He heard the scream.

It echoed through his ears like both lightning and a thunder, like a grenade to his soul, yet he couldn't quite place the person that scream came from. Was it him? Was it her?

He turned his head around just in time to see the barbed wire ripping out of place, smacking through the air in a flash of an eye.

Blood.

There was so much blood.

"You fucking idiot! What have you done?!"

This time he knew who the person was. And he also knew who the first scream belonged to, as she was standing on her knees clutching her side.

"G-Gerard?" the soft whimper left her lips just before she fell.

And Michael was screaming.

His hands felt numb. He heard the body collapsing next to him. What HAD he done? Why was he so stupid?

He continued to watch with horror as the blood dripped from his brother's body.

The scar. Why did it have to leave a scar?

He wanted to reach out, to hold Michael in his arms, or at least make sure she was still alive.

But she wasn't. He knew she wasn't. It was too late.

And just as he found it in himself to start moving towards any of them, the hard unfamiliar object hit the back of his head, sending him down to the floor with a thud, black stains clouding his eyes.

No. it wasn't over. It couldn't be over.

The numbness that took over his body was like a disease. He wanted to get rid of it, to move, but he didn't.

And the last thing he saw, beyond the wet red pool forming on the cold ground, around his head, beyond the tears his rigid body cried, was his brother collapsing, a bleeding crying mess, until it fell silence.

And from there, everything was gone.

xoxoxoxo

"Gerard? Gerard? Gerard!" Frank exclaimed when the other man wasn't waking up. Frank was worried when he opened his eyes and saw Gerard squirming and whimpering beside him, a look of horror and regret on his face.

He shook Gerard a little more, and suddenly the man's eyes shot open and he sat up with a sharp gasp.

Frank looked at him worriedly, still lying on his side propped by his elbow as he let Gerard calm down from his panting.

Eventually he went silent and only held his forehead with his hand, whimpering a little more.
He slowly turned his head to look at the smaller man beside him. The concern on the other's face told Gerard that he knew something was wrong.

"Bad dream?" Frank asked quietly. Gerard nodded and leaned back into the mattress, facing the ceiling.

After a few seconds of silence he felt the younger shuffling closer to him, and then his head was on his shoulder and his hand on Gerard's chest, flat against his slowing pulse.

"Want to tell me what it was?" he asked, looking up at Gerard, who stared back at him blankly.

"No. That's okay," he lied, and even gave a small smile. Frank wasn't convinced, but nodded regardless and kept clinging to Gerard, his gaze fixed on the mattress in slight worry.

Gerard gently tilted the younger's head up with his finger and looked in his eyes. Oh, those eyes. He could just stare at them forever. They made him forget all his troubles, gave him a new reality, a shelter. They gave him hope.

He tucked a loose strand of hair behind the boy's ear, and his gaze then fell to Frank's lips. He remembered the fireworks, the thousand sparks that went through his body when he first kissed the man. How could one person be so amazing? Just one touch from him always made Gerard shiver, made him melt completely into the guy. He would be lying if he said it didn't scare him a bit, the power Frank could have over him.

Although he controlled their first kiss, he also felt weak, helpless, like if Frank suddenly disappeared he would be shattered.

He never felt this way before. It was new. But he could learn to like it. He would like it because he liked Frank, and Gerard was beginning to realize that that small man next to him on that bed was all he needed to forget about his troubles.

Slowly, he leaned down to connect his lips to Frank's. The other man gasped, not because he was surprised, but because he remembered just how perfect it felt to taste Gerard on his lips again.

He kissed back as they closed their eyes and clung closer. Yes, it definitely felt amazing. It wasn't more or less than their last few kisses, or their first kiss; it was perfect. And it's all they ever wanted to do.

Simply because just like Gerard, Frank was an expert in having sex he didn't really enjoy with people he didn't really love, with all his past boyfriends. He was used to short lustful kisses that were only meant to fill the void during meaningless actions (well, to him they were meaningless), to kill time until his orgasm came. It didn't have a depth. It wasn't something he enjoyed most of the time. It was just the usual meanwhile-sex kissing.

That's why he was so shocked every time Gerard kissed him. It was amazing, mesmerizing, magical.

because it wasn't a shitty boyfriend kind of kiss.

The action slowly heated up, until the two were slightly panting, letting soft noises of content slip through the other's lips as their lips slid together passionately.

Suddenly Gerard groaned and pulled Frank so the younger was on top of him. Frank was surprised at first, but then just gave into Gerard's steady movement against his lips and relaxed.

The smaller let his hands travel down Gerard's sides, sending shivers and goosebumps through the older man's body, and slowly slipped his fingers under the hem of his shirt.

Gerard moaned, maybe a little too loudly, and Frank tugged on his shirt until he finally got it over the other's head.

He pulled away from the kiss and positioned himself to where he straddled Gerard's hips as he admired every unfamiliar inch of skin he exposed.

Gerard had a beautiful body. His torso wasn't as pale as Frank expected it to be. He had a bit of muscles showing, not too much, but just enough to make Frank's eyes widen at how it shaped him well.

Frank knew this was barely half of the things he could find out about Gerard's body, but if he loved what he already saw this much, he couldn't wait to get to expose more.

Yet, neither of them wanted to move too fast, so Frank happily settled on moving his hands up and down Gerard's torso, memorizing the skin with his eyes and fingers. But he wanted to taste, too.

Still seated on Gerard's stomach, he leaned down and pressed his lips to Gerard's neck, only licking around with no intentions on leaving a mark.

Gerard made a happy noise which encouraged Frank to trail his lips lower to the man's collarbone. From there he sucked gently to the center of his chest, where he felt Gerard's heart pounding fast inside his rib cage. It made him smile and he kissed it several times before licking his chest all the way to his right nipple, and he began sucking on it, earning a satisfying groan from Gerard.

"Fuck Frank. So good," he panted quietly as his hands tugged on the man's hair. Frank moaned and sucked harder, still roaming the other's torso with his hands.

Gerard threw his head back. This was better than he could've imagined. He could feel his pants tightening steadily, but didn't feel a special urge to relieve himself from the slight pressure on his erection. He just wanted Frank to keep exploring him.

And the younger happily did so. After long minutes of teasing Gerard's hard nipples he kissed down the elder's stomach, giving special attention to every scar, every curve and every bruise. He didn't care that Gerard had scars. His imperfections are what made him perfect. His skin wasn't too soft but Frank loved it.

And he tasted amazing on Frank's tongue. All the smaller man wanted was just to be there forever, exposing and feeling Gerard, hearing him fall apart beneath him. Gerard might seem stronger to him most of the times, but he knew how to take control when he wanted it. Even if Gerard would want to move from the bed, Frank probably wouldn't let him.

Although by the sounds the other man on the bed was making, it didn't seem like he wanted Frank to go anywhere anytime soon either. The way he was moaning out his name, shivering at the soft brush of hair on his skin as it dragged along with the younger's head, it was all perfect.

Once Frank reached the waistband of Gerard's pants, he started to kiss up again, and Gerard moaned in approval.

When he got to the older man's neck again, he felt a sudden urge to break him just a little more, and without a warning he bit hard at the side of his neck, right below his ear.

Wow. The noise that left Gerard when Frank did it sent chills down the younger's spine. It was a mix of growling and gasping, broken yet needy, lustful and loving.

Gerard pulled Frank closer and flipped them over so he was between the other's legs, and before Frank could even respond Gerard was capturing his lips in a long kiss.

Frank simply gave in. He allowed the other to dominate him this time, moaning when Gerard's hands found his wrists and bound them over his head, and the elder's lips left his to kiss his neck hungrily, licking and sucking on the skin.

"Gerard. Uh. Uh!"

The older man was going crazy from the sounds that left the younger's throat. It felt good being dominant. Frank looked good like this, he decided, all hot and desperate for any kind of contact from Gerard, even the smallest and simplest such as neck kissing.

Caught up by the haze of the moment, too far gone in the magic between him and Frank, he bit down on Frank's neck, like the younger has done to him earlier, using his regular teeth yet still sending an intense shock through the boy's body.

The scream was what broke them apart.

Frank let out the loud noise. At first it felt good, the sting, but then it all came back to him like a slap to the face and he opened his eyes.

Gerard heard the scream and immediately panicked, all the memories flooding him once again, and they were both thinking of the same person: Michael.

As if on cue, they tore themselves away from each other, backing into different corners of the bed, both panting and sweating, their faces pale.

"What the fuck," Gerard breathed out what they were both thinking. Frank looked up at him and nodded.

"It was... it was something... something scary," Frank admitted, and Gerard was the one to nod this time.

They stayed in silence for a long while, trying to catch their breath and calm themselves down from what they'd just experienced.

"So why did you get scared?" Gerard asked.

"Why did you?" Frank replied.

"Michael," they said together, and both their eyes widened.

"Why did you..." Gerard started asking again.

"The bite," Frank said. As if by instinct his hand came to touch the mark on his neck. The elder's expression fell even further, and Frank looked up at him.

"Why were you so startled?" he asked worriedly.

"It was nothing, just... an old memory," he whispered, his gaze stuck on the mattress.

"Of Michael?"

Gerard nodded silently.

They sat in awkwardness for few more minutes. Frank's fingers were brushing the bite mark slowly, as Gerard stared into the air trying not to think about that night.

His thoughts were cut off by a soft voice.

"It was fun," Frank murmured with a small smile. When Gerard looked up at him he added, "What we did earlier. I liked it."

"Yeah," Gerard breathed, almost like a sigh of relief. "It felt good."

He couldn't find it in himself to tell Frank it wasn't just "good". It was awesome. Amazing. It was everything. He could just stay there and do this with Frank all day long.

But since neither of them were ready to say it out loud yet, they had to settle for quietly crawling back to each other and cuddling against the headboard.

"So, I don't know what it has to do with anything, but... don't you have a job somewhere?" Frank asked suddenly.

Gerard raised an eyebrow at the man curled up by his side. He could understand why Frank would ask that. It's not like he had gone anywhere in the past two weeks for any kind of work. At least this time he could answer properly.

"My parents had a lot of money. When they died..." Frank noticed the way Gerard's face fell a little at the mention of death, "They passed their money to my brother and I."

Frank nodded slowly, because he knew better than to ask about Michael again.

"So you simply don't have to work?" He questioned instead.

"No. But sometimes when I get bored, Bob would let me help him out at the store. And he calls me for help when Livvie is sick."

Frank gave him a questioning look. "Livvie?"

"Yes. Bob's little sister. She's been out of town lately so you didn't get to meet her, but she's amazing. You'll like her," Gerard smiled down at Frank, who smiled back.

"Good to know," he said.

"So what about you? I haven't asked you about your job yet," Gerard said.

"Oh well, I... um..." Frank blushed a little at the memory of his last job.

"You don't have to answer if you don't want to," Gerard said seriously and stroked his cheek.

"No, that's okay," Frank shook his head, "I used to work at strip clubs after I dropped out of college, because I was running out of money. It payed well, I guess. The customers were nice and they left good tips, so I managed. I never turned into selling my body, it was only a stage thing, but a couple of months ago, some guy tried to rape me behind the bar I worked at, and I couldn't put up with that, so I quit. While I was still looking for a new job I met you."

He looked up at Gerard's worried face. "He didn't though, right? Rape you?"

Frank shook his head again. "No. A bunch of guys who passed by noticed and got him off of me. I was hoping they wouldn't rape me instead, but eventually it turned out they were just trying to help me. I think it was the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me."

He looked up at Gerard again.

"I mean, except for saving me from certain death," he smiled and leaned up to kiss Gerard's lips shortly. This time they were careful not to let themselves get too excited again, just kept it slow and calm, grinning against the other's lips.

"I'm still grateful for that," Frank whispered when they pulled away, their faces still close.

"I was happy to help you," Gerard replied simply, and Frank tucked a strand of hair behind the man's ear like Gerard did to him earlier.

They kissed once more before getting up, getting ready for the day and heading out for breakfast, hoping to just have a nice day together, no drama and no surprises.

And Gerard was only wishing for one day in which he doesn't have to worry about Michael.

Notes

Hope you enjoyed this chapter!

Xoxo<3

[June 3rd, 2017]