𝐋𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐮𝐦 † 𝐟.𝐠

one

Waiting.
Gerard spent such a significant portion of his life waiting. Waited for his boy to leave school, waited for his boy to open his window in the morning. He didn't mind though. He loved it. The reward of seeing his boys face every day at a never- failing scheduled time brought him nothing but pure joy.

The calmness of the weekend has set in leaving less stress to be present of the faces passing gerard as they jogged or walked their pets. Gerard himself was wasting time in a neighborhood that he was positive he knew better than his own. His scheduled walks gave him more than enough time to memorize each house and twisting roads of the small community. He knew exactly when to begin and end these walks in order to blend in. He'd learned early on in his slowly developing obsession that it was risky to be caught doing nothing in a place you're unknown in for too long. He knew the time his boy opened his window every morning down to the minute. The boy barely ever defied his schedule, it gave Gerard a sense of stability knowing that.

As the time neared, Gerard placed himself on a bench not too far away from his boy's house, decorated with intricate flower carvings that he ran his fingers over absentmindedly when his boy took too long to arrive for him. The seat was conveniently placed for people jogging to have a break, with a water fountain nearby. Gerard never used it though he was much too distracted by the beauty being presented to him through the glass of his boy's window.

He watched the angelic features of his boy's face light up as his eyes made contact with the sun. He squinted a bit at the sudden light flooding his room and Gerard felt his heart flip in his chest. His boy has these flowers at his window sill that he kept up to the best of his ability. Gerard watched with pride when he watered them every morning, gently touching their petals like they were going to crumble away with the slightest pressure. He watched them die and be replaced, he watched the deep sadness that it caused his boy when he couldn't keep a plant alive.

Gerard watched saldy as the boy turned his head abruptly and walked towards his door. He had been called by his mother who was in another part of their small house.

"Frank!" Gerard imagined the woman calling. Or maybe he had a nickname that she called him. "Frankie?" He thought to himself. . .that sounded right. "Frankie!" She probably called from the kitchen. Gerard saw a light and the slim shadow of a woman from the area.

After that Gerard went home, to his apartment. That was all he needed. One glimpse of his beautiful Frank.

"Frankie!" Frank's mom called from the kitchen.

Frank sighed walking to his mother.

"Frank, why did I get yet another email from your math teacher?" His mother asked with her hand on her hip.

Frank bit his lip looking down at his thumbs.

His behavior at school had been the topic of their morning conversations for a while now. At this point Frank came prepared for them. He would've thought that the disappointment in his mother's voice would've
stopped affecting him by now. Hearing it at least once every week or two Frank wished that he could just be numb to her voice.

His mom recited an excerpt from the email without a sign of unsureness. He didn't want to imagine the amount of times she'd probably read it over before now. He listened as his actions from the day before were all laid out right in front of him with his head hanging in embarrassment. He hadn't been the one to instigate the fight and so the school had decided to not give him anything other than a warning. Frank knew that he had only been defending himself and that he'd only gotten one punch in before it was broken up. He wanted to interrupt her and explain that that didn't make it much of a fight at all but he decided against it.

One punch, that's all it took for the other boy's nose to start profusely bleeding and for Frank to get too light headed to stand. It had happened too quick for him to stop it. His adrenaline was making all of his decisions.

"Frank," his mom sighed, placing her palm over her face. "There are other ways to deal with things like that, baby."

Frank nodded; barely even taking in the words that he had heard over one million times. He just stood there waiting for the rest of her semi-prepared speech. Frank was all too keen on it.

"Violence isn't ever the answer to you getting a little upset, you and me should know that better than anyoe, yeah?"

"I'm sorry ma'." Frank said, trying to cut this short. "It won't happen again." Frank said knowing it would.

Frank's mother noticed his want to get back to whatever he was previously doing. She sighed with a smile and nodded. "Not again Frank. You'll be suspended for a week." She warned.

Frank nodded quickly and his mom waved him off with her hand.

Back home Gerard was studying. He was in college and he was thriving. It was always the most important thing in his life, art. Well that is before he saw his boy.

Frank was only thirteen at the time but Gerard knew from the get-go that Frank was special. He noticed how sweet and kind the pretty boy was from a young age. So pure, innocent and beautiful. Gerard wanted him.

But the boy had a family. A broken one at that. Frank's dad had left almost a year ago leaving an angry, confused and hopelessly broken boy and his mother. It broke Gerard's heart to watch Frank fall apart during that time. Knowing that he couldn't comfort him like he wanted. Gerard painterly for the small family. Frank obviously had his own issues. He was violent, yet still innocent and naive.

He had too many problems, too many things to worry about and Gerard was determined to change that.