Play The Field.

After the soccer tournament, it seemed like Halloween was just there with no warning at all; one day, we were just learning about fairy tales in school and the next, we were all dressed up in our costumes, parading around our classroom and eating cookies. This year, Frank was actually allowed to go out for Halloween and naturally, he went with us.

Unfortunately, so did Joey, who was just getting creepier with age. Him and Gerard had both decided to wear matching grim reaper outfits, which only added to the overall effect. It was still hard to believe that he wasn't even ten yet, and I really was starting to think that he was having an effect on Gerard's behavior.

He was... different, somehow. I wasn't sure how to explain it, but it seemed like he got annoyed with me more frequently, especially when his best friend was over; meaning Joey, because no one else ever came over for Gerard. To put it politely, I wasn't sure if he had any other friends.

I couldn't really say too much about their friendship though, considering Frank was basically my only friend as well. Neither of us was complaining though; I enjoyed having him only to myself. The mere thought of Frank being with anyone else all the time made my stomach turn.

My costume was the same as last year, with only a new pair of fake fangs to change things up. Frank's mother was getting him done up before sending him over, so I ended up sitting on the porch steps for almost half an hour, waiting for him to emerge from his front door. After a few minutes, Joey came out and sat beside me, holding the fake scythe that was part of his costume.

"How you doin' Mikey?" he asked, leaning back on his elbows. It took me a few moments to get over the initial shock of him speaking to me; it was such a rare occurrence, I couldn't remember the last time it had actually happened.

"I'm okay," I answered quietly, not taking my eyes off of Frank's front door. He seemed to know where I was looking, and I glimpsed a smirk settle on his face out of the corner of my eye.

"Waiting for Frank?" I nodded, my heart speeding up a bit as one of his living room curtains twitched slightly. I usually would have been quivering with fear from having Joey so close to me, but I was too excited to see what Frank was dressed up as to really care at the time.

"You guys are really good friends, aren't you?" he asked again, scooting over a bit so he was mere inches away from touching me.

"We sure are!" I replied, with great enthusiasm. "Frank is my best friend in the entire world, just like Gerard is yours." He chuckled and let his head dangle down, which made his hair fall down to surround his face.

"I doubt your friendship is exactly like ours, but I know what you mean," he said, looking up again to join in at staring at Frank's house. I let out a deep breath, thinking that he was done talking. Only a minute or so later however, he asked me yet another question, although this one seemed quite random compared to the others.

"Have you ever kissed Frank?" he asked me, shifting a little so he was staring directly at my face. I hesitated for awhile; why would Joey want to know such a thing? If I did tell him, would he tell Gerard and my mom? Would they be mad? So many questions were running rapidly through my mind but in the end, I just bypassed them all and told the truth; after all, Ms. Kresin had told us in kindergarten that lying was bad, a lesson that had also been enforced by Mr. Simpson.

“I haven’t kissed Frank, but he’s kissed me,” I said, lightly touching my cheek. It was almost as if the spot his lips had touched me was imprinted into my skin; even now, I could still recall how soft they’d felt. “Why, is that a bad thing?”

“Nope. It’s not bad at all.” With those parting words, Joey stood up and headed back into the house, leaving me alone once again. Oddly enough, Frank came out of his door only seconds later, nearly tripping down his driveway a few times on the way over.

“Hi Mikey!” he squealed, waving as he crossed the road. I could now make out what his costume was, and it sent me into a fit of giggles. Frank was dressed up as Frankenstein of all things, complete with fake plastic bolts attached to the side of his neck.

"Hi Frankie!" I met him halfway, barely resisting the urge to hug him; as much as I wanted to, I really didn't want green makeup all over my cape. "I like your costume."

"Thanks. I like yours too," he said shyly, looking down at his feet. I laughed and grabbed his hand, pulling him up our steps and inside, nearly colliding with Gerard in the front entranceway.

"Mom, are you ready yet?" I called, poking my head into the bathroom, where she was adjusting her jaunty witch hat.

"Yep, let's get going," she said, puckering her lips once more before shutting off the light. "You look very nice Frankie." He murmured a response in reply and I could have sworn I glimpsed a blush beneath his makeup. She smiled at the both of us and headed into the kitchen, calling for my brother and Joey. After giving each of us a pillowcase for our candy we set off, via foot. Luckily, our neighborhood wasn't that bad of an area so there was plenty of nice people around giving out goodies and Mom knew which houses to avoid.

By the time night had fallen, we all had so much candy we were basically dragging our pillow cases behind us. Both Joey and Frank were staying the night at our house, seeing as Halloween had fallen on a Friday that year. I'd almost completely forgotten that it was actually Frank's birthday as well; if it hadn't of been for my mom reminding me, I wouldn't have even gotten him a present. However, she had picked him out some Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles toys the last time we'd went shopping, so everything was all cleared up.

Gerard and Joey headed off to my brother's room as soon as they'd gotten their costumes off, but it took me and Frank quite a bit longer. Our makeup was being rather stubborn and took a lot of scrubbing, plus a substantial amount of soap, to come off. By the time we'd finished that and given Frank his present, it was pretty well time for bed anyways.

Frank fell asleep almost the moment his head touched the pillow, tightly clutching one of his new action figures. Although I was positively exhausted, I was kept awake by the noise of Joey and Gerard through the thin wall separating our bedrooms. After awhile, I just gave up on blocking them out and decided to tune into their conversation.

"...your brother is gonna be real cute when he grows up," Joey said, although the words were slightly muffled. Knowing his appetite, he probably had a giant handful of chips shoved into his mouth.

"Hah, I doubt it," Gerard replied, clear as day. "Frank, maybe but Mikey... nah. He's gonna be a nerd."

"But an adorable one." There was a pause between them, long enough to give me some time to think about what they were saying. I found it only slightly weird that they were discussing Frank and I, and when we grew up. I didn't even want to think of that point; everyone knows that when you get older, things change. What if when we grew up, Frank didn't want to be my friend anymore?

Once again however, my questions were driven out of my head by only a few simple words from Joey.

"They're gonna be fags too, you watch." At this point I stopped actively listening, although I could still hear them through the wall. I had no idea what that word had meant; at the age of five, who really does? I did know though that it sounded... hurtful and mean.

"Fags." I let it slip over my tongue once before swallowing it back down. I hated the way it sounded coming out of my mouth and I vowed never to say it again.

But as I turned my head to look at Frank, sleeping contently with a smile upon his face, I knew that I at least had to find out what it meant, just to give me some clarification.

Asking my mother... was not such a good idea.