A New Day

When he felt himself slowly gain consciousness, feeling reality clutching at his chest, claiming him, Gerard twitched. He always did that when he was about to wake up. He felt a small tickle in his nose and mentally told it to fuck off, because he's too tired to do something about it. He gave in, though, because the tickle was killing him, so he fumblingly moved his way-too-heavy arm and rubbed his nose a couple of times, sighing.

"Morning." A raspy voice said from beside him, and he thinks: no way, too fucking early.

It took him all about ten seconds to mercilessly tear his eyes open to see who the fuck was right beside him. He exhaled and tried to blink away the morning haze, turning to see a man there, dark hair sticking out in all directions, tanned skin and figures inked all over his arms and chest in a big, colorful blur. He was smiling groggily at him, scratching his upper arm absentmindedly. Gerard had never seen him before in his life, he was sure, but still he felt a small, small spark of recognition somewhere in the back of his brain.

"Wh't' fuck?" He managed to produce, shoving himself up in a sitting position and doing his best to remember the night before. He had been reading, he wasn't drunk last night.

The man sat up too, swinging his feet over the edge of the bed and standing up. It was then it hit Gerard that he was in a room he had never been in before.

"I'm Frank. I'll just go downstairs and make some coffee, and it would be nice if you played the tape on your nightstand." He said rather flatly, but still with some warmth to his voice. And then he smiled again while grabbing a robe hanging over the door to an unfamiliar closet.

Gerard stopped studying his surroundings for a second to think through the things he had just been told. He looked over to his side to see that there was indeed a tape on his nightstand and he automatically reached out to grab it as he heard Frank leave the room.

PLAY ME

Was written on a post-it stuck to the tape. Gerard stared dumbly at the post-it for a little while before noticing the mini-TV placed right beside his bed. He had no idea what the hell was going on, and five hundred different scenarios was spinning around inside his brain as he pressed the giant on/off button on the tiny TV and put the tape on.

The snowstorm raging on the screen halted and Frank, the man that just left the room, was smiling at him from inside the small TV.

"Good morning, Gerard. I am Frank, Frank Iero, and the year is 2009." He says, and Gerard's stomach flips weirdly. As Frank in the TV paused like he knew Gerard needed some time to think.

"About eight years ago you were involved in a car accident -" Frank was still talking, but the image flickered over to pictures of different newspapers. Newspapers with old school photos of himself braced on the front page and headlines like Read about Gerard Way (22) and his repeated every-day amnesia and 22 year old suffers brain damage - lives every day like it was march 15th.

His eyes searched the screen, and he felt dizzy suddenly so he gripped the headboard tightly for support and took a couple of unsure breaths.

"To put this simple: your brain has lost the ability to store up new information for more than 24 hours, so every time you wake up, like today, you cannot remember anything but the years before the accident. You forget every day." Frank explained and the newspapers were gone and Frank was walking around again holding a coffee cup in one hand and looking straight into the camera.

"We met seven years ago." Frank stated with a smile. "I fell in love with you right away. And so did you. Every day." He stopped walking and a pink fingers fumbles in front of the lens suddenly. Gerard can hear the cameraman swear. It was his Dad filming.

He moved a hand to push some hair away from his face and his knuckles were turning white from holding on to the headboard, a dull pain was starting to form in his fingertips. He could also hear people talking downstairs, chairs scraping against floors and the low on-going growl of water boiling.

But Frank in the TV continued, unphased. "Every day I tell you about the accident, and every day you get to know me all over again. Today you are thirty years old and you are living in New York City with me and Emily." Frank sipped at his coffee and then disappeared. He was replaced by a home video of some sort, and it took Gerard a couple of seconds before he spotted himself in the clip. He was wearing a suit and laughing at that same Frank, holding both his hands in his. There were people everywhere and a priest was standing right behind them. "2004" was blinking in read neon letters in the right corner of the screen.

"This was our wedding day, June twenty first 2004." Frank told him when the small clip is over and a new home video is shown. In this one Gerard was blowing out candles on an enormous cake with "29" written sloppily with chocolate letters in the center of it. His mom and dad were there, and a girl that couldn't be more than three or four years old is hugging him. It ended with his mom squeezing his cheeks and lifting the little girl up in her arms so he could start cutting the cake.

And then Frank was to be seen again. "If you have any questions, you ask me. I love you, I hope you are feeling well today, and I suggest you come downstairs now because I am probably making you breakfast and coffee. See you soon." A light breeze rushed through Frank's hair and he blew Gerard a kiss through the screen as it went black.

Gerard felt a sting in his eyes as he tried to process everything. He looked around the room again with wide eyes, and suddenly saw a framed picture of himself and Frank making goofy faces over the bed, and his new Iron Maiden t-shirt was tossed by the closet in the corner, looking old and used. And by the bed there was a robe, just like the one Frank put on, but in a different color, and it had his name written on it.

He inhaled shakily and got up from the bed, sliding the robe on carefully. He used a long time leaving the room, just to find a staircase almost right outside the door. He could see a kitchen from where he was standing, and down there was Frank in front of the stove, smiling and talking to a girl that was sitting by the kitchen table. Gerard could only see her long, dark hair and small frame from behind, but as he slowly started moving down the stairs, he could see that she was coloring in a book.

He gripped the banister as his right foot came in contact with the last step and he was trying his best not to make any sound when Frank looked up to see him. "Good morning." He smiled, abandoning the stove to give Gerard a small kiss right on the lips, and run his thumb lovingly over his jaw. "Feeling well?"

Gerard gazed at him in confusion and did his best to produce a small smile as he let his eyes glide over the kitchen and living room before him. There were pictures of himself, Frank and the little girl by the table hanging on the walls, and there were toys everywhere. Barbie dolls, stuffed animals and a pink hairbrush were some of the things he could make out.

"Say hello to your daughter, Emily." Frank said, resting his hand on Gerard' lower back as the coloring girl hopped down from the chair she was sitting on. She crashed against his legs and grabbed handfuls of his robe, tugging slightly.

"Hi, daddy." And her high-pitched voice was muffled against the fabric.

He looked over at Frank with questioning eyes before picking the girl up and letting her wrap her arms around his neck. But Frank only nodded back at him before letting his hand fall. Gerard felt warm tears sting in his eyes as the little girl curled her fingers at the back of his neck and squeezed his shoulders.

"I made you a drawing, but I didn't get to finish it yesterday so you promised you would look at it today." She whispered against him before carefully pushing away so he would put her down.

And as Emily sprinted happily over to find the drawing she had made, Gerard turned to Frank again. "Is this real?" He croaked, rubbing the heel of his hand under his eyes to chase away the moist.

"You've asked me that every day of the last seven years." Frank said and lightly brushed some hair away from Gerard's face.

He spent the day with Emily and Frank, getting to know them. Emily was Five years old, she loved drawing dragons with purple wings, and princesses with long, dark hair just like her. She knew everything about Gerard and he felt a thick lump form in his throat when she showed him her room and told him that they had painted her room together. It was huge, with all the colors in the world splattered down its sides, and the sheets had little bats on them.

Frank made dinner that day. Gerard had never tasted the dish before in his whole life, but he loved it right away. When he told Frank, he said: "I know, it's your favorite."

Later, when Emily was put to bed, and Gerard had read to her, he found Frank sitting on the couch. They watched a movie, and when Frank slid his arms around his waist to kiss him, Gerard responded hesitantly, smiling against his mouth and placing his arms on his shoulders.

It felt weird having sex with someone he barely knew, but knew him better than himself. Frank touched, kissed and licked at places on his body he didn't even knew would make him feel anything at all. And every part of him was on fire as Frank moved inside him, dug his nails into the skin of his thighs as he pushed them further apart and kissed his neck noisily. His breathing was shallow and loud, and he came with Frank's sweat-slick stomach sliding over his length and his own fingers flexed on other man's back.

"I will remember you tomorrow." Gerard said with his voice barely more that a whisper as they were lying facing each other in the dark room.

But Frank didn't reply, he just looked at him with big, hazel eyes, one arm tucked under his head for support. The silence was heavy for a while.

"Did I say that yesterday?" He wanted to know.

"Yes." Frank said quietly.

"The night before too?"

"Yes."

Gerard moved a little, scooting closer to Frank. They kissed slowly for a while, Frank's hand coming up to stroke his cheek softly.

"I love you." Gerard said and he knew it then, that he would feel Frank when he woke up the next day. His brain may forget, but his heart would not.

Frank's eyes closed and his mouth twitched and curved, forming a tired smile. "I know."

And they fell asleep, together.