~1~
After school Ray picks Gerard up and drives them over to the local coffee shop, the one that Gerard has become a regular at, he gets his usual coffee order and sits with Ray in a booth. Gerard sips his coffee as Ray asks,"Will you explain why Frank came to school limping?"
Without hesitation he responds with, "Mikey beat his ass,"
"Why?" Ray asks.
"He thinks Frank is up to something, and Frank says he’s fine, but he was so on edge today, more than normal, I’m worried about him," Gerard explains, Ray nods, understanding. Gerard sighs, hesitating, "I," he pauses, "I'm pretty sure his dad, uh, like physically abused him,"
Ray’s face drops, he stares blankly and takes a second to talk, “That’s a really serious thing to accuse someone of, especially when you don’t know them, it’s not funny,” Ray mutters slowly.
Gerard nods, “It’d make sense Ray, he’s always on edge, his sudden change in his personality, I could probably go on, his dad was fucking arrested, he used to show up to school with bruises when there wasn’t a fight, I can’t tell you about some of it,” Gerard explains.
Ray shakes his head and sighs, “don’t get obsessed Gerard,” Ray replies flabbergasted, “It’s no one’s business but his own. I know you like him but, that doesn’t mean that's your business,"
Gerard stares at Ray in shock. "I don't like him," Gerard denies, quietly. Ray looks like he's about to laugh at Gerard as he takes another sip of his drink. "How would you know?"
"You guys are really obvious, and stupid," Ray laughs. Gerard feels his face turn red, and tries to hide it.
"I don't like him, he's cute and he's honestly fucking awesome, but I can't like him," Gerard mutters looking at Ray, Gerard knows he looks nervous, but hes not sure why. He drinks his coffee slowly. Gerard sighs, he avoids Ray's gaze. His hoodie sleeves roll up and he panics for a brief second before realizing all the cuts are healed.
He looks up at Ray who’s staring at his wrist. Gerard looks down and finds part of the cut that’s not healed. He moves his sleeve down and looks up at Ray, even more panic flooding his body, he feels a lump in the back of his throat and his breathing becomes difficult.
Ray looks concerned, “Are you okay?” He asks Gerard quietly.
Gerard shrugs, “Mikey keeps arguing with me,” He looks down, “He says he attempted because of me,” Gerard mumbles.
“Oh my god, Gerard, it wasn’t your fault,” Ray says quietly.
“I told him to,” Gerard admits as he opens his phone. It takes him a minute to reach the texts and hands his phone to Ray. "I was cruel Ray." Gerard watches as Ray's eyes dart across the phone.
Ray hands his phone back to his friend and looks at him. "I'm not going to say that it's okay and that the texts didn't upset him," he pauses, looking for some words. "But I think he used your anger towards him as a way to hurt himself," Ray points out, "I read a few of the others… sorry,"
"It's fine," Gerard mumbles quickly.
"I think he wanted to hear what he thinks of himself from anyone else, and he knew you would say what he wanted to hear, he asked you to hit him, he probably thinks he deserves to be abused," Ray explains, each word Ray says sinks into Gerard. Ray continues to talk.
Gerard just thinks about what Ray said over and over again.
~2~
Gerard sits down next to Frank in the bathroom. Frank doesn't respond much so Gerard moves a bit closer, Frank moves away slowly and it makes Gerard’s throat tighten up. Frank refuses to look at Gerard. “Did I do something?” Gerard asks. “Is there something I can do to fix it?” Gerard looks at Frank. Frank looks back up at him, they stare into eachothers eyes for a minute. Frank's gaze flicks to Gerard's lips for a second. Gerard closes the gap between them. Frank kisses back for a second, before pushing him away. Frank stands up suddenly, he grabs his bag and glances at Gerard.
