I figured "11/11" was the perfect day to start this, as that phrase ties in a few times throughout the whole story. And go figure, it's 11:11am.


Title: Please, Try Again - Chapter 1
Author: vitalspark
Pairing: Frank/Gerard . Patrick Stump, Pete Wentz, Adam Lazzara all end up making appearances.
Rating: NC-17 as a whole.
Summary: AU -- "This, was real..." 23 year-old Gerard shot to fame after portraying a tortured high school student who turns on his high school in the indie film of the year, immediately generating Oscar Buzz. Thrust suddenly into the spotlight, he's torn between his new hetero 'Hollywood 'It Boy'' status and lifestyle, and the small town homosexual man that he was -- engaged to his 17 year-old lover, Frank Iero.
POV: Third-person.
Authors Note: Gerard is 23, Frank is 17. This story is set AU.
Dedications: None yet, maybe soon?
Disclaimer: Fake, fake, fake.


All chapters, etcetera, can be found at vitalspark.





"Someday I'll appreciate in value, get off my ass and call you!"

A half-naked Frank Iero danced around the bedroom he unofficially shared with his boyfriend slash fiance to who you asked, Gerard Way. The man lay across the bed, folding and stacking clothes with tags on them from bags that lay across the bed and floor as Frank sang along to the CD. Looking up, Gerard's eyes fell to the dancing body in front of him.

"Put some clothes on," he said, laughing and tossing a shirt to him.

"In the meantime I'll sport my brand new fashion!" Frank sang, pulling the shirt over his body and shaking his hips towards Gerard. He slid his arms around Gerard's shoulders, a grin sliding over his lips. "Thank you for the new clothes," he said, leaning forward and brushing a kiss over his lips. "I love them."

Gerard set down a shirt in his hand, wrapping his arms around Frank's waist and resting his palms against the small of Frank's back. He tilted his face up at Frank's kiss. "Well you looked so good with them on at the store," he said. "You needed new clothes anyway. I like spoiling you when something good happens to us, when I'm able to. It's just you and I, and I'm going to give you the best that I can."

That's how it always was, just the two of them. That's how Gerard preferred it. It was hard for him to remember a time in his life when Frank hadn't been in it, and he didn't forsee a future without him. From the first day he had laid eyes on him 13 years prior, he had known that there was something special about him.

Sliding his hands down, he patted Frank's behind with a soft smile. "Come on, pick something to wear for tonight and let's go. Aunt Gina's going to be mad if we're late again and I don't feel like explaining that the reason we are is because you couldn't decide what to wear. What a girl," he said. As he stood he kept his arms around Frank's waist, bending down to give him a quick kiss.

Frank laughed, opening his eyes and gazing at him coyly. "But you like me being the girl."

With a shake of the head, Gerard's arms lifted from Frank's waist and his hands cupped the side of his face as he kissed him again. He could never get enough. "I am not getting another sex talk if we're late. I've already had three from her, and you know I'm pretty sure I already know all about sex!"

Frank tightened his arms around Gerard's neck, and he lifted on his toes to kiss Gerard again. "I love you," he said with his lips lingering against Gerard's. Those were the only two rules that they had set for their relationship. One, never go to bed angry. Two, say 'I love you' every day.

"I love you too," Gerard whispered back. "Now get dressed before I tell Aunt Gina that the reason you were late is because you got caught masturbating to Disney movies again." He broke away from their embrace with a smirk, turning and leaving the bedroom as Frank protested after him.

"Oh come on, that was the only time and you can't blame me, you'd want an Arabian Princess too!" Frank paused. Thinking about it, he gave a shrug. "Or Aladdin."

* * *

The Way family was always close, with his Aunt Gina being the family matriarch that kept things orderly, and smooth. She ran a small daycare of neighborhood children in their small New Jersey town in her living room, and for as long as Gerard could remember, her place had always been the one to go to if you were looking for kids your age to play with. When Gerard turned 10, Aunt Gina had agreed that if he helped out a few days a week, she would pay him a few bucks a week for him to spend on whatever he liked. The thought of money that was his own and not given from his parents was intriguing, and he readily agreed. That, was when he first met Frank.

He walked next to Frank who had finally chosen an outfit, ten minutes after Gerard had first told him too, making their way up to the front door up Aunt Gina's house. They weren't late for dinner, but they were fashionably late for the get-together in itself. As they opened the door, Aunt Gina appeared in the hallway, spotting them and her eyes fell to Frank's body, taking in the outfit, and then raising her eyes back to Gerard. "I tell you not to take him shopping before get-togethers, and do you ever listen to me?" she asked, "you know he's never going to be able to figure out what to wear."

Gerard shrugged helplessly, laughing as he embraced his Aunt in a hug. She was still a young woman by any means, just brushing the start of her 40s within the past year, her facial features gentle and kind, her tongue witty and good humored, but also ready to lay down the law when things went astray. "I can't help it," he said, stepping back from her as Frank hugged her. "We were out in the city, and Frank saw something he had to have and well... I didn't want to say no."

And that was the way it always was with Frank, it was hard for him to say no. Four years old with large sparkling eyes that stared up, eager to learn everything that entered his path. Frank's small lips knew the curve of a smirk so well already, his hand reaching around Gerard's finger and squeezing the first time they met. "Mine," he declared in his small child-like voice, his lips displaying his clever smirk, before sliding it into a wide smile as he giggled. Gerard was his, and Gerard wasn't about to object. His few times a week job turned into daily, and he endured more than a few teasing about his best friend being a four-year-old. Now hear they were, thirteen years later. Much had changed since the first time Frank had claimed him, to the latest being just the previous night as he writhed underneath Gerard's body, crying out the word, pressing his hands to Gerard's face, claiming his lips in a deep kiss.

"He never says no to me," Frank said with a pleased grin, staring up at Gerard brightly, the smirk clearly outlined along his lips. "He lets me get away with whatever I want."

Aunt Gina looked between the two, an amused smile on her face before reaching over and tapping Frank on the arm. "Well what you won't get to get away with, is not helping out here. You live here? You help out. And right now there's dishes I need washed so I can finish dinner. Come on," she said, taking his arm and leading him into the kitchen as he protested about his clothes possibly getting wet.

Laughing, he watched them go and took a moment to slip up the stairway and down the hallway. Opening up a door, he stepped into the room that had been inhabited for three years, looking around at the memories. Closing the door behind him he walked around, his eyes running over the pictures that lined the shelf.

Frank grew up in an abusive household, his step-father living life through a shotglass and talking down to his mother who frequented the popping of prescription pills. Every so often as the years passed, Frank would show up to Aunt Gina's with bruises and cuts, and Gerard would take him up to a private room, kissing each 'owwie' and cleaning him up, holding him as he cried. It was the room where Frank stole his first kiss in a sneaky move when he was 12 and Gerard was 18, and Gerard had gently pulled away and declined -- Frank wasn't even a teenager yet, and Gerard was not a pedophile.

But Frank was persistant, and two years later, Frank got him. A 14 year old successfully seduced a 20 y ear old. If anything, at first, it was only a relationship based around genuine love for each other, trust and respect, not a single bit of sexual activity except for the hormone driven make-out sessions in stolen moments. It took them over two years for any sexual activity to develop, for part of it lay within Frank's age, and for the bond they shared was deeper than physical, and Aunt Gina noticed.

She broke the news gently to Frank's mother, wanting to make sure there wasn't a sudden discovery, harsh words exchanged. Frank's mother took Gerard aside next time she dropped Frank off and questioned his intentions with her teenage son. He promised he didn't have any ill intentions towards him, and couldn't give a clear reason for why out of all the women and men he had access to at 20 years of age, why the only one who he was attached to, was 14 years old. Frank had been gifted with early puberty, at least, and his face aged more than his body, or height, did, but there was something about the way he took Gerard's hand when he knew he was upset, and looked up at him letting him know that everything was going to be okay without a single word that completed him in a way nothing else had.

They weren't allowed to be alone together for months, and as news leaked out to neighboring family members reactions weren't pleased as well. Gerard's parents were livid and threatened to force him to move out, repeatedly taking his items from his bedroom and putting them out on the front lawn. He kept quiet for weeks about their actions before finally spilling to Aunt Gina over lunch one day, and after a 'surprise' house call and a stern conversation, his parents slowly started to come around. If their son was happy, and he was being respectful to Frank and being careful not to go too far, then they could learn to accept it.

Shortly after Frank turned 16 years old, his step-father got arrested for fraud charges, and placed in jail for a number of years in Vermont. On her own, his mother decided it was time for her to truly get clean, and checked herself into rehab, wanting to be able to be the kind of mother that she desired to be for her son. Aunt Gina offered to take Frank in, and soon the bedroom that had once held their secret moments that started everything, became his bedroom.

And now Frank was 17 years old, and well adjusted to living with Aunt Gina. He excelled in school and was able to graduate early, enabling him to hop between staying at Aunt Gina's or staying at Gerard's, even traveling with him on occasion when Gerard's career resulted in his traveling.

Gerard's mine was thrown off track when the door opened, and he looked up to see Frank's figure in the doorway. "I'm wet," he declared, walking in and closing the door behind him. In the soft light, Gerard could see a thin line across the width of his shirt by his waist, a clear indication of Frank having leaned against the sink while he was washing.

"Poor baby," Gerard teased, reaching out for his hand and pulling him closer to his spot sitting down on the bed. "What do you want me to do about it?"

Frank pursed his lips, looking up at the ceiling for a moment as he thought about it. "Oh, I don't know... kiss it and make me feel better?"


Song credit: Fall Out Boy - Grand Theft Autumn (Where Is Your Boy?)