"Paco," someone said, waking me up with a fright.

I looked over at the doorway of Frank's room at a small, brown haired lady. She wore a t-shirt and I could see she had a tattoo sleeve on her left arm.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't know you had company," she said.

I looked over at Frank, who was on his couch playing PlayStation with headphones on. He looked between us and took the headphones off.

"Yeah, we got back from Jamia's late so I figured you were already asleep," he said. "This is Gerard."

"Hi, Gerard, I'm Linda, Frank's mom," she said. "Mia's mom was wondering if you and I wanted to grab some breakfast with her and the kids. You can come too if you would like, Gerard."

"Can we just stay in?" He asked.

"Sure, I can make you two something," she said.

"That's okay, you can go out," Frank said. "I can make us breakfast."

"Alright, I'll be back in a bit," she said.

She shut the door when she left and Frank turned off his console and TV. He came over and sat on the bed.

"You wanna hang out today?" He asked. "I got this new game I've been absolutely dying to play but it's more fun to do the campaign co-op. Jamia doesn't want to play it because she's not too big on games and it's too violent for her younger brother. I don't have a whole lot of friends. You wanna play it with me?"

"It's okay with you?" I asked nervously.

"Yeah, of course," he said. "If you want you can grab a shower while I make food and we can eat it up here."

"That sounds good, actually," I said.

Frank smiled, giving me some clothes and a towel before I locked myself in his bathroom. I walked towards the shower and stared at it for a moment. There were white subway tiles lining the wall and floor, as well as the large bench. There were two showerheads, a regular detachable one and a huge rain shower. The whole shower was probably almost three times the size of a regular shower.

I looked at all the knobs and turned one. It turned on the detachable shower. I bit my lip, knowing this was probably my one and only chance to try a rain shower. I turned off the shower and turned the rain one on instead.

I got undressed and looked at the floor to ceiling mirror. My body and face was still bruised and beat up, making me turn away in pure disgust for myself.

The shower was warm and I looked at the assortment of products Frank had on the shelf. Almost all of them had some fancy French name. It definitely wasn't my two dollar products. As I showered, I couldn't help but smile at the scents that smelled like frank. And god, I could not get over how nice a good shower felt, our dorm showers weren't the best quality; it didn't get very hot and the pressure was terrible. I might've stayed in a bit too long just enjoying it because I realized my fingers were getting pruney.

Frank was on the couch watching tv when I stepped out after getting dressed. There was a food tray on the coffee table with an assortment of pancakes, fruits, bacon, muffins, scrambled eggs, cinnamon rolls, yogurt, oatmeal, smoothies, juice and milk.

"I-is it just us two?" I asked.

"Yeah," he said. "Sorry, I didn't know what you liked so I just made a selection. My maid helped me so it didn't take too long, actually."

"You didn't have to do all that for me," I said.

"I wanted to do it for you," he said.

I blushed and sat down next to him on the couch and picked up one of the empty plates. We didn't actually talk much as we ate and watched tv together but it was unusually comfortable. For some reason I wasn't so on edge around him.

Once afternoon rolled around and we had played games together for a little bit, I began to get a little nervous about possibly overstaying my welcome.

"I should probably get going," I said.

"You sure?" Frank asked as he paused the game. "You got homework?"

"I-I don't want to be in your hair," I said.

"You're not," he said. "I love spending time with you."

He's just saying that.

"I should go," I said.

"You're not bothering me, I really loved having you over," he said. "And you're welcome here whenever if you don't feel safe. You can stay the rest of the weekend if you want."

I bit my lip. I really was nervous about Andy still hanging around my dorm.

"I-I don't know if I can," I mumbled.

"It'll be like our own little party," he said.

"I-I guess," I said.

Frank got a huge grin on his face.

"Awesome, we can have so much fun," he said. "So, what do you usually like to spend your saturdays doing?"

"Um, usually I'm with Andy doing what he wants," I said.

"Okay, well, what have you always wanted to do?" He asked.

"I guess I've been wanting to go to a pet place to look at and play with cats lately," I said. "I love cats but Andy never let me go because he didn't want to go because he said cats were dumb and stupid."

"Let's go to the pet store then," he said.

I smiled as we went downstairs and drove downtown. We went into the pet shop and went to the cat section. I gasped, looking into the cages as they all meowed for attention and affection. 

"Oh my god, they're so cute," I said.

I saw the littlest kitten and bent down to read the description of the calico cat.

"Hi, my name is Matcha," I read out loud. "I'm eleven weeks old and was found as a two old kitten with my siblings in a garbage bin. I love to play and run around! My favorite are wand toys and paper balls! I also love tuna and if I smell it even a hundred feet away I will come running and cry until I get some. Be careful, though! As a baby I hurt my foot and my foster parents felt bad and spoiled me. Now whenever I get in trouble, I'll pretend my foot is hurting me. I'm a liar! But I will accept all forms of attention, especially cuddles! I love to sit in laps! I can't wait to find my forever family!"

I gasped and stuck my fingers through the cage bars. Matcha quickly rubbed her head against them.

"I love her," I said.

Frank smiled over at me. I noticed two workers nearby whispering. I was used to getting stares when I crossdress but I was dressed in normal sweats today.

"Do you have any pets?" He asked.

I shook my head. "My brother is allergic. I wish I could get a cat, I want one so badly."

I laughed Matcha as she rolled onto her back so I could pet her stomach.

"Hey, this is random but can you help me get something off a high shelf?" One of the employees asked Frank.

Frank nodded and they went over to the shelf a few feet away against the wall. The other girl came over to me while they were busy.

"Are you okay?" She asked.

I looked at her in confusion as I nodded.

"Do you need help?" She asked. "I can call the police discreetly without him noticing. We can get you help."

I looked at Frank before looking back at her in confusion. That's when I remembered that Andy had bruised me pretty bad in visible places.

"Oh, n-no, I'm okay," I said.

"It's okay, we can call a shelter if you need somewhere to stay," she said.

"No, it's really okay, he's a friend," I said quietly.

She looked a little unsure still but nodded before walking off. I looked at Frank and saw that him and the girl were just talking now. She was smiling and said something to the other employee, which made her seem to smile and relax. I felt a little jealous as I looked back at Matcha. Maybe it was just because I was being left out of the conversation when it was supposed to be me and Frank hanging out.

"Let me know if you get hungry, we can go grab lunch somewhere," Frank said when he came back over.

"I can eat at the school cafeteria when you drop me off," I said.

"I thought you were staying for the weekend," he said.

He clearly has more fun when I'm not around. I'm a bummer to be around.

"I forgot I have a big project to do," I said.

"You sure?" He asked.

My lip quivered as I looked down. Frank held my wrist gently and led me outside to sit on a bench where I took a few deep breaths in the fresh air. Frank let me cry for a moment as he rubbed my back.

"I lied, I don't have a project," I said.

"That's okay," he said.

"You're not angry that I lied?" I asked.

"I could never be angry with you," he said.

I sniffled as I looked at him and he looked back at me with the kindest, most sympathetic eyes.

"Why are you so nice to me?" I asked.

"Because you're perfect," Frank said. "And every time I'm nice to you, you get this smile on your face and it is the cutest, sweetest smile I've ever seen."

I smiled but looked down to hide it shyly.

"Oh, you can't turn away from me now, I love your smile," he said.

I blushed, shaking my head.

"Now, how else would you like to spend our awesome slumber party weekend?" He asked.

"We can do whatever you wanna do," I said.

To be honest, I wasn't used to picking out what to do.

"You can choose," he said.

"Um, pizza?" I asked.

"I love pizza," Frank agreed.

I smiled as we got into his car and for the first time in a long time, I had a completely fun, relaxing weekend.

~~
Fluff for Itsacookieonacookie