Today was the day.
Well, today was a day. But to be particular, today he was going to tell Jamia - who was his best friend next to Gerard - about his crush on the tall, black haired boy he shared his room with.
Gerard was currently at one of his classes, somewhere on the other side of the campus, which left Frank alone until 1pm. So he called Jamia.
"Hey Jamia-"
"Frankie!" Jamia screeched back down the phone at him and he had to hold it out away from his ear to save his hearing.
"I was wondering if you wanted to hang out for a bit today, at my dorm?"
"Sure! I'll see you in a minute." And Frank didn't doubt that Jamia would quite literally sprint all the way to his dorm room. And lo and behold, not even two minutes later there was a knock at his door and he was almost taken out as Jamia hurled herself into the room, wrapping her arms around Frank when he opened the door.
"Hi, Jam."
"So... Waddya wanna do?" She asked, falling back onto Gerard's bed with a soft 'oomph' and looking over at Frank with a grin.
"Well... I didn't really want to do anything, I wanted to talk, 'cause normally I talk to Gerard but I can't really tell him this..." Frank trailed off, closing the door with a soft click and sitting down on the edge of his own bed. Jamia propped herself up on her elbows, confusion spread over her face as she glanced at the door and then to Frank.
"Okay..."
"IthinkIhaveacrushonGerard." He blurted out before panicking because he had actually said that to someone.
"No shit Sherlock." Jamia said, falling back onto the bed, "I thought everyone already knew that." she smiled over to Frank.
"... How?" Frank asked, genuinely confused.
"Well you don't exactly try to hide it, he's the only one you're affectionate with... do you want me to go on?" She giggled.
"No, no, that's quite alright thanks." Frank said, a deep blush dusting his cheeks.
"Do you think he likes me?"
Jamia looked over at Frank again, before looking up at the ceiling.
"Honestly? I don't know." she admitted, "He's one of those people who is insanely difficult to read and if he doesn't want you to know something, then he will make every damn effort to make sure you don't find out - which can be irritating at times."
"Oh..." Frank breathed out.
"But, it's not like you don't have a chance." She added at Frank's disappointed sound.
"Huh?"
"Well, he admitted it himself, he's not exactly the straightest nail in the shed." She chuckled.
"Really?" He asked, sitting up a bit straighter, "he never told me!"
"Yeah, he doesn't tend to tell people things either, because he's just an awkward human being, but I'm sure you could ask him later."
"Ask who what later?" Gerard mumbled, walking into the room and eyeing the pair of them curiously, as if they had been planning to attack him the moment he walked into the room.
"Fuck, is it already 1?" Frank panicked, because time had flown by a bit too fast for his liking if that was so.
"No, it's only 11, class was cancelled." He shrugged, dropping his satchel near the bottom of his bed and sitting next to it, giving Jamia's legs a shove so he could sit comfortably.
"Ah, okay, well, I'll be heading off now." Jamia said, standing up and sending Frank a wink - which he blushed at - before skipping out the door and down the corridor.
"Who were you talking about?" Gerard asked.
"No one, nothing." Frank said. But his reply was too quick, and Gerard could tell that Frank was lying but he didn't push it.
"Okay... D'you wanna see the feedback on the drawing I submitted a few days ago? The one I was doing at the weekend."
"Yeah, sure." Frank smiled, joining the taller boy on Gerard's bed. Gerard flipped through the book and Frank was sure there was another drawing of him in there, but he didn't question it.
Gerard stopped at the page. A post-it note had been stuck on it with some neat print in red pen, indicating the constructive criticism the professor had given. Gerard pulled it off and stuck it to his thigh so Frank could see the whole sketch, and the smaller boy's jaw physically dropped. You couldn't see much of Frank - his ginger-coloured mohawk and arm were a main focus, but Gerard was in the middle, it was like he had just had someone take a photo and draw it from that.
"That's... That's... Wow." Frank breathed out, at a loss for words. He was fully leaning over Gerard now, his hand was placed on the bed on the other side of the boy and Frank had his head lightly resting on Gerard's shoulder. Gerard blushed, uttering a small thanks to Frank and moved ever so slightly. Frank probably wouldn't have noticed the movement if Gerard hadn't touched him, but he did. Gerard's hand slid from where it was supporting the book and rested lightly on top of Frank's own. Was this Gerard making a move on him? Had Gerard heard his confession to Jamia because he was sure that Gerard's first class finished at 10.30. So now Frank panicked, jumping up and moving back to his own bed, but he couldn't miss the slightly disappointed look that washed over Gerard's features for a second.
The room fell silent for a few long seconds before Gerard snapped the book shut and tossed it onto his desk.
"Lindsey is throwing a party and wants to know if you wanna come? It's Christmas themed."
"Uh, yeah sure." Frank said, his voice slightly shaky as he blamed himself for Gerard's momentary sadness.
"Hey, it's okay Frank, I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable." Gerard said softly, mistaking Frank's swing of emotions as something he had caused, shifting as if he was going to get up but decided not to last minute not knowing fully why Frank reacted in the way he had done.
"Well, uh, the party is on Saturday I think it starts at about 8."
"Okay." Frank said quietly, "Are you doing anything else today?"
Gerard glanced up, smiling slightly at the smaller boy, "I've got a bit to do on my project in place of today's lesson but that's all."
"Okay... could we maybe watch a film later?"
"Sure, yes, yep that sounds cool, shall we say at six we can?" Gerard asked, trying to contain his excitement.
"oh, and by the way, do you mind if I use you for my project? You have to choose one person and I'm really sorry but I didn't realise when I submitted my first piece from the cafe, but it's okay if not I can probably find someone else to draw." Gerard asked hesitantly.
"Uh, yeah that's fine." Frank replied, although his voice had gotten quieter and quieter throughout their short conversation so Gerard knew something was up.
"Are you sure? If you really don't wanna do it i can find someone else no problem." He rambled.
"Yes I'm sure."
"Okay." Gerard smiled, exhaling a breath he hadn't realised he was holding and reached out for his sketch book again.
"This next one, he said we had to do a close up one, so can I come and sit next to you?" Gerard asked nervously, fully aware that Frank might shut himself off again, but to his surprise the smaller boy nodded and shuffled to the foot of his bed so Gerard could join him on it. Gerard kicked off his shoes and climbed onto Frank's bed, his legs crossed and he shuffled around slightly to find a comfortable position for him to start drawing. He luckily still had a pencil in his hoodie pocket which would work well enough but he would have to get up if he wanted to do anything more than an outline. oh well.
"Can you, um, face me?" He asked.
"You don't have to sound so nervous, we can forget that it ever happened, I don't know why I panicked I'm sorry." Frank all but whispered, looking up at Gerard from under his lashes before his gaze dropped again.
"It's okay Frank, I promise."
"But it's not!" Frank whispered, his voice cracking and there was a sudden urgency about his tone and he looked back up at Gerard again. His lip was quivering slightly and tears had welled in his eyes.
Gerard couldn't help but to push his art aside and scoop Frank into a hug, pulling the smaller boy into his lap, letting his legs rest either side of Gerard's hips as he clung to him like Gerard was his life support. His face was pressed against Gerard's chest as he cried quietly, and he could hear Gerard's heart beating slowly and he tried to slow his breathing to match Gerard's own. That did calm him down a little, as he sat curled up in Gerard's lap, and he had to admit he was fighting to stay awake whilst being there.
"Frank?"
"Mhmm?"
"If you wanna go to sleep you can, I can wake you up for when we are going to grab some food for tea."
"That would be great." Frank mumbled, leaning into Gerard and the taller boy stroked through Frank's hair. Frank had washed it this morning and then because he wasn't going anywhere that day he hadn't bothered to put any gel into it to, so now it flopped against his forehead, silky smooth as Gerard ran his fingers through it. The taller boy could feel Frank relaxing against him as he drifted off into sleep.