Plagiarism

To Paint Silence

To Paint Silence

By: kuriositet

Summary:

Gerard is about one month away from graduating college, and the deadline for his final big Art project is getting closer. He's got one idea for it, but because of what it involves, he's been procrastinating it an awful lot just because he can't find the words to ask his best friend to pose for him. Naked.

When he does, though, Gerard realizes it's not only about painting. It's about their friendship, it's about fighting for some control. And it's also about keeping his attraction in silence as the younger boy seems to constantly read his mind.

Notes:

Written for BBB on LJ 2010. Original art and mix posts. Beta credit to happilyappled.

The silence between the two of them is deafening, and so awkward Gerard might actually get up and leave the table any minute now. He stirs what's left of his coffee, although most of it is milk and it's already well blended with the actual coffee and it's well on its way to being too cold to taste like it should, and stares down at the light brown, dark beige liquid. He glances up every now and then at Frank who is carefully hugging his own paper cup of coffee with his hands, sipping it.

Every time he does look up, his mind seems to magically conjure up yet another reason why having Frank model for him would be great, even if he already knows that better than anyone. He's actually the only one who does know it, considering he didn't dare tell Mikey and he's too chicken to ask Frank. But he knows that Frank needs to be his model for this project, or the project won't be happening, since the image of the Frank painting is the only idea he has and there's no time to get another. And just the idea of using another model is enough to make Gerard cringe.

"Is that your phone ringing?" The silence is suddenly broken by Frank's voice, and the Pokemon theme song coming out of Gerard's cell phone that's vibrating in his pocket completely unnoticed by him. Pulling it out and checking the screen, he sees that it's just Mikey, so instead of answering it he turns it off and puts it back. All the while, he could make out a bemused look on Frank's face in his peripheral vision, but when he looked back up it had turned into one of confusion.

"It's just Mikey. I'll call him back later," he explains as his right hand resumes the coffee stirring.

"Yeah, you wouldn't wanna interrupt our deep life changing conversation now, would you?" Frank cracks up almost before he's finished the sentence, amused by his own joke and Gerard joins in after a second or two. Frank's humor isn't the best if you compare quality and stuff, but it's better than 'your mom!' and other shitty jokes that so called professionals come up with. It's the same kind of humor that Gerard has, and that, he thinks, is part of the reason they have always been able to hang out without feeling weird.

Until now.

"Well, yeah, we could actually come up with something important, you know. We could find a cure for cancer, or AIDS," Gerard argues in between high-pitched giggles.

Frank rolls his eyes and stops laughing just long enough to sound sort of serious when he says, "There already is a cure for AIDS. It's called condoms. It's amazing. I use them all the time. You know, a condom a day keeps the doctor away." Again, he's cracking up before he's finished his last sentence, and is sort of hiding his red face in his hands.

"Condoms aren't a cure. They're a precaution. And there are other ways of getting it."

"Yeah, but none of them are a danger to you. You're terrified of needles and you've already been born. And I don't know any other ways of getting it, so. . . Condoms." Frank grins, happy with his conclusion that condoms will save the day, and Gerard just shakes his head, still too giggly to argue it further.