What Happens in Art Class...

I woke up early the next day even though I had already decided to take the day off work. Leaving Ryan at my house wasn’t an option, and neither was making him go to school. However, Frank still needed to go to school. I couldn’t let him fall behind because of this. Not to mention that if his mom got a call saying he was skipping we’d be in a heap of trouble. Still, shoving him directly out the door after what I did to him the night before, which was still making me sick to think about, was out of the question.

I decided to make breakfast for the two boys. Ryan needed to keep his strength up, and I was prepared to treat Frank like fucking royalty. It wasn’t exactly a special meal. It was just pancakes with some bacon for Ryan and orange juice, but it took me a while to put it together. I started with Ryan’s. I didn’t want to wake him, but the food would get cold if I didn’t.

I crept slowly into Mikey’s room, preparing to wake Ryan gently. Unfortunately, he beat me to th ounch by speaking, “Don’t worry, I’m awake.”

I jumped at his voice, but quickly recovered and set his food on the end table, “I made breakfast. How long have you been up?”

“A couple hours. I couldn’t sleep.” He sat up and grabbed his plate, taking tentative bites of the pancakes.

I sat next to him, “Do you want to talk about it? I mean, I won’t force you, but I’d really like to know who did this so I can fix it.”

He didn’t answer, just remained looking at his plate with a hard expression. I knew better than to push the issue, so I let it drop. We fell into a strange silence. It wasn’t awkward, per say, but it also wasn’t comfortable. More like a mutual understanding that neither of us really wanted the other around, but that it was a necessary arrangement.

After a few minutes Ryan spoke up again, “You’re a lucky man.”

I looked at him, surprised, “What?”

“You’re lucky. Frank is amazing, and anyone would be the luckiest human being to have his love. Don’t throw it away, okay? Treat him with care, because if you break him I don’t think anyone will be able to fix him.”

It took me a moment to realize what he was saying. He had heard us last night. Heard the awful things I said and did. I nodded, “I’ll try.”

“Trying isn’t good enough.”

That made me swallow hard, “You’re right.”

And with that I left to deliver Frank’s food.

“Frankie, wake up,” I said as softly as I could by the bedside. He was still unclothed, his body smeared in dried cum as he lay tangled in the comforter. The sight made me sad, and I kind of wanted to have him skip breakfast and get a shower just so that little reminder of guilt could go away. That would be selfish, though.

Frank blinked his eyes slowly before looking up at me. I smiled, “Morning. I made you breakfast.” He sat up and took the plate from me before eating in a much more hurried manner than Ryan, only pausing to smile at me between bites. “How are you feeling?” I asked before I could think better of it. Halting his movements.

“A little stiff, but I’m okay. What about Ryan?”

His complete disregard for himself sent a new pang of guilt through my heart. I nodded, “He’s doing good. He’s a lot less shaken up now. I still can’t get him to talk about what happened, but he’s eating something, so that’s good.” There was no point in telling him what Ryan had said. That was between the two of us, “Look, Frankie, I’m so so—”

“Don’t you dare say you’re sorry!” He stopped my apology, “I don’t want to hear it! We can worry about that later. Right now we need to talk about Ryan.” And we did. Of course we did. Ryan was the most important thing, in Frank’s mind. I couldn’t help it if my personal priorities were a bit more Frank centered, though.

“You’re right. Of course you’re right. I just…don’t know what to say about him. I’m not good with these sorts of things. Like, I can’t even get him to tell me who did it…”

“It was his dad,” Frank said the last thing I expected to hear.

“What?”

“His dad did it. I mean, I don’t have super solid proof, but…from how he was acting around my birthday it’s a pretty safe bet.”

I was shocked beyond anger, barely even able to process the meaning of his words. I collapsed onto the bed next to him, “His own dad…Who would do that to their own kid?!”

He let his hand rest on my shoulder, “I know. But I don’t think we should say anything about it to anyone. Not unless Ryan wants us to.”

“I guess you’re right. In any case, I hate to do this to you but you need to get ready for school.”

“No. I’m staying with Ryan.”

I expected that. Why would he trust me alone with the kid after the previous night? “I’ll take care of him, Frankie. The last thing we need is for your mom to file kidnapping charges.”

“I’m eighteen. I do what I want.”

“Even eighteen year olds need an education. Frank, I promise that if you go to school you can come right back after. I just don’t want you getting behind in your classes because of this.”

He stared me down for a few minutes before kissing me, “Fine, but I will be back.” Then he went to stand before falling back on the bed, “Or not. If I’m gonna make it through today then you better have some powerful painkillers. Geez you’d think I’d be able to take your abuse after everything we’ve been through.”

Abuse. That’s what he saw it as. It’s not like he was wrong…It just made the guilt way too real to hear him say it. And here I was trying to make it worse by shoving him out the door. I wrapped my arms around him and kissed his head, as if that could fix the problem, “I’ll call your mom and tell her you were sick and I didn’t want to disturb you. I won’t make you go if you’re in pain.”

He laughed, surprising me, “It’s not like I haven’t before. The first time I bottomed I spent the day limping like my leg was broken and Mom wouldn’t give me any Advil without a legitimate excuse. But how do you tell your mom that you got your ass pounded by the second string linebacker? I’ll be fine.”

I wasn’t convinced, but I didn’t want to argue with him, “If you’re sure…” I went to the medicine cabinet in the bathroom and brought him some pain killers along with a sandwich bag full so he could medicate throughout the day.

A smile stretched across his face and he kissed me, “You’re so good to me.” I felt like I should have been the one to say that, but I didn’t correct him. Instead I let him get ready and went to sit with Ryan some more.

When I got to the room, Ryan had fallen asleep again, but his plate was empty. I grabbed it to take to the kitchen and left him to his dreams, deciding to watch some TV in my room instead. Nothing really interesting was on, but I was able to let some black and white drama numb my brain. I was vaguely aware of the shower being started up at one point, presumably by Ryan. The kid knew how to make himself at home.

My peace was disturbed a few hours later by my bedroom door being slammed open, “Gerard, you have some serious explaining to do!” Mikey yelled from the open space.

I looked at him lazily, “What for?”

“You know damn well what for! There’s a fucking kid in my bed! I can handle you dating Frank, Gee, but don’t cheat on him with another student! Are you crazy?!”

I shrugged, “Maybe, but you’re misunderstanding the situation. Walk with me, I need a drink.”

Mikey followed me into the kitchen where I got a glass of water before moving into the living room. He was kind enough to let me take a drink before starting up again, “Are you going to explain?”

“Nothing to explain. You’re an idiot.”

“Gerard! If you don’t give me a good excuse I’m going to assume the worst! Just tell me what’s going on between you and that kid in there!”

“Nothing is going on. That’s what I’m telling you. Absolutely nothing.”

“Bullshit! Kids don’t just sleep at their teacher’s house for no reason!”

“What’s going on?” Ryan’s sleepy voice came from beside us suddenly.

I turned toward him, “Nothing. Go back to the room.”

He shrugged and sat on the couch, “You’re not my boss.”

I huffed in annoyance and turned back to Mikey, who was staring at Ryan in horror. Then he shook himself out of it and turned back to me, “You’re fucking sick! Why do I even live with you?! You’re a freaking pedophile! Is that attitude why you like this kid? The fact that he doesn’t submit like Frank does?!”

I finally snapped, “For the last time, Mikey, I am not fucking Ryan! He needed some help so I let him stay here! God you’re so thick!”

He glared at me silently, and I glared right back. I was going to get it through his head that he was being an idiot one way or another. Luckily we didn’t stay in that position long before Frank came in. He looked at us briefly before going over to Ryan who had shifted to a fetal position while I was yelling. Poor kid.

“Frank, thank god! Will you please explain to my idiotic brother that there is nothing going on between Ryan and me?”

Frank looked at Mikey calmly, “There’s nothing going on between Gerard and Ryan. Is that really what this is about? Where would you get a dumb idea like that?”

“Well excuse me for being a little suspicious. I came home to find a freaking teenager in my bed after leaving for the night so Gerard could have sex in peace.”

“Shouldn’t you have given up on that conclusion once you saw Ryan’s condition?”

“Of course not! I know all about you and Gerard’s freaky kink toys. For all I knew you just got carried away.” I looked at him in shock. He knew about my toys? How the fuck?! “Oh don’t give me that look, Gerard. I was looking for a CD you borrowed and opened the wrong drawer.”

“Great to know I have privacy in my own house,” I mumbled, only slightly aware of Frank leading Ryan away.

“Calm down,” Mikey rolled his eyes, “o there’s really nothing between you and…Ryan?”

I sighed, “That’s what I’m saying. He got roughed up and needed a safe house. He’s friends with Frank, so I couldn’t just turn him away.”

Mikey nodded, looking awkward, “Sorry I…um…yelled at you. I don’t really think you’re a horrible person.

I smiled, ruffling his hair, “I know. But as punishment you can make dinner tonight. Don’t blow up the kitchen.”

“No promises,” he laughed, but walked toward the kitchen anyway.”

I decided to go check on Frank and Ryan. What I found when I finally located them in my room shocked me. They were sitting on my bed, and Frank was rubbing Ryan’s back soothingly. That was fine, but their locked lips were incomprehensible to me. It didn’t look like it was anything serious, but I still wanted to barge in there and make Ryan wish he was back with his dad. I restrained myself, though, sure that Frank had a logical explanation. I needed to trust him. He deserved that at the very least.

Notes

Today was a good day for updating. Why? Two reasons: My class was cancelled so I had a bit of free time, and I'm in a good mood from one of you recognizing my username on the Facebook page I admin. So thank you, random person, for giving me motivation. You literally made my day.

What's that? You didn't know I admin a FB page? Well of course not; I never told you. But yeah, it's the Association for the Appreciation of My Chemical Romance if you wanna go like it and get access to all the quirky inner workings of my mind.

Now, this chapter. Pretty great, huh? Pleeeease comment so i know people out there haven't given up on me. I promise I'm updating as often as possible!

Bye Lovelies