I Believe We're The Enemy

Ginny’s P.O.V.

Surprisingly, it only takes a few hours for us to reach the diner, even though it felt as if I had been running for years to get away. Frank helps me bandage my leg, claiming that he owes me one, and once it stops bleeding I manage to walk on my own without too much of a limp. Ray still insists on keeping one arm wrapped firmly around my shoulders, “just in case”.

When we reach the diner, we find Mikey and Gerard waiting out front in the car, a tense silence filling the small space between them. Ray, Frank, and I pile into the backseat, and Gerard hits the gas, zooming off into the horizon.

“Hey Gee,” Frank chirps eagerly as the car accelerates to full speed. Gerard’s unusual scowl slips and he grins at Frank in the rearview mirror.

“Hi, Frankie. Did you guys fix Ginny up well enough?”

Frank nods enthusiastically. “I figure I owed her for my shoulder. She’s okay now,” he says happily.

“Good.” Gerard smiles again, and next to him Mikey lets out a quiet huff, rolling his eyes.

“What’s wrong with you, Mikey?” Frank asks, poking his blond friend playfully.

“Nothing,” Mikey snaps way too quickly.

“You don’t want to know, Frankie,” Gerard growls, his face melting back to an angry snarl. Mikey opens his mouth to retort, but Gerard turns to glare at him, his hazel eyes narrowing in fury, and Mikey shuts up.

For several hours we drive on, and the silence persists, first tense, then awkward, and finally comfortable. Frank falls asleep on my shoulder, and I find myself smiling down at him fondly. For all his tough protectiveness over me, he looks shockingly childish in his sleep. Cute. That’s the word.

Finally, Gerard slows the car as we approach a large, dust-stained building, the word HOTEL printed above its door. Some of its lower windows are smashed, the crimson paisley curtains torn or gone altogether, and the are surrounding the door is splattered with paint, but for the most part it looks solidly hospitable.

“Alright, Gee, stop the Killjoymobile and I’ll go in and take a look around,” Mikey says, laying one hand on the car door. Gerard hits the brakes.

“Oh, no you don’t! I’m going in, and I’m taking Ray with me.” After Gerard finds a reasonable place to park the car, Ray gives my hand a little squeeze and follows Gerard into the abandoned hotel.

I shake Frank awake in preparation for the verdict, and we sit in silence, Mikey fiddling with the old radio propped up on the dashboard.

“Shit, Dr. D still hasn’t found a place to broadcast,” he growls.

“I could sing a song,” Frank offers. “What’s bugging you, Mikes?” he asks when Mikey lets out an irritable hiss.

“Nothing... Gerard would kill me if I told you>”

“Oh. Here he comes!” Frank points excitedly at Gerard and Ray as they emerge from the hotel, grinning.

“Good news, this place is great!” Gerard exclaims, opening the trunk of the car. “Lots of clean rooms upstairs, just a bit dusty. Plus, the view from the windows is amazing!” Frank, Mikey, and I hop out of the car and help Gerard and Ray empty the overstuffed trunk. Between the five of us, we manage to carry all of the supplies into the hotel in one trip.

The front hall is surprisingly decorative, with a huge, glinting chandelier hanging over a fuzzy maroon Persian carpet. The front counter is covered in dust, but underneath the grimy coating a gleam of pinkish marble shows through. Gerard leads us up a narrow staircase next to the enormous fireplace, and once upstairs, we find that the hotel isn’t quite as big as it seems. A small map posted on the wall shows that through the door before us are three rooms connected by lockable doors, which we decide are perfect for us to settle in.

Behind the first door we find a surprisingly large room with a long dining table in the center, a full-sized bed on the right, and on the left, a small living room-like are with two sofas and a mahogany coffee table. Frank collapses on the bad right away and resumes his nap, the acoustics of the room greatly magnifying his soft snores.

Gerard and Mikey sit down on one couch, while Ray and I occupy the other. Our various supplies lay abandoned by the dining table as we sit and stare off into space, too exhausted to do much else. After a while Frank wakes up, and since he’s the only person with any energy left, he goes about putting our supplies away, leaving our spare clothing heaped on the coffee table, to be divided amongst us later. Then he brings us all food, opening cans and distributing meals until we all have something before us.

“On the topic of sleeping arrangements,” Gerard begins after our small meal. “Ginny and Ray should probably have their own room. Frank and I can sleep in here, and Mikey-”

“I am not being in a room by myself! That would be scary!” Mikey exclaims, his eyes widening in fear.

Gerard laughs. “Okay, Mikey, you can have a sofa. Ray and Ginny, you’re in there,” he finishes, pointing to the door on the left side of the back wall. “Absolutely no funny business, or you will feel my wrath, Raymond Toro.”

Ray throws his hands up in surrender. “I won’t try anything, I promise,” he mumbles, his face reddening in Gerard’s bullet-like glare.

“Good. Frankie and I get that bed,” Gerard says, gesturing toward the bed in which Frank had taken his nap.

“Yes! I get to sleep with Gee!” Frank jokes, pumping his fist in the air. Gerard rolls his eyes.

“Aw, that’s not fair! I wanna sleep with Gee,” I whine, joining in on the joke. Frank glares at me as Ray wraps his arms around my waist and drags me toward him, effectively abolishing all false thoughts of Gerard.

“Am I really that sexy?” Gerard asks Mikey is a loud stage-whisper. Slightly disgusted, Mikey shakes his head vigorously, and Gee takes on a look of incredulity.

“Thanks, Mikes. Really feeling the brotherly love there,” he says, shuffling across the couch toward Frank. Mikey rolls his eyes as Frank hugs Gerard, attempting to hold back his laughter while he comforts his red-haired friend.

“It’s okay, Gee. You’re beautiful to me,” Frank murmurs, patting Gerard’s head awkwardly. Ray and I both start to laugh as Gerard commences with a series of fake sobs, his slender chest heaving dramatically.

After an hour or so, the sun is low in the sky, and we all retreat to our various beds to sleep. Ray and I’s room is rather small but comfortable, with a conveniently clean double bed that has two miniscule tables placed on either side. The lights don’t work, so we kick off our clothes (except underwear) in the growing darkness and climb into bed. Ray’s arm wraps automatically around my waist as he pulls me toward his broad chest, pressing a gentle kiss to my temple before he rests his head on the pillow and quickly loses consciousness. After a while, his slow, rhythmic breathing lulls me into a deep sleep.

For the first time in months, my nightmares return. They start off as always--Mum running from draculoids, their deadly white guns shooting rays of light in all directions as they draw closer to her. Then, for the first time, she’s been hit. I shriek, expecting her to go down, but even though the blast obviously hurt her she keeps running. Soon her body is peppered by laser shots, but she refuses to stop. All of a sudden she’s shrinking, her hair morphing from dusty blonde to black, her deep green eyes melting to almost-hazel. Her skin pales and her face becomes softer but yet more masculine all in one slow moment, and all of a sudden I’m not looking at my mother, but at Frank Iero.

“Frankie!” I scream, but I might as well not have said anything, because he doesn’t even glance in my direction. As shot after shot hits his fragile body I hear him gasping in pain, but there’s nothing I can do to save him. My feet refuse to move. Then the dracs are closing in, their feet sending up puffs of reddish dust as they whack him with their fists and the butts of their guns. Scarlet blood splatters across the sand and I feel a series of hot, sticky tears streaming down my face as Frank falls, his eyes starting to glaze over.

Then my dream changes again, and I’m in that drafty Battery City hallway, watching in horror as Mum’s head develops an enormous, laser-charred black hole. Terror overtakes me and I scream for all I’m worth, louder, louder, louder--

“Ginny, wake up already!” Ray’s face is only inches above my own, his dark eyebrows scrunched up in concern. When he sees my eyes flicker open he relaxes, but he stays over me, straddling my chest with his thick forearms.

“You were screaming,” he murmurs. “And crying. I... I’ve never seen someone cry in their sleep.”

My hands move on their own, running gently down the sides of his face. “I had nightmares,” I say softly, feeling myself relax in his loving gaze. “About my mum. And Frank. I-I don’t know why...”

“Frankie has nightmares all the time,” Ray explains. “That’s why he always sleeps with Gerard. He says he’s always running from dracs, and they shoot him, but he doesn’t die. At the end they always catch him, and he wakes up right before he can bleed to death.”

“That’s what happened in my dream.”

Ray sighs. “You really love Frank, don’t you?”

“Yeah,” I reply. “But not nearly as much as you.” He grins and lays back down next to me, his solid arms wrapping around my body as I snuggle closer to him.

“I love you, Ginny,” he whispers, his hazelly-brown eyes glowing. In response, I kiss him softly, feeling him smile as my fingers trace tiny patterns along his bare collarbone. His hands rest lightly on my waist, not daring to travel any lower, probably for fear of Gerard. I stifle a laugh as I think of what Gee would do if he saw us now.

He finally leans away from me, gasping for oxygen. I smirk; I’m not even remotely out of breath. “You’re one damn good kisser, you know that?” he murmurs. I laugh and lock my lips onto his again, and all of a sudden the fake chastity of the scene melts away. My fingers grip his broad shoulders as he grabs my hips, pulling me toward him, and one of my legs tosses itself carelessly around his. After a few minutes his lips trail down to my neck, where he finds a soft spot right above my collarbone and starts to nibble gently at my skin.

“You know that Gerard will kill you if you give me a hickey, right?” I mutter, my voice surprisingly hoarse. He grunts in acknowledgement and suddenly bites down on my skin, hard, and I feel my chest expanding as I inhale sharply.

After another fifteen minutes or so, we finally decide to at least attempt to get some sleep. I curl up with my face buried in Ray’s shoulder, and he leaves his arms around me, sighing blissfully as I give his solid neck one last kiss. Within minutes, we’re both asleep.