Frank POV

“Stop!” I cry, practically diving onto him. I manage to wrestle the glass out his hand and throw it as far away as possible. He grabs me and pushes me up against a tree trunk. I try to push him away but he’s a lot taller and stronger than me. We look in each other’s eyes for a moment. All I can see in his is pain and fear just lots and lots of it. I feel sorry for him for a moment but out of nowhere a feel a shot of pain in my jaw and realise the fucker punched me. Once I come to my senses I manage to push him away with my foot. I would normally kick him in the balls then beat the shit out of him but that would hurt Gerard more, he can’t help all this. We stare each other the fuck out, his pupils are dilated and I can’t see a trace of Gerard or Party.
“Who are you!?” I yell. He doesn’t respond “Where’s Gerard? Or Party?” still nothing “What have you done with them!?” he just keeps staring at me, still no response “Just bring back one of them back please” I’m practically begging now. “Gerard? Party?” I yell desperately in this strangers face. He moves his head slightly, looking downwards. His grip loosens slightly and he twitches a little. He seems to be in this zoned out state for a painful amount of time, drifting in and out of reality. I think, I hope, he’s switching but it’s taking a while. I plead under my breath for Gerard or Party to come back and holy shit his pupils are smaller. He looks at me and his body language completely changes, letting go of any remaining hold he had. He looks round, frowning and runs his hand through his hair. I think Party poison’s back in town.
“Party?” I check. They look at me again and smile, all be it a tiny one.
“Fuck Frankie” they groan before I lunge forward and hug them so fucking tightly.
“What the hell just happened dude” I ask.
“I was about to ask you the same thing” they chuckle softly, but with traces of fear across their features “Where the fuck are we?”
“Just the school field”
“Okay so talk me through what just went down because Gerard is 300% not okay I don’t know where the fuck he’s gone off too and G is literally having kittens Saviour threw a complete hissy fit and now he’s disappeared too and I’ve just suddenly had to force myself out even though honestly it’s the last thing I want to be doing right now and I don’t even know why”
“You had to force yourself out? Is that why the switch took longer than the other times”
“Yeah probably I wasn’t even conscious then I just suddenly I knew I needed to come out but whoever was out really didn’t want to budge, I had to use like so much energy to push him out the way, I’m so drained right now but yeah this is irrelevant just tell me what the fuck went down” they gabble before sitting down on a random log.
“So basically Gerard saw your text to me from-” I start.
“Yeah I know all this” they interrupt “You both went all lovey dovey in the disabled toilet but- but what went wrong?”
“Are you sure you want to know”
They nod but I’m not sure it’s entirely sincere.
“Well basically someone walked in and saw us with short sleeves”
“Shit I remember now. Then what?”
“Everyone saw my scars and started freaking the fuck out and shouting stuff and like a crowd gathered but honestly no one saw yours, you’re fine. Then they started taking photos and you- Gerard- that other dude, I don’t know, shoved the jumper back on and ran out, then I was just stood there and I started having a panic attack in front of everyone while this random alter was running off god knows where but yeah this teacher Mr Toro found me and sent everyone to class and calmed me down and took me to his room but then I saw you out the window so sent him to go get hot chocolate and made a run for it because you said about how destructive this alter can be I didn’t want anyone getting hurt and yeah you ran into this bush and found a piece of smashed glass but then I wrestled it out your hand and that’s when you came back”
They run their hands through their hair again, it must be a nervous habit but fuck it’s sexy- stop frank Jesus Christ.
“Are you okay?” they ask.
“What me? I’m fine I was more worried about you”
“Jesus Frankie, you’re doing a better job at protecting Gerard than I am and I’m the freaking protector”
“You’re doing just fine, are you okay? I mean, you just appeared in a bush with no idea what happened you must be terrified”
“Well yeah I am a bit but I’m good now, if a bit dazed, but Frankie, it sounds horrible what happened, are you okay?”
“I don’t know how I’m ever meant to face another human here but apart from that not a care in the world” I reply sarcastically.
“Shit, honestly, they have nothing on you, you should know where they can stick whatever judgements they have and if anyone says anything to you just laugh it the fuck off because you are so much stronger and better than they ever will be” they ramble.
“Yeah, thanks I guess” I reply.
“And thank you, Frankie for coming and finding me before something happened”
“It’s nothing. Oh shit Mr Toro is probably wondering where the hell I’ve gone” I remember suddenly.
“Yeah we should go back” They chuckle. We carefully, climb out back through the bush getting caught god knows how many times. Suddenly I trip over some kinda tree root and instantly Party grabs my hand. I look up at them fuck it’s so romantic, I almost snog them right there. I don’t let go of their hand as we stumble into sunlight.
“Hey frank, you’re covered in leaves” they laugh, leaning forward and picking pieces of foliage out of my hair carefully. They’re being so tender and I need to tell them how I feel. Maybe they feel the same, I mean just friends don’t normally hold hands and hug so often and treat each other so tenderly do they? I plan what I’ll say as I watch them lean so close to me. How would you feel if I told you I like you more than a friend? No. I think I love you. No far too cheesy. I think I like you, you know, like like. Okay that seems cool and detached enough.
“Party”
They hum in response. Fuck what was I mean to say again.
“I- I hope you really are okay” damn it Frank you’ve fucked up again.
“Yes I’m fine honestly, oh my god, where did this bruise come from? Who did this?” they ask concerned. Oh shit, they really don’t remember. I look at them carefully and they watch their eyebrows furrow in confusion and concern.
“Y-you” I sigh looking away, I can’t lie. I mean could of withheld memories from them just like how they seem to do inside but I couldn’t lie to their face “But not you, that other alter”
“Shit. I am so sorry Frankie” they sigh stepping away from me, their face falling.
“Don’t be please, you couldn’t help it, it wasn’t even you”
“No but it was me, I mean we’re all part of the same system in a way we are all eachother and if one alter does something everyone has to take the consequences, even if they weren’t out when it happened. Besides I should have stopped him”
“You tried, you did, you switched like right after”
“So that was the urgency huh? I was beating up the nicest thing that’s ever happened to me?”
I feel myself blush but not now please.
“No it wasn’t like that, you- he was hurting so bad I could tell he was trying to take it out on himself well you but I stopped him so he had no choice but to take it out on me, it was in defence I mean he looked scared and hurt not aggressive”
“He’s not normally violent oh fuck I don’t even know who he is but all I think he’s this dude who’s like the whipping boy, I only know he exists because people have told me about him”
“Poor dude. We should really get back to Mr Toro”
They agree and we start walking across the field.
“I’m so so sorry Frankie”
“It’s nothing really”
They seem a lot less distracted but look worried, I feel so fucking bad for them I almost forget how shit scared I am about the fact people actually have photos of my scars. When we’re about halfway back across the field I see Mr Toro running out. I’m gonna be in so much trouble.
“Boys!” he calls as we get near “Don’t you ever run off like that again”
“Sorry sir, I saw Gerard out the window and he looked really scared, I couldn’t just leave him there. I would have told you but you were getting hot chocolate and I wanted to make sure he was alright” I say in my best teacher’s pet voice as he approaches.
“Are you okay Gerard?” he checks. Party nods “Good. I probably should give you both a detention for running off but after today’s drama, seeing as you only had good intentions, shall we not speak of this again?”
“Okay, thanks so much, sir” I smile and we walk back into the room we were in before to have a ‘chat’. I worry about Party and hope they don’t get asked questions after all, all they know is a brief synopsis I gave them. I also worry about how obvious this bruise is, I hope Party only noticed because of how close they were to me.
“So Frank, in complete detail could you talk through everything that happened from when you two went into the toilet together to this moment” Mr Toro suggests.
“I uh yeah. We went to the toilet for some privacy and there were lots of people in the normal bathroom so Gerard took me into the disabled one instead”
“You shouldn’t of really been in there, but I let that slide, why were you though?”
“We just wanted to go somewhere quiet where we could talk and relax”
“Okay, Frank, I know you’re gay, if this isn’t too personal are you two in a relationship?”
I wish the ground would eat me as I shake my head profusely, I glance up at Party whose gone a deep crimson and is doing the same.
“Right, okay, sorry for asking. You two sure would make a good couple though” he jokes, causing us both to blush even more “So where did scars and stuff get involved?”
“We were sat on the floor chatting and mental health came up and I told him about my stuff, he’s already told me about his, well wrote down. And by chatting, I meant him texting. But yeah, after I told him, I felt comfortable enough to take off my hoodie so I did and I accidentally cried a little just about life so we kinda hugged for a bit but completely platonically” I explain, almost trying to convince myself of the last bit. Mr Toro writes something down and nods for me to continue “Then, as we were hugging the door opened and a bunch of people saw us and all my scars and when they shouted stuff at us more people looked to see what was going on”
“What did they shout? Like exact quotes”
“The first was like oh my god the emo kids are fucking” I quote feeling awkward swearing to a teacher.
“Gerard, is that right?” he checks. Party nods and Mr Toro gestures for me to carry on.
“Then a girl was like ew have you seen this guy’s arm”
“Do you know who it was?”
I shake my head.
“Do you?”
Party does the same.
“Okay carry on”
“I was panicking by this point, so I wasn’t really paying attention to what people were saying and I can’t remember much else, just a guy started taking photos and a Gerard ran out” I explain.
“Okay, do you know who he was?”
We both shake our heads.
“Gerard, why did you run?” he asks carefully, turning to Party. They just shrug and look up a me with pleading eyes “There’s a notepad here for you to write it out if you want to”
Party just shakes their head.
“Why not?”
They shrug.
“Are you scared?”
They shake their head again.
“Then why don’t you want to communicate with us? I’m here for you, I’m not the bad guy, you’re allowed to open up if you want to”
They don’t do anything in response and the situation becomes painfully uncomfortable.
“You’re both gonna have to write out statements, I’ll get the sheets as soon as possible” He tells us “How are you both getting home?”
“We’re both walking, but uh Mr Toro, I don’t think I can go out there with them all” I sigh and Party looks at me as if they’re trying to tell me something. I can’t make it out.
“Would you like me to call your parents to pick you up?”
I shake my head quickly and Party nods.
“Okay, Gerard I’ll be back in second” He gets up and leaves us here again but I hear him telling a random secretary to make sure we don’t go anyone.
“Fuck that was intense” Party breathes.
“I know” I reply.
“And when he wanted me to write oh my god, if nothing else I couldn’t because my handwritings different, I never do any school work when I’m out”
“Fuck, I didn’t think of that”
“By the way do you want a ride home?”
“Yes please”
We don’t say anything for the next few minutes and I watch the clock, only 15minutes til I can get out of this place.

Notes

the ending is shit n unproofread soz soz im literally falling asleep, it's 6:22am I haven't slept