Let the Walls Break Down // Frerard

Chapter Four

"So, Gerard..." I begin, before trailing off. My two, little words hang over me like an enormous grand piano held up by a piece of thin, worn, old rope dangling threateningly above me.
I should really start thinking before I speak and maybe, like, I dunno, FREAKIN COME UP WITH SOMETHING TO SAY INSTEAD OF BEING AN AWKWARD POTATO!!!!
... Ahem...
Anyway, he looks at me expectantly and I realise I still haven't finished my sentence yet.
"...Nice, um... Weather!" I say, slightly raising my voice by accident. "Yeah, really great weather we're having. Nice and... sunny." He considers this for a moment, before replying.
"Well, personally I think that the weather here is absolutely abysmal. Honestly, I feel as if I'm going to simultaneously freeze and get a sunburn." He says all this with a super serious expression.
Unsure what to reply, I just agree, bemused. "Yeah, totally. Abysmal, exactly." His serious face appears to falter, before entirely dropping as he bursts into a quiet laughing fit.
"Oh my god, your face Frank. I was just messing with you, but seriously, that face. Looks like I got you good." I look sideways, an embarrassed grin on my face.
"Yeah, hehe. Guess you did." Now I start blushing slightly, very embarrassed to be caught out so easily.
"Relax Frank. You don't have to make small talk with me or anything, you know?" He asks and I nod, my face still a tiny bit warm.
"Yeah I know. I just wanna like talk to you, because you seem cool." (Yeah, sure Frank, that's the reason), "But unfortunately, I'm extremely bad at talking to people." He looks almost surprised for a moment, before replying.
"Well, maybe we just need to like get more comfortable around each other. I mean, it's probably more awkward cos we just met the other day." I nod agreeing with him.
There is a moment of silence and, in that moment, I have an idea, to ask him if he wants to hang out later, once we're finished. I decide to actually act on my idea for once in my life.
I begin to speak, a small pit of paranoia in my brain doing its best to try and make me overthink it. "Anyway, so do you wanna-"
"What would you like to order?" The person manning the counter asks, not super enthusiastically, cutting me off unintentionally.
"Um... Can I have a medium mocha latte with cream please? In a cup to go." I just prefer those to go cups to the mugs they do; the cups have lids. Also I'm really slow at drinking coffee sometimes. He types it in on the till, before looking at Gerard expectantly.
"I'll have the same as him." Gerard says to him. He doesn't even change the to go cup bit.
The guy tells us the price. Since we both bought the same thing, it's half each, except... I hand him enough for both drinks before Gee has the chance to get out his wallet.
"Frank, you don't have to-" Gerard starts speaking and I make a split second decision.
"Yeah, but I want to." He looks at me, surprised for a moment and blushing, before objecting again.
"Honestly Frank, I have enough to-"
"I don't care whether you have enough. I'm buying it for you, because I wanna." He's still slightly flushed and I can feel my own cheeks heating up slightly.
The guy at the counter has been making our drinks while we talk. Once he's finished, he hands me a receipt and one cup, giving the other to Gee, whose blush has reduced slightly.
"Here. You two make a good couple." He comments, smiling.
Immediately, both of us have almost cartoonishly widened eyes. An even stronger flush floods across my face and I can see Gerard burning up too.
"I, um, well... we're not, like... dating" I stutter and he looks surprised and embarrassed.
"Sorry, guess I read the situation wrong. Well... enjoy your drinks and, um, sorry for assuming..." He's sheepish and applogetic.
"Yeah, it's, um, okay." I reply awkwardly, my face still on fire.
We walk back to the table in silence, avoiding making eye contact. Pete glances up and smirks when he sees us both looking so flustered. Him and Mikey get up and, before I sit down, Pete whispers quietly to me, so no one else can hear: "So, how's Gerard doing?"
I can't help but to blush even more, before sitting down and sliding round to the back of the table. Brendon looks at both me and Gee and notices our shared blush. He smiles a little and it looks like he's stopping himself from smiling a lot. I guess he doesn't want to look like the Cheshire Cat.
Once Gerard and I are both sat down, I look at him, smiling and still blushing.
I take a sip of my drink, but it's too hot and I burn my lip.
"Ow ow ow!" I exclaim as I put the cup back down on the table. Gerard looks at me quickly and speaks, clearly concerned.
"Are you okay Frank?" I nod, smiling at him.
"Yeah. Just burnt my lip is all." He still looks worried.
"Are you sure? Do you need like some ice or something?"
"No. Really, I'm fine." I smile again, rubbing my lip a little bit. It does hurt a little bit, but I've had worse so I'm not gonna make a fuss. He nods, still looking slightly worried, before looking down at the table.
Silence falls once again. Seriously, it's like there's a bubble of awkward that follows me around everywhere, entrapping everyone within it in the most awkward silence ever.
I'm just sat looking round awkwardly, with my hands on the edge of the seat (it's something I do when I'm nervous).
All of a sudden, something brushes up against my right hand. What is it? My answer is presented to me when I look down: Gerard's left hand.
I look at him questioningly. His face is going slightly red, but he gives no indication of intending to move it. Did he... move it there on purpose?
Well, I'm not moving. I can feel a very faint blush warming my cheeks.
My left hand shakes a tiny bit when I pick up my cup again, despite me only having had a tiny, little bit of coffee, when I burnt myself. What else could be making me shiver slightly?
I barely even notice Pete and Mikey coming back, because I'm so focused on the small patch of skin on my right hand, which is touching Gerard's. In fact, I only realise that they're back when Pete asks me a question.
"Frank, why are you blushing so much?" A tiny, almost invisible smirk on his mouth.
Both Kellin and Brendon look at me, while Mikey glances quickly between Gee and I, apparently realising that something's going on (although it kind of isn't, really. I mean, brushing up against each other isn't very special, I'm just overreacting massively).
Then Gerard loops his little finger over mine, causing me to blush ten times harder.
"N-no reason. It's just r-really warm in here r-right now." Strangely, they all seem to accept that feeble excuse, because they go back to looking at their phones. Meanwhile, Gee looks at me questioningly, while biting his lip. I smile at him slightly shyly, and slowly move my hand a fraction of a millimetre closer. Physically, it makes virtually no difference, but he quietly sighs, as if relieved to have... I guess my permission or something?
The corners of my mouth are turned up as I take a sip from my cup, as the drink has cooled down.
The warmth in my cheeks dies down slightly, and I can't stop grinning.
What seems like a fraction of a second after I place my cup back down, Ryan arrives.
He notices me grinning and Gerard blushing slightly and rolls his eyes, smiling.
"Hey Ryan." Brendon says, smiling uncontrollably.
Kellin moves over, so Gee and I have to squish closer together. Ryan sits down next to Brendon, grabbing his flask, apparently having decided to just bring that instead of buying something.
Now my leg is pressed up against Gerard's and my hand is resting on it (my leg, not his).
I get an alert on my phone: apparently someone added me to a group chat called 'get off your phones, you antisocial lil shytes'. Well, okay then.
For some strange reason, everyone simultaneously decides they would prefer to have an actual conversation than be on their phones.
"So, Kellin... Um... What's your favourite colour?" Pete asks, apparently remembering his promise to make him feel welcome.
"Er... I don't know, red?" He answers, seeming slightly embarrassed.
"Cool. Hey, are you gonna be going to our school?" Pete asks and Kellin nods.
"Yep. I'm in all the same classes as Brendon." Brendon nods, and I decide to join the conversation.
"Oh, so that means that you, Pete, Brendon and I will all have Art and Maths together then." Pete nods, before adding to what I said by saying:
"And Mikey too." Curiously, I looks at everyone.
"Which other lessons do I even have with any of you guys? I don't even actually know properly." I ask, secretly hoping that I have some with Gerard.
"Well, Kellin and Brendon have all the same, me, you and Mikey are together most of the time, except when you have History with the other group. We have Maths and Art with Kellin and Brendon, Ryan is in our English group and we haven't had any lessons with Gerard yet." Pete rattles off. (A/N: in this, Mikey and Gerard are in the same year. Don't question it :/)
"Hold on, which History teacher do you have Frank?" Gee asks, looking at me.
"Mr Carre." I reply and he grins.
"Well, I have History with Frank and I have the same Biology teacher as Mikey, so I guess we're together for that." He says and I smile, my hope fulfilled.
"Awesome. Anyway, enough about school," I glance at Pete for a moment before continuing. "Not mentioning any names of course, but I've been noticing that certain people," My eyes dart between Pete and Mikey, "seem to be in some kind of relationship without telling anyone. Literally everyone knows so your 'secret'," I make air quotes, "is kinda not a secret. At all." They (Pete and Mikey) are bright red and Pete starts to speak, his speech broken.
"I- We- He probably doesn't even- That is-" Mikey cuts him off, his cheeks glowing slightly.
"Okay, what the hell, I got nothin to lose. Pete," he begins, his voice raised, making Pete jump slightly as he turns to look at him, "will you," he breaths deeply, before carrying on, "be my boyfriend?" Mikey's blush has intensified as Pete starts nodding violently while speaking nonsensical garbage.
"Well- I think- That would be-," he seems to stop and calm himself, "YES!" He shouts and a couple of people stare at him in confusion.
"Yas bish!!! Petekey is real!!!" Don't judge me. I have a shipping problem. Pete grins when I say that, and Mikey looks confused.
"Um what's that?" He asks, directing the question more towards Pete than me, but despite this I answer anyway.
"That is the ship name for you and Pete. It's your names combined." He nods, though he still looks a tiny bit bewildered. Pete, however, smirks as if he's just had an idea. Whether that idea is good, I don't know, but I get the feeling I'm about to find out.
"Speaking of ships, how's Frerard doing?" He asks, the smirk widening. I blush and look away. It doesn't exactly take a genius to figure that one out.
Mikey unknowingly rescues me by asking a series of questions: "What's a ship? Is it like the kind of boat? I don't understand, why is there a boat named after me and Pete?" I'm just about to answer, when he adds one more question which makes me feel slightly less grateful towards him. "And why's there one named after Frank and my brother?" Pete has an extremely devious look on his face. Brendon has joined the smirk squad (end my suffering) and even Ryan's mouth is slightly crooked. Kellin has a look of extreme focus, seeming to be practically lapping up the drama.
"Well, my dear boyfriend, when we talk about ships and shipping, we usually aren't talking about either boats or parcels, but relationships. Basically if you ship two people, you think they should be together. Like a couple." Mikey nods in understanding, before his eyes widen slightly as he looks at Gerard, then at me, then back at Gerard again. His shocked expression slowly shifts into a smirk, though unlike Pete's, Brendon's and Ryan's, his smirk is directed at Gerard, rather than me.
Gerard coughs uncomfortably and I glare at Pete; Mikey and him being together means I no longer have anything to tease him about in retaliation, so in his mind it's now Frank season and he's got unlimited ammo. Plus he's making Gerard feel bad and that makes me even madder.
"Anyway," Brendon jumps in, preventing a fight, "I think it's probably time to go. Hey why don't we go to Hot Topic!"
Pete and Mikey both perk up immediately at his words and Ryan, who was having a sip of milk, spits it out and shouts, "HELL YES!!!"
As much as I want to, I am still pissed off with Pete, so I say "I don't really feel like it right now."
"Me neither." Gerard says after me and Kellin also speaks.
"I would, but I have practically no money left and I can't go there without finding something that I have to have." He shrugs and I have an amazing idea.
"You guys wanna come over? I was planning on having pizza and playing some video games." They both nod and I grin. Pete perks up again, this time looking at me the second the word pizza passes my lips. He looks torn for a moment, but clearly decides (very reluctantly) that he'd prefer Hot Topic.
"Cool. See you guys later then." Brendon says as he, Ryan, Mikey and Pete leave the shop.
"Well then," I look at them both. "Let's go."

>>•<<

A/N:
Sorry I updated this a few hours later than usual :/ I completely forgot cos I was reading paper books not wattpad ones and I had my phone on silent so I didn't get the alert till like 5 minutes ago...
Anyway here's the Costa encounter part two :)
Hope you liked it. Next part will be out in 2 weeks time as usual.
-Alex(^~^*)