He didn't tell anyone he was going, and that mattered - maybe. In some ways. He didn't tell anyone about the hair dye, either, and Mikey had laughed his ass off at him even after he explained that it made him feel closer to Rumor. Ray had just told him it looked fluffier now.

The hair made him look as ridiculous as the mustache made Frank look, which was why he didn't understand why he couldn't look away from the stage. Frank wasn't making eye contact, wasn't talking much; he lay on his back and flailed, and the crowd surged but didn't go as crazy as Gerard knew they would have if Frank had actually talked.

He couldn't remember Pencey being like this, but then, he couldn't remember Pencey that well at all. It was weird realizing how long ago it had been, and that most of his memories were of Frank behind him, under him, but always onstage - the center of attention just as often as Gerard.

They let him backstage after. "I'm not that predictable, am I?" Gerard said to the towel-covered lump that was Frank lying on the floor.

Frank pulled a towel off and grinned at him. "Maybe. Or maybe the anime hair just doesn't cut it."

"Fuck off," Gerard said. "Ten pounds doesn't cut it either."

Frank slapped his belly. "That's why I have the wig."

"And the band?"

"It's fun. Kind of like going back in time."

"Playing bass?"

Frank grinned and ducked his head. Gerard could sympathize; James had that effect on all of them, at least partly because he was sane-ish and managed to keep himself just far enough apart from the band to be able to hold them up. But then, it was also just Frank, and Gerard knew he loved being with bands about as much as he loved breathing.

"It's a cool perk," he said. "James is awesome."

"I know." Gerard looked him up and down again, trying to come up with a way to say how different he'd looked up there with Reggie. How different he looked with Leathermouth. "Your band is cool too, though."

"We suck," Frank said cheerfully. "It's fun, though. Good times."

"You're kickass," Gerard insisted, feeling like a complete idiot.

"More kickass than My Chem, maybe," Frank said.

It wasn't mean, but it skirted the edges of cruel, and - Christ. And Gerard wanted him, more sharply than he had since they'd all sworn to steer clear of each other, at least for a little while, so various therapists and significant others wouldn't kill them. There were a million ways to bring it up and none of them were tactful - especially not here. Gerard decided to go for broke. "Hey, do you guys have a hotel?"

"Fuck off, it hasn't been that many years since we were nobody."

Point. "Come back with me, then. Shut up," he added when Frank got a look he was more used to seeing right before getting his face licked.

"I'm kind of flattered," Frank said, rolling to his feet. "This is a long way to go for a booty call."

"Shut up," he said again, reaching out to slap Frank. Frank grabbed his hand and didn't let go; Gerard couldn't really bring himself to protest.

"We've fucking killed this tour," he said, falling back a little to let Gerard pull him in the right direction. "This fucker was screaming shit and I kissed him. James has pictures."

Gerard blinked. "What?"

"I told Mikey," Frank said, like he thought Mikey told Gerard everything. Which was actually true, normally, and Frank knew it.

All of a sudden, he felt like the biggest tool in the city. "Mikey didn't tell me."

Frank frowned, but he kept his eyes down, watching the sidewalk as they walked. "It was pretty awesome. He should have."

Gerard shrugged. "So. You don't like being frontman?"

"I didn't say that."

"Mikey could've told me."

"But he didn't." Frank shook his head. "You're seriously staying at a Holiday Inn?"

"There's a queen," Gerard said. "Um."

Frank didn't even try to pretend he wasn't laughing. He kept laughing all through the lobby, ignoring the stares he got - at least half of which were probably because his shirt was white and soaked, all his tattoos showing through.

That was why Gerard was staring, anyway. Mostly.

"So you don't like being frontman," he said in the elevator.

"You're fucking harping."

"And you kissed some guy." That was stuck on his mind too, images eating at the corners of his brain like acid.

Dramatic, but still, it was true.

"It was hot. You should've been there."

"Believe it or not, I'm not actually into watching you fuck around with hecklers."

Frank looked different leaning against the wall. Kind of like the sort of guy who'd have beat up Gerard in high school, except - Frank. "See, I know that's a lie."

"The boners are from the crowd," Gerard said.

"You have one now."

The elevator suddenly seemed ten times smaller. The door should have opened by now, Gerard thought desperately. "Um."

"I could reenact it," Frank said. He took a step forward; Gerard focused on his mustache, prickly and new and ugly.

"Um," he said again, and the door pinged open.

He couldn't really run down the hallway - or, he could, but he had at least a little dignity - but he powerwalked, bobbing his head and trying to look nonchalant. He was succeeding, too, until Frank got a hand fitted around his hip and he swiped his card wrong twice in a row.

"Nice," Frank said smugly.

He didn't realize until he got them both in and closed the door that it would be a hell of a lot harder to run away now. "Listen, I didn't come out here to hit on you."

"I know. But it's just a kiss, and it was pretty fucking awesome onstage."

"There's no crowd," Gerard said as pointedly as he could manage.

"So?" Frank said, and kissed him.

For a second Gerard felt cornered, on the edge of panicking. Then he actually paid attention - Frank's hands on his shoulders, the way Frank wasn't pushing even the smallest bit. "This isn't how you kissed that guy, is it," Gerard muttered against his lips.

"Nah. You were right, though." Frank leaned forward, tilting his head up. "I'm a fucking shitty frontman."

Frank had pushed him around plenty onstage. He half wanted to mention it, but then Frank went up on his toes and kissed Gerard, and after that -

After that Gerard pushed back, grabbing Frank's hair and pulling viciously, taking advantage of Frank's gasp to kiss him harder. "I'm going to hold you down," he said, his voice getting lower as he pushed Frank back against the wall. "Fuck you so hard you'll be begging to come. And you'll love it."

Frank nodded frantically. "Fuck yeah, I will, I'll -"

"It wasn't a question," Gerard snapped, digging his fingernails into Frank's shoulders. "I know you'll like it. You're going to fucking love it."

Frank swallowed hard. "Right. Okay."

He was on edge - hell, he almost felt ready to freak out and give in. But Frank wanted him to lead, and he wasn't stupid enough to ignore what it was doing to him, too - turning him on, putting him on edge in the same way going out in front of a crowd of thousands still did.

"Strip," he said, pushing Frank away from him roughly. "Don't touch yourself."

It only took Frank a second - but then he crawled onto the bed, stopping on his hands and knees. It looked good.

It wasn't what Gerard had told him to do.

"Stand up."

The look Frank gave him was more than a little confused, but he didn't say a word. Gerard tamped down the need that ran through him at that, instead nodding when Frank moved to stand in front of him. "I didn't tell you to go anywhere," he said, reaching out after a second's hesitation and tugging Frank's hair, "did I."

"No," Frank said immediately, moving with Gerard's hand and looking Gerard in the eye.

Gerard retaliated by pushing him down roughly. "But you did."

He couldn't tell what was in Frank's voice when he said, "I did."

Frank's mouth was inches from his dick, and more than anything he wanted to tell Frank to just go for it. But he knew from every bit of Frank's body language, his posture down to his expression, that that was exactly what Frank was expecting.

"Lie down."

That got a reaction, a quick full-body jerk that Gerard wasn't about to mistake for reluctance. He pushed Frank down onto his stomach before he had a chance to completely obey, using his foot when Frank was too far down to reach.

"Well?"

Frank was silent, breathing hard.

Carefully, more slowly than he knew he really needed to, he pressed down. He could hear Frank's breath stuttering, his back pressing briefly against Gerard's foot when he inhaled sharply.

"You're so pretty," Gerard said. "I know you hate it, but you are."

Frank shook his head. Gerard waited a few more minutes, just long enough to make him squirm, before saying, "You can talk."

"I don't hate it," Frank said. He sounded almost hoarse.

"Why do you try to cover it up?"

"The wrong people notice."

Gerard grinned and pressed down harder. "Am I the wrong person, Frank?"

"Fuck no."

It was a pretty satisfying answer. "Good," Gerard said, and took his foot off Frank's back.

Frank stayed still. "Gerard?"

"Get on the bed," Gerard said. "Grab the lube."

Frank stood, but stopped after he got the lube from the nightstand. "How do you want me?"

It was a hell of an improvement. "Spread-eagle."

The expression on Frank's face as he arranged himself was familiar, even if the extra fat and the mustache really wasn't. Gerard couldn't explain even to himself why he liked it, the weird almost-grubby look Frank was embracing.

"You look kind of like a guy who'd kick my ass in high school," he said when the thought came to him again.

Frank blinked. "I -"

"Don't talk." He picked up the lube and squeezed some out, rubbing it between his fingers. "I'm not going to be gentle."

Frank's answer was to tilt his hips up, spreading his legs even wider. Gerard pressed a hand into Frank's thigh, curling his fingers and pressing down hard as he pushed two fingers into Frank's ass.

"Hurts, doesn't it?" he said when Frank gasped. "And you love it."

Frank's response was to arch his back and thrust his hips up, pushing Gerard's fingers in further. It was demanding, but Gerard wasn't about to tell him to stop, not right now; he leaned down to drag his teeth over Frank's hipbone, pushing his fingers in hard as Frank's cock brushed his cheek.

"This is enough," he said after a few minutes of fucking Frank steadily, as Frank's breathing started to turn into moans. "Tell me what you want me to do."

"Fuck me, Christ," Frank said, panting.

"Last time I checked," Gerard said, stroking Frank's side deliberately slowly, "that wasn't my name."

"Gerard," Frank said. "Gerard, please."

It was exactly what he'd been waiting to hear, a fact he was sure Frank knew. "Good," he said, moving and stripping his own pants off. He left his shirt on; Frank would ask, he knew Frank would ask, and he wanted to be able to remind him of everything he wasn't allowed to do.

He didn't even get a chance to put the condom on before Frank broke. "Please," he said again, reaching out to tug the sleeve of Gerard's shirt.

"You want me to take this off," Gerard said, catching Frank's wrist and squeezing hard enough to hurt.

Frank nodded hard.

Gerard smirked. "Okay," he said, and peeled it off, more showily than he ever would have done on his own.

Frank relaxed when it was off, which was what prompted Gerard to lean forward and wrap it around Frank's head, covering his eyes and tucking the ends down by the pillow. "Keep that on," Gerard said, leaning back to put the condom on.

He didn't miss the tremors running through Frank's body, or the way Frank's hips jerked when he started pressing in. But he didn't stop; Frank would give him hell later if he did.

Plus, with Frank writhing and biting his lip so hard a scab was starting to bleed sluggishly, he didn't really want to.

When he was all the way in he stopped, not so much because he wanted to as because he'd fall apart if he didn't. The second he did Frank started moving, his hands coming forward to reach out for Gerard.

"Don't fucking move them, Iero," Gerard snapped.

Frank's eyebrows shot up, but he moved his wrists back up, keeping them pressed together.

It might not have been an invitation, but Gerard treated it as one anyway, leaning forward and wrapping a hand around them, his lips brushing Frank's ear when he pressed close. "You feel so fucking good," he whispered. "You have no idea how it is like this, feeling you all around me."

Frank wiggled a little, dick trapped between his stomach and Gerard's. Gerard kissed Frank's ear, but pressed down harder. "How's it feel? All spread out like this. Do you like it?"

He expected Frank to have a smart remark, because Frank had a smart remark for everything, but his answer was a choked laugh as he shook his head, making Gerard's lips brush his cheek.

"Good," Gerard said, and pulled back to thrust as hard as he could manage.

Frank's reaction was almost startling - he arched his back and pressed his wrists up against Gerard's hands, almost pushing him off. Gerard gave back just as much and then a little more, fucking Frank hard, leaning down to bite his shoulder when Frank whimpered. "Fucking prettiest I've ever seen," he said, sucking the spot he'd just bitten.

"Cut it out with the wannabe vampire shit," Frank said.

Gerard reached down and dug his fingernails into Frank's hip with one hand, covering Frank's mouth with the other. "No," he said, and very deliberately bit the spot again.

Frank moaned against his hand, hips twitching in the way Gerard knew meant he was about to come. "Don't," he said, thrusting his hips sharply. "Don't you fucking dare."

For a second he thought it was going to work - that Frank was going to obey. But of course he didn't; he all but screamed into Gerard's hand and came, suddenly and messily, all over them both.

"Hold still," Gerard hissed, pulling out and jacking himself off. It was messy, fucking filthy, but when he came all over Frank's stomach, Frank relaxed completely, smiling blindly. Gerard pulled the blindfold off and dragged his thumb over Frank's stomach; Frank pressed into the touch, not looking away from Gerard's face.

Gerard couldn't think of anything to say; he was breathing like he'd just run a marathon, but it was nothing compared to how Frank looked, red-faced and used.

Even after he caught his breath, he didn't abruptly drop the persona the way he would when the lights went out. Instead he let it slip away more slowly, cleaning them both off a little roughly, but going into bed when Frank pulled on him.

"You look kind of like a tampon, you know," Frank said into Gerard's neck.

"Your ugly mustache tickles," Gerard said in response, tugging Frank's head back to kiss him. "And you didn't do what I said, at the end there."

Frank had the balls to actually smirk. "Next time you'll have to try harder. Remind me who's in charge."

"That's so fucking corny."

"You're going to do it, though," Frank said, kissing Gerard's jaw.

He wasn't surprised when, a few minutes later, Frank pulled him on top to sleep. It was just comfortable enough that he was happy with it.