FicWad

Gerard’s POV

Once we were in New York Lindsey, Mikey and I were relieved to get out of the stuffy little van and after half an hour of searching a mile radius of the Better Living building Lindsey turned to me “Look maybe Frank is already inside, the thing we need now is guns, you said you knew someone…” I sighed and nodded flipping out my phone I flicked through my contacts until I saw the name I was looking for and pressed the green button to call
“Hello?” the voice asked quietly
“Hey Bert, it’s Gerard…” I trailed off it had been a few years since we’d spoken, so I wondered if he’d remember me at all but a smile spread across my face when I heard Bert’s iconic laugh
“Gerard! Hey man it’s been a long time! What can I do ya for?” he asked sighed
“Remember that time before I left and I said ‘keep hold of the good stuff, I might need it one day’?”
“Hell yeah! I have some excellent things in the back for you, if that day has arrived” Bert said darkly
“Damn right it has” I looked around to see where I was “I’ll be there in about five minutes”
“Alright buddy, see you in a few” he muttered before hanging up
I placed the phone back into my pocket and Lindsey looked at me hopefully “This way…” was all I said before I began to walk down the street listening to Lindsey and Mikey’s hurried footsteps behind me.

It didn’t take long for us to get there, I walked into the seemingly empty shop but when the bell above the door rang out a head of a familiar man popped up from behind the counter, a huge grin appeared on his face as he stood up straight and walked around the counter, as I approached him he held his arms out beckoning me to hug him, I did and he laughed loudly “Ah it’s great to see you again Gerard! Shame you’re not here for cigarette’s though…” he stated his tone going from joyful to sincere all too quickly, I nodded in silence, Bert then caught eye of Lindsey “And who might this piece of sex on legs be?” he asked I laughed but Lindsey shot me a glare and I silenced myself she rolled her eyes and walked over to Bert smiling innocently and holding out her hand “I’m Lindsey” Bert took her hand and he went to kiss it European style, her hand was almost at his mouth when he let out a small shout of pain, his hand going red from the vice grip Lindsey had begun giving him, she then leaned over so her face was centimetres away from his “Save the flirting and show us what we came for.” She stated bluntly she let him go and he pointed to the door behind the counter she smiled her innocent smile again before walking passed Bert and I and into the room, Bert then looked at me and nodded his head toward the door Lindsey had just walked through “A women who knows what she wants, my kinda girl” he smirked, I shook my head “I wouldn’t bother if I were you” I said as a warning but Bert shrugged “Can’t blame a guy for trying” he chuckled and walked into the room after her followed by Mikey and I.
The walls of the room where covered in bookshelves and I saw Lindsey standing unimpressed “So where’s all this amazing stuff then, seriously we are on a really tight schedule” Bert approached her “hold your horses sweetheart, they aren’t in this room…” his smirk contagious as the corner of Lindsey’s mouth turns upwards into an equally devious smirk, Bert then pushed one of the bookshelves across the wall and behind it was another door “all this seems rather Men In Black don’t y’think?” Mikey questioned, Bert laughed “Well I guess, but don’t blow my head off because it most definitely won’t grow back.” To this Lindsey laughed slightly and Bert looked at me “Oh it has more than one mode! And there was me thinking it was only ever angry.” I laughed and Lindsey punched Bert in the arm “Aggressive little fuck aren’t you?” she smirked “You don’t have any idea how I fuck sweetie” to this Bert’s eyes widened but he smirk was still in place “oh Jesus Christ, you could cut the sexual tension with a blunt knife, can we please get on with this?” Mikey stated looking unimpressed I withheld my laughter as Bert and Lindsey stared at each other awkwardly Bert then cleared his throat and pushed open the door he had just revealed to us and walked through waving his hand telling the three of us to follow him, and finally spreading across all four walls of the pearl white, rectangular room where glass shelves with perfectly placed weapons on, anything from Hand grenades to AK-47s Bert had it.
“I’m actually almost clean out of stuff, some guy came in earlier and cleared half of my inventory, but I still have some pretty decent stuff left.” Bert stated matter of factly, Lindsey looked to me and I looked to Bert “What did he look like?” I asked, Bert looked at me with an eyebrow raised “You know I have my confidentiality rules, why do you wanna know anyway?” I sighed “yeah I know about the rule, but seriously we need to know, it could seriously help us with what we have to do…” Bert looked shocked “Jesus you’re not out to kill this guy are you? Seriously I wouldn’t if I were you; he seemed to know how to work a gun pretty well” he rambled quickly I shook my head “no no, we’re not, if it’s who we think it is we’re here to help him…” Bert let out a sigh of relief “oh well in that case, he was kinda short, dark hair, energetic, crazy little fuck, the complete opposite of you basically Gerard” he said ruffling a hand in my red hair like I was some kind of five year old, I shook him off and nodded “Sounds like him…” Lindsey said I nodded in agreement “well whatever shit you’ve got yourself into good luck with it, take what you want for now, I’ll only make you pay if you come back from whatever shit this is alive. So take what you want and leave, good luck to the three of you…” he said solemnly I nodded and watched as Bert left the room and headed back out to the store, I sighed Mikey turned to me “Gerard what’s wrong?” I shook my head “nothing, nothing I’m fine…” Mikey placed a hand on my shoulder, I looked at him reassuringly, he smiled weakly before walking over to Lindsey who was picking up random things and putting them into a duffle bag I rolled my eyes and walked back into the main store to talk to Bert when he saw me he smiled weakly “Remember all those times we had when you were working down the street, and I’d come to your apartment like every night and we did the most idiotic things together…” he said reminiscing I nodded “yeah, back when life was simple…” I sighed Bert looked me in the eyes “When you realised the guy I sold other stuff to earlier was the guy you were looking for, the glimmer in your eyes shone with hope, who is he?” Bert asked I sighed “His names Frank…he’s just a guy, I met him yesterday, one of Lindsey’s friends” I muttered Bert huffed “but he’s not one of your friends?” he questioned, I shrugged “We haven’t known each other that long…I…it…it depends on how he feels about friendship and shit, he’s not exactly a social person…” I pointed out Bert shook his head “so he’s a guy, you’re not exactly friends with, but you’re willing to risk your life for him in some fucked up shit that involves guns and weaponry you used to only dream about using even though he’s a stranger...” Bert’s eyebrow rose again, I shrugged “Yeah.” I answered simply, Bert sighed “Look man I care about you, we’ve been through a lot, but maybe you should try and figure out how you are feeling about all this shit, before you make some kind of drastic decision that could put all of you in even more danger…” I looked at Bert confused “what do you mean?” he sighed again “god you are thick as a brick wall when it comes to emotions…I mean I’d risk y life for you Gerard, and that’s not because we’ve known each other for years, it’s because you are much more than just a friend to me…” he trailed off, my eyes widened “whoa you think I?...No, no, I don’t, I couldn’t, Frank and I are-“ I was cut off when Bert’s lips pressed against mine softly his hand delicately placed around my neck, it was a massive contrast to how we used to be, we used to be very animalistic and rough with each other but this was a side of Bert I hadn’t seen, he pulled away and smiled at me weakly “Don’t kid yourself Gerard, it’ll only make things harder, I missed you, but right now there is someone out there that needs you a hell of a lot more than I do, you know I don’t talk all nicely and motivational very often so you take it as a blessing, you help this guy, save his life a few times, get whatever needs doing done, and then you fuck his brains out, got it?” he finished, I laughed slightly “Oh Bert you did so well up until the part about fucking his brains out…” I stated, Bert punched me playfully in the arm “Fuck whose brains out?” Lindsey asked walking into the room with a pretty full duffle bag “Yours my dear, I was telling Gerard how I would love to fuck your brains out…” Bert said to cover our conversation up giving me a sideways glance and his devious smirk returned to his face, she sighed “Oh that’s a shame, I’m a little busy right now, but it I survive, I’ll have to pay you a visit and you can give me a full tour of that back room of yours” she said seductively, Mikey walked over to the shop door and out onto the street mumbling something along the lines of ‘get a room’ I laughed Lindsey winked at Bert before following Mikey out of the store, I walked behind them but when Bert cleared his throat I turned around to face him “try not to get yourself killed Gerard…” he muttered, I simply nodded in response and left the store.
“Right then, we’re in New York, we have what we need, now what?” Mikey asked
Lindsey looked at me, her hand clutching the handles of the bag tightly I sighed and looked around our surroundings “Now we find Frank…”

Frank’s POV

I knew exactly where I was going, a little place just under a mile away from Better Living, a little dingy corner shop, or so it would seem and is to most people, but as I pushed open the black panelled door a little bell rang above me and the guy behind the counter smiled at me, his hair was fairly long, hanging greasily just below his shoulder, as I approached him I noticed tattoos up his arms and on his hands “Hey, what can I do for you?” he asked politely, I smiled and looked around the small store to check no one else was around before turning back to him “I was told you had some ‘merchandise’…” I trailed off he nodded slowly before scanning the store as I had just moments before “Yeah follow me…” he muttered, he turned around and walked through a door behind the counter, I followed closely the door led to a small room the walls lined with book shelves, the stranger pushed one of the bookshelves along the wall revealing a door, he opened it and held it open for me to walk through, I did so cautiously and he followed me down a short dark corridor which led into a bigger room the walls now lined with glass shelves and an array of different weapons placed carefully on them “Take your pick” the man said I nodded in gratitude and walked around the edge of the room admiring each weapon individually, the first thing of interest I came across was a tactical belt, it had slots and pockets in it for grenades, throwing knives and ammunition, so that was the first thing I picked up, the next being a box of eighteen grenades, and a case of seven different sized throwing knives, my main focus then was guns, from across the room I was a Kalashnikov and a Galil so I took them, and then a ridiculous amount of ammunition, I turned around to see the guys face looking kind of shocked “Don’t ask” I said I handed him roughly about $1,500, I didn’t ask for change or whatever, I didn’t see the point, I’m probably going to die, so he might as well keep it, he simply nodded and I pulled the zip across on my duffle bag before heading back through the hidden door and back into the main store, then leaving quietly without making a fuss.

I walked for five minutes until I got to a local hotel, I pushed open the doors and a young woman smiled at me from behind the counter “Hello sir, what can I do for you today?” she asked politely, I smiled at her “Are there any rooms free, preferably with a view of the city outside” I said pointing to the door behind me, she smiled “There is a room free yes, it’s £89 pounds per night” she smiled, I nodded and placed the bag beside my feet while I pushed my hand into my pocket and rummaged for money I pulled out $630 and handed it to her “Book me for a week please?” the woman smiled and nodded, taking the money and tapping a few things into the computer, she turned to me again and handed pushed a book and a pen in front of me “if you could just sign where the ‘x’ is and I’ll give you your room key Mr?” she asked I smiled “Pricolo, Frank Pricolo” I stated taking my mother’s maiden name and signing the book messily with it too, the woman look at me and smiled “Thank you Mr Pricolo” she said handing me my room key, I nodded in thanks and picked up my bag before walking up the stairs to my room on the 4th floor.
I dumped my bag on the small table in the centre of the room, and I then lay on the bed and stared at the ceiling, wondering what Lindsey, Gerard and the guys were doing right now “probably having the time of their lives” I muttered bitterly to myself, I sat up on the bed and swivelled my legs so they were hanging off the side, I looked over to my bag, I stood up, walked over to the table and unzipped the bag, revealing the weapons I had just purchased as well as a few changes of clothing, you never know when you might need them, I pushed my hand in and rummaged through pulling out an overly sized t-shirt and a small carrier bag, I threw the shirt on the bed to change into later for when I go to sleep, I closed the duffle bag and I opened the carrier bag and pulled out a Walkie talkie I stole from Lindsey’s house, I don’t know why, I guess it matched all the other stuff I needed and it was something I could have to remind me of her and Jersey and maybe I had the smallest little tiny bit of hope that they were looking for me, and that Lindsey would make them use the other Walkie talkies to talk to each other and someone may just accidentally stumble across me, but I didn't hold out much hope, I doubt they even care I’m gone…
again I walked toward the bed and placed the device on the nightstand next to the top of the bed, I then stripped down to my boxers throwing my worn clothes to the floor and pulling the oversized black misfits shirt over my head and clambered onto the bed and stared at the ceiling once again

for some reason unknown my thoughts wondered to Gerard and how he looked when we were in the park together only yesterday, the way his hair was still a violent shade of red even in the pitch black night, and the way the moon light made his hazel eyes glisten and the silver slivers of light illuminating his perfect porcelain skin, and then when we were leaving the park, and he pulled me a little too hard and I bumped into his chest, still unaware of the strength he has, but then I’m only reminded of the pain in his eyes, the pain and the suffering, his life hasn’t been easy either, losing his life for one, having to comfort his brother, it’s a traumatic thing, one minute your alive and kicking and the next you are literally on your death bed, your blood dries out, you heart stops beating and…you die, it takes about a week for it all to go by, so it’s a long process, a painful process, something a lot of people don’t survive through, you’d be surprised how many people die through the process only the strongest souls survive being turned, which is what strikes me about Gerard, he’s so isolated and insecure and broken, yet he’s so strong, I really don’t think he knows how special he really is…

Soon my world went silent as sleep began to take over my life…

But tomorrow everything changes.