Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Highschoolers

Gerard paced the hallway outside of his brother’s room, back and forth. He imagined Mikey sleeping peacefully inside and was overcome by affection, before remembering what had occurred earlier that evening. He hissed in anger, and gingerly touched the skin on his arm, which was now nicely burned from having the light bulb on in his room. He reminded himself to remove it and smash it in the backyard later.

How dare his brother, his own loyal Mikey, betray him like that? Ratting him out... It made Gerard’s face burn with anger, or maybe that was just the “sunburn”. Gerard slouched down the stairs to the dark kitchen below. His mother had gone to bed, but the fresh chocolate chip cookies she had baked were on the counter, still mostly warm. A piece of paper propped up against the plate read, “Don’t even THINK about having any of these cookies.” Then, in a different colored pen, “Okay. You can have 1 but that’s ALL.”

Gerard smiled at how much of a pushover his mother was, and stuffed a few cookies into his mouth. He then got some ice out of the fridge, wrapped it in a towel and held it against the worst of his sunburn. He sat for a while, contemplating, and tapping his foot. Moonlight glistened on the yard outside, and the ice cubes against his skin gave Gerard a shiver. Suddenly, a thought came into his mind, and Gerard’s lips peeled back from his teeth into a grin.

Gerard quickly pounced up the stairs and to Mikey’s room. He opened the door, and saw Mikey shift around when it creaked, frowning. Just as he had thought. Gerard crawled onto the bed next to his brother. Trying not to giggle, he placed his hand over Mikey’s mouth. Mikey woke up at once. The moonlight coming through the window caught his huge, terrified eyes. He squealed, but Gerard’s hand concealed the noise.

“Shhhh. It’s just me, brother,” Gerard purred, his voice low and hoarse from all the screaming he’d done earlier.

Mikey’s eyes found Gerard’s, and he relaxed. Gerard’s removed his hand from his brother’s mouth, and Mikey grabbed his inhaler to quickly inhale a few times and calm himself down.

“Gee?” Mikey squeaked.

“Right here, Mikes,” Gerard grinned.

“Why are you in here?” Mikey asked. “Isn’t it way past bedtime? You’ll get in trouble if mom finds you…”

“Shhhh,” soothed Gerard. “I couldn’t sleep. I felt too bad, from yelling at you earlier, so I came over here to apologize.”

“R-Really?” Mikey’s eyes gleamed like giant, polished marbles.

“Yes,” lied Gerard. “So no hard feelings, right?”

“Of course not, Gee.” Mikey smiled happily, and then yawned. With all of his fears put to rest, he was starting to feel incredibly sleepy…

Gerard smirked knowingly, and pulled the blankets up to Mikey’s chin. “Sleep well,” he whispered, and drifted out of the room. He could tell Mikey was in a deep sleep before he’d even left, lulled into a state of security.

Gerard returned to the kitchen, and quickly filled a bucket with ice. He dragged it back up to Mikey’s room and pulled back the covers. Mikey didn’t stir whatsoever. Gerard grinned in triumph and began scooping the ice out with his hands, and piling it on and around his brother. Mikey never gave any signs that he felt anything at all, besides smiling blissfully once and murmuring, “Fractions…”

When the bucket was empty, and Mikey was nicely coated with ice and still fast asleep, Gerard returned the bucket downstairs, and then went back to his own pitch-black room. He burrowed into his musty-smelling blankets and sheets. He knew it would be a while before Mikey woke up, freezing and soaking wet – maybe not even until morning. His brother was a very deep sleeper sometimes.

Gerard closed his eyes and fell into his own dreamless sleep.