"Hey Gee, have you checked your phone lately?" Frank asked, causing Gerard to poke his head around the barrier that separated the kitchen from the living room, sending his boyfriend a quizzical look as he stirred the bowl of pancake batter he was clutching in his hands slowly, because breakfast for dinner was one of Frank's favorite meals, and Gerard had decided to make it for him as his way of an apology for last night.
"Um...no, not today I don't think, why?"
"Um...well Mikey just texted me, and apparently he is on his way here, he is already on the train," Frank chuckled weakly.
"What - let me see," Gerard huffed out, setting down the bowl and mixing spoon on the counter before walking to Frank's side, Frank moving over on the couch to make room for Gerard, holding out his phone so Gerard could see the message.
"Hey Frank, I'm on my way back to Jersey, the train has already left, so tell Gee he can't talk me out of it. See you soon."
"What the hell...fucking Mikey," Gerard grumbled, handing Frank back his phone so he could bury his face in his hands as he contemplated his brother's unexpected visit.
It wasn't that Gerard didn't want to see Mikey, because he did, he just didn't want to face the inevitable questions about Frank's condition, or the sad stares he was sure that they would both receive, or the barely disguised pity that would be lacing his brother's voice every time he spoke, not to mention that Mikey probably knew what Gerard had done last night, and Gerard didn't want to face the disappointment that was sure to be written all over his face.
"Aw come on Gee, it will be nice to spend some time with him again," Frank nudged his boyfriend affectionately, trying to get him to sit up and look at him properly.
"I know...it's not that, it's just..."
"Me - I know, you don't want him to talk about me being sick," Frank finished Gerard's thought, and all Gerard could do was nod weakly in response. "Look, I'll text him, tell him not to bring it up unless we do, and it will be fine."
"No...don't do that, he deserves to know more than the shitty explanation I gave him last night, he is your friend too after all," Gerard sighed, standing up wearily so he could go back to the half-done pancakes that were awaiting him in the kitchen.
"Cheer up Gee," Frank pouted, trailing after him determinedly, and Gerard didn't miss the way he faltered slightly when he got up, and even though it was probably nothing, Gerard's mind instantly jumped to one of the symptoms that Frank should begin experiencing soon, which was loss of coordination.
"I'm sorry, I know I will be happy when he gets here, it just caught me by surprise, that's all," Gerard shrugged, because that was really all it was, and he had been meaning to invite Mikey down for ages; he hadn't seen him in almost a month now, so this was a good thing, and Gerard was doing his best to get over his sense of unease about the whole ordeal.
"Okay, well I'm going to go get changed, and then we should probably head down to the station to pick him up," Frank grinned, taking the bowl of batter from Gerard and placing it in the fridge since it was no longer needed.
"I guess I should freshen up too..." Gerard agreed.
"We could shower together, it would save some time," Frank suggested with a cheeky grin on his face, earning himself a playful eye roll from Gerard.
"Bullshit, if we do that, we will be late for sure," Gerard scoffed, placing his arm around Frank's waist lightly when he stumbled walking up the stairs, trying to keep his face neutral so Frank wouldn't catch on to the worried looks he was shooting in his direction.
"True...so I'll take a rain check on that then," Frank chuckled, leaning into Gerard's hold heavily until they made it up the last few steps.
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An hour and a half later, Frank and Gerard were situated outside of the train station, Gerard standing up so he could get a better view of the passengers exiting through the narrow doors while Frank sat beside him on a metal bench, claiming he was just a little bit tired, but Gerard didn't miss the pained expression in his eyes that meant another headache was on the way.
"Ugh...where is he, I need to get you home," Gerard groaned, trying to pick out a lanky, glasses sporting boy among the masses.
"I'm fine Gee, honest, and I'm sure he will be here any minute," Frank reassured him for the third time tonight, grasping Gerard's hand in his and dragging himself to his feet wearily, using Gerard as support.
"I know, you just don't look too good, and don't even try and lie to me and say you are fine, because you are in pain, I can tell," Gerard mumbled softly, wrapping his arms around Frank lovingly as he spoke.
"I would still be hurting if I was at home Gee, and I took some meds before we left, so they will kick in soon, and -"
"Gee!" Frank was cut off by none other than Mikey, who threw himself into Gerard's arms with an excited cry, encircling Frank into his embrace as well, and Frank couldn't hold back a snort when he caught sight of Gerard's stunned face.
"Holy shit Mikes - you scared the crap out of me," Gerard chuckled, his expression quickly transforming into a grin when he realized that he was being hugged by his brother, and not some random stranger.
"That was sort of the point," Mikey teased, pulling away from their group hug after a moment. "Hey Frank, long time no see," Mikey greeted his friend, and even though his voice shook slightly, he didn't show any other signs that he knew of Frank's condition, much to Gerard's relief.
"I know, way too fucking long man, you really need to come down here more often."
"Yeah I do, I'm sorry for not visiting sooner, but Pete took me on vacation with his family to Florida, and I only just got back," Mikey grinned, and now that Gerard was observing Mikey more closely, he did look unusually tan, and a wide grin split his face in two as soon as he mentioned Pete.
"Pete...you are still seeing that boy?" Gerard asked, crossing his arms in a mostly joking manner as his protective older brother side reared its head, because he had never liked Pete much, he seemed like a bit of a fuck-boy who wore way too much eyeliner, but Mikey was smitten with him, so he couldn't be that bad.
"Yes Gee, I am, and he's really nice if you would give him a chance," Mikey sighed, obviously picking up on the distaste in Gerard's tone.
"As long as he keeps my little brother happy, he's cool with me," Gerard agreed, because he had only met Pete twice, so it wasn't like he really knew him, and he didn't want to spend Mikey's whole visit nitpicking his weird emo lump of a boyfriend.
"Good - now, I'm fucking starving, can we go get something to eat?" Mikey asked, hefting his full backup up over his shoulder as he spoke.
"Yeah sure, what did you have in mind," Gerard smiled, his mood instantly elevated now that he was reunited with his brother once again.
"Pancakes!" Frank chimed in before the younger Way brother had a chance to speak up.
"Pancakes sound amazing," Mikey agreed.
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"For being named The Waffle House, this place has amazing pancakes, they should change their name to The Pancake House," Mikey mumbled around a mouthful of food, causing Gerard to almost choke on his own helping of hash browns
"There is already one of those, IHOP, the international house of pancakes," Gerard retorted, nudging his brother playfully as he continued to devour his food at an inhuman pace - seriously, Gerard had forgotten how much Mikey could eat, even though no one would ever guess that by looking at his skinny frame.
"Eh - it's not exactly the same, and this place is way better than IHOP anyway," Mikey scoffed, and Gerard nodded his head rapidly in agreement.
Gerard was amazed that Mikey hadn't brought up Frank's condition yet, or Gerard's choice of long sleeves on such a hot evening; instead, they had been swapping pointless small talk, and even though Gerard knew the questions and serious discussions would come later, Gerard was truly enjoying this time with his brother, and he felt like an idiot for not asking him to come down sooner.
"Hey Frank...is your food okay?" Mikey asked, and when Gerard glanced to his left, he noticed that Frank's plate was still untouched, which wasn't like Frank at all, especially when breakfast food was involved.
"Yeah...sorry, I just spaced out there." Frank shook his head groggily, picking up his fork and taking a small bite of his pancakes.
Gerard continued to watch Frank out of the corner of his eye as Mikey began describing his trip to Disney World with Pete, and even though Frank looked unnaturally pale, and his hand was shaking lightly, he perked up as he began to eat, even popping in with a question for Mikey every now and then.
Gerard regretted not taking Frank straight home after they had picked up Mikey, but he had seemed much better on the car ride over here, and he had thrown a fit when Gerard suggested that he could finish making the pancakes at home if he wasn't feeling up to going out, but Frank had made it very clear this morning that he didn't want be babied, so Gerard was doing his best to tamp down on his overprotect instincts, and their meal was almost over anyway, so he could get Frank in bed as soon as they were done.
Before long, their plates were clean, and Gerard had paid the bill after fending off an adamant Mikey who was demanding that he cover it, but there was no way that Gerard was letting his baby brother pay for dinner, especially not after he had made the effort to come down and visit them, and finally, Mikey agreed.
After leaving a tip on the table, they exited the restaurant, stepping into the muggy summer air as they headed over to Gerard's car, which was situated on the other side of the restaurant due to the place being surprisingly packed tonight.
"God...I'm so full I think I need to hibernate for a week," Mikey groaned, rubbing his stomach in an over-exaggerated manner that had Gerard giggling quietly.
"I don't see you for a month, and the first thing you want to do when you visit is fall into a food coma?" Gerard teased, lacing his fingers through Frank's as they walked across the busy parking lot.
"What else are brothers for?" Mikey chuckled, coming to a halt in front of Gerard black Chevy as he waited for Gerard to unlock the vehicle.
"Gee," Frank gasped quietly, his grip on Gerard's hand suddenly becoming painfully tight.
"Frankie...you okay?" Gerard questioned worriedly, but he could tell by a glance that he wasn't; his skin was clammy, and he was visibly trembling, his back leaning against the car as he eyes fluttered shut, the skin around them creasing in pain.
"Hurts...fuck Gee, it really hurts," Frank whined, his hands flying up to grip his head as his knees buckled, his body sliding down the car slowly before Gerard stopped his descent by hooking his arms around his small frame.
"Sugar...can you look at me?" Gerard asked, motioning for Mikey with his hand wildly.
"What's wrong?" Mikey asked in a hushed voice, his eyes wide with terror as he took in Frank's trembling frame.
"Frank, do you have your meds with you, are they in the car?" Gerard pressed gently, fishing his keys out of his pocket one handed before tossing them to Mikey, who instantly understood that he needed to search the car for Frank's pain pills.
"I - I don't remember, Gee...make it stop," Frank begged his breathing quickening rapidly as another wave of pain wracked his thin body.
"Okay baby, just hold on, I'm going to take you to the hospital," Gerard whispered, lifting Frank up off the ground gingerly as he pulled the car door open, breathing a sigh of relief when he saw Mikey already in the driver's seat with the engine on.
"Drive Mikes," Gerard ordered as soon as he was seated with Frank spread out across his lap, and his brother instantly complied, stepping on the gas as he took off down the all too familiar route to the hospital.
"It's okay Frankie, five more minutes, and then we will get you some help," Gerard tried to soothe his suffering boyfriend, ignoring the terror that was slowly wrapping around his heart as Frank whimpered softly.
"Gee...I - it's too much," Frank cried, hot tears spilling down his cheeks as he curled in on himself weakly.
"I know baby...I know, it's almost over, the doctor will make it stop soon," Gerard choked out.
"I'm so sorry," Frank gasped, his hands clawing at his hair as he spoke.
"Don't you dare apologize love, it's okay...everything is okay," Gerard murmured, removing Frank's hands gently before replacing them with his own, massaging his temples lightly in a way that he hoped would alleviate some of the pain. "Is this hurting you?" Gerard asked warily, unsure if his usually methods for helping Frank's headaches would work on one this large.
"No...keep doing that," Frank sighed, some of the tension leaving his muscles as Gerard kept up the motions with his hand.
"Almost there," Mikey informed the two in a low voice, and Gerard nodded to show that he had heard him, even though he wasn't sure if Mikey could see him in the rearview mirror or not.
"Just hold on sugar," Gerard whispered, trying to hold back the choking sobs that were threatening to escape his throat, because he couldn't lose it now, not until Frank was safe inside the hospital.
And even though Gerard didn't want to think about it, he couldn't help but wonder if this was Frank's last visit to this place, because this might be the time that Frank didn't make it back home, and even though that day was coming soon, he prayed that it wasn't today, because he couldn't handle that yet - well, not ever actually, but Frank had to make it through tonight, he just had to.
Smh @ me because I said I wasn't going to add any extra stuff to this, but then this chapter happened.
I really wanted Mikey to visit though, because in the old version, I thought it was so dumb that he didn't, so once again, this story is getting way off track from the original one.
This chapter is dedicated to EmoTrinityBch because it makes me happy that you are reading this, and I love the fact that you get so excited when I update.
So yeah - I'm exhausted, and I have no idea if this chapter is any good or not, so maybe leave a comment or a vote and tell me what you think?
((((sleepy vibes))))
<3 starr