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The restaurant was virtually empty, just how Gerard liked it. The less prying eyes, the better.
A waitress with a face Gerard recognised but couldn't put a name to led him and Frank to a table near the back, close to the window so they could watch people on the streets pass by. Gerard found watching the hustle and bustle and city life comforting; it showed him what he wasn't missing out on.

As soon as they were seated and had ordered their drinks and food, Gerard excused himself to go and call Mikey because he 'really should call him back now'. He felt a little guilty leaving Frank alone in a strange place, but the wide smile on his face when he leant over the table to give Frank a quick kiss told him Frankie didn't really mind.

He checked under the stalls for any feet first and, when he was satisfied that there was no one there who could call the nearest mental asylum and inform them that a patient had escaped, he called his brother and prepared to tell him the whole story.

Mikey picked up on the seventh ring, just as Gerard was about to give up and call him later, and when he greeted Gerard he sounded breathless. Gerard wondered what he'd been doing, but pushed it to the back of his mind for now. He had more important things to be thinking about now, like the gorgeous, completely made up man sitting in a seat in Gerard's favourite restaurant waiting for his lover to return.

"What is it Gerard?" Mikey asked, sensing something was wrong. Gerard never called him before calling his parents, and this wasn't his usual eight o'clock call. On top of that, Gerard had been ignoring him all day and Mikey was probably growing more and more concerned as the minutes ticked by. Gerard felt bad for worrying his family, but he'd had to look after Frankie.

"He's real." Gerard said straight away, choosing to just say it outright rather than beat around the bush. He knew Mikey would be confused, then disbelieving, and then quite possibly worried for his brother's sanity, but Mikey had to believe him. He knew he was the only one he could trust with this secret, and if Mikey didn't believe him he would have to keep it all to himself.

"What? Gee, what're you talking about?" Mikey replied. Gerard heard muffled voices coming from the other end of the phone and Gerard wondered if he was actually at their parents' house or if Mikey was with someone else.

"Frank!" Gerard cried, lowering his voice immediately and peeking through the circular window in the bathroom door to check Frank hadn't heard him. He was sitting quite happily at their table, watching as a waiter walked by to deliver food to someone else. "Frank is real."

There was a long pause where Gerard knew Mikey would be thinking about what he said and assessing it, coming up with a reply that wouldn't make Gerard seem insane but would also let him know that Frank wasn't in fact real.

"Frank ... Iero?" He finally said, checking they were thinking of the same Frank who was not previously real but was now. Gerard rolled his eyes, sensing Mikey's dubiousness over the phone. "As in: your made up dream man, Frank Iero?"

"Yes!" Gerard pressed, just wanting Mikey to believe him so he could go back to Frank already. He was probably getting lonely and worried that Gerard was taking so long. "I wrote about him, and I drew him, and then the next day he was real! He was in my bed!"

Mikey sighed exaggeratedly and Gerard groaned, knowing it was going to be difficult to persuade him. "Gerard..." He began, but was cut off.

"Mikey! I am telling the truth, I swear to God! I don't know how, I don't know why but somehow Frank is real, like really real, and he's eating dinner with me! He thinks he's in the relationship I wrote about!"

"Gerard, you know that's not true. Are you seeing things again?" Mikey's tone was gentle but firm, certain but not cruel, allowing no room for argument. He didn't believe Gerard. He thought he was crazy.

"Listen to me, that picture I sent you earlier? That was him! He was in my kitchen making pancakes, and I took a picture of him and sent it to you, and you saw him too! That means I'm not seeing things, okay?! I'm not crazy and Frank is real!"

Gerard finished his rant with a smile, wondering how Mikey would try to find an explanation for that one. When Mikey didn't reply, Gerard's smile faltered. He still doesn't believe me, he thought.

"Look, why don't you come round to my house tonight or tomorrow? You can meet Frank, you can see for yourself that he's real and you can go back to mom and dad's believing in magic. Sound good?" Gerard almost said that he and Frank would go down to his parents so everyone could meet Gerard's stunningly beautiful boyfriend, but he stopped himself just in time.

Technically, he had just met Frankie himself. It would be way too soon to drag Frank into a family gathering, even if he seemed to want to meet his boyfriend's family.

"If it would make you feel better, I'll come, Gee. You know I will." Mikey spoke softly, but his words were somehow condescending. He thought Gerard was just making it up for attention, or because he'd lost his mind. He smiled at the thought of Mikey's face when he saw Frank for real. He would flip.

"Great." Gerard enthused, just wanting the conversation to be over so he could go back to Frankie and resume their date. "Come round at about seven, 'kay?"

Mikey made a sad noise and Gerard heard another voice on the other end telling Mikey to turn the phone off; that definitely wasn't his mother.

"Where are you?" Gerard asked suddenly, wondering why Mikey wasn't at their parents house. There was a shuffle and Gerard's brother said something in hushed tones to whoever was distracting him. The noise stopped almost immediately and there was a sound like someone closing a door softly.

"I, ah ... took a break from driving. I guess it was a good thing in the end if I'm coming back to yours." That was all he said and Gerard didn't push him for more details. He had a feeling Mikey was with Alicia - his on again, off again girlfriend since high school - and if they were in some motel room somewhere about to sleep together Gerard really didn't want to know.

"Seven o'clock." Gerard said before hanging up completely, too quickly to hear what Mikey's reply had been. He slipped his phone into his pocket and turned it off so there would be no more distractions from his date and took a moment to collect himself, placing a hand on either side of the sink and breathing deeply. Gerard gazed into the mirror staring at an exact replica of himself, yet somehow it felt different. It felt like he was looking at a seventeen year old version of himself: shy and chubby and awkward. Too afraid to speak to anybody, too afraid to date anybody. The only way Gerard could communicate was through writing, and after he had written 'The Black Parade' he hadn't wanted to talk to anyone anyway. He didn't want to be that person anymore. He had a boyfriend now. He was different.

Gerard left the toilet to find Frank deep in conversation with a pretty waitress he didn't recognise; she must have been relatively new because Gerard made a point to remember the faces of all the staff here. That way if he saw them elsewhere he wouldn't appear rude or stuck up by ignoring them.

Frank said something and the women threw her head back and laughed and light tinkling laugh. She had long brown hair held back in a high ponytail and clear, flawless skin. She was practically perfect in every way, and Frankie sure seemed to like her. Gerard tried not to get jealous, but it was kind of hard when Frank didn't even notice his boyfriend had returned.

"Gee!" Frank cried, his eyes lighting up when he saw him. Gerard smiled smugly when he saw how happy Frank was to see him, and tried not to smirk at the waitress. She was just being friendly after all. "Food's here!"

Their food was indeed there, sitting on the table with a little cloud of steam rising from it. The woman was holding an empty tray and had obviously been the person to deliver their food.

"This is Jamia." Frank continued, gesturing to the waitress who smiled and waved daintily at Gerard. He tried his best to muster a smile but realised he'd probably failed when her own grin faltered. She turned back to Frank.

"Well, if you need anything just give me a shout. See you round, Frank. Gerard."

She wiggled her fingers in farewell and was it just Gerard's imagination, or had she winked at Frankie when she said 'if you need anything'. Gerard ground his teeth together and growled softly, startling Frank who seemed oblivious that anything was wrong until now.

"Gee, baby? What is it?" He asked innocently, his face the very picture of concern. "Are you okay? What did Mikey say?"

"She was hitting on you!" Gerard exploded in a whisper-yell, ignoring Frank's questions. Frank seemed utterly baffled, recoiling as if he'd been slapped, and Gerard felt a little bad. That was until Frank started laughing.

"Jamia? Jamia was not hitting on me, Gee. Don't worry." He reached across the table and placed his hand over Gerard's comfortingly, smiling when Gerard turned his hand over to interlock their fingers. Gerard rubbed his thumb over the other man's knuckles lovingly and sighed a little in relief. "She was just being friendly. Besides, I'm already very much in love with somebody else."

"Hmm." Gerard bit his lip and looked down at the table, fighting back a smile. "Tell me about this person you're 'very much in love with'." He suggested, raising an eyebrow when Frank took a big breath as if to make a long speech.

"Well. He's utterly gorgeous. Total knockout, y'know? Sometimes I can't believe he's actually with me."

"I personally think you're the beautiful one." Gerard interrupted but Frank carried on as if he hadn't heard him.

"He's really smart. He's good with words and he can tell wonderful stories. He's really kind and caring; he's the kind of person who would see a weird, short, homeless punk and offer them a room, you know what I mean?"

They both laughed and Gerard couldn't resist bringing his hand up to his face to kiss each of Frank's fingertips gently. He had never felt like this before about anyone; sure he loved his parents and he loved Mikey, but not like this. With Frank, Gerard had an overwhelming urge to just be there, next to him, all his life. Gerard didn't think he'd ever find love like that.

"But, this person that I'm totally in love with," Frank carried on speaking, which pleased Gerard because he loved hearing his boyfriend's voice. "They're a totally different person in bed."

Gerard choked on his mouthful of pasta, catching the attention of the staff who were loitering around the door area for lack of a better thing to do. Gerard blushed bright red and glared at Frank when the boy started laughing. As far as Gerard could remember, they'd never had sex before, but he also couldn't remember meeting Frank or allowing him to move into his house, so he was guessing Frank's memories were different to his own. Who knew what kind of kinky things they'd been getting up to in the bedroom?

"He'll tie you up." Frank spoke, his voice going all low and sexy and God, Gerard wished he remembered this happening because it sounded amazing. "He'll tie you up so you can't move at all. He'll bite you so you know you're his. He'll tease you until you think you're gonna go mad, and then, just when you think you're going to die if you don't get touched soon, he -"

"Hi guys!" Jamia's cheery voice interrupted Frank's spell of dirty talking. Gerard hadn't realised that they'd levitated closer together as Frank spoke and so they jumped apart, Frank in embarrassment and Gerard in more than a little annoyance, when they were disturbed.

Couldn't she see they were having a private, personal moment?

"Sorry to interrupt, but I've been instructed to come over and tell you about this great deal we're having on puddings." Jamia rolled her eyes to show her indifference towards the deal and Gerard's grip tightened on Frank's hand so much so that he was almost crushing the bones. He just wanted her to go away.

"Uh, I think we're fine thanks." Frank said quietly, shooting Gerard a confused look as his boyfriend almost broke his fingers. Jamia nodded and hurried away to report the bad news back to the kitchen. "Gee, are you jealous?" Frank taunted him, a smirk slowly spreading across his face as he realised why the older man was so on edge whenever the stunning waitress was around.

Gerard lowered his voice so only Frank could hear them - although the chances of anyone else hearing them anyway was next to none; the place was practically empty. "Yeah, I fuckin' am."

He hissed in reply. "You're mine. And when we get home I'm gonna make sure you know that."
Frank's eyes widened and he nodded excitedly, shovelling more food into his mouth to get out of the restaurant and get home faster.

***

As soon as the door was closed and locked behind them, Frank was being pressed against it and held there, Gerard's body flush against his. Their lips were connected in a mess of lips and teeth and tongue; Frank moaned as he felt Gerard's tongue explore the roof of his mouth and whined pathetically when he felt the taller man pull away to speak.

"You're mine, you understand Frankie?" Frank thrashed his head up and down wildly, just wanting his boyfriend to kiss him again. "Who do you belong to, Frank?"

"You, Gee." Frank gasped out. "Yours. Only yours. Ah!" He cried out when he felt Gerard sink his teeth into his neck to mark him. It throbbed a little at first but he sighed in relief when Gerard's tongue lapped over the not-quite-broken flesh to soothe him. He felt himself slipping into that space in his own mind - sub space as some called it - where he would do whatever Gee wanted him to do. He was going to serve Gerard.

Just as Gerard's hands went to Frank's belt buckle, there was an angry cough from behind them followed by a, "Please, don't fuck in front of me."

Both men jumped out of their skin; Frankie was jolted out of sub space with a cry and his head spun. He staggered dizzily for a second before leaning heavily on Gerard to support him, which, of course, he did. He vaguely heard the conversation between his boyfriend and whoever had broken into their house.

"Mikey! Shit! You're early!" Mikey? That name was familiar somehow...

"Yeah well I expected you to be here. You never go out!" Gerard knew this person?

"I took my boyfriend, Frank, on a date." Frank still got butterflies in his stomach whenever Gerard gave him any attention, and calling him his boyfriend counted as positive attention. Frank, now fully concentrated on the scene unfolding in front of him, frowned a little as he took in 'Mikey'. Now he thought about guy looked a lot like Gerard, and wasn't Mikey the name of Gerard's brother?

"Frankie, meet Mikey. My brother. Mikey, meet Frank. My boyfriend." Gerard turned to Frank as he said it, squeezing his arm as a reassurance or an apology, Frank wasn't sure which. He turned to Mikey and smiled in what he hoped was polite but not too formal, and held his hand out for Mikey to shake. He saw the man hesitate before reluctantly shaking Frank's hands - in what had to be the shortest hand shake in history - before yanking his arm away and shaking it like Frank had tainted him somehow.

"So you're Frank?" Mikey asked, seeming dubious. Frank couldn't put his finger on what it was exactly, but Mikey seemed cautious of him. He hoped it wasn't anything to do with him; Frank wanted to make a good impression on Gerard's family. Although, to be fair to him he didn't know Mikey would be there and going all exhibitionist on your boyfriend's brother probably wasn't the best first impression. Frank cringed at how awkward Mikey must have felt.

"Yup." Frank replied, trying to pretend that he wasn't secretly dying of embarrassment inside. Nobody was fooled, and just when Frank was seriously considering running out of the door to hide in the garden, Gerard jumped in and saved him.

"Why don't we go into the kitchen. Who wants coffee?"

Everybody wanted coffee, and Gerard set Frank to work making it so he could exchange words with his brother. Frank was glad for the task and for the fact that he wouldn't have to make small talk with Mikey; the guy didn't seem like much of a talker anyway, let alone to someone he didn't know and probably didn't like.

"Did you hire some actor or something, Gee?" Mikey hissed as soon as he knew Frank - who really did fit the description Gerard wrote down - wouldn't be able to hear. "Did you find him after you wrote about him, or before? Did you plan all of this?" While he was speaking he had reached out and grabbed Gerard's arm, possibly for dramatic effect but all Gerard was thinking about was Mikey's sharp nails digging into his flesh, and Gerard took the opportunity to pull away, looking offended.

"What? No! Mikey, I swear to God. He was here when I woke up this morning and he thinks we are in the relationship I wrote about. I didn't hire anyone!"

"Well then what the fuck is this, huh? Magic? Magic doesn't. Fucking. Exist, Gerard!" Mikey retaliated, growing more and more angry the more worried he got. He could tell when Gerard was lying - he had been always been able to - and Gerard really didn't look like he was lying. But ... he couldn't be telling the truth. That wasn't possible; what Gerard was saying wasn't possible.

"I don't know Mikey! Maybe it is magic! Maybe magic is real, or maybe God is rewarding me for something, I don't know. Okay? All I know is that Frank is real, and he loves me, and I want to be with him."

Frank, who had looked up at the sound of raised voices, bit his lip and looked down again, trying to focus on the coffee he was making. Gerard liked his strong, without milk or sugar. He liked his with one sugar and a little milk. He didn't know what Mikey wanted.

He knew they were arguing about him. He had heard Gerard say his name at least twice in his latest outburst and both men looked pissed, so it was obvious they were fighting about Frank.

Frank wondered if it was his age; he knew he was young, but he was very mature for eighteen. He knew that, Gerard knew that. That was why he was in a relationship with him. Or maybe it wasn't his age? Maybe if was his background. Maybe Mikey didn't like that Frank had been homeless before moving in with Gerard; perhaps he thought Frank was just in it for Gerard's money. But how couldn't he see that Frank loved Gerard more than anything in the world? How could he not see that Frank would die for Mikey's brother? He lived for him and only him.

"Have you tried writing anything else about him?" Mikey sighed, knowing it was pointless to argue with his brother; Gerard was stubborn when he wanted to be. The least he could do was force Gerard to see for himself whether this was possible or not by proving it.

"What?" Gerard said, taken by surprise. The shock was evident in his voice and Mikey wondered how he hadn't thought to write something else about Frank earlier.

"Well, it's simple." Mikey explained. "You write something else about Frank, and if it comes true then this is magic. Or God rewarding you, or whatever you want to believe, okay? If it doesn't come true then this guy is a con artist or something and we go to the police."

Gerard hesitated. "Isn't that kind of ... wrong? Like, to mess with him like that?" Mikey rolled his eyes; he had always had a heart of stone. Gerard didn't see how he could be so mean when it came to Gerard's first boyfriend.

"It's the only way Gee." The eldest brother nodded slowly and they both got up, Gerard pausing by the door to speak to Frank. Mikey heard him say something about showing Mikey their room, but he wasn't sure.

Gerard led him past closed door after closed door and, like he always was after visiting his brother, Mikey was in awe of Gerard's huge home. He knew his brother was rich, but whenever he saw how many rooms were in his house or how many cars he had it all hit him again and it seemed massively unfair.

"Remind me again why you don't pay for my college education?" Mikey asked bitterly, raising an eyebrow as his brother reached a mysterious door at the end of the corridor and ushered Mikey inside as if he thought somebody was following them.

"Shut up." Was the only reply Mikey got before having a typewriter shoved in his face. "This is what I used to write him up with." He watched as Gerard got a clean piece of paper and pushed it into the old device, turning knobs and pushing buttons that Mikey had no idea how to work. Finally, finally, it was ready to go and they both hovered over the keyboard, unsure what to write.

"It has to be something he won't notice." Mikey offered, glancing at Gerard out of the corner of his eye to watch his reaction. Gerard bit his lip.

"Yeah, but nothing too big. He's perfect the way he is." Mikey scoffed and rolled his eyes again, and Gerard stuck his tongue out at him pedantically. He thought about saying something like, 'whatever Romeo' but bit his tongue. He knew Gerard didn't want to do this at all, so he didn't want to make him change his mind.

"How about a new tattoo?" Gerard said suddenly, his eyes lighting up at the idea of more ink for his boyfriend. Mikey didn't know what Gerard's obsession with tattoos was all about - probably a fetish or something - but if he was willing to test it out on Frank then Mikey was going to go along with it without complaint. It was better than his brother just accepting Frank without testing to see if he was just conning him.

Within a few clicks, Gerard had described a new tattoo on Frank's arm and the two brothers were rushing down the stairs to see if magic was actually real. As soon as he set foot in the kitchen - where Frank was sitting down with three coffees in front of him looking up at the older men with wide, innocent eyes - Gerard stopped so suddenly that Mikey ran into his back and cursed under his breath. Right there, on Frank's arm just as Gerard had described, was a tattoo of the Virgin Mary that most definitely wasn't there earlier.

Mikey felt his breath catch in his throat and the room spun around him. He stumbled and caught himself on the kitchen counter. Frank was still watching them, frowning, while the others stared at him with blatantly awestruck expressions. He had no idea that Mikey was re-evaluating his entire life now that he knew the impossible was actually possible.

"We'll be right back..." Gerard swallowed and clutched onto the front of Mikey's shirt to drag him into the living room where they couldn't be overheard by Frank. Mikey swallowed, then jumped on Gerard.

"This is insane!" He screamed, then lowered his voice so as not to attract Frank's attention.

"You manifested a person ... with your mind!" Mikey started laughing whilst Gerard looked on, silently worrying that his brother had gone mad.

"You know what this means, right?" Mikey continued excitedly, getting carried away. Gerard didn't like where this was going, but he stayed silent with an expectant look on his face to let his brother know he was waiting for him to continue.

"You could make him do anything! You could make him do the washing up all the time! You could make him give you blowjobs every night!" Mikey stopped talking, panting slightly, and stared at Gerard like he expected him to say something. Gerard opened his mouth but when nothing came out, he closed it again.

"That wouldn't be fair on Frank." He said meekly, holding his hands behind his back and boring holes into the carpet with his stare. "He should be able to make his own choices."

Mikey stared at him as if he'd lost his mind, but eventually just shrugged and flopped down onto the sofa, staring at the blank television screen just like he had done yesterday. Thankfully, he wasn't dropping crumbs everywhere this time. Gerard wondered idly whether Frank had washed the coffee pot after he had used it.

"Will you stay for ice cream?" He asked Mikey, turning his head to look at his brother. "Frank wants you to like him. I said I'd introduce him to mom and dad soon, but if he knows you he'll feel more comfortable with them."

Mikey shrugged and nodded - somewhat contradicting himself - and got up, wandering back into the kitchen so that Gerard could only scramble up and chase after him.

Frank stood up when the boys walked back in and strode over to Gerard, wrapping his arms around him and not letting go until his boyfriend squeezed him back. He buried his head in Gerard's chest and whined quietly so that the taller man leant down and pressed a soft kiss onto the top of Frank's head. He didn't even care that Mikey was in the room and was watching them and probably thinking Frank was clingy and desperate; he had missed Gerard. He knew that sounded awful because he had only been gone five minutes, and he was only in the next room after all, but Frank had had a horrible feeling that Mikey was in there with his lover, trying to persuade Gerard to leave Frank. He couldn't stand it if Gerard left him; he'd gotten terrified and had had to calm himself down from an almost-panic attack.

"It's okay." Gerard whispered into Frank's ear, holding him close so that he knew Gerard wasn't going anywhere. "I asked Mikey to come here so that you two could get to know each other before I introduce you to my parents. That way you won't feel so nervous when we're there. I just didn't know he would arrive so early." He turned his head to glower at Mikey when he said that but when Frank gasped he realised Frank would have thought he was going away. He leant his neck down and tilted Frankie's chin up so that they were looking at each other. There were tears welling in the smaller man's eyes but they and yet to spill down his cheeks.

Slowly, Gerard brought their faces together, so that Frank had lots of time to move if he decided to pull away. He remained where he was however, only pushing forward against Gerard's lips when they touched his. Their kiss was slow and soft and full of love; the complete opposite of what they had been like when they'd first arrived home.

When they pulled apart, Frank cast his eyes over at Mikey who was looking down at the floor awkwardly, almost as if he were sorry to interrupt them. Frank sniffled and did his best to smile at Gerard's brother, feeling his heart lift when the man actually smiled back. It wasn't a fake smile either; it was genuine, and Frank began to think that he was actually making a good impression.

Notes