Here's to the Heartache (Frerard) *Discontinued*

12: No Thanks For The Memories Pete

Frank was currently bundled up in Pete's bed, a box of pizza squeezed between the two of them, the heat from the cardboard making Frank's thigh slightly uncomfortable, but not so much that he felt bothered to move, that involved effort after all, and Frank was more than content to sit there and watch Pete fumble with the remote to his crappy DVD player, trying his best to get the movie to start playing - something called V for Vendetta, and apparently Frank hadn't lived until he had experienced this masterpiece - Pete's words, not Frank's.

As Pete stuck his tongue out, his face set in a mask of concentration, Frank reclined back onto the pillow he had placed behind his back, reaching for a slice of pizza idly as he did so. After a few more minutes of buttons being pushed, and Pete getting increasingly more frustrated, ending in him finally getting up and turning on the device manually, Pete flopped back down onto the bed, smiling triumphantly as if he had just discovered the cure for cancer, instead of simply successfully powering up a DVD player.

"You are going to love this, believe me," Pete assured Frank before grabbing his own slice of pizza, silence following his statement since Pete's mouth was otherwise occupied, and Frank didn't feel the need to respond with words, letting a soft hum suffice for an answer instead.

Frank truly tried to relax and pay attention to movie, but a nagging sense of unease at the back of his mind refused to let him unwind completely, which was a strange occurrence, especially here. Pete's house had always been like home to Frank, it was the only place he could be himself, and even though that hadn't changed, something had, and Frank had a feeling that something was named Gerard.

Because as much as Frank loved being here, a part of his heart was now trapped within the walls of Gerard's apartment, or wherever Gerard currently was, and even though Frank would never voice it aloud, he couldn't help but wonder what he would be doing if he was with Gerard instead of Pete, and even though Frank felt like a terrible friend for thinking this way, he would be lying if he said he didn't want to be at Gerard's place right now instead of with Pete.

It had been a week since Frank had met Gerard, even though sometimes it seemed as if Frank had known Gerard forever, yet at the same time, seven days had never passed so quickly in Frank's life. He hadn't even realized that he had been avoiding Pete's house in the favor of Gerard's company, because that hadn't been his intention - not at all, but when Pete had borderline begged Frank to come over today, Frank couldn't refuse him.

And it wasn't as if Frank didn't want to be here, because he did; he loved spending time with Pete, and he didn't want to become one of those people who ignored their friends as soon as they got in a relationship, not that Frank and Gerard were actually together, they hadn't discussed any sort of status anyway, and Frank was too much of a coward to bring that topic up any time soon.

Frank was assured that Gerard wanted him in his life though, because they hadn't gone a day without seeing each other since that first night, and Frank hadn't even been the one to initiate most of it; actually, it was Gerard who was constantly inviting Frank over, and even though Frank was finding it difficult to juggle work, and his mother, and Gerard, he managed, and now he just needed to remember to include Pete into that equation.

Frank felt guilty for his sudden absence from Pete's life, mostly because he hadn't explained the reason yet. Pete had texted Frank quite a few times over the past week, asking if everything was all right, because Frank's random disappearing act had obviously thrown him, but Frank couldn't bring himself to mention Gerard just yet, instead, he made up some flippant excuse, citing work and little sleep as justification for his distant attitude, and Pete had been buying it - until today that is.

A part of Frank wanted to tell Pete all about Gerard; he wanted to gush like a schoolgirl whose crush had finally asked them out, he wanted to go into explicit detail about every moment of their time together - minus the sex of course, which, now that Frank thought about it, was a large majority of their activities, but Frank hadn't yet, and he wasn't one hundred percent sure why.