"Oh, Bert." Gerard all but whimpered, abandoning Frank and rushing over to the newcomer, throwing himself into his arms and bursting into tears.

"There's water - oh." Ray stopped in the doorway to the kitchen, watching the two men by the hall, holding each other like they were all they had left. Ray wanted someone like that.

Bert held Gerard as he sobbed, wishing he smelled a little bit better for this reunion - then again, Gerard didn't smell like a basket of roses himself. And besides, he didn't know he'd see him again.

Gerard pulled back, tearful eyes running over the taller man's scraggly hair (on his head and face), and his hands were on his shoulders. He rolled his lips into his mouth, his hands moving up to cup Bert's face, and in one swift movement he slapped him.

"The fuck?" The elder cried out, as Ray hurried back into the kitchen and tried his best not to be a dirty little eavesdropper - but listening to other people's conversations was the only fun thing he could do these days, and maybe it was all he could do, what with the paper-thin walls and all.

"Where did you go?! Why the fuck did you leave?!" Gerard yelled, fighting yet more tears as he stepped back. "First Mikey, then you - how could you?!"

"Gee, please -" he tried to grab Gerard's hands, but they were kept out of his reach.

"I was alone for months, do you know how insane that drove me?!"

"Don't you think that I was going insane too?!"

"That's not the point, Bert! That's not - that's - that's not the point -" he broke down into fresh tears, allowing Bert to pull him close and hold him. "I fucking missed you..."

"I missed you too, Gee. I really missed you too."

They stayed like that for a while, just holding each other, and they were oblivious to Ray sitting by Frank, and they were oblivious to Frank waking up.

Frank looked up and saw Gerard hugging some black-haired stranger, and he frowned. Who was this dude, and why was he hugging Gerard? What was going on? They seemed close, and Frank's insides twisted with an emotion he refused to label, something that made him angry.

The stranger's eyes opened, and he looked straight at Frank, who glared. It wasn't supposed to be possessive, but it ended up being so, and Frank hated that.

Frank hated it all.

~

Night fell, and the four found some beds, and by some great coincidence, Bert and Gerard found themselves sharing, but it wasn't like anyone minded - except Frank, of course.

And the youngest of the four didn't want to be a pissed-off, antisocial pain in the ass, but he'd already decided he liked it so much better when it was just him and Gerard and he wasn't back-to-back with someone who Lindsey had tried to kill. It was selfish, but he didn't seem to care; nobody noticed him when everyone else was around, because there was always someone more noticeable, and maybe he didn't care that they were going straight to where Lindsey was, because maybe she could get rid of Bert the way she'd tried to get rid of Frank.

Only she could do a better fucking job this time.

While Frank was thinking about signing his own death sentence, Gerard rolled over in the creaky double bed, facing Bert in the darkness. The older of the two ran his fingers over Gerard's face, brushing his hair back and leaving his hand there.

"I'm sorry." He whispered, and the younger shook his head.

"It's fine. You're here now." He shuffled closer, legs tangled and bodies pressing together. "You can protect me, right?"

"Oh yes, of course." They shared a smile, and then, a few moments later, Bert leaned in to brush his lips against Gerard's. "I missed you."

Gerard pulled back a little, closing his eyes. "We can't go back to the way we were. Not like that." And as much as he hated to say it, because he really did care about the guy, there was someone in the other room that was beginning to make his heart flutter, and doing this would probably be a good idea.

"Why not? You told me you loved me the last time I saw you."

"But that was eight months ago, that was before you fucked off...maybe I don't feel that way now."

Bert just looked confused. "Gee, I -"

"It doesn't matter. We can't just, y'know, go back to making out when things get sad." Bert turned his back on Gerard, who groaned, wrapping his arms around the taller man's waist. "B, don't do this to me."

"No, it's fine, I know when I don't matter."

"You do matter, you matter to me more than anyone in this house." Bert scoffed. "What?"

"What about that short one? The one with the eyepatch?"

Gerard's heart skipped a beat, but he tried not to stammer when he spoke. "He's nobody. Just some guy that met Mikey."

There was a long pause, one that was achingly long, and Bert took his hand, linking his fingers with Gerard's smaller, effeminate ones. "Do you trust him?" He said, after a while.

"Trust who?"

"Eyepatch-guy. Frank, was it?"

"Mm. And yes, I guess I do. I mean, he says he can take me to Mikey. Imagine losing your little brother, right when you're at your lowest, and then two years later you meet someone who says he can take you right to him. I have to take that chance, Bert. If I never see him again..."

"But how do you know he's being straight with you? You barely know him."

"I have to trust him. Mikey's all I have."

"What about me?"

"You left."

Bert rolled over so he was facing Gerard, took the younger's face in his large hands. "What if he just wants to lure you somewhere and kill you? And what's the deal with that eyepatch? Has he told you why he has that?"

"No, I...he'll tell me in his own time. I haven't known him for long."

"Yet you trust him."

"You have to trust people these days."

"No you don't, Gerard! You stick by the ones closest to you and you don't let go!"

"I lost everyone. Explain that."

Blinking back tears, Gerard slipped out of bed and headed downstairs, sitting on the couch and pulling his knees up to his chest. The tears trickled down his dirty face, and he sniffed, wiping them away with the back of his hand as he heard footsteps behind him.

"Fuck off." He choked out, staring at, but not out of, the window.

"It's me." Frank said, sitting beside him. "What's up?"

Gerard shrugged, running a hand through his hair. "I don't even know. I just miss Mikey." Frank gulped, but Gerard didn't seem to notice. "And I thought that Bert coming back would be the second-best thing to happen, but...it wasn't."

"Come here." The younger said quietly, opening his arms and allowing Gerard to fall into them. He wasn't good at affection, not even hugs or anything, but he supposed that for Gerard he could do just about anything. Almost. "We'll find him. I promise."

"What if we don't? What if it's too late?"

"It won't be. Trust me."

The kids at school used to say that Gerard trusted people too easily, and they acted like it was a bad thing, but maybe it wasn't, maybe it was a good thing after all, because if trusting Frank got him to Mikey, then he'd do whatever it took.

And besides, Frank's arms were kinda comforting, and he liked lying here. He tried not to think about Bert upstairs, or the fact that he was back, or the fact that he'd left in the first place. He just concentrated on that fluttery feeling in his stomach and working out what it meant, and for the first time - and probably not the last, either - he fell asleep curled up with Frank.

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