There were lots of great features of winter, yet high winds and rain were not appreciated. Especially by Frank, who'd had to battle his way through the streets on his way to school. He wasn't the strongest person, and he was a pretty light weight, so he got flown to the building by the wind. That bit was quite fun, yet annoying, because more than three times he'd almost tripped over.
Additionally, his long hair was a mess, a complete bird's nest by the time he arrived. He tried to flatten it out as he walked to the art department, but it was barely any use.
Gerard couldn't wipe the smirk off his face when he saw Frank's dishevelled state. "Bad weather outside?"
Rolling his eyes, Frank replied with the best of his sarcastic abilities. "It's actually quite sunny. No clouds, no rain. It's great."
Taking pity on the fact Frank was drenched, water dripping off the end of his little pink nose, Gerard helped him out of his coat, which was difficult as the soaking wet material clung to his skin. When they'd finally managed, he draped the coat over the radiator to try and dry it off.
"This sucks." Frank muttered bitterly, wrapping his arms around himself in a feeble attempt to warm up. He only had on a thin t-shirt; obviously when he woke up this morning the radiators had tricked him in to thinking it wasn't freezing.
"Please don't catch hypothermia."
"I'll try not to." He let out a short laugh, teeth clattering together as he couldn't stop shivering.
Gerard paused for a moment, biting his lip as he came up with an idea. Preparing himself for the chilly air, he shrugged off his corduroy jacket. "Here," He wrapped it around a confused Frank's shoulders. "Take my jacket."
"What?" He furrowed his brows. "No." He shook his head, trying to take it off to give it back, but Gerard kept his hands on Frank's shoulders so he couldn't. "I can't take this."
"You're not taking it, you're borrowing it."
"Still." He huffed. "You're going to be cold and I don't want it to be because you're too damn kind to think of yourself for once. Take it back, Gee."
"Listen," He snaked his arms around his waist, resting his chin near the collar of Frank's shirt. "I'm willingly lending you my jacket for you to wear so you don't freeze to death, okay?"
There had been someone speaking, Frank knew that, but he barely registered it because Gerard had rendered him speechless once again with all the physical contact he was gifting him with. Holding his breath, all he could think about were Gerard's arms around his waist. Honestly, it was getting ridiculous, he froze every time they touched, but he couldn't help it.
"Frank?"
Blinking hard, he snapped back to reality. "Yeah?"
"You okay?" Gerard chuckled, eyebrows knitted together with slight worry. He let go and Frank instantly stepped away, turning around to face him with a sheepish smile.
"Yeah, I'm fine." He bit his lip, shoving his hands in the pockets of Gerard's jacket. "Won't people know this is yours?"
"Unless they've memorized what I wear, I don't think so."
"What if you have a creepy stalker and they have actually memorised what you wear?" He raised his eyebrows.
Rolling his eyes, Gerard raked his fingers through his knotted hair, staring down at his boots. "Then I'll be surprised that someone has taken an interest in me."
Frank's smile slowly faded and he frowned, a wave of pity washing towards him. He felt the urge to hug him and never let go because those words just gave him an insight to how Gerard felt and what his life must be like, and it saddened him. At a loss for words, he reached out to comfort him, but Gerard had a forced smile on his face and carried on as if he'd said nothing.
"Come on." He took Frank's arm, beginning to roll up the sleeve. "This is huge on you."
Pushing those thoughts to the back of his mind, he snorted. "You're only like an inch taller than me."
"I know, but I like oversized clothes, and this is an extra-large." A redness tinted his cheeks as he smiled at what he was going to say next. "You do look adorable, though."
The jacket ended just above Frank's knees, the sleeves hiding his hands completely. His huge pale brown eyes reflected the light in his curious gaze. This, paired with his soft, fluffy hair, made him look like an innocent little puppy.
Instantly, Frank blushed, tilting his head forwards as he tried to keep a straight poker face, though the blush creeping up his neck didn't help. That feeling fluttered in his chest as if his heart were a manic butterfly. "You-you think so?"
"I wouldn't have said it otherwise."
Audibly, he swallowed the lump in his throat, "Thank you."
-
During fourth period art, Frank had insisted on returning the jacket, claiming he wasn't cold anymore, but Gerard had argued with the fact that Frank's cheeks were still red. Of course they were, but it was more from the embarrassment than the cold.
Although he felt weird wearing it, admittedly he loved that it just smelled like Gerard; coffee and cigarettes. If he hadn't been worried about people judging him, he would have hugged the jacket to his chest with his nose buried in it all day. Truthfully, he knew it sounded ridiculous, but it was like holding a piece of Gerard and it comforted him.
At the end of the seventh period, he didn't feel like handing it back anymore, so when he walked to the art rooms, he took his sweet time, zipping it up and pulling the sleeves down so it completely engulfed him.
The moment he opened the door, a booming voice came echoing through, causing him to stop dead in his tracks. Eyes wide, he peered in to 169a to discover it was Mr Knight's voice he'd heard.
Frank's fear further soared as his gaze landed on Gerard, who had the most frightened expression on his face while Mr Knight practically screamed at him. Any ordinary person probably wouldn't have been able to tell Gerard was afraid as he was keeping a steadily calm demeanour. However, Frank knew him well and noticed the way Gerard's eyes were slightly wide, the thin layer of sweat coating his skin, and the way his hands were held tightly by his sides.
Then Gerard's eyes darted to Frank, lips parted as he clearly didn't want anyone witnessing this.
"Look at me when I'm talking to you." Mr Knight demanded, rudely snapping his fingers in front of Gerard's face.
"Sorry, sir." He gulped quite loudly, feeling ten inches tall under the towering height of Mr Knight.
Before Mr Knight turned around to see what Gerard had been distracted by, Frank slipped next door in to 169b. Honestly, he thought Gerard was being treated like a child, but he didn't dare question Mr Knight as he was the most terrifying teacher in the school.
Eventually, Mr Knight left, and as soon as the coast was clear, Frank wandered cautiously in to 169a, mentally debating on whether to actually stand on the tips of his toes.
Gerard was slumped against the wall, staring up at the ceiling with his arms crossed over his chest, eyes half lidded.
"Hey," Frank said softly.
Gerard glanced at him from the corner of his eye, but didn't move or speak.
"Are you alright?" He bit his lip, hoping he wasn't going to make things worse.
No answer. Gerard just blinked hard, fixing his gaze to the lights above. After that explosion, he needed a moment to recover.
"What," He paused, quietly putting his things by the door. "What was all that about. . ?"
At last, he gathered the strength to explain. "I-" He swallowed the lump in his throat. "I, uhm, I forgot to-to set the dates for your mock exams." He desperately tried to keep his tone level, but his voice cracked and he feared he would to. Being yelled at like that brought back awful memories and feelings, and he was doing everything he could not to seem utterly pathetic.
Frank tried to think of a million ways to console him because it looked like Gerard was about to burst in to tears, scream, or both. "They've expected you to do a lot in your first time teaching. . . It's-"
Digging the heels of his palms in to his eyes, Gerard shook his head. "These are-these are your mock exams, Frank, it's a big deal."
"I-"
"The deadline was yesterday and I missed it. Which means now we'll have to have the slots that are left. They could clash with other exams you have. This is going to take even longer for everyone, and it's all my fault." He rambled on, scraping his fingers through his hair anxiously. He began pacing, trying to calm himself down, but it wasn't working at all. "God, I'm so stupid."
Shaking his head, Frank stepped forwards, putting a stop to Gerard's strides, almost crashing in to him. "You're not stupid." He tucked Gerard's hair behind his ears, then curled his fingers around his hands to bring them down from tugging on his hair. "You were just given a lot of classes to handle and a lot of work to do for your first time teaching, you're bound to make mistakes sometimes."
"But this is a big mistake." He frowned, avoiding eye contact, which was hard as they were stood quite close.
"Then I'll even help you if you need, yeah?" He offered, doing his best to aid the situation in any way possible. "I know it won't be much. . . But it'll work out alright." He offered a smile, squeezing Gerard's hands reassuringly.
Slowly composing himself, Gerard nodded, taking a deep breath.
Really, Frank didn't care if all the time they spent together made him fall for Gerard even harder than he already seemed to be, but he didn't exactly care. Crushes never last, so neither was this thing he had for his art teacher.
"Come here." Frank muttered softly, enveloping him in a hug. He went to run his fingers through Gerard's hair, but he remembered he'd told him not to last time. Instead, he settled his hands just above Gerard's hips, resting his chin on his shoulder as Gerard buried his head in Frank's chest.
"Thank you." Gerard mumbled, voice muffled by the fabric of Frank's clothes -or rather, Gerard's own jacket.
"I do mean it." He chuckled. "I'll try to help."
"You really don't have to." Hesitantly, he pulled back, shaking his head. "You have a lot of work and revising to complete, too."
"I want to." He suddenly felt very aware that his hands were resting on Gerard's hips and he moved them to hang awkwardly at his sides. He forced a nervous smile. "What can I do to cheer you up?"
"Oh, it's fine." Gerard rubbed his eyes, squeezing them shut. "It's a Friday, you can go home if you want." He wrapped his arms around himself, darting his eyes to the window. He felt the heat of Frank's stare on him and he would have met his gaze if he hadn't have felt so damn self-conscious. He always seemed to feel this way around Frank; always wondering what Frank was going to think of him. "I don't want to keep you here."
"It's okay, I like being here." He said quietly, quickly regretting his words in case the feelings weren't mutual. Locking those doubts in the corner of his mind, Frank took a deep breath. "Come on." He took Gerard by the shoulders, guiding him to a desk and in to a chair. "Sit down while I feed you biscuits."
Gerard giggled, at which Frank's heart skipped a beat, making him smile, because it was the cutest noise in the world.
Rummaging through the drawers, Frank located the biscuits, then pulled up a chair and sat next to Gerard, making sure they were a decent distance apart. He couldn't cope with any more butterflies devouring his insides.
"I wish it was always like this." Gerard murmured thoughtfully, picking out a biscuit, eating it slowly to allow the chocolate to melt in his mouth.
"Like what?"
"Peaceful, you know?" He sighed. "Everything is always so loud."
Frank remained silent, listening to the hum of the computers, the distant footsteps of staff preparing to go home, the harsh winds outside, and their steady breathing.
They stayed there for a while, enjoying each other's company and nibbling at chocolate digestives until Gerard huffed, getting up from his seat. "I have to get these dates sorted." He slouched at the desk, wishing for them to magically be done.
Pressing his lips in to a thin line, Frank nodded, "I have to get my art sorted."
Glancing up from the screen, their eyes met, both of their expressions melting in to a fond smile. "Music?" Gerard asked, already knowing the answer.
"Music."
[Published 24 September]
[Last edited 18 November 2019]