Born and Broken Every Single Time.

“Hmm,” Mikey pondered as he looked around the room, scouring his eyes over every object. “Chair?”

“Nope.” I sighed at another poor attempt from Mikey. He never knew when to just give up.

“Cushion?”’

“No.” Was the case such a hard object to notice?

“Case!”

“About time!” I grinned. Our initial idea of lazing was going well, but not so well. We faced a power cut and used candlelight to entertain ourselves with I spy. Needless to say, it wasn’t the most amusing or entertaining pass time in the world.

“I spy-“

“No Mikey.”

“But-“

“No,” I grinned, seeing the candlelight reflect off his glasses.

“Fine,” he pouted, his voice turning resonantly childish. “I’ll get us some drinks.”

I moved the candles back up to the cabinet as I heard Mikey leave. I felt my way off the floor and clambered to sit on his bed, rummaging to find my phone and check my messages. No surprises, the usual messages from my parents asking when I was coming home. I ignored them as had become routine in the past few days. I liked being here, it was a break from the hellish home life and it felt nice to be part of a normal family, a non-arguing family.

“Frank,” I heard a whisper from outside the open door. “Come here a sec.”

Upon recognising Gerards voice I obliged, doing my best to avoid standing on anything or knocking any candles over. That could be deemed disastrous should that be the result of my trek.

“Hey,” I smiled, not that he could see me. I couldn’t really see him; I could just sort of feel his presence in the hall and hear his breathing. It was strange really; I hadn’t experienced a proper power cut since I was a kid. “What’s up?”

“Right,” he spoke so quietly, but his breath seemed to litter my face. He was obviously looking down to talk to me whether or not he could see me; I was notably shorter than him. “Earlier, forget I said anything. Please.”

“Why?” I felt myself speaking without second thought. It might not have been the best thing to say, but it was a bit late to take it back.

“Uh, well why not?” he questioned.

“I-I don’t know,” I paused awkwardly. I hoped he would reply just to break the uncomfortable silence; it was made more surreal by the inability to see each other, which actually made me feel a bit stupid. I heard him shuffle momentarily before I felt his lips pressed against mine briefly to my shock before he pulled back, saying nothing, presumably seeing how I reacted.

I didn’t say anything; I didn’t know what to say - I just felt my stomach do a back flip. I felt myself standing almost on my tiptoes and lacing my hands through Gerards hair as a grin spread across my face. I felt Gerard lean back towards me, smiling into my lips before leaping back at hearing a clink of bottles.

“Yo dude,” Mikeys voice called. “I can’t see, where are you?”

I heard Gerard laugh quietly as his brother wandered aimlessly trying to find the way back to his room.

“I’m here Mikes,” I grinned although he still couldn’t see, so the statement seemed pointless. He muttered as I heard him pat the walls to work out where his door was. I walked forward carefully trying to reach him and take the beers off him.

“Thanks,” Mikey laughed as I grabbed the beers from his hand and nudged him in the direction of the door. As I headed to follow Mikey I felt Gerards hands gently grab my waist, making me breath in sharply as he lightly kissed my neck before I felt his grip loosen and heard him fumble his way back to his own room.

“No problem,” I grinned as I returned to Mikey by the faint candlelight, sprawling out on the floor with no great intention of doing anything.

“I spy with-“

“No.”

“Come on! Um, do something with the guitar. Anything.”

“Well I could play a song, or,” I paused for dramatic effect, although there wasn’t any to be found, “I could use it as a bat and we could play rounders, or I could try make something from it.”

“Smart ass,” he giggled. “Just play something, come on.”

I walked over and retrieved the guitar as Mikey moved appropriately, allowing the candlelight to make it easier. I sat down on the floor, checking it was in tune before playing any song that sprung to mind to pass the time through the power cut, grinning the whole time.