Surrender The Night (Frerard)

When Frank woke up, he had no idea what time it was or how long he had been unconscious. It was dark, far too dark for him to be able to work out where he was, but it was cramped and jolted up and down every few seconds, so he made an educated guess and decided he was in the boot of a car. His hands were taped and he was unable to move his legs more than a few centimetres before they hit something solid.

The thought scared him shitless; what the fuck was Daniel playing at?! This wasn't something he'd just get let off for— he wouldn't get off with a slapped wrist and seventy hours of community service to complete. This was kidnapping and assault. He had knocked Frank unconscious and stuffed him into the boot of his car! The only way he would get away with this is if Frank didn't tell anyone, and the only way Daniel could silence Frank would be to kill him.

And then Frank felt sick as well as terrified, because he knew Daniel wasn't stupid. Daniel wouldn't just go on a rampage and attack him and fucking kidnap him if he didn't have some sort of plan to get away with it. That meant…

That meant that Daniel was planning to kill him.

Daniel was going to kill him.

Frank yelled and jerked his whole body, attempting to wriggle around enough so that his legs were facing the boot. That way he could at least try to kick open the door and roll out, but he would completely confined to his current position. His breath came in shaky gasps and tears began to prick at his eyes. He was going to die— he was seventeen years old, he didn't want to die.

Why hadn't he gone to the police when Daniel first started hitting his mother and him? Why had he kept it a secret, explained away the bruises to Ray and Bob and anyone else that commented? Why hadn't he called the police when he first realised someone was stalking him? God, he had practically put himself in this situation. It was his fault he was here; he only had himself to blame.

The thought made Frank cry harder, so at first he didn't notice when the the engine stopped. However, when he heard the car door opening and closing, and a set a footsteps approaching him, he really started panicking. He was still stuck in the same position, so when the boot was opened, the light being blocked out by Daniel's large form, he could do nothing but lie there and wait to see what would happen.

"What the fuck are you doing?" He whimpered pitifully, because it was the only thing he could think of to say. He might have tried reasoning with Daniel, striking a 'let-me-go-and-I-won't-tell' kind of deal, but one look in the older man's eyes told him that even attempting that would be useles. Daniel looked fucki crazy, and Frank knew there was no way the guy would let him go.

"Shut up," Daniel hissed, reaching forward to close his hand around Frank's upper arm and tug on it hard enough to yank the boy into a sitting position. The back of Frank's head was throbbing from where he must have been hit, and if he had been able to lift his hand up to touch the wounded area his fingers would have come away sticky with blood.

"Please," Frank started, but couldn't say anymore as sobs racked his body. He was going to fucking die, and he never even got an opportunity to say goodbye to anyone. His mother would wonder where he was, and after a while she might file a police report and then she would be devastated because her only child was dead. She'd be sad and alone, and Frank hopes to God she wouldn't do anything stupid like getting back together with Daniel or taking drugs like she used to, a long time ago. As for Gerard… Frank cried harder just thinking about it. He had just left, and Gerard probably thought he hated him. Frank hadn't meant to kiss Brendon, it hadn't been a conscious decision he had made, but that was what caused all of this. He should still be in that bar right now, getting shitfaced with his friends. Instead, he was in the boot of a car about to murdered by a psychotic asshole.

"Shut up!" Daniel repeated, emphasising his words by pulling on Frank's arm so hard that he tumbled out of the car and onto the rough ground underneath. "I fucking knew you were trouble, the first time I saw you I knew you were just a pathetic, shining pussy, and I was right. Look at you, fucking crying like some bitch. I'm doing Linda a favour getting you out of her life."

Daniel aimed one, harsh kick to Frank's side, driving the toe of his boot into the boy's stomach with as much force as he could muster. Frank cried out and writhed on the ground, curling up into a ball to protect himself.

"Stop crying, you little shit. You deserve this— you made Linda kick me out. That was your fault!" This time his kick was aimed at Frank's head, and the teenager didn't have time to make a noise before his head was flung back. Pain exploded in his nose and mouth; Frank was pretty sure Daniel had just broken a tooth and his nose was most likely broken, but his hands were still bound and he felt too lightheaded to stand up on his own. There was no way he would be able to fight back. Shit, he couldn't even protect himself.

"F-Fuck you, trash." Frank spat, ignoring the blood running down his face and into his mouth.

He cringed as he tasted the metalic flavour, and as it brought back bad memories. Immediately, Frank knew it was this wrong thing to say - Daniel had started kicking him almost twice a season hard as soon as the words let his mouth - but what was he supposed to do?! Roll over and submit to that piece of shit? Just lie there and take the abuse like there was nothing wrong with it?!

"Everything was going so fucking well - we were in love! - and then you had to go and fuck it all up like the stupid bitch you are!" Daniel screamed at him, and Frank had to wonder how nobody had heard the man by now and come to save him. Then he realised that maybe they had; maybe they had heard Daniel and couldn't be bothered to help Frank.

Maybe they realised that it wasn't worth their time or safety to save a stupid bitch like Frank, and so they were just going to let him get hurt. They were going to leave him to get hurt… no one was coming to help him.

So Frank rolled over onto his other side, curled up again and took the abuse, like there was nothing wrong with it at all.

***

Gerard was panicking, and because Gerard was panicking, Mikey was also panicking. This was causing Frank's mother, whowas sat in Gerard's front room, to panic; and inbetween all three of them panicking, the police couldn't get anyone to answer any questions.

Mikey had called the police immediately after he came back inside the house, babbling something incoherent about Frank being unconscious and in the back of some freak's car. Gerard hadn't seen it happen, so at first he thought it was just some elaborate ploy Mikey had come up with to get Gerard to run after Frank, but then Mikey dialled 911 and then, then Gerard knew they were in real trouble. Big trouble.

Of course, Mikey hadn't actually thought about what they were going to say to police until he'd hung up the phone, and then he just got more worked up until Gerard had to push his fears aside, lead his little brother to the sofa and sit him down, instructing him to take deep breaths until he had stopped hyperventilating.

What Gerard had been able to get out of Mikey when he was calm enough to talk for more than three seconds in a row was that he had gone outside the door, alerted by Frank yelling - Gerard fucking hated himself for not hearing that - ans was just in time to see some asshole bring a baseball bat down on Frank's head. Mikey had gasped, terrified, and started running towards the car when the man had seen him there. He had started pulling Frank's body towards the car and was able to stuff him in the back and drive away before Mikey was even close.

And now the police were sitting in Gerard's living room, along with Frank's mother for Christ's sake, and they all wanted to know why Frank was at Gerard's house in the first place.

That was the hardest question to answer; they had asked easy questions like, "what did the man look like?" and, "did you see what car he was driving?" but as soon as the final question had left the police officer's mouth - what had he been doing at his teacher's house at gone midnight? - Gerard's whole body went rigid and his tongue froze. He was sure Linda Iero noticed his discomfort, but she didn't comment on it. She was too busy sobbing into the sleeves of her baggy jumper.

"We…" Gerard started, before realised he had absolutely no fucking idea what to say and trailing off. He cast a terrified glance to Mikey who already looked horrified at the situation.
"Frank and I are friends."

"Friends?" One police officer asked flatly, raising an eyebrow sceptically. Gerard didn't blame him for not believing him.

"I know it's not… appropriate, but Frank is just a nice person. I mean, the fact that he's a - my - student aside, he's a good person and we have similar interests and we're friends, okay?! I don't see why you're focusing on this— Frank is out there! He's out there right now and you're still sitting here asking pointless fucking questions!"

"Sir, please calm down. We're going to do everything we can to find Frank." He then turned to Frank's mother, his tone changing to something appropriately somber. "Mrs Iero, are you able to come down to the station with us? We need to know if there is anyone who would want to hurt your son— from the sound of things, from what Mr Way has told us, this wasnt a random attack. If you know anything, we need to know about it."

Mikey stop doing up from the sofa, hurrying the door to show the officers out. At first Linda stood up to follow the police out, but before she left the living room she turned back to Gerard
and fixed him with a hard, intense stare.

"I need my baby to be safe." She said. Her voice trembled and she swallowed, taking in a deep breath and blown out the air slowly before she continued. "So if I find out he's hurt in any way, I will make you suffer as much as I will. Do you understand?"

Gerard looked up at her through his messy hair, squeezing his eyes shut and nodding. His throat was top constricted for him to actually say anything, but the woman obviously wasn't going to leave until he answered. It seemed fair anyway; he was the reason Frank was outside his house in the first place. He was the reason Frank was out into the dangerous situation, and he was the reason Frank was missing right now.

When Gerard looked up next, she was gone and he was left alone to wallow in his own suffocating guilt.

Notes