Everyone Learns Faster On Fire

It was the fifth time that week that Gerard had caught Frank explicitly staring at a photograph of he and his ex. However much Frank insisted that he was completely over her, Gerard was not convinced.
But Gerard dared not to say anything. Drawing attention to it would only make Frank feel uneasy. And it didn’t matter anyway, seeing as Frank was still raving about their upcoming wedding rather than wallowing in his own sadness over her.

At about 4PM, Gerard called Mikey. He still needed to figure out who the hell gave Jamia those photographs. Frank had seemed to have forgotten about them, but they were still weighing heavily on Gerard’s mind. He needed to make sure that Mikey had absolutely nothing to do with it.

“No Gerard, I swear.” Mikey defended himself when Gerard asked him if he had anything to do with them. “Why would I do that? You know how I felt about you giving them to her.”

“Yeah, but I just gotta make sure.” Gerard said. “I’m really worried. Someone’s obviously been spying on us and knew when Frank was away from Jamia…do you think I should call the police?”

Mikey chuckled slightly. “But would you really want to admit that to them? Can you imagine! They’d post it all over the internet and sell the pictures to the media. I can see the headlines now, ‘My Chemical Romance members in gay love affair’…it would really draw attention to us!”

Gerard sighed. “Mikey, this is the POLICE. They won’t do anything like that…but I guess you’re right about the media. I really don’t want the whole world finding out about this and neither does Frank. I love him so much and want to show everyone how wonderful he is, but I don’t want to see my boyfriend and I on the front of every newspaper in the country.”

He heard Mikey clear his throat at the end of the line, a sure sign that he needed to get off the phone soon. Mikey was never much of a talker. “Well, I’m sure we’ll find out who did it soon. You’ll probably find them sitting on your front porch one day when you go outside to get the mail!”

They said their goodbyes and Gerard ended the call. It looked like he was getting nowhere with this investigation. The mystery person hadn’t left a note or anything. He guessed that he should just leave it for a while and try to forget about it. After all, his life was as perfect as it could ever be right now. He had Frank to wake up beside every day, which was all he needed. Maybe finding out who this person was would just ruin things.

But something Mikey had said struck him suddenly. He knew his brother was only saying it in a comical way to lighten the mood, but it really got him thinking. Maybe he should check the mail. He hadn’t been home in a few days and he was sure the mail was piling up, just waiting to be opened. He didn’t want to leave a bill unopened for too long, for fear that his house got repossessed or something.

Frank had started work on repainting the bedroom. He had ripped down all the peeling wallpaper and covered everything apart from the bed in dustsheets. He had boxed up some less important things, such as winter clothing, video games and books, ready to go over to Gerard’s house. Gerard had suggested that it would be easier if he moved the least essential items over at the weekend, in order to clear some room while they were redecorating, but maybe it would be better if they got started now. That way, Gerard could check that something hadn’t died in his house and they would have less to lug in future.

Gerard left the kitchen and wandered into the bedroom. He found Frank staring at a paintbrush in bewilderment, his eyebrows almost furrowing together and his top lip curled up so it was almost touching his nose. Gerard wished he had a camera, his expression was too unbelievably cute to pass by.

“Frankie sweetie, are you okay there?” Gerard giggled. “You’re meant to paint it on the wall, not stare at it!”

Frank’s facial appearance did not change. “Why isn’t it shiny?”

Gerard came from behind him and wrapped his arms around his waist, not caring that the wet paint that had splattered onto Frank’s clothing was transferring onto his black t-shirt. His breath tickled Frank’s ear. “Shiny? Is it supposed to be?”

“Well, yeah…The picture rail and windowsills are meant to have shiny paint, aren’t they?

Gerard laughed even harder, causing Frank to move his eyes away from the offending paintbrush and stare in even more puzzlement at him.

“What? What’s so funny? They are meant to be shiny.” Frank said, defending himself.

When Gerard stopped laughing, he let go of his petite body and got on his knees to look at the can of paint by their feet. “That’s because this is matte paint! This is supposed to go on walls. You’re meant to use the gloss paint for the wood and stuff….oh baby, you are so silly.”

Frank still didn’t look too amused. He dropped the paintbrush into the pot and pouted. “How was I supposed to know? I hate painting. I can’t do anything right today.”

“Aww, don’t get disheartened by it!” Gerard comforted, realising that he might’ve sounded a little too harsh and patronising. He took Frank’s hand and kissed his tattooed fingers. “I’m sorry. That was my fault, I didn’t tell you.”

He didn’t crack the slightest smile. “I still hate it. Can’t the walls just paint themselves?”

Gerard cupped his tired looking face in his hand, feeling his warm skin melt into his palm. “Come on, you look like you could do with getting out of the house. I’m going over to my place to check on a few things if you want to come. I’ll help you with a few of the things you were going to take over at the weekend.”

Frank nodded in agreement and Gerard kissed him gently on the chin. Frank even managed to grin a little before slipping his paint covered shirt over his head and wandering over to the wardrobe to fetch something clean to wear. Gerard found himself staring wantonly at his shirtless body, wanting to see the sweat drip from that perfect chest, but quickly decided he would save those thoughts for a time when Frank wasn’t so weary and cranky.

A little over half an hour later, they had arrived at Gerard’s house. Everything looked perfectly normal on the outside, and he was relived that he hadn’t left the gas on or something stupid which would result in the house catching fire.
Frank manoeuvred over to the mailbox and retrieved the letters that had been delivered in there. He sorted through them and gave them to his boyfriend one by one.

“Bill, bill, junk, bill, junk…hey look, this one’s handwritten!” Frank exclaimed, handing Gerard the final letter.

Gerard took the letter from him and stared at it suspiciously. No one ever wrote him letters. Fan mail was never usually sent directly to his house, but maybe an obsessive fan had somehow gotten hold of his address? The words ‘Gerard Way’ were written in fancy swirly letters in green ink, which was rather unusual.

“I’ll take this inside.” Gerard said, unlocking the front door. Frank followed, taking the least exciting letters with him.