Money For Ropes!

Gerard and Mikey had grown up with money...but nothing like this. For the last fifteen minutes, Frank had been showing the young artist around his large house, while Gerard gasped and gaped at the big rooms and luxury furnishings. Gerard agreed that the walls could do with some colour, some personality, but everything that Frank had put into the place was like a decor wet dream to the younger man...Frank had good taste.

"So...which walls were you thinking for murals?"

Gerard asked quietly, turning his head toward his host. He was surprised to find Frank was already looking at him intently...he wasn’t used to that in real life, only online. Frank’s lip quirked up in an amused half smile at the startled look on the boy’s face.

"Well there’s one wall in my bedroom that could use your attention."

Gerard swallowed, was it his imagination or was Frank flirting with him. He nodded slightly, feeling heat rise up his neck.

"S-Sure. Lead the way."

Frank smirked, offering his arm.

"And let you limp?...what kind of gentleman would that make me."

Gerard giggled self consciously, accepting Frank’s arm. Frank walked Gerard through to his bedroom, mentally trying to remember if he’d left the room guest ready or not. He cringed internally when he remembered the messy sheets he’d left on the bed this morning, but sighed quietly in relief when he saw they’d gone and the bed had been made...thank God for Alice, his cleaner that came round every other Saturday morning.

"Which wall?"

Gerard asked, looking around the room with interest. Frank pointed toward the wall right behind his bed.

"I was thinking that one maybe...what do you think?"

"And what sort of design?"

Gerard liked Frank and even though the older man's flirting made him a little nervous, he still liked it...but now was not the time, now he needed to be professional, for what that’s worth. Frank hummed thoughtfully.

"Well I was thinking of a favourite memory from when I was younger. I used to go camping in the woods with my cousins, and I always loved to lay on the ground and look up at the canopy of leaves above me, the sunlight sparkling through..."

He turned wistful eyes toward the young redhead and smiled softly.

"If you could recreate something like that, it would be perfect."

Gerard returned the smile, then looked around the room again.

"I think I could do that. It would mean extending the design up onto the ceiling...would that be ok?"

He looked back at Frank to find him staring back at him again. He swallowed unsurely. Frank’s smile grew.

"I think that would be amazing. You could handle that?"

"Yeah..."

Gerard looked away, trying to not get lost in Frank’s intense gaze.

"It would take a while, but I could do it."

"How long is a while?"

Gerard thought for a minute, considering the size of the room and all the layers and detail he knew would go into the piece.

"Probably...four weeks?"

He didn’t mean for it to sound like a question, but it was hard to judge time scale with something like this. Frank chuckled and Gerard looked at him questioningly.

"And how many hours would you have to work each day to get it done in that time...do you think?"

"A lot. Eight or nine hours a day, every day."

Frank nodded, a thoughtful look on his face.

"Then you should stay here while you’re working. I’ve got plenty of room and it would mean you don’t need to worry about going out in bad weather to get here. What do you say?"

Gerard was shocked...his wide eyes and slack jaw were testament to that.

"You...want me to...stay here?!"

Frank nodded seriously.

"It’s the logical thing to do."

Gerard swallowed. He couldn’t deny that living in this kind of luxury, even for a short time, was pretty tempting...and it would get him out of his rat-trap for a while.

"Um...how much were you thinking of spending on this piece?"

He needed to change the subject for a while to give himself time to think. Frank raised an amused eyebrow.

"You’re the artist, shouldn’t you be telling me the price?"

Gerard’s cheeks flushed.

"Oh uh...yeah I..."

Frank laughed quietly at the boy’s fluster. Gerard looked down at the floor for a second to gather himself, then looked back up with a confident look in his eyes.

"For this piece, for the amount of work that I’ll need to put into it...I think I need to set the price at..."

He hoped he wasn’t going to get laughed out of the house.

"$2500."

Frank blinked at the boy for a moment. He could see the confidence the boy was trying to portray, but under that was a vulnerability and softness that Frank longed to get close to.

"Deal..."

He said decisively, gaining a small squeak of surprise from the artist.

"I also had another couple of walls that need your magic touch...if you’re interested?"

Gerard’s heart was racing. He’d just been offered a large commission, and his knight in shining armour was already talking about even more work. He hoped he could live up to Frank’s expectations.

"Uh yes, sure. Of course."

Frank grinned and lead Gerard out of his bedroom and down the hall to his office. The room he really wanted to show the boy was further down the hall, but he figured that would probably scare him away so early in their...relationship. Later though, once they’d had a chance to get to know each other better...then he would show him.

They spent the next half hour discussing designs for Frank’s office, and for the dining room. They settled on timescales and prices, and Gerard, somewhat reluctantly, agreed to stay at the house for the next three months. He was wary of course, as he had only met Frank today, but the older man was a friend of Mikey’s and had shown him where he would be sleeping, and that the door had a lock on it so he would feel safe. Really, what could go wrong?

"I might as well give up my apartment if I’m not going to be there for three months...no point in paying rent when I’m not there."

Frank chuckled.

"Why don’t we go now. I’ll help you pack up your stuff and we can get you settled in here before dinner. Sound good?"

Gerard giggled.

"Packing will take me all of ten minutes. I really don’t have much stuff...but thank you for the offer. I can’t wait to tell Mr. Crantz that I’m leaving. I think he’ll be happy too."

"He’s your landlord?"

"Yeah, he’s a miserable bastard who doesn’t fix things that need fixing. And I’m pretty sure he’s been spying on me..."

Gerard shivered dramatically.

"Creepy."

Frank laughed, taking one of Gerard’s hands in his...he loved the contrast of his darker tattooed skin against the boy’s flawless pale hand.

"Well it’s a good thing you’re leaving then, isn’t it..."

He smiled as Gerard’s cheeks pinked.

"Come on. Sooner we go get your stuff and tell Mr. Creepy to go fuck himself, the sooner we can come back here and order takeout. Chinese sound good to you?"

Gerard’s eyes lit up, he didn’t remember the last time he had a good Chinese meal. He nodded enthusiastically.

"Oh yes, sounds good to me."

He smiled wide and they headed back out into the brisk Fall afternoon. Maybe this was the best day of his life after all...it was certainly turning out to be the most interesting.

Notes

Hi there chipmunks, how’s you?

So this is the first NEW chapter of this...hope you liked it.

Until next time...PLEASE COMMENT and peace out!
<3