In Another Life

One Shot

Gerard, Frank, Mikey, and Ray had played the last show of their reunion tour in Osaka, Japan. The adrenaline rush after every show gave each of them the feeling that they could run a marathon and then back again even after all these years. It had faded over the last few minutes as they all sat in the lobby of the hotel they were staying in for the night before they all went their separate ways– back to their families, back to their everyday routines. If you asked each one of them where they'd rather be in the early 2000's it would have been an easy, " On stage, motherfucker !" shared between them. As time has gone on though, that answer has easily changed to: " My wife, my family, my kids, my home." Even if they did appreciate and love their bandmates and fans so much. There was no place like home. This was a job– an incredibly rewarding one– but nevertheless, a job.

"You're a Party City whore," Frank laughs as he sits up, grabbing the water he had laid onto the table in front of them. "I have visions of cool shit– shit that I have to buy theater makeup for," Gerard mumbles, smiling– still wiping the leftover facepaint off with a wet paper towel. "It's literally just smearing," Mikey says, grabbing another wet paper towel and attempting to do it for his older brother himself. "Thinking a hot shower is the only way you're going to get it off," Ray includes himself in the conversation, "And with that: I'm going to bed. Flight tomorrow morning at 8 AM, boys. Lobby at 5! Good luck, Gerard." "Goodnight," they all said in unison.

"I don't think it's coming off. What'd you get? Waterproof or something?" Mikey asks, still scrubbing Gerard's face raw. Frank watched from the corner of the room, scrolling on his phone. "It just hurts now," Gerard says and pulls away from his brother, "I'll just try the shower." "I'm pretty sure I have some oil based shit in my room. Would that help?" Frank asks, standing up. "What do you have that for? You don't wear stage makeup," Mikey says and Gerard nods along with him. "Jamia gave it to me. I don't know– Good bacteria, washing face, blah blah," Frank shrugs, "If you want it you need to take it now because I'm tired and I'm not getting up for your desperate ass in an hour." Gerard sighs and stands up, looking towards Mikey, "G'night."

Gerard and Frank walked through the lobby to the nearest elevator, maintaining a distance between each other. Frank could sometimes feel himself gravitating towards the singer sometimes– " but who couldn't ? Gerard had an aura to him– an even stronger personality— everyone was attracted to him in some way," he'd justify it with. It was an unspoken rule between the two men that nothing in the past got spoken about– nothing about what happened on stage or off of it . They had both moved on, got married, had children and they were both happy.

"Oh, shit– I hope Mikey throws away those paper towels," Gerard speaks up as Frank opens up his door and lets himself inside. Gerard lingers for a moment debating on whether or not to go inside or not but eventually decides he's overthinking and walks in, letting the door shut behind him. "I'm sure if he doesn't then they're going to kick us out of here and call the cops," Frank calls out from the bathroom of the room, "Here. Let's try this."

Frank emerges from the bathroom with the wipe in hand, placing it onto Gerard's cheek lightly. The singer flinches a bit from the cold. "Don't be such a baby," Frank whispers, lightly moving it farther down. "There we go," he murmurs. Gerard laughs as he looks at the concentrated look at the shorter man in front of him, "Pretty sure this has happened before." "In Florida," Frank laughs and continues to wipe across his forehead now. "Fuck yeah.The portrait shit," Gerard says with his eyes closed now. Frank nods, "Black shit painted across your face. It started stinging and–." "--I couldn't even open my Goddamn eyes," Gerard says.

The room goes silent and Frank continues to clean his bandmate's face off– he wasn't sure why. Gerard could do it himself and he knew that. But every now and then Gerard would open his eyes and Frank would get to look into them for a split second. He was able to look at the face so closely that he used to kiss, hug, sneak off with for hours at a time in the middle of the night. They were just older versions of the same people who used to love each other so dearly.

Frank removes the wipe from Gerard's face. The singer opens his eyes, "Thank you." Frank swallows hard as they stare into one another's eyes– the room entirely silent. "No problem," he murmurs in response, "I can give you the rest of them in case you find some more on your face." "I think it'll be alright," Gerard responds.

Neither one of them wanted to move. It wasn't just Frank now– it was a mutual unspoken agreement that they could stand here forever in this hotel room. "The same evening that you helped me get that shit off my face–," Gerard says. "I know," Frank murmurs, "I remember. I could never forget. I wouldn't want to." Frank could feel his heart pounding– he was scared at one point that Gerard could hear it. "I really love my life now," Frank says, his tone light. "Of course.. I do too– I wouldn't trade mine," Gerard says.

"I think I should go back to my room now," Gerard murmurs. Frank nods but neither of them move from their assigned placements– right next to the bathroom and the hotel room door. "It shouldn't still be this hard should it?" Frank laughs, the smile no longer meeting his eyes. Gerard shrugs, "It's definitely fuckin' mutual." The singer moves in slowly, wrapping his arms around the other man. Frank melts, mistaking and leaning in for a kiss yet again– quickly fixing it and hugging Gerard.

They stay like that for what felt like hours between the two of them– taking in the warmth of the other. Neither of them were willing to let go prematurely. Gerard places his face into the crook of Frank's neck. Frank hugs Gerard a bit harder than before, his fingers were going white from how hard he was gripping Gerard's shirt.

"In another life?" Gerard whispers, his caressing holding the back of Frank's head.

Frank closes his eyes tightly and nods, "In another life."