Épousez-moi, Restez la Même Chose

Gerard was immensely greatful for the film of quiet that had settled over the car as he drove past the Hudson. WiL was leaning on his shoulder, asleep, his small snores breaking through the tinny rings of the car stereo every few minutes. One hand was fisted in Gerard's jacket, the other wrapped around his arm in a desperate dream-hug. Gerard had tried earlier to wake WiL and ask if he wanted to sleep in the backseat, but all he got was a shake of the head and a tightening on his arm. And, well, who was he to deny the kid anything?

Shit, there it goes, he's going to Gerard's fucking weakness, just like he is to Alicia. Great.

He smiled to himself, just barely a twitching of the corners of his lips, but it was there. It washed over him in the sunlight that hit his face, in the air that made his hair whip around his head from the open window. It was in the glints of silver reflecting over the surface of the water, the whole atmosphere that stopped him from freaking out. Ever since the last tour, he'd been alone at his undecorated house, walking through the empty halls by himself and leaving clothes in every room. This...this will be good for him. He needed someone to be around sometimes. And if it ever got too much, he could let wiL sleep over at Mikey's house for a few days. This was going to work.

Gerard nudged wiL softly. "Hey," he whispered, weakening when wiL's eyes fluttered open and caught the sunrise. What a fucking cliche thing--but simple, just the yellow-pink tint of the sky waking up reflected back at him over brown eyes similar to his own. But too many people take the sunrise for granted. He didn't know it if was something wiL was going to be pleased to be woken up for, but this could also be a learning experience.

WiL's mouth hung open a little as he glanced past to windshield and over the tops of the city skyline to the fucking collage of colors he loved, all shades of pink and orange and purple against solid black, and it was amazing. And Gerard woke him up for it. He never hated the language barrier more than then, when he couldn't tell Gerard all the things he wanted, like how that patch of pink just below the cloud to the left of the tallest building was the same color as his favorite lipstick, or how the blue at the very top was the hue of his big brother's eyes. He thought he would burst if he couldn't tell Gerard all these little stupid things that no one else had ever cared about. On mornings when he would wake himself in time to see the sun peek over the slums he lived in, no one wanted to hear about how the colors made him feel. No one cared that he hated the smog that marred the bright pink and left the whole city dirty and awful, and that was another thing he wanted to tell Gerard. That he saved him from his hometown.

WiL let his hand creep slowly to where Gerard's rested on his waist and slid his fingers around Gerard's wrist, slipping into his hand moments later after he ascerned that Gerard wasn't going to hit him or anything. "P-priity," wiL mumbled, remembering the word Alicia used when she was combing out his hair and desperately hoped it meant what he thought it did. But she'd said it in such a fond voice, what else could it mean?

Gerard squeezed wiL's smaller hand in his and nodded, impressed that he was learning English so quickly. But...well, Alicia had been calling him gorgeous and pretty all day, so they must have stuck in his head. "Yeah, it is pretty." He stopped himself from saying you're pretty too, because, really, he is just not a damn girl. As much as the weird little girls on the internet want him to secretly be a girl in love with Mikey, he's not. And he wasn't about to go on to wiL about how it looked like a halo around his head when his hair caught the light, or how his eyes were the bark on trees, the leaves after they changed in the fall, everything Gerard loved about nature.

WiL smiled up at him, eyes squinting at the corners and he could still see the thin line of black around the bottom of his eyes, could see it even more on his hands where he scrubbed at his eyes when he yawned. "Hmmm, Gerard?" In that still dazed sleepy voice sliced through with another yawn, and he cuddled into Gerard's side. He was still so sleepy, so he thought he could be forgiven when he leaned up to kiss Gerard's earlobe. He would have aimed higher, maybe his mouth, but he didn't want to block Gerard's view of the road, also didn't want to be so forward. He was taught to wait to dole out affection, no matter if he was raised in a society that was very open with affections and even used kisses in simple greeting. America was different, not everyone wanted that, and that was just another thing that he had to learn to deal with.

Gerard could feel wiL's eyelashes sweep across his neck when the boy finally nodded back off, whispering nice words about 'le lever de soleil' and petting Gerard's hand.

*

He sat in his idling car for nearly ten minutes outside his house, gathering his wits, because as soon as the first tire hit the pavement of his driveway, he realized, holy shit, he was going to be living with wiL. What the hell was he going to do? He had no idea what kind of food wiL liked, if he was allergic to anything, what level he was on the cleanliness scale, nothing. Why did he let Mikey do this to him?

While he was silently having his own little freak out, wiL was slowly starting to wake up stretching slowly and looking around, noting that the car had stopped and that meant that they were home. Home. Oh, he had a home! He wasn't going to have to share his bed with four other boys ever again! He could--hecould cook pancakes like he saw Alicia do, and he could sleep whenever he liked, and he could learn English and finally be able to tell Gerard everything he wanted to.

"Gerard? Nous sommes maison?" He frowned, because he knew the right word. "Home?"

Gerard looked down, at the boy smiling up at him with wide eyes and an even wider smile, and nodded. "Yeah, we're home, wiL." His mouth felt so dry.