Chapter Text

Gerard should have gone after him. He knew he should have gone after him. What he should have done, because Gerard was the responsible adult here, was get up, chase after Frank, tell him it could never happen again and that no one could know and that this - whatever this was - needed to stop now. That was the mature thing to do. The legal thing. The right thing, for God's sake!

All of this passed Gerard's mind as he stood behind Frank's chair, fingers wrapped around the table so tightly his knuckles turned white and his lower stomach tingling where Frank's head had been resting. God, he was sick. Really, really freaking messed up. Who crushes on their student anyway?

Oh right. Gerard.

Gerard knew he should have gone after him.
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Frank ran. He didn't know where he could go, but he did at least know where he couldn't go. He couldn't go back to Mr Way's classroom - that much was clear - and he couldn't go home as his mother would be there and would know he was skipping school. He couldn't go to find Ray because Ray would know something was up - don't ask how, Ray always knew - and would inevitably bug Frank about it until he snapped and blurted out the whole sorry story. The only bartenders he was on a friendly-fake-ID basis with wouldn't let him in until it was dark so there was less chance people would notice how young Frank really was.

And that was it. That was all of Frank's life in a few sentences. His mother, Ray, a few seedy back alley bars who sold first and asked later, and his weird-ass, major-fucking inappropriate obsession with his super hot History teacher.

Because Frank had come to accept it that it was no longer just a silly high school crush. It was a full blown infatuation. In a couple of days, Frank had gone from mildy attracted to, to completely obsessed with Mr Way. Which was stupid, he knew. It was really fucking stupid, but it had been all Frank had been able to think about since Sunday. He had been so focused on how Mr Way had leaned closer to him as he ever so carefully cleaned up Frank's face that he hadn't noticed Ray's concerned texts that had been bombarding him all day, and he had been too wrapped up in how cute Mr Way had looked when he was all flustered and apologising profusely for getting 'too close' to a student that he had completely forgotten to pick up the eggs his mother had asked him to pick up.

Screw it. He could skip fifth period and go get eggs. At least that way somebody would be pleased with him.

He cut across the main building quickly , trying not to draw attention to himself. The last thing he needed was a moody teacher on his ass. Racing through the car park, Frank headed straight for the gates and was relieved when he managed to exit the school completely without someone so much as spotting him.

It was a five minute walk to the corner shop from the school, but Frank made it in three minutes flat. He had all this pent up energy in his body that had appeared out of nowhere, and running through town was as good a way as any to get rid of it.

The door to CC's corner shop was open when Frank arrived, looking welcoming. He practically dived through into the store and headed straight for the eggs. Once he got them, he held theming one hand carefully and headed for the beer isle. He needed alcohol now and CC was pretty cool; to Frank at least. When he waltzed down the isle, trying to appear overly confident and definitely not like law breaking 17 year old who still lived with his mother, he caught sight of another man inspecting the choice of wines. He was tall and lanky, incredibly thin with shiny brown hair and glasses which he was constantly pushing up his nose. As if he knew Frank was watching him, he turned and locked eyes the smaller boy, smiling softly. Frank smiled tentatively back and went back to grabbing a can of the cheaper beer in the store.

He didn't notice the stranger moving, which was probably why he screamed and almost dropped the eggs when he heard a voice right behind him.

"Arent you a bit young to be buying alcohol?" Said the man, scaring the bejesus out of Frank, who would have crossed his arms had thy not been otherwise engaged in trying to keep the eggs all in one piece.

"Aren't you a bit too gay to be buying tampons?" Frank shotback defensively, glancing down at the guy's basket. The stranger just laughed, surprising Frank.

"Fair enough." He replied. "But actually they're for my girlfriend. Everything in there is. We were planning to have a romantic night, y'know what I mean?" The guy raised his eyebrows suggestively, making Frank look down at his feet. "But then the period hit, and that idea was shot to hell."

He sighed dramatically and looked down at his basket, shooting it what Frank could only describe as a murderous glare. Frank, now feeling distinctly awkward, shuffled and went red. He hadn't envisaged the conversation turning into this uncomfortable a situation for himself, and now he was just desperate to buy his eggs and beer, escape to the park and drink himself silly so he didn't have to think about everything wrong with his life at the moment.

"Sorry. That was not what I came over here to say." The man continued, laughing and seeming reluctant to let Frank leave. "I'm Mikey, by the way."

"Frank." Frank mumbled in response. "Why did you come over here, actually?"

"I actually came over here because of your hoodie. You have a cool hoodie." He gestured towards the small white Misfits logo on Frank's otherwise black hoodie.

"Yeah?" Frank perked up, beginning to warm up to the stranger. He was annoying and nosy, sure, but at least he had a good taste in music. "You like them?"

"Hell yeah." The man laughed. Then he seemed to grow more serious. "So what's got you skipping school to come here and buy beer?" He raised an eyebrow and Frank gulped, swallowing nervously.

"I'm not skipping school -"
"Kid," Mikey interrupted. "My brothers a teacher. I know what skipping-kids look like and you are the very definition of a skipping kid. Plus ... You're tiny!"

Frank would have punched him if his hands weren't full. "I'm not tiny, I'm a little short for my age!" He argued, but it really was a lost cause as Mikey just smirked and shrugged.

"Whatever, but you still haven't answered my question."

"Well...I don't need to tell you anything, yknow. I don't, like, owe you anything. I don't owe you shit. You're a stranger. I don't know you."

"I know." Mikey said simply, and then fell silent.

"Fine." Frank huffed, making his way to the counter. "Well, if you must know, I like this guy, okay? But... We can't, like, be together."

"What, is he married?" Mikey frowned. "You really shouldn't get involved with a married man. That's just wrong."

"No, idiot!" Frank hissed, handing over the money to the young woman behind the counter, smiling politely and trying to look like she wasn't eavesdropping on their conversation. "He's not married. Or I really hope he isn't. He better fuckin' not be married."

"Okay, okay!" Mikey held his hands up in the air in a gesture of surrender. "So, why can't you be together?"

Frank hesitated. He didn't know this guy. He seemed trustworthy, but telling a stranger that you may or may not have kissed your teacher - he wasn't sure if the fact that it was that is wasn't his face made it better or worse - was a bad idea.

"Its complicated. I mean, I don't know if he likes me back to start with. I'm pretty sure he does, but if he doesn't I'll just look like an idiot. But then... people wouldn't exactly accept us if we did get together. It would be bad."

Mikey took a big breath and then let it out, paying for his own items and leaving the store with Frank. They both winced and blinked from the sudden sunlight shining in their eyes.

"That's awful cryptic, kid. But you want my advice?" Frank just nodded dumbly, not even bothering to tell Mikey off for calling him kid. "Talk to him. Find out if he likes you before anything else. No point losing sleep, worrying about whether or not he likes you when you could just find out."

Frank nodded slowly. "I guess you're right. Thanks Mikey."

"No problem, kid. I'll see you around, yeah? But don't skip school anymore."

Mikey heard Frank laughing as they went their own separate ways.

Notes

This probably has a shit ton of errors in it because I wrote it on my phone and the screen is all small and fiddly so yeah, apologises in advance. <3