Remaining Relevant .:Fourteen:.
Title: Remaining Relevant .:Fourteen:.
Author: neverxnever
Rating: Pg13- R
Pairing: Ghost!Brendon/Blind!Ryan, various others mentioned
POV: Third
Summary: Sequel to Heedless in Rain. Brendon’s dead, he’s lost his love, his friends can’t seem to move on. And what happens when the psychopathic murderer who killed him shows up again?
Chapter Summary: “My question is simply… why? Why are you doing this, killing all these people?” Her tone is neither disapproving nor approving, timid nor curious. He can’t tell which emotion drives her.
Disclaimer: I do not own/know anyone mentioned in this piece of FICTION.
Author Notes: At the end, bbz.
-Prologue- [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13]
Chapter Fourteen
Gerard would be lying if he said living on the streets didn’t suck. It does. A lot. But a guy’s got to do what a guy’s got to do. It’s amazing no one’s found him yet, run across him and alerted the cops. It’s not like he’s being particularly sneaky. He’s one of the town’s people in the day, avoiding the few people who know what he looks like, and at night he sleeps in an alley. Whatever. The longer his enemies remain oblivious, the better.
It’s night when Maja finds him. He’s thinking, staring into space and running his thumb up and down the sharp edge of his knife. Not pressing down hard enough to make himself bleed, just hard enough to remind himself that he could.
“Excuse me,” she says, accent thick. “Gerard Way?”
Gerard looks up. It doesn’t matter if she’s a cop, an innocent civilian, someone of importance. He could kill her before she had time to scream. She doesn’t look like she poses any threat, though. She’s slight and stony faced- she looks fast. Not strong or dangerous or like she’s about to pull a gun on him. He nods.
She takes a chance and steps closer, further into the alley that is his resting place for the night. She crosses her arms over her chest and leans casually against the brick wall, oozing confidence. Confidence doesn’t scare Gerard, but it gets his attention. “My name is Maja. I read about you in the papers. I came to ask you a question.”
“A question?”
She hesitates a moment, nods. “Yes, a question.”
He waves an impatient hand at her. “Well, what is it?”
“My question is simply… why? Why are you doing this, killing all these people?” Her tone is neither disapproving nor approving, timid nor curious. He can’t tell which emotion drives her.
His gaze drops to her hands when her fingers twitch- he’s understandably wary. He hasn’t seen this woman in town before. Why would she search for him, seek him out to ask a question? It seems ridiculous. He’s still expecting her to pull a weapon. He sighs, asks, “Why do you want to know?”
“Ah,” she drawls, smirking. “I asked you first.”
“I guess you did,” he mumbles, and starts to absently twirl his knife in his fingers. He appreciates the way her eyes follow the movement, ready to bolt should he decide to throw it. “Well, fuck. Mostly just for fun. If I happen to exact my revenge on a few people while I do it, that’s just a bonus.”
This is, apparently, the answer she wanted to here. Her lips stretch up into an absolutely frightening grin, and she suddenly looks so much more capable than she had before. “I don’t guess you’d mind if I tagged along, then? I could get us a decent place to stay.”
Gerard cocks an eyebrow. “Why?”
Maja shrugs. “I like to help out.”
Gerard‘s still skeptical, but- “Sure,” he says. “Lead the way.”
-
“What about… what about--” Ryan squeezes his eyes shut, sighs. “Brendon,” he finishes, and only barely manages to keep his voice steady.
Jon has to think for a minute about the answer to this question. He can’t exactly tell Ryan that Brendon is a ghost and has fallen in love with his blind grandson. He can only imagine how well that would go over. “What about him?”
“Well, I mean.” Ryan gestures half-heartedly at nothing. “Do people still go and visit him? Is he still talked about? I don’t want him to be forgotten, you know?”
“Um… yeah,” Jon says, considers his next sentence very carefully. “People still go and visit him. I haven’t seen it for myself, but. Uh, Gabe told me that he’s still… hanging around and stuff.” He shrugs, palms at the back of his neck awkwardly.
“Hanging around,” Ryan repeats, blinking. “Wait. He’s a ghost?” Jon nods and watches as a million different emotions flit across Ryan’s features in the blink of an eye. Surprise, sadness, anger, want. “Oh,” he manages, the syllable bitter in his mouth.
Jon reaches out to, he doesn‘t know, comfort him, but Ryan shakes his head, gently bats Jon’s hand away. “The rain is stopping,” he mumbles, and as if on cue, the battering of the drops on the roof slows and then dies away.
“I’m going to come back,” Jon promises the air.
-
“Oh, hey. Here comes your boy,” Frank giggles, nudging Brendon with his elbow and pointing at Ryan, who is weaving his way easily through tombstones, headed in their direction. “I guess I’ll go.”
Brendon almost tells Frank to stay. Stay, because there’s no telling what he’ll do if he’s alone with Ryan. He might molest the poor kid. Or maybe he’ll slap him, for being so… so goddamn Ryan. But he doesn’t tell Frank to stay, can’t. “’Kay. See you later?”
Frank jumps to his feet, nods enthusiastically. “Yeah, dude. Later.”
Brendon watches as Frank bounds off, a smile on his face. Frank seems so much happier now, which is awesome. Depressed Frank was not awesome. It made Brendon sad.
“Hey,” Ryan says quietly. Brendon looks up, startled. He hadn’t realized Ryan was so close, towering over him, as he’s still lying on the ground. He gets to his feet, dusts himself off.
“Hey,” he returns. It comes out a little more… monotone than he would’ve liked. He coughs. “Uh, what’s up?”
Ryan shrugs, adjusts his sunglasses. “I. It’s just that…” He shakes his head at himself. “Jeremy.”
Brendon frowns, resists the urge to hug Ryan close. And why is it that he can never have what he wants? Why is there always something in his way, keeping him from being happy? He must’ve been a really bad person in a past life or something. Maybe his bad karma’s catching up to him now. “Were you… just with him or what?”
“Yeah.” The word comes out like a sob, even though Ryan isn’t crying.
Brendon thinks, fuck this, and hugs Ryan anyway. Kisses him anyway. Ryan kisses back, in-between Brendon’s promises that he’ll always be there to make the bruises better.
-
An- Fuck this chapter. My Monday chapters always suck. Or maybe I’m just being too hard on myself? Whenever I think a chapter sucks, you guys give great feedback so maybe it’s all in my head? *shrug*
DEDICATED TO roadsidefury. For FC, because she’s amazing, and because she was the first one to see the ~pattern (both Ryan’s are/were in abusive relationships). ILY A LOT JENN. ♥ ♥ ♥
ALSO DEDICATED TO notyourshot, because she so totally CALLED IT.
“(…what if while Brendon and Frank were talking, Ryan was being raped by his jackass of a boyfriend? *shivers*)” She’s officially psychic.
Feedback is lovely, you guys. Seriously.
Author: neverxnever
Rating: Pg13- R
Pairing: Ghost!Brendon/Blind!Ryan, various others mentioned
POV: Third
Summary: Sequel to Heedless in Rain. Brendon’s dead, he’s lost his love, his friends can’t seem to move on. And what happens when the psychopathic murderer who killed him shows up again?
Chapter Summary: “My question is simply… why? Why are you doing this, killing all these people?” Her tone is neither disapproving nor approving, timid nor curious. He can’t tell which emotion drives her.
Disclaimer: I do not own/know anyone mentioned in this piece of FICTION.
Author Notes: At the end, bbz.
-Prologue- [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13]
Chapter Fourteen
Gerard would be lying if he said living on the streets didn’t suck. It does. A lot. But a guy’s got to do what a guy’s got to do. It’s amazing no one’s found him yet, run across him and alerted the cops. It’s not like he’s being particularly sneaky. He’s one of the town’s people in the day, avoiding the few people who know what he looks like, and at night he sleeps in an alley. Whatever. The longer his enemies remain oblivious, the better.
It’s night when Maja finds him. He’s thinking, staring into space and running his thumb up and down the sharp edge of his knife. Not pressing down hard enough to make himself bleed, just hard enough to remind himself that he could.
“Excuse me,” she says, accent thick. “Gerard Way?”
Gerard looks up. It doesn’t matter if she’s a cop, an innocent civilian, someone of importance. He could kill her before she had time to scream. She doesn’t look like she poses any threat, though. She’s slight and stony faced- she looks fast. Not strong or dangerous or like she’s about to pull a gun on him. He nods.
She takes a chance and steps closer, further into the alley that is his resting place for the night. She crosses her arms over her chest and leans casually against the brick wall, oozing confidence. Confidence doesn’t scare Gerard, but it gets his attention. “My name is Maja. I read about you in the papers. I came to ask you a question.”
“A question?”
She hesitates a moment, nods. “Yes, a question.”
He waves an impatient hand at her. “Well, what is it?”
“My question is simply… why? Why are you doing this, killing all these people?” Her tone is neither disapproving nor approving, timid nor curious. He can’t tell which emotion drives her.
His gaze drops to her hands when her fingers twitch- he’s understandably wary. He hasn’t seen this woman in town before. Why would she search for him, seek him out to ask a question? It seems ridiculous. He’s still expecting her to pull a weapon. He sighs, asks, “Why do you want to know?”
“Ah,” she drawls, smirking. “I asked you first.”
“I guess you did,” he mumbles, and starts to absently twirl his knife in his fingers. He appreciates the way her eyes follow the movement, ready to bolt should he decide to throw it. “Well, fuck. Mostly just for fun. If I happen to exact my revenge on a few people while I do it, that’s just a bonus.”
This is, apparently, the answer she wanted to here. Her lips stretch up into an absolutely frightening grin, and she suddenly looks so much more capable than she had before. “I don’t guess you’d mind if I tagged along, then? I could get us a decent place to stay.”
Gerard cocks an eyebrow. “Why?”
Maja shrugs. “I like to help out.”
Gerard‘s still skeptical, but- “Sure,” he says. “Lead the way.”
-
“What about… what about--” Ryan squeezes his eyes shut, sighs. “Brendon,” he finishes, and only barely manages to keep his voice steady.
Jon has to think for a minute about the answer to this question. He can’t exactly tell Ryan that Brendon is a ghost and has fallen in love with his blind grandson. He can only imagine how well that would go over. “What about him?”
“Well, I mean.” Ryan gestures half-heartedly at nothing. “Do people still go and visit him? Is he still talked about? I don’t want him to be forgotten, you know?”
“Um… yeah,” Jon says, considers his next sentence very carefully. “People still go and visit him. I haven’t seen it for myself, but. Uh, Gabe told me that he’s still… hanging around and stuff.” He shrugs, palms at the back of his neck awkwardly.
“Hanging around,” Ryan repeats, blinking. “Wait. He’s a ghost?” Jon nods and watches as a million different emotions flit across Ryan’s features in the blink of an eye. Surprise, sadness, anger, want. “Oh,” he manages, the syllable bitter in his mouth.
Jon reaches out to, he doesn‘t know, comfort him, but Ryan shakes his head, gently bats Jon’s hand away. “The rain is stopping,” he mumbles, and as if on cue, the battering of the drops on the roof slows and then dies away.
“I’m going to come back,” Jon promises the air.
-
“Oh, hey. Here comes your boy,” Frank giggles, nudging Brendon with his elbow and pointing at Ryan, who is weaving his way easily through tombstones, headed in their direction. “I guess I’ll go.”
Brendon almost tells Frank to stay. Stay, because there’s no telling what he’ll do if he’s alone with Ryan. He might molest the poor kid. Or maybe he’ll slap him, for being so… so goddamn Ryan. But he doesn’t tell Frank to stay, can’t. “’Kay. See you later?”
Frank jumps to his feet, nods enthusiastically. “Yeah, dude. Later.”
Brendon watches as Frank bounds off, a smile on his face. Frank seems so much happier now, which is awesome. Depressed Frank was not awesome. It made Brendon sad.
“Hey,” Ryan says quietly. Brendon looks up, startled. He hadn’t realized Ryan was so close, towering over him, as he’s still lying on the ground. He gets to his feet, dusts himself off.
“Hey,” he returns. It comes out a little more… monotone than he would’ve liked. He coughs. “Uh, what’s up?”
Ryan shrugs, adjusts his sunglasses. “I. It’s just that…” He shakes his head at himself. “Jeremy.”
Brendon frowns, resists the urge to hug Ryan close. And why is it that he can never have what he wants? Why is there always something in his way, keeping him from being happy? He must’ve been a really bad person in a past life or something. Maybe his bad karma’s catching up to him now. “Were you… just with him or what?”
“Yeah.” The word comes out like a sob, even though Ryan isn’t crying.
Brendon thinks, fuck this, and hugs Ryan anyway. Kisses him anyway. Ryan kisses back, in-between Brendon’s promises that he’ll always be there to make the bruises better.
-
An- Fuck this chapter. My Monday chapters always suck. Or maybe I’m just being too hard on myself? Whenever I think a chapter sucks, you guys give great feedback so maybe it’s all in my head? *shrug*
DEDICATED TO roadsidefury. For FC, because she’s amazing, and because she was the first one to see the ~pattern (both Ryan’s are/were in abusive relationships). ILY A LOT JENN. ♥ ♥ ♥
ALSO DEDICATED TO notyourshot, because she so totally CALLED IT.
“(…what if while Brendon and Frank were talking, Ryan was being raped by his jackass of a boyfriend? *shivers*)” She’s officially psychic.
Feedback is lovely, you guys. Seriously.