So Long and Good Night

FRANK'S P.O.V

I paced back and forth back and forth up and down the brightly lit hallways. Everything was white and the smell of cleanliness was overbearing but of course, I wasn't focused on that.

My feet were falling in loud thuds to the floor as I spun around to walk ten paces in the opposite direction. I had chewed 8 of my 10 nails down to the point of bleeding, then gnawed further.

"Frank. Just come sit down." Mikey insisted, gesturing to the open chair next to him.

I only heard half of what he said. My mind was racing. Gerard had a seizure that lasted 4 long minutes. When the ambulance had gotten to us, he was unconscious and his breathing was shallow. It had to be the tumor that caused it. And that meant it was more serious that Dr. Smith had thought.

Right now he was in getting a CT-scan of his head. It provided more picture of his brain and what was going on.

Okay. I know I don't believe in you in the way I should, but I'm talking to you, Big Guy.I know I'm not the Catholic my parents raised me as and neither is Gerard, but please. Don't take him tonight. He is so young. He has so mush to live for. I love him with all my heart and I can't live without him. He is my everything and the one that is starting to pull me out of the deep end and back onto the edge so many people pushed me off of. If you could just...please let him live. Even if it's with cancer. Let him live. I'm begging you.

I was letting the tears run down my face without even acknowledging them when Dr. Smith walked out of the room, followed shortly by Gerard laid out on a hospital bed. He motioned for Mikey and I to follow him. He didn't say anything and his features were grim. I felt my stomach drop and my heart jump.

We walked into the room and waited for the nurses to get Gee back into place. When they walked out Dr. Smith closed the door behind them. A small sigh escaped his lips and he moved his glasses on his face. He was nervous.

My stomach dropped even further and my heart jumped into my throat.

"W-what caused him to have the seizure?" Mikes finally asked, his voice shaking.

The doctor let out another sigh and looked down at the clipboard in his hand.

"There....there is more cancer than what he had thought. And what caused the episode was a small mass on his right temple. We can preform surgery and remove all the tumors on the surface of the brain without any major risks. But the majority of them are all inside his brain. It wouldn't to much good to remove them. The best thing we can do is give him pills for epilepsy along with the controllers he is already taking. Hopefully that will slow things down. I'm sorry." he finally whispered, repositioning his glasses once again.

"How long does he have?" I whispered, looking Dr. Smith straight in the eye.

"I'm sorry?"

"H-how....how long do-does Gerard h-h-have?" I stammered, fighting back the tears.

"I'd say about 7 months."

My breath caught in my throat along with my heart as Mikey gasped. Things were quiet for what seemed like forever.

"Here's the pills. He needs to take one in the morning and one at night." Dr. Smith said, handing me an orange bottle of pills and a prescription before turning and walking out the door, closing it lightly behind himself.

I turned to Mikey slowly. I dropped the bottle that was in my hand and let it cover my mouth in a poor attempt of silencing the heaving sobs pushing there way out of my ridged body.

Gerard's brother was in the same state as he moved over and wrapped his arms firmly around my hunching body. I buried my face deep into the crook of his neck. His hand hesitantly rubbed up and down my spine as the both of us just cried.

I never realized just how close Mikey and Gerard were until now.

"A-are you alright?" Mikey finally asked, pulling away and wiping is eyes with the back of his hand. All i could do was nod as i did the same. I smiled weakly and walked over to the bed, sitting in the plastic chair to the right of the bed. Mikey pulled one from the corner of the room and joined me.

Gerard looked alienated. He had a needle coming out of his arms. Thank God he was out when they put that in. His face was pale and his eyes were dark. His features were worn and he had creases all along his faces.

"Christ. He looks like shit." Mikey whispered.

"He does." I sighed, leaning in and kissing min gently on the forehead.

"So, while we wait for hell to take it's toll. Tell me about yourself Frank." Mikey half smiled, leaning back in his chair.

"Well, what do you wanna know?" I asked, chuckling slightly.

"The basics. Y'know. Where are ya from, how old are you. Stuff like that."

"Okay, well I'm 28. 29 on Halloween. I'm originally from New Jersey. I lived there up until I graduated college then i took a job down in Nashville. And Jesus Fucking Christ that was hell in itself. After a few years of working in one of the millions of studios down there, I was offered a job at Sayers' Studios. I play guitar and piano and I'm the queer dating your brother. I finished with a light chuckle.

"Nice." Mikey smiled. "I'm 24 and Gee and I are from Jersey too. Though you probably already knew that. Um I work at Main Street Music, which is pretty fun. I'm still in college and I'm majoring in technical music. I've been married for 4 happy years to Alicia and we are having our first in November. I also play guitar and bass as well as a little piano. Though Gerard took the singing."

"Oh by the way, congratulations on little Miles." I added.

"Thanks. Hey, yesterday when you said you wanted a little girl, were you serious?"

"Oh hell yeah."

"Not to be rude or anything, but, why do you want a kid?"

"I don't really know, I just always have I guess. I want to say something about my relationships. And now that's I'm with Gee, I know he's the one I want to say it with. I wanna show the world that just because I'm gay and I'm in a happy relationship, doesn't mean we can't raise a child just like the typical parents. Like, I want to show the world that I can have a child that will grow up to make their own decisions and that we had no 'negative' influence on him or her. Would I like it if my child was gay? Sure/ It's make things easier on me. But if my little girl wants to chase after a boy, I will hunt him down just like any dad would if he breaks her heart. I guess what I'm saying is that I want people to know that we are humans too. If you get what I mean at all."

"Oh I do. And I think you're perfectly right. Society doesn't have the right to take away the privilege of having children away just because that child will be raised be two mothers or two fathers. And I know I barely know you, but i'll stand behind you and be a supportive uncle to my little niece if she ever shows up. And I will stand behind you and Gerard as well." Mikey smiled.

"Thanks man. That really means a lot." I grinned. Things went silent for a minute.

"Y'know, he kinda looks like when he did when he was about ten." Mikes said after a minute.

"What happened then?'

"Him and I were playing out in the back yard with a couple of our friends Bob and Ray. And we get the brilliant fuckin' idea to play truth or dare. So it was Ray's turn and he dared Gerard to jump out of the second floor window and try to land on the trampoline under it. And of course, being the lame kids we were, Gerard went through with it. And let's just say he landed on the trampoline. But he also bounced off. He shattered is right elbow and got a concussion. He was out for a few hours because they had to put wires in his elbow to get it aligned in the right place again." he finished with a chuckle.

"God, what a dumb ass move." I laughed. As the smiles were slowly fading away, I felt Gerard stir, and soon, his eyes pried themselves open.

"Hey there sweet cheeks" I smiled, taking his hand and rubbing it with my thumb.

"Hi." He whispered. His voice was strained and hoarse. 'Wh-what happened?'

"You had a seizure when we got back form the pet store."

"What caused it?" he managed to choke out.

I sighed and closed my eyes. Luckily Mikey answered for me.

"Another tumor on your right temple. Doc Smith said that there were way more tumors than they thought. And more are inside your brain so they can't go in and remove them. He gave you some pills to control the seizures in case they one might come up again." he said quietly.

"How long do I have?"

We both looked at each other hesitantly.

"How long?" He asked again.

"S-seven...seven months babe." I choked out, the tears returning to my eyes.

Gerard's eyes fluttered closed again, tears leaking from the corners.

***

"I need to redye my hair." Gerard sighed, pulling apart his locks, examining his now brown roots.

"Why? I like the way it does that." I smiled, walking into the bathroom with him. I smiled at him into the mirror and slowly wrapped my arms around his shirtless torso, my chin resting gently on his shoulder.

"Ya do." he returned, looking at my refection. I nodded with a simple 'mhm'.

He chuckled lightly, shaking his head.

"What/"

"You are just too adorable."

"Oh whatever." I grinned, though I could feel the heat swirling in my cheeks.

"C'mon, let's get going." Gerard smiled, turning around and planting a sweet kiss to my lips before freeing himself and pulling his shirt on over his head. He grabbed a little plastic container holding his two pills, his wallet, and his phone. We walked out the door and down to the parking lot.

"You sure you wanna see a horror film?" Gee asked, turning to me. His big sliver Aviators pulled down over his eyes. I was staring at my reflection before nodding.

"Mhm." I smiled, wrapping my fingers through his.

It was rush hour and as we walked, we kept getting many many stares of disgust and shock an disapproval. And Gerard being the firecracker he is, just shoot everyone who threw a glance our way a 'fuck you too' smile as we passed them.

We walked up to the theater and Gerard went straight up to the window.

"Two for Deliver Us From Evil." He smiled, slipping a twenty dollar bill under the break in the plastic.

The boy standing in the booth, you frankly didn't look any older than 12, handed Gee two tickets and his change and we walked in.

"You want butter on your popcorn?" He asked, looking at me.

"How can you go to a movie and not have buttered popcorn?" I laughed. He nodded and stepped up.

"One large popcorn and two medium Coke's."

The woman handed him a large bucket and me the two soda cups as Gee paid. When he had his change we made our way back to theater 6.

As the previews drew to a close and the movie started rolling, I wasn't in the reality of the moment. My mind was elsewhere.

It had been three weeks since Gerard was released form the hospital and he was acting like the incident never even happened. Like he had his whole life ahead of him and he was just taking it one 'fuck you' smile at a time.

I was enjoying all of the time with him, don't get me wrong. But it almost seems like if he doesn't think about the cancer, it won't be there. Of course, I just went along with him and kept my mouth shut.

On his bucket list he has get married and go to Vegas. And I had been thinking about this ever since he was released from the hospital. His 28th birthday was coming up within the next two weeks and let's just say, those two things would soon be taken off of the list.

I was shaken back to the movie when Gerard yelped. He had his legs pulled up into the seat and my arm in his grasp. I couldn't help but smile to myself as I pulled my arm out of his and wrapped it around his shoulders. His head immediately was rested on m,y shoulder as the film drew to an abrupt end.

"So, was is good?" I asked, looking down at him ad people files out of the theater.

"Yeah. Why?"

"I wasn't really paying any attention to it. My mind was on other things."

"Like what."

"Oh I don't know. A certain person's birthday." I chuckled, poking him lightly on the nose.

"Oh you gotta tell me. I hate surprises."

"Nope. My lips are sealed."

"Pleeeeaaaaaseeeee Fraaaaankieeeee?' he pleaded, tugging lightly on my arm.

"Nuh uh." I smiled, shaking my head.

"Oh fine." He pouted, his arms crossing over his chest. He honestly looked like an adorable little kid. I chuckled and leaned over kissing him playfully on his pouty lips. I could feel him slime into my lips and as I was about to pull away, he placed his hand on the back of my head and pulled me back in. I instantly melted into the connection, sparks pulsing through my body. We both pulled away with a smile when we realized there was a woman standing in front of us.

"That is disgusting to do in public." she scoffed.

"Really? Then why's it okay from a guy and a GIRL to do it?" Gee asked, looking her square in the eye.

"Because that's normal. What's not normal is two men kissing each other like that you fags."

"Really? So we aren't normal human beings just because we like each other. Do I make you uncomfortable, ma'am?" he asked, standing up from his seat.

"Yea, as a mater of fact you do."

"Well, did you know that makes me uncomfortable. I'm uncomfortable knowing that I can't kiss my boyfriend without looking to see who might be around us. Who the fuck I might offend if I did this." He spat before bending down and smashing his lips into mine.

"You two are nothing but freaks. It's revolting. There could have been children in this theater--"

"But guess what you homophobic bitch, there wasn't" Gee said, pulling away from me.

"I hope you go to hell." She shouted, walking out of the doors.

"Well y'know what sweetheart, thank's to God Fearing Catholic, homophobic people like you and the rest of this fucking society, I already do!" he yelled after her. He was about to follow her when I caught his arm.

"I think you proved your point." I chuckled. He flopped down in he seat adn sighed.

"Jesus Christ I hate people like that. I just wanna fuckin' kiss my boyfriend in public. Is that so much to ask for?" he asked, looking at me.

"I don't think so." I replied gently, leaning in and planting a tender kiss to his lips. He immediately calmed down at his muscles relaxed.

"I-I think that was really brave." A young girl whispered. We both looked up and saw a teenage girl standing in front of us. She had bright blue hair and two studs on her lower lip, with a ring on top of one. She was wearing a My Chemical Romance tank top that showed several tattoos on her arms.

"Well hi there." I smiled.

"Hi."

"What's you're name?" Gee asked.

"I'm Rion. And you two are amazing." She smiled.

"Well thank you. But why do you say that?" I asked/

"Just the way you handled that situation. And just the confidence to kiss each other in public in such a fucked up world. I could never do that, let alone kiss my girlfriend in public. We are too afraid to even hold hands." she sighed, looking down at her shoes.

"I'm sorry, hon. You shouldn't have to be afraid of who you are. You should be able to scream yourself at the top of you lungs." Gee smiled, standing up and surprisingly hugging her.

"Hey, y'know what? I'm gonna help you show the world that it's alright to be gay. How about tomorrow night you, me, Frank, and your girlie go on a double date. I'll tak you around town to the places where it's okay to be queer." He smiled, pulling his phone from his back pocket.

"What's your phone number, sweetie?" He asked, shooting her another smile.

She told him her cell number and he sent her a text.

"Can I meet you at Main Street at around 6:30?" she finally asked.

"I think that would be great." Gerard smiled, hugging her one last time before grabbing my hand and walking from the theater.

"That's really sweet, what you did in there." I smiled as we walked down the sidewalk.

"Well i never told you this but that was on my bucket list."

"What?"

"Helping someone get over something. I'm hopefully going to help Rion get over her anxiety about being who she is." Gee grinned. I leaned up and landed a peck on his cheek.

"I'm proud of you, Mr. Party Poison." I giggled, wrapping my arms around his waist as he draped his over my shoulders.