Stars

Chapter 12

At the creaking of the door, Mikey looked up to see his brother’s tearstained face and raised eyebrow. He nodded, and leaned into Gerard as he sat beside him, wrapping his arms around Mikey’s hunched over body. An unspoken apology passed as Gee let his head rest on Mikey’s shoulder, saying nothing to ridicule him as he wiped away tears from his face with the end of a slightly too small black hoodie.

“Is that mine?” Gerard turned to face Mikey, who nodded, pulling the sleeves over his hands. “I- Look, I’m so sorry, Mikes. For all of it.” He pulled his brother closer, trying to protect him from all the shit in the world, as if a hug would keep him safe forever. Mikey nodded, leaning into Gerard and trying to forget the memories and nightmares that had plagued him for over 2 years.

“I’m always gonna be there for you, Mikes. Don’t ever worry about that. I’ll call you when I’m at college, I promise. I’m going to stay here, you know I am. For you, for Frankie, for Ray. Hell, even for Pete. You’ll always be my amazing little brother, the one who can play the bass fucking amazingly, who can’t seem to keep his glasses on for more than ten seconds. You mean so much to me, I’m so sorry.”

Choking slightly on tears, Mikey leaned back and looked up at his brother, “Do-do you remember that one Christmas? Where you tried to learn the bass just so you could teach me how to play the one I got?” Gerard nodded, smiling. “I couldn’t do half the things I can now without you, Gee. I’m gonna miss you.”

“I’m gonna miss you too, Mikes. You have no idea.”

The two sat in silence, dried tears forgotten in conversation and apologies. It was over ten minutes later when Donna came in, awkwardly holding three coffees at the same time, placing one in front of each boy, sipping her own as she sat down in front of them.

The mood was abruptly ruined by the blaring noise of a call on Donna's phone. Putting down her coffee, she glanced at caller ID.

"Oh fuck OFF Carol," she grumbled, sliding the phone away after declining the call. Mikey leant away from Gerard so he was sitting up, back against the bed, ends of the black hoodie pulled over his hands as to protect them from the burning of his mug.

Donna smiled sadly at the sight of her eldest son looking guiltily down at his empty mug, his expression clouded. She gave a sad sigh before walking over and pulling him into a hug, to which he barely even tried to escape from.

"Look, you may be all 'grown up' now, but you're still my son and i still love you, no matter what. You hear me, Gee?" Gerard nodded, smiling as his mom pulled away and walked downstairs, mumbling about 'fucking Carol and her inability to perform simple human tasks.'

"Hey Gee?" Mikey asked, looking over at his brother, lost in thought.

"Yeah?"

"Can-can i show you the song I'm learning?"

Gerard's face immediately lit up, a smile broadening. "Definitely." Mikey smiled, and grabbed his bass from the stand in the corner, plugging it into his small, battered amp, and beginning to play. Gee smiled, and hummed the melody of the tune as Mikey played, remembering a time where they would go to people's houses and his brother would spend ages poring over the instruments, trying them out until he found the bass, and never really put it down after then.

When the half of the song that Mikey had learned was over, he looked up expectantly, letting the bass drop to hold on the strap.

“Nice one, Mikey Way.”

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Unedited, short, and written at 1am, you're welcome (kill me geesus)- Planetary