Friday I'm In Love

△ 𝐒𝐢𝐱 △

Frank Iero appeared at a bookstore he'd never been to before at nine o'clock on a Thursday evening. The small bookstore - tucked away in a small alley beside a music store - emitted a soft amber glow from the inside, luring travelers and homosexuals alike through its doors. He walked in quietly, the soft sound of someone singing filling his ears. The bookstore was warm, enticing, and smelled of coffee. He followed the voice like a sailor led astray, weaving behind towering bookcases to a hunched over figure with a black hood drawn. 

He tapped their shoulder. 

Gerard jumped with an ear piercing shriek, whirling around with wild eyes and balled fists. "Jesus fucking Christ!" 

Frank flushed, taking a few steps back as the taller man continued on a very colorful torrent of swearing. "S-sorry. You uh... your singing's nice." he muttered, dropping his eyes to his converse. Gerard took a deep breath and nodded, too tired to even begin screaming and swearing at the other man. 

"Are you trying to give me a heart attack Frank Iero?" Gerard laughed, hand over his heart as he set down the stack of books. "You could've warned a guy before horror movie style grabbing my shoulder!" 

"Yeah... sorry about that. How long until—"

"Well, technically I was done at seven. I just lost track of time.", Gerard smiled as he led Frank over to the desk, jumping backwards onto the counter. "So, what brings you to my humble residence?" 

Frank smiled, shoving his hands into his back pockets as Gerard rolled his neck and he caught a flash of red behind the black hood. "Did you... dye your hair?" Frank whispered tenderly, his attention drawn to the slim strand of red framing the other man's face. 

"Yeah, Bert always dyes my hair for me.", Gerard smiled as his cheeks turned a soft pink. "It's not really my color - hence the hood." he continued in a mere mumble, "Not that it's the first hair dyeing accident in ten years." 

"I didn't know you dyed it." 

"I've been dyeing it since college, Frank you know— oh..."

They both fell into silence after that. Gerard retreated back into his shell. Things were awkward between them; they shouldn't have been. If Gerard wasn't such a selfish asshole maybe they wouldn't have snapped apart so harshly. Maybe they'd have Skyped every evening from Gerard's college dorm, maybe Frank would've come to his graduation with Mikey, maybe he wouldn't have stayed up all night crying on the first day. Maybe Gerard wouldn't have spent five years drinking and binging and throwing up in succession and maybe his mom would have still been proud of him when she died. 

"I... wish things hadn't ended so harshly between us.", Frank spoke suddenly, causing Gerard's head to snap up to look at him. "I mean I know it was inevitable but..."

"I was dragging you down." Gerard finished, swinging his legs childishly. "I mean", he gestured feebly. "look at you." 

Frank shook his head gently, a tight fist closed around his heart and squeezed painfully. "I work in a shitty bar, my dad won't talk to me, I haven't... I haven't seen my boyfriend for days because of his work and I cried watching Scooby-Doo." he sniffed, wiping his nose on the back of his hand. "I think you're the one who excelled after high school." Frank joked quietly.

"Alright - enough", the taller man declared as he jumped off the counter. "we're not going to just sit here and cry in a bookstore. There's CCTV and I don't want this to end up on YouTube with some clickbait title." 

"How the fuck—"

"You don't know Mikey like I do. Come on!" Gerard grinned, taking Frank's hand and running out the bookstore. He hadn't even registered what he'd done until Frank's hand tightened around his and Gerard's head spun. 

His feet slammed against the tarmac at speeds his body didn't know he could reach. Led by muscle memory and adrenaline alone as they rounded sharp corners and dodged past old ladies. It was already dark out, the roads illuminated by street lights and neon signs trying to temp them astray. Gerard knew where he was going. The cold night air burned their lungs on the frantic inhales, knees groaning under the pressure and throats sealing shut as both men skidded to a halt in front of an old warehouse they knew all too well.

"H-holy shit." Frank wheezed, a brilliant smile across his face as he looked up at the faded sign. Danzig's Bowling!  "I can't believe this is still even open!"

Memories of a dark bowling alley clouded his mind, neon lights flickered behind his eyes as old people smoked like steam trains in the corners of the room. Memories of towering ice cream sundaes and huge cups of soda replaced them, followed by the soft hum of ABBA. 

Gerard pulled him inside excitedly with a childish giggle as both men stumbled over their feet. They payed the old woman for the bowling shoes and ran towards the booth they knew so well. Now the place didn't allow smoking and had been refurbished but their booth remained. They fell into their old seats on instinct with brilliant smiles and racing hearts. Gerard turned to him with flushed cheeks, close enough that Frank could feel his breath on his face. 

"I've missed you." Frank admitted as his hand came up to gently undo the knot at the base of Gerard's throat. Gerard was speechless. Frank's fingers nimbly tugged the knot loose and then moved to push the hood down. Locks of brilliant red tumbled out and his heart soared. Frank just stared in shock, his lips parting and his eyes meeting Gerard's with a smile. "Wow."

"I am going to kick your ass."

"You can't bowl to save your life, Iero."

"Oh so it's Iero now? Okay, Way be prepared to be destroyed—"