Early Friday evening, Frank, Jepha and Bob were all enjoying a few games of pool in the recreation room, when Pete came storming in, face red, teeth gritted and fists tightened at his sides. The three stopped in the middle of conversation upon their friend’s entrance, Frank looking a little worried and Bob and Jepha trying incredibly hard to hold back their laughter.

“I. HATE. EVERYTHING!” Pete screamed, stamping a foot and widening his eyes, the color of his skin heating up the room. “And don’t fucking laugh cause I swear to god I’m ready to burn this whole fuck of place down and I when I do I’ll make certain that that stupid fairy prick is chained in his office with no possibility of escape.”

Jepha’s smile had quickly faded and he turned to face Frank who was now biting his bottom lip and Bob, his eyes closed and a hand almost covering his mouth, his cheeks puffing in an out.

“You’re an asshole Bob.” Pete scowled pushing past them all and slumping onto one of the lounges.

“Man, you seriously look like you’re gonna fucking blow up hey, like really.” Pete furrowed his brow, not sure if Bob was just pointing out the obvious or trying his best to be comforting, if it was the latter, he certainly hadn’t picked the right thing to say.

“Alright, alright. So you know now you have to tell us what went on right?” Jepha grinned, hanging his cue and taking a seat.

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

Bob rolled his eyes. He was used to Pete acting like this, he had known him a few months longer than both Frank and Jepha had and it was fair to say that when he was upset about something it would normally end in a tantrum with no explanation or more commonly, flames.

“Don’t be a sook Pete, just tell us.” Bob sat down and Frank followed, sitting on the ground in front of the lounge.

Pete glared at his friend, taking a deep breath and looked around the room just to check no one else was listening; he didn’t want even more people laughing at him.  “It’s embarrassing.” He muttered.

“Don’t worry about it man, we all know what Way can be like. Whatever it was he made you do, we’re sure it couldn’t have been avoided.” Frank tried to console him, subconsciously placing a hand on Pete’s thigh and stroking it a bit with his thumb.

Pete nodded, preparing himself to talk before noticing what Frank was doing. He looked at the hand on his leg suspiciously, then up at Frank, who was simply smiling warmly at him, oblivious to his actions. He glanced at Bob, who just shrugged, then back at his leg, then at Frank again. It took him a moment, but Frank soon realized why his friend’s eyes were either on him or Pete’s crotch.

“Oh…” He mumbled, looking at his hand and tapping his fingers against his friend’s legs before quickly pulling it away. “…sorry.”

They all sat there quietly, staring for a minute or so, sending Frank rather dirty looks and for a second he was worried for his safety, especially since Pete was already so angry. He hadn’t meant to do it; he didn’t even know he was doing it. It wasn’t even a big deal, was it? He was just trying to be nice, just trying to be a friend. Maybe a little too nice? He thought.

“Frank-” Pete broke the awkward silence between them.

“-Yeah?”

“Don’t ever do that again.”

“Okay.” Frank lowered his head and hid his hands, convinced they had a mind of their own.

“He made me dance!” Pete blurted, flailing his hands, all his anger suddenly returning.

Frank just stared at him confused, not quite understanding how Mr. Way could have made his friend dance. He thought, that there must have been a part of Pete that just gave in too easily, either that or Gerard offered a damn good compromise.

“What? How?” Bob leaned past Jepha, closer to aggravated boy, amusement written all over his face and of course Jepha just laughed.

“Well he brought in a portable stereo and explained to me that he was doing this thing the whole week. That he was getting us to do a ‘theatrical performance’, and if he thought we done a good job, he would write a report to cut back on our time in here. So of course gullible me believed him. He played ‘…………’ and I danced to it, god I’m so embarrassed.”

“That’s not even that bad. You’re just an idiot because you believed him.” Frank stated, though the boys didn’t seem to pick up on how harshly he had said it.

“As if you wouldn’t have done it.” Pete retorted, his eyebrows stitching together.

Bob scoffed, it seemed he and Frank were thinking the same thing. “Well I wouldn’t have fucking done it. Frank’s right, it’s not worth how angry you got over it because you got yourself into that.”

“Oh no it gets worse. After a minute or so he says to me, ‘You know, It’d definitely work better if you removed some of your clothing.’ And so-”

“-Are you kidding Pete? Did he really say that to you, or are you just trying to make this sound beyond ridiculous?” Frank interrupted,. To be honest he didn’t need to hear anything more other than if it was true or not, because if Gerard had said that, he was certain his ideals for the man would change.

“Why would I make that up Frank? The guys sick. He’s an asshole and a pervert. He ended up telling me that my ‘performance was terrible and that I would need to stay longer to get more practice. I just walked out after that. I’m not fucking seeing him anymore. I’m going to put in a request to speak with Mr. McKay and ask if I can start to see that old guy as my counselor from now on, ‘cause there’s no way I’m walking back into that guy’s office again, no fucking way.” Pete sat back at looked around at his friends, Bob and Jepha simply looked stunned and Frank just sat on the floor with his head hung to his lap, Pete assumed he was laughing to himself.

“Did you do it?” Frank muttered quietly after a second.

“Do what?”

Frank’s head shot up. He couldn’t help the way he looked right now, eyes full of spite and jealously. “Take off your clothes, did you do it?”

“I took of my shirt, why what does it matter anyway, he’s a fucking-”

“-it matters.” Frank cut him off, shaking his head and standing up. He didn’t want to be acting like this in front of his friends; he didn’t need them getting suspicious of his relationship with Gerard and right now he didn’t even know if such a relationship existed. Hearing Pete tell what he had made him do just made him feel sick. Although Frank still thought it could have been avoided, it didn’t matter; Gerard had still asked him to do it.

“Do you think he would really extend your time though?” Bob asked. He knew Mr. Way could be quite nasty sometimes, but he doubted he would actually do something like that.

“Of course he wouldn’t!” Frank scoffed.

“How the fuck would you know? Wouldn’t surprise me.” Pete glared at Frank as if it were his fault. “Who the hell knows what that guys capable of?”

“Hey, fuck you!” Frank pointed rudely in Pete’s face. “I know okay, I just know.” His anger for Gerard seemed to spilling out of him in all directions. The more he thought about it, the more upset he became. The feeling of envy collecting in his stomach was only showing him just how strong his feelings for his counselor must have been and all he wanted to do was take his anger out on Pete there and then, because a part of him didn’t want to blame Gerard, a part of him didn’t want to believe the man would do this to him, he wanted to deny the fact that there was any truth in what Pete said about him being and asshole and a pervert, but such a small question made it evident he was. He liked Gerard, too much to hate him so all he as left with was the ability to hate himself.

All eyes averted to Frank. Shocked, confused, worried, annoyed, Bob, Jepha and Pete couldn’t seem to decide on their own reactions. Bob cleared his throat and Jepha’s mouth slowly slid open as he stared at his friend through long fringe.

“What the fuck, Frank?” Pete spat, frowning at the tattooed boy who seemed to not even be paying any attention.

He ignored the demand for an explanation, he remained standing still, staring at the ground, focusing on nothing other than trying to find the reason as to why he was struggling to hold back tears.

“Hey…” Jepha spoke softly, pulling at his friend’s fingertips. “…what’s going on Frank, you okay?”

Frank pulled his hand away from Jepha’s just a tear hit the floor. He couldn’t handle this, not now, not while he was stuck in here with nothing else but his thoughts and something that for some exaggerated reason felt like betrayal. He sniffed hard and wiped a sleeve over his cheeks, he didn’t care if his friend’s were worried, or curious as to what caused his outburst all he wanted to do was go back to his room and breakdown for being so stupid.

He turned and walked away. Not even giving a second look behind him, he rushed into his room, slammed the door and collapsed on the ground against the dresser. His head was like a mind field, so many thoughts buried away, he had no idea what one to concentrate on first; afraid his choice would damage him even more. His hands were shaking, covering his face and the tears just kept on coming, knees draw to his chest and a stinging sensation in his throat, he was completely overwhelmed by his own emotions. He felt so childish, so moronic for carrying on like this; Gerard and him held no commitments for each other; Frank hadn’t even told the man he liked him. He thought it was obvious though; it wasn’t everyday he would agree to a ‘date’ with someone he wasn’t at all fond of.

Technically, Frank knew he had no right to be pissed off with his counselor, but morally he felt he did. Not only had Gerard disrespected his friend, but now it seemed he had been sucked into the man’s sadistic ways. As if he had pushed Frank as close to the edge as possible, though in such a way it was like he had walked there on his own, there was no need for Gerard to be an asshole to Frank directly, like he already knew how the boy felt and sooner or later he would be falling all on his own. It was an idea to be considered, as complicated as it may seem, but who was Frank do doubt anything his counselor would do? He figured he didn’t really know Gerard that well after all.

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