"It sounds an awful lot like you two are dating, you know? I mean, I know you're not, but, the way you talk about him especially." Lindsey had no class to teach that lesson, due to some field trip or something, whatever, and in result, she found herself making her way into Gerard's lesson on the pretense of productivity, of helping students, but this was one of Gerard's good classes, and really all the kids had headphones in, or were talking between themselves as they drew.
"Well, whatever, cause we're not." Gerard let out a sigh, the two teachers stood in the corner of the room beside the supply cupboard, their voices low and somewhat hushed as to avoid any of the students listening in, because yes, this was one of the good classes, but any mention of Gerard and Frank was like the initiation some sort of unstoppable gossip hurricane, and Gerard really could not be fucking bothered with that right now.
"Okay..." Lindsey raised her eyebrows, her expression reminiscent of an internet meme by the name of 'sure, Jan', as she made her way back towards the class, glancing at various pieces of artwork and generally doing Gerard's job for him as he leaned back against the wall and bit his lip as he tried to do his best as not to have some sort of homosexual emotional breakdown.
Frank had stayed with him again that past night, they'd fallen asleep on the sofa again, which was mainly due to the fact that Gerard didn't want to go upstairs and leave Frank no matter how tired he was, but still, he didn't have the guts to ask Frank to go upstairs with him, as much as the idea appealed to him, regardless, it wasn't like Frank would have said yes with that fucking boyfriend of his and all.
Frank was wearing another one of Gerard's shirts today, and Gerard wondered if it'd get to the point where he'd be bringing clothes from home, but then it'd be as if he was moving in with Gerard, even when he had a boyfriend, so that wouldn't happen, and as much as Gerard utterly despised the notion, Frank was going to go home eventually and Gerard was going to hate it.
But still, there was really nothing he could do, or just nothing Frank would let him do, because Frank was still for giving this asshole another chance, and by that point, it was like Gerard wanted Max to hit him again, just so Frank could come to his senses and and get as far away from that asshole as possible, or well, Frank could just stay and sleep on Gerard's sofa with him forever, because Gerard wouldn't be opposed to that either, and perhaps Lindsey was right, because yeah, perhaps he did sound pretty ridiculous.
But it was Frank fucking Iero, and he was enough to break Gerard's morals in regards to even socialising with English teachers, let alone falling for them, not that Gerard had fallen for Frank, of course, because no homo, and Frank had a boyfriend and all that bullshit that Lindsey had seen right through in seconds.
He jumped a little as he felt his phone vibrate his pocket, and he really shouldn't check his phone in school time, but no one gave a shit and it wasn't like he'd even been aware that it was on vibrate, so really, this was him turning it off vibrate so it wouldn't disturb the class, for sure.
However, as he pulled it out his pocket and pressed the home button, he came to realise that this was not his cellphone, and that oh holy fuck lord, he must have picked up Frank's this morning by mistake, and Gerard couldn't even worry about Frank having his and finding all his nudes and questionable browser history also that conversation with Chantal about the dildo, also basically everything that would come up if he searched his name in his messages, or even doing the same to Frank, not that he would, because he was a trustworthy guy, because a certain text messages alert was visible on the home screen - the very thing that had made the phone vibrate in the first place: a message from Max.
'I'm outside your fucking school. We're talking whether you like it or not.'
Gerard couldn't quite breathe as he read the message over, and dear god he had to do something about this, and maybe the thing he should do was tell Frank about it, but being Gerard Way, he had an idea, and this idea wasn't one that Frank was going to like, but one that Gerard felt obliged to adhere to.
He moved away from the wall, making his way over to Lindsey and whispering, "I've got to go do something, I'll be like five minutes," before he made his way out of the room without giving her long enough to say no to him.
A couple of students asked where he was going as he made it out of the room, but he ignored them, quickening his pace as he made his way down the corridor, walking straight past Mr Urie's office, and ignoring the rather questionable noises coming from inside in order to make it to reception as soon as possible.
And sure enough, Gerard felt his heart begin to hammer in his chest as he arrived at reception and caught sight of a man trying to fucking argue with Agnes, the receptionist, which was never a good idea at all.
"I don't care if you 'need' to see Mr Iero, he's teaching a class right now, unless it's some form of emergency then there's no reason for him to leave his class." And never before had Gerard been the slightest bit thank for how much of a motherfucking bitch Agnes was.
"Can't you pass on a fucking message then? You're wasting my time- tell him Max really needs to talk to him, tell him I'm waiting outside-"
"I'm sorry, I'm not allowed to pass on unimportant messages to teachers during class time." And Max looked like he was about to fucking kill her as Gerard stepped around the corner and spoke up.
"I could pass on a message to him." Gerard piped up, swallowing hard as he met Max's gaze with an odd kind of confidence as he took in the guy's appearance; he wasn't that bad looking, but what was on the inside ruined every chance of this guy being even vaguely attractive.
"And who are you?" Max seemed to find himself personally offended by Gerard's existence, but the feeling was kind of mutual.
"I'm Gerard, Mr Way, I'm an art teacher here, a friend of Frank's, so I could pass a message onto him if you'd like." Gerard tried his best to be civil, knowing it wouldn't last long, but at least while Agnes was glaring at the two of them.
"Mr Way." Max bit his lip, "he's mentioned you, I've heard about you. I'd like to have a fucking chat with you."
"I've heard about you too. The feeling's quite mutual. I'm about to take a smoke break, so we could talk now." Gerard smiled, making his way past Agnes, who continued to scowl, and leading Max out into the car park.
-
Gerard leaned back against the brick wall, lighting his cigarette somewhat absent mindedly as he did all he could to mentally prepare himself for just what the fuck was about to happen, and just what the fuck he was going to do, because everything about this screamed bad idea, but Gerard was definitely screaming back an even louder 'fuck you', because logic and reason seemed to fade away in the face of helping Frank Iero, or at least that was what Gerard thought he was doing.
And really, this was the only thing Gerard could think of doing, this was the only thing that made the slightest bit of sense; he could never imagine himself just remaining in that classroom doing very little and worrying, and just hoping Max would go away by himself, because Gerard knew he wouldn't, because Gerard knew things didn't work like that, even if Frank didn't, but Frank did, he just didn't quite want to admit it to himself.
And Gerard wasn't even doing this out of spite and hatred, he was doing this out of compassion and love, for Frank, because it was becoming increasingly evident that this 'relationship' with Max was a deep, deep hole that Frank was never going to dig himself out of.
As Max walked over to him, Gerard bit his lip, exhaling a little as he did all he could to keep calm and not just yell in this guy's face at the first opportunity - that wasn't going to get him anyway, and he was determined to get somewhere at least, and of course, he didn't have the slightest notion as to how he was really going to accomplish something like that, but he knew he could try, and there was most certainly nothing stopping him from doing so.
"So, your message for Frank?" Gerard asked, starting the conversation as calmly as he could, barely meeting Max's eyes as he spoke, continuing to smoke with his gaze fixated firmly upon the horizon.
"Tell him to fucking talk to me, man, he just hasn't at all, in days and I'm worried, fuck, I'm worried to shit, but at least he's okay enough to be here working, but still that doesn't make me feel any better. I just want to know what's up, to know he's okay, to get anything out of him, because I don't know what's caused this. I think maybe he's pissed off at me, but I thought we were okay, I did my best to apologise and I mean, fuck, man, I don't know. I can't fucking know if he doesn't talk to me." Max exclaimed, his words sincere and genuine and seeming to slice right into Gerard.
Because it was then that Gerard finally realised that, of course, Max wasn't some sort of comic book style villain, or even an inherently evil man, he was a normal guy, perhaps even a vaguely good guy, and he loved Frank a lot, they just had other issues, and he fucked up more than he should, and Gerard was stuck in this mindset of hating his guts, and expecting the guy to lash out at him, but really he was stuck for words, because this wasn't an argument, and he wasn't the hero, he wasn't the fucking good guy, there was no fucking good guy, there were just two guys, each with flaws, Max's a little more physical, and Gerard's a little more mental.
"Gerard?" Max continued, his voice growing in concern as he turned to get the art teacher's attention.
"Sorry," Gerard blushed, turning to meet his gaze, "just a little deep in thought," he admitted, leaning back against the wall and sighing, "so you just want to talk to him again? To say sorry?"
"Yeah," Max nodded, "don't know exactly what I would be saying sorry for, but it's all just a mess and maybe we could start again, and I just want to try, because Frank's... Frank's a wonderful guy, you know? And what we had was so good, and I don't know where the fuck it went... I don't know what the fuck happened, and it's my fault, of course it's my fault, because I fucked up, and now I'm pissed off at the world because I fucked up and now the person I love won't talk to me."
"What exactly happened?" Gerard asked, although he probably knew the most of it, he wondered what Max could possibly offer in the form of his perspective.
"I fucked up. I'm not good in the head, I'm on some pills, sometimes they don't work, though, sometimes I can't get myself in order no matter what and sometimes I freak out, and I try to get out just go for a smoke and cool off when I get like that, but that one time I couldn't. And well, I don't know we were just having this little argument - it was over nothing really, and I think he'd had a bad day at work or something because he started yelling at me, and he's never really done that before, and well, I kind of just lost it and I hit him. And I hate myself for it, and I took him out somewhere to apologise, because I thought we were good, but I don't know I never saw him after that. I don't even know where he is, man, I just..."
Gerard let out a sigh, unsure what to make of the whole situation anymore, because maybe he'd been making things out to be something completely different and maybe Max just was a man who'd made a mistake, and it was evident that he loved Frank, and it was evident that Gerard was selfish, and this was all about Frank, because he loved the guy, and suddenly that overshadowed everything else, and that most certainly wasn't a good thing.
"He's alright." Gerard forced a smile, "he thinks you're pissed at him, he thinks you're angry, he thinks you'll hate him when he comes back, he thinks you'll hit him again when he comes back."
"Fuck..." Max let out a sigh, shaking his head, "I'm not going to do that - I miss him, I fucking love him and I... I'm so fucking sorry, I-"
"I told him not to give you another chance; he wants to, I think he's scared, though, I don't know, I think I got the wrong impression of you, Max, but I swear to fucking god, if you ever hit him, fucking touch him again, I will never forgive you, I'll fucking kill you." Gerard exclaimed, losing all of his chill in about four seconds flat.
"I don't think I'd ever be able to forgive myself." Max admitted, "do you think I could talk to him? Only if he wants to talk to me, which I doubt that he does, I mean he's been ignoring all my messages, I just don't know what to do anymore."
"I'll talk to him as soon as I can, I promise." Gerard bit his lip once more, his head beginning to spin as he attempted to make sense of the situation once more; his mind still desperate to frame Max as this bad guy, but it wasn't a box he just didn't fit into: a stereotype Gerard's mind had forced upon him, and Gerard hated it, because Gerard was selfish.
And Gerard would have rather it been that Max was the worst guy on the planet, a guy who'd yelled at him, and Gerard could yell back, and he could protect Frank from the worst guy on the planet, and he'd be the 'hero' of sorts, and he'd have Frank, his Frank, and Gerard hated how he'd normalised all of this in his mind, and how everything seemed to fall apart at the notion that Max was a real fucking human being and not some form of psychopath.
He had to talk to Frank, though, he had to talk to him straight, fuck, he had to listen, because when you spoke to Gerard, he had this awful habit of forcing his own opinions upon you, and this was certainly no exception, he needed to just listen to what Frank really thought, to what this really was and not to what he thought it should be.
"Do you know where he's staying? If he's safe, I'm sorry, I'm just worried, and I should stop worrying because I feel like I don't deserve to worry after what I did to him, but I am worried, because I'm fucking human, and I hate that." Max bit his lip, his voice quavering a little.
"You shouldn't hate that you're human." Gerard interjected, meeting Max's gaze.
"If you're human you make mistakes, you fuck up and you lose people you love, and I can't afford that anymore - not with him. He's perfect, you know, I fucking doubt he's human, he's like an angel; beautiful, like he just radiates this energy, this positivity, he just makes everything better."
Gerard nodded, turning away, "I really do know what you mean." He paused, brushing his hair from his face, "he's staying with me." He finally added, wondering if would regret it.
"That's good," Max seemed to let out a sigh of relief, "he's mentioned you before, I trust you, Gerard. You're a good guy, you're there for him, and he thinks highly of you, you know, first time he mentioned you, I got a bit jealous because he was speaking about you like you were the second coming of Christ or something," Max paused to laugh, "but no, it's not like that. You're just a great guy, and it's my fucking fault for thinking the worst, because why would it be like that?"
Gerard exhaled, forcing a nod and a smile, his insides burning as he forced himself to utter, "no, of course not, it's never going to be like that."
-
Frank made his way down to the art rooms at lunch, in search of Gerard, because he'd found himself relying all too much upon him as of late, and yeah, Gerard was a great guy, but he couldn't cheat on Max, he couldn't be an ass about this, and Gerard knew that, Gerard understood that, but Frank just wasn't sure that he did.
As he made his way into Gerard's classroom, he found himself a little confused to see Lindsey sat at the desk, and not Gerard; she sat browsing the internet on her laptop with a box of lunch beside her, looking up as she heard Frank's footsteps.
"I don't know where he is." She began, knowing exactly why Frank was here, seriously beginning to suspect that there was something going on between the two, but she trusted Gerard, and she valued his friendship, so if he'd said that there was nothing going on, then there was nothing going on.
"Oh..." Frank trailed off, looking rather disappointed as he glanced around the room.
"He walked off last lesson, just in the middle of it, said he had to do something, said it would take 'five minutes' and walked off before I could say no." She rolled her eyes, "typical fucking Gerard, huh?"
Frank forced himself to smile, wondering if maybe he could text him, pulling out what he assumed to be his cellphone from his jeans pocket, but what, of course, wasn't, and Frank recognised that instantly.
"This is his phone..." Frank trailed off, thinking back to the sofa and how they could have easily picked up the wrong phone in the morning, "I must have picked his up this morning, fuck."
"Well then he has yours, in fact..." Lindsey trailed off, her eyes widening a little as she finally began to make sense of things, "it was the last thing he looked at before he left - I thought it was his, so you know-"
"So he fucking looked through my fucking shit!" Frank exclaimed, his face turning white in horror as he mind flickered back to Max, and what Gerard could have possibly done, and what mess Gerard could possibly have made, but Frank didn't have to wonder for long, as Gerard made his way into the room, only to be met by two disbelieving glares.
"You have my phone." Frank snapped, trying to not just yell at him, he held out to Gerard's to him, and they swapped phones, leaving Frank's heart hammering in his chest as he turned the screen on, and saw the messages displayed upon the screen, and of course, a certain one from Max. "You fucking-..." He choked out in disbelief, "what the fuck, Gerard? What the fuck did you fucking do? I don't fucking need you fucking up my life, you know?"
"I just wanted to speak to him, is that so bad?"
"Yes!" Frank exclaimed, shaking his head in disbelief, "that was a message to me, none of your fucking business and you know it. Fuck you, Gerard, I didn't think you were that kind of fucking guy, but you know what, thank you, because now I'm so fucking angry I'm not scared of talking to him anymore, because I have to know what the fuck kind of shit you said."
And with that, Frank barged past Gerard, making his way out into the corridor as he began to call his boyfriend.
-
lmao oops i didn't intend for this to happen it just did ayy I'm sorry but I'm not tbh. vote and comment if u want & i love u guys !!! !!!!!:)!!!!:) :) :) !!