I Didn't Mean to Fall in Love (But I Did)

Frank Breaks A Tradition

Gerard honestly thought that letting a day go by to cool off would do the trick. He thought that would be the key. He decided that he'd just take a day off from worrying about Frank and everything would be okay, because Frank is a big boy. He doesn't need Gerard's help. He just decided to take the day off from worrying.

That was a month ago.

It didn't work.

He's stuck on this whole Aaron thing, and it's bothering the crap out of him, but he doesn't know why. When Frank got back from his second date with Aaron on a Saturday night, Gerard had to go to his room because he felt like puking. He couldn't even handle seeing them in the same room.

Then on their third date, Aaron was early and Frank was still taking a shower so Gerard had to talk to the guy. Gerard had to hold himself back from making up lies about Frank to deter Aaron's interest, but he couldn't think of anything wrong about Frank. He suddenly couldn't think of a single flaw Frank had, which is weird, because he does have a lot of flaws. His head just stopped working under pressure though. It's hard not to talk up Frank. Even despite his flaws, he's pretty fantastic.

Gerard thinks that they are moving way too quickly, and he really doesn't want to hear about the time Aaron chased after a thief who stole a lady's purse. He doesn't want to hear about that, or the time when Aaron saved some furry little creature from some disastrous location, and got an award from the mayor for being perfect. The only stories Gerard wants to hear about Aaron involve a steamroller, a freak lightning strike or an accident involving a crossbow. Though knowing Aaron, he probably would've stopped a steamroller from running over a small child, gotten superpowers from a lightning strike, and caught an arrow flying at him with his bare hands.

He has no words for how he hates Aaron, he just does.

A month passes and they go on date after date, and Gerard's starting to feel weird about it. The only good thing though is that Aaron hasn't stayed the night, and Frank hasn't been out all night. Gerard questions the fact that a month really is a long time, but he is definitely not about to bring it up. It's not that Gerard thinks Frank is a virgin, but he likes to pretend he is sometimes. It eases his conscience.

Gerard finally has a valid reason for hating Aaron though. After one whole month, and it's not a very good reason. It took him a month to find one though, so he's not about to complain, because he finally did find it.

"Aaron's taking me out tonight," Frank says, and Gerard stops in his tracks.

"Tonight?" Gerard asks.

"Yes, tonight," Frank confirms.

"Tonight is Friday," Gerard tells him, as if hoping that Frank will have some sort of epiphany and cancel the date.

"Yes," Frank says, nonchalantly.

"It's Friday, Frank," Gerard repeats.

"I know what day it is, I have a calendar," Frank replies.

"Friday."

"You can stop repeating what day it is Gerard, I know what day it is," Frank replies.

"Every Friday for the past three years we have watched cheesy horror movies and eaten pizza," Gerard says, "literally every Friday. No exceptions. We watched horror films and ate pizza even after I had a root canal!"

"Well, it's just one night," Frank shrugs.

"No it's not just one night. We always watch movies on Friday, Frank! You can't break that tradition, that's like, not okay."

"Gerard, it's just a silly tradition, you'll live," Frank tries to justify, and Gerard is tempted to slap Frank across the face to wake him up.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me, Frank. You can't bail out of this because you have a date with a guy you've known for a little over a week. Three years we have watched horror movies, and you cannot throw that away now. It's not 'we watch movies and eat pizza every night except this one time' it's 'we watch movies and eat pizza on Friday night.' No exceptions. That's how it goes."