Lights, Camera, Action, or A Mix Thereof.

The very next day, as soon as he woke up, Gerard sat down with the newspaper and went through the classifieds, circling jobs he was qualified for. Most of them were rather menial; there was an opening for a clerk at a hardware store, an usher at a movie theater, little things like that. Gerard couldn't help but feel a slight twinge of disappointment in himself when he looked at the really desirable jobs and realized he didn't have a chance in hell at getting them.

Continuing down the page, Gerard noticed a listing for an assistant librarian at the main branch downtown. Gerard admittedly mostly read comic books so the reason the ad caught his eye was that his brother, Mikey, happened to be the head librarian at said library.

Yes, it would be embarrassing to be an underling to his kid brother but at least it was a job. Gerard gave the number a call, informed his brother that he was coming in for an interview and then froze. From where he was standing in the kitchen, he could hear Frank snoring in the bedroom, which was on the other side of the house. Gerard had to make a decision; should Frank stay or go with him?

He weighed the pros and cons. If he brought Frank with him, the chances were that absolute mayhem would ensue and Gerard wouldn't get the job. If he left Frank however, chances were that Frank would end up finding out where he was anyways.

Sighing, he trudged into his bedroom, where Frank was sprawled shirtless across the entire bed, sheets tangled around his legs. His snoring was so loud that it was shaking Gerard's dresser. Reaching out, Gerard grabbed Frank's back and shook him, instantly jolting him awake.

"Whaddya want?" Frank growled, wiping drool off his face.

"I have a job interview at the main library," he said slowly so that the words could sink into Frank's still drowsy mind. "You can come with me but you can not fuck this up Frank. Okay?"

"Of course not Gerard," Frank smiled. "Do I ever cause trouble?" Gerard rolled his eyes and stepped back as Frank rolled out of bed. To both of their surprise, he was actually completely naked.

"Frank, where are your pants?" Gerard asked, trying to avert his eyes away.

"Do you really care?" He groaned and shook his head, returning to the kitchen while Frank got dressed. He tried to soothe his mind with images of meadows, peaceful waterfalls, anything that would help him think that the day wasn't going to go to all hell.

As soon as Frank barreled into the kitchen, full of his normal energy and with an energy drink shoved in his mouth, those peaceful images transformed into a sledgehammer being slammed into a mirror.

"Ready Gerard?"

"No."

****************************************************************************

The library was very quiet, as most libraries are, and Frank hated it. They were sitting outside of Mikey's office, waiting for Gerard's interview and he couldn't stop his leg from bouncing up and down on the carpet. It didn't help that an entire energy drink was coursing through his system on top of his normal energy and the quiet was just making things worse. Frank hated silence, even when he slept, which is why he was actually attracted to people who snored.

"Gerard?" Both of them looked up to see Mikey with his head stuck out the door of his office. Frank could see no resemblance between the brothers; Mikey was a string bean with short blond hair that was tucked underneath black rimmed glasses. Traces of teenage acne still held onto his face.

"Hey Mikes. This is Frank," Gerard said and Frank waved, hand moving so fast his wrist snapped. Mikey slowly waved back before stepping back into his office. Before Gerard followed him, he turned to look at Frank, putting on his best puppy dog impression.

"Frank, please don't do anything while I'm gone."

"I won't Gerard, I swear." Gerard didn't believe him, which was the right thing to do. Within seconds, Frank could feel the quiet inching towards him, making his eyes twitch and his leg bob even faster. Someone deep within the shelves sneezed and for a second, Frank thought he could handle the situation.

He couldn't. Within a minute of the door closing behind Gerard, Frank was up and literally running through the aisles of the library, his shoes pounding against the carpeted floor. People turned to hiss at him but he merely gave them the finger before continuing onwards. The noise his feet was generating was enough to keep him from going insane and he skidded around a corner, where the floor changed from carpet to linoleum. He kept running, making even more noise.

Soon enough however, he stopped in his tracks, for an extremely good reason.

"Holy... shit," he whispered, jaw gaping open as he stared upwards.

Stretching up to the ceiling twenty feet above was a ladder that was connected to the bookshelf. Frank had seen these things in movies but never in real life; he thought they were urban legends! But here was one, right in front of him, just waiting for him to leap upon it.

Frank knew that Gerard wasn't going to be impressed but he had to do it. He had a chance to make his childhood dream come true and that was necessary. Looking around and seeing nobody, Frank grabbed the rungs and began to ascend, feet moving faster as he climbed higher.

"This is so fucking cool!" Frank yelled, receiving another collective shush. When he finally reached the top, he gazed around. He could see the entire library from his vantage point. He could see an older woman reading to a crowd of small children. He could see an elderly man picking his nose. He could even see Gerard sitting in Mikey's office and, after realizing that waving wasn't going to get his attention, he screamed.

"Gerard! Watch this!" In Mikey's office, Gerard turned and immediately began to curse. He couldn't see Frank but he just knew something was about to happen. Without even bothering to say anything to Mikey, he got up and ran, hoping he could reach Frank in time.

He couldn't. Bracing one foot against the side of the shelf, Frank pushed off with all his might. After a moment of wavering, the ladder began to move. Due to a slight downward tilt in the library's floor, the ladder picked up speed until Frank's eyes began to water.

"This is amazing!" he yelled, unaware of Gerard's curses below. However, the shelf was not particularly long and the end came before Frank had time to think of a plan. When the ladder stopped moving, Frank continued, flying through the air with his arms flailing. This still would have been fun if it hadn't been for the other shelf rapidly approaching Frank.

"Frank!" Gerard screamed as Frank hit the other bookshelf and slid to the ground like a bird hitting a window. He ran over to where his boyfriend lay in a heap, groaning quietly.

"Frank, why? Just why?" he sighed, picking Frank up as gently as he could.

"I couldn't help it," Frank yelped as pain shot through his ribs. "It was too quiet!" Behind them, Mikey cleared his throat and Gerard glanced backwards, already knowing what he was going to say.

"Gerard I think you need to-"

"Go?"

"Yeah."

"Already ahead of you." As they exited back out onto the street, Gerard shook his head, feeling his arms strain.

"I should have just left you at home," he sighed, setting Frank down on his feet as he hailed a passing cab.

"I would have found you," Frank said, tenderly feeling along his ribs.

"That's exactly what I thought."