I Didn't Mean to Fall in Love (But I Did)

“Morning,” Frank mumbles against Gerard’s shoulder. Gerard opens one of his eyes to look at Frank, who’s still essentially asleep aside from the way he’s trying to get his eyes to open. They’re fluttering open and closed like he’s willing his body to open his eyes, but it’s protesting. Gerard isn’t sure if he’s awake or not. He feels like he’s mostly still asleep but also awake, and it’s not a comfortable state to be in, because he still mostly wants to be asleep.

“I’m sleepy,” Gerard replies.

“Me too,” Frank says, and he gives up on trying to open his eyes. He instead decides to just cozy up closer to Gerard, and Gerard’s fairly sure he’s fallen back asleep.

“Frank?” Gerard asks, but Frank just groans and his head turns to face the opposite direction on the pillow.

“Morning to you too,” Gerard grins and then pulls Frank closer, because he’s really warm and perfect. Gerard thinks, even though he’s painfully tired and his bones are aching to get back to sleep, that he’s really happy, because this is Frank. He got to wake up next to Frank.

He actually wakes up next to Frank again a few hours later at a more agreeable time. It’s still the morning, but it’s late, almost noon.

“Hi Gerard,” Frank says fondly when he looks over at Gerard who’s hair looks like a spool of yarn you find in your grandmothers old sewing kit that hasn’t been touched in several dozen years.

“Hi,” He says back, and he only opens his eyes at the sound of Frank’s voice.

“This is a really good way to wake up,” Frank notes, and he sticks his head into the corner of Gerard’s neck.

“Yeah,” Gerard replies groggily.

“We’re finally together though,” Frank says, and when he says it his heart swells at how ecstatic that fact makes him. He never thought he’d be with Gerard, but here he is.

“Mhm,” Gerard says, “my boyfriend is hot.”

Frank croons, “Is that what I am then?”

“Is that okay?”

Frank looks up at Gerard and his big brown eyes meet Gerard’s, “it’s definitely okay. It’s better than okay. It’s amazing.”

“Good,” Gerard says.

“My boyfriend is hot too, but his morning breath is abysmal,” Frank says looking serious and also sweet at the same time. Gerard finds himself not being offended by the insult because it’s hard to feel hurt when someone so pretty says it.

“So is yours,” Gerard says.

“Yeah,” Frank frowns, and he leans down to kiss Gerard anyway.

“Gross.”

“Yeah,” Frank replies, but he doesn’t stop kissing Gerard.

~*~*~*~

A few hours later, a shower, a meal, and another shower preceded by some fucking, and Frank finds himself in the kitchen. He’s looking at Gerard who’s trying to read something in the newspaper, but he keeps getting distracted by Frank looking at him.

“What are you looking at?” Gerard asks, looking down at the paper, and trying to avoid eye contact with Frank.

“I’m looking at my boyfriend who’s really attractive, and needs to start kissing me before I get really sad.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah.”

“Let me finish this, okay?” Gerard asks.

“No,” Frank replies, and he leans over the counter to pull the paper away.

“That wasn’t very nice of you,” Gerard states.

“No it wasn’t,” Frank agrees.

Gerard doesn’t resist when Frank starts kissing him from over the counter. Frank’s not very tall, and he probably couldn’t even reach if Gerard hadn’t leaned into it, but obviously he was going to lean in.

“You know what we need to do?” Frank asks.

“I can think of a lot of things we need to do,” Gerard replies.

“Oh fuck off, that’s not what I meant,” Frank says shaking his head at Gerard, “no, we need to freak the fuck out of Pete and Patrick.”

“We need to what?”

“We should tell them that we hate each other or something, and that I’m moving out just to see them get all pale and terrified!”

“You are a sadist aren’t you?” Gerard says, shaking his head. “Well you’re going to have to be the one to do it, because, in case you don’t remember, I have a hickey.”

“But it’s a very very cute hickey,” Frank says smiling. Frank goes back to stand on the other side of the counter looking proud of himself.

“Yeah whatever, I have work on Monday you know,” Gerard rolls his eyes at Frank, and rubs at his neck.

“Well then everyone there will know that you got lucky, and you can tell anyone who asks that you slept with the hottest guy on the planet,” Frank replies.

“I don’t recall ever sleeping with David Bowie.”

“David Bowie is like 70.”

“I’d still tap that,” Gerard shrugs.

“I hate you.”

“I know,” Gerard smiles back at him, and he walks over to Frank who’s still beaming from the fact that he actually is with Gerard.

“I love you a lot, Frank,” Gerard says and Frank looks up at him. For Frank, kissing Gerard has become like a second nature already, because he’s just so happy that he gets to do it. He never thought he’d kiss Gerard, so the fact that he does get to has made every time their lips touch more special than anything in the world.

Someone knocks on the door and then Frank throws Gerard off of him.

“Oh it’s show time!” Frank says dramatically.

“What do I-”

“Just put your hand on your neck, dumbass,” Frank says, and Gerard frowns. He sighs and leans himself against the counter, and puts his hand on his neck as casually as he can.

“Look grim! I’m moving out asshole,” Frank says.

“Sorry? I’m in a good mood, I can’t help it,” Gerard says.

“Because I fucked you last night? And then again last night? And then a little bit this morning.”

“No because it’s a cloudless day and the sun is shining,” Gerard responds sarcastically.

“Frank we can hear you, we know you’re home, open the goddamn door,” Pete says from the opposite side of the door.

“You can give me a minute to get to the door can’t you?” Frank yells back.

“You are a horrible person,” Gerard shakes his head.

“Okay, Gerard. Look sad. Let’s make them sweat,” Frank says. Frank gets a devilish glimmer in his eye before he walks over to the door and puts a somber look on his face.

When he opens the door, Patrick and Pete are standing there, Patrick looking anxious, and Pete looking like he’s really craving potato chips.

“Hey guys,” Patrick says anxiously and he looks at Gerard first before he even lays eyes on Frank. Patrick walks over to him, noticing Gerard’s expression and he looks like he’s trying to analyze the expression.

“Please tell me you have Oreos or something, because we ran out and I’m hungry,” Pete says, without noticing either of them.

“All you think about is food,” Frank says.

“Food doesn’t argue with you, it’s just there to make your stomach happy,” Pete replies, sticking his head in the refrigerator.

“We need to talk about you two though,” Patrick says, looking from Frank to Gerard nervously. Frank feels happy with himself that they’re pulling the charade off, at least with Patrick. Pete is more interested in a box of poptarts. Patrick looks already concerned about the two of them though.

“So what’s up with you two, and why does Gerard look like he just drank rotten milk?” Patrick asks.

“Yeah, about that,” Frank says sighing.

“That’s not a good way to start a sentence,” Pete says looking over, because something has caught his attention that isn’t covered in sugar, which is a first. Pete is always hungry in the morning. He’s like a vacuum cleaner.

“Yeah, we’ve made a decision as to what’s going to happen between us,” Frank says.

“And what was that decision? Please tell me it didn’t involve you two yelling at each other,” Patrick says.

“Oh no, we yelled at each other,” Frank nods, “we yelled at each other a lot last night.”

“There was a lot of yelling. Massive amounts of it. Really really loud,” Gerard confirms.

“Yeah quite a bit too,” Frank says, “more than once.”

“A few times actually. We just kept yelling at each other all last night.”

“And a little bit this morning,” Frank says, “there’s just been a lot of yelling.”

“Yeah, you just said so. Repeatedly.” Patrick replies, looking at the two of them, still utterly confused.

“I mean, I’m not sure if yelling is necessarily the right word though?” Frank says.

“No. Maybe, like ‘screaming’? I don’t know. Loud noises though, that’s for sure,” Gerard says, looking at Frank expressionlessly.

“Oh yeah, that’s a definite. Lots of that going on. Gerard and I just, well, we’ve been discussing this living situation thoroughly and we think we’ve decided what has to be done,” Frank says, trying to look glum.

“Oh god,” Patrick says, and Pete seems to be paying attention now too, but that doesn’t mean he’s not trying to steal a packet of poptarts by stuffing them into his sleeve. He seems to think that they can’t see him, but Pete does not make a good thief at all.

“I’ve decided that I’m going to be moving out,” Frank says bluntly.

“You’re what?” Patrick asks, looking even paler than normal, so he looks like he needs to be rushed to a hospital, because the boy already has the same skin tone as Casper the ghost.

“Yeah, it was a tough decision, but it’s just not going to work out with Frank living in the room next door,” Gerard says and he looks down at the counter.

“But I... but we talked about this yesterday Frank, and you seemed like you were going to...” Patrick starts and then makes a bleating noise like an angry goat.

“Well, see logistically, it just wasn’t going to work out,” Gerard says, “so we talked it over, and yeah, Frank isn’t going to be living in that room over there anymore.”

“But what about, like, Friday movie nights and stuff? It’s going to be so hard to still all be friends if Frank doesn’t live here!” Pete says, “And who am I going to have long discussions about dinosaurs with, if Frank is gone?”

“You can have a conversation about dinosaurs with anyone. Patrick for example,” Frank says.

“But Patrick doesn’t like Jurassic Park, and I’ve been meaning to break up with him because of that. Who doesn’t like Jurassic Park? That’s like not liking garlic bread. Everyone likes garlic bread,” Pete says.

“It’s just a movie,” Patrick rolls his eyes.

“It’s a book too!” Frank points out.

“Right, sorry. It’s a book and a movie, but it’s not like it’s a human obligation to like them.”

“Do you see what I have to put up with?” Pete asks looking incredulous, “you two have got it made, you can’t let Aaron pull you apart. Frank, you can’t!”

“Pete, don’t tell them what to do,” Patrick warns him.

“But they’re making the wrong decision!”

“Yes, well I know that, and you know that, but that doesn’t mean they’re not complete idiots,” Patrick says.

“We are still here you know,” Frank interrupts, "I can hear you.”

“Well you are an idiot!” Patrick says to him.

“Yeah! You’re in love with Gerard! Everyone knows that, even Gerard knows that, you should be with each other!” Pete shouts, “You can’t move in with fucking Aaron-”

“Who said I’m moving in with Aaron?” Frank asks.

“What?”

“Well I never said I was moving in with Aaron, I just said I’m moving out,” Frank corrects.

Patrick groans and shakes his head, “Oh great, well that’s not that much better. You won’t be living here anymore, and-”

“No, he’s still going to live here,” Gerard says.

“What?” Pete asks, looking really confused now. It’s the same face he gets when he tries to solve a Sudoku.

“Frank isn’t going to be living in that room over there anymore,” Gerard repeats, and he points to Frank’s door, “but he’s still going to live in this apartment.”

“So, wait, where’s Frank going to live?” Patrick asks.

“Over there,” Frank points to Gerard’s room. “It’s a shorter commute for me if I just live in the same place as my boyfriend.”

“Your boyfriend...?” Pete asks, like he’s still muddled. The poor guy could get lost at sea while still tied to the dock.

“You guys are awful,” Patrick says and his head falls against the counter like he’s given up on life. “You terrified me, you stupid jerks.”

Patrick obviously gets it a little quicker than Pete, but then understanding flashes across his face, and he looks at them with a shake of the head. Gerard just grins back at Pete’s glare and grabs ahold of Frank’s hand.

“You two are literally the worst though,” Patrick mumbles, only picking his head up a few moments later. “Like I couldn’t even imagine how sad Gerard was going to be, but then you two were just playing a trick on us, and I hate you.”

“Yeah, sorry about that,” Frank shrugs, “it was too fun to pass up.”

“I’m stealing the rest of your poptarts,” Pete shakes his head, “that was low. Very low.”

“Pete, you steal all of our food anyway,” Frank tells him.

“Aren’t you two going to congratulate us for finally getting together or something? I was expecting fanfare and fireworks, or maybe a pony and a balloon artist,” Frank says.

“There should totally be a pony here, you’re right,” Gerard says, “I want a pony. We need to find ourselves a very small horse to celebrate the fact that you and I are together.”

“If you want a pony, I’ll get you a pony,” Frank says, looking at Gerard.

“Oh god, they’re disgusting,” Pete says looking at Patrick, “we don’t act like that, do we? Please tell me we don’t act like that, I could never live with myself. If I was that annoying and gushy, I’d need a punch a wall to snap myself out of it.”

“No we’re not like that, but mostly because you’re an idiot,” Patrick says. “And I’m not going to congratulate you two. You should’ve been together five years ago.”

“But we’re together now!” Frank says, “And that’s what matters, right?”

Patrick looks to be in deep concentration, and then he has some sort of epiphany and makes a face.

“Oh, so you two were ‘yelling’ all night,” Patrick says, and he scrunches up his nose in disgust. He looks over at Pete who also seems to get it, and he’s making a face like he’s a pubescent teenager hearing a dirty joke.

Pete snorts, “Oh my god. You two made macaroni art.”