I'm Just the Boy Who's Had Too Many Chances

Gerard scanned the school hallways every day, looking for the bright red hair from across the street. He usually preferred to keep his head down as he walked from his locker to his classes, but lately he started braving the masses to search for the mystery boy, and he always came up short.

He had been covertly staking out the house across the street, and he didn't see the kid sneak out again. For that matter, he hadn't seen him leave or enter the house at all since that first night. He hadn't even seen him look out a window.

It has been two weeks since the family had moved in, and the kid still wasn't in school. He was definitely young enough to still be enrolled, and this was the only high school in the area.

Gerard finally decided on the 9th day without finding him that he was probably home-schooled, which really sucked. Gerard had acute social anxiety, and was shit at meeting new people, so he didn't plan on bringing a plate of cookies over and introducing himself personally anytime soon.

He gave the pursuit up. He didn't count on ever meeting the mystery boy.

~~~~

He found him when he least expected it.

Gerard had been sitting for the past twenty minutes, head hung over his latest cartoon, ignoring his history teacher. He didn't hear the knock on the doorframe; he didn't even hear the teacher stop her lecture. He only looked up when he figured he'd been avoiding eye contact too long. That was the key to drawing in class (and one he'd perfected years ago), look up at the teacher every so often, and it looks like you're taking notes. How 98% of the student body didn't figure that out, he'd never understand.

He gasped gently when he recognized the weird hair that was about a foot shorter than their teacher, Ms. Barrett. Thankfully, he was secluded in the back of the classroom, and nobody heard the gasp. His thoughts from weeks ago were absolutely correct; the kid was ridiculously gorgeous. The devil's lock curled slightly, framing his face beautifully. Gerard was certain he couldn't have drawn it better. He was short, but by no means scrawny. It looked like there were potential ass-kicking muscles beneath the Texas Chainsaw Massacre hoodie he was wearing. Gerard did a double take. Texas Chainsaw Massacre? He liked this kid already. Even from the back of the room, he saw that the boy's eyes were framed in bright red liner and shadow. Make-up on his first day? Gutsy. It took Gerard 2 years to work up the guts to wear eyeliner to school, and even then, he'd wash it off before his parents got home. Eventually he stopped hiding it. His parents didn't like it, but they knew they couldn't stop him. The kid raised his hand to pull his headphones from his ears, and Gerard saw that he had black fingerless gloves on, and his fingernails were black. Gerard's eyes traveled down his frame, noticing the tight blue jeans, ripped at both knees, and the worn black Etnies.

"Class, this is our new student, Frank I-Ee-Eir-" She stumbled.
Frank closed his eyes in exasperation and chuckled, and Gerard had a feeling he would've facepalmed if he wasn't afraid of offending the teacher.

"Iero," He offered, and Gerard was immediately taken aback by his voice. It was melodic and sweet and kind.

"Could you repeat that for me? Just so I don't mangle it again," Ms. Barrett asked.

"I-ear-o," He enunciated. "Don't worry about mangling it; everybody does," He said with a smile.

"All righty. Well, most of the back two rows are free. Pick a seat. We'll get you a textbook next week."

"Sweet," Frank said, walking down an aisle.

Mark Swan, a popular wrestler, and known asshole, noticed Frank's appearance, and 'coughed' "Fag!" just as Frank walked past him.

Frank stopped and backtracked his steps. He smiled at Mark, and did what Gerard regarded as the bravest, most amazing thing he'd ever seen. Frank grabbed Mark's shirt, pulled him to him, and planted a huge kiss right on Mark's lips. The whole classroom went silent. Even Ms. Barrett's jaw dropped. Frank let go of Mark, who fell back into his seat, almost catatonic in shock.

Frank leaned in close. "Who's the fag now?" He asked with a smile, before continuing his walk down the aisle to the back row.

Gerard chuckled, and started clapping. Frank glanced at him, half his mouth pulled in a smile. Soon most of the classroom had erupted in applause.

Frank walked to the center desk in the back row, just two away from where Gerard was seated in the corner, and took a very dramatic bow before he sat down, kicking his feet up on the empty desk in front of him and smacking his gum loudly.

Mark kept his head down for the rest of the hour.

When the bell rang, Frank was one of the first out of his seat and to the door. Just before he left, he turned and, in front of the whole class, blew a kiss to Mark, complete with a wink and a smile, which made everyone erupt in laughter again.

Gerard was in deep already. For the rest of his life, he'd recognize that that was the exact moment he'd fallen for Frank Iero.

~~~~

Seniors had lunch afterwards. Gerard had developed a habit of wandering the halls during his lunch periods, rather than sit alone in the corner of the lunchroom and risk an asshole noticing his miserable existence and fucking with him. He'd lost count of how many amazing drawing he'd lost to the bored jocks of Belleville High. They were like zoo animals; if they weren't constantly entertained, they'd get violent.

So instead, like he did every day, he bought an iced coffee from the student store, and drank it while he wandered the halls. Gerard took all the classes he could; he may have hated the students, but he loved the teachers, and he loved to learn. He knew most of the teachers on a friendly basis, and the ones he didn't know him personally knew of him, so he wasn't bothered for a hall pass anymore. He passed Mrs. Carlisle's room, where he noticed a 'GSA lunch meeting today!' sign on the door.

He'd always wanted to go to the Gay-Straight Alliance meetings, but he was always afraid. He knew it was stupid, that GSA was all about acceptance and peace and alliance between all sexualities, but he still never had the guts to do anything more than read their paragraph in the monthly school newsletter. Plus, he'd never really acknowledged the fact that he was gay. He'd never have the guts to say it out loud, much less tell someone. He'd never even told Mikey, and Mikey was the closest thing to a best friend he'd ever had. He was sure his parents would disown him if they ever knew he was gay. His parents were so anti-gay, it was almost scary.

Still, he was curious, so he walked past, and was shocked at what he saw.

He'd only really seen him once, but there was no doubt that the kid sitting cross-legged in the blue plastic chair with the bag of sour gummi worms in his lap was Frank Iero. Gerard, like an idiot, skittered around the corner, trying to not be seen. Not that anyone was focusing on him in the hallway, anyway. From what he saw, everyone was focused on Frank and the story he was telling. He inched his head closer, trying to hear what Frank was saying.

"It was awesome. I didn't even have to tell my mom! She walked into my room without knocking one day and caught me with my tongue down my friend James' throat. James and I were freaking out, and I was like, 'I can explain?' and she just looked at me with this huge smile on her face and said, "I call not telling your father!" And then she dropped my laundry on my bed and walked out."

Everyone in the room started laughing, as did Gerard. He bit his lip to keep the laughter as silent as possible.

"How'd you tell your father?" Gerard recognized the voice was Mallory Tyler. She wasn't a lesbian, just a supporter, and one of the sweetest girls Gerard had ever met.

He heard Frank chuckle. "That was fun," He said. "Dad's an army Sergeant. I walked up to him while he was reading the paper and just blurted out, 'Dad, I'm gay.' I expected rage or disappointment, but instead he just froze, looking at me with wide eyes. 'Don't ask, don't tell!' He yelled, and ran outta the room."

The group laughed even harder, and Gerard had to run into an empty classroom so he could finally laugh. He was sure coming out to his parents wasn't gonna be that amusing.

So Frank was gay, too. For some reason, the thought made Gerard hopeful. Then he remembered that he was an 18 year old loser who'd never been in a relationship, hetero or otherwise, and that Frank was funny and attractive, and had at least one boyfriend, probably more.

He'd never have a shot with Frank.

He left the abandoned classroom, his head hung.