Surrender The Night (Frerard)

It was a long night. Frank tossed and turned in the unfamiliar yet not entirely uncomfortable bed, unable to sleep. He was sure it had more to do with the fact that his teacher was downstairs rather than the bruises all over his body that hurt whenever he shifted positions.

Gerard was also uneasy. He knew what he was doing was highly innapropriate; maybe not illegal, but he could still lose his job over something like this. Why, then, had he asked Frank to stay in the first place? If he had gone outside and got hurt, so what? Kids get hurt everyday, Gerard, he told himself. Stop trying to save the world! But what if Frank had gone out and been killed? What if he got run over in the dark, or the same people who had attacked him suddenly pulled a knife?

Gerard shuddered at the thought of Frank getting hurt, let alone being killed. There was something about the small boy that interested him; that made him want to get to know him. 'You still shouldn't have asked him to stay', a nasty voice in the back of his head told him, but he blocked it out. That was what he did most of the time these days: block out the voice so he did first, and thought later.

Without thinking about it, he left the sofa and walked across to his fridge in the kitchen, pulling out a beer. He was confused and he needed a drink to help clear his head - or at least make him forget all about tonight for a while. Pulling off the catch, he drank half the can in one sip. He returned to the living room and collapsed onto the sofa, exhausted.

Frank couldn't stop thinking about how embarrassing it was going to be when they went back to school on Monday. Frank sat relatively close to Mr Way's desk in History; not close enough for Mr Way to pick on him to answer questions all the time, but not far enough away that he never got picked on. Not only had he intruded upon his teacher's evening, he had intruded with a beat up face, which had led Mr Way to clean up his face, which has led to awkward staring, which had led to Frank staying the night. He guessed that this was illegal; it's not like he was going to tell anyone. He wasn't that stupid as to go spreading it around in case he got Mr Way in trouble - which he definitely didn't want to do since Mr Way was one of his nicer teachers - but he was worried he might let something slip into his friends' conversations by accident. It would seem a little odd if Frank just mentioned he spent the night at his teacher's house and then turned red from embarassment. Frank had a big mouth and he knew it; sometimes it was just a little had to control what came out of it.

At the end of the film, and about six beers later, Gerard was feeling a lot more relaxed, and also very tired. He ascended the stairs quickly, trying to keep the noise down so as not to wake Frank if he was sleeping. Crashing onto the landing and wincing at the loud 'bang' it made, he made his way to the guest room and looked inside. The door was open and in the light from the landing, he could see the shape of Frank's body hidden under the duvet cover. The blanket was rising and falling steadily, so Gerard assumed he must be asleep. He took a step inside the room. His teacher brain was screaming at him that this was a terrible idea and to get the hell out of there, but his drunk brain was in charge of his body, it seemed, and he took another step forwards. Kneeling down a metre away from the bed, he closed his eyes and tried to ignore the dull thumping in his head that would surely turn into a terrible hangover in the morning

"Frankie..." He whispered, before getting up and leaving.

Frank turned over in the bed, eyes wide, when he heard Mr Way leave. His heart was in his mouth and he had no idea what had just happened. All he knew was this was not ordinary.

Notes

This is just a filler chapter really. Shit gets reeeal soon. <3