I'm the Last One That You'll Ever Remember

Eyes cleared of sleep, Frank lumbered down the stairs of his forebodingly quiet home in search of his family. He had brushed his teeth and was about to shower when he noted the ordinary volume of the house was completely dead. Having three small kids and a baby made the loving structure a rambunctious place during the day, but today was different. It was quiet. Too quiet. “Renzo! Vani! Netia!” Frank called out to his little ones, expecting that to elicit a piercing shriek from one of them. Still, he was met with only silence. Frowning, he reached the end of the stairs. “Gerard!”

“Over here, love!” Gerard’s voice hailed from down the hall.

Frank followed his voice nimbly, expecting to see the children playing silently nearby in the living room only to discover the gorgeous man standing beside the dining table set with steaming breakfast, alone. Halting at the sight of the exquisite arrangement, he gasped and covered his open mouth with a hand. His wide hazel eyes skimmed the delicacies before locking on Gerard who’s hair was no longer a bright cherry red, but black as obsidian now. “Gee, what is all of this?”

“Breakfast for my baby.” Gerard answered with a sweep of his arm to the table. He had a fulfilled grin on his face when he closed the distance between them to set his hands on Frank's hips. “You like it?”

“Do I like it!? Do you even need to ask!? For Christ’s sake, you know my stomach is a black hole!” Frank laughed, throwing his arms around Gerard’s neck to grin up at him. “This is amazing, Gee! I can’t believe you did all of this. I...wait, where are the kids?!”

“Ah, your parents came by to take them out for the day.” Gerard briefed him with a kiss. “Don’t you remember? They called yesterday afternoon about spending time with the kids and giving us some alone time.”

“Well, yeah, I remember that, but I didn’t think they’d want to have them this early in the day.” Frank replied, his brows furrowed in puzzlement. “Why would they want to take them out at 7 in the morning?”

Gerard paused before professing. “Well, that part is actually my fault. I asked them if they could pick them up early today. I was hoping we could be alone for breakfast.”

“How come you wanna be alone with me for breakfast?” Frank inquired with a sensual smile on his face. “You got something sexy planned with buttered toast and scrambled eggs in mind?”

Throwing his head back in laughter, Gerard shook his head and released his lover. “You’ll have to eat first if you want to find out.”

“Alright, I’ll play your little game. I’ll...wait what happened to your hand?” Frank gasped, noticing that Gerard’s hand had a bandage on it.

“Oh this? It’s nothing.” Gerard assured him, moving back towards the dining table.

“Did you cut yourself when you were making breakfast?” Frank persisted, following close behind him with concern swelling in his eyes.

For once, Gerard chose honesty instead of fabricating a lie. Setting a hand on the back of his chair, he smiled at him. “Actually...I quit being a Killjoy last night. Officially. And to their faces so they wouldn’t get confused.” Glancing down at the bandage on his hand, he then lifted the long fringe of his black hair to show off the faint bruises there as well. “They retaliated in their own way as usual.”

“Oh my god, my poor baby!” Frank fretted, dashing over to cup his face in his hands. Tipping it down for him to see, he inspected every bruise he saw and showered them with butterfly kisses. “My poor poor baby! What did they do to you!? What happened over there!? And why the hell didn’t you tell me you were going!?”

“Because you wouldn’t have let me, and I needed to do this.” Gerard answered with a faint smile, closing his eyes with every healing kiss he gained, reveling in the affection. “A fight broke out when I told them I was quitting. I got out of there easily. Nothing else happened. The end.”

“Got out there EASILY?! Oh please!” Frank echoed incredulously before rolling his eyes. “How can you say you got out of there EASILY when you’ve been cut and have bruises as a result of it!?”

“What did you expect them to do as Killjoys? We aren’t big on letting things go.” Gerard reminded him, recalling the many times he tried to let the young man before him go himself. Every attempt was a fail. “That's why you and I are together today.”

Frank didn’t want to fall for that romantic remark, but dammit he did! Narrowing his eyes on his boyfriend, he yielded. “Whatever. Are you sure you’re okay?”

“I’m feeling better than I have in a long time, actually.” Gerard comforted him, an easygoing smile on his face. His light brown eyes took in the worry in Frank’s eyes and felt truly honored to invoke that feedback from the young man who he kidnapped long ago. In all the chaos of their lives, they found love. A love Gerard never knew he required to turn his life around. “Don’t worry about me. They got it worse.”

Believing that to be true after witnessing how impervious his boyfriend was in the face of danger, Frank released his hold on his face and nodded. “Alright, you got me convinced. If you change your mind though let me know. My daddy’s a doctor, remember? He’s taught me a thing or two.”

“Like playing a sexy nurse to my handsome doctor fantasy?” Gerard teased him, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively. “In that case, we need to head to the nearest sex shop and get us some costumes to make this more believable.”

“In your dreams, Playboy!” Frank laughed, jokingly shoving Poison aside. “And ONLY in your dreams.”

“Shame.” Gerard chuckled, reaching out to smack his boyfriend’s behind just as he passed him by.

The couple took a seat at one end of the dining table and dived into Gerard’s delicious meal. They were hushed at first until Gerard caught Frank staring at him quite somberly. Arching a brow in question, Frank parted his lips. “Gee, no more going back to that place, okay? To ANY place those monsters frequent.”

Gerard stared back at him, lowering his fork a little. “Bu-”

“No, Gee. No buts.” Frank intercepted, setting his fork down to hold his hand out towards him. He smiled softly when the older man took it. “Look, I know you have a past with them, and as grisly as it is there is nothing I can do to change that. But you and I have a family now. If we’re gonna continue to do this together, I’m gonna need you to put us first, okay?”

“And that’s exactly what I did.” Gerard assured him, his thumb rubbing over the back of Frank’s hand. “I made it clear to every single one of them that I wasn’t messing around, that I seriously quit and won’t ever return. My brother wasn’t certain they got the message the first time, but they know now.”

“I hope they do.” Frank nodded in understanding. “I want zero affiliation with those guys, you know that.”

Gerard nodded in confirmation. “I got it loud and clear, baby. Don’t you worry. It’s locked in the old noggin.”

Frank’s face remained sober. “It better be. I don’t want to lose you to them, Gerard. You’ve become…” He paused for a moment, trying to put his feelings into words. “Too important to me to let you go and it’s not just because we have children now. I love YOU, Gee, and I mean it to the depths of my soul. I love you. My life has gotten so much better since you’ve turned your back on those Killjoys. Everyday I wake up and I feel like a Disney Princess in those fairy tales. Every day I’m living my happy ever after. If you ever decide to walk away and return to them, I…”

Gerard squeezed Frank’s hands, ending that scenario before it could be vocalized. “THAT is NOT gonna happen, Frankie. What you feel for me, is a reflection of how I feel for you. To walk out on you and our family is a death sentence for me. Nothing means more to me than what I have found with you and the kids. NOTHING! Do you hear me?”

“I hear you.” Frank smiled tenderly at him. “I’m sorry to put a damper on your breakfast surprise for me.”

“Don’t be sorry. You said what you needed to say and anytime I get a chance to hear how you feel for me is worth it.” Gerard assured him. “Now eat your breakfast, I got another surprise for you.”