Frank had become his own contradiction. Despite the fact he constantly complained about school starting too early, this morning he'd entered the school building at ten past eight and rushed upstairs to the art rooms. It was deserted in the mornings; Frank was delighted to see because it meant he could avoid other people before actual lessons started.
Though he'd had to sacrifice sleep in order to achieve getting to school while hardly anyone was there and he was not happy about that.
When Frank opened the doors, he discovered not even Mr Wright was in yet. Glancing in to 169a, he found Mr Way wasn't in either, then retreated to the middle room where he dumped his bag on the table, dug out his headphones and hooked them around his neck.
The plastic was cool on his skin and he shivered, nearly bumping in to the door frame when he left to fetch his art work. Just as he turned around to head back, Mr Way walked through the door, head down and brows furrowed in thought.
Surprised, Frank jumped back. "You're early."
The sound of Frank's voice startled him, though he managed a half smile when their eyes met. "So are you."
Scratching the back of his neck, Frank shuffled on the spot, averting his gaze. "Y-yeah, I thought I'd start on my art." He explained. "You?"
"Oh," he waved a hand dismissively, hanging his bag on the back of the chair, "There's not much of a reason."
Frank would have believed that lie, if Mr Way's voice hadn't wavered. Shrugging his shoulders, he wandered back into the middle room and stayed there, sketching the outline of his first drawing of an apple -really exciting.
Due to the loud music blasting through his headphones, he hadn't heard the bell ring for first lesson. Mr Way had noticed the lack of movement, so he'd had to tell Frank, who then rushed about frantically. In the haze, he forgot to take his phone.
-
He'd breezed through the day, tackling the subjects and working independently with a bit of input from Mr Way in art, however, when he got to last lesson, PE, his body rejected the activity completely and he struggled to keep running around the track in the freezing cold.
Thanks to the miserable weather, his hair was soaked, stuck in mats to his face. Additionally, the rain drenched his clothes, making them terribly uncomfortable to wear, and his vision had become compromised. Overall, he thought it shouldn't be allowed for rotten PE teachers to force them to go outside in the pouring rain.
At least he wasn't alone, though. Brendon shared the same amount of fitness and they'd jogged pathetically behind the others -apart from the ditzy girls who had refused to run, so instead were strolling along with their coats held over their heads like limp umbrellas.
Eventually, the two slowed to a walk and Brendon leaned on Frank for support, but was shoved off, the latter barely able to keep himself upright.
"Hey, come on." Brendon whined, reaching out towards him, stumbling over his own feet. Normally, his hair would spike up in a quiff, but due to the torture they were suffering through, it was flopping over his eyes like a mop.
"No, come on to you. I don't want to look totally unfit to everyone." Frank pushed on ahead, leaving his best friend to trudge along with a stitch in his side.
Honestly, Frank usually enjoyed going out for walks –but in his own time where he couldn't be judged by other people. Plus, he usually ventured around the forest and lake with his camera to take pictures. Running aimlessly in PE was very different to that.
Finally, half three arrived and without hesitation Frank raced to the entrance to the PE department, fortunately getting there before anyone else and yanked the doors open, rushing to the changing rooms. With how self-conscious he was, Frank normally got changed in the toilets where no one could see him. It wasn't like he had anything particularly wrong with his body, he just hated the judgement they'd send his way regardless.
After failing to properly dry himself off and throwing his clothes on haphazardly, he stepped out of the toilets with his t-shirt crumpled, belt unbuckled, shoes untied, hair tangled and his bag was hanging off his arm.
Luckily, due to his earliness, he'd gotten ready ahead of everyone else, meaning Frank had the opportunity to go upstairs to art and sort himself out.
To avoid the students swarming out of the main reception doors for the end of the day, he took the side stairs, successfully finding the classroom empty. Well, Mr Way was sat at his desk, shocked by Frank's sudden burst in to the classroom.
"Hi, sir." Frank smiled, ignoring the fact he was dishevelled.
Though Mr Way didn't. "Rough day?" He chuckled, tilting his head to the side a little, shamelessly enjoying Frank's flustered state.
"Yeah." Frank breathed, chucking his bag on a table and starting to straighten himself out. When he looked presentable, he discretely turned to the mirrors that were propped against the wall and patted his hair down, combing his fingers through the tangles.
"You sure you're up for another hour-or-so in this place?"
Frank whipped around at the sound of his voice, letting out a cross between a deep breath and a laugh. "I think so."
"What hell did you go through to come out looking like that?" Mr Way's tone showed a hint of concern, worried Frank might have been chased down and beaten up.
"PE." He groaned, rolling his eyes to the moon and back. "I hate PE so much, you have no idea."
"Oh, yes, I do. I hated it, too. Still do." Mr Way nodded, adjusting the collar of his denim jacket. He got out Frank's artwork for him, then dug out a laptop from his satchel and sat down with it on one of the tables nearest to Frank, who wasn't sure people were allowed to sit on the tables. "Maybe, I'll ask the PE teacher if you can spend those lessons up here instead. . . If you want to."
"Really?" Frank beamed, sliding his jacket off his shoulders, suddenly feeling the impact of the heat from the unwanted exercise. Taking a deep breath, he raked his hair out of his eyes. "That'd be awesome."
A small smile tugged at the corners of Mr Way's lips. "Also," he added, "For future reference, please don't call me 'sir'. It makes me feel old."
"Alright," Frank grinned, "If you tell me how old you really are."
Raising an eyebrow, Mr Way cocked his head, chewing on his lip as he narrowed his eyes. "That's what it'll take, huh?"
"That's all." Frank fiddled with his lip ring between his teeth, interlocking his fingers and propping his elbows on the table to rest his chin on. The cheeky expression currently plastered across his face was enough to make anyone want to punch if off permanently.
A long silence stretched over them. Mr Way abandoned the work on his laptop completely, eyes still locked with Frank's. For a second, Frank considered taking it back, obviously there was going to be no answer given, but Mr Way spoke up just as Frank was about to.
"If you simply must know, I'm twenty years old."
"Twenty?" Frank nearly choked on thin air. He couldn't believe someone so young was doing a job so time consuming. "That's young for a teacher."
"Thank you?"
Sitting back in his chair, Frank stared at his hands. "So. . . What's your name, then, sir?"
Rolling his eyes, he sighed deeply, "Gerard. My name's Gerard Way."
"Gerard." He tested. "That's weird. . . Calling you Gerard, I mean. Not your name. Your name's not weird." As his boost of confidence slowly slipped away, Frank's habit of becoming a rambling mess shone through.
Mr Way –Gerard– just smiled. "I know what you mean; don't worry." Setting his laptop down, he walked to his desk, unlocking the bottom drawer and retrieving a device, which he then held out to Frank, who squinted at it.
"Is that my phone?"
"You left it here this morning."
As Frank reached up to take it, his fingers brushed against Gerard's and he awkwardly pulled back, resulting in almost dropping his phone.
"You okay?" Gerard asked, watching as Frank made a fool of himself by eventually letting the device slip from his hands. To further add to his embarrassment, as he crouched down to fetch it, he accidentally banged his head on the table when he tried to stand back up.
"I'm fine." Frank mumbled, rubbing his head. "Just stupid."
"I can see that." Gerard teased, putting a hand to his mouth as he refrained from laughing.
Silently, Frank glowered, not breaking their severe eye contact.
"I'm sorry. But you'd laugh if it was me."
Admitting defeat, he shrugged. "True." Frank turned his attention to the art on the table. He had so much to do this year and he despised it.
For the following hour, they were both engulfed in their own work, too absorbed to notice the cleaners come in to sweep the floors and wipe down the tables. One of them had to almost push Gerard off the table so they could get to it. Of course, he'd been anxious that he'd upset them and they thought he was being rude. Frank had had to reassure him they didn't when they left.
Now, it told quarter past five on the clock. Frank's eyes were starting to blur due to his intense concentration and had to blink a few times to focus on things again. The same effect had taken place on Gerard's eyes -a headache paired as a bonus.
Surprise washed over Frank when he realised the time. "Well, shit." He muttered, pushing the sleeves of his hoodie up to his elbows.
Gazing at Frank through his lashes and strands of hair that had fallen over his eyes, Gerard spoke up. "Are you late for something? Have I kept you behind for too long?"
"No, no, it's okay." Frank shook his head. "I like being here. It's just that I didn't know it was that late." He confessed with a short laugh.
"You're right. It's a Friday too." Gerard bit his lip, scratching the back of his neck. "I'm sorry."
"You don't have to apologise." Frank said, raking his fingers through his hair. He packed everything away, taking a little longer so he and Gerard were ready at the same time.
"What have you got planned this weekend?" He adjusted the cuffs and collar of his denim jacket, slinging his satchel over his shoulder and logging off the school computer.
"Not much. I don't really do big plans at the weekend. I'll probably just watch TV and draw, to be honest." Frank joked seriously, hoping he didn't come off as a total bore.
"My kind of weekend."
"What about you?"
Gerard went quiet, looking down at his hands so his fringe hid most of his face again. "I don't know. My. . . Partner is finally moving in with me, so that's great."
"Rad." Frank smiled warmly, holding the doors open. A blush crept up on to Gerard's cheeks when he noticed how he was acting -like a proper gentleman.
"Thank you."
They exited and walked the halls together, parting ways at the car park.
[Published 30 April 2019]
[Last edited 15 December 2019]