The Only Way

I was sitting in the waiting room when April arrived. She was alone this time. She looked like she was excited to see me and sat down on the chair next to mine.

"You came in early! Couldn't wait to see Mr. Way's ass?" She said laughing.

"Nah, I had to walk here. My mom refused to drive me since I've been suspended from school."

"Ohh! We got a badass over here!" She said, raising both hands, laughing.

"That's what those bruises are about" She said, looking at my arm. That was actually a courtesy of my dad when he found out I had been suspended.

I noded. I preferred this lie than the truth.

I rolled down my sleves, making sure Gerard wouldn't notice. I wasn't ready to tell anyone about it, especially not Gerard, now that his opinion mattered.

"Vivienne wants me to apologize to my parents for all the harm I've caused. This sucks balls." She said, changing the subject.

"What did you do exactly?" I asked, not really wanting to know but glad that the attention was back on her.

"Ohh I'm here for anger management...I've vandalised a science lab and beaten up my teacher. I might have went to his house after I got thrown out of school and made him death threats...you know, the usual." She said looking casual.

"Of course, the usual.." I said, barely looking at her. This girl was nuts..I made a mental note not to piss her off. Ever.

"Aww you're not afraid of me, are you?" She said, pouting.

"Nah." I said, trying to look tough.

"I wouldn't hurt those sad puppy eyes." She said as she tousled my hair.

"Hey I'm not a dog." I said, annoyed.

"All men are dogs." She said, zoned out, clenched fists. Oops. I had touched a sensitive nerve.

Gerard arrived at the right time, allowing me to make a clean escape. His eyes were red, he looked like he had stayed up all night.

We walked to his office and I sat down on the sofa. He was quieter than usual.

"So how are you today?" He said, barely looking at me.

"Way better. Thanks to you." I said, trying to catch his attention.

"Hey, I was only doing my job, no need to thank me." He said, looking down on his notebook. That was colder than usual.

"Tell me what happened in school." Okay...Straight to the point, alright.

"Well...I"

"Why did you punched the other student?" He didn't let me finish.

"Long story short, he was saying that my friend and I were fags." I said. He didn't look like he was in the mood for details.

"And are you? I mean...is it because you're gay that it upset you?" He asked. Wow, he didn't usually lack that much tact.

"No, it's just that it was mean and, those kinds of guys, they think they are so clever but they aren't. They think they can speak their minds without consequences." I answered.

"And you felt like you had to take it all on him? That he had to pay for it?" He said, coldly.

" He's a fucking prick. He didn't deserve any better. He ruins everything for everybody else." I said, really emotional. He was staring to get on my nerves with his attitude.

"We'll see if that way of thinking is gonna lead you far in life." He said, resentment in his voice.

"Alright..what's going on with you? Why are you so mad at me?" I asked. I couldn't take anymore minute of this. He was acting like a jerk and it was unprofessional.

He didn't answer. He looked kind of suprised, then sadness filled his eyes. Something was up and I wouldn't leave before founding out.

"I'm sorry...I.." He said, tears runing down his cheek.

"I should've stayed home..I'm still pretty drunk and it's not fair to you." Not that he mentionned it, he smelled kinda bad.

"Well you can talk to me. I'm a patient on his way of becoming a friend, remember?" I said, looking at him. Yesterday seemed like a dream that was now turning into a nightmare.

He smiled but it didn't last long, his eyes were still filled with tears.

"I had a call yesterday after dropping you to your place...I got divorced, a couple months ago. I..we had adopted a child, a little girl." He said, trying to make sense out of his thoughts.

I hadn't noticed the mark his ring had left on his finger before, now it was practically glowing. He had an ex-wife and a kid. How could I think he had no dating history, him being such a gorgeous, kind man. I was thinking like a 17 years old, that's how. Now that I was aware of it, our age difference seemed like a huge deal. All my hopes and dreams had been shattered. Dammit.

"And now he's asking for full costudy and I won't be able to see her." He said, looking at the ground.

Did he had say he? Mr. Way was gay. I let the words resound in my head. There was still a chance.

"What makes you think he will get it?" I asked, emphasizing on the "he" still distracted by what I had just found out. I started to feel a bit guilty. The guy was pouring his heart out and I was happy I still had a shot with him.

"Look at me.." He said, sadly laughing. He was dressed like the day before and smelled like cheap alcohol. How could I not have noticed it?

"You are awesome and caring and fun, and a total dork and I don't see why a judge couldn't look at you and see the same thing." I said. I really thought what I had just said. I barely knew the man but still could swear on my mother's head that he was amazing.

"You..you really think so?" He asked, looking at me with puppy eyes. He acted like an insecure teenager when he was drunk. Hell, it was kinda cute. I felt like the adult in the room.

"Yeah I do. Why don't you lay down on the couch and try to sleep for the rest of the session?" I asked, taking him by the hand and leading him to the sofa.

"Humm..alright." He said, his eyes all sleepy.

I watched him fall asleep. He looked so peaceful, like he had not a care in the world. I felt previledged to assist to such a beautiful scenery but after an hour, I was kinda bored. I got up and inspected the room. There was an empty bottle of vodka in the trashcan. Drinking at work, not smart, Gerard. I looked through the bookcase on the wall. It was filled with psychology books with titles like "Trauma of the soul" or "The hapiness industry : how the government and big industries sell us happiness.". "Child neglect and abuse." That one was for my dad. I took a random one with the word stress on it, sat down next to Gerard, now snoring, and began to read. It was filled with tips and tricks on how to live with a panic disorder. I wouldn't have called it living, surviving was more like it. I read a couple pages and got bored again. I had an attention spam of ten minutes, tops.

I was looking at Gerard's desk (it was too clean to be true. I had to congradulate him later.) when something caught my eyes. It was the comic book with Batman on the cover that Gerard had shown me yesterday, right before I went into full panic mode. I opened it and flipped through the pages. There was a dedicace on the inside of the cover "To Frank. All the best heroes are ordinary people who make themselves extraordinary."

"You found my gift" he said, waking up. I put the book back on his desk. I didn't want him to think I was being nosy.

"How did you.."

" I came back to the store after you had fallen asleep. I thought you might like it."

"You're unbelievable" I said, rooling my eyes. "You really didn't have to"

"But I wanted to." He said, smiling at me.

"Feeling better?" I asked, smiling back.

"Yeah..but you'll have to walk, I don't think I'm okay to drive." He said, apologizing.

"You'll spend the night here then?" I asked, concerned.
"No, I'll take a cab home."
"Do you wanna share a cab with me?" I asked. I didn't want to say goodbye yet.

"Are you worried about me?" He said, still smiling. He looked even more drunk than before.

"Of course I am, you look like a mess."

"That's not really kind." He said looking pityful.

"You know I didn't mean it like that." I said, helping him getting up. He could barely stand straight.

"You'll be my anchor, I'll be the ship steering you through the storm. He started signing. A made up song, I guessed.

"And I'm fucked up drunnnkkk like fucking dumbo who has the hiccups and I'm getting carried by Frank Iero the savior of the broken, the beaten and the damned."

"Yes you are, baby." He shouted, his finger pointing at me.

"You have an amazing voice." I told him, laughing about the nonsense he was signing.

"Thanks sweetheart." He said, almost tripping on his own foot.

"Now try to keep it down while I call a taxy."

"Shhhh." He hushed, putting a finger on my mouth.

Seeing him like this was kinda hilarious but sad at the same time. He was a real mess and the least I could do was to get him home safe. At this point I didn't know what he would do if I left him alone. Probably walk around naked, I thought, as he was lifting his shirt, trying to distract me from the phone call I was making (and succeeding). Good thing I knew the address by heart.

After a couple of minutes of struggle and him running back upstairs just to piss me off, we finally got into the cab. I took his driver license in his back pocket and gave his address to the cab driver.

We were about to enter in his driveway when he rested his head on my shoulder.

"Do you think we'll be happy someday?" He asked, his eyes looking in the distance.

"Are you unhappy?" I asked, a bit suprised.

"I'm happy when I'm with you." He said, not realising what it meant to me.

"I am too." I answered back.

Then I watched the man of my dreams walking to his front door, cursing while he struggled to open it with his keys.

Notes

This one was fun to write. Hope you like it!