A Lifetime with a Demon | Frank Iero x Reader

⛧Face the reality | Part Two⛧

"(Y/n)? (Y/n)!" The voice was the first thing I was aware of along with the hand on my shoulder, shaking me – I gasped as sitting up, looking around frantically until noticing the lecture was over, a quiet talk taking over the room whereas a few students were already leaving. Jepha raised an eyebrow at me, slowly pulling his hand away.

"Fuck, I didn't even notice I fell asleep," I sighed, burying my face in my hands for a moment.

"That's alright." Jepha started gathering his things, shoving them inside his bag. "I noticed it when you fell asleep, but decided it would be better to just let it," he explained, glancing at me a few times.

I nodded, breathing a quiet thanks to him. Things still seemed a bit distant as I also started organizing my things to leave, a bit clumsily, so Jepha decided to help me.

"What is..." He paused, taking the book Frank gave me in hands. "Where did you get this?"

"Eh, someone gave it to me," I muttered in response, purposely quiet so he wouldn't understand it properly and, before he could question anything else about it, I took the book from his hand and started walking. "So, fix me that coffee, huh?" I grinned, trying to not make the atmosphere to heavy as putting the book away.

Jepha cracked a small smile, nodding. Nothing seemed wrong, or maybe I didn't want to see it because all that I wanted was calmness for a moment. I had started reading the book in the previous day, but barely absorbed anything it said, only the vague description of demon summoning sticking to my mind along with the description of their hierarchy. To be honest, I was anxious to continue reading that book soon, considering doing it when going back to the store.

"Hey," Quinn greeted us, glancing up from making notes on a notebook, the cash register open.

"Hi, hi," I greeted while Jepha only waved lightly, following me to behind the counter to leave our things there. "We're going to grab a coffee, we'll be back soon," I let him know while grabbing my money of just in case. It was only when I was already heading towards the front door that I noticed Jepha wasn't coming along, having stopped to talk with Quinn, but he quickly joined me after receiving an impatient glare.

"So..." Jepha said as soon as we walked out of the store, tucking his phone in his pocket. "You talked with Bert? Found the answers you were looking for?" Despite his smile, I could still sense a bit of tension coming from him.

"Well, yeah, I guess." I tried to sound and act as natural as possible because, regardless of the fact I am friends with both gangs, that rivalry between them continued there and I tried my best to keep things the way they were before, to both not make things awkward neither risk losing any of them. "I still... have my personal things to solve."

"Oh, like... everything with Frank, right? Did you two start talking again?" He seemed a bit too interested on everything.

A pause. A long one. "No."

We fell silent once walking into the café and Jepha was the one to break the silence as soon as we walked out of it minutes later, sipping on our drinks. "Y'know," he said, continuing after I motioned for him to go on, "that book..."

"Sorry, I don't want to talk about it, Jeph." How would I explain it all to him? Even I don't know the context of the book or whatever Frank was trying to tell me with it. It really wasn't anything I was up to thinking about in the moment, just trying to enjoy the coffee in peace and without trying to solve any riddle.

"No, (y/n)," he sighed, "I just want to know about it. Like, are you, um, using it to help you on the assignment?"

No, no, no. Fuck off. "I said I do not want to talk about it, so we aren't talking about it, okay?" And, ignoring his protests, I just started fast-walking away. All that pressure was the absolute last thing I needed in the moment, but what I saw when walking into the store didn't help either. "Wh— Quinn, what the fuck?" Hearing my voice made the male freeze and his reaction just made me even more certain that he was really going through my bag without my permission, the book Frank gave me halfway out of the bag. "Man, what the hell? Stop, fuck off," I groaned as leaving my coffee on the counter and moving to grab my bag, shoving him out of the way and taking my bag in hand, briefly checking before closing it. Why did everyone seem to be against me?