Gerard and Frank Discover the Secrets of the Universe

"GEE!"

The door to the kitchen opens, making me jump and nearly cut myself on a knife (someone has to do the cooking around here). There I see Mikey, the first time I've seen him smiling for days. "I'm so happy!" He starts jumping around, clutching his phone to his chest.

"Woah, calm down, Mikes!" I say, holding him by the shoulders. It takes a moment for him to still, and go ten seconds without bursting into a fit of giggles. He takes a few deep breathes, then smiling at me. "I asked him-" '-Pete?" "Yes! I asked him out and he said yes!"

"Wow! Congrats, Mikey!" I smile, debating if I should tell him about Frank now or later. I decide on now and start speaking before he cuts me off. "I'm taking him to the Bottlecap next Friday, since it closes at like 2 am." Wow. The Bottlecap. I used to sing for a band a few years ago, and any musician in this town knows to get a gig at the Bottlecap. A bunch of punk bands started off there, and it would be really cool if we were good enough to play. Sadly, pretty much everyone there either moved or... killed themselves. So we disbanded.

"I'm taking Frank to out on Friday too!" I blurt out, and he starts jumping up and down again. "YOU ASKED FRANK OUT? HOLY SHIT GERARD WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME EARLIER?" I giggle, the first time I have in ages. "You were too busy blabbing about your boyfriend to let me!" He smiles, clapping his hands once. "I'm gonna go upstairs and do homework. Don't murder anyone." He adds, eyeing the knife.

Ah. Fatalistic humor. That's my brother.

I walk back to the counter and continue slicing lettuce, getting some salad ready for the next time Frank comes over. Speaking of him, my phone rings, bearing the name 'Frankie' on the screen. I answer in put the phone on speaker. "Hey," I say, disposing some cut lettuce into a Tupperware container.

"Hi, Gee." He says, and I hear him moving around before he continues. "I need to get out of the house. Could I come over to yours?" I put the cap on the container and open the fridge, speaking as I do so. "Yeah, sure. I'm in a baking mood, and I could use a second pair of hands."

"I'm getting my cousin to pick me up, could I have your address?" I tell him, tossing the knife into the dishwasher. "Thanks. I'll be there in ten minutes. Bye." "See you soon, sweetheart." I hang up and scroll to Spotify on my phone, turning on Smashing Pumpkins and skipping to G.L.O.W.

I fumble through my recipe book, flipping to a random page and landing on cinnamon rolls. With a sigh, I go to the next page and start getting out ingredients for cinnamon snickerdoodles. Butter, sugar... Large egg? I'll just use a normal one?

I've just finished setting all the ingredients and measuring utensils out when a knock sounds through my music. "Gee?" Frank asks, knocking some more. "Come in, it's unlocked." The door opens, a tired looking Frank walking in. "You started without me? Gerard you hungry bastard." He jokes, walking over and looking at the book. "Snickerdoodles, nice."

"Just like you." I lean down and kiss him, my hand wrapping around his waist. Our lips move together before he pulls away, brows furrowed. "You taste like cinnamon." He smiles, licking his lips. "Is that a good thing?" "I love cinnamon." His lips meet mine once more, this time with more... passion.

I can't help but brush my tongue against his lips. If he likes cinnamon, I'll give him cinnamon. His mouth opens, and I dart my tongue past his lips. I feel around for a while, tickling the roof of his mouth. Right when a small whimper floods my ears, I pull away.

"Wow." Is all he says, while I begin measuring a half cup of flour. I chuckle to myself, measuring one more cup and dumping it into a bowl. "Where'd you learn to do that?" I smile to myself, coming up with a good response. "A magician never reveals his secrets." Is what I say. If I was being honest, I would've said "Bert."

"Well, Hoodini," I laugh at the nickname while stirring some baking soda into the mixture. "You said that you needed an extra pair of hands. How can I help?" "Well first, based on your hunger for cinnamon I'd say take the salad I made earlier out of the fridge. Second, have you ever baked before?"

He turns around and takes out the Tupperware container, shaking his head. "I've cooked. Not baked." "So you've cracked an egg. You'll do the liquid bowl." I bend over and take a second, bigger bowl out of the cabinet. When I look at him, he's eating my salad right out of the container.

I take the egg out of the bowl I had it in, handing it to him. "You shouldn't trust me. I'm gonna fuck it up somehow. Watch it end up on the ceiling." I was kind of hoping he'd say this. Time to break out my party trick. "This is gonna look fucking weird, but trust me on this.

I put the egg in my mouth, bending over the bowl and biting down ever so gently. With a bit of shaking, the egg partly breaks open and the yolk falls into the bowl. "WHAT THE FUCK DUDE?" Frank yells, his hands flying to his mouth. I spit the egg shell into the trash, laughing.

"WITCH!" He yells, pointing at me. "KILL THE WITCH!" I start laughing even harden, gripping the stitch in my side to keep from bending over. Soon he starts laughing too, bending over the counter. It takes us a while to calm down, and as soon as we do I'm cutting some butter.

"You and your party tricks." He jokes, pouring a tablespoon of sugar into his bowl. "What can I say?" I'm a man of magic."

With some more laughing, flour being thrown into my face, and screaming, we manage to get the cookies into the oven. Screaming on behalf of Frank accidentally touching the inside of the oven. (Believe it or not, running burnt flesh under cold water only makes it hurt more.) Now we're sitting on the couch, watching Will and Grace.

"But seriously." He says for the umpteenth time today, "How did you do that egg thing?" "I'll never tell you." I smile, pulling him closer to my side. "What show is this? Jack seems dope." I shift in my seat, turning up the volume of the show. "Will and Grace. And if you didn't know before, Will and Jack are gay." He nods, "Now I know why he seems dope."

While we watch Grace and Karen struggle to unlock the super shower (long story), We hear Mikey coming down. "Frank's here? Hey." He says, walking to the fridge and taking out my salad. Seeing that it's half eaten, he looks up to us. "Can I finish this off? I'm hungry." Frank tells him to go ahead, and Mikey walks over to us with the salad.

"Gee always makes some sort of meal when we get home. Yesterday it was nachos, before that is was baked potatoes. I've sort of counted on him for my after school snack." He explains, sitting down on the chair to my left. "Ooh I love this episode!" He smiles, folding his legs so he's sitting criss cross. On a chair. That's my brother.

A few minutes later, Franks phone rings. He motions for me to pause the show, picking up and holding it to his ear. I try not to eavesdrop, but he's sitting six inches away from me.

"Hi Dad... No... Really? Okay... I'll be home soon. Bye." He hangs up and throws his head back. "I have to get back but my cousin can't pick me up. She texted me that she was at her girlfriends house. Pretending to be studying. How am I gonna get home?"

"Why can't I take you?" I ask, not seeing a flaw in the idea. "Friday is only a few days away and they would get suspicious if you took me out too many times in a week. Fuck it. I'll just say we've been studying." I nod, tossing the remote to Mikey. "Pause when you get to the next season. I haven't watched that far yet."

- - -

Frank breaks the silence in the car to ask about the egg. "Was it on TV?"

"No."

- - -

I pull up to the same bricked house I did two days ago. The door is open unlike last time, and I get a glimpse inside before Frank opens the door. "Remember. You're my lab partner in Mrs. Sperfslage's class." I nod, and he leads me to the door. He pulls it open and steps inside, motioning for me to follow him.

"Hey mom! I'm home!" Moments after he announces himself, a woman with shoulder length black hair walks into the room. "Tony!" She yells, shaking my hand while a balding man walks to us. "Hi, I'm Mrs. Iero. And you are?" "Gerard Way; we're lab partners."

"That's nice. Frank, what have you been doing?" She asks, while his father shakes my hand. "Hi, I'm Frank. Frank Anthony Iero Sr, that's why Mrs. Iero calls me Tony." Wow. Goin' right in with the formal introduction. So Frank is...

"Frank Anthony Thomas Iero Jr." Wow. Okay? "Well, I have to be going soon. My brother needs help making cookies." I tell them, kind of proud with that story I just made up. I suppose it wasn't far off. God, I hope he hasn't burned the house down yet.

"Well, it was nice meeting you!" I walk out the door, glimpsing back and seeing a sad look on Frank's eyes. I mouth 'I'll text you soon' to him, and he nods.

Frank Anthony Thomas Iero Jr. will be the death of me.

Notes

wow that was seven days