You're So Dark

“Mr. Way, I’m sorry for bugging you all day, but we have to make arrangements for that thing I told you about earlier, so could you see me after class again?” Frank said to Gerard who looked as he was being dragged through a haunted house that he didn’t want to go in.

“Uhm, yeah?” He said it as it was a question and then shook his head just a bit before repeating it in a bit more determined ‘yeah’ tone.

Frank nodded and returned to the teacher’s manual he was reading, before he decided it was absolute crap and threw it on the other side of his desk. He sighed and glanced around the class, looking at the class working on their today’s assignments. He realized the paper he picked up from the floor earlier today that surely enough belonged to Gerard, was in his pocket and he squirmed in his seat at the thought.

It was weird to know someone’s deepest desires, especially if the person was a student of his. It just made his view of Gerard more personal. He didn’t like that because he thought if something became too personal, it wouldn’t be official anymore. And, everything that wasn’t official could be turned into something deeper. And that meant Frank would stop viewing the boy objectively. And, if he did that, it would wake up feelings. No matter what kind of feelings, but Frank didn’t want to risk it because there was simply too much to lose.

“Mr. Iero?” Gerard’s voice said, and when he blinked he realized he was sitting on his desk and the classroom had cleared out a while ago. Gerard was standing in front of him, still looking like he was dead scared.

“How long was I out?” Frank said, probably blushing a bit.

Gerard giggled. “Only a few moments, the bell rang about a minute ago.”

“Oh. Okay. So, LA,” Frank started, but then he remembered the paper that was in his pocket. “Oh, I almost forgot,” he mumbled and dug through his pocket to find the scribble. Gerard’s face went a bit paler and Frank caught that. He supposed Gerard knew he accidentally left the paper in his classroom.

“You should be just a little bit more careful with those papers,” he said before handing the paper to Gerard, whose eyes were wide and frightened. “And tell your boyfriend underage tattoos are illegal,” Frank smirked and Gerard went even paler.

“Uhm, he’s not… He’s not my boyfriend.” Gerard scratched his scalp and blushed before taking the paper, scrunching and shoving it into his hoodie pocket. “And he isn’t exactly underage...”

“You don’t have to justify yourself to me,” Frank smiled at him encouragingly. “It’s none of my business, really. But I told you, if you need someone to talk to, I’m always here. I don’t judge.”

“Thanks,” Gerard smiled. Frank thought he’d seen just a bit of… something in Gerard’s eyes when he said that, but he gave credit for it to his imagination.

“So,” Mr. Iero said before he hopped down from his desk and pulled his chair out. “LA.”

“When and for how long?” Gerard leaned onto a desk in the front row.

Frank ‘hmm’-ed and grabbed the table calendar from his desk. He examined the little letters and numbers there before he started talking again. “November fourth and fifth. Sixth, seventh, third and second too, if we take the train. In three weeks. Is that interfering with any of your plans or something?”

Gerard snorted. “Plans? Man, I have no idea what I’ll be doing ten minutes from now.”

“Oh, well, convenient then, eh?" Frank smirked. "There are two ways of transportation.” He put his books in his work briefcase. “We can take the train, or the plane.”

“Uhm, you want me to decide or something?” Gerard lifted his eyebrows like he was thinking.

“Yes.” Frank nodded.

“Well, to be honest, planes make me sick,” Gerard admitted. “I always barf when I go somewhere by plane. Because of the height, or something, I suppose.”

“It’s settled then, we’re taking the train. One of your folks can come, if they want to, but it’s not necessary. If none of them is coming, they have to sign a paper that says I can take you out of the state without their surveillance. Because, I'm not, like, a relative or anything and you're not 21 yet. The train ride is about two and a half days long.” Frank said and gave Gerard the paper his parents had to sign.

“Holy shit, two and a half days,” Gerard widened his eyes and examined the paper Frank gave him.

“It’s on the other side of the continent,” Frank smiled and grabbed his briefcase. “Hey, do you live far away? You need a ride home?”

Gerard blushed a bit before he scratched his scalp. “Uhm, no, I live a block away. Thanks, though.”

“Anytime,” Frank put on his sunglasses and headed out of the classroom. He waited for Gerard to exit before he closed the door and locked it. They left the building in silence and said their goodbyes before Frank went towards the parking lot, while Gerard was leaving the school courtyard.

“See you tomorrow, Gerard,” Frank waved.

“Bye, Mr. Iero,” Gerard smiled kinda awkwardly and headed home.

*

"Kung Lao wins. Fatality."

"Oh man, you're so bad at this," Mikey mocked Pete who was sighing loudly.

"I can't believe you beat me with Kung Lao. I feel so ashamed. I mean, I picked fucking Scorpion and you beat me with Kung Lao. A FUCKING MONK FROM SHAOLIN." He facepalmed himself and Mikey patted his back comfortingly.

"It was even more embarrassing when I beat your Sub Zero with my Mileena, honey, don't be sad now," Mikey cooed and made Pete roll his eyes.

"If you ever play with Liu Kang, I swear to God I will do a Baraka fatality on you while you sleep," Pete said firmly before they both jumped at the sound of the door opening.

"You're such nerds, playing Mortal Kombat the whole fucking day," Gerard rolled his eyes before he plopped down on one of the armchairs.

"Shut up," Mikey threw a pillow at him. Gerard caught it and put it under his head, sighing deeply. Pete got up and took the pillow away from him.

"Man, you're even more emo than usual today, what's up?" He looked at Gerard with a look that showed he wasn't fooling around anymore. Gerard just sighed and shook his shoulders like he wanted to say he didn't know, but Pete wasn't easy to lie to. "I know it's something."

"It's really nothing, I'm just really tired," Gerard lied.

"That reminds me," Mikey said from his gaming position on the floor, where he was successfully beating Sheeva's ass up using Noob Saibot, who was a character that reminded him of Gerard, because well - duh - emo to the extremo. He also had a badass brother - Sub Zero, so Mikey was certain Noob was Gerard's MK9 doppelganger. "You're home, like, almost a half an hour later than usual."

"Yeah, uhm, Mr. Iero came to the idea of sending one of my poems to a competition." Gerard sighed when Mikey gave Sheeva his final strike and let her die without finishing her with a fatality. Instead, he turned around and gawked at him, joining Pete who was already doing that. Gerard rolled his eyes but continued. "I kinda won." Their eyes went even wider. "Now we have to go to LA to pick some prize up or something."

They were silent for a few moments but then they both jumped on Gerard, who just rolled his eyes because he saw it coming. "That's awesome, man!" Pete yelled while Mikey was hugging the shit out of him, almost choking him to death.

*

"Oh come on, Mikey," Pete yelled after Mikey who was about to leave the room, "I didn't mean it like that."

Mikey just rolled his eyes and closed the living room door. Gerard rolled his eyes and switched the channel on TV, not even bothering to find out whatever the discussion was about.

"What now, man?" Pete said, obviously to Gerard.

"Uhm, I don't know, talk to him? Kiss and make up? I have no idea." Gerard's eyes were still on the TV.

"You're no help," Pete sighed and left the room. He went upstairs to Mikey's room and knocked on the door. "Mikey?" He called out quietly.

"Go away," he heard Mikey's sulking voice from inside. He sighed a few more times and was planning on leaving, but then he just said what the fuck because Mikey was his best friend and just pushed the doorknob. The door opened with a squeal and he saw Mikey sitting on his bed with his arms folded over his chest.

"Go away," Mikey repeated, but Pete wasn't going to give up. He walked over to the bed and sat down next to Mikey, who obviously wasn't considering even looking at him. Pete just sat there for a little while, thinking about what he should do. Then he remembered.

"Like violence you have me, forever, and after, like violence you kill me, forever and after," Pete sang quietly and he saw a smile forming on Mikey's face.

"You idiot," Mikey rolled his eyes and smirked wider. Pete smiled, too, because his little plan worked. "Don't say Blink sucks, ever again, okay?"

"I promise. They don't suck. I was just saying that to twist your nerves," Pete admitted.

"Well, you sure did succeed," Mikey noticed and Pete laughed a bit. He looked at Mikey again who was still smiling, and soon enough he was enveloped in a bear hug from Mikey's side. "You're a dick, Pete," he said with his head snuggled into the crook of Pete's neck.

"Yeah," Pete giggled, "I figured."

Notes

Yeah hi this sucks I'm sorry bye.