Pretty. (Frerard, Petekey, Ryden, Peterick)

45: Panic! At The Maths Test

"You can't put off talking to him forever." Frank's words were heavy and far too meaningful for Mikey's liking, as the two boys made their way into school, ignoring the mess of students around them, as the hard hitting nature of their own conversation seemed to make everything else in the whole world very little but insignificant.

"Watch me, Frank, fucking watch me." Mikey chose to attack the situation with a half-hearted kind of spite, because he had little else left, and he wasn't quite all that he made himself out to be. "Sorry, I..." Mikey shook his head, because he was so fucked and everything was fucked, and he'd forgotten all about this maths test, because in the scheme of things, it barely mattered at all, but he reckoned that his maths teacher wouldn't quite think of it the same way.

"It's fine, I get you, well, I... you know, I get that things aren't easy for you, but he's your brother Mikey and you can't just ignore him like this; it's upsetting him too." The two stopped by their lockers, and Mikey used the gathering of several books he didn't really need as a wonderful excuse to avoid Frank's words, because they were little off the truth, and Mikey couldn't evade that, no matter how hard he tried.

"Fuck, Frank, I just, I know he cares, but I think that's too much, because I can't handle myself, and I don't want him to know that, because I don't want to upset him, because he's happy now and he's got you, and I don't want to fuck that up, because everything is guilt for treating Gee like I used to, and just letting my parents do the same." Mikey shook his head, biting down on his bottom lip and regretting the heavy hitting nature of these early morning thoughts.

Frank paused for a moment: perplexed, at a loss for what to say, perhaps. "It's okay, Mikey, I know he forgives you, and I know what you did was fucked up, but I guess, it was your parents: we're not born ignorant, we're not born bad people, that's just how we're raised, and that's not our fault, is it? Because if we change that, because we can change that, then it's okay again, isn't it?"

"He's made you so much more at ease with yourself and everything, I can tell you that." Mikey let out an awkward breathy kind of laugh, as he caught sight of Ray at the end of the corridor, talking to two boys he couldn't quite recognise from the distance, but he made an effort not to ponder upon it, as he turned back to Frank.

"I reckon it's just the weed - being in that house all the time, you fucking breathe that shit in like a supplement to oxygen, but fuck it if I care, I don't know, hey, maybe it is him, maybe..." Frank blushed, shaking his head, "I don't know, but I know that I love him, and I know that he loves you, and that you need to talk to him about this, like today, after school."

Mikey nodded, forcing his lips up into a smile, "and I know, that I'm going to fucking fail this maths test."

Frank's eyes widened in shock, "what maths test?"

And Mikey couldn't help but laugh, only for the two to be interrupted as Gabe Saporta tapped Frank on the shoulder, catching him by surprise, and leaving Mikey in hysterics at the height difference between the two.

"Hey, uhh... you're Frank, right?" Gabe asked, blushing a little, because this was kind of awkward, to say the least. Frank nodded in response, and the much taller boy continued, "yeah, thank you, thank your boyfriend for me, because he talked Bill into leaving Bert and... I think we're okay now, I think everything's going to be okay now, I mean, things aren't going to be the same since Dallon died, and I get that, but, between me and Bill at least."

"Yeah, I'll mention it to him." Frank smiled in response, "I'm glad you and Bill are back together, I think you work."

"Thanks." And with that Gabe Saporta had disappeared down the corridor, and Frank was left just a little bewildered.