Pairing: Pikey (Pete/Mikey)

          Unbeknownst to the boys, that peace wouldn't last long. It was later that evening when the death threats started coming in. How they got past the filters on the site, none of them could figure out. It was perplexing at best, scary at worst. The brunt of the messages were focused on Gerard, but a few of the stragglers found their way to Bob, Ray, and Frank. Surprisingly, Mikey had about half as many as their front-man. "It's gotta be personal, then. It's not about the band. It's more about Gerard. That's probably why they went after Mikey too." Ray said, having closed the site after reading two of his. His face was pale. If Ray was pale, Mikey was completely colorless. He was anxious and looking; not at the screen, but at his brother. Gerard looked concerned, but he was looking at Mikey. Pete was confused.

          "Well, you guys have gotten these kinds of messages before, haven't you?" Frank shook his head.

          "Yeah, but never in this concentration and never so suddenly. We're in the middle of the tour, we haven't gotten any particularly bad press lately, and we haven't done any interviews in the last two weeks." He looked murderously at his screen. "Motherfucker threatened my dogs. I need to call Jamia."

          "The timing doesn't make sense." Gerard continued. "The timing doesn't make sense and there's nothing in the messages that says exactly why they want us dead. Usually we get called fags or emo freaks or something. With this it's more like whoever this is expects us to magically know what we did to piss them off." He glared darkly at his own laptop, much like Frank had. "When they're not too busy threatening me and accusing me of whatever, mine specifically mention Mikey and Lindsey."

          "We need to either cancel the next few shows or beef up security." Mikey said decisively, moving to sit next to Gerard rather than across from him. Gerard slung an arm around his shoulders. "I don't like this. It's too weird and they seem pretty goddamn determined." He looked at his brother. "Mine all mention you in some way. No one else but me and you. And they quoted some of the lyrics. Particularly from 'This is How I Disappear'. It's like they're trying to… relate the music to what they know about us or something." Frank twitched at this and looked at them.

          "I got a lot of mentions of 'House of Wolves'." They turned to Ray.

          "I got mostly the first album, but…" They all focused harder on him. He went a little paler and shook his head. "One message was about nothing but 'The Ghost of You'. The music video. They were talking about how they wished it was real. They described it in as much detail as they could. And-" He shot an apologetic look at the Ways, "-they said that they wished Mikey had really died. Among other things." Ray's lips sealed themselves after that; he looked like he might be sick. Gerard looked murderous.

          "What the fuck?!" Gerard shouted. Mikey slipped off the seat, shooting a meaningful look at Frank.

          "I'm gonna go back to the bunks and call Brian and Worm about security. Bob, can you log onto our profiles and forward some of the messages to Brian's email so he can figure out whether or not we should cancel any of the shows?" Bob nodded and pulled his laptop back toward him as Frank took Mikey's seat next to Gerard and Ray sat back, covering his face with his hands and looking tired.

          "We're not cancelling any fucking shows." Gerard spoke with an eerie calm, his face blank and set. "That's probably all they want. We're not mentioning this to the press, and we're not doubling security. We can add a few more guys, tell them to be on the lookout, have the entrances and exits carefully monitored and have more careful checks of bags and stuff for people coming into the buildings, but we're not doing anything that'll be conspicuous." Pete was about to protest, looking mutinous, when Mikey stepped in again.

          "We'll do whatever the fuck it takes to keep you safe." His strong language was at odds with his quiet, even tone. "And you'll shut up about it. Letting this asshole know he got into our heads is a small price to pay to keep you safe. If you fight me on this I'll call mom. If that doesn't work, I swear to god, I will drug you and lock you in a goddamn basement in the ass-end of nowhere until the end of time." Gerard's mouth dropped open, and Frank hid his surprise behind a quickly chirped "I'll give you a hand with that". Ray lowered his hands to stare contemplatively at his bassist and Bob's head swiveled between the brothers like he was watching a ping pong match. Mikey left the room. Pete followed wordlessly.

          After a long and drawn out conversation with Brian (in which Mikey was thoroughly interrogated), and a shorter and much more authoritative one with Worm (Mikey basically gave him a summary and told him to talk to Brian, but gave him free rein to do whatever he felt necessary to protect the band) Mikey hung up his phone and rubbed his eyes. Pete tugged him into their bunk and climbed in after him. For a long time, all they did was look at each other. Eventually, Pete tugged Mikey forward until his face was resting on Pete's shoulder. Pete wrapped an arm around Mikey's shoulders and buried his free hand in short strands of dark hair. Mikey clutched the back of Pete's shirt in return. They weren't bothered for the rest of the evening.

          Brian chose not to cancel any of the shows, but did give Worm license to add as much security as he thought was necessary, letting the expert decide how much of a threat the messages really were. Worm; to Gerard's outrage, doubled security. "Need I remind you that they threatened your brother too? This isn't just about you, Gerard. It's a lot bigger than that." Worm finally said. Gerard, surprised, closed his mouth. Gerard's rage vanished. Gerard looked worriedly at Mikey. Gerard turned into a mother hen. Mikey glared at Worm. Worm grinned and walked away.