Friday I'm In Love

△ 𝐍𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐧 △

Gerard pulled his earplugs out his ears with a sharp tug, the gentle buzz of Stevie Nicks still playing through them as he set the wire down around the back of his neck and reached for his keys. His feet were as if the skin and muscle had been worn away and he was only standing with two skeletal feet underneath him, a dull throbbing on the soles with exhausted groans from his knees. He hadn't even reached thirty and his body had already begun the process of revenge for his wild teenage antics - not that his body had ever been a temple. The faint murmur of voices came from the other side of the door, deep in conversation and thoroughly engaged from the sound of it, as Gerard slid his key and turned it. 

He opened the door to an unlikely sight. Frank, Bert, and Mikey sat in the center of Gerard's living room surrounded by nests of various stolen cushions and blankets. Two coffee pots sat in the center, one half-empty and the other full, with their chosen mugs in a ring around the two. Frank, who seemed to have acquired the most elaborate fortress, looked up to the door with a huge grin as he threw down a card.

"UNO MOTHERFUCEKR!" Frank screeched triumphantly as Gerard timidly tiptoed inside his own apartment. "Give me your money McCracken!" he continued, pointedly ignoring the disappointed sigh from Bert and faint curses from Mikey. Frank watched gleefully as Bert began digging into his wallet and as Gerard began unwinding the fortified staircase of scarves he'd wrapped around his neck. 

Gerard smiled to himself as he turned towards the door and hung his jacket and keys up on the pegs. "Do I want to know what lead to this?" he asked, kicking off his boots and sending a knowing look of concern towards Frank. "And why you're betting on Uno?" Gerard snorted loudly as he dumped his work bag on the kitchen counter and weaved through the warzone that may have been his living room a long long time ago. Frank moved onto his knees and extended a hand towards him with a devilish smile that Gerard had learned not to trust so easily. He was unusually hesitant as he looked down at Frank's open palm. "If this is a trick I will flush all your plectrums down the toilet." Gerard mumbled as he took Frank's hand.

Frank rolled his eyes and, with a sudden jolt, dragged Gerard down on top of himself. Gerard went crashing down on top. Frank's knee went into his stomach, Gerard's head landed on his breastbone, as sharp shrieks of pain filled the room. 

"Ow! Jesus fucking Christ- Frank," Gerard groaned as he shoved himself up using Frank's chest. He looked down and saw that same smirk that Frank had before, only now his hair sat splayed around his head and his chest rose and fell like he'd ran a marathon. Gerard gulped, his stomach twisted and tied in knots and spirals, his eyes raking over Frank's face breathily as the former licked his lips and stared down. Frank stared back up at him as his lips went to move but no words came out, just soft breaths and a soft 'oh' that Gerard was sure he'd misheard. Gerard opened and closed his mouth several times before sighing. "Are you okay? Sorry- I'm so heavy. . ."

"You're not." 

"Hey! jackass! If you're going to take any longer I'm going to finish the coffee." Mikey snapped loudly from a few feet away as both Gerard and Frank shared a burning hot blush. He sighed and began pouring himself another mug with his usual air of indifference and bone-dry cynicism. Mikey himself could not care less for Gerard's very obvious rom-com moment; instead, he rolled his eyes and turned to Bert. 

Bert, who had taken the opportunity to examine his fingernails in precise detail, looked closer to throwing up than Mikey had ever seen him - and they had been to Six Flags together. Poor daydreaming idiot. He heaved a sigh, drained his mug, and wrapped the blankets closer around himself with a soft yawn. 

Frank was the one to clear his throat in the verbal equivalent of the Koolaid man crashing through the wall. Gerard took the cue and carefully climbed off him after what could have been an eternity, his heart racing outside his chest and his throat as dry as the Sahara desert. He lay down on his back beside Frank, propping his legs up onto the cushion wall and crossing his right over his left. Gerard couldn't breathe so close to him, his side pressed right up against Frank's with little room between the two, they had been so close and yet so far in such a short space of time and his mind was still catching up. 

Frank turned to him with a smile as he cracked his knuckles at an obnoxious volume. "So. . . how are we feeling about Mario Kart?"

They were not feeling good about Mario Kart. Ten rounds, twenty dollars, and five minutes of scrolling through Wiki pages - Gerard finally admitted defeat. He leaned over to the coffee table and sat the black Wii remote down as Frank's victory cutscene played on the Tv. Frank who, by the time of his triumph, was half asleep and too tired to gloat. His eyes wandered, the darkness of the room turning his vision into a soft gray blur, as the gentle embrace of exhaustion pulled him closer. Bert and Mikey fell asleep a few hours ago with mumblings of excuses and faint complaints of money loss to no one's surprise. Gerard turned back to Frank with a sleepy grin as he turned the tv off and lay back down beside him.