Addictions.

Gerard had an addiction.
Gerard had had a few addictions over the years, drugs and alcohol being the worst, and he had managed to kick all of them to the curb when he decided to become a better person, but he just couldn’t seem to get over this one. Not that it was particularly horrible or that he’d even really want to stop, but it can’t possibly be healthy at this point.
Gerard had a coffee addiction. He drank easily two pots a day, only stopping when the overload of caffeine started to make his hands shake and his heart hammer in his chest, so hard he thought it might actually crack a rib at some point.
The first time Gerard had coffee he was five years old and he stole a sip out of his mom’s cup when she wasn’t looking. He’d hated it and his nose had scrunched up in disgust as he automatically spit it back into the cup – which he did not tell his mom about- and he wiped his tongue on the sleeve of his shirt, vowing to never drink the vile beverage again if he could help it.
The next time it was offered to him he was 12. His grandma held the warm mug out to him and laughed at his reluctance as he took a small sip. His eyes widened in wonder at the taste making his grandma laugh harder, fixing him a cup of his own. He’d been absolutely addicted ever since.
But now Gerard is 24 and his coffee addiction has been worse than ever for the past 6 months, which is really saying something as it was seemingly impossible to consume any more coffee than he did already.
This definitely didn’t have anything to do with the cute new barista at the café down the street from Gerard’s house, the one he and his little brother met up at twice a week, not even a little bit, no matter what anybody else might say.
At least that’s what he told Mikey, over and over every time he asked “so, how’s the boyfriend?” or “did you and the coffee guy finally bang?” or “are you going to actually talk to him this time, Gee?” or “okay, are you actually stalking him Gerard? Because this is getting kind of creepy, dude.”
Gerard would just explain to him that no, he hadn’t talked to him. Not because he was nervous that he would make a fool of himself and have to change his name and desert his family and move to Mexico to start his new life because this guy was actually the most beautiful human being to ever exist or anything, but because he did not have a crush on him. Not even a little one. And Mikey wouldn’t even pretend to believe him, rolling his eyes with a smirk. And the thing was, Gerard couldn’t even argue his case because he didn’t even believe himself.
Right now, they were seated in their usual spot at the café, and Gerard immediately became more alert as he saw Frank walk in through the front door, scooting behind the counter and tying his apron around his waist.
“Dude, you are so whipped.” Mikey said, wiping a drop of coffee off of the side of his mug with his finger and licking it off as Gerard stared with a dopey smile at the barista standing behind the counter. His name was Frank and he had a lip ring and a tattoo of a scorpion on his neck and a face like an angel and he was always so nice to Gerard, even when he stuttered out his order and refused to make eye contact or when he struggled to get his wallet out of his pocket and held up the line or when came in with charcoal or paint smeared all over his hands and face and looked like he hasn’t slept for days (usually because he hasn’t). He never looked at Gerard like he was weird like everyone else did and Gerard totally didn’t think he was the most beautiful human being, inside and out, to ever exist. He didn’t. And he definitely was not whipped.
“I am not whipped. I don’t even know the guy.” Gerard wasn’t sad about that, he really wasn’t.
“Okay, not whipped. You’re pining, which is so much worse.” Gerard grimaced and flicked a crumb from his muffin at the tall boy across from him, who just wiped it off the table with a smug flick of his hand. Gerard didn’t even know how a hand flick could be smug, but it was.
Gerard didn’t even reply to his brother’s ridiculous comment, but tore his eyes away from Frank and picked up his pen, continuing the drawing he had been working on before the he’d gotten distracted by the boy behind the counter.
It was just a sketch, nothing special really. It was a vampire with blood dripping down his chin, and if Mikey noticed that the blood covered face bore a striking resemblance to a certain café worker, he didn’t say anything.
They sat there for about an hour, just chatting about work and how things were going with Mikey and his girlfriend and if Gerard was really doing okay or if he’d just lied to their mother about that so that he wouldn’t worry her. It was pretty standard, pretty much the same as all their other bi-weekly meetings. It wasn’t boring though, Gerard liked being able to see Mikey and hear how he was doing. He liked that they’d stayed so close over the years, even after both of them had moved away from home and to different sides of the city, Mikey in school from music production and Gerard managing to scrape by with the money he made from his art.
However, when Frank came over to their table to see how they were doing and Mikey wouldn’t stop laughing at Gerard’s blushing face as he stammered out a ‘fine, we’re fine’ Gerard was seriously considering never speaking to him again. But then Frank smiled, and patted Gerard lightly on the shoulder as he walked back to the counter and Gerard couldn’t be mad any longer as his brain short-circuited and all he could focus on was the fact that Frank had just touched him and he hand was warm even through Gerard’s shirt and his smile might have actually caused Gerard some minor brain damage at how bright it was.
Gerard’s mouth hung open in shock for what felt like hours before Mikey started snickering again.
“Pathetic.” He snorted out, swatting at the wadded up vampire drawing Gerard flung at his face.
“Shut up, asshole,” Gerard stood from the table, straightening his clothes and chugging the rest of his coffee. “I’m gonna pee, be ready to go when I get back or I’m leaving without you.” And then he stalked off the restroom, staring at his shoes to avoid staring at Frank instead.
He did his business, then fixed his hair in the mirror after washing his hands before heading back out into the main part of the cramped café. Mikey was already standing by their table as Gerard grabbed his coat off of his chair and sketchbook off of the table.
“Here’s your pen.” Mikey spoke without looking away from his phone, holding out the object with his free hand. Gerard pocketed it and they headed to the door. Frank looked up from whatever he was doing behind the counter when the bell on the door dinged as they opened it and smiled widely and waved wildly.
“Bye you guys! See you Thursday!” But he was only looking at Gerard who blushed furiously and got the sleeve of his coat stuck on the door handle while he was trying to make a quick exit. The bell on the door dinged over and over and over again as Gerard tried to yank his sleeve free, his face heating up so much he thought his brain might actually melt out through his ears. Gerard wasn’t sure he would mind that too much as he looked up and saw Frank watching him with an amused smile and a quirked eyebrow.
“You alright over there?” Frank was obviously holding back a laugh and Gerard just kind of made a weird grunting noise, finally pulling his arm free and rushing from the building without replying, about 99% sure all of the blood in his body was currently rushing to his head.
Mikey wouldn’t stop laughing at him, actually doubling over and laughing so hard tears began to leak down his cheeks and Gerard hated him. He actually hated him and would never speak to him again, which he swore out loud to the younger boy. Mikey just laughed and wrapped his arm around his brother’s shoulder, small laughs still ripping through his body every once in a while and even though he really, really wanted to, Gerard couldn’t stay mad at him. So he just complained to him instead.
“He never says goodbye,” Gerard whined as they walked down the sidewalk to get to his car “He never says goodbye and today he did and I made a complete idiot of myself.”
“Shut up, Gerard,” Mikey slapped him upside the head before sliding into the passenger seat of Gerard’s beat up car and immediately cranking the heat. “He probably didn’t even notice, okay?” But Mikey said it with a chuckle and it was obvious he didn’t think that was true and Gerard groaned but dropped the subject, promising to himself that he could sulk all night after he was home.
~*~
Somehow Mikey had managed to talk Gerard into coming inside to see Kayla and meet the newest addition to their family that he’d been talking nonstop about the last couple times they’d met up. He was a kitten that Kayla had found on her way home one day and they’d lovingly named him Taco. Gerard had to admit he was pretty cool even though he was pretty sure the amount of cat hair on his coat by the end of the visit would leave his eyes watering and his nose running for days, no matter how much he washed it. He was pretty sure he had sneezed more within those few hours than both Mikey and Kayla had in their entire lives combined.
Thus, Gerard’s pity party had been postponed to a later date. He ended up having a nice time, blocking the Café Catastrophe (as he’d begun to refer to it in his head) from his mind completely, at least until he’d made his way down the 4 flights of stairs that led up to their apartment and clamored back into the driver’s seat of his car.
He’d lost track of time but by the time he had pulled out of the parking garage next to the small apartment complex the sun was already setting and Gerard still had a 40 minute drive home, which means he had 40 minutes alone in his beat up car to do nothing but think about what a fool he’d made of himself earlier. By the time he pulled into his own driveway 47 minutes and one drive through cup of coffee later, he was half-seriously considering checking the rates for one way plane tickets to Mexico and evaluating how much effort it would take to change his name legally.

~*~
A few hours later and Gerard’s sulk fest was in full swing, the second Lord of the Rings movie on the TV and his third pint of ice cream in his hand, when his phone began to ring. He was startled and the scoop of ice cream he was in the middle of trying to shove into his mouth slipped off of his spoon and slid down the front of his white tee shirt.
Gerard grumbled in frustration as he dug his phone out of his pocket, glancing at the clock and wondering why the hell Mikey was calling him at 11:42 at night. But when he got his phone out, he didn’t recognize the number and what the hell was a stranger doing calling him at 11:42 at night?
“What?” he answered the phone grumpily, wiping uselessly at the chocolate stain on his shirt.
“Hey, Gerard? Gerard, hey,” and Gerard recognized that voice, would know it anywhere, his eyes growing huge and panic settling in chest because what the hell, what the hell was Frank doing calling him at 11:42 at night? What the hell was Frank doing calling him at all? And then Gerard realized he had said all that out loud when Frank barked out a laugh and yep, Gerard was definitely moving to Mexico.
“Sorry, dude, I didn’t realize it was so late. I didn’t wake you did I? If I did I’m so sorry, I can call back another time.” And did Frank sound nervous? Gerard didn’t have enough time to think about that though because he was pretty sure his heart actually stopped beating at the idea of Frank hanging up. He didn’t know how Frank had come about calling him, but he was not about to let him hang up. Not a chance.
“No!” Gerard shot up out of his seat on the couch as if that would make Frank realize how eager he was to keep him on the phone. “No! You’re fine, you’re fine, I was just, uh, caught off guard, that’s all.” Frank laughed again, and Gerard was happy Frank seemed to laugh so often, even if it was at his expense, it was a beautiful sound and he felt proud that he had managed to cause it.
“I got your drawing, dude, it was amazing! You have no idea how happy I was to see your phone number on the back too, I’ve been trying to work up the nerve to ask for it for ages now.” There was an obvious smile in Frank’s voice and that was all Gerard could focus on for a minute before the actual words the barista had spoken processed and he was confused again.
“What drawing? What phone number? What?” Okay, that’s it, this was all a dream, because Gerard had definitely not given Frank anything, especially not his fucking phone number. But when he pinched his arm and immediately winced in pain he realized that, nope, this was really happening, and he really had no idea what the fuck was going on. And now he also had a bruise on his arm.
There was an awkward silence between the two of them and Gerard literally wanted to kick himself in the face and he was beginning to think he may actually be more socially inept than he already knew he was when Frank finally answered and Gerard could release a breath he didn’t even know he was holding.
“You know, the drawing?” Frank sounded unsure of himself now. “The one of, like, me, as a vampire? It’s awesome, I really like it. Your brother said you asked him to give it to me before you guys left…” His sentence ended in a question and Mikey better cherish his last few minutes on Earth because as soon as his phone call was over Gerard was driving back over there and murdering him. Literally murdering him.
“Aw, fuck, no!” Gerard rubbed his hand down his face and felt how hot it was. It really can’t be healthy how much he’s blushed lately. “I didn’t tell him to do that! I’m so sorry, Frank, I know it’s creepy, I’m sorry, I’ll leave you alone I –“
Frank, once again, laughed loudly, cutting Gerard off from his rambling.
“Nah, it’s not creepy at all! It’s fucking cool, really. Hey, I don’t want to keep you too long, but would you maybe want to go out with me? Tomorrow night? After my shift? I know it’s kind of sudden but, I wanted to ask now while I still felt brave enough to.”
“Yes!” Gerard didn’t squeal. He didn’t. And if he did, it was in a manly way. He cleared his throat and then continued. “I mean, yeah, sure, of course. I’ll be there.”
“Cool.” Frank cleared his throat. “’S 7 okay? That’s when I get off.” Gerard nodded frantically before realizing that Frank couldn’t see him and slapping himself on the forehead. He was an idiot.
“Yeah, that’s, that’s good. That’s great. I’ll see you then.
“See you then, Gerard.” Frank’s voice was happy and sweet and smooth and Gerard wanted to listen to it for the rest of his life but then the line went dead and he had other business to attend to.
“Hello?” Mikey sounded sleepy through the phone and Gerard could not bring himself to care that he’d probably woken him up.
“I hate you.” Gerard said matter-of-factly.
Mikey let out a loud guffaw, all sleep gone from his voice, replying “no, you don’t.” before hanging up the phone with a muffled “Love you!” right before the line went dead.
Gerard turned the TV off and put the ice cream away, stripping off his jeans as he got into bed. He closed his eyes but he knew he wouldn’t be getting any sleep tonight.
~*~
Gerard was right in his assumption that he wouldn’t get any sleep and by 7 a.m. he had no nails left to chew on and he was pretty sure he was so stressed that even his stress was stressed. He got up and made coffee and he passed out on the couch in front of shitty infomercials around 9, not waking again until 4 in the afternoon.
He called Mikey, freaking out about what to wear and what to talk about and what to do and after several failed attempts at calming him down Mikey had announced that he and Kayla would be there within the hour to keep Gerard’s head from literally exploding with anxiety (also, Gerard expected, to keep Gerard from chickening out and bailing on date all together, even though he didn’t mention that part).
And that’s how Gerard found himself at 5 o’clock, 2 hours before his date with fucking Frank, being shoved fully clothed in his chocolate-stained tee shirt and boxers from the night before into the already-running shower by a small redhead with orders to ‘wash yourself, you disgusting boy, you reek!’.
So, Gerard washed himself. And when he was done, he walked into his bedroom to see that Kayla and Mikey had laid some clothes out for him on his bed, but he was too nervous to actually notice what they were as he pulled them on without really noticing it.
And before Gerard knew it, it was 6:38 and he was being manhandled into his car by Kayla and Mikey with reassurances that “It’s okay, Gee, you’ll do fine. Try not to worry” and “it’ll be great, Gerard. He likes you, too, you know.” And then it was 7:54 and Gerard was walking into the small café, the warmth of the room bringing feeling back into his ice cold fingertips that were currently running through the bright red strands of his hair anxiously.
Frank was behind the counter, in his normal red-apron-black-jeans combo and his head snapped up at the sound of the bell over the door and as soon as he saw Gerard, shuffling awkwardly through the door with an uneasy smile on his face, the biggest, most earth-shatteringly gorgeous grin spread across his face and his hair was a mess and there were dark circles under his eyes but Gerard could feel his breath get stuck in his lungs at how unbelievably beautiful he was.
“Hey.” Frank said it so simply, glancing at the clock quickly before yanking his apron over his head and literally jumping over the counter to get to Gerard, and Gerard couldn’t believe it, couldn’t believe he was going on an actual, real-life date with him.
“Hey.” And maybe he sounded a little breathless but he was surprised at how at ease he felt when Frank smiled at him and took his numb hand into his warm one.
Frank led him out of the tiny building, back into the cold winter air, and they walked for a few seconds making comfortable small talk (and Gerard was actually surprised at how easy things were with Frank, especially considering Gerard was the single most awkward human being on the planet) before Frank stopped in the middle of the sidewalk and pulled Gerard into a hug.
“Um, what?” Gerard’s brain ceased to work, but he somehow managed to wrap his arms around the smaller man’s waist and squeeze anyway.
“Sorry,” Frank giggled as he pulled away, grabbing Gerard’s hand again and continuing down the sidewalk like nothing had happened. “I just really wanted to do that when you first walked in to pick me up but I didn’t have the courage to until now.” Gerard blushed and wasn’t sure what to say to that, but he squeezed Frank’s hand and let himself be pulled down the sidewalk toward whatever Frank had planned, and he thought maybe Frank knew what that meant when his hand was squeezed back.
~*~
Frank had taken him to a small Italian restaurant that Gerard hadn’t even known existed until now and Gerard was continuously amazed at how easy this was. He caught himself laughing louder than usual and smiling more often and talking more animatedly than he normally did with anyone that wasn’t Mikey but he couldn’t bring himself to care because this was Frank and that just seemed to be enough explanation in his mind.
When they left, four hours and one apologetic waitress kicking them out in order to close up for the night later, Gerard didn’t know how they still had anything left to talk about, but they kept talking and laughing and smiling and joking and the walk back to the café seemed unrealistically (and unfairly) short and they found themselves saying goodbye before they were really ready to.
“Where’s your car?” Gerard asked as he swung their hands between them, walking at a ridiculously slow pace in order to prolong their time together.
“Oh,” Frank laughed for the millionth time and Gerard knew he would never get sick of it. “I don’t drive here. My apartment is right there.” He pointed with their joined hands (Gerard didn’t feel any butterflies in his stomach when he saw this, no he did not) at the small apartment complex across the street.
They stopped at Gerard’s beat up car, Gerard leaning against the passenger side and Frank standing in front of him holding both of his hands. They just stared at each other for a few moments, wide grins on both of their faces.
“Well, goodnight.” Frank spoke and his eyes sparkled.
“Goodnight.” Gerard answered through the grin he couldn’t seem to get off of his face.
“I’ll call you?” Frank stepped closer and Gerard’s grin got impossibly wider at the thought of talking to Frank again. And going on another date with Frank. Possibly dates. With Frank.
“If you don’t I’m not even ashamed to admit I’ll probably cry.” Gerard would definitely cry, but right now he was still smiling and so was Frank and everything was perfect.
“I’ll call you.” Frank took another step closer and Gerard wasn’t nervous anymore as his grip tightened around Frank’s warm hands.
“Please do.” They both knew they were drawing this out, but neither of them cared.
“Goodnight, Gerard.” And then Frank’s lips were on Gerard’s and Gerard was still smiling and so was Frank as Gerard pulled him tight against his body by their clasped hands.
Gerard was pretty sure that Frank was actually the human embodiment of the café, his mouth tasted warm and inviting, and his hair smelled like bitter coffee beans and something vaguely sweet, and Gerard could feel Frank’s smile against his own making their kiss clumsy and it was still the best kiss he’d ever had.
And Frank was gone far too soon, pulling away and jogging across the empty street toward his apartment building with one final “I’ll call you!” trailing after him, but as Gerard drove home with aching cheeks and tingling lips he thought that maybe, just maybe, he wouldn’t need to drink as much coffee anymore as he had a feeling he had a new, much healthier, and much cuter, addiction.