Chapter Text
“Gee, please say that you have something normal to wear with you too-” Mikey sighed as they got out of the car.
“This is normal, what do you mean?” Gerard threw a glare and then looked down at his black hoodie and shorts, that might be a little too short.
“Sure it is. Have fun with those nine million mosquito bites.”
“Ah, yeah, didn’t thought about that..”
“Too late now-” Mikey walked up to Ray “Hey, did you-”…
Gerard zoned out, looking down at his bare legs, and then the woods in distance. Now full of regret that the only thing he packed were shorts. Seemed logical at the time, especially because when he packed it was so hot out, he debated to take nothing but ac unit with him. Now he felt stupid, as the old cabins are probably going to be damp and cold and the trees look so massive, there won’t be too much sunlight at the campsite too. If anything, he is more likely to catch a cold there.
He could only hope that Mia is going to show up in a mini skirt or something.
Suddenly self conscious, he checked his phone for texts, but of course there was zero service at the damn place. “Uh, Mikey? There is no service-”
“Of course there’s not.” He deadpanned and went back to his conversation with Ray.
Another car pulled up. Mia practically jumped out and sprinted to Gerard. “Gee!” She grinned as she pulled him into a hug, or more so attacked him with it. “Oh, it been years-” she dramatically announced.
“Mia, its been like a week.” Gerard chuckled while giving her a small peck on forehead “Glad to see I’m not the only one with my ass out for bugs-”
“Oh, no no no, I have like ten pairs of pants with me, I’m traumatized enough from my last trip.” She snorted.
“Why so many? In case ur gonna shit yourself two times a day?” He grinned as she punched him in the arm. “No, but uh, will you lend me some?” he looked at her with big pleading eyes “I only took shorts and one skirt-”
“Who are you tryina look good for? Is there someone else coming? I thought its just gonna be us and those weirdos.”
“No one, I’ve just been feeling like shit lately and wanted to at least look pretty when I get killed-”
“Oh my god, shut up Gee, no one is getting killed, don’t fuckin scare me.” She chuckled nervously.
“But its been ten years since the massacre, don’t you know the killers are sentimental beings that come back for the anniversaries?” Gerard laughed and catched Mikey's death glare.
Mia laughed and leaned closer “What do they even want from this? They gonna sit and wait for him to show up and ask for autograph?”
“I don’t know, a picture too maybe-” He grinned.
“You know that I can hear you both, right?” Mikey suddenly spoke up “We are not here for autographs, we are here for research.” he scoffed.
“Sure buddy.” Gerard snickered and then looked back at Mia “Thank god ur here, I was thinking we could do some painting, I have watercolors and shit with me, oh, and uh-”
“Hey, Gee, I’m sorry, but I took Bert with me, I hope you don’t mind-”
“What? Why? I thought you broke up.” Gerard's face fell.
“No, we didn’t and uh, I thought this could be a great chance to spend more time together with him, you know-” she took his hands into hers “But we can do that, absolutely, when I will have a free moment-”
“Nah, its okay, I understand.” He tried to force a smile and then looked up to see Bert coming over with their stuff.
“Hey, Gerard, long time no see huh.” Bert said dryly, pulling a fake, polite smile.
“Yeah.. hey..” Gerard tried to mirror his facial expression.
“Okay, we should go before the sun sets.” Mia chirped and took Bert's hand.
Gerard sighed and picked back up his duffel bag from the ground to follow Mikey and Ray, who had already started their way to woods. Cringing from the wet kissing sounds that were already coming from Mia and Bert behind him, he looked up at the sky that was starting to get cloudy. Great.
When they reached the campsite, he already was regretting his fashion choices and life choices all together. He will be sleeping in one of the cabins alone, it was his choice, but still. He just didn’t want to be near the fuckfest in Mia's and Bert's cabin and he also had heard enough of Mikey's snoring to last a lifetime. He loved his brother dearly, but his snores were monstrous, so much so, he had asked his parents to let him move in down in the basement, so they don’t have to share a room.
With the last light they cleaned up the place a bit and moved into their little cabins. Sound of electric air pump filled the area, as they all passed it around to blow up their air mattresses.
Third-wheeling two pairs. Check.
Freezing his ass off in the name of fashion. Check.
Waking up every day with sore back and cold feet. Check.
Possible killer running around, reminiscing his wrong doings. Check.
Mp3 player out of battery with nowhere to charge it. Check.
On verge of crying he sat down next to others by the pathetic looking campfire that Bert had made. Marshmallows usually made him sick, so he just ate other snacks and awkwardly listened to their conversations, trying to warm up a bit before going to sleep. Oh, he is so going to freeze to death in his sleep, no doubt.
Eventually everyone said their goodnights and walked to their cabins.
Gerard forgot to ask Mia for pants but it was too late now, he didn’t want to walk in on them, doing God knows what.
So he bundled up in his cheap sleeping bag and tried to survive the night without getting hypothermia.
At one point he fell asleep, but he kept waking up from mosquito sounds and his feet freezing.
Miserable and pissed off he took flashlight, pack of cigarettes and left the cabin to go take a stroll to warm up.
He walked down to a random trail. As soon as he had warmed up and nicotine had settled in his system, he started to feel little scared. Every horror movie ever now playing in his head, every sound making him flinch, he quickly turned around to go back.
More aware of his surroundings now, he noticed that there were multiple trails connected, and he couldn’t remember which way he went. So he just walked straight and hoped for the best.
At this point it was getting cold again, the wind had changed or maybe he was closer to body of water, who knows. What he knew was, that he had gone completely wrong way and that he was stupid to go out in just a t shirt.
In front of him was a massive fire lookout tower. He turned his head up and squinted, relief flushing through him, as he saw that there was a hint of light at the top. That could only mean that someone was up there.
Quickly he began his journey upstairs, which soon turned really unpleasant as the wind was getting more harsh the closer to the top he got.
When he reached the final steps, he was full on shivering. He looked through the big windows and knocked, he could see that someone had been there, but at the moment there was no person in sight.
He opened the door and let himself in. There was music softly playing in background, small desk lamp filled the room with warm glow. Half opened book was on the table next to a radio, as well as cup of tea, by the looks of it still hot.
Dark red and soft looking cardigan was hanging on the chair, looking as welcoming as possible.
Blinded by his desperation for warmth, he put the cardigan on and sat down, it was little too big but it smelled so heavenly, like soap and rain at the same time. He hoped that whoever owns it won’t mind that he will borrow it for a moment.
He took the cup of tea in his hands to warm them up too. He wasn’t about to drink it but he did put it against his face, to feel the warm travel up and smell it. It was peppermint, his favorite. It reminded him of the herbal tea phase he went through last year, not that he actually cared about that stuff, he just had a crush on a guy who was into natural medicine and wanted to impress him.
Trip down the memory lane suddenly ended when door behind him opened, he turned around in the spinning chair to look, and almost died then and there.
“Oh, okay Goldilocks, gonna try the bed out too?” The man smiled and pointed lazily to the bed in the corner.
Gerard never so quickly in his life had turned red, probably now matching his hair color. The man in front of him looked like something straight from his wet dreams. So much so, he couldn’t even look at him for too long, without feeling like an overheated laptop, failing to do most simple tasks “I'm, uh-” no coherent thought was made.
The man looked at him with a hint of amusement on his face, his eyes and hair were dark, some hints of facial hair growing out were showing, and together with the dark circles under his eyes made him look a particular way that Gerard was fond of. There were some tattoos on his neck, and his arms were covered in them. His skin was wet and his shirt looked damp, which did nothing but made it even harder to breathe. Gerard hadn’t even noticed that it was raining heavily outside now.
He finally came closer and smirked “Will you be so sweet and give me back my tea at least?” He reached for the cup in his hands.
Gerard's eyes fell down to them and his breath hitched in his throat, as the other mans tattoo covered fingers brushed against his.
He then looked back up at him, melting even more in the chair from seeing him up so close. Small signs of age decorated his face and Gerard was about to start drooling.
“I'm sorry?” Gerard managed to mumble, accidentally making it sound like a question not an apology, his voice higher and softer than usual.
“Are you?” The man chuckled and took a sip of tea, still not breaking the eye contact.
“No.” He answered almost automatically, still lost in the others eyes.
“I'm Frank.” He put out his free hand for Gerard to shake.
Gerard carefully shook his hand, etching the feel of it in his brain.
“If you don’t give me your name I’m gonna keep calling you goldilocks-” Frank chuckled and looked down at Gerard's hand still holding his.
He quickly let go of it and looked away for a second “I'm Gerard, I uh-”
“Okay Gerard, what are you doing here in this hour and with that outfit on? And don’t tell me you do midnight runs, you don’t look the type.” Frank smiled.
“I was cold, so I took a walk to warm up.” His eyes kept traveling to Franks hand that was gripping the mug, making him wonder how would it feel around his neck.
“Usually warmer clothing does the trick, but what do I know.” He grinned “You staying down there at the campsite?”
“Yeah, I was just-”
“Aren’t your parents gonna be worried that you ran off like that?”
There it was. Gerard's heart still sank, even though he expected that. Of course he saw him as a lost kid and nothing else.
“I'm here with my friends, I'm nineteen, not twelve.” He said all offended, and as soon as that left his mouth, he realized how immature it sounds.
“Alright big guy.” Frank giggled “Aren’t your friends gonna be worried?”
“They probably wouldn’t notice that I’m gone until it was time to go home. I stay at separate cabin. I just- I couldn’t sleep, so I took a walk and got lost.” Gerard was several shades of red again.
“Ooff-” Frank grimaced and then smiled “Aren’t you scared though?”
“Of what?”
“The famous killer-”
“No, not this again, I’ve heard enough from my brother.” Gerard rolled his eyes and gestured with his hands.
“He a fan?” Frank leaned up from the desk and stood in front of him, staring him down.
“Yeah, he and his friends are obsessed with that shit, has his own blog even, that’s why we are here, for their ‘research’” Gerard wrapped the cardigan closer and looked up as he felt Franks heavy stare. “So, no I’m not scared, I barely believe the story.”
“Why are you lying? I saw how scared you looked on your way here.” Franks voice turned husky and he smirked, his eyes traveling to his bare legs and then back up.
Hot tingly feeling shot through his body as he stared at him, unable to look away again
“What?”
“I'm joking.” He snorted and ruffled Gerard's hair.
Gerard had to stop himself from leaning into his touch, this was sad enough as it was.
“Can I stay here until at least the rain stops? Also, I don’t know the way back, so-”
“Sure thing.” He walked over to a small kitchenette to put his empty cup down “Want some tea?”
“Thanks. Uh, yeah, that would be nice.”
“Then go make it.” He smiled and came over to take his book, then reclined in his bed and opened it to read it.
“I don’t know where the things are-” Gerard was taken aback by his attitude.
“Cup is there, tea there, and water is downstairs.” He pointed at everything and raised his eyebrows “Any more questions?”
“No. I-” He looked at the storm that was happening outside right now, lightning going off in distance “I guess I’ll pass-”
“Okay.” The older man shrugged and got to reading.
“Do you have any spare mattress or something I could sleep on?” Gerard felt exhausted by now, all warmed up and cozy, he felt his eyelids grow weight.
“Nope.”
“Oh, okay then.” He tried to get comfortable in the office chair, to at least take a power nap of some sorts.
“You gonna sleep like that?” Frank chuckled.
“Yeah,” Gerard yawned and closed his eyes “s’ better than lying on the floor.”
“I have a bed, you can just come here.”
“Where will you sleep then?”
“On the bed too?”
Gerard's eyes flew open and he felt uncomfortably hot all over “What?”
He looked over at the other man and the bed, it was barely enough for one person, no way they both going to fit there.
“Why so shy all of a sudden?” Frank teased with a sly smile.
“Uh- the bed- the bed is too small-”
Frank closed his book and walked over to put it back on his desk, then turned to him “I am aware of how this looks but I'm not gonna hurt you, come on, go-” He said softly and gave a small smile while pointing at the bed.
The younger man got up, kicked his shoes off and hesitantly crawled in the bed, looking away to avoid his eyes. His heart was pounding in his ears when the lights went off and he felt the other get in the bed too.
“Turn please-” Frank ordered quietly.
Gerard turned to face the other way and then felt Franks back right against his own just as he pulled a big, heavy blanket over them. Every time the other moved, he felt sparks going through his whole body. There was no way he will get even a second of sleep like this, this was too much and too little at the same time.
He stared at the half wall what felt like hours and soon felt his side cramp up uncomfortably, but he couldn’t turn, as that would just be inappropriate given how close together they were. If he would do that in sleep it would be normal, maybe awkward in the morning but acceptable, now he was not even close to sleeping, and the cramped position just made it more harder to relax.
Thunder and lightning was going off really close now, making the windows vibrate from the sound. That gave Gerard an idea. Just when a heavy and loud thunder sound rung out, he acted like he got scared and turned around. His face was now met with head of hair, his nose almost buried in his locks from being so close.
“Are you scared of thunder?” Frank suddenly spoke up, making Gerard flinch.
“Yeah- I'm-”
“Weren’t scared ten minutes ago, what changed?” His voice was oddly calm.
“Got really loud I guess i-”
“Turn back.”
Gerard rolled his eyes and turned back on his side that was sore already. But the uncomfortable feeling was quickly gone when he felt Frank turn and put his arm around him, his facial hair now scratching against his neck, his breath warm on his skin. His heart picked up a violent rate again and he felt warmth pool at the bottom of his stomach.
The other mans palm slid to where his heart is “Wow, you really are scared of the thunder huh.” he let out a small chuckle. “Whats so scary about it? The noise or the light?”
“Um- both-” Gerard managed to choke out.
“I’ve never understood that, I love weather like this, its soothing and exciting at the same time, don’t know how to explain that-” He spoke softly, making the other calm down “My cousins friend got struck by lightning once, while he was at the beach. He surprisingly survived, but then years later died from falling off a bike on his way to work, hit his head or something-”
Gerard felt himself drift off slowly, hearing only half of what he was saying. Franks attempt to distract him had worked, even though he wasn’t actually scared, his rambling put him to sleep pretty quickly.
He woke up from sun hitting his eyes, Frank was still sleeping next to him, their legs now tangled and the others arm gripping around his waist. He felt comfortable for a second before remembering where he was. The others back at the camp will be worried, well if they will notice at all, but still, he should go back before someone has noticed that he’s gone. He tried to move but Franks grip only tightened, making it impossible to shuffle out without waking him up.
“Frank? Can you- I have to go-” He put his hand on his arm to remove it.
“No, you are not going anywhere.” Franks voice was low and raspy from just waking up.
“Why-” His heart skipped a beat as he felt the others mouth move almost against the nape of his neck while talking.
“You don’t know the way back, you said it yourself, ima draw you a map first-”
“It’s okay, its not dark anymore, I’m sure I will manage-”
“No.”
“Can you do that now? So I can go now?”
“Whats the rush? Its still early, I’d like to sleep for another hour at least. Are you uncomfortable?” There was a hint of smile in his voice.
“The others gonna worry-”
“But you said they wont notice your absence, did you lie to me?”
“I uh-” Gerard tried to think hard what to say, as he wasn’t uncomfortable but it was weird, the situation felt too intimate, but at the same time nothing really was happening, an awkward position to be when the other person was the hottest thing you’ve witnessed in your life.
Mia will call him stupid for not trying to escalate the situation, but somehow all his usual confidence had left the room and it didn’t feel right. “I’m- i-”
“You what? I asked a simple question, no?” He teased.
“I didn’t lie.”
“Then am I making you uncomfortable?”
“Yes- No?”
Frank chuckled and finally let go of him to get up from the bed. Gerard leaned up to get on his knees first, and was about to crawl out but was too stunned by the view outside. Even with the sun blinding him he stopped and looked out, there was slight fog slithering between the tree tops and the sun was painting everything in golden tones.
He felt him staring and proceeded to get out of the bed without looking at the man.
“Pretty.” Frank said, sounding deep in thought.
Gerard squinted from the sun as he looked outside again “Yeah, pretty..”
The older man chuckled and walked to his desk while Gerard put shoes back on and stretched out his sore back. He then walked over to where Frank was drawing something and looked down at it. It looked like a simple map that showed the trail from here to campsite.
“Look,” Frank pointed his finger to the map on some place left from the trail, next to the camp “do not go there, there are bear traps all over that place-”
“I thought there weren’t any bears in the area-”
“Yeah, well, some people think there are, so they put them down just in case, I guess, just- just don’t go there or else you gonna end up with one and a half leg. Do you understand?” He warned in a serious tone and Gerard nodded.
“Use your words.” Franks eyes met his.
“Yea- yes, I understand.” Gerard went red and looked down at the floorboards, his stomach doing flips from his stern tone.
“Okay, good.” His voice softened and he handed Gerard the map. “Now go, before your friends wake up.”
“Thank you.” Gerard mumbled, looked him in the eyes for a split second and walked out the door.
He followed the map and before he knew it, he was back at the campsite. It was quiet and it looked like everyone was still asleep, so he snuck back into his cabin. He carefully folded the piece of paper and put it in his pocket, then noticed that he was still wearing Franks cardigan.
He sat down against the wall on his already half empty air mattress and pulled the fabric up against his face to take in the scent, feeling little pathetic, but a small smile formed on his lips as he now had a reason to go back and meet him again.