So Long and Good Night

He pulled away slowly, his eyes closed. He could feel Frank's quivering, warm breath skim across his chilled cheek. Slowly, he let his eyelids flutter open, to meet the breathtaking, hazel orbs of the man sitting right in front of his own body. Gerard finally ,let his head travel back, his vision scanning across Frankie's surprised face.

"Oh my God. I-I'm so, so, so sorry!" Gerard blurted our frantically, pushing himself slightly away from the man and covering his own mouth forcefully with his hands. The poor man's face had gone beet-red and he looked down, not wanting to make any form of eye contact with the boy that sat beside him.

Frank though, simply sat there in a daze, just staring at Gerard in surprise and awe, but no shock registered through his mind. No hint of disgust and no trace of confusion, because he had gotten the answer he wanted.

The man finally freed himself from the trance, and looked at the red-head sitting next his him, his head positioned at such a sharp downward angle, it seemed it would snap off at any moment.

"Gerard," he started quietly, "why did you do that?"

No answer.

"Gerard, look at me." Frank said gently, reaching over to the other man's face and cupping his chin, directing his attention to himself.

"I-I....I like you, Frank." Gerard mumbled incoherently.

"What's that?"

"I-I said...I l-like you, Frank. And I know that sounds utterly insane as we just met last night and shit, but....oh I don't know." he responded slightly louder. The man let his own hand drop back down to his side as he just stared at Gerard, a smile growing across his face.

"W-what are you smiling about?" Mr. Way asked nervously, worried that Frank would start saying nasty things to him.

"Oh...it's just that....I sorta like you too, Gerard....a lot." Frankie finally admitted, his cheeks starting to glow a deep pink, matching Gee's

"Really? Or are you just saying that for my sake?" He asked nervously.

"No, I really mean it, from the bottom of my heart, Gerard." Frank replied, the smile returning across his lips.

"Wow, so this is what it feels like." Gerard whispered to himself at a level inaudible to the other man.

So?" Gerard started awkwardly, "What do we do now?"

"Y-you wanna go back to my place?" Frank offered quietly.

"How about we go to mine?" The man said, seeing as they were just at Frank's, and because of the fact that it was still a mess.

"Oh sure." He replied, standing up slowly from the swing with Gerard soon to follow the same actions.

The two walked from the park in total and very awkward silence. That is, until they reached Starbucks, a block away from their apartments.

"Was is obvious that I was gay?" Frank asked curiously, breaking the silence with only an even more awkward topic.

"Not at first now. But then I saw your couch," Gerard chuckled. "and I was just thinking to myself, 'no man can e completely straight and have a white leather couch willingly."

"Well sorry I like having a little bit of a style sense." Frank replied quickly, being slightly defensive, though a blush was plastered across his face.

"And there's nothing wrong with that, it's just kind of a give-a-way when its a single man living on his own." Gerard giggled.

Things went silent for a few more minutes before Frank decided to be brave for a change.

With loads of hesitation in his actions, Frank sighed, and reached slowly for Gerard's swinging hand. As their fingertips brushed by each other, though, Frank retreated, and dropped his hand back down to his side.

He looked up slightly, to see Gerard smiling out of the corner of his lip, and within seconds, he felt his fingers being wrapped up between the other man's.

The two crushes walked the rest of the block in silence, their fingers intertwined, and their steps is surprising unison. But, that was short lived because soon, Gerard fell in leading step in front of Frank as they walked up the seven sets of narrow stairs up the apartments. Frank sighed as he hand was released from Gerard's firm grip.

Gerard smiled lightly to himself, seeing the barely recognizable hint of disappointment that spread across Frank's features as he dug around in his pocket for the keys. Once his fingers brushed across the cool metal, he fished them out, and flipped through them, locating this house key. With a slight backtalk from the metal in his hand, Gerard slid the key into the door lock and unlatched the door, pushing it open and gesturing his guest in before himself. He reached around the corner and flipped on the light, bringing the rooms to life with a bright glow.

"Wow, I like it." Frank complimented, walking through the foyer and into the living room.

"Well that you, Mr. Fashion Sense." teased Gerard.

"Oh please, have a seat anywhere." He offered, "Would you like something to drink?"

"Water would be fine, thanks." Frank smiles, sitting down on the couch.

"Coming right up. And feel free to flip through the channels and see if anything decent is on." The man called form the kitchen.

"Oh, okay." Frank said simply, picking up the television remote and bringing to set to life before scanning through all the late night talk shows and paid programming ads that run for three hours. Finally, though, something familiar caught his eye. He stopped to see the movie Up right as Gerard was walking back in the room with a glass of water for his guest and a mug full of fresh coffee for himself.

"Coffee? At this hour? Won't you be up all night?" Frank questioned, a slight hint of concern in his voice.

"Oh no. I'm not affected by the caffeine, and besides, it's decaf." He smiled, taking a long sip from the red mug.