Work Text:
Gerard never replaced the burned-out bulb in his room before he left for the fall term, so it's only after he's slapped uselessly at the lightswitch, dumped his backpack and duffel on the floor, stumbled across the random piles of junk occupying the carpet, and turned on the desk lamp, that he turns around and sees Mikey stretched out on his bed. Mikey is lying on top of the covers, his head on the spare blanket and his feet angled to the side of Gerard's pillow, and when he sees Gerard he lifts his face off his arms and blinks against the light. His hair is flat in all the wrong places, and the frame of his glasses has crushed a weird shape into his cheek.
"Gee," he says. "Y'late."
"Shh," Gerard tells him, "go back to sleep."
"Was waiting for you."
"I'm home now."
Mikey yawns a huge, facesplitting gape and then gives Gerard a smile. Gerard goes around to the other end of the bed, shucks his outermost jacket, and toes off his shoes. By the time he's settled against the headboard, with his sketchbook propped on his drawn-up knees, Mikey's eyes have slid closed again. Gerard sets the point of his pen against the page and begins to draw.