To Cast Turpentine Kisses (A Frerard Student/Teacher)

Chapter 23

Frank finally sort of accidentally meets Mikey, too, and it's super awkward. Mikey comes over to Gerard's house one day unexpectedly to drop off some stuff that his mother sent over and even though Gerard and Frank aren't doing anything untoward at the moment it's definitely more casual than it should be between a teacher and a student. Gerard never told Mikey about Frank and they have to play it off like he's just a student over at Gerard's place to get help with a homework assignment, and it's weird because Gerard seems totally frazzled by Mikey being there and shuffles Frank home early and it makes Frank both super uncomfortable and super jealous. Gerard doesn't smile that easily when Frank walks into the room like he did when Mikey walked in the front door. He thought he was making Gerard happy, in some way, but maybe he really IS only making things worse.

But of course Mikey's not an idiot. After Frank leaves he turns and stares at Gerard and Gerard's like "I knooooooooow Mikey, I know.... I KNOW." And Mikey's like, "Explain." So Gerard does, sort-of-kind-of-mostly, and since Frank's 18 he's legal so that's not really the issue, but still. Gerard is Frank's teacher and he could get fired and would never be able to work at a high school again. Mikey doesn't like it, but it's Gerard, so he promises not to say anything. When he asks Gerard if it's worth it Gerard doesn't answer no, but he doesn't answer yes, just stares down at his fingernails. It's obviously not just a fling, then.

Mikey coming over totally snaps Frank out of the situation for a little while. Well, not really snaps him out of it because he's still deep in it as ever, but the intrusion of Mikey into Gerard's house (and their space, their little sanctum of Frank-and-Gerard-ness) kind of trips him up a bit. Gerard never tells Frank that Mikey knows because he knows Frank would freak and get super paranoid and not trust Gerard if he knew Gerard's brother knew. Gerard doesn't want Frank not to trust him. He trusts Mikey with his life but he knows Frank doesn't know him at all. :/