the bastards of belleville

chapter one

Gerard was beyond pissed. Frank was grounded. They had plans-a lot of them-and for some reason, his stupid fucking dad found out that Frank had a C-plus in honors geometry. So, now, Frank was stuck at home, babysitting his little sisters, when he was supposed to be in front of the nearest Tim Hortons with Gerard.

He promised that he would try and find a way to get out of babysitting, but it looked like that wasn't happening. Frank was supposed to meet him here an two hours ago. Gerard decided to wait it out because Frank, despite being incredibly intelligent, witty, and good-looking, was never fucking on time. It was nearly impossible for Frank Iero to be punctual. He was always a couple seconds behind the bell entering class, but every teacher forgave him because he had a shit ton of dirt on the teachers. No one knew how he did it, but they knew if they pissed him off, he would squeal to his dad. The teachers would always ask why Frank was late, and he would always say the same thing-"I was in the bathroom." Gerard knew that he was most likely hiding in the abandoned boys restroom, smoking cigarette, jerking off or getting a blow job from some slut who was extremely desperate for dick as Frank was for blow jobs. Gerard and Frank had both gotten and given their first blow jobs in that bathroom, along with smoking their first cigarettes.

"Hey, sorry I'm late. My parents wouldn't leave, and when they finally did, I had to bribe my sisters with some My Little Pony DVD and twenty dollars each. It was worth it." Frank darted up onto the sidewalk towards Gerard, an unlit cigarette dangling out of his mouth.

Gerard grinned a crooked grin, taking a drag on his cigarette. "Yeah, right. You definitely took two hours getting away from your parents. Are you sure you weren't trying to avoid seeing me?"

"Please, Gerard," Frank scoffed, reaching into Gerard's back pocket and taking his lighter. "Just because we had sex-extremely hot sex-doesn't mean things have changed. Why would I avoid you? You only put your dick in my ass."

Gerard suppressed a slight chuckle. "It was pretty hot, wasn't it?"

"You think?"

"I do."

Frank sighs, taking his cigarette out of his mouth. "What exactly are your plans for tonight?"

"It's a surprise. C'mon, Frankie."

Gerard rolled up the sleeves of his black leather jacket, revealing his tattoo of a snake. Frank could still vividly remember the day Gerard got it. It was about 11:30 at night when Gerard crawled through Frank's window. He had stayed with Frank off and on after his dad died and his mother became a druggie. Frank knew Gerard was sneaking out, and he had to cover for him. He figured he was getting a blowjob from a male prostitute or something, because he was the kind of guy who attracted them, but he wasn't. As soon as he stumbled through the window that November night, Frank could tell something was fucking wrong. Gerard had a look of pure terror etched across his perfect face.

"Gerard? Are you okay?" Frank had said, looking up from his laptop. Gerard didn't say anything. He just sat on Frank's bed, his head in his hands. Frank realized that he was shaking. Gerard was crying. Frank's tough best friend was crying over god-knows-what.

And then he saw it-the tattoo. Gerard's biggest fear was needles. He got a panic attack every time he got remotely close to one. No one knew why-not even Frank. Gerard couldn't tell people-he was afraid he'd relive the memory.

"God, Gerard, what did you do?" Frank murmured, carefully running his fingers along the tattoo.

"T-They made me, Frank. T-They said I-" Gerard began, his voice breaking,

"No, Gerard, who?"

"The Belleville Bastards. They said that I was a pussy and that I was dishonoring my dad's name."