Angel With A Devilish Angle

~Zack~

I snuggled into the seat further, gripping Sarah's hand tighter as I tilted my head back to look at her, smiling softly as I did so. She herself was smiling in amusement as her eyes watched the soccer game Johnny and Matt were caught in on the PlayStation. I'd already had my turn and got bored with it, leaving the others to battle it out amongst themselves.

"Do you hate me?" I asked quietly, dreading her answer and wondering why I even asked if that was the case. "For what I've done to Faith I mean."

She sighed, releasing my hand and bringing her own up to play with my hair. "I don't hate you I'm just..." she paused obviously thinking of the word before looking down upon me "disappointed."

Oh damn. Disappointment.

"I mean, it's okay to be protective and all but what you've done?" She went on. "Too much. Far too much Zachary. I'm proud of you though."

"Proud?" I questioned, sitting up confused.

Sarah smiled broadly at me and nodded her head enthusiastically. "Last week when we woke up and Faith had snuck off to Frank's you didn't even bat an eyelash about it. And all the times you've seen them together this week you've kept your mouth shut and your fists in your pockets, instead of shooting off at Frank and getting your sister angrier."

I smiled to myself when I thought about this and realised it was true. And a sense of achievement filled me since for me to stand by and make no reaction to Faith and a guy was a big advancement for me. It meant I was getting over my fear of Faith ever getting hurt.

"I done good haven't I?"

"Yeah." She smiled, leaning towards me for a kiss which I happily accepted. I would have kissed her longer but there was a sudden frantic knock on the bus door before it opened and Faith hurried up onto the bus, slightly breathless and a panicked look on her face.

~Faith~

Frank's arm that had been around my shoulders slipped away as he stopped and spat his milkshake out across the sidewalk, the brown chocolate liquid spurting out his nose at the same time as he laughed. And seeing that with the milkshake only made me laugh some more.

"Dude that's so gross!" I laughed, using the napkin I was using to hold my shake with - since it was really cold - to wipe his face for him.

"I didn't know it was gonna come out of my nose!" He defended himself.

"It's not the worst thing I've ever seen coming out of someone's nose before." I then said thoughtfully as Frank replaced his arm to my shoulder and I reached up with my left hand to hold his.

"And that would be?" He enquired, before slurping from his shake some more.

"When we were fourteen, me and Zack had to go to our mom's nan's after school until our 'rents got home and she was like blind and had a whole load of old people problems going on with her like mixing the both of us up, but anyway that meant when she cooked she didn't cook properly." I began to explain, slipping my free arm around Frank's waist as we stopped at a crosswalk. "And because she's the 'no pudding till you've eaten your food' type, and she has no dog, we were forced to eat undercooked chicken and we got proper sick from it. Like, we had gastro-enteritis and spent like, 3 weeks in hospital on drips. Well I got better faster than Zack, it only took me two weeks to recover but..." I shrugged.

"Damn." Frank whistled.

"Yeah but anyway, before our parents realised we weren't just suffering from a normal stomach bug, before we knew we were even sick, the guys came round after school and as we were walking up the drive Zack like, went reeeeally white like, Jack Skellington white and Sarah was all 'you don't look so good' and he was like 'I don't feel so good'." I went on. "So I ran ahead to tell mom something was up with him, and just as we came back out the door Zack stopped and puked and it all came out of his nose. Which in turn made me puke 'cause I can't watch people being sick."

"That's nasty." Frank shuddered.

"It was nasty." I frowned slightly but with a grin up at him. "Worst part was once I was finished being sick and had come out of the downstairs bathroom, Zack and his friends were laughing about it. The nose puking I mean, not me."

"I can squirt things out of my lip piercing." He now informed me.

I grinned and looked round to find him already watching me with a fond affectionate smile. "So can I." I told him. "Both sides."

"Well aren't you special 'cause you have two holes in your lip and I have one?"

"Well duh, I'm Faith Baker." I retorted, rolling my eyes jokingly. "Of course I'm special, I'm just great like that."

"I could already have told you, you're special." Frank now said quietly as he stopped walking and pulled me into his chest. His arms clamped themselves around me and I slipped my own around his middle. Then he brought his hand up to brush some of my hair - my precious hair that I would lose the day after tomorrow - back behind my ear. "I know you didn't want to be here but I'm glad you did stay."

"I stayed for you." I whispered resting my chin upon his chest and looking up at him.

"You made my summer, you know that?"

"You made mine, too." I smile back, tiptoeing as he leaned down so to meet each other in a kiss but suddenly a door burst open, meaning we had to move. By now I realised we were stood outside of his bus and that it was Ray who had opened the door.

"Have you seen Gerard guys?" He asked; I could tell he wanted to mention catching us about to kiss but there was something else that told me finding Gerard was more important.

I glanced at Frank as Bob and Mikey appeared too, before we looked back at them. "What's he done?" Frank asked, eyeing up Mikey's expression.

"Got drunk and taken a whole load of pills." Bob explained. "He's been real bad today and now he's done this and gone missing."

Frank's arms loosened on my waist as his jaw fell slightly agape. "I'll go ask the guys." I instantly said walking off in their direction but I felt a hand around my arm and turned to see Frank who told me he'd come with me. All the others had gone off in their own directions.

Frank's hand made it's way into mine as I began to run, dodging through buses and people just to reach the one I wanted, effectively rendering myself breathless when I knocked frantically on it's door and yanked it open before hurrying up the steps into the silence as they all looked round at me.

Instantly Zack sat up and moved across the bus towards where I was standing in front of Frank. "Faith, what's wrong?"

"Have any of you guys seen Gerard?" I asked looking up at my brother then away at all the others.

"What's happened?" Zack asked his hand already reaching out for his jacket.

"He's just gotten really drunk and popped a load of pills and gone missing." I hurried out becoming overwhelmed with worry that Gerard would finally go too far and actually kill himself. So much so tears spilled down my face and I broke down, sobbing as I fell forward into Zack's chest and his arms instantly wound their way around me.

"Hey, shuuush." Zack said, rubbing my back. "We'll help you guys find him don't worry. I bet he's just gone on a drunken walk like Jimmy often does, he'll be fine."

"Yeah but I'm sure Jimmy isn't suicidal like Gerard." I heard Frank say quietly behind me.

Now Zack pushed me away gently bending down to my level and meeting my blurry, tear filled eyes. "Come on, you me and Sarah can go wait at their bus in case he comes back, okay? The rest of them will help look for him with Frank."

"Thank you." I whispered and Zack smiled softly at me before straightening up and pulling me back towards him.

"He's your friend Faith." Zack said softly. "So of course we'll help, you don't have to say thank you."

That said everyone sprang into life; Frank taking the others to go hunting for him whilst Sarah, Zack and I went back to his bus in case Gerard came back there. And we sat round for hours, me constantly getting up and moving around, or sitting on the very edge of my seat fiddling out of impatience.

That was until at 3 in the morning, long after my brother and Sarah had fallen asleep there was a loud knock on the door, one loud enough to wake them both up, and I flew to the door, shoving it open to be met with Frank and Johnny, and Brian who was trying to hold Gerard's pale passed out body up off the floor.

Zack pushed passed me as Sarah pulled me up and out of the way so the four men could haul Gerard up onto the bus and along it to his bunk. As they were doing so, I grabbed my phone and rang all the others to let them know he'd been found. After a while Mikey came darting up the steps and hurried off down the bus as the others all came back to me and Sarah.

Frank held his arms open for me and I stepped into them welcomingly. Once Matt and Jimmy had returned, Zack left, telling me to let them know how he was in the morning. A little while later Mikey came back to inform us Gerard wasn't passed out anymore but was on the phone to Brian who wasn't on the tour with them.

After an hour Gerard was properly asleep and we all hit the hay ourselves, Frank and I keeping a careful eye on Gerard where he was in the bunk oppositeoursFrank's ours, sleeping seemingly peacefully. "Do you think he'll be okay?" I asked quietly as Frank drew the little curtain slightly.

"Yeah." He replied with a yawn, then he looked back and down at me where my head was resting on his chest. "I hope so anyway."

"He's got four of the most amazing friends in the world, he should pull through." I then said.

"Five." Frank said.

"Huh?" I said, frowning slightly.

"Gerard has five best friends." Frank explained. "He does consider you one of his closest friends, you know."

I smiled and closed my eyes, listening to the steady rhythm of Frank's heart as he pressed a kiss to the top of my head. "I'm glad he's sees me that way." I now yawned, knowing that in a few minutes I would be out of it. "Because I see him that way too. Just not as much as you. You've got the number one spot, you know."

"And you've got the number one spot in my heart too." He replied before letting out one last yawn and falling silent, followed only by a few minutes by me as I finally fell asleep.