Calibrations: Extras

Oneshot #4: The Drums of the City Rain

"You don't trust me, do you?"

Gerard didn't answer right away, but it wasn't a hard question, as far as Mikey was concerned. He understood that the last month or so had been tough on his older brother. Frank had almost died in a bus crash, and he'd only just been discharged from the hospital. Both Frank and Gerard were still recovering from the pain, both physical and emotional, from the accident, but it could have been much worse. If it wasn't for Ray and Mikey, Frank would be dead right now.

None of that explained why Gerard was so secretive, why he wouldn't tell him anything.

It had all started nearly fifteen years ago - Mikey still couldn't quite believe it had been that long - when Gerard first started dating Frank. Gerard had hidden it from him for years, constantly insisting that Frank wasn't his boyfriend, that the two of them were merely close friends, that those kissing sounds he heard coming from the back of the bus were nothing. It wasn't like Gerard really had anything to hide. Mikey knew he'd dated guys before. Maybe it was different because Frank was his bandmate, but Mikey still wished they'd just tell the truth.

When the two of them finally came out the day before the Summer Sonic Festival, nobody in the band was surprised at all. They'd known for years. Mikey just didn't understand why Frank and Gerard hadn't told him sooner.

After that, Mikey thought there were no more secrets left, but he was wrong. Five years later, he and Frank found a younger version of Gerard hiding in a closet, flipping through a sketchbook. Mikey could still remember the moment perfectly. He remembered the way the Gerard from 2002 tried to shrink back into the closet. He remembered the way Frank gasped, unable to believe what he was seeing. He remembered the shock and betrayal he felt, realizing that Gerard had kept yet another secret from him.

2002 Gerard explained everything from how time travel worked to why he'd come to 2014, but it wasn't enough. There was something else Gerard was keeping from him, and he didn't even know it until the day Frank was supposed to die, when Ray came knocking on his door. As soon as Mikey answered, Ray turned his giant robot keychain into a fancy, high-tech watch, with even more buttons than Gerard's time machine. "Come on," he said. "We have to save Frank."

In an instant, Mikey understood. Ray was in the Watch.

Gerard must have known, Mikey soon realized. He'd been involved in all of this time travel stuff for years - how could he not have realized that Ray was in the Watch? It was yet another secret that Gerard had kept from his little brother, and as far as Mikey was concerned, there was only one reason why he'd kept so much from him.

Gerard didn't trust him.

"It's not that simple, Mikey," Gerard said.

"How?" Mikey asked. "First you didn't tell me about you and Frank, and then you didn't tell me about time travel. You've been keeping secrets from me for years. You're probably keeping secrets from me now. Why don't you trust me?"

"I trust you," Gerard said.

"No, you clearly don't. We've known each other our whole lives, but you still don't trust me. Why?"

There was another awkward silence as Gerard contemplated what his brother had just said. Meanwhile, Mikey looked away for a moment, toward Frank and Kristin, toward Bandit playing in the sandbox. He wondered if any of them really knew each other, if they really trusted each other. He'd always thought that was what family was all about, but clearly, he was wrong.

He thought of his unborn daughter, the child growing within Kristin. Would she keep secrets from him one day? Would he hide things from her? What if he and Kristin decided to have more kids? Would she treat her siblings like Gerard treated Mikey, like they didn't matter, like they were nothing?