This Is Our Second Skin (Frerard)

19: In Which Gerard Freaks Out And Frank Makes Waffles

Gerard woke up reluctantly, his body doing its best to ignore the outside stimuli that was slowly pushing him into consciousness, but as hard as Gerard tried to sink back down into the warm sheets and ignore the soft sounds of his neighbors moving about that were rapidly becoming louder by the second, he didn't have much luck, and eventually, he was forced to open his eyes and relinquish his hold on sleep entirely, squinting against the bright sunlight that shone through the open curtains on the other side of the room.

Still, Gerard was in no hurry to actually get out of bed, that just seemed like entirely too much effort, so he simply stretched lazily, his joints popping in a satisfying manner as his gaze wandered to the red numbers that graced the face of this ancient alarm clock.

9:57am

Oh fuck - Gerard was late to work, really fucking late, so late that it wasn't even worth it to attempt making it into the office today, he would just have to call in later with some bullshit story about how he was sick, and he hadn't heard his alarm this morning - actually, he truly hadn't heard the familiar blaring sound that usually awoke him without fail, which was strange, but it was possible that Gerard had just forgotten to set it last night, even though that was very unlike him.

There was no point in worrying about it now though, because Gerard still had a little bit of sick time left, and no one would probably care about Gerard's absence; the worst case scenario involved his boss chewing him out, but whatever - it had happened before, and knowing Gerard's lousy attendance lately, it would happen again.

Something still seemed off to Gerard though - wrong even, ignoring the small pit of dread that was currently forming in his stomach, but that always happened when Gerard missed work, regardless of if he had a good reason or not, but that wasn't what had Gerard anxious and slightly on edge, he couldn't quite place what it was though.

Maybe it was just the oddity of waking up so late, because Gerard wasn't sure why he had been so irresponsible this morning, it didn't make sense, because Gerard just didn't do that unless he had a good reason, and honestly, that reason usually involved Frank in one way or another, but - oh fuck, Frank had been here - hadn't he, he had spent the night, and that explained why Gerard hadn't bothered to remember that he had work in the morning, but it also awoke a flurry of other questions that increased Gerard's uneasy feeling to the point of queasiness.

Gerard had no idea how the fact that Frank had spent the night had managed to slip his mind, but now it was all coming back; Frank had kissed Gerard, and more...so much more, but where was he now? Gerard was positive that Frank had fallen asleep here, he could vividly recall drifting off to his soft breathing, but then nothing - Gerard had no idea when Frank had taken off, or why, and the unknown was causing his breath to catch in his chest and his heart to beat at twice the normal rate.

Memories of last night began assaulting Gerard's mind like reels from a movie, his eyes fluttering shut as he replayed the events of their evening, starting with the kiss outside of his apartment, and ending with the way they had lain naked together in each other's arms, but obviously Gerard hadn't woken up that way, he was alone in his bed at the moment, and now that he realized that Frank had left, he instantly began to panic.

Because Frank was here, and now he wasn't, and that could mean so many things, or it could mean absolutely nothing, but fuck - what if Gerard had messed up, what if Frank had started to rethink everything after Gerard had surrendered to slumber, maybe he didn't like Gerard anymore, or Gerard had moved too fast, or something.

Gerard's breathing quickened as he glanced around rapidly, trying to ascertain if Frank was in the bathroom, or hiding in the closet, and even in his distressed state, Gerard chuckled at his own lame attempt at a joke, but once he realized that Frank was nowhere to be seen, all traces of humor dissipated from his mind, despair taking over instead.