"Hey they started without us," I said indignantly as we pulled into the driveway of Sharon, Gerard and Mikey's place.

The garage was shut but in the still cool night air I could still here the faint noise of their distinctive music ringing true.

"The nerve," Sharon said teasingly.

I got out of the car and thankfully lit a cigarette as I still stood by the rule of not smoking in her car, I had even gotten Gerard to stick to it. Which meant that when we went anywhere me, him and Frankie generally all drove in Gerard's car so we could smoke. But on the trips when we were in Sharon's we didn't.

Lit cigarette in hand I made my way towards the garage's side door that was standing open as Sharon had made it in before me. Their sound was louder with the open door and it filled the chilled night air beautifully, seeming to compliment the changing color of the leaves wonderfully. Though since I knew they were heating the garage I hurried up so as to get the door closed. Inside the garage I found everyone in their usual places, with a still slightly new addition, K.C., for the night. The guys were up at their instruments with Gerard singing into the mic while I saw Sharon over at the fridge and then saw, well I saw feet. Walking closer to the couch I saw K.C. sitting with her head on the arm rest and then her body nestled on the couch so that her feet were up over the top, bopping away to the music as it resonated through the make shift practice space. I rolled my eyes and smiled down at her as I saw her happily munching on Skittles as her feet bopped back and forth, her spare hand that wasn't reaching to her stomach where her Skittles were poured out was also keeping beat. I reached down and snagged a few off her stomach.

"Hey!" K.C. startled loudly, almost falling off the couch.

I guess she hadn't realized I was here now, nor Sharon.

I burst out laughing as she scrunched her face up as she righted herself back into her original position on the couch, which could only be deemed comfortable by someone like her. Or Frankie. But then again they were like the exact same person so they only counted once in things like this.

"Sorry hun," I said laughingly as I took a seat next to her.

K.C. glowered at me playfully before grinning like a fool and dropping her legs off the top of the couch and onto my lap. At my raised eyebrows she grinned an impish grin at me.

"That's the toll for stealing some of my prized Skittles," she said rather matter of factually.

I stuck my tongue out at her but let her feet sit as I leaned forward and pulled the low level coffee table closer so I could reach the ash tray with ease. Sharon dropped down on the couch next to me and handed me one of the beers from her hands.

"Beer K.C.?" Sharon asked as she waved one of the remaining two in her grasp.

"Thanks but not till after my Skittles. Beer is like the only thing that doesn't mix with Skittles, like the only thing. It's sad really," K.C. added sadly, a forlorn look on her face.

It was all I could do to keep myself from bursting out loud, and from the looks of it the same was happening with the guys as well. Poor Ray almost missed a note while playing and Gerard had a coughing fit as he finished up the end of the last chorus. K.C. simply grinned at everyone and winked at Frankie, who being him tried winking back. But in true Frankie fashion it failed miserably and became a giant mockery of a wink, his whole face getting into it. This caused everyone to burst into a fit of laughter and K.C. to actually fall off the couch and onto the floor, one hand tightly clasped over her Skittles so as not to lose any in her fall.

"What?" Frankie said innocently as we all laughed at him.

At Frankie's poor clueless-ness Gerard called a break and they all disbanded from the make shift stage setting. Gerard made his way towards Sharon and I on the couch, where there wasn't much room left unless he took K.C.'s place next to me.

"How are my two favorite people?" Gerard asked as he sat between Sharon and I.

Well not so much between the two of us, more like on top of the two of us, putting his arms around each of our shoulders.

"Hun your pits smell some awful," Sharon said as she plugged her nose and turned her head away from Gerard's armpits.

I wasn't even going to try and smell them and kept breathing out my mouth just in case.

"Huh? Hey that's not very, oh they do," Gerard said, changing his statement mid way through as he leaned down a bit and sniffed his own pits.

"Oh well, deal with my man musk. We're dating, it should turn you on," Gerard said rather matter of factually, setting his face into a very, quote, manly face.

Sharon rolled her eyes at him but didn't unplug her nose.

"Fine, Jay take a whiff and fall madly and deeply in love with me," Gerard said as he lifted his arm off my shoulders so more of his armpit was exposed to me.

I crinkled my nose at him but played along. Faking a big sniff of his pit I then batted my eyelashes at him all playfully and acted like I was swooning over him. But then my act faltered as I started coughing.

"Oh god Gerard I can't keep it up, you smell some ripe," I said between coughs as I waved a hand in front of my face, trying to disperse the smell.

"It's not that bad," Gerard huffed as he got up off Sharon and I and went to the door that led inside the house.

In a fairly put out manner Gerard opened and closed the door behind him and disappeared into the house. I looked around at everyone and found them all staring off the direction Gerard had gone, my gaze last fell on Sharon and eventually she turned to look at me. She simply shrugged her shoulders and leaned to grab her beer. I sighed and stood up.

"I'll go find his spoiled pampered ass," I said as I felt mostly to blame for whatever was going wrong.

Stepping over people, instruments and other odds and ends that were in the garage turned practice space slash studio I finally made it to the door. I turned the knob and slowly walked in. I had been in their place countless times since we had all became friends months upon months ago but never when it was this quiet. I tiptoed down the hallway till I came to Gerard's room. Even though he and Sharon were dating he still had his own room where he kept all his stuff, they just generally slept in Sharon's bed together. He wasn't there. It was then that I heard sounds coming from the bathroom. Slowly and quietly I made my way to it, the door was open and I could see the bathroom light pouring out and painting the carpet a bright color since the house was more or less dark. I stepped up to the door frame and leaned against it, crossing my arms across my chest.

"Hey hot stuff," I said in a joking manner as I stared at Gerard's back.

He had his shirt off and his back turned to me so he hadn't seen me approach. At my voice he jumped what looked like a mile in the air and turned around quickly to face me, a hand grabbing for his shirt to cover his body.

"Good god woman you scared the shit out of me," Gerard said out of breath, wet washcloth still in his other hand.

The one that wasn't holding his old stinky shirt to his unclothed upper body. I reached forward and grabbed the shirt from his grasp and held it up with one finger.

"You know if you put this back on you'll still stink, as it's part of the reason for the sweat smell," I said factually, still having the shirt dangle off one of my fingers.

"Give that back," Gerard said as he made a grab for it.

"I'll get you a new one, just not this one. Why so needing of the shirt?" I asked as I realized that he was trying to cover himself up in front of me.

For crying out loud it wasn't as if he was standing in front of me in a swimmer's Speedo or anything, he was just shirtless.

"I don't want you to see me without my shirt," Gerard said softly as he dropped his head and looked at his feet.

I stood there kind of taken aback for a moment, I didn't really know what to say. I had no idea he was body conscious, especially since I found nothing wrong with it. The gloriously porcelain white skin of his arms continued to the rest of his body, and looked to be just as smooth as his arms were. So he wasn't manorexic, or as tiny as his brother or even Frankie, he still looked good to me. Not knowing what to say I went to go grab him another shirt from his room and deposit the one in my hand in the dirty hamper. New shirt in hand I came back to the bathroom to find Gerard still nervously looking at his feet, now with one arm across his stomach nervously itching his other arm.

"Here," I said as I held out the clean shirt for him.

As Gerard went reached out to grab it I pulled it just out of his reach once one of his fingers brushed it. This got him to look up at the shirt, exactly what I had wanted. When he reached for it again I did the same thing, moving the shirt just out of his grasp making him look me directly in the face this time. Which again was exactly what I had wanted. He gave me a put out look at I held the shirt away from him, his lips pursing and his brow crinkling slightly at me.

"I don't see why you wouldn't want me to see you topless, I've seen tons of guys without shirts on. You all start to look the same," I said, hoping to ease whatever it was that was eating at him.

"But I'm not exactly the skinniest guy on the block, I'm more on the chubby side," Gerard said flatly as he continued to stare me in the eyes.

At least he was looking at me and not shying away.

"I'd hardly call you chubby Gee, you look fine to me. You're an attractive man Gerard, with and without your shirt on," I said as I tossed the now stunned looking Gerard his shirt, which he just barely caught before it fell to the ground.

But before I could turn and walk back out to the garage I felt Gerard wrap his arms around me and hold me close to him. Without his shirt on. Smiling I wrapped my arms around him and hugged him back. He smelled nice, and I know he hadn't put on any deodorant as I had caught him with the wet washcloth still in hand. He smelled like his normal self, a little sweaty, slightly of cigarettes, a hint of vanilla from his soap and whatever else it was that made him smell like him.

"Thank you," Gerard said as he finally let me go, a small smile on his face.

"No problem. Now hurry up so we can continue this practice," I said trying my best to sound like a high school football coach, even slapping him on the ass before walking out of the bathroom.

I heard Gerard cough a couple of times as I walked down the hallway back towards the garage and my other waiting friends. Mission accomplished.

Notes

Sometimes all it takes is to distract someone long enough so they forget about what was bothering them in the first place.