We're Chasing The Sun (Frerard)

Chapter 20

"Frank—hey, hey, stop, it's fine. We can stop running now." 

Gerard placed his hand on panting-Frank's chest to stop his faltering running, struggling to catch his own breath. Wide-eyed, Frank stared at him and abruptly flung himself on Gerard, tackling and bringing them both to the ground. 

For Gerard, whose back was uncomfortably on the concrete sidewalk, the hug wasn't as pleasant. Nevertheless, he let it linger. He felt like he needed it to. Feeling Frank's breath feather against his neck, finally, a wave of genuine, placatory relief washed over him. 

He squeezed Frank a fraction tighter and laid soft kisses on his ear. There, breathing more slowly, Frank let his body melt into Gerard's arms and loosened every muscle. In Gerard's embrace, he felt the world stop still on its axis.

"I don't want to ever go back there. Don't ever let me go, okay? Those hours were the worst of my whole life," he said beseechingly, voice quivering. "Don't you ever let me go back, please, Gerard, just promise me this."

"Never gonna happen again," Gerard promised and buried his face in Frank's hair, caressing his cheek with one hand. 

Disorder in Frank's head had taken over; the paralyzing feeling of relief trying to overthrow every other. He'd accepted his doom and let hopelessness conquer his mind previously, and now he had to erase all that. Mayhem had now been all sucked up by a cloud of euphoria that spread optimism in his head, not leaving a single dark thought behind. It was mystifying, no matter how hard he'd try to explain it, Frank couldn't put it into words. A brightening mitigation; so elating, so inexplicable—like Gerard.

Brushing his fingers over Frank's shoulder, Gerard only then seemed to realize that it had bruised. 

"I knocked down my door," Frank explained suddenly, trying to conceal his pent-up emotions and feign okay-ness by letting out a laugh, that didn't manage to convince Gerard in the slightest. 

"With your shoulder?" Gerard wondered how it must've hurt, and placed his lips on Frank's shoulder, drawing him closer and hearing him slightly hiss in pain. 

"Well," Frank began, wincing, "I tried doing it with my shoulder, but it didn't work, so I had to kick it down."

Gerard loosened his grip around him and pulled away. "What happened, anyway? Why did he lock you down there in the first place?"

"Like I ever know what it is with him." Frank rolled his eyes and lowered his gaze. "I don't wanna talk about it. He took my cell phone and locked the door. I don't know for how long, but I remember seeing you from my window and I began shouting and calling for you, but you didn't hear me. I figured you were coming...and so, I kicked the door down." A faint smile appeared on his lips. "Good hit, by the way."

Gerard tittered. "Yeah, oops, sorry about that." 

Frank shook his head equivocally and struggled to get up on his own, feeling his knees tingle and tremble. He helped Gerard up and they just stayed there for a while, looking deeply into each other's eyes, musing. 

"What happens now?" Frank asked, sounding slightly brittle. 

Glancing at a car, and then tilting his head to look at the Way household, particularly focusing on their car, Gerard smirked. "Can you drive?"

Looking over his shoulder, trying to understand what was happening in Gerard's mind, Frank frowned. "No...?"

Without analyzing Frank's 'no' too much, Gerard had already begun to plan stuff out in his head. He gazed at the saturnine, pink sky and guessed it couldn't be too late.