Mikey had fainted.
But who the fuck could blame him? He'd gone a good ten years without hearing Gerard Way make one single pissed off angry comment and then he was practically thrown in the deep end.
Frank didn't exactly look at it that way, though.
Frank looked between the two brothers: one on the floor, and the other trying to refrain from smirking, and wondered what the fuck he'd ever gotten involved in.
"And you had to fucking do that, didn't you?" He snapped, his eyebrows raised a little - question directed at Gerard, of course.
Gerard shrugged, brushing his hair away from his face, "he thought you were fucked up, he was going to do something."
"I was handling it." Frank protested, his eyes widening further in disbelief.
"And how the fuck were you doing that?" Gerard responded, rolling his eyes.
"A fucking better way than just popping out of nowhere and fucking causing him to pass out-" it was then that what had happened really dawned upon Frank, "fuck," he rushed over to Mikey, "is he okay?"
"He's fine." Gerard told him rather blankly. Frank met him with an unconvinced glare. "I can feel it. Energy, and shit... I don't know. He's fine."
"Physically, maybe, fucking emotionally, I doubt that." Frank groaned, tapping Mikey upon the face gently, trying his best to get him to consciousness again.
"Who is?" Gerard let out a sigh, going over to sit down upon the edge of his bed: awkwardly, with his legs together, like he didn't belong there anymore, like he was sat in the room of someone he barely knew and not his own.
"You can do the explaining." Frank said dryly, biting his lip as Mikey's eyelids began to flicker upon.
"What- the fuck... I...?" Mikey stammered out, reaching out for Frank as he pulled himself into a sitting up position, "I just... that had to be.... I think I blacked out... had some crazy fucking vision- I-"
"Not a vision." Gerard let out a sigh: his tone nonchalant, impatient even, even picking at his fingers as he sat there, not even really looking at Mikey as he spoke, although that was largely down to the fact that he couldn't quite bring himself to.
And Mikey was at least eighty percent sure that his heart exploded in his chest right there as he turned again, facing the bed, facing the figure sat at the end of it: his brother, just the same as he had been ten years ago, besides the hair, of course, and suddenly, Mikey was grasping Frank's wrist tight enough to fuck up the blood flow.
"You fucking- what the fuck-" Mikey began, but he could only stammer and stare in Gerard's direction, unable to form a sentence in his head, let alone verbalise it with a vague sense of coherence.
"Dyed my hair?" Gerard continued to be, well, fucking Gerard, "I know," he went on to say, pulling his hand up through his black locks, "it does look different. Suits me, though, like it. Frankie likes it. Although I think I could shave my whole head and tattoo a butthole onto my scalp and he'd still say I was beautiful, you know what he's like-"
"Gerard." Frank gasped out, narrowing his eyes: not entirely sure as to what he could say either. "Stop being such a fucking asshole."
"You- you..." Mikey gasped out, glancing frantically between Frank and Gerard, and coming to realise that they were just as real as each other, and fuck, he really needed to pass out again, but even he knew that it wasn't going to accomplish anything. "What the fuck did you do?" He spat, this time directly at Gerard.
"Me?" Gerard raised his eyebrows, as if offended, "what did I do? What do you mean? I've done loads of things, I've done a lot more art recently, so yeah, art, walk around the house, look at your kids, cute kids by the way, Frank, not in your house, in our house, although it's not really our house we just kind of broke into it and nobody's kicked us out yet-"
"Gerard, what the fuck did you do? Did you fucking fake your death or some fucking shit because I swear to God, I will kill you for real now?!" Mikey yelled, getting to his feet and glaring Gerard down, wondering if he'd ever been angrier in his life, but in exactly the same way, never more relieved to see anyone, because this was Gerard, this was his older brother, here, in front of him, again.
"No." Gerard sighed out, "that would have been impressive, but I did actually die. I'm a ghost."
"Ghosts aren't fucking real, Gerard, and you look just as real, just as fucking alive as Frank does!" Mikey went onto exclaim, pointing frantically between the two of them, but generally unable to believe just what the fuck was going on.
"I didn't think they were real either, you know, until I was one." Gerard let out a sigh, looking up at his brother, "I could look less 'real' if you want," he added, before concentrating and causing his form to flicker and fade out of existence a little, before materialising properly again.
"What the... fuck... fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck-"
"It's true." Frank let out a sigh, putting his hand on Mikey's shoulder, "and I wanted to kill him at first, of course I did, and I didn't believe him and I just wanted him to leave me alone, but that's really the last thing I want. He's like connected to me, or some shit, I don't understand it, neither does he, but he's better at pretending to than I am-"
"So that's it...? Dying? You come back as a ghost?" Mikey exclaimed, his eyes widening, his thoughts racing, "what's it like? What the fuck happens?"
Gerard shrugged, "not always. I'm just connected to Frank, anchored down to this 'dimension', so to speak, some people, they go off to wherever you go from here, and that I don't know, but..." he let out a sigh, looking down, "I was in my body and then I closed my eyes, and it was a good two minutes of nothing at all, before I open my eyes because there's this feeling of weightlessness: this feeling of nothing at all, and I'm drifting away from my body- fuck... fucking stood there, and I can't move, I can't do anything but watch as Frank finds my body... and it was the worst fucking thing I ever-" It was then that Gerard really looked up and met his brother in the eye, "I'm sorry, I really fucking am, I-"
Mikey didn't even let him finish before he stepped forward and pulled him into a hug, squeezing so tight as if he was scared he might disappear again.
"Fuck," Mikey commented, "I didn't expect you, to be like solid, I-"
"I'm not always, but I can be. It's complicated, but when I'm closer to Frank and my body, like the actual thing in the ground in the graveyard, the more control I have over my state of being. When we were back in New York no one could see me besides Frank unless I focused really hard whilst we were holding hands or something."
"Wait... so... you're..." Mikey glanced between the two, "he's dead, but you're still dating him?"
"Y-yeah..." Frank trailed off, "it's not that weird, I mean... it's just... Gerard, but he's maybe a tiny bit less obnoxious now and he doesn't sleep anymore, and sometimes he just disintegrates, which is fucking lovely."
"So..." Mikey trailed off, "if... when you die... you-"
"You're talking about mum, aren't you?" Gerard let out a sigh, "I've been looking for here all over this place, but I've not had any luck, we could try other places, but I doubt she's still here somewhere."
"How did you know about her?"
"Well, basically I was there when you first saw Frank, you just couldn't see me, I've been pretty much with Frank the whole time. He couldn't see me either. I kind of... it was weird, I needed to fade out a little."
"That freaked me out, you know?" Frank added.
"I'm sorry."
"Honestly, I think the fact that you now possess the ability to apologise to people is harder to accept than the fact that you're... you're a ghost.." Mikey looked over his brother again in disbelief, "fuck... we... we really need to talk Gerard... I fucking-"
"I know." Gerard nodded, "I missed you, Mikeyway, I'm sorry-"
"Stop apologising, it's weird, fuck."
"Weirder than this?" Gerard asked, before fading out slightly and walking straight through the bed.
Mikey fainted again.
-
Mikey had regained consciousness after they'd taken him downstairs, the two of them having silently refrained from putting him down on the sofa because laying passed out on the sofa in that living room was an all too familiar situation, and honestly, it wasn't like Gerard wasn't already practically drowning in memories and just about everything that he'd ever wanted to suppress now screaming at him.
"You're an asshole." Frank muttered, watching as Gerard supported his brother as he came back to his senses.
Gerard raised his eyebrows in response, because he really did not want to let that one slide, but still, it wasn't worth waking his brother up to the two of them arguing, in fact, if Gerard could pinpoint the one thing that had ruined his entire existence, time after time, it was indeed arguments, and especially unnecessary ones, especially ones with people who he loved.
"I heard that." He opted for instead, sitting Mikey down at a chair at the kitchen table, making sure he wouldn't fall out of it, before taking the one beside him.
Frank nodded, "I know," also refusing to make much of it right now, but he found himself pissed at Gerard, mainly being such an ass about things, although by now, he had just about figured out that being an ass about everything was just something that Gerard Way couldn't help, but still, he was being more of an ass today, more of an ass than necessary at least.
"Why the fuck did you do that?" Mikey let out a sigh, looking across at Gerard in disbelief, "that was... my head feels funny, I don't fucking like this, you know? You being... dead but not dead, alive but not alive, back but not really, and just as much of a fucking asshole, god... I can't handle this, you know? I thought I was okay, I thought I was over it, and I thought, okay, I've lost a lot of people, but I have Pete and the kids - I have my life, but... it's different now, isn't it? Because you're... you're..." Mikey stuttered out, unable to quite pull the word from his lips, "you're a g-ghost... and we have to... have to deal with that, because you're not dead anymore, like not really, it's... it's a lot to take in Gerard, and I don't know if I want to deal with this, but we have to deal with this."
"No one says we have to." Gerard added, leaning back in his chair a little.
"I do." Frank spoke up from where he was stood, leaning back against the kitchen wall, "and we shouldn't argue. That's the worst thing that can do, but come on, we need to... talk."
"What? You as well?" Gerard exclaimed, looking at Frank in disbelief.
"What? Me as well? Having common sense, ridiculous, isn't it?" Frank muttered, rolling his eyes, before glancing at Mikey, "you want coffee?" Mikey only nodded in response.
"Yeah, it is." Gerard commented, his tone a little more light hearted this time, "I mean, you still love me for a start, that's perhaps the least logical thing anyone can do." He laughed a little, avoiding Mikey's gaze as he watched Frank make coffee for Mikey and himself.
"Gerard, please," Frank let out a sigh, turning to face him, "we've talked about this. Why are you being... being so difficult today?"
Gerard cringed visibly at the word, before shrugging and throwing a face in Mikey's direction, however, he really should have known that his brother was on the exact same page as his boyfriend in this matter. "Well... it's just... honestly, it's this place, and it's everything I've ever tried to forget and bury just forced into my face. Things I've tried to forget, and now I'm forced to deal with them... fucking memories."
"Is it as bad as the forest?" Frank asked, noting Mikey's utterly confused face, but choosing to ignore it, just for a second, at least.
Gerard shook his head, "I think maybe I've just gotten used to deal with it now, I mean, there's a lot here, and I've been here for longer now, so, I don't know. Maybe it's because it's I mean, my house, I honestly don't know, I haven't had a lot of time to think about it. It's perhaps impossible for me to clear my head in a place like this."
"Excuse me," Mikey began, glancing between the two of them, "like sorry to interrupt, but, as politely as I can put it, what the fuck are you talking about?"
Gerard laughed a little at that, looking up to meet his brother's gaze, "well, it sounds kind of weird it's also kind of hard to explain, but I can sort of see memories, like well, feel them more than anything, I don't know how to put it, and well they're stronger when I have an emotional connection to them, say normal memories like putting the milk in a cupboard or ones irrelevant to me, I can't see, I mean, I probably could but only if I was specifically trying to, and then there are the ones that are perhaps things like me walking down a road one day after something happened and I would see that as I go to that place, but I'd look over it pretty quickly, because it doesn't really do anything, it doesn't affect anything, but things like... the horrific things or the things that are personal to me are stronger, and those require effort to ignore, and when there are a lot of them, that's a hell of a lot of effort, think of a really bad headache, and then sometimes some of these things are so strong that they block out the other ones. And then with seeing them, it's not like they're just there, it's like I can feel them and then imagine them in the place they were supposed to be, but they're always very clear, it's kind of like... I don't know... it's... it's not something I can explain."
"So what can you see right now? Well, I mean, the strongest thing, right here in this kitchen?" Mikey asked, a little taken a back and perhaps in disbelief of what Gerard was saying, but honestly, he didn't know what else he could do but believe him.
Gerard paused for a moment, his gaze seeming to drift off elsewhere as Frank finished making coffee and sat down across from Gerard.
"Well, there's two... there's the three of us one morning ages ago, when Frank stayed overnight and you were awake first and you were pissed off because you didn't like that Frank had stayed with me and we started having an argument and I really thought I hated you at that point, because it was like you were trying to destroy everything that mattered to me, but you weren't, in hindsight, you were just trying to protect us, I mean, both of us. I guess it made sense, didn't it, Mikey?" Gerard let out an awkward laugh, looking up at his brother, "you didn't want me to be in another relationship because you were scared of what I'd freak out and do when it went wrong, and well, I fucking killed myself, didn't I? So I guess you were right, weren't you-"
"Gerard." Mikey let out a sigh, cursing a little, "I just... I shouldn't have been so hard on you two, I just... I don't-"
"It's fine." Gerard sighed, stopping him, "and the other... the other is when I was a little kid and I was sat in that chair," he paused, gesturing to the chair at the opposite side of the table, beside Frank, "and 'dad' was sat opposite me, and he first told me that he was leaving mum, and I didn't know what he meant, I mean, I knew what divorce was, but it was like my head refused to get it, it was just.. like something like dragons or something - something you saw in books and on TV and you knew about, but something you thought you'd never encountered, and then it's like a slap in the face, and fuck, it wasn't like he'd taken a master class in telling your kid about breaking up with his mother, because he did a pretty shit job of it."
"Dad's still a dick, in case you were wondering." Mikey added, running a hand nervously back through his hair.
"I managed to figure that one out for myself." Gerard sighed, biting his lip, "sorry for being an ass," he added: an apology to the both of them, and one that took Mikey by surprise again.
"So wait, did you hear what I said to Frank about him?" Mikey asked, stumbling over his words as he still found himself struggling to really get his head around the whole ghost thing, but then again, it really wasn't like you could blame him.
Gerard nodded, "yeah, you should have kicked him the fuck out of my funeral, Mikey, I didn't want him there."
Mikey sighed a little, "I think Pete would have honestly killed me, I mean, Pete gets that I don't like him, but he's still clinging onto this 'he's your father' bullshit, but I barely know him, and I know him to be nothing more than an asshole, so he's... he's just some guy who isn't nice to me."
"Speaking of Pete..." Frank spoke up, "what are you going to say to him about Gerard?"
Mikey shrugged, "could just let him walk in while Gerard's there and see how the fuck he reacts, what do you think?"
Gerard laughed a little at that, "aren't you going to get all worried when he faints?"
"When?" Frank raised his eyebrows a little.
"I just have that effect on people. You just can't handle me." He winked a little, smirking.
"I didn't fucking faint." Frank reminded him, "I was trying to convince myself you just didn't exist more than anything," he turned to Mikey, "that didn't work out, evidently."
"You could just not tell him about me if you want, I could disappear again, I don't mind-" Gerard offered.
"No," Mikey shook his head, "I think Pete should know, and I want you two to stick around for a while, you know? You can't just fucking run off again - I'm not letting you do that." He paused, "you could stay in your old room, couldn't you?"
"We'd have to wash the sheets, you know?" Gerard added, smirking.
Mikey slapped him, but who could blame him?
-
lmao hey hope u enjoyed !!! vote & comment if u did pls lov u !!!