Mad Gear

Coffee Date

What the actual fuck?

Gerard just stands in the shop driveway, seeing Frank drive off. He can't move or react, in complete shock. He just agreed to go out with this hot guy, and has no idea what his life has come to.

After a while, he finally turns around and goes inside the shop, where Ray is standing behind the counter, staring at him with a smile. 'Well, well –,' he says. 'Look at you, my boy! You still got it!'

Gerard shrugs it off as if it's not a big deal, and he's not panicking on the inside. He's aware of how red his face is right now, but he won't admit it. 'Oh, stop it!'

'That guy was totally flirting with you!'

He wasn't. There's no way. Gerard never thought he'd take that invitation seriously, and he was honestly hoping he'd forgotten about it. He's too old for this, and doesn't know how to do this anymore. It's been ages since his last relationship, and he's not sure he wants to go through that again. And most likely, Frank doesn't want to be with someone like him.

He seems – sophisticated. With his expensive car and his designer clothes. Gerard doesn't fit in that world. His greasy hands will just stain all his fancy clothes. So it's better not to get excited, and forget about him before he gets his hopes high.

Frank probably didn't mean it either. He's probably on his way back to his fancy loft in New York by now, and he'll forget all about Gerard. Yeah, that's better. 'He wasn't flirting,' Gerard says.

'I know what I saw.' Ray walks back to the office, and Gerard follows him, ready to start off his day. He has a lot of invoices to send, as well as checking orders and other stuff, before he gets started. So he sits at his desk, and gets on it, Ray working on something behind him. 'So you're going out with him?' he asks.

Gerard likes to pretend he didn't hear what he said, and he's too focused on the documents in front of him. But now Ray is looking at him, and he has no choice. 'I don't know,' he mumbles. He knows he can tell Ray anything, after all, they've known each other all their lives, but he's just not sure. Talking about it means it's real, it's happening to him, and he would rather not give it a lot of thought or he'll freak out and have a panic attack. 'I'm not looking for a relationship.'

Ray just laughs. 'It doesn't have to be anything. You can just go and get to know him.'

'I'm sure he wasn't being serious.'

'So he did ask you out?' Gerard doesn't answer, but he doesn't need to. 'Dude!' Ray walks over to the other side of the room, where Gerard is sitting, and leans on the desk in front of him. 'He did! I saw the way he was looking at you! And even if it doesn't mean anything, and it ends up being a complete fail, you need to go out and have fun!'

Gerard knows he's right, but that doesn't mean he should do it. Frank is completely out of his league. 'It won't work,' he says. 'You saw him. Why would he go out with someone like me?'

Ray just gives him a look.

'I don't even know what people do on dates now,' Gerard adds, as if that's a good excuse.

'I'd like to help you, but I've been married for fifteen years –'

'Exactly.' That doesn't help, and Gerard just wants to forget all about it, but he knows Ray won't let him. 'I was never good at this. Not when I was young, definitely not now. It'll be better if I just forget it. Besides, I have a lot of shit to do.' He goes back to what he was doing, which is Ray's cue to do the same. And as he walks back to the back, he just says. 'Take the day off and call him. I'll take care of everything.'