When they got to school that monday nothing had changed much, apart from Gerard stepping out of his car and immediately getting a kiss planted on his lips from Frank, earning a wolf whistle from Bob and a gagging sound from Mikey who had just gotten out of the passenger's side.
They didn't have much time to exchange I missed you's but promised to wait for eachother during lunch, before Gerard went off to find Ray and Bob, Frank and Mikey went their English class.

Ray was easily spotted in the crowded hallway due to his untamable hairstyle, he was looking down in some sort of magazine when Gerard patted him on the back. He also stepped to the side in hope of Ray looking over his shoulder to find nobody there, but Frank had already pulled that trick too many times for him to still be surprised about it.
"Hey man, I was just looking at this new bass, Mikey's totally gonna drool when I show him" Ray said while almost shoving the magazine in Gerard's face, he ha to agree though that the instrument was beautiful and the brand known for having great sound.
"Maybe I could buy it for him, that second hand piece of shit he's been practicing on is falling apart" he shrugged.
Ray huffed "dude, as if you'd be able to, it's like 850 dollars and you, of all people, should know that Mikey could never accept a gift that big".
"I could get a job y'know, I mean I've been meaning to, I need some money on the side for college and I could put the rest away for the guitar, like a going away present" he reasoned.
Ray looked at the glossed page where the bass was presented leaning against a huge Marshall amp "he'll love it, but have you even told him that you're leaving?".
Gerard slowly shook his head, he was embarrassed to say the least, it was just a few weeks ago when he'd promised Mikey to be completely honest.
"Dude you gotta tell him, and Frank and Bob for that matter" Ray told him, and he knew he was right but at the moment lacked the guts to spill the news to his friends.
"I don't even know if I got in, I mean for all I know they think that my work looks like a pile of crap" he said, ignoring the way Ray was looking at him, he knew that the odds were most likely in his favor for this one.
"Whatever, we gotta get to class dude" he shrugged and made sure he was two steps ahead of Ray while the two walked to their Math class to avoid his stern glances, which proved itself to be harder than he initially thought since him and Ray sat together each class.
He was grateful when lunch finally came and he got to scatter off past his fellow students in the hallway, not even saying sorry when he stepped on people's feet or rudely pushed past them; Frank and a cigarette were waiting for him outside.

The door was heavy, and the cold early winter chill smacked him in the face when he couldn't spot Frank at first.
He looked over the school's yard and the side of the parking lot but both were completely empty. However when he heard a whistle from behind the big tree where they usually sat (not even Bob wanted to go outside for a cigarette due to the cold) he noticed he wasn't alone at all.
He jumped down the small flight of stairs and probably looked like a huge idiot as he ran up to the tree and found Frank behind it, grinning at him with an unlit cigarette between his lips.
Frank didn't give him the time to say hi, but instead pushed his lips against his, it lasted for only a few seconds but stirred him up enough to forget about the cold or the lack of nicotine in his system.
"Got a light?" Frank asked him after pulling back and tucking the cigarette back between his lips, his cheeks were rosy, and though Gerard didn't know if it was because of their kiss or the cold, he thought it made him look adorable.
"If you, y'know kiss me again I might have one" he said while briefly touching Frank's hand, Frank tucked his cigarette behind his ear and clasped both hands around Gerard's face, pulling Gerard's mouth against his for a deep kiss that ended with his hand on Gerard's ass and his teeth in his bottom lip.
"That good enough for you?" he panted, being slightlly out of breath but smiling because Gerard looked completely shocked.
"Yeah, yeah, fuck where's my lighter, wow that was just..wow" Gerard mumbled, patting all his pockets until he found the lighter somewhere in the depths of his old wintercoat.
He plucked Frank's cigarette from behind his ear and lit it for him, taking a small puff before putting it behind his boyfriend's lips, then he grabbed one out of his own pack to lit for himself.

"So what are we gonna do on thursday Iero" he said, lacing together the fingers on his free hand together with Frank's.
Frank wiggled his eyebrows "now where's the fun in me telling you, it's a surprise and nothing you'll do or say will make me change my mind".
Gerard bit his lip after blowing out a cloud of smoke, he leaned forward so his mouth was right next to Frank's ear "so not even if I.." he whispered followed by a string of obscene ideas him and Frank could perform in the confines of either's room.
He thought he had succeeded when he heard Frank's breath hitch, but the other didn't give in to temptation "nice try hot stuff, but we can do all those things after our date, but for now we have to get our asses inside if we still want to get some food in our systems" he smirked, throwing the bud of his cigarette on the ground, picking Gerard's from between his fingers and stomping both of them flat in the grass.

They kept their hand clasped together until they got to the frontdoor of the building, when they went in nobody would have probably suspected they were anything different than they were the week before.
Though they weren't sure how their schoolmates would react, they were better safe than sorry, after all Gerard only had a few more months left but Frank still had to make it through his senior year.
They talked about plans for the weekend, eventhough it was only monday which meant atleast four days of homework and a test here and there.
When they got to the cafeteria Frank stopped Gerard before going in "I forgot to ask, have you picked out some schools yet?".
It took every ounce of his bing to surpress cracking his knuckles but he managed while he told a little white lie "no not yet, I guess I still have a few weeks left until I have to send out my applications so y'know I'm procrastinating as always".
Frank lead them through the door "ah well, as long as you're not moving to the other side of the country or something, maybe we could look at some schools online when I come over, y'know that way I can already start looking for next year" he said while they searched the room for the table their friends were sitting at.
Gerard mumbled a hardly audible "yeah sure" while staring at his feet, feeling guilt creep up on him, pulled from his thoughts when Frank tugged him down on a chair next to him at their friend's table.
"Where the hell were you douches" Bob asked through a mouth full of the apple he was chewing on "you guys were totally fucking, right?".
This earned him a weird glance from Ray and Mikey who were flipping through Ray's instrument catalogue but quickly resumed.
"Nah, too cold outside, we had a smoke though, it was great, bummer that we have to wait three periods until we get to go home" Frank said with a smirk directed at Bob, who groaned and looked like he regretted not going out.

Bob quickly distracted by Mikey poking him with his elbow and snapping his fingers infront of Frank to gain both's attention "didn't we have that science project due, like on friday".
Bob and Frank, who was swallowing away a bite of his sandwich, looked at eachother and to Mikey as they slowly nodded "fuck I totally forgot, there's no way in hell we're gonna start and finish it in four days" Frank whined, whiping the crumbs from his mouth.
"We're screwed" Mikey added, dropping his face to the table, Bob was staring at the pale, discolored food-triangle poster on the wall next to their table.
"Maybe you guys could do something really easy, like one of those paper mache vulcano things or whatever and write a paper with it and stuff" Ray tried.
Gerard shrugged "Ray's right, it won't get you guys an A but y'know, it's better than nothing".
The three younger boys looked at eachother "well it's worth a shot" Frank said, nudging Gerard's ankle with the heel of his sneaker, he smiled when he felt a soft nudge back.
"By the way, I was just showing Mikey that bass I told you about" Ray said, and Mikey shook his head, he looked down to the magazine and Gerard could see his eyes shine at the thought of owning the instrument.
Now he was sure that he was gonna buy it for his brother, he could get a job at one of the fastfood restaurants at the mall, they were always hiring, since he was most likely getting a full scholarship he didn't have to put away too much money.
His brother had been distant over the past few days, it made him feel slightly uncomfortable but he was sure that he was just being moody and that it would blow over any moment now.

The bell rang and they each got up to throw away the remainders of their lunch "so we gotta meet up later, let's say my place after dinner?" Mikey suggested.
Bob and Frank agreed and said their goodbyes to Ray and Gerard who were heading for history.
"Wanna come over too, we can play some games while those three work themselves in a sweat" Gerard asked Ray.
"Yeah cool, maybe we can help them out a little" Ray said and Gerard smiled at the kindness of his friend, in all honesty if Ray hadn't mentioned it he would have just let his brother, friend and boyfriend do it on their own.
"Yeah you and me could totally start on that vulcano so they can write the paper, little shits should've started earlier though" he laughed at that last bit.
Ray chuckled "dude, we started two days before it was due and got a D-, we should atleast help them get a C, y'know good karma".

-
Mikey's pov
Ray had come over not too long after school with his guitar to jam a little with him while Gerard was somewhere down in his room.
"We should totally practice in Frank's garage next week, or no wait Bob's we can't drag his drums all the way to Frank's place" Mikey chatted while tuning his bass, he was just plucking his A string, waiting for the green light on his tuning device to blink.
"Yeah man, I think Gerard wrote some new songs, we could try to make some tunes for them" Ray replied, it amazed Mikey how he was playing a song without even looking at his instrument.
He shrugged "whatever, he'll be gone in a few months, might as well practice without him if he's not sticking around" he didn't look waiting for Ray's reply.
"Well, oh, eh, did he tell you" Ray stumbled over his words, it wasn't Ray's fault that his brother wasn't being honest but he went further.
"Who told me what" he asked, he tried his best to make his face look as blank as possible looking straight at Ray, who seemed to get more nervous every second.
He sighed, it wasn't Ray's job to tell him.
There was a knock on the door before it opened to reveal Gerard in pyjama pants and a sweatshirt, looking relaxed as ever "hey guys, mom told me to get your guys' asses down 'cause dinner is ready" he said monotonously.

Mikey put his bass back on it's stand and pushed past Gerard, though he'd been acting normal in school, he was cold and distant at home, which made the car rides to and from school pretty awkward for both of them.
He ignored Gerard asking 'what the hell was wrong with him' and sped his way down the stairs to chew his way through his mother's god awful lasagna while his dad and Ray were talking about Hitchcock movies.
He offered to do the dishes, which earned him an odd look from his parents and brother, so he wouldn't have to fake pleasant conversation until Bob and Frank got here.
After he was done with the dishes and made himself a cup of coffee which he slurped down sitting on the kitchen counter, the bell rang.
He heard his brother shuffle through the hallway and not too long after the sound of a body thumping into another one and Bob groaning something about how PDA was one of the most vile things on eart, followed by Frank chirping about Bob being bitter.

He rinsed his mug and went to join his friends, it pissed him off to see Gerard and Frank walking to the livingroom with their hands clasped together like there was nothing wrong.
Of course Frank didn't know that there was anything wrong, and Gerard didn't know that Mikey knew there was something wrong, but to him it tainted the whole atmosphere.
The longer Frank wouldn't know, the harder the blow would be if he did, he wasn't gonna tell him today, but he also wasn't sure for how much longer he could keep his mouth shut.
If he were to tell Frank it would probably blow up in his face, Gerard wouldn't talk to him anymore and Frank would just be pissed as hell.
On the other hand, Frank was his best friend too and best friends told eachother everything, by not telling Frank he was being almost as bad as his brother.
He'd give it a couple more days, just to give Gerard the chance to come clean to both of them, until then Mikey had to try his hardest not to crack.

To his luck the only place left on the couch was next to his brother so he awkwardly leaned to the side while trying his hardest not to get annoyed by every single thing his brother was doing.
He lasted for a good thirty minutes until they apparantly supposed to get up to go to the nearest supermarket for supplies and Gerard elbowed him for attention.
"For fuck's sake, could you not touch me" he spat out and everyone was looking at him with confusion.
"Dude, what the hell is wrong with you he didn't do anything" Frank said, protectively squeezing Gerard's hand, who looked like he was about to cry.
He shook his head "can we just go, I wanna get this done as quickly as possible" he said and got up from the couch to grab his shoes.
Behind him he could hear Gerard mutter "no Frank just leave him" and "I don't know he's been acting weird for days" it hurt him that his brother sounded sad, but it hurt him more that he'd be leaving Mikey behind in a few months and didn't even have the guts to tell him.