If I cut off your arms and I cut off your legs,
Would you still love me, anyway?
It's stormy outside. The house is cold and empty, Gerard's drowsy and confused and it's all Frank Iero's fault.
It'd happened so fast it had taken Gerard a moment or so to realise it had. One moment he was watching as Frank chipped away loose bits of plastic from the table in Biology (after they both refused to dissect Rupert the frog) with one of the scalpels each pair had been assigned and the next, Frank was staring at Gerard's leg, mouth hung open in shock and slight horror.
He was about to punch Frank in the arm for ripping the only pair of black jeans he could wear and get away with, cleverly disguising them as the itchy rigid required uniform trousers, when he noticed a strange red liquid seeping through the tear in the left thigh. It wasn't until the kid next to them had said, "Shit Way, you're bleeding," that Gerard finally confirmed to himself that yes, he was in fact bleeding.
"Hmm," he had replied with a strange calmness before turning deathly pale and swooning off to one side. Frank was at his side like a shot, one arm fixed firm across his shoulders, to keep him upright in his seat, and one hand clamped over the wound.
"Oh my god," he whispered, "fuck, fuckfuckfuck," as he guided Gerard to lean back against the abused table. Gerard concentrated on breathing as Frank muttered under his breath, the sound of his breath shallow in his ears as the sandwich he ate at lunch began to sneakily creep its way up from the depths of his stomach. As his head swayed on his shoulders like a charmed snake he caught odd words of Frank's ramble such as "shit," and "idiot," and "Mikey's gonna kill me." His eyes slipped closed. "Hey, no, Gerard, open up, come on dude look at me," he vaguely heard as he felt a firm tug at his leg and press on the wound. When he opened his eyes his chin was on his chest and he could see Frank's school tie, wrapped around the top of his thigh covering the tear and steadying the blood flow.
"M'bleedin'," he slurred.
"Yeah," Frank agreed, "yeah shit you are." The close surrounding tables had begun to gather around, leaning over the desks to get a better look, whispering excitedly to each other. When a girl behind saw drops of blood on the floor she shrieked, the sound scratching down Gerard's ear drums like shattering glass.
And that's the last thing he remembered of being in Biology.
When he had regained consciousness, briefly, he was lay on a soft flat surface, staring up in to blinding white light. His left thigh was cold and something was tugging at the skin, sick and irritating. He tried to move, flinching his leg away but something pressed down on it. When he looked down there was a woman, young and pretty in blue overalls and white rubber gloves holding his leg steady with one hand and doing something he wasn't too sure of with the other.
"Mumf," he grumbled before realising just what she was doing - stitching, and that thing in her hand was a needle, small and sharp and bounding his skin back together. His eyes widened and he tried to move, despite the feeling that every limb weighed a tonne.
A hand pressed down on his chest, keeping him from sitting up. "Shh," a voice cooed softly, "stay still Gee."
"Frank?" he gasped as he tried to breathe, dropping his head back against the bed. "Frank, Frank what-" he got out before being shushed again.
"You're getting stitches," Frank replied calmly, grabbing Gerard's hand and squeezing tightly as he whimpered. "You got cut in Biology and they took you to the hospital."
"Hurts," he whispered, though it sounded like shouting to him.
"I know, it'll be over soon," and then he'd started to feel light again, like he could float away, light and woozy as his eyes began to flutter. "Hey," he heard Frank's voice distantly command, "Gee stay awake, please." He felt a hot forehead press against the side of his cold one, pushing against his temple as he grumbled a weak protest. "I'm so sorry," Frank whispered so faintly he wasn't sure the words were actually there. "I'm sorry Gerard, I love you." And then he was out again.
