The moment that Frank stepped inside Gerard's apartment, he was in heaven. Warmth was hitting him from all directions, and that was the first feeling of utter euphoria that he had felt in months, perhaps even in over a year. But when the initial, almost equivalent to orgasmic, feeling of warmth had subsided, Frank felt instantly at home in what was essentially, a stranger's home.
The apartment was huge, open-plan, pretty much a studio. The door opened into the main part of the living room, which then branched off seamlessly into the kitchen, and bedroom. The whole place was pretty much stuck to the colour theme of beige, red and black, the walls mostly red, the carpets and hardwood a light beige, and the furniture was, with few expections, primarily black. But there was no dark vibe coming from it; it was cosy.
'Come in, Frank,' Gerard said with a light chuckle as Frank stood in his doorway, just staring. 'Make yourself at home.' Frank gingerly stepped inside and closed the door softly behind him, shuffling over to one of the couches and slowly sitting down. The rush of comfort that he felt, sitting on something other than concrete, was overwhelming and within seconds he had nearly been consumed by the couch itself, its cushions threatening to swallow him whole. Gerard just laughed as Frank revelled in the feeling, only able to imagine how it must feel for him to be able to relax.
'Can I get you anything to eat?' Gerard asked as Frank laid down, taking up the whole couch and nestling his face into his arms. He was still clutching the filthy green blanket from earlier, but Gerard didn't dare to try and take it from him, despite the necessity for it being gone. Frank merely nodded, yawning loudly as he curled up a little more. Gerard was just about to ask what he'd like, when he was interrupted by loud snores coming from his guest's mouth. He smiled again, crossing the room and kneeling beside him, slowly running a hand through the small man's matted black hair. 'Sleep well, Frank,' he whispered, before ever so lightly pressing a kiss to his forehead.
When Frank awoke, he was startled by his surroundings, the unfamilar feeling of warmth and comfort frightening him at first. But he soon realized, as he looked around the room he was in and at the black/red/beige decor, he was in Gerard's apartment. Gerard, his gorgeous saviour. Where was he?
Frank sat up slowly, stretching his arms above his head and feeling his back click in several places. He could feel the dull ache of his strained muscles, but the sting of the cold was no longer there. This pleased him, a lot more than you'd think.
He looked around, not seeing Gerard anywhere, and as he looked he caught sight of the time, shown by the large clock above the stove in the kitchen. It was only midday, which meant that Frank couldn't have slept for much longer than an hour and a half, maybe an hour and three quarters if he was lucky. But he didn't feel as tired as he normally would, running on that little sleep. He felt, surprisingly, awake.
'Gerard?' Frank called, his voice raspy with sleep and breaking half way through. And so he called again, louder. 'Gerard?' The taller man soon appeared through a doorway slightly down the hall from the kitchen, a door Frank hadn't noticed before.
'Frank!' Gerard greeted him gleefully, shooting him a wide grin that was enough to send him weak at the knees. 'Nice to see you're awake. I was just about to jump in the shower but I suppose I should get you something to eat first.' He smiled again and walked to the kitchen, his back turned as he stretched up to rummage around in cupboards. As he did so, the hem of his white t-shirt rode up a little, displaying a strip of pale, creamy skin that disappeared below the waistband of those sinfully, teasingly tight black jeans. Frank noticed the subtle swing of Gerard's hips as he moved from cupboard to cupboard, and he found himself biting his lip as he watched, enthralled simply by how the black haired man moved.
But Frank's eyes had gotten so caught up in the sway of Gerard's backside, that he didn't really register the fact that Gerard had now turned round and his eyes were now rather unintentionally focussed on his crotch.
'Frank?' Gerard said slowly, voice laced with amusement, causing Frank to snap out of his little trance and blush deep red. He didn't answer the taller man, as expected, and Gerard smiled at him, not a smug smile like Frank would have expected to see, but almost like a knowing smile. That worried Frank a little, but he was still blushing from being caught staring.
'I don't have much, I'm afraid,' Gerard said, returning to the matter at hand. 'Most of what I have is just noodles or frozen stuff.'
'Do you have any pop-tarts?' Frank said suddenly, trying to remember the last time he had eaten one of the sugar-laced pastries.
'Ohp, you're in luck, I do have pop-tarts. Just the chocolate ones though. Never could stand the strawberry ones, if I'm being honest,' Gerard said, taking a box of pop-tarts from a cupboard and putting two in the toaster, before leaning against the counter and smiling at the small man who was still sat on his sofa.
'Chocolate's fine,' Frank said quietly with a genuine smile, bringing his knees up to his chest and hugging them. There was an awkward silence for a minute while both men waited for the pop-tarts to jump out of the toaster, and the moment they did Gerard had put them on a plate and handed the plate to Frank. 'Thank you,' Frank said, his hand lingering on Gerard's for a moment as they smiled at each other.
'You're welcome,' Gerard replied, sitting on the couch opposite the one Frank was sitting on and staring absently out the window. There was nothing you could see from the living room window besides the sky and the odd office block. They were on the fourteenth floor, after all.
Frank devoured his pop-tarts almost instantly, the small snacks filling his shrunken stomach comfortably. No matter how hungry he was, Frank could never eat that much. His stomach wouldn't allow it.
Gerard took Frank's plate for him and placed it in the sink, and as he made his way back over to the couch, Frank spoke.
'Thank you,' he said quietly, meeting the taller man's eyes. 'For taking me in like this.'
Gerard nodded and smiled, sitting next to Frank this time and placing his hand on the small man's knee. 'It's not a problem,' he said in return. 'I would never have forgiven myself if I had just left you there. No one deserves to be in that position but especially not someone as young as you.' Frank nodded and subconciously leaned against Gerard's body, the warmth of his skin making his own skin crawl with delight.
There was silence for a little while, neither man knowing what to say. But eventually, Gerard spoke up, but quietly, enjoying the silence.
'You can go and take a shower if you want,' he suggested, nd Frank immediately protested.
'No no, you can go first. You said you were gonna shower but you chose to make me food instead, so please. You first.' Frank was using every ounce of his manners to stop himself from taking that first shower. The last time he had showered, well... It hadn't been recently.
'Frank,' Gerard said softly. 'No offense but, you need a shower a lot more than I do. Besides, I'm not sure how long it will be until the hot water supply gets cut off. I'd rather you have the last hot shower.' He smiled sweetly, and Frank could have sworn he felt his heart flutter at the sight. Gerard was even more gorgeous when he smiled like that.
'If you're sure,' Frank said hesitantly, and Gerard nodded, still sporting that same smile.
'Take as long as you need. Bathroom's the first door on the left, down the hall. Fresh towels are on the radiator by the door and all the shampoo and shit is in the shower already.' Gerard patted Frank on the shoulder before standing up and walking over into the kitchen, busying himself with tyding the already spotless space while Frank made his way to the bathroom.
Once inside, Frank shut the door firmly only to whine silently in disappointment when he found that there was no lock. But his urge to shower got the best of him and he convinced himself not to care so much about it. Frank quickly stripped off all his clothes, the torn and worn old jeans that were sill wet from the snow, all three of his now-grimy t-shirts, his grubby, stripy sweater that had ceased giving him warmth ages ago, the socks and boxers that he hadn't changed in perhaps way over a week now. He'd lost the only other pair he'd had.
As soon as Frank stepped under the scalding water of the shower, a low moan of pleasure left his lips. He tipped his head back and rested it against the wall of the large cubicle, feeling the waiter trickle down his chest, his legs, through his hair and down his back. He couldn't remember the last time he'd showered, but right now it felt like a little piece of heaven on earth. He didn't know how long he stood there, just relishing that feeling of having all the filth washed away. The water that pooled around his feet was near enough black, all the grime and dirt just rolling off of his skin. Frank could see his tattoos again, he could see his real skin colour. He didn't feel like Homeless Frank anymore, for the first time in seven years. He felt normal.
Eventually Frank decided to get clean properly, and most likely ended up using the equivalent of his body weight in Gerard's shampoo and shower gel. But he was just enjoying it all so much, all these feelings that he'd forgotten even existed. And now he was feeling them again and it was almost like the best day of his fucking life, even if it was his last.
He was startled by a soft knock at the bathroom door, followed by Gerard calling his name.
'Frank?'
'Yeah?' Frank called back, in the process of lathering up his hair with shampoo. He was slightly pissed about being disturbed, but there was no way he could really be angry at Gerard, what with all the things the black haired man had done for him already.
'This is gonna sound really creepy but do you mind if I join you?' Gerard replied, and Frank almost choked on the air he was breathing.
'Uhh... Why?' He asked hesitantly, shaking his hair out slightly and combing his fingers through it, rinsing the shampoo out. Why the hell did Gerard want to join him?
'Well you've been in there a long time and I guess the hot water'll run out pretty soon. I just wanted to see if I could just come in there with you. I'm not gonna feel you up or anything, Frank, I just wanna shower with hot water.' His voice wasn't hinting at a lie, and if Frank thought about it enough he could perfectly understand his reason. He rolled his eyes slightly and called back to Gerard who was waiting impatiently outside the bathroom.
'Alright fine, but no eye-raping me, 'kay?' Frank said, an underlying tone of malice in his joking tone. He was already self-concious enough, and even more so now because he was about to shower naked with another man who was insanely attractive and he seriously didn't know how he was going to be able to deal with it. Gerard entered the bathroom slowly and closed the door behind him, before quickly stripping off his clothes. Frank could see him slightly through the frosted glass walls of the shower, all that creamy white skin on display and he was about to see him naked and-
The door to the shower opened and Gerard hurriedly stepped inside, one of his hands in place to cover his crotch, as Frank was doing, and closing the little door behind him. Both men were already blushing tomato red and there was an awkward silence for a moment, the only sound being the running of the water and the light taps as it hit the floor of the cubicle.
'I didn't realise you were tattooed,' Gerard commented after a while, hazel eyes roaming Frank's arms, stomach, hips, lower... Frank shivered under his gaze, ducking his head to wet his hair again. He'd noticed Gerard eyeing his lower stomach and he couldn't deny that he'd enjoyed it. It was, after all, the only time he'd ever been looked at in that way by a man, let alone in this kind of almost intimate situation.
'Yeah... Got more on my back too.' Frank tried to keep his voice steady but he couldn't stop it from wavering with nerves. Gerard noticed, and spoke again as he reached for the shower gel.
'Calm down, Frank, it's cool. I'm not 'looking' at you, if that's what you're worried about. I'm trying to make this less awkward.' Gerard turned away a little as he lathered up his body with the gel, passing the bottle to Frank afterwards. Frank did the same, keeping his eyes halfway shut to try and forget he had company. If just acted normal then the awkwardness would go away, right?
'How come you don't have any tattoos?' Frank asked softly, his voice turning meek all of a sudden. Gerard shrugged, rubbing some shampoo into his hair as he replied.
'Don't like needles. They fuckin' creep me out, like, big time.' Just then, Gerard and Frank moved to get under the water at the same time by accident, both of them wanting to rinse the soap off their bodies and ending up pressed up against one another. Both men mumbled quick apologies and stepped back from one another, Gerard allowing Frank to rinse himself first before he did the same. Frank could barely breathe, his heart had lurched into his throat the moment that his and Gerard's chests had touched. Luckily for them both they'd pulled away before their lower halves could touch, but now Frank couldn't help but let his mind wander. He reached his hand down to cover himself again when he felt himself starting to get a bit aroused, but he didn't relise that Gerard had in fact noticed before Frank had himself.
Another minute or so passed and both men's bodies were free of soap, the water beginning to run cold. Without a word the two men both stepped out of the shower and quickly grabbed towels to wrap around their waists before exiting the bathroom.
'Come to my room with me,' Gerard said, nodding towards his bedroom. 'I'm sure some of my clothes will fit you.'