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Frank meets Mikey at a faculty of sciences mixer the first week of his PhD. He's wearing an Anthrax t shirt under his lab coat and quite clearly reading a Batman comic tucked inside the huge fucking Health and Safety manual they were all saddled with. He's also, crucially, not one of the mathematicians who are currently boring Frank's ears off about the purity of abstract numbers.
"I'm Frank," Frank says. "What are you in for?"
"Mikey," Mikey replies. "Acoustical physics. I make really loud noises. You?"
Frank grins.
"I blow shit up."
It turns out that not only does Mikey have excellent taste in music and comic books, but he also spends a lot of time in the same materials lab as Frank, and they soon become friends. Mikey knows every late night cafe and diner in a five mile radius, and in return Frank takes him to his favourite bars and basement clubs, places where the music's so loud you can feel it rattle your bones.
(Mikey always tries to explain how this happens, but Frank gets pretty used to tuning him out).
And, when Mikey's girlfriend dumps him halfway through their second semester, Frank doesn't hesitate on collecting Mikey, his bass, and his collection of criminally ugly hats, and moving him into his tiny apartment. His research is already kind of stressful, and he needs some of Mikey's cool, his easy, grounding friendship
(Mikey, he learns, needs someone to remind him that water and electricity rarely mix)
Frank meets Gerard when Mikey says "So hey, my brother needs someone to help out with his film project," and "can you do that thing with the soap bubbles and the helium?
Gerard turns out to be this whirlwind of red hair and flappy hands, and explains one of the sections of his reel needs to be an educational programme, and teaching kids about sciences is really important, ok, there was this girl in his last module who honestly thought dinosaur bones were 6000 years old, and Mikey would only do his thing on sound if someone else was on camera too and hey, is is really true you can set soap bubbles on fire?
Ray, behind the camera, says "Hey. I'm Ray. Can you stand in that light there? Cool t shirt."
Frank feels kind of odd, but it's just like demonstrating stuff to undergrads, and it's also fun, him and Mikey explaining things like how sympathetic vibrations work, and why you can hold burning soap bubbles without getting burned yourself. He has no desire to watch the finished show, but cheerfully eats the pizza and cheesecake Gerard buys them to say thank you.
So its kind of a head trip when Gerard turns up at their flat the day after Frank’s thesis defence and hugs the crap out of him, then Mikey, then him again and says
"We got commissioned!"
"Ow," Frank says. He's got a pretty epic hangover. Mikey's fault. Let Mikey see how much HE gets to drink after his defence.
"That's great Gee," Mikey says. He's far more conscious, and squeezes Gerard's shoulder. "I knew you would."
"Not me," Gerard says, "Us." PBS loved you and Frank. They want you too."
"Um," Frank says, because he;s not a TV star. He's a chemist. "I was just helping Mikey out, dude."
Gerard whirls round and takes Frank's hands in his, looks him deep in the eyes.
"Please Frank. This is important. think of how many people you could teach about science!"
"You like the demonstrating best," Mikey put in, "and dude, you're never going to be able to keep your temper enough to get any kind of tenure."
Frank hesitates. He's been Dr Iero less than a day. He's hung over, way too under-caffienated and he thinks he's wearing Mikey's shirt. On the other hand, Mikey does have kind of a point.
"Can I have a trial period?" he asks.
"We're only commissioned for 14 episodes," Gerard says.
Both he and Mikey are staring at him with identical expressions of pleading.
"Ok," Frank nods.
Gerard hugs him again and then slings an arm around Mikey's shoulder as well.
"Welcome to showbusiness!" he says.