Unknown Identities

The two of them walked side by side back towards the house. I swear to god, if his hand bumps mine one more time I’m going to go crazy. Frank thought as they walked. Gerard had both pizza boxes in one hand and his other hand, the one closest to Frank, dangling by his side. It would’ve been perfectly normal if they weren’t walking so close to each other. It’s only a coincidence, don’t grab his hand. Frank scolded himself at the thought. But it was getting very hard every time their hand brushed against the others.
“Are you alright Frank?” Gerard questioned, looking sideways at the shorter boy. He looked lost in his own world.
“Yeah I’m fine,” Frank replied back, looking anywhere but the boy walking next to him.
“Okay,” Gerard said giving him a look that told Frank he didn’t believe him.
All I’ve got to do is grab his hand. Gerard thought, it’s not that hard, besides the worst thing that could happen is he pulls away. Just as Gerard convinced himself to do it, Frank had given up in his mental debate, slowly interlocking their fingers together. Well, I guess I really had nothing to worry about seeing as he did it for me, Gerard thought and then it caught up to him, Oh my fucking God. The same thought process went through Frank’s mind as they continued to walk down the sidewalk, only now with their hand in the others.
They walked in silence the rest of the way back, both of them intent on looking anywhere but the other. Frank contemplated pulling away after another few minutes but when he tried he found that Gerard wouldn’t let him. He was holding his hand back, which gave Frank hope. So they walked back to the house, hand in hand, feeling extremely awkward but incredibly happy.
The two of them walked up the porch and Frank tried to open the door. However, he found that it was locked and Gerard swore loudly.
“Now he decides to lock the door,” he said letting go of Frank’s hand reluctantly to search for his keys to the house. He dug through his pockets until he finally found the key, he opened the door and the both of them walked into the house.
“Why do you both look like tomatoes?” Mikey questioned as they walked in the house. The two of them had a deep red blush on their face.
Gerard looked to Frank and Frank to Gerard and they both shrugged. Mikey looked at them questioningly but then grabbed the food from his brother’s hand and set it on the table in front of the couch in the living room. Bob and Ray immediately dug into the pizza sitting on one of the two couches in the room. Mikey and Frank joined them after grabbing their own slice. The four of them were piled on one couch. Gerard smirked at the idiots as they tried not to sit on the other. None of them had noticed yet that there was another couch and this one was only inhabited by Gerard.
They sat watching some crappy movie for at least ten minutes before Frank finally gave up. Getting elbowed in the side by Bob for the tenth time sent him over the edge. Besides the smell of peperoni was starting to get to him. He got up and moved to the other couch, a little closer to Gerard than he intended but hey, he wasn’t complaining.
The three other boys in the room breathed a sigh of release when Frank finally got up, having enough room to actually breath now. Frank didn’t really take up all that much space on the couch in the first place but it was enough that it squished them all.
After almost all the food was gone, the five of them continued to watch the movie that was playing.
“Why are we still watching this, it’s got really crappy effects,” Frank asked as he shifted himself on the couch so that he lay on it…using Gerard’s folded legs as a pillow. Looking up at the boy to see if he would push him off, he found that Gerard wasn’t even looking at him so he assumed it was okay.
“Because there’s nothing else on,” Bob answered looking over to Frank. Smirking as he saw the way the two of them were newly organized. He elbowed Mikey in the side and gestured at them. “I think you owe me,” he whispered.
“Doubtful,” Mikey answered back,
“Whatever you say,”
They continued on watching the movie. If Frank was having trouble paying attention before, he was really having a hard time now. He felt cold fingers flick across his forehead, pushing his bangs out of his eyes and linger near his head. Gerard started playing with strands of Frank’s hair, slowly and gently. Almost like he wasn’t aware that he was doing it. Looking up at him, Frank saw that Gerard was staring back down at him, still slowly ruffling through Frank’s black locks of hair. He closed his eyes and tried to calm down, if he didn’t…he really didn’t want to think about what would happen if he didn’t.
“PDA, you two, come on!” Ray shouted throwing a pillow at the two of them, successfully hitting Gerard directly in the face. Bob snickered at the look of shock on Gerard’s face as he looked back up at Ray. Frank sat up, still incredibly close to Gee and held back his own laughter.
“Why the hell you do that?” Gee questioned, still looking shocked. Frank lost the battle and starting giggling uncontrollably. “You think it’s funny?” He questioned the giggling boy and then threw the same pillow at Frank.
“Hey!” Frank yelled back, ceasing his giggles and picking up the pillow, getting ready to throw the it back.
“Okay!” Mikey shouted, stopping this fight before they broke something. “Why don’t we go back downstairs?”
“Sure,” Bob and Ray agreed. Frank didn’t say anything and made no move to get up from his spot.
“Come on, Frankie say goodbye to your boyfriend,” Bob said getting up and literally dragging Frank along with them.
“He’s not my boyfriend!” Frank protested, Bob only rolled his eyes.
“Now it looks like you owe me,” Mikey said, Bob scoffed and replied
“The night’s not over yet. Come on Frank,”
“Sorry,” Frank mouthed to Gerard as they left him alone in the living room. He just smiled sadly and watched them leave.
Frank felt bad for excluding Gee, he especially missed him as they sat down to watch another movie. I could just go up there with him, I doubt it if any of them would miss me if I did. It took Frank another half hour to convince himself to at least go up and make sure he was okay.
“I’m going to get something to drink,” Frank said getting up off the couch.
“Get me something,” Bob said not even taking his eyes off the screen.
Frank shook his head as he walked over towards the stairs.
Once in the kitchen, he looked through the door into the living room to find Gerard by himself with the TV turned off and his own study materials surrounding him. He looked down at the book in his hands, his hair dangling in his eyes, hiding the confused look on his face.
Frank didn’t even realize he was staring until Gerard called out,
“Seriously, what’s with you and the staring? I know I’m sexy but seriously?”
“Sorry,” Frank said blushing slightly and mentally scolding himself for getting distracted. He walked over to the couch and sat next to him looking over his shoulder at what he was doing. The other boy shifted around in his seat uncomfortably. Frank was sitting incredibly close, consciously or unconsciously he couldn’t decide but still really close.
“What’re you doing?” Frank questioned
“Chemistry,” Gerard said simply and Frank laughed at the venom in the boy’s voice as he said the universally hated subject.
“I understand. It took Ray an hour to figure out what he was doing,” Frank said
“Yeah well, then I’m screwed. If Ray couldn’t get it,” Gerard said turning his head, looking at Frank and finding himself only inches away from the other’s face. The two of them lingered and if anything got closer together. It would be so easy just to lean in and…
Gerard cleared his throat and pulled back. “You should probably head back down there before Mikey thinks I kidnapped you,” he said, his voice an octave lower than usual.
Disappointedly, Frank got up, “Yeah, I guess you’re right,” he agreed leaving the living room. I should’ve kissed him, he thought as he walked into the kitchen and towards the basement door.
I should’ve kissed him, Gerard thought as he watched Frank walk away, through the kitchen and into the basement. He looked back down at the chemistry book and wanted nothing more than to curl up and sleep…preferably with Frank next to him.
Once Frank was back down in the basement, he slumped on the couch, a seat away from Bob, realizing he didn’t grab anything to drink and awaited the teasing that was sure to come.
“Didn’t you go up there for something to drink?” Bob questioned
“Yeah…I got distracted,” Frank said trying to brush it off.
“I’m sure you did,” The blonde replied smirking as Frank looked uncomfortable.
“He’s not my boyfriend so you can quit it,” Frank retorted back at him
“I didn’t say anything about that, Frankie,”
“Fuck you,”
“I’ll leave that to Gerard,” He laughed as Frank glared at him.
“Both of you shut up, I wanna watch this,” Ray said, curled up on his couch underneath a mound of blankets. Frank was unsure if the boy was even amongst the many blankets.
Another four hours of horror movies later, both Ray and Mikey were passed out on their claimed couches.
“Get off my couch, I wanna go to sleep,” Bob said to Frank already shifting around to lay down.
“But…” Frank said as Bob clicked the TV off.
“You have your own place to sleep remember,” Bob said literally kicking Frank off the couch.
“Yeah but…” Frank knew that arguing wasn’t going to help but he could try.
“Goodnight, Iero,” Bob said and that was the end of that argument.
Frank got up and walked slowly over to the bed in the corner. Gerard’s bed. Frank pulled back the few blankets that were on the bed as Mikey said he could. He insured Frank that they were clean sheets but that didn’t help him in the least bit.
Having changed into sweatpants and a baggy t-shirt for pajamas earlier, Frank climbed in the bed and tried to convince himself that just because this was his bed didn’t mean anything. Laying his head down on the pillow, he was met with an overwhelming sent. Mikey was right, his bed does smell like coffee and cigarette smoke, but there’s something else… something sweet. The smell was intoxicating to Frank and he curled up underneath the many blankets, trying to memorize the smell. A few minutes he was completely passed out.
An hour after Frank had fallen asleep, Gerard took his chances and went into the basement. I just want my pillow and a change of clothes. He told himself as he walked down the stairs as silently as he could. There were no noises coming from the dark room so he assumed everyone was asleep. Well it was two o’clock in the morning, he hoped everyone was asleep by now. That made his task ten times easier, though getting what he needed in the dark was going to be difficult. He reached the bottom of the stairs and took a moment for his eyes to adjust to the light. Once he could see a few feet ahead of him he walked over to where his bed was, going mostly by memory.
Reaching the bed, he saw that someone was sleeping in it. Damn, Mikey, letting his friends sleep in my bed. But upon closer inspection he saw just who it was that was sleeping in his bed. I hate you sometimes, he thought as he glared over at his brother sleeping on one of the couches. I know he planned this.
Getting his pillow was impossible now, seeing as Frank was sleeping on it and he really didn’t want to wake the boy up. He looked so peaceful sleeping, Gerard bent down and pushed a few strands of hair out of his eyes, unknowingly waking him up slightly. He was about to walk back upstairs, deciding that the pants and t-shirt he was wearing now was comfortable enough to sleep in, when the ‘sleeping’ boy reached out a grabbed his wrist.
“What the-?” He exclaimed in shock realizing that the boy wasn’t sleeping anymore.
“Don’t go, please,” Frank said, his voice sounding sleepy even to his own ears.
“Frank? You’re half asleep,” Gerard said, and froze as Frank slowly interlaced their hands like earlier.
“You need somewhere to sleep too,” he replied sleepily, but the strong grip he had on Gerard’s hand told him otherwise.
“There’s a couch upstairs, you know. Besides you’re half asleep, go back to bed,”
“Not without you,”
“Frank-“
“I’m awake now… so get your adorable ass in this bed,” He said without a hint of sleep in his voice.
“Fine,” Gerard replied realizing he wasn’t getting out of this and blushing at the smaller boy’s comment. He pulled back the covers slightly and climbed in, trying to stay as far away from the other boy as much as possible, no matter how much he wanted to be close to him.
“It’s fucking freezing down here,” Frank said shivering slightly, “How do you stand it?”
“I don’t know, usually I’m asleep by now,” Gerard said. A few minutes later, Frank was still shivering and Gerard gave up all resolve.
“Get over here,” He said moving closer to the freezing boy.
“What-?” Frank started but calmed down when he realized he was already warmer.
“You’re freezing over there and I can’t take seeing you shivering like that,”
“Nice to know you care,”
“More than you know,” Gerard mumbled and Frank brushed that comment aside. Gee turned himself on his side so he could see Frank more clearer. He was surprised to see that Frank was indeed entirely awake, eyes alert staring back at him. So it isn’t just the sleep talking. He thought smiling at Frank. He brought his hand to the smaller boy’s cheek and Frank leaned in to the touch closing his eyes. Gee brushed the few stray strands of hair out of the boy’s eyes again and he could see Frank was falling asleep again.
Before he did, Frank moved closer to Gerard and leaned in. Kissing the tip of his nose before curling up next to him and closing his eyes. It took a moment for Gerard to snap out of his shock and finally wrap his arms around the other boy. His skin was still cold against his own which only made him pull the boy closer. He brought his own lips to Frank’s forehead before resting his chin on the boy’s head, waking him up just long enough for Frank to hear the word that came from Gee’s mouth.
“Why do you do this to me, Frank?” he asked to nobody. Thinking that the boy in his arms was asleep again he continued, “God, I love you,” he admitted. Then Frank fell back into his slumber, knowing that what he heard was definitely not a dream.

Notes

Thanks for reading. I hope this satisfied the need. Thanks for all your comments!