The Chasing of Moons

A Life-Size Cardboard Cutout of David Bowie

Frank finds himself in a confusing situation after third period. He avoids Brendon and Pete to the best of his ability and follows Gerard out of the building, though he doesn't seem to have taken notice quite yet.

Gerard certainly does notice him the minute he sits down next to his brother under the shade of a tree, and the look on his face is completely confrontational. It's almost like he's daring Frank to sit down. He doesn't' know if he should. He knows what Gerard is going to think, how he's going to respond to Frank, and he knows precisely how Brendon and Pete will feel too. He's pushing this too much, pushing himself at Gerard far too much considering how much Gerard seems to hate him. He knows that he should back off and take this easy, but he can't help it. He likes Gerard. He likes him a lot, and he knows that it's all projected feelings, just a place for his feelings for Gee to go, but Frank is young, stupid, and mildly insane right now.

He knows he's probably lost his head completely, because, seriously, he has all but decided that he slept with the future version of a boy in his school who he has also decided is his future husband. It's stupid. It makes no sense. It's not logical in the slightest and he knows it isn't. He can't even fathom how fucking crazy this all is. Literally anyone else in the world would think him completely mental, and they'd probably be right. Frank's not even sure that he is absolutely sane.

The thing is that, even if he is going crazy, even if Gee and Gerard really have no connection at all whatsoever, there's no real reason for why Frank can't have a crush on Gerard. There's nothing really stopping him from feeling that way. Obviously there are some people, like his friends, Gerard, the entire school, and even himself, but Frank's too caught up in the whole thing to care.

So, Frank walks over to the patch of grass across from Gerard, and he sits down.

"I cannot believe you," Gerard shakes his head.

"I'm taking that as a compliment."

"It's Frank right?" Gerard's brother asks, looking at Frank and then back at Gerard with a smirk on his face that Frank does not understand at all.

"Yep," Frank says, and he's debating whether or not he's supposed to shake the guys hand, but he doesn't know whether that would be way too formal or what.

"Mikey," he says, and he nods so Frank assumes that he'd better just not even attempt to do anything, just sort of wave back at him. Frank decides that the name suits him, he looks like a Mikey. Kind of mousy, but a strong jaw and eyes so intense that they can probably shoot laser beams.

"Don't entertain him," Gerard says.

"Why? What's wrong with him?" Mikey asks.

"Don't even get me started."

"I recall there being something about my personality, face, voice, and everything else," Frank says.

"Yep," Gerard nods. "So you have the ability to listen, that's great, good for you. Where was that in class every day since middle school?"

"I'm not trying to be a jerk here, you know," Frank says, frowning.

"Gerard's the one being the jerk," Mikey says to Frank, and Frank decides that he likes him. Thanksgivings may not be so bad.

"Do not take his side!" Gerard says angrily, and Frank is astounded by his ability to make eating a cracker look aggressive. Gerard must really hate him if he can actually manage to make chewing a fucking Ritz look violent.

"What do you have against him?" Mikey asks, talking like Frank's not even there, except Mikey is looking at him analytically like he's trying to figure Frank out.