I Wasn't Asking for the World

Once Gerard had cleaned to beyond his normal limit he decided he should go for a shower since Peter and Mikey's conversation was in full flow and didn't seem to be about to stop any time soon.

Once out of the shower he took a quick peek at how Mikey and Peter were doing before going to get dressed after seeing that they were just the way they were when he left them.

As soon as he had finished getting dressed, the house phone rang. Forgetting his previous caution Gerard went out into the hallway and answered it with a bright "Hello?"

"Gerard, it's Frank," Frank's voice said on the other end of the line and Gerard heart soared in panic. He quickly took the phone with him into the nearest room, the bathroom, and closed the door after him.

"What do you want?" Gerard said in a hushed, controlled voice.

"Bob knows. I told him everything, so if you get a phone call-"

"Too late. I already did. Why did you tell him?" Gerard asked his tone harsh but still hushed.

"He noticed me acting differently. I needed to tell someone anyway, it was getting too much to handle. How can you-?" Frank started to gush out but Gerard spoke over him, drowning him out.

"You're lucky Peter was at the door. I managed to dodge him," Gerard said.

"Peter was there?" Frank asked his voice thick with curiosity and surprise.

"Still is. He's talking to Mikey now. If you could call it that. That's why I need to go," Gerard said urgently hanging up the phone before Frank could respond. He seemed to have less and less guts to deal with things lately.

Gerard sat down on the edge of the bath and put his head in his hands. He jumped when the phone started to ring again, right next to his ear. He couldn't just ignore it or Mikey and Peter would get suspicious so he reluctantly answered it, this time with a harsh "What?" thinking it would be Frank.

"Gerard, it's Bob. You better have a good-" Bob started but once again Gerard chickened out of confrontation and hung up. He quickly left the bathroom and unplugged the phone, to stop it from ringing.

So hanging up on Frank or Bob wasn't a good idea. It was only adding fuel to the fire but Gerard didn't realise that. Yet.

He went back through to Peter and Mikey, planning on ignoring them and hiding in the kitchen as he tried to mask the panic on his face. The odds were against him today though.

"Who was on the phone?" Peter asked, as if he knew exactly who had been on the other end of both of those phone calls.

"Oh uh just people trying to sell things. I hung up on them the first time and they called back, trying to be persistent." Gerard said with a shrug of his shoulders setting off into the kitchen again.

"Must have been trying to get a pay rise or something for them to phone back," Peter said suspiciously. Gerard just laughed not turning back to him and trying to busy himself in the kitchen.

It wasn't until he heard the front door slam shut that his head shot up from where he was washing already clean dishes to see whom had left. He was shocked to find Mikey still sitting curled up on the couch with his head in his knees. Peter hadn't even said goodbye. Hadn't even shouted to show Gerard that he was going to storm out.

Gerard quickly dried his hands and scooted round to the couch and put his arms around Mikey in an awkward comforting hug. "Are you okay? Why did he leave like that? What happened?" he asked completely forgetting how to just tread carefully and diving right in.

Mikey wriggled out of Gerard grip and shot off into his room leaving Gerard confused and bewildered. He wished he knew what the hell was going on already!