I'll Be Better Tomorrow (frerard)

The blade you'll stain

"Frank, my ribs hurt," Gerard groaned. It was late in the morning, and Gerard still hadn't summoned the strength to get in his wheelchair, go wash his hair, and shave with Frank hoping he didn't need help. He remained curled up, all while Frank was getting ready. Frank knew Gerard was going to try and make himself look presentable that day, due to the guys from Fall Out Boy coming to visit.

"I'm sorry," Frank said. Gerard opened his mouth like he was going to say something more, but he started coughing with the intake of breath. He let out a whine, clutching his ribcage. "Gerard, my love, don't try to talk, I know that hurts."

"Frank..."

Frank stopped what he was doing to sit in a chair beside Gerard's bed, reaching out to stroke Gerard's hair. He carded his fingers through the softness, massaging his scalp. "Feel that?" Frank asked. "Your hair's really soft. Does that feel nice?" He trailed his fingers down Gerard's neck, then went back to his hair. "I love you."

He was trying to distract Gerard from the pain, even if it was only for a short amount of time. From what he could see, it was working. The pained look on his face relaxed, eyes closed to block out the light. He began to take a breath to say, "I love you, too," but Frank stopped him.

"Shh,  pay attention to this," Frank said, playing with Gerard's hair again. "Are you warm enough? Let me make you warm..." He continued the soothing words, making sure Gerard had something constant in his mind that wasn't pain. He'd learned that it was effective, with as many times as Gerard had said Frank was his favorite form of comfort.

They helped each other, now, with Gerard being in various states of pain, and Frank's shoulder being broken. They could put each other to sleep, when Frank was too worried to do it, and Gerard was in, of course, pain.

With his fingers in Gerard's hair, he hoped he wasn't putting Gerard to sleep at the moment. Frank would prefer it if Gerard were awake when everyone arrived. Yet he stayed at Gerard's side until his afternoon dose of pain medication arrived to ease his pain instead. He regained the ability to take deep breaths as it began setting in, as he could only breathe shallowly with his ribs bothering him. By that point, the pain had exhausted him, but he held his eyes open for Frank's sake.

Gerard's irritation was present, Frank could tell, from the way he was quiet and snippy. Frank tried his best not to react to it, and went to the cafeteria to buy him a snack and some tea, with hopes to perk him up. On his way back up to the room, he received a text from Pete, saying they just showed up. Frank turned around to head downstairs, finding the four of them standing in the waiting room. It was unusual, but they all gave him a hug for support. While they walked, Frank told them, "He's tired right now, but he'll probably be nice to you guys."

Patrick smiled at him, seeming a bit nervous. Frank couldn't blame him.

"Frank," Pete said, sounding too serious for himself, "I know you don't want anyone visiting here besides family and friends, and that's fine, but if you're not going to let anyone else in, then I need to talk to you guys about press and what you want to do with the band."

Frank bit the inside of his cheek, and stopped walking.

Pete's tone softened to say, "I know it's probably the last thing you two want to think about right now, I'm sorry."

"We do need to talk about it. We need to call Mikey and Ray, though. I'm not going to end the band without at least telling them."

"You - you wanna end the band? Frank, you don't have to do that, I'm talking about short term plans right now -"

"It's not going to be the same without Gerard," Frank claimed.

Pete looked shocked at Frank's words. "But, hell, what if he gets better? Then you just won't have a band at all."