Archive of Our Own ^beta

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. 

Chapter Text

Gerard jolted awake — the obnoxious sound of his ringtone rousing him from his slumber. Fuck him for not turning on silent mode last night. 

He rubbed a hand over his face before reaching for the phone under his pillow to squint at the screen, still blinking away the sleep in his eyes. Mikey?

His voice was rough when he answered. “What?” he groaned out. 

“Turn your camera on!” he heard his brother’s obnoxiously energetic voice blare through the speaker. “Mikey, I literally just woke up, what the fuck is it?”

“I’m with Ray! Just turn your camera on, asshole! You’re gonna regret it if you don’t!” 

He knew Mikey and Ray were up at a lake house that weekend to celebrate their anniversary — it was a thing they did every year for a while now. They were so fucking wholesome, it made Gerard's teeth ache. 

Gerard let out an exhausted sigh. But he couldn’t say no to his brother. “There better be a fucking Loch Ness Monster sighting for you to call at me 7am on a Sunday, man.” 

He rubbed the sleep from his eyes and ran a hand through his short black hair before accepting Mikey’s request to switch to video call. He saw Ray and his brother beaming from ear to ear, with Mikey holding his hand up to the camera.

It took Gerard a few moments to register what he was supposed to be looking at when he finally saw it — a silver ring adorning his brother’s ring finger. His eyes went wide as he shot up, now sitting upright in his bed, “Holy shit!” 

“Yeah dude! He put a ring on it!” Mikey exclaimed as Ray giggled in the background. 

“Dude! Oh my god, congrats, guys!” 

“Thank you, future brother-in-law!” Ray waved as he walked out of frame. 

“I’m so happy for you guys! Shit! Did you tell mom and dad yet?” 

“Not yet, you're the first one I called! Trying to warm myself up before mom’s waterworks,” Mikey walked over into another room now so it was just him talking to Gerard, who let out a laugh at his brother’s comment. 

“He proposed on Friday as soon as we got here. It’s honestly just sinking in. It feels…surreal. We have a wedding to plan now? How the fuck do you do that? Fuck, do you think they let guys on Say Yes To The Dress? I love that show, man.”

Gerard let out a cackle at his brother’s instant spiralling. It’s no wonder they’re related. 

“I mean…you know you guys don’t have to do the whole nine yards if you don’t want to, right?”

“But…we want to!” 

“Well okay, but there’s no rush! And it’s not like you’ll be planning this stuff alone. Just let me know what you need and I’ll be happy to help!” 

“Thanks, Gee. Umm…,” Mikey paused and looked over his phone, presumably listening to whatever Ray was saying. “Well, I guess we’ll continue that part of the conversation when I get back.” 

Gerard didn’t give much thought to that, simply replying, “Okay, well I'm sure you've got a whole bunch of people to tell. Go call mom and dad, we’ll talk more when you’re back. Love you!” 

“Alright. Bye, Gee! Love ya!” 

Gerard’s smile stayed on his face after hanging up. He shook his head as he rolled out of bed, deciding he was way too awake to fall back asleep after the excitement of that call, deciding to walk over to the kitchen to make some coffee. 

Just as he had started up his coffee machine, his phone buzzed on the counter. 

Hayles 💃: OH MY GODDD FIRST WEDDING IN OUR GANG WTFFFF!!!

Gerard smiled at his phone. He still couldn’t believe it. His little brother was engaged, and to one of his closest friends, too. He swiped on the screen to quickly type his reply. 

Gerard: I KNOW WTF WE'RE SO OLD

He remembered when Mikey first told him about his crush on Ray all those years ago when they were just sophomores, while Mikey was about halfway into freshman year. It had been after the three of them had smoked a bowl at Gerard and Ray's apartment. Ray had excused himself from the group to take a piss just a few moments before Mikey turned to his brother, looking like a deer caught in the headlights when he blurted out, "Gee. I think I'm into Ray."

Gerard had nearly coughed up a lung from hearing that, but he was sympathetic more than anything else, because Ray had just entered a relationship at the time. But that meant he had to witness his little brother hopelessly pining after the guy while Ray was oblivious to the fact that he actually did have feelings for him. It took them a while (pretty much the rest of college until Gerard and Ray started their senior year) before Mikey couldn't take it anymore and made a move on the guy at the acapella association's annual karaoke party. Well, Gerard didn't exactly witness it himself because he was busy getting into another verbal sparring match with Frank fucking Iero outside the amphitheatre. He had only found out later that night when his drunk ass got back to their apartment and caught Mikey sneaking out of Ray's room. "NO FUCKIN' WAY! FINALLY!"

And now here they were, ten years later, engaged to be married. Gerard was so happy for them. 

***

“Okay! So!” Mikey clapped his hands together as he and Gerard sat down at their table after getting their coffee orders at their usual cafe. 

“So?”

“Wedding party stuff. I wanted to ask you in person so…will you be my best man, Gee?”

“Dude, d’you even have to ask? Of course, man!” Gerard beamed at his brother. 

Mikey replied with a bashful smile, “Cool. Okay, the easy part’s done. Now I just gotta…I guess…give you a heads up.” 

Gerard raised an eyebrow, drinking his coffee as he let his brother continue. 

“Okay, um,” Mikey started to look a little tense, like he was working up to something. 

“Well y’know I’m asking a few other people to be my groomsmen and uhh…I’m planning to ask Frank too.”

It was then that the coffee decided to make a u-turn from Gerard’s oesophagus to his windpipe, making him choke at the mention of Frank’s name. He should've expected this, to be fair. Mikey had also majored in business and had frequently interacted with Frank, and the pair grew close despite his tense..."relationship" (if you could call it that) with Gerard.

Mikey winced as his brother beat a fist against his chest to quell his coughs, “I — okay, I know you guys didn’t really…get along in college…”

“Mikey, he turned me into an Ompa Loompa in freshman year. I had to shower every day for a week.” 

“Yeah, and then you guys decided to initiate an all-out war! Remember when you gave him a mohawk while he was passed out at the home game party?” 

“Only because he tried to shave off half my eyebrow that same night! But fuck him because he ended up looking even cooler with the mohawk! The fucker!” 

“Okay listen, Gee. The point is…” Mikey pinched the bridge of his nose. “The point is, I’m not expecting you guys to be best friends or whatever, but can you just…try your best to be civil with the guy? He’s one of my best friends and it’d mean a lot if both of you could be part of my wedding without tearing each other’s heads off.”

Again, he really should have expected this. The guy had remained in the periphery of Gerard’s life long after they had graduated college. For whatever reason, Frank was still very much in Mikey’s life — he had seen the guy on his brother’s Instagram posts whenever they’d go out with their other business school friends. Heck, he was also still on friendly terms with Hayley and Ray, too. 

They had managed to steer clear of each other long enough, save for that one time they had attended a mutual college friend’s wedding about five years ago — and even then, they didn’t say a word to each other. They couldn’t afford to do that now, though. Not with them both being groomsmen…where they probably had to plan the fucking bachelor party together oh my fucking god…but what was he going to do about it? Throw a tantrum over his brother’s wedding plans? He wasn’t a jackass. Not anymore. 

Gerard sighed as he ran a hand through his hair, “Okay. I’ll try.” 

Chapter Text

“God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference,” Al recited as he led the group in the short prayer. 

“Amen,” Gerard echoed his fellow attendees before the week’s meeting concluded.  

The group had dispersed not long after that, and Gerard had walked over to the small snack table at the back of the community centre hall where Al had just chugged a bottle of water. “Gerard! Missed you last week! Everythin’ good?”

He scratched the back of his head, unsure how to answer his sponsor’s question, “Umm, yeah pretty good for the most part. But uhh, can we grab lunch or somethin’ in a bit? If you’re not busy, I mean…” 

“’Course! See ya at Jim's in five?"

"Yeah, okay."

***

The pair placed their orders soon after they arrived at the diner next door. Al had handed their menus back to the kind waitress before turning to face Gerard, who was seated opposite him in their booth, “So, how’s it goin', bud?” 

Gerard really liked Al — he was a no-BS, burly Italian guy in his early 50s (who often reminded him of a mentally stable Tony Soprano if he was being real), and at this point, the both of them knew almost all of each other’s life stories. He was easy to talk to. 

“So, my brother got engaged about a month ago. He asked me to be his best man.” 

“Beautiful! Congrats!” Al smiled warmly. 

“And uhh…Frank’s gonna be his groomsman too.”

“Well, shit.” Al was filled in on enough Frank stories to get a sense of what he was like back then. 

“Yeah.” 

“So, what’s goin’ on in there, eh?” Al tapped a finger at his own temple. 

“So fucking much, Al. Mikey wants the groomsmen to meet up at this bar next week.”

“But the bar’s not what you’re worried about?” 

“Nah, I’ll be fine as far as that’s concerned,” Gerard answered assuredly. He was three years sober — and honestly? Being in bars and clubs surrounded by drunk people hasn’t phased him now. He couldn’t say that when he first started out, though. But he was proud of how far he had come. 

“Attaboy.”

Gerard flashed a bashful smile before continuing, “But uh…I’m just a little scared that I can’t…predict whatever shit Frank might pull. Like it might cause me to spiral, y’know?”

“That’s the thing about these jackasses from your non-sober days, eh?”

Gerard gave a half-hearted shrug. “I think…that’s what I’m anxious about. Like, I’m not sure how to act around the people who were there during that…phase of my life, right?”

Al nodded encouragingly. 

“So I’m worried it might bring back some old responses. Drinking aside, I mean. Like getting into these insane thoughts and having people like Frank kinda...validating them with his shitty comments in a way?”

“Yeah I get it, bud. You’re thinkin’ about old patterns comin’ back up, right? And Frank’s a reminder of what you used to be?”

Gerard nodded. 

“Well, what was he like when ya knew the guy? Besides him bein’ a scrawny piece o’shit punk.”

The younger man let out a giggle before he replied, “Well, he was…he always knew how to push my buttons, y’know? He was really quick-witted about it. And I’d jab him back or pick at something minor but specific that I knew he hated and we’d launch into a full-blown argument with name-calling and everything.” It was honestly really childish, Gerard reflected. 

Gerard paused to run a hand over his face in exhaustion. “I just…I don’t want to ruin things for Mikey and Ray’s wedding. I’m scared of fucking up, and having this unpredictable motherfucker is really throwing me in for a loop.” 

Al stroked his chin as he pondered what Gerard said. 

“You’re thinkin’ about outside factors a little too much, bud. You yourself said it to me the first time you told me about him — all that bullshit that went down with Frank? Happened before you knew you had a problem.”

Gerard hummed, letting Al continue. 

“Well, that was the old you. The you that didn’t know half the shit you know now. You’re a decade older, wiser, and more confident in yourself. Never forget that. If he tries to pull some punk ass shit again, you already know he’s tryin’ to get a rise outta you. Knowing that already gives you the upper hand, Gerard. Remember; be the bigger person.”

Al had a point, Gerard thought as he nodded, reaching to take a bite out of the burger that the waitress had just placed on the table moments ago. Okay, he could do this. 

***

Gerard sat by the bar as Mikey walked over to greet his other groomsmen who had just arrived. He needed a second to compose himself before heading over to socialise with everyone. 

“What’s up, Don Cheeto?” a familiar, agitating, grating voice sounded out from beside him. 

His eye twitched while he contemplated the best ways to dispose of a body. 

It had been a while since his brother had that talk with him about being civil with Frank, but the man was already making it impossible with a fucking greeting like that. No. Gerard had to remember what Al said. He knows better now. Be the bigger person. 

“Hello, Frank,” Gerard replied coldly, turning himself away from the bar to face the guy. He had cropped hair now, with some stubble that framed his jawline nicely. He noticed his face was devoid of piercings now and spotted some new tattoos on his arms and neck too. He looked really good. Fuck him. 

It had been an entire decade since graduation and his voice still triggered a visceral response in Gerard. He was surprised that Frank had come up to him first, though. Mikey probably had a talk with him too and now he’s trying to look like the bigger person for approaching him first. Fucking asshole. 

Frank smirked at him before ordering a beer for himself, turning again to face Gerard after he was done. “I know you've always been a lame-ass, but Coke's a new low, even for you,” he continued, jutting his chin at the fizzy brown drink in Gerard's hands.

“I’m sober now, actually.” 

Frank looked caught off-guard by that. “Oh! Umm…” 

Oh, was he feeling like a jackass for his stupid comment? Good. 

It was then that Mikey swooped in to stand between the two of them before things got even more uncomfortable, clapping his hands on their shoulders as he pulled them into a group hug, “I’m so glad you guys are here! And no one’s murdered!”

Gerard and Frank collectively rolled their eyes. 

“Alright, come say hi to the rest of the guys!” 

Gerard caught up with Mikey’s friends — he had known Paul and Matt from high school and was on friendly enough terms with Chester and Dean (Mikey and Frank’s business school friends) — so it felt more like a reunion than a first meeting for him. 

The group spent a good while catching up, with Gerard and Frank making sure to steer clear of each other save for a few curt nods where necessary. Chester and Dean seemed to be behaving themselves, not having brought up their feud so far, which was a little surprising considering they had been gleeful witnesses to their many fights when they were all in college together. He hoped it would stay that way so it'd be less awkward for everyone. Gerard had gotten good at ignoring elephants in rooms, and he hoped the rest of the groomsmen were on the same page about this. 

“So Gee, how’s shit gonna go down with Frankie, you think?” Motherfucker.

Chester nudged Gerard’s arm with his elbow, a shit-eating grin on his face. Of course he chose the perfect time to bring it up just as Mikey went over to the bar to order a round for everyone while Frank had left for the bathroom just a minute ago. 

He rolled his eyes before answering, “I don’t know about him, but I’m planning to be an adult about it.” 

Chester let out a snort as he turned to Dean before saying, “Dude, they’re gonna fucking kill each other!” 

“What’s your bet they’re gonna go full WWE Smackdown at the bachelor party?” Dean replied. Gerard hung his head back to stare at the ceiling. These fuckers are enjoying this a little too much. At least Paul and Matt aren’t gonna take the piss outta him for this. 

“I don’t know what this is about, but my money’s on Frank if we’re placing bets. He looks like he can fuck someone up real good. Sorry, Gee,” Paul piped up, eliciting a cackle from everyone except Gerard. Fucking hell. These guys were being dramatic. He and Frank had many fights, but none of them were physical. They weren't animals, for fuck's sake.  

“I’m confused, why are we placing bets over Gee and Frank fighting?” Matt asked, raising an eyebrow. 

“Oh man, we need something way stronger than beer for that lore dump, dude!” Chester chuckled out. 

“I’m gonna go check on Mikey. You guys continue being assholes, though,” Gerard called out as he turned to make his way over to the bar — only to nearly bump into Frank who was on his way back from the bathroom. The shorter man smirked as he looked at Gerard, “How’re they gonna be assholes without you in the equation, though?” 

Gerard could hear the sound of ‘oooohh’s from the other groomsmen behind him. He narrowed his eyes at Frank, choosing not to take the bait as he brushed past him in silence to get to this brother. Be the bigger person. 

“You can do better than that, Gee!” He could hear Chester yell out. The lord was really testing him tonight. 

“Everything okay back there?” Mikey turned to face Gerard. 

Gerard simply let out an exhausted sigh, raising an eyebrow at the rest of the groomsmen behind him. Mikey shook his head, understanding that look, “Well, as long as you’re not going at each other’s throats, right?”

The two brothers walked back to their group after a short while, beers (and a Diet Coke) in hand for everyone. 

“Beautiful! Hey, hey! Let’s make a toast!” Chester yelled out, prompting everyone around them to raise their drinks. 

“To the future Mr. Way-Toro! Or is it Toro-Way?” 

“Way-Toro for me, Toro-Way for Ray,” Mikey laughed out, understanding how ridiculous it sounded out loud. 

“Mikey Way-Toro? Husband of Ray Toro-Way?” Matt cackled. “No Way!” Frank yelled, causing the group to erupt in laughter.

“TO THE FUCKIN’ GROOM-TO-BE!” Chester boomed out, prompting everyone to finally clink their drinks together. 

There was a beat before everyone went back to their conversations, leaving Gerard and Frank standing next to each other. Sigh, he guessed he could start some polite conversation and look like less of an ass.  

“So uh...how’ve you been?” Frank asked. Damn it, the fucker beat him to the punch again. 

“I’m...okay, I guess.” He awkwardly sipped his coke before he continued, “I see you’ve finally gotten rid of your piercings.” Okay...where was Gerard going with this? 

Frank raised an eyebrow, “Yeah, I mean…can’t really work in a corporate setting with piercings and shit, right?”

“Yeah, you looked like a fuckin’ pin cushion in college,” Gerard giggled. Why was he like this?

Frank rolled his eyes, a hollow laugh escaping his lips, “This coming from the Oompa Loompa himself.” Oh fuck off. 

Gerard immediately stopped laughing, feeling a wave of rage from all those years ago threatening to crawl back up. No. He had to control himself. “Looks like the douchebag hasn't outgrown the frat house after all these years, huh?" For fuck's sake. 

Frank looked visibly irritated now. "And it looks like the art hoe still has a stick up his ass." 

"At least I have an ass, you twig." 

"You behave like one, too." 

"Go fuck yourself, Frank." 

“Guys.” Mikey gave a look at Frank and Gerard, stopping them in their tracks. He realised the rest of the group had tuned in on their little spat, snickering among themselves. Gerard turned a little red in the face once he realised they had an audience. At least one of them had some shame. 

“Outside. Now.”

***

“Can you two fucking get it together?”

Gerard let out a strangled noise, “Hey, I’m trying to —” “Enough, Gee.” Mikey held a hand up. 

“Yeah, enough, Gerard.” 

“You too, Frankie. Shut the fuck up.” 

Gerard tried to hide a smirk at that. 

“Look," Mikey rubbed his temple as he spoke, "I know you guys aren’t exactly each other’s favourites. But college was like over ten fucking years ago. You’re both different people now. You’re not in your twenties anymore. Can you both find a way to be in the same room without breaking out into a fucking spat every five minutes? Just at least until the wedding’s over?” 

Mikey let out a sigh as the two men in front of him just stood in silence, "I'll see you guys back inside."

He walked back into the bar, leaving the pair awkwardly standing out on the curb like a couple of kids who just got yelled at by their mom. 

Cursing under his breath, Gerard brandished a pack of cigarettes from his back pocket, proceeding to light up a stick as he cupped it with his hands. He took a deep inhale as he craned his neck upward, relishing the taste of tobacco and ash in his mouth before he blew out a puff of smoke. He looked back down, shifting his gaze over to Frank, who already had his eyes on him before quickly darting them away. 

“Want a smoke?” Gerard asked, still looking at him. It was as close to a peace offering as it could get at this point. 

Frank looked back at him, “Um...yeah, thanks.”

The pair smoked in uncomfortable silence for a little while before Frank finally piped up, “Okay, dude. I think we should try and be decent to each other.”

Gerard scoffed out, “What d’you mean ‘you think’ like it’s your fuckin’ idea?”

Frank rolled his eyes, “You know what I mean!” 

“Okay, so what are you proposing?” 

“Should we actually try to…I don’t know…get to know each other?” Frank visibly cringed at his own words. “Like…Mikey has a point. It has been a decade since college. I’m sure a lot has changed…” 

“You’re still a jackass, though,” Gerard couldn’t help but retort back.

“Fuck you, man! Do you wanna do this for Mikey or not? Unless you have any better ideas!” Frank snapped. 

Gerard groaned, taking a final drag of his cigarette before stubbing it out on the ground. He really couldn't think of anything else. “Fucking…fine. How do you wanna do this?”

"I don't fuckin' know...I was thinkin' of it like exposure therapy. Like the more frequently we uh...interact, the less painful it's gonna be during the wedding stuff, y'know?"

Gerard nodded, regarding the man before him. "Hm. I guess it's worth a shot..." He sighed out before continuing, "You...you figure we should exchange numbers or something?" 

Frank gave him a strange look before asking, “Is yours still the same from college?” 

“Yeah, why?” 

“Then…I still have it,” Frank replied, his face turning a little pink as he quickly darted his gaze to the side. 

“Oh.” Gerard felt his own cheeks getting warm. 

Frank cleared his throat, “I’ll just...text you. I guess.”

“Uh…okay. Cool.” 

“Cool.”

Cool. Gerard was going to actually hang out with this guy. He would rather swallow a box of thumbtacks than fucking do this.

But he had to. For Mikey. 

Chapter Text

“So how was your first run-in with Frankie?” Hayley’s voice echoed from Gerard’s kitchen. 

“I mean, it went about as well as you’d expect it to go,” he replied, sitting on his sofa in the living room. He turned the volume down on the movie they were watching. 

“So Mikey had to break you guys up and give you a lecture?”

“Who told you that?”

Hayley walked back into the living room, digging a hand into a box of Froot Loops as she plopped back down on the couch, “Over a decade’s worth of observation. You’d think I’d have majored in psychology or some shit, huh?” Her hair looked especially pink as the evening sun shone on her through the living room window. 

Gerard rolled his eyes. He wasn’t sure why he was surprised. Hayley was witness to his and Frank’s countless altercations being broken up by his brother. 

“Okay, yeah. We had an argument — Frank was being a shit, though — and Mikey pulled us out of the bar and told us to get along. Now we’re going out for lunch on Wednesday to…try and get to know each other.”

Hayley nearly choked on a Froot Loop. 

“I know,” he replied, running a hand through his hair. "He said something about...exposure therapy. So we can tolerate each other by the time the wedding rolls around. It made sense to me."

"Wait, so you're gonna hang out on more than one occasion?" she looked at Gerard with wide eyes. He simply nodded in reply. 

"So what I'm hearing is...this is a talking stage?" Gerard was now staring daggers at Hayley, eliciting a giggle from her. 

He was glad to leave out the part where Frank still had his number after all those years. He didn’t want to read too much into it, and now the last thing he needed was Hayley teasing him about it, implying that there was something more than friendly brewing, which was far from the fucking case.

Still, he was surprised that Frank had actually texted him after that night. Gerard was the one who had suggested meeting up for lunch every Wednesday (the shitty thing about exposure therapy was that it had to be REPEATED and CONSISTENT exposure for it to work). Lunch hour was the perfect window that allowed them to bail and get back to work without feeling the need to draw out their interactions past an hour. It was definitely the most noncommittal arrangement he could think of that didn’t at all have any inclination of it being a date — oh my fucking GOD, Gerard, stop thinking about it. 

“Well, at least you guys are doing this in broad daylight so there’ll be witnesses if anything happens,” Hayley giggled out.

Gerard simply huffed out in response, rubbing his face. “Anyway, how’s Ray’s side goin’?” he asked, desperate to change the subject. 

“Really good, actually! We just met up last week — Ray’s friends and sister are hilarious, you’ll love ‘em.” 

“Any ideas for the stag party yet?”

“No clue, Gee. We’re still torn between getting absolutely shitfaced at a bar crawl or something a little more wholesome like camping,” she shrugged. 

“Both classic choices, if you ask me,” Gerard mused. 

There was a beat of comfortable silence as they focused their attention back on the movie they were watching, with Gerard turning the volume back up. 

“So watcha gonna wear for your date this Wednesday?” 

Hayley cackled as she dodged a throw pillow that was flying towards her at lightning speed. 

***

The first half of the week crawled by at a glacial pace — but somehow, Gerard found himself already in the middle of the week. Work had been a blur with a new season of his show coming along rather swimmingly. He felt like he made some progress and deserved a decent lunch outside of the confines of his office building…he just hoped the company he’d be expecting would at least attempt to be decent. 

Frank had actually texted him that morning to confirm if they were still on, to which Gerard responded with a simple "yup, see u at 12" accompanied by a thumbs up emoji. What’s more nonchalant than that, right? Totally not a date. No one fucking said it was in the first place, oh my god. Fuck you, Hayley.

They had agreed to grab their own food and meet at a park that happened to be in equal walking distance between their two offices. Neutral enough ground, he thought.

By the time lunch rolled around, Gerard felt relieved to step outside and bask in the sun for a while, the late-spring breeze enveloping him in its warmth. He made his way over to his usual deli, grabbing a veggie wrap at a nearby bodega before heading to the park  — earphones in as he listened to some music on his walk. 

The city was beautiful this time of year — everyone was generally in a better mood in spite of all the hustle and bustle, and the little pockets of nature scattered around always gave him a little boost of serotonin. Gerard had his sobriety to thank for this relatively newfound appreciation for the little things. It helped ground him, too — especially when he was anticipating something he wasn't entirely looking forward to. 

Gerard stopped in his tracks for a second as he finally entered the park, hitting pause on 'Crosseyed and Painless' when he spotted Frank sitting on a bench under a tree as he ate his sandwich. Well, here we go. 

“You’re late, loser,” Frank said as Gerard approached him. He was dressed in a crisp black button-up with grey slacks and black dress shoes. His sleeves were also rolled up to reveal his tattoos. The getup was way more professional than the casual outfit Gerard had on. Well, animation studios weren’t really known for their strict dress codes to begin with, anyway. 

Rolling his eyes, he glanced down at his phone. 12:20pm. Whoops. 

“Fuckin’... sorry. I lost track of time,” Gerard decided he needed to pick his battles. Frank scooched over, giving him space to sit down next to him as he took another bite of his sandwich. 

“So, how the fuck d’ya wanna do this?” Frank asked with his mouth full of food. Jesus. You’d think business school would teach you some fucking table manners. 

Gerard shot his head back a little to look at Frank, “This was your idea, what the fuck d’you mean?!” 

“Forgive me for wanting to be collaborative, asshole,” Frank rolled his eyes, finally swallowing his mouthful.  

“But fine. I guess I’ll start. I'm in Business Development at Frost — it's a network marketing agency. What d’you do?” This felt so weird already. 

Gerard chewed on his wrap, swallowing before answering, “I’m at Cartoon Network. I made a show called The Breakfast Monkey, ya heard of it?”

Frank’s eyebrows shot up, “No fuckin’ way. My kid cousin watches that. You’re doin’ the damn thing. Good on you, man.” 

“Thanks…” This was really fucking weird. 

“You made any comics yet? Like that Batman one?” 

Gerard was surprised he remembered that, but he sighed before replying, “Nah, not yet. God knows if I’ll ever get around to it. That’s still the dream, though.” 

Frank hummed, seeming genuinely intrigued for some reason. 

“Do you like it? Your job, I mean,” Gerard asked. 

The man next to him shrugged in reply, “I mean, it’s challenging, I’m good at it, and it pays really well.”

“You didn’t answer the question, though.” 

Frank rolled his eyes, “Sheesh, I was getting to it!” Gerard raised his arms defensively, letting him continue. 

“I...I don’t know. It’s not the dream. The hours are a little long and I don’t know if I can do that for the rest of my life, y’know?” 

Gerard pursed his lips as he listened intently. 

“It’s like you’re stuck in a rut?” 

Frank glanced over at Gerard for a second before replying, “...yeah.”

“Hm. I know that feeling. Don’t get me wrong, I love the show, but I think I need to move on. I just don’t know what’s next after Breakfast Monkey, y’know? Like what if this is it?” 

“Damn, who woulda thought we’d be talking about our existential crises eh, Gerard?”

Gerard let out a little snort at that. Wow, they had gone the past five minutes without trying to insult or kill each other. 

The rest of their conversation flowed rather naturally after that — the pair avoided talking about college, instead deciding to bitch about work. It was surprisingly pleasant. 

The last thing Gerard had expected was genuinely enjoying Frank's company. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he supposed this was probably what it would’ve been like in college if they weren’t too busy fighting.

After a while, an obnoxiously loud ringtone sounded off, prompting Frank to fish his phone out of his pocket. 

“Fuck. Well, I gotta cut this short. Work emergency. This was uh…actually decent,” Frank said after hanging up, glancing up at Gerard with his mouth forming a flat line. 

Gerard shrugged, reciprocating the expression, “Hey man, do what you gotta do. And uh…likewise.” Likewise? What the fuck was that?

Frank gave Gerard a quick nod before getting up from the bench, “I guess uh…I’ll see you next week, Gerard.” 

“Gee,” Gerard said as he looked up at Frank.

“What?”

“You can call me Gee. If you want.” he felt his cheeks getting warm. 

“Oh,” Frank seemed to turn a light shade of pink at that too. “Okay uh…see you around…Gee.”

Gerard waved as Frank walked away, the latter turning to look back at him over his shoulder with an indecipherable expression before turning back around and speed walking out of the park to attend to his emergency. 

Was that weird? Yeah, that was weird. 

***

Work had ended at a decent hour, but he was still relieved when he was back in the comfort of his own apartment. Flopping onto the couch, Gerard pulled out his phone to enjoy a bit of scrolling before figuring out what he should make for dinner. 

@frankieromustdie followed you      6h

Oh?

Pursing his lips, Gerard’s thumb hovered over Frank’s username. Curiosity got the better of him as he tapped on it. 

Followed by @mikeyway & 67 others. 

Yeah, no shit. 

The guy didn’t post that much — he’d reckon probably a handful of posts a year (still way more online than Gerard was — his own Instagram was mainly full of work-related shit — random illustrations, Comic Con booth stuff, and Breakfast Monkey-related posts). 

He still played guitar pretty frequently from what he could see, spotting a few pictures of Mikey…aww, he’s got a cute dog too…ooh, shirtless beach photos — what the fuck was he doing?!

Gerard threw an arm over his eyes. He needed to chill out. 

He moved to sit up a moment later, placing his phone on the coffee table in front of him. It was about time to figure out what to cook for dinner — an after-work thing he tried to do for himself whenever he could. Anything tangible to create a sense of routine, Al had told him during his first year going sober. It was something that had carried him through the last few years. 

Gerard stood up from the couch before giving his phone a second glance. Sigh. 

Picking it back up, he hit “Follow Back” and quit the app before setting it down again and scurrying to the kitchen. 

Chapter Text

“Oh these look lovely, don’t they, Gerard?” his mother smiled as she turned to look at him, holding a peony in her hand for him to see. 

“Yeah, pretty,” he sighed. “I still don’t get why you wanna look at flowers so soon, mom. It’s May and the wedding’s like six months away.”  

“Honey, six months is considered a rush job for weddings. And we're heading into June in a few weeks! We need to shortlist our options within the month if we want to make it to November!” 

Okay, so Gerard had no clue how long weddings took to plan. He had only ever been a guest, but man, he didn’t think it’d be this crazy. 

He shouldn’t be this surprised at his mother’s enthusiasm, though. Donna was over the moon when Mikey had told him about the engagement and insisted on helping out with some of the wedding planning. They were lucky to already have a venue on hand — they decided on an autumn wedding at their anniversary lake house. But since their mother was desperate to be involved in some way, Mikey had given her a handful of responsibilities — one of which included shortlisting florists. Of course, that meant she had to physically go to all the boutiques in town instead of DM-ing them on Instagram, and rope in Gerard as her chauffeur for all her appointments. Well, he did say he’d help Mikey out, especially now that he was extra busy at work alongside the rest of the wedding planning. He had no idea what he signed up for, though and was kind of regretting it now.  

“What time’s the appointment again?” he asked, doing his best to mask his frustration. 

“It’s at 12.30. Be patient, now!” 

The other thing about Donna was that she had to be painfully early for appointments. Why did they have to rush to get to the place when they had half an hour to spare when they got there? God fucking knows. Gerard let out another huff as he trailed behind her, watching her sniff a bucket of fresh lavender as they walked around the impressively large boutique. It was one of those artisanal florists that specialised in this shit, so an appointment system made sense, he supposed. 

“So, how are things with you, hon? You don’t drop by much nowadays. Everything okay?”

Gerard’s heart softened a little at that. He realised she just wanted some time with her son. She did always worry about him. 

“I’m okay. I’ve just been a little busy with work lately. I’ll try to drop by more often.” 

His mother cast him a concerned look as she moved over to another bucket of flowers. 

“Sigh. What is it, mom?” 

“It’s just…oh your father and I are so proud of you, sweetie. You lost your way for a while, but you got there in the end. You’ve got this wonderful career, now Michael’s getting married and…I just want you to be happy too.”

“I am happy!”  And it was true. Gerard was in a much better place than he was three years ago. Giving up alcohol was the best decision he ever made, because after he fixed the mess that was his life and decided he actually gave a shit about things, everything else began to fall into place — he applied himself more in his career, and got a hit show (with an insanely loyal fandom to boot) out of it. 

“I know you are, hon. But I want you to find somebody — a man or a woman — it doesn’t matter. You can’t live in this world alone.”

Gerard sighed, looking wordlessly at his mother. He knew she meant well, but he wasn’t sure if he could even bring himself to be in a relationship. Not again. Not after the shit he went through the last time. 

“Mom, I’m not alone. I have Ray and Hayley…” Okay, he didn’t really have a big enough circle of friends anymore. Not since he got sober, anyway. The only shitty consequence of giving up alcohol was the amount of friends he had to cut off after realising how enabling they were. What was even shittier was losing some friends because of his behaviour. But he loved the ones that stayed despite everything they saw him put himself through. 

“You know that’s not what I mean, Gerard,” his mother sighed out. “Just, try to open yourself up to love again. Don’t feel like you don’t deserve that anymore, because you do,” she reached out to affectionately pat his cheek, prompting him to instinctively scrunch his nose. 

“Donna Way?” an employee asked as she walked up to them. Gerard braced himself. It was time for their first consultation of the day.

***

It had been a couple of weeks of meeting up for lunch — and while there was still the odd bickering here and there, it was getting a little more bearable for Gerard to talk to the guy. They had mainly spent their time bitching about things that frustrated them at work, but didn’t really get beyond that so far. Hey, anything to avoid arguing, right?

Week three was no different. Frank was ranting about his incompetent junior who was repeatedly fucking up on client comms, forcing Frank to swoop in before shit hit the fan and put his ass on the line for the umpteenth time. Gerard genuinely didn’t mind hearing about it, though. He was a sucker for work drama, especially if it didn’t involve him (and okay, an evil part of him relished in the fact that Frank was suffering a little). 

What he didn’t like was Frank talking about these things with his fucking mouth full of food, though. 

“So, I said to the guy…what?” Frank spoke through a mouthful of his sandwich.

Gerard did nothing to mask the disgusted expression on his face, but it quickly changed to a neutral one as soon as Frank glanced over at him. 

“Nothin’, go on,” he lied. 

“Nah, dude you were pulling a face,” Frank swallowed his food. “What’s got your panties in a twist?” 

Gerard huffed as he rolled his eyes, “Nothing, seriously. My nose just felt…itchy.” He scrunched his nose to make a point. 

Frank gave him a wary glance before he took another bite and continued, “Anyway…I told the fucker to walk me through his thought process — okay, cut it out, what’s with the fucking face?!”

“Okay, fine! You talk with your mouth full a lot, dude! It’s gross as shit!” 

Frank groaned, swallowing his food, “Well, why didn’t you say so earlier?!”

Gerard didn’t really know how to answer that, simply responding with a shrug before taking a sip of his iced coffee. 

“Scared you’d hurt my feelings?” Frank smirked at him, causing Gerard to roll his eyes again, “I didn’t wanna end up…starting another argument.” Wow, he didn’t think he’d actually be honest. 

“Oh, so you finally admit it.” 

Gerard raised an eyebrow, “Huh?” 

“You’ve always been the one to start shit with me since college.” Here we fuckin’ go. 

“Now where in my response did I make it sound like I said that?!” 

“You said it yourself — you didn’t want to start ‘another argument’! That implies you’ve started all the other ones we’ve had prior!”

“Woah, that’s a fuckin’ sweeping assumption to make! I said ‘another’ in reference to all the countless ones we’ve had in totality. Many of which you started, for the record!”

“Nah, don’t flip that on me, now!”

“Oh my god are we really arguing about arguing right now?!” Gerard was close to pulling his hair out. Why was this man impossible to interact with?

That seemed to have stopped Frank in his tracks. A tense silence followed as Gerard stared at the ground, angrily chewing on his straw. He knew this was a bad idea. Why put themselves through all this stress when they were obviously not meant to be friends? They should just end this stupid exposure therapy shit and — was Frank laughing? 

“Sorry. I just realised something,” Frank said in between his giggles. 

Gerard blinked, looking up at the man in a mix of confusion and irritation, “What?”

“It’s just. Wow, we really were arguing over shit like this back in college, huh? Like…absolutely nothing?” Frank continued laughing. Gerard felt a smile creeping up his face, realising the absurdity of their situation too. 

“And like, apart from all the stupid shit, we really know nothing about each other!” Frank added, laughing even harder now, causing Gerard to laugh as well, thinking about the things they put each other through. 

“Remember your frat's fundraiser thing at the start of sophomore year?” Gerard asked in between giggles. 

Okay, so there was only one time their fights had escalated to something physical — it happened at a joint charity carnival hosted by their college fraternities and sororities that had your stereotypical funfair booths. He remembered being dragged there by Hayley (she had said something about desperately wanting a corndog) before Frank had angrily approached him. 

The pair quickly got into a heated argument by the entrance — which had ridiculously giant Greek letters out front. Somehow, their argument escalated to a point where Frank had shoved Gerard, which prompted him to shove Frank back with more force, making the guy fall backwards and topple over one of the giant letters that crushed a nearby dunk tank, causing a wave of water to spill out everywhere, ruining the neighbouring booths in the process. Luckily, no one was hurt since the guy who was meant to be manning the tank had wandered off for lunch, but the two of them spent months covering the damages. 

Frank let out a chortle. “Dude, you ruined that dunk tank.”   

Gerard looked at him incredulously as he said, “I ruined it?! You pushed me first!” 

Frank continued laughing, “Yeah and you shoved harder, you dick!”

“What were we even arguing about?” 

“Oh my god, you don’t remember? You fucked with the tuning on my guitar right before I had to perform with my band a couple nights before!” 

Gerard wheezed out, “Oh my god it was at that bar...fuck, I must’ve been hammered! I don’t remember this!” 

“You were, because you fuckin’ threw up on me when I tried to confront you after that disaster of a show!” Frank snorted out. 

The pair were now beside themselves with laughter, unable to breathe as they caught the attention of amused passerby walking through the park.  

After what seemed like a good few minutes, they had finally calmed down. Okay, maybe there was some hope after all.

Gerard gave Frank a look before he said, “Okay. I hate to say this, but you’re right.” 

Frank flashed another smirk at him, “Finally, we can agree on something.” Gerard promptly ignored him before continuing, “I mean, we actually don’t know all that much about each other. Maybe this will help with…exposure therapy...like actually learning something about ourselves. Why don’t we talk about something we wouldn’t know about the other person?” 

Frank tapped at his chin before bringing up the last of his sandwich to his mouth, chewing quietly as he continued to think. He made it a point to make eye contact with Gerard as he swallowed before he spoke, “What? Like go around the room and share a fun fact about yourself like a couple o' nerds?” Gerard narrowed his eyes at him, "You got any better ideas?!" 

Frank hung his head back for a moment before letting out a groan. "Fine. This is so stupid," he lifted his head back up to look at Gerard, who rolled his eyes at him before asking, "You wanna go first?".

Frank sighed for a minute, looking at Gerard before finally relenting, “Alright. Do not. I mean it, Gee. Do. Fucking. Not. Use this information against me. If you do, Mikey will need to find another best man because his brother’s body was just found in a fucking ditch,” Frank gave him a serious look. Gerard merely looked back at him with an unamused expression, “Out with it.” 

“I fucking hate spiders. Like if there was one right in front of us now,” Frank pointed towards the paved footpath opposite their bench, “I’d sprint all the way over to the other end of this fuckin’ park. And I wish I was even remotely joking.” 

Gerard snorted. “Seriously? Arachnophobia? That’s so lame! I figured you’d be into all kinds of creepy crawlies with that scorpion on your neck!” 

Frank instinctively lifted a hand to touch his tattoo, “That’s different! At least with scorpions, you know they mean business with their fuckin’ tails! Spiders are way too unpredictable and just…crawl way too fast.” He shuddered. 

Gerard let out another amused snort. 

“Okay, your turn. What can I use against you?” Frank joked. 

“Hmm…well clearly, you know I hate needles,” Gerard glared at him as he laughed, probably because he was recalling the time Gerard had almost lost consciousness when he walked in on Frank getting a tattoo from some random guy at a mutual friend’s house party during senior year. The guy was apparently training to become a tattoo artist and had just lugged his gear to the party and set up shop in a random bedroom to give free tattoos to anyone willing to risk their health and safety for a fucking tramp stamp. Frank was an idiot that way. 

“But I don’t have any specific phobias apart from that...”. He trailed off as he thought for a moment. “Oh! I love fire.” 

Frank raised an eyebrow at that. 

“I know, it's a weird one. But uh…I like looking at flames, I’d light candles and things as a kid and stare at that shit for hours. I got in a lot of trouble with my parents one time because I accidentally lit something I wasn’t supposed to. Wouldn’t recommend that.” 

“So you get off on fire?”

“It’s not a sexual thing, are you crazy?! I’d burn my dick off!” 

“Who said anything about fucking the fire? Oh my god, you’ve thought about this, you freak!” Frank cackled.

“Jesus fucking Christ” Gerard rubbed a hand over his face as Frank continued to laugh at him. He was already regretting this.

“Okay, your turn.”

“Fuck, what do I talk about?” Frank cast Gerard a glance, furrowing his brows in thought. 

Gerard shrugged, “Anything you want! Oh! What about your band?” Gerard had conveniently left out the fact that he'd seen photos of him playing guitar when he was stalking him on Instagram that one time. 

“Oh yeah, that. I mean, that's been done with since graduation, but now I just jam with some colleagues on the weekends to blow off some steam. You uh…play anything?” 

“I’m shit at guitar,” Gerard admitted. “But I kill it at karaoke.” 

“Heh. I remember,” Frank gave a lopsided smile. Gerard felt his ears getting a little warm at that. "You don't sing professionally, though? I know Hayley does some gigs at some jazz bars sometimes, right?" 

Gerard shrugged, "Yeah she does! But ehh, I'm not as into that stuff as much as Hayley is. The most I do is probably record really rough voice notes for songs I wanna have on Breakfast Monkey, y'know? I let the professionals take it from there." 

"Huh. Cool," Frank said as he looked off into the distance for a while. 

“I actually know how to play a bit of drums too, y’know,” Frank piped up a beat later. 

Gerard raised his eyebrows in genuine surprise, “Huh, no shit.”

“Yeah, my dad and grandpa are like huge musicians…it wasn’t their day job or anything, but they were big on making sure I learned an instrument too. They’re both incredible drummers and they tried to get me into it, but I didn’t really vibe with it until I tried picking up guitar and uh…yeah. The rest is history. My grandpa’s a legend, though. Can’t imagine life without him. I actually got a tattoo of him on my shoulder a few years back.” 

Gerard wasn’t sure what made Frank want to share this with him but he suddenly felt a warmth grow in his chest. He could really relate when it came to grandparents.

“My grandma was like that for me, too. I played Peter Pan in my school musical — fuck you,” he paused as Frank burst out in a cackle at that. 

“Anyway…” Gerard paused to look down at the grass before he continued, “She helped me with vocal lessons and like…made me this costume and everything. She was really into the arts and was just always supportive of everything Mikey and I did.” 

“You guys must really miss her, huh?” Frank asked. Of course, being one of Mikey’s close friends, he had heard about their grandmother’s passing. It was a really shitty time.

Gerard absentmindedly stared at a squirrel running across the grass a few feet in front of them for a while before he continued, “Yeah, it was tough. Even now, knowing she’s not gonna be around for the wedding and…” he looked back up at Frank to see him resting his chin on his palm, intently listening to Gerard with his eyes fixed in the softest gaze. Suddenly, he was sent back in time to the night they had first met — when Frank had looked at him like he was the only person in the fucking universe. The same look he was giving Gerard now. He felt the warmth in his chest drop down to his stomach. What the fuck?

“Uh…yeah, but what’re you gonna do, y’know?” Gerard finished as he sat up straight. He cleared his throat before bringing the last of his coffee back up to his lips, making a loud slurping sound as he sucked in a bit of air through the straw. Shit, he was making it weird. 

Frank rapidly blinked as he moved to sit upright too, “Uh...yeah.” 

Gerard briefly glanced at his phone only to realise the time. “Fuck, I gotta get back to work. I forgot I had this meeting in like fifteen minutes.” He wasn’t lying, he really did have a meeting. Okay, he was also low-key freaking out about that look Frank gave him a few moments ago. 

“Oh, okay.” 

“So uh…see ya next Wednesday?”

“Yep!” 

There was an awkward pause between the two of them before Gerard decided to get up first. “I’m uh…gonna go now. Bye, Frank.” 

“Bye, Gee.” 

As he walked back to his office, Gerard put his earphones in to blast some music in hopes of drowning out the thoughts that were now swirling in his brain. 

He needed to calm down. Whatever he was feeling was just him getting friendlier with Frank. They were becoming friends, that's all. 

***

The rest of the week had flown by, with Gerard having to rush out some approvals on storyboards for a special episode of his show that the network decided to commission at the very last minute. Okay, maybe he was trying (and failing miserably) to distract himself with work so he didn't have to think about Frank's stupid fucking face and the weird feelings it conjured up.

Things didn't seem to be that awkward between them after their last lunch, though. In fact, it did quite the opposite — the pair had been DM-ing each other some memes over the past couple of days since they last met up. Gerard had no fucking clue what Tung Tung Sahur was, but it sure as hell had him cracking up on Hayley's living room couch once the weekend had rolled around. 

"Hey — are you listening to me?" she smacked at Gerard's thigh. "Ow!" 

"What's so funny?" she shifted to a sly expression, jutting her chin at the phone in his hands. "Nothin' it's some stupid Italian brain rot meme." 

"Italian brain rot, huh? Sounds like the shit Frankie's into..." she waggled her eyebrows at him. 

"Oh yeah, they followed each other on Instagram a couple weeks ago!" Ray's voice sounded out as he made his way back from the bathroom, causing Gerard to furrow his eyebrows.

"Wow, who the hell even keeps tabs on this shit?!" 

"Wasn't me," Ray replied as he got to the living room and sat down on the armchair next to them. "Your brother noticed," he finished with a shrug. Huh. 

Gerard rolled his eyes, locking his phone before placing it on the coffee table. "Well, I just saw it on my feed. My algorithm's all fucked up," he lied. "Anyway, what were you saying, Hayles?"

"Uh huh..." she side-eyed him before continuing, "I said, Ray just asked me and Frank to perform at their reception!" 

"Oh wow! For the whole night?"

"Nah, just for our first dance. We wanted it to be special," Ray replied, beaming at Gerard. 

"It's like you want my mom to break down in tears at the wedding," he chuckled out, remembering the time Donna had heard Hayley absent-mindedly singing while she was over at Gerard's family home one Thanksgiving break. 

Ray simply chuckled before replying, "How's your speech going? You're doing it, right?" 

Gerard knew what he signed up for when he agreed to become Mikey's best man, despite the fact that he hated public speaking. But he wanted to do it, and besides, the evening was about his brother and his best friend — not him. He thought that he would have definitely spiralled about this if he wasn’t sober, though. It also helped that the wedding was still six months away. He had plenty of time, still. 

"Yup. I mean it would be weird if the best man didn't give a speech. But I have no idea what to talk about. I've been pretty focused on work and uh..." 

“Your non-dates with Frankie?” Hayley teased, a shit-eating grin creeping up on her face. 

"Your what?!" Ray looked like he almost broke his neck with how fast he whipped his head around to look at Gerard, his hair comically bouncing as he did so. 

He fucking hated Hayley sometimes. 

Gerard rolled his eyes at her, “We’re just having lunch, Hayles. It's no big deal." Hayley raised an eyebrow when she replied, "Yeah. Every fucking week!" Why was she like this?

"I figured you guys just followed each other because of the wedding stuff, but what the fuck?!" 

Gerard groaned. Why was everyone making this a thing?

He supposed he had to explain, though. Gerard proceeded to dive into the whole "exposure therapy" of it all for Ray to have some context. There really wasn't much to elaborate on, anyway. Plus they were doing this so they could stand each other enough to get through the wedding without incident. It wasn't that deep. 

"Huh," Ray finally said after taking a few moments to digest what he had heard. 

"What?" Gerard looked at him tentatively. 

"Nothing, I'm glad you guys are trying to get along, man. You both had it out for each other in college, so it's just...nice to hear!" Ray replied. 

"Yeah, I mean don't get me wrong, we know both of you guys had some crazy shit going on," Hayley continued. 

"Both of us? What was going on with Frank?" Gerard asked.

"Mikey didn't tell you?" Hayley looked at him incredulously before continuing, "Remember when he wasn't around for a semester back in sophomore year?" 

Gerard vaguely recalled that time. It was a peaceful few months from what little he could remember. "Oh yeah, what happened? He got suspended or something?"

"No, dude. His mom was sick. He deferred by a semester to take care of her. She only got better like a few years after graduation," Ray replied, looking shocked that he didn't know this. 

"Woah, what?!" Gerard couldn't believe this. How did no one tell him this? Maybe he was too out of it to remember. Fuck.

"Man, you really were in some shit back then huh, Gee?" Ray commented, with no malice or judgement behind his words. 

"Shit, dude. I feel like an ass. Sophomore year was a little blurry, but I remember we fought a whole lot in that year specifically," Gerard said as he buried his face in his hands for a moment, feeling the guilt creep up on him. 

"Hey, at least you guys are making up for how you were to each other back then, right?" Hayley moved over to rub comforting circles on her best friend's back.

"You've come a long way since then, man," Ray piped up, reaching over to pat Gerard on the shoulder. 

He really appreciated having such supportive friends around him, but he still felt bad about what had happened between him and Frank, especially knowing Frank had an equally shitty time, too. It was like Al had once told him, recovery was an unrelenting bitch to navigate. You get all sorts of shit from your past coming back up that you have to face, no matter how uncomfortable it got.

And the worst part of it all? It doesn't give a fuck about timing. 

The three of them continued talking about college for a while before the conversation got light again when it naturally moved on to wedding-related topics. Gerard felt the guilt settle down a little, a warmth replacing the feeling in his chest as he listened to Hayley listing out potential songs they could perform on the big day. 

Just then, his phone buzzed again. Another DM from Frank. 

Gerard picked it up from the coffee table while Ray and Hayley continued talking, snorting at the ridiculous Reel he had just received (two Shreks with butterfly wings flying in a garden accompanied by a serene piano instrumental with text over it that read, "Nature is healing". Frank followed up with a message saying, "us at the wedding lmao").

He tried his best to hide his smile as he typed his reply, unaware of his two best friends exchanging knowing smiles before continuing their conversation.