11th September 1999 – Saturday
Gerard woke up feeling super shitty, and it wasn't just the massive hangover he had. It had been Mikey's birthday the previous day, and everyone got super drunk to celebrate. Luckily this year his birthday had fallen on a Friday so no one had to skip class the next day.

He looked around and scrunched up his nose at the smell of sweat and alcohol, seeing Pete passed out on top of Patrick, Ryan huddled up to Brendon, Gabe's face smushed into Ray's fro, Mikey, limbs all spread and snoring next to Gerard, and Andy passed out at Bob's feet in the corner. Where was Frank? Oh yeah, Frank hadn't come, he'd passed up on coming to Mikey's birthday party because he had a date with Jamia. And that wasn't all.

Ever since he had stared dating Jamia, not even a week prior, he had been distancing himself from Gerard. He wasn't even surprised that it had happened, Ray had warned him and even he knew it was going to happen, he just didn't expect it to be this soon. Frank hadn't hung out with him, barely spoken to him since Tuesday. He'd spend all his breaks with Jamia, have lunch with her, after school go on dates with her, and even when he was available, he'd turn Gerard down, choosing to hang out with Pete or Bob because apparently ever since he became best friends with Gerard he hadn't been hanging around them that much.

Gerard knew it had been coming, but it still hurt. Just the part where he knew the love of his life was spending most of the day with the love of his life hurt. He'd choose her over Gerard anytime and it hurt Gerard more than anything, even though he knew the only people who'd choose him over someone else were his mom and his brother. He was just a dorky, chubby kid with greasy hair and sketches that would question his mental stability, why would anyone put him first?

It wasn't just the fact that Frank didn't love him back, he could deal with that, maybe not but he could learn. He was losing his best friend though, and at this rate he was pretty sure he and Frank wouldn't be talking at all in a few weeks, and that, he definitely couldn't deal with.

He tried not to wake anyone as he made his way to the bathroom, the feeling in his gut and heart of utter heartbreak making his need to puke that bit more intense. He got to the bathroom and just remembered to shut the door so none of the guys heard him as he emptied his guts out into the toilet, and then he remembered just how much he really hated hangovers. They were even worse when he didn't have Frank there to just cheer him up through them.

---

Frank felt bad on missing out on Mikey's birthday party, but he had a date with Jamia and he had figured out that dating Jamia did nothing if he kept hanging out with Gerard, his love for him would be amplified back to a million as soon as he saw his stupid smiling face. So he decided keeping his distance was better.

He knew all the guys were probably still passed out, even though it was 1pm. He also knew that if Gerard had been drinking how he usually did he'd be cranky for the rest of the day, and it was usually Frank who helped cheer him up. He couldn't deal with that though, if he went to take care of Gerard today he'd just love him even more as soon as he'd hear him grunting stupid insults at everyone. Ray would have to deal with his crankiness. He couldn't be with Gerard, he would fall even harder. He just prayed that this thing with Jamia would help him out.

He picked up his phone, looking through the contacts until he found 'J <3'. Hitting the call button, he looked up at the ceiling, lying down in his bed as he waited for a response.

“Hey Frankie what's up?” He heard her childish voice break through the ringing of the phone.

“Hey Jams, I was just wondering if you wanted to go get coffee or lunch or something today.”

“Um sure, we could go to the pizza place in the mall.” She replied.

“Yeah. Be there in ten to pick you up?”

“Yeah sure, see you soon Frankie.”

“See you soon J.”

He swung his feet off the bed and sat up, getting a head rush momentarily, since he was already dressed he just picked his coat up from his chair and ran down the stairs, shouting at his mom that he was having lunch with Jamia before walking out the door.

He was halfway through his lunch with Jamia when suddenly he saw Bob make his way into the pizza place, blockbuster bag in hand. He was on his way to the counter when he suddenly spotted Frank and made his way to his table.

“Hey Bobert, what's up?” Frank said through a mouthfull of pizza, smiling up at him.

“Hey Frank,” He eyed Jamia uncertainly. “Can I speak with you in private for a sec?”

Frank swallowed his food down nervously. Bob seemed serious, and that was always scary. Even for people who knew he was a total softy.

“Sure," He said, then turning to Jamia. "One sec Jamia, be right back.” He followed Bob to the men's room, and as soon as the door shut behind them, Bob started speaking.

“You're a totally dick for not showing up at Mikey's party you know that? The dude's one of your best friends.”

“Hey you know I had a date with Jamia dude, I couldn't go.” He argued back.

“And you couldn't have shown up afterwards? Even just to give him a present and say happy birthday?” Bob said, with his eyebrows raised in disbelief. Frank hated to lie, but he really had to say what he said next otherwise Bob would be all over his ass.

“Umm, it was sort of an all night kind of date you know?” He said uncertainly. Bob just seemed even more angry.

“Oh sure, miss your friend's birthday because you're getting laid. You know, because you totally can't get laid any other day of the year but one of your best friends turning sixteen happens every fucking day.” He said scowling.

Frank felt his heart sink down into his gut, Mikey was practically his second best friend, Gerard's brother, and he had missed his 16thbirthday. He couldn't help but think about how he had missed Gerard's too, and how he was a totally shitty friend. But he couldn't go, couldn't be around Gerard. His love for him would just ruin everything and that was something he definitely didn't want.

“Look, just tell Mikey I'm sorry.” He said desperately to Bob.

“Tell him yourself, or are you too busy fucking your girlfriend that you can't make time to speak to him?” And Frank winced a bit, because Bob may have been a softy, but when he got protective, shit got serious.

“Did you just come here to get all over my ass about not going?” And okay, maybe Frank was getting a bit protective of himself.

“Nah, I came to pick up some movies for the dudes back home and I figured I'd take some pizzas to help cheer up the mood that came with the hangover. Not everything revolves around you Frankie, remember that.”

And with that Bob walked out of the door, leaving Frank standing there with his mouth agape because apparently, people were a lot more pissed at him than he thought they would be.
Eventually, he got himself out of the mens room, and back towards his table, where Jamia was asking him if everything was alright. He just brushed the questions off and said everything was fine, which it kind of wasn't.

---

Gerard was feeling a bit better when Bob got back, mainly because the everyone's crankiness was rather entertaining when they were hungover, Gerard couldn't blame them though, he was probably the same. Bob coming back brought even more good news when he had not only rented movies, but brought pizza too.

Once they had all settled in, Bob proceeded to hand out pizza boxes and get a movie on.

“So,” Bob said as he walked back to the makeshift mattress he was sharing with Andy. “I saw Frank at the pizza place.” Everyone looked towards him, then towards Gerard, and he thought he made a pretty good 'I'm not bothered' face. He had been learning with Mikey.

“Turns out he couldn't come yesterday because he had an all night date with Jamia.” He said shrugging and taking a bite of pizza. And Gerard was seriously impressed at how he had managed to keep the 'I'm not bothered' face on, even when his heart had just skydived down to his guts.

“So let me get this straight,” Gabe started. “Frank missed out on one of his best friend's sixteenth birthday to get laid? Not cool man.” Everyone turned to him in surprise.

“Dude,” Pete said grinning. “Did you, Gabe Saporta, just say it's not worth it to miss out on your friend's birthday to get laid?”

Gabe shurgged. “I'm a sex maniac, not a douchebag. Yeah, pulling is really fucking great, but I wouldn't miss out on a friend's birthday because of it. Dick move.”

Andy hummed in agreement. “Yeah bros before hoes and all that.”

The conversation ended there as everyone turned back to the movie, except in Gerard's head. Frank had missed out on Mikey's birthday so he could spend the night with Jamia, he must have really cared about her. He cared about her a lot more than he did about Gerard, and that's when it finally dawned on him that Jamia was it for Frank. Gerard had never seen Frank care for anyone like he did for Jamia.

He sighed sadly at the realization, the person he loved most was going to spend his life with someone else, and he was never going to get his best friend back. If a birthday wasn't important enough compared to Jamia for him to show up, why would any other day be? He should have just told Frank how he felt about him, it was pretty obvious he was going to lose him anyways, he might as well have had a reason for it, and the weight off his shoulders.

Notes

double update because why the fuck not? Might even make it tripple.