I feel so bad that my updates are taking longer now :(

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"How is it possible that she found us?" Frank tossed the taunting invitation back into its place with ice encasing his hands, a frigid cold affecting him all the way down to the bone. He may have felt stronger, but the weakest link of his humanity lingered as his soul hadn't been ripped free, and that link was the inevitable rust of fear. 

"Lindsey has many ways of knowing things. It is possible that she got into touch with a witch to track you both." Mina's otherwise soft voice was tinted with the horrific emotion of fear, the evidence so clear in her dark eyes that Frank felt his unease worsen. He pondered if Lindsey had used such a method before, the thought inserting further anxiousness into his rigid stature. 

"We can't go to this ball." Frank whirled around abruptly, finding Gerard reaching out for him as he sensed from the push and pull of the newfound gravity between them.

"If we want to save Jamia and find justice, then we must attend." Gerard's silken voice glided along the jagged rocks of Frank's inner turmoil, a contrast leaving Frank melting into a sea of calm the instant he was met with the softness.

"This could be a trap. What if the rest of the people she invited are just part of her army so she can kill us all?" Frank's voice lowered a considerable amount compared to his anxious shouts flung out into the open, but the unevenness for his words took away the charming new satin film to his voice.

"A wicked being such as Lindsey wouldn't put on a show so grand only to kill us as soon as we step in." Marius smiled without a trace of humor in the hard lines of his handsome face. 

"She wants to play." Laila rose from her seat, the material of her long red dress pooling at her feet. "This ball is going to be her playground."

"This is her way of torturing us, isn't it?" Frank could imagine the grin splitting blood soaked lips belonging to the evil woman playing with the race of vampires with all of the strings attached to her pale fingers clawed to attack. His skin crawled with the image, disgust turning his lips down into a grimace.

From the back of the room, Gerard's brother going mostly unnoticed vocalized his thoughts. "If Lindsey plans on getting whatever she wants, it would be safe for all of us to go, unlike what we've discussed." Michael suggested.

Frank's brow furrowed, eyes locking onto the vampire so similar to Gerard that it nearly ached to feel the remains of weariness towards him regarding the past. "What did you discuss?"

"That I take you with me, and only Mina and Aura would join us."  Gerard explained the brief plan organized while Frank laid in transition from human to vampire with a ghostly sensation of fear haunting his voice. He wondered if they all gathered together then as they did now, the quiver in their palms and fingers hidden from one another to portray bravery instead of allowing everyone to fall apart on one another.

Sparks flew in Frank's stomach. "What? That's absurd, we have Lindsey's entire coven to look out for."

"Lindsey hasn't seen Mina and Aura in decades. They would distract her using the bond between the creator and the creation to their advantage while we take Jamia and attack Lindsey while she's vulnerable." Gerard's eyes fell upon the women nodding along to his words with grave expressions on their faces. Frank could feel the negativity of their thoughts radiating from them, knowing neither one would to be faced with the cruel woman tearing apart their human lives to her own satisfaction.

"I know neither of you want to do this." Frank couldn't deny the plan would work astoundingly now that he witnessed the intensity of such a bond, but the hatred the two lovely vampires held for their creator eradicated all love possible the moment Lindsey's cruelties were unleashed.

"We don't." Aura confirmed, a heartbreaking quiver in her voice. "But to end this for good, to allow our coven to live in peace without a fear of her returning to slaughter us all, we would do anything for that."

Mina reached out, pain glistening in her eyes, until her hand landed atop of Aura's shaking onr where it rested on her lap, her other hand occupied by the tangle of Marius's fingers gripping hers so tenderly. Frank could witness it now with fresh eyes and renewed senses, the richness of Mina's love for her best friend, the bittersweet obliviousness coming from the vampire beside her, and the possessive shadow of Marius hanging over her as if to silently claim the beauty desired by another. Frank's heart fell to the pit of his stomach watching the exchange so intense and yet so far from being direct, Frank felt invasive observing it. He knew well the feeling of despairing over the possible bloody fate of someone he loved. The three vampires would collapse in on themselves if they lost each other.

Frank turned to his vampire for the comfort the shell of his body craved even after such a small moment of being abandoned by the soft touch of his love, only endured to be discreet in front of an audience. Gerard sensed his longing before their eyes met and his hands reached out for Frank, resting at his waist to chase away the hurricane of emotions wreaking havoc on the sweet calm previously lifting him towards the clouds. Frank's lips met Gerard's throat briefly when he was concealed by a veil of silky black hair during the process of being pulled into his vampire's embrace, his loosely curled hands resting on Gerard's chest. 

"My mate and I crave a word alone together. I think perhaps the news was a bit much after his awakening." There was no bitterness in Gerard's voice, but the implication of his words left Frank wincing softly against the safety of his chest.   

"It's alright," Frank lifted his head to speak out, but his eyes attached to Gerard's gaze to silently tell him there was no sign of harm in the coven's intentions, "I would have needed to find out sooner or later."

"We should all take the time to talk to one another." Mina rose from her seat with careful movements, the eyes of Aura following her with a gleam of sadness sparkling alongside the darkness of her pupils. Frank carefully looked away and felt Gerard's hands situate themselves at his hips, a touch tentative enough to raise the hairs lining Frank's now flawlessly smooth skin. Peering up at his lover sparked with angst buried underneath, Frank was sprung into flight while in the embrace of Gerard, gliding through the halls of the manor and finding they'd returned to his vampire's chambers in a matter of seconds. Unlike when he was human, he didn't find himself shocked by the sudden appearance of different surroundings, he found comfort in the blur of the earth around them as he'd concentrated on Gerard's eyes while being carried in his arms.

Frank was also prepared for the passionate kiss being planted atop of his parted lips the moment they were alone once more. Soft lips and the prickle of sharpened teeth clicking gently against his own fangs resting sore inside his gums, the delicate dance of lips moving against one another in a desperate manner coming from Gerard's behalf—as if he feared Frank would disintegrate if he didn't kiss him. He'd be swept underneath the overwhelming passion of soft lips so perfect against his own if it hadn't been for the underlining desperation tickling against his sense of the unusual. Gerard was a man of sensuality as Frank had witnessed for himself during their private moments, never one to cling and shove Frank against the back of the door as he did just now. 

Frank pried his lips away from underneath the moving, pliant pair eager to consume his taste with a mighty deal of effort battling against the stirring desire pooling in his gut. With a soft gasp, he listened to Gerard whimper, his eyes wide open and the pupil expanding to eat away at the murky green surrounding the ball of black. The saddened shadow of his eyebrows solidified the fear he'd concealed the entire time, even when he awaited for Frank to awaken from his transformation into one of his own kind. Frank only longed for angelic tranquility to float among those ethereal lilypads boring past his own gaze to warmly brush against his renewed soul. It seemed that, despite Frank's form turning into a build able to withstand any strength used against him, Gerard ebbing terror remained like a poison inside his mind. 

"It's okay, my vampire." Frank shoved aside his pitiful worries to soothe his vampire with the dripping honey of his tone, finding it easy to soothe him now that his vocal chords were a clean slate void of any human-like roughness. His hands lifted to Gerard's face, stroking his hair away, sliding open palms down to the sides of his neck. 

"I know this is the only plan that will ring triumphant if we play it out," Gerard breathed, eyes fluttering shut, "but this places you in more danger than I'd originally thought."

Frank thumbs stroked over the exposed skin at Gerard's neck through the silken waves of dark hair, pulled apart by the brokenness in his vampire's voice. He was strong enough to draw walls around himself and the rest of the coven to make it appear he agreed to the plan sorted out by the vampires, but Frank watched it crumble before him in an instant. He knew it was his destiny to put out the burning fire when an echo of Gerard's painful stress flourished in his body like it was a lingering affect of his own. It was a link he'd never witnessed before. 

"I'm able to protect myself now, have you already forgotten?" Frank drew a smile to his face for Gerard to see, finding that the tug of his lips momentarily dazzled the vampire across from him. Hands gripped his waist, wrinkling the fabric of his shirt. 

"God knows if Lindsey will unleash an army against us." Gerard's eyes fell upon Frank's lips, a pale finger trembling the slightest bit lifting up slowly to trace the curve underneath his bottom lip. Frank shuddered from the silken touch so sensitive along his new flesh. 

"You have to trust me. I need you to trust me." Frank quietly urged, capturing Gerard's hand and bringing it to his lips to place kisses over the curves of his knuckles tinted the slightest shade of pale pink pretty under his ivory flesh. "I believe in you, all I ask is for you to have just as much faith in me."

Gerard was tortured by his uncertainty. It was obvious in his gaze, almost a stinging revelation to Frank who clung to each of his vampire's promises. He craved an equal amount of certainty, knowing he'd gone to the furthest length to assure his own safety and his love to Gerard, but a lingering thought pausing him from a scoff of disbelief was the reminder that Gerard had lost love once, he was only afraid of losing it again. Especially if his words remained true; he loved Frank an abundance more than he loved Charlotte. 

"Promise me that if, somehow, you are torn away from my arms, that you will find your way back to me." Gerard grasped both of Frank's hands within his own with a firm squeeze, eyes flaring with determination threatening to dip back inside the troublesome waters of desperation. 

"I promise." Frank whispered, his heart swelling so grandly, the weight of it filled the cavity of his chest. "I will always come back to you."

Nothing would be better to seal the words with than with a kiss. Soft lips being brushed against with fragility urging them to be careful with one another under the lingering feeling of such a distressing worry, only to melt away into the molding push of lips discarding the carefulness without completely eradicating all tenderness. Gerard's lips pouted against Frank's, parting once and warming further in the locking of their lips. Frank relished in the silk of Gerard's strands of hair falling between the cracks of his fingers as he crept his hands further into the locks to press him closer, the weight of Gerard's hands on his hips now tugging him closer for a harsher push against his mouth before he was pulling away. Their foreheads leaned against one another, their breath mingling in the small square of breath between their faces. Intimate moments like these were as immortal as the pair of them, leading to Frank treasuring them as much as he would their lives. 

"But now you have to promise me the same thing in return." The remaining uncertainty within the plan the vampire agreed to left Frank with a dry feeling in his mouth that didn't coincide with a thirst for blood. His fingers went to grip Gerard's hair, allowing a fragment of his guard to fall. "If anything happens to you, I don't know what will happen to me. I can be strong for you, I can survive for you, but I need you to do the same for me. I'll fall apart if you leave me."

Melting under the crumbling foundation of Frank's built strength revealing just how he quivered with silent terror on the inside, Gerard became a gorgeous enigma sweeping Frank into his arms, eyes intensely gazing into his own with the magnetizing force of the universe sucking Frank further into the warm velvet of his love. He shivered more from the ancient eternity seated behind Gerard's eyes placed inside them the moment he was turned, the breathtaking promise sealed to Frank without words being spoke as his vampire glided to the ethereal pliant bed sitting across the room, laying him across the covers with gentle precision and joining him to lay there in a silent stirring of communication. Frank's back slid against the thick comforter underneath him and he marveled against the cool slide of it skimming over his brand new skin.

"I promise to live for you, my sweet lover, but if anything is to happen to me . . ." Gerard's brief hesitation wavered Frank's contentment at the seal Gerard's gaze formed between them, no words written in blood being required for him to feel settled in the pit of his gut. It stirred uneasily now, turning his insides against themselves. 

"I refuse for there to be any what if's, Gerard, I can't bear to think about it." Frank squeezed his eyes shut to block out unpleasant possibilities he couldn't ever admit were very capable of happening. It brought the pain of sharpened spears piercing through the cold of his full heart, cracking through the exterior and pulling out the warmth of love safe inside to leave him barren and frozen in agony. 

"I hate to wound your glorious heart, but I plead for you to listen to me." Gerard's velvet voice took on a morbid role Frank hoped to steadily avoid. The whisper of pleading bringing gentle fingers under his chin to tip his face up weakened the solidified defense protecting his heavenly thoughts. Unfortunately, he'd come to realize long ago that it was impossible to stay secure in a bubble of mythical paradise. The dagger of the truth would either be taken into the hands of the beholder, or it would tear through delicate denial to leave behind a mess of glimmering carnage. 

Frank opened his eyes slowly, meeting Gerard's directly across from his line of vision. He whimpered softly at the look of forlorn darkness touching Gerard's expression as he composed the words he spoke next. 

"If one of us loses the other," Gerard swallowed, thick and appearing to be painful in the wince at his brow, "then the survivor must continue with his life. Not a life of darkness, of despair and unwillingness to go on, but a life filled with discovery, happiness, the pursuit to continue on no matter what an agonizing feat it is to carry on with such immense grief." 

The thought alone was worthy of a grimace bringing alarm into the eyes of Frank's sweet lover, unknown to the swirling irises outside of circumstances requiring immediate care, but the curse of worry was what he pleaded himself to extract from Gerard's mind. 

"I know your intentions, Gerard, but . . . what would I do without you?" Frank whispered to him. A future without his vampire at his side resumed the flames thrashing inside of him, a silenced inferno. He refused to attend to them while he kept himself certain they would end the reign of a vicious vampire and see it dissipate into the past together. 

"When we save Jamia, she will need you to guide her." Gerard urged softly, reminding Frank of other links he was needed in. "Could you let her go about on her own? Could you let her see you fall to pieces over the loss of myself when she needs strength as well?"

Frank couldn't argue at that point. Surely, Jamia was buried in the tidal wave of Lindsey's manipulation, and he was certain her state of mind couldn't have been stable while being held captive by a venomous coven. His motive throughout this journey was to gather his best friend and save her life, but he was lost in the haze of love locked inside a bond intense enough to shortly erase him from his thoughts. The binds between himself and Gerard would leave destruction in the wake of yanking one from another, but neither of them could afford losing sight of the rest if it meant other people were at stake. 

"I can't." Frank swallowed to soothe the sandpaper texture in his throat. "I know she needs me, I know that, but it's so easy to lose sight of that when just the thought of losing you hurts more than anything."

"I know, my love." Gerard cooed softly, reaching out to halo around Frank in his angelic embrace bringing holy comfort to a tormented host. "But we must do this for each other. I want you to live for me, only if God chooses to rip me away from this life. Finish what I could not."

"And you do the same for me, Gerard, you need to be the one to help Jamia and keep this coven from falling apart." Frank kissed the silken strands of hair in which he brushed away to have access to the soft curve of his vampire's jawline, finding his face was shifting to brush their lips and noses together during their moment of quietly sealing a future without one another if the world meant for it to be so. 

"Of course. I would do anything for you." Gerard's lips fluttered over Frank's lips while he spoke and pushed forward for a gentle kiss punctuating his sentence. Satin lips blushing with the fainest shade of pink, the curve of the top lip gentle enough to be perfection whenever it touched Frank's skin, no pair of lips would ever open up the core of Frank's body and fill it with millions of streams of silk warmed by sunlight to fulfill Frank of his craving for nourishment. It filled Frank with more determination to protect his vampire from abrasive wings of harm.

"Anything?" Frank whispered, stunned quietly inside of a growing kiss. 

"Cross the oceans with only myself to paddle through them, rip the sunlight from the sky to keep you warm in the bitterest winters, face an army of a thousand more vampires starved for blood." Gerard's fingers webbed across Frank's wrists, wrapping them around the soft skin and thin bone to guide Frank onto his back to hover above him like a flaming angel glowing with passion. Frank's breath hitched, his chest constricting, and his lips parted instantly at the kisses being stamped to his jawline until they edged close enough to his ear. 

"Anything." 

Frank whimpered aloud and pulled Gerard in for another kiss.  

 A string of light knocking at the door floated above the quiet sounds of their kissing lips. It interrupted their hands discovering one another from the crooks of their necks to the bones hidden under fleshy coverage of soft hips now equal in flawlessness when it came to a smooth canvas of pale flesh. Disconnecting their lips with a reluctant breath hanging from the tips of their tongues, they collected themselves quickly in order to appear decent for their visitor. Lacing their fingers together, they floated to the door as one, opening the wooden barrier to find their eyes met with a shocking discovery indeed. 

Michael stood at the doorway, nervousness clear in the fingers filtering through his hair more than once the moment the couple opened the door. Frank gave him a weary look, unsure of whether he should trust the vampire awaiting them. He looked to Gerard for answers. 

"Michael, what brings you here?" Gerard's tone remained as calm as clear waters collected from melted snow, but Frank felt his flare of defense at the middle of his spine, so close to being his own, leaving him stunned from the strength of their bond for a small moment. 

"I'm sorry to interrupt, but I was hoping that I could have a word with your mate." Michael's eyes pointed towards Frank, eyes similar to Gerard's in the shape and the life flooding inside them, but no pair of eyes could ever match the exquisite beauty in the elder vampire. 

"What for?" Gerard's shoulders grew tense. Frank studied them through a small surge of shock, coming to the conclusion that aside from the event that was Michael joining their coven, trust didn't come as easily as acceptance. The two differed greatly. 

"It's alright, Gerard." Frank interjected softly. He touched Gerard's arm with a gentle hand, his reassurance resting in his eyes for his vampire to find. He was certain the latter felt his hesitation lingering in his mind as he'd only interacted with Michael for extremely brief moments after he'd been drained by Lindsey. He hoped the tension would be put to rest if they spoke to each other privately. 

Gerard looked between the both of them twice before he slowly nodded. Frank silently thanked him with a smile for his consent, knowing Michael wouldn't need to speak to him if it weren't important. Stepping out of the room, Frank joined Michael in the hallway, and the two walked slowly through the hallway while Gerard gazed after them. 

"I won't lie and say I'm not surprised you wanted to talk to me personally." Frank admitted during their stroll becoming too quiet for comfort. Michael was still jittery with nerves, Frank's sharp eyesight catching each of the movements the millisecond they occurred. 

"It took a good deal of courage to ask. I was afraid Gerard wouldn't allow it." Michael chuckled breathlessly, eyes trained to his moving feet. 

"What did you want to talk about?" Frank wouldn't fall into an awkward pattern of small talk with an ebbing feeling of weariness not fading at the back of his skull the further they walked away from Gerard's chambers. 

Michael bit his bottom lip, a gleam of his fangs catching the light glowing down onto the hallways they walked through. He sighed, loosening up, and began to speak. "First and foremost, I owe you an apology."

The proposal of the matter at hand left Frank stunned. He halted in his pace with a smooth pause, watching Michael do the same immediately. He looked up at the lanky vampire with wide eyes filled with many questions. "An apology?"

Michael nodded in confirmation, guilt ringing through his almond brown eyes splashed with a touch of green at one iris. "I tormented you and my brother while you were with us. Lindsey, her persuasion is much too powerful, and I'm guilty of holding a grudge against Gerard for too long. Seeing Lindsey betray me has helped me find perspective, and I knew in that moment that I'd lost myself." 

Frank acknowledged his words with a nod, finding sincerity in each one falling between them. "I've heard part of the story. I can say that I know why you felt the way you did . . . you loved your mate and I can't imagine how hard it was to see her fall for your brother." 

Michael winced softly, but agreed nonetheless. "But it doesn't excuse my actions. I placed you in a position of terror to get under his skin. I knew from the moment he carried you into our home, there was something different in his eyes, in his voice. I didn't think he deserved to love anyone." 

"It wasn't only you who terrorized me . . ."

"I know this, but I was part of it, and I regret my actions. I hate the damage I've inflicted on you, on my brother, on everyone I've come across."

Frank pursed his lips, finding a running theme within these words holding great importance. "Well, Michael, have you told Gerard all of this?" 

Michael nodded, sighing once more as his hand slid through his light brown hair mussed up from the constant movement. "I have. He accepted my apology with a smile, but he has yet to trust me entirely yet."

Frank would be the same in a matter delicate and brand new in contrast to the unpleasantness of Michael's past behavior. He seemed to be honest in his hopes and apologies, but vampires were well at fooling others, Frank observed. 

"It'll take time." Frank said softly. "Gerard's a good man and I know he still loves you, you just need to prove to him that you're worthy of being trusted again."

"I plan to, I would do anything to win my brother back again. Once before, he was all I had, and I find myself in the same situation once again." Michael's eyes shone with sadness. "I can't take advantage of him." 

Frank softened at the core of his remaining apprehension. It hadn't dissolved entirely, but some faded off while watching Michael's expression fall around his sorrowful words. 

"I accept your apology. Thank you, I really appreciate it." Frank paused, adding an important segment, "But the same goes for me. I can't trust you entirely yet, but I can see that you have good intentions."

Michael's exterior lost tension at the relief filling his focused gaze. His lips smoothed over into a smile which he nodded through. "Thank you for that. And you should know that I think you make an exceptional mate for my brother. I never liked that Charlotte, but you bring something entirely different into his eyes when he looks at you." 

Frank lit up on the inside from the knowledge where he was blindsided as every lover was to the look their significant other gave them. He knew the deepness of Gerard's love, he felt it penetrating through his bloodstream and joining the borrowed blood keeping him alive as a river of silk, but a look in his eyes when he looked at Frank was another being just as wonderful as the feeling of their bond. Frank melted like butter internally at the acceptance doubled by the flattery, hoping he too would witness this look one day. 

"Thank you so much. I want nothing more than to make him happy." Frank beamed at the mere thought of Gerard who trapped him in a haze the shade of pink wine, causing the vampire across from him to smirk softly with a knowing look; Frank was truly in love with his brother. 

The two vampires returned to Gerard's chambers after they were finished with their conversation, finding Gerard awaiting for their return with a spike of anxiousness accelerating his approach to Frank. Frank's hands were enveloped in the caress of his vampire's hands reaching out for him as if they'd been apart for decade. Warmth unfurled in Frank as he smiled up at his vampire to reassure him that nothing chaotic had partaken in his conversation with his brother, even enlightening him to see all was more than well. 

"Sorry for stealing him for a moment." Michael smiled slightly at the two finding it so easy to become wrapped up in every second they shared with one another. 

"As long as all is well, I have no complaint to express." Gerard's voice was slightly breathy with the relief sprouting within him, channeling into Frank who even let out a breath of the same expression without fully controlling it. 

"But, if you don't mind, brother, I'd like to speak with you as well." Michael hesitantly interjected. Frank hid his smile by burying his face into Gerard's neck, inhaling the enticing scent exuding from him in a rich aroma that no other vampire would ever be able to detect. Frank's mouth watered with venom. 

"I'd like it if you listened to him." Frank whispered against Gerard's ear as a gentle encouragement. The tickle of his breath was the reason for the tiny tremor rolling through his vampire's body. Frank pulled away from him to smile with kindness in order to loosen up the tension present in his body, allowing him to know all was in the clear. Gerard looked mildly confused from the sudden change in Frank's attitude towards his brother, but he turned to acknowledge the younger vampire no matter that fact. 

"Let us speak, then." Gerard concluded, slowly moving away from his mate to join his brother at the doorway. With a lasting glance, he joined his brother behind his step down the hallway, disappearing out of sight with words Frank could easily listen to, but he blocked out the noise to give the pair privacy. 

Frank reached around his neck to touch the rosary Gerard gifted to him. He could almost imagine the remains of his once human warmth absorbed into the rounded beads when he rolled them between his fingers. Slightly dissolving his smile, he wondered if part of the reason why Michael made amends with the two of them was because of their departure to Lindsey's ball soon to come. Their lives could have been at a large risk depending on whether Lindsey had a specific plan in mind to crumble their own formation of an idea, Michael must have realized this. Frank recalled his earlier suggestion of having the entire coven approach Lindsey as opposed to certain individuals parting from the group. Frank couldn't deny the danger following the plan, certain that a team of vampires would conquer all in the end, but he also couldn't shake that a much more personal attack would make the infamous coven leader Lindsey more vulnerable. 

If he listened closely to the noises stirring about in the manor, he could detect the hum of numerous voices seeping through the walls, certain words he picked up involving the ball and the vampires submitting themselves to danger. He heard soft footsteps, the quiet creaking of the house settling in the night, the far away noise of crickets finding shelter in the garden beside the bubbling fountains running with fresh water. He listened to the breeze touching the sides of the house, relishing in his amplified senses while attempting to find peace. Interrupting Frank's thoughts was the creeping fear of whether or not he would leave the ball with his lover at his side. His sweet vampire, the one he spent years searching for, earning that same man as a reward in both friendship and romance that he'd be eternally grateful for no matter the amount of hurting they endured to come together as one. Losing him would be losing his heart, his mind, but his vow to keep breathing no matter how garish the future may seem to him if he lost his vampire kept him only slight inches above the ground, struggling to keep a leveled height or else he'd float away. 

Frank submerged deeply into these thoughts until sudden joy not belonging to his own self sprouted like soft marigolds at the back of his mind, ticking the negative thoughts out of his skull so kindly. He blinked at the unexpectedness, looking up in time to find his vampire gliding towards him with sleek steps, his arms outstretched. Frank allowed his rosary to fall around his neck again, all overwhelming thoughts forgotten in an instant. 

"Mm, mon amour." Gerard purred the sentiment once he gathered Frank into his embrace, feathery soft hair brushing against Frank's cheek like the tender caress of fingers. 

"How did it go?" Frank, slightly breathless from the exuding romance soaking into his pores, touched his lips achingly soft to Gerard's flawless cheek. 

Gerard gazed down at him with bright eyes lightened by his smile reaching the expression inside of them. He swiped his thumbs along Frank's cheeks, velvet over fresh silk. "My brother apologized to me for all the wrong he's done to me. He also longs to become closer with you as long as we could start anew."

"I would adore that." Frank beamed, but the embers of his momentary joy dimmed as he was faced with reality. With his lip between his teeth, he clasped Gerard's hands in his own and held his gaze steady to state, "It's more of a reason for you to try your best to come home with the rest of us when we go to that ball."

Gerard's expression smoothed over into a more serious tranquility, a sparkle of determination bringing perfect lips to Frank's forehead in a soothing kiss. "For the both of you, I will use everything I have within me to assure no one returns home without the other." 

"From the bottom of my heart, I swear I'll protect you."

"I swear the same, mon amour."

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A/N; Greetings everyone from a longish hiatus, I sense there might be disappointment because this is a filler chapter, but it's still significant to the plot as every other chapter is. After this chapter, we will lead into the main action of the story and eventually, the ending, which is coming very very soon. 

I hope this was still good despite it not being very eventful, it only took long because of my inability to write to my full potential without typing on a real keyboard rather than tapping on  a screen. It feels good to return and feel the keys under my fingers, even the sound encourages me to keep going. 

I hope you're all doing well, there is more to come soon and I'd love for you to say with me on the rest of this wild ride.

"You were meant for this love, you're my flesh and blood."

-aprilxo