A Fine Line (Frerard)

Warm, Bright in the Cold Night

Frank groaned as his annoying alarm woke him from a well-deserved sleep.

Wait, his alarm? Was he at his house?

People need to stop doing that to him. He doesn't need help. He doesn't want help. If Frank fell asleep under the cork tree, well shit, that was his own damn fault. A little sleep under a tree wasn't gonna hurt him.

Pulling a note stupidly taped to his hair off stung a little, though.

'Frank,
Found you asleep under a tree. Thought you wouldn't mind if I brought you to your actual house. We've gotta talk later. Don't tell Brendon.
-Ryan'

If anyone in hell didn't belong there, it was Ryan. He was the nicest demon around, and known for being very sympathetic. Everyone had their own little theories about why he was even with Brendon. Frank's theory was that Brendon pulled a Billie Joe and just kinda cherry picked him out of a pool of potential boyfriends, and Ryan just got lucky. In more ways than one. If anyone could put up with Brendon for this long and not lose their damn mind, Frank gave them serious props.

'We've gotta talk later. Don't tell Brendon.'

Must be pretty important if it's just between the two of them. Now Frank was actually interested.
~~~~~~*~~~~~~
"So... you're telling me that your old boyfriend who's your boyfriend again just forgot you?" Ray was confused and a little bit skeptical of the story Gerard told him.

"Yeah," Gerard realised how weird that sounded, "I know that sounds crazy, but that's what happened! Just, as soon as he woke up, it was back to a few days ago when he couldn't care less about me."

"So, what exactly happened before he forgot about you?"

"Well, we were in hell and I was sitting outside Satan's office while he talked to him. I heard them talking, but then I heard Frank get slammed against the wall. Satan, er, Brendon, I guess, had him by the throat. I went over and tried to pry his hand off, but he only tightened his grip until eventually Frank just passed out. Then I took him up here, you fixed him, he woke up, acted like he didn't know me, and stormed out."

"Wow. That's insane."

"Just a bit, Ray."

"Well, I couldn't have done anything. You can't steal memories by healing a guy."

"Yeah, I know. Even if you did something by accident, I would know."

"How?"

"Oh, come on, Toro. You're an awful liar."

"I am not, Way!"

"Yeah, you are! You get all flustered and stuttery. It's really cute."

A light blush rose to Ray's cheeks, "Whatever.. we've got better things to talk about than me. And you hitting on me... weirdo."
~~~~~~*~~~~~~
'Ry, you never told me where to find you, but I'm gonna assume it's the usual. -frnkiero'

Ryan's text came moments later, 'Yep. I'll met you there in a sec. ~ryro'

"The usual" means just an outdoor cafe right next to a lava pit. One of Frank's personal favourite pits because it has a cool layer on top of the actual lava so the molten liquid just glows underneath. Just an aesthetic of his.

Frank was right in the middle of a sip of coffee, thinking about nothing in particular, but that didn't stop Ryan from popping right next to him, "Hey there, Frank."

"Hey, Ryan," Frank flashed Ryan a smile as he sat down.

"Nice of you to make it."

"Nice of you to tape a note to my head."

"Well, I wasn't just bring you back here and not tell you about it."

"I wouldn't have cared."

"Whatever, off topic. Are you feeling okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Why?" He took another nonchalant sip of coffee.

"Don't feel like you're missing anything?"

"What are you getting at, Ryan? Cut the bullshit."

"I'm getting there," Ryan leaned back in his chair, "What do you remember about the last few days?"

"Not much. It's all kinda foggy," Frank focused his gaze on Ryan, "Is there something you're not telling me?"

"It's not me. It's Brendon."

"Is it 'Have-Some-Kinda-Beef-With-Brendon Day?' Cuz I swear everyone keeps telling me that he's doing some like nefarious thing to me. Hello! Wake up and smell the damn roses! He's Satan, doing nefarious shit is what he does."

"Frank, you don't get it-"

"I get it well enough!"

"No, you don't! Now, shut up and let me explain!"

Frank actually did shut up. Muttered into his coffee mug a bit, but shut up nonetheless. Ryan wasn't one to get really angry at anyone, so that came as a surprise to him.

Ryan sighed, "Sorry for yelling.. it's just, Brendon can be a really dick sometimes, and what he did this time was really bad."

"What'd he do?"

"Okay, this is gonna sound crazy, but you actually got your memory back a few days ago."

"Like my actual memory? From my actual life?"

"Yes, and you were really happy! You were back with that boyfriend of yours, what was his name...Gerard!"

"Gerard? You mean that one orange-haired Angel whose house I was at earlier today? He and I dated?"

"Yeah. Again, I know that sounds crazy."

"Just a bit, Ry. Me and an angel... huh."

"Anyway, I guess Brendon thought with your newly-restored memory and your little chat with God-"

"God?"

"Yep," Ryan was very casual about it and continued, "He thought you would start asking too many questions and getting too curious for your own good, so.. he just took it all away."

Frank paused mid-sip, "What?"

"He took your memory away, Frank."

"Well," He stood up, "Two people should feel like class A dicks right now. Brendon, for just generally being an ass, and me, cuz I was a dick to my boyfriend.. shit. I gotta go fix things," Frank turned to Ryan and flashed another smile at him, "Thanks for the Intel, Ryan."

"Hey, friends help each other out, don't they?"

"Damn right," He chuckled and went up to Earth, landing promptly under the cork tree.