Gerard doesn’t see Frank at school the next day, and when he doesn’t see him the next day he imagines the worst. He can’t help but worry about Frank the entire day. After all, the last time he saw him he was crying. He decides to go directly to Frank’s house right after school.
But he can’t wait that long. So he ditches 6th period (who needs Spanish II, anyways?) and drives to Frank’s house. He can’t help but smile to himself; if he and Frank hadn’t skipped how long ago he probably wouldn’t have the courage to do it now.
He knocks on Frank’s door and stands on his porch, twiddling his thumbs anxiously. Frank finally appears, and it’s all Gerard can do to not wrap the small teen into a hug.
Frank doesn’t open the door the whole way; he stands there with only half of his face visible. Gerard reaches out and pushes the door further back, to see a large purplish bruise on Frank’s eye and his lip swollen.
Frank squeaks and tries to shut the door, but Gerard jams his foot in it and steps inside.
“G-Gerard I think y-you sh-sh-should go,” Frank stammers.
Gerard shuts the door behind him. He reaches out and strokes a hand against Frank’s bruised eye.
“Who did this to you?” Gerard asks softly.
Frank hangs his head and fixes his eyes to the ground. “M-I don’t….” he mumbles to the floor.
“Was it Ray and Bob?” Gerard questions.
Frank shakes his head slowly.
Gerard furrows his brows. Frank wouldn’t lie about that; Ray and Bob jumped him Gerard would probably be the first one to hear about it.
“Frank…..” Gerard begins carefully. He caresses Frank’s cheekbone with his thumb. “Did….did one of your parents do this to you?”
“NO!” Frank responds much too quickly. He jerks away from Gerard and giggles nervously. “Gerard of course not.”
Gerard frowns. “So they did.”
“Well…. I mean….” Frank mumbles. “I kind of deserved it.”
“Deserved it?”
“I was acting like…like a faggot. I needed to be disciplined more,” Frank answers.
“I can’t believe this! Frank, you did not deserve this,” Gerard assures.
“Gerard, I can handle it,” Frank says.
Gerard looks warily at Frank’s battered face. “I don’t think so.”
“Gerard, please don’t tell anyone,” Frank begs. He begins to cry and crumples to the floor. “My dad will kill me.”
Gerard lifts Frank’s chin so their eyes are locked and wipes away his tears. “We’re getting you out of here.”
Gerard follows Frank upstairs and watches as Frank packs a duffel bag. He completely stuffs it with clothes, and Gerard snaps up Pansy inside her case and hauls it out to the car.
They drive over to Gerard’s place, Frank curled up on the car seat and staring outside with glazed over eyes, not speaking. Gerard nervously peeks over at Frank occasionally and then tries to play it off as though his eyes had never left the road.
Gerard opens the door and his mom is all,
“GERARD ARTHUR WAY! WHY IN GOD’S NAME ARE YOU NOT AT SCHOOL?!”
But then she looks at Frank. And she quietly beckons for Gerard and Frank to go to Gerard’s bedroom and hang out.
Gerard wants to ask about whoever had beaten Frank, but Frank yawns and snuggles up on Gerard’s bed and tells,
“I think I’ll go to sleep.”
The poor little thing looks like he hasn’t slept in weeks, so Gerard wishes him goodnight. Gerard sits on his bed, absently dragging a hand through the sleeping Frank’s hair. Somehow, his bruises look as though they’re getting worse. Gerard can’t believe Frank has to return to school tomorrow after all that has happened. He pities him so much that he would just allow Frank to stay home for the rest of his years if he could.
When Frank wakes around 5:00 he wanders around the house until he finds Gerard curled up on the couch reading comics. Frank sits next to him and they’re quiet for a long time until Gerard asks,
“So why’d they do that?”
Frank doesn’t have to ask for further clarification; he knows Gerard is talking about why his parents beat him. Frank decides to actually tell the truth for once; something he’s never done when it comes to the subject of his family.
“My dad…. I decided to nick Mom’s best dress and…. He walked into my room when I was wearing it,” Frank replies quietly.
Gerard gets a little hard at the thought of Frank in a dress, so he shifts his position so it’s unnoticeable. “How long has he been doing this?”
Frank’s eyes well up with tears. He hides his face into Gerard’s chest and clutches the front of his t shirt as he sobs, “For as long as I can remember.”
Gerard rubs his back and whispers, “Does your mom know?”
Frank nods and lets out a little whimper. “She’s too afraid of him to do anything.”
Gerard takes Frank’s head in his hands and forces Frank to look at him. He gets so close to Frank their noses are touching, and he gives Frank a moment to anticipate it before he lays a soft open mouthed kiss on Frank’s mouth.
Frank doesn’t move away, just kisses back. Frank is the first one to slide his tongue into Gerard’s mouth. Frank slowly lies down, and Gerard leans over him and kisses his neck. The two are soon a tangled mess of hair and limbs and tongues.
Their pace gets slower, and slower, until they’re no longer making out, but snuggling into each other on the couch. Frank falls asleep with his face pressed into Gerard’s chest and Gerard with a his arms wrapped around Frank’s body.

Notes

Sorry it took kinda long to update, been a bit busy. And this chapter's kind of short and bad.