frerard one shots | ✔️

forty-four ~ the book

"Hey, Gerard," Mrs Jones smiled sombrely. "You still waiting on that book?"

"Yeah, do you have it for me?" I asked hopefully. It'd been a whole week since my last visit, and the person that had the book before me still hadn't turned it back into the library. And me, being a stubborn arse, I was still waiting. I wasn't going to spend eleven dollars and seventy-eight cents on a book I could read for free, but now that it'd been a month since the last user checked it out, I was reconsidering my options. 

"No, darling, I'm so sorry," she sighed. "I have your phone number on record, do you want me to call you when it comes back to the library?"

I nodded. "That'd be amazing, but if it doesn't come back in within the next few days, I might just take your advice a buy myself a copy."

Mrs Jones nodded, smiling sweetly. "That'd be a good choice, Gerard. Now, is there anything I can help you--"

She was rudely cut off by the door opening and a short man looking flustered and upset, running towards her. I got an eyeful of the pink-faced young man rushing in and my heart immediately did a 360. He had tattoos crawling out of his shirt sleeves and collar and small pink lips. His hazel eyes glistened with guilt--probably because of the overdue library book--but they were sparkling with youth and inspiration all the same. I would guess that he was an artist of some sort. 

"Mrs Jones!" he whispered, flipping the book around in his hands. The tips of his fingers were calloused. He was probably a musician. "I'm so sorry about the book, my mother just... well... I was out of the state and I couldn't do anything about it and--"

Mrs Jones held up her hand. "It's alright, you've just kept this young man waiting for quite a while," she said, looking up at me. "But I'm sure it wasn't that big of a problem for him, was it, Gerard?"

I shook my head, blushing and looking away from the boy. As soon as he caught sight of me though, his face seemed to get even redder, and his hands shook even more violently, but he stopped playing with the book and started gripping it tightly instead. I bit my lip as I looked away from his tattooed hands.

"Well," he whispered. "Here you go, Mrs Jones and... Gerard, was it?"

I nodded, looking up and smiling at the way he pronounced my name and how it made my heart flip again. "Thanks, uh..."

"Frank," he smiled shyly and somewhat desperately. "I'm really sorry about it."

"It's okay, it wasn't urgent, don't worry too much."

"Would you like me to check this out for you, Gerard?" Mrs Jones asked and I nodded. "Also, Frank, you have a fine of eighty cents."

"That blows," he chuckled sarcastically, reaching into his pocket for coins. "Really stripping me of my salary here, Mrs Jones."

She chuckled and put his coins behind the desk.

We walked out of the library together, not on purpose, of course. Just how things turned out. But he was quite good-looking, so I decided that maybe, maybe he was gay or bi or something and maybe I had a chance with him. I paused outside the library in the cool fall air and turned to him, book under my arm. 

"So, uh, you okay?"

He bit his lip, looking at his feet. "I am now, yeah, I just... there was a problem that happened in my family but I'm alright now."

"That's good to hear, at least. I'm sorry about whatever happened."

"It's okay," he sighed, looking back up at me and running a hand through his messy hair. "I'm sorry to keep you waiting for that book. It's a good one too."

I shrugged. "It's not all your fault. I could have bought one from somewhere, but I didn't want to."

He chuckled a little, and we made brief eye contact as he looked up, his cheeks turning bright red. The tip of his converse played with the gravel beneath our feet for a moment of awkward silence. I smiled a little at his fidgetiness. Maybe he found me as attractive as I found him, maybe, maybe he was queer, and maybe he was single. 

"So, uh, Frank," I started, feeling awkward myself. "This might be a weird question but um... would you like to go on a date sometime? You're really cute and you have a good taste in literature."

He giggled a little bit, a little giggle that made my heart melt and nodded. "I'd love to. I was gonna ask you too, I just couldn't get my mouth to do the talking thing."

I laughed a little. "I understand. Here, let me give you my number, Frankie."

I watched his cheeks turn a darker shade of crimson as he grinned, pulling out a piece of paper to write his own. We exchanged scraps of paper, and then parted ways, and I just couldn't help but have a really good feeling about this one.