Here's to the Heartache (Frerard) *Discontinued*

23: Whack-A-Gerard

Frank practically sprinted into his first class of the day, his hurried steps inspired by his late awakening, courtesy of drinking entirely too much last night in an effort to stifle his sadness, which had been a complete and utter failure, only heightening his longing for Gerard to the point that Frank had to turn off his phone to prevent himself from calling the older man for the twentieth time, his earlier resolve to not bother him just yet had completed disintegrated once he had gotten a few shots in his bloodstream, leaving him with the world's worst hangover and very nearly a tardy slip as well.

Frank's English teacher sniffed sharply at his late entrance, but she let his misdemeanor slide for now, most likely because it was still the beginning of the school year, but whatever the reason, Frank was grateful for the lenience since there was no way he could make it through a detention in his current state.

Frank had heavily debated skipping school entirely after even the simple act of rolling out of bed had caused him to groan in pain, his temples protesting angrily at the sudden movement, but his mother was having one of her more lucid days, and she had taken it upon herself to rouse Frank just when he had been about to doze off on the carpet, throwing his oversized uniform in his direction and refusing to leave him be until Frank stood up and began to get dressed.

But now that he was here, with his teacher's annoyingly high pitched voice doing nothing to soothe his pounding headache, Frank truly regretted not trying harder to convince his mother that he was sick so he could have stayed home, because it was obvious that Frank was going to learn nothing today. He didn't even have Gerard's class to motivate his attendance, not that Frank was entirely sure if he wanted to sit through a repeat of the other afternoon, but still - Frank needed to see Gerard again, it felt like ages since he had last laid eyes on the older man, even though he had been in his presence less than a day ago.

It was probably for the best though, because Frank was nowhere near strong enough for yet another confrontation with Gerard, and really - he had nothing else to say to him that wouldn't be a repetition of his earlier pleas. Gerard held all of the power now, and no matter how badly Frank wanted to continue to interject himself into his life, he knew that the wise choice would be to give Gerard some space until he came to terms with Frank's true age, pestering him would only hurt Frank's chances of a reunion with the older man in the end.

Frank's resolve was quickly put to the test though, a glimpse of Gerard coming out of the staff room had Frank freezing in place, his heart beating erratically as he called upon all of the willpower he possessed, fighting the urge to chase after Gerard and do - well, Frank hadn't planned that far out, and knowing him, whatever action he did choose most likely wouldn't be appropriate for school grounds, so even though his stomach twisted with disappointment when Gerard disappeared into the crowd without a backward glance in Frank's direction, at least it prevented Frank from making a fool of himself in front of all the seniors currently clogging the hallway.

After that encounter, Frank shut down, he didn't have any other choice unless he wanted to spend the rest of the afternoon sobbing softly in the bathroom, and he had already become much too acquainted with those tiles yesterday, but somehow, he managed to make it through the rest of his classes without losing control of his tremulous emotions, even though he caught numerous sightings of Gerard throughout the day, each occurrence sending shooting spikes of pain flowing into Frank's bloodstream, but every time they happened, Gerard vanished before he could do anything more than gape after him in an embarrassing fashion.

Frank only managed to survive the seemingly endless passage of hours by stamping down on any and all Gerard related thoughts as soon as they popped into the forefront of his brain, engaging in a mental game of whack-a-mole featuring his teacher instead of an actual rodent, the accompanying image of a miniature Gerard dodging away from an oversized mallet had Frank suppressing a series of giggles caused by his current state of exhaustion.