Take Me By The Hand

Toy Orphan

"Glen."

I open my mouth, tilting my head up and to the left. The piece of popcorn lands on my tongue and I grimace as I bite into it, shaking my head at the suggestion. "Am I having the seed of Chucky? No Glen."

"So I guess Glenda is out, too?" Mikey looks dejected for only a second before tossing me another piece of popcorn. I roll my eyes and he instantly goes back to thinking. "What about Reggie?"

I purse my lips and chew slowly, contemplating it for a long time. Finally I shake my head. "Isn't that usually short for Reginald or something? Sir Reginald Way. No, that sounds more like an Elton John cover artist than a kid."

Over the past few days we've been staying in the apartments, I've spent half the time debating names. Since finding out what they are, I've felt more compelled to actually call them something other than 'the babies.' Everyone had put in their own suggestions-- Josh demanding I name them Josh Junior and Joshtine, while Bert laughed and suggested "Thing One and Thing Two." Ray and Bob seemed indifferent for the most part, instead finding it easier to focus on the technical side of things, like making sure all three of us were healthy. Mikey had been giving me every name that popped into his head and scowling when I turned down the ones he actually liked. But nothing seemed fitting enough. The only decision I had actually come to make was the last name; Way.

Since Zacky was obviously no part of this, Baker wasn't even an option. And I felt that Iero held too many ties that I didn't want to pass on to the twins-- Besides my bigot parents who still claimed the same surname, I had my own identity to forget. Leaving behind Ierowas better for all of us, cutting the ties that led not only back to my parents, but to every news article that staked the title "pregnant male" with the name. I didn't want my kids to live in the shadow of that.

And so I had chosen Way. Mikey was the only thing I had left even resembling family so it wasn't really a hard decision to make.

Mikey laughs, tossing more popcorn into his own mouth and then some over to me. "Okay, no Reggie. Kurt?"

I sigh and swallow a mouthful of Pepsi before replying. "Now you're just naming musicians," I accuse. "Am I having a Dave and Krist, too?"

Mikey groans and sinks down lower on his end of the couch we currently share, but the position only makes him look folded in half, with no neck and multiple chins. "You're so picky," He informs me. Still, he casts me a serious look over the almost-empty bag of popcorn and quirks an eyebrow. "You could always do what Josh suggested-- Name one of them after us. Preferably the boy. Michael Joshua Way."

I narrow my eyes at him. "I believe Josh's suggestion was Joshua Michael, not the other way around." I shift on the cushion. My butt is numb from how long I've been sitting and my stomach is currently demanding pizza rolls, so I push off from my seat and make my way into the small attached kitchen. Bob had been the only one to actually leave the apartments since we'd been here, only going out once or twice for cigarettes, Taco Bell, and coffee. The rest of us had stayed holed up in our temporary homes, though I think everyone spent more time in the apartment Mikey and I shared than their own.

As if on cue, the apartment door swings open. From here, I can't tell who it is, but I see Mikey crane his neck toward the entrance and scowl. "Ever heard of knocking?" He wonders. "I could have been masturbating."

"Totally not the image I wanted in my head." I recognize the voice instantly as Gerard's and can imagine him frowning.

Mikey shrugs his shoulders and stuffs more popcorn into his mouth. "Would have been worse if you walked in on it."

"Gee!" I yell. I let the refrigerator door fall closed and cross my arms, turning just as Gerard wanders into the kitchen. He has a paper bag in his arms, and just over the top I can see the corner of a box of macaroni and cheese. I gasp as he sets the bag down on the counter. Peering into it's contents, I glance up at Gerard. "You actually went shopping. Did you get me pizza rolls?"