This Blood Is Gonna Wake the Night

The brown haired man burst out laughing sarcastically. He then walked into the middle of the room, exclaiming 'I do not believe this!'. Linda and I both crossed out eyebrows at him as he started inspecting her things.

"Russ, would you cu-"

"Okay, Ashton, you can come out now!" He exclaimined, waving a hand around "We know we've been punked!"

His companion went and took his hand insistantly.

"Babe, we're not being punked, okay?" He said "There's just a strange man sitting in my Mom's room, with what could be a perfectly legitimate reason for being here!"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm your Mom's lawyer!" I replied half-jokingly.

"Really?"

"No."

Linda got up and walked over to the black haired man. She cupped his face affectionately, stopping her public display briefly to fiddle about with his hair and fix it for him. He jerked his head irritably and ruffled his hair again when she turned to the brown haired guy.

"Hello, Russ," She said in a falsely cheery voice.

"Linda," Came the flat response.

She ignored him and turned back to the other guy.

"Frankie, do you remember Gerard from next door?" She questioned.

He chewed his lip thoughtfully, sucking lightly on a silver hoop in his lip. His eyebrows crossed as he thought about it. He'd shake his head. I knew he would. His mother was nodding her head insistantly at him as if to say 'Say you do 'cause I know you do!'. Finally, just like I thought he would, he shook his head.

"No?" Linda questioned "Of course you do! Mikey's older brother; you used to play with him in the yard!"

"Oh my God, yeah!" He exclaimed, looking past Linda and straight at me "You're Gerard?"

"Guilty."

"Oh my God!" He cried, seemingly teleporting over and pulling me into a bone-shattering hug "How've you been? I haven't seen you since I was, like, three-"

"Four."

"Oh. . . same thing."

"I'll let it slide," I smiled.

The brown haired guy crossed his eyebrows, shooting me a venomous look. I smiled back sweetly, just to patronise him. Then I nodded my head in his direction.

"Gonna' introduce me to your friend, Frank?"

"Oh, God, sorry, how rude of me," He checked "Um. . . Gerard, this is Russ-"

"I'm his boyfriend," Russ cut in smugly, giving me a filthy look "Hands off," He added, sliding an arm round Frank's waist.

"I'll keep that in mind," I said coldly.

"I'll go check on the lunch," Linda piped, jumping up and rushing out into the kitchen.

Russ threw himself down onto the couch, stretching out like he owned it. Then he rubbed his stomach.

"I sure am in the mood for one of your great steaks, Linda," He grinned.

"Oh. . . I've run out, Russ," She said "It's gonna' have to be nut roast with me and Frankie!"

"But I'm not vegetarian!" He protested bitterly.

"Well, it's that or nothing," She said sharply, obviously not to be messed with.

"Fine," He grumbled.

My sharp hearing then picked up: "I'll eat your freaking rabbit food."

"Hey," I said sharply "The lady said that's all there is, she can't help that. This is her house and the least you can do is show some damn respect!"

"I'll do whatever the hell I like!"

"Russ, leave it," Frank said quickly "C'mon, babe, let's go sit in the kitchen, yeah?"

"Whatever," He grumbled.

"Sorry," I mouthed, earning a shrug.

We all seated ourselves at the kitchen table, waiting for Linda to serve up her lunch. Frank sat next to Russ, of course, but he looked like he was doing it automatically; not because he wanted to. He smiled at me sweetly while Russ scowled disapprovingly. I returned his cold glare, not blinking.

"So, what do you do now, Gerard?" Frank questioned.

"Um. . . nothing at the moment, I'm keeping my options open, y'know?"

"Gerard's training for national wrestling at the moment, aren't you?" Linda said from her place by the oven.

"Yeah," I lied.

"Wow," Frank laughed "You're, like, tiny! Are you one of those guys who's really fast rather than powerful?"

"Yeah," I nodded "Speed always wins over power, in my opinion. 'Cause, if you're too fast for them to get a hold of you, how are they gonna' win?"

"That's true," Frank laughed "Never thought of you as the wrestling type, though, Gee. Is it okay I call you that?"

"If I can call you Frankie, it's a deal!"

"No," Russ spat "Sorry, no one calls him that except me and Linda."

I raised my eyebrows at him, giving him a challenging look. He tried to keep eye contact with me but the fact that I didn't need to blink meant that I had the advantage. I didn't flinch, smirking inwardly. He lasted about two minutes before ducking his head and 'coughing'. I smirked proudly.

Linda then served everyone a plate of nut roast. She always used to cook that stuff when I was a kid. I loved it. Mikey was never that fond of it and secretly dumped it on my plate when she wasn't looking. Russ scowled at his food, picking at it with his fork like a little kid.

"So, where are you living?" Frank questioned "I'd love to keep in touch!"

"Erm. . . I'm not living anywhere at the moment, kinda' drifting!"

"You can always stay with us!" He piped up, making Russ's face twist into total disgust.

Russ grabbed his arm and hissed 'What the hell are you doing? No, not happening!' in his ear. Then Frankie shook his head and hissed 'He's an old friend, okay? It's the least I can do!' back. Obviously, neither of them were aware that I could hear what they were saying perfectly. I knew it was rude to listen in but hey, this is me, okay? I've been locked up for nineteen years, you get used to listening in on people.

Frank shook his head and hissed that it was his house, not Russ's. Then he looked at me with a sweet smile.

"Gerard, would you like to stay with us!"

Russ scowled the whole time.

"Hey, look, if it's gonna' cause problems and stuff, I'll be fine-"

"No," Frank cut in "I insist. We'd love to have you stay with us."