FicWad

Halfway across Panem, District Four was drenched in more rain than they had gotten in a year. The decorations that had been so diligently hung the night before were scattered about the District Square, ruined by the sudden rainstorm that had blown in overnight. Most citizens were asleep, tucked up inside their cozy houses and dreading when they had to brave the storm to get to the Reaping later that morning. Many hoped that the storm would pass by then.
One of the few who did not wish for sunshine was a teenage boy who had better things to do than see two more teenagers get sent off to die. At the very top of his long list of “Things I Would Rather Do than Go to the Reaping” was to see how drunk he could get before eight in the morning.
Gerard Way hadn’t slept well the previous night. Between the noises from the thunderstorm and his first nightmare in God-knows how long, he had spent more time staring at the ceiling of his room than the back of his eyelids. When he finally pulled himself out of bed at six am, he had gotten two hours of sleep. Those two hours had been plagued by terrifying amounts of blood and a boy Gerard had never seen before in his life. Gerard theorized that the boy was an angel, judging by his facial features and the fact that he wore all white.
After Gerard had settled down at his desk with alcohol-enhanced coffee, a blank sheet of paper and a fresh pencil, it was that boy that he drew. Gerard drew the boy’s face from memory as best he could, but it didn’t seem right. Something was off, perhaps the expression in his eyes, but between the alcohol and the sleep deprivation, he couldn’t pinpoint the issue.
By the time Gerard’s younger brother Mikey stumbled into the room half-asleep, Gerard had gone through more alcohol than coffee and was teetering on a dangerous line between a buzz and flat out drunkenness.
“Gee, what’re you doing?” He mumbled, rubbing his eyes and leaning against the door.
“Drawing.” Gerard slurred. “Shouldn’t you be in bed?”
Mikey moved into the room, pushing away a pile of dirty clothes with his foot so he could stand behind his brother’s chair. “Shouldn’t you?”
“Nightmares.” Gerard mumbled, reaching for his coffee cup. “Couldn’t sleep.”
Gerard’s head felt fuzzy and his words sounded different, like they were all running into the other. Just a few more swallows and maybe he would have been drunk enough to convince Mikey to let him stay home and not interact with people that day.
"It's eight in the morning. Are you drunk already?" Mikey asked. Gerard swore internally. He had underestimated how perceptive the fifteen year old could really be. Apparently, he had also underestimated how drunk he actually was.
"No." Gerard said anyways, giving Mikey a ‘duh’ face that probably only further discredited anything that came out of his mouth.
"Gerard."
"I'm buzzed not drunk. God Michael, learn the difference."
Mikey rolled his eyes and grabbed Gerard by his arm, pulling him to his feet. “Come on you loser. You have to get a shower so you can look sort of clean for today.”
“Wha’s today?” Gerard slurred, barely resisting as his younger brother dragged him to the bathroom.
Mikey stopped dead in his tracks, turning to Gerard with an incredulous look on his face. That look faded quickly into one of disappointment when he must have realized that Gerard wasn’t joking. “Gee… It’s Reaping Day.”
Gerard shook his head and pressed a palm against his forehead. “I have to stop… drinking in the mornings.”
Mikey simply pushed Gerard towards the bathroom. “Cold shower, on the double. I’ll go make coffee.”
Gerard stepped inside and pulled the door shut. He knew that he needed to stop drinking, for Mikey’s sake if anything else, but their father was dead to them and their mother was dead in a much realer sense. As he stripped down, he more soberly wondered if his drinking was part of the reason why Mikey was so solemn all the time.
Gerard turned on the water and stepped under the freezing spray, awakening every inch of his skin. He showered quickly, even bothering to partially wash his long hair before turning it off. When he emerged from the shower, a pile of fresh clothes were sitting by the door. Gerard wondered how he had missed Mikey depositing them there but didn’t question it. A white collared shirt, black jeans that could pass as dress pants, a black vest and a tie. Mikey sure knew how to dress.
Gerard tried to dress as quickly as he could, but when he got the tie knotted around his hands, he realized he wasn’t quite ready for tie tying yet, so he left his room in search of Mikey.
The lanky fifteen was sitting in the main room; his legs sprawled out in front of him awkwardly, like he had too much leg than he knew how to handle. Wearing a high-collared, button-down pea coat and a pair of tight, light grey jeans, Mikey had managed to make himself look fancied up without even having to put on a tie. Which reminded Gerard why he had gone in search of his gangly little brother in the first place.
“Uh Mikey. My uh… My hand?” Gerard waved his trapped hand, earning a laugh from Mikey.
“You’re gonna have to learn to tie it yourself one day.” Mikey pointed out as he set to work unknotting and retying the death fabric around Gerard’s neck.
“Not as long as I have you to do it for me.” He cooed. “Now where’s my coffee?”
Mikey tightened the tie, then loosened it, then tightened it again before letting his hands fall away from Gerard’s throat. He spun on his heels and almost pranced to the kitchen counter, where a fresh pot of coffee was waiting. Gerard stared at his brother, wondering what exactly had gotten into him while he was in the shower.
“Are you okay?” Gerard laughed as Mikey put a cup of coffee in his hands.
“Caffeine.” He replied quickly, pouring his own cup. “You know how it is.”
Gerard rolled his eyes and sat down in the seat by the big window. The one thing he actually liked about living with their absentee father was the fact that his house was amazing. It was right along the ocean and the views were perfect for sketching, whenever Gerard got the chance to do so. He took a long drink from his mug and sighed loudly, watching the rain fall in sheets just inches away from his face.
Rain was Gerard’s favourite weather. He loved when it was warm and rainy and he could sit with the front door open and listen to it rain without freezing to death.
“Gee, finish up we have to get going soon.” Mikey announced loudly, interrupting Gerard’s train of thought.
“What?” He asked, not taking his eyes off of the sky. It was dark grey and streaked with the occasional bright white streak, either bouncing from the clouds or down to the endless stretch of ocean.
“Hurry up with your drink.” Mikey repeated, tapping Gerard’s shoulder impatiently. “We have to pick up Alicia, Toro and Christa before we go to the square.”
Gerard pursed his lips and shivered at the thought of having to go get Alicia. Toro (whose first name was Ray but chose to go by Toro because it sounded cooler) and Christa were cool, but Alicia was just downright annoying, and she wasn’t shy about it either. “Maybe they’ll cancel the Reaping because of the storm.”
“They’re not going to cancel the Reaping because it’s raining. Last year eleven got hit by an earthquake and they still went on like nothing happened.” Mikey stated, pushing on Gerard’s shoulder again. “Gee come on. I don’t want Alicia to think we forgot about her.”
“Would it really be so terrible?” Gerard grumbled. He stood up and finished his coffee in one long gulp. He stuck his cup in the sink and ran a little water in it to wash out the residue.
Mikey didn’t comment, so Gerard took that as a ‘yes’ and went about getting his raincoat and his obnoxiously yellow boating hat that he never actually wore simply because it was obnoxiously yellow. He was ready in five minutes. That had to be a record or something, especially when he had been half drunk only an hour prior.
“C’mon Gee.” Mikey said, opening the door and stepping outside. “I think it’s letting up a little.”
One of the reasons Gerard despised walking Alicia anywhere was because she lived down by the docks. It was a downhill walk and the rain made the dusty road slick with mud and Gerard’s favourite shoes were ruined by the time they reached her door. She made them stand outside while she got her coat and then complained that they had to get Toro and Christa because “Toro lives so far away, it doesn’t make sense.”
Gerard had half a mind to tell her that she didn’t have to walk with them, because he was sick of her whining and sick of the rain and he really just wanted to go back to bed, but he couldn’t. Not in front of Mikey, at least. So instead he stayed quiet until Toro answered the door.
“Hey guys!” Ever the cheerful one, Gerard thought as Toro opened the door more to let the three of them inside. “Christa’s finishing her hair and then she’ll be down.”
“Doesn’t look like her hair will last long in this weather.” Gerard joked, looking over his shoulder. The rain had started to let up, but it was still a hairdo-ruiner.
Toro glanced out the door before pulling it shut and shaking his head. “It’ll be done raining by the time we get to the square.”
Gerard raised an eyebrow. “Dude, it’s freaking a… monsoon or something out there. It’s not going to let up.”
But Toro just shook his head and disappeared up the stairs, shouting to Christa about needing to hurry or they’d be late. A few minutes later, she appeared and after she shared an awkwardly cheerful hello with all of them. Being the only single man, Gerard took the lead. He listened to Ray and Christa chatter about domestic things like who was cooking dinner and when Ray had to work that week. Alicia kept asking Mikey if he would talk to Gerard about going on a date with her sister, to which Mikey responded with a heavy sigh but no words. There was no reasoning with Alicia- the word ‘homosexual’ was not in her vocabulary.
At least Toro’s predictions had been right. By the time the five of them got to the square, it had stopped raining completely and the sun was beginning to creep out from behind some clouds. The group even managed to deposit all of their rain gear on an empty bench. Call Gerard crazy, but he always swore that Toro had a gift or something. Everything that he said was going to happen, happened. It often came in handy, having a friend who had a talent for telling the future or making the future happen, at least.
Gerard approached the Peacekeeper who had set up and begun to ‘take attendance’, got his name checked for the last time ever, then walked Mikey down to the fifteen’s section before heading up front with Toro. The square filled quickly, and before they knew it, it was ten o’clock. Reaping time. The ceremonial proceedings went fairly quickly. The Mayor of four always rushed through everything because he hated the stupid reading of the Treason as much as everyone else did.
When Four’s ridiculously modified Escort, Tigress, took center stage, though, the crowd began to get excited. They loved the Reaping for some bizarre reason. Gerard knew a lot of kids his age had trained their entire lives to go to the Games, and only two a year got the honor of being sent to the slaughter. It sickened him.
“Happy, happy Hunger Games District Four!” Tigress clasped her hands together near her face and the crowd cheered. “Who’s ready to begin? Ladies first!”
She slunk over to the first glass bowl, full to the brim with the names of every female ages twelve to eighteen in the entire district. Thousands of slips, and it took just one to end a child’s life permanently.
“And this year’s female tribute is… Hayley Williams!”
Gerard’s heart sunk in his chest. He knew Hayley. She was Mikey’s age, with red hair and a sweet disposition. Her father won the Games once and she had been trained most of her life because of that. People knew her. People liked her. They cheered for her, but the look on her face said she didn’t want them to cheer. Nobody was going to take her place and both Hayley and Gerard knew that. And it made both of them sick. When Tigress asked for volunteers, none were to be found.
“Boys next!” Tigress grinned and trounced off to the second bowl. She waved her hand over the slips, like a cat toying with its prey before going for the kill. After several seconds, she plunged her hand in and pulled out a single slip.
This was the part where Gerard’s stomach twisted into knots and he wished as hard as he could that it wasn’t him or Toro or Mikey. This was where he begged the universe to be merciful and dish out all that good karma he had built up over the years because that was when he seriously needed it most.
“And this year’s male tribute is… Michael Way!”
Gerard’s heart stopped as the crowd cheered louder. He turned to Toro, alarmed.
“Why are they cheering?” He demanded, feeling his stomach twist even tighter.
“He’s who they want.”
The people knew about Mikey too. He was quiet and hardworking and sometimes too hard on himself. They knew about his dead mom and his slack-off father and his drunken brother. They knew he was depressed. Someone had to take his place. But the length of time between when Mikey reached the stage and when Tigress would ask for a volunteer was too long for Gerard to bear.
“Mikey.” He choked, watching his brother climb the stairs. “Fuck- Mikey!”
Gerard bounded forward, pushing several people out of his way so he could reach his not-so-little brother and pull him down off of those stairs. A peacekeeper intercepted him, grabbing his arm forcefully.
“Get back in line!” He demanded.
“No!” Gerard pushed the man away, desperate to reach his brother and wrap him up in his arms and put him where the Games would never touch him again. But there was no way to save Mikey except to give himself up. “No! I- I volunteer!”
The entire square seemed to fall silent in an instant. Volunteers were regular, but they waited for the question to be called before stepping up. Gerard just couldn’t wait. He needed Mikey down from there now.
“Gee, what are you doing?” Mikey hissed, his face sad and confused and, more than anything else, afraid.
Gerard pulled Mikey down off the last step and wrapped him up in a tight hug. Mikey buried his face in his brother’s hair and Gerard gave him a gentle squeeze. “I’m saving your life.”
He let go of Mikey, giving him one last hair-ruffle before climbing up onto the stage and standing next to Tigress. The Escort had tears in her eyes.
“That was so touching. Is it safe to assume that he was your little brother?” She asked, dabbing at her eyes gingerly.
“Yeah, he was.”
“And what’s your name, young man?”
“Gerard Way.”