Things Will Get Better (Chapter 2)
Title Things Will Get Better
Author fiomerino
Pairing Frerard (Frank Iero/Gerard Way)
Rating R
Summary Gerard is forced to give on adoption his baby when the mother dies. He never would have expected that he would meet her and her adoptive brother fifteen years after.
Disclaimer I don't own any of the characters, only the plot.
( Chapter 1 | Chapter 3 )
Chapter 2
Gerard smiled as he got the last painting up. He let out a small breath and looked around the gallery, making sure everything was in order. Not all the painting hanging from the walls were his, but he did love all of them. He heard the door open and close quickly, and then some quiet footsteps. He rolled his eyes, but didn’t turn anyway, knowing that there was only one person that knew that the door was unlocked when the gallery was still closed. “Don’t even try, Mikes” he said casually and smiled when he heard Mikey pout behind him “For fuck’s sake, Gerard! How did you even notice I was there? I couldn’t hear myself walking!” he laughed. Gerard finally turned around to face his brother. “Heard the door” he replied simply, walking to the back room.
“So… you finally finished putting up all the paintings” he heard the younger boy say and just before he could answer, Mikey continued talking “You are selling Lindsey?” He sounded impressed when he said it, moving slowly and stopping by the door of the back room, leaning against the frame. Gerard shook his head and looked up at him. “You know I will never sell that one, I just wanted people to see it… I mean, it’s my favorite, after all” he explained, looking down at his feet. The painting was full of color and the girl in it couldn’t have a bigger smile. Mikey gave him an apologetic smile, walking towards him and hugging him. “She would be extremely proud of you, Gee” he said softly, rubbing his back comfortably. The painter sighted and smiled, hugging him back. “Now, get your old ass moving and buy me coffee, that you owe me one” Mikey said after a while, chuckling. Gerard pushed him away and punched his arm, laughing “Asshole”
~~~
Gerard and Mikey got to Starbucks, and sat in the only empty table that was left, towards the back of the coffee shop. They chatted about everything a little, changing the subject constantly. They even talked about Lindsay at certain point of the conversation, but Mikey knew there was something he could never even mention in front of Gerard.
Bandit was a peculiar name, and Mikey only knew about one girl named that way. Still, that name could drain all the color of Gerard’s face and snatch the happiness from his words. It was such a sudden change, everyone got impressed when it happened. Not that it happened constantly, though. Gerard had gotten out of drugs and alcohol rather quickly when he entered rehab, but depression? That one was the hardest to get rid of. When he though he was getting better, someone always took out the Bandit card. Just by mentioning her name he went all the way to the beginning, avoiding people during the day and crying himself to sleep at night. His psychologist, Bert, tried his best to calm him down and always succeeded, but only after a week or two. Ever since he got out of therapy, Bert warned that he wasn’t completely recovered and his friends and family had to be very careful.
Gerard snapped his fingers in front of Mikey, snapping him out of his trance. “Mikey! I can’t even hear myself talking over the sound of your thoughts” he laughed. Mikey smiled and shook his head, sipping his coffee. ”As I was saying…” Gerard started and took a long swing of his coffee as if he was drinking beer. “I finished the whole comic book, but I still need to add color, so if I get to sell at least one of my paintings I will buy the graphics tablet…” he said, taking another big gulp of coffee.
Gerard glanced at the window and all of the sudden he spit out all of the coffee he still had in his mouth and started coughing frantically. “What the fuck, man?! Are you okay?” Mikey cleaned the coffee from his shirt quickly before moving to check on Gerard. “What happened?” he asked, patting Gerard’s back softly until he stopped coughing. Gerard was staring at nothing, completely wide-eyed. He stood up and looked out the widow again, as if he was looking for something. “Gerard, you’re scaring me, what happened?” he repeated, looking at him worriedly. Half of the coffee shop was staring at them now, whispers filled the room. “Gee?” he insisted and placing his hand on Gerard’s shoulder. “It’s… it’s okay, maybe we should leave…” he breathed deeply, still staring out the window “Let’s just go home” he mumbled, walking towards the exit, Mikey following.
~~~
“Gerard, what happened in the coffee shop?” Mikey asked for the hundredth time. Gerard still had an hour before he had to open the gallery, so now he was sitting on the couch in Mikey’s apartment. He sighted loudly and turned slightly to see his younger brother. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you…” he said, looking away. “Try me” Mikey insisted, staring at him. Gerard breathed and looked up, “I saw Lindsay” he finally explained, staring back at him. Mikey’s eyes widened, not knowing what to think “Are you sure?” Gerard just nodded, hiding his face in his hands. “Maybe someone just looked a lot like her, Gerard” he said, trying not to think that his brother was going crazy. “I doubt someone can look so much like someone else, Mikes… I mean, she looked just like she did when she… left” he breathed, trying to convince himself that he wasn’t going crazy. Mikey sighted, wrapping an arm around Gerard’s shoulders “Maybe you should go to the studio, it will help you calm down”. Gerard agreed with this and left Mikey’s place without a second thought.
~~~
Fifteen minutes before he opened the galley and Gerard had paint even in his hair. He stared a few minutes at the finished painting in front of him and grinned. Art was what always helped him get through his problems and worries. Even though it had passed only twenty minutes after he had seen the “ghost” of his best friend, he had completely gotten over it. He realized he didn’t have enough time to go to his place and change into clean (paintless) clothes, so he just arranged the few things that were missing in the gallery. He filled the minibar with drinks and finished placing snacks on the table next to it. Over the years he had learned that when he gave out free food he sold twice the paintings than when he didn’t.
He ran his hands threw his paint filled hair and smiled. He checked everything one last time, checking if all the names and the prices were correct and if there was any painting missing. He laughed to himself when he got to Lindsay’s painting. There was a big sign under it, written in caps, that said “EXHIBITION ONLY, NOT FOR SALE”. He ran his hand softly through the painting, then looked around the gallery and smiled. “I did it, Linds” he said, moving towards the door, to turn the small sign in the door from ‘closed’ to ‘open’.
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