Our Foundations from Decay

Gerards POV 47

I woke up feeling good. Frank's warm breath danced on my skin in a satisfying pattern; in... one, two. Out... one, two.

He was so soundly asleep, from his light snore to his dribbling and incoherent muttering and his...

Wait, what is that?

I noticed that his ears where he pierced were swollen and sort of pudgy.

"Frank baby... are your ears sore?"

I tried my best to not let the worry reflect in my voice as I wanted to be strong for Frank, but I couldn't shake the idea of them being possibly infected.

"Hm? My ears?" He mumbled, eyelids fluttering open as his messy hair lifted from the makeshift mattress.

"Uh, they don't hurt. They just feel weird." He responded, rubbing his lobes with his fingers.

"Let me see."

I brought his groggy face closer to me as I examined the wound on his ears.

My heart finally returned to its normal pace when I realized they weren't infected, but they had almost completely closed up.

It was kind of sad, though; Frank would've looked REALLY hot with pierced ears.

"Franky... they're closing up. I'm sorry."

I know he really wanted pierced ears— it must've meant a lot to him to finally have that kind of freedom in his life, to finally have some control for once after living in a restricted environment since he was born. It was beautiful to see him be able to grow and flourish into the person he is without being trapped in that suffocating box his mom forced him into. I was grateful to have the privilege to see him discover himself and become who he truly is, it's what makes me fall in love with him more every day.

"It's okay cus I'll just reinforce them with earrings. Gee, we need to stop by a store where I can buy jewellery."

It seems that our running away trip had been made up of visiting a lot of stores recently.

I wasn't exactly sure how well "reinforcing" closed-up piercings would work but Frank had that determined look on his face which I knew meant there was no changing his mind on that.

"Okay.." I sighed, grimacing at the thought of his tender ears being irritated once again.

As soon as I agreed, Frank lit up with excitement, not wasting a second as he hopped into the front seat.

"C'mon, Gee! Seatbelts on."

"Wait! We gotta brush our teeth first and get breakfast. I know hygiene isn't that important," (Frank side-eyed me when I said that), "but I read that couples in relationships should keep good hygiene for each other, especially when they kiss. And I don't wanna make out with you if your teeth are grimy and dirty."

He merely scoffed at me, though a contradicting smile forged on his face.

"So that means after we can make out?"

Of course that's where he was going with that, I rolled my eyes, though he did look seriously cute, especially with his silly red ears that he couldn't take proper care of if his life depended on it.

"Perhaps." I simply responded, shifting my glare towards the window as I smiled deviously in my antics of playing hard to get.

"Wow, I see how it is. Fine, I'll go brush my teeth but don't complain if I stop putting out."

I almost choked but held it back to keep my cool composure.

Frank finally found some two-dollar store in a small town and parked by it hoping they'd sell piercings.