On Holiday

Mikey and Alicia shared a tired sigh as they began their search for some empty seats away from the busy crowd walking around on the airport. Everyone was ignoring them, luckily, but there could always be someone in the crowd that was a fan of My Chemical Romance and Mikey, being tired as he already was, wasn't really in the mood to meet up with fans.

He loved his fans, certainly; they were the ones that encouraged him to keep on going. But right now, Mikey was too worn out and knew he would only disappoint any unsuspecting fans with the grumpy state he was in. Alicia pointed at some empty seats and they sat down on the rigid plastic chairs.

The seats weren't as comfortable as the couch in their apartment, or even any of the seats on a tour bus, for that matter, but they would have to do for now. Looking at the big screens that showed the departure dates of several planes, Alicia sighed.

"Why do we always have to be here at least two hours in advance? This sucks…" she muttered under her breath, rubbing her tired eyes as she fought back a yawn. Mikey sighed and leaned back in the chair, crossing his arms in front of his chest and fighting the urge to fall asleep right then and there.

The bags under his eyes were enough evidence that he was worn out from the constant touring he’d been put through. Even though he was kind of used to it, it was still a drag to be away from home for almost a whole year, not having the real comforts of home, even though they tried it as much as they could. Alicia sighed resignedly and rested her head on his chest, closing her eyes in an attempt to get some more rest while they waited to board their plane.

Mikey smiled and wrapped his arm around her shoulders, pulling her closer to him as he gave her a kiss on the crown of her head. Not a moment later, an ear-wrenching scream met his ears, seeming to come from one of the other terminals just down the way, and caused for some glances in that direction by those sitting in the surrounding chairs, but Mikey just shrugged and closed his eyes again.

He had no desire to look towards the source of the scream, and so he didn’t even bother. After all, he of all people knew how uncomfortable it sometimes was to be stared at when he didn’t want it. But it was something he gladly took with doing what he did best, and that was being in the band with his brother.

A soft, monotone voice came through the speakers, announcing some of the flights and changes in the schedule. Mikey breathed in relief as he heard nothing changed with his flight. That was the last thing he wanted to have to handle right now. His mind started to wander as he blocked out all the noise around him. Alicia was already asleep, judging from her even breathing…

"Hey, Mikey! Wake up!" How long Mikey had been sleeping, he didn’t know, but now a loud voice was yelling in his ear—someone was standing so close to him, he could feel their breath on his cheek. Mikey grunted and swapped his arm at the noise. His reaction caused for a giggle to come from the side of the noise before he groaned and opened his eyes, yawning. Looking around, Mikey jumped as Frank’s grinning face was suddenly in his line of vision.

Frank’s wide eyes looked at the youngest Way brother, a mischievous grin on his shaven face. Mikey rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and blinked several times before he realized he wasn't dreaming after all, like he thought—or maybe hoped—that he was. A sudden movement from behind Frank, however, caused the rhythm guitarist to fall down to the ground with an “oomph!” of discomfort.

"Boooooooooobbbb!" Frank whined, crossing his arms in front of him as he pouted, refusing to get up from the ground; Bob had hooked his foot on Frank’s knee and easily toppled him over. The drummer rolled his eyes and looked at Mikey and Alicia, before glancing back at Frank.

"Great, now you woke him up," Ray gave a look of sympathy to Mikey, who sat up in his seat and looked in confusion at the guys in front of him, wondering what was happening. Either he was still dreaming, or something was going on that he didn't know anything about.

Glancing uncertainly around, he saw Gerard behind Bob and Ray, looking confused at Frank sitting on the floor. He sighed and shook a hand dismissively, not seeming to want to even know, before turning his attention to his younger brother. Waving a little at his brother with a small smile on his face, he looked on in amusement at the interaction between the three other band members.

"Guys, knock it off, remember our little deal with Brian?" Gerard reminded them. Mikey frowned at this—he didn't remember anything about a deal with Brian. Gerard saw Mikey's confused look, but chose to ignore it as he tapped his foot impatiently on the floor, glaring at his other band members.

"What deal?" Mikey asked suspiciously, though quietly, trying to be careful not to wake Alicia.

"Not to pull to much attention to ourselves if we came without Worm to be our bodyguard dude."

"Now that would've pulled attention," Frank said smartly before he continued, "but someone, and I’m not saying who," his eyes darted towards Gerard who groaned and sighed before looking away, “chose to scream for the whole fucking airport when he spilled coffee all over his shirt."

“Oh, so that was you screaming?” Mikey asked skeptically. Gerard’s face had gone rather red as he looked away, chewing his gum as he tried to hide his uneasiness. Mikey smiled and shook his head at his elder brother. Sometimes, but just sometimes…like, almost every day of the year, Gerard could act like a little child, making Mikey feel that he was the elder brother, instead. Lucky for Gerard, Mikey noticed, he was wearing black, hiding the coffee stain pretty well.

"What?" Gerard asked innocently, with a small smile on his face. Mikey chuckled and shook his head in disbelief.

"Nothing..." he answered. “You need a new shirt?” He asked, pointing to his brother’s shirt, that was probably still wet from the spilled coffee. Gerard frowned and looked down, remembering that it was dirty and smelled like coffee. He looked back at Mikey and shook his head.

“It's okay, I’ve had worse,” Gerard winked at his brother, who was nervously looking down at Alicia. Amazingly, she’d managed to sleep through all the noise and commotion that Frank had been making. Just like it was amazing that they hadn’t been approached by a fan by now. Mikey couldn’t remember the last time he’d been at an airport without that happening.

Shaking Alicia softly to wake her up brought a smile to his face. He was finally married to the woman he loved, he had his friends, he was playing in an amazing band with amazing fans…Gerard looked at his brother and couldn't help but smile either; seeing his little brother so happy, it was some sort of gift.

“Candy store!” Frank's voice shook everyone out of their thoughts. Gerard's eyes widened as he groaned. As a blur, Frank scrambled up from the floor and ran towards the other side the hallway, going straight for the candy store. Nervously, Bob and Ray looked through the crowd at the candy store where Frank was running around in his hyper state—no doubt he was searching for Skittles, or any other sort of candy treat to tide him over.

“No, Frank!” Ray ran towards the candy store in an attempt to catch Frank before he did something stupid. Knowing him, the whole store was already alerted to his hyperactive state, and wondering if they should call the cops or not.

“So much for not pulling to much attention towards ourselves,” Bob muttered darkly, under his breath. Gerard and Mikey chuckled as Bob shook his head and walked after Ray to assist him in the trouble he would no doubt have, in catching Frank and dragging him out of the store. Gerard’s eyes followed Bob until he disappeared in the crowd, before the singer decided to sit down on the floor, cross-legged.

“So...where are you headed?” Gerard asked his younger brother, curiosity taking over. Mikey gave Alicia a kiss on the cheek as she finally sat up and rubbed her eyes. Somehow, she didn’t seem surprised to see that Mikey’s brother was there. Gerard smiled and kept his eyes on Mikey until he answered.

“Caribbean...some island that I forgot the name off,” Mikey shrugged, not that it really mattered anyway. He laughed a little; seeing Gerard sit like that in front of him made him feel like they were leaving on tour. Hearing several screams coming from the other side of the corridor beside the terminal made Alicia suddenly sit up straight, looking concerned.

“Frank,” Gerard said rather simply when he saw Alicia's confused look. Alicia shot him a knowing smile, and nodded understandingly.

“Someone should give Jamia a leash, already,” she said with a small shrug, fighting a yawn. Gerard and Mikey chuckled and shook their heads. Alicia was never the sort of girl that could pass up a joke, especially if it was at Frank’s expense. She never really was a girly-girl, either; another reason for Mikey to love and respect her so much. The only thing she ever insisted on was wearing makeup when she went out. But then again, Gerard usually insisted upon it when he went out, too…

“I'll remind her of it the next time I see her.” Gerard smirked, though he was rubbing at his eyes as he stifled a yawn. Mikey smiled at his brother, and was surprised he wasn't already holding a coffee, or hadn’t started to nag about wanting to have one.

“I need coffee,” Gerard muttered under his breath. Mikey's eyes widened slightly—it was as though his brother had just read his mind. Gerard stood up and steadied himself from the head rush caused by his sudden movement. The next thing that either Mikey or Alicia knew, Gerard had hopped up on the empty chair next to them, his eyes narrowed as they scanned the shops around them.

“What are you looking for?” Alicia asked as she watched her brother-in-law stand on the empty chair, trying to keep his balance while he looked around the airport. Gerard sighed, shaking his head and dropping down to the chair, until he was sitting in it. Pouting, he crossed his arms in front of his chest.

“Coffee,” he mumbled. Mikey laughed softly at the predictable answer and shook his head. As Gerard's eyes scanned the crowd passing by, though he wasn’t really paying attention to the actual people, Ray and Bob returned, each holding on to one of Frank’s arms to keep him between them, so he couldn’t escape.

“Have fun at the candy store?” Gerard asked in a sweet, teasing voice, while a smirk played along the edge of his lips. Frank nodded eagerly, proudly showing off all of the candy he was holding in the crook of his arm.

“Look at all the free candy I got!” Frank said excited, wriggling free of Ray and Bob’s grasps and plopping down on the floor. He managed to tear open several packages at the same time before he propped the candy in his mouth—apparently he was trying to see how much he could fit in his mouth at one time.

“And…how did he get all that candy for free?” Mikey inquired from Bob and Ray. They each exchanged a glance between them, their expressions unsure.

“Uh…” they answered in unison, opening and closing their mouth several times without a real answer coming out.

“Never mind, I don't want to know,” Mikey sighed and shook his head. Gerard on the other hand, was laughing. Frank was certainly quite a sight, sitting on the floor crossed-legged, trying to get as much candy as he could in his mouth…

A moment later, Frank, who had fallen flat on his back down on the floor, with his hands over his stomach, groaned. It seemed he had a bit of a stomach ache, but the rest of the band decided it would just be a better idea to ignore him, for now. Mikey and the rest of the guys were talking about the rest of the tour and who would replace Mikey while he was on his honeymoon. Mikey was glad to know that the guys had asked Matt Cortez to be his replacement, for the time being. They all knew him as their guitar tech and Mikey was sure he was going to do the job just fine.

It wasn’t long before the monotone, female voice, repeated the plane announcement for a second time before she went quiet again. Grabbing their bags, Mikey and Alicia made their way to their plane.

Alicia watched her husband saying his goodbyes to the band, and as last, his older brother. Their hug was longer than the others, causing Alicia to smile, not for the first time realizing just how close Gerard and Mikey really were as brothers, which was something very rare. Gerard shot her a smile and gave her a hug, too.

“Take care of him, Alicia,” Gerard whispered in her ear, smiling as she pulled out of their hug and nodded at him, winking a little as Mikey wrapped his arms around her waist from behind. A few moments later, hand in hand, the newlyweds walked towards their plane, stopping only one more time to wave at their friends before they boarded the plane that would take them to a few weeks of vacation.

----------

Gerard looked around his room, smiling as he realized they were about to leave for another tour. Mikey should be rejoining them soon, and they would be having one hell of a summer. The Black Parade World tour was currently on hold—they were still planning on continuing that tour in Europe after the summer—but they were still on the move. Projekt Revolution was starting in a few days. Great bands were set to be there, and Gerard was excited; meeting all sorts of new bands and people was always something he loved about touring.

Hearing his cell phone going off, Gerard's head shot up and he backed away from his half-packed suitcase. Where had he placed his cell phone, again? Quickly searching around the room nervously, he tossed several papers aside, causing them to fall on the ground in slow motion before he finally found it under some sketches and notes for The Umbrella Academy, and other miscellaneous things.

Seeing the name ‘Mikey’ flashing upon the little screen of his cell phone, Gerard smiled and shook his head, wondering what had happened this time.

“Alright, what did you do now?” asked Gerard in the most serious tone he could muster. He couldn't help but laugh a little as Mikey tried to explain his situation as easily as possible, but still managed to make it as difficult as he could. Gerard shook his head, sitting down on the edge of his bed.

“Okay, now say all of that again,” Gerard said, cutting off Mikey in the middle of his explanation.

“I don't think we'll make it on time,” Mikey said on the other side of the line, sounding quite distressed.

“Why?” Gerard asked, frowning.

“Um...they won't let me on the plane...” Mikey's voice answered on the other end in a low mumble. “I mean, we got on the plane but...something is going on here and we won't make it,” Mikey quickly added. Gerard chuckled a little and shook his head, wondering how it was always Mikey ending up in these situations. Laughing out loud, Gerard imagined Mikey standing at the airports, getting frustrated. No doubt Alicia had found some airport officials, and was given them hell.

“It's not funny!” said Mikey defensively.

“Yes it is,” Gerard laughed. He could just imagine Mikey rolling his eyes at his response, and had to bite his lip to stifle another laugh.

“Brothers…” Mikey answered simply, causing Gerard to chuckle and little and shake his head.

“You love me for it,” Gerard smirked

“Oh, I'm not so sure about that…” Mikey said, though he was probably smiling as he said it.

“So...why are you calling again?” Gerard asked, finally managing to stop laughing, only to smirk and hold in another laugh—the mental image of Mikey standing in the middle of the airport, frustrated and speaking into his cell phone, was just too funny for Gerard to imagine without wanting to laugh.

“No real reason, I was just—no, Alicia, don’t!” Mikey’s voice was suddenly full of terror, and a loud clunk sound let Gerard know that he’d probably dropped his cell phone. “Alicia, that’s a real police officer, not a security guard! No—Alicia, don’t hit the cop!”

The call was dropped, leaving Gerard to stare with wide eyes at his now silent cell phone. With a sigh, he shrugged, closing the phone and tossing it onto his bedspread.

“Well, good to know he’s having fun on his honeymoon…”