He's Not Dead He Only Looks That Way

They all ship off to Gerard’s house after school, Pete and Mikey hanging out upstairs watching a movie and Gerard and Frank venturing down into Gerard’s basement. Upon entering, Gerard lies down in bed, patting the open spot next to him welcomingly.
Frank fills the vacant space, curling into a fetal position, his nose nuzzled against Gerard’s chest.
There’s a silence, a few minutes where the two boys lay there, Gerard staring out at nothing, and Frank’s eyes closed, listening to the sound of his boyfriend’s heartbeat.
Gerard breaks the silence, almost startling Frank by asking, “You’re going to tell me what happened, right?”
Franks sighs, not bothering to open his eyes. He almost finds it easier to tell Gerard these things not looking at him. “Everyone was making fun of me in first period. Do you… you know Derek, right?”
Gerard nods, asking, “The football player?”
“Yeah,” Frank mumbles. “He was doing the blow job sign, and so I flipped him off. They started throwing things at me, and I got upset and ran to the bathroom after the bell. They followed me, and Derek punched me in the stomach, spit on me, and called me a freak and faggot before leaving.”
Gerard sighs deeply, making Frank’s resting head rise and fall with his chest. “I’m so fucking done with kids at this school.”
“I don’t know what to do,” Frank admits. “This was just the first day. You almost got into a fistfight.”
“I know,” Gerard agrees, rubbing a temple with his freehand. His other hand resides on the small of Frank’s back. “I just… maybe talk to the guidance counselor? You can definitely report Derek.”
“I dunno about that,” Frank responds. “I flipped him off, isn’t that considered aggravating or something?”
“I don’t know,” Gerard mutters. “It might be worth a shot.”
“I also got some texts,” Frank murmurs, sliding his phone from his pocket. Searching through his messages, he adds, “I must’ve deleted them all. There were 9 texts from 9 numbers not in my contacts. I only read one, which was telling me to blow them.”
Gerard groans, complaining, “This fucking sucks. Literally everyone is against us. We can’t fight 400 kids.”
“Maybe… let’s throw a party this weekend,” Frank suggests.
“Who would come now?” Gerard asks. “They all think I’m a freak.”
“They’ll come,” Frank assures. “Tell them there’ll be drugs and they’ll come like moths to a light.”
“Why would we want them to?” Gerard asks. “I don’t get your logic here.”
“See, what we’ll do here is we’ll get Derek to show up. Pete is fucking slick, that little shit will talk him up and hang out and get him drunk. Mikey can help, too. So, once he’s like fall over drunk, we’ll put him in bed. Once he’s asleep, you or me, but probably you, get naked or at least mostly naked and climb in bed next to him. Make sure you’re there for when he wakes up, and we’ll strip him down too. That way when he wakes up, he’ll think he slept with you and hopefully lay off of us. We can fabricate the whole thing and then use it as blackmail,” Frank plots. “We’ll take pictures to prove it, of course. Just keep the naughty bits out, because no way in hell am I going to juvenile court for child pornography.”
Gerard peers down at Frank, whose eyes are still shut and face calm. “Okay, that solves our Derek problem, but what about everyone else?”
“Are you kidding me? Derek’s bigger than Jesus to kids at our school. All we do is make him tell his friends to lay off, otherwise we send them the pictures,” Frank explains. “I don’t have the crayons or time to make it any simpler.”
Gerard rolls his eyes, asking, “Are you sure this will work? If we fuck up, he’ll kick our asses.”
“And if we do nothing, he’ll kick our asses,” Frank counters. “It’s worth a shot.”
Gerard kisses the top of Frank’s head, mumbling into his hair, “For me to get into bed with him, this better fucking pay off.”
“Oh, it will,” Frank promises. “Call Mikey and Pete down here, let’s get them up to speed.”
Once the dilemma is explained to Mikey and Pete, the boys all sit there quietly. Finally, Pete asks,
“Why are we doing this again?”
“Everyone at school hates us and Derek and other kids want to kick our asses to pulp,” Frank replies. “This will get them to stop, if successful.”
“It better be,” Mikey grumbles. “I hate Derek. I don’t want to help get him drunk.”
“Wait, why do you hate him?” Gerard asks. “I thought you guys were on alright terms.”
Mikey shakes his head, pushing his glasses further up onto his nose. “No, he pulled my pants down a few weeks ago. Needless to say, I’m not a fan of him or anything he does.”
“Do you want to see him put in his place?” Frank asks. “Because this is the way to do it.”
Mikey grimaces, shrugging as he says, “Yeah, I guess I’ll do it.”
“Pete?” Gerard questions.
“Oh, I was in it from the get go,” Pete answers.
“So we’re set? This Friday?” Frank inquiries.
All three nod, their eyes darting to each teen for some sort of reassurance, a promise that this will work. Unfortunately, no such promises exist.
“Alright,” Frank concludes. “Pete, you can start texting people to come over. Lie if you have to, say there’ll be cocaine and that I’m going to get my ass kicked or something. Kids would pay to see that.”
“What do you want me to do?” Mikey asks.
“You can start getting liquor,” Frank offers. “We will need a lot, especially to get a fucking lineman drunk.”
“And me?” Gerard questions.
“Well, I guess just try to watch your back until Friday,” Frank replies. “Look cute, and make sure you’re camera ready Friday night.”
“What does that mean?” Gerard wonders.
“It means don’t wear your strawberry panties,” Frank responds. “Remember that Derek’s going to wake up.”
Gerard turns bright red at the mention of his fruit patterned underwear, and his eyes dart over to Pete and Mikey. Mikey has his hands covering his ears as he scolds Frank, “I don’t want to hear this shit.” Pete merely smiles, teasing, “Gerard, could I see those by any chance?”
“Stuff it, Wentz,” Gerard growls, hiding his face under the blanket.
“Wait,” Pete interjects, his texting suddenly ceasing. “What happens if he catches on?”
“Then we go down together,” Frank replies simply. “Four of us can surely take him, right? If not, so what?”
Pete and Mikey look at each other, Mikey returning his hands to his pockets.
“You guys, if this doesn’t work, I really don’t know what I’m going to do,” Frank confesses.
“What do you mean ‘doesn’t work’?” Pete comforts. He strides over, patting Frank’s shoulder. “It’s going to work, alright? I guarantee it.”
Frank smiles, knowing that Pete, while warm hearted, is not the most reliable person on the planet when it comes to predictions or even general knowledge. But this time, he knows he can take his word for it.

Notes

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