TALK TO ME ¯ᶠʳᵉʳᵃʳᵈ

-ˏˋｆｉｖｅ：ｇｅｒａｒｄ ｐｒｅｓｃｒｉｐｔｉｏｎˊˎ-

I lay in bed, unable to sleep. I had an even harder time sleeping when I heard the front door open.

"How is he?" Gerard's nasally voice came through my door.

"What did you do?!" Mikey asked, not bothering to lower the volume of his voice. "What did you say to him?!"

"I...I just wanted him to talk," Gerard said.

"You know Frank can't handle that type of pressure, Gerard! I know you ignored him for two damn years but that's not enough time for you to forget how he is about his situation."

"I know!" Gerard exclaimed. "I know, but I just lost it. I know I shouldn't pressure him or anything. I just wanted him to talk to me. Or at least understand why he can't. He's been around me as long as he's been around you, so why won't he talk to me? Does he tell you anything?"

I held my breath, praying that Mikey wouldn't say anything to Gerard about how I felt. If he did, my life may as well be over.

"No," Mikey said and I sighed in relief. "But his reason doesn't matter. Frank will do things on his own time. It's not like he talked to me from the start, but I didn't fucking pressure him. So that's what you need to do if you want him to talk to you that bad. Don't be an idiot."

"I know."

"He won't even talk to me now," Mikey said, sounding so upset and saddened. I'd never heard him like that. I did that to him.

"What? But he always talks to you."

"Yeah, well whatever the fuck you said got to him so bad he's too freaked out to even talk to me."

"I'm sorry, Mikey," Gerard sighed.

"You don't need to apologize to me. I'm his best friend he'll get over it."

"Can I go in there?"

"I think he's asleep," Mikey answered. "Wait till he wakes up and then talk to him."

"Ok."

"I'll be out here if he needs me. Just don't push him."

It was silent until I heard my bedroom door creak open. I kept my eyes shut, but my entire body had stiffened. I hoped it wasn't obvious that I was awake. I wasn't ready to talk, or listen, or whatever Gerard wanted to do.

My bed shifted as a weight was placed on the opposite end of it. I could feel Gerard leaning over me, probably trying to get a glance at my face. I tried to relax my lids so that I naturally looked asleep.

"You're awake, Frank," he spoke, his warm breath cascading over my face. I had to hold back a shiver. "You're not a good actor, I know you're awake."

I finally just gave up and opened my eyes, not being able to handle much more of Gerard's breath tingling over my face and neck. Gerard pulled back so that I could sit up, but I didn't.

"Frankie," he sighed, placing a hand on my arm. "Just nod your head if you're ok with listening to me right now."

I shook my head and he sighed.

"Ok, I understand. I'll leave you alone as long as you want me to." He stood up to leave, but I didn't want him to go away. I couldn't say it, so I just reached out and grabbed his hand. A rush was sent through my whole body at the contact, so I quickly retracted it, but it was enough to make him turn around.

"You want me to stay?" he asked and I nodded. "But not talk?" I nodded again and he complied, sitting back down on the edge of the bed. "Get some sleep, Frankie. I'll stay here."
I looked up at him. He was staring down at me, so gentle and so caring. There was sincerity in the way he looked at me, but I still couldn't understand why a guy like him would bother with someone like me, so I refused to believe that he was there willingly. It had to be out of guilt or something. But I didn't care. Even though he was just sitting there, I was able to fall asleep.