Rain || Frerard

Chapter four

Sorry it's been ages since I last updated this.. Honestly, I forgot I was writing it. Oops.. I'll get better at this writing shit.
~NewTraditions
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"Your apartment is comforting." He stated, taking off his sodden shoes at the door and flopping on the sofa.

I smiled a little and copied him, "thank you."

It was quiet for a moment until he wriggled closer to me. His black eye looked painful but he didn't show any signs that it bothered him.

I didn't know what to say, so stayed quiet until I noticed he'd fallen asleep on me.

He was a cute sleeper. All curled up, holding on to my shirt tightly, like- I don't know- like I meant something to him.

And I really liked that. Hell, I think I needed it. Being easily disposable in many ways wasn't very good for me- at work, they could just fire me if they decided I wasn't good enough, or if I killed off a character (but only if vegan Bob found out about it). I could just be erased from people's lives so easily, it was nice to have someone who seemed to want to be with me.

Soon enough, I slept too. And when I woke up the next day, he was gone.

---

I didn't bother going to work.

Instead, I stayed at home and did any work I had to do there. All boring stuff- colouring and shading and adding backgrounds.

Mostly, I was waiting for Frank. I obviously didn't know if he'd come back, but I wanted to be there for him if he did.

The sun shone through the window, and not a single stormy cloud was in sight. I took this as a good thing- maybe he was having a good enough day to not create thunder. I lay off the rain and kept colouring.

---

It was just after 3 when he came to my door. He knocked three times- which was all it took for me to literally drop everything I was doing- the activity being, unfortunately, making coffee, and the mug I was holding shattered into a thousand tiny shards of pottery on the hard floor. I left it there, making a mental note to avoid the kitchen as I went to answer the door.

He smiled at me and I stepped aside to let him in. "Today was better." He said, still smiling.

"Yeah?" I smiled, "what happened?"

He shrugged and I closed the door as he went to my sofa and flopped on it like he did last night. "I don't know- it was just so much better. I didn't get beaten up, for a start."

"Well, that's always a plus."

"Yep." He said, nodding a bit, "a teacher kept me behind at the end of the day, though."

I sat next to him on the sofa, "yeah? What about?"

"She saw what happened yesterday and asked me about it."

"Oh.. The punching?"

He nodded again, "she was actually not a dick about it.. She said she could tell someone else about it, or keep the kids that did it in detention."

"And did you let her?"

"No." He said, smiling a bit, although I think he was just smiling to stop himself crying, "hell no, it'd only make things worse for me. They'd know it was because of what happened yesterday and just be more careful about where they decide to do it. It wouldn't change anything. There's no point."

I bit my lip, "I wish I could help you.."

"You're helping enough."

This meant a lot to me and I smiled a bit, then hugged him. "Thank you.."

I felt him lean into my touch and I was so tempted to just kiss the top of his head- he was so damn cute. But that'd be weird and make things weird, so I didn't. I just held him.

"You're the one helping me." He said quietly, "this is the best bit of my day by far."

---

He stayed at mine all night. We watched movies and ordered takeaway food because I still hasn't cleaned up the mess in the kitchen.

It was only when it got to 2am and he was talking about maybe going to sleep soon that I started to worry for his parents- they must be worried about him, mine would be if I was out until 2 in the morning with no explanation.

"Frank?"

"Yeah?" He mumbled sleepily from his blanket nest.

"I love having you here, but don't your parents worry?"

"Oh, I don't live with them." He said casually, sounding half asleep. I think if he wasn't as tired, he wouldn't have told me that.

"You live alone?"

"With a friend." He mumbled.

I remembered what he said about his friends; the drinking, the drugs, and how much he hated it. "Oh... And they won't be worried?"

"He'll be out. It's fine... Can I sleep now?"

"Y-yeah.." I said softly, "see you in the morning."

He was out like a light.

---

Frank was still with me in the morning. He was asleep when I woke up, and I didn't bother him. Instead, I carefully got up without waking him and finally cleared up the broken pieces of mug on the kitchen floor. I then made coffee for myself so I felt less like a zombie and made a note of the time- it was coming up to 8am- and which day of the week it was and if Frank would have school- it was a Saturday, so he wouldn't. Unless it was Saturday school, which I doubted he'd jump to attend.

He appeared in the kitchen a few minutes later with a fantastic bed head. His hair stuck up in all different directions, and he made no attempt to fix it as he smiled sleepily at me. I offered him coffee, which he accepted.

"Would you like to hang out with me today?" I asked, knowing I sounded like a fucking idiot, but I couldn't think of any other way to word it. Also, I hadn't finished my coffee yet, so I was still in zombie mode.

His face lit up and he nodded, "fuck, are you serious? You wouldn't mind having me around?"

I shook my head, "not at all. I'd be alone if you weren't here, so I have nothing better to do. You want to stay?"

He smiled, nodded, then hugged me. "I'd fucking love to."