Schmoop Bingo fic what I did write
Title: Yes
Author: roxy_palace
Fandom: Bandom
Pairing: Frank/Gerard
Rating: PG - for swears
Warning: none, unless it’s that it has NO SEXYTEIMS IN IT! Shock! Horror!
Disclaimer: No offence intended nor ownership implied
Challenge: schmoop_bingo! My first square: Proposal
Word count: 1927
AN: Thanks to try_67 for the lightening beta. Your patience with me is inspirational. This fic is a standalone, but part of a universe I'm writing in just for the bingo card which is here.
Summary: “My brother has been saying yes to you, even when he was saying no, every day since the moment you met...”
******
“Did you get it? Tell me you got it. You got it right?”
Mikey stands back and watches as Frank bounces on his toes and completely fails to notice coffee from his take-out cup spurting out of the little hole on top all over his gloved hand.
“Jesus Frank,” he says, taking the cup away from him and stuffing a bunch of napkins in his friend's hand.
“But you got it. You did, didn’t you?” Frank pleads, vaguely watching Mikey taking the cup and then just staring at the napkins like he's never seen them before in his life. His wild eyed face is so adorably dorky and Mikey gets a little twinge of...it’s not jealousy, maybe envy? But even if it is it’s envy tinted with joy. His bro sure is one lucky fucker.
Mikey sighs. “Yes, I fucking got it, for the love of God.”
He chucks the coffee cup in the trash, takes back the napkins and wipes Frank’s arm down for him because he seems kind of incapable of taking care of himself right now. Mikey can all but see adrenalin dripping from the guy’s pores. He’s wired.
“I fucking love you, Mikeyway,” says Frank, grinning like a loon.
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. You are my 2IC, Mikey. My Capo, my...”
“Don’t say it...”
“Number two.”
They stare at each other for a moment before both cracking up. “I am not your number two, ass face.”
“Yes, you are. You’ve got number two all over you!” Frank cackles and rocks from foot to foot.
“Jesus, you’re like an oversized Chihuahua on speed. What the hell does my brother see in you?” Mikey leans back against the plate glass window of the diner. “Seriously. Keep this up. He’ll probably say no.”
Frank stops bouncing pretty abruptly. “Um...”
Mikey winces. He pushes away from the window, grabs Franks sleeve and pulls him into the diner. They get a booth near the back and when they slide in opposite each other Frank is still chewing on his lip.
“I’m joking, Frank. Crying out loud.” Mikey rolls his eyes. He really needs to remember that sometimes Frank is not into the teasing thing like him and Gerard. A result of being an only child - maybe Frank never grew tease proof skin? But for Mikey and Gee, it’s just how they show each other they give a shit. After all, you only tease people you like. Or love.
The waitress comes and Mikey asks for two cups of coffee and a plate of fries. He flicks the back of Frank’s hand and raises his eyebrows at him.
“What if you’re right, Mikey?” Frank says as soon as the waitress walks away. “He might. I mean, he could say no. If he...he’s not ready. It’s a big step. I’m gonna ask him to fucking...fucking marry me.” Franks eyes go huge and glassy when he says it out loud, like he’s only just realised what it is he’s been planning for the past month and a half.
It’s times like this Mikey gets a weird sense of his brother and Frank’s relationship - of them as a couple. Usually it’s like Gerard and Frank have always been together, Geradandfrank - closer than brothers in some ways, like they really are two halves of a whole. But then he’ll see a twinge of jealousy in Gee’s eye when some cute scene girl tries to sweet talk Frank into coming to see her band, or Frank will have a moment of doubt about Gee’s feelings for him, and Mikey sees it - their relationship, fragile and vulnerable - in a whole new light.
And it gives him hope, because really they are an unlikely pair, his earnest, idealistic brother, and his hyperactive, practical friend. It gives him hope that maybe there’ll be someone as unlikely out there for him.
Their relationship thrives because of the differences. They fill up each other's spaces; starting where the other ends and ending where the other begins. And it's fragile, this balance between them, sure - but it’s not weak. More like delicate maybe; something that needs tending and care and nurturing - like any precious thing.
“Frank,” says Mikey and he reaches into his pocket and pulls out a tiny white loop of string. Franks eyes go wide and he looks at Mikey. He smiles.
“The day my brother met you, do you remember what the first thing he said to you was?” Mikey twirls the loop of string between his fingers and raises his eyebrows at Frank. Frank’s eyes latch onto the movement and his smile turns to a grin.
“Yeah, I think he said ‘Get off my lap, asshole’.”
Mikey shakes his head. “No, no that was the second thing he said to you. The first thing he said was ‘yes’. Remember? You asked him if the seat was taken and he said...”
“He said yes the seat I wanted was already taken. And then he said the other thing.”
“Because you sat on him.”
“Well, but there weren’t any seats," Frank reasons.
“You sat on him, and you’d never met him before," says Mikey, looking at Frank over the rim of his glasses.
“He looked really comfy!”
“Anyway...” Mikey takes a deep breath and suppresses the small smile threatening to ruin his stern-lecture face. “The point is even though he was telling you no, his first word to you was ‘yes’, right?”
“Um...”
Mikey grins and puts the little loop of string on the table between them. They both stare at it. Frank coughs and shifts in his seat.
“And a couple of weeks later,” Mikey continues. “When you came over to the flat and sat outside his bedroom door singing Hopeless Romantic at the top of your lungs until he agreed to go out with you. What did he say before he dumped the vase full of three week old flower water all over your head?”
“’If you do this again, I’ll cut you’?”
“No, no - that was me. I think what Gee said was ’Yes, I’ll go out with you, just shut the fuck up’.”
“Oh! Yeah. Now I recall.”
Mikey chuckled.
“And what did he say the day you asked him to move in with you?” Mikey pulls off his glasses, pulls up the hem of his tee shirt and wipes the lenses.
Frank giggles. “He said he’d have to be insane to want to live with a neat freak with nine dogs and a penchant for late night baking.”
“In other words...” Mikey watches the thousand watt grin twitching at the corners of Frank’s mouth, itching to come out. He prods the back of Frank’s hand.
“He, ah...he said yes.”
Mikey slips his glasses back on and pushes the little loop of string towards Frank.
“And when you asked him to quit his job and help you set up your own label, what did he say?”
“Yeah...he said - he said yes.”
The waitress brings the coffee and the fries, putting the mugs and basket on the table between them. Frank’s hand darts out and grabs the piece of string before she can put the fries down on top of it. Mikey snags some fries and stuffs them in his mouth. He washes them down with some scalding coffee.
“And when you wanted to buy that fucking huge house on Maple," he says. "The one that was practically falling down and which I seriously don’t believe will ever be fucking finished, he said...?”
Frank rolled his eyes like he’d heard that particular tune before. “Yes, Mikey. He said yes. “
Mikey takes a short sip of the marginally cooler coffee and puts the cup back down. He looks up at Frank and the tiny loop of string.
“This is it?” asks Frank, not even trying to keep the awe out of his voice. “How did you...?”
Mikey shrugs. “I put Willow on when he came over last night. He was out like a light before High Aldwin could say 'No new apprentice this year'! You know he’s a heavy sleeper.” Frank blinks and nods, and the thousand watt smile flickers and fades. He frowns at the loop of string.
“His...his ring finger,” Frank stammers. “The finger on which one puts a ring.”
“Frank,” Mikey says reaching out and wrapping a hand around his best friend’s wrist.
“Frank, my brother has been saying yes to you, even when he was saying no, every day since the moment you met. He says yes to you first thing in the morning. He says yes to you every night. When he wakes up he’s already planning all the ways he ways he can find to say yes. Yes, Frank. That’s like his...his life’s motto or something. Because there is no negative for him, where you’re concerned. There’s no way Gerard is going to say no to you, not to this.”
Frank blinks again, and again, faster and faster. “Aw, shit Mikes.” He mumbles and rubs his eyes with the back of one hand. He holds the little loop of string to his chest.
Mikey nods and scarfs another hand full of fries.
“Mikes,” whispers Frank. “What the fuck do I do next?”
Mikey pulls a bunch of notes for the coffees and fries out of his wallet and chucks them on the table. He slides out of the booth and waits for Frank to tuck the little loop into his wallet and slide out next to him. They walk to the door.
“Get the ring made,” says Mikey, throwing an arm around Frank’s shoulders. “Ask him. Get married. Make our mom cry. Go on honeymoon. And then just...keep doing what you’re doing now. Love each other and shit,” he shrugs. “You...you’re awesome together, Frankie. You can’t do this wrong.”
Frank grins then, bouncing a little again. It makes Mikey feel relieved. “I so can do it wrong,” Frank smirks.
“I know, you little freak,” Mikey laughs. “Oh, I know...I meant...”
Frank squeezes his arm and his grin softens. “I know what you meant.”
Once outside, they stand on the pavement a second before Frank leans in and hugs him for all he’s worth. Mikey leans into him and pats him on the shoulder. Frank gives great hugs.
“Thanks, bro,” Frank says and Mikey’s heart does a little flip. That twinge of almost envy sparks again, but fades into happiness pretty quickly. One day soon, Frank really will be his brother, after a fashion. Mikey is looking forward to it.
“It’s nothing,” says Mikey, swallowing fast and pushing the lump in his throat away.
***
Three weeks later Mikey’s phone wakes him up at two in the morning with the chicken dance...which is how he discovers that Frank - who will never be let off on a round of good, old fashion teasing ever again - has changed all his ring and message tones to obscure Euro-trash dance mixes of obscure Euro-trash novelty songs. Mikey has no idea when or how. They’d hung out for about three minutes last night before Frank went to meet Gee at some restaurant uptown.
Asshole, thinks Mikey.
He scrabbles for his phone somewhere on the floor next to bed and flips it open. It’s from Frank - three letters, all caps, flashing in the subject line of Mikey's inbox.
'YES!'
Grinning Mikey turns off his phone and chucks it back on the floor by his jeans. He snuggles back into bed.
As he dozes, he thinks about Gee and how happy he must be right now. He thinks about Frank and how he was nervous and brave, and so, so excited. Mikey thinks about Frank. Frank who is going to be his brother, and Mikey wonders what that means; how things might change - or not. And he thinks to himself, the best way to welcome someone into the family is to start as you mean to go on.
But before he can decide if itching powder in the underwear draw is too much too soon, Mikey's already fast asleep.
Author: roxy_palace
Fandom: Bandom
Pairing: Frank/Gerard
Rating: PG - for swears
Warning: none, unless it’s that it has NO SEXYTEIMS IN IT! Shock! Horror!
Disclaimer: No offence intended nor ownership implied
Challenge: schmoop_bingo! My first square: Proposal
Word count: 1927
AN: Thanks to try_67 for the lightening beta. Your patience with me is inspirational. This fic is a standalone, but part of a universe I'm writing in just for the bingo card which is here.
Summary: “My brother has been saying yes to you, even when he was saying no, every day since the moment you met...”
******
“Did you get it? Tell me you got it. You got it right?”
Mikey stands back and watches as Frank bounces on his toes and completely fails to notice coffee from his take-out cup spurting out of the little hole on top all over his gloved hand.
“Jesus Frank,” he says, taking the cup away from him and stuffing a bunch of napkins in his friend's hand.
“But you got it. You did, didn’t you?” Frank pleads, vaguely watching Mikey taking the cup and then just staring at the napkins like he's never seen them before in his life. His wild eyed face is so adorably dorky and Mikey gets a little twinge of...it’s not jealousy, maybe envy? But even if it is it’s envy tinted with joy. His bro sure is one lucky fucker.
Mikey sighs. “Yes, I fucking got it, for the love of God.”
He chucks the coffee cup in the trash, takes back the napkins and wipes Frank’s arm down for him because he seems kind of incapable of taking care of himself right now. Mikey can all but see adrenalin dripping from the guy’s pores. He’s wired.
“I fucking love you, Mikeyway,” says Frank, grinning like a loon.
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. You are my 2IC, Mikey. My Capo, my...”
“Don’t say it...”
“Number two.”
They stare at each other for a moment before both cracking up. “I am not your number two, ass face.”
“Yes, you are. You’ve got number two all over you!” Frank cackles and rocks from foot to foot.
“Jesus, you’re like an oversized Chihuahua on speed. What the hell does my brother see in you?” Mikey leans back against the plate glass window of the diner. “Seriously. Keep this up. He’ll probably say no.”
Frank stops bouncing pretty abruptly. “Um...”
Mikey winces. He pushes away from the window, grabs Franks sleeve and pulls him into the diner. They get a booth near the back and when they slide in opposite each other Frank is still chewing on his lip.
“I’m joking, Frank. Crying out loud.” Mikey rolls his eyes. He really needs to remember that sometimes Frank is not into the teasing thing like him and Gerard. A result of being an only child - maybe Frank never grew tease proof skin? But for Mikey and Gee, it’s just how they show each other they give a shit. After all, you only tease people you like. Or love.
The waitress comes and Mikey asks for two cups of coffee and a plate of fries. He flicks the back of Frank’s hand and raises his eyebrows at him.
“What if you’re right, Mikey?” Frank says as soon as the waitress walks away. “He might. I mean, he could say no. If he...he’s not ready. It’s a big step. I’m gonna ask him to fucking...fucking marry me.” Franks eyes go huge and glassy when he says it out loud, like he’s only just realised what it is he’s been planning for the past month and a half.
It’s times like this Mikey gets a weird sense of his brother and Frank’s relationship - of them as a couple. Usually it’s like Gerard and Frank have always been together, Geradandfrank - closer than brothers in some ways, like they really are two halves of a whole. But then he’ll see a twinge of jealousy in Gee’s eye when some cute scene girl tries to sweet talk Frank into coming to see her band, or Frank will have a moment of doubt about Gee’s feelings for him, and Mikey sees it - their relationship, fragile and vulnerable - in a whole new light.
And it gives him hope, because really they are an unlikely pair, his earnest, idealistic brother, and his hyperactive, practical friend. It gives him hope that maybe there’ll be someone as unlikely out there for him.
Their relationship thrives because of the differences. They fill up each other's spaces; starting where the other ends and ending where the other begins. And it's fragile, this balance between them, sure - but it’s not weak. More like delicate maybe; something that needs tending and care and nurturing - like any precious thing.
“Frank,” says Mikey and he reaches into his pocket and pulls out a tiny white loop of string. Franks eyes go wide and he looks at Mikey. He smiles.
“The day my brother met you, do you remember what the first thing he said to you was?” Mikey twirls the loop of string between his fingers and raises his eyebrows at Frank. Frank’s eyes latch onto the movement and his smile turns to a grin.
“Yeah, I think he said ‘Get off my lap, asshole’.”
Mikey shakes his head. “No, no that was the second thing he said to you. The first thing he said was ‘yes’. Remember? You asked him if the seat was taken and he said...”
“He said yes the seat I wanted was already taken. And then he said the other thing.”
“Because you sat on him.”
“Well, but there weren’t any seats," Frank reasons.
“You sat on him, and you’d never met him before," says Mikey, looking at Frank over the rim of his glasses.
“He looked really comfy!”
“Anyway...” Mikey takes a deep breath and suppresses the small smile threatening to ruin his stern-lecture face. “The point is even though he was telling you no, his first word to you was ‘yes’, right?”
“Um...”
Mikey grins and puts the little loop of string on the table between them. They both stare at it. Frank coughs and shifts in his seat.
“And a couple of weeks later,” Mikey continues. “When you came over to the flat and sat outside his bedroom door singing Hopeless Romantic at the top of your lungs until he agreed to go out with you. What did he say before he dumped the vase full of three week old flower water all over your head?”
“’If you do this again, I’ll cut you’?”
“No, no - that was me. I think what Gee said was ’Yes, I’ll go out with you, just shut the fuck up’.”
“Oh! Yeah. Now I recall.”
Mikey chuckled.
“And what did he say the day you asked him to move in with you?” Mikey pulls off his glasses, pulls up the hem of his tee shirt and wipes the lenses.
Frank giggles. “He said he’d have to be insane to want to live with a neat freak with nine dogs and a penchant for late night baking.”
“In other words...” Mikey watches the thousand watt grin twitching at the corners of Frank’s mouth, itching to come out. He prods the back of Frank’s hand.
“He, ah...he said yes.”
Mikey slips his glasses back on and pushes the little loop of string towards Frank.
“And when you asked him to quit his job and help you set up your own label, what did he say?”
“Yeah...he said - he said yes.”
The waitress brings the coffee and the fries, putting the mugs and basket on the table between them. Frank’s hand darts out and grabs the piece of string before she can put the fries down on top of it. Mikey snags some fries and stuffs them in his mouth. He washes them down with some scalding coffee.
“And when you wanted to buy that fucking huge house on Maple," he says. "The one that was practically falling down and which I seriously don’t believe will ever be fucking finished, he said...?”
Frank rolled his eyes like he’d heard that particular tune before. “Yes, Mikey. He said yes. “
Mikey takes a short sip of the marginally cooler coffee and puts the cup back down. He looks up at Frank and the tiny loop of string.
“This is it?” asks Frank, not even trying to keep the awe out of his voice. “How did you...?”
Mikey shrugs. “I put Willow on when he came over last night. He was out like a light before High Aldwin could say 'No new apprentice this year'! You know he’s a heavy sleeper.” Frank blinks and nods, and the thousand watt smile flickers and fades. He frowns at the loop of string.
“His...his ring finger,” Frank stammers. “The finger on which one puts a ring.”
“Frank,” Mikey says reaching out and wrapping a hand around his best friend’s wrist.
“Frank, my brother has been saying yes to you, even when he was saying no, every day since the moment you met. He says yes to you first thing in the morning. He says yes to you every night. When he wakes up he’s already planning all the ways he ways he can find to say yes. Yes, Frank. That’s like his...his life’s motto or something. Because there is no negative for him, where you’re concerned. There’s no way Gerard is going to say no to you, not to this.”
Frank blinks again, and again, faster and faster. “Aw, shit Mikes.” He mumbles and rubs his eyes with the back of one hand. He holds the little loop of string to his chest.
Mikey nods and scarfs another hand full of fries.
“Mikes,” whispers Frank. “What the fuck do I do next?”
Mikey pulls a bunch of notes for the coffees and fries out of his wallet and chucks them on the table. He slides out of the booth and waits for Frank to tuck the little loop into his wallet and slide out next to him. They walk to the door.
“Get the ring made,” says Mikey, throwing an arm around Frank’s shoulders. “Ask him. Get married. Make our mom cry. Go on honeymoon. And then just...keep doing what you’re doing now. Love each other and shit,” he shrugs. “You...you’re awesome together, Frankie. You can’t do this wrong.”
Frank grins then, bouncing a little again. It makes Mikey feel relieved. “I so can do it wrong,” Frank smirks.
“I know, you little freak,” Mikey laughs. “Oh, I know...I meant...”
Frank squeezes his arm and his grin softens. “I know what you meant.”
Once outside, they stand on the pavement a second before Frank leans in and hugs him for all he’s worth. Mikey leans into him and pats him on the shoulder. Frank gives great hugs.
“Thanks, bro,” Frank says and Mikey’s heart does a little flip. That twinge of almost envy sparks again, but fades into happiness pretty quickly. One day soon, Frank really will be his brother, after a fashion. Mikey is looking forward to it.
“It’s nothing,” says Mikey, swallowing fast and pushing the lump in his throat away.
***
Three weeks later Mikey’s phone wakes him up at two in the morning with the chicken dance...which is how he discovers that Frank - who will never be let off on a round of good, old fashion teasing ever again - has changed all his ring and message tones to obscure Euro-trash dance mixes of obscure Euro-trash novelty songs. Mikey has no idea when or how. They’d hung out for about three minutes last night before Frank went to meet Gee at some restaurant uptown.
Asshole, thinks Mikey.
He scrabbles for his phone somewhere on the floor next to bed and flips it open. It’s from Frank - three letters, all caps, flashing in the subject line of Mikey's inbox.
'YES!'
Grinning Mikey turns off his phone and chucks it back on the floor by his jeans. He snuggles back into bed.
As he dozes, he thinks about Gee and how happy he must be right now. He thinks about Frank and how he was nervous and brave, and so, so excited. Mikey thinks about Frank. Frank who is going to be his brother, and Mikey wonders what that means; how things might change - or not. And he thinks to himself, the best way to welcome someone into the family is to start as you mean to go on.
But before he can decide if itching powder in the underwear draw is too much too soon, Mikey's already fast asleep.