A Kiss and I Will Surrender

In the Bathtub

Frank and Gerard sat at the dining table, silence settled over them like it usually was. Neither of them wanted to talk about what had happened the night before even though both of them were aware of what had happened.

Frank had heard Gerard crying in the middle of the night but he didn't want to say anything in case Gerard distanced himself from Frank even more than he already had. But Frank was worried because the heart breaking sobs seemed to rip apart Frank's heart every time they slipped out Gerard's mouth and they made him want to just comfort the weeping boy. Frank desperately wanted to know why Gerard was crying but he couldn't bring himself to ask, but Gerard looked fine in the morning so he just pretended it didn't happen.

"Hey Frank and Gee, mom and dad are going fishing with Linda, do you want to come?" Mikey asked, stepping into the kitchen to grab a banana. Gerard shook his head and looked back down at his bowl of cereal.

"How bout you Frank?"

"Nah, I'm just going to stay here." Frank finished his cereal and lazily tossed the bowl in the sink.

"Okay, we'll only be back way later on in the afternoon." Mikey hurried out the door, leaving Frank and Gerard alone together.

"So, what do you want to do?" Frank asked, leaning against the kitchen cupboard. Gerard just twirled his spoon around in his bowl that was still full of cereal, ignoring Frank. "Are you ever going to speak to me?"

Gerard's eyes raised to look at Frank then he looked back down to his cereal, Gerard lifted his finger and twirled a strand of his hair.

"Oh god this is going to be a long Summer." Frank sighed, raking a hand through his black hair exasperatedly.

"Sorry." Gerard mumbled, his voice barely louder than a whisper. Frank perked up at the sound of Gerard talking, even if he had only said one word.

"What are you sorry for?" Frank tilted his head to the side in confusion.

Gerard looked at Frank for a few seconds before replying. "Not speaking."

"I get that you're shy, don't be sorry for anything, but I'm here whenever you want to say anything and I won't judge you for anything you say." Frank plopped himself down on the couch, putting his feet up on the table. Gerard nodded slowly before getting up and dumping his uneaten cereal in the sink next to Frank's bowl. Frank watched as Gerard walked to the bathroom and he noticed that, just like the day before, Gerard was wearing long black jeans and a very loose black hoodie. He really wished he could see Gerard's body because Frank had really enjoyed the sight of Gerard shirtless, even if thinking about it was kind of creepy. He was desperate to see all of Gerard's soft, pale skin but it didn't seem like that would ever happen based on how Gerard always covered himself up.

Frank was snapped out of his thoughts when he heard a loud scream, he jumped up and ran to the bathroom to see Gerard pressed up against the wall, trembling slightly. Frank looked to where Gerard's worried eyes were fixed and saw a massive black spider in the bathroom sink, Gerard's eyes shifted from the spider to Frank and then back to the spider.

"Okay, I'll try kill it." Frank said, carefully creeping towards the giant arachnid. He grabbed the bug spray from the bathroom cabinet, kept there because of the unbelievable amount of bugs that enjoyed infesting the bathroom, and aimed it at the spider. The second Frank sprayed, the spider jumped forward, causing Frank to leap backwards and bump into Gerard, the spider went scuttling out of the room still very much alive.

Frank tried to grab onto Gerard for stability because he lost his footing but Gerard fell forward, knocking Frank over and sending him tumbling into the bathtub. Frank forgot to let go of Gerard and so pulled him down with him as he landed in the tub, Gerard on top of him. Both of them panted heavily and stayed in the same position, trying to regain their composure. Then Gerard seemed to realize that he was, in fact, straddling Frank's waist and he blushed violently, his cheeks burning bright red. Frank looked up at Gerard's beautifully flushed face and smiled at the boy's awkwardness, as he slowly moved his hands down to land on Gerard's thighs before giving them a slight squeeze. Then Frank slid his hands upwards to the hem of Gerard's hoodie and slipped his hands under it, trailing his fingers up to Gerard's hips. Gerard's eyes widened and he pushed himself off Frank, hopped out of the bath and ran out of the room, little sniffles slipping out of his mouth. Frank was left lying in the bath alone, his brows furrowed and his mouth slightly open, not understanding what Gerard had freaked out about.

Frank climbed out of the bath and rushed to the basement where Gerard had run to, but when he tried to open the door it was locked.

"What the fuck? Gerard!" Frank shouted, pounding on the door. "What did I do?"

Gerard sat curled up in a ball on his bed, arms wrapped around himself tightly as he cried softly.

"Gerard! Whatever I did I'm sorry, I didn't mean to pull you down with me. Please, open the door." Frank shouted, then he heard Gerard crying and his heart just twisted in sadness at the sound. He didn't want to make Gerard cry but Frank didn't know why Gerard had gotten so horrified by Frank pulling him into the bath by mistake, he guessed Gerard was just an emotional person.

"Please don't be mad at me, Gerard." Frank knocked once more but Gerard wasn't budging and the door was still locked. Feeling like shit, Frank dragged himself up to the lounge and tried to find a way to occupy himself as the time crept by very slowly.

Gerard sat rocking back and forth a while after he heard Frank leave, tears falling down his cheeks and creating a small wet spot on the bed sheet. He didn't feel good at all about anything, Frank couldn't just do that to him, clearly he couldn't realize that.

Frank had fallen asleep on the couch while getting lost in his thoughts and was shaken awake by Mikey, who had returned along with all the parents.

"Dude, where's Gerard?" Mikey asked, carefully setting down the fishing rod he was holding.

"He locked himself in the basement after I fell into the bath and he fell with me." Frank said, stretching out his limbs.

"Were you naked?" Mikey asked, his eyes going wide but Frank shook his head quickly.

"Why were you in the bathroom together?" Mikey asked, stepping closer to Frank.

"There was a spider in the bathroom and Gerard screamed so I ran to see what happened, then when I tried to kill the spider I fell and pulled him down with me by mistake. Then he freaked out and locked himself in the basement and he wouldn't let me in."

Mikey walked to the kitchen and noticed the one bowl still full of cereal. "Is this Gerard's?"

"Yeah, he didn't eat it. I don't think he's hungry because he hasn't eaten the whole day." Frank watched as Mikey's face drained of all color and he darted to the basement, Frank following closely behind.

"Gerard! It's Mikey, you need to open the door!" Mikey yelled, his fist banging on the door.

There was some movement from the other side of the door then the sound of the lock unlocking then Gerard's tear stained face appeared. The moment Gerard's eyes wandered to see Frank, he rushed back to his bed and shoved his face into his pillow. Mikey adjusted his glasses and turned to Frank.

"Please give us a moment." Mikey said, slipping inside the room and closing the door behind him. Frank just stood there for a few seconds before making his way back up to the kitchen where the parents were now gathered.

"Where'd Mikey and Gerard go?" Linda asked, getting out a pot and placing it on the stove.

"They're in the basement." Frank hopped onto the dining room table, neglecting to use the perfectly good chairs.

"Did something happen?" Donald asked, his tone very clearly worried.

"Yeah, Gerard just freaked out a little bit over something small." Frank said, playing with his lip ring.

Donna and Donald got the same concerned look that Mikey had and they ran in the direction of the basement.

"What's up with that whole family?" Frank swung his legs carelessly, unaware of the drama that was going on in the basement at that very moment.

"There's just some...problems, that's all." Linda muttered, givin her son a small smile that said 'what can you do about it'.

"What kind of problems?" Frank's brows furrowed together, besides Gerard being quit shy the family seemed perfectly normal.

"Don't worry about other people's problems, honey." Linda started getting dinner ready, which was a simple vegetarian soup that Frank liked.

But unbeknownst to both of them, Frank had already gotten very deep into their problems by crushing on Gerard.