PHILADELPHIA, PA
It was the usual early morning, everyone barely awake, going for a smoke in the parking lot as soon as they made it to the venue.
It was Adam's turn to get breakfast, so he told everyone he'd be back soon.
'Only three more dates of the tour left,' Gerard said, pulling Frank closer.
'Yup.' He didn't want to think about it, but it was impossible not to. Even if they were officially a thing now, they still lived in opposite coasts, and Frank hadn't introduced him to his kids yet, and they would have to figure out their whole arrangement.
'Why the sad eyes?'
'Well – considering I live in Jersey, and you live in California –'
'But we'll figure out something. Besides, it'll be nice to see the folks.' They sat there, sharing the last of their cigarette, when Adam arrived with breakfast burritos for everyone.
'You guys wanna come with us?' Derek asked, while they were all eating.
'Where?' Frank asked.
'Just for a walk. These kids,' he said, pointing to the rest of his band, 'They want to go to the Rocky steps, and it's not that far from here, so why not.'
'Let's go then.'
Every band ended up joining them in the end, since they had some extra time while the crew finished setting up the stage. And neither Frank nor Gerard had ever been to the museum, so they were kind of excited. Or at least enjoying the moment. Derek challenged them to a race up the steps, but only Frank accepted, and asked Gerard to take a picture when he made it first, with his arms up like Rocky.
The rest of them hung out for a while, but Gerard wanted to actually get in the museum and look around. 'Once an art school kid, always an art school kid, huh?' Frank said as they walked in, because he couldn't say no to his boyfriend.
Besides, it was a great excuse for a date.
Hand in hand, they looked around the rooms, and Gerard told him about the different art techniques, and the artists he recognized.
'Am I boring you?' he asked.
'Absolutely not! I like this!'
'You don't have to lie.'
'I'm not lying. I never knew medieval art could be so interesting, but you make it interesting.'
'You just say that because you want to get in my pants.'
'I do want to get in your pants, but that's not the only reason. I'm truly interested in everything you say.'
'Why are you so fucking perfect, Frank Iero?'
'I don't know. I wonder that myself.'
It was a good thing it was only ten in the morning, and they were the only ones there, because they could just kiss without anyone judging them for too much PDA.
Not even ten minutes later, Frank got a text from Derek asking where they were. 'I hate to end this,' Frank told Gerard. 'But they're waiting for us outside.'
They all took a picture doing the Rocky pose before leaving, and then continued on their walk. Derek was giving his band members a tour of the landmarks he liked, so they walked for a while, stopping for cheesestakes, and Frank was glad they had a veggie option.
They ended up in the Love Park after that, and Frank noticed the famous love sign. 'So here's where couples come and take cheesy pictures, huh?' he said.
'As if you're not thinking about doing the same thing,' Gerard said from behind.
'Me?' He faked a laugh but it wasn't convincing enough. 'I just – didn't know it was here.'
'Shall we?'
'Fine, only because you want to.' They asked Adam to take the picture, and they stood under the red sign, kissing.
He knew it was the cheesiest thing ever but he loved the picture. And if it wasn't because nobody knew about Gerard and him, he'd post it.
But he took one last picture of just the landmark, the sun shining right above it, and he added a filter.
I found LOVE, the caption read.
Gerard just smiled when he saw the post. 'You're a dork,' he said, and then they followed the rest back to the venue.
Gerard went straight inside to get ready for soundcheck and an interview, while Frank went to his bus to chill for a while.
Except Cara was already waiting for him. 'Where the hell were you, and why weren't you answering your phone?' she asked.
'We all went for a walk, I told you!'
'But you could have answered!'
'But I was busy, hanging out.'
'And you had time to post another picture!'
'Why are you so angry? What happened?' He just laughed, not sure what was the deal with her.
'It happened that AltPress already posted an article of about the picture you posted last night, making people wonder who that might be, and Michael has been calling me all morning wondering if you'll give them the exclusive.'
Shit.
He hadn't thought about that.
That meant he had to come out to everybody, and he wasn't sure if he was ready for a big announcement like that. He wished it wasn't that big of a deal, but apparently his post was already a big deal.
Why did it have to be so hard?
'Just tell him no,' he said, trying to sound as calm as possible. 'I'll do it on my own terms or nothing.'
'But –'
'I don't care. It's not just me, okay? I have to think about my kids, and Gerard. I'm sure he doesn't want a big announcement either.'
'Fine.'
'I have to talk to him.'
'I know.'
He was anxious for the next couple hours, and it was obvious all through soundcheck. Tucker had to stop it, and told Frank to take a break, so Frank went out for a cigarette.
But it wasn't enough.
He went to Gerard's bus to look for him. 'Hey, babe,' the older man said as soon as he saw hi walk in. And he noticed he looked frustrated. 'Is everything okay?'
'Can we talk?' Fortunately the parking lot was away from where all the fans were waiting, so they went outside.
'What happened?'
'It's just –' He didn't know how to say it. 'Remember what I posted last night?' Gerard nodded. 'Well, it seems AltPress wrote something about it, and people are already assuming things, and they pretty much offered me a lot of money to give them the exclusive of me coming out.'
'What?!'
'Obviously I'm not taking it.'
'But then, what are you doing?'
'I don't know. They don't know it's you, but they know it's a man's hand. I had to limit the comments on my Instagram because people were going crazy with the theories.'
Gerard just gave him a look.
'I – I don't know if I'm ready to come out yet. I need to talk to the kids first. But I do know, that I'm serious about us, so people would find out eventually.'
Gerard walked up to him and took both his hands, trying to calm him down.
And Frank continued. 'And I'll only do it when you're ready.'
'I've made my peace. If that's what it takes for me to be with you, I'm okay with everyone knowing. You're more than worth it.'
'Are you sure?'
'Trust me, I am. I almost told everyone this morning, and then I remembered I haven't used my twitter account in years and it'd be to much if my first tweet is me coming out. And I wanted to ask you first.'
'You almost did your twitter comeback because of me?'
Gerard nodded.
'That is true love,' Frank said and kissed him.
'It is.'
'So – should we tell everyone then?'
'When it's the right time, we'll know.'
'But we can still fuck in the meantime, right?'
'Oh, definitely.'
And he pulled him to Gerard's tiny bunk in the back.
***
'I can't believe you'll finally meet the kids tomorrow,' Frank said, already wearing his blue jumpsuit, while they talk before his set.
'Now I'm nervous.'
'But why? They'll love you!'
'But they're your kids, they're the most important thing to you. And that's a lot!'
'Well, that's true. But you'll get along.'
They kissed one last time, and Frank walked onstage after his drummer. 'Good evening, Philadelphia! My name is Frank Iero and these are the Future Violents!' The crowd cheered as Tucker kept the beat with his drums. 'Thanks for joining us tonight! And before we start I just want to say – I fucking love you, G.'