Room To Grow (Frerard) (Completed)

9-i cant think of a clever title oh well

Frank couldn't sleep.

He was lying in his bed, staring at his ceiling and hating his mind for thinking so much. In the other room, Jack and Alex were watching a movie - Titanic, he realized, whether from the iconic soundtrack or the sound of Jack sobbing.

So much had happened, and Frank didn't know how to feel. Gee was still beautiful, and he still likes her a lot, he just felt betrayed, because she hadn't trusted him enough to tell him, she had thought somehow her gender identity would cause him to be disgusted by her, which only meant she had a low opinion of him as it was.

After they had finished having their private conversation, Gee and Frank had gone back to the rest of the families. The two sets of parents had been completely oblivious to the flow of emotions stemming from the two younger adults, but Mikey had noticed and had winked confidentially at Frank. Gee had promptly kicked the younger boy in the shins.

They all had ice cream for dessert, and Gee had held Frank's hand under the table the entire time. Frank couldn't stop smiling at how beautiful and sweet and wonderful Gee was.

It wasn't until he had got home that the insecurities had seeped in. Suddenly, he had realized everything that was wrong. He couldn't seem to identify the positives to the whole situation. Gee didn't trust him. She thought he was a criminal. She was ashamed of his past, she was ashamed of her past, and any relationship they had would be dishonest and secretive.

Frank picked up his phone and sent a single text to Gee. 'Are you still awake?'

It was only a few seconds later that Gee responded: 'yeah why?'

Without a second of hesitation, Frank hit the FaceTime button and patiently waited for Gee's face to appear on his phone screen.

"Frank?" she said, still pixelated and fuzzy as the call connected.

"I wanted to talk to you," Frank said breathily, sitting up further in his bed.

Gee frowned. "Frank, I'm sorry about today, and lying to you, I really shouldn't have..." She bit down on her lower lip and seemed to stare at a distant point, lost in her own thoughts.

"It's fine," Frank said, automatically, immediately. "It's just...why didn't you tell me earlier?"

Gee sighed, biting her lower lip and shifting her weight. "I... I didn't want you to hate me. M-my dad...and... I really like you. I didn't want you to reject me because I'm not a real girl and I'll never be a real girl. I'll never be able to get pregnant. I can't start a family. I can't be a mother."

Frank wanted to reach through his phone screen and hug Gee, her lower lip was trembling and she looked so unbelievably hopeless. "You are a real girl. And you don't need to be able to give birth to qualify. There are cis women who can't have kids. You can adopt, or find an alternative... And why would I care about that? You're perfect."

Gee shook her head, her cheeks flushed. "I don't know what I did to deserve you, Frank."

Frank smirked. "Well, I know what I did. Vandalism."

Gee rolled her eyes. "Don't make me take back the nice things I want to say about you." Her smile faded and she said softly, "I guess that's why I love working with kids so much. I'll never have kids of my own, but at least I get to see other kids learn and grow. And there's a lot I want to teach them that I don't think I'm allowed to."

"Like what?" Frank prompted.

"I want to teach them about sexuality, and gender identity, and how there's so much more to this world then what their conservative parents drill into them." Her eyes hardened. "Did you know that if I hadn't known Lindsey before, they probably wouldn't have hired me? And I have to be secretive because the PTA would probably try to fire me if they knew?"