Chapter Text
Frank gazed out of his window as he waited for his friend to pick up. He had set his laptop down on his messy desk, his own face reflected back to him in a small box in the corner of his screen, his best friend’s name on display across the middle as it made that awful ringing noise he had always disliked for some reason. It was sunny outside and so he focused on that, watching the trees blowing in the light wind, a scatter of birds flying across the sky and momentarily catching his attention. It was one of his favourite views. Not because it was particularly beautiful, but because it was his. He would miss it.
The ringing cut out suddenly, the noise replaced by a familiar voice that washed like honey through his veins, perking his lips up instantly.
“Frankie.” Ray was smiling as always, hair splayed out around him like a halo on his pillow. His eyes looked tired, but they were still warm with a fondness that had drawn the younger man to him all those years ago in high school. Back then, no one had any interest in the awkward punk who kept his head down in class and the hallways, his nerves emitting out into his space, letting everyone around him know to stay back. But Ray had seemed to be either completely oblivious to that, or he didn’t care. He saw Frank wearing a Danzig shirt one day and had practically forced the terrified teenager to talk to him. They had been inseparable ever since, even if they did live on opposite sides of the country.
Frank returned the smile, pulling his legs up onto the chair to cross them. “Hey, did I wake you?”
“Nah, I needed to get up anyways.” Ray stretched out his limbs with a groan, eyes shutting as his shoulders popped satisfyingly. “I went out last night, my head’s fucking killing me.”
“Who’d you go out with?” Frank played with the frayed ends around the intentional rip in his jeans, ignoring the lurch of jealousy he always felt when Ray talked about his other friends. It wasn’t that he was a jealous person normally, or that he didn’t want Ray to have other friends, but Frank only got to hang out with him a few times a year since the journey was so long by car and expensive by plane. It was hard for Frank, having no other friends that he could rely on to fill that gap, and so he naturally felt jealous when Ray talked about everything he got up to with the others. But he was happy for him, of course he was.
Frank’s screen was now the lovely view of Ray’s ceiling, the other man presumably getting dressed as he shouted over at his phone. “It was me, Geoff, Anthony and, uh.. I’m sure there were other people there but I can’t remember.”
“Rough night?”
Ray’s beaming face appeared once again, cheeks flushed from the effort of getting dressed. He held the phone out in front of him as he walked towards the kitchen. “Something like that. We were celebrating.. Well, honestly, I don’t even know what we were celebrating. Someone had a big birthday or something, I just showed up.”
“Mr Organised wasn’t so organised, huh?” Frank giggled when Ray frowned at him. He blushed, smile fading, when Ray’s expression only intensified as he seemed to take him in properly for the first time since the conversation started. His shoulders drooped, fingers instantly going back to play with his jeans once again. “What?”
“Why did you call, Frankie? You don’t usually call this early.”
“Right, yeah.” Frank sighed softly to himself before forcing a smile onto his face, shrugging for his own benefit, as if it didn’t have as much of an impact on him as it did. “I, uh.. I’m moving to Cali.”
“You what?”
Frank laughed awkwardly, rubbing at the back of his flushed neck. He could usually always read his friend’s expressions without trying too hard, but right now it was blank. Ray looked like he was struggling to process it, like he wasn’t sure how to react to this news. “Surprise?”
Ray slowly set his phone down on the counter, resting it against the toaster so that he could stand back and cross his arms. It was a stance he always seemed to take when he needed to think. “You’re moving here? Why? When?”
Frank had expected happiness. In all of the various scenarios he had envisioned, Ray had jumped for joy and confessed that this was his dream come true, that he wanted nothing more. Frank’s anxiety skyrocketed, telling him that Ray was unhappy about it, that he didn’t want Frank to live anywhere nearby. “I’m sorry,” he whispered.
“Hey, Frankie, none of that.” Ray smiled then, a genuine one that had the younger man slouching just a little less. He sometimes forgot that Ray could read him just as well. “Do you seriously think I’d be disappointed? I just woke up hungover and my best friend in the whole fucking world is saying that instead of living two whole days worth of a car journey away from me, he’s going to be right here.” He laughed, shaking his head when he saw Frank flush with happiness. “Why don’t you just fill me in and let me try and process this a bit so I can give you a better response?”
Frank was still hanging on the whole ‘best friend in the whole fucking world’ comment, but he nodded all the same. “Tucker got a promotion, a big one, and they want him to move out there to work at the headquarters. It’s a huge opportunity for him and a pay rise so he’ll be happy-”
“And what about you?”
Frank frowned, not understanding the question. “What about me?”
“What’s inspiring you to move here?” Ray wasn’t looking at the phone, instead placing a mug under his coffee machine and pressing the buttons without thinking about it. He knew better than to look at his friend during a question like that, anything that got too close to the untouchable subject. “You love New Jersey. You’ve got it fucking tattooed on the inside of your lip.”
Frank still wasn’t sure what he was asking. His boyfriend was moving so he was moving, that was just how the world worked. Or, at least, it was how his world worked. “Tucker needs to move, Ray. I would never try and keep him from something he wanted.”
“What about what you want?” He was pushing it, he knew that. And it was made very clear when he brought his eyes over to his phone screen, finding Frank completely slumped over himself, now tying and untying his shoelaces repeatedly. Ray knew he shouldn’t have said anything, it was pointless and he had learned a long time ago to leave things be. But it was difficult when he only wanted what was best for his friend. His friend that now needed him to be excited, to be a friend to him. “I’m sorry, I’m tired.” Ray smiled when Frank glanced back up at him once again. “So Tucker got a promotion, that’s great. Where in Cali?”
“It’s, uh.. Foreman’s Agency? I’m not sure where-”
“Yeah, that’s not too far from here actually, maybe like an hour drive? That’s awesome, man. Really.” Ray sat down at his table, now setting his phone against the stack of coasters left in the middle. “So have you guys found a place?”
Frank worried at his bottom lip for a moment, shaking his head. “No. Tucker has, but I’m working on it.”
“You can’t stay with him?”
“No, his work pays for his place. It’s a one bedroom apartment and it’s small so I need to find my own.”
Ray laughed awkwardly, trying to ease the mood before he said anything else. “Do boyfriends not generally sleep in the same bedroom? You guys have been dating for three years.”
“He doesn’t want to live together, Ray, we’ve talked about this. He needs his own space and I respect that.” He totally did respect it. It didn’t matter if it made his heart ache with longing, filled with a wonder for what could be.
“Of course, sorry.” Ray sipped at his coffee, thinking momentarily as he frowned. “I’m not sure if I know anyone with a room to spare, I’ll have to ask around.”
“Oh, no, don’t worry about that. I’ve talked to different people online, it’s just hard to find someone that I trust enough to live with, you know?”
Ray nodded his understanding. Frank had always been nervous by nature, racked with anxiety and feeling less than good enough because of his past. It had taken years to fully gain his trust and even now, years later, Ray still had to work hard to convince Frank that he wanted to be his friend. But he was worth the reassurance, Frank was the best person and friend he had ever known. “Here, let me ask Geoff. One sec.” Frank watched on as Ray walked down the hallway, straight past Anthony’s bedroom door before stopping outside of Geoff’s. He glanced down at the phone. “He should be up, he never gets hungover.” Ray knocked loudly on the door, smiling at his phone when Geoff replied, thankfully not sounding groggy. “Hey Geoff.” He pushed the door open, gesturing at his phone. “I’m on with Frank. Guess what? He’s moving to Cali.”
“No fucking way, really? That’s awesome, man. We can finally meet him.”
Frank felt a pang of guilt at that comment. In all the time that Ray had been living in Cali, he had never managed to meet his friends. That was mostly because Ray travelled to him more often, and Frank stayed in a hotel when he was the one making the journey. He felt uncomfortable around people he didn’t know, and Ray never pushed it.
“Yeah, he’s moving here with his boyfriend. His boyfriend has a place, but Frank doesn’t.” Ray tilted the camera away from him for a moment to draw his finger across his own neck, telling Geoff to not ask anything about that. “Do we happen to know anyone who knows anyone or-”
“Yes! Oh my god, yes, actually.” Geoff’s face loomed into the frame suddenly, his smile bright and friendly as always. “Hi Frank! I can’t wait for you to move here, I’ve wanted to meet you properly for years. We can show you around and-”
“Geoff,” Ray laughed. He had warned his friends already to be gentle with Frank, to not scare him away. “The room?”
“Right! Yes. So, I’ve got this friend. He’s an absolute sweetheart, a really lovely guy, but he needs someone to rent a room in his place for six months because his roommate is going travelling. He’s an artist so you guys have that in common, and I promise he’s genuinely a really nice guy, I know that’s important to you.”
“Who is it?” Ray asked.
“Gerard.”
“Shit, yeah, they would get along great!” Ray turned back to his phone to see his friend trying to hold back the very evident hope in his eyes. “He's really easy to get along with. Six months isn't forever, but it's a start. And it could help you get to know the area, see if you want to stay here long term.”
Frank nodded along with what he was saying, his mind already flooded with the possibilities, the relief. “Are you sure? Do I need to talk to him and see if he likes me?”
“He'll definitely like you.” Geoff laughed at something inside his own mind, leaving the others in the dark. “Don't worry about that. I'll chat to him when I see him later, check how much he wants for rent and tell him about you. Ray can pass on whatever you need and we'll figure out what to do about a viewing since you can't really travel all this way just for that.”
“That's.. Thank you, Geoff.” Everything in Frank was screaming at him to tell him it was fine, that he didn't need to go to all that trouble just for him. But Tucker had been getting more and more irritable over the last few weeks that he still hadn't found somewhere, so he couldn't pass up this opportunity. Gerard was also an artist and Ray had given his stamp of approval, so it would be fine.
Little did he know just how much his life was about to change.