"Oh," Estella's alabaster hand reaches around Gerard and whips the paper out of his stiff hands before he can do anything. "I thought I told them to stop sending these ages ago." It crinkles as she folds it closed, the sound of paper tearing telling Gerard what she's doing behind his turned back. Slivers of light reflect onto his face and body, Estella standing in his shadow.
She turns with a big swish of a long dark ponytail, ribbons of newspaper clutched in her left fist. Gerard listens to Estella's soft steps retreat into her office, still in place facing the door.
"Gerard?" The boy hums. "Do start on breakfast for the five of you, Mei won't be up today to cook it."
*
By the time three teens come barreling down the stairs for food, Gerard is chopping apple slices for breakfast. A pot of water boils on the stove for oatmeal.
"Where's Mei?" Gerard asks, struggling with a butter knife, the sharpest utensil he dares to use.
"Oh, ya know, with Estella," Bella sighs. She hops up on the bar behind Gerard, eyeing the slices of fruit.
"I'm surprised actually, I thought the schedule said Gerard would be next." Ryan sits down next to her on the table.
"Nah, his old boyfriend drugged him. Messed with the blood n' stuff," Ivory sighs through a yawn, slipping in behind them.
Gerard stops chopping.
"Well, he wasn't my boy-"
"Oh that makes sense," Ryan sighs. He peers over the counter to the empty wine rack there.
"She's fresh out it seems."
"Fresh out of wha-"
"GERARD!" Ivory points to the pot on the stove, water bubbling over in a steamy frenzy.
Gerard yelps and grabs the handle, holding it away from him and throwing it into the sink. It clangs loudly against the inside.
*
Gerard eyes Mei on the couch, her arm bandaged at its hinge. A bag of black licorice sits on her chest, one sticky rope hanging half out of her mouth. She gnaws on the candy, it ever so slowly disappearing into her mouth. Her slow and sleepy form reminds Gerard of a tortoise... a teenage-mutant-Twizzler-eating-tortoise. Her chestnut hair sits in a nest at the top of her head, small eyes glazed over and staring at the far wall.
Gerard ducks back into the kitchen, Bella humming softly to herself as she wipes down the windows. Ryan sits on the floor, cutting the coupons from supermarket catalogs.
"We only eat it if it's marked with a sale price," he mutters, making sure not to snip any of the barcodes with his safety scissors. He makes a neat pile on the tile floor.
Ivory walks out of Estella's office, a full wine bottle in each hand. She slides them into the otherwise empty wine rack, dusting herself off afterward.
"That should last her a week."
Gerard bites his lip, ripping off a strip of flesh as blood pools at the surface. The dryer stops in the room next to the kitchen, and he turns to attend to their laundry.
*
Estella's seethes, her fountain pen's nib cracking as she presses too hard against the paper of her journal. She jumps back in her chair and whips the broken utensil at the wall with a growl, spinning back around and ripping through her desk drawers for a new one. The mangled ball that once was that morning's paper lays on her desk.
Her dark hair flows over her face and down her shoulders, in knots from where she ran her hands through it in worry.
Every sound makes her grind her teeth, hands shaking as she rips open the packaging on a new pen, the drawer still open. She dumps it in her ink pot, actions too rushed as it topples over and bleeds black onto her wood desk. She doesn't wipe it, scribbling angrily.
Estella's left eye twitches as one of those fucking kids drops something heavy on the second floor, it banging above her. She knew Gerard was a risk, but she ran with it anyway. Ink gets all over the back of her left hand, her usually neat cursive taking up two lines instead of one. She grapples for her wine glass with her right hand.
Empty.
The glass shatters against the wallpaper, the simple flick of her wrist sending it flying.
Estella grabs the bottle, throwing it back with her mouth open. Two deep red drops trickle out onto her tongue. She waits, starring at the ceiling for a second too long as nothing else comes.
Gerard jumps as the door to Estella's office slams against the wall, the nob making an indent in the perfect surface. He gulps, the only other person in the kitchen as she stalks over to the wine rack. Estella pulls out the darkened bottle, it clanging against metal.
She meets Gerard's widened eyes, hair all over her face. One dark eye sticks out, wide and daunting. Estella stands over the rack, back hunched and red lips curled into a snarl. Her perfect white teeth stick out and poke her lips, smeared with makeup. Her composed facade breaks and Gerard sees through her for just that moment before she whips back around.
The door to her office slams shut, shaking the entire apartment.
*
WOOOOHOOOO UPDATE BAYBAYZ
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YOU ARE READING
Belonging
Fanfiction"It didn't feel right, nothing did anymore, the names and faces would jumble out through his ears at night anyway. They didn't fit right there, and Gerard knows they never will." YOU ASKED FOR IT AND I GAVE IT TO YOU. I DON'T KNOW WHY EVERYONE WANT...
