This Is Our Second Skin (Frerard)

9: Gerard Friend-Zones Himself And I Am The 1975 Trash

The rest of the evening passed far too quickly for Gerard's liking, but there was a limit to how slowly Gerard could eat, especially when the food was this good, and it seemed that the old saying "time flies when you are having fun" was true after all, actually, it seemed to move at warp speed when he was with Frank.

Before Gerard knew it, both of their plates were empty, and he was fighting the urge to release the top button of his pants to try and accommodate all the food he had devoured; Frank probably wouldn't notice, and Gerard was really regretting wearing his tightest pair of jeans right now, but just then, the waiter came by with their check, successfully distracting Gerard from his constricting waistband for the moment.

"Let me get it," Gerard whined, but Frank was too fast for him, grabbing the piece of paper in his tattooed hands before Gerard could make a move for it.

"No way, this is me thanking you - remember, so I'm paying, end of story."

Gerard briefly debated snatching the check away from Frank, but knowing his luck, it would probably rip in half, or something else just as embarrassing, so he stayed still, even though he didn't feel entirely comfortable letting someone else pay for his meal.

"If you are sure," Gerard sighed out, still eyeing the bill in an attempt to read the total price, because if it was too much, maybe Gerard could convince Frank to split it with him.

"No peeking," Frank giggled, and Gerard blushed at the fact that his body language had been so easy to read, either that, or Frank was psychic, but if he was, he would probably have already run for the hills as soon as he got a glimpse of Gerard's thoughts about him, so Gerard quickly dismissed that option from his mind.

"I'm sorry, I'm just not used to people paying for me, and I feel bad," Gerard admitted softly.

"Hey - why would you feel bad? I wanted to treat you, if I hadn't, I never would have invited you out, and after everything you did for me, you deserve a hell of a lot more than one meal," Frank smiled genuinely, the expression causing those damn butterflies to awaken once again, seriously - Gerard was getting slightly annoyed with the creatures, and their presence in his full stomach wasn't entirely pleasant.

"I didn't really do anything though, you just needed some help, and it was no big deal," Gerard shrugged, resigning himself to the fact that he was going to have to get over his discomfort with Frank paying for him, because he had already placed his money in the billfold, and Gerard wasn't going to make a scene by continuing to persist now.

"No big deal...Gerard - you fucking carried me home, watched over me while I was puking my guts out, stayed the entire night with me, even though I'm sure you had better things to do, and then made me breakfast. If that is no big deal, then you are the nicest person in the fucking world - actually, I'm pretty convinced that you are," Frank chuckled, and Gerard could see his point now, it sounded much better laid out in words than in Gerard's head, but he still didn't feel like Frank owed him for his actions, especially since he couldn't think of anything that would beat spending the night with Frank, even if he had been sick.

"No - I'm really not, but thank you I guess, I just...I couldn't leave you like that," Gerard mumbled, trying his best not to mention his year long crush on Frank, and how it really hadn't been any burden at all to him, because Frank really didn't need to know about that.

"But anyone else would, and you didn't, and that meant a lot to me, and just...I don't know - you are special Gerard."

"I..." Gerard trailed off awkwardly, because he couldn't think of anything to say when Frank was looking at him like that, his eyes wide and honest with his lips curled upward in a soft smile. Gerard's brain was practically short circuiting right now, because every instinct in his body was screaming at him to lean across the table and kiss Frank, but his mind wouldn't let him.