I Am Still Painting Flowers For You

Frank was concentrated on the piece of paper in front of him. His perfectly shaped eyebrows were furrowed together, making him frown in concentration. Even his tongue was sticking out of his mouth in pure concentration.

He was busy drawing a picture of a beautiful flower, using very much colors. He liked drawing, especially when it was raining, rain inspired Frankie. Music also inspired him and he always drew flowers. All kinds of flowers. From sad looking black ones, to sparkling colorful flowers he made up.

He had big piles of paintings under his bed. Most of them were drawings of flowers, of course. Frankie was very well aware that this was really gay, so he didn't show anyone his creations. Painting flowers was his addiction and it kind of freaked him out and he thought he was so weird for being addicted to that. He had been painting flowers since the age of 6, and he still had his first drawings.

Every other 16 year old guy would get drunk and party all night. But Frankie was different. He got through his days with playing guitar and drawing. And of course, he and his best friend Gerard hung out in each others houses nearly every day.

Frankie and Gerard were best friends and they had known each other for almost 13 years. No one could ever separate them.

Frankie smiled contented as he looked at his latest drawing. It was a drawing of a beautiful red rose with tiny droplets of rain on top of it. The background wasn't finished yet, but he had already drawn other roses around the outstanding rose in the middle.

The other roses looked sad, small and gray. They were lying on the white cloud which was used as a ground for the world of his newest drawing.

Frankie decided that the drawing wasn't done yet, and filled the drawing with pink little hearts and stars around the big rose.
He was about to write 'Stand out' as a title for the drawing, when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

Frankie snapped his head around and looked into the eyes of his best friend, Gerard. Frank was shocked, he didn't want Gerard to know about his addiction to flowers.

Gerard had felt bored that day, and he wanted to spend the afternoon with Frankie. He knew Frank wouldn't say no, so he just grabbed his keys to Frank's house and came in, politely saying hello to Linda, Frank's mom.

When he walked into Frank's room, he saw Frank had ear buds in his ears and decided to surprise him. So, he sneaked over to Frank's spot on the floor and grabbed his shoulder.
Frankie looked surprised and shocked as he turned around and looked at Gerard.

Gerard immediately saw there was something going on.
Frankie was scared. His reaction was enough to confuse Gerard, so he had to explain why he was being so anxious.

"Hey Frankie, what's wrong?" Gerard furrowed his eyebrows and looked at him concerned. Then his eyes fell upon the beautiful drawing in front of Frankie. The flower that screamed 'gay'.

"Uhmm, hey G-Gerard. Sit down, I'll explain everything," Frankie replied and put the drawing in the box under his bed. He gulped because he knew he was going to reveal some secrets to Gerard that day.

Gerard sat down on Frank's comfy bed and smiled reassuringly. Frank took place next to Gerard and sighed as he squeezed his eyes shut, trying to disappear, which obviously didn't work.

Gerard put his hand on Frank's knee to relax him a bit.

"Hey, don't worry. You know I won't judge," Gerard said and smiled again.

This calmed Frank down a bit and he sighed before looking at Gerard.

"Do you remember that time when I was 6 and you were 8, when I gave you a drawing of a flower?" Frankie asked, making Gerard nod almost immediately.
"Uh, well... I have been addicted to painting flowers for 10 years," He said as he blushed in embarrassment.

First Gerard felt confused. So, he was literally addicted? To painting flowers?

He was used to Frankie's punk boy attitude and never expected this. He didn't care, though. Frankie would always be his best friend.

"I know it's weird... I just can't stop it. I love doing it and I'm fucking ashamed," Frank mumbled and looked away, still blushing.

"Frankie... Don't worry, I don't care if you're addicted to painting flowers. Do you remember that movie Super Bad? That guy was addicted to drawing dicks... That's worse,"

Frankie giggled and looked at Gerard who smiled.

"Yeah... But painting flowers is not the most embarrassing thing about me, actually," He turned serious again and looked down at his feet.

"Oh? Tell me then," Gerard said, curiosity clearly evident in his voice.

"Uhm, well... Promise me you won't hate me first," Frank said, looking at Gerard again.

"I can't hate you, Frankie! Now, spill!" He said and wrapped one arm around Frankie.

"Yeah, okay... Uhm, all those paintings of flowers, under my bed... well they are for... you,"
Frankie stuttered.

He looked away again, his heart was racing.

"For me? What do you mean, Frankie?" Gerard was utterly confused now.

"Those drawing are all dedicated to you. I drew them for you because I'm madly in love with you, I love you!" Frankie exposed his feelings and put his hands over his face, too embarrassed to even look at Gerard.

Gerard was stunned at first, he didn't believe the words that came out of Frank's mouth. He thought his mind was playing tricks on him. He even pinched himself to make sure he wasn't dreaming all this.

But no, he wasn't dreaming. It was all real and it was the truth.

A wide grin spread across Gerard's face and Frank peeked through his fingers to see Gerard's reaction to his words. Frank was happy and confused when he saw Gerard grinning like he just won a million dollars.

They looked at each other and Frank saw it in Gerard's eyes. He noticed the love for him in his pretty hazel eyes.

"Frankie, there's only one way to say this..."

He inched his face closer to Frankie's.

"I love you too,"

And they shared their first kiss.