like ghosts in the snow ; frerard

twenty-five

"What the hell are you wearing?"

Gerard turned around to face his little brother with a blank expression, pointing to himself. "This," he gestured to his outfit. "This is.. fashion?" he said, raising his eyebrows.

"There is no way in hell I'm letting you go out in that." Mikey protested and crossed his arms over his chest, shaking his head disapprovingly. "I mean, come on. Flannel? Who are you?" He added with a quiet snicker.

"Oh, piss off. It's stressful, i have no idea what to wear." Gerard whined and threw his hands up in some form of surrender, letting out a sigh as his back slumped again while he dragged himself back to the closet for what felt like the hundredth time in twenty minutes.

Mikey followed a few feet behind, gazing at Gerard's selection of clothes over his shoulder. "You're acting like a middle school girl, calm down. Just wear, uhm.. actually, don't take fashion advice from me." He dismissed with a wave of his hand, exiting Gerard's room.

"Mikey-"

***

The doorbell rang.
The doorbell? Oh, right! Frank's here! Wait.. already?

Gerard hopped up from his bed, darting out of his bedroom. He made his way down the staircase, his gaze set on the door. Mikey beat him to it, though, and opened the door before Gerard could reach it.
"Frank, hey!" He grinned, stepping to the side as an invitation for him to come inside.
Frank didn't move, though, staying in his spot.

"What's up, Mikes?" Frank grinned, leaning against the side of the doorway. He looked around the room, eventually spotting Gerard.
"Hey, Gee, come here." He waved at him with a wide smile, stepping away from the door.
Gerard just nodded and approached Frank, standing beside his brother.
"Hi, Frank." He greeted, folding his hands to occupy himself for a few seconds. He stayed silent for awhile, his gaze flickering down to the ground.

"You know I'm here to pick you up, right? Put your jacket on." Frank reminded, snapping his fingers in front of Gerard's face. Admittedly, it startled him a little, but he got over it in no time. His eyebrows furrowed as he looked at Frank again. "But.. you don't have a jac-" Mikey interrupted Gerard by 'carefully' kicking his shin in an attempt to make him shut the fuck up, making the older boy wince. He glared at Mikey, his expression making him look somewhat like a fussy toddler.
Or.. something like that.

Frank shook his head amusedly at the two and cocked his head in the direction of his (or his mom's) car, signaling that he wanted to get going. "Give me a second-" Gerard said and leaned down, grabbing his combat boots. He slipped them on with ease, though the zipper on the side was difficult to get all the way up.

Mikey walked off to do his own thing- maybe read comics, who knows? Nobody can read that boy's mind. Nobody except for Gerard.
It was probably some sort of brotherly mind-reading thing. Gerard got his shoes on, brushing off Frank's demand that he should wear a jacket. It was probably warmer inside of the museum, right?

Wrong.

It was fucking freezing.
As soon as he stepped inside, he had to wrap his arms around himself. Frank had this smug, knowing look on his face - not the good type - that read 'I told you so'. Gerard wanted to punch it right off of him. But, being the polite boy he is, he kept his hands to himself.

Yeah, i know what you're thinking.
'But Gerard isn't polite!'.. you're right. You're totally right. He just didn't have the balls to do so much as lay a finger on Frank, afraid that he would somehow shatter him like a piece of fine China. Hell- his face looked like it was carved by goddamn angels. Who was he to touch someone who was at least one hundred times prettier than him?

"So.. you said you like war museums, yeah?" Frank asked, looking up at Gerard every so often as they walked through the museum.

Gerard nodded, followed by a momentous silence, folding his hands in front of himself.
He cleared his throat, nodding more fervently this time. "Yeah. I did. I do," he confirmed, gazing at all the objects that were displayed with a deep, hidden interest.
"I've had a strange passion for war history since I was a child.. maybe it's because my grandfather fought in the war. He told me a lot of stories about the time where he fought in the war- I was always so engrossed in them the moment he'd start speaking." He explained, and Frank nearly stopped walking completely so he could listen to Gerard ramble about the things he loved.

"It's just.. so interesting, you know? It's like I have a thirst or need to learn more about the past.. or just conflict between different armies. The strategies, both sides of the story, the destruction.. But not war nowadays. That's just plain boring to me, they just bomb the other, and the other bombs them, and bam. Back and forth, back and forth. They used to have way more strategy back then- in my mind, at least. Maybe not in reality." Gerard rambled, making Frank grin to himself. Even if he didn't give a fuck about war history, or history in general, it was so interesting to listen to Gerard speak about it like it was the only important thing in existence. He could deal with pretending to be interested in history as long as Gerard stuck around.
Maybe he could help him get better grades.

God, why was he so infatuated with Gerard? It's not like he was an Angel or something.
Maybe he was. He sure seemed like one.
Before Gerard, Frank was a fucking mess. All he did was go out, party, get into all sorts of mischief  -- after Gerard, he'd finally gotten himself together, and actually focus a little more on his grades. Gerard was the friend he needed. It's like Gerard saved him from something unknown. Frank was completely sure that if he didn't have Gerard, he'd just be a shell of who he really was. It was a terrifying thought, but luckily, it wouldn't be reality as long as the black-haired boy stayed with him.

Gerard didn't judge him.

Gerard didn't hate him.

Frank really, really liked Gerard.

A/N: it's done!!!!! i hope it wasn't too shitty, but i had to rush a little. hope you guys still enjoyed it :) my apologies for the lack of frerard action,,, but that'll come in, what, ten chapters? Or more, who knows? im gonna make you guys wait a long time 🤷‍♂️
sorry not sorry