Chapter Text

Gerard Way was not a sociable person. He did not like to spend his evenings with his friends, or go to parties on Saturday night or go to church on Sunday. He didn't believe in God as such, and parties always seemed like such a waste of time to him. He preferred to spend his time alone, watching TV and nursing a bottle of beer, or perhaps with Mikey, his younger brother.
When Gerard first became a teacher, he invisaged himself standing in front of a bunch of wide eyed students, all listening avidly to whatever he had to teach them. He imagined himself inspiring kids to learn new things and do well in life. He didn't imagine himself becoming depressed at the age of 25. He did not imagine himself needing at least four beers a night, washed down with a couple of - prescribed, don't worry - sleeping medication pills just to get through the day. That's why weekends were so special to Gerard, they were like gold dust, something precious to be treasured, because they were the only times he didn't have to worry about what other people thought about him. Kids could be so cruel; he knew that better than anyone.

That is why he found himself so annoyed when, at 10pm on Saturday night, someone rung his doorbell. He was just about to settle down on his comfy sofa in front of the television with a six pack of beer and semi-warm, leftover pizza to watch a horror movie marathon when it rang. And it didn't just ring once either, oh no. At first it was short and shrill, disrupting the silence that had settled over Gerard's house. Then it came back, and this time the button must have been held down because it kept ringing and ringing incessantly. Pretty soon it was replaced by loud, insistant knocking. Gerard got up, sighing and muttering under his breath.

"Alright, alright!" Gerard yelled at his door, hoping in vain that the loud, angry noises would stop. He stood there for a second in silence before gripping the door handle and yanking the door wide open, revealing who was responsible for dragging himself away from The Wolfman and warm, flat beer.

Gerard prided himself on keeping his social life and his work life separate. He wasn't always the most responsible teacher at school; he sometimes turned up with a hangover and sometimes he was even drunk during his classes. Sometimes he swore in front of his students and when he couldn't be bothered to teach he put on a DVD and scrolled through his phone all day. But he never, never, never had an innapropriate relationship with a student.

You can imagine how surprised he was to see his student Frank Iero standing on the other side of the door, blood dripping down one side of his face and a large, blue and purple bruise over his left eye, sweat soaking through his shirt and one foot completely lacking a sock or shoe.

When Frank recognised Gerard as his teacher, his eyes widened and he took a self conscious step backwards. He looked as if he was going to turn and run away when there was a loud, aggressive shout from behind him, presumably from some unseen attacker. He tensed and a pained, conflicted expression crossed his face.

"Sir, I know this is gonna sound crazy, but could I come in for a minute?" Frank panted, wiping furiously at the blood on his face. Gerard, who had been too shocked to say anything until now, nodded mutely and stepped to the side to allow Frank inside.

Notes

I know the chapter is short but they do get longer, trust me. (I'm not okay!)