It's a Punk Rock Kiss, Asshole

Frank called me later that night, apologizing profusely about how he had been moody this morning, which caused me to apologize profusely for no reason because that’s what I do when I get nervous.
“Gee,” he sighed after a few moments of mindless chatter on my end. “Hey, you don’t have to apologize for anything. Really. I’m going to go to sleep, so sweet dreams honey. Dream up a new comic for me or something.” I could hear the grin in his voice as he talked.
“Okay,” I agreed, smiling a little bit myself. “Nighty night Frankie.”
I didn’t hear Frank’s line click off, so I waited, wondering if he had something else to say. But we just sat quietly, only hearing each other breathing before Frank snorted a little and I giggled, and then we were both laughing.
“We are so lame!” he groaned. “I can’t believe we just did that. What are we, teenage girls?”
“Very lame teenage girls,” I agreed. “One’s who just got their first boyfriend, and he’s a senior and the captain of the football team or some shit like that.”
Chuckling, Frank agreed before adding, “Goodnight for real, Gerard,” and hung up.
A stupid grin stuck to my face, making me wonder if I really was turning into a teenage girl when my phone started buzzing and alerted me that Mikey is calling. I had barely hit the answer button when I was greeted by “TellmerightnowwhathappenedwithyouandFrank,” from Mikey and “HELLO GERARD,” from Pete.
“Hey Pete,” I grimaced, pulling the phone back from my ear. “And hold on Mikes, jeez.”
“No, no way Gerard. My antisocial brother gets a boyfriend and won’t tell me about it? But it’s okay for you to call me in the middle of the night when I’m busy doing other stuff like, I don’t know, sleeping like a normal human? Tell me right now.”
“Okay, okay.” I threw myself on the couch, focusing on the cracks in the ceiling before starting. “I mean, it was just a first date. He was gonna take me to a bar to see this band he said is really good-“
“-Did you go in?”
“No. I explained why of course, more or less. He understood.”
“Okay. Good. Continue.”
“Then I suggested we go to that diner I really like, so we did and had breakfast for dinner and milkshakes. And I told him some stuff and he told me some stuff about him too, but he’s still talking to me so. Oh, and he spent the night. We didn’t- like we didn’t do anything, y’know. We just like… Like cuddled on the couch and fell asleep.”
Mikey just quietly “Mhm”ed a lot. “So you like him then?”
“Yeah. Yeah, I like him a lot,” I grinned to myself.
I could practically hear my brother rolling his eyes over the phone. “You’re such a lovesick dork.”
I stuck my tongue out at him, not caring that he couldn’t see. It’s the thought that counts. “How was your vacation?”
Mikey happily rambled about how Pete took him to Maine and it was freezing cold but they got to wear a bunch of sweaters and beanies and hiding under the cover of all the giant pine trees there when it started pouring buckets of ice cold rain outside. And several people there commented on how they were “Such a cute couple!” which made Mikey’s day. And he calls me a lovesick dork.
“Oh, also Pete’s friends Andy and Joe are having a party at their place later this week. Do you want to come? You can bring Frank.”
Internally I cringed, but if Frank can come, then it might not be so bad. Parties and I don’t usually mix, but if Frank comes then at least I’ll have someone to hang around who won’t get pissed that I’m practically using him as a human shield from interacting with people. “Okay.”
“Okay? Woah, Frank has made you a changed man,” he chuckled, which for Mikey was more of an exaggerated breathing noise at the end of the sentence.
I shook my head. “Whatever, Mikeyway. I’ll call you tomorrow.”
“Bye Gee.”
“BYE GEE!!”
✖✖✖✖
“Hey Frankie, can I see you today?”
I heard Frank shift some things around and yell something at someone named Bob before answering. “Uh, yeah sure. There’s a hipster-y coffee place by the record store where I work. We could meet there for lunch, if you want.”
“Yeah! That sounds great.”
“Okay, it’s a date,” he giggled. He quickly told me the address in-between “Oh, shut up, Bryar, like you’ve never been caught on your phone before?” and made a kissy noise in the phone before hanging up.
✖✖✖✖
I really envy Frank’s damn car. Taking the subway everywhere, being squished between strangers and avoiding eye contact, really sucks. And walking sucks even worse when the soles of your shoes are so thin you can feel the cracks in the pavement. But it’s worth it to go see Frank, I told myself as I waited at crosswalk after crosswalk, trying to stay out of people’s way as they bustled by. It’s worth it for him.
The coffee shop Frank told me to go to looks kind of like a hole in the wall that anyone would miss if they weren’t looking for it. I almost doubted that there was a place in business there at all, but the smell of coffee and whip cream leaking out of the building told me otherwise. I took the stairs two at a time and walked in, ordering a black coffee and took a seat by the huge window that overlooked the street, watching people as they walked by. I absentmindedly scribbled some things down as while I waited, looking up every few moments to check the door.
Frank smiled as he came in the door, his cheeks and the tip of his nose tinged pink from the cold autumn air outside. He unwound the scarf around his neck and made his way through the sea of tables, sitting down next to me and sneaking a kiss onto my cheek. “So, how come you wanted to see me? You miss my pretty face?”
“Of course,” I laughed. “But I was wondering if you wanted to come to a party with me?” I bit my lip unsurely.
Frank nodded. “Sure. Whose party is it?”
“Oh, just two friends of my brother’s boyfriend. I think Mikey kind of wants to meet you too, so. Like, if it really sucks we can just leave.”
“If it sucks, then I’ll liven it up,” Frank grinned at me, mischief glittering in his eyes. “But anyway, Mikey wants to meet me? Do you think he’ll approve of me and all these tattoos, Gerard?”
“Pete has his fair share of tattoos, so I think you’ll be just fine.” I squeezed his hand gently. “Who was the guy you were screaming at on the phone?”
Frank smirked, shaking his head. “I was yelling at Bob. He was making some not very workplace appropriate jokes about me talking to you on the phone.”
“Oh,” I said, blushing and ducking my head to hide my face. “Should I not call you at work? Or-“
“Nah, it’s fine. Ray doesn’t care as long as we aren’t on it the whole day.” Frank slipped his finger under my chin and pushed my head back up, the pad of his thumb slowly stroking my cheek. I sighed happily and leaned into it, closing my eyes and smiling softly. I heard Frank chuckle fondly and all the background noise of the weird indie music and grinding of the coffee machines melted away. Frank pressed a gentle kiss to my forehead before murmuring something about getting us food and getting up. When he broke contact all the sound came flooding back, but I didn’t mind.
He came back with some vegetarian masterpiece of a sandwich and coffee for himself, and some awesome cherry tart for me. We talked about everything and nothing, Frank telling me about the new shipment of Misfits records they got and some Rancid cassette tapes, and I told him a little about Mikey and Pete.
“We should do this every day,” Frank said when there was a quiet point in the conversation.
“You want to?”
“Yeah,” he smiled. “I like to see you, Gee. It brightens up my day.”
I blushed and grinned, unsure of what to say. I’ve never brightened someone’s day before. “I like seeing you too, Frankie. It probably is a good thing to get me out of the apartment once every day,” I laughed as Frank nodded seriously.
After more small talk and stolen kisses and nibbles off of my tart, Frank reluctantly got up to leave and kissed me on the cheek, promising to call me as soon as he got off work at the tattoo parlor. On the way back home I hummed quietly to myself, enjoying the walk a bit more than I had on the way there.
✖✖✖✖
After meeting Frank at our coffee shop for a few days, I feel into a pattern of sorts: wake up, COFFEE, maybe shower if I was up to it, paint/draw/work on comics, see Frank for lunch, stay in a daydreamy state all day afterward, call Mikey, watch TV, sleep. I told Mikey about Frank and my coffee place, and he called me domestic, but I can tell he’s glad that I actually have a reason to go into the world on my own. I think it’s made me more confident, since I can order food without stumbling over what I want a few times now. I’m not sure if it’s because the people who work there recognize me, if it’s Frank, or if I’m actually making an improvement, but whatever the reason, I feel better. The week has gone by faster too, it seems. Before the days dragged on, but now they fly by, one thing bleeding into the next until the next thing I know it’s night and I’ve just finished talking to Mikey and Pete.
“So, what’s the dress code for the lovely party?” Frank asked me, sipping some of my coffee.
“Casual. But regardless I would have worn just black.”
“That’s what you wear anyway,” he giggled.
I shrugged. “Guess you always know what to expect with me then, huh?”
Frank nodded. “So I’ll pick you up at eight?”
“Eight it is,” I agreed.
✖✖✖✖
Frank insisted that I shower before we went to the party. “It’s not that I mind the stink, because I like your stink, I just think that other people might,” he explained to me earlier while mussing up my greasy locks, which made me realize yeah, I probably should shower before I go.
Frank showed up wearing the same Misfits shirt as me, which caused him to moan and steer me to my room, sitting me down on the bed while he tore through my closet. “Out of all the things I have to wear, and I choose the same goddamn shirt as you,” he muttered.
“Here, Frank, all the clean stuff is in this pile,” I said, scooting past him to dig through my closet. I felt his lips on the back of my neck and shivered as they ghosted down and over my shoulder blades.
“We could just skip that party and stay here tonight,” he whispered, one of his hands sliding down to my hips and squeezing gently while the other pushed its way up and under my shirt and roamed around.
“As much as I’m all for that idea, I already promised Mikey we’d go,” I mumbled.
“Could tell him you’re sick,” Frank mumbled back, reaching up to nibble on my earlobe.
“Frankie,” I whined, leaning my head back.
“Yeah Gee?” His voice is low and rough and full of lust, and damn I really, really want to stay, but I can’t. Mikey’s told me he’s looking forward to seeing me and meeting Frank, and I just can’t let him down.
“Frankie, we can’t, not right now. Can we wait ‘till later?”
Frank was quiet, but I felt him nod as he let go of my hip. His other hand dropped down to my belly, giving it a loving little squeeze. He helped me out of my shirt, picking the first shirt on top of the “clean” pile. “Promise we can fool around later?” He asked innocently.
I chuckled. “I promise.” I took his hand in mine, kissing it before following him out of my apartment and down to his car. Frank started the car and turned The Ramones down low, enough so that we could talk but still hear it in the background.

“This must be the place,” Frank noted as we pulled up to Joe and Andy’s place, a small little brick house that was overflowing with people. Cars lined the street while music blared from the tiny house.
“Must be,” I agreed. “There’s Pete’s car.”
Frank parked and led me inside, casually keeping ahold of my hand while I scanned the crowd for Mikey. I led the way down the hall by one of the bedrooms when- “Oh, shit.”
“That’s your brother?” Frank giggled, pointing to Mikey, who is pushed up against a wall by Pete where the two are violently making out. They are dangerously close to knocking the picture on the wall off.
“Yeah,” I sighed. “That’s Mikey.”
“Are you gonna break them up, or…?”
“Should I?”
Frank shrugged. “It’s your brother, dude.”
I sighed and tugged Frank with me, edging through the ton of people to them. “Mikey! Mikes! Mikeyway!” I yelled over the music.
Mikey pushed Pete’s head to the side and adjusted his skewed glasses to see who the hell was yelling at him. “Gee! You came!”
Pete turned around, his lips pink and shiny. “Hey Gee!”
Frank erupted into a fit of giggles beside me.
Pete grinned comically wide when he saw Frank. “Is this the guy?”
I nodded proudly, joining our hands. “This is Frank.”
“Hey,” Frank waved to them. “I’m kinda thirsty.”
“I think all the stuff is in the kitchen.”
“Um, is it alright if I have a beer?” Frank’s cheeks tinged pink, his other hand clenching and unclenching like he’s nervous he shouldn’t be asking such a question.
“Yeah, of course.”
“Okay. I’ll get a water and a beer, so when I’m done I can chug the water to get the taste out of my mouth,” he nodded to me.
“I’ll get it for you, Frankie. Anything else for you guys?”
Mikey and Pete both shook their heads no, so I left Frank to socialize with my brother and his boyfriend as I edged around even more couples making out and groping each other and some completely wasted idiots.
There was a bucket with beers and a margarita machine next to it, and then a large jug of what looked like Kool Aid, which is much better than being the loser who always has to drink water or Pepsi. “Is this non-alcoholic?” I asked a girl who’s sitting on the counter smoking a joint.
“Yeah, it’s just some Lemonade mix shit,” she confirmed.
“Thanks,” I smiled, pouring a small cup of it to try it. It’s really fruity, but not bad, so I got a solo cup full, and a water and beer for Frank. Awkwardly edging around people is getting annoying, since no one bothers to move anyway, so instead I gently pushed to get through.
“Hey, thanks!” Frank grinned, kissing my cheek as he opened his beer.
I caught Mikey eyeing him warily, but I let him know that Frank is trustworthy and he backed off, instead joining the conversation Frank and Pete are having about tattoos.
It seemed like as soon as I got there, my cup was empty, so I trekked back to the kitchen. I could see the joint girl outside in the garden from the window, laying in the grass and talking to some other guy. So it was pretty much just me in the kitchen. I downed another cup, because why not? I was already there, it would save me another trip. Can’t hurt to have two…..
Patrick, Pete’s best friend, found me in the kitchen by myself and talked to me for a while about my art and how his band stuff was going, and if either of us was dating anyone. I downed two more cups, and woah- everything is kind of funnier than it was earlier. I feel different, and felt my blood run cold- what if someone put something in my drink?
I stumbled around to find Frank and Mikey, but the only person at the end of the hall is a girl with long blonde hair and is grabbing at any guy who walked past her. I backed up and tried to turn around, but she snatched my hand and pulled me around, kissing me and slamming me to the wall. “Stop,” I whimpered, trying to push her off of me. “No, no I have a boyfriend, shit-“
She shushed me, one hand in my hair while the other was working on my belt. I tried to push her hands away, but every time I tried to move my head swam and the world kind of tilted.
“No, stop! Stop, stop, fuck, where’s Frankie?” I cried, pushing her away.
“Hey! Hey, hey, I’m here baby,” I heard Frank call. “Hold on.” Frank pushed the girl off me and grabbed me around the waist, kissing me softly on the cheek. “I heard you yelling for me. What’s wrong?”
I panted a little, trying to remember what the hell was wrong. Oh yeah! I remember now. “I- I think somebody put something in my drink, Frankie. My head feels all funny. But I don’t know how, ‘cuz I had my cup in my hand the whole time. Do you think there’s a ninja here? Like, someone wanted to drug me so they hired a ninja?”
Frank cupped my face in his hands and looked at me for a minute. “Gerard, I think you’re drunk.”
I pulled back and almost hit my head on the wall. “What?!”
“Gee, what the hell was in that fruit stuff you were drinking?”
I bit my lip, shrugging. “I dunno. I asked a girl if it had booze in it and she said no though. So.”
Frank swore and shook his head. “Someone probably spiked it with some other sweet liquor and you didn’t taste it.” He sighed and kissed my brow. “Come on. Let’s get you out of here.”
My heart sank. I’m drunk?! But… But I’ve been so good…. It’s been three years, almost, without one single drop, and now some goddamn punch got me drunk? How did I not even taste it?
“It’s okay, Gee. Sometimes you can’t always taste it, and just think it was some weird fruit in it.”
I stared at Frank incredulously. “How did you know what I was thinking?”
He chuckled. “You were talking out loud.”
We pushed past a lot of people who were dancing by the front door, most of them moving as Frank led me. The cool night air feels good against my skin, which is hot and sticky from being inside the house with so many people in it for so long. Then I felt my stomach lurch.
Either I said something again, or Frank just has a sixth sense for when people are sick because he sat me down on the curb across the street. “You gotta puke, Gee?”
“I- I don’t think so. I dunno. I think I just need a minute.”
“Okay. But if you do, now’s the time to do it because if you puke in my car, you’re gonna pay for getting it cleaned.”
I nodded and swallowed, feeling my stomach settle. “I think I’m okay. Just drive slow.”
“Sounds good to me.” Frank stood up and offered a small tattooed hand for me to grab, which I took and slowly stood up. He led me into the car and buckled me in, pressing a gentle kiss to my forehead before getting in on the other side. He started the car and turned the music really low, so low I can barely hear it.
Maybe it’s because I’m drunk, or Frank really is just amazingly attractive, but he seems to glow under each of the streetlights we pass, his long bangs tucked behind one ear. I slipped one hand under his shirt, tracing the sparrows on his hips. But then I got a sneaky thought, grinning to myself as my hand went lower-
The car stopped suddenly as Frank slammed on the break. “Gerard! Do you want to get in an accident?!”
“No,” I blanched, pulling my hand back like I had burned it on a stove. “I just thought you’d like it.”
Frank chuckled and shook his head. “I do like it, but hands to yourself until we get home, okay? I want to get both of us home safe and in one piece. Because God knows I won’t be able to drive safely if you’re grabbing at me.”
I nodded and slumped down, but Frank offered his hand for me to hold and I took it, examining all the tattoos on his arms and tracing them with the tip of my finger. “Does that feel good?”
“It feels really good. It tickles a little, but it’s relaxing. I’ve always liked it when people trace over my tattoos.”
“Did it hurt when you got them?”
Frank shrugged. “Some did, some didn’t. It depends on where you’re getting it done if it’s a sharp or dull pain. Why, you thinking about getting some?” He laughed hard as I shook my head no, my eyes almost popping out. “Yeah, I didn’t think so.”
He pulled into my apartment’s parking and helped me out of the car and up to my apartment, sitting me down on my bed before walking out of the room.
“Frankie?” I called, trying to get up but my head disagreed.
“Hold on, babe,” he shouted back. He came back in with a sandwich and some water, setting it down on the nightstand. He helped me up so I was sitting upright rather than laying and handed me the food.
“Why’d you make me this?” I asked innocently.
“Aren’t you hungry? I heard your belly growling over the roar of the car engine,” he chuckled, tickling me a little bit.
I shook my head. “No. I thought it was the car, to be honest.”
Frank smiled warmly, sighing softly and resting his hand lightly on my knee. “Eat up baby. You’ll want to puke later if you don’t have anything else in your belly besides the booze.”
I nodded, digging into the sandwich and munching quietly. I watched Frank absentmindedly rub my thigh, picking at a hole he found in the seam of my jeans. I like this. I like Frank watching out for me, taking care of me like he is and him wanting to make sure I’m okay. Before Mikey did it for me, but I mean, he’s my brother. He kind of has to. But it feels more intimate with Frank, more special than it did all those times when I was puking at home and Mikey was rubbing my back, pretty wasted himself. I wondered if he felt the same way. If he likes taking care of me. I wish I could do the same for him, but I’m kind of useless.
“All done?” Frank asked gently when I finished, pulling me out of my thoughts. I nodded, handing Frank the empty plate which he put on the nightstand. He shifted and helped me out of my shirt and pants, tucking me into bed before standing up to tug off his clothes as well.
His back is beautiful: It’s got a wicked looking pumpkin on it with a manic grin, with “Keep the Faith” etched above it. His muscles flex and relax as he leans over to undo his belt and pull off his pants.
“Were you looking at me, Gerard?” he teased, giggling as I blushed and shook my head. He slid into bed and tucked my head onto his chest, flicking off the light so that the darkness swallowed us. I felt him card his fingers through my hair, pulling it out of my face and tucking it behind my ear, twirling the ends around his finger. His other hand trails down and rubs gently over my chest and belly. I moaned involuntarily, glad that he can’t see my face because holy shit that was embarrassing. But Frank doesn’t seem to mind; instead he just laughs softly into my hair and kisses the top of my head, continuing to rub and kiss until I fall asleep.