Echoes of Eclipsed Fears (Frerard)

Epilogue

Frank and Gerard lounged around in the library, their legs stretched out on the couch and criss-crossing over one another.

"What do you do as a vampire?" Frank pondered. "You have so much time on your hands."

Frank was finally starting to fully adjust to having an immortal soul, but he still felt a little off-kilter from not being able to sleep. The hours seemed to drag by, even with Gerard by his side.

"Keeping busy stops it from getting boring," Gerard said, picking at a loose thread on the couch. "Travelling, learning new skills, etcetera."

"Ooh, we could travel!" Frank grinned, shooting up like a puppy. Gerard chuckled.

"Where do you wanna go?"

Frank hesitated for a moment; England was the first country that came to mind.

"England," he said excitedly. "Then we could go all around Europe, or go to Australia or something, I don't know. I'll get a job; we can start saving. It'll be easy since we don't need to worry about buying food or paying rent."

Gerard smiled at Frank.

"We'll go to a travel agent once the January peak is over," he decided. "Europe would be better in the Summer, anyway. Australia might be nice this time of year, though."

Frank beamed, leaning his head on the pillow beside him. Once again, the pair were enveloped by a comfortable silence, in which Gerard picked up his current read, Lord of the Flies, and Frank reached for Pansy.

"I'll play in the living room," Frank said, when Gerard glanced up from his book.

"It's okay," Gerard smiled. "Plug it in here, put on the stereo. I'll listen."

Frank bashfully agreed, getting his amp set up before turning to the CD player on the shelf. He was greeted by the sound of War Pigs starting up, having left the Paranoid CD in the disk tray from the last time he'd played along. Frank sat down with his guitar to try and replicate the song; he knew the rhythm parts, but had never been able to get the solo down pat.

After a few listens and some fiddling on the fretboard, Frank found that he could play the entire song just about perfectly. He sat there, taken aback by how quickly he'd picked it up. He perfected the solo one last time, bending the strings with little effort thanks to his new, unbreakable vampire skin.

"That was so fuckin' cool, Frankie," Gerard grinned. Frank just sat there, staring at his own hands.

"I'd never been able to play that before," he said in disbelief. "I mean, I'm not bragging or anything, I just... Wow. Maybe being a vampire gave me extra-strong fingers."

Gerard pondered this for a moment, racking his brain for an explanation.

"Maybe this is your new skill," he suggested. "It would make sense; you've always been good at music, even before."

Frank's eyes widened from the sheer possibilities of this prospect.

"Does that mean I can play anything?" He wondered out loud, reaching for the remote for the stereo. He skipped forward to Paranoid; he knew the song pretty well but had never tried to play it before. Frank was surprised again when his fingers flew up and down the fretboard without any need to mess around with the notes beforehand. It was as if his hands knew the song before his brain did.

"This has so many possibilities," he murmured, a smirk creeping onto his face. He looked up at Gerard with a mischievous expression. "I'm gonna buy a drum kit."

"Piano," Gerard proposed. "I know how to play a little, and I've always wanted to get better."

"Why not both?" Frank suggested. "Once I get a job we can buy whatever we want. Ooh, a saxophone! I wanted to play back when I was a kid. I'm gonna learn the saxophone, Gee."

Gerard chuckled, leaning back on the couch.

"You can get whatever you want, Frankie."

They spent the rest of their afternoon in the library, Frank strumming away through several CD's worth of music. Each note he played seemed to come effortlessly, as if the melodies were flowing through him from some unseen source.

Gerard watched with a smile, his heart swelling with pride as he listened to Frank's talent unfurl before him. He marvelled at how effortlessly Frank adapted to his newfound ability, his fingers dancing across the strings with supernatural grace. When Frank looked up from his most recent song, he shot Gerard with a warm grin. Gerard reached out, gently taking Frank's hands in his own.

"You have a gift, my love," he said softly, his eyes shining with joy. "And I have a feeling you're going to do incredible things with it."

With a contented sigh, Frank leaned into Gerard's embrace, feeling a sense of peace wash over him as the Smashing Pumpkins continued to softly play in the background. In that moment, surrounded by the music they both loved, he knew that no matter what challenges lay ahead, as long as they were together, they could face anything.