Born and Broken Every Single Time.

"Fuck," I muttered, whispering so quietly only Gerard could hear me. I said nothing to Mikey, just staring blankly up at him willing something to happen or something to be said that would change this situation. Gerard just looked up at his brother, I had no idea what he looked like because he was between us.

"So are you going to tell me what the hell is going on?" Mikey frowned sternly, looking outside his room before closing the door. I presumed he was seeing if his parents were about for whatever reason he had. He slammed the beers on his bedside table before sitting on the edge of his bed opposite us. He leaned towards us, his eyes wide and just waited for a response.

"Uh," I muttered, glancing over at Gerard pleading for some kind of help.

"How long has it been going on?" he questioned harshly. "Oh my god," he continued before either of us could answer. "That’s why you moved in here, to get closer to him? That’s sick!"

"Get a grip," Gerard snapped, a cruel quality to his voice. "You know why he moved down here so don’t you dare say that. And it hasn’t been ’going on’."

"So what was that?" Mikey yelled. Gerard told him to keep it down, making me think it was in case their parents heard. I had always noticed that, both the Way brothers were keen to keep trouble away from their parents if they could avoid it. They didn’t want to cause grievance for them, they really cared – I guess that’s why I found the argument we walked in on all that more shocking. It wasn’t the usual.

"It, uh," I muttered, looking briefly at Gerard and biting my lip nervously. What the hell was I suppose to say? ’I’m sorry Mikey, you caught me with your brother’s tongue down my throat, but it’s nothing.’ Gerard just shrugged before looking back at Mikey who still glared at both of us.

"You know what I was doing downstairs?" he pressed, clenching his fists and hitting them randomly against one another.

"Getting beer?" Gerard replied uncertainly, glancing over at the beers on the bedside table.

"Apart from that," Mikey sighed, seeming flustered that he could answer the question. "I spoke to them about your art thing Gerard, and you know what? They said they’d think about it."

"Oh," Gerard replied, his eyes slightly in shock at this news. "Thank you."

"You know what that means," Mikey frowned. "They’ll loan you the money, you’ll leave and get this degree and leave me behind and now I find you’ll be taking my best friend with you. So it’s all going to be perfect for you."

"What?" I questioned, interrupting as confusion struck me. "What the hell do you think is going to happen Mikey? What do you think this is?"

"I don’t know," he shrugged. "But can you blame me? What the hell was that?!"

I glanced back to Gerard and saw a faint smirk grace his face briefly. I knew he was most likely suppressing the urge to literally tell him what it was and explain the concept of kissing. Although it made for an amusing situation in my mind I was glad he was holding it back.

"It doesn’t matter," Gerard shrugged. "It was just a one off."

"What ever," Mikey frowned. "Ugh, this is just, ugh!"

"I’ll just go," Gerard muttered, dragging himself off the ground without looking at either of us before he left. As the door closed gently behind him I looked up at Mikey who just stared blankly at the ground. I couldn’t help but feel angry that Gerard had just left me to deal with this, running back to his room and away from the problem. I had no idea what Mikey was thinking, it kind of scared me.

"I’m sorry," I muttered, watching as Mikey looked at me, seeming to scan his eyes over me to see if I was truthful in my words. After deeming me to be telling the truth he slid off the bed, sitting on the floor opposite me and leaning against the bed frame.

"What have you two… done?" he asked. I could sense his unease at asking that by the way he accentuated ’done’. I felt a bit numb being forced to have this conversation. It was very unsettling.

"Nothing," I pressed. "Just that."
"So you just kissed?" he pressed, waiting and acknowledging my nod before he continued. "So you two aren’t… haven’t…"

"No!" I replied, unable to hold back a dose of laughter at the question. I have no idea why, but it humoured me that he had to ask.

"Good," he smiled. "Sorry for being a bit… but I wasn’t really expecting that. But you two won’t be…"

"Uh, no," I muttered in response. I didn’t want to say no, but I didn’t want to annoy Mikey. Having said that I couldn’t help but frown at the thought of Gerard deeming this a ’one off’. It was weird; I never thought I’d be talking about this with Mikey.

"Gerard!" Mrs. Way called from downstairs. "It’s the phone for you!"

"Okay, coming," he yelled from his own room. We sat silently listening as he trudged past the door and down the stairs, waiting until he had gotten the phone before either of us continued.

"Hmm," Mikey muttered thoughtfully. "OH MY GOD."

"What?" I questioned, taken aback by his outburst.

"That day, Eva, the argument, you coughed because it was you!" he laughed, piecing together random fragments of information. "But you said you hadn’t…"

"Yeah," I blushed. "But honestly, nothing was going on then, I just kind of knew…"

I didn’t feel the need to explain the ins and outs of the situation, but accepted all the mocking Mikey sent my way from his realisation. I was just kind of relieved that he was talking to me, so if taking his humouring abuse would move us on from this, then I’d gladly accept it. I couldn’t help but laugh at him though, seeming like a young child who’d been given a balloon. He seemed so excited that he’d worked this out, and even more excited that he could rip me for it. But hey, that’s Mikey.