Call Me Zero (Frerard)

13: All I want for Christmas is you.

A/N: im sorry its been so long !! this is a p long chapter though so i think you guys will be happy :) also ch 14 is coming tonight as well, pretty soon. also thank you so much for 10k omfg!!!!!

sidenote bc i gotta say something about bowie, im still so upset okay i cant even really talk about it it doesnt seem real..

anyway, i hope you guys enjoy this. love you <3

~

It was Christmas Eve and Frank had no presents for Zero.

In truth, he had maybe two or three, but they were little gifts. Nothing to be the big present. The present.

He couldn't figure out what the hell to get them. Obviously he knew what they liked, (they had been with him almost two months now) but he wanted to get the perfect present. He had gone to almost every store in town and nothing had stood out to him.

Now, he was walking down the street, hands in his pockets, head down, trying to figure out what he was going to do. The only light was coming from the street lights and the occasional store that he passed that was still open. He was walking down to Mitch's to pick up some food for him and Zero, then he was going to head back home.

There's still a little time to find something I guess.

Frank looked into the windows of each shop he passed by, but he had already been in most of them, and the ones he hadn't wouldn't have anything for Zero anyway. He passed by the alley next to Mitch's place when he heard a noise behind him and stopped short. He turned around and looked into the alley. There was a dumpster near the entrance and a few old pizza boxes on the ground next to it, but Frank couldn't see anything else.

Just when he was about to walk away, he heard the noise again. It sounded almost like a meow. Frank leaned in closer, scrutinizing the shadows and trying to figure out where the noise was coming from. It took him a good few minutes, but then he finally saw it. A tiny grey kitten was huddled near the brick wall of the alley.

He strode closer and leaned down to see the cat. It was shaking, and looked up at him with wide, frightened eyes. It reminded him a lot of someone else he knew. Frank reached out slowly and cautiously with one hand. The kitten cowered into the wall a little more, but didn't put up a fight when Frank scooped it up. He cuddled it close to his chest, trying to warm it up. It let out another loud meow.

"Shh..." Frank whispered.

He held the cat in one hand, keeping it against his chest and moving his hand under his leather jacket.

He stood there for a long while and finally it occurred to him: this was the present.

Frank smiled to himself and turned to walk the rest of the way down to Mitch's. He would have to clean the cat up a little when they got home, considering it had been living in the dumpster. Then maybe after the holidays were over he could take it down to the vet to make sure it was healthy and doing okay.

The cat let out another meow as Frank walked into the pizza parlor. Mitch looked up at him.

"Pardon?"

Frank laughed and pulled his hand out of the jacket to show the kitten to his boss.

"Zero's Christmas present."

Mitch grinned.

"Well now. Ain't that sweet."

Frank smiled back, "I knew I'd find something eventually."

Throughout the day as he'd been shopping around, Frank had stopped by the shop to pick up a drink or a snack, so Mitch knew he'd been out all day.

"The pizza's ready. Just lemme get it, it's in the back."