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Frank walked in between his best friends, an arm linked through each of theirs. This was how it always was, since Frank was the baby of the group. Bob was especially protective of his younger friend because he's always been like an older brother to Frank. Plus, he was always getting himself into trouble.

Frank was on the lookout for Mikey, wondering if he was any less miserable today. He spotted Mikey leaning against the brick wall of the school, a cigarette perched once again between his lips. Without warning, Frank broke off into a run and stopped in front of Mikey.

"Hi Mikey," he chirped happily. Mikey cracked a smile at Frank's...pep. This was only the second time he'd spoken with Frank, but he already knew he was constantly hyperactive.

"Hi, Frank," Mikey said quietly, wishing that he could just sink into the wall. He had no idea what to say to Frank. He didn't talk to people, why should he? And great, two other guys just showed up, and they looked like the type that beat him up at his old school. One was the blonde guy from the jungle gym, the other was a boy with an afro, and both were from his math class. They did not look pleased. Frank turned around to find an angry Bob walking towards him. He let out a squeak and hid behind Mikey's skinny body.

"Frank! Come here!" Bob exclaimed.

Frank giggled and hid his face in Mikey's back. "No!" came his muffled reply. Bob gave a sharp glare to the boy his friend was hiding behind. Mikey knew what that look meant. He'd seen it countless times before. It meant get out of the way or get a fist in the face. Mikey took a single step to the left, leaving Frank exposed. Bob rushed forward and grabbed Frank around the waist. He picked Frank up so his feet were left dangling above the ground. The younger boy began to kick his legs out, trying desperately to get down, but Ray stepped forward and grabbed both of his legs. They managed to carry Frank inside the building like that, running over many helpless students on the way.

They finally deposited him in the floor near his locker. Frank stood up and glared at his two friends.

"Why'd you do that? Mikey's nice, I like him," he said. Bob rolled his eyes and hit Frank on the forehead with his palm, only barely resisting he urge to say "shoulda had a V8".

"Frank, you like almost everyone. For god's sake, you're sixteen, you should know by now that the world is filled with bad people who don't appreciate your optimistic outlook on life. Like Michael, for instance. Do you know what was probably running through his mind when you just popped up and started talking to him?"

Frank had some ideas. He thought Mikey enjoyed having someone to talk to, and Frank was proud to call himself that someone. Yes, he realized that not everyone was good--most people he encountered were bastards, really--but Mikey was good. Fuck the misconceptions that everyone had about him. Frank liked him, and that's all that mattered.

"Bob, you're dumb," Frank stated, then spun around to unlock his locker. He could feel Bob's glare from behind him. "And stop shooting me the death ray. For all you know, it could fry my brain, and what would you do if I just dropped dead right here? I know what you'd do. You'd mope and feel sad, then eventually turn goth like Mikey."

Bob resisted the urge to push Frank into the locker. He was, after all, just trying to protect the kid. Instead, he grabbed Ray's arm and they went to their own lockers in the next hallway. He spotted Mikey struggling with his own locker and ventured over there before Ray could stop him. He pushed the kid's back so his chest was squished up against his locker. Man, this kid was just skin and bone and make up. Bob leaned in close to Mikey's ear.

"Stay away from Frank, okay?" he growled.

Mikey didn't know what the fuck this guy's problem was. What was he to Frank, his fucking bodyguard? But he knew the blonde guy could crush him against the lockers fight here, and he's just be a bloody mess on the floor. So he just nodded. Really, he was fond of odd little Frank, but didn't like him to the point of dying for him.

Bob pushed harder on Mikey's back, curling his free hand into a fist.

"Say it. Say you'll stay away from Frank," he commanded. Mikey grunted against the pain in his chest Bob as causing. He wasn't going to fucking take this. He switched schools just to avoid getting into fights he knew he couldn't win, but...

Mikey wrenched his body to the left, turning completely so he was facing Bob. He pushed him violently, and Bob, caught off guard, hit the floor.

Did this twig really just overpower him? Bob stared in shocked awe as Mikey kneeled and grabbed a handful of his light hair in his hands, pulling his face up.

"I don't know who you think you are, but I'm not a kid you can push around and bark orders at. And I don't see what the harm is in talking to Frank. I'm not going to try and recruit him for some mass-suicide past or anything. That is along the lines of what you were thinking, right? No, I won't convert him to satanism, sacrifice him, or try to put make up on him." Mikey said evenly, his voice sounding strong for once in his life.

Ray couldn't believe his eyes. Bob, overpowered by the goth kid. A crowd had already gathered around the two, wanting blood. Though they called out, tried to provoke more violence, Mikey and Bob remained still. Bob was afraid of possibly getting his ass kicked and being humiliated, and Mikey just didn't want to fight. He knew it was pure luck that Bob was on the ground, and he knew that if a fight broke out, he'd lose.

He let go of Bob's hair and resumed trying to open his locker. Bob's head hit the ground with a loud thump and he stared up at the fluorescent lights built into the ceiling. Frank didn't see the small fight, only saw Bob laying in the floor when he turned the corner into the senior hallway. He rushed over to Bob and sat down beside him. He lifted his head and laid it gently in his lap.

"Bob, are you okay? Why are you on the floor?" he asked, running his fingers through the blonde hair. Bob blinked and twisted his body so he was mostly in Frank's lap.

"Ah, nothing Frankie. I just decided to lay in the floor," he said sarcastically. Frank ignored his bitchy disposition and hugged his friend. But he was definitely going to ask Ray what happened.

It was during third period that Frank asked Ray why Bob was on the floor. They didn't have Bob in this class because it was just a junior class that Ray failed last year. Ray really didn't know what to say when Frank approached. Technically, it was Bob's fault that the whole thing started, but Bob was his friend and he naturally wanted to side with him. But what to tell Frank... Ray knew, as a friend, that he should pin it all on Mikey and be done with this whole mess. Frank would get mad at Mikey, and Bob could quit over-protecting his since he'd probably not want anything to do with Mikey after hearing that. But would that really help anything?

Bob is in love with Frank. A fact that is probably obvious to everyone except Frank. He didn't understand that the cuddling and overbearing protectiveness weren't simply because they were friends. Bob never admitted that he loved Frank, never even admitted to liking boys at all, but Ray wasn't dumb. He also didn't think Frank reciprocated those feelings, and thought that Bob's adoration was unhealthy. Maybe if Frank got mad at Bob...he didn't know, but it was worth a shot.

"Bob pushed that goth kid, Michael, into the lockers and told him to stay away from you, so Michael pushed him," Ray said. Frank's eyes widened and he put his hand over his chest in a dramatic way.

"He pushed Mikey!...Is he okay?"

"Who, Bob?"

"No, is Mikey okay! I know Bob's fine, I've already talked to him. He did this because of me!" Poor Mikey. As if the kid didn't already have enough fucking problems.

What the hell was Bob's problem with Mikey? He had no right to go up to someone--especially Mikey, who Frank was quite fond of--and push them. Frank knew Mikey never would have started it, he was too people-shy, and this didn't help matters. Bob was always getting in fights. He was just a boy with an endless supply of pent up rage and aggression that he felt the need to release on anyone other than Ray or himself that gets too close to Frank. It wasn't fair to Frank, because he needed friends on his own level who weren't constantly looking down on him and "protecting" him just because he was younger and smaller.

The realization hit Frank like a bullet. "Ray, does Bob like me?" Frank asked, tilting his head to the side. Ray looked anywhere but Frank's face as he tried to think of a reasonable answer that wouldn't get him horrendously killed by Bob.

"Of course Bob likes you. I like you too, you're our friend," Ray said brightly, then for added measure, he ruffled his hair. Which just managed to agitate Frank.

"Grrr. Ray, you know damn well what I mean. Don't patronize me or fuck around with the subject. If anyone knows what's running through Bob Bryar's mind, it would be you. And if he does like me, it's your obligation as my friend to tell me. So tell me. Now."

"He never said anything about liking you to me. He certainly seems...over protective of you to the point of where it may seem that he likes you, but if he does, there's no way to be sure." Frank raised one of his oddly perfectly arched eyebrows and gave Ray a nasty look. Ray sighed and continued. "But in my professional opinion as your friend, and as Bob's friend, he is extra-nice to you, definitely treats you better than everyone else. It's possible that he likes you, or maybe it's just because you have this aura of needing to be protected, however false that may be, and Bob needs someone to take care of. Does it really matter?" Dumb question, of course it matters if one of his friends is in love with the other.

"Well....yea, it matters Ray. I don't like Bob like that, Oh, I adore him, love him even, but only in a friendly way. Like the way I like you. And I don't want him to hurt Mikey just for talking to me...Do you think I should ask Bob?"

That wasn't a conversation Frank was looking forward to. Hey, Bob, do you have a gay crush on me? Bleck. If there was ever a time Frank is in danger of getting decked by Bob, it would be during that conversation.

*

That blond guy was staring at Mikey again during lunch. What was his problem? Frank was the one who came up to Mikey, not the other way around. Really, this is too much. Poor Frank kept trying to get the blonde boy's attention, but for the last twenty minutes he had been giving Mikey the nastiest look. It was beyond hate. It was what Mikey felt for all the people who used to beat him up doubled. And Mikey had a lot of hate bottled up inside of him.

Mikey stood up, brushed the invisible dirt off of his Tripp pants, and walked across the road. Frank saw Mikey walking slowly to his little group. His walk was stocky, unbalanced, the walk of a true serial killer. His eyes were glued to the ground as he walked, his black hair hanging down in his white face. Frank thought the whole endeavor was simply beautiful. Wonderful.

Mikey stopped right in front of the jungle gym and looked up at Bob. "Stop staring at me!"

Bob's eyebrow twitched out of annoyance. He jumped down, barely missing landing on Mikey, and got up in his face. Frank jumped down quickly after he saw Bob and Mikey. He placed himself between the both of them and spread his arms out, separating them. They shot glares at each other across Frank's head but neither moved. Frank sighed with relief.

"Geez...calm down. Bob, go reclaim your spot on the jungle gym, kay?" Frank asked softly. Bob opened his mouth, as if to speak, but decided against it and climbed up to his spot next to Ray. Frank turned to Mikey and held out his hand. Mikey blinked. Did he was to hold hands or something? Frank rolled his eyes.

"Mikey, take my hand. We're crossing the street," Frank said, like it was obvious. To him, it must have been. He's a really weird kid. Mikey put his hand in Frank's and allowed himself to be led back to his original solitary spot under the tree. He wrenched his hand away from Frank and sat down.

"Mikey, I'm sorry about how Bob's been acting. It's all my fault cause he doesn't like it when I talk to people. I didn't mean to bring you into this. If you want me to leave you alone..."

That was the last thing Mikey wanted. Frank was the only person who would talk to him. "No, Frank, I don't want you to leave..."

"Okay!" Frank said quickly. He dropped down on the ground next to Mikey and hugged his arm. He made a pact to himself to hug Mikey everyday at school.