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“But Frankie he's very strange,” she says, “you can’t possibly understand his weird ways.”
She seems very proud of her pun but Frank’s mind is stuck elsewhere in the sentence.
It is true, Gerard is strange. It's a fact of life. The sky is blue, the grass is green and Gee is strange. Gee is strange like Frank is hyper. The weirdness is embedded so deeply in his person that removing it Gee would become, well, not Gee.
And so maybe Frank doesn't really know Gerard. Because, like she said, he couldn't possibly know Gerard. Gerard was a very complex person, more so than any other person. He’s almost otherworldly. And Frank is simple. Maybe too simple to get Gee.
Frank begins to distance himself from Gerard. Begins to avoid him. Speaks to him only required. Frank resolves to be content to only admire from afar.
He thinks he’s doing a great job at being discreet.
But Ray doesn't think so. Ray is getting really tired of this shit. All the longing, desperate gazing Frank’s doing and the dejected shoe inspection Gerard’s doing is driving him up the wall. They really needed to concentrate on practising. There are certain conditions Ray requires to kickstart his music writing process. But this thing is really not conducive to his said process. And honestly Frank and Gerard doing kicked puppy impressions were making his poor heart hurt. So Ray decides to step-up and take matters into his own hands.
A couple of hours later finds an alone Frank definitely not cowering before Ray’s narrow eyed glare.
“What the hell is up with you?” Rays eyes get a bit more squinty.
Frank would have giggled at his expression if it wasn't directed so intensely at him. “What do you mean?” he manages to squeak out.
“You've been avoiding Gee,” Ray states, “it’s upsetting him. He's been wearing that expression for a couple of days now and you know what happens when…”
“I..no..I haven’t…been avoiding him?” he interrupts with a stutter. It sounds weak even to his own ears.
Ray just rolls his eyes. “You know what I’m talking about.” His expression softens a bit. “Frankie you know you can always talk to me, right?” he implores softly.
That's all Frank can take. The whole holding things in is not a thing Frank can do. He always says whats on his mind, sometimes a bit too loudly and sometimes bit too recklessly. Or sometimes when he wants advice, he says it to Gee. This time for obvious reasons he can’t and it been killing him. Slowly. From the inside out.
So he spills his proverbial guts to Ray and hopes he doesn't spill his actual guts on him. That would be even more embarrassing.
While his mouth runs on autopilot; Frank distractedly watches Ray’s expressions morph from confused to disbelieving and then finally to a mix of annoyed and understanding.
“This is the thing that’s been fucking with you?” he asks exasperatedly. “How in the world did you even come to this brilliant conclusion?” He waves his hands around. “Of course you know Gee. In fact, you're possibly the only person, aside from Mikey, who understands him.” He waves his hands some more as if to prove his point.
Frank doesn't think it’s working.
Ray takes a breath before continuing. “Do me a favour Frankie. Try and go back to acting normally around Gee.” He nods resolutely, “Yeah, you do that and I’ll…yeah you don't have to worry about that.”
Frank looks up at Ray’s face. His eyebrows are raised earnestly. His mouth is slightly stretched in a smile. The thing is Frank trusts Ray. Trusts him a lot. So he agrees. He doesn't really know what Ray’s got in mind but Frank knows that Ray won’t do anything Frank will hate.
Frank goes to his bunk that night and falls into a fitful slumber hoping that he could do what Ray asked of him.
The next morning Frank is so tired he forgets the pervious day’s happenings.
He stumbles into the kitchen area of the bus. He pulls out two mugs. Fills them with coffee and mixes in the required stuff. He takes both them to the adjacent table and sets one down. He drinks from the other slowly. Halfway through his drink Gee stumbles in.
He slumps down next to Frank and picks up the mug placed in front of him.
Sometime later Ray walks in. He raises a significant eyebrow at Frank. “Don’t you see? This is what I was talking about.”
Frank looks down at Gee who is now snoring softly on Frank’s shoulder. His hands are still loosely wrapped around the now empty mug. Frank raises his own eyebrow questioningly.
Ray looks a bit disappointed. He waves his hand in Frank and Gee’s general direction and says,”How many people do you do this for? How many people do you make coffee for? And how many people do you sit that still for?” Ray raises his eyebrows (again) and then disappears back to where he came from, leaving Frank with his thoughts.
So Frank thinks. He slowly realises that the answers to all the questions Ray asked are the same. He does those for nobody, nobody but Gee. Then he realises some more. He realises he knows which of the mugs, from the collection of identical black mugs of the bus, Gee likes best. He likes the one with the one the chip in the bottom right next to the handle. He realises how he knows exactly how much milk Gee likes his coffee and just how much sugar. He also, to a point, knows when Gee will stumble in and claim his place next to Frank every morning.
Huh.
Their bus has stopped at somewhere they have to perform. They don't have to be up on stage till the next day. So everybody is off doing their own things.
Gerard is hunched over his new sketch book. Scribbling furiously. Frank is sitting close by. Only half his attention is on his phone, so he notices Ray walk by.
Ray’s eyebrow raise is also back. “Do I really have to point it out to you again?”
Only then does Frank become aware of what he's been doing. He's been sitting with Gee for the past hour glaring at people who pass by to make sure nobody interrupts Gee. Frank knows Gee doesn't like to be interrupted when he’s drawing. On further thought he’s also been handing Gee his eraser or pencil every time Gee looses them (read: dropped them on the ground and they roll away from his immediate line of sight).
“Huh.” he says slightly stupidly.
Ray only smirks.
Then Frank makes it a point to really notice how he acts around Gee. He now knows that he actually knew when Gerard needed a hug and when Gerard needed some space. He apparently knew which kind of angry meant hungry and which kind meant artists’ block.
And…well shit.
He may actually be in love with the idiot.
But…more surprisingly though. He begins to see how Gerard acts around him.
Gerard knows what to do when Frank is buzzing with energy he doesn't know what to do with. Gee knows how to distract him when he’s thinking too much.
If Frank’s been reading this right then his newly discovered feelings may actually be reciprocated. If that not the best thought ever then he doesn't know what is.
A couple of days later in a dressing room Frank tests his mostly proved theory.
“Your hair looks great today Gee.” He only smirks a little bit, “That jacket looks amazing on you too.”
Gerard stops mid pacing and somehow stumbles on his own feet. He does manage to catch himself on a nearby couch. When he does look up his ears and cheeks are doing a great job blending into his hair.
“Tha…thanks…um…yeah” he blurts and then almost sprints out of the room.
Frank catches Ray’s eyes from across the room and smiles big and wide. He owns Ray one.
Gee is weird and more than a little strange, but Frankie gets Gee. He’s definitely got this.