On Towards The Horizon- Part 1
Title:On Towards The Horizon
Author: heartsdesire456
Rating: R (language, violence)
POV: 3rd
Pairing: Brendon Urie/Spencer Smith, Pete Wentz/Mikey Way (Various others/implied others)
Summary: Mikey Way has been missing for thirty-four cycles, all of which has been spent looking for him, when Gerard, Frank, and Ray come across a pair of young refugees on a bounty hunter ship they've boarded to search. When Frank nearly kills one of them, they make the decision to take the pair with them to administer first aid to the one Frank shot. Within minutes of having them on board, Gerard and his crew realize they have stumbled across something stranger than they had ever imagined. With Mikey's trail run cold and an extra situation on their hands, and the prospect of ever seeing their shipmate again begins to grow dim, will they manage to find Mikey, or has Gerard lost his brother forever?
Disclaimer: "-Fic.tion: [noun] something feigned, invented, or imagined; a made-up story"
WARNINGS: (somewhat graphic) Violence, MPREG
Author's Note: I'm sorry for the terrible summary you guys. I had no idea how to summarize this story, truth be told. Basically, I started out wanting to write a space!Au a while back and I started this months and months ago. Just in the last two days this story went from ~16K to it's current ~28K, so needless to say, I found inspiration again. Hope you enjoy it in spite of the atrocious summary!
EDIT:I am sincerely sorry to anybody who got this on ALL those comms I just posted it on. It wasn't until I was brushing my teeth that I realized 'oh crap, you just posted this on about eight comms. *facepalm* I really am sorry, guys. ALSO CHECK THE WARNINGS I also forgot to put warnings before posting to comms. I don't generally post anywhere but my journal and people know what to expect there.Seriously, my deepest apologies to everybody who got here from a comm. I fail at life. *facepalm*
Gerard paced outside the door to the airlock, scratching at his forehead with the barrel of his gun. His boots clunked on the metal of the floor heavily as he paced back and forth. “You know,” a voice called, interrupting his racing thoughts. “If you keep pointing your motherfucking gun at your head, one time you’re gonna commit inadvertent suicide.”
Gerard shot a crooked smile at his companion. “I’m pretty sure accidental death isn’t suicide, Frankie.” Frank shrugged, shoving his hands in his jacket pockets. “And I have the safety on still, I’ve had some trouble with the photon generator on this one so I keep it on safe until it’s sure to not go off and either kill one of you guys or blow a hole in my damn ship.”
Frank shrugged his shoulders, rolling them impatiently as he gazed at the airlock. “God, I just wanna get on there and blast some motherfucking bounty hunting sons of bitches.”
Gerard’s jaw clenched. “I know the feeling.” He sighed, looking up at the door. “Remember, when we dock, we can’t just run on alone.” He shoved a hand through his dirty, tangled hair. “We have to wait for Toro. Bob’s got to stay in the cockpit so we can get away fast, but we need him behind us to blast anybody who jumps out.”
Frank grumbled. “I’m telling you, Gee, I’m nearly as good of a shot as him-“
“Bullshit, Iero,” Ray’s voice sounded and they both turned to see their companion coming towards them. “You wish.” Ray tightened the straps of his leather fingerless gloves around his wrists before putting his hands on the holsters of his guns. “Alright, Bob’s nearly done docking.”
Gerard nodded. “Good.” Gerard stood facing the airlock, waiting for the light to go from red to green, signaling that the docking process was over. The thump as they actually made contact was so soft of an impact that Gerard could’ve mistaken it for the pounding of his heart behind his ribcage. His pulse was beginning to boom louder in his ears as the seconds ticked by.
Thirty-four cycles. They had been looking for Mikey for thirty-four cycles after they got separated on a fueling stop gone bad at the docks of Skadus-9. They assumed he had ran into some Gens but in the end, they couldn’t find him in the system at all. They had gone to a few different ports looking for hackers before they found one and were able to determine that he was still on the Confederations ‘Persons of Interest’ list, meaning he hadn’t been caught by a Gen.
Bounty hunters were their next thought after they saw that he was worth ten-thousand credits to the Confederation. It was that line of thinking that brought them to where they were now, docking with a bounty hunter’s ship under the guise of having caught a pirate wanted by the Confederation.
Gerard glanced back at Frank and Ray and nodded, shoving his gun in the holster before crossing his wrists behind him. “You know the drill.” Ray and Frank nodded, holding his elbows, standing close enough together to cover the fact that his wrists weren’t tied or cuffed at all.
As soon as the light went green, Frank slapped his fist against the button to open the airlocks, squeezing Gerard’s elbow as he glanced back at him, nodding once before turning ahead and steeling his features to that of a man who had caught a high-money prisoner.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ray panted, throwing himself flat against the wall beside Frank. “Fuck this was a bad idea. Really, bad-“
BAM!
They both ducked as a blast hit the wall just above their heads. Frank peeked around the corner and fired a shot, only to look sniff and turn to look at Ray, who was frowning. “Dude… it got my hair!” he hissed, holding up a lock of hair that had a good few inches burned off from the laser blast.
Frank snickered. “That’s fuckin’ rad!” He took a breath. “Let’s do this!” he cried, before running around the corner with a dramatic shout. Ray groaned and counted to three before running after him. As always, Frank’s near-suicidal tactic of ‘run straight into the open screaming like a crazy man’ momentarily stunned the men firing just long enough for Frank and Ray to pick them off quickly.
When the last hunter hit the floor with a hollow thud, Frank ducked, only to realize there were no more blasts. “Clear?” he called curiously.
“Clear!” Gerard answered, voice echoing down the hall. “I think we got ‘em all but the crew, they holed up in the kitchen. I don’t think they’ll be a problem though.” Gerard came around the corner, licking his busted lip. “There’s passengers, but I gave them the ‘stay down and shut up and you won’t die’ speech while shooting off hunters so I think they’re pretty much dealt with.”
Ray frowned. “Passengers? On this size hunting vessel?”
Gerard nodded. “A few miners from the Colonies near Aldor. I tied up the pilot, we can’t let a ship full of people drift,” he said bitterly. “Fuckin’ people getting in my way.”
Frank sighed. “Alright, no signs of Mikey?” he asked and Gerard shook his head, eyes dark.
“Not a damn sign of any captives. The hold’s empty. I didn’t get into the cargo bay yet, but the passengers don’t remember any sign of a prisoner.” He ran an hand through his hair, shoving it back out of his face. He gestured to the corridors with his gun. “I’m not leaving this ship until we’ve checked it all.”
Ray holstered his guns. “Alright, let’s get going. I’ll guard the kitchen door so the crew doesn’t get out and suddenly take up shooting at us.” He headed down the corridor, boots clunking on the steel grates as he left.
Frank touched Gerard’s wrist. “Hey, we’ll find him if he’s here,” he said in a low voice, frowning when Gerard wouldn’t meet his eyes.
“Yeah, I know I just-“ Gerard shook his head, tugging on his sleeves. “Fuck it, let’s just… let’s go.” He walked away from Frank, whose shoulders heaved as he sighed. He didn’t holster his gun, but he flipped the safety on, following Gerard down the corridor.
They searched the cargo hold first, but found nothing to signify Mikey had been there. They searched the crew and hunters quarters and found nothing much besides a few guns worth stealing and a combined measly total of two hundred and fifty-seven credits between the hunters’ things.
They had just given up and were on their way back to meet up with Ray when, about four doors way from Ray, they heard a muffled thump behind the door next to them. Frank and Gerard both halted, shooting each other looks. Gerard nodded to Ray, who took up his gun and walked down to them. Gerard signaled to be quiet before he flicked the safety off his gun and yanked open the door.
Frank and Ray were just behind him and they both saw what was happening before it happened. Seconds after the door swung open to reveal a dark storage room, a figure flew out, rushing Gerard, the person tackled him, nearly taking them both down. Frank shouted for Gerard to get out of the way and shot, cursing when the man fell to the ground. He let out a pained cry and Gerard stood up, glowering as he straightened his clothes before kicking the man in the same leg Frank had shot him.
“Almost as good as Ray my ass,” Gerard cursed, raising his gun, only to hesitate. The man who had attacked him was lying on the floor, clutching his leg. Frank’s shot had only grazed the outside of his thigh. He was wearing a hunter’s jacket, but Gerard’s hesitance was mostly related to the fact that the man wasn’t as much a man as a boy.
“Gerard?” Ray asked, and Gerard cursed.
“It’s a fuckin’ kid, Ray!” he spat, looking at him. “He doesn’t have a gun and he’s a fuckin’ kid!”
Frank cursed and grabbed the boy by the jacket, hauling him up, in spite of his cries of pain. “What the fuck are you doing here kid-“ They were interrupted by a sudden clatter from within the closet.
“OOF!” They all turned to the doorway, guns drawn again in time to see another person sprawled on the floor next to the shelf he had been hiding behind.
Gerard raised his gun, but was startled when the injured kid screamed at him. “NO!” Frank was startled enough that the boy was able to wrench himself free and fling himself bodily back into the doorway of the closet, falling in a heap in front of the other person. “No, no, whatever you are, don’t!” he cried, blue eyes full of panic.
“Spenc-“
The boy slapped his hand over the other man’s mouth- also a boy it appeared- and kneeled in front of him. “No, please don’t,” the blue eyed boy pleaded, giving Gerard and Frank panicked looks.
Gerard shot Frank a confused look. “They’re fuckin’ hunters, Gerard!” Frank hissed. “We can’t let them live, they aren’t children, they chose this fuckin’ job.” He raised his own gun, but the blue eyed boy stared at him, face full of determination.
“No, damn it!” he cried angrily, though he was clearly flagging from the blood loss. The smaller one behind him was clinging to his shirt from behind him, crying in nothing less than full on terror. “Listen-“ The blue-eyed boy was rapidly growing pale, either from fear or blood loss. “Look, just- take me. Whatever you want, take me, don’t hurt him. I’ll fucking go with you, I won’t run, but please-“ He shook his head, eyes full of desperation. “Don’t hurt him. I won’t run again, I’ll fucking sharpen the damn blades myself, just don’t do this. Let him go. Please.”
Frank shot Gerard a confused look and Gerard shrugged. “Ray?” he asked, but Ray shrugged as well.
Gerard sighed. “Wait, what the fuck are you talking about?” he asked, rubbing his temple. He was really getting sick of hunters. “This type of bullshit doesn’t change what you are-“
“I know what I am, and I regret nothing,” he spat viciously. “But I’m telling you, I’ll go back, but I’ll pay you to let him go.”
“Spencer, your leg-“ The brown eyed boy’s tearful voice was full of fear.
“I know,” Spencer said softly, turning to glanced behind him. “I- I know-“
“Spencer, you’re bleeding to death!” he hissed.
“Yeah well it’s this or the other, Brendon, I’m just trying to fucking save you!” he hissed.
Frank just shot Gerard an even more confused look. “Gee?” he asked, scratching at his head with a frown.
Gerard shook his head. “Wait, wait, wait!” He pointed at the kid’s leg. “First off, you’re not bleeding to death you moron, it’s just a flesh wound.” He frowned at the boy. “And what do you mean go back? Go back where?”
Spencer, as it appeared the blue-eyed kid’s name was, gave him a confused look. “Back to Terros, where else?”
Frank frowned. “Terros? What the fuck dude? Terros is nowhere near us, why would we take you there?” He blinked. “I’ve never even been near that system even. That’s about as far as you can go towards the Void and still find places where you can refuel.”
Ray frowned. “We’re only actually about four parsecs from there, now, Frank.” He did some counting on his fingers, then shot the two on the floor a look. “How did you get here? Terros doesn’t have open transport docks. They don’t even trade with the outside world. Their docks are military and dignitary only.”
Spencer shifted, whining at the pain. “You- you’re not- you’re not here to kill us?”
“My father didn’t send you after us?” Brendon asked from behind Spencer, leaning around him.
Gerard shook his head. “Why is your father trying to kill you?” he asked suspiciously, taking a step forward.
Spencer panted softly as he moved to get in front of Brendon again. “Get back,” he spat angrily, though his anger was clearly fueled by his pain. “Don’t touch him.”
“Kid, I’m not going to hurt anybody,” Gerard said. “Let me look at this-“ He reached towards the boy’s leg, but Spencer snarled, punching him in the face with surprising strength for someone barely able to stay sitting up.
When Gerard stumbled back, Frank started forward, but Gerard held up a hand, stopping him. Spencer let out painful whines as he stripped off the hunter jacket he was wearing and- with his companion’s help- wrapped it around his leg. “Whoa!” Frank cried, eyes widening in horror as he spotted the brand on Spencer’s forearm.
Gerard glanced at Frank after his cry, and followed his line of sight to the brand on the kid’s arm. “What the fuck?” he asked, frowning. “Who the hell brands themselves anymore? Tattoos are totally cooler-“
Frank stepped closer. “Where were you captured?” he asked gently, kneeling down in front of him.
Gerard frowned. “Frankie?” he asked, seeing the dark look in his eyes. “Frankie, what do you mean?”
Frank sighed. “I saw marks like that, Gee.” He flinched. “At… back home,” he all but whispered.
Spencer looked at his arm and held it up to the light. “Oh, I always forget it’s there,” he said, then looked up. “Delta-3.” He shrugged. “I was ten, so I barely remember getting branded-“
“TEN?!” Frank cried, eyes filled with an unmistakable horror. “They take children?”
“Frank,” Gerard said cautiously. “What’s going on?” He knew Frank grew up in a rough place and that it wasn’t something he liked to talk about. He was sometimes scared of what he’d find out if he did explain.
Frank looked at Gerard with wide eyes. “Gee, that’s a brand from a slave trader.” Gerard’s breath caught. “They- they capture men and brand them before they sell them off.” He looked at Spencer. “Ten?”
Spencer shrugged. “Like I said, I barely remember it.”
“Spencer, really, you’re not okay,” Brendon whispered darkly, laying his hand on Spencer’s hip above his burned leg. “Spencer, it should’ve cauterized the wound, you shouldn’t be bleeding like this-“ He stopped and looked up. “Please,” he whispered to Gerard, eyes wide. “Please, help him.”
Gerard glanced back at Ray, who shrugged. “May as well. They aren’t hunters and the crew here may not help them after all the trouble we’ve caused.”
Gerard put his hands on his knees and stood tall. “Mikey isn’t here. Frank, you and Ray get him,” he said, gesturing to the injured boy. “You, kid,” he barked at Brendon. “Come with me.”
Spencer gave him a dark look. “If you hurt him-“
“Seriously, I don’t know what your problem is, but I’m not going to hurt your friend.” He took the kid by the arm and hauled him up before handing him off to Frank and Ray. He nodded at the other boy, who stood up slowly, staring at him like he was going to turn and shoot one of them at any moment.
He exchanged looks with Frank, who had a dark look as he helped the injured kid down the corridor, opposite of Ray. They walked towards the airlock in silence, save for the pained noises of the injured member of their party.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After getting Spencer to the sick bay and using the comm-link to tell Bob it was safe to disengage their ship and take off, leaving the hunters ship to make its own way with its passengers, Gerard stepped aside while Ray took care of Spencer’s leg. He had hit a vein apparently, which was bleeding pretty good.
“It’s not too bad,” Ray reassured. “Let me clean it up and laser-stitch it.” As he turned away to get out the materials he would need, he waved a hand. “Frank, help him get his pants off, then go look and see if we have some spare jumpsuits.” He looked over at Brendon, who was shivering. “These two are not dressed for deep space travel like this.”
Gerard took in their appearances, noting that they were wearing thin tee-shirts, not layers, and simple, light material pants. Their jackets they had taken from the hunters that led to the whole misidentification problem were their only warm layers. “What the hell are you two doing dressed so lightly anyways?” he asked, looking at them.
“We stowed away on a Confederation ship. If we had dressed warm or taken anything with us, we would’ve been suspicious looking when we left the Palace.” Spencer glanced around and gasped softly as his eyes settled on Brendon.
Gerard looked over as well, noticing Brendon was standing at the window. The sick bay was at the outside of the ship, just below the observation deck, so there was a large window, like most of the rooms this side of the ship. He raised an eyebrow at the awestruck expression on the brown haired boy’s face as he stared out at the stars in the distance. “What is it?” Gerard asked softly.
Spencer smiled gently, not looking away from Brendon. “He’s never seen this,” Spencer said softly.
Gerard raised an eyebrow. “Never seen what?”
“Darkness,” Brendon said, voice reverent as his eyes explored the black around them, only the pinpricks of distant stars and systems to perforate the heavy veil of darkness around them. Brendon raised a hand and touched the glass, gasping softly when he felt how cold it was.
Gerard watched curiously, so intently staring that Ray slamming the medical kit on the table startled him. Ray looked up. “What do you mean you never saw darkness?”
Brendon turned back, drawn from his reverie. “Oh, on my planet, we don’t have night. There’s two suns,” he explained. “Twice a cycle there’s a twilight, but as soon as Zenis starts setting, Anthar starts rising, and vice versa.”
Ray looked at him curiously. “I thought Terros was a closed society. They don’t interact with the outside world. Why did you want to leave?”
“Why does your father want you captured?” Gerard asked, remembering what they had said on the hunter’s ship.
Brendon walked over to Spencer, giving him a somewhat frightened look as he took Spencer’s hand in both of his, glancing at the injury on his thigh. “Should I?” he asked softly and Spencer shrugged, flinching as Ray swabbed the wound with disinfectant.
“They don’t seem to be after us. They won’t know,” he said simply.
Brendon sighed. “I’m Prince Brendon Urie,” he said, startling Gerard somewhat with his announcement.
“You’re a Prince? So… your father is-“
Brendon nodded. “King of Terros. I’m the youngest of all the Royal children.”
The door opened and Frank came back in, holding up jumpsuits. “Here you go, this will be a lot warmer,” he told Brendon, tossing one to him. “When you’re done, you can put this on,” he offered to Spencer, who took the bundle, laying it beside him. “So, who the fuck are you guys?”
Gerard chuckled. “Apparently, this is Prince Brendon Urie, youngest child of the King of Terros,” he offered.
Frank looked at Spencer suspiciously. “You’re a slave. You’ve been a slave. Why the hell are you on the run with royalty? Why did you throw yourself in front of a fuckin’ gun for your owner?”
Spencer gave him a dark look. “He doesn’t own me, his father does, and he doesn’t have to be my master for me to die for him,” he said in a cold, angry tone. “You shot me remember?”
“You’re lucky it wasn’t me,” Ray mentioned, giving him a smile. “I’d have killed you,” he said simply.
Frank huffed. “Hey, it’s totally good I missed!” He patted Spencer’s shoulder. “Sorry, kid. It wasn’t personal, I thought you were a hunter. And you attacked Gerard,” he pointed out.
Spencer rolled his eyes. “And I thought you were coming to take us back to Terros.” He hissed in pain as Ray stuck a syringe into his leg.
“Take it easy, it’s to numb it before I start stitching. Trust me, one is better than all these laser-stitches will be,” Ray soothed and Spencer fell back onto his elbows with a pained groan.
“Shhh, it’s okay, Spence,” Brendon said, stroking his fingers through his hair. He looked back at Frank and Gerard. “Spencer was bought to be my companion as a little boy. I was eleven and had nobody to play with and my father decided to buy another little boy for me to play with. When we got older, he was my valet. Basically, my personal servant.” Gerard raised an eyebrow as Brendon looked down at Spencer with a soft look. Some dots were being connected. Brendon stroked Spencer’s hair tenderly, still smiling as he glanced up. “He was my best friend so soon after we met. I was horrified to realize my father could buy another child, and Spencer was afraid after being caught and sold, so I was nice to him. I wanted him to not be scared.” He bit his lip, sharing a tender look with Spencer, who smiled up at him. “I was fifteen and Spencer fourteen when I started to realize that-“ He smiled at Gerard. “I didn’t see him as just my best friend anymore.”
Frank let out a soft ‘oh’ of realization and Gerard nodded. “Let me guess… your father didn’t exactly like that.”
Spencer snorted. “We weren’t stupid,” he spat. “God, even when we finally got our heads out of our asses and admitted we were in love, we had to hide it.” He looked up at Brendon. “It was hard. Brendon started getting offers of marriage when he was sixteen. I was horrified he was going to get married and taken away from me.”
Brendon bit his lip. “I kept convincing my father and the council that it wasn’t time yet, I kept telling them none of the people they chose for me were right. It worked until a few months ago,” he said weakly.
Gerard gave him a sympathetic look. “They found somebody for you to marry for real this time?”
Spencer and Brendon exchanged a look and Spencer smiled up at him lovingly. “Not exactly,” he said, then turned to Gerard and Frank. “Brendon’s pregnant.”
Frank and Ray both snapped their heads up and Gerard just stared. “Wait… what?” Frank asked in a squeaky voice, eyes big as saucers.
Spencer laughed softly. “Brendon’s not human, he’s Lanoan. Lanoans are the species of human that live on Terros.”
Brendon nodded. “Lanoan males and females can bear children. Only men can impregnate someone else, but we can both have children. It isn’t as common because same-gender pairings aren’t as common as men and women marrying, but it happens plenty.” He cringed. “It’s also why royal children aren’t supposed to be with anybody outside of wedlock.” He slid his hand into Spencer’s. “When I found out, I told Spencer and we agreed to keep it quiet. I could hide it for at least half of the pregnancy and we could work out a way to get away.”
Spencer smiled sadly. “But someone found out. They found out Brendon was pregnant, and they knew the only man he’s been around in private with is me. Nobody else but maids- all women- were ever allowed in his apartment.” He sighed weakly. “I was to be captured and sentenced to death.”
Brendon nodded, biting his lip. “A maid though, she overheard the council and ran to tell us. We were both asleep and she rushed in and told us. At first, Spencer was just going to let them get him, since running after they knew I was pregnant was basically suicide. I convinced him to run, to at least try.”
Spencer’s expression grew hard. “But when I ran-“ He paused, taking a breath. “When I ran, I met a woman who I’d known since I was a child. A lady from the kitchens. She told me that they had decided they were going to wait until Brendon had the baby and then while he was too weak to fight them, they were going to kill our child,” he choked out, voice tight. He shook his head. “I went back. I went back two cycles later, and then just took Brendon and we ran. I didn’t even explain why I had to get him out before we had paid our passage on the ship you took us from.”
Brendon smiled sadly. “It was all our money too,” he said, glancing at Gerard and Frank’s horrified expressions. “Yeah, I come from a fucked up group of people,” he joked, looking back to Spencer.
“They-“ Frank just shook his head, standing up to walk over to the window.
Gerard shook his head. “They were going to murder a newborn baby?”
Brendon shrugged. “I’m a prince. How would it look for an unmarried prince not only to have a child, but the child of a slave?”
“Well,” Ray said, continuing on the stitches. “At least that explains why you were so damn determined to be a human-shield back there when we were aiming guns at Brendon.”
Spencer groaned. “Fuck I nearly died. I honestly nearly died. We’d just got away and I was sure we were going to make it out, and people with guns were aiming them at my pregnant lover. I would’ve done anything to protect him in that moment.”
Brendon smiled. “But we’re okay, so it’s not a problem anymore.” He leaned down and kissed the top of Spencer’s head. “We’ll figure things out, Spence. I promise.”
Gerard raised an eyebrow at the blind naivety in the boy’s words. “Kid, you’ve never been off of Terros. What the hell did you think you were going to do out here in deep space?”
Brendon turned to him with a harder look in his eyes than Gerard expected. “Whatever we can. Look, I’m not stupid, we have no money, no contacts, and no idea where the hell to go. But if we had stayed, I would’ve lost the love of my life and had my child murdered before I got to hold it,” he said sharply. “You tell me what else I could’ve done?”
Gerard smiled in amusement. “Good point.” He looked at them both. “God, how old are you? You look so young.”
Brendon sighed. “I’m nineteen, Spencer’s eighteen.” He bit his lip with a bashful smile. “Like I said, clearly, we didn’t plan on this,” he said, laying his hand on his middle. It struck Gerard as really strange to think that the skinny little teenager in front of him had a baby in him beneath that hand.
“But it isn’t a bad thing,” Spencer said defensively, glaring around at them as though they were going to argue with him. “This baby is the best thing that could ever happen to us.” The determination in his voice alone was enough to startle Frank back a step.
“No, dude, I mean… hey we’re not judging you,” Frank said, shrugging. “Your life, man. Hell, on Terros maybe that isn’t even young-“
“Oh it is,” Brendon said with a dry chuckle. “Royalty gets married young, that’s why I started getting offers at sixteen, but normal society? Pretty much like most societies. Procreation is normally mid-twenties to early thirties when our species are most fertile. Just like normal humans. It’s not as common someone as young as me even conceives, unlike normal humans. We’re not just ‘a little more ready for pregnancy’ like humans are, we’re actually not usually able to reproduce before at least mid-twenties. Usually around ten years past puberty.” He smiled. “I guess it’s just the same as my voice, I matured a lot faster than most of the other boys.”
Spencer snorted. “I look like puberty never hit me and I still got you pregnant,” he pointed out.
Brendon smiled. “You forget, Spence. Even though you’ve lived most of your life on Terros, you’re not Lanoan. You’re biologically different. It’s amazing we were even able to reproduce.”
Frank looked up. “What, you’re Human-human?” he asked, and Spencer nodded. “Where the hell did you come from to get captured on Delta-3 station then?” he asked.
Spencer looked down at his brand, turning his arm different ways. “The moon,” he said hollowly.
“Which one?” Gerard asked, but Spencer shook his head.
“No, the moon.”
Gerard and Ray shared a look suddenly, eyes widening. “Like… Earth? You’re from Earth?” Gerard asked, really surprised.
Spencer shook his head. “My parents were. They were refugees that went to the moon during The War. Me and my sisters were born on the moon. When The War started to threaten the moon too, and overpopulation was sapping all of the water from the ice, we left. Our transport docked at Delta-3 station and I got separated when a food riot started. One minute I was last in the line, all of us holding hands to keep from getting separated, and then I stumbled and fell… when I woke up, I was in a cage with a bunch of strangers.” He shrugged. “I guess I’ve blocked out the rest of it. I don’t remember much but flashes until sometime later. I have no idea how long it was, no idea how many cycles it had been, but I was being led by a group of women into a room and they cleaned me and then I was presented to Brendon.” His voice trailed off and he shrugged. “So yeah, I’m full-blooded Earthling but I was never there.”
“Alright guys,” Ray interrupted. “Spencer needs to rest. The medicine I gave him to numb the pain will wear off soon and he’s not going to want anybody bugging him,” he advised, packing up the medical kit.
Gerard nodded. “We’ll come back later to talk more, but for now you’re safe, I promise.” He looked at Brendon and gave him a small smile. “Promise, we’re not gonna hurt you.” Gerard looked over at Frank, who nodded, walking out in front of Gerard. When Gerard turned to press the airlock close button, he paused, fighting a sad smile as he saw Brendon standing vigilantly beside Spencer, holding his hand tightly and stroking his hair as he spoke to him softly.
They were far too young for the crap they had been through. Gerard wished he could save them from the crap they were going to get dragged into after ending up on his ship.
With a sigh, Gerard hit the button, allowing the sliding door to cut them off from his sight.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Gerard sighed, shrugging off his jacket as he climbed into the seat beside Bob. “Well shit.”
Bob yawned. “Toro said we picked up some hitch hikers,” he said and Gerard propped his feet up on the control panel, sighing.
“A couple of kids.” He smirked at Bob. “The runaway youngest prince of the Lanoan people from Terros and his personal servant-slash-lover.” He turned to Bob with a grin when he saw the disbelieving look on Bob’s face. “Who is also the father of his unborn child.”
“Bullshit,” Bob barked, turning to tap in a few corrections on the screen. “There is no pregnant man on this ship, I’m not gullible like Ray.” He turned a few switches, then stood up, stretching. “Alright, she’s all yours.”
Gerard nodded, kicking back. “Alright, but he is pregnant!” he called over his shoulder, chuckling as settled down for the watch while Bob got some sleep. The ship would fly herself while Bob rested through the sleep-cycle, but somebody needed to be awake in case something went wrong. They also needed somebody there for any news coming in through the comm-screen.
Gerard closed his eyes and started humming, contemplating everything that had gone down recently. “Fuck, MikeyWay, wherever you are, you better fuckin’ be safe. Or fuck it, I’ll kill you if you’re dead,” he whispered to himself, chuckling almost painfully at his sad attempt at humor.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Gerard had nearly forgot about Brendon and Spencer until they docked and Brendon came, supporting a still-limping Spencer, to see what was going on up on the bridge. “Where are we?” Brendon asked, looking a little pale.
Gerard smiled. “Oh hey!” he said. “Didn’t see you guys for the entire cycle,” he said, looking at Spencer. “How’s the leg?”
Spencer cringed. “It’s not too bad. I can probably walk without help, but well-“ He nodded at Brendon and made an exasperated face.
“Well excuse me for not wanting you to fall and break your face!” Brendon argued, rolling his eyes. “It’s a pretty face, can you blame me for liking it how it is?”
Gerard smirked, biting his lip as he looked at Spencer. “Well it is a pretty face, I gotta agree.” He glanced past them just as Frank came in. “Hey Frankie, Bob says we’re good. Make sure Ray’s up and ready. We’re all going off to Greg’s first, then probably The Speakeasy if we can’t get any information at Greg’s.”
Frank saluted. “Can do, Gee,” he said, wiggling his fingers at Spencer as he passed. “Don’t fall, kid, you might hurt your adorable little nose- AHH!” Frank yelped and hopped the last few steps when Spencer made a grab for him, snatching on his belt before letting it snap against his skin.
Spencer just grinned as he turned back to Gerard and nodded in Frank’s direction. “I like him, even if he did shoot me.”
Gerard chuckled, shaking his head. “Alright, well grab some jackets from the closet. Those jumpsuits should be okay for now, but K36F is just an artificial station, not a planet. The atmosphere is bubbled but it’s always cold. There just isn’t enough fuel to make it any warmer than is necessary to keep away the ice.”
Brendon grumbled. “Serious flaw with this whole ‘run away’ plan. I’m from a sunny, hot, humid planet and apparently the rest of the universe is cold and dark.” He snuggled closer to Spencer, still half-supporting him. “You better keep me warm.”
Spencer smiled at the big pout Brendon was giving him. “You weren’t complaining when I gave you all of the covers. My injured ass nearly froze and you were toasty and warm in all of the blankets-“
“I need heat for two!” Brendon argued and Spencer scoffed.
“Lanoans are a species of human, humans are all self-regulating warm-blooded mammals. You are always warm, therefore what is in you is never cold,” he argued and Brendon just smirked.
“Well maybe I’d have shared the warmth if you had been in me-“
“WHOA!” Gerard cried, covering his ears. “Okay, okay, okay I’m scarred for life now, let’s just… go,” he suggested, flapping a hand at the door. “Please!”
Brendon rolled his eyes. “Hey, I got a baby in me somehow,” he said pointedly.
Spencer just smiled apologetically at Gerard. “Sorry, he’s just really happy to be able to talk out loud about the baby around other people now that we’re not on Terros anymore.” Gerard watched them leave the bridge and shook his head, very much amused at their new little stowaways.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Spencer and Brendon kept their heads down, just in case, as they disembarked from the ship, heading from the dock, which was enclosed, not glass like they had expected, out through a large doorway onto a busy, bustling street. Brendon gasped as he looked up and saw the entire station was surrounded by a dome. “Wow.”
Spencer smiled. “This is what the station where I got captured from looked like,” he noted and Brendon frowned, curling his fingers around Spencer’s forearm tenderly, leading him after Gerard.
Frank turned back from Gerard’s side to glance back past them at Bob and Ray. “You bastards better fuckin’ come with us this time. No leaving us to go supply shopping, there’s a perfectly good few shots with your names on them!”
Bob shot him a flat look. “And what’ll you do if we don’t? Try and shoot us in the foot and end up killing us?”
Spencer rolled his eyes. “Yeah it’s funny unless you are the one he shot,” he said, putting a hand on his leg as he hobbled along, leaning a bit more weight onto Brendon.
When they got to a pub with a sign reading ‘Greg’s pub’, they turned and headed inside. Brendon and Spencer both looked somewhat terrified of all the rough looking people roaming around. They both stuck to Gerard quite closely. He was beginning to wonder why the hell they picked the one of the crew that looked most like a girl to be their cover.
When they approached the bar, Gerard spotted the bartender and raised a hand. “Patrick Stump!”
The tiny little barkeep looked up and smiled brightly. “Gerard Way! What are you doing in? I haven’t seen you in ages!”
Gerard nodded for Brendon and Spencer to go sit at the table Bob, Ray, and Frank has picked, then turned back. “Is Pete back? I couldn’t get him on comms anywhere, dude,” he asked, and Patrick smiled.
“Oh yeah, they came in a cycle or so ago. Not long at all. I think he came home and slept and showered then headed straight to The Speakeasy. You know how he is,” he said, then glanced over Gerard’s shoulder. “Hey, where’s Mikey, you two only seem separated when he’s holed up with Pete somewhere.”
Gerard’s heart leapt and he fought to keep his eye dry. “Yeah, that’s why I’m looking for Pete,” he said weakly.
Patrick’s face paled and his eyes widened. “Gerard, where’s Mikey?”
Gerard groaned. “No fucking idea, Patrick. He’s- we got separated. We all got separated and he never came back. We can’t- we’ve been looking. We worried he got caught by some Gens but we hacked in and he’s not listed as captured. He’s still got a bounty on him, so we figure bounty hunters got him. We’ve been looking for about thirty-six cycles now.”
Patrick just hissed. “Holy shit, Gerard. Thirty-six cycles?! It’s been that long since you talked to Pete?”
Gerard sighed. “The first few cycles we didn’t panic, I figured maybe they ran off together again, you know how it goes.” Patrick nodded. “Then when we started looking harder and realized it wasn’t that, I tried a lot but never got in touch with Pete. Comms were out wherever the fuck they were.”
Patrick sighed. “Fuck, Pete’s going to lose it. You know they were fighting-“
“The lack of overhearing comm-sex made me figure,” Gerard interrupted, cringing.
Patrick smiled sadly. “That’s Pete alright.” He shook his head. “Alright, you go sit, have something to eat, have a round on me, then I’ll get somebody to get Pete from The Speakeasy.”
Gerard shook his head. “We’re headed there next. I need to see Pete’s cohorts for help.” He pushed off of the sticky bar and headed through the crowd over to the table where everybody else was. He slid into the empty seat beside Frank and glanced around, carefully checking out who all was in. Nobody stood out. A few of them were recognizable from the Confederation’s wanted list, but all in all nobody stood out.
“So what’s up?” Frank asked and Gerard cringed.
“Pete’s here. He landed a few cycles ago. We’re going to The Speakeasy to break it to him and get his friends’ help.” Gerard looked up as he saw a tall man approaching them. He put his hand on his gun, but Bob offered the guy a nod, so Gerard relaxed.
“What’s up, Bryar?!” he asked, setting down a tray. “Yo, Patrick sends these on the house,” he said, passing around the shots.
Bob smiled. “Thanks. Gerard, this is Travis McCoy,” he introduced. “Petty thief who stashed his illegal liquor on my ship once a long time ago. I kicked his ass and then introduced him to Pete and it’s all been downhill from there,” he teased.
“What’s this?” Brendon asked, gesturing to the shot glass.
Gerard reached out and snagged it, shoving it at Frank. “Not for you,” he said and Spencer shrugged when Brendon gave him a questioning look.
“Don’t look at me, Bren,” he said, and Frank snickered.
“Alcohol. Strong shit.” Brendon and Spencer still looked confused and Gerard rolled his eyes.
“Well, maybe Lanoans don’t drink, but keep in mind.” He lowered his voice leaning closer to them. “Do not drink anything anybody gives you, especially here on Clandestine,” he said in a soft voice.
Spencer frowned. “I thought this was a K3-something?”
Gerard nodded. “Yeah, but we all call it Clandestine.” He waved a hand. “Whatever, the point is, I don’t know Lanoan biology, but in humans, alcohol is terrible for a pregnant person’s baby if they drink it. Most everything on this fuckin’ station has alcohol in it, so if one of us doesn’t approve it, don’t drink it.” He frowned. “Actually don’t ingest anything at all. Seriously, just go with stranger-danger but even for friends of ours. Do not drink, smoke, eat, or lick anything at all that somebody offers you.” He looked at Spencer. “You too, just for safety. I’d advise that to anybody who doesn’t know exactly what they’re getting into, but definitely not Brendon,” he said.
Brendon gave him a very serious nod, laying a hand on his middle. “Thanks, I really don’t want to mess up and hurt my baby,” he said with wide, grateful eyes. “Thank you, Gerard.”
“Damn, who’s the new hot kid?” Travis asked, drawing Gerard’s attention back to the rest of the table. He winked at Spencer, who gave him a shocked look, then closed off his expression. “Come on, you gotta name, sexy-“
“None of your business,” Brendon said in a slightly dark voice, sliding closer to Spencer possessively.
Frank giggled, tugging on Travis’s arm. “Dude, dude, it’s like an angry puppy!” he told him, and Travis grinned.
“Oooh so it’s like that, huh?” He winked at Brendon. “Ease up, kid, I’m not gonna move in on your territory!” he defended.
Gerard just smiled. “I don’t think Brendon’s ever had somebody try and hit on Spencer before,” he explained and Brendon blushed some. “Hey, no we get it, he’s always been yours, you’re allowed to get defensive,” he said smiling at how cute Brendon and Spencer were. He chuckled. “You should see my brother and his dysfunctional whatever-the-fuck-they-are, Pete. We’ll meet Pete soon.”
Brendon frowned. “Is…Is your brother the one-“
Gerard nodded solemnly. “His ‘whatever’ doesn’t know he’s missing.” He exchanged a dark look with Brendon. “He has been out of comm link. It’s not uncommon. They don’t seem to mess around with others but they’ll go ages without speaking after fights, then disappear together for a dozen cycles ‘making up’.” He shuddered.
Spencer glanced at Brendon. “We’ve never really fought, have we?” he asked, and Brendon smiled.
“Not really.” He shrugged, leaning his head on Spencer’s shoulder as he faced Gerard. “We’ll bicker some, but mostly we’re best friends, so we’ve always teased each other. We know everything, so we know nothing is meant with hard feelings.”
Spencer curled his arm around him. “We’ve spent the majority if every single cycle in the last eight years together.” He nudged Brendon’s head with his. “I probably know you better than you know yourself.”
Brendon smiled. “Probably.”
Gerard just shook his head, more and more amused by the young couple every time he watched them together.
Part 2
Author: heartsdesire456
Rating: R (language, violence)
POV: 3rd
Pairing: Brendon Urie/Spencer Smith, Pete Wentz/Mikey Way (Various others/implied others)
Summary: Mikey Way has been missing for thirty-four cycles, all of which has been spent looking for him, when Gerard, Frank, and Ray come across a pair of young refugees on a bounty hunter ship they've boarded to search. When Frank nearly kills one of them, they make the decision to take the pair with them to administer first aid to the one Frank shot. Within minutes of having them on board, Gerard and his crew realize they have stumbled across something stranger than they had ever imagined. With Mikey's trail run cold and an extra situation on their hands, and the prospect of ever seeing their shipmate again begins to grow dim, will they manage to find Mikey, or has Gerard lost his brother forever?
Disclaimer: "-Fic.tion: [noun] something feigned, invented, or imagined; a made-up story"
WARNINGS: (somewhat graphic) Violence, MPREG
Author's Note: I'm sorry for the terrible summary you guys. I had no idea how to summarize this story, truth be told. Basically, I started out wanting to write a space!Au a while back and I started this months and months ago. Just in the last two days this story went from ~16K to it's current ~28K, so needless to say, I found inspiration again. Hope you enjoy it in spite of the atrocious summary!
EDIT:I am sincerely sorry to anybody who got this on ALL those comms I just posted it on. It wasn't until I was brushing my teeth that I realized 'oh crap, you just posted this on about eight comms. *facepalm* I really am sorry, guys. ALSO CHECK THE WARNINGS I also forgot to put warnings before posting to comms. I don't generally post anywhere but my journal and people know what to expect there.Seriously, my deepest apologies to everybody who got here from a comm. I fail at life. *facepalm*
Gerard paced outside the door to the airlock, scratching at his forehead with the barrel of his gun. His boots clunked on the metal of the floor heavily as he paced back and forth. “You know,” a voice called, interrupting his racing thoughts. “If you keep pointing your motherfucking gun at your head, one time you’re gonna commit inadvertent suicide.”
Gerard shot a crooked smile at his companion. “I’m pretty sure accidental death isn’t suicide, Frankie.” Frank shrugged, shoving his hands in his jacket pockets. “And I have the safety on still, I’ve had some trouble with the photon generator on this one so I keep it on safe until it’s sure to not go off and either kill one of you guys or blow a hole in my damn ship.”
Frank shrugged his shoulders, rolling them impatiently as he gazed at the airlock. “God, I just wanna get on there and blast some motherfucking bounty hunting sons of bitches.”
Gerard’s jaw clenched. “I know the feeling.” He sighed, looking up at the door. “Remember, when we dock, we can’t just run on alone.” He shoved a hand through his dirty, tangled hair. “We have to wait for Toro. Bob’s got to stay in the cockpit so we can get away fast, but we need him behind us to blast anybody who jumps out.”
Frank grumbled. “I’m telling you, Gee, I’m nearly as good of a shot as him-“
“Bullshit, Iero,” Ray’s voice sounded and they both turned to see their companion coming towards them. “You wish.” Ray tightened the straps of his leather fingerless gloves around his wrists before putting his hands on the holsters of his guns. “Alright, Bob’s nearly done docking.”
Gerard nodded. “Good.” Gerard stood facing the airlock, waiting for the light to go from red to green, signaling that the docking process was over. The thump as they actually made contact was so soft of an impact that Gerard could’ve mistaken it for the pounding of his heart behind his ribcage. His pulse was beginning to boom louder in his ears as the seconds ticked by.
Thirty-four cycles. They had been looking for Mikey for thirty-four cycles after they got separated on a fueling stop gone bad at the docks of Skadus-9. They assumed he had ran into some Gens but in the end, they couldn’t find him in the system at all. They had gone to a few different ports looking for hackers before they found one and were able to determine that he was still on the Confederations ‘Persons of Interest’ list, meaning he hadn’t been caught by a Gen.
Bounty hunters were their next thought after they saw that he was worth ten-thousand credits to the Confederation. It was that line of thinking that brought them to where they were now, docking with a bounty hunter’s ship under the guise of having caught a pirate wanted by the Confederation.
Gerard glanced back at Frank and Ray and nodded, shoving his gun in the holster before crossing his wrists behind him. “You know the drill.” Ray and Frank nodded, holding his elbows, standing close enough together to cover the fact that his wrists weren’t tied or cuffed at all.
As soon as the light went green, Frank slapped his fist against the button to open the airlocks, squeezing Gerard’s elbow as he glanced back at him, nodding once before turning ahead and steeling his features to that of a man who had caught a high-money prisoner.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ray panted, throwing himself flat against the wall beside Frank. “Fuck this was a bad idea. Really, bad-“
BAM!
They both ducked as a blast hit the wall just above their heads. Frank peeked around the corner and fired a shot, only to look sniff and turn to look at Ray, who was frowning. “Dude… it got my hair!” he hissed, holding up a lock of hair that had a good few inches burned off from the laser blast.
Frank snickered. “That’s fuckin’ rad!” He took a breath. “Let’s do this!” he cried, before running around the corner with a dramatic shout. Ray groaned and counted to three before running after him. As always, Frank’s near-suicidal tactic of ‘run straight into the open screaming like a crazy man’ momentarily stunned the men firing just long enough for Frank and Ray to pick them off quickly.
When the last hunter hit the floor with a hollow thud, Frank ducked, only to realize there were no more blasts. “Clear?” he called curiously.
“Clear!” Gerard answered, voice echoing down the hall. “I think we got ‘em all but the crew, they holed up in the kitchen. I don’t think they’ll be a problem though.” Gerard came around the corner, licking his busted lip. “There’s passengers, but I gave them the ‘stay down and shut up and you won’t die’ speech while shooting off hunters so I think they’re pretty much dealt with.”
Ray frowned. “Passengers? On this size hunting vessel?”
Gerard nodded. “A few miners from the Colonies near Aldor. I tied up the pilot, we can’t let a ship full of people drift,” he said bitterly. “Fuckin’ people getting in my way.”
Frank sighed. “Alright, no signs of Mikey?” he asked and Gerard shook his head, eyes dark.
“Not a damn sign of any captives. The hold’s empty. I didn’t get into the cargo bay yet, but the passengers don’t remember any sign of a prisoner.” He ran an hand through his hair, shoving it back out of his face. He gestured to the corridors with his gun. “I’m not leaving this ship until we’ve checked it all.”
Ray holstered his guns. “Alright, let’s get going. I’ll guard the kitchen door so the crew doesn’t get out and suddenly take up shooting at us.” He headed down the corridor, boots clunking on the steel grates as he left.
Frank touched Gerard’s wrist. “Hey, we’ll find him if he’s here,” he said in a low voice, frowning when Gerard wouldn’t meet his eyes.
“Yeah, I know I just-“ Gerard shook his head, tugging on his sleeves. “Fuck it, let’s just… let’s go.” He walked away from Frank, whose shoulders heaved as he sighed. He didn’t holster his gun, but he flipped the safety on, following Gerard down the corridor.
They searched the cargo hold first, but found nothing to signify Mikey had been there. They searched the crew and hunters quarters and found nothing much besides a few guns worth stealing and a combined measly total of two hundred and fifty-seven credits between the hunters’ things.
They had just given up and were on their way back to meet up with Ray when, about four doors way from Ray, they heard a muffled thump behind the door next to them. Frank and Gerard both halted, shooting each other looks. Gerard nodded to Ray, who took up his gun and walked down to them. Gerard signaled to be quiet before he flicked the safety off his gun and yanked open the door.
Frank and Ray were just behind him and they both saw what was happening before it happened. Seconds after the door swung open to reveal a dark storage room, a figure flew out, rushing Gerard, the person tackled him, nearly taking them both down. Frank shouted for Gerard to get out of the way and shot, cursing when the man fell to the ground. He let out a pained cry and Gerard stood up, glowering as he straightened his clothes before kicking the man in the same leg Frank had shot him.
“Almost as good as Ray my ass,” Gerard cursed, raising his gun, only to hesitate. The man who had attacked him was lying on the floor, clutching his leg. Frank’s shot had only grazed the outside of his thigh. He was wearing a hunter’s jacket, but Gerard’s hesitance was mostly related to the fact that the man wasn’t as much a man as a boy.
“Gerard?” Ray asked, and Gerard cursed.
“It’s a fuckin’ kid, Ray!” he spat, looking at him. “He doesn’t have a gun and he’s a fuckin’ kid!”
Frank cursed and grabbed the boy by the jacket, hauling him up, in spite of his cries of pain. “What the fuck are you doing here kid-“ They were interrupted by a sudden clatter from within the closet.
“OOF!” They all turned to the doorway, guns drawn again in time to see another person sprawled on the floor next to the shelf he had been hiding behind.
Gerard raised his gun, but was startled when the injured kid screamed at him. “NO!” Frank was startled enough that the boy was able to wrench himself free and fling himself bodily back into the doorway of the closet, falling in a heap in front of the other person. “No, no, whatever you are, don’t!” he cried, blue eyes full of panic.
“Spenc-“
The boy slapped his hand over the other man’s mouth- also a boy it appeared- and kneeled in front of him. “No, please don’t,” the blue eyed boy pleaded, giving Gerard and Frank panicked looks.
Gerard shot Frank a confused look. “They’re fuckin’ hunters, Gerard!” Frank hissed. “We can’t let them live, they aren’t children, they chose this fuckin’ job.” He raised his own gun, but the blue eyed boy stared at him, face full of determination.
“No, damn it!” he cried angrily, though he was clearly flagging from the blood loss. The smaller one behind him was clinging to his shirt from behind him, crying in nothing less than full on terror. “Listen-“ The blue-eyed boy was rapidly growing pale, either from fear or blood loss. “Look, just- take me. Whatever you want, take me, don’t hurt him. I’ll fucking go with you, I won’t run, but please-“ He shook his head, eyes full of desperation. “Don’t hurt him. I won’t run again, I’ll fucking sharpen the damn blades myself, just don’t do this. Let him go. Please.”
Frank shot Gerard a confused look and Gerard shrugged. “Ray?” he asked, but Ray shrugged as well.
Gerard sighed. “Wait, what the fuck are you talking about?” he asked, rubbing his temple. He was really getting sick of hunters. “This type of bullshit doesn’t change what you are-“
“I know what I am, and I regret nothing,” he spat viciously. “But I’m telling you, I’ll go back, but I’ll pay you to let him go.”
“Spencer, your leg-“ The brown eyed boy’s tearful voice was full of fear.
“I know,” Spencer said softly, turning to glanced behind him. “I- I know-“
“Spencer, you’re bleeding to death!” he hissed.
“Yeah well it’s this or the other, Brendon, I’m just trying to fucking save you!” he hissed.
Frank just shot Gerard an even more confused look. “Gee?” he asked, scratching at his head with a frown.
Gerard shook his head. “Wait, wait, wait!” He pointed at the kid’s leg. “First off, you’re not bleeding to death you moron, it’s just a flesh wound.” He frowned at the boy. “And what do you mean go back? Go back where?”
Spencer, as it appeared the blue-eyed kid’s name was, gave him a confused look. “Back to Terros, where else?”
Frank frowned. “Terros? What the fuck dude? Terros is nowhere near us, why would we take you there?” He blinked. “I’ve never even been near that system even. That’s about as far as you can go towards the Void and still find places where you can refuel.”
Ray frowned. “We’re only actually about four parsecs from there, now, Frank.” He did some counting on his fingers, then shot the two on the floor a look. “How did you get here? Terros doesn’t have open transport docks. They don’t even trade with the outside world. Their docks are military and dignitary only.”
Spencer shifted, whining at the pain. “You- you’re not- you’re not here to kill us?”
“My father didn’t send you after us?” Brendon asked from behind Spencer, leaning around him.
Gerard shook his head. “Why is your father trying to kill you?” he asked suspiciously, taking a step forward.
Spencer panted softly as he moved to get in front of Brendon again. “Get back,” he spat angrily, though his anger was clearly fueled by his pain. “Don’t touch him.”
“Kid, I’m not going to hurt anybody,” Gerard said. “Let me look at this-“ He reached towards the boy’s leg, but Spencer snarled, punching him in the face with surprising strength for someone barely able to stay sitting up.
When Gerard stumbled back, Frank started forward, but Gerard held up a hand, stopping him. Spencer let out painful whines as he stripped off the hunter jacket he was wearing and- with his companion’s help- wrapped it around his leg. “Whoa!” Frank cried, eyes widening in horror as he spotted the brand on Spencer’s forearm.
Gerard glanced at Frank after his cry, and followed his line of sight to the brand on the kid’s arm. “What the fuck?” he asked, frowning. “Who the hell brands themselves anymore? Tattoos are totally cooler-“
Frank stepped closer. “Where were you captured?” he asked gently, kneeling down in front of him.
Gerard frowned. “Frankie?” he asked, seeing the dark look in his eyes. “Frankie, what do you mean?”
Frank sighed. “I saw marks like that, Gee.” He flinched. “At… back home,” he all but whispered.
Spencer looked at his arm and held it up to the light. “Oh, I always forget it’s there,” he said, then looked up. “Delta-3.” He shrugged. “I was ten, so I barely remember getting branded-“
“TEN?!” Frank cried, eyes filled with an unmistakable horror. “They take children?”
“Frank,” Gerard said cautiously. “What’s going on?” He knew Frank grew up in a rough place and that it wasn’t something he liked to talk about. He was sometimes scared of what he’d find out if he did explain.
Frank looked at Gerard with wide eyes. “Gee, that’s a brand from a slave trader.” Gerard’s breath caught. “They- they capture men and brand them before they sell them off.” He looked at Spencer. “Ten?”
Spencer shrugged. “Like I said, I barely remember it.”
“Spencer, really, you’re not okay,” Brendon whispered darkly, laying his hand on Spencer’s hip above his burned leg. “Spencer, it should’ve cauterized the wound, you shouldn’t be bleeding like this-“ He stopped and looked up. “Please,” he whispered to Gerard, eyes wide. “Please, help him.”
Gerard glanced back at Ray, who shrugged. “May as well. They aren’t hunters and the crew here may not help them after all the trouble we’ve caused.”
Gerard put his hands on his knees and stood tall. “Mikey isn’t here. Frank, you and Ray get him,” he said, gesturing to the injured boy. “You, kid,” he barked at Brendon. “Come with me.”
Spencer gave him a dark look. “If you hurt him-“
“Seriously, I don’t know what your problem is, but I’m not going to hurt your friend.” He took the kid by the arm and hauled him up before handing him off to Frank and Ray. He nodded at the other boy, who stood up slowly, staring at him like he was going to turn and shoot one of them at any moment.
He exchanged looks with Frank, who had a dark look as he helped the injured kid down the corridor, opposite of Ray. They walked towards the airlock in silence, save for the pained noises of the injured member of their party.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After getting Spencer to the sick bay and using the comm-link to tell Bob it was safe to disengage their ship and take off, leaving the hunters ship to make its own way with its passengers, Gerard stepped aside while Ray took care of Spencer’s leg. He had hit a vein apparently, which was bleeding pretty good.
“It’s not too bad,” Ray reassured. “Let me clean it up and laser-stitch it.” As he turned away to get out the materials he would need, he waved a hand. “Frank, help him get his pants off, then go look and see if we have some spare jumpsuits.” He looked over at Brendon, who was shivering. “These two are not dressed for deep space travel like this.”
Gerard took in their appearances, noting that they were wearing thin tee-shirts, not layers, and simple, light material pants. Their jackets they had taken from the hunters that led to the whole misidentification problem were their only warm layers. “What the hell are you two doing dressed so lightly anyways?” he asked, looking at them.
“We stowed away on a Confederation ship. If we had dressed warm or taken anything with us, we would’ve been suspicious looking when we left the Palace.” Spencer glanced around and gasped softly as his eyes settled on Brendon.
Gerard looked over as well, noticing Brendon was standing at the window. The sick bay was at the outside of the ship, just below the observation deck, so there was a large window, like most of the rooms this side of the ship. He raised an eyebrow at the awestruck expression on the brown haired boy’s face as he stared out at the stars in the distance. “What is it?” Gerard asked softly.
Spencer smiled gently, not looking away from Brendon. “He’s never seen this,” Spencer said softly.
Gerard raised an eyebrow. “Never seen what?”
“Darkness,” Brendon said, voice reverent as his eyes explored the black around them, only the pinpricks of distant stars and systems to perforate the heavy veil of darkness around them. Brendon raised a hand and touched the glass, gasping softly when he felt how cold it was.
Gerard watched curiously, so intently staring that Ray slamming the medical kit on the table startled him. Ray looked up. “What do you mean you never saw darkness?”
Brendon turned back, drawn from his reverie. “Oh, on my planet, we don’t have night. There’s two suns,” he explained. “Twice a cycle there’s a twilight, but as soon as Zenis starts setting, Anthar starts rising, and vice versa.”
Ray looked at him curiously. “I thought Terros was a closed society. They don’t interact with the outside world. Why did you want to leave?”
“Why does your father want you captured?” Gerard asked, remembering what they had said on the hunter’s ship.
Brendon walked over to Spencer, giving him a somewhat frightened look as he took Spencer’s hand in both of his, glancing at the injury on his thigh. “Should I?” he asked softly and Spencer shrugged, flinching as Ray swabbed the wound with disinfectant.
“They don’t seem to be after us. They won’t know,” he said simply.
Brendon sighed. “I’m Prince Brendon Urie,” he said, startling Gerard somewhat with his announcement.
“You’re a Prince? So… your father is-“
Brendon nodded. “King of Terros. I’m the youngest of all the Royal children.”
The door opened and Frank came back in, holding up jumpsuits. “Here you go, this will be a lot warmer,” he told Brendon, tossing one to him. “When you’re done, you can put this on,” he offered to Spencer, who took the bundle, laying it beside him. “So, who the fuck are you guys?”
Gerard chuckled. “Apparently, this is Prince Brendon Urie, youngest child of the King of Terros,” he offered.
Frank looked at Spencer suspiciously. “You’re a slave. You’ve been a slave. Why the hell are you on the run with royalty? Why did you throw yourself in front of a fuckin’ gun for your owner?”
Spencer gave him a dark look. “He doesn’t own me, his father does, and he doesn’t have to be my master for me to die for him,” he said in a cold, angry tone. “You shot me remember?”
“You’re lucky it wasn’t me,” Ray mentioned, giving him a smile. “I’d have killed you,” he said simply.
Frank huffed. “Hey, it’s totally good I missed!” He patted Spencer’s shoulder. “Sorry, kid. It wasn’t personal, I thought you were a hunter. And you attacked Gerard,” he pointed out.
Spencer rolled his eyes. “And I thought you were coming to take us back to Terros.” He hissed in pain as Ray stuck a syringe into his leg.
“Take it easy, it’s to numb it before I start stitching. Trust me, one is better than all these laser-stitches will be,” Ray soothed and Spencer fell back onto his elbows with a pained groan.
“Shhh, it’s okay, Spence,” Brendon said, stroking his fingers through his hair. He looked back at Frank and Gerard. “Spencer was bought to be my companion as a little boy. I was eleven and had nobody to play with and my father decided to buy another little boy for me to play with. When we got older, he was my valet. Basically, my personal servant.” Gerard raised an eyebrow as Brendon looked down at Spencer with a soft look. Some dots were being connected. Brendon stroked Spencer’s hair tenderly, still smiling as he glanced up. “He was my best friend so soon after we met. I was horrified to realize my father could buy another child, and Spencer was afraid after being caught and sold, so I was nice to him. I wanted him to not be scared.” He bit his lip, sharing a tender look with Spencer, who smiled up at him. “I was fifteen and Spencer fourteen when I started to realize that-“ He smiled at Gerard. “I didn’t see him as just my best friend anymore.”
Frank let out a soft ‘oh’ of realization and Gerard nodded. “Let me guess… your father didn’t exactly like that.”
Spencer snorted. “We weren’t stupid,” he spat. “God, even when we finally got our heads out of our asses and admitted we were in love, we had to hide it.” He looked up at Brendon. “It was hard. Brendon started getting offers of marriage when he was sixteen. I was horrified he was going to get married and taken away from me.”
Brendon bit his lip. “I kept convincing my father and the council that it wasn’t time yet, I kept telling them none of the people they chose for me were right. It worked until a few months ago,” he said weakly.
Gerard gave him a sympathetic look. “They found somebody for you to marry for real this time?”
Spencer and Brendon exchanged a look and Spencer smiled up at him lovingly. “Not exactly,” he said, then turned to Gerard and Frank. “Brendon’s pregnant.”
Frank and Ray both snapped their heads up and Gerard just stared. “Wait… what?” Frank asked in a squeaky voice, eyes big as saucers.
Spencer laughed softly. “Brendon’s not human, he’s Lanoan. Lanoans are the species of human that live on Terros.”
Brendon nodded. “Lanoan males and females can bear children. Only men can impregnate someone else, but we can both have children. It isn’t as common because same-gender pairings aren’t as common as men and women marrying, but it happens plenty.” He cringed. “It’s also why royal children aren’t supposed to be with anybody outside of wedlock.” He slid his hand into Spencer’s. “When I found out, I told Spencer and we agreed to keep it quiet. I could hide it for at least half of the pregnancy and we could work out a way to get away.”
Spencer smiled sadly. “But someone found out. They found out Brendon was pregnant, and they knew the only man he’s been around in private with is me. Nobody else but maids- all women- were ever allowed in his apartment.” He sighed weakly. “I was to be captured and sentenced to death.”
Brendon nodded, biting his lip. “A maid though, she overheard the council and ran to tell us. We were both asleep and she rushed in and told us. At first, Spencer was just going to let them get him, since running after they knew I was pregnant was basically suicide. I convinced him to run, to at least try.”
Spencer’s expression grew hard. “But when I ran-“ He paused, taking a breath. “When I ran, I met a woman who I’d known since I was a child. A lady from the kitchens. She told me that they had decided they were going to wait until Brendon had the baby and then while he was too weak to fight them, they were going to kill our child,” he choked out, voice tight. He shook his head. “I went back. I went back two cycles later, and then just took Brendon and we ran. I didn’t even explain why I had to get him out before we had paid our passage on the ship you took us from.”
Brendon smiled sadly. “It was all our money too,” he said, glancing at Gerard and Frank’s horrified expressions. “Yeah, I come from a fucked up group of people,” he joked, looking back to Spencer.
“They-“ Frank just shook his head, standing up to walk over to the window.
Gerard shook his head. “They were going to murder a newborn baby?”
Brendon shrugged. “I’m a prince. How would it look for an unmarried prince not only to have a child, but the child of a slave?”
“Well,” Ray said, continuing on the stitches. “At least that explains why you were so damn determined to be a human-shield back there when we were aiming guns at Brendon.”
Spencer groaned. “Fuck I nearly died. I honestly nearly died. We’d just got away and I was sure we were going to make it out, and people with guns were aiming them at my pregnant lover. I would’ve done anything to protect him in that moment.”
Brendon smiled. “But we’re okay, so it’s not a problem anymore.” He leaned down and kissed the top of Spencer’s head. “We’ll figure things out, Spence. I promise.”
Gerard raised an eyebrow at the blind naivety in the boy’s words. “Kid, you’ve never been off of Terros. What the hell did you think you were going to do out here in deep space?”
Brendon turned to him with a harder look in his eyes than Gerard expected. “Whatever we can. Look, I’m not stupid, we have no money, no contacts, and no idea where the hell to go. But if we had stayed, I would’ve lost the love of my life and had my child murdered before I got to hold it,” he said sharply. “You tell me what else I could’ve done?”
Gerard smiled in amusement. “Good point.” He looked at them both. “God, how old are you? You look so young.”
Brendon sighed. “I’m nineteen, Spencer’s eighteen.” He bit his lip with a bashful smile. “Like I said, clearly, we didn’t plan on this,” he said, laying his hand on his middle. It struck Gerard as really strange to think that the skinny little teenager in front of him had a baby in him beneath that hand.
“But it isn’t a bad thing,” Spencer said defensively, glaring around at them as though they were going to argue with him. “This baby is the best thing that could ever happen to us.” The determination in his voice alone was enough to startle Frank back a step.
“No, dude, I mean… hey we’re not judging you,” Frank said, shrugging. “Your life, man. Hell, on Terros maybe that isn’t even young-“
“Oh it is,” Brendon said with a dry chuckle. “Royalty gets married young, that’s why I started getting offers at sixteen, but normal society? Pretty much like most societies. Procreation is normally mid-twenties to early thirties when our species are most fertile. Just like normal humans. It’s not as common someone as young as me even conceives, unlike normal humans. We’re not just ‘a little more ready for pregnancy’ like humans are, we’re actually not usually able to reproduce before at least mid-twenties. Usually around ten years past puberty.” He smiled. “I guess it’s just the same as my voice, I matured a lot faster than most of the other boys.”
Spencer snorted. “I look like puberty never hit me and I still got you pregnant,” he pointed out.
Brendon smiled. “You forget, Spence. Even though you’ve lived most of your life on Terros, you’re not Lanoan. You’re biologically different. It’s amazing we were even able to reproduce.”
Frank looked up. “What, you’re Human-human?” he asked, and Spencer nodded. “Where the hell did you come from to get captured on Delta-3 station then?” he asked.
Spencer looked down at his brand, turning his arm different ways. “The moon,” he said hollowly.
“Which one?” Gerard asked, but Spencer shook his head.
“No, the moon.”
Gerard and Ray shared a look suddenly, eyes widening. “Like… Earth? You’re from Earth?” Gerard asked, really surprised.
Spencer shook his head. “My parents were. They were refugees that went to the moon during The War. Me and my sisters were born on the moon. When The War started to threaten the moon too, and overpopulation was sapping all of the water from the ice, we left. Our transport docked at Delta-3 station and I got separated when a food riot started. One minute I was last in the line, all of us holding hands to keep from getting separated, and then I stumbled and fell… when I woke up, I was in a cage with a bunch of strangers.” He shrugged. “I guess I’ve blocked out the rest of it. I don’t remember much but flashes until sometime later. I have no idea how long it was, no idea how many cycles it had been, but I was being led by a group of women into a room and they cleaned me and then I was presented to Brendon.” His voice trailed off and he shrugged. “So yeah, I’m full-blooded Earthling but I was never there.”
“Alright guys,” Ray interrupted. “Spencer needs to rest. The medicine I gave him to numb the pain will wear off soon and he’s not going to want anybody bugging him,” he advised, packing up the medical kit.
Gerard nodded. “We’ll come back later to talk more, but for now you’re safe, I promise.” He looked at Brendon and gave him a small smile. “Promise, we’re not gonna hurt you.” Gerard looked over at Frank, who nodded, walking out in front of Gerard. When Gerard turned to press the airlock close button, he paused, fighting a sad smile as he saw Brendon standing vigilantly beside Spencer, holding his hand tightly and stroking his hair as he spoke to him softly.
They were far too young for the crap they had been through. Gerard wished he could save them from the crap they were going to get dragged into after ending up on his ship.
With a sigh, Gerard hit the button, allowing the sliding door to cut them off from his sight.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Gerard sighed, shrugging off his jacket as he climbed into the seat beside Bob. “Well shit.”
Bob yawned. “Toro said we picked up some hitch hikers,” he said and Gerard propped his feet up on the control panel, sighing.
“A couple of kids.” He smirked at Bob. “The runaway youngest prince of the Lanoan people from Terros and his personal servant-slash-lover.” He turned to Bob with a grin when he saw the disbelieving look on Bob’s face. “Who is also the father of his unborn child.”
“Bullshit,” Bob barked, turning to tap in a few corrections on the screen. “There is no pregnant man on this ship, I’m not gullible like Ray.” He turned a few switches, then stood up, stretching. “Alright, she’s all yours.”
Gerard nodded, kicking back. “Alright, but he is pregnant!” he called over his shoulder, chuckling as settled down for the watch while Bob got some sleep. The ship would fly herself while Bob rested through the sleep-cycle, but somebody needed to be awake in case something went wrong. They also needed somebody there for any news coming in through the comm-screen.
Gerard closed his eyes and started humming, contemplating everything that had gone down recently. “Fuck, MikeyWay, wherever you are, you better fuckin’ be safe. Or fuck it, I’ll kill you if you’re dead,” he whispered to himself, chuckling almost painfully at his sad attempt at humor.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Gerard had nearly forgot about Brendon and Spencer until they docked and Brendon came, supporting a still-limping Spencer, to see what was going on up on the bridge. “Where are we?” Brendon asked, looking a little pale.
Gerard smiled. “Oh hey!” he said. “Didn’t see you guys for the entire cycle,” he said, looking at Spencer. “How’s the leg?”
Spencer cringed. “It’s not too bad. I can probably walk without help, but well-“ He nodded at Brendon and made an exasperated face.
“Well excuse me for not wanting you to fall and break your face!” Brendon argued, rolling his eyes. “It’s a pretty face, can you blame me for liking it how it is?”
Gerard smirked, biting his lip as he looked at Spencer. “Well it is a pretty face, I gotta agree.” He glanced past them just as Frank came in. “Hey Frankie, Bob says we’re good. Make sure Ray’s up and ready. We’re all going off to Greg’s first, then probably The Speakeasy if we can’t get any information at Greg’s.”
Frank saluted. “Can do, Gee,” he said, wiggling his fingers at Spencer as he passed. “Don’t fall, kid, you might hurt your adorable little nose- AHH!” Frank yelped and hopped the last few steps when Spencer made a grab for him, snatching on his belt before letting it snap against his skin.
Spencer just grinned as he turned back to Gerard and nodded in Frank’s direction. “I like him, even if he did shoot me.”
Gerard chuckled, shaking his head. “Alright, well grab some jackets from the closet. Those jumpsuits should be okay for now, but K36F is just an artificial station, not a planet. The atmosphere is bubbled but it’s always cold. There just isn’t enough fuel to make it any warmer than is necessary to keep away the ice.”
Brendon grumbled. “Serious flaw with this whole ‘run away’ plan. I’m from a sunny, hot, humid planet and apparently the rest of the universe is cold and dark.” He snuggled closer to Spencer, still half-supporting him. “You better keep me warm.”
Spencer smiled at the big pout Brendon was giving him. “You weren’t complaining when I gave you all of the covers. My injured ass nearly froze and you were toasty and warm in all of the blankets-“
“I need heat for two!” Brendon argued and Spencer scoffed.
“Lanoans are a species of human, humans are all self-regulating warm-blooded mammals. You are always warm, therefore what is in you is never cold,” he argued and Brendon just smirked.
“Well maybe I’d have shared the warmth if you had been in me-“
“WHOA!” Gerard cried, covering his ears. “Okay, okay, okay I’m scarred for life now, let’s just… go,” he suggested, flapping a hand at the door. “Please!”
Brendon rolled his eyes. “Hey, I got a baby in me somehow,” he said pointedly.
Spencer just smiled apologetically at Gerard. “Sorry, he’s just really happy to be able to talk out loud about the baby around other people now that we’re not on Terros anymore.” Gerard watched them leave the bridge and shook his head, very much amused at their new little stowaways.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Spencer and Brendon kept their heads down, just in case, as they disembarked from the ship, heading from the dock, which was enclosed, not glass like they had expected, out through a large doorway onto a busy, bustling street. Brendon gasped as he looked up and saw the entire station was surrounded by a dome. “Wow.”
Spencer smiled. “This is what the station where I got captured from looked like,” he noted and Brendon frowned, curling his fingers around Spencer’s forearm tenderly, leading him after Gerard.
Frank turned back from Gerard’s side to glance back past them at Bob and Ray. “You bastards better fuckin’ come with us this time. No leaving us to go supply shopping, there’s a perfectly good few shots with your names on them!”
Bob shot him a flat look. “And what’ll you do if we don’t? Try and shoot us in the foot and end up killing us?”
Spencer rolled his eyes. “Yeah it’s funny unless you are the one he shot,” he said, putting a hand on his leg as he hobbled along, leaning a bit more weight onto Brendon.
When they got to a pub with a sign reading ‘Greg’s pub’, they turned and headed inside. Brendon and Spencer both looked somewhat terrified of all the rough looking people roaming around. They both stuck to Gerard quite closely. He was beginning to wonder why the hell they picked the one of the crew that looked most like a girl to be their cover.
When they approached the bar, Gerard spotted the bartender and raised a hand. “Patrick Stump!”
The tiny little barkeep looked up and smiled brightly. “Gerard Way! What are you doing in? I haven’t seen you in ages!”
Gerard nodded for Brendon and Spencer to go sit at the table Bob, Ray, and Frank has picked, then turned back. “Is Pete back? I couldn’t get him on comms anywhere, dude,” he asked, and Patrick smiled.
“Oh yeah, they came in a cycle or so ago. Not long at all. I think he came home and slept and showered then headed straight to The Speakeasy. You know how he is,” he said, then glanced over Gerard’s shoulder. “Hey, where’s Mikey, you two only seem separated when he’s holed up with Pete somewhere.”
Gerard’s heart leapt and he fought to keep his eye dry. “Yeah, that’s why I’m looking for Pete,” he said weakly.
Patrick’s face paled and his eyes widened. “Gerard, where’s Mikey?”
Gerard groaned. “No fucking idea, Patrick. He’s- we got separated. We all got separated and he never came back. We can’t- we’ve been looking. We worried he got caught by some Gens but we hacked in and he’s not listed as captured. He’s still got a bounty on him, so we figure bounty hunters got him. We’ve been looking for about thirty-six cycles now.”
Patrick just hissed. “Holy shit, Gerard. Thirty-six cycles?! It’s been that long since you talked to Pete?”
Gerard sighed. “The first few cycles we didn’t panic, I figured maybe they ran off together again, you know how it goes.” Patrick nodded. “Then when we started looking harder and realized it wasn’t that, I tried a lot but never got in touch with Pete. Comms were out wherever the fuck they were.”
Patrick sighed. “Fuck, Pete’s going to lose it. You know they were fighting-“
“The lack of overhearing comm-sex made me figure,” Gerard interrupted, cringing.
Patrick smiled sadly. “That’s Pete alright.” He shook his head. “Alright, you go sit, have something to eat, have a round on me, then I’ll get somebody to get Pete from The Speakeasy.”
Gerard shook his head. “We’re headed there next. I need to see Pete’s cohorts for help.” He pushed off of the sticky bar and headed through the crowd over to the table where everybody else was. He slid into the empty seat beside Frank and glanced around, carefully checking out who all was in. Nobody stood out. A few of them were recognizable from the Confederation’s wanted list, but all in all nobody stood out.
“So what’s up?” Frank asked and Gerard cringed.
“Pete’s here. He landed a few cycles ago. We’re going to The Speakeasy to break it to him and get his friends’ help.” Gerard looked up as he saw a tall man approaching them. He put his hand on his gun, but Bob offered the guy a nod, so Gerard relaxed.
“What’s up, Bryar?!” he asked, setting down a tray. “Yo, Patrick sends these on the house,” he said, passing around the shots.
Bob smiled. “Thanks. Gerard, this is Travis McCoy,” he introduced. “Petty thief who stashed his illegal liquor on my ship once a long time ago. I kicked his ass and then introduced him to Pete and it’s all been downhill from there,” he teased.
“What’s this?” Brendon asked, gesturing to the shot glass.
Gerard reached out and snagged it, shoving it at Frank. “Not for you,” he said and Spencer shrugged when Brendon gave him a questioning look.
“Don’t look at me, Bren,” he said, and Frank snickered.
“Alcohol. Strong shit.” Brendon and Spencer still looked confused and Gerard rolled his eyes.
“Well, maybe Lanoans don’t drink, but keep in mind.” He lowered his voice leaning closer to them. “Do not drink anything anybody gives you, especially here on Clandestine,” he said in a soft voice.
Spencer frowned. “I thought this was a K3-something?”
Gerard nodded. “Yeah, but we all call it Clandestine.” He waved a hand. “Whatever, the point is, I don’t know Lanoan biology, but in humans, alcohol is terrible for a pregnant person’s baby if they drink it. Most everything on this fuckin’ station has alcohol in it, so if one of us doesn’t approve it, don’t drink it.” He frowned. “Actually don’t ingest anything at all. Seriously, just go with stranger-danger but even for friends of ours. Do not drink, smoke, eat, or lick anything at all that somebody offers you.” He looked at Spencer. “You too, just for safety. I’d advise that to anybody who doesn’t know exactly what they’re getting into, but definitely not Brendon,” he said.
Brendon gave him a very serious nod, laying a hand on his middle. “Thanks, I really don’t want to mess up and hurt my baby,” he said with wide, grateful eyes. “Thank you, Gerard.”
“Damn, who’s the new hot kid?” Travis asked, drawing Gerard’s attention back to the rest of the table. He winked at Spencer, who gave him a shocked look, then closed off his expression. “Come on, you gotta name, sexy-“
“None of your business,” Brendon said in a slightly dark voice, sliding closer to Spencer possessively.
Frank giggled, tugging on Travis’s arm. “Dude, dude, it’s like an angry puppy!” he told him, and Travis grinned.
“Oooh so it’s like that, huh?” He winked at Brendon. “Ease up, kid, I’m not gonna move in on your territory!” he defended.
Gerard just smiled. “I don’t think Brendon’s ever had somebody try and hit on Spencer before,” he explained and Brendon blushed some. “Hey, no we get it, he’s always been yours, you’re allowed to get defensive,” he said smiling at how cute Brendon and Spencer were. He chuckled. “You should see my brother and his dysfunctional whatever-the-fuck-they-are, Pete. We’ll meet Pete soon.”
Brendon frowned. “Is…Is your brother the one-“
Gerard nodded solemnly. “His ‘whatever’ doesn’t know he’s missing.” He exchanged a dark look with Brendon. “He has been out of comm link. It’s not uncommon. They don’t seem to mess around with others but they’ll go ages without speaking after fights, then disappear together for a dozen cycles ‘making up’.” He shuddered.
Spencer glanced at Brendon. “We’ve never really fought, have we?” he asked, and Brendon smiled.
“Not really.” He shrugged, leaning his head on Spencer’s shoulder as he faced Gerard. “We’ll bicker some, but mostly we’re best friends, so we’ve always teased each other. We know everything, so we know nothing is meant with hard feelings.”
Spencer curled his arm around him. “We’ve spent the majority if every single cycle in the last eight years together.” He nudged Brendon’s head with his. “I probably know you better than you know yourself.”
Brendon smiled. “Probably.”
Gerard just shook his head, more and more amused by the young couple every time he watched them together.
Part 2