Merry December, y'all!

Consider this my short n' sweet holiday effort of the year-this is just the prologue, sorry if it's a bit dry xP the fluff will start in the first actual chapter, I swear.

Enjoy!

"Gerard, you look ridiculous," Frank giggled, tapping the white cotton ball at the end of his Santa hat lightly.

"This, coming from an elf," Gerard shot back. "And I like my hat, thank you very much."

My Chemical Romance had been the first band of six to arrive at the indoor California

arena where the Jingle Ball, rock music's biggest holiday festival, was hosted annually. They'd quickly discovered a closet full of festive costumes and props outside of their dressing room and in their boredom had raided it while waiting for the other bands to arrive. Frank had donned a striped smock and elf ears, Ray a pair of reindeer antlers, Mikey had been forced into a weird red-and-green-striped horn-type thing that they had decided belonged to a narwhal and Gerard wore the puffy white beard and red-and-white hat of Santa Claus himself. They had been debating whether to wear the outfits onstage—Frank, Ray and Gerard were all for it, but Mikey claimed that the horn made him feel positively ridiculous.

"I dunno, Mikey, that horn does make you look pretty adorable," Ray teased.

"Oh, shut it." Mikey grinned anyhow and pulled off the headpiece. "Who else do you think is coming?"

"You're just trying to change the topic," Frank pouted.

"So what if I am?" answered Mikey, smirking childishly. "But really, I do wonder. I think the tradition of keeping the bands playing secret until the night before the show is kind of stupid, anyway…"

"D'you think Blink might be playing? They had a pretty big year, what with Neighborhoods just getting released and all…" mused Frank.

"I think they're getting the Black Veil Brides to come, too," Gerard said.

"I heard that Green Day flew out this morning," Ray offered, to which all four boys cheered. They'd managed to maintain a pretty close friendship with the trio of punk rockers after they had opened for them in 2005.

"That would make my fucking year," Gerard said happily. "And God knows this band needs something good to happen to it soon."

At this, Mikey and Frank sighed heavily. The year, although fantastic musically, had been full of ups and downs—mostly downs—in the Jersey quartet's personal lives. Mikey and Alicia's frequent fights had become more and more constant and had become so bad that they'd ceased talking to each other three days before their trip out west. Frank, meanwhile, had confessed to Jamia that he was bisexual, freaking her out so badly that he wasn't sure if they were even still together. And as for Gerard and Lyn-z, they just…weren't Gerard and Lyn-z anymore. His wife's near-constant touring meant that he hadn't talked to her in over six months, and the rumors that he'd been hearing about her from the internet and news were not pretty.

Ray wasn't sure what to do with his three best friends. His life was still normal and consistent—in fact, Krista and he were expecting their first child soon—but he was forced to watch as the most important people in his world fell apart, bit by bit. It hadn't been a great year for any of them. He had been the one to contact the radio station that ran the Jingle Ball every year, hoping to cheer them up with the Christmas event. It could be like old times again—just the four of them, more like a family than anything they had on their own.

Loud voices outside the hallway startled the boys from their thinking, and the door to their dressing room banged open. They were met with a diminutive brown-haired girl in a white dress who grinned at the men perkily.

"I found My Chem!" she called down the hallway, sticking her head out of the room. Running footsteps were heard before four guys appeared behind her. They looked out of breath, but were smiling all the same.

"Whoa, epic," one of them breathed. "I love you guys!"

"Are you fans?" Frank asked, confused. The brunette girl looked strangely familiar from somewhere, but he couldn't figure out where exactly.

She giggled. "No, we're Flyleaf, one of the other bands playing tomorrow."

"Oh, that's where I know you from!" the guitarist grinned, happy the mystery had been resolved. "Lacey Mosley, right?"

She nodded. "And this is Jared, James, Sameer and Pat." Each boy responded with a wave or a 'hey' when she said their name.

"Ray, Mikey, Gerard, and I'm Frank," he responded.

"Oh, I think everyone knows who you guys are," Jared cut in, smirking. "You'd have to live under a rock not to."

"I'll take that as a compliment," Gerard chuckled, and the gathered musicians burst into laughter.

"So who else is here?" Lacey asked once the laughs had subsided.

"Just us so far," Ray answered. "Do you know about anyone else?"

"We've been trying not to find out, actually," she answered. "It's more fun to keep it a surprise, don't you think? Although there are a couple bands I'm hoping do show up…"

"They always get a pretty good lineup together for this, though," James commented.

"Let's hope," said Gerard. "I wonder—"

But before the world-famous singer could say exactly what it was that he wondered, the dressing room door swung open again, revealing a trio of people who couldn't be a day over twenty. They stood in the doorway awkwardly as if they weren't sure whether to enter or not.

"Hey!" Frank called out jovially. "Are you playing the Jingle Ball too?"

"Yeah," one of the boys responded. He had short black hair and a shy smile.

"What's your band name?" Lacey questioned.

"We're VersaEmerge," the small girl in front told them.

"Oh, of course! Fixed at Zero, right?" Ray verified. The members of VersaEmerge's faces lit up like Christmas trees at the realization that someone knew their album.

"That's us," the boy confirmed. "We're Blake, Sierra and Nick."

The rest of the people congregated in the room introduced themselves too, and the three new arrivals stepped inside shyly, taking seats on the floor.

"We know about one other band that's coming," Sierra told them when asked the question they had just been discussing. "I was talking to my friend Ha—"

"Shh, don't tell us!" Lacey grinned. "I want it to be a surprise."

"Speak for yourself, Lacey," Mikey grumbled.

A loud ringtone filled the room, and Sierra whipped out her phone, checking the screen. "Well, they're here now, so I guess you'll find out soon enough…" Her comment appeased the bassist and he was quiet again.

"Si-ERR-a! Where are you?" A singsong voice rang through the hallway outside the door. To many of the people in the room, it was instantly recognizable—not surprisingly, as this particular girl's voice was world famous.

"I'm in HERE, Hayyy-leyyy!" Sierra called out, laughing. "Come say hello to the other bands!"

At that moment, a red-headed girl skipped through the doorway and embraced her friend tightly, waving to everyone else in the room from behind Sierra's back. She smiled as she saw looks of recognition in everybody's eyes.

"Hayley, where'd you go?" a male voice shouted, followed by a different one yelling, "Thanks for deserting us!"

Hayley Williams rolled her eyes. "Sierra, could you be a dear and go get the other two bozos? I don't know what they were doing in that van a minute ago…"

"'Course," Sierra laughed, and exited the room. Hayley grinned at the other eleven musicians. "Hi, I'm Hayley from Paramore, and Taylor and Jeremy apparently managed to get lost but they should be here soon enough…"

"Found them!" Sierra called out, followed by a squeal and the sound of running footsteps. The young girl darted back into the room just as a dark-haired boy caught her around the waist. "Not so fast," he exclaimed.

"Let go, Taylor!" Sierra protested, but her struggle was far too weak to be plausible.

"Nah, I think I'll hold on to you," Taylor teased. Jeremy, tall and sandy-haired, entered behind him, smirking at his two younger friends and forming a heart with his hands over their heads. Sierra swatted it away and stuck her tongue out at the older man.

"So we've got, let me see…VersaEmerge, obviously, My Chemical Romance and…Flyleaf?" Jeremy asked the others. At the mention of their band name, various members nodded their assent. "Sweet," the bassist continued. He joined Hayley on a couch, but Taylor didn't relinquish his hold on Sierra's waist and remained standing.

Their conversation resumed where it had left off, most of them not able to stand the suspense of waiting for much longer. More big names in rock music were thrown into the mix, confusing everyone, but they all agreed that of the last two bands to arrive, at least one of them had to be Blink-182, Green Day or All Time Low.

"I feel like I'm missing someone else that put out an album this year…" Frank muttered, tapping his chin pensively. "Something with a female lead?"

"Evanescence?" Gerard suggested, unable to stop himself. At this, the rest of the members of his band cracked up.

"What's so bad about Evanescence?" Lacey asked, confused. "We toured with them, they're a pretty good band!"

"There's nothing wrong with them," Ray chuckled. "It's just that Gerard had the hugest crush on Amy Lee from 2003 to what, 2005?"

"Then, when we met her backstage at an awards show—he clams up. Completely. Not a word!" added Mikey mirthfully.

"He was worse than any fangirl!" concluded Frank.

Meanwhile, Gerard's cheeks had steadily been turning a deeper shade of pink as he slouched deeper into the couch. He pulled the Santa hat over his face and muttered something that sounded like "shut up shut up shut up."

"It's tru-ue," Frank cackled, poking his best friend mercilessly.

"What would you do if she did show up, Gerard?" James asked.

At this, the singer's face turned completely red. He shoved his head into Frank's chest, complaining, "This is all your fault, Frankie." This just made the laughter in the already loud room increase tenfold.

Outside in the hallway, six men followed the sound of happiness to the dressing room, where a sign read 'Jingle Ball Preparation—BANDS MEET HERE.'

"Looks like the right place," Brad Delson said, glancing at Rob Bourdon for confirmation. The brunette drummer nodded his agreement and Mike Shinoda pushed open the door, startling the people inside.

"Hey!" Chester Bennington, the first one through the doorway, called out to the crowd at large. Gerard yelled something that sounded like "who is it?" into his friend's hoodie.

Chester gave the musician a strange look. "Gerard, dude, is that you? It's Chester…"

"Oh, good," Gerard muttered, and removed his head from its' hiding place. "Good to see ya again, man."

"You too," the rock singer saluted. "Frank, Ray, Mikey—whatsup?" He nodded at the others as Mike came to stand beside him, the rest of their band trailing. The emcee waved at Frank, who smiled and waved back.

Phoenix wiggled his fingers at Sierra, Blake and Nick, who were sitting stock-still with their mouths nearly hanging open. Blake got his jaw to work first, managing to spit out "L-Li-Linkin Park?"

"That's us," the redheaded bassist confirmed.

"No…" the boy started.

"…way," Sierra breathed.

"Yes, Way—two of them, actually," Ray called out. Mikey mimed a rim shot.

"That's so…" Sierra shook her head, seemingly lost for words. "You're…but…"

"A bit starstruck, are we?" Chester raised an eyebrow suggestively, and the members of the youngest band giggled, finally breaking out of their silence.

"Just a bit," Blake agreed. "It's just that you guys are…well, you're Linkin Park."

"We get that a lot," Brad commented, puffing out his chest a bit. Mike punched him teasingly and he feigned hurt.

Lacey smirked at Chester appreciatively. "They're not the only ones starstruck, you know."

"Oh, another fan?" the brunette smiled back at her. "And what band are you from?"

"Flyleaf?" the way the girl stated her answer, it came out sounding more like a question.

Chester grinned. "I didn't know you were a fan, Lacey."

The look on Lacey's face was akin to that of a child on Christmas morning realizing she had gotten exactly what she wanted. It was all she could do to stop from turning to Jared and squealing, "He knows me! He knows me!"

The Linkin Parkers quickly confirmed the identity of the other three bands, quickly settling into conversation. Mike went to sit next to Frank on the couch, who was a close friend of his from the tour, which unfortunately left Mikey squished into the side of the piece of furniture.

"Thanks a lot," the blond bassist grumbled. He got up quickly, dropping next to Hayley on the carpet. "Glad to know I'm loved, you guys."

"Ooh, someone's grouchy today," Hayley giggled.

"Just ignore him, he probably didn't have his coffee," Gerard advised the girl, winking.

"Oh, shut up, Gee," the bassist growled, playfully slapping his brother's arm. Gerard slapped back, causing a mini-catfight to break out between the famous siblings. Gerard's Santa hat became dislodged from his head and his beard hung askew.

The two were so involved in their play fighting that they didn't notice the door swing open for the sixth and final time that night. The person who stood in the doorway stopped to survey the scene for a moment before asking the room, "Do I even want to know what's going on?"

Gerard's blood froze at the voice. He became completely still, pausing in an odd position with both hands raised to protect himself from his brother.

It couldn't be her. Please, God, any other time when he looked at least halfway decent…but not her, not now…

Amy Lee looked at the man with a confused expression. "Are you at least beating him up for a good reason?"

For the umpteenth time that night, everyone burst into laughter at Gerard's mortified expression. The situation was only made funnier by the knowledge of his secret crush. Amy smiled brightly, very confused but amused at the same time.

"I—well—" Gerard stuttered. He finally settled for a sheepish smile, grinning up at the gothic singer innocently.

"Never mind, I probably don't want to know," she amended. She walked up to the furiously blushing man and reached down, fixing the angle of his hat so it sat straight on his midnight-black hair again. "Better," she decided.

"I—I'm Ger-Gerard Way…hi?" he forced out.

"I know who you are," she laughed. "I love Three Cheers, Helena is one of my all-time favorite songs. I'm Amy Lee." She offered him her hand. Gerard took it like it was a time bomb and shook it very carefully, unable to prevent a cheesy, blissful grin from overtaking his handsome features. She'sevenmorefuckinggorgeousinreallife,he thought to himself.

Amy took her time greeting everyone else in the room, explaining that the guys in her band had been held up at an interview but would be there soon. She had been questioned first and decided to show up straight away—she couldn't contain her curiosity as to who she would be playing with.

"Awesome turnout," she said appreciatively. "You guys are all such amazing musicians…how are we ever going to compete with this?"

"Good thing there's only one stage," Chester joked. "Otherwise we'd be screwed." Lacey nodded her assent to his comment.

"Well, some of us are going to have to share," Sierra piped up. Everyone swiveled to look at her, shocked.

"What?" she shrugged. "I heard some of the people running it talking about how they want some of us to duet when I came in. They're letting us pick who, I think…"

Eyes flashed around the room, some excited, some annoyed. Gerard shot a hopeful look at Amy, who was sizing up Mike thoughtfully.

"I guess we'll find out tomorrow," Hayley said finally. "That's when they're telling us everything and we get to practice, right?"

"That's what the schedule says," Brad affirmed.

"Well, now what do we do?" the redhead asked.

"Hang out?" Mikey suggested.

And that's what they did, until nearly one o'clock in the morning. The dressing room turned out to be full of amusing objects…so amusing, in fact, that it almost seemed like they had been placed there on purpose. It was Sierra and Taylor who discovered the karaoke machine in the closet, and Mike and Frank who managed to hook it up to the television. The night ended in everyone doing terrible renditions of each others' songs—alright, not everyone's were terrible…

"Bring meeeeeeeeee to liiiiiiiiiiiiiiife!" Chester screeched, out of tune on purpose, while Lacey growled. "Wake me up!" angrily. Amy covered her ears in fake disgust, turning away from the highly amused pair. When they were done mutilating Evanescence's biggest hit, the pair cracked up, slapping each other high fives and embracing casually.

"Thanks a lot," the girl grumbled. "Beware of retaliation…Gerard, help me?"

"What?" Gerard perked up at the mention of his name, even more when he realized who had said it.

Amy picked up the remote and settled on a song, highlighting its' name and clicking it. "I'll show you how it feels," she muttered as the first strains of Waiting for the End poured through the room.

"Heads up!" she called, throwing one microphone to Gerard. "Do Chester's part, please..."

"Are you sure you can rap?" Gerard asked disbelievingly.

"Just do what—yeah!" Amy hardly had time to hit the first note—"what I say! Uh!"

She really was terrible at this style of music, he thought as she spit out thisisnottheend,thisisnotthebeginning,but she was still gorgeous…and best of all, she put one hundred percent of her dedication into the song.

"Your turn!" Amy called out, turning to him as soon as her segment was done. "Go for it!"

Oh great, he thought even as he sang, his voice wavering. It cracked on the word end,and again on stand. Chester's register was a bit lower than his, but it was still enough to make him sound horrible and not at all like a professional singer.

"Sing it an octave higher!" Amy suggested at the break in between the two parts of the chorus. And, like a crazy person, he did what she suggested.

"Flying at the speed of light, thoughts were spinning in my head" came out in a ridiculous falsetto voice that Gerard had no idea he was even capable of doing. Amy burst out laughing, choking out "that's amazing, keep going!"

So he did.

"It's hard to let you go-ooooo," he exaggerated, eliciting more cheers. "I know what it takes to move on—" at this, his voice cracked again—"I know how it feels to liiiiie!"

Amy joined him again, harmonizing his high voice with a low pitch. "All I wanna do is trade this life for something new, holding onto what I haven'tgooooooot!" they exclaimed, collapsing into each other in a fit of giggles.

"I take it back! I take it back!" Chester howled while Amy pounded relentlessly ahead with the second verse, leaning on Gerard for support.

"How am I supposed to do this next part?" Gerard yelled while Amy rapped "And I don't even know what kind of things I said, my mouth kept moving and my mind went dead."

"Just try it!" she gasped out in the miniscule period between lines and picked up with "So I'm picking up the pieces now where to begin, the hardest part of ending is starting again!"

Please don't let me sound like an idiotplease,Gerard begged silently. He took a deep breath, almost not able to believe what he was about to attempt-in front of Amy no less- before picking up his microphone again and grunting "oh, oh-oh, oh, oh, oh-oh-oh-oh" on beat with the synthesized track blasting through the room.

You almost had to scrape the jaws of the girls in the room (and some of the boys) off of the floor. Gerard didn't realize it, but the sounds coming out of his mouth were incredibly close to those he made during Destroya—just louder and more musical.

"I think I just came," Lacey whispered to Chester as the famous singer continued to make those, er—noises. Amy, meanwhile, wasn't able to make a single sound until Gerard tapped her arm, reminding her that she, too, was supposed to be performing.

Gerard completed the song on a sustained note, holding the word "got" for a few seconds before finishing. He panted dramatically and smirked at Amy, who still wasn't quite over his performance during the bridge. She managed to summon up an equally brilliant grin in response.

"Bad enough, Chaz?" the black-haired man teased, turning to Chester.

"I dunno," he answered. "Why don't you ask Amy?"

Everyone laughed happily, and Amy leaned against Gerard, smiling up at him. "You did really well," she said. "Better than you were supposed to, but regardless."

"Well—" but he was cut off by a yell from Mike.

"I seek revenge for the murder of one of my favorite songs!" the emcee announced, standing up and tugging Frank with him. "Frankie, help me?"

"Oh, God…" Frank moaned, but all the same, grabbed Gerard's microphone.

"How long is this going to go on for?" Hayley murmured to Mikey, who she had somehow ended up next to.

"I honestly have no idea, but I'd think you better get comfortable," the bassist responded, and before he knew it, the pop-punk princess's head was resting on his shoulder.

"Good idea," she whispered, "we're in for a long night."

So there you have it-six bands, five couples, twenty-five days, one gig (that I really, really, REALLY wish actually existed.) There will be five more updates on the 5th (I turn 15! ^_^) 10th, 15th, 20th and of course 25th. Each will involve one inter-band couple (and if you squint really hard, you can probably find all five in this chapter xD) Stay tuned, and happy December!