“My dad left when I was twelve.” Frank tells Gerard, now that they’re both curled up on the sofa and the other guests have all gone to look after children- Brendon and Lindsey- or have alone time- Mikey and Alicia. and Gerard guesses that he’ll spend the night here, since he doesn’t like driving in the dark all that much.
“Ah really? That sucks.”
“Yeah I guess, I mean it did at the time and it kind of made me really mad cause I took it all too personally, but like I-" He pauses for a moment to find the right words. "Now I guess it was kind of for the best, or whatever. My mom’s been a lot happier since he left.”
Then Gerard tells Frank about his dad and how he was never really around cause he was one of those nine-to-five parents that was always to busy or tiered for their kids, and his mom was pretty much the same, so Mikey and him used to spend most of their time at their Grandma’s until they were old enough to look after themselves.
And then they talk about pets and Frank’s all. “I want to have a house full of dogs.”
And Gerard can’t help but screw up his nose and say, “No man, do you know how much dogs stink?”
But Frank gives him this kind of heart breaking look and his eyes swirl green and Gerard just knows that if Frank wanted to live in a house full of snakes and moths it would be okay because it’s Frank. But Gerard also can’t admit this so he changes the subject completely. “What’s the time?”
“A concept man created in order to break up the day.” Frank grins like an asshole and Gerard sighs melodramatically because he walks with the weight of the world on his shoulders and now Frank wont even tell him the time. “Kidding, dude, it’s like 1 am.”
And Gerard relaxes a little, relieved that he’s not hanging out with a complete douche bag “Damn I should probably sleep at some point if I ever want to get up again.”
Then Frank kind of pouts and Gerard thinks that he might actually die if this guy gets any cuter. “Aw man, sleeping’s no fun.”
“Yeah, but it’s kind of a necessity.”
Frank then explains to Gerard that he’s never really been able to sleep at night. “Like I mean night is when all the monsters and the rapists come out, and I already look like jail bate so why the fuck would I just roll over and shut my eyes through all of it? It’s much safer to sleep in the day.”
And Gerard understands where's he's coming from but, “I have to work and Bob doesn’t like me sleeping through my shift.”
So Frank’s suddenly really interested in what Gerard does, and Gerard really doesn’t want to tell him because although he’s a failing artist he’s also twenty-seven and working in Barnes and Noble which is sort of embarrassing, but Frank doesn’t seem to care that his jobs lame as he replies with. “Ah, I’m one of the Starbucks douches.” And Gerard has to rant about how great the coffee is and-
“I’ll have to come see you at work one day!" Gerard says, because of how he's apparently one of those people that invite themselves to stranger's places of work.
Frank just laughs and nods though. "Totally, I can give you a discount."
Eventually, the two drift off into an almost peaceful sleep, only Gerard is far too aware of him not being in his bed, which leads to him feeling unnerved whenever he dips into the land of dreams and he has to open his eyes and blink a few times before he can relax again. But the lack of sleep is totally worth the company even if it does mean that he wakes up to a kick in the face.
Ow, he thinks groggily as he’s pulled back into the realms of the living, rubbing one hand not so gently across his face. It takes him a few minutes to fully register just where he is and Gerard almost panics a little at the sight of beige carpets and the flat screened TV. This is most defiantly not his home. But the feeling of fear and uncertainty passes near as quickly as it had arrived and Gerard feels his quickened pulse lull back into an easy beat; he’s at Mikey’s house.
