As Snow Falls on Desert Sky

Gerard woke up in his room, his cheek stuck to one of the drawings he had been working on while his alarm blared for him to wake up. He slowly sat up, his back creaking and snapping in protest while he groaned. He shouldn't have fallen asleep like that, his back now sore with a crook in his neck he knew wouldn't be gone for a while. But that's how his life had been the past week - come home and draw until he fell asleep. He's hardly had time for his other favorite past time - alcohol.

But forgetting all that, tonight was Gerard's big night. Well, it wasn't really that big, but it was the first night he was actually doing something other than going to a bar for drinks in months and he was terribly excited. It actually scared him how excited he was. He got up from his desk and walked to his kitchen to heat up the remaining coffee, too lazy to start another pot. He went into the bathroom and peed, brushed his teeth and checked himself in the mirror. After finishing in the bathroom, the smell of coffee was filling the small apartment and Gerard was filling his cup with it, drinking it down quickly and grabbing his bag. He was out of his apartment before he could even think about changing his clothes. Luckily, he had showered yesterday so he knew he didn't smell and they were his usual plain black so he knew Alex wouldn't notice.

He made it to work a few minutes before Alex and sat on the bench out front, texting his younger brother about how his brother and his girlfriend had been recently, since they hadn't spoken in a while. Turns out, Mikey had been missing Gerard, so he tried to set up a small hangout for them, but they were both far too busy. Gerard sighed and Alex patted his head, appearing from their parked car, before unlocking the door.

"Don't worry, I'll keep you busy today, Gerard." They hummed, grinning at him before listing off what he had to do today.

And so it began with Gerard reorganizing shelves. He actually quite enjoyed seeing what the store still had and what they had sold over the week, then he would stock the selves, which he wasn't as fond of, then he attended to the Saturday rush of customers. When the day was finally over, for once, Gerard couldn't be happier. The day had gone by so fast, but that was because he hadn't worked that hard since he first started, but he wasn't going to complain - he did love his job. But tonight was going to be great. So after talking with Alex about the show, he ran home. He literally, pants in hand to keep them up, ran all the way to his apartment. He even passed someone standing at the steps with their hood over their face and didn't give them a second thought - which was absolutely absurd for Gerard.

When he actually made it in his apartment, he took his time to pick out his outfit from the huge pile of laundry he had done earlier that week. He pulled out a pair of ripped jeans and his Smashing Pumpkins tee so he could hopefully fit in at the show. He pulled them on and went into the bathroom to brush his teeth and brush through his hair, making sure it wasn't a complete mess. After all, he could see tattoo-guy there, and he didn't want to be gross-looking for his future husband. What was he kidding? That guy was straight and he knew it. But Gerard could dream.

So, he threw on his combat boots and grabbed his wallet with his glorious $42 in it and began to make his way to the address on the green flyer in his hand. He had to read it a couple times before he realized it was the bar just beside the regular joint he always went to. Well, lucky him, he knew just where it was. Once he made it there, a security guy took a look at his ID and stamped his hand after Gerard have him $10. At least is wasn't an expensive show, Gerard had been expecting it to be at least $40. Gerard walked through crowds of people already at the bar and the crowd in front of the stage.

The first band was already playing and they weren't half bad, but they weren't what Gerard came for. So he got himself a beer and found a spot off to the side, near the side exit the band's probably used, so he could sprint if something were to happen. Gerard listened to the opening band while waiting for tattoo-Guy's band to come on, his foot tapping on the ground.

Gerard looked up as the first band walked off stage and the tattoo-guy's came on. He walked out on stage with a guitar in hand and Gerard couldn't help but have his stomach knot with excitement and nervousness to hear them play. Gerard expected them to introduce themselves or something but of course, as unexpected as tattoo-guy seemed to be, they just started playing.

And fuck, they were amazing. Then he started singing and it was like nothing Gerard had ever heard. He was just different - he was amazing. He could hear he was angry about so much, and hurt. Gerard practically lost himself in the music, watching the guy he had been lost about thrash around and play hard on stage while he sipped his beer and thrashed around a little himself.

Tattoo-guy didn't say much between songs, so when the show was suddenly over, Gerard knew he had to find him and figure out how he could get to know the guy. He stood there for a second while people around him dispersed and talked, the stage crew packing away everything from stage. Then, Gerard came back to life and quickly made his way toward the exit, walking out quickly. He decided he would find where tattoo-guy was out here, he had seen the last band come out back here after.

Gerard opened the door and was immediately faced with a scene he was nowhere near ready for. There was the guy from his apartment building steps, the one who hid his face with a hoodie, pushing tattoo-guy against a wall with a knife to his chest. Gerard swallowed hard as he watched before tattoo-guy caught his eye and looked at him with pleading eyes.

"Give me your fucking money!" The guy in the hoodie yelled. Gerard quickly came up behind him and grabbed the hand with the knife firm enough to yank the guy back and grab the knife, which was still in the guy's hand, not really knowing what he was doing, he struggled with the guy for a second before the guy twisted enough to cut Gerard's arm slightly. Gerard gasped and grabbed the knife from him, holding it at the hoodie-clad criminal.

"Fuck off, before I call the cops." Gerard said quickly, his eyes wide, maybe a bit crazy but mostly scared. The guy ran off quickly and before he knew what was happening, tattoo-guy was tackling him in a hug, making Gerard drop the knife to the ground.

"Thank you so much!" He laughed, hugging Gerard. Gerard just stood there awkwardly with a small smile, nodding. "I thought you were sort-of weird - no offence, but you sort of freaked me out in the hall way - but, shit, I'm Frank."

Frank, not tattoo-guy anymore, offered Gerard a hand after climbing off him. Gerard shook his hand, blushing lightly. "U-Uhm, I'm Gerard. Sorry, for freaking you out? I zone out sometimes."

"Oh, well shit, we all do." Frank smiled and Gerard practically melted. "We should go clean up your arm then grab a beer, you know since you practically saved my life and all."

Gerard just smiled and nodded, looking at his arm before motioning towards the bar.

"I bet they have a first aid kit in the back, they're supposed to anyway." Frank commented with a smile, tugging Gerard by his good arm back into the bar.

Notes

Sorry for the mess up between this fanfiction and my other (if you read both), hopefully you stick around, lmao. Thanks for reading.