7th September 1998 - Monday
Frank guessed his karma wasn't as bad as he originally thought because Gerard had accepted being his friend again, he was pretty sure he wouldn't even want to speak to him, hell he had almost thought that Gerard would just shut the door in his face. But no, Gerard was his friend again, and yeah he didn't trust him yet, but trust is earned, and Frank would have to work a fuck load to get Gerard's trust back.

He had even been lucky when they told Mikey they were friends again. Frank was sure he'd wake up in a hospital but Mikey simply raised an eyebrow at them and told Gerard to make sure he wasn't doing anything stupid, before wandering off to someone's house. And during all this he just kept the same monotone voice and poker face, and if he did have any anger towards Frank, he was doing a damn good job at hiding it. Frank kind of had to admire the kid for it, not everyone could pull that off.

Though now, whilst walking to school with Gerard, he had to pray to whatever guardian angels he had left that his friends wouldn't give him shit when he told them he was Gerard's friend again. Whatever, if they gave him shit they weren't true friends, and he would much rather hang out with Gerard rather than push him away again. Besides, if he had the courage to face Mikeyway, the dude was 14 but fucking terrifying, then his friends would be a piece of cake.
As soon as they got to school Frank grabbed Gerard's hand and dragged him towards his friends, he might as well get it over with.

"Hey guys." Frank started gripping Gerard's wrist tightly, he looked over to see that Gerard looked much calmer than he felt. How was Gerard so calm when he was facing the people who had bullied for him the last two years? "I'm here to tell you that I'm gonna start Gerard and his friends and you can either join us or if you have a problem with it then stop hanging around me." He said quickly.

His friends all looked slightly taken aback, but soon smiled.

"Finally Frankie," Pete said. "We really hated bullying Gerard, well anyone really."
Frank was baffled when everyone grunted an agreement, even Gerard didn't look surprised by this.

"Yeah," Bob continued. "I mean Gerard's a really cool kid Frank, sure he's a bit dorky and into comics and superheroes, but so are we. We're really no different than him except we're popular for beating up kids like him, when we're the exact same. It's just not right dude. The only reason we did it was because you really got your kicks from it and you're our friend."
"So what you mean to say," Frank said. "Is that I was the only one being an asshole to my best friend for these past two years?"

"Not really," Gerard said. Everyone turned to him."You were all assholes, sorry guys, but you all bullied me. It doesn't matter the reason you did it, but you did and it's still really shitty. But yeah Frank, I think you were the only one that actually liked doing it."

Frank opened and closed his mouth, looking like a fish, when he finally let out a breathy 'woah', completely baffled at everything that had happened in the last week.

"So," Bob continued the conversation. "Who do you hang out with Gerard, we didn't know you had friends. no offense."

"None taken." Gerard said. "Actually I just met them the other day. Ray Toro and then two sophomores, Ryan Ross and Brendon Urie. They're kind of a thing together so please don't give them shit."

"Yeah we know Ray." Bob replied nodding his head acknowledgingly. "And don't worry, we're not really homobphobic. Well we bullied people for it, which was shitty and hypocritical because Frankie and Gabe here take whatever. And I'll give you a prize if you can find someone gayer than Pete."

Gerard giggled a bit at that because hey, himself. He was so certain he was gayer than anyone ever. Well, until Pete opened his mouth.

"Oh yeah, I think I've seen that Ryan kid with Brendon. They're cute, when are the babies coming." Because that was totally a Pete thing to say.

"No, no, no," Gabe continued. "Having a baby is too much of a commitment, all you need is a good fuck. Babies complicate things." Because that was apparently all Gabe would talk about. Good fucks.

He and Frank giggled like mad men at the argument, and Bob and Andy looked like they totally hated everyone in that moment. They would get along well with Mikey, Gerard thought.
And with his new made friends, he headed towards where Ray, Ryan and Brendon were.

Yeah, one week ago he would've never imagined this being his life.

---

Frank sat at lunch with all of his friends, it turned out that even though they were sohphomores, Ryan and Brendon were totally cool and hillarious. Ray hesitated for a while when they had approached them, but now he was talking animatedly with Frank about guitar and Ryan listening intently. Pete and Gabe were pestering Gerard and Brendon, who were blushing madly, with sex talk, and Bob and Andy were talking about drummers.

Suddenly Mikey sat down at their table, with a shy looking blond boy, whom he recognized from some of his classes.

"Hey I don't mind if we sit here, I'm Mikey, Gerard's brother, and this is Patrick."

"No not at all, have a seat." Frank said, still trying to get on a better side of Mikey.

Each one of them introduced themselves, and Frank had to stiffle a giggle at Pete's adoring expression once he saw Patrick.

Soon all of them were engaged in a discussion about bands, and not long after Patrick and Brendon had decided it would be funny to do a duet of Everybody by the Backstreet Boys. And Frank's not gonna lie, it was totally funny. And then at that moment he was suddenly so glad he had the balls to apologize to Gerard, because this was pretty great.

Notes

Chapter Title Credit: Future - Paramore