Chance

“You’ve gotta choose, Gerard,” Frank says.

“I don’t! It’s never going to happen.”

“That’s not the point though, is it? It’s called would you rather because you’d never find yourself in the event, so what would you rather do?”

“I mean… I just really don’t want to be anywhere near Miley Cyrus’s feet, the thought of it is really starting to bother me. I don’t like feet, Frank, you’re the one with the foot fetish.”

“I literally don’t have a foot fetish, you’re the one who made that up!” Frank says.

“You’re the one who brought up the feet this time though, I don’t know why you keep defending yourself when we both know the truth.”

“Oh shut up,” Frank groans, “just choose. Would you rather lick Miley Cyrus’ foot or wear a shirt made out of ketchup for an entire day?”

“They’re both horrific,” Gerard says, shaking his head. He looks up at the night sky, a brilliant pale indigo with clouds overtaking the night sky quickly. The moon is hidden behind a large cloud, but the street lights manage to guide their steps. They’re heading away from the nightlife of the city, and into a smaller, cleaner area from the looks of the streets. There’s still dozens of coke cans and grocery bags littering the streets but there’s only a piece of gum every yard rather than every six inches and that’s how you know you’re living it up.

“Just pick one,” Frank says.

“Ugh, fine. I mean, I guess if I had to, I’d just wear the fucking ketchup shirt,” Gerard says, “I don’t think I’m ever going to get that image out of my head though, you asshole.”

“I’m not sorry,” Frank says laughing, and when Gerard punches him in the shoulder, it only makes him laugh harder.

“Fuck you,” Gerard says. “What would you do in the same situation?”

“Me?” Frank asks, “Oh I’d like Miley’s foot. Because, as we have established, I have a foot fetish.”

“You just denied it!” Gerard yells.

“I no, I said that just to piss you off. I’d choose Miley’s foot because ketchup is gross, and I’d be way more grossed out with ketchup than pretty much anyone’s foot. Hell I’d lick your foot without any extortion.”

“And you don’t have a foot fetish,” Gerard says, rolling his eyes. He looks at Frank, who’s looking at the sky, trying to discern anything from the colors above. There’s no stars in sight, covered by the clouds and the bright lights of the city. He doubts you’d be able to see many, if any if the clouds were to go away. That’s one thing that sucks about the city, it drowns out all the light from the stars. Their shine has taken millions of years to reach earth, so many thousands of hours, trekking across lightyears by the millions, through heaven and hell, and by the time that their light finally reaches earth, you can’t see them because people won’t turn off their damn lights.

They’re in a park, not a big one, but one that’s large enough that from the middle, it’s almost like they’re not in a big city. There’s big buildings everywhere, huge and intimidating, but they don’t look nearly as big as they do when you’re standing beside them. They’re not particularly close to anything commercial, and Gerard’s okay with that. He doesn’t really want to go inside right now, he’s happy just to walk with Frank out here.

“God,” Gerard says, having a moment of utter disbelief when he looks at Frank.

“What?” he asks.

“I just can’t believe all of this is happening,” Gerard says. “I met you in a fucking bar, got hit on by some sleaze ball and that has led me… here? Of all places? How this has happened, I haven’t a clue. I’ve been, wow, this is all just such a whirlwind, you know? It doesn’t seem real; you don’t seem real. None of this should be real. Nothing like this has ever happened to me before.”

“It’s pretty bewildering,” Frank says, nodding, “I haven’t had a proper boyfriend in months, hell, I haven’t kissed a guy in even longer and now, you’re just, well you’re perfect, and everything I could have asked for, and it’s so weird? I’ve fallen in love with a near stranger and yet it feels right. It’s never felt this pure before. I’ve never had this feeling, not even with guys I’ve dated for months, or years. Nothing like what I’ve come to feel in the space of only a few hours.”

“This is crazy,” Gerard says.

“It’s completely stupid,” Frank nods in agreement, “Is this what it’s supposed to be like?”

“What what’s supposed to be like?” Gerard asks.

“Falling for someone?” Frank replies. “I mean, I’ve said I love you to boys before, and I thought I meant it, but this is different. There’s still so much more about you I have to learn, but gosh, this must be what it’s always been about, right? This is what musicians, poets, writers, everybody, this is what they’ve been talking about this entire time, and I just never knew.”

“We’re so sappy.”

“You brought it up,” Frank laughs as he pulls Gerard down to him by the collar of his shirt. Gerard’s never going to get used to the feeling of kissing Frank. Never could he have known what it would feel like to kiss someone and just know. He knows that there is something about Frank that he needs to be around for. Whether Frank is the one or just a stepping stone along the way he doesn’t know, but he knows, deep in his bones, that Frank has a very important role to play in his life. He highly doubts that Frank is just a step along the way though.

“This isn’t going to entirely sink in, possibly ever,” Gerard says.

“It doesn’t need to,” Frank says, which is something Gerard hadn’t even considered. He thinks he’d like it if this were never too sink in. If it could just always feel fresh, exciting, unexpected and hectic for all time, he would never get bored again. It’s one of the best days of his life, he could get used to it staying that way.

“You’re amazing,” Gerard says, shaking his head and rolling his eyes. Honestly, the way Frank just keeps getting better, as opposed to other people who get worse the more you learn about them, it’s completely unheard of. Gerard’s never met anyone who keeps getting better. Not even Mikey, or Hayley, or anyone.

“I know,” Frank says, and Gerard can’t just not kiss him. He’s running on a timer where if he doesn’t kiss Frank every couple of minutes he starts to feel an aching in him. This kiss is far deeper than the last, the kind of kiss that really shouldn’t be in public, but there’s no one around to see them and it’s pushing two in the morning anyway, so they’re fine. It’s kind of slobbery, definitely messy, but it’s worth it.

There’s a rumbling in the sky above them, and then, without even the slightest of warning, the rain comes like a snap of the finger. One second, the night is dry and breezy, the next second, torrential downpour.

“Aw fuck,” Gerard says, pulling away from Frank, and looking up for barely a second and getting water in his eyes.

“Where the fuck did that even come from?” Frank shouts, because Gerard wouldn’t be able to hear him if he didn’t.

“I don’t know,” Gerard responds, “shit, fuck.”

His hair is already plastered to his face, and he could wring out his shirt, and next to him, Frank looks like a wet dog. He looks fucking adorable with his hair in his face, flat and dripping instead of wild and messy, it’s adorable, not maybe the sexiest thing in the world but he’s cute as fuck.

“Shit, we need to get inside,” Frank says, and Gerard agrees.

They can barely see two feet in front of them however. The rain is thick, and the sky is dark, not giving them any light to see their way. It’s anyone’s guess as to where they even are. If they didn’t have an approximate of where they are, this could be the fucking Amazon.

“Uh, that way?” Gerard offers pointing a little way down where there’s a street light to illuminate part of the sidewalk. Frank just nods, and they head towards it, drenching wet, with their shoes sloshing on the pavement, gross and uncomfortable. Once under the shine of the lamppost, they don’t see any buildings in sight, because it’s just their luck that the rain would start to fall just as they come upon a park.

“Fuck,” Frank says, because no direction looks entirely promising, and even if they find cover, they’re soaked through to the skin already.

“There’s no use at this point,” Gerard says. “We’re wet, finding shelter isn’t going to make us any less wet. Fuck it.”

“Fair enough,” Frank says, and he realizes that right now, he can fulfill one of his longest ever dreams. “Kiss me in the rain!”

“What? Yes!” Gerard says, barely having enough time to get the words out before Frank’s grabbing the sides of his head and kissing him with all the glory of a Nicholas Sparks novel only way less shitty and generic.

Honestly, Frank wouldn’t have expected it to live up to all of his dreams and fantasies, but it most certainly does. There’s something very romantic about it, and it’s not just because Frank’s seen Enchanted too many times, either. He really can’t describe it either, it’s just, romantic the way that candles are romantic, or the way that the sky is blue. It just is.

He thinks mainly that the great thing is, while he’s kissing Gerard, his shoes don’t seem so wet and sludgy. His hair doesn’t seem so itchy and clingy. His clothes don’t seem so heavy and uncomfortable. Nothing is wrong with the entire world when you’re kissing someone in the rain.

“Fuck,” Gerard says, pulling away at least two minutes later when his lungs are on fire from lack of air.

“And they make it look good in the movies,” Frank says. And that’s when Gerard decides that air can fuck off. Gerard could die happily of asphyxiation if it means that he kisses Frank until his last breath. Gerard fulfils a lifelong dream of his own when he lifts Frank up off the ground ever so slightly and twirls him before putting him back on the ground. The only thing that could make it better is if they were standing far apart and ran to each other. Gerard’s seen too many chick flicks. He likes to call them dick flicks though.

“I fucking love you,” Frank says, his voice broken and honest.

“I know,” Gerard says, and that’s when Frank realizes that Gerard is literally the Han Solo to his Leia. This revelation gives him a Cheshire cat grin that Gerard’s never going to get out of his head. Frank’s face is going to haunt him in his sleep, he just knows it. He can just about see Frank’s brown eyes when he blinks, etching an imprint into Gerard’s brain so that he’ll never be able to let Frank go.

This moment is perfect. Gerard’s hair is dripping, everything his heavy, you could wring out his shoes, and they’re nowhere near the warmth of indoors, but this moment is perfect. It’s a universal feeling, one that anyone in the world could feel under the same circumstances, but it’s perfect. It couldn’t get better. It’s with Frank, and buckets of rain are falling on top of them, the night sky is alight with lightning, and there’s no peace with the booming of thunder every few minutes, but there’s nothing Gerard would change about it in the world. There’s nothing about Frank he would change in the world.

If Gerard thinks that this feeling in his gut is erratic or poignant, he doesn’t know anything. This is nothing. This isn’t a candle to how he’s going to feel for Frank just a minute from now. His love for Frank is growing, and it’s already infinite. But somehow he feels more and more by the second.

“I’m never gonna come down from you,” Gerard says, not entirely sure what he means by that.

“I wouldn’t want you to,” Frank says, smiling, because it feels like he’s finally got it. It’s like he nabbed the last laptop at a Black Friday sale, standing here with Gerard, he doesn’t just think he’s found the one, he’s sure of it. He’s never letting go of Gerard now. Nothing in this entire world could pull him away from this man, never, not for any reason.

Little does he know that their time together is actually about to run out.