The Hideout // Petekey AU

xiv.

Mikey.

"Gerard?" I quickly made my way to the couch which my older brother was perched on from my position in the doorway. I kneeled in front of him taking in the severity of the injury to his eye.

"You were right, I'm sorry, I'm such an idiot, I-I just didn't want to be alone and he was there from the beginning and-" I cut off his ramblings.

"Shh, just breathe it's ok I'm not mad at you." I noticed something shift in my peripheral view and suddenly remembered Frank was with me. I turned to see Frank walking towards us with a bag of frozen pizza rolls,

"I couldn't find an ice pack so I grabbed these, here." He handed me the pizza rolls and I held them up to Gerard's eye. He winced at first, but replaced my hand with his.

"I can hold them, I'm your big brother you shouldn't be the one holding the pizza rolls against my eye," he cracked a small smile "besides, I don't want to look pathetic in front of whoever your very attractive friend is." I rolled my eyes and looked towards Frank.

"Frank my name's Frank," he paused and moved to sit next to Gerard on the L shaped end of my sectional couch. "Now if you don't mind me asking, what piece of shit did this to a pretty face like yours?" Gerard's face burned red.

"Bert- my boyfriend, well now ex-boyfriend if I can actually hold it together this time," he looked away from both of us and focused his eyes on his lap.

"So this isn't the first time he's done this?" Gerard stayed silent as Frank asked his question. I interjected.

"Frank could you uh-come help me...make some coffee in the kitchen?" I gave Frank a look saying could we talk about this somewhere else. Frank seemed to understand what I was saying and got up after placing a reassuring touch on Gerard's shoulder which made me slightly uneasy. I made my way to the kitchen with Frank behind me and filled the coffee machine with a filter and grounds, finally I spoke up. "What are you doing?"

"What do you mean?" He looked at me puzzled.

"The flirting thing, you're a nice guy and all but don't feel like you have to flirt with him because he's hurt. It'll just hurt him more in the long run and-" Frank cut me off.

"Mikey, calm down, I'm not flirting with him because I feel bad for him, I've had situations like this around me before too I know it would do damage," he paused for a moment, "Remember when I asked if you had a hot older brother? Well turns out you do." He shrugged and smiled, I shook my head laughing quietly.

"Is everyone in this town gay?" I asked, he chuckled.

"I'm pretty sure the only one confirmed not gay is Ray at this point." I nodded in response. "So what happened with Gerard?" I exhaled and rubbed my temples before starting.

"He's been with this guy Bert for god knows how long at this point, and it was fine at first, but I started noticing bruises he'd have on his arms or face and he'd always brush it off. Finally I put two and two together once Bert stopped letting Gerard come over, and realized he was being abused. He's just never really liked himself, and doesn't think he deserves anyone better or could even find anyone better. Before Bert he was finally stabilizing and I don't even want to know how fucked up this has made him at this point. I kept trying to make him promise to leave Bert and even offered to let him stay here, but he just never listens to me." I looked out towards the living room thinking about my brother hunched over in pain. I slumped over feeling the weight of the situation.

"One of my best friends went through the same shit, you can't really help anything until they finally clear their head and figure out that the situation they're in is toxic." I nodded when we heard a voice from the living room.