Melodramatic Metathesiophobe

Better

He was barely leaving his room after finishing up getting dressed when someone, he surmised Mikey, started to incessantly knock on his door. He knew he shouldn't have mentioned the scratches.

The moment the door was opened, Mikey was running in and tackling Ray in a bony hug. "You look like crap!!" he was smiling though, pulling back to shift his glasses to the end of his nose.

"Thanks," Ray rolled his eyes, "I just took a shower." he turned, getting back to the couch, needing to sit before his aching head put him down for longer.

"Yeah, well, when's the last time you shaved?" Mikey plopped next to him, holding out a thermos that smelled amazingly of coffee with too much creamer, "you're getting back to looking like a bear again, remember how much of a pain it was to shave all that off? You broke your drain,"

"Correction, I almost broke my drain," Ray took the thermos with a small thanks and drank slowly, "I'm just a great plumber, you know, I went to like, three years of school for it,"

"Yeah yeah, and you got your masters in sarcasm," Mikey shoved his shoulder, immediately apologizing when Ray winced, "I know, I know. Now, how's your head? Is it still hurting?" he inspected Ray's face close and almost made him turn away. There was this thing he did, some sort of staring, it was impossible to lie to him. And even if you did he could always tell. It was no use trying to fib about it.

"Unfortunately yes," Ray sighed and sat back, itching his hair and rubbing his eyes, taking another drink of coffee. Or trying to. Mikey nabbed it.

"Caffeine is not going to help you," he said strictly when Ray whined and tried to take the drink back, "I brought you Ibuprofen just in case, did you already take something for it?" he started to rummage in his backpack, the one he wore with him most places. He was an over packer. That did mean, though, that he was prepared when unfortunate things happened, which Ray was often thankful for.

"Nah. I didn't think it would do anything--" but Mikey was already shoving the bottle into his hands. He groaned quietly and took two of the capsules dry, ignoring the face Mikey made as he reached for the coffee again to help him swallow. They were quiet for a moment then, Ray drinking and waiting impatiently for the medicine to do its job.

"You said you angered a coyote?" Mikey finally said, and Ray gave him a sharp nod, "I didn't know those were native here. And I also didn't know they attacked people."

Ray rolled up his sleeve indignantly and showed off the scratches. They looked better than when they were dirty, much less red and more like a cat scratch. If the cat had been left in Chernobyl for, like, a year, and its paws got huge.

Mikey winced a little and reached out to touch, hesitant until Ray nodded, carefully resting his fingers on the skin below the scratch. It was warm to the touch and irritated. "You sure this wasn't just from falling or something?"

"I'm glad you think I'm crazy," Ray was a little curious, his skin feeling cooler where Mikey touched, "remember, this is my house, I've seen enough horror movies to know what to do with your body,"

"Shut up, you wouldn't." Mikey paused, "you wouldn't, right?"

Ray laughed sharply. "Of course not, Mikes, what kind of psycho do you take me for?"

"The one who wanders the woods alone in the middle of the night talking to himself," Mikey leaned over to inspect closer, apologizing again when Ray twitched away.

"Fair, fair," Ray sighed, sitting back, "but it's pretty hard to write this off as a fall," he lifted his shirt up, too focused on trying to make sense of everything to be ashamed of his slight belly. He was only nervous about it when Mikey was around--which was often--because the boy was so thin he looked as though too strong of a breeze would just knock him over. Ray wasn't overweight, he just had a bit of meat. That didn't mean he didn't get a little jealous of the fact that Mikey remained paper thin regardless of what he ate.

Mikey's face went stone for a minute, then darkened. He touched the skin, making Ray want to shiver, and bit his lip softly. "How did this even happen?" Mikey asked, his fingers smooth over Ray's skin, "how did you get bitten?? Did you try to pet it or something???"

"I'm not that stupid," Ray mumbled, rolling his eyes, "I was trying to get away and I stepped on a branch. It must have thought I was prey or something,"

"Yes, a six foot tall rabbit," Mikey rolled his eyes to mock Ray's action, "I mean, the story checks out, but aren't coyotes like, a third of your height?"

"It was black," Ray said, cutting in, "I don't think it was a coyote."

"Wolf then. At least it looks like you cleaned this up fine," Mikey pulled away and Ray almost protested because, really, the cold of Mikey's fingers felt nicer than it should have.

"I'd hope so," he pushed his shirt down, "I'm bandaging them later. I was letting them breathe." and Mikey nodded again, sitting back against the couch. There was another round of silence where neither of them spoke. There wasn't really much to say about it. About anything.

"Are you staying then?" Ray joked, and Mikey shrugged, looking at the clock. Close to seven.

"I could, if you want," he picked at his nails, "I'd just have to call Gee and make sure he knows where I am," and Ray nodded, though he was jealous about that too. If he were to call his own brother, he'd probably be asked if he was a scammer or told that the line was going to voicemail. Mikey and Gerard were close, really close, getting along way better than siblings tended to, and Ray had even asked how they managed it once. Mikey had simply shrugged it off and blamed it on similar interests mixed with the fact that, when they'd fight, they'd realize it and ask if the other wanted to watch movies, which usually resolved the issue completely. Ray wondered if he'd ever be that close with anyone. He had crushes and dates in high school but nothing that went past a couple weeks or a month. Often they split because he was scared of total commitment or they thought he was a nerd.

Mikey was finished calling Gerard by the time Ray shook out of his thoughts, returning to the couch, flopping onto it. "Yeah, I can stay, Gee just wants me home before noon," he kicked his feet up onto Ray's coffee table, which he usually would have scolded someone for, but often exceptions were made for those named Michael Way.

Ray nodded, smiling a little, and got up. "Butter popcorn and The Crow?" he asked, and the smile that cracked Mikey's cheeks in half made his chest warm. "Put the movie in. I've got the popcorn," and he genuinely felt better about it all.

//Author's Notes\\

We're getting through the slow parts! Woo! I promise it gets better soon ;)

~XO, Vacant.~