Give Me All Your Hopeless Hearts.

Frank's P.O.V
Looking up at the guttering on our tiny house I realised neither Gerard or I had cleaned it since moving in almost three years ago. Sighing I leaned the ladder against the building and started climbing. Only I would think it was acceptable to do this in winter, merely days before my twenty second birthday. Heck, if this ladder wobbles much more I may not make it to my birthday! I felt the ladder steady beneath me and saw the dark locks of my fiancé holding the bottom steady.
"Why didn't you tell me you were going to clean the gutters out? You're gonna kill yourself" smiling to myself I opened the bag and held it open using the top of the ladder and with my sturdy gloves started to pull all of the shit that was clogging the gutters.
"This is fucking gross Gee, we'll have to do this every year." A shiver crossed my skin as the wind blew lightly.
"In summer next year" I heard him chuckle and couldn't help but smile at the sound. Around four years we've been together and I still get butterflies when he kisses me and his laugh still makes me smile.
The task took a little longer than I would have liked and I could see Gerard smoking a cigarette, still holding onto the ladder with one hand and a foot resting heavily on the last rung. I decided to give up and swear blind it was as clean as I could get it and climbed down.
As soon as I was back on the ground I pulled a cigarette packet from my pocket and threw one in my mouth as fast as physically possible, Gerard giggled again.
"Maybe we should quit…" He laughed again at the look on my face. He was more likely to grow another head and call him Charlie than get me to give up cigarettes.
"It's our only vice, we can't be perfect! It would annoy everyone else" wiggling my eyebrows at him he simply nodded in agreement, laughed once more and let his arm creep around my shoulder as we both stared up at the house.
I loved this house when we first moved in and I was still in love with it. The tall trees that gathered in the front yard, the massive porch that was probably too big for the house, the bright white front door and windy path. It looked a little sinister which is of course why Gerard had fallen in love with it. Me, I'd imagined a swing set in the yard and kids running around but that wasn't something i'd admitted out loud. We've been engaged three years and we haven't had the kid's talk yet. A part of me wanted to have them sooner rather than later. Till it dawns on me, i'm twenty one years old and I have found the one I'm going to spend the rest of my life with, there's no need to rush.

We were pulled out of our daydreams by a familiar voice.
"do you two often stand outside, staring at your house like crazy people?" Bob's hand clapped my shoulder and I turned and hugged him tightly.
"yep, it's a way to pass the time," Mikey was hugging Gerard and talking fast about how great his job was going. Grinning the brothers wandered into the house, no doubt straight to the coffee machine.
"wanna hand with this ladder, short stuff?" Bob was now staring up at the house himself. Not that i'd ever admit it to him but that ladder had been a bitch to get out of the garage by myself.
"please."

Gerard's P.O.V
"… and everyone is actually really nice, I couldn't believe it," Mikey's rant had come to an end as soon as i'd shoved the coffee cup into his hand. My smile was stretching on my face and I couldn't be happier that my little brother had a successful job, still managed to have a relationship and was still happy. Something inside me twanged, guilt at the fact i'd almost screwed up so badly at his age and had a sudden rush of pride for my baby brother, for being able to do it all so easily. Like I knew he would. He'd always been better at juggling life than I had.
"how's the teaching going?" Last year I'd been offered a place in the local school of arts and I loved it. I'd never imagined being able to teach or even wanting to, yet nothing compares to teaching a kid a certain technique, them nailing it and creating something breath taking.
"I still love it Mike's, I can't imagine doing anything else," Mikey's smile was so wide it had pushed his glasses up on it's own.
"I heard Frank's really making his way up the food chain at the youth centre!" gulping my coffee quickly I nodded enthusiastically.
"oh god yeah, he's in charge of all of the fitness activities now, they're even letting him develop his own sessions" Frank's job hadn't paid well in the beginning and I knew he was starting to regret taking the course that allowed him to teach boxing and self defence, as soon as he'd decided to go into youth work, he knew it would take a while to get somewhere. Now it's picked up however, he's bringing in just as much money as I am and he is the happiest i'd ever seen him.

"and are the last minute wedding arrangements done?" My mind drifted back to the night that Frank proposed. It was our first night in this house and Bob and Mikey had walked in just as he slid the ring on my finger. Bob had dropped his keys and Mikey had whispered 'holy shit' then they looked at each other, grinned and ran towards us, hugging us for what felt like hours. Apparently, Frank had told no one his plans to propose except my dad, he had asked his permission. Dad hadn't told mom because she could not keep her mouth closed so everyone else was just as surprised as I was.
"I think so, you know what Frank's like for organising things, unless it's a suitcase or a sock drawer he nails it," My gangly brother chuckled, clutching his cup closer..
"it feels like you've been engaged forever!" he mused.
"Three years Mikey, thats hardly a life sentence," He chuckled. "you and Bob have been together almost as long as me and Frank! When's your wedding!" He choked on his coffee and looked around to make sure Bob and Frank were still out of ear shot.
"It's different! You two are all passion and drama and intensity!" I felt my eyebrow raise of it's own accord.
"Okay, so what are you and Bob?" He paused for a moment, cup half way to his mouth.
"we're loving, built on trust and comfort…" He seemed satisfied with that answer as he nodded to himself and brought the cup to his lips.
"but you love him and you don't wanna be with anyone else right?"
"Of course you idiot,"
"Well… isn't that just as good grounds to get married as passion and intensity?" Mikey swallowed and looked thoughtful.
"I don't know… anyway I'm not asking him, i'll wait till he asks me" He smiled goofily and carried on drinking.

Mikey's P.O.V
Plonking myself down on my brothers couch I sipped my hot coffee and waited for Frank and Bob to come in from the yard.
"Gee?" I called. "We're all coming here for thanksgiving right?" he'd probably told me the family arrangements for thanksgiving a million times already but my brain felt like mush right now, what with work being so fresh and having to memorise a million things every day, there's only so much info my head can take at one time. Watching the back of his head I saw him shake it slightly but I knew he was smiling.
"Yes, but we have like a month before we have to worry about that, lets worry about Frank's birthday first," At that exact moment, the two missing men had wandered through the door.
"I told you, I don't want to do anything for my birthday!" Frank exclaimed, his hands flailing in exasperation.
"Frankie, you've said that every year since your eighteenth birthday, have we ever listened to you?" Gerard teased.
"No," He said, pouting.
"So, what makes you think we're gonna listen this year hmmm?" He shuffled forward and wrapped his arms around Franks neck who was trying hard not to grin.
"Fine, I'll lock myself in the bathroom for the entire day," he'd barely finished his sentence when Gerard interrupted.
"Mom's making you a cake,"
"I'm in." Gerard laughed and kissed him hard on the mouth. It was no secret that Frank was a fan of our mom's cooking. Heck, if he didn't have such an active job he'd probably be the size of a small state by now.

Now both her son's had 'flown the nest' she tried hard to over compensate by buying us ridiculously expensive coffee machines that took Bob almost a year to learn how to use without threatening to throw it out of a window and baking an obscene amount of food to bring over.
The dynamic of our family had changed somewhat. Now it felt like the Iero's were really a part of the Way family, and, as soon as my brother and my best friend get hitched, they will be. Frank and Gerard's place was the hub for all family activity too. Even though both mom and Linda's houses are bigger, everyone congregated at Gerard's. Maybe because they know him well enough to know that he hates to leave the house as it is and if it was left to him to arrange visits they'd only see him a few times a year.
It's not that he doesn't care, he just gets caught up in what's going on at that moment.

Like now for example, he'd intercepted Frank on the way to the kitchen, probably to get himself and Bob some coffee, his arms were wrapped around his neck and he pulled him into an extremely x rated kiss.

Bob made a gagging noise and Frank flipped him off the best he could, he was still somewhat preoccupied with a Gerard attached to his face. Once he let him come up for air Gerard looked at me and smiled a grateful little smile but it twisted too fast into mischievous for my liking.
"So, when are you two tying the knot?" I had been half way through swallowing the last of my coffee and choked loudly, coughing and spluttering. That fucker was going to get a mug to the face any second. Yet Bob was laughing.
"Come on, he moved out before you, we need to let you do something first, you'll feel like a failure otherwise," Bob grinned evilly.
Gerard went to answer, he must have caught the look on my face however because, he stopped giggling and hastily changed the subject.

Frank's P.O.V
Wiping the sleep from my eyes I reached out to Gee's side of the bed. The bed was empty and cold and I sat up quickly, panicking until I saw the mound of presents sitting beside my bed. Today was october thirty first, Halloween, my birthday.
There was a note on one of the bigger boxes, Gerard had left to make coffee, I was to come downstairs and see him once i was done.
Every year Gerard gathered my gifts from people and left me to open them by myself as he knew I liked. Then it hit me like a tonne of bricks how many presents there actually were.
Reading the tags on the gifts i smiled as i opened them. As soon as I was done, I wandered downstairs in search of Gerard and found him where i knew I would. Sat at the kitchen table, coffee and cigarette in hand.
"Happy Birthday baby," He looked up to accept my kiss.
"thank's… and thank you for the present, I told you not to spend much money on me,"
"don't be silly, you need a laptop for work, think of it as an investment," i was still mad at the amount he'd spent on me, as i always was every birthday and christmas but the guy never listened.
"don't give me those puppy dog eyes, last year you bought me a car for my birthday!" My mouth split into a wide grin at the memory of his green eye's bulging at the sight of the old Camero in the drive way.

The fact that I had to work on my birthday didn't bother me in the slightest, my job is probably one of the most fun jobs you could have. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't perfect, but it was great. The kids are from wealthy families and private schools, they can sometimes get a little too big for their boots and none of them have signed up for self defence class, apparently, you don't need to learn how to protect yourself when your daddy sells mercedes.
Putting my bag and my brand new laptop on the back seat of my car, I find myself hoping for the first time in a long time that my day at work goes fast. Knowing I was going to be coming home to all of my family and the best birthday cake ever made my stomach growl in excitement and hunger.

Gerard's P.O.V
As soon as Frank had arrived home from work I couldn't help but drag him to the bedroom, he'd been sweating and working out all day and it drives me crazy knowing how good he looks under those sweat pants and t shirt. We had both just finished getting dressed after our, ahem, shower when Bob and Mikey showed up, a lot of time had passed without me realising and I was suddenly thankful Frank had decided he wanted to order chinese in for his birthday meal.
Mom, Dad, Linda and David all showed up not long after, bringing with them the food, Frank's cake and a pile of board games. The sight tickled me slightly, were we old before our time? Hanging out in couples, with our parents none the less, playing board games and eating take out on our birthdays?
Ray and Christa pulled me out of my musings as they wandered into the house, Christa came to hug me hello as Ray and Frank shared a rather large, overdramatic hug in the door way.

Once the food had been eaten and we were trying to decide what game we should play, the talk turned to the wedding. My eye's kept drifting towards my fiancé, the glint of excitement he got in his eyes whenever someone mentioned it, the huge grin on his face, his animated hand movements when he was describing something, he genuinely looked like the happiest man on the planet. His eyes caught mine and he smiled, that cute little half smile he saves just for me.
"I can't believe you're going with Red, Black and White for the colour scheme," exclaimed Bob suddenly.
"Isn't that a little cliche?" There was a half a beat pause and the room erupted in laughter. Mikey looked at his lover through smile crinkled eyes.
"Babe… you're so gay," Bob rolled his eyes and pretended to sulk.
"I was just saying… It's a good colour scheme, just popular… you know what, forget it," he said, as more giggling could be heard. He huffed slightly and sipped from his coffee cup.

Frank's P.O.V
Thanksgiving came and went, a big meal at our place, Donald actually sat down for a proper family meal for once and Ray and Christa bought the news of their engagement. It's strange to think that everyone is getting married and moving in together and having babies… growing up isn't something i'd ever imagined myself doing.
If you had said to me that morning I came down to breakfast on the first day of summer to meet a red haired boy that I would fall in love, be engaged, have a house and a good paying job by my twenty second birthday, I'd have told you that you were undeniably insane. Yet here i am. Mere weeks till the wedding, everything one hundred percent planned and organised, waiting to become Mr Frank Anthony Iero-Way. Excitement bubbled up inside me and I turned to look at Gerard, he was sleeping soundly, lips parted slightly showing the smallest bit of tiny white teeth. Purple eyelids barely closed against the light outside. In a few weeks time, he's going to tell the world that he wants to be with me forever. He has no idea how much it means to me and how excited i am.