrapper in Joe’s lap. “So, any other dumb ideas or are we just gonna hang out here until we can act normal enough to go home?”

“We should’ve slashed his tires.” Spencer said. Mikey thought that Spencer’s insistence on making truck guy’s life hard was partially because of the whole Dallon and Brendon thing. They wondered if Dallon had been able to get anything but silence from Spencer.

“We can do that tomorrow.” Frank said, pulling out a Twizzler and holding it out towards Spencer. “Twizzler?”

“No thanks.” Spencer said. He put his feet up in Mikey’s lap, and Mikey patted Spencer’s ankle, continuing to eat from the thing of Pringles that they’d been sharing with Spencer. They were barbecue flavoured Pringles. Mikey didn’t even like barbecue. They were still eating the chips, though, because their fingers were long and thin enough to reach into the can. Apparently that qualified as a talent.

Frank’s fingers were too small, which was why he’d even given the Pringles to Mikey and Spencer in the first place.

“This is probably the dumbest time to ask, but since we’re all still kinda stoned and Andy is a good person, I’ll ask it anyway.” Pete said, putting the poptart wrapper on the floor and reaching over to try and steal the other poptart that Joe was trying to hide from everyone else. Joe flipped Pete off, hitting them in the forehead with their middle finger. Pete stayed like that, laying across Patrick’s lap with their head by Joe. “What’s the weirdest sexual situation you’ve ever been in? Nothing leaves this room. I just wanna know. For bonding purposes.”

“I’ve given a blowjob in a public bathroom.” Mikey said, because they figured that Pete and everyone else would find out eventually. Most people who knew of Mikey knew that they’d given Gabe Saporta a blowjob, and that Gabe had eaten them out as well.

“Me and two other people tried to recreate vegetable porn and we ended up with tomato guts in places where tomato guts should never be.” Spencer said. Everyone looked at him. He ate a Pringle. “What? Pete asked for weird.”

“Dude did you try to fuck a tomato?” Frank asked. “Because that’s fucking weird and you and whoever was involved should probably just give Mikey a dollar each because… because what the fuck.”

“Like you haven’t done weird shit.” Spencer said. Frank bit his lip, sucking his lip ring into his mouth. “Um.”

“Oh my God, I just remembered you said you went to Catholic school.” Pete said, their eyes wide. “Did you fuck in a church?”

“Yes?” Frank said. “I had a secret boyfriend and we had sex behind the pulpit. His dad was one of the preacher teacher people and so his dad was like super Catholic and, um. I’ve been gagged with a rosary.”

“You are going to hell if there is one.” Patrick said. He pulled his hat down. “I think the worst I’ve ever done was circle jerk with Pete and Joe in the back of Joe’s mom’s van once when we got really stoned the first time together.”

“Yeah, that’s probably the weirdest I’ve done.” Joe agreed. Andy was looking more and more like he wanted to leave entirely. “I’m so glad I wasn’t there when that happened.”

“That’s, like, the most normal sex I ever had, at least with Patrick.” Pete said, pressing their knee to Patrick’s chest. Patrick took his hat off and bopped Pete’s nose with it. “Confess your sins, then, Pete. You’re the only one who hasn’t gone.”

“I’ve had sex on camera.” Pete said. “I’ve also gotten a blowjob in front of a security camera, and one time I tried to use a banana as a dildo and it went about as good as Spencer’s tomato thing.”

“The tomato thing was gross.” Spencer said, making a face. “I can’t even look at tomatoes anymore. They’re disgusting.”

“I would totally do the banana thing again.” Pete said. “It was fucking hilarious.”

“Hey, Mikey, you wanna call Gee and have xem pick us up so that we don’t accidentally get involved in a banana orgy?” Frank said. Mikey nodded, because they were coming down and they weren’t interested in any kind of orgies, because they weren’t interested in Pete and Pete was also dating Patrick or something like that.

Gee arrived ten minutes later, bearing a can of Febreeze and a growing black eye. Mikey’s eyes widened. “What happened?”

“Some assholes.” Gee said. “I forgot to not use the gas station by the school.”

“We can egg their house, right, Spencer?” Frank said, elbowing Spencer, who was getting a ride with Frank and Mikey as well. He didn’t want to be involved with potential banana orgies either, which was understandable. Spencer grinned at Frank. “We can slash their tires.”

“Only three, though, ‘cause apparently if you slash all four tires the insurance pays for it.” Frank said, getting into the back beside Spencer. He leaned forward, a bit closer to Gee than he needed to be, but Mikey figured it was just the weed. “This isn’t from personal experience or anything. I’ve never slashed tires before.”

“We did egg some dick’s car.” Spencer said. “And house. That was fun.”

Gee looked over at Mikey. “I’m never letting you hang out with Pete after school again.”

“That’s a lie and you know it.” Mikey said, pulling out their phone. Gee sighed. “Yeah, you’re right. Just don’t let anyone get caught, okay?”

“Okay.”

Chapter Text

- p_wheezie changed the name of the group to time to get spoopy -

hatrick : pete halloween isn’t until next week

p_wheezie : i know that’s why i said it’s time to get spoopy

p_wheezie : also can someone who isn’t joe be in charge of alcohol i don’t trust him

joetrohfro : wow okay

mieky : me and g can bring some

hatrick : wait where are we even meeting up

p_wheezie : uh probably at either andy’s or my house

p_wheezie : since u kno we live in the best candy neighbourhoods and have a park where we can fuck around and not get caught

hurleyxvx : pete they’re all meeting at ur house i’m not dealing with all of these fucks

frnkiero_andthe_dogs : wow fuck u

frnkiero_andthe_dogs : also one of you fuckos should bring me a cake. since… u know… it’s my birthday

spooncer : yeah sure are u allergic to anything??

frnkiero_andthe_dogs : i’m probably lactose intolerant also too much of that fancy icing makes me sick so @ whoever makes the fucking cake do not be lazy and buy it from a grocery store or i will puke on your shoes

spooncer : i am no longer in charge of the cake

momfriend : my mom and i can make it i guess

momfriend : she knows how to do birthday shit

mieky : fuck yeah ray i love ur mom

momfriend : ew

mieky : not like that fuck u

p_wheezie : they’re star crossed lovers ray let mikey love ur mom

momfriend : i’m blocking u pete

“Mikey, honey, what’re you doing on your phone that’s so funny?” Their mom asked. Mikey was in the living room because Lindsey was in Gee’s room (their mom was not aware of this) and Mikey wasn’t interested in playing third wheel. They also figured that they could keep their parents from going down to the basement if they were up where they could see their parents.

Mikey locked their phone on instinct. “Oh, uh, Pete said something funny in the groupchat.”

“Alright.” She said. “So long as it’s not inappropriate.”

“It’s not.” It was.

“Are you going over to Pete’s house for that music club thing you told me about a while ago?” Mikey’s mom asked. Mikey shrugged. After everything that had happened at homecoming, and then all the awkwardness at GSA the previous two Mondays, Pete hadn’t mentioned anything about having another bass club meeting. Mikey’s mom shook her head. “Mikey, you can’t just keep giving up on things when they don’t fit you immediately. Sometimes it takes a while to get used to people, and you’ve just got to give them a chance.”

“Mom, I like the people in the bass club.” Mikey said. “Pete just hasn’t said anything about getting together again, and since we all meet at Pete’s house… it’s not like I can make him do it.”

“You can always invite them over here.” She suggested. “You don’t have to leave the house every time you want to hang out with friends.”

“Yeah, but Pete’s got most of the stuff.” Mikey said. Their mom put a hand on her hip. “Michelle. Stop being so shy and show some initiative. Invite your friends over. I’ll make snacks, or buy snacks.”

“Okay.” Mikey said, knowing that they’d have to at least try to get Pete, Lindsey, and Dallon to come over or their mom would start getting helicopter-y. Their mom seemed satisfied with Mikey’s answer and left Mikey alone in the living room. Mikey pulled out their phone and started sending messages.

-private message to geewhiz -

mieky : how much sex are you planning on having i think moms getting suspicious

- mieky changed the name of the group to bass fuckers at the ways house -

mieky : right so my mom thinks i’m being anti social

p_wheezie : ur mom is probably right

mieky : i’m ignoring u

mieky : dallon and lindsey are invited to play bass at my house but not u

p_wheezie : D:

mieky : i’m joking u have nicer equipment than lindsey

mieky : no offense @ lindsey for whenever she sees this

dadtree : Are you sure I’m allowed to come?

mieky : yeah ur drama is not related to playing bass so it doesn’t fucking matter here

dadtree : Okay. I think I can convince my parents to let me go. They let me go to Pete’s house, after all.

p_wheezie : i feel like i just got insulted

dadtree : No, my parents just don’t like me going to people’s houses unless they know the person first.

dadtree : It’s annoying.

mieky : no shit

mieky : but yeah u guys just tell me when u wanna come over and i’ll convince my mom to let me have “boys” in the basement

p_wheezie : dude u can’t even have people alone with u in the basement??? what the fuck r ur parents??????

mieky : my bedroom is in the basement

p_wheezie : sneak us in

p_wheezie : or i could try to pass as a cis girl and she would never know

dadtree : I don’t think I could (or would want to) pass off as a girl.

p_wheezie : not even to sneak into mikey’s bedroom?

dadtree : You’re making it sound weird.

mieky : it gets weirder when u find out i share my room w/ g now

mieky : g, who is currently doing the sexual with lindsey and that’s why she’s not responding

p_wheezie : i’m gonna come over 2 ur house and play sexy saxophone music @ ur basement

p_wheezie : mood music

p_wheezie : careless whisper that’s the name of the song i just remembered

mieky : i’m gonna make u put a dollar in the jar just because of that

p_wheezie : wow rude

dadtree : I think you should probably /give/ Pete a dollar so that they’ll do it.

mieky : i thought u were on my side dallon

dadtree : I’m not on anyone’s side. I’m just offering suggestions.

mieky : pete i will give u a dollar if u don’t bother my sibling and lindsey while they’re having the sex

p_wheezie : lame

p_wheezie : i’m screenshotting this conversation so you can’t back out of it ok

p_wheezie : u owe me a dollar

mieky : i accept that

They figured out a date for the meeting, and then found their mom to ask if it was okay for everyone to come over on Wednesday. Mikey’s mom frowned, reminding Mikey that they had church activities on Wednesday. Mikey shrugged. “I mean, I can miss one week, right?”

“You could always bring your friends with you.” She offered. Mikey bit at their nail and shook their head. “I can’t. Lindsey’s in the club and I think our youth pastor still hates her.”

Mikey’s mom let out a sigh. “I just don’t want you to miss youth group, especially now that you have friends there other than Gee and Ray.”

Mikey literally only had Frank as a friend at church, but whatever. They knew they weren’t going to get out of having to take Pete and Dallon to youth group. Lindsey would probably just get dropped off at her house on the way there, since her house was kind of on the way.

Chapter Text

“I’ve never been to a youth group before. What do you even do?” Pete asked. She was back to using she/hers pronouns, and was wearing a lot of eyeliner. She was also sitting on Gee’s bed and ignoring how Gee was glaring at her from xer desk. Gee had headphones on and was trying to work on xer art, but Pete and Lindsey were being loud and playing bass.

Pete and Lindsey had also traded clothes, kind of, so Pete was wearing Lindsey’s plaid skirt and Lindsey was wearing a pair of Gee’s jeans because Pete’s jeans were too tight.

Pete looked pretty in a skirt. Mikey shook their head, trying not to think about Pete in a skirt of Pete being pretty, because Pete was dating Patrick and there was enough drama in their friend group already without Mikey adding to it.

“I got kicked out because they thought I was a witch.” Lindsey said, leaning over and showing Pete what she was supposed to be playing. Lindsey had given her bass to Dallon, because Dallon was able to figure out how to play on their own and Mikey was patient enough to just watch and wait. Pete, however, was a fucking trainwreck and she kept trying to make up her own basslines.

She also kept loudly saying “fucking shit nuggets” whenever she hit the bass and it made that weird vibrating noise through the amp. Gee and Mikey had resorted to throwing dirty clothes at her to try and get her to shut up, because they weren’t supposed to swear and they didn’t want their parents to overhear.

Pete started playing her own bassline again. “Aren’t you a witch, though?”

“I practice witchcraft, yeah, but not, like, hardcore or anything.” Lindsey said. “I might get some tarot cards for Christmas and then I can tell you how you’ll die, but right now I just have a few candles and some spell ingredients. And the internet.”

“I know how Pete’s gonna die.” Gee said. “I’m gonna kill her if she doesn’t keep making shitty basslines.”

“Like you could do any better, Gee.” Mikey said, rolling their eyes. Gee flipped them off. “Shut up. Guitar parts are hard.”

“Do we have any more picks?” Dallon asked, holding up their hand and wiggling their fingers around. “I can’t feel my fingers any more.”

“Gee, check your desk.” Mikey said, getting up and walking over to Gee’s desk, carefully sorting through xer art. Mikey was pretty sure that Gee had some leftover picks from xer band days, they just didn’t know where they were. It took a while, but eventually Mikey found the picks and handed them over to Dallon. Dallon took one and continued playing. They were usually quiet, but this was something new and Mikey knew it had to do with the whole Brendon and Spencer situation. Mikey also knew that asking Dallon about it now was probably not the best idea, so they just offered Lindsey and Pete a pick each and sat back down beside Dallon on their own bed. Dallon had Mikey’s laptop open, and was watching a bass cover for a song that Mikey didn’t know all that well. Dallon was surprisingly good at figuring out the tabs, and they played along with the video with a concentrated scowl on their face.

Mikey watched over their shoulder, focusing on Dallon’s hands as well as the person doing the cover. They bit at their fingernail which was getting dangerously short, but that didn’t stop them from continuing their habit. “So, I should probably warn you guys that youth group is kind of… not super fun? I mean, if Ray and Frank are there it’s usually fine because me and Gee just hang out in the back with them, but otherwise it’s kind of lame. We’re not friends with anyone else who goes there, partially because of the whole gay thing.”

“What’s the other reason?” Pete said. Mikey shrugged. “We’re weird, I guess? We don’t go to a high school downtown and we didn’t go to the Catholic elementary school with everyone else who goes there.”

“Also because me and Mikey are kind of weird.” Gee said. “No one else there is gonna have dyed hair or be wearing all black, you know.”

“So, I should probably give Lindsey her clothes back?” Pete asked, and Gee and Mikey both nodded. Gee’s eyes were narrowed at Pete, but she didn’t seem to notice, and instead handed her guitar to Lindsey before standing up on Gee’s bed and dropping Lindsey’s skirt to her ankles. Mikey became very interested in the bass cover video that Dallon had been watching.

“Please don’t strip on my bed.” Gee said, exasperated with the whole situation. Pete pulled her shirt over her head. “Too late for that. Besides, it’s not like I’m naked. You’ve seen nipples before, right?”

“Mikey, I’m banning Pete from our room now.” Gee said. Mikey gave Gee a thumbs up without looking xem in the eye, because they were afraid they’d look at Pete and end up staring at Pete if they did. Pete grabbed her pants off the ground and put them back on. She sat down on the bed, shirtless, and turned to Lindsey. “Can I get my shirt back, now?”

“I’m not taking it off in front of everyone.” Lindsey said. She turned around and leaned back to give Gee a quick kiss. “I’ll be right back. I’m gonna go put my shirt back on so Pete can have hers.”

She ducked into the bathroom across the hall from Gee and Mikey’s room, and came back a few minutes later in her original shirt. She tossed Pete’s shirt over to her, and sat back down on her spot on Gee’s bed. “We should really do the changing clothes thing more often. It’s kind of fun, to just put on someone else’s clothes and not give a fuck.”

“Didn’t someone come up with the idea to go to the mall and try on shit for fun one weekend?” Gee asked. Lindsey nodded. “Yeah, we should make that actually happen.”

“After Halloween, though, because we’re doing Frank’s birthday shit for Halloween first.” Mikey said. Dallon was back to playing out the bassline of their choosing. Mikey frowned. They wanted to talk to Dallon, preferably without an audience, because Dallon didn’t seem like they were doing okay. They looked over at Gee, who nodded and said, “hey, Pete, Lindsey, do you guys wanna go upstairs for a bit, just to get out of the basement?”

Lindsey looked confused, but agreed. Pete looked between Dallon and Mikey, like she knew something was up, but she didn’t say anything out loud. Lindsey flicked her arm. “Come on, maybe Gee’s mom has food. The Ways actually have good snack food, which is fucking great.”

Pete still didn’t look convinced, but she let Lindsey and Gee drag her out of the room so that Dallon and Mikey were alone. As soon as Pete disappeared around the corner, Mikey turned to Dallon and they wrapped their hand around the neck of Lindsey’s bass. “Dude, talk to me. You’re being weirdly quiet.”

“I don’t know how much I can tell you.” Dallon said. Mikey let go of Bert McCracken and sat back. “I’m not going to tell anyone anything you tell me. I can keep secrets.”

“I know, but I don’t want you to start looking at me or Spencer or Brendon differently because of anything I say.” Dallon said. “We’ve known each other since we were all kids, and I know what’s going on with Brendon, probably, but I don’t want you to think less of zir or anything.”

“I won’t.” Mikey said. “I’m a very non-judgemental person.”

Dallon stared at them. Mikey shrugged. “What? I’m still hanging out with you, even though the rest of GSA kinda decided that you’re the villain here.”

“I kind of am the villain here.” Dallon said. “I was the one who kissed Brendon, so I was the one cheating on Spencer, and I’m the reason Brendon isn’t hanging out with you guys anymore and the reason Spencer’s… I don’t even know how Spencer’s doing because he still isn’t responding to me.”

“So it’s a clusterfuck.” Mikey said. “But it’s not all your clusterfuck, and you shouldn’t blame yourself for everything.”

“But I do.” Dallon said. Mikey let out a sigh. “Look, Dallon, I can try talking to Spencer if you want, and convince him to at least respond to you.”

“It’s not Spencer--I mean, it is, a little, but it’s more about Brendon.” Dallon said. They let out a sigh, dropping their head into their hands. “Brendon… ze doesn’t have a great home situation. Ze’s not out to zir parents for the same reasons I am, but zir parents are really restrictive. And controlling and shit. Ze’s not supposed to hang out with people who zer parents don’t know, and ze’s not supposed to date until ze’s eighteen, and even then ze has to have a chaperone on any dates.”

“But, didn’t Brendon date people before?” Mikey asked. Dallon nodded. “Yeah, because Brendon’s sneaky like that. But, like, other than me and Spencer, ze doesn’t have any friends that are still here. Everyone in drama hates zer a little, because ze takes it seriously, and the rest of the school just thinks ze’s… you know. You’re Gee’s little sibling.”

“Right.” Mikey said. They knew that life sucked more for transfeminine people, because there was a bunch of hypermasculine bullshit drilled into everyone’s heads from the time they were born, and people were told that being feminine meant that someone was lesser. Mikey frowned, and bit on their nail. “So, what, should we try to get you three back to talking, or…?”

“I just don’t want Brendon to be alone.” Dallon said. They were staring at their shoes now, hugging Lindsey’s bass close to their chest. “And I don’t want to hurt Spencer, more than I have, because Spencer’s… Spencer deserves better.”

Mikey put their hand on Dallon’s shoulder. “I’ll figure something out.”

“Thanks.” Dallon said. A few moments later, as though xe had read Mikey’s mind, Gee peered in through the door and said, “hey, bring up Lindsey’s bass and gear, mom’s ready to go.”

“Okay.” Mikey said. “We’ll be up in a minute.”

Mikey and Dallon packed Lindsey’s bass into it’s tattered, pin covered case, and grabbed the amp as well. Mikey closed their laptop and placed it carefully on the ground. They grabbed the amp, and Dallon grabbed Bert McCracken the bass, and the two of them headed up the stairs. Their mom, Gee, Lindsey, and Pete were waiting by the car. Mikey’s mom directed Mikey and Dallon to put the bass and amp in the trunk of the car, and then they all got into the minivan.

They dropped Lindsey off at her house and then headed to the church. Mikey’s mom dropped Mikey and their friends off at the Youth Group entrance on the far side of the church. Once their mom drove off, Pete grinned and shoved her hands into her pockets. “Right, so this is gonna be fun. Let’s go scare some small Christian babies.”

“Let’s try to not scare the small Christian babies, because when you leave, me and Gee are still gonna have to deal with them.” Mikey said. Gee nodded in agreement, and Pete rolled her eyes. “Fine. I’ll be nice. But not, like, super nice.”

Gee shook xer head, and nudged Mikey forward, towards the door. This was normal; both of them were bad about going in somewhere, but they both knew they had to. Mikey took a deep breath and grabbed the door, pushing it open. Immediately, they were hit with the smell of cheap pizza and the sounds of a large amount of teenagers mingling around and talking about whatever it was straight people talked about. Immediately, Dallon, Gee, and Mikey all clumped closer to Pete, who was the only one exuding confidence. She wrapped an arm around Mikey’s shoulders. “This isn’t too bad. They even have pizza.”

“You have to pay for the pizza.” Gee said. “I’m gonna go see if Ray or Frank are here.”

“I’ll come with you.” Mikey said, because letting Gee wander around the youth area alone. People wouldn’t do anything to Gee directly, but there were some people who said horrible, shitty things to Gee just because they thought Gee was queer. Gee was queer, but that didn’t mean that xe deserved to hear a bunch of bullshit.

“I’m not really hungry, so, yeah. I’ll come with.” Dallon said. Mikey couldn’t tell if they just didn’t want to hang out alone with Pete or if they were just clinging to Mikey because Mikey wasn’t being an asshole to them. Mikey didn’t see why anyone else, except Spencer, was being an asshole to Dallon. They’d admitted they were wrong, and were trying to apologise, and they clearly felt like shit about the whole thing. Mikey even felt bad for Brendon; regardless of zir home situation, ze was drunk when it happened, and ze didn’t seem like the person to sabotage a relationship otherwise.