These Eyes Are Blind

“Frank, I’m proud of you, you have officially made it through your first week of school,” Pete says.

“Uh, I do believe I still have four hours left,” Frank replies.

“In four hours you will have officially made it through your first week of school, and I’ll be proud of you.”

“Thanks,” Frank says without any emotion, shaking his head.

“You don’t seem all that happy about surviving,” Patrick notes.

“Yeah well, these past three days without incident between me and Blake is making me wary,” Frank replies, “And it hasn’t been that great anyway.”

“Well that’s probably because you’re a pessimistic asshole,” Pete says.

Frank shrugs, “Well you’re not wrong. I hate that I’ve made it by likely due to having fucking bodyguards. That is so demeaning.”

“Well do you want us to leave you alone?” Patrick asks.

“No thank you,” Frank replies. He’s sitting at the lunch table and honestly he’s just waiting for this week to be over. He wants to pretend it never happened and that he’s having a really bad dream.

“See he likes us,” Brendon says dotingly.

“I will cut you.”

“Mean,” Brendon replies.

“Well at the very least, what we can take from today is that Patrick now has twice as many friends as he did last week,” Pete says.

“Two times zero is still zero,” Frank says. Patrick punches him in the arm and he grins back at where Patrick’s sitting.

“So listen, we usually celebrate making it through a week with outrageously overpriced coffee at Starbucks, if you guys wanna come,” Mikey says.

“Patrick did you hear that, someone just invited you to something,” Frank says, nudging him in the arm.

“I, ugh, you people do not appreciate me.”

“We really don’t, you’re right,” Pete says.

“I do rather enjoy overpriced coffee,” Frank says, “but I have no money.”

“Not that big of a deal,” Mikey says, “you can still come, just be all sad because you aren’t cripplingly in debt to a fucking coffee store.”

Frank shrugs, “I don’t know, my mother keeps me on a leash, because apparently being blind makes me staggeringly good at walking under anvils and into quicksand. It’s like she thinks I live in a Hanna-Barbera cartoon.”

“Well there’s no anvil’s falling out of windows, and for all I know, there’s no pianos either, because the only Starbucks is in the mall so...”

“Wait it’s in the mall?” Frank asks. He’s suddenly remembering Gerard, and how he kind of liked that guy. He told himself to avoid that guy at all cost though, because that would entail him getting close to people. This is as close as Frank will ever be to anyone. He’s using the four guys at this table as his bodyguards to make sure he isn’t thrown into a dumpster, but he doesn’t actually enjoy their company or anything. Or at least he tells himself that. He can tell himself one thing, but feel another.

“Yeah, is that a problem?” Mikey asks.

“I don’t know if I want to go there,” Frank says, as vaugely as he can so that he doesn’t have to explain that he’s afraid of a specific person.

“Well would it change your mind if we kidnapped you and didn’t give you a choice?” Brendon asks.

“That sounds more like something Mikey would say than you.”

“Well would it change your mind if we kidnapped you and didn’t give you a choice?” Mikey says, copying Brendon’s words.

“I don’t know,” Frank says.

"Come on Frank. You're going. You have no reason not to. Tell your mother you will be with four other people," Brendon says.

"Uh, I never said I wanted to go," Patrick intervenes.

"We said you are," Mikey says, giving Patrick a look that Patrick wouldn't dare go against.

"Yeah, just tell her you'll be with four others," Patrick says and clears his throat.

Frank chuckles and shakes his head at Patrick, "Man up, Patrick."

"You man up," Mikey says, "It's just a mall, not a sea of sharks."

"Yeah, ‘cause if it were, Mikey would be the first one to object."

"Shut it Brendon."

Pete leans over in Mikey's face and starts mimicking the music that's played when a shark is approaching in a movie. Mikey puts Pete in a headlock and Pete shoves him off while laughing. Frank makes the quick guess that someone is afraid of sharks.

"Look, if I agree to go will you all just shut up?"

"Sure. We can't guarantee how long though," Brendon says with a chuckle.

"Fair enough man."

“Okay, you’ve earned, like twenty seconds of shutting up then,” Brendon says.

“That is a long time to not say anything,” Pete grumbles.

“I bet you talk in your fucking sleep don’t you, Pete?”

“Not only do I talk, I recite Shakespearean sonnets in my sleep,” Pete answers.

“I bet you could perform all of Macbeth while unconscious,” Brendon grins.

“A one-man show of Macbeth probably,” Frank says.

“You guys! Don’t you know it’s unlucky to say the name?” Patrick says. “It’s The Scottish Play, if you must.”

“Patrick you superstitious nutbag,” Pete tisks at him, “we will call it whatever the hell we like. Macbeth. Macbeth! Macbeth.”

“Fine, but if you break your leg, don’t come crying to me,” Patrick says.

“Okay, so there’s a valid reason to not want to go to the mall then! We just got cursed!” Frank says.

“No, Frank. You’re going.”

“Why?”

“Because you’re so on edge here, like you’re waiting for Blake to pop up and give you a wedgie. Out of the school, maybe you’ll loosen up a bit.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure,” Frank says.

“No, we do need a better friend selection process,” Brendon says, “this one is antisocial.”

“You’re the one who wanted to help him,” Mikey says.

“Because I am a good person!”

“You’re stuck with him, I’m afraid,” Pete says.

“Stop talking about me like I’m not here,” Frank chides, “it’s annoying.”

“You know what else is annoying?”

“Pete?” Frank suggests.

“Precisely,” Mikey confirms.

The day passes by smoothly, with Frank hearing someone who’s voice sounds achingly like Blake’s, make fun of him in gym class. Frank just sits on the bench, and scowls at the black room around him, still trying to come up with an excuse to get out of going to the mall, but he’s coming up short. If he had one a few hours ago it might have worked, but seeing as that was a few hours ago, it’s too late. Unless one of his relatives suddenly burst into flames, Frank’s got no excuse that doesn’t make him seem like an even bigger dick than usual.

So that’s how Frank ends up sitting in a Starbucks, hiding under the hood of his sweatshirt, at 3:30 in the afternoon. He’s listening to some story about Pete from eighth grade or something, and not really paying attention. Frank’s been aware that these guys have all probably grown up together somehow or another. Patrick hinted that he moved into town only in his sophomore year, but Brendon, Pete, and Mikey have a long history. Frank just sort of sits there and tries to go unnoticed.

“Frank?”

“What?”

“Nothing. It’s just... well I was going to say that you were staring off into the distance, but you’re not really,” Patrick says to him.

“You’re not talking much either, so can I guess that you feel out of the loop too?”

“I’m not a people person, really,” Patrick says.

“No? I couldn’t tell at all,” Frank replies sarcastically.

“You two are practically asleep over there!” Brendon says, looking at Patrick and Frank like they’re on the other side of the shop, when they’re just at the end of the table.

“Yeah well,” is all Frank says in response.

“Ugh, do you want a coffee or something?” Brendon asks, “I mean, you’re the only one who doesn’t have anything so-”

“If you’re offering me free things in exchange for nothing whatsoever, than I have one thing to say to you and that is, I take my coffee black.”

“You are a piece of work Frank,” Brendon says and then a chair screeches on the floor, telling Frank that Brendon probably just stood up.

“Nothing in it, Brendon. Just coffee, and trust me, I will know if you add something. I can’t see, so all my other senses are heightened. I will taste the difference.”

“Like Daredevil,” Mikey comments.

“Daredevil?” Frank asks.

“Don’t tell me you don’t know who Daredevil is,” Mikey says, which is a strikingly familiar conversation to Frank.

“No, of course I know who he is,” Frank says, which is somewhat true, but also somewhat of a lie, “he’s a superhero. Blind superhero.”

“Exactly,” Mikey says, “My brother adores him.”

“The cooler loser who dyed his hair red?” Frank asks.

“That’s the one,” Mikey responds, “You know he works here in the mall, actually. He’s got a shift as we speak.”

“That’s nice,” Frank says without interest.

“Here’s your coffee, Frank,” Brendon says, and Frank holds his hand out, almost whacking Pete in the face, for the cup. “Careful, it’s hot.”

“No really?” Frank says sardonically, and takes the cup in his hand.

“You going to thank me for buying you coffee?” Brendon asks him.

“Pete, thank Brendon for me.”

“Brendon, Frank says thank you,” Pete says.

“Thanks Pete.”

“Brendon says thank you for the thank you,” Pete relays.

“You’re welcome,” Frank says.

“So what’re we talking about?” Brendon asks.

“My brother,” Mikey states.

“What about him? Oh, isn’t he working right now?” Brendon asks.

“He is indeed,” Mikey answers.

“We should go say hi,” Brendon suggests.

“Why?”

Brendon says nonchalantly, “Because he’s a nice guy, I guess, and it’s never very busy over there right now, we’ll just stop in for a minute. We can introduce him to Frank and Patrick. See how quickly it takes for Patrick to piss his pants due to meeting strangers.”

“Fine with me,” Pete says and Frank hears chairs moving making him frown. He holds his coffee to his mouth and groans, looking up at where he thinks the other guys are.

“But I just got coffee!” Frank says, “believe it or not, it is actually hard for me to walk and drink at the same time. You know, because I am visually impaired, or, I like to say, visually fucked to hell.”

"Well then I guess it's time you start practicing, huh?" Mikey states as he takes Frank's coffee and sits it on the table. He then pulls Frank up out of his seat, and laughs when Frank tries to hit him with his cane, but misses due to Mikey's awesome dodging skills.

"What the hell dude?"

"You, my friend-"

"Not your friend."

"Don't tell me what you are to me. I will dangle you over the railing outside of this Starbucks. Try me."

Frank is about to say something when Brendon interrupts, "I don't think that is wise, Frank. Just do as he says man, so we can get this over with."

"Yeah. Besides aren't you the one always yelling about independence?" Pete says.

"Yeah, so?"

"So you're not going to sit on your ass at the table and sip your coffee. You're going to get up and learn how to walk with things," Mikey finishes Pete's point.

"Starting with a hot ass beverage?"

"Why not? Tell you what... if you get burned I'll do your homework for two months," Mikey announces.

"Oh no," Pete says.

"What?" Frank asks.

"He's the last person you'd want doing your homework."

"Oh shut up, Pete."

"It's true," Brendon laughs.

"I said shut up."

"Yes, to Pete, but not to me."

"Shut the hell up, Brendon!" Mikey says. An employee looks in their direction and Pete smiles and apologizes.

"You're already standing so let's get this show on the road," Mikey says and picks up Frank's coffee.

"Yeah, everybody look at the fucking circus act," Frank announces with annoyance.

"Dude, cut it out. I am handing you your coffee now so put your hand out," Mikey says. Frank sighs but puts his hand out anyway. Mikey places the coffee in his hand and smiles.

"Now," Mikey turns Frank towards the exit, "We will all be right here. We will make sure you don't trip or any stupid shit like that."

"Nice to know you'd think I'm stupid," Frank scoffs.

"Please get your Victoria's Secret out of your ass, Frank."

"How do you even know the name of women's underwear?"

"Well I happen to have a girlfriend who wears amazing things from that place. Also, the same way you must know about them... television," Mikey smiles.

"How can she even afford that shit? My mom always complains that just one piece of string costs more than dinner for three nights. If you shop accordingly."

"That's the last thing I'm thinking about when I see her in it, Frank," Mikey chuckles.

"Right."

"We need to get you laid. And fast," Mikey adds.

"Either way, I won't be able to see how good the person looks in their undergarments."

"Oh but you will feel it. You said it yourself. You're other senses are heightened," Brendon says, suggestively.

"Can we please just get going?" Patrick whines and they all turn to look at him.

"Oh look, the church mouse has spoken," Mikey speaks and they all laugh. "Come on, Patrick. We're going. Get over here so you can be Frank's other shoulder should he need it."

Patrick walks over and Frank turns in his direction and offers him a smile. Mikey places his hand on the small of Frank's back indicating him to move, and Frank automatically thinks about when Gerard had had his hand there. Frank feels nothing like he had when this was Gerard's hand and that worries him a bit. Okay, a lot.

"I got it. Get off of me!"

"You're so lucky you have that coffee as protection," Mikey snarls jokingly.

They walk at an even pace through the mall to make sure Frank doesn't drop his coffee. He's doing a great job and it's annoying him how much the guys keep saying it and patting his back like this is some kind of football game.

"Would you all stop with the damn patting and chanting?"

"You're so evil."

"Just stop it. All I need is for one of you to pat me too hard and make me trip up or something and drop this shit. Also can you all space the fuck out? I feel like I'm being stuffed in a small fucking cubicle or a convection oven. You're all hot as shit."

"Why thank you Frank. That was very kind of you to say," Brendon remarks.

"Can this day be over please?"

"It'll last forever and ever," Mikey says. "I will make sure of it."

Frank groans and turns when he feels Patrick's hand on his shoulder guiding him. They walk into the shop and laugh when Patrick trips on nothing.

"The blind guy is doing better than you," Brendon says.

"This blind guy wishes he could've seen that."

"Hey bro!" Mikey calls out into the empty store in front of him. Frank can’t see him anyway, but Mikey’s brother is nowhere in sight. Frank's head turns when he hears shuffling and then there's a red blob coming towards him. Mikey sees Gerard first and rolls his eyes, still not used to the mop of fire engine red in his hair. Gerard raises his brow as soon as he spots Frank behind the group of boys.

"I thought you didn't have any friends."

Frank's eyebrows shoot up and he knows he's hearing things. That can't be Gerard who just spoke to him. Sure the guy has a unique voice that Frank would know anywhere, and he hates to admit that, but this just couldn't be. Could it?

Then there is the fact that this guy said what Frank had told him. Frank remembers having that conversation with Gerard, and everybody to be honest, so it has to be him. He also told Gerard that red was the only color he could almost see, and here is this guy with the voice standing in front of him, with a head full of red hair. It has to be a coincidence.

There is also Mikey though. Mikey had stated that his brother loves Daredevil. There's just too many things that lead to this actually being Gerard. The Gerard. Frank twists his head to the side and furrows his brows. If Frank could see himself right now he'd know he looks like an adorable confused puppy.

"Wait, you know Frank, Gee?" Mikey asks and Gerard nods.

"I met him a few days ago on my lunch break. Seeing as though he's with your group I imagine you met him at school?"

"That's somewhat correct," Mikey nods. Gerard looks at him questioningly and Mikey just shakes his head and mouths 'I'll tell you later'. Mikey points at Frank and does the hand to neck head shake. Gerard nods and mouths an 'oh' back at Mikey.

"Gerard's your brother?" Frank adds to the questions.

"Yeah, that's the dude you called cool for having red hair, and almost broke all of our necks for."

"Huh?"

"Frank got angry with us for not understanding his happiness for red," Mikey states.

"We almost ended up in a puddle of red," Brendon adds. Pete nods and laughs.

"He's pretty passionate about the color red," Pete says.

"I know," Gerard speaks and Mikey looks at him. Frank smiles but tries to hide it and fails miserably. Gerard catches the smile just like he catches every other one Frank tries to suppress.

"You know?" Mikey asks and then looks like a light bulb just went off in his head. "Wait a minute! He's the reason you dyed your hair red and ruined my white shirt isn't he!"

Gerard laughs and he shrugs at his younger brother.

"No one else dyed their hair for Frank to see. Unless you..." Mikey's eyes widen and he swats at Brendon's arm hitting him repeatedly.

"Ow!"

"Ew! You got the hots for Frank!" Mikey yells, and Frank gasps and then scowls.

"What the hell do you mean ew? I am fucking beautiful, okay?" Frank sips his coffee to stop any oncoming smiles from happening. He doesn't want Gerard to know that it makes him feel a little bit of excitement that he dyed his hair just for him.

Gerard smirks, because, although Frank is hiding behind that cup of coffee, he can't cover the blush in his cheeks. It's about as red as the new color on the top of his head.

“I wouldn’t say for Frank exactly. I’d been thinking about it for a while. Frank just pushed me into it,” Gerard says. Frank snorts, the lie there is so transparent.

“You’re like a giant floating blob, you know that?” Frank says snickering. “Just a big red blob that’s floating around like a discombobulated head.”

“Thanks,” Gerard says.

Mikey takes a breath and then says, “Okay, so Brendon, Pete, Patrick, and I are going to go stand on the other side of the room to give you two the illusion of privacy when in fact we are going to be listening in on your whole conversation completely, so keep it PG. Actually, Patrick might tell us that eavesdropping is rude, which will then lead Pete and/or I to hit him in the arm, where he will then walk over to Frank like a small child and tattle on us for picking on him.”

“That’s a deep analysis,” Gerard states.

“I don’t want to talk to Gerard!” Frank shrieks, almost panicked.

“Thanks,” Gerard scoffs.

“I, I mean, I don’t know you. Really. Not really. I don’t know you,” Frank scrambles.

“That didn’t seem to stop you from talking to me before,” Gerard says. Frank just slurps at his coffee and he can tell that the others are already inching away from him dramatically like they’re all in an overly dramatized theater production. Like maybe Macbeth.

“Hey Patrick, if you walk away from me right now, I swear to god I will say Macbeth to you every hour on the hour for the next week.”

“What an odd threat,” Gerard says, looking down at Frank with a big goofy grin on his face.

“He’s superstitious. Evidently.”

“Uh, no thanks,” Patrick says meekly.

“No thanks as in you don’t want me to say Macbeth, or no thanks you do want me to say Macbeth?”

“Could you stop maybe?” Patrick asks, and Frank grins in Patrick’s general direction.

“Oh, who are we kidding, Frank. Who do you think scares Patrick more? Me or you?” Mikey asks.

Frank doesn’t respond to that one, because Mikey makes a good point.

“Patrick, I’m warning you,” Frank says as a last ditch effort to not be stranded here alone in the middle of a comic book store with a flamboyantly colored guy who he might sort of kind of like.

“I’m gonna,” Patrick starts and then Frank can tell he’s walking away. That’s probably partly due to the fact that Patrick is terrified of strangers and Gerard is a stranger.

“So your friend is afraid of The Bard’s Play, is he?”

“Oh god not you too,” Frank mumbles.

“What?”

“You just called it ‘The Bard’s Play’!” Frank says.

“Well yeah, but that doesn’t mean I necessarily believe in the curse. I just don’t want to tempt fate, that’s all. There’s no harm in being careful. It’s not like I’m putting garlic on my stoop, I just don’t want to say the name of it.”

“Fear of a name only increases fear of the thing itself.”

“Did you just quote Rowling on me?” Gerard asks, “Oh I like you.”

Frank blushes when Gerard says that and puts his interest into his coffee cup, hoping that the warmth of the coffee gives an explanation for the pink rising into his cheeks.

“Why don’t comic book stores sell popcorn?” Mikey’s voice says loudly.

“I know where you live Mikeyway,” Gerard shouts at him.

“Fuck you too, Gee,” Mikey yells back. Frank’s fairly sure that there’s no other customers in here right now, but he’s not certain.

“So Frank,” Gerard says, and Frank can tell he’s stepped in a little closer, “I was starting to think I was never going to see you again.”

“Well I’m never going to see you for a first time,” Frank says.

“You know what I mean.”

“Well you weren’t going to see me again. I didn’t know Mikey’s brother was you. I just thought that this town had an insatiable craving for Daredevil or something,” Frank says.

“You weren’t going to come back?” Gerard asks, sounding really hurt and Frank doesn’t know how to feel about that. On one hand, he likes Gerard maybe too much and he feels bad about making him sad, but on the other hand he likes Gerard maybe too much, and that means he needs to drive that sucker away before he gets too close.

“Uh... no?” Frank says.

“Why not?”

“Well because I don’t like having friends,” Frank says.

“One, two, three, four,” Gerard says like he’s looking off into the distance, “I count four in the corner of this room alone.”

“Not friends.”

“What about the little one with the admittedly adorable fear of The Bard’s Play?” Gerard asks.

“Well I’ll tell you something, I don’t feel the need to chop his toes off in the dead of the night,” Frank says cryptically.

“That’s nice?”

“Trust me, it is,” Frank says, and this is where he would wink if he could, and wasn’t wearing sunglasses at the bridge of his nose.

“So you didn’t want to meet me again,” Gerard says, changing up the way he phrased it, “so does that mean, you’re going to avoid me when you step out that door today?”

“Uh, well, yeah.”

“Great,” Gerard says, sounding cheerful.

“What?”

“Great. Because my shift just ended, and we’re going to walk out that door together so that I can make you retract that statement,” Gerard says, turning around and grabbing something off of the counter behind him.

“Where are you two going?”

“None of your business, baby bro,” Gerard says, and puts an arm around Frank in a manner that is way too close for Frank’s liking. He knows it’s probably just to annoy Mikey, or to get Frank to actually follow wherever Gerard is taking him, but he does not like how much he likes how close they are.

“No seriously, where am I going?” Frank asks as he’s steered out of the shop, almost dropping his coffee.

“Away from my pervy younger brother,” Gerard says, and with that, they’re out of the comic book store. Gerard’s arm is still around his shoulder and he’s really warm. Frank tries to tune it out as he lets the low rumble of the mall fall around him.

“So why are you kidnapping me exactly?” Frank asks.

“I’m borrowing you, lighten up. But I’m going to make you take back your words. You’re going to want to meet me again, I promise.”

“And how do you plan to do that? Get me to fall in love with you?” Frank jokes.

Gerard just laughs quietly, “Give it time, Frankie.”