Sweet Talk

Mikey smiled as he saw Frank skipping up the road towards the school gates. He had a big smile on his face, which had become the usual this past week. He wouldn’t tell Mikey what had made him so happy but Mikey was definately curious to know what, or who, had made his best friend so happy.

“Hi, Mikey,” Frank says, quiet yet happy, as he stood on tiptoe to hug Mikey around his shoulders.
“Hey, Frankie. You gunna tell me what’s made you so happy yet?” Mikey jokes, hugging Frank back around his waist.
Frank grins and opens his mouth to speak but was cut off by the sound of his phone bleeping. Frank’s grin widened and he tore the phone from his pocket. His grin widened even more as he read the message;
Gerard <3 says:
Hey, hun :) I’ll be round the shop wen u finish school, so we can go 2 mine 4 dinner if u want. Love G xoxo
Frank just stares at the text for a moment, thinking about Gerard and how everything had been so perfect since that first night together. It had been one week since and they had seen each other every day and had been texting and calling each other, too.
Ok, we cud walk the puppies b4 we go 2 yours :) Love F xoxo, Frank texts back.

“Oooh, who’s that?” Mikey says, waggling his eyebrows suggestively while reading Frank’s text over his shoulder.
Frank laughs and shoves Mikey lightly. “Shut up, Mikey,” he says, blushing.
“Aw, c’mon, Frankie! You’ve been holding out on me,” Mikey groans dramatically, resting his head on Frank’s shoulder.
Frank laughs and pushes his cheek against the top of Mikey’s head. “Fine,” he says, “It’s my boyfriend.” As soon as he says that word his cheeks bloom pink.
Mikey is silent for about one second before his hands shoot out and he starts tickling Frank’s sides. “Why didn’t you tell me? Huh? Why didn’t you tell me?” He yells in mock anger while Frank squeals and tries to bat Mikey’s hands away.
“Mikey! Mikey, stop! Mikey, you giant twiglet, stop it!” Frank laughs hysterically, wriggling out of Mikey’s grip.
“Go on, what’s his name?” Mikey says, grinning.
“I’m not telling,” Frank grumbles, trying to smooth his t-shirt back into position.
“Oh, come on! Tell me! I’m supposed to be your best friend!” Mikey complains.
Frank rolls his eyes. “Fine, his name is—” Frank starts but then is cut off by the sound of the school bell ringing for first lesson. Frank grins at Mikey. “Bye, Mikey!” He says cheerfully.
“Hey, not fair!” Mikey cries out as Frank walks away. Frank laughs and grins cheekily over his shoulder. “I’ll get you later, Iero! You better watch out!” Mikey shouts.
“Whatever, Way!” Frank laughs all the way to his lesson.

Frank rushes home from the school, partly to avoid Mikey, but mostly because he’s excited to see Gerard. When he rounds the corner of his street he runs the rest of the way to the shop. He bursts through the door, grinning wildly, but the grin slowly drops from his face when he sees the shop is empty except for Basil behind the couter and a man and little girl looking at the hamsters.
He looks around the shop again, thinking he must have missed him.
“He’s not here, lad,” Basil says, beckoning Frank over to the counter.
“Oh,” says Frank, disheartened. “He’s not come in today?”
“Yes, he came in this afternoon and he left you this note,” Basil says, waving a folding paper infront of Frank’s nose. Frank snatches it immediately.

Frankie,
I can’t see you today, because my little brother is coming over to my apartment to see me. He doesn’t come around that often, so I hope you understand why I couldn’t cancel with him. I will see you soon.
Love, G xoxoxoxoxo
There is a little sketch of a sad vampire-Gerard holding out a bunch of flowers and a tiny broken heart drawn on his chest.
Frank traces the heart carefully with his pinky. He’s not mad; he obviously gets that Gerard wants to see his brother. He’s just sad because he wanted to see Gerard too.

“I’m sorry, boy, but you’ll see him soon, won’t you?” Basil says, smoothing his hand over Frank’s hair.
Frank looks up and smiles weakly before walking past Basil and up to his flat where Jemima is scratching at the door and the phone is ringing.

Frank opens the door quickly, jumps straight over Jemima and snatches the phone up quickly.
“Hello!” He says, hurried and breathless. He expects Gerard’s smooth voice on the other end, apologising to Frank and saying that he will make it up to him the next time they meet.
“Hello!” Says a voice on the other end, the voice Frank was least expecting. “Hello, Frankie!” His mother’s high voice trills at him. “How are you?”
“Mom? Uh, I’m fine, how are you?” He says back, a little despondantly. He can’t help but be disappointed.
“Oh, don’t sound so excited, Frankie!” She jokes. “I’m fine, honey, I’m having a brilliant time out here!” She says and promptly starts telling Frank about her escapades in the exoctic countries she’s visiting on business.
Frank doesn’t really listen, just makes all the right noises in the right places while she rambles on.
She is just telling him about the “extravagant transvestite” she met in Brasil when the phone beeps, letting him know that there is another call on the line.
“Listen, Mom, that sounds awesome, but I’ve got to go! There’s a call on the other line and, you know, it might be, like, important... or something...” he trails off, wishing he could just hang the phone up on her. She probably wouldn’t notice.
“Okay, Frankie. I only really called to let you know that I’ll be coming to see you in a few months, so I’ll call again with details next week!” She says.
“Yes, yes, okay! Bye!” He says and hangs up on her.

“Hello?” He says into the reciever again.
“Hey, Frankie,” Gerard says.
“Hi, Gee,” Frank says quietly.
Gerard sighs. “I’m sorry, Frankie, I really wanted to see you, you know that, but I just don’t get to see my brother all that often and I can’t just cancel when he decided to come down, you know?”
“I know, Gee, I understand. I’m not mad, I just really wanted to see you, too,” Frank says. He wishes he could hug Gerard right now. He misses him and it hasn’t even been a full day since they last met.
“I know, Frankie,” Gerard says softly. “But I’ll see you soon, you know? I... I miss you,” he admits in a small voice.
Frank’s heart soars and he can barely stop himself from making a girly sqeaking noise down the phone at Gerard. “Yeah, I miss you, too,” he says back instead, just as softly.
“I’ll call you tonight, yeah? And I’ll see you tomorrow, too,” Gerard tells him.
“Okay, Gee.”
“Okay. Bye, Frankie...”
“Bye...”