I healed and stuff and forgot mostly, but never forgave. The days slipped into months and the regular routine was back. All seemed to be good, but I was always fearful of what (or who) was waiting around the corner.
So one day I was walking around a (different) local supermarket (the one I used to shop at with Mom) when I bumped into another shopping cart turning around an isle to get to the cereals.
Oh, God, no, I thought, closing my eyes and wincing away, preparing myself for the worst. Please don't let Him have found me.
"Brendon?" a familiar adorable voice asked.
I looked up, immediately relieved. "Mikey?"
"Oh, my God!" Mikey exclaimed, smiling widely. "I can't believe it!"
We ran around the carts and hugged, then realized we were blocking the isle, so we moved back into the isle he had come from and I was going.
"What are you doing here?" he asked.
"Buying cereal," I answered, gesturing to the boxes lining the shelves.
He smacked himself in the forehead. "Of course. This is a grocery store. You came here to buy groceries."
"Yeah, but bumping in to you is the best thing that could've happened," I said.
He chuckled. "Wait until you see Gerard."
"Did I hear my name?" Gerard asked popping up behind his brother. Then he saw me and covered his face with the container of coffee he was carrying. "Oh, God, no, please don't look at me."
"Why not?" I asked. "The blond looks good on you."
"I look like a soccer mom," he said, giving up and lowering the coffee. He kind of was right, I realized, with his sunglasses pushing hair out of his face and his pretty features mixed with a tired expression.
"It's just the sunglasses," I offered, trying to make him feel better. "They're what's summoning your inner soccer mom."
"And the color of your hair," Mikey added. "It screams mid-life crisis."
"I thought I told you that this so I can dye it brighter," Gerard defended, tossing the coffee in their cart sassily. "I can't show up at art college with black hair; it's unartistic."
"Wait," I interjected, "you're going to art college? That's great!"
"Yeah," he agreed unenthusiastically. "Full scholarship. New York. Whoopdie doo."
"Why aren't you excited?" I asked him, feeling quite excited myself. I turned to Mikey. "Why isn't he excited?"
"Full scholarship doesn't include Franks," he answered.
"And he doesn't want to move with me," Gerard added. He sighed and looked into the distance. "I just have to tough it out on my own."
"Yeah, sure," I scoffed, then made air quotes. "'Tough it out'. Full scholarship to do something you love? I mean, I know you get that with Frank, but I'm working two jobs just to pay my medical bills." (Did I mention hospitals overprice everything?)
"What happened?" Mikey asked.
"Fire," I answered shortly.
"Ouch," Gerard empathetically winced. I noticed he began rubbing his wrist where his only bracelet was placed. "Know how that feels."
I furrowed my eyebrows at him and was going to ask, but their mom walked up. She was happy to see me, told me she missed my presence in her house eating all the food, then left with the boys, leaving me contemplatively staring at the Raisin Bran.
I needed to talk to Gerard, I realized. I had put off asking him about the 'poof' from a few months ago for too long, and needed to confront him about it.
So I got home (or to the apartment, I should say (it was slowly becoming home)) and called Gerard, asking when I could meet him. He replied quickly that he could meet me right then and gave me directions to a park. I walked over because pollution is bad and it was close.
I found him on a bench under a tree, smoking a cigarette. I approached him slowly and watched him put out his cigarette when he spotted me.
We greeted each other and I sat down on the bench after being offered to do so.
After a moment of silence, Gerard asked, "So, why did you need to see me?"
"I need to ask you about stuff I've noticed and I feel the need to talk to you about," I answered. "But first, I need to know how I have your phone number. Because I don't remember ever asking for it."
"Yeah..." He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "I kind of... Hacked your phone and put my number in it? And I also took those pictures of Frank out from the day in music class when-"
"Yeah, I remember," I said.
"Yeah, I'm really sorry about that," he said.
"You're forgiven," I replied because he sounded honest.
"Yeah, but the phone thing was from the crush thing-which is still going on, if I'm being honest-and I'm sorry about that, too," he rambled. "I hack things when I'm bored and it was before I told you about the crush and... Y-You know how shy I was about that."
I nodded, studying his facial expressions and body language. Could he be an Overcast? I came to the realization that I should've brought this up with Ryan or Jon or something. Oh, well. Too late now.
"So what else is there?" Gerard asked. "What have you noticed besides my sudden appearance in your phone?"
"Oh, um..." Suddenly, all intelligible words disappeared from my mind. "I-I..." Silence ensued.
He sighed. "Is it about this bracelet?" He tugged at it. "Did you see me... you know..."
"They call it 'transforming'," I offered.
"Yeah, that." He looked up at me. "But there is a 'they'? Ryan and Patrick and all them, they're all like me?"
"That depends," I said. "What to do mean, 'like me'?"
"I... /God,/ I, just, uh..." He leaned towards me and whispered, "I'm a..." he glanced around "...I'm a fox."
I immediately smiled, unable to help myself. "Oh, my God. Really?"
"Only sometimes," he said, sounding slightly alarmed and embarrassed.
"Of course," I said, finally able to control myself. "You turn, change, transform into your animal whenever you're embarrassed or hug girls, right?"
He looked down and shrugged, tugging at his bracelet. "Kind of."
"What so you mean?"
"I-I, it..." He sighed. "This bracelet." He held up his arm to display his wrist. "This guy, he gave me this when Mikey and I were still in the orphanage. I was three and he was barely a baby and this dude shows up and just gives me the bracelet. He told me, 'Never take this off your wrist and you'll survive," then slipped it on my arm. He left this huge-ass scar on my arm, too." He pulled back the bracelet to reveal the hand-shaped scar on his forearm.
"Oh, my God." I grabbed his arm and pulled it closer to make sure I didn't just need to get my eyes checked. "Tell me what this guy looked like."
He looked up and to the side, recalling the day. "Tall, dark-haired, handsome. The craziest blue eyes." He looked back at me from the clouds. "Why?"
My stomach did the flipping thing and I began to fear for my life again. "Have you seen Him since?"
"The music teacher's assistant looked an awful lot like him." He furrowed his eyebrows at me, now concerned. "Why are you asking so much about him?"
"Because He's... Him." My voice shook harder than the tree above us in the abandoned park. "He's the dragon. Did you know that?"
"Yeah," he said like it was obvious. "I knew. Just like I know Ryan's a cat and Mikey was a deer. You guys can't tell that?"
My head was spinning. What was I supposed to ask first?
"We need to go see Jon or something," I said, standing up. "You drove here, right?"
He nodded. "My car's over there." He pointed. "Why?"
"Give me the keys." I held my hand out.
"Hell no," he said. "Where are we driving?" He stood up.
"You don't know where," I retorted. "Give. Me. The. Keys."
"No, no, no, no," he said. "Have you seen my car? I am not letting you drive my baby."
I sighed and rolled my eyes.
"You can give me directions," he said, partially mocking me. "And I'll us drive there safely."
I sighed and agreed, begrudgingly giving him instructions to the woods. He parked behind Andy's still shiny minivan and we got out. I led him to the houses hidden in the woods, which seemed to amuse him quite a bit and quickly dragged him over to the Walker-Wentz house.
I furiously knocked on the door and let go of Gerard's arm as Andy opened the door.
"Oh, what a lovely surprise," he said. "It's good to see you, Brendon." He turned to Gerard. "Wh-Who-Hoo-Who is this?"
"This is Gerard and we really need to talk to you and Jon," I answered quickly.
"Calm down," he said. "I'm sure we can fix whatever problem there is. Please do come in." He held the door open for us.
We walked in and saw Pete and Jon walk out from the kitchen.
They said 'hey', then we said 'hey', then I tried word what was going on with Gerard while Gerard introduced himself.
I saw him shake hands with Pete, then Pete quickly pulled his hand away. This caught all of our attention.
"Dude," Pete whispered to Jon. "Shake his hand."
"I was planning on it," Jon replied quietly and calmly. "Chill out." He shook Gerard's hand, then froze. "No way." He pulled his hand away, then grabbed Gerard's again. He jumped and pulled his hand away again. "That's freaky."
"Right?" Pete whispered in reply.
"Hold on, let the doctor handle this," Andy announced, stepping closer. He shook hands with Gerard, then furrowed his eyebrows. "That's peculiar."
"What's going on?" I asked.
"Whenever we're around other Overcasts, we can feel their presence," Andy answered, grasping and letting go of Gerard's hand periodically. "It's an animal instinct type of thing. But with him..." Andy placed his hand on Gerard's upper arm, then shoulder, then hovered his hand over Gerard's face. "I can only feel it when I'm under a centimeter of touching his skin." He let go of Gerard completely and stroked his beard thoughtfully. "Peculiar."
"It's probably this bracelet," Gerard said. He pulled of the beaded piece of string and they all stepped back slightly.
"That's it," Pete said. "I'm leaving. This is too freaky." Pete morphed into dog form and bolted out of the doggy door on the front door.
"I'm freaky?" Gerard exasperatedly asked. "He just werewolfed into a dog! Is it a full moon out tonight or something?"
"He's a strange boy," Andy answered. "Do you mind if I run a few tests on you?"
Gerard glanced at me nervously, slipping his bracelet back on. "Uh... C-Can Brendon come with me?" he asked.
"If Brendon's ok with it," Andy answered.
Gerard looked at me hopefully.
"Of course," I said. "I'll hold your hand the whole time."
He smiled slightly at me, relieved. "Thanks."
Andy led us to the hallway and stopped in front of the door to a bedroom. He called and asked Jon if it was ok if he used his room to perform a few tests on Gerard and Jon said yeah.
"Now," Andy started, clasping his hands together. "The only real way to tell if you're an Overcast, besides the senses, is a rare blood type, O double negative."
"Oh, no," Gerard said. "No, no, no. I don't do needles."
"It doesn't even hurt," Andy said.
"And I'll be here the whole time," I offered reassuringly.
Gerard glanced between us, a distressed look on his face. "I-I don't..."
Andy broke the silence with, "You two sort this out. I'm going to go get Joe and the stuff to do the things." We watched him walk away and out the door quickly.
"Are you sure he's a doctor?" Gerard asked when the door shut.
"Yeah, the family doctor," I said. "He used to be a pediatrician and then was a vet and then a private doctor for the family. He's an-"
"Owl," Gerard finished. "I know."
"How?" I asked.
"I can tell from the signals they're giving off," he answered. "And he basically just hooted." I furrowed my eyebrows, so he continued. "'Hoo-Hoo is this'? Am I the only one who caught that?"
"I just thought he stuttered on his H's," I said, looking down and feeling dumb.
He shrugged. "He's an owl. We all have traits like that."
"I guess." In the silence we shared, I awkwardly stepped away, then back where I had been standing before. "So do you think your fear of needles has anything to do with your animal?"
He scoff-laughed. "Not unless foxes are particularly scared of needles."
"Well, I..." I felt dumb again. "Sorry."
"No, it's ok," he said. "It's just one of those weird irrational fears."
"Well, I'm no expert, and I don't want to sound like every other non-irrational-fearing person, but maybe you should try facing it. Like I said, I'll be right here the whole time." I grabbed his hand and squeezed it in attempt to reassure him. "I could even do it before you do. Show you it doesn't hurt."
"But it does, doesn't it? At least for a little?" Worry and fear clouded over his eyes. "What if something goes wrong?"
"Nothing will go wrong." I squeezed his hand tighter. "I promise."
"But-" Gerard was interrupted by the front door opening again.
"Hey, hear we've got a new member?" Joe said, walking in front of Andy. He stopped in his tracks at the coffee table. He leaned back towards Andy and whispered (not very quietly), "Are you sure he's an Overcast? He doesn't even look like one of us."
"I am quite sure," Andy stated, "but that's why I needed your help. To test for his blood."
Joe shrugged. "Mmkay." He continued his stride towards us. He held his hand out to shake Gerard's. "I'm Joe, I'm Dr. Hurley's nurse, assistant, whatever."
"Gerard," he replied, shaking his hand shortly, leaving Joe staring at his hand confusedly. "But, Dr. Hurley?" Gerard asked, then snapped his fingers. "Where have I heard that?" It took him a moment before he remembered what he was trying to. "I got it! You used to be my pediatrician."
"Did you have a brother named Michael?" Andy asked.
"Yeah, Mikey," Gerard responded. He smiled. "He will not believe me when I tell him I saw you."
"Tell him I said 'hello' and reminded him to take his vitamins," Andy said.
"Will do," Gerard said.
"So, um, are we ready to do this?" Joe asked, still slightly disoriented from shaking Gerard's hand.
I saw the blood drain from Gerard's face. "I-I guess."
"Don't worry," Andy reassured. "We're not taking a pint of your blood or anything. It's just this little tube." Andy held up a small stick-looking thing that was about two inches long.
"B-But..." Gerard looked faint. "That's still a lot."
"No, it's not," I said. "I'll show you." I held my hand out and grabbed Gerard's with the other. "Take mine first."
"Ok, I guess we can do that," Joe said. They got the stuff ready in Jon's room and we sat down on his bed while they got everything in check. Then, Joe pricked my finger without warning.
"Ow!" I exclaimed, pulling my hand away.
"See? It does hurt," Gerard said, then shifted as if he was going to stand up. "I'm getting out of here."
"No, you're not," I said, grabbing his arm and pulling him back. "The only reason I said 'ow' was because I was caught off guard." I looked at Joe. "Why'd you do that?"
"Because kids tend to pull away when I tell them the 'big scary needle's coming for them," Joe answered, getting the appropriate amount of blood from my finger to the tube-y thing.
"B-B-Big scary needle?" Gerard asked, staring at the blood Joe was now carrying away.
"Thanks Joe," I said sarcastically. "Thanks a lot."
"What?" Joe asked, covering the injured part of my finger with a bandage. "I was only exaggerating for the the story." He held up the needle. "Look, it's not even relatively large."
Gerard swallowed hard at the sight of it and leaned harder on me. "No. No way I'm doing this."
"Come on," I said. I held up my index finger to display the bandage. "They give you ninja turtle Band-Aids." I wiggled my finger and made cutesy noises.
"Do you promise not to do it by surprise?" Gerard asked Joe.
"Cross my heart," Joe said unenthusiastically, preparing the needle and container.
Gerard looked at me, as worried and frightened as ever. I only held his hand tighter and told him to squeeze if it hurt.
"And don't look, either," I added.
Gerard nodded and took a deep breath, resting his hand in Joe's when it was time.
"Ok," Joe said slowly. "Here it comes."
Gerard squeezed my hand ridiculously tight and closed his eyes tighter. I rubbed the back of his hand with my other that wasn't having circulation cut off from.
"Ok," Joe said. "All done."
"What?" Gerard asked, letting the pressure off my hand and opening his eyes. "That was it?"
Joe nodded and walked to the other end of the room to Andy.
"It..." He looked up at me. "It didn't even hurt." He smiled and laughed once. "It didn't even hurt!" I smiled back and we high-fived.
"Yay for facing fears," Andy said, stepping over to us and smiling. "Thank you for doing that. The results should be in in a minute or so." I glanced over at Joe who was hunched over something at Jon's desk. "But, other than that, I'd like to consider this your first check-up as an Overcast." Andy went through some routine questions and scribbled the answers down on a clipboard.
"He's an Overcast," Joe interrupted from the desk.
"Oh, good," Andy said. "Congratulations. Welcome to the family."
Gerard smiled. "Thanks."
"And remember to bring Mikey over any time. His case sounds fascinating."
"What? What happened to Mikey?" I asked. "Sorry, I wasn't paying attention."
"He used to be an Overcast, but doesn't transform anymore," Andy answered.
"Weird," I said, then stood up. I looked a Gerard. "Do you wanna go and meet everyone? As an Overcast?"
Gerard sighed and stood up. "Why is this such a big deal?" he asked. "They're still gonna hate me; it doesn't matter."
"Of course it does," Andy interjected. "Why would they hate you?" We glared at him, suggesting he should stay out of it and he turned away, recognizing the look.
"It's a big deal because they're all good people. They'll accept you once they know," I explained. "You might wanna take off your bracelet, though."
Gerard placed his hand over his wrist where the bracelet was doubtfully and seemingly unconsciously.
"Oh, speaking of which," Andy said, stepping back towards us. "Sorry for interrupting again, but I was going to ask if I could run some tests in the bracelet."
Gerard undecidedly glanced between us. "I-I guess... But wouldn't I need proof of this to show them why they didn't know earlier?"
Andy shrugged. "Seems ok to me. Just as long as you get it to me before you or I leave."
Gerard nodded and we headed over to the Ross-Smith-Stump house. I told Gerard to wait on the porch (for dramatic effect) and walked in without knocking because it was pretty much a second home. I found Spencer and Ryan in the living room, Spencer was channel surfing and Ryan was on his phone.
Ryan smiled at me when I stepped in. "Hey," he greeted, then held up his phone. I was just about to text you."
"And I was just about to leave," Spencer said.
"No, hold on," I said. "You'll wanna stick around for this."
Ryan's smile barely faded and he furrowed his eyebrows slightly. "What's going on?" he asked.
I looked at Gerard through the open door. "We have a new member to the family."
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here u go doods hope u likey
next chapter is the last so lets just take it real slow forget about the clock that's tick-tick-tickin
l9r