ANON (Frerard)

Part 2: 3. Promises

TW: Supporting character's revealed eating disorder, nothing too detailed though

It'd been a few weeks since Valentine's Day, and it was now the end of February. Frank had been talking a little bit more to Gerard, and the two were on their way to becoming great friends again. Tonight was the night though, because Gerard was going to come over to his house. He would've preferred it the other way around, but it was already past four-o'clock, so Mary was home with him instead of in the after school program. She's sitting on the floor, watching the old Beetlejuice cartoon, and eating Animal Crackers. Frank's curled up on the couch when he hears a doorbell. He gets up to let Gerard in, and he smiles while entering through the door.

"Gerard!" Mary jumps up, spilling some of her Animal Crackers, and goes to hug the boy.

"Mary, look you've made a mess!" he sighs, going to pick the crackers up.

"I missed you, Gerard," she says, voice muffled.

"I missed you, too, Mare," Gerard plays with her hair.

"It's been too long. Never leave again, okay?" she looks up at him.

"Okay," he says, simply.

She then takes his hand and drags him over to the couch. She starts telling him about every new thing in her life and Gerard listens intently. Frank watches in amusement, and sits down on the couch, next to Mary.

"Wow, Mare, it's almost as if Gerard came here to hang out with you instead of me," Frank jokes.

"He is here to hang out with me," she states, matter of factly.

Frank pretends to be surprised, and looks at Gerard.

"Don't look at me!" Gerard defends himself.

"I guess I'll just go upstairs and let you two friends catch up," Frank says, mock-upset.

"Good, you can't distract us now. Plus, you won't be such a third-wheel," she lies with a serious tone.

"Oh, I'm the third wheel?" Frank asks, filled with disbelief. "I didn't even know that you knew what that meant!"

Mary starts giggling, and Frank swoops in, and starts tickling her, so she does it even more.

"Stop it, stop it!" she squeals between laughs.

Frank and Gerard both kiss her on the head, over-affectionately, and she screams.

"Can you put the next episode on, Frank?" Mary asks, out of breath.

"Sure thing, Mare," Frank grabs the remote, and selects the next episode.

They watch the show, a lot more calm now. Frank hears his phone vibrating on the couch. He picks it up to look who's calling, and sees that it's April. Frank then looks at Gerard, thinking for a moment, and then he declines the call.

***

Frank is almost late for hospitality class the next day, due to a minor issue he had to deal with including Mary and her supposed brownies that had to be brought in that day. Brownie mix was in the cupboard, it had been there all week, and Frank was planning to make it that evening after Gerard left, but Gerard didn't leave until eight-thirty, and Frank went to go find the brownie mix that he needed, so crossing his fingers, he checked the fridge, and there was a batch of brownies made, sitting there on a plate, which seemed odd, considering they obviously weren't made by Frank. So then Frank asked Mary if she knew who made the brownies, and she happily informed her of the truth.