"You just left him? With your brother? Are you stupid, Mikey?" Ray couldn't quite believe what he'd heard as his boyfriend returned with absolutely no sign of Frank whatsoever and an explanation that seemed to cause more problems than it solved.

"I told him." Ray looked up at that moment: all wide eyes, not quite meeting Mikey's, and a silence that lasted all too long indeed. "He hates me, of course, and Gerard's got this plotted down to absolute perfect and has therefore ensured that Frank absolutely loves him no matter what he is, and that I am of course the fucking antichrist here."

"You could have at least tried-"

"Don't even fucking start, Toro. I tried everything and still whatever I do, it's never good enough and whatever fucking bullshit Gerard does, no matter how messed up, it's always just perfect. I don't even fucking care about Frank anymore - he can ruin his own life if he damn well wants to." And with that Mikey barged into the back of the shop, falling down onto the sofa besides the mini fridge that Ray mainly used to store beer, and before he knew what was happening, he was fucking crying, and his whole world was falling apart because this was just something that he couldn't deal with.

"Mikey..." It didn't take long for Ray to compose himself before following his boyfriend round into the back, reflecting perhaps on the fact that maybe he had gone just too far, and abandoning Frank and the state of danger he really was in right now in favour of his boyfriend, because Ray really couldn't look Mikey in the eyes right now and tell him that he'd never messed up in their relationship.

"Go away..." Mikey mumbled into a pillow, Ray ignoring his request entirely as he sat down beside his boyfriend, leaving Mikey to catch his gaze and accept that Ray was not just going to 'go away' like this.

"I'm sorry." Ray whispered, playing with Mikey's hair, and the silence with which such a confession came was enough for them, for a while at least, because Ray could hardly spend more than five minutes without worrying about something or someone: the someone happening to be Frank.

"Should I just call Bob and ask him to sort out the whole problem with Frank?" Ray asked Mikey, who had just about fallen asleep where he now lay across the sofa with his head in Ray's lap.

He jerked up at that very moment, his eyes, brighter than usual, meeting Ray's with a look almost not placeable. "No. You know Bob will kill Gerard on sight and as much as I hate him, he is still my brother, and I would still mind if I had nothing left of the asshole he was."

"If he wasn't your brother, would you let me?" Mikey was quite sure where Ray was going with this at first, meeting him with a questionable gaze before an answer, but the answer came in eventuality nonetheless.

"Yeah." Mikey bit down on his lip as he spoke, hating how heartless he sounded, because although arrogant it did indeed sound, he didn't want to be quite like the rest of them; he wanted dignity at the very least, because at least he still reckoned there was a chance of peace in the town. "I would, but he is, so don't."

"I'm really worried about Frank, though." Ray couldn't help but continue; Mikey knew all too well that once Ray had started worrying, there wasn't a chance in hell that he was going to stop.

"You're really worried about everything, Ray." Mikey told him, but the comfort in his words was pretty much non-existent, as it seemed almost irrelevant, and if anything, taunting to the curly haired of the two.

"For a reason." He met his boyfriend's gaze as he spoke, emphasising his words via the medium of over exaggerated glances and glares. "Frank's in danger and you know it more than anyone: you know what Gerard's like, and you know that we can't just leave him, I mean what-"

Mikey sat as Ray began to properly freak out, sitting up beside his boyfriend on the sofa and pulling his arm around Ray's shoulders, pulling him in closer. "Don't freak out, please, Ray." He met his eyes at that moment: Ray's widened and pupils increased to unhealthy dimensions. "What do you want to do about Frank?"

"I want to call Bob, you know that." Ray admitted, his tone, perhaps a little harsh, but his words with meaning that required conveying.

Mikey bit his lip, looking down for a moment before he continued, "Gerard's my brother. I just can't do that to him - condemn him to death, you know that, don't you?" Ray nodded, letting him continue without much of an interruption. "Do you want to go out and find them? The two of us? Then you can ensure I do things right." Mikey played that last sentence off as a bit of a joke, but Ray shook his head, not in regards to the question Mikey had asked, but the way his words had been constructed.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said anything like that: it's hard for you and I want to understand that, but sometimes, I just can't, mainly because I'm not you and it's just the same way in which that I wouldn't imagine you being able to decipher every thought drifting through my head."

"It's okay. I'm sorry for what I said too." Mikey exhaled, pressing his lips to Ray's: short and sweet yet more meaningful than anything else before. "We're good, aren't we?"

"Always." Ray nodded with a smile that could convince the President himself.

"What about Frank?" Mikey almost tip-toed around the question for a few moments, his voice shaking a little as he strung out the words, perhaps just a little in fear of Ray's reaction and what would and could possibly come of it, because if he messed things up with Ray, then Mikey reckoned that nothing would be right at all.

Ray looked up at Mikey with that same smile once more, before standing up and reaching for his boyfriend's hand, pulling Mikey up too, their gazes meeting like clockwork. "I guess we'll just have to go and sort this mess out. I kind of created it - it's kind of my fault, I guess. I ought to clean it up."

"It's not." Mikey assured him, not even letting the thought cross Ray's mind for more than a moment.

"But-"

"It's not." Mikey repeated himself, smirking just a little as they stepped out of the record store Ray owned, the cold seeming to wrap itself around them as they did so. "Come on."

-

"So do you have like.... fangs?" Frank asked, his eyes widening like an excited child at the prospect, meeting Gerard's as the vampire rolled his eyes, the two of them walking through the alleyways in such a casual manner that Frank had barely noticed at all; Gerard, however, knew exactly where they were going and what was going to happen when they got there.

Gerard bared his teeth at Frank who giggled a little, almost blushing, and for what reason his sanity dare not investigate. "So I guess you have trouble giving hickeys then?"

"The only person in trouble is the guy receiving them." Gerard smirked, imagining Frank's neck all marked up and bloody, his lips scrambling for air only to choke upon Gerard's name as he screamed out for him, unable to breathe or think rationality as his whole body throbbed with lust and desire.

"Guy?" Frank picked up on the male pronoun Gerard used: perhaps even Frank's favourite part of the sense, not that he tended to have favourite parts of sentences - he reckoned he wasn't quite that weird.

"Yeah, guy." Gerard repeated, a smirk tugging at the corner of his lips as he continued. "I assume you don't have trouble giving hickeys then?"

Frank blushed instantly at even the notion that a particularly attractive guy was asking him about his preferences regarding hickeys. "I... uhh.. I don't really give people hickeys all that often I guess."

"You just get them, huh?" Gerard raised his eyebrows, stopping right then and meeting Frank's gaze; the conversation topic obviously far too important for them to even consider approach whilst walking. Frank nodded in response: a blush never leaving his cheeks, yet a small almost innocent smile never leaving his lips. "So? What about up the ass? You just get it too?"

At this point Frank's cheeks were practically on fire, but he did have to admit Gerard really had exquisitely planned out his discovering of Frank's sexual preferences, which was something the younger of the two still hadn't quite figured out if he minded yet. "Yeah... I guess... not as often as I get hickeys though; I do at least take a look at the dude's face before they fuck me."

"Of course." He chuckled a little too himself, walking forward once more and leaving Frank, cheeks still on fire, to trail on behind almost like some sort of little lost and vaguely horny puppy.

"Any reason you're asking me what I like in bed, huh? Gerard?" Frank couldn't deny the smirk playing at his lips, because if there was anyone he wanted to fuck him, it was most definitely the trenchcoat clad man walking just a few steps in front of him, and unaware to Frank, figuratively too.

"I'm asking for a friend." Gerard could barely get his words out without a snort or too, relying on an almost comedically overused middle school esque excuse that even Frank could sniff out.

"And what friend would that be?" Frank asked, playing along with Gerard's little tale, and for what reason, he really just couldn't place, perhaps it was just the fact that he really, really, really liked Gerard, and his head was almost freaking about at what to do about that: it had barely even been more than a fuck for Frank for a long time - Alex perhaps being the only exception, but even compared to Alex, Gerard was still just absolutely something else.

"Oh, you know, the main one."

"Fuck off." Frank burst out in giggles, rolling his eyes at Gerard, who in turn burst into laughter at Frank's naivety, and he almost felt a wave of guilt about what he was about to do to the poor, stupidly cute nineteen year old, because maybe Mikey was right and maybe perfect little Frankie didn't deserve it, but Gerard reckoned that Frank was far too perfect to ever let go and what he was about to do ensured that he never would.

"You wanna know something, Frankie?" Gerard asked, husky undertones in his voice as he turned the 'charm' on - it didn't seem to make all that much of a difference with already lovestruck Frank, though.

"Go on." Frank whined, rolling his eyes, stopping the both of them and meeting Gerard's eyes, almost as if he had expectations of what was about to happen, and Gerard couldn't help but find such a thing kind of cute, even.

"I think you're beautiful." Gerard admitted, and for once he found himself to be telling nothing but the truth, with even no question as to what Frank Iero had done to him on his lips, and perhaps it should have been there, but perhaps neither cared right now.

"I think you're beautiful, too." Frank admitted, blushing far more than Gerard, the vampire's skin alabaster in nature, yet blue toned enough to disguise such reddening of the cheeks with relative ease in what could only be described as an advantage.

And then before Frank could even comprehend as to what was happening, he was pinned against the brick wall between two buildings, hidden in the shadows with Gerard's body pressed against his, their lips meeting like this was nothing, Frank's heart beating enough for the two of them, and Gerard's not beating at all.

"Wait, that's him! Hey, Frank Iero." The two sprung apart as a voice emerged from the light, shining a torch beam into the shadows and Gerard hissing a little at the unexpected stream of light, leaving Frank pinned up against the brick wall, shamelessly intimidated and terribly confused.

"Who the fuck are you? We were busy, if you didn't mind-" Gerard cared to comment, arrogance almost drowning out any prior meaning his words held, yet the two figures that had approached them didn't at all seem to care.

"I'm Bob fucking Bryar, asshole."

"Bert McCracken - cockblock police, keep it PG-13, kids."

-

"Wait? Is that him? Is that them?" Mikey's voice came out with a certain uncertainty, and Ray felt no need to immediately respond, his eyes focused upon the four figures stood half in the light and half in the shadows; he knew Mikey could see them better than him, and therefore trusted in his judgement, even if he was nothing but naive in doing so. Ray reckoned he owed at least his naivety to Mikey Way at this point, not that he should have owed him anything at all, perhaps not anything other than an apology, but Ray always felt that actions spoke louder than words.

"Just fuck off? How about that?" Sure enough that was Gerard, and the two of them knew it far sooner than they would have liked to, but at least they lived in the privilege of certainty.

"That's him." Ray seemed to just narrate for the sake of it, and Mikey barely even acknowledged his boyfriend's words, not at all in any matter of hatred of distaste, but perhaps just out of the obvious nature of Ray's exclamation.

"Nah, I'm not sure we, will, huh, Bert, what do you think?"

"Fuck, that's Bob!" Mikey exclaimed, his eyes growing wide as they met with Ray's, and suspicions of the outcome of this encounter loomed. "Fuck, that's Bob, fuck what do we do?" He hissed his words in Ray's direction, and as he received no response, just as Ray was in sheer shock of the situation, Mikey decided to take matters and stupidity into his own hands: stepping forward and where the four could see him, leaving Ray to follow behind in almost a defeated, yet ignorantly loyal manner.

"Mikey?" Frank exclaimed, still entirely confused by the situation and just how everyone else beside him seemed to know exactly what was going on, and right then he didn't even care that he was supposed to hate Mikey right now; Frank was never that good when it came to holding grudges anyway. "What's going on? Why does nobody ever tell me?'

And perhaps just then Mikey couldn't help but turn to Ray, and perhaps then Ray couldn't just help but panic and turn to Bob, who realised Bert would offer no explanation and gave up, meeting Frank's eyes, the explanation almost seeming to hitch in his throat at the expression Gerard passed in his direction, and Bob seemed to freeze entirely for a good few moments, and Frank felt like punching someone or most probably himself in the face.

"What do you want from him, Gerard?" Bob asked, tone snide yet serious in the answer he wished to receive, and at first the dark haired vampire seemed almost astounded that such a question had even left Bob's lips in the first place.

"What do you think, Robert?" Gerard's attempt to intimidate Bob by addressing his via his full name fell flat on its face completely as it left nothing more than awkward stares and Frank continued wanting to punch someone in the face, and probably now in the balls too.

"Don't call him that - my name's Robert, well Bert, but..." Bert trailed off, catching Frank's eyes and pulling his gaze away seconds after because from the way Frank was indeed looking at him, he felt nothing but terribly uncomfortable.

"We're friends because we're both called Robert but not, basically." Bob added, awkward smiles exchanged as the subject travelled almost comedically off topic. "Yeah, well that's irrelevant and please stop in those shitty attempts at intimidating me, Gerard, and spit that shit out or I'm going to give it my best guess and tell Frank that, and I won't make it pretty or sugar coat it like you most likely will."

"Will someone please fucking tell me what's going on?" Frank exclaimed almost as a last bet, and perhaps he didn't even expect a response at that point, but for the first time he got one, perhaps not a direct one, but at this point, it was more than good enough for Frank.

"Gerard will." And that was the response Frank received, from Bob and indirect as well, but suddenly all eyes were on the trenchcoat clad, undead, of the group, and Frank didn't care at all at this point, because by this point he really didn't know what to think.

He trusted Gerard, well he thought; Gerard was really attractive, and he really seemed to like Frank so everything seemed to be absolutely perfect in that department, but Frank couldn't help but trust Bob, after all, they were now eternally binded in friendship after Bob had allowed Frank to smoke his weed, like seriously there was no way either of them were getting out of such an endless state of loyalty.

"I want to have sex with you, Frank." Gerard exclaimed, sighing as if it was some big deal and Frank only looked at him strangely, because he thought that was just kind of a given. "I do that kind of thing with a lot of people, I fuck with a lot of people, I mess with a lot of people. I mess up a lot of people."

"Is that really it, Gerard?" Bob's eyes widened, almost struggling to take Gerard's words as gospel: his common sense screamed nothing but liar, but the sincerity with which the dark haired undead boy had uttered the words was just unmistakeable.

"Yeah, I like him - he's too pretty, I mean I don't want to hurt him, not right now anyway." Gerard blushed a little, hidden by his skin tone, but he felt it, because he couldn't help but admit that at least a part of that sense was unquestionably true.

"That's okay, I mean as long as you don't hurt me." Frank piped up after a while, his words almost anxious in the manner with which they were uttered, directed at Gerard like no one else existed, and perhaps the two would have kissed if they didn't have quite an audience, so Gerard just smiled, and Frank grinned like hell, Bert didn't seem to care, and Bob just scowled, leaving Ray gripping Mikey's hand in conflicted concern.

And Mikey remained silent even in the obvious lies his brother told, putting Frank at risk, and letting the nineteen year old believe every word Gerard uttered, because no matter how many sins Gerard committed, how many people he hurt, Mikey could never quite condemn his brother to the justice and punishment he deserved, because from Bob it would just be sudden death, and Mikey knew that, and he was far too scared to accept that, because always, Gerard was still his big brother.

- 

Hey guys:) Slightly shorter chapter than usual but I want to get this out tonight because as I've said before I'm going to be in Belgium with school and unreliable internet until Sunday. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it and if you did, I would really appreciate it if you could leave a vote and/or a comment:) I love you all<3