TALK TO ME ¯ᶠʳᵉʳᵃʳᵈ

-ˏˋｔｈｉｒｔｙ ｆｉｖｅ：ｂｉｇｇｅｓｔ ｆｅａｒˊˎ-

"So, Frankie, who's Shane and why do you look so guilty?"

I didn't know why I felt a sudden rush of panic hit me as Gerard waited for my answer. I gulped and it came out louder than I planned, Gerard furrowing his brows even more and I knew how fucking guilty I must have looked, even though I was only guilty of a small lie, but now it looked like so much more.

I knew things were bad when silence between Gerard and me felt so unnatural, and this was one of those moments. He stood next to me, looking down on me, waiting for some sort of answer, but I just stood there in silence, staring down at my shoes, nibbling on my lip ring, distracting myself with anything possible.

"Frank," Gerard spoke again. He spoke calmly but I flinched at the fact that he called me Frank instead of Frankie; I couldn't even remember the last time he had called me Frank. "Answer me."

I took a deep breath, and it was shakier and louder than I intended. I clenched my eyes and fists tight as I felt my heartbeat quicken and my whole body began to tremble slightly.

"Why are you...calm down," Gerard said. He sounded concerned yet even more suspicious, like he didn't know if he should be angry or concerned first.

He took my hand and guided me to the sofa, sitting me down. I didn't even realize how numb my limbs had gotten until I practically tumbled after him. He sat next to me and rubbed soothing circles on my back.

"Breathe," he spoke softly. "Take deep breaths."

I did as he said, every breath coming out shakier than the one before. Would Gerard leave me if he found out I'd purposely kept Shane from him? Maybe it would give him an excuse to leave me. Maybe this was my nightmares turning to reality. I always dreamt of hurting Gerard physically until I lost him, but now I must have hurt him emotionally, and I would lose him. Tears stung at my eyes and fuck, why was I being so pathetic?? I had gotten stronger than this, why was I falling apart...

The tears escaped my eyes and Gerard was quick to notice.

"Frankie," he sighed, his breath shaky as well. "Did-is-was there anything between you and Shane that should concern me? Did you have, like, a relationship with this guy or something? That's all I-"

I quickly looked up at him with my tear filled eyes and shook my head, stopping him from finishing his sentence. If that's all he was concerned about, that wasn't the case.

"You didn't?" he asked, looking relieved but apprehensive. I nodded, the tears still spilling from my eyes, and a small sob escaped me. I just wanted to go hide in a corner. I didn't want Gerard to see me this way. "Fuck, then why are you freaking out?"

I knew Gerard believed me. He wasn't one to doubt me. All suspicion was gone as he wrapped his arms around me and I buried my tear-stained face into the crook of his neck, taking deep shaky breaths, a sob escaping here and there.

"Please, sugar, calm down," he spoke soothingly, rubbing his hand up and down my back. "I'm sorry if I scared you with how I reacted. I just...I easily get jealous when it comes to my Frankie."

He didn't need to be apologizing. I still lied to him, even if it was a small lie. I took one last deep breath and pulled away from Gerard. He cupped my face, and stroked his thumbs over my cheeks.

"Wanna go downstairs?" he asked, and I nodded. He took my hand. I still felt kind of shaken up and my limbs were still tingling, so I clung on to him, and he wrapped an arm around me.

We got to his bedroom and he sat me down on his bed. He knelt down on the floor and took my shoes and socks off for me. I just stared at him the entire time. He was so careful and tender. Just seconds ago, for all he knew, I could have cheated on him, and now he was back to his loving self after just the shake of my head.