All That I've Got

Frank’s P.O.V.

Before Frank’s brain could process all that was happening- Gerard’s torso pressed to his, Gerard’s breath near his ear- Gerard grasped at Frank’s jaw and brought their lips together.

Time stopped, and all Frank could feel was Gerard’s mouth moving against his, slow and sweet.

Frank brought his hands up, running them along Gerard’s face and back to rest behind the other boy’s neck, kissing back with all he was worth.

Nothing else in the world breathed, nothing shivered or whispered or dared interrupt what Frank thought- knew- the world would see as fate. This- his lips locked to Gerard’s- was fate.

Gerard pushed Frank harder against the door and Frank held back noises of pleasure. Gerard’s hands were still cupping his jaw and they kissed away their pain and misunderstanding and weeks of wanting.

Gerard sucked Frank’s lower lip into his own mouth, then pulled away slowly as the world snapped back into full-speed. He stayed with his body against Frank’s, and neither of them moved other than
to catch their breath.

When Frank finally focused back on Gerard, he was met with the biggest slanting grin yet. Gerard’s eyes were pinched up and his noise wrinkled adorably in his happiness.

Frank grinned back so wide it hurt his cheeks, and he wrapped his arms around Gerard’s waist.

Gerard rested his head in the crook of Frank’s neck and kissed a small belt around his collarbone.

“I came here thinking life would suck,” Gerard said after a moment. “but then I met you and you never questioned me, and I felt like I’d know you for years, Frankie. I don’t know what else to say, but I’m glad I met you.”

It’s fate. Frank thought. But instead of saying that, he kissed Gerard’s cupid lips again and hoped the words would translate. Something must have, because Gerard maneuvered them so that they were sprawled across his navy blue bed-spread, with little space between them.

Not that that bothered Frank. This was what he’d wanted for ages now, ever since he took a glance over his shoulder and his world changed.

This time, though, Frank pulled away. “I’m glad I met you, too Gee. Even if I had to get a detention to do so,” he whispered, his nose less than an inch from Gerard’s.

Gerard’s eyes flicked up from Frank’s lips and he giggled, moving closer so that their bodies were flush against each other. Frank let his hands wander up under Gerard’s shirt, across his chest and around his soft waist. Gerard closed his eyes, and Frank once again found himself tracing the dark
fringe of eyelashes and Gerard’s bowed pink mouth.

When he leaned in to kiss them, he couldn’t help but mouth the word ‘fate’, too.

“You should stay tonight,” Gerard said suddenly. He didn’t panic or anything when he saw Frank’s stricken face. Instead he laughed and placed his head back in Frank’s neck. “I don’t mean like that, Frankie. I mean, I want to talk to you. I did come to your house to talk before I got dragged into crappy TV reruns.”

That, and the way Gerard’s breath tickled his neck, made Frank laugh. “Okay, I’ll stay. My mom wont notice anyways,” he said.

After Frank agreed, Gerard jumped up and got busy. Frank watched as he called downstairs to Brian, then as he rustled up a couple matt-y shirts.

“Here, you can wear them to sleep in,” Gerard said, offering Frank a batman shirt with holes and plaid pajama pants.

Frank changed in the corner of the still-dark room, by the shelve of art supplies and books. He chose to ignore the plaid pants, and stayed in his boxers, but he did shuck his own scratchy shirt in favor for Gerard’s.

He was back on the bed, sitting cross-legged, when Gerard came back from the bathroom. Though he couldn’t see very well in the dark room, he could hear Gerard’s feet padding across the hardwood.

Then Gerard was sitting next to him on the bed, wearing his own version of a ruined T-shirt and boxers.

They faced each other, bare feet brushing. Moonlight slitted through the window to their right, and Frank could finally see Gerard’s worried face.

“Frank, I’m going to tell you something,” Gerard said, quietly, “And I want you to know that I’m taking a giant risk trusting you. This- this is life or death, okay?”

Frank’s heart sped up, hammering on his ribcage. How had his life gone from normal, to weird, to life or death? But Frank nodded. “You can trust me.”

Gerard pulled a pillow onto his lap and squeezed it like a child looking for comfort, and Frank wanted to jump on him and smother him with hugs. Instead, he listened.

“I can influence emotions,” Gerard said, “And I give off my own emotions in turn, in the form of an aura.”

What? “Gerard, what’s that even supposed to mean? You-you have powers or something?!” Frank yelped.

Gerard thought. “Kinda. We have advancements, almost like a sixth sense or something. We were born with it, and a lot of us die for it.”

“‘We’ ?” Frank asked, confusing fogging his head. This wasn’t what he’d expected. This shit didn’t exist. “Gerard, I swear if you’re pulling my leg, I won’t forgive you.”

That perked Gerard up. He dropped his pillow and clutched Frank’s hands. “No, Frank, I’m serious. And by we, I mean, everyone in this house, and identical houses across the world. Somehow we search each other out, and we protect each other. We’re all kin. That’s why I’ve moved so much, though, things keep going wrong and I lose- I lose my family.”

Pain was a hidden current in Gerard’s voice, and it hurt Frank’s chest. But then his confusion lifted and betrayal began to set in. Frank pulled his hands back from Gerard, making the other boy’s face fall.

“Gerard, if you really can influence emotions, you know I’ll never be able to believe what’s happened between us. I can’t know what’s real or not,” Frank’s voice fell to an almost whisper, “I thought this was fate. But it might’ve been a hoax that you didn’t mean to play on me, Gee.”

Now Gerard looked like he would cry. “No, Frank, I swear I didn’t mess with how you feel. I haven’t been using my abilities in over three months. Please understand that I would never do that to you.”

Frank was quiet.

“Please, please understand,” Gerard whispered. He ducked his dark head, and his hair caught the moonlight as it fell across his whitewashed skin.

“Show me how it works,” Frank said suddenly. Maybe he’d recognize the feeling of being influenced, or whatever.

The room remained still, even Gerard, until the air went cold and started to shimmer near Frank. He was about to reach out a hand to touch it, when suddenly his heart jumped and his mind went haywire.

“No!” Frank yelled. He jumped from the bed, his heart racing. He was terrified. So scared he couldn’t breathe correctly, couldn’t move. He needed to get out of the dark, he needed- Oh god, it felt like he was going to die. Something was after him, something with hands that silenced, and eyes that burned and merciless hate. “Nononono-!”

Mid-shout, the fear ebbed away, draining from his body until Frank found himself in a heap on the floor of Gerard’s room. Someone’s arms were wrapped around him and his back was pressed to someone’s solid chest. Gerard.

“I’m sorry, Frankie, I didn’t mean to do it that intensely. I’m sorry- I’m sorry-” Gerard was saying against Frank’s sweat-slicked neck.

For a long time, Frank let Gerard hold him. But when he finally stopped shaking, he pulled away. He hoped he hadn’t disrupted the rest of the house, but then again he had bigger things to worry about.

He turned back to Gerard, and put on a brave face, despite the fact that Gerard had just seen him have a meltdown. “Is it like that every time?”

Scooting nearer, as if to be sure Frank was really okay, Gerard nodded. “Well, not the whole fear thing, but the air and the cold. You’d have notice, I know it, if I had changed your emotions. Even if I didn’t mean to,” Gerard said.

Frank agreed. He’d have remember that intrusive feeling, for sure. “I can’t really keep blaming you of anything, I guess. Sorry.” He gave Gerard a look from under his lashes, and chewed his lip ring.
Relief washed over Gerard’s body, and he reached back over to Frank, lacing their fingers together.

He smiled weakly.

Frank continued, “You- you lost your family? Like, Mikey?”

That hit Gerard hard, who squished Frank’s hand a little bit. “Yeah. There’s this group, Frankie. And they hate us. They’re called the Jury, and they take it upon themselves to ‘judge’ us for our ‘mutations’. They destroy safe homes and kidnap us. Then they experiment or just murder whoever they get their hands on.”

A vigilante villain group? If Frank was believing this, and apparently he actually was, then it wasn’t impossible. He brought himself and Gerard so that they leaned against the bed, and Gerard’s hands were in Frank’s lap. Frank grazed them with his fingers in a way he hoped was soothing. Softly, he asked, “And they. . .got Mikey? He’s like you too?”

“Yes, he’s like me. Mikey can make people forget things. He’s not as practiced as me with his sense, but it’s helped us out of many tough places,” A ghost of a smile tugged at Gerard’s lips. “We were in Las Vegas three months ago, between safe homes. The Nevada strain of the Jury cornered us on the outskirts of the Strip. I don’t know exactly what happened from there. Brian thinks Mikey made me forget. But I woke up alone in an alley, and they had taken my brother.”

Now Gerard’s voice broke and he hunched in on himself. Frank whimpered, practically feeling the pain. And maybe he was: dark, somber colors had filled the air around them.

Frank wrapped himself around Gerard, and in the dark thoughts swirled with the shades of the aura. Guilt. Hurt. Loneliness. Fate. Fate. Fate.

Finally, when Gerard had collected himself, he continued. “After that, I stayed around Vegas in hopes of finding a way to Mikey. Eventually, I knew I had to move on. I was connected with a safe home in New Jersey, here. Brian helped get me here, and I never knew how much my life would change when I did.” Gerard looked at Frank, then he rested his head against Frank’s shoulder and went silent.

“What- ability- does Brian have?” Frank asked. “He seemed shockingly normal when I met him, if a bit more stressed out.”

“He was born stressed out,” Gerard said with a soft laugh. “When he actually manages to get out of the house, Brian can sense danger.”

“Huh,” Frank said. In his brain, he filed the information for processing. “What about everyone else?”

“Emerson can influence weather, Mark can change parts of his appearance, and Nate can sense spirits.”

This was real superhero shit, Frank thought. “Nate and Mark are pretty young,” he said, “There’s no adults other Brian around, though.”

Gerard’s eyes fluttered closed for a moment. “The Jury messes up everything for everyone, Frankie.”
Frank’s heart sunk a bit. They didn’t have parents. Gerard didn’t have parents, and now he didn’t have his brother. Slowly, he stood, pulling Gerard up with him.

Cupping Gerard’s face, he leaned up and kissed his perfect lips. “Gerard, we’ll get Mikey back. I’ll help you in anyway I can.” Gerard opened his mouth, and Frank kissed it to stop his words. “Before you try to argue with me, you need to go to bed.”

He led Gerard to one side of the bed, and practically tucked him in. Then Frank climbed over him and curled up behind him in the bundle of blankets.

“I believe you, Gerard. Everything you said, I believe. So trust me,” Frank whispered to the back of his neck. “Goodnight.”

Gerard twisted around to face Frank, bowing their foreheads together. “‘Night, Frank. Thank you.”

He closed his eyes, but only once he heard Gerard’s breath slow down into sleep, did Frank allow himself to forget the world too.