Gerard ended up going home before my mom came over. Already tired of dealing with the whole head injury, I slipped a beanie over the bandages to avoid having to lie to her. I didn't like lying to my mom when I didn't have to. For that matter, I didn't like lying to anyone when I didn't have to.
I came to school the next morning braced for wave two of bullshit. I walked with my head low and avoided bathrooms for the day. However, I didn't run into any problems. At lunch I asked Gerard if he had, which he hadn't. Either that or he was just lying, but he had no visible signs of being roughed up. Was it already over? Or was this just the eye of the hurricane?
"That's fucking weird," I muttered.
Mikey shrugged, commenting, "I dunno, man. Maybe everyone's just used to it now."
"That was a damn quick adjustment time," I replied.
"Maybe it was," Gerard said with a wink.
I nodded, agreeing, "I really hope so."
I didn't feel safe to walk home, so again I rode with Gerard to edit more film. Thanks to the extra time I'd been putting in, the project was coming to a close. I just had to work on my conclusion, which was the hardest part. I mean, stringing together roughly twenty-two minutes of adolescent nonesense as a coherent whole was quite the challenge.
As I always did when faced with a problem, I turned to Gerard. "So what sholuld I end the video with?"
"A narrative," Gerard answered.
"No shit, Sherlock," I giggled. "Any bright ideas on what the narrative should say?"
Gerard thought for a bit, then admitting, "I would just bullshit a lotta cheese about how important my friends are to me."
I puffed my cheeks out, complaining, "You call it cheese but I'm being serious."
Gerard chuckled, "You are a mushy, sentimental, hopeless romanitc, Frank." He kissed me on the cheek, hugging me as he added, "And I love you for it."
I jokingly pushed him away, telling, "Not now, Daddy has to work."
"I thought I was Daddy," Gerard responded sultrily.
I shoved him playfully, scolding, "Seriously, I'm so close to finishing. Just let me get this done then you can do all that."
Gerard pouted, resting his chin on my shoulder as I finished my work, minus the dialogue at the end.
"Finally," Gerard groaned dramatically. He swung a leg over me, bringing himself into my lap. Bringing his arms over my shoulders, he kissed me, smirking against my lips. I gripped around the waistband of his boxers, tracing my fingernails underneath the elastic.
Gerard was quick to get his shirt off, letting it drop to the floor. He worked on unbuttoning mine, locking eyes with me as he did so. He grinned as he pulled the fabric off of me, revealing my chest and stomach.
He started sucking at my neck, and for a brief moment I was overly conscious of the fact that I'd have to lie about the hickeys he was leaving. He slowly made his way down to my chest, taking one nipple in his mouth. I moaned, letting my head fall back. I took a heavy stroke at my crotch as the lap of my pants tightened.
He unzipped my fly, reaching a hand inside my pants and through the slot of my boxer briefs, which I wore in spite of him. He got me off right there, actually going to completion unlike the times before.
We lay around in my bed like we always did, and he actually confessed, "Ray told me today that he took the picture down."
I couldn't believe what I'd heard. "The snap?"
Gerard nodded. "He's still kind of pissed at you, but I guess something, or someone, gave him a change of heart."
"No wonder it died down," I mumbled.
"Smooth sailing from here on out, baby," Gerard assured.
I made the okay symbol, and trying to match his lingo, agreed, "Far out, man."
Gerard laughed so hard he snorted.
"What?" I demanded, half-chuckling myself. Nothing was funny to me except for how hard Gerard was laughing.
Gerard, between more laughter and gasps of air, questioned, "What was that?!"
"Stop!" I laughed, putting my weight against him.
He eventually did settle down, easing back under the covers. I snuggled up against him, warming myself.
We lay quiet, just listening to each other breathe. Our breaths were staggered; Gerard always took long breaths. He claimed it was because he had the lungs of a singer, but I usually called bullshit.
We ended up falling asleep just like that, all entwined with each other. We woke up that way too, around 7 in the morning. Between showering together and eating breakfast, we couldn't find time to swing by Gerard's house, leaving him without a clean uniform.
"I'll just wear what I wore yesterday," Gerard decided, grabbing his bundled slacks from the floor.
I snatched the pants from him, telling, "Oh no you aren't. These have a HUGE jelly stain on them, mister!"
"Like anyone would notice!" Gerard sputtered.
I rifled through my dresser, tossing a pair of clean slacks at Gerard. "Put these on."
Gerard examined the tag, noticing, "Frank these are too short for me."
I looked at him with my eyebrows raised. "Well you either wear those and expect a flood, or wear the others and be a slob."
Gerard scowled, pulling the pants up over his boxers reluctantly. The cuffs barely reached his ankle.

"Looks good," I decided, grabbing his hand. "Let's go."
Gerard trailed behind me all the way to school, where we joined everyone at the lunch table.
"Gerard, why weren't you home last night?" Mikey asked.
Gerard sat down, replying, "What do you think? I was over at Frank's."
"Ooooh," Pete mused. "I bet you guys did it."
Gerard laughed, whereas I turned pink and stammered, "Shut up!"
"You know they did!" Pete chortled, clapping his hands together.
Ray merely rolled his eyes, proposing, "My parents are out of town for the weekend. Thinking of having a little get together tonight, who's in?"

The whole table raised their hands all at once without further questions. I was surprised at both Gerard and myself for agreeing to go so eagerly. Maybe Gerard was coming out of his shell a little, which meant I must have been, too.

Notes

thanks a lot for reading!! please comment, rate, and subscribe! I should be updating soon (I also have a new fic coming up soon!!)