FicWad

"Ugh... go awaaay..." I whined, pulling my duvet around me tighter as someone continued to prod me in the ribs.
"Gee - what the hell man? You trying to suffocate yourself?" I recognized Mikeys laughter and growled in response; of course I wasn’t trying to suffocate myself - what a stupid thing to do.
"Gerard, did you forget I was coming round today?" Mikey suddenly sounded annoyed and my eyes snapped open to be greeted by darkness, I had completely forgotten I had slept under the duvet last night. And I may have... forgotten... about Mikey too. I flung the covers back and sat up, blinking in the harsh sunlight.
"Wah? No - of course not." I slurred, rubbing my eyes with the palms of my hands, I could feel my hair was sticking up at the back from how I had been sleeping and I probably looked like shit.
"Uh huh." Mikey nodded, folding his arms and raising an eyebrow at me.
"Seriously - I didn’t. I just err... forgot to set my alarm clock." I insisted.
"But its one in the afternoon Gee, you should've been up by now anyway - since when have you been a late riser?" Mikey gave me a concerned look and I shrugged, stretching my arms above my head.
"I was tired." I said simply and allowed Mikey to pull me out of my bed.
"You must be working really hard at that school. You sure you're being paid enough?" He demanded and I couldn’t help but chuckle.
"You have no idea." I yawned, shuffling over to my wardrobe and pulling on some jeans and an old Iron Maiden shirt.
"Does that mean yes or no?" Mikey asked, watching me as I scratched my head on my way to the bathroom.
"Sorta both." I answered, leaving Mikey confused as I went to go 'freshen up' as the ladies put it.

When I joined him in the living room he had made us both a coffee and I gave him a grateful smile as I guzzled down half the mug. He sat down next to me on the sofa and we both turned to face each other, pulling our legs up to sit Indian style. We grinned, both of us clearly thinking the same thing - we used to sit like this when we were kids, having lengthy debates over whether Batman or X-men was cooler, until Ray would come in and use long words to baffle us into thinking Transformers were obviously the coolest. I giggled at the memory and Mikey laughed, flicking his hair out of his eyes.
"So, how is the school?" He asked. I shrugged casually and smiled.
"It’s fine. It’s a lot better for me now the art blocks been repaired, and the kids are great to be around." I answered.
"Yeah, whatever happened to those idiots who set fire to the place?" Mikey asked and I smirked.
"They've been sent down, two years." I said happily and Mikey smiled.
"Good." He stated simply and I nodded.
"So. What’s on your mind?" He asked. I raised my eyebrows at him and sipped my coffee slowly.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"Something’s bothering you, I can tell." He smiled gently at me and I frowned, this was one of the downfalls of being such close brothers.
"Its nothing Mikey, don’t worry about it." I requested and he shrugged.
"I won’t worry; I just wanna know what it is." He said brightly, I kept my mouth shut and he frowned. "Don’t ignore me. Is it a girl?" He asked, grinning widely.
"No!" I cried and he laughed.
"It is isn’t it? It’s a girl!" He giggled.
"No its not." I snarled and he smirked.
"Then tell me what it is otherwise I'm just gonna presume that it is a girl and I'll go tell mom and dad about it and Mom will ring you up and give you a big talk on how much she wants grandkids and -"
"Jesus Mikey - breathe!" I cried, he took a deep breath and laughed. I frowned at him but I already knew I would tell him, I told Mikey everything.
"Well... its Frankie..." I mumbled and his smile disappeared to be replaced by a frown.
"The quiet kid?" He asked. I nodded and he leaned forward. "What about him?" He asked.
"Well, you know he's started talking to me a lot more now?" I asked, tapping my nails against the side of the mug and Mikey nodded. "Well, he came round here yesterday and -"
"He what!?" Mikey cried, staring at me in horror.
"He didn’t want to go home Mikey - he said he was frightened. I couldn’t leave him at school." I insisted but Mikey shook his head.
"Gerard, I know I'm not a teacher but even I know you shouldn’t be inviting students round your home!" He cried.
"I didn’t have a choice Mikey - but can you lecture me later, I need to tell you what he said." I snapped. Mikey took a deep breath and nodded, still looking as if I had just told him I'd killed someone. I glared at him, sighed and then began repeating everything Frank had told me the night before, Mikey started to look paler and paler the more I told him and kept silent the whole time. By the time I was finished I too was feeling sick, and Mikey was looking like he was in too deep.
"Wow... this is heavy shit." He whispered.
"You’re telling me." I grumbled and he shook his head like he was trying to clear it.
"Are you sure he's telling you the truth?" He asked and I glared at him.
"Yes, I am." I snapped and he nodded.
"Well... what are you going to do?" He asked and his eyes met mine, I sighed and ran a hand through my hair, hopelessness washing over me.
"I have no idea. If I go to the police then I need to make sure Frank is okay with that first, same with the school -" I stopped as Mikey cut across me.
"You basically can’t tell anyone until Frank says you can." He summarized for me and I nodded.
"Exactly. But I can’t just let him keep living in that house with his father, not now I know what’s going on. And I can’t have him live with me because I'm his teacher and that’s too suspicious -"
"Plus he'll probably be too scared." Mikey added and I nodded.
"Yeah... The only easy thing to do would be to kill his father, but that obviously isn’t an option." I said and Mikey snorted.
"Even though he'd deserve it." He said and I bit my lip.
"I dunno what to do Mikes. All I know is that he needs to get out of that house, just... where does he go?" I asked more myself than anything. Mikey shrugged and sighed, resting his chin in his hands.
"Well... he's seventeen rights?" He asked and I nodded. "So technically, he could leave home if he wanted to, no ones stopping him." Mikey pointed out.
"Except his dad, and the fact that he has no where to go. I doubt he has many relatives he could go to... but I guess I could check." I mumbled and Mikey nodded excitedly.
"Yeah - ask him if he can go live with a relative." He smiled.
"But what if he doesn’t have anyone? Plus, if he did his dad could still find him there." He pointed out. Mikey frowned and for a while we sat in silence, both of us wondering what to do. I had ideas, but the more I thought them through the more I realized they wouldn’t work, I felt like I was going round in circles. It was infuriating because I had promised Frank I would help him - I just didn’t know how. Suddenly Mikey looked up, a grin on his face.
"I HAVE AN IDEA!" He shouted, nearly making me have a heart attack. I clutched my chest and stared at his grinning face. "He can live with mom!" He cried. For a second I was sure I had heard him wrong, but I knew I hadn’t. I raised my eyebrows and stared at him in shock.
"Mom?" I repeated.
"Yeah! You know she misses us both and since Dad left she's been on her own, she'd love to have another moody teenager in the house hold." He grinned, and I was about to dismiss the idea as stupid but I stopped and considered this, Mikey was right - Mom would instantly agree to have Frank live with her. And the school couldn’t complain if they found out because he wasn’t living with me, his dad didn’t know my mom so he wouldn’t find Frank, he would still be close to the school and he would be closer to me too which meant if he needed me I would be just a walk away. I slowly grinned and looked at Mikey who smirked back.
"You know something little bro' - you might be onto something." I mumbled and Mikey raised his hand.
"Totally." He chuckled and I slapped my palm against his with a grin.