Pyre (Frerard, Rikey, Ryden, Petekey)

17: Cute Is What We Aim For

Gerard made it back to Belleville in one piece, and after much internal debate, he had finally managed to convince himself to actually go see Frank, because he was tired of bemoaning his situation without truly doing anything about it, and he knew he needed to grow some fucking balls and at least approach Frank before he made any more assumptions about how this was all going to end.

As soon as he had entered the city for the second time, all traces of Gerard's hallucinations had disappeared, which is exactly what had occurred during his original arrival into this town. Gerard wasn't sure why this had happened both times, but now that he knew about Frank's existence, he had a nagging suspicion that it had something to do with him.

The visions directly involved Frank after all, so it wasn't too crazy to assume that he was linked to Gerard in some way, besides the obvious mating bond, and now that Gerard actually thought about it, his dreams had become much more vivid the closer he came to Belleville - to Frank, but once he crossed into the physical city limits, they seemed to dry up completely, as if they knew they were no longer needed now that Gerard had reached the place they wanted him to go.

Gerard could have spent the entire night pondering this newfound discovery, but he didn't have the luxury of that much time, not if he wanted to reach Frank's house before he fell asleep. It was still relatively earlier in the evening though, and Gerard was grateful for the winter months that caused the sun to set so quickly, but he wasn't sure when Frank turned in for the night, and he wasn't going to take any chances.

After stopping by a Goodwill drop off box to steal a new shirt, Gerard turned his footsteps toward Frank's house. The theft didn't bother him very much, because his old shirt had been ruined when Frank had tended to his wounds, and Gerard didn't want Frank's first impression of him to be of his bare chest. What was the point of good will anyway if not to help out someone in need, and Gerard was definitely a charity case at the moment.

But now that he was standing in front of the veterinary clinic, Gerard was beginning to regret this rash decision to just pop into Frank's life. This had been an idiotic idea, and Gerard couldn't remember how he had ever managed to convince himself that this was the right course of action to take, but he had come this far, the least he could do was knock on the fucking door before he chickened out completely.

Gerard was currently falling apart though as he attempted to raise his hand to the brass knocker that was hanging at eye level. Gerard was fucking terrified, more scared than he had ever been in his entire life, not even when he had been dying of numerous bullet wounds had he felt this way, not when he had gotten separated from Mikey a few years back, not even during the purge, which really didn't make any sense at all.

Gerard shouldn't be panicking this much, but he was, and even though Frank was logically much less terrifying than hunters or a mob of angry humans dead set on killing any vampire they laid eyes upon, Gerard would much rather face both of those at once if it meant he could escape the situation he currently found himself in.

Gerard literally felt like he was dying - or maybe drowning, even though drowning is technically dying, but whatever. His palms were sweating, his lungs were seizing up, his heart was beating much too quickly against his rib cage as his stomach twisted violently, and Gerard actually thought he might throw up any moment now.

And just when Gerard had been two seconds away from bolting, because no one could be worth this much emotional distress - not even Frank, the decision was taken away from him in the form of the door creaking open, even though Gerard still hadn't managed to lay a hand on it yet.

And even though Gerard knew that it was going to be Frank on the other side, he still found himself shocked to see the man he had spent the last few days obsessing over right in front of him.