Frank Iero, You Are My Hero

“So, where are you guys staying?” Mercy asked from the ground. She was kneeling in the middle of her living room, playing with Skittles. She had found an old stuffed animal, and he was now ripping it apart, making the insides fly everywhere. It was so damn cute.

The silence made her look up. The guys were giving her sheepish smiles, making her eyes go wide as she shook her head. They wanted to stay here?! With her?! This was a one bedroom apartment, for crying out loud! They were fucking famous! They could stay in any fucking hotel they wanted to, and they wanted to stay here? No fucking way!

“No! No. No. No. NO,” she told them sternly, pointing a finger at them. “There’s not enough room for all of you dipshits to stay here.”

“I can take a few of them. My roommate is gone for the next couple of weeks, so her room is empty,” Sicily offered quietly.

Gerard grinned broadly and enveloped her in a hug. “I fucking like this girl! See, Mercy! We can stay here,” he said, letting go of Sicily when he realized her green eyes were wide and she wasn’t breathing.

She rolled her eyes. “Fine. But only two of you assholes,” she said, returning her attention to Skittles, who was starting to growl loudly as he tore the head off of the stuffed rabbit.

“Mine!”

“Mine!”

She heard both Frank and Mikey claim her apartment first, meaning Bob, Gerard, and Ray were going to stay over at Sicily’s house. Go figure that Gerard didn’t even attempt to claim Mercy’s house. Stupid ass. Deserting her over a pretty face. Not that she really minded, but she was going to smack him upside his head for it later.

“Alright you two. But I swear on everything that is holy that if you fuck up my sleep, I’ll kill you both, do you hear me?” she said, narrowing her eyes at them.

They both grinned in response, mainly at each other mischievously. Mercy rolled her eyes once more. Great. Knowing the two of them, they were going to keep her up all night. Well, Frank probably would. Mikey was too nice for that shit. Come to think of it, she was glad that he dibbed her apartment. If Bob were here, he’d talk her ear off. If Ray was here, he’d play guitar all night until she threatened to break it over his head. And if Gerard stayed here, well, he’d probably bug her about Sicily. Guess it was best that Mikey and Frank were staying with her.

Her stomach growled loudly, making her grimace. “Okay, am I the only hungry one?” she asked, looking up at the others expectantly.

They shook their heads, standing. “Nope. Let’s go get some chow,” Gerard said, stretching loudly.

Mercy put up anything she didn’t want chewed, said goodbye to Skittles, then locked up her apartment. Once more, the guys were clad in sunglasses and hats, making her giggle. Frank came up to her side and grasped her hand tightly, giving her a smile. She returned it before leading the way to the elevators. She felt so amazing at the moment. Elated. Ecstatic. It was strange, almost. And then…Bob had to go and ruin it.

“How have you been? You know, since last time?” he asked quietly, gaining the attention of the six people around him.

She stopped and furrowed her brows, her free hand going to press against her eyes. She didn’t want to talk about this now. This was shitty timing and he was going to have hell to pay. Fuck. Did she really have to answer that? Mercy sighed heavily, shaking her head.

“Wait, what happened last time?” Sicily asked, clearly confused.

Motherfucker. And now she was going to have to explain shit to her too. Sici had asked several times about the scar on her throat, but Mercy always managed to evade the subject. It was sensitive, and she hated talking about it. Plus, she hated the look of sympathy that she got from people. Not that she had told anyone about it, but she was almost positive that it was what she would get.

“Mercy didn’t tell you?” Ray asked, just as confused as Sici was. If the girl was a good friend of Mercy’s, you would think that she’d tell her about that little part of her life. Especially because the scar on her neck wasn’t something that could go unnoticed.

“No, I didn’t tell her. I’d like to just forget about that part of my life, thank you very fucking much,” Mercy exclaimed, scowling at all the guys. They shrank back from her hard gaze, making her face soften. “I’m sorry. Now that it’s out there, I guess I might as well tell you though.”

Sicily shook her head. “No, if you don’t want to, that’s fine.”

“No, it’s cool. Let’s just wait till we get to the restaurant though. Not only do my neighbors not like me, but they are extremely nosy. I wouldn’t be surprised if someone had their ears pressed to their doors at this moment,” she said, rolling her eyes.

They left her apartment building and walked down the crowded side walk of New York City. The guys tried to be inconspicuous once more, but they received more looks by what they were wearing. Actually, they all got some pretty strange looks. Mercy lived in a more upscale part of the city now, and the inhabitants weren’t used to the multi-colored hair and tight clothing that every single one of them were sporting. They even got a few yells of ‘freaks’ and such, but they were ignored.

The seven of them entered the small Italian restaurant that had become Mercy’s favorite. She especially loved the fact that everything was written in Italian. It gave it a much more real effect, to say the least. They were sat in a small corner booth and the guys took off their ‘disguises’. They ordered their drinks, and it was then that Mercy heaved a heavy sigh.

“Okay, so three months ago, the guys offered me a job as their makeup artist. I wasn’t too thrilled because the guys are dumbasses,” she said, giving them a cheeky grin.

“Hey! I resent that!” Frank exclaimed, poking her in the shoulder.

She stuck her tongue out at him, then continued on. “Well, first what happened was I was practically raped in some alleyway in Virginia. Frankie saved me though. I was hospitalized for the afternoon, then we continued on our way. In Detroit though was when all the shit happened,” she said, pausing when the waiter appeared with their drinks.

Mercy took a huge gulp out of her beer, then continued. “I was kidnapped by the same guy from Virginia. He was going to use me as leverage for the guys to quit making music. That, and for money. He beat me. Raped me. And he had plans on killing me.”

She was interrupted by Bob, his eyes full of anger. “Wait. You didn’t tell us the part about him taking advantage of you,” he said, the grip on his glass of water tight, making his knuckles white.

“Of course I didn’t, dipshit. Look how you’re reacting,” she scolded.

“How the hell do you expect me to react! The guy’s lucky he’s in fucking prison, otherwise I’d go fucking kill him,” Bob said, his tone rising in anger.

“Bobert! Chill the fuck out! You’re going to get us kicked out!” Mercy said quietly, shaking her head before returning to the story. “Basically, we followed the guys down to Chicago. It was there that they found me. The guy, who was known as The Faithless, held me to him, knife to my throat. If it wasn’t for their quick reactions, and Gerard’s excellent aim with his pocketknife, I’d be dead by now. Though as soon as Gerard flicked the knife open, the guy slit my throat. I’m very lucky to be alive right now, and I owe it them. Despite the fact that they’re dumbasses,” she said with a smile, trying to make light of the situation.

Sicily looked shocked, to say the least. But that was something that Mercy had been expecting. It wasn’t every day that you find out your best friend had been held hostage with a knife to her throat. Mercy wasn’t sure what the girl was going to say. For some odd reason, she expected Sici to storm out of the restaurant, screaming something about how she was a lame ass excuse for a friend for never telling her something that was so damn important.

However, a smile came over Sici’s face as she looked at the five guys. “Well, then I guess I have you fuckers to thank, since Mercy is one of my best friends. I’m glad she’s still breathing, even though sometimes I’d like to shove her head in a toilet,” she said, smirking over at the blonde girl.

Mercy’s face was lit up with a smile, not caring one bit that she had just been insulted. She was glad that Sici was taking to this so well. Fuck, she was the best friend a girl could have. Except for a gay man. And she had Gerard for that.

“Aw, well I love you too, you dirty whore,” Mercy replied, lifting her beer up in a salute towards her. It was then that she heard a girlish scream coming from the other side of the restaurant. Uh-oh. The guys had been spotted. She stiffened, preparing herself for the onslaught of fan girls.

“Shiiieeeeeeet,” Frankie moaned, burying his head in his shoulder. Mercy knew the guys loved their fans. But she also knew that sometimes they just wanted to have a normal life. They just wanted a nice dinner somewhere without being bombarded.

Her blue eyes flitted over to where she heard the scream and saw two young girls, maybe at the age of fifteen, heading their way. They both had multi-colored hair and various piercings. Their dark brown eyes were rimmed with heavy eyeliner, and if it weren’t for the girly screams that were emitting from them, Mercy might find them somewhat cool.

“Holy fucking shit, it’s My Chemical Romance!” one of the squealed. “I’m Kayla, and this is Michelle. We were just wondering if you could sign this for us,” the taller one said, thrusting a napkin and a sharpie at Mikey, who was on the outside.

“Sure, no problem,” Mikey responded, giving them both a cheesy smile. They seemed to melt underneath his gaze, making Mercy roll her eyes. The napkin was passed around to everyone. Mercy picked it up to hand back to the girls, and they shook their heads.

“Oh, no! You sign it too. I know who you are. You’re Bob’s sister, Mercy. Please, sign it,” the shorter one, Michelle, said.

Mercy gave the girl an incredulous look, but signed the napkin anyways. The two girls squealed once more before bouncing away, chatting animatedly about their encounter with their favorite band. Mercy shook her head and chugged the rest of her beer. Fuck. How the hell was she known? Seriously. She rarely gave out her last name, rarely admitted who her brother was. How was it that their fans knew about her? Her eyes flitted over to Frank, who was staring intensely at his bottle of beer. Staring too intensively.

“Frank…” Mercy said in a low voice. His eyes came up to meet hers, a sheepish smile on his face.

“I’m sorry! It was just…you were in the hospital and I dunno! I swear I didn’t say anything to them about what happened though!” he exclaimed, putting a cute pout on his face.

“What exactly did you say?” she asked, narrowing her eyes.

“Um, that Bob’s little sister was in the hospital. And that was why the Indianapolis tour date was canceled. You do realize that why you were in the hospital, we missed that one, don’t you? I had to give them a reason, and I didn’t want to lie to the fans,” he muttered.

Mercy blew some hair out of her face and wrapped her arms around him. “It’s okay, Frankie. I just wished you would’ve told me sooner. But that still doesn’t explain why they knew who I was.”

“Dude, Mercy. You look just like Bob. Except not as ugly,” Ray retorted, getting a slap upside the head from Bob.

“Good point,” Mercy acquiesced.