Oh my word! It's my first Frerard. From back in the day. Well, just a little while ago. But the smutty bits aren't so great. The P.O.V. goes like this: Gee, Frank, Gee, Frank, etc...
Aw, Frank. His concentrated face is by far the cutest thing I've ever- Oh! Shit! Right, I have to sing.
"DROP THE DAGGER AND LATHER-" I held the microphone out to the crowd to let them finish the rest. Halifax was quite the crowd. Lively bunch, despite the small venue we were in. I snuck one look at Frankie. He was to my left side, strumming away. I could tell he was getting tired, the rhythm was getting slack. Not that the crowd cared. Toro gave him a look and Frank straightened up and tried harder. I decided to be merciful and give him a break.
"Before we go on singing the rest of this song, I want you to do something for me. Can you?!" I yelled, getting a large collective scream.
"Good! Because," I started pacing the stage like I always do, "I think we need some more participation. This is weak! Give me another scream!"
I looked over at Frank again while the crowd was yelling wildly. He smiled at me gratefully, shaking out his right arm. I looked to my right at Ray, he was shaking his hair out. Mikey was plucking timidly away at his bass in one general position. Bob was giving me a backbeat. "Awesome! ALRIGHT! ONE, TWO, THREE, GIVE ME A SHOT TO REMEMBER!"
The rest of the song went as planned. Utterly uneventful. Then I caught Frank strutting up to me while he was playing the rhythm part to Teenagers. He started rubbing his head on my shoulder, something people took as a 'Frerard' moment, but it was actually a sick prank. He was wiping the sweat off of his forehead, something he knows I hate. Though when he smiles at me in apology, I can't even remember what he's apologizing for.
Teenagers, Cancer and Mama all went by without a hitch. That frustrated me. I like a bit of turbulence in the shows we play. Makes it fun. But when we started our last song, Famous Last Words, (in an attention-stealing attempt, no doubt) Frank swung his guitar behind him and hopped on over to me during Ray's solo. He looked up at me, he being about five feet five inches compared to my five feet and eight inches, and I knew what he wanted. He wanted us to kiss.
Nothing major, we'd done it before. It was mainly to fend off homophobia and stir shit up with the fan girls we've got, but little does Frank know that I look forward to it every show we do. When we don't I do really feel empty. And I shouldn't! For God's sake, we're both married men, but I can never shake the feeling of… Christ, I don't even know what you'd call it. I don't want to say 'love', because I'm in love with my wife. But with Frank it's something entirely different. It's like, I love his spontaneity. With Lindsey, (Or Lyn-Z, as most people know her from her band Mindless Self Indulgence) it's the boy-girl love. Boy wants girl. Boy gets girl. Boy makes out with girl in front of tour bus. Boy marries girl shortly after. Blah, blah, blah. With her it's so typical! Not that I don't mind typical, not that I don't love Lindsey, far from it. But imagine if she were like Frank! I'd never know what to expect. Ever.
I leaned down to give Frank what he wanted- and what I needed. This time, I felt something peculiar. Normally, we'd use our own tongues in our cheeks to make it look like we were making out, but Frank's tongue was running along my upper lip, making me part it from my bottom one. His tongue slid in, tapping mine and begging for some sort of a reaction from me, and I definitely gave it one. I was the one to stop the epic kiss we'd just had, unfortunately, as Ray's solo was about to end, and the rest of the guys were looking at us with stares that we both had gotten from them before. When Frank and I got heated, they'd look at us like 'Stop-that-or-people-will-think-you're-gay'. Which was definitely not the case.
The crowd cheered for Frank and I, like they always do when we do stuff like that. But a kiss is just a kiss. Obviously not for the fans, and I found that funny.
I sang the rest of the song and ended with "We are The Black Parade, and we are honoured to present you with My Chemical Romance!"
The crowd roared for us as we exited the stage to the dressing area we'd set up behind it.
"'Kay, guys," said Ray, as he always did, "we've only got Blood to get ready."
So the five of us stripped down and got into some street clothes, jabbering all the while. "Gerard, good vocals. Just remember to actually sing some of the old songs. The new listeners might not know them." Mikey rolled his eyes, though there was a hint of truth in his voice.
"Fine, Mikey. Just for you. I will not ask for any audience help. If you move around when you play."
"No deal!" Mikey got defensive. He was self-conscious since he fell onstage that one time.
"Well, then I'll let the old fans feel special." I stuck my tongue out and I heard Frank's unmistakable giggle. I glanced over to see him in just boxers, slipping on a pair of skinny jeans. Those ones in particular made him look shorter than usual. But it wasn't that that made me lose my breath. His boxers were of the tight variety.
Frank heard my sharp exhale and turned to look at me. "Gee?"
God, I loved it when he used my nickname. "Frank?"
"You okay?"
I grinned. "You don't want the answer to that. I still think the pun is funny."
"Ugh," he groaned. "Go ahead."
"I'm not oh-fucking-kay!" I laughed out loud. Yes, I am the king of cheese. Think nothing of it. "Thank you, Frankie." I said, sweet as could be. Not that it fazed him. He was married to Jamia. Cute couple, they were. Though Frank made up most of the cute part.
"Whatever, 'Rardy."
"Guys, you ready?" Bob was brushing out his hair. He'd let it grow while we were on tour and long hair got sweaty. Fast. Take it from me; during my… darker years, I didn't really care about my hair. In hindsight, it looked hideous. But Frank always told me to grow it. That's the only reason I did.
Maybe I should clarify. Frank and I had a thing before we got big. Back in the days of Pencey Prep and me trying to make it as a comic book artist. Every so often we'd kiss and go on dates, but we decided to call it quits by the time we formed My Chemical Romance. It would have made everything so complicated. I know he dropped his feelings for me, but I still felt for him. Even after he and I married our wives, every day I'd remember what he tasted like, felt like. It was torture, but sweet.
Blood ended and we all strutted back on stage to perform as My Chemical Romance. Those shows were all about the music, not about the stage antics. This was no exception.
"Thanks, Halifax!" I blew some kisses to the crowd and walked off, displeased with the end of the show. The music, singing, the crowd was the only thing that kept me from thinking about Frank. Why had he kissed me for real? Wasn't that cheating? And then I felt like something had punched me in the gut. Lindsey! Shit. Not good.
"Good one, guys. Except me." Mikey congratulated, then sulked.
"What?!" Ray looked at Mikey in disbelief as we left to the car that would be driving us around to this place called Cape Breton island. It wasn't too far from Halifax, and we needed some chill time where no one knew us.
"It's true!" Mikey cried, sliding into the back seat. "I totally fucked up the bass line in more than one song."
"Nobody even noticed. I didn't." Bob shrugged.
"Definitely." Ray assured.
Mikey grinned. "Good. I felt like such a dick, screwing up all the time."
"Naw!" Frank replied from the passenger seat. "You're crazy, Mikey. Did you hear me during The Sharpest Lives? I got tired halfway through. Thank god Gerard here," Frank rubbed my knee since I was beside him, driving. "covered for me. I thought my frickin' arm was gonna fall off!"
"Any time." I grinned. That was one of my strong points. My smile. I'd gotten compliments on it from everyone, so I figured, why not flaunt it?
I hoped I wasn't seeing things when Frank turned a shade of pink. Within a matter of minutes, the three guys in back were asleep, leaning all over each other. I drove down a tree-filled stretch of highway, trying to get a glance at the scenery but the fog was too heavy, as was the darkness of the night. Frank startled me when he sighed.
"What's buggin' ya?" I asked. It was obvious he wanted me to.
"I miss Jamia, is all."
"Aw, Frankie. I miss Lindsey, too."
This was the truth. I hadn't seen Lindsey since we'd played in the States. Our Canadian part of the tour was taking a long time. Like, a month. Horrible stuff. I could see the repression on all of our faces, living for a month without our girls. Even Bob was getting antsy. And he was supposed to be the chill one! Frank and I are the wilder ones so we were both off the wall.
"Sucks, doesn't it?" Frank asked.
"Yeah. Here." I moved closer to him, daring myself, pushing my limits. "Sleep on my shoulder."
"I'm cool. I want to see the trees."
"Frank," I said pointedly, "you can't see the trees. And my shoulder is more comfortable than yours."
Frank laughed and leaned his head on my shoulder, closing his eyes. Hazel, like mine. After an hour or so, I needed to shift my position but Frank's head on my shoulder, while causing unnecessary weight and heat, was enough to make me sit still and drive for another three hours. I found a drive to a beach and parked when I hit sand. I slid out from under Frank's head and walked out to the water. The Atlantic. I sighed, and jumped a little bit when I heard the car door slam.
"Gee? Why are we stopped?" Frank rubbed his sleepy eyes.
"I ah, just thought it was pretty out here."
"It is."
"How're the kids doing?"
"Sleeping soundly. It's just us."
Just us. I grinned at that. "Well, what do you intend on doing?"
Frank took off his shoes and started fumbling with his belt buckle.
"Huh?!"
"Relax. I'm just gonna take a dip. It looks gorgeous in there. Wanna join?"
"Eh. Why the hell not?" I decided to silence the heterosexual voice in my head and stripped down to my boxers, but leaving my shirt on.
I am ever the self-conscious fat kid, even though that was in high school, so I felt jealous when I saw Frank's toned muscles flex and relax as he ran into the ocean.
"Gerard? Aren't you coming in?" Frank asked eagerly, as he turned around to face me with a grin.
"Uh, yup. Just give me a sec. How's the water?"
Frank spun around and went into the water, ankle-deep. "F-f-freezing! You'd love it!" He ran out farther and dove under the waves.
I walked in casually, all the hair on my body standing on end when my toes touched the waves. I almost yelped. Frank must've saw the look on my face, because he giggled and ran back.
"You cold?" Frank shook his wet hair onto me.
"N-n-now I am!" I stuttered, teeth chattering.
"Aw, sorry. It does kind of look like you're smuggling raisins." Frank said, smiling and nodding to my chest.
I crossed my arms. "Which brings up the question of why you were looking at my nipples." I smiled.
"Because they're sticking out of your shirt. Which I think you need to take off in order to experience the water!"
"Think again."
"Oh, come on, Gerard. It's nothing I haven't seen before."
"That was ages ago!"
"History sometimes repeats itself."
"Y'know what?" I challenged.
"What?"
"Fine!" I stripped off my shirt and ducked under the water, feeling every inch of my body getting covered by icy salt water. Instantly, I regretted it. I can be so stubborn sometimes.
I popped out of the water to meet Frank, who'd been following me into the waist-deep water as I swam.
"There. Was that so hard?"
"C-can I not answer that?"
"Alright. God, Gee! You look so cold."
"It's because I kind of am!" I snapped, shivering. "Crap, we should head back. Maybe my jeans are warm…"
"You know what keeps me warm?" Frank raised an eyebrow, making me more uncomfortable.
"What does?"
"Kisses."
My heart thudded. "Do they work really well?"
"Does a bear shit in the woods?"
"Iunno." I shrugged. I never was good with wildlife. It scared me. Especially meese.
Frank looked up at me, rolled his eyes, and tilted his head. I leaned down and met his lips with mine. He was definitely right. His kisses were warm. Then I felt something not so ordinary. Not even when we were 'going out', if that's what you could call it. His hand swished in the water towards the waistband of my boxers and was about to slip under it-
BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!
Some asshole honked the car horn, scaring Frank so much he took his hand out of my pants and stared at the source of the noise. It was Mikey, that much we could see. I wondered how much of us he'd seen. Ah, crap.
Frank and I swam to the shore and put our clothes back on, not saying a word to the other. I had a feeling that we never would. Frank liked to keep things like this to himself, as did I. It was probably out of pure sexual frustration from not seeing Jamia for a month solid. I only went along with it because I hadn't seen Lindsey in a month, as well.
Or, at least, that's what I tried to make myself believe.