"Frank," Gerard gasped almost immediately, in response to the smaller man's lips pressing to his own. Frank jumped back slightly, almost as if Gerard had snapped him out of some kind of trance. His cheeks flushed dark red and he immediately hung his head, hands being raised to cover his face as he mumbled an apology. Gerard, still shocked by Frank's action, lifted his hands to pry the smaller man's fingers from his face, lowering them and slowly slipping to lace their fingers together. Frank, embarrassed, tried to pull away, only to meet resistance as Gerard's grip tightened softly on his hands.
"You don't need to apologise, Frank, it's okay." Gerard smiled lightly and brushed his thumbs over the backs of Frank's hands. "If you want to kiss me... kiss me." It was almost like a challenge; to see whether or not Frank would give in easily, or continue to apologise. Surprisingly for Gerard, Frank didn't choose the latter.
The younger man stretched up on his toes again, barely looking into Gerard's eyes this time before he leaned in for the kiss. Gerard stayed still, one of his hands resting on Frank's hip and his lips meeting the smaller man's slowly. Both men's eyes slipped shut, and Frank felt the taller man's fingers tighten slightly around his own.
The kiss was short, soft, neither man deciding to surprise the other with tongues. It wasn't a perfect kiss, like it typically would have been. It was simple, and honest, however it managed to spark a feeling in both men that they'd never really experienced before. And no, it wasn't love, like in all the love stories, like in the movies.
It was comfort.
That's all it was- a feeling of safety in each other's arms, reassurance brought on by the kiss. It almost said that everything was going to be okay, that they were going to look after each other. And it was this feeling that made Frank pull away, still softly nipping at Gerard's lower lip as he pulled back a few inches.
"Stay with me," he murmured, his fingers reaching to cup the taller man's cheek gently. Gerard met Frank's eyes almost immediately, goosebumps pricking up on his arms at the thought. He had already guessed that Frank would be staying the night in the apartment with him, but the way the younger man had said it... It seemed more of a plea, that he wanted Gerard with him, just to what, protect him?
"I'll keep you safe tonight," Gerard whispered, nodding at Frank's words and then leaning down to kiss him again, his face leaning into the smaller man's hand slightly. They kissed for another few minutes, everything remaining innocent between them. Neither of them knew it, but for both men it was their first time kissing someone like this, and it was in fact scary for them both. But as the minutes passed, as fingers began to get tangled in hair and sincere moans fell from parted lips, the fear slowly disappeared. Everything felt almost instinctive, second nature, even though the men had only had about ten minutes of experience.
Moments later, though, Frank began shivering violently and he had to pull away from Gerard, his teeth chattering once again. Gerard frowned, rubbing his hands up and down the smaller man's arms. It was only now that he was starting to realise how thin Frank actually was, and getting cold must be the easiest thing in the world. Without saying a word, Gerard rushed to his dresser and pulled out a hoodie, his favourite one, in fact. He helped Frank into it and, before he had the chance to do anything about it, the younger man snuggled himself up in Gerard's arms, hugging him tightly.
By this point, it was almost two o'clock in the afternoon, and the sky outside was growing darker. The snow had practically turned into a blizzard, and it looked as though a thunderstorm was brewing in the clouds. Frank clung tightly to Gerard as they both stared out the window, watching the weather get worse. Gerard held Frank close to him, arms curled protectively round his middle.
"Frank," Gerard murmured after another few silent minutes, his lips ghosting over the shorter man's hair.
"Y-Yeah?" Frank replied, tilting his head up to press his lips to the black haired man's chin. His nerves were tingling, so many new sensations rushing through him and he didn't know what to do with them.
"Come with me." Gerard slowly unwrapped his arms from Frank's waist and beckoned him to follow, walking across the living room and down the hall where the bathroom was, walking on until he reached a door, which Frank recognised as the one he had seen Gerard emerge from earlier.
"It's warm in here," Gerard explained, pushing the door open and walking inside the room with Frank close behind him. He closed the door once Frank was inside.
The colour scheme in this room was different from the rest of the apartment. The walls and ceiling were painted black, the plush carpet a claret red. There was a double bed in the centre of the room, adorned with purple, crushed velvet sheets and about five matching pillows. Paintings and drawings lined the walls, some unfinished, some disturbing, some incredibly beautiful. There were an awful lot of unlit, but well-used candles on long shelves on one wall, and there didn't seem to be any other kind of light source anywhere, not even a window. But it was, indeed, warmer.
"My, er... studio," Gerard said softly, gesturing to the room. Frank said nothing in that moment, merely stepping past the taller man and walking the length of the so called studio, brushing his fingers slowly and gently over the canvases and paper scraps.
"These are gorgeous," he whispered, stunned by one particular piece in front of him that showed a young boy in the centre of a smudged crowd of people, his hair bright red whereas the rest of the painting was solely black and white.
"Thankyou," Gerard said quietly, a dark blush creeping over his cheeks. He watched as Frank continued to admire his art, and then smiled as the small man spotted the dusty old acoustic guitar in the corner of the room.
"Do you play?" Frank asked, and Gerard shook his head sadly.
"I tried once. But I gave up after a while. Never had the heart to get rid of that old thing, though." He gestured to the guitar. "What about you, do you play?"
Frank nodded slowly, fingers trailing across the headstock of the guitar and leaving streaks in the dust. "I used to, when I lived with my parents. I busked for a while when they first kicked me out, but since my guitar got stolen I haven't really had the chance to play..."
"Play it if you like," Gerard said, seating himself at the end of the bed as Frank picked the guitar up, blowing off some of the dust and sitting on the floor, slowly strumming a chord that he vaguely recognised as an F.
"Oh we'll what d'you know," Frank mused to himself as he played a few more chords, plucking the strings slowly and feeling all the teenage memories of band practices and class performances flooding back to him. He stayed silent after that, grinning for the first time in years, and just let the music take over him. Gerard watched him carefully, an almost fuzzy feeling creeping into his body as he saw Frank smile and heard a soft giggle of glee burst from his lips. He loved seeing Frank happy like this. And it felt even better to know that it was partly by his doing.