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The atmosphere smelt like... piss. And body odour. Right, the school bathroom that just so happened to be where him and Ray ended up. It used to be his comfort area where he used to beat the shit out of juniors not-so-secretly just to call them names and spit on them, but he's pretty sure he's past that.
"Dude, I seriously don't get why you're freaking out, just sit through it, wait till its over, we're not going to war. " Frank watches his reflection as he palms the sides of his hair that were unnecessarily sticking out at the back.
"No, you don't get it, Frank. Like, I know we've always been like, we don't give a crap about exams yada yada and stuff but... " he sighed, putting his hands on the sink and facing the boy next to him. Frank looked at him and very obviously judged— he was starting to look like that one time he needed to borrow his lunch money for the 3rd time that one week. He turned to face away cause he was about to catch himself almost having sympathy for his Ray dearest.
"But what?, "
"-It's..I- It's just— our last year of school dude. I don't wanna fuck it up..like come on, surely you kinda feel the same way. "
"..."
The silence lingered, then someoned flushed the fucking toilet and broke it.
"Right? " he asked, very obviously demanding.
Frank continued to stare at Ray through the reflection of the shit stained mirror.
"nah."
"God damn it, Frank! We—"
"We gotta go, it's about to start. " At those words, Ray shut his eyes and dashed through the door without saying a word. And okay, maybe Frank did feel kind of bad, the least he could do was agree with him. After all, he's in a band. And they're making money, but that still shouldn't distract him from the fact that, according to Ray, "studies are important too, not just for a job, but for you." and that was probably the gayest thing he's ever heard anyone say, but Ray's his best friend, and no one else in his life could be a better example for his miserable ass.
—
"Five more minutes, everyone please check back your answers. Make sure you've written your name, class—" blah blah fuck the fuck off. Frank zoned out as he hovered his rough thumb over the cap of his pen.
Click, click.
Click... click.
Click—
"Frank! silence, please. Unless you're going to write something, stop that or I will confiscate it. You're disturbing the class. " and all that Frank could think of was, 'The fuck am I in, 3rd grade? confiscate my 20 cents for all I care. '
Until he noticed everyones ugly heads looking at him watching him. And it might have slightly put a grin on his face. Attention felt like a drug to him. Always has been.
"Everyone, pay attention to your papers, please. I'll collect them now. " As Frank swept his test to the corner of his table, he caught his eyes on someone in the back of the room still, not taking their eyes of him. Um. weirdo. Shows over.
He looked back and noticed a slightly chubby boy with longish black hair batting his eyelashes— or, her. They kind of had the eyes and nose of a girl, but the shoulders of a boy. It was kind of weird. They wearing the boys school uniform though, so yeah, definitely.. male. He's pretty cute, too. Perfect bully material.
But the real question is though, why has he never seen him before?
"Class dissmised. " so without taking his eyes off him, Frank stood up, and before he knew it, he was jogging towards the back of the room.
He was confident for some odd reason, And the boy looked up— His lips were slightly parted like he was..scared of something. Well, Frank was staring at him predatorily out of nowhere infront of his table on a random Tuesday. He gulped.
Frank expected him to say something, and he did, kinda. It was barely a mumble that sounded something like.. 'um, hm'
"—What's your name? " He conversationally starts, as to seeing he was obviously struggling to have some basic social nessecities.
"uh, Gerard."
"What was that? "
"I'm Gerard. " He said, a little louder so he finally escaped the Invisible glass box he probably thought he was in.
Now he wasn't even looking at Frank. My god this kid is awkward. "Gerard huh?, " His smile grew wider when the boy nodded shyly.
"Okay. Nice to meet you, Gerard, I'm Frank." Gerard still avoided eye contact. He really hated that.
"Soo, are you like— new here, or have I just never seen you before? Cause it would be pretty hard to miss a pretty fucker like you. " He inched closer, and at this point, he really didn't know if he wanted to ask him out, or call him a bunch of slurs. But he promised himself that he wasn't that type of person anymore.
Either way, he still felt pretty stuck on that first idea.
Gerard looked up uncertainly, like he was debating whether to believe the words that came out of Franks pierced lips or not. And for a moment, Frank felt as if he probably went to far. He probably shouldnt say that to a guy as vulnerable as him. "I mean- "
"no, uh, yeah, I'm new.. " Frank never shut his mouth so quickly. "I'm sorry, I'm just not.. used to people saying that type of stuff to me. " Gerard felt himself getting smaller again— and Frank could tell. Suddenly Frank felt a heavy hand slap the shit out of his right shoulder.
"Frank! dude, hoow was itt?" as expected, fucking Jimmy. One of his closest friends from back in the days. He remembers how they both used to ruin the fuck out of peoples lives together. His spiked up red mowhawk and facial piercings said it all. And the iconic studded boots he used to step on people with. A dark red stain on his right heel from back when he knocked out that Jaden kid— was still there...all dried and flaky.
"uh, yeah dude, it was totally ass. I couldn't answer that second question...I think I got like..46u square or somethin," Now he remembers, that question did not mention squares...or variables.
"..hey you should probably ask— Oh, the fuck? "
Gerard was gone. That motherfucker must've teleported cause he was sure he only spoke to Jimmy for about max 5 seconds. They both stared at the empty chair like they were expecting him to suddenly appear out of thin air.
"Did you see him leave? "
"Who? the fat kid? "
"Screw off, Motherfucker, I thought we were past that, "
Jimmy let out a huff of air like he obviously knew Frank was joking or something, which he wasn't.
"yeah, yeah, you know this morning I tried to shove him in a locker. Didn't work, and get this, he couldn't even fit when I—" Frank walked away before he could feel the surge of annoyance bring him back to who he used to be.
"and that— oh come on dude, can't take a joke?" The door muffled his voice as he proceeded to walk, somewhere, anywhere.
-
His bag hit the tile floor with a heavy thud— and the poor man with curly hair almost spilled his coffee on the pure white carpet. "—Jesus, Frank, could you knock? "
"sorry, I'm just pissed. "
Ray sighed again like Frank was the biggest disturbance to his life ever. "And what happened?" he was obviously annoyed, And somehow whatever happened back there wasnt even that big of a deal.
"Nevermind, it's just- nothing. " He mumbled, making his way to sit on the right of the room where Ray's bed was.
"So..why are you here If it's 'just nothing'? "
Frank put his arms behind him where he sat, thinking of what to say. He wanted to ask fot advice, but he doesn't even know if he's attracted to guys. And he hopes to god he isn't. Gerard is cute and all, he knows that's not normal to think as a straight man, but.. it's.. embarassing.
"uh,... I think I—"
Slam.
"YO YO YO WHAT UP MOTHERFUCKERS?! " for a second they thought the door had broke in two, and this time Ray really had spilled his coffee.
"Fuck! Brendon- seriously, that shits not funny! " But it was though, cause both Frank and Brendon were giggling their asses off.
"Stop laughing dickbags, I have to clean the carpet again. " Ray growled, roughly setting his cup on the shared bedside table and picking up a rag.
"Sup Frank, long time no see. "
Ray looked up from the carpet he was scrubbing quite aggressively. "Yeah, maybe cause you were out screwing your boyfriend every night. "
"huh? what's that? I smell jealously. He's not my boyfriend."
"Jealous of what, that the guy you're plowing is a scrawny kid that looks like he was abandoned at a Japanese child labour factory? "
"—hey! don't say that about Ryan. He's a nice guy. I think. "
Frank spoke up then, "Jesus dude, have you ever even met the guy outside of his bed? I mean, like a date or something?"
"what? yeah, 'fcourse I have..." He crossed his arms, and the two pair of eyes stared at him longer than he expected. "once or twice, "
"You need to stop using people man, what if one of you two actually find a partner? that would be awkward. " Frank frowned. He's spoken to Ryan a couple of times. And he remembers him being the sweetest kid you could ever meet. Poor guy.
"Eh, We'll be fine, Ray can I use your soap? "
Ray raised an eyebrow, "What's wrong with yours?"
"... lost it. "
He sighed, handing over the white bottle he was using to scrub the carpet apparently.
"You were-"
"d'you want it or not? " Brendon understood and took the bottle, heading over to the shower leaving Frank and Ray alone again.
"...I forgot how weird he is. "
"Well, that's him every day. " Ray finally stood up, walking over to the sink with the coffee stained cloth in his hand. He looked over, and he did a pretty damn good job at scrubbing the carpet. The stains were gone.
Frank forgot why he was there, he should probably leave. "I'm gonna go, Promised Vic I'd bring him out. " He said, already walking to the door. "alright, drive safe, kay? Remember what I told you, left steer—"
"Yes, mom, I got my license last week, not an hour ago. "
"Ask Vic to get a license. "
"Oh no, he can drive. "
"Then why-"
"According to him, 'no dinero' " He was really late, so he left without a response. But as soon as he shut that door, he felt his sould leave his body for the third time that day. He knocked into someone, suddenly there was a sketchpad on the floor— and it was picked up by, oh.
"Gerard, hey man, sorry we didn't get to finish our conversation earlier I was- "
"It's okay Frank, seriously, just- just say it and get it over with, please. " The fuck?
"Wait, what? —"
"whatever, a loser, nerd, I know you're only talking to me so that you can—"
"Wait, wait Gerard, holy shit, stop. " He couldn't believe it, or, maybe he could. This entire time, Gerard thought that he was only doing it to talk shit to his face. Is his reputation that bad?
"um, okay, how do I say this, look.." only now did he realize Gerard was taller than him. "I think you're cool, kay? I genuinely wanted to talk to you. That's it. No bad blood. "
But he didn't respond and Gerard's eyes were glossier than usual. Fuck, he was about to cry. "Hey, hey look I know we just met but, are you.. are you okay? Is there like anything going on? " In all honesty, Frank was shit at comfort, he only had anything bad to say about someone. And he didn't know anything about Gerard, so this was a bit hard.
"Im sorry, I shouldn't— I'm— I'm gonna go. " And with that, he left. Frank was speechless. He couldn't say or do anything, he felt terrible for some reason. Fuck, ever since he met Ray this year he really turned soft.
It wasn't any of his business anyway, he shouldn't interfere. He didn't know Gerard, Gerard didn't know him. Case closed, he'll try to leave him alone.