"Frank, just talk to him." Ray whispered as yet another tear streaked his cheek.
"I can't." Frank replied, angrily wiping the offending tear from his face.
"Frank." Ray exclaimed. "Goddamnit, explain to him why you ignored him and told him to fuck off. He has a right to know. He's beating himself up about it."
"So what?!" Frank raised his voice as he paced around the car again. "He kissed me, not the other way around! So what I kissed back? That has nothing to do with it. It's not like I wanted it." Frank's voice trailed off. "I mean, why would I want to kiss my best friend, it's not like he means anything at all to me is it? It's not like I would die for him."
"Just tell him Frank." Ray pushed, grabbing his arm as he passed him again.
"No! I'm not telling him Ray, I can't. If he really cared, I think he would know by now." Frank muttered as he swiped the tears from his cheeks and stormed off, ignoring Ray as he called after him.

---

Missile Kid sat at the table, playing with the edge of her bandages and swinging her legs as Frank stormed through the diner, pushing past Evangeline as he worked his way to the sleeping quarters. "Someone should go after him." She whispered to no-one in particular as she grabbed her teddy and curled up, her head on Beth's lap. Beth suppressed a smile as everyone turned to Gerard, staring at him as he avoided their gaze.
"You know, for a six year old, she really is smarter than you sometimes Gerard." Beth laughed.
"What the hell am I supposed to do about it?" He snapped.
"Go after him you idiot." Chuckled Evangeline. He growled before he turned on his heels, ignoring the reassuring look from his brother.

Gerard pushed the door open, taking a minute for his eyes to adjust to the dark before stepping into the room and pushing the door closed behind him. "Frank." Gerard whispered. "Where are you?" Frank didn't reply, instead, he climbed to his feet and walked slowly towards the door, careful not to make any sounds that would alert Gerard to his whereabouts. "Frank, I need to talk to you." Gerard pleaded, stopping when a hand was placed over his mouth.
"Let me do the talking for once." Frank whispered as he grabbed Gerard's hand and tugged him towards his bed. "Sit." Frank ordered, pushing Gerard lightly until he stumbled against the mattress. "You need to listen to me Gerard. I need to tell you what's going on up here and it's gonna be hard but you need to listen. I'm not a good one for opening up and if it fails this time, I'm never doing it again. Understand?" Gerard nodded, ignorant to the fact that Frank couldn't see him.
"Yeah." He whispered.
"Good." Frank muttered as he stepped closer to Gerard, his heart pounding against his chest. Within seconds, Frank closed the gap between them both, pressing his lips against Gerard's his hands tangling in his hair.

Frank gently pushed Gerard down onto the bed, straddling him as he deepened the kiss, moaning softly when Gerard slid his hands down his sides, squeezing his ass. Frank pulled back and leant his forehead against Gerard's, his breathing deep as he collapsed against him, their chest pressed against each other. "Why?" Gerard asked.
"You may have fucked with my head when you kissed me, but it made me realize what you wanted. Yeah, there is stuff in my head that I really should tell people, but I can't because, if you knew what happened to me before I escaped Korse the first time, you would want to kill him which would only get you hurt."
"I'm sorry." Gerard whispered as he wrapped his arms around Frank.
"For what?" Frank asked.
"Getting Jamia killed, sending her out into the field when she was pregnant. Take your pick. I've hurt you so many times its unreal and I want to put things right."
"Don't hurt me again then. Don't reject me when I need you because, I swear to god Gerard, I can't keep fighting much longer."

---

"How d'you think things are going in there?" Damon asked, looking around the tired group as he waited for a reply.
"Well, there are three possible explanations as to why it's taking so long." Began Evangeline. "One, Frank is actually talking about what's wrong, two, they are fucking or three, one of them has killed the other."
"Dude, don't talk about my brother like that." Mikey whined.
"What? It's the truth." She laughed as she sat next to him, her legs over his, a smile crossing her lips as he looked at her, confused.

---

"What news?" Korse asked as the Draculoids lined up in front of him.
"We have found the rebel base. We should attack tonight sir, leave them unprepared, vulnerable."
"And what if Fun Ghoul is there? Are you going to tell me that we should just kill him?" Korse hissed, his face millimeters from the Drac's.
"No sir."
"Well, disappear and get me some information that I can actually use." Korse snapped as he dismissed the group, his hand going to his forehead as a drop of sweat dripped onto his cheek.

---

Frank slowly moved away from Gerard, wiping away the tears that were streaming down his face. Gerard shifted slightly, his hand reaching out and resting on Frank's thigh. Frank removed it, dropping it a little harshly onto the bed, Gerard's eyes snapping open. "Frankie, why are you crying." Gerard asked.
"You lied." Frank whispered. "You lied to me."
"About what? Frank, what's going on?"
"You're an asshole, you know that?" Frank hissed as he slid as far away as he could get from Gerard. "You just want to use me to help you forget her but it won't happen."
"What did I do?" Gerard asked, confusion on his face. "Frank, babe, your scaring me, what did I do?"
"You called her name. You said you love her." Gerard reached out his hand to grab Frank's hand, to try and console him. "Get your hands off me." Frank yelled, the door slamming open and the whole group running in. "Just... fuck off Gerard. I can't believe I opened up to you. I can't believe I told you what was wrong. I can't believe I fell for you."

Frank ran from the diner and carried on going, collapsing once he got far enough from the diner for anyone to hear him. He sobbed, tears streaming down his face and splashing into the dirt underneath his knees, small pools of murky water forming. "Fuck you!" He shouted into the night air. "I hate you Gerard. I hate you so goddamn much!" He lay down and curled into a ball, he's knees pulled up to his chest as he cried, tears streaking down his face.

"That can't be all you did." Evangeline pushed, ever the nosy one.
"No, it probably isn't." Gerard replied angrily. "I probably wasn't sensitive enough. I probably didn't show a caring enough reaction when he stuck his fucking tongue down my throat."
"What did you do?" Mikey asked, his hands on his brothers knees as he forced him to look him in the eye. "Tell me Gee."
"I wanted to go further, and he didn't stop me but I called her name Mikey. I fucking shouted Lyn-z's name." Gerard muttered.
"You mean you...?" Mikey whispered. Gerard shook his head.
"I don't think Frank realized what happened until he woke up."
"Go and fix it then." Evangeline laughed.
"I can't fix it anymore. I've tried and it just seems to go wrong and I'm scared that if I try to bring him closer any more then I will lose him forever."

Frank's head darted up as a dust cloud filled his nose. He coughed as he climbed to his feet and ran to the diner, his eyes on the horizon for the army that was bound to come towards the diner. Frank dropped to the floor inside the diner, his hands on his sides as he waited for someone to notice he had returned. "What's wrong?" Missile Kid asked, her face inches away from Frank's.
"Drac's." He panted out, trying to clear his lungs of the dust that was clogging them.
"How long?" She asked.
"I have no fucking idea." Frank muttered as a wave of nausea washed over him. "Close."

"Go and sit with Dr D. You can't fight if you can't breathe." Ray ordered as he held Frank's gun hostage.
"I can." Puffed Frank, his face red. "I told everyone I'm not going down without a fight and this is the perfect way for me to go."
"You're not giving up today." Ray snapped as he pushed Frank towards Dr D's office, giving him a look that made him cringe, nodding as a promise that he would sit still. "Keep an eye on Missile."

---

"Get the fuck down!" Yelled Mikey as a Drac raised his gun at Beth. "Cherri, get the fuck down!"
"Kobra, behind you!" Beth yelled in response, Mikey's elbow lashing out and connecting with a face. A Draculoid hit the floor behind him, a whoosh of air escaping his lungs as blood spurted from its nose. Mikey watched as Ray got hit, his shoulder smoking as the ray tried to pierce through his jacket.
"Jet, you cool?" Yelled Gerard as he took down the lead Drac, the rest turning on their heels and running.
"Yeah, don't think it got flesh." Ray replied as he climbed to his feet, offering his hand to Damon. "We all still here?" He asked, checking over everyone. Nod's came from everyone as Missile burst from the diner, tears streaking her face.

"Missile, what's wrong honey?" Asked Evangeline. "Why are you crying?"
"Frank's screaming. He's hurting. Something's wrong." Missile sobbed, her sentences blurring into one mess of words.
"It's okay, I've got you. How about we go check he's okay?" Evangeline asked as she grabbed Missiles hand and led her away from the clean up operation.

"What's wrong Iero?" She asked as she walked into the room.
"Can't you hear it?" He asked, tears streaking his cheeks.
"Hear what? There's no noise in her Frank."
"Korse... He wants me back. He wants to hurt me again. He wants me dead this time." Frank sobbed as he rocked slowly backwards and forwards, his back hitting off the wall.
"We won't let anything happen to you." Evangeline muttered as she sat next to him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders. "Even if I can't protect you or Kobra and Jet and Cherri and Show can't protect you, Gerard will. He won't let anything happen to you because he cares about you more than he lets on. He's just a little hard headed sometimes."
"That's not all that's hard." Frank whispered as he tried to lighten the mood.
"Wha...?" Evangeline asked, recognition dawning on her face. "Eww, that's gross!" She laughed.

Notes