Friends And Alibis
Title: Friends and Alibis.
Author: awful_fall.
Pairing: Frank/Gerard & Brendon/Ryan.
POV: Third.
Summary: Frank, Gerard, Ray and Bob spend their Halloween together, as they’ve done so many years before. This time, however, a few surprises occur, and it all start way too early in the morning.
Disclaimer: Fake. Never happened. Title taken from Escape The Fate’s Friends and Alibis.
Author Notes: This was written for thebigexchange
Warnings: Some failed attempts at humor, but apart from that, nothing really.
Rating: PG.
Word count: 2900-ish
Beta: Ingvild (lykwhoah). Thank you so much. <3
Friends and Alibis.
“HAPPY BIRTHDAY!”
“Dude, Mikey... The hell?” Frank’s voice trailed off into giggles, while he ran his eyes tiredly up and down the awkward figure in front of him. “A unicorn? Okay, so I couldn’t really have expected anything else… but a nerdy unicorn?”
Mikey was indeed dressed as a nerdy unicorn, standing in the doorway to Gerard’s bedroom. He was wearing a white fitted tee with matching hot pants, both items accented in identical swirls of purple glitter. His legs were wrapped delicately in white tights and his feet were covered in white pleather boots. Mikey’s hair was done up in a quiff and his temples were covered in purple stars. And to top it all of, a gold horn was attached to his forehead.
Mikey grinned and looked down at his costume before looking back at Frank and replying, “I had to steal Alicia’s shorts, but the rest of the stuff is all Gerard’s!”
Frank cringed at the thought and turned to look at Gerard, who was snoring lightly into his soft pillow. Despite the situation, Frank felt himself smile at his sleeping boyfriend’s form. He bent forward and gently poked Gerard’s shoulder. It was already noon, and they had the whole day in front of them and Frank wasn’t about to waste anymore of his sixteenth birthday on sleeping.
“God, Gee. Wake up!” Frank muttered as he continued to shake Gerard’s shoulders, each time with a little more force than the last. At last, after what seemed like a lifetime worth of shoving his boyfriend around, Gerard squirmed and squinted up at his boyfriend before closing his eyes once more.
“Mmph... Too early... sleeping... coffee...” Gerard mumbled slowly, snuggling further into his pillow and bringing a hand up to tiredly pet his boyfriend’s knee.
“Dude, your brother’s wearing hot pants, I think it’s time to wake up.” Frank whispered into Gerard’s ear and giggled slightly as he felt Gerard’s body freeze beside him.
“Please tell me that you did not just say that... Hot pants?” Gerard gasped, seemingly wide awake, as he sat up slowly and looked around his dark room.
“Oh GOD!” He shrieked as he laid eyes on his younger brother. “Mikey, cover yourself up!”
“I knew you would like it!” Mikey grinned and swayed his hips as he slowly twirled around.
“Wow, Gee, your brother has your hips!” Frank said in awe, watching Mikey with wide eyes.
“Frank! He’s my brother! Stop looking!” Gerard yelled as he tried to hide his face in the covers.
After a long silence, Mikey sighed and walked over to the bed and placed a tray of food on the nightstand. “I made you breakfast..” He mumbled as he quickly left the room before his cooking skills could be questioned.
Another minute passed before Gerard finally peeked up at Frank and whispered, “Hey, is he gone yet?”
“Yeah.”
“Oh thank fuck, that’s not something a brother needs to see.. ever.” Gerard’s look of horror never seemed to leave his face. Frank giggled and leaned in and kissed his boyfriend’s lips softly.
***
Gerard and Frank were both sitting upright in bed, sipping their steaming coffees. It had been a while since Mikey had left, and they had both sat in silence, eating their food. Mikey had gone quite crazy and prepared so much food that it was actually quite scary. Gerard wondered how long he had planned all this, and if he’d been up all night making everything look.. ‘presentable’.
“Damn, that kid just shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near a toaster. Have you ever seen anything more burnt?” Frank asked as he poked a piece of what looked vaguely like toast.
“It’s actually off limits to him, that toaster landed him in the hospital.” Gerard giggled into his coffee as he looked down at his own piece of burnt ‘toast’.
“I guess I’m not surprised.” Frank looked over at his boyfriend and smiled before taking another sip of his cooling coffee. He hummed in content and went back to eating the skittles that were randomly sprinkled over his plate.
“Hey.” Gerard said after a long silence and grinned at the younger boy. “Happy birthday, babe.” He whispered as he leaned forward to peck Frank gently on the lips.
“You’re such a girl.”
“Yeah, but you love it!”
“Ah, true.”
***
By the time eight o’clock rolled around, both boys were dressed in their costumes and sitting at the kitchen table, waiting for Bob and Ray to arrive. Ever since they were six years old, they had all gone trick-or-treating together. When Gerard was twelve, he refused his parents to accompany them as he thought he was old enough to enter the scary world of Halloween alone with his friends.
It hadn’t worked out, and Gerard’s parent’s had come out with them till Frank was fourteen and proved that he wasn’t scared of little boys dressed of Buzz Lightyear like he had been the year before.
“So, are you boys excited?” Donna asked as she entered the kitchen and went straight to the sink, turning the tap on and scrubbing intently at the dirty cutlery. She was a very neat person and suffered from a light case OCD, but it was fine by her, as long as her house was always clean. ‘It’s only a small flaw, and I mean, there’s nothing wrong with it.. right?’, she would say when questioned about the obsessive cleaning.
Frank giggled and Gerard scowled at him and shook his head at his perverted friend, before answering his mom with a firm no.
“Well, your dad can always join you if you’re worried about being out there by yourselves..” She hinted and a look of concern washed onto her soft features.
“Really, mom, it’s fine. We’re not even going to go trick or treating, we’re just going to go and hide in the old cemetery down the street and scare little children.”
Their conversation continued for a short while and before they knew it, the sky outside had begun to darken and it was nearly time to go out.
Donna prepared a large wooden bowl of candy for the kids and Donald helped. By the end of it all, the table was completely covered in sandwiches, punch, candy and popcorn. The Way’s were usually the ones to host the neighbourhood party because they were probably the most dedicated Halloween followers around.
Just as Frank was about to take a piece of candy from the big bowl that was set out on the table, the doorbell rang, and a faint chorus of ‘trick or treaaaat’ sounded through the house.
“I’ll get it!” Gerard sighed, grabbed the candy and shuffled towards the front door, where the kids were shouting for him to open up.
Gerard hated kids.
“TRICK OR TREAT!” They all squealed as he opened the door, and to be honest, Gerard didn’t feel particularly safe standing in the doorway, surrounded by hyperactive children that were pumped on sugar.
“Okay, okay, there’s enough for everyone.” The children continued to push against him and he immediately thought that he was in a miniature version of a terrifying moshipit.
Gerard wasn’t the one to completely lose himself when he went to concerts, that was more Frank’s scene, and now Gerard was surrounded by squirming children that were pushing him around.
“Come on now, kids, leave the nice girl alone, come on.” An adult stated as she ushered the little devils away from the trembling Gerard. “I love your costume, it’s a shame that girls don’t dress up as girly as they used to.” She sighed and offered Gerard a small smile as she trailed down the driveway and away from the house.
“Hey babe, what took you so long?” Frank asked as Gerard re-entered the kitchen.
“I.. I think a woman just called me a girl...” Gerard frowned and looked down at his costume in confusion. Where could she have gotten that idea from?
“Son, maybe it’s because you’re dressed as a fairy..” Donald said, his eyes not leaving the newspaper he was reading. Apparently something very interesting was going on somewhere in the world.
“Princess! I’m a princess, goddamnit! I thought the sparkly glass shoes would give it away..?” He gasped, pointing to his outfit.
“I thought you were some weird angel.. thing, or something like that.” Frank mumbled and looked closely at Gerard, trying to figure it all out.
“Cinderella? The one with the glass slipper? The pumpkin and the mice? The fairy godmother? Ring any bells?” Gerard asked, thinking that everyone was joking, because seriously, who didn’t know who Cinderella was?
“Ooooh!” Frank drawled, a satisfied smile wiping the confusion of his face. “The one with the twelve dwarves right? Or was it ten?”
Gerard’s mouth opened and closed a couple of times; he had seriously not been expecting that. Wow. Instead of discussing matters further, Gerard decided to sit down quietly and try to wait patiently for the sane people to come.
***
“OH MY GOD, Bob.. Tell me you know who Cinderella is!” Gerard wailed dramatically as he opened the door for his friends. It was silent for a while till both Ray and Bob broke down in laughter. “What?” Gerard demanded, searching his frilly dress for any stains.
“You.. Oh god.. You’re dressed up as.. Cinderella!” Ray finally managed to gasp out between bursts of laughter.
Gerard didn’t see what was so funny about it all, so he stood up defensively and bounced on his foot a little, trying to come up with a witty insult to throw back at them. He flicked at his hair and tried to look like he was bored, but really, he was still thinking of a suitable comeback.
“Well, I think he looks pretty!” Frank called out from behind his boyfriend as he joined his friends in the hallway. “And seriously.. why are you a marshmallow, Bob? And Ray? A clown? I mean, come on.. Throw some originality into it all, man!” Frank stated, his big hand movements distracting everyone from what he was actually saying.
“Originality?” Gerard snorted from beside him. “Frank, this is the fifth year in a row you’re dressed as Robin; look..” He pointed to the costume that was way to tight for Frank’s toned body. “..the pants are like, three inches to short for you, Frank!”
“It is original! I look like a hotter version of the very gay Robin, and also slightly more manly!” Frank looked proud as he dusted imaginary dirt off his shoulders.
“No Frank, you look dumb as hell.” Bob stated very bluntly, brushing past the two of them and heading towards the bathroom.
“Geez, what’s his problem?” Frank scoffed and looked around for a mirror.
“Babe, don’t worry, you don’t look dumb! You look nice.”
“But Gee, I’m not supposed to look nice, I was going for the badass look!” Frank whined and tugged at his costume. “Robin shouldn’t have to stay in Batman’s shadow just because he is gay.. or younger, or anything like that! And Robin wants to have a kickass sign in the sky as well -”
“Frank -”
“- and he wants to be able to be trusted by Batman, but nooooooo, Batman’s always right and blah, blah, fucking BLAH! I rea -”
“FRANK!” Ray interrupted him a second time and stared at him waiting for an explanation.
“I just wanted to make Robin seem more awesome.” Frank muttered, a blush forming on his tanned cheeks, as he looked down in embarrassment.
“Okay, let’s get going before that thing starts babbling again. Seriously, you could at least have given me some time to take a piss.” Bob grumbled as he stormed passed them and into the dark night.
***
“Gerard, there is nothing scary about a guy that lost his tiara in the sea and never found it again. It may have been sad, just maybe, but it was not scary.” Frank said, looking at his boyfriend and sighing.
“Oh yeah?” He sniffed and wiped at a tear in his eye. “I think it’s pretty scary, I would have screamed. But let’s see if you can come up with anything better then!”
“Oh believe me, you’re in for one hell of a ride.” Frank smirked and did a very bad impression of an evil laugh, which in turn made everyone sigh and wait for a story that would possibly be worse than Gerard’s.
“One dark, dark night, two men in their early twenties were walking down the dark alleys of New Jersey. They had just been to a party and were both pretty wasted. They stumbled around in the darkness, not really knowing which direction they were walking in. Suddenly one of the men disappeared, but it took his friend a while to realise. But when he finally did, he noticed where he was. He and his friend must have stumbled into a slaughterhouse, because decaying corpses were hung unceremoniously from the low ceilings. It was only when he heard the distant humming of a chainsaw that he realised that something fishy was going on -”
“Dude, did you just say fishy?” Bob laughed, vibrating slightly on the damp grass in front of an overgrown headstone.
“It’s a gay thing.” Ray whispered and patted Bob’s shoulder.
“HEY!” Gerard gasped, looking offended. “I heard that! Being gay doesn’t make you say crazy things!”
“- anyway.. So he followed the sound further into the slaughter house -”
“Why would he do that? He’s supposed to run, it’s the logical thing to do!” Gerard frowned.
“Dude, Frank’s the one telling the story, there is no logic in it at all.. Why does that surprise you?!” Bob replied, ducking as a piece of grass was thrown at him by a disappointed looking Frank.
“I agree with you Bob..” Ray piped up.
“Fuck you. I was trying to tell you the scariest story ever and you just make fun of the way I tell it.” Frank was frustrated and slightly hurt because his friends didn’t like his story.
“Oh, come on Frank, we want to know what happens. We were just joking around.” Ray protested softly, motioning to the other two who were sitting beside him.
“Yeah, come on. We’re sorry!” Gerard offered, smiling.
”Okay, fine. The guy walks into a room, sees his friend lying on the floor dying.. blah, blah, blah.. then he runs away screaming like a little girl. The end.” Frank didn’t think that they deserved to know what really happened after what they had said.
“Frank.” Bob sighed and flicked a piece of grass back at him.
***
The four guys had been walking through the dark streets for an hour before they finally saw some familiar faces. At first they didn’t recognise the advancing figures, but when they were five metres away from each other, both groups stopped for a while before breaking off into laughter.
“Brendon? Oh my god, is that you?” Gerard squeaked as he took a deep breath, trying to calm himself.
“Shut up man, you’re the one who looks like a freaking drag queen.” Brendon shot back, obviously not happy about his reaction.
After Frank’s story, they had all decided to do some trick or treating, just because it was tradition and Frank would have cried if they didn’t go. So after an hour of that, they were walking back home, just looking at everyone’s costumes and laughing at the little children that tried to scare them.
“Yeah, so Brendon wanted to be embarrassing and decided that he needed to punish me for god knows what, by dressing up as a lumpy pumpkin with a dangerously blinding orange face and black eyebrows. I told him it was creepy, but he’s a stubborn ass.” Ryan joked and put his head on his boyfriend’s shoulder and snaked his arm around his waist, making the costume look even more ridiculous than it already was.
“So I made Ryro dress as a fairy because he made fun of me.” Brendon’s smile lit up his whole face and he looked as triumphant as he’d ever been.
“Aww, well you both look very nice.” Frank nodded towards them and gave a faint smile that looked more like a pained grimace.
“Frankie, what’s wrong?” Gerard asked, concerned at his boyfriends sudden lack of energy. Everything seemed to have drained out of him during the last ten minutes.
“I don’t feel s’good, Gee.” Frank grimaced again as he tried to stretch out of his hunched position.
“Maybe we should get back to my house, let you rest for a little while..” Gerard whispered carefully.
He hated it when Frank was in pain.
***
Frank and Gerard are lying in bed, covered in a Nightmare Before Christmas comforter. Frank had felt so ill that he decided to stay the night instead of walking home.
“Hey.” Gerard says after a long silence and nudges Frank slightly. He has his arm wrapped protectively around the smaller boy and his head is placed in the crook of Frank’s neck. “Happy birthday, Frank.” He whispers and traces small patterns on his stomach.
“Thanks, Gee.”
They turn the lights off after that and Frank falls asleep almost immediately, snoring lightly into Gerard’s hair.
Gerard doesn’t fall asleep; he listens to Frank’s shallow breathing and he smiles in content when he thinks about how this boy is his. Frank is his.
“Frank, I think I love you.”
Author: awful_fall.
Pairing: Frank/Gerard & Brendon/Ryan.
POV: Third.
Summary: Frank, Gerard, Ray and Bob spend their Halloween together, as they’ve done so many years before. This time, however, a few surprises occur, and it all start way too early in the morning.
Disclaimer: Fake. Never happened. Title taken from Escape The Fate’s Friends and Alibis.
Author Notes: This was written for thebigexchange
Warnings: Some failed attempts at humor, but apart from that, nothing really.
Rating: PG.
Word count: 2900-ish
Beta: Ingvild (lykwhoah). Thank you so much. <3
Friends and Alibis.
“HAPPY BIRTHDAY!”
“Dude, Mikey... The hell?” Frank’s voice trailed off into giggles, while he ran his eyes tiredly up and down the awkward figure in front of him. “A unicorn? Okay, so I couldn’t really have expected anything else… but a nerdy unicorn?”
Mikey was indeed dressed as a nerdy unicorn, standing in the doorway to Gerard’s bedroom. He was wearing a white fitted tee with matching hot pants, both items accented in identical swirls of purple glitter. His legs were wrapped delicately in white tights and his feet were covered in white pleather boots. Mikey’s hair was done up in a quiff and his temples were covered in purple stars. And to top it all of, a gold horn was attached to his forehead.
Mikey grinned and looked down at his costume before looking back at Frank and replying, “I had to steal Alicia’s shorts, but the rest of the stuff is all Gerard’s!”
Frank cringed at the thought and turned to look at Gerard, who was snoring lightly into his soft pillow. Despite the situation, Frank felt himself smile at his sleeping boyfriend’s form. He bent forward and gently poked Gerard’s shoulder. It was already noon, and they had the whole day in front of them and Frank wasn’t about to waste anymore of his sixteenth birthday on sleeping.
“God, Gee. Wake up!” Frank muttered as he continued to shake Gerard’s shoulders, each time with a little more force than the last. At last, after what seemed like a lifetime worth of shoving his boyfriend around, Gerard squirmed and squinted up at his boyfriend before closing his eyes once more.
“Mmph... Too early... sleeping... coffee...” Gerard mumbled slowly, snuggling further into his pillow and bringing a hand up to tiredly pet his boyfriend’s knee.
“Dude, your brother’s wearing hot pants, I think it’s time to wake up.” Frank whispered into Gerard’s ear and giggled slightly as he felt Gerard’s body freeze beside him.
“Please tell me that you did not just say that... Hot pants?” Gerard gasped, seemingly wide awake, as he sat up slowly and looked around his dark room.
“Oh GOD!” He shrieked as he laid eyes on his younger brother. “Mikey, cover yourself up!”
“I knew you would like it!” Mikey grinned and swayed his hips as he slowly twirled around.
“Wow, Gee, your brother has your hips!” Frank said in awe, watching Mikey with wide eyes.
“Frank! He’s my brother! Stop looking!” Gerard yelled as he tried to hide his face in the covers.
After a long silence, Mikey sighed and walked over to the bed and placed a tray of food on the nightstand. “I made you breakfast..” He mumbled as he quickly left the room before his cooking skills could be questioned.
Another minute passed before Gerard finally peeked up at Frank and whispered, “Hey, is he gone yet?”
“Yeah.”
“Oh thank fuck, that’s not something a brother needs to see.. ever.” Gerard’s look of horror never seemed to leave his face. Frank giggled and leaned in and kissed his boyfriend’s lips softly.
***
Gerard and Frank were both sitting upright in bed, sipping their steaming coffees. It had been a while since Mikey had left, and they had both sat in silence, eating their food. Mikey had gone quite crazy and prepared so much food that it was actually quite scary. Gerard wondered how long he had planned all this, and if he’d been up all night making everything look.. ‘presentable’.
“Damn, that kid just shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near a toaster. Have you ever seen anything more burnt?” Frank asked as he poked a piece of what looked vaguely like toast.
“It’s actually off limits to him, that toaster landed him in the hospital.” Gerard giggled into his coffee as he looked down at his own piece of burnt ‘toast’.
“I guess I’m not surprised.” Frank looked over at his boyfriend and smiled before taking another sip of his cooling coffee. He hummed in content and went back to eating the skittles that were randomly sprinkled over his plate.
“Hey.” Gerard said after a long silence and grinned at the younger boy. “Happy birthday, babe.” He whispered as he leaned forward to peck Frank gently on the lips.
“You’re such a girl.”
“Yeah, but you love it!”
“Ah, true.”
***
By the time eight o’clock rolled around, both boys were dressed in their costumes and sitting at the kitchen table, waiting for Bob and Ray to arrive. Ever since they were six years old, they had all gone trick-or-treating together. When Gerard was twelve, he refused his parents to accompany them as he thought he was old enough to enter the scary world of Halloween alone with his friends.
It hadn’t worked out, and Gerard’s parent’s had come out with them till Frank was fourteen and proved that he wasn’t scared of little boys dressed of Buzz Lightyear like he had been the year before.
“So, are you boys excited?” Donna asked as she entered the kitchen and went straight to the sink, turning the tap on and scrubbing intently at the dirty cutlery. She was a very neat person and suffered from a light case OCD, but it was fine by her, as long as her house was always clean. ‘It’s only a small flaw, and I mean, there’s nothing wrong with it.. right?’, she would say when questioned about the obsessive cleaning.
Frank giggled and Gerard scowled at him and shook his head at his perverted friend, before answering his mom with a firm no.
“Well, your dad can always join you if you’re worried about being out there by yourselves..” She hinted and a look of concern washed onto her soft features.
“Really, mom, it’s fine. We’re not even going to go trick or treating, we’re just going to go and hide in the old cemetery down the street and scare little children.”
Their conversation continued for a short while and before they knew it, the sky outside had begun to darken and it was nearly time to go out.
Donna prepared a large wooden bowl of candy for the kids and Donald helped. By the end of it all, the table was completely covered in sandwiches, punch, candy and popcorn. The Way’s were usually the ones to host the neighbourhood party because they were probably the most dedicated Halloween followers around.
Just as Frank was about to take a piece of candy from the big bowl that was set out on the table, the doorbell rang, and a faint chorus of ‘trick or treaaaat’ sounded through the house.
“I’ll get it!” Gerard sighed, grabbed the candy and shuffled towards the front door, where the kids were shouting for him to open up.
Gerard hated kids.
“TRICK OR TREAT!” They all squealed as he opened the door, and to be honest, Gerard didn’t feel particularly safe standing in the doorway, surrounded by hyperactive children that were pumped on sugar.
“Okay, okay, there’s enough for everyone.” The children continued to push against him and he immediately thought that he was in a miniature version of a terrifying moshipit.
Gerard wasn’t the one to completely lose himself when he went to concerts, that was more Frank’s scene, and now Gerard was surrounded by squirming children that were pushing him around.
“Come on now, kids, leave the nice girl alone, come on.” An adult stated as she ushered the little devils away from the trembling Gerard. “I love your costume, it’s a shame that girls don’t dress up as girly as they used to.” She sighed and offered Gerard a small smile as she trailed down the driveway and away from the house.
“Hey babe, what took you so long?” Frank asked as Gerard re-entered the kitchen.
“I.. I think a woman just called me a girl...” Gerard frowned and looked down at his costume in confusion. Where could she have gotten that idea from?
“Son, maybe it’s because you’re dressed as a fairy..” Donald said, his eyes not leaving the newspaper he was reading. Apparently something very interesting was going on somewhere in the world.
“Princess! I’m a princess, goddamnit! I thought the sparkly glass shoes would give it away..?” He gasped, pointing to his outfit.
“I thought you were some weird angel.. thing, or something like that.” Frank mumbled and looked closely at Gerard, trying to figure it all out.
“Cinderella? The one with the glass slipper? The pumpkin and the mice? The fairy godmother? Ring any bells?” Gerard asked, thinking that everyone was joking, because seriously, who didn’t know who Cinderella was?
“Ooooh!” Frank drawled, a satisfied smile wiping the confusion of his face. “The one with the twelve dwarves right? Or was it ten?”
Gerard’s mouth opened and closed a couple of times; he had seriously not been expecting that. Wow. Instead of discussing matters further, Gerard decided to sit down quietly and try to wait patiently for the sane people to come.
***
“OH MY GOD, Bob.. Tell me you know who Cinderella is!” Gerard wailed dramatically as he opened the door for his friends. It was silent for a while till both Ray and Bob broke down in laughter. “What?” Gerard demanded, searching his frilly dress for any stains.
“You.. Oh god.. You’re dressed up as.. Cinderella!” Ray finally managed to gasp out between bursts of laughter.
Gerard didn’t see what was so funny about it all, so he stood up defensively and bounced on his foot a little, trying to come up with a witty insult to throw back at them. He flicked at his hair and tried to look like he was bored, but really, he was still thinking of a suitable comeback.
“Well, I think he looks pretty!” Frank called out from behind his boyfriend as he joined his friends in the hallway. “And seriously.. why are you a marshmallow, Bob? And Ray? A clown? I mean, come on.. Throw some originality into it all, man!” Frank stated, his big hand movements distracting everyone from what he was actually saying.
“Originality?” Gerard snorted from beside him. “Frank, this is the fifth year in a row you’re dressed as Robin; look..” He pointed to the costume that was way to tight for Frank’s toned body. “..the pants are like, three inches to short for you, Frank!”
“It is original! I look like a hotter version of the very gay Robin, and also slightly more manly!” Frank looked proud as he dusted imaginary dirt off his shoulders.
“No Frank, you look dumb as hell.” Bob stated very bluntly, brushing past the two of them and heading towards the bathroom.
“Geez, what’s his problem?” Frank scoffed and looked around for a mirror.
“Babe, don’t worry, you don’t look dumb! You look nice.”
“But Gee, I’m not supposed to look nice, I was going for the badass look!” Frank whined and tugged at his costume. “Robin shouldn’t have to stay in Batman’s shadow just because he is gay.. or younger, or anything like that! And Robin wants to have a kickass sign in the sky as well -”
“Frank -”
“- and he wants to be able to be trusted by Batman, but nooooooo, Batman’s always right and blah, blah, fucking BLAH! I rea -”
“FRANK!” Ray interrupted him a second time and stared at him waiting for an explanation.
“I just wanted to make Robin seem more awesome.” Frank muttered, a blush forming on his tanned cheeks, as he looked down in embarrassment.
“Okay, let’s get going before that thing starts babbling again. Seriously, you could at least have given me some time to take a piss.” Bob grumbled as he stormed passed them and into the dark night.
***
“Gerard, there is nothing scary about a guy that lost his tiara in the sea and never found it again. It may have been sad, just maybe, but it was not scary.” Frank said, looking at his boyfriend and sighing.
“Oh yeah?” He sniffed and wiped at a tear in his eye. “I think it’s pretty scary, I would have screamed. But let’s see if you can come up with anything better then!”
“Oh believe me, you’re in for one hell of a ride.” Frank smirked and did a very bad impression of an evil laugh, which in turn made everyone sigh and wait for a story that would possibly be worse than Gerard’s.
“One dark, dark night, two men in their early twenties were walking down the dark alleys of New Jersey. They had just been to a party and were both pretty wasted. They stumbled around in the darkness, not really knowing which direction they were walking in. Suddenly one of the men disappeared, but it took his friend a while to realise. But when he finally did, he noticed where he was. He and his friend must have stumbled into a slaughterhouse, because decaying corpses were hung unceremoniously from the low ceilings. It was only when he heard the distant humming of a chainsaw that he realised that something fishy was going on -”
“Dude, did you just say fishy?” Bob laughed, vibrating slightly on the damp grass in front of an overgrown headstone.
“It’s a gay thing.” Ray whispered and patted Bob’s shoulder.
“HEY!” Gerard gasped, looking offended. “I heard that! Being gay doesn’t make you say crazy things!”
“- anyway.. So he followed the sound further into the slaughter house -”
“Why would he do that? He’s supposed to run, it’s the logical thing to do!” Gerard frowned.
“Dude, Frank’s the one telling the story, there is no logic in it at all.. Why does that surprise you?!” Bob replied, ducking as a piece of grass was thrown at him by a disappointed looking Frank.
“I agree with you Bob..” Ray piped up.
“Fuck you. I was trying to tell you the scariest story ever and you just make fun of the way I tell it.” Frank was frustrated and slightly hurt because his friends didn’t like his story.
“Oh, come on Frank, we want to know what happens. We were just joking around.” Ray protested softly, motioning to the other two who were sitting beside him.
“Yeah, come on. We’re sorry!” Gerard offered, smiling.
”Okay, fine. The guy walks into a room, sees his friend lying on the floor dying.. blah, blah, blah.. then he runs away screaming like a little girl. The end.” Frank didn’t think that they deserved to know what really happened after what they had said.
“Frank.” Bob sighed and flicked a piece of grass back at him.
***
The four guys had been walking through the dark streets for an hour before they finally saw some familiar faces. At first they didn’t recognise the advancing figures, but when they were five metres away from each other, both groups stopped for a while before breaking off into laughter.
“Brendon? Oh my god, is that you?” Gerard squeaked as he took a deep breath, trying to calm himself.
“Shut up man, you’re the one who looks like a freaking drag queen.” Brendon shot back, obviously not happy about his reaction.
After Frank’s story, they had all decided to do some trick or treating, just because it was tradition and Frank would have cried if they didn’t go. So after an hour of that, they were walking back home, just looking at everyone’s costumes and laughing at the little children that tried to scare them.
“Yeah, so Brendon wanted to be embarrassing and decided that he needed to punish me for god knows what, by dressing up as a lumpy pumpkin with a dangerously blinding orange face and black eyebrows. I told him it was creepy, but he’s a stubborn ass.” Ryan joked and put his head on his boyfriend’s shoulder and snaked his arm around his waist, making the costume look even more ridiculous than it already was.
“So I made Ryro dress as a fairy because he made fun of me.” Brendon’s smile lit up his whole face and he looked as triumphant as he’d ever been.
“Aww, well you both look very nice.” Frank nodded towards them and gave a faint smile that looked more like a pained grimace.
“Frankie, what’s wrong?” Gerard asked, concerned at his boyfriends sudden lack of energy. Everything seemed to have drained out of him during the last ten minutes.
“I don’t feel s’good, Gee.” Frank grimaced again as he tried to stretch out of his hunched position.
“Maybe we should get back to my house, let you rest for a little while..” Gerard whispered carefully.
He hated it when Frank was in pain.
***
Frank and Gerard are lying in bed, covered in a Nightmare Before Christmas comforter. Frank had felt so ill that he decided to stay the night instead of walking home.
“Hey.” Gerard says after a long silence and nudges Frank slightly. He has his arm wrapped protectively around the smaller boy and his head is placed in the crook of Frank’s neck. “Happy birthday, Frank.” He whispers and traces small patterns on his stomach.
“Thanks, Gee.”
They turn the lights off after that and Frank falls asleep almost immediately, snoring lightly into Gerard’s hair.
Gerard doesn’t fall asleep; he listens to Frank’s shallow breathing and he smiles in content when he thinks about how this boy is his. Frank is his.
“Frank, I think I love you.”