Chapter Text
September 2011
WEEK 1
“You sure you don’t want any help moving things to your dorm room, sweetie?”
“I’m sure, mom. I don’t have much stuff with me, anyways.”
Gerard leaned down to hug his mother goodbye. He wasn’t a stranger to her emotional reactions, but he supposed he understood — what with him being her firstborn going off to college. They stayed in their embrace for a short while, with Gerard’s chin resting on his mother’s shoulder as he rubbed her back. He felt his mom stroking his shoulder-length hair as he absentmindedly watched his father and younger brother taking his two suitcases out from the boot of their car. He could feel his mother’s body starting to tremble slightly. Sigh. She’s crying again, he thought.
“Sigh, I’ll be fine, mom, don’t worry!”
“I know, I know…just…don’t forget to check in, alright Gerard?” his mother sniffled as she pulled away from the hug.
“‘Course, mom. I’ll text once I’ve got my bearings ‘n stuff.”
His mother’s lower lip started to tremble again.
“Oh, I can’t believe it! Soon, Michael will be joining you here next fall! You’re both so big! I can’t bear it!” she fished out a tissue from her purse before dabbing at the corners of her eyes.
Mikey was standing behind her, silently making comical sobbing faces in an attempt to crack Gerard up before getting promptly smacked upside the head by their dad. Gerard’s hand shot up to his mouth to stifle his snort before their mom could notice.
“Take care, son,” their father walked up to the curb to pull Gerard into a bone-crushing hug, ruffling the mop of black hair on his head. “Proud of you, my boy. Knock ‘em dead.”
“Thanks dad.”
His parents walked back into the car, leaving Mikey and Gerard alone on the curb. “Don’t stay in your room all day like you do at home, dude.”
Gerard rolled his eyes.
“I’m serious. The world’s your fuckin’ oyster now! Go to all the parties and shit! You need to suss out all the best bars and gig spots for me before I start next year, alright?”
“Alright, alright, I’ll try,” Gerard replied, hoping his brother would drop the subject.
The two stood around for a brief moment, not knowing what to say to each other next.
“I’ll miss you, Gee,” Mikey finally said, breaking the silence as he gave his brother an earnest look. “I’ll miss you too, Mikes.”
The siblings hugged it out on the curb.
“See you at Thanksgiving!” his mother tearfully yelled from the car as they drove away once Mikey got in the backseat, leaving Gerard alone on the curb with his things.
It was a new feeling — being truly on his own for the first time — but Gerard felt free.
***
He had settled in pretty quickly, having met his roommate, Ray — a film student who had already moved in a day prior. They hit it off really quickly, having realised they were from the same hometown with a bunch of mutual friends (and nearly identical music taste). Gerard thanked the college gods for setting him up with someone interesting.
“So this fraternity’s hosting a party tonight, wanna check it out?” Ray said, extending the invite to Gerard as the latter finally finished setting up his room.
“Wow, a frat party huh?” he remarked with an amused smirk on his face. He knew parties would be a thing in college, but he wasn’t entirely sure if frat parties in particular were really his scene. He was studying art, for Christ’s sake. But he supposed it wouldn’t hurt to just go and meet some new people.
“Yeah, I know. But everyone’s gonna be there, plus there’s free booze so…”
Okay, Ray had a point.
Gerard chuckled. “Sure, man. I’m down. What time you thinkin’?”
***
The party was at its peak by the time Ray and Gerard had arrived at the frat house — the air coated in a cloudy haze of smoke as they walked through the hallway. There was a lot to take in. A peek through the doorway on the right revealed a makeshift dance floor that took up most of the living room (where they were of course playing Pon De Floor by Major Lazer at an obnoxiously loud volume). In the room to their left was an especially lively game of beer pong going on — people hollering and whooping each time someone threw a ball, regardless of whether or not it landed in a cup.
The pair took in the scene, accidentally grazing their shoulders past hordes of drunk people who were either chatting or ferociously making out with each other. Between the smokey atmosphere, the lack of personal space, and the loud music pulsating through the floor and into his bones, Gerard was caught in a sensory nightmare. He was too sober for this.
“Jesus. I need a drink now.” He fisted his hands into the front pockets of his leather jacket in an attempt to stay grounded amidst the chaos around him.
Ray chuckled, “Yeah, same. We gotta find the kitchen.”
“You guys want booze?” an unfamiliar voice piped up next to Gerard. It took a few seconds for his eyes to find the source of it before they landed on a pair of striking hazel ones, which belonged to an equally striking — albeit shorter — guy. “Uhh…yeah,” Gerard replied, trying his hardest to hide how easily flustered he apparently got from just making eye contact with a hot guy.
“C’mon, follow me,” the guy flashed a smirk as he proceeded to lead the way, walking to the end of the hallway until they got to the kitchen, which wasn’t as packed as the rest of the house.
“Oh my god, I can breathe!” Gerard relished in his personal space again as he stretched his arms out.
The guy chuckled, walking to stand between a countertop and an island — the latter was littered with liquor bottles and crates of beer cans. “Go for it, my dudes,” he leaned against the countertop as he gestured toward the island in front of him.
“PBR! Aren’t you a sight for sore eyes!” Gerard exclaimed as Ray and him went over to grab some beer cans for themselves.
“Thanks, man. I’m Ray…this is my roommate Gerard,” the curly-haired guy introduced themselves. The pair were now leaning against the island to face Frank.
“No problem, I’m Frank. You guys freshmen too?” he arched a pierced eyebrow as he took a sip of his own beer. Gerard tried his best not to linger too much on Frank as he spoke. The guy was so attractive it was distracting. Not only did the dude have an eyebrow piercing, but a nose and lip ring, too? His short black hair flopped over his head and framed his face beautifully. He was also wearing a shirt that looked like it was maybe half a size too small, because his movements were causing it to ride up and reveal a tiny sliver of skin. His arms sported a couple of tattoos on them as well. Was he trying to give Gerard a fucking heart attack?
He took a large gulp of his beer, hoping it would calm him down.
“Yup! Gerard over here just moved in today,” Ray replied, nodding his head over toward his roommate.
“Damn, welcome, dude! I just got in too.”
“And it looks like you already know this place like the back of your hand,” Gerard remarked, earning a giggle from Frank.
“I dunno…I think I just have an eye for…interesting people,” he replied with a smirk on his face, fixing his gaze on Gerard. He could feel his cheeks getting warm, a little taken aback by Frank’s forwardness.
Ray smirked as his eyes darted between the two of them before clapping his roommate on the shoulder. “I’m gonna go check out the beer pong game, I’ll catch up with you guys later!” And before he knew it, Gerard was left alone with the stunning guy in front of him.
Gerard was internally screaming. He wasn’t really good at flirting unless he was at the very least tipsy. But he knew he was getting ahead of himself thinking like that. He took another gulp of his beer to calm down.
“So uh…what’re you planning to major in?” Gerard visibly winced as soon as the question left his mouth. He mentally cursed himself for asking something so lame.
Frank giggled, though. He might have been tipsy enough to actually be charmed by this shit.
“I’m doing business,” he replied. “I know, I know! What’s a dude covered in piercings and tattoos gonna do in business school, right?” he continued after seeing Gerard instinctively raise an eyebrow at his answer.
Gerard nodded, urging him to go on.
“Well, to be honest, I don’t really know what I wanna do for a career, but a business degree seems broad enough that it can apply to a lot of different industries ‘n shit,” he continued with a shrug, flashing a tight-lipped smile.
Gerard really admired his honesty, returning the smile before saying, “Hey, that’s fair. How many of us here actually know what the fuck we’ll be doing in like a decade, right?”
Frank seemed to really appreciate that reply, because his smile got even wider, his eyes taking on a delicate look that made Gerard’s cheeks warm. He couldn’t believe the effect this guy was having on him after barely knowing him for fifteen minutes. He finished his beer before cracking open his second can, hoping the alcohol could chill him out a little more.
“What about you, though? What’re you studying?” Frank asked, taking a sip of his drink.
“Oh, I’m doin’ art. I’m really into animation and comics — nerdy shit like that,” Gerard replied, lifting a hand to scratch the back of his neck. He didn’t want to go on for too long, knowing that Frank had only asked him because Gerard asked him first.
“Oh man, that’s sick! So you wanna work for like…animation studios and shit?” Frank somehow looked really intrigued by Gerard’s response, which caught him off guard. He was used to disinterested reactions back in high school, so he was pleasantly surprised at someone genuinely seeming interested in his unconventional career plans.
“Yeah that’s the dream! But I also really wanna write my own comic book series one day. Seems a little greedy, right? Like have your cake and eat it too?”
“Nah, dude! I think it’s fucking cool that you actually know what you want!” Frank replied, still with that same endearing expression on his face that made Gerard feel like he was the only person on the planet. Christ, he needed to get a grip. He took another swig of his beer, eager to finish it so he could get a third can.
“So, DC or Marvel?” the shorter man continued. Gerard felt like he was on a fucking prank show. Who was this insanely hot punk rocker actually showing interest in him, and is also seemingly into comics?
“DC, for sure. I’d love to do something with Batman specifically though, like I have ideas for a Houdini-inspired character design where he’s all chained up and shit.”
“Chained up, you say? That’s fuckin’ hot,” Frank replied with a smirk.
Gerard let out a nervous laugh at Frank’s bluntness, but also because he couldn’t really be serious, right? Shit, what was he supposed to say to that? His sober mind had zero game. It was embarrassing. He downed the last of his second beer.
“Umm…well, what about you?”
“What?” Frank furrowed his eyebrows a little, an amused expression on his face.
“DC or Marvel?” Just shoot Gerard right now.
It was Frank’s turn to laugh now, “Oh, you’re serious! Okay, well DC honestly. But as cool as your idea sounds, I’m more of a Superman guy.”
“Aw man, then this can’t work out,” Gerard giggled in reply, a little taken aback by his own response. Finally, the liquid courage kicked in.
Frank let out another giggle. He placed his drink on the counter behind him while still keeping his eyes on Gerard. “Wow, I’m being ruled out just like that, huh?”
“Dude, Superman is so fucking corny!”
“Can you blame me? The dude’s ripped and his underwear's just on display like that! I’m a simple guy, Gerard!” Frank replied.
“Okay, the dude has super fucking strength — like he can crush anything in the entire universe, but he loses everything when a fuckin’ rock comes into the equation?!”
“That’s kryptonite, to you!” Frank replied in defense, a playful expression on his face as he took a step closer.
Gerard turned around to get a third beer, cracking the can open. “Well, it’s still a fuckin’ rock, man! And — oh!” As he turned back to face Frank, he was surprised to see the guy was now standing way closer than he was before, a devious glint in his eye as he moved his hands to sit on the island countertop on either side of Gerard, caging him in. And as if this guy couldn’t possibly get any hotter, Frank proceeded to rake his gaze down Gerard’s body before meeting his eyes again. “Oh don’t stop on my account,” his voice came out in a low rumble. God. Damn.
“FRANK IERO JUNIOR! JUST THE GUY I WAS LOOKIN’ FOR!” An obnoxious voice boomed from the kitchen entrance.
The pair flinched at the sheer volume of the guy’s voice, prompting Frank to jump back and turn his head toward the source of the noise, a now annoyed expression taking over his face.
A tall guy with dark curly hair wearing a letterman jacket waltzed into the kitchen before throwing an arm over Frank’s shoulder, “There’s our legacy! Aren’t you forgetting your duties?”
No way. Frank was in this fraternity?
“Really, Joe? Now?” Frank replied, his annoyance seeming to grow by the second.
“Pledges take turns with the hourly keg runs, man. Doesn’t matter if you’re mid-hookup. That’s the Sigma Beta Phi way. I don’t make the rules. You know this.”
“What the fuck do you mean, ‘I don’t make the rules’?! You’re fuckin’ president!”
Gerard felt his cheeks get warm again. Hearing the fraternity president blatantly call him a hookup made his train of thought run full speed ahead — next station? Catastrophy-ville.
Shit, this was an elaborate initiation ritual, wasn’t it? Frank was humoring him so he could get into his pants. He was probably assigned to collect a body count to prove himself worthy of this stupid fraternity. He knew this was too good to be true. There was no way a guy like Frank would genuinely be into Gerard.
He felt disgusting all over and was already spiralling within seconds, prompting him to chug his beer like his life depended on it.
“I’ll uh…I’m gonna go find Ray. I’ll see you around, Frank,” Gerard didn’t wait for the shorter man to reply before he moved to grab his fourth can and head into the living room area where the rowdy beer pong game was still going on.
“Wait!” Frank tried to call after Gerard, but it was too late. The guy had bolted out of the kitchen like lightning.
“Hate to be a cockblock, my guy. But duty calls, even for legacies,” said the frat president in a solemn tone.
“Fuckin’...fine. Let’s just get this shit over with.”
***
The rest of the party had gone on pretty well — Ray had managed to rope Gerard into a game of beer pong after getting him sufficiently plastered, which was not hard to do considering he was already four beers in. He also made another friend who was taking the same classes as him — a petite orange-haired girl named Hayley who despite her size, managed to prevent Gerard from face-planting into the bushes outside by holding him back by his jacket collar.
He had no idea how he got back in one piece, Ray having gone off to spend the night at his hookup’s dorm room, leaving him to get back into his room by himself. He reckoned Hayley had managed to steer him in the right direction on their walk back. He made a mental note to thank her via text when he was sober.
All in all, it was a fun night, Gerard reflected as he collapsed into bed. He just wished Frank didn’t turn out to be a fuckboy, though. If he wasn’t in that fuckass fraternity, maybe Gerard wouldn’t be alone in his dorm room right now.
***
WEEK 3
The first few weeks of college felt like a whirlwind so far — Gerard was enjoying his classes and most surprisingly to him, he’d made a tonne of new friends from his classes, going to art student-hosted parties that were much more his, Ray’s, and Hayley’s speed. They were still fun, but nowhere near as rowdy as the frat party they went to on his first night here. That also meant he didn’t get to see Frank around much, which he still wasn’t sure what to feel about.
It wasn’t until one day — Gerard had overslept and was rushing for his illustration class when he realised he couldn’t leave his room. Like he couldn’t physically get the door open. Fuck.
He had spent a good fifteen minutes trying to pry the door open to no avail and cursed under his breath. He paused when he heard muffled giggles on the other side of the door. Are you fucking serious?
“Dude, whoever’s on the other side, open the fuck up man. It’s not funny,” Gerard snapped. He knew the college experience meant falling victim to stupid pranks every once in a while, but he was not in the mood for that shit today.
“Fuck, wait…Gerard? Is that you?” he heard a familiar voice on the other side of the door pipe up. Oh god, of course.
Okay, so it’s not like he hadn’t seen Frank at all since that frat party.
Gerard and Hayley had bumped into him as they were walking over to an off-campus party hosted by their seniors a couple of weeks ago. Frank seemed like he wanted to chat, but Gerard had made up an excuse before practically dashing off. “He’s cute, Gee! Why don’t you just go for it? He clearly seems into you!” Hayley had remarked shortly after the encounter. Gerard rolled his eyes at the very notion of someone as hot as Frank actually liking him without it being a prank, but he brushed off the subject very quickly.
But this would probably be the first time since that brief and awkward run-in.
“...Frank?”
“Fuck…I had no idea this was your room, man.”
“So…can you open the fuck up now?”
“Yeah, sure. Sorry, hold on.”
Gerard heard some rustling and clinking before seeing his doorknob jiggle.
“Okay, you should be able to open it now,” Frank’s voice continued from the other side of the door.
True enough, Gerard managed to open the door to see Frank and a couple of guys he assumed were his fellow pledges standing in the hallway. Gerard rolled his eyes as he took in the scene, seeing the elaborate setup they had created to lock some of the other dorm rooms on his floor. “Don’t you guys have anything better to do? Like classes or some shit?”
“Sorry, man. It’s this dumb shit we have to do for initiation,” Frank replied, his eyes meeting Gerard’s in an earnest gaze.
“It’s…it’s alright…just don’t rope me into whatever the fuck this is,” Gerard replied, his mouth forming a flat line.
“Sure, man. By the way, I’ve been wanting to talk to —”
“I’m sorry, I really gotta get to class. See ya ‘round, Frank.” And just like that, Gerard had all but sprinted down the hallway.
“So, when did initiation pranks exclude crushes, Iero?” one of the guys next to Frank piped up, jabbing an elbow at him.
“Shut the fuck up, man,” Frank muttered.
***
“So we’re going to a party hosted by the fucking collegiate acapella association? And it’s at the fuckin’ amphitheatre?" Ray was making sure he heard Hayley correctly.
The petite girl giggled, linking her arms with Ray’s and Gerard’s, “Yes! Trust me, guys. It’s gonna be a HOOT!”
“A hoot, she says!” Gerard remarks with a smile, “Y’know if we didn’t already pregame, Ray and I wouldn’t even be out the door on the way to this thing.”
“She’s too strategic for her own good, I tell ya!” Ray replied.
“Seriously you guys have to trust me! I met this guy —” Hayley was cut off by exaggerated high-pitched ‘ooohs’ from Gerard and Ray. Rolling her eyes, she continued, “Anyway, it was at the clubs and societies thing yesterday. His name was Patrick — he was talkin’ my ear off about this association and told me about it, and it just sounded too ridiculous not to witness! Besides, it’s open to the whole campus, so we’ll probably see a whole bunch of weirdos there too!”
“You’re really hyping this up, Hayley. I’m expecting a fucking freak show as soon as we get there,” Gerard quipped.
The trio soon reached the amphitheater entrance and could already hear the telltale cacophony that only karaoke could create.
“Oh my fucking god, they’re singing show tunes,” Ray remarked.
Hayley was beaming with glee, “What’d I tell you guys? Let’s fuckin’ go!” She dragged the two in with her.
The stage at the centre had a karaoke machine going, and there were even kegs brought in for the occasion.
The party was surprisingly a lot of fun — they bumped into some of their friends from their film and art classes — Gerard had even recognised some of the guys who were with Frank the other day when they pulled that stupid door prank on him. No sign of Frank himself, though. He wasn’t sure if he felt relief or disappointment.
The trio had already helped themselves to a round of beer as soon as they walked in, and enjoyed seeing everyone have their turn on the karaoke machine manned by Patrick, who Hayley quickly introduced to Gerard and Ray.
It wasn’t until after a few rounds of singers that they found out Hayley had signed herself up to sing Respect by Aretha Franklin — needless to say Gerard and Ray were not expecting her to be a fucking vocal powerhouse. She had the entire venue captivated by her voice.
“God DAMN! Hayley! What the actual fuck?!” Ray exclaimed as soon as she waltzed back over to them from the stage, still reeling from the lingering cheers and applause from everyone. The girl shrugged in reply, “I sang a lot in church as a kid, what can I say?”
“No fuckin’ way!” Gerard was equally stunned.
“Yes fuckin’ way! Also, you’re up after this next guy!” Hayley replied, pointing her thumb at the stage behind her.
He nearly choked on his drink, “What the fuck, Hayley?!”
“Go pick a song! C’mon, there’s Fireball in it for you!”
Ray was wheezing with laughter as Gerard sighed, glaring at the short girl in front of him. He was so easily bought with booze. He made his way up to the touchscreen on the karaoke machine as the next person started singing their song, scrolling through a list of tracks until he came across an old favourite — Happy Together by The Turtles — one of his go-tos that he’d often sing and hum to himself at home.
“Oh a classic! Nice one!” Patrick remarked. Gerard flashed a tight-lipped smile at the guy. He was in absolutely no mood to match the guy’s sunny reaction. Hayley and Ray soon appeared by his side with a fresh solo cup filled with the amber liquid he had been promised.
Sigh, if he wasn’t already tipsy, there was no way he’d even consider doing this.
“Up next, we have…Geraaaaard!!!” Patrick bellowed into the mic.
Before he could give it a second thought, Gerard rolled his eyes, grabbing the cup and downing its contents while Hayley, Ray, and their other friends cheered him on.
“Fuck all of you,” he said with no heat behind his words, darting a finger at everyone.
Gerard made his way up the stage and stood in front of the mic stand as the instrumental began. Damn, the crowd seemed to have doubled since they arrived. Who knew this was going to be the most happening party on campus?
He didn’t even need to look at the lyrics on the TV in front of him before he launched into the song, closing his eyes as he began the first verse. The crowd quickly faded — it was like he was back in middle school when he played Peter Pan at their year-end school production. He was in his happy place where no one could really touch him — a defense mechanism he had learned to filter out the heckles and boos from his stupid bullies. Except…people were cheering him on instead?
As he sang his way to the final chorus, he had nearly the whole amphitheater singing along with him. Everyone must be really hammered to actually enjoy this, Gerard thought to himself. He was loving the energy, though. It felt like everyone was united in one brief moment.
Once the song was over, Gerard took an exaggerated bow to the cheering crowd before he made his exit. Hopping off the stage, he heard an oh-so familiar voice pipe up, “Wow, an artist and a singer huh? Anything you can’t do?”
“Frank! I uh…what’re you doing here?”
Frank chuckled and raised an eyebrow at Gerard before he continued, “I — I mean…I didn’t really expect to see you here. It doesn’t exactly look like your um…scene, y’know?”
“I don’t think this was anyone’s scene, until like half our cohort showed up!” He giggled before continuing, “Word got ‘round pretty fast, I guess. Came here just in time to see you sing the house down, though!”
“That was nothing, dude! You should’ve seen Hayley!” Ray chimed in as he walked over, pointing at the orange-haired girl who was now by the keg behind them, pouring herself another drink as Patrick was talking he ear off (probably trying to recruit her into his acapella troupe).
“Wow thanks, Ray,” Gerard rolled his eyes at his roommate. “But he’s right, though. Girl’s got some fuckin’ pipes.”
“Man, now I wish I swung by a little earlier!”
Hayley soon rejoined the group and Frank ended up chatting with them for a good while — the four of them hitting it off almost instantly. Gerard had soon learned that Frank was also musically inclined, having played guitar for a punk band he and his high school friends formed (as if he couldn’t already get any hotter what the fuck) — it was also something he and Ray seemed to have bonded over rather quickly, he noticed.
What Gerard didn’t notice was Frank stealing glances at him every chance he could get, prompting Hayley to make up a dumb excuse for herself and Ray to leave the pair alone.
“Hey, so…not that you owe me any explanation or anything, but I can’t help but feel like you’re…avoiding me? Did I do something at that party?”
Frank really knew how to cut to the chase, huh?
Gerard didn’t know how to answer that. He knew there wasn’t a good enough reason on paper to avoid the guy, but that encounter with their fraternity president had left an unsettling feeling in him.
“I…I don’t know, man. I don’t know what to feel about you if I’m being honest,” Gerard paused to take a sip of his drink before continuing.
“Maybe it’s just some stereotype I have of frat guys but…I don’t know if I can…trust you? If that makes sense? Like how do I know you’re not plotting another initiation prank now?”
Frank looked a little hurt by that. Gerard felt bad now.
“Shit…I don’t know what to tell you, dude. That door thing was definitely not meant to target you specifically, I’m really sorry about that. But I assure you I’m not part of something elaborate or mean-spirited. We’re a fraternity, not a heist crew!” He chuckled out the last sentence.
Gerard let out a small chuckle of his own, feeling a little silly now. Maybe he was overthinking things. He’d been so used to high school bullies that he never realised he was still extra cautious over shit like this at this stage in his life. Maybe he could let his guard down a little. College was a fresh start, after all.
“Man, you’re right…I don’t know, I guess I’m just on high alert for this shit. Trauma from high school, I guess. Y’know how it is.”
“I get it,” Frank replied with an understanding nod.
“What’s a guy like you doing in a fraternity anyway? I heard your president — Joe, was it? — call you a legacy?”
Frank scratched the back of his neck, an awkward smile now on his face, “Yeah, I’m a legacy — my dad was a member when he went to college here. It’s not like…mandatory for me to join, and it’s not even a guarantee that I’ll pass initiation either, but I promised my dad I’d at least try to experience the Greek life or I’d never hear the end of it.”
Gerard took another sip of his drink as he listened to Frank, seeing some of the puzzle pieces slowly coming together now.
“I guess I owe you an apology, Frank.”
“What?!” he chuckled out.
“I feel like I made some unfair assumptions about you. Can we start over?” He reached out a hand, “Hi there, I’m Gerard!”
Frank was still chuckling, but he seemed receptive to whatever Gerard was proposing. He reached out to grab his hand, “Hi, I’m Frank. Nice to meet you, Gerard!”
The pair grinned at each other as they shook hands.
***
WEEK 5
The next couple of weeks had Gerard feeling like he was walking on cloud nine — he was enjoying his classes, hanging out with like-minded people, and was nearly constantly exchanging texts with a hot guy to boot. He was glad to have started over with Frank, the pair having exchanged numbers at that fucking karaoke party of all places.
“Soooo, how’s it goin’ with Frankie?”
Gerard rolled his eyes and hoped that reaction was enough to mask the blush growing on his face. “Can we not call him that, Hayley? I’m not in third grade.”
The pair were having lunch on their campus park bench, catching up during their long break in-between their classes as they munched on their subs.
Hayley nudged his arm with her elbow, “Yeahhh, but you look so close to twirling your hair and kicking your feet up every time you look at your phone! Can’t you just ask him out?”
Gerard sighed. He was still conflicted — there was no denying there was some sort of mutual attraction between them (especially after that first party where they had met, oh my god), but he couldn’t help holding on to this feeling in the pit of his stomach. There was something stopping him from pursuing this, but he didn’t know what it was.
“I don’t know, dude. I just…maybe it’s not a good idea…”
“Gee, college is all about acting on bad ideas and making mistakes…and if Frank does turn out to be a mistake…at least he’d make a very cute one.”
Hayley had a point. But before Gerard could give it any further thought, he heard a loud screech from Hayley before feeling his back hit the ground, knocking the wind out of him. Something had hit them at lightning speed — a pink, blurry mass had darted at them mere milliseconds before he could really register it, tipping the bench backwards and sending both of them to the ground. “What the fuck?!” he choked out, peeling his head up to see a pink bunny mascot pinned on top of himself and Hayley, who looked equally stunned. The mascot was lying across the pair, with his legs on Gerard and his torso on Hayley.
“You okay, Hayles?!”
The orange-haired girl had her eyes wide in shock, but she nodded in reply, “Y–Yeah I’m fine, but…what the fuck?!”
“Dude get the fuck off! What is this?!” Gerard yelled as he shoved at the bunny mascot’s legs, who for some reason weighed a tonne and refused to budge, pressing his body further into the pair. He could hear the guy inside the suit cackling. Producing a phone in his hand, the guy in the bunny suit started recording a Snapchat in selfie mode before yelling, “SIGMA BETA PHI, BAYBEE!!!”
Good fucking god. The frat guys were still at it with their fucking antics. And this idiot was from Frank’s fraternity, no less!
Gerard was getting increasingly pissed off by the second.
“Dude, what the actual fuck are you trying to accomplish with this bullshit?!” Hayley yelled out, proceeding to punch at the mascot’s head before continuing, “Gee, get his balls!”
Gerard didn’t have to be told twice before he wiggled his free hand under the guy. He was planning to squeeze the guy so hard he could say goodbye to any plans of reproducing in the future…before another mascot resembling Yoshi piled on top of them, knocking the phone out of the pink bunny’s hand and adding more weight to the helpless pair beneath them.
“DELTA KAPPA OMEGA’S GOTCHO ASS!!!” the Yoshi mascot yelled, wrestling with the pink bunny, who yelled in reply, “YOU SNOOZE YOU LOSE MOTHERFUCKER, I GOT EM FIRST!”
“I’M SUING YOUR FUCKING FRATERNITIES IF YOU FUCKERS DON’T GET OFF OF US RIGHT NOW!” Hayley yelled, still thrashing underneath the weight of the two mascots. After a few moments of struggling, Gerard heard a familiar (slightly muffled) voice giggling from behind him — the sound of footsteps on grass getting louder as it approached them.
“Oh my God…Gerard? Hayley?!”
Gerard angled his head upwards to find the source of Frank’s voice — only to find someone in a fucking gorilla suit walking over to them.
“What the fuck, Frank?!”
“Dude, I know ‘em! Get off of them! And that’s way more than five seconds for Christ sake!” Frank yelled at the two guys after yanking his mask off. Wow, he was in on this?
Yoshi and the fluorescent pink bunny promptly rolled off of them as they continued with their boisterous laughter. Frank scrambled to Gerard and Hayley, helping both of them up and setting the bench back to its upright position as the other two frat guys ran off into the distance to find their next victim. “Are you guys oka —”
“What the actual fuck are you guys doing? And targeting us?! Have you seen Hayley?! She’s fucking tiny! She could’ve snapped in two!” Gerard yelled at Frank as he attempted to smooth his hair down from its disheveled state.
“Hey, I’m not that tiny!” Hayley replied.
“Dude, I swear it’s another dumbass initiation thing!” Frank attempted to explain himself.
“Of course, it fucking is! I’m sick of this shit!” Gerard continued.
“Can you at least let me explain?” Frank retorted, looking a little ticked off. Wow, he has some nerve being annoyed, Gerard thought.
“Let’s just hear him out, Gee,” Hayley said, looking between the pair. Gerard simply let out an exasperated huff, a scowl now forming on his face as he folded his arms. The door prank was a silly moment, sure. But this felt like a step up. What the fuck was Frank trying to do?
“Okay. So we were told to wear these stupid costumes and just hug as many consenting people on campus for at least five seconds and post a Snap of each hug as proof. Those two fuckers took things way too far, guys. I’m so sorry,” Frank elaborated.
Gerard couldn’t believe this. “If they took things way too far, why were you laughing?”
Frank looked a little embarrassed, but was quick with his reply, “From where I was, it looked like it was just the two of them wrestling each other. Until I got closer and saw you two pinned to the ground!”
Gerard rolled his eyes before he looked over at Hayley, who was still dusting herself off. Sighing at the sight of their half-eaten sandwiches now flattened on the ground, she turned to Frank and simply said, “You owe us Subway, Frankie.”
***
WEEK 7
Everyone was quickly getting into a routine now with classes going in full-swing and assignments already underway. However, it had been a little awkward with Frank since the events of MascotGate — as Hayley had affectionately termed it. It was nice that she could find the humour in the situation, not really holding it against Frank, but he still couldn’t really fathom how easily her and Ray were on friendly terms with the guy, if he was being honest. Gerard himself was still wary of him since that incident — flirting in one instance and then pulling a fast on him the next. What if Frank was waiting for him to let his guard down again so he could pull something even dumber?
Needless to say, their texting got less frequent since then, but it wasn’t like they were on entirely bad terms. The last party they were at, they just exchanged quick hellos before Gerard moved off to join his other friends, leaving him with Ray and Hayley.
A part of him did wonder if he was keeping his guard up a little too much. Maybe he was just blowing all this out of proportion. These thoughts seemed to race through Gerard’s mind whenever he woke up from whatever little sleep he got for the past couple of weeks. It was getting exhausting. Why wasn’t it socially acceptable to start every morning with a shot of vodka just to shut his brain up?
Letting out a deep sigh, he shifted over to his bedside table to check the time on his phone. 6:00am.
Well, it was not like he was going back to sleep anytime soon. He had an 8:00am class anyway. He might as well get a head start and take a shower (Ray was already dropping hints for the past few days, so he supposed he was due for one).
Gerard rolled out of bed and grabbed his bathrobe, towel, and his 3 in 1 shower gel before opening the door to the hallway, being careful not to wake his roommate, who was blissfully asleep. Lucky bastard.
The one good thing about waking up at buttfuck o’clock in the morning was that you had the showers to yourself. Gerard was already self-conscious of his own body and detested the thought of people catching a glimpse of him in a communal setting like this. So, he appreciated the alone time the early hour had granted him. Is he starting to understand morning people now? Gross.
After a quick brush of his teeth, he stepped into a stall, drawing the curtain behind him before setting his bottle of shower gel on the rack beside him. It’d just be a quick rinse and he’d be done in five minutes, he thought to himself as he shed his clothes and turned the faucet. He closed his eyes and hung his head forward as he let the hot water envelope his body, making sure his hair was equally soaked. Suddenly, he felt a change in pressure as the water began to violently spurt, causing him to blink his eyes open to see the water running on the white tiled floor turning a garish shade of orange. What the fuck?
He looked up at the shower head to make sure he was seeing things right — still bleary eyed from the lack of sleep — only for it to finally register that the water coming out did in fact look like Orange Fanta. Oh god, he needed to shut it off now.
But it was too late — Gerard’s pale skin had easily absorbed the colour, making him look like a spray tanned mutant. Fuck, he needed to rinse this off in another stall. He moved over to the stall next to him, only to have the water there also run the same colour. This is why he never fucking showers!
By the time he reached the third stall, he had the sense to let the water run for a while in hopes that the colour would dissipate and turn clear again. As the shower ran, he stood outside the stream of water this time, trying his best to rub off whatever orange dye that stained his skin with his towel. It wasn’t looking good.
After what felt like fucking months, the water finally ran clear. Gerard sighed in relief as he stepped back into the shower in an attempt to scrub whatever he could off his skin, using his soap to speed things along. He wasn’t sure if he was seeing the colour fade just yet. Fuck.
He spent a good 30 minutes trying to scrub off whatever he could before he finally gave up. His skin was also feeling especially raw. Guess he had no choice but to settle for blotchy orange patches all over his body. He just needed to check himself in the mirror to really assess the damage.
He stepped out of the stall wrapped in his bathrobe when he heard the squeaks of sneakers on tile before seeing Frank scramble into view in front of the sinks. Of. Fucking. Course.
The shorter man immediately clasped both of his hands over his mouth in shock as he caught a glimpse of Gerard. “Oh my fucking god. Gerard, I — ”
“This is your idea of a fucking joke, huh?” Gerard seethed.
He shoved past the shorter guy to make his way over to the sink, bracing himself for what he was about to see in the mirror as he wiped the condensation off. As he had expected, the scrubbing did little to get rid of the dye on his skin. In fact, it probably helped marinate the fucking colour because he couldn’t wash it off for a good ten minutes since he had to wait for the water to run clear.
He looked like a Cheeto.
“FUCK!” he yelled out, slamming his hands on the sink counter.
“Gerard, I’m so sorry, I tried to get here in time —”
“Fucking SAVE IT, Frank!” Gerard snapped, whirling around to face him before continuing, “What the FUCK kind of BULLSHIT are you trying to pull?!”
“Look dude, it’s a stupid initiation thing! It wasn’t even my —”
“I have HAD IT with your fucking fraternity bullshit! Who the fuck do you think you ARE?!”
“What?”
“I’m such a fucking IDIOT for thinking you were a decent person! You’re just ANOTHER douchebag who’ll probably peak in college because you’re too focused on fucking PRANKS than figuring out a direction for your fucking LIFE!”
That seemed to have struck a nerve with Frank, “Man, fuck you, Gerard! I came over here to stop this shit!”
“BULLSHIT! Stop trying to make yourself this fucking hero. I didn’t buy it with the mascot shit, and I’m not buying it now. I’m tired of your ‘I’m not like these other frat boys’ act because guess what, Frank? You’re just like them.”
“You think you’re above me with your fucking pretentious art school bullshit?! You think I can’t see you’re overcompensating for something?! At least I’m fucking REAL, dude!”
“Fuck you and stay the fuck away from me, Frank. I mean it.”
“You know what? Fine! I’m glad I didn’t get here in time. That shit’s gonna stay on you for at least a week!” Frank snarled.
Gerard turned away before hearing Frank yell, “Tell Chester Cheetah I said hi!”
“Go suck Superman’s dick, you freak!” he threw up a middle finger over his shoulder as he stormed out of the showers.
Gerard already hated being perceived, so showing up to class looking an unnatural shade of orange for a good week was definitely the most mortifying experience of his life. Whatever feelings he thought he had for Frank were now clear — it wasn’t anything friendly or romantic. It was pure, unadulterated hatred.
Frank and Gerard’s rivalry soon grew notorious among their peers — the pair spending the remainder of their college careers hurling insults and pulling ridiculous pranks on each other every chance they could get.
It was a wonder they both graduated in one piece.