The Majesty of Choice

Curses

"Hey, Mikey," Gerard whispers, peering around him in the dark, afraid that there might be someone else. Their camp is only a few yards off, and he's snuck away from a snoozing Frank, past a watchful Travie who gives him a weird eye when Gerard says he's just using the bathroom, because apparently taking a large heavy book with him to pee is kind of weird. Gerard never said he wasn't weird, though.

"Hey, listen buddy, we've got to come up with some sort of routine so that I don't have to be in the same room with you when you get down and dirty," Mikey says, as an opening greeting, because he has his priorities in order.

"Fuck," Gerard says, turning white as a sheet. He hadn't even realized Mikey had been sitting on the other bed this morning when he and Frank were doing not so appropriate things with each other, and now he's regretting every decision he's ever made. Mikey. His brother. And Frank and him. Doing things only married people should be doing.

"Yeah, that was messed up," Mikey says, "I mean, I get that I'm a book, but I'm eternally traumatized. I had to distract myself with watching Ray, who was washing the dishes and also dancing a little bit, and honestly that was almost equally as traumatizing."

"Mikey, I'm sorry, I didn't know you were like conscious or anything, I'm not completely sure how the whole book thing works, so I just like..."

"Just make sure it doesn't happen again, okay? If you're going to do all that shit, put me in another room, or kill me, or something."

Gerard feels his insides gnawing at themselves because he's never been so embarrassed or mortified by anything in his entire life. He can't believe he forgot Mikey was there. He can't believe it didn't even occur to him until now. He's the worst brother ever. Mikey deserves way better.

"Anyway, bro, what'd you want to talk about?" Mikey asks, interrupting Gerard's crisis. He's got so many ongoing crises. A life ruining curse, a slippery fairy, Mikey in a book, being kind of in love with the Prince, not knowing what he wants to do with his life, fear that he's going to get one of his friends killed, fear he won't ever be able to find Brendon, his entire future, and now this. Gerard just can't catch a break.

"I..." he starts, but then drifts off, because he's forgotten. He can't get his head out of the fact that Mikey was there. How do you move on from that point?

"Is it the whole being in love with the Prince thing again, because that's getting kind of old? Blah blah blah, he's so pretty. Blah blah blah, I wish I hated him. Blah blah blah, but boys. For once can you complain about the weather?"

"What?" Gerard asks, and forces himself to be pulled from his own imagination and back into the present. "Oh, uh, I guess it is about him."

Mikey's eyes roll, and he puffs, but nevertheless says, "What wisdom do you need from me today?"

"I don't know," Gerard shrugs. "I guess I'm just worried about what comes next. Like what happens when I get rid of the curse? If I get rid of the curse, I should say. Where do I go from there?"

"Probably the castle to live the good life."

"You think?"

"I'm sure your little boyfriend would be more than happy to allow you to come visit him in his castle and live in his room and do lots of gross stuff that I don't want to think or hear about. Or be in the same room for."

"Mikey, I'm not the one who said it, you are," Gerard says scolding, because Mikey is his little brother, and in his mind, Mikey is still a six-year-old little boy who thinks coodies are real, and Gerard is not fully comprehensive of the fact that his little brother is a whole evolved person who knows things. It's weird having missed out on the entirety of Mikey's childhood but that's a panic attack and depressive spiral for another day.