It was around half six in the evening when Frank made it to Gerard's: a bag of his most important stuff on his back, and every regret heavily suppressed, because this was both the absolute best and the absolute worst decision he could have ever made, but since he'd done it now he'd decided to go with saying it was the best and just hope that his life didn't backfire too dramatically.
He rang the doorbell and waited, biting his lip, fucking wondering if he should have maybe even just texted him before, giving him just that little bit of warning before Frank crashed at his house for an undefined and perhaps infinite amount of time, but it was too late for that now as Frank continued to bite away at his lip, wondering whether his lip would start bleeding before or after Gerard answered the door.
Frank didn't even know exactly what he was going to say to him; he was just kind of hoping for the best, hoping that gerard might understand, and well, the thing was that he usually did - perhaps that was why Frank found himself to be so attached to him, but of course, Frank had anything but the time to ponder the exact science of his entirely platonic relationship with Gerard, as finally, Gerard opened the door.
He appeared somewhat pissed off, as if answering the door had been the last thing he'd wanted to do, and maybe even as if he'd just woken up or something: hair sticking up at odd angles, and a sort of grey, tired tone to the skin under his eyes - what he was doing sleeping at six in the evening, Frank had no idea, though.
However, as soon as Gerard seemed to really process what was going on and that the man stood before him was indeed Frank Iero, his face shifted dramatically: his eyes brightening, and his posture changing as his face visibly flickered through about a dozen different emotions within the space of about sixteen seconds.
"Frank?" He exclaimed: his voice a little shaky, as if he was nervous somehow, finding himself generally confused by the entire situation, "what's going on?" He asked, managing to better steady his tone this time.
Frank let out a sigh, just looking up at Gerard, before uttering the most blunt form of the truth: "I broke up with him." He watched for a second as Gerard's face made evident of his struggle to comprehend just what Frank had just said. "Can I come in?" He asked, not waiting for a response before stepping past Gerard and dropping his bag to the floor as Gerard locked the door behind him.
Gerard bit his lip, taking a minute to sort himself the fuck out and deal with the fucking situation. "What happened, Frank?" He met Frank's gaze, glancing towards the bag he'd placed upon the floor and kind of forgetting how to breathe for just a moment.
"Nothing like what you might imagine. There was nothing major, he didn't do anything to me... it was just..." Frank trailed off, brushing his hair away from his face, "I just started really thinking about things, you know? Like... happiness, and I... I'm not happy with him. And he didn't react well, but he just yelled at me and told me to leave and well, I did and I'm here."
"You should have done that a long time ago." Gerard told him very matter of factly.
"I know." Frank nodded: not fussed with arguing with Gerard anymore, because, well, he was right.
"Come here," Gerard let out a sigh, pulling Frank into a hug, and holding the younger man much closer to his chest than was perhaps necessary, but the thing was that neither of the two honestly cared about anything other than one another in that moment. "I'm proud of you for doing it. It's not easy to just break up with someone."
"Yeah..." Frank trailed off, pressing his face into Gerard's shoulder, "it was just... just a thing... just a thing. That's... life though, isn't it? Things. And you decide what they mean to you."
Gerard shrugged, "I guess. I guess you're right." He pulled his expression into a smile and moved so he could meet Frank's gaze, "you okay, Frankie? Come on, be honest with me. I'd like to think you can talk to me about whatever you want."
Frank nodded, "course I can, and yeah, I'm okay." He paused, "but don't fucking call me Frankie, oh my god."
Gerard laughed, "whatever you say, Frankie."
Frank just rolled his eyes, giving up entirely, "so I can stay with you for a while, then?" He asked: still stood entirely too close to Gerard, in a half hug state, with Gerard's arm around his back.
"Course you can, you can stay as long as you like, although I wouldn't be surprised if you got bored of me at some point," Gerard grinned a little, running a hand back through his hair and groaning, "you woke me up, you know?"
"What the fuck were you doing sleeping at six in the evening?" Frank retorted, laughing, "and I'm never gonna get bored of you, promise."
"Even with me sleeping at six in the evening?" Gerard asked: a smile standing firm upon his lips, "I was just tired okay - I didn't get any sleep last night."
"Why not?" Frank asked: concern immediately evident within his voice.
"I was working on something," Gerard smiled, "but it's a secret so I can't tell you."
"You're working on something for me?" Frank exclaimed in disbelief.
"Yeah," Gerard nodded, placing his hand on Frank's cheek and moving his hair away from his face, "I think if you actually paid attention to half the shit I say then you'd know what it is."
Frank rolled his eyes, laughing, "would I now?"
"Yeah," Gerard confirmed, "it's okay, though - kind of like it better being a surprise. You're gonna like it, though, or at least I hope so."
"Well, I like you and I like things, so therefore things made by you... those should be things I should love." Frank continued, going off on some absolute A* logic.
"Well, that's good to hear," Gerard told him, pulling away with a small smile, "have you eaten yet, because I was gonna make something to eat?"
Frank shook his head, "just try not to poison me, Way."
"Hey," Gerard looked almost offended, "I'm actually a pretty good cook, I'll have you know!"
"I'll be the judge of that," Frank grinned, trying not to stare excessively at Gerard's ass as he walked away into the kitchen.
-
"I'm worried." Gerard confessed, "concerned. Confused." He corrected himself, taking a drag of his cigarette as he awaited Lindsey's response.
Gerard was honestly thankful that it was a Saturday and that amidst all this mess they didn't have to go into school, although he did indeed suspect that if they simply didn't turn up, Brendon might not even take notice.
He'd woke up early, and in turn woke up Lindsey up around eight in the morning to spill his entire situation down the phone to her. Truth be told, he hadn't gotten all that much sleep as he'd found himself rather concerned with Frank and how he was sleeping only in the room across the hall, and how he was here now, and how he both cursed and was eternally thankful for the invention of spare bedrooms.
"And why's that? Isn't this what you wanted to happen?" Lindsey asked him: sounding just a little bit less than ecstatic to be woken up so early on Saturday.
Gerard let out a sigh, leaning back against the kitchen counters as he checked if his coffee was still hot - it was hot, and he indeed cursed aloud in response.
"What?" Lindsey asked, having heard him.
"Nothing - just my coffee being a piece of hot shit, that's all." He groaned, trying to recall if he'd ever referred to Frank as the aforementioned - if he hadn't, he was to some degree suprised. "I'm just, you know, it's just Max, and I didn't think Frank had the slightest wish in the world to break up with him and yeah, he said it was fine, but I feel like something major must have happened for him to do it."
"You know, I have no idea what the fuck could be going on in Frank's head at this particular moment," Lindsey grew a little agitated, "how about, you, you know, ask him? Has that just completely slipped your mind? You know, the concept of communication as a whole?"
Gerard groaned loudly, tapping his fingertips against the countertop as a sign of his immediate dislike in regards to the concept of just asking Frank ratherly plainly about his feelings and what had happened.
"You know what your problem is?" Lindsey told him, wanting more than anything for Gerard to stop whining so she could go the fuck back to sleep, because it was eight in the morning on a Saturday and being awake was practically illegal. "You're too up your own ass, and you won't listen to people, especially when they're right. And I am right. If you just communicated clearly and honestly with everyone I promise you that at least eighty percent of your problems would solve themselves."
Gerard didn't seem convinced by the statistic Lindsey had seemingly conjured out of nowhere. "Yeah, that's kind of debatable."
"Gerard, whatever, just you know that nothing else is going to stop you worrying about Frank than asking him honestly." Lindsey let out a sigh, "come on, use your common sense for once in your fucking life, and hey, maybe Frank was telling the truth, hey maybe he broke up with Max because he realised how in love with you he is." Lindsey suggested, a little too optimistically considering the fact that it was fucking eight in the morning on a fucking Saturday.
"I can fucking wish," Gerard groaned, rolling his eyes, "don't tell me bullshit and get my hopes up. It's not going to be like that." He sighed, "something happened. I know. I know Frank better than you - come on, there's no question about that, is there?"
"Ah, yes," Lindsey smiled, nodding, "therefore it's absolutely certain that you know how to handle a situation involving Frank much better than I do."
"Fuck," Gerard muttered, finishing his cigarette, and dipping his finger in his coffee first this time. After he had confirmed that there was very little risk of severe burns, he brought it to his lips and took a drink. "So what do I do? What do I say?"
"The truth," Lindsey's voice made evident of how much she wanted Gerard to get a grip on the fucking situation and let her go back to sleep: it wasn't that she didn't care, because she did indeed care, and she cared an awful lot - it was just that it was Saturday and it was early, and she cared just that little bit more about her own sleep and her own sanity than she did about Gerard and Frank and their continuous vague and rather pathetic attempts at getting into a relationship. "Tell it him like it is. And then maybe he'll return that gesture."
"God, what am I supposed to do though? If something bad has happened how do I-"
"Gerard," Lindsey raised her voice, "we'll cross that bridge when you come to it, now I think you should put the phone down and go and talk to him or whatever - if he's even awake yet. Why are you even awake? It's so early."
"I couldn't sleep because I was worrying." Gerard admitted, his cheeks turning an absolutely atrocious shade of red. "Worrying about Frank."
"Gerard, you really need to talk to him. Hey, maybe even talk about your feelings, seeing as the boyfriend problem is out of the way now." Lindsey suggested, knowing already that the day Gerard and Frank finally got together, she'd have to arrange a fucking party, because it would certainly be a school wide cause for celebration.
"Yeah, like that's a great idea the morning after his dick of a boyfriend did something really bad so fucking bad that Frank woke the fuck up and broke up with him. What a wonderful idea, Lindsey. Yes, I'll fucking confess my love to him - excellent. What a fucking excellent idea-"
Lindsey interrupted him, "Gerard, come on, just talk to him - whatever you think's best - use that common sense that you supposedly have." She laughed a little, "talk to you later, okay?" She added, before hanging up and turning her phone off before going the absolute fuck back to sleep.
Gerard took a moment to stand in the kitchen and finish his coffee and indeed reassess his entire existence and in turn worth as a human being, before, as if on cue, Frank sauntered- well sauntered was really the wrong word, stumbled sleeplessly into the kitchen: his face lighting up as he met Gerard's, and Gerard's heart seemed to spontaneously combust in response, which was great, because part of Gerard did indeed prefer the process of having a heart attack to having their conversation.
"You look... startled..." Frank noted, running a hand back through his hair as he made his way across the room to Gerard.
"You look... tired..." Gerard mimicked his tone with a small smile, finding himself blushing a little as Frank sat down on the countertop beside him.
"Couldn't really sleep." He admitted. "I was thinking about things. This is it. It's really happened. Here I am. Here's that relationship over. It's scary, because this is like a whole new chapter of my life and I don't know what the fuck can possibly come in it."
"Well, we've got the french trip," Gerard told him, remembering only then that he probably smelled and didn't look too great. "And... I mean, I doubt the world's going to end just because you moved out of your ex-boyfriend's house."
Frank nodded, "it's just... I don't know." He bit his lip.
"Frank, did something else happen?" Gerard asked, meeting his gaze with determination, "because I don't mean to upset you, like you can tell me to fuck off if you want, but I feel like, I don't, I feel like... I feel like... I mean... what made you decide to break up with Max?"
"He didn't do anything." Frank told Gerard with a sigh, "it was me. Well, I didn't do anything, I just- I realised that I'm not in love with him anymore." Frank paused, looking away from Gerard, "it really hit me, and then it hit me that just what the fuck am I doing spending time in a relationship with someone I don't love. It was just to do with you getting what you really wanted, and how happy that's made you, and I want to be happy like that, and I realised that Max was sort of bringing me down. If you can understand?"
"I inspired you to break up with your boyfriend?" Gerard asked, laughing a little.
"Well, kind of yes," Frank admitted, leaning into Gerard's side slightly. "If you think about it like that. But seriously, it's all okay, I'm just nervous, and I'm not used to sleeping alone really - that's probably why I couldn't sleep."
"There is space in my bed." Gerard offered before he could even possibly think.
"What would people say to that, Gerard? Us being just friends who sleep in the same bed - that's definitely pushing it," Frank laughed a little: his tone coming off almost sarcastic, and Gerard honestly couldn't quite decipher just what point he was intending to make in all of this.
"And how would people know we were sleeping together?" Gerard asked, laughing it off slightly in an attempt to brush off the previous serious tones to his voice.
"I wouldn't put it past Megan to have installed hidden cameras on our clothes on something." Frank laughed, wondering just how serious of an accusation he was making here, because that did kind of sound like something Megan was capable of.
"Oh, then maybe we'd just have to take our clothes off." Gerard only quite realised what he'd said after he'd said it, "oh fuck, I didn't- jesus, fuck, I-"
Frank burst into laughter as Gerard buried his head in his hands. "Wow, Gee, fucking smooth. You get all the guys, obviously."
"Oh fuck off." Gerard groaned, running a hand back through his hair. "Why did I- Jesus, it's early. I... I- I'm not suggesting that we take our clothes off, but if you wanna strip naked at any point I'm not outwardly against it-"
"You're ridiculous." Frank told him, laughing a little before turning away in order to hide his blush. "Also, you know since this is your house. You should make me coffee. As an apology as well, you know for telling me to get naked and get in your bed, because well, Megan must be having one hell of a time right now if she has bugged us."
Gerard rolled his eyes, "hey Megan, do you wanna pass art? Because think about what you do, okay?" Gerard said in a voice, looking at Frank's chest as if a hand may protrude from it, and in turn, Megan would slowly step out. "But yes, Frankie, I'll make you some fucking coffee. And if you can find my cigarettes you can have one."
"You're so kind to me." Frank laughed a little, before picking up the packet from the countertop and lighting himself a cigarette. "Okay, but seriously," he paused, taking a drag of his cigarette, "you're my best friend and I'm really glad to have you. You mean a lot to me, Gerard. That's never going to change."
"Stop being so fucking sentimental, Iero, or I'm gonna weep into your coffee." Gerard grovelled: his cheeks hidden and indeed a bright shade of red.
Frank only raised his eyebrows, reducing himself to silence as he sat there and smoked and considered his existence and the true meaning of happiness, and the way his heart seemed so fucking reluctant to settle in his chest.
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