On Christmas day, Gerard was so happy, he might have just spontaneously combusted.
In the morning, Gerard was a little ticked off to be woken up so early, but Bert had pestered him in to actually answering the door. "Go see what it is, or I'll open it and throw a brick at them."
Gerard would have retorted with, "Where are you going to get a brick from, smarty pants?" Though he was too tired to put in the effort.
Hair in knots, eyeliner smudged and eyes half closed, Gerard traipsed downstairs.
When he answered the door, he was extremely surprised and glad to see his brother's face staring back at him.
"Mikes!" He grinned, tackling him in to a hug.
"I told you he'd still be in bed." Ray snickered as he came up behind them, letting himself in the house.
"It's not my fault he used to be an early riser." Mikey replied as he pulled away from Gerard, who didn't miss a beat and ambushed Ray in a hug too.
"What the fuck is going on-?" Bert yawned as he trudged downstairs, clearly confused and also not a morning person.
"Mikey and Ray came down from New York." Gerard beamed, taking Bert's hand and leading him in to the kitchen, which was where everyone seemed to be gathering.
"And we're not your only surprise." Ray smiled, raising his eyebrows at Gerard as he nodded towards the door.
Furrowing his brows, Gerard turned around, and was met with the smiling faces of their parents. "Mum, dad!" He practically charged at them, wrapping his arms around them both -though it was hard as they were carrying huge sparkly bags, with objects in them that looked suspiciously like presents.
"You came?" He couldn't stop smiling.
"You thought we wouldn't?" His mother chuckled, bustling through the door and shaking the snow off her scarf. "It's good to see you, Gerard."
"We couldn't miss seeing you." His father said, receiving another warm hug from Gerard, who didn't say anything, just grinned like a Cheshire cat.
His father placed the bags under the Christmas tree as his mother dumped some other bags on the table, which she announced had frozen food in them for the dinner she planned to make.
Gerard's parents were slightly surprised to see that he was still dating Bert, but they didn't say anything that could jeopardize the cheery atmosphere they had going.
Mikey and Ray had brought a CD they'd made themselves with all their favourite songs on it, and claimed, "we have to play it because it's a Christmas CD." Everyone knew fine well that there were obviously no Christmas songs on it –well, save for Mariah Carrey's All I Want For Christmas is You, which Gerard sang along to way too loudly and proudly for someone who says they only like heavy rock.
While their mother had been busy in the kitchen, getting help from Bert, who did his best to make friendly conversation because he wanted to make Gerard happy, the Way brother's, their father, and Ray were playing monopoly in the living room.
Obviously, Gerard was the one to badger them in to playing that particular board game because he always won. However, it also resulted in him getting cards thrown at him as they thought he rigged the game in his favour somehow.
It was awfully typical; playing Monopoly as the fire crackled and the lovely smell from the kitchen wafted in, making them all extremely hungry. But none of them cared. It was wonderful.
By half five, they were still arguing over the game, and dinner was finally finished. All through the day, Ray, Gerard and Mikey had been eyeing the presents under the tree, trying to calculate which were who's from a distance.
A drying towel over his shoulder, Bert strolled in to the living room. "Dinner." He said, then took Gerard's hands and pulled him up off the floor, where he'd been crouched all day. He smiled as he wrapped an arm around his waist, drawing him in close.
"Keep it PG, guys." Mikey ordered as he walked past with the others, clapping Gerard on the shoulder.
Bert kissed Gerard lightly on the nose, causing him to blush and giggle quietly. He didn't know what he'd done to deserve Bert being in such a pleasant mood.
"What do you think?" Bert smirked. "Shall we keep it PG?"
Gerard draped his arms around Bert's neck. "For now."
-
There was this annoying, nagging thought at the back of Gerard's head. He hadn't seen Mikey in almost a year, so he knew he'd look different, but that was it: Mikey didn't look so much different as he did ill. There were faint dark circles around his eyes, his hair appeared thin, though it could have been the gel he'd put in it to keep it slicked back.
Regardless, Gerard had attempted to ignore that feeling all day because he wanted to have a good Christmas. And he had.
The most unlikely of duos, Bert and his mother, had cooked a delicious dinner; they'd all torn open presents from each other, and none of them were disappointed as they knew one another so well; they'd watched It's a Wonderful Life, requested by their mother, who'd insisted, "it's a Christmassy film, it's appropriate!" The rest of them had groaned because they would have preferred Star Wars, but they'd complied to keep her joyful.
When it was pitch black, it was Gerard's great idea to go walking in the snow around Jersey. Inevitably, they'd had the world's most competitive and epic snowball fight, though his mother opted out and watched instead. It'd been very entertaining.
Late at night, their parents had left to stay at a nearby hotel –there wasn't nearly enough room to accommodate six people in that house. Mikey and Ray were sharing the spare bedroom, Mikey and on the bed, Ray on the floor.
By now, everyone else was asleep so Gerard sneaked downstairs. Blindly, he searched for his phone, then scrolled through the contacts to find Frank's.
-
Lousy. That was what Frank's Christmas had been. Goddamn lousy.
At midday, he'd received a video call from Brendon, and they'd spent around two hours catching up on all the things they'd missed. Though it cheered Frank up a little, he was still left feeling empty once they'd had to hang up –apparently Brendon had a family and a boyfriend to get back to. Lucky bastard, Frank had thought bitterly.
Frank's parents had called at random times in the day, wishing him a merry Christmas and all that jazz, but they both knew it didn't make up for not being there.
Instead of celebrating with friends or family, Frank had spent the day decorating the tree (he'd procrastinated doing it) with obnoxious coloured tinsel and fairy lights that'd taken what felt like years to untangle. He'd watched a million of the Friends and The Big Bang Theory episodes, but he barely laughed at any of the jokes.
Just as Frank had about given up on being awake and flopped in to bed, his phone rang. Huffing, he snatched his phone off the floor, half hanging off the side of the mattress as he answered, putting it to his ear. "Hello?" He asked, voice raspy and already thick with sleep.
"Hey."
"Gerard." Frank blinked, scrambling to sit upright on his mattress. He'd know that high pitched fucking voice anywhere.
"Frankie." That made Frank's heart jump.
"W-what's up?" He cleared his throat, doing his best to sound natural –like he hadn't been totally caught off guard and wasn't having a minor freak out.
"I'm sorry, I know it's late, and I was worried I'd wake you. . . Have I woken you?"
Frank smiled, just knowing Gerard was biting his lip anxiously. "No," He leaned back against the wall, "You didn't wake me." Even if he had, he wouldn't have minded.
"Oh good," He let out a breath, "I would have called earlier, but it's been hectic around here." He added quickly, "In a good way."
A long pause. Frank took the chance to listen to Gerard's breathing.
"I, uhm, I wanted to wish you a merry Christmas."
Frank's heart imploded, thundering in his ears. "Merry Christmas to you, too." He couldn't help but grin like a mad man. "How was your day?"
"Wonderful." Gerard said. "We went for a walk before. Jersey is so pretty when it's dark and the whole place lights up. It looks quite magical."
"Sounds like you had fun." He sighed, admittedly somewhat jealous.
Gerard nodded even though they couldn't see each other. "How-how did you spend your day?"
"Watching Friends and chilling with my Christmas tree." He deadpanned.
"Your parents didn't come after all?"
"Not unless they're invisible." He joked, though it came out cold. It was hard to act positive about it when he was pissed.
"Frank, I'm so sorry."
"Why? It's not your fault they didn't show up." He snapped, scowling at the floor, then immediately regretted it. Gerard was silent and Frank felt like he'd drop-kicked a puppy. "I'm sorry." He sighed, rubbing his eyes. "You didn't deserve that."
"No, it's okay." God, Gerard was the sweetest person on earth. "You can say anything as long as it makes you feel better. I'm here for you, you know?"
Again, Frank could hear his heart beating in his ears. "Thank you." He was disappointed that he couldn't just grab Gerard right now, and hug the fuck out of him –and maybe steal a kiss. "I should go. . ." He said hesitantly. "I'm going to try and get some sleep."
"I hope your parents burst through your door at the last minute with stacks of presents and apologies."
"Hopefully." Frank chuckled.
"I'll see you after the holidays."
"See you." And with that he hung up.
[Published 18 November 2019]