Our Chemical Romance.

Chapter One.

It had been two weeks since Mikey and Gerard Way moved to Belleville, New Jersey for a new life away from their parents. They now lived a block away from two liquor stores and a small grocery shop. It was all they needed.

A few streets away, lived a tall, afro headed twenty-five year old. Mikey met him when he went to buy some new guitar picks at the music store one day. He'd explained that he had just moved to Belleville with his brother and the afro guy said they could count on him if they needed anything. His name was Ray Toro.

Mikey was at the music store a lot. Ray didn't mind, he enjoyed the company and he didn't get a lot of customers, plus, living on his own could get boring and it was nice to have new people to talk to.

One day, after coming home from the store, Mikey found Gerard in his room drawing as usual, "You have to come meet this guy Gee, he's amazing and he's really passionate about his music." Mikey said excitedly, spinning his brother's chair around.

Gerard didn't seem as excited. His face was pale, drained. He had bags under his eyes and his chapped, fading lips barely moved as he uttered his response, "Mikey, you know how I feel about new people. Moving away from everyone we knew was hard enough and now you already want me to meet someone? I can't Mikes." He spun his chair back around and continued sketching.

Mikey paused in thought for a moment, and listened to the soft swish of Gerard's wrist as it moved across the paper.

"Come on, it'll do you good to leave your room. We've been here two weeks and you've only left about four times and that was for booze or drawing supplies."

"And?" Gerard replied, putting down the pencil and staring at his wall.

"Please Gee; it's not as if I'm gonna make you meet him again. He's really cool and he's got some great pictures up on the walls, they might inspire you." Mikey smiled, putting a warm hand on his brother's shoulder. Gerard sighed; he knew Mikey wasn't going to give up.

"Fine, whatever." he replied, shaking his head slowly.

"Good."

When Mikey left, Gerard returned to his drawing, however due to the interruption, he had lost his artist's streak and instead scrunched the paper into a tight ball in his fist and threw it across the room, where it joined other crumpled and abandoned bits of paper.

After what seemed like only a few hours sleep, Gerard was awoken to someone shaking his shoulder, it was Mikey.

"Come on lazy," he said with a babyish tone, "did you forget that we were going to see Ray today?"

"Uh, no." Gerard lied, rubbing the sleep from his eyes, "What time is it?"

"It's about half two, I've just got back from work." Mikey said, leaving Gerard alone once again.

What time did I get to sleep then? Gerard asked himself while pulling on some jeans and a top. After seeing the extensive collection of empty bottles and cans on his bedroom floor he soon realised why he couldn't remember going to bed. Once he'd attempted to pull a brush through his matted black hair and washed his face, Gerard joined his younger brother downstairs and followed him out the door.

Sunlight felt un-natural to Gerard, almost alien. It stung his eyes and invaded his skin. The warmth of it bathed his face and arms in anomalous light; he wasn't feeling as confident as he did before he left the house.

Finally they reached the music store; Mikey pushed open a stiff door and walked in. They were greeted with Ray's smiling face from behind a desk cluttered with various music related items.

"Hey," Mikey said with a wave, "this is Gerard."

Gerard shuffled forwards reluctantly and attempted a smile but it came out all lopsided and nerdy.

"Uh hey." was all he said to the afro-headed guy. By this time, Mikey had walked off to look at the guitars hung on the wall at the back of the room.

"Mikey's told me a lot about you." Ray replied.

"Oh?" Gerard questioned uneasily. His eyes looked to where Mikey was stood a minute ago, realising he wasn't there, he looked back at Ray. Ray just laughed and continued,

"Nothing bad don't worry. He just said that you're thinking of being a musician but you're concentrating on your art first."

"Yeah, I am, well I'm trying to."

"What do you mean?" Ray inquired.

Before replying, Gerard picked up one of the magazines on the counter and flicked through the pages and finally examined the back quickly, he put it down when he'd finished and continued. "I'm just finding it hard to paint something imaginative. I need inspiration. I'm kinda stuck in an artist's block."

"Ah I see," Ray said, "well there are some photos on that wall over there if you want to have a look? See if they give you any ideas." he pointed just over Gerard's shoulder. After thanking the afro-headed man, Gerard walked in the direction of the photos.

He examined them closely; each picture was of different people, instruments, live performances and other band related items such as merchandise and tour busses. Gerard scanned each photo with precision; some made him laugh and others worked themselves into his thoughts to be figured out, especially one.

There was a young looking man, probably around nineteen or twenty Gerard guessed. He was sat on a scruffy looking couch hunched over a notepad and surrounded by bottles of alcohol. His hair was shaved and dyed on both sides and a jet black fringe hung limply down the man's cheek, despite smiling, his eyes told another story. They were encircled with deep red rings and the only glint in them was the flash of the camera. Gerard studied and pondered the photo, who'd take a picture of someone struggling with something that was close to his own heart?

Gerard's thoughts were suddenly interrupted by the jingle of a bell, signalling the door had been opened; he turned slowly to look over his shoulder and saw a short guy with his hood pulled over his head. He was asking Ray how he was and then followed by asking where he'd moved the guitar strings to. Ray pointed to a set of shelves just left of Gerard and the short guy walked over looking anxious.