The first month went well, maybe even great. There were no fights, no silent treatment, no yelling.

Gerard was pleased, everything was working out the way it was supposed to, he felt as if his marriage was finally mending itself, but even with how well things in Cali were going, he couldn't help but feel the serenity wouldn’t last much longer, it never did. He tried not to be too pessimistic and just enjoy the contentment while it lasted.

He worked at a record label that was small but had begun to gain the attention of larger industries. Working in a place that was constantly filled with musicians and song writers could be a pretty ideal job, but, unfortunately, Gerard worked in distribution. Which basically meant he boxed up CDs and albums to be sent off to record stores, if he was lucky he'd get a free CD out of it but that was rare. The job paid reasonably well, just not particularly well enough.

The house was considerably underpriced but that didn't mean it wasn't a bit more than what he was used to paying. It didn't help that Lyle hadn't found a job yet.

He hadn’t mentioned the money troubles to Lyle, wanting to avoid an unnecessary fight, he had it under control. Lyle was great, he really was, Gerard loved him, but he could be a bit irrational, especially when it came to money.

Pulling into the garage, he gathered his things and made his way to the front door. Once inside, he immediately headed for the kitchen, laying his stuff on the island and pulling a diet coke from the fridge. He turned to come face to face with a less than thrilled Lyle.

“They cut off the water today.” Lyle narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms.

Gerard let out a long sigh, “I’ll take care of it, don’t worry about it.”

Lyle scoffed, “Why would you move us out here if you couldn’t even fucking afford it?”

“Are you kidding me?” He rose an eyebrow, “you were the one who was going on and on about a “new start”. I was trying to please you”

“You think being broke pleases me?”

“We. Aren’t. Broke.” Gerard gritted out, “You are being over dramatic.”

“If we weren’t broke we’d be able to pay the god damn bills, Gerard!” Lyle’s patience broke, and he finally began to scream.

“Well, maybe if you had a fucking job this wouldn’t be such a big deal!”

“Are you implying I’m unemployed on purpose?”

Gerard scrubbed a hand over his face, “No, you know what, I’m going.” He announced suddenly, pushing past Lyle.

“Going where?” Lyle asked, turning to watch him walk to the front door.

“Out.” He replied simply, slamming the door.

---

Gerard wasn’t drunk, which was a shame because he really needed to be, unfortunately he didn’t have enough money for another beer, so he just stared at the two empty bottles in front of him.

The bar was gross. The floors stuck to the soles of your shoes, there was trash on the concrete floor, and next to no lighting, but it sold alcohol, which was enough for Gerard.

Quietly, someone slid into the bar stool next to him, beer in hand. He assumed it was just some drunk, until the figure leant over to him to ask, “Hey, are you okay?”

“Yeah,” He grunted, “Why wouldn’t I be?”

“I dunno,” The figure shrugged, “You just seemed to be bothered by something, I just wanted to make sure you were doing all right. A lot of people come here when they’re angry, I’ve observed.”

Gerard turned to look at the figure full on, the figure looked back at him. He looked more like a kid than anything, Gerard thought, he definitely didn’t look like he belonged in the bar, his hair was brown and seemingly unwashed, with large almond shaped, hazel eyes that stared up at Gerard inquisitively.

“Well why are you here, then?”

“Huh?” The kid raised an eyebrow.

“You said people come here when they’re mad, what’re you mad about.”

“Ah,” he hummed, looking forward and away from Gerard, “I’m actually celebrating, I got an A on my term paper.”

“You in highschool?”

“Nah, College.” So he was legal. “So now it’s your turn. Why are you here?” He looked back at Gerard, grinning, apparently happy at finding someone to talk to.

Gerard took a moment to take in the kid’s smile, it was pretty, he had nice teeth.

“I got in a fight with my husband.” He sighed, hoping the kid wasn’t homophobic.

“Oh, yeah, that sucks.” The kid nodded, “Or at least I think it does, I’m not married so…”

Gerard nodded. “So you go to college? What do you study?”

“Music Theory and Music Appreciation, not exactly as interesting as I had hoped, you don’t actually do as much playing as you do reading” He propped his head up on his hand.

“You play?”

“Guitar, cliche I know, but I was no good at drums.” He grinned again.

Gerard chuckled, honestly enjoying the kid’s company. “I tried to pick up guitar when I was a kid, turns out I suck. Unteachable.”

“Oh, come on,” The kid nudged him, “No one’s unteachable.”

“You don’t understand,” Gerard smiled, “I was a whole different level of bad. Just absolutely atrocious.” The kid laughed at this, eyes crinkling as he smiled. “I’m pretty decent at piano, though.”

“Ah, no way, I can’t understand piano for the life of me. I know people say piano is the, like, key to all other instruments, but I think that’s some bullshit because I’m good at nearly everything but piano.” He paused before adding, “Oh, and drums, as I mentioned earlier.”

“You kidding, little three year olds understand piano.” Gerard grinned, pushing his hair from his face.

“Nope, not me, I never got it.”

“And drums can’t be that hard, all it is is keeping a beat.”

“You’d be surprised, you have to be pretty coordinated for drums and I am just a mess of un coordination.”

The night continued like that, Gerard and the kid making easy conversation. Both of them laughing every so often. Gerard felt happier than he had in a while, it was nice to have a little break. Finally, the bartender shooed them out, and they began their goodbyes in the parking lot.

“It was great meeting you,” Gerard announced, “That’s the most fun I’ve had in a while.”

“Well thanks, you aren’t half bad yourself-” He tilted his head, “What’s your name?”

“Gerard.”

“Well I had a good time Gerard, I’m Frank by the way.”

“Bye Frank,” Gerard grinned, watching Frank get into his car and drive away.

He felt a little twinge of sadness as Frank left, but he couldn’t very well ask for his number as a married man, that’d be inappropriate. Frank would just have to remain a random college student he hung out with one night.

With a sigh, Gerard slid into his car, making his way home.

Notes

Sorry for mistakes, I shall fix them later. Thanks for all the comments, you guys, I really appreciate it.