Through the Glass

Five years ago in the United States, a new disease broke out that baffled scientists. Unlike others of its kind, the disease didn’t seem to be affected by and medicine, nor could it be destroyed through any other means. It was also highly contagious, spread through the saliva of others. They called it the White Virus, and once you contracted it, death was eminent.
Between the years of 2018 and 2020, the virus killed close to 70 percent of the world’s population, including 60 percent of the United States and 55 percent of Europe. By the year 2021 people were still dying off before people realized the only way the disease could be stopped (as they still had no idea of the cause) was to isolate everyone affected, then dispose of their remains. They sent the infected people to special holding centers far away from the remaining population to live out their remaining days in agony away from civilization. This seemed to help, and by the year 2025, there were only about 30 new cases reported each year.

When someone contracted the White Virus, the only visible symptoms were that they would slowly become very pale, and eventually, their hair would become a bleached white color. As for the internal affects, the disease would raise your body temperatures so high that it would damage your internal organs, thus killing you slowly and painfully. Every person who contracted it was dead within a few weeks. Well, all but one.

Gerard Arthur Way contracted the virus in the winter of 2024 when he was only 19 years old. Like everyone else, he was sent to a holding center, but unlike everyone else, he stayed alive. In fact, it took until the summer of 2025 for someone to notice and he was sent back to be tested on by scientists to figure out why he was still living.

To keep the scientists safe, however, they kept him in airtight glass box that they pumped oxygen into to keep him living. It was clear so he could be observed, and a tube was inserted so he could be fed three times a day. From the years 2025 until 2027, a scientist by the name of Dr. Martins was assigned to observe his behavior, in an attempt to figure out why he was immune. In the winter of 2027, the scientist contracted the White Virus and died, leaving the position open.

It was now the spring of 2028, Gerard was 23. The scientist finally found a promising new graduate that could fill Dr. Martin’s position.

---

Frank looked around the labs with his bright, excited, hazel eyes. He tried to pay attention to what his floor manager was telling his, but there was just so much see, and it was all so confusing anyway…

“So, Iero, this is our secure room where we work on performing experiments and learning more about the White Virus…and over here is where you’ll be working.” Dr. Denito stopped outside an unmarked door, pulling a key off the key ring she wore on her belt as she went. Before unlocking the door, she swiftly pulled a white mask out of her lab coat pocket and handed it to him, saying briskly. “Here you are, you’ll need to wear one of these every day, just a precaution.”

Then, she opened the door, leading him into another white room more modestly decorated then the others. A solid little table stood in the corner with a laptop on top, and other then that, the only other things in the room were a door, and, in the corner, sat a large glass box that might normally be used to house some sort of animal.

As Frank mover closer, however, he saw that instead of an animal, there stood a rather tall; man wearing what looked like a hospital robe. He had hazel eyes like Frank, and very pale skin. Most noticeably though was the vivid shock of white hair on his head, marking his as contaminated by the Virus.

“Iero, this is specimen 15663 and you’ll spend the next few years of your career studying and observing how he reacts to the experiments we conduct on him. 15663 was found in a holding facility in the 2025 still living even after contracting the Virus over a year ago. Now, we use him to see how the Virus reacts to certain things, and what makes him immune while no one else is. Though, there are some rules when it comes to how to properly interact with 15663.” She took a deep breath, and in his encasement, 15663 seemed to glance up, and, ever so slightly, raise one white eyebrow.

“Rule one, you may not, under any circumstances, communicate with or contact him in any way. Rule two, never ever forget to record the results of any of the experiments in your laptop here, and of course, make sure to keep results orderly. I’ll send one of our Tec people over in a few minutes to show you how to properly do it. Rule four, you may never interfere with any experiments, remember, you are here just to record. And, most importantly, rule three. Under no circumstances may you ever open that enclosure, because doing so will have the same effect as jumping out of a fourth story window, you’ll die.” With that, she walked out, leaving the room, and Frank was left with only the blank walls and 15663 for company.

---

Over the next couple of weeks, Frank did as he was supposed to, and seemed to be getting the hang of his new job. For the most part, he actually didn’t mind it as much as he thought he would, because for the most part, 15663 didn’t really do anything during the testing, just stood staring with his angry eyes at the scientist that were keeping him imprisoned. He never spoke, and certainly never acknowledged it if what the scientist were doing hurt him.

All except for one time, this stood out vividly in Frank’s mind. 15663 had been sleeping, when Dr. Denito had decided to test if a certain gas would be able to kill the Virus. Unfortunately, that meant cutting off the air supply in 15663’s container, they knew it was a risk, but the scientists were willing to take it.

Frank sat watching in the corner logging into the computer when suddenly a horrible choking sound reached his ears. He jerked up, and then jumped back when he saw what was happening. 15663’s eyes had nearly bugged out of his head and he grabbed at his throat in surprise, falling forward onto his knees. He began to gasp and cough reaching on hand out to scrabble at the glass, begging and pleading with them.

“He can’t breathe!” Frank shouted, as if that wasn’t already obvious. Nobody responded and now 15663 was staring to retch noisily. “Dr. Denito!”

“Don’t worry Iero, we’re finished now.” With that, the scientist exited the room, leaving Frank to make notes and observations, but as he was recording, he looked over he noticed that 15663 was still slumped over.

After a few minutes of silent debate in his head, he finally decided to ignore the rules he had been giving and see if the man was okay. “Are you alright?” He asked hesitantly, wondering if 15663 even knew how to speak.

15663 just glared, not responding, but also not getting up off the floor. Finally, he whispered in a horse voice. “Never bothered you before.”

He sounded weak, and Frank was hit with a pang of guilt, he had never really paid attention to how they treated their ‘specimen’, just done his job like he was supposed to. Did they even feed him? “I’m…really sor-”

“No, don’t apologize. You’re not really sorry anyway. Just write your stupid results. Here, I’ll even give them to you; the stupid fucking gas didn’t do shit just like everything else they do! But they pretend, oh, they pretend all right. Act like they have some kind of lead just so they can get funding to keep prodding me! Tell me, when has torturing me actually produced any results? Then, they rub it in my face by pretending I’m not even human, they call me a specimen, give me some fake fucking numbers instead of a real name! How would you like to be called 15663 for the rest of your life, huh? Make it a rule that no one can talk to me, contact me at all. Maybe they think if they treat me like an animal, torture wouldn’t apply in anyway. They keep me in a glass box for God’s sake! A cage! My name’s Gerard, all right? Not 15663! <b>Gerard!”

He probably would have said even more after that, but after years of silence, his voice wasn’t use to so much work and suddenly died, giving Frank a chance to take everything he had said in.

“15- I mean, Gerard I really am sorry about this, and I promise, I’ll help you get out.” Before he had even finished the sentence though, Gerard was already shaking his head, mouthing the words ‘Don’t bother’. He still seemed a little upset, and Frank was about to try to comfort him further, when Dr. Denito walked back in.

“Iero, you finished recording yet?”

“I- yes.” He answered quietly, silently praying that Gerard wouldn’t give him away, he truly needed this job. However, surprisingly, he didn’t say anything, just glared at them as he always did.

“Well?”

“There were no results, Doctor; it just seemed to weaken Ge- 15663 by a lot.”

“I suppose we’re just going to have to repeat that experiment, to make sure. The results we got don’t truly make sense, to tell you the truth, so make sure you’re he promptly at nine tomorrow.” Then she was gone.

“Gerard, I promise, I’ll stop her, no human deserves to be treated like this, Virus or not!” Despite these words, Frank felt horrible, Gerard wouldn’t even look at him as he left the room for the night, turning off the lights and plunging the box and it’s inhabitant into darkness.

---

True to his word, Frank was there the next day bright and early. In fact, he was there so early that hardly anyone had even arrived yet, and no one from his department was in. “Morning.” He said smoothly to Dr. Harlton, trying to keep his composure and praying that he didn’t ask why he was here so early. Fortunately, neither Dr. Harlton nor any of the other scientists did, and he managed to make it down to his room without attracting attention.

He entered breathing rather heavily from nerves, and then quieted when he noticed that Gerard was still asleep. Frank stopped for a second to observe the other, realizing that he really was quite stunning. His high cheekbones complimented his hazel eyes that were now closed, and his porcelain skin looked so delicate, Frank would have been afraid to touch it for fear of spoiling it. His long, rather bony fingers were curled around the sleeves of his robe, and Frank felt another pang of guilt, realizing how cold it must get at night. More than anything, he wished that he could allow the man a little more sleep, but he couldn’t.

“Gerard?” He called softly, feeling badly when he jolted awake and looked around blearily for a moment before his eyes settled on the shorter. Gerard inclined his head slightly as if to ask ‘yes?’ and Frank wondered if his voice was still gone.

“Come on, let’s get you out of here before all the other scientists come, I came early.” When the man glass didn’t move, he blinked, wondering if he’d done something wrong. “Let’s go.” He said weakly, still wanting to save him.

“Frank,” Gerard whispered, putting his hands up to the glass and standing so that their eyes were almost level. “I could never let you do that. If you even so much as let me out, you would be in prison for life, and I’m not worth that.” At this, Frank tried to protest, and he shushed him softly before continuing. “The most I can ask of you is that you do what you can. Just talking is plenty for me, so thank you.”

“You deserve so much better than this…” He whispered, mostly to himself, Gerard just smiled sadly.

“I’m glad someone thinks so.”

“How could they do this to you?”

“…I don’t know. I could never do this to another human. I was treated better at the containment center!”

They talked for the rest of the morning, but eventually had to stop when the other started to arrive. Try as he might to stop the experiment to take place that morning, Frank eventually had to give in, realizing that there was nothing more he was able to do.

If anything, the second time was even worse than the first, because this time, Dr. Denito was determined to get results, and cared even less about Gerard’s safety then before. Again, Frank watched in terror as Gerard writhed on the ground. He tried not to appear bothered by it, but it was hard. He managed to do a good job up until when Gerard’s eyes suddenly rolled back into his head and he slumped to the floor of the box.

“Oh my God!” He cried.

“He’s fine.” Dr. Denito snapped, still not making a move to help him.

Seconds dragged by and Gerard’s body stooped twitching and lay still. She kept pushing, waiting for something to happen, when finally, another head scientist murmured. “Doctor, you don’t want to damage him, you should probably end the experiment.”

Please Frank prayed wordlessly. Just end it now, nothing’s going to happen… At first, it looked like the doctor was going to protest, then sighed and reconnected the air tube. Still, Gerard didn’t move.

She turned to the other, already giving them new instructions. “Well, as it seems 15663 isn’t able to undergo any more testing today, you are all free to go home. Iero, you can go to, after you record. Just make sure you lock up on the way out.”

He waited impatiently for them to leave before hurrying over to see how he was. Gerard was still crumpled at the bottom and wasn’t showing any signs of movement. Without even thinking, Frank reached up and yanked the lid of the box.

When that didn’t seem to do much good, Frank realized that he needed to get Gerard out of there. So, being as careful as he could, he climbed down and gently scooped Gerard out, then lowered him back onto the ground before climbing out himself. Thinking that he would need a glass of water when he woke up, Frank ran out of the room for a second to go grab one from the bubbler. When he returned, however, he was met with quite a shock.

Gerard was sitting up in the middle of the room, looking dazed and confused, but his face seemed to clear a little bit when he saw the smaller.

“Frank?” He croaked. “What’s going on and…what am I doing out of that cage?”

“You passed out during…during testing. They didn’t care, so they all went home, after they did that, I was able to let you out.”

“Well, thank you.”

And that was that. Shortly after that, Frank was forced to go home, but that didn’t change what had happened that day. For once in his life, Frank had someone to actually care about other than himself. The Virus had killed his parents a few years ago, and after that, he had been all alone.

Gerard changed that.

Every day after testing, Frank would stay late and let Gerard stretch his legs outside of his encasement. Despite Gerard’s original hesitation, it didn’t take long for the two to become close. Frank ended up learning quite a lot about Gerard in those few weeks, including that he used to have a brother, named Mikey, but the Virus had also killed him a few weeks before Gerard tested positive for it.

The testing was also becoming increasingly more and more damaging to Gerard. One particular day stood out very clearly in both of their minds.

In a desperate attempt to get results, Dr. Denito had attached sensors to him and used electricity to try to raise his body temperature. At the time, Gerard had just gritted his teeth as the volts had shot through him, but after just he and Frank remained, he had collapsed into the other’s arms, begging for death.

It had made Frank want to cry just watching it.

“Gee,” He said, wishing more than anything that he could help Gerard feel the love that he really deserved. Over the past couple weeks, he had developed…feelings for Gerard, but he still wasn’t quite sure if the other felt the same way. “Please, don’t even say that. What would I do without you?”

The other continued to cry, whispering, “You’d be fine, you don’t need me. I’m just putting you at risk anyway.”

So Frank did the only thing he could think of to show Gerard he honestly cared; he removed his mask. Over the past month, they had always been very careful to take precautions so that Frank wouldn’t become infected too. Now, he couldn’t have cared less.

“Frank,” The older stuttered in surprise. “W-what are you doing?”

“Showing you.” He replied simply, before gently pressing their lips together. Surprised by this, Gerard’s eyes widened as they stared into Frank’s liquid hazel ones, enjoying the feelings, but suddenly a terrible thought struck him and he pulled away roughly.

“Frank!” He looked a little embarrassed, afraid that Gerard didn’t like him like that and hurried to apologize. Before he could, however, the other was already tenderly placing the mask back onto his face, saying. “I don’t want you to get sick; you know how contagious the Virus is!”

Frank nodded, he hadn’t really been thinking about that. But secretly, he was glad that Gerard hadn’t said anything about the kiss.

Even since that day, Frank was determined to keep Gerard safe and happy, not caring about the cost, and for the first time in Gerard’s life, he was. He cared for Frank like he had never cared for anyone before, and they spent nearly every waking moment together, when the scientists weren’t there of course.

After the first kiss, they didn’t have many more, Gerard made sure of that. He always said that he would never forgive himself if Frank caught it from him, but every now and then, the mask would slip off and he would allow himself a few minutes tasting those addicting lips. They never went further than that, they never could. Nevertheless, it was no secret that they both desperately wanted to.

Another constant worry was the looming threat of Dr. Denito. It was obvious that she suspected that Frank wasn’t exactly trustworthy. She was always questioning Frank on why he needed to stay after everyone else.

One night, she decided that she had had enough, she was curious as to what Iero was up to. Was he doing extra research? Tampering with information? But when she peaked into 15663’s room a few hours after closing time, her eyes almost bugged out of her head with what she saw.

Iero was perched on 15663’s lap, and he was settled with his back to his enclosure, laughing at something the other had said. She was astonished, this was far worse than anything she could have imagined, but it got even more horrifying.

“I have to go, baby.” Iero whispered, resting his head on the taller’s shoulders.

“Why?” 15663 whined, snaking his arms around his stomach, holding him close.

“They already suspect something’s up, Gee.” Gee? Who was Gee?

“Alright, alright, I guess I’ll see you tomorrow then, darling?” Iero nodded, then, before Dr. Denito’s very eyes, 15663 gently removed the other’s safety mask, and delicately placed a kiss on his lips.

She was about to turn and sneak about before Frank, but suddenly, she heard something that made her push her ear to the door again. “Frankie? Are you feeling all right? You look a little pale, darling…” Pale? He couldn’t possibly…

“Oh I’m fine. And don’t worry; I’m not going to come down with the Virus just by kissing you.”

“I suppose you’re right, if anything, your hair actually looks a little darker…”

“Really? Must be the light, I suppose.”

Just the light? Dr. Denito knew better, and even more than that, she now had a way to stop this from ever happening again.

---

Gerard waited impatiently through the night, unable to sleep. It seemed like the nights without his Frankie seemed to grow longer with each passing one. Therefore, he was a little surprised when the clock outside struck nine, and Frank still wasn’t there.

At long last, the door opened, and Gerard burst out, “Baby, what took you so long? Normally you’re here so early, I was wor-” But he broke off, horror in his eyes when he saw that it wasn’t Frank standing before him. He quickly shut his mouth, looking away pointedly.

“You don’t need to act like that, Gerard. Oh, yes, I know all about you and Frankie.”

“But how…?”

“It wasn’t that difficult to figure out, but that’s actually not why I’m here. I…regret to inform you that Mr. Iero will no longer be working here; it actually looks like he came down with the Virus, believe it or not. Yes, I wonder how that could have happened. Good day now.” She was closing door, when she heard a sudden shout and whipped around, grim smile playing on her face.
“Liar!”

“What? Me, I would never…”

“He didn’t have the Virus, and I can prove it! His hair-”

“Was not yet white? Ironically enough, when they found him last night, he was actually out buying more hair dye. He’s been dying it for weeks; don’t tell me you haven’t noticed?” Gerard gasped in shock and mentally slapped himself. Of course!

“Wait, who found him?”

“The containment center guards. I’m afraid you really won’t ever be seeing him again.”

“That’s an evil, evil place, and you know it!”

Dr. Denito laughed suddenly, “I don’t make the rules, I just follow them.” Then she paused, frowning in concentration.

“Gone…” Gerard whispered brokenly, but she didn’t seem to notice.

“Say, 15663-”

“Gerard.”

“Gerard, it seems as if…well, would you mind if I did just one last experiment?”

“Just one?”

“Well, I’ve actually been developing this new pill against the Virus, actually, problem is, the government thinks it’s too dangerous for me to test it on any humans. I’ve tried monkeys, but the results are just too inconclusive. Would you mind…?”

And he almost said no. Why should he help the woman who had made his life a living hell from the moment he had set foot in her labs? Then again, if he didn’t...

There would be more tests, more pain, but this time, Frankie wouldn’t be here at the end of it all. He was going to die anyway, and maybe, just maybe, this pill could cure him. Hell, maybe it would even be able to save Frank one day!

Besides, without his Frankie, what was the point?

“I’ll do it.”

“Thought you might say that, here.” She swiftly opened the hatch to the food chute, tapping her foot irritatingly when he took time turning it over and over in his palm. “Any day now, 15663.”

Well, here goes nothing…