It's a Punk Rock Kiss, Asshole

Gentle yellow light filtered in through the open windows in my place that overlook part of the city, causing me to barely stir. I’m comfortably in the fuzzy in-between where you aren’t awake, but you aren’t really asleep either with something warm on top of me, as well as a soft feeling tickling under my chin. I sighed contently, moving ever so slightly and smiled to myself when I heard Frank yawn.
Then my phone ruined everything. My loud as hell ringtone started blaring Ghostbusters (Mikey changed it to that as a joke), and I quickly scrambled for it, all while trying to balance Frank on me without waking him up. I flipped open my phone, answering with a gruff “What the hell?” and not caring who was on the other line.
“Gerard? You called me 17 times in a 5 minute time frame last night, but you don’t leave a message. What the hell were you freaking out about dude? Did your place catch on fire or something?” Then he gasped softly, and I could hear the smirk in his voice. “It’s about that guy, isn’t it. The guy you called me about because he broke in?”
“Mikes, shut up!” I hissed into the phone. “I’ll call you back later.” I snapped my phone shut and threw it on the ground, freezing up as Frank shifted and made sleepy noises on top of me. Luckily he settled down and my heart rate returned to a less terrified pattern.
I breathed in relief, letting myself relax under him. Thanks to Mikey, I’m fully awake now so sleeping more isn’t much of an option. Glancing down, I noticed that Frank’s shirt has ridden up, exposing the tattoos on his lower back. The shirt is still covering half of them, but the black and colored designs swirled one into the next. I saw a few words curved together, and the tip of a wing from a sparrow, but then Frank shifted and sighed, causing the shirt to slip back down and cover them.
“Morning Gerard,” he mumbled, sleep thick in his voice. Frank nosed under my chin and giggled softly, pressing a kiss there softly before taking a deep breath and stretching. He glanced up at me, blinking slowly as he looked at me. “You got any coffee?”
“Yeah.”
We stayed silent, both of us exploring the other’s faces with our eyes. Frank smiled softly and kissed the tip of my nose. “I like it.”
“Like what?”
“Your nose. It’s cute.”
I blushed and shook my head. “Let’s just get you your damn coffee,” I mumbled.
Frank reluctantly rolled off of me, complaining that I’m too warm to get off of, but then he remembered that he had work to go to later and if he didn’t get off now he never would. I didn’t want Frank to move either, but my stomach started growling and had some opinions of its own about the matter, so I followed as Frank pattered into the kitchen.
“What’s your job?” I asked, trying to make polite awkward small talk.
“Well, technically I have two. I work all day at a record store that my friend Ray owns, and then I’m a tattoo artist at night. It’s a lot, but I like both. They both have something to do with stuff I love.” He turned to me and smiled, his small inked hands still fumbling with the coffeemaker. “My roommate doesn’t bring in a ton of money either, so I guess I have to be the responsible one and take care of all the adult ‘pay the bills’ boring stuff.”
“You have a roommate?”
“Yeah. I’m surprised you don’t.” Frank had apparently mastered the fancy coffeemaker and leaned on the counter across from me while it brewed up our drinks. “He’s kind of a weird ass. No roommate, that must be nice. You must be one hell of an artist then, huh?”
I shrugged. “Well, my parents help me pay for the place. And when Mikey gets in fights with his boyfriend or girlfriend or whoever he has for the moment he’ll stay here too. Sometimes, but very rarely, the fight lasts a month or two so he’ll help out when he’s here. But for the most part I bring it all in myself.” I scrubbed my hand through my hair awkwardly. I hadn’t really talked to anyone this much that wasn’t related to me. “What’s your roommate like?”
Frank shrugged. “He’s…. Interesting, to say the least. Just kind of sadistic, I guess. He’s got this power complex, like he’s always gotta be right or in charge. Not with me, since I’m his friend and we’re cool, but he doesn’t have a problem with getting in a fight with strangers.”
“Neither do you, judging by the night I met you,” I smirked, and Frank shook his head with a chuckle.
“That dumbass deserved it.” His expression became more serious. “The people Jimmy goes after though, I mean, they don’t really deserve it. Like…” Frank rubbed his temples a little, looking like he was trying to find the words he wanted to use. “Okay, so where I live there’s a big punk community, right? And it’s all cool, we all hang out make music, make out, whatever. And punks by default are kind of loud mouths and usually stick their face where they shouldn’t, and then they get surprised when they get in trouble for it. But for the most part everyone forgives everyone else when that happens because we all do it at some point or another. But Jimmy, Jimmy doesn’t forgive. And he sure as hell never forgets. Like, you have to go above and beyond to get this guy to respect you again, or at least get to the point where he won’t spit in your face when you walk by.” Frank sighed. “He also gets people to do his dirty work. The night you first saw me? That guy I got in a fight with? He had a bone to pick with Jimmy, but of course Jimmy was too busy doing god knows what with some chick so I had to go do it. Be a good little disciple of Saint Jimmy.”
“Saint Jimmy?” I asked. “Is that a nickname or something?”
“It’s his official title,” Frank scoffed. “He really does think he’s a savoir to some people. Granted, they do treat him like he’s the shit so of course he thinks he is, but it’s more than that. He knows he could lead them into something, something really bad, and they’d all follow.”
“They?”
“People that respect him, or buy from him. Either one. Usually both.” Frank rolled his eyes.
“Sorry I brought it up,” I mumbled.
“No, it’s okay. I just haven’t had anyone to talk to about it besides Ray, and I know he’s getting kind of annoyed with me. Like, I need to move out but I don’t know where the hell to go. I only just met you, and don’t get me wrong, you’re adorable, but I’m still getting to know you. I don’t want to jump into anything too quickly, you know?”
I nodded in agreement. I also find Frank quite attractive, but it’ll take me a while to get used to someone besides me and my thoughts living here. And sharing space. Like, Mikey and I have shared a room for practically our whole lives until I got older and lived in the basement for a while, so we know already who gets what area and who takes care of what when he lives here. But with someone else here, it would be awkward to try to learn how they acted. Plus I don’t know what kind of drunk Frank is, and I really don’t need to have someone who’s drinking around me constantly. I’m pretty good at controlling myself, but it’s hard to say no when someone you’re living with has a six pack in the fridge, cold and refreshing and begging you to take a sip. “It’s alright. Maybe you can later, when you trust me enough or something.”
Frank grinned. “I’d like that.” The coffeemaker beeped, pulling us out of our own little world. I reached around Frank to grab mugs from a cupboard he could barely reach while he poured us both our own cup.
“Sorry about not putting out last night. I was just really tired. Just needed a night without chaos for once, y’know?” Frank said from behind the mug.
I choked a little on my coffee, and it had nothing to do with how hot it was. “Um, no, no that’s fine. That’s really, really fine,” I sputtered. “It’s not like I was expecting you to or anything.”
Frank looked me over without speaking, analyzing me and I felt like he could see my soul. “You’re not like the other guys I’ve dated- granted I have dated some pretty shitty guys- but I like that. You don’t assume things.”
I was about to say something but got cut off by Frank’s phone loudly ringing. He looked at the screen and groaned. “Shit,” he sighed. “Alright if I take this?”
I nodded yes, and Frank flipped open the phone, rolling his eyes at the stream of chatter that immediately hit him. “Hey, Johnny. Dude. Calm down, and shut the hell up.” He huffed, his expression becoming steely and unreadable. “We’re not- no. I’m not talking to you about that.” He slammed the phone shut with more force than was probably necessary and threw back into his pocket, taking a huge gulp of coffee before mustering up a smile.
“Who was that?” I asked gently.
“Oh, just someone who brings me rainbows and sunshine,” Frank muttered bitterly.
“Friend of Jimmy’s?”
“Yeah, I guess you could say that.” Frank took another long sip and I let the subject drop. There was an awkward tension in the room, neither Frank nor I knew what to say. I glanced out the window, watching as taxis sped down the street and cars honked even though I could only faintly hear them.
I felt like I should apologize again, but I didn’t know what for. Sorry for asking you about your shifty roommate? Sorry for being interested in your life? “What time do you have to go into work?”
“9:30,” he answered back simply. He sighed. “Look, I’m sorry I screwed everything up, Gee. I just get so pissed whenever I think about how my life is sometimes. I didn’t plan for so much of this to happen to me, but here I am. And I shouldn’t take that out on you. I guess I should leave, unless you want to fool around or something. It’s not like it’d be the first time I came into work with hickeys or something.”
“No, Frankie- I don’t want you to leave, but we don’t have to mess around either. We can just kind of be together, or talk about something else.”
Frank shook his head. “No, I better go. I need to get ready for work and stuff.” He kissed m cheek and gave me hug. “Don’t worry about me right now. I’ll see you later?”
“Yeah. Text me later, okay?”
“Okay,” Frank nodded. “See you later Gee.”
Frank gave me another smile before shutting the door gently behind him.