You Taught Me Love

Frank's P.O.V.s

“Okay, this is gonna be hard...” he started, choking out an anxious laugh.
I rubbed his shoulder under the coat, encouraging him to continue.

“Frank, Steve had... Well, you know Steve was a junkie, right?” he asked, more like a fact than a question.
I nodded, but then realized he couldn't see me from where he was facing.

“Yeah.”

“Hm. So you know, he bought a lot, and I mean a lot, of drugs. Yeah. Except he didn't have the money for them.” he explained, before stopping to take a deep breath.

“G-go on...” I hesitated.

“But he needed that dope. Well, that's what he said to convince me. I hated when he was high, but he was addicted and... anyways. He needed to find a way to buy his drugs. So he borrowed money from his... friends. Or anyone who would lend him some cash, really.”

“Hm-hm...”

“But obviously, he couldn't pay them back. H-he... He ended up collecting debt after debt, but still wasn't making enough money. So... He sent m-me to pay those fucking debts.”
I could see him desperately wiping tears from his cheeks, cursing under his breath.

“W-where did you get the money?”

“No! You don't understand, Frank!” he cried out weakly, now massaging his temples frantically.
He groaned and brought his hands around his body, hugging his chest over his shirt. He was still freezing cold, but he wouldn't dare put his coat on, too caught up in his thoughts. And I couldn't warm him up anymore, afraid he would break if I touched him.

“He sent me to pay the debts.” he repeated.

“What do you m-mean?”

“Am I gonna have to spell it out for you, Franklin?” he muttered, letting his head rest on the wall.
Fuck. He never used my full name, unless we were at school.

“W-what... I...” I didn't know what to tell him, I just wanted this to be over with.

“He sent me to their house to pay what he owed them.” he told me, in a worn out voice I had once wished I never heard again. “They made a deal... For a night with me, they'd forget the debt. So he sent me there for a night. Okay? Do you fucking get it now?”
I got it. Unfortunately, I got it.
I wanted to comfort him, tell him he had me now and all this was over, but nothing came out of my shaking lips.
This world is cruel. Gerard never deserved what Steve put him through, and this is just so horrendous... I can't believe someone would do such things to someone they supposedly love.

“My boyfriend sent me to people's houses to get fucked, to pay his debts, so he could get some more coke and get freaking wasted again, to beat me up and fuck me some more!” he bawled, getting mad. “Wanna hear that again? I was a goddamn whore, okay? Steve was right!”

“No.” I told him in a firm voice, the sound now coming out easily from my mouth. “Steve was an asshole, an idiot, a bastard and an abuser, and he was anything but right. You're nothing he made you believe you were. You're an amazing man, a good man, to which atrocious things happened. He took advantage of you, and so did his friends, but you shouldn't doubt yourself. Gerard, you're strong, you're valuable, and you're gorgeous.”
He finally turned to me, his face tear-soaked just as much as mine, and looked at me with glistening, sad but loving eyes.
I held him close in my arms and placed soft kisses on his bare neck, to which he replied by snaking his arms around my body. He was cold as ice, and his skin was chilly white, like the snow that now fell softly from the dark sky. I had to get him home, and fast.

“I'm clean though, okay?” he whispered, his voice on the verge of breaking down again. “And I never wanted to do it, I was just... I was so scared of him, Frank. And I... thought I was in love with him.”

“I know, Gee. I know.”
I didn't blame him for anything. I couldn't blame him for being human.
Nothing he could tell me would make me love him any less. And I meant it more than anything.

Gerard's P.O.V.

*FLASHBACK*

I had just come back to Steve's apartment from college, and he had greeted me with a smile, for once. Not a sly smile, not a smirk. A beautiful smile. We had kissed to the bedroom and I had laid down on the mattress.

He was straddling my back and taking my shirt off, breathing sweet nothings in my ear. His plump lips grazed my skin and he pecked up my naked back, pulling my pants down my thighs.

“Mm... I love you, baby.” I mumbled, grinning in the covers. It had been a long time since I had felt like this with Steve, and I tried to enjoy those rare moments the best I could.
It didn't last more than a minute this night, though.
He suddenly stopped what he was doing, and snickered.

“W-what...? Babe? I... AHHHH!--”
I was screaming. The pain I was feeling wasn't the one I had been expecting. He was carving my skin with his knife, way deeper than usual. I could feel the blood pouring down my hips as the blade kept digging in my back.
His hand quickly made it's way over my mouth to stop the sound, cutting my flesh more forcefully each time I tried to muffle a cry.

“You thought Rick wouldn't tell me, huh?” he hissed in my ear. “You're pathetic. Going to see him and pleading not to do your job. Offering to do house work instead, ha! Pathetic. You're not a fucking maid. You're a whore, remember that. Never forget it, sexy. But I don't think you will, not after this.”
He felt the tears that were falling from my eyes and slammed my face against the headboard.

“Whores. Don't. Cry.” he growled, hitting my heat against the wood between every word.
I shouldn't have tried anything with Rick. I should have kept my mouth shut and my jeans down.
It's just... he was rough, and I had an important exam the next day.
Excuses. I didn't want to get fucked again, that was all. But now it was just gonna be worse.

Steve's knife drew one last line on my skin before he threw it across the room, and I was now sure I was soon going to pass out, either from blood loss or fucking pain. I just hoped I wouldn't die this time.

“You're buying the new sheets.” he told me, leaving the bed and slamming the door shut.
I tried desperately to keep myself from crying again, but I knew it was no use. Fresh tears soon joined the red liquid on my cheeks, and a weak sob shook my aching body.

I knew what he had written.

*end FLASHBACK*