"Get your fucking hands off of my girlfriend, Pussy!" Jim growled and lunged for Gerard. "I'll beat your motherfucking ass!"
Before Gerard's brain could process what was happening, he was sprawled on the ground clutching his face in pain. Jim had knocked Barbara out of the way and thrust his fist directly into Gerard's nose.
"Jim!" Barbara screamed angrily, putting herself between her boyfriend and the injured boy on the floor. "Jim, stop it! Don't be an ass!"
"You!" Jim hissed, venom seeming to drip from his voice. "Shut your mouth, Whore!" He shot a hand out and struck Barbara sharply across the cheek. His attention was diverted from Gerard's writhing form for just a moment. "I knew you've been fucking around behind my back! When I heard about this party I was sure I couldn't trust you! You just proved you're nothing more than a dirty slut!" Jim yelled at her irately.
They had acquired a small audience of stunned, wide-eyed party goers huddled about anxiously. They had seen everything, yet no one made a move to intervene.
Gerard groaned pitifully as he tried to stand up. Jim spun around and kicked him swiftly in his soft gut, causing the poor boy to crumple back onto the ground. In response, Barbara reared back and punched Jim hard in the back of the head.
It was like something inside of him snapped. Instantly, he went from furiously jealous boyfriend to rabidly psychotic animal. He let out an inhuman sound growl and shoved Barbara so violently that she toppled into the television set and crashed onto the wood floor. He grabbed her by the hair and viciously slammed her head into the ground. He pulled a fist back, preparing to beat her to a pulp when a strong hand grabbed the collar of his coat and jerked him away from her. He turned to see a big, burly man with arms nearly as big around as Jim's whole body.
"Everyone get the hell out of here now! I just called the cops and they're on the way!" He bellowed, in a voice that no one would dare argue with. As all the guests quickly scampered out the door, the man glared at Jim. "As for you, you'd better get your pathetic ass out of my sight NOW. And I'd better never catch you around here again! You think you're tough because you pick on smaller guys and beat up girls? If I ever see you again you'll be lucky if you can still walk, Maggot!" He spit at Jim in disgust, before crashing his elbow into the boy's teeth and thrusting him down the steps and onto the sidewalk. He slammed the door which muffled Jim's enraged howling.
Mikey had appeared and, after helping Gerard sit up, was now holding a wad of tissues to his brother's bloody nose. Alicia had her arms wrapped protectively around Barbara as she smoothed the girl's hair out of her face and examined the large gash on her friend's forehead.
"Thank you, Steve." The tiny black-haired girl said to the man.
"Not a problem, Pixie." He nodded gruffly, calling her by the nickname he had given to her. "That's what neighbors are for. Are you two alright?" He turned his attention to the bruised and bloodied teens. "Anyone need to go to the hospital?"
"I think Gee will be okay." Mikey answered timidly. "But, what about the cops?"
Steve chuckled, "I didn't really call the cops. I actually came over to crash the party, but looks like I got here right in time. That low-life piece of scum woman beater…." He grumbled angrily in reference to Jim.
"There's plenty of alcohol in the kitchen." Barbara croaked, "And some pot too. Help yourself."
"Thank ya. You take care of yourself, little lady." The big man saluted and disappeared from the room.
"Coolest neighbor ever." Barbara sighed. Her head was pounding and her whole body ached horribly. She was also burning inside from embarrassment. How dare he come into her friend's party and pull that shit in front of her friends. When they were alone it was different, at least she could pretend she walked away from the beating with some dignity, but now that there were witnesses she would never live this down.
"You sure you don't need to go to the hospital?" Alicia broke into her thoughts. "You might have a concussion."
"I'm fine." Barbara huffed, shoving her friend out of the way as forcefully as she could manage, and hauling herself to her feet.
"I've been telling you to leave that bastard for months, Barbara!" Alicia snapped. "When are you going to listen to me? When you end up dead?"
Gerard was trying to pull himself out of the groggy haze he was still trapped in. He groaned feebly as Mikey continued to apply pressure to his nostrils.
"I'm a big girl, Lish." Barbara said evenly as she inspected her busted forehead in the hall mirror. "You need to stop worrying about me. I can handle myself."
"Yeah. You sure handled things pretty well tonight." Alicia scoffed. "If Steve hadn't shown up you probably would be in the hospital right now."
"I need a drink." Barbara exclaimed and disappeared into the kitchen to join Steve.
"Is she alright?" Mikey asked nervously, once Barbara was gone.
"She likes to pretend she is." Alicia muttered frustratedly, as she busily began cleaning up trash. "In her world, it's perfectly acceptable to be used as a human punching bag."
Gerard finally managed to utter words that made sense, "That son of a bitch. I'll rip him to shreds."
Alicia burst into half-hearted laughter. "You guys want me to drive you home?"
"Are you okay to drive?" Mikey asked suspiciously.
"Yeah." She nodded, slinging on her coat and grabbing her keys. "Let's get your brother out of here. I think it's about time he hit the sack."
The Way brother's first ever wild night began at 10:00pm and ended at 12:17am when Alicia dropped them off in front of their house.
"Put his drunk ass to bed." She directed Mikey as the scrawny boy struggled to half-drag his much larger brother into their house.
I almost would've rather had cake. Mikey Way thought wryly, closing the door behind him.
Gerard woke the next morning with a horrific pounding in his head. He slowly rolled over and crashed onto the floor.
"OWWW!" A nasally voice whimpered, and Gerard realized he had landed on top of a rather bony human being.
He opened his eyes and, after a moment of speculation, confirmed that he was in Mikey's room.
"The fuck are you doing on the floor?" Gerard exclaimed breathlessly as he tried to climb back into the bed. "And why am I in your room?"
"Well," Mikey glared at him pointedly, "After I carried you into the house, I decided not to risk dragging you downstairs to your basement. So I brought you to my room and put you to sleep in my bed while I slept on the floor. Really, the only thing I should be hearing from you is a big fucking 'Thank you'. Also, if I don't get the brother-of-the-year award, I'm going to be pissed."
Gerard had tuned him out, however, as he remembered the events of the previous night. Shit. How had he let that worthless bastard hurt Barbara? He should have defended her. Instead, he had fallen to the floor like a wimp. He hated himself. Barbara should hate him too. He was not worthy of her, that was for sure, but he had to go find her. He needed to make sure she was alright and beg for forgiveness.
Gerard jumped up and tripped over Mikey on the way to the door.
"Owww. DAMMIT." His little brother groaned again.
"Sorry bro. I have to go see Barbara; what happened last night was fucked up and- WHAT THE HELL IS ALL OVER YOUR NECK, MICHAEL WAY?" Gerard pointed accusingly at the reddish purple splotches all over Mikey's and collarbone.
The younger brother grinned shyly, "I may have met a girl last night. And she might have bitten me once or twice, and I MIGHT have gotten to feel her boobies."
Gerard leaped forward and proudly gave his baby brother a high five, "Go get em, Tiger! Was she hot?"
"As hell." Mikey smiled, shoving his glasses up the bridge of his nose.
"Proud of you, Bro." Gerard gave him the brotherly seal of approval with a thumbs up as he left the room.
A/N: Problem solved. Or is it? I have a couple different options I'm playing around with in my head, so I'm not even sure exactly what's in store for Gerard and Barbara now. I officially have a summer job now so I won't be able to update quite as often as I'd like but I'll submit new chapters as often as possible! Hope ya'll enjoyed, let me know what you think! :)
