Author's Note

Sorry for the delay everyone! Things have been a little slow with the end of the school year and such, but we should be getting back to posting on a regular basis. Thank you to everyone who has favorited and reviewed, it means so much to us! Hope you enjoy it, and we'll be back again soon!

-Sarah

Gerard lay with his arm still wrapped around Frank's waist, Frank's back pressed against his chest. Their heads both lay on the same pillow, Gerard's deep breaths occasionally tousling Frank's soft black hair. Blankets lay strewn around them, in a sort of nest-like manner.

Frank opened his eyes slowly. In his dream, there had been a pounding. An arrhythmic sort of staccato that pierced his ears, sinking all the way down to his dreams. He grasped at the last shimmery, summer-colored remains of the dream, but they slipped away. The pounding continued. He rolled over, only noticing the arm that lay over him once it was no longer present. He knew he was in Gerard's bed. He looked into Gerard's face, noticing the way his forehead creased as his eyebrows furrowed.

"What time is it?" Frank asked groggily. He attempted to rub the blur of sleep out of his eyes to read the clock, but to no avail.

Gerard groaned and rolled over, groggily staring at the blinking digital clock by his bed. "Three." He replied angrily. "Who the fuck is at my door? This better be an emergency because some one's getting their ass whopped if it's not."

Gerard moved to get out of bed, but Frank pressed a hand to his chest. Gerard instantly reversed his upward momentum, looking down at Frank. His eyes traced the dark circles under Frank's eyes, noticed the tired lines of worry on his face.

"They'll probably go away eventually. Just... come back and let them knock." Frank grabbed Gerard's hand. He was exhausted. He couldn't care less who was banging on Gee's apartment door at three in the morning.

All thoughts of answering the goddamn door left Gerard's head as Frank pulled him back into bed. He wrapped his arms back around Frankie, pulling the blankets up to cover them again. He closed his eyes, trying to shut out the annoying pounding. Frank fell back asleep almost instantly. Gerard wasn't sure if he had ever been fully conscious in the first place. His breathing became even and regular, but the pounding continued, becoming even more frantic. A shrill, female voice began to force its way through the solid door.

"Gerard? Gerard open the fucking door! I know you're in there, don't even try and ignore me again!"

"Shit." He muttered. He knew that voice. He softly pushed Frank off of him, careful not to wake him. He slid off the bed, pulling a worn stripped tee over his head as he walked to the door. "What do you want?" He asked quietly, not opening the door any further than the linked chain would let him.

Her eyes were wild, her hair a mess. She looked like she had been to hell, back, and to hell again. And had chosen not to leave. Her dark eyes were sunken back into their sockets, and her bucked front teeth gave her the appearance of a grimacing skull. Her makeup was caked on so think he wasn't sure any amount of hot water could remove it. Or even hydrochloric acid, for that matter. A hand flew threw the crack in the door and latched on to the front of his shirt, a skinny arm pulling him forcefully forward, the door chain pressing into his chin. A chipped red talon pointed right between his eyes.

"How dare you." Her voice was rough and modulating, as was typical for an addict of her type. Her eyes moved wildly about, not focusing on anything in particular. She was high, she had to be. "You think you can get away that easy, do you?" Spit flew from her shrieking mouth. Gerard thought he heard Frank roll over in the bed. He made hushing noises, but her voice only increased in volume "Well I'm back, baby boy, and ain't no way you're getting away this time!"

"Christina, Christina calm down." He said as softly as he could, keeping his voice a steady whisper. "What do you want?"

Her grip tightened on the front of his shirt. She leaned into the crack of the door, attempting to force her face through. It pulled the skin taunt against her face, making her brown eyes bulge out like a bug. "I want you, baby. And I'll follow you to the ends of the earth. You thought you got rid of me, huh? Well I'm back. And I'll never leave." She started giggling uncontrollably, releasing the front of Gerard's shirt. She gave him an exaggerated wink, squeezed her eyes shut, opened her mouth, and screamed as loudly as she possibly could.

Gerard gritted his teeth against the noise, only concerned with the possibility, no certainty, of Frank waking up. "Get away from me, Christina," He said as harshly as he could, ice filling up his voice, "get away from me and don't come back." He slammed the door and walked quickly back to the bedroom. He knew that telling her off like that would never work, she would most definitely be back. But he needed her to go away, at least for now.

She bared her teeth at the back of the door. He thought he had won.

He didn't know what he was getting himself into.

Gerard climbed back into the warm bed, pressing himself against Frank. He sighed as his head hit the pillow. He turned around to face Frank, pushing a lock of hair out of his tired face.

"Sorry about that, babe." He said softly

Frank opened one eye to look at Gerard. "Sorry about what?" he asked, yawning.

Gerard laughed quietly, Frank could literally sleep through anything.

"Nothing." Gerard said, wrapping his arms around Frank and pulling him closer. He opened both eyes and turned to face Gee fully.

"No, really, what happened?" he inquired again. "Did you kick me in your sleep or something?" He playfully kicked what he believed to be Gerard's shins under the covers.

Gerard sarcastically gasped, pretending to be appalled. "I would never!" He said, shoving Frank playfully. "No I would never ever kick you, just someone I used to know at the door. Don't worry about it."

"Okay...?" He replied questioningly, inviting Gerard to elaborate.

"Go back to sleep." He whispered, kissing his cheek softly.

Frank couldn't help the way his heartbeat accelerated, or the flush that decided to grace his cheeks. He felt incredibly childish. How could he be moved to blush by a kiss on the cheek?

"Okay... " He said, a little breathlessly. "That sounds incredibly appealing right now." Not the sleeping part, but the sleeping in the same bed as Gerard part.

He snuggled back into the blankets, surrounding himself by what looked like horse-print fleece and a crocheted quilt. He shot an arm out from under the blankets, pulling the pillow over his head to the way he was accustomed to sleeping.

"Goodnight," he mumbled again, slightly muffled by the pillow. He wasn't even sure if Gerard had heard him.

Gerard lay with his head resting on the mattress for a while, the pillow currently occupied by Frank's odd sleeping habits. He shifted around for a while, trying to get comfortable and finally ended up with both his hands awkwardly folded under his head

Frank realized with a mental jerk that he was currently stealing the one and only pillow on the bed. He pulled his head out from under its soft velvety surface and shoved it over towards Gerard.

"Sorry," he said with genuine apology in his voice, "Here you go."

Gerard smiled and stuck his tongue out at Frankie, rolling onto the soft pillow.

Frank rolled in to face Gerard, their faces mere inches apart as they rested on the same pillow. He could see every emotion that played across Gee's face, even the nearly undetectable crinkling around the corners of his eyes that always foreshadowed a smile. He sighed contentedly, eyes falling shut in a combination of exhaustion and sheer contentment.

Gerard rolled his eyes at the ceiling and bit his lip in frustration, mentally cursing at nothing in particular, possibly his inability to hold on to a romantic moment. He stayed in that position for a while, unable to fall back to sleep.

Franks entire body relaxed as his consciousness left him. He had been running too hard for far too long. He soon began breathing slowly and evenly, nearly entirely asleep.

A few minutes later Gerard heard a soft murmuring coming from the supposedly sleeping Frank.

"What?" Gerard whispered, afraid to wake Frank if he was sleep talking, as he had a tendency to do.

Frank cracked one eye and looked at Gerard. He smiled in a half-awake manner and scooched himself closer to Gee, nuzzling his nose against Gerard's.

"I love you," he mumbled, smiling to himself as he said it. He pulled back to gauge Gerard's reaction. He saw something dancing just behind Gee's lovely eyes, so he assumed the statement was well taken. He quickly rolled over and let out an exaggerated snore, quickly falling back asleep.

Gerard chuckled quietly to himself, burying his face in Frank's soft hair and pulling him closer. "I love you too." He whispered quietly, more to himself than to Frank.