If I Was Your Vampire

Mikey goes to school the next day, disgruntled that he couldn't skip today as well. Actually, he probably could ditch, but Gerard would kill him. Gerard's never scary when he's mad; he just gets real cold and quiet. It makes Mikey feel shitty whenever he sees his brother like that, so he does all he can not to piss him off.
Lugging his ass around the school like it's a chore, he makes it through the morning pretty seamlessly. Of course, he has a loose definition of seamless. School sucks, no matter what. So he often adjusts the meaning of these words to fit the day.
He takes his seat at lunch where he always sits. It's at this back table meant for three people. But no one else ever sits there. Mikey has always had these two spare seats, one of which he uses for piling up his backpack and books. The other though, he just kind of stares at that one blankly. Some days it feels like there should be someone there. But others, it feels like a person sitting there wouldn't be right. Mikey has a lot of internal conflict, the worst kind of conflict.
Mikey sighs, poking through the grainy taco salad. He shouldn't have even bought lunch; he's not going to eat most of it.
He puts his napkin over the offending taco salad and grabs a roll. Bread was the only thing guaranteed not to be nasty, and that was because the school bought it already made.
Chewing on the roll slowly, he about chokes when his eyes wander to the salad bar.
There's the kid from Instagram. Oh what's his name, Frank... Iero. That's his name, and he's standing right there giving himself a helping of lettuce.
Mikey wants to dissolve in his seat. Literally no one from his high school follows him, and this kid did? Without ever having spoken to him? What if he sees Mikey? Mikey goes into full panic mode; he can feel his wings pulsating beneath the constraints of his binder.
He grips the edges of his plastic chair till his knuckles are white. Should he move? Hide? Pretend he can't speak English? Oh God, Frank's looking over. Shit, his cover is blown! Frank's totally coming this way. What if he sits by him? Mikey would die on the spot.
Frank sits, greeting, "Hi, I'm Frank."
Mikey takes a moment to get his mouth working properly. "H-Hi I'm Mikey."
"Nice to meet you," Frank says, twisting the cap off his water. He takes a long drink, eyeing Mikey. Smirking, he rolls his eyes before breaking for air, wiping his mouth on his sleeve.
"What?" Mikey demands. "What's so funny?"
"You're fucking wigging out, man," Frank chuckles. He stops, asking, "You alright?"
Mikey is sweating bullets. Damn his shitty anxiety and damn this kid for sitting with him. "Yeah, I guess. Just fine."
"Good, 'cause I won't strain myself resuscitating you," Frank warns, pointing a strawberry loaded fork at Mikey.
"Sure," Mikey mumbles. There's a pause in their conversation as Frank devours his meal (consisting entirely of what Mikey calls rabbit food). Mikey begins to munch on his roll, still not taking his eyes off Frank. "So what grade are you in?"
Frank looks up momentarily, lettuce hanging off his lip. "I'm a freshman. Yourself?"
"Sophomore," Mikey mutters.
Frank nods, asking, "So you're in some harder classes, right?"
"Not really," Mikey replies. "I mean, maybe?"
"What about science?" Frank queries. "Are you in biology?"
"Yeah," Mikey answers. "I have it after this period, actually."
An ear to ear grin spreads across Frank's face. "Me too! Oh I'm totally sitting by you." He wipes his mouth with his napkin for the first time since he's eaten. "I was so scared I'd be all alone in there, y'know, with all the older kids."
Mikey nodded. "Yeah, no one really likes to be a loner."
Frank frowns. "Don't you?"
"What, me? Do I like being a loner?" Mikey repeats. When Frank nods, he just shrugs. "It's not by choice. I mean, a lot of kids at this school suck, so I wouldn't want to be around them anyways."
"Yeah, I get that," Frank sympathizes. He stands, picking up his tray. Glancing at Mikey's untouched food with the napkin over it, Frank asks, "Are you done?"
"What? Oh, yeah."
Frank doesn't say a word, just grabs Mikey's tray and carries both his and Mikey's to the trash.
Mikey is awestruck. Not that no one's ever done something like that for him, but no one at school had. Mikey stares at Frank, watching the kid bang Mikey's tray against the side of the trash can to get the gelatin like food off. Frank returns the trays and heads back, tucking his hands into his pockets. Mikey just pretends that he hadn't just been watching him.
Frank claims his seat across from Mikey, sighing as he lowers himself to the chair. "So, what's next, Mike?"
Mikey frowns. No one calls him that, not even Gerard. "I dunno. Class, I guess."
Frank giggles just as the bell rings, sending hoards of kids scurrying off in all directions. Frank quickly grabs his bag, watching Mikey take his time standing and collecting his things.
"Um, Mikey? Could you hurry up?" Frank pleads.
Mikey, head buried in his backpack as he stuffed a book in there, asked, "What for?"
"Aren't we going to be late?"
He has to be joking. Catching the boy's eyes, Mikey sees nothing but sincerity. He returns to zipping up his bag, assuring, "We have plenty of time." Slinging the bag over his shoulder, he starts walking fairly slow. Frank skips ahead of him, walking so briskly that Mikey can hear the fabric of his skinny jeans brush against each other. Mikey shakes his head. This kid, endearing as he may be, is certainly a freshman. And not just a freshman, but a geeky one.
He followed Frank all the way to the class, which wasn't exactly easy at Frank's pace. Mikey is all but panting when they reach the room, this leveled cement floor that smelled vaguely of animal pens and aquarium chemicals.
Frank found a spot near the rat cage, which Mikey was not happy about. His allergies did not play nicely with rodents, not as a vampire rule, but as a coincidence. He sat down, already feeling his eyes grow watery. He'd have to remember to take something for his allergies starting tomorrow, because something in the way Frank gazed adoringly at the rats told Mikey they wouldn't be moving.
Frank sure did love those rats. He'd hardly pay attention to anything else going on. Halfway through the period, he shared the names he'd given them with Mikey (the white one was Shredder, the grey one Comet, and the patched one Calico. Mikey tried to explain that Calicos were exclusively a type of cat, but Frank didn't want to hear it.
Frank ended up writing his cellphone number down and giving it to Mikey, instructing, "Text me later."
Mikey nodded. "Sure, yeah."
He actually kept his word that night, to his own surprise. He had a shit memory, and he honestly would have forgot had the Green Mile not been on television. He was watching with Gerard for what seemed like the hundredth time. He and Gerard liked that movie for no real reason. Gerard refused to watch movies without some sort of silver lining, and the ending of that film was sufficient enough for him, despite the darkness throughout its entirety. Anyways, in the scene when the mouse came on screen, Mikey's thoughts absently wandered to biology class, then to Frank. He glanced at the time, and seeing that it was 10, decided it wasn't too late to text him.
Mikey: hey dude
Frank didn't end up replying that night, but in the morning, Mikey received a message so full of emojis he practically had to decipher it. It ended up not being worth the time, all Frank had texted was "sorry, was sleeping!"
Hopefully this kid would make a better friend than texter.

Notes

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