Pretty In Punk

Frank finds himself very giddy throughout the next twenty-four hours. He and Gerard are exchanging texts all the time, witty one-liners and conversations worthy of inside jokes. It’s unbelievable how much they’re bonding, and how quickly. Even more exhilarating is the fact that nobody knows about it except for Pete. Frank intends to keep it that way, too, that is, until Gerard tells Mikey. Frank and his friends are all gay and he’s fine with that, but he’s not about to out anybody for the sake of being able to tell people he has a boyfriend. Even if Gerard was out to Mikey, would it matter? He and Gerard never established what they were. Sure, Gerard could tell you what Frank’s left ass cheek felt like, but he didn’t know Frank on many other levels. He was getting there though, and texting was one way that they could try and speed up the process.
Feeling very secretive about the whole thing, Frank is thinking that he’s so clever for most of the day. That is, until Josh overhears Frank’s giggling during biology and peers over his shoulder to read the text between him and Gerard. “You and Gerard are talking?”
Frank locks his phone screen and turns, stammering, “W-what? What are you talking about?”
Josh grins, assuring, “It’s chill, man, I like that you guys are becoming friends.”
“Friends! Yes, friends, we’re becoming very good friends,” Frank insists.
“I’m sure, that message was like a paragraph long!” Josh exclaims. “I like Gerard and Mikey. They should come over for practice today.”
“Practice? Great idea!” Frank agrees. He texts Gerard saying so, and Gerard merely replies with: The shirt better be off by the third song or I’m leaving.
At lunch, they all sit together. Gerard sits next to Frank like some kind of puppy on a leash, but Mikey must be called over. Mikey is very insecure about certain things. Frank is learning that; he got a text from Mikey at midnight last night asking if he ever made Frank mad the other day. Mikey tends to think that he’s making a fool out of himself or that he doesn’t belong where he is, and that’s something Gerard’s always known and fought, but Frank is quickly catching on. Determined to beat that out of him, Frank immediately tells Mikey, “I’m really glad you came to our practice yesterday, Mikey. It was fun, you should come over today.”
Mikey’s eyebrows raise, and he responds, “Today?”
Frank nods encouragingly, and he can almost sense Gerard sending some kind of weird fraternal telepathic signals for Mikey to take the bait. Mikey must receive it pretty well because he adds, “Yeah, I guess so.”
“Cool,” Frank replies.
Pete, swiping a French fry through some ketchup, asks, “Hey Mikes, am I going crazy or did I see you in my math class?”
Mikey frowns. “What, algebra?”
Pete nods vigorously. “Yeah, I never really noticed you because you’re so mousy, but you sit like a few rows over. You were one of the only ones who had the assignment done.”
Mikey shrugs. “Yeah, it wasn’t too hard.”
Gerard groans, “That assignment was the death of me. I’d rather rip my dick off and burn it than try and rearrange equations again. I can’t handle thinking for so long.”
“Speaking of thinking, I was thinking,” Brendon begins.
“Out with it, forehead,” Pete commands.
Brendon points at him, continuing, “First of all, fuck you, eyebrows. Second of all, you guys know how the town is having that little carnival at the square?”
“The really lame one where we went on the carousel and tried jumping from horse to horse and I racked myself?” Josh asks.
“That’s the one,” Brendon confirms. “Listen, they want some live music for a few hours. Now the way I see it, that’s a gig opportunity, boys.”
“What, have they asked you to play?” Pete demands.
“Yeah,” Brendon answers. “We’ve been offered the gig, it only pays about $40 bucks each but it’ll be good learning experience.”
The group all exchanges nods, but Frank cuts in saying, “Wait wait wait, does, if it’s at the square like… will we know kids there?”
“Yeah, probably,” Brendon answers.
Frank gets uneasy, murmuring, “Gee, I don’t know.”
“What?” Josh asks.
“Well, I just… what if we’re not good? Or what if they don’t like me? What if they… you know, laugh at us or something?” Frank worries, his voice small. Gerard thinks that Frank is kidding at first, but then he recognizes that the fear in those hazel eyes cannot be fabricated.
Pete grabs Frank’s wrist from across the table, demanding, “Frank, have I ever let anyone laugh at you?”
“Not without decking them in the face right after,” Frank answers, still pouting.
“There you go,” Pete says, releasing his friend. “It’ll be great, dude! It’s nearby, good first gig for sure. Make a little extra money, hang out, maybe get some cotton candy if the night goes really well.”
“That sounds so good,” Josh says, eyes rolled back into his head to express pleasure.
“It does,” Pete agrees. He then looks back to Frank, asking, “So what will it be, Frankie?”
Frank hesitates, still unsure. He hasn’t had necessarily the worst experiences with being bullied, but he can certainly lose track of the times he’d been teased. Even if Pete was going to step in (like he always has), Frank didn’t want to give anyone a reason to want to fuck with him. Shrugging, Frank sighs, “I dunno. I just don’t want to be made fun of.”
“We all already are,” Brendon reasons.
Frank glowers over at the boy, whose expression softens, almost looks empathetic. Brendon knows what Frank’s talking about, hell, he’s having some of the same doubts himself. But if doing what he loves and being good at it makes him this weird singer kid… then so be it. Brendon could handle it. He didn’t have to prove himself to anyone he didn’t want to, so he could care less about what a lot of people had to say. Sure, that doesn’t mean that the name-calling and the putdowns don’t hurt, but it kinda takes the edge off.
“Frank, I really think you should do it,” Gerard cuts in. “You know? Prove them wrong. Go out there and fucking kick ass. Show everyone that they’ve been setting the bar too low for you. Let them know that you are passionate about what you do and you’re going to do great things.”
There’s a long silence at the table as everyone soaks in what Gerard had said. Mikey adds, “Yeah, what he said.”
Frank bites his lip. Looking over at Gerard, he sees the older boy already looking at him, a neutral look on his face but a smile dancing in his eyes. The kind of friendly glimmer that made Frank feel warm all over. That wasn’t the only reason why he agreed to play the gig, but it certainly helped.

Notes

Thank you so much for reading!! Please comment, rate, and subscribe! I should be updating soon!!

Tumblr: bulletsjpg