~1~
When they get off the bus Gerard decides to bring Frank to his house. The three walk in complete silence. Gerard looks at his mom. She looks at Gerard, "hey Gee, who's this?" She asks cautiously, giving Gerard a look. Gerard sighs and looks back at her.
"Frank, we have a project for art." Gerard clarifies briefly.
"Make sure he's gone before your dad gets home, okay?" She warns.
Gerard nods, "of course," he grabs Frank's hand and brings Frank to his room. He shuts the door and smiles at the other, trying to look friendly to Frank.
"Why do I have to leave before he gets home?" Frank asks slowly, “Will he hurt me?” He asks slowly, there’s a hint of nervousness to his voice. Gerard takes a second to think about the answer, while Frank’s nervousness visibly grows.
Gerard notices Frank’s incredibly obvious answer. “He won’t hurt you, even though he hates you, but he will probably scream,” Gerard explains. He watches Frank shrink into himself. There’s an obvious fear.
"I'll leave, I don't want to be a bother." Frank frets quietly.
"Stay," Gerard reassures, "I know when he gets home, you can leave ten minutes before then."
"Ok," he sits looking down, "I am sorry, you know that right?" He apologizes looking around the room, playing with his hoodie sleeves. It's almost cute to Gerard. This is the kid that bullied him, nervous and not wanting to upset anyone. Gerard doesn't know if he'll ever get used to Frank being nice to his family.
"You're nicer now," Gerard admits for the first time. "Honestly you act like a different person, at least from my perspective." He continues.
Frank nods without saying anything. There's a long silence that feels like it lasts forever, even though it's probably only 30 seconds of silence. It starts to make Gerard uncomfortable so he stands up and starts talking "I have a shit ton of art supplies," he blurts out, he grabs his empty sketch and gives it to Frank, "you can paint or draw in this," he explains. He moves a bit and grabs all the supplies. "You can use these, but if you use the paints all I ask is don't waste them and sit at the desk, I'll go get a water cup." Gerard says.
Gerard runs to the kitchen to get the cup. He fills it up and walks back to his room mindlessly.
Gerard walks in the room with the mostly full cup of water. It shouldn't startle him, in fact he should expect it, but he hears."Hi Gerard," Frank Frank and he jumps, spilling water on himself.
Gerard drops the cup and sprints to his bathroom. He slams the door shut. He takes off his shirt and tries to dry himself off. He manages to accidentally touch the counter, soaking his hand in the process. Gerard watches his fingers web and attempts to take off his jeans, but falls in the process.
It's quiet for a few minutes, "Are you okay?" Frank asks. "Do you need anything?"
"In my closet, I have my jeans and grab literally any hoodie," Gerard dries his hand off. He makes sure it's entirely dry and begins to turn back after a minute.
"Can I give these to you now?" Frank asks. Gerard opens the door when his gills are gone.
Frank slips his hand through the door and to Gerard's shock he doesn't try to open the door more, instead he lets go of the clothes when he's certain Gerard has them. His hand slips away and Gerard attempts to get dressed as quickly as possible.
Gerard walks out of the bathroom, Frank looks up at Gerard and gives Gerard a fake smile, his eyes are red and his face looks damp. "Are you okay?" Gerard asks him.
Gerard watches him wipe his eyes quickly, "Yeah, I'm fine," Frank nearly whispers, his eyes visibly watering. Frank looks down and Gerard walks over.
Gerard squats down and looks up at him "what's wrong?" Gerard asks out of curiosity and worry, looking at him.
