Our Broken Fairytale (Frerard)

"alive"

When Gerard woke up, he instantly knew he was alive and in the hospital.

The smell attested to that, as well as the pain he was currently in. Gerard wasn't sure how he felt about this revelation, mostly he was just numb, and even more so than ever he didn't want to deal with the consequences of his actions, although he knew he would be forced to face them very soon.

Gerard almost jumped out of his skin when he heard someone clear their throat softly from beside him, even though it was probably just Pete, or maybe a doctor who had come to lecture him.

But when Gerard turned his head, it was neither of the two previous guesses - instead, he was met with the sight of a black haired boy that he had never seen before.

The stranger's pierced lip pulled into a smile when he caught Gerard's eye, but the expression quickly disappeared when Gerard flinched away, his limbs beginning to tremble with fear, the unfamiliar presence making him uncomfortable and filling him with nervous energy.

"Hey - it's okay, you don't have to be afraid of me," the man whispered in a soothing tone, his hand lifting up as if to touch Gerard's shoulder, but when Gerard shied back even further, he dropped his arm into his lap instantly. "My name's Frank, I'm Pete's friend, he just went out to grab us some food, but he will be back soon."

"W-why are you here?" Gerard managed to stammer out, his confusion over why this person had decided to stay with him outweighing his distaste of talking to men he didn't know.

"Because I was worried about you, and I didn't want you to wake up alone," Frank shrugged like it was the most obvious answer in the world.

"Oh..." Gerard responded lamely, unsure of what else to say without sounding like a complete idiot. "Is Pete mad at me?" Gerard finally ventured to ask, because he had to know if he had ruined their friendship with his selfishness, even though he wouldn't blame Pete if he was furious with him.

"No, you just scared him," Frank answered slowly, his lips pressing together as if he was attempting to hold something back.

"I'm sorry," Gerard whimpered, his eyes brimming with tears that he refused to shed in front of Frank. "I don't know what I was thinking."

"I think I might," Frank spoke slowly, continuing onward when Gerard didn't speak, "and even though I know nothing about you, or what made you feel so awful that you tried to do...that, I'm glad it didn't work, because if it had, that means that whoever hurt you would have won, and you don't want that. You are strong, I can tell, and no matter how much life sucks right now, every day you keep surviving is a big fuck you to everyone that didn't believe in you, and eventually, they won't even matter anymore."

"I - I..." Gerard stuttered out, a few tears slipping past his closed lids, leaving hot tracks down his cheeks as he turned his head away from Frank in a pointless effort at hiding how much his words had affected him.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you," Frank apologized, his eyes glistening as he stared down at Gerard, which confused him since it looked as if Frank was about to cry as well.

"It's okay, you didn't do anything wrong," Gerard assured him while wiping at his face angrily as he spoke, his tongue twisting in on itself when he tried to thank Frank for his kind sentiment.

"Well...Pete should be back any second now, and even though you probably have a lot of other friends you would rather talk to, I just want you to know that if you ever feel like that again, I want you to text me, call me, whatever. I'll pick up, no matter what time it is or where I am," Frank offered, scribbling his number down on a pad of paper sitting on the desk located next to Gerard's bed. "If that's okay with you...you don't have to take it."