Belonging

If you were someone else, I'd say so much to you, and I would tell the truth

Gerard's head pounds, the moon's rise tomorrow suddenly on top of him. His skin tickles with wait and angst.

Mothers and tiny children from the Way and McCracken packs make a home on the ground floor of the Iero house. Suit cases are stacked by the door, full of returned belongings that they'd bring back with them to LA. There, with a little long distance help from the Ieros, they'd establish themselves once again. They'd no doubt shed their previous surnames, making a new life for themselves in their old home.

Gerard bites into his apple angrily, nose twitching at their unfamiliar scent. It wraps around him like a small child running around the kitchen bar he sits at. The little steps wind around his head, a loosening the chord on his sanity.

He wants to get away from the people he used to room with, succumb to his stupid needs, and bury himself in Frank's chest.

"You sure you don't want to go back with them?" Anthony asks. He leans against the kitchen's large doorway, clipboard clutched under his arm. Gerard chews his apple into tiny pieces, swallowing when they're still a bit too big. The fruit chunks scratch against his throat.

"I'm tethered to the old man, sadly." He says, biting again and cringing when he gets all skin.

The silence between them is filled with Gerard's noisy chewing.

"Don't eat all the apples, we're having pie tonight." Anthony walks out of the room backwards, pulling a pen out of the loose bun at the back of his head as he disappears from view. The toddler's mother calls for him from the front of the house, and the little kid that had been circling Gerard and the tables runs out of the room gleefully, leaving the omega alone again.

Gerard reaches core on his next bite, gnawing on the tuff piece of sour until it's tasteless like old gum.

                                        *

The house becomes more welcoming as Gerard ventures further through each and every corridor. The first level still smelt of the formally Ways and McCrackens. They were probably boarding their plane back to LA by now.

Gerard sighs, reaching the stairs at the end of the hall and treading up the stairs to the fourth level. Two double doors barricade his way into the top floor before the attic. He opens them without hesitation, letting them slip closed with a soft click.

The alpha's floor.

The doors barricaded a wide hall, leading into chess rooms and libraries and a even small kitchenette.

Gerard passes them all, coming to another big set of double doors that lead into Frank's office. Without looking into the hall to the right, one that he knew lead out to a balcony. A hall that was dark and warm, home to Frank's bedroom.

Shaking his head, Gerard opens one of the double doors to Frank's office. He groans at the warmth that bites at his cheeks, pulling the doors closed and jumping front first into the couch against the right wall.

Frank looks up from his laptop, fingers still clicking away at the keys without him.

"How're the bandages holding?" Gerard flexes his feet on impulse, nosing into the soft leather of the couch. He takes in a deep breath of relief, headache subsiding.

"Fine, thanks."

Frank nods to himself, going back to his work. He keeps an eyes on Gerard's back as the omega lulls himself to sleep.