Playground [Frerard AU]

FOUR

my only excuse for not writing is that i am trash and feel shit. sorry.

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     I bit my lip, anxious even thinking about the needle that was going to be going through it. I wasn't majorly nervous about talking to whoever was assigned to pierce it, since my grandma had agreed to do all of that for me. What I was wary of was something going wrong. The place that she was taking me to was safe, legal and well spoken of, but there is always room for mistakes.

     "Do you still want it, love?" My grandma smiled at me, extending a hand automatically to tuck a strand of my hair behind my ear. "Do you want some water from the cooler?"

     I nodded to answer both questions, fiddling with my fingers a little. My grandma stood up from beside me on the smooth leather seat of the parlour's waiting room and walked over to the gently humming water cooler, bringing back water in a plastic cup. I thanked her.

     "Frank Iero?" A man said, appearing in front of us from nowhere and mispronouncing my surname. One couldn't really blame him, with a name like Iero. My grandma and I stood and I took a last sip of my drink before binning it, hands trembling slightly.

     I wasn't scared of needles. I wasn't scared of them at all. But my hands were still shaking and my chest was still a little tighter than was pleasant.

     It was over quickly and smoothly, with not as much pain as I had expected. It hurt, yes, but my natural negativity had exaggerated my expectation.

     The whole event had been quite the anti-climax.

     "Can you drop me off here?" I asked my grandma, turning the car radio down so she would hear me. She gave me a funny look and stopped the car once she had found a suitable spot.

     "Frank, we may be in a nicer part of Jersey, but I'm not sure I like you going on all of these walks."

     "I'll stay safe, I found this really nice park and nothing ever happens there." It wasn't really a lie. "I just want to practice my guitar and we both know how much you dislike it." I said.

    My grandma chuckled. "I dislike the volume, not the instrument. Do you want to go home and get it?"

     "It's in the trunk." My grandma looked at me incredulously before telling me numerous times to stay safe and then letting me exit her car.

     I hummed one of the songs that had been playing during the drive as I walked, smiling to myself. As odd as it may sound,  I was very much enjoying the weight of my guitar case on my back. It was almost like a dog; a heavy and slightly warm presence that wasn't human resting on a part of one's body.

     The playground was once again empty, and I sat myself on the same bench that I had read on the last time I was there. My guitar was in my lap before I could really think much about it and a pick was between my fingers even quicker.

     "You play guitar?" A small voice asked after a while of just me playing. I jumped,  letting out an embarrassing yelp. Gerard was much better with eye contact than I was, and I felt his stare on me long after I looked away again.

     I nodded. "Yeah." I laughed breezily and briefly met Gerard's wide eyes. "Not well, I may add."

     Gerard shrugged and walked over to the bench adjacent to mine, sitting himself down with his knees up again. "I liked it." He said offhandedly. "So how are you today, Frank?"

     I was thrown a bit by his question, and began my answer with an intelligent 'um'. I watched him watch me out of the corner of my eye. "Alright, yourself?"

     "I'm the same as I always am." Gerard answered, running his hand through his dark hair and smoothing his bangs. "You got a lip piercing. Did it hurt?"

     I shrugged. "Not as much as I thought it would."

     "Okay. I'm going to draw now, is that okay?"

     I nodded.

-

this is shit. sorry.