Walk Away A Savior

“Shit…” Gerard observed his brother from across the table over the rim of his coffee cup. He’d found that with his ankle wrapped, it was less painful to walk, so they had ventured out into the kitchen where the two sat, quite alone, each with a mug of coffee in front of them on a rather decrepit looking table. It wasn’t run down in the fact that it was dirty, for only a few dishes sit in the sink under the rhythmically dripping faucet, and the counters were clear except for placed items that could have passed as décor they blended in so easily (among them, stacks of mail and newspapers, and the pile of clean, dried glasses that had yet to be put away).

No, it was the apartment that was old, and part of the oldest Way’s appraising cuss was out of admiration that a kid not much older than himself, his fourteen year old brother could keep a place so neat by themselves. There was something about it that demanded respect. There was something about the two that was extraordinary, apart from their nighttime excursions.

He couldn’t say much for the other guy, Ray, because he hadn’t formally met him, Mikey said that he figured he was still sleeping, either way, from what Gerard had seen of him, he wasn’t sure they would get along anyway. But Mikey, he was another story. A kid so dependent and scrawny as he remembered him had turned into more of a man than his older brother. Sure, being in a reformatory would make anyone sound tough, but the truth was that even there Gerard had his meals made for him, a bed provided for him, and generally had other kids his age to talk with, if nothing else. Sure they did work, but it was more chores than anything really. He still felt completely sheltered as Mikey and Ray had none of that.

From what the boy had said, they both worked to keep their apartment and they both provided for themselves quite independently. Of course Mikey still received government money and required annuity checks from their parents, but they still bought their own clothes and prepared their own food. They did their own cleaning, managed their own bills, fit their own schedules their own ways and the only people that they seemed to have for companionship, Gerard thought rather grudgingly as his mind set on the older of the two, were each other. He was sure that he would never admit it to Mikey, but that, he couldn’t help but find himself rather resentful of.

But Gerard brought his attention back from his thoughts of situations to the boy sitting in front of him soon enough and that boy sat awkwardly, as always, slouching a bit, letting his eyes wander as he took small sips from his coffee cup before he finally broke the impending silence and focused his gaze on his older brother who, in turn, raised his eyebrows apprehensively.

“So,” said Mikey, setting his coffee mug down delicately, “what were you doing at Mom and Dad’s last night anyway?”

“What do you think I was doing?” Gerard’s tone was short and almost accusing, as if his location the night previous was obvious, but when his younger brother simply raised his eyebrows and shrugged his shoulders, the older sibling’s eyes narrowed in slight annoyance and he let out a short sigh. “I was looking for you. Was it really that dumb ova move?”

Mikey’s eyes twinkled a bit menacingly, but he washed down the jab that his throat surely held with a sip of coffee before responding. “You seriously need me to answer that?” he asked instead.

“Alright, alright.” Sighed Gerard, “But it seemed like a good idea at the time.”

“Oh, they always do,” smirked Mikey.

The elder rolled his eyes, more in amusement than annoyance, “I don’t remember you being this much of a smart ass. You keep it up and I might have to remind you who the older brother is.”

“By what?” chortled the younger, “Almost getting caught a second time, forcing me to save your ass again?”

“Oh, shut up.” Grumbled Gerard.

“Oh come on now, G.” Mikey smiled, punching him in the arm playfully (making Gerard’s arm sting, though he would refuse to let that be known) “You know I’m just messing with ya. I mean, where else would you have started?”

To this, the older brother simply shrugged, averting his gaze to hide that his eyes were watering slightly from his brother’s punch. The two unsimultaneously took sips of coffee, followed by a few moments of silence, before Mikey punctured it again, obviously uneased by it.

“So,” he said again, clearing his throat a little after the first word, “how safe do you reckon you are going out in public?”

The older Way blinked, then shrugged again, taking a sip of coffee to make sure that his voice was clear before responding. “Fairly,” he said, rather confidently, “but it might be a good idea for me to lay low for a day or two. You know, now that you mention it, this is kinda a hot spot that I’d likely show up at… how do ya know they’re not already on their way here?”

Gerard was not exactly sure how he expected his brother to react to the question, but his soft chuckle was quite unexpected, so Gerard felt that he must have looked rather dumbfounded as his younger brother simply took a sip of coffee to relieve his laughter. “Touché,” he smiled, “but with all this shit that we have in here, don’t you think that we might possibly already have fuzz-proof hiding places? I wouldn’t worry about that, bro. Nah, if they show up, they’ll leave disappointed.”

“Really?” The older Way raised an eyebrow; a sip of coffee closed the gap between his next words. “Looks like just an ordinary apartment to me.”

“Well, it’s supposed to to you at least. Outsiders don’t know where things are, so they just overlook them, don’t they?” shrugged Mikey.

“Outsiders?” Gerard repeated, his face dropping a bit.

“Yeah, you know, people not in on the secret yet.” Nodded Mikey, but he seemed to catch his mistake of word choice, and smiled reassuringly toward his brother. “It’s like someone pointing something out to you in a movie or something that you’ve never noticed before, even though you’ve seen it loads of times before. You only know it’s there ‘cause they showed you, and they only know its there because someone else showed them. You know how it goes. Like in the first Watchmen issue on page twenty five. Remember? You showed me the older Captain Metropolis and Hooded Justice in that one panel ‘cause you heard they were there. Neither of us noticed that before then.”

“I can’t believe you still remember the page number,” chuckled Gerard.

“I can’t believe you don’t!” Mikey parried. “Now that I know it’s there, it’s kinda hard to ignore. I always remember you showing me that every time I read it.” The younger Way paused and took a long look at his brother, before speaking again and when he did continue, he did so slowly, “But I guess you haven’t gotten the chance to read it in a while, huh? I keep forgetting. Didn’t you have anything fun in there?”

“’Course I did.” Nodded Gerard, “It’s not real jail, just Juvie. We got to go out sometimes, into the city. It was always supervised, but we could have a job if we wanted, so I got some money for things. It wasn’t much, but comics are cheap, so I had a few. Watchmen’s kind of old by now though. I never saw it on the shelves… you still have the series?”

Mikey nodded, “Our original set.”

“Hah, damn good deal then. I’ll have to get reacquainted with them soon. But, uh, for now—“ Gerard glanced toward the door a bit nervously, then tempted a small smile as his eyes came back to his brother, “Why don’t you out the Captain Metropolis and Hooded Justice’s of your apartment for me?”

“Well, I’d love to, brother.” Mikey stood, his eyes still playful and his smirk fixated, “but I’m afraid that hiding places and secret floorboards aren’t going to be much of a covert next to the most significant gay couple in the comic world being unmasked and alive at dinner at the same restaurant as Dan Dreiberg and Laurie Juspeczyk.”

“Eh,” Gerard shrugged and matched his brother’s leer, getting to his feet as well, “I’m not sure anything could compare, but try me anyway.”

As the brother’s trekked round their living quarters, the younger revealing hiding holes, loose floorboards and closets with false depths to the elder, any discomfiture seemed to fleet. Suddenly, Mikey was at the creek by the park that he and Gerard often inhabited, moving a rock to show his older brother a salamander that he’d seen dart under earlier. Gerard’s mind flitted back to cranking up floorboards to save comic book money from the prying hand of his mother.

“Now you’ll have to be quiet for this one,” whispered Mikey as they neared the last of the very few doors in their dwelling, “It’s in Ray’s room, and he’s probably still sleeping. We can talk once we’re in all the way. Just wait for my sign.”

And with that Mikey slowly opened the door and lead Gerard inside. Sheets were hung up over the window to cast out the sun, which made the room fairly dark. The only thing that Gerard could see moving was what seemed to be the quiescent figure of his brother’s roommate his chest rising and falling in his sleep. However, Mikey paid no attention to him, but instead passed the bed quietly, instead pulling open a closet.

And Mikey reached his final hiding spot, a painful flittering little smile twinged across his lips as Gerard cranked a rack of coats forward and pressed him behind them, against the back of his old closet wall, telling him to cover his ears and wait there until he came back to get him.

The boy’s hand shook slightly as he pushed back a rack of tattered jeans and worn t-shirts, but as far as Gerard could see, nothing lay behind it but a slightly rotting wood wall, and as far as the knotholes could tell, nothing lay behind it but insulation, wiring, surely nothing special. But as he opened his mouth to speak, Mikey reached up for a short string that seemed to be connected to an above-head lamp. With one gentle tug came a terrible lurching sound, and quickly after, the walls seemed to disintegrate, or else, slide sideways into each other so that an opening was made, from which spilled a startling white light.

Mikey stepped forward into it carelessly, for he must have visited the place often, but Gerard followed at a slowed pace, taking in everything that unfolded before him. It wasn’t a deep room, beyond the actual closet, he was sure that it was not more than a few feet deep and wide, no larger than a walk-in closet itself, but that took nothing away from its grandeur. Not to say the room was special, more so what it held.

The shelves in it were white, like something out of the common comic book lab, and to add to it, upon them were objects that Gerard had again only read about in fiction: small trinkets and weapons, hanging behind them, two belts with satchels and compartments in sizes that must have been made to hold them, black masks and gloves, a familiar-looking darts, one of which he could remember piercing his side the night previous, something that looked like a grappling gun lay next to them. But Gerard turned, his eyes scaling the room, and after a few moments, he looked back to Mikey, disappointed.

“You don’t have costumes.” He stated in a quiet tone. His frown only deepened as his brother simply smiled.

“We’re not superheroes, Gerard.”

“But you have all of this stuff… you fight crime. You’ve even got masks. Why don’t you—“

“Because,” Gerard jumped at a sudden voice behind him, then turned to see a boy not much older than he was standing in the doorway. He recognized his hair from last night, the brown, unruly poof was unmistakable, however, without mask and boots, he seemed somehow more intimidating now, standing over them, surely woken by Gerard’s voice. His dark eyes looked bored and unhumored as he cast them upon Gerard, and his voice was bleak and uninterested to match, “only an idiot would run around the city dressed in frills and fluorescents while trying to get people to take them seriously.” His eyes flicked from Gerard to Mikey, where they softened slightly, and he continued to speak. “Why don’t you show him the bathroom and get him a shower or something?” he said austerely, “I need a private word with you, and, well,” his eyes flecked back to Gerard for a moment and this time, a slight smirk overtook the corners of his mouth. “he could use some cleaning up.”

“Hey!” The older Way narrowed his eye, taking a foolish step forward, his finger pointed accusingly, “Where do you get off—“

“Leave it G,” Mikey pulled on his arm before he could finish, shaking his head a bit, “come on. He’s got a point. You do smell kinda funky.”

His instincts told him to protest, but his mind got the better of him and all Gerard did was grunt, rather annoyed and followed his brother past the tall, looming figure of his roommate, who moved to the side quite placidly for them, though his eyes were slightly narrowed as they followed Gerard and Gerard’s were narrowed back at him. His euphoria from meeting back with Mikey seemed to ebb at the less than formal meeting of who Gerard could only assume would be his new roommate, and he could tell very quickly that he would only be welcome to stay by Mikey.