Archive of Our Own

Frank shifts his weight on the cot in the nurse’s office, making a crinkling sound on the white paper, while he waits for Mrs. Connors to show up. He feels kind of bad for interrupting her lunch, but he’s had the chills all morning and just the smell of the food in the cafeteria made his stomach lurch alarmingly, so he high-tailed it to the front office. Mrs. Lorenzo at the front desk barely even looked at him, just waved him through to Mrs. Connors’ office and had her paged. He doesn’t have to wait long; she bustles in a few minutes later, lunch bag and open diet soda in her hand.

“Hello, Frankie,” she says as she sets her things down on her desk. “What do we have today?”

“Nausea and chills. I think I have a fever.” Frank both loathes and appreciates the familiarity he has with the school nurse.

Mrs. Connors nods and gets her thermometer ready. It’s jammed under his tongue when she asks, “How’d that history paper go?”

Frank replies, “I got an A,” but it’s garbled around the thermometer.

Mrs. Connors seems to get it though, because she smiles and says, “Good for you.” The thermometer beeps and she takes it out, frowning as she reads the display. “Hmm, 102.4. Might as well sit tight then. I’ll get you some Tylenol and have the front office call your mom.”

He’d figured as much. He takes the Tylenol and small paper cup of water. He’s still feeling a little nauseous though. “Mind if I go lie down on one of the cots in the other room?”

“Of course not. I’ll just go tell Mrs. Lorenzo to call your mother.”

She leaves the office while Frank goes into the attached room and picks the cot farthest from the door. He curls up on his right side, but then remembers reading something about lying on your left side being better for digestion or something, so he rolls over. He doesn’t notice much difference, but he also doesn’t really want to throw up, so he stays put.

He dozes off for a while, drifting in and out of sleep as he hears Mrs. Connors moving around in the office and making phone calls. He must have been in a deep sleep for a bit because he wakes up and Mrs. Connors is in the room with someone else. He tries to wake up enough to figure out how long he’s been asleep and if it might be his mom, but the voice that answers Mrs. Connors is obviously male. Great, another sick kid. Frank goes to sit up a little and Mrs. Connors comes over.

“How are you feeling, Frankie? Do you need anything to drink?”

Frank nods, and Mrs. Connors leaves and comes back with two cups of watered down Sprite. She hands one to Frank and one to the other boy.

“Here you go, Gerard. Now you just lie in here and I’ll have the front office call your mom. Frankie, your mom said she’ll try to get here if she can, but if not you’ll have to take the bus home,” she says, before leaving the room again.

Dammit. Frank hates that he can’t drive yet. He usually gets a ride with Hambone, but if you’re sick and your parents can’t come get you, they make you take the bus home. It’s a stupid rule, but mom’s job means Frank usually has to abide by it.

Frank sighs and looks over at the other kid, Gerard apparently. He's wearing a black leather jacket, kind of worn looking, and he's hiding his face behind hair that's longer than Frank thought they could get away with at school. He's also swaying a little, which, call Frank crazy, but that's not something he usually does when he's already nauseous. Gerard looks up then and notices Frank looking at him. Frank blushes a little - he hates getting caught like that - but Gerard just kind of giggles, then looks over to the empty doorway, then back at Frank.

"Can you keep a secret?" he asks.

"Yeah, sure," Frank replies, curious.

"I'm not actually sick," Gerard whispers. He giggles again too. It's actually pretty cute. And so is his face, now that Frank can see it.

"You're not sick. So why are you in the nurse's office?"

"I'm drunk!" Gerard declares, possibly louder than he should have because he makes a hilarious "oops!" face and looks at the door again. But Mrs. Connors is still gone.

Drunk at school. Frank had no idea people ever got away with that. There have been days he wouldn’t have minded trying, but he’d never have the guts. “How’d you get away with that?” he asks Gerard.

Gerard shrugs. “Dunno exactly. That was the whole point, really. Well, and boredom I guess. She probably thinks the stomach flu is going around, so uh. Thanks for actually being sick and all.” He smiles kind of shyly at Frank.

Frank’s shitty immune system saves the day again. “Why haven’t I seen you before?” Frank asks, before realizing it came out a bit more rudely than he intended. “I mean, are you new?”

“Yeah, we just started here a few weeks ago. Me and my brother, Mikey, I mean. He’s a sophomore. What year are you?”

“Sophomore too. What’s your last name?”

“Way.”

That sounds slightly familiar. “I think your brother is in my chemistry class.”

Gerard smiles again. “Cool. I love chemistry. I mean, I’m terrible at it, but I love it. It’s like... it makes you think about how small everything really is, you know? Like, we’re all just elements and particles and reactions to stimuli and shit. Crazy.”

Gerard rambles for a little longer about the secrets contained within the periodic table, and Frank is sort of lulled into relaxation by his voice. His eyelids start to droop. He tries to stay awake because falling asleep while talking to a guy he just met is kind of shitty, but he can’t help it and nods off for a while. He’s not sure how long he’s out, or if Gerard even noticed, because when he wakes up again, Gerard is talking about comics.

“...and like, I would love it if they made The Invisibles into a movie, obviously, but like, don’t fucking steal it and then ruin it, you know? Although Keanu Reeves is really hot in all that leather. We had to watch Much Ado About Nothing the other day in English Lit, and he’s really terrible in that. I mean, the tights are nice, but whose idea was it to put Keanu Reeves in Shakespeare? Did they never see Bill and Ted?”

Frank’s finally awake enough to contribute. “Wyld Stallyns!”

“Yeah!” Gerard says, smiling again. He has a really really cute smile.

Frank sits up more and stretches, feeling a little less nauseous after his nap, but still feverish. “Were you talking this entire time?”

Gerard looks a little embarrassed. “Yeah, I guess I was. Sorry. I tend to ramble when I tell stories. Especially when I’ve been drinking.”

“It’s okay, I don’t mind. I like your voice.” Now Frank is embarrassed. Shit, he didn’t mean to say that.

Luckily, Gerard either doesn’t notice or doesn’t care. They talk about movies until the final bell, then walk to the buses together.

“You’re a senior, right?” Frank asks him.

“Yeah, why?”

“How come you’re riding the bus?”

“Oh, I don’t have a car. I don’t really mind the bus though. This way I don’t have to deal with all the assholes on their way to work in the morning.”

Gerard definitely has a point. Frank stops when he gets to his bus. “Well, this is me. Thanks for keeping me company today, even though you weren’t sick.”

Gerard beams at him. “It was fun. Nice meeting you Frank. I hope you feel better tomorrow.” Frank watches as he walks over to a skinny kid with glasses who is definitely in Frank’s chem class, then he gets on his bus.

*

Frank doesn’t feel better the next day and spends the day on the couch, watching terrible daytime tv, nursing watered down 7-Up and nibbling on crackers. And thinking about Gerard. This isn’t the first time Frank’s had a crush on a boy, but it’s the first time he wasn’t so horribly awkward with nerves that he became a complete spazz. He still feels bad for falling asleep listening to him talk, but at least Gerard hadn’t seemed bothered by it.

Frank spends one more day camped out on the couch, and when it's been 24 hours since he last puked and his fever is under 100, his mom declares him well enough to go back to school. What's super annoying is that it's Friday. If Frank wasn't already behind from a bout of bronchitis a month ago, he would have campaigned to just stay home through the weekend.

In the morning, he goes around to his teachers and gets his make up work, and just barely makes it to chemistry before the first bell. When he sits up from getting his book out of his bag, Gerard's brother is sitting next to him.

"Hey, I'm Mikey. Wanna be lab partners?" he asks.

"Sure," Frank replies. He opens up the packet of S’mores pop tarts he'd grabbed for breakfast. "Pop tart?" He offers the packet to Mikey.

"Cool," Mikey says, taking one. "My brother was asking about you."

Frank feels a little jump in his stomach, even though Gerard was probably just wondering if he was still sick or something. "He was?"

"Yeah. He was asking if I knew you and if you had come back to class yet."

"Well," Frank says around a mouthful of pop tart. "I'm here now."

"Yep, and you have correct opinions about Army of Darkness so we should fix the knowing each other part."

Frank smiles. If all having a stupid crush on Gerard does is gain him a new friend, that's better than nothing. "Yeah, totally."

They don't share any other classes, but Mikey sits with Frank and Hambone at lunch, too. When they're walking back to their lockers, Mikey says to Frank, "You should come over tonight and watch movies with me and Gee."

"You sure Gerard won't mind?" Frank doesn't have brothers so he has no idea if he'd be crashing in on bonding time or whatever.

"Nah, he's the one who said I should ask you."

Frank feels the swooping in his stomach again. "Yeah, sure. I have to go home first, but I can come over later."

Mikey smiles and they exchange numbers. Mikey walks over to his locker, which is just across the hallway. When Frank looks back up from switching out his books, Mikey’s talking to Gerard. It's the first time Frank has seen him since the day in the nurse's office, and yeah. He is really cute. He's wearing the same black leather jacket, and when he pushes his hair out of his face he sees Frank and gives him a little wave and a smile. Frank smiles and waves back, and then the warning bell rings and everyone heads to class.

Frank's halfway down the hall when someone falls in step next to him. It's Gerard. Frank's heart maybe skips a beat.

"Hey, Mikey said you were coming over tonight? That's awesome."

"Yeah, thanks for inviting me. I mean, for Mikey inviting me."

"Of course. Hey, I'll see you later, okay?" Gerard flashes him that crooked grin of his, then goes into the art room.

Frank feels like he's walking on air all the way to American History.

*

Frank waves to his mom from the Ways’ front porch while he waits for someone to come to the door. Mikey opens it after a few minutes and steps back to let Frank inside.

"You sure Gerard won't mind taking me home later?" he asks as he follows Mikey through the living room and into the kitchen.

"Yeah, I'm sure. Mom already said he could use the car." He opens the fridge. "You want anything to drink?"

"Coke, if you have it." Mikey hands him a can. "Thanks."

"Gerard's got everything set up in his room. Come on," Mikey says, heading down the stairs off the kitchen. Frank follows him down and into Gerard's bedroom. It's dark and a little messy, but the bed is made and Gerard is sitting in the middle of it.

"Hey, Frank!" he says when he sees them. "Come sit, we're gonna watch Scream."

Frank sits where Gerard had patted the bed, right next to him, and rubs his palms on his thighs a little. He feels nervous and he doesn't really know why. The Ways have been nothing but awesome so far.

Mikey puts the movie in, then sits down on the other side of Gerard, handing him the big bowl of popcorn that had been on the nightstand. "I love this movie. Neve Campbell is hot."

"Skeet Ulrich," Frank and Gerard both say at the same time. They look at each other with wide eyes, and Gerard giggles. "Well, he is!"

Frank smiles, and grabs a handful of popcorn.

He's seen this movie a million times, but he still jumps whenever Ghostface pops up out of nowhere. He leans in closer to Gerard, who doesn't seem to mind. Frank's heart is pounding, and he's pretty sure it's from more than being startled by the movie. By the time Tatum gets wasted by a garage door, Frank is tucked under Gerard's arm.

When the movie's over, Mikey looks over at Frank and Gerard basically cuddling and yawns dramatically, mumbling something about his allergy meds making him tired, even though it's only ten o'clock.

"Hey Frank, you wanna go to the record store with me tomorrow?" he stops and asks before he goes up the stairs.

"Yeah, that would be awesome," Frank answers.

"Sweet. I’ll call you tomorrow. Drive safe, Gee."

"I will. Night, Wheezy!" Gerard calls after him.

"Wheezy?" Frank asks.

Gerard laughs. "Yeah, it's his nickname. Well, one of his nicknames, since I guess 'Mikey' also counts as one. Anyway, he doesn't really have asthma, but he had an inhaler when he had bronchitis one time, and the nurse at our old school wouldn't let him participate in gym anymore."

"Oh man, I know how that goes. I mean, the nurse not letting you do gym. I usually get a note too. I guess I'm sick kind of a lot."

Gerard gives him a concerned look. "Yeah? That sucks. I guess you're in the nurse's office a lot too, huh?"

"Yeah. I'm kind of glad I was the other day though, otherwise I probably wouldn't be here." Frank feels his face heat up and he looks down at his hands. When Gerard doesn't say anything, Frank chances a look up and sees that Gerard is smiling at him.

"I'm kind of glad you were there too."

Frank smiles back. "So why were you there anyway? Like, why did you go to school drunk?"

"Oh, that. I don't know. I guess... I was nervous, I guess? Like, I'm not usually very good at meeting people and I still don't really know anybody at school, so it sort of seemed like the best time to try. It was probably a really stupid thing to do, but I met you, so I'm not too upset with myself about it."

"Yeah, it was kind of a weird way to meet someone, but I'm not upset with you about it either."

Gerard gives him kind of a funny look, then sets the bowl of popcorn aside. "So, okay, I've wanted to do this all night." Then he leans in and Frank knows it's coming - he's about to get his first kiss from someone he actually really likes (that wet peck from Stacy Ellis during spin the bottle in seventh grade doesn't count). Suddenly, Gerard's lips are on his. Frank panics for a second. He doesn't really have a clue what he's supposed to do. But then Gerard cups his hands around Frank's face and tilts his head a little, and it all makes sense.

Frank presses forward, his lips sliding against Gerard's, and he opens his mouth a little when Gerard licks his lips. They kiss and kiss, sitting there on Gerard's bed, until Frank sees the time on the VCR out of the corner of his eye.

"Shit," he says, pulling away from Gerard's mouth. Gerard makes a sad noise and leans farther, following Frank. Frank giggles and gives him a quick peck. "No seriously, my curfew's in like, ten minutes."

Gerard kisses him again, then says, "Okay Frankie, let's go."

They hold hands in the car all the way to Frank's house, and kiss a little bit more in Frank's driveway. It's 11:01 on the dashboard when Frank finally makes himself get out of the car.

"Hey Frank!" Gerard calls before Frank shuts the door.

Frank leans back down to look in the car. "Yeah?"

"Want to hang out tomorrow after you get back from the record store with Mikey?"

Frank beams. "I'd love to."

Gerard grins back. "Okay, I'll see you tomorrow then. Good night, Frankie."

"Night, Gee," Frank says, then he shuts the car door and hops up the stairs to the front porch. He watches Gerard drive away, then goes inside.

His mom is, of course, waiting up for him on the couch. "Cutting it pretty close tonight, Frank," she says, but she doesn't sound mad.

"Sorry, Mom," Frank says.

"It's alright, sweetie. Did you have fun with your new friends?"

Frank smiles. "Yeah, I really did."

It takes Frank a while to fall asleep that night, but when he wakes up in the morning, he's still smiling.