The Wrong Body [Frerard AU]

Chapter Ten

Gerard woke up to the sound of someone knocking on his door. Rolling over in his bed, he checked the clock. Five in the morning. Groaning, he sat up. Whoever was waking him up in the middle of the night better have a good reason for doing so.

"Mikey?" He asked in surprise when he opened the door. "What are you–"

The younger boy slammed into his brother, curling his fingers into his shirt. Gerard stumbled back into the room. "Mikey, what–"

Mikey shook his head, shaking– literally shaking– from fear. "Nightmare," he mumbled into Gerard's shirt.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Gerard asked softly.

Mikey nodded. Gerard led him into his room, shutting the door behind him and turning on a light. He sat down next to Mikey, who was curled up on the bed.

They sat in silence until Mikey spoke up. "Someone tried to take me away... in the dream, I mean. I think it was that– that man."

Gerard stiffened up. He still hasn't told Mikey about their father.

"Mikey, I should, uh, tell you something," Gerard started. "Well, ask you first." He took a deep breath. "Do you... remember our dad at all?"

Mikey shook his head. "No."

"Well, he did... bad things to us and Ma. Horrible things, actually. This was when you were younger, but we had to live on the streets for a while. Whatever food she managed to get, she fed it to us. She thought she couldn't take care of us, so she brought us here. She died after that." Gerard started to blink more than usual. "He killed her."

Mikey was quiet for a minute. "Why are you telling me this?"

"Because the man who tried to adopt you was– it was him."

Mikey blinked. "Wh-what? Why?"

Gerard's breath hitched as he started to speak again. "I'm not entirely sure, Mikes. All I know is I recognized his voice, I saw his eyes, and I knew it was him. Ever since I was nine, I wanted to kill him. I made a vow to kill him."

Tears were silently running down Gerard's face and it seemed as though Mikey was trying not to cry. "So th-that's wh-why you were yelling at him?" He asked in a strangled tone.

Gerard nodded. "I was so close to killing him... and I didn't."

The two didn't say anything for a while after that. Finally, Gerard spoke up.

"I'm being stupid," he said shakily as he wiped his eyes. "I can't... but I need to..."

"I'm afraid he'll come and take me," Mikey said softly. "Like in my dream."

Gerard put his hands on Mikey's shoulders, looking at him square in the eyes. "Let's do something tomorrow. Just the two of us. Get your mind off of this."

Mikey nodded. "Can we buy some comics?"

Gerard cracked a smile. "Yeah, we can do that." He pulled his brother into a hug.

"Get to bed now," Gerard said after they pulled apart. "You need the sleep."

---

Frank gazed at himself in the mirror. His hair was decent, the makeup his mother forced him to wear was off as well as the earrings, as he wanted the holes to close at soon as possible.

His hands traveled up to his chest. He had binded himself correctly, and with the loose Slipknot shirt, it almost looked completely flat.