"Frank?" I heard a voice call from outside my door. I looked up from the black-and-white tiled linoleum to my door.
"What the hell do you want?" I managed to choke out.
"Frank, please open the door." The calm voice wasn't familiar at first, but I soon realized it was Jamia. I had never heard her speak so calmly before, it scared me. I sighed and tried to steady my trembling body before hesitantly approaching the door. "... please?" she added. I slowly turned the lock on my door, it making a click. The door quickly swung open, and I was suddenly pulled into an embrace.
"Jamia...?"
"Frank," she whispered into my ear, "I'm so sorry." I pushed her away and stared into her eyes. She sighed and looked down to my chest, to a nearly healed bruise. She gasped. "D-did... mom--"
"Yes," I replied in a monotone. She treats me like shit and now seems worried? "What do you want, Jamia?"
"Frank, I--" She wiped her eyes and pulled me into another hug. Her body began to shake, so I assumed she was crying. "I... I was thinking about-- about how shitty sister I've been, Frank. And I'm sorry."
Angrily, I pushed her away. "You've been treating me like shit since you could talk, and you suddenly expect me to forgive you?" I asked, my voice shrill.
"Not right away. But, Frank, I'm sorry." I looked into her eyes, looking for a shred of anything but sorrow in them. Not a trace. This was literally the first time Jamia had ever been straight with me, the first time she showed any emotion other than a form of bitterness or condescension. I let a weak smile spread across my face. She smiled back, and pulled me into another hug.
"Jamia, I love you," I murmured. That was the first time I've said that out loud in quite a while.
"I love you too, Frank." She sniffled and pulled away. "Now, please explain why you're hurting yourself." Her gaze went from my face to my arms.
"Can I get dressed first?" I jokingly asked. I was in my boxers and old, torn-up socks. She laughed. I hadn't heard that laugh in so long, not since we were little.
"Yeah. Of course."

---

"So, Frank, what happened?" she asked. We were situated on my unmade bed.
"So, um, as you know, mom's abuse." She nodded. "But, there's someone else, uh..." I rubbed my tired eyes. "Do you remember Alicia?"
"The girl you went on a date with?"
"Yeah. About her..." I didn't know how anyone in my family would've reacted to me being gay. She would be the first person I've told. I haven't even told Gerard, but considering I'm dating him he's safe to assume. "Alicia doesn't exist. I-I'm... I'm gay."
Jamia began to chuckle as she covered her mouth with her hand. The chuckling turned into mad cackling within a few seconds. I scooted away from her a bit, confused as to what was so funny to her. After a minute or two, she finally calmed down. "Frank," she started, her voice still a bit breathy, "I've known that since... since forever."
"What? H-How?"
She laughed. "I'm your sister. No matter if we're close or not, I can tell things. It's like spidey senses."
"Well, okay then. Do you remember Gerard?" She nodded. "He's my boyfriend."
"I still don't see what the problem here is."
"Like, 8 days ago, I told him that... that I wanted to be with him forever. That I wanted to grow old with him. Since then, he's been ignoring me." Jamia gasped and grabbed my hand.
"Frank, I doubt he's ignoring you. Maybe he's busy."
"Even when I go to his house, even if there's a car, no one answers. And he wouldn't just avoid me, regardless of whether or not he was busy." I sniffled. "Jamia, I'm scared. I really love him. But, what if I scared him away?"
Just then, there was a voice coming from downstairs. Mom. "Frank, you have a visitor!" she announced. My sister looked at me and smiled. I weakly chuckled. I doubted it was Gee. She stood up and dragged me out of my small room and down the stairs.
As we reached the bottom, I looked up to the door. Standing in the door way was my red-headed beauty of a boyfriend.

GERARD'S P.O.V.

"Mikey," I groaned, "it's been 8 days since we've had our phones."
"Dude, I know. Ray and Bob probably think I'm dead."
"Which one is which? I haven't seen or spoken to them in forever."
"Ray is the fluffy-headed one. Bob is the intimidating one."
"Ah yes, I remember." I sighed and rolled over on my side to face Mikey. We were laying on the floor of our living room, bored out of our minds. I heard footsteps coming down the stairs and sat up. Mom was a bit more dressed up than usual, and holding a purse.
"Mikey, Gerard, me and your father are going out," she told us. My heart immediately skipped a beat. This was the first time we would be let out of our parents' sights in a week. I tried not to sound excited, though, as I simply groaned in response. She came over to hug both of us before rushing out the door with my dad. I waited until the car had audibly speeded off to turn to Mikey.
"I'm gonna go--"
"See Frankie? Yeah, yeah, I guessed so. I laughed.
"Am I really that predictable?" He nodded as he chuckled. I threw a pillow in his face and stood up, dusting off my jeans. I ran over to our mirror next to the door and fixed my bright red hair. It was greasy, but I didn't really care. Smiling, I said bye to Mikey and began to walk to Frank's.

As the afternoon sun beamed down on me, I thought about my relationship with Frank. I really, truly loved Frank. He still didn't know. Maybe I should tell him today, I thought. No, if he was as upset about this separation as I was, he would be devastated. First, we're torn apart and then he finds out his boyfriend is dying? I pushed the thoughts out of my mind. This would be the first time I'd seen Frankie in a week, and holy shit am I excited. As I approached Frank's house, I started to shake. Okay, calm down. I slowly went up to the door and knocked. Almost immediately, the door swung open. Standing there was Frank's mom. Before I could say anything to her, she turned towards the staircase. "Frank, you have a visitor!" she yelled. She opened the door a bit wider for me to step inside. I stood in the doorway, waiting for my boyfriend to come down. When he did, he was hand-in-hand with his sister. His eyes were red and puffy, he had obviously been crying, but once he saw me he broke out into a grin. I held out my arms and he ran over to me, pulling me into a tight hug.
"Gerard..." he whispered as I ran my hands through his hair. He pulled away and looked me straight in the eyes. Without realizing what I was actually doing, I crashed our lips together. It took a few seconds before he reciprocated and wrapped his pale arms around my neck. We stayed like that for a minute before pulling away, panting. He was still smiling as an angered voice broke the silence.
"The fuck is going on?" Frank's mom asked. She grabbed Frank's arm and was about to hit him when Jamia pushed her out of the way and held her arms in front of Frank.
"Mom, I won't let you hurt him anymore," she said in a stiff voice. "I can't bear this." His mom regained her balance and roughly slapped Jamia's cheek. She yelped in pain, but kept her stance. "Frank, Gerard, how's a nice cup of coffee sound?" she asked us casually, as if she had not just been slapped by her own mother. Frank nodded, though he was obviously scared by his mom's sudden outburst, and began to walk to the door. His mom came over again to try and grab him, but Jamia pushed her again, harder this time, and she fell to the floor. She began to yell profanities as we ran outside, to the local coffee shop.

---

"Frankie," I told him as we stood outside, "I'm so sorry."
"W-What happened? I called and text you countless times."
"My mom took away mine and Mikey's phones. Didn't let us leave the house, not even answer the door." I stared into his hazel eyes. "I love you, okay? Don't ever forget that."
"Gerard, please don't be mad, but..." He looked around, making sure no one was near us, and rolled up his sleeves. All up and down his wrists were scars. I gasped and grabbed his arm. "I'm sorry," he whispered as I looked up and down his arms. I kissed the back of his hand and looked up at him.
"I would never be mad at you, babe," I told him. "Just please don't do it anymore. I know it must be hard for you not to, but--"
"I promise." Frank looked down at the concrete. "I was just so scared I had scared you away or that you didn't love me." I laughed.
"I wouldn't trust just anyone with my virginity." I lightly kissed him on the forehead. Suddenly, a brunette guy came into view.
"Gerard?" I turned to him, confused at first, before realizing it was Brendon. I smiled.
"Brendon, hi." He suddenly pulled me into a hug. I tried with minimal effort to reciprocate the hug. I pulled away, but his arms lingered for a few seconds. I turned to Frank and he had a strange emotion in his gaze. Was he jealous? If he is, it's pretty cute. I turned back to Brendon.
"Uh, Gerard...?"
"Yeah?"
"You're shaking. Like, really badly." I looked down at my hands to see I was shaking like a leaf. This was a familiar feeling, I knew it. I didn't realize why until I dropped to my knees, my entire body trembling. No, of all the worst times to have another seizure, it was now. I felt my throat tighten, my entire body go slack yet tense at the same time.

Then, everything went black.

Notes

sorry this took so long to update! writers block n stuff
ok, it wasn't actually really writers block. more like i wanted to get on with the story, but i don't like writing all the shit that goes in between important events
in other news, did you guys hear action cat yet? oh my god it's amazing

xo