I Found The Cure To Growing Older

I woke up a couple hours later to a delicious smell wafting past my nose and a sharp ringing noise in my ears. I winced, groaning and rolling on the bed, and I found the noise went away.

I sat up in bed, keeping my eyes closed, rubbing the sleepiness out of them. I yawned and reached over for my pick, only to grab on to cold air.

Hmm… that’s strange… I always leave my pick by my bed…

And then it hit me.

I opened my eyes to see a completely different room than what I was used to, and I remembered.

Goddamn… I thought as yesterday’s events came rushing back to me.

I miss my pick.

I got up out of bed, smoothing out my shirt (which had ridden up) and patting my pants down. I yawned again and walked over to the door, to hear faint singing out from behind it.

Lie in the grass… next to the mausoleum…

I’m just a notch in your bedpost but you’re just a line in a song!

I smiled, liking the tune of the song, and opened the bedroom door, to see right into the kitchen where I saw Frank singing whilst swinging his hips and swishing a whisk around in a bowl.

Drop a heart… and break a name

We’re always sleeping in and sleeping

For the wrong team

He picked up the bowl, still whisking, and danced around, swinging his hips like there was no tomorrow.

We’re going down down to an earlier round!

He spun around madly, still managing to keep the substance in the bowl.

And sugar we’re going down swinging!

I’ll be your number one with a bullet…

A loaded god complex

Cock and pull it!

I smiled wide and leaned against the wall as I watched the oblivious Frank sing and dance and make dinner-I assume-and spin around wildly.

Frank’s voice suddenly changed pace as he obviously changed songs, and his dancing resembled more of a slow waltz than a fast spin.

Me and you

Setting in a honeymoon

If I woke up next to you

If I woke up next to you

And that’s when he noticed me.

His face went red as his eyes went wide, and he froze. I giggled a little bit at the pure shock on his face, and he looked at the floor with a sheepish and embarrassed expression on his face.

“How long were you there for?” He almost whispered, and I shrugged.

“To hear I’m guessing the chorus of the we’re goin down song.” I said, crossing my arms and yawning. Frank groaned slightly and put the bowl on the counter, and faced me.

“At least you won’t judge me for my music taste. My friends say I’m weird because I listen to REALLY old stuff. Those songs are from 2005 and 2007. It’s 2213.” Frank said, and I raised my eyebrows.

“I thought they were good. Especially coming from out your mouth.” If Frank’s face could get any redder, it would have. He covered his face, trying to hide the evident blush. “What? You’ve got a nice voice.” I said simply, and I smirked, making Frank take a sudden interest in his feet.

“Stop it...” He whispered, trying not to smile.

I got to admit, he looked pretty cute all embarrassed and stuff, so I decided to take it further.

It is okay to think men are cute… right?

I thought about it for a second, before deciding it was okay.

As long as I am not in love with a man, it’s fine.

I felt slightly disappointed, but I ignored the feeling.

“How ‘bout no. Frank, I like how you dance, I like your hair, I like how you dress, I like your house…” I said, and Frank covered his face with his hands.

He looked up at me, with his red face, and I added something else while staring him straight into his eyes.

“I like your eyes.” I said, and I actually did, and Frank ran to-I’m assuming-his room and shut the door behind him.

I sighed happily and walked towards the kitchen, picking up the bowl and seeing what was inside. A yellow liquid swirled around inside the bowl, and I immediately recognized it as eggs. I looked over to see what I was guessing was a stove with a hot pan on it, and I poured some of the eggs onto the pan. I heard them sizzle, and another smell wafted past my nose and I looked over to see freshly cooked bacon sitting on a plate with a napkin catching all of the grease under the strips. I heard my stomach growl hungrily, and I realized how starving I actually was.

I sprinkled some pepper and other small amounts of spices into the cooking eggs and I waited for the eggs to finish, swirling them around in the pan once in a while, and when they were finally done I transferred them over to a clean plate that was already set on the counter. I put a couple strips of the warm bacon on the side of the plate, sprinkled some salt over the eggs, and BOOM! Food.

As I set work on the next one, figuring that I was going to live here for a while I should at least help with something around the house, I heard a door open and light footsteps behind me. I whirled around to see Frank standing there with a happy smile on his face.

“Sorry about earlier… I‘m not used to getting compliments…” He said, looking away from me.

Not used to getting compliments?!

I have to put that right!

My typical 1910s kindness took over, as most people around me growing up were British/European and awfully nice, and I kinda absorbed that into myself.

“Well, get used to it.” I said, and Frank blushed again.

“And…” He glanced over to the steaming plate of food sitting neatly on the counter. “Thanks for making the food. Is that yours?” He asked, pointing over to the plate, and I shook my head. He walked over and grabbed the plate, fishing out two pairs of forks and knives from a drawer and setting one pair on the counter while taking the other with him as he walked out.

I smiled softly to myself as I finished up my plate of steaming food and picked up the silverware and headed out to the dining room. Frank sat at one of the chairs, and I sat across from him, and he looked up at me.

“So, how are you doing?” Frank asked, and I smiled softly.

“I’m doing well. How about you?” I answered.

“I’m doing good. This meal is awesome! You are a really good cook!” Frank said, and I looked away from him as I felt my cheeks turn red.

“Oh stop it.” I said sheepishly, and I heard Frank laugh.

“You’re going to compliment me and make me blush like crazy, so why not get some back at you?” Frank said, and I wolfed down my meal with surprising speed, tasting the warm food and just realizing how hungry I was.

“Wow. Spending almost 300 years six feet under really gives you an appetite, eh?” Frank said with a smirk, and I swallowed my food down.

“Yeah, I guess. Also, you said almost 300 years. How long was I in that lab?” I asked questioningly, and Frank raised his eyebrows.

“Surprised you caught that.” Frank said, putting down his silverware. “You were in there for a good five years.” I dropped my silverware, and the clatter of the utensils against my plate echoed throughout the now silent room.

“F-Five y-y-years?” I stuttered, and Frank nodded.

“Yep. It took a while. But boy, am I glad we didn’t give up.” Frank said, smiling softly. He then looked up at me.

“We saw each and every one of your limbs growing back and replacing torn, burned, and blown off parts of your body. We saw your hair growing out. We saw everything. It was a miracle.” Frank said, and I just stared at him.

“You sir, you cost us a lot of money though.” Frank said, smirking a little.

“How much?” I asked, and Frank sighed.

“Oh, about 150 million.” Frank said simply, and I swear I felt my jaw hit the floor.

“WHAT?!” I yelled. I couldn’t even imagine that much money!

“There were a LOT of things that went into Project Regen, Gee. You don’t mind me calling you that, right?” Frank asked, and I shook my head.

“As I said, there were a lot of things that went into Project Regen. Including going to Dawson and back again several times, all the machines and extremely high-tech equipment, permits and permissions from the government, hiring the best and brightest of the population to make sure this wouldn’t fail, all of the medical stuff, and guess what? All of that costs money. A lot of it.” Frank said, and I nodded.

“But, when we first saw you open your eyes, take that huge breath of fresh air for the first time in 300 years, it was like a dream come true. All of our blood, sweat, and tears that went into making you a possibility again paid off, and now you are here. Alive and well.” Frank said, looking at me with watery eyes and a soft smile on his face. I blushed deeply and looked down at my lap, and I heard Frank sniff a little, and I looked up at him to see him wiping his eyes as he looked away from me.

“Sorry, uh…” He laughed awkwardly, still looking away from me. “Getting a little emotional.” He said, sniffing and wiping his eyes again. I smiled and thought of the sweetest thing I could say. Hey, it’s the least I could do after hearing about all this work people have put into me.

“Thank you, Frank. Thank you so much for giving me life again.” I said with a huge smile.

And that’s when Frank broke down crying.

His wails echoed throughout the apartment, and my smile disappeared as I got up and out of my seat and speed walked over to him, and I engulfed him in my arms as he sobbed into my shoulder, his tears dampening my shirt. I rubbed his back soothingly as his hands roamed all over mine, a way of assurance to him that I’m real, and that I’m here to stay.

~~~

It was a little while later, and Frank’s sobs had calmed down by a considerable amount, til it was just little sniffles every now and then.

Suddenly, I felt his head move out of my shoulder, and he faced me, his eyes blotchy and red.

“Sorry.” Frank said, an awkward smile appearing on his face.

“It’s fine.” I said simply, and it really was.

“I was just thinking about those five years, and that was already bad enough, and then your comment just was too much for me.” Frank said, sniffling again. I continued to rub his back, and he placed his chin on my shoulder and sighed deeply, his eyes fluttering shut.

“It’s alright. I understand.” I said in a soft tone, and Frank smiled.

“Can I just sleep here? Your shoulder is very comfortable.” Frank asked sleepily. “Sorry, but you rubbing my back is making me very sleepy.” Frank said, yawning. I thought about it for a minute.

“Um, alright.” I said, and it was no longer than about 7 seconds later and I heard soft snores coming from Frank, and I smiled.

It’s probably best to put him to bed. I thought to myself, and I scooped up the sleeping boy in my arms, and walked over to what I presuming to be his room, and carefully lay him down on the bed.

He groaned a little a shuffled a bit and I froze, waiting til I could hear his light snores again before quietly leaving the room.

I carefully shut the door behind me, trying my best to not make a sound as it clicked into place, and I tiptoed away from his door and walked into the living room to find something to do.

I sat down on the couch, and looked forward to see a thin black box sitting on top of a table adjacent from me. I cocked my head at it, wondering what it was. I glanced down at the coffee table in front of me to see a two long black shiny things, with lots of buttons on them. One of them, I noticed, had a button that read ‘Power’ underneath it. I shrugged and pressed the button, and the box whirred to life, displaying several different things.

I smiled, seeing this as a learning opportunity.

Might as well get used to the things here… because there’s no going back.

~~~

It was about an hour later, and I had half figured out how to use this thing. Apparently, it’s called a TV, and the thing I’m holding is called a remote. Interesting.

Then, I heard light footsteps and a opening and closing of a door, and more footsteps as Frank came into view.

“Oh, I see you can use the TV. Cool.” Frank said. “Hey, pass the remote!” Frank exclaimed excitedly, and I furrowed my eyebrows at his lack of manners but gave him the remote anyway.

“Sorry, it’s just I saw an interesting movie on On Demand.” Frank said, his eyes focused on the TV and his hand held the remote from the bottom and thumb flew over the buttons as the TV screen suddenly displayed a lot of things. I too focused on the TV as a cursor scrolled through the options and then settled on an option called ‘Movies’. I smiled as I finally saw a word I recognized.

“Wanna watch Jurassic Park?” Frank said, turning to me. I looked at him with confusion.

What? I thought, and Frank chuckled.

“Yeah, didn’t think you knew what that was.” Frank said, smiling. “It’s an old movie by today’s standards… it’s 220 years old. But you’ll have to get used to things being so old, because, well, new things rarely come out these days. It’s described as if the world got stuck in the year 2016. The phones are the same, the TVs are the same, basically everything's the same. A person from 2016 would have no problem living here.” Frank said, chuckling a little bit more. I shrugged, and the cursor clicked the Movies option and Frank surfed through the menu until the cursor landed on an option called ‘Jurassic Park’.

“Trust me. This movie is a classic.” Frank said, and the cursor selected it, and then the movie started to play.

~~~

The movie was coming to an end, and I am blown away by everything. The movie was in sound, and I had to ask Frank is this was actually a movie, because movies back in my day were silent.

And the dinosaurs looked so real! I asked Frank is they were real several times during the movie, and he said he didn’t really know for sure, but they were a mix of CGI and robots. I swear my jaw dropped to the ground at that point.

But, the movie came to an end, and I gave a standing ovation to it. Frank looked up at me with amusement, but began clapping as well.

“That was amazing!” I exclaimed as I sat back down, and Frank nodded.

“One of my favourites.” Frank said, and my eyes widened as the TV went back to the menu and I saw more options.

“Do you have any more like that?” I asked excitedly, and Frank nodded.

“I have some that can scare the shit out of you, Gee.” Frank said, and I grimaced a little at his language.

But, My mind interjected. Remember, it’s not the 1910s anymore. This stuff is probably more accepted.

“You don’t like me swearing? I can stop if you want me to.” Frank said, and I shook my head.

“No, it’s fine.” I said, and Frank smiled.

“As I said before, I’ve got some that can scare the shit out of you. Jaws, The Exorcist, stuff like that.” Frank said. “You want to watch?”

I thought for a second, and then nodded.

“And I’ll understand if you get scared, seeing as you’ve probably never seen anything like these before. Just tell me you’ve had enough, and I’ll turn it either off or to something happier, okay?” Frank said, looking at me with care in his hazel eyes.

I gulped and nodded, and Frank turned it on to Jaws, and our- what Frank likes to call a ‘movie marathon’- began.

Notes

weird ending but whatevs
also I don;t think I mentioned this Gerard is actually really strong. As he got regenerated, his muscles from mining stayed. So, yeah. He's strong.

k bai