Ain't That Tuff Enuff?

Gerard wanted to run right now...but he wouldn’t. He glanced at Frank, then looked back at Bob...his boyfriend, Bob.

"I...I wasn’t expecting to see you here. Why aren’t you at the site?"

He hoped Bob couldn’t tell that there was something between him and Frank. He really hoped Bob wouldn’t ask where he’d spent last night.

"You never came home yesterday and I was worried about you. I called Mikey, but he never answered. I am assuming you were with him."

Bob walked up to Gerard and pulled him into a hug.

"Besides you asked me to come so many times and I wasn't able to, so I came today.

Gerard frowned slightly against Bob's shoulder. He could practically feel Frank watching them and had that awful feeling in his gut that he was cheating...on Frank. After a few seconds he pulled back out of Bob's arms, shuffling uncomfortably and hugging himself, eyes cast down.

"I...I wasn’t..."

He was cut off as Mikey walked in. Mikey immediately assessed the situation. He was surprised to see Bob, and was not surprised to see Gerard’s reaction after what Brendon told him last night. At times like this, Mikey felt like he was the big brother.

"Hey Gee, thanks for coming in with Frank today, and thanks for understanding that Brendon needed a ride."

Mikey hoped that Gerard would pick up his lead and not bust them in front of Bob. Gerard smiled in relief that Mikey was smart enough to cover for him.

"Yeah, it’s no problem Mikes..."

He looked at Brendon with a slight smirk.

"You sleep well Brendon?"

Brendon’s eyes widened and he choked slightly on the coffee he’d grabbed from the vendor on the way in.

"Oh err...yes. Thanks. You?"

"Yes thanks. Very well."

Brendon looked at Frank trying to gauge the situation. Before anyone else was able to say anything, Ray walked up.

"Where’s Pete?"

Just then, in a fog of smoke and early morning coffee steam, Pete rushed in.

"Sorry I’m late guys. Anyone miss me?..."

He grinned wide, moving to Mikey’s side and pressing a slobbery kiss to his cheek.

"I know you did sweet cheeks."

Mikey was used to Pete's antics so he just shrugged. Brendon frowned slightly, but didn’t comment...for now. Ray nodded at Pete and smiled.

"Awesome guys, cause Brian’s here today too."

"Is he really?"

Frank started bouncing excitedly. Gerard raised an eyebrow.

"You get this exited over seeing the boss?...what’s so amazing about him?"

If it sounded like Gerard was a little jealous, that’s because he was. Frank turned to Gerard and grabbed both his hands, forgetting that Bob was there.

"Brian is the owner of the modelling agency. He actually owns several, but this is his first one."

"He was away doing business, but he came back when I told him about our newest star."

Ray winked at Gerard. Gerard was taken aback, people don’t usually wink at him...except as he thought about it now he realised that lately, it had been happening more and more...and it was mostly Frank. Shaking himself out of his thoughts, he blinked at the curly haired man.

"He came back to see...me?"

"Yes, I sent him your last photo shoot and he absolutely loved it. He said that he was hopping a plane immediately cause he wanted to make sure he was here for the next one."

"See Gee, I told you that you were that good."

Frank’s eyes sparkled as he spoke, he still hadn’t let go of Gerard’s hands. Gerard could feel his cheeks burning as he saw that everyone was looking at him.

"I’m not..."

He mumbled.

"...really. But thanks."

He smiled, his eyes meeting Frank's for a moment longer than they should...he had kinda forgotten that Bob was there in the room too. Bob looked around, feeling very out of place for the first time ever. He had never felt so invisible. He cleared his throat.

"Soooo...when does this Brian guy get here?"

"Right now."

A man appeared in the doorway in a fine looking suit, but there was something about him that didn’t look like he belonged in a suit.

"Gerard, Pete and Mikey, this is Brian."

Gerard looked at the man and smiled, pulling one hand out of Frank’s to hold it out.

"Nice to meet you sir, I’m Gerard, that’s my brother Mikey, and that’s Pete."

He nodded to the two men as Brian took his hand.

"Well, it’s very nice to meet all of you..."

He lifted Gerard’s hand and laid a kiss on the back, making Gerard fluster slightly.

"Especially you Gerard. You really are a star in the making you know."

Gerard didn’t know, and he didn’t know what to say either. He smiled awkwardly, then looked to Mikey to rescue him. Mikey moved away from Pete and Brendon and slung an arm around Gerard on the other side from Frank.

"My brother has always been too modest for his own good."

Pete stepped over and stuck his hand out toward the man in the fancy suit that he could only dream of affording.

"Hi, I'm Pete!"

Brian blinked in confusion at the other man's enthusiasm for a moment, then took his hand and shook it firmly. Pete was a little put out that his hand wasn’t kissed too.

"Good to meet you Pete."

Brian let go and turned to speak to Ray, but instead, he caught sight of Bob...who couldn’t look more out of place if he tried.

"You’re not one of our models. I would remember..."

He grinned, sticking out his hand.

"Hi, I’m Brian."

Bob shook Brian’s hand.

"Pleased to meet you. I’m Bob, your star's boyfriend."

Brian raised an eyebrow, glancing back at Gerard, his eyes flicking down to where Frank was still holding the model's hand. He looked back at Bob.

"Oh, I just thought..."

He chuckled.

"Never mind. Nice to meet you Bob, hopefully I’ll see you again..."

He winked, then turned to Ray.

"Raymond, shall we?"

He offered everyone a smile then headed off toward his office, Ray running to catch up. Frank watched as Brian walked off, almost giving a little sigh like he’d just seen a rock star.

"Soooo...that’s Brian then."

Gerard said, a little confused by Frank’s reaction to the man.

"Yup, that’s the legend himself. He’s a Jersey punk born and bred, just like me."

Gerard hummed slightly, looking to Mikey to see what his opinion was.

"Jersey huh?...should’ve known."

Gerard looked at Bob, sort of wishing he hadn’t come.

"So uh...do you uh..."

He waved his spare hand around noncommittally.

"...want a tour or something? I don’t think anything’s happening just yet."

"Yeah, that’s a great idea..."

Pete cut in exuberantly.

"Then you can meet Gabe."

Mikey saw the look of horror come over Gerard’s face, and immediately slapped Pete around the back of the head.

"Who’s Gabe?"

Pete chuckled, rubbing the back of his head.

"You’ll see."

Bob lifted an eyebrow toward Pete, then turned to Gerard.

"So I guess I’m gonna meet Gabe, huh?"

Gerard swallowed and smiled slightly, though it probably looked more like he had gas.

"Uh yeah...if he’s in."

He really hoped Gabe was off somewhere getting laid instead of doing his job. Before anyone could say anything else, Patrick appeared.

"Oh my God!...what are you all doing standing around here?...you all need to get changed now..."

Something dawned on him and he groaned.

"Oh shit! You’re all in the same shot and you can’t all see Gabe at the same time. Fuck!"

"Well I can help Mikey."

Brendon said with a grin.

"Well if that’s the case, I can definitely help Gerard."

Frank said with a wink, nudging Brendon playfully. Gerard’s eyes widened and he coughed to hide a startled squeak.

"Oh err, yeah that works."

"Wait! Who’s gonna help me?"

Pete asked, sounding and looking a bit like an abandoned puppy. Patrick rolled his eyes.

"Well you’ll just have to go see Gabe, now won’t you..."

He looked around at his models who were stood there like mannequins, staring back at him.

"Well?...move it!...we haven’t got all day."

The models all gasped and hurried off leaving Patrick alone with...

"Who the fuck are you?"

He said as he turned to see Bob stood there like a spare part.

"Oh I’m uh, err, uh..."

"Ahh, there you are."

Ray came in and took Bob's hand.

"You shouldn’t worry Brian like that..."

Ray looked at Patrick apologetically.

"Sorry about that Trick, we’ll get out of your way now."

He quickly pulled Bob away down the hall.

"What the Hell was that, an angry leprechaun?!"

Bob looked at Ray, flustered. He thought Gerard was a diva, but this red headed fireball put his boyfriend to shame. Ray laughed.

"That leprechaun signs your boyfriend's pay check."

"Wait, I thought Brian was the boss."

"He is, but they’re Patrick’s designs. And if Patrick didn’t like your boyfriend, he wouldn’t even be here."

Bob just nodded, still slightly confused. Ray pulled him into a room with a seaside backdrop, lots of umbrellas and lights and...sand?

"Here we are Brian, I found him."

Brian grinned, looking up from the beach ball he was blowing up.

"Hey. You couldn’t help me blow these up could you?...you look like you’re good at...blowing."

Bob blinked a few times at Brian.

"Excuse me?"

Brian smiled innocently.

"You look like you’ve got good lungs...not a smoker, am I right?"

"Oh, yeah no. I mean I used to but, err no, no I don’t."

Brian grinned.

"Good then. I got six of these fuckers to get blown up for this shoot, and I’ve got the lungs of a three year old. Come help me?"

Bob just noticed the flat beach balls surrounding Brian.

"Come on Bob, you know you have a set of lungs on you..."

Ryan walked in dressed in something positively scandalous.

"You spend all that time yelling at us on site."

Bob stared open mouthed at Ryan before he shook out of it

"What the fuck are you wearing Ryan?...is that even considered clothing?"

Ryan sauntered up to Bob.

"Oh this?...this is just something from Patrick’s new Infinity Collection."

Brian stood up, wiping sand off his hands onto his expensive pants.

"You’re Ryan?...I’m Brian, nice to meet you. Patrick’s told me good things."

He held out his hand to the boy. Ryan held out his hand as well to shake Brian’s.

"Trick has told me a lot about you too Brian. It’s an honour to meet you and be working for you."

Brian smiled warmly at the boy, then took a step back and admired the tiny outfit he was wearing.

"So this is Infinity...it’s even better in real life than on paper..."

He looked up to meet Ryan’s eyes.

"You and Patrick work well together it seems."

Ryan blushed at the compliment.

"Thank you, I know originally he had designed this for Gerard, and when he moved Gerard to swim for this new campaign and asked me to take over, I didn’t think I could do it cause I don’t have Gerard’s body."

Ryan looked down nervously. Brian shook his head, then ducked down a bit to meet Ryan’s eye.

"You have a different body than Gerard...but no one could claim that his is better than yours...just different. This suits you, ok?"

Just then Patrick bustled in through the door.

"Oh, there you are Ry. You left this behind..."

He stepped over to Ryan, holding up a white lace cat's collar.

"Outfit's not complete without it..."

He moved in close and carefully fixed the delicate lace around the boy's throat, his fingers brushing Ryan’s pale skin lightly.

"There..."

He smiled softly, gazing into Ryan’s eyes.

"Perfect."

Ryan smiled adoringly at Patrick. Bob could tell that this was more than just a business relationship, he was happy for him though, Ryan had been alone for too long. Bob cleared his throat and broke whatever spell Patrick had on Ryan.

"Soooo...beach balls?"

Ryan wasn’t the only one in a spell, cause Bob's voice made Patrick jump slightly and turn to look at the man who’s name he still didn’t know.

"Huh?"

Brian chuckled, grabbing Bob's hand and pulling him toward the flat balls.

"Come on honey, let’s leave them to it, yeah?"

Bob was pretty much at his wit's end now, so he just did as he was told.

*

*

*

Gerard huffed as he looked at himself in the mirror.

"Why am I the only one wearing a woman's bikini?...Why do all of you get to look like guys with dicks, and I look like the only chick?"

It wasn’t that he was particularly bothered by wearing the high legged style, they were comfortable after all, but why did he have to be the only one? Mikey rolled his eyes and looked at his brother in the mirror. He walked over to where he was and stood next to him.

"Gee, look at you, then look at me. Now tell me what the difference is."

Gerard sighed, doing as he was instructed.

"Well...you actually look like a man, and I..."

He sighed again, frowning slightly.

"I just don’t...not in this."

He twanged the elastic of his bikini bottoms. Frank walked over and put his hands on Gerard’s hips.

"It’s not that you look like a woman baby..."

Frank ran his hands over Gerard’s curves.

"It’s just that, you have these, and we don’t."

"What..."

Gerard asked, his voice tinged with sarcasm.

"...love handles?"

Frank chuckled, shaking his head.

"No baby, I’m talking about these."

He circled his arms around Gerard and lifted him up by his hips. Gerard squealed, batting at Frank's arms.

"Frankie!...put me down!"

He started off sounding annoyed, but quickly fell into giggles.

"Can you please stop molesting my brother in front of me?"

"Why?...it’s so much fun."

"Cause you’re gonna give him another hard-on."

Gerard’s cheeks turned bright red at this.

"Frank, please put me down..."

He said quietly, trying not to meet anyone’s eyes. Frank laughed planting a kiss on Gerard’s cheek then putting him down.

"Jerk."

Gerard muttered, turning and walking off to sit on the couch in the corner, his feet tucked up underneath him and his head on Pete's shoulder. Pete absently patted Gerard’s head, then went back to playing Candy Crush on his cellphone. Brendon walked over to Frank, lightly punching him on the shoulder before winding his arms around Mikey’s waist.

"Frank, if you want him...sort it out."

Before Frank could answer Brendon, the door opened.

"Ok, who’s next?..."

Gabe looked around the room, his shoulders sagging.

"No way!"

Frank looked at Brendon and smirked.

"Yes way...actually both Ways."

Gerard squawked in indignation.

"FRANK!"

Brendon just shrugged at Gabe, smirking as he squeezed Mikey to him. Gabe pouted and crossed his arms over his chest.

"No fair. That’s my job. I’m telling!"

Pete nudged Gerard off of his shoulder and stood up. He walked over to Gabe and tiptoed to whisper in his ear.

"Don’t tell on them, and you can prep me as many times as you want...whenever you want."

Frank watched as a funny look came over Gabe's face.

"Fine, I won’t say anything this time, but don’t let it become a habit."

Frank could tell it was an empty threat. Pete kissed Gabe's jaw...cause it was about as high as he could reach...then smiled up at him before going to sit back down next to Gerard, who was staring daggers at Frank across the room.

"You ok?"

Gerard sighed, turning to Pete and deflating a bit.

"Yeah. I just wish Frank didn’t say that...what if someone says something to Bob?"

"What if they do?...hmm?"

Gerard really wasn’t sure how to answer that.

"Okay guys we're ready for you on set."

Ray's hair bounced as he popped up behind Gabe.

"Wow, Gerard, you look fantastic!"

"Uh, thanks I guess."

Gerard said with a half shrug as he and Pete stood up.

"He really is right Gee..."

Pete said matter of factly.

"I’d fuck you. OW!"

He doubled over groaning after Gerard delivered a sharp elbow jab to his stomach.

"You wish."

Gerard smirked, flipping his hair like a diva. Brendon laughed.

"You go girl!"

Gerard’s smirk slipped.

"Don’t you start."

"Alright guys, come on, can't keep Brian waiting."

Frank got a spring in his step and jumped to the door.

"I still can't believe he is here!"

"Yeah, well his time is money so come on."

All the men filed out of the room and followed Ray to the studio.

Notes

Hi there chipmunks, how’s you?

So things are getting complicated...do you think Bob will work it out?

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