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a loud, slow buzz. almost like a drone. and the lights are gone, everything is off. right in the middle of franks game. what the hell is going on? power outage? frank sighs and rolls his eyes.
not usually this time of year. oh well. hes more annoyed about his game not having been saved in a few hours, but that's mostly his fault.
in the midst of grumbling, frank hears a knock on his door. "everyone down to the lobby!"
this is the shitty part about apartments. you're separated by thick walls, and no interest in your neighbors, but somehow you're forced to interact with everyone else.
frank slowly stands up, putting up the controller and replacing it with a jacket in his hands. lights go out, heating's probably gone too.
he didn't exactly run to the stairs, but he made it to them in a good amount of time, not that anyone was to judge his speed besides him.
the stairs weren't much, pretty warn out, slightly too far spaced, but hey they did their job. no ones died on em yet. and he only had to go down two floors.
after frank made it to the bottom of the stairs, he put on his jacket and glanced about the room. it didn't seem like many people listened to what they were told. maybe all of them did. who knows, they hardly ever see one another.
as he looked around, he was trying to see faces, there wasn't much to view because of the dark, but he could tell that most of the residents were old as fuck, and if they we'rent old then they'd obviously done enough drugs to make it look like they were. excepting those old or maybe not old people, frank seemed to be the only one in the whole building his age, or at least not twenty years ahead of it. goddamn, so many old people.
wait. wrong. no points for you, there was one other person it seemed. kinda far off from the crowd. why? cos he was in a fucking towel, dripping water everywhere. what an idiot.
this kid looked like he was franks age, but its hard to tell with how kids are now. he could be 16 and frank wouldn't even know. the way this guy was standing though, didn't suggest someone of a younger age.
couldn't see much of his face though, so kinda hard to tell. whatever age he was though, he looked good for it. maybe frank would talk to him, probably not a bad idea since there was no one else he ever chatted with besides his mom on the holidays.
frank made his way, arms crossed because fuck it was cold, over to the weirdo. he was given a weird look, and was about to say hello, when the manager of the complex spoke up. something about staying in the same area so no one gets hurt in the dark. utter bullshit.
"what'd you say?" the voice came from next to frank, and quite frankly, it startled him a bit. it took frank a few seconds to think of a response, he didn't even know he'd actually said anything.
"uh, nothing, just thinking aloud," he replied. what a stupid excuse.
"oh. alright."
a few seconds of silence before either tries to talk, and they both do at the same time.
"I'm gerard"
"I'm frank"
the 'gerard' gave frank what looked like a shy smile, and frank returned it. no harm in being friendly. after all that's what he wanted right? a friend?
"sorry um, my names gerard. i live a floor below you i think."
"oh uh, awesome. I'm frank. i live a floor above you. i think"
frank heard gerard chuckle in the pitch black, and he thought he could see the guy shake his head at him. he seemed amused by franks humor. most people werent. this was starting out great. but wait..
"gerard?"
"yeah?
"why are you naked?"
"oh uh i um-" he seemed hesitant. maybe just embarrassed. or just bare-assed.
"its okay dude, i don't mind. are you cold though? you can put my jacket on if you want to," frank showed gerard the jacket as well as he could. gerard just nodded and said "sure." so frank pulled his arms out of the sleeves and removed the jacket, handing it to gerard to put on himself.
"thank you," he said simply. "yeah," was all frank said.
another bit of silence, which frank didn't like much. he wanted to talk to this gerard some more.
"do you uh- do you have any hobbies? like writing or music or something?"
"yeah. i read some comics, i write sometimes, and sometimes i sing"
this intrigued frank, now he wanted to hear him sing, but later.
"oh i sing sometimes too. well i mean its more of a kind of screaming thing, but know. vocal stuff."
gerard smiled again, and laughed. more audibly this time.
"what?" frank didn't say anything intentionally funny.
"you forgot a few things."
"like what?"
"your guitar playing, frank. christ how'd you leave that out?" he had a smile in his voice, which made it sound a bit more girly. kinda sarcastic too.
"oh yeah i guess i kinda did." frank wasn't sure how to respond, but he just looked at gerard, trying to see his features better.
"yeah dude, i think the whole complex can hear it, i know i really can."
this made frank even more embarrassed. gerard listened to him play? oh man he hoped the guy thought it was good.
"its fine though, i like it a lot. you're pretty great."
"thanks."
frank and gerard talked a bit more, asking more questions, telling more jokes and poking fun at each other. they hadn't even remembered the situation they were currently in. too busy enjoying each others company.
then the lights came on.
they were both stunned for a bit, being in the dark for as long as they were. eventually their eyes adjusted, and they looked back at each other.
frank couldn't believe his eyes, and gerard couldn't his own. if frank thought gerard looked good in the dark, he was much more handsome in the light. the feminine sound in his voice had a backup, gerard wasn't just handsome, he was goddamn pretty.
gerard was studying frank just as frank was studying him, and he didn't seem displeased.
"nice tattoos frank," gerard broke the silence first and frank didn't respond very fast, caught in the other guys eyes.
"oh yes thank you, do you have any of your own?"
gerard made a kind of face, which was pretty gross, but he still looked good.
"I'm afraid of needles, i don't think ill ever get any."
"that's a shame, tattoos are amazing."
the talking came back up again, but with a different tone between the two, not a bad tone at all. just a strange one.
soon though, the manager told everyone that they could return to their apartments, and "put some clothes on." he said the last bit looking right at gerard, in a playful manner.
"i guess id better go now frank, ill see ya later."
"yeah me too. bye gerard."
"I'm 22."
"what? the age?"
gerard smiled. "no, the apartment number."
"oh. I'm 11."
gerard gave frank a teasing look, "what? the age?"
frank laughed in response, saying "you bet i am"
the two then waved, and walked on separate stairs, to separate apartments, on separate floors.
but gerard still had franks jacket.
there would have to be another visit.