Chapter 2) Sleeping Pills and Disaster Area's

.-.-.

"I told you over and over again. I don't want to fund this woman's damn gallery. I don't like her work so stop forcing her portfolio on me. Okay?" I yell, losing my temper for the second time today.

"Okaaay...no need to lose your cool, Mr. Way." Annie mumbles while cleaning the papers off my desk.

"Sorry. I just didn't get any sleep last night because I had to finish the comic panels that were due this morning." I sigh, breathing heavily in an attempt to calm myself the hell down.

"Well -now keep in mind this is only my opinion- I think your list of priorities is all jacked up. Pardon my language. But you have a lot on your plate, sir. You're writing a comic, running an art gallery, and raising a three year old. I don't think any one person can do all that by themselves." She says. I choose not to comment and wave her away, wanting to be alone in my office.

-.-.-

"Any previous experience, Mr. Iero?" The Target manager asks, eyes roaming over me for what felt like the hundredth time in the last hour.

"No, sir." I say. "But I'm a quick learner." I add quickly, noticing his look of disapproval.

"I would have to ask you to shave your head, or at least get a normal hair cut." He says, causing me to flinch.

"I could do that." I choke out. Cutting my hair is a last resort, but I really need this job. The money in my bank account would fit into a coin purse.

"Any tattoo's, Mr. Iero?" He asks. Of course he hits below the belt.

"Some." I say, shrugging. Better to play the uninterested business man than the annoying punk.

"How many, Mr. Iero? I don't like a lot of gang markings on my employees." Okay, screw the uninterested business man. I was born an annoying punk.

"Six-fuckin-teen...Sir."

-.-.-

"Come on, already. Where are you, buddy?" I groan, glancing at the empty school parking lot. He should've been outside twenty minutes ago, waiting to be picked up. Second day of preschool and he's already got into something he shouldn't have. That's an Iero for ya.

.-.-.

"MIKEY! I'M HOME!" I yell, throwing my bag onto the coat rack and shrugging out of my tux jacket. I could hear hushed whispers coming from the studio and panicked. Casey know's to never let Mikey in my studio unless I'm home. I pay her way too much for her to slip up. I kick my shoes off and run to the studio door, throwing it open.

My once spotless, organized, shiny, and sanitized studio is now a disaster area. Paint all over the wood floors, canvas' covered in paintings of stars, Big Bird, unicorns, and what appears to be a... ninja turtle doing the macarana? My eyes turn to the two small figures standing in the middle of the room. The masterminds. Mikey stands, covered in paint and feathers, beside a little boy I'd never seen before. He was smaller than Mikey, with dark brown hair (now covered with yellow paint) that pointed in every direction.

"Holy. Mother. Of. God."

"Oops?" Mikey says, dropping the paintbrush and raising his hands in surrender.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING? IN MY STUDIO. IN MY ROOM. THIS IS MY SPACE, MIKEY! YOU KNOW THAT." I yell, using any and all hand gestures to convey my horror.

"Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry." He says quickly, running over to hug my leg. I groan and pry him off, lifting him up and placing him on the floor in front of me.

"Why the hell would you do this, Mikes? You know how much this stuff means to me. And where the hell is Casey? She's supposed to be babysitting." I groan in frustration. The smaller boy walks over to stand beside Mikey, hands behind his back and a smirk on his face.

"Casey is takin' a nap at the table." He says happily.

"Why the hell would Casey fall asleep at the table?" I ask, mostly to Mikey since I have no clue who this other midget is.

"Well... you know that stuff you take when you can't fall aweep?" Mikey asks hesitantly.

"My sleeping tablets?" I ask, growing more and more scared of what he's about to reveal to me.

"Yea, those. Well anyways, she was compwaining about never getting to weep, so we put some of those in her wemonade. " He says, smiling proudly.

"You put sleeping tablets... into Casey's lemonade?" I ask slowly. Both boys nod and I feel myself turning red, the steam waiting to shoot out of my ears like in Mikey's favorite cartoon. "Oh my god." I groan, covering my face with my hand. "Go sit at the counter, and take..."

"Ransom Anthony Thomas Iero." The little boy says, smirk still on his face.

"Ransom?" I ask. He nods, and before I can comment on the absurd name, Mikey is pulling him to the kitchen. I take one last glance at my destroyed studio before gently closing the door and going to join the boys. Once I get to the kitchen I find Casey exactly as they said. Sitting with her face flat on the table, snoring. I sigh and lift her up carefully, walking to the living room and lying her on the black couch. At least now she won't have a neck, back, and who knows what else, cramp in the morning.

"Do you know your parents phone number, Ransom?" I ask when I walk back into the kitchen.

"I know my daddy's number. My mom weft when a was a wittle baby. Daddy says she was a wying wittle wut..."

"Did you just say she was a lying, little sl... Well, I think that's enough of your family history. Now what's his number? I need to call so he can come pick you up."

"862-324-1472" He says quickly. It takes me a minute to decipher what he said, but the phone eventually rings. Signaling the number was real.

"Hello?" A tired voice asks.

"Mr. Iero?" I ask, running my fingers through my hair.

"Who is this?" He asks.

"This is Gerard Way. My brother Mikey is in Ransom's class. I think he brought him home by accident."

-.-.-

"Are you okay? Why the fuck did you leave without telling me? Do you know how scared I was? These people could've been fuckin' murderers. No offense, Mr. Way, Mikey."

"None taken, and it's just Gerard." Gerard says, his hand placed firmly on Mikey's shoulder.

"You scared the shit outta me kid." I say, pulling Ransom into a tight hug.

"Sorry, daddy. Mikey just wanted me to come play at his house." He says quietly.

"It's alright. I'm just glad you're safe." I tell him, releasing him from the hug and standing up to look Gerard in the face. There was no denying the fact that he was a good looking man. No, good looking didn't suffice. He was a beautiful man. With the jet black hair and hazel eyes.

"I'm extremely sorry about this whole situation, Mr. Iero. I assure you, Mikey has never done something like this before. He's usually very good about listening." Gerard says in one breath.

"It's Frank, and thanks for taking care of him. I don't know what I would've done if something would've happened to my little guy. At least they seemed to have fun." I tell him, extending my hand. He shakes it quickly before stepping back beside Mikey again.

"Oh they definitely did." Gerard says, giving Mikey a quick glare before turning his gaze back to me.

"Well, maybe we'll see you guys at school. Thanks again. Night." I say, stepping back into the elevator with Ransom beside me.

"BYE MIKEY!" Ransom yells as the door closes.

.-.-.

"You are in so much fucking trouble it's not even funny, Mikey." I say, throwing the ruined canvas' into a pile on one side of the studio.

"I'm really, really, REALLY sorry, Geward." He says, looking down at the floor. I turn around and walk past him, into the kitchen, and fill up a glass of water to take to bed with me.

"I can't believe you did that to Casey." I say again, looking at her sleeping form. "You could've killed her, Mikes."

"I didn't know that. I'm sorry." He says quietly, returning to the room with his red The Flash blanket. He covers Casey's body with it, being careful not to wake her up.

"Whatever. I'll deal with all this shit in the morning. Night." I sigh, walking past him and into my bedroom, slamming the black door behind me.

.-.-.

"Geward. Geward? Gee."

"Huh? What?" I groan, opening one of my eyes. A blurry Mikey sits on my bed in front of me, holding his stuffed Unicorn under his arm. "What are you doing awake? It's 3:00am."

"I couldn't sweep, and Sparkles said I should come sweep with you." He whispers.

"Sparkles said that? Well then I guess you have to." I tell him, closing my eyes and reaching my hand out to him. He lies down and snuggles against my chest, sighing contently.

"Will you ever forgive me?" He whispers a few minutes later.

"I already did, Mikey. Just go to sleep, ok?"

"I love you."

"Love you too...and you, Sparkles the unicorn."