The silence between the two of them is deafening, and so awkward Gerard might actually get up and leave the table any minute now. He stirs what's left of his coffee, although most of it is milk and 1 страница

The silence between the two of them is deafening, and so awkward Gerard might actually get up and leave the table any minute now. He stirs what's left of his coffee, although most of it is milk and it's already well blended with the actual coffee and it's well on its way to being to cold to taste like it should, and stares down at the light brown, dark beige liquid. He glances up every now and then at Frank who is carefully hugging his own paper cup of coffee with his hands, sipping it.

Every time he does look up, his mind seems to magically conjure up yet another reason why having Frank model for him would be great, even if he already knows that better than anyone. He's actually the only one who does know it, considering he didn't dare tell Mikey and he's too chicken to ask Frank. But he knows that Frank needs to be his model for this project, or the project won't be happening, since the image of the Frank painting is the only idea he has and there's no time to get another. And just the idea of using another model is enough to make Gerard cringe.

"Is that your phone ringing?" The silence is suddenly broken by Frank's voice, and the Pokemon theme song coming out of Gerard's cell phone that's vibrating in his pocket completely unnoticed by him. Pulling it out and checking the screen, he sees that it's just Mikey, so instead of answering it he turns it off and puts it back. All the while, he could make out a bemused look on Frank's face in his peripheral vision, but when he looked back up it had turned into one of confusion.

"It's just Mikey. I'll call him back later," he explains as his right hand resumes the coffee stirring.

"Yeah, you wouldn't wanna interrupt our deep, life changing conversation now, would you?" Frank cracks up almost before he's finished the sentence, amused by his own joke and Gerard joins in after a second or two. Frank's humor isn't the best if you compare quality and stuff, but it's better than 'your mom!' and other shitty jokes that so called professionals come up with. It's the same kind of humor that Gerard has, and that, he thinks, is part of the reason they have always been able to hang out without feeling weird.

Until now.

"Well, yeah, we could actually come up with something important, you know. We could find a cure for cancer, or AIDS," Gerard argues in between high-pitched giggles.

Frank rolls his eyes and stops laughing just long enough to sound sort of serious when he says, "There already is a cure for AIDS. It's called condoms. It's amazing. I use them all the time. It's like, a condom a day keeps the doctor away." Again, he's cracking up before he's finished his last sentence, and is sort of hiding his red face in his hands.

"Condoms isn't a cure. It's a precaution. And there are other ways of getting it."

"Yeah, but none of them are a danger to you. You're terrified of needles and you've already been born. And I don't know any other ways of getting it, so... Condoms." Frank grins, happy with his conclusion that condoms will save the day, and Gerard just shakes his head, still too giggly to argue it further.

They're both silent again, but it's just for a short while and it's not as strange and heavy as it was before, Gerard is happy to notice. He's the one to break it too, after seeing a waitress glaring at them and realizing that they've been sitting there for over an hour, most of the time being after finishing their coffee.

"You wanna get out of here? The blonde waitress over there looks as if she's gonna kill us if we hog the table any longer," he says, still feeling like he needs to laugh, but suppressing it to a casual smile. "We can go back to my place, if you don't mind."

"Of course not. It's not like I have anything better to do." Frank rolls his eyes as they both get up and leaves the pretty crowded café. It's unusually hot outside to be this early in May, but Gerard still puts on the leather jacket he's never seen without, and Frank doesn't even bother to object because he's used to watching Gerard rather sweat like a pig than walk around in just a t-shirt. Sober, that is. Get enough beer in him and he forgets to be annoyingly self-conscious.

"So, you got any plans for the weekend?" Frank says, dragging his feet over the gravel, as usual not seeming to care that it would wear his already beat up vans out even faster.

That's Frank, though, Gerard thinks, wearing his clothes and shoes out faster than any normal sort-of-broke teenager, just so he has a valid reason to buy new ones. Not many people know that one of Frank's biggest weaknesses is shopping and clothes, but Gerard does, after having been friends with him for quite a few years now.

When Gerard emerges out of his thoughts about Frank's shoes it seems that a moment too much has passed since Frank asked the question, and although he doesn't really want to, Gerard is forced to tell the truth about his weekend plans instead of coming up with an excuse and continuing to avoid the subject. "Uh well, I was hoping to start working on this new art project for school, but I need a model for it, and... I was sort of meaning to ask if you could do me a favor and model for me, but I wasn't sure you'd be up for it." He can't really help but squirm inwardly while he says it all, and as he spoke so quickly Frank probably didn't catch all of it anyway.

"Why wouldn't I want to model for you? You've painted my portrait before," Frank says matter-of-factly, but then it's as if he connects Gerard's reluctance to ask him the question and the older boy's strange, sort of anxious behavior. "Is it, not a normal portrait?" he asks hesitantly, throwing Gerard a kind of nervous glance.

"Not exactly, no." Gerard now feels as worried as Frank looks, thinking that Frank really won't want to do this. Even for friends some things will always be too weird to do together. Especially this kind of thing. You need strangers for it, ugly strangers are to be preferred to minimize the risk for things turning awkward. "Can we talk about it when we get to my place? I'll explain everything and let you think about it."

"Yeah, sure. I'll just try and not think of worst case scenarios that you could want to draw me in but I would hate." Frank shudders visibly, but flashes Gerard one of his smile as if to say that he's not really that worried. It's not like Gerard would ever make him do something he doesn't want to do anyway.

"Too bad, I'd actually like to know what bad things you could come up with. Can't you give me at least something? I could use it for my next project," Gerard says just as they turn left and head into his apartment building. There isn't an elevator so they have to take the stairs, but they're both used to it. The only time it's a problem is when they're so drunk they have to support each other to remain upright.

"Well, you'd better not ask me to model for you if you're going for this idea." Frank looks all serious and holds out his hands as if he's trying to visualize it. Then he shudders again, and frowns at the apparently horrible mental image in his head. "Okay, the worst thing I can think of is spiders. You know, somehow incorporated into the painting, on the model or something." He looks at Gerard who just nods thoughtfully. "And that's probably the only thing I really wouldn't ever do for anyone, or any amount of money or whatever payment was offered."

"Awesome, that's not even close to what I have in mind, so I hope that this won't be a problem for you," Gerard says, a little breathless from climbing the stairs and once again reminded that smoking is not something he should be doing. A seven year old habit is not something that you get rid of in a week, though, something that he's experienced first hand many times.

"Okay, now you've got my interest. How about we just get inside, get some more coffee and smokes and then you can tell me exactly what it is that you want to do? Because I'm really just curious now about what could be so bad you'd think I wouldn't do it. We've been friends for years, there's not much I wouldn't do for you. Spiders being one of those things." Frank leans against the wall next to Gerard's apartment door, making himself as comfortable as one can be standing up like that. He's panting a little too, being a smoker just like Gerard, but not for nearly as long as his four years older friend.

"I'm still not so sure about this, but yeah, let's get inside and I'll tell you all about it." Gerard finds his keys and gets the door open, already shrugging his too hot jacket off and going inside his relatively cool apartment. As Frank toes off his shoes, Gerard goes straight for the kitchen and the coffee machine, discarding his wallet and keys on the table on his way there.

He hears Frank disappear off to the bathroom, and once he's got the coffee machine going, he seizes the moment to go and change his sweaty t-shirt for a clean er one. He would like to shower as well, and cool down in general, but he decides to let that wait for a more convenient time.

Frank is sprawled across the two-seat couch when Gerard comes back, his head on one of the armrests and feet just sticking out at the other end. His face looks relaxed and his eyes are closed, but as Gerard stands next to the couch, looking down at him and waiting for him to move so he can sit down, he grins and meets the older boy's gaze. "The floor is all yours man," he says, cocking his head to the side.

"Yeah, right," Gerard mutters, voice dripping with sarcasm, and sits down on top of the instantly struggling Frank's stomach, ignoring the 'oof's and 'get the fuck off of me you fucking fat ass!' and makes himself comfortable.

"Gee-ee-ee-eeee," Frank whines, pushing pathetically at Gerard who doesn't budge. "Get off," he pokes Gerard in the side, as hard as he can, but it only results in the older boy squirming on top of him and making it harder for him to breathe. "You're crushing me."

"You called me fat. and you wouldn't let me sit on my couch. So now I sit on you." Gerard grins and returns the poking, causing Frank to start squirming underneath him again in attempts to get free. In the end he is getting nowhere and seems to be waiting for Gerard to get bored of just sitting on him, which actually happens sooner rather than later.

"I'm gonna go get the coffee." Gerard stretches a little as he stands up and Frank draws in a deep breath, clutches his stomach and practically rolls off the couch just because he can. Gerard can't help but grin and lean down to pat the younger boy's back. "At least now you know better than to try and hog my furniture like that."

"Fuck you, Gee," Frank mutters and crawls back onto the couch.

When Gerard gets back, Frank is sitting up properly, and Gerard is glad that he doesn't have to squish him again. Sure, Frank's stomach is a little bit pudgy, but he's too damn skinny to be anywhere near comfortable to sit on for a longer period of time.

Frank sighs happily when Gerard hands him his steaming mug of coffee and sips it carefully, but gives Gerard a look that says that he's still pissed about Gerard sitting on top of him. "You know, if you want to get help from a friend, or anyone for that matter, sitting on them really isn't the most motivating way to go."

"Uh, yeah," Gerard shrugs, taking a sip of his coffee.

"What is this thing that you're so afraid of telling me about anyway? You were obviously stalling before, and I'm getting more curious my the second." He nudges Gerard with his elbow and turns to the right so he's facing Gerard, folding his legs up on the couch in front of him. "And it can't be that bad. If it isn't about spiders, what are you worried about? Needles? I'm not afraid of needles. I can do needles. As long as I don't have to inject myself with anything."

Frank rambles on and on about what he would and wouldn't do for Gerard and his most important project for art school, and the older boy can't hide the grin that slowly but surely appears on his face. "It's not needles, or spiders, or anything else like that," Gerard laughs.

"It's not about phobias?" Frank shrieks gleefully, bouncing in his seat and grabbing onto Gerard's arm as he leans closer.

"No, no phobias." Gerard is still smiling but he pauses to take a deep breath before finally getting to the point he has (not so) subconsciously been avoiding for most of the afternoon. "It's about skin, and marks on the skin. Like scars, bruises..."

"Tattoos," Frank finishes for him, a wide, toothy grin taking up most of his face in a way that looks kind of painful to Gerard. Gerard nods and Frank goes on, "That's awesome! Why have you been nervous about asking me that? Of course I'll do it, you know how much I love showing off my tattoos. Even the less good ones."

Gerard finds himself wrapped up in a tight hug as Frank's arms close around his shoulders, squeezing him. But he's not sharing Frank's happiness and relief just yet, knowing that there is more to the painting than Frank showing one or two tattoos. He wants to see pretty much all of them.

"Frank, there's one more thing, and this is what I was actually nervous about asking you." Gerard squirms his way out of Frank's embrace. "I, uh, you see, I." He pauses again and tries to ignore the amused look on Frank's face. It's as if he's back in High School when he was trying to ask a girl in his History class to Prom, and she and all her friends were laughing at him before he had even opened his mouth. But he's not trying to ask Frank out, he's just trying to explain the details of the painting.

"I want you naked," he blurts out, but then he realizes what the fuck he just said and goes red. "I mean, I want you to pose naked, for the painting. I want it to be a full body picture, and although most of your tattoos are on your upper body I think it will look better if you're not... wearing any clothes. At all." Gerard rambles until he runs out of words and things that makes even just a little sense, and then goes quiet, his face still red like a tomato.

Frank is looking as if he's trying not to laugh and fall off the couch and not nearly as surprised and shocked as Gerard expects him too. In the end the younger boy falls backwards, head landing on the armrest and his legs kicking in the air like a kid. When he finally calms down and starts breathing somewhat normally, Gerard's blush has gone down and he's gathered his thoughts enough to hope that the laughing is a positive reaction to what he said.

"Gee, for how many years have we known each other? Like, four years?" Frank asks and Gerard nods. They've known each other since around the time Gerard graduated from High school, and they met in one of the strangest ways possible. At least, the first time Gerard remembers meeting Frank was weird since he had apparently agreed to letting Frank crash on the couch after a party and he was more drunk than he can remember ever being. So he got up the next day to find this fourteen year old kid eating breakfast in his kitchen while talking to Gerard's mom.

"Are you in any way saying that you've never seen me naked, by accident or something?" Gerard shakes his head. He can't remember ever seeing Frank without clothes on, so of course, it could have happened when he was drunk enough to forget it, but he doesn't think so.

"Yeah, I don't think I have." He looks almost apologetic, but shrugs it off and takes a long sip of his coffee that has cooled off significantly by now. "I guess it's because you're younger than me and I think it would be weird to look at you naked, or wonder what," once again he realizes he's about to say something stupid and stops himself before it's too late. "Yeah." He blushes again and Frank shakes his head, giggling.

Then he says, "So now that I'm over eighteen you think I'm old enough? You think I'm old enough for your perverted twenty-three year old eyes to stare at? To imagine dirty things that you could do to me and have naughty fantasies that I'll beg for you to make real."

If Gerard wasn't so amused by the fact that Frank is really trying to make him uncomfortable, he probably had been flustered and bothered by Frank suddenly climbing onto his lap and whispering in a husky, low voice in his ear, his breath hot and moist on his skin. But he's learned that when Frank gets like this there's no reason to take him seriously, so he doesn't.

"Do you want me, Gee?" Frank breathes, and Gerard suppresses the urge to laugh. "Do you want to fuck me?" He's grinning, Gerard can hear it in the way his words are sort of cut short, and he's giggling even before Gerard grabs him by the chin and holds him out in front of himself.

"No, thank you. You're disgusting, Frank," Gerard laughs, shoving Frank too the side so that he falls back on the couch laughing, much like he had before.

"Aw, you don't think I'm pretty?" he pouts, taking a temporary break from laughing as he pokes Gerard with his foot.

"You're very pretty, Frankie, but not in the 'I have dirty fantasies about you that I jerk off to every night' way, okay?" He leans over and pets Frank's dark mess of hair and kisses his cheek before getting up from the couch and going down the hallway to the bathroom.

"You're just saying that so that I won't think that you're thinking about me when you stick your hand down your pants. But I see through that, you know. I'm brighter than I look, and I'm on to you, Way!" Frank shouts loud enough for the sound to reach Gerard opening the bathroom door. "I'm on to you, and I won't give up until I've proven that you want my ass."

When Gerard returns, Frank is no longer on the couch, but in the kitchen making more coffee, for which Gerard can't help but love him just a little bit more.

"So, when you said you wanted to get started on the painting this weekend, did you mean that you wanted to work on it today too?" Frank sits down by the kitchen table and supports his head in his hand and looks up at Gerard who seconds later sits down as well. "Because, it's already sort of late, and I'm going out with Mikey and Bob tonight," he says, tapping his fingers against the table and looking hopefully at Gerard. "You can come with us tonight. Then I don't have to be the third wheel, which would really make you awesome in like a million ways." He bats his eyelashes and Gerard wonders if the kid wears mascara or if they really are that long and thick and dark naturally.

"Well, if we could just decide where would be the best place, and a natural pose that will show off as many tattoos as good as possible, that would be a great start." Frank nods, although Gerard is more thinking to himself out loud than talking to Frank. "And I'll come with you tonight, but you'll have to promise not to get too smashed. I can't have you be all hungover when I start painting."

Frank pulls a rather cute 'I'm completely devastated' face and looks as if someone just told him Christmas wasn't really canceled, but he's not getting anything out of it. No presents, no yummy food, no annoying relatives that force home-knitted socks and sweaters upon you and pinch your cheeks whenever you're close enough. What's the point in that?

"But I won't be getting drunk either, so we can be sort-of-sober together?" Gerard tries, but it's too late. He's already ruined Frank's idea of what a great weekend, and especially a great Friday night, is supposed to be like.

"You're mean," he says, pouting. "What's the point in going out if you can't even drink and enjoy yourself without anything holding you back?"

"I'm sorry, but I want to get into the painting without any problems around it, like you being too tired to sit still, or running off to throw up in the middle of the sitting." He can't help but feel guilty for ruining Frank's night, but what can he do? Of course, he can wait another day to start on the painting, but the time already is scarce and he wants to have what he refers to as 'emergency correction and reparation time' in case something goes terribly wrong along the way.

"How about, next Saturday, when we've both gotten into it and all, we go out and take the next day off? To make up for tonight not being what you intended." Even though Frank takes a few moments to reply, most likely trying to play on Gerard's guilt, the older boy knows that he's about to be forgiven.

"Okay," he finally says, "but I'm expecting you to buy me drinks. Not just because of tonight, but sort of as payment for me letting you paint me, in the nude and all. So you don't have to really pay me, in any other way."

Gerard nods, looking sort of thoughtful, and says, "But I'll feel guilty for taking all of your time that you should be using to study for your finals."

"Well, if you really want to pay me, you could just blow me some time, and I wouldn't have to jerk off that night and could use the time to study instead." Frank smirks and leans across the table to reach out and run his fingers over Gerard's arm where it lies on top of the table.

"Frank, seriously, do you want to have sex with me?" Gerard asks, staring at Frank like he wants to smack him over the head, or give in and actually do one of the things that Frank has so happily suggested time and time again today. Yeah, he thinks, but no. Not happening. Ever. He screwed up a friendship like that once and he does not want to repeat the mistake with Frank.

"Aw, I thought you'd never ask." Frank smiles sweetly and bats his eyelashes again, still stroking Gerard's arm.

Gerard just rolls his eyes and stands up, tired of playing games that are not getting anywhere. "So, are we gonna get started, or what?" Frank takes a moment to nod a yes, but stands up, stretching and yawning as if he's been sitting there for hours and not just twenty minutes.

"Where?" he rubs his eyes and runs a hand through his semi-long hair.

"I was thinking of using mirrors to get as many of your tattoos visible to my angle as possible, and my best mirror for that is in my bedroom," Gerard explains as he leads the way there, stopping in front of the mirror that runs from the floor almost all the way up to the ceiling. "But I think it's a little too cramped in here so I'd rather bring it out to the lounge, if you could help me carry it."

"Sure," Frank mutters with a soft sigh, not really up for carrying huge, heavy mirrors through an apartment with random stuff lying around on the floor where you least expect it. But he grabs the frame with both hands, careful not to drop it, as Gerard does the same and leads the way back to the lounge. They put it down so it's leaning against the wall by the windows and sort of reflecting them and the last rays of the afternoon sun.

"I think this is perfect," Gerard says, waving his hands excitedly as he takes in the lighting and reflections and everything. "I will have to put up shades and lights to make sure the lighting and shadows is always the same, but I can most likely use the reflections of the windows and the sky outside if I just paint it at the right moment."

"Yeah, it sounds great, and it looks great too. What kind of paints are you gonna use? Oils?"

"I'm hoping to have time for two paintings, actually. One using oils and one with water colors," Gerard replies, eager to start working now that he's at least got the right position for the mirror. "Can you stand here?" He tugs on Frank's arm to make him stand where he wants him, facing the windows but angled so that he's more turned towards the room and the easel which Gerard will be working on.

"Should I take my clothes off?" he asks and Gerard, who is crouching down to adjust his feet and thus has his head leveled with Frank's crotch, looks up at him.

"No, that won't be necessary until tomorrow." He grins and stands up to step over to the easel to look from there how the angle is and how the reflections appear. He tells Frank to move forward two inches and a half, and that's really the best he can do. "I wish I had another mirror, but I think this will work. I hope it will." He can't help but feel disappointed, now seeing what the setting looks like when he had imagined it so perfectly in his head, with every side of Frank visible along with the tattoos.

"I'm sure that it's gonna turn out even better than anyone could ever imagine, alright?" Frank says, sort of twitching as if he wants to move and give Gerard an encouraging hug, but he stays in place like Gerard has told him to.

Gerard gets out some tape to mark where Frank is standing and then takes a photo to make sure he can recreate the way Frank's left leg is bent ever so slightly at the knee and he's putting most of his bodyweight on the right one. "We'll figure out how you can hold your arms tomorrow, if that's okay. I'll probably end up changing the way you're standing too, but I think it will be something like this." He gives Frank a small smile, still not feeling too confident about this, but the giant grin Frank flashes him in return makes him feel a little better.

"So we're done? I can go home and get ready for our wild night out?" Frank asks, rolling his eyes and sort of stretching his legs and making the impression that he'd been standing there for hours, rather than a few minutes.

"Yes, Gerard chuckles, "You can go home and prettify yourself." That earns him a playful shove from Frank.

"Hey, I don't prettify myself. I only... sexify myself. Like I would need to make myself prettier than I already am. I don't think it's even possible, you know." He shakes his head and looks at Gerard like he just did something that made him lose all respect for him. Which might actually be the case, given how serious Frank looks, Gerard thinks.

"But you need to make yourself sexier?" Gerard smirks, and can't help but burst out laughing at the 'what did you just say' look on Frank's face.

"I'm not even going to sink as low as to answer that question," he mutters, rubbing his forehead as if he's trying so hard not to to throw a fit at Gerard. Then he says, "I'll see you later, bye," and walks out of the lounge without looking at Gerard, still too pissed off to acknowledge the fact that Gerard's statement was sort of true and that he had just said it himself. Maybe tomorrow?

When Frank has left, Gerard takes the empty coffee mugs back to the kitchen and puts them in the sink before pouring himself a new one, realizing that they had forgotten about the new pot that Frank had made. He makes some noodles to eat and then gets ready to go out with Frank and the others. He's not as excited about it as Frank, and doesn't feel like he has to 'sexify' himself, but he showers and straightens his hair anyway, because it's routine.

Frank calls him later to ask if Gerard can pick him up, so he does and then ends up swinging by his parents house to pick up Mikey and Bob, but manages to get out of having to drive possibly wasted out of their minds Mikey and Bob at ass o'clock in the morning. Apparently his mom had given them money for a cab, not knowing that Gerard was going too and intending to stay sober.

About an hour after arriving at the bar, Gerard is experiencing a whole new level of boredom. He's alone in the booth they got when they got to the bar, sipping a small glass of coke wishing he had some Bacardi, and looking for Frank to make sure he doesn't 'forget' his promise not to drink. He's on the dance floor, clinging to someone Gerard thought was Frank's ex, but now he isn't so sure anymore.

Gerard looks away when Frank sticks his tongue down the guy's throat, but when his eyes instead lands on Mikey and Bob sucking face, he shudders and looks back to Frank who's grinning and seemingly whispering something to the guy who's attacking his neck. Frank's facing in Gerard's direction, so he looks down, not wanting Frank to catch him staring. He would never admit to it out loud, but Frank does look rather hot like that. Light gray jeans that are tight in all the right places, a v-neck t-shirt that clings to his surprisingly toned chest, his dark hair being all over the place in some sort of organized mess... Gerard can't seem to take his eyes off of him, even as his tongue once again tangles with the other guy, Ryan's.

A few minutes after that, Frank does look up to see Gerard staring, not necessarily at him and the guy, who Gerard thinks looks sort of a girl, but in that general direction. He's kind of surprised when Frank lets go of Ryan, and comes back to Gerard, but then Frank actually seems sort of glad to be rid of him.

Дата добавления: 2015-11-04