Frank on a Leash

"Wow...your room is...like a vampire's!" Frank exclaimed, clearly in awe as he stood in the center of Mikey's room. It was...plain but extravagant. Yes, that is a contradiction upon itself, but Mikey's room was a sight to be held. The walls were hospital waiting-room white with the occasional splash of (what he hoped) was red paint meant to look like blood. Towards the top of the wall, black paint had been allowed to drip down, making it look like the ceiling was melting. The plush carpet was thick and red and just begged to be laid on. The bed was just a mattress and a box board with a black comforter and pillows. There really wasn't much furniture except for a book case full of comics, a stand with a radio on it, and a vanity. Oh, how the vanity drew Frank's fascinated attention!

It had a huge mirror with circular lights on either side of it. Either the lights were turned off or didn't work, because no light was emanating from them. It was romantic, almost like a movie star vanity, if not for the contents strewn out on the table top. Eyeliner in three different colors-red, purple, and black- white face powder, black lipstick, and a hair straightener.

Frank moved to the wall behind the vanity. Tons of drawings were taped on the wall, and all of them were horrifying but beautifully done. In the bottom right corner was a signature. Gerard Way was written in curly script with a little bat drawn underneath it.

"Wow. Is Gerard your brother?" Frank asked, simply guessing because of the last name. Mikey nodded, slightly disappointed that Frank seemed so impressed with Gerard. "He's quite good. Hm...you know what? Your room is amazing. I think I'll live here from now on," Frank said. He put his hands on his hips and spun around to get one more look about the room. Once he was sufficiently overloaded with the aesthetics of the room, he turned to Mikey and hugged him. He thought it might help with his sudden bout of anti-social behavior.

"What's wrong, Mikey?" Frank asked. He laid his head on Mikey's chest, right over his heart as he waited for an answer. He already knew what it was going to be. He knew he was being a little too clingy today, and that Mikey didn't like that. But he couldn't help it. Mikey needed to be cuddled, even if he detests it.

"Nothing, I'm fine," came Mikey's answer. Frank nodded, but didn't care so much about the answer as how delightful his vocal chords felt. It was almost like Mikey wasn't human, because all the most minuscule things amazed Frank. It was too amazing. He couldn't be made of the same organs as Frank. No way.

"Oh, okay. Hey, Mikey..." Frank started. He'd just had a thought. Maybe part of the wonder of Mikey the goth thing. What if being goth makes you more beautiful than humanly possible, it elevates you to a higher plane entirely? "Can I be goth too?"

"...What?" Mikey asked blankly. Surely, please god, he'd heard wrong. Frank didn't want to disrupt his innocent beauty to become goth! He couldn't! Mikey only used it as a last resort to escape the beatings, but everyone loves Frank...wait. If everyone turns their back on Frank, he'll be all Mikey's...

"No, Frank. You're too cute to be goth. Aren't you happy the way you are?"

"Yes. But I want to see how it feels, just for today. Please, Mikey? I've always been the cute one, the baby. Just once, I want people to...fear me, or look me in disgust. I want to matter."

You do matter... "Look in my closet for something to wear, then. Just pick through things, I don't know what's all in there. Most of it is Gerard's stuff." Mikey instructed. Frank smiled and stepped into the small closet. In one corner was a whole pile of black clothes. One in particular stood out to Frank.

"Mikey! Look it, I wanna wear this!" Frank exclaimed, holding the questionable item against his chest. Mikey laughed. Frank was holding a black corset with purple stitching. It looked like something a stripper would wear.

"Oh yeah, wear that," Mikey said sarcastically. Frank picked up on the sarcasm, but began unzipping his jacket anyway. He shrugged it off his shoulders and let it fall to the floor. He slid the corset on over his black tank top so it wasn't too whore-ish, and looked in the mirror. He turned from side to side, his grin getting wider as he realized how much he loved it.

Mikey gulped. Frank was...just, goddamn, he's too fucking pretty to look at directly, especially dressed in a corset. Which he fully planned on wearing! He could see it in Frank's expression. This was the outfit. Except the pants and makeup, of course. But if Mikey had to watch Frank change pants, he's going to die.

"How does it look, Mikey? I love it," Frank said, hoping for Mikey's approval.

"Yeah, I like it too. But I can't believe that's what you picked out of everything in there. I don't even know why my brother had it. Probably used it for some sick sex fantasy. He's like that."

"Is he?"

"No. He's not social. Kind of like me. But he had a purpose, his life has meaning. He doesn't need a lover, he has his art. It fills his life, and I guess he's happy with it. Personally, I haven't a clue what I want to do for a living." Mikey shrugged sheepishly. He felt a little bad about it. This was his senior year, he had no job, no plans for the future. Gerard always knew he wanted to do something artistic, but Mikey...well, unless he could get a job as a professional goth, he was fucked.

"Hm..you know what I wanna do? It's really dumb, but I want to...own a castle. It'd be nice if it floated in the sky, as well. That could be my job. I guess you could help me with the castle as well, cause I bet it gets damn lonely there. And I could raise dragons. Purple dragons with orange mohawks. Oh, wouldn't it be awesome?" Frank sighed. "Too bad none of that shit exists. Oh well. Hm, now, on with the goth-ification!" he exclaimed. He dove back into the closet, rooting around in the massive pile of black clothes until he pulled out his next questionable items. He slipped black, elbow-high, fingerless gloves on his arms. He wiggled his fingers around, testing how comfortable they were. He stepped in front of the vanity again and held out his arms.

Frank looked over to Mikey, waiting to see his reaction. Did he like it, or was it just a little too burlesque for his tastes? Frank liked the look, personally. It was romantic, like the vanity. Mikey nodded appreciatively and looked at the gloves. He ran a hand delicately down the fabric. The touch sent shivers down Frank's back. Just the thought that Mikey did that voluntarily, that he was comfortable enough to touch Frank thrilled him.

"Hm..this works, Frank. I don't know how, but it does. I like it," Mikey said. He smiled at the way Frank just perked up after the statement. He jumped up and hugged Mikey. His shoes barely scraped the floor when they hugged since Mikey was basically holding Frank because of the height difference. He sat Frank down on his bed and grabbed his makeup off the vanity.

Frank got jittery, This is what he was waiting for, the makeup. He wanted his face to be flawless, for his eyes to be rimmed in black just like Mikey's. Mikey put his hand under Frank's chin and tilted his face up, discerning what the best way to go about this would be. He couldn't simply go all around Frank's eyes in black. His eyelids were too heavy for that. He held up the three sticks of eyeliner he held. Hm...purple, maybe. It would go well with Frank's eyes, at least.

"Aw, I don't get black?" Frank pouted.

"Nope. Now close your eyes," Mikey commanded. Frank's eyes fluttered closed and at once he felt the cool tip of the eyeliner. He wasn't thrilled about the purple, but he trusted Mikey.

Mikey bit down on his lip in concentration and got to work outlining Frank's eyes in purple. Once he had a thick coat all the way around, he began coloring in his eyelids. After that, Mikey branched lines out from the corners of his eyes. Satisfied with the cat eyes he'd made, Mikey picked up his white face powder and lightly dusted it over Frank's face. It was a shame to cover up the rich olive color of his skin, or the beautiful dark pink tint of his lips, but Mikey did it. He stepped back and examined Frank.

He was still so beautiful. The makeup didn't cover the strong line of his jaw or the fullness of his bottom lip.

"Okay, open your eyes now, Frank," Mikey instructed. Frank went over to the vanity and looked at himself. He gasped.

"Wow...Mikey, you're really good at this. Maybe you should be a makeup artist..." Frank said. He turned his head from side to side. He still wanted a little black. He picked up the black lipstick. "I want to use this too." He held the tube out to Mikey, because he knew he'd end up messing up if he tried to put it on himself.

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Frank and Mikey walked down the street in town fully gothed out and extracting tons of stares, Their hands were linked together and swinging between their bodies. Right now they were just wandering around Belleville, talking about nothing like usual. They had a way of doing that, talking about video games or books that they liked, never really getting into the personal shit. It was just easier that way.

People passing them on the street thought the two looked like a fucked up couple. Gay and goth, that was two strikes against them. Though Frank did look quite feminine at the moment with the way he was practically clinging to Mikey's arm as they walked, sneaking loving little glances when he could. As much as he hated to admit it, this whole 'love' business was completely one-sided and he knew it. Sometimes he wondered if he should have dated Bob, just to feel love from someone. Because with Mikey, he was giving all of his concern, love, and protection and basically getting nothing back. It was scary knowing there was no one to hold him, give him kisses and assure him that life will be okay when he can't take it. Which does happen a lot. Frank has tons of breakdowns because he's just a billion different emotions trying to exist peacefully in one small human body. He feels things so strongly. When he's sad, the whole world loses its luster and feels like it will never get any better, it's just a series of movements without purpose. When he's happy, it's in an exuberant and over bearing way that spills out on to those around him, showering them with affection. And, perhaps worst of all, he falls so quickly and pathetically in love that it ends up disastrous. He pours extensive attention--maybe to the point of being over-protective and smothering-- to whoever has managed to grab his attention.

But with Mikey, it was despairingly different. Frank was forced to cut down on the cuddling, the flirting, even the simple touching, because Mikey was anti-social. That was okay, though. Frank was content with this. Just walking down the street holding hands with Mikey. It was such an innocently couple thing to do and the lack of real physical contact made Frank appreciate just being in Mikey's presence.

Frank was lost in his thoughts, so was thoroughly startled when he heard Mikey speak.

"Hey, Frank, do you want to stop here and get something to eat?" Mikey asked, pointing across the street to a Sonic, which must have been their official fast food place. But Frank appreciated the stability of it, now that he was unprotected. He nodded, and pulled Mikey across the road.