Luckily, Jamia’s dad couldn’t care less what I do with my life. Something to do with the fact that I’m not his kid so I’m not his responsibility. Anyway, once Mom figured that out she couldn’t really do anything. Except ground me, which is pointless. She’s letting me go with Gerard and Mikey tonight anyway. Oh, and she forbade me to get any other bodily alteration until I turn eighteen. Meh. I’m satisfied for now.

But nervous. Yes, very nervous. Because today I am seventeen. And it’s Halloween. And I’m going to be walking around for a long period of time with the object of my affection in a super tight costume. Yeah, that should be a good thing, but it won’t help my nerves when I try to tell him how I actually feel. And there’s only an hour left in school!

All of my life issues run through my head as I shuffle to my math class. Whoever had the bright idea to stick math at a time of day when kids just want to go home was an idiot and needs shot. Especially because the teacher thought it would be a great idea to give us a test today and I’m not going to be able to focus on it at all.

She hands it to me as I walk through the door. That means it’s a long one. How wonderful. I sit in the back with the packet of doom and stare at it uncomprehendingly. Maybe I should have studied better…Oh well. I struggle through it and turn it in. I bet I failed, but that’s when you usually do your best, right?

The bell rings soon after and I make my way over to Mikey. He looks as excited as I feel. I can’t wait to get some trick-or-treat on.

“I know I said it already, but happy birthday man!” he greets me.

“’Said it already’ is an understatement, Mikey. You said it once every hour.”

He shrugs, “You’re coming over now, right?”

“Yupp. Just gotta go talk things over with Jamia.”

His awesome mood seems brought down a bit by that, “Oh. Right. Why is she coming again?”

“Because she’s a brat who gets whatever she wants because she’s a girl. I told her no. Mom told me yes.”

He suddenly looks nervous, “Oh, okay…”

I decide to ignore this because Jamia is dead ahead. She’s bouncing up and down like a kid on Christmas. You would think she’s never trick-or-treated before. I wave her over and don’t give her time to say anything before telling her what’s going on.

“I’m going to Mikey’s. You are going home and later tonight we’ll come pick you up. Got it?”

She pouts, “Why can’t I come with you?”

“My friends, my birthday, my life. Deal with it and go home.”

She looks like that’s the last thing she wants to do, but turns and leaves anyway. I just really don’t understand how she got annoying so fast…She was totally normal before we broke up. Whatever.

The walk to Mikey’s house takes no time at all, which is fine with me. I get to see Gerard sooner. However, I’m not expecting the other person I see. Mr. Sean Italian waiter guy is on the couch in the basement. Gerard is lounging on the bed. I freeze in the doorway.

“What’s he doing here?” My voice feels barely louder than a whisper. Maybe it was.

Gerard looks up, “Oh, well I figured that since you invited Jamia I could bring Sean. I mean, the trick-or-treating is for Halloween more than your birthday, you know?”

I knew it. I made him jealous and now he doesn’t want me anymore, “I…I didn’t invite her. She heard I was going and begged Mom to make me let her go.” It feels too late to save this, but maybe I can manage it?

He blinks, “Oh, well she’s still coming, Sean’s still here. Seems like an okay compromise.”

No. It is not an okay compromise. It’s a compromise that’s gonna tear me apart inside. Especially because Sean has a super smug look on his face. Looks like he thinks he won something. He couldn’t be more wrong. I won’t stop fighting until Gerard knows how I feel and returns it. Just to prove this, I go sit next to Gerard.

“So what are we doing until it’s time to get ready?” I ask, trying to change the subject.

Gerard shrugs, “Didn’t really plan anything. Guess you could play video games with Mikey or something.”

I don’t want to play video games with Mikey! I want to spend time with Gerard! “I don’t really feel like video games.”

“Oh. Well, you could see what Halloween specials are on TV. Gotta be something good.”

I nod, retrieve the remote, and return to the bed, “Move over, I wanna lay down,” I command Gerard. He looks surprised, but obliges. I lay as close to him as I can without being too painfully obvious and start flipping through channels.

…

A few hours later, we’re all suited up and ready to go. I can hardly recognize myself in the mirror. Gerard seriously went all out on my makeup and adding the fake blood. As for himself, well, he’s in his costume. And I’m finding it extremely hard to keep my eyes up. Oh the joys of being a hormonal seventeen year old.

Sean just so happens to be dressed as Batman. Gerard insists it’s just a coincident, but that doesn’t seem to be helping Mikey’s disappointment. Now he looks hilarious. We smudged black eye shadow on him to give the impression of scorching and the static ball is making his hair look insane. Though, I guess that was the point. His knee length lab coat just completes the whole thing.

“All right. Everybody set?” Gerard asks. There’s a little chorus of “yes” and he smiles, “Then let’s go hit some houses!”

I clear my throat, “What about Jamia?”

He sighs, “Fine. Let’s go pick up Jamia, and then let’s go hit some houses!”

It takes no time to get to my house, and Jamia is sitting outside. And she’s dressed as an undead bride. How very irritating. That really is a coincidence, but there’s no way Gerard will see it as such. His face is already growing stony. Jamia skips over to us and laughs.

“Frankie! Our costumes match!” Can I just go slam my head into a wall? Repeatedly? That would be nice at this point.

Mikey groans, “Seriously? Now I’m the odd one out!”

“Coincidence,” Gerard and I say at the same time. I feel my cheeks get red.

“Seriously, Mikes,” Gerard continues, “You think I would plan for this? I wanted everybody to feel included.”

For some reason I feel like he’s implying that I didn’t, “Yeah. I mean, I don’t even want Jamia to come. Why would I want to match her?”

He shrugs, “Let’s just get going before people start running out of candy.”

We start walking and knocking on various doors. I try to advise them on which houses are good, which ones have complete creeps in them, and which ones are downright rude. My memory isn’t the best, though, so we get a couple doors slammed in our faces. Several people tell us we’re too old for this. But in the end we all have fairly full bags.

On the walk home I look over and see something that I really don’t like. Gerard and Sean are holding hands. It’s clear that they’re trying to hide it, but to me it’s obvious. I feel like a giant knife has been shoved into my chest. I really did wait too long. He really did move on. I feel tears start to prick at my eyes. I can’t let them see that.

“Um, hey…I’m pretty worn out. I think I might just go home,” I say.

Mikey looks over, “What?! But we still have your birthday party!”

“I’m just…not really…In the mood for a party,” My voice cracks, which has to give me away. I turn and run, wiping furiously at my eyes. This has turned into the worst birthday of my life. I don’t even make it all the way home. After not very long I collapse into a sobbing mess against a tree.

I hear footsteps approaching and curl into a ball to try to stay unnoticed. Unfortunately, my sobs aren’t agreeing with that plan. I can’t seem to stop them. As expected, the steps end right next to me and a warm hand lands on my shoulder.

“Frank, what’s wrong?” Fuck, it’s Gerard…

I look up through blurry eyes, “Nothi-ing.”

He smiles sadly, “Very convincing.”

He sits next to me and, to my surprise, pulls me into his arms. It feels so nice, having him hold me. I grip his shirt and burry my face in his chest. Can’t he see this is just making things worse? Doing this while I’m agonizing over the fact that i lost him? More sobs rip out of my body, but soon they die down to little gasps of air. At this point he lifts my face up and looks into my eyes.

“Can you tell me what’s wrong now?”

I lose control at that. He’s being so gentle, so nice. I can’t help myself as I reach up to place my lips on his. He’s frozen for a second before holding me tighter and moving his lips against mine. This is what a kiss should feel like. There’s some sort of connection in it. I really can’t find the words to describe it. It just feels right.

I find myself unconsciously deepening it. It’s like I’ve been starving myself and now I’m binge eating. I just want more of his, as much as I can get. Which, considering we’re by a public street, isn’t much. Soon we pull away gasping and just stare at each other.

“I’m sorry,” I say, “I’m such an idiot.”

He chuckles, “Well, I won’t argue with that. But…you never really told me what’s wrong.”

I look down, “I saw you holding hands with Sean. You’re dating him now, aren’t you?”

He blinks, “That’s what this is about? He grabbed my hand and I was trying to get him to let go without hurting his feelings. I really only brought him along to make you jealous.”

He…what? So he hasn’t moved on? He still likes me? Wait, does that mean we’ll start dating?! I want that so bad. “Well it worked.”

He smirks and touches his lips, “I can tell.”

I blush, “Sorry I attacked you like that. It’s just….I’ve been meaning to tell you for a while.”

“Tell me what?”

I look into his eyes, “That I love you.”

Holy crap did I really just say that? He shoves my arm, “I already knew that, dork. But when did you figure it out?”

“A few weeks ago. So…Does this mean we’re…Dating now?” God, I feel like a girl with her first crush. But this is so much more serious than that.

He smiles and stands up, pulling me with him, “I’d say it does. Now let’s get back to the others and have a birthday party.”

I smile, “Sounds good.”

He grabs my hand and we start walking back. I finally have the person I want, and I can tell it’s gonna be a great relationship. Heck, I feel like I might even marry him one day.

And to think this whole thing started with a chance encounter at the mall.

Notes

that's it folks. a note on Gee's costume: he really was planning on getting one of those. the picture he tweeted scared me...

good end? or were you left wanting more? because i've fallen in love with this AU so i may be open to sequel ideas. or, for a more immediate fix you can check out my new Vampire frerard entitled Blood Donor. i've also started a student teacher frerard entitled What Happens In Art Class...

so give em a try or give me ideas