He Likes Me

Gerard went to sleep with the intention of calling his parents immediately after he woke up the next morning. After all, if he didn't his parents would be worried and Gerard didn't think he would be able to live down the embarassment if the police came knocking at his door early in the morning to check he hadn't been hacked to pieces in the night. He wouldn't put it past his parents to call in the armed forces to check on 'their baby boy'.

Gerard awoke earlier than he thought he would. The feeling of wanting to get up but having your eyes sealed shut with sleep was crushing down on him, but not in a bad way. He no longer felt like he was suffocating or trapped, and he didn't know why at first. He only became aware of the arms wrapped around his waist after he had been awake - but lying still and quiet with his eyes closed - for several minutes. In his sleep-deprived, tired state, he wasn't really thinking clearly and so instead of springing out of bed and calling the police like he should have done, he burrowed further into the cocoon of blankets wrapped around his body and draped an arm lazily around the other body pressed up against him.

It was only when this other person made a small noise - a sort of hum of contentment - and started pressing soft kisses on Gerard's chest and neck did it begin to dawn on him that he was in bed with another person that he hadn't gone to bed with last night that he realised he should be freaking out, and promptly began freaking out.

He opened his eyes quickly and blinked a few times to get the early morning fuzziness to go away. When he was able to see clearly, his eyes focused on the person lying next to him. It appeared to be a man, but Gerard couldn't really see his features as his face was firmly hidden in Gerard's chest, his cold breath ghosting over the wet trails his kisses had left on the older man's skin and making Gerard shiver despite himself. The man's head didn't quite reach the pillow and he had a mass of dark hair fanning around his head like a halo and by the way his head was twisted, Gerard had a clear view of the scorpion tattoo on his neck...

Oh shit.

Gerard began to panic, leaping out of bed and away from the grasp of the younger, smaller man in his bed, totally forgetting he was naked until he was standing in the middle of his room. He gasped and grabbed his pair of jeans from his windowsill where he laid them out last night. Stumbling over his own feet as he struggled to drag on the trousers, he never took his eyes off the man.

There was no way this could be happening, Gerard reasoned, swallowing hard. And yet ... there he was. As clear as day, lying in bed with Gerard with his brown hair and his tattoos, and Gerard could only think of one person this could be. But it was impossible, because that person wasn't real!

All the commotion had finally woken up the man - Gerard refused to call him Frankie because there was just no way that was possible - and he sat up and rubbed his eyes sleepily with his fist. When he caught sight of Gerard he grinned dopily and crawled across the bed to be closer to him, either not seeing or ignoring Gerard's panicked expression.

"Gee." He mumbled happily, keeping the bed covers wrapped around his shoulders as he talked. "It's so early. What're you doing up?"

"Who the hell are you?!" Gerard exploded, stepping back from the bed as if the man was going to get up and beat him up if he was too close. As if a metre between them would stop that from happening if the situation arose.

The man just frowned and rubbed his hand across his face again. "What, Gee - what?"

Gerard continued to stare at him until the man got out from under the covers and swung his legs over the side of the bed, standing up and wobbling a little as he took a step towards Gerard, who blushed bright red to see that he too had been naked in bed. Gerard took a moment to pity himself that the only action he got was with random strangers who snuck into his house in the middle of the night when he was asleep; that was the only explanation for what was happening.

"You heard me! Who are you?"

Frank - no! Not Frank! - took a step closer to Gerard and Gerard took a step backwards, away from him. A look of hurt crossed the man's face quickly before it disappeared and was replaced only by confusion and a little worry.

"Gee, are you okay?" He asked, and God, Gerard was having a hard time keeping his eyes on the man's - although he looked more like a boy - face. Having someone so utterly gorgeous - because come on, it had to be said - standing in front of him without any clothes on asking if he was alright was just too much for Gerard to handle in the morning.

"Get out of my house!" Gerard screamed, his voice cracking with nerves and confusion, and he couldn't help feel a small stab of guilt when the boy's face crumpled.

"What? No! Gee, please don't kick me out! You know - you know I have nowhere else to go!" A tear rolled down his face and dripped off the end of his nose, falling to the floor with an almost inaudible 'splash'. Gerard's heart broke to see someone so upset, but he was scared and had no clue what was going on, and he couldn't help but be a little harsh.

"Gee please!" The boy continued, more tears making their way down his face. "Was I not good enough? I'll - I'll be better from now on, I swear! I'll do whatever you want; just let me stay, please. I need you Gee, I need you! I'm yours, Gerard. Please you're all I have left!"

It was all Gerard could do to stand there and listen to the stranger's distraught babbling, getting more and more worked up the longer Gerard stayed silent. He wanted to say something; he really did. But what could he say? 'Sorry, I'm just a little freaked because you're not actually real'? No. No way.

"Frankie?" Gerard finally choked out in a small voice, terrified of hearing the answer and terrified that he already knew what the boy would say.

Frankie nodded. He looked Gerard right in the eye with his big, innocent hazel eyes and he nodded, biting his bottom lip to stop it from trembling. That's when Gerard knew he was going crazy.

"I just ... just give me a minute." Gerard muttered vaguely before fleeing the room and running strait into the bathroom, slamming the door behind him and locking it. He doubted Frank would follow him in here with an axe or anything crazy like that - he could still hear the boy's muffled sobs echoing down the hall from his bedroom - but he felt more secure knowing no one could get in.

He really was going crazy. After all those years of going to a therapist, having Dr Hawthorne diagnose him as having severe OCD and depression, it turned out he was just insane. Crazy. Batshit fucking crazy. And now he had invented someone to love him, had thought him up with his mind. Maybe he was schizophrenic? That would explain seeing things that weren't there. Because Frankie wasn't really there, right? He couldn't be. He wasn't real.

After almost half an hour deliberating, Gerard finally emerged from the bathroom and tiptoed into the bedroom, only the find his gues was no longer there. For a split second he panicked, his mind coming up with all kind of scenarios where Frankie was hiding behind the door with a
machete, or in Gerard's car driving away as fast as he could with all of his valuables.

When he heard a banging noise coming from downstairs, however, he relaxed. Frankie was in the kitchen.

Gerard grabbed his mobile phone from the second draw in his bedside table - and quickly made the bed so the covers weren't wrinkled and horrible - before hurrying down the stairs. He heard Frank humming a tune as he fried something in a pan over the oven, but he stopped when Gee entered the room nervously.

It had been a while since he had had a proper relationship - a really long while - and the sight of an attractive young (tattooed) male making breakfast in his kitchen totally naked was more than a little ... arousing. Gerard swallowed the lump in his throat and walked forwards. Frank watched him with a half curious, half cautious expression as though he were expecting him to pick him up and chuck him out of the house onto the street completely naked. His hazel eyes were wide as Gerard got his phone out of his pocket and then started to step out of his jeans.
He blushed when he remembered he wasn't wearing underpants.

"Here, put these on." Gerard said, throwing the trousers at Frank and feeling a little bad when the shorter boy had to jump to catch them so they wouldn't catch fire. Gerard needed Frankie to be wearing clothes, and he couldn't be bothered to go upstairs to get some more. As much as Gerard was sure he was going mad, he had enough decency not to send nudes of his maybe-boyfriend to his younger brother on the off chance that Gerard was not the only person who could see him. If Mikey could see Frankie then Gerard was not crazy.

Frank obeyed immediately, and Gerard couldn't deny that gave him a rush.

Gerard picked up his phone and took a picture of Frank before the boy could ask what he was doing and quickly sent it off to Mikey without a caption. He waited agitatedly for a reply, tapping his fingers against the counter whilst Frank cooked and tried to pretend Gerard wasn't acting like a complete psycopath. They both jumped in surprise when a ping broke the silence between them. Frank looked at Gerard and the exact same time that Gerard looked at Frank and both their eyes flitted to the phone. Gerard picked it up nervously, trying to ignore his shaking hands, to look at what Mikey has said.

He's hot. Who is he?

Mikey could see him. Mikey could see Frank. Frank was real. Gerard wasn't crazy. Frank was here. Mikey could see him. Frank loved Gerard. Gerard could have Frank, because Frank was real!

Gerard was too happy to consider the possibility of this being an intruder or someone Mikey had found and sent to Gerard's house to pull some fucked up prank on him. He was just too happy. He looked at Frank and beamed, dropping his phone on the table and giggling when the loud noise made Frank jump.

Gerard strode over to where Frank was standing, turning the oven off now and decanting a pile of potatoes and mushrooms onto two plates. It wasn't the classiest breakfast Gerard had ever had, but it was messy and delicious, just like Frank.

Gerard threw his arms around Frank's waist, squeezing tighter when he felt Frank tense up and he heard him make a frightened noise in the back of his throat. Gerard was reminded of earlier in the bedroom when he had yelled at Frank and made him cry, and he suddenly felt terribly guilty.

He kissed the back of Frank's neck until the smaller man turned round and draped his arms around Gerard's neck.

"Don't make me leave, please Gee. I love you. Did I do something wrong? Just tell me what I did and -" Frank looked like he was about to cry again and Gerard couldn't help but find that adorable. He silenced the boy by kissing him chastely on the lips, smiling into the kiss as Frank pressed back with the same amount of pressure and need.

"You didn't do anything wrong, Frankie." Gerard whispered into Frank's neck. "I just freaked out. I don't know what happened, but I won't let it happen again."

"I love you Gee." Frank said and Gerard made an affirmative noise, not wanting to say it back since technically he had only just met the guy, but not wanting Frankie to think that he was unloved. The boy seemed happy with his answer though as he pushed Gerard plate towards him and picked up his own, setting it down on the marble island.

"Frank?" Gerard asked, smiling when Frank turned to look at him questioningly. "Give me my trousers back."

Frank obeyed immediately, sliding off the jeans that were too big for him to start with. Gerard didn't miss the shiver that passed through Frank's body when he noticed Gerard watching him.
He smirked.

Notes