"Well?" Ray asked, awaiting a response from either Gerard, Mikey, and-or Frank. "C'mon, guys, say something."

"I..." Gerard started and swallowed hard, gripping Frank's thigh tightly. He didn't have an end of the sentence, though, so he turned to Mikey.

"This is..." Mikey said and bit the inside of his cheek. He, too, lacked a sentence, looking to his brother's boyfriend for help.

"What the fuck?"

Ray, Matt, Gerard, and Mikey all agreed that those three words summed up all of their thoughts well.

"Exactly," Ray said, moving a bit of ketchup-soaked hash browns around the plate in front of him.

"Where are we at?" Gerard asked. "It's not anywhere big, is it?"

"No, nowhere too crazy. Eyeball," Matt answered casually and Gerard made a sound that could be only described as inhuman while Frank stiffened in his seat in shock. Matt gave the two a look before asking: "Well, what's your problem?"

"Eyeball Records? Like, Alex Saavedra, Eyeball Records?" Gerard squeaked. Ray nodded, his mass of hair shifting, and Gerard said: "Alex is the guy that Frank..." He gave his boyfriend a look before mumbling: "Yeah."

"Oh, shit," Ray said, running his hand down his face. "I forgot about that. We can pull out of it makes you uncomforta—"

"What? No, no," Gerard said, shaking his head vigourously. "No, this is an amazing opportunity. We can't just throw it away because of a stupid little grudge I can get over. I'm sure that Alex is a nice guy; he just makes bad decisions sometimes."

"That's Alex in a nutshell," Ray nodded. "So, I wanted to get your okay on this before I confirmed it with Alex... I'm gonna call him now actually, before I forget." He started to dig his phone out of his jacket pocket, wishing for the day that cell phones weren't the clunky piece of plastic he had.

"Ray, it's 3:30 in the morning," Mikey interjected.

"And?" Ray asked, looking up from his phone.

"It's a Sunday," Mikey continued.

"And?" Ray asked again, this time with more sarcasm.

Mikey shook his head, deciding that explaining it wasn't worth the headache. "Never mind."

After a few minutes, Ray placed his phone onto the Formica-topped table, pressing a button on the side that made a dull ringing echo out of the gray piece of shit.

"Toro, I swear to God," a voice said. It was thick with sleep, and heavy with a New Jersey accent. "Stop fucking calling me at the ass-crack of dawn."

"Well, I have news for you, Al," Ray said. "I just talked to our frontman and he said that he wanted to sign."

Alex sniffed and the sound of a squeaking mattress came through the phone. "Is he there with you?" He asked.

"Yeah," Ray said, looking at Gerard. Wanna talk? He mouthed and Gerard nodded.

"Hello, Alex," Gerard said clearly, trying to keep the venom in his voice to a minimum. "I'm Gerard."

"Hi, Gerard," Alex said. His smile could practically be heard through the phone. "So, you've agreed to sign with Eyeball?"

"Yeah, we have," Gerard answered.

After a moment of silence on both sides, Alex asked:
"Gerard... Do you know Frank Iero from Pencey Prep? He talked about a guy named Gerard when he was here a few months ago. Ya know that Gerard isn't that common of a name?"

"Yeah, I do know Frank, actually," Gerard said. "He's, umm... My boyfriend."

"Oh, yeah, that's right," Alex mumbled. "Okay, hold on, Toro. Can we finish this tomorrow? Bring the band by the studio?"

Ray snickered into the palm of his hand, a joke obviously between him and Alex. "The studio. Yeah, sure," he said. "Alright, see ya tomorrow."

Alex said as a farewell: "Don't call me again before 10:30."

---

---

The mattress squeaked in protest as Gerard and Frank sank into it, pulling the bedsheets over their bodies. Frank immediacy curled up into Gerard's side, the older putting his arm around the younger. This is how Gerard an Frank always slept, even though the positions differed: Gerard was always holding Frank.

"So, are you gonna freak out when we meet Alex later today?" Frank asks, looking up at Gerard.

"Nah," Gerard mumbled, licking his lips. "I'm gonna take him to the side, and explain that this is behind us, and that we just shouldn't bring it up. Easy peasy, pumpkin peasy."

"Pumpkin pie, motherfucker," Frank added quietly, pressing his lips to Gerard's shoulder.

Gerard sighed and asked: "Why do I like you?"

"'Cause you can't help but like me," Frank said. "Otherwise, you'd have killed me already."

"The night is still young, Frankie," Gerard said. Frank rolled his eyes and reached to run his fingers through Gerard's uneven chin-length hair.

"Your eyeliner is still on," Frank noted quietly, wetting the end of his thumb with the tip of his tongue and running it along Gerard's waterline.

Along with the other things that were still on were the beloved lacy panties; Frank forced Gerard to keep them on. Gerard compensated by keeping on the oversized Bowie shirt. Frank had little to no modesty, choosing to sleep in just his blue boxers.

"Big whoop," Gerard said, moving his head to the side to get out of Frank's reach. "It'll come off when we shower later."

"We?" Frank asked.

"We do everything else together," Gerard said. "I just assumed that we would be sharing the shower. Anyway, it feels nice when someone washes your hair for you."

"Oh, okay," Frank said, sweeping his ratty, short, black and white-bleached dreads out of his eyes. "That sounds nice, actually," he added, already thinking about something.

"You're thinking about blowing me in the shower, aren't you?" Gerard asked after a moment.

"No."

"You're thinking about me blowing you in the shower, then."

"You're actually right this time."

Gerard chuckled and squeezed Frank in a tight hug. "I love you, you fucking walnut."

"Did you just call me a walnut?" Frank asked.

"You're my baby, darling, woodland nymph," Gerard started, ticking off all his nicknames for Frank. "Kitten, love, walnut. You're my Frankie, no matter what I call you."

Frank smiled sleepily, kissing Gerard's exposed shoulder again, this time nipping at the skin. "You're my angel, Gee," he whispered, batting his eyelashes against Gerard's clavicle. "My everything, the love of my life. I love you, Gee baby."

Gerard let out a shaky breath as Frank kissed up his neck, sliding over to sit on Gerard's waist. Frank put one his hands behind Gerard's neck, pulling him closer, while the other went to the base of Gerard's back, holding him upright. Frank swiped his tongue over the mark on his shoulder, and Gerard whimpered with a wanton need.

Frank moved his mouth to Gerard's neck, biting at the delicate skin and soothing the sting with his tongue. "Gonna mark you all up, Gee," he purred. "Make sure Alex knows you're mine."

"I should—" Gerard started and whined, grabbing Frankms hips and gripping them tightly. "I should mark you up."

"That can be arranged," Frank said and moved to connect his lips with Gerard's, immediately invading his boyfriend's mouth with his tongue.

Gerard moaned loudly, skimming his fingertips along the outline of Frank's shoulder blades. He pressed closer to Frank, wishing him as close as possible.

Suddenly, a loud banging from the wall behind Gerard's bed. "Alright, fuckers, listen here," Mikey started. "You two fuck every night and I'm getting sick and tired of it. So, warn me or some shit before you do so I can protect my sanity. Hearing your brother yell out the things that you do, Gee; that changes a man."

"Sorry, Mikey," Gerard said, pulling away from Frank breathlessly.

"I know that isn't sincere, but don't screw tonight. I'm trying to sleep," Mokey requested.

"No promises."

"Frank, shut the fuck up," came through the wall.

Notes

Be the color of lightening, everyone.

xoøli