Thank You For The Venom (Frerard)

11 - Just Sleep

11 - Just Sleep

Somehow, Gerard managed to make it through the show in one piece, but it wasn't smooth sailing. He fell over a few times, and stumbled over the odd word, but all in all the fans seemed to love it, taking his drunken staggering around as part of the performance.

He was trying his best not to look at the area where Luke was watching, but he couldn't help himself. Every now and then when the main lights were up he'd take a glance at the balcony and spot him stood near the end, arms folded across his chest. He'd seen them play plenty of times before of course, but this time Gerard really couldn't stand his presence. He didn't even look like he was enjoying it that much, but maybe that was just Gerard wanting to find something about him to be angry about.

He was so tempted to grab Frank during I'm Not Okay and just kiss the hell out of him, but there was no way he had the guts to do it after the night before. Instead he affectionately grabbed the guitarist by the hair and pulled him against his chest so that Frank leaned back against him and screamed his line into their shared mic. Frank went to turn, and for a moment their eyes met with their faces so close together.

Gerard couldn't breathe, let alone sing, wondering if Frank would dare to kiss him right then, after everything.

But then Frank turned away and Gerard scrambled to remember his spot, picking up the chorus and attempting to shake some sense into himself, which is easier said than done when you're pretty drunk and still have the remnants of pills in your system.

Mikey raised an eyebrow at him from his spot behind where he and Frank had just been stood, clearly having caught the moment. Hopefully he was the only one. 

The gig was nearly over, and just as well, because his head was spinning. There was far too many thoughts rushing through it, and he could barely focus on any of them. He was feeling kind of nauseous, but luckily at that point the last song was ringing out and the lights went down, signalling their cue to leave the stage. 

He bolted into the wings and down one of the hallways into a bathroom, just about managing to make it to the toilet before he puked. The pills had obviously not agreed with the beer in his system, but after a few moments of gagging and heaving he did feel considerably better. 

He leaned back onto his knees and shakily wiped his mouth with the back of his sleeve, taking a moment to try and collect his thoughts. He wasn't sure if anyone had seen where he'd run off to, but then a knock on the door snapped him out of his trance. 

"Gee?" Frank's voice called through "you in there?"

"Er, yeah. Two secs" Gerard got to his feet and opened the door halfway so he could lean against the frame. Frank was stood with his hands in his jean pockets and a concerned look on his face. 

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, just a bit sick. I'm fine now" he gave a small smile "sorry, I didn't really have time to explain."

"What did you take?" Frank didn't seem angry. He was... unreadable. Gerard couldn't quite figure out what emotions were hiding behind his eyes. 

"Pills" He mumbled, bracing himself for a disappointed look. Instead, Frank just looked sad, and maybe a little guilty too. You'd think after years Gerard would be able to read him like a book, and for the most part he could, but in moments like these he really did have no clue what his best friend was thinking. 

"Did you..." Frank trailed off for a second, clearly having some sort of internal battle over his word choice "I hope you didn't take them because of Luke. I put you in a really shitty position today Gee and I'm so sorry, I had no idea he was going to turn up like this."