FicWad

When Frank was a little boy, he stole money from the tip jar on the counter of the Cafe. He had wanted to buy a brand new water gun that every other kid on the block had but Linda didn't have the extra twenty dollars to give to Frank. So she had told him that if he 'worked' at the cafe, he could get five dollars a day. Now Frank was an impatient, smart child and realized that if he only worked two days at the cafe and he took the other money from the tip jar, he could have the water gun in only two days, rather than four. So he did.

But Frank didn't think everything through. He didn't realize that he'd have to ask his mom to drive him to the toy store to get the gun and she would inevitably ask him where he got the extra ten dollars. So when she asked Frank told the truth, he was never good at lying to his mother. She then went onto to explain to Frank that since he took that money the other waitresses and cooks would get less tip. Frank felt horrible, returning the ten dollars to the jar, and told his mother that he'd never steal again.

Frank wished that someone would have explained to Gerard that if he stole money, someone else didn't get it.

Frank sped through the empty streets of Belleville early in the morning. He was furious, his hands were gripping the steering wheel tightly as he barely stopped at stop signs. When he reached Gerard’s house, he walked up to the door, knocking hard. He didn't realize, or care, that it was so early and that everyone would be sleeping.

It took ten minutes until the tired Mr. Way made his way to the front door. When he saw the young, furious Frank Iero, he let him in without a word. Before Frank left for school, he'd come over at random times to see Gerard, so the elder Way was used to it. Frank walked quickly past Mr. Way and made his way to the basement that presumably held his boyfriend.

As he stepped off the last step of the staircase, he turned to look at his sleeping boyfriend. This enraged him. Gerard was sleeping, looking like he didn't have a care in the world, while his mother worked hard to make up for the money that he stole. He walked over to the bed and immediately began shaking Gerard.

“Asshole, wake up,” Frank said tightly. “Gerard, fucking wake up,” He said loudly as he continued to shake the sleeping man.

Gerard eventually started to awake, groaning and turning away from the intruder. “Ng, Fuck. Leave me alone,” Gerard grumbled burying his head in his pillow.

“No. Sit the fuck up,” Frank continued pulling on Gerard’s t-shirt to sit the older man up.

“What the hell, Frank?” Gerard said as he rolled over and sat up. Then he looked at Frank, confused, “Frank? What are you doing here?”

“Tell me what you used the money for,” Frank ignored Gerard’s confusion.

“Money? What money, Frank?” Gerard shifted, running a hand across his face then up through his knotted hair.

“The money you stole from my mom. From the cafe. What did you use it for?” Frank asked shortly, stepping back from the bed once Gerard was sitting up.

“Frankie...” Gerard sighed, looking up at the smaller man.

“No, Gerard, no Frankie, no excuses, no lies. What did you use it for?” Frank asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

Gerard sighed again, crossing his legs under his blankets as he rubbed his face hard, murmuring, barely audible, “You know.”

“What, Gerard? What was that?” Frank asked staring at Gerard.

Gerard just stayed silent, fighting within himself to tell Frank. He took a deep breath and wished that he was still sleeping, wished that Frank hadn't woken him up to yell at him, wished that Frank never found out that he stole the money, and wished that he could have a fix, right now.

While the angry silence filled the air, Mikey made his way down from his bedroom. Mr. Way had told his younger son about Frank coming over in a rage and thought it was best if Mikey was down there to mediate it all. So Mikey stayed at the bottom of the stairs silently, waiting to intervene if needed.

“Gerard, fucking answer me now,” Frank's voice interrupted the quiet.

“You know, Frank. You know what I used the money for,” Gerard said quietly.

“No I don't. Tell me. I want you to fucking tell me,” Frank said almost desperately. Maybe he had been all wrong. Maybe Gerard wasn't drinking and doing drugs again. Maybe there was something else.

“Coke.” Gerard answered simply.

“You're a motherfucking asshole, bastard, Gerard. What the hell is wrong with you?” Frank asked, fuming. His nostrils flared with anger as he stepped closer to the bed. “How much?”

“Frankie, stop,” The older man whispered. The less Frank new, the better.

“Tell me! Fuck, Gerard. Tell me.”

“Four”

“Four what?” Frank asked, gritting his teeth together.

“Four thousand, Frank. Four thousand. Are you happy now? Are you fucking satisfied now that you know...”

Gerard didn't get to finish the statement because Frank's fist collided with his jaw. Gerard retracted and squinted his eyes shut, holding his jaw in his hand, expecting there to be more. There wasn't. He opened his eyes slowly, looking up to see what Frank was doing. Mikey had a struggling Frank in his arms, trying to control the small, angry man.

“Mikey, fucking let me go,” Frank growled, squirming to get out of Mikey's grasp.

“No, Frank. Stop it.”

“Fuck you, Mikey. Don't tell me to fucking stop it. He stole from my fucking mother, Mikey. He stole for drugs. How the fuck could you let this happen?” Frank asked, sticking his elbows into Mikey to try and get away.

“Mikey, let him go.” Gerard said standing up, walking over to his brother and his boyfriend. He was opening and closing his jaw, trying to get the pain to go away. Mikey looked at his brother for a second before he let go of Frank.

Frank stumbled out of the hold and glared at Gerard. He no longer saw the broken sad, man. All he saw was the bastard that stole from his mother. And he no longer felt the love for the man in front of him. All he felt was hatred toward the older man. Pure, hot hatred.

Again there was a silence. All three men didn't know what to do. Or who should move or speak first. Gerard wanted to give some reason why he did it. Some logical, understandable reason, but he couldn't think of one so he stayed silent. Frank wanted to scream at Gerard. Scream and end things with him right then and there, but he cared for Gerard too much to let this short, yet meaningful relationship go. So he kept silent, afraid that he may ruin what they had had before Gerard turned to drugs. And Mikey wanted to take the two men and shake them. Shake his brother, who was a fucking idiot, and tell him that he didn't need the drugs to be happy. He wanted to shake Frank and tell him to fix his brother, make him happy, show him that a life without drugs it good. But he couldn't do either of those things because of the broken expression on his brothers face and the angry, hurt, exhausted expression on Frank's. So the silence continued, as well as the stare down of the century.

Gerard gingerly stepped toward Frank after the quiet was too much. He reached his hand carefully to touch Frank. Just to feel him and maybe calm him down. Just as his fingertips grazed Frank's bare forearms, though, the younger man tensed stepping back from Gerard.

“Pay her back,” Frank said calmly.

“Frank,” Gerard sighed, stepping back from the smaller man. “I can't. I don't have it.”

“I don't care, Gerard. Pay her the fuck back,” Frank continued, squinting his eyes at Gerard.

“Frankie, please,” Gerard begged. He wasn't begging that he didn't have to pay back the money, he was begging that he wasn't in this situation.

Frank just shook his head as his breathing began to increase, “No. Fuck, Gerard. No! You don't get out of this. You have to pay her back. She cannot fucking afford a four fucking thousand dollars loss. Do you not understand that?”

“I do, Frankie,” Gerard said quietly. He felt so small right now.

“Then get her the money,” Frank said again, glaring at Gerard. Gerard just nodded, noncommittally.

“Fuck, Gerard. This is not a fucking game. This is her life. My fucking life. If she loses four thousand out of the register in a month, she loses it from her pocket. It comes out of her fucking bank account, Gerard. There's not some fucking fairy that will make up for the money that you took. So either you give her the money back, or so fucking help me God, you will never see me again.” Frank spoke quickly and angrily. By the end of his small speech there were hot tears forming trails down his face.

Gerard just nodded numbly once more. He couldn't promise Frank that he would be able to pay her back. He didn't even have money for his next fix how could he pay back the money he stole to get high? Which was the problem in the first place, wasn't it?

“Do you fucking understand, Gerard?” Frank questioned, staring directly at Gerard. And once again, Gerard nodded. His brain wasn't forming any sentences.

“Say something, Gerard. Open your Goddamned mouth.” Frank yelled. “Do you understand?”

“Yeah,” Gerard croaked, playing with the thread on the bottom on his t-shirt.

“I want your stash, too, Gerard. I want you to give it to me. I want this all to stop. Now,” Frank said as he turned to the table next to the bed, looking for the drugs. They weren't there, though, silly Frankie. They're hidden.

“Frank...” Gerard shook his head, stepping to Frank. He wasn't sure what he was going to say to Frank but he just wanted him to stop. To stop looking for his stash. He wanted to be able to get high just one more time before he stopped for good.

“No, Gerard, give it to me. You've gone too far this time. There is no more breaks with you. Give me it all.” Frank was now rummaging through the draw of the night table. Shifting through papers and sketches and CD's.

“Frank! Fuck, stop it,” Gerard said, closing the gap in between them, grabbing Frank's arm.

“Get off me,” Frank gritted out, glaring back at Gerard.

“Not until you fucking stop. It's not there.” Gerard looked at Frank, his hand still tight around the younger man's bicep.

“Then where is it? Huh? I want all of it, Gerard,” Frank reiterated, twisting his arm out of Gerard’s grasp.

Gerard was silent, again, for a moment. How could he word this without sounding like the complete drug addict that he was.

“I'm just going to finish the rest of it. Then, I swear, I’m done. No more picking up, no more stealing. I’m done. I promise, Frankie.”

“No, Gerard, that's not good enough anymore. It wasn't even good enough after the first drunken phone call. I want it all, Gerard,” Frank said sharply.

“Frankie, please. This is it. I swear. No more after today,” Gerard pleaded, his eyes rushing from Frank to Mikey and back. His brother understood that he needed one more fix. He got it, right?

Mikey just shook his head though as Frank stepped around Gerard, beginning to search through the mess on Gerard’s desk.

“Nope, there is no more free ride for you, Gerard. This is done,” Frank said as he shifted through the things on the desk.

“Fuck!” Gerard exclaimed as he watched in horror as Frank tore apart his desk. “Frank, stop. You're fucking everything up,” Gerard continued, taking long strides over to the desk, pushing Frank away. It was meant to be a light push. A push to just get Frank away from all of his things, but it didn't turn out that way. Gerard ended up pushing Frank into his desk chair, causing the smaller man to fall over the chair, landing on the ground. “Oh, fuck! Frankie, I’m so sorry,” Gerard shouted, stepping around the chair to help Frank.

Frank just held up his hand, halting both Gerard and Mikey, who was making his way over to help Frank.

“Gerard,” Frank started calmly. “It's me or the drugs.”

“Frankie...” Gerard began, his desperate eyes pleading with Frank's uncaring ones.

“No, Gerard. That's it. If you can't hand over whatever you have hidden, then we're done.” Frank declared, staring up at Gerard from the floor.

“Just please, one more time. Then after this, I promise, I’m done.” Gerard tried to reason, showing Frank that he was willing to change. Or at least try.

“No. No more. I’m serious, Gerard.”

“Frankie...I can't,” Gerard whispered, miserably. “Please.”

Frank just shook his head, standing up from the floor and walking to the stairs, completely ignoring Gerard’s pleas. And without a look back, Frank disappeared. He disappeared from the stairs, through the Way's front door, and down the block in his car and back to the cafe.


Here it is! It's 3 am and I'm exhausted so I hope it's good. I proofed it the best that I could, so yeah. :D

Oh and can I just say that it was so weird what happened with Pedicone. I posted the last chapter about two days before the whole thing happened and I actually felt weird writing about Frank's reaction to Gerard stealing.

Okay, that's it. Haha. Hope you enjoy it.