ghosts and cigarettes ; frerard

i miss you, so far

[there was a photo of me here! i deleted it because i don't want my face on the internet lol! apologies & thank u all for the compliments :-)]

that morning, frank dragged himself out of bed and immediately turned on his phone, meaning to check twitter but instead his conversation with ray from the past night filled up the screen. that's when he really remembered that he was, in fact, crushing on the attractive, slightly chubby regular customer called gerard, and if he was going to at least try to get said person's number, he was going to have to look decent.

he walked into his adjoining bathroom and leaned on the sink, looking in the mirror. he sighed and popped two advils into his mouth, cringing at the foul initial flavor of the pills. [he always woke up with a pounding headache - probably from his hatred for water and neglect from drinking any.]

he quickly got dressed and did his hair, lining his eyes with a little black pencil and bounded down the stairs and into the kitchen. brian was already there, his hands wrapped around a warm mug of coffee. frank frowned at him. "you look..." he sat down across from brian, who glared at him. "awful, to say the least."

brian only scoffed. frank shrugged and stood up, pouring some of the coffee that brian had previously made into another mug and sitting back down so that he could look right into brian's eyes.

"brian," he started. "listen here. today i am going to get gerard's number, and you are not going to make a single comment about it. okay? don't even come near me unless you need to tell me someone's order. got it?"

brian looked at him with wide, bloodshot eyes and nodded slowly. frank flashed a wide smile at him and drained the rest of his coffee in one go. "great."he stood up and took his apron off the hook on the wall and tied it around his waist. "you should put your uniform on," he eyed brian's star wars pajamas, "opening in ten."

by the time the doors were open, frank was so nervous - he wasn't even sure why he was nervous, he was just getting some guy's number. some guy who was really attractive and could draw like a devil and had his art on frank's body. fuck it - he was really nervous.

brian kept shooting quick glances towards frank as frank made drinks. gerard was late, and frank was anxious that he wouldn't even show up. but his worries were soon sated when gerard's familiar face showed up, walking through the door in his leather jacket and messenger bag. he hesitantly walked up to the counter, shooting a quick smile at frank, and related his order to brian.

frank stood by awkwardly and began making the drink before brian told him to. he made it with skill and ease and turned back to gerard, who was tapping his long fingers on the counter.

"here you go," frank grinned at gerard, almost laughing as gerard's face melted into an uncomfortable smile. he handed the latte over to him and purposefully made their fingers brush. he watched as gerard's cheeks reddened with blush and smirked a little. just that small detail of gerard getting flustered gave him the much needed confidence to wink at gerard and say, "hey, can i get your number?"

of course, brian had to ruin the moment by snorting and turning away behind his hands. frank glared at brian and turned back to gerard, who was trying not to laugh. gerard took his hands away from his mouth and giggled - yes, he giggled, and frank enjoyed it a whole lot - and said, "yeah, do you have a pen?"

at this point, frank was practically jumping up and down because fuck yeah he had just gotten the number of fucking gerard. frank nodded and took a sharpie off of the counter and handed it to gerard, who shyly gestured for frank to hold out his arm. frank hesitantly rolled up his sleeve and held his arm out, the pale flesh of the inside of his forearm startlingly white against the black fabric of his shirt. the ink of the sharpie was cool on frank's skin and he smiled up at gerard, who was staring pointedly at frank's arm.

frank rolled his sleeve back down as soon as gerard had capped the pen. "so, ah, i guess you'll text me?" gerard mumbled, shuffling his feet a little. frank nodded and gerard promptly turned around and strode over to his corner table. frank smiled to himself and turned back to making coffee.

his smile lingered for the rest of the day.

--

i hope this one is okay because i actually kind of like it

-smallcuts- this one is for you bc ilysm and you're my fave Internet fren,, i was going to dedicate the last one to you but it was kinda shitty ? ily anyways

-urie