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Frank lay in Gerard’s bed, the smell of coffee drifting in through the open bedroom door. He stretched his arms over his head, arching his back as he did, and then falling limply against the warm sheets. One of Gerard’s fishnet stockings lay discarded next to him. Frank smiled and shook his head. This first Christmas with Gerard would always be the most memorable one.
Frank finally rolled out of bed. He pulled pajama pants out of one of Gerard’s drawers, finding quite a number of women’s underwear there as well. Frank could not believe he had known Gerard for so many years and had just learned of his occasional desire to crossdress a couple of hours ago. He had spent a few minutes apologizing to Gerard for accusing him of something as bad as cheating, but Gerard kept waving it off, stating that it wasn't Frank's fault he did not know. Eventually, Frank pinned Gerard to the bed and forced him to accept the apology.
Frank threw on a hoodie and then went out to the kitchen, where he found Gerard standing at the coffee machine, his back to Frank. Gerard wore a pair of loose sweats and an old t-shirt that was rucked up on one side, enough for Frank to see a glimpse of red and green lace. Frank sidled up behind Gerard, placing one hand on his hip and wrapping the other around his waist.
“You have on Christmas panties, don’t you?” Frank asked, casually hooking his index finger beneath the waistband of the lacey fabric.
“I do.” Gerard nodded, but shrugged Frank away. “You’re not allowed to see them, though, because we have to open gifts.”
“I just discovered this amazing thing about you,” Frank said with a pout, “and it’s so not fair of you to tease me about it.”
“It’s Christmas,” Gerard dismissed with an eye roll. “I don’t care.”
“Fine,” Frank gave in, leaving the kitchen and taking a seat by the Christmas tree.
Gerard followed him, but before sitting down, he retrieved something that was wedged between the Christmas tree and the wall. It was a large rectangular box, neatly wrapped in Santa Claus imprinted gift wrap, and when stood straight, nearly reached Gerard’s shoulder.
Frank’s mouth dropped open. “Gerard, what the fuck is that?”
“Your gift,” Gerard answered simply, grinning proudly.
Frank groaned. He should have known that Gerard was going to spend a ridiculous amount of money on whatever he bought Frank since it was their first Christmas as a couple.
Gerard carefully set the box down in front of Frank. Frank reached forward to start opening the gift – he wanted to get it over with fast; he hated surprises.
“Wait, wait!” Gerard suddenly protested, standing up and walking to the bedroom. He came back with his phone. “I need to take a video.”
“Really?” Frank raised his eyebrow.
“It’s our first Christmas, Frank, shut it.” Gerard tampered with his phone until he had the video camera on and rolling. “Okay, go.”
Frank took a deep breath, shooting Gerard a glare, before he began tearing through the wrapping. Gerard was standing on his knees across from Frank, practically bouncing with excitement. Beneath all the wrapping was a white box with a small piece of paper taped to the top of it. “To Frank Iero,” was scribbled messily on the note and it did not look like Gerard’s handwriting. Frank eyed Gerard warily.
“Read it,” Gerard urged him, face still beaming. Frank pulled the note off and turned it over to read it. “Read it out loud,” Gerard instructed him. Frank gave him one last nervous look before he began.
“After contacting absolutely everyone I knew so that he could reach me, I could not say no to the favor your boyfriend Gerard had asked of me. I thank you for being such a devoted fan, I apologize for not having any pieces you could afford as Gerard pointed out to me, and I thank Gerard for commissioning this wonderful painting. By the time I was done, I was tempted to keep it for myself, but I knew you would enjoy it far too much.” Frank’s voice was already shaking and unsteady by then; he did not even have to read the signature to know who it was from. “Merry Christmas. With gratitude, JD.”
Frank’s mouth hung open and he stared at the note, his eyes raking over the words over and over again before he finally looked at Gerard, who looked far too pleased with himself.
“You didn’t,” Frank managed to say.
“I dunno,” Gerard said, shrugging. “Open it.”
Frank’s heart was racing and his hands were shaking. JD was a painter that Frank had been following for years. Frank was not usually one to really obsess over artists but he had fallen for JD’s work after seeing just a few paintings and he had dreamt of owning any of his artwork one day. He was quite popular, though, so Frank had always told himself it was impossible. Now, knowing that a custom painting just for him lay there, Frank felt like puking from the excitement.
“Come on!”
Frank snapped out of his thoughts and looked up at Gerard who was waving for him to open it.
“I can’t believe you,” Frank repeated over and over again while he slowly lifted the top off of the box. He moved it out of the way, eyes shut, before he looked down at the framed painting. It was a depiction of the classic Frankenstein’s monster headshot, except that there were small differences that Frank immediately caught. First were the eyes, wider than the original portrait. The eyebrows were also very defined, with a notable arch to them. The monster’s face in general was a lot softer, with rounder features rather than the usual rigid and sharp characteristics. It did not hit Frank why those differences were put into place until he noticed that part of a scorpion tattoo was peeking out from the shadow of the monster’s neck.
“Holy shit!” Frank exclaimed when he finally realized that JD had drawn Frank as Frankenstein’s monster. “Gerard, are you serious?? Are you fucking kidding me?!”
Frank could not take his eyes off of the painting for so long and when he finally did, he found Gerard smiling and biting his lip happily at Frank’s reaction. Frank clumsily crawled around the box and launched himself at Gerard, causing him to fall hard on his ass. Gerard laughed as Frank peppered his face with kisses.
“So you like it, then?” Gerard teased.
“I fucking love it,” Frank murmured between kisses, “so much you have no idea.”
Frank paused for a moment and just held Gerard’s face in his hands, hoping Gerard could clearly see how thankful he was just by looking at him because he had never received a gift as thoughtful as the one Gerard had given him.
“You’re crazy,” Frank breathed before leaning down for a proper kiss. Frank moved slowly with the kiss, so intricately moving his tongue in ways that always made Gerard’s knees go weak. When he pulled away, they both had a hazy look in their eyes.
“You’re welcome,” Gerard said with a smile.
Frank shook his head and moved off of Gerard, marveling over the painting again. “How the fuck did you get ahold of JD?”
“My boss gives me access to contact information for people that know people,” Gerard explained, “so I talked to like a million people and finally got in touch with him. It took some convincing and I had to call him and email him a few times but he gave in.”
“You stubborn asshole,” Frank laughed. “It looks so good.”
“It turned out way more awesome than I would have thought,” Gerard said. “It’s so you.”
“Okay, so my gift is gonna suck compared to this, so we can skip that for tonight.”
“Shut up.” Gerard smacked him. He grabbed the phone that he had forgotten on the floor, still recording, and handed it to Frank. “Get the gift, asshole.”
Frank got up and grabbed his much smaller gift box from the sofa and returned to Gerard, looking reluctant.
“Hand it over, Frank,” Gerard said, putting his hand out. “We’re not doing the whole ‘which gift is better’ crap, come on.”
Frank sat on his knees, keeping the phone steady in his hands while he recorded Gerard, and finally gave him the gift. Even his giftwrap was not as perfect as Gerard’s, but he did not feel bad about that because he was impressed with himself for actually taking the time to wrap it.
Gerard had a smile on his face as he carefully undid the wrapping. Frank rolled his eyes because he knew Gerard saved all the gift bags and giftwrap he received. When Gerard had torn the wrapping paper away enough to get a glimpse at the gift, he held it down and stared up at Frank with wide eyes.
“Frank,” was all he said, already looking like he was ready to shed a few tears over the gift.
Frank nodded for him to go on, though Gerard seeing the small Apple logo already gave it away. He finally got the rest of the packaging off and stared at the boxed iPod touch in his hands and then looking up Frank, eyes shiny.
“Gerard, you’re not gonna cry over a fucking iPod,” Frank said with a groan, albeit smiling a bit.
“You are such an asshole,” Gerard replied, putting it a side and reaching over to Frank, pulling him in for a quick kiss before pulling back and looking at the iPod.
“There’s a little more by the way,” Frank said.
Gerard looked down at the gift wrap that he had tossed aside the moment he saw the iPod, and saw three new and still packaged headphones and a small paper on top of them that read, “This coupon is for an unlimited supply of headphones from Frank Iero for every single one that you break. Because you break all of them. Expires: Never.”
Gerard looked up at Frank with that tight-lipped smile of his that was off to one side whenever he thought something was so thoughtful and sweet.
“It also already has all the songs from my iTunes on there since you always steal my iPod,” Frank continued before Gerard started crying because with the look on his face, he looked like he was about to very soon. “And I even bought some of the stuff you listen to that I don’t, like all the Japanese shit you like.”
“Frank,” Gerard said breathlessly; he was definitely about to cry.
“Oh and there’s something engraved on the back,” Frank added. Gerard was about to open it so he could look, but Frank grabbed it from his hands. “Read it later. You’re already about to cry so finish it off later.”
“You’re such an asshole.” Gerard pulled him in for another kiss and Frank did not miss the small sniffle he heard right before it. He had no idea how he ended up with someone as emotional as Gerard. Gerard was the kind of guy Frank would have mocked years ago, yet he had become his best friend, and now he had his heart.
**
“Frank,” Gerard hissed, nudging him hard on the arm and finally succeeding in waking him up.
“Hm? What?” Frank mumbled, eyes shut, still half asleep.
They were supposed to be asleep already. After they had opened their presents, they sat together enjoying some coffee and cake, before deciding that they should sleep since they would each be joining their families the following morning.
Gerard continued shaking Frank until Frank finally rolled over to face him and opened his eyes. Gerard lay on his side, that way too familiar sentimental smile on his face, and his new iPod clutched tightly in his hands.
“Gerard,” Frank groaned, throwing a hand over his own face. “You were supposed to read that later.”
“I couldn’t help it,” Gerard choked out, his eyes already welling up with tears.
“Oh my God, this is why I—”
Gerard cut Frank off, kissing him, and Frank had no choice but to return it. He could never turn down Gerard’s kisses; there always so much emotion communicated in each one, and this time it was gratitude and love, so much so that it made Frank’s heart leap wildly even in his sleepy state.
“I just love it so much,” Gerard whispered when he pulled away. “I know you hate the emotional stuff, but it just makes it so much more meaningful when you do stuff like this, and I love it.”
Frank smiled softly at the tearful mess before him. “And I love you, so you’re the only person I can be cheesy for, even if I complain about it.”
“I love you, too,” Gerard said with a happy sigh.
“Now let’s please get some sleep so our families don’t kill us tomorrow, yeah?” Frank suggested, running a hand through Gerard’s hair.
Gerard nodded and scooted closer to Frank, nuzzling his face against Frank’s chest. He still held the iPod tightly in his hands, as tightly as Frank’s arms were wrapped around him, keeping the engraved side facing him. The room was dimly lit with the faint flickering of Christmas lights that hung from each corner, so he was still able to make out the words: “You are the music to my ears, so I hope to be the music in yours, this Christmas and all the rest 12/25/13.”