A Waste of Time
Title: A Waste of Time [2/?]
Author: 6_pack_apathy
Pairing: Frank/Gerard
Rating: NC-17
POV: 3rd - Frank-centric
Summary: Frank and Gerard start a casual relationship when the band first starts touring but as the years go on it looks like one of them may have deeper feelings than the other.
Warnings: Sexual content, strong language, drug use
Disclaimer: I made it up.
Previous Chapters:
Prologue
Chapter 1- The Dirty T-Shirt
Frank felt his stomach knotting when he reached his hotel room for the night. The band had been on tour for the past several months and Brian was making them cancel a show to meet up with Bob and then use their two day break to shoot their music video - their first real video.
Despite all the shit that the band had gone through in the past couple of months, the thought of having a real video shoot (one with a budget where he and Gerard didn’t have to get high on fumes painting the set), was enough to give him butterflies. They were making it.
He opened the room to his hotel - the one he’d be sharing with Gerard for the night. It’d been two years, maybe two and a half, since the first time the two of them had gotten together and until really recently it had been going well.
The things Gerard would do made Frank’s toes curl and his intestines tangle - in a good way - and he was pretty sure the feeling was mutual. When the tour had first started, Frank hadn’t seen Gerard in over a month, and was greeted by getting shoved into an airport bathroom stall and being thoroughly molested before take off.
As much as Frank had to remind himself that he and Gerard’s relationship was strictly for long tours he couldn’t help but feel like the eagerness that both of them shared said otherwise. Sometimes it felt like Jamia was the one he was using to just get through life until he could be with Gerard again.
Thinking that made him feel guilty, he was in love with Jamia - he knew that. She was the girl he wanted to spend the rest of his life with but he was also young and wanted to be able to experience something - someone - else before he did anything crazy like get married.
And even though his reunion with Gerard had been awesome, everyone’s spirits were quickly shot down by the terrible time they’d had in Europe. Frank got sick, like he always did, and he ended up giving it to everyone else. They had to sleep in the rental van a couple of nights, suffered four break-downs, and someone tried to mug Mikey one night after a show.
To make matters worse, Gerard’s drinking had gotten really bad. Frank had always thought Gerard was out of control - he was one of those guys you watch and think they’ll bring it around but silently thank your stars that it’s not you because that pit is deep.
When they were back in America, Gerard had been so fucked up on bars and beer that he’d gone to hide under the stage and refused to come out while he puked his guts out. The whole situation made Frank want to throw down his guitar right then and there. Ray had convinced him to stay and sleep on it.
The next morning they were woken up by their tour manager who informed them that Gerard was fucked up on coke and had to be talked down from suicide in the middle of the night.
Of course Frank was thankful that Gerard didn’t do it - that he went and got someone to talk to - but a tiny part of him was mad that Gerard didn’t come to him. He thought that at that point, Gerard should feel comfortable enough to come to him about anything and even though all Frank would’ve done is grabbed the tour manager himself, he still couldn’t help but feel… not betrayed, but less important - definitely.
Luckily it only took Gerard a couple of days to clean his shit up. On paper that was good but in practice it meant a whole lot of sweating, puking, and threatening to kill anyone who came near him. After a month of that and Gerard seemed good to go. He was awake all the time and seemed a lot more caught up in his own thoughts - definitely more neurotic. If anything, Frank thought Gerard was doing more coke rather than none at all.
The perk for dealing with everything though was the sex. Now that Gerard was awake all the time and couldn’t go into drug comas he’d decided to fill all of his free time with World of Warcraft and sex. And the sex had gotten much better, not that it was ever bad, but Gerard seemed a lot more genuinely interested in pleasing Frank. He was never accidentally too rough any more, but he hadn’t rolled over and become soft either.
He was perfect.
And now the reason they were all in L.A a day early and canceling a show was to meet their new drummer. While the trials the band had faced the past few months had ended up bringing Frank, Gerard, Ray, and Mikey closer they managed to push Otter away. He’d finally had enough the other day and up and quit via a text message and the receipt for a plane ticket to Jersey.
It was dumb luck that Bob had wanted to drum and that they were able to get a hold of him so fast. He was a sound technician the band had worked with before and he was taking a huge risk to be more involved in his passion. Especially considering everything that had happened to My Chemical Romance recently.
--
Gerard was already laying on his hotel bed. He had on a big, ugly brown hoodie with cigarette burns in it and camo pajama pants. His laptop was out and judging by the sounds, Gerard was playing WoW.
Upon closer inspection Frank discovered that Gerard wasn’t super greasy, which was what he’d thought at first when he’d seen the older man’s black hair plastered to his skull, he was actually clean - freshly showered even!
If that wasn’t an invitation, Frank didn’t know what was.
“Hey,” Gerard mumbled without looking up from his screen.
Frank took a couple more steps and let his bag drop on the floor at the foot of Gerard’s bed. The sound did not rouse the older man from his laptop. “Hey,” Frank replied. When he didn’t get any visual response he cleared is throat.
Gerard glanced up from his screen, his jaw slack and eyes red from being too close to the monitor. Frank ignored the two signs (signs that almost always meant Gerard was not in the mood) and climbed onto his friend’s bed.
“Nice to get out of the buses, huh?” Frank asked as he crawled closer.
Although Gerard was definitely not looking at his screen any more it seemed as if he wasn’t really looking at Frank either. His eyes hit some weird in-between. “Better than the van,” he mumbled.
By now Frank was next to Gerard, just the silver laptop between them. “But now we have some privacy, yeah?”
He leaned over the screen to kiss the frontman’s lips. At first Gerard responded positively by opening his mouth and letting his tongue lazily lap against Franks, then he pulled away and hid back behind the laptop screen.
“I’m not really in the mood,” he said quietly.
“Oh?” Well that was a first, Frank couldn’t remember Gerard missing a single opportunity since he got sober - especially not one where they could spread out and be loud.
“Sorry.” Gerard didn’t look sorry. In fact, he looked like he was totally absorbed in his game again. “Why don’t you go hit up the bar with Mikey and Ray? I think they’re meeting Bob for drinks downstairs.”
Frank bit his lip, he knew that Gerard had told all of them a dozen times that they didn’t need to change their habits on his behalf but Frank had still tried to slow down on his drinking out of respect. “I guess,” he said finally. “Shoot me a text if you want me to come back up and keep you company.”
Gerard didn’t even respond as Frank walked out of the room.
--
Downstairs Ray and Mikey were both still sipping on their first drinks. Bob hadn’t shown up yet when Frank took a seat next to them and ordered a whiskey and coke. He was surprised and a little pleased when the bartender didn’t card him - usually he and Mikey were given a hard time.
“Gerard’s not coming down, I think he’s in the middle of a raid,” Frank said before Ray and Mikey could ask.
The two both looked a little relieved and downed the rest of their drinks quickly then followed Frank’s lead and ordered another. Obviously Frank wasn’t the only one who felt uncomfortable getting drunk around Gerard.
The three started to fall into easy conversation that slowly got louder and louder as their bar tabs climbed upward. Frank felt distracted though, the whole time he had his cell phone on the bar top and kept making sure it was still on to see if he’d missed a text from Gerard.
By the time Bob did show up, Frank and Mikey were both pretty hammered and were in the middle of a slurring debate on who was hotter: Brody Dalle or Angela Gossow; Ray looked like he was buzzing pretty hard and was trying to convince the bartender that yes he was so in a rock band!
“Looks like you guys started without me.”
Frank spun on his bar stool and flashed a huge grin at the blond.
“Bob!” He exclaimed before stumbling over and wrapping his arms around the bigger man.
Bob laughed softly and returned the gesture. When he withdrew his arms, Frank did not and after a few awkward seconds Bob realized that the younger man wasn’t going to. He laughed again and walked up to the bar to greet Ray and Mikey, dragging Frank along with him. The blond grabbed a beer from the bartender then herded the drunk band outside for a cigarette.
Once they were outside they started to play catch up with Bob and after two cigarettes both Ray and Mikey decided to call it a night and strode back inside to close their tabs with their arms slung over each others shoulders.
“So where’s Gerard?” Bob asked once he and Frank were alone.
“He was in his room playing World of Warcraft last time I checked on him,” Frank replied before lighting up another cigarette. Though he was playing it cool, the question worried Frank a little. Ray and Mikey both knew about the on-tour relationship that Frank and Gerard shared - they’d never caught them in the act, except that one time, but they had to have figured it out by now - but Frank didn’t feel comfortable thinking that anybody else might know.
“Is sobriety working out for him?”
Frank shrugged, “I guess, he’s doing great so far and has gotten through withdraws.”
“You think it’s going to stick?”
Slowly, Frank exhaled smoke from his cigarette and gave Bob a hard look. “I don’t fuckin’ know,” he said shortly, “I hope so. What’s with all the questions?”
Bob’s calm eyes widened and his eyebrows shot up in surprise. He raised his hands up defensively then plucked his own cigarette from his lips. “Chill, Iero. I just don’t want to give up my career and join a band that’s gonna fall apart in a week because the front man’s all fucked up.”
“Shit,” Frank swore quietly as he visibly relaxed. “Sorry, man.”
“No problem,” Bob laughed and eased up as well, “you can make it up to me by buying me another beer when you finish your cigarette.”
Frank took a long hard drag then handed his cigarette to Bob and walked inside. The bar was vacant, save for the bored looking bartender. Frank reached into his pocket to grab his phone and check the time but didn’t feel it. Frantically he patted down all of his pockets and rushed up to the bar.
“Hey, sorry, have you seen my phone?” Frank hated how frantic he sounded, for the most part he wasn’t a big fan of technology but his phone was his link to the outside world when he was on the road. “It’s a sidekick,” Frank started to describe it, “black, looks like a phone-“
“-Here,” the bartender cut him off and slid him his phone. There were five new text messages - all from Gerard.
“You’re an angel,” Frank breathed as he quickly scanned through them. The first three were Gerard asking when he was coming up, saying he was lonely, and that he couldn’t sleep. The fourth was asking why Frank was ignoring him and the last one simply said “fuck you.”
“It’s not a problem,” The bartender laughed and leaned forward, some of her dark brown hair fell over her shoulders.
Frank looked up, drawn out of his concern over the texts, and flashed her a smile.
“Did you want to close out your tab?” she asked. “It’s getting to be that time.”
“Sure,” Frank slid his phone shut and put it in his pocket while he grabbed his wallet, “go ahead and put two more beers on there: Shiner.”
He paid, left a big tip, and headed back outside to rejoin Bob who was smoking a new cigarette and had stubbed out the one Frank had left behind. Frank handed his friend one of the beers and took a swig of his own.
“It’s getting late,” Bob commented between sips from his bottle, “you about ready to call it a night?”
“Nah,” Frank shook his head, “not unless you want to.”
Bob shrugged and looked down at his beer as a small smile started to creep on to his face. Frank noticed it and felt his own lips forming a grin.
--
The next day Frank woke up with a headache and the foul taste of stale beer and too many cigarettes in his mouth. He checked the alarm clock by his bed and saw it was already past two.
“Fuck,” he swore and curled into a tight ball under the covers.
“You’re finally up.”
Gerard was sitting up on his own bed, still in his skeleton pajamas, drawing in his sketchbook. Frank cracked an eye open and started to sit up very slowly. This definitely wasn’t the worst hangover he’d ever had but he needed some advil and a toothbrush in the near future if he was going to get anything done today.
“What time did you come in?”
Frank shrugged. “I don’t know,” he mumbled as he pressed his face into the pillow, “the sun was coming up.”
“Jesus,” Gerard laughed a bit under his breath but didn’t sound pleased. “What were you doing up so late? Didn’t you get my texts?”
Now Frank was sitting up and running his fingers through his short black hair. “Texts?” He paused to think. “Oh! I’d left my phone at the bar and by the time I saw them I figured you were already asleep.”
Gerard didn’t have anything to say to that. His mouth was set in a thin line and his eyes didn’t waver from his sketchbook. “So what were you doing all night?” He asked again after a moment of quiet.
“Just hanging out with Bob.” Frank was getting up now and walking towards the bathroom. At least he’d remembered to strip down to his boxers before getting in bed, he hated the feeling of wearing jeans to sleep. “Catching up.”
“The whole night?” Gerard’s head jerked up when Frank didn’t answer him. He could see the younger man’s back behind the open bathroom door and hear him starting to take a piss. “The whole night?” He asked louder.
Frank flushed then went to turn on the shower. “Yeah,” he answered as he walked back into the main room. “Bob’s awesome, don’t tell me you wouldn’t have done the same thing.”
Gerard just shrugged and dropped his eyes back to his sketchpad. “That’s what we have all day today for,” he mumbled to himself.
Frank cocked his head to the side and walked to his friend’s bed. “Don’t be mad,” he whined as he slid onto the comforter and shimmied up against Gerard’s side. The older man didn’t acknowledge him and Frank gave a huff and decided to drop the cute act. “Come on, you blow me off all the time when I want to fool around. I’m not a fucking lap dog, I’m not going to come running every time you call,” he pointed out.
“You always have before.” The comment was so quiet that Frank almost didn’t hear it - almost.
His eyebrows drew together and he propped himself up on his elbows. “You’re a real shit sometimes, you know that?”
Gerard turned to look at him, stunned.
“It’s a two-fucking-way street, asshole and I’m not going to fucking bend over for you if you think I’m some dumb fuck-toy you can play with whenever you want.” Frank stood up and started to walk back to the bathroom.
“I don’t think that about you,” Gerard said softly.
Frank froze in front of the bathroom and waited patiently for the rest of the other man’s explanation.
“You’re my best friend and you know what I’m going through right now and I…” He paused to think carefully about what to say next. “I get jealous when I see someone else get all of your attention without having to get you off for it.”
Frank sighed and his shoulders dropped. Now he felt like the fucking asshole. “Look - I’m sorry.” It felt weird to be apologizing, especially when he knew he didn’t do anything wrong. “I’m going to hop in the shower and let’s just forget about this, okay?” He didn’t wait for Gerard’s answer before walking into the now steaming bathroom and shutting the door behind him.
--
The next day the four men were being driven to the location for their video shoot. Frank and Gerard hadn’t mentioned their fight to each other since it happened and while Frank was pleased that they’d been getting along he was also worried that something may be brewing under the surface.
When they got to the first school they’d be filming in, the group met up with Brian who led them inside.
“So much for swearing I’d never step foot in high school again,” Mikey muttered under his breath.
Brian laughed and patted Mikey’s back, his hand didn’t drop away and Brian started to steer Mikey toward one of the classrooms as if he were afraid the bassist would run away.
In the classroom there were several camera guys, a hair and make-up team, an MTV film crew, and Marc Webb waiting on their arrival.
Gerard surged past Frank and was immediately shaking hands with Marc and trying not to gush over the director’s previous work. Frank took in the sight and laughed while shaking his head. Warner Brothers had picked out Marc Webb and Gerard had made it his duty to watch everything he had ever done and even went so far as to take notes on the director’s style.
Ray also passed over Frank and headed straight to the camera guys, his eyes were wide like a little kid on Christmas and he was immediately asking for the specs on all of the equipment.
The hair and make-up girls were already fawning over Mikey and trying to decide on what to do with his hair. Girls always flocked to the lanky bassist and Frank could see why; Mikey was a good looking guy, tall and not nearly as lanky as nearly every photograph made him out to be, he also had some kind of aura around him that just made him look innocent (even though he wasn’t, not by a long shot), and he just gave off good vibes.
Frank had hung back by the door while he took in the chaos.
“You nervous?” Brian slid up next to Frank and leaned against the wall.
Frank shook his head. “Nah,” he said. He’d been in front of cameras about a million times at this point, this was nothing to get freaked out about.
“Excited?”
This time Frank just shrugged and tried to bite back a smile. He wanted to look like punk who was too cool to care but in reality he was vibrating with excitement. Allentown Fair two years ago had been proof that they were making it but this was… this was different and commercial and new. Frank had been playing shows his whole life, he didn’t care if he was singing to one kid or a million, but this - this was like he could reach out to every kid in all those cities they couldn’t tour to, he could show kids who may never have given them a chance what they were missing out on… Oh yeah, he was psyched.
Brian smirked, his eyes flickered over Frank’s face and it was as if he knew everything the guitarist was thinking. After a moment he pushed himself off the wall and walked up to the front of the room.
“All right,” Brian called out loudly while clapping his hands. The room slowly went silent. “We’re all here and ready so let’s behave,” he took the time to stare at Ray, Mikey, Frank, and Gerard individually, “and get this done. I don’t want to take up any more of your time than I already have - I know you’d rather be on tour right now - so I’m going to turn it over to Marc.”
Marc smiled and stepped away from Gerard to stand next to Brian. He gave a quick run down of what they’d be shooting that day and pointed the boys across the hall where their costumes were waiting then turned his attention to the crew.
Frank shuffled across the hall and stopped in his tracks when he saw the four navy uniforms neatly hung on a dressing rack with each of their names pinned to the lapel of a blazer.
Mikey bumped into Frank’s back and gave him a playful shove forward. His eyes lit up behind his glasses when he saw the costumes. “What?” He gave a laugh of disbelief but Frank could tell his friend was excited. Mikey approached his costume and slowly slid the slacks off their rack. He held them against his hips and looked up at Frank with a huge grin. “Pants that are actually long enough? I may have to keep these…”
Frank chuckled and quickly stepped further inside to grab his uniform as Ray and Gerard entered the room. Ray looked less than pleased at the thought of wearing a school uniform but Gerard seemed happy; he studied his blazer and tie very carefully, like he was looking for a flaw, then wordlessly started to shed his clothes and change into his costume.
The rest of them followed suit. There was a knock on the classroom door just as Frank was starting to do everyone’s ties for them. Gerard hurried to open the door and the make-up girls marched in followed by the MTV camera crew.
They were forced to sit and be still while the girls got all their hair just right and added just the right amount of make-up to each of them. Frank made sure to pull weird faces or say stupid shit whenever a camera was on him. More than once he caught Gerard smirking and giving him sidelong glances.
The rest of the day was kind of a haze for Frank. He knew that if he had to pop out of a locker one more time he’d lose his damn mind and he was still a little upset that they wouldn’t let him actually piss in one.
The sky was growing pink outside of the school windows by the time Marc called it a day. He instructed the band to hang their clothes back up so they could be pressed in case they needed anything else the next day and sent them back to change.
As Frank, Ray, Mikey, and Gerard were walking down the hallway, they stopped to chat with some of the extras and thank them about a million times for being in the video. By the time Frank was heading back to the changing room he realized that he was by himself, the rest of them must’ve gone on without him.
He started to pick up the pace toward the changing room when another door swung open and a hand popped out to yank Frank inside.
It took him a second to get his bearings before he realized that he was in a supply closet and he was getting felt up by Gerard.
“What-“ Frank returned one of his friend’s feverish kisses, “-What are you doing?”
“Do you know how hot you look in that uniform?” Gerard didn’t wait for Frank to answer, he pressed the palm of his hand against Frank’s crotch and licked his scorpion tattoo.
Frank groaned and rocked his hips up into Gerard’s palm while grasping the older man’s tie to pull him in for another kiss. Their tongues slid against one another’s and Frank couldn’t help but groan when Gerard bit down on his lip.
“Wait, wait, wait, wait…” Frank was already panting, and fuck he was hard, and he could feel Gerard pressing against his thigh. At first the older man didn’t listen and kept going in for kisses but Frank used his grip on Gerard’s tie to pull him away. “Wait,” he said firmly.
“What?” Gerard sounded exasperated.
“We don’t have time to do this here,” Frank breathed. He could still feel Gerard’s palm moving teasingly against his fly. He allowed himself to roll his hips a bit.
Gerard rolled his eyes. “Come on,” he pleaded, “just a quickie. They’ll never find us in here.”
As if right on cue, they could hear Ray’s voice calling their names echoing down the hallway.
“Tonight,” Frank promised and took the opportunity to push Gerard a little further away from him.
A devilish grin spread across Gerard’s face. “Can I be rough?”
Ray’s voice sounded like it was getting further away.
“As rough as you want,” Frank replied hurriedly, “now please just go before someone finds us.”
Gerard winked and slid out of the closet.
--
Back at the hotel Mikey and Ray headed straight to the bar where Bob was already seated with a beer in one hand and his cell phone out, texting, in the other. Gerard was walking very close behind Frank like he was trying to herd him to the elevator.
“Frank,” Bob called out.
Frank stopped and Gerard collided into him.
“Grab a drink and tell me how it went!”
Bob was smiling and it sounded inviting but Gerard was now standing next to Frank and quietly saying, “tell him you’re busy.”
Frank tried to force a smile but could feel his lips twitching. “In a minute,” he yelled back, “I need to get a shower and something to eat first.”
Gerard had discreetly looped one of his fingers into Frank’s belt loop and was pulling his friend forward. Frank saw Bob’s smile fall a little as he was dragged away.
As soon as the elevator doors slid shut, Gerard pushed Frank up against the wall and kissed his lips slowly as if he were taking the time to savor Frank in a way he rarely did.
“You okay?” Gerard asked when he finally pulled his lips away.
The elevator dinged and the doors slid open. Frank stepped around his friend and started walking to their room. “Yeah,” he said, “I just don’t want them to get suspicious, you know?”
Gerard scoffed. “Ray and Mikey have got to know about us already.”
Frank started to slide his key card into the door. “Yeah, but Bob doesn’t,” he said.
Once in the room Gerard dropped the subject in exchange for kissing Frank again and guiding him to the bed. Frank felt the backs of his legs hit the bed frame and allowed himself to fall backwards when Gerard pushed him.
For a second Frank was unsure of himself. Of course he was always in the mood to fool around with Gerard but he really felt like now was not the time. When his eyes focused on the figure standing above him though, all doubts were erased from his mind.
Gerard’s eyes were half open as he stood at the foot of the bed looking down at Frank sprawled out before him. His mouth opened slightly like he wanted to say something, instead he licked his lips and crawled on top of the younger man until he sat perched on Frank’s hips.
Frank bucked his hips up experimentally and grinned when he felt his half hard dick rub against Gerard’s ass. In response, Gerard grabbed hold of both of Frank’s hands and leaned forward to pin them above his head and dive in for another long, slow kiss.
“I thought you said you wanted it rough tonight,” Frank teased when Gerard broke the lip lock to gently nibble across his throat. He was still rolling his hips, now in small circles, to feel the friction of Gerard’s ass against his hardening cock.
“Mmhmm,” Frank felt the vibrations of Gerard’s response against his neck, it tickled, “I do. I just really like kissing you,” Gerard breathed after he pulled his lips away from Frank’s flesh. His eyelids fluttered and his eyes rolled back at the feel of Frank thrusting against him. “Want me to take care of that?” He let go of Frank’s hands and started to slide downward.
As soon as Frank’s hands were free he brought them down to cup Gerard’s ass and keep him in place on top of his now fully hard dick. “Yeah… I do.”
Before Gerard could start to protest Frank sat upright, his hands still squeezing his friend’s ass to keep him cradled in his lap. Their lips came together and once Frank was sure that Gerard wasn’t going to wiggle away, his hands started to slowly move up his body, dragging the hem of his shirt on their way.
“Frank,” Gerard whined quietly, “you know I don’t bottom.”
Frank pulled Gerard’s shirt off over his head then moved to quickly discard his own. “Gerard,” he whined back in a near perfect imitation, “I’ve been doing it for years.” His hands were back to squeezing Gerard’s ass while his hips continued to gyrate in small circles. He nuzzled the older man’s chest then stuck his tongue out to flick over one of Gerard’s nipples.
Gerard let out a tiny whimper and grinded his ass down against Frank. “Fine,” he said finally then stooped his head so his lips were right next to Frank’s ear, “but just know that I don’t do this for anyone, it’s just because you’re special to me.” He licked the shell of Frank’s ear then sat up on his knees and started to undo his belt.
For a second Frank just stared at Gerard’s crotch, trying to comprehend what his friend had just said, then shooed away his hands and started to unbutton and unzip the older man’s pants himself.
“Blow me first?” Gerard breathed while he pulled his pants down his thighs and revealed his hard and leaking cock.
Frank didn’t need telling twice. He wet his lips then leaned forward to run his tongue up the underside of Gerard’s cock before taking the head into his mouth. His tongue swirled across the head while he slowly took more into his mouth.
“Oh, fuck!” Frank looked up only to see Gerard staring down at him with his mouth hanging open. Their eyes locked and Frank continued to slowly slide his lips down the length of Gerard’s dick. “Come on, baby, take it all.” Gerard’s hand ran affectionately across Frank’s cheek then around to the back of his head. Frank could feel a tremor in his friend’s hand as he resisted the urge to force Frank’s head down.
When Frank’s lips nestled into Gerard’s pubes and he had his cock at the back of his throat, he swallowed and had to concentrate really hard to avoid grinning when he heard Gerard groan. Quickly, Frank pulled all the way back up until his lips were pressed closed against Gerard’s tip then he dove back down again and started up a steady rhythm.
It was only a matter of time before both of Gerard’s hands found their way to Frank’s head and tangled themselves in his short black hair. Frank had one of his hands now wrapped around the base of Gerard’s cock while the other was squeezing his ass.
“Fuck, I love your mouth.” Gerard’s voice was ragged and his breathing was heavy as his hips started to twitch just the slightest bit.
The hand Frank had on Gerard’s ass inched it’s way closer to his crack. He let go of Gerard’s dick with his other and resumed deep throating him while massaging both of his ass cheeks.
Gerard was no longer looking down at Frank, his head had rolled back with his eyes closed. His fingers tightened in Frank’s hair and started to more forcefully guide his mouth up and down his cock faster and faster.
Frank could feel his eyes starting to water as his gag reflex was repeatedly tested but the way Gerard was biting his lip and sucking in air in quick gasps made it worth it. He tried to slow down the pace for just long enough to slide a finger, knuckle deep, into his friend.
Gerard froze, muscles tensed, and fingers pulling even harder on Frank’s hair. He concentrated on relaxing and as soon as Frank felt Gerard’s ass slacken around his finger, the older man started to resume face fucking him.
Frank’s finger slid in a little deeper before he started working it in and out. Gerard’s thrusts faltered then changed to match the rhythm of Frank’s fingering. His mouth dropped open and a low continuous moan sounded from deep in his throat when Frank started to slide a second finger inside. This time Gerard didn’t clench up at all, he just continued to roll his hips back onto Frank’s fingers and forward into his mouth while the moaning sound kept pouring from his lips. His fingers fell slack in Frank’s hair and started to run up and down the younger man’s neck, nails dragging hard enough to leave red lines.
Slowly, Frank let his lips slide back up Gerard’s cock until the tip was resting on Frank’s lower lip while he panted to catch his breath and started to work his fingers faster in and out of him.
“Gerard,” Frank’s voice was horse and his jaw hurt after how long he’d had to keep his mouth open.
Gerard’s head rolled until he was looking down at Frank. His eyes were still half-lidded and his mouth was still hanging open, only now instead of moaning his tongue was moving obscenely across his chapped lips.
“Gerard, are you ready for me to fuck you?” Frank had leaned his head forward to rest on the soft pudge of Gerard’s stomach. His lips fluttered across the older man’s skin with every word he spoke.
At first Gerard didn’t answer. Frank rolled his head upward and saw Gerard was staring down at him still, looking less out of it and more hungry. “Yeah,” he finally said.
Frank leaned back to give Gerard room to get off of him. The older man’s knees were shaking and when he first started to move he nearly fell over. Frank caught him and held onto Gerard’s arms while he shimmied out from between his legs. Gerard took the opportunity to sit and pull his jeans off the rest of the way while Frank was making quick work of his own pants and boxers. His dick was so hard it hurt and he took a moment to stroke himself while giving Gerard more time to rest.
“On your back?” Frank asked.
“No,” Gerard panted, now mimicking Frank’s actions and running his hand up and down his shaft. He closed his eyes for a second and worked on catching his breath. “Same position as before.”
“Do you have lube?” Even before he asked the question, Frank doubted it. It was usually his job to remember things like that and he hadn’t had enough alone time in the past few days to run to a corner store and restock.
Gerard licked his dry lips and shook his head, still catching his breath while his hand moved faster over his cock.
“Get me wet?” Frank slowed down on his stroking and raised his hips up a little to emphasize his point.
Gerard looked like he was going to protest but instead he just licked his lips again and leaned over to take Frank into his mouth. It wasn’t a very good blow job and it was over pretty fast, but Gerard had certainly gotten him nice and slick.
“Okay, come here.” Frank waved Gerard over to him and helped his friend re-assume the position. His thighs were trembling as Frank lined himself up and pressed the head of his cock against Gerard’s ass.
“Start slow, yeah?”
“Yeah.”
As slowly as he could, Frank started pushing into Gerard. He gasped audibly as the tight heat that was enveloping him, sucking him in, urging him deeper. His hands were gripping Gerard’s hips, fingers digging hard into his friend’s love handles as he implemented every ounce of his willpower to not just slam Gerard down onto his cock.
“Oh holy shit, this feels good.” Frank was babbling, he always did when he was really turned on. “Is this good for you? Fuck, you feel so fucking good.”
Gerard didn’t answer. His eyes were squeezed tightly shut while he tried to will every other muscle in his body to relax. The slow pace was starting to burn and the saliva was drying up a little. He felt himself loosen up just the slightest and forced himself to not immediately clench again. “Get in faster,” he gasped.
Frank didn’t waste time double-checking. His grip on Gerard’s hips tightened and in one motion he thrust himself upwards while pulling Gerard down. He froze when he felt Gerard’s ass pressed against his pelvis.
“Shit!” Frank swore when he felt his friend’s body seize up and loosen sporadically on his dick.
“Wait! Wait…” Gerard’s voice sounded strangled and his face was twisted in pain. As instructed, Frank waited. He didn’t move a muscle except to gasp and moan from the feeling of his friend’s spasms. “Okay…” Gerard was breathing deeply and Frank could feel him relaxing, “you can start now just-“ he cut himself off by taking a sharp intake of breath when Frank pulled his hips back and rocked them forward slightly, “-just slowly.”
Taking a deep breath, Frank started to move his hips again but it was hard for him to get much of a rhythm going with Gerard’s thighs clamping him to the bed and he was refusing to move at all.
Eventually Frank gave up and let go of Gerard’s hips. “Gerard,” he tried not to sound annoyed or ungrateful but this was getting frustrating. He wrapped one of his hands around Gerard’s now flaccid dick and began to slowly stroke it. “Gerard,” Frank tried again, softer this time and with a little more confidence now that his friend was starting to get hard, “I’m doing the best I can down here, baby, but I need you to move too.”
Gerard whimpered and Frank could feel the tension in his thighs let up. He took it as a good sign and started to sit up so he could wrap his other arm around Gerard’s back. He started trying to use that hand to guide Gerard up and down slowly while still stroking his cock.
“Better?” Frank groaned at the feeling of Gerard finally moving.
“I - I don’t think I can do this position.”
Frank felt Gerard clamping up again and tried to resist the urge to just plow through him anyway.
“Here,” Frank sat further upright, so his chest was pressed against Gerard’s stomach, “let’s try a different position. Wrap your legs around me.”
He could feel himself sliding in even deeper when Gerard complied and stifled another moan by pressing his lips against Gerard’s shoulder. Instantly Gerard tensed up again but this time it was different, Frank could feel his friend’s cock twitching against his belly and heard his gasp turn into a moan.
“Feel good?” Frank started to move his hips in small circles again. Gerard was loosening up and would gasp or shudder every time he hit that spot. Frank grinned and let his one hand on Gerard’s back slide down to his ass while the other trailed away from his cock and loosely gripped his long hair. “You like that?” He asked as his lips skimmed over Gerard’s collar bone.
“Oh fuck, keep doing that! Harder!”
Frank started to grind his hips faster while attempting to pull Gerard deeper into his lap. He gave Gerard’s hair a tug and licked up his adam’s apple when his head jerked back. The sound that came out of Gerard’s mouth was entirely animalistic and only spurred Frank on.
“You like feeling me inside you, don’t you?” Gerard started bouncing himself in Frank’s lap, being careful not to go too hard and risk having Frank pull out. “You like feeling me inside you,” Frank repeated through clenched teeth, he growled the words onto Gerard’s chest, “where no one else get’s to go.”
A desperate noise escaped Gerard’s throat as he tried to lean his head forward against Frank’s pulling.
“Say it,” Frank growled before opening his mouth to bite down hard on Gerard’s shoulder.
The older man cried out in pain but only bounced harder in Frank’s lap.
“Say it.”
“I love you inside of me,” Gerard panted as felt himself nearing his orgasm.
Frank let go of his grip in Gerard’s hair and started to pump his cock again. Gerard’s head fell forward and another needy whine escaped him. His arms wrapped desperately around Frank’s torso and his nails started scratching down his back as his body tensed up.
“Frank, shit, I - oh fuck, my ass is yours - I’m gonna cum… I-“
Before he could say anything else, Gerard was blowing his load into Frank’s hand and between their stomachs, his nails dug deep into Frank’s shoulders, and he was clenching so hard Frank thought he was going to pass out. Gerard hadn’t even finished cumming when Frank started. It was mind blowing; his toes curled, his legs shook, and he could see white bursts of light behind his eyes.
When he was spent, Frank fell backwards and stared at the ceiling while he tried to catch his breath, Gerard came tumbling on top of him and waited a long minute before pulling himself off of Frank.
“Jesus-fucking-Christ,” Frank groaned when he remembered how to form words again. “That was-“
“Incredible,” Gerard finished.
They laid there for a long while before both of them had caught their breath. Frank felt pleasantly numb until he remembered the rest of the band downstairs, expecting him to show up.
“Aw, shit,” he mumbled and started trying to sit up. Gerard wouldn’t budge though.
“Where are you going?”
“I told the guys I’d be down,” Frank explained though he wasn’t trying to get up anymore.
“No,” Gerard whined in a sleepy voice, “stay up here and make out with me until I fall asleep.”
Frank laughed. “You really want to make out and cuddle?” He sounded amused.
Gerard buried his face in Frank’s neck. “Mmmhmmm,” he mumbled, “I wasn’t kidding - I really like kissing you.” He moved himself up a little more to kiss Frank’s lips slowly and with feeling. “If I could find a way to show the world how much I like kissing you,” he stated, “I would.”
“If you found a way to do that, without outing us, then I would play along every day for the rest of my life,” Frank replied with a laugh that was cut off by Gerard’s lips covering them once again.
--
The next day the band was driven to their second location to finish the shoot, this time with Bob joining them. On set Brian made it very clear to Marc and his crew that Bob was not to be in any of the shots since he wasn’t technically a member of the band. This meant that Marc had to work with Ray, Mikey, Frank and Gerard for several hours to teach them the art of blocking.
Even though Frank had been in several music videos at this point, he was still surprised at how long the day wore on. He’d figured they’d only have to pretend to play the song three or four times and call it a day. Six hours later and they were still there, still pretending to play, because Marc thought something was missing.
Brian, who had stayed the whole day to make sure it went smoothly, checked his watch and swore. “Okay,” he clapped his hands to draw everyone’s attention between takes. “Marc,” he turned to the director, “we need this to be our last take, these boys have a plane to catch in a few hours that they cannot miss.”
At first Marc tried to protest but he quickly realized that Brian would take the band away after the next take whether he liked it or not.
Everyone get it their all despite going through the same motions all day, most likely because they had been promised their freedom - at least that was Frank’s motivation.
Half way through the song Frank kind of started to get an idea. It wasn’t the most well thought out plan, especially since he’d been yelled at several times for wandering into Gerard’s frame and not doing a good enough job at the blocking, but he decided fuck it - you only live once.
The whole day he’d been thinking about what Gerard had said the night before, that if he could show the world how much he loved kissing Frank then he would. Well Frank had thought up a way all on his own.
Frank started to wander into Gerard’s frame again. He could hear Marc yelling at him to go back but pretended not to over the blaring P.A system. Several times he tried leaning against Gerard, waiting for him to initiate something. Each time though, Gerard would just look at him baffled and try to push him back into his blocking.
At the last chorus, Frank went for it; he grabbed Gerard’s head and tried to turn it toward him. When he felt Gerard resisting, Frank switched to plan B and planted a kiss on Gerard’s temple. He could feel his friend’s arm moving to shove him away and quickly ducked down and jumped back to his blocking position where he stayed stuck to as if he were glued for the last few seconds of the song.
When Marc called cut Frank was still buzzing on adrenaline. He knew he was being a fucking idiot but what better way to be publicly sneaky than to sneak a kiss in a music video about high school social outcasts? Besides, it was maybe two seconds total - Marc probably wouldn’t even use it.
“Uh… Okay,” Brian said and started walking toward the set, “let’s go, guys.” He turned to Marc. “It was an absolute pleasure working with you, do you think you have everything you need?”
“Yeah,” Marc replied with a bemused expression on his face, “I’d say so.”
“Fantastic!” Brian’s face broke out into a genuine grin. “Like a said, it was a pleasure, we’ll have to get you again some time.”
As Brian continued to say his farewells and thanks to the director and crew, Frank started to make his way out of the garage with Gerard and the rest of the band. He was so out of it that he didn’t even notice the shocked and mortified expression that Gerard took a second too long to cover up.
-------------------------------
Whoo this chapter was big! I hope you guys like the way the story is going so far :) I think now my goal, on top of the plot I already have going, is to try and make each story be able to be it's own standalone. It seems to be working out that way so far at least. Anyways... Yeah, I hope you enjoyed it <3
Author: 6_pack_apathy
Pairing: Frank/Gerard
Rating: NC-17
POV: 3rd - Frank-centric
Summary: Frank and Gerard start a casual relationship when the band first starts touring but as the years go on it looks like one of them may have deeper feelings than the other.
Warnings: Sexual content, strong language, drug use
Disclaimer: I made it up.
Previous Chapters:
Prologue
Chapter 1- The Dirty T-Shirt
Frank felt his stomach knotting when he reached his hotel room for the night. The band had been on tour for the past several months and Brian was making them cancel a show to meet up with Bob and then use their two day break to shoot their music video - their first real video.
Despite all the shit that the band had gone through in the past couple of months, the thought of having a real video shoot (one with a budget where he and Gerard didn’t have to get high on fumes painting the set), was enough to give him butterflies. They were making it.
He opened the room to his hotel - the one he’d be sharing with Gerard for the night. It’d been two years, maybe two and a half, since the first time the two of them had gotten together and until really recently it had been going well.
The things Gerard would do made Frank’s toes curl and his intestines tangle - in a good way - and he was pretty sure the feeling was mutual. When the tour had first started, Frank hadn’t seen Gerard in over a month, and was greeted by getting shoved into an airport bathroom stall and being thoroughly molested before take off.
As much as Frank had to remind himself that he and Gerard’s relationship was strictly for long tours he couldn’t help but feel like the eagerness that both of them shared said otherwise. Sometimes it felt like Jamia was the one he was using to just get through life until he could be with Gerard again.
Thinking that made him feel guilty, he was in love with Jamia - he knew that. She was the girl he wanted to spend the rest of his life with but he was also young and wanted to be able to experience something - someone - else before he did anything crazy like get married.
And even though his reunion with Gerard had been awesome, everyone’s spirits were quickly shot down by the terrible time they’d had in Europe. Frank got sick, like he always did, and he ended up giving it to everyone else. They had to sleep in the rental van a couple of nights, suffered four break-downs, and someone tried to mug Mikey one night after a show.
To make matters worse, Gerard’s drinking had gotten really bad. Frank had always thought Gerard was out of control - he was one of those guys you watch and think they’ll bring it around but silently thank your stars that it’s not you because that pit is deep.
When they were back in America, Gerard had been so fucked up on bars and beer that he’d gone to hide under the stage and refused to come out while he puked his guts out. The whole situation made Frank want to throw down his guitar right then and there. Ray had convinced him to stay and sleep on it.
The next morning they were woken up by their tour manager who informed them that Gerard was fucked up on coke and had to be talked down from suicide in the middle of the night.
Of course Frank was thankful that Gerard didn’t do it - that he went and got someone to talk to - but a tiny part of him was mad that Gerard didn’t come to him. He thought that at that point, Gerard should feel comfortable enough to come to him about anything and even though all Frank would’ve done is grabbed the tour manager himself, he still couldn’t help but feel… not betrayed, but less important - definitely.
Luckily it only took Gerard a couple of days to clean his shit up. On paper that was good but in practice it meant a whole lot of sweating, puking, and threatening to kill anyone who came near him. After a month of that and Gerard seemed good to go. He was awake all the time and seemed a lot more caught up in his own thoughts - definitely more neurotic. If anything, Frank thought Gerard was doing more coke rather than none at all.
The perk for dealing with everything though was the sex. Now that Gerard was awake all the time and couldn’t go into drug comas he’d decided to fill all of his free time with World of Warcraft and sex. And the sex had gotten much better, not that it was ever bad, but Gerard seemed a lot more genuinely interested in pleasing Frank. He was never accidentally too rough any more, but he hadn’t rolled over and become soft either.
He was perfect.
And now the reason they were all in L.A a day early and canceling a show was to meet their new drummer. While the trials the band had faced the past few months had ended up bringing Frank, Gerard, Ray, and Mikey closer they managed to push Otter away. He’d finally had enough the other day and up and quit via a text message and the receipt for a plane ticket to Jersey.
It was dumb luck that Bob had wanted to drum and that they were able to get a hold of him so fast. He was a sound technician the band had worked with before and he was taking a huge risk to be more involved in his passion. Especially considering everything that had happened to My Chemical Romance recently.
--
Gerard was already laying on his hotel bed. He had on a big, ugly brown hoodie with cigarette burns in it and camo pajama pants. His laptop was out and judging by the sounds, Gerard was playing WoW.
Upon closer inspection Frank discovered that Gerard wasn’t super greasy, which was what he’d thought at first when he’d seen the older man’s black hair plastered to his skull, he was actually clean - freshly showered even!
If that wasn’t an invitation, Frank didn’t know what was.
“Hey,” Gerard mumbled without looking up from his screen.
Frank took a couple more steps and let his bag drop on the floor at the foot of Gerard’s bed. The sound did not rouse the older man from his laptop. “Hey,” Frank replied. When he didn’t get any visual response he cleared is throat.
Gerard glanced up from his screen, his jaw slack and eyes red from being too close to the monitor. Frank ignored the two signs (signs that almost always meant Gerard was not in the mood) and climbed onto his friend’s bed.
“Nice to get out of the buses, huh?” Frank asked as he crawled closer.
Although Gerard was definitely not looking at his screen any more it seemed as if he wasn’t really looking at Frank either. His eyes hit some weird in-between. “Better than the van,” he mumbled.
By now Frank was next to Gerard, just the silver laptop between them. “But now we have some privacy, yeah?”
He leaned over the screen to kiss the frontman’s lips. At first Gerard responded positively by opening his mouth and letting his tongue lazily lap against Franks, then he pulled away and hid back behind the laptop screen.
“I’m not really in the mood,” he said quietly.
“Oh?” Well that was a first, Frank couldn’t remember Gerard missing a single opportunity since he got sober - especially not one where they could spread out and be loud.
“Sorry.” Gerard didn’t look sorry. In fact, he looked like he was totally absorbed in his game again. “Why don’t you go hit up the bar with Mikey and Ray? I think they’re meeting Bob for drinks downstairs.”
Frank bit his lip, he knew that Gerard had told all of them a dozen times that they didn’t need to change their habits on his behalf but Frank had still tried to slow down on his drinking out of respect. “I guess,” he said finally. “Shoot me a text if you want me to come back up and keep you company.”
Gerard didn’t even respond as Frank walked out of the room.
--
Downstairs Ray and Mikey were both still sipping on their first drinks. Bob hadn’t shown up yet when Frank took a seat next to them and ordered a whiskey and coke. He was surprised and a little pleased when the bartender didn’t card him - usually he and Mikey were given a hard time.
“Gerard’s not coming down, I think he’s in the middle of a raid,” Frank said before Ray and Mikey could ask.
The two both looked a little relieved and downed the rest of their drinks quickly then followed Frank’s lead and ordered another. Obviously Frank wasn’t the only one who felt uncomfortable getting drunk around Gerard.
The three started to fall into easy conversation that slowly got louder and louder as their bar tabs climbed upward. Frank felt distracted though, the whole time he had his cell phone on the bar top and kept making sure it was still on to see if he’d missed a text from Gerard.
By the time Bob did show up, Frank and Mikey were both pretty hammered and were in the middle of a slurring debate on who was hotter: Brody Dalle or Angela Gossow; Ray looked like he was buzzing pretty hard and was trying to convince the bartender that yes he was so in a rock band!
“Looks like you guys started without me.”
Frank spun on his bar stool and flashed a huge grin at the blond.
“Bob!” He exclaimed before stumbling over and wrapping his arms around the bigger man.
Bob laughed softly and returned the gesture. When he withdrew his arms, Frank did not and after a few awkward seconds Bob realized that the younger man wasn’t going to. He laughed again and walked up to the bar to greet Ray and Mikey, dragging Frank along with him. The blond grabbed a beer from the bartender then herded the drunk band outside for a cigarette.
Once they were outside they started to play catch up with Bob and after two cigarettes both Ray and Mikey decided to call it a night and strode back inside to close their tabs with their arms slung over each others shoulders.
“So where’s Gerard?” Bob asked once he and Frank were alone.
“He was in his room playing World of Warcraft last time I checked on him,” Frank replied before lighting up another cigarette. Though he was playing it cool, the question worried Frank a little. Ray and Mikey both knew about the on-tour relationship that Frank and Gerard shared - they’d never caught them in the act, except that one time, but they had to have figured it out by now - but Frank didn’t feel comfortable thinking that anybody else might know.
“Is sobriety working out for him?”
Frank shrugged, “I guess, he’s doing great so far and has gotten through withdraws.”
“You think it’s going to stick?”
Slowly, Frank exhaled smoke from his cigarette and gave Bob a hard look. “I don’t fuckin’ know,” he said shortly, “I hope so. What’s with all the questions?”
Bob’s calm eyes widened and his eyebrows shot up in surprise. He raised his hands up defensively then plucked his own cigarette from his lips. “Chill, Iero. I just don’t want to give up my career and join a band that’s gonna fall apart in a week because the front man’s all fucked up.”
“Shit,” Frank swore quietly as he visibly relaxed. “Sorry, man.”
“No problem,” Bob laughed and eased up as well, “you can make it up to me by buying me another beer when you finish your cigarette.”
Frank took a long hard drag then handed his cigarette to Bob and walked inside. The bar was vacant, save for the bored looking bartender. Frank reached into his pocket to grab his phone and check the time but didn’t feel it. Frantically he patted down all of his pockets and rushed up to the bar.
“Hey, sorry, have you seen my phone?” Frank hated how frantic he sounded, for the most part he wasn’t a big fan of technology but his phone was his link to the outside world when he was on the road. “It’s a sidekick,” Frank started to describe it, “black, looks like a phone-“
“-Here,” the bartender cut him off and slid him his phone. There were five new text messages - all from Gerard.
“You’re an angel,” Frank breathed as he quickly scanned through them. The first three were Gerard asking when he was coming up, saying he was lonely, and that he couldn’t sleep. The fourth was asking why Frank was ignoring him and the last one simply said “fuck you.”
“It’s not a problem,” The bartender laughed and leaned forward, some of her dark brown hair fell over her shoulders.
Frank looked up, drawn out of his concern over the texts, and flashed her a smile.
“Did you want to close out your tab?” she asked. “It’s getting to be that time.”
“Sure,” Frank slid his phone shut and put it in his pocket while he grabbed his wallet, “go ahead and put two more beers on there: Shiner.”
He paid, left a big tip, and headed back outside to rejoin Bob who was smoking a new cigarette and had stubbed out the one Frank had left behind. Frank handed his friend one of the beers and took a swig of his own.
“It’s getting late,” Bob commented between sips from his bottle, “you about ready to call it a night?”
“Nah,” Frank shook his head, “not unless you want to.”
Bob shrugged and looked down at his beer as a small smile started to creep on to his face. Frank noticed it and felt his own lips forming a grin.
--
The next day Frank woke up with a headache and the foul taste of stale beer and too many cigarettes in his mouth. He checked the alarm clock by his bed and saw it was already past two.
“Fuck,” he swore and curled into a tight ball under the covers.
“You’re finally up.”
Gerard was sitting up on his own bed, still in his skeleton pajamas, drawing in his sketchbook. Frank cracked an eye open and started to sit up very slowly. This definitely wasn’t the worst hangover he’d ever had but he needed some advil and a toothbrush in the near future if he was going to get anything done today.
“What time did you come in?”
Frank shrugged. “I don’t know,” he mumbled as he pressed his face into the pillow, “the sun was coming up.”
“Jesus,” Gerard laughed a bit under his breath but didn’t sound pleased. “What were you doing up so late? Didn’t you get my texts?”
Now Frank was sitting up and running his fingers through his short black hair. “Texts?” He paused to think. “Oh! I’d left my phone at the bar and by the time I saw them I figured you were already asleep.”
Gerard didn’t have anything to say to that. His mouth was set in a thin line and his eyes didn’t waver from his sketchbook. “So what were you doing all night?” He asked again after a moment of quiet.
“Just hanging out with Bob.” Frank was getting up now and walking towards the bathroom. At least he’d remembered to strip down to his boxers before getting in bed, he hated the feeling of wearing jeans to sleep. “Catching up.”
“The whole night?” Gerard’s head jerked up when Frank didn’t answer him. He could see the younger man’s back behind the open bathroom door and hear him starting to take a piss. “The whole night?” He asked louder.
Frank flushed then went to turn on the shower. “Yeah,” he answered as he walked back into the main room. “Bob’s awesome, don’t tell me you wouldn’t have done the same thing.”
Gerard just shrugged and dropped his eyes back to his sketchpad. “That’s what we have all day today for,” he mumbled to himself.
Frank cocked his head to the side and walked to his friend’s bed. “Don’t be mad,” he whined as he slid onto the comforter and shimmied up against Gerard’s side. The older man didn’t acknowledge him and Frank gave a huff and decided to drop the cute act. “Come on, you blow me off all the time when I want to fool around. I’m not a fucking lap dog, I’m not going to come running every time you call,” he pointed out.
“You always have before.” The comment was so quiet that Frank almost didn’t hear it - almost.
His eyebrows drew together and he propped himself up on his elbows. “You’re a real shit sometimes, you know that?”
Gerard turned to look at him, stunned.
“It’s a two-fucking-way street, asshole and I’m not going to fucking bend over for you if you think I’m some dumb fuck-toy you can play with whenever you want.” Frank stood up and started to walk back to the bathroom.
“I don’t think that about you,” Gerard said softly.
Frank froze in front of the bathroom and waited patiently for the rest of the other man’s explanation.
“You’re my best friend and you know what I’m going through right now and I…” He paused to think carefully about what to say next. “I get jealous when I see someone else get all of your attention without having to get you off for it.”
Frank sighed and his shoulders dropped. Now he felt like the fucking asshole. “Look - I’m sorry.” It felt weird to be apologizing, especially when he knew he didn’t do anything wrong. “I’m going to hop in the shower and let’s just forget about this, okay?” He didn’t wait for Gerard’s answer before walking into the now steaming bathroom and shutting the door behind him.
--
The next day the four men were being driven to the location for their video shoot. Frank and Gerard hadn’t mentioned their fight to each other since it happened and while Frank was pleased that they’d been getting along he was also worried that something may be brewing under the surface.
When they got to the first school they’d be filming in, the group met up with Brian who led them inside.
“So much for swearing I’d never step foot in high school again,” Mikey muttered under his breath.
Brian laughed and patted Mikey’s back, his hand didn’t drop away and Brian started to steer Mikey toward one of the classrooms as if he were afraid the bassist would run away.
In the classroom there were several camera guys, a hair and make-up team, an MTV film crew, and Marc Webb waiting on their arrival.
Gerard surged past Frank and was immediately shaking hands with Marc and trying not to gush over the director’s previous work. Frank took in the sight and laughed while shaking his head. Warner Brothers had picked out Marc Webb and Gerard had made it his duty to watch everything he had ever done and even went so far as to take notes on the director’s style.
Ray also passed over Frank and headed straight to the camera guys, his eyes were wide like a little kid on Christmas and he was immediately asking for the specs on all of the equipment.
The hair and make-up girls were already fawning over Mikey and trying to decide on what to do with his hair. Girls always flocked to the lanky bassist and Frank could see why; Mikey was a good looking guy, tall and not nearly as lanky as nearly every photograph made him out to be, he also had some kind of aura around him that just made him look innocent (even though he wasn’t, not by a long shot), and he just gave off good vibes.
Frank had hung back by the door while he took in the chaos.
“You nervous?” Brian slid up next to Frank and leaned against the wall.
Frank shook his head. “Nah,” he said. He’d been in front of cameras about a million times at this point, this was nothing to get freaked out about.
“Excited?”
This time Frank just shrugged and tried to bite back a smile. He wanted to look like punk who was too cool to care but in reality he was vibrating with excitement. Allentown Fair two years ago had been proof that they were making it but this was… this was different and commercial and new. Frank had been playing shows his whole life, he didn’t care if he was singing to one kid or a million, but this - this was like he could reach out to every kid in all those cities they couldn’t tour to, he could show kids who may never have given them a chance what they were missing out on… Oh yeah, he was psyched.
Brian smirked, his eyes flickered over Frank’s face and it was as if he knew everything the guitarist was thinking. After a moment he pushed himself off the wall and walked up to the front of the room.
“All right,” Brian called out loudly while clapping his hands. The room slowly went silent. “We’re all here and ready so let’s behave,” he took the time to stare at Ray, Mikey, Frank, and Gerard individually, “and get this done. I don’t want to take up any more of your time than I already have - I know you’d rather be on tour right now - so I’m going to turn it over to Marc.”
Marc smiled and stepped away from Gerard to stand next to Brian. He gave a quick run down of what they’d be shooting that day and pointed the boys across the hall where their costumes were waiting then turned his attention to the crew.
Frank shuffled across the hall and stopped in his tracks when he saw the four navy uniforms neatly hung on a dressing rack with each of their names pinned to the lapel of a blazer.
Mikey bumped into Frank’s back and gave him a playful shove forward. His eyes lit up behind his glasses when he saw the costumes. “What?” He gave a laugh of disbelief but Frank could tell his friend was excited. Mikey approached his costume and slowly slid the slacks off their rack. He held them against his hips and looked up at Frank with a huge grin. “Pants that are actually long enough? I may have to keep these…”
Frank chuckled and quickly stepped further inside to grab his uniform as Ray and Gerard entered the room. Ray looked less than pleased at the thought of wearing a school uniform but Gerard seemed happy; he studied his blazer and tie very carefully, like he was looking for a flaw, then wordlessly started to shed his clothes and change into his costume.
The rest of them followed suit. There was a knock on the classroom door just as Frank was starting to do everyone’s ties for them. Gerard hurried to open the door and the make-up girls marched in followed by the MTV camera crew.
They were forced to sit and be still while the girls got all their hair just right and added just the right amount of make-up to each of them. Frank made sure to pull weird faces or say stupid shit whenever a camera was on him. More than once he caught Gerard smirking and giving him sidelong glances.
The rest of the day was kind of a haze for Frank. He knew that if he had to pop out of a locker one more time he’d lose his damn mind and he was still a little upset that they wouldn’t let him actually piss in one.
The sky was growing pink outside of the school windows by the time Marc called it a day. He instructed the band to hang their clothes back up so they could be pressed in case they needed anything else the next day and sent them back to change.
As Frank, Ray, Mikey, and Gerard were walking down the hallway, they stopped to chat with some of the extras and thank them about a million times for being in the video. By the time Frank was heading back to the changing room he realized that he was by himself, the rest of them must’ve gone on without him.
He started to pick up the pace toward the changing room when another door swung open and a hand popped out to yank Frank inside.
It took him a second to get his bearings before he realized that he was in a supply closet and he was getting felt up by Gerard.
“What-“ Frank returned one of his friend’s feverish kisses, “-What are you doing?”
“Do you know how hot you look in that uniform?” Gerard didn’t wait for Frank to answer, he pressed the palm of his hand against Frank’s crotch and licked his scorpion tattoo.
Frank groaned and rocked his hips up into Gerard’s palm while grasping the older man’s tie to pull him in for another kiss. Their tongues slid against one another’s and Frank couldn’t help but groan when Gerard bit down on his lip.
“Wait, wait, wait, wait…” Frank was already panting, and fuck he was hard, and he could feel Gerard pressing against his thigh. At first the older man didn’t listen and kept going in for kisses but Frank used his grip on Gerard’s tie to pull him away. “Wait,” he said firmly.
“What?” Gerard sounded exasperated.
“We don’t have time to do this here,” Frank breathed. He could still feel Gerard’s palm moving teasingly against his fly. He allowed himself to roll his hips a bit.
Gerard rolled his eyes. “Come on,” he pleaded, “just a quickie. They’ll never find us in here.”
As if right on cue, they could hear Ray’s voice calling their names echoing down the hallway.
“Tonight,” Frank promised and took the opportunity to push Gerard a little further away from him.
A devilish grin spread across Gerard’s face. “Can I be rough?”
Ray’s voice sounded like it was getting further away.
“As rough as you want,” Frank replied hurriedly, “now please just go before someone finds us.”
Gerard winked and slid out of the closet.
--
Back at the hotel Mikey and Ray headed straight to the bar where Bob was already seated with a beer in one hand and his cell phone out, texting, in the other. Gerard was walking very close behind Frank like he was trying to herd him to the elevator.
“Frank,” Bob called out.
Frank stopped and Gerard collided into him.
“Grab a drink and tell me how it went!”
Bob was smiling and it sounded inviting but Gerard was now standing next to Frank and quietly saying, “tell him you’re busy.”
Frank tried to force a smile but could feel his lips twitching. “In a minute,” he yelled back, “I need to get a shower and something to eat first.”
Gerard had discreetly looped one of his fingers into Frank’s belt loop and was pulling his friend forward. Frank saw Bob’s smile fall a little as he was dragged away.
As soon as the elevator doors slid shut, Gerard pushed Frank up against the wall and kissed his lips slowly as if he were taking the time to savor Frank in a way he rarely did.
“You okay?” Gerard asked when he finally pulled his lips away.
The elevator dinged and the doors slid open. Frank stepped around his friend and started walking to their room. “Yeah,” he said, “I just don’t want them to get suspicious, you know?”
Gerard scoffed. “Ray and Mikey have got to know about us already.”
Frank started to slide his key card into the door. “Yeah, but Bob doesn’t,” he said.
Once in the room Gerard dropped the subject in exchange for kissing Frank again and guiding him to the bed. Frank felt the backs of his legs hit the bed frame and allowed himself to fall backwards when Gerard pushed him.
For a second Frank was unsure of himself. Of course he was always in the mood to fool around with Gerard but he really felt like now was not the time. When his eyes focused on the figure standing above him though, all doubts were erased from his mind.
Gerard’s eyes were half open as he stood at the foot of the bed looking down at Frank sprawled out before him. His mouth opened slightly like he wanted to say something, instead he licked his lips and crawled on top of the younger man until he sat perched on Frank’s hips.
Frank bucked his hips up experimentally and grinned when he felt his half hard dick rub against Gerard’s ass. In response, Gerard grabbed hold of both of Frank’s hands and leaned forward to pin them above his head and dive in for another long, slow kiss.
“I thought you said you wanted it rough tonight,” Frank teased when Gerard broke the lip lock to gently nibble across his throat. He was still rolling his hips, now in small circles, to feel the friction of Gerard’s ass against his hardening cock.
“Mmhmm,” Frank felt the vibrations of Gerard’s response against his neck, it tickled, “I do. I just really like kissing you,” Gerard breathed after he pulled his lips away from Frank’s flesh. His eyelids fluttered and his eyes rolled back at the feel of Frank thrusting against him. “Want me to take care of that?” He let go of Frank’s hands and started to slide downward.
As soon as Frank’s hands were free he brought them down to cup Gerard’s ass and keep him in place on top of his now fully hard dick. “Yeah… I do.”
Before Gerard could start to protest Frank sat upright, his hands still squeezing his friend’s ass to keep him cradled in his lap. Their lips came together and once Frank was sure that Gerard wasn’t going to wiggle away, his hands started to slowly move up his body, dragging the hem of his shirt on their way.
“Frank,” Gerard whined quietly, “you know I don’t bottom.”
Frank pulled Gerard’s shirt off over his head then moved to quickly discard his own. “Gerard,” he whined back in a near perfect imitation, “I’ve been doing it for years.” His hands were back to squeezing Gerard’s ass while his hips continued to gyrate in small circles. He nuzzled the older man’s chest then stuck his tongue out to flick over one of Gerard’s nipples.
Gerard let out a tiny whimper and grinded his ass down against Frank. “Fine,” he said finally then stooped his head so his lips were right next to Frank’s ear, “but just know that I don’t do this for anyone, it’s just because you’re special to me.” He licked the shell of Frank’s ear then sat up on his knees and started to undo his belt.
For a second Frank just stared at Gerard’s crotch, trying to comprehend what his friend had just said, then shooed away his hands and started to unbutton and unzip the older man’s pants himself.
“Blow me first?” Gerard breathed while he pulled his pants down his thighs and revealed his hard and leaking cock.
Frank didn’t need telling twice. He wet his lips then leaned forward to run his tongue up the underside of Gerard’s cock before taking the head into his mouth. His tongue swirled across the head while he slowly took more into his mouth.
“Oh, fuck!” Frank looked up only to see Gerard staring down at him with his mouth hanging open. Their eyes locked and Frank continued to slowly slide his lips down the length of Gerard’s dick. “Come on, baby, take it all.” Gerard’s hand ran affectionately across Frank’s cheek then around to the back of his head. Frank could feel a tremor in his friend’s hand as he resisted the urge to force Frank’s head down.
When Frank’s lips nestled into Gerard’s pubes and he had his cock at the back of his throat, he swallowed and had to concentrate really hard to avoid grinning when he heard Gerard groan. Quickly, Frank pulled all the way back up until his lips were pressed closed against Gerard’s tip then he dove back down again and started up a steady rhythm.
It was only a matter of time before both of Gerard’s hands found their way to Frank’s head and tangled themselves in his short black hair. Frank had one of his hands now wrapped around the base of Gerard’s cock while the other was squeezing his ass.
“Fuck, I love your mouth.” Gerard’s voice was ragged and his breathing was heavy as his hips started to twitch just the slightest bit.
The hand Frank had on Gerard’s ass inched it’s way closer to his crack. He let go of Gerard’s dick with his other and resumed deep throating him while massaging both of his ass cheeks.
Gerard was no longer looking down at Frank, his head had rolled back with his eyes closed. His fingers tightened in Frank’s hair and started to more forcefully guide his mouth up and down his cock faster and faster.
Frank could feel his eyes starting to water as his gag reflex was repeatedly tested but the way Gerard was biting his lip and sucking in air in quick gasps made it worth it. He tried to slow down the pace for just long enough to slide a finger, knuckle deep, into his friend.
Gerard froze, muscles tensed, and fingers pulling even harder on Frank’s hair. He concentrated on relaxing and as soon as Frank felt Gerard’s ass slacken around his finger, the older man started to resume face fucking him.
Frank’s finger slid in a little deeper before he started working it in and out. Gerard’s thrusts faltered then changed to match the rhythm of Frank’s fingering. His mouth dropped open and a low continuous moan sounded from deep in his throat when Frank started to slide a second finger inside. This time Gerard didn’t clench up at all, he just continued to roll his hips back onto Frank’s fingers and forward into his mouth while the moaning sound kept pouring from his lips. His fingers fell slack in Frank’s hair and started to run up and down the younger man’s neck, nails dragging hard enough to leave red lines.
Slowly, Frank let his lips slide back up Gerard’s cock until the tip was resting on Frank’s lower lip while he panted to catch his breath and started to work his fingers faster in and out of him.
“Gerard,” Frank’s voice was horse and his jaw hurt after how long he’d had to keep his mouth open.
Gerard’s head rolled until he was looking down at Frank. His eyes were still half-lidded and his mouth was still hanging open, only now instead of moaning his tongue was moving obscenely across his chapped lips.
“Gerard, are you ready for me to fuck you?” Frank had leaned his head forward to rest on the soft pudge of Gerard’s stomach. His lips fluttered across the older man’s skin with every word he spoke.
At first Gerard didn’t answer. Frank rolled his head upward and saw Gerard was staring down at him still, looking less out of it and more hungry. “Yeah,” he finally said.
Frank leaned back to give Gerard room to get off of him. The older man’s knees were shaking and when he first started to move he nearly fell over. Frank caught him and held onto Gerard’s arms while he shimmied out from between his legs. Gerard took the opportunity to sit and pull his jeans off the rest of the way while Frank was making quick work of his own pants and boxers. His dick was so hard it hurt and he took a moment to stroke himself while giving Gerard more time to rest.
“On your back?” Frank asked.
“No,” Gerard panted, now mimicking Frank’s actions and running his hand up and down his shaft. He closed his eyes for a second and worked on catching his breath. “Same position as before.”
“Do you have lube?” Even before he asked the question, Frank doubted it. It was usually his job to remember things like that and he hadn’t had enough alone time in the past few days to run to a corner store and restock.
Gerard licked his dry lips and shook his head, still catching his breath while his hand moved faster over his cock.
“Get me wet?” Frank slowed down on his stroking and raised his hips up a little to emphasize his point.
Gerard looked like he was going to protest but instead he just licked his lips again and leaned over to take Frank into his mouth. It wasn’t a very good blow job and it was over pretty fast, but Gerard had certainly gotten him nice and slick.
“Okay, come here.” Frank waved Gerard over to him and helped his friend re-assume the position. His thighs were trembling as Frank lined himself up and pressed the head of his cock against Gerard’s ass.
“Start slow, yeah?”
“Yeah.”
As slowly as he could, Frank started pushing into Gerard. He gasped audibly as the tight heat that was enveloping him, sucking him in, urging him deeper. His hands were gripping Gerard’s hips, fingers digging hard into his friend’s love handles as he implemented every ounce of his willpower to not just slam Gerard down onto his cock.
“Oh holy shit, this feels good.” Frank was babbling, he always did when he was really turned on. “Is this good for you? Fuck, you feel so fucking good.”
Gerard didn’t answer. His eyes were squeezed tightly shut while he tried to will every other muscle in his body to relax. The slow pace was starting to burn and the saliva was drying up a little. He felt himself loosen up just the slightest and forced himself to not immediately clench again. “Get in faster,” he gasped.
Frank didn’t waste time double-checking. His grip on Gerard’s hips tightened and in one motion he thrust himself upwards while pulling Gerard down. He froze when he felt Gerard’s ass pressed against his pelvis.
“Shit!” Frank swore when he felt his friend’s body seize up and loosen sporadically on his dick.
“Wait! Wait…” Gerard’s voice sounded strangled and his face was twisted in pain. As instructed, Frank waited. He didn’t move a muscle except to gasp and moan from the feeling of his friend’s spasms. “Okay…” Gerard was breathing deeply and Frank could feel him relaxing, “you can start now just-“ he cut himself off by taking a sharp intake of breath when Frank pulled his hips back and rocked them forward slightly, “-just slowly.”
Taking a deep breath, Frank started to move his hips again but it was hard for him to get much of a rhythm going with Gerard’s thighs clamping him to the bed and he was refusing to move at all.
Eventually Frank gave up and let go of Gerard’s hips. “Gerard,” he tried not to sound annoyed or ungrateful but this was getting frustrating. He wrapped one of his hands around Gerard’s now flaccid dick and began to slowly stroke it. “Gerard,” Frank tried again, softer this time and with a little more confidence now that his friend was starting to get hard, “I’m doing the best I can down here, baby, but I need you to move too.”
Gerard whimpered and Frank could feel the tension in his thighs let up. He took it as a good sign and started to sit up so he could wrap his other arm around Gerard’s back. He started trying to use that hand to guide Gerard up and down slowly while still stroking his cock.
“Better?” Frank groaned at the feeling of Gerard finally moving.
“I - I don’t think I can do this position.”
Frank felt Gerard clamping up again and tried to resist the urge to just plow through him anyway.
“Here,” Frank sat further upright, so his chest was pressed against Gerard’s stomach, “let’s try a different position. Wrap your legs around me.”
He could feel himself sliding in even deeper when Gerard complied and stifled another moan by pressing his lips against Gerard’s shoulder. Instantly Gerard tensed up again but this time it was different, Frank could feel his friend’s cock twitching against his belly and heard his gasp turn into a moan.
“Feel good?” Frank started to move his hips in small circles again. Gerard was loosening up and would gasp or shudder every time he hit that spot. Frank grinned and let his one hand on Gerard’s back slide down to his ass while the other trailed away from his cock and loosely gripped his long hair. “You like that?” He asked as his lips skimmed over Gerard’s collar bone.
“Oh fuck, keep doing that! Harder!”
Frank started to grind his hips faster while attempting to pull Gerard deeper into his lap. He gave Gerard’s hair a tug and licked up his adam’s apple when his head jerked back. The sound that came out of Gerard’s mouth was entirely animalistic and only spurred Frank on.
“You like feeling me inside you, don’t you?” Gerard started bouncing himself in Frank’s lap, being careful not to go too hard and risk having Frank pull out. “You like feeling me inside you,” Frank repeated through clenched teeth, he growled the words onto Gerard’s chest, “where no one else get’s to go.”
A desperate noise escaped Gerard’s throat as he tried to lean his head forward against Frank’s pulling.
“Say it,” Frank growled before opening his mouth to bite down hard on Gerard’s shoulder.
The older man cried out in pain but only bounced harder in Frank’s lap.
“Say it.”
“I love you inside of me,” Gerard panted as felt himself nearing his orgasm.
Frank let go of his grip in Gerard’s hair and started to pump his cock again. Gerard’s head fell forward and another needy whine escaped him. His arms wrapped desperately around Frank’s torso and his nails started scratching down his back as his body tensed up.
“Frank, shit, I - oh fuck, my ass is yours - I’m gonna cum… I-“
Before he could say anything else, Gerard was blowing his load into Frank’s hand and between their stomachs, his nails dug deep into Frank’s shoulders, and he was clenching so hard Frank thought he was going to pass out. Gerard hadn’t even finished cumming when Frank started. It was mind blowing; his toes curled, his legs shook, and he could see white bursts of light behind his eyes.
When he was spent, Frank fell backwards and stared at the ceiling while he tried to catch his breath, Gerard came tumbling on top of him and waited a long minute before pulling himself off of Frank.
“Jesus-fucking-Christ,” Frank groaned when he remembered how to form words again. “That was-“
“Incredible,” Gerard finished.
They laid there for a long while before both of them had caught their breath. Frank felt pleasantly numb until he remembered the rest of the band downstairs, expecting him to show up.
“Aw, shit,” he mumbled and started trying to sit up. Gerard wouldn’t budge though.
“Where are you going?”
“I told the guys I’d be down,” Frank explained though he wasn’t trying to get up anymore.
“No,” Gerard whined in a sleepy voice, “stay up here and make out with me until I fall asleep.”
Frank laughed. “You really want to make out and cuddle?” He sounded amused.
Gerard buried his face in Frank’s neck. “Mmmhmmm,” he mumbled, “I wasn’t kidding - I really like kissing you.” He moved himself up a little more to kiss Frank’s lips slowly and with feeling. “If I could find a way to show the world how much I like kissing you,” he stated, “I would.”
“If you found a way to do that, without outing us, then I would play along every day for the rest of my life,” Frank replied with a laugh that was cut off by Gerard’s lips covering them once again.
--
The next day the band was driven to their second location to finish the shoot, this time with Bob joining them. On set Brian made it very clear to Marc and his crew that Bob was not to be in any of the shots since he wasn’t technically a member of the band. This meant that Marc had to work with Ray, Mikey, Frank and Gerard for several hours to teach them the art of blocking.
Even though Frank had been in several music videos at this point, he was still surprised at how long the day wore on. He’d figured they’d only have to pretend to play the song three or four times and call it a day. Six hours later and they were still there, still pretending to play, because Marc thought something was missing.
Brian, who had stayed the whole day to make sure it went smoothly, checked his watch and swore. “Okay,” he clapped his hands to draw everyone’s attention between takes. “Marc,” he turned to the director, “we need this to be our last take, these boys have a plane to catch in a few hours that they cannot miss.”
At first Marc tried to protest but he quickly realized that Brian would take the band away after the next take whether he liked it or not.
Everyone get it their all despite going through the same motions all day, most likely because they had been promised their freedom - at least that was Frank’s motivation.
Half way through the song Frank kind of started to get an idea. It wasn’t the most well thought out plan, especially since he’d been yelled at several times for wandering into Gerard’s frame and not doing a good enough job at the blocking, but he decided fuck it - you only live once.
The whole day he’d been thinking about what Gerard had said the night before, that if he could show the world how much he loved kissing Frank then he would. Well Frank had thought up a way all on his own.
Frank started to wander into Gerard’s frame again. He could hear Marc yelling at him to go back but pretended not to over the blaring P.A system. Several times he tried leaning against Gerard, waiting for him to initiate something. Each time though, Gerard would just look at him baffled and try to push him back into his blocking.
At the last chorus, Frank went for it; he grabbed Gerard’s head and tried to turn it toward him. When he felt Gerard resisting, Frank switched to plan B and planted a kiss on Gerard’s temple. He could feel his friend’s arm moving to shove him away and quickly ducked down and jumped back to his blocking position where he stayed stuck to as if he were glued for the last few seconds of the song.
When Marc called cut Frank was still buzzing on adrenaline. He knew he was being a fucking idiot but what better way to be publicly sneaky than to sneak a kiss in a music video about high school social outcasts? Besides, it was maybe two seconds total - Marc probably wouldn’t even use it.
“Uh… Okay,” Brian said and started walking toward the set, “let’s go, guys.” He turned to Marc. “It was an absolute pleasure working with you, do you think you have everything you need?”
“Yeah,” Marc replied with a bemused expression on his face, “I’d say so.”
“Fantastic!” Brian’s face broke out into a genuine grin. “Like a said, it was a pleasure, we’ll have to get you again some time.”
As Brian continued to say his farewells and thanks to the director and crew, Frank started to make his way out of the garage with Gerard and the rest of the band. He was so out of it that he didn’t even notice the shocked and mortified expression that Gerard took a second too long to cover up.
-------------------------------
Whoo this chapter was big! I hope you guys like the way the story is going so far :) I think now my goal, on top of the plot I already have going, is to try and make each story be able to be it's own standalone. It seems to be working out that way so far at least. Anyways... Yeah, I hope you enjoyed it <3