You Give Love a Bad Name

"Awww."

My eyelids fluttered open, the sound of the voice instantly awakening me. As soon as my eyes got adjusted to the light, I took in my surroundings; my living room and the person who had woken me up. When my blurred vision finally cleared, I almost screamed.

"Gerard! What the fuck are you wearing?" I gasped, finally realizing that it was only my idiotic brother.

Gerard twirled around proudly, a steaming cup of coffee in his left hand, showing off his getup, which was a very loose body suit, made out of soft pyjama material, with five big, white buttons going down his chest, white hood with a skeleton face, and white bones that resembled the actual bone structure, positioned against the black fabric. He seriously looked like some kind of monster when I first woke up, so you can't really blame me for wanting to scream, can you?

"You like?" He asked me, taking a sip of his coffee, almost like taunting me with the steaming cup of goodness. No scratch the almost part, he was taunting me. I could tell by the smirk on his face.

That little fucker.

"It's pretty sweet," I admitted, brining up my hand to cower my yawn. "You can totally scare our little cousins with that shit."

"Worked on you, didn't it?" He stuck his tongue out at me in a very childish manner.

"Careful, Gee," I warned him, laying my head back down on the soft, warm mattress that was Frank's chest. "You know what Mom always says; 'Don't make any faces that you don't want to be stuck with for the rest of your life'. Now that I think about it, Grandma says it too."

Gerard rolled his eyes and took another sip of his coffee. "Shut up, simpleton."

"I'm listening to one talk," I retorted smugly.

"So... What's this?" Gerard gestured towards the direction where Frank and I laid on the sofa with a gleeful expression, like he caught me in some forbidden act or something.

"A couch," I replied in monotone, silently laughing at his crestfallen expression.

"You know what I meant, moron," he snapped, crossing his arms over his chest. "You and Frank are looking pretty cozy this morning."

"Uh, can you please lower your voice?" I hissed back, shooting him a death glare. "You're going to wake him up."

"Awww, how cute!" Gerard cooed sarcastically, totally ignoring my request. "Young love. So sickingly sweet that I'm about to puke."

"Gerard, you fuc-" I stopped when Frank let out a groan in his sleep and shifted beneath me with irritation. "Fucker," I hissed, taking care to keep my voice unnaturally quiet. "Frank's my best friend. Nothing more, nothing less."

"And I'm gonna be the guy who'll say; 'I told you so' at Way and Iero wedding," my oldest brother replied in a singsong manner, looking at me with triumph in his honey-colored eyes.

I knew that he was only saying all of this to make me pissed off, hell, 'taunting your little sister' was his all-time favorite pastime, but still, his mockery was getting me more mad than it was intended to, and that part scared me a little. Surely I of all people knew where Frank's and mine friendship stood.

"No shit. The fact that you and Frank are gonna marry is old news to me," I said calmly as possible, without jumping up and awakening Frank in the proses.

"Bitch," Gerard snarled.

"Asshole," I replied, baring my teeth in a sadistic grin.

"Cunt."

"Vampiric fuck-"

"Jesus fucking Christ!" Frank groaned, his hazel eyes snapping open in annoyance. "Why can't both of you just shut the fuck up when there are people sleeping in a room? I swear, you two bring 'sibling rivalry' to a whole new level."

"Morning to you too," I said hastily, trying to get up, but I wasn't having any success 'cause Frank's arm around my waist held me in a steel trap.

"Morning, Frankie-poo," even though it was directed at Frank, Gerard's gaze was fixed intently on me, watching my doomed struggle against Frank's arm, amusement playing across his face. "How did you sleep in our humble environment? Good, I hope? Was Lena a good pillow/blanket/body heat source?"

I gasped audibly, turning my head so I could glare at the innocent looking Gerard, who was gazing at me with devilish sparkle in his eyes. I knew where this was going, and it wasn't going to happen. Not now, not ever.

"For your information, Gerard," I started heatedly, starting my never-ending battle with Frank's arm once again, so I could finally get up and do my morning routine in peace and quiet. "I-"

"It was amazing," Frank cut me off smoothly, tightening his grip on my waist despite my protests. "Now tell about you and Ray; how did that go? Lena and I saw how both of you fell asleep shoulder to shoulder last night."

"Don't even go there with the gay jokes, man," Ray warned my best friend, coming into the living room with a steaming cup of coffee in one hand and a muffin in other. "It's not like it's my fault that I fell asleep next to this doofus."

Gerard ducked Ray's kick and started to make his way out of the room. "I'm gonna go finish cleaning. Ray make sure that these two get their lazy asses up so they can help."

"Okay," Ray called over his shoulder. When he was sure that Gerard was out of ear shot he turned to me and Frank. "I say that we sit this out and make him clean up all the party shit by himself."

I started to jump up and down as Frank shook with laughter underneath me, which felt like I was experiencing a minor earthquake.

"What time is it?" Frank asked suddenly.

"Almost twelve," Ray replied, taking a sip of his coffee and sitting in a chair that was next to the sofa that Frank and I occupied.

"Noon?" I quickly tried to shove Frank's arms off me once again and make a dash for the door. "Shit. We're late for school! Why didn't anyone wake us up? Where's Mikey? Where's Melanie? Where's Cara, Bob and Laurie? What about Jake? Frank, let go of me!"

"No," he grinned at me, his hazel eyes dancing with mischief as he put another arm around my waist, ensuring that my captivity was secure.

"Dude, relax," Ray told me, laughing at my antics. "We didn't wake you up 'cause Cara thought it'd be best if Frank and you slept in. She and Laurie are at Laurie's house, packing her stuff for Utah. Jake, Mikey, and Melanie are at school. Bob is in the bathroom brushing his teeth, he decided to stay and help with the cleanup. Cara told me to tell you to call her after you wake up."

"Oh," I sighed in relief, falling onto Frank's chest, recognizing my defeat at my attempts of escape. "That makes sense."

It was quiet for a minute, the only sounds in the living room were Ray sipping his coffee and Frank yawning now and then. I had enough of my sitting, or I guess you would call it a laying arrangement, as soon as Frank shuffled my weight so my face was buried in his cheek.

"Argh, your breath smells," I whined, struggling to get away. "And you need to shave. It's like hugging a hedgehog."

Ray snorted as Frank nonchantly reached towards the back of his jeans and produced two sticks of gum. Making sure that he still had one armed grip on me, he unwrapped both sticks of gum, putting one in his mouth, and before I could protest, shoving one in mine as well.

"Better?" He asked me, smirking and looking proud of himself.

"A little," I turned my head to the side so I could look away from Frank's penetrating eyes that were inches from my own. "What did you do? Pull the gum out of your ass?"

Ray laughed at that, standing up and walking out of the room as Gerard called his name from somewhere near the kitchen area.

"Close enough," Frank replied smugly. "My jeans's back pocket."

I sighed and turned back to look at him, getting tired of having my cheek resting against his noticeable stubble. Except that was a big mistake. As soon as I did, I realized that our lips were almost touching, and for some reason those damned butterflies came back again. Why? It's not like I've never woken up next to Frank before, we had sleep overs all the time. But this time...this time was different, but I couldn't place my finger on the change.

Before either of us could make a move to do anything about the ever-growing uncomfortable distance, Frank's cellphone started to vibrate in his back pocket.