Requested
Summary: You're back in the town you grew up in, to visit your childhood friend Gerard
Word count: 1 262
Nervously you ran your fingers through your hair before you pressed the doorbell. It was weird, being back in the town you had grown up in. But what was even weirder, was standing in front of the house of your best friend from childhood.
You and Gerard had grown up as neighbours, almost spent every free minute together. Sometimes one of your mothers had taken both of you to the playground, and when you were older, you had spent hours and hours sitting together on the sofa, reading comics. Sometimes you had had sleepovers in each other's basement, watching movies. And when you had gotten into high school, you had always stuck together, making sure neither of you fell victim to the bullies.
You remembered the awkward moment when Gerard had asked you to go to prom with you. Of course you had said yes, having developed a crush on your cute friend. And maybe you would have gone on more dates, maybe you would have kissed, and Gerard would have been your first boyfriend, but you had moved away. Your father had told you several weeks before the prom, making the prom the last evening you got to spent with Gerard. To say you were heartbroken and sad did not justice to how you were feeling. For a while it felt like you were fighting the entire world, the company your father worked for, who had offered him a better job halfway across the country. But in the end, there was nothing you could do, and you had moved.
Now, several years later, after you had finished college, you were finally back, visiting your hometown. You had called Gerard's parents a couple of days ago, asking for his address, and they told you that he still lived with them, and that he would probably be home all weekend. So you decided to pay him a visit.
After you had rung the doorbell, a couple of seconds passed before you heard steps approaching the door. A moment later it flung open, and a young man stood in the door frame. Dark dread locks hung down on both sides of his face, and he curiously looked at you.
"Hi," you greeted, suddenly fearing you had walked up to the wrong house.
"Hi," he grinned back a little confused.
"Sorry, is this the house of the Way family," you asked, making him laugh.
"Yeah it is, but Donna and Donald are out."
"I'm here for Gerard, actually," you explained, "my name is (y/n); I'm an old friend of his."
The man turned around in the door, and shouted towards the back of the house.
"Gee, you got a guest!"
Voices grew loud behind the guy, who turned back to you.
"I'm Frank by the way," he introduced, but a moment latter a familiar face appeared over his shoulder.
You recognized Mikey immediately, and laughed as you saw his surprised face.
"Oh my god! (y/n)!" Quickly he pushed past Frank, and hugged you. "What are you doing here?"
"Paying your brother a visit," you explained.
"Knew you'd come back eventually!"
Another familiar face popped up behind Frank, this time it was your classmate Ray, who Gerard and you had just started befriending before you had moved away.
"You're not getting rid of me so easily," you joked, before you hugged Ray too, "I mean, what's going on here? Big party?"
"We're having a band rehearsal," Mikey proudly informed you.
Yes, that sounded like something the Way brothers would do.
"(Y/n)?"
Everything else stepped in the background when you saw Gerard appear in the corridor. His hair was longer than it had been back at school, he looked pale and had lost weight, but he was still as beautiful as you remembered.
"Hi, Gee," you smiled shyly.
The other three seemed to notice that this would take a while, so they quietly retreated back into the house, giving the two of you some space.
"What- what are you doing here?"
"Thought I'd pop by, say hello. I can leave if you don't-"
You could not finish your sentence, because Gerard had wrapped you in a bone crushing hug, that pressed all air out of you. Quickly you hugged him back, feeling your mind going dizzy at all the memories that came flooding back to you; the smell of the house, the laundry soap Mrs Way used, Gerard's so unnoticeable but calming scent.
"Come in, we're almost done with rehearsing," Gerard offered, once he had let go of you, "you can hang out with us, and then we can go on a walk or something, catch up?"
You nodded happily, and followed your former neighbour into the familiar house.
The rehearsing was not as quickly finished as Gerard had hoped, but you did not care. Curiously you watched the band for almost three hours, before Mikey confessed that he was too tired to continue rehearsing, and needed a break. Together with everyone you walked back to the door, and after you had said good bye to Frank and Ray, you and Gerard put on your own coats and shoes, and went outside, to go on the walk Gerard had suggested.
It was interesting to see what had changed about the area. There was still the playground you had played in as a toddler, but there were new climbing frames, and the old slide had been replaced as well. You were sad to find out that the building, in which your favourite bakery had been placed, had been torn down. You and Gerard had always picked up your breakfast there, when you were in a hurry.
Gerard told you how, when the city council had announced the decision, a lot of people had protested and filed a petition, but of course nobody had listened. Finally you reached the small park where Gerard and you had hung out many times after school. The pond was still exactly as you remembered it, even the ducks were as cocky as the last time you had been here.
"So... for how long are you staying here," Gerard eventually asked.
You could tell that he had been wanting to ask this for a while now. Nervously he looked over to you, and you smiled a little.
"Not sure," you admitted, "for a long time I hope. I got a job close by our old school, and unless they fire me immediately..."
Quietly you giggled at Gerard's happy expression.
"So you'll be around," he asked excitedly.
"Yeah, that's the plan," you told him.
"Then... I don't know, this is weird, because we have literally not seen each other in years, but... would you like to go out some time? I mean, we went to that prom, and if you hadn't moved away... and I just feel like we still get along so well, and-"
"I'd love to," you smiled, feeling your heart beat faster at Gerard's question, while his rambling reminded you so much of the boy you had known.
"Really?"
"Definitely," you assured him, and to emphasise, you brushed your fingers against his.
"That's... neat," Gerard grinned, making you playfully roll your eyes.
"Yes, it is," you agreed, and a moment later you felt how Gerard hesitantly took your hand.
For a while you walked down the path in the park, hand in hand. But after not too long Gerard started asking you about the comics you had read recently and you knew that finding the courage to ring his doorbell had been the best thing you had done in a long while.