The Co-Dependent (Part Three)
Click for part two
Frank’s birthday rolled around a month later, and Bob ordered a fuck load of food from all the places they ordered lunch from and wouldn’t let anyone get any work done that day.
“Are you going out for dinner tonight?” Gerard asked as Frank shoved a spring roll into his mouth.
“No,” Frank replied, mouth full of food. He finished chewing and swallowed. “My family is out of town and I don’t really have any friends outside work. I was just going to order take-out and watch movies at home, or something.”
“Fuck that,” Gerard snorted. “Come over to my place for dinner. My brother’s girlfriend said she’d make cannelloni, and she makes seriously kick-ass cannelloni.”
“Vegetarian?” Frank asked, hopeful.
“Sure, we can swing that. We’ll make a cake too. Also, we’ll stop at the shops on the way home and you can help me pick out cheap candy for the trick-or-treaters.” Frank grinned, bright and blinding, before averting his gaze upwards.
“Hey, mistletoe!” He exclaimed, before grabbing the back of Gerard’s neck and pulling him down, planting a kiss on his lips.
“Wow, that just happened,” Gerard said after Frank pulled back. “Why is there mistletoe at your birthday party? A bit early, isn’t it?”
“It’s possible I put it there and made sure you’d be standing underneath it with me,” Frank replied, watching Gerard carefully.
“Is that right?” Gerard asked, crowding Frank against the table. Frank smirked and placed his hands on Gerard’s hips, pulling him closer. Gerard let his lips brush over Frank’s ear, and whispered “I think it’s nearly time for cake.”
“Tease,” Frank muttered. Gerard stayed pressed against Frank, and kissed him quickly.
“Inappropriate work behaviour, gentleman,” Bob said as he walked past. He was smirking, though, so Gerard kissed Frank once more and stepped back. “We need to wait for Andrea to get back before we can eat cake.”
“Andrea?” Gerard asked quietly.
“The secretary,” Bob replied with a laugh.
“I have to wait?” Frank protested. “But it’s my birthday!”
“We will all eat the cake together,” Bob ordered, flicking Frank’s forehead.
“Fine,” Frank sighed heavily. “I’ll wait.”
“Such a martyr,” Gerard chuckled.
“I am a martyr. I am denying myself cake on my birthday, all because Bryar here wants us to be civilised and eat together,” Frank said. “I’m a fucking saint.”
--
Frank sat next to Gerard at dinner that night. Their knees were pressed together as Alicia set the table and brought the food out. Frank ran his thumb absently across Gerard’s wrist under the table as Mikey served dinner out.
“Holy shit,” Frank moaned around a mouthful of Alicia’s vegetarian cannelloni, “Gerard wasn’t kidding.” Alicia snorted and blushed, waving the compliment aside.
“Wait until you taste the cake,” Mikey said with a grin. Frank sighed happily and devoured a second serving of cannelloni after he finished his first plate. Alicia brought out a chocolate cheesecake adorned with fresh raspberries and whipped cream.
“This is too much,” Frank said, shaking his head. “You don’t. You don’t even know me and you’ve gone to so much effort.”
“You’re important to Gerard,” Alicia said, “which means you’re important to us.”
“Oh,” Frank said quietly. He turned to look at Gerard, who was a spectacular shade of red from the tips of his ears down to the base of his neck. Frank tangled his fingers with Gerard’s underneath the table and squeezed. Frank and Gerard had a piece of cake each and then shared a second, before waving off Mikey and Alicia’s attempts to clean up. After Frank had covered the last of the cannelloni and placed it in the fridge, he leaned against the bench and watched Gerard wash up the plates and cutlery.
“What?” Gerard asked after a few minutes. “You’re creeping me out.”
“I’m important,” Frank whispered. “You told your brother that I’m important.”
“Yeah,” Gerard replied, “that’s because you are.”
“Just F.Y.I,” Frank murmured, stepping into Gerard’s space, “you’re pretty fucking important too.” Gerard closed the distance between them by grabbing Frank’s belt loops and pulling him forward, until they were flush against each other, and kissed Frank insistently. Frank groaned, and kissed Gerard back.
“You should stay here tonight,” Gerard said, breathless as he pulled back for air. “I mean, you live in Jersey, right? It’s too late to travel there now.”
“Oh, that’s the only reason you want me to stay?” Frank asked with a grin.
“We work together, we both start at the same time, and I live two blocks from our mutual workplace. It makes sense for you to stay here.”
“Mmm,” Frank murmured. “I’m pretty sure if you thought really hard you could think of other reasons it’s an awesome idea for me to crash here for the night.”
“I’m sure I could, but I’m not sleeping with you tonight,” Gerard said. He kept Frank in place by holding onto his hips, and dipped his head to kiss him again. “I have a strict three month policy. Self-preservation, you know?”
“Three months, huh?” Frank smiled. “I have three months to woo you into bed.”
“I guess you could put it that way,” Gerard answered carefully. “You’re okay with this?”
“Why wouldn’t I be?” Frank snorted. “It’s not like I only want to get into your pants. Your personality is pretty ok as well, asshole.”
“Okay,” Gerard replied, blushing. “Awesome. Okay.”
--
Gerard mostly stuck to his rule. It may or may not have only been two months and three weeks later when he let Frank fuck him, but if anyone asked he would vehemently deny it. Frank certainly wasn’t complaining, especially not a couple of hours later when they reversed the roles and Gerard fucked him five ways to Saturday.
“So why three months?” Frank asked from where he was curled up next to Gerard, their heads pressed together.
“I’ve had a few really shitty relationships,” Gerard explained quietly. “I need to be sure you’re in it for me, you know? Not just for sex.”
“Makes sense,” Frank replied. He hauled himself up so that he was sitting against the headboard. “Does it have anything to do with you not drinking?”
“Huh?” Gerard asked, sitting up quickly.
“Sorry,” Frank blurted. “Sorry. I was going to wait for you to tell me, but Mikey said I should ask.”
“I guess it does,” Gerard answered softly. “It’s a long story, though.”
“I’ve got time.”
--
Gerard and Bert had been in an on-off relationship for two years. Gerard had been using cocaine for three months when they met. Bert got him onto pretty much everything else. He’d woken up one morning with Bert passed out on top of him, twitching in his sleep. Gerard was shaking; ready for his next hit of whatever he could get his hands on first. Gerard had pushed Bert off him gracelessly, climbed off the bed, and had almost fallen over Mikey, who was on his knees on the ground with a scrubbing brush and bucket of soapy water.
“Huh?” Gerard croaked. Mikey sat back on his feet, dropping the scrubbing brush onto the ground.
“You threw up in here, I’m just cleaning it up,” Mikey explained.
“I’ll get it,” Gerard said, swaying on his feet. Mikey shook his head, frowning.
“I’ll take care of it,” he murmured. Even through Gerard’s inner dialogue of ‘need a hit, need a hit, fucking hell where did I put that coke’, Gerard knew Mikey meant ‘I’ll take care of you’. Something in the back of Gerard’s hazy mind snapped. He turned back to the bed, and pushed Bert hard enough to make him fall off the bed.
“Get out,” Gerard said, hands shaking violently. “Get out, get out, get out. We’re done.”
“What?” Bert coughed, confusion crossing his face. “What did I do?”
“Just get out,” Gerard shouted. Bert grumbled angrily as he scooped his clothes up off the floor, and stumbled out of the room. Gerard heard the front door slam, and he sank down onto the bed with his head in his hands.
“Gerard?” Mikey asked, tentatively sitting next to Gerard.
“I’m so fucked up, Mikey,” Gerard whispered. By this point, his whole body was shaking. “I want to get clean.”
“Yeah?” Mikey asked. Gerard had tried to quiet once before, but Bert had come around with coke that had been laced with heroin, and everything had gone to shit.
“I need help,” Gerard murmured. “Please.”
“Jesus Gerard of course I’ll help you,” Mikey hissed. He pulled Gerard into a tight hug. Neither of them let go for a long time.
--
“I was supposed to be the one taking care of Mikey,” Gerard murmured, hugging his knees to his chest, “not the other way around. I was a really shitty older brother for a really long time.”
“You love him,” Frank stated. “You’re here for him now. You got clean for him, Gerard. That’s so much more than someone else would have done.”
“I know,” Gerard replied, smiling. “It doesn’t change the fact that I wasn’t there for Mikey for at least two and a half years. So the three-month thing is so that I can make sure the relationship is real, you know? I need to know that I can be there for me, for Mikey and for you. Three months is how long that takes for me.”
“So I’m worth it, huh?” Frank smirked, sitting up and pressing his lips to Gerard’s. Gerard said nothing, and kissed Frank back. It was enough of an answer.
--
Frank mostly stayed at Gerard’s. It made sense - they worked together, they were dating, they enjoyed sleeping next to each other. It didn’t really surprise anyone when Gerard said one weekend three months later that Frank may as well bring all his stuff over too, seeing as he was there all the time anyway. Frank had grinned, bright and blinding, and threw himself at Gerard.
“It’s about fucking time,” Mikey said, rolling his eyes when Gerard told him. Gerard punched his shoulder and hugged him tight.
“This is ok?” Gerard asked.
“If you hadn’t asked him within the next week, I was going to ask him to move in with us. I’ve seen the look on both of your faces when he went back to Jersey.”
“Thank-you,” Gerard breathed against Mikey’s neck.
--
Gerard ran into Bert a week later, in a record store a couple of blocks from the apartment. Frank was talking to the cashier about pre-ordering a CD, and Bert was flicking through some posters.
“Bert,” he said.
“Gerard,” Bert replied, smiling. “Hey.”
“It’s been a long time,” Gerard murmured, taking an awkward step closer.
“Five and a half,” Bert replied. “How’s Mikey?”
“He’s great,” Gerard responded, grinning. “He’s still seeing Alicia.”
“Are they married yet?” Bert asked. Gerard shook his head, glancing over to Frank who was gesturing animatedly at the cashier.
“It’s only a matter of time, I’m sure.”
“That your boy?” Bert asked, pointing to Frank who was now watching Gerard.
“Yeah.” Gerard grinned again as Frank made his way over. “This is Frank. Frank, this is Bert.”
“Oh,” Frank said, shoulders stiffening. Gerard wrapped an arm around Frank’s waist, tugging him close.
“I’m guessing you’ve heard of me?” Bert shook his head, snorting. “Gerard and I were pretty fucked up. I’m surprised we didn’t kill ourselves - accidental or otherwise.”
“You’re not kidding. You look well, though.”
“Been clean for four years,” Bert said proudly.
“Six for me.”
“We should head home,” Frank commented. “Alicia’s making cannelloni, I’m not being late for that.”
“Oh man, I remember Alicia’s cannelloni,” Bert groaned, chuckling. “I should go too. Jepha’s cooking me dinner tonight.”
“Jepha?” Gerard asked, sounding surprised.
“People said I was the only person surprised by the relationship, but I guess not. We started dating when I’d been clean for a year,” Bert explained.
“We really should go,” Frank insisted, tugging Gerard towards the exit.
“It was good to see you. I’m glad you’re doing well.” Gerard’s tone was earnest, and Bert squeezed his shoulder.
“You too,” he replied softly. “Bye, Gerard.”
“Home,” Frank repeated, and Gerard followed him out the door. ‘Home,’ he thought ‘yeah, home’.
--
Gerard loved his job. Every morning he woke up with Frank either next to him, on top of him, or underneath him (depending on the previous night’s activities). He took a piss, had two black coffees and a cooked breakfast, courtesy of Alicia. He woke Mikey and Frank up, spent twenty minutes fending off Frank’s advances (well, that was a lie. He spent five minutes fending Frank off, then fifteen minutes giving in), got dressed, and left for work with Frank.
He would arrive at work; put his lunch request in with either the receptionist (Keira) or Bob, sit at his desk (or Frank’s) and wait for whatever time they were starting that day to roll around, before starting work. Except for Tuesday’s, when they strolled in at ten/ten thirty/sometimes eleven for the team meeting.
He’d spend all morning working on current or new campaigns, take forty five minutes to an hour for lunch at twelve/half past twelve/one/whenever with Frank, draw (whether it be work related or not), leave work with Frank between two and four, and get home fifteen minutes later (usually to an empty apartment). He’d eat dinner with Mikey, Frank and Alicia every night - they took turns cooking. They’d watch TV, and head to bed with Frank at around eleven, though they were usually awake until after twelve. Work was usually five days a week (Bob occasionally gave them a day off).
Gerard’s life was pretty fucking awesome.