Fic: Joey's Coffee Shop, Frank/Gerard, PG-13
title: Joey's Coffee Shop in the Middle of Winter
pairing: Frank/Gerard
fandom: My Chemical Romance
rating: PG-13
warnings: Excessive fluff, socially inept!Gerard, a few swears, and glitter.
word count: ~2020
summary: Frank had just dug his fork into the last piece of the cake when the door opened again, the loud pinging making him jump as another flurry of snow followed the new arrival inside.
a/n: The first of my new Frank/Gerard fics. Having rediscovered my love for the boys, I have rediscovered the neccessity of this pairing.
Frank Iero’s favourite coffee shop was a five minute walk from his house, which was the main reason why it was his favourite. His best friend worked there too, and Frank got a discount just for that. He had absolutely no reason to go anywhere else for his caffeine fix. He visited Joey’s about three times a day.
"Morning Frank," Ray greeted him as he pushed open the door, the shrill bell ringing through the small room, a few stray snowflakes following him inside. He was immediately hit by the warmth of the place, and by the smell, God, how he loved that smell. It had to be his favourite smell in the world.
"Hi Ray," Frank replied, sliding into a seat at the table closest to the counter. "I’ll have the usual, please, extra hot, it’s freezing out there."
"I gathered that," Ray replied, deadpan, "from the snow and the scarf around your neck. Extra hot, got it."
Frank shot him a grateful smile and began to unwrap his scarf, glancing around the shop. It was almost completely empty, again - Frank felt sorry for this little business, it was the Starbucks around the corner that got most of the trade - with just one other person - an elderly woman who was nearly as regular as Frank - sitting by the window, with her usual black coffee and the day’s paper.
Frank was interrupted from his observing by Ray’s return, with a steaming cup and a slice of chocolate cake.
"The cake’s on the house," he said. "One of the charity reps brought it in this morning as thanks for the fundraising we did. So you’d better enjoy it."
Frank smiled, lifting his cup to his lips. "I will. Thanks man."
Frank had just dug his fork into the last piece of the cake when the door opened again, the loud pinging making him jump as another flurry of snow followed the new arrival inside. His collar was pulled up, his scarf completely obscuring his neck, and his head was bowed, face hidden by a mop of black, snow-specked hair. His hands were buried in the pockets of his long black coat and Frank could hear music blasting from… somewhere on his body. He watched in apparently unnoticed interest as the newcomer approached the counter.
"Gerard, hey," Ray said cheerfully, leaning on his elbows and smiling. "Nice of you to come by."
"I heard Mikey and you talking about business so I thought I’d swing in. Plus, I could not be fucked to walk to Starbucks in this weather just to stand in a queue and get stared at by people. So here I am. I’ll have a large vanilla frappucino, please."
Ray laughed for a second. "Gerard, Starbucks is only round the corner you lazy dick. Besides, it’s much higher rate than here."
"You’re not really selling yourself here Ray," Gerard commented in what sounded like a teasing tone. Ray laughed again, then nodded. He glanced over at Frank out of the corner of his eye.
"Uh, Gerard, I think you might be getting stared at here, too."
Gerard brushed his hair out of his face and looked around. Frank blushed crimson and gave a little smile. Gerard nodded in reply, and turned back to Ray.
"That’s okay," he said, "because he’s a good looking guy and not a girl."
Ray laughed and nodded. "You’re single again then?"
"Would it matter if I was?" Gerard asked, teasing again, then sighed. "But yeah, if you must know, Jake left me for a… Actually, I don’t know what the guy does. Does something better than painting, anyway. And probably gives better blow jobs."
Frank noticed, distantly, the elderly woman looking over in barely-disguised disgust, before finishing her coffee abnormally quickly and leaving the shop with a nod in Ray’s direction. Which just left the three of them.
Gerard took his drink from Ray with a small smile, and headed past Frank’s table to the window seat. Frank watched him for a second, before the reminder that he hadn’t eaten since lunch the day before kicked in.
"Uh, Ray?" he asked, standing up. "Can I have some more cake?"
Ray looked at his empty plate, then shook his head in amusement. "Sometimes, Frank, I don’t know where you put it. This is your last free slice, right? After that, I charge."
Frank fake-swooned. "Oh Ray, you’re too good to me."
Ray snorted. "Come here and get it then."
Frank rested his elbows on the counter and tried really hard not to look at Gerard.
"You actually have another friend apart from me?" he asked in a teasing whisper when Ray brought him his plate. Ray shook his head and punched his arm.
"My friend Mikey, you know, tall, skinny, glasses?" Frank nodded. "That’s his older brother. A bit strange, you know? Kind of a loner."
Frank nodded as he dug his fork into his cake, and turned to face him. The guy was attractive, and Frank had had enough of being shy. He was going to stare openly.
Gerard was staring into his coffee, and Frank could see his teeth digging into his full bottom lip. He had long lashes that Frank could see had mascara on them. His hair was just above shoulder length, and tousled from what Frank could tell was constant pulling at it. And his hands… He’d pulled off his black leather gloves, and Frank could now see his fingers were long and slim and smudged with bright colours; paint. So he was an artist, judging by the splatters on his jeans too. His nails were blunt, bitten short, and the black nail polish was chipped. The bright paint made his pale skin seem even whiter. As he reached up to push a few stray strands of hair out of his face, Frank saw there was a long smear of glitter on his cheekbone.
Ray caught him staring, and poked his arm, before turning towards Gerard himself.
"You want a piece, Gerard?"
Gerard jumped and glanced over, dark eyes wide and… decorated with eyeliner. Make-up and paint and glitter. Shit, Frank liked this guy. This guy was pretty.
"Nah, I’m trying to cut down, y’know? We can’t all eat shit and stay skinny, I’ve still got my puppy fat." He tugged on his stomach and gave Frank a small smile to show he didn’t mean offence, and Frank thought his stomach flipped. Gerard was really fucking cute.
"It’s free," Ray coaxed. "It’s free and from a charity rep."
"And it’s fucking delicious," Frank added, giving him a lopsided grin, and shoving another piece into his mouth. Gerard gave another smile.
"Don’t try to tempt me, I give in far too easily," he laughed. Frank smiled, before approaching, and placing the plate in the middle of the table. Gerard looked at him in surprise, and Frank winked and surprised him even further by dropping into the seat opposite him.
"That tempting enough for you?"
Gerard swallowed audibly. Frank thought he maybe even saw his Adam’s apple move behind the scarf. He looked between Frank and the plate for a few moments, before sitting back, shaking his head. Frank raised an eyebrow, and Gerard nodded. Ray observed the silent exchange - the challenge - with interest.
Frank stabbed another piece with the fork and leant forward, holding it out as far as his arms would reach right in front of Gerard’s face, and just waited. It smelt so good. A brief look of something flashed across Gerard’s face - Frank thought it might be desperation to stay in his resolve - before he crumpled and closed his mouth over the cake.
"Mmm, oh God," he managed to say around his mouthful. He swallowed, and licked his lips, and Frank’s thighs actually fucking twitched at the sight. "That was delicious." He eyed Frank carefully, before he smiled, and held out his hand. "Gerard Way."
Frank took it with his own grin. "Frank Iero."
They didn’t shake, just sat there, holding hands. Frank admired the colours smeared and spattered across Gerard’s skin, and Gerard admired Frank’s face. Then he pulled back, bumping their knees under the table. "Nice to meet you Frank Iero. Can I call you Frankie?"
Frank wanted to cry and laugh all at once. That nickname held lots of memories for him - all of them of high school, none of them good - and he normally hated it with a passion, but in Gerard’s Jersey slur, with the lopsided smile and the cocked eyebrow and the mussed hair and the fucking glitter, he suddenly wanted to change his name to it officially, so he nodded. And since they were now on nickname terms, he decided to put forth his own proposition.
"How about," he said softly, leaning forwards and smiling, "I go back to your place with you and you show me what you were doing that meant you’ve got glitter on your face?"
Gerard gaped at him. Frank waited for a few seconds, before cocking his own eyebrow.
"What? Too forward?"
"A bit forward, yeah," Gerard murmured to his coffee, before looking back up at Frank with big dark eyes through his mascara coated lashes. "But, y’know, forward’s not always so bad. That’s not a bad idea. I’d like that, if you wanted to."
Frank smiled, and stabbed the last piece of cake. "Yeah, I wanna. You look like an artist, and artists are interesting and art’s always awesome and I’d love to see what you were doing with glitter."
His hand was just hovering, and before he could move the fork to his lips, Gerard leaned over and ate it instead. Frank pretended to be shocked, and Gerard laughed.
"There’s plenty to eat at my place," he said softly, lowly, and fuck, Frank’s thighs were twitching again, and he had to clench his teeth to control himself. Gerard had tiny crumbs all over his lips and Frank wanted to lick them off and oh God, this was getting ridiculous. He looked quickly away and rubbed the back of his neck until Gerard stood up.
"Wanna go then?" Frank nodded and got to his own feet. Gerard paused, blushed slightly and then swallowed. "Uh, Frank, I was wondering, maybe - I mean, if you don’t wanna - If you think - If it’s not your thing, I’m kinda - I mean, I want - fuck - I mean I’m trying to say that I’m looking for a model. And I really like your tattoos and I’d love to draw you." His last sentence, after the rambling, seemed to merge together as Gerard tried to get his words out.
Frank looked at him in surprise for a moment, almost gagging on butterflies, and then smiled, wondering how much Gerard would mind if he just hugged him right there because, why, Jesus, why was this man so adorable?
"And that wasn’t too forward?" Frank teased, before nudging Gerard’s side until he looked back up at him. "I’d like that. That sounds cool. I’d love to, if you could stand to look at me that long."
Gerard gave another smile, the biggest one yet, almost beaming at him. "Yeah, y’know, I don’t think that’ll be too much of a problem."
"Great! See you Ray, thanks for the coffee." They turned back to look at Ray, who was watching them in slight amazement because Gerard just didn’t have friends. It wasn’t cruelty, it was a fact, Gerard didn’t make friends, and now it seemed he had a potential boyfriend.
"Bye," Gerard said softly. "If you see Mikey, tell him to go to his own flat, not mine, I’m busy and he knows I hate being interrupted when I’m working."
"See you tomorrow, Frank," Ray replied, staring in happy surprise as Gerard slid his arm around Frank’s shoulders, who was wearing a shit eating grin the size of Britain, surely. "You’ll come back soon, Gerard?"
Oh yeah, Gerard thought as he nodded and walked back out into the snow with his arm around a beautiful young man, every day.