Cigarettes and Sass (reupload)

Chapter 22

Bert laughed as he walked slowly up the stairs towards the apartment with Frank and Gerard, his side hurting from how hard he was laughing; his knife wound still giving him trouble from time to time though it was mostly healed.

The men had gone into town just to window shop and have a coffee, but there had been a street artist trying to get people to sit and let him draw them. Frank had forced Gerard into it, and the resulting artwork had been less than flattering.

"Oh God Gee, your face!" Frank laughed, still looking at the drawing that Gerard had been begging them to bin for the last hour. "He's made you look like a chipmunk!"

"Yes I am aware." Gerard snarled, trying to snatch the drawing off Frank, just making the shorter man laugh harder, both he and Bert struggling to find the strength to climb up the stairs they were so busy laughing to themselves.

"Guys!" Gerard whined, stamping his foot slightly as he finally managed to snatch the drawing from Frank. "This isn't funny! I can't believe you even made me sit there; I could tell he was going to be shit." He insisted, tearing up the drawing furiously but Frank and Bert didn't seem to care. Frank grabbed Gerard's shoulder and used him as support to get up the stairs, desperately trying to stop his laughter.

"God I'm sorry Gee. It was just... The way you looked at him when he gave you the drawing – Oh God!" Frank began to howl with laughter again, the mental image of Gerard's horrified face from earlier just making him practically keel over he found it so funny.

"Okay, okay. It's not funny anymore, stop over doing it." Gerard pouted miserably, finally managing to get the two men up the stairs without either of them falling down again. Bert had managed to silence his laughter for the most part, though he was still grinning and had to keep biting the inside of his cheek to stop himself from laughing again as Frank continued to giggle.

"God, I'm sorry Gee." He sniggered, wiping at the tears in his eyes as he stood beside Bert in the corridor, Gerard fumbling with his keys to get the apartment open. He rolled his eyes and mumbled a sceptical 'yeah, yeah' in response to Frank's apology, turning to tell him he didn't believe a word of it as he slipped his key into the lock and turned it.

"I d – Oh..." Gerard stopped and looked back to the door, removing his key and trying the handle, feeling his stomach lurch in horror. "Shit, I must have forgotten to lock it when we left." He gasped, immediately thinking of his precious Alan Moore art on his wall and praying no one had come into the apartment and stolen it.

"What, really?" Frank's laughter stopped immediately as he followed Gerard into the apartment, Bert entering last. "I'm sure I saw you lock up though Gee." He said gently, stopping abruptly when Gerard did, almost walking into the back of him.

"Gerard?" Frank jumped when Bert actually did walk into the back of him and he turned to help steady him before he could fall, Gerard standing stock still.

"Who are you?" Frank and Bert both looked round curiously at Gerard's words, Frank tiptoeing up to try and see over Gerard's shoulder to find who he was talking to. Already his heart was hammering at the prospect of a thief having got into the apartment, but when he finally spotted the man Gerard was talking to Frank couldn't help but think he didn't look much like a thief. He was sat comfortably on the sofa, looking perfectly at home with a plate balancing on his lap. He was just finishing the last of what looked like a sandwich, his eyes sparkling as they focussed on Gerard.

"I said, who the fuck are you asshole!?" Gerard demanded, the initial surprise turning into anger as he stormed forward. "Get the fuck out of my apartment!" He snapped, set to grab the guy by his shirt and throw him out himself when as quick as a flash a gun was pointing at his chest, the man smiling serenely at him and saying not a word as he stuffed the last of his sandwich into his mouth.