25 Reasons Why I Hate You

The story Frank sells his mom about how he hurt his wrists wouldn't fool a 4 year old. She buys it like you would buy a vaccuum from an ad with a really hot muscular guy who explains to you how to use it. Which happened to Frank once. In his defense, it turned out to be a good quality vacuum and they still use it. Well, his mom does. Last time he tried touching a vacuum, he sort of sucked his hamster into it. Granted, he was 6 and the hamster was really fucking tiny, but still. (R.I.P. Bunny, aka The Most Ironically Named Hamster in the World Who Lived For a Total of About 2 Months and is Located Somewhere in the Garbage Probably.)

He wears hoodies around the house just to be safe, though, and he decides not to tell anyone else about the entire thing. Gerard knows, Lindsey knows, Ville and his brother know- that's enough, if you ask Frank. Though, he's not nearly as disturbed about it as he should be, which is sort of scary. Frank never took his life seriously anyway, so he's not really surprised.

School is a bit more problematic, since he freezes at any sudden movement and anytime someone looks at him he sinks into himself more and more, stretching his sleeves so hard he is sure they'll break sometime soon.

Frank walks around the school, trying not to look suspicious whilst pulling his hoodie sleeves as far as he can over his wrists- mostly aiming to disappear inside of the giant thing. At least this time it's not eye-stabbing green, so he thinks he blends in. Mostly. As if the eyeliner doesn't make him stick out enough.

He turns around the corner without getting more stares than usual, when he hears two voices shouting about God knows what. He recognizes both voices, but he can't place quite the other one until he sees the face.

„No, it's not fucking okay!“ he hears Gerard shout, „Are you kidding me? You literally made him feel so shit about himself, that's not okay! That is so far beyond okay, you asshole!“ He was obviously talking about him, so Frank tried to hide himself behind a locker.

„What are you talking about? He just stormed off being mad, that's nothing major!“ Bert spits out.

„Stormed off being mad? He fucking tried to jump off of a bridge, you gigantic-“ Frank cuts him off before he can continue telling his entire life story in this pissy fit.

„Gerard,“ he whispers and grabs him by his sleeve. He's pretty sure the entire school has heard the exchange between Bert and Gerard and he's confident all eyes are on him now, „Let it go, Gerard.“

„But, Frankie-“ Frank just drags Gerard off- with great difficulty, that man is most certainly not a feather- and gets him into a freaking janitor closet. Seriously, a janitor's closet. Could he be any more cliche.

„Frank, what Bert did isn't fair, okay? You don't deserve that, you deserve so much more,“ Frank nods and is about to say something- maybe about how he's over it, really, or how it's fucking hot in here or about Ville's name being really strange- but he is cut off when two strong arms wrap around him, and it's his instinct that tells him he should hug back. So he does.

„Gerard,“ Frank breathes in and Gerard smells of coffee, cigarettes and.. more coffee. Which is familiar enough and makes him squeeze tighter, „God, you don't- I'm fine, seriously. I was drunk and.. it's not Bert's fault, it's fine,“ he strokes Gerard's hair in a comforting matter, but Gerard twitches and looks like he wants to moan, and also like he probably would had it not been for the thick tension in the air.

It takes Frank a few moments to realise what actually is going through Gerard's mind at the moment, but as soon as he realises, he's a giggling mess.„Hair-pulling? Seriously? Oh my god,“ and then he's doubled over in laughter whilst Gerard stands there blushing.

„Shut up,“ he says weakly but can't help but grin, and Frank just grins back at him.

Maybe this isn't gonna be so much of a disaster- maybe they can start over again.

*

They decide to just cut class. It's a silent agreement between them that they're gonna go to Gerard's house; the basement is way better for.. well, everything. Pot, drinking, movies, parties (as if), and, well, quite literally everything.
Frank is pretty sure Gerard's parents never, ever go into the basement, since the first thing he notices upon walking in is the stale smell of un-washed laundry and alcohol.

„So, this is where the magic happens?“ Frank snickers and throws himself onto the couch, which, to Frank's surprise, doesn't fall apart. Gerard closes the door and grins, walking over to sit next to him.

„Yes. This is my Batcave,“ he gestures around with his hands and Frank raises an eyebrow at him.

„Batcave? More like Badcave,“ Frank jokes, very fucking lamely, but Gerard still laughs so he counts it as a win. He looks around and, hey, if you ignore the dirty clothes on the floor, the Star Wars boxers on the doorknob, the painting brush graveyard (or something) in the flower pot (and the fact that the flower is well-rotten), the tiny cactus that looks deformed beyond all recognition and what Frank is pretty sure are a pair of Mikey's old glasses laying broken on the floor, the place actually looks pretty awesome. „It is cool though. If only it didn't smell like something died in here,“ Frank smiles.

„I think we used to have a cat...“ Gerard trails off and scrunches his nose up and Frank knows all too well he's joking but plays along.

„Yeah? What'd you call him? Mittens?“ He wiggles his eyebrows.

„Mr. Cat,“ Gerard says seriously, „He came into my room one day and we never saw him again,“ he wipes imaginary tears off of his pale cheeks.

Frank nods respectively and then they both break out in huge grins. The silence is comfortable, and Frank finds himself staring at Gerard. Gerard, whose grin lights up the entire room and seriously, that doesn't even do it justice. It's just his energy- not that Gerard's a cheery guy, N to the O to the Never in Hell, it's just.. how he's looking at Frank, and this moment feels like it should last forever. Then Frank snaps out of it, because, hello, not a fucking rom-com, but smiles at he floor.

„Mr. Cat is not a creative name,“ Frank sing-songs and adjusts himself on the couch, totally accidentally tucking his feet under Gerard's thigh. And Gerard totally accidentally letting him, but raising an eyebrow. „'S cold,“ Frank reasons.

„Right. Well, we were young. Think of it as a 11 year old who just discovered his dick and called it Mr. Hard,“ Gerard supplies and then furrows his eyebrows at the same time Frank grins, amused.

„Why would I think about an 11 year old's dick, you pervert?“ Frank giggles as Gerard blushes. Except for the fact that now, his mind wandered and ended up thinking about how Gerard found out about his dick and what he could do with it, and wonders how Gerard looks like when he's hard, how big he is.. does he shave, does he have thick hair down there? He wonders if it's dark and flushed and even more so when he's turned on- and then fucking smacks himself mentally because, c'mon, the guy is right there, he shouldn't be thinking about this. That's like, Frank's Fantasies About Hard Cocks material.

„So, random change of subject,“ Frank starts, not so subtly, „Wanna watch chick flicks?“

Gerard's eager nod is Frank's Fantasies About a Perfect Weekend material.

*

„10 Things I Hate About You is a good movie, what do you want?“ Frank huffs and crosses his arms, having previously listened to Gerard criticize one of his favorite movies for 15 minutes.

„Oh, c'mon, it's such a cliche title. The movie is okay, I mean, Heath Ledger, hey, but the title is so cheesy.“

„It's supposed to be cheesy, you twit!“

„That's like writing a book called '20 Reasons Why You Annoy Me', or something,“ Gerard sighs and folds his arms in a similar fashion that Frank's are.

„If I wrote a book like that, it would be about you, and I know what the first reason would be!“ Frank huffs, again.

„'Seeing your face makes me want to snuggle you in kisses'?“ Gerard suddenly turns to him and Frank flushes dark red.

„That's.. That would be on another list,“ he admits and unfolds his arms.

„Yeah? '12 Reasons I Love You'?“ Gerard's tone is light but his face is focused and serious and Frank thinks he should make a move, maybe, but it would be so fucking awkward and it's still early for that, and sometimes certain writers just need a harder, more complicated and better plot so they can fit more words into a certain chapter if they have a certain friend who insists the limit is 2000 words even though we all know sometime that is just hard to achieve, so he just bites his lip.

„Something like that, yes,“ and then they're both blushing, and they both just look at each other. Best friends don't look at each other like that, crosses through Frank's mind before he chases the thought away with a giant broom in his mind-self's hand.

„Gee?“ Someone bangs on the door and Frank jumps about three feet in the air, before realising it's Mikey. Gerard doesn't even bat an eyelash- not even at Frank's sudden jump nor at Mikey's totally startling fucking knock.

„Since when do you knock?“ Gerard shouts back but his eyes remain focused on Frank, and it's making him terribly self conscious but he's not about to say that, so he smiles at Mikey when he comes in, sits between him and Gerard, hits play on the movie and starts talking about the movie they're watching, and even though Frank has trouble recalling what it is exactly that they're watching at first, he nods along anyway.

He desperately tries to ignore the fact Gerard remains staring at him the entire time, even when the credits for Mean Girls are rolling down the screen and Mikey is muttering about how much of a classic the movie is, and still remains looking at him when Jennifer Garner wakes up to be 30 instead of 13.

*

Frank is laying in bed later that night, scrolling through his contacts when he sees 'gee' in them. He raises an eyebrow.

From: frnk
To: gee
9:32 PM
since when do i have ur number ?

From: gee
To: frnk
9:33 PM
Since I put it in your phone. xP

From: frnk
To: gee
9:33 PM
creep. mikes still at ur cave ?

From: gee
To: frnk
9:39 PM
Always. Watching „It“. Wanna?

From: frnk
To: gee
9:40 PM

k firstly I was over til 7pm I think that's enough of that. secondly ew clowns D:

From: gee
To: frnk
9:44 PM
I see. I can never have enough of Frank-O, though. Come over tommorow?

From: frnk
To: gee
9:58 PM
u come over to my place, ma is trying to do some pro chef shit and i dun wanna go thru that alone. 7pm work for u ? how many periods do u have

From: gee
To: frnk
10:01 PM
Only one every month. (Period jokes.) I'll come. Should I bring anything?

From: frnk
To: gee
10:03 PM
ur so fcking lame. ma will be glad ur coming either way, no need. see u then.

From: gee
To: frnk
10:04 PM
You do know we'll see each other in school, right? We have classes together.

From: frnk
To: gee
10:06 PM
i mourn everyday.

(That night, both of them fall asleep with smiles on their faces.)

Notes

Let's play 'How often can I break the 4th wall without Milo getting mad at me.' Sounds fun.

It's like 4:20 (hehe) and I had to wait until my dad fell asleep to write this. The Mr. Hard part is entirely Milo's fault, lemme tell you. I should not be reminded of dicks when talking about kittens.

Enjoy the crappy chapter.

- Rogue