Golden Days

Frank stepped into the large bathroom, staring around in wonderment at the large corner bath surrounded by bottles of soaps and shampoos. He looked at his pale face in the mirror, staring at his out of place figure in this fancy bathroom. He didn’t deserve this.

He shook his head to clear the awful thoughts from his mind and gently peeled his suit jacket from his body. He loosened the choking black tie around his neck and dropped it to the floor on top of his jacket. He kept his eyes glued on his reflection as he unbuttoned the white shirt that had small blood spots on his shoulder.

Frank cringed as he stood, topless in front of the mirror. He swallowed back building sick in the back of his throat as he gingerly observed the scarred skin of his torso. Open cuts, left by Bryar snaked their way across his sides and closed scars and bright pink scratches marred his stomach like some awful disease. His eyes lingered on the scars of his own design littering his arms, reminders of what lay in wait back home.

“Frank?” Came the muffled voice of Gerard from the other side of the door, breaking Frank from his trance. He ran a hand through his hair, feeling the soft locks tumble over his fingers. He was still alive despite everything.

“Yeah?” Frank replied, his voice an octave higher than usual. He fought to keep his voice level as he continues “W-what do you want?” Despite the kindness of the Way brothers, Gerard in particular, he was still terrified. He had seen both stand up against a man who had grabbed him off the streets and beat up his best friends. He had seen Mikey, the younger of the two, threaten the same man who had bundled him into a van and told him to ‘fucking shut up’ or he’s ‘fucking kill you, you little faggot’. Most importantly, he had seen the respect Gerard commanded from an entire room, silencing the man what had beat him mercilessly the night before. He was scared of the two that had saved his life.

“Gosh Frank, no need to sound like I’m the boogieman, your clothes are in your room. Mikes and Ray managed to get your room sorted and shit” Gerard called. Frank could almost hear the smirk in his words “We’re all downstairs in the sitting room when you’re ready to come down, okay?”

“Yeah okay, thank you” Frank mumbled. The footsteps receded, and Frank could hear the sound of clicking shoes of the stairs and let out a sigh of relief. He ran himself a bath, stripping off what clothes remained plastered to his body with sweat. His eyes flicked to the mirror again. Frank Anthony Thomas Iero did not think he was beautiful, in fact, looking at his scarred pale body he thought he was horrifyingly the opposite.

Finally, the bath was filled and Frank no longer had to stare at himself in the mirror. He lowered himself into the warm water, wincing at the pain that wormed its way up his body. With a careful hand he began to wash himself, letting out happy mumbles as his body was covered in bubbles and sweet smelling relief.

He soaked for a good 30 minutes in the tub before finally lifting himself out the tub. He dried his hair on a soft white fluffy towel, then he wrapped it around his waist. His scars were no longer as pink and hot when he looked in the mirror. He opened the door, glancing up and down the thankfully empty corridor. He dashed across the hallway and made it to his room.

On top of a beautiful twin sized bed lay a pair of black jeans, a huge grey woollen jumper that Frank assumed belonged to Mikey due to its length and a t-shirt advertising the band ‘the police’ as well as underwear and socks. It was obvious to Frank that Gerard had picked out some of the comfiest clothes. He carefully pulled on his underwear then slipped the t-shirt on. He didn’t feel as broken or just wasted like he had in the months before now. He pulled his jeans and socks on before pulling on the jumper. He looked in the mirror on the wall (God, the Way’s had so many mirrors in their house) and admired himself for the first time in a long while. Frank ran a hand through his slightly wet hair before deciding to go downstairs.

He followed the sound of low speech and stopped before a large door that was slightly ajar. He could hear the conversation from out in the hall. He wavered on the threshold before deciding to listen in if only for a brief second.

“Mikey, you don’t have to go along with his stupid plans” Ray’s voice was quiet, almost comforting.

“My plans aren’t stupid Ray; don’t you see? Bob killed Pete, and he woulda killed Frankie if it wasn’t for us. We’ve gotta…” Gerard seemed to be angry at Ray. A small ‘shh’ quietened him.

“Gerard, Ray’s right, we’ve had nothing for this damn long. I love Pete Gee, I still do, every damn day I say ‘Pete Wentz, I fucking love you, I hope to god you’re in heaven living it up, I love you, I love you’ but there’s no way on this good green earth that I’m allowing you, you of all fucking people to kill a man we have zero evidence on” Mikey’s tone was as smooth as butter as he talked to his brother.

“But Mikey-“

“Don’t you dare ‘But Mikey’ me Gerard Arthur Way. I’ll give you the go ahead as soon as Will gets a confession out of him, but until then, you do not leave this house unless it’s with me or Ray, got it?”

“Okay Michael, have it your way”

Frank pushed open the door, trying to hide the fact that he had heard a good chunk of their conversation. Ray and Mikey were sitting on a black leather sofa, Mikey had his hands folded in his lap, whilst Ray’s feet were perched on a table. Frank’s eyes wandered to Gerard, who was reclined in a matching armchair, looking every inch some sort of Vampire to Frank.

“Frankie!” Gerard sat up, shooting daggers at his brother. Mikey muttered something in Ray’s ear. Ray nodded and Mikey got to his feet, sweeping past Frank and out to the hall. There was the sound of sharp footsteps going upstairs “Sit beside Ray, my darling brother is just off upstairs to take care of something” There was slight animosity in his voice as he cast a sideways glance out to the hall.

“Hey Frank” Ray grinned and patted the seat next to him. Gerard bit his lip, watching Ray with a jealous gaze. Frank picked his way into the room before lowering himself softly onto the couch “Sorry I didn’t introduce myself earlier, I’m Ray, I’m Mikey’s best friend and I live here with these idiots” Ray laughed and motioned towards Gerard. Gerard rolled his eyes.

“Frank... uh… Iero, um... that’s it really” Frank rubbed his arm nervously.

“Are the clothes okay Frankie?” Asked Gerard kindly, smiling at the small boy next to Ray “I kinda hoped they would fit, the jumper’s Mikey’s I thought you would like it better than mine”

“Yeah, I really like the t-shirt though, I love ‘Message in a bottle’ a lot” Frank grinned, blushing very slightly. Gerard smirked and leaned back in his chair. Ray watched the exchange with a raised eyebrow and coughed slightly in Gerard’s direction.

“Yeah, Gerard’s such a music geek, Mikey and I are too but Gerard… he has so many records upstairs” Ray grinned at Frank “Records, instruments like guitars and drums, music sheets… everything in his room. Mikey plays some wicked bass, I can play guitar and Gerard...” Ray groaned and looked at Gerard as though complimenting the man was going to kill him “He’s a pretty damn good singer”

Frank’s eyes widened, back at school in Belleville he played guitar in music class. His mom couldn’t buy him a guitar they didn’t have much money to spare. Even when Frank was taking extra music lessons and the teacher had told him he had a talent for guitar, they couldn’t scrape enough to get a cheap acoustic.

“Guitars?” Frank asked, perking up. Gerard caught his enthusiasm and grinned, his stomach doing a front flip at Frankie’s excitement over an instrument.

“Yeah Frankie, we have guitars, how about you come up and try them out with me babe?” Asked Gerard, getting to his feet. Frank blushed as he looked up at Gerard, he hoped he wasn’t getting hit on, Frank wasn’t good at that sort of thing, even before Bob Bryar cornered him he couldn’t flirt to save his life. Ray got to his feet quickly too, and Gerard shot him a death glare that was impossible to miss, even by Frank’s oblivious nature. “Okay fine, try them out with me and Ray”

Frank stood up, he wasn’t sure if he trusted Gerard, he was well meaning, but he still scared Frank just a little. He nodded “I’d love to try them out, thank you sir”

“Goddamn it Frank, don’t call that idiot sir” Ray laughed. Frank

“Ray! I’m not an idiot, you stupid donut… but yeah, don’t call me sir, Frankie… come on, lets go”

Notes

Ray being an asshole to Gerard in this is my favourite thing. Mikey is also such a sweetie pie and I wanna hug him and bring Petey back to life omg.
Also what am I gonna do when I run out of tracks for DOAB? Wing it and make it all Too Weird to live! Too Rare to die!? I don't know.
Leave me a comment/feedback, I love you guys!