Ah, but good enough for what?
Title: Married With Teenagers Ch.4
Author: opoloko_gerardx
Pairing: Bert/Gerard
Rating: PG-13
POV: third person, switching between focusing on Bert and Gerard
Disclaimer: I write only lies.
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: Grumpy
Previous chapters under the cut.
Chapter One: You Got Married?!
Chapter Two: School?
Chapter Three: Why Are You Doing This?
Bert
It was the same the next three weekends. Donna and Rick would call both Bert and Gerard down to the living room. They’d tell them that if they still weren’t getting along they would have to go out and do something with each other. Bert began to wish he had lied and told them that they were getting along fine. But they would know he was lying because neither of them could stand being around each other.
This was the fourth Saturday in a row that they were being forced to “bond”. Their parents had the brilliant idea of sending them off to the amusement park. Gerard seemed to be even less happy about it than Bert was. Bert glanced at him in the passenger’s seat, slumped with his arms crossed. “You’re ruining all my weekends,” Bert stated.
“Well, it’s not like I want to. I don’t want to hang out with you either.”
“Come on now, who wouldn’t want to hang out with me?”
Gerard laughed and rolled his eyes. “You’re so full of yourself.”
There were a few minutes of silence before Bert said, “Why don’t ever say anything? I know you’ve got plenty to say.”
Shrugging, Gerard looked out the window. “I don’t know…. You seem to do enough talking for the both of us,” he said with a smile.
Bert smiled and shook his head. “I’m going to pretend you didn’t just completely evade my question…. What was it like in New Jersey?”
“Oh, you know, like here except grungier…. And there weren’t many Mormons around.”
“You miss it?”
“Yeah,” Gerard sighed. “I miss my friends.”
“You don’t really have any here, do you?” Bert asked, noticing that he sounded just the slightest bit guilty.
“Don’t tell me you’re feeling bad now.” Bert heard the bitterness in his voice and accepted it.
“So,” Bert began, trying to fill the awkward silence that had settled over them, “do you like amusement parks.”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“I hate the sun.”
“What, are you a vampire or something?”
“Vampires aren’t real. I just burn easily. And I don’t enjoy the rides.”
Bert rolled his eyes. “Well, I’m making you come on them.”
“Anything for a laugh, right? You’ll even sit next to me if it’ll be funny.”
Laughing, Bert replied, “Exactly.”
Once they were inside the park Bert frowned. “Why am I always the one who pays for these little dates of ours?”
“Because you’re the one with money.”
“I don’t that’s very fair.”
“Then maybe we should start to tolerate each other. As soon as we do, we’ll never have to do this again.”
Bert nodded and looked around. Smiling, He grabbed Gerard’s wrist and pulled him forward. “Where are you taking me?” Bert just grinned maniacally. When Gerard realized where they were headed he abruptly stopped moving. “No. No way! I am not going on that!”
“Aw, come on! It’ll be fun, I promise,” Bert tried to persuade him.
“Absolutely not.”
“Haven’t you ever been on a roller coaster before? It’s really fun, thrilling. You love thrilling things.”
“No, I’ve never been on one and I don’t plan to. Ever.”
“You’ve really never been on one?” Bert asked incredulously. Gerard shook his head. Bert grabbed him again and continued pulling him towards it. “Then you have to. You can’t judge it if you’ve never been on it.”
Gerard rolled his eyes and sighed. “Fine.”
The line for the roller coaster wasn’t very long so they got on pretty quickly. Gerard was obviously nervous, which Bert found hilarious. He couldn’t stop laughing. And when Gerard screamed at the initial plunge Bert almost slammed his head into the seat in front of him from laughing so hard.
When they got off the ride Gerard was clutching his stomach. “I can’t believe you made me do that,” he moaned miserably.
Chuckling, Bert said, “You know you loved it.”
“Well, I guess it was okay.”
“Hey, McCracken!” Bert heard someone call from behind him. Turning, he saw a couple of his friends from school. “You on a date?” one of them asked, snickering.
“Funny. Our parents make us hang out. They think it’ll make us get along better.”
“He’s just a stupid fag; he doesn’t even deserve the chance,” the first guy replied before walking off with his friend.
Bert glanced at Gerard who was walking slowly beside him, looking at the ground. For a second he thought that maybe he should say something. But he didn’t. What could he say? The guy had been right.
Gerard sat down on a bench that was situated in the shade. He let his head fall against the back and Bert sat down next to him. After a minute or so of just sitting there Bert found his attention being drawn to Gerard’s pale neck. His hair, which had gotten messed up on the roller coaster, made strange designs in the places it overlapped his marble-like skin. It was nice, but Bert wasn’t really sure why.
“Where are we going now?” Gerard’s voice was unexpected. Bert had assumed he’d gone into one of his completely silent modes. The one where he wouldn’t even look at anything, keeping his eyes glued to the ground and not saying a word.
“Where do you want to go?” Bert asked quietly, unsure about why he was feeling so guilty.
“A gentle one.”
“Teacups?”
“Okay,” Gerard answered softly. And Bert felt a little better.
Gerard
Gerard sat across from Bert on the teacups. He didn’t want to spin it but Bert did. He wasn’t strong enough to make it spin fast on his own so he kept asking Gerard to help. “No,” Gerard said when he asked for about the sixth time. “I like it gentle.” Bert raised his eyebrows. “That’s not what I meant.”
Bert laughed. “I know. You’re too much of a goody-goody to have sex.”
Gerard looked only slightly offended. “How would you know?” he asked in a way that suggested that maybe Bert really didn’t know what he was talking about.
“Are you saying you have had sex?”
“Maybe.”
Bert laughed. “Yeah right. Well then, if you have, what’s it like?”
“Haven’t you done it?”
“Of course, with girls. So what’s it like with a guy?” Gerard didn’t say anything. “You don’t know because you’ve never done it,” Bert said, smiling. “Have you? Just admit it.”
“Alright, fine.”
“So you admit it?”
“Yes, I admit it!” Gerard said, getting annoyed now.
“I knew it.”
“Shut up.”
Bert snickered and Gerard just laid his head back against the teacup. After a moment he felt eyes on him and he looked up to see Bert staring intently at him. “What?”
Bert shook his head. “What? Oh, nothing. I…. I just spaced out.”
For the rest of the afternoon the two stepbrothers walked around, switching between fast rides and slower, more gentle ones. There were some awkward silences and a few comfortable ones as well. When they stopped wandering to get ice cream Bert “accidentally” got it all over Gerard’s face. So he, of course, had to get him back by pushing him in the little pool that the kids played bumper boats in.
On the drive back home Gerard, whose face and hands were still sticky, laughed at the soaking wet Bert in the driver’s seat. “It’s not funny,” Bert said grumpily.
Gerard nodded. “Yes it is.”
“No it’s not,” Bert said, finding it hard not to laugh now himself.
They got home soon after that. Donna greeted them at the door. She had been on her way to the store. “Oh, hello boys!” she said happily. She appeared to have noticed their smiling faces. “Did you have fun?”
“It was okay,” Gerard said and Bert shrugged. Her grin grew and she walked past them out the door.
Once she was gone Bert turned to Gerard. “Remember, we’re-”
“Not friends, I know,” Gerard finished for him. Every weekend Bert made it a point to tell him this. He got it.
Gerard went up the stairs to his room, closing the door behind him. The walls weren’t white anymore. He’d painted them bright red and used a small brush to paint intricate designs on the white trim with a darker shade of the wall color. He’d also gotten better bedding. It wasn’t floral anymore, but black, all black. And, at the moment, it looked very inviting.
Taking off his shoes he crawled into bed, letting the thick black comforter swallow him completely. The heavy curtains he convinced his mom to buy for him blocked out all sunlight and it wasn’t long before he had fallen asleep.
Gerard saw stairs. A long, winding staircase stretched out before him. Up and up and up. He couldn’t see where it ended. He wasn’t sure if it did at all. But he figured that the only way he would ever know would be to walk up. It seemed like he’d been walking forever, going around and up, always up. But then he felt the sudden need to go faster. Faster, faster! Someone’s coming, you can’t let them see you; faster! So he ran.
He could hear footsteps behind him, he couldn’t let them catch up! But then he saw a door. It looked heavy but it opened under his slightest touch. Quickly, he entered the room, shutting the door behind him. There was a mirror on the wall in front of him. The image reflected in the glass surprised him. It was definitely him. But he was wearing a black tux and white shirt, complete with a top hat and gloves.
Turning away from the image of himself he noticed a small piece of paper on a short table. He picked it up. It was blank. When he looked back at the table there was a pen. Hastily, he wrote a single word. But what was it? He didn’t know! It was important but he didn’t know what it said! And then the footsteps were there again and to door was opening and….
Gerard’s eyes snapped open. He knew he’d woken up on purpose. He was afraid. He didn’t want to know who was on the other side of that door. He didn’t want to know what the paper said. Except now he was curious and there would be no way to get it back.
Glancing at the clock, he realized he must have slept through dinner. It was eight o’clock, too early to go to bed but too late to eat anything. He stood up and went to his stash of horror movies, picking out his current favorite: Dracula.
He trudged down the stairs groggily, still not fully awake from his nap. He was glad to see that the living room was empty. A note had been left on the coffee table from his mom saying that she and Rick had gone out for an evening alone together. Gerard put in the movie and sat on the floor in front of the couch. Bert often asked him why he liked the floor more than the comfortable couch. He never had an answer because he didn’t know why himself.
A few minutes into the movie Bert joined him, sitting behind him on the couch. Neither of them said anything, just sitting in each other’s silence was good enough
Author: opoloko_gerardx
Pairing: Bert/Gerard
Rating: PG-13
POV: third person, switching between focusing on Bert and Gerard
Disclaimer: I write only lies.
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: Grumpy
Previous chapters under the cut.
Chapter One: You Got Married?!
Chapter Two: School?
Chapter Three: Why Are You Doing This?
Bert
It was the same the next three weekends. Donna and Rick would call both Bert and Gerard down to the living room. They’d tell them that if they still weren’t getting along they would have to go out and do something with each other. Bert began to wish he had lied and told them that they were getting along fine. But they would know he was lying because neither of them could stand being around each other.
This was the fourth Saturday in a row that they were being forced to “bond”. Their parents had the brilliant idea of sending them off to the amusement park. Gerard seemed to be even less happy about it than Bert was. Bert glanced at him in the passenger’s seat, slumped with his arms crossed. “You’re ruining all my weekends,” Bert stated.
“Well, it’s not like I want to. I don’t want to hang out with you either.”
“Come on now, who wouldn’t want to hang out with me?”
Gerard laughed and rolled his eyes. “You’re so full of yourself.”
There were a few minutes of silence before Bert said, “Why don’t ever say anything? I know you’ve got plenty to say.”
Shrugging, Gerard looked out the window. “I don’t know…. You seem to do enough talking for the both of us,” he said with a smile.
Bert smiled and shook his head. “I’m going to pretend you didn’t just completely evade my question…. What was it like in New Jersey?”
“Oh, you know, like here except grungier…. And there weren’t many Mormons around.”
“You miss it?”
“Yeah,” Gerard sighed. “I miss my friends.”
“You don’t really have any here, do you?” Bert asked, noticing that he sounded just the slightest bit guilty.
“Don’t tell me you’re feeling bad now.” Bert heard the bitterness in his voice and accepted it.
“So,” Bert began, trying to fill the awkward silence that had settled over them, “do you like amusement parks.”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“I hate the sun.”
“What, are you a vampire or something?”
“Vampires aren’t real. I just burn easily. And I don’t enjoy the rides.”
Bert rolled his eyes. “Well, I’m making you come on them.”
“Anything for a laugh, right? You’ll even sit next to me if it’ll be funny.”
Laughing, Bert replied, “Exactly.”
Once they were inside the park Bert frowned. “Why am I always the one who pays for these little dates of ours?”
“Because you’re the one with money.”
“I don’t that’s very fair.”
“Then maybe we should start to tolerate each other. As soon as we do, we’ll never have to do this again.”
Bert nodded and looked around. Smiling, He grabbed Gerard’s wrist and pulled him forward. “Where are you taking me?” Bert just grinned maniacally. When Gerard realized where they were headed he abruptly stopped moving. “No. No way! I am not going on that!”
“Aw, come on! It’ll be fun, I promise,” Bert tried to persuade him.
“Absolutely not.”
“Haven’t you ever been on a roller coaster before? It’s really fun, thrilling. You love thrilling things.”
“No, I’ve never been on one and I don’t plan to. Ever.”
“You’ve really never been on one?” Bert asked incredulously. Gerard shook his head. Bert grabbed him again and continued pulling him towards it. “Then you have to. You can’t judge it if you’ve never been on it.”
Gerard rolled his eyes and sighed. “Fine.”
The line for the roller coaster wasn’t very long so they got on pretty quickly. Gerard was obviously nervous, which Bert found hilarious. He couldn’t stop laughing. And when Gerard screamed at the initial plunge Bert almost slammed his head into the seat in front of him from laughing so hard.
When they got off the ride Gerard was clutching his stomach. “I can’t believe you made me do that,” he moaned miserably.
Chuckling, Bert said, “You know you loved it.”
“Well, I guess it was okay.”
“Hey, McCracken!” Bert heard someone call from behind him. Turning, he saw a couple of his friends from school. “You on a date?” one of them asked, snickering.
“Funny. Our parents make us hang out. They think it’ll make us get along better.”
“He’s just a stupid fag; he doesn’t even deserve the chance,” the first guy replied before walking off with his friend.
Bert glanced at Gerard who was walking slowly beside him, looking at the ground. For a second he thought that maybe he should say something. But he didn’t. What could he say? The guy had been right.
Gerard sat down on a bench that was situated in the shade. He let his head fall against the back and Bert sat down next to him. After a minute or so of just sitting there Bert found his attention being drawn to Gerard’s pale neck. His hair, which had gotten messed up on the roller coaster, made strange designs in the places it overlapped his marble-like skin. It was nice, but Bert wasn’t really sure why.
“Where are we going now?” Gerard’s voice was unexpected. Bert had assumed he’d gone into one of his completely silent modes. The one where he wouldn’t even look at anything, keeping his eyes glued to the ground and not saying a word.
“Where do you want to go?” Bert asked quietly, unsure about why he was feeling so guilty.
“A gentle one.”
“Teacups?”
“Okay,” Gerard answered softly. And Bert felt a little better.
Gerard
Gerard sat across from Bert on the teacups. He didn’t want to spin it but Bert did. He wasn’t strong enough to make it spin fast on his own so he kept asking Gerard to help. “No,” Gerard said when he asked for about the sixth time. “I like it gentle.” Bert raised his eyebrows. “That’s not what I meant.”
Bert laughed. “I know. You’re too much of a goody-goody to have sex.”
Gerard looked only slightly offended. “How would you know?” he asked in a way that suggested that maybe Bert really didn’t know what he was talking about.
“Are you saying you have had sex?”
“Maybe.”
Bert laughed. “Yeah right. Well then, if you have, what’s it like?”
“Haven’t you done it?”
“Of course, with girls. So what’s it like with a guy?” Gerard didn’t say anything. “You don’t know because you’ve never done it,” Bert said, smiling. “Have you? Just admit it.”
“Alright, fine.”
“So you admit it?”
“Yes, I admit it!” Gerard said, getting annoyed now.
“I knew it.”
“Shut up.”
Bert snickered and Gerard just laid his head back against the teacup. After a moment he felt eyes on him and he looked up to see Bert staring intently at him. “What?”
Bert shook his head. “What? Oh, nothing. I…. I just spaced out.”
For the rest of the afternoon the two stepbrothers walked around, switching between fast rides and slower, more gentle ones. There were some awkward silences and a few comfortable ones as well. When they stopped wandering to get ice cream Bert “accidentally” got it all over Gerard’s face. So he, of course, had to get him back by pushing him in the little pool that the kids played bumper boats in.
On the drive back home Gerard, whose face and hands were still sticky, laughed at the soaking wet Bert in the driver’s seat. “It’s not funny,” Bert said grumpily.
Gerard nodded. “Yes it is.”
“No it’s not,” Bert said, finding it hard not to laugh now himself.
They got home soon after that. Donna greeted them at the door. She had been on her way to the store. “Oh, hello boys!” she said happily. She appeared to have noticed their smiling faces. “Did you have fun?”
“It was okay,” Gerard said and Bert shrugged. Her grin grew and she walked past them out the door.
Once she was gone Bert turned to Gerard. “Remember, we’re-”
“Not friends, I know,” Gerard finished for him. Every weekend Bert made it a point to tell him this. He got it.
Gerard went up the stairs to his room, closing the door behind him. The walls weren’t white anymore. He’d painted them bright red and used a small brush to paint intricate designs on the white trim with a darker shade of the wall color. He’d also gotten better bedding. It wasn’t floral anymore, but black, all black. And, at the moment, it looked very inviting.
Taking off his shoes he crawled into bed, letting the thick black comforter swallow him completely. The heavy curtains he convinced his mom to buy for him blocked out all sunlight and it wasn’t long before he had fallen asleep.
Gerard saw stairs. A long, winding staircase stretched out before him. Up and up and up. He couldn’t see where it ended. He wasn’t sure if it did at all. But he figured that the only way he would ever know would be to walk up. It seemed like he’d been walking forever, going around and up, always up. But then he felt the sudden need to go faster. Faster, faster! Someone’s coming, you can’t let them see you; faster! So he ran.
He could hear footsteps behind him, he couldn’t let them catch up! But then he saw a door. It looked heavy but it opened under his slightest touch. Quickly, he entered the room, shutting the door behind him. There was a mirror on the wall in front of him. The image reflected in the glass surprised him. It was definitely him. But he was wearing a black tux and white shirt, complete with a top hat and gloves.
Turning away from the image of himself he noticed a small piece of paper on a short table. He picked it up. It was blank. When he looked back at the table there was a pen. Hastily, he wrote a single word. But what was it? He didn’t know! It was important but he didn’t know what it said! And then the footsteps were there again and to door was opening and….
Gerard’s eyes snapped open. He knew he’d woken up on purpose. He was afraid. He didn’t want to know who was on the other side of that door. He didn’t want to know what the paper said. Except now he was curious and there would be no way to get it back.
Glancing at the clock, he realized he must have slept through dinner. It was eight o’clock, too early to go to bed but too late to eat anything. He stood up and went to his stash of horror movies, picking out his current favorite: Dracula.
He trudged down the stairs groggily, still not fully awake from his nap. He was glad to see that the living room was empty. A note had been left on the coffee table from his mom saying that she and Rick had gone out for an evening alone together. Gerard put in the movie and sat on the floor in front of the couch. Bert often asked him why he liked the floor more than the comfortable couch. He never had an answer because he didn’t know why himself.
A few minutes into the movie Bert joined him, sitting behind him on the couch. Neither of them said anything, just sitting in each other’s silence was good enough