It had been a little over 5 months, and still Mikey and David have had no luck. They looked everywhere in the immediate area, but their brother was nowhere to be found. Mikey took some solace in the fact that David had not felt any pain or discomfort so they knew he was safe at least. Still it pained Mikey to see David look so empty without his missing half and their mum would not get over the guilt of what she let her children go through. Even though Don was in jail now and had a restraining order put on him, it was not enough to stop her from crying about how she let that monster hurt her baby. Mikey sat up at night looking at the sky and wondering where Gee was and hoping that he was safe indeed.

(time passes)

Gee ate quickly...it was only a matter of time before someone stronger and tougher than him arrived and took what was left of the cold burger he'd dug out of the dumpster next to McDonald's on West 3rd Street.
Gee was not a fan of McDonalds, or burgers in general, but beggars can't be choosers...and in this case, that's literal.

He was sat against a tree in the small green area next to the fast food restaurant. He had his knees pulled up to his chest and his eyes darted around nervously. Gee had managed to stay under the local gangs' radars so far, but he couldn't be too careful, and he knew it was only a matter of time before he saw something he shouldn't, and had to run to another part of the city...but for now, this was his spot.

Food was hard to come by of course, even when you basically live next to a McDonald's, so Gee had already lost weight in the month he'd been on the streets of New York...but he was coping...he was used to not eating much anyway, so it really wasn't that tough.

What was tough, was the nights.
Gee hid and trembled under bushes, in dumpsters, and even, on occasion, up a tree. He hated the dark and the noises of animals and the city's seedy underbelly that came out once the sun went down.
It terrified him, but what choice did he have?...he couldn't go home.

After he'd finished his disgusting and tasteless meal, Gee crawled under a nearby bush and curled up to keep as warm as he could...it would be a while before he could fall asleep, but it wasn't like he had anything else to do, was it.

(time passes)

"Mikey?..."

David sat up, rubbing his eyes and finding his hand wet. He looked over to the window sill and saw his little brother turn to look at him in the darkened room.

"Come back to bed Mikes...you need to sleep."

He held up the edge of his blanket.

"Okay Davy."

Mikey crawled into bed with David. They snuggled together as they both slept filled with worry.

(time passes)

"Hey kid, where do you think you're going? You're on our turf."

"Yeah man, whatcha got in the bag?"

"Grab him!"

"Are you sure it's a him?"

"Yeah man, it could be a girl."

"Let's find out."

Gee screamed and kicked the nearest asshole in the shin before wrenching his arm free from another's grip and spinning to run away.

"After him!"

"Fuck, 'im."

"No way man, he kicked Ralphy! We need to teach this punk a lesson!"

The sound of six guys chasing Gee as he pounded down Avenue of America at one in the morning was deafening.

"Don't let him reach Central Park South, we'll lose him!"

Gee would've laughed if he wasn't using every breath in his body to keep running. These guys were idiots...did they really think he could run three and a half miles?
Even when he was eating like a normal human being, instead of like a stray, he couldn't have run that far, not at the speed they were running now anyway.

"Shit, what is he on the track team?"

"Fuck we need to cut him off somewhere."

"You guys go down here!"

Suddenly only three guys were chasing him.

Gee passed the Public Library and turned a sharp left down West 10th Street...hopefully he could lose them in the maze of streets back off 7th Avenue.

"Gotcha!"

They intercepted him off of Christopher street between the Fat Cat and Stonewall. They dragged him into the alley near the Fat Cat.

"Now, we need to teach you some manners on how to behave when someone is talking to you."

Gee struggled, his eyes wide as he realised that this was gonna be bad.

They shoved him against the dumpster and took his threadbare back pack.

"Let's see what's in here."

They dumped it on the floor. What little Gerard took from his home spilled out.

"Well lookie here, he's a fag artist."

His sketch book. His beloved sketch book.

"This your boyfriend?"

"He's got two guys he draws a lot. Maybe he's into threesomes."

"What about gang bangs?"

Tears spilt down Gee's pale face as he fought uselessly against their strong grips...this couldn't be happening!...dear God no!

"Look, Hello Kitty...told you he was a girl."

One of them grabbed Gerard's crotch.

"Nope, he's a guy."

"Bet he sucks dick like a girl."

They pushed him to his knees.

"No...please no?"

Gee begged as they crowded in around him.

All the boys pulled out their cocks.

Gee squeezed his eyes shut and pressed his teeth firmly together...so hard his jaw hurt.

(time passes)

"We really should have been gone two hours ago man."

"Yeah, but the band was so good and the drummer had his eye on you."

Frank pushed Bert lightly.

"Fuck you, he was practically a kid."

"He had to be at least 18 to be there."

"Nah, not my scene. I wanna a...hey, what's going on over there?"

(time passes)

"Punch him again, that will open his jaw up!"

"Nah, I'll just do this."

Gee's head was slammed back against the dumpster...he saw stars and gasped as pain flared through his skull.

"Fuck, why didn't we think of this before? Knock him out and we'll take him with us!"

A chorus of cheers met Frank and Bert's ears as they walked down the alley.

"HEY, WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?"

Both Bert and Frank were wearing blue jackets at the time.

"Shit, cops!"

"Run!"

All six boys ran out of the alley in the other direction. Bert started to go after them.

"Wait Bert, come here look!"

"Oh shit, he looks younger than the one on the drums."

"Looks like they were robbing him."

"Frankie...look at him, they were planning more than that."

"Fuck, what do we do? We can't leave him here!"

"Let's take him back to the apartment. Maybe when he wakes up we can find something out."

"Shoudln't we take him to the hospital or the police station?"

"Kid this pretty? I wouldn't trust it."

Frank nodded with Bert's logic. He watched as Bert carefully lifted and kid. Frank used the flashlight on his phone to find all the kid's stuff and pack it up again. They made it from the alley and caught a cab.

"Kid couldn't hold his liquor huh?"

"Yeah man, hey can you take us to West 34th street?"

"Sure thing man."

The cab took off into the night.

(time passes)

"Davy, you feeling any better?"

Mikey handed David another pain pill. His jaw was aching and he had pain in the back of his head.

David curled up with his head in Mikey's lap.

"We...we have t-to find him M-Mikey..."

He sobbed.

"He's h-hurt."

"We will Davy, we will. We got time before school starts. Let's make another trip into the city."

David nodded, but instantly regretted it and groaned quietly...he didn't want to wake their mum.

"Yeah...we'll go in the morning."

"Okay Davy, let's try to get some sleep then."

David sniffed.

"Sure Mikes."

He moved his head gingerly from his brother's lap so Mikey could lay down.

They snuggled together and Mikey held David, feeling like the big brother.

(time passes)

It had taken David a long time to get to sleep...pain and worry kept his mind working overtime, but eventually he had.
At just after 7am, his alarm clock rang, waking them both.
David groaned as he rubbed a hand down his face and sat up. He looked at Mikey.

"Go jump in the shower Mikes, I'll fix breakfast...I want to leave in an hour."

Mikey made sure to stay quiet as he took a quick shower. They were trying to leave before their mum woke up. David made a quick breakfast of egg and sausage sandwiches that he wrapped in tin foil for them. They grabbed juice pouches and snacks too.

"Should we leave her a note?"

David nodded, grabbing a pen from a jar on the windowsill. He picked up a pad of sticky notes and wrote a few word.

Mom. M & I gone to city. Got cell. Back b4 dark.

He peeled the note from the pad and stuck it to the front of the fridge. He checked that he had his wallet, cellphone and keys, then turned to Mikey.

"Let's go."

(time passes)

Frank woke up when the sun's rays hit his face. Wait...why the fuck was the sun in his face? He opened his eyes and saw that he was on the sofa.

"Fuck, the kid. Right."

Bert and him argued that putting the kid on the sofa would be dangerous since he could fall off. He could also leave if he woke up before them. Being in the bedroom, he could have the comfort of a locked door and his own bathroom. Frank stumbled off the sofa to use the main bathroom that Bert used.

"I need fucking coffee."

After pissing he saw that Bert was still fast asleep. He went to the kitchen and started the pot taking in the aroma of fresh grounds. He sat on a stool and stared at the coffee maker, willing it to brew faster.

Gee whimpered as he woke in a strange place...sure he was warm, dry and the injuries he'd received seemed to have been cleaned and dressed...but he still didn't know where the Hell he was. This could be a serial killer's house...or maybe it was one of those thugs.

Sitting up, Gee winced as his vision blurred and his head swam. After a minute or two of just sitting with his head in his hands and his eyes closed, he felt a little more balanced, so lifted his head slowly and opened his eyes.

He looked around the room. It wasn't huge, but it wasn't a cupboard either. The walls were painted dark grey and there were photographs stuck up all over the place. It only took a moment for Gee to notice a theme...all of the photos were of tattoos.

"Cool."

He murmured to himself.

He continued to examine the room. The bed was large and comfortable with soft black sheets on it. There wasn't much other furniture in the room, just a black painted dresser and a two seater couch under the window. The curtains were drawn closed, but a thin strip of bright sunlight peeked around one side, so Gee knew that he'd survived another night.

Looking straight ahead, he saw a partially open door that appeared, from what he could see, to lead into an ensuite bathroom.
Gee decided he might as well take advantage of the facilities, as he really needed to pee right now.

Pushing the sheets off of himself, Gee swallowed when he realised that he wasn't wearing his pants, and the shirt he had on wasn't even his. His breathing quickened until he realised that nothing apart from his head really hurt, so he hadn't been raped...and that the owner of this place probably just didn't want their clean sheets getting dirtied by Gee's filthy clothing.

Shaking slightly with his roller coaster of emotions, and cos his head was pounding quite a bit, Gee carefully slipped off the side of the bed and started toward the bathroom. He took just two steps before his legs gave out and he crashed to the floor with a thud and a quiet string of expletives.

Frank was in the middle of pouring his coffee when he heard the crash. He missed the cup and splashed the counter causing it to splatter against his chest.

"Fuck!"

He jumped away quickly almost dropping the carafe.

"Frankie, if you broke another carafe, I am going to murder you."

A half awake Bert shuffled in.

"No, I just burnt the shit out of my chest."

"Well that's what you get for wearing no clothes when you sleep."

"Hey hey, we had this debate last night and I clearly won for being naked, but no, I think the kid woke up."

Gee tried to pull himself back up but his legs felt like jello. He started to cry and curled in on himself as he heard footsteps approach the bedroom door.

Bert and Frank opened the door and saw the boy on the floor. Bert looked at Frank.

"Dude, go get some clothes on first."

"Shit right sorry!"

Frank ran over to his window seat and grabbed his robe.

"See, another argument for wearing clothing, not scaring innocent little boys that you rescued last night!"

"Fuck off Robert!"

"Don't fucking call me that!"

Gee cowered away. He would've crawled under the bed if there wasn't like a dozen guitar cases under there.

He shook as he listened to the men argue...they were weird, but there was something kinda goofy about them that was almost reassuring...almost.

"Whatever, you deal with the kid in your room, I'm gonna make breakfast."

"Don't you dare make pancakes again!"

Bert snorted and left the room. Frank huffed and put his hands on his hips staring at the ceiling.

"It's not that hard to pull out the waffle iron and plug it in!"

"I..."

Gee blushed pink as the tattooed man turned his eyes on him. He swallowed and tried again.

"I l-l-like w-waf-fles."

He stuttered out in little more than a whisper as he peered up through his long black hair.

"Ha! Thank you!"

Frank stormed out of the room.

"Put the pan away, our guest just told me that he likes waffles!"

"Bullshit, you're just saying that. All kids like pancakes. Waffles are pretensions."

"Well the guest is always right so put the pan away right now."

Frank pushed Bert out of the way and pulled out his waffle maker. He grabbed the batter bowl and started to mix the powder to waffle consistency.

"That shits too thick!"

"What's the matter Bert, can't handle the thickness of my man batter?"

Gee giggled quietly from his spot on the floor. They were funny, and the waffles guy was kinda cute...ok, so he was totally fucking hot, but this is Gee we're talking about, and he was thinking "cute".

He wasn't ready to trust them just yet, but they'd not hurt him, and they were gonna feed him, so he'd give them a chance...for now.

"Hey uh...kid, waffles ready!"

Gee looked up at the waffle man. He swallowed and tried to push up onto his feet...he got about half way up before he was falling back down with a squeak.

"Shit, you okay? Here, uh...I have a cane you can use."

Frank grabbed his Star Wars cane and gave it to the kid.

Gee looked from the cane to the man in awe.

"Y-you l-l-like S-S-S-Star W-Wars?"

Gee cursed his stutter.

"Fuck yeah, Star Wars is amazing! I mean..."

"Can you get the kid out here before you start filling his brain with your stupidity?"

Gee tilted his head in confusion.

"Han Solo could kick Kirk's ass any day of the week!"

Gee giggled again, his cheeks turning a deeper pink.

"Come on uh...sorry, what was your name?"

Gee swallowed and looked down, shaking his head slightly...he wasn't ready to trust him with his name just yet. Maybe after waffles?

"Did you get your ear chopped off, oh wait that was your hand."

"Stuff it Bert or i'll find one of those ear worm things."

"Ugh...gross, I give!"

"Ha, now pour the blue milk bitch!"

Frank helped the boy out of the room to the breakfast counter.

Gee sat quietly with his head low. He pulled his plate as close to him as he could get it without risking it falling off the counter, and wrapped one arm protectively around it.
It was a habit he'd picked up quickly on the street, and it had saved his food from being snatched away on several occasions.
He ate quickly, his eyes flicking instinctively to the two men every few minutes.

"Hey...uh, don't you want whipcream and berries?"

Gee looked at the waffle man like he was talking Klingon or something.

"C-cream?"

He asked as if the concept was alien to him.

"Uh...yeah."

Bert showed him Frank piling on canned whip cream and mixed berrys from the fridge.

"Yeah, cos Waffles don't have to be drowned in syrup to taste good."

Gee smiled shyly.

"Y-yes p-please."

He whispered.

Frank handed the whip cream and berries over.

Gee looked between the men for any indication that this was a trick of some kind. He found none, and spooned a small heap of berries onto his plate...he handed the cream back untouched.

"Oh, are you lactose intolerant?...or vegetarian?"

Gee shook his head.

"I j-just d-don't like c-cream."

He looked down.

"S-sorry sir."

"No no no, no need to apologize, we just wanted to make sure we were respecting your life choices."

Gee lifted his eyes again and smiled sheepishly.

"O-ok."

He looked back down at his plate and picked up a strawberry. He brought it up to his nose and sniffed it...a tiny noise, almost a moan escaped his lips before he popped the ripe red fruit into his mouth and smiled as he savoured the flavour...it felt like so long since he'd eaten anything that actually tasted of food.

"Um...so...where are you from?"

Gee lifted his eyes to waffle man...he really needed to find out his name...and swallowed the strawberry forcefully.

"J-Jersey?"

Why did every answer he gave come out sounding like a question? He looked between the men, back and forth for a moment, then returned to his fruit. A blueberry.

"No shit, Me too!"

Gee jumped at the man's exuberant shout. He curled in on himself, pulling the plate in tighter.

"Kid, you know no one is going to take that from you right?"

Bert looked at the boy with concern.

"You weren't lost were you? You live on the streets don't you?"

Bert saw the boy panic.

"Hey, we're not going to turn you in or anything. You didn't do nothing, but I gotta ask. How old are you?"

Gee felt tears prick at his eyes.

"S-sixt-teen s-sir."

He whimpered.

"Wow, that's younger than I was when I ran away. That's what you did right?"

Bert saw the kid nod.

"Rough home life? Not accepted for who you are?"

Gee shook his head, looking down.

"Same here. My good Mormon parents didn't take kindly to finding me with my boyfriend at the time. They had a lot to say with their fists and I was not hanging around for the whole conversation."

Gee felt a little safer knowing that the pancakes guy with the pink hair was gay. At least he wouldn't be homophobic. And waffles was his friend, so he should be cool too...Gee hoped.
He popped another blueberry into his mouth.
It made him sad that these horrible things happen so much, to to such a nice guy too.

"So do we get to know your name now or are we just gonna call you kid?"

Frank half smiled half smirked as he finished his waffle with a smack of his lips.

Gee looked up slowly...eyes flitting between the men again.

"W-what's y-yours?"

He whispered out.

"Well I'm Frank, but you can call me Frankie and this here is Robert..."

Bert bristled at his given name.

"...but you can call him Bert."

Gee smiled shyly. Frankie...it suited him.

"I'm G-Gee."

"Is that short for something else or is that what you like to be called?"

Gee looked down.

"I d-don't like my f-full n-name."

He stuttered quietly.

"Hey hey, Kitten it's okay."

"Man Frankie, I can't remember the last time you called me kitten."

"Yeah, well you aren't a kitten anymore, you are just a mangy old cat now."

Bert playfully swatted Frank.

Gee frowned slightly.

"W-where's m-my Hello K-Kitty top?..."

He looked at Frank.

"And m-my hat..."

His eyes widened fearfully.

My s-sketchb-book!"


Gee was shaking badly, his face was white as a sheet suddenly.

"Easy Kitten. I scooped it all up. I have your clothes in the dryer and your sketchbook on the radiator."

"R-radiator?...did it g-get w-wet?"

Gee felt tears slip down his cheeks.


"Just a little damp, but nothing inside seemed to be damaged as far as I saw."

Gee panicked, grabbing and pulling roughly on his hair.

"Y-you looked?"


'Stop stop, you're gonna hurt yourself!"

Frank didn't know what to do. He looked at Bert for help.

"Hey Frankie, why don't you take Pothos and Athos for a walk."

"Yeah, I can do that."

Frank left the room to get dressed. Bert came around and looked at the frightened boy.

"People make fun of your art a lot huh?"

Gee cowered back, shaking hard...he nodded slightly, hiding in his hair.

"Well I can tell you that here we don't do that. We are both artists too."

Bert lifted the sleeve on his silk pajamas and showed off his ink.

"See? Frankie designed that for me."

Gee peered out of his hair at the tattoo. His eyes widened.
It was an incredible piece...torn skin with biomechanics inside.

"Amazing."

He breathed, fingers unconsciously tracing the lines...he didn't even notice that he hadn't stuttered...or that he was touching a virtual stranger.

"I know right? Frankie has some pretty amazing ones that I drew for him too."

"What about me being amazing?"

Frank came out of his room dressed with two little dogs following him. They hopped up on the sofa and started to go to sleep again.

"Oh no you don't let's go you two. No one told you to stay up all night and play with Aramis and D'Artagnan."

At the mention of their names two siamese cats showed up on the wooden floor and began a sweet chorus of meows.

"Don't listen to him babies, he's just jealous cause you shit in a box and he has to go freeze his ass off in the winter for dumb and dumber."

Gee sneezed.

"Are you cold?"

Gee shook his head, looking reproachfully at the cats as one put its paws up against his chair, trying to reach his feet.
He pulled his feet right up so his heels were on the edge of the seat, and his knees were under his chin.
He sneezed again and nearly fell off the high chair. He steadied himself and wiped at his eyes and nose.

"Al-lergic."

He whispered before sneezing again.

"Allergic to what? Not my babies? Frankie is allergic to cats too, but these cats are hypoallergenic. You're sneezes are kind of...all in your head or a reaction of what you are supposed to do."

Bert picked up D'Artagnan and held him out for Gerard to hold.

"See, you're fine and isn't he soft?"

Gee pulled back, nervous as he'd never touched a cat since he was found to be allergic when he was five. He looked from the cat's bright blue eyes, to Bert's darker blue ones.

Bert looked so happy and excited that Gee kind of felt obliged. He slowly reached out one hand to feel the cat's fur. It was soft, but he didn't want to hold it.

He pulled his hand back, wrapping his arms around himself and glancing over at the dogs...they looked much more his speed...they'd both fallen asleep during the conversation.

"Bert he doesn't want to touch your flea bags so take them away."

"Hey! Neither one of them would have fleas if your stupid dogs did not bring them in from the outside. Besides, I got them the best flea protection against Frick and Frack."

Frank growled as he hooked the dogs up and headed for the door.

"One day this abode will learn who the true Musketeers are."

Then he was gone.

Gee sat wide eyed on his chair...he wasn't 100% certain of what had just happened, but he did know that he liked it better when Frank was there than when he wasn't, and that had nothing to do with how cute he was...ok, so it had a bit to do with that, but Gee prided himself on seeing beyond skin deep, so that was only a part of it.

He turned back to his plate and finished the last couple of bite of waffle as Bert disappeared off, mumbling something about the Queen of France...now what was he supposed to do?

Notes

Hi there chipmunks...how's you?

So THAT happened...and they met! (◕◡-)✿

Until next time...PLEASE COMMENT, and peace out babies!
<3






Small time edit at beginning of chapter. Only changed how long Gee was on the streets for.