When Frank first wakes up, his first instinct is to scream. Naturally, he realizes at the last second it won't do him any good. His heart hammers in his chest and he fights the urge to run. If he ran, he may wake up Gerard. He realized a moment later that his back didn't hurt. It should have. Frank remembered clearly what Gerard had done to him before he had... fallen asleep, he guessed was the right word. His back felt relatively fine.
Then he remembered that Gerard had cut off his shirt. So why was he wearing one now? It was an Iron Maiden shirt that was probably two or three sizes too big. He wasn't particularly fond of the more Acid Rock bands. He preferred the post-hardcore punk bands like the Misfits and Black Flag. Morrissey and The Smiths. Bands like that. Acid Rock had no appeal to him. So what? He wasn't about to just take off the shirt. That would most likely wake Gerard up as well. Speaking of Gerard...
What the hell was he doing? Frank didn't know why Gerard had changed his clothes and put him in the fucking bed. For God's sake's, he had been cutting into the skin on his back just... hours before. Had it been hours? Frank had no idea. He didn't want to ask. Well, he couldn't verbally ask. Frank starts when he realizes that he's been staring at Gerard's calm, sleeping face all the time he had been thinking.
Gerard's hazel eyes stared back at him when he jerked back. Frank's heartbeat picked up again and he felt his breathing quicken. He was afraid. He feared for his life. He mentally cringed when Gerard's face softened into a sincere smile that almost had Frank's heart stop for a moment.
"You feel any better, Frankie?" Truth was, Frank felt much better. His back didn't hurt and there wasn't an ounce of pain anywhere that he could feel. He felt... The best he had in a while. He slowly nods, not wanting to lie, even though he would have been completely capable of doing so. Gerard's smile widens.
"That's good. Listen..." He takes a deep breath and Frank tenses. "I'm sorry." Frank is caught off guard. Gerard is... sorry? How can he be? He's a malicious, evil bastard. Frank's head is screaming at him that Gerard is lying. But he knows in his gut that Gerard is being sincere. Frank nods again, slowly. Cautiously. Gerard sighs.
"I was... I feel awful about what I did. I know that you don't forgive me, and I don't expect you to any time soon... But just know that I'm being serious, alright?" Frank can tell. He can see it in the way Gerard's eyes are. He's telling the truth. So he nods and, despite everything his mind is screaming at him, he hesitantly wraps his arms around Gerard's neck.
He didn't expect Gerard to feel so... Human. So warm and soft beneath him. The way that Gerard's arms stiffly wrapped around his back scared Frank. He thought that when they touched any place that he had been cut that he would immediately feel pain. But he didn't. Gerard's arms were delicate on his back. Frank only felt a slight itch. Gerard was stiff for a few moments before relaxing and holding Frank a bit closer. Frank could hear his heartbeat. It was... well, calming. Frank relied on hearing things so much more than when he could talk, because all he could do was listen.
"Boss we- Oh..." Gerard turns his head. Dewees was standing in the door, his eyes averted and his cheeks rather red. Gerard makes note to remind him that knocking is pretty much his only rule in his room. That, and you wear clothes unless Gerard says otherwise.
"What is it, Dewees?" He looks down and coughs.
"We're leaving in an hour. Thought you'd need reminding... You haven't, uh, left your room in a few hours, so we figured... Nevermind. But yeah. You may wanna get Frank ready and whatnot... Yeah." Gerard nods and tightens his grip on Frank, who is obviously trying to subtly push Gerard away, but can't.
"Alright. Dismissed." Dewees nods and leaves, closing the door behind me. Gerard sighs and lays down, pulling Frank with him. He doesn't care that Frank is most likely uncomfortable with the entire thing, because he knows that he has to be careful with Frank. If he's his sadistic self like normal he'll lose him. The side of him that he shuts away has to come out now. But only for Frank. Frank will be the one exception to this.
"I'm sorry to have dragged you into all this, Frank..." Frank nods against his place on Gerard's chest. "But I need to get you dressed and everything. For the deal tonight you're gonna need a bulletproof vest under your clothes... Shouldn't be too hard, I don't think..." He lets his hands lightly rub Frank's back, over the spot where the Jack O Lantern and the Keep The Faith were hidden beneath a shirt. Frank squirms lightly and reaches a hand out to Gerard's side table for the notebook and pen that are there. Gerard hands them to him and watches as Frank's messy scrawl decorates the page.
'WHY THE CHANGE OF HEART? WHY ARE YOU BEING SO NICE TO ME? DON'T YOU HATE ME? AREN'T YOU GOING TO HURT ME IF I BREAK ONE OF YOUR "RULES"?' It takes Gerard a few extra moments to read the chicken scratch, but he gets it soon enough. When he does he laughs and lets his lips barely brush Frank's forehead before taking the paper from him.
'Frank, my next questions are personal ones. Will you answer them for me?' Frank bites his lip as he reads it, but nods and waits for Gerard to write his questions.
Q: Why does your nose look broken?
A: It's been broken a few times.
Q: How did you break it?
A: Got into fistfights.
Q: Why were people fighting you?
A: Because I hate everyone.
Q: Fair enough. What was your home life like?
A: My dad's an alcoholic. My mom's not there. She skipped out a few years ago. That's all. I don't mind being here. I would have minded it less if you hadn't done /that/ yesterday.
Gerard cringes. He wishes he could go back to yesterday and make it never have happened. He wants Frank happy. But if Frank doesn't mind being here, then there's nothing he can change. Gerard knows it's only a matter of time before he changes his mind and wants out of here so bad that it hurts. But he won't be able to leave. Because at that point he'll want to stay just as much as Gerard does. But he'll want to leave even more than Gerard.
"I'm sorry..." Gerard's voice is barely a whisper and Frank's heart aches a little when Gerard looks down and lets his hair fall forward a bit. Frank wishes they had met under different circumstances. He may have liked Gerard. He looks down at the fifth question.
Q: What's your orientation?
A: I am a flaming homosexual. And proud. Why does it matter?
Gerard reads it and laughs. A full-fledged laugh that makes Frank want to smile.
"Because you're the only of about five people here that is. Including myself, that makes it... Oh, about six. Dewees is. Those three idiots that grabbed you are, too. And Cortez. He's out on... 'vacation' now, so you'll meet him when he gets back." Frank nods and watches as Gerard stands and goes to the closet on the other side of the room, digging through pile after pile of black pants and shirts and socks before coming back with a black vest. He hands it to Frank.
"Go on, strip. You're gonna need help getting it on, trust me." He watches as Frank hesitantly pulls off his shirt and is happy when he turns around and sees that very little blood had come through the gauze before helping Frank with the vest and it's various straps before handing him a black button-up and jacket to go over it. Frank feels alien in the attire. But he doesn't question it when Gerard hands him a pair of black jeans and pulls them on.
His gaze jerks up at Gerard as he notices the boxers he's wearing aren't his. Gerard raises his hands and laughs once more, going to the closet and returning with a set of black shoes and a belt.
"Don't worry, I didn't look, Frank." He smiles and lets Frank take the last of the articles of clothing from him before going and putting on clothes similar to those that were on Frank. He smiles as Frank shakes his head and goes to the mirror in Gerard's room, fixing his hair and pulling his bottom lip down to make sure nothing weird was going on there. He closes his eyes rubs them.
As Gerard's arms encircle his waist, he jerks forward before giving up and letting Gerard pull him back against him. Frank is quickly realizing that Gerard is probably bipolar or something. He'd have to put up with that, he supposed.
"But I'll be getting a look rather soon, Frank. You can trust me on that." Then Gerard is grabbing his wrist and pulling him out the door, down numerous hallways up and and down stairs. Frank can only wonder what that meant for him.
(I'M NEVER WRITING A CHAPTER THIS LONG AGAIN >.< YOU BETTER HAVE LIKED IT. Just sayin'.)
