For the shortest chapter, this is the biggest one.
Title: Married With Teenagers Ch.8
Author: opoloko_gerardx
Pairing: Bert/Gerard
Rating: R
POV: third person, switches between focusing on Bert and Gerard
Disclaimer: This isn't real. I don't own them. Don't sue.
Summary: Gerard is a quiet artist who lives with his divorced mom. Bert is a loud kid who doesn't know who he is and lives with his lonely dad. When their parents get married they are forced to live together. But along with their hatred they may find some other emotions....
Prompt: Stressed
Previous chapters under the cut.
Chapter One: You Got Married?!
Chapter Two: School?
Chapter Three: Why Are You Doing This?
Chapter Four: Not Friends, I Know
Chapter Five: He Hated Him and That Was That
Chapter Six: It Meant Nothing
Chapter Seven: It's Not Natural
Bert
Bert sat, slumped over his desk. The pencil in his hand was tapping quickly on the paper before him, matching the beat of his foot on the floor. The incessant sound was driving him crazy but he couldn’t bring himself to stop. There was so much to think about and tapping things almost seemed to let thoughts slowly leave his mind.
The paper was completely blank, all white. His intention had been to write some new songs, hoping that all the emotions he was feeling would make for good lyrics. Unfortunately, since he didn’t know what any of those emotions were he wasn’t getting anywhere and it was quite clear that he wasn’t going to.
Finally, he couldn’t take the tapping of his pencil anymore and threw it across the room. He leaned back in his hair, sighing and pushing the chair so it was balancing on the two back legs. This caused the whole thing to tip over, causing to Bert to land painfully on his back. Grumbling, he got to his feet and went to the bed. Maybe a nap would help him relax and calm down.
The pillow was cool when it touched his face. It was a nice feeling. He wrapped the blankets around him, loving how they made him feel safe, protected from the world. It was as if the blankets barred out all the bad things and it comforted him. That is, until the pillow began to grow warm and the blankets caused him to sweat slightly. He couldn’t sleep which meant that his world of comfort crumbled around him. He let out a frustrated sigh and sat up, crossing his arms in hope that maybe it would help him figure out what to do.
Before he even had any ideas there was knocking on his door. He probably should have asked who it was before letting them come in but his mind wasn’t working right so he just opened the door. Looking down when he saw who it was, he gestured to his bed. Gerard walked over and sat down, shutting the door behind him. Neither of them said anything for a while and then, “I just…wanted to thank you. For what you did today.”
Bert frowned, feeling that incredible guilt come over him again. “No, don’t. I started the whole thing in the first place.”
“I know. But still, you didn’t have to stick up for me like that.”
“Yes, I did,” he whispered so quietly that Gerard could barely hear him. He walked over to the wall and leaned against it, looking down at the floor. “They were asking me questions and stuff,” he said quietly, refusing to look at Gerard. “I didn’t know what to say. I just ended up lying to them about you.”
“What did you say?” Gerard didn’t sound accusing, which surprised Bert enough to look up at him.
“Um…. Just, you know, I told them you do stuff that you don’t do.” He watched Gerard nod. “I’m really…sorry.” Gerard’s eyes widened. He’d never known Bert to apologize to anyone before. “For everything. I wish I could say I never meant to hurt you but I’d be lying.”
Gerard nodded and just sat there for a minute, taking in everything Bert had just said. “So…what do we do now?”
Sighing, Bert shook his head. “I don’t know.”
“We…. We had sex, Bert,” Gerard said as if he still couldn’t believe it.
“I know.”
“And that’s not even the important thing.”
“What do you mean?”
“That, you know, sort of made sense. It was just…physical attraction. It was only our bodies, not our minds.”
Bert nodded his agreement. He’d never thought of it that way.
“But when we….” Gerard didn’t finish his sentence so Bert did it for him.
“When we kissed it messed everything up.”
“Yeah.” Gerard looked down at his hands, which were sitting on his lap. Bert watched him instinctively tuck his bottom lip between his teeth. “I guess we just…need to know if there’s anything there.”
“There can’t be anything there: we’re stepbrothers! And I’m not gay!” Gerard gave him an annoyed look so he added, “Or bi.”
“You seriously can’t still be in denial. Grow up, Bert!”
“I’m not in denial! I’m straight, I swear! I know it seems weird, but it’s true. You’re the only guy I’ve ever been attracted to and I still like girls.”
Gerard sighed. “This is all just so fucked up.”
“What will our parents think?”
Gerard’s eyes shot up to look at Bert. “They won’t think anything because they’re never going to know.”
“I know that. Trust me, I’m not about to walk up to my dad and say, ‘Guess what! I fucked my stepbrother!’ No, that wouldn’t go over well. And my guess is, as cool as your mom is with you being gay, she probably wouldn’t be thrilled either.”
“No. We’d both end up in counseling for the rest of our lives.”
“Which would be significantly shorter because our parents would probably go insane and kill us.”
“So they’re not finding out about it. No one is. Ever.”
“Right. But what is ‘it’?” Bert sounded distressed.
“I don’t know! You tell me: what are we?”
“Why would I know any better than you do? We’re stepbrothers; that’s all I’ve got. ‘We’ can’t be anything but stepbrothers.”
“Well, it’s easy enough to say it but we can’t just make it that way if that’s not the way it is!”
“I have no idea what you just said. I’m confused enough already without you making it worse.”
“I just mean that if there is something there, you know, between us, then we can’t just push it aside forever. Even when we move on with our lives it’ll always be there, whatever it is.”
“Well, how do you know if there even is anything between us?”
“I don’t, that’s the problem! Neither one of us do. And I don’t know how to find out.”
“I think there’s really only one way to find out, Gerard.”
Gerard sighed and nodded, standing up and walking over to where Bert was leaning against the wall. Bert could see how uneasy he was so he touched the side of his neck softly, guiding him forward. They kissed very gently and Bert was surprised that it was Gerard who leaned in closer to deepen it.
The stepbrothers broke apart and Gerard took a step back. “So, uh…what do you think?”
^^^^^^^^^^
Gerard
“I-I….” Bert groaned and let himself sink to the floor. “I don’t fucking know!”
Gerard wanted to hit him then. Everything was just so frustrating and he needed to take it out on someone. And who better to take out all that anger on than the person who caused it?
“This is all your fault,” Bert mumbled angrily, immediately getting Gerard's attention.
“My fault? How the fuck is this my fault?”
“You moved here! If you’d just stayed in New Jersey none of this would’ve ever happened!”
“Well, if your dad had stayed here in the first place, he never would’ve met my mom and I could’ve stayed in New Jersey! As it was, I didn’t have any choice. Besides, you’re the one who keeps screwing things up.”
Bert stood up from his spot on the floor. “I’m screwing things up?”
“Yeah, you are!”
“Oh, and how is that?”
Gerard was yelling now. “You’re the one who woke me up that night! We never would have done…any of that if you’d just left me alone! And you kissed me!”
“I couldn’t help it! You were just lying there, looking all peaceful, and I was just so fucking mad at you!”
“Oh, so it’s my fault that I was sleeping and made you mad?”
“It sounds stupid if you say it like that.”
“It sounds stupid anyway!”
“Well, that’s the way it happened!”
“Why were you even mad at me? From what I remember, I’ve never done anything to you! It’s always been you being shitty to me!”
“I was mad at you for doing this to me!”
“Doing what?”
“Making me love you!” Bert’s eyes grew wide and he had his hand over his mouth in shock of what he’d just screamed.
Gerard had stopped breathing, which he didn’t notice until his lungs hurt and he could feel his heartbeat pounding in his whole body. “W-What?”
“I…. Holy fuck….”
“Did…. Did you say…?”
Bert sat down again, eyes still wide. “Yeah. Yeah, I think I did.”
This time it was Gerard’s turn to sit on the floor and say, “Holy fuck.” This couldn’t be happening. This seriously couldn’t be fucking happening! That was way more complicated than he’d anticipated. He’d figured, you know, maybe they might just have gotten too used to being around each other or something. This was way more than he’d thought.
What could they possibly do about this? This was a bad situation, a very bad thing. It created even more problems than they’d had before. School would be harder now, being at home would be harder now, hating each other would be harder…. And, no doubt about it, they’d probably still hate each other.
Gerard sighed and began to rub his temples in hope that it would help to make his head stop hurting. Well, it hurt before. Now it was more like a steady throb. He was pretty sure that it was one of the worst pains he’d ever had to endure in his whole life.
He looked up to see how Bert was doing. Basically, he looked exactly the same as he had at first. His eyes were still as wide as possible and his mouth was hanging open slightly. Staring into space, he appeared to be deep in thought.
That was it. Gerard just couldn’t deal with this right now. He had to get away. He needed to leave. This was impossible and he hated the whole thing. Standing up quickly, he moved towards the door, arm stretched towards the doorknob.
“Gerard.” Bert’s voice was unexpected. He turned slowly to look at him. “I love you,” he said quietly.
“I love you too.” And with that Gerard ran from the room, slamming the door behind him.
Author: opoloko_gerardx
Pairing: Bert/Gerard
Rating: R
POV: third person, switches between focusing on Bert and Gerard
Disclaimer: This isn't real. I don't own them. Don't sue.
Summary: Gerard is a quiet artist who lives with his divorced mom. Bert is a loud kid who doesn't know who he is and lives with his lonely dad. When their parents get married they are forced to live together. But along with their hatred they may find some other emotions....
Prompt: Stressed
Previous chapters under the cut.
Chapter One: You Got Married?!
Chapter Two: School?
Chapter Three: Why Are You Doing This?
Chapter Four: Not Friends, I Know
Chapter Five: He Hated Him and That Was That
Chapter Six: It Meant Nothing
Chapter Seven: It's Not Natural
Bert
Bert sat, slumped over his desk. The pencil in his hand was tapping quickly on the paper before him, matching the beat of his foot on the floor. The incessant sound was driving him crazy but he couldn’t bring himself to stop. There was so much to think about and tapping things almost seemed to let thoughts slowly leave his mind.
The paper was completely blank, all white. His intention had been to write some new songs, hoping that all the emotions he was feeling would make for good lyrics. Unfortunately, since he didn’t know what any of those emotions were he wasn’t getting anywhere and it was quite clear that he wasn’t going to.
Finally, he couldn’t take the tapping of his pencil anymore and threw it across the room. He leaned back in his hair, sighing and pushing the chair so it was balancing on the two back legs. This caused the whole thing to tip over, causing to Bert to land painfully on his back. Grumbling, he got to his feet and went to the bed. Maybe a nap would help him relax and calm down.
The pillow was cool when it touched his face. It was a nice feeling. He wrapped the blankets around him, loving how they made him feel safe, protected from the world. It was as if the blankets barred out all the bad things and it comforted him. That is, until the pillow began to grow warm and the blankets caused him to sweat slightly. He couldn’t sleep which meant that his world of comfort crumbled around him. He let out a frustrated sigh and sat up, crossing his arms in hope that maybe it would help him figure out what to do.
Before he even had any ideas there was knocking on his door. He probably should have asked who it was before letting them come in but his mind wasn’t working right so he just opened the door. Looking down when he saw who it was, he gestured to his bed. Gerard walked over and sat down, shutting the door behind him. Neither of them said anything for a while and then, “I just…wanted to thank you. For what you did today.”
Bert frowned, feeling that incredible guilt come over him again. “No, don’t. I started the whole thing in the first place.”
“I know. But still, you didn’t have to stick up for me like that.”
“Yes, I did,” he whispered so quietly that Gerard could barely hear him. He walked over to the wall and leaned against it, looking down at the floor. “They were asking me questions and stuff,” he said quietly, refusing to look at Gerard. “I didn’t know what to say. I just ended up lying to them about you.”
“What did you say?” Gerard didn’t sound accusing, which surprised Bert enough to look up at him.
“Um…. Just, you know, I told them you do stuff that you don’t do.” He watched Gerard nod. “I’m really…sorry.” Gerard’s eyes widened. He’d never known Bert to apologize to anyone before. “For everything. I wish I could say I never meant to hurt you but I’d be lying.”
Gerard nodded and just sat there for a minute, taking in everything Bert had just said. “So…what do we do now?”
Sighing, Bert shook his head. “I don’t know.”
“We…. We had sex, Bert,” Gerard said as if he still couldn’t believe it.
“I know.”
“And that’s not even the important thing.”
“What do you mean?”
“That, you know, sort of made sense. It was just…physical attraction. It was only our bodies, not our minds.”
Bert nodded his agreement. He’d never thought of it that way.
“But when we….” Gerard didn’t finish his sentence so Bert did it for him.
“When we kissed it messed everything up.”
“Yeah.” Gerard looked down at his hands, which were sitting on his lap. Bert watched him instinctively tuck his bottom lip between his teeth. “I guess we just…need to know if there’s anything there.”
“There can’t be anything there: we’re stepbrothers! And I’m not gay!” Gerard gave him an annoyed look so he added, “Or bi.”
“You seriously can’t still be in denial. Grow up, Bert!”
“I’m not in denial! I’m straight, I swear! I know it seems weird, but it’s true. You’re the only guy I’ve ever been attracted to and I still like girls.”
Gerard sighed. “This is all just so fucked up.”
“What will our parents think?”
Gerard’s eyes shot up to look at Bert. “They won’t think anything because they’re never going to know.”
“I know that. Trust me, I’m not about to walk up to my dad and say, ‘Guess what! I fucked my stepbrother!’ No, that wouldn’t go over well. And my guess is, as cool as your mom is with you being gay, she probably wouldn’t be thrilled either.”
“No. We’d both end up in counseling for the rest of our lives.”
“Which would be significantly shorter because our parents would probably go insane and kill us.”
“So they’re not finding out about it. No one is. Ever.”
“Right. But what is ‘it’?” Bert sounded distressed.
“I don’t know! You tell me: what are we?”
“Why would I know any better than you do? We’re stepbrothers; that’s all I’ve got. ‘We’ can’t be anything but stepbrothers.”
“Well, it’s easy enough to say it but we can’t just make it that way if that’s not the way it is!”
“I have no idea what you just said. I’m confused enough already without you making it worse.”
“I just mean that if there is something there, you know, between us, then we can’t just push it aside forever. Even when we move on with our lives it’ll always be there, whatever it is.”
“Well, how do you know if there even is anything between us?”
“I don’t, that’s the problem! Neither one of us do. And I don’t know how to find out.”
“I think there’s really only one way to find out, Gerard.”
Gerard sighed and nodded, standing up and walking over to where Bert was leaning against the wall. Bert could see how uneasy he was so he touched the side of his neck softly, guiding him forward. They kissed very gently and Bert was surprised that it was Gerard who leaned in closer to deepen it.
The stepbrothers broke apart and Gerard took a step back. “So, uh…what do you think?”
^^^^^^^^^^
Gerard
“I-I….” Bert groaned and let himself sink to the floor. “I don’t fucking know!”
Gerard wanted to hit him then. Everything was just so frustrating and he needed to take it out on someone. And who better to take out all that anger on than the person who caused it?
“This is all your fault,” Bert mumbled angrily, immediately getting Gerard's attention.
“My fault? How the fuck is this my fault?”
“You moved here! If you’d just stayed in New Jersey none of this would’ve ever happened!”
“Well, if your dad had stayed here in the first place, he never would’ve met my mom and I could’ve stayed in New Jersey! As it was, I didn’t have any choice. Besides, you’re the one who keeps screwing things up.”
Bert stood up from his spot on the floor. “I’m screwing things up?”
“Yeah, you are!”
“Oh, and how is that?”
Gerard was yelling now. “You’re the one who woke me up that night! We never would have done…any of that if you’d just left me alone! And you kissed me!”
“I couldn’t help it! You were just lying there, looking all peaceful, and I was just so fucking mad at you!”
“Oh, so it’s my fault that I was sleeping and made you mad?”
“It sounds stupid if you say it like that.”
“It sounds stupid anyway!”
“Well, that’s the way it happened!”
“Why were you even mad at me? From what I remember, I’ve never done anything to you! It’s always been you being shitty to me!”
“I was mad at you for doing this to me!”
“Doing what?”
“Making me love you!” Bert’s eyes grew wide and he had his hand over his mouth in shock of what he’d just screamed.
Gerard had stopped breathing, which he didn’t notice until his lungs hurt and he could feel his heartbeat pounding in his whole body. “W-What?”
“I…. Holy fuck….”
“Did…. Did you say…?”
Bert sat down again, eyes still wide. “Yeah. Yeah, I think I did.”
This time it was Gerard’s turn to sit on the floor and say, “Holy fuck.” This couldn’t be happening. This seriously couldn’t be fucking happening! That was way more complicated than he’d anticipated. He’d figured, you know, maybe they might just have gotten too used to being around each other or something. This was way more than he’d thought.
What could they possibly do about this? This was a bad situation, a very bad thing. It created even more problems than they’d had before. School would be harder now, being at home would be harder now, hating each other would be harder…. And, no doubt about it, they’d probably still hate each other.
Gerard sighed and began to rub his temples in hope that it would help to make his head stop hurting. Well, it hurt before. Now it was more like a steady throb. He was pretty sure that it was one of the worst pains he’d ever had to endure in his whole life.
He looked up to see how Bert was doing. Basically, he looked exactly the same as he had at first. His eyes were still as wide as possible and his mouth was hanging open slightly. Staring into space, he appeared to be deep in thought.
That was it. Gerard just couldn’t deal with this right now. He had to get away. He needed to leave. This was impossible and he hated the whole thing. Standing up quickly, he moved towards the door, arm stretched towards the doorknob.
“Gerard.” Bert’s voice was unexpected. He turned slowly to look at him. “I love you,” he said quietly.
“I love you too.” And with that Gerard ran from the room, slamming the door behind him.