I'm Scared

It was a normal Friday evening in the Way household. Mr. and Mrs. Way were out of the house, doing whatever they pleased; Gerard was in his room, reading comics; and Mikey was in the living room, playing video games at a loud volume.

Gerard sighed, quietly, as he put back another comic that wasn’t interesting him at the moment. He just didn’t want to flip through the pages that usually kept his attention. He contemplated calling Ray, but knew they would be bored out of their minds together and he didn’t want to cause Ray to be bored, as well. For all he knew, Ray was partying it up and enjoying the night.

Mikey bit his lip as he played his Batman game. He had been playing it every chance he got, which was mostly night hours when everyone else was sleeping. His mom hated games being played in the house, so he generally played at Frank’s house with the shorter boy, but when Donna was out of the house, he played until the car pulled into the driveway.

Gerard sighed again and went downstairs to see Mikey sitting forward in his seat, playing intensely. He plopped down by his younger brother, causing the boy to jump in shock and pause the game. “Geesh! You scared me, Gee!” Mikey shouted, glaring at the older boy.

Gerard chuckled, lightly, glad he found a way to keep himself entertained - Mikey Way, to be specific. “Sorry, Mikes. What’s you playing?”

Mikey shook his head, his heartbeat returning to the normal pace. “Arkham Asylum. You wanna play?”

“Nah,” Gerard answered, knowing with the amount of playing Mikey did, he’d kick his ass.

“Good,” Mikey said, smiling. “It’s only one player.” He unpaused the game and continued playing.

“Well, what if I did want to play?” Gerard asked, shaking his head with a smile.

“You’d be shit out of luck,” Mikey answered, a small smirk on his face. They sat there a few moments, the only sound coming from the game. They were having a peaceful moment, that shortly ended when there was a loud boom of thunder.

Mikey jumped at the sound, his fear of thunder - and lightning - kicking up. His palms started to sweat, his heart began racing, and his breath was coming out in shaky pants. He turned the game off, quickly, confusing his brother. “You okay, Mikey?” Gerard asked, noticing his odd behavior.

“Erm, yea. I’m just gonna go to bed. Night, Gee.” Mikey quickly ran upstairs, wanting to get into his bed with his iPod playing loudly before the next thunder clap came. His curtains were already covering his windows, so he shouldn’t see any of the lightning tonight - thank whatever God. What freaked Mikey out worst than the thunder, was lightning. He was glad he had practically no life, since he’d never be outside during a storm.

Gerard went upstairs as another bang of thunder sounded. He wasn’t convinced with Mikey’s answer and knew that his brother stayed up all night, usually. He got to the door with the KEEP OUT sign posted on it and walked in.

Gerard saw a lump under the covers and noticed “it” was shaking. He frowned and crossed the room to sit on the bed, causing the lump to jump. Mikey uncovered his head and slowly removed his ear-buds from his ears. “What, Gee? I’m tired,” Mikey lied, not wanting his older brother to think he was a loser. Who was afraid of thunder and lightning?? Gerard would surely not ever want to hang out with him again if he knew.

“Liar,” Gerard called him out, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Am not-ahh!” Another boom of thunder cut Mikey’s lie off. “I’m not lying!!”

“Are you scared of the thunder, Mikes?” Gerard asked as Mikey buried his head under the blankets again. “Mikey? Mikes? Come on, it’s nothin’ to be embarrassed about, Mikey.” Gerard wrapped his arms around the small, shaking boy.

“The hell it’s not,” Mikey muttered into his blankets.

“What? I can’t hear you,” Gerard teased, smiling. “It’s alright to be scared, Mikey. I’m scared of things too.”

“No you’re not,” Mikey told him, not convinced the older man would ever be afraid of something.

“Am too. I’m terrified of needles.”

“Needles actually hurt you and you have a better chance of being hurt by a needle than being hit by lightning,” Mikey told his older brother, being stubborn, and shivering at having to say the word lightning.

Gerard rolled his eyes. “You can’t die from being poked with a needle,” He lied. He knew if the needle was poked into the vein and then wasn’t bandaged correctly, you could bleed to death, but he tried not to dwell on such scary thoughts.

Mikey accepted Gerard’s lie and scowled at the blankets, not knowing how to prove his brother wrong. Being scared of lightning and thunder was lame. Very lame. Not cool in the least. Why would he want Gerard to think he was lame?

Gerard. The boy who Mikey had been crushing on ever since the ninth grade. When reading about Romeo and Juliet’s forbidden love, he thought of people who he’d be forbad to love. Gerard was at the top of his list. First, and foremost, Gerard was his brother. Second, Gerard was nineteen and Mikey was sixteen, meaning that if they ever dated - hah, as if - it’d be considered statutory rape. And finally, homosexuality was frowned upon by Mr. and Mrs. Way and most of the people at Mikey’s school.

Gerard was absolutely forbidden to Mikey and that’s what made the younger boy want him.

Yet another clap of thunder made Mikey jump out of his thoughts, literally, and caused Gerard to move behind Mikey and bring him into his arms. “It’s alright, Mikes. Being scared is nothing to be embarrassed about. Everyone’s scared of at least something.” Gerard brushed his lips across Mikey’s temple, in what he hoped was a comforting way. “Like Mom and Dad. You know what they’re scared of?”

“What?” Mikey asked, quietly.

“They’re scared of the one and only Frank Iero.”

Mikey let out a small laugh at that and then smiled. “Frank’s dad is Frank Iero as well,” He corrected Gerard.

“Fine. They’re scared of the little kid who thinks of Skittles like they’re a god or something. The little boy who jumps on people when he sees them. That’s who they’re scared of.”

Mikey giggled at Gerard’s slightly irritated voice. Gerard hated Mikey correcting him, but Mikey found it so amusing. “Frank’s scared of spiders,” He told Gerard, keeping on the subject of Frank and scary things.

Gerard snorted. “I know. He’s woken me up several times, when he stays over, to make me kill any if they’re in the bathroom. He also jumps around cause he doesn’t pee before making me kill the spider.”

Mikey giggled again, causing a smile to grace Gerard’s face. Gerard loved making Mikey smile and be happy. He hated when his little brother was sad and wanted to do nothing but keep Mikey happy.

Mikey cuddled into Gerard, enjoying the moment with him. A loud thunder bolt sounds, causing Mikey to jump and bury his face in his brother’s chest, whimpering. Gerard stroked Mikey’s hair, softly, and started to hum a song he had been trying to write for a little while. Mikey was soothed by the humming and his eyes started to droop.

Mikey jerked himself up when he realized that this could be the only moment with Gerard like this. More thunder thudded after, making his jerk look like his jumps from before. Mikey moved in Gerard’s arms so they were both more comfortable and snuggled closer. “I love you, Gee,” He whispered, feeling too tired to try and stay awake any more. Mikey leaned up a bit and gently pressed his lips to Gerard’s - shocking the older boy, quite a lot - and then promptly fell asleep in his big brother’s arms.

Gerard just held his little brother close. “I love you too, Mikes,” He whispered back to the sleeping boy. He laid his head on Mikey’s pillows and fell asleep, arms wrapped tightly around the smaller boy.