twenty-two: to survive gerard's shameless flirting
(guys im such a slut for manipulating prompts. sorry, no horror. also i know i already lost the challenge but this is mainly to keep me writing which has been hard with school and shit)

"Hey, babe," Gerard grinned as he walked into our flat.

"Hi, Gee," I answered dully. His flirtiness, even though it still made my heart jump three feet in the air, was generalised, as I assumed, because it didn't seem like it was strictly directed towards me. When I'd asked Mikey, (who, by the way, was my best friend and I was going to room with until he decided he wasn't enough of an art hoe to go to SVU) had said that he was never flirty around people he didn't want to flirt with, but as time passed and we became better friends and went places together, I decided that yes, he did. Gerard did flirt with anyone and everyone that remotely looked like they had a dick.

He was kind of a slut, but as soon as I'd confided in Mikey, he'd said that I'd lost my mind. But I knew I hadn't. Every art gallery or concert he and I went to, every gay bar, every cafe with cute baristas, everywhere that we went together, he'd flirt with everyone, everyone but me.

Which, by the first-year mark we'd hit rooming together, I'd become extremely jealous, because there's a cute guy one fucking bedroom away from me and he doesn't even notice the way I stare at his arse when he's half-awake in his boxers, stumbling around for coffee; or the way I get lost in his eyes when he leans over the table during dinner to inform me about some new drama in the visual arts department; or the way I savour every moment cuddling together on the couch when we watch movies together on lonely Saturday nights. 

Yeah, I know I'm pathetic, but it's okay because when we were alone together, the flirting was relentless. I sighed.

"What's on the agenda for this Friday night?" I asked, knowing there would be something, and I honestly needed to get out of the house.

"Well, Mikey told me he texted you. He wants to get dinner together, the three of us," Gerard said with a smile and plopped down next to me on the couch where until his arrival, I'd been reading a book.

"I haven't looked at my phone all day," I said.

"That's a lie. You're playing music right now," Gerard scoffed.

"Alright, so I may have scrolled through Spotify, but nothing new there. I should probably check my texts," I said tiredly and opened my phone to see a message from Mikey portraying exactly that. "Well, I'd love to."

"Awesome!" Gerard said and I felt a his hand settle on my thigh and squeeze a bit. I bit my lip and looked at some other text messages and replied to one before turning to look at Gerard. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"Nothing. Where are we going? Do I need more than a band shirt and jeans?"

"Uh, nah, just Chinese or something."

"God, not again," I grumbled and put my phone away Gerard rolled his eyes.

"Come on Frank, when do you not want Chinese?" he sighed, clearly annoyed.

"Right now. I'm kind of craving lasagna," I mumbled guiltily. "We can do Chinese if you want though."

Gerard shook his head. "Mikey wanted Italian too, but I insisted you'd want Chinese. I was just lookin' out for you, dude."

"Whatever," I chuckled, and then sat up, putting away my book. "Text Mikey telling him that I'm on his side."

"No, you text him. I'm gonna shower."

"Okay."

"Care to join?" Gerard asked, biting his lip, winking, and leaning in.

"U-uh, I--"

"I'm messing with you, babe," he giggled, and then stood up. "We're leaving in like half an hour. Get dressed out of your prisoner clothes."

I rolled my eyes and got up. "'Kay. Sure."

---

"Hey, Frankie?" I heard, and then Gerard knocked on my door. I sat up in bed and put my book away. It'd definitely been around twenty minutes, and I hoped Gerard was dressed and ready to go, because it was seven and I was hungry.

"Yeah? Come in," I responded.

Gerard opened the door and leant on the doorframe and I felt my whole face erupt in heat. He was wearing--singularly-- a towel around his waist. He ran a hand through his wet, black hair.

"Y-yeah?" I croaked, and I swear to god I saw him smirk.

"Did you text Mikey yet?"

"Gerard, what the fuck, of course I did," I said, confused and slightly offended, and rolled my eyes. "That's clearly not why you're here, you saw me do it," I said.

"Yeah, fine, that's not why," he said sheepishly, and he did the thing where he bit his lip and looked just right of my head when he was coming up with something to lie with, and then when he thought of it, his eyes did the little clouded thing they did when he'd confirmed that it was reliable and was going to go through it. I closed my eyes, and considered letting him see that I was rolling them.

I didn't end up doing so.

"What do you really need, Gee, before you go and lie about something," I said, and let a tiny bit of the agitation shine through.

"I--uh," he faltered. "N-nothing, just... checking to see you where still here," he said, and looked a little hurt. I didn't give a fuck. I'd pay for his dinner or something to subtly make up for it. He'd definitely understand--that's how our relationship worked.

"I'm always here for you, Gee," I said finally, deciding to comfort his insecurity, "don't worry."

He nodded curtly and then I saw the flirty Gerard flicker back in. "Okay," he smiled. "See you in a few. I've gotta get dressed."

"Yeah, go do that," I chuckled, and put my book away. I got up and changed into skinnier jeans and a less holey band shirt. I slipped on my docs, grabbed my wallet, keys, and a jean jacket and walked back to the living room. Gerard came down the hall and met me in a couple of minutes in similar attire, and then we left together, locking the door behind us and walking down two stories to the lobby and out to my car.

"Want me to drive?" he asked.

I shook my head, we climbed in the car, and then Gerard told me which Italian restaurant we were hitting up that night.

"By the way," I said with a little smirk. "You know that thing you do where you flirt with literally fucking everyone when we go out?"

"Uh, yeah?" Gerard answered, blush rising in his cheeks.

"Well, you can't tonight, because this dude, Ray? Mikey's got it really bad for him, and he knows where the dude serves, and he's gonna try to ask him to be his boyfriend tonight."

Gerard's face dropped. "Um, okay. Yeah, I won't intervene."

"Good. Don't worry though, you can get your fill later tonight because Mikes wants to go to a gay bar or something."

Gerard scrunched his eyebrows together. "Why?"

"Said neither of us is uh... getting it down enough," I answered, feeling colour rising to my cheeks. Maybe, I thought, I would have a good sex life if someone fucking stopped flirting with every single man--dick or no dick (he wasn't transphobic at all apparently)--and saw how head over heels for him I was. The thing was though, Gerard never actually slept with any of the dudes he flirted with. He just made out with them, especially if he knew I was there, or asked for their numbers and talked with them until they got bored and moved on.

And yeah, I could seek other people out, but I was hopelessly in lust and what might have been love if I didn't know better, for Gerard, and I wasn't about to let that fucking go. I'd tried, believe me, but someone named John doesn't like it when you moan 'Gerard' while you're fucking coming. Especially if you're coming after them, it seems.

"Well, he's right," Gerard mumbled. "We aren't."

"Yeah," I sighed, "but you could be. I'm a hopeless case, we've already figured that out, but you never sleep with the guys you make out with at gay bars."

"Getting mono or herpes is one thing," Gerard began, "but HIV or chlamydia or gonorrhoea is another."

"Or you could use a condom and check if your sexual partner is clean," I pointed out, but he waved me off.

"They're all just distractions. I can't have the one person I really want."

My heart fluttered and I bit my lip to keep the redness out of my cheeks. It didn't work. He didn't look. "And who is that?"

Now, he looked, and fucking put the back of his hand to his forehead and moaned, "David Bowie."

I laughed with him and rolled my eyes, but I also laughed at myself for ever believing that I could have been that person. It clearly wasn't me, so why was I getting so worked up over it? Gerard was a flirty person, and when he didn't have fifty hypothetical victims to choose from to make out with or flirt with, his tendencies were directed towards me. I shrugged it off and parked in the parking lot of Ray's workplace. I really hoped Mikey would succeed, and that Gerard would cool it until we got to the Gay bar that Mikey wanted us to go to.

Which I didn't know why he was, because he knew about my fucking predicament.

We walked in, and immediately, Mikey waved at us from a table, standing up, so we walked towards him and sat down next to each other across from him.

"So," Gerard said, leaning forward on the table. I looked straight across at Mikey and rolled my eyes. We both knew what was coming. "Why'd you say that thing about me and Frankie over text, dear brother?"

"Because you're both incels at this point," Mikey droned, and even though we laughed, he barely cracked a smile.

"Fuck you," Gerard threw at him, and he shrugged.

"You know it's true."

Gerard shook his head and turned to me, flashing me major bedroom eyes. "We aren't too bad, are we, Frankie?"

I rolled my eyes and turned away from him to Mikey. "He's crazy. I don't know about him, but I've hit a dry spell."

Mikey actually let out a giggle. "I know."

"I know," I warned him with my eyes to keep my secret, "that you know."

He raised his hands in defence. "Yeah, okay, chief, I ain't gonna say nothing."

But he did that thing where he gave me the tiniest smile ever and bit the corner of his mouth. Oh, he was so gonna tell. I'd known him and his brother since Mikey and I were six and Gerard was eight, so I knew their tells. Mikey knew mine too, and we were aware of each others' insight, but that didn't stop anyone from concealing the truth, ever.

Thank god Ray walked out at that point with three glasses of water and a tiny smile, because I didn't know how to respond to that, and Gerard had his arms crossed, body leaning back in his chair and a little smirk perched on his lips.

"Hey, guys, good to see you again," Ray said. "I'm Johnathon, and please call me John when you come."

"Fuck off," I blushed, and shot Ray warning eyes. I'd told him and Mikey that in full discretion. "Can I have a veggie lasagna?"

"Sure. Gee?"

"Spaghetti with spinach and cream sauce."

"Right on. Mikes?" he gave Mikey a different kind of smile, and Gerard and I exchanged a knowing look for a moment when Mikey's cheeks turned red and he actually smiled.

"Same as Frank."

"Sounds great. Y'all want bread?"

"Duh," Mikey grinned. "Thanks, Toro."

"No problem, Way," he grinned, winked at Mikey and then sauntered off to the kitchen again.

"What was that wink?" Gerard wiggled his eyebrows at me and then grinned at Mikey.

"N-nothing," he mumbled and then took a long sip of his water.

"I'm gonna use the restroom, I'll be right back," Gerard said. I raised an eyebrow.

"Don't pick up a dude while you piss, that's weird," I reminded him, and he nodded.

"Wouldn't dream of it, Frankie, dear."

Then he was off, and as soon as he was out of earshot, Mikey leaned towards me. "You know he's fucking head over heels for you, right?"

I scoffed, waving it off. "He's like that towards everyone. I'm not special."

"Dude, you're so fucking special. Ray and I see it. I know I denied it at first, but I'm like one hundred percent sure he just does the flirty thing to make you fucking jealous, bro," he insisted.

"You talked to Toro about this?"

"What don't I talk to him about?" Mikey said dreamily, and I rolled my eyes. "You've got a point. But you cannot be serious. He cannot like me back."

"He does. I promise you he does. He talks to me about it constantly. You've got to believe me, bro. I wouldn't have invited you both to a gay bar knowing you're head over heels for him and he doesn't like you. Besides, Ray gets off his shift in around forty-five minutes, so if we make it snappy in here, we can all go together. He's fucking hot in that black button-up and red tie. Don't tell him I said that."

"I'm totally telling him you said that," I assured him, but felt my heart racing itself to keep up with the fact that my feelings weren't completely one-sided.

"So, lovebirds," Gerard said, suddenly appearing and sitting down beside me. I found myself blushing and looked up at Mikey raising one eyebrow and smirking.

"What the fuck happened while I was gone?" Gerard asked carefully, and I shrugged.

"Mikey's just being an arse again," I sighed and then turned to Gerard. Two, I thought, could play at this game. So, I winked and watched his cheeks slowly turn pink. He bit his lip and looked away. Ray saved the moment by walking by again and bringing us three things of garlic bread and setting them down in front of us.

"Hey, Ray, you still wanna come to us to that bar tonight?"

"As soon as my shift ends at eight-thirty, babe," Ray smiled, "I'd love to."

"Great," Mikey said brightly, and Ray smirked, no doubt congratulating himself on making Mikey blush again. "Oh, Frank, could I uh... talk to you for like one second?"

"Uh, sure," I said, and slipped out of my seat. Ray led me away from the table and led me to the doorframe that separated the kitchen from the main dining hall. He glanced at the table where Mikey was leaning over the table talking to a surprised-looking Gerard. I sighed internally and then turned my attention back to Ray. "What's up?"

"Is Mikey gonna ask me out tonight? Because I've been trying to work up the nerve to ask him to be my boyfriend, but I don't know whether he was going to, or if he wants to be with me like that at all."

"Oh," I chuckled and I relaxed. "He's in deep for you, man. Between you and me," I continued and leant closer, "he's going to ask you to be his boyfriend when we go out for drinks tonight, so I wouldn't drink too much. I already know I'm going to be the designated driver for me and Gerard, but I don't know about him. It's a gay bar, you know that, right?"

"Oh, yeah, of course," Ray chuckled nervously. "We uh, met there a few days before this semester started."

"Right," I grinned. "I can't wait for it to be official."

"Neither can I," Ray said, glancing back at the table, and he seemed to be gauging something as he did so, "believe me."

I left it at that, but as soon as I started to walk off, he grabbed my arm. "Gerard's got it so bad for you, Frankie, please don't let him down," he whispered. "But, you didn't hear it from me."

"I already heard it from Mikey," I said and a small smile crept onto my face. "I'm honestly really shocked, but I'm not gonna rat either of you out. But as you already know, I do too. Have feelings for him, I mean."

"I know. Now, go," Ray said with a grin. "Flirt with your man."

"He's not mine."

"Yet."

I gave Ray a little smirk and I did go. I sat down next to Gerard again and he gave me a small smile before it was replaced with another one of his devious smirks. "What were you talking about?"

"Mikey," I replied honestly, and I could tell he knew I was leaving something out, but he didn't say anything, so I didn't ask what he and Mikey were talking about. Instead, I said, "and you guys were talking about Raymond, weren't you?"

"Uh-huh," Gerard said, and ripped a piece of the garlic bread off of the rest, "amongst other things."

"Such as," I prompted.

"You, babe," he drawled and added a wink. I rolled my eyes and took the remaining piece of garlic bread.

"Yeah, okay, fuckboy," I teased him and nudged his shoulder with my own. "I believe that."

"You should," he insisted and nudged me back before shoving a piece of garlic bread in his mouth and closing his eyes. "This shit is marvellous," he mumbled through his full mouth.

"Didn't your mother ever teach you not to speak with your mouth full?" I clucked, and Mikey and I chuckled.

"She definitely taught me," Mikey said, his mouth clearly empty, "but Gerard never learns."

"Oh, no," I said, staring accusingly at him, "he never learns how to do anything, does he?"

Mikey raised an eyebrow and smirked, and then took a bite of bread. I copied him and watched as Gerard's cheeks turned crimson and he held his hands in his lap as he finished his bread.

"I'm pathetic, I know," he admitted, but I placed a gentle hand on his shoulder.

"You're not pathetic, just slow," I assured him, and the three of us giggled uncontrollably for a few moments, stopping just before we lost it. Sooner rather than later, Ray waltzed out of the kitchen with four plates. Two lasagnas and two plates of pasta. One was Gerard's and the other was a standard alfredo.

"Ray, we didn't order another--" Gerard began.

"My boss told me I could end my shift early and still get paid," he said with a little smile and Mikey's eyes shone.

"That's great," he said quietly, but there was nothing he could do to hide the massive smile on his face and the excitement in his tone.

---

Ray admitted that he'd taken a cab to work that day, and Mikey beamed at this and told him that he could give him a ride to the bar, so Gerard and I got into my car, and Ray joined Mikey in his car, and then the four of us were off to the bar, driving what might have been a little over the speed limit because okay, maybe the way Gerard was looking at me was making me think that tonight, maybe, just maybe he'd not ignore me to flirt with every other guy at the bar.

Maybe he'd finally realise I wanted to be his supposedly as much as he wanted to be mine.

edited now lol