Chapter 9) Illusions

.-.-.

Third Person.

"Geward, I am weally, weally, WEALLY bored." Mikey whines, sliding down against the door to his brothers studio.

"Go watch TV or something." Gerard replies, not bothering to open the door. It's been closed all morning for a reason. He doesn't want his baby brother to see him crying, especially over something so pointless.

"I already did that." Mikey whines.

"Then go play with Sparkles." Gerard tells him. All he wants to do is today is create. Having the floor covered in crumbled up drawings only makes him more determined to spend the rest of the day locked in his studio.

"But Sparkles is taking a nap." Mikey says, hitting the back of his head on the door.

"Unicorns don't take naps, Mikes."

"Sparkles does." He replies.

"Ugh fine, you can come in." Gerard groans, tearing yet another drawing off of his easel and throwing it across the room.

"Your art room is weally messy, Gee." Mikey laughs, maneuvering around a pile of blank canvas'.

"Yea, I know." He replies, turning his back to the door and hastily wiping his eyes.

"Gee?" Mikey says, concerned.

"Yea, Mikey?" Gerard asks, turning around, eyes red from crying.

"Are you okay?" He asks.

"Yea, fine." Gerard replies, voice cracking near the end. He sighs and walks over to collapse on the small red couch in the corner. Mikey follows and crawls onto the couch, snuggling into his brothers side and laying his head on his chest.

"Did I do something wrong?" He whispers.

"No, never, Mikes." Gerard whispers back.

"Did Fwankie make you sad?" Mikey questions.

"Kinda, but he didn't mean to." Mikey doesn't respond to that, so both boys lay in silence, listening to each others heart beats.

.-.-.

"Gerard? Mikey?"

"Anyone home?"

"GEE? MIKEY?"

"Ugh." A sleeping Gerard groans, rolling over. Mikey rubs his eyes and climbs off the couch, heading towards the door.

"Gee?" Frank whispers, poking his head into the studio. Mikey, still half asleep, walks into his legs by accident and stumbles back. Frank lifts him up into his arms and Mikey wraps his arms around his neck. "We'll let your brother sleep." He whispers, pulling the door closed and carrying Mikey to his bedroom to lie him down.

"You can go back to sleep, Mikes." Frank says, pulling the blanket up to Mikey's chest. The little boy grabs his hand and starts playing with his fingers. Frank takes that as a sign and sits on the edge of the bed. "Anything you wanna talk about?"

"You make Gee happy. I make him happy too sometimes, but you make him happy...like... all the time. And you make him smile a lot, and you make his cheeks turn red." Mikey blurts out, trying to say everything as fast as possible.

"And Gee is sad 'cause he thinks you're gonna weave like mommy and daddy. He doesn't want you to weave... and I don't want you to weave. I want you to stay with us forever...but can Ransom stay too? 'Cause I need someone wittle like me around. I mean, you're wittle but you aren't weally wittle like Ransom. He's my friend." Mikey says, smiling at the thought of having his friend around everyday.

"But if you stay you have to take care of Geward. 'Cause he always takes care of me and he needs someone to take care of him too." He says, yawning and closing his eyes.

"I'm gonna go make lunch and I'll wake you up when it's ready okay?" Frank sighs, releasing Mikey's hand and leaving the room.

How can Gerard already feel that way about me? How can Mikey?

.-.-.

"Don't I order the best pizza ever?"

"Mmhmm. Better than Geward's. He always gets the meat wovers. Yuck. I like veggie better."

"Me too, kid."

"Is...Oh you're awake, Gee." Mikey says happily, pizza in his hands and sauce all over his face.

Frank glances up to see Gee in the studio doorway. Wrinkled skeleton pj's (onesie), hair sticking in every direction, and eyes red and puffy. Frank locks eyes with the disheveled man and Guilt begins to consume him.

"Frank."

"Gerard." Frank sighs. I need to fix this. He thinks. Frank stands up and makes his way to Gee, face determined and hands balled into fists. Gerard tenses, bracing himself for the punch, his head shying away on reflex.

But Frank doesn't hit him. Instead he wraps his arms around him and stands on his tip-toes to place his lips by Gerard's ear.

"I'm sorry." He whispers, his breath making Gerard shiver. "Forgi..."

Sadly, their moment is interrupted by a loud ring coming from Frank's pocket.

"Ugh sorry, just...one second." He sighs, stepping back and pulling his phone out, pressing it to his ear.

"Hello? I stopped by...at a friends." Frank says, turning his back to Gerard and watching Mikey happily eat his pizza. "Yea, I'll meet you there. Love you too, bye." He says, hanging up and turning back around.

"Sorry, that was..."

"I get it. It's fine. Go ahead." Gerard says quietly, walking around him and towards the pizza. Frank follows and kisses the top of Mikey's head.

"I gotta go, kiddo. Still having that tea party on Tuesday, right?" He asks.

"Mmhmm. Don't forget Ransom." Mikey says with a mouthful of pizza. Frank laughs.

"I promise, I won't. Um...bye Gee."

"Bye Frankie."