The Ultimate Bet

Frank had never been more nervous in his life. Well, maybe once when his mother had taken him to see The Lion King and the battle scene between Simba and Scar had been the only other time he could recall being this stressed. All he could remember was hiding behind his fingertips and whispering to his mother if Simba was still alive.

No, this was a bit more nerve-wrecking than worrying about a fictional character.

It didn't help that the older boy had no clue what he was doing, either. But he wasn't about to complain, because Ray Toro was bigger than most of the jocks whom had the tendency to stuff him in lockers. At the moment, Ray was being very helpful and nice and he wasn't about to mess this opportunity up.

He didn't fancy seeing the grand interior of a locker again anytime soon. Although, for the last few weeks, he had managed to go to school without any hassle.

The room they entered was a fairly simple lab: conduct three experiments on three different chemicals and write down their reactions. Ray took the initiative to gather all the supplies to set up, leaving Frank temporarily mute. None of his previous partners had been proactive and usually left him to do all the work.

"All right, so which one do you want to start with?" Ray sent him a friendly smile, jumping onto the stool beside him and leaning over and making Frank tense up in reflex, then he blushed when he realized Ray was only trying to see the handout with the directions.

"S-sorry," Frank stumbled an apology, pushing the paper over. "Um...Whichever."

Ray tilted his head to the side, eyeing the younger boy beside him. "Let's start with the easiest one."

"Or the hard one? That why it's all downhill from here?" Frank suggested meekly, holding his breath, waiting for Ray to refute him and stand up and knock him off his stool.

3...2...1...

"Yeah, sure, you're the smart one," Ray replied smoothly, picking up at the younger teen's tense mood. "Relax, Frank. I'm not going to try to sabotage you or anything."

"S-sabotage?" Frank stuttered, inwardly assessing his chances of survival.

Zero.

"Unless you like playing predator and prey games," Ray smirked impishly and Frank squeaked. "I'm joking, you know. I'm not going to try anything. I'm just trying to pass this class, for once."

"What happened?"

"Oh, I was too busy trying to set Jimmy Hill's hair on fire," Ray replied conversationally, shrugging, "He pissed me off."

Frank didn't respond, figuring this was Ray Toro's subtle hint not to get on his bad side.

"How about you start mixing the chemicals and I'll write down what happens?" Ray suggested, diverting the conversation as he saw how flustered Frank was suddenly getting. Freaking the kid out probably wasn't the best way to start.

Frank made no arguments, seeing that Ray Toro at least had to outweigh him by two hundred pounds. He shakily reached for the water, furrowing his brow and trying to remember which beaker was which.

"The one on the left is calcium chloride, right?"

Ray glanced over at the break in his hand, nodding. "Yeah. I put it on the left."

Frank proceeded to pour the water.

He knew right away that it was no calcium chloride.

**

"Acid to water, never water to acid..." Frank chanted to himself, his head buried in his hands.

"Well, look at the bright side, we/re still alive?" Ray tried to cheer up Frank after the horrible debacle in the lab room, where everybody was forced to clear out. "It's my fault anyway. I told you wrong."

"No, no, you didn't," Frank replied, looking up from his hands and fixing Ray an embarrassed, awkward stare, "I was...I grabbed the one the right. I just didn't realize until...and I can’t afford to have any bad grades…"

"Frank," Ray smiled in amusement, gaining Frank's attention, "one grade isn't going to kill you. Besides, you're the only student she actually likes."

"Before or after I destroyed her classroom?"

Ray stopped trying after that because Frank had a point. Mrs. Gilson did look absolutely furious.

“I’m sure we’ll have plenty of opportunities to fix it,” Ray tried again, hoping to console the kid. The bell rang, but neither boy made any move to stand up and start heading to their next class. Ray knew he should stay with Frank, just in case he did start to cry. He was thankful when he noticed a familiar face walking towards him.

Gerard looked surprised to see them once he got closer, raising a curious brow as he inspected their disheveled appearance,

"Whoa, what happened to you two?"

Frank's head shot up, his expression softening once he saw it was Gerard. "Oh. Uh, it's...Chemistry lab gone bad." His cheeks reddened in embarrassment and he stood up to dust the debris off.

"Ah," Gerard acknowledged, "I thought Chemistry was your best subject; I thought every subject was."

"It is!" Frank defended, frowning deeply in thought, "but everybody has a bad day, right?"

"Indeed," Gerard said, smiling. "You're normal, Frank Iero."

Ray blanched when he saw Frank reach for Gerard's hand, smiling at him like a love struck idiot. Gerard looked uncomfortable, forcing a smile on the younger boy's behalf but shooting Ray a helpless look over the top of Frank's head.

"Ger's my boyfriend," Frank announced gleefully, a bit too loudly for Gerard's liking. He hoped nobody overheard. But the entire hallway seemed to even buzz louder with chatter.

Fuck.

"What?" Ray gasped in disbelief, turning his head to his supposed friend. "Boyfriend?"

"Ger?" Gerard inquired, frowning.

Frank nodded bashfully, sounding embarrassed as he admitted, "My new nickname for you. You like it?"

"Er -" No.

Ray smiled widely, "You've been called worse, Ger."

The other boy made no attempt to cover his displeasure, shooting his fellow friend a glare, hoping it would shut him up.

Frank frowned, picking up on his boyfriend's mood. "You don't like it? I was contemplating 'Gee'--"

"Oh god, oh god," Ray interjected, "I insist you use that one."

Frank smiled. "Really?"

"Do we really need nicknames?" Gerard pleaded imploringly, ignoring Ray's laughter and concentrating on knocking some sense into his boyfriend (who really wasn't his boyfriend and whom he really didn't like and just wanted to get in his pants) and get him to understand what a horrible idea using affectionate names would be and what it would do to his morale.

"But why? Couples do that sort of thing, right? Use certain names they only reserve for each other," Frank replied matter-of-factly, looking sullen by Gerard's disapproval.

"Oh god," Ray repeated, this time shaking from laughter, biting his lip to prevent himself from alerting Frank of his silent laughter.

"But what would I call you? Frankie is too obvious," Gerard rationalized, hoping the younger teen could form no counter-argument. "It wouldn't be fair to you."

"Mm,” Frank looked disappointed, biting down on his lower lip and furrowing his brow in concentration. “I don’t know, what would you like to call me?”

"Darling. Darling is a nice affectionate pet name, right, Ger?" Ray suggested, smiling in entertainment at the fiasco taking place in front of him. Normally, he would help, but no, this is just too good to interrupt.

Gerard shot Ray a stoic look. 'Not funny, Toro'.

“All right, so maybe the pet name idea wouldn’t work out,” Frank concluded, unable to think of any abbreviation of his name. Gerard smiled inwardly, thankful that embarrassing moment was over.

"What a shame," Gerard replied, feigning disappointment, putting a hand on the younger teen's shoulder and steering them away from Ray for privacy.

"Frank, uh, I really need to talk to Ray right now."

"Oh," Frank said, nodding slowly, "okay. Can I still get a ride from you, though?"

"Of course," Gerard smiled in response, kissing him fast on the lips, surprising the kid. "I'll catch you later."

"All right," Frank beamed, darting his eyes between both boys, feeling the tension, and trotted off.

"Mmm, wow, I really didn't believe the rumors until just now," Ray commented coolly, suddenly appearing beside him, "who are you and what have to done to Gerard Way?"

"I think he got abducted by aliens and they fucked with his brains a little," Gerard mused, facing Ray apologetically.

"Boyfriend? I didn't think you'd go that far," Ray said, still uncertain by the recent turn of events.

"Very few people know," Gerard replied sarcastically, looking around and noticing the stares. "But now I have a feeling everybody knows."

"You honestly thought you could've kept it a secret?" Ray asked, thoughtfully adding, "you haven't dated since middle school.”

"Frank just reminded me why," he muttered in reply, still perplexed by Frank’s eccentric’s behavior, "what the fuck? Pet names? Nobody does that shit."

"Aw, but it's so cute, Ger."

"It’s not high school...ish.”

"He's barely in high school. I thought you were just making out with him; not dating him."

"Trust me, I thought so, too. I don't know what the heck happened, one moment we’re making out and the next we’re dating? I was afraid he was going to start crying and one of the vice principal's would be walking by and think I was assaulting him. I was stuck between a wall and a hard rock.”

“You mean ‘stuck between a rock and a hard place’?”

“Either way, I had no choice.”

“You tell yourself that.”

"Ray, as a friend, you should be happy for me."

"Well, I'm a bit upset," Ray replied, looking disgruntled. "But at the same time, I can't stop laughing, Gee."

**

“I really appreciate you giving me a ride home,” Frank said for the millionth time. “My mom couldn’t get the time to—"

“Frank, it’s fine,” Gerard cut off the younger boy as he put the car in park, sighing in exasperation. “Besides, I’m fond of the idea of making out with her son in his bedroom without her ever knowing.”

Frank's eyes widened. “A-are you s-serious?”

“Yes, I only gave you a ride home in hopes of getting something in return, you know.”

Frank looked down nervously. “Oh.”

Gerard chuckled. “I’m joking. Even I’m not that much of an asshole.”

“I know that, but I’m just...I’m kind of embarrassed. You can come in if you want, but it’s nowhere near as nice as your place—"

“My house is a piece of shit and you know it.”

“I think it’s nice,” Frank replied honestly, still embarrassed at the prospect of Gerard ever seeing his apartment. Things were constantly going wrong with it and the furnace had still yet to be fixed, even though he knew his mother was constantly pestering the landlord.

Gerard sighed, “If you don’t want me—"

“I do!” Frank insisted, making the decision quickly before he could change his mind, “C’mon. I’ll show you the place. At least my mom won’t bombard you with photo albums.” He got out of the car, gesturing for Gerard to follow.

“Photo albums?” he asked, slamming the door shut and trailing beside the kid, cocking a brow.

“Don’t ask,” Frank warned, easily reaching for his hand and pulling the older teen towards the elevators. The doors opened and both boys stepped on then Frank quickly pressed the number five button. “I hope you’re not scared of heights.”

“Needles, really.”

“Needles?”

“I’m only scared of needles,” Gerard clarified. “My mom’s happy. She never has to worry about me getting a tattoo.”

“I’m scared of spiders.”

Frank blushed after he said it, knowing it probably sounded childish and stupid.

“I don’t blame you, spiders are ugly motherfuckers. Anything with eight eyes isn’t normal,” Gerard shrugged, not seeing how it would be an embarrassing phobia to have.

Frank smiled brightly at his answer, feeling a bit better, “Yeah.” They stepped off and walked down the narrow hallway. Frank stumbled with the keys a bit, having to keep twisting the knob to finally get the door to budge open.

“Sorry,” he said apologized uncomfortably. “The place is a wreck, the landlord...he...well, he really doesn’t care much."

“Even though it’s kind of his job?” Gerard asked incredulously, following the younger teen inside once he successfully unlocked the door.

“Yeah, home sweet home,” Frank said nervously, looking around and noticing it was still a mess. Packing boxes still loitered the place, preventing any space to walk through without tripping.

“It’s nice. You have a television, right?”

“Yeah,” Frank frowned, wondering why the older teen wasn’t commenting on the room temperature.

“That’s really all I care about; the size of someone’s television,” Gerard said honestly, looking around and noticing the various picture frames adorning the walls, all of Frank at various ages.

“Mom’s the same way,” Frank laughed, “she’ll like you.”

“Well, I hope so. Mom’s are scary when they don’t like you,” Gerard shuddered from the memories, walking up to a particular baby picture. Frank groaned, nearly forgotten his mother had recently decided to decorate the house with the very pictures he wanted to burn.

“I’ll never understand this; why do parents think it’s cute to have your child naked in a bucket? Are they trying to say they’re too poor to own a bathtub or what? Plus, it just screams child pedophile to me.”

Frank grinned, “I guess this is payback from when your mother showed me yours.”

Gerard stopped laughing abruptly, fixing the boy a look of pure horror, “Joking, right?”

“No, sorry, I’m not.” Frank grinned widely, his smile matching the photo on the wall, Gerard noted. He had the exact same smile and it was sort of adorable. Okay, it was really adorable.

“You’re laughing at me,” he accused in mock-hurt, unable to resist reflecting the smile.

“Only a little,” Frank chided, “C’mon, I wanna show you my comic book collection.”

Gerard stilled, “Wait, you collect comics?”

“What teenage boy doesn’t?” Frank retorted, tugging on his sleeve and pulling him in the direction of his room. Normally being pulled into a room would have a completely other purpose, but Gerard to admit, he didn’t mind the difference this time.

He concluded maybe he had underestimated Frank Iero. Just a bit.

“Holy shit, you have the first edition of Batman? Can I, uh, touch it?”

“...Please?”