Wintertime (Frerard, Sequel to Summertime)

17: Gerard's Hair Is Once Again A Major Plot Point

Frank had fallen asleep with tears on his cheeks, at some time in the middle of the night in his car on the way out of New York, and had awoken to a spectacular sunrise as they drove through towns and roads he found himself familiar with - it felt different, it felt weird, but there was this sensation throughout the entirety of Frank's body: a tingling feeling, like he belonged here, that despite the hell that he'd runaway from, he'd always belong here.

And perhaps much the same could be said for the redhead in the driver's seat; Frank didn't even know that Gerard could drive, Frank wasn't even sure he actually could, but they hadn't died yet, and he was too tired to give much of a fuck otherwise.

It was only as he fully sat up in his seat, fixating his gaze out the front window and the world ahead of him, that his brain and sanity finally kicked in and he came to the slap to the face realisation that he hadn't dreamt at all.

It was odd, and it was like suddenly his whole mind was on fire, and he couldn't even find the words to convey it to Gerard, because he could barely understand it himself, let alone explain it, fuck, was it the drive? Was it Jersey? Was it this place? Had it all been just some yearning at the back of his mind for home, that fucked him over and manipulated him into returning home? Fuck. Or perhaps it was just a fluke, and perhaps hell would be in his mind the very moment he closed his eyes tonight once.

"What was it?" Gerard asked, glancing across at Frank in the passenger seat, having noticed the shorter man's awakening, but Frank only stared at him: all wide sleepy eyes and confusion. "The dream," Gerard stressed, "your dream."

"Oh..." Frank trailed off, pushing his hair out of his face and setting his gaze on the Jersey sunrise: the very sunrise he hadn't encountered in years. "I didn't have one." Frank admitted, his tone muffled and shaky, but sincere and, of course, honest.

Gerard's eyes widened, and he even turned to look at Frank, "what?"

"Gerard get your fucking eyes back on the road- look, do you want me to drive, you need a break, don't you?" Frank offered, sitting up straighter in his seat, and totally not changing the subject.

"No, Frank, I don't need a break: I'm dead, I don't get tired or fatigued." Gerard rolled his eyes, "I'm better at driving than I expected, you know? Like I haven't actually driven before, and-"

"You're fucking kidding me-"

"No, you know, I told you? Back when I was... back before... my mum never let me drive or anything..." He trailed off, "well fuck her, because I'm great at driving: no accidents, no deaths, look at me, Frankie!" He exclaimed with entirely too much vigour.

"I fucking-..." Frank trailed off, "I fucking give up." He shook his head, grabbing a cigarette from his pocket and putting his feet up on the dashboard as he lit it.

"That's a safety hazard." Gerard gestured vaguely with one hand towards Frank's feet.

"You can't drive - that's a safety hazard." Frank stressed, leaning back in his seat and reassessing his existence briefly. "But... yeah... I didn't dream, I have no idea why or what... I just... it's a good thing, isn't it?"

"Yeah, it is." Gerard smiled, "maybe you're getting better, Frankie, see I told you that you were better off without those pills: now they've worn off, look you're doing better, aren't you?"

"I guess." Frank shrugged it off, not entirely sure if he agreed with Gerard, but he was in no mood to get in an argument with the guy in that moment.

"There's... there's also... this... thing that I may have discovered like an hour ago while you were asleep." Gerard began, his voice shaking a little as he did so, "I stopped to get you some breakfast, which is on the backseat by the way, and I didn't want anyone to see me, like I was very fucking sure of that, but... but... people did, it was like... like I was just... alive, I was so fucking freaked out... I... I didn't know what the fuck was happening, then I realised... it's this place and you."