Memories

"Be quiet, he's sleeping!" I heard a hushed voice as I stirred, that I recognized as Donna's.

"I will mom, I'm perfectly capable of-" There was a thud following after what I presumed was Gerard's voice crying out a slight "Ouch," and I sat up quickly, rubbing my eyes and searching for the cause of the noise.

Donna was smiling at me apologetically, and I noticed Gerard on the floor, clutching his knee and scrunching his face up in pain. I let out a small giggle at his facial expression and he looked up at me, cheeks flushing red before he stood up casually and brushed himself off.

"Sorry, honey," Donna sighed. "I told him to be quiet."

I nodded at her, smiling, and then tried to suppress a yawn which resulted in me looking like a fish in pain.

"Gerard's just putting his things in Mikey's room while we get his old room cleared out-"

"-because my family didn't plan for the fact that I wasn't going to be gone forever and used it as a storage room," Gerard cut Donna off in an accusing tone, rolling his eyes as she flicked him playfully on the back of his head.

"Of course we knew you'd be coming back," she argued. "Just not this soon."

"Not this soon? I've been gone 7 years!" Gerard dramatically waved his hand in front of his mom's face.

"Oh be quiet and hurry with the unpacking," she scolded, slapping his hand away. "I'm sure Frank wants to get some more sleep, right honey?"

I shrugged and stretched, smiling at Donna as she left the room, closing the door and leaving Gerard stood awkwardly staring in the middle of Mikey's room.

After a moment or two, Gerard looked away and picked his suitcase up, placing it at the end of Mikey's bed and unzipping it.

In it, there seemed to be endless art supplies, including small canvases, around 50 different paint brushes, three different types of paint and some artist pencils. I could only see a few items of clothing. My mouth dropped open.

"Like what you see?" I heard Gerard mutter, and I looked up through my eye lashes to see him smirking to himself and the joke. My cheeks heated up and I nodded slightly, not taking my eyes off Gerard.

"Well," he sighed suddenly after a while, placing his hands on his hips the way I'd never seen another male do before. "Are you gonna help me? Or just sit gawking at my ass?"

My eyes grew wide at Gerard's accusation and I opened my mouth slightly, in awe of his ability to be so forward.

When I didn't reply, Gerard chuckled quietly and shook his head, looking down for a second before turning his head to the doorway.

"Stop scaring Frank," an annoyed looking Mikey muttered, punching Gerard in the arm as he walked past him to sit on the bed next to me. I laughed as Gerard hissed slightly and flipped Mikey the finger.

"How're you feeling?" Mikey mumbled, taking in my expression. I shrugged and smiled.

"Wait, what's happened?" Gerard piped up suddenly, looking from me to Mikey. I pleaded Mikey with my eyes to change the subject quickly.

"Nothing, he just wasn't feeling well," he stated casually, and Gerard seemed to buy it. I visably relaxed.

"Yo, brotherin', have you got any good films?" Gerard asked when he'd put the last of his things away, laughing as he put on a gangster voice.

"We have the new Batman?" Mikey offered. Gerard shook his head.
"Nah, a horror or some shit."

"Well what about Paranormal Acti-"

"Fuck no, that shit sucks," Gerard stopped Mikey.

He sighed. "We just got The Hills Have Eyes?"

Gerard deliberated for a few seconds. "One or two?"

"One," he told Gerard, who scrunched his face up in response.

"Nope."

Mikey pinched the bridge of his nose between his fingers and furrowed his eyebrows in irritation. "Were you always this annoying?"

"Were you always this mature?" Gerard responded, rolling his eyes and placing his hands on his hips like before.

"Were you always a f-"

"The Exorcist 2?" I murmured, causing both Mikey and Gerard to discontinue their argument and turn to face me.

"Perfect!" Gerard shouted, his voice lathered in enthusiasm. "I'll go ask mom where it is!" he shouted before bounding out the room and down the stairs.

Mikey stared at me, mouth agape. "Frank?" He hesitated before stepping closer and sitting on the bed beside me. I looked at him expectantly
.
"You talked?" he said quietly, his voice rising a little at the end.

I nodded my head gently and looked down.

"Why-"

"Come on! The film's starting!" Gerard interrupted Mikey by calling us from the bottom of the stairs. "Anyone want popcorn?"

Mikey seemed to be waiting for me to reply, but I stayed silent. I nodded at Mikey.

"Uh, sure," he called out, and I heard Gerard start to walk away from the bottom of the stairs. I stood then, and took Mikey by the wrist, dragging him out of the room and downstairs. By the time we were settled into a seat in the front room, Gerard strutted in with a large bottle of Coca Cola in one hand and a bowl of popcorn in the other.

"Is salted okay?" he asked, but he was looking at me for a reply. I only nodded.
"Alright then," he said as he placed the popcorn on the small table in front of the double seated sofa me and Mikey were sat on. I thought Gerard was going to sit in the arm chair beside the sofa, but apparently not.

"Scoot over," he mumbled, pushing Mikey by the side of his head. When Mikey bit his hand, he yelped and almost stumbled over and onto me. I managed to jump up and move away before he fell. My heart was racing. This was too much.

Gerard wiped Mikey's spit from his hand and sat in my space, but then he looked over at me. "Hey Frank?"

I glanced up, and Gerard froze in place.

"Hey, are you crying?" he asked softly, his eyes full of concern. Mikey slapped him, muttering something about this being Gerard's fault for being awkward.

I shook my head and wiped my eyes with my sleeve, then turned to sit in the arm chair.

"You can sit back here if you want to? I'll sit in the arm chai-"

"No."

Mikey's eyes widened then, and he stared at me, mouth agape when I spoke.

"Are you su-" Gerard started again, but I cut him off.

"Yes. I'm fine." I snapped.

"Okay," Gerard said quietly, looking down at his hands as if he was ashamed of something.

Throughout the whole movie, Mikey was glancing over at me constantly. He was always sneaking a confused look at me, and I got fed up. I stood to go the the bathroom, but when Mikey and Gerard asked where I was going in synchronization, I ignored both of them.

As I stepped foot out of the front room, I felt a hand wrap around my wrist. "Hey," I heard Gerard's soothing voice whisper into my ear. I could have melted right then and there. I turned my head slightly, glancing at him.

"You wanna talk?" he asked me quietly. I took a quick look at Mikey who was pretending to be engrossed in the film.

I shook my head gently, and gave a quick smile, before whispering "bathroom."

Gerard nodded understandingly and the corner of his lips twitched upwards. "I guess you can do that on your own."

I felt my cheeks flare up and I quickly turned before he saw, pulling my wrist away and started up the stairs.

Notes