Let Love In

11

Frank wakes up in Gerard's arms.

He's never felt this safe and loved. Even when he's dealing with the worst hangover ever, waking up so close to Gerard makes everything better.

'How did you sleep?' Gerard asks, looking straight into his eyes and pushing his hair off his face.

'I've never slept this much.'

'I'm glad.'

Frank can't stop smiling. Being with Gerard makes him feel complete, and he doesn't know exactly why. It's as if when he's with him, Frank knows exactly who he is, and the fog around him disappears. Being with him feels like the hug he's been craving all his life. 'How do you do it?' he asks, completely unaware of the words leaving his mouth.

'What?'

'You make the nightmares go away. You make me feel like myself.'

That makes Gerard smile. 'Do I really make the nightmares go away?'

Frank nods. 'You do. Now I'm going to have to sleep here all the time.'

'You know I don't have a problem with that.' Frank leans in for a kiss, and cuddles closer to him. 'Are you cold?' Gerard asks, noticing how cold his arms feel.

'I'm always cold.'

'It's almost July,' Gerard jokes.

'That doesn't matter.' Without another word, Gerard gets up and walks straight to his closet. He comes back with a hoodie for Frank, who puts it on right away. 'Are we doing this already?' Gerard says with a smile. 'Sharing a hoodie?'

'I guess we are.'

Frank follows him to the kitchen, and they silently start the coffee, but Gerard also makes him a tea for the hangover. 'What do you think about calling in sick to work, taking the day off, and letting me take care of you?' Gerard asks him after a long silence, and proceeds to cover his face with kisses.

'I love the idea.'

That settled, Gerard starts making breakfast, knowing Bandit will be up any minute now. 'You want pancakes?'

Frank just nods, not letting go of him for a second. After all, his mom and Bob were right all along. He needed to let love in, let others take care of him and love him. It feels good.

They keep talking in whispers, and Gerard starts asking questions, trying to know more. 'So, the panic attacks are because of the heart thing?' he asks.

Frank shakes his head. 'This therapist told me it's normal for people who've had heart transplants. It's like something doesn't quite fit in, and our body's rejecting it, and for some reason our brains short-circuits. It's hard to understand why it happens.' Gerard pulls him closer and presses a kiss to his forehead to comfort him. 'Some people think it has to do with the donor. That some of their traumas get passed on to us. But I don't know if I believe that.'

'I hate that you have to feel like that.'

'Me too.'

Gerard leans in and kisses him, hoping that makes him feel better. But the kiss isn't enough, and they keep going, Gerard pushing him against the counter as his tongue goes deeper down his throat.

'Frankie?' Apparently, they didn't even hear Bandit walking in on them, still half asleep. 'What are you doing here?'

Both men turn around, blushing hard, not knowing what to say. After a pause, Gerard walks up to her to try and fix the situation, and takes the girl's hands in his. 'Frankie got here when you were asleep,' he explains. 'He wasn't feeling well, and needed to talk to me.'

The girl nods, running to Frank to hug him. He hugs her back, and does his best not to cry on the spot. 'Dad,' Bandit says out of nowhere. 'Are you and Frankie boyfriends?'

Gerard just stands there speechless. There's no point in lying. She literally found them kissing. 'Are we, Frank?' he asks the other man, who just laughs, his eyes sparkly with happiness, before pressing another kiss to his lips.

'Yes, we are.'

'Yayyy!' B cheers.

***

'Frank! Your boyfriend is here!' Bob yells when he sees Gerard walk in the studio.

'I guess you must be Bob,' Gerard says with a shy smile. 'It's very nice to finally meet you. I'm Gerard.'

Bob just looks at him, but doesn't shake his hand, confusing Gerard. Is he jealous? Lucky for him, Frank walks out just then, almost running to his boyfriend, and it's then that he sees the huge bouquet of roses he's holding. 'Are those for me?'

'Of course,' Gerard replies, pulling him by the shirt to kiss him.

'Ew!' Bob yells.

'Shut up, Bob,' Frank jokes. 'You wanted a kiss, too?'

Bob just laughs. 'No, but seriously. I'm happy for you, man. Thank you, Gerard. For making Mr. Grumpy here happy.'

'Now you get to be the only grumpy one here,' Frank adds, and then follows Gerard to the car, Lois closely behind him, as always.

Frank is still learning how to enjoy this new phase of his life. Being in love. He's letting himself be happy, and most of the time, he has no idea what to do. But Gerard is always there to show him the way.

He makes him laugh.

They both are enjoying the moment. Not making any plans. Going to the comic books store, or playing D&D with B and Mikey. Sometimes they just stay home and do nothing. They go to the park or the movies. When Gerard has to go to New York to teach a class, B stays with Frank, and he helps her make an elf costume.

One particular Sunday, Frank takes him to his mom's place for dinner. 'I want to introduce you to someone special,' Frank says to Linda. 'These are Gerard and Bandit, my family.' It feels good to say it. 'Family, this is my mom, Linda.' Bandit and Linda seem to get along well, and Frank loves seeing his mom doing B's hair.

'Thank you for loving B,' Gerard tells him later that night. 'I don't know if I've said it before, but it means a lot, seeing all the patience and love you have for her.'

'It's really easy, actually. To love her,' Frank says with a smile. He does that a lot now. Smiling. 'She got me since day one.'

'It's a gift. Just like her dad.'

Frank laughs. 'That's true.'

'But seriously. I know I don't talk about this a lot, but it was really hard on us when her mom left.' Frank is speechless. He doesn't know how to react. 'It was barely two months after Bandit was born. And I wasn't ready to be a dad.' Gerard pauses, holding back the tears. 'Neither of us was ready to have a kid, I guess. We met at art school, and we were living in New York at the time. Then, when she got pregnant, things got a bit tough, and she wasn't sure she wanted to be a mom, and I was always busy, trying to make my dream come true. I had just gotten this job as art curator. And when Bandit was born, I wasn't even there.' Frank notices his voice breaks when he says that. 'Then one day, she was just gone, and it was just Bandit and me since then.'

'My favorite duo.'

'Except we're not a duo anymore,' Gerard replies with a smile.

*********************

well, just one more chapter...

and I just want to thank you for all the love you've given this fic, you really left me speechless because I wasn't expecting this reaction, and it means a lot! So thank you a lot, for reading, voting and leaving comments! 

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