mwestbelle | commentfic again

Frank's eyes go almost comically wide, clutching Gerard tighter. "Are you serious?" When Gerard nods, he stills completely, thinking for a long moment. "But--my sickness, I can't. I'd. I'd probably die, if I traveled by boat too long." He looks broken at the thought, looking down at the floor out of the corner of his eye. He wants to, wants to so badly, but he knows he can't.

Gerard holds him tighter to his chest and smiles. "What if we told you we could get rid of it? Completely. You'd never have to worry about dying again." Because you'd never die, like we haven't.

"How?" Because Mama talked to doctors, Frank knew, she talked to an awful lot of doctors, and some of them came with their tubes and leeches and books and all of them said the same thing: in the ground before he's fifteen. And it seems unlikely that these two boys would know some way that none of the fancy doctors had heard of, although they have travelled a lot and seen so much (and they're saying he could come with them and see it all too).

"When we said Gerard was nineteen and I was fourteen," Mikey exchanges a look with Gerard, "it wasn't precisely true."

Frank looks up, confused, and Gerard takes a deep breath. "We are--were--nineteen and fourteen. But, well." He hesitates, trying to find the right words. "We've been nineteen and fourteen for almost a hundred years."

Frank's arms unwind from Gerard's waist abruptly and he skitters backwards. "You're kidding. You. That's impossible. I'm not as old as you but I'm not stupid, okay?"

"I'm not kidding," Gerard says, expression totally serious.

After a long moment, Frank manages to speak again, swallowing hard. He's going to kick himself if they're kidding after all but he believes Gerard. "How would you fix me? Get rid of my--whatever?"

Mikey watches Frank closely, attention half on the door to serve the dual purpose of keeping watch for Mrs. Iero and being ready to catch Frank if he panics and makes a break. "We could make you like us."

Frank stares at him. "How. How do you do that? And. How do you live for that long? It's impossible."

(Going to bed <3)

"It's..." Gerard doesn't want to frighten Frank, choosing words carefully. "An exchange, I guess you could say. Of, well."

"Just tell me," Frank says, sighing dramatically. "I'm almost thirteen, I'm not gonna get scared, okay? I want to know." He rolls his eyes, and Gerard grins despite himself.

"Of blood," he continues, watching as Frank's eyebrows raise. "We would--take yours from you. And then you would take some of each of ours'." He prays Frank isn't going to panic or be afraid of them and he lets out a huff of relief when Frank merely seems curious.

"What do you mean, take it? Take it how?" At that, Gerard shoots a glance at Mikey, motioning for him to come closer.

"We could--show you. How it would work. If you want." And Frank nods, curiosity written across his face.

Mikey moves until he can slip his arms around Gerard's waist--going slow, graceful, no sudden moves to spook Frank, remind him that this is strange and terrifying and maybe he should scream for his mother. They're both in profile to Frank, bellies pressed lightly together. Mikey brushes an escaped strand of Gerard's hair behind his ear and smoothes his hand soft over Gerard's neck, far more gentle than he ever is when it's just the pair of them.

He glances out of the corner of his eye at Frank--eyes wide, but cheeks a little bit flushed--then leans down to Gerard's neck. He thinks licking would be a little too much for Frank to handle, but he mouths a little at the pale curve before he bites down, steady yet delicate.

Mikey's fangs slip in easily, and Gerard has to force his eyes to stay open, keep his hands from urging Mikey's mouth in more roughly. He looks at Frank, half-lidded, and isn't surprised to see Frank's face flushing. There's something decidedly intimate about the position they're in, Mikey's arm wound around him, tracing spirals on his back and fangs in his neck, faces inches apart. After a long moment Mikey pulls back with a wet sound and they move apart, looking at Frank to try to gauge his reaction.

Frank's mouth has gone dry, and he has to swallow hard more than once before he can speak. "Like that? I. Um. Wow." His heart is beating faster and he doesn't know why. "I... does it hurt?" Gerard definitely didn't look like he'd been in pain, far from it (and he flushes further at the thought, body feeling oddly hot) but he wants to know for sure.

"It's just a pinch at first but after that, not really."

Frank moves forward so fast they hardly have time to blink. "Then I want to try it. Come on." He tilts his head to the side, baring his neck.

God, Mikey can barely keep himself from bundling Frank into his arms and ripping at that pretty little neck. It would be so good, so sweet--young and tender and innocent, everything he and Gerard love. He doesn't manage to be completely good; one arm still wrapped around Gerard, he pets at the delicate flesh Frank's exposing. "No, Frank."

"No?" Frank frowns, though he leans into Mikey's fingers playing along his neck. "But. Why not? It looked." He bites his lip, swallowing hard again. "It looked nice."

"It's serious," Mikey says, thrilling to the feeling of Gerard not-so warm against him and Frank hot under his hand. "If you decide you want to do this and come with us, it's final. You won't be able to come back here."

"I--why not? Why won't I be able to come back?" Frank frowns, looking up at Gerard and Mikey with wide eyes. He's weighing the thought in his mind even as he asks, because his mother has expected to lose him since he was ten and first started coughing. If she knows that he just can't come back but he's alive and okay and happy, he doesn't think she would mind. He hopes it's at least okay that he tells her.

"It changes things," Gerard says, quietly. "The world moves on but you stop moving with it. Everyone you know gets old and dies but you don't." He doesn't dwell on the people he's left behind, not usually, but he had no choice in becoming what he is. He's not going to lie and say he doesn't remember his friends, though.

"If I. If I decided to go with you. Could I tell my mom? Just, you know. That you knew a way to cure me and that I'd be safe with you."

"Too many questions." Mikey thumbs over Frank's pulsepoint affectionately, with a soft exhale he doesn't actually need to make. "Too much that we can't explain. No one else knows about us. Just you."

Frank's eyes are wide and round, and Mikey can tell he's conflicted. Before he has to grapple with that decision, Mikey figures they might as well give him everything to think about. He's not sure exactly how he can broach the topic of what he and Gerard do to each other, especially since he doesn't know how much Frank actually knows. "Frank, how much do you know about a wife's duties to her husband?"

Frank turns pink. "Enough, why? Unless you're going to make me cook you dinner it doesn't really matter, does it? And um. Don't make me cook you dinner. I'm a terrible cook. I almost burned the house down once." He doesn't understand why they're bringing this up, not now. It's not like he's going to find a wife traveling around the world and he's definitely not old enough to get one anyway.

"Do you remember when I told you that two men can't marry but some... stay together?" Gerard gives Frank a meaningful look, biting his lip.

"Yes, but um. What about it?"

"Gerard and I." Mikey squeezes Gerard's waist gently, then smooth his hand over his side. He watches Frank closely for his reaction--if he knows as much as Mikey hopes he does, even in the abstract, it will be a shock. "It's like we're married."

Frank's eyes bug, and his face feels even hotter for some reason. "I. But you're brothers. Isn't. I didn't think that happened."

"It's not... common," Gerard concedes, glancing at Mikey for reassurance before continuing on. "But we've been like this for a long time. Does it--that, um. Bother you?" If it does, he's not entirely sure how to proceed--he'd be happy to bring Frank along with them even if it was entirely platonic, but--

"Um. Not really? I mean, it's weird. But." But in some way Frank almost saw it coming. What they just showed him seemed even to his inexperienced eyes more intimate than a normal brotherly relationship. "Why are you telling me? I mean, I'd find out--stuff. If I shared your room when you were traveling. I mean, I think." He's not going to admit to them that he doesn't know most details of what goes on when people are married, other than that it's private and all of his older friends are strangely obsessed with it.

"We were..." Gerard frowns, because he has no idea how to put it properly, looking to Mikey to help him explain. "Well."

"Well what?" Frank wrinkles his nose, mystified and more than a little embarrassed. As little as he knows about the matters they're discussing, he knows it's not a subject for polite conversation, something to make his mother pet his hair and promise when you're older (though he'll probably never get to be older).

"We don't want you to make any decisions you'll regret," Mikey says seriously, his grip sliding to tighten a little on the crux of Frank's neck and shoulder. "And if you come with us, you'll be part of that...marriage, too. So if you don't understand, or aren't sure about something, you need to ask before you get into something you don't want."

"Wait, you want me to be a part of that? But... you can't have a marriage with three people. I know that." He looks up to Gerard for confirmation, but Gerard smiles faintly down at him, giving him a look of You can't marry your brother either. Frank sucks in a sharp breath because they're serious and, well. He's confused.

"What do you guys, um. Do?" Frank asks, figuring that if there's any time he can admit to this, it's now. "I don't know how it works, um. Without girls." Or kind of with them either.

"We," Mikey looks to Gerard, a little at loss as to how he can describe this to Frank. He and Gerard learned by doing, experimenting, overhearing snippets of ideas. He has no idea what's too much to explain and what's too little. "We kiss each other. And...touch. And other things."

Frank blinks, still confused. Kissing and touching doesn't sound too different from what everyone does with their family, and he has no earthly idea what these mysterious "other things" could be.

"Not that kind of kissing," Gerard clarifies, seeing the look on Frank's face. "Not like a goodnight kiss. Um. We really can't show the other things here but we could show you that." He scratches the back of his neck, nervous. "I mean. Demonstrate it, you know."

Frank nods, hoping to get some understanding of what they're talking about, and Gerard hesitates for only a split second before pulling Mikey into a kiss, messy and openmouthed. Frank stares.

Mikey brings a hand up to cup the back of Gerard's head, threading fingers through his hair, and runs his tongue over Gerard's fangs, tracing the sharp tips delicately. He keeps his mouth open, and he knows Frank can see everything, hear the wet, needy sounds of them moving together, and the thought of Frank's wide eyes and round, flushed cheeks makes his hips hitch a little, even though they're just supposed to be kissing.

Frank finds that his lips are exceedingly dry, and he licks them and swallows again.

There's a burning in his gut, low and unfamiliar, and he can't stop staring at them, the way Mikey's hand tightens in Gerard's hair and he moves closer, hips shifting into Gerard's, the choked, needy whimper Gerard makes as he rocks back. And he gets to have this, have them.

Mikey has to force himself to pull away, giving Gerard's lip one last quick bite, before this becomes a far more detailed demonstration of what their relationship consists of than he'd planned. He looks over at Frank, takes in the definite flush to his cheeks and has to center himself for a moment to keep from lunging for him. "It's. That's how we are, together. How you would be, if you decide to come with us."

Frank tries to will his heart to stop racing and his breathing to calm, and he thinks for a long moment. On one hand, his mother would worry, but on the other he could be well and travel the world and be married to two brothers who are very quickly becoming his favorite people in the world. He feels a twinge of guilt at how easily he makes the choice.

"So, I wouldn't get any older?" he asks, finally. Gerard nods and he considers before continuing, "Then... okay. My birthday's in a week." He draws another calming breath. "Do it then. I'll come with you."

Mikey wants to smile, maybe pull him close and kiss him soft, just to know how he tastes (he bets Frank's sweeter than anything they've tasted). But he leaves his face blank and ambivalent--he can't get his hopes up, can't celebrate until this is definite. He's still a little unsure how much Frank honestly understands, and how blinded he is by the promise of health and adventures. "Are you sure, Frank? There aren't any second chances, it's forever. Do you want us forever?"

Frank nods determinedly, looking Mikey in the eye. "Yeah, yeah. I want to. And I know. And--" he flushes again, eyes darting downwards. "I want to do that stuff, too. With both of you."

Gerard has to grin at that and he exchanges a look with Mikey. He wants to do it. The entirety of the next week he's going to be a total bag of nerves. "So," he says, trying to figure out how it's all going to work. "If you bring what you're going to travel with to our room after your party we can change you then. Is that okay?"

Frank nods, stomach fluttering and trembling in a way completely foreign to him but filled with resolve. "I can do that."

The week passes in a rush--Frank barely sees the Ways, buried as he is in assisting his mother (and realizing with every hug and smile that these are the last times he'll ever see her)--and All Hallow's Eve is quick upon them. Gerard and Mikey dress to the nines for Frank's part, both of them in their very best, showing without a doubt how aristocrats dress, with Gerard in black and Mikey in deep blue. It is a masqued ball, of course, and they each procured a simple mask (white on black and black on white) for the occasion. And what an occasion it will be.

They enter the Iero home and it's a whirl of color, reds and golds and bright feathered masks but even though the commotion among them they can find Frank easily, the only one unmasked, surrounded by a crowd of people. He looks so happy he's practically glowing. Many of those around him are friends of his parents, who saw him when he was a frail boy of ten. They're celebrating, now, that he's made it to thirteen.

Gerard knows his and Mikey's masks conceal nothing, so he's unsurprised when Frank looks over, leaping up and hugging Gerard without so much as a thought to care about who might be watching. Gerard hugs back, and Frank grins up at him, already excited for the end of the party. He's going to get better tonight. He's going to get to do things with Gerard and Mikey and he's going to never have to worry about damp weather again. He can't think of a better birthday present.

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