Home Alone

"Was your door locked?"

"Huh?"

"You opened the door before I could, I couldn't tell if it was locked."

"No, Gerard, it wasn't locked."

"You're gonna die some day."

"Most people do."

"Yeah but your death is gonna be violent."

"Thanks," Frank says, sitting on his couch. Gerard decided to invite himself in again, but Frank doesn't really mind. Sure, being home alone is great, but he enjoys the company. Even if it is Gerard. "So what was the emergency?"

"What emergency?" Gerard asks, laying on the chair next to the couch so his head is on one arm rest and his legs dangle over the other.

"A couple days ago. You said no one came to check on me 'cause there was a family emergency. What happened?"

"Oh," Gerard says, sitting up straight in the chair. He makes a strange face and goes, "I kinda got hit by a car," all casual, like this happens all the time.

"How do you 'kinda' get hit by a car?" Frank asks, moving down the couch so he's closer to Gerard.

"Well I mean, it just kind of nicked me, ya know? On the hip, or what ever. It wasn't goin' that fast. I just sort of spun around and fell to the ground."

"Well are you okay?" Frank asks, clearly worried.

"I'm here, ain't I?"

"Yeah but. How did it happen?"

"What do you mean 'how did it happen'? S'not rocket science, Frank. I was walking in the road like an idiot, and a car hit me. What ever."

"It's not what ever! You went to the hospital, right? What did they say?"

"There's just some bruising. They had to do all sorts of x-rays and shit, to make sure nothing was broken and there was no internal bleeding, that's why we were there for so long. I told them I was fine, but. Yeah. What ever."

Frank just stares at Gerard, not sure what to say. "Well, did any one see it? I mean, the car didn't stop?"

"No, they just kept going. I got up and walked to my house, then my parents drove me to the hospital. I didn't see the license plate for the car or anything, so there's really nothing else they can do."

"You walked home?! Where did it happen?"

Gerard turns his head a little to look out the big window in Frank's living room, then points outside at the street and says, "Right there."

"Right there?!" Frank can't believe he missed this. Poor Gerard was hit by a car right in front of his house. He is officially the most oblivious person alive.

"Yeah. I was on my way here, actually. From the store, though. That's why I was in the street."

"Can I see it?" Frank asks, moving to the edge of the couch. He feels bad, like it's kind of his fault Gerard got hit. But, he didn't tell him to walk in the middle of the road. No, Gerard came up with that bright idea all by himself. And to think he bothers Frank about locking his front door.

"See what?" Gerard asks, leaning away from Frank.

"The bruise. How bad is it?"

Gerard sighs, but stands up and lifts his shirt a little. There's a giant bruise covering almost the whole left side of his body. It's shades of yellow and green, and Frank actually gasps at the sight of it. Without thinking, he brings a hand up and pokes it.

"Ow! Don't touch it!" Gerard nearly screams, jumping back and letting go of his shirt.

"Sorry! I'm sorry! I don't know why I did that. Sorry," Frank says, clasping his hands together and putting them in his lap. "Does it hurt?"

"Only when you touch it!" Gerard says, running a hand through his hair.

"I'm really sorry," Frank says, not sure if he's apologizing about poking Gerard's bruise, or just the fact that he got hit by a car. "Do you want something for it? I mean, like, an ice pack or something?"

Gerard looks thoughtful for a second, then says, "I guess an ice pack would be fine. If I'm gonna stay to watch a movie, yeah."

Frank nods and heads toward the kitchen while Gerard sits down on the couch. Frank opens the freezer and pushes frozen meals, ice cream that's been in there for months, and ice trays around until he finds an ice pack. He closes the freezer door and grabs a thin hand towel out of a drawer by the sink to wrap the ice pack in. He goes back into the living room to see Gerard has already put in a DVD, and is sitting on the couch with the remote in his hand. Frank sits next to him, and instead of handing him the ice pack, he puts it on Gerard's side himself. Since Frank is sitting on Gerard's right side, he has to lean over him to hold it there. Gerard suddenly looks very uncomfortable, and Frank thinks it's not from the pain. Frank looks at him and gives him a friendly smile, but he doesn't smile back.

Out of nowhere, Gerard jumps up, causing Frank to drop the ice pack on the floor, and says, "I gotta go," while throwing the remote on the couch and heading towards Frank's front door.

Frank just stares after him, not really sure what just happened. Gerard seems to do that a lot. He turns off the TV and decides to put the ice pack back into the freezer, since it isn't needed anymore. When he walks past the front door, he realizes Gerard had enough time in his haste to lock it. Frank rolls his eyes and unlocks it, before going into the kitchen. He takes the ice pack out of the towel and opens the freezer door. When he realizes he will have to move everything around to fit it back in there, he decides to make a sly move, and shoves it in quickly while closing the door. He knows it'll fall out the next time someone opens the freezer, but he'll just make sure that someone isn't him.

He puts the towel he got for the ice pack back into the drawer, since it really wasn't used, and then makes himself a peanut butter sandwich. Taking a bite of the sandwich as he walks upstairs, he decides he's going to read those comic books he borrowed so he can give them back as soon as possible. Maybe he'll bring them back tonight. Just to be nice, ya know. He doesn't just want to go to the Way's to see Gerard. He's just a kind person like that.

****

Frank does, in fact, finish all three comic books before it's even dark outside. When he brings them over to Gerard's house, he decides he doesn't really want to talk to anyone other than Gerard, so he lays down in front of the little window that's level with the ground and taps on it. The window slides open to show a very confused Gerard.

"What, you too cool for doors now?" Gerard asks, flicking a piece of hair out of his face.

Frank ignores his question and instead says, "Here. I just wanted to give these back. Thanks again, man. They were great."

Gerard nods and throws the comic books onto his bed, which he is standing on. He seems to inspect the window a little, then asks, "Think you can fit through here?"

Frank thinks he could probably do it, but it would probably hurt. But that's okay. "Yeah, probably. Why?"

"Wanna play Halo?" Gerard asks, stepping off his bed so Frank has room to crawl through the window and land on it. Which is what he does. He thinks he might have bruised his sides a little, and he sort of landed on his head, but he'll get better at it. Not that he's planning on crawling through Gerard's window on a regular basis. Of course not.

"Very graceful," Gerard says, setting up his 360. Frank just giggles and sits on the ground, holding onto his controller. Gerard looks at him, then at the wall, and says, "You can sit on the bed. Ya know, if ya want. What ever."

Frank smiles and gets up to sit on the bed. Gerard sits next to him, their elbows almost, but not quite, touching. Frank's not distracted by this fact though, and he certainly isn't thinking about how he can actually feel Gerard's body heat through his elbow.

They play Halo for about two hours. Frank is getting better; he even managed to kill Gerard once. Sure, Gerard was looking at his cellphone to see the time, and wasn't actually playing, but Frank counts it as a victory anyway.

Getting outside through the window is actually a lot easier than going in through it. Frank makes it home with only one small bruise, a bit of a headache, and a giant smile.