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

“Aaron, what the fuck are you doing here?” Frank asks, opening the door to him. Aaron walks in, uninvited, forcing Frank to step back.

“What the fuck is this?” Aaron asks, holding up a newspaper and shoving it in Frank’s face.

“Oh, you saw that did you?” Frank says, rather calmly as he takes the paper from him. He looks down at the crumpled paper and skims over the story that he’s practically memorized at this point.

“Yeah, I fucking saw it!” Aaron yells at him, and Gerard slips around the guy to close the door behind him. It’s too early to piss off the other people in the hall. Especially Pete, he needs his beauty sleep.

“What’d you think?” Frank asks dotingly.

“You’re slandering my name, Frank!” Aaron scoffs at him, “my phone has been ringing off the hook because of your meddling.”

“I only told the truth!”

“You told your side of the truth!” Aaron says.

“No, I told the truth. I’m not even painted perfectly in this article, Aaron. That piece tells the truth in as unbiased away as it can be. It’s not untrue.”

“But it’s not your business to tell!”

“It is when you treated me the way you did.”

“I treated you nicely, Frank. Up until you cheated on me,” Aaron says, eyes looking evil and scaring Frank just the tiniest bit.

He winces at the word ‘cheated’ but decides to ignore it for a moment, “you treated me nicely, but not where it counts. You were never genuinely good to me, Aaron. Sure you didn’t do your worst, but you were never a good boyfriend.”

“How could I be a good boyfriend to someone who wasn’t giving me a damn thing in return? All you ever did was sit there and talk about Gerard. You never brought anything to the table. You were just boring.”

“Then why does it hurt you so much that I left?” Frank asks bitingly. Aaron fumbles for a moment, looking astounded by the question, but he soon masks it by drawing together his eyebrows.

“You cheated, Frank.”

“I made a mistake when I kissed Gerard while I was dating you, but I didn’t cheat. I never meant to hurt you. I stopped the relationship because I didn’t want to hurt you. That was the last thing I wanted to do, but you wouldn’t listen. You wouldn’t understand what I meant when I said that I love Gerard, and always have loved Gerard. It was never you, Aaron. It was never you who I was in love with, it’s always been him. When I broke up with you, it wasn’t to hurt you, it was to save you from wasting your time and being hurt. I knew I wanted to be with Gerard. Not you. I broke up with you when I knew I could have what I wanted. I really did try to spare your feelings, but what did you do? You threw a bowl at me.”

“You deserved it.”

“No he didn’t!” Gerard interrupts for the first time. Frank had all but forgotten about Gerard standing there. He’s standing to the right of the front door with his eyebrows screwed up in anger that matches the expression on Aaron’s face.

“Shut up,” Aaron says, disregarding Gerard’s words.

Frank sighs, “The fact of the matter is, Aaron, that article exists now. You have to deal with the consequences that your actions have brought. You got yourself into this by acting like a jerk. You could have left the game with honor, but instead you decided to be a sore loser, and you’ve gotten yourself into this.”

“You’re such a bitch, Frank!” Aaron says.

“Oh right,” Gerard interrupts again, “it’s okay for you to try ruining Frank’s life, but when he tries to ruin yours it’s all of a sudden not okay?”

“Would you shut up?” Aaron says, turning to look at Gerard.

“No, because you’re behaving like such a child! You didn’t have to do what you did to Frank. A gracious bowing out was on the table but instead you made it impossible for Frank to get a job. Now you’re a scandal and that’s what you consider to be messed up? You sicken me.”

“Gerard, watch it,” Frank says, because he doesn’t trust Aaron in the slightest around Gerard.

“Listen to Frank.”

Gerard rolls his eyes, “You keep disregarding my existence like you think Frank has a fucking choice who he fell in love with, but he doesn’t. He likes me. Not you. Me. I’m not telling you something you don’t already know. This is the nature of the world that you have to accept.”

Time seems to freeze for a long moment as a decisive, and almost palpable slap fills the room. Gerard stumbles back, bringing a hand up to cup his cheek as Frank just stands there, trying to figure out if what he thinks just happened is what actually just happened.

When the dots start to connect in his head, that’s when Frank feels the real anger pump through him. He’s quite sure that never in his entire life has he ever been this furious with anyone. Really though, how dare Aaron?

How dare Aaron to come into someone else’s home uninvited and then smack a guy who didn’t even do anything wrong. Frank is seeing red, and he’s feeling his face heat up in rage. He’s either going to explode or turn into the Incredible Hulk, and he’s not sure which.

“You did not just slap my boyfriend you fucking moron,” Frank exasperates. “God, and you wonder why I broke up with you?”

Aaron turns back to Frank, while Gerard edges to stand next to the wall. He makes his way around Aaron carefully, and stands behind Frank. Not as protection, but so that he can watch the interaction take place. Gerard’s face feels numb, like someone injected Novocain into his cheek. It doesn’t hurt exactly, but it stings strangely.

Aaron gives him a face like he’s not at all impressed by Frank’s words, or Gerard’s apparent cowardliness.

“You know what, asshole?” Frank asks, stepping closer to Aaron, “I love him, and I don’t love you and there ain’t a thing you can do about that. You can slap him all you want, I’d advise you not to if you want to wake up tomorrow with genitalia, but you will not change me. You cannot change my opinion of Gerard, or of you, or of anything. I love him, not you.”

“You think you’re so high and mighty, but there you are walking around like you’re better than me. I’m not the one who cheated.”

“Fucking hypocrite, yes you fucking did! Maybe not with me, but you have cheated before, liar. But you probably don’t remember or consider when that happened because it wasn’t you that was being hurt by the lying and the backstabbing. No, you only care if it effects you, Aaron! You only give a shit when it’s you. It’s always about you!”

“Well why would it be about you?”

“What?” Frank asks.

“Why would it be about you? Which one of us is successful? Which one of us has more than twelve pennies in a piggybank? You’re no one, Frank. No one cares about you! No one gives a crap about the poor little cheater who doesn’t have a job or any ounce of fame to his name. You are even less than nothing without me, Frank. You’re just another menial wannabe that no one is ever going to give the time of day!”

Frank snaps.

He doesn’t try to, and he isn’t even aware of himself doing anything until he just goes for it. Frank’s like a ghost in his own body, he’s aware of the part where he punches Aaron directly in the nose, and he’s aware of his hand throbbing out in pain afterwards, but he’s not aware of when he made the decision to actually hit the guy.

Frank didn’t just slap the guy either, that is no sting on the cheek. Frank just fucking punched the guy’s nose like he was looking for blood. Frank didn’t know he was capable of hitting someone like that, nor is he aware that he was even strong enough to do it.

Frank may not have been aiming to really hurt the guy, be he realizes a moment after it’s happened that he might have just broken Aaron’s nose. That wasn’t on purpose, he didn’t mean to do that. He doesn’t regret it, not by a long shot, but he feels a little baffled at the fact that he just did that. Frank hasn’t ruled out the possibility that he’s possessed right now though.

All Frank knows is that Aaron lifts his hand up to his nose seconds after Frank’s fist makes contact with his face, and then there’s blood. Either Frank gave him a bloody nose or he really did just break the guy’s nose. He doesn’t know how to feel about it, if not proud.

“Whoa, Frank!” Gerard says behind him and he turns to give Gerard a dumbstruck shrug.

“Uh,” Frank finally finds his voice and looks around, because he does not want Aaron to bleed onto their floor, and also, it’s kind of extremely gross. He’s not a big fan of blood. It’s not going to make him pass out or anything, but that’s real blood. That’s not fake zombie blood or action movie blood, that’s the real stuff that actually was inside a person at one point. He finds it kind of freaky that he could cause someone to bleed that much real blood.

Frank scrambles for a dishtowel by the sink and then throws it at Aaron, who’s still standing there, kind of just numb or not aware of what’s going on. He’s aware at least enough to catch the towel before it falls to the ground, but he’s not much more conscious than that.

“I didn’t...” Frank drifts off, but he decides not to finish his sentence, because the thing is, he doesn’t regret anything. Frank isn’t one for violence, never has been, but god does he feel good about socking that fucker in the face.

Frank just takes a deep breath and crosses his arms across his chest. “Don’t you dare disrespect my worth, Aaron. Don’t you dare.”

“You punched me!” Aaron says, which is stating the obvious a bit. Frank doesn’t see why he needs to point out something that’s very clear. Also, of course Frank knows he punched Aaron, he’s the one who did it.

“Yeah, I did. I’d say sorry, but I know you don’t like when I lie to you. Now, Aaron, get out of my house, you twat faced fuck, and prepare yourself for every fucking lawsuit I can file against you. Harassment, battery, hopefully some variety of a restraining order, whatever. Just get the fuck out of my house, and never come back!”

“I’m the one with the high-end lawyers, Frank,” Aaron says, trying to sound threatening but it’s hard to be intimidating when you have a dishrag to your face.

“Yeah, but I’m the one with the hot boyfriend, and that’s what you want from me in the first place, isn’t it?” Frank says with a painfully sugared down voice. He shoos Aaron back and out of the apartment like he’s a common pigeon. Frank’s not getting his dishtowel back, but he doesn’t care. When Aaron is out of the apartment enough for him to close the door, Frank waves a hand at him, flips him off, and then slams the door in his face.

“Oh god is it bad that I found that hot?” Gerard asks as soon as the door closes in front of Aaron.

“Did you see how pissed he was?” Frank asks turning around and grinning at Gerard, “he looked like he was really bothered by that article! Like we really did get to him! Either we just pissed him off and I’m never going to be employed again or we might have done what we said out to do!”

“I hope it’s the second one,” Gerard says.

“Me too!” Frank says, still grinning, and then he steps forward to grab both of Gerard’s hands in his own. “I’m sorry he hit you.”

“I’m glad you hit him,” Gerard says with a shrug, “I wish I’d gotten a chance to swing at the guy though.”

“You’re so sweet,” Frank says, rolling his eyes.

“Oh, you love me,” Gerard giggles.

“Remind me why,” Frank says, shaking his head. He looks up at Gerard and bites his own lip despite himself. The side of his cheek is slightly red, it’s not that bad, and it’ll probably fade in a minute or two, but Frank feels kind of guilty. It’s stupid, because he’s not the one who hit Gerard, but he’s the one who feels guilty about it.

“You’re stupid,” Gerard says, as either a response or just a statement, and then leans down to kiss Frank.

Frank’s a little curious as to whether the confrontation between him and Aaron was a resolution or not. It felt like it might have been. Maybe Aaron is gone for good or maybe he’s not. Maybe Frank will be rid of the guy. Hopefully. He’s not sure. Whatever the case turns out to be, at least he’s fighting back. He’s not just sitting there like a limp fish waiting for someone to take advantage of him, he’s actually giving Aaron something to go up against rather than sitting in the corner and throwing a temper tantrum about it.

“Do you think this is the end?” Frank asks.

“I don’t know,” Gerard says, “but in any case, I’ll be here with you throughout all of it.”

“You’re the most painfully adorable person I know.”

“Adorable? I’m not hot?”

“The two aren’t mutually exclusive,” Frank replies.

There’s a knock on the door and Frank’s stomach falls, because he’d thought for sure Aaron had gone. What with his nose bleeding and all, it seemed the logical thing for Aaron to do, and yet, someone’s at the door.

“What do you want?” Frank yells at the door confrontationally.

“Well that’s not a very nice way to answer the door,” a voice, not Aaron’s, shouts back.

“Mikey?” Gerard asks, looking curious as to what the hell Mikey is doing outside their apartment. He just shrugs, and walks past Frank, though he doesn’t look happy about it.

He opens the door to Mikey, standing against the door frame like he’s been waiting there for several years.

“I think someone got murdered in your hall, there’s blood on the floor,” Mikey says.

“Well at least it’s not on the dance floor,” Frank says. He’s still standing in the middle of the apartment. He’s taken to looking down at his hand, which is still kind of stinging from hitting Aaron, and he’s sure that it’s going to bruise. Bruises aren’t forever though, so he doesn’t really care.

“No one got murdered, Frank just punched Aaron in the face,” Gerard says nonchalantly.

Mikey looks at Gerard with a questioning expression and then over at Frank. He probably doesn’t believe that Frank could hit a guy, but it’s not like Frank is actually made out of glass. He can defend himself, even if no one thinks he can. They probably underestimate him because he’s only a foot tall. Or at least, it feels that way to Frank.

“What are you doing here anyway?” Gerard asks.

“Oh, we’re just going to brush over the part where Frank punched a guy? Forgive me for wondering.”

“It’s not that complicated a story. I just punched him,” Frank says, “it was payback for that bowl he threw at my face. And for him slapping Gerard.”

“Aaron did what to Gerard?” Mikey asks.

“No, don’t worry, I’ve got someone to protect me,” Gerard says grinning at Frank.

“You’re going to have the midget protect you?” Mikey asks.

“I thought Patrick was the midget,” someone says from the hall, and they all look towards the door to realize that they forgot to close it.

“I am not a midget!” Patrick replies to the voice that just so happens to have belonged to Pete.

“You’re both midgets,” Mikey says.

“Pete is the same height as me!” Frank yells.

“I am not,” Pete replies, “I am definitely like a fraction of an inch taller.”

“What even is this argument?” Gerard says.

“Why are so many people in our apartment?” Frank asks, “Gerard, close the door before someone else tries to get in!”

Gerard nods and walks behind Patrick and Pete to close the door. They’re all just hanging about like they own the place, which Gerard does not appreciate. He’s the one who pays the rent. Well, Frank does to, but Patrick, Pete, and Mikey all look too familiar in the place considering they don’t even live there.

“Mikey, you came in unannounced first, why are you here?”

“I just read the article,” Mikey says, “no one told me it was coming out! I had to hear about it from the news.”

“The what?” Frank asks.

“The news,” Mikey replies, “your story is on channel four.”

“Our story is on what?”

“You guys are on the news?” Patrick asks, “That’s so cool! Why didn’t you tell us?”

“We found out same as you, five seconds ago!” Frank says, “And also you just got here.”

“Why are you two here anyway?” Gerard asks.

“When are we not here?”

“That’s a valid point,” Frank says.

“I want to see the story on the news,” Pete says, walking past them and grabbing the TV remote.

“It’s eight in the morning, I don’t even want to be awake right now and I have to entertain company of two dunderheads and my brother who’s an even bigger dunderhead?”

“It doesn’t take much to be bigger than them though,” Mikey says, “I mean, we have established that they’re all tiny human beings.”

“I found it!” Pete says, after playing with the channels a bit. “Oh you got the reporter with the blisteringly white teeth.”

“Did we?” Frank asks, looking over at the TV. “Cool. Hey Gerard! Our story is being reported on by the reporter with the fake teeth! I bet they glow under black light like in that one episode of Friends.”

“Can we get back to real life?” Gerard asks, “I want to go to bed, so Patrick, you and Pete had better have some fucking big news or you are going to leave my apartment. And you can take Mikey with you.”

“I resent that.”

“You were meant to.”

“Why are you here then?” Frank interrupts, looking at Patrick and Pete, “and why was Pete so mysterious about it yesterday.”

“Well we weren’t really sure what we were doing yesterday,” Patrick says, “still kind of in the phase of uncertainty.”

“What was?”

“Oh well, see the thing is that we’ve just been thinking recently,” Pete says, “What with the fact that you and Gerard are together now, we were just, like, thinking...”

“Yeah you said that already,” Frank says, “but you haven’t explained anything!”

“Well,” Patrick says, “we were just thinking that you two have gotten together, and Pete and I are pretty sure that we’re going to be together indefinitely so we were thinking, in probably the least romantic of settings, we didn’t do it properly, but that’s not the point. The point is that we only have one direction to move and that’s forward. So, we’re going to get married.”

“You’re going to what?” Gerard asks.

“You heard me,” Patrick says, “We’ve been together almost four years. We think it’s time.”

“Wait, so who proposed?” Frank asks.

“We didn’t really do that part,” Pete confesses, “like he said, it was unromantic to the point of obscenity, but it’s not the proposal that matters it’s the person.”

“That’s such a vanilla way to excuse the fact that you don’t have a romantic story for parties,” Frank answers. Frank shakes his head and looks around and then it catches up to him what they actually just said and he lights up.

“Oh, right, sorry. Congratu-fucking-lations. I know that’s a sarcastic term, but I mean it guys!” Frank says, and opens his arms, “bring it in guys. Let’s hug it out.”

“I’m not hugging you, Frank,” Mikey says.

Frank pretends to mope as he wraps his arms around Patrick, who is an unsurprisingly fantastic hugger. The dude could bottle and sell his hugs for fifty bucks a pop.

“Awww, you’re gonna be all domestic and shit!” Gerard says, smiling. “That’s so exciting!”

“We think so,” Patrick says when he lets go of Frank.

“Now what was this about not wanting to hug me,” Frank says, looking at Mikey. He takes a step towards Mikey, as he takes a step back in unison with Frank.

“You get any closer and I will fill your refrigerator with bees,” Mikey warns him.

“But bees are essential to human survival,” Frank says, getting closer.

“Fine. Wasps.”

“Come here, Way.”

“No, gross!” Mikey says dodging Frank, as Frank tries to contain his laughter at how stupid Mikey is. Gerard’s busy talking to Pete and Patrick about the thoroughly massive news of their fucking marriage while, for about two minutes, Mikey and Frank play a game of tag in the living room. Mostly it consists of Mikey on one side of the couch, avoiding Frank on the other, and then Frank jumping over the couch and Mikey runs away like he’s being chased by a horror movie villain. In reality, Gerard’s just really disappointed he doesn’t have a video camera.

“You know, when I was a little kid dreaming about getting married, I did not think it would be out trumped by two grown men playing cat and mouse,” Patrick says.

“That’s my brother and my boyfriend,” Gerard shakes his head, “What is my life? What?”

“Get off of me Frank!” Mikey shouts, and that’s how they know Frank’s won.

“Not until I shower you with love!”

“This has got to be illegal. Stop hugging me, it’s disgusting!”

“Fucking hell,” Gerard rolls his eyes, “I am happy for you both, engagement that’s amazing news, really, but I cannot believe that that’s my boyfriend. You can’t choose your family, but why the hell did I choose him?”

“Why did you choose him,” Mikey shrieks at Gerard, “this is the longest and most uncomfortable hug in all of history.”

“You are so fucking boney,” Frank says, “like, you’re going to poke my eye out with your shoulder.”

“That’s the plan.”

“Frank, get off of Mikey,” Pete says.

“Ugh, fine. He smells like nail polish remover anyway,” Frank says, and let’s go of Mikey who is all too happy to get the hell away from Frank. Though that’s what he gets for making a sarcastic comment directed at Frank.

“So a lot has happened today then,” Gerard says, “Pete and Patrick are getting married, Frank’s story is on the actual news, Mikey was attacked by a midget, and Frank broke a guys nose.”

“Frank did what to a guy’s nose?” Patrick asks.

“Oh, right, you missed the part where Aaron woke us up and then Frank punched him in the face.”

“Frank?” Patrick says, with a tone of disappointment, but he’s got a reluctant smile on his face like he totally agrees with Frank’s actions.

“Yeah, well,” Frank shrugs, “but let’s not forget about you two. We need to have a celebratory, uh, it’s eight in the morning? Celebratory breakfast! Food is on... well, food is on Gerard since I don’t have a job.”

“Did you just offer up my wallet?” Gerard asks Frank.

“Yes, they’re engaged, Gerard.”

“Yeah, but you don’t just volunteer a guy’s wallet without asking him first. I will pay for waffles though. Waffles or whatever. Patrick and Pete are getting married. Breakfast is the least I can offer.”

“I thought you wanted to go back to sleep,” Mikey points out.

“That was before I knew my best friends were getting married!”

“To each other,” Pete says, “We should clarify that, because we’re marrying each other. Not, like, other people.”

“Yes, Pete, I think they understood,” Patrick says. “Sorry about him, he’s not good at thinking when he’s got pancakes on the brain.”

“Well we can go, but I have to put on clothes. Gerard, you probably should too,” Frank says and then drags Gerard into their room.

They dress quickly, Gerard enthusing about how oddly exciting the day has been when it’s not even past nine in the morning yet. Frank pecks him on the cheek and agrees, because, yeah, it’s been one hell of a day already.

“You guys are taking too long!” Mikey calls to them. “I want my free food.”

“Me too,” Pete adds.

“Please?” Patrick finishes off.

“You guys are so impatient,” Frank says, hurrying out of the room a minute later. Gerard follows not long after, and Pete’s out the door almost immediately. The boy cares an awful lot about food.

Frank is just about to follow him out when the phone rings and he groans, walking over to it. He wonders why the hell they still have a landline, but he picks it up all the same.

“Hello?” Frank asks. The four guys in the doorway all look at him with annoyance, and Frank just ignores their eyes glaring into him.

“Wait, seriously?” Frank asks, and they continue to glare at him with the same irritated expressions, but with a smattering of raised eyebrows as they wonder who Frank is talking to.

What seems like infinitely later, as they all stand in the doorway, Frank finally hangs up the phone and looks at the people who are looking back at him. His eyes train for a long time on Gerard and then breaks out into a wide grin.

Frank takes a moment to breathe for a moment before saying, “I just got offered a job.”