He's Not Dead He Only Looks That Way

Frank finds himself nervous all Friday afternoon, and his anxiety levels only seem to increase as the time of the party inches nearer and nearer. Gerard has always been good at picking up on people’s feelings, so on the way to his car with Frank and Mikey, he gives Frank a pat on the back, assuring,
“You’ll be fine, trust me.”
They make a detour to Frank’s house, where Frank insists,
“You guys stay in the car, okay? If you get in there, my mom will eat you alive.”
Mikey raises a brow, questioning, “She’s a bigger lady?”
“What? No, I mean, like she’ll be all over you with brownies and pinching your cheeks and telling you what colors compliment your eyes and shit like that,” Frank elaborates.
“That doesn’t sound so bad,” Gerard responds.
“Just… just stay in here, alright?” Frank pleads. He heads inside, kicking off his shoes and tossing his backpack to the floor.
“Frank, you’re home?” his mom calls from her own room.
“Can’t talk, gotta change!” Frank replies loudly. He shuts the door to his room, stripping off his uniform as he makes his way to his dresser. He pulls out a pair of black skinny jeans and squirms into them, followed by a studded belt, then a Bad Brains t shirt, which is paired with a flannel.
He stomps into some Converses, barreling down the steps. He opens the door when he hears a strangely boyish voice coming from the dining room.
He peeks around the corner to see Mikey sitting at his kitchen table, just having a grand old time chatting it up with his mother while he stuffs his face with vegan chocolate chip cookies.
“Frank! Why didn’t you introduce me to Mikey?” his mom demands. She waddles across the kitchen, smacking Frank’s wrist lightly with her spatula. “I never get to see your friends anymore. Whatever happened to Corey; I haven’t seen him in ages!”
“Can we not talk about it now?” Frank begs. “We have to go.”
“So soon?” his mom questions.
“Yeah, why in such a rush, Frank? The party doesn’t start until 9:00,” Mikey points out.
Frank tries his hardest to keep Mikey from dropping the party bomb in front of his mom, but he just really drops the ball and doesn’t even manage to come up with a cover story.
“Party?” his mom asks. “Like a birthday party?”
“No, a house party!” Mikey answers. “With music and girls and-”
Frank slaps a hand over Mikey’s mouth, but it’s too late; the damned kid’s spilled the beans twice now.
“Frank, you’re going to a high school party?” Frank’s mother asks incredulously.
“Well, yeah,” Frank murmurs, lowering his gaze to the ground.
“I knew this would come up eventually, so I have three rules for you. Number one: Have a designated driver. I don’t want to hear about you on CNN, alright? Number two: Pour your own drink and don’t put it down. Again with the CNN thing. Number three, the last rule, is to get no ladies pregnant, because no way in hell am I going to take time off work to take care of your bastard child,” Frank’s mother rants.
Mikey’s laughing out loud by the end of her guidelines, but Frank’s just rolling his eyes, agreeing, “Yeah, okay, Mom.”
He grabs Mikey by the wrist, ordering, “Let’s go” as he pulls the boy to his feet.
He’s almost out the door when it swings open from the other side. Gerard is standing there, and he looks surprised to see Frank with Mikey in tow.
“Gerard?” Frank asks. “What’re you doing?”
“I came to get Mikey,” Gerard replies. “He said he just had to use the bathroom, but he was in there for a while.”
“I never did use it,” Mikey realizes, clutching onto his crotch as he zooms towards the bathroom.
Frank’s mom makes her way over, dusting her hands off on the front of her pants before shaking Gerard’s hand. “My, my, another one of Frankie’s friends! Aren’t you cute?”
“Thank you,” Gerard mutters, blushing already. “You’re Frank’s mom?”
She nods, and wraps her arms around Frank, proceeding, “He may not act like it, but he’s a momma’s boy.” She kisses Frank’s cheek, and he squirms away, wiping his face, which is red from embarrassment.
Gerard chuckles, “Oh, I can see it now.”
Frank gives him a death glare, but it’s hard to look intimidating when he’s not only blushing furiously but also looking up at him.
Mikey appears, announcing, “Let’s go now.” He hugs Frank’s mom, calling, “Bye, Mrs. Iero!” on his way out of the house. Gerard waves, and Frank just ducks his head and focuses on the cracks in the sidewalk.
Once they’re rumbling down the road, Gerard says,
“Frank, your mom was very nice.”
“She’s embarrassing,” Frank murmurs, picking at his fingernails.
“At least she cares about you,” Gerard points out. “Mikes and I aren’t so lucky.”
“What do you mean?” Frank questions.
“Have you seen our parents once?” Gerard asks.
Frank considers this, and then shakes his head. “No, I guess I haven’t.”
“That’s because they’re either ignoring us or leaving town to get away from us. They’re gone nearly every damned weekend, why do you think we’re known for such kickass house parties?” Gerard reasons.
“Wow,” Frank realizes. “I’m sorry.” Frank peers over at Gerard, to see his hazel eyes flick out to the road.
“It’s okay,” Gerard decides. “They’re paying my ass through school, so I can’t really complain.”
Frank wants to tell Gerard that he deserves better, but something tells him that he’s a long way gone from their conversation.
They get to the Ways house and make some party preparations, which means calling their drug dealer, sending out party invitations via mass text, and dipping into their wallets to buy a keg. Apparently they have a burnout neighbor named Greg who takes their money and uses it to buy liquor for them. Frank isn’t too thrilled about meeting Greg, so he busies himself with organizing Gerard’s stacks of video games while the exchange is being made upstairs.
Frank is called up just before people start to arrive for a pep talk from Gerard.
“I’m nervous,” Frank admits. “I’ve never been to one of these.”
“You’ll do great, okay?” Gerard promises. “Just get your own drink and never set it down.”
“Yo!”Mikey calls from the dining room. He’s texting away as he informs, “Michelle Grayson and her friends are going to be here.”
“Oh, shit!” Gerard curses. “She’s coming here?!”
“Yeah, that’s a good thing,” Mikey replies.
“No, no it’s not!” Gerard insists. “She and her friends are mean!”
“Gerard, do you even hear how ridiculous you sound? Grow up! I have a chance with her, so she’s coming,” Mikey retorts.
“No, she’s not,” Gerard growls. “Tell her she can’t come.”
“No, that’ll fuck up everything I had going with her!” Mikey responds.
“I don’t care!” Gerard shouts. “She can’t come, okay?”
“Stop being such a pussy,” Mikey spits. “You’re acting like a little bitch.”
Gerard tackles him, twisting Mikey’s arm behind his back and getting him squealing.
Frank is torn; Mikey was asking for it to a degree, but at the same time, Frank is aware that Gerard can probably really hurt Mikey, intentionally or not. Frank pries Gerard off, yelling, “Break it up!” He faces Gerard asking, “What’s your deal with her?”
“I don’t want to talk about it,” Gerard mumbles. “Well, if you won’t give me a reason, I have no choice but to let her come, don’t I?” Frank points out. He helps Mikey to his feet, who flips off Gerard and storms out of the room.
Frank sits down a few minutes before the party starts, already having dealt with an abundance of drama.

Notes

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