You Taught Me Love

After school...

Gerard's P.O.V.

I took a long drag out of my cigarette as I waited impatiently for Frankie, leaning against the old oak tree near school propriety. I couldn't believe his fucking friend had ruined our time together today.
I hope I can have at least thirty minutes with him now, because I'm starting to find it hard to spend so little time with him. I just... I crave him so much lately: his smiles, his touch, his kisses, his laugh, his jokes... I can't get enough of him, and if I could, I would gladly spend every second of every day with him. But then again, I can't.

As I stubbed out my Marlboro, I saw my boyfriend walk over to me, looking around to make sure no one was close enough to see us.

“Hey” he said, flashing me a cute grin as he reached the tree.

“Hey to you too, Sexy” I answered, returning his smile genuinely.

“So, where are you taking me?” he asked, leaning next to me on the wide trunk.

“Well, it's somewhere in the Blue Pine Park...” I started, but he cut me off, wide-eyed.

“What? Babe, you know tons of people from school go there, we won't be able to have any privacy and we can't be seen hanging out like that!”

“Trust me, Frankie. I know a place that will be just fine for some time alone.” I assured him “Just trust me on this. But we will have to cross a busy part of the park, so just follow me there with a good distance, okay?”

“Okay... Let's go. I want to kiss you as soon as possible, it's taking all my willpower right now not to lunge at you like a tiger.” he spoke seriously, making me giggle before I walked off to the Blue Pine Park.

Frank's P.O.V.

We had made our way to the park and I was following him at about 20 meters, sometimes even taking slightly different routes to make sure that no one noticed we were actually going in the exact same direction. I saw Gerard turn a corner into the forest after the Beaver Lake as he looked back at me, which was the sign that we would meet there, and sped up my pace excitedly. That's when they got in the way. I felt someone pull me by the sleeve, turning me around, and Mark and his friend Nathan appeared right in front of me, coming from God knows where. They were sporting smug smirks and were clearly not here to offer me an ice cream. Great, more fuckers ruining my day.

“Yo, Queer!” Mark said as he shoved me to get my full attention. “What are you doing here all alone in our park? I mean, besides being a failed girl and everything. Did you decide to fuck trees now? Or are your disgusting fetishes about other men enough for you?”
His friend laughed at his lame joke and added an unnecessary “Yeah!” like you would see in the movies when the stupid sidekicks had nothing better to say.

“Actually, I've moved on to fucking cows now, but apparently neither your girlfriend nor your mom were available today so I came out here to hang out and pass the time. Does that answer your questions?” I said, deciding to be a smart-ass and talk back to him. Big mistake. Mark's facial expression went from overconfident to shocked to furious in a matter of seconds and his fists clenched hard as his face turned tomato red.

“Iero, you are a dead bitch” he muttered through gritted teeth as he cracked his knuckles and moved closer to me. I tried running off, but after only a couple of steps, I found myself violently pushed to the ground and felt his heavy boot kick me in the ribs as he started insulting me again. But after only one more blow, the beating stopped and I heard his friend tell him they should just go.

“Nathan, what the Hell are you talking about?! I'm gonna beat the shit out of this cunt!”

“Mark, the crazy art teacher's around and he looks fucking pissed off! I think he's coming over, let's just go.”

“No, I'm not leaving until this fag bleeds to death and has all of his fucking bones broken! And Way has no power over me after school hours, so he can go to Hell!”

“Dude, I'm serious. We should get out of here. That guy scares me, and he hates when we pick on homos, so we better leave it here for today. He looks goddamn strong, Mark. And angry.”

“I... fine.” Mark gave in. “But this is not over, queer!” he promised, looking down at me.

They ran off to the other side of the park and I got up slowly, wincing as I still felt the kicks on my left side. Gerard was looking at me worriedly from near the bushes of the forest and made a sign for me to join him fast. I walked over to him and followed him between the trees as we found a spot that was relatively hidden. But I knew it wasn't closed enough for us to really spend some time together...

“Are you alright?” he asked, concerned, as he turned to me and held my hands comfortingly. “I mean, does it hurt much? I have a good cream at home, if you want us to go get it...”

“Nah, I'll be fine. Really. But thanks for saving my ass. I don't think you should defend me with these kind of stuff out of school, 'cause it could get suspicious, but I'm actually glad you sorta intervened back there. I was gonna get it pretty bad. Remember me to never talk back to those morons again.”

“Yeah, that's... never a good idea.” he said as he gave me an empathetic look.

“I think I know that now.” I laughed weakly. “But never mind those fucks, let's go somewhere I can finally hold you close...”

“Agreed. Come on, it's this way.” he smiled as he led me to the side of the forest where a «DO NOT CROSS» banner had been taped along the path.

“Gee, are you sure we can? I think it's quite clear that we shouldn't be going there...” I questioned, biting my lip nervously.

“The line's only there 'cause they want to preserve the nature and the little animals. There's no danger at all, if that's what you're wondering about. I know a place not too far in here, I used to go there with my brother on wild picnics, when I was younger. Frankie, just trust me, you'll love it.”

On that, I walked behind him into the dark forest, and grabbed his hand anxiously. Just in case.