Sunshine (Frerard)

Chapter 5

Frank was asleep on the sofa, curled up in a blanket and drooling slightly onto the worn, black upholstery. Meanwhile, Gerard was slumped in front of his laptop, relentlessly trying to find information about the boy currently asleep in the living room. His most recent approach was going through the letters of the alphabet after the name 'Frank' hoping he could find a last name to work with.

He was only on 'H' and it wasn't looking good, nothing had come up relating to Frank so far, and Gerard's hopes were sinking, maybe he'd never find his family. Moving on to the next letter, he typed 'Frank I' into the search bar, flicking through some seemingly meaningless headlines before coming across a case file.

'Frank Iero abducted from pushchair in Belleville Community Park'

With fond interest, Gerard clicked on the link and was brought to a website filled with pictures of a baby Frank and descriptions of the events leading up to his disappearance. After reading up on some of the information he hurried to contact whoever ran the site, ecstatic over the fact that he could deliver such wonderful news.

However, Gerard's excitement quickly dashed when it was brought to his attention that the website had been deactivated years ago. There was no possible way of emailing or calling Frank's family because they'd lost hope and presumed him dead. Gerard's face dropped as he turned in his seat and watched the soft, steady rise and fall of Frank's chest. He was, of course, very much alive and it broke his heart knowing that a family had moved on and tried to forget the poor boy.

Now that he had a name to match the face, he scoured the internet looking for any form of contact, working out his age to be 17 and eventually coming across a phone number. He grasped his phone and typed in the digits, taking a breath as he held it up to his ear. Unfortunately for him, the phone didn't even ring, it just went dead after a second or two.

He slumped down in his seat and sighed, deciding he should get Frank into an actual bed as it was beginning to get late. Walking over to the peaceful boy, he picked him up as gently as possible so he wouldn't wake him. He carried him to his bedroom, setting him down softly onto the soft, plush sheets; however, when he tried to detach himself he found Frank clinging desperately onto his shirt, digging his blunt nails into his shoulders.

Gerard smiled and laid down next to Frank, with the latter rolling over and snuggling into Gerard's chest as he slept. He too began to doze off, his eyelids fighting to stay open, until eventually he fell asleep with an arm slung over Frank's small frame.

~

The sun was flitting through the curtains as Frank poked Gerard's chest relentlessly. Small shakes woke him as he opened his bleary eyes to see Frank crying above him.

"What's wrong, baby?" Gerard asked, sleep still evident in his voice yet he was alert due to the obvious distress on Frank's face. He surged forward and hugged Gerard as tightly as he could, sobbing into his chest.

"Th-thought you had a long sleep l-like Sir." Gerard's face contorted sadly as he wrapped his arms around Frank's shaking figure.

"I'm right here, honey." He started to rub Frank's back gently. "Shh.. it's okay."

"P-pwease not do a long sleep." Frank whimpered into Gerard's tear-stained shirt.

"I won't, sweetheart, not anytime soon." Gerard continued to soothe him until he thought of something that might cheer him up if even a little bit.

Gerard slowly unlatched himself, which took a lot of effort but with the promises of a present for Frank he sadly let go with a pout on his face. He left Frank's bedroom, going into his own and opening the closet. It took a little while but eventually he found an old cardboard box, which he opened up and pulled a small, black stuffed bear from inside, smiling and putting the box back in its place.

Frank was still softly whimpering when he got back to his room, smiling sadly at him with the teddy still behind his back.

"I've got your present, Frankie." He said teasingly as Frank sat up on his knees. "But you can only have it if I get a smile.

Frank sniffled and smiled, a small, timid, sad smile, but a smile nonetheless. Gerard returned the gesture and pulled the bear from behind his back, holding it up to Frank who gasped and reached out tentatively. Once he'd grasped the bears small paw he cuddled it into his chest, smiling wider and more genuinely than the last time.

"N-name?" He asked, voice slightly distorted from his blocked nose after all the crying.

"You can name him, love." Gerard said.

"Love!" Frank said excitedly. "His name." He smiled at the bear then up at Gerard, melting his heart instantly.

"That's a lovely name, Frankie." Gerard sat next to Frank on the bed, who crawled into Gerard's lap unexpectedly. Gerard's cheeks flushed but he let it happen anyway, he seemed content and happy there, and that seemed to be what he needed.