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Frank was quite excited; Gerard was coming to his house. Gerard, had responded to a verbal invitation to ‘hang out’!

Well, Mikey and Ray were coming too, and Gerard had been to his house before with Mikey, and of course it might be a bit awkward to try and woo someone whilst their younger brother and oldest friend were in the same room, but nonetheless the point was Gerard was coming to his house.

Frank went around the living room tidying up a bit before everyone arrived, he knew Mikey and Ray wouldn’t care about a bit of clutter; and having been in Gerard’s room he was sure he wouldn’t, but his mom would probably be pleased with him if the room wasn’t worse when she came back and it gave him something to do as he waited for Ray and the Ways to arrive.
Hah, ‘Ray and the Ways’ sounded like some sort of weird 80s band.

They had all gone to their homes before they went to Frank’s, in order to get snacks and video games, so Frank was just waiting for his mom to go out and his friends to arrive (and he really hoped his mom would leave first.)

‘Knock, knock’, There was an onomatopoeically correct sounding knock at the door. No such luck then.
Frank went to the door and opened it; it was Mikey and Gerard, Mikey holding a video game box, wearing an expression of indifference and Gerard holding two packets of tortilla chips and looking nervous.

“Hi guys”, Frank greeted them and let them in the house; trying to usher them into the living room before-
Footsteps on the stairs. Oh no.
“Hi Mikey, hi Gerard, how have you two been?” Frank’s mother walked down the stairs.
Gerard’s eyes widened dramatically as she approached.
The problem was not so much Frank’s mother as Frank’s mother’s chosen line-dancing outfit.
It was short; a little blue skirt with tassels at the hem;
A tight, too tight, white shirt with flowers each side at the top and of course more fringing along the sleeves.
Bright. Pink. Cowboy. Boots.
A matching bright pink cowboy hat.
Could this get any worse?

Ray walked through the open door, holding a guitar-hero guitar.
“Oh, hey guys, the door was open so I just…” Ray looked at Frank’s mom and gaped.
“Oh, hey Mrs Iero, I’m fine thanks.” Mikey replied evenly.
This was why Frank liked Mikey Way.

“Nice to see you again Raymond, I’m glad to hear that Mikey, I’m just on my way to my line-dancing class, so I’ll be back in a couple of hours.”
Frank’s mom walked down the stairs giving him a kiss on the cheek.
“Oh Frankie, I wish you hadn’t stopped coming to line-dance, you were so cute in that little cowboy outfit when you were a kid and the ladies always ask about you!”
Frank answered his previous question: it obviously could get worse.
“Mom…” He groaned.
“Don’t pull that face, it’s unflattering dear, no boys will want to kiss you if the wind changes and it stays that way.” Frank’s mom patted his cheek. Frank groaned silently this time.

Frank shot a quick glance to Gerard, after getting over his initial shock from Mrs Iero’s wardrobe choices his face had been getting progressively redder throughout the exchange; as if he were receiving embarrassment second-hand from Frank.

“Well I’d better get going now boys, have fun! – and try not to leave the living room in too much of a mess,”
She started to go out the door before turning back and saying:
“Oh and if you ever feel like joining my line-dancing class just come on down to the community centre on a Tuesday night, it’s great fun and a good way to meet girls.. or boys if you like, my Frankie had his first kiss there, anyway, bye boys!”
And with that she walked out the door, pulling it shut behind her.

There was a moment of silence before all eyes turned to Frank.
“Not. A. Word.” He uttered.

Then Ray and Mikey burst into the hysterics they’d been holding back for the last five minutes, and though he was trying to look sympathetic, even Gerard started giggling crazily. (But it was ok in the case of Gerard because his laughter was adorable and kind of hot and Frank could listen to it forever.)

“You guys suck.” He proclaimed, flipping them off, but with a smile as he walked into the living room.

*

Frank had set up the guitar hero and everyone had had an awesome time, yelling insults at each other, being rock gods, and occasionally even trying to win the game fair and square. It had been an awesome night (Take away the way the conversation kept reverting back to Frank’s mother and asking about, “Does little Frankie miss his line dancing?” and occasional choruses of 'Frankie's mom has got it goin' on..' )
Frank hadn’t spoken to Gerard much yet, but the evening was still young and Frank did not give up on the pursuit of love.

Soon enough, Mikey and Ray had settled down to play a relaxing game that included shooting zombies and lazily talking about movies (well maybe not the last bit but they all were anyway). Frank was hungry by then, so took one of the bags of tortilla chips off the coffee table and took it through to the kitchen in the search of salsa and cheese – because nachos so counted as a healthy dinner.

He put the chips into a big heatproof dish and covered them in cheese and salsa – because he was doing this cooking properly – and popped them into the microwave. As he leant against the kitchen table waiting for the waves to work their magic Gerard entered the kitchen.
“Hey Frank”, Gerard smiled shyly.
“Hey Gee, I’m making nachos – want some?”
“Please.”

Just then the microwave beeped.
“Oh, I’ll get it.” Said Gerard eagerly, and before frank could stop him opened the microwave and put one hand on the burning-hot dish.
“Ow.” Said Gerard, before,“OW FUCKING OW GOD THAT HURTS!”
“Don’t die, Gee.” Shouted Mikey from the other room.

“Come here,” Said Frank, grabbing Gerard’s hand and putting it under the cold tap.
“Oh..” Sighed Gerard in relief, and Frank had to remind himself that now was not the time for inappropriate thoughts.

Frank kept on holding Gerard’s hand under the tap, stroking it gently with his thumb as the cool water fell around it, for longer than strictly necessary, until both their fingers were numb.
Gerard blushed as frank gently dried his hand with a tea-towel, as if the heat from the burn had gone to his cheeks, Frank thought.

Gerard sat down at the little kitchen table as Frank went to get the nachos out of the microwave, wearing his mom’s purple yet practical oven gloves.
“Careful,” Frank smirked as he set the dish down on the kitchen table. “They’re hot.”

Frank and Gerard started eating the nachos at the table there and then, ‘if Ray and Mikey are bothered about them they should come and get ‘em’ was the general consensus, so they just shared the food and conversation between them.

Frank watched Gerard as he discussed in great depth the greatness of the 70s punk movement, the chip poised halfway to his mouth long forgotten. Gerard’s eyes were lit up and his mouth was throwing out ideas left right and centre; more delicious to Frank than any tortilla-based snack.
As Gerard clicked his fingers to emphasise a point, he winced noticeably.

“The burns?” Frank asked.
Gerard nodded.
“Hang on, I think we’ve got some cream for burns.” Said Frank; getting up from the table to rummage through the medicine cabinet on the wall. “Ah-ha!” He brandished the tube.

Before Gerard even had time to blush, Frank had sat back down and grabbed Gerard’s arm.
He squeezed some of the cream onto Gerard’s palm, before gently rubbing it in to the reddest areas of his hand; rubbing it in tiny circles on his fingertips.
Did this count as hand holding?
“Mmmh…” Hummed Gerard gladly, looking slightly embarrassed at his noise.
Frank kept softly rubbing Gerard’s hand.

“Wow Gee, your hands are so soft…” Murmured Frank.
“Uhm thanks, yours too…” He smiled looking through his eyelashes.
“And,” Said Frank, leaning forwards, “Your eyelashes are so long.”
Gerard’s eyes opened more but he didn’t pull away.
“And,” Said Frank leaning further forwards so he could see the way the brown and green pigments melted together to make Gerard’s hazel eyes, “Your lips look really soft too.”
Frank leant so far forward he could feel the soft breaths from Gerard’s nose, tickling the fine hairs on his upper lip. Gerard looked at Frank: Frank looked at Gerard. They both leant in the fraction of an inch more needed to brush their lips so gently together. And then Ray walked into the kitchen.

Frank and Gerard leapt apart.

“Hey guys, so I smell nach-Oh.”
Oh. Right, they were still holding hands.
“Erm, Frankie was just rubbing burn cream into my hands.” Said Gerard hurriedly, pulling away, his face as red as a tomato.
“Yeah, totally.” Said Frank holding up his hands.
“Sure…” Said Ray.
“Were they making out?” Yelled Mikey from the living room.
“Not quite!” Replied Ray.

He then picked up the half-empty bowl of nachos and left Frank and Gerard to follow in his wake.


Nothing else was said about the almost-kiss for the rest of that night, everyone just laughed and chatted like normal, until it was time to go home. Frank just had to suffice with a goodbye hug.

A/N Hahaha I feel so evil having left it there! I cannot believe it's the penultimate chapter already. I really had so much fun writing this one :D - Frankie's mom and almost-frerard and whatnot, (I hope I got the microwave-lore correct because we don't even have one and all I know is they're an onomatopoeia ;) )As you can probably tell it turned out longer than most of them and I can't wait to write the final chapter! Please Rate and Review as they are always greatly appreciated and I love your feedback! ^_^