#pencey answers

[raytorosaurus]

WAIT I DIDNT KNOW WE COULD ASK YOU RAY STUFF. this has been killing me. Ray was a drummer before MCR?? who was he drumming for!! why'd he never pursue photography?? the man is a mystery. an enigma. nobody seems to know these things but I'm dying for answers

HAHA you've come to the right place. he was drumming in a band called dead go west at the time gerard invited him to join mcr! ray describes it as just messing around, and i don't think they ever released music or played live, but one of his bandmates was george collazo, who played bass in ray's high school/college punk band the rodneys. he carried on the dead go west name and still makes music sometimes - he has a website and bandcamp where he releases instrumental tracks! a few years ago he made an album where he wrote "theme songs" for people including ray, hambone (from pencey prep and casual interactions), and nate novarro (from cobra starship). george was also in a fun pirate-themed punk band called brine and bastards with hambone and shawn dillon (gerard's art school friend, ray's rodneys bandmate, and the guy who introduced ray to gerard! seriously mcr's little nj punk social circle is so incestuous lol, there are even more connections i could list out). you can listen to brine and bastards on spotify! yes, their album is called set sail for sodomy :)

anyway. besides the rodneys and dead go west ray was also briefly in a "kind of shitty pop punk" band with gerard called nancy drew. i'm pretty sure ray was actually playing bass in it, not guitar. it didn't get far - they played one show at a skate part but besides that i think the band mainly existed in gerard's sticker concept art (from here), which is..... yeah <3

ray hadn't been actively playing guitar in a band for quite some time when gerard called him about my chem! in the grammy museum interview they did in 2011 ray said it felt like fate :')

#i swear i'm not a weird stalker i just like finding new bands slgjdgjdk #and ray's my favourite so i pay attention to him the way most ppl pay attention to frank and/or gerard #when i get some free time i'll write a rodneys crash course because they're my pencey prep fr #mcr history #ray toro #answered #nancy drew #dead go west #brine and bastards #* #ray and george are still besties btw <3

[callmeblake]

Neil Sabatino (Pencey Prep) Interview

Feb 17, 2021

Neil Sabatino, former guitarist in Pencey Prep, lead singer of Fairmont, and founder of Mint400 Records, was gracious enough to listen to our Pencey Prep episode and answer any and all questions we had! He was able to tell us some incredible anecdotes from his time in the band, from the recording process to his thoughts on the record today.

My Chemical Fancast: Can you tell us your story of how you ended up in Pencey?  

Neil Sabatino: So I was in a punk band that played a lot with Frank's band Sector 12, he knew me for a couple years because I would book his band on shows and I always was the business person for my band band at the time. He heard I left that band and gave me a call to see if I wanted to join Pencey Prep like a month or two after he had started it. I was friends with Frank and his bandmate in Sector 12 Bruno so I was happy to join because at the time I was not in a band.

This episode (of podcast This Was The Scene) covers when I left the band in August 2001 to start the band Fairmont. It’s a little long but it’s basically the catalyst that lead to the band ending. I was in the band from summer 2000 through summer 2001. By that time we had written all of Heartbreak In Stereo, we had also started work on the second Pencey Prep album, which would have had the songs Home, Heroin Slow, Rebuilding Home, and Lock On The Second Floor Door. The second two I just ended up making different versions of and putting them on Fairmont’s first album. Once I left the band had been itching to be a little bit heavier so they wrote Attention Reader, Death of The Lionheart and a few others within the 9 months before they officially broke up. What led to the actual final shows was Tim was having knee problems and could not tour or play drums for extended periods of time. Frank had also been playing in My Chemical Romance for months by that point and Hambone was asked to join Sleep Station so it just made sense to call it quits then. Frank, Hambone and Shaun also did a short lived Pencey reunion as I Am A Graveyard with Ray Toro on guitar and Frank just sang. I believe that was only for a few shows or one show because MCR had started to take off and they were the opener for at least one MCR show in NJ at club Krome. Hambone and Shaun played together a little in a band that later formed called The Hostage a few years later. Then Hambone joined Fairmont for 2 albums (Hell Is Other People and Wait & Hope). After that Hambone joined Frank for some touring with Leathermouth. That’s been the extent of collaborations.

MCF: How did you decide on the cover art for the album?

NS: We actually had this really great painting of a robot that was supposed to be the cover, it was a piece I made that was hanging in my kitchen but the owner of Eyeball thought it looked too close to The Get Up Kids album that had come out a year earlier and told us to come up with something different. I think I brought like 4 or 5 drawings to Frank and he picked the one he liked best. I definitely did it rather quickly and didn’t give much thought to it. We basically only had a few days to figure the situation out.

MCF: There's some confusion among fans regarding who wrote which lyrics. Would you be able to shed light on who crafted the lyrics and/or what that writing process was like?

NS: The very first songs that were Pencey Prep songs were 8th Grade and The Secret Goldfish. Those were kind of stripped down and really raw on the original demo which was called “Trying To Escape The Inevitable” (We liked that name, hence using it later on as a song title). The original demo has no lead guitar parts and the whole ending of Secret Goldfish didn’t come about until later when I joined. Those two were written by Frank as Sector 12 was ending. That first version of Secret Goldfish had Bruno Rocha from Sector 12 singing on it because originally Frank didn’t really want to sing.

Next we did 2 songs in the studio after we had been together for about 4 months, which were Yesterday and Lloyd Dobbler. Yesterday was just a 2 chord punk song before we started working on it as a band but that also was all Frank. Lloyd Dobbler was written by Hambone but he couldn’t really play it well so on the album I played all the guitars on it and Shaun just added some piano. I would say all the piano was written 50% by me and 50% by Frank which is why occasionally it overlaps and plays the same things as the guitar does on the album.

The first tracks I brought to the band were Ten Rings and 19, which I co-wrote the lyrics with Frank. Usually I would come up with the chorus or pre-chorus and he would flesh out the verses. Early versions of Ten Rings were weird. 19 spawned from the piano part which I wrote at a practice and it’s mostly lyrics about a break up I was going through at the time. Ten Rings was more about Frank’s situation with an ex that cheated on him but was still keeping tabs on him. I think we both fictionalized parts of each song to make them better.

Don Quixote, PS Don’t Write and Florida Plates were three of the Hambone songs that he wrote when he was younger but they were completely restructured music wise as he wrote them originally just on an acoustic guitar and we now had a five piece band playing them. I know Frank and I consciously wanted to have that At The Drive In playing back forth lead type thing going on with the guitars.

The last songs we finished were all musically written by me: Trying To Escape The Inevitable, Home, Heroin Slow, but Trying to Escape was Hambones lyrics about a situation a friend of his was in and yes that’s Hambone doing the talking part. Heroin Slow was all Frank’s lyrics, we used to jokingly tell him it sounded like he was saying Carl Winslow (From the show Family Matters)  in the chorus. Then Home was again Frank’s verses and my chorus lyrics. But let me tell you, I believe that is the most personal song he has ever written, if you knew his whole situation that song was his story at 19. We had two other very complete songs that never got recorded. One had no title but was heavy like Trying To Escape The Inevitable and the other was called Lock On The Second Floor Door and was the 3rd song I was singing with Pencey in addition to Fat & Alone and Rebuilding Home. We had 2 other songs that got thrown away much earlier that didn’t fit with the rest of the set but that was about all we wrote in that first year.

MCF: Who recorded the spoken part in "Trying to Escape the Inevitable?”

NS: That was Hambone. John Naclerio who owned the recording studio did the backing on Secret Goldfish. Bruno Rocha from Sector 12 who was in Pencey for a few months is the backing on Yesterday.

I am the backing vocal on the chorus of 19 and I sing Fat & Alone, Frank is the backing vocal on Fat & Alone, yes the high parts too. The Cartman impression at the end is Tim the drummer. At the top of the song the “Fat & Alone” that you guys say sounds Canadian or something is me - my wife is from Minnesota so I kind of have that Norweigan twang sometimes. The guy talking that says 5/29/01 take 1 is Antonio Valenti who owned the studio where we did Fat & Alone, Heroin Slow, Home, Rebuilding Home and Secret Goldfish Acoustic.

MCF: Were there any bands or albums that served as a main source of inspiration for Heartbreak?

NS: We seriously had like 10 records on repeat for every single drive and they were:

The Get Up Kids – Something To Write Home About At The Drive In – Relationship Of Command

Saves The Day – Stay What You Are

System Of A Down – Toxicity

Dashboard Confessional – Swiss Army Romance

Hot Rod Circuit- If I Knew What I knew Then

The Anniversary – Designing A Nervous Breakdown

Jimmy Eat World – Bleed American

Weezer – Pinkerton

The Get Up Kids – Seven Minute Mile

We listened to other stuff but these discs were constantly played for every drive to anywhere and on like 10 mixtapes that made the circles around the band. I was into slightly more indie and older stuff like The Pixies. Hambone loved The Replacements, Husker Du and The Misfits but Frank usually vetoed that stuff and I think even threw Hambone’s Misfits CD out of the van on the one tour. Tim loved metal so we would put in the System of A Down CD to appease him and Shaun always liked the more obscure emo stuff like Knapsack, Mineral and Jimmy Eat World (who were obscure then).  That list above though was what we all agreed on and that was mostly what Frank was listening to aside from punk stuff like Bouncing Souls, Screeching Weasel, etc.

MCF: Can you tell us about your songwriting process/thoughts behind the masterpiece, “Fat and Alone?” How did this gem come to be?

NS: I think Shaun and Frank were chanting Fat & Alone and it was a directed insult at someone and I just thought the phrase was funny and I was dabbling in singing my first couple of songs at the time and it just kind of happened. We definitely thought it was funny and pretty catchy. We also loved the idea of a hidden track. However fast forward 20 years and it’s kind of insensitive and immature and the guys wanted to leave it off of the album going forward. Which, if it was perceived as an insult towards anyone, I am on board with it not being out there. You can find it if you really want to on Youtube. When I personally sat down to write it, it was actually more me thinking of how I was a fat little teenager and was more self-deprecating, but I was pretty thin when I was in Pencey so who was going to believe me? For any big boned people who take it on as an anthem, I’m right there with you, it was written by a fat kid for fat kids. I have been on a diet since 1997 so that I can stay an average weight.

MCF: Can you talk about your experience recording this album, from the basement to the studio?

NS: Well, we did it in pieces basically. When we first started we knew we were working towards creating this album “Heartbreak In Stereo”. I don’t even know how we came up with that name, it’s like it just appeared to us and we were looking to make 10 songs that reflected North NJ teenage heartbreak in the year 2000.  We were all miserable single dudes who played music non-stop. We had like 7 hour practice sessions and really got so much better in a short period of time. By December 2000 we had played about 5 shows and thought Yesterday was the most ready to record and that Lloyd Dobbler would be an easy just throw it in there if we have time type track.

That initial 2 song demo was what we pitched to get signed but we basically told them, with or without you we are making this 10 song record. Originally we were supposed to be on Frank’s dad’s label Black Ball Music (He worked there, didn’t own it), which was in California, but we were too impatient to wait to see if they were going to fund it and we moved on. This is why a lot of the early promo stuff says Black Ball Music on it. In May we went to a local studio to do the demos of the stuff we knew would not be part of the album but we wanted to get them on tape, that was Heroin Slow, Home, Rebuilding Home, Fat & Alone, and Secret Goldfish Acoustic. By June we decided we were finishing the album no matter what at the same studio we did the 2 song demo at (Nada Recording). We finished the other 8 songs rather quickly and thanks to Alan Douches at West West Side Mastering everything we had recorded, 15 songs all sound cohesive because of the job he did.

I have been in many bands over the years and I can tell you the work ethic and how we constructed that one record was very intricate and more well thought out than something usually associated with teenagers and some early 20 somethings. We really cared about every detail of the recording and the story and vibe and what the listener is going to take away from it.

MCF: Since we are an MCR podcast, what was your impression of My Chemical Romance in their early days?

NS: When I first heard “Vampires Will Never Hurt You” I was so damn mad that it wasn’t something I had come up with. At the time when those guys had first started I had been kicked out of Pencey Prep and hated the owner of Eyeball Records with every fiber of my being. But I think by 2003 Hambone called me to wish me happy birthday and I had also run into Frank at a show soon after that and we all put any hate behind us (not for Eyeball though, I still hate that fucking creep). I was really happy for Frank, I had known him since he was 17. I knew Mikey because he hung around with Pencey when I was in the band and the other guys were super nice.

I met everyone at Hambone’s house at a Thanksgiving thing early on right as they were about to get signed or were signed. I got to open up for them at the Loop Lounge, they played acoustic at like 2am. They also had let my band hang out back stage at a show in like 2005. Every time I ever ran into any of those guys they were always so nice and whenever I read something like how the band did something pro-LGBQT, pro-feminist, anti-racist it made me proud of the fact there is some small connection from my band to their band through Pencey Prep.

When they first started I remember hearing Headfirst For Halos on the college radio station and I really understood what kids saw in them. They had this really raw hyperactivity about them and in their music that was quite viral. The thing was at that time most of Jersey was just punk and power pop, they were different because they were taking like the cool goth elements of The Cure, Joy Division, Bauhaus, and punk-ifying it.

MCF: What's one (or two) of your favorite memories from your time in the band?

NS: When I first joined the band all of us were single. We would play in Frank’s basement until his Mom made us leave, like it got past the 9pm curfew and we’d head over to this basketball court that the band referred to as Boystown and we’d play a game or two and then head to the North Arlington diner. The end of summer 2000 and that same routine for a few weeks is what Heartbreak In Stereo is all about. The core essence of the album was formulated all in that few weeks.

MCF: You’ve continued to play in bands and work in the industry. With that experience under your belt, how do you feel about the record now so many years later?

NS: I still think it’s a fun record. I couldn’t write that record without having been in that place and time with those guys. When you are in a band it’s total compromise of visions that everyone else has for what it should be. At the time I was dying to move on and do my own thing and I think the other guys too wanted to eventually branch out and do their own things without compromise. But looking back that experience and hearing it now, I get why people have latched onto it as kind of a cult record.

I think we weren’t idiots or anything, we said some things and had some ideas that were very poetically stated. I think that is why the whole Catcher In The Rye thing works so well for this release, it’s connection to a book about lost innocence and it’s a record about exactly that from three perspectives. From Frank the teenager who just had his heart ripped out by his first big love. Hambone’s quiet reflection on his younger years in songs like Florida Plates (which by the way is supposed to be about two kids with their parents on vacation who meet on the Jersey Shore) or Lloyd Dobbler which is specifically about getting friend zoned by that love that you are willing to stick around for even if it’s unrequited. And me, I was just dumped by my 2nd girlfriend, a love of my life and wrote from that perspective of nothing is ever going to work out whether you are a young or old. That record was one giant therapy session and seriously it’s so honest, genuine and heartfelt and that’s why people still listen to it. At least that’s what I hope.

MCF: How did you guys make the decision to re-release the record?

NS: If you listen to Casual Interactions I think Hambone made it clear he really wanted to have it out there again as it was one of the major things he contributed to in his music career. I think we just had this unwritten rule that we all had to agree if we were going to do anything with it for the future. Well it just kind of all finally worked out and we all agreed on how and when to get it all back out there.

MCF: Are you surprised at the response Pencey Prep still gets 20 years later?

NS: I do feel like the album does feel like that era, so I am surprised that people are still listening this much to it. But to me it also feels classic and it’s like opening up a photo album to summer of 2000. It’s nostalgia and with things like Spotify I’m glad a whole new generation gets to hear it and hop in that time machine with us.

MCF: What are you up to currently?

NS: Fairmont is the band I have been doing since the day I left Pencey Prep, 20 years this August. We have 11 albums, a bunch of EP’s and a bunch of compilation tracks. Pretty much the acoustic demos on the first Fairmont album were all in the running to be Pencey Prep songs, except the songs that are about Pencey Prep. We’re working on a Retrospective of the last 10 years for release later this year.

In 2007 I started Mint 400 Records to release Fairmont’s albums and it’s grown from there to over 370 releases and over 100 bands on our roster. That’s mostly what I focus on currently. I produce a bunch of the bands on the label, do album art and edit and direct videos, so the label keeps me busy.

My art is available on instagram @nsabatinoart and I’m available for hire for illustration and graphic design.

Aside from that I’m a special education Art and Graphic Design teacher with two daughters, a wife and dog.

© La Mantia & Potenza 2021

#my chemical fancast #2021 #frank iero #neil sabatino #pencey prep #february 2021

[geoffrard]

R there hardcore frank historians out there that can answer either of two questions for me. WITH reference to primary sources from the time, not retrospectives or third party websites

1. When did pencey prep leave their first label and sign to eyeball

2. What day EXACTLY did heartbreak in stereo come out

please & thank you I’d owe you my life 🙏

#pls… #mcr #mine

[benevolentbirdgal]

watching the r primary debate with some red wine as streamed by a smarmy liberal dude. holy fucking shit a shitshow.

recap from a snarky blue haired progressive:

They opened with a message from Biden. Then a SONG that the candidates had to analyze the popularity of.

They all played Blame The Dems For The Economy, except Haley, who also quoting statistics on why the Republicans suck economically.

Christie said Ramaswamy talked like ChatGPT. Dammit Christie, I can't unhear it.

We got a whole 19 minutes in before the first "deep state" - DeSantis broke the levee on that one.

Minute 24: There was a video call from someone representing a conservative youth group. The kid basically said that climate change is biggest issues for young voters. How will you assure the American voter (esp the young voter) that you as prez/party leader care about this? The hosts asked for a show of hands if you believe humans are driving CC. Before anybody could Florida Man went on a rant about economics and China.

wait is Haley against the Dobbs decision? okay kindasorta asterick-asterick but she's WAY more moderate than the Florida man or the rest of the squad on stage. And also more realistic about getting the required senate votes. and actually named not arresting women for getting abortions.

DeSantis then had to ramble about abortion and how /he/ got it through in Florida and how he could totally get a national 6 week ban or more.

Minute 37 before anybody invoked their Christianity as political stance - Pencey-wency. (re aborsh).

oh the north dakota guy exists. right. he actually opposes a federal abortion ban. actually shocked he believes in the 10th amendment to that degree.

oh the Arkansas guy exists. he seems to think, much like Pence and DeSantis, he can just push it through on sheer power of will. same for Tim Scott.

Damn I wish I could play live shit on 2X.

Pencey-wency is walking a tight fucking line re Trumples.

47 minutes at invocation of Hunter Biden. (Christie, on crime).

49 minutes for "George Soros" (Florida Man).

ND Man's solution to crime to learn from small towns.

52 minutes to someone referring to Trump as indicated (Asa Hutchinson).

Hell of a tightrope that Christie is walkin' re: Trump.

I really do think Token Billionaire New To Politics buys his own bullshit.

Jersey Boy is out for blood. Productive? No. Panem & Circus? Yes.

so much flat out lying. from multiple people.

Florida Boy still won't answer yes/no questions.

Arkansas Dude actually said the word "insurrection." (1:07 in). and that he would not support a convicted Trump. genuinely surprised.

Jersey Boy actually seems to understand the VP oath of office as well. Haley dodged the question. DeSantis dodged it ramblingly.

Does Billionaire Man know what "contrition" means? Not convinced he does.

Is Pence pitching Jesus as his running mate? Or a physical copy of the constitution?

The Ukraine funding is actually showing some difference in opinion. From "not my problem THE BORDER" to "that's fucked up and we should fix it for humanitarian reasons but also to keep Russia away from us" to "not buddying up with Russia is empowering China." This seems to be the issue with the most diversity of opinion.

1:17 in and they have to explain how the bell works again.

More arguing about Ukraine. More arguing and non-cooperative-overlap regarding foreign aid and foreign military intervention.

Tim Scott: lets fire the IRS for national security!

There should be some mechanism where they CANNOT answer in rambles until they press a yes or no button. FFS.

DeSantis is REALLY into the anecdotes about "I met a random person and blahblahblah."

1:29 to "the wall" being said.

1:38 to "gender ideology" and "critical race theory" (Florida Man).

"The nuclear family is the great form of government known to mankind" - Billionaire's solution to education. Went on a rant about single mothers being "paid" to be single versus keeping a man around. he's winning the bonkers take award and it's not a field full of normal takes. see also: he wants the voting aged RAISED and having to take a test to vote?

1:43 - "lightning round" - "keep it 30 second, PLEASE."

1:46 "Judeo-Christian" (Scott). Followed by "break the backs of our teacher unions."

1:48: Jersey Boy has to answer a question about UFOs. "Would you level with the American people about what the government knows about these encounters?" not the most cray-cray question of the night.

Closing statements were pretty boring, honestly.

#politics #tw politics

[magdatf13]

Giving you a little bit of Context

Hiiiii, 

Today I’am going to give you my opinion and a summary about the book, So guys as you know I'm reading the book “The Catcher in the Rye”, which is from the author J.D Salinger with the genre of realistic fiction. This book has a lot of things to take in consideration!!!! I'am telling you, i am not lying.

This novel is about a 16 year old boy named Holden Caulfield, who has been expelled from 4 different schools. Pretty bad this guy!!!!!!! In Pencey Prep he has failed 4 of 5 subjects, what a terrible thing!!! After that, we meet two “friends” of Holden, Ackley, a very dirty man and Stradlater, his roommate, he was going to meet Jane, an old friend of Holden. After a time he asks Stradlater about the date with her, but he didn’t answer so they start to fight for a woman, very typical. Holden decides to leave Pencey. He reaches New York and lodges in a hotel, he remembers Jane and how he met her for the first time. He takes a taxi to Ernie’s tavern, during the trip he asks the cab about where ducks go during winter, here we can see how afraid he was of changing. In Ernie’s, he meets Lillia Simons, an ex-girlfriend of his brother DB. The brother was working in Hollywood, but he felt weird and returned to the hotel. Maurice the assistant of the elevator, offers Holden for a prostitute for only 5 dollars!!!! He was anxious about having s*x, then the prostitute cames but nothing happens, they only talk. Holden wasn’t prepared for this, he needs to mature first and grow mentally. The prostitute argue about the 5 dollars, instead they were 10!!!! He calls Sally, a friend of his, for them to meet. He takes a cab to Central Park in search of Phoebe, but he encounters a Phoebe’s friend in the park that tells Holden about where to encounter his sister, the museum. Here Holden compares the museum not changing but the people that go to it yes, mentioning his afrainess of the changes of life. He meets Sally, but all goes very wrong. Then he meets Carl Luce, a student of a past school, he leaves irritated because of the childness of Holden. He sneaks his own apartment, waking up with Phoebe, he tells the truth about school, he was expelled, he hates everything except for one thing, saving the kids from adulthood or in other words, The Catcher in the Rye. Holden goes for “living” to the house of Mr. Antolini a very drunk guy, during the night he felt the hand of the teacher, making Holden thinks about the teacher being an absolute pervert and leaves that night, leading to sleeping in a bench.After that day we writes a note to Phoebe for them to encounter during lunch time in the museum. Holden tells about the plan of leaving but Phoebe makes him regret his decision. The story ends in the mental facility with Holden there. THE END.

 As i made you a little summary now let me tell you what is good from the book. So here in this book you can find a lot of things, when i tell you a lot is A LOT. What I most like is the stream of consciousness he uses since it is really interesting to know what is exactly going on throughout the mind of the character. For example when in the beginning of chapter two he says “The minute I went in, I was sort of sorry I’d come. He was reading the Atlantic Monthly, and there were pills and medicine all over the place, and everything smelled like Vicks Nose Drops”. With the example mentioned we can see the thoughts of him which are really impressive. 

 But no, let's talk about the weakness of this book. What I really didn’t like was the time he spent talking, since the book was only two days, but while reading it seems like you have been reading like a month of his life. Which made it kind of boring since the transitions were really slow and long to change. 

Well, I have told you a lot about this book, JAJAJAJA, but having opinions is pretty important before reading a book. I think that this book is really good, but not for all types of people, since not all readers like books with a stream of consciousness. I’m going to give you an example, in chapter 20 “I kept sitting there getting drunk and waiting for old Tina and Janine to come out and do their stuff, but they weren’t there. A flitty-looking guy with wavy hair came out and played the piano, and then this new babe, Valencia came out and sang”.  With this I can tell you that he talks about three different things at once since streams of consciousness are all of the thoughts that come to his mind. So I would not recommend this book. 

Pretty hard, I toold you

This need ALLLLLLLLLL of your neurons

Hope You find a better book, guy but is my opinion, hope you like it. 

SEE YOU IN A FEW DAYS

[moved2radiationvibe]

my boss told my coworker to take her dog to the nearest (only) 24/7 vets office because they "only" have like a $170 walk in fee. girl you're rich and too much Botox has floated into your brain for you to be able to realize that you don't pay your workers enough to eat. she also didnt wanna have to pay someone two hours of overtime so that said coworker can leave early tomorrow

fuck that bitch (not the dog)! cant wait for you to quit that place

#also i’m not answering ur other asks… #pencey #asks

[thekidsfromyestergay]

42?

#oh pencey prep my beloved #the teenage heartbreak energy is immaculate #also. pretty sure this is so high up because i was writing a fanfic based on it #ask answers

[transsextual]

beloved bestie hows it hangin

whats up motherfucker!! it's hangin, i'm not on tumblr as much lately bcus instagram is eating my brain and i Hate it. but uhh yeahyeah i'm good lately and i like hearin from u!

#pencey #overdramatics #answers #friends

[pavlovscrow]

“do you think pencey prep is good?”

“i love pencey prep.”

“so you think pencey prep is good??”

“i love pencey prep :)”

#im not answering that question #let people enjoy horrible music #pencey prep #me

[iero]

You okay m8?

I could totally be better and I have a whole lot on my mind, but I’m sure I’ll be fine. Thanks for asking and caring!

#answered #Anonymous #Was this because I said I was on a Pencey kick? #You guys don’t have to worry unless I’m on a straight up 80’s and 90’s emo kick. #Then no. I am not okay at all.

[monstermash]

hmm top five frank iero solo songs

anon i hope you know this message made me irrationally upset and my first instinct was to obstinately deny that i listen to Man With Guitar Music but then i realized that its very obvious that i do. im calmed down now you can let me out of the cardboard box i swear i wont scratch you. these r all just songs that i listen to because i dont go to therapy

#1 oceans i always forget how absolutely batshit this song makes me feel and then it comes on and i just think wow the past dont mean SHIT to me haha thats a lie. 

#2 the thing that i keep secret any time i post my “on repeat” playlist from spotify screenshots is that the number one song on there is guilt tripping. i literally have guilt tripping lyric art hanging up by my bed. quite genuinely cannot tell u how often i have had full sobbing breakdowns listening to this song because thats between me, god, and the spotify analytics elf. 

#3 young and doomed is quite genuinely NOT a good song like i dont think he has ever been a worse singer than in this song but the lyrics absolutely kick the shit out of me (this is true of every one of his shitty little songs im just like booo we hate your pussy but the lyrics can stay). im classically sad and im inclined 2 get mad :) not even gonna talk about the “i promise that im okay oh wait thats the other guy” thing because it makes me want to bite people. 

#4 no fun club. literally made a shirt that says no fun club on it last week. i dont really know how to elaborate on this one but its a good song to be crazy and evil to. 

#5 moto pop also not “good” his voice sounds so fucking stupid like if they made a muppet that sounded like a shitty cold war kids knockoff but there’s just a certain, gender se quois to it. this #5 spot is also tied w half the songs off stomachaches and unfortunately medicine square garden because while i may not “enjoy” MSG i do think about the dangly earring he wore in the music video at least once daily. 

#i also unfortunately would like to put pencey prep attention reader on this list. meme voice u go to jules monstermash's house check itunes #but because u said frank solo songs i didnt put any death spells leathermouth or pencey on here. only frank iero and the redacted. #julez.txt #jesus christ i cant stand how much time i put into these answers. dunce cap that says SIMP #Anonymous #<-- also finding out now in this youtube comment section that attention reader was graveyard not pencey but fucking. whatever

[heartagram-bam]

we both have mcr and jackass blogs the Absolute taste (@vivalaknoxville)

well folks, you heard it here first: jackass is officially Emo Culture

#the fact that we both have ‘pencey’ in our urls? twink frank solidarity. #our minds are mega #answered

[nodevolucion]

💗 SEND THIS TO TEN PEOPLE YOU THINK ARE WONDERFUL! 💗 HAVE A GREAT DAY!

Ah i will! Thank you fren

#pencey-fuhking-prep #answered

[anystalker707]

Bubblegum Bitch [Electra Heart] (part 2)

Pairing: Pastel! Frank x Punk! Reader [lowkey 'x Gerard' as well] Word count: ~ 5 600 Genre: Enemies to lovers / Fluff / Funny / Song inspired Summary: "Oh, dear diary, I met a boy He made my doll heart light up with joy Oh, dear diary, we fell apart Welcome to the life of Electra Heart I'm Miss Sugar Pink, liquor, liquor lips Hit me with your sweet love, steal me with a kiss"

> Part 1

Requested by @angie-migel | @broke-and-overwhelmed | anon | on wattpad

Me: Frank Frnak Fucking Bubblegum Bitch Miss Sugar Pink? 😍🥰😘

Miss Sugar Pink: Hi <3

Me: Where's the book?

I can almost feel my soul leaving my body at the moment the ‘online’ under Frank’s contact name disappears, groaning as I would let my head fall forward on the table if it was otherwise clean and my work didn’t have any chance to be ruined.

Gerard raises an eyebrow from his place next to me and hums, shaking his head. “What’s up, sugar?”

“Frank disappeared with the goddamn book,” I sigh, pocketing my phone, and put my latex glove on again, “and no one else returned theirs yet, so... All I can find are extremely minor extractions from the book around and resumes that say nothing substantial.” The paintbrush dips into the black paint before I bring it closer to paint the details along Mother War’s mask.

“Are you sure you don’t want any help?” Gerard leans over to grab the deep red mix that I was using earlier for the blood drops of his thousandth version of his Demolition Lovers’ drawing.

“Yeah. I need my own perspective of the book for this and I’m already halfway through my essay and all, so... It’d be messy.” I lean over Gerard’s shoulder to take a look at his painting. “You’re so talented it makes me want to give up.”

Gerard snorts a chuckle, rolling his eyes a little. “You’re not bad, dumbass.” He presses a kiss to my cheek and rests his head on my shoulder for a moment. “But why don’t you go after Frank or something? Maybe you can find him during any of the breaks today?” He goes back to adding the spilled blood to his painting, quickly reaching for a lighter tone of red.

“That if I can find him at some point.” I dip the brush in more black paint. Frank wasn’t around yesterday and before yesterday during lunch nor at the library when he usually is, in a way the last time I saw him in person was when I was heading to the dorms and saw him dragging someone around by their hand; either way, he dismissed me quickly. Just like when I text him—well, when he even bothers to answer. “I’ll go find him today.”

Finding Frank turns out to be a harder task than I thought. Normally, it’s easy to find him given how unusual it is to find someone else with a same pastel aesthetic as his, and even the familiar faces that usually are following him around are nowhere to be seen. Okay, that’s maybe unusual; it’s not like I know his habits or something.

Still, what the fuck? Can’t he keep up to his promises or what? Yeah, he’s not dumb or anything, but he’s also not the best person when it comes to commitment and all that stuff. It doesn’t matter how many times I call him right now, I’ll even find his fucking dorm if I need to.

The ringing stops. “Hello, you’ve tried to reach Frank Iero! I can’t answer right now, but if it’s regarding my photography or Pencey Prep, feel free to message me instead! If not, I’ll get back to you as soon as possible!”

No, no, no! Fuck!

“Frank,” I huff after the beeping sound, “you fucking disappeared. Forgot our deal? Call me or else I’ll hunt you down.” The sound of the phone hanging up follows, leaving me in silence with my own anger, which isn’t exactly any better. My fingers itch to toss my phone across the campus—breathe, (y/n), you know that’s not the best option or even a good one at all, it would solve absolutely fucking nothing. Everyone is working on their fucking assignments, hence there isn’t any prevision any other copy of the book will be returned anytime soon, but there I was, thinking Frank Iero, out of all people, would keep up to his promises at least once.

As the anger finally cools down into something else—disappointment, but not sadness; not sadness—, I pull my phone up again, this time opening the browser, searching ‘rent Reductionism in Art and Brain Science’. Maybe it won’t cost me that much or maybe it’ll work using some other people’s resumes as reference with the hope the professor doesn’t count it as plagiarism.

The thoughts honestly stick to my mind during the following lectures, slipping in between the moments of focus just to drown me in the terrible reality again. It shouldn’t be that hard, right? I already knew what making a deal with Frank meant. I know his reputation, I knew this had chances to go wrong, but still. Fuck, why did he have to be like this? Things were going on so well in the beginning. He had to ruin everything.

“You’re a little quiet, sugar.” Gerard scoots a little closer, pulling me to the third option of reality—one that’s not about being stuck in my thoughts or hyper focused on a task. “Is everything alright?”

I pause and swallow before I nod. Why does the situation have such an effect on me? It’s as if something annoying and prickling buzzed under my skin continuously. “I just wanted to finish my assignment in peace. Hand in my assignment and it’d be fine.”

“Is it really about it, though?” He raises an eyebrow, and wraps an arm around my shoulders.

A sigh escapes my lips as I lean into Gerard, pressing a kiss to his cheek because maybe then he’ll avert his attention away from the subject. He smiles a little as he pulls me closer.

Even with Gerard by my side—the way he sometimes takes my hand in his or plays with my fingers a little is simply so lovely—, the lecture continues as torturing as the previous one had been, but with more intervals in which I’m not hyper focused or stuck in my own head. Things at least do feel a little better by the time I’m packing my stuff again. I should have stuck with Gerard for the whole day, but it doesn’t matter now that we are heading to our dorm, with our arms hooked.

“We can watch something tonight, if it helps,” Gerard suggests.

The idea of watching sounds good, like, having my mind off everything else for about two hours. Will I be able to truly focus on the movie, though?

“Can we just cuddle and listen to something?” I sigh softly, already trying to think about a good playlist or at least a few good songs for the occasion. “I think it would help me better.”

A smile tugs on Gerard’s lips as he nods. “Sure, sugar.”

My ringtone brings me back to reality, feeling something digging into my hip at the same time I wonder why it’s so dark until I remember I must’ve fallen asleep while talking nonsense with Gerard while we cuddled, so he’s also responsible for digging his elbow into my hip. The song continues to play in a low but still audible volume until I press down on the green sign—while trying not to get blind by the screen brightness—and press the phone to my ear.

“Hello?” I groan. What time is it, even?

“Hi!” Frank? “Just wanted to know I just listened to the voicemail and we can meet up today during our free hours so we can work on the book. Together because I haven’t had time to do it yet and I was thinking we could figure it out! Is that okay for you?”

“Frank, I— What time is it, even?” I groan, rubbing my temple a little.

“It is...” He pauses. “One fifty-three. Anyways, is it fine for you?”

“Yeah, yeah,” I breathe, “whatever. Just text me the... the time and shit, we’ll meet up, ‘kay?”

“Lovely! See you in the morning!” Frank makes a kissy sound that’s followed by the sound of a concluded call; I hum. What the fuck? At least there still are a few hours left to sleep.

The next time I wake up, it’s actually to Gerard’s allarm going off, sending both of us groaning and shifting at the same time. I’m staring at nothing when Gerard leaves the bathroom, using every ounce of self control left in my body so I won’t lie back down and continue to sleep through the first lecture.

“Do you want to go have breakfast anywhere?” Gerard sprays some of his cologne on himself and adjusts his clothes before he walks over to his bag.

Breakfast anywhere? The thought of doing anything aside from going to lecture and dying silently while the professor talks in the background seems a little too demanding. “No, thanks, Gee, sorry.” The bed creaks a little as I stand up from it, moving to grab my clothes from the dresser to head to the bathroom.

“It’s okay, just thought it’d distract you a little,” he chuckles a little, and comes closer to give me a kiss on the cheek and hug me tightly until I groan in complaint.

We’re leaving for the first lecture when I check my phone properly, getting rid of the useless notifications and taking a look at the messages—art history group, family group, someone asking for notes, unread message from the last week, Frank... Wait, Frank?

Miss Sugar Pink: 11:45 am lecture, outdoors tables near the Neuroscience building <3

What’s that supposed to mean...? Oh, the call in the middle of the night. Right, at least that’s going to be better than nothing.

Even if the lectures and the time at the library seems to pass just as slowly as yesterday, the new context makes up for it at the same time it—thankfully—gives me a new relieving feeling rather than the uncomfortable one that seemed to crawl under my skin. Still, I wonder if this is really going to work. Does Frank study in silence or does he have some habit that may disturb me? I wish things would just work out smoothly instead.

My stomach churns at seeing the clock saying 11:25 am as my hands sweat stupidly, but I guess I’ll just rent the book online in case something turns out wrong and try to borrow money from someone if things get too bad for me later. It’s not a bad plan, right? I don’t want to hear the answer.

Surprisingly enough, the pastel spot is already seen at the table in the distance when I head towards the place Frank agreed with me. He wears a cute pink shirt today and purple shorts that match his Chuck Taylors and socks, using his delicate jewelry as always, eyes covered by his red frame shades, while he sips on whatever he got in his glitter Starbucks cup. “Hello, hun!” His lips stretch in a grin at the same time he sees me—nice gloss. “How are you?”

“Hello.” I take a seat on the bench across from him with a sigh, letting my bag down beside me. “So, you disappeared.”

“Yeah, sorry! I really didn’t mean to!” He pouts a little and brings the shades up his head, setting the cup aside. Some of his stuff already lies across the table, some of his pretty pens plus the basics, and his sparkly silver pencil case sits next to his pastel green binder. Almost all of his items are covered in stickers, wow. Very... Frank. “‘Bet you didn’t hear about it, but the thing is that I met a boy who makes my doll heart beat up with joy.”

“You writing poems about your lovers now?” I raise an eyebrow, but don’t really let him answer despite his intention to, continuing to talk as I start to get my own things off my bag. “Okay, but who’s the lucky one?”

“You wouldn’t know him.” Frank shrugs a little, swinging his feet a little—an information which I didn’t really need, but am aware of due to how he ends up accidentally kicking me under the table. “But he’s from the cinema people. He’s very pretty, like— Gym rat or something, as he likes to call himself.” His lips stretch in a smile as he pulls the book from inside his bag. “I couldn’t answer you and all because I was spending time with him and things will probably be like this for a while, so I thought it’d be cool to meet up like this.”

Oh, okay. What the fuck am I supposed to say about this? It’s weird to think that Frank has other... ‘friends’. What are we, after all? I don’t think we’re even friends despite all the talks. Not as exciting as I thought it would be.

“You’re dating?” I raise an eyebrow.

Frank’s face turns a deep shade of red at the same time my heart sinks into my stomach and he hums, shrugging. “I guess so?”

“Okay.” I nod as I start to skip through the notes for my assignment until reaching a half empty page. “Congratulations.” Is this what I’m supposed to say? “I’m glad you could find someone.”

“I know, right?” Frank giggles with excitement, making me smile a little, even if it’s not because of anything we’re talking about.

“I hope he treats you like you deserve.” I press my lips together; Frank is in silence whilst observing me for a long moment, interrupted once I reach for the book. All I want is for this to be over so this feeling vanishes—it feels like someone is gripping on my throat and lungs.

“What do you mean?” Frank tilts his head.

“What do I mean what?” I furrow my eyebrows, using my finger to mark the page I stopped at.

“I don’t deserve to be treated in some specific way,” Frank chuckles, shaking his head as he takes hold of a pen, “I’m going to be treated according to what the situation allows.”

“Oh, so you’re going to let your significant other change your phone just because they said they’ll break up with you if you don’t?” I chuckle as I shake my head to myself, but... Frank isn’t laughing, so I stop, eyeing him carefully. “Frank?” He hums, tilting his head a little. “Oh, Frank, that’s not how it works!” I pinch the bridge of my nose. Fuck, I can’t scare him, though. “Look, it doesn’t matter what they want, if it invades your privacy or goes against your will, you’re not obligated to agree with it!”

“But what if they love me a lot?��� Frank’s shoulders fall as he sighs, bottom lip sticking out a little. “I don’t want to hurt them!”

...Who is this and what did they do with Frank? Nevermind, (y/n), focus.

“If they truly love you, they will understand.” I exhale softly. “Look, you deserve to still have your privacy, to do whatever you want, to say no and all even if you love them and they love you. It may be weird to hear it from me or something,” I mutter with a shrug—because it does feel weird to tell him this at the same time it’s... concerning, like, how does his mind work?—, “but it’s the truth. Like, something everyone should know, everyone deserves it.” Frank looks at me quietly, and even if his eyebrows are a little low, whatever emotion he holds remains a mystery. “Sorry, I ended up ranting.”

Frank blinks and hums quietly, shaking his head. “Don’t worry.” He pulls a lollipop from inside his pencil case and pops it into his mouth.

A weird silence hovers between us, interrupted by the sound of the wind going through the trees’ leaves with some distant voices, lasting up to when Frank frowns a little and stops writing on his binder to look around.

“Something wrong?” I glance at him, finishing to write a sentence.

“Do you mind some music?” He sticks his lollipop back in his mouth after I shake my head and grabs his phone, tapping on it a few times before the characteristic introduction of Saturday Night starts playing. Fuck, Saturday Night? He goes back to writing, but the pen barely touches the paper when he looks at me again, eyebrows furrowed. “Um, do you—”

“You like Misfits?”

A red tone spreads across Frank’s cheeks as he smiles a little, eyes drifting down for a moment. “...Yeah,” he hums and pauses to get the lollipop in hand, “I really like them. Why?”

“I was expecting something like Kyary Pamyu Pamyu to start playing. I mean, no problems if you do like her, but...” I shrug a little, looking at his phone for a moment. Does he like any other rock band or is he just a Misfits fan? To be honest, knowing the kind of artists Frank likes is difficult in general since he doesn’t wear merch very often, so maybe he just listens to music casually and doesn’t need it as bad as oxygen like I do.

Frank chuckles. “Yeah, I can imagine the shock. Like, the visuals—” He motions to himself. “They don’t match, but I do like them. Like, not only them, also Metallica, Megadeth, Slipknot and all that stuff in general.”

Fucking awesome. As thrilled as it gets me, I refrain myself from doing anything rather than nod. “Ever been to a concert?”

“Not really.” Frank shakes his head and licks his lollipop, twirling his pen between the fingers of his free hand. “Never got anyone to go with me. And you?”

“Same,” I hum. We look at each other for a moment, in which I cogitate to tell him I’ll keep it in mind for the next time any of these bands decide to have a concert anywhere near us, but maybe it wouldn’t work, we aren’t even that close or anything. Frank might not like my company like this—or like my company at all. “Maybe your new partner might go with you?”

Frank snorts, rolling his eyes, and goes back to scribbling down. “It’s easier for me to give you the book instead.” Okay, then; I chuckle a little with the lack of better response, taking the book instead, skipping through the pages to one I want. “But he does take me to a few parties, y’know? I confess it’s not exactly my thing, but I will get used to it.”

“You’re not a party person?” I raise an eyebrow, glancing up to see him shaking his head. “I could swear you were.”

“No, no, I’m more of a stay at home and study person...” Frank mumbles, adjusting the binder as he starts writing on another line. “But it’s cute how he always has an arm around me, he is protective and all. I even got a ring.” He puts the lollipop in his mouth to hold up his left hand and show off the delicate golden ring around it.

“Yeah?” I raise an eyebrow, taking his hand in mine to adjust it a little; the ring is adorned by three pink stones, perfectly matching him. His fingertips are rough. “Do you play any instrument?”

Frank’s cheeks heat up and he hums quietly. “Yeah, I play the guitar.”

“True?” I grin, tracing his fingertips a little. “That’s awesome.”

His lips curl up into a shy smile as he looks down then at me again, nodding a little. “I can play something for you at some point.”

“That would be nice,” I say softly and gently let go of his hand. Despite how picturing Frank playing a guitar and something like Dig Up Her Bones is hard, it only makes me more curious about it. I hope he plays for me soon.

“—and, like, I have the whole collection, all the books,” Frank says, pausing to flip to the next page of his binder, “but I didn’t have time to read them yet and stuff.” He shrugs a little, sighing. “My books are really precious to me, y’know,” he chuckles, “I want to have my own library at some point.”

“Oh, really?” I grin wide—the idea of having your own personal library is just fantastic—and Frank nods frantically, smile widening. “I—”

“Wow, plain lunch and you two are here?” Gerard suddenly sits down next to me, raising an eyebrow as he looks down at all the materials scattered across the table.

“Lunch?” I raise an eyebrow and exhale softly once I take a look at my phone. It’s 01:34 pm already. “Wow,” I exhale, leaning back a little. My notes aren’t worth almost two hours of studying—maybe because these hours weren’t used for studying, right? There are enough notes, thankfully.

“Oh, fuck,” Frank gasps, widening his eyes as he immediately stands up, frantically tapping on his phone’s screen before starting to throw his things back inside his bag. “I’m sorry, guys, I gotta go!” He messily zips it up without even putting everything into place properly—quite weird coming from him—, and shows up between Gerard and I, pressing kisses to our cheeks and mumbling rushed farewells. My cheek ends up smeared with gloss, but... Fuck, Frank’s gloss. I must smile stupidly given Gerard’s look, but he isn’t much different from me given how red his cheeks are.

“Where do you think he’s gotta go?” Gerard raises an eyebrow, glancing back at the way Frank went.

“Maybe see his boyfriend?” I shrug. I should gather my things as well.

Gerard chuckles, but goes silent for a moment. “Wait, you’re joking, right?” He looks at me from under his lashes and widens his eyes once I shake my head in response. “Wow. Frank. Dating. Who’s the lucky one?”

“Some guy from the cinema major.” I put my notebook aside first, then start grabbing my pens... I don’t remember having a pink pen like this, a glitter gel one and strawberry scented. Hopefully returning it is enough of an excuse for him not to keep the book away from me for so long this time.

“Damn.” Gerard looks at the nothing for a moment and sighs, shrugging a little. “Anyways, let’s go get you lunch, shall we?”

Even if we don’t talk with Frank a lot, seeing him less and less often is quite unusual and missing his presence is quite uncommon, but... Well, it’s all because of the book, right? I needed the book and nothing else. We had started to text each other more often a little after we sat together to study, but he disappeared again sometime ago. Some things are just not supposed to be. Frank simply isn’t the kind of person to make friendships like this and it is okay. I should stop forgetting this whole thing is due to the book and, to be honest, he returned the book the day after we studied together, so we have no reason to talk anymore. This whole thing was due to the book. The book had a note inside when he left it outside my door after a brief knock, a folded paper between the cover and the first page. Thank you for sharing and helping, xoxoMissSugarPink—it said with a kiss mark near the signature.

At least my assignment was turned in in time and it was pretty complete, in my opinion. As far as I know, Frank’s as well.

“I don’t like it when you’re quiet like this.” Gerard sighs, rolling his shoulders back a little. He leans in closer to the mirror as he smudges the red makeup around his eye, maybe uselessly trying to make it symmetrical to his other eye. “I mean, I don’t mind it when you’re quiet, but this is another type of quiet.”

Yeah, of course Gerard would notice it. “Burned out, it’s all.” It feels like a lie, weirdly enough.

“Sorry about it, sugar. I wish you could come with me and I also wish I could stay here to take care of you.” Gerard pulls his hair back with a sigh and steps closer to take a seat on the edge of the bed, shifting a little before he cups my face with both of his hands. They’re warm. Nice. “I have my phone with me, though, so don’t be afraid to call or anything, okay? Take care of yourself, drink water, you can grab the snacks from my bedside table if you want, I love you.” A smile tugs on his lips and he presses a kiss to my cheek. “In case I don’t answer, you have Bert, Jeph and Ray’s phone numbers, right?”

“Yeah, yeah, but don’t worry a lot.” I lean into his hand a little and pull Gerard for a hug. “Go have fun, you loser.”

Gerard chuckles a little, squeezing me, then finally gets up, still pacing around the room a little until he has all of his things with him and leaves for once after another rant about how I need to take care of myself.

The silence and being alone is comforting. Of course I love Gerard’s presence, but I still appreciate being alone, spread out across the bed, on my fluffy covers... There’s a knock on the door. Gerard again? Well, he does have the keys. A sigh escapes my nose as I push myself up and move to answer the door.

“Hi—” I interrupt myself with the pastel blur that squeezes between me and the doorway to get in the room, taking his shoes off on the way to my bed, where he sits down, practically throwing himself on it. “Frank...?” I raise an eyebrow, taking a look at the empty halls before I close the door again and lock it. “Uh, hi?”

“You won’t believe it,” Frank says, sounding a little breathless, and only now I notice it might be the first time I see him without any makeup, not even having eyeliner adorning his eyes. Not to mention his eyes are kinda red. “Like— That dumbass—” Frank grabs the closest pillow and screams into it. Okay, that’s not how I planned to spend my night, but what’s fucking happening to him? He’s even in his pajamas already.

“Frank...” I take a seat next to him, resting a hand on his shoulder, compelling him to immediately lean against me. “Hey, what happened, do you want to talk about it?”

“That stupid, idiot, motherfucker—” Frank interrupts himself with a soft sound—a sob?—and wraps his arms tightly around me, arms still tight around my torso. “H-He just wanted to use me or something, I don’t know, I just—” He sighs shakily and relaxes against me. “Fuck, it’s just— W-We fell apart.”

“I’m sorry about it,” I sigh softly, rubbing Frank’s back. He squeezes his way out of my grip and lies down on my bed, facing the wall as he hugs the pillow he grabbed earlier close to his chest. “Do you—”

“I don’t want to talk about it, don’t talk to me, let’s just stay in silence,” he says in a single breath. “Don’t talk. Hug me.”

It’s unclear whether sleep is clouding my mind or not, but I turn off the lights and join him. Frank feels so delicate and warm, his sweet smell filling my lungs as my nose buries into the back of his neck.

Unlike Gerard, Frank tosses around the bed a lot during his sleep between intervals of clinging to me and being as far as possible, which has me waking up in the middle of the night with a sharp inhale, staring at the darkness as Frank shifts around until resting his head on my chest.

“(Y/n), are you awake?” His whisper cuts through the thick silence of the room.

“Yes, Miss Sugar Pink.” I smile a little.

“It’s Electra Heart now.” He shifts a little, resting his hand over my chest.

“Oh?”

“Yeah,” Frank hums. His fingers trace soft patterns on my chest, bringing me a weirdly soothing feeling. “Y’know, I really like to make the people who I like happy,” he mumbles, words running one into the other with sleepiness, “I like to do whatever they want because... because they just, like, deserve it and stuff. I thought he knew that. I never take people to my dorm and I took him. I never— I even went to parties with him, these stupid parties that stink of stupid beer and stupid cigs...” He sniffles a little at the same time I feel something warm through the fabric of my shirt, so I bring a hand to play with his hair; he melts a little more into me.

“I’m so sorry, Frankie, you deserve a lot better,” I whisper. Fuck, why do my eyelids feel so heavy now? I want to keep talking. “A lot more. But you know you don’t need to sacrifice yourself to make people happy, right?”

“I’m working on it,” Frank says, small and quietly.

“Why did you come to me, Frank?” I dip my fingers into the strands on the back of his neck, caressing and massaging the skin there softly, in a way he hums in response, sighing.

“Dunno, you’re all that I have.” Frank shifts a little, almost shrugging. “We never... talked a lot, but you don’t, y’know, try to kiss or touch me or compliment me the whole time...” He pauses, only the sound of his deep and slow breaths filling the room. “I can talk with you about simple things and it feels like you know me or you care, I don’t know. No one wants to hear me talk about my books, only about my panties.” He exhales sharply through his nose, humorously. “Not you, though, not you...” He says almost in a singing tone, tracing patterns on my chest, soon pausing as he presses a kiss to it through the fabric. “Not you.”

Nothing in especial brings me back to reality—not Gerard walking in, not the sunlight or the alarm clock—, I just open my eyes and stare at the ceiling for a long moment as I think about what happened last night and allow myself to enjoy the warmth pressed to my side and the weight on my chest. He didn’t move away. On his bed, there’s Gerard, tangled in the blankets. Almost a normal Saturday. Better than one.

A sharp sigh comes from Frank as he whines something in his sleep, but tugs on my shirt to bring himself closer to me then relaxes again with a soft exhale. How is he so precious and pretty? My heart flutters a little and, fuck, fuck it if this isn’t good.

As much as cuddling is nice, I can soon feel my bladder complaining, in a way I manage to get Frank to turn around and cling to a pillow while still asleep before I rush to the bathroom as quietly as possible, already starting to get myself ready for the day. Gerard stands shirtless in the room when I’m back, potentially looking for another shirt among the mess under his bed as he pushes the articles of clothing around with his feet, being watched by Frank, who sits on the bed with crossed legs.

“Good morning,” I breathe, closing the door behind me.

“Mornin’!” Frank makes grabby hands towards me; I need to pause for a moment then step close to hug him, letting him cling to me for as long as he wants—which is until Gerard threatens to go to the bathroom, so Frank immediately rushes in ahead of him.

“What’s he doing here?” Gerard asks as soon as he hears the lock turning.

I observe the bathroom’s door for a moment and shrug lightly. “He fell apart with his ex-boyfriend or something, then he came here. I guess I could befriend him for real.”

Gerard raises his eyebrows and nods a little. He blinks slowly, nodding to himself. “Yeah, right. Remind me to update you later about the gig then you update me about the whole stuff, alright?”

“Alright,” I chuckle, moving to grab a new change of clothes.

I make my bed and I’m sitting on it again when Frank leaves the bathroom, giving place for Gerard to finally get in, and immediately comes to straddle my lap. Sweet. I’m about to hug him back when he threatens to leave my lap, so I hug him, wrapping my arms around his waist tightly until he giggles and settles down to wrapping his arms around my neck with a sigh.

“Do you like it?” Frank nuzzles the side of my face a little. “Are you okay if I’m too clingy and stuff?”

“You’re not too clingy.” I press a kiss to his cheek, internally melting at how he holds onto me. He still smells like cotton candy.

“You’re just saying things,” he sighs.

“I wouldn’t hug you back if I minded.” I hug him tightly again, which makes him squeal. “I wouldn’t have held you during the night or anything.”

He hums, giving himself a moment. “Right.”

Frank pulls back enough to face me, furrowing his eyebrows, but quickly presses his forehead to mine, then brushes our noses together a little and... he presses his lips to mine softly, and holy fuck. It’s just... the best thing ever. His lips are soft as they slide against mine just perfectly, compelling me to be careful almost as if Frank were made out of glass or something even more fragile. He hums softly, almost a soft whine, and threatens to pull away, but I deepen the kiss, leaning in more instead because... Fuck, will I ever get enough of it? What does he have? Liquor lips?

A deep red tone spreads across Frank as he pulls back, his eyes focused on my lips—I presume—not on mine. “I think I like you.”

_____________________

tagging list: @lubbockshusband | @trans-ylvania

#frank iero x reader #frank iero #x reader #x male reader #x female reader #x non binary reader #x gender neutral raeder #mcr imagine #mcr oneshot #imagine #oneshot #fan fic #fan fiction #mcr #fluff #enemies to lovers

[tuckerrule]

ainsley

a - ambulance / my chemical romance

i - i’ll be yours / placebo

n - no answers / thursday

s - super fade / fall out boy

l - lich prince / foxing

e - eriatarka / the mars volta

y - yesterday / pencey prep

#kobra #asks

[zahroreadsthings]

Collection of not the life it seems screenshots I desperately need to delete from my phone to make a smidge of space if you see this no you didnt ❤

'I'm the unlucky one,' Mikey confessed.

'Unlucky!' spluttered Frank. 'Dude - you took an electric heater into the shower once, that's not unlucky!'

-

[...] idolized his big brother and would follow him wherever he went, eve: attempting to literally run before he could walk when he saw what his older sibling could do. The bond between them was formed strong and early.

-

[...] and so Ray tried to emulate his playing. He took lessons, and even enrolled in a typing course in order to improve his dexterity on the guitar, but he became a technically excellent musician mostly by dint [...]

-

Mikey was not much of a bassist and had recently failed an auditior to play in another Eyeball band, Pencey Prep, who featured a guitarist called Frank lero.

-

[...] laid down about fourteen different guitar parts - most of them at the same time - and somebody said, "Have you guys thought about adding another guitar player, so you can do this stuff live?" I can't remember who answered, but they said, "The only guy we've ever considered is currently too high to get off the couch."

'I just lay there and pretended I hadn't heard because it made me so goddamned nervous that they were going to ask me to play some guitar on the track. I was so fucked up I couldn't even think about doing that. But that was the first time I thought it might be possible for me to play in my favourite band - and it scared the shit out of me.'

-

'As far as the music's concerned that record has a lot to do with Ray,' says Benson. 'He came up with a lot of that stuff; he's like the musical director. Ray dictates a lot of what happens musically in the band. Frankie takes a lot of his cues from Ray. The best thing about the bass player is that he offers stability to Gerard and he's a great guy too."

-

[...] female voices as he sought to bring Mother War to life, but felt his efforts weren't quite working. He had been warming up for his voca ltakes by attempting an over-the-top impression of the Broadway singer Judy Garland, and so when Cavallo and his engineer Doug McKean asked what he was striving for on 'Mama', he said it needed her daughter Liza Minnelli to guest on it. He was not being entirely serious.

So he was surprised to see Cavallo pick up a phone, have a short conversation, then say, 'l love Liza Minnelli' after ending the call.

-

Gerard would pull his headphones on - headphones, tellingly, that he had started calling his 'shut-the-fuck-ups'.

-

When not being used for concerts, Madison Square Garden plays host to the New York Knicks basketball team and the New York Rangers ice hockey team - rivals to Frank's beloved New Jersey Devils. 'I remember telling the guys in the band that, when we played "Not Okay", instead of saying "trust me" I was going to say "Rangers suck". They said, "Erm, no. Don't do that. Please don't do that."When we played the song, I realized I was never going to get th opportunity again so I did it! I felt like the guy in the movie driving the atom bomb into the mothership! Saying "Fuck you Rangers" to a sold-out Madison Square Garden crowd was something I always wanted to do.'

-

No other rock band was drawing on art, drama and storylines in such a way. It was why Gerard was determined that everything should be right - including the specifics of the marketing campaign.

To ensure that happened, he had walked into the Warner Bros office with a flipchart under his arm and a presentation in his head.

-

Though proud of the band's legacy and his part in it, Frank remains distraught that they did not survive. When he thinks about the end, he tries as hard as he can to be sanguine about it. It's just that he wishes he didn't have to be. He still wishes things could be different.

'You know, even The Beatles broke up,' he sighs. 'I don't think it was ever on the cards for us to do it for ever.'

However, he then says one last thing.

'But that doesn't mean I don't wish we could have.'

#yes i know the content in this book would be curated to portray them in a certain light dont @ me #sorry about the lack of read more im on the app #not the life it seems #tom bryant #last screenshot is the harrow + ortus family picture thank you #okay i cant bring myself to delete that one