And seventeen year old Mikey Way still couldn't help but look at the picture his brother had been ripped out of, sitting proud on the mantle piece with only him and his parents shown. It had been years, and Mikey knew not to care for his brother, especially since he was a faggot, and had only runaway out of spite, but he couldn't help but miss him, at times that was.

He didn't miss the arguments Gerard caused at the dinner table, and just about everywhere, but after he left and the arguments continued, it soon become clear that perhaps it wasn't his older brother at fault here, but still Mikey couldn't help but hate and blame him as his parents took out their hatred on him, because the arguments didn't stop, they just moved onto him.

Mikey Way clutched his cellphone as he sat on the sofa almost rigidly, feeling nothing but alien in his own home, his eyes fixated upon the picture, absent of Gerard, and the photograph he held in his other hand, displaying his brother - the part of the photo his parents had discarded, and Mikey couldn't help but notice how, despite his mouth being curled up, he wasn't smiling, not quite, because in this house, he was never happy, not quite.

He shook his head, pocketing the photo of his brother with a sigh, knowing that these were just things he shouldn't think about: god knows where Gerard was now, what he was doing, how he was living, even if he was still alive, but all Mikey knew was that most certainly his brother didn't care anymore.

He didn't care, so why should Mikey? The only thing Gerard brought anymore was the grief in his mother's eyes and the arguments his father made as a result, and as he clutched his cell phone in hand, not having received a reply from Alicia in hours now, it became apparent that he'd have to stay to witness this, and he really did not want to.

As bad as it made him feel to say so, he just didn’t want to have to go through the trouble, and he even doubted that it was anything but stubborn ignorance that had brought his parents into this situation, because from the yelling and stress he overheard from the kitchen, he knew that they didn't want him here either.

His mother had continued to text Gerard after he left, perhaps just out of spite, and even Mikey thought it a little unfair, but he let it happen - his older brother had made it clear that Mikey was none of his business, and therefore he was none of Mikey's, but never had Gerard replied.

Never had Gerard replied to a single text his mother sent.

And of course that was until today, because for no reason otherwise would Mikey be sat so rigid and uncomfortable in his own skin, placed almost robotically on the sofa; lifeless in appearance, his eyes fixated on the photos Gerard had been ripped out of, and how much effort his parents had seemed to have put into ensuring that any visitors to the household would never even know their gay son existed.

Mikey thought it odd how he had replied, and how after seeing the messages he found it apparent that something had changed. Maybe Gerard had simply stopped being gay? Even though Pete had screamed at him that that wasn't how it worked.

Mikey took a moment to wonder if Pete faced the same things at home that Gerard did, and instantly wished he didn't, because even if he hated the guy, he didn't want Pete to be kicked out of the house and tear his family apart.

And really, the more Mikey thought of it, the stupider it seemed, and the more Mikey thought about it, he knew that there was nothing he could do about it - it was just how things were, none of his business. That had been made clear.

He texted Alicia again out of anxiety, begging to go over to hers.

She didn't reply.

She hadn't even seen the message.

And the text message conversation his mother had shown him last night flashed through Mikey's mind. She'd told him that he doesn't care about us, and that she assumes he won't be coming for dinner tomorrow, even just to let everyone know that he exists still.

Something changed with Gerard, because, because he replied with a simple and almost emotionless 'Ok. I'll come.’ and that was when everything fell apart, and of course, his brother was still blamed for it.

Mikey pushed the photograph of his brother deeper into his pocket as if in denial to himself that he'd kept the thing for years now, because maybe he wanted to remember his big brother before all of this - hell, he always was in arguments and causing trouble. Gerard didn't like religion, and Gerard didn't like rules, and Gerard didn't like his parents, but Gerard always liked Mikey.

That was until Mikey had made it clear as to which side he was on, when they found him kissing another guy when he'd been left home alone, and Mikey didn't quite regret the use of the word 'fag' as much as he should have done, because really he was just shocked.

He knew about fags from people at school and his parents and he knew they were bad, and he knew that they were sinners and God didn't care for them, and it was so hard to fit all that onto Gerard when it had all come together with him and that guy kissing in the living room, home alone.

And Mikey tried to stop crying as he remembered how Gerard always cared about him, and how at first Gerard went round from time to time, mainly just to see him, just to see that Mikey was alright, and how soon or later, he had began to turn his older brother away, and how sooner or later, Gerard grew to hate him too.

And his parents thought that everything was working perfectly again, but really never had things ever been so messed up, perhaps not even now with his parents cursing in the kitchen and Mikey totally not crying in the living room, and with his brother stood outside the door, his breath caught in his throat as his finger hovered above the doorbell.

He questioned why he'd done this, and why he'd come here, and how he'd just walked out of Lindsey's place, leaving a vague note regarding the fact that he'd gone out and not where he was going, and he ignored the text from Frank asking if they could meet up today, and made stupid decision, and a stupid decision to prove a point.

Because Bert was wrong, his mother was wrong too - he wasn't nothing, he wasn't too scared to walk back in his own home, and he wasn't pathetic.

And he inhaled like it was the last breath he'd ever take as his finger hovered above the doorbell, and he wasn't pathetic.

He proved that as it began to ring.

-

At first Mrs Way almost pretended as if she didn't hear it, and if she didn't know what the doorbell could only connate to, and she pretended that she hadn't been secretly wishing that all this time for some reason her eldest son just wouldn't turn up, because then things would just run as normal and she could continue to disown and insult him half heartedly and not have to be involved in matters of his personal life and any kind of moralities.

Mr Way, however, jumped at the ring of the doorbell, the kitchen growing silence as his yelling ceased, knowing exactly what this meant, and shaking at the very thought of it, because despite what his over prized masculinity would have him resist, he felt guilty, and he was almost scared of what his son may say to him now - he wasn't a teenager anymore, he was twenty five, and very much out of his control.

"Do... you want to answer... it?' He finally dragged the words from his lips, meeting his wife's gaze, who was currently setting the table for four for first time in years. She only rolled her eyes in response, gesturing to the roast chicken she held, leaving it to her husband to speak to their disowned son who they hadn't quite expected to actually turn up at all.

It was then that both parents noticed their younger son stood in the hallway, his eyes set upon them both as he looked between his parents and held his breath, giving a silent prayer that things wouldn't go into absolute atrocities - they'd go bad without question, but atrocious, perhaps not.

"I'll get it." Mikey sighed, pocketing his cell phone, giving up hope on Alicia opening up as his escape route to an inevitable reunion he was destined to face someday, and perhaps, perhaps it would be easier for his parents if he Mikey was here too, and then they wouldn't be forced to talk to their 'fag son' all the time.

The doorbell rung again and Gee began to have second thoughts, cringing as he caught his reflection in the window - he didn't look female per say, but definitely very feminine: the long hair and eye make up definitely wasn't helping. He didn’t care though; smirking a little to himself, because perhaps making an impression was exactly his intention.

Mikey almost gasped at the figure that stood before him - it his brother, whom he hadn't really seen in a few years now, but it was his brother wearing make up and girl jeans, and he knew that already this wouldn't be a good starting point with his parents.

"Hey..." Gee broke the silence first, looking his younger brother up and down, forcing back the urge to attack him in a massive hug, because he was unsure as to what kind of terms they were on and whether Mikey still hated him or not, he suspected that he still did, since he still lived in this house. Gee wouldn't have been all that surprised if his mother went around telling people that he was the antichrist himself.

"Hi." Mikey replied, his voice devoid of tone as he couldn't quite take his eyes off just how feminine his brother looked, and how it was actually kind of weird to see him like this, but Mikey reckoned that despite being brothers, they were hardly on good enough terms for it to be acceptable for him to comment upon that.

"I'm sorry, Mikey. For any trouble I cause you by being here and acting the way I am - this was a rash decision and a stupid one at that, but I think perhaps I needed to come back... some thing happened... and I felt perhaps I had already done enough stupid things recently for one more not to matter, but if it matters to you, I'm sorry, because even if they stop me from being their son anymore, I'll always think of you as my brother."

And Mikey reckoned that right now he was truly speechless, his eyes fixated upon his brother, and how it became utterly apparent that something had changed, because for once Gee was agreeable, happy, almost optimistic, and not his usual negative, argumentative, rebellious self. Perhaps he'd grown up? But Mikey would place it more on the fact that for the first time ever, his brother looked perhaps not happy, but complacent with things, with himself, and that complacency was the best place Gee had ever been.

"Something's changed, hasn't it?" Mikey finally asked into the silence, pushing back the thoughts of how much time they were wasting away with moments of silence and how his parents would think of that, but right now, with the stress they were under, he reckoned the longer it was before they actually had to speak to their son, the better.

"Huh?"

"You look happy, Gerard. That's... that's new..." Mikey breathed out, shaking his head at his brother, unsure as to how to feel about him, because really he had missed him, and despite all he'd been told, right now, it seemed to matter that he was his brother, rather than a fag.

The twenty five year old grinned at that, "yeah, if you find yourself with the right people - happy people, people that make you happy, you end up that way too. It was only this place and that school, bringing me down, Mikes." He stopped as the nickname slipped out, considering how his brother may react with the tension of prolonged hatred between them.

Mikey didn't know how to react, ignoring it completely and focusing on his brother's words. "So, you're alright then? You've got a place to stay? You've got friends, and things?" Because even Mikey couldn't deny that he'd been concerned that for all this time his brother had been wasting away his town in a homeless shelter or something.

"Yeah, I live across town, I've gotta few friends... gotta boyfriend..." Gee trailed the last one off gingerly, barely meeting Mikey's eyes after releasing the words, questioning of his brother's reaction, after all, his sexuality had been the thing that had torn them apart in the first place.

"Oh..." Mikey exhaled, his head turning itself in circles as he tried not to say anything that'd mess things up. "Good." And he smiled, he smiled for his brother, and he prayed that didn't look all too fake, because inside he felt as if he was going be sick at the thought of the events to come.

-

"Pete..." 

Patrick exhaled the word like a sigh; a burst of breath rushing to leave you, but very much like Pete, it may have physically left you, but never quite completely, always seeming to be around somewhere in the back of your mind, or catching your eye when the situation didn't call for it.

Patrick looked at the boy that had punched Frank Iero in the face, and yet, he still couldn't quite hate him.

It was getting horribly ignorant by this point, and yet Patrick still found himself stood beside Pete, his eyes focused upon the more tanned of the two boys stood an awkward metre apart with almost twin black eyes and glares shared between one another.

Patrick wished things didn't have to be like this, and sometimes, he wished that Pete wouldn't have to be so uptight about things, almost as if he doesn't want anyone to understand, and letting them, dear god no.

The fact that a scene like this was taking place at a kids park, and they were acting just like children, would have perhaps amused Patrick if he had the time for amusement in his head ran into a train wreck by Pete Wentz.

Pete had punched Frank, and without a doubt, Frank had punched him right back. 

Patrick reckoned that perhaps Ray's idea that everyone should met up and talk this out, wasn't exactly the best of ideas. Ray, however didn't invite Mikey, which was something that hadn't gone unnoticed at all, but no one exactly blamed him at all.

"You don't understand, Frank, you don't. Stop acting like you're fucking special, you don't what it's like to have to live under the shadow and shame of your sexuality and who you are, and you don't have to be punched in the face for those beliefs." Pete spat at boy stood awkwardly away from him; Ray having restrained Frank, and Brendon having restrained Pete after they'd gotten the second punch in, Ray muttering something about violence and idiots.

"Even if you feel so fucked up and mistreated you don't have to go and be such a dick to Patrick, huh?" Frank stood up for the ginger boy standing a little away from the commotion, perhaps not quite such much so out of compassion for him, but spite for Pete, but right now that didn't seem to matter all that much morally at all.

"And you don't just have to laugh this all off like you think you're above it and all of us, and then walk off to go have a fucking cigarette with Jamia, because of course she's a much better friend to you than anyone here-" Pete attacked him for the sake of it, words tumbling from his lips with no regard for the impact they may have.

"You smoke?" Ryan stepped forward in order to judge Frank's response by his face and not just his words, almost shocked by the matter.

"Is that why you go off with her all the time? To kill off your lungs?" Ray questioned - not angry, just sort of disappointed and Frank wondered what kind of effect laughing it all back in their faces would have. "Is it true?"

"I thought you and Jamia... had a thing..." Brendon blushed a little, perhaps even just for suggesting it.

"She's a lesbian, and I’m- I'm not single." That was certainly an interesting way to word it - he wasn't lying, but he wasn't exactly revealing the whole truth either.

"So do you?"

"He does." Patrick spoke up before Pete, whom after the commotion had fallen into silence, perhaps not intending to let something like this out, and perhaps not hating Frank, but just the pretence his words were under, and the punch that he returned.

Frank met Ray's eyes in the silence, the two of them sharing an unspoken conversation, consisting mainly of 'we'll talk about this later' and 'please dear god do not tell Mikey'. Frank almost felt like Ray was the lenient parent and Mikey was the strict authorities one sometimes, but the image of Ray and Mikey married was rather disturbing, so he dismissed that analogy as quickly as possible.

"God... what else don't we know about you, Frank?" Brendon rolled his words off in nervous laughter, no one quite knowing just what to say to this, and Frank couldn't help but cringe at the thought of just how they would react if it was another secret that had found its way out.

"A lot." Frank admitted, shaking his head, his eyes hitting the ground, swallowing hard as he considered admitting to his sexuality at least, but dropping the thought the moment it'd entered his mind. "Enough for me to argue against you." He directed his last words at Pete, leaving people to make of that what they will as he got to his feet.

"This was an awfully nice peace treaty meeting. I'm good with you all, whatever, but if you actually want to sort this mess out, go talk to Mikey about it, maybe punch him in the face a few times, because he's the one causing all this shit, albeit mostly indirectly, but not always."

"Where are you going?" Ryan asked as Frank made his way to the gate and out of the empty play park.

"Somewhere. Fucking somewhere."

And as Frank started running, Ray followed him without question. Brendon's eyes lighting up at the thought of drama and excitement, following soon after, and Ryan's dick lighting up at how Brendon's ass looked in those jeans, running after it.

"Just us left then..." Pete exhaled, the words almost forced from his lips, snapping Patrick's attention back to the boy curled up against the bench, a crooked smile pushing onto his lips as he noticed Patrick's smile - not quite so crooked, but just as goofy.

"I guess." Patrick added, sitting beside him.

"I'm sorry." Pete apologised, for quite possibly the first time in his life.

"It's okay. You're still my best friend." Patrick looked over Pete's mistakes for the thousandth time, because he still just couldn’t put a stop to the way his stomach filled with butterflies when Pete smiled.

"You're mine too." Pete sighed once more before continuing. "All this mess; Mikey, Gabe, relationships, arguments... all that shit doesn't matter even half as much as you do to me. I was stupid to forget that. You're so important, Patrick."

Pete smiled, and the butterflies in Patrick's stomach came in hordes.

And Patrick smiled; unaware that Pete could feel the butterflies too.

-

"Frank! For god's sake, you can't just run away from your problems!" Ray shouted after his friend, catching up to the short-legged boy after a while; Ryan and Brendon nowhere to be seen behind them, which would allude to some sort of ass related distraction that they had encountered on the way.

"But I can run away from my friends, and right now that seems to be working just fine." He met Ray's eyes, meaning it, and meaning it all too much as he made his way towards Lindsey's, hoping Ray would give up at some point on the way there, or things, yeah, they'd really get awkward.

"Frank, please, just talk to me about what's bothering you. You can trust me - I've kept the whole gay thing, even if I've been taught that it isn't right, I respect our friendship more than what people stood at the front of churches tell me, and I think you should respect that." Frank stopped at that, mostly at the mention of the word 'gay' - Ray's knowledge of the situation with him and his not quite girlfriend, brewing away at that sickening feeling in his stomach.

"At what length would go to keep something a secret from Mikey for our friendship? So much so that it would be morally against you and Mikey's friendship?" 

"That depends on what kind of secret it is-"

Frank had heard enough, and in fact the thought that he could even perhaps trust Ray with a secret like the one he held so tight to his chest was in fact nothing other than utterly preposterous, but Ray couldn’t help the guilt swelling up in his stomach at Frank's disappointment as he turned away from his best friend, continuing down the road in search of a destination unknown to the curly haired of the two friends.

"But, if it's hurting you this much, and it matters to you this much, then, Frank, I think I can make an exception, and especially if no one else knows, because that really isn't doing good for your head, going crazy up in there."

Frank shook his head: Ray had broken his morals for Frank - whatever next, this was just ridiculous, but he couldn't help how his friend's words stuck with him, and for once just shake this all off was something he couldn't quite seem to do.

"A few other people know." Frank assured him with a weak smile - clearly faked, but effort had been put in nonetheless. "The only one of those that you know is Jamia, though."

"Frank, is she really just a smoking buddy?" Ray met him with skepticism at that one. The curly haired boy wasn't exactly the one to doubt his friends, but suspicions and doubts were something he wasn't entirely above.

"She's one of my best friends, Ray. That's it. She just really doesn't like you lot... and I doubt Mikey really likes our friendship at all. And please let's discuss my nicotine addiction another day." And again, despite his morals, Ray obliged.

"So she knows, and I don't?" He tried his best not to be jealous, but, you know, things like that don't always go to plan.

"Solely because she'd rather die than talk to Mikey, let alone tell him. You and him are best friends."

"You and him are best friends too." ray reminded Frank, ignorant to what prevented that within its entirety.

"And this secret, this is the complication, and I feel like with this - it's either this or Mikey, and with how much of a douche he's being recently, it's making it far too easy to choose."

"Frank. I swear I won't tell him whatever you say - I just can't deal with this much underlying tension between all of us. You can tell me, and then I'll figure out a way we can sort this out, okay?" Ray offered, but he offered something that didn't appeal to Frank in the slightest.

"This isn't a thing to sort out, this is a thing Mikey has to deal with, and won't be able to. This is a thing Mikey will hate me... on top of the gay thing, of course." Frank shook his head, sighing. "You don't understand, do you?"

"Frank, I'm not going to understand until you tell me." And with the sincerity in Ray's gaze, Frank chanced a stupid decision - perhaps simply because the opportunity to ruin his own life presented itself.

"Yeah..." He exhaled, his eyes rolling up in their sockets to the sky, and praying to God to help him, despite the fact that in a situation such as this, God would really rather do anything but. "You know Mikey's brother?"

"Gerard? Yeah?" Ray looked confused, and Frank could do nothing more but flash him apologetic eyes.

"He's my boyfriend."

And then Frank was pretty sure the whole world came to a halt.

-

"So dressed like that? What are you? Part of a freak show? A transvestite? A girl?" And Gee couldn't help but snort aloud at the last one - the fact that his parents would rather him be the main act of a freak show than ever possible transition to female amusing him in an oddly sadistic manner, and maybe if it would be worthwhile, he would have argued the cause, but these were his parents; their ignorance was eternal.

"None of those things." He commented casually, stabbing a boiled potato almost violently with his fork before it broke down into a fluffy over cooked mess, at which point he gave up and stabbed the stalk of a floret of broccoli, twirling it around on his fork as he observed the burnt edges and how uncomfortable Mikey looked next to him, glancing at his cell phone every few seconds as if he was expecting something important.

Whereas all Mikey was expecting was some godforsaken reason to get out of here before things got particularly ugly, however his chances didn't seem all that fruitful at all, and perhaps that was karma for you, and perhaps Mikey reckoned he couldn't eat another overcooked potato without being sick, but he daren't cause a fuss or anger his parents unnecessarily, so he ate slowly and swallowed the sickeningly feeling crawling up the back of his throat.

"Why the fuck are you wearing make up then?" Mr Way spat at his oldest son, their eyes meeting for the first time in years and all that lay between them was pure hatred, and Gee felt as if he was going to be sick too, but not with overcooked potatoes, but the memories, the memories he could never quite escape.

"I like it. I like wearing it." He answered, catching his reflection in the mirror on the back wall and confirming to his ego, that he did, in fact, look fabulous right now.

"I don't like you wearing it. God wouldn't have it - bad enough you getting fucked up the ass, let alone you start dressing like a fucking girl." Gee considered yelling back something about how God didn't approve of many things and all of them utterly ridiculous, but he hadn't the energy; feeling absolutely bloated from overcooked, tasteless vegetables.

"Did you just invite me here to insult me?" He asked what was a genuine question, and Mikey considered faking a text from Ray to get him out of here, because when the war begun, he really didn't fancy being stuck in the crossfire.

"We didn't invite you in the first place!" Mr Way slammed his knife and fork down against the table, the whole room freezing as a result, the elder of the Way brothers laughing almost psychotically into the silence, shaking his head at his father as he pushed the remainder of his badly cooked meal aside.

"You implied that there was a problem with me not being here, so I reckoned I did you a favour by solving said problem." He continued, fighting down the smirk that tugged at the corners of his lips like a yappy, attention seeking terrier.

"The only problem here is that you're a fucking faggot." His father screamed at him, standing up, almost expecting Gerard to do so, and maybe eighteen year old Gerard would have done so, but twenty five year old Gerard had eaten far too many overcooked carrots to even consider moving for the next few minutes at the very least. "You can confess your sins and hope God will forgive you or get the fuck out of this family - I don't wanting you fucking with Mikey, putting ideas in his head."

Gee just shook his head, raising his eyebrows as he met his mother's gaze - she'd be silent for the duration of the meal, letting her husband scream at his son without consequence or even motivation. "Mum?"

"Gerard, I-" She began, her words stuttered, almost as if she hadn't an opinion at all.

"Don't bring her into this." And Gee soon figured out why that was, it seems Mr Way didn't exactly allow opinions of others in this household. "What will it be? Faggot? Grow the fuck up and find a fucking wife, huh? Or are you still going to keep on in this disgusting act of rebellion?"

"It's not an 'act'-" He began to explain himself, not at all surprised as his father cut him off.

"Bullshit. I know what it's like, you disobey God, because you think its 'cool', you disobey your parents because you think you're 'cool', but you're not a teenager anymore, Gerard. Grow the fuck up."

"No."

Silence fell over the room as the word tumbled into the air, eyes widening as it became evident that the speaker was not in fact Gee, but Mikey.

"No, dad..." Mikey shook his head with a sincere sigh. "That's not how it works."

"How would you know? What are you a faggot as well?"

"No." Mikey stood his ground, standing up; facing his father in a manner, which just about even Mr Way himself was speechless at. "But I know, I know this kid, this kid at my school. His name's Pete- what do you care? But he's a fa- he's a homosexual, and you know, you know for the amount of shit I give him for it... the way I make his life hell just because he likes guys, don't you think he'd stop liking guys if he could? He'd want it to stop, and if he could make it stop, he'd do that, don't you think?"

Silence.

"But he can't make it stop. He can't change that." Mikey met his father's eyes at this point. "And it needs to stop, so I'm going to make it stop." He then turned to his older brother, who sat there, mouth agape - never so proud of his younger brother, and they shared a smile, a genuine smile, and Mikey wanted to cry, because he thought that maybe now he'd gotten his brother back, finally.

"It's not an act." Gerard shook his head at his parents, grabbing his coat and storming out, trying his best not to cry before he made it out of the house at the very least.

Mr and Mrs Way stood in a silent shock as their oldest son walked out of their house for the thousandth time, and for the first time, their younger son followed him.

-

Hey guys:) I hope you liked this chapter, and perhaps maybe you won't hate Mikey quite as much now - he's getting some serious hate man, and I don't think it's entirely his fault, but w/e, I'd appreciate it if you could vote / comment if you enjoyed, and I love you all, as always<3