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Gerard hadn’t always wanted to be a doctor. When he was little, he wanted to be Morrissey, though he knew that would never actually happen. But, a kid could dream. All he really wanted to do was save lives.
At first, he had thought that being a musician might be the best way to do this, but once he had humiliated himself by playing Peter Pan, he never sung in front of people again. Unless he was drunk, which happened more often than not as he got to his early twenties.
Later, while talking to his brother over a few beers, he suggested being a doctor. It wasn’t Gerards first choice, with his fear of needles, but he couldn’t shoot anybody, and didn’t exactly have the build to hold down a firehose, which left being a doctor in his list of ‘things that saved peoples lives’. Superheros, of course, was right on top.
And so, he applied to university, and somehow got in. He almost didn’t make it through the first year, as he almost drunk himself to death stressing over a paper. He had called Mikey in his last minutes, telling him everything. A few days later, he woke up in a hospital, throat raw and burning. Mikey had yelled at him for an hour, before both of them were quiet. Gerard promised to never touch another drink again, and he had stayed true to the promise.
He was thirty five now, and still hadn’t gotten over his fear of needles, but as long as he wasn’t the one getting pricked, he was okay.
His clock was still counting down the days steadly. According to it, he had three years, seven months, and twenty days to wait still. He was perfectly fine with that, wanting to have enough money to support a family before he met his true love.
His brother hadn’t met his soulmate yet either, so even though practically everyone they knew had found their other half, Gerard still didn’t panic, because if Mikey hadn’t found his yet, then it meant he wasn’t messed up because he hadn’t either.
Gerard was lounging in his apartment living room one day, just relaxing after his long work day when his cell phone chirped at him from its place on the coffee table. He quickly answered it, and found out that he was needed in work, immediately. When he questioned it, Lindsey, who was the receptionist, just told him to hurry, and hung up.
Gerard frowned at the phone for a moment, before doing as she had told him, throwing on his coat as he left. He had been on call, so it wasn’t exactly unusual for this sort of thing to happen, but something about it felt… wrong. More out of instinct that any actual idea of what might have happened, he glanced towards his wrist, before breaking into a run.
The numbers had read only twenty minutes.
He made it to the hospital in only fifteen minutes, which was quite a feat since it was twenty five minutes away. Lindsey quickly filled him in on what was happening. A guy had been found in an alleyway, bleeding out. It seemed that he had been stabbed, and needed stitches immediately, but all the other doctors were busy with other cases, and Gerard was the first one that had picked up.
“You got this?” Lindsey asked nervously, and Gerard took the clip board with the patients medical conditions from her, and nodded, starting down the hall towards the room. His clock was still ticking steadily.
Forty seconds. He passed by a room where he could see an elderly man holding the hand of his wife as she laid in a hospital bed, attached to a breathing machine.
Thirty two seconds. He could hear a mother crying and pleading with a doctor to save her baby.
Nineteen seconds. Two new fathers sitting next to their surrogate mother, holding their new born child and crying.
Ten seconds. A quiet voice singing to herself.
Five seconds. He checked the chart for a name. Frank Anthony Iero.
One second. He pushed the door open to his patients room. Jamia, a nurse, was standing over him, holding a compress to his chest to stifle the bleeding until he arrived. Frank laying there was barely conscious, only letting out small noises of pain every few seconds.
Gerard couldn’t breath. He knew this was him, his soul mate, and it was his duty to save him. He didn’t have time for this, he scolded himself, and quickly rushed forward, and readied himself.
“Gerard, finally! Hurry up and help me.” Jamia scolded him, and Gerard shrugged it off, before doing as he was told.
Overall, it went well, and Frank survived. Gerard couldn’t leave his side though, it felt wrong every time he even approached the door. Jamia gave him a weird look when he refused to leave, but a small glance at both of their wrists, and she understood.
“He’s…?” Gerard nodded slowly, and settled into the chair next to his bed. Frank had been given sedatives, and was asleep now. The door opened a couple minutes after she left, revealing an older woman, obviously Frank’s mother, with tears in her eyes.
“Oh Frankie!” She cried out when she saw him, and rushed towards the bed, and was about to scoop him up in her arms when Gerard spoke up.
“Mrs. Iero, I’m sorry but you can’t touch him, it might wreck the stitches.” She looked taken aback as she faced Gerard, a small frown forming.
“And who would you be?” This is where Gerard faltered, and stuttered over his words. How could you tell someone that you met your soulmate by saving their life?
“I’m uh… Gerard Way. I was the doctor that stitched him back up.” He winced at the ungracefulness of the statement, before continuing. “Also, apparently, your son’s soul mate.” Her jaw dropped open when he said this, and she rushed over to him, pulling him up from his seat and hugging him.
“Thank you.” She said after a few seconds. Gerard just nodded slightly, and scratched the back of his head when she let go.
Mrs. Iero fell asleep on one of the other chairs, while Gerard sat vigil. He could barely close his eyes, the adrenaline still running through him, the fact that he had found his soul mate and saved someones life in the same instance leaving him beaming.
It was hours later before Frank showed any sign of movement. His eyes opened, and blinked against the blinding light, before he looked around the room. He seemed like he was going to cry when he first saw his mother, and then he noticed Gerard. He could see the words “Who are you?” forming on his lips before he said them, and then it hit him, the feeling that had kept Gerard in the room, the feeling that had made him run to his car, the feeling that broke him out of his terrified trance that he might fuck up.
“You’re...”
“Yes.”
“Frank.”
“Gerard.” They both stared at each other for a while, before Frank noticed that Gerard was holding his hand. When Gerard went to pull his hands away, he only held on tighter.
“Can I kiss you?” He asked softly, looking up at Gerard again, who could only nod. Their lips met, and Frank tasted of blood and death. His lips were cold from lack of blood in his system, and from the cool hospital air.
Gerard couldn’t shake the feeling that this shouldn’t have happened, that they should have met three years in the future, maybe in a dark basement, bodies clashing into each other as they moved with the crowd, or maybe at one of Mikey’s parties. Anywhere but here.
And yet, he couldn’t find himself caring anymore, because Frank was here and Frank was alive and five hours ago that was more than he could even wish for.