Thursday morning was spent by Frank trying desperately to pull together every loose end of his appearance. He showered early, and once he got out, he let the water roll off his body and pool in front of the bathroom mirror. A good hour was spent in front of that mirror in varying stages of appearance, culminating in his usual jeans and t-shirt get-up but probably cleaner. Frank walked toward the kitchen and jumped at the sight of Gerard already sitting on the counter. There was barely time for Frank to collect himself and remember that he and Mikey weren't the only ones with apartment keys before Gerard mumbled, "Hey,"; moved forward; and kissed him softly on the side of the mouth.
"Mikey is out, right?" pressed Gerard.
Frank just nodded, and in acceptance of the answer, Gerard slid his hands around Frank's waist and pushed in for another series of kisses that were designed not to decorate their time but to consume it. These kisses bore the kind of intensity that caused the two boy's noses to collide, but they didn't mind things like that. They were too wrapped up in each other. Despite this, their proximity was somehow increasing. Frank's wrists crossed behind Gerard's neck as his own neck became the subject of Gerard's attention.
Gerard's tongue trailed down to Frank's collarbone. While he did this, Frank allowed his head to loll to the side. He was practically crumbling under Gerard at this point, but he wasn't growing entirely limp. Both involved in the embrace were giving in quickly to the release of sexual tension, Gerard's form-fitting pants becoming uncomfortably tight. Gerard ran his fingers along Frank's waistband; when he made contact with the skin of Frank's lower back, the other boy reacted. Frank hooked a finger into the fabric around Gerard's collar, and Gerard pulled his head up in response to the gentle tug. Taking advantage of Gerard's face in front of his, Frank re-established contact between their mouths.
With a gentle pull, Frank led the way to his bedroom walking backwards. He could tell that he and Gerard were approaching the point where they wouldn't be able to support their activity standing in the middle of a living room, so the relocation was the logical next step. Their progress down the hallway was complicated by their apparent determination to maintain mouth-to-mouth contact, but even staggering as they were, Frank managed to find the door behind him. Jostled by reaching the dead end, the two parted ever so slightly, and Frank employed his eyes to silently extend the invitation.
When the two pushed into the bedroom, Frank spun them around, allowing himself to drive Gerard up against the wall across from the door. Frank only held the dominant position briefly. Gerard quickly corrected the arrangement by flipping Frank onto the wall instead, causing Frank to buck reactively into him. The force of Gerard's kisses pushing him up the wall, Frank pulled his legs up around Gerard's waist; he was immediately supported by a hand beneath him in addition the pressure already pinning him to the wall. He was almost painfully hard by this point and thankful for the chance to catch his breath when Gerard moved down once more to suck on his collarbone.
Frank buried his head into Gerard's neck and played with Gerard's hair. He loved the feeling of the hair at the top of Gerard's neck running through his fingers, and he breathed in the scent of the other boy's skin as he pushed into him. Both of the eager participants were fully entangled in each other, pushing into one another as if they were trying to become one person. They were so engrossed in the new sensations of one another that they didn't notice the sound of footsteps or hinges. Frank was occupied placing furious kisses on Gerard's neck when Mikey opened the bedroom door.
Frank's eyes only flicked up long enough to catch the other Way brother after a moment of pure shock had already been endured. Mikey stood entirely still, frozen in the process of enunciating whatever it was he had intended to say and instead staring at the bodies before him. Gerard, feeling Frank go equally still in his arms, let Frank slide back down the wall and turned around to face whatever blow he assumed was behind him.
The accidental witness weakly uttered, "Oh," and walked dazedly back out of the room.
"I think we just told Mikey," Frank surmised.
Gerard recovered from the surprise enough to toss out some words about how he should talk to his brother. He left the room, but not without giving Frank's hand a reassuring squeeze.
"Mikey," Gerard called into the room at the other end of the hall. He was hesitant as to what he would say to his brother, but getting his attention was a safe start. Before opening the door on Mikey's bedroom, he knocked lightly. Knocking was such an underrated courtesy.
"Mikey, about the, uh," Gerard's usual charismatic demeanor was experiencing a brutal death under the uncomfortable circumstances.
"I was not aware," Mikey tersely asserted. He expressed an impressive refusal to relinquish his usual stoicism. The poker face was not going anywhere.
"Yeah, I'm sorry I didn't tell you, but it just happened really recently. I hadn't thought of the words to explain it yet… I still haven't thought of the words."
"So do you think you're gay?"
The corners of Gerard's mouth twitched before he and Mikey alike burst into a fit of laughter.
"Well," Gerard phrased after the laughter subsided, "that question pertains to the grand scheme of things, and I can't see grand schemes right now. I don't know that I'm going to be attracted to only men for the rest of my life, but event by event, things make sense." He glanced at Mikey's face. It was still unreadable. Gerard hoped he was following this. "Currently, in case you haven't noticed, I'm pretty into your roommate, and I want to act on that by doing things with him that, by the look on your face, will teach to knock on every door for the rest of your life."
Mikey smiled and rolled his eyes. Then he tensed up a little and offered, "Do you want me to go out for a while?"
"You don't look overtly thrilled about that…" Gerard sighed and pushed aside his own desires. "Because no one should have to know the exact time that a relative is doing something sexual, I won't make you leave. However," he added with an emphatically raised finger, "to make it fair, I get to eat dinner here, and you have to get something good."
The deal was struck. Gerard made his way back to Frank the second he left Mikey, realizing that he had left him alone. His return to Frank's bedroom quickly showed him that that was not the case, for Frank was sitting on his bed not alone but with his guitar. Gerard was surprised, as he hadn't heard any playing, but as he put a hand up to lean in the doorway, he saw that Frank was muting every note with his left hand.
"Let it ring," Gerard encouraged.
Frank looked up and complied, messing around with a series of aimlessly improvised riffs that this time could be heard for their beauty, if not very clearly on account of the electric guitar remaining unplugged. Gerard smiled at the thought of Frank immediately seeking the guitar as a source of comfort when tensions were high. Instruments were amazing like that. They could be dear friends, free of judgment who knew everything about you, even the things you didn't know how to say. They could help you give anything a voice and instantly empathized with it.
It would be nice, Gerard thought, to be that to a person. His relationship with Mikey felt almost like the kind a person could have with an instrument, but that was largely because they were family and were required to always have each other. Watching Frank, Gerard wondered somewhat wistfully what it would be like to have a pure form of the musician-to-instrument relationship between two people. He thought it must be like no other feeling to have someone who came to you first in times when they needed comfort, whom you understood with an open heart and who understood you in return and offered complete acceptance.
Gerard let Frank continue to play for an amount of time he couldn't quantify. By the end, he was slumped against the wall next to the door, staring at Frank on his bed just as he had been a week before, but this time he didn't have to worry about what Frank was thinking. He knew it through Frank's words, his actions, and the music he was playing right then. Even if there would be more Mikeys to explain his new relationship to, Gerard could feel relief and stability wash over him knowing that one hurdle was jumped: he knew what Frank wanted. He knew in every aspect of that moment that the boy sitting on the bed playing the quiet music wanted to be with him just as much as Gerard wanted the same. With this knowledge, they were slightly closer to understanding each other as much as Frank's guitar understood its player, and for that moment, that was enough.