Across the Road

"Dinnertime!" exclaimed Mrs. Iero. "Who's ready for some food?"

"Who just wants to eat instead of pretending we're at WWE?" Frank remarked, taking in a spoonful of the soup.

"What's WWE?" Marco asked, swirling around the soup with his spoon.

"An execution chamber, I have already signed you up." Frank laughed, "They're just like mom, except they say: Dying Time! Who's ready to have their head blown off?"

Marco and Alice laughed at the remark while Mr. and Mrs. Iero gave Frank a glare.

"No, Frank!" Mrs. Iero snapped, "WWE is not that"

"God, we may be going through a hard time right now, but no reason to be so snappy" Frank complained.

"Frank, you obviously don't understand then," His mother replied, trying not to yell.

"Don't understand that we're poor? That we just lost our house? That we live in the ghetto? That you hooked up with Mr. Birch last month?!" Frank gradually raised his voice, ending up screaming.

"Frank!" Mrs. Iero yelled. "What's wrong with you?!"

"Honey, what does he mean by you hooked up with Mr.Birch last month?" Mr. Iero said calmly, even though he was boiling inside.

"We'll talk about that later, honey" Mrs. Iero said, her face turning crimson.

"Excuse me?" Frank's father replied.

Frank walked away from the uprising chaos he created, and walked out the front door. At his old house, if he walked out the front door, there'd be a big porch with a little garden in front and winter grass and beautiful oak trees, but all Frank saw was run-down houses and an empty street with three broken street lights. Oh, how everything changed so quickly. Frank remembered when he heard about his mother losing her job, and how she promised him noting would change as she would get a new one easily. Then how he when he was spying on his parents after his dad came home from a business trip, he saw his own dad slap his mother right across the face because he too, had just lost his job. Then all the promises his parents made him and his sisters about how everything was fine. How the promises were broken before they were even made. Then the grossing hook up between his mother and Frank's old science teacher, how Frank promised he wouldn't tell. He broke a promise too, but he was actually planning on keeping it until just then.

"Family's falling apart?" a voice from behind asked.

Frank spun around to see the freaky-pale-vampire-kid, Gerard.

"How do you know?" Frank wondered aloud.

"How does a family not fall apart around here, misery floats in the air" Gerard replied. "Sit down, kid"

"Aren't you a kid too?" Frank asked, sitting down on the edge of the sidewalk.

"I'm eighteen, how old are you?" Gerard said, taking a seat next to Frank.

"Fifteen" Frank replied shyly, Gerard was much older than Frank thought.

"You didn't look very old to begin with" Gerard laughed.

"I'd have to say the same for you" Frank muttered, placing his chin in the palm of his hand.

"You sure don't care too much about what you say, kid" Gerard said, "I'd watch out if I were you"

"Whatever" Frank said, looking down at the asphalt.Gerard raised his hand as he slapped Frank on the cheek. Frank wailed a small "ow" but nothing more as he tried to rub his cheek, hoping the pain would go away soon.

"If you want me to stop slapping you, stop being an idiot. I'm trying to help you" Gerard complained.

"Well we both know how that's working out" Frank said under his breath. But unfortunately, Gerard heard that too. "Ow!"

"I told you stop running your mouth" Gerard restated, "God damn, is your ass jealous of the amount of shit that comes out of your mouth?"

Frank gripped his fists, wanting to punch Gerard.
"Gerard is stronger than you" Frank reminded himself mentally.

"You're making this move harder on yourself each time you open your mouth" Gerard said sternly.

Frank made it fast. He simply pulled up his arm, and gave Gerard a slug to the face.
It wasn't one of Frank's best ideas though.

"Fuck, that hurt" Gerard laughed, rubbing his cheek in exaggeration. "but not as much as this will..."

Gerard then formed his hand into a fist and returned the favor, just much, much harder. Frank cried in pain as he felt like his jaw bone was broken. The punch sent shots of pain all over his mouth, and he felt like someone just took a hammer and hit him with it instead. Frank felt his face, noticing that he was bleeding from his mouth. He used his tongue to feel around, and noticed two of his teeth were missing. He spit whatever was in his mouth, and saw two teeth in the pile of blood and spit.

"Gerard" Frank slurred in pain, not being able to talk very well. He looked up at Gerard, noticing how Gerard's face was just as shocked as Frank's. Gerard also looked confused, as he didn't realize how strong he was.

"Frank, I..." Gerard said, crestfallen. "Sorry, let me help you"

Frank kept his gaze on the blood covering the ground, before looking back up to Gerard, his expression like a dear in headlights.

"Sorry Frank" Gerard sincerely apologized as he picked up Frank from the ground.

Frank didn't say anything, but nodded, hoping Gerard would understand.
"Why aren't I hating this guy? He indirectly called me gay yesterday, and now I have a bleeding mouth because of him" Frank thought as Gerard put his arm around his shoulder. "I can't hate him, how- why? I need to hate him, I should hate him, but I can't"

"I usually don't apologize for beating people up" Gerard started, looking down into Frank's eyes. "But that's because I did it for a reason. This, this was stupid, and i'm sorry"

Frank noticed how sympathetic and softened Gerard's eyes were. Yesterday, Gerard looked like a natural killer, but today he looked like a puppy dog next to his dead owner. Frank mentally noted this down, knowing that Gerard rarely ever acts this way, and how Frank could blackmail him for this later on.

The walk back to Frank's house was quiet, besides the little squeaks of pain Frank would every-so-often cry out.

"You'll be okay" Gerard would remind him.

Frank forgot about yesterday, how Gerard questioned his sexuality, because Frank would've flinched away. And as straight as Frank is (or thought he was), the arm over the shoulder was all Frank needed. He needed to be reminded that he could have hope for the future (and that his jaw wouldn't be broken), and Gerard's embrace was calming him down, mentally, at least. Physically, Frank wouldn't of cared if he died right there on the sidewalk, he just wanted the pain to go away.

Gerard then brought him up to the front door, let go, and ran back to his house, leaving Frank in the cold air with his aching jaw. Frank slowly opened the door, and walked in, hoping his parents wouldn't be in plain sight. But honestly, what was his luck? His mother was sitting on the couch that faced the front door, able to see Frank and his face. But Frank could see his mother too, how she had just been crying, and how one of her cheeks were redder then the other.

"Where did dad go?" Frank asked, breaking the silent misery hanging in the air. Gerard was right when he had said that.

"Bar." His mother replied, trying not to look at Frank as she directed her gaze to the floor.

Frank was going to say, "But dad never goes to bars" as he had never seen his dad go to a bar. He remembered his father telling him, "rich men drink red wine and never spill a drop". Frank would've smiled at that, as he could picture his dad telling him, "rich men take a bloody punch, and never spill a drop" but his face was swollen.

"Your face, honey" Mrs. Iero said quietly, as if she was going to get caught for speaking.

"It'll be fine, as long as we treat it" Frank replied, "I got myself into it anyways, I'm sorry"

Mrs. Iero just nodded and looked down, twiddling her thumbs.

"Dad slapped you" Frank stated as he walked over to her. "That was my fault too, I'm sorry"

"Honey, it's not your fault, it's my fault for doing what I did. It should've came out earlier or never should've happened" Mrs. Iero smiled as her son sat down next to her.

"You have an ice pack?" Frank asked.

"frozen peas" Mrs. Iero chuckled, "but i'll take you to urgent care"

"But-"
"We have medical insurance, they'll pay" Mrs. Iero said, already knowing what Frank was going to ask.

"Okay" Frank said, grabbing his jacket off the chair.

"Who did this?" Mrs. Iero asked as she grabbed her things off the counter.

"Don't know" Frank replied, his jaw hurting worse every time he spoke.

"Okay, well let's fix you up" Mrs. Iero said, opening the front door.

"What about Marco and Alice?" Frank asked.

"They're sleeping" Mrs. Iero smiled, holding the door as Frank walked through.

"Hey, mom?" Frank asked.

"Yes, sweetie?"

"Can we forget about dinnertime, and the rest of today?"

"Yes, let's forget about dinnertime."

Notes

Hope you liked it! Don't worry, it'll get happier. :) also, i'll update as soon as I can!

DISCLAIMER:

THIS STORY ISN'T MEANING TO OFFEND ANYONE AS IT IS FICTIONAL AND ONLY USES REAL PLACES AND CHARACTERS. THANK YOU.

See you next time! goodbye!