There's A Lot of Vampires Out There;

[soulfulfishbowl]

Frank/Gerard, brief Mikey/Ray
NC17 for violence, sex, language and vampires.


There's a Lot of Vampires Out There

Uptown New York – 2025

Gerard's been looking over the same map, outstretched over his desk beneath countless half empty coffee mugs, for hours now. There's a torn sheet filled with red circle stickers and only a few of them are missing, dotted out across the map to mark the places Gerard's already been; Chicago, New York, New Jersey and Philadelphia – just to name a few. There's only one orange sticker on the map, just next to Philadelphia, because it's the only place so far they've managed to find any humans.

These days it's hard to get around, hard to get the time off work without raising too much suspicion and Gerard's running out of excuses fast; after all how many weddings can a family have in just one year? Gerard still has to work as much as possible, all this travelling takes money of which they're quickly running out of, and with Frank's record it's hard for him to find any decent work.

It's not Frank's fault though, not really. He's still young, and back when he was even younger he had a temper like a match in a gas tank and a severe hatred for any type of authority figure. But he's passionate and determined which is probably what attracted Gerard to him in the first place five years ago. Gerard rubs a hand over his tired face, five years…has it really been that long? Yes, it has, because it's been six years since Gerard last saw Mikey.

Mikey had been gone for just under a year when Gerard met Frank. He pulled himself out of the rain one night and in to some godforsaken back street bar where the booze was cheap and the music loud. Gerard had been on the same destructive path all year; get drunk, go home, go to work and then do it all again.

Frank was in a bar fight, tearing through meat heads and baring his teeth, just a short slim guy with ripped jeans blocking and matching every punch that came his way. Of the many men that launched themselves at Frank's hissing fury, none of them managed to floor him, and at the end of the night Gerard was the only person left sat at the bar, staring at the bottom of his empty glass.

"Beer," Frank said, slumping down on the next stool.

The bar tender shakily handed Frank the uncapped bottle, leaving the money Frank slapped on the bar in its place next to the over flowing ashtray.

"You not in the mood to fight?" Frank asked, nudging his elbow against Gerard's.

Gerard shrugged. "Not in the mood to live."

"Good job we're all dead then," Frank replied and Gerard looked up to see his crooked, bloody smile. "Frank," he offered.

"Gerard."

Frank took a huge gulp of his beer, drinking half of the bottle in just a few seconds. "Well, Gerard," he said, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. "I've got no place to stay tonight and you've got pretty eyes….wanna take me home?"

So Gerard did, and he fucked Frank almost through his bedroom floor, scratching at his chest and biting Frank's shoulders until they came, hard and fast. Frank's eyes shone when he climaxed, turning a deep, almost black colour and it fascinated Gerard, so much so that he continued to fuck Frank for the rest of that week just to see that dark shimmer again.

After a week, Frank told Gerard he was going to leave the next day. He never did.

Gerard just got used to having Frank around after that. At first it was just another body in his apartment, someone to fuck and get drunk with after work and on weekends. But then they began to talk and Gerard even found himself opening up a little, more and more every day until gradually, Frank knew everything there was to know about Gerard, and even some things he didn't even know about himself.

It wasn't until a year later that Gerard realised that what he had with Frank was more than just a decent living/fucking arrangement for them both.

Gerard awoke from some horrible dream, screaming and sweating as the sunlight curled around the edges of the black out shades. Frank pressed his hand to Gerard's forehead and shushed him back in to a lying position. He kissed all over Gerard's cold body, smearing the beads of sweat and licking them away until he finally got to Gerard's lips.

When he kissed Gerard, it was the most intense thing that Gerard had ever felt. Frank's tongue curled around his, stroking the roof of Gerard's mouth and seeking out all the little places that made Gerard sigh, licking at the tips of Gerard's sharp teeth. Frank's mouth always had a tangy sort of taste, like he'd been biting his own lips all day (which he usually had been). He pinned Gerard's hands by his head and slid between his legs, kissing Gerard deeper still and rubbing their bodies together until they were both moaning and gasping in to one another's mouths.

After they came and Gerard watched Frank's eyes shine again, Frank cleaned them both up with his discarded t-shirt, mopping at the mess on Gerard's stomach as he continued to feather his lips over Gerard's neck until he fell asleep again.

The next night when he awoke, Gerard watched Frank sleep for another hour or so before finally coming to the conclusion that even through all his days of mental and emotional self torture, Frank and his flammable temper, explosive fucking and shining eyes had managed to crash through Gerard's steel cage of a chest.

When Frank finally woke, Gerard told him all about his younger brother Mikey for the first time - and Frank listened intently to every word.



"How long have you been staring at that thing?" Frank asks, breaking through Gerard's deep thought. He looks up to see Frank smile, leaning down to set a fresh cup of coffee in front of Gerard. Gerard peers down at the murky liquid as the thick red swirls settle with the rest of the coffee. It smells amazing.

"Thanks," Gerard says in a gruff voice. "And, uh…I'm not sure."

"Too long," Frank answers for him. "That's how long. Now come to bed, sunrise will be here soon."

Gerard rubs at his eyes and nods. "Yeah, ok. I'll be there in five minutes."

"Oh, no," Frank says as he grabs at Gerard's elbow and pulls him up from the chair, giving Gerard just a moment to grab his coffee mug, "I've heard that bullshit before. You're coming to bed now; we can human hunt some more tomorrow when you get home from work."

~

Gerard leaves Frank in bed the next night, because sometimes he likes to let Frank sleep in. Frank clutches Gerard's pillow and pulls it to his chest and Gerard has to smile because, fuck. For such a punk ass Frank sure as hell is adorable. He stirs a little in his sleep, but doesn't wake.

When Gerard is dressed, he grabs his car keys off the dresser and kisses Frank's temple softly before leaving.

Gerard hates the parking level of the apartment complex, it's all the way down in a concrete basement and the way that Gerard's every move echoes off the walls gives him the creeps – well, as much as you can be creeped out in this world. His BMW is nestled snugly between an SUV and a Range Rover, it's black shiny surface standing out against the row of silver cars. He flips the lock button and the car beeps, lights flickering as Gerard pulls the driver side door open.

Gerard doesn't exactly love his job. He's just paper pushing for some big corporate company that stands for everything he hates about the world today. Vladimir Corporations own over seventy percent of the country's blood banks and blood research facilities, and with the constant need for blood from all food companies – along with over ninety five percent of the world's population, nobody dared question it when Alec Vladimir (head of Vladimir Co.) acted like he owned the earth.

Alec Vladimir was the type of man you didn't want to get on the wrong side of, or any side of for that matter. With his expensive suits, rat-like face and slicked back brown hair everything about him just reeked of power mad creep. Gerard's been working for Vladimir for eight years now, but he's only ever seen Alec Vladimir in the flesh two or three times. His huge office is on the sixtieth floor, but Gerard's never been past level forty.

After parking in another concrete basement, Gerard takes the elevator to level nine. His desk is at the back of the long, grey room, the only desk not to be partly blocked by partition walls. Gerard's the head paper pusher of level nine, and from his large dark desk he watches over all the other paper pushers until the end of the working night.

"Good evening, Mr. Way," Gerard hears in an overly chirpy voice as his young and overly enthusiastic (if not slightly clumsy) receptionist, Amy, quickly stands up from her desk, almost tripping over herself in the process.

"Hello, Amy," Gerard replies with an exasperated sigh. "Any messages?"

Amy fumbles through the messages on her desk, scrambling to gather the many post it notes that clutter her computer screen. She hands them over with a bright smile before turning back to her desk and picks up a take away coffee cup. "Oh, and the runner brought this for you."

Gerard accepts the cup along with the messages and smiles. The smell of fresh coffee and blood makes his fangs tingle and he licks his lips quickly. "Thank you, Amy," he says because he knows full well the runner didn't bring the coffee – Amy ran out ten minutes before Gerard arrived to Gerard's favourite coffee shop, just like she does and has gone every day for the past two years when she first became his receptionist.

"No problem," she smiles back, her pale fingers twitching and sliding together. "I'll be here if you need anything." Gerard nods in her direction and turns to his desk, still feeling her eyes on him until he sits down and she scuttles off to her own desk again.

Amy's harmless, really. She's sweet and smiley but none of it's fake, and Gerard really likes that about her – even if she does spend the majority of the working night staring at him from behind her computer screen. One time Gerard licked drops of coffee off his fingers and he swears she almost died…again.

At lunch Gerard eats at his desk, two cups of coffee and a blood beets sandwich. It's over priced but that's how it goes these days, the more blood content something has, the higher the price – so it's a good thing this job pays well. Sometimes Gerard wonders how the poor cope in this world, but then with companies like Vladimir there's not exactly a shortage of jobs these days.

A memo comes through just after lunch that sends the room in to some what of a panic. Vladimir is to be meeting with the biggest scientific research company in the country in the next few days, and all applicable documents must be drawn up immediately. Gerard wants to smash his face into his desk, but instead he takes in a deep breath and texts Frank quickly.

Be home late xo

…

By the time Gerard gets out of the office, there's not much left of the night. He's hungry as hell, so he stops off to pick up a couple of extra rare burgers from Frank's favourite take–out as a sort of peace offering. The chances of Frank actually cooking for himself are as close to zero as you could possibly get. He's as good in the kitchen as he is around the rest of the house and Gerard thinks it's a pretty good job he makes up for it in the bedroom.

In fact, Frank more than makes up for it, and just the thought has Gerard shifting in the driver's seat, adjusting his dress pants as he tries to concentrate on the dark road ahead. Maybe if he plays his cards right, he can get a demonstration after dinner. Or maybe even before…he's not picky.

"Hey," Frank says as Gerard slides in quietly through the door. "How was work?"

"Ugh, long," Gerard groans, dropping the take-out bag on to the kitchen counter.

Frank sniffs, nostrils flaring as he licks his lips. "Something smells good."

Gerard pushes the bag further across the counter towards Frank. "Got your favourite."

Frank grins and attacks the bag, pulling out the burger and ripping off the paper before sinking his fangs in to the bread and meat. He makes an appreciative moaning sound. "I love you," he says through a mouthful of food.

Smiling back, Gerard tucks in to his food while mentally high fiving himself for his brilliant decision, because Frank doesn't even seem to care that he's spent most of the night alone. Frank tears through his burger in only a minute or so, and when he's through he rounds the counter and starts eyeing up Gerard's own dinner. When he breaks out the pouty eyes, Gerard laughs and gives in.

"Alright, enough with the wounded puppy look," he says, pushing the last bite of his burger in to Frank's mouth. Frank grins and he's got bread and blood stuck to his teeth. Gerard leans in and licks at the blood on the base of one of Frank's fangs.

Humming, Frank licks back against Gerard's tongue before curling his fingers in to the hair at the back of Gerard's head and pulling him in for a proper kiss. Gerard likes it when Frank kisses like this, hungry and demanding as his hand presses hard against the base of Gerard's skull, forcing the kiss to be deeper (not that Gerard needs much convincing). Frank's all teeth when he kisses like this, scraping his bottom set up and over Gerard's bottom lip until he can latch on to the top one and suck, leaving Gerard panting again.

Frank starts to un-tuck Gerard's dress shirt from his trousers, scratching his nails against the pale skin once he gets at it.

"So I'm forgiven for being home late?" Gerard says lowly after licking across Frank's lips.

"It wasn't your fault," Frank replies, running his cold hand further up Gerard's chest. "But if you're really all torn up about it, you could always take me to bed and let me fuck you through the headboard."

Gerard moans as Frank flicks a thumb over his nipple. "Fuck."

"Was that a yes?" Frank asks, eyebrows quirking devilishly.

Gerard snakes his hand down to Frank's crotch and presses the heel of his palm against it before squeezing. Frank's mouth falls open in a silent moan. "Was that?" Gerard whispers, because in all their time together Gerard's learnt to use Frank's own dirty tricks against him.

Frank pulls at Gerard's hair and growls. "Bedroom…now," he demands.


The day shades haven't been activated yet, which means they've still got plenty of time before the sun comes up. Frank's already got both of their shirts off before he pushes Gerard back on to the bed, both of them shuffling across the mattress on their knees as they start to attack the other's pants, Gerard pulling open Frank's jeans and Frank yanking at the shiny buttons on Gerard's dress pants.

When Frank coaxes Gerard on to his back he strips him of his trousers, sliding them down Gerard's legs and flinging them back over his shoulder. Gerard grips at the soft sheets, smiling down at Frank as he lowers his lips to Gerard's stomach. He licks at the cool skin, his wet tongue webbing saliva along the hairs that trail down and disappear in to Gerard's boxers.

"Frankie," Gerard gasps, hips rising involuntarily off the bed. He's already hard and Frank's got a tight grip on the very top of Gerard's thigh.

As Frank slinks his way up Gerard's body, Gerard grabs a hold of Frank's jeans and starts to push them down. He's trying to use his feet to get them the majority of the way down, but Frank's nipping along Gerard's shoulder, closer and closer towards his neck and so Gerard's mind is going a little fuzzy.

Finally, Frank kicks his jeans off and straddles Gerard, tangling a hand in to his dark hair and using it to pull Gerard's head back, exposing his long pale throat. He licks along the supple flesh, imagining how it would feel to taste a pulse thrumming away beneath Gerard's skin. When he finally bites down, hard but not hard enough to break the skin, Gerard moans and grabs on to the sheets with one hand and Frank's bicep with the other.

Neck biting isn't necessarily a vampire kink. Frank doesn't mind it, would never really complain about it, but it doesn't get him as worked up as it does Gerard. With Gerard you only have to so much as blow on his neck and he's writhing beneath you, moaning and begging for more.

Frank grins in to Gerard's neck as Gerard moans even louder, and he can feel the sound vibrate through the skin. He darts his tongue out to taste, closing his eyes and pretending it’s a pulse.

"Fuck me," Gerard chokes, bucking up and grinding their hips together. Frank pushes down against Gerard's body, teeth releasing Gerard's flesh so he can moan, eyes open and shining.

"I'm gonna," Frank replies, pushing himself back on to his knees so he can stare down at Gerard's spread out body. He drags his nails from Gerard's chest to his stomach and moves further down his body, squeezing Gerard through his boxers. "Turn over," Frank demands, "and get on your knees."

The authoritive voice he uses sends a shiver through Gerard's whole body. As much as he loves to pound Frank in to the mattress, he loves it when Frank holds him down and just fucks him.

Gerard does as he's told, turning on to his front and scrambling quickly to his knees, grabbing the headboard with both hands as he hears Frank slipping out of his boxers. He shuffles closer, crowding Gerard against the headboard until he starts to lean over it, his chest almost pressing against the wall.

"Spread your legs," Frank whispers after slipping Gerard's own boxers down to his thighs and leaving them there. Gerard moans, spreading his legs the best he can until the elastic of he boxers starts to bunch against his skin. He hears the pop of a lube cap, and Gerard loves Frank's stealth because he didn't even see him reach for it on the nightstand.

Soon there's a cold wetness sliding slowly down Gerard's ass crack, and his breath hitches as he shifts. Frank rubs his slick fingertips around Gerard's hole, kissing across the back of his neck as he does so. Gerard subconsciously moves his ass back, desperate for more. Frank laughs, moving his lips to just behind Gerard's ear.

"You want it so bad, don't you?"

Gerard moans. "Fuck yeah."

Biting on Gerard's lobe, Frank slips a finger in to Gerard, pushing against the muscle until his finger in completely consumed. Gerard hangs his head back, mouth open and barely making noise. After moving his finger around a little, Frank slips the second one in along with it and Gerard rocks back on to Frank's hand, making a desperate needing sound.

"You want more?" Frank breathes and Gerard nods frantically, gripping the headboard and pushing back again. Frank presses his fingers deeper in to Gerard, thrusting them hard and fast until Gerard starts to feel it burn. It makes him feel light headed and he loves it.

"Fuck me," Gerard grunts out. "Fuck me, Frankie. Now…please…"

Frank laughs and licks a wet stripe up Gerard's back, withdrawing his fingers so quickly that it makes Gerard gasp.

Gerard knows when Frank starts to touch himself because he makes little whining noises. He's holding back, only slicking himself up the right amount and not riding in to his fist like he wants to. Gerard looks back over his shoulder.

"Come on, baby," he says. "I need it," and fuck, he really does need it.

Frank pulls on Gerard's hair hard, making him bare his teeth. "Pushy," he growls and Gerard smirks in response.

Making it his mission to wipe that smirk off Gerard's face, Frank grabs his lover's ass with both hands and pushes the cheeks apart. Gerard starts to groan and Frank presses himself against Gerard's back, his slippery cock rubbing over Gerard's hole. Gerard curses Frank, "Damn you," and it's Frank's turn to smirk.

"We're already damned, baby," he whispers with hot muggy breath before quickly grabbing the base of his dick and slipping the head steadily inside Gerard. They moan in unison because it's tight, cool and wonderful. Gerard feels full and Frank feels consumed.

Gerard lets his head drop back on to Frank's shoulder, and Frank can't miss the opportunity to press his lips to Gerard's throat while he's buried and still inside of him. Gerard's hands flail a little on the headboard again before one goes back to grabbing the wood and the other shoots behind to Frank's hair.

After a moment, Gerard starts to push his hips towards the wall, encouraging Frank to start moving. Frank holds Gerard's hips firmly, fingers pressing hard against the skin as he shifts his weight on his knees and pulls out, long and slow as Gerard lets out a shaky breath. When Frank pushes back in all the way, Gerard's head drops forward again and Frank starts biting at his shoulder, nipping the skin as he uses his hands to move Gerard's hips forward and back off of his dick.

Finding a rhythm that Gerard's satisfied with can sometimes be a task. He's a demanding little fucker and a real diva when it comes to exactly how he wants to be fucked. This time though, he leaves Frank with little instruction, taking whatever Frank's willing to give – which is everything, as always.

"Yeah," Gerard moans, one palm pressed against the cold wall, fingernails scraping flecks of white plaster away. "Oh, fuck, Frank just like that," he nods, pushing himself back and pulling himself forward, concentrating on the grainy feeling of the plaster beneath his fingernails to keep himself from coming.

Frank slides his forehead across Gerard's shoulder and presses against the top of his back, staring down as he watches himself disappear in Gerard's tight ass. It's almost too much and he forces himself to look away as he pulls out again and shoves back in. Gerard moans appreciatively and Frank squeezes his hips.

"Take it," Frank demands. "Fuck, Gerard. I love watching you take it."

"More," Gerard gasps, one hand finally dropping to his leaking cock. "Fuck me."

Frank nods, digging his fingertips in to Gerard's pale flesh as he starts to pound relentlessly in to him, it's not as deep as before but its harder and the angles are all over the place, pushing against just the right spots that make Gerard call out and buck forward in to his own hand.

"Frankie, fuck I'm gonna, gonna come…so soon," Gerard says in broken breaths.

"Wait," Frank pleads. "Almost, there," and he slams himself against Gerard until the bed starts to shake. "Almost…almost…"

Gerard squeezes once and then twice on his cock and then he's coming, long and draining as the come splatters against the headboard and sprays back all over his boxers, the waistband nestled just below his dick, pressing his balls back.

Frank's fingers curl around the back of Gerard's neck and he comes just a moment later as Gerard tightens and vibrates around his dick. He empties himself in to Gerard and he can feel it on the fronts of his own thighs as it starts to leak back out of Gerard's ass and on to the bed.

"Fuuuck," Gerard drawls in a slow breath. "You're good at that."

Frank grins and licks at Gerard's shoulder before he pulls out steadily, sighing contently. He rubs a soft hand over one of Gerard's ass cheeks and leans forward to kiss the top of his jaw.

"You're gorgeous," Frank tells Gerard, arms coiling around his waist. Gerard laughs, but it’s a sweet laugh, a laugh he often uses to thank Frank when he can't quite find the words.

They use Gerard's boxers to clean most of the mess up, swiping it over their stomachs, legs and quickly over the headboard. Gerard grimaces and insists that they clean it up properly and Frank promises that he will…later.

Just as they're settling under the sheets, the alarm on the windows beep and the day shades are activated, drowning the room in darkness until the automatic lights flicker on, covering them in a dim glow.

Frank lies on his front and punches the pillows between his arms before resting his head on them, facing Gerard. He smiles sleepily. "So, how come you were home so late?"

Gerard yawns and tucks his arm under his head. "Vladimir is having some big meeting with a medical company, something about going in to business together."

"So you had to get all the paper work ready?" Gerard nods, fighting back another yawn. "Go to sleep," Frank says softy, brushing hair away from Gerard's eyes.

Gerard shakes his head. "I feel bad. I hardly got to see you tonight and then I'm back at work tomorrow."

Frank smiles and shuffles closer, pecking Gerard's lips once he's close enough. "Well you'll just have to make it up to me again tomorrow, won't you?"

Gerard rests his hand on Frank's hips. "With burgers?"

"With your dick," Frank corrects and Gerard laughs, kissing Frank's shoulder before nipping it playfully.

Frank rolls on to his side after another few playful nips and kisses, allowing Gerard to press his face in to Frank's chest and wrap their legs together. Gerard's clingy like an octopus in bed, but Frank could fall asleep on a clothes line so it's not so bad. Plus he likes the way Gerard holds on to him like he really needs him, and it's always nice to feel needed.

~

At work the next night, the panic has slightly dimmed. Gerard sits at his desk and wonders if the staff at the medical company was in the same state the night before. Gerard looks at the clock and sighs. It's not even close to lunch yet, and Gerard's already aching to get back home. Leaving Frank was hard, especially with the way Frank kissed him goodbye – like he didn't want him to go.

Gerard takes another sip of the coffee Amy brought him not too long ago and catches her watching him from the corner of his eye. She's at her desk pretending to be typing on her computer keyboard, but her eyes are fixed to the way Gerard's lips wrap around the lid of the cup. He shifts in his seat and makes eye contact, causing Amy to snap out of her slightly creepy trance, blush, and stare hard at her computer screen again. Gerard smirks behind the cup.

After lunch, another stack of papers gets dropped on Gerard's desk by Amy. She smiles apologetically.

"Sometimes I think that Alec Vladimir is a bit of a slave driver," she says, red nails clicking against edge of Gerard's desk. "Y'think he ever does any paperwork?"

"Well, if he did he probably wouldn't need me," Gerard smiles. "Thanks for the files."

Amy smiles back, slicking a smudge of dark lipstick off one of her fangs as she does so.

Frank calls about an hour before the end of the night. He wants Gerard to pick up some more burgers, ones for before and after he makes Gerard follow through on his second 'make up' promise. Gerard just knows this last hour is going to drag.

…

Surprisingly, the last hour isn't all that bad and Gerard's packing up his desk before he even knows it. He's stood fumbling through his pockets for his car keys when he feels an odd silence fall over the room. Slowly Gerard looks up and he falls back down in to his seat when he sees Alec Vladimir walking straight towards his desk, eyes narrowed and rat-like nose pointing right at him.

"Gerard," he says, his voice even colder than his eyes. Gerard stands up quickly.

"Mr. Vladimir…Sir," he babbles, astonished.

Alec Vladimir pulls up a seat and sets it in front of Gerard's desk before lowering himself on to it. He gestures to Gerard's own seat. "Please, Gerard. Have a seat."

Gerard sits down again, dumbly. He didn't even know Alec Vladimir knew he existed, let alone his name.

"Uh, how can I help you, Sir?"

Alec leans back in the chair and folds his hands neatly in his lap, one leg slung over the other. He peers at Gerard, purses his lips and nods. "I've been watching you for a while now, Gerard," he starts. "You're a good worker."

Gerard wants to glance around the room for cameras, but instead he clicks a pen against his nails. "Thank you, Sir."

Alec shakes his head with a smile that makes Gerard feel uneasy. "Now, I know you think I'm just saying that, but it's true. I've heard great things about you."

"You have?" Gerard asks with a quirked eyebrow, intrigued.

"Of course," Alec grins. "And I've come to a well informed decision that I want you on my team."

Gerard watches the way Alec's skinny shoulders move in his grey suit. "I don't follow," he says, eyes flickering back up to the rat-like face. "I thought I already was a part of the team."

"Ah, don't get me wrong now, Gerard, you're definitely part of the company's team. I want you part of my team."

Gerard drops the pen. "Your team?"

"You know I have the meeting with Saint's Medical Co?" Gerard nods. "I would like you to sit on the meeting as a part of my team. The more people I have around that table looking important," he says as he unfolds his legs and leans forward, hands on Gerard's desk, "the higher I can set my standards. I'm sure I don't need to tell you how high I like my standards."

"I, uh. I don't know what to say, Sir. I'm not sure what you're asking of me." There's something in Gerard's brain that's screaming at him to stop asking questions, just stop right now and take whatever he's offering. It doesn’t take a genius to know that Alec Vladimir is not a man you say no to.

"I'm asking you to be one of the good guys," Alec explains with that eerie grin of his. "Work up on my level, closer to the top of the food chain. It's where people like you belong, Gerard." He pauses to let it all sink in before leaning back in the chair again. "Of course, there are also more financial benefits up on the top floor too."

Gerard's mouth opens and closes a few times. "I…I-"

"Have a think about it," Alec interrupts. "If I see you on the top floor at 7:30pm sharp, then I do. If not…then, well. We'll come to that if it arises."

…

Frank's already sat on the kitchen counter when Gerard gets home. His feet are bare and he swings his legs back and forth, smiling as Gerard walks in with the take-out bags. He reaches out for them with desperate little sounds.

"I'm starving," he complains. Gerard hands them over and Frank sniffs at the bags before moaning appreciatively. "Sweet baby Jesus, those smell so good."

Gerard laughs as Frank tears open the paper on one of the burgers and begins to devour it. "Good?" Frank moans again and nods, mouth full of mashed up meat and bread.

"How was your day?" he says through the food, bits of burger spraying out over his shirt. Gerard makes a face and reaches out to brush the crumbs away.

"It was…uh, interesting."

Frank swallows and cocks an eyebrow before taking another mouthful. "Define interesting."

Gerard makes another face and reaches to brush away more crumbs, but this time Frank bats his hand away. "I had a visitor," he says and then pauses, more for effect than anything else. "Alec Vladimir."

Frank almost chokes on his mouthful. "Fuck," he coughs. "What the hell did Alec Vladimir want with you?"

"He wants me to help out at the meeting tomorrow. I don't know, I'm not really sure what he was asking me to do. I think…I think he offered me a promotion."

"A promotion?" Frank repeats. "Promoted to what?"

Gerard shrugs. "I have no idea. But he said that there's more money in it."

Frank tears the remaining bit of burger in half and pops one half in to Gerard's mouth, watching as he chews it slowly. "That's a good thing, though…isn't it?"

"Yeah, I guess," Gerard replies, nodding.

"But…" Frank starts, because he knows there's going to be a 'but' in there somewhere.

Gerard sighs. "I don't know. A promotion would be great. We could do with the money, maybe even get a bigger place…but it probably means more work and longer hours. If I'm more noticeable to Alec Vladimir then that probably means I won't be able to take a lot of time off."

"To look for Mikey, you mean?" Frank says and Gerard wants to wince, because hearing his brother's name still sort of hurts. He nods instead and watches as Frank lays a hand on his shoulder. He squeezes softly. "You don't have to take the promotion. We don't need a bigger house for me to get lost in while you're at work, earning the big bucks. We can just stay like this and still look for your brother," he pauses to put his other hand on Gerard's other shoulder. "I'm happy just like this."

Gerard settles a hand on Frank's waist. "I know, I'm happy too but Alec Vladimir isn't the kind of guy you say no to. He told me to think about it, but if I say no I could lose my job all together."

Frank scowls. "He can't do that," he protests, even though they both know that Alec Vladimir can do pretty much whatever he wants. Gerard sighs again and Frank leans forward to peck at his thin, pale lips. "We'll think of something," he whispers, foreheads pressed together. "I promise."

Gerard nods and feigns a smile. "I know," and he kisses Frank back, hands gripping tighter on to his waist.

When Frank pulls away, he grabs the bags from the counter next to him. "Wanna eat the rest of these in front of one of those tragically cliché talk shows you love so much?"

"Sure," and Gerard smiles for real this time.

~

At night, Gerard can't stop kissing Frank's shoulder. He's spooning Frank, arms around his waist and lips trailing all over his skin. Gerard's got to get up soon, but he doesn't ever want to move from this spot right here because everything just seems so simple and easy.

Frank stirs a little, but doesn't wake up. Instead Gerard kisses his shoulder again before moving on to the back of Frank's neck, peppering little kisses until Frank whines adorably in his sleep. Gerard smiles and darts his tongue over the short hairs at the base of Frank's skull. When Frank swats a hand back, Gerard giggles.

"Asshole," Frank grumbles and Gerard chuckles.

"Good Night to you too."

"It's sleep time," Frank mumbles.

Gerard sighs, tightening his arm around Frank's waist. "Lucky you."

Frank shifts around, rolling on to his other side until he's facing Gerard. He nuzzles his face against Gerard's jaw and yawns. "Five more minutes."

"I can't be late for work," Gerard tries but Frank shakes his head.

"You're Alec Vladimir's new toy boy; you can do whatever you want." Gerard huffs and swats at Frank's back, but Frank simply laughs and bites Gerard's chin. "I'm kidding; you're far too old to be a toy boy." Gerard swats at him again.

"I'll have you know I'm a catch," he says and peers through half open eyes to find Frank smirking at him.

"Of course you are, you're the sexiest office worker I know."

Gerard rolls his eyes. "I'm the only office worker you know, and if you're going to be a dick then I'm getting up," and he lets Frank go and throws the covers aside to prove his point. Frank's still laughing when he jumps forward and stops Gerard from getting out of bed, clamping his arms around Gerard's side.

"You know I'm screwing with you," he grins. "Now shut up and kiss me or I'm never letting you go."

Gerard's only too happy to comply, turning and pinning Frank to the mattress by his shoulders as they share the night's first kiss, starting quick and frantic but ending up being hard and slow, Frank clawing at Gerard's sides because that boy always wants exactly what he can't have.

Frank groans when Gerard pulls away. "Can't be late," Gerard reiterates through a pant.

"Fine, get up and leave, you corporate slave. I've got plans tonight anyway…"

Gerard arches an eyebrow. "Plans?"

"Yeah, I'm taking your credit card and going food shopping. I'm craving chips and we're out of that expensive dip."

"I can't believe we pay twenty bucks for dip just because it's thirty five percent blood."

Frank grins and shrugs. "What can I say? I'm a boy who knows what he wants."

…

Gerard's on the top floor of the Vladimir building, standing just outside the elevators and itching in his suit jacket. He tugs his cuffs together, even though they're irritating his wrists along with the leather watch Frank bought for him last year.

The elevator doors ding again and Alec Vladimir steps out in a white suit and silk black shirt and tie. He grins with all of his pointy teeth when he sees Gerard because he knows he's got his way.

"Gerard!" he beams. "Good man," and he claps a hand over Gerard's shoulder. "You've made the best decision of your life, my friend." He starts to play with Gerard's tie, tightening it until it grips at his throat in a way he doesn't appreciate. "Now let's get you sat down with the others."

He leads Gerard in to the main conference room where a few men are already standing behind their chairs, staring intently at the door. They all call out their own little greeting as Alec enters whilst eyeing Gerard curiously.

"Good evening, gentlemen. This is Gerard," he introduces, hand still on Gerard's shoulder. "He's the newest member of our team so please listen to his opinions just as much as you listen to mine…but not more!" he adds and the room erupts in to corny laughter that makes Gerard want to gag.

Gerard shakes the hands that are offered to him, only catching half the names…Bill, Adam, Henry or maybe it was Harry? All of the men look oddly the same and it makes Gerard wonder how long it's going to take him to morph in to your typical corporate suit.

Alec taps on the back of a seat which is four seats down from the head of the table. "Your seat is right here," he says to Gerard before taking his own at the top. The rest of the men sit down the length of the table and Gerard stares at the empty chairs opposite him. Alec pours himself a glass of red watery liquid and is just about to take a sip when the phone in front of him buzzes. He presses the red button.

"The Saints are here, Mr. Vladimir," a young female voice says and suddenly, Gerard really misses Amy. She'll probably be sat at her desk right now, coffee going cold as she wonders where Gerard is.

"Send them in," Alec replies, releasing the button and standing from his seat. The others follow suit and so does Gerard, quickly standing as one of the double doors open and five men file in to the room.

Four of the five men take the opposite seats and one of them, a short man with fluffy ginger hair, takes the one at the bottom. Alec nods and the others take their seats.

"Gentlemen," he begins. "I welcome you to Vladimir corporations…these are my associates," and he gestures over to his side of the table.

"Thank you for your hospitality, Alec," the fluffy haired man in his dark grey suit and electric blue tie nods. "We have been looking forward to this interview for quite a while now. I know I speak for everyone at Saints when I say we are looking forward to doing business with you and your company."

The way that this guy talks makes everything he says sound so devious to Gerard, but he can’t think about that too much because he's too busy trying to look like he belongs there.

"I'm glad to hear," Alec says with his hands pressed together on the table. "I've read your initial letter many times, but please, feel free to use this moment to elaborate for my colleagues."

Fluffy haired man smirks in a way that makes Gerard think he and Alec could be related. "Well," he starts, puffing up his chest like a male bird in mating season. "As you probably know, Saints is a Medical Research company, always has been. For a while now, we've been developing a programme and are hoping to run a series of experiments." He stops to glance down the line of men and Gerard stares back at him, looking as interested as he can possibly fake. He's still got no idea what he's doing here or what it is Alec is expecting him to do. Look important, that's what Alec said.

"What kind of experiments, Mr Saint?" the man next to Gerard asks…Henry? Ah, Gerard thinks. Of course the head of Saints Co is called Mr. Saint.

"Human experiments," he says, leaning forward in his seat to search the others' faces for a reaction. Gerard feels a lump in his throat forming as soon as Mr. Saint says that word. "We've always learnt a lot from humans. Our experiments in the past have been successful and essential to the creation and maintaining of our species."

"Of course," Alec inputs. "But humans are now in scarce supply."

"Exactly," Mr. Saint replies with a fat pointed finger. "So this is why we need your help for the next part. We simply do not have the resources ourselves, and naturally, you were the obvious choice here at Vladimir. You have power and connections with the military that are essential to us and crucial if we are to succeed in finding suitable subjects."

"Subjects?" Another man…Adam, Gerard thinks, repeats.

"Yes, test subjects. That's what we need this company for, to find the subjects and bring them back to our facilities in a good enough condition to survive the experiments. We're hoping to be able to create our own brand of blood, as it were. It'd be artificial but every bit as good as the real thing, if not more."

"Why can't you ask the governments for some humans for the experiments? They have blood houses full of them."

Mr. Saint shakes his head. "As Alec said, humans are in scarce supply and the government isn't going to just hand them over without wanting to know every little detail about the experiments. They like to keep them alive for months, even years in some cases. They want the most blood out of every human as possible. And plus, they'll want a cut in, a bigger piece of the pie than any of us and I can't let that happen. Y'see, gentlemen…to me this isn't just about money, it's about life, preserving the species and making sure that we stay at the top of the food chain for the rest of eternity."

The men in the room look from one another, nodding and smiling and Gerard sinks back in to his seat, still wondering what the hell he's even doing here.

"I think I speak for my entire company," Alec begins, "when I say that you have our complete support."

"Excellent," Mr. Saint beams with his tiny, pointy teeth.

"But," Alec starts again making everyone's heads turn to him. "If I am to give you my financial support and a direct link to all of the company's connections, I will need a sure way of knowing my investments are being protected and that the company is not being left out of anything."

Mr. Saint nods slowly. "I understand completely…how do you propose-?"

"Send one of my team with you," Alec interrupts. "I want one of my men with you every step of the way, from the collection of the test subjects to the experiments themselves."

Mr. Saint doesn't look too impressed with the idea as his eyes darken and entwined fingers lock tighter around one and other. "Very well then," he says. "Pick your man."

Alec glances down his line of men and Gerard feels like everyone pushes their chairs back just an inch away from the table all at once. The others looks worried, Gerard feels worried and nervous as hell, collar feeling tighter by the second but before he can think about it he hears – "I'll do it."

It takes Gerard a few moments to realise that it was actually himself who spoke, and the room is now staring at him in somewhat disbelief. Alec's nose points straight at Gerard again and he grins deviously.

"Excellent," he says slowly, dragging out the word with every flick of his tongue.

Mr. Saint clicks at one of his men who quickly slides a thick beige folder out from a thin black briefcase. It gets passed along the table until it rests just in front of Gerard.

"You'll be needing this, then," Mr. Saint says when the file's in front of Gerard. Gerard presses a hand over the blank cover. "Read it well," he continues. "If you're going to be running with my team, you'll need to keep up to speed."

"So, tell me about these military men," Alec said as he tops up his glass from the jug. "I'm fascinated to know how you plan on catching these humans without harming them…"

The words fade out from there for Gerard, because right now he's staring down at the file with only one thing on his mind - Mikey

…

At lunch, Alec's secretary informs Gerard that he can go home early if he'd like to and look over the file in a more comfortable environment. He eyes the young girl in a peculiar way before nodding and closing the file. He throws his keys and phone in to his jacket pocket and gets up quickly from the desk.

It's only a temporary desk opposite Alec's secretary, Joanna, while Alec insists on having the only spare office on the floor redecorated before Gerard uses it. It'll be done by next week, he tells Gerard with an over exaggerated thumbs up.

In the elevator on the way down, Gerard eyes the floor numbers for a second before quickly pressing the number nine. He's been meaning to call down and speak to Amy from the moment he left the meeting, but face to face is always better than over the phone.

When Amy sees Gerard standing in front of her desk, she stands up quickly. "Gerard," she gasps in surprise, knocking over an empty coffee mug. "Where have you been? I was worried. I mean, I – I didn't know if something had happened after last night with Mr. Vladimir."

"I'm fine, Amy," Gerard assures her with a kind tone. "Mr. Vladimir actually offered me a promotion."

Amy smiles. "A promotion? Wow, that's really good Gerard. Congratu - wait," she interrupts herself. "Is that where you've been all day? At your new job?" she asks, looking increasingly pissed off. Gerard nods slowly. "Oh, I see," she continues, taking a step back from her desk. "So I suppose you've been in a new office, sat at a new desk and talking with your new secretary?" she pauses but doesn't give Gerard time to answer. Instead, she opens her top drawer and begins to pull her things out. "No, that's fine. Just fine, Mr. Way," she says, slapping her books down on the desk. A few people start to glance over, and Gerard looks nervously back at them. "I mean, of course they'd give you a new secretary, someone younger I'll bet or maybe even some battle-axe who's been here since the dawn of time, far more experienced than stupid little me. No, that's just fine, fine bloody fine-"

"Amy," Gerard interrupts, placing a hand over hers as she goes to pick up a magazine. Her face shoots up to Gerard's instantly, stunned. "I don't have a new secretary. You are my secretary. You'll be moving your things up next week when my office is ready."

Her face is blank and she opens and closes her mouth like a fish, trying to find a few words but she can't – not right now, anyway. Instead, she pulls Gerard in over the desk and hugs him, arms around his shoulders as he places an awkward hand at her side.

When she finally lets him go, she smoothes her jacket down and smiles nervously. "Thank you," says quietly before opening her drawer and piling her things back in.

Gerard grins. "Not a problem. I'll get Mr. Vladimir's assistant to e-mail you everything down tomorrow." Amy nods. "See you tomorrow."

…

Frank peers out from behind the refrigerator door with raised eyebrows when Gerard walks in.

"What are you doing back?" he says with a mouthful of what looks like cake. "You didn't get fired did you?"

Gerard shakes his head. "No, Mr. Vladimir said I could go home early."

Frank swallows and offers a half eaten cupcake to Gerard. "Want some?" he says. "The blood icing is amazing." Gerard allows Frank to feed him a bite. He was right, the icing really is amazing, tangy and sweet. "So, how was the meeting?"

Gerard watches as Frank pulls a bottle of juice from the fridge. "It was…interesting."

Frank cocks his head to the side. "Am I going to need to sit down?"

Gerard sucks in a breath. "Probably."

…

It takes Gerard somewhere close to an hour to tell Frank the whole tale, from the feeling of nausea outside the meeting room to the way Mr. Saint and Mr. Vladimir smile eerily the same way. He tells Frank about the proposal, the experiments and the human hunting.

Frank can't help but notice how…well, how excited Gerard's eyes look when he talks about it. Frank knows what's going through Gerard's head, and it's not long before he starts talking about it.

"Just think," Gerard says, pulling a foot up on to the couch and tucking it beneath him. "It's going to make finding Mikey a hundred times easier."

"But, Gerard, what are you going to do if you actually do find him?" Gerard looks confused.

"I don't follow."

"These people, this army or whatever, their job is to capture these humans and take them back to be experimented on. They're not just going to let us walk away with Mikey."

Gerard's face is blank for a few moment as he nibbles on his bottom lip, thinking. "We'll run," he finally says. "Just grab Mikey and run."

"Where to? And how am I even going to be able to go with you?" Frank asks, resting a hand on Gerard's knee. "We couldn't come back here. We couldn't even come back to the city or any city for that matter. You've said it yourself, Alec Vladimir is one of the most powerful men in this country. He's not going to take being screwed over lightly."

Gerard shrugs. "Would he really care? It's just one human."

Sighing, Frank shakes his head slowly. "It's more than that to him. He's put his trust in you. He's going to be pissed." Gerard's tongue runs across his teeth and Frank can see that dejected look in his eye. "Lucky for you, though," Frank adds quickly with a playful sort of smile, "having authoritive figures pissed off at you just so happens to be my speciality."

Gerard grins and ends up laughing softly, covering Frank's hand with his own when Frank squeezes his knee. "I guess I've got a lot to think through…"

"You?" Frank says, eyes narrowed in a none threatening way. "Doing this by yourself, then?"

Gerard smiles softly. "No, I guess not. I'm sorry."

"Gerard, I want you to find your brother and I want to be the one to help you. So we've got a lot to think about." Gerard lifts Frank's hand to his face and kisses the knuckles before nodding. "Alright then. Let's have a look at that file."

Gerard grabs the file from the table and hands it over. Frank starts at the beginning, pulling out the initial e-mail from Saints Medical Co while Gerard pulls out some large photographs from the back.

"They're starting in South America," Gerard says after a minute. "Apparently there's been a few sightings of some small groups of humans travelling together."

Frank flips through a couple more papers. "That makes sense, hotter and more light, longer days. There are a lot less vampires down south." Frank plucks out a letter. "Hey, they're using people from the VAA to track the humans?" Gerard looks up from the photographs and nods.

"I guess so, yeah. Why?"

"I've got some friends who serve there."

"Really?"

"Yeah, some guys I used to drink with. They've gotten me out of a few sticky situations. We go way back. I'll give one of them a call and see if they can get me in."

Gerard recoils. "Get you in?" he repeats.

"Well, yeah. How else am I going to go with you?"

"Frank," Gerard says sternly. "These people, they're like the army. Army as in discipline, discipline as in you have to do as you are told," he smirks even though they both know it's true.

"Hey," Frank protests. "I'm an expert at following instructions."

"Uh huh…" Gerard drawls.

Frank shifts forward, grabbing Gerard by the tie and pulling him in quickly. "Have you ever told me harder or faster and I've not complied?" he growls.

Gerard groans a little, biting hard on his bottom lip as Frank continues to smirk in his face. "I doubt you'll be receiving orders like that in the VAA," he says quietly.

Frank bobs an eyebrow. "You never know," he replies before pushing Gerard back away from him. "So, I'll give James a call tomorrow and see what he can do. I'm sure it'll be no problem, those guys should be pretty high up now, they've been in the forces a while."

Gerard sits back in to the couch. "So you're going to join the fucking army?"

"I see no other way," Frank replies. "I doubt Alec would let you take an assistant that he's never met or seen before. Plus, with James and Mike in on it, I'll be able to stay close to you without anyone getting too suspicious."

"In on it?" Gerard repeats with a frown. "I'm not sure I like that."

Frank holds up a hand. "Gee, don't even worry about it. I don't have to tell them the whole story and besides, neither of them are exactly squeaky clean." Gerard still doesn't look convinced, but Frank shifts forward and pecks his lover's lips quickly. "Look, if I didn't have total confidence in these guys I wouldn't have even mentioned them. I know finding your brother is the most important thing in the world to you, and I want to do everything I can to help you do that. I'd do anything for you…" he ends in a sort of whisper and Gerard's frown slowly slips away, replaced by a delighted little smile.

"One of," Gerard says with a hand on the side of Frank's face.

"What?"

"Finding my brother is one of the most important things in my life," he stops to rub his thumb against the bridge of Frank's nose. "You're the other."

Frank makes a little squeak, because as much as he likes to think he's a bad ass, Gerard knows how much Frank melts inside when Gerard gushes hopelessly about how much he means.

"Fucking sap," Frank mumbles, rolling his eyes but he's smiling. Gerard pulls him in closer.

"Shut up and kiss me, asshole."

…

Gerard drags Frank to the bedroom, not that he needs much convincing, pushing them both down on to the bed without breaking the kiss they started in the living room. With Frank on his back Gerard pins him to the mattress, one hand in his hair and the other brushing over Frank's hip. Frank arches up against Gerard, pressing their bodies together.

"Gerard," Frank whispers, pulling Gerard down by his tie and kissing him hungrily. He makes quick work of the knot before sliding the material out of the collar of Gerard's shirt. When that's gone Frank thumbs over the buttons, popping them out of their threaded slits until he can finally work the shirt over and off.

Gerard's tongue darts all over Frank's lips until Frank's mouth opens and he sucks on it. Gerard tastes like icing and blood and Frank moans, holding the sides of Gerard's head to get more.

"It's not going to change anything," Gerard breathes when Frank lets his tongue go. He presses their foreheads together, closing his eyes momentarily before staring right in to Frank's. "Finding my brother…it's not going to change how I feel about you."

Frank stares back for a moment or so. "That's good to know," he replies and Gerard dips back in to kiss him again.

"You're my world," Gerard tells the inside of Frank's mouth. Frank pulls softly at Gerard's hair and nods. "Fuck, I love you so much, Frankie."

Frank arches up again, tugging a little harder at Gerard's hair. "I love you too. Now fuck me," he gasps. "Please fuck me, Gerard."

Gerard does exactly as Frank asks, stripping them both of the rest of their clothes and fucking Frank right in to the mattress. He insists on kissing Frank the entire way through, his chest and shoulders and all over his face, he never wants to stop. Frank rocks back up against Gerard's every thrust, head pressed back in to the pillow, cursing under his breath whenever he's not begging Gerard for more.

When they come, Gerard clings to Frank so tightly it hurts, nails digging in to Frank's arms as they come, long and hot all over each other.

As Gerard walks naked to the bathroom to turn on the shower, Frank waits and watches from the bed. Gerard's got a dizzyingly happy smile and he walks like he's a little drunk – and Frank can't help but be the tiniest bit jealous that Gerard's actually got someone else out there in the world, someone to look for and fight for.

Gerard's all Frank's got, and Frank hopes that Gerard's always going to remember that, even while searching for his brother.

~

It's going to be at least a week, maybe even two, before this project gets off the ground and is catapulted in to South America. Gerard spends his days at work gathering as much information as possible, constantly e-mailing people from The Saints Medical Co to find out everything there is to know about these experiments, their research and any evidence they've had of human hide outs.

Gerard knows the people at Saints are starting to get aggravated, they never even wanted Gerard on this trip in the first place and they're not very welcoming to the thought of an outsider knowing everything there is to know. Never the less he's got Alec Vladimir's word behind him – and no one says no to Alec Vladimir.

Every lunch time, Amy brings Gerard a cup of his favourite coffee, and every time Gerard grins up at her with all his teeth.

"What would I do without you?" he gushes.

"Get your own damn coffee," Amy replies with a grin before taking the morning's empty mug and leaving again.


It's Friday after work when Gerard comes home to find Frank practically waiting behind the front door for him. Gerard jumps as Frank pounces, grabbing Gerard by the arm and dragging him in to the kitchen.

"So, I called James earlier," he starts, leaving Gerard next to the counter as he opens the fridge and pulls out a tray of extra rare steaks. "We talked for like, two hours, about everything. I sort of briefed him about the situation, but didn't say too much. Basically said that I needed to get in to this VAA operation with The Saints so that I could stay with you – told some story about being worried about you, not trusting the companies with you and all that. Anyway, he said he could get me in."

Gerard smiles, a little surprised it was all that easy. "Really?"

Frank nods enthusiastically. "Yeah. He said they'd create me a file and get me in on it right away. He's gonna call me back a day or two before we go with all the details."

"So, just like that?"

"Just like that," Frank repeats. He stops smiling when he sees the way Gerard presses his lips together. "What? What is it?"

"Nothing," Gerard tries, but Frank narrows his eyes at him. Gerard finally sighs. "It’s nothing really…I'm just, well. I don't know. I suppose I'm just…worried."

"Worried?" Frank parrots. "You're worried about me?"

Gerard shrugs. "Maybe."

Frank laughs, short, and shakes his head. "Gerard, did you really think I was ever going to let you go gallivanting off with the VAA on a fucking human hunting mission by yourself?"

Gerard scrunches his nose. "Did you just say gallivanting?"

"Don't change the subject," Frank warns, hands pressed on the counter.

Gerard huffs. "No, okay? No. I always knew you'd be coming along. I wouldn't even be able to do any of this without you, you know that. But that's not going to stop me worrying about you. I love you and I don't want anything to happen to you because of me."

After a moment's pause, Frank folds his arms across his chest. "Do you say these nice things because you know it makes me find you irresistible?"

Gerard grins. "Y'mean you don't find me irresistible anyway?"

Frank rolls his eyes and shakes his head. "You're an idiot. We're having steak for dinner, by the way."

Gerard glances down at the meat. "I gathered. But since when do you cook?"

"Since never," Frank replies with a sly grin. "I got these from that awesome restaurant down the street that just started doing take-out. It only needs reheating."

Gerard pulls out a cooking tray from under the counter. "What would you do if you didn’t have me to fund your take-out addiction?"

Frank slides the steaks on to the tray and dips his fingers in to the left over, watery blood at the bottom. "Die a slow and painful death," he replies before licking every fingertip clean.

~

The following Thursday, Alec Vladimir appears in front of Gerard's desk in the morning with another file in his hands. This one is much thinner than the other and the binder is red with Gerard's name printed on it in black just above The Saints logo.

"This is the final location of where and when you'll be meeting. Tell no one…" he says as he drops the file on to the desk. "You'll be under the command of a Jason Blackthorn. He's a mean son-of-a-bitch who gets off on watching the little people squirm, so keep your wits about you and look after this company, okay Way?" Gerard nods sharply. "Good."

Gerard doesn't open the folder until he gets in to his car, although its been killing him all day. They're meeting in an old storage warehouse not far from The Saints' head offices on Saturday night. Gerard is only to pack the bare essentials and nothing else, no phone, no laptop – nothing. Just a few changes of clothes.

The thought of being completely under someone else's command makes Gerard feel uneasy about the whole thing. He closes the folder and slips it neatly in to the glove compartment before flicking on the engine and driving home to Frank.


Frank's on the phone when Gerard gets home, pacing the living room and wearing down the carpet with his pale bare feet. He chews on a nail and spits it out, Gerard resists the urge to scowl. Frank smiles when he sees Gerard and waves, mouthing that he'll be finished in a minute.

Gerard places the thin file on the table and drops himself in to the large, white leather chair, kicking his shoes off as he does so. He watches as Frank nods, biting at more of his nails and making mmhm sounds whenever there's a pause in the conversation. He's on the phone for another few minutes before he jots down a few things on a note pad on the table and then says his goodbyes, hanging up and tossing the phone on to the couch.

Sighing rather dramatically, Frank flops down on Gerard's lap, legs thrown over the arm of the chair as he rests his head against Gerard's chest. Gerard slips his fingers under Frank's t-shirt, stroking his hip.

"So, you got the call, huh?"

Frank nods. "Yeah…I gotta go to the base tomorrow to be briefed with the others. James said if I keep my head down and just, uh – blend in, then I should be ok."

Gerard snorts. "You? Blend in." Frank bites Gerard's shoulder in protest.

"I can blend in." Gerard hums. "What? I can so blend in."


Gerard makes soup for dinner, it's dark red and sweet smelling, tasting slightly fruity but it's still thick and rich with that familiar copper after taste. They eat at the breakfast bar, sat opposite from each other as they slurp and talk just a little about nothing important.

"So," Gerard starts after another bout of silence. "You're leaving tomorrow?"

Frank nods. "First thing."

"You don't have to pack?"

"Nope," Frank replies, pouring them both another glass of wine. "They said they'll have everything that I'll need."

"Even underwear?"

Frank laughs. "I guess."

There's some more silence.

"Are you nervous?"

"Not really," Frank shrugs. "I trust James, I know he'll have my back."

"Alec said that this Jason Blackthorn is a real hard ass."

Frank takes another sip of wine. "I'm sure I can handle it."

"I know, but just don't-"

"Gerard," Frank interrupts sternly. "We've been over this already. I'll be fine. We'll both be fine because we've got each other….and I'm not going to let anything happen to you or me, ok?"

Gerard smiles a small smile and nods. "Ok."

…

They make love again after dinner, slow and careful but still hungry and passionate. Gerard presses Frank's hips in to the bed, letting Frank bite on his neck as they fuck until they're both tired and stiff. Gerard comes inside Frank soon after, thigh held to his waist as he hides his face in Frank's chest until they're finished and spent.

Frank brushes back Gerard's hair, kissing all over his face until he falls in to an easy sleep.

~

The following night when they get up, Frank seems less enthusiastic about the whole thing. He watches Gerard get dressed in his suit from the bed, knees pulled to his chest and the clean white sheets around him make him look a lot younger – Gerard notes.

When Frank gets dressed, he puts on what are perhaps his only pair of jeans that don't have a hole in them somewhere. Gerard pours himself a quick cup of coffee as Frank comes shuffling in through the living room, hair combed down and shoes tied properly.

"You look like its your first day at school," Gerard smiles.

"Fuck off," Frank replies. "James has had to pull a lot of strings to make it look like I don’t have a record as long as – well, me." Gerard laughs and hands the cup over to Frank.

"Drink up," he says. "We don't want to be late."


Gerard pulls up a couple blocks from the warehouse and switches off the engine. It's always cold this early in the night and Gerard's hands are feeling a lot colder than usual.

"So, this is it, I guess," Frank says.

"Yeah…I guess." Gerard can't help but notice the way Frank's frowning. He sets a hand down on Frank's upper thigh and squeezes. "What is it?" he asks softly.

Frank glances out of the tinted window and up at the dark before turning back to Gerard. "I'm just kind of worried, now that it's all starting."

"I thought we went over this? We'll be fine, remember?"

Frank shakes his head. "No, not about that. I'm talking about after."

"After?"

"Yeah, like, what if we don't find your brother?" Gerard goes to speak but then doesn't, mouth snapping closed. To be totally honest, he's not really thought about that. He's had it so dead set in his mind that they were going to find him, that his group, if he even had a group, were the ones The Saints had been tracking.

"I don't know," he finally answers.

Frank takes Gerard's hand from his thigh and just holds it. "I don't want you to be too crushed if we don't find him. I'm just worried that if we don't, you're going to come back to this boring life of ours and realise that it's not what you want."

"No life with you is boring," Gerard replies immediately. "And I can't promise that I won't be devastated if we don't find him, or that I'll ever stop looking."

"I don't want you to stop looking," Frank says earnestly.

"But don't think that a life with you is ever going to be second best to finding my brother. The both of you mean the world to me and you were never some consolation prize for me losing him, ok?"

Frank nods slowly. "I believe you."

Leaning over, Gerard takes Frank's face in his hands. "I love you," he says as Frank covers one of Gerard's hands with his own.

"I love you too," Frank replies just as Gerard pulls him in that last inch to kiss him as deep as he possibly can, all tongue and teeth and spit slicked lips as Frank practically claws at Gerard's jacket and tie.

When the kiss ends it leaves them both panting and wanting more, but Frank tears himself away and starts fiddling with his own hair.

"I'm gonna miss you tonight," Gerard says after a moment and Frank smiles sympathetically.

"Yeah, me too. But James said he can keep us close. You just have to act like you don't want to jump my bones all the time," he grins.

Gerard laughs and pulls Frank back in to kiss his forehead. "I'll try."

…

At the company, Amy's waiting for Gerard as soon as he steps off the elevator with a fresh cup of coffee in her hands.

"They moved me up here," she beams before even saying hello. "I'm finally up here. I moved all your things in to your office, you don't mind do you? It's really nice in there, very sophisticated."

Gerard accepts the cup of coffee gratefully and nods. "Really? Is it a room with a view."

"It's got an amazing view," she gushes, waving a hand in front of her face. "You're going to love it. Come on, let's get you settled in."

"Are you settled in ok?" Gerard asks, glancing over to Amy's half messy desk.

"Almost," she smiles, opening Gerard's door for him. The office isn't too big. The walls are dark and blank spare a few horrible paintings of the company logo and a clock. The desk is wide and shiny, made from dark wood with deep drawers and an equally inviting leather chair behind it.

There's a flat screen desk top computer taking up the middle of the desk and the rest of Gerard's things are on either side – not that he keeps much in his desk when he's not here.

The view of the city below is rather impressive, it's dark black buildings glittering with pin-prick lights. Gerard nods and turns, taking in the rest of the room.

"I like it," he announces.

"It's a shame they decide to finish it the day before they send you off on some big company trip, eh?"

Gerard smiles weakly. "Yeah, talk about timing."

"Oh, well," Amy says, dropping a handful of post it notes of messages on to Gerard's new desk, "It'll still be here when you get back." Gerard hopes she doesn't notice the way his face has visibly faltered, and thankfully she says a quick 'See you at lunch' and then leaves.

Gerard sinks down in to the ridiculously comfy chair and clicks on the internet icon of his desktop, trying his hardest not to think about Frank.

…

It's almost the end of the day and Gerard's already packing up his things when Amy totters in to the office.

"I was going to ask if I could go home early," she smiles, "but I'll just sneak out after you leave."

Gerard laughs. "No, it's ok. You can go now, if you like. Big plans?"

"Dinner with my mom," she replies, rolling her eyes. "Which is as fun as it sounds."

"Oh, well, have a good weekend anyway."

"You too. I'll see you when you get back, whenever that is."

Before Gerard can stop himself, he pulls Amy in to a tight hug. She stiffens in surprise for a moment, before relaxing again and pressing her palms against Gerard's sides. She looks a little dizzy when Gerard pulls back and smiles.

"What was that for?"

"Nothing. I'm just going to miss you, that's all," he explains. He's not all that sure why he did it himself…probably because he really is going to miss her, whether he's away for a week or more. She's always been someone Gerard could rely on without expecting anything in return and – yeah, Gerard is really going to miss that.

…

Gerard doesn't like being in the house on his own, and he can't actually remember the last time he was. It's quiet, far too quiet and Gerard doesn't ever want to cook dinner for just himself ever again, or pour out only one glass of wine.

Frank's side of the bed is still messy, and Gerard thinks that Frank won't mind if he sleeps on his side for just tonight. He presses his face in to Frank's pillows and inhales slowly, taking in the familiar scent.

It takes him at least another hour to fall asleep.

Gerard dreams about his brother. He's stood on the southern border, image distorted by heat waves but Gerard definitely knows it's him. His clothes are torn and his arms are bleeding and before Gerard can move closer, everything but him starts to move backwards. Mikey gets further and further away and no matter how hard Gerard struggles, it's no use. Finally, Mikey's just a blur on the horizon for a moment before he's gone.

The world goes black and then everything's silent until there's a thick thudding sound, like a heart beat but deeper, closer. It quickly gets louder and louder, faster and faster until it suddenly stops. And then Gerard falls.

Waking up with a jolt, Gerard almost falls out of bed.

~

The next night when Gerard's ready to leave, half packed gym bag sat on the kitchen counter, he glances around his home one last time. If this is the last time he sees this place, he's really going to miss it…and if not, he's not sure how pleased he's going to be to see it again.


The night is dark and cold and Gerard drives as fast as possible through the winding city streets in an attempt to ease his nerves. The car hums beneath him, engine roaring and wheels skidding against the tarmac and yeah, it does make him feel a little better, even if he's leaving a trail of angry beeping drivers behind. But none of them are heading off to a secret army base to try and deceive two of the most powerful companies in the country to find their lost human brother ~ so whatever.

At the warehouse, it's already become something of an army base. There's a boom across the entrance and two soldiers guarding it. Gerard's throat starts to feel a little tight. They're carrying some pretty impressive looking guns, dressed in camouflage and large black boots. Their helmets are low and Gerard can't really see their eyes, which is unnerving.

Gerard starts to fumble around in his jacket pocket for his wallet and ID, but as soon as his car rolls up the soldiers nod at each other and lift the red boom, letting Gerard pass through.

The entrance slopes down for a while until Gerard comes to a basement car park. It's large, huge in fact with more vehicles and full of people that are talking and barking orders at one another, and they don't even glance up when Gerard's car appears. Another soldier points Gerard in to a space next to a jeep and another BMW. The soldier opens Gerard's door for him when he stops and salutes quickly.

"Mr. Way," he says. "Lieutenant General Blackthorn is waiting for you."

"Uhm, okay…" Gerard replies, clenching and unclenching his hands again, trying to get rid of the nerves. He clambers out of the car, shutting the door what feels like a little too loudly. As they cross the room, Gerard quickly scans it for any signs of Frank, but everyone's either too far away or has their back to him.

Jason Blackthorn is a tall man with the broadest shoulders Gerard has ever seen. His hair is shaved along with half of his right eyebrow, and he's got a scar from the bottom of his cheek to his chin that makes him look like some sort of Bond villain. He's strutting up alongside the large table in the centre of the basement, covered in various maps and files. His chest is puffed, bullet proof vest stuck out and hands clasped tightly behind his back. Basically, he's your general cliché army meat head.

When he sees Gerard being led towards him, he stops quickly and turns directly towards him, eyes narrowing and body stiffening even more.

"Mr. Way," he shouts, and it's probably not supposed to sound quite so threatening, but Gerard already feels like he's in trouble. "Welcome. I trust you found us alright?"

"Yes, Sir," Gerard replies, feeling a little stupid but he can't stop it from coming out of his mouth.

Jason holds up a hand. "No need for those kind of formalities, Gerard. You're not one of my troops although I hope you understand that I am in charge here." It's not a question. Gerard nods sharply. "Good." He stops to shuffle through some paper work. "Just hang tight for another moment and I'll call everyone together for a briefing."

Hang tight? Gerard wonders how exactly he's supposed to do that when he has never felt so out of place in his life. His dress pants itch and his shirt is a little too tight in some uncomfortable places and he's more than glad he decided not to go with a tie tonight.

"Alright!" Jason's voice booms and echoes across the room and everyone freezes. "Gather round for your briefing, men." The room of people quickly make their way to the table, lining up neatly along it's sides. They're mostly soldiers, most in basic uniform but a few who look more pristine than the others. "Everybody, this is Gerard Way, a representative from Vladimir." All eyes fall on Gerard and he shifts uncomfortably, smiling awkwardly and resisting the urge to wave. "He'll be accompanying us on this trip so lets do our best to show him how professional and to the point we are in the VAA."

"Yes, Sir!" the room choruses.

Glancing down the table, Gerard searches the men's faces for the one he's looking for. It doesn't take him long to spot Frank, stood five or six men away from Jason, dressed just like everyone else. He's staring at Gerard, staring like he's been trying to get Gerard to look at him for a while now. Gerard wants to smile, wants to wave and mouth Frank's name but he doesn't. Instead, he licks his lips, although he really didn't mean to, it's just out of his control because damn, does Frank look hot. Frank smirks subtly.

"We will be leaving this base in precisely eleven minutes and heading to an airfield fifteen miles from here. There we will board an aircraft which will take us to a secure location in San Antonio, Texas, in two hours and fifty two minutes. From there we will drive for approximately three hours until we cross the Mexican border and enter Piedras Negras to another base where our mission will begin." He pauses only momentarily to let the men take everything in. Obviously they're all used to fast information, whereas Gerard's head is still spinning when Jason starts to talk again. "Alright, men. We know what needs to be done, so lets pack up and be on our way."

The table disperses, people leaving in all different directions making Gerard feel slightly less on show. Gerard watches also as Frank slowly steps back a few times, out of view of Jason but not out of Gerard's line of sight.

"Gerard," Jason calls, "over here." Gerard 'rounds the table quickly to where Jason's stood with a blonde haired man, one of the more pristine looking soldiers, who's giving Gerard an odd sort of look. "This is Major James Dewees, he'll be accompanying you on all aspects of this trip. It's his job to make sure you don't accidentally get your head blown off," James and Jason both laugh, but Gerard doesn't find it so funny.

"I'll do my best," James replies, smiling at Gerard. "I'll be riding with Captain Pedicone in one of the jeeps. We'll send a Private to sit with Mr. Way and make sure he stays out of trouble." Something finally clicks in Gerard's brain. Ah, James, he thinks. This is the James Frank's been talking about.

Jason nods firmly as a few soldiers start to clear the papers and maps from the table in front of them. "Very well," he says before shouting to the rest of the room. "I want this place emptied in no more than five minutes!" before striding off.

"Don't look so nervous," James says as soon as Jason's out of earshot. "These guys can smell fear."

"Sorry," Gerard mumbles, feeling utterly ridiculous.

James laughs and claps a hand over Gerard's shoulder. "Relax, man. It's not like we're heading in to battle. Then you'd really be shitting yourself." Gerard gives a weak smile. James glances behind them and rolls his eyes. "Come on, I better take you over to Frank before he wets himself."

With a hand still on Gerard's shoulder, James steers him around and over to one of the smaller jeeps where Frank and another man are stood. The other man is much taller, chest filled out and head shaven. He looks a lot like Jason, only not as fierce. Frank perks up as soon as Gerard gets close enough and smiles a small smile.

"Ah, you must be Gerard," who he assumes is Mike Pedicone says, hand out stretched. Gerard shakes it quickly with a brief smile.

"Nice to meet you," he says.

Mike suddenly shoves at Frank's shoulder. "Hey, man. I can practically hear you making goofy eyes at him."

"Shut the fuck up," Frank says quietly and Mike throws his head back and laughs.

"I could have you flogged for that type of talk to a Captain," but Frank doesn't look at all worried. "Just don't grope each other until we get in the jeep. No, actually, even then don't."

"Are you ok?" Frank asks Gerard, ignoring Mike completely.

"Yeah," Gerard replies, lips twitching. "I'm alright. You?"

Frank nods. "Can't complain."

Gerard wants to groan because this is all too awkward. He wants to tell Frank he missed him, hold his hand and gush about never wanting to spend the night alone ever again. Frank looks ridiculously good looking in his army gear and suits it better than Gerard could have ever guessed.

"Alright you two," James says as he opens up the back door to the jeep, "get in here quickly. We'll be leaving for the airfield in a few minutes."

Gerard gladly climbs in to the jeep after Frank, and the door can't close quick enough until they feel some-what hidden from the commotions outside. Frank squeezes Gerard's leg.

"Are you really ok?" he asks, worry now etching in to his voice.

"I'm fine," Gerard assures him. "Are you? Do you think anyone suspects anything?"

"Calm down, Gee," Frank smiles. "People hardly talk to each other here, so there's no reason for anyone to get suspicious."

"Yeah," Gerard nods continuously. "You're right, I know you're right. I'm just, uh…a little nervous."

Frank squeezes Gerard's leg again. "Don't be. Just act like you're better than everyone else and you'll fit right in."

Gerard leans forward, staring out of the window until he finds James and Mike in the crowd. He turns back to Frank. "What did you tell them?"

"What I told them on the phone," Frank replies, "that I'm just here to make sure nothing happens to you…which is partly true."

"Do you think they'll start to suspect something soon?"

"Probably," Frank answers truthfully, and Gerard's eyes widen. "It'll be ok, Gerard. The only reason I didn't tell them everything is because you don't want me to. Otherwise, I'd still have complete confidence in them. Not everyone is like Alec Vladimir, y'know."

Gerard sighs. "I know, I know," he says quietly. "Fuck, I'm just so on edge. Before it was just the two of us following stupid rumours around the country. But now we've actually got a real chance of getting somewhere…and it's not the two of us. It's us and a whole fucking army."

Frank smirks. "It's not exactly a whole army. There's about twenty five soldiers, including me, and maybe thirty people all together."

Gerard slumps back in to the seat and runs a hand over his face. "It feels like more."

Another minute later, the front doors open and James and Mike climb inside. Mike takes the wheel and turns around to grin at them.

"Don't worry, boys, I'll have us at that airfield in no time."

Gerard has the sudden urge to fasten his seatbelt.

…

It doesn't take long to get to the airfield, not with Mike's driving. Once the cars are out of the warehouse and away from the main city roads, they're speeding down the tarmac, wind whistling in through the open windows.

Frank keeps his fingers wrapped around Gerard's wrist, squeezing every now and then, even when he's not looking at him. Their hands stay low on the seats, and every time another car rolls past their window, Gerard's fingers twitch.

At the airfield, the plane's already waiting, back door lowered down ready for the troops to load on. It makes Gerard feel very small as his door is opened and he steps out on to the runway. The aircraft is huge, grey and dark blue, it's nose fat and long making the craft look like some sort of monster in the night, red lights blinking on the wings like evil eyes.

"Frank," James says, "You've got to board the plane with the other troops. Gerard, you've been ordered in to the General's cabin with me and Mike."

"Ok," Frank says, glancing at Gerard. "You'll be ok?"

"Fine," Gerard replies. "I'll see you when we land. Look after yourself."

Hidden by Mike and James, Frank squeezes Gerard's hand again before jogging off to join the troops as they file in up the dropped back door.

"Come on," James says as he slams the jeep door closed, "Blackthorn's waiting."

Gerard and the others are led to a different entrance, up a different set of stairs near the front of the craft. Gerard tries not to look back to the troops as James guides him to the entrance of the General's cabin.

The cabin is a world away from the cargo where the troops are, sat in two long rows on either side of the craft. The chairs looks more like recliners, cream and leather with white seatbelts and wooden side tables. The carpet is soft and dark blue with the VAA crest halfway up the aisle.

Jason's already in his seat with a glass of brandy in front of him. He grins at the others as they enter. "Boys," he greets with a raised glass. "Grab a seat, pour yourself a drink."

James points Gerard to a seat by the window before taking the one next to him. Mike sits behind Jason and accepts the bottle of brandy he passes back with a nod. When James gets it, he tilts it towards Gerard.

"You want?" he asks and Gerard has to think for a moment before shaking his head.

"No, I'll be fine with water, thanks."

James shrugs, "Suit yourself," he says before pouring himself a drink and passing the bottle back to Jason. Mike opens a mini fridge near the back of the cabin and grabs a bottle of water. He dangles it over the back of Gerard's seat.

"Thanks," Gerard replies meekly as he accepts the bottle.

The flight is quiet after that, slow and boring, dragging more than anything Gerard's ever experienced before. Jason spends most of his time hunched in his seat on the phone, talking in a mumble and glancing back to the men every now and then. James is on a mini laptop, fingers tapping quickly over countless e-mail windows as Mike snores softly in his seat behind them.

Gerard gives up watching them pretty soon, sighing to himself and resting his head against the plane window. It's too dark to see anything, just the flashing lights of the plane and their red reflection off the thick clouds below them. He stares for a while at the cockpit door, thinking about Frank back in cargo with the others. At least he's with people he could probably actually talk to, unlike Gerard.

When Gerard's finished thinking about Frank, he thinks a little about Mikey, but soon his hands start to shake and so he closes his eyes and tries to fog his mind with nothing.

The next thing Gerard knows, they're bumping down along another runway.

Jason claps his hands loudly together. "Welcome to Texas, boys."

…

They're back in another jeep, identical to the first, tearing down a road that looks like no one's used it in quite a while. There's sand across the tarmac that looks almost black in the night, whipping up around the cars like a dark ghost.

Gerard resists the urge to ask Frank if he's okay yet again, Mike and James already rolled their eyes at each other when Frank first grabbed Gerard's hand again as soon as the doors were closed.

"It feels like a lot of waiting," Gerard says quietly to Frank.

"Waiting for what?" Frank asks and Gerard shrugs.

"The action will start soon enough," Mike calls back to them from the front seat, "don't you worry about that."

"You always think there's going to be some action movie style bust up," James teases. "We're human hunting, dude, not in the middle of a war zone." Gerard visibly tenses, but Frank quickly gives him a look – telling him to relax.

"So, uh…what exactly is the plan?" Gerard pipes up.

"We had some reports of humans crossing the Mexican border," James starts to explain. "Apparently they've been moving between the smaller towns throughout the south. We're going to patrol a few miles either side of the border before moving through the outlands of the cities, searching any abandoned houses or barns, anywhere humans can hide out."

"And what are you supposed to do when you find them?" Frank tightens his grip on Gerard's wrist and gives him a stern look. That is not going to be a helpful question for Gerard.

James pauses for a very long moment and something in the car feels tense. "Take them back to The Saint facilities," he finally answers.

Gerard doesn't ask anymore questions after that.

This journey doesn't drag as much as the plane ride, but that's probably because Gerard's got Frank sat right next to him. It is frustrating, however, because Frank is so close and Gerard's not used to this without Frank all over him. Hell, Frank can't even sit through a movie without somehow worming his way in to Gerard's lap.

When they get closer to the border, the cars stop for a moment as most of the troops jump out from the cars and continue alongside on foot. Mike is one of them, leaving James to take over the driving.

"Don't miss me too much," Mike grins before putting on his helmet and running off to join the others.

The car continues on a lot slower than before, practically crawling alongside the troops as they scan the surrounding areas through binoculars and heat goggles.

"We'll be at the border soon," James tells them, "and then it's not long to Piedras Negras. You can rest up for a couple hours there."

Gerard doesn't reply and neither does Frank, they just simply take in the information and stay quiet until they reach the border. Gerard's given up looking out of his window, so he either stares at the back of the driver's seat or at the side of Frank's head.

They find nothing on either side of the border.

…

With the windows rolled down Gerard's noticed that it smells different here, maybe it was the food or the warmer night but Gerard's senses are definitely aware that they are not in New York anymore. He's not sure why, but a wave of nerves suddenly hits him and he feels like he wants to slide closer to Frank.

It's another old warehouse with a concrete basement, only this basement is more elaborate with multiple rooms. The warehouse is on the outskirts of some city he can't pronounce the name of and the locals eyed the military vehicles unkindly. Gerard could feel the tension as a few of them looked on. The VAA were clearly not welcome here.

The jeeps and wagons are parked in the largest room. Gerard's legs feel numb when he climbs out of the jeep and steps on to solid ground again. Frank's led away by Mike to help the others set up another quick meeting area, and he's not even got time to glance back at Gerard before he's pulled away. Again, Gerard feels awkward and out of place in his itchy work suit, what he'd give for a pair of Frank's holey jeans right about now.


Frank's setting up a long table, quickly unclipping the legs from the bottom along with Mike when Jason Blackthorn approaches them.

"How was the trip?" he's looking straight through Frank and talking to Mike.

Mike stands quickly. "It was fine, Sir."

"And that Way…he's been behaving himself?"

Frank's jaw stiffens. Mike's eyes flicker to him and then back to Jason.

"Yes, Sir," he answers.

"Very well. Make sure you keep an eye on him. We've got a job to do and we don't need some corporate suit screwing that up."

Mike nods firmly as Frank's hands tighten around the legs of the table. "Yes, Sir."

Jason turns and walks away as Frank lets out an angry breath. "Bastard," he mutters and Mike stares hard at him.

"Frank," he hisses, but Frank doesn't care.


Jason calls another meeting soon after, chest puffed out again as he addresses the men, calling them to gather around the table. There are several large photos of desolate looking buildings in front of him, and when everyone's crowded around, he lays a finger on the first one.

"This is a barn not too far from here," he starts. "Our sources have found evidence of human inhabitants in a few buildings like this throughout Mexico. So, this is where we're going to start. We'll work our way through the outskirts of the towns, searching all the abandoned properties." He then pulls a map of Mexico over the photos. "We'll work our way down here, set up camp here and then loop back around to this base again before moving on further south. Any questions?" There's a moment's pause in which no one speaks. Jason nods. "Very well. Get a few hours sleep if you can. We set off just after sunrise."

Gerard has to double take. "Sunrise?" he repeats, and immediately, everyone's heads snap to his direction.

"Yes," Jason replies. "I would have thought that would have been in your briefing file?"

Gerard shakes his head. "No. No one ever said anything about sunrise."

Jason sighs and quickly rolls his eyes. "Relax, Mr. Way. I'm not sending anyone out on a suicide mission. If we want to catch humans, then we have to move like them. They're not likely to be out after sunset now, are they? I doubt even they are that stupid. Captain Pedicone," he says, pointing at Mike, "Bring me one of the sun suits."

Mike steps away, returning a few moments later with a heavy black box. He lugs it to Jason's side and then heaves it on to the table in one swift swing. Jason pulls off the lid of the box and brings out what looks like heavy padding.

"This is a sun suit," he says to Gerard. "The material blocks out all UV rays and the soldiers are completely covered from head to toe. I will be in the front vehicle and you and Dewees in the rear. All of our vehicles are fitted with the usual screens, so no one's going to burn." He's wearing this smirk that makes Gerard want to punch him. "Is this ok with you?" he asks, patronising Gerard like a child.

Gerard narrows his eyes and nods. "Yes," he says sharply, but nothing has ever been more not ok with him.

"Very well. Get some sleep, men. We move out at O six hundred hours." Jason then folds the map and leaves the table, heading towards his jeep and lighting a cigarette.

Gerard's hands are balling in to fists and he's so pissed that he doesn't even notice Frank at his side until he speaks.

"Gerard," he says softly. He wants to reach out and touch him; wants to slide his hand up Gerard's elbow and lead him away. "Come on; let's go back to the jeep."

The jeep has been purposely parked at the edge of the basement, right near the entrance. As they walk, troops are already unfolding sleeping bags, settling down in corners, in and out of and between vehicles; anywhere they can get a bit of private space.

Mike and James are already by the jeep, waiting.

"It's really going to be ok," James says quietly. "Those suits have been tested and used a thousand times."

Gerard shakes his head. "I still don't like it."

"I'll be fine," Frank says and Gerard presses his lips together.

"I know. Or at least I hope I know."

"You have to be cool about this," Mike tries. "I promise I'll look after him out there."

"I'll be cool about it, but I'm never going to be ok with someone sending vampires out in to sunlight, sending Frank out in to sunlight."

Frank would be lying if he said there wasn't the smallest bubble of pride inside his chest at how adamant Gerard was to protect him. He really wants to take his hand right now, squeeze it softly and hold on tight, but he knows Jason Blackthorn's got an eye on them. Several.

"I understand," Mike says. "Hell, I'm not crazy about the idea myself but we've got a job to do. I promise, first sign of smoking and I'll throw him in to your jeep myself."

Gerard clicks his tongue against his teeth before finally nodding.

James sighs. "Excellent. Right, well, sleep if you can, or at least rest. Gerard, you can take the jeep and Frank, you better bunk down with the rest of the troops."

"Okay," Frank says before looking up at Gerard. "See you in a few hours, then." His eyes are wide and full of trust and Gerard instantly misses their home, their bed. Sleeping alone was hell before, and now Gerard's not even sure when he'll get to curl up next to Frank's body again – or do anything to Frank's body for that matter. What he'd give for just one kiss.

Gerard smiles as small as he can, holding his breath when Frank turns to leave and purposely bumps their hips together. He decides not to watch after Frank, because that would probably only make it worse, instead he climbs quickly in to the jeep, shutting the door and then he's alone.

~

Gerard doesn't get any sleep, not one tiny wink because he can't stop his mind from spinning. He lies against the uncomfortable seats, staring at the blank ceiling of the jeep and trying to shut his mind off. But the more he tries, the more he seems to invent new topics to think about. He gives up after the first hour and instead just closes his eyes and tries to imagine he's at home. Maybe if he thinks of something simple and familiar, he can relax.

He can't. When he thinks of home he thinks of Frank, and when he thinks of Frank, he remembers that he's not here next to him, not close to comfort and reassure Gerard that everything will be alright, that they're doing the right thing no matter how hard it gets. But Frank's not here and everything is just hard.

…

Gerard hasn't been awake at this time in a very long time. Although he can't see it, he can literally feel the sun rising around the building, feel the air getting warmer, heavier. It tastes different. It feels like he's somewhere he shouldn't be.

When he hears people moving and muttering, Gerard opens the jeep door and slides out. People are starting to pack things away, rolling up sleeping bags and dismantling the table. Jason's nowhere to be seen. Probably still asleep.

James appears from a cluster of soldiers nearby and smiles when he sees Gerard awake.

"Sleep ok?" he asks and Gerard simply grunts. "Yeah, same here. We'll be setting off once the troops are suited up. I'll make sure Frank and Mike stay close to our jeep." Gerard nods. "Oh, and there are emergency suits in the jeep….y'know, in case we crash or something." Gerard resists the urge to roll his eyes.

"Fine," he answers and James gives him a weak but reassuring smile. "I'll keep Frank in sight, I promise." Gerard knows James is trying to help, but that's probably going to make it worse watching Frank step out in to the sunlight. Gerard shivers. He can't even think about it.

At first, when the troops are all suited up, Gerard panics a little because with everyone covered from head to toe in dark, padded material, looking a little like slimmer versions of hockey goalies, he can't tell who is who. But then, then he catches that familiar scent and he knows that the suited soldier standing a few feet away couldn't be anyone other than Frank. The soldier stares at him and Gerard can see his eyes smiling.

Definitely Frank.

What he also notices is that for the first time on this trip, Frank's holding a gun. It's your typical military rifle, and Frank's holding it like he's been doing this for years, like it belongs in his grasp but Gerard knows full well that it doesn't. He's seen Frank be brutal with his fists over the years, sure, but this, this isn't Frank at all.

"Men," Jason Blackthorn bellows across the room. "We're moving out. You know what needs to be done. Stay close to your leaders, communicate with each other and get the job done."

The room choruses a 'Yes, Sir,' and then Jason climbs in to his jeep. As the troops start to file out, James opens the jeep door for Gerard.

"Come on. I'll have Frank and Mike follow on the driver's side."

Gerard says nothing, just climbs back in to the jeep again, his knees creaking in protest. When James settles in the driver's seat and starts the engine, Frank and Mike step out of line and fall back until they're by the jeep door. Through the tinted windows, Gerard can see Frank's eyes. He holds a hand and presses it against the glass and Frank lifts a hand off his gun to quickly wave back.

When the jeep starts to move, Gerard's heart sinks because he doesn't want to go. Not now, not ever. The vehicle rolls slowly behind everyone else, and Frank and Mike fall in step with it pretty quickly. When they're not too far from the slope leading up outside, Frank and Mike pull their visors down. Gerard can't see his eyes anymore and he suddenly starts to feel very sick as they start to ascend up the concrete slope.

Gerard can feel the daylight now, stronger than before and he already feels too warm in his skin. As they advance further up, the outside world becomes visible and bright light floods them. It only takes a moment for the jeep windows to adjust and black out completely from the outside, but it's the longest moment of Gerard's life. Now, Frank can't see him and to Gerard, Frank is just another cloaked body moving along with the others.

He can tell Frank feels unsteady, his steps are unsure and he's swaying a little. He knows Frank can feel the light like he can, even under all of this protection. They know this is wrong – they shouldn't be here. The world is too bright to see clearly, too bright to focus or concentrate. Gerard wonders how people ever got anything done before the world changed. It's like he can feel the light flooding his mind and nothing else can get through. He holds a hand to his head and winces. It hurts a little too.

By the time they get on to the desert strip, Gerard's eyes have adjusted a little better. He keeps glancing out of his window, watching as Frank walks a little easier now alongside Mike. Gerard can't even imagine what it must be like for them, what it must be like for Frank - Frank who doesn't even have to be here, doesn't have to be putting himself in this situation because it's not his brother they're looking for. No, he's doing this because he loves Gerard. Frank would do anything for Gerard, literally anything and as the realisation of what that means actually hits him, Gerard starts to feel incredibly guilty.

They've been slowly crawling along the outskirts of some village for what feels like hours now. The jeep suddenly comes to a halt and a few soldiers run off in to the distance. The heat lines blur them, but Gerard can see that they're standing around something.

It looks like a torn up backpack. One soldier runs off with it in the direction of Jason's jeep and a few more disperse further out, closer to what appears to be a dilapidated wall.

Gerard sits and watches, face almost pressed up against the window as he tries to guess which one of the blacked out figures is Frank. He can't smell him anymore. He can't smell anything except sand and exhaust fumes.

The jeep ends up being stationary for another hour while the troops search the surrounding areas. It feels like forever before they start quietly rolling along again.

"Did they find anything?" Gerard asks.

"Apparently not," James replies.

They stop again about five minutes later and Gerard lets his head thud against the warm glass. This is going to take forever.

…

"We're going to set up camp soon," James announces when Gerard can feel the air finally cooling. It's still bright outside, but evening isn't far away and though it may not be night, evening is definitely better than right now.

"How far are we away from the base?"

James snorts. "Do you really want to know?"

Gerard sighs and sinks down in his seat. "No, not really."

"It won't seem as long tomorrow," James tries to reassure him. "Once we clear the West of this stretch, we can move further south."

"To do exactly this?" Gerard asks with his arms folded. James glances at him through the mirror and nods. "Until when?"

"Until we run out of South America," he replies.

Gerard shifts, feeling too warm and incredibly uncomfortable. He's bored, he's irritated and he's hungry. Of all the many different ways Gerard's ever thought about finding his brother, being cooped up in the back of an overheated jeep while everyone else did all the work was not one of them. But – he wasn't here to do the work was he? No. He was here to make sure Alec Vladimir wasn't getting screwed over. Truth be told, he hadn't even thought of him or the company or what he was actually supposed to be doing since he arrived.

…

Gerard's not sure exactly how long it is until they reach the spit of normal land, full of dried and dead grass that they're supposed to be setting up camp on. James parks the car behind another jeep and the next thing Gerard knows, a large tarp is being hoisted up around them.

"They're building the tents," James informs and Gerard just nods, glad when the sun is finally blocked from view. He instantly feels calmer and sighs. "Better?" James smiles.

"Much."

He watches as the pieces of tarp get strung tightly together and hoisted up in the center by a large pole. There are two other vehicles under this tent along with their jeep and Gerard tries to look around for more people, but most of them are on the outside.

"Frank will be helping build the tents," James says, noticing the way Gerard's glancing from window to window.

"Can't we help?"

James shakes his head. "By the time we got suited up, they'd be almost done." Gerard sighs, again, and collapses back in the seat. "It won't take long," James promises, but Gerard has a hard time believing him.


When Gerard's door opens, he jumps in surprise. It's a soldier, standing there in his sun suit.

"Frank?" Gerard says hopefully, but the soldier removes his visor to reveal Mike. Gerard tries not to look too disappointed.

"Sorry, just me," he says. "Frank's helping with the General's tent."

"Oh…" that sounds like it's going to take a while.

"Your tent is ready though."

Gerard makes a face. "You built my tent before Jason's?"

Mike shrugs. "My guys were working the other end of the camp site. Jason wanted to have your tent built near by his, but I promised him I'd keep an eye on you."

"An eye on me?" Gerard repeats.

Mike waves his hand around. "So to speak."


There are smaller tarp tunnels leading from each tent, connected from the front to the back. Gerard loses count of how many they walk through. Some of the soldiers are starting to strip off their suits while others use the larger tents to fix together the metal poles for smaller tents.

When they come to the last one, Mike stops in the center and claps his hands together. "So, this is you."

The tent isn't big but it isn't tiny. It's fixed pretty solidly to the ground, metal frames holding it up in a long rectangular shape. There's a camp bed already set up with uncomfortable looking blankets, and a box that holds two lamps, ready for night fall. There's also a small fold out chair and Gerard's bag that he brought but hasn't seen since the first base back in New York.

"Thanks," Gerard says, because what else is he supposed to say? After being cooped up in the jeep all day, being in this tent feels like heaven.

Mike starts to back up the way they came. "I'll disconnect the tunnel after I leave, so don't go poking your head out until sun down, ok?"

Gerard nods, turning to look at the back of the tent where the bed is. He turns again to ask Mike about Frank, but he's already gone, the slit in the tarp getting buttoned up. He listens as the tunnel outside collapses, the material hitting the ground with a heavy thud.

Pressing his lips together, he ventures closer to the bed. When he gets to it, though, he doesn't much feel like lying down and so takes the chair instead, propping his feet on the end of the unsteady bed. Although he feels like he's been alone since the first moment he arrived, he's glad to be in his own space and not under anyone's gaze.


It must be about an hour later when the entrance to his tent starts to quiver and unbutton. Gerard jumps to his feet and waits, hoping it not Jason or someone who isn't bringing food. He is starving.

When the tarp parts, he can see evening setting in and there are just a few glimmers of sunlight left in the sky, which is probably why the soldier standing there is still in his suit. When the tarp closes again, the soldier lifts his visor.

"Frank," Gerard breathes, rushing forward to get his arms around him. It's awkward because the suit is large, and Frank probably can't feel anything, but Gerard's just got to get his arms around him somehow.

"Let me get my suit off," Frank says softly, stepping back.

Gerard helps the best he can, pulling at clothing once Frank's got the zips and buttons and poppers open. There's a jacket, a vest and a shirt of padding to get through before Frank's down to his normal green army t-shirt again, and at least two sets of padded pants at different thicknesses before his usual camouflage ones are revealed. This is all on top of gloves, boots and a heavy helmet. Fuck, Frank must have been boiling.

"You have no idea how good that feels," Frank says as he drops the last of it on the floor with the rest of the suit. He stands back up and smiles at Gerard. "Hey."

Gerard takes that as a cue to fling himself at Frank again, arms coiling around his whole body. Frank's skin feels warm through his clothes, like the sun has been trying to get at him all day. Gerard peppers kisses along Frank's face until he gets to his lips, and sucks him in to a deep and desperate kiss. He claws at Frank's shoulders, arms and back, sucking on Frank's tongue and biting at his lips like he just can't get enough.

Finally, he pulls back and rests their foreheads together. "Hey," he pants.

Frank lips are all red and shiny with spit and when he smiles it makes Gerard want to devour him whole.

"I brought food," Frank whispers, eyes flickering over to the small box by the sun suit that Gerard didn't even see him holding. Gerard glances at it too for a second before looking back at Frank and licking his lips.

"I'd rather eat you," Gerard replies and Frank smirks, pulling Gerard's shirt out from his pants so he can get his hands on to his skin.

"You feel cold," he says, pushing Gerard's shirt up to his armpits and pressing his whole chest against Gerard's body. Frank's skin's still warm, whereas Gerard's been out of the sun for a while. Gerard lets Frank use him like an ice pack, pulling Frank's t-shirt further up until they're skin to skin. Frank hums. "Feels nice."

Gerard worms a hand between them as he starts palming Frank through his trousers. Frank moans, delighted, and presses himself closer to Gerard's hand.

"I missed you," Gerard says quietly, licking the shell of Frank's ear. "I've been so worried about you."

"M'fine," Frank tries to reassure as his hips buck. "Fuck, Gerard. I'm so good," he mumbles.

Gerard laughs breathily as he starts to tug at the buttons of Frank's pants, yanking them open and pushing them as far down as he can without moving too much. Frank's kissing along Gerard's shoulder through the fabric of his t-shirt until Gerard finally gets his hand around Frank's dick. He bites at Gerard's neck and they both gasp, rutting against each other.

When Gerard starts jerking Frank off, quick and frantic, Frank's knees start to shake. He grabs a hold of the tops of Gerard's arms and tries to hold on, but he's been feeling wound up all day, he's exhausted and Gerard just feels so good against him.

"Hang on," Frank breathes. "Hold up, just-" and he gets to his knees, pulling Gerard down with him. He grabs Gerard's hand and shoves it back in to his pants. "Go," he says and Gerard leans forward to kiss Frank quickly before his hand starts to move again, thumb and fingers making a tight ring around Frank's cock.

Gerard's hand movements are fast and furious, jacking Frank quickly, using pre-come and the dampness of their skin to make it slicker. He wishes he would have spat on his hand before, and he thinks about stopping to do it, but Frank starts to shake and his thrusting hips start to stutter. Gerard uses his free hand to thumb over one of Frank's nipples.

"That's it, baby," he purrs and Frank's soon spilling over Gerard's fist, muffling his moans with Gerard's neck again.

Gerard pulls his hand out of Frank's pants and starts to lick the come away. Frank watches through half lidded eyes and groans before closing them again.

"That should be gross," he says, "but it's so not."

Gerard smirks, sucking along his index finger before leaning down to kiss Frank softly. Frank wraps a hand around the back of Gerard's neck, nails scratching against the skin.

Pulling back slowly, Gerard smiles warmly at Frank. "Hi," he says again and Frank almost laughs. He gets steadily to his feet; not bothering to do himself back up before he's hauling Gerard up by the shoulders and pushing him back towards the chair.

Frank pulls open Gerard's trousers and shoves them down his thighs to let his dick spring free. Gerard groans and Frank pushes him to sit in the chair.

When Frank gets his mouth around Gerard's dick, Gerard has to bite on the heel of his palm to stop himself from moaning too loudly. It's a shame, because usually Gerard's noises urge Frank on, but Gerard's going to have to find some other form of encouragement.

As Frank sinks down, Gerard pets at the top of his head, sliding down in the chair and groaning in to his bitten hand.

"Frankie," he breathes, moving his hand away from his mouth to settle on Frank's shoulder. "Oh god, you're so good at that." Frank makes a grunting noise, sending shivers up Gerard's dick. He hallows his cheeks and sucks tighter as he pulls back almost completely. Gerard thrusts forward, chasing after Frank's mouth.

"Baby," he whispers, "Fuck, you're so good, so perfect…" he stops to let his head fall back and sighs, "So, so perfect."

It doesn't take long, not at all, Frank's hand is just starting to massage Gerard's balls, spit spilling down on his hand to help him and Gerard's hips start shaking.

"Gonna," he chokes, hand by his mouth again. "Frank, gonna – oh-" and he comes, shaking hard and biting on his hand as Frank sucks him through it, swallowing what he can and letting the rest spill out of his mouth and on to his chin and the floor.

When Gerard's caught his breath again, he slides off the chair and on to the floor, pulling Frank in close.


The soup Frank brought is almost completely cold by the time they get to it, but that makes it taste all the better. Gerard's sick of heat, and so he gulps greedily at the dark red liquid and then licks it from his lips and teeth. He's still settled in the chair and Frank's on the end of the camper bed; boots unlaced but not kicked off.

"I have to go back to my tent soon," Frank says quietly.

Gerard looks up, frowning. "What? Why?"

"I can't stay here all night, can I? How is that going to look tomorrow?"

Gerard goes to speak but then doesn't. He can't argue because he knows Frank's right. Instead, he sighs. "I suppose…" he trails.

Frank shifts closer and rubs a hand over Gerard's leg. "I wish I could stay here all night."

Gerard looks longingly from the bed to Frank. "Me too," he replies, shoulders sinking.

There's more silence as Gerard stares down in to his almost empty cup. Frank's heart wants to break; he hates it when Gerard looks so torn.

"I guess I could stay for a little longer?" he suggests quietly and Gerard smiles.

"You don't have to," he says. "I don't want to get us in shit."

Frank shakes his head. "It'll be fine. As long as I'm back before sun up…most of the guys are probably asleep."


They end up laying on the ground on the spread out blankets, because they won't both fit on the camper bed and Gerard wants Frank pressed as close to him as physically possible. He drags his hands up under Frank's shirt, trailing them over his chest. Frank peers down, watching Gerard's hands move.

"You ok?" Frank asks quietly, sensing something in the silence.

"I feel bad," Gerard replies and Frank moves one of his hands on top of Gerard's, stilling it. He waits for Gerard to continue. "You're putting your life on the line for me, and it just feels like I'm the one who's supposed to be doing that…instead of doing nothing."

Frank lifts Gerard's chin with his fingers. "You're not doing nothing," he says softly. "You're doing what you're supposed to be doing…helping to keep our cover."

"But I'm not-" Gerard tries, but Frank silences him with a finger against his lips.

"I knew exactly what I was getting myself in to when I signed up for this. I'm doing this for us, for you, because I know how much it means to you and because I love you. How many more times do I have to tell you that before you believe it?"

"I do believe it," Gerard whispers. "I just still can't believe you'd put yourself through this for me."

"Would you do it for me?" Frank asks and Gerard nods without even thinking about it. He doesn't have to. "Well, there you go then."

…

Sunrise is maybe an hour away as the brothers stand on the edge of town, staring off in to the distance. Gerard can feel that sunrise is coming; he can feel it on his skin and smell it in the air like he's known the signs all his life, though the sense is still pretty new to him.

They're standing at opposite sides of the car, doors wide open as they turn to look at each other over the car roof.

"Don't go," Gerard says, finally breaking the silence.

"I've gotta," Mikey whispers. "You know I do."

Gerard pushes his hair out of his face with a shaky hand. "We can think of something…anything. I can hide you. I can come with you."

Mikey shakes his head. "It wouldn’t work, Gee. You know it wouldn't. Our lives are too different now."

Gerard licks over one of his fangs. It tastes bitter.

"You're just a kid, Mikey," he whispers. "You can't go out there alone."

"Exactly. I'm a kid and if I stay here, if I change then I'm gonna be a kid forever. I'm never going to grow up or get old or get sick. I like feeling alive."

"I don't feel dead," Gerard quickly interrupts.

"But you are," Mikey sighs. When he registers the hurt on Gerard's face, he holds his hand out across the car roof. Gerard reaches back and grasps at his brother. "You're my brother, Gerard and I love you. I don't hate you…I don't even blame you for getting turned, but the safest thing for both of us right now is to split up."

Gerard knows it's true, and his heart may not be beating anymore but it still hurts. Mikey squeezes Gerard's hand.

"If you run," Gerard whispers, "I'm coming to find you."

Mikey smiles, weak but reassuringly back at his brother. "I hope you do."

From the edge of town, Gerard watches his brother drive off in to the oncoming sunrise and out of his life. He waits until the car is out of sight before slipping back in to the city.

…

When Gerard wakes up, someone's saying his name over and over again. He cracks open one eye to see Mike towering over him. He stops when he notices that Gerard's awake and then eyes him curiously.

"Dude, what are you doing sleeping on the floor?"

Gerard pulls himself up in to a sitting position and rubs at his eyes. "More space," he simply says.

Mike raises an eyebrow. He knows its bullshit, it's got to be something to do with Frank…and it is. The blankets still smell like him.

"Ok…" he trails, "Well, you've gotta get up. Right now."

Gerard gets unsteadily to his feet. "What? Why?"

"We've got some solo trackers who have been here for a couple weeks now and one of them has just contacted the base. He's managed to find one of the main groups of humans."

Gerard's eyes widen. "Did he – did he get them?"

Mike shakes his head. "That's not their job. They're ordered to watch and report back. That's it."

"So what now?"

"We're going to Jason's tent. He said it's important you're present at this meeting. He wants to make sure that you tell Alec Vladimir that you were included in every step."

Gerard nods and grabs his coat.

Outside the tent, he can sense that sunrise is close.


Gerard expects to see more people in Jason's tent, but there's only two or three soldiers along with Jason and James. None of the soldiers are Frank. James has got some photographs in front of him and he's just putting down a radio phone as they step through the tarp door.

"Ah, Gerard," he says. "I'm glad that you're here. I wouldn't want you or Mr. Vladimir to miss this break through."

Gerard nods and steps forward. "Thank you," he says, but even he's not convinced by his own voice. "I, uh. We appreciate that."

"I've just gotten off the phone with one of my trackers. He's spotted a group of humans several times in the past week not too far from here. It's seems they've had a stable residence here for some time now."

"How many humans?" Gerard asks.

"Twelve have so far been counted, but there could be more." He stops to toss the stack of pictures across the table. "Though there are several members he's seen a lot more of than others." He gestures towards the pictures.

The first image is a man, he's tall with tightly curled brown hair and he's pulling a box out of the boot of a car at sunset. Through the small bits of light coming through a nearby window, it looks like they're outside some sort of farm house. In the next image, the same man is at the door of the farm house, handing the box to another figure, too drowned in shadows to be able to see properly.

When Gerard pushes the other pictures away to reveal the next one, he feels sick and numb all over. It's Mikey…

It's got to be Mikey. He's older, his hair is lighter, swept back off his face and he's not wearing glasses. His face has changed a little, thinned at the chin and longer, but it's definitely Mikey. It's the eyes. Gerard's never forgotten those eyes.

In the picture Mikey's leaving the farm house. It's daylight and his hair looks almost blonde. The man from the other photos is behind him, carrying yet another box.

"-is there a problem?" Gerard barely registers Jason's voice and it's not until he feels Mike's foot nudge his beneath the table that he looks up.

"No," he replies quickly, trying not to let his voice break. "I'm fine. So, what's the plan?"

"We can have this camp packed down within the hour, yes?" Jason says, directing the question to James. He nods.

"Yes, Sir."

"Excellent. We move out within the hour. Sunrise will be close by then. Prepare the sun suits. I want everyone moving now. This is what we're here for and if we do this right, we should be on a flight home by sundown."

"I'll prepare the troops, Sir," James says, nodding the two soldiers away.

"I'll start disassembling the camp," Mike adds, stamping a boot on the ground before disappearing.

Jason's grinning when Gerard looks back at him. "Well, Gerard," he starts. "It looks like our time together will be coming to an end very shortly, though it feels like it's only just begun."

Gerard would wonder if Jason realised exactly how right he is, but he's got much bigger things to worry about. Right now, he's just got to find Frank and get out of here as quick as possible.


Excusing himself from the tent isn't hard. Jason's already busying himself with another phone call by the time Gerard turns to leave, and probably doesn't even realise that he's gone. As soon as he's out of the tent, he spots Mike pointing soldiers towards one of the jeeps.

"Mike!" he shouts, louder than he meant to, but the bustle of the camp covers most of it. Mike hears him though. "I need to talk to Frank," he says urgently when Mike is close enough.

"Why? What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Gerard lies. "Nothing, I just. I really need to talk to him."

Mike doesn't look convinced; he knows that Gerard's lying. If Gerard were him, he wouldn't believe him either. Mike's staring at him with one brow arched like he's about to ask more questions, but instead he sighs and grabs at the back of his own neck.

"Ok, wait by your tent. I'll have him there in a second."

"Thanks," Gerard says with a weak smile before Mike turns and disappears in to a group of soldiers.

Gerard knows he should feel bad, even just a little, and if it wasn't for the sake of his brother then he probably would. Mike and James have been more than helpful and Frank wouldn't even be here without them…but right now, he's got a brother to find and that's all he can bring himself to care about.


Just as Gerard slips in to his tent, Frank immediately follows.

"What? What's going on?" he says quickly. "Mike said you needed me, what's happened?" Frank's hands are doing that over gesturing thing they do whenever he's excited or extremely worried, and Gerard grabs one of them.

"I found Mikey."

Frank's eyes widen. "You did?" he asks, voice getting lower.

Gerard nods. "Jason brought me to the tent to show me the pictures sent over by the trackers, one of the pictures is Mikey."

Frank presses his lips together. "Are you sure it's him?"

"Of course I am," Gerard snaps, though he didn't mean to.

Frank squeezes Gerard's hand softly. "You haven't seen him in years, Gee. I just want to make sure you're absolutely positive before we go do something rash."

Gerard waits for another moment before nodding sharply. "It's definitely him. I'm one hundred percent sure."

"Alright, then. You wait here, grab what we need and I'll be back in a minute."

As Frank goes to move Gerard quickly grabs his arm again. "Where are you going?"

"Well, if we're going to get to him before this lot, we're going to need to know where we're going."

"How are you going to find that out without looking like you're up to something?"

Frank shrugs. "I'm a professional," he smiles. "Don't worry. Just be ready to move when I get back."


Gerard's ready about ten seconds after Frank's gone. He doesn't need much; everything is in his bag which was pretty small and lightly packed to begin with. He pulls out some clothes and double checks his phone and wallet before zipping everything back up.

It feels like too long before Frank gets back, and Gerard finds himself overly cautious of every single noise outside his tent. The camp is busy, alive as people rush around tearing down tents and packing equipment away. Gerard's even nervous when the tarp of his tent starts to move a minute or so later, momentarily terrified that it's all gone wrong and the whole thing's over.

Frank slips quickly back inside and Gerard wants to sighs with relief, but he doesn't have time. Frank's clutching a small piece of paper in his hand.

"Come on," he says, "we gotta get going now."

Gerard grabs his bag. "Did you get it?" Frank thrusts the paper in to Gerard's hand. "Good. Where are we going?"

"I told Mike I'd take one of the jeeps to the other end of camp. We're taking it."

Gerard doesn’t get the chance to scream the What! that's bubbling in his throat because Frank's pushed him out of the tent and in to the bustle of the camp. All Gerard can do for the moment is follow Frank and try to keep up. Frank seems to have this all pretty thought out as he moves quickly between the troops and tents, and he doesn't have to look back once to make sure that Gerard's still there.

When they come to the tent with the vehicles, there's barely anyone there. Half of the tarp has been rolled up, so anyone's going to be able to see them.

"Get in," Frank says without turning around, he just opens Gerard's door and jogs around to the drivers side.

Gerard scrambles quickly in, slamming the door shut and staring out of the window to see if anyone has noticed. They haven't.

"We don't have sun suits," Gerard says in a panic as Frank's door slams closed.

"Didn't have time to grab any," Frank says as he slips the key in to the ignition. "There might still be one under the back seat, but we'll be safe in the car."

Gerard feels sick again and if it wasn't for the adrenaline pumping through him, he probably wouldn't be able to move either. Frank starts the jeep and rolls it slowly out of the tent. Gerard wants to close his eyes as the other troops back up to let them out, but he can't.

"When do you think they'll notice?" he asks, glancing back as the troops return to whatever they were doing.

"Not a clue," Frank replies, turning the jeep West of the camp, stepping on the gas pedal – but not too much. Gerard feels like they should be going faster, tearing away from the camp as quick as possible before someone sees, but they're still bumping steadily across the earth.

"Shouldn't we be going faster?"

Frank side glances Gerard quickly. "Gee, stop freaking out."

Gerard can see the edges of the dirt road and he glances back again to the camp which is now maybe fifty feet away. No one's running after them, no other engines are roaring and no guns are blazing. It's quiet and calm.

When Gerard looks forward again, they're on the dirt roads. He glances up at the sky as the first burst of pale purple shoots across the sky.

"Sunrise is close," he says. "Maybe an hour, if that. How long is it to the hide out?"

Frank checks the clock on the dash. "About twenty minutes, fifteen if I gun it."

Gerard pushes himself back in to his seat. "Gun it," he says.

Frank nods, finally pressing down on the gas pedal as the jeep quickly gathers speed, sending bits of dirt and sand spitting up in to the body of the vehicle, clattering against the metal.

"You ok?" Frank asks after a moment.

Gerard sucks in a quiet breath. "Ask me in an hour."

Gerard's not sure how he's supposed to feel right now and more so he's not sure how Frank's feeling either. Frank can be a hard person to read at times, but over the years, Gerard likes to think he's got it down to somewhat of an art. Apart from now, because now Frank's just staring hard at the dirt road in front, teeth clenched in determination. Gerard's just not sure what exactly it is that he's determined to do.

At some point in the drive, Gerard reaches over and clasps his hand over Frank's thigh. Frank licks over his lips and looks over at Gerard, who smiles somewhat weakly. Frank returns it, casts a glance back in the rear-view mirror and swerves the jeep back off the dirt road.

They must be getting close now. Half dead looking trees seem to have sprung from no where, arching together to make an odd sort of forest with a trail of sunken tire tracks running right through the middle. The air feels warmer, muggier under all these trees and Gerard can feel that sunrise is getting closer and closer.

When the farm house appears, Gerard grips the bottom of his seat with one hand and clamps down tighter on Frank's thigh with the other. Frank covers Gerard's hand with his own and squeezes back.

Frank drives to the back of the house with the headlights off and parks the jeep behind a large van. He switches off the engine quickly.

"So," he whispers, looking from the back door of the house to Gerard. "What now?"

Gerard shrugs. "We go in?"

"What? Just knock on the door of a bunch of humans and hope they don't cut our heads off before we've got a chance to even utter Mikey's name."

Gerard opens his door. "One way to find out," he says before jumping down to the ground.

Frank sighs, suddenly wishing he'd picked up a gun or something before they left the camp. It's too late to go back now though, because Gerard's half way to the door. Frank curses silently and follows quickly.

At the door, Gerard raises a hand and then lowers it again.

"Do we knock?" he asks quietly.

"Do you think they'd answer if we did?" Frank points out. Gerard nods sharply. He's right.

Jiggling the door handle, both of them jump back in surprise when the door glides effortlessly open.

"It's not locked," Gerard states.

Frank motions forward. "Well, come on then…"

Behind the door is a large room, bare except for a few stacks of boxes and dimly lit by a few lamps hanging from the walls. Gerard peers around the door for a moment until the rest of his body follows with Frank close behind. He listens hard, picking up the faintest mumble of distant voices as he takes a step further in to the room. There's another door at the end of the bare room and there's a bright light spilling out beneath it on to the shadows of the dark floor.

Gerard moves further again, side stepping until they're close to the wall.

"Do you think-" Frank starts to whisper, but Gerard holds up a hand quickly, silencing him. Frank's mouth snaps shut and Gerard turns his head to the side, listening intently. He moves his head quickly to the other side - there. He just felt it in the air…heartbeats.

Gerard's about to say something when suddenly, from behind a stack of boxes, a dark figure comes lunging at him. Gerard finds himself shoved against the wall and as his head snaps back to face his attacker, he feels the barrel of a gun shoved in to his temple.

"Take one more step and I'll blow your head off, you blood sucking scum," a gruff voice growls.

In another moment, Frank reappears with his hand around the attacker's throat, fingers digging in to the skin. When Frank makes eye contact, he opens his mouth and practically hisses, baring fangs and the rest of his gleaming teeth.

"You lay one hand on him and I'll snap you like a toothpick," Frank's eyes are dark, pupils glazing over with a black cloud.

"Back off, vampire," another voice calls from the now open door. Gerard hears another gun being cocked. Frank turns to hiss at the other human.

"We're here for Mikey," Gerard finally says, glancing up at the gun as it digs harder against his forehead.

"What did you say?" the voice by the door asks, rushed and confused.

"Mikey Way," Gerard says again, firmly.

There's a pause-

"What the hell is going on in here?"

Gerard would recognise that voice anywhere.

There's a flicking of a switch and then bright light floods the room, drowning out the lamps. The gun is now gone from his head and Frank's stood back from the attacker. He's tall and well built, head shaven with a nasty looking scar across his throat.

One of the men by the door, dressed completely in black with tightly curled hair, still has his gun trained on them, but Gerard can't think about that right now because next to him is-

"Mikey," Gerard breathes.

Mikey's standing there, just a few feet from Gerard looking exactly like he did in the picture. He might even be wearing the same clothes, Gerard's not sure. But it's him – he's there, right in front of Gerard for the first time in years.

"Oh my god," Mikey says, pushing his way past the man in black and practically tumbling over himself until he gets to Gerard, knocking him back against the wall with the force of his hug.

"Mikey!" the man by the door shrieks. "What are you doing?"

Mikey ignores him, too busy with his death tight grip around Gerard's shoulders.

"You came," he whispers. "You're actually here."

Gerard's holding on to Mikey just as tight as he's holding on to him, arms coiled around his little brother's waist like he might disappear soon as he buries his face away in Mikey's neck. By force of habit he smells him, remembering his scent.

Gerard can feel tears and a lump in his throat, but he swallows it down and pulls back from the embrace. He only realises how manically he must be smiling when Mikey smiles back, watching as Gerard's hands move over his face.

"I can't believe it's you," Gerard says.

The man in black is behind Mikey now, and he raises a hand to Mikey's shoulder.

"Mikey?" he says softly.

Mikey turns to him, stepping out of Gerard's reach. "This is my brother, Gerard," he explains, and the man's eyes widen.

"Shit," is all he has to say.

Mikey looks back at Gerard, "This is Ray," he says "that's Scott."

When Gerard looks back at 'Scott', he sees Frank stood somewhat awkwardly. Scott nods at him with a displeased stare and Gerard grabs Frank's elbow to pull him to his side.

"This is Frank," he starts. "Frank is…" he trails, pausing to look from Mikey to Frank. He smiles to himself. "Frank's mine," he finishes, wrapping his fingers around Frank's wrist. Frank smiles back.

"What are you doing here? How did you find me?" Mikey asks, and then everything quickly comes rushing back to Gerard.

"We came with the VAA," Gerard says and Mikey recoils a little.

"You're with the VAA?"

Gerard double takes. "How – how do you know what the VAA is?"

"They've been tracking us for months now," Mikey explains. "They're here though, close by aren't they?"

"They'll be here in less than an hour," Frank says and Mikey's face falls. He looks panicked.

"Less than an hour?" he parrots. Frank nods. "Shit," he turns quickly to Ray. "Get everyone together," he orders. "Pack only what he need, we've gotta be out of this place in thirty minutes tops."

Ray nods and scrambles away, flinging open the door he came through and calling out to the people beyond. Scott spits on the floor and follows.

"When did they get our address?" Mikey asks.

"A few hours ago, one of their trackers radioed in. I had to get to you before they did," Gerard says earnestly.

Mikey smiles and wraps his slender fingers around Gerard's elbow. "Thank you, brother," he says quietly, and Gerard can't resist pulling him in to another brief hug.

"We should get moving," Frank says, nervously glancing over at the door.

Mikey nods, not letting go of his brother's arm. "Yeah, we've got a lot to do. Come on." He leads them to the door.

Beyond is a large room with several raised floors and balconies. A large spiral staircase leads off to the upper floor and there's a woman currently running down it with a backpack clutched to her chest. She's got dark hair and pale skin and reminds Gerard a lot of Amy.

Things are being packed away from large tables in to boxes and crates by several elderly looking men. When Gerard imagined Mikey with a group, he thought it would have been bigger than this. He always thought there was safety in numbers, but he can see no more than nine or ten people here.

There's a boy about Mikey's age filling a handgun with tiny blue bullets. Suddenly, he looks up, right at Gerard with widened eyes. He swings the gun round, aiming it right at them whilst shouting, "Vampires!"

The room freezes, and everyone looks over.

"No," Mikey calls quickly, holding his hands up. "It's ok, they're with me."

"With you?" the boy echoes. "You brought vampires in here?" he cocks the gun back, finger resting on the trigger.

Ray appears behind him and slaps him around the back of the head before wrenching the gun out of his hand. "Don't be a fucking idiot, Peter," he scolds. "Y'think Mikey would work this hard and then just lead them right to us?" Peter shrugs. "It's his brother, you moron."

Peter's mouth drops open. "Oh," he says. "Who's he?" he nods to Frank.

"He's with my brother," Mikey replies quickly. "They're the ones who came to warn us about the VAA."

The woman from the stairs, who's now resting on the bottom step, flips her dark hair back. "How do we know it's not a trap?" she asks quietly.

"Because he's my brother," Mikey explains. "Now," he addresses the rest of the room, "we've got a lot to do. Pack only what is necessary and get it in to the cars as quickly as possible."

The people busy themselves again.

"I would have expected there to be more of you," Gerard says from behind Mikey. Mikey turns with a softened expression.

"There was once. At one point there were at least twenty – twenty five."

"What happened?" Gerard asks and Mikey picks something up from a nearby table and shoves it in to his pocket, sighing.

"Lots of things," he says. "Some people weren't careful enough and some people just gave up." When Ray walks over to them, Mikey takes the folded paper from his pocket and hands it over.

"Did you finish the route?" he asks and Mikey nods.

"Mostly. There are some parts I'm not too sure about." Ray silences him by resting a hand on Mikey's waist and squeezing softly.

"We'll figure it out," he says with a meaningful stare before removing his hand and walking away.

When Mikey looks back at his brother, he's got a questioning brow raised. He ignores it.

"Where does the route lead?" Frank asks before Gerard can ask something that Mikey's not ready to tell. Mikey's eyes fill with gratitude as he looks directly at Frank.

"The port of Cancun," he answers. "There's a boat there that can take us to the Bahamas, and then from there a boat to the port of Penmarch in France."

"France?" Frank says slowly. "What the hell is in France?"

"Safety," Mikey says simply. "Rumour has it humans are living there safely away from the cities."

"But what if it's just a rumour?" Gerard asks. Mikey presses his lips together and shrugs.

"It's the only hope we've got. You know yourself that we're not going to last long out here." Gerard nods and there's a short pause.

Peter appears with a small box, and out of it he pulls a black pistol. "I just loaded it," he says.

Mikey takes it with an uneasy glance back to his brother. "Thanks. Just, uh, tell everyone to watch what they're doing, ok?"

"Sure," Peter nods, closing up the box again.

Gerard follows the gun with his eyes. "Uh, are those really helpful against the undead?"

Peter reappears quickly, already stripping his gun back. "Actually, they are," he says, emptying a few of the bullets out on to his palm. "I designed them with the help of an engineer from Texas. They're UV bullets. Essentially they work just the same as regular bullets, except these ones have a thin shell that shatters when it enters the body, and ultraviolet liquid spills out of them."

Frank recoils. "That's barbaric," he says.

Peter laughs. "Y'know, you may live in houses in cities, go to work and come home to cook your pre-packaged dinners…but you're still just animals. Underneath it all, there's only one thing that you would sacrifice anything for, and that's human blood. I'd say that is pretty barbaric."

"Hey now, you self righteous little-"

"Whoa," Mikey cuts in quickly just as Gerard grabs at Frank's wrist and pulls him back. "Peter, shut up and go and help Ray," he pushes Peter in the opposite direction, who scowls and mumbles something along the lines of 'was just sayin' as he walks away.

"He's a prick," Frank spits.

"Yeah," Mikey nods, "he is, but he's mostly harmless."

"Mostly," Frank scoffs and Gerard slides his hand up until it's wrapped around Frank's bicep.

"Leave it," Gerard says softly.

"I hope he gets eaten by frogs in France," Frank says, mostly to himself as he lets Gerard pull him back to his side.

"So, what are you going to do next?" Mikey asks, but Gerard makes a face like he doesn't understand. "You've done what you came to do. I'm asking where you're going from here."

Gerard's words catch in his throat and he turns to glance at Frank, who's looking just as unsure. Mikey's eyes are full of hope, and the feel of Frank's hand on the small of his back only confirms his answer. They've come this far now…

Before he can reply, there's an almighty crash from the front of the house, doors ripping from their hinges and slamming to the ground as heavily suited men storm in to the main room. They're all armed with guns that Frank doesn't recognise, and following the command of several shouts, one of the men fires at the girl on the stairs. Something sticks in to the back of her neck as she runs and she instantly falls, toppling down the steps until she rests in a messy pile of limbs at the bottom.

Tranquilizers.

Gerard instantly recognises the bitter tone of Jason's voice. Frank pulls him out of the way, slamming Gerard in to the back wall as a long, black dart narrowly misses his skin.

"Get the fuck down" Ray shouts, motioning towards the floor with his hand, and it's only now that Gerard sees him and Mikey taking cover behind the thick wooden railings as they shoot towards the soldiers.

Frank tugs Gerard down to the floor, landing harshly on their knees as what sounds like rubber bullets ping off the wall behind them. Gerard would close his eyes, but he refuses to take them off Mikey.

Through the railings Gerard can see that the girl has been dragged away, along with a few of the elderly men. The others are still hidden behind tables and crates and banisters, shooting what Gerard guesses are regular bullets along with their own creations.

From the corner of the room, Peter advances on one of the soldiers. He's at the end of the line, not shooting, so it doesn't take much for Peter to over power him and knock his helmet off. It's Mike.

"No!" Frank shouts, jumping up to his feet just as Peter pulls the trigger.

The UV bullet rips through the side of Mike's skull, illuminating his eyes for just a moment until his mouth opens and he shrieks something awful. His skin turns in to a dull grey colour before quickly crumbling away like ash. He falls in to a pile of dust and thick black uniform.

As Peter watches, a dart hits him in the shoulder. He tries to fight it for a moment, turning to run but he soon falls down.

There are only three or four other humans left now, alongside Ray and Mikey, firing at the advancing soldiers. As another man is hit, Gerard grabs Mikey's shoulder.

"We've got to get out of here," he says.

"I can't leave," Mikey bites back, squeezing the trigger again.

Ray fires along with him. "He has a point," he pauses. "What use is it if they get us all?"

"I can't just leave," Mikey shouts again after another shot, but it appears that Ray's already made up his mind.

"Did you come in a car?" he asks.

"Jeep," Frank replies, "'around back."

Ray nods quickly. "Alright. On my signal, make a run for it."

He squeezes off a few more rounds before abruptly stopping and grabbing Mikey by the shoulders. "Go!" he yells.

Frank grabs a hold of Gerard's hand and yanks him back to his feet, bolting through the door just as he hears Mikey struggling.

"Ray! No!" he's calling, but Ray's still moving behind them.

"Go, go, go!" he shouts, hand on Gerard's back as he pushes them quickly through the back room and towards the door.

They all burst through it at once.

It's morning outside. As soon as the sunlight hits Gerard's skin he lets out a guttural shriek he's never heard from himself before. Frank's hissing, one arm flying to cover his face as he wraps the other around Gerard's head. It feels like his whole body is on fire, burning from the inside out as though his blood were lava.

Ray rips his jacket off and throws it over them.

Mikey seems to have accepted the new plan now, because he's grabbing on to Gerard and helping Ray direct them quickly towards the jeep. Once there, they throw them in to the backseat.

The protective glass finally blocks out the sun, but Gerard can still feel his skin smouldering. When he looks up from the coat, he sees their arms are smoking. Frank keeps himself wrapped tightly around Gerard and even though it hurts, neither of them can let go.

"It's ok, it's ok," Frank repeats over and over again as he presses his cheek against the top of Gerard's head.

Ray practically tears open the driver's door, cursing as he fumbles with the keys. When Mikey's door slams closed, the engine roars to life.



End.



Epilogue

The countryside in Northern France reminds Gerard of those old paintings you see in Libraries or waiting rooms, just quaint little houses surrounded by miles and miles of green, open fields.

Their farm house is several miles from any town or village in all directions, and their closest neighbour is almost a mile away, out of the forest and over a field of yellow pansies. It suits them, suits their little life right down to the ground. Gerard was never that big on people anyway.

He stares at the dark forest from the front yard, hands and chin resting on one of the pillars of the front wall. He can smell the bottle of wine Mikey's just opened from the kitchen. Arms coil slowly around his waist.

"Dinner's ready," Frank breathes, pulling Gerard's head up from the pillar so he can rest his chin on Gerard's shoulder. He pushes his fingers beneath the waistband of Gerard's jeans and squeezes his hips.

"I want to go for a walk," Gerard says, leaning back in to the embrace.

Frank nods and kisses his neck. "Anything you want," he replies before grabbing Gerard's hand and slowly pulling him towards the house.

The house is small and a little basic, a million miles away from Frank and Gerard's apartment in New York City. The living room is fairly large and kitchen long and narrow, an extension obviously added to the building much later than it was built.

Mikey emerges with two bowls of soup and hands them to Frank and Gerard. The steam from the thick red swirls wafts up in to their noses. Mikey grimaces a little as he hands them over.

"We could always make our own," Gerard offers, but Mikey shakes his head.

"No, I've gotta get used to it at some point," he says just as Ray follows out with two more bowls. He hands one to Mikey with a sly wink. He does that a lot, little things that he either thinks Frank and Gerard don't see or just don't care about. Gerard does care, though, because Mikey always smiles brightly back at him.

…

Frank likes following Gerard on these random walks to no where in particular, until the trees get thin at the top and the stars are clear. The stars were never this bright from the city. Gerard keeps his fingers laced with Frank's as they walk, head constantly tilted upwards to the night.

"It smells so different here," Gerard says quietly and Frank nods in agreement.

"That's not a bad thing though, is it?"

Gerard pauses for a moment, pressing his lips together before they finally twitch in to a smile. He pulls Frank's hand to his mouth and kisses his knuckles.

"Not with you here."

Frank spends the rest of the walk kicking rocks and kissing Gerard before they head for home.


When they get home, Mikey and Ray are asleep upstairs and the dishes from dinner are cleared from the coffee table, probably already washed and stacked away. Ray's got a thing about organisation. Frank kicks off his shoes and pulls Gerard towards the stairs.

The bedrooms are Gerard's favourite part of the house. They're both roughly the same size and at opposite ends of the floor with the bathroom tucked snugly between, and it's where they spend the majority of their time – apart from the forests. The bed is large and old, but comfortable. Gerard likes the way the mattress dips, pushing him and Frank closer together.

Gerard pulls Frank against his chest, kissing along his back and shoulders until Frank hums.

"We should go in to town soon," Frank yawns. "We're running out of food."

Gerard drops another kiss on to Frank's shoulder. "We'll go tomorrow night," he says.

When Gerard really thinks about it, not much has changed in their lives. He still wakes up every evening with Frank draped across him. He still thinks about his brother and still spends every sunrise drifting off in to a content sleep, wondering what the next sundown will bring.


Fin.


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