Gerard sighed and watched as the second hand on the clock thundered past before an even louder click stumbled by every minute. His flat seemed quiet and unnatural without Frank talking or swearing at him constantly. The silence seemed almost deafening and Gerard didn't know how to handle it. His own stomach jumped him when it grumbled like an angry beast in return Gerard leapt to his feet and headed towards the kitchen. The gentle hum of the bread in the toaster and the occasional sizzle from his alphabetti spaghetti in the pan tried it's best to fill up the vast emptiness and silence of the room but it could not manage. Something just didn't seem right to Gerard.

He sat back down on the sofa with a steaming plate of tea and he flicked the TV on, hoping that whatever the program was that it would be able to put a blanket on the eeriness of the flat. But it did not work, the chaos and bright lights of the TV just seemed to enhance how lonely Gerard felt.

Apologies for just throwing my thoughts in at this point. You might be wondering why I talk about the silence of the flat so much. Well, despite how obviously perfect and innocent Gerard is I feel as though we at least have something in common: A fear of silence. I hear screams as a person finds their dead relative across the floor, I hear the clashing of a sword upon a shield when I am stood over a dying soldier stranded in the middle of a battle field and I hear a person gasping for air before they lie limp upon the floor. No colours can distract me from this, that is why silence is so strange for me, because I'm used to hearing sirens all around me or desperate pleading or angry shouting or the deafening bleep of a cardiac monitoring system as the green line runs flat, that line should turn grey. The world is not a silent place, that is why it seems so unnatural when it is.

Gerard turned the TV off angrily and rested his head in his hands.
'He doesn't like you Gerard' he repeated to himself, 'He hates you!'

But he couldn't stop imagining the eyes, creeping back into his vision and staring, staring from beneath black messy hair which hung down over his face. Frank smiled, playing with his lip ring that glinted in the light and as he looked away his cheeks became light pink. He swept his hair away and rested his head on his tattooed hands and stared back at Gerard, but not fiercely, this time he seemed kinder with at least a little warmth running through his veins. Gerard felt his heart race a little and colour flushed into his cheeks.

'Stop Gerard!' He whispered, shaking himself from his trance to see the empty chair opposite him, 'Frank doesn't like you and he never will. And he's not even attractive.' Those last few words got stuck in his throat, 'he swears way too much and…and…and, um, he um…" but he could think of no other reason. I thought maybe the fact that Frank put a knife at his throat that morning might have put Gerard off him but obviously not.

Gerard sat on the sofa for perhaps ten more minutes before he heard any sign of movement from Frank. It began with a thud as he obviously fell out of the bed then a quiet 'fuck you' was heard before he managed to get himself to his feet and limp out of the door. Gerard smiled at him as he appeared at the doorway, his eyes were barely open and his hair a complete mess. Only now did Gerard realise how freaking small and adorable his 'guest' was. Frank traipsed into the room and squinted at Gerard who was sat in his spot on the sofa.

"Oi twatface! That's my sofa!" Frank mumbled, flicking his hair back so that he could actually see.
"My flat." replied Gerard calmly, not even wincing at being called a twatface and kind of happy that the silence haunting the room had left.
"Don't care! Move then you absolute fucking walnut!"
"Um, no."
"Okay then!" huffed Frank, collapsing down onto the sofa and laying his legs over Gerard.
"Fine by me." Gerard shrugged, picking up a comic and flicking through the pages to stop himself staring at Frank.
"Dude; I'm fucking hungry!" Frank whined after a total of a minute without him swearing.
"Well I've already eaten but I could make you some alpha-"
"If you say alphabetti spaghetti one more fucking time Gerard then I will take that wooden spoon from the kitchen drawer and hit you on the head with it until you throw up the words 'calm your tits' onto your kitchen floor."
"Oh erm…" Gerard stumbled.
"Can we get pizza?" Frank asked suddenly, "please?"
"Geez!" Gerard was taken back, "it has manners!"
"Piss off Gerard! Can we get pizza?"
"Okay, I've got ice cream too and there's probably some shit to watch on the tv anyway."
"Geez!" It was Frank's turn this time to be taken aback, "it swears!"
"Shut up Frank, I'll get us pizza!"

It was then that I saw a fraction of innocence peel itself away from Gerard before floating casually along the air. It was replaced by something much darker like the colour behind Franks eyes turning Gerard's colour into the same colour as a white wall that's had a few young kids running slightly dirty hands across its surface. Off-white.

The pizza came and the two of them sat in silence as the tv created the chaos. But Gerard felt comfortable in this silence, he didn't feel lonely anymore. After they had successfully munched their way through 2 pizzas Gerard hopped off the freezer and returned with two tubs of Ben & Jerry's cookie dough ice cream. He handed Frank a tub and spoon and collapsed back onto the sofa, unaware of the tears that ran from Frank's eyes.

"Why would you do this to me Gerard? Do you think that it's a fucking joke?!"
"What?" Gerard asked, confused out of his mind.
"Why would you?!" Frank screamed now, tears raced each other down his face and dripped savagely to the floor.
"What? What have I done Frank?!" Gerard asked, throwing his ice cream onto the table and staring back at Frank.
"You f-fucking tosser! T-this is not funny!" Frank yelled back at him, his hands were shaking violently now and he dropped to the floor, hugging his legs tightly and hiding his tear ridden face from Gerard.
"Frank what have I done?! Please!" Gerard pleaded now, sitting next to Frank and grabbing him gently by the shoulders.
"Piss off Gerard!"
"Just tell me what I've done wrong!"
"That was what we used to fucking do! Me and my friend, Alfie, we'd sit in the garden and eat that exact fucking ice cream! But now he's fucking dead along with everyone else!" Frank whimpered.
"Listen Frank…" Gerard said calmly, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry that happened."
"No you're not! You don't understand what happened that day! Because you've had such a fucking perfect life that you wouldn't be able to get your mindless fucking head around it!"
"I do understand though Frank!" Gerard pleaded. Frank pulled himself to his feet and limped away from Gerard.
"No you don't! Now fuckety bye!" Frank yelled, slamming the bathroom door and locking himself inside. Gerard heard sobs edging their way through the cracks in the door and both buried their heads into their hands.

It was in this moment that I first sensed Gerard's hatred of me, he sat and cried himself wondering how I could have ruined Frank's life so much. I must again repeat to you that Frank's twisted past was not my fault. Death doesn't cause death, I only walk with the dead.
He walked cautiously over to the bathroom door and sat down outside with his head leaning back and leaning against it.

"I'm sorry Frank." he whispered now, "I didn't mean to."
No reply.
"And I'm sorry about your friend Alfie too. It must be difficult to lose your best friend."
"Yes, you wouldn't understand though…" Frank mumbled back from the other side of the door.
"But how old was he when, you know?"
"Eleven." Frank sniffed, "he was eleven when he was killed."
"And I'm guessing that you two were very close."
"Mhm." Frank nodded his head.
"Listen, if you need to talk then yo-"
"Gerard?" Frank asked, sounding suspicious as to why Gerard had cut off mid-sentence. "Gerard, are you okay?"
"Um, Frank. I think you'd better see this."
"See what Gerard?"
"Frank, trust me and get out here now!" Gerard said urgently.
"Why would I trust you?"
"Please! Just do as I fucking say and get out here now!" Gerard whispered through gritted teeth.
"Okay! De-stress your breasts Gee! I'm coming!"

Frank opened the door, hiding his glossy eyes from Gerard, his hands still shook slightly. It was then that he understood what Gerard meant.

Two figures stood by the tv, one figure had a face like an angel, his dark skin glowed in the sparkling light that he emitted and his chocolate brown eyes stared at Gerard and Frank curiously. He smiled, his teeth as white as his ripped white jeans and he looked through his halo and towards the figure that stood next to him. The other figure grinned, wrapping his cape around him as if he was batman, his black high-heel boots reached up to his knees and his eyes were smoky like ash as if he'd just been on fire.

"Hiya," The figure shrouded in darkness said, "This is Innocence and I'm Evil. There's a lot that needs explaining. Have you got any beers?"

Notes

Mid-week update because why the fudge not!
I hope you enjoyed this chapter. :D
And thank you to the two peoples that have subscribed. *high fives mid-air*
Anyhoo thanks for reading and there should be another update in a few days. :)
-lou