Phobia

Neo•pho•bia

Noun

The irrational phobia of learning something new, meeting someone new or accepting new and unknown knowledge of things out of ones personal comfort zone.


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This was the first time that Frank had ever been late to school. It was beyond embarrassing, he'd never home so many people stare at him when he walked into a classroom. And then on top of it, he still didn't have his tie on which added a judgmental stare from his instructor.
Frank's pale face turned from a shade of cream to a deep red blush as he sat down in his seat, cringing when he desk squeaked in the silent classroom. He placed his bag beside his feet and slumped down in attempt to vanish from everyone's cold stares.

The instructor began talking at some point, taking everyone's attention away from poor little Frank as the lesson began. He didn't pay attention though and instead stared down at the band-aids on his shaking hands. He was floored. He never expected Gerard to be so kind with what he heard from his parents. Of course he would never directly like Gerard other than acquaintances and still, that wouldn't stop him from being directly infatuated by the Diff. Frank found himself wanting to know exactly why Gerard's hair turned white, he even wanted to know what color his hair had been before it turned. Maybe blonde? No, Gerard didn't seem like the type of person to have blonde hair.

Frank stopped himself. Why was he even thinking of things like that? He shook his head, rubbed his eyes with his knuckles and focused on what his instructor was saying. He was confused by the lesson, which never really happened to him unless he was feeling ill or didn't take his medications in the morning. He'd taken his medication, he felt fine, so why couldn't he concentrate? He didn't know. He didn't care to know. And he still tried his hardest to focus. He was starting to comprehend what his instructor was saying, all up until he felt something lightly hit his shoulder.

Frank sighed and turned his head toward where the touch had come from, only to meet the eyes of the boy sitting next to him, Brendon Urie. Rolling his eyes, Frank whispered out a slightly aggressive "What do you want?"

Brendon raised one of his thick eyebrows and glanced his eyes at Frank's obvious band-aids, "Dude, what happened?"

"I fell down, obviously. Would you like to know my life story while you're at it?" Frank spat, glaring at the other.

"Jeez," Brendon chuckled, "Someone's extra grouchy today."

Frank ignored him. He just wanted the day to be over so he could go home and sulk in his room for hours on end. That was all he was good at besides pretending to be perfect for his perfectionist parents anyway. He sulked though the rest of his class to get a head start, he didn't talk anybody and he tried his hardest not to make eye contact. Everyone around him was a little confused since he was usually such an enthusiastic social butterfly.

Lunch break came finally and Frank was too happy too even contain his elatedness. He found himself a table hidden under a tree right outside the doors of the school, he smiled, knowing he be covered by the shade and left alone. He pulled his lunch from his messenger bag and started to pick away at his food. Still completely alone. Halfway through his sandwich, he looked around him and found his eyes landing on a boy sitting by himself in the grass, a few feet away from his table. The boy looked rather young, maybe about eleven or twelve, he also looked very sad.

Frank took notice and searched through his lunch bag, finding a cookie that his mother had tucked in there. He lifted himself from his seat and trudged his way over to the other boy in the grass.

"Are you alright?" Frank asked slowly, kneeling down on one knee next to the other. The boy didn't look up and only sniffled, shaking his head in a small "No."

Frank frowned. "Would you like a cookie? It's chocolate chip." Frank had a soft spot for younger children. If this boy had been anyone Frank's age, he wouldn't have cared and let the person continue to be upset. The boy then looked up, pushing his mousy brown hair away from his eyes. That's when Frank noticed that the kids glasses had been completely shattered, but he still wore them over his eyes. He must've been really blind if he still tried to use them.

"What happened to your glasses?" Frank questioned, sitting himself completely across from the other. He wasn't expecting an answer. "Also could you give me your name? Only if you're comfortable."

"My name is Mikey." He sniffled again, pushing his broken glasses up to the bridge of his nose. Frank nodded, not pushing any further and handed him the cookie. Mikey took it eagerly, unwrapping it and beginning to nibble on it instantly.

"You look familiar." Frank observed, squinting his eyes. Mikey froze and lowered the cookie from his face.

"You..you live across the street from me." He replied softly.

Franks eyes widened. "Oh. Oh, okay. I see. You're a Way then, am I correct?"

Mikey nodded. "That's why Brendon broke my glasses."

"He did this to you?" Frank almost gasped. There was no doubt in anyone's mind that Brendon Urie was a dick. He bullied everyone, even Frank at times.

Mikey nodded again. "You shouldn't be seen with me, you know that? You'll get beat too."

Frank shook his head, "Don't be ridiculous, he can't do this to you. He's an eighteen year old and you're only a child. That's abuse."

"No. It's bullying. It's nothing new." Mikey replied as he still bit away at the cookie in his hands. He was a little scared of Frank. He was afraid that maybe Brendon had told Frank to be nice at him so he could beat him as well when he least expected it.

"Listen," Frank spoke kindly, "After you finish up the cookie, I'll walk you home, alright? There's no reason for you stay in school after this, you need proper help."

"My parents are working." Mikey told him.

"Your brother is home." Frank said.

Mikey's face crumpled a little, "I...he doesn't really like me. I don't think he even wants me around."

"Rubbish." Frank remarked. "I was awful to him this morning and look, he still gave me band-aids."

Mikey's eyebrows raised as he stared down at Frank's Obi-Wan covered palms, "He actually touched you? Like, to put the band-aids on?"

Frank nodded. "He was very excited about it too, may I add."

"Are you sure it was even him?" Mikey sputtered.

"Of course." Frank chuckled, flashing his white teeth, "Lemme take you home, yeah?" Frank suggested and stood up, extending his hand down to bring Mikey along with him. When Mikey was standing next to him, Frank carelessly brushed the dirt off of the boys button up and even straightened out his tie for him.

"Don't let Brendon get to you, alright? I'm sure he'll end up working in a soup house for homeless Diffs when he's older." Frank told Mikey as they began walking side by side in the direction of the Way residence.

"He's scary." Mikey mentioned timidly. Frank noticed that he was a very nervous kid, he hands were shaky and his eyes flickered everywhere as if he were expecting something to jump out and take him at any second.

"He's not scary. He's just an idiot." Frank simpered reassuringly at the younger beside him. They walked in silence the rest of the way, the only sound of their footsteps echoing in their ears along with the sound of Mikey's repeated deep breaths.

It was no shock that Gerard was still in the same spot that he was in earlier in the morning, but this time he had a full on flower crown and a book in his hand. Frank noticed little Mikey chew his bottom lip in discomfort when he and his brother made eye contact. But with Gerard being the kind little fawn that he was, he smiled brightly at both his brother and Frank then closed his book carefully. "Hi!"

"Hello, Gerard." Mikey greeted nervously. Frank only offered Gerard a forced half-smile.

"Why are you home so early?" Gerard chirped and stood up, leaning himself over the fencing
.
Frank cleared his throat, "He got um, hurt today. His glasses are broken."

Gerard puckered his thin lips and looked his brother up and down, "Perhaps you should shower. Then I'll tend to you and I'll fix your glasses and we can eat ice cream."

Mikey's lips curled into a grin. He thanked Frank for walking him home and for the cookie, then scurried through the fence gate and into the abyss of his front door. Frank stood there, in a loss for words. Gerard was staring at him with the same stupid smile on his face that Frank would've loved to make go away.

Frank pursed his lips, "So um, thank you again for helping me earlier. But just because you did something nice doesn't mean we can be all buddy buddy, ya know?"

Gerard cocked his head, "I wasn't expecting any sort of friendship. There's no hard feelings. I just wanted to help."

Frank shifted on his feet awkwardly. "Why do you always sit there?"

Frank saw Gerard's eyes physically light up, "It's peaceful! And the flowers are so very pretty. I like to watch people walk pass, I like to try and guess where they're going sometimes."

"Okay." Frank said. That was when he possibly made the worst decision in his entire life, "Uh, do you mind if I sit with you for a moment? I don't have to be back for classes for a little."

Gerard looked quite confused, "Well, I suppose so."

Slowly but surely, Frank unlatched the fence gate and scooted himself to the patch of grass where Gerard was sitting. They both lowered themselves, not daring to look at each other. Gerard sitting cross legged while Frank leaned back on the palms of his hands. Frank was the first to speak, "Your name is Gerard, right? Correct me if I'm wrong."

"Yes. That's it. I'm guessing that you're Frank Iero, yes?" Gerard contended.

"The one and only." Frank sighed.

"You don't sound very happy about that." The other boy replied, cheerfulness decorating his high pitched voice. Frank shrugged.

"You don't seem to be very comfortable either." Gerard observed.

"It's just...You..You have white hair." Frank stuttered out to Gerard.

"Yes, and you have black hair. Very observant." Gerard replied and picked another marigold from the patch of wildflowers next to his ankles.

"Of course it's black, I'm normal." Frank spat, crossing his arms like an impatient two year old.

Gerard twiddled the orange marigold between his fingers and bit his bottom lip in a subtle gesture, "You're very cross. Would you like a flower? There's quite a lot here, there's orange ones which are personally my favorite. But you seem like a tulip or rose kind of person-"

Frank squinted his eyes, throwing Gerard a nasty look, "No, I do not want your stupid flowers, I don't want to end up like you. Gosh, just stop it! I've never seen some so peculiar! Who the heck has such a love for flowers?"

"End up like me?" Gerard questioned calmly with a slight raise of his brows, hazel eyes never leaving the plant twined between his pale fingers.

"Yes! Like you." The black-haired boy practically screeched, "Your hair is white!"

"Do you dislike white?"

"No. I just don't like the idea of having white hair."

Gerard nodded. He wasn't offended, he figured white wasn't such a likable color anyway. "I'm sorry to disappoint you, but if we must argue like this then it's a good time for me to say that I think your tie is rather stupid."

"No wonder you'd think that it's stupid, you're a Diff. You can't like the things that Sames like, it's too much for your tiny brain to take in." Frank bantered. He wasn't technically angry, he was more annoyed by the fact that Gerard was a difficult person to get through to.From what he could tell, talking to Gerard was like talking to ten brick walls.

"Well, I may have to disagree with that." Gerard chuckled. He placed his flower on Frank's knee carefully, making sure the petals wouldn't fall off or get crunched. Gerard just cared too much about the littlest things.

"And how are you going to disagree with a true statement?" Frank proposed the question as if there were no possible answer. His eyes locked with the flower which he immediately brushed off of himself. Gerard's face drooped a little at the action.

He looked at Frank with slight sorrow, "Because if Sames are so right about everything, then why do Diffs have such more complex brains?"

"That's bogus." Frank huffed.

"Not necessarily so." Gerard sighed, "You don't see things the way I do. Just like a moment ago, I put a flower on you which you didn't really appreciate, although I showed you a kind gesture. You didn't understand that."

"I'm not allowed to be around flowers, Gerard. My parents don't like me touching them." Frank retorted.

"Why?"

"Because only faggots like flowers."

Gerard went quiet after that. He didn't really know what to say to Frank's indirect insult. He stared at the rest of the flowers next to him and ignored Frank's heavy breaths in his other ear. Frank caught wind, and to say he felt bad was an overstatement because truthfully, Frank didn't care about anyone's feelings. He barely cared that he'd upset the proclaimed pixie-boy, it was just another victim in his never ending roster of people.

"Do you really think I'm a faggot?" Gerard asked quietly after Frank had brushed the fallen flower further away from himself.

Frank hesitated, "I don't know what I think you are. I'm just going by what I've been told by others. There's lots of rumors, some aren't the kindest."

"You don't like me, do you?" Gerard laughed bitterly, shying his face away from the latter.

"I never said that." Frank told him gently, almost realizing that he had actually offended the person who had technically nursed his hand back to health earlier.

"You've been acting like it. I know we've only just properly met but there's no need to be so cruel." Gerard said. There was little emotion in his voice.

"I'm just trying to be careful."

"Of what?"

"Nothing." Frank spat, "I have to go."

Gerard looked at him sadly. "Alright, I hope you have a good day."

Frank didn't return the look and pushed himself off the ground, walking away and mumbling an arrogant, "Whatever."

Gerard watched the angry black-haired boy rush down the street with an expression of concern. He couldn't wrap his mind around why Frank seemed to be so angry with everything around him, maybe he was troubled. Perhaps he had a bad family life or not enough friends. Whatever was going on, Gerard secretly hoped it would get better for him. Now, he didn't necessarily like Frank. He was a fucking douchebag from what Gerard had gathered, and he highly doubted they'd ever even look at each other again. That was fine by Gerard. Probably even more fine by Frank.

Gerard picked up his book from the lush green grass and made his way inside his home to find Mikey. Sure enough, Mikey was sat in the kitchen, a fresh T-shirt on and a pair of jeans, his hair sopping wet on top of his head. They greeted each other with a smile.

"Are you hurt anywhere?" Gerard questioned his little brother.

Mikey shook his head.

"Just your glasses, huh?"

"Frank's mean to you." Mikey stated suddenly as Gerard began to try and fix his glasses the best he could manage.

"He doesn't really know me that well." Gerard responded.

"He gave me a cookie!" Mikey told him gleefully.

"That's wonderful."

"Gerard?"

"Yes."

Mikey paused. "You're a really good brother, no matter what Mom and Dad say."
"Thank you, Mikey. So are you." Gerard returned the compliment. And it was true.

Notes

woooah hello im gonna try to update everyday but no promises bc im on summer vacation and all that good stuff !! this is only gonna like 20-25 chapter so thats neato?? anyway thank you for all the positive comments so far, especially since its really my first time writing in third person and it's kinda difficult lol. anyway ily all pls take care of yourselves xxxxx