For the Monsters that I've Been.

Mikey was not sure when it happened, but he must have fallen asleep because his eyes were fluttering open and the hazy outline of a woman in scrubs was becoming more clear each time he blinked.“Michael Way?” she asked in a louder than average voice, clearly in an attempt to wake him.

He consciously kept himself from pushing her hand off of his arm when he perceived that it was there. Instead, he cleared his throat and sat up in his seat, looking up to the woman. “Sorry, I must have fallen asleep.” He said reluctantly as the nurse, having successfully woken him, stepped back a few steps to allow him space to stand if he wished to. He hated the apology that had formed on his lips, and he hated even more the fact that he had not had the will power to stay awake until he was done talking to Gerard. Falling asleep may not have seemed like a big deal to many people, but to Mikey, it seemed irresponsible, vulnerable, even. A slip up of self control.

He looked briefly to his right to see Frank, rubbing his eye with his knuckle (clearly having just woken up as well) then looked back to the nurse who had woken him. “How’s Gerard?” He asked, straightening his glasses, sitting up still taller in his seat. “Can I see him yet?”

“He’s doing very well, all things considered.” Said the nurse in a sugary voice.

Mikey watched her eyes glaze over he and Frank, just as Matt and Ray’s had. He spoke again before she had a chance to inquire the origins of their injuries, however. “Can I see him, though?” He took a breath in, as it was almost too degrading to say what he knew he had to next. “I’ve been worried sick about him.”

“I-” The nurse’s eyes seemed to hover on Mikey’s scars for a few moments, but then she seemed to decide against mentioning them and she nodded, pasting on a rather forced smile. “Of course. That’s why I’m out here, actually. He woke up a few minutes ago and his condition is stable. His doctor sent me to come get you. Your friends said that you were his brother.”

“Just me?”

“Well, the policy is- in his condition- only family-”

“Right,” said Mikey, standing finally, he gestured to the boy on his right, who got timidly to his feet, “this is my brother, Frank.”

There was a bit of an apprehensive look from the nurse, as she observed Frank briefly. He mouth was open slightly as if waiting to say something. She must have been new, Mikey guessed, being overloaded with such a simple change in information. However, she seemed to think that Frank looked enough like Gerard or Mikey, because in the end, she nodded, and turned as she spoke, beckoning for the two to follow her. “Of course,” she smiled, rather uncomfortably, “right this way.”

They followed the nurse through the door that Mikey’s had been fixed on previously, which lead to a hallway with several doors on each side. Some rooms had charts with names posted on the outside of the doors, others simply had empty hooks that were waiting to accept a chart. Mikey did not know anything further down this hallway, however, because Gerard’s room was only a few doors down from the entrance. And as the nurse stopped in front of it, extending her hand to open the door, Mikey cleared his throat, causing her attention to come to him.

“I was actually hoping that we could talk to our brother alone,” he suggested with a tacked-on air of timidity.

“Oh,” the nurse nodded, smiling as nervously as ever. “Of course,” she said again, “just come down the hall to the nurses desk and find someone when you’re ready to leave.” She gave another half-hearted smile and turned, walking back toward the waiting room. Mikey watched as she opened a different door, however, which seemed to lead to the front desk in the waiting room. His hand lingered on the handle of Gerard’s door until the door that the nurse had exited through closed behind her, then he pushed down and swept the door open to reveal Gerard himself, sitting in a hospital bed, his eyes focused vaguely on the other side of the stark, white room.

However, as the door opened, Mikey noted that as Gerard’s eyes turned toward him, they widened, and if he had been connected to the heart rate monitor that was pushed into a corner, he was sure that there would be quite a fast paced beeping sound filling the room.

Fucking pathetic, Mikey thought as his eyes narrowed on his brother. If possible, his pallid complexion was actually lighter than normal and his face was gaunt. Of course, it would have been quite difficult to move comfortably considering the fluid drip that Gerard was connected to (surely to rehydrate his body from the loss of blood earlier), but Mikey couldn’t imagine sitting there and letting the man who had stabbed him hours earlier just saunter into his hospital room. There had to have been something that the oldest Way could have done to prevent a possible secondary attack, however, he simply sat idle while Mikey had the potential to finish him off.

“What are you doing here?” Gerard asked instead of reacting as Mikey closed the door behind he and Frank.

The younger brother chuckled before answering as he made his way to the older man’s bedside. “Came to see my brother of course. Been worried sick.” Mikey chortled satirically, a broad smirk on his face as he bent down to observe the several stitches in his brother’s neck. “It’s the darndest thing, you see, while Frank and I were out, someone went and attacked him! Stabbed him, if you’d believe it! He almost died, they say! Blood everywhere! Heard it was just horrible to see. Poor Gerard. Oh, but this is where it gets good!” he gasped, straightening up his eyes meeting with Gerard’s. He said his next few words with a furrowed brow and his head tilted in mock bemusement, “The only reason we were gone was because Gerard had told us to leave. Wouldn’t say a thing about why. Just said to get out, even gave me his car keys.

“Some people reckon,” said Mikey, raising his eyebrows, his tone dripping with sarcasm, “Gerard knew something was going to happen. Was trying to get me out of the house. Damn it if I’m not the lucky one to have such a gallant brother like dear old, G.”

“Hah,” Gerard scoffed, his eyes rolling, then promptly narrowing at his brother, “And what happens when my version of events doesn’t quite match up to that?”

“Well,” Mikey let out a spurious sigh, sitting down on his brother’s bed, placing a falsely consoling hand on Gerard’s knee, “I’m afraid I’d have to make a police report of my own. I’d probably show them these punctures ‘round my mouth, then I’d probably show them the bloody needle- still on the carpet in your room… maybe the string on the ground with my DNA all over it. Then tell them about a few brotherly instances over the years. Probably wouldn’t paint you too pretty, to tell you the truth. We’d both go down, but if you want to play it like that, I call top bunk when we’re cellmates.”

“God, you’re a little fuck,” seethed Gerard. He shook his head, exhaling for a moment before, to Mikey’s surprise, a bit of a smirk crossed his face. “Can’t say I’m not impressed though. You’re a conniving bastard.”

“Guess it runs in the family,” Mikey said, rolling his eyes as he stood from the bedside. “But I’m glad we see eye to eye on that particular point. I thought it was going to be much more difficult. You’ll understand why then, when you’re contacted by the police, you’ll have to tell them that you’re not pressing charges and to drop the investigation.”

Gerard’s brow corrugated stupidly as he started to say: “And why would I-”

“Because,” Mikey cut him off, “there’s enough evidence in your room to have us both put away for years, but if you don’t press charges, that gets magically shunted away and they have to pretend that they never found it.”

“How do you know-”

Mikey’s lip curled unpleasantly as he thought of the nights that he spent locked in the apartment that he and Gerard shared when the latter went out without him. “You gave me plenty of time to watch Cops when we were younger… it’s just about the only thing on basic cable in the early morning.”

Mikey withheld himself from attacking his brother as he laughed, only willing himself to do so under the assurance that his guilt would certainly be proven if he were found strangling his brother in the hospital. He was also quite certain that of the two, the one in the hospital bed might be given a bit more pity given his condition, so Mikey simply let out his exasperation with a sharp sigh and continued speaking as if Gerard had not interrupted him.

“So you’ll stick to the story then?” Mikey scowled.

“I will,” Gerard said, placing a strong emphasis on his first word. His eyes shifted past Mikey however, and his eyebrows rose. “But what about him?” he asked, gesturing to Frank, “He’s got nothing to lose. How do I know he’s staying quiet.”

Mikey’s attention moved to Frank for the first time since they had been in the waiting room. In actuality, he’d almost forgotten that he was in the room with them. His eyes scaled the boy whose head was bowed, eyes on the floor; the sterile, white room reflecting light onto his face and bringing out the spectacular purple of the bruises on his face.

Gerard did have a point, but it was hard to believe that Frank would ever be the one to betray him. After all, this was the boy who Mikey had snapped and attacked for virtually no reason, the boy that had apologized to Mikey just moments after the same beating, the boy whose response to ‘you’ll be sorry’ was an eager nod and a smile as he waited for the man who threatened and beat him to kiss him again. It did not seem, to Mikey, that there was any amount of abuse that he could put Frank through to make him recoil, and surely, if there was a time for him to turn Mikey in, it would have been before that moment.

In fact, Mikey reasoned, it would have been in the hotel room earlier. Frank hadn’t even seemed to realize, let alone care that Mikey had his phone. Surely, if he’d wanted to leave, he would have gone for his phone the second that he realized that Mikey hadn’t been there, not to mention the motel phone was sitting next to him on the night stand. But even before that, at the diner, Frank had walked to the bathroom with no deviations, no attempts to escape. Mikey hadn’t checked Frank’s phone for calls or texts, but he was almost certain that he would not find any outgoing transmissions if he looked. No, Frank had been faithful, why, Mikey was not entirely sure, but that didn’t change the fact of the existence of the action, so he shook his head, eyes moving back to his brother.

“He’s not telling anyone,” Mikey assured him. “Are you, Frank?”

“No.” Frank’s eyes flicked up from the floor. He glanced briefly at Gerard, before looking to Mikey, his breath was quite shallow as he shook his head, timidly. “I won’t. You know I wouldn’t, Mikey. I swear I-”

“Jesus,” Gerard’s eyes widened with an acerbic sort of annoyance, “you’d think you’d asked him to murder the president.” He shook his head, watching Frank quizzically, however. “What’s your deal, anyway?” He posed, studying the boy closely, “Last time I saw you, you were trying to beat the fuck out of me. You were fucking rabid, now you’re this mousy little…

“Wait… no…” Gerard said slowly, his wide eyes now shining with realization, “The last time I saw you, I was on the ground and… oh god.” He chuckled, the corners of his eyes glistening with tears as he looked to his brother; an air of fascination in his voice. “Mikey, you sly motherfucker. And I thought you were the bottom bitch. Well, I’m impressed. It’s eerie, how quickly you managed, but god, he’s gotta be a fast learner then, huh? Or are you just a really good tea-”

“That’s here nor there,” said Mikey whose face had been growing warm the entirety of the time that his brother had been talking. “All you need to worry about is the police report. And hurry up and get the fuck out of the hospital. We’ve got a show this weekend.”

“Oh,” Gerard sat up a bit straighter, eyeing Mikey suspiciously, “so you’re still in on the band?”

“Obviously,” Mikey replied, rather blandly.

“Right then.” Gerard bit his bottom lip, giving a final appraising sweep to Frank and his brother, before nodding in a final sort of manner. “I’ll stick to the story, little brother. Don’t worry your pretty little head about it.”

“Perfect.” The younger Way turned, reaching for the door handle again, “Come on, Frank,” he said, and he could hear footsteps behind him as he started to exit the room. However, his attention was drawn back in momentarily by a shout from its depths.

“Mikey?” asked Gerard. His brother met his eyes, eyebrows raised, so he continued speaking. “The doctor said I’ll be here a day or two, ‘til my fluids are back to normal and shit.”

“Is there a question coming my way or do you just enjoy bombarding me with useless bullshit?”

“Stupid fuck,” Gerard chuckled, shaking his head. “Come visit again before I get out, eh?”

“Yeah, we’ll see.” Mikey replied. He let Frank pass him and then exited into the hallway, letting Gerard’s door close behind him.