Gerard sat at his desk; seven empty mugs of coffee surrounded him. Frank would bring him some more when he got home. In front of him, lay an open sketch book, filled with drawings of characters that Gerard knew would stay in his sketch book, forever being just an idea. There was a woman, tall with slim, muscular legs. She was wearing fishnet tights and long black boots with a leather crop top and a long purple cape. She had red hair, cut short to suit her pixie face. This was the drawing Gerard had been most proud of. Frank would like it, he thought, but he wouldn’t show Frank. There was no point.
Frank did in fact bring Gerard some more coffee when he arrived home. He brought in two mugs, one for himself and one for Gerard. He sat down next to Gerard’s desk after handing him some coffee. He leant back on the side of the desk, breathing a sigh. Frank did this a lot. Just sitting with Gerard. Occasionally he would tell Gerard a few things he had done or something which had happened during his day which Gerard may take interest in. Gerard rarely replied to these comments from Frank, sometimes giving him a nod or a low hum of acknowledgement. Frank knew there was never going be to be real conversation between them at times like this, so he was content with the small responses from Gerard. That was enough. After an hour of them like this, Frank would go off to make some dinner or make a few phone calls. He kept an eye on Gerard though, whatever he was doing. When Frank left him, Gerard would turn up his music so loud, the remains in the empty mugs would quiver.
As Frank expected, this went on for almost a week. Each day, Gerard did exactly the same. And by the end of the week, Gerard absolutely stunk. That was also expected. It had been long enough, that Frank decided he would talk Gerard into taking a bath or a shower. Throwing in an offer of washing together. A bath would mean they’d talk and Frank would listen to Gerard’s problems as he stroked his soft skin, comforting Gerard. A shower would lead to sex, washing away all of the tension between them. However, as nice as sex was, Frank would try and go for the bath option, so he could comfort Gerard because that’s what he liked to do. That’s what he did best.

***********
Frank turned down the volume of Gerard’s music, saving them both, and probably the rest of New Jersey from tinnitus for the rest of their living days.
“Hey sugar,” Frank spoke softly, looking at Gerard’s face, stroking his tangled, greasy hair. Gerard looked up at him, “Fancy a bath, I got some new bubble bath. Y’know, the light blue one. Your favourite one,”.
“Are you saying I stink?” Gerard looked up at Frank wide eyed, looking a complete wreck, but there was a shimmer of a gleam in his eye. Frank smiled, “Because quite frankly Frank, you smell too, so I suggest you go and take a bath,”.
A huge grin plastered Frank’s face because Gerard, too, was smiling. There were huge black circles under his eyes and his skin was, somehow, paler than usual, but Gerard Way was smiling. And Frank loved it.
Gerard watched Frank from the doorway, as Frank ran their bath, swirling his hand through the water. The water was tinted slightly blue from the bubble bath, but it was soon covered by a thick layer of bubbles. Every so often, a huge bubble would build up, and both of them watched it as it grew and eventually popped. When Frank was satisfied with the bath temperature and the amount of bubbles, he grabbed two towels off of the bathroom radiator and nodded towards the bath, motioning to Gerard to get in. Gerard turned to face the wall as he slowly pulled his t-shirt up, over his head. He dropped it onto the floor beside him, quickly taking of his jeans and sliding into the tub. He tipped his head back as the warm water engulfed his pale body. Frank watched Gerard as he got in, smiling to himself. He copied Gerard, taking off his shirt first, then his trousers. He got into the bath slowly, shivering when his body was fully immersed in the foamy, blue water. He lightly trace over the skin of Gerard’s knee, watching Gerard as his lips parted and he sighed ever so slightly. And for the first time in days, Gerard looked straight back at Frank, holding his gaze. They stayed like this for a few minutes, Frank continued running his fingers over Gerard’s knee. Eventually Gerard looked away and mumbled something Frank couldn’t quite make out.
“What was that sugar?” he asked Gerard, taking his hand off Gerard’s knee and using it to face Gerard’s head in the direction of his own. Gerard looked down.
“Will you wash my hair?” he asked, Frank still barely hearing what he was saying. He nodded, tilting his head to one side, watching as Gerard, very badly, manoeuvred himself so his back was facing Frank. Frank picked up a jug which was sat on the edge of the bath. They kept it there for when hair washing was to be done in the bath instead of in the shower. He filled up the jug and carefully poured it over Gerard’s greasy mess, massaging his head softly as the water trickled down. The red of his hair was so bright, brighter than usual Frank thought. He rinsed Gerard’s hair a few times before getting the bottle of Raspberry shampoo and gently squeezing some onto his palm. He began massaging the sides of Gerard’s head, turning the red knots white with soap and bubbles. He then proceeded to do the underneath of Gerard’s hair before doing the back and his scalp. He then patted Gerard’s hair down because he could and it stayed in place due to the shampoo.
“Close your eyes,” he whispered in Gerard’s ear as he poured another jug of water over Gerard, shampoo running down the pale, scarred skin of his back. He traced over a scar, quickly taking his hand away when Gerard flinched. He stood up, not looking at Frank, and grabbed a towel, taking himself and his half washed hair dripping out of the bathroom.
Frank sighed, it was not ok. Not yet.

Notes

This chapter is really bad, I apologise in advanced. Well I guess if you're reading this, then you've seen the chapter. Or not. Anyway, sorry.