Another Way | Adopted by Gerard Way (Book Three)

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Gerard wasn't worried when Harley didn't come down for breakfast as early as usual. He didn't blame her in the slightest, especially considering he'd barely been able to get out of bed himself. He'd only been motivated to go downstairs when Lindsey said something about putting a pot of coffee on. Still, not even coffee, a liquid that usually felt like Heaven itself flowing through his veins, could make him feel ready for the day.

He sat at one end of the dining table, steaming mug in one hand, book in the other (he'd decided to pick up Dune by Frank Herbert again for the first time in years), but he wasn't paying attention to either of them. Instead, his mind was still stuck in the loop it'd fallen into as soon as he'd heard Harley scream herself awake from her nightmare.

Lindsey squeezed Gerard's shoulders, then sat at the table at his diagonal. She held her own steaming mug of coffee and took sips from it with a sympathetic look in his direction.

"You get any sleep?" she asked.

He looked up at her and the bags under his eyes seemed to deepen. He said, "I dozed off eventually," which was true, only his light sleep was broken as soon as the sun rose.

"Take it easy today," Lindsey suggested. "I'm sure Harley will be doing the same."

"Yeah, yeah, probably, but she usually just—wait, no," Gerard suddenly interrupted himself, a smile spreading across his face and lighting up all his features, "we said we'd hang out today. Harley and I are gonna hang out today."

Lindsey smiled, too, and as Gerard's smile was like mid-summer, hers was like an autumnal sunset. "That's great, Gee! What are you two going to get up to?"

"I don't know, we haven't planned anything specific," he said, dog-earing the page he was on and closing the book, resting it on the table next to his mug. "We're just gonna go with the flow, I guess, see where the day takes us."

"Harley's really good at that, isn't she? She doesn't seem to plan ahead very much."

"No, no, she doesn't really flow in an easygoing kind of way; she's more like a waterfall."

At that moment, the waterfall walked into the dining room.

She didn't meet anyone's eyes and she carried herself like there were weights on her shoulders. Gerard pulled out the chair opposite Lindsey and motioned for Harley to sit.

"Morning, kiddo," he said lightly, but he wasn't sure what else to say. He felt it would have been adding insult to injury if he asked her how she slept, or even how she was feeling when she was so obviously feeling like Hell.

"Morning," Harley said, sitting with her chin resting in her hands, perhaps the only thing keeping her head from falling onto the table.

"You want some breakfast, girly?" Lindsey asked.

Harley, regarding the table as though secrets of the universe were carved into the woodgrain, took a moment to reply. Gerard guessed it was because she always lost her appetite when she was anxious. She finally said, "Yeah, I guess so. Thanks, Linds," so Lindsey, assuring Harley that it was no problem and that'd she'd put some waffles in the toaster, made her way to the kitchen.

"Is there anything fun you want to do today?" Gerard asked Harley, hoping to start cheering her up.

"I was talking to Mason earlier 'cause I still couldn't sleep, so I texted him, and we planned on hanging out today," Harley replied still without meeting Gerard's eyes which unlit themselves like candles in the wind.

"Oh, yeah, of course. You can do that."

"He's probably going to pick me up around noon."

"Sounds good," Gerard said, which was a lie. He couldn't blame her for forgetting after the eventful night, just like he couldn't blame her for being tired or for not wanting to recount her nightmare to him, but it still hurt. The summer was half over by now and, even though he was glad Harley had made friends and was having a good time, he regretted not spending enough days with her so far.