Subway Train ➫ Frerard

chpt. fourteen ➫ shopping

the two arrived at the mall shortly after boarding the taxi. frank stared up, awing at the tall shopping building.

"dude this place is huge!" frank exclaimed.

gerard chuckled. "yes, it is."

frank smirked. "that's not all that's huge..."

"frank iero!" gerard playfully smacked frank's arm and laughed. "you haven't even seen it."

"mhm." frank responded.

they walked into the building, side by side. frank looked at all the stores and wondered which one he should go in.

"so where are we going first?" frank asked gerard.

"um... we'll buy you clothes first. j. crew or nordstrom?" gerard said, looking at the directory on his phone.

frank gasped. "neither." he pointed to a store right across from where the two were standing. "i wanna go there."

gerard looked at where frank was pointing. oh, gerard thought. hot topic.

"haha, you sure frankie?" gerard bit his lip.

frank nodded rapidly. "yes!" he started running in the direction of the store as gerard tried to catch up with him.

they both entered the store. gerard has never been here before. he looked around, but the place was dimly lit. he also noticed how black the store was. it was simply... black.

frank ran around the store like a little kid. he pulled band t-shirts out, grabbed a million jeans and handed them to gerard.

"frankie!" gerard called. "frank, babe, you have to slow down."

frank had a wide smile on his face. "sorry." he said, walking slowly down an aisle and disappearing into it. gerard placed the clothes on the counter and waited for frank to return.

the last thing frank had saw was a shirt. it was on the wall, but he didn't see it available on the shelves. it read "heartbreak in stereo." it was oddly familiar to him, but he just couldn't remember why. he was almost drawn to find that shirt. he needed it.

frank frantically searched for that t-shirt, he didn't know why he wanted it - he just did. unfortunately, there were no more frank could find. 

the boy made his way towards gerard at the counter and stood next to him. 

"you good frankie?" gerard asked as the cashier looked through the clothes.

"uh-huh," frank nodded. "i just wanted to find this one shirt-"

the cashier spoke up. "which one?"

"oh... it was this... heartbreak in stereo one..." frank rubbed the back of his neck.

"that's been out of stock for a while... i can check if there's one in the back if you'd like?" the cashier said.

"no no it's alright." frank glued a smile onto his face. the cashier nodded as he began scanning the items.

gerard paid for the things and the two left. gerard saw frank's face drastically change expressions now and then. he knew something was wrong.

gerard put an arm around frank. "what's wrong frankie?"

frank shrugged. "don't know. it's just that i saw that heartbreak in stereo shirt, and it reminded me of something. something i had, but lost."

"heartbreak in stereo..." gerard repeated. "something gotta do with music?"

"i don't know. i might do my research at home." frank said.

"huh..." gerard replied. "pencey prep?"

frank's eyes widened. "pencey prep."

he remembered the days him and his friends stayed up late, just to finish that album. he remembered how much fun it was to record it, to perform it. pencey prep. heartbreak in stereo. his friends. back then. at home. coming out. kicked out.

frank tried to hold back his tears from remembering all of this. he couldn't take it. thinking about his past always made him emotional. he was just weak. stupid. 

ugh.