Mass Hysteria!

“WHAT THE FUCK GERARD?!”

Mikey banged the door to Paws open, breaking the glass and startling the new employee that Gerard was in the middle of lecturing.

“Excuse me Jason...”

Gerard walked up to his brother and pushed him hard.

“YOU BROKE MY FUCKING DOOR!”

Mikey gained his footing and pushed back.

“YOU FUCKING DESERVE IT FOR WHAT YOU DID TO FRANK!”

“I DIDN’T DO SHIT TO FRANK! HE QUIT!”

“NO HE DIDN’T, YOU FIRED HIM!”

“HE STOPPED COMING TO WORK!”

“HE WAS IN THE HOSPITAL DYING, ASSHOLE!”

“BULLSHIT!”

Mikey hauled off and punched Gerard in the face. Gerard staggered back into the desk, falling on his ass clutching his nose.

“WHAT THE FUCK MIKEY! I HAVE A COVER SHOOT TODAY!”

“FUCK YOU AND YOUR BOOKS! YOUR FANS SHOULD KNOW WHAT AN UNCARING PEACE OF SHIT YOU ARE!”

“Uh…should I leave?”

“YES!”

Both Ways yelled at the young man, startling him into a pile of dog food. He scrambled up from the kibble and ran out of the door. Mikey shut the door behind him and looked down at his brother.

“While Frank was visiting Ray in the hospital, he met a man named Rod Taro.”

“Rod Taro?”

“Yeah, the nurse gave him the wrong room number. Ray was in ICU on the 4th floor. Anyway, they bonded over Rod’s cat, which Frank rescued from being abused by Rod’s nephew.”

Gerard rubbed his face, chuckling.

“Yeah, that sounds like something Frank would do.”

“Right?”

Mikey walked up and slid down next to Gerard on the floor.

“He didn’t know that right before he met Rod, the man had a roommate that was sick enough that he had to be moved to isolation. Rod had been checked to make sure he was not infected, but Frank must have picked up something on his visits. He ended up in the ICU three weeks ago.”

“Why didn’t you tell me all of this before?”

Mikey sighed and ran his hand through his hair.

“It’s stupid, but I wasn’t talking to you and you don’t talk to me, so I didn’t even think about it. Honestly I thought Frank would have told you, you being his boss.”

“He must have been so sick he forgot to...”

The brothers sat there in silence for a moment.

“We really fucked up didn’t we?”

“Yeah we did.”

“So how do we fix it?”

“We figure out where he is.”

“Together?”

“Yeah, together.”

(time passes)

Frank missed his animals at home, and at the shelter, but he knew they were in good hands with the brothers...even if the brothers were a stubborn pair of asses most of the time. Frank chuckled as he stroked his mom's dog Trixie behind her ears.

"At least I’ve got you Trix..."

The little mutt woofed softly then jumped off the couch and ran off into the kitchen. Frank sighed, wrapping his arms around himself and curling up in the corner of the ratty blue couch.

"Or not."

He muttered, closing his eyes.

"Sweetheart, why don't you take Trix for a walk? The fresh air will do you some good."

Frank opened his eyes on a roll.

"Ma, I just want to sleep."

"You've been sleeping the whole time you have been here. Come on, time for fresh air."

Frank knew he wasn’t going to win this argument, so he begrudgingly got up off the couch and went to grab his shoes, giving his mom a peck on the cheek on the way past.

"Ok Ma, whatever you say..."

He shoved his feet into his converse and grabbed Trixie's lead off of the hook by the door, giving it a shake.

"Come here Trix, walkies time."

(time passes)

It took a few days, but Mikey and Gerard finally found where Frank went thanks to Rod's nephew strangely enough.

"Man I didn't think Jersey had nice places like this."

Gerard was driving while Mikey was looking outside. The area they grew up in was suburbs, but dangerous. This looked pretty picturesque compared.

"Yeah, bet Frank even played outside as a kid."

They had been driving in the neighborhood for a while trying to find the house.

"Wait..that Frankie?"

Mikey pointed to a guy walking a...dog?

"Yeah, but I'm not sure if that is a dog on the leash."

Frank stopped to let Trixie pee, scratching the back of his neck as the little dog sniffed around the grass at his feet.

"Hurry up Trix, there’s a Twilight Zone marathon starting in ten minutes."

"Frankie."

Frank looked up and nearly choked on his gum.

"Mikey?...Mr. Way?"

Gerard pulled the car over and got out. He walked up to the younger man and his dog.

"Mr. Iero..."

"Frank, please...you’re not my boss now...remember?"

Frank didn’t mean to sound bitter, but that’s how it came out. Mikey was just getting out of the car when Gerard hit his knees in front of his former employee.

"Forgive me Frank, I was terrible to you and never realised what you were going through, or who you truly were."

Frank stared, wide eyed in shock.

"W-what?...I..."

He looked up and saw Mikey approaching.

"Mikey?"

Mikey was as shocked as Frank was. He had no words. He had never seen his brother like this. Frank looked back down at the man on his knees before him. He held out his hand.

"Get up Mr. Way, you’ll ruin your pants."

Gerard took Frank's hand, but pulled him down into a hug. Frank’s eyes went wide again.

"Mr. Way?!"

He looked up at Mikey for guidance.

"Um...Gee?"

Mikey didn't know what to do.

"Please Frank forgive me."

Frank pushed Gerard back a little to look at him.

"Mr. Way I...yes, of course I forgive you but..."

He looked up at Mikey, then back at the older brother.

"...but what are you doing here? How did you find me?"

"Rod's nephew. He said you talked about your mom to him a lot. It made sense."

Mikey cut in and placed a hand on Frank's shoulder.

"Why didn't you say anything to me?"

Frank sighed, looking down.

"I don’t know. I was upset...I never got fired before."

"Really?"

Gerard was kind of in shock. Even he had been fired before he became a writer. Frank shrugged slightly.

"Well...once. But then we all were, cause the place shut down."

"That's actually called laid off then."

Mikey looked down at Gerard and laughed. Gerard chuckled then too. Frank was pretty sure it was the first time he’d ever heard Gerard laugh. He smiled, giggling slightly.

"Oh, Ok then."

"Oh look dear, someone is doing a proposal."

A car drove by slowly and a woman pointed to Gerard on his knees. Frank burst out laughing as the car passed.

"Maybe we should get up. People are staring."

"Yeah good idea."

Gerard looked at Frank and smiled. Frank pushed up onto his feet, pulling Gerard up with him.

"So I don't think you said why you're here."

"To give you your job back."

Frank's eyes went wide again looking at Gerard in confusion.

"But...but you don't like me."

"Yes I do. I just don't..."

"What he means to say is he doesn't know how to tell people he likes them."

Mikey put an arm on Gerard's shoulder. Gerard looked over at the younger and taller man and sighed.

"Yeah."

Frank chuckled.

"Well at least you two are talking now. When did that happen?"

The brothers made a face and then started to laugh.

"I guess it's when we got into a fight over you."

"Over me?!...wow..."

Frank laughed.

"Well I guess I did what I wanted to then."

"What was that Frankie?"

Mikey looked at Frank with curiosity. Frank grinned, looking between the brothers.

"To make you two brothers again, of course."

Gerard looked at Frank and then back at Mikey.

"Why were you so worried about that?"

Frank sighed heavily, like it was obvious...which to him, it was.

"Cause from what I can tell, you two are all each other has got. And you’re both great guys who deserve to be happy..."

He chuckled quietly.

"Plus...I don’t like it when people I care about don’t get along..."

This threw Gerard a bit. Frank cared for him? He never gave Frank a reason to. In fact he never got close to him at all. Frank looked between the brothers, tilting his head when he saw confusion on Gerard’s face.

"What?!"

"I think Gee is getting over loaded..."

Mikey took control of the situation now.

"Come on Frankie, let's get your stuff and go home."

Frank smiled.

"Home to my furries. You’ve been watching them...right?"

"Yes I have. Rummy has been especially lonely without you."

"Rummy? The one that he got from Rod?"

Mikey was surprised that Gerard remembered.

"Yeah, he meows a lot at the door waiting for you to come home. I think he believes he's a dog."

Frank laughed.

"Yeah. I’m pretty sure he joins in with the dogs when they bark at the post man. Oh..."

He looked down with a grin.

"This is Trixie by the way. Say hi Trixie."

The little dog barked and Frank grinned, looking up proudly. Gerard leaned down and pet the dog on the head.

"Cute."

Frank giggled.

"Well that’s the first time I heard her called that before. Ok, so my mom's place is just round the corner...let’s go."

The three piled in the car and drove off. The ride took just three minutes, during which time Trixie threw up on Frank’s pants.

"Sorry guys..."

He said, pressing the button to lower the car's back window.

"She doesn’t like cars."

Gerard tried not to be upset that his practically brand new Porche now smelled like dog puke, but at least it was on Frank's pants and not the seat. They pulled up outside Frank’s mom's house and Trixie started barking excitedly.

"Ok girl. Yes, we’re home. Hold your shit..."

Frank laughed as he opened the door and the little dog wiggled to get free.

"You guys wanna come in for coffee?...mom makes great java, and she’d love to meet you."

"Sure we could, Gee can air out the car."

"Riiiight."

The three climbed out of the car. Gerard looked around the place and watched Mikey and Frank as they talked and headed up to the door. He realised that they were a lot closer to each other than he thought could happen in such a short time even though Gerard was Frank's boss...who never spent any time with him. At that moment Gerard was determined to find out who the real Frank was and why he was so amazing.

"Come on Gee!"

Gerard saw them both waving at him and gave a small smile. Things were going to be interesting from now on.

Notes

Hi there chipmunks, how’s you?

So the three muscateers are back together again...but what will happen now?

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