Rain || Frerard

Chapter three

He's a school kid. I told myself as I started the commute to work. He's probably only just turned 18, at the oldest.

I wanted to find out- he couldn't be younger than 18, unless he got the tattoos illegally or something, which isn't really that uncommon.

Sighing, I got to the dreary office block and got into the dreary lift that smelt of piss. I waited five floors, then got off at the fifth- where I work.

Luckily, Bob wasn't here, so I could just not do anything all day, which was exactly what I did for three hours, before Ray came out of a meeting with the publishers.

"Are you giving the characters colour?" He asked, walking over to my desk and leaning on it.

"Yeah.. I pretty much always do."

"Good. Because they're printing it in colour."

I smiled.

They only agree to print things I'm colour if they have hope for it.

They have hope for my comic.

This little fact took my mind off Frank for the rest of my working day and set it on shading and colours and weather or not to use watercolour pencils or just scan the design into my laptop and colour on there.

It sounds sad and boring, but this shit can make a huge difference.

Eventually, I settled on watercolour and spent the rest of my day painting.

---

It's probably not normal to come home to a school boy with a black eye on your doorstep. But, it happened, and he looked up at me like a lost puppy or something.

"What happened?"

Frank shrugged. "Assholes. Assholes with fists happened."

"Oh."

He nodded a little and I invited him in, wondering why he'd come to my house instead of just going home.

I made him coffee and he sat on my couch a little awkwardly, staring at the assorted half finished drawings my messy ass had left laying around everywhere with the promise that I'd 'finish that shit later'.

"So..." I trailed off, sitting on the sofa next to him, holding my mug in both hands.

"Do you ever wish you could just eliminate someone?"

"All the time." I responded, "why do you ask?"

"I wanna eliminate all my friends." He said with a small sigh, looking into his drink.

"Why would you wanna do that?"

"They can't just have fun." He mumbled, "it always has to involve alcohol, or drugs, or parties, or..." Frank sighed again and sipped his coffee.

I used to be like that. Although, I'd be the one buying the alcohol or drugs or throwing the parties when my parents weren't home. I was the opposite to him. "Oh." Was all I managed to say, now looking into my own mug.