(no subject)
Title: This Book Is All Lies
Author: Emelie
Pairing: Gerard/Frank (eventually)
Rating: PG-13/R (for close to death experience-thing)
Summary: One day a new guy shows up, and changes everything.
Note: I own nothing of this, not even the plot. It’s based on Peter Pohl’s wonderful book “Janne, Min Vän” (Go read it! The English title is “Johnny, my friend”) Nothing will ever come up to the greatness of that book, this story will just hide in the shadows while the original shines. Thanks to forever_drownin for beta <3
one
Gerard always came and went from the skate park when he wanted to. He hated schedules, he hated to feel that he was bound to something, that's why he took his freedom to come and go when he wanted to. Some days he didn't show up at all, and others he were there long before the rest of you came from school. He called it his freedom, but sometimes you thought it was his prison. You all had to accept it, there were nothing you could do to change him. He did as he wanted and he had his freedom, or whatever it was. And he held his distance, always an invisible distance that almost was impossible to make out. But it was there, clearly visible for those who know what to look after.
He could be sitting on the ground with Mike, fixing his skateboard. Gerard was really good at fixing things that was broken. If it just made contact with him and his tools everything was possible.
This special day Mike had just got his first skateboard. He was shining, a happy yellow light around the little kid. He was still a child, only ten years old. The only reason he was in the gang was because he was Tim's little brother and Tim was the unconfirmed leader of the gang. And now he had got his first skateboard, an old piece that he had taken over from his brother, and the first thing that evil board does is lose one of its wheels. Mike fell on the ground and hurt his knee and he cried and everything was miserable.
Immature middle-age teenage guys have a hard time not to laugh at a moment like that. But Gerard, he put his arm around the kid, said that everything will be fine and that he'll fix this before Mike even have time to say "please Gerard, help me".
And he did. That's why Mike was shining with a happy yellow glow, and that's why he threw his arms around the older boy's neck and hugged him and said "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" But he hadn't even started his thanking before Gerard was standing on the other side of the small asphalt ground. His hazel eyes mirroring the happy yellow halo around Mike, but in his eyes the yellow turns into a dangerous flash . If Mike wasn't just a kid, if he had been one size bigger, he would be lying on the ground now, put there by the force of Gerard's fist. But you can't hit those who are younger and especially not those who can't defend themselves.
That's why Mike can escape.
Just because Gerard needed his distance and his freedom.
*
Every Wednesday the gang went swimming. Not of any particular reason, just for the sake of variety.
Of course you asked Gerard if he wanted to come with you to the public baths when that time came. He answered "Nooo..." and "Naahh..:" and at least five other variations of the easy word "no", without getting out if he really meant no or not.
That kind of answer screamed for speculations about if Gerard could swim or not. Steve was, and is also for that matter, an expert of making fun of people, so Gerard got to hear a few poisoned words from him about water.
Gerard's face got even paler than usual as he stared at Steve and told him that he could swim, all the way to Europe if he had to.
"So why don't you want to come with us?"
"It's not fun to swim in a tub."
"What's wrong with that?"
"It's nothing like the sea."
"Have you ever tried?" You had never seen the sea, nor had Steve. That's what it is to live in the middle of the country and not have money to go on sunny summer holidays.
"Y-y-y-yes I have!"
You wanted to turn your head away from the discussion in front of you and just go home and read a book. The first sign that things were going to hell had showed, Gerard had started stammering and that was a sure sign that he was going to be angry. And this argument had nowhere to go.
They had their argument going for almost 15 minutes, not getting anywhere. The most constructive that happened was Steve wanting to force Gerard into the closest bathtub. But when you had wished this to end for at least a million times, Gerard suddenly got out his best argument this far.
"I'm a-a-a-allergic to the chlorine."
"I bet you are, it probably take away all the colour you have in your face."
At the comment Gerard exploded, his fist hitting Steve hard in the middle of the face, causing his nose to look like a scarlet fountain.
The second later he flew away on his bike, red lightnings of anger shooting from him.
*
There were some older guys that often hung around the skate park too. Probably they weren't that old, probably around 19, but you always thought of them as really old. They were all dead serious about their skating, something that the guys in the gang weren't. You just did everything for fun. Maybe that's why they seemed so old? You mostly kept out of their way, not wanting to disturb their important practising. And as long as it was like that it was all good.
One of those guys had as his biggest hobby to pick on everyone that was smaller than him though. And that wasn't hard to be - he was tall and muscular. You don't remember his name, but you think it was Green-something.
Greenwood, Greenleight, Greenday?
Anyway, obviously this Greenfrog didn't know Gerard, he just saw him as a perfect victim for his picking obsession. It was Gerard's girl face that caused this trouble. Green laughed one time too much. Laughed too loud. And besides, Gerard was just a little kid that should be home playing with his dolls.
At that comment Gerard tore his eyes away from you, where you had seen a quiet fire start to burn deep inside his black pupils. Your first excpectation was that he would abandon the bike he was half sitting on and jump Greenwood with all his claws out. But he just made sure his feet were standing steady on the ground.
"Why do you, who are so big, care about us normal sized people?" he said, looking at the sky. His voice sounded like he was stabbing Greenfrog with a poisoned needle. But Green just laughed even more and pointed out that Gerard should be home sleeping now. Wouldn't his mommy get worried?
No, because Gerard's mom didn't get worried, if he could get that into his thick, green head.
The conversation went on like that for a while. You only listened with a half ear at their immature exchange of words. The sound behind you told you that the rest of the gang also had lost interest and had started skating again.
"No, I can't," Gerard said flatly, "because that's fucking impossible."
"I did," Greenfrog said convincingly.
"With your fat ass the bike would have broke after the first step."
At that point you understood that they were talking about cycling down the steep stairs that led down from the from the skate park to a street on the left side. The park was placed on a hill with good ways of getting in and out in every direction but that. There was only the stairs that someone had built around the ice age. It was 60 steps in five sections, with 12 steps in each section.
You had an obsession with counting steps in stairs when you were little and you had a good memory, ok?
You doubted that any of the steps were intact nowadays. No one could ride a bike there.
"I did before you even knew what a bike was," Greenwood said.
"Show me if you're so good at it."
"I would love to, but I have to borrow your bike."
That was the line to what Gerard could take. His bike was precious to him and he would never let any green monster destroy it.
Green said that he was a chicken and that he was just afraid to lose.
Gerard pointed out that he wasn't a chicken at all, he was just caring about his bike. Green said that Gerard should make the ride down himself to show he wasn't a chicken.
"That's impossible."
"I did it."
"How much do I get?"
"One dollar."
"One dollar for my life! I want 20, at least."
That made the Greenfrog turn into a white frog. You could tell just by looking at him that money wasn't his best side. 20 dollars was probably more than he earned in a month.
"Five," he tried.
"Ten, and that's my last offer."
"Okay, ten."
You stared in horror at the big green monster and the small Snow White. They just stared obstinately at each other, none of them was going to lose this.
This was your first lesson in that life around Gerard more or less often turned into a play with death.
*
Gerard was standing with one leg on each side of his BMX. His red lips moved slowly, like he was repeating to himself how he was going to do this, over and over.
You were standing a few feet away with the rest of the gang. Everyone was quiet, a strong quietness that told Gerard that you believed in him. To your left stood Greenfrog, looking as secure as you did, but for the opposite reason.
Gerard sat up on his bike and began his ride to hell. Slowly he took the bike down to the next step, carefully not letting the wheels move an inch more than he wanted them too. You followed him, keeping a secure distance so you wouldn't get in the way of the working genius.
He kept this up for the two first sections, but at the third his speed began to rise. At the end of the third section he wasn't able to take one wheel down at the time. It was the bike that had the control now, and by showing it's control the front wheel broke.
His speed was getting higher and higher. At the fifth section the Greenfrog actually started to look green. How tough he ever had been before, he didn't want anything too bad to happen.
The street got closer and closer in a speed that was far to high to be healthy. If Gerard would be able to look up from his deep concentration at the bike he would see that. He would also see that before the street was an iron railing that he was cycling right into. But he couldn't do that if he wanted to have any control at all over the bike. A bike that now also had a broken back wheel that was trying its best too look rectangular.
But you saw all this, and you also saw that a bus was coming in high speed down the street. The bus with the number 55.
Suddenly Gerard was at the bottom of the last section. You didn't want to look anymore, this was worse than any scary movie you had ever seen. But you couldn't close your eyes and you couldn't look away.
Seconds before the bike collided with the iron railing Gerard left the bike and flew over the railing, making himself into a ball that landed on the street to the sound of the bus' screaming brakes. He rolled a few feet over the road, staying right in front of the bus. You could swear that the whole gang were holding their breaths at that moment, waiting for any sign of life from the street.
Suddenly the front door of the bus opened and the driver rushed out of the bus. With a few long steps he was standing in front of the ball. At the same time the ball stretched out a leg.
From your spot half way down the stairs you couldn't hear what was being said at the street, but you could clearly make out the first worried expression in the bus drivers movements, that changed to anger as he talked to Gerard. He found out that the person in front of him wasn't hurt, not at all. He was just something disturbing, black that had fallen down from the sky in front of his bus, just to make him late.
Gerard got up on the sidewalk again, examining his bike with a worried expression much like the bus driver’s a while before. But his expression didn't change. If anything was in need of serious nursing it was that bike. At that time the whole gang plus Greenfrog was with him at the sidewalk.
There were random cheers from the gang about what a hero Gerard was. That was ten points. Ten points! The point system was something we had invented a while back, we gave everything points. Mostly things that people did, but it could be other things too. But now Gerard had made something that gave him ten points, and that wasn't often that high grade was given for anything.
Greenfrog just gave him his ten dollars and stalked away.
I have the worst exam tomorrow so please make me happy and comment! =P
Author: Emelie
Pairing: Gerard/Frank (eventually)
Rating: PG-13/R (for close to death experience-thing)
Summary: One day a new guy shows up, and changes everything.
Note: I own nothing of this, not even the plot. It’s based on Peter Pohl’s wonderful book “Janne, Min Vän” (Go read it! The English title is “Johnny, my friend”) Nothing will ever come up to the greatness of that book, this story will just hide in the shadows while the original shines. Thanks to forever_drownin for beta <3
one
Gerard always came and went from the skate park when he wanted to. He hated schedules, he hated to feel that he was bound to something, that's why he took his freedom to come and go when he wanted to. Some days he didn't show up at all, and others he were there long before the rest of you came from school. He called it his freedom, but sometimes you thought it was his prison. You all had to accept it, there were nothing you could do to change him. He did as he wanted and he had his freedom, or whatever it was. And he held his distance, always an invisible distance that almost was impossible to make out. But it was there, clearly visible for those who know what to look after.
He could be sitting on the ground with Mike, fixing his skateboard. Gerard was really good at fixing things that was broken. If it just made contact with him and his tools everything was possible.
This special day Mike had just got his first skateboard. He was shining, a happy yellow light around the little kid. He was still a child, only ten years old. The only reason he was in the gang was because he was Tim's little brother and Tim was the unconfirmed leader of the gang. And now he had got his first skateboard, an old piece that he had taken over from his brother, and the first thing that evil board does is lose one of its wheels. Mike fell on the ground and hurt his knee and he cried and everything was miserable.
Immature middle-age teenage guys have a hard time not to laugh at a moment like that. But Gerard, he put his arm around the kid, said that everything will be fine and that he'll fix this before Mike even have time to say "please Gerard, help me".
And he did. That's why Mike was shining with a happy yellow glow, and that's why he threw his arms around the older boy's neck and hugged him and said "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" But he hadn't even started his thanking before Gerard was standing on the other side of the small asphalt ground. His hazel eyes mirroring the happy yellow halo around Mike, but in his eyes the yellow turns into a dangerous flash . If Mike wasn't just a kid, if he had been one size bigger, he would be lying on the ground now, put there by the force of Gerard's fist. But you can't hit those who are younger and especially not those who can't defend themselves.
That's why Mike can escape.
Just because Gerard needed his distance and his freedom.
*
Every Wednesday the gang went swimming. Not of any particular reason, just for the sake of variety.
Of course you asked Gerard if he wanted to come with you to the public baths when that time came. He answered "Nooo..." and "Naahh..:" and at least five other variations of the easy word "no", without getting out if he really meant no or not.
That kind of answer screamed for speculations about if Gerard could swim or not. Steve was, and is also for that matter, an expert of making fun of people, so Gerard got to hear a few poisoned words from him about water.
Gerard's face got even paler than usual as he stared at Steve and told him that he could swim, all the way to Europe if he had to.
"So why don't you want to come with us?"
"It's not fun to swim in a tub."
"What's wrong with that?"
"It's nothing like the sea."
"Have you ever tried?" You had never seen the sea, nor had Steve. That's what it is to live in the middle of the country and not have money to go on sunny summer holidays.
"Y-y-y-yes I have!"
You wanted to turn your head away from the discussion in front of you and just go home and read a book. The first sign that things were going to hell had showed, Gerard had started stammering and that was a sure sign that he was going to be angry. And this argument had nowhere to go.
They had their argument going for almost 15 minutes, not getting anywhere. The most constructive that happened was Steve wanting to force Gerard into the closest bathtub. But when you had wished this to end for at least a million times, Gerard suddenly got out his best argument this far.
"I'm a-a-a-allergic to the chlorine."
"I bet you are, it probably take away all the colour you have in your face."
At the comment Gerard exploded, his fist hitting Steve hard in the middle of the face, causing his nose to look like a scarlet fountain.
The second later he flew away on his bike, red lightnings of anger shooting from him.
*
There were some older guys that often hung around the skate park too. Probably they weren't that old, probably around 19, but you always thought of them as really old. They were all dead serious about their skating, something that the guys in the gang weren't. You just did everything for fun. Maybe that's why they seemed so old? You mostly kept out of their way, not wanting to disturb their important practising. And as long as it was like that it was all good.
One of those guys had as his biggest hobby to pick on everyone that was smaller than him though. And that wasn't hard to be - he was tall and muscular. You don't remember his name, but you think it was Green-something.
Greenwood, Greenleight, Greenday?
Anyway, obviously this Greenfrog didn't know Gerard, he just saw him as a perfect victim for his picking obsession. It was Gerard's girl face that caused this trouble. Green laughed one time too much. Laughed too loud. And besides, Gerard was just a little kid that should be home playing with his dolls.
At that comment Gerard tore his eyes away from you, where you had seen a quiet fire start to burn deep inside his black pupils. Your first excpectation was that he would abandon the bike he was half sitting on and jump Greenwood with all his claws out. But he just made sure his feet were standing steady on the ground.
"Why do you, who are so big, care about us normal sized people?" he said, looking at the sky. His voice sounded like he was stabbing Greenfrog with a poisoned needle. But Green just laughed even more and pointed out that Gerard should be home sleeping now. Wouldn't his mommy get worried?
No, because Gerard's mom didn't get worried, if he could get that into his thick, green head.
The conversation went on like that for a while. You only listened with a half ear at their immature exchange of words. The sound behind you told you that the rest of the gang also had lost interest and had started skating again.
"No, I can't," Gerard said flatly, "because that's fucking impossible."
"I did," Greenfrog said convincingly.
"With your fat ass the bike would have broke after the first step."
At that point you understood that they were talking about cycling down the steep stairs that led down from the from the skate park to a street on the left side. The park was placed on a hill with good ways of getting in and out in every direction but that. There was only the stairs that someone had built around the ice age. It was 60 steps in five sections, with 12 steps in each section.
You had an obsession with counting steps in stairs when you were little and you had a good memory, ok?
You doubted that any of the steps were intact nowadays. No one could ride a bike there.
"I did before you even knew what a bike was," Greenwood said.
"Show me if you're so good at it."
"I would love to, but I have to borrow your bike."
That was the line to what Gerard could take. His bike was precious to him and he would never let any green monster destroy it.
Green said that he was a chicken and that he was just afraid to lose.
Gerard pointed out that he wasn't a chicken at all, he was just caring about his bike. Green said that Gerard should make the ride down himself to show he wasn't a chicken.
"That's impossible."
"I did it."
"How much do I get?"
"One dollar."
"One dollar for my life! I want 20, at least."
That made the Greenfrog turn into a white frog. You could tell just by looking at him that money wasn't his best side. 20 dollars was probably more than he earned in a month.
"Five," he tried.
"Ten, and that's my last offer."
"Okay, ten."
You stared in horror at the big green monster and the small Snow White. They just stared obstinately at each other, none of them was going to lose this.
This was your first lesson in that life around Gerard more or less often turned into a play with death.
*
Gerard was standing with one leg on each side of his BMX. His red lips moved slowly, like he was repeating to himself how he was going to do this, over and over.
You were standing a few feet away with the rest of the gang. Everyone was quiet, a strong quietness that told Gerard that you believed in him. To your left stood Greenfrog, looking as secure as you did, but for the opposite reason.
Gerard sat up on his bike and began his ride to hell. Slowly he took the bike down to the next step, carefully not letting the wheels move an inch more than he wanted them too. You followed him, keeping a secure distance so you wouldn't get in the way of the working genius.
He kept this up for the two first sections, but at the third his speed began to rise. At the end of the third section he wasn't able to take one wheel down at the time. It was the bike that had the control now, and by showing it's control the front wheel broke.
His speed was getting higher and higher. At the fifth section the Greenfrog actually started to look green. How tough he ever had been before, he didn't want anything too bad to happen.
The street got closer and closer in a speed that was far to high to be healthy. If Gerard would be able to look up from his deep concentration at the bike he would see that. He would also see that before the street was an iron railing that he was cycling right into. But he couldn't do that if he wanted to have any control at all over the bike. A bike that now also had a broken back wheel that was trying its best too look rectangular.
But you saw all this, and you also saw that a bus was coming in high speed down the street. The bus with the number 55.
Suddenly Gerard was at the bottom of the last section. You didn't want to look anymore, this was worse than any scary movie you had ever seen. But you couldn't close your eyes and you couldn't look away.
Seconds before the bike collided with the iron railing Gerard left the bike and flew over the railing, making himself into a ball that landed on the street to the sound of the bus' screaming brakes. He rolled a few feet over the road, staying right in front of the bus. You could swear that the whole gang were holding their breaths at that moment, waiting for any sign of life from the street.
Suddenly the front door of the bus opened and the driver rushed out of the bus. With a few long steps he was standing in front of the ball. At the same time the ball stretched out a leg.
From your spot half way down the stairs you couldn't hear what was being said at the street, but you could clearly make out the first worried expression in the bus drivers movements, that changed to anger as he talked to Gerard. He found out that the person in front of him wasn't hurt, not at all. He was just something disturbing, black that had fallen down from the sky in front of his bus, just to make him late.
Gerard got up on the sidewalk again, examining his bike with a worried expression much like the bus driver’s a while before. But his expression didn't change. If anything was in need of serious nursing it was that bike. At that time the whole gang plus Greenfrog was with him at the sidewalk.
There were random cheers from the gang about what a hero Gerard was. That was ten points. Ten points! The point system was something we had invented a while back, we gave everything points. Mostly things that people did, but it could be other things too. But now Gerard had made something that gave him ten points, and that wasn't often that high grade was given for anything.
Greenfrog just gave him his ten dollars and stalked away.
I have the worst exam tomorrow so please make me happy and comment! =P