Unexpected (MxM)

Chapter Ten- Foolproof

Chapter Ten-

Moth

Frankie wasn’t here this morning. Considering he’s had perfect attendance since 2nd grade, it’s concerning. I know it’s because of me. I can’t help but notice the nasty looks I’m getting from Will. I’m surprised he hasn’t tried to jump me yet, but his coach is cracking down on him about getting violent. Will tends to pop off easily, and almost always resorts to fighting when he gets angry.

Will was on the ‘Let’s hate Moth’ train before I even met anyone else in their family. He seemed to be warming up to me more recently, but after the dumb mistakes I made the other night, I’m not surprised they all hate me now. Everyone except Julian probably. I love that kid so much. Sometimes I think about him and wish he was my little brother instead of Frankie’s.

I hate that the night ended like that. It was supposed to be about showing him how much I love him. Instead, it was about his family hating me and me sending him a fake breakup text. I should’ve answered his calls or responded again but I know Sawyer would be hovering like a hawk. Teagan seems much cooler, but he tends to let Sawyer take the reins with the older kids. Sometimes I think Sawyer bullies him into staying silent the same way he bullies the kids into listening to everything he says.

Frankie has tried to explain why Sawyer is so controlling, overbearing, and high-strung. I know he’s been taking care of the kids since he was my age. He was alone for a long time so he finds it difficult to accept help from people even when he desperately needs it.

Part of me thinks he resents them. He talks about what he did for them like it’s something they owe him for. I know he doesn’t mean to make them feel like they owe him for the choices he made, but I know that’s how Frankie feels.

I sigh, leaning against the lockers as I wait for Frankie. He always walks this way to get from calculus to book club. I just need to catch him when his brother isn’t looking.

“Nice shirt, loser. Where’d you get it? The dumpster?” Mason comments as he and some of the football guys walk by.

I look down at my shirt. There are some holes in it and stains that didn’t come out in the washer, but a shirt is a shirt. I don’t care how it looks. I ignore their comments, holding my breath when I see Frankie coming down the hallway.

Mason smacks the books out of his hands as he walks by, laughing with his friends as they pass him. One of them kicks his textbook further down the hall, making my hands itch to beat the crap out of them, but I take a deep breath and try to stay calm. I can’t jump to his defense when I know Will might see and get suspicious about us.

Frankie huffs softly and crouches down to pick the books up. He stands up and turns to walk down the hall to grab the last one, but stops in his tracks when Bash hands it to him. He says something that makes Frankie smile and I pout. I don’t like him flirting with Frankie that way. He swears it’s friendly, and Frankie is constantly reassuring me, but he’s too sweet and naive to see when someone is trying to get in his pants.

I see how Bash looks at him. I see him trail his eyes all over Frankie when he’s not looking. I see the little glances and smirks. I hear the banter. I know what a crush looks like and it’s obvious to me. After figuring out how Frankie functions, I think he knows too. He just ignores it. It’s not that Frankie only sees the best in people. He just ignores his intuition. He chooses not to see the things he wishes weren’t true.

Bash reaches out to brush his thumb over Frankie’s cheek, saying something else that makes Frankie blush and take a small step back. They talk for a few more minutes before Bash heads another way and Frankie continues down the hall. I open the door to the janitor’s closet and slip in, waiting for him to walk by.

I grab his arm and pull him into the room with me, shutting the door behind him. When I see the small glint of fear in his eyes, I start to feel bad, but it’s quickly replaced with sorrowful anger. He smacks my chest weakly and glares at me.

“What the hell is wrong with you? You can’t sneak up on someone who gets beat up.” He takes a few breaths before tears start to form in his eyes. “You asshole. I’ve been texting and calling you since Saturday! Why haven’t you been answering me? Are you really going to break up with me over text? You are such a thoughtless, immature, dickhead. You’re ‘dragging me down’? That’s ridiculous. You sounded like…”

The look of realization crosses his face as I smile at him. “It sounded like your brother wrote it.”

“Sawyer told you to break up with me?”

I nod, sighing softly as my hand reaches up to fiddle with my eyebrow piercing. “He told me exactly what to say and told me that he’d know if I tried to pull anything. I needed him to believe it, so I needed you to believe it. There’s only one thing that I said that I meant. I love you, Frankie.”

His eyes widen and he smiles. “So you don’t want to break up?”

“Never.”

“I love you too.” He drops his books on the ground to use both hands to grab me, yanking me closer to smash his lips onto mine.

I smile into the kiss, wrapping my arms around his waist to pull him up against me. I kiss him deeper, pressing his back against the door as I trail one hand up to tangle my fingers in his long hair.

Frankie slips his tongue between my lips, dancing with my own as we get lost in our little world. His hands move down to sneak under my shirt, putting his hands on my abdomen before moving them up to my chest.

I don’t think I can even express or explain how much of a gift it is to have Frankie this way. Not just because I can put my hands all over him, but because he trusts me and loves me enough for us to have these intimate moments. I never want this to end.

I pull away when the bell rings and reluctantly step away from him, grabbing his books off the floor.

“Wait, I don’t get to have my phone unless I’m at home and Sawyer put a password on it so I have to ask him whenever I want to do anything. How am I supposed to talk to you?”

“I have a plan. I wrote it down.” I pull out the notebook from my bag and hand it to him along with his other books. “It counts on you getting Will on our side.”

“I can do that. He worries for me, but he’s my best friend. He’ll understand when I tell him I love you.”

I kiss him again and gesture to the door. “You go first. Bye, Barbie.”

“Bye, Ken.”

Once Frankie leaves, I take a deep breath. I’m not the smartest guy, but I know how to be sneaky. My master plan can’t fail.

Frankie has a lot of classes with Laila and Jonis. He can use their phones to talk to me at school. We can meet like normal once Will is on our side. Of course, Sawyer will still think that Will is his little spy, so he won’t suspect anything when Will and Frankie stay at school for Will’s soccer practice which lasts from 2:30 to 6:00.

Except Frankie won’t be there. He’ll be with me and Will’s practice doesn’t last until 6. It ends at 5:30 so he’ll have time to pick Frankie up on the way back to their house. Frankie just needs to keep acting like a heartbroken teen and I need to make sure I don't slip up and talk to him by mistake. It’s as foolproof as it can get.

I sigh and open the door, stopping in my tracks when I see Will standing there. He puts his hand on my chest and shoves me back against the racks before stepping in and closing the door. “I’m in. I just want to say two things though.”

He swings his arm out to punch me square in the nose, making me stumble back again.

“What the f**k, dude?” I reach up and clutch my nose while glaring at him. I don’t hit him back. I don’t even try to because I know how upset Frankie would be. This isn’t the first time Will has hit me either, so I think I’m getting used to it.

“That’s for asking my little brother to send you nudes.” He shakes his hand out before crossing his arms over his chest. “And I swear on everything that I’ll end you if I ever have to sit in my room and listen to him cry because of you again.”

I frown, rubbing my nose as I open the door. I turn back around and give him a little smirk. “I won’t. I promise. By the way, I didn’t have to ask him to send me anything. He took them because he felt sexy and I kept them because I like rubbing one out while looking at his body.”

I quickly slip out of the closet when Will tries to hit me again and practically sprint down the hallway. I laugh softly as I run and decide to just make my way out of the school.

I walk to the lot I parked my bike in and put my helmet on, thinking for a minute before deciding on where I want to go. I start it up, enjoying the way it vibrates and roars beneath me as I start driving in that direction.

Riding the motorcycle is more fun when I can feel Frankie hanging onto me like his life depends on not letting me go. Which it does, but I like it anyway.

When I pull up outside of the tall building, I park my bike and take my helmet off, walking to the door. I type in the code Fizzle gave and step inside when it buzzes to let me know it’s unlocked. I walk past security and click the button for the elevator.

Once I get to the top floor and step off, I have to dig around in my bag for the key. I don’t know why I’m here again, but I guess I gravitate to this place.

Maybe it’s because I’ve always wanted a good relationship with Fizzle and could never get past the barriers he put up. Maybe it’s because his boyfriend is surprisingly cool and I get along really well with him. Maybe it’s just because I can’t stand being at home with my mom who is so consumed with mental issues that she’s basically a shell.

It’s not her fault she has issues. I know things in her head just eat away at her and she doesn’t have the best coping methods. I like being here though.

I slide the key into the door and unlock it to walk in.

“f**k!” I hear Andrew say followed by a little thump. When I look into the living room, I see him shirtless and zipping up his pants looking unhappy.

Fizzle gets to his feet, holding a blanket around himself. His face is flushed and his hair is messy. It’s easy to notice the hickeys on his neck and shoulders too. Fizzle is still breathing hard, but he forces a little smile when he sees me, adjusting the blanket to cover more of him. “Uh… hi. Shouldn’t you be at school?”

“Shouldn’t you be having s*x on a bed instead of the couch?” I answer with a frown, making Fizzle’s smile falter slightly before returning.

“I’ll clean it. We just weren’t expecting you.”

“Yeah, do you mind texting or something before you come? You’re a sweet kid and all, but I didn’t even get to finish.” Andrew huffs, rolling his eyes as he walks toward their room. “Soda Pop, get me some water from the fridge, and then come to our room so you can finish me off.”

“Andrew!” He nags, blushing brighter. He always looks so embarrassed. It’s not like I’m dumb. I’d rather him be plain with me than act like he’s some innocent little angel. I’ve given him reasons to be scared of me judging him, but I’ll do that regardless of what I catch them doing.

I put my bag down and get out my notebook and phone, taking it into the living room to sit on the couch. The warm couch. “Don’t bother cleaning it. You’re just going to do the same thing again another time. You don’t have to act innocent, you know? I think you’re a slut, and no amount of censoring what you say and giving me that stupid fake smile will change that.”

Fizzle looks at me for a minute before dropping the sweet, innocent look to glare at me. “You know what? You suck. You think I don’t know how much I f****d up? I know I shouldn’t have slept with guys that were more than double my age. I know I never should’ve brought anyone to the house, and I know I shouldn’t have left you there when we were kids, but grow the f**k up. I’m so tired of you blaming me for leaving. It’s not my fault our parents sucked. I’m sorry I left you. I wish I was strong enough to take care of you sooner, but I wasn’t. In case you didn’t notice, I kinda had some s**t I was dealing with too. You weren’t my responsibility, and I’m done feeling guilty for it. I’m here for you now but I’m not apologizing for the past anymore.”

He walks into the kitchen to get a bottle of water as I think about what he said. He’s right. It shouldn’t have been on him to take care of me and I should stop blaming him for ditching me there as soon as he was old enough to legally move out.

I like hearing him curse and get irritated and annoyed like he used to. That’s the version of him I always thought was a cool badass. Not this meek little puppy that does everything he’s told. He’s starting to sound like my big brother again instead of a servant who would do anything for me if I smiled at him.

He walks past to head toward his bedroom, but I call his name to stop him. “Fizzle?”

He turns his head. “What?”

“I think you’re really cool.”

He smiles at me and laughs a little bit too like that’s the last thing he’d expect anyone to say to him. “Thanks.”

I take a deep breath and open my notebook, flipping to the song I’ve been writing. It’s a love song. I’m not exactly known to write things like that, but this one is flowing out of me like nothing I’ve written before. I pause and smile at the paper, reading the title again. ‘Barbie and Ken’.