takers dark lover, they shall get to soon. animelvr23, me either. It'd be cute. Cerucci, aw, thank you. I think it's adorable anyway, I'm glad you like it. & I have a few chapters already typed out & waiting for editing. LadyDragonsblood, it's okay, you needn't apologize every time, my dear. I understand. & sorry, I hope things get better. Adam is mama, Adam takes care of him. I still collect Trolls, they're just harder to find. & it's all good, I'm just happy to know you enjoy it. Thank you.

The Darkest Corners;
Chapter seven/ 'Things Besties Are For'
Rated; M/ L (adult content)

Phil had made it to his car when the brown haired girl showed up. He wanted to groan because he just wasn't in the mood for shenanigans.

"Hey, Phil! Phil!" AJ Lee growled, stomping over. "Phillip Brooks, don't you ignore me."

He cringed. "Okay, whatever. Just stop trying to sound like my mother."

She gave a little pout. "I'm sorry."

"What do you want, AJ?"

"That is no way to greet your friends. We need to work on your people skills."

"I don't want people skills cuz I don't want people." Phil unlocked his car.

"Yeah yeah.. You going to see him? Can I go? Please? I'll be so so good. My bestest behavior." She practically bounced up and down.

Phil wanted to smile, but shook his head. "I don't think Adam would like me dropping in with crazy chicks."

She slapped his arm. "Come on, man. I haven't seen him since.. before the.. I won't be in the way." She held her hands together like an angel. "Please? I'll be good."

"You're never good." Phil smirked. "Get in."

AJ squealed, jumping up to snuggle Phil tight. "Yay!"

"Gah, touching.." He pried a giggling AJ off and opened the door for her to get in.

"I see chivalry is not dead." She stuck her tongue out at him out the window after he shut the door on her.

On the way over Phil explained to her how Gerard was and what to expect.

AJ shook her head. "Poor thing. That's horrible. He's okay though, right? I mean, considering.."

"Physically he's fine, just don't touch the top the head, it's a tender area. It's where his scar is, he don't like it touched, he says it hurts. Mentally and emotionally, he's a different story." Phil smirked. "Kinda like you. You two should get along great."

"Haha, very funny." She said, folding her arms. "They never found who did it, did they?"

Phil shook his head, hands tightening on the steering wheel. "No. They never found anybody. Too busy bothering punk kids on the internet to catch any actual criminals."

AJ wanted to pat him on the shoulder and say sorry, but knew Phil hated pity looks. Instead she shook her head again and said "Sucks."

Phil knocked on the door of the Irvine/Copeland house, noticing AJ had comics in her hands. "Why did you bring those?"

"Story time." She smiled brightly.

"He won't understand them." That was a lie. Sometimes Phil would bring some of his or Gerard's from his old life, get him settled and read to him. Gerard liked the pictures. It was one of the reasons why he liked Batman, because of the comics and Phil would let him watch shit on his phone. But really Phil wanted to believe that the reason he did was because there was still some of the old Gerard in there somewhere. That all his memories and things he had loved were still stored in his subconscious.

Adam opened the door and rolled his eyes. "You again?"

"I'm not going to stop coming by, Adam. I'm not going away. This is AJ. AJ, Adam. She tagged along today. Don't worry, she has all her vaccinations." Gerard didn't know that word. He knew shot, and if he heard shot he could panic.

"Nice to meet you." He nodded at AJ. "Do you have all yours?" Adam asked Phil as he let them in.

"Probably not."

"Philly!" Gerard ran through, jumping up in Phil's arms and nearly knocking him off balance. "Hi hi! I already peed so I don't have to."

Phil grunted, lifting him up. "That's nice, baby."

Adam rubbed his temples. "I need coffee."

"Hey, I want you to meet a fri-" He was cut off by Gerard kissing him on the lips. That shiver of fear that ran up his spine was one of nightmares. He turned his head to see Adam was gone to the kitchen and sighed. "No. What did I tell you? Not when Adam's around."

Gerard pressed his lips together and blinked. "Sorry."

"Are you getting in trouble, Phillip? I'm shocked." She twisted a strand of hair around her finger. "Well, not really.."

"Anyway, this is AJ. You don't remember her, but we all used to hang out.. Well, we did, she just started showing up and no one could get rid of her so.. ow.." He glared at AJ, she had pinched him on the arm.

"You behave." She smiled at Gerard. "Hey there.."

"Hi.." Gerard buried his face in Phil's neck shyly as he was carried to the couch.

Phil plopped down, Gerard straddling his lap. He was going to move him, but Gerard wiggled closer, snuggling him. And oh, he was wiggling right on- Phil mentally cursed. It wasn't like he knew what he was doing.

Adam had returned at that moment and twitched. He choked back that growl he had for Punk. "Gee.. why don't you show Phil your toys."

"Kay.." Gerard moved off his lap and bounded to the bedroom to get his new toys.

Adam glared at him. "I'm warning you."

Phil held his hands up. "It's not what you think.. uh, thought it was.. just.. ugh.."

"Mhm." Adam muttered sarcastically. He sat down in the chair and sipped his coffee. It was too early for this shit.

AJ sat back on the couch and nibbled her lip. She could understand that Adam wanted to protect Gerard- hell, it didn't even seem like it was the same guy. But she also felt for Phil. Yeah, he could be an asshole at times and hard to handle, but he still had feelings and it had hurt to lose someone important to him. It sucked.

Gerard came back and showed them his toys, getting both AJ and Phil down to play with him. When he was bored with that Gerard pointed to the TV. "Toons.."

Adam shook his head. "Cable's out, baby. Storm knocked out the thing and they haven't fixed it yet. If they don't fix it soon I'm going to have to call them."

"That's okay. Here, I'll read to you." AJ piped up. She opened up one of the comics and cleared her throat, letting Gerard look at the pictures and shooing him away from turning the pages. "Okay, once upon a time the evil King Two-Face ruled over the land with an iron coin. And he used this coin to decide the fate of his people, how they lived, how they perished and were punished."

Phil snorted. "It's not iron."

"Shuddup, I'm telling it. And iron like iron fist. Iron coin, get it?"

"I got it, I just don't want it."

AJ huffed and ignored Phil. "Now, one day a dark knight on a black steed rode into town. His name was Batman."

Adam snickered. "Please tell me Robin is the princess locked in the tower."

AJ blinked. "Maybe.."

Phil actually cracked a smile and laughed. "That's not even how the story goes." Of course it wasn't.

"Shuddup, I like it." Gerard said, snuggling up. "Go on."

AJ giggled. "Aha, I win. I win. I win."

"Now see, you all are teaching my baby words of insult." Adam tsked.

"It was not me." Phil laid back and watched Gerard as he listened contently to the silly story, the boy nibbling on his thumb and smiling every so often. Of course the Dark Knight Batman foiled King Two-Face, and of course he rescued Princess Robin from the tower, and of course AJ left out parts of kissing and passionate love.

Phil kissed Gerard when Adam wasn't looking and told him he'd be back. He managed to pull AJ out the door so they could leave. He had to work today and couldn't stay longer.

When they were out to the car AJ squealed. "Oh, Phillip, he's just the sweetest thing ever. He's just a little doll. Just hard to believe that's him, you know. But he's precious."

"Yeah. He was always sweet though."

-xx-

Adam watched Phil leave out the window and sighed. He could not handle Phil Brooks every day- though admittedly he was more tolerable with AJ there, but still..

"Mama, thirs'y.." Gerard cooed sweetly, going through the DVDs Adam had sitting on a shelf by the television stand. He found something that looked like a cartoon and blew the dust off of it before opening the case. He had the disc lifted up out of it when Adam grabbed his wrist.

"Oh, no no no.." He said, gently prying the disc out of his fingers. "I got it."

"Why?"

"Cuz you get your grubby little fingerprints on it and I'll have to nibble them off." The blonde nibbled at the boy's fingertips for emphasis. He saw that the DVD was South Park, an adult cartoon. "You don't need to watch this one anyway." He put the disc back in the case and sat it on top of the shelf to hide away later. Instead Adam put Monsters Inc in the player. That would be safer. And a lot cuter.

"Still thirs'y.. may I have juice please?"

Adam smiled and pecked him on the nose, giggling as he wrinkled it. "You may." He headed to the kitchen as Gerard plopped down on the couch. Adam returned and sat beside him, handing him his sippy cup and pulling him into his lap. Adam pet his hair back, snuggling him as he drank his juice, his eyes locked on the TV screen. "You've been very popular lately. Now it's my turn to have you. My good boy."

Gerard smiled as Adam nuzzled him, loving on him. It made him feel warm and special.

During the course of the movie, Gerard had squirmed down and was playing in the floor. Meanwhile Adam was leaning forward with his chin resting on his hands as he watched the movie, trying with all his will not to start bawling. He didn't know when children's movies had gotten so depressing. They were horrible grinds of despair. The big blue monster lost the little girl and there were all these bad monsters after her. He wondered if there was just an age adults reached where kid's movies became sad. He didn't remember it being sad any of the other times he had watched it.

Adam whimpered and sniffled, wiping a tear from the corner of his eye. It was then that there was a knock at the door and Adam groaned. 'If that's Phil again, I'm going to murder him.' Then Gerard was up and rushing to the door and Adam was threatened with a mini heart attack. "Hey, don't you dare." He got up and followed.

"I'm not." Gerard only peeked out the peep hole, biting his lip and giggling. He could see Heath's face in the tiny hole and it looked funny. Heath also looked exasperated and was rolling his eyes impatiently.

"Who is it?" Adam guided Gerard aside and peeked out himself before opening the door.

Heath huffed. "Bout time, grandma. It's so cold out here." He hugged Gerard as Gerard hugged him and nuzzled his hair. "Oh, you're so warm."

"I sawed you through the peep hole, you looked funny." Gerard giggled.

"I did?" Heath gave a mock frown. "Do I look funny now?"

Jay was standing in the doorway and shook his head at Gerard, unseen by Heath.

Gerard shook his head as well. "No, you're red."

"Your cheeks and nose is red." Adam added.

"Oh.. yeah, I guess I'm flushed. Hot one minute and cold the next. I don't think it's pregnancy as much as it's just fall weather. C'mon, GeeGee, show me to the couch. See ya, Daddy. Love you."

"Bye, precious. Love you too." Jay turned to Adam. "Work called me in, Heath wanted to stay here until I came back." He did that sometimes and Adam never minded.

Adam nodded. "Why'd they call you in?"

Jay sighed and shifted on his feet. "Apparently the storm last night caused some kind of damage and I need to look at it or something. What? Do they expect me to fix it by myself or something? I ain't doing that. I'm not their handyman."

Adam smirked. "You could always use Heath's construction outfit."

"Har har, I'm sure they'd get a kick out of that."

"Oh, come on. You totally got the legs for it, dude." Adam moved his hands down like he was tracing a curvy body form.

"I'd talk, sweet cheeks."

Adam grinned. "I do. My ass is spectacular."

"Even I agree with that!" Heath shouted from the couch. He had held his hands over Gerard's ears to yell. Gerard shuddered him away.

Jay hummed. "Too bad you're already taken. I could have two hott bitches making out at my feet."

Heath snorted in the background. "He wishes."

Adam made a face. "Ugh, I wouldn't make out in front of my brother with his boyfriend."

"You've made out in front of me with your boyfriend." Jay said.

"Hah!" Heath cackled.

"Boy, I am going to take you over my knee." Adam said back, hand on his hip.

"Ooh, now that would be hott." Jay gave a dramatic shudder and leaned over to kiss Adam's cheek. "And I wouldn't do nothing incestuous with you. That one time we camped out don't count." Jay grinned, stepping back out the door and heading to his car.

"Ugh. Nothing happened that time we camped out." Adam called out the door. "I was curious. You took advantage of me."

Jay waved at Adam, laughing. "I love you, big brother. Take care of my fox." He got in the car and started it up.

Adam huffed, shutting the door. "Big.. think he's calling me chubby. Bastard." He wandered back into the living room to find Heath watching for him.

The redhead stared at him with big expectant brown eyes, hands folded across his tummy.

Adam shrugged. "What?"

Heath batted his eyes, lips pursed. "And just what happened that time you camped out?"

Adam rolled his eyes and sat down in the chair. "It was a million years before Jay met you. We were kids.. teens. Whatever." He knew Heath could be notoriously jealous.. it could be worse while he was pregnant.

Heath snorted. "I don't mean it like that. Just, I don't know, that'd be kind of hott to think about."

"Dirty fox. We just kissed, okay." He watched Gerard disappear into his room.

Heath leaned forward a bit. "That's all.. c'mon, Adam, you didn't, you know..?" He made a jacking off gesture with his hand. "Or nothing like that? He never spanked you?" Heath then giggled to show he was joking and Adam sighed relief.

"No. I swear, it was just the one kiss cuz we were curious. And we laughed hysterically about it because we felt nothing like.. that, you know. We were happy being best friends and brothers." Adam gave a closed-mouthed smile and sat back.

Heath huffed playfully and sat back as well. "I'm probably going to think about you two doing more than that in my spare time. Just so you know."

"You be good."

"Yes, aunty Adam." Heath rubbed his belly, lips quirking.

"How's pregnancy so far?"

"A rollercoaster." Heath giggled. "It's exciting. I can't wait to feel it move, find out if it's a boy or a girl. I can't wait to be able to hold it in my arms and look down at its little face and tell it how much I've wanted it and love it."

"Yeah." Adam gave a sad smile that the redhead did not see and averted his eyes.

"But at the same time, I'm terrified, you know. What if shit goes wrong, what if I can't be a good mom, what if it hates me..? Just normal stuff, I guess."

Adam waved him off. "You'll be alright. Hey, you take care of Jay's sorry ass all the time, that takes a load off me." They shared a laugh. "And you have plenty of loving people around to help you. You won't be alone." 'Not like I felt I was..'

"I know. Thanks, Adam, I appreciate it so much.. Now can we watch something less upsetting?"

"Yeah, it's to the end now anyway." He got up and turned it off, seeing that the cable was back on and leaving it on cartoons.

Gerard came out of his room and made a dramatic effort to stumble over to the couch, laying down on his side with his head by Heath's thigh as he nibbled on his fingers, eyes glued to the TV.

Heath reached down and gently stroked his hair.

Yeah, I had AJ make up her own crackfic fanfiction. I'm pretty sure Phil only pretends to be so crabby. I still don't ship AJ & Phil in fanfic, but I don't really ship het in fanfic anyhow. Oddly enough, they seem to fit though. It's just fun to have her bug him. These days I swear I find children's movies to be sad. I never cried during Monsters Inc in the past- & my little brother watched it a hundred times. But I cry on it now.