Faded green and yellow. The color of autumn leaves. Sort of Frank’s eyes. Coffee made by the people outside church. A bruised apple.

Five days later. Five days. Plenty of time to do work, wash the car, go to the shops. But not enough time. Not enough time for Gerard.

He was stood facing the mirror, shirtless, staring at his bare torso. The faded green and yellow bruises crowding his pale skin. He traced his fingers over them, shuddering at his own cool touch.
“Put your shirt on, we can’t be late,” Frank stopped next to Gerard, looking up at him and tugging on the shirt Gerard was holding.
“Frank, I can’t go,”
Frank tucked his hair behind his ear sighing, “G you can, come one, it will be fun,”. Gerard rolled his eyes in response. Frank continued, “It’s not middle school you know, you are a mature... just about, a mature adult Gerard Arthur Way, you’ll be fine,”. Frank’s voice was flat, bored. He took Gerard’s shirt out of his hand and put it on Gerard, carefully doing the buttons up, making sure he didn’t touch Gerard’s chest. Gerard looked down, watching Frank as he did this. Frank could feel Gerard’s breath on his forehead as he did the last button, pulling back from Gerard before turning and walking away.

**********

There’s always places in every neighborhood where the houses are huge, the grass is a fake green and the cars shine like blood. And when you pass these places, you know that they’re there. You just never see them because of the monstrous gates and twisting driveways up to them. They were intimidating. The bullies of the houses. Except, the people living in them knew they had the best house. They would compete with their friends, making sure everything was perfect. Perfect house, perfect couple, perfect kids. They’d wear sunglasses like a badge which gave them high authority.

Gerard just thought they looked blind and stupid. Everything they live for is fake.

And that’s exactly where Frank and Gerard were. In that part of the neighborhood. Gerard was smirking at a ridiculous gate, high iron railings, dark and ghostly. There were two huge pillars at either edge of them, with gremlin looking statues on them. It’s like a fucking horror movie that you can get for free because it’s so tacky and bad. These movies actually scared Gerard sometimes. And, unfortunately for Gerard, these gates were exactly where Frank was turning in.
“Frank, what are you doing?” Gerard’s voice was shaky as he let out a small squeak.
“You know exactly what we’re doing,” Frank spat these words out, sick of Gerard’s presence at that moment. Gerard’s eyes widened as he flexed his sweaty palm.

Trees towered over them as they drove down the continuous driveway. This place was creepy. Gerard recognised it. The small paths jerking off at random angles, a rather large shed and, of course, the house itself. There were various lights on throughout the house, a figure passed a window, making Gerard jump. And the circular window...

Gerard’s spitting out the smoothie as Frank whispers something to Jake, who grins. Gerard looks up, blushing as he catches Dillon’s eye, wiping saliva from the corner of his mouth.
“Hey Gerard, wanna do something really fun?” Jake smirks at Gerard, raising one eyebrow and nodding in Frank’s direction. Frank’s skin flushes, feeling hot.
“Uh, yeah, sure,” replies Gerard, shrugging. Dillon smiles in his direction, oblivious to what Frank and Jake were planning.
Gerard tags along behind them as they make their way up the tall, winding staircase. He catches his foot on one of the steps, grabbing Jake’s jumper to save his fall. Jake just laughs, “Chill out man and look where you’re going,” he snorted, elbowing Frank then grabbing both Dillon and Frank’s hands before legging it up, two stairs at a time. Gerard tries to keep up, tripping again. Eventually they make it to Jake’s huge room. Gerard has just enough time to glance into Jake’s sister’s room before someone grabs him by his school tie, pulling him into Jake’s room.

The tie grabber was Jake. His hair was floppy and messy from running, still grinning like an idiot. Gerard forces a smile back, subtly trying to rub his neck, loosening his tie. He looks around to Frank and Dillon who are sat on the bed, neither of them is smiling. Frank is biting his lip, fiddling with his lip ring.
“Frank and Dillon are making something special for your birthday,” Jake spoke softly, “But you can’t look until they have got it all ready, okay?” Gerard nods, swallowing. Jake points to his open closet, ushering Gerard to go there. Gerard obeys and walks inside. He hears the door click shut from behind him as he walks up to the circular window. He looks down, onto the driveway, where Jake’s dog is chasing its tail.
It’s silent in the closet and Gerard jumps when he feels a hot breath on his neck. He swings around, taking a step backwards and stumbling back against the wall. It’s Jake.
“You didn’t expect me to leave you alone did you? On your birthday? I don’t think so,” he moves closer towards Gerard, “Not on little faggot’s birthday,”. He smirks. Gerard hates being called that and he narrows his eyes at Jake. “Sorry G, I didn’t mean to offend you, but it’s true isn’t it?”. He waits for Gerard’s nod of agreement before carrying on, “Good, because I have my own surprise for you,”. Jake closes the gap between him and Gerard completely, before standing on Gerard’s feet and pinning Gerard’s arms up above his head. Gerard feels the cool glass from the circular window, he wishes someone was outside, looking up at the stupid window. Gerard presses his lips tightly together, looking away. Jake rearranges his hands so that he can hold both of Gerard’s wrists in one hand. He uses his other hand to move Gerard’s face, pointing it directly at his own. Gerard whimpers, his cheeks hurting from Jake’s grip. “Good boy,” Jake whispers before kissing Gerard hard on the lips. Gerard freezes, not responding. “Kiss me back faggot, do something,” Jake growls and Gerard obeys. Their kiss is wet and sloppy, tears are streaming down Gerard’s face. He’s wondering whether to scream when the door crashes open and in walks Dillon, followed by Frank.

“Gerard please stop, what are you doing. We’re late already,” Frank had opened the passenger door and was staring at Gerard, who was curled up, hands shaking, eyes tightly squeezed shut.
“Sorry, I just-”
“Seriously, what’s up with you, it’s only one fucking night,” and with that, Frank walked off, up the steps to the front door. Gerard just watched as the huge black slab opened, a figure stood in the doorway. He talked to Frank for a bit, but he had noticed Gerard in the car. His face formed the memorable smirk as he put his arm around Frank, walking him into the house.

Notes

Another chapter.