Work Text:
“Gerard. Can you take me to the mall?”
It was late Sunday afternoon, and Mikey was seeking out his brother, standing halfway down the stairs to the basement.
Gerard was perched in bed, sketchbook in his lap, pencils and markers sprawled across his sheets on either side. He looked up at Mikey, eyebrows raising.
“Why…?”
“Because my car isn’t working and I need a ride.”
Gerard scoffed lightheartedly, a smile pricking at the corner of his lips. “Duh. I know that. Why do you want to go to the mall?”
“I wanted to look at something.”
In all his efforts to look nonchalant, uncaring, Gerard saw that glimmer of hope in Mikey’s demeanor.
“…Vague.” Gerard set his sketchbook aside, and stood up. He started to fumble with a pile of clothes by his desk. “Kay. I’ll take you.”
Mikey started bounding back up the stairs before Gerard could get the full sentence out.
Mikey’s walk through the outdoor mall was brisk.
Gerard could hardly keep up with him. Once again— Mikey appeared like he was trying to be nonchalant, but his squared off shoulders screamed that he was anything but. Gerard knew better than to pester him about what he was up to; it wasn’t frequent that he saw his brother so motivated, and badgering him would only make him get irritated.
With all that in mind, Gerard was definitely confused when they ended up in front of a Build-A-Bear Workshop.
…He slowly turned towards Mikey— who was staring through the open doorway like he was looking for something in particular— and quirked an eyebrow.
“…This is what we’re lookin’ at?” He questioned; it wasn’t judgmental, but definitely perplexed.
Mikey didn’t say anything, and started to head inside.
“Alright,” Gerard said under his breath, and followed his brother in.
Mikey seemed to know exactly what he wanted, too, because he headed straight for a bin of unstuffed frogs. Except he didn’t grab a frog— he grabbed a misplaced calico, seemingly the only one in the store.
Then his body swiveled around, and when he caught the eye of an employee— this incredibly chipper girl that couldn’t be much older than Gerard— he nodded in her direction.
“Hello! Welcome in! Anything I can help you with today?” She spoke as she approached, beaming with an all too friendly smile.
“Hi. Um—“ He lifted the limp calico in hand. “Is this the only one you have?”
“Just about! Other than the display model,” She nodded. “The company retired that specific furry friend recently, we’ve been clearing out the last of ‘em.”
“Okay…” Mikey nodded, and turned around to keep browsing. “Thank you.”
“Of course! Let me know if you want to stuff that one, or if you have any other questions!”
Gerard looked between the two as the exchange went on, his confusion taking on a hint of amusement. This was definitely an unexpected outing, but he didn’t have any complaints.
Mikey picked through the little bin of scents you could put inside the bears before they got sewed up, while Gerard lingered around the cubbies of different stuffed animal options.
“Oh, sick, they got a Batman bear,” Gerard grinned, pulling the head of said design to tug it out. Mikey just hummed, not fully listening.
“…What d’you think of this one?” He turned back around to face Gerard, holding out the strawberry scent package. Gerard leaned in to sniff it, and he just shrugged.
“It’s sweet,” he muttered, rather unhelpfully. “It smells like those candies, with the liquid center.”
Mikey tucked the package against his chest and kept wandering without another word.
Gerard followed him, rubbing the back of his neck with a yawn. They both moved around the big stuffing machine; Mikey’s eyes raked over the accessories, while Gerard hovered by the heart bins.
He picked up one of the big plastic hearts that had a button in the center curiously. When he pressed it, the thing vibrated in his hand, mimicking an actual heartbeat.
“Woah, what the hell?” Gerard laughed incredulously. “Mikes— feel this thing, it’s like an actual organ.”
Mikey was slow to react, but he eventually appeared at his brother’s side to see what he was talking about.
“Damn,” he mumbled, pushing the button over and over. “That’s weird, actually.”
“Imagine if you put that in a bear and gave it to someone and didn’t tell ‘em,” Gerard mused. “I would freak if my stuffed animal had a heartbeat.”
“Mm.” Mikey smiled faintly, and he put the heart back in its’ place. Then he turned around to grab the attention of the employee he spoke to, who made eye contact with him near immediately.
She, once again, beamed. “Are we ready?”
Mikey nodded, and she headed over to the chair next to the stuffing machine. “Do you want it to be more firm, or more soft?”
“Uh. Firm?” He muttered dumbly. “That just means more stuffing, right?”
“Yep,” she affirmed. “Go ahead and put your foot on the pedal for me, love.”
Mikey stiffly extended his leg forward to push down on the pedal, and she moved the cat in all different directions as stuffing filled up its body. He could spot a smile slowly spreading on Gerard’s face as he stood nearby, which made the tips of his ears tingle with a faint embarrassment.
“Have you picked out a heart yet?” The girl gestured at the bins, and Mikey eased the pressure on the pedal.
“No…”
He turned to grab a little cloth heart out of its’ container— the gingham one, over the solid red. Not like you could see it once it was inside the thing’s body, but he just thought it was prettier.
“Alrighty.” She handed him the cat. “Go ahead and give it a squeeze, see if it’s all good before we sew it up.”
Mikey hugged it against him and hummed. “S’fine.”
“Great!” As she grabbed the cat back, she eyed the cloth heart, and then met Mikey’s eyes with a somewhat sly smile. “…You wanna do the heart ceremony, or…?”
Gerard started to snicker, and Mikey’s face warmed. “Uhh…”
“Do the heart ceremony, Mikes,” Gerard lightly nudged him with his elbow. “It’s tradition. Breathe life into the little guy.”
The employee pointed at Gerard and raised her eyebrows in a silent ‘exactly’. “He gets it. C’mon, dude. This is the fun part.”
Mikey groaned, but pressed his lips into a tight line and conceded. “Fine.”
The employee lit up even more, if that was possible. “Awesome, alright— so, you gotta rub the heart between your hands so it’s warm for your new friend.”
…Mikey did just that, and refused to look at anybody.
“Now you gotta tap it so the heartbeat gets nice and strong…”
The whole thing only went on for about 20 seconds, ending with Mikey being instructed to make a wish, kiss the heart, and hand it off to be sealed away inside along with the scent he picked. Kissing the heart was the one thing they couldn’t get him to do— it felt a little too intimate for him, given who the stuffed animal was actually going to— but… he did make a wish. Maybe. Nobody had to know.
Both brothers spent about another 10 minutes browsing accessories, with Mikey contemplating his choice so deeply you’d think he was making a life altering decision.
Gerard didn’t rush him, though. He’d have all the time in the world to bug him when the thing was actually purchased and in the car— at that point, Mikey wouldn’t have the chance to get embarrassed and bail on whatever this was.
Mikey lingered around the shelves, attempting to scrounge up any idea of what you might like to put on this thing. Granted, he could just buy it and leave… but that’s not the point, right? The dress-up is half of the attraction, he had to do something.
So, out came his phone, with Mikey angling his body so Gerard couldn’t see the screen from where he was standing. He didn’t really want to have to ask you anything, given that somewhat kills the element of surprise, but…
Mikey (3:45 PM):
what do you think about bows?
He stood there for about a minute, tapping his foot, waiting for your incoming message. You could be a little slow when it came to getting back to people. Or maybe he was just eager.
Mikey (3:46 PM):
time sensitive question
He didn’t feel as embarrassed anymore when your reply came through 20 seconds later.
You (3:47 PM):
why????
what kind of bows
like clothing ones or hair ones or…
Mikey (3:47 PM):
head ones i guess
He idly picked at the loops of little black bows while he waited on your response.
You (3:48 PM):
i don’t care for them
why
That ruled out the first option he considered. There weren’t many things that fit this specific Build-A-Bear’s body, since it was posed on all fours rather than on two legs like the other ones.
Mikey (3:48 PM):
what about glasses
round ones or squarish ones
You (3:49 PM):
square ones i guess?
genuinely what are we talking about right now
Down came a pair of plastic, rectangle-shaped glasses off of the rack.
Mikey (3:51 PM):
okay thank you
just wanted a second opinion on something
You (3:51 PM):
why are we being vague :/
can i know what this is about or
Mikey smiled as subtly as he could, eyes flitting over to Gerard briefly to make sure he wasn’t being observed before he kept texting you.
Mikey (3:52 PM):
no. see you tmrw
You (3:52 PM):
ok screw you too ig
Mikey finally spoke his first words in ages when he lifted up a plastic pair of glasses to the cat’s face. “What about these?”
Gerard tilted his head, earnestly assessing. “I like those. S’simple.”
“Cool.”
Then Mikey was on the move again, ready to fill out the little birth certificate on the computer in the corner.
Gerard really didn’t have much to say as he waited around— his attention was kind of all over the place, honestly— but his brain snagged on the detail of Mikey choosing the “This is a gift” option on the screen.
“…Who’re you givin’ this to?” He asked, that wide grin slowly reappearing on his face. Mikey huffed through his nose, but didn’t speak.
“Hey,” Gerard poked him in the shoulder, and Mikey glanced at him, if only for a fraction of a second.
“What?”
“Who’s it for?” He asked again. This time, Mikey’s cheeks bloomed into a reddish hue, but his expression was immediately walled off into nonchalance. He shrugged the question off, finished filling out the prompts on the terminal, and moved away from it to go pay.
Gerard scoffed lightheartedly, but let up for the moment.
Mikey walked out of the store with a cardboard carrier in hand and his very bemused brother at his side.
When they got into Gerard’s car, Mikey opened up the carrier and lifted the calico out— just to give it a once over, and put the glasses he got for it on its’ face.
Honestly… it was really cute. He could see why you liked this one in particular.
Gerard leaned in a little closer to look at the thing, “It kinda looks like you.”
Mikey rolled his eyes, and turned it over to look over the pattern. “You’re saying that because it has glasses.”
“It’s the vibe. It has your vibe.”
Mikey huffed, and gently put it back into its carrier while Gerard started the car. Thinking about that comment in the context of who it was going to… he hoped his expression wasn’t as blushy as he felt it was.
“So,” Gerard spoke up again, while he dug through his center console for a different CD. “It’s a gift. Who is it for, Mikey?”
Mikey groaned, and rubbed at his eyes. “You’re so nosy, god, it’s none of your business.”
Gerard barked out a laugh, fingers prying open a CD case. “You’re bein’ weird! I’m supposed to ask questions!”
…Mikey shrugged, picked at the seam on his jeans, and casually muttered your name. Like it wasn’t a big deal to him, despite spending the last 30 minutes or so proving that it was.
Gerard’s eyebrows went up, and he quietly ejected the currently inserted CD while clearly biting his tongue. “Interesting.”
Mikey scoffed, “Don’t get weird, or whatever.”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“You don’t need to.”
Mikey sank down in the passenger seat, enduring the most painful silence he’d been put through in awhile as Gerard put the different CD in.
“…What prompted this, then?” Gerard asked, casual. Too casual.
“She’s— ugh. I don’t know? She’s havin’ a hard time recently, kinda. I just thought it could be nice, it’s whatever.”
Gerard put his car into reverse, checking over his shoulder.
“That’s sweet of you.”
“Don’t say it like that.”
Gerard snorted, putting the gear into drive. “I’m bein’ serious!”
Mikey resolved himself to staring out of the window to his right, too uncomfortable to say much else on the matter. Not that Gerard would let him off that easy.
“It is sweet,” he continued. “Very thoughtful.”
Mikey shrugged. Wrung his hands out in his lap. “She’s wanted it for a long time, I guess.”
“She’ll love it, I’m sure. She loves her cats.”
Mikey smiled. “Yeah, uh. I hope she will.” He sucked on the inside of his cheek, then added, “It’s a surprise… I know she’d get weird if I told her about it beforehand, cause she’s so… it’s hard to do things for her. She won’t let you, if she can help it.”
Gerard hummed, casting Mikey a bit of a side-eye. “Yeah?”
“She’s super, like… patient ‘n giving with everyone else, I’ve noticed. Like— she shrinks herself so much, and it’s… I just think some kind of gesture would be good. She’s hard to get through to just by talking to her.”
The more Mikey said, the deeper he was digging himself. He knew it. Nothing ever got past Gerard— it was like they shared a brain, sometimes.
“Oh, you’re smitten.”
Gerard didn’t waste time, either.
Mikey swallowed. “That’s not even what we’re talking about.”
“Based on what we are talking about, you are smitten.”
“You’re annoying,” Mikey grumbled, locking his legs around the Build-A-Bear box on the car floor.
“What changed?” Gerard chuckled, light. “I swear you hated her, like, a week ago.”
“I never hated her— we just… that’s just how we talk to each other.”
“Right. A cover-up for all the real goopy stuff you actually feel inside, I got it.”
Mikey bit the inside of his cheek, suppressing a smile. It was… freeing, in a way, to get that out in the open. Even if he never actually said it. Just about everybody knew that you and him were close, anyway… the only people who bothered to play this game at the end of the day was you two. Mikey knew better than anyone that if you felt true animosity, you’d have no problem going about your life as if he didn’t exist.
Not that he expected anything out of you that was more than… whatever you were, at the present. At the end of the day, it always came down to wanting to be there for you, the way you couldn’t help but be there for him.
Mikey gave Gerard a light push in the shoulder, not hard enough to distract from his driving. “You’re a dork.”