The Enigma's Anomaly

"Hey Gerard," I say.

"Yes, Frank?"

"I love you."

"I know," Gerard replies.

We're currently packing up all the stuff that we'd had to leave behind at the house in the middle of nowhere. It was in surprisingly good condition. It had obviously been torn up a bit, but it's not too bad. Mikey left for the city already, leaving all the packing up to us, but I don't really mind.

Thanks to Banks' death, and the smoking gun in his hand, a grand total of fifteen people have been sent to prison due to me and Gerard. There's the possibility that there's more out there, but if there are, I highly doubt they'll come after us. Everyone in the assassin community has established that Gerard is untouchable. I know that because Conte told me. There's also a rumor that I'm dead. I don't know how I feel about that, because on one hand, I did build up that reputation painstakingly. On the other hand however, I'm glad to not be that person anymore.

Everyone in that community knows that I failed to kill Gerard though. That's a big fucking deal. What they don't know is that I actually did miss without interference. Given the data set, the logical assumption is that someone is guarding Gerard. That would of course be me, but they don't know that it wasn't me at the beginning. I'm not going to correct it though. I still have a little pride left in me, even if I did fall in love with a guy I was paid to kill.

God, I still remember that sometimes. I really did fall in love with him. I was supposed to kill him. It just seems so surreal, and whimsical even. No one would ever guessed that. It's just so improbable. I'm fine with it though. I wouldn't change meeting Gerard for the world. My reputation, long past, means nothing compared to him.

"I love you too, you know," Gerard says.

"That's good," I reply, "otherwise that would make the past several months kind of upsetting."

Gerard chuckles, "no but really. Like I can't believe that you and I are alive, and it's all okay. I keep pinching myself. I was so sure that I was going to die. The first time that you shot at me, I had thought that was it. I thought that it was my funeral procession rearing its old head to mock me, but then I met you. You can't be real. I don't get how you're real, but you are."

"I know what you mean. I've never had so many near death experiences crammed into such a short period of time. You're a pretty dangerous person to be around."

"Yeah, I know. So are you though," Gerard says.

"But that's all a part of the fun," I say, "our lives are going to be so boring now aren't they though? Like, we're not going to be running away from big men with guns anymore. Where's the thrill when you don't have to constantly worry about being killed?"

"If that's your idea of fun then I'm not sure I really want to know what you call 'scary.' But I have you now, so that's where all the excitement I need is going to come from."

"Awwww. That was so cheesy," I say, grinning.

"I tried," Gerard replies.

"I'm going to miss this a little bit though. Part of me just really has a lot of respect for the chase now. I'd never been the mouse either, I was always the cat, and it's been a really eye-opening experience to get to run away with you."

Gerard says nothing for a few moments, as he grabs things and stuffs them into boxes. We've only really got enough stuff to fill a couple of boxes, but it still requires some effort.

I can't help but love it though. Watching him doing such a menial task, humming some random tune, and he's so perfect. His lip is bitten down by his teeth, and his face relaxed. He's just really pretty, because he's not doing anything. I love the way he looks when he's doing nothing, and I love the way he peeks up at me every now and again, but then looks back down nervously. It's like he doesn't want me to see him looking at me, even though my eyes don't waver from him.