MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE ONESHOTS

the woods

(trigger warning for violence, death/mentions of death, and monsters)

(this isn't as good as the ghost series- oh well. also this chapter is proof of my false advertising because this isn't frerard. it's kind of rikey? ok well enjoy hhssmsmjsns)

Mikey Way was a very normal kid. He was the sort of kid that lived on your street, the sort of kid that your parents would force you to play with when you just moved in. The sort of kid who was a massive nerd, and even if he gained popularity, looks, money, fame... he still knew every single word in every single Star Trek movie by heart.

Mikey was so lame, he was a mistake. His parents didn't even mean to have him, so when they did, they pretty carelessly raised him, not even picking up a single parenting book. They forced him to do all of the chores and housework, and sometimes even hit him if he was "doing it wrong." He only had his older brother, Gerard, — who was not a mistake — but even he had to go away for college.

Fortunately for Mikey, he was no longer tortured at home since his parents died in a car crash via drunk driving. Unfortunately for Mikey, he didn't have any living relatives. He was being forced to leave his home for an orphanage, but he didn't want to. When he was told to pack, he grabbed all of the things he would need to survive and climbed out of the window of his room.

He had nearly nowhere to go: his dead Aunt Marie once lived nearby, but the house had been sold to a young couple, and his own home was filled with the people from the orphanage. He had no friends that would take him in except for his friends who lived in a completely different town. He didn't have a car, and he didn't know how to drive. The only place he could go was the forest near his house. So Mikey ran into the woods, unsure and anxious, but kept his head up high, each step through the tough soil of the forest fueled by rebellion and anger.

The woods were a lot denser then he'd thought. He was quite deep in now, and the soil grew richer and more moist and brown. More grass grew deep in the woods, and the trees were even thicker and healthier. There was a stream, and he even saw a deer drinking from it.

Soon, it was getting dark, and Mikey had no shelter other than the canopy of trees above him. He was only fourteen, way too young to be living in the woods on his own, in his opinion, and he didn't know what predatory animals crept out in the night.

He ate a breakfast bar that was in his backpack and sat on a tree stump, sighing. His eyes were sad and tired, but his expression uneasy.

He was just starting to relax when he heard a crunching noise in the bushes. He quickly grabbed a stick as defense and cautiously approached the shrubbery. He raised his stick in the air as if it was a baseball bat... and a human stood up, his face covered in mud and leaves in his thick brown hair.

Mikey was taken aback as he slowly dropped his weapon. His eyebrows were raised high up his forehead. "Wh-who are you?" he finally managed.

The boy, who looked about his age, wiped his nose, his eyebrows lowered in confusion and slight alarm. "That depends. Who are you?" he asked.

Mikey thought for a moment. Should he lie? What was the best thing to do when you saw a strange kid in the woods?

"I'm Mikey," he finally stated. "So who are you?"

The kid's eyes seemed to flash with the reflection of the moon. He scratched the back of his neck. "I'm Ray. What are you doing out here?"

Mikey looked backwards, as if he could see his old home from this deep in the woods. "I ran away." Then he turned back to face Ray and tilted his head a little. "And you?"

"I live here," Ray said simply.

Mikey's eyebrows scrunched up even more. "You do? How?"

Ray hesitated. "Reasons," he finally said. "I don't know if I can trust you. You won't call the cops, will you?"

Now Mikey was even more confused. "I... I don't think so. What've you done wrong?"

Ray took a deep breath. His eyes flashed again. "I'm a werewolf."

Mikey laughed. "That's not true, weirdo."

Ray shrugged. "You'll see if you last to tomorrow night in the woods."

● ● ●

With a little help from Ray, Mikey was able to survive his first night and second day in the forest. Ray showed Mikey a fort that he had built underneath a tree's roots and how to scavenge for edible (and not poisonous) berries and mushrooms. All in all, they had a pretty nice day. Mikey had almost completely forgotten about Ray's weird werewolf situation, but when the sun was preparing to sink down, he started to think about the likelihood of Ray actually being a werewolf. I mean, he did live in the woods.

It was when the sun began to slip through the horizon line when Ray told Mikey, "I need you to not freak out. I'm going to be right back." And he marched into the bushes towards their tree root fort. Mikey waited for what seemed like ages for Ray to come back, but the Ray that he knew didn't come back until the next morning. Instead, along came a boy with long, knife-like fangs and claws. The hair on his arms was slightly thicker, and his eyes were yellow-y. Mikey's breath caught in his throat and he began to back away.

"No, Mikey, it's just me," the creature explained exasperatedly. "Ray."

Mikey continued to back away, a little more quickly. "How do I know you're not lying? You didn't, like, eat him or something, right?"

Ray rolled his eyes. "Yes, of course, Mikey, I ate your friend, Ray," he monotoned.

Mikey sighed in relief and stopped walking backwards. "Okay, it's you."

He carefully stepped closer to Ray, who, actually, didn't look too scary now that he looked at him. "You're not too bad," Mikey shrugged. "You actually look pretty cool."

Ray scoffed, but smiled, crossing his arms but making sure he didn't claw into his skin. "Yeah, thanks, Mikey."

Then Mikey smirked. "Does this make you a furry?"

Ray's eyes narrowed. "What's that?"

Mikey laughed and shook his head. "Nothing, it's fine."

And they sat down on the grassy forest floor, staring up at the stars through the roof of tree leaves above them, safe and happy. Mikey was still kind of bracing himself for Ray to claw his face off or something, but the fear was surprisingly thrilling when mixed with his excitement. Maybe things were looking up.