FicWad

Author: Strangers From Within
Rating: NC-17
Pairings: Frank Iero/Gerard Way, Ryan Ross/Brendon Urie
P.O.V: Third Person’s
Summary: Frank Iero grew up in what he considered a fairly normal town, as far as he knew West Grayton wasn’t anything special, just a dreary valley with not much to do and too many bored dickheads. He definitely never thought something interesting finally happening would be this dangerous, but when his best friend’s brother returns home from college, people all over the town begin unearthing mysteries that should never be solved and uncovering secrets whose truths should never be told. Armed with less weapons than your average American Football team, Frank seems to be going up against the amassed armies of hell. As you do.


OR

That summer everyone went punk ass and Frank had to fix it.

Chapter Word Count: 4556
Disclaimer: Complete and utter fiction, you’d be silly if you think this actually happened anyway.


Chapter Two

Mrs Iero was apparently not as psychic as Frank had originally thought, because of fucking course she walked in at the exact moment Mikey had finished his story, and then proceeded told the boys to clear off because firstly it was a school night and secondly it was a Monday and surely they all knew Frankie needed his sleep on a Monday, due to his history with Tuesdays.

Those damn Tuesdays.

So, they'd all filed out, mumbling their apologies (or in Mikey's case a stony silence because it was not his fault these fuckers couldn't stay out of other people's business). And his mum had fussed and bustled around, trying to avoid the inevitable Tuesday Sickness until eventually he'd fallen asleep in the middle of her ranting about him not taking his vitamin tablets. Like the vitamin tablets did anything but look smug and taste like shit anyway.

And when Frank managed to drag his sorry ass into school on Wednesday (his pre-emptive sleeping had been replaced by squashed bananas and creepy as fuck stories, so the Tuesday cold had arrived with a vengeance), Mikey had acted like nothing had happened. So did Ryan and Gabe, after a few looks from Mikey, so Frank could only assume they'd talked about it whilst he was passed out in a pool of his own snot (or not really but it felt like that.) Fucking Tuesday Cold.

So, Wednesday had turned into Thursday and Mikey had helped Frank with his Algebra, like he always did, and Frank bullshitted a few hundred words for Mikey's history essay, like he always did, and they'd smoked too much and drunk too much caffeine and it felt like a normal Thursday.

Trouble was, they normally had Thursdays at the Way's house, it was bigger and Donna was way cooler about alcohol than Frank's mum, but Mikey had informed him (in that way that meant 'No fucking arguing or so help me god') that they were having it at Frank's. So they did. And whilst Mikey's excuse was, "Mum's ill." But Frank thought that, "My undead brother will fuck you up for googling him like the creepy kid that you are" was more accurate… if indeed his brother was undead. They’d yet to find out exactly what was going on.

He didn't bring this up though, because however much he acted like it, Frank was not an idiot.
Not being a creepy idiot was getting pretty fucking difficult though, what with those dreams that he was having. At first, Frank thought they were a reaction to the dreaded Tuesday Cold, and they were just fever induced.

They carried on though. Wednesday night was horrific; Frank wasn't squeamish, unless it was spiders ‘cause they're fucking unnatural, but this- he was flying at first, then falling, falling faster than he could stand, the skin was rippling off him, tearing itself off his bones, leaving him a skeleton, falling into a hole- a grave- tumbling into an abyss of other bones and he looked up, feeling himself crumble away to dust, seeing in the last few seconds before he woke up a face that he thought he recognised, that he'd talked to about Misfit's when waiting for a bathroom. Gerard Way was grinning down at him, as it was fucking Christmas-

And then he'd woken up, scrabbling at his sheets and almost falling out bed in his haste to get to the light. Frank hadn't gotten anymore sleep that night.

And Thursday night.

Frank decided that Thursday night was one of those things that you took to your grave with you, and laughed at the irony. So by the time Friday rolled around, Frank had had enough of this bullshit. He was tired and he could feel the ache in his joints that meant he was going to get ill again and he needed a fucking night's sleep.

So Mikey could bitch face him all he liked, but a tired Frank was a force to be reckoned with and he wanted some fucking answers.


*


Mikey didn’t even jump when his locker was slammed shut just as he’d opened it, all he did was let out a deep sigh and turn to face his best friend. Frank still didn’t understand how the boy managed to see everything Frank did coming, he must have been psychic in some way.

“Hey Buddy, what’s up?” Mikey put on a sarcastically cheerful voice and an open mouthed grin, this would usually have Frank cracking up at the sight of such a girly-looking Mikey, but instead he just stared him down until Mikey let the grin fall from his face and wrenched his locker open again.

“What d’you want?”

"What do you think I want-"

"Food?" Frank was not in the mood for Mikey's shit.

"I am not in the mood for your shit."

"...Yeah. I guess not." Mikey sighed and closed his locker. "What do you want to know?"

"I want to- what happened after he woke up?" Frank asked, feeling all the righteous anger draining away as he looked at his friend's face, expressionless in that way it only got when he was really uncomfortable. Or, god forbid, sad. Mikey was almost never sad, and on the few occasions he was, Frank could go beat the shit out of whatever was making him so. Didn't look like he was going to be able to do that this time.

"You read the internet-"

"No- No, what really happened?"

"He was-" Mikey fiddled with his cuffs, avoiding Frank's gaze. "Different."

“Different how…?”

Mikey snapped.
“Look, stop pushing it okay?! If it means that much to you then I’ll tell you after class later.”

“Why not now?”

“I don’t need people around looking at me like I’m crazy.”
Okay, Frank guessed Mikey sort of had a fair point there, but he was no way getting out off this.


*


All throughout art and lunch, Frank took turns with Ryan and Gabe to watch Mikey, who just rolled his eyes every time he caught one of them looking at him. Frank knew it wouldn’t be like Mikey to just try and run away, but it was becoming apparent that when it was to do with Gerard Way, Mikey could be the most unpredictable little fucker ever.

Frank was keep such an intense eye on Mikey in English, that he didn’t even notice Brendon Urie come over to his desk until he’d slammed his hands down on the desk. With Ryan sat next to his, Frank knew exactly where this was going. It would end in someone having a split lip or a bloody nose, probably over a rude comment on Ryan’s rose adorned waist coat or swirling eyeliner, Frank would get suspended for two days and Gabe would punch anyone that came near them for the next week.

“Hey Ross, Mrs Monroe wants us to work on that project tonight.”
Huh, not what Frank had expected, or what anyone had expected judging by the strange looks they were getting now. The second Urie had hit the desk, people had turned to watch, that’s the worst thing about spectators in a fight; they watch and don’t even try to help.

“Uh…” Ryan glanced at him, who just shrugged and glanced at Urie whose eyes were still fixed on Ryan’s head.

“Right, Chemistry project, sure… uh, the library?” Frank noticed Ryan was blushing furiously and making a very good attempt at burning a hole in the table top with his eyes. He exchanged a look with a wide-eyed Mikey. When he turned back, it was clear Urie had more to add on the matter, but it was at that moment that Miss Li decided to walk in and call for silence.

Frank managed to avoid nudging Ryan the whole way through the period, a feat that he was quite proud of, considering that the stupid idiotic eyeliner obsessive appeared to be blushing about the boy who was probably the reason for at least half of Frank's suspensions. Frank attempted to draw a pie diagram of this fact to show Ryan in case he had forgotten (which, he probably had, Ross was an infuriating dreamer at the best of times), but his circle ended up looking more like a rotting pumpkin and so he gave up on that idea, turning the decaying vegetable into a zombie pumpkin… because that was way cooler than talking about the metaphors in Lord of the Flies.
Frank couldn't hold it in his curiosity for any longer than fifty minutes (he was a teenager not a freaking saint) and so as soon as the bell went he hurried after Ryan and span him round.

"Explain?" Ryan looked back at him with those stupid innocently amused eyes.

"Well, there's this beast, but it's not actually anything apart from the boys-"

"No, fucktard. Explain why you're doing a project with Urie?"

"Oh." He squirmed slightly, the equivalent of screaming 'LEAVE ME ALONE' for Ryan. "I'm tutoring him. For like, extra credit."

"Seriously?" Ryan nodded, shifting his books slightly. "Urie?"

"He's kind of okay. Like, he's a dick, but he's okay. He's- He's a good student. I think his parents are a bit weird. He's really scared about not passing-"

"I do not care. I literally couldn't give less of a- Oh fuck!" Ryan blinked as Frank tore down the corridor, small children falling down in their attempt to get out of the Iero-cane.

He'd let Mikey get away, the slimy fucker.

*
Frank stood, doubled over and panting, in front of the Way household an hour after school. He’d have been there sooner if it hadn’t been for Principal Fritter catching him sprinting down the hall and hauling him into detention for half an hour.

When Frank pressed the button on the doorbell, the familiar tinkling sound float into his ears, muffled by the door. It was quite a comforting sound actually; it reminded him of all the late nights up watching old horrors and making fun of people on the internet.

Frank was still clutching the porch banisters to hold himself up when he spotted movement behind the door; his damn lungs were killing him right then. He’d expected to be greeted with either the sight of some perfectly messed up high heels that Donna Way wore proudly or Mikey’s scuffed up sneakers, but neither of these gifted his eyes. Instead, he saw a pair of old, comfortable looking, black Doc Martens.

Oh no.

As Frank slowly let his eyes slide upwards, he found himself surveying a pair of so sexy it hurt tight, ripped-at-the-thighs, skinny jeans with small chains attached at the waistline, which was then met with a holey old Iron Maiden shirt, half covered by an intense leather jacket that only really awesome people wore. Frank knew only really awesome people wore those because one cannot simply pull off a biker jacket; it’s just not possible.

He was afraid to look any further, but he forced himself to anyway, and let’s just say Frank is one Hell of a man to have not fainted in lust right then.

Sparkling hazel eyes, short and raggedy black hair that swept across his forehead, rich-person’s-bathroom-white skin and a knee-meltingly hot smirk stretching lopsidedly across his face.

When did Mikey’s brother get hot?

"Frankie Iero!" Mikey's-suddenly-hot-and-possibly-evil brother said, still managing to smirk like he knew exactly what Frank was thinking. "I haven't seen you since before your balls dropped."
Frank held in a splutter, because spluttering was not cool and forced himself to respond like a normal person, "Ha, it has been a while."

"I'll say. You look different."

"So do you-" Gerard's smirk shifted into an easy grin.

"So they all tell me." He shifted his weigh, leaning against the doorframe and asked, "Are you looking for my asshole of a brother?" Frank nodded, not entirely trusting himself to speak. "I dunno where he is."

"I wanted to see if he was free to go out." Well, at least he hadn't said 'Can Mikey play out today?'. It could be worse. Marginally.

"Mikey always seems to be out. Parties and shit. Weird, huh? We never used to go out back when I lived here. Standards of nerdism are definitely dropping." Fucking hell, surely it was illegal for hot people to be funny? Frank was sure he'd seen that on the news sometime.

"Yeah. It's a crime..."

"You want some coffee? D'you take it Irish yet? I remember your mum was weird about that shit."

"No, no I should be getting back, my mum'll worry, you kno-"

"Weren't you gonna stay out with Mikey?" Ah fuck.

"Well- Yeah."

"Then she won't worry." Gerard said, grabbing Frank's sleeve and pulling him into the house. "C'mon, or I'll think you prefer my fuckface of a brother over me."

"I- Uh- Course I don't?" Gerard grinned again, dragging Frank through the familiar (and suddenly fucking ominous) hallway.

"Awesome. Come talk music with me. If you liked Misfits before your voice broke, you must be fucking awesome now."

Was Frank supposed to be happy or sad about this? How does it work if the hot boy dragging you into his house is actually a psycho?

“So… Donna’s not in?” Frank tried not to let any hope slip through his in his tone of voice, he was also trying not to pee himself out sheer terror.
He tried to tell himself to calm down, to think of Gabe’s banana and the joy it brought to him every time Gabe pulled a new one out of his pocket and GOT IT CRUSHED BY SOMEONE RUNNING TO CLASS.

Okay, Frank might be panicking a little now.

“Nah, she’s working, the salon y’know?” Why did Gerard have to have such a pretty voice? Couldn’t he just be… you know… not Gerard for like two seconds?

“Ah,” Frank was pretty sure his face fell a little, so when Gerard turned back around from making coffee, he tried his hardest to grin cheerfully without looking like a complete psycho stalker creep.

Oh God, what if he knows I googled him?

He doesn’t know you googled him!

But what if he does, what if Mikey’s right, what if he’s some kind of insane undead psychic and he can read my brains?

Then heaven help you if he sees you thinking about his dick right now.

I’m not thinking about his dick!

Sure…

I’m not! That’s just wrong, I mean not that he doesn’t have a nice dick, he probably does, but he’s Mikey’s brother and thinking about how beautiful and big his package possibly might do probably won’t help me get out of this situation.

Frank really needed to stop thinking such sexual thoughts about Gerard Way before he got a boner. Oh lord, that would be a top-notch brand of embarrassing.

"So," Gerard, who may or may not have a beautiful dick, leant on the counter as the coffee machine spluttered and gurgled away. "How's school? Mikey says you got suspended last week."

"I- Yeah I- I did actually." Was Frank the topic of conversation over dinner for the Ways or something? Why did Gerard know he got suspended? His dad didn't even know he got suspended this time.

"What for?"

"Uh. Some jock started on Ryan."

"That's the boy who looks like some kind of fey warlock at a ceremonial dance, isn't he?" Well, Frank had never heard that one before, but it was fairly accurate.

"That's him, yeah."

"You beat him up then?"
"Uh- Yeah. Yeah, I did."

"He must have been tall." Gerard pushed himself up again; turning back around to sort out the coffee and woah, wow Frank was definitely not observing his rather tidy ass.

"I guess. Being taller than me's hardly difficult." He said, accepting the mug offered to him.

Gerard chuckled, "Still, that's pretty impressive. Beating up some dick for starting on your friend. Nice thing to do." Frank shrugged, sipping the coffee.

"Principal disagrees."

"Well." Gerard said, his eyes darkening slightly, "He would, wouldn't he? Oh- Hey! Gimme your mug back." Frank, looking a little like a startled deer, handed it back carefully and watched Gerard pour an overly generous sharing of whiskey into it before handing it back. "There. Call it a celebration for your honourable suspension."

"Uh- Thank you?" Frank said, before taking another sip and coughing slightly as the liquid burnt down his throat.

"Oh man, do you not drink?" Gerard asked, looking at him with someone weirdly like concern in his eyes.

"Uh, no- I do, I mean- just not like, often…"

"Oh." The concern practically snapped away, replaced by another shit eating grin. "Have to get you started then, Frankie. The best times happen when you're wasted."

"Right..." Maybe Gerard wasn’t actually psycho, maybe he was just trashed the majority of the time, Mikey did have the tendency to overreact sometimes.

“So Nirvana, huh?” Gerard said. It took Frank a moment to catch on that he was talking about the shirt he was wearing, and when he looked down he could indeed see Kurt Cobain staring up at him.

“Uh… yeah, good band.”

“Definitely, what’s your favourite song?

“Rape Me,” Frank answered without hesitation, then began blushing like a sub burned tomato when he realised what he’d said, “Uh… well… Uh I mean because I like tune and-“

Gerard just laughs it off and waves a hand dismissively in his direction, “Ha, man that’s cool I get what you mean, that’s a great track.”

“Oh…”
A heavy silence filled the air around them, in which Frank attempted to sip his now incredibly Irish coffee without choking and Gerard just stared into nothingness, trace his finger around the brim of his own mug thoughtfully.

After a few minutes, Frank could take it no longer, he hated awkward silences.

“So… Maiden, huh?” Gerard grinned and patted his shirt, and oh God those fingers, Frank had to look away.

“Hell yeah, man!” Gerard flailed enthusiastically and Frank was beginning to see the return of comic-book-nerd-Way, “They’re so fuckin’ awesome, I mean have you heard One? It’s just, ah, I can’t even explain it.”
Frank grinned and nodded in response. He totally got what Gerard meant, which coincidentally meant Gerard was obviously so in sync with him. Oh God, they were meant to be.

No! Bad Frank! No more sexy times with your hand at home for you!

Good Frank! Good choice in hot boys! Four for you Frank Iero, you go Frank Iero!

Apparently Gerard couldn’t sense Frank’s internal struggle that involved Brain Vs. Dick because he just continued to ramble about the great old music and how we needed more classic rock these days. All Frank could concentrate on was the cute little way that Gerard spoke out of the corner of his mouth and pronounced certain words with such a ridiculously strong Jersey accent that it hurt just a little that he was moaning Frank’s name out loud and stripped down, sweaty on a bed.

Jeez man, control your thoughts; Mikey’ll have your head if he finds out what you’re thinking.

Which he probably would? Being psychic and all.

Gerard put down his coffee cup with some force, wiping his mouth (and wow was that unhelpful in Frank's internal battles with his libido) and leant back against the counter.

"So, Bob- You know Bob right? Course you do-" Frank nodded, because he did indeed know Bob, as most kids did, "He's got me three tickets for this show, on Friday. I was gonna take Mikey anyway, and we're missing a third." Gerard sipped his coffee, leisurely as fuck, "Wanna come?"

"Friday?" Frank asked, acting as though he wasn't freaking the fuck out, whether from fear or excitement he wasn't entirely sure. Gerard nodded, "Friday."

"Uh- Sure. Sure, that sounds awesome."

"Sweet, I'll pick you up a eight? It's in Byatt, so we were gonna grab some food at the bar and get there for nine."

Frank was about to sound like the biggest lame kid in the whole of the fucking world in front of the hottest guy he had probably ever seen.

"When- Uh- When does it end?" He was expecting Gerard to burst out laughing and have to leave out of embarrassment; he could feel his cheeks burning already, oh god-

"I dunno, you can come back here if you want. So you don't freak out your mum." Oh.

"Oh. Thanks man."

Gerard shrugged, "No worries. Wouldn't want to get on the wrong side of that woman, she's fucking terrifying."

Frank cracked an easy grin, “Yeah, until you buy her flowers, then she’s a sweetheart and she loves you forever.”

“Huh, maybe I’ll have to buy her a big bunch of tulips so I can take you out some more then,” Gerard winked. Frank started to nod and then realised what he’d just heard.

Wait what? Was that flirting? Was a hot guy flirting with him? Oh god was he overthinking this? Yes, he was definitely overthinking. Oh god, oh god, oh god.

Sex. No! Coffee… Irish coffee, yum awesome yep.

“It’s getting pretty dark outside,” Gerard said. Frank turned around to look out the window, damn, Gerard was right. Man time goes fast when you’re fantasising about dudes.

“You might wanna go home, not all things that go bump in the night are just stuff fallin’ over, y’know?” Frank did not know, but apparently Gerard was making him very aware of this now. There was something about the older guy’s expression, halfway between a sneer and a frown.

“Boo.”
The hairs on Frank’s neck stood up, so he just kind of scrambled away nodding and mumbling about curfews and how his mother was going to kill him if he was too late. After a good few minutes of tripping over various objects in a frightened haste to get away from the house, Frank was finally out on the streets and running as fast as he could.

He didn’t stop until he’d reached Stop’N’Shop, then he slid in to catch his breath, only to be confronted with the scuffed old sneakers that belonged to one best friend of his.

"Frankie?" Ah for fuck's sake. That family got everywhere.

"Hi Mikes..."

"You look like you just got attacked by a herd of wildebeest. Or like, a herd of Uries. Which is pretty much the same thing, really." Frank scowled, and ran a hand through his hair. He liked to think that despite his stupid lungs he could pull off running. (He couldn't, but it was a nice lie.)

"I'm fine. Just late." Mikey took a step back, "Your breath stinks of whiskey. And coffee."

"I-Uh-"

"Frank."

"I was tired. And you weren't at your house-" Mikey paled, all of a sudden, and hissed,

"You went to my house?"

"Yeah. Mikey, I am your best friend-"

"For fuck's sake- I told you!"

"No, actually you didn't. I have no idea what I'm supposed to be avoiding, if you ask me your brother is fine. A little- Like, intense, but not a fucking psycho..." Frank trailed off, noticing the look in his friend's eyes. "Mikey?" It was, Frank didn't know what it was. If it weren’t Mikey the indomitable, he'd have called it terror.

"You talked to Gee?"

"Uh- Yeah…"

"And he gave you Irish coffee?"

"Ahuh." Frank shifted, uncomfortable under Mikey's gaze.

"Anything else?"

"He invited me to a show with you guys on Friday…?" And- No, that was- Mikey was scared. Mikey Way was actually- Scared. Holy shit.

“Crap, that means he likes you.”
Frank’s heart did not jump and he certainly did not get little butterflies stomping around in his stomach, no siree, he was in total check with his emotions.

“So…?” Why somebody liking another person was bad, Frank had no idea; he was baffled. The only place you can say ‘I hate everyone’ and have people totally understand what you’re saying is Tumblr.

"So are you attached to your face?"

"Uh- By like tendons and crap I think?" Mikey sighed,

"He ripped off the last boyfriend's jaw-“

"What."

"I don't understand what you're trying to tell me, Mikes... I think you're going cookoo..." Frank said, scratching his head.

"Are you stupid?!" Mikey was hissing again, low and urgent as he dragged Frank out of the shop, back outside into a fast falling rain, "You heard, asshole."

"I don't get it, what exactly do you mean by ripped-" And then Gabe and Ryan tumbled out from their hiding place behind a huge stack of toilet rolls, knocking all the paper everywhere.
Frank was glad they were outside now, Gabe and Ryan would have fallen on them if not.

Mikey span around and walked back into the shop, "Can you guys not mind your own business for two minutes? Go 'tutor' that Urie kid or something." Ryan brushed the lint off his clothes and said, as calmly as humanly possible,

"Can two gentlemen not purchase a large amount of tissue paper in preparation for sleepover?"

“Not unless they’re frat boys planning to Tepee a house…” Frank said, “And I was trying to get answers, as you probably heard.”

“Well what I got from what we unfortunately and completely accidentally overheard is-“

“Gabe, please don’t.”

“You’re not Sherlock, you can’t start making deductions!”

“Please Gabe!”

Ignoring the protests of his friends, Gabe continued, “- is that Frankie ran into a creepy psycho, face-ripping brother, which is weird by the way Mikes. Also I think I may have squished the banana in my pocket when I fell on you Ryan.”

“The banana was in my pocket…”

“Oh, then yeah, it’s definitely squished.”

“Oh EW! Gross oh my god!” Ryan shrieked, attracting several strange looks from nearby shoppers. Mikey sighed and rolled his eyes, waiting for Ryan to finish girling out before he spoke.

“Thank you Gabe, for telling us what we already knew, and… is it getting foggy?”
The boys looked around to see a strange white mist creeping in.

Running, running, running… fog everywhere… took so long to find him… blood everywhere… screams… fog… breathless… head for home… escape the fog… run…

“I think it is…” Ryan said, hugging himself slightly for warmth.

“I think we should go home,” Gabe suggested. It was the first sensible thing the guys had heard out of his mouth for a while.
The all nodded in agreement and headed for Ryan’s because it was the closest. Their footsteps were collective and loud on the stone of the sidewalk, and not long after they’d started walking they could hear another pair of footsteps in the distance.

The boys sped up. The footsteps behind sped up. They walked even faster, the footsteps got closer.

Then, they were running until they reached Ryan’s porch steps.

“Holy shit I thought we were gonna get knifed or something,” Gabe said, wiping his forehead on the back of his sleeve.
No one replied as Ryan fumbled for his keys, an uneasy silence swept over them.

“Hurry up, Ry,” Frank requested quietly.

“I’m trying, I’m trying!” He dropped the keys. Mikey almost cried out in frustration.
Then the footsteps came back.

“Ryan unlock the door!”

“I CAN’T FIND THE KEYS!”
It was a mad scramble to grab they last hope and then the footsteps stopped.

Right. Next to. The porch.


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Hey guys! Oh look it's a Wednesday update, yaaaay!
Hope you enjoyed the chapter :)

Dandelions thorns and buttermellow,
CR and PIAG xoxox