Guy With a Tattooed Neck

Gerard’s P.O.V (I know, shocking right?)

Fuck.
I shouldn’t have let him go.
But…
Fuck.
I should have, I should… I shouldn’t have let him go.

I was sitting on the floor in the doorway of Frankie’s room, berating myself over my inability to do the right thing. I could still see the angry, defeated look in his eyes that had been ripping through my head as he said goodbye.
I’m such a fucking idiot.

“Gerard! What the fuck?! You’re a fucking idiot!”

Told ya.

Bob had just come slamming into the studio, wooden spoon clutched in his hand. With the look on his face I bet my sanity that he could disembowel me with that thing just as easily as he could with a knife.

“How could you let Frank run out like that? You’re… geez. I’m so fuckin mad at you I can’t even stay here to kick your ass. I’m going to look for Frank, something you should have already gone and done. And don’t think you’re not going to get your ass kicked because I called Ray and he’s coming over here with a fucking massive boot with your name on it. Fuck.”

I couldn’t even reply to his tirade before he was out the door and thumping down the stairs.

I was extremely comforted to know that I would be dealing with Ray and not Bob, Bob’s scary when he’s angry.

Not ten minutes later I heard my studio door open once more and Ray came in. He plopped himself down on the floor and looked at me with a massively disappointed stare.

Okay, I want Bob back.

“Gerard, why the hell did you let him go?”

“I, I don’t know. I just, froze. Lyn-z was threating stuff about money and chucking us out and, I, I just couldn’t tell him to stop.”
“Gee, you’ve got tons of money saved up in an account that your wife doesn’t even know about, remember? You could pack all of this up and be out of here within a few hours. Don’t go telling me that money was the reason you let him go. You’re scared aren’t you?”

I have never been more scared in my life.

“What if he doesn’t love me back?”

“I have seen the way you look at him. You can never tear your eyes away from him for more than five minutes at a time. I haven’t seen you this happy in ages. Not since you married her. And I see the way he looks at you. He was brought up in an orphanage. He probably has no idea about the prejudices out in the world that you’re so scared of. He doesn’t see what society labels as wrong in having a relationship with you. God, he probably doesn’t even see that trying to steal you away from your wife is considered wrong. He only sees you. He loves you. If you just opened your eyes you’d see that.”

I closed my eyes against Ray’s mournful look and tried to focus on the image of Frank’s eyes. There was pain, definitely pain. And sadness. But, there was something else too.

Right then I knew what I had to do.

~
Frank’s P.O.V

I’d been speed walking up and down random streets for the better part of half an hour. I had no idea where I was going, I’d gotten lost ages ago.

Smart, right?

I still can’t believe that I had been stupid enough to think that he would want me in the first place. I felt so dirty, so used.
I scrubbed at spot on my neck where I knew Gerard’s tattoo was. I wanted it gone.

So immersed was I in trying to rip layers of skin from my neck that I didn’t see the person in front of me until I had run straight into them.

Fuck. That hurt. My ankle was already thumping from walking on it for so long, but I’d just twinged it whilst falling ever so gracefully on my ass.

“Frank?”

I snapped my head up to see Mikey standing over me, his hand outstretched to help me up, or slap me, but I’m presuming the former.

I grabbed his hand and awkwardly got to my feet.

“What are you doing down here? This is nowhere near Gerard’s place.”

“Yeah, well, I don’t exactly live there anymore do I?”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

I sighed, anger boiling over.

“Right, well, long story short, Gerard gave me this pretty little tat on my neck,” I motioned to my stinging neck. “And his wife saw it, chucked a hissy, told Gerard it was me or her, and big shock, guess who he chose?”

I flopped against the adjacent wall, tired of my life always ending in shit.

“I can’t believe that he would tell you to get out. Bob tells me all the time how much he loves you.”

“He didn’t tell me to get out. He didn’t say anything.”

“He’s probably just, confused. I don’t know. Anyway, I’m on my way home, come with me if you want and you can stay in my spare room until Gerard comes to his senses.”

I didn’t think that time would ever come, but my ankle kaned, I was hungry as and all I wanted was to close my eyes against the world for a few hours. No way was I going to refuse a free bed.

~

I’d been lying on the couch in Mikey’s living room for about two hours, counting the number of times this fly thing landed on the light globe. Fifty-four at last count.
I was so completely amused by my weird assed counting game that I practically fell off the couch when the front door slammed open and Bob came stampeding through the door.

“What the hell is with the entrance?” Mikey queried, meeting Bob in the archway to the living room.

“I don’t know what to do. Frank disappeared hours ago, I can’t find him anywhere. Gerard was being an ass and, I looked everywhere Mikes!!”

“Hey, hey. Calm down. He’s here. I found him wandering around the streets a couple of hours ago.

“Oh thank god.” Bob sighed, before wrapping his arms around Mikey’s neck and kissing him.

Can anyone say awkward?

I coughed discretely.

Bob pulled his face away from Mikey’s and snapped his head around to see me on the couch.

“Oh, um, hey…” He smiled awkwardly before announcing, “So…food?” And running off to what I presumed was the kitchen.

Mikey strolled after him more slowly with a small content look on his face.
My heart gave a hard thump as my head reminded me that that could have been Gerard and I instead.