I Drew You Once in Art Class

Seventy

Gerard giggled as he ran up the stairs, Frank following him, out of breath.

Them, Mikey, and Pete had just dumped out all their candy and sorted it and traded it, so now they had full bags of ideal candy slung over their shoulders as they ran upstairs. Gerard dug under his bed and pulled out a box with colorful wrapping paper. He bounced on his heels handing it to Frank.

"Open it open it open it!!!!"

Frank opened the present: inside were two Antarctigo Vespucci CDs, two Green Day, and one Misfits. There was another one too, the Bad Moves album.

"Oh my God, is this the album where you moaned?"

"Shut up!"

Frank laughed.

Gerard rolled his eyes. "One day, I'll get you back for that. Anyway, I know you don't have many CDs so I hooked you up with a bunch to start you off. Now do the other one!"

There was one more little rectangular package, wrapped in blue tissue paper. Frank opened it and found a new sketchbook with charcoal pencils, which he'd been complaining about needing for months.

"Oh my god, thank you! My pencils are just tiny little stubs-"

"I know, you never shut up about it. Open the first page."

Frank did as he was told. On one page was a surprisingly detailed drawing of Millie the dog, and on the other page, there was a taped piece of paper, picturing a person holding a sketchbook across a familiar lake.

"Is this the actual one?"

"Obviously. What did you think it was, a printout?" Gerard was smiling, clearly proud of his gift-giving abilities.
"Thank you!" said Frank happily, unclasping one of the CD cases.

Frank walked over to the CD player and put the Bad Moves album in.

A song played, quick, energetic strumming, and Frank walked over to Gerard, putting his hands around his shoulders and coming close so their hips were touching. Frank looked up into Gerard's face for a second before leaning up and kissing him. Gerard put his arms around Frank's waist and they stood, music playing in the background, not even dancing. More just standing, hip to hip, forehead to forehead. This was Frank's favorite part of this, the part where he could just be close to Gerard, to feel another body beside him, and know that he wasn't alone.

"Happy Birthday."