WHEN FRANK FINALLY made his way back into his own bedroom a few hours later, he could tell Gerard was still awake.
He could hear rustling every now and then from Bob's room and the occasional curse.
Frank wondered if Gerard was a fucking insomniac or something because even though Frank slept a majority of the day, he never really slept too much at night— but Gerard? Why the fuck was he still awake at 4am and why hadn't he even budged to turn off his lights?
Frank bit his lip harshly, feeling the soft tissue break under the pressure of his teeth. Was it Frank's job to check on him?
He could only assume. Frank was his unofficial boyfriend after all. But Frank was also a half hysteric twenty eight year old who couldn't even wish his own unofficial boyfriend goodnight.
But irrespective of that, five minutes later Frank found himself reaching for his cane, limping to the front of Bob's bedroom door as he knocked lightly on the door.
He opened it slightly when he didn't hear a response, his eyes immediately falling onto a startled Gerard.
He had his laptop open in his lap and he was sat cross-legged as he stared at Frank with both confusion and discomfort.
"Um, hi?" Gerard said, his voice velvety and thick from not speaking for a few hours.
Frank cleared his throat, "You... okay in here?"
Frank's voice was scratchy and barely detectable as his own, his eyes glancing up at Gerard's before looking back down at the carpet lining the ground.
"Uh, yeah... I'm fine, Frankie." Gerard said, his tone questioning as he slowly closed his laptop halfway, "Why'd you ask?"
Frank shrugged weakly, "Heard you were still awake."
Gerard let out a small laugh, the noise barely audible. "Yeah, I'm uh, still working on editing a few things for work tomorrow."
Frank's eyebrows furrowed as he continued to shift on his feet by the doorway, "But... aren't you one of those entrepreneurial photographers?"
Gerard laughed again, the same noise repeating itself. "Eh... I guess. But lately I've been editing photoshoots for shitty magazines."
Frank paused, "Why?"
"They pay well." Gerard answered quietly, "You can come in by the way... I won't bite."
Frank looked at him, for a moment before shakily sighing and walking into the room, taking a seat on the edge of Bob's bed, a foot away from Gerard.
Gerard smiled softly as he shut his laptop completely and moved it the side. He moved closer to Frank on the bed, making Frank raise an eyebrow.
"Why're you awake, Frankie?" Gerard asked, watching Frank closely.
Frank looked away, shrugging slightly as he shakily swallowed. He kept his gaze on a small figurine Bob kept on his windowsill, ignoring Gerard's staring eyes.
Gerard sighed when a few moments passed and Frank hadn't answered him.
"Okay," Gerard said in that same hurt tone as before, "Well, I've um, gotta finish this. So..."
Frank found himself nodding stiffly as he blinked quickly. But he didn't move, making Gerard only frown harder.
"Frank, c'mon if you're just going to—"
"I um, I have trouble sleeping," Frank finally choked out despite himself, his voice a lot shakier than he would have liked.
Gerard was silent before he let out a small breath. He again didn't question Frank's reasoning as he simply moved to the side of the king-sized bed. Frank watched him in confusion as Gerard just smiled weakly.
"Well, you can stay in here if you want. S'nice to have company while I edit." Gerard said quietly, and Frank looked at him for a moment before glancing back at his cane.
He sighed before gently setting it by Bob's nightstand. Gerard smiled again as Frank carefully moved to rest his back against the headboard of Gerard's temporary bed.
Frank felt a blush sear through his cheeks as Gerard moved himself to be pressed up against Frank's chest, his head on Frank's shoulder as he brought the laptop back into his lap. And for a minute Frank thought his face was on fire. He attempted to hide his rosy features by burying his face in Gerard's stark black hair, the smell of his coco butter shampoo filling Frank's senses.
"You're about to learn a lot more than you bargained for, Frankie." Gerard laughed quietly, Frank's eyes glued to Gerard's laptop screen where Gerard was already opening tabs to start working.
And Frank felt his lips twitch subtly against Gerard's soft hair, the knot in his guts loosening slightly as Gerard moved closer to him.
Maybe Gerard staying with him wasn't all that bad.
✩ ✩
Gerard's eyes opened and closed from the light of the Laptop.
His eyes seemed to grow dim and dark as his eyelids turned hooded, the smooth green on the edge contrasting beautifully with the amber color in the middle. And Frank couldn't help but sort of smile as Gerard stared at him in confusion, blinking, his eyelashes brushing against Frank's cheek.
"Mm, why're you starin', Frankie?" Gerard asked softly, his eyes flickering to Frank's.
"No reason." Frank answered in response to Gerard's confused and sleepy gaze.
Frank tried to hide his weak smile the best he could against Gerard's tasseled hair, Gerard rolling his eyes and nuzzling into Frank's shoulder, his hair inches from Frank's nose.
And Frank could smell his Gerard-like smell, which he still found too good for words, and after a few slow minutes, Frank felt him go limp. Frank smiled in a more relaxed manner, cradling him to his chest.
He reached over to close Gerard's laptop for him, resting his head on top of Gerard's as he felt his lips twitch.
He hesitantly kissed the top of Gerard's head.
✩ ✩
Frank felt like shit when he walked out of Sarah's office.
He hated therapy.
He fucking despised it.
But he knew he couldn't avoid it forever, even if he felt like his personal problems were his own fucking business and would only be solved by himself. Though in all fairness now he wasn't just working on himself for his own reasons, he wanted to get better for Bob and Gerard too.
Frank didn't want anyone to worry about him anymore.
He sighed when he heard his phone ring in his pocket, his free hand that wasn't fiddling with his cane reaching for it. He was walking back to his apartment anyway, so he wasn't too worried about anyone waiting for him if he hypothetically answered whoever the fuck was calling.
Frank sighed when he saw it was Lindsey.
"Hello?" He said quietly, trying to keep his balance as he walked out of the building, already having marked his next appointment.
"Hey Iero, how you holdin' up?" She asked, and he could tell from the background noise that Lindsey was still at work.
"Fine," Frank answered simply.
"Mhm, and how's shacking up with Gee been?" She asked, making Frank recoil.
"We're not shacking up— we're barely..." Frank trailed off as he cleared his throat.
Lindsey seemed to catch onto what Frank had failed to say though, so of course she had to make her typical comment on the whole ordeal.
"I really don't fucking get that though, I mean, you've already gone on a date and now he's practically your sugar daddy or something— why can't you two just make it official already?" Frank cringed harder than he had ever cringed before.
"He's not my fucking sugar daddy you asshole," Frank muttered sourly, "And I don't know how many times I've gotta tell you that we're fucking waiting but if I'm going to keep repeating myself then you might as well f—"
"Okay, okay, jeez calm the fuck down." Lindsey laughed, "I was just sayin'."
Frank scoffed but didn't answer, continued his walk to his apartment.
Gerard had told him he would be back at five-thirty, so he was simultaneously trying to think of what he could maybe find in his fridge for them. He hadn't been eating lately but he remembered how Gerard hadn't eaten when Frank refused to, and he didn't want Gerard to miss meals because of his own eating regimen.
Maybe Gerard liked stir fry chicken. That was close to the only thing his mother had ever taught Frank to make, apart from omelettes, but he doubted Gerard really wanted that for dinner.
"Frank? Are you listening?"
Frank stopped his train of thought as he cleared throat, "Yeah, yeah I am."
"Mhm, sure," Lindsey scoffed, "I was just sayin' don't be so grumpy and rude to Gerard. He gets that enough from Mikey; he doesn't need it from his boyfriend."
"Not technical boyfriend—"
"Whatever, asswipe," Lindsey said in an exasperated tone, "Just don't give him a hard time, okay? Or I'll come over there and shove that Citizen "Kane" up your ass."
Frank sighed quietly as he nodded to himself, "Alright, I'll... try."
"Great," Lindsey said, "Now I gotta go, Wentz just spilled coffee all over Bert's desk."
"Okay," Frank said, and Lindsey hung up on him before he could even say goodbye to her. It wasn't as if he really cared though, he was too busy for that.
He was thinking of what he needed to buy for dinner.
✩ ✩
"Frankie? 'M back, and I think I stepped in lasagna earli—" Gerard stopped walking into the apartment when he spotted Frank limping over to the stove.
"You're... cooking?"
Frank nodded softly, looking back at him with a pink blush. "Uh... I-I guess. I don't know, I'm... trying to."
Gerard smiled then, a smile of happiness- like a spring flower blooming.
"That's amazing, Frankie," He said as he took off the camera strapped around his neck and set it on the counter.
He walked over to Frank and kissed his cheek. "I'm gonna take a shower, but I'm so proud that you cooked for yourself. That's... I wouldn't have minded doing i—"
"S'not for me," Frank interrupted quietly, "I... I made it for you too."
Gerard stopped, his eyes glancing to Frank's as he offered him a confused stare. Though Frank could definitely see that same shyness flicker across his face as he smiled wider.
And before Frank could even blink, Gerard was kissing him.
Frank knew that Gerard had been avoiding kissing him on the lips since he got released from the hospital. If he were being honest, at first it did kind of sting for him, but Frank came to realise it was just because Gerard didn't want to make him uncomfortable or make him feel like things were moving too fast again.
So when Gerard did clash their lips together gently, Frank felt drunk on endorphins, his only desire being to keep their lips locked as he felt Gerard cup his cheeks softly. And soon the soft caress had become more firm, Frank savouring Gerard's lips and the quickening of his breath that matched his own
Gerard pulled back.
His crooked smile stained his face like red wine as he lightly pecked Frank again.
"That's so sweet, Shitero." Gerard mumbled as he took his hands off of Frank's face. "But I still wanna shower so just... wait for me, okay? Don't you fuckin' start without me."
Frank nodded absently, his mind way too fogged to really process much apart from the fact that now Gerard was walking away and he was left alone in his kitchen once again.
Though maybe this time he didn't mind being alone too much, only because he knew Gerard was just in the other room.