Here's to the Heartache (Frerard) *Discontinued*

37: Should Have - Would Have - Could Have

Gerard left the school premises as quickly as he could without breaking into a full-blown sprint, heading toward his car which was one of the few left in the mostly empty parking lot. His parent conference had taken him much longer than he had hoped; usually, he could reassure the worried mother or father by explaining that their student could always do extra credit to get their grade up, but this woman hadn't been mollified by that explanation. She seemed to have good intentions for her son, but she also didn't understand that Gerard was not solely in control of his GPA.

He had eventually calmed her by outlining the rest of the years' curriculum, as well as showing her that her son would basically have to fail his final exam to lower his B grade to a C. The process has taken over an hour in all, when typically his conferences lasted 15-30 minutes tops. He was sure Frank was wondering where he was. He had meant to text him when it was obvious that he would be running late, but his phone had died, and he assumed it would be rude to pull out his charger in the middle of the parent's tirade about her student's college applications.

He would be home soon though, but more importantly, he would be reunited with Frank. A part of Gerard still felt guilty for allowing their relationship to continue, but he was too weak to push Frank away. He made him happy, he gave him something to look forward to every day, and Gerard wasn't a saint. He only hoped that Frank felt the same for him, he seemed to at least, and as long as he did, Gerard shifted the blame from himself to the universe for making their age gap such a large one.

Gerard drove home quickly; most of the school traffic had already dissipated, allowing him to arrive at his apartment complex in record time. Luckily for him, the speedy journey cut down on the time his mind had to run away on him, so when he arrived at his door, he was in a pleasant mood. He was trying to be better lately, to ignore the negative half of his brain that attempted to tear him down on a daily basis, and he had been improving thanks to Frank. He couldn't wait to spend the rest of the day with him outside of school hours, his presence always quieted all of the awful parts of himself that Gerard struggled with, but when he opened the door to his apartment, he didn't immediately see his boyfriend inside.

"Frank?" Gerard called, wondering if he had taken his parting words literally and he was actually waiting for him on the bed. "Are you in here?"

When Gerard received no answer, he searched the small amount of floor space, peeking into his room as well as Mikey's before coming to the conclusion that Frank wasn't inside. He didn't let himself worry though, something had most likely come up with his mother and he had to leave. Frank had probably texted him about it, which Gerard hadn't seen since his phone's battery was unable to last for eight hours anymore. So he fished his charger out from his bag, plugging it into the first available socket he saw that happened to be the one near the coffee maker. Knowing that he had a few minutes to kill before his phone would turn on, he decided to make himself a cup of coffee since he now had the idea in his head. It had been a long day, and in his opinion, it was never too late for another dose of caffeine.

Gerard hummed under his breath as the water came to a boil, attempting to wash a few dishes that had been piling up in the sink for much too long. By the time he had sorted out the dirty bowls and plates, his coffee was brewed and his phone was on. He grabbed a mug that had been sitting on the counter to pour his drink into, stirring in a bit of sugar as he waited for his phone to finish rebooting so he could view his notifications. He saw that he had a missed call from Frank from about an hour ago, but it was the text message that he had received afterward that ground his world to a halt.

Gerard wasn't aware that he had dropped his mug until it hit the ground, spraying hot liquid across his trousers as well as shards of glass. He didn't even flinch though, in fact, the commotion hardly registered in his head at all, he couldn't focus on anything else besides the message that Frank had sent to him.