Author's Note: Quick question, would you guys prefer shorter chapters (5 to 7 pages)  but quicker updates, or longer chapters (13 to 19 pages) but slower updates? This doesn't guarantee anything, I'm just asking because I want to see how I can make this the most convenient. Thanks for sticking with me, guys!

3rd Person POV

It's been a whole fucking week, and Frank still hasn't talked to Gerard. Lindsey promised to help Gerard, but she had to go home a few days ago due to a family emergency. Gerard didn't even know who's room Frank was staying in the past few nights.

Just like good old times, he thought to himself while chuckling sadly at the irony. Right now he was alone in his room, and he was laying in bed. He had lost all motivation to do anything, and now he never wanted to get out of his room.

Clearly though, the world was out to get him, because a knock came on the door followed by a voice. "Alright Gerard, come out, I know you're in there." He recognized the voice, and it was none other than Corey's.

With a sigh, he hopped out of bed and walked to the door. "How did you even know I was in here?" He asked as he opened the door to reveal Corey.

"I know you're not really a social butterfly Gee, but even you never just stay in your room for a full week. You're always out and about drawing something. So what's wrong?"

"I guess I'm just not motivated." He shrugged and stepped aside to let Corey in, knowing that he wasn't going to drop the conversation.

"That's exactly why I know something is happening. Out of all people at this school, you are the most motivated one around. You're always inspired by something, Gerard. You know why? Because you don't depend on other people for motivation. This," he gestured towards Gerard's messy appearance, "just isn't you. Someone hurt you. I want to know what happened."

Gerard sighed. Yet another person he would have to pour his heart out to.

He ended up telling Corey the full story as well, and waiting patiently for Corey's response to all this.

"Isn't Frank the short one with the black hair? About an inch shorter than me?" Gerard nodded. "I see."

"Lindsey said she would help me out with getting him back but she had to leave the state for a family emergency. It's been a week now and Frank still hasn't made any attempt to talk to me."

"What were his exact words when he left?"

"He said for me to get my shit together before I start talking to him again."

"Okay that tears it." Corey slapped the bed before standing up, and heading towards the door.

"W-where are you going?" Gerard stepped up as well and walked over to Corey.

"To find that little son of a bitch! Gerard, he basically just asked you to change who you are as a person before talking with you again. Someone who loves you is supposed to love you in your natural state, not make you change for whatever suits their needs." He had a very honest and stern tone to his voice, and Gerard found those words to hit like a truck.

Did Frank love him? Gerard still didn't know what love technically felt like. He decided to think about this later though, because there were more serious topics to deal with right now.

As Corey started walking out the door again, Gerard grabbed his arm and stopped him in his tracks. "Wait. Please don't go looking for him. I don't want you to hurt him." He had tears threatening to spill from his eyes, and Corey's face softened.

Corey did truly care about Gerard, which is why he was so determined to find Frank. Corey had been trying to convince Gerard for years since high school that he wasn't a fuck-up or a burden. He wasn't going to let that all go to waste.

He put his hands on his shoulders and made Gerard look at him. "Gerard, I'm not going to hurt him. I'm just going to talk to him. You are not in any way who is at fault in this situation. You owe Frank no apology. I hate to see you treating yourself like this, and if it's all because of him I'm going to make things right for you guys. Please?" He looked at Gerard with a hopeful look in his eyes. Gerard eventually nodded. "Okay Gee, go back inside and busy yourself with something. Do some art. Take your mind off of things, and I'll be back soon."

Gerard retreated back inside the room and shut the door, leaving Corey outside to start his search for Frank Iero.

(Okay so this next part is going to be following Corey around, so if you're confused, Gerard isn't going to be in any of the following scenes. Also, we're talking about Corey Taylor here in case you are unsure as to if Corey is a made-up character or not.)

Corey made his way down the stairs, leaving the top floor and going down to the middle floor. He was going to knock on every single door he needed to in order to find Frank.

He started with Bert's door. With three knocks, Bert was soon at the door and waiting for Corey to speak. "What's up Corey? What do you need?"

"Dude have you seen that new guy, Frank, around anywhere? I need to speak to him, like, right now." Urgency was clear in Corey's voice, so Bert tried his best to think of all the places that Frank could be.

"Well if he's not in his room, he may be down at the music hall. He's a music student. But if he's not there, I'd have no clue where he is."

"Ok, thanks for your help." Corey left the hallway and eventually walked outside the dorm, heading towards the music hall.

When he got there, it was clear that almost no one would be around. The auditorium was empty, so Corey walked to the hallway filled with practice rooms.

At last, he finally found Frank strumming chords on his guitar in one of the soundproofed rooms. Without invitation, he opened the door and walked inside, closing it again after he was in front of Frank.

"Um... can I help you?" Frank was easily pissed at the fact that someone interrupted his practice session, but Corey didn't care.

"I need to talk to you." He stood firmly, making it clear that he wasn't going to leave without a conversation.

"Can it wait? I'm kind of in the middle of something right now, and no offense, but I don't even know who you are."

Corey sighed. This dude was already annoying him, and they had only known each other for about two minutes now. "My name's Corey, if you must know. I don't care if you're in the middle of a practice session, because what I have to talk to you about is fucking important."

"Wait, Corey Taylor? Aren't you like, in vocal training to be a metal screamer or something?" A look of realization washed over Frank's face. He sure hoped that this Corey guy wouldn't be yelling at him any time soon.

"Yeah, that's me, but that's besides the point, Iero. Look, I really don't want to make this a drawn out conversation, so just listen to what I have to say." Frank nodded hesitantly, and set his guitar down to pay attention. "It's about Gerard."

"What about Gerard?" Frank spat.

"What about Gerard?" Corey retaliated, getting more aggravated by the second. "Well for starters, you fucking broke him. He hasn't been getting out of bed at all recently, and Gerard never gets unmotivated. What the hell did you do to him?" Corey already knew what Frank did, but he wanted to hear Frank admit it.

"Listen man, Gerard had something on his mind and he wouldn't tell me what it was. He said I wouldn't understand, which means he doesn't trust me. I just left, because I want him to be able to trust me before he talks to me again."

Corey shook his head, clearly disappointed. "Gerard told me that you told him to get his shit together before he tried talking to you again. Is that true?" Frank nodded his head. "Damn. You are really blind to all of this, aren't you?"

"What do you mean?" Frank was angry at the fact that Corey was telling him off like this.

"I mean exactly what I say. If you love him, you're supposed to show him that! You're supposed to love him for who he is, not ask him to change in order to suit your preferences! You're supposed to talk with him about it and understand him, not shoo him away until he changes! You, my friend, have not done any of that!"

"Why do you even care?" Frank was starting to question his actions though, but he wasn't going to admit that. His ego was too large for that.

**Trigger warning: Mentions of suicide (It's best not to skip, because it's important to the plot, but here's a heads up so it doesn't catch you off guard.)**

"Why do I care?" Frank nodded again, and that's when Corey's temper finally snapped. "I care because I had to be there for him in high school when no one accepted him! I had to be there when he beat himself up for being who he was everyday! I had to be there when he got punched into a locker for being gay! I had to be there for every single panic attack he's ever had when questioning whether his actions were justified or not! I had to be there when he fucking starved himself because he thought he was fat! I had to be there when he turned to alcohol in order to cope with his grandmother's death! I had to be there whenever he cried all his tears out because of the habits he was ashamed of! I had to be there when he used a knife on his own arm to hurt himself because he thought he deserved it! And lastly, I had to be there when he was hanging from a rope in his room, just waiting to die! Who found him and saw him suffocating? ME! Who had to go through the pain of reading his suicide note? ME! Who had to dial 911 while choking on their own shock in order to save their best friend? ME! Who had to watch him get taken away in an ambulance? ME! Who had to go through the constant pain of knowing that his best friend could die any second? I FUCKING DID!" Corey was yelling through angry tears at that point. He had never told anyone about Gerard's downfall, and now that he was finally saying it, it was bringing back all those old emotions. "So don't give me any of that shit, Iero. I had to witness him doing all that shit just because he was convinced that he was a burden. He finally came back from that, and I'm not going to let someone like you be an asshole and be the cause for him to fall down that hole again."

Frank just sat in shock. All this information had just been dumped on him about how Gerard had literally attempted suicide.

"Talk to him Frank. He needs you." Corey left the room immediately after that, figuring he got his point across. Frank continued to ponder over what he was supposed to do.

He soon realized that he was now crying. How could I be so blind? He thought to himself. Gerard didn't do anything wrong, and yet here I am being so selfish.

Frank knew he couldn't approach Gerard in this state. He would end up crying and not being able to get any words out of his mouth, and that really wouldn't help the situation at all. With that in mind, he turned to the only thing he knew to do.

It all had to do with a piece of paper and a green pen.

Author's Note: Things are getting a little intense here! Corey makes an appearance. I would like to thank my mom for watching sop operas around me as a child. Hearing the drama from that show really helped me write the intense emotional part. Anyway, I hope you guys liked this. It was very interesting to write. I finished it all in like a half hour because of how much of a writing mood I was in.