Cigarettes and Sass (reupload)

Chapter 13

Frank stretched and groaned as he used his hip to slam the car door shut. The drive to visit Mikey had been long, and both he and Gerard were tired, but now that they had arrived Frank was in exceptionally high spirits.

"Man, I cannot wait to meet your brother." He smirked, arms still above his head as he stretched his sleeping muscles. Gerard rolled his eyes fondly and smiled as he locked the car, grabbing his rucksack full of his and Frank's overnight things and slinging it over his shoulder.

"I bet." He scoffed, walking round the front of the car and taking Frank's hand when he joined him. Frank may have been excited to meet Mikey, but Gerard was feeling anxious. He knew both his brother and his boyfriend were looking forward to irritating each other and Gerard just wanted them to get along. "Try to give him a chance." He pleaded softly, Frank chuckling and nudging Gerard's ribs with his elbow.

"Don't worry, I'm not gonna bite his head off. I'll see whether he's giving me a chance first." He smirked, Gerard frowning at him from the corner of his eye as he and Frank walked across the university campus. Gerard already knew which halls were Mikey's and where his room was from previous visits so he had asked Mikey not to come out to meet them. He knew the walk to his room would be valuable time to give Frank this last minute reminder.

"He'll be sceptical of you at first..." He admitted quietly, lacing his fingers with Frank's as both men gazed with some amazement at the large, white university building. It looked pretty fancy, especially for Frank who had barely managed to graduate High school. "But that's only because he's kinda protective over me. We're really close ya know?"

"Sure, I get it." Frank nodded, gazing around with slightly widened eyes at the many students milling around. It was early evening by now, but it seemed some kids still had lectures to go to. A few were holding books and folders, chatting to friends or escaping the world via their headphones as they rushed by. Others though were dressed up in cocktail dresses or jeans and shirts, clearly getting ready for a night out. Frank may have never gone to college, but he'd heard about the crazy parties.

"So you'll be nice to him right?" Gerard asked nervously, tugging gently on Frank's hand to lead him round the main building towards a line of other buildings with different names above the front doors. Frank realised they must be the halls of residences.

"I'll be nice to him if he's nice to me." Frank shrugged, glancing at Gerard's anxious face and squeezing his hand comfortingly as he chuckled. "You know me Gee, I give what I get." He smirked, Gerard groaning as he rolled his eyes.

"That's what worries me." He admitted through a chuckle, Frank scoffing and smirking as Gerard tugged him to the first building on the row and pushed open the heavy security door.

Inside there was a long hallway stretching right across to the other end of the building. Other corridors branched off it, the walls lined with plain wooden doors with brass numbers pinned to the top. The hallway was narrow and Frank had to walk a little behind Gerard so that he didn't scrape along the doors. It felt dark and claustrophobic and Frank wondered if all college halls were like this.

"He's on the third floor." Gerard muttered as he pushed open another door to reveal a set of stairs. Frank wrinkled his nose up at the grey laminate flooring and peered uneasily up to see how far three floors was exactly.

"Isn't there an elevator?" He groaned as Gerard began pulling him up the winding stair case, Frank stomping along behind. He couldn't help it if he was lazy. If there was an easier option then he always took it.

"There is." Gerard smirked, laughing a little at Frank's disgruntled expression. "But the students are always finding ways to break it, trust me, you don't wanna risk it. Last time I visited I took the elevator and ended up stuck between the third and second floor for an hour."