#vampiremoolah

They meet on the bus.

Gerard was a little late getting onto said bus, slowed down by saying goodbyes to his parents. His brother had dashed into the crowded vehicle with a rushed farewell as soon as their mother showed signs of crying and Gerard stayed behind to do damage control, as it was. By the time he got away from his clingy mom and dad, the bus was basically completely full.

Sliding sideways down the aisle in the center of the bus, Gerard searched frantically for a seat among the nervous chattering men. He passed by Mikey, who sent him a half-hearted wave while kind of squished up against a window talking to his seat mate.

Finally, about two rows away from the very back, he finally finds a free seat. The person it’s next to has his forehead pressed against the bus window, so all Gerard can see is a head of dark brown hair. Deciding that it’s best to be polite and make as many friends as possible, Gerard lightly taps on the man’s shoulder.

“Uh… Excuse me, are you saving this seat for someone?”

A small shake of the head is all he gets in response.

“Do you mind if I sit here?”

Another head shake.

“Thanks,” Gerard sighs and plops down.

After a few minutes of silence, Gerard chuckles quietly. “Nerves and nicotine,” he mumbles, gazing at the crowd seated ahead of him.

The man beside him sits up. He seems to hesitate for a second then turns his face to his neighbor.

“…What?”

“Oh!” Gerard flushes slightly, surprised the other had heard him. “It’s just the air I’m getting. Guys full of nerves and nicotine…” he trails off, feeling a little silly.

The man beside him nods slowly. “I get what you mean. It’s a pretty good observation.”

“Oh. Uh. Thanks,” Gerard sputters out, feeling extremely awkward. Deciding that there wasn’t too much else to lose, he turn to face the man currently staring at him amusedly.

And holy shit was that man pretty.

To keep himself from gaping like an idiot for too long, Gerard offers his hand. “Gerard,” he says as introduction. “Well, I guess it’s more useful to say Way.”

The brunet takes his hand and shakes it twice. “Frank! Last name Iero. Nice to meetcha.” He lets go of Gerard’s hand and smiles. “And I have to admit that I’m one of the people adding to that atmosphere you’re feeling.”

“Me too,” Gerard confesses simply.

And a friendship is born.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Due to the sheer volume of soldiers being drafted, everyone brought in was separated by the first letter of their last name, letters A-M sent to one side of camp, and N-Z sent to another. This made training easier for senior officers and kept the trainees more focused. Or so they were told.

Gerard didn’t buy it. While it was nice being grouped with Mikey, he couldn’t help but be a little disappointed that he didn’t get to talk to that Iero guy more than the few hours on the bus. He doesn’t get to stew on that disappointment for long, as days of training kept him busy physically and mentally.  

In the weeks that follow, Mikey and Gerard befriend an even-tempered man by the name of Ray. He tells them that before the draft began, he was a musician that played in several bars a couple nights a week. Because of his calm nature and steady hands, he’s training to be a field medic, even though all of the responsibility made him a little nervous. Every time Ray voices these feelings, Mikey would assure him that he was going to be fantastic at it, and there was no other person he’d rather have in charge of his life on the field. Gerard always agrees.

The three of them always eat together in a corner of the rowdy mess hall. Sometimes their table has extra men seated at it, and these men are always eccentric and full of personality. Brian, a fast talking self-assured man from New York. Pete and Patrick, best friends from a small town in northern New Jersey, never seen far from each other for too long. Brendon, an energetic kid from Trenton. After a while, Gerard loses track of all the guys that sit at their table in the weeks of general boot camp.

Finally, after ten weeks of basic training, it’s announced that they’re going to be separated into smaller specialized squads. They’re told to pack their things so they can move to a different camp nearby to live with their individual squads for a few weeks. So they have enough time to “form a cohesive unit that fights as a synchronized group,” or something like that. Things that made Gerard roll his eyes a lot, basically.

By some fortuitous coincidence, Gerard, Mikey, and Ray all get assigned to the same squad. They all exchange small smiles when they get the news and pack their duffel bags in an almost synchronized fashion.  As they hop into the back of the caravan trucks, Gerard tries to keep himself from hoping to see a certain tattooed brown-haired person at their tent.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Once they arrive, Mikey throws down his duffel at the foot of a random cot, then proceeds to plop face first onto another cot three beds away. All that can be heard in the tent are loud groans as Mikey lets himself melt into the light brown mattress. Chuckling, Gerard sets his duffel right next to his brother’s.

“Seems like we’re the first ones here,” Ray observes, sitting quietly on the bed next to a still groaning Mikey.

“It appears that way,” Gerard agrees. He looks around at the lines of empty beds, suddenly feeling nervous. “Well, I’m going to go locate our showers and shit. Don’t burn the house down while I’m gone, kids.”

“Sure thing,” Mikey responds, voice muffled by the fabric he’s pushing his face into.

“But I’m older than you,” Ray mumbles, watching the other man leave.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When Gerard finally wanders back to the squad tent an hour later, it seems to sound a quite bit livelier than when he left. He pauses outside the door and listens to the raucous for a few seconds before taking a deep breath and entering.

“Woah.”

It was certainly loud. And very chaotic. Approximately forty men were squeezed into that tent, which was filled to capacity now. But…It was cheery and everyone was having a really good time, chatting and laughing and playing card games on the floor. And at first sight, it seemed that all of the cots were taken.

Shit.

“Not this again,” Gerard mutters to himself, searching the group for his brother or their friend. Not finding either on his first sweep, he decides to slowly pick his way through the room and look for a bed at the same time. Halfway through the room, his eyes meet a familiar face.

History does like to repeat itself.

Lounging on a cot next to the tent wall, sits a short brown-eyed, brown-haired, tattooed man reading a small book. Trying to quell his excitement and nervousness, Gerard makes his way over to the occupied bed with a slightly hurried pace.

“Hey!” he says excitedly as soon as he gets close enough.

Frank looks up quickly, his look of confusion quickly morphing into a wide smile.

“No fucking way!!” he exclaims cheerfully while Gerard draws closer. “Long time no see, man!”

“I know! What are the chances?”

“Pretty damn low,” Frank says thoughtfully, sitting up and scooting over. He pats the empty space on the bed next to him, motioning for Gerard to sit down.

They make small talk for a bit, catching each other up with their experiences over the last ten weeks. Eventually Frank looks around the room for a couple seconds before asking, “By the way, do you know anyone else here?”

“Oh yeah,” Gerard answers. “There’s my brother Mikey and our friend Ray, I was looking for them when I came across you.”

“Well, did you want to go look for them again? I don’t want to keep you here for too much longer if they’re waiting for you to come back….”

“Sure, sure, in a minute,” he pauses for a moment. “Do you know anyone else here?”

“Yes, I know Bob from the last couple of weeks but he kind of wanted to escape the madhouse for a bit. Which is understandable.”

Gerard nods and eyes Frank speculatively. “Do you want to come look for Mikey and Ray with me?”

Frank tilts his head slightly.

“I could introduce you…or…something,” Gerard lets the suggestion die off, feeling ridiculous and awkward. He realized how weird it sounded right after the last word left his lips.

Frank seemed to think it over for a couple of seconds, long enough to make Gerard think he was going to turn the offer down, but Frank smiled before saying a happy, “Sure, man,” before standing up.

With a small smile, Gerard stands and turns to look at the still unsearched half of the tent. “Follow me, then.”

When they finally find their misplaced comrades, Frank had been holding on to Gerard’s shoulders conga line style for a bit so he didn’t lose the taller man. When Gerard suddenly exclaims that Ray and Mikey have been spotted, Frank drops his hands quickly. Gerard tries not to dwell on how disappointed he was that those hands were gone and smiles widely as he reaches his brother.

“At last I have found you! My missing brother! Oh how I’ve searched far and wide for your friendly familiar face, my dear sibling!”

“What.” Mikey says blankly, looking up from the cot he’s sitting on across from Ray.

“I’ve been looking everywhere for you!”

Mikey tilts his head and his eyes fall on Frank, who’s standing slightly behind Gerard.

“Anyways, this is Frank, we met on the bus on the way to camp a few weeks ago,” Gerard explains quickly, waving his hand in Frank’s direction. “Frank, this is Mikey, my baby brother, and Ray, our cool friend.”

“Hey,” all of them greet in unison.

After a couple minutes of small talk, Mikey looks up at his brother thoughtfully before nervously admitting, “Oh yeah, sorry Gee, but I… Kinda forgot to save you a bed. Everyone filed in pretty fast and I didn’t really get a chance to book you one,” he scratches the back of his neck awkwardly.

Gerard frowns down at him. “That’s kind of unfortunate. At this rate I’m gonna have to sleep on the floor…”

“No you won’t,” Frank pipes up. “There’s an empty cot right next to mine. Didn’t you notice?”

Turning to face Frank, Gerard’s eyes widen slightly. “Uh…No?”

“Gee, you’re hopeless,” Mikey sighs. “You would think an artist would pay more attention to his surroundings,” he says to Ray, who nods silently while smirking.

“I guess it’s decided then,” Frank says assuredly, “You’re taking that bed. Since it IS basically the only empty one in this mad house.”

“Well alright then,” Gerard says a little uncertainly. It wasn’t not like he was going to argue with these arrangements, but it was still a little jarring to get bossed around like this.

After the four of them talk for a bit longer, Gerard grabs his bag and he and Frank take their leave.

By the time a sergeant comes by to announce lights out, Gerard finds himself entranced by the way his friend talks.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It feels like Frank is dropping hints.

In the several weeks of special squad-specific training, Gerard finds himself spending the majority of his time with Frank. They still have cots right next to each other, they always pair off together in drills, they even stand next to each other while brushing their teeth first thing in the morning. During meals, they sit either across from each other or next to one another, which is an impressive feat with Frank’s acquaintance Bob now joining their table and group of friends. The two of them share a multitude of inside jokes and can communicate almost wordlessly. When a favorite dish of Gerard’s is served at dinner, Frank always shares half of said dish with Gerard. That’s not to say that he doesn’t return the favor, but it’s still a nice surprise every time it happens.

Gerard finds himself noticing when Frank is extra close. Whenever their fingers touch while passing things to each other, when they’re sitting next to each other and Frank’s arm is rested against his, Gerard can’t help but notice, and it’s driving him mad. He finds himself wishing that his friend was doing it on purpose, that he was lingering when they accidentally brush against each other.

Because if it wasn’t on purpose…. He was in trouble. Certainly in trouble, when all he wanted was to take his friend’s hand and kiss him senseless.

Then one day, while they’re sitting next to each other eating lunch, Frank nudges his leg against Gerard’s under the table and doesn’t move it. After a few minutes, Gerard kind of peers over at his friend, trying to gauge the situation. Unable to read anything from Frank’s stoic face, Gerard lightly pushes back with his thigh. All he receives is a tiny smirk and another push against his leg. When Frank reaches down under the table to “offhandedly” scratch his knee, he drags his knuckles down the side of Gerard’s thigh on his way to the itchy body part. Gerard flushes and stares at his tray as Frank’s hand emerges again to rest on the tabletop like nothing happened. 

Trying to convince himself that Frank didn’t do it on purpose, Gerard side-eyes the brunet, expecting the same stoic face from before. What his eyes meet, however, make him blush harder.

Frank’s staring at him, a large self-satisfied smirk all over his face.

All Gerard gives in response is another leg shove and a smile.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Things between them shift after that.

They hold hands under the table, sit closer while talking to each other, swap pillows and/or blankets every couple of nights, and meet each other’s eyes more and more often while fulfilling various tasks together.

Two weeks after the initial shift in their relationship, Gerard and Frank are standing next to each other in the bathroom, rinsing their mouths after brushing their teeth to head to bed. Gerard quietly lays his toothbrush down and narrows his eyes thoughtfully at Frank’s unobservant reflection. After coming to a decision, he slowly slides over to where Frank is standing and faces him.

Finally noticing this odd behavior, Frank turns his head to look at him. There’s a small pause before Gerard grabs his chin with gentle fingers and lightly pushes his lips against Frank’s. He quickly lets go and backs up a step, blushing fiercely and waiting for Frank to tell him off.

In a slight state of shock, Frank calmly sets the object in his hands down on the counter in front of him and looks to the entrance of the bathroom. Gerard watches him nervously, until Frank turns and essentially lunges at the taller man, grabbing his face and mashing his lips against Gerard’s.

Gerard stands there, body completely stiff with his eyes wide open and hands splayed next to his sides in shock for several seconds before letting his eyelids slide shut and placing his hands on Frank’s waist. They stand like this for only a couple minutes, pressing chaste kisses on each other’s mouths over and over, before they separate. Both look at the doorway leading to the room to make sure they weren’t spotted. Deeming it safe, Gerard looks at Frank, who’s still looking worriedly at the entrance across the room from them and biting his lip, a light blush coloring his cheeks.

“Well that was nice,” Gerard says suddenly, and wants to kick himself immediately after.

Frank’s gaze finally turns back to him as he lets out a small chuckle. “Yeah it was.”

They look at each other for a couple more silent seconds and burst out into quiet giggles. As their giggles die down, they resume getting ready for bed, then gather their things and start walk out of the bathroom. On the way back to the tent, Gerard reaches out his hand and brushes it against the back of Frank’s. Frank meets his eyes and smiles lightly before opening the door to their tent.

It’s not until Gerard is laying in the dark and half asleep that he realizes they only have another week until they’re deployed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next few days pass in a blur. They’re spent making preparations to go overseas; writing letters to their loved ones “just in case,” packing necessary items, double checking plans, and the like. Gerard can’t bring himself to write the letters (partly due to finding them unnecessary, partly because he thinks it’s a bleak and depressing activity), so he makes do with drawing everyone he loves a small picture of whatever he can think of instead. Every now and then he adds a small heartfelt paragraph.

Between personalized notes, he draws Frank.

Frank laughing, Frank sleeping, Frank frowning with concentration, Frank staring off into space, Frank smiling, Frank chewing on his fork, Frank’s hands, his shoulders, his legs, lips, ears, literally every single bit of him is sketched on various sheets of paper Gerard has stashed away at the bottom of his duffel bag. They’re quick, messy drawings, ones that only capture the bare minimum of their subject matter. Gerard was always a firm believer in getting feeling across in his art more than anything else so he’s perfectly okay with that.

Mikey catches a glimpse of the haphazard stack of papers at the bottom of Gerard’s duffel and lightly teases him about it. This causes stuttering, blushing, and a quick covering of said paper with anything within arm's reach while Mikey laughs heartily at him.

Gerard had been very nervous about Mikey finding out about his attachment to Frank, but all of the worrying had turned out to be all for naught.

“It’s cool man,” Mikey assured him after a long 20 seconds of silence. “I kinda figured you guys were pretty close already,” and that had been the end of that.

As a sort of last hurrah, the last three days before deportation are given to all soldiers to spend as they wish, with the night of the final day ending with an optional dance provided by the Army in the nearest city. After the announcement of the dance, Mikey excitedly leaves the room to call his girlfriend and invite her. Frank and Gerard meet eyes and smile meaningfully at each other as he departs.

~~~~~~~~~~

The first “free day” Gerard and Mikey go to town and spend the majority of the day just walking up and down the streets and reminiscing about the past. When they walk past a sizeable bar in the midst of their rambling, they decide to convince the rest of the guys to come to town the next day.

Gerard is standing in front of a flower shop window browsing the display when Mikey turns to him with a questioning look.

“Did you write your letters?” He asks, sticking his hands in his jacket pockets.

“Uhhhh….” Gerard looks guiltily at his younger sibling, drawing out the uncertain sound, “No?” He pauses for a short moment while attempting to come up with a viable excuse. Failing, he says, “I thought it was dumb,” before shrugging and looking back and the colorful array in front of him.

Mikey lets out a sigh of relief and dramatically wipes the back of his hand across his forehead. “Thank god. At least if you didn’t do it I won’t look as bad.”

“Well maybe I should have written them. Making you look bad is my mission as an older brother.”

“Shut up,” Mikey laughs, shoving his older brother’s shoulder as he starts to walk away.

“Just telling it how it is!” Gerard protests. He glances back at the flowers before taking a few jogging steps to catch up to Mikey’s longer stride.

~~~~~~~~~

The next night, after much coercion and some literal dragging, Gerard, Frank, Mikey, Bob, and Ray are all sitting at the bar with large mugs of beer in their hands. 

“You do realize I could be using this time to sleep, right?” Bob grumbles into his beer before taking another sizeable swig.

“But Bobert-”  Frank interjects, pointing at his friend.

“No.”

“Bobert,” Frank repeats while grabbing Bob’s shoulder. “This’ll be fun!” He smiles widely at the blonde, “You need to unwind anyway, you’re always so angry and tense.”

Bob looks sideways at the shorter man. “I’m angry because I’m dealing with idiots like you.”

Frank just slaps Bob’s shoulder and orders another round.

Four rounds later, Mikey gets the brilliant idea of (loudly) telling Frank embarrassing stories of Gerard’s childhood. Because no one had really moved from their spot at the bar, everyone else in their group gets a healthy dose of Gerard embarrassment while Mikey attempts to thoroughly describe his older brother trying to impress the neighborhood kids with tricks on his bicycle when he was 12. All the tricks concluded with deep scrapes, dark bruises, and road rash until a badly executed wheelie ended in a hard slam to the pavement that broke Gerard’s wrist.

While everyone laughs at Gerard’s youth escapades, Frank grabs said wrist and rubs his thumb across the underside a few times.

Gerard has a hard time remember anything after that when he tries to recall it later.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next day is yet another free day, but that night is the dance that Gerard was pretty sure wasn’t compulsory. Every time he said this aloud Frank would swear up and down that it actually was, wasn’t he paying attention when they announced it? He’d give away his lie by giggling a little every time he said this and Gerard usually rewarded him with a glare or an elbow to his ribs.

Gerard wouldn’t have minded the dance so much, really, if he had a reason to be excited for it.

A dance with everyone else in their platoon meant having to dance with literally anyone but Frank, and that was sort of the only reason he’d want to dance in the first place.

They ended up spending several hours together doing nothing in particular, that is until Ray and Bob snuck up on Frank and suddenly picked him up and carried him away. When Gerard started to run after them and yelling for them to bring him back, they laughed and lifted a loudly screaming and struggling Frank a little bit higher off the ground. Ray only offered a slight explanation when Gerard quit chasing them, calling back a fast, “We’re off to do manly things!” before the three of them turned a corner and disappeared from Gerard’s sight.

Trying to come up with ways to burn up time until he had to start getting ready for the dance, Gerard slowly wandered back into town alone. He meandered down the main road not really paying attention to much while trying to distract himself from how nervous he was about later that night. An array of bright colors just on the edge of his field of vision makes him pause momentarily and look over.

The flower shop he and Mikey had discussed their family letters at stood there, the door held open by a large flower pot on the sidewalk in front of it. The assortment of strong-smelling flowers appealed to him at that moment, and figuring that he had nothing better to do, he stepped uncertainly over the threshold.

To the left just inside the door Gerard caught sight of a large bouquet of various colored pansies that reminded him of Frank.

He left the store fifteen dollars poorer, a large bundle of brightly colored flowers clutched in his fist.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~