It wasn't long later that Mrs Iero returned to the pastoral support office. The last thing she expected to see was her son sat with Gerard on his lap the arms wrapped around each other tight. Gerard, having been exhausted both physically and mentally, was fast asleep with his head on Frank's shoulder. Mrs Iero smiled and mentally awed at the two boys, tempted to take a picture with her phone but didn't. Frank looked up at his mom and gave her a brief smile before turning his attention back to the sleeping boy in his arms.
"I need to speak to his brother, Mikey Way, but I don't want to leave him," Frank explained to his mother in a whisper so he wouldn't wake Gee up. Mrs Iero nodded, still smiling and mumbled something about going to get Mikey quickly.
Frank pulled Gerard as close as he possibly could, wishing he could protect this innocent boy from the horrors and dangers of the world and, most importantly, these nightmares.
There was a small window on the other side of the room slightly covered by a pair of white-ish curtains that faced out onto the field where they were forced to participate in track events multiple times a week. Frank could see the huddle of students, followed by a couple of nerdy stragglers and following a couple of athletic jocks, all running with various degrees of effort and enthusiasm. None of them were had been out there long, so the majority of them were still relatively sane. However, trailing behind the rest of the group, there was quite clearly a few people who were already sweaty and out of breath.
Mrs Iero came back not long later with a hot and bothered Mikey in tow. He had clearly been one of the stragglers. His hair was slicked back slightly and his glasses were threatening to slip off the end of his nose. Mrs Iero gestured to a chair that Mikey sat on quickly.
Frank took a deep breath before speaking, his voice soft and quiet so as not to distribute Gerard.
"He spoke," Frank whispered. "He's just so scared and..." He paused. "And all that fear is just too much for him."
Mikey nodded.
"I'm not surprised, with dad gone for months sometimes years at a time and me working until stupid o'clock, he's alone a lot. He must feel like he has no one to talk to about it," Mikey explained.
It was Frank's turn to nod, "Just don't be afraid to reach out for help if you need it."
Gerard let out a small yawn, burying his face in Frank's chest.
"Thank you so much Frank," Mikey responded. "He really trusts you."
"He said that he thinks you have your own little, do you?" Frank asked.
Sighing, Mikey lifted up his glasses slightly, pinching the bridge of his nose between his thumb and index finger. It wasn't not that he was annoyed by Frank's question, more that it was complicated.
"Well - um..." Mikey began, unsure how to explain his situation. "I have two boyfriends - it's a polyamorous relationship - and one acts like a little but says he isn't one because our other boyfriend said he isn't into that."
Cautiously Mikey looked back up at Frank, slightly worried about how he was going to react.
Surprisingly, Frank barely reacted at all, "Why not sit down and talk with them. Gee can come back to mine so he's not around when it happens, I'll drop him back afterwards."
Had Gerard not been asleep in Frank's arms, Mikey would have given him the biggest hug ever. One of the main reasons he hadn't just spoken to his boyfriends was because he was concerned it might scare Gerard if they started shouting.
"Thank you so much, when's best for you?" Mickey asked, repositioning his glasses on his face.
Grand pulled the sleeping boy closer to his chest before replying, "Tonight works for me."
Mikey nodded, "Tonight it is. You might want to swing back to ours to grab Nell and his paci."
"Brilliant," Frank said. "I'll drop you home at the same time. Save you the walk."
With that Mikey left, returning to his gym lesson on the track, sparing a quick glance back to the window to briefly wave at Frank and his sleeping brother. He mumbled a silent prayer to whoever has control in the sky that Gee's sleep would remain uninterrupted by the nightmares that had plagued him for so long.
Frank smiled, looking down at Gerard's peaceful face. There was something about this boy that made Frank feel an overwhelming urge to protect him. He couldn't let anything hurt the angel asleep in his lap, especially while he was already so broken by his fear.
In that moment Frank Iero swore two things. One - that he would protect this ball of innocence from everything and anything that tried to hurt him. And two - that he would never let Gerard go. Cheesy, but true.
