There's a lot in this.
I think. It felt like a lot while I was writing it.
"Good moaning." Gerard said in a strangely calm voice as Frank shuffled in, not even glancing up from his work.
Blinking hard, Frank almost choked on thin air. "What?" He scoured Gerard's face for some sort of explanation for this weird comment. Maybe he heard wrong?
"I meant good morning." He pressed his lips in to a thin line with a casual shrug of his shoulders, brushing his perfectly knotted hair away from his face, tucking little curls behind his ears. Finally, he looked up. Their eyes met and Gerard smirked, "No I didn't."
Raising his eyebrows, Frank chuckled as he fought off the blush rising to his cheeks. "Someone's in a good mood."
"Is that what this feeling is?" He replied sarcastically. Luckily for him, no one else was there apart from Frank, who had only innocently strolled in to the art department to find Gerard the Sassmeister on the other side, apparently.
"Well," Frank took a deep breath as he dumped his coat and bags. "Good moaning to you too, I guess." He furrowed his brows, desperate to know what cogs were ruling Gerard's brain at that very moment.
"How're you today?" Gerard asked, resting his elbows on the desk, leaning forwards.
"I'm alright." He muttered automatically, going to grab his folder off the shelf.
"I haven't seen you an awful lot lately; you've been off." He paused, chewing his cheek. "Are you sure you're okay?"
"Yeah, I just didn't feel like coming in. I wanted to catch up on sleep after getting up so early this past year."
"Oh," Gerard offered a small smile. "I-I was worried something was wrong."
"Nope." He popped the 'p'. "All is well in Ieroville." Frank frowned as he rummaged under a pile of other people's folders because his wasn't there. While he did, he thought aloud, mostly to himself, "They should make that a place. There'd be no mornings and cake for dinner."
"Sounds great. I'd definitely visit Ieroville."
Giving up and turning around, he questioned, "Do you know where my folder is?"
Switching his gaze to the confused Frank, he suddenly realised, "I'm sorry. I must have left it in the staff room. I was marking it. Sorry."
"It's fine; don't worry."
"I'll go get it, if you like?" He suggested, making for the door.
Instantly following after, Frank grinned, "I'll come with you."
It was late in the afternoon, so fortunately there was hardly anyone around -only the first through fifth years had to attend school. Most of the teachers were in classes, so Frank prayed none of them would be in the staff room.
However, it didn't work because there were two other teachers already in there. Before Frank had a chance to walk in, Gerard was putting a hand on his chest to keep him back while he fetched his folder. No students allowed.
"Sorry about that." Gerard reappeared, passing Frank his folder and Frank deliberately made sure their hands touched.
"Tell me in advance next time you wanna violate my personal space bubble." He raised an eyebrow, casting a sideways glance at Gerard as they returned to 169a.
"I'll do what I like." He nudged Frank playfully, and Frank could have sworn he saw him wink. Weird.
Clearing his throat, Frank perched himself on the edge of the nearest table to his desk. "How was your day?" Due to his lie-ins he hadn't really been in school for the mornings, which was usually when they would chat.
"Oh, you know," he waved a hand, "Tedious as hell. Not one student was quiet during lessons. I was this close to smashing my head in to the wall." He held up his forefinger and thumb, dangerously close together.
"That's a bit morbid. I'm glad you didn't." Frank grinned, "Think of the mess I'd have to clean up."
"Wouldn't you leave my blood all over the floor for the janitors? Give them a good scare?"
"Not my style." He narrowed his eyes, feeling one single surge of confidence as he toyed with the idea of what to say next. "I'd lick your blood up with my tongue."
A slight blush bloomed on Gerard's cheeks. He acted like he wasn't surprised, folding his arms over his chest. "Would you now?"
"You know me." Gripping the edges of the table in case he toppled over, he smirked, "I'm the local vampire."
"I thought I was?"
"You could be. . . Maybe I bit you." He felt both hot and cold and unzipped his hoodie. The wind had been a bitch outside, but it was nothing compared to the bizarre whirlwind of comebacks and snarky remarks that was storming in here.
Gerard bit his lip, unconsciously taking a step towards him. "How would you know if I'd let you bite me?"
Frank smiled slyly. "You would. Trust me."
"Should I?"
"What?"
"Trust you?"
"Yes. I mean, wouldn't you like to be an immortal, none existent creature?"
Gerard sucked in a breath through his teeth. "I'm not so sure." Shifting just that little bit closer, he gazed down at Frank, who audibly swallowed the lump in his throat. "Biting sounds like it'd hurt."
"I'd be gentle." Frank stood up straight, meaning their faces were inches from each other. He ground his teeth together, realising how near they were. Was this it? Could it be the time, at last, that he would build up the courage to just kiss him? Clearly the atmosphere was practically laced with visible tension.
Frank could feel Gerard's breath on his cheeks. And if Frank hadn't been holding his breath, Gerard probably would have felt his too.
Though just as Frank started to dare to leaned in, the doors to the art rooms creaked open and they immediately jumped away from one another. Obviously, the entire fucking universe was against them.
"Mr Way." Mr Wright began as he paced in, giving them both a questioning look. "I have the timetables for you to hand out to your classes."
"Uhm," Gerard raked his fingers through his hair, seemingly frazzled. "What?"
"The timetables." He repeated, furrowing his brows. "For the exams." Mr Wright glanced over at Frank, who gave a pathetic wave. "What were you two doing in here?"
Gerard and Frank locked eyes, taking deep breaths as their hearts leaped in to their throats, pounding.
"Uhm." Gerard forced a smile, scrambling for answers, but his brain was busy panicking.
"I needed help with my assignment." Frank cut in, a little too loudly. "Uh, assignments, actually. I've got two to do. That's why I needed help. . ."
Nothing had happened, but they both felt it now. It was as if they had.
"I see." Mr Wright nodded, unsure. "I'll leave you two to it, then. Good luck in the exams, Mr Iero."
That said, he left promptly, having other places to be.
Neither of them wanted to initiate any moves towards their previous intent, yet neither of them could think of a way to break the tension either. It was great.
"I-uhm-" Gerard let out a short breath, shaking his head to snap out of it. He couldn't quite manage words and handed over one of the timetables to Frank instead.
"Shit." Frank huffed, slouching in to a chair.
By a miracle, he discovered his voice. Albeit it was wavering. "What is it?"
"The exams are so much sooner than I expected. . . Yeah, they gave us study leave weeks in advance, but this sucks."
"Anything I can help with?"
"My music exam is so soon." He ran a hand down his face, trying to fully wake himself up. "God, I'm gonna fail."
Gradually, the tension slipped away like it had been a shared dream.
"No, you're not." Gerard sat beside him. "If you do I'll be shocked."
"Really?" Frank squinted at him. "Why?"
"Why? Because you're brilliant at guitar."
Inevitably, Frank blushed. "No I'm not." He hid his smile behind his hair.
"Yes, you are. I mean it. I wouldn't say otherwise."
"Hmph."
A stretched out silence filled with shy glances and soft smiles.
"I'd like to hear you play." Gerard grinned, spiking fear in to him. "I haven't heard you play in ages."
"I don't know. . ." He took his lip ring between his teeth. "You know I don't like playing in front of people. Doing it for the examiners is gonna be hard enough."
"Why don't you use me as a practice?" Gerard suggested, tapping him lightly on the nose.
Frank cracked a grin, batting Gerard's hand away. "Maybe."
"Come on." It was hard to say no to. "It'll make things easier, I promise."
"You promise, huh?" He chuckled, raising his eyebrows. "So if it doesn't work and I fail, I can pin the blame on you?"
"That's not what I meant and you know it." He scowled playfully.
"It's part of our newfound deal." Frank held his hand out for Gerard to shake, but the latter didn't seem impressed.
"Yeah?"
"Promise?"
"Whatever you say, Dracula."
-
Thankfully, there was only one other person in any of the sound proof rooms. It was someone who Frank recognised as Lindsey Ballato; she was playing the piano splendidly.
Hopefully, they wouldn't be interrupted by her. Anyway, it was unlikely. Mostly, Frank was glad his guitar was in the same corner he'd left it.
"I like it in here." Gerard commented quietly, eyes drifting towards the acoustic.
"Me too." Frank agreed, flashing a smile as he nodded to one of the booths. "In there should be fine."
"Hey, same one as last time."
"Oh," he remembered. "Yeah." Last they were here, Frank had accidentally slapped Gerard's ass. Though he didn't think he could get away with doing it accidentally-on-purpose this time.
Swinging his legs back and forth, Gerard sat on the table, facing Frank, a gleam in his eye. "What're you going to play? I'm excited."
"Uhm." He hadn't given it much thought. "I'm supposed to sing a song I've written myself. . ." He trailed off because he didn't want Gerard to hear what he'd written. Sure, it meant nothing to the examiners, but singing it to Gerard might mean something. "But I don't want to-"
"Aww," Gerard pouted. "Why not?"
"It-it's embarrassing."
"I understand." He nodded. "I'm really not going to force you to do something you don't want to do."
"Thank you."
"Though, as your number one fan, I'm possibly going to have to insist next time. Possibly, if that's okay with you."
This man was unbelievable. "You're my number one fan?" He giggled adorably, overflowing with giddiness. "Never had one of those before. Thank you."
"Of course."
"Thank you, again." Frank's blush only deepened and he suddenly lost the ability to function properly as he transformed in to the clumsiest person in the universe and dropped his guitar, the case and his courage. "Ah, shit." He bent down to gather them up, but Gerard was already there collecting them for him.
"There you go." Gerard placed the case on the table and gave him the guitar.
"Thank you." He beamed, highly appreciative. "Again."
"You're welcome."
-
Instead of singing his own song, he chose to sing Losing My Religion. Months ago, Frank had fallen in love with it and just had to learn the words and chords until his fingers were scraped to the bone.
Also, what made the song a fantastic choice was the fact Gerard knew the words and had decided to sing along to make Frank feel more comfortable, which it did.
At one point, Frank quit singing just to listen to Gerard. Luckily, as he'd had his eyes shut, Gerard hadn't noticed. That was until the lyrics ran out and the chords faded.
"That was beautiful." Frank rested his chin on his arms, arms on the guitar on his lap. Gazing up at Gerard, he smiled.
"Oh, I'm sorry." Gerard frowned a little. "You were supposed to be singing."
"I don't care."
"I love your voice, you know?" He grinned. "You have a unique way of singing. Raw and full of emotion."
"You do, too."
"Not the way you do." He shook his head. "Honestly, I like your version more than the original. . . And I ruined it by signing." He laughed nervously, chewing his lip.
"You did not ruin it." Frank whined, narrowing his eyes.
Gerard kept quiet.
"I'm telling the truth." He stated seriously, hoping he could coax Gerard in to believing in himself a little more.
"You think so?"
"I know so. Any one would agree with me."
"Perhaps we should be a duo."
"One day, Mr Way."
[Published 7 January 2020]
[Last edited 4 June 2020]
I hate this chapter.