So much for stay off the streets at night…Frank thought as he walked aimlessly down the sidewalk trying to avoid the people walking around him. He couldn’t remember how many times his mother had told him not to roam the city after six o’clock but here he was six forty-five roaming around with absolutely no idea where he was going. Maybe there’s a concert going on in the park or something…he thought briefly as he walked down another street towards the park.
“Oh, sorry,” he apologized as he ran into someone’s back. Pay attention, come on Frank! Are you trying to get beat up? He thought disappointed at himself. He looked up at the person he ran in to, “Mikey?”
“Oh, hey Frank,” Mikey replied, turning around to face his friend. Perfect, just what I was looking for, a way to get out of this.
“What are you-“ Frank was interrupted
“That’s unimportant…just stand right here and don’t move for like five minutes,” Mikey said moving Frank to where he was standing moments before.
“But where are you going?” Frank asked confused as he allowed Mikey to push him to where he wanted him.
“Don’t worry, I’ll be back…just stay there,” he said starting to run down the sidewalk.
“But how do I know when I can move?” Frank called after him.
“You’ll know, just trust me…I’ll be right back!” He shouted back and then turned the corner and never came back.
Frank stood there for five minutes as Mikey had said. I guess I should’ve guessed that he wasn’t coming back…but I’m still curious as to why I’m supposed to stand here.
“You’re not Mikey,” a voice said… “But I must say, you’re ten times cuter,”
Frank whipped around and was met with a familiar face.
“Gerard?” Frank asked looking at him. He looked just as confused as Frank felt.
“How observant of you.” He said sarcastically
“So that’s what I was waiting for,” Frank realized out loud
“What?”
“Mikey told me to wait here for something,” he explained
“Where did he go?” Gerard questioned
“He ran off that way, said he would be right back,”
“Yeah, he just wanted to get out of running errands for mom,” Gerard stated shaking his head.
“Oh,” Frank stupidly said, not knowing what else to say. Gerard flipped his hair out his eyes before taking his cellphone out. He looks different, Frank thought to himself, maybe it’s just the new hair color and I’m not use to it yet. He still wears black…maybe it’s those sexy new combat boots.
“Yep, he’s gone and not coming back,” Gerard said finally, slipping his cell phone back into his pocket.
“I could help you, if you want,” Frank added in after an extended silence.
“Oh, you really don’t have to…” he said, looking down at the ground.
“I want to,” anything to spend more time with you. He thought.
“Okay then,” Gerard said looking up from the ground smiling at him.
The two of them strolled down the sidewalk in silence.
“So…uh…what do you have to do?” Frank questioned.
“Oh, yeah, well that doesn’t really matter anymore, now that you’re here we should go do something fun,” He answered.
Frank laughed at his friend, “So after all of that and you’re not even going to do it? Sure, why not, what do you have in mind?”
“I don’t know,” Frank went on laughing, “oh shut up,”
They continued walked down the street. Conversing lightly but otherwise in silence. The sun has completely vanished by the time they reached the park in the center of town.
“Hey, is that music?” Frank asked after another period of silence, he could hear the faint scream of guitars from where he stood and immediately wanted to check it out.
“I think so,” Gerard said thoughtfully, “I think Ray was talking about this music thing in the park every weekend,”
“Really?” Frank said excitedly, “Well let’s go check it out!” he grabbed Gerard’s hand and dragged him towards the sound.
“Hey! Quit running!” Gerard shouted, pulling his hand away from Frank’s grasp as they reached the small Amphitheatre. A band stood on the stage, an unknown one but they were playing covers of popular rock songs so everyone dancing around in the small crowd knew the lyrics and were shouting along with them.
“Sorry,” Frank apologized, as Gerard caught his breath.
“Well, don’t just stand there let’s join in,” Gerard said this time grabbing Frank’s hand and pulling him along.
For the next few songs they jumped, sung, and danced along with crowd. Damn can he move his hips, Frank thought after watching Gerard dance for a while. After four songs they left the group of sweaty teens for a little break, sitting down at the edge of the theatre and reclining back on their hands.
“You know, I’ve always wanted to play for a band,” Frank said, after the next song started playing again.
“Really?” Gerard said looking over at Frank, “You definitely have the looks for a rock star,”
“Well what about you…” Frank started, “Perfect lead singer material…if only you could get over that stupid fear,”
“It’s not stupid to be self-conscious,” Gerard said indignantly.
“What’s there to be self-conscious about? You’ve got an amazing voice,” Frank said nudging him with his shoulder.
“You’re only saying that,”
“No I’m not, you can ask Ray too. He’ll tell you,”
“Yeah, I’m going to ask Ray,” he said rolling his eyes but still smiling.
“Probably not the best idea…but anyway, you can trust me on this one,”
“You know I find it unfair,” Gerard started changing the subject.
“What’s that?” Frank queried.
“You’ve heard me sing…but I’ve never heard you play the guitar. It’s unfair,”
“Fine, but only if you’ll sing to me,”
“I make no promises,”
“Then no deal,”
“Fine,”
“Awesome!”
They sat listening to the rest of the song before getting up and starting to walk back over to the crowd to dance again.
“Um, excuse me?” a timid voice spoke up, tapping Gerard on the shoulder. Both Frank and Gerard turned around to face the girl. “Oh!” she said in surprise.
“What’s up?” Gerard asked, happily. Frank knew him enough to be able to tell he was annoyed, but covered it up with a fake smile. What’s he annoyed for?
“I was…just…uh…wonderingifyouwantedtodancewithme!” she blurted out really fast. She’s pretty, I’ll give her that, Frank thought, but definitely far from my type.
“Oh,” Gerard said, “I would…but…” He paused thinking up an excuse and throwing a glance in Frank’s direction. He shrugged at him, go dance with her if you want…It’s not like I’m all that important anyway, Frank thought sadly. To his surprise, Gerard smiled at him deviously and then turned back to the girl, “but I’m here with my boyfriend so…” Gerard trailed off.
“Oh…oh… sorry…I’ll just go,” she said embarrassedly. “Why do they all have to be fucking gay?” she mumbled to herself as she walked away. Frank giggled slightly and Gerard turned to him, confused.
“Boyfriend?” Frank questioned, giving him a look.
“I had to say something to get rid of her without hurting her feelings. Plus it’s not that far from the truth,” Gerard admitted.
“Always so considerate,” Frank sighed, “For a minute there I actually thought you were going to go,”
“What and leave you by yourself? News flash Frank, I’m not an asshole…on most days. Besides you’re ten times hotter than her anyway,” he shrugged. Frank broke out in a blush and smiled shyly at Gerard. “Come on, let’s get back out there,”
“Sure,” Frank agreed and the two of them walked back out to the crowd of lessening people. After the song playing ended a slower one started to play.
“Everyone grab your girl…or boy and let’s slow it down a bit,” the lead singer said over the mic. The crowd immediately followed instructions, boyfriends grabbing their girlfriends and vice versa. Even some guys grabbing other guys even if they were doing it in a completely joking fashion.
“Come on, we should go,” Frank said walking up to Gerard.
“No way, I love this song,” the red head argued crossing his arms, purposely acting like a five year old.
“Fine, but we look like losers without partners to dance with,” Frank offered.
“Aww come on, there’s two of us isn’t there?” he whined.
“Are you saying you want to dance with me?” Frank asked disbelieving.
“Well since you offered…” Gerard said, walking into Frank’s personal space and grabbing his hips.
“Hey! I didn’t say I wanted to dance with you,” Gerard looked hurt for a moment but smiled again.
“Shut up and put your arms around my neck,” Gerard told him.
“What?”
“Have you never slow danced before? Come on Frank, you’ve at least seen it in movies or TV shows,”
“But-“ Gerard took his hands off Frank’s waist and grabbed his hands, placing them around his neck, Frank’s face flushed a bright red the whole time.
“See? That wasn’t so hard. I promise I’ll refrain from biting you,” Gerard said sarcastically and Frank rolled his eyes. He tensed up when Gerard placed his hands on his waist again, he was standing so close to him. Like, literally inches away from his face. They swayed back a forth with the music, never breaking eye contact once. Then, over Gerard’s shoulder, Frank caught sight of the girl from earlier watching the two of them intently. She looked longingly at Gerard and Frank immediately felt protective. Unconsciously pulling the taller boy closer to him.
“That girl from earlier is staring at us, she probably thinks we’re dating,” Frank said after a while.
“Don’t worry about her, Frank, besides, is it such a bad thought to be dating me?” He asked sarcastically.
“No!” Frank answered a bit too quickly, Gerard chuckled at him, “I mean, no it really isn’t any guy would be lucky to have you. You’re so completely amazing and sexy as hell…” Frank went on mumbling compliments, but Gerard pretended to ignore his praises. It secretly made him incredibly happy to hear all these things, especially coming from Frank.
They continued swaying in silence for the remainder of the song. Frank relaxed, finally after the second chorus of the song. Gerard leaned down and rested his forehead against Frank’s, singing along to the song as they continued dancing. Slowly and sweetly, neither of them wanting to let go.
The song ended shortly after that, the two of them pulled away slightly. Looking the other in the eyes, Gerard started to slowly lean down and Frank can feel himself raise slightly to meet him…but he clears his throat and pulls completely away from Gerard, missing the hurt and disappointed look on his face.
“Now can we go?” he questioned.
“Sure,” Gerard agreed sadly. Frank noticed the look this time, did I do something? But then a smile appeared on Gerard’s face again as they started to walk down the brick pathway snaking its way around the park. He ran forward a few paces and stopped in the middle of the walkway staring up at the sky.
“What are you doing?” Frank laughed as he watched the boy fall backwards on to the bricks, “didn’t that hurt?”
“Not as much as I thought it would,” Gerard admitted, Frank shook his head at him, “Come on lay down with me, the stars are so pretty,”
“Can you even see the stars?” Frank questioned looking up at the sky, “Gerard…”
“Hmmm?”
“That’s an airplane,”
“No! Look closer you can see then, its dark enough in this area to see them faintly! Now lay down with me…please?”
“Are you okay?” Frank questioned.
“I would be if you would lie down with me,”
“I’m not laying down in the middle of the pathway,” Frank refused.
“Please?”
“Are you on something I should be worried about?” He queried.
“No!” Gerard said as he allowed himself to be pulled up off the ground by Frank. “You’re no fun,”
“I’m not laying down where someone could step on me,”
“No one would step on you,”
“They might,”
“Fine, have it your way.”
They continued walked along the path for another few moments in silence. Frank took this time to look up at the sky. Gerard was right, you could faintly see the glowing lights of the stars. They were pretty but that didn’t mean he was going to lay in the middle of a pathway at eight o’clock at night. They would probably get arrested for suspected drug use.
“You didn’t seem so opposed to the idea of laying with me last night,” Gerard mumbled after another few minutes of silence.
“Oh for the love of God, fine we’ll go lay down…on the grass, I’m not getting stepped on.”
“Yay!” Gerard cheered as they veered off the path to a small grass patch near it. Frank sat down with Gerard to his left.
“Happy?” Frank asked, leaning back on the grass.
“Yes,” Gerard agreed simply, mimicking his actions and leaning back as well.
“You were right though,” Frank admitted after at least fifteen minutes of silence.
“About?”
“The stars…they are pretty,” Frank agreed with his statement from earlier.
“I told you,” Frank laughed at how childish the boy lying next to him was acting, he turned his head to look at him. Gerard turned his head as well. Frank now noticed how close they were. We just keep getting closer and closer…if this keeps up, I’m not going to be able to hold back. Frank thought, leaning in closer to Gerard as he did also…but this time it was Gerard who pulled away, remembering earlier how Frank had practically jumped away from him when he tried to kiss him. He sat up, missing the look Frank gave him, a look of complete disappointment.
“It’s late, we should probably get home,” Gerard said standing up and offering a hand to Frank. He took it and stood up, trying to retract his hand but found that Gerard wasn’t letting go.
“You can come over to my house if you want…my mom’s not going to be home till late and I really don’t want to be home alone,” Frank admitted shyly.
“Whatever you want to do is fine with me,” Gerard replied as they started to walk back the way they came.
“Cool,” Frank stated, and they walked on in silence. The silence was comfortable and not the awkward silence that had been plaguing them for the past few days, for which they were both thankful.
Walking in to Frank’s house, they strolled in through the kitchen and into the living room. Frank sat down with his legs crisscrossed in front of him on the couch with Gerard taking up the rest of the room, lying down with his head resting in Frank’s lap. Replicating the position they were in last night before Ray rudely interrupted them…except in the rolls were now switched. With Frank slowly combing through Gerard’s red locks. You know, this is the first time I’ve gotten to touch Gerard’s hair. It really is as soft as it looks.
“Don’t you fall asleep on me…literally,” Frank laughed as Gerard’s eyes slowly fluttered shut after a few minutes.
“I can’t help it, you’re too comfortable,” Gerard admitted, fighting the temptation to sleep.
“Thanks…I think, but seriously, I’ll be stuck here,” Frank said, poking his nose lightly.
“If you don’t want me to fall asleep on you, you could always lie down with me…” Gerard said hopefully.
“What is it with you and lying down tonight?” Frank questioned, still laughing.
“Just do it,”
“Fine,” Frank conceded, and attempted to maneuver himself on the couch so he was lying next to Gerard. “You’re still going to fall asleep on me,” Frank said, rolling his eyes as Gerard curled up with his head on his chest.
“Well, you’re…just going to have to…deal with it,” Gerard said sleepily, “You know you love it,” he then added sarcastically.
“Whatever,” Frank said, though he really did, and closed his eyes. Letting himself drift to sleep right along with Gerard.
Hours later, a bright flash woke Frank from his light slumber.
“I told you, you should’ve turned the flash off,” said a voice. Frank’s eyes flew open and he was met with the sight of his mother, standing over him with a cellphone in hand.
“Frank? What did I tell you about bringing boys home with you tonight?”
Shit.

Notes

I was plagued with terrible insomnia tonight and thought might as well make the best out of a terrible situation. SO...here you are. Enjoy and as always, Thanks for reading!