Chapter Text
Mikey Way can't help feeling a little odd on his way to school on the Monday, Frank's absence making the walk quieter to say the least. It isn't bad, just quiet, and weird, which in itself is weird as Frank hasn't even been here that long. Still, maybe that's the coven effect.
Mikey can't hold back the grin that breaks out over his face and why not, there's no one around to see the crack in his usual laid back and chilled out demeanour. He is in a coven and this is gonna be awesome. He can feel it, the tingle of power in him, the way everything seems to be settling somehow, as though he'd spent the past year trying to write with the wrong hand and now he is allowed to switch.
Now, maybe, he won't be so reliant on Gerard all the time. Maybe he could actually have a bit of freedom, which is a contradiction as he is now tied to his friends, maybe forever, but who cares? With his powers more under his control there's so much more he could do, so much more he could try, so much...
He barely even notices the girl walking behind him at first, her presence just a thought in his mind, but then what could only be described as heat washes over him. Huh, why on Earth would he be blushing, he wasn't thinking of anything dodgy, so why-
Oh, it was her thought, that's cool. He already knows girls are just as filthy minded as boys, that's cool, just because she's eyeing up some hot bloke and imagining his ass didn't matter, it was just-
His ass. She was admiring his ass, holy fuck, she was checking him out!
Pretending to stop to check a message on his cell, Mikey slows, leaning casually against the wall as she passes without even giving him a second glance. Really, zero interest, not even a flicker, he must have imagined it-
Oh fuck, there it is again, just as she is about to cross the road she glances back at him and that was it again, she likes him!
And she's cute.
And in his Lit class.
And Frank isn't here to act like the biggest gooseberry of all time.
Grinning to himself, Mikey adjusts his clothes and straightens his glasses before continuing on his way, just a little faster than he was walking before.
********************************************
When Frank's mom said he had to see his friends as much as possible he figured he'd stop by the comic book shop after school, drop in and see Mikey in the coffee shop whilst he worked, maybe meet up with Bob and Ray when they finished work, the usual sort of thing.
Having to spend a couple of days alone in the house whilst his throat healed enough to not hurt like a mother every time he swallowed, that had sucked, especially now he could actually be out there seeing them – okay, Gerard - again. And even though when he had tried (difficult when he still had no voice) to bitch about being alone his mom had kept telling him to enjoy it whilst he could, smiling in that way that rang faint alarm bells, but really, he had no way of knowing she would do this.
*She drew up a fucking schedule for all of us?!*
Mikey Way snorts but nods, handing over his copy for Frank to examine next to the one that he had just found in his bag. “Yep. She got us to give her our work rotas, class schedules, family dinner times, the works. She has every minute of your life planned and plotted for the next month.”
Flicking through the chart, Frank resists the urge to scream only because
a) they are in the middle of the hallway
b) his throat is still raw enough that it would really hurt and
c) his voice is still so pathetically weak what would actually come out would just be embarrassing.
It was bad enough that his few days off school to get his throat to the stage where he could breathe through it again, let alone speaking, had led to jokes from the guys that he had been sucking too much dick and needed to work on his technique (as if).
Although, whereas at his old school those jokes would have preceded a severe beating, here that just seemed to inspire Urie to make up a lunchtime musical number called “gay fever”, complete with its leading men, pepper and pepper, and a cast of sauce packets, the 'saucettes'. Really, his life, sometimes Frank figures that maybe the entire town has LSD in the water supply or something. It would explain a lot.
But not this.
*She scheduled my SEX LIFE?!*
Mikey snorts and shakes his head, mischief in his eyes. “No, she scheduled your love life. See all the little pink hearts she added in, next to the big stop sign, assigned chaperone for other house visits, and 'not in the house' note. That's on every copy by the way.”
Giving up, Frank turns to face his locker and starts banging his head against it.
“Face it Iero, you're outclassed. Your mom is terrifying, seriously, and a diabolical genius.” Pausing, Mikey looks thoughtful. “Are we really sure she's not still evil?”
Flipping him off, Frank just leans against the locker and sighs. He's about to try and speak again when Mikey shushes him and he looks up just in time to see some random girl with enormous blonde hair, seriously, there could be a family of hamsters living in there with her, practically attach herself via suction power to Mikey's face.
Okay, so that's new. He's heard that Mikey has had a couple of girlfriends in the past, sure, but none in the months he's been here. Interesting.
Leaning back against his locker, Frank folds his arms across his chest and just watches for a minute before coughing to get their attention. At least, that's his excuse for the loud hacking noise his chest makes him make at the waft of her overwhelming perfume and Jesus, did she bathe in it or something?
The look Mikey throws him could knock small animals stone cold dead.
“Frank, this is Charlene, Charlene, this is Frank. He's lost his voice so don't expect him to say much.”
“Aww, you poor thing!” Frank can't help grinning but nods, hand to his throat and a mock apologetic look on his face. “What's wrong with you?”
“He's got a virus.”
“Aww!” Frank lets himself be awwed at whilst watching the way she limpets herself to Mikey's arm as though wanting to climb him and really, he's only been off like three days, how involved could they even have gotten yet-
Mikey's sudden flush of red makes Frank almost sputter. *You DOG!*
Mikey rolls his eyes before switching seamlessly into a death glare that would chop up the remains of the small animals his earlier stare killed, and wraps his arm around Charlene's shoulders. “Frank, we're gonna go get some fresh air, I'll see you later, okay?”
Hugging himself to keep from exploding with glee, because, seriously, this is gonna be too much fun to tell the guys, Frank nods quickly and just watches them go. The death threats and general aspersions on his character cast his way by Mikey are just amusing, and really, Mikey's met his parents so THAT one just blatantly isn't true.
Besides, at least this gives him a whole extra half hour his mom hasn't already filled in for him. Grabbing his bag, Frank pats down his pocket to make sure he has a lighter and heads out for some 'fresh air' of his own.
**************************************
Ray is still tired, the respite not quite as relaxing as they had planned, not to mention the sudden jarring awakening from a deep, deep state of sleep to full on panic mode had ruined some of the good work Gerard had done. But, it was enough, it was a moment of solitude and rest that had done more to help Ray than all the sleep he had got within the month preceding it.
And he was going to use it to its fullest value.
The worst of the exhaustion passed, he is able to eat and work again, the routine returning a much needed anchor to his life that really, most people underestimate. Yeah, so getting up and going to work every day could get boring, but it was also a structure, a sense of achievement and a purpose that helped keep him grounded no matter how out there his visions got. Spending half his life drifting through dreams made him value the normality of the filing and admin at work more than ever.
Not to mention, it was a good distraction and stopped him dwelling on his dreams.
All said and done though, he's just as glad to see five o'clock tick around on Friday as anyone else in the branch. Heading out into the pouring rain is a relief and welcome snap of cold against his skin after the slightly too warm heating. Seeing Iero leaning up against the wall, shoulders hunched into his hoodie and dripping even under the slight shelter of the overhang just makes it ever better.
“You look like a drowned rat.”
Flipping him off with a single finger poking out from his crossed arms, Frank shuffles closer, bag knocking against his side as he hurries after Ray to his car. His voice is only a faint, hoarse whisper when he speaks but he tries anyway. “This sucks.”
“The weather or having to hang out with me.”
Frank hesitates just long enough to earn a quick slap round the back of the head, dislodging his hood and exposing him to the rain and making him hiss like a gremlin until he can pull it back into place. “Fine!” He whispers back, the lack of volume making him more pathetic and whiny than actually angry. “Hanging out with you is cool, I just... It's Friday, I'm wet and cold and want a hot shower and kinda wish Gee was taking me home to my empty house instead of you-”
“Got it,” Ray laughs, opening the car and sliding in before shaking off the worst of the rain caught in his hair. Really, in the right light it looks like he's been glitterbombed.
The fact that he knows what he looks like glitterbombed is just a given, he is friends with Gerard Way after all.
“You sure...” Frank starts before trailing off as they pull out of the car park. It's so quiet Ray would dismiss it as his imagination if he hadn't seen the odd look Frank had tossed him at the same time.
“Sure about what?”
Shrinking down into the chair, Frank shrugs. “You sure you're up to this?”
Sighing, Ray focuses on the after work traffic and waits until they reach the back roads before answering. “Honestly? Not sure, that's why we have another sleepover scheduled for tomorrow night after Gee finishes work, and he's managed to get Monday off to recover so we can all get up to strength again. It'll be fine.”
Frank gives him his best bullshit face and Ray grins, just a little.
“Look, I gotta get back in the saddle and after what happened last week- I need to focus Frank, I could've, I should've seen what you were up to and I don't know, stopped you or helped you, I don't-”
Franks shoulder thudding against his is almost enough to make him steer the car over to the other side of the road but Ray swings it back over with a laugh. “Get off me you freak.”
“Not. Your. Fault,” Frank wheezes out, weak but emphatic.
“Yeah, well, someone should've stopped you being such a damned fool. We're supposed to look out for each other. We're coven.”
Frank snorts, loud and clear despite his throat, and shakes his head. “I should've trusted you. Not 'cause we're coven, because we're friends.”
“That too,” Ray admits. “Come on,” he says as they pull up outside Frank's house. “Let's see if your mom has something better than vegan tofu shit to snack on whilst we work.”
**********************************
Frank can still barely speak, but he doesn't need to for this, sitting cross legged on his bed facing Ray. The sanctuary space created around his bed doesn't block Ray's powers – or Frank's as he well knows – but it should keep them from having any uninvited company. Not that Frank has seen Bert at all this week, although as William has been absent too it doesn't bother him too much yet.
His bedroom door is wide open, the slight draught of a breeze through the house making the candle sitting on his bedside table flicker a bit but it doesn't matter. Ray certainly isn't bothered by it, his hands resting easy on his thighs as Frank sips at the slightly bitter tea. Tea leaves aren't usually his thing, but it's a start, the tarot cards resting by Ray's bare feet for later and his 'travel sized' crystal ball snuggled into the blankets between them.
Whilst Ray's attic has the better calming space, Ray wants to try reading Frank in his space, where his energy is strongest, and hey, it's a Hell of a lot warmer than the Toro's attic so Frank is all for it. The tea, less so, the leaves brushing over his tongue and making him want to gag. Trying to strain the tea through his lips as he sips at it, leaving a group of leaves around the rim of the old fashioned tea cup, he hurries through it even as Ray laughs softly.
“Shut up,” Frank whispers, swirling the last of the tea around in the vain hope of getting all the leaves to drop to the bottom.
“It's okay Frank, there's no rush.”
“Horrible.” Shuddering as he finishes one last big gulp, Frank almost throws the cup at Ray before Ray stops him, placing his hand over Frank's.
“I know.” Guiding his hands, Ray helps him to grab the small saucer and turn the cup upside down, watching as the last dregs of tea seep out from under the edge of the cup and into the saucer. At least this time Frank has drunk enough not to spill it onto the sheets. Holding Frank's hand firm over the cup, Ray closes his eyes and concentrates, breathing steadily as he gently eases the cup the right way up again and lets Frank pull the saucer off. With their hands together, Ray pulls the cup closer to him and opens his eyes.
The swirl of leaves is a blur, indistinct and like one of those impressionist pictures. Up close, it is meaningless, just dots, but from the right distance a picture emerges. The heat of the cup is fading but Frank's fingers are still warm from it against Ray's as he looks into the leaves and tries to find the right angle.
The leaves shift, whether in the cup or in his mind he isn't sure, but there is an image of a flower, pale in the light and shimmering slightly. He can smell it, the fragrance familiar to him, one of the night blooming flowers from the Garden. But as he watches it starts to twist and blacken, twisting with the heat until it is consumed by flame, nothing but ashes remaining. Water starts to drip onto the ashes though, washing them away until just a small green shoot remains.
Okay, so there's hope, destruction but rebirth too; whether this vision is literal or a metaphor Ray doesn't know but it's reassuring in an odd way. The image shifts again, and this time it's movement, distant but clear, as though Ray is floating over everything There are figures running through a field, the stubble of the crops long cleared and deep furrows mixed between slippery mud and solid lumps making a minefield of obstacles.
One figure leads, dark haired and running flat out even as others chase after it, their clothing a random mix, nothing distinctive, but still, there is something uniform with the way they move and interact that marks them as together, a group. As Ray watches, his view changes to focus on the group, a swirl of red washing through them, a signal he's long since learned to interpret as danger. Whoever they are, they are dangerous.
“Ray?”
He can feel his breath coming fast, drawing in gulps of air as he watches, his fingers tightening.
“Ow.”
The image changes again and this time the figure in the lead is right in front of him, running flat out, feet slipping over the ground, and as he watches one sneaker slides uselessly across the mud, stretching out too far and the figure falls, a face coming up and looking over his shoulder, fear in his eyes-
“Ray?”
“Frank!” Letting go of the cup, of Frank, Ray sits back, blinking rapidly to try and adjust to where he is. Frank quickly puts the cup down and shifts on the bed, hands drifting to rest on Ray's knees.
“You okay?” The whisper is hoarse but enough to bring Ray back out of it and he starts to talk, babble really, telling everything he's seen as quickly as he can. He doesn't even notice as Frank grabs a pen and paper and starts making notes. It isn't until he finishes and looks up that he even realises Frank is looking at him as though waiting for more.
“What?”
Pointing to himself, Frank raises an eyebrow.
“Yeah, it was you, you were running from... I don't know what they were, some guys, I don't...” Blowing out a deep breath, Ray runs his hands over his face and forces a smile. “On the plus side, looks like doing this in your room is helping.”
Laughing and wheezing at the same time, Frank nods and puts the paper aside, picking up the crystal ball instead and holding it up on his fingertips challengingly. With a nod, Ray shifts Frank's fingers to hold the ball in the air between them and focuses. Maybe this time he can get some clearer details...
******************************************
It's pitch black outside by the time they finally blow out the candles, the air cold and making Frank's throat hurt as he waves Ray off. They tried the ball, the cards, even some weird thing with a bowl of water and candle wax, but still the visions were roughly the same. Frank running, flowers and flames, mysterious men, all very Marvel.
It seems almost impossible to believe, with the sleepy town and small shops and generally laid back feel of the place, that there could be danger here. The most exciting thing the local paper carries is pictures of the elementary school plays and announcements for birthdays and bake sales. Besides, Ray's vision had mud in it and the grass is still covered in a thick layer of snow
Still, it never hurts to be prepared. And one thing Frank Iero can be, is prepared.
Or at least, better prepared than he was last time...