Me and My Shadow

Mikey was comfortable, lying on his bed reading comic books. He’d always enjoyed doing that and with more and more titles and new adventures being written every day, he knew the likelihood of him ever running out were very slim. Even his own brother was a talented artist who he believed wholeheartedly would have his own work in print one day, hopefully soon. He glanced at his watch, it was late, perhaps he should call to ask how the interview had gone? He knew it was that day but was uncertain of the time. Whatever time it had been, it would definitely be over by now. As he pushed himself up, the doorbell rang - three times. Whoever it was, they were impatient and Mikey was already angry and he hadn’t even left his room yet. As he walked, almost marched, to the door, the doorbell rang another four times.

“Whoever the hell this is, he’s getting a punch in the face!” Mikey muttered angrily to himself.
“Come on Mikeyway!” A voice he recognised called from outside the door, as he rang the bell twice more.
“Stop ringing the fucking bell!” He shouted in return.

Reaching the door, Mikey opened it to see Gerard standing on the step grinning at him with an almost wild, overexcited look in his eyes. His finger hovered over the doorbell and as Mikey stood there staring at him, he pressed it again, adding a mischievous wink for good measure.

“You look happy,” Mikey observed. “The interview went well then?”
“Interview?” Gerard blinked in reply. “Oh, no, terrible,” he shook his head. “He’s pathetic. He couldn’t get a job if you owned the company!”
“He?” Mikey frowned. “Who are you talking about?”

Gerard paused for a minute as he took in the words. Of course, yes. He was not normally the one to speak. This was the first time they had been two separate entities and, as yet, Mikey was unaware. He could have some fun with this.

The man standing at the door, staring excitedly at Mikey was Gerard’s shadow come to life. Having been accidentally separated from Gerard by his Fairy Godfather, Shadow Gerard was determined to have a good time, to live the life his, for want of a better term, ‘real self’ would never have. In fact the more he thought about it, his confident, brash and even somewhat obnoxious self was far better suited to this life than the meek, pathetic nobody he had left behind. He was going to enjoy himself, and then, he grinned as he pushed the now objecting Mikey into the house, he was going to find a way to get rid of that meddling fairy and establish himself as the real Gerard, absorbing the other for his shadow. And it was all going to start here!

“What the hell is wrong with you?” Mikey snapped as he regained his balance.
“Get ready, Mikes, we’re going out,” he instructed, closing the door behind them.
“I don’t fancy it, Gee. I was just settled and reading Batman Gothic and I…”
“We’re going out!” Shadow Gee insisted.
“Where?”
“To that new club downtown. Revolution or something.”
“Revolver,” Mikey corrected. “What do you want to go there for?”
“Mikeyway, go get your… whatever it is you wear to impress the ladies on and let’s go!”
“Impress the ladies?” Mikey raised an eyebrow.
“Alright, impress the boys then! Whatever, I'm not judging! Both, at the same time, I don’t care!”
“That’s not what I meant,” Mikey pouted.
“I don’t actually care, Mikey. Now get changed and let’s get out of here!”
“But I was…”
“Yes, you told me, you were reading,” he rolled his eyes. “Honestly, you're getting as boring as he is. Now get changed, we are going out!”
“Who is this ‘he’ you keep talking about?” Mikey shook his head in confusion.

Shadow Gee didn’t respond, merely turning Mikey around and giving him a shove.

“Get changed!”

Mikey frowned - only minutes ago he’d been comfortable and reading a favourite comic book. Normally Gerard would not only understand that kind of thing, but he would join him and they would sometimes act out the parts together, and discuss their own ideas for the ideal comic book into the early hours of the morning. Apparently not tonight.

“Go!” Shadow Gee yelled as Mikey walked too slowly for his liking.

Mikey shook his head and headed a little faster to his room to change. Behind him he could hear the impatient sigh that he was certain he was meant to hear, but it didn’t change his pace at all. Once inside the room, he opened the wardrobe and looked inside. The irony wasn’t lost on him, had been trying to convince Gerard for a very long time to go to a club with him and he had always refused, inventing one lame excuse after another. Now here he was demanding to go out and Mikey was reluctant. He wondered why it was, but the answer didn’t seem to make sense in his head. Gerard was quite simply too keen. He had never seen his brother like this before. Yes, he'd seen him happy, he'd seen him really overexcited before, but this was different - he was almost manic and he couldn’t help but wonder, no, he couldn’t help but worry about the cause of it. Was Gerard taking cocaine? He frowned deeply at the possibility. No, he wanted to believe that instead, he had been successful in his interview and wanted to celebrate or, at worst, not successful in his interview and was overcompensating. Yeah, that was it - one of those.

“Are you just going to stand there all night?” Shadow Gee asked as he stood in the bedroom doorway.
“No, I was just deciding,” he lied. “How did your interview go?” He continued, asking as casually as he could and trying not to give away his ulterior motive.
“Forget the interview,” he shook his head. “They’re idiots.”

Overcompensating, Mikey thought to himself, satisfied in his own mind that it wasn't drugs.

“Come on, Mikes!” Shadow Gee complained. “Your skinnies and a black button down. It’s about the smartest thing you’ve got.”

With a shrug, Mikey plucked the items from his wardrobe - it was true. Getting changed quickly, Mikey went to push his feet into his sneakers.

“Shoes, Mikes, I wanna be able to go somewhere fancy.”
“What’s the point if I'm wearing jeans?” He shrugged.
“Well, put some eyeliner on, it’ll scare the straight bouncers and all the gay ones’ll love it!”

Mikey scowled at him with distaste as he sat down on the bed to lace up his shoes.

“What’s the matter with you today?”
“Oh, come on!” Shadow Gee rolled his eyes. “Okay, that was insensitive, but I already told you, I don’t mind if you're gay.”
“I’m not gay!” Mikey cried, exasperated. “It’s just not something…”

Mikey paused as Shadow Gee stared down at him with his hands on his hips, an impatient expression on his face. Looking back down again, Mikey let it go - he was just trying to get a rise out of him, that was all, and he’d managed it.

“Okay, okay,” he sighed standing up and dragging a comb through his hair. “I’m ready.”
“Finally!” He cried grabbing Mikey’s wrist and pulling him.

*

Mikey had never been to this club before, but he knew it was one of the most difficult to get into. As they approached in the cab, the line that stretched almost around the block suggested to him that he wasn't going to get in tonight either. The cab drew to a smooth stop and the driver laughed.

“You like spending your evenings standing around then?”
“Pay the man, Mikey,” Shadow Gerard snapped. “No tip,” he added gracelessly as he stepped out.

Mikey was embarrassed; he was taking this way too far. What was with him tonight? Shoving a handful of bills toward the driver, including a tip, he muttered his apologies.

“You want to tell him to watch his mouth,” the driver sniped back.
“He’s not normally…”
“Michael!”
“Thanks,” he muttered to the driver as he half stepped out and was half dragged out of the cab.
“What’s with you, tonight?” Mikey asked, but was left racing after him as Shadow Gee headed off quickly to the front of the line.

As the pair stood there they were met by murmurs of disapproval from several of the line who had been waiting for up to an hour already.

“Yeah?” One of the bouncers on the door wandered over, eyeing Shadow Gee and Mikey with disdain.
“We have an appointment with the manager of the club,” Shadow Gee answered with a confidence and even arrogance that Mikey had never seen before.
“Names?”
“Gerard Way and Michael Way.”

The bouncer looked almost begrudgingly at his list for the evening and nodded.

“I’ll take you through.”

Shadow Gee looked toward the line at a group of pretty young women in revealing outfits and high heels. Offering his most charming smile which dissolved into an expression of pure lust, followed by a sexy wink, he almost preened as they stepped eagerly forward to join him.

“And the ladies?” He added looking at the bouncer as if almost apologetic for being so handsome.
“Yeah,” the bouncer sighed.
“Mikes,” Shadow Gee turned. “Is this okay, or do you want to ask anyone else?” He asked with a meaningful tilt of his head.
“Gee,” Mikey hissed, embarrassed and a little frustrated. “I told you!”
“You did, you did,” Shadow Gee nodded. “Just wanted to be sure.”

Mikey shook his head in disbelief as the bouncer indicated that they should follow him.

“Ladies,” Shadow Gee called as they were led into the club; the women flocking around him as if transfixed.

Once inside, Shadow Gee unhooked his arms from the women and smiled.

“Lovely ladies, I have a meeting with the manager. But this is my brother Mikey, he’s a bassist, big hands, nimble fingers. He’s going to look after you until I come back? Is that okay?”

Pushing his glasses up his nose, Mikey pursed his lips as all five of the women turned towards him, one running a hand along his cheek.

“You know you have an amazing jaw line?”
“Beautiful eyes,” said another.
“You’re really a bassist?” Asked another reaching for one of his hands.
“Are you in a band?”
“Don’t be too long,” one winked at Shadow Gee. “You’re brother’s cute.”

Shadow Gee leaned forward and whispered something in her ear, making her giggle and blush.

“Well, buy the lovely ladies drinks, Mikey. I'll be about thirty minutes.”

Watching Gerard walk away, and still astounded by the dramatic change in his behaviour, Mikey didn’t even notice that two of the women had attached themselves to him like limpets.

“Er…yeah, so, what would you like?” He asked with a smile, finally relaxing, as they headed toward the bar.

*

The club was dark despite the colourful lights and lasers bouncing around the walls and Mikey had managed to find an unoccupied booth for all of them. Grateful to have just turned twenty-one a couple of months earlier and so no longer needing his fake ID, Mikey enjoyed being able to legally buy alcohol and even more, he was enjoying the attention of five beautiful women, all of whom seemed to be enjoying him equally.

The evening was going unbelievably well. He hadn't expected it to, if he were honest, but then, he still expected to be standing outside so this was exceptional.

Even as the thought crossed his mind, he heard a loud scream coming from across the other side of the bar. Looking up, out of curiosity, he noticed that a fight had broken out. He shook his head. If what he remembered of those bouncers he had seen, whoever started the fight wasn’t going to last long. Turning back to the ladies in the booth, one of them was standing. She frowned and looked at Mikey.

“I think that’s your brother,” she jerked a thumb in the direction of the fight.
“What?” Mikey gasped, getting to his feet.

His heart sank as he saw Shadow Gee pushed up against one of the club’s walls, his nose bleeding and grinning maniacally at the man holding him, his other arm raised ready to land another punch .

“Oh, fuck!” Mikey swore. “Back in a bit,” he added, scrambling out of the booth and racing to the other side of the club.

As Mikey reached the scene of the fight, one bouncer was already pulling the bigger man back, away from Shadow Gee who was still grinning, his eyes wide and wild.

“I’m gonna fucking kill you!” The other man raged as he was dragged away with Shadow Gee waving and smiling at him.

Mikey grabbed Shadow Gee’s arm and pulled it down.

“Stop it!” He snapped. “What are you taunting him for? You’re just making it worse!”
“Ah, he’s a loser,” Shadow Gee scowled.
“And you’re a winner are you?” Mikey retorted angrily.
“Certainly am, Mikes. I just got a contract to paint murals across the whole club.”
“Wow!” Mikey was almost lost for words. “How?”
“Talent, what do you expect?”
“But you don’t even have your portfolio with you,” Mikey looked confused.
“When you have this much talent, you don’t need anything else. Now, show me where you’re sitting,” he replied smugly as he began to follow Mikey back to the booth.
“What happened…” Mikey began tentatively. “With the guy?”
“Oh, that?” He shrugged. “I don’t think he liked that I was hitting on his girlfriend.”
“Well if you didn’t know…”
“Oh, I knew,” he laughed. “I interrupted him while he was kissing her. He wasn’t doing a very good job of it.”

Mikey turned wide, shocked eyes towards the man he believed was his brother and received only laughter in return.

“Don’t worry, Mikes, you still got the other ladies waiting, yeah?” He paused. “Yeah?”

Mikey nodded, unsure what else to do.

“Okay, I’m older so I pick first, I get three, you get the other two. Okay?”
“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Mikey yelled as they reached the booth.
“Ladies, my brother’s gay,” Shadow Gee began. “So, it’s all of you with me tonight. Is that okay? Let’s go.”
“What the fuck!” Mikey raged. “I’m not gay and where are you going?”
“Home, with these lovely ladies.” Shadow Gee shrugged. “You can stay, you’re no fun!”

Mikey watched astonished and furious as they walked to the exit of the club, all five of the women fighting for space to be near Shadow Gee.

“Hey, cutie,” a male voice spoke softly at his side. “Can I get you a drink?”

Mikey closed his eyes and sighed heavily.

Notes

Hi lovely readers! Sorry for the delay in updating, I was on a bit of a roll with The Collector, so this had to wait. Hope you like it :)

Thanks for reading!
Sas xx