Almost inside, Frank had calmed down enough that the guard who had a hold on him had loosened his grasp a little. He knew how this worked, he knew they were all going to get a ‘talking to’, he didn’t need to be transported by force to Mr. McKay’s office; it wasn’t as if he has anywhere he could run to. He felt no remorse for what he and his friends had just done, the spite in his personality allowed him to not give a fuck if Nick’s hands and turned to ash. He was fully aware that he and Nick had no direct hostility to one another. All his hatred for the boy was fueled by situations that revolved around Pete, but to him, that was hardly the point; Pete was his friend and he had encompassed the values of loyalty long before he learnt of decent morality.

Disgusting as it should have felt, it didn’t, and Frank walked into Mr. McKay’s office with a wicked sense of pride under his skin, knowing that now, Nick was more than likely wishing he could take back all the things he had ever said and done to the four of them. Along with his three friends, Frank was shoved into one of the seats in Mr. McKay’s office, the old and worn out man scolding them with his eyes as he waited for them to get settled in. Jeph cleared his throat, a weak attempt at covering up the scoff he couldn’t help but let escape him.

“YOU THINK THIS IS FUNNY JEPHREE?” The man wasted no time with simple evaluation of what was going on in each boy’s head. He was absolutely livid.

“No Sir.”

“YOU THINK SETTING SOMEONE ON FIRE IS FUN AND FUCKING GAMES?”

Jeph didn’t answer, only tried not to laugh again at the mere thought.

“You four sicken me. Never have I had the displeasure of having a lot as heartless and volatile, placed in my center. That poor boy will not even be able to eat!” He stopped to look expectantly at each of them as if they had some sort of power to take back what they had just done.

“I’m sure his friends won’t mind spoon feeding him, Sir.”

Frank sucked his cheeks as far into his mouth as he could at Pete’s suggestion. His stomach was pumping under his shirt as he tried what was probably the hardest in his life not to laugh. He couldn’t believe that his friend had just come out and said that so bluntly, but more so, he couldn’t believe the smug expression plastered across his face.

Mr. McKay’s eyes widened to an immeasurable size and much like the other three boys, Frank was seriously waiting for them to roll straight out of their sockets, either that or he’d blow a blood vessel.

“Mr. Wentz, I don’t think you have even the slightest clue on just how miserable your life will be for the rest of the time you are in here. All four of you for that matter. Not a day will go by in which you do not wish to take back what you have just done. You thought this place was hell before? As of tomorrow I’d like to see you just try an come up with another word to describe it. And you, Frank…” He stalled, looking directly at said boy. Frank looked up boringly, waiting for the man to continue. He had nothing to say, what could he say? “…I would have thought that after tapping into prison life on Saturday would have taught you some sort of a lesson. You only just got back what, four hours ago? And already you have participated in one of the most heinous acts I’ve even seen during my time here. I’d really love to hear what you have to say for yourself.”

Frank shifted in his seat. He was starting to feel a little bad, though it wasn’t for himself, nor was it for Pete, Jeph, Bob, or Mr. McKay, it was for Gerard, he felt like he was letting his counselor down completely. He didn’t even know what to think about the kind of reaction Gerard would have when he heard about what they had done. He knew his counselor hated Nick, or at least thought he was a ‘cock of a kid’ so he had put it, but that didn’t mean he’d be fine with the fact that Frank had helped caused the boy some severe permanent damage. Gerard was trying to steer him away from dealing with things the wrong way, or at least he was supposed to be, besides taking him to visit Mikey his manner wasn’t necessarily one Frank could use as a guide. Still, regardless of counselor’s twisted logic, Frank knew Gerard was most certainly not going to be impressed by this at all.

Frank pushed the sleeves of his hoodie further up his arms, rubbed his face and let out a short cough as he took a quick glance at Jeph, who at that moment, seemed rather distracted by the photograph of Mr. McKay and his cats that was hung up on the wall.

“I don’t really have too much to say. I mean, prison was a little scary, but the inmates were actually pretty cool.” He only half lied. Prison was a little scary and the inmates, at least the one he met, were pretty cool.

He didn’t know what Mr. McKay was expecting him to say, if he wanted an apology he was definitely not going to get one, it wasn’t as if it was going to get him anywhere anyway and other than what he had just said, he honestly didn’t have anything else to say at all.

Mr. McKay’s glare turned into something that seemed somewhat more like presumption as he leaned back in his chair. If Frank had to guess, he would have predicted that the old man was already well on his way to giving up with the four of them. They were ignorant adolescents with not a care in the world other than the date they were getting out of here, probably so they could go fuck shit up again.

Frank may have matured at heart because, -and as corny as it sounded- that was something Gerard had a hold on, but in his mind he was still seventeen. Still that same old kid that insisted on rebelling in any possible way, just so his actions would be noticed and although he hadn’t even thought about it yet, that was just what he was doing with Gerard. Fucking shit up.

“Frank…” The chubby man started again, “…assuming by your attitude that you simply don’t care too much about where this kind of conduct is going to get you, I’ll say this in front of your friends, you, myself and Mr. Way will be having a painfully long chat about this. I hired Mr. Way for a reason. Like the rest of the kids in here know he’s hard to deal with, I can only guess you do too, my instructions to him are going to be for him to come down on you like a ton of bricks.”

Frank tried hard not to create any kinds of images in his head. If only the old, saggy-chinned man knew just how much the center’s counselor liked to come on him he’d be taking back what he said so fast that Frank wouldn’t even be sure if he had even said it in the first place. As much as Mr. McKay would have liked to think Frank was hanging by a thread, he couldn’t have been anymore mistaken. The man’s warning only allowed Frank that bit more insight on just how well-respected Gerard was as a counselor, it also made him snicker in silence, knowing that Gerard was a great deal further on his side of the law than the fuming man in front of him could even imagine.

He didn’t feel the need to say anything in response to that though, instead, Frank simply nodded, eyebrows raised and tried not to think about it anymore.

Mr. McKay continued, informing them all that starting tomorrow they will not at anytime be allowed outside of their rooms other than to go to classes, counsel sessions, work, eat and shower, during all of which they will be under strict supervision until Mr. Way can inform him of significant changes in attitude. Frank wasn’t too worried that he wasn’t going to be freed from the confines of his room for a while, he was however, really starting to agonize over what Gerard was going to say to him. Not only for just what they all did, but the fact that in doing so it’s only made his job a hell of a lot harder.

-----

After cleaning themselves up, all four boys were escorted back to their rooms and, -just to be a complete prick- Mr. McKay had even denied them any dinner for that night. The guard let Frank and Jeph back into their room, telling them he’d be back in a couple of hours to take them to the bathroom and showers before he left, closing the door and locking it from the outside.

Frank and Jeph stood silently for a moment in the middle of their room, just staring blankly at one another before they both closed their eyes and let their heads drop.

“Dude, my nose hurts so bad.” Jeph complained; their moment of regret quickly over. “I think Dean has a metal plate in his palm.”

Frank looked up, remembering Dean was the one he had fought with last time conflict had ensued between them all and he also remembered that he packed quite a nice hit. “Let me see.” He said, lifting his friend’s head and beginning to inspect.

Frank squinted as he moved his face closer to Jeph’s, noting the already forming bruises and quite nasty swelling. There was no reason for him to see it, he just wanted to, it was human reaction; someone gets hurt, you want to see, as if maybe your viewing would fix the problem.

“Oh yeah…” Frank mused, the hand on his friend’s chin tilting his head from one side to the other, “…it says, right here on your cheek, ‘I’m a pussy.’” He let Jeph’s face go.

Jeph squinted at him, kicking his shoes off and undoing his jacket. “I like that I’m the pussy, yet all you had to do was sit on Nick’s back.”

Frank looked at him incredulously, “Dude, are you kidding? That guy was like riding a high-speed electric bull…that screamed.”

“Well at least you’re not bleeding, asshole.” He nudged Frank with his shoulder as he walked to the steps of the bunk, attempting climb up them, but failing miserably. “Ah, fuck. I think I dislocated my everything.” He winced, stepping back from the bed.

Frank took off his own shoes and hoodie, turning to look at his roommate. “Are you okay? If you want, I can bang on the door ‘till someone comes and you can go see the nurse.”

“Nah man, It’s cool.” He hobbled around for a moment, not really sure of what to do with himself.

“Lay on my bed, I’ll lay on yours.” Frank grabbed Jeph’s arm and helped him onto his bed, petting his head like you would a child once he was settled.

Jeph slowly turned to his side, hissing at the pain in stomach when something caught his eye. “Frank, what the fuck it that?” He asked, more than confused as he pointed at the wall.

Frank dipped his head down to find what Jeph was referring to and laughed when he realized it was the picture of Lego Porn Gerard had so kindly drawn for him.

“Mr. Way done it.”

If it were possible, Jeph would have turned around to face Frank so he could note the perplexity on his face, but he simply couldn’t, instead he just questioned it further. “Oh yeah, ‘cause that’s not like completely fucking creepy or anything.”

“It’s not. It’s just like some stupid joke we had going or something.”

The pair were silent again and Frank took the break in conversation to climb on the Jeph’s bed and simply relaxed; he honestly felt like he hadn’t slept in days.

“God, I feel so drained.”

Jeph ignored Frank’s statement. “Dude, is there like something going on between you and Way?”

Frank knew this was coming. He wasn’t sure how long it was going to take Jeph to just come out and ask. Judging from earlier this afternoon though he didn’t think it would have been so soon, seeing as he had said that he was going to leave it, but Frank figured his friend couldn’t wait and it wasn’t as if they had more pressing matters to discuss.

“No, why? What do you mean anyway?” He queried, a level of airiness in his voice that he wasn’t quite sure his friend was going to be able to read through or not.

Jeph sighed, which Frank took as a good sign. Either he was really too tired to bother, really did not care or actually believed Frank was being sincere. “I don’t know. You just seem to like him is all, well, maybe not like him, but…you just don’t seem to hate him.”

Frank smiled to himself. “Nah, I don’t hate him. He is a little eccentric, hence that picture, but to be honest, for the most part we get along.”

 Jeph laughed softly, mixed up somewhere in a yawn. “Well I’m glad someone does…” He mumbled, sounding sleepy, “…doesn’t surprise me though; you’re just as weird as he his sometimes. Hey, can you wake me when Mark gets back to let us out, I need to piss pretty fucking bad.”

Frank smiled, nuzzling into Jeph’s pillow. “Yeah, I’ll wake ya.” He assured before closing his eyes.

“Frank?” Jeph questioned, he voice barely there.

“Mmm.”

“Do you ever wish we hadn’t done it? Like all the cars and shit I mean.”

Frank smiled again as he thought about it, feeling sleep taking over him a little more. “Not at all, dude.”