Chapter 13

"I don't want this anymore,"

The thoughts he had had not long ago were finally voiced into the bright dining room of the Way household, sitting on the table with his plate of pasta untouched, the fork submerged in it being used to play with the food as to not raise his eyes and meet his family's.

Everyone fell quiet as Gerard wondered if he should repeat himself or they had heard him, because doing it once was nerve-wracking enough. Maybe he should just pretend nothing happened and continue eating? But no, his Mom's scandalous story about the neighbour's cousin was interrupted by the loud silence that filled the room.

His plan didn't work out as he planned, for his Mom, puzzled, asked, "You don't like your pasta, honey?"

Gerard inmediately raised his eyes to meet his Mom's, a grimace stretching his mouth downwards as he shook his head and straightened his back, knowing he had to explain. Mikey was looking at him with indifference, though a hint of curiosity was seen in his eyes, whilst his parents were looking more confused than anything, so Gerard cleared his throat.

"I don't want the shop. I just don't see myself being in there for forty years like you and Grandpa, Dad. I'm not that type of person, I want to do something, be someone, not another shop owner for the rest of my life... And I know it's a big decision and can't be done in a matter of seconds, but I... I think I want to go to college, Dad,"

He was fucking nervous, because he knew how much the damn shop meant to his Dad, which was also the reason his little monologue was directed at him, and he was sure a drop of sweat even ran down the side of his face. He was mostly talking to his Dad, for he knew Mikey simply didn't give a shit as long as he was happy, and his Mom didn't want this for Gerard since the very beginning, something Gerard had ignored his whole life, his Mom's opinions. As they say, Mother knows best.

The silence remained for two or so minutes, and the only thing that changed was the furrowed brow his Dad now wore. He decided to speak again, trying to add determination to his tone.

"The shop is great, it's wonderful, and I liked working there for a few years, but I realize now that I want to move on. I have to move on to bigger and better things, I'm not meant to be stuck behind a counter selling crayons and paper, I want to achieve something, I simply need to grow,"

He didn't know if he was making any sense at all, but his Mom looked to be understanding, and the small smile at the edge of her lips gave Gerard a little more courage. Her mouth parted to speak, but was interrupted by his Dad, who didn't sound quite happy.

"Better things? You want to move on to better things? Do you know how hard it was for Grandpa to open the shop? How hard we had to fight for it to survive these past years? The economy has gone to shit and we are fighting to get the one thing that's paying for this house, paying for this food, paying for everything you touch, to keep standing, and you are just talking about it like it doesn't matter. You truly are being ungrateful, Gerard; the shop has given us everything, stop putting yourself above it and start thanking it. You want to do something, be someone? Incredible,"

His Dad's speech was laced with anger and hurt, and Gerard felt tears form in his eyes, though he tried his hardest not to let them show.

"Donald," His Mom spoke in a stern voice. "We owe the shop many things, but we raised our kids to be able to think for themselves and have opinions of their own. It's contradicting to teach them they don't have a say in their future. Nobody is forcing anyone to do something they don't want to, and that's the end of it."

Gerard looked at his Mom with gratitude as she looked back with an encouraging smile. When he moved his gaze to his Dad, he wished he hadn't.

Throwing his napkin angrily onto the table, Donald stood up and glared at them both, pointing at Donna with an accusing finger and then moving it in Gerard's direction, "We've given everything up for that shop, and if you want to go to college you better find a way to pay it because the shop sure isn't doing it. Unbelievable,"

And with that, he stomped out of the room, the tension in the air thickening as he slammed the door and Gerard felt a tear slide down his cheek.

Mikey cleared his throat, "I think it's great to have other options, you should do what you want, not what Dad wants,"

Gerard stared at Mikey through his tear-stained face with a tiny smile, "Thanks, Mikes,"

--

Gerard had been sitting on the bench for what felt like hours, when it had in fact been ten minutes or so. With a hand inside his black jean pocket and a pale pink hoodie on, he leaned his head back and closed his eyes so the sun wouldn't blind him. A lit cigarette was loosely held in between his fingers, his arm instinctively flexing every once in a while to breathe a lungful of the smoke and then slowly release it into the air, the rest of the pack sitting inside his jean's pocket, his fist grabbing it like it was going to disappear.

Suddenly, Gerard felt a pair of palms land on his shoulders from behind and opened his eyes as they slid down his chest to his stomach. Frank's upside down face looked down at him with a grin stretching his mouth.

"Hey there, stranger," Frank said happily from behind the bench, placing a kiss on Gerard's lips and then walking around where Gerard was to sit down.

"Hi," Gerard simply answered as he retrieved his fist from his pocket and took Frank's hand in his own, intertwining their fingers and rubbing circles with his thumb, giving his boyfriend a glance before continuing to look forward at nothing, perching his cigarette between his lips, yet leaving it there.

"Didn't know you smoked," Frank simply stated, scooting closer to Gerard and pecking Gerard's cheek to get his attention, which was pretty much useless, because there was no reaction whatsoever. Frank frowned.

"Sometimes, only when I need to," Gerard spoke around the cigarette, which the shorter boy found amusing, but didn't laugh at. Gerard then seemed to snap out of whatever he was thinking about and finally faced Frank. "Sorry, I was just, thinking. Do you mind if I smoke? I can put it out if you don't like it. It's a bad habit, but it's not like I use up a whole pack every day,"

Frank stopped Gerard as he was about to throw the half-smoked stick to the ground, "No, no, I don't mind, you can smoke. You can also tell me what's going through your mind that's so important you have to ignore your boyfriend, but I'm not gonna force you to,"

The white-haired boy returned his boyfriend's smile and simply shook his head as an answer.

"Nah, I'm fine, don't worry about it. I missed you, I don't want to use up all our time on my boring life, I just wanna kiss you all day long... If that's alright with you," Gerard finished, fetching the butt from his mouth and stepping on it as he released the last mouthful of smoke into the air, turning his head to the side so it didn't hit Frank's face; because being okay with it was one thing, but wanting a cloud of smoke right in your face was a whole other kink.

Frank giggled, "I'm always alright with kissing you, more than alright,"

And with a smile, he turned sideways to put his short legs over Gerard's thighs, his hands cupping the sides of his boyfriend's face and leaning in, resting their foreheads together, their mouths inches away. Frank could smell the cigarette coming from his lover, but didn't mind at all, though he had been surprised that Gerard smoked -he just looked too pure and squishy- the thought that he could smoke or drink had never crossed his mind until Gerard brought up the subject of his favorite whiskey, and now confessed to smoking once in a while.

They stayed in the same position for one or two minutes, their lips barely brushing against one another's and sharing secret smiles no one really knew what they were about.

Surprisingly, Gerard was the first one to finally seal their lips, simply tilting his head forward and kissing Frank with all he had. Frank hummed in agreement and kissed his boyfriend back, raising the hand that wasn't holding Gerard's to rest on the latter's white hair, fingernails scraping at his scalp as their mouths moved in unison. The kiss was passionate, heated, yet not engulfed in lust, but love, and the two lovers kept at it for a few good minutes, their hands everywhere on the other's body, simply taking everything in and giving everything; simply acting like two teenagers in love.

When they finally broke apart, a small string of saliva still lingering between their lips (which Gerard wiped off embarrassedly), they remained close together, and the white-haired boy finally broke the silence.

"Mikey wants to meet you, like, officially, or something," Then he blushed, and Frank knew he had his Gerard back. Not the Gerard that was smoking on a bench alone, glaring at the grass and fucking up his lungs like an angsty teen, but the shy Gerard that kissed Frank like it was the first time and the last time all at once. Frank smiled warmly, pecking his boyfriend's lips once again.

"I'd love to meet him. You already met Pencil and Octavia, who are basically like my siblings, so I don't see why it should be any different. Hold on, was it Mikey that threatened to be deaf by choice when you were babbling about how gorgeous I am?"

Gerard scoffed, "I wasn't babbling about how gorgeous you are, not that you aren't gorgeous, because you're fucking pretty, but-- but... You know, I actually have no excuses: yes, Mikey said he'd choose to be deaf if I didn't stop talking about you, which is dumb, but he's dumb, so that's okay. Also, it's his shift at the store, we could drop by?"

Frank was laughing when Gerard looked at him again, and when he stopped and nuzzled his face against Gerard's cheek, the taller boy could almost feel his lips moving as he talked quietly. "He might decide to be blind by choice today, because I literally can't keep my hands off you with how delicious you're looking,"

Gerard went beet red as Frank bit his earlobe, "Hush! We're in public, look, there's an old lady staring at us in disapproval right in front of us, stop-- stop that!" He squealed when Frank started placing kisses down the side of his neck, making eye contact with the grey-haired lady looking straight at them with a frown.

"Let her watch, we're cute as fuck, she should be thanking us for the public show; we're like free gay porn, blessing everyone with a public neck-kissing kink, or something,"

Gerard squaled louder when Frank began to suck a hickey onto his neck, and he felt how his soul was slowly descending into the seventh circle of Hell and greeting Satan in person as his gay boyfriend left a huge purple mark on his throat while he made eye contact with a judgemental 80-year-old woman from accross the street.

--

"Mikes?" Gerard's voice echoed around the shop, which was surprisingly not empty, right after the bell on the door chimed. The white-haired boy felt blood rush to his cheeks as the three people browsing through the art supplies turned their heads to look at him for just a few seconds, and he felt his hand unconsciously squeeze Frank's as they entered The Way To Go.

Instead of heading straight to the Staff Only door behind the counter, the two boys remained in the main part of the shop near the cashier, and waited for Gerard's brother to appear. Frank leaned closer to his boyfriend to rest his chin on the other's shoulder, having to stand on the tip of his toes to do so.

"I can't remember if I was too embarrassing when I saw him at the movies, how many points do I have to score to count this as a successful second impression?"

Gerard turned his face to place a soft kiss on Frank's lips, "Don't even worry about it. Firstly, you only embarrassed me, so we're good, and Mikey's chill, the only people he doesn't like are those who don't shower, and I think you showered... At least this week, maybe last month," He scrunched up his nose as if something smelled bad, receiving a slap to his arm.

"I showered like, yesterday! Plus, if someone in this relationship has hygiene problems, it definitely isn't me, Mr I Dont' Floss,"

"Floss is dumb, isn't brushing your teeth enough? Why do you have to damage your gums with a piece of string, of all things, for your mouth to be considered clean and to stop being scolded by stupid odontologists; floss also makes your mouth bleed," Gerard rolled his eyes and waved his hand in dismissal. "Either way, you don't seem to mind the lack of string between my teeth when you're kissing me,"

Frank batted Gerard's open mouth away from his face when he tried to breathe on his face, laughing as he did so, not caring about the weird stares they were getting as his goofy boyfriend tightly wrapped his arms around his frame to stop him from running away.

"Blood from your gums actually means you don't floss enough, dumbass, I gotta agree with your boyfriend on that,"

Gerard turned around with a smile to face Mikey, who was looking unimpressed at the both of them from behind the counter, as if this was Gerard's usual behaviour. Frank noticed this, and the amount of happiness that realization brought him was unreal; because that meant Gerard was acting like himself around Frank, no longer being shy and quiet, and instead hugging and kissing Frank in public and not caring about watching his actions or anything else. The thought made Frank's heart flutter with a wave of adoration, and he felt like the heart-eyed emoji as he watched his loving boyfriend walk over to his brother and give him a one-arm hug.

When Gerard faced Frank once again, he brought him forward by wrapping an arm around his shoulders, and then talked with hand gestures, "Mikey, this is Frank, Frank, this is Mikey... Not that an introduction is needed, because I've talked enough of each one of you to the other, but, yeah, whatever,"

Mikey answered to Frank's grin with a small smile, "I trust you won't do anything bad to Gee, and I also trust myself on telling you everything embarrassing he's ever said or done, so now that that's out of the way... There was this one time at school, Gerard lost a bet, right? You'll never guess what he had to do for a whole week–"

Gerard groaned as Frank nodded eagerly, excited to hear the rest of the story. For the rest of the anecdote, he buried his face in Frank's hair as to not confront the catastrophic end of the tale he knew was coming and felt Frank's arm slip around his waist.

--

lmao this ugly soggy bread is (kinda) back
yeah ok so my new year's resolution or what ever bullshit is actually to finish this story soo, i'm trying really hard ok

i also feel like my writing's become shittier from lack of .. um, writing, so yeah, apologies for that

i send love and shitty smut,
kyara