I Wasn't Asking for the World

Bob closed the door behind him, engulfing the room back into darkness. His pupils took a minute to adjust, and once they had he spotted the silhouette of Mikey sitting up in his bed.

"I hope I didn't wake you," Bob said softly. Mikey moved quickly to turn on his bedside lamp and quickly turned back to Bob. His face cracked into a grin at the sight of his longest and most familiar friend.

He scrambled off of the bed and thrust himself into a hug with Bob. Bob couldn't help but grin at Mikey's enthusiasm and hugged him back. Only a few seconds later, Mikey was separating from the hug and grabbing his notepad and pen and scribbling down what he wanted to say.

I didn't know you were coming. What are you doing here? How's school? How's Frank? Bob read once Mikey thrust it into his hands. Mikey sat on the bed watching his expression and waiting for a response.

Bob cringed, still looking at the paper in front of him not daring to look up yet, more out of shame for his own stupidity than anything else. How could he have ever thought that he could keep something as big as it was from Mikey? But how could he possibly tell this pathetic excuse for the boy that his brother and boyfriend had had an affair with each other? It would break him into even tinier pieces than he was already in.

"Yeah, I didn't know you were going to be here I thought you were still at uni. I came to see if Gerard had heard anything from you, obviously he had more than that." Bob said looking up at Mikey before perching next to him on the bed. "Why did you drop out Mikey? Was he really worth throwing your life away for?"

Mikey's eyes immediately glazed over and his mouth set itself in a straight line. He snatched the notebook out of Bob's hands and started scribbling words again.

You cannot possibly ask that. You knew what he meant to me. Is he okay?Mikey handed Bob the pad back looking at him expectantly with tight lips, trying not to break down yet.

Bob sighed and shook his head as he looked back at Mikey again. "No he's not. He's in just as much of a mess as you are, well maybe not quite as much but almost. He is very sorry." Bob spoke quietly and calmly.

Do you know why he did it? I don't buy any of that bullshit about distance, Peter tried to get me to think it had something to do with Gerard but I didn't buy that either. What would Peter know anyway? Tell me Bob, Why did he split up with me?Mikey wrote.

Bob, bit down on his tongue then shook his head again. "No I don't know," he lied through his teeth. It broke his heart to lie to Mikey and he wished he didn't have to but he couldn't help it. He could not break Mikey even more. At the same time he couldn't see a way to put him back together again either.

Mikey sighed and nodded, shifting on the bed so that he was lying down and looking up at the ceiling. Bob didn't quite know what to do, did he get up and leave or did he stay in the awkward silence hoping to help in some way?

"Do you want me to leave?" Bob finally asked, not bothering to just stay quiet any longer. Mikey shook his head and looked over at Bob with the faintest of smiles.

"You know, just because Frank helped you to talk again doesn't mean you have to stop again. If anything it should make you speak more, sign language brought you together," Bob said.

Mikey continued to look up at the ceiling silently, choosing not to do anything. Bob felt the awkwardness crawl in again. It was hard not to fall into an awkward silence when Mikey was around.

"Do you want me to get anything for you? Anything to eat or drink?" Bob asked after about ten drawling minutes of silence.

Mikey sat up and looked at Bob with one of those faint smiles again. "No." he said. Bob blinked a couple of times trying not to look too surprised. Instead he just gave a bright smile and patted Mikey's shoulder.

"I knew you wouldn't be able to stay like that for too long. I knew it would bring back memories for you." he said quietly.

"Only for you though. I don't want to talk to Gerard. Or anyone else." Mikey said.

"That's fair enough. I understand that." Bob said.

"You're the only one that understands. Can you stay the night?" Mikey asked just above a whisper.

Bob wasn't planning on it, nor had he scheduled for it but that didn't matter, he'd drop anything and everything for Mikey. Anything and everything."Of course I can."