Devil's Work (Frerard / Priest!Gerard)

Twenty Three

Chapter Twenty Three

I turned up to church on Monday with a scowl on my face. My day, to be summed up in a word, had been shitty, and now instead of being able to spend time with Gerard, I was going to have to deal with Brian. Although I hadn't even met him yet I was still irritated by his existence. He was a fucking cock block, wether he realised it or not.

I tugged on the ends of my hoodie and pulled myself inside, looking like your average, sullen teenager who would rather be anywhere else. In music all Kellin had talked about was Vic and the concert on Saturday, and although it had been fun to plan it all out I couldn't help but feel jealous when he so openly talked about his boyfriend. I wanted to be able to tell him about me and Gerard too, about how I'd never felt this way before and just all the details I couldn't share. But instead I just had to sit there and pretend that I was a single teenage boy who wasn't looking for any sort of relationship whilst he told me countless funny stories about his and Vic's crazy antics.

Oli had mentioned something about seeing Hannah that night, so I gave him an encouraging smile on my way out of the college campus. Hopefully he'd take my advice and just tell the girl he was head over heels for her before it was too late.

"Hello?"I yelled as I walked into the main part of the church. There in front of me was Gerard, standing near a tapestry with his shirt rolled up to his elbows and a smile on his face from the moment he saw me. Next to him was a man i presumed to be Father Brian Schetcher. He was wearing more traditional priest robes, with short dark hair and a serious, but not unwelcoming expression.

"Frank!" Gerard greeted me warmly, going for the nothing-to-hide approach and probably making a better job of it than I was "This is Father Schetcher. Brian, this is James and Isabel's nephew, Frank Iero. He comes after college to help out around here."

"Ahh so you're the troublemaker" Brian chuckled, reaching out to shake my hand "Nice to meet you Frank, I trust Gerard here has been keeping an eye on you then?"

"Yes, I guess you could say that" I nodded, trying not to let any sarcasm seep through, no matter how tempting. I wasn't use to trying to follow the rules or be generally well behaved, but I was willing to give it a shot for Gerard's sake. "I mean, I sort through the books and all that, and I clean now and again..."

"Well it's nice to see that your aunt and uncle care about you enough to send you here everyday" The moment he said it, Gerard shot me a warning glance, telling me not to rise to the conversation topic. I bit my tongue for his sake, and just made a humming noise in response.

"Why don't I get us all some coffee?" Gerard tried to change the subject "Frank do you want a cup?"

"Yeah, sure" I nodded, hoping Brian would get the hint and drop it. Naturally, he didn't.

"I mean it must have been very good of them to take you in at such short notice too" he continued regardless "to just welcome you into their home like that... you must be very grateful huh kid?" He even added the kid bit on the end like he was trying to irritate me. I was pretty sure he didn't mean to wind me up though, so I tried to keep my expression a happy one.

"Oh, well you know, family is family I guess" I shrugged, scuffing my shoes against the stone flooring.

"It sure is" He turned to Gerard, who was lingering in the doorway and watching the two of us interact with a small, nervous expression "Sorry, did you need Frank to give you a hand?"

"Um, yeah actually" Gerard nodded "Frank, could you come upstairs with me? I've got a job for you to do..."

"Sure" I hastily agreed before Brian could start to talk to me about family values and all that crap, quickly following Gerard out of the room and up the stairs to his office. It was only when he'd shut the door behind him and turned on the coffee machine, effectively drowning out any conversation noise, that he spoke.