"It's not a big deal," I mutter. "I'll just wear all black and put on a cape and call it a vampire."

Gerard scoffs at me. "You put disgrace in the vampire."

"Well, I don't really care," I say.

"Yes, but I do. And you can't be looking like a crummy vampire when I'm going all out as Drac." Gerard scrolls through his computer looking for ideas. "Ghost?

"Yeah, I can throw a bed sheet over my hea-"

"Ugh, never mind," he sighs, continuing the search. "The party is in a week and you haven't agreed to anything yet." He shuts it off and walks over to his closet. "Maybe I can make you something."

"Oh, no. That's too much. I don't want to bother you about my apathy."

"Bother me?" he inquires, putting his hands on his hips, "I'm having fun with this. You on the other hand, well, enough said." He continues to rummage around.

"I'm probably not going to go," I whisper. Gerard stops suddenly and looks at me disappointed. "It's just not my thing and I don't want to be a bummer."

He glances down at the floor in the corner of his closet, his eyes wide and fixated. He turns and looks back at me. "Seriously?"

"Yeah, it's going to be my birthday and I-"

"I know, don't think like we forgot," Gerard whispers. He almost looks genuinely hurt. "It's just, Halloween was always a big deal for us and...I was looking forward to it."

"You can have fun without me," I say, sitting up on his bed. Gerard starts pouting. "Oh, come on. You don't need me there."

"What will it take for me to convince you?" he asks, crossing his arms. "Huh? I'll write your history papers. I'll do the whole project."

"Oh, stop. I don't really mind the work, it gives me something to do."

He starts walking over to me. "I'll tell you what your birthday gift is," he says with a mischievous smirk.

"You...please, don't get me anything."

"Hey, I worked really hard to arrange this in happening so it's too bad. Besides, already got it." He hovers over my face, standing right in front of me with a smirk plastered across his face. "Hmm, what do I have to do to make you come?" I stare at him nervously as my brain starts thinking about things I really should not be thinking about. Well, Gerard, as of right now, not much... What's wrong with me? "Please, Frankie?" I end up nodding slowly. "Perfect." He turns around, heading back to his closet. I take a breath and ease up. "You have black jeans?" he calls out.

"Duh!"

"Just making sure. I doubt you could fit into my pants," he says. Oh my god, please stop saying sentences like that. "Here," he says, stepping out with a black jacket. "I don't remember what this was from." There are fancy silver buttons and white stripes running horizontally. Try this on." He hands it to me and I sigh, standing up and putting it over my head and adjusting the sleeves. It's a little big, covers down to my thighs and all my arms.

"Well, I do like this but it's simple for you to suggest."

"I'm not done, silly," he chuckles.

"This kind of looks like a skeleton," I say, noticing how the stripes are like a rib cage.

"That's my point," he comments. "Now, for the most important part," he looks up at me, "your face."

"Oh, boy," I whisper as Gerard hauls me over to his desk area.

"Take a seat," he says, guiding me to his chair. I sit down as he starts grinning mischievously. "I'm going to enjoy this."

"What are yo-"

"Ah ta ta!" he says, "no questions." His sassy attitude is back as he rummages in the drawer of his dresser, taking out two bottles, one black and one white. He digs out a palate and grabs the roll of masking tape on his dresser as well as the cup of brushes. He sets the supplies down on his desk before going back quickly and picking up a grey case with a silver handle and metal clasps locking it closed. "Alright, I'm going to let you in on a little secret."

"What's that?" I ask.

He sighs, glancing down at the box. "Promise me you won't tell the others. Not even Cody?"

"Wait, is it serious?"

"Not really, I just don't feel like them on my ass about it, we all have our little secrets, right?" I nod along, waiting for him to tell me. "You know I'm an artist, in all kinds of methods."

"Yeah?"

"Consider this art a daily facial enhancement in a three-dimensional aspect of natural tone shading."

"What?" I mutter, thinking about it. Gerard sighs, and opens the box. The second I see the contents, I understand. "You wear makeup?"

"That's another way of putting it," he grumbles. "Now hold still, I'm going to make you pretty," he says. "Well, more than you already are." I sit back in the chair and stare at him. "Frankie, I'm just teasing," he chuckles with a smile. "Come here."

"I-Yeah," I lean forward and look up at him. Gerard pulls up his stool from the dresser and sits in front of me.

"I hope you still respect me after this," he says.

"Are you wearing any now?" I ask. He doesn't say anything, pursing his lip to the side. "Really?"

"I'm an artist. I'm very good at what I do. And...not a lot." Gerard takes out a small glass bottle from his box. He pours it in his hand and starts spreading it on my cheeks. It's slightly cold and I giggle. Gerard smiles back at me. "Hold still, Frankie. Canvases aren't supposed to move around."

"It feels weird," I say.

"It'll be okay." He spreads it around my face and down my neck. Taking the poofy brush, he starts gently brushing it against my cheeks. I burst out giggling and Gerard chuckles lightly. "Close your eyes gently," he says. I comply and Gerard places his hand underneath my chin, tilting my head side to side, brushing my skin. It's almost relaxing, minus the fact my heart is pounding out of my chest. But aside from that, it's nice. And with Gerard's definition, it's acceptable. Not makeup, just art. Whatever, I don't care either way. "Okay, I primed your face. Now I'm going to tape it down," he says.

"What's the tape for?" I ask.

"So I know to make it symmetrical, just trust me on this." Gerard cuts strips of tape and puts it down on the sides of my face and near my mouth. With the black and white bottles, he pours face paint onto the pallet and paints on my face. I do my best to sit still and not move. But the cold feeling of the paint tickles. Gerard leans inches away from my face, he's focused, sticking his tongue out just a little bit. He's completed lost in his work, like how he is in art class but what's different is I'm what he's completely lost in. Not the same sense but I wish it was. I wish he would look at me like this without the art aspect, just because it's me.

What the hell is wrong with me? Why am I even asking? I know I like boys but I've never really had a crush on someone, not like this. Do I like Gerard or just admire the person he is? Considering right now, I want nothing more than him to just lean three more inches closer to me, I take it I like him. How much, I don't know. Hopefully nothing overbearing.

"You look hella fly," he says with a bright smile, putting down the brush and crumpling up the used pieces of tape. "Come here, Frankie," he says, taking my hand over to his mirror.

I got to say, I do think I look cool. It's a skeleton with the shadows of my face looking like a skull. "Oh my god, thank you, Gee!" I say, looking at this. "Okay, you were right. I'm definitely going to do this. As long as you can do my makeup again?"

"I would love to," he says smiling. "You can wash it off in the bathroom. It comes off really easy."

"Thanks," I say. I leave the jacket in his room before I head over to the bathroom. It practically dissolves when I splash water on. Except around my eyes, it smudges around. Gerard used a different material for my eyes, real makeup I think, which is why it doesn't come off. The eyeliner stays on but I think it looks rad.

Walking out of the bathroom, I see the other bedroom. I double take when I see an electric bass resting in the corner of the room. It's sleek black with a nice strap. Sitting next to it is a white and blue unicorn stuffed animal. Well, that certainly contradicts the bass.

"What are you doing?" I turn around and see Gerard glaring at me.

"Oh, sorry. Uh, I saw the bass...you play?"

"That's not mine," he says lowly.

"Oh, well, who's is it?" He doesn't answer me. "Your cousin's?"

"I told you, my only cousin is too little."

"I-" I falter when I see his eyes watering. Something is wrong, I've crossed a line and Gerard looks between betrayed and hurt. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to pry, just curious."

He glances down. "Well, we don't have a lot of time to start our project. We should really start working on that."

"Yeah, of course." I walk back to his room and the two of us sit down together.

Gerard and I finished the outline and got a lot of work down. I may be the one doing most of it but Gerard's doing most of the thinking portion. His mind works faster than I could write. His grandmother cooks dinner and there's a minor fuss about it. Something's wrong with Gerard but after he's asked a second time to go eat, he glances at me before listening to Elena.

Later, the two of us walk over to Cody and Jenna's house. The four of us are the only one free today to hang out so we decided to hang out anyway. Amelia's family went up to go skiing with her cousins, Patrick had work, Brendon, well, it's nothing new with him, and Hayley was volunteering at a food drive.

"Hey," Cody says, letting us into his house. "It's been a while since we've seen each other."

"Oh yeah, only a few hours," Gerard says.

Cody smiles and we head upstairs. Jenna's sitting in her room scrolling through her phone when she looks up. "Hey, guys!" she cheers. "Sorry for such the late notice."

Gerard scoffs at her. "Oh, like it'd matter with you guys. My grandmother adores you."

Jenna smiles brightly, her eyes fixated on me. "Frank?" I raise my eyes at her. "Are you wearing eyeliner?"

"I-" I look at Gerard and he starts giggling.

"Oh, Gee. You're spreading the emo," she says.

"Hey, that's not a bad thing!" he says. "Besides," he glances back at me with a half smile, "he looks..."

"What?" I ask.

"No homo, but kind of hot." He laughs and I chuckle with him.

"Oh, come on, Gerard, what's wrong with a little homo?" I tease

"True," he says.

"So you hungry?" Cody asks.

Gerard shakes his head. "No, we already ate," I tell them.

"Awesome," he says. "So Jenna and I were going to watch The A-Team, you interested?"

"I love that movie!" Gerard says. "Oh man, it's been years since I've seen it."

The four of us go to their sitting room on the upper level with the big screen and surround sound speakers. Jenna turns on her TV and loads the movie on the screen. I sit down in the bean bag chair but this isn't a normal seat because it swallows me up. "Ah!" The others look at me, seeing my failed attempts to get up. "I've been ate," I mutter defeated.

Gerard walks over in front of me laughing. "Need a hand?" I reach both of my hands up in the air with a smirk. Gerard takes hold of me and I yank him down. "Wait!" He falls on top of me and I burst out laughing. "Oh my gosh, are you okay?" he asks, trying to sit up. He props himself on his arms while hovering over me.

I cover my mouth while laughing. "Your face, that was gold."

He looks at me hesitant to smile. "Frankie," he says uneasily. "Don't do that, I'm might hurt you."

"Oh, please. I'm okay. Just because I'm small doesn't mean I'm fragile."

"Yeah, but," he trails off. I glance down and knock down one of his arms and he falls back on me. "I'm crushing you."

Yeah? Well, I'm crushing on you. I give my head a shake and laugh. "No, you're like a blanket. And I'm cold so this is nice." I'm not actually cold but he is warm and cozy.

"Frankie, I'm too heavy for you," he says lowly. I wrap my arms around him. "I'm going to hurt y-"

"Shhh, the movie," I say teasingly, resting my arms around him. Okay, I lied. Definitely like Gerard. A lot. But whoever said that was a bad thing? Considering he just sighs and lays down on me, this is a perfectly acceptable thing.

By the time it finishes, we see Cody has fallen asleep. He had practice after school, which explains why he's tired. Jenna, Gerard, and I are still wide awake. "That was awesome," I say. "Murdock is my favorite."

"He's crazy," Jenna says.

"Exactly!"

"I love it when a plan comes together," Gerard says, mimicking Liam Neeson's voice. "Can I get up now?" he asks, looking at me. I smile and reluctantly let go of him. He sits up and stretches out. "Okay, you guys tired?" Jenna and I shake our heads. "What shall we do now?"

"Shall?" Jenna asks.

"It's a word," he says, rolling his eyes.

"Is it bad I'm thinking either truth or dare or hide and seek?" I ask smiling.

"Hide and seek is crazy at my house," Jenna says. "But no, it's not bad because we still act like children."

"We play hide and seek at all your parties," Gerard says. "Which we probably will do with everyone next Friday. Truth or dare then?"

"Okay, Gerard. Truth or dare?"

"What?" He looks at her shocked. "No, I didn't want to go first."

"Too bad," she says.

He pouts while thinking. "Uh, oh god. I don't know. Let's play it easy. Truth?"

Jenna and I look at each other unsure of what to ask. "Um," she says. "Here's a cliche one. Do you like anybody?"

He laughs lightly to himself. "Yeah, no."

"Was that a 'yes' or a 'no'?" I ask.

He looks up at me. "I don't date people so..."

"Really?" I ask. "Well, why not?"

He shrugs. "People make me nervous and I...nobody cares enough to deal with me." I drop my mouth open. "What?"

"Well," Jenna says with a smirk. "You and my brother act like a gay couple."

"Oh, please. Cody is straighter than...what's something that's straight?" he asks. "Not the government." I start laughing. "You know it's true. Uh...he's as straight as...curtain rods!"

"Oh, you seem so proud of your answer," Jenna says.

"You bet I am! Now...Frankie, truth or dare?"

I suddenly regret suggesting this game. "I'm feeling dangerous, dare."

Gerard sits back, thinking. "Hmm, do a cartwheel."

"Okay?" I slide out of the beanbag and stand up. I raise my hands over my head and bend down. I've done these when I was little, I got lucky on an easy one. I'm not one to back down from a dare or lie from a truth. "Done, Jenna?"

"Dare?" she says unsure. "Wait, no. Yeah, dare."

"Lick your foot."

She stares at me disgusted. "Oh, I hate you."

After playing several rounds, the three of us decided to look up ones to use, so none of us felt awkward for suggesting anything and we could blame embarrassment on the computer. But we still comply and the more "flamboyant" we are about our answers or actions, the more we start winning. It's not like we have a point system but we judge who is the best, all trying to outdo each other. So far, I'm winning.

"Okay," Jenna says, waiting for Gerard's question. "What's your sexuality?" I look up at him nervously. "Actually, I don't know this one."

"Well, nobody's asked," he says with a smirk. "Granted, I don't really know." He narrows his eyes, trying to think of an answer. "Like, I don't really...I'm not attracted to girls or guys?"

"You're...asexual?" I ask in a hushed voice. I really hope not but there's nothing I could do about it if that's the case.

"No, I don't think so," he says, "it's weird. Like I don't really care about their gender. It's more so...if I like somebody I do and they're just a person. I like people and genders don't make a difference?" He shakes his head. "I'm weird."

"No, you're pansexual?" Jenna asks.

"Maybe," he replies. "I was thinking about it but I don't know." He nods along. "Okay, it sounds less pretentious when someone else says it. I think I am." It becomes slightly quiet and Gerard looks at me. "So, what about you? Another dare?"

"Yep," I say. I'm staying away from the truths. I don't feel like having to reveal anything about myself.

Gerard reads off the phone. "Flirt with the player on the left." He looks up and starts chuckling.

"Oh god," I mutter, looking at Jenna.

"Let's go, Iero!" she says.

Heat rises to my face as I turn to face her. Brushing my bangs out of my face, I bite my lip. This will be the single most cringy moment of my life. "Hey, beautiful," I say with a shaking voice. "Oh god...Uh, oh god."

"Just go for it," she laughs.

"So," I say, awkwardly putting an arm around her shoulder, "besides being gorgeous, what do you do for a living?" She drops her jaw open.

"Keep going, this is gold," Gerard chuckles.

I look at him then glance back at Jenna. "I myself am a...oh god...I'm a coach and I work out a lot." My cheeks are on fire and I can't stop blushing. I'm going to hate myself for saying this. "Here, feel that?" I ask, placing her hand on my arm, despite my actual lack of muscle. "It's boyfriend material." Her eyes start watering from laughing so hard. Last one and I'll say I've killed it. "Yeah, I like to keep in shape. D-did you know kissing for a minute burns 3 calories. You want to work out?"

"You win, oh my god," she says, wiping her eyes. "I'm dead!"

"I am so ashamed of myself," I laugh, rubbing my face. "So you guys now need to step up your game!"

"Duly noted," Gerard says, calming down from laughing. "Jen's turn."

"Truth," she says.

I look at the phone. "Uh...what's the farthest you've gone?" I ask awkwardly.

She starts smirking. "Well..."

"Wait!" Gerard says looking at her. "You wha-"

"I mean...technically no." She glances up with hooded eyes. "Since Lynn is also a girl."

"Well, I Cody and I figured about you and Lynn but I-what...oh, I have a new perspective of you," he says, running his hands through his hair. "I always saw you like a little sister, so sweet and innocent."

"I am!" she says with squeal voice. "But not always." Gerard looks at her conflicted. "Now, truth or dare?"

"Uh, fine. Dare."

Jenna looks at her phone. "Mmm oh boy."

"Was this a mistake?" he asks.