Make Some Noise (Danger days)

Party Poison

Gerard Way sat at his desk listening to the tutor droid teach history. Well 'teach history' was an overstatement, it was all just propaganda being told through a heartless robotic voicebox.

Gerard knew this because for almost a year he stopped taking his meds, every citizen of Battery city was prescribed mind altering drugs at age three. They numbed down all emotions and even completely blocked negative emotions, but if you were well behaved you were allowed to experience minor positive emotions. But not Gerard, he had been flushing the drugs down the toilet to prevent them being found by waste collection droids. So far he was in the clear.
Only one person knew this secret.

"Gee wait up!" His 16 year old brother Mikey jogged across the school courtyard.
"Hey," Gerard said, "Who won today's detention count?"
Mikey laughed and pulled out his detention slips.
"Well, I got three for talking without permission, five for questioning the learning material and two for refusing to do PE since some idiot wanted to play Dracs and Killjoys."
"What seriously? The game we played when we were like, seven?"
"Yep," Mikey replied. "What were your detentions for?"
"Six for speaking out of turn, three for messy uniform and one for this." Gerard took out a lock of his messy hair that was bright red.
"Gee!" Mikey almost shrieked, "Where did you get the dye?"
"Bought it from Downing lane for 50 Carbons." Mikey's eyebrows raised.
"That's in the Lobby." He exclaimed. "That's very illegal."
"I went out last night. No one caught me."
"I can't believe you. 10 detentions each. What's the tie breaker?"
"I'm older so I win." Gerard stated.
"How does that work?"
"It just does."
"Doesn't make sense."
"Yes it does."

Gee and Mikey walked out of the elevator onto their apartment balcony.
"Look the building across the street is gone," Gee pointed.
"So it is," Mikey replied, uninterested.
"Wow you can see the desert from here."
"Oh really?" He went over to the railing. Gee climbed onto the first rung, despite being the older child he was the shortest. Mikey just stood on his tiptoes.
"I'm going out there one day." Gee breathed. "I can't stand it here."
Mikey frowned.
"Why? It's not like we're dying."
Gerard frowned back.
"Mikey think about it, no one has any free will."
"What do you mean?"
"They fill our heads with drugs and shit on the news about all their supposed good deeds. No one can get in or out, come on the most popular vacation spot is 10 miles away. Nobody can ever feel sad, or angry or scared, not even joy sometimes."
Mikey shook his head.
"You're only saying that because you're off the meds."
"I can see what BLI are really doing. They keep us under control with the drugs. Maybe if you stopped taking them too you would see reality."

"So what you'd just leave me here? Leave our parents?"
"No." Gerard shook his head. "You can come with me. We'll escape together." He stepped off the railing.
"What about mum and dad?"

"Mikey they're going to kick us out as soon as it's legal. I'll be on the streets by the end of the month. I overheard them one night"
Mikey was silent for a long time.
"You can't leave Gee, I think I'll go insane if  you do." Tears were forming in the corners of his eyes. "Please."
Gerard shook his head. "I can't, sorry. What help am I if I can't stay sane myself?"
Without another word Mikey stood up and walked inside, leaving Gee on the balcony alone, tears rolling down his cheeks.

Six days.

Mikey and Gerard hadn't spoken in six days. They walked home alone, didn't compare punishments or try to out do each other at the stupidest things. Dinner was awkward, usually filled with jokes and their parents asking how their days were. By the third day they'd given up that.

Gerard walked upstairs to his and Mikey's bedrooms on the third landing.
Mikey walked out out of the bathroom with his favourite red blanket around his shoulders. He and Gerard made eye contact.
"Mikey," He began. Mikey stared sadly back before turning into his room. Gee sighed and went to his.