The Majesty of Choice

Emotion

When Ray gets back from his errands, he's not entirely expecting to find Gerard huddled on the ground of his room crying but then again, it's not entirely unexpected either. This had to happen sooner or later. With Hattie and Olive being the new menaces of the household, one can expect at least a little bit of existential sorrow heading their way. Ray hadn't expected it to be soon, but it was inevitable all the same.

Nevertheless, when he walks up the stairs and hears Gerard weeping to himself behind the door, the door that Ray knows he's still not comfortable living behind, he knows that shit has happened.

Ray knocks first, and Gerard stops suddenly, like he's expecting a hurricane to sweep in and carry everything else away. As soon as Ray speaks up to Gerard to inform him that it's him, and not one of the other three, Gerard seems to have an audible sigh of relief even though a huge hunk of wood stands between the two of them.

"I'm coming in," Ray says, and Gerard moves out of the way so as not to get squished by the door as it creaks open. So maybe he wouldn't be smashed but it might ding his elbow and Gerard is in a very fragile state right now so he really doesn't want to be injured again in any way.

"I'm guessing that something really bad happened?" Ray asks, which deserves a few eye rolls but Gerard seems too lost in his own thoughts to even muster up the energy to do that.

"They made me..." Gerard starts and then he drifts off looking at the wall in front of him like he's lost in it. Ray closes the door quickly but there's really not enough room for two people in this tiny little closet of a bedroom, and he doesn't know how on earth Gerard has managed not to stub his toes enough times for them to just give up and fall off. It seems like a very serious danger in this place.

"Made you what?" Ray asks, and he lowers himself to his knees but there's even less room when he does that then there was before. He doesn't know where else to go so he just resigns to stand against the door in as sympathetic a fashion as he possibly can when Gerard is lying on the floor like he's just been stabbed. Ray, after quickly assesses to the situation to see that Gerard is not bleeding so thankfully, this is not the case. Though he wouldn't be surprised given the state of him.

"Patrick," Gerard mumbles.

"Yeah?" Ray asks. Gerard doesn't continue, he just blows his nose into his sleeve which doesn't seem entirely sanitary but he's a mess right now so Ray decides to let it go for the time being, but he most definitely will be washing that shirt extra thoroughly.

"They said something really shitty to Patrick didn't they?" Ray asks.

"Made me," Gerard says, and Ray starts to understand why Gerard's on the floor like this. Who wouldn't be?

"They made you say something mean to him?" Ray guesses.

Gerard just nods and Ray curses a million times to that damn fairy who's ruined Gerard's life so many times over, but this is a new low. This is an entirely different attack on him. Before, it's been petty, sure this isn't the first time Gerard's cried over what he's been told to do but it's surely the worst of it yet.

Gerard's been told to do some awful things, he once had to mouth off to a teacher which ended disastrously, and he broke his foot jumping from a window, and he once even had to stay quiet for almost a week when someone told him to stop talking, but this is a new level.

"Ray," Gerard says, sniffling and sounding like a wreck which is what he is at the moment so it's a fitting term to describe him.

"What?"

"My life hasn't been all that easy. I've been made to do some awful things. But this... this is the worst thing that the curse has ever made me do."