solarbaby614 (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
solarbaby614) wrote2011-10-25 03:27 pm
solarbaby614) wrote2011-10-25 03:27 pm
Entry tags:
Fic: Carnivore Animal ( I am A Cannibal)
Title: Carnivore Animal (I Am A Cannibal)
Author:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
solarbaby614
Word Count: 3935
Pairing(s): Gerard/Frank
Summary: It's the news that finally catches his attention.
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: All I own is the plot.
Author's Notes: This originally started out as an idea for a 3rd-Rock-From-The-Sun!MCR AU but it some how morphed into a cannibalistic aliens au. XD Written for myspook_me prompt of cannibals and my ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
mcr_bingo square of 'Other: Vegetarianism'. Title taken from Kesha's song Cannibal.
“So you don’t eat meat?” Gerard sounds aghast by the very idea.
Frank shakes his head. It’s not the first time he’s gotten this reaction from people but it’s strange enough coming from the person in front of him. He would have thought that an advanced being from another planet would understand that not everyone had to eat meat.
But Gerard just acted like he‘s the one staring at the alien. “None at all?”
“Nope.”
“How do you survive?” Gerard reaches forward and touches him, starting with his forehead and working his way down his face, trying to find fuck knows what and Frank has to stop him when he reaches for his shirt, grabbing his wrists. He seems to have this thing about personal space. For him, it doesn’t exist.
He ignores Gerard’s pouting when he releases his hands and goes back to his veggie burger.
Gerard goes back to his burger -- which is really nothing more than a large slab of extremely raw meat between two pieces of bread -- and keeps giving him worried looks out of the corner of his eye.
Jesus, Frank hopes this doesn’t become a thing. He puts up with freezers full of that crazy raw meat they keep bringing back for themselves; surely they can put with some tofu in the fridge.
“Gmfh,” Gerard tries to say through a mouthful of food, before realizing it’s not possible. He swallows and tries again. “Humans are strange, strange creatures.”
“Tell me about it,” Frank mutters and Gerard sends him an amused look.
He really should have known that that wouldn’t have been the end of it.
* * *
One night Frank brings home a bowl of jello and Gerard shrieks and launches himself over the back of the couch.
Frank frowns, opens his mouth to say something and then reconsiders and shakes his head. The bowl get sat down on the table and he’s half way through yanking off his coat when Gerard leaps out from behind the couch like some sort of fucking ninja and pulls him down behind it.
“Stay down,” Gerard hisses at him and glances around the couch toward the table. “We can make a run for the front door and get Ray and Mikey. Then we can kill it.”
“Kill what?” he asks, trying to peak over the top of the couch, expecting to see some sort of alien-esque creature waiting on the other side. But he doesn’t see anything out of place.
“Stop that,” growls Gerard, leaning so close that he can feel Gerard’s breath on his face. That voice sends shivers down his spine. He can see red start to tinge around the edge of Gerard’s irises. “Why did you bring it here anyways? Are you trying to get us all killed?”
“What are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about the bowl, Frank!” he huffs, running a hand through his short blond hair. “I’ve never heard of them being in this part of the system.” There’s clear panic in his voice and it takes Frank a few moments to realize what he’s even talking about.
“You mean the jello?” He lets out a laugh. “It’s just food, Gee. Nothing dangerous. I eat it all the time.”
“You eat them?” Gerard says in awe, staring at him wide eyed. He doesn’t move when Frank pulls himself to his feet and grabs the bowl off the table. “I thought you didn’t eat meat.”
Gerard flinches back when Frank opens the lid, like it’s gonna come out and attack them, and then blinks when all it does it jiggle. “It’s not meat,” Frank tells him. He still doesn’t seem sure so Frank reaches in and pokes holes in it. “See?”
He shuffles forward a few feet and pokes at it himself. “Oh,” he says quietly and then glances up at him and blushes. “I thought… never mind.”
Frank has to grin at him. “Thanks for trying to protect me from the evil jello.” The blush gets darker in response and he takes a finger full of the jello out of the bowl and pops it in his mouth. “Try some.” He holds it out to Gerard. “It’s good.”
He’s just taken another finger full for himself when Gerard grabs his wrist and pulls it towards his mouth. Frank can’t make himself move as a wet tongue licks the jello from his fingers before giving his hand back.
“Yeah,” Gerard says, grinning, “tastes good.”
* * *
There are a lot of things Frank never asks them. Things like why they came here or what they really look like. Ray says that they are probably the beginning of some sort of alien invasion but Frank takes one look at the two aliens watching soap operas on his couch and can’t bring himself to believe it. Of course, he’s not sure how much Ray really believes it either, considering the fact that he’s sleeping with Mikey.
Ray grins smugly at him when he says as much. “I’ve got no problem being the pet of some alien invader,” he says loud enough that the two can hear and Gerard sort of blanches while Mikey leers.
“I didn’t need to hear that,” replies Frank, burying his face in one of the couch pillows.
Gerard reaches over as the only other sane person in the room and pats him on the head.
Frank never asks where they go every few nights or where they get that meat that they bring back because, honestly, it’s really none of his business if they’re out slaughtering cows or whatever in the dead of night.
It’s the news that finally catches his attention. He usually doesn’t watch it but he can’t find the remote -- thanks, Mikey -- and he really has no desire to get up and change the channel so he ends up sitting through two reruns of Dr. Phil before the news catches his attention.
The newscaster has big blond hair and a somber expression and it takes a few minutes for him to recognize her as the weather girl that Bert had a crush on a few years back. Her image disappears and is replaced by pictures of twelve different people.
“Mystery still surrounds the disappearance of several people in the area. Authorities are urging people to stick together in groups when venturing outdoors until the case is solved. In other news--”
The channel changes to some cartoon.
“Hey!” Frank turns to glare at Mikey. He knew he had been hiding the remote, probably some sort of passive aggressive revenge for drinking the last of the beer. “I was watching that.”
Mikey just gives him a look through his glasses before he stretches out on the beat up loveseat, ignoring him in favor of an episode of the Simpsons.
* * *
“I don’t understand it,” Gerard says later, digging through the freezer.
“What do you mean?” Frank asks.
Gerard frowns, obviously not finding what he’s looking for, and shakes his head. “The lady on the news.”
It takes Frank a few moments before he realizes what he’s talking about. “You mean the missing people? You think it’s anything to worry about? Ray and I can take care of myself and god knows you two can as well.”
Gerard rolls his eyes. “Don’t be stupid, Frank. We wouldn’t hurt you guys.”
Suddenly, Frank feels cold in a way that has nothing to do with the open freezer. “What are you talking about?”
“I don’t understand what people are going on about,” Gerard responds. “It’s survival of the fittest and a dog eat dog world and all that.” A slight grin appears on his face. “Actually, I guess it would actually be a man eat man world.”
“Oh my god,” Frank can barely get out, his voice shaking. His eyes travel between Gerard and the open freezer. He feels like he’s jumping to a major conclusion but he can’t help it. It’s like everything suddenly fits into place. “Oh my fucking god.”
“Frank?” asks Gerard, looking concerned. “Are you alright?” He reaches out to touch him but Frank jerks back so fast he slams into the wall. “Frank!”
“Tell me that I didn’t hear you right?” he pleads. “Tell me that there aren’t people in the freezer.”
The expression on Gerard’s face is a mixture of startled confusion and sadness, like a child who has no idea when he’s being chastened. He reaches out again, freezing when Frank flinches back, and wraps his arms around himself. “I don’t understand. What’s wrong?”
That’s not what he wanted to hear. It’s not a denial. It would have been a lie but he wanted that lie. He didn’t know what to do without it. “Leave,” he says quietly. Gerard looks so taken aback, so heartbroken, that Frank wants to go to him and wrap his arms around him. And he almost does until he looks at the freezer again. “I said leave,” he says again, louder, firmer, stronger.
“Frank?” There’s panic in Gerard’s voice and he’s gone even paler than normal. Black is starting to bleed into Gerard’s hair and Frank can even see it start to lengthen.
It’s more than Frank can take. Turning, he takes off into his bedroom and slams the door behind him, locking it. This is… he doesn’t even know what this is. He slides down the door before curling up on the floor, resting his forehead against the wood.
The whole apartment is dead silent and Frank is cursing Mikey’s habit of turning off the TV and the radio in a futile attempt to preserve energy when he hears the footsteps approaching his door.
“What did I do wrong?” Gerard’s quiet voice is muffled through the door. “Please, Frank. Whatever it is, I’m sorry. Talk to me,” he begs, his voice shaking.
It wouldn’t be easy but Frank could ignore him, wait for him to go away and then make a break for it. But he doesn’t. Instead he opens his mouth and says, “You can’t do this. You can’t eat people, Gee,” his voice cracks on last part. “It’s not right. Meat is one thing but not humans.”
“Okay, okay,” he says quickly, too quickly. “I can eat other stuff. This world is full of stuff. I’ll find something else.” It couldn’t be this easy. When Frank doesn’t say anything he desperately replies, “I didn’t know. I really didn’t know.”
He sounds so broken that Frank unlocks the door and opens it without thinking about it. Gerard is sitting on the other side, curled up with his arms wrapped around his knees. “No more meat, okay?”
Gerard nods frantically, scrambling to his feet. “I promise. Just don’t send me away.”
He flinches at the words.
The action seems to make Gerard hunch into himself even farther and Frank realizes that he’s changed. The short blond hair is gone, replaced with black hair that hangs down to his chin. He’s seen the black before, but not the limp, sad looking black that now graces Gerard’s head.
Frank moves forward and Gerard moves away, like Franks going to hit him. But he doesn’t let that deter him and he wraps his arms around him. Gerard is stiff in his arms only for a few moments before practically melting into his embrace, pulling him close and pressing his face into his neck.
This should be weird. It shouldn’t be this easy just to say ‘don’t do that anymore’ and ignore the fact that Gerard and Mikey have been killing and eating people for month. But it is just that easy.
He lets Gerard pull him down on the couch and wonders if he’s under some sort of alien persuasion. Like maybe his species gives off some sort of pheromone or something as a self defense mechanism to keep people from freaking out. Maybe he’s actually being drugged or hallucinating the whole thing.
When Gerard leans down and presses their lips together, Frank really can’t find it in himself to care.
* * *
Things don’t really change that much.
When he had said no more meat he had meant no eating people and tells Gerard as much but Gerard sticks to his promise not to eat meat at all, getting rid of what’s in the freezer and putting into place a meat ban throughout the entire apartment, much to Mikey’s dismay.
He drags his brother off into Frank’s room and shuts the door. Frank can hear the muffled arguing from the kitchen and he’s starting to get concerned when the door slams open and Mikey stomps out of the apartment, glaring at him on his way out.
“Mikey’s gonna start eating at Ray’s,” Gerard tells him. “Nothing human though,” he hurriedly adds, though he doesn’t sound so sure about that.
“That’s fine,” Frank replies, trying to give him a reassuring smile. He’s not sure how well it works but Gerard relaxes slightly, looking relieved.
Gerard spends the next two days picking through the contents of his fridge to find something that he likes. They pretty quickly figure out what he does and doesn’t like and Frank starts swinging by the store on his way home from work to pick up stuff he thinks Gerard will enjoy. There isn’t a lot there that he eats, tofu makes him turn the color of dirty socks, but he seems to enjoy what he does find, sweets in particular.
It’s not exactly healthy for the most part but Gerard waves off any concern when he brings it up.
“I’ll fine,” he reassures Frank, grabbing another twizzler. They’re both curled up on the couch, watching some movie about a killer shark. “It’s not eating this stuff that’s gonna kill me.”
Frank doesn’t like the way that sounds and asks, “What does that mean?” but Gerard just ignores him and turns back to the movie.
* * *
It takes a couple weeks before Frank notices something’s wrong.
Gerard starts to get jumpy and worried when ever Frank goes anywhere, becoming strangely clingy. Any sense of boundaries that Gerard’s ever had seems to have vanished. It’s almost as if he’s afraid Frank is going to disappear.
One morning Frank wakes up to find Gerard curled up against him on his bed, his hair bright red.
He blinks and shakes his head because it’s not the first time he’s woken up to find that Gerard has crawled into his bed during the night. It’s something that Frank enjoys more than he’ll ever admit. He’d be worried about his virtue if he had any left.
The grin fades from his face when he gets a closer look at him.
Gerard’s shivering and clammy to the touch. When Frank looks closer he notices that Gerard’s skin is tinged gray.
“Jesus Christ,” mutters Frank. He brushes hair away from Gerard’s face and his eyes flutter open. Frank releases a breath he didn’t realize he was holding.
“Don’t feel good,” Gerard groans, moving closer.
This wasn’t good. “I’ll be right back,” he says, getting up.
Gerard grabs his wrist before he can get too far and shakes his head. “Stay,” he whines, tightening his grip.
“I’m just going to get Mikey. I’ll be back.” Gerard’s grip doesn’t lighten. “I promise.”
For a moment he thinks Gerard’s going to fight him on it but he ends up releasing his grip with a nod.
* * *
“What’s wrong with him?” Frank asks when Mikey exits the bedroom.
Mikey doesn’t say anything, but he sees the tightness in his face and the tears in his eyes.
“Gerard’s dying, isn’t he?” It seems like a large assumption to make but he doesn’t even have to see Mikey nod to know that he’s right. “How can we stop it?”
There‘s a few moments where Mikey looks like he‘s trying to figure out what to say before he starts slowly, “It’s the meat. We can’t survive without it,” Mikey tells him. “That’s why we came here. It was getting too dangerous for us on our planet. The weak get picked off first there and we stopped being important enough to survive for very long. We eat our own kind, Frank. That’s just the way it works.”
Suddenly, Frank lets feel weak and he has to sit down.
“We picked Earth because human physiology is close enough to our own that we can survive on it. Without it our body starts to starve. We can fight it off for a while with replacements but…” Mikey shakes his head. “You can’t replace the real thing, no matter how much you try.”
“So it’s because of me,” Frank says, burying his face in his hands and rubbing his face. “He’s dying because of me.”
Mikey doesn’t try to deny it. “I promised him I wouldn’t go against your wishes,” is all he says.
He takes a deep, shaky breath before looking up at him. Mikey doesn’t look all that great himself, Frank realizes. He’s lost weight and is starting to look pale. How blind has he been not to realize that this has been happening? “Fix him,” Frank instructs him. “I don’t care how you do it but I want you to fix him.”
Relief spreads across Mikey’s face and he hurries into the bedroom, only to return a few minutes later with a feverish looking Gerard leaning against his shoulder. When he moves to help, Mikey shakes his head.
Gerard blinks between the two of them, looking confused. “What’s going on?” His voice is hoarse and scratchy.
“We’re gonna get you better,” Mikey whispers to him.
There’s a frown on Gerard’s face and he shakes his head. “No, I promised--.”
“Go with him,” Frank states, running a hand through Gerard’s red hair. Gerard leans into the touch for a few moments before he shakes his head again. “I don’t care what it takes. I want you to get better.” He directs that to Mikey just as much as Gerard.
Mikey nods and pulls Gerard out the door, ignoring his protests and the way he looks back, panicked.
There’s nothing for Frank to do now but wait.
* * *
Frank wakes up on the couch the next morning, drooling into the cushions. The sun is peaking through the windows where he never closed the blinds the night before. He can hear his alarm clock going off in his bedroom and he groans.
The couch wasn’t really his best choice in sleeping spots.
He rolls off the couch and pulls himself to his feet, almost tripping over his shoes on his way to the kitchen. There’s already coffee in the pot and just the smell makes him feel more human -- buying the one with the automatic timer was really the best decision he’s ever made.
It’s strange though, now that Frank thinks about it. Usually Gerard has --.
Jesus Christ.
His hands start to shake and he has to put the cup down so he doesn’t drop it. Frank can’t believe that he’d forgotten about it, even for a moment.
Eventually he has to move, has to get ready and go to work even though he doesn’t want to do anything other than crawl back into bed and wait for them to come back. If they come back.
But Brian will fire his ass if he misses work again so he forces himself to shower and change and head to the store.
Frank ends up having to wear one of Mikey’s unicorn shirts because he’s an idiot who doesn’t do laundry often enough and Brian gives him a strange look when he gets there but doesn’t say anything. He keeps an eye on the news during the day, half expecting to see something -- anything -- that will give him a hint about what is going on. Bodies, missing people, arrests, there isn’t so much as a murmur though and Frank really isn’t surprised; they’ve gone this long without being caught.
Brian ends up sending him home an hour before the end of his shift, practically shoving him out the door, telling him that his twitchiness is making customers nervous, which is a lie because they’ve had a total of nine customers since he shift started and none of them were there long enough for Frank to make them uncomfortable.
Frank ends up swinging by the grocery store on the way home, grabbing some of Gerard and MIkey’s favorites out of habit. He doesn’t realize what he’s doing until he’s paying for his stuff in the checkout line.
It takes him less than ten minutes to get the rest of the way home. He doesn’t know why he’s hurrying, knowing there’s a very good chance it’ll be just as empty as he’d left it that morning. But he’s still speeds up when he enters the apartment building, taking the steps two at a time before he reaches his floor. Frank fumbles with his keys before he gets the door open.
“Hello?” he calls into the apartment. There’s no response, even as he drops his keys on the table and says, hopefully, “Anyone here?”
Silence is all that answers him.
It’s the most heartbreaking sound he’s heard in a while.
Frank shakes his head and heads for the kitchen. When did he become so fucking co-dependent that he can barely function without them around? But he knows it’s more than that. He can’t just sit around and do nothing. He needs to get out there and try to find them. He needs--.
Groceries go crashing to the floor as arms reach out and yank him back. His back hits the wall with a thunk and he can only look dazed at Gerard before him.
Gerard looks less human than Frank has ever seen him before. His skin is so white it’s almost translucent except where he has a ring of dark red around his eyes. His hair is only a shade lighter than that, which matches the same blood red eyes that stare at him.
“Gee?” he has to ask, has to be sure
Gerard grins at him and he sees rows of razor sharp teeth. “Hey, Frankie,” he purrs, moving closer until he has him pressed up against the wall.
“Feeling better?” Frank can’t keep the nervousness out of his voice when Gerard leans forward and sniffs him.
Gerard’s eyes flutter close as he hums in pleasure. “Mmmm… much.” He proceeds to nuzzle into Frank’s neck.
Sharp teeth brush against the skin there and Frank isn’t sure whether he’s freaked out or turned on. “I can tell,” he squeaks.
There must be something in his voice because Gerard pulls back and grins at him before he leans forward to whisper, “Don’t worry. I won’t hurt you.”
“O-okay,” he has a hard time saying as a tongue is dragged across his jaw.
Gerard licks his lips as he pulls back. “I bet you would taste good, though,” he says like it’s a compliment.
“Yeah, that’s really not helping,” Frank manages because Gerard is back at his neck, licking it, and Frank can’t help but think that he’s tasting him.
There’s a pause and the tongue is replaced by lips. “Sorry,” mutters Gerard, sounding sheepish. For the first time since he’s shown up he sounds like his Gerard.
It’s reassuring and Frank relaxes a bit.
Gerard takes that as permission because he moves back up and captures Frank’s lips with his own. “I’m keeping you,” he whispers against his mouth.
“Yeah,” Frank replies, breathless. “Okay.”
This was his now and he wasn’t letting it go.
Author:
solarbaby614Word Count: 3935
Pairing(s): Gerard/Frank
Summary: It's the news that finally catches his attention.
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: All I own is the plot.
Author's Notes: This originally started out as an idea for a 3rd-Rock-From-The-Sun!MCR AU but it some how morphed into a cannibalistic aliens au. XD Written for my
spook_me prompt of cannibals and my mcr_bingo square of 'Other: Vegetarianism'. Title taken from Kesha's song Cannibal.“So you don’t eat meat?” Gerard sounds aghast by the very idea.
Frank shakes his head. It’s not the first time he’s gotten this reaction from people but it’s strange enough coming from the person in front of him. He would have thought that an advanced being from another planet would understand that not everyone had to eat meat.
But Gerard just acted like he‘s the one staring at the alien. “None at all?”
“Nope.”
“How do you survive?” Gerard reaches forward and touches him, starting with his forehead and working his way down his face, trying to find fuck knows what and Frank has to stop him when he reaches for his shirt, grabbing his wrists. He seems to have this thing about personal space. For him, it doesn’t exist.
He ignores Gerard’s pouting when he releases his hands and goes back to his veggie burger.
Gerard goes back to his burger -- which is really nothing more than a large slab of extremely raw meat between two pieces of bread -- and keeps giving him worried looks out of the corner of his eye.
Jesus, Frank hopes this doesn’t become a thing. He puts up with freezers full of that crazy raw meat they keep bringing back for themselves; surely they can put with some tofu in the fridge.
“Gmfh,” Gerard tries to say through a mouthful of food, before realizing it’s not possible. He swallows and tries again. “Humans are strange, strange creatures.”
“Tell me about it,” Frank mutters and Gerard sends him an amused look.
He really should have known that that wouldn’t have been the end of it.
* * *
One night Frank brings home a bowl of jello and Gerard shrieks and launches himself over the back of the couch.
Frank frowns, opens his mouth to say something and then reconsiders and shakes his head. The bowl get sat down on the table and he’s half way through yanking off his coat when Gerard leaps out from behind the couch like some sort of fucking ninja and pulls him down behind it.
“Stay down,” Gerard hisses at him and glances around the couch toward the table. “We can make a run for the front door and get Ray and Mikey. Then we can kill it.”
“Kill what?” he asks, trying to peak over the top of the couch, expecting to see some sort of alien-esque creature waiting on the other side. But he doesn’t see anything out of place.
“Stop that,” growls Gerard, leaning so close that he can feel Gerard’s breath on his face. That voice sends shivers down his spine. He can see red start to tinge around the edge of Gerard’s irises. “Why did you bring it here anyways? Are you trying to get us all killed?”
“What are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about the bowl, Frank!” he huffs, running a hand through his short blond hair. “I’ve never heard of them being in this part of the system.” There’s clear panic in his voice and it takes Frank a few moments to realize what he’s even talking about.
“You mean the jello?” He lets out a laugh. “It’s just food, Gee. Nothing dangerous. I eat it all the time.”
“You eat them?” Gerard says in awe, staring at him wide eyed. He doesn’t move when Frank pulls himself to his feet and grabs the bowl off the table. “I thought you didn’t eat meat.”
Gerard flinches back when Frank opens the lid, like it’s gonna come out and attack them, and then blinks when all it does it jiggle. “It’s not meat,” Frank tells him. He still doesn’t seem sure so Frank reaches in and pokes holes in it. “See?”
He shuffles forward a few feet and pokes at it himself. “Oh,” he says quietly and then glances up at him and blushes. “I thought… never mind.”
Frank has to grin at him. “Thanks for trying to protect me from the evil jello.” The blush gets darker in response and he takes a finger full of the jello out of the bowl and pops it in his mouth. “Try some.” He holds it out to Gerard. “It’s good.”
He’s just taken another finger full for himself when Gerard grabs his wrist and pulls it towards his mouth. Frank can’t make himself move as a wet tongue licks the jello from his fingers before giving his hand back.
“Yeah,” Gerard says, grinning, “tastes good.”
* * *
There are a lot of things Frank never asks them. Things like why they came here or what they really look like. Ray says that they are probably the beginning of some sort of alien invasion but Frank takes one look at the two aliens watching soap operas on his couch and can’t bring himself to believe it. Of course, he’s not sure how much Ray really believes it either, considering the fact that he’s sleeping with Mikey.
Ray grins smugly at him when he says as much. “I’ve got no problem being the pet of some alien invader,” he says loud enough that the two can hear and Gerard sort of blanches while Mikey leers.
“I didn’t need to hear that,” replies Frank, burying his face in one of the couch pillows.
Gerard reaches over as the only other sane person in the room and pats him on the head.
Frank never asks where they go every few nights or where they get that meat that they bring back because, honestly, it’s really none of his business if they’re out slaughtering cows or whatever in the dead of night.
It’s the news that finally catches his attention. He usually doesn’t watch it but he can’t find the remote -- thanks, Mikey -- and he really has no desire to get up and change the channel so he ends up sitting through two reruns of Dr. Phil before the news catches his attention.
The newscaster has big blond hair and a somber expression and it takes a few minutes for him to recognize her as the weather girl that Bert had a crush on a few years back. Her image disappears and is replaced by pictures of twelve different people.
“Mystery still surrounds the disappearance of several people in the area. Authorities are urging people to stick together in groups when venturing outdoors until the case is solved. In other news--”
The channel changes to some cartoon.
“Hey!” Frank turns to glare at Mikey. He knew he had been hiding the remote, probably some sort of passive aggressive revenge for drinking the last of the beer. “I was watching that.”
Mikey just gives him a look through his glasses before he stretches out on the beat up loveseat, ignoring him in favor of an episode of the Simpsons.
* * *
“I don’t understand it,” Gerard says later, digging through the freezer.
“What do you mean?” Frank asks.
Gerard frowns, obviously not finding what he’s looking for, and shakes his head. “The lady on the news.”
It takes Frank a few moments before he realizes what he’s talking about. “You mean the missing people? You think it’s anything to worry about? Ray and I can take care of myself and god knows you two can as well.”
Gerard rolls his eyes. “Don’t be stupid, Frank. We wouldn’t hurt you guys.”
Suddenly, Frank feels cold in a way that has nothing to do with the open freezer. “What are you talking about?”
“I don’t understand what people are going on about,” Gerard responds. “It’s survival of the fittest and a dog eat dog world and all that.” A slight grin appears on his face. “Actually, I guess it would actually be a man eat man world.”
“Oh my god,” Frank can barely get out, his voice shaking. His eyes travel between Gerard and the open freezer. He feels like he’s jumping to a major conclusion but he can’t help it. It’s like everything suddenly fits into place. “Oh my fucking god.”
“Frank?” asks Gerard, looking concerned. “Are you alright?” He reaches out to touch him but Frank jerks back so fast he slams into the wall. “Frank!”
“Tell me that I didn’t hear you right?” he pleads. “Tell me that there aren’t people in the freezer.”
The expression on Gerard’s face is a mixture of startled confusion and sadness, like a child who has no idea when he’s being chastened. He reaches out again, freezing when Frank flinches back, and wraps his arms around himself. “I don’t understand. What’s wrong?”
That’s not what he wanted to hear. It’s not a denial. It would have been a lie but he wanted that lie. He didn’t know what to do without it. “Leave,” he says quietly. Gerard looks so taken aback, so heartbroken, that Frank wants to go to him and wrap his arms around him. And he almost does until he looks at the freezer again. “I said leave,” he says again, louder, firmer, stronger.
“Frank?” There’s panic in Gerard’s voice and he’s gone even paler than normal. Black is starting to bleed into Gerard’s hair and Frank can even see it start to lengthen.
It’s more than Frank can take. Turning, he takes off into his bedroom and slams the door behind him, locking it. This is… he doesn’t even know what this is. He slides down the door before curling up on the floor, resting his forehead against the wood.
The whole apartment is dead silent and Frank is cursing Mikey’s habit of turning off the TV and the radio in a futile attempt to preserve energy when he hears the footsteps approaching his door.
“What did I do wrong?” Gerard’s quiet voice is muffled through the door. “Please, Frank. Whatever it is, I’m sorry. Talk to me,” he begs, his voice shaking.
It wouldn’t be easy but Frank could ignore him, wait for him to go away and then make a break for it. But he doesn’t. Instead he opens his mouth and says, “You can’t do this. You can’t eat people, Gee,” his voice cracks on last part. “It’s not right. Meat is one thing but not humans.”
“Okay, okay,” he says quickly, too quickly. “I can eat other stuff. This world is full of stuff. I’ll find something else.” It couldn’t be this easy. When Frank doesn’t say anything he desperately replies, “I didn’t know. I really didn’t know.”
He sounds so broken that Frank unlocks the door and opens it without thinking about it. Gerard is sitting on the other side, curled up with his arms wrapped around his knees. “No more meat, okay?”
Gerard nods frantically, scrambling to his feet. “I promise. Just don’t send me away.”
He flinches at the words.
The action seems to make Gerard hunch into himself even farther and Frank realizes that he’s changed. The short blond hair is gone, replaced with black hair that hangs down to his chin. He’s seen the black before, but not the limp, sad looking black that now graces Gerard’s head.
Frank moves forward and Gerard moves away, like Franks going to hit him. But he doesn’t let that deter him and he wraps his arms around him. Gerard is stiff in his arms only for a few moments before practically melting into his embrace, pulling him close and pressing his face into his neck.
This should be weird. It shouldn’t be this easy just to say ‘don’t do that anymore’ and ignore the fact that Gerard and Mikey have been killing and eating people for month. But it is just that easy.
He lets Gerard pull him down on the couch and wonders if he’s under some sort of alien persuasion. Like maybe his species gives off some sort of pheromone or something as a self defense mechanism to keep people from freaking out. Maybe he’s actually being drugged or hallucinating the whole thing.
When Gerard leans down and presses their lips together, Frank really can’t find it in himself to care.
* * *
Things don’t really change that much.
When he had said no more meat he had meant no eating people and tells Gerard as much but Gerard sticks to his promise not to eat meat at all, getting rid of what’s in the freezer and putting into place a meat ban throughout the entire apartment, much to Mikey’s dismay.
He drags his brother off into Frank’s room and shuts the door. Frank can hear the muffled arguing from the kitchen and he’s starting to get concerned when the door slams open and Mikey stomps out of the apartment, glaring at him on his way out.
“Mikey’s gonna start eating at Ray’s,” Gerard tells him. “Nothing human though,” he hurriedly adds, though he doesn’t sound so sure about that.
“That’s fine,” Frank replies, trying to give him a reassuring smile. He’s not sure how well it works but Gerard relaxes slightly, looking relieved.
Gerard spends the next two days picking through the contents of his fridge to find something that he likes. They pretty quickly figure out what he does and doesn’t like and Frank starts swinging by the store on his way home from work to pick up stuff he thinks Gerard will enjoy. There isn’t a lot there that he eats, tofu makes him turn the color of dirty socks, but he seems to enjoy what he does find, sweets in particular.
It’s not exactly healthy for the most part but Gerard waves off any concern when he brings it up.
“I’ll fine,” he reassures Frank, grabbing another twizzler. They’re both curled up on the couch, watching some movie about a killer shark. “It’s not eating this stuff that’s gonna kill me.”
Frank doesn’t like the way that sounds and asks, “What does that mean?” but Gerard just ignores him and turns back to the movie.
* * *
It takes a couple weeks before Frank notices something’s wrong.
Gerard starts to get jumpy and worried when ever Frank goes anywhere, becoming strangely clingy. Any sense of boundaries that Gerard’s ever had seems to have vanished. It’s almost as if he’s afraid Frank is going to disappear.
One morning Frank wakes up to find Gerard curled up against him on his bed, his hair bright red.
He blinks and shakes his head because it’s not the first time he’s woken up to find that Gerard has crawled into his bed during the night. It’s something that Frank enjoys more than he’ll ever admit. He’d be worried about his virtue if he had any left.
The grin fades from his face when he gets a closer look at him.
Gerard’s shivering and clammy to the touch. When Frank looks closer he notices that Gerard’s skin is tinged gray.
“Jesus Christ,” mutters Frank. He brushes hair away from Gerard’s face and his eyes flutter open. Frank releases a breath he didn’t realize he was holding.
“Don’t feel good,” Gerard groans, moving closer.
This wasn’t good. “I’ll be right back,” he says, getting up.
Gerard grabs his wrist before he can get too far and shakes his head. “Stay,” he whines, tightening his grip.
“I’m just going to get Mikey. I’ll be back.” Gerard’s grip doesn’t lighten. “I promise.”
For a moment he thinks Gerard’s going to fight him on it but he ends up releasing his grip with a nod.
* * *
“What’s wrong with him?” Frank asks when Mikey exits the bedroom.
Mikey doesn’t say anything, but he sees the tightness in his face and the tears in his eyes.
“Gerard’s dying, isn’t he?” It seems like a large assumption to make but he doesn’t even have to see Mikey nod to know that he’s right. “How can we stop it?”
There‘s a few moments where Mikey looks like he‘s trying to figure out what to say before he starts slowly, “It’s the meat. We can’t survive without it,” Mikey tells him. “That’s why we came here. It was getting too dangerous for us on our planet. The weak get picked off first there and we stopped being important enough to survive for very long. We eat our own kind, Frank. That’s just the way it works.”
Suddenly, Frank lets feel weak and he has to sit down.
“We picked Earth because human physiology is close enough to our own that we can survive on it. Without it our body starts to starve. We can fight it off for a while with replacements but…” Mikey shakes his head. “You can’t replace the real thing, no matter how much you try.”
“So it’s because of me,” Frank says, burying his face in his hands and rubbing his face. “He’s dying because of me.”
Mikey doesn’t try to deny it. “I promised him I wouldn’t go against your wishes,” is all he says.
He takes a deep, shaky breath before looking up at him. Mikey doesn’t look all that great himself, Frank realizes. He’s lost weight and is starting to look pale. How blind has he been not to realize that this has been happening? “Fix him,” Frank instructs him. “I don’t care how you do it but I want you to fix him.”
Relief spreads across Mikey’s face and he hurries into the bedroom, only to return a few minutes later with a feverish looking Gerard leaning against his shoulder. When he moves to help, Mikey shakes his head.
Gerard blinks between the two of them, looking confused. “What’s going on?” His voice is hoarse and scratchy.
“We’re gonna get you better,” Mikey whispers to him.
There’s a frown on Gerard’s face and he shakes his head. “No, I promised--.”
“Go with him,” Frank states, running a hand through Gerard’s red hair. Gerard leans into the touch for a few moments before he shakes his head again. “I don’t care what it takes. I want you to get better.” He directs that to Mikey just as much as Gerard.
Mikey nods and pulls Gerard out the door, ignoring his protests and the way he looks back, panicked.
There’s nothing for Frank to do now but wait.
* * *
Frank wakes up on the couch the next morning, drooling into the cushions. The sun is peaking through the windows where he never closed the blinds the night before. He can hear his alarm clock going off in his bedroom and he groans.
The couch wasn’t really his best choice in sleeping spots.
He rolls off the couch and pulls himself to his feet, almost tripping over his shoes on his way to the kitchen. There’s already coffee in the pot and just the smell makes him feel more human -- buying the one with the automatic timer was really the best decision he’s ever made.
It’s strange though, now that Frank thinks about it. Usually Gerard has --.
Jesus Christ.
His hands start to shake and he has to put the cup down so he doesn’t drop it. Frank can’t believe that he’d forgotten about it, even for a moment.
Eventually he has to move, has to get ready and go to work even though he doesn’t want to do anything other than crawl back into bed and wait for them to come back. If they come back.
But Brian will fire his ass if he misses work again so he forces himself to shower and change and head to the store.
Frank ends up having to wear one of Mikey’s unicorn shirts because he’s an idiot who doesn’t do laundry often enough and Brian gives him a strange look when he gets there but doesn’t say anything. He keeps an eye on the news during the day, half expecting to see something -- anything -- that will give him a hint about what is going on. Bodies, missing people, arrests, there isn’t so much as a murmur though and Frank really isn’t surprised; they’ve gone this long without being caught.
Brian ends up sending him home an hour before the end of his shift, practically shoving him out the door, telling him that his twitchiness is making customers nervous, which is a lie because they’ve had a total of nine customers since he shift started and none of them were there long enough for Frank to make them uncomfortable.
Frank ends up swinging by the grocery store on the way home, grabbing some of Gerard and MIkey’s favorites out of habit. He doesn’t realize what he’s doing until he’s paying for his stuff in the checkout line.
It takes him less than ten minutes to get the rest of the way home. He doesn’t know why he’s hurrying, knowing there’s a very good chance it’ll be just as empty as he’d left it that morning. But he’s still speeds up when he enters the apartment building, taking the steps two at a time before he reaches his floor. Frank fumbles with his keys before he gets the door open.
“Hello?” he calls into the apartment. There’s no response, even as he drops his keys on the table and says, hopefully, “Anyone here?”
Silence is all that answers him.
It’s the most heartbreaking sound he’s heard in a while.
Frank shakes his head and heads for the kitchen. When did he become so fucking co-dependent that he can barely function without them around? But he knows it’s more than that. He can’t just sit around and do nothing. He needs to get out there and try to find them. He needs--.
Groceries go crashing to the floor as arms reach out and yank him back. His back hits the wall with a thunk and he can only look dazed at Gerard before him.
Gerard looks less human than Frank has ever seen him before. His skin is so white it’s almost translucent except where he has a ring of dark red around his eyes. His hair is only a shade lighter than that, which matches the same blood red eyes that stare at him.
“Gee?” he has to ask, has to be sure
Gerard grins at him and he sees rows of razor sharp teeth. “Hey, Frankie,” he purrs, moving closer until he has him pressed up against the wall.
“Feeling better?” Frank can’t keep the nervousness out of his voice when Gerard leans forward and sniffs him.
Gerard’s eyes flutter close as he hums in pleasure. “Mmmm… much.” He proceeds to nuzzle into Frank’s neck.
Sharp teeth brush against the skin there and Frank isn’t sure whether he’s freaked out or turned on. “I can tell,” he squeaks.
There must be something in his voice because Gerard pulls back and grins at him before he leans forward to whisper, “Don’t worry. I won’t hurt you.”
“O-okay,” he has a hard time saying as a tongue is dragged across his jaw.
Gerard licks his lips as he pulls back. “I bet you would taste good, though,” he says like it’s a compliment.
“Yeah, that’s really not helping,” Frank manages because Gerard is back at his neck, licking it, and Frank can’t help but think that he’s tasting him.
There’s a pause and the tongue is replaced by lips. “Sorry,” mutters Gerard, sounding sheepish. For the first time since he’s shown up he sounds like his Gerard.
It’s reassuring and Frank relaxes a bit.
Gerard takes that as permission because he moves back up and captures Frank’s lips with his own. “I’m keeping you,” he whispers against his mouth.
“Yeah,” Frank replies, breathless. “Okay.”
This was his now and he wasn’t letting it go.
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This was brilliant. You're gonna write more of this, right? Because I need more :p
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who end up ruling them all.>.>
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*jumps around excited*
This is so awesome!
Aliens, cannibalism, and Frankie trying to enforce a no-meat-policy.
You have to write more of this in the future pretty please.
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And just an overall awesome fic. I really enjoyed this, and hope you continue it in the future. :)
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Also, I love the icon.
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was defo lolling at gee n the jello
so funny lol
i hope there will be more
XD
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Please write more! <3
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Let me just say that I am encouraging this Build-a-Frank fic SO HARD. SERIOUSLY.
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I shall now call the robot!frank fic I'm working on the Build-a-Frank fic! XD
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I'm really excited for both this new aliens'verse fic and this mysterious Build-a-Frank fic that's in the works. YOU HAVE FALLEN INTO MY EVIL TRAP AND JOINED THE ROBOT!FRANK REVOLUTION. >:D
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