Chapter Text
The signing event at the comic shop had been a huge success, though completely exhausting.
Gerard enjoyed meeting fans, and he liked that they wanted to talk to him so much. It was nice, but he had to admit, he missed sitting with the rest of the guys too. They always had a more fun when it was all of them at a signing. But, this one was about the comics, not the band.
Gerard had been sat for nearly four hours and was glad to finally be able to get up and stretch his legs.
He stopped a little while longer, and chatted with some of the staff, before saying he really should be getting back to the rest of the band now. They’d been waiting for him, hanging out in the local area and generally trying to waste a little time.
Just as he was leaving, he saw Mikey, waiting for him in the doorway.
He smiled, pleased it was Mikey who’d come to meet him.
“Hey, Mikes. How-”
“Gee.” Mikey interrupted. “Okay… Um. Sorry, I don‘t mean to spring this on you, but, I think you need to know, as soon as possible.”
Gerard kept his smile fixed on his face, though it faltered, just slightly. A frown formed. Suddenly the joy and love he’d been feeling from his recent fan encounters felt like it was ebbing away.
“Wh-What is it, Mikey?”
Mikey chewed his lip, and glanced around both inside the store, and out on the street. “Uh. Gee, do these guys have, like, a back room we can use? You might… Not want people overhearing this.”
Gerard’s smile disappeared, replaced entirely by a frown, a look and feeling of dread and concern.
“Mikey… You’re scaring me now, what is it?”
Since his brother was making no moves to look for someplace else to do this, Mikey again fidgeted, glancing around them once more, fiddling with something in his hands.
That’s when Gerard caught sight of it. The newspaper.
Gerard snorted as he took the paper from Mikey. “Oh, what, someone mouthing off about us again? Big deal. What’d they say this time? That I’m actually Satan trying to lead all the teenagers into hell? C’mon, Mikey. We don’t-”
He stopped, abruptly, as he looked down at the page.
His mouth dried up. And he tried to make the words make sense.
“Gee.” Mikey said, coaxingly.
Gerard just stared at the page, motionless.
“Gee. Please. Okay, let’s go someplace, so we can talk about this. We don’t have to do this here. Gee. C’mon.”
Gerard continued to stare at the page. The article in question took up the lower half of the page. To the left of the page, there was a picture of a young girl, 18 according to the caption box. She had blonde hair streaked with black, and was wearing one of their t-shirts, and sporting Frank’s crosses make-up around her eyes. The picture had been taken in her room, and numerous posters of them could be seen in the background.
In centre, there was a picture of him, from 2005, dressed up like a Priest, hands clasped in front of him, smiling sweetly. The caption that went along with his picture read-
‘An immaculate conception? We think not.’
And then, the headline-
Way Takes The Romance Too Far?
“Gerard!” Mikey snapped, the fact that his brother hadn’t replied, hadn’t said a word, hadn’t seemed to react at all was only making this worse.
Finally Gerard looked up. He looked horrifically pale. He shook his head.
“No. No. This is not… This is not true! I-”
“Okay.” Mikey interrupted, sensing, as he always can with his brother, that Gerard was losing it. Losing the calm, collect that he had.
“Okay.” He repeated, his voice soothing now, as he reached out, and took the paper from Gerard. “Let’s get you out of here. Let’s get back to the others.”
Mikey reached out a hand to take Gerard’s, to lead him away.
“Why?” Gerard said. “Why would they-”
Mikey shook his head, dismissively. “Look, I don’t know Gee. Maybe she just really want’s attention or something.” He tried to pull Gerard further down the street, get him back to where everyone else was waiting for him, but Gerard wouldn’t budge.
“You believe me, don’t you, Mikey? You believe me when I say this isn’t true, right? I- I didn’t. Mikey. Mikey I wouldn’t.”
Mikey came back to him then, close, both his hands going to brush back Gerard’s hair. He saw the worry in Gerard’s eyes, the hurt. He nodded.
“I know you wouldn’t, Gee. But… It’s not me that needs to be convinced. I… I’m afraid we can’t ignore this one and hope it goes away.”
Gerard closed his eyes, and nodded, then, finally allowed his brother to lead him away.
Everyone was sat in the hotel lobby, waiting for the Way brothers to return.
As soon as they did, Gerard felt the tension weigh heavily on him.
“Well?” The manager said, as soon as they sat down. He was staring right at Gerard, with an intensity that made Gerard feel very, very small, and very vulnerable.
“Did you show him, Mikey?”
Mikey nodded. “I showed him.”
“This mess is already all over the official message boards! I haven’t even checked the other social media sites, but once it get’s there it’s going to be-”
Without warning, Frank, who had been sat in a chair off by himself, arms crossed and face like thunder, stood up and marched off down the corridor.
“Frank!” The manager snapped at him. “Get back here now! We are having a band meeting and-”
Gerard was out of his seat now, following Frank.
“Gerard! Sit the fuck down!”
“I’m going to talk to Frank!” Gerard yelled back at him.
“No.” Their manager argued. “You are going to sit the fuck down and explain to me how this shit happened! Gerard!”
Gerard ignored him completely, and almost jogged down the corridor to catch up with Frank.
He snagged Frank’s elbow, only to have his hand thrown off again.
“Frank.” He said, coaxingly. Frank continued on ahead of him, so Gerard grabbed him more firmly by the arm, pulled him back.
“Fuck. Frank, what the hell?”
Finally, Frank turned to him. The look on his face was a mix of hurt and anger. His eyes slightly shining with tears. Again, he shrugged off Gerard’s hand, but didn’t run off again.
“What the hell?” Frank repeated back to him, mimicking Gerard’s question to him. “You’re asking me what the hell? I should be the one asking what the hell! I’m the one who just read that my fucking boyfriend knocked up a fucking fan!”
Gerard’s eyes went wide, his voice hushed with disbelief. “You… You don’t… Believe what that girl said, do you?”
Frank bowed his head, eyes pinched tight closed as he squeezed the bridge of his nose with his fingers. “Just… Just tell me… Just tell me it’s not true, Gee.”
Gerard was silent, staring at Frank with disbelief.
“I shouldn’t have to tell you. Frank, you should know me well enough by now to know-”
“Just tell me Gerard!” Frank snapped. “Maybe yes. Maybe I should know it, and maybe I do know it, but maybe I just need to hear you tell me anyway!”
Gerard stepped closer, reached his hands out, to the tops of Frank’s arms, rubbing up and down gently.
“Frank. You know me. You know I wouldn’t. I wouldn’t… I wouldn’t treat a fan so poorly.”
He leant forward, again, and gently kissed Frank’s temple. “I wouldn’t treat you so poorly.”
He leant down a little more, and kissed Frank’s lips, gently, pleased as Frank kissed back.
“I love you.” Gerard told him, softly.
Frank nodded. “I love you too. I’m… I’m sorry. I just. I got scared.”
Gerard laughed, softly. “Join the club.”
They walked back, hand in hand, and sat back down with the others.
“Well, great. The love birds are happy.” The manager said, sarcastically. “Meanwhile, this pregnancy crap is spreading across the internet, fast now. Gerard, care to explain what the fuck is going on?”
Gerard shook his head. “Honestly? I have no idea. I recognise the girl, we met her after one of the shows. But that’s it.”
“Really? That’s it? Sure you didn’t” He pauses to pick up the newspaper to read directly from it. “Take her back to your hotel room and make love to her until the early hours of the morning?”
To that, Frank snorted. “Well, fuck. If you’d read me that part, I could’ve told you this girl was lying straight away.”
“Hey!” Gerard protested.
Frank ignored him. “Gee gets all snuggly and shit after sex. He’s like a teddy bear for the rest of the night. End of.”
While there was snickering from some of the other band mates, Mikey grimaced, and Gerard blushed, heavily.
Their manager merely raised an eyebrow. “Thank you for that insight, Frank, but I doubt Gerard is going to want to use that as defence.”
Gerard blushed harder. “I’d… Rather not.”
Waving his hand dismissively, the manager continued again. “Okay, so she’s saying this was after a gig. Gerard, the easiest way to defend yourself is to say what you were really doing that night.”
If possible, Gerard blushed more, and sank back against the couch.
“Um.” Frank said, with a small grin. “That… Would be me.”
Gerard hid his face in his hands, and just possibly laughed a little.
Their manager stared at them both. “Great. So what you’re telling me is, that instead of having sex with this fan, you were in fact having sex with Frank? Well. Wonderful. That fixes everything!”
Gerard raised his head. “Well. Why don’t we use this as an excuse to finally… You know. Come clean about it all? The fans pretty much know anyway, why don’t we make it public that me and Frank are seeing each other?”
“So you can go from being in the papers for knocking up a young fan, to being in the papers for screwing your band mate? No. We cannot fight this with more… Sex.”
“It’s not sex! It’s love!” Gerard protested.
The manager sat forward, and said, very seriously. “Gerard. If you tell people there’s no way you got this girl pregnant because the night of supposed conception you were in your hotel room, with your band mate, who also happens to be your boyfriend, all anyone is going to hear is ‘sex, sex, sex’. You can paint as many hearts on it as you like, but no one is going to hear love, all they will hear, all they will see is sex.”
Gerard scowled, and looked away, his arm curling, protectively around Frank, who in turn, wrapped his arm around Gerard’s shoulders.
The manager sat back, heavily, and sighed. “We’ll think of something… Everyone. Go back to your rooms. We head off early in the morning, and we’re all going to need the rest.”
##
It was late by the time they got up to their rooms. Despite the instructions given to them, the guys ended up staying down in the bar, trying to keep their minds off the troubling topic.
It’d been difficult, not least of all for Gerard, who kept glancing at the newspaper left on the table.
Frank eventually spotted him doing this, and swiped the paper from the table, holding it on his lap, out of sight.
Gerard closed his eyes, and reached out his hand to Frank.
Despite knowing exactly what the article said, he couldn’t help the urge to read it again.
Maybe he hoped the words would change.
Before Gerard could get close to the paper though, Frank grabbed his hand, a squeezed it tight.
Gerard leant forward, his free hand pressed close against his forehead.
“You okay, Gee?” Ray asked, gently. Though they’d all been trying their best to avoid the subject, there was no longer room to ignore Gerard’s distress.
Silently, Gerard shook his head. Again, Frank squeezed his hand.
“This will all get sorted really fast, Gerard. You know that. And you know the truth. We know the truth.”
Gerard grimaced. “And while we wait for it to get fixed everyone’s going to believe I-”
He paused, jaw clenching as he tried to process this. Tried to understand the things that were likely being said about him. He shook his head. Pushing his chair back, Gerard got to his feet, letting go of Frank’s hand in the process.
“I’m not… I think I’ve gotta be alone for a while guys, sorry.”
He left as the others all called out goodnights to him, mumblings that they hoped he’d feel better in the morning, assurances that everything was going to be alright.
Frank stood to follow him, but Mikey grabbed his arm.
“Frank. He said ‘alone’.” Mikey said gently, but firmly.
Frank rolled his eyes and smiled, just a bit. He didn’t sit down. “That’s not exactly applied to me for a while.”
Mikey yanked on his arm and Frank was almost thrown back on his seat.
Frank glared at him, and Mikey glared right back. “It might not always apply to you, like it doesn’t always apply to me. But it applies to both of us now. Gerard wants time to think this over, get it straight in his head. A fan has accused him of something very serious, and that hurts. I’m sure you understand that.”
Frank nodded. “I do understand that. Which is why I want to go with him. He needs someone to lean on right now. Someone to comfort him, someone-”
“Frank! Would you stop arguing with me on this? Let him be, just for a little while.”
Frank shook his head, and stood up once again. “No. Because if he’s left to think this over too much, he’ll wind himself into a worse mess. I’m not going to let that-”
This time, Mikey stood up too, and, briefly apologising to the others, he dragged Frank further away from the table.
“Alright. Enough. Enough of this damn show you’re putting on, Frank. You’re going to end up making this worse. For yourself, and for Gerard.”
Frank laughed, though not convincingly. “I don’t know what-”
“You are just as fucking scared of this as he is, and I know it. You are terrified of what will happen to him, and, believe me, I am too. But you cannot let him see that. And. I know you feel guilty.”
Frank’s eyes went wide, mouth open to protest.
“I-”
“You feel guilty because, even for a second, you believed what was in that article. You allowed yourself to believe that it was true. And you were mad.”
Frank shook his head, furiously, his jaw clenching.
“No. No. Of course I didn’t. I knew exactly where Gerard was that night. He was with me. So-”
“You didn’t know that right away! And, I get it. You were reacting with your heart rather than your head. Your love for Gerard made you react with fear and jealousy, rather than with rational consideration of the facts.”
Frank shook his head. “No. No. I knew. I know Gee… I know. I know he wouldn’t.” He closed his eyes, and sighed heavily. “I know he wouldn’t… Hurt anyone like that.”
Mikey looked at Frank now, his head down, looking almost as tired and strained as Gerard had.
“You know what… Go on. Go to him. Just. Just be gentle with him, would you?”
Frank nodded, and rushed to head up to the room.
He paused outside the door, to collect himself. To be able to put on the brave front he needed to show Gerard.
##
Gerard had tried, and failed, to sleep. He’d thrown on some nightwear and buried himself under the covers.
But his mind wouldn’t shut off.
He wondered exactly what had been said about him. He’d skimmed the article, and the basic idea was clear.
The article said that he’d brought the girl back to a hotel room.
That they’d had sex. More than once.
That he’d paid for her taxi home the next morning.
And that, two weeks ago, she’d found out she was pregnant. That he was the only person she’d slept with, so he was the only possible father.
One line stuck with him.
“I’m not very far along yet, so I’m not showing. But I’m very excited. I’m excited to be carrying his baby.”
Eventually, it had been clear that sleep wasn’t coming. So he’d got up, got the laptop out of his bag, and booted it up.
It didn’t take him long to find… Everything.
Their manager had been right. The fastest moving topic on the official message boards was
‘A fan is having Gerard’s baby??!!’
He clicked on the latest post, and read.
“Look. Guys. We don’t even know if it’s true. We’re getting this all from one article in one shitty newspaper. I think we should show Gerard a little more respect than this and wait for him to comment on it.”
Gerard had to smile at that.
So his fans did have some faith in him after all.
Almost immediately, there was a new reply.
“Respect?! You’re talking about someone who has preached over and over again about treating girls with respect, about treating fans with respect. And now we find out he’s actually been just as bad as those he’s talked shit about.
What part are we not understanding here?
He fucked a fan.
He fucked a fan, who is barely fucking legal, and he got her pregnant.
What about that am I supposed to respect again?”
He felt sick.
It felt like in these two posts, he was seeing the entire fandom right now. He was seeing the divide. He was seeing exactly what was being said about him, exactly what people were thinking.
Then, he caught sight of another post, a little further up the page. And, more than that second one ever could, this one nearly brought him to tears.
“I don’t understand… I don’t know what to think right now. I love Gerard so much, he’s my idol. I want to believe this isn’t true. That it’s a lie but… But I’m not sure and it scares me.”
He stared at the screen, at that comment for what seemed like a very long time.
And, he realised that, as much as this was scaring him, it was scaring his fans too. They were hurting.
They needed him.
He was just bringing up his twitter page when he felt a sudden pressure on his shoulder, and heard a voice that made him jump.
“Don’t.”
Gerard looked up, suddenly, and saw Frank standing next to him by the bed.
He was frowning, just slightly, while also trying to smile.
Frank could see the screen clearly enough to see Gerard now had his twitter page open. He knew what Gerard intended to do.
“Frank-”
“Gee. Please. If you go online now… You’re handing yourself over to the wolves. You’ll be torn apart in seconds.”
Gerard minimised his twitter, and brought the message boards back up, turning the screen so Frank could see all that was being said.
Frank sat down, on the edge of the bed, until Gerard shifted over, and let him sit properly, cross legged next to him.
He read through the comments, and shook his head.
“Gee. I mean it. Don’t go online. Not yet. Please. Give it until tomorrow at least.”
Gerard shook his head. “No. Frank. Don’t you see? Don’t you see what is happening? This is hurting people, seriously hurting them. I have to- I have to speak the truth, for them. I have to let them know that… That it’s not true.”
“Gerard! You can’t-” Frank cut off immediately when he noticed the latest comment that had been posted on the thread.
“Oh. Shit.” He muttered.
Gerard looked too, and saw.
“Holy shit guys! I’ve found the girl who’s having Gee’s baby! She just given a full description of the night they had sex. Check it:”
Underneath, there was a link.
Before Frank could stop him, Gerard had clicked it.
A blog popped up. The background was black and white, almost smoky. The title of the blog was in bold, red letters: The Black Parade Never Dies.
There was a small description too: Hi! I’m Jem, this is my blog. I love MCR, Green Day, Fall Out Boy and all the other good shit out there. Talk to me! I don’t bite (unless you’re into that).
The post in question was at the top of the page.
‘I guess a lot of people have seen/will be seeing the newspaper articles soon, and I realise I’m not exactly a big deal in the fandom right now, so, if you find me, well done!
I’m sure a lot of people have questions about the ‘night in question’, and I’m more than happy to talk about that, so please don’t be shy to ask. However, I thought I’d beat people to the punch a bit, and write out a fully detailed description of the night my baby was conceived.
Warning! Definitely NSFW.’
Frank took hold of the laptop, and tried to prise it away from Gerard.
“C’mon Gee. You don’t wanna read this. It might as well be fucking fan fiction! Now come on. Put that laptop away and stop torturing yourself.”
Gerard shook his head. “No. I… I’ve gotta know. I should know what’s been said about me, so then… Then I know what I’m fighting, right?”
Frank then physically picked up the laptop, and put it down the other end of the bed. He moved over Gerard, straddling his lap so there was no way the computer could make it’s way back on there.
He bent down, hands reaching out to brush back Gerard’s hair.
“Stop this.” Frank said. “Stop torturing yourself. You’ve done nothing wrong.”
Gerard closed his eyes, and looked away.
So Frank bent down further, and kissed him, softly.
He pulled back, just enough to see Gerard’s reaction. Before he could though, Gerard had pulled him close and kissed him again.
Their kisses stayed soft, light and careful. But, slowly, Frank started to move, just a little, just his hips, rocking, allowing a little friction between them.
The kisses became deeper, mouths open, tongues just barely dipping in, not touching, not yet.
Gerard wrapped his arms around Frank, and slowly guided him over, onto his back, while he himself moved above Frank, hands moving up to smooth back Frank’s hair, then one trailed down to Frank’s hip, encouraging him to keep moving.
Frank gasped, happily, smiling. He briefly remembered what Mikey had said to him, just before he’d left.
“Frank… Usually, I wouldn’t even bring this up. I understand wanting to comfort him. But. Don’t. Don’t try to have sex with him. That’s not what he needs right now.”
Frank grinned, just a little triumphant as he thought about how wrong Mikey had been.
He reached down, and began to undo his belt.
Gerard’s mouth was on his neck now, sucking gently, kissing in intervals.
Frank’s hand brushed against Gerard’s crotch, and he heard a soft gasp. So Frank lifted himself up, pressing himself even closer to Gerard now.
“Oh, fuck, fuck me.”
It took Frank a couple of seconds to realise Gerard’s lips weren’t touching him. That his hands weren’t touching him, and that Gerard had in fact lifted himself up, a little away from Frank now.
When he did, Frank opened his eyes, frowning. “What is it?”
Gerard looked even more troubled than before. He was chewing his lip so hard Frank was almost worried he’d draw blood.
“The… Night that she… The night that fan said I got her pregnant. We were together, weren’t we?”
Frank smiled, as confidently as he could, reaching his hand up, to Gerard’s face. “Yes. We always are, Gee.”
“Do you remember? Do you remember that night, specifically?”
Frank laughed, disbelievingly. “Gee. I…” Then he closed his eyes.
“California, right?” Frank said.
Gerard nodded.
“Uh.. LA?”
Again, Gerard nodded.
Frank also nodded, and sighed. “Yeah. Yeah. I do remember it.” He smiled then. “You were sweet that night. Even more than usual. You… You kissed me all over. And… And we went slow. Your eyes… Never seemed to leave my face. I remember that. I remember every time I opened my eyes, yours were open.”
And now, Frank opened his eyes, found, again, Gerard looking down at him. “And I remember, later that night. Gee. That was the night you… Said you loved me.” Frank blushed, heavily then and turned his face away, almost scowling. Suddenly embarrassed.
Gerard smiled, and started playing with Frank’s hair. “I’m glad. I’m glad you remember it all.”
Frank looked up then, frowning. “Don’t you?”
Gerard nodded. “I remember. I just…” He cut off, sighed. Then he turned over and let himself lay down on his back, beside Frank.
“I just need a little extra grounding at the moment. Especially that night. Even though… We can’t tell anyone publicly. I feel like, I needed to know you remembered it.”
He looked over just as Frank rolled onto his side.
“Frank.” Gerard said, quietly. “I need to know what she’s said.”
Frank glanced over at the laptop again.
“I know you do.” He replied.
They sat up together, the laptop balanced between them, and Gerard brought the page up again.
Frank moved a little closer, and kissed Gerard’s cheek, softly. “It’s okay.”
It started with the truth.
‘It happened the night after the gig. (details of the show itself can be found here). I waited out the back, for what seemed like hours, but it turned out it was only about an hour. There was only me and ten other kids that night, which really surprised me. Frank came out first, and stopped to talk with everyone. He’s a really sweet guy.’
“Well, hey, look at that, she thinks I’m sweet. She can’t be all bad.” Frank teased. Trying to lighten the mood.
Gerard narrowed his eyes at him.
“Then I guess we’re lucky she didn’t suggest we both slept with her, huh?”
Frank kept quiet after that.
He skipped ahead a bit until Gerard was mentioned.
‘… Gerard spent ages talking to everyone. I was a little worried he wasn’t going to have time to speak to everyone even.
But… Then he got to me. And he smiled, real big. We started talking and it was like… I didn’t know when to stop. He just made me feel so comfortable around him.’
And then, the lies started.
‘Then, he moved a little closer and said “I’m really enjoying talking to you, and I’d like to carry on… If I tell you where we’re staying, will you meet me outside in an hour?”
Of course, immediately I said yes.’
The reading got harder after that.
Details of the girl waiting outside the hotel. How he’d come and met her, and led her upstairs to his room.
It said they’d talked a while.
Then he’d kissed her. And she hadn’t known how to react.
He apologised, told her he was wrong to do that.
She told him no, he wasn’t wrong.
They kissed again, and that time, they didn’t stop.
At this point of reading, Frank pushed the laptop away, shook his head.
“I can’t… Gee. I’m sorry, but I can’t read this. I can’t read this… Fake version of you.”
Gerard set the laptop down beside him, and pulled Frank in to a hug. “It’s okay.” He said, quietly. “You don’t have to read it with me.”
Frank pulled back. “But you’re still going to?”
Gerard nodded.
Frank nodded back. “Okay. I’m… Gonna go shower. Um. If you need me…”
Gerard pulled him back, close, kissed his neck, briefly, softly.
They parted without further words. And Frank left the room.
And Gerard picked up the laptop again. And he continued to read.
By the time he was done reading, he was a wreck, in tears and hurting so very much.
Frank heard him, and hurried himself out of the bathroom, throwing on his bed clothes.
He found Gerard sat on the bed, his head bowed, face covered by his hands. The laptop still sat open beside him.
Frank reached across and shut that first, then he wrapped his arms around Gerard, pulled him close. He was glad that Gerard shifted, and pressed closer. He was not so glad to find the state Gerard had worked himself into.
Hadn’t this been exactly what Frank had come up here intending to prevent? Hadn’t he come up here to make sure Gerard didn’t get more upset?
Protectively, Frank squeezed him, gently. “It’s alright.” He promised, softly.
“I didn’t. I didn’t do it. Any of it.” Gerard said, quietly, but with a slightly jagged voice.
“I know. I know you didn’t, Gee.”
“They don’t!” Gerard’s voice came out louder then, but it broke heartbreakingly. “They don’t know it! They don’t know I didn’t! I. I would never-” His voice caught then, stopping him, cutting him off. Frank hushed him, softly. “They will though. They will know Gee, we’ll make sure of it.”
Gerard shook his head, but he didn’t reply. His head was too filled with the things that blog post had said.
According to that, they’d had sex three times.
Not counting the oral sex, which, it was explained, Gerard had asked of her before the final time they had sex.
‘He was nervous about asking, I could tell’, the girl wrote, ‘but, even though I’d never done that before, I didn’t mind.’
And, a key part of the story, it had been during the last time that he hadn’t worn a condom.
The first two times yes, and even during oral. But the final time, as she put it:
‘We were too caught up, it didn’t even occur to me. I didn’t even think to ask, or to check with him. It was only after, it was only when I (forgive the crudeness please) felt him come inside me, I thought it felt different. And, I guess that’s when he realised, or remembered too, because he apologised. He said he’d forgot, been in too much of a rush.’
Eventually, when it’d churned over in his head too much, Gerard explained that part to Frank. That was the most important part of the story anyway.
Frank had managed to guide them both under the covers by now, laid down finally. And he pulled Gerard close, kissed his lips softly.
He shook his head as he pushed back Gerard’s hair again. “She knows absolutely nothing about you. Even if I didn’t already know that, what she said about you there, is solid proof. Gee, you would never, never put anyone in that sort of situation. You would never be that careless with someone.”
Frank pulled him close and kissed him again, a little more fiercely now.
“Fuck… I mean… You wouldn’t even have sex with me without a condom until we both had health checks.”
To that, finally, Gerard laughed. “You fucking hated me for that.”
“Yeah. I did. But… I did understand, you know? I knew why, I knew it was only because you didn’t want any harm being done. And. That shit about you being in too much of a rush? No. Nope. We’ve been in plenty of rushes before. We had sex on the damn bus when we barely knew if we were gonna have time to come before the others caught up, but you still stopped to find and put on a condom. No. No. This girl… This girl has no fucking clue who Gerard Way is, and it’s sick that she is saying these things about you.”
“I think I’d like to try and sleep now…” Gerard said, quietly.
Frank nodded, then kissed Gerard’s eyelid, which was already closed. He reached up to turn off the light.
A few seconds, or maybe minutes of silence passed. Then Frank said, “You’re one of the best people in the world Gee, and I won’t let anyone think otherwise.”
##
Sleep continued to be an uneasy friend that night. When Gerard slept he was overcome with a disquiet feeling, like something shifting constantly, intangible. There were no clear images or dreams, just that feeling, but it was enough to wake him numerous times in the night. And when he woke the uneasiness was still there, coupled with the understanding of what was causing that uneasiness.
At some point in the night, after Gerard had woken for the third time, Frank gave up on sleep entirely. Neither Gerard sleeping or waking made a peaceful bed companion that night. When he was awake, he would repeat the things he’d said earlier that night. How it wasn’t true, he hadn’t done it. Frank would shush him gently and tell him he knew that.
And when he slept he was restless. Shifting and constantly moving, almost as if he were trying to get comfortable, he never settled for more than a few seconds before moving again.
In the end, Frank sat up in bed, one hand reaching out, stroking back through Gerard’s hair. The other man paused briefly at this offer of comfort, but then quickly moved again. Frank moved his hand to Gerard’s shoulder then, squeezed gently.
He had his phone out now, and was checking all the places Gerard had been earlier. Reading the message board. Since the blog post had come through from the girl, the message board had erupted further.
There seemed to be two schools of thought, and both raged against each other fiercely.
One side said that the blog post was either fake, or it more certainly disproved what had been said about Gerard.
“Who in their right minds would write about it like that?”
“C’mon guys, it’s pretty much fan fiction!”
To that one, Frank grinned and nodded. “Yeah!” He said, quietly to the post, “That’s what I said!”
There was more on that side too.
“By creating a blog post like that, she completely discredits herself. Having it reported in the papers gave her some credibility. This blog posts shows her to be desperate and attention hungry. She is just a poor, misguided girl who has chosen to put Gerard is this situation. I understand it, he is a very sweet man and I see why she’d want to believe Gerard is her baby’s father (if she’s even pregnant… Do we know for sure?) but I don’t think she understands how damaging this could be for him.”
Frank was very tempted to log on and personally congratulate that person. They seemed to have their head screwed firmly on.
But, there was the other side too.
“THERE IT IS! There’s the proof! It’s true! He really did!”
And that generally summed up that side.
A lot of nasty words were used to describe Gerard, and there were a lot of comments on the details in the blog post, especially pertaining to the part about oral.
“I wonder why he was nervous asking about it… Do you think he’s, you know… Less than endowed?”
“PFFT! Please, have you seen that fucking bulge? He’s fucking hung. Probably worried about scaring her off ; ) ‘
Frank had to shake those comments off and remember, this was the sort of thing the fans talked about normally, he just didn’t often see it. No big deal.
After a lot of reading, some of which made Frank feel better, some which made him feel a hell of a lot worse, he eventually came to the comment which finished him off completely.
“I’m really glad she wrote that blog post, puts my mind at ease. For a while there I was kinda thinking he’d raped her.”
And, completely ignoring the fact he’d told Gerard not to only hours before, Frank switched immediately on to twitter.
He barely thought about what he was going to write, then he sent it.
‘Don’t trust everything you read. #MakeMeSick.’
Yeah. He shouldn’t have added the hash tag, but he was mad.
Almost instantly the replies came flooding in.
‘Is this about Gerard?’
‘Are you saying it’s not true?’
‘YES FRANK I KNEW IT THANK YOU!!’
‘Don’t stand up for him! Let the scumbag speak for himself.’
‘We make you sick? Huh. Wonder what you must think of G right now.’
‘Frank! Please tell everyone it’s not true!’
‘When’s Gerard coming online? We need to hear from him!’
‘Do you know for sure? How do you know…?’
‘HAHA! Bet you fucked her too.’
‘Is Gerard okay? I bet he’s upset about this…’
‘CAN YOU TELL US GERARDS REACTION PLLLLLZZZ!!??’
Frank watched them all come through, and, almost in a trance, he started replying to them.
‘Yes. It’s about Gerard.’
‘No. it’s not true.’
He sent little ‘xo’s’ to those who replied something positive.
‘I can’t speak for Gerard, but I can say I’m pissed about it.’
‘I do know for sure.’
He understood that he shouldn’t be doing this, that by speaking about it publicly he was breaking the very rule he’d given to Gerard. But he couldn’t help it. He couldn’t just let people tear Gerard apart like this. He’d had to do something.
He understood he’d probably regret it later. He just hoped it wouldn’t end up hurting Gerard more.