The Majesty of Choice

“I cannot believe you said all that!” Patrick says, as Gerard hurries him away from the crowd. The last thing he needs is to be anywhere near the Prince. After hearing his own words out of the guys mouth for an hour, he really can’t bear himself, and wants to be alone. Also, he wants to make sure that he is nowhere near the Prince. He doesn’t want the guy to see him after he kept staring at him the whole goddamn time. Gerard was sure that those eyes were going to burn a whole straight through him.

“I know,” Gerard says. “I have a big mouth.”

“You said that to the Prince!”

“Don’t remind me,” Gerard says, sure he will forever be a startling shade of bright pink.

“He was totally into it though. You just happened to mouth off the one person in the kingdom who likes people yelling at him.”

“I did not yell,” Gerard says, walking almost too fast for Patrick to keep up. He’s got shorter legs than Gerard, and especially when Gerard is in a hurry, Patrick is starting to feel the height difference.

“Slow down,” Patrick says, and Gerard, groaning, complies. He doesn’t have a choice though. “What is up with you?”

“I don’t want him to have a chance to try to find me,” Gerard says, “he kept staring at me. Did you see that! That was weird. I don’t like it, I don’t like people paying attention to me like that. I mean I can accept infamy, infamy is fine, but when someone keeps looking at me like that, I don’t like that.”

“You like it, I know you do, you just don’t know how to accept that so you’re trying to convince yourself that you don’t like the attention.”

“I don’t like anything about him,” Gerard says, “I don’t like anything to do with him.”

“Except his face.”

“Right. Wait what? No!”

“You just admitted to it,” Patrick laughs.

“Only because you tricked me.”

“I may have, but you still meant it.”

“What kind of person do you think I am? You’ve known me for ten years, Patrick, why on earth do you think I’m like... that.”

“That?” Patrick asks.

“That.”

“What does ‘that’ mean?”

“I don’t know,” Gerard says, “I just know that I’m not it. I’m not like it. And I also know that you need to get your mind away from this idea that I don’t dislike the Prince. I do, okay? That’s just how it is. I don’t understand why you don’t get that.”

“Sometimes, Gerard, other people know what’s going on better than the actual person, because when it’s your situation, you don’t have as good a vantage point.”

“How do you mean?”

“Well, Gerard, you’re clueless to your own thoughts. You don’t know all that much about yourself,” Patrick responds.

“You don’t know me as well as you think you do.”

Patrick rolls his eyes, and looks around at the quiet of the world around them now that they’re away from the crowd of people. Gerard at least managed to achieve getting away from Frank. He’ll be gone to some other part of the kingdom soon, so Gerard doesn’t really have to worry about him. He’s not sure if that’s a good thing or not. He knows that he should feel glad, but he kind of feels guilty.

“Did you listen to half of the stuff he said though?” Patrick asks finally. “He seemed so genuine. He really took to heart what you said to him.”

“He was guilt tripping me,” Gerard says.

“Then why did he look so happy to see you?”

“Because he was a jerk.”

“That makes sense.”

“It was to rub it into my face that he’s much better than me or whatever.”

“You don’t actually believe that yourself, do you?” Patrick asks him.

Gerard shrugs, and sighs, looking around. Wherever in the kingdom Frank is going next, surely it’ll be more impressive than this place. Everything here is overgrown. The trees take up most of the land, and all houses are on their last legs, slumping down into their foundations to make this place look as poor as it is.

“Do you hear that?” Patrick asks, stopping in his tracks.

“Hear what?”

“Screaming?” Patrick says, almost like he’s asking someone other than Gerard.

“Uh no- actually wait hold on,” Gerard pauses and then realizes that what he’d thought was a bird is the steadily growing sound of screaming.

“So I’m not imagining it,” Patrick says.

“Nope,” Gerard says, “Fuck. Hattie probably found him.”

“That poor boy,” Patrick sighs.

“Well, serves him right for being a jackass.”

“There’s literally no reason for you to think that about him,” Patrick reminds him.

“You still can’t change me,” Gerard responds, and his heart rate speeds up when he realizes that screaming is getting louder which means...

Gerard doesn’t have enough time to digest what that means because he’s literally being slammed into and toppling over to the ground in a matter of seconds.

“Oh hi Gerard,” says the person, who Gerard realizes a moment too late is the fucking Prince.

“What the-”

“Shhhh,” Frank says, “they’re coming.” He says it rather menacingly, but a second later a swarm of girls runs past, and Patrick, who’s just standing there nonchalantly like this is an everyday thing for him, points in the wrong direction. The girls all run the way he’s pointing, and Frank is one lucky bastard because he managed to run into Gerard in the perfect place to crouch and hide from them running past. In total, there’s about ten or fifteen girls, but when they’re all screaming it sounds more like fifty. Also, when they’re chasing you, it doesn’t matter how many there are, they still outnumber you.

It would be rather comical if Frank hadn’t just kneed Gerard in the thigh and is still practically on top of him.

“Sorry about this,” Frank says when he decides it’s safe. Gerard is shocked to realize that his face is only inches away from Frank’s.

“Could you maybe get the fuck off of me?”

“Right, sorry,” Frank says. He awkwardly pulls himself off of Gerard, very nearly kneeing him in a place that would be incredibly painful. When Frank does manage to climb off of him, it leaves Gerard feeling aching pain in a few places. Both his arm and his back hurt from being slammed to the ground as well as his leg where he’s sure he’s going to be bruising.

“So Frank is it,” Patrick says, watching the two of them sort themselves out with sheer amusement. Frank ignores him for a second as he offers Gerard a hand to help him up, which he rejects stubbornly and pulls himself up for himself.

“Hi, yeah, I’m Frank,” Frank says, turning to look at Patrick for the first time.

“I’m Patrick,” he says, as Gerard starts brushing the dirt off of himself.

“Nice to meet you. Your Gerard’s friend?”

“That would be me,” Patrick nods.

“Let’s not get too friendly,” Gerard says, looking grumpy. “The guy just ran into me.”

“Yeah, I mean it was an accident,” Frank responds, “I didn’t know you were there, I was just running. But what a coincidence, huh? Met you yesterday, and ran into you today. Literally. Must be fate.”

“I don’t believe in fate,” Gerard says, as he looks disdainfully at Frank.

“Neither do I, but that’s just a thing that people say.”

Gerard rolls his eyes and starts walking away. Not looking at Frank is what he needs right now.

“No Gerard,” Patrick stops him, grabbing his arm. “That’s the way the girls went. You don’t want to go that way.”

“But going the other way will bring us back to town!” Gerard says, groaning.

“Well, you choose Gerard, the road that leads to town or the road that leads to Hattie,” Patrick prompts.

“Back to town it is then,” Gerard says after deliberating for a moment.

“Well that’s the best sentiment I’ve heard yet about this infamous Hattie,” Frank says.

“Even Patrick hates her.”

“Hate is a strong word,” Patrick says.

“You still hate her.”

“I’m not fond of her, but I wouldn’t say I hate her.”

Gerard just shakes his head. There is such a thing as too nice, and then there’s one step higher than too nice, and that’s Patrick. Patrick would buy Satan a house if he asked politely enough.

“So you’re the Prince,” Patrick says, as Gerard walks ahead. Frank grins, walking behind as Gerard does his best to walk ahead of them. He doesn’t know why, but he cannot look at the guy. There’s something about him, it’s very enchanting, and it’s going to confuse Gerard far more than he already is.

What the hell is it about this guy that’s making Gerard feel so weird around him? It’s not that he’s uncomfortable or scared, but the feeling that he feels is so unfamiliar and strange that it makes him feel that way. There’s just nothing he can do to make himself not feel oddly about Frank, and it’s getting infuriating to deal with.

“I am.”

“That’s nice isn’t it?”

“There are worse things.”

“Like this conversation,” Gerard says.

“He’s somewhat of a cynic,” Patrick explains.

“I gathered that much.”

“Yeah, well I kind of assumed you picked up on it. I mean, you spent fifty minutes talking about him.”

“Fifty minutes sounds like a bit of an exaggeration.”

“Were you even there?” Patrick asks him, “Apparently not if you seriously can’t realize you didn’t shut up once about Gerard. I thought the whole point of this thing was for you to let the people in the kingdom know who you were, not to anonymously call Gerard out.”

“I wasn’t calling him out.”

“Alright, fine, let me rephrase. I didn’t know the purpose of that whole speech was for you to express deep fondness for Gerard.”

“Stop talking about me like I’m not here,” Gerard blushes, especially when Frank denies nothing.

“When you walk ahead like that it’s easy to pretend you’re not there,” Patrick tells him, “that’s just how it is.”

“Why are you even here Frank?” Gerard asks.

“That’s a deep question.”

“No not cosmically.”

“I was being chased by girls. You were there!” Frank responds.

“That’s not what I meant.”

“Okay so which question do you want me to answer? I’m here immediately because I was being chased by girls, I’m in town because of campaign reasons, and I’m on this planet because the universe fucked up a little bit and made me. What else do you want?”

“Mostly I just want you to go away.”

“Aw, you two, already bickering like an-” Patrick starts.

“You finish that sentence I push you in a puddle, Patrick,” Gerard says.

“He’s got a serious case of the-”

“Patrick!” Gerard warns again.

“Alright fine,” Patrick sighs, and speeds up to walk in pace with Gerard, which forces Frank to do the same, and makes Gerard feel even more uncomfortable than he already was. At least when Frank was walking behind him it would have been harder for him to look over and see the guy standing right there. Now it’s too easy. He doesn’t want to look at Frank, but it’s so much easier than it had been a moment before.

“So what did you think of the event though?” Frank asks. “I get that you still hate me, but maybe a little less? No?”

“I still don’t like you,” Gerard says.

“That’s fine, but maybe you hate me just a little less? Like a tiny bit? Just a teeny bit?”

“I still hate you infinitely,” Gerard replies.

“Okay, and infinitely cannot be subtracted upon?”

“Yes.”

“Yes it can, or yes it can’t?”

“I already hate you so much that there’s no room left in me to not hate you,” Gerard says.

“Okay, fair enough. Well, not really, I don’t even get the chance to change your mind, but it’s not my place to tell you how to feel. But maybe there’s something I can offer you? Like a badass twig. That’d be suiting, right, because I already gave you a rock. Next I can give you a leaf.”

“Do you get off on giving insignificant gifts?”

“I sound bad however I answer that question,” Frank says.

“Should I leave you two alone to sort out your emotions? I’m sensing a lot of bottled up feelings right here. It’s starting to feel like gossip hour in Gerard’s house,” Patrick says.

“I’m seriously going to punch you in the face,” Gerard responds.

“See, bottled up emotions.”

“How do you two maintain any friendship? Your whole conversation dynamic is based on mutual hate and insults?”

“Your point is?”

“You’ve never had a best friend have you?” Patrick asks.

“This is something I’m missing out on?” Frank asks.

“You poor sheltered child,” Patrick shakes his head.

“I’m starting to feel like this whole town thrives on a superiority complex,” Frank states.

“You put into words what I’ve been saying my whole damn life. I swear these people would drop dead if not for the practice of badmouthing,” Gerard says.

“But the bad news is that you’re talking to the town fools,” Patrick tells Frank. “You’ve lost all credibility just for speaking to us.”

“Maybe the credibility I would earn from these people isn’t worth it.”

Gerard curses to himself when Frank says that, because every goddamn time this guy opens his huge fucking royal mouth, Gerard hates him less and less and it’s getting ridiculous. This asshole, thinking he has the right to be a good person with a great mind when Gerard is trying so hard to hold things against him that he doesn’t deserve. What a dick.

Notes

What the fuck is a Gerard Way? Please consider commenting, thanks!