Glassy ⇝ Frerard | Incomplete, vvv slow updates

These Are the Lives You Love To Lead

"Surprise!"

Frank doesn't look very surprised. He smiles nonetheless, but Gerard can see right through it.

"Wow! Thanks, guys!" Frank exclaims like he does every year. Gerard chews his lip, at the back of the room, on the couch, Mikey and Ray are blowing party horns, Frank's mom was holding the biggest present and his dad had his hand clasped on the boy's shoulder as they walked in. It was pretty sad to the naked eye, but it's all that Frank really wanted. A chorus of Happy birthdays chime from around the room and Frank nods and smiles.

With his head down, Frank rushes over to the spot where Gerard was sitting on the couch. Gerard looks up at Frank and gives a half smile. He tries to cover up the horror that was previously on his face. "Happy birthday, angel face. Like your party?"

Frank raises his eyebrows with a playful smile. "What? The one you weren't decorating?" He crosses his arms over his chest.

A sudden burst of courage blooms in Gerard's chest as he winks up at the now sixteen year old. "Gotta keep 'em guessing."

Frank doesn't respond and is whisked away by his mother to open some presents. His father and mother's presence is first, which included underwear and books. Frank smiles up at his parents, probably knowing that he would get mundane gifts from them. Next, he opens up Mikey and Ray conjoined present. He tears off the poorly wrapped paper easily, and he gasps.

"A ukulele? Oh my god!" He exclaims, picking up the box and holding it to his chest. "Thanks, guys! This is perfect!"

(Little does he know, it was Gerard's idea. Gerard decided not to say anything because he knew the teenager would nearly die and force him to return it.)

Ray and Mikey grin widely as Frank is again directed in the direction of pizza. Mrs. Iero tells them that there is pizza, chips, soda, dip, and whatever they wanted in the fridge. Next, she says to come get her when they want to do cake, but that was more in Gerard's direction. The seventeen year old looks away sharply and nods at the floor. He doesn't look up again until he knows the both of them are upstairs.

None of them are dressed up, totally disregarding the fact that is was Halloween. Only Frank wore a pair of black, metal cat ears on his head, attached by a headband. Gerard decided ahead of time to put a bowl full of candy outside on the front doorstep and turned off the light outside.

They all settled on the couch after loading their plates up with pizza and an assortment of snacks and candy, other than Gerard. Obviously, he's hungry (he always is, let us not lie) but he doesn't have the will to move. Frank sits next to Gerard, mouth already full of chips. He silently gestures his plate towards Gerard, asking if he wanted anything off of it. Smiling half-heartedly, Gerard takes one of the four pieces of pizza on his plate.

"I wanna watch Halloween!" Mikey proclaims, mouth full of something bright green- Skittles? Probably. Ray has the remote in his hand, looking through the on-demand movies.

"Cliche!" Ray exclaims, nudging Mikey with his elbow. "Plus, it's Frank's birthday. What does he want to watch?"

They all look at Frank. Gerard puts his forearm on the arm of the chair, raking his fingers through his hair. All he can think about is what happened between Frank's mother and him. He doesn't know whether or not to tell Frank. Frank would actually murder him and he can't handle losing the boy.

"Is that okay with you, Gerard?" Frank asks, kicking Gerard lightly with his foot.

Fuck, he missed the question. "I, uh, yeah. Whatever you want." He smiles, the boy mimics his face and turns back to the tv.

They end up watching Texas Chainsaw Massacre, again. Frank has already forced everyone to watch his favourite movie seventeen billion times, but nobody complains because it was his birthday. Gerard doesn't really pay attention, stuck in his own mind as he watches the gore on the screen.