Rivals: The Killjoys vs. The Youngbloods

16. Haunted

Warning: This chapter contains 2 character deaths (they aren't that detailed). But you've been warned.

Frank stared at the ceiling, rolling a little white pill between his fingers.

"What are you doing, Frank?" Gerard rolled onto his side.

Frank looked at Gerard. "It's wearing off," he stated and placed the pill on his tongue.

Gerard sighed. "You don't need those." He took the rest of the small tablets out of Frank's hand.

"On the contrary, I need them if I want to see you," Frank argued and reached for the LSD.

"I'm already here." Gerard ran a hand over Frank's cheek. "You don't need to take more."

Frank grabbed the pills and slipped them into his pocket. "I can't lose you."

"You already have." Gerard slipped his hand into Frank's.

"I can't lose you again," Frank amended. "This is the only way I can have you again, the only way I can hold you in my arms."

"It's not healthy-"

"I don't care, I just want you back!" Frank shouted, his voice breaking. "I just want you back with me," he dissolved into tears.

Gerard pulled Frank towards him. "I'm here, I'm here for right now."

Frank buried his face into Gerard's shoulder, his breath hitching as the hot tears slid down his cheeks.

"Shh." Gerard mumbled. "Want me to sing to you, like I used to?"

Frank nodded. "Please."

"Sometimes we must grow stronger and," Gerard sang quietly, "you can be stronger when I'm gone. When I'm here no longer, you must be stronger and if I could be with you tonight," Gerard rubbed Frank's back. "I would sing you to sleep, never let them take the light behind your eyes."

"I've failed and lost this fight," Frank sang with him.

"Never fade in the dark, just remember you will always burn as bright." He kissed Frank's forehead. "You can do this, Frank. I believe in you."

"No I can't!" Frank protested. "I don't want this. I just want to be with you."

"But you can't be with me." Gerard said. "Because I'm dead. I'm a figment of your drug induced imagination!"

"You're here right now, and that's all that matters," Frank argued. "That's all that matters to me."

Frank's phone buzzed against the wooden nightstand.

Gerard ignored it. "You can't continue drugging yourself so you'll see me. You have to let go, you can't keep living like this. You're putting everyone in danger."

"I don't care!" Frank stood.

"Yes you do!" Gerard argued. "You're only doing this because you're upset. You're jeopardizing everyone because you feel alone."

Frank stared in shock at Gerard.

"You're selfish," Gerard said quietly. "Yo're going to risk everything because you're being selfish. You have to let me go!"

"Well I don't want to." Frank crossed his arms over his chest like a five year old.

The phone vibrated again, almost insistent this time.

Gerard sighed and flopped back onto the bed. "Are you gonna get that?"

Frank swiped the phone off of his dresser. "It's Courtney," he announced.