Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys

Summertime

Frank obediently followed Gerard, grabbing bandanas for both of them. When he got outside, Gerard was already on the bike, plugging the headphones into the player. When Frank slid onto the bike behind him, Gerard handed back one of the pairs, motioning for Frank to put them on. Frank just looked at them in confusion and then up at Gerard, getting the memo when he noticed Gerard shove them into his ears.

Gerard started the bike and they rode off, the dusty headlight bathing only a few feet ahead of them in a dull yellow light. The roads were so familiar to Gerard that he could ride them blindfolded, but for Frank's sake he kept his eyes open. It was easy to forget that there was still purpose in his life, something to live for. He kept his mind on Destroya as an old song from his childhood played in his ears. Frank was able to close his eyes though, and he rested his cheek between Gerard's shoulder bones. The song Gerard had chosen was foreign to Frank, but he enjoyed it, and the melody began to lull him to sleep. He jerked awake a few times and then stopped leaning on Gerard, instead looking up and around at the Zones.

The flat expanse of desert they called home was desolate, all the animals dead from the Helium Wars. The only thing that grew was the sparse brush that attacked your ankles and left debris in your shoes as you walked. It was getting colder, as it does in the desert with nothing on the ground to retain heat. Frank began to shiver slightly, returning to his position closer to Gerard's body heat.

Gerard was relishing the stinging wind attacking his face, keeping him awake. Reminding him that he was alive. He wasn't sure that Frank understood that he was the only thing keeping Gerard alive at the moment. Of course, he needed to be strong for Destroya, but because he had Frank he wasn't blazing into Battery City at that moment, guns firing and a death wish in the place of his heart.

He had to be strong for Frank, and he didn't know how to express how grateful that made him. So Gerard took a hand off the handlebars carefully, squeezed one of Frank's hands that was entwined around his torso, and grabbed onto the handlebars again. Frank turned his head so his nose was pressed to the back of Gerard's jacket, and he leaned in to let Gerard know he understood.

They rode aimlessly, heading away from Battery City and towards Zone 4. Once they were far enough away from any sort of civilization to see even the faintest glow of manufactured light, Gerard stopped the motorbike and stepped off after letting Frank dismount. Frank was confused and disoriented, so he stood there helplessly as Gerard propped up the bike and untied his bandana. Once he was finished, he looked over to Frank and then sighed, walking over to the younger boy.

"Can we just lay out here for a while and look at the stars? Mikey and I used to do it all the time when we were younger," he explained softly, meeting Frank's eyes in the dark tentatively and then looking down at his hands. Gerard was so vulnerable and so broken that Frank couldn't even speak; he just took Gerard's hand and led him over to a flat area and sat down. Gerard followed silently, sitting down next to Frank and then laying his bandana behind him and then placing his head on it. Frank followed suit, and together they gazed up at the heavens.

Minutes went by.

Hours went by.

And when Gerard finally went to get up, the horizon was pink and the sun began to appear, a golden sliver peeking over the earth. Frank had fallen asleep long ago, his head resting on one of his palms and his mouth ajar slightly. Gerard blinked a few times and realized that he hadn't slept at all. He had just watched the stars and hoped that somewhere out there, one of them was Mikey, shining down on him and watching over him.

When the sun had clambered halfway up the horizon and was sending rays through the dusty air towards Gerard, he turned to Frank and shook him awake. Frank opened his eyes groggily, shivering slightly and shaking his long, greasy black hair out of his face. He lay there for a second, looking around at his surroundings and then up at Gerard. Gerard was watching the sun steadily creep higher into the sky, which had turned an unhealthy-looking pale yellow. He clambered dustily to his feet, brushing off his pants and then holding his hand out for Frank. Frank took it gratefully, letting Gerard haul him up. Frank too dusted himself off, stretching to crack his back and work the pain from his shoulders out. He wasn't complaining about coming out with Gerard, but sleeping on the hard ground didn't do him any favors.

They rode back to the base slowly and silently; the music player's battery was dead.

A/N: shit's about to go down all the way... oh boy!