Perfect in His Imperfection

“So, where do you live again?” Gerard shouted, so that he was heard over the roar of the motorbike.

I clutched the back of Gerard’s black leather jacket as we rounded another corner, slowly getting used to the sensation of being so close to the road and travelling at such a high speed.

“Just get back on the main street and I’ll tell you where to turn,” I told him, yelling it in his ear so that he didn’t miss what I said. I wasn’t planning on giving him the directions to my house just yet, this day wasn’t over. I loved how the whole day had been so unexpected.

How I never thought I would end up on the back of the bike of a guy I just met, over a fucking comic book.

Secretly I was kind of pleased that Gerard and I had forgotten the fun little fact that he had kidnapped me and brought me to his house, thus leaving me with no transport home. A fact that didn’t occur to me until I had made it all the way down his driveway and looked along the street for my car. His face when I had sheepishly returned to the doorstep was priceless, and after I explained my situation and he had roared with laughter, he had graciously offered me a ride home. Which I had no choice but to accept. Not that I minded.

So now I was secretly planning on doing a little kidnapping of my own, taking Gerard to somewhere I hadn’t been in a long time, in keeping with the theme of the day – ‘expect the unexpected.’

“Frank?” Gerard’s voice interrupted my thoughts. “Are you sure we haven’t missed the turn?”
We had been driving for a while now, so it was fair enough for him to start getting slightly suspicious of me.

“Nope, keep going!” I instructed him as he sighed. Not that I could hear him sigh, but I felt his shoulders go up and then down as my head was now rested on his back. It was pretty boring just sitting on the back of this thing now.

“I’m beginning to think you’re the mass murderer here!” Gerard said to me.

I snorted at that, he was the driver of this motorbike after all. It’s not like I had complete control of it like him.

“Gerard, what is the worst I could do to you? Look at me, I am smaller then you!”

“Size doesn’t matter.”

“No, it doesn’t,” I agreed. “Turn here…and park…just over there.” I pointed to an empty car space ahead of us, wondering if he had noticed we were at the beach yet. Gerard did as he was told and then slid of the bike, a sad look on his face.

“Dude…I didn’t know you were homeless,” Gerard said, as I just stared at him with a perplexed look. “You could have just stayed with me instead of sleeping on the beach.”

I gawked at him, trying to determine whether or not he was being serious before deciding that he genuinely did think I lived on the beach. I guess I was a stranger after all, and he did think we were going to my house, but did I really look like a homeless person!?

I scratched the back of my neck. “No, I didn’t want to disrupt your life by staying with you. I barely know you, I couldn’t ask that,” I said, playing along and giving him my best puppy dog eyes.

Gerard grinned. “Nah, I’d love it if-“.

“I’m not homeless Gerard,” I interrupted him.

“Oh,” he said meekly.

“I brought you to…THE BEACH!” I exclaimed and spread my arms out.

Gerard’s face lit up once more. “Oh Frankie, you shouldn’t have,” he said to me and clasped his hands together. He leaned forward and kissed my cheek. “You’re too cute.”

Gerard walked over to the sand while I smiled like an idiot to myself before spying an ice cream vendor. I wandered over to him, pulling my wallet out of my pocket.

“What do you want?!” I shouted at Gerard, who seemed lost in his own world.

“Huh?” he said and whipped around, seeing me standing in front of the ice cream man. “Oh, uh…Neapolitan please.”

“How boring,” I muttered and turned to the ice cream man.

“I HEARD THAT!”

“A Neapolitan for the lady and I’ll take a rocky road,” I said and flipped Gerard off behind my back before paying for the ice creams and accepting them from the man. I grinned at him in thanks, wondering if the footsteps I could hear approaching were Gerard’s.

The next thing I knew I was being flung to the ground as Gerard launched his body at me, making the ice creams I was holding fall onto my black t-shirt.

“Fucker!” I gasped, lying sprawled on the hard concrete with Gerard still crushing me.

“That’s what you get when you mess with Gerard Way!” Gerard told me, puffing out his chest.

“Well ‘Gerard Way’ had better buy Frank Iero a new ice cream,” I replied, looking sadly at the mess on my shirt that could have been in my mouth.

“Guess you should take your shirt off.” Gerard stood up, offering me his hand which I accepted and he pulled me up.

I looked down. The man had a point, it was fairly disgusting with both ice creams covering me.

“Yeah, it’s a bit dirty.” I pulled my shirt over my head, which caused the ice cream that had been sitting on my shirt to make its way to be in my hair. “Oh gross,” I said, running my fingers through my sticky hair. Gerard just giggled at me.

“Wash it off in the ocean!” He yelled, whipping off his own shirt and running down to the water.

“Gerard, wait for me you ice cream wrecking fucker!” I screamed and ran to follow him.

Gerard just laughed at me as he ran into the water, it splashing up his pale body.

“Oh FUCK! It’s fucking cold!” Gerard yelped, stopping in the water so it was at his middle.

That was enough to make me stop at the waters edge, there was no way I was getting in there.

“Have fun.” I waved to Gerard and turned to go back up the beach.

“Get back here, you wimp!” Gerard ran up to me quickly and grabbed my arm with his freezing hands, pulling me back towards the water.

“No! Gerard!” I protested, digging my heels into the sand. “Don’t be mean.”

Gerard stopped pulling me and pouted.

“I brought you…a comic, and ice cream,” I said, wracking my brains for any possible favors he might owe me.

“Please?” Gerard stuck his bottom lip out, his puppy dog eyes breaking my resistance each time I looked into them.

“But…it’s cold,” I whimpered pathetically.

“Shh, I’ll keep you warm,” Gerard promised and smiled.

I bit my lip and thought. “Fine, but if it gets cold you have to be nice to me.”

“Don’t worry babe, I’m plenty nice!” Gerard grinned at me and grabbed my arm, dragging me back into the water. I shivered as the water hit my feet, and then my knees and then finally my waist as a huge wave crashed onto our bodies.

“COLD! Cold, cold, cold!” I exclaimed and wrapped my arms across my stomach to create some form of warmth. Gerard smiled at me and put his arms around me.

“Warm?” He asked me in a whisper.

“Warmer,” I replied and turned around to face his chest, so that the waves hit my back and not the front of me. I rested my head on the pale chest in front of me, my cheek meeting his cold, wet body. We stayed there for a few moments until I remembered I needed to wash my hair, the ice cream still being ever present.

“I’m going to wash my hair now, it has yours and my ice cream in it,” I said to Gerard, pulling away from him and diving under the water. I quickly scrubbed at my hair and jumped back up, not being able to stand the cold water on my head anymore.

“Cold! So cold,” I complained and grabbed my head. “Ouch, brain freeze.”

Gerard just grinned at me, which for some reason I found irritating. It was probably something to do with my brain freeze.

“What are you smiling at?” I demanded to know, as I rubbed my head in an attempt for it to get warmer.

“You look…” Gerard started to say and trailed off, smiling shyly.

“I look? I look cold! And that is because I am,” I said, walking up to him, “and now you will be too!” I jumped onto Gerard, pushing him down into the water so that he was fully
submerged. Gerard came back up as soon as I let go of him, spluttering and coughing with his hair plastered to his head.

“Frank!”

I smiled at him innocently, which didn’t last long because he had scooped his hands under the water and pushed it on me.

“Gerard!”

I scooped my own hands under the water and thrust it in Gerard’s direction, soaking his already wet body. He retaliated quickly and soon we were in the middle of a full fledged water fight.

“C-cold, Frank,” Gerard chattered, pausing in his escape from me and standing still a couple meters away.

“Aw, really? You cold Gerard?” I asked him softly as he nodded pathetically. I walked slowly up to him, stopping right in front of him. “You know what will warm you up?”

“What?” He half whispered, probably thinking I was going to hug him.

“THIS!” I squealed and splashed him before running out of the water laughing manically.
“Frankkkk!”

“Yes, Gerard?” I turned around to face him, to see him trudging out of the water with a full on pout on his face.

“I’m cold,” he whimpered.

“Poor Gerard. Do you want Frankie to warm you up?” I knew he would say yes, but I currently felt like being slightly evil to him, seeing as he did ruin my rocky road.

Sure enough a slow smile made its way across his face and he nodded.

“Okay, let me go see if anyone else named Frankie is on the beach.” I looked around the beach, pretending to search for a Frankie. “Oh, darn. Looks like I’m the only one.” I ran forward and enveloped him in my arms, hugging the stranger I had met today for the second time.

“Wow, Gerard. You are nearly as cold as my ice cream you ruined and then smeared over my body,” I told him.

“I know. Guess whose fault that is?”

“YOURS!” I poked him in the stomach to emphasize my words.

“I think not!”

I pulled back a little from Gerard and faked a look of hurt. “Mine?”

“No, no. The ocean’s.” Gerard grabbed my arms and pulled me closer to him, looking straight into my eyes. “Not you, never you,” he whispered.

I looked back into his eyes, feeling my face spread into a smile.

“Gerard,” I whispered and bit my lip, looking down and back up at him. He simply grinned down at me and leaned forward, kissing my cold, wet nose.

I leaned up to his ear. “You owe me an ice cream.” I walked further up the beach, taking a seat on the sand. Gerard followed and stood in front of me, biting his blue bottom lip.

“Can I…give you…something else instead?” he asked me nervously.

“Sure,” I replied quickly, curious as to what he had in store. I hoped it was something good, because that ice cream did look pretty wonderful at the time. Gerard sat down on the beach next to me, leaning in slowly.

“Are you sure?”

I looked at him, confused as to why he was asking so much and nodded.

“Good,” he whispered and leaned in even closer before applying his lips gently to mine, lingering for a moment and pulling away. I reached up to touch my lips, making sure that had actually happened. He had just wanted to kiss me. That was what he had wanted to give me.

“You just kissed me,” I stated dumbly.

“Yeah,” Gerard said, sounding nervous. I didn’t mind him kissing me, in fact, I quite liked it. I grinned and pushed Gerard back onto the sand.

“Well, don’t stop now,” I told him with a giggle and pushed my lips onto his, this time with a little more force then the previous kiss. Gerard eagerly started kissing me back, wrapping his arms around me as his mouth worked against mine. I pulled away after a minute, grinned at him and turned my head to look behind me. A beautiful sunset was fading across the water.

“Look at the sun Gerard,” I said and turned so that I was sitting in between his spread legs to watch it set, not noticing his look of disappointment at the lack of kissing.

“Beautiful,” he murmured in my ear and wrapped an arm around my waist.

“I know. I haven’t watched the sun set in so long.”

Gerard nodded his head and placed it on my shoulder. “Yeah, same here.”

“I’m glad I’m here, watching the sun go down with you. Even if you are a serial killer.”

Gerard snorted. “Look whose talking, you kidnapped me!”

I turned around to smile at Gerard. “If this is what kidnapping involves, you can kidnap me any day,” I told him. He grinned and pecked my lips, which were returning to their natural color thanks to all the kissing.

“Good, I plan on it,” Gerard said.

“Will you really?” I asked, curious if he did want to see me again.

Gerard grinned. “Do you want me to?”

I smiled back at him. “No, I have had a horrible time and I never want to see you again.”

“Liar,” Gerard whispered and leaned forward to kiss me, again. My eyes closing as soon as his wet lips met mine, enjoying the passion this kiss contained. Gerard seemed to grow more confident with every kiss we exchanged, his tongue shyly coming out to meet mine as I licked his bottom lip.

I pulled away after a short while and smirked at him. “You like kissing me,” I told him. Gerard looked embarrassed, but I didn’t think he needed to be.

“Uh, don’t…you? Like…kissing….uh, me?” He bit his lip, almost as if he was afraid he had gone too far by kissing me repeatedly.

“Yes, of course. I was just saying,” I told him. He gave me a weird look, which I stopped by kissing him on the lips again. “Don’t worry, I like kissing you too.”

“Good,” Gerard murmured against my lips before I pulled away.

“We should go. I’m meant to have dinner with my parents tonight and you’re…doing something I’m sure.” Gerard groaned in protest. “And, if we stay here any longer in this wind we will definitely get sick.”

I didn’t miss the look of disappointment on Gerard’s face, but held my hand out to him none the less after I stood up.

“Come on, pretty boy.”

Gerard grinned at me and accepted my hand, leaving it in his as we walked back up to the motorbike, picking up our discarded shirts along the way. Gerard threw me the spare helmet, which I caught and placed over my head, jumped on the back of the bike and wrapped my cold arms around Gerard’s warm middle.

I gave Gerard the real directions for my house this time, it not being too far away from the beach. It wasn’t too long before Gerard was pulling into my street and up outside my house, or rather, my parent’s house. Which, as far as houses go, wasn’t too shabby.

“This is your house?! It’s fucking huge!” Gerard exclaimed. I just shrugged.

“I don’t actually live here anymore, but yeah, it’s okay I guess,” I replied and slid off the bike, taking off my helmet.

Gerard simply raised his eyebrow and looked thoughtful for a moment. He removed his black helmet and placed it on the empty seat.

“Well, guess what?” He said to me.

“What?” I replied, standing close to him as he remained seated on the bike.

“You’re better the okay. You’re beautiful.” He leaned closer to me, his lips eagerly awaiting their next kiss.

I smiled at him, thanking him for all the sweet things he was saying.

“Gerard, you are the most-“

“Fraaaaank?” A high pitched voice called, interrupting me mid-sentence.

“Fraaaank , is that you darling?” I knew it was my Mom. Who else would have such perfect timing? I sighed in anger.

“Yeah, Mom!” I turned my head and yelled towards the house.

“I saw the motorbike pull up. I was wondering who it was. Are you coming inside, sweetheart? Dinner is ready,” Mom trilled, her hands clasped together as she stood on the front porch.

I rolled my eyes. “She totally knows I want to kiss you,” I said to Gerard and then yelled in the direction of the house, “coming Mom!”

I started walking backwards from the bike. “Well, I had a pretty amazing time, I guess I’ll see you around,” I said to Gerard, smiled and waved before running up the circular driveway and into the large brick home. Once inside I ran into the lounge and peeked out from the large purple drapes to spy on Gerard. I laughed at what I saw, he punched his fist in the air and his lips mouthed the word ‘yeah’. He was looking pretty happy as he kick-started the bike and roared off down the street.

I turned away from the window, still grinning to myself at his little display.

“What are you so happy about darling?” My mom asked, coming into the plush living room.

“Huh? Oh…nothing,” I said with a happy sigh.