FicWad

The days after the story Mikey revealed to Frank were filled with the short vampire seeking out Gerard. He made sure to consume as much as blood as possible to enhance his sense to find the mysterious demon-angel, but he soon found out how well Gerard really was at evading him. Frank had first tried calmly walking to the ends of the corners where he knew Gerard watched him, but the man would always get away from him. So then he took on sprinting to the corners as a knew approach. Yet, when he rounded the corners he always found them empty and Gerard's fading heartbeat disappear around another corner. Man, he was fast.

“God fucking damnit, Gerard's hard to catch.” Frank whined one day as he plopped down beside Bob, who was reading a magazine.

Bob looked up from the magazine, “Hm?”

“Mikey told me everything about them—the trust issues and the fits of depression he has every now and again—and I told him I would help him. I've been looking for him, you know, to maybe get to talk to him. But that's never gonna happen if he keeps running away from me.” Frank scowled and folded his arms tightly across his chest, like an angry five year would if he didn't get what he wanted. In this case, it was talking to Gerard.

“He doesn't know you, remember?” Bob reminded.

Frank slumped in the couch, “I know. I've been thinking of you know, just chasing him around-” He drifted off when he saw Bob shaking his head with a frown

“I don't think that's such a good idea.”

“Why? I don't get tired.”

“Yeah, but the man has trust issues. He was probably chased when ever he was in Heaven, getting beat up and all that shit. Chasing him would probably scare him shitless,” Bob's icy blue eyes were on him now, “Then you would have to deal with Mikey—even though you're helping, he's really protective of Gerard. He would snap your neck in a heartbeat if he knew you were scaring Gerard.” He looked amused, as if Frank's neck being snapped would be funny.

Frank threw his arms up, “Then what am I suppose to do? Mikey's said he's thought about commiting suicide, he's even attempted it. I'll feel like a fucking failure if I can't help the poor guy,” Frank stressed the last part more than he thought and it made Bob's gaze soften.

Bob reached over and patted his arm, “Just, I don't know, try to hard? You're probably scaring him with chasing him around so much. Like Ray said before, when ever you hear him say hi and talk a bit.”

“That will take forever.” Frank groaned, he wanted to help Gerard now, so Mikey would stop stressing, and so Ray would stop worrying over Mikey and Gerard. He felt this strong sense of responsibility on his shoulders and it tremendously heavy. “And we probably don't have enough time for small talk.”

Bob patted his arm again, he could see the worry and stress in the swirling pools of chocolate, “Hey, calm down man, no it won't. He'll come around. Just stop trying to hard, just got with the flow, yeah?”

Frank sighed, offered a tiny smile, and nodded, “Yeah...”

Frank angrily ripped into an apple with the sharp teeth as he trudged out to the garden. He's trying not to try so hard, but he didn't know Gerard like the others did. He didn't know how much time he had and how bad these fits of depression were, Gerard succumbed to, got. He didn't want to imagine seeing Gerard fully for the first time, dead and lying in a pool of blood, and he didn't want to think about the domino effect after that.

Frank huffed, sitting down on a stone bench out in the garden with a bit more force than he attended. He frowned and rubbed his sore ass then went back to eating away at the apple. He pulled the apple away from his mouth, holding it up in better lighting to look at the fruit with disdain. He wished he had brought out a vile of blood to drizzle over the apple, like drizzling chocolate on a strawberry, but he didn't feel like going all the way back in the house. Plus, the weather was nice and he had to escape the house for a while, it was getting to stuffy and cramped for him, and he needed to clear his head for a bit.

Frank shrugged at the apple and began eating it again. Staring at the nice flowers and vines that twisted around the trunks of orchard trees, he began to think of ways to maybe lure Gerard out in the open or maybe trick him into a room and lock both himself and Gerard in it, forcing Gerard to talk to him. Frank shook his head. That's a little mean, isn't it? He thought to himself.

He couldn't look Gerard in a room... Mikey would snap his neck if he did.

Frank let out a much more audible sigh and ripped another chunk from his apple. He stopped chewing for a moment when he heard a small rustle from one of the rose bushes. He watched the bush silently as a brown rabbit poked its head out, its little pink nose twitching constantly, scooting out from under the bush hesitantly.

Frank watched it sniff around the grass for a moment, then decided to snap off a piece of his apple, catching the rabbit's attention, and slowly slid himself off the bench. He crouched down and extended the piece of apple towards the bunny, which it was a little reluctant to take.

Frank spoke softly, “I'm not gonna hurt you, I'm a vegetarian so I'm on your side.” Frank felt like he had to throw that in there, just on some off chance the rabbit could understand him. The rabbit scooted over a bit more, sniffing the apple and looking up to Frank with big, soft brown eyes. Frank extended his arm more and smiled softly when the rabbit nibble on the apple, “There you go. I've got more, it's not really that good without blood on it...” Frank sighed.

The rabbit finished with the little piece and Frank broke off another piece for it, offering it for the rabbit to take.

“I wish it was this easy to talk to someone so timid and probably has trust issues, like you.” Frank shifted so he could sit cross-legged and watch the rabbit eat the pieces of apple, “But I guess you're only hear because I have something you like. Huh... is that how I lure him out? With an apple? Or maybe some artsy stuff, because I know he likes to paint.” Frank has to break off another piece when he realized the rabbit was chewing on the tips of his fingers for more, “And oh my God, you should see his paintings. They are fucking incredible. I mean if you could understand art you would see that Gerard's paintings are the definition of art.”

The rabbit blinks at him, its ears back against its head.

“He's way better than any artist I've seen,” Frank waved his hands around, scaring the rabbit on accident. He calmed down, broke off another piece of apple, and let the rabbit inch forward again. He propped an elbow on his left knee and leaned his face into the empty hand, “and I've seen some art, but they are not as good as his. He'd show all of those artist up if--”

There was a snap from behind him. The rabbit's head shot up at the sound and disappeared in the the bushes all in the span of one second, leaving behind a half eaten piece of apple. Frank watched the bush rustle for a moment before whipping around, “...hello?”

No one spoke, but he could hear a heartbeat, and he knew that Ray and Mikey went out grocery shopping and Bob was wailing on the drum kit in the basement(he didn't need his acute hearing to hear that). Only one possible person.

He called out, “Gerard?” Scanning the area and twisting his body fully around, looking to the spot he heard the the noise.

Like many times before the heartbeat skipped a beat.

Frank slowly stood to his feet, watching the spot where he heard the snap. It was a huge oak tree that had a very thick-trunk. He could hear soft breathing from behind the tree and noticed the shadows casting off from the tree. One of the tree and the other that took on more of a human shape.

“So I guess you must have heard everything...” The short vampire watches the shadow shift, “I uh, I mean it. About your paintings. I'm not just saying shit, I really do mean it,” Watching how the shadow seems to still, but the heartbeat is skipping beats like mad, “They are amazing.”

There is a silence that falls on the one-sided conversation. The buzzing bees and the chirping birds are the only thing that could be heard, until the fallen leaves by the tree Gerard is hiding behind rustle. Then there is suddenly a pale face framed by black hair slowly peering out from behind the trunk of the tree, green eyes looking at the ground. Frank wills Gerard's gaze from the ground to him, and much to his relief Gerard does look up. And Frank takes a step back.

Those eyes. They were breath taking; Frank found himself sucking in air that left his lungs without him noticing. He's seen those green eyes once, maybe twice since he's been living here, but he never expected them to be them to be so... beautiful. And if that wasn't enough, the face they belonged to made Frank want to melt. He has only caught a glimpse of Gerard's face for a few seconds before Gerard was off running down the hallways, and right now he's getting to look at more than a mere two seconds. And boy is this a treat!

Frank sees Gerard's lips move in the span of his staring, snapping Frank out of his trance. He shakes his head and blinks rapidly. He chokes, “I-I'm sorry?”

Gerard inches behind the tree more, his whole expression radiating innocence that makes Frank squirm, “I said... 'Really'?” Frank almost misses it again, because his voice is so quiet that the buzzing of the bee's wings nearly drowns him out--just like he imagined his voice to be.

“Yes, oh fuck yes, really.” Frank thanks his mouth for reacting before his body, for once. He nods his head vigorously too, “They are truly amazing. You blow all of those wannabe shitty artists out of the water, Gerard.”

Gerard's eyes darted over Frank's face for a moment or two, to see if he really meant it. Frank kept on smiling at him. Gerard moved from behind the tree slightly revealing that he was wearing a black hoodie and jeans ripped at the knees—even in that he looked oh so beautiful. “T-Thank you... that's... really nice of you to say.” He was blushing madly, playing with the edges of his sleeves nervously, not meeting Frank's eyes.

“You're welcome.” Frank is fucking beaming, because honestly, he's finally gotten what he wanted. He's finally gotten to see a full look at the man that's been following him around for weeks and finally gets to talk to him. He scuffs his sneakers on the dirt, “So, are you going to hang anymore up or...?”

“Oh I don't know,” Gerard mumbled.

“You should!”

“You think so?”

Frank nodded eagerly, “I know so.” Gerard gave a tiny smile and it made Frank's chest swell and his stomach not up. He didn't realize he was staring at Gerard intently, before he noticed him starting to retreat behind the tree. Frank stepped forward, “Hey well, do you want to get something to drink, because I'm feeling a little thirsty.”

“Sure.” He smiled.

Frank jogged to catch up with the man. Once he was by Gerard's side he actually felt the warmth radiating from him and the innocence intensified ten fold. Frank smiled up to him like a loon and Gerard blushed and let his black hair fall like a curtain in front of his face. He noticed that Gerard had this glow around him, the sun reflected off his pale skin. Frank had to squint when he smiled up to him. The two made it in the house as Bob was coming from the basement, and they all met in the kitchen by coincidence.

Bob had half his body in the refrigerator, a towel draped over his head, rooting through the contents. Frank held the door open politely for Gerard, who blushed again, and hoisted himself on the table, “Hey Bob, want to get a water for me?”

Bob frowned but retrieved a bottle of water from the back and straightened, “Huh? Since when do you drink--” His sentence broke off when he saw Gerard standing by Frank. He had his arms wrapped around his body and his cheeks were slowly turning from a pink back to the original pale color. For a moment Bob feared Frank did chase Gerard and he would no longer be with them when Mikey would return home, but on further inspection he didn't see Gerard panting or sweating, so he assumed he was okay. Then there was the thing of actually seeing Gerard out in the open, standing next to Frank; the guy he's been stalking for weeks, that made Bob's brows furrow in confusion.

Frank glanced sideways at Gerard to see him looking as equally confused as him to why Bob just paused. He cleared his throat and snapped his fingers in the blond's face, “Helloooo? Earth to Bob? I think Gerard's a little thirsty.”

Gerard hid his face again, “It's not a big deal.”

Bob blinked, “Oh, here Gerard.” Handing the cold bottle of water to Gerard, who took it with a tiny smile and a soft 'thank you'. Before Bob knew what he was doing, he grabbed Frank by the arm, hauling him off the table and out the kitchen door. A little more forceful than Frank would have liked.

Bob let him go once they were just a few feet fro the door. Frank rubbed his arm, because fuck did have a grip, “What the hell? What did I do?”

“You finally got Gerard out in the open...” Stating the obvious, that Frank rolled his eyes but then frowned at the suspicion in the blond's voice.

“Yeah?”

“How?” Stopped down so that his face was inches from his, blue eyes narrowed.

“I didn't chase him that's what you're wondering.” Frank answered.

Bob nodded and straightened up, “Okay,” then was pushing the door to the kitchen open, “That's all I wanted to know, because it would really suck if Mikey snapped your neck.”

Frank shuddered, snaking a hand up to rub at his neck, and followed Bob back into the kitchen, greeting Gerard with a nervous grin.

XXX

Later that night Frank was coming from the kitchen when Mikey ambushed him with a bone crunching hug, “I don't know what you did to my brother, Frank, but fucking thank you.” Planting a kiss on his forehead, and Frank hoped that Ray wouldn't beat the shit out of him for it.

“Huh?” Frank gasped.

Mikey released him with an apologetic smile, “Gerard. He seemed brighter. Brighter than he's been for the past week. He said he spoke to you, and he looked so happy.” Mikey couldn't help capture the vampire back into another bone crushing hug, “Thank you! So much Frank. You're a life savor!”

Frank wrapped his arms around Mikey and patted him on the back, “No problem. I said I was going to help, didn't I?”