Staring through the demons (unholyverse )

4

"I thought that went really smoothly, today," Bob said, drumming his fingers against the wheel while they were waiting for a light to change. "I mean, apart from Frank's little dramatic turn at the end. Much less exploding and blood than usual."

Gerard hummed in agreement, looking out of the window. "It was fairly routine, I thought."

"Do you think we're getting better, or do you think it was just easy?" Ray put in.

"I think money is a great motivator," Brian said blissfully from the front seat.

Gerard made an unhappy noise. "Our motivation is supposed to be helping people."

Brian twisted around to face him. "What was our agreement, Father?"

"You bank, me souls," Gerard recited dutifully. "It's just that-"

"You're thinking about it wrong," Mikey interrupted, before Gerard could bore everyone to death. "We were really helping Lucy, not Craig, and it's not like she could pay us."

"Yeah, it's like Craig made a charitable donation on her behalf," Frank agreed.

Gerard chewed on his lip, considering. "I guess."

Mikey waited for the other guys to get involved in a conversation about how much they could afford to spend on food and how much they had to keep for supplies, and then slid as close as he could to Frank. "What happened?" he said quietly. "At the end?"

"Nothing," Frank hedged, but Mikey just kept looking at him until he sighed and rolled his eyes. "It was - I don't know, Mikey. It was just quiet, or something. Peaceful."

Peaceful, again. Until he got stigmata, Frank had never wanted to be peaceful in his life, Mikey was pretty sure. "Peaceful, huh."

"Peaceful," Frank repeated steadily. Mikey looked at him some more, and Frank got an irritated look on his face and said, "I'm still here, Mikey, stop freaking out."

"I'm not," Mikey said, but he let it go. It was hot and dark outside; cars whizzed past, and Mikey could hear a siren screaming. He pressed his foot against Frank's. Frank pressed back.

(a/n) I don't think I was supposed to cut that chapter that short, but she had "**" so my bad lmao