The Drums Of The City Rain

Pairing: Frank Iero x Reader

Genre: Romance, Drama

Summary: Sequel to The Five Of Us Are Dying (x). Your friendship with Frank is never quite the same after that night on the Black Parade World Tour. Five years later, on a different tour, a post-concert game of Truth or Dare on a rainy night in Boise threatens to spill the secret you’ve kept buried all this time. 2/4 of my The Five of Us.... Alternate Endings series.

___

After the Black Parade World Tour ended, you thought maybe Frank was sick of your shit. He’d gotten more irritable towards you as the tour went on, criticizing you harshly for little mistakes during practice, and not talking to you, even when you had nothing else to do but sit on the bus and stare at each other for hours.

It’s not like you couldn’t guess where this coldness had come from. He was salty that you’d never confessed which of your bandmates it was you had a crush on. The others had mostly gotten over it- even made jokes about it. But, maybe Frank’s hopes that he had been the one you were into had been more serious.

The ironic thing was that he was the one you had a crush on. But, if you admitted that, and you two started dating, the tabloids would be all over you. The last thing you wanted was for the media to focus on the fact that two members of My Chemical Romance were a couple, rather than on the serious music that MCR was trying to make. Besides, what if Frank and one of your other bandmates fought over you? If you ruined the friendship these boys had had before you even entered the picture, you would never stop feeling guilty about it.

“Frank, I’ll look at pictures of your dog now if you want,” you offered on the last night of the tour.

“I don’t want to fucking show you anymore,” Frank had snapped, and gone back to practicing his guitar. It had hurt you. But if Frank learned to hate you a little bit, maybe that was for the best. Maybe you two would both get over your feelings and everything would go back to the way it had been before that stupid interview.

But, Gerard’s words to the crowd that night when the five of you got on stage and played together seemed like an omen: “If we never play another show……just please try to stay alive.”
For a while after that, you and your bandmates didn’t do anything together. You’d had to hear secondhand, from Ray (who you still hung out with occasionally), that Frank had started a new band called Leathermouth. You bought the record. It sounded nothing like the music he had made with you in MCR. Maybe that was what he liked about it – that it had nothing to do with you.

Maybe he needed this separation, you thought. Maybe you did, too.

But, when the band got back together again to try recording some more songs, you found that your feelings were as strong as ever. You fell in love with the melodies he was writing. It broke your heart when Gerard said that the whole project (which you’d taken to calling Conventional Weapons) should be scrapped. You and Frank were the only ones who disagreed, who thought those recording sessions had merit.

“I just feel like we’re……not in the best state right now,” Gerard insisted, looking at you pointedly. You realized what he was implying: that as long as the question about who your heart belonged to hung, unanswered, over the band’s head, you might never be able to jam together like you used to again.

Even when he basically accused you of this, you still couldn’t bring yourself to fess up. And, so, for a time, the band simply went inactive. You worked on other projects, drummed for other bands and tried to forgot your stupid crush on Frank.

It didn’t work.

But, then, in 2010, the band finally decided to all sit down together and go into the studio again. Frank’s anger seemed to have faded, and as long as you avoided talking about The Interview, you started to become friends again. You were relieved just to have that – relieved he didn’t hate you. You were too scared of fucking that recently rekindled friendship up that you decided it was for the best to keep burying your feelings.

For the band’s sake, you told yourself. With that mindset, you, Frank, Gerard, Mikey, and Ray composed Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys. You were more confident as a musician this time than you had been during the making of Black Parade. You honestly thought the album was your best work, and you couldn’t wait to play the new songs live onstage.

The World Contamination Tour began without a hitch, and, for a while, it felt just like old times.

But, just like before, it only took a few, clumsy words to send everything crashing down.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

“Dude, we were fucking amazing tonight!” Frank grinned as you and the boys climbed back onto the tour bus after a long, tiring, but thrilling, performance.

“The kids seemed to really be having a great time tonight,” Gerard agreed.

“I don’t think I’ve seen Y/N play that well in a while,” Ray complimented you.

“I…..I wasn’t that good,” you said modestly.

“Don’t sell yourself short, Y/N,” Mikey assured you. “Your drum solo was amazing.”

“Thanks,” you grinned. You really did feel kind of proud of yourself.

“So, what do you want to do now, guys?” Gerard asked. “Try and get some sleep on the drive to the next venue?”

“No way, I’m way too keyed up!” Frank said hyperactively. “I wanna do something fun!”

“Any suggestions?” Mikey asked, quirking an eyebrow.

“I know - let’s play Truth or Dare,” Frank smirked. “If Y/N’s not too chicken.”

“I dunno, dude,” Ray hesitated. “Last time we played that game, didn’t Gerard wind up kissing a dude with a beard?”

“Wait, what?!” you giggled.

“That was before you joined the band,” Gerard laughed pinkly. “Remind me to tell you that story sometime.”

“I promise I won’t dare you to kiss any dudes this time,” Frank said, making a cross-my-heart gesture.

“What if I dare you to kiss Y/N?” Gerard grinned.

“……Whoa, what?” Frank said, his smile fading. “I can’t do that……”

“Even if we double-dog dare you?” Mikey challenged.

“Guys, you can’t make Frank kiss Y/N without asking Y/N if she’s ok with being kissed,” Ray pointed out reasonably.

“Do you wanna kiss Frank, Y/N?” Gerard asked in a teasing voice.

You turned red and stared at the ground. “……Guys, this isn’t funny,” you muttered.

“What if we make that the first Truth of the game?” Mikey suggested, not seeming to get that you were uncomfortable. “If you won’t take a Dare of actually kissing him, just tell us the truth about whether you’d want to.”

“No,” Frank, said, a strange look crossing his face. “I’ve got a Truth for Y/N.”

“Frank, don’t,” you pleaded.

“We’re in fucking Boise,” Frank said, sounding almost pissed off. “Do you remember, back in 2006? You said after our show in Boise, you would tell us which one of us you liked.”

“Holy shit, I’d completely forgotten about that,” Gerard swore.

“I never actually thought we would play a show in Boise,” you confessed.

“Well, now that Frank brought it up, I want to know, though!” Mikey piped up. You remembered the embarrassing way he’d asked you if he looked good without glasses. He’d long since gotten over whatever passing interest he’d had in you then – clearly, he was now simply motivated by curiosity.

“I mean, Y/N’s probably gotten over whatever crush she had all those years ago anyway, right?” Ray shrugged. “I mean, there’s totally no way you’re still pining for one of us, right, Y/N?”

You looked away from all of them, red-faced and wanting to cry.

“…………Y/N?”  Frank whispered, the anger in his eyes gone, replaced with concern.

“…….Oh my gawd,” Gerard realized, instantly feeling guilty for teasing you.

“Y/N, are you in love with one of us?” Mikey asked, shocked.

“Well, not you,” you snapped, your emotions getting the better of you. Mikey’s eyes registered hurt and embarrassment.

“…..Fuck, Mike, I’m sorry,” you sighed. “It’s not that you’re not a great guy, or anything…..”

“But he’s not the one you want,” Frank said bluntly. “So, process of elimination, right? That leaves Gerard, Ray, and….me. Which is it, Y/N?”

“Dude, don’t be so insensitive,” Ray scolded. “She doesn’t have to tell us if she doesn’t want to, alright?”

“Fuck that,” Frank said, in a voice, which, to your surprise, sounded thick with tears. You chanced a look at him, and were stunned by the vulnerable look in his eyes.

“I’ve been waiting five fucking years to hear this,” Frank admitted. “I’ve been wondering, every day, if Y/N is ever going to stop playing with me and tell me straight out if I’ve got a shot with her or not.”

“You want…..a shot with me?” you gaped, surprised by this. You’d always thought that Frank had lost interest in you by now. Had he been dreaming of you all this time, the same way you’d been dreaming of him?

“If you’re going to reject me, just get it the fuck over with already,” Frank told you. “I’m sick of waiting in limbo for you to get the guts to say how you feel. I’m sick of all of this!”

Fed up, Frank ran out the bus’ front door.

“Frank, where are you going?” Gerard called after him.

“Dude, come back!” Mikey pleaded.

But Frank was gone. The tiny man could run like hell.

“I have to go find him,” you decided, and, throwing on your coat, ran out into the rainy night.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

You walked around for what seemed like hours, trying to figure out where the fuck he could be. The bus couldn’t leave Boise until he was on it. At this rate, the band wouldn’t make it to the next town they were supposed to perform in in time.

Ray texted you and told you to just come back to the bus, to let Frank stew for a while. He’ll come back eventually, he’d said hopefully.

But, you weren’t sure. Part of you was terrified that if you didn’t find Frank right now, this night was going to go down in music history books as the night My Chemical Romance broke up.

My Chemical Romance might still break up, you admitted to yourself. Gerard had confided in you that the demands of this life, this fame, that the five of you had discovered together sometimes felt like too much. He wasn’t sure he could do it for much longer. Sometimes, neither were you.

But, you didn’t want to be the reason the breakup happened. The Yoko Ono. The Nancy Spurgeon. The one who pulled the thread that unraveled everything. If the band ended……ok. But, it just couldn’t be like this.

Finally, you found him, just sitting on the sidewalk in the pouring rain. His long, black hair was sopping wet. His yellow and black Fun Ghoul jacket was almost certainly ruined.

“You’re going to catch cold, Frankie,” you said tiredly.

He looked up at you, not expecting you to be here.

“…….Y/N,” he said simply.

“I had to find you,” you explained. “If you miss bus call, it’ll throw the whole tour schedule off.”

“That’s why you came after me?” Frank asked, eyes narrowed.

“No,” you admitted, sinking down on the ground beside him. You were sick of lying about how you felt. “No, that’s not why. I came because I love you, Frank. I’ve been in love with you since 2004.”

Frank looked at you, hazel eyes wide. “You mean that?” he asked, as if he didn’t want to get his hopes up.

“Yes,” you said, finding yourself relieved that it was finally all out in the open. “You’re the crush I talked about on MTV, Frank.”

“I don’t know what you were so fucking embarrassed about,” Frank said, “because I had a crush on you for about as long.”

“Really?” you gasped.

“Yeah,” Frank laughed bitterly. “Apparently we’ve both been pining for each other like idiots for years and everybody knew our feelings were mutual except for us.”

You started laughing, too, from tiredness or stress or who the fuck knew what. It was completely ridiculous: two-fifths of a platinum-selling emo band sitting in the rain, with no umbrella, on a random street in Boise, Idaho, laughing their fucking asses off at about one in the morning.

“…….I love you, Y/N,” Frank said when his laughter finally died. “Just in case that wasn’t clear.”

“It’s all clear now,” you said, and kissed him, finally, finally. His mouth was wet with rainwater, but it was still everything you’d imagined. So soft and sweet……the kiss grew passionate quickly.

“Kissing in the rain is kinda cliché, isn’t it?” Frank laughed when he pulled away, panting. “What is this, The Notebook?”

“We could always go back to the bus and kiss there,” you suggested. “I don’t think the guys would mind.”

“I guess we do have to go back,” Frank grinned, wrapping his arms around you. “At least to tell them I took their double-dog dare….”