I'll Be Your Gerard If You'll Be My Frank

I'm Here, Frank

{Gerard's POV}

Frank was silent the whole way back to my house.

He was obviously thinking a lot.

I had a ton of questions but I didn't want to disturb him.

His amp wasn't very heavy and I felt like I needed to carry another one of his bags.

I sideways looked at him.

He still had tears rolling down his face.

The thing I noticed though was the red mark on his left cheek.

The realisation hit me then.

At the time, all I had cared about was Frank.

The fact that he was crying and felt alone.

I hadn't taken in what had actually happened to cause Frank to feel that way.

That guy... That guy hit him.

He physically slapped him across the face.

It was such a horrible sound and you could feel every bit of it.

I couldn't imagine how it actually felt.

Poor Frank...

Frank had been abused.

My Frank had been hurt.

Probably mentally as well as physically.

Oh Frank...

He sniffed next to me and rubbed his eyes.

Poor thing...

Wait! Someone had hurt my Frank?!

And I had just stood there, helpless.

I could have done something.

Anything would have helped!

And the only thing I thought to do was write my fucking cellphone number down.

Great fucking work, Gerard!

You're a failure.

I can't believe you did that.

The hit could have been avoided altogether.

Hang on... How long had this been going on?

I needed to know.

We were back at my house now.

Frank waited for me to open the door.

I pulled my key out and unlocked it.

Frank didn't move so I went ahead inside.

He followed.

"Gerard? Is that you?"

Who else, Mom?

We walked into the living room.

Ray and Mikey were on the sofa and my Mom was pacing the room.

When she saw us she came over and held me at arms length.

"Are you okay?"

You've got to be kidding me.

"Me?" I frowned.

She nodded.

"Forget about me!" I burst.

I gestured to Frank, "He's the one you should be worried about!"

My Mom frowned and let go of me.

"Didn't you tell her?" I turned to Mikey and Ray.

Mikey stood up, "She didn't give us the chance. All she cared about was where you were."