Mine To Love (manxman)

2-Crumble And Fall

FRANKIE

It was finally summer break and I had a lot of fun stuff planned. I was going to the beach with Jeremy and his parents later in the week and I was looking forward to scoping out the hot chicks in bikinis.

I fell back on my bed and reached under the mattress for my Playboy magazine. It wasn't the most inventive of hiding places and I was almost positive that my mom knew about it, but I was a healthy randy sixteen year old boy.

I was just putting the magazine back when I heard my front doorbell chime. I knew my mom was downstairs getting dinner ready and left her to answer it. She was in a good mood today, my dad had been away for the past few weeks doing work stuff, he never really talked about what he did with me, but today he was coming home.

The sound of my mom screaming had me jumping to my feet in terror and running down the stairs as quickly as I could. I found her crumbled on the floor in front of the opened front door. A man I'd never seen before in a uniform similar to my fathers was trying to pick her up. When he saw me he gave me a sad smile and I grew even more confused about what the hell was happening.

"Mom? Are you alright? What's wrong?" I helped the man to get my mom onto the sofa in our family room and watched as she sobbed uncontrollably while curling into a small ball. I turned my attention to the man. "What's going on?"

He placed his big meaty hand on my shoulder and indicated to the recliner. "Take a seat son." He told me. My knees suddenly felt weak and I flopped into the seat. I had a bad feeling that I knew why he was here. The army had never sent anyone to our door before. My father had often brought home a friend or two but no one had ever come by when my father wasn't here.

I sat frozen in a weird daze as he explained to me that my fathers truck had been in an accident as he'd returned to base, he'd been killed instantly and a few other men had been injured, one seriously. I wasn't sure if I replied to him or not but he had finally left us alone. I noticed a phone number and name left on the side table, probably so we could get in touch with them after the shock wore off, if it ever wore off.

I heard the doorbell ring again and I walked to it on instinct. Everything looked different to me, darker somehow, or maybe it was just an illusion. Maybe it was all just an illusion, a bad dream, and I would wake up to find my dad sitting down to dinner with my mom. My hand reached for the lock on the door and turned it. The door opened and I looked at Jeremy. He gave me his signature smile and held up a DVD for me to see.

"Look what I just got. I've been dying to watch this but I missed it when it came to the theatre." He stopped talking and looked at me with a frown. "Are you okay, man?"

I heard a choking sound followed by sobbing and I thought it must be my mom, but then Jeremys eyes widened and he grabbed me to him in a crushing hug and I knew it was coming from me. "Shit, what's happened?" His question was muffled by my hair as he turned his face toward me.

"My dad." Was all I could get out before my throat closed up in pain and another sob was ripped from the depths of my gut. I curled into his smaller body and clung to him like a child. It felt good to have someone to hold me up, I'd tried so hard to push him away all those months ago but I'd never been more grateful to him for refusing to be pushed away as I was right now.

"Where's your mom?" He pushed me back slightly to look into my face. His eyes taking in my grief and pain. I couldn't speak. All I could do was point in the direction of the sofa. "Okay. Just let me call my mom to come over and then you're going to come over to my place. We don't even have to talk if you don't want to."

I nodded my head and tried to hold back my sobs as he spoke quickly into his phone. Everything was still in that dreamlike haze and my body moved of it's own accord as he led me across the lawn to his house. We passed his mom on the way and she gave me a tight hug and a kiss on my cheek. She promised to take care of my mom for me and then she was gone.

I found myself lying on my side on Jeremys' bed staring at nothing. I was starting to feel numb. Was that normal? I felt Jeremy curl up behind me and pull me back against his chest. His hand was rubbing up and down my arm in a soothing gesture and I soon found my eyes growing heavy.

"I wish I could take the pain away for you." He whispered behind me as my eyes closed for the final time and sleep pulled me in.

 ***

JEREMY

I held Frankie as he finally started falling asleep. His sobs had dwindled to hiccups and his body was relaxed against mine. "I wish I could take the pain away for you." I told his sleeping form. It killed me to see him like this and know that there was nothing I could do for him. I loved him so much.

His was my best friend and had no idea of the jumbled emotions he caused inside of me. From the first day I met him I'd been drawn to him. I didn't understand it at first but the more time I spent with him the more I felt until I'd finally had to admit it to myself. I was in love with my best friend. My life had become a cliché. I hadn't even known that I was gay. I'd never really taken any notice of boys before, or girls, but I hadn't thought anything about that. Then I'd heard him talking about one of the girls at school and I'd gotten jealous, that had been my first indication. I'd had to sit down and think about everything I'd ever felt and realization hit me. It was like a weight had been lifted from my shoulders, a weight that I had never known was there. It felt amazing to finally admit it to myself, but I hadn't told anyone else yet. I knew there would be people who would judge me because of my sexuality and I was afraid.

With a sigh I buried my face in the back of Frankie's neck and let myself join him in sleep.

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A/N: I hope you're enjoying the story so far. The backstory will be finished soon and then I'll be onto the adult Frankie and Jeremy ;)

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