Under the willow tree...(edited)

*BANG*

A car door slammed, jerking Gerard out of a quite nasty dream. Peering through his curtain of black hair, trying not to move too much due to his gut still hurting from his "dad" this morning, he almost felt like thanking the boy he saw, purely for pulling him from that nightmare. His second thought was "Woah! Hot!"

The boy was a little on the short side, and he was definitely older than Gerard, but standing there now, looking his way, Gerard couldn't help but...wait, he was looking his way?...what? Gerard curled into himself more, trying to hide from the boy with the weird hair, slamming his eyes shut and pretending to sleep.

A few moments later he carefully opened his eyes a crack, and was suddenly disappointed to realise that the boy was no longer there. Gerard sat himself up and rubbed his tired eyes, wincing slightly as his stomach's bruises pulled and ached. God he was so cold. What had given him the stella idea of sleeping outside on the ground in October anyway?

"Idiot."

He muttered, dragging himself out from under the tree. Now where was he going to go? Even without a watch he knew that it was too late to turn up for school, and he couldn't go home for obvious reasons, so what now?

Sitting on one of the rusted swings, the only one who's chains weren't broken, Gerard became lost in his own thoughts and didn't hear as his dick of a brother, and Mikey's two "best friends", Zacky and Syn approached him from behind.

Suddenly, without warning, strong hands grabbed his shoulders and yanked him backwards off the swing, to come crashing down onto the ground.

"Fuckin' emo faggot don't even know how to sit on a swing."

Syn laughed, the other two collapsing in fits themselves. Gerard groaned, putting one hand to the back of his head, his fingers coming away wet and red.

For the next ten minutes, Gerard cowered on the frozen ground, arms protectively wrapped around his head, knees pulled up to his chest as the three older, tougher and significantly healthier boys rained punches and kicks all over his thin, frail body. As darkness started to close in on him, and tears fell from his empty, blackened eyes, his cries and whimpers began to lessen, and his arms fell limp. That was when Mikey stopped the assault.

"Little shit's had enough..."

He barked at the other two.

"We don't wanna kill him, just make him wanna kill himself."

Hearing that, the others started laughing like a pair of hyenas, Mikey quickly joining in, giving his half brother one final kick to the head, then dragging his lifeless body over to the back of the park, and into the woods.

The three thugs were just about to leave, when Zacky grabbed the other two and told them to wait...there was someone coming from the direction of the school.

As they watched, hidden in the tree line, they saw a boy. He was quite short, but seemingly older than his hight would suggest, and he was with an older woman, his mother maybe, walking along the side of the road towards a small, old looking car. Suddenly the boy stopped and turned to stare at the playground, a look of...what, confusion maybe? on his face, his mother continuing on to open the car door. He looked for a moment like he was going to walk over, but at the last second, his mother called for him to hurry up and dropping his head slightly, he turned and joined her in the car.

Quickly the three boys decided to leave, before anyone else came along and caught them not only wagging school, but also with Gerard's unconscious body at their feet. That would not be good.

As they booked it out of there, Gerard, now slowly regaining the feeling in his arms and legs, crawled his way out of the bushes, just in time to see the car that the hot boy had gotten out of pulling away from the curb, and driving away down the street.

Gerard flopped painfully onto his stomach, groaning as he landed on what he was sure was a couple of broken ribs.

"Perfect."

He mumbled sarcastically, as he passed out once again.

"Wake up princess..."

Someone was shaking Gerard's arm.

"Come on...ya can't sleep here."

"Yatnkdntnotht?"

Words are hard, Gerard giggled hysterically in his own head.

"What's that princess?"

The voice chuckled. Gerard groaned as he painfully rolled over onto his back, relieving the pressure on his damaged ribs and causing his unknown if familiar sounding alarm clock to gasp at the sight of his many cuts and bruises.

"I said...ya think I don't know that?...oh, and don't call me that."

He huffed, eyes still closed.

"You didn't used to mind it."

The voice stated. Gerard frowned...there was only one person who had ever called him that...oh shit! Gerard sat up quickly, eyes flashing open towards the older male who was crouched next to him.

"B-Bert?..."

Gerard's head swam and his ears rang.

"Uhhhh."

He groaned, slapping his hands over his ears and squeezing his eyes tight shut again.

"What the hell happened to you Gerard?"

Woah, he actually sounded concerned.

"What the fuck do you care, jerk?"

Gerard mumbled, not believing Bert's act for a minute.

"Oh, I'm crushed..."

Bert feigned, dramatically grasping his chest and forcing a fake sob. Of course the chest grab was kinda wasted seeing as Gerard still had his eyes closed.

"Soooo?"

"Huh?"

Gerard finally looked at him again, confused for a moment.

"What happened?"

Bert prompted.

"Mikey happened."

Gerard said, miserably, looking down to stare at his shoes...huh...gone. What the actual fuck, Mikey?

"Your brother?..."

Bert sounded genuinely shocked by this. Gerard nodded.

"But why?"

"Your guess is as good as mine at this point. They hate me, that's all I know."

Tears fought to escape from red eyes.

"They?"

Gerard nodded sadly.

"Mikey and d-dad."

He almost choked on the name. That man wasn't his dad, and he hadn't even tried to act like one for a long time now. Bert frowned deeply, and seemed to be thinking something over in that nasty little brain of his. Suddenly, his face lit up.

"You can come stay with me!"

Gerard looked at him incredulously, eyes bugging, jaw almost on the floor.

"ARE YOU FUCKING SHITTING ME?"

He screamed, scuttling backwards on his ass to get away from the now slightly shocked man.

"After all the crap you put me through, you think I'd go anywhere with you?..."

Gerard was starting to shake now, though even he wasn't sure if it was from cold, fear or rage.

"If you were the last person on Earth, I still wouldn't go with you!"

"Well, screw you princess..."

Bert spat, standing back up to tower over Gerard's thin form.

"It was just a suggestion..."

Bert turned to walk away, pausing to throw out what Gerard took to be a threat.

"Be seein' ya real soon though."

And with that, he left. Gerard sighed in relief, that could've been worse. Hey...when the hell did night get here?

Every inch of Gerard's frail body hurt, and he knew that if he stayed here he'd probably end up dead by morning. Perhaps that wasn't such a bad idea though...maybe he should just lay down under his tree again and go to sleep. Maybe he wouldn't wake up and his nightmare of a life would finally be over...maybe. Pulling his knees up to his chest and wrapping his arms around them, Gerard started to think about his life, what did he have to live for anyway? He counted off the things he had...No mother, an asshole for a father, a dick for a brother, no friends, a jerk for an ex, who tried to get him to do stuff he was nowhere near ready to do, then, when he refused, cheated on him...the bastard.

Gerard sighed, his breath coming out in a white fog...yeah, so he was smart, so what?...what did that ever get him? That got him skipped ahead two years and forced into classes with Neanderthals twice his size, that's what. Fucking school! Gerard hung his head low...basically he had nothing worth living for. He shivered, knowing that soon he was likely to freeze to death. Oh well, death by frost bite it was then.

Crawling on his hands and knees, cause he just didn't have it in him to get up and walk, Gerard made his way slowly and painfully over to the willow tree, and curled up into a tight little ball beneath it's gently swaying branches. At least he'd die in his most favourite place...that was something, right?

Closing his eyes, trying to ignore his chattering teeth, Gerard hugged himself as he began to drift off...whether it was to sleep or into unconsciousness he didn't really know, and frankly, he didn't care.

~several miles away~

"Mumma?"

"Yes, Frankie?"

"Can we drive home past the school please?...I want to check on something."

"Ok Frankie. What do you want to check?"

"Oh...err...just something I saw in the park."

"Ok..."

Linda thought for a moment.

"Pizza for dinner?"

Frankie grinned.

"You're the best Mumma..."

It was about a thirty minute drive back to the school from the mall, and Frankie was silently panicking every last one of them, in fact, he'd been pretty fraught since he looked out of the big window just outside Hot Topic and noticed the colour of the sky; white, a sure sign that snow was on its way. And now here it was, and they were still only half way home.

"Mumma?"

Frankie asked, eyes trained on the softly falling flakes.

"Hmmm?..."

Linda replied absentmindedly, concentrating on keeping her car on the icy road ahead. Frankie sighed dramatically, causing his mother to glance sideways at him briefly, before returning her attention back to the task at hand.

"Spit it out Frankie."

Frankie turned concerned eyes her way.

"I saw something at that park, before we went in the school."

"What was it?"

With all this build up, Linda was getting curious.

"A boy..."

His mother quirked an eyebrow at him, silently pushing him to continue.

"He was asleep under a willow tree, on the ground..."

Linda gasped, turning her head towards him, and nearly crashing the car in the process. Frankie didn't return her gaze.

"He'd gone when we came out but thinking back now, I think his bag was still there, and I'm worried..."

He trailed off, dropping his eyes to look at his hands in his lap. Linda smiled out of the windscreen, suddenly very proud of her son.

"You're a good boy Frankie..."

She told him.

"Of course we'll go look, we can't just leave some kid out in this weather."

Frankie grinned up at her.

"Thanks mumma."

They drove on in silence for the next ten minutes until the school loomed into view and Frankie undid his seatbelt, nervously bouncing up and down in his seat.

"Calm down Frankie, we're here already."

As soon as the car rocked to a stop, he was out and running. He could see him, the boy was back in his position under the tree.

"Mumma, mumma, hurry up..."

He raced over and skidded to his knees, sliding through the thin branches and coming to a halt beside the boy. The small figure had his back to Frankie, and was curled into a tight ball. Carefully, he reached out and rolled the boy towards him. Linda reached the tree just in time to hear her son's frightened gasp.

"Oh god."

Linda knelt down and crawled in next to him, before checking the obviously injured boy for a pulse, as soft snow began to pile up around them. Frankie stared from his mother to the boy and back again.

"He's alive..."

She said quietly.

"Help me get him to the car, we have to take him to hospital."

Without a word, and with little to no effort, Frankie scooped the thin boy into his arms and stood, before leading the way quickly back to their vehicle,his mother picking up the boy's bag.

Linda unlocked the doors and opened the rear one for Frankie to place the boy inside, but to her surprise he climbed in the back with the boy resting against his chest. She didn't question it, she just got behind the wheel and started the car, placing the boy's school bag on the passenger seat and driving away.

Frankie could feel how cold the boy was, it was radiating off him, so he unzipped the front of his pumpkin hoodie and pulled it out to enclose the boy as well as himself. As he held the boy, (he really needed to learn his name), he noticed just how thin he felt, that was definitely not good. He felt painfully thin, and Frankie found a whole new thing to worry over.

"Mumma?...he's so thin."

Frankie whimpered.

"We're nearly there."

Linda said, finding his eyes in the rear view mirror, and holding them for a moment.

Frankie turned his eyes back down, and couldn't help but notice how attractive the boy was...yes, he was too thin by far, but he was beautiful, with long black hair and eyelashes, a perfect little pixie nose, thin pale lips, and soft, creamy white skin he longed to touch. Wait, shut up Frankie, the kid's unconscious...you're taking him to the hospital, he might not make it!

Frankie's stomach dropped at the realisation that there was a chance that he'd never even get to meet the boy, let alone be able to flirt or ask him out. Hell, he was probably straight anyway.

"We're here."

Linda called back to him, putting the car in park and getting out to open his door.

Frankie carried the boy in bridal style as his mother searched for a nurse. Moments later, she returned with not one but three nurses, and a doctor who took the boy from Frankie's arms with a nod, and disappeared through a set of flappy doors. One of the nurses was asking them questions, but Frankie wasn't listening, all he wanted was to know if the boy was ok. How could he fall so hard, so fast? No, it wasn't love...love at first sight was the thing of fairy tales and fan fictions, not real life, but it was like, even a smidge of lust, but not love...no way. After all, he'd not even met the boy yet.

"Come on honey..."

His mother said softly, holding his elbow and steering him toward the exit.

"They've got him now, time we went home. You still want that pizza?"

Frankie shook his head.

"Not hungry mumma."

He allowed himself to be lead outside and back to their car. Ten minutes later they were home, in the warm and the dry, and Frankie could only think about how cold the boy must've been, and what drove him to sleep in such a dangerous place to begin with. He hoped he'd have the chance to ask him one day.

"I'm tired mumma, think I'm just gonna go to bed..."

Leaning up on his toes, Frankie kissed his mother's cheek.

"Night mumma."

"Goodnight honey, sleep tight."

Linda smiled, though the concern quickly returned to her hazel eyes as she watched him plod slowly up the stairs to his room.

As soon as he closed his bedroom door, Frankie felt hot tears begin to line his eyes, and angrily wiped them away with his sleeve. He couldn't let himself get attached to a boy he'd not even spoken to, it was only a matter of time before his mother's work meant they had to move away again anyway, and knowing his luck, he'd end up across the other side of the country. No, he would make sure he was alright, and that was it. Now, he just hoped he could stick to the plan.

Kicking off his shoes and wiggling out of his skinny jeans, Frankie sat on the bed and took his cellphone from the pocket it had sat in, untouched all day, and speed dialled a familiar number. It rang and rang and eventually went to voicemail. Sighing sadly, Frankie listened for the beep before leaving his message.

"Hiya Tony...I just thought I'd give you a call, see how you're doin' but it guess you're out or something. You going to party's without me?..."

Frankie laughed, but it sounded hollow to his tired ears.

"Well, I gotta get some sleep, had a busy day today and I start school tomorrow...ugh...kill me now. I'll try to call you later, talk to you soon. Oh, I got someth..."

There was a beeping noise and the voicemail slot finished. Frankie hung his head, turning off the phone for the night and sitting it on his nightstand.

"...ing to tell you...but I guess it can wait."

Suddenly he felt so very, very sleepy. Taking off the hoodie, that now smelled a little like the boy, and reminded him a little less of Tony, he lay down and snuggled under his covers, the hoodie scrunched up in his arms, and closed his eyes.

Within a few short minutes, sleep had taken him over, and he slipped into a land of dreams, where a black haired boy, sitting under a tree, watched the snow fall gently down.

~across town~

"Mr Way?"

"Yes. Who's this?"

"Oh, hello. Sorry to disturb you so late, but my name is Jasmin Graham, and I'm a nurse at St, Andrews hospital."

"And?"

"Sir, your son was brought into the ER a couple of hours ago, he's suffering from hypothermia, multiple broken bones, malnutrit..."

"Let me just stop you there. My son is sat right next to me now."

"Oh...err...you are Mr. Terry Way?...father of Gerard Way? Correct?"

Terry huffed loudly before replying.

"Unfortunately. Kid's a real disappointment."

"Be that as it may sir, he is your responsibility, and as his legal guardian, you are required to come down, at least to fill in some forms. He is underage."

"Whatever..."

Terry huffed again.

"I'll come down in the morning..."

Then he hung up.

"Fuckin' kid!"

Terry took another swig of his beer and went back to watching his movie, not giving Gerard another thought.

Frankie woke abruptly, as The Used screamed it's alarm call through his cell, surely he hadn't set it that loud?! Nearly deafened, he snatched up the offending device and swiped his thumb across the screen, effectively silencing it, then dropped it onto his bed and groaned.

"School...fuck my life!..."

Laying there on his back, sheets twisted around his knees, Frankie rubbed the sleep from his tired eyes and stretched his legs out as far as they could go, which wasn't actually that far, but hay-ho, that's life.

Untangling his feet from the covers, Frankie swung his legs off the side of the bed and stood up, stretching again before yawning and heading towards his bathroom, promptly tripping over his discarded jeans and falling face first onto the rug.

"FUCK!"

He yelped.

"Language Frankie..."

Linda tutted, sticking her head around the door, then seeing him on the floor rubbing his sore cheek, she softened a little.

"You ok? What happened?"

Frankie turned his eyes her way.

"I'm fine. My jeans just tried to kill me, no biggie."

He giggled with a shrug. Linda smirked.

"I think that when items of clothing start trying to assassinate us, we have no choice but to listen to the weird guy on the corner telling us the world's gonna end."

"Killer clothing is the first sign of the apocalypse."

Frankie grinned. Linda smiled wide.

"Breakfast will be ready in ten. Wash up, eat, then get ready for school..."

Frankie groaned, the standard reaction of any teenager at the mention of the S word.

"You want a lift in, or...?"

She trailed off, letting the question hang in the air. Frankie shook his head, smiling softly as he dragged himself back onto his feet.

"It's ok mumma, I'll walk."

Linda winked at him then disappeared off downstairs to the kitchen.

After washing his face, applying fresh eyeliner and styling his hair, Frankie went down for his breakfast, to be met by the sight and sound of his mother getting quite annoyed at someone on the phone.

"...look...no, I know...I know...but we brou...it's just that...no, I understand...really?...oh...I get it...yes, goodbye."

Linda huffed angrily, slamming her cell onto the counter and apparently not noticing Frankie until he cleared his throat in the doorway.

"Mumma?..."

He asked in a small voice, he wasn't used to this side of her, and really didn't like it when people shouted anyway.

"What was that?"

Linda sighed, walking to him and pulling him into a gentle hug as she saw the nervous look in his eyes.

"It's ok Frankie, don't worry. I was just calling the hospital to see if there was any news on the boy."

"And?"

Frankie's eyes lit up at the thought of him. He hadn't really been thinking about him every waking second since they'd left him there, and he hadn't really been dreaming of him all night either. No, that would be kinda stalkerish. Besides, he didn't even know the kid...he might be a jerk.

Linda frowned.

"They couldn't say much cause I'm not family, and at first they wouldn't even admit they knew who I was on about..."

Frankie raised his eyebrows, urging her to continue. Linda sighed.

"They released him about an hour ago."

"What?...no, the state of him! He nearly died! What the hell?"

Frankie was in shock. Linda wasn't far behind him.

"I don't know the details, they wouldn't say...just something about his dad collecting him and refusing to pay medical bills..."

She shook her head sadly.

"He sounds like a real asshole."

"I'm suddenly not that hungry."

Frankie muttered, turning to go get ready for his first day at his new hell.

Half hour later, dressed in black skinnys, FOB t-shirt and the same pumpkin hoodie from yesterday, that still somehow smelled of the boy, Frankie stomped angrily through the school gates, giving off a serious "Don't FUCK with me!" vibe.

Kids of all sizes moved out of his way, cause even though he was kinda small, he looked like someone that you wouldn't want to get on the wrong side of. That wasn't really him of course, but right now he was happy to just be left alone.

After pulling his schedule and map from his messenger bag, Frankie spent the next ten minutes trying to locate his locker and homeroom, which luckily were right opposite each other. He removed his notebook and pen from his bag, and stuffing the bag into the small red metal box.

There were three other boys in the classroom when he entered, two laughing hysterically while the third poured large amounts of what Frankie guessed was superglue all over the teacher's chair. None of them noticed him as he slipped to the back of the room and slumped into a seat in the corner, mildly amused by the prank they were setting up.

Placing his notebook on the desk, Frankie opened it where he'd scribbled his last note, picked up his pen, and tried to continue the lyrics he had begun writing before the move. Suddenly, two large hands slammed down on the desk in front of him, making him jump and his pen skitter across the page, leaving an ugly black line straight through his words.

"You're new!"

One of the boys stated as Frankie turned his annoyed glare his way.

"No...what gave it away?"

Sarcasm was possibly not the best route to take, considering this boy was about twice his size and looked like he was several years older, was Frankie in the right room?...but right now he didn't give a shit. He was pissed, and God help the next person to cross him today.

"Woah...chill dude..."

The boy said, putting his hands up in surrender and backing up a step.

"Just wanted to say 'Hey', and check you're not gonna grass on us?"

He hurried out, indicating the newly sticky chair at the front of the room. Frankie relaxed a little, deciding that they probably weren't about to beat his ass, and offered a small smile, instantly returned by all three.

"Nah, grassin' ain't me guys. You're cool."

They were all grinning at him now.

"What's you're name kid?"

The tallest, yet youngest looking; a skinny thing with glasses perched at the end of his nose and weird straight hair that poked through the frames at odd angles, kinda nerdy looking, asked him, stepping forward and reaching out a hand. The smaller boy stared at it for a moment, then took it and shook.

"Frankie...you?"

"Hey Frankie..."

Glasses smiled.

"I'm Mikey, that's Syn..."

Pointing to the guy who'd ruined his song, who was now lighting up in the classroom.

"...and that's...ZACKY? What the fuck you doin?"

Frankie peered around Mikey to see what the other boy was upto now, and his eyes nearly popped out of his head when he realised that Zacky appeared to be taking a piss in the teacher's desk drawer.

"Needed a slash."

Was all he said, tucking himself back in and pulling up his zipper, before closing the drawer and walking over, offering Frankie his hand to shake.

"Nah, you're ok dude."

Frankie raised an eyebrow at the man in slight disgust.

"Oh, sorry. I'll go wash up."

Zacky turned and left the room, just as it began to flood with teenagers. Mikey sighed, turning back to Frankie.

"So, where you from?"

"All over. Ma keeps movin' us cause of her job. Not been one place more than a year."

Frankie scowled down at his desk, and the abandoned songbook on it.

"Shit. I been here all my life..."

Mikey replied.

"Hey, you wanna hang with us? We'll show you round, let you know who to avoid and such. What do ya say?"

Frankie thought for a second...they seemed like cool kids, Syn and Zacky might be older than him, he'd have to ask them about that, but they hadn't tried to give him a wedgie, so that was good.

"Ok, you're on."

The boys grinned at each other as Zacky returned from the washroom and plonked himself down in the seat directly in front of Frankie.

"CLASS? Please take your seats."

A short, middle aged, somewhat messy looking man who Frankie presumed to be their homeroom teacher shouted from the front of the room, as he went to close the door, two giggling girls slipping in under his arm and receiving a few choice words for being late.

"This should be good."

Syn chuckled quietly, a hint of wicked glee in his voice as he watched the older man head towards his desk. Frankie grinned back at him, but didn't reply.

Much to all the boys annoyance, the teacher didn't sit.

"Class, we have a new student with us today..."

Frankie groaned and slid down in his seat.

"Mr. Frank Iero?...Frank? Please stand up and introduce yourself?"

Frankie hated doing this, it was the same every school he moved to, and he knew he'd end up having to do it in every class today, as always. Pushing himself up to his feet, eyes trained firmly on the floor, Frankie figured he may as we'll get it over with.

"Hey, I'm Frankie Iero, I'm 17, I move schools a lot cause of my ma, I like writing music and playin' my guitar..."

Sweating slightly, Frankie collapsed into his chair, shooting a pissed off look toward Syn as he smirked at the smaller boy's discomfort.

"Shut up."

He hissed quietly, earning himself a wide grin he couldn't help but return. Hey, maybe this school wasn't gonna be so bad after all.

"Thank you Frank. Now, attendance..."

As the teacher started reading out the names, Frankie zoned out, only paying vague attention as Mikey made small comments on some of the people around them.

"...slag...asshat...total grass, steer clear of him...best weed in the place..."

Etc etc until he was near the end and the teacher read out a name that made Frankie's three new friends snicker like they knew something.

"Gerard Way?...Gerard?...huh..."

Then he looked toward the back of the class, right at them.

"Michael Way? Where is your brother?"

Frankie turned to look at Mikey.

"He's sick sir. Won't be back for a week or so."

Mikey said, completely straight faced, all sign of his previous giggles gone.

"Ok..."

The teacher marked an absent in his book, then continued.

"Michael Way?"

"Sir."

After he'd finished, the teacher, who Mikey had told him was called Mr. Massey, or Messy as they had nicknamed him, sent a girl from the front row, one of the giggle twins who had arrived after the bell, to take the attendance book to the office, then he headed towards his desk.

Mikey, Syn and Zacky all seemed to lean forward in anticipation as Messy went to sit down, and if you wanted honesty, Frankie would probably admit to a little thrill at the thought of the prank himself.

It was, Frankie had to accept, pretty spectacular. Messy had sat, and not noticed a thing, which caused the boys to grumble and frown a bit until Frankie quietly reminded them of the drawer, making them all grin again. A few minutes later, the unfortunate teacher was searching for a missing stapler, that later turned up in Syn's bag, and reached into "The Drawer". The resulting chaos, as he hollered in disgust, waving his hand around in the air and spraying drops of Zacky's piss all over the front row, then trying to stand, only to find his pants bonded tight to the fabric of the chair, causing both to go crashing to the floor, had the three boys practically howling in delight, and a large portion of the class joining in, though not the front row, Frankie noticed, giggling softly.

Because nothing could be proved regarding the identities of the "glue and piss bandits", the whole class was given an after school detention, a chorus of groans sounding out as the bell rung and they were dismissed to go to their first class.

The rest of the day went by without much drama, Frankie's new friends only being in two classes with him, and no one else daring to speak to him after his entrance that morning, though he did notice that the missing Way's name was said during every attendance throughout the day, maybe he'd get another friend when the mystery brother returned.

Lunch was boring, and revolting, some unknown meat byproduct that he felt sure was dog food, probably "Power Pup", and something kinda resembling mashed potatoes. Frankie chose a packet of no-name potato chips and an apple, and went to sit at a table in the corner, alone. The other boys didn't show up for lunch, and Frankie quickly came to the conclusion that they were probably off planning another prank.

When last bell finally rang, Frankie groaned slightly, remembering he had detention, packed up his things and headed back across the building to his homeroom.

Mikey and the others were, surprisingly, already there. It turned out that their last class today had been in that very room, so all hope of sneaking away and ditching their punishments was quickly lost.

Frankie flopped into his seat and gave them a pained grin.

"So how was your first day in hell?"

Syn asked, turning in his seat to look at the now exhausted boy.

"Ugh."

Frankie grunted, slamming his forehead down against the desk with a bang.

"That good?"

Zacky chuckled. Frankie lifted his head back up and suddenly grinned, nodding his head towards the doorway and raising his eyebrows so they nearly disappeared into his hair. The others turned to look, as quiet giggles and snickers erupted around the room.

There, in all his glory, was Messy. He was now wearing a pair of lost property gym shorts that were probably meant for a 12 year old, and his shirt and tie. He looked ridiculous, and in less than a minute the entire class was cackling like a pack of hyenas. The teacher had lost control, was throwing pencils at ducking and diving students, and had to be talked down and lead away by the school's guidance councillor. Class dismissed.

"Well, that was fun..."

Mikey grinned.

"Let's do it again tomorrow."

The others fell about laughing, and Frankie decided that he really did kinda like it here after all.

"See ya guys."

Frankie called over his shoulder as he headed home, grinning ear to ear. Now, if the missing brother would come back and turn out to be as cool as Mikey and co, and if he could find the mystery boy from last night and make sure he was alright...then his life would be pretty much perfect for a while.

"HI MUMMA."

He shouted as he practically skipped into the kitchen. Linda grinned at her son.

"Good first day then?"

"The best!"

And for once, he wasn't being sarcastic.

A couple miles away, Gerard's day was very far from the best.

Gerard hadn't expected to wake up, he hadn't really wanted to, but that's not what was bothering him right now. As he peeled his sleep encrusted eyes open, he discovered that he wasn't in either of the places he thought he'd be. He wasn't in the hospital, which would've been nice, at least he'd get fed there, and he wasn't under his tree, where he could still hold out hope for death to come and take him. But no, peering around groggily, he realised he was at home, and worse than that, he was in his "dad's" bedroom...so not good!

Gerard had only had the misfortune of waking to find himself on his dad's bed twice before, both times after a beating from his particularly drunk dad, that ended with him unconscious. Both times he'd woken there to the horror of that revolting, twisted man touching him and forcing his way into the sobbing, terrified boy.

This time, as his vision cleared and he shakily took in his surroundings, he noticed that he was alone. Of course, his relief was short lived when he realised that his hands were tied with thick knotted twine to the headboard of the bed.

Gerard could still feel pain corse through his ribs and head, and he wondered briefly if he'd had any kind of medical treatment for his injuries. If Mikey had brought him home, or if his "dad" had found him, then the answer was probably no.

His eyes stung with new tears as he tried desperately to wriggle his hands free, the ropes burning angry red lines into his fragile, pale skin. Footsteps! He froze. Ohshitohshitohshit! Gerard squeezed his eyes shut, trying for the three year old's approach to hide and seek of "if I can't see you, then you can't see me" and quietly wet himself in fear.

The footsteps stopped outside the room, the handle turned and the door creaked open.

"You 'wake? Lil shiit..."

Terry slurred. Yep, definitely drunk. Badbadbadbadbad. Gerard heard the intoxicated man enter the room and close the door behind himself, before the faint "zzzvviip" sound of a zip being undone reached his ears. The already broken and petrified teen shook with dread as he felt the end of the bed dip, and his "dad" begin to crawl up towards him.

"Your fault she lefft...man got needs."

#

Suddenly Gerard's boxers we're ripped down his thin, weak legs and Terry was pushing the boy's knees up to his chest as he struggled to make it rise and fall, the man virtually folding him in half, then lining himself up and forcing himself violently inside.

Gerard couldn't help it, he screamed, long and loud. He tried not to but it was no use as the man, who was supposed to care for and protect him, slammed into him over and over again. Unfortunately, this just seemed to spur the older man on, making his thrusts harder, his fingers dig deeper into Gerard's slim hips, and his grunts growing louder and even more animal like.

As Terry finished, squirting his poison inside the boy and pulling out, leaving him discarded on the filthy sheets, Gerard felt darkness claim his vision once more, as he slid back into oblivion.

#

Terry got up, dressed, and left the room, without a single glance at the motionless figure he left behind.

Down the hall, three rooms away, Mikey had his earbuds in and the volume turned up to ten as he blasted Slipknot. It was a band he wasn't entirely sure about, but Syn had given him the cd and told him to give it a listen, and well, it certainly was good for occasions like this, occasions when the noises in this house were just a bit much to take, and Mikey started to doubt that the way they treated his bastard brother was right. He frowned, thinking about how many times he'd had to play that damn cd lately, and wondered if maybe, he had it all wrong after all.

When the cd ended, he found the house to be in silence again. He could have chosen to go check on Gerard, but he didn't. There had been several times recently that he should have checked on the younger boy's well being, but with his dad's words engrained in his mind, fuck, the man had practically brainwashed him, Mikey just couldn't bring himself to care all that much.

Removing the buds, and turning off the stereo, Mikey crossed the room and climbed into his bed. It was three in the morning and he had to be up for school in like, three and a half hours. God, he was fucked...he'd be living on Pro-plus and coffee all day now.

Yawning wide, and only giving a tiny thought to the boy down the hall, Mikey closed his eyes and drifted into a relatively peaceful sleep. It was way too late, and he was way too tired to be thinking about anything as heavy as the rights and wrongs of his life...that could wait til tomorrow.

Notes