Frank knocked at the Way's door and was welcomed by Gerard's mother.

"Oh hi, you must be Gerard's mother, I'm here to... Bring Gerard homework, and check up on him."

"Please come in. Gerard refuses to see me. You must be Anthony..."

"Frank, actually."

"Oh, I'm sorry, I thought-"

"-It's okay, people always get it wrong. Plus, we haven't officially met." Frank shrugged.

He kept himself from winking as he usually does, because that would have been extremely awkward.

Mrs Way led him to the living room and sat at the table.
"Frank, as Gerard's mother, I must ask..."

"I'm all ears."

"What do you want with my boy?"

Frank frowned and kept silent, not sure to understand the question.

"You in love?" She arched an eyebrow amusedly.

Frank gulped and looked down, knowing that he probably looked like a deer in the headlight at the moment.

"I can tell you are. And I'm okay with that..."

Frank looked up, full of hope.

"... as long as you treat him right. You see, Gerard is quite sensitive so I warn you, don't you dare breaking his heart." she said calmly without an ounce of threat in her voice, but Frank didn't doubt for a second that she wasn't the kind of woman - or mother - to piss off.

"Y-yes ma'am... I care about him, I really do. I'd never hurt him."

"That's a nice little speech, we'll see with time if you're sincere."

"I am ! Gerard, he... he deserves the world."

"That's something we agree on... I like you, Frank." Mrs Way said more softly before standing up.

"Gerard is in his room, he isn't feeling well. Stomach ache, he says."

"Can I ask you something?"

Mrs Way arched an eyebrow as to tell him to talk.

"Can you... Can you not tell him I love him? Nor hint it? Really, I'd rather tell him myself, and I don't want to take things too fast, please. And I want to make sure he loves me back before I say it."

Frank really didn't want to deal with a broken heart.

"You have my word." Mrs Way smiled, probably amused to see this tough looking punk being all shy when it comes to love - or talking to parents.

Frank thanked her and went to Gerard's room.

Gerard was amorphously lying on his bed, looking thoughtfully at the window. Frank would kill to know what was going on inside his head. Gerard looked exhausted and his eyes were puffy from spending the night crying all the tears he had, and Frank reckoned that he probably had.

"Hey, Gee..."

Gerard turned his head to discover the presence of Frank, and his eyes immediately brightened. He jumped out of bed and hugged Frank tightly, squeezing him with all he had.

"F-Frankie !!"

"G-Gerard... I- I can't breathe-" Frank managed to utter.

Gerard's hold loosened but he didn't let go of Frank. "S-sorry..." he giggled.

Well, he seems rather okay, all things considered...
Frank frowned and withdrew from the hug, holding Gerard's shoulders to make the red-haired boy look at him.

"Gerard, have you been drinking?"

"M-maybe...?" Gerard giggled again.

"You have, you stink of cheap whisky. Gee, I don't like knowing you drinking your problems away like that. Listen, we found who did it - the whole montage crap."

"Y-you have?" Gerard asked, not laughing anymore.

"Yeah, it was Bert."

Gerard's eyes filled with sadness and fright. "But it's okay, we handled it. He won't bother you anymore, promise." Frank quickly added.

Gerard held back his tears and hugged Frank again, burrying his face in his chest. "Thank you. Thank you Frankie, thank you so much."

"Hey, it's okay, that's why we're here." Frank stroked his red hair.

"You'll come back to school, huh? We miss you there." Gerard nodded.

"And no more drinking or harming yourself, it's no solution."

Gerard hugged Frank even more, making Frank genuinely smile.

"I'll always be there for you, Gee. Always." Frank whispered.

______

Gerard thought he would have gotten remarks from people, from Bert, but he hadn't. He had just been greeted by his friends, and that really made him feel better.

Luckily, Mrs Way wasn't aware of the situation. Mikey was, but he had promised not to tell her. Gerard wasn't sure if he was able to keep a secret, but he decided to trust his brother.

He came across Bert's way in the hallway when he was with Mikey, and Bert barely looked at him.

The day went well, and Gerard and Anthony got out earlier since their biology teacher was absent.

"Gee, let's go to the park, it's warming up and the trees are blooming ! You'll see, it's beautiful."

Gerard nodded and they did just that.

They both went to the park near their school, the one he had been to with the twins - separately, obviously - so many times before. The air smelt like flowers, and birds were merrily twitting  to woo or just express themselves.

Gerard laid down on the green grass, observing the sky, and Anthony joined him. They were appreciating the landscape and each other's company.

They were now both lost in their thoughts with the azure reflecting in their eyes; they were watching the clouds float away in the wind, free and unstoppable.
For that, Gerard found himself wishing he was a cloud.

He felt Anthony's hand reach for his and held it; and he closed his eyes, filling his lungs with fresh air.

They stayed like that, holding hands on the grass for about an hour until Anthony opened his eyes and got up.

"Hey wanna go to my place?"

He only obtained a sleepy groan from Gerard in response.

"Come on, wake up sleepyhead !"

He took Gerard's hand and dragged him up.

Gerard rubbed his eyes.

"Are you serious? I was fine like that, on the floor..."

"So you mean you weren't fine because you were with me?" Anthony raised his eyebrows amusedly.

"Mmm, kind of both..." Gerard grinned and kissed Anthony.

"Come on" Anthony took his hand to go to his house.

Frank wasn't here, he was probably hanging out with Pete or other friends as he usually did after school.

Gerard sat on the couch. "Hey, can we cuddle?"

"Sure." Anthony sat next to him and wrapped an arm around his neck ; and pulled him closer. "Come here."

Gerard rested his head on Anthony's chest while Anthony was playing with his hair, tangling his fingers in his red locks. Anthony rubbed Gerard's back, who shyly nuzzled his chest.

They stayed that way for about an hour, completely sprawled on the couch, until Gerard decided it was time for him to go home.

"My mom is gonna ask me where I was, again...", he said, getting up.

"Hey, kiss me goodbye?"

Gerard smiled and bent down to tenderly kiss Anthony before he left.

As soon as the door closed, Anthony literally bounced with joy in the house, he was just so happy ! He and Gerard finally were a thing ! He wasn't really sure of what they were, but that was close enough to being boyfriends and Anthony was satisfied with that.

______

The next day, Gerard arrived at school with Mikey and for once, he was happy.

"By the way, how's it going with Pete? Does he treat you well?"

"He- he's nice..."

"He surely is nice but by nice, you mean 'nice' or 'really nice'? And what kind of 'nice' are we talking about, exactly?"

"I swear if you say 'nice' once again, I'll nicely punch you. Besides, I have no idea what you're talking about." Mikey blushed and replaced his glasses with his index, something he tended to do when he lied or when he was really embarrassed.

"I think you do," Gerard wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

Mikey rolled his eyes. "And I'm supposed to be the gossipy one?"

Gerard giggled. "I... I'm spending time with him as you said..."

"And?"

"I think I-"

"-Hey Gee, Mikey !" Anthony greeted, not noticing that he had cut Mikey in the middle of a sentence.

"Tony, hi !" Gerard smiled and pecked Anthony's lips.

Mikey wasn't even surprised by that with the countless times Gerard had mentioned how great Frank and Anthony were, and he didn't even make the effort of spotting who was who anymore. He wondered how his brother could tell the difference on first sight.

All three went in the building together and Mikey went to class, leaving Gerard and Anthony alone. Well, that is kind of a misuse of language since they were surrounded by a herd of more or less angsty hormonal teens, to which they technically belonged to as well.

"I gotta go," Gerard said.

"Hey, come here." Anthony gently pulled him closer and put a kiss on his lips to which Gerard responded, not noticing Frank glaring at them from afar through the crowd.

"Can I go now?" Gerard giggled.

"Wait." Anthony pecked his lips once again. "Now you can."

Gerard smiled and left. He came across Frank and jumped.

"Jeez, you startled me Frank..." he laughed quite awkwardly.

"Gee, can I talk to you for a second? I won't be long."

"Sure."

Gerard followed him in the men's bathroom and Frank closed the door behind them.

______