Gerard showed his brother the bookstore he had found the other day. It was certainly interesting in there, quiet and quaint. Mikey, of course, immediately went into the corner to shove his nose into a book.
"You should go talk to that girl," Gerard said.
"And say what?" Mikey asked without looking up.
"I don't know, ask for her number," Gerard said. "Come on, she's cute. She's exactly your type."
"I don't have a type," he denied.
"Bookish girls are your type," Gerard said. "Just look at her at least."
Mikey looked up and eyed the girl with the blonde hair. He pushed his glasses up before looking back down at his book.
"Come on, just talk to her," Gerard said.
"No, I can't," Mikey denied. "You know I can't talk to girls."
"Come on, you're my little brother, it's my job to help you," he said. "This is your freshman year at a brand new school, you could completely remake yourself. You could be anything you want to be."
"What I want is to read this book," he said.
"Okay, well, I'm going to go talk to her for you," Gerard said.
Gerard walked off before Mikey could stop him, sitting at the table with that girl.
"Hey, do you go to Belleville High School?" He asked and she nodded. "I just moved here, what grade are you in?"
"I'm a sophomore," she said.
"That's cool, my brother is a freshman," he said, gesturing to Mikey. "He was a little bit nervous to come here and talk to you, actually. I'm Gerard, he's Mikey."
"Kristin," she said with a small smile.
"Well, Kristin, I hope to see you around," Gerard said before walking back off to his brother.
"I hate you," Mikey said. "Stop meddling in my life."
He put the book back on the shelf and stormed out of the shop. Gerard frowned, following him back towards the house.
"Come on, it'll be fine," he said.
"You always do this, Gerard," Mikey complained, not turning back. "You always fucking do this. Just leave my life alone already."
"Just one thing," Gerard said. "One thing. Just one thing."
"What?" Mikey sighed, turning around and stopping.
"Let me give you a makeover," he said.
"Oh, yeah right," Mikey scoffed. "Like I'm going to let you give me fucking strawberry hair like yours."
"No, I won't do that," Gerard said. "Just trust me, okay? Just this one thing and I promise that I will leave you alone."
"Fine but if I look stupid you're paying to fix it," he said.
Gerard brought Mikey into the house to the upstairs bathroom, grabbing a pair of scissors and the hair bleach on his way. He sat Mikey down on the toilet and began getting to work. He's always dyed his own hair so although he wasn't a professional, he wasn't bad when it came to hair.
"Please don't make me look like a dork," Mikey begged.
"You already look like a dork," Gerard stated.
Gerard played music, rocking out to the song while working on his brother's hair. He finally finished and made Mikey put his contacts in without looking in the mirror before going to get some clothes.
"Okay, there we go, let's have a look," Gerard said.
He turned Mikey around to look in the mirror. He had dyed his hair blond, slicking it back into a quiff. He wore a black leather jacket with some black skinny jeans.
"Mikey, you look amazing," Gerard said. "You should wear this everyday."
Mikey stayed silent, clearly liking it but not wanting to admit it.
"Fine, I guess I'll keep it," he said.
Gerard smiled at his success before heading to the room he shared with Mikey.
"So, guess what, there's this boy that I've been talking to," Gerard said.
"You're always talking to people, how many hook ups have you had since moving here?" Mikey asked.
"None," Gerard stated. "I don't know, he's just different."
"So you want a serious relationship?" He asked.
"No, no, just something casual," he said. "You know I'm not really into serious relationships."
"Does the boy know that?" Mikey asked.
"I don't know, Frank is a little odd but I like it," he said. "He's really shy and cute. I make him nervous."
"You make everyone nervous," Mikey said. "And not in a good way."
"Whatever," Gerard said, rolling his eyes.
Speaking of Frank, Gerard decided to send him a snap, just a picture of him with a cute little dog filter. He loved seeing Frank, he loved the way he made him nervous. He thought he look absolutely adorable. He saw that Frank opened it and it took nearly five minutes before he got a response. It was of Frank and said 'stupid'. Gerard immediately received a second snap that said 'I didn't mean to send that' over a black picture. Frank started typing before he stopped. Gerard sent another picture of himself that said "you're cute."
"You should talk to that girl, she's a sophomore at Belleville high," Gerard suggested.
"You promised you would stop meddling," Mikey said.
"I'm not meddling, I'm just suggesting," he said. "Fine, you know what, I will shut up and not say anything more about it."
He just hoped that this makeover would give him some confidence. He's always tried to help his brother with his confidence, he wanted him to be more certain in himself.
"So, have you and Frank kissed yet?" Mikey asked.
"No, I-I'm actually taking things kind of slow," he said. "I don't know, it's weird. I've never really taken things slow but he's just nervous and gets kinda scared around me sometimes."
"You must really like him, then," Mikey said. "Like, actually, properly like him."
"I mean, yeah, I like him and all but it's nothing serious," Gerard said. "Maybe we can be, like, friends with benefits or something."
"If he really gets nervous about it then I think he might like you and want something more than just friends with benefits," he said.
Gerard shook his head, tapping through stories on snapchat.
The next day Mikey wore the same outfit. Gerard noticed that he hesitated before walking into the school. He found Jamia waiting by his locker.
"Hey," Gerard said. "What's up?"
"Nothing, just wondering if you wanted to hang this Saturday," she said. "A bunch of us were going to the skatepark and I wanted to invite you."
"That sounds good, is Frank gonna be there, by any chance?" He asked.
"Yes he will," Jamia said. "And there will be some pot so he'll be more relaxed. He just really likes you and gets really nervous around you."
"I think it's cute," he said. "Well, I can't wait until I get to see him again. I like him a lot too."
"You know, I know it may be kind of annoying but you've gotta take things slow with Frank," Jamia said. "He just gets nervous and stuff. And...he didn't have a very good relationship last time. He has barely talked to anyone outside of our friend group since then. It's sad, I want something better from him. He should be happy."
"I kind of knew I would have to take things slow, he's a very fidgety person," he said. "What exactly happened with his last girlfriend?"
"They dated but, you know, Frank was really awkward and decided they should just be friends the day after they had sex," she said. "It's kind of this unspoken thing to lose your virginity at homecoming as a freshman and the two felt really pressured to do it and they did and afterwards I think Frank just got a little freaked out, especially since it wasn't the best sex, and ended things with her."
"Not the best sex?" Gerard asked curiously.
"Well, you can't expect a little virgin fourteen year old to exactly last the longest time," Jamia said and Gerard nodded. "Don't tell him I told you that."
Gerard nodded and Frank walked over.
"Hey, so, um, Mia, um," Frank stuttered, glancing at Gerard.
"I was just inviting Gerard to come and hang out with us this weekend," Jamia said. "And he agreed so it is going to be a lot of fun. We can all just hang around at the park."
"Yeah, yeah, s-sounds good," Frank said.
"This is gonna be awesome," Gerard said. "Maybe a nice excuse to wear a miniskirt."
Frank visibly stiffened in surprise.
"We totally need to go shopping together," Jamia said.
Gerard nodded, opening his locker to grab his physics textbook.
"Wanna walk to class together, Frankie?" Gerard asked.
Frank nodded, playing with his sleeves.
"Alright, I'll see you two later at lunch then," Jamia said.
The two left, going down the hall together.
"I'm really excited about going to the park this weekend," Gerard said. "Although, maybe we can hang out alone some other time, too."
"Oh, yeah, um, I-I think that would be nice," he said.
"I would love to get to know you better," Gerard said.
Frank nodded but Gerard pulled him aside when he saw Mikey in the hall.
"Wow, is that Mikey?" Frank asked.
"Yeah, I gave him a makeover yesterday," he said.
Mikey stood by the lockers nervously before walking up to Kristin. Gerard watched the interaction with a proud smile, thankful that Kristin seemed to be kind. Mikey pointed to the novel she was holding, making a small remark. Leave it to Mikey to use books as a conversation starter.
"How do you think it's going?" Gerard asked. "It looks like it's going nice. You think it's going nice."
Frank didn't say anything and Gerard looked over.
"Y-you're standing close," Frank said shyly.
Gerard smirked and took a small step closer, making the smaller boy squeak nervously. Maybe Gerard was a bitch for torturing him like this but he hoped that maybe it would help make him less nervous around him, he would maybe get used to it.
"Oh no, Mikey's stumbling over his words," Gerard sighed when he looked back. "I can even see that from here."
"A-are you, going to help?" He asked.
"No, I think that he should try and do this on his own," Gerard said. "He needs to get his confidence up and sometimes the mama bird has to push the baby out of the nest."
Mikey walked off, his face completely red. Gerard sighed, hoping that it went better than it actually looked. Maybe it did go better, hopefully she was a huge book nerd like Mikey and they actually hit it off.
"Alright then, Frank, let's go to class," Gerard said.
They walked to class together, Frank a little step behind. They sat at their seats near the back of the lab.
"So, looks like we got here a little bit early," Gerard said. "I guess that gives us some time to chat."
"Chat...y-yeah, we can chat," he said. "D-do you...do you need help u-unpacking?"
"Is this your excuse to try and get into my underwear drawer?" Gerard teased, making Frank squeak and shake his head. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding. That's really sweet of you but I'm okay, we've got almost all of it unpacked already. Although, there is one thing that I can get from you."
"Y-yeah?" Frank asked as he leaned a little bit closer.
"You're stepping on my foot," Gerard stated.
Frank looked down and jumped back.
"I-i'm sorry," he said. "I didn't mean to. I thought my foot was on the little shelf of the lab bench. A-apparently I was wrong. I-I'm so sorry."
"Hey, it's okay, it's not that big of a deal," he said. "We should really hang out alone, maybe you can teacher me how to be a cool skater boy, do you listen to Avril Lavigne? I can be your ballerina if you'll be my skater boy."
Frank blushed and looked down.
"D-do you actually do ballet?" He asked.
"No but I can dress up in a little skirt and tights if you really want me to," Gerard said.
Frank blushed, looking away. Gerard was about to say more when the bell rang and cut him off, signaling the beginning of class.