Ink

The next morning, Frank woke up to a massive hangover and Gerard's exposed right hip. Before he examined the skin, he took a moment let his ovaries splatter the walls and his breathing to speed up immensely. When he finally gathered his wits about him and looked at the raised shirt, he was certainly shocked. Black lines, swirling and forking elegantly, traced the pale skin, fading to shades of gray in some places and darkening dramatically in others. The darkness seemed to shift as he breathed, almost moving over the skin.

Curiously, he raised Gerard's shirt over his stomach, revealing more faded gray and charcoal black. He resisted the urge to rest his hand on Gerard's slightly chubby belly, instead settling for hovering his hand over the hot skin. Gerard felt almost feverish, making Frank's hand sweat without touching him. Frank lowered his face to Gerard's stomach, letting his nose brush the hot flesh gently, not thinking about the fact that this was an extremely intimate act and "just friends" didn't do that. Frank noticed again that skin was slightly gray, making Frank wonder exactly what was wrong with his Gerard.

Under his nose, Frank could feel Gerard shift in his sleep. Quickly, in an almost blind panic, he pulled Gerard's shirt over his displayed skin and closed his eyes to feign sleep. He kept one hand balled in the bottom of Gerard's shirt, in order to curb any suspicious thoughts he might have had if he had felt the tug on it.

He heard Gerard shift a bit more and yawn tiredly, before looking at Frank and Mikey (at least that's what Frank assumed he did), whom he had wrangled into his grasp the night before, and released a breathy laugh. "Oh Frankie," he murmured, "What am I going to do with you?" He pressed a soft kiss to Frank's head (Frank swooned so hard, you wouldn't believe, oh my god) and did the same to Mikey. He sighed and laid back, tightening his grip on the other two in an almost-hug. Frank figured it was a good time for him to "wake up".

He put on the whole show: squirming for a minute, making a couple of noises, and then blinking his eyes open and yawning genuinely (it was fuckin' early, man). He smiled lazily, releasing his grip on Gerard's shirt and letting his hand fall limp on Gerard's pudgy belly. He couldn't help but find the pudge cute, though. It'd be nice to rest his head on and fall asleep, listening to Gerard talk in the meantime...

Head in the game, Iero, holy shit.

"Morning Frankie," Gerard greeted happily, seemingly unperturbed by Frank running his finger's over his clothed abdomen. Frank totally had a stomach fetish. Definitely not as weird as the eyeball fetish, though. Jeez, Japan, keep your tongues in your mouths.

Grinning, Frank replied, "Mornin' Gee." He decided to wait for Gerard to mention the black lines first; his trust was much more important than his bodily deformities, no matter how curious he was. Besides, he did mention he would tell him what was going on "someday". Frank just hoped that "someday" was soon.

Gerard and Frank proceeded to wake the others up; slapping Mikey's cheek gently; kicking a toppled-over Bob; pulling Ray's hair. After various groans of protest and threats ("'m gonna kill ya with unicorns, sluts," Mikey slurred), the group congregated in the Way's kitchen, only to be met with a tall, graying man.

"Morning Dad," the brothers chorused, circling the counter to the coffee maker.

Mr.Way looked up from his newspaper and nodded. "Good Morning, Mikey."

Gerard's jaw clenched and his hands balled up, but his eyes never strayed from the coffee maker. Bob and Ray exchanged looks with Mikey and Frank reached over and squeezed Gerard's gloved wrist. Frank knew what game Mr.Way was playing, and he didn't much like it. He didn't have a definite reason yet for why this was happening, but he was smart enough to figure out it had something to do with the black twisting lines on his abdomen.

After several minutes of quiet, Mr.Way stood and folded up his paper. "Well, I'm off to work. I won't be home until midnight, so don't ruin the house, boys," he said, sending a look to everyone but Gerard.

Gerard continued to stare hard at the coffee machine. When his father left, he muttered, "Dick," harshly and kicked the cabinets.

"No kidding," Mikey snorted.

"I thought he wasn't supposed to be home until Sunday afternoon?" interrupted Frank, who was still standing as close to Gerard as he could without being on top of him.

"He was," Mikey shrugged, "but he probably had some falling out with his girlfriend. But he didn't say we weren't meeting her. Sorry Gee."

Gerard just said "ugh" and "double negative" and slopped off to the living room to sulk on the couch, all the while not spilling a drop of coffee.

Wizard.