FicWad

All was quiet in an apartment building in downtown Newark, and Larry, the security guard was enjoying his 2AM coffee. Quite suddenly, a young woman and young man burst through the doors on the ground floor. The girl was severely intoxicated, and was leaning on the young man, clearly unable to stand on her own. The man looked around nervously while the girl giggled at her shoe, which had fallen off her foot. ‘Try and keep quiet,’ he pleaded, pushing his blonde hair to the side. This was obviously a nervous habit, as his hair was much too short to be obstructing his vision. He nudged her into the elevator and they disappeared from view.

‘Shouldn’t this be Frank’s job?’ Gerard muttered to himself as he dug around in his pockets for his keys.
‘Did ya see the girl Frankie left with?’ Abbey slurred. ‘She had a nose this big!’ She giggled as she spread her arms out to full length. Abbey looked on with mere curiosity in her eyes as he fumbled with his set for the right one. ‘Why’d you have so many keys?’ She laughed.
‘To be honest, I have no idea, Abs.’ Gerard replied, as he withdrew the correct key and jammed it in the lock.
‘That’s silly.’ Abbey tittered away behind him. ‘Have you got the keys to the Chamber of Secrets there? Or like, Mordor?’ Gerard turned to her and stared. ‘One does not simply walk into Mordor!’ She announced in a low, booming voice, tripping over herself and falling to the ground.
‘Yeah, you don’t get drunk at all,’ Gerard muttered sarcastically as he bent to help Abbey up.

~

A mere hour later, Gerard’s apartment was silent except for the occasional hint of a snore escaping Abbey’s lips. Gerard watched her as she slept, shaking his head, wondering whether he should be worried about her excessive drinking. He turned and crossed the room to his wardrobe, where he rummaged through the top shelf for a blanket for himself. Just as Gerard was about to head to the couch to collapse, he heard a faint murmur. ‘Gee?’
‘Yes, Abbey?’
‘When did Mikey and Jamie start dating?’
Gerard sighed. ‘A couple of months ago.’
‘Does he like her a lot?’ Abbey’s voice sounded timid, as though she were afraid of the answer.
‘He doesn’t like her as much as he liked you, if that’s what you’re really asking.’
She fell silent, chewing over his words. ‘Okay,’ she replied finally.
‘Alright, well, goodnight Abs.’ Gerard turned to leave.
‘Gerard?’
‘Yeah?’
‘Thank you,’ Abbey said sincerely.
‘For what?’
‘Caring,’ she said simply.
‘You know I can’t help it.’ Gerard grinned at her.
‘Still.’ And with that, she turned over and made herself comfortable. Gerard smiled to himself as he shut the door behind him.

~

Abbey was running. She was not sure why, but she knew it was important that she should. Abruptly, she realised that she was underwater. Running immediately became much more difficult; it was like trying to run in space, she simply leapt and floated instead of truly running. She could not help but notice that breathing was no issue, although she felt herself making an extra effort to inhale and exhale rhythmically.

Suddenly, somebody appeared, blocking her path. She almost intended to bowl the person over and keep running until she noticed that it was Mikey. She slowed to a halt and stared at him. He looked oddly distorted and twisted, giving him the look of an extremely angular, too-tall person. The more she thought about it, he didn’t really look like Mikey at all, but she knew that it was him. Abbey raised her hand to reach out to this odd-looking man when quite suddenly, he grinned at her. This grin caused her to hesitate. It was not a friendly grin in the slightest, rather one of malice. She opened her mouth to speak to him, although she wasn’t sure what she planned to say, when suddenly huge tentacles burst from Mikey’s chest. They were thick and slimy looking, and they reached for Abbey, winding their way unrelentingly around her midsection, binding her arms to her body. Mikey winked at her as she struggled, feeling as though she may burst from the tightness of the bind.

‘Abbey?’ Abbey felt herself come back into consciousness and became painfully aware of her dry mouth and headache. As her eyes came into focus, Gerard’s hazel eyes swam into view above her. ‘You okay?’ He looked mildly concerned. ‘You were making these weird yelping noises. I thought I was going to have to conduct a home-style exorcism.’
‘Yeah, I’m okay,’ Abbey replied groggily, rubbing her eyes as Gerard sat down at her side. ‘Just had a really strange dream.’
‘Was Frank naked? Because I’ve had one like that too, it’s not pretty.’
‘Oh shut up, you love Frankie’s naked body. Even your fans know how much he makes you question your sexuality.’
‘I don’t question it,’ Gerard argued. ‘I just go with the flow when it comes to Frank, if you catch my drift.’
‘I –’ Abbey’s reply was interrupted by the ring of her phone.

‘Hello?’
‘Hey, what’s up?’ His voice was instantly recognisable to her.
‘Who is it?’ Gerard mouthed.
‘Your brother,’ Abbey whispered.
‘What about him?’ Mikey asked, clearly confused.
‘Oh, nothing, Gerard just asked me who was on the phone.’
‘You’re with Gerard?’
‘Yeah.’ Silence.
‘What are you doing today?’ Abbey frowned at the abrupt change of subject.
‘Nothing, why?’
‘Come hang with me. We’ve gotta catch up, and last night didn’t count.’ Abbey couldn’t contain her smile.
‘Sure,’ she said.
‘Sweet. I’ll pick you up from your place in like, an hour.’
‘Okay.’ He had already hung up.

Gerard was fiddling with his bed covers. ‘What did Mikes want?’
‘To hang.’ He frowned.
‘You sure that’s a good idea?’ Now it was Abbey’s turn to frown.
‘Why wouldn’t it be?’
Gerard put his index finger to his lips, pretending to think. ‘Oh, I don’t know, in case both of you can’t contain yourselves and end up fucking each other senseless.’
‘What are you talking about?’ Abbey questioned, unconvincingly.
‘I’m not stupid, Abigail.’
‘Honestly,’ Abbey said airily. ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’ Gerard gave her an appraising look. ‘Besides,’ she continued. ‘Mikey and I getting involved again is about as likely as... I don’t know... Mikey sprouting tentacles. Or something.’