The next morning, the freshman prepared himself for the school day, pulling on his Batman socks and dressing in the rest of the uniform. As he looked for his school bag, he found the sketchbook paper with Gerard’s number on it. He smiled at the paper and looked it over. To his surprise, he found more than just the numbers; he found a sketch of his face. Nearly every detail was perfect and exact.. It was breath-taking. The boy’s lips parted and he blushed a bit as he quickly made his way out the door with his backpack. He had to figure out if Gerard had meant to give him the picture.

Starting out the door the next morning, Gerard quickly hwarfed down the toast in his hand. It was a bit colder than usual, but that didn't deter him from wanting to walk even though his mother had offered to drive him to school. Coming to the end of the street he spotted Frank, shivering as he walked. Immediately Gerard picked up the pace so that he could wrap the other boy in his arms.

The instant Frank was in Gerard’s warm grasp, Frank smiled and let out a content sigh. But, when he remembered the folded paper in his grasp, he felt nerves rise in his throat. “H-hey Gerard.. I was looking through my stuff and.. did you mean to give me that picture you drew of me..?”

"Drawing..?" He said as Frank had shown him the folded up piece of paper that had his phone number on the opposite side. "OH, that! No, I didn't mean to give it to you, but if you want you can have it.." His voice trailed off, feeling embarrassed that Frank had seen the drawing without his intent.

“Are.. are you sure..?” Frank replied self-consciously as they walked toward the school. “I mean.. dude, this is /really/ good..”

Scratching the back of his head with his free hand, Gerard smiled a little. "T-thanks.. And, yeah I'm sure.."

With a grin, Frank raised up on his tip-toes to place a kiss to Gerard’s cheek as they walked. About half-way to the school, the younger of the two boys offered his hand to hold, gently brushing their fingers against the other’s.

Entwining his fingers with the other's Gerard swung their hands a little. It felt nice to have someone's hand to hold for once. The rest of the walk to school went on with just some casual chat between the two, and once they were in the warm halls of the school building, they parted ways. Just before Gerard turned to go to his locker, he stopped and quickly pecked Frank on the forehead.

The blush on the young boy’s face was undisguisable as he made his way to art. Shyly, he asked the teacher where Gerard sat and quickly plopped down in the chair she directed him to. The day seemed to pass quickly.. until lunch.. Apparently, some of the stupid jock-boys had seen Frank and Gerard’s little exchange before classes and found it fit to ridicule him for it. Words and punches were thrown at the freshman, leaving him bloodied and bruised both physically and emotionally, curled up on the bathroom floor.

Walking to the bathroom between classes as he often did, Gerard heard whimpering coming from the last stall. Whimpering that sounded all too familiar. Dropping his messenger bag onto the floor, Gerard walked over to the stall and knocked quietly. "Frankie? Is that you?"

That voice.. “G-Gerard..?” Frank nearly sobbed, pulling himself up from the floor and unlocking the stall before huddling against the wall. He hid his face with his knees, not wanting for Gerard to see he bloody nose, black eye, and busted lip.

Gerard stepped into the stall, closing the door and locking it behind him. "Frank, what happened?" He asked, seeing small drops of blood on the floor and on the other boy's pants.

“Jocks..” Frank whimpered, shaking a bit. He kept his face concealed, truly afraid for Gerard to see him like this.

Kneeling down beside him, Gerard gently placed his hand on Frank's back. "What did they do? Are you hurt?"

It took another second or two before Frank decided to lift his face up from his knees. Blood ran from his nose in a small trickle and his lip was split where his piercing took residence. His right eye was nearly swollen shut and an awful shade of purple. The boy offered no words in reply, just letting his injuries speak for themselves.

After having taken in all that were Frank's injuries, an angered expression made a home on his face. “I'm gonna fucking kill them.” He stated simply before grabbing a length of toilet tissue from the roll holder and beginning to gently dab at Frank's bloodied face.

The freshman winced as his face was cleaned of blood, then shook his head at the other’s vendetta. “Don’t.. What if they come back? Just.. don’t make things worse..” He pleaded, taking the hand that was tending to his face in his own.

"Frank, I'm not just going to sit idly by while you get beaten." Gerard's voice was stern but quiet as he held onto the other's hand. "I don't care if they beat me up. If it protects you, so be it."

Frank’s not-swollen eye blinked in awe, truly shocked by Gerard’s words. “Gerard, I.. Thank you.. Just promise me you’ll be careful..” He threw his arms around the older boy, whimpering a bit and holding onto him like his life depended on it. For the first time since they’d started talking, he realized that this was indeed more than lust drawing him to the other boy; this was something more.

"I promise, Frankie." Gerard then kissed the other's forehead and stood. "You've gotta show me which ones did it, though. I don't want to be wailed on by just any jocks." He offered a playful smile in hopes of getting Frank's spirits up.

Shakily standing, Frank smiled and wiped his bloody nose with some toilet tissue. “I don’t want you to get wailed on, period.. but I can show you.” He replied, with a slight nod.

Once Gerard had made sure Frank's face was perfectly presentable again, aside from the bruising and swelling, the two walked from the bathroom stall and out into the hallway. "Alright, you take it from here, I guess."

The younger of the two scanned the lunchroom, searching for five smug-looking football players in letterman jackets. Once he’d spot them, all sitting at a table in the center of the crowded area, Frank tapped Gerard’s arm and pointed to them.
Seeing the group of guys that Frank was pointing at, Gerard felt a nervous pang in his stomach. They were bigger than he expected. No matter, he thought. He was going to march right up to them and show them who was boss.
Crossing the cafeteria with his hands balled up in fists, Gerard approached the others. "Hey." He grunted at one of them.

The leader of the group turned his head toward Gerard with a slight smirk, catching sight of the boy he and his crew kicked the tar out of at the back of the lunchroom. “Look at that boys!” He crowed jeeringly. “Little Faggot Frankie’s fuck buddy decided to fight his battles for him!” The group of boys laughed loudly at their leader’s comment.
Frank wanted to curl into a ball and disappear when he heard the laughter. This is exactly why he hated school..

"You shut the fuck up!" Gerard shouted, raising one of his tightly clenched fists. "If you even /think/ about harming that boy again, I will EAT. YOUR. FUCKING. FACE."

The jock that made the comment rose from the table and shoved Gerard, still wearing that shit-eating grin. “I’d like to see you fucking try, douche-fag!”

After regaining his balance from the shove, Gerard drew back one of his fists and sent it flying into the jock's face.

The grin was wiped away from the larger boy’s at the swing, making him growl at the pain. The group of four other jocks tried to charge Gerard, but the leader waved them off. “No.. This is between me and the bitch boy now..” He snarled, throwing a punch of his own.
A collective shock rose from the crowd at the sound of the fight in progress, eventually building into a chant egging on the fight.

As the two boys continued to throw punches and jabs at each other, one of the monitoring teachers caught wind of the fight and rushed over to try to break it up. "WAY, RAMIEREZ, PRICIPAL'S OFFICE. NOW." The male science teacher had screamed as he tore them off of each other.

The jock, who now had a bloody nose, was quite easily pulled from Gerard, yelling the whole way to the principal’s office. “YOU’RE DEAD, FAGGOT! YOU AND ME AFTER SCHOOL! YOU’RE MINCEMEAT!” As Ramierez passed Frank, he spat in his direction, causing the younger boy to cower and turn away from everyone.

"BRING IT." Gerard yelled back as he was practically drug into the principal's office. Only after being sat down in a chair did the boy feel just how much pain he was in from the bully punching him in the jaw.

Principal Owens sat in front of the two angry boys calmly, more so than anyone in the room. “Now boys.. you both know the penalty for violence on school premises.. Especially you, Mr. Ramierez.”
The football player looked down at his lap, embarrassed to have his past record for fighting brought to light.

As the adrenaline slowly left Gerard's system, he looked to the principal with a dash of worry in his eyes. He'd never been in this much trouble before, and he had no idea what was going to happen next.

“Mr. Way, since this is your first offense, you will endure two days suspension to think over your deeds. Do not bother coming to school tomorrow; your work will be sent to you via the mail.” The principal declared, dismissing Gerard with a wave of a hand. “You, Mr. Ramierez, will stay here while I think over how you should be dealt with.” A bit of venom lingered in the elder man’s tone as he stared down the obviously fearful jock.

“S-so can I go?" Gerard asked, wiping some of the drying blood from under his nose.

Principal Owens nodded and stared down the jock, blatantly thinking very hard about how to handle the boy’s numerous offenses.

Quickly scrambling to his feet, Gerard stepped out of the office and over to where he last saw Frank. "Hey, you okay?" He asked the other, finding him sitting on the floor.

During the time Gerard had been away, Frank had gone to the nurse for some bandages and an ice pack for his eye. “As okay as I can be.. How ‘bout you? What do you have to do now that..” He didn’t want to finish his question, feeling like he already knew the answer.

"I got suspended for two days, but it's not that bad. What matters to me is that you're going to be safe. I left before I heard what that asshole's punishment was, but by the sound of the principal's voice, it's going to be a lot worse than mine." He sighed, carefully pulling back Frank's hand to look at the swelling. "Your face is starting to heal already." He smiled a bit before offering a hand to help the other up. "We'd better get to class."

Frank took the offered hand, then allowed the moment brought by the pull to allow him to hug Gerard tightly. “Thank you..” He whispered before pressing a kiss to the older boy’s cheek. Right about that time, the bell for the next class rang, signaling that Frank needed to head to algebra.

"I'll see you in debate, Frankie." Gerard smiled a bit, his face still hurting from where the jock had punched him. Once the two had parted ways, Gerard made his way up to the art room. It felt good to be in a familiar environment.

Realizing that he had algebra next, the boy’s heart sank and he whimpered as he walked to class. Algebra seemed to pass as slowly as cold honey dripping from an open jar. The only highlight was getting a good grade on the homework Gerard had helped him with. When the class ended, Frank nearly bolted to the debate classroom.

Strolling through the halls leisurely on his way to debate class, Gerard spotted Frank running into the room. The sight of him made his heart flutter in his chest, even from that distance. After making it into the classroom and to his seat, Gerard reached over and tapped Frank's shoulder. "Hey, how much homework do you have?"

A smile decorated Frankie’s bruised face as he felt Gerard’s touch to his shoulder. “Just a worksheet or two, but with your help I’m sure I’ll get it done in no time. You want to come over to my house this time?” He asked, a hopeful look lighting up his eyes.

"Yeah, sure." Gerard grinned, getting out his required materials for the class. "But we're going to have to stop by my place at some point to tell my mom what happened."
At the mention of Gerard’s mother, nerves flooded Frank’s expression. This would be entirely awkward.. “I-I guess, yeah.. We can do that..” The teacher called attention to the class then, cutting off Frank’s words.

Throughout the duration of the class, neither Gerard or Frank had been paying much attention. The teacher seemed to drone on and on, and the boys were on the edge of their seats waiting for the bell to ring.

“…and remember class, your first presentation project will be due next week!” The teacher announced just as the bell rang.
But, Frank didn’t catch it, being too excited for the night’s activities. “Fuckin’ finally..” He sighed as the school day ended, grabbing up his backpack and stepping close to Gerard’s desk. “But.. what are you going to do about that bully..?”

Standing up and gathering his belongings, Gerard then turned to Frank. "Nothing, most likely. We're not allowed around each other anymore from what I know of it. I don't think he'll be messing with you anymore either."

Relief warmed Frank’s expression with Gerard’s explanation; this was the best news he’d gotten all day. “That’s such a weight off, man.. Just.. thank you for everything. Really. I would’ve probably just let myself be beat up day by day if not for you..” Frank admitted quietly, rubbing his arm self-consciously.

"You also probably never would have gotten beat up if it weren't for me, though. I needed to do something about it because I caused it." Gerard shrugged as they departed the classroom hand-in-hand. "So are we going to my place first?"

“Yeah, we probably should.” The younger sighed, fishing out a smoke from his backpack. “I hope your mom doesn’t flip shit though.. I mean.. You were doing something nice..” He muttered, sticking the cigarette behind his ear until they were outside.

"She shouldn't do too much more than chastise me a bit. I'm used to being scolded though, so don't worry." The older boy chuckled.

As the two boys exited the school building, Frank lit up his smoke before taking Gerard’s hand again and resting his head against the older boy’s arm. “I really hope so.. I’m used to adults yelling and all, just.. I don’t know if I’d be able to handle /you/ being yelled at. Lunch was enough today. Seriously.” He chuckled a bit, taking a drag from his smoke.

Gerard smiled a bit, squeezing Frank's hand. "Don't worry about me, Frank. I'm a big boy. I can handle myself." The older of the two then looked around for a moment. "Do you ever stop and look at how shitty of a neighborhood we live in? It's kind of pathetic."

“You haven’t even seen my house yet.” Frank laughed, tapping some ash from his cigarette. “Our neighborhood is pretty pathetic and it only gets worse past your street.” With a playful shove, the younger finished his smoke and tossed it to the ground as they approached Gerard’s home.

"I doubt your place will be that bad." Gerard laughed. "Also, wait out here. I don't want mom to bitch about not letting her know you're coming over." After finishing his last sentence, he walked through his front door and into the house. "Mom?" He called. "I got suspended until Monday."

Nodding, Frank leaned against the house, internally worrying about his companion and chewing his nails.
Donna had been in the kitchen prepping things for dinner when Gerard’s announcement caught her attention. She dropped the knife she’d been holding and turned to find her son with a bloody nose. “What happened?!” The mother exclaimed, caught between frustration and worry.

"I, uh, got into a fight with a jock." Gerard muttered, wiping at the dried blood with the back of his hand. "But, it's okay. It was for a good reason."

“And what reason was that?! What was so important that you had to get hurt /and/ suspended?” Donna replied, stepping forward from the counter and folding her arms over her chest.

Thinking fast, Gerard made up a lie so that his mother wouldn't think Frank was a bad influence on him. "He called me a faggot and some other stuff, and I just didn't want to deal with it."

The explanation seemed believable enough to let Donna’s mind rest at ease. With a heavy sigh, she dropped her gaze to the floor. “I can understand that.. Are they going to send you your school work?”

"From what I know, yeah. I've got to go, though. I promised Frank that I'd help him with his homework again." As he spoke the last sentence, Gerard felt himself grow a bit nervous. What if his mom were to say no because of what she walked in on yesterday? What if he was no longer allowed around Frank anymore?

Donna blinked for a moment after she heard Gerard’s plans. She couldn’t help but think it might be unwise to let her son hang out with the boy she’d caught him fooling around with.. But, the mother did trust her son, and figured it would be alright, given that Gerard was technically an adult now. “… You can go help him.. But I still expect you home at some point tonight, okay?” Even though Donna was still a bit on edge about Gerard’s suspension, she let a warm smile bloom on her lips.

"Thank you," He nodded. "I'll text you when we get to his place to let you know that I made it there okay." With that, Gerard turned from where his mother stood and quickly walked down to his bedroom. Down there, he changed into a pair of his favourite tight jeans and stripped his upper half of the school uniform so that he was just in the Batman t-shirt he'd slipped on underneath the dress shirt. After having done so, he trudged up the stairs and walked back through the living room, then out the front door. "Alright, let's go." He smiled, slipping back into his coat the rest of the way.

The freshman who was leaned against the house had begun to chew his lip while he waited, opening up the busted part he’d received earlier that day. When Gerard was finally back outside, Frank eased up some. The Batman t-shirt the other wore caught his eye near immediately, making him grin like a giddy school girl. “Your Batman shirt is awesome! And I remembered my socks, too.” He chuckled, lifting his pant-leg to reveal the garment in question.

"Woo!" Gerard laughed. "We match! Sorta." The pair started to walk down the porch steps and back out into the cold wind. As the wind hit Gerard's upper body, he shivered and started to button up his jacket. "Fuckin' cold out here."

“Seriously.. Good thing we don’t have far to walk though.” Frank commented as they continued down to the main street to progress to his house. A bit of nerves tightened his chest when he realized that Gerard would be seeing his awful home. Frank led the way down his street, passing many increasingly bad-looking homes until they came to the end of the street. “Well.. this is me..”

Taking in the sight of the New Jersey home, Gerard just shrugged. "I've see worse." He stated. "C'mon, let's get inside before my balls freeze off."

The younger boy nodded as he opened the front door. “Mom? You home?” He called inside. Upon hearing nothing, he welcomed his companion inside. “I don’t think mom or her boyfriend are home right now, so we shouldn’t be bothered. My room’s upstairs, like the opposite of yours.” Frank chuckled, shutting the door behind them once they were both inside.

"Alright, cool. Lead the way." Gerard smiled a bit, kicking off his shoes at the door.

Frank copied Gerard before heading up the stairs and down the small hallway to his bedroom. On his door, there were many ‘Do Not Enter’ signs; someone was obviously trying to stay away from people.. With a bit of nerves, Frank opened his bedroom door and gestured his companion inside. “Welcome to my room.”

Stepping into the room, Gerard eyed the mess of clothes on the floor, the papers tossed about carelessly, the unmade bed, and the guitar in the corner. "Niiiice." He grinned, crossing the room and sitting on Frank's bed. "I like it!"

A light blush decorated the younger boy’s cheeks as he stepped into his room and shut the door behind him. “Really..? It’s not too messy or anything?”

"Nah, man! It's perfect!" He said, stretching back on the bed with his hand behind his head. "So, what's on the schedule for today, math wise?"

Smiling as he made his way over to Gerard, Frank pulled out his algebra textbook and opened it to where the worksheets were sticking out. “Looks like dividing algebraic expressions.. ugh.. What the fuck does algebraic expression even mean?”

After about an hour or so of Gerard explaining and helping Frank with the assignments, they were finally finished. "So, yeah. That's how ya do that. I'm sorry if my instructions suck, I'm better at science." He chuckled after Frank had placed the book on the bedside stand.

Frank was rubbing his temples from all the work he’d just done and grumbled quietly as he laid back on his bed. “You’re okay, man.. I just fucking hate math..”

"I know you do, Frankie." Gerard chuckled a bit, resting his hand on Frank's leg. "Do you want me to go home or?"

The younger boy shook his head, taking the older’s hand that rested on his leg. “No, not yet. I want you stay as long as you can.” He smiled and sat up. Then, an idea came to mind and he pointed to his guitar. “Hey, do you play, or like.. know any songs that I can play?”

"Er, I dunno? I mean, what do you usually listen to?" Gerard asked, tilting his head.

Frank chewed his lip in thought for a moment, trying to remember all the things he’d learned recently. “Well.. I just got down Hotel California by The Eagles and 1979 by Smashing Pumpkins..”

"BRO." Gerard's eyes lit up when he had heard Frank say 'Smashing Pumpkins'. "I love 1979!"

Without another word, Frank made his way over to his guitar and started to tune it accordingly. “Maybe you could check my playing then.” He chuckled, strumming the first chord to make sure he had the strings in tune.

Once Frank had started playing, Gerard started to tap his foot to the music. Before long, he was singing perfectly along with the tune flowing through the air.

Both boys got lost in the music; Frank bobbing his head as he played his guitar and Gerard flawlessly providing the words. As the song ended, Frank smiled up at Gerard and held his guitar still. “Didn’t know you could sing so good..” He quietly commented, blushing subtly.

"I didn't know you could play so well." Gerard smirked, closing the small distance between them with a few steps. He leaned down to where Frank was sitting, placing a soft kiss to his forehead.

Frank’s eyes fluttered closed at the gentle brush of lips to his head, then wrapped his arms around Gerard’s torso. He went in for a kiss to the lips, but was distracted by the sound of a beat-up truck pulling up to the house. “Shit.. Aaron’s here..”

"So?" Gerard tilted his head to glance out the bedroom's only window. "What's he gonna do?"

“I doubt he’ll come up here.. but if he does, there’s no way in Hell he won’t flip shit that I have someone here..” He muttered, looking down at the floor. “Plus, he’ll tell mom that I’m all beat up and she’ll get worried.. Just a lot of shit I don’t want to deal with..”

Concerned for Frank's well-being, Gerard sighed. "Ah, I see. What do you want me to do, then?"

The freshman flopped against his bed in thought, trying to come up with any possible solution. “I mean.. I think the best bet is to just stay until my mom and him pass out and then sneak away.”

"Or I can just stay the night and I can walk you to school? If we have to we can get up a little earlier than normal and sneak out while they're still asleep." Gerard sat down beside Frank, mulling over the possible choices. "It's whatever you want, really."

His heart fluttered at the prospect of having Gerard over all night, leaving his lips slightly parted. “A-are you sure your mom would be okay with that..?” He desperately wanted his companion to stay the night, but if his mother refused, he would suffer through it.

"Yeah, just let me text my mom real quick." He smiled, pulling his phone from his back pocket. He sent to his mother a simple 'I'm staying over @ Frank's tonight. He's having a hard time w/ math."

The return text from Donna read: ‘You boys better not be doing anything crazy.. Just make sure you’re home tomorrow to get your own schoolwork done.’

"K, will do. See u in the morning." He sent. After the text had went through, Gerard turned to Frank. "I can stay." He grinned. "But I think Mom's skeptical of my intentions. And, she probably should be."

Frank chuckled and scooted closer to Gerard, entwining their hands again. “Yeah.. she probably should be.” He leaned in close to the other boy, his lips just close enough to let them feel his breath.

Half-lidded hazel eyes scanned over Frank's nearing face as a smirk made a home on Gerard's lips. Without speaking, he leaned forward just enough to kiss the other, his eyes then falling shut.

The initial contact of their lips made the cut on Frank’s flare up a bit in pain, but that soon melted away as he lost himself to the warm of the action. His hand went up to gently hold Gerard’s neck as he kept the kiss going.

Making sure to be as careful as possible because of Frank's injury, Gerard kept his kiss soft and light against the other's busted lip. He then pulled back, just long enough to moisten his dry lips. "I taste blood.." His eyebrows raised in worry. "Frank, have you been biting your lip?"

A look of distaste and almost sadness weighed down Frank’s expression as the kiss fell away. “Yeah.. I couldn’t help it. I was worried about how your mom would react to you coming over today.” He admitted shyly, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Aw, you silly thing." Gerard chuckled, kissing the other boy's cheek. "So, what do you want to do now?"

With the question, Frank smiled softly and asked to just talk for a while, and they did just that for the majority of the night. They talked about music they like, favourite foods, past events in life, -everything-. Eventually, the younger of the two started to become tired, leading him to yawn a bit. “Think I maybe should sleep soon.. I still have to go Hell tomorrow. I mean school.”

"Mind if I sleep beside you?" Gerard asked, stifling a yawn the best that he could. "I'm getting pretty tired m'self."

“N-no I don’t—Yeah that’s okay.” Frank stammered, blushing and internally rejoicing that he was getting to sleep with his companion. “Do you need like clothes to sleep in or something? I don’t think my shirts would fit you cause you’re a bit taller than me, but I’ve got some baggy pj pants you could probably wear.”

"Nah, I don't mind sleeping in my jeans." Gerard smiled, running a hand through his hair before laying down beside Frank on the bed. "You get up and get changed, though. I promise I won't look." He teased.

With playful glare and shove, the shorter boy rose from his bed and walked to his dresser. Once there, he peeled out of his school uniform and dressed in a plain white tank-top and red plaid pajama pants. While he was changing, he couldn’t help but chew at his lip a little with nerves. If Gerard was looking, he’d be able to see his exposed lower half..

While Frank was changing, Gerard's mind was anywhere but on the fact that the other boy was getting nude beside him. "You about done?" He asked, keeping his eyes on a particular piece of paper on the floor.

“Yeah.” He answered, turning back around and laying on his bed once he was fully dressed again. Frank usually only wore pants to bed, but some part of him was still a tad self-conscious about sleeping shirtless next to his crush.

Once Frank was comfortable beside him and had pulled the blankets up over them, Gerard carefully wrapped his body around the smaller male's, nuzzling contentedly against his head. With one leg over Frank's legs and an arm across his chest, Gerard was the picture of comfort. Minutes passed of quiet pillow talk until Gerard had finally succumbed to the threshold of sleep.

Frank was awake for a while longer after Gerard was asleep, just taking in the fact that the boy his heart belonged to was this close to him. Placing a sleepy kiss to Gerard’s head, Frank closed his eyes and slipped off to a peaceful sleep; content in the warmth of the older boy’s embrace.

Notes

That took longer to post than I thought it would X)