I Never Told You What I Do For A Living

4: Possibly The Longest Conversation Ever

"He's dead then."

The words reverberated through his body and wrapped around his throat, suffocating him. Moving didn't require any breathing though, so he still managed to raise his gun again and move swiftly towards the smirking man.

"You like to point that thing around a lot, don't you?" He stated, raising his eyebrows and still smirking at the red-haired man.

"Where is he?" Gerard choked out, regaining the ability to breath again.

"Do I look like a 'Pete' to you? How the hell am I supposed to know where he took your Mikey?" He sneered, "maybe if you weren't so busy shooting my customers you could have helped him sooner."

"Tell me how I can get my brother back or I'll shoot you without even hesitating."

Iero paused. "He's your brother?"

"Yes!" Gerard yelled, starting to feel hopeless about the situation.

"Fine..." Iero sighed, starting to step inside and motioning for Gerard to join him. After hesitating slightly, Gerard decided he needed to know what this other man knew in order to get his brother back. Unfortunately, he was led into the room with the dead body and a lot of sex toys.

"At least I can still sell the film, I guess," the shorter man said to no one in particular. Realising that he had been caught on camera, Gerard got out his gun again and shot it in the lens, destroying any evidence that had been recorded.

"Oh for fucks sake!" Iero yelled, glaring at Gerard with a degree of contempt.

"Just check his pockets for money," Gerard said, rolling his eyes at the scowling midget.

"Oh yeah." He rummaged through the dead man's pockets to find a few notes and smiled contentedly.

"What was his name, anyway?"

"Uh... He was called Bert, I think."

"Do you not even bother to remember their names?"

"No. I don't care about their stupid names, as long as I get my money I don't care what they look or act like either." He replied, lying down on the bed with way too much self-confidence and began smirking at the man standing awkwardly in the doorway and who was trying desperately not to look and all the violent looking toys in the corner of the room. "My name's Frank by the way."

"I know."

"Do I not get yours?" Frank asked, raising his eyebrows with an expectant look on his face.

"No."

"Well that's a bit rude. I think I deserve that, at least, since you so rudely killed one of my customers and shot my very expensive camera."

"Tell me about Pete."

"How about you tell me your name and I'll tell you all I know about Pete."

Gerard sighed and began hating the man even more now that he was withholding information that could help him save his brother. "It's Gerard."

"Gerard," Frank tested the name, cocking his head to the side slightly and studying the man in front of him. "That's a very pretty name for a very pretty boy."

"Just get on with it." Gerard snapped, feeling his cheeks warm slightly.

"Sure thing, sugar," came the reply that was accompanied by a very obvious wink. "Pete was a customer of mine once. He had a big mouth and talked a lot but he talked even more when he was drunk. In fact, he told me lots of interesting things about his line of work and, by the looks of things, you two had a very similar job. Apparently, he got fired from his job after his boss found out he was killing innocent people on the side and now he isn't too fond of assassins, in fact he hates all of them. He also told me he was the best at his job and trust me when I tell you this, that man is lethal and I don't use that word lightly. He once killed an entire family of people plus their dog - which I wasn't too happy to hear about - in a matter of minutes. He also once tortured a man for a month just because he was bored before dumping his bruised and beaten body in a river with a large stone tied to him."

"Do you know where I can find him?" Gerard asked him after considering his words for a few moments.

"No but you could ask his old partner, Patrick. I heard they weren't just partners in the professional sense but also in a more... intimate way. Poor Patrick was heart-broken when he found out what Pete did."

"You two sound awfully close." Gerard noted dryly.

"He's a regular of mine. Wait a moment and I can get you his address."

"How many people do you fuck for money?"

"More people then you kill regularly, I bet."

"I severely doubt that," Gerard scoffed, brushing off the insult with ease. He wasn't arrogant really, he was just very confident when it came to his job. "Wait, doesn't that make you a prostitute then, not a porn star?"

"I do a bit of both but mainly porn. People pay me to record having sex with them so they can use it later to jack off too but I also sell the films myself to get a bit of extra money."

"But isn't it... illegal to sell them without permission." Gerard asked, slightly confused. Frank just gave him a condescending look and raised his eyebrows slightly.

"Honey, you just shot a man not ten minutes ago and now you're planning to go out and kill another. I wouldn't say you were an entirely innocent party here..."

"But he was going to shoot me!" Gerard moaned, putting a hand on his hip and pouting like a child.

"Cute..." Frank noted dryly, "here's Patrick's address anyway." Gerard took the piece of paper from Frank and nodded a 'thanks' towards him. Looking at the rushed, scrawled words on the page, Gerard realised that it would be a looong drive that night since this guy apparently lived in Chicago.

"Thanks, I'll be going now." Gerard sighed, turning towards the door.

"Ok then, I'll get my coat!" Frank exclaimed, jumping up from the bed and moving towards Gerard at a very eager pace.

"Wait what? You're not coming with me, you'll just get in the way!"

"Too bad, I've already decided. Besides, I was the one who gave you the damn address." Frank paused for a moment, a mischievous look in his eyes, and began rummaging through some drawers.

"I honestly couldn't give a fuck, you're not coming." He crossed his arms defiantly, letting his stubbornness take over.

"What about this..?" Frank held up a tape and smirked, looking at Gerard like he'd won the lottery.

"And what is 'this'?"

"The tape your boss wanted you to destroy. Honestly, I can't believe you would forget about it like that, can you imagine the destroyed look on his face when he realises it still exists..." The smirking man faked fainting, trying to over-dramatise things and succeeding beautifully in the process.

"How did you know about-"

"Please, I've been expecting you for ages, why else do you think I would invest in a gun?" He cut off Gerard. His smirk kept growing as he registered the conflicting emotions on Gerard's face. Annoyance, confusion, anger, impatience. And then, of course, the wonderful look of defeat as his fight drained from him.

"Fine... but don't complain if I play the same Misfits record for the next three hours." Gerard sighed again, only this time with annoyance.

"You like The Misfits?" Frank asked, eyes lighting up with excitement.

"Yeah.." Came the reply followed by a 'so what?' shrug.

"Well now you're definitely not getting rid of me!" He declared, throwing the video on the floor and stamping on it, before promptly making his way towards Gerard's car, leaving the red-head to trail behind and mope.

"Oh joy..." Gerard said unenthusiastically to himself.

(A/N: Wow, this chapter was really difficult to write for some reason and I'm not too sure if I'm happy with how it turned out but whatever... The only reason I'm really writing these chapters so close together is because I can't be bothered to revise for my exams so apparently I have lots of spare time :P Anyway... here's to Three Cheers For Sweet Failure I guess..)