When I had lived in The Mace, the only friends I had ever had were Lily and Claire. No one else had wanted to be friends with me. They were all scared of my tattoos, eyeliner and piercings. Suddenly being thrown into a small social situation was difficult. There were inside jokes that only I didn't get, peoples names I didn't know and secrets. I fucking loved it.

Diane the barista was fucking awesome. She made the best coffees and was really nice. Plus she owned the place and let everyone play here every night. Mikey and Pete were currently no where to be seen and Ray and Gerard were working something out for tonight. I was sitting with Bob drinking a hazelnut latte and he had a black coffee.

"What are they doing?"I asked, nodding in the direction of Gerard and Ray who were by the stage.
"Deciding on the setup for tonight."Bob didnt even look away from the comic he was reading.

"Oh..."I sighed and took a large gulp of the hot drink, burning my throat in the process. Bob was a really quiet person when he wanted to be.

Suddenly Mikey turned up out of the blue looking very... puffed.
"Hey guys."Mikey grinned and sat down next to me.
"Hey. Where did you get to?"I asked him.

"Oh you know... Out and about."He winked at me. Pete came and sat down next to MIkey with drinks for the two of them.

Bob got up as Gerard and Ray called him over. Pete kissed Mikey on the cheek, whispering something in his ear and making Mikey blush, before following Bob.

"So. How did you end up in a home?"Mikey asked me as he took a large gulp of his drink.
"Oh um. I was left on the doorstep when I was two."I mumbled as I remembered the terrible flashback.

"Oh that sucks. Did they leave anything to go buy? Like, a lot of kids have some sort of reference as to where their parents might be or whatever."Mikey looked at me over his drink.
"Nope. Nothing. Just my name."I sighed.

"Thats real shit."Mikey said and took another drink. I nodded and had some of mine, relishing the flavour and warmth of it all.
"What about you and Gerard? How come you guys are in here?"I asked him. He took another drink and sighed.

"We only ever had our Mum and Nana. Our Nana died from cancer when Gerard was 7 and I was 6. During the year after Mum got really depressed over everything and our situation and she um. She killed herself."Mikey was staring at Bobs discarded drink, his eyes glazed over.

"How did she do it?"I asked quietly.
"We dont know. She left a note for us to come home to after school and the police found her body a week later in the forest at the end of our street."Mikey blinked and looked at me.

"What did she look like?"I asked, an idea popping into my head.
"She had long black hair and Gerard's bright green eyes."He sighed and stared at his drink moodily.

"I'm sorry man."I mumbled and sipped my drink.
"S'okay."He whispered and closed his eyes. Pete glanced at us and came straight over. Mikey didnt look up as Pete sat down next to him and hugged him into his side but I saw him relax more.

The rest of the guys came over to the table and Mikey sat up.
"Frank do you wanna go back to art?"Gerard asked me, placing his hand on my shoulder.

It seemed that every time Gerard touched me the heat from him went straight to my face.
"Uh sure."I mumbled and grabbed my drink, taking the last gulp of goodness before standing up.

"See ya guys."I waved at them all and they all waved back. Fuck, friends were fucking great.

Gerard and I walked out of the store and got in the car.
"You know how I said I would blow the guys off tonight?"Gerard asked me quietly.

"Uh yeah, what about it?"I looked at him as I did up my seat belt. He looked upset.
"I cant. Tonight some managers are gonna be hiding in the crowd and they need me.

"Oh... Thats okay though. I mean, you could get fucking signed!"I exclaimed as I thought of my boyfriend being in an official band- wait. Did I just think that? I blinked and looked at Gerard again.

He was staring at me curiously, half smiling with his hair falling over his face. Jesus he was gorgeous.
"I really hope we do. It would make all this fucking worth it."Gerard smiled and started the car.

"Lets go to art then."I smiled at him and wiggled in my seat, trying to get comfortable. Even though I had been alone with Gerard so many times now, I was still jittery and nervous. Gerard just did that to me.

We arrived at school and got out. The whole car ride Gerard had been talking, very excitedly, about some of the songs he has written and how he would love to show them to me and maybe, if the guys were okay with it, I could join the band.

I almost choked on nothing when he said that. I would fucking love it if I could join. I didn't say that though.

"Why do you need to go to art?"I asked Gerard as we walked around the main building of the school and towards the field where the art room was.
"Uh I just need to talk to Stumpy about something thats bothering me."Gerard sighed.

I saw his eyes glance down to his bag and felt myself itch to see his drawing. I almost fell over as Gerards hand brushed against mine. He didn't seem to notice though. It happened twice more before I somehow let out a noise of- fucking something.

"You okay?"Gerard stopped walking as the art building came into sight.
"Uh yeah. Why?"I asked him, not meeting his eyes like I so wanted to.
"You just made a weird noise like you were I don't know, upset?"Gerard shrugged as I stared down at the ground and scuffed my worn out shoes.

"Nah i'm fine."I mumbled.
"Well you dont look fine."Gerard said as his arms snaked around me and pulled me into him. Fuck I hated it when he surprised me like that. I stood there awkwardly as he rested his chin on my head and sighed.

A bell rang in the distance making us jump apart.
"Shit. Come on, Mr Stump likes to leave early."Gerard said as he grabbed my hand- oh my fucking god- and tugged me along fast.

"Mr Stump!"Gerard yelled suddenly as we saw him locking the door on his classroom. He must have been the only art teacher.
"Gerard! And Frank! What are you two doing?"He asked us as we advanced on him, Gerard still holding my hand.

"I need some um. Help with my uh drawing?"Gerard raised an eyebrow at him. Mr Stump glanced at me before nodding and unlocking his classroom again.

We walked inside and finally Gerard dropped my hand to pull out his sketchbook. I tried sneaking a peek at his drawing but Gerard somehow kept it away from me.

"Whats wrong?"Mr Stump said as he raked his eyes over it.
"Uh, you said to compare that to the real life um image. I cant do that without uhm. It uh... I dont know how to say it but you know what I mean right?"Gerard scratched the back of his head and bit his lip. Hot dayum.

"Right right. That is pretty difficult. Maybe just um... Do someone else's um. Shit. Hmm."Mr Stump was struggling to talk in front of me. What the fuck was this drawing of?

"You know you could stop all this difficulty if you just let me see your drawing Gerard."I said. Gerard glanced at me and shook his head.

"Fine, I'll go back to the car."I grumbled and turned to go.
"No- Frank wait- shit."Gerard said as something dropped to the ground with a big heavy slap. I spun around quickly and saw his drawing.

Holy fuck. Something that makes his heart beat faster. Something that excites him. Something different.