Two in love can make it (Take my heart and please don't break it)
Title: Two in love can make it (Take my heart and please don't break it)(1a/2)
Rating: PG
Beta:
paper_teenheart
Summary: Highschool AU. Gerard is a student teacher, Patrick is sixteen, adorable and eats lunch alone.
Pairing: Patrick/Gerard
Disclaimer: All fiction. I own nothing but my plot.
Author's Note: Had to change it to A and B sections. Post was too large. BLEH. x-posted
“…and the staff bathroom is down the hall to the left, all right? Here’s a map of the school just in case you get lost and if there’s any problem you can totally come to me, no worries?”
Gerard was a little bit dazzled by all the new information he had just had to retain but he was prepared to cope since this seemed like a nice school and he wanted to make a good impression - and the head teacher was kind of hot but that was unprofessional and Gerard will stop now - so he smiled and replied,
“No worries, thanks Mr. Schechter. But, do the kids really have to call me Mr. Way. I’ll think my dad is in the room or something.”
“It’s Brian,” Mr. Schechter smiled. “And yeah, I know it’s weird, right? But we kind of have to be formal or we’ll all be arrested for paedophilia on the spot.”
Gerard’s eyes went wide. He knew they were pretty strict about things like that in the law but-
“Dude, it’s a joke!” Brian laughed, patting Gerard on the shoulder and he went red and tried pushing his hair into his face but remembered he had cut it because he wanted to make a good impression. His mum had assured him it would make a better impression if his hair was cut and he wore a suit. He didn’t feel like he was making a good impression. He just felt uncomfortable and he missed his hair. He later found out that the hair cut wasn’t much needed when he met Bob in the morning and was laughed at. Loudly.
“S-Sorry Mr. Schec-uh, Brian. I’m a little nervous,” he said shyly and Brian patted him on the back.
“Don’t worry,” he said with a smile. “Remember, call if you need me!”
“Okay,” Gerard nodded thankfully and immediately drew back into himself when Brian was out of sight and in his office. He skulked down the hall to the staff room and sat down in a chair, clutching his warm cup of Starbucks’ coffee, next to his best friend Bob.
Bob was the reason he had got the opportunity to teach in this school for a few weeks as a student teacher because he recommended him to the headteacher and showed him some of Gerard’s artwork. Luckily the head teacher was a comic book fan so he was delighted to accept Gerard. He was currently studying to be an art teacher so he would be sitting in on lessons with the head of the art department, coincidentally Bob’s girlfriend Vicky Asher, and teaching some of her lessons later on. They were being sweet over to the left of Gerard and looking at new furniture for their apartment. They were arguing over an armchair Vicky was in love with.
“Gerard!” she called and Gerard yanked himself out of his daze to look over at her concerned face. “C’mon, don’t you think this is the most amazing chair you’ve ever seen?!”
It was definitely an interesting little thing. It was white and hung from the ceiling, covered in large fluorescent musical notes and reminded Gerard way too much of that band Hellogoodbye but on acid. It was…gaudy…and very scene…but pretty, he guessed.
“It’s interesting,” Gerard shrugged. “Little bright for my taste. Bob might die.”
“See?!” Bob exclaimed. “You’re just fucking nuts.”
“Wow, love you too,” Vicky said sarcastically. “Don’t worry. You’ll see that chair in the flesh soon enough and you’ll totally change your mind!”
“You can totally have it hon’,” Bob smiled. “So long as you make it invisible whenever I’m in the room. By the way, since when do chairs have flesh?”
Vicky huffed and Bob turned to face Gerard, rolling his eyes.
“So, nervous on your first day?” he grinned and Gerard shrugged, taking a long drink of his coffee and shaking himself out to get the warmth running through his body. He had been spending most of his time in classrooms and his bedroom. He had totally forgotten it was cold in October, especially in Chicago, where he was teaching, where it snows all year round.
“I’m okay,” he shrugged. “I haven’t been in a high school since I was eighteen but whatever, I’ll just shove myself into a locker and remember the good times.”
“Awesome,” Bob laughed and ruffled Gerard’s short hair. “I’ll totally give you a hand with that.”
“Fuck you Bryar,” Gerard grinned. “You’ll be in the locker next door while Vicky goes off to get that chair.”
Vicky grinned broadly at Gerard.
“This is why I like you better. I’ll totally turn Gerard against you and your beige ways!”
Bob sighed,
“Artists, so temperamental.”
Both Gerard and Vicky kicked him in the shins and Gerard felt like he was going to have more fun here than he expected.
**
“Hey, Stumpy! Catch this, four-eyes!”
“Oh wow very original. Give me my stuff back, asshole!”
“Oh wow! Shorty’s got a mouth on him!”
“Just give me my shit, please? I kind of need it.”
“Tough shit, specky!”
Gerard had been trying to find his way back to Vicky’s classroom after first break but ended up around the corner from a kid who was being bullied by some jock, holding his bag over his head and laughing when the kid jumped for it. Gerard frowned and stepped out to help the boy.
“Hey, you!” he called, putting on his best ‘here to save the day’ voice. “Give that bag back and run as fast as you can before I call the headteacher.”
“Shit,” the boy cursed, dropped the younger boy’s bag and turned to him before running away. “You got lucky Stumph!”
The boy picked up his bag and dusted it off,
“Thank you, sir,” he said quietly, not raising his eyes to meet Gerard’s and was about to run off before Gerard caught his shoulder.
“You can blame me for being late to your next lesson,” he smiled. “Now, what’s your name kid?”
“P-Patrick Stumph,” Patrick stammered, eyes still locked to his battered trainers.
“Nice to meet you Patrick,” Gerard said warmly. “I’m Gerard but you totally have to call me Mr. Way or I’ll get arrested for paedophilia or something…”
Patrick laughed nervously and Gerard felt a little bit like an idiot for not getting that joke before.
“Hey so,” Gerard continued. “Any more stuff like that, right, and there’s this awesome hiding spot nobody uses. The space under the emergency exit stairs from the art department. Or you could, you know, come get me or some other teacher. I know kids can be asses…God, can I say ass?!”
“You can’t,” Patrick laughed. “But don’t worry. I won’t rat you out.”
“Thank fuck,” Gerard sighed then grabbed his mouth and Patrick laughed again.
“You don’t do that in class do you?” he asked and Gerard shook his head.
“I don’t talk in class,” he grinned. “Speaking of class, you had better run! I’ll see you later Patrick!”
Patrick smiled and waved as he ran off to his classroom and Gerard waved back, hoping to see that smile more often.
**
Gerard’s mind was wandering during his third sit-in lesson. He was sat in a corner behind some of the kids, doodling the classroom, twisting and contorting the shapes and faces into something out of a nightmare. He liked it but there were little things annoying him like the shape of one girl’s faces or if three jack-o-lanterns were maybe too many. He would have usually been stressing over this but his mind was only half in it and half thinking about the kid he had saved earlier, Patrick Stumph. He was sure the kids in this class were his age. He couldn’t really tell with kids anymore but his mum told him that happens with age. He was only 23 but he was an old man at heart, he guessed.
“Hey, um,” Gerard whispered to a girl in front of him. “How old are you?”
“Oh! Um…fourteen,” the girl replied, startled by the sudden attention. She was very young looking compared to the rest of the class with long blonde hair and earnest brown eyes.
“Do you, by any chance, know a kid called Patrick Stumph?” Gerard asked and the girl nodded.
“Yeah, but he’s not in my year. He’s sixteen.”
Gerard nodded slowly, preparing to take in anymore information. Purely to be an understanding teacher and hopefully save Patrick somewhat from the horror of High School. At least for the remainder of it.
“He’s maybe the nicest person in the world,” the girl continued. “We’re in orchestra and choir together. He plays drums, piano and guitar and I think loads of other stuff. He’s awesome at singing too but he never takes solos or anything ‘cause he’s kind of shy and stuff.”
Gerard nodded, smiling and taking in all this new information.
“I don’t know what lessons he has today but we have choir after school so you can come see him then,” the girl continued with a knowing smile and Gerard did a double take.
“How did you know I wanted to see him…?” Gerard asked and the girl shrugged,
“I assumed. But I'm right, huh?”
Gerard liked this girl. She was very clever and presumptuous in a good way because she noticed things. You could tell she was right about pretty much everything.
“Thanks,” Gerard said quietly and gestured in the direction of Vicky - in Ms. Asher mode now - who was talking to the class. “What’s your name?”
“Greta,” the girl replied in a whisper, her eyes not moving from the front of the room. “And you’re welcome, sir.”
**
His first day as Mr. Way and Gerard was already looking forward to the next. The classes he had sat in on were full of talented students and big personalities. One girl Hayley was very promising and there was a boy in Patrick’s year called Gabe who might just be out of his 16 year old mind. He was worse with his little troop Adam - he preferred Sisky -, William, Travis and Ryland but Gerard was sure he’s break through to them in a week or so. They were friendly kids after all. Also, there was Patrick.
Gerard was a little bit fixated on this kid. He maintained that he just wanted to make sure he was okay and he was just thorough about it. For instance, he took the long walk through the lunch hall to the staff room to see if he could spot Patrick but no such luck. He swears he didn’t go looking and just left an empty cup of coffee in the art classroom and he was a little bit pedantic about litter but whichever story you believe he ended up finding Patrick under the stairs to the art building like Gerard had suggested. He smiled that the boy had taken his advice into account but was a little bit upset because he knew that those kids had been hassling him again.
He watched him for a little while from a distance, eating his lunch half heartedly but focusing on tuning his guitar. Gerard remembered Greta talking about his talents and he remembered guitar being one of them. He was planning to be cool and just swoop down and sit with Patrick but as soon as he started walking he became…weird and nervous. Instead he walked on up with his head down and prayed Patrick would call him over.
“Hi sir,” Patrick called and Gerard silently thanked God.
He looked up and beamed at the boy.
“Hey there Patrick,” he said. “Took my advice?”
“Totally,” he nodded. “Nothing happened but this seems like a pretty good spot. It beats eating lunch alone inside and I can only hide out in the music department for so long before they tell me to go get some fresh air and leave my work for class.”
Gerard laughed and sat down in front of Patrick.
“So you’re a music fiend?” he asked and Patrick shrugged, looking down at his guitar. He became a little bit more closed up when Gerard sat down.
“I guess. Um, are you okay sitting here sir?”
“Well there’s no rule against it I don’t think,” Gerard shrugged. “Why don’t you eat lunch with Greta?”
Patrick looked startled and asked,
“How do you know Greta?”
“Um, art teacher in training over here? I make it my business to skulk around classrooms and pick the brains of Ms. Asher’s students.”
“Ah. Well, Greta’s awesome but to be honest, her friends are kind of scary. They’re all like my age and they’re just a bit…much.”
“Like who?”
“Hayley Williams…”
“She’s a sweetheart!”
“Um, Gabe Saporta…”
“Stop right there. I’d be scared too if I were you.”
Patrick chuckled and looked down at his guitar again, playing something and concentrating hard. Gerard watched his hands moving up and down the fret board and his head down and concentrated, chewing on his bottom lip, glasses sliding off his nose and blonde hair the right side of long crowning his face like a gold frame. Gerard thought it would be cool to draw him. Not caricatured and contorted or made into a cartoon but he might just follow his old art teacher’s familiar words, ‘draw what you see, not what you think you see.’
He hums something of a rough melody, following the chords Patrick is playing and can see words forming pictures in his minds eye. Something about longing and the night sky, maybe love but not quite and probably memories of holding hands and kicking empty cans of beer into a canal. He wasn’t quite sure. He wrote lyrics from time to time and he was pretty musical. He had been in a couple of bands before, during and after art school but nothing special.
“You only teach art, sir?” Patrick asked suddenly and Gerard yanked his mind out of the cloud he had been residing in.
“I’m a student teacher so I don’t really teach yet but uh, yeah art,” he nodded. “Why?”
“Oh,” Patrick went red. “I thought you might teach music too because you, uh, have a cool singing voice and…yeah.”
“Well thanks Patrick! I’ve been told you’re pretty good yourself from our friend Greta.”
“Oh wow. She, um, exaggerates…”
“We’ll see.”
**
He listened to Greta and decided to sit in on choir. It sort of counted as extra learning in that he would be able to talk to the teacher about organising after school clubs and if dealing with kids during the day and after school was any different and all that jazz, but mainly he wanted to hear Patrick sing.
The choir as a whole were good. Granted it was no Sister Act 2 deal - yes, Gerard had seen the film and he would always sing along to the end despite his, hopefully, deep artistic exterior - but they were a good bunch of singers. Mr. Urie made a point of introducing Gerard to the class once he had asked to sit in.
“This is Mr. Way everyone. Some of you may know him from art lessons today but I hope you all sing at your best since he have a visitor!” Mr. Urie smiled brightly and motioned to Gerard to sit down at the back of the room. Greta and Patrick were sat in the second row from the front and Gerard waved surreptitiously at them. Patrick went red and avoided his gaze but Greta smiled. She looked at Patrick, threw Gerard and apologetic glance and prodded Patrick in the side. Gerard liked this girl a lot.
“Right, so I was dreaming up the order of the concert, which is only a few weeks away ladies and gents, and I realised that if I wanted it to go the way I planned we would be singing two songs in succession which I do not want under any circumstances. So, do we have any volunteers for a solo or group piece?”
Gerard was certain he saw Patrick’s head pop up at that, but he drew back into himself almost immediately. He wanted to prod Patrick and tell him ‘go for it’ but it seemed Gabe Saporta got that vibe as well.
“Patrick wants to!” he announced and Patrick shot him a terrified glance.
“Well Patrick?” Mr. Urie asked and Patrick shuffled uncomfortably in his chair.
“I…uh…maybe?” he shrugged and Mr. Urie frowned. “I mean, I’m already playing piano for Greta’s solo thingy.”
“Yes, but this time we want to hear you sing Mr. Stumph!” Mr. Urie said with a theatrical gesture and a broad grin. “What do you think Mr. Way? Is he up for the challenge?”
“Definitely,” Gerard said reflexively. “I’ve been told he’s a very talented kid.”
“So, Patrick?” Mr. Urie asked again and Patrick stared at his lap.
“O-okay. Yeah, I’ll do it.”
“Fab-u-lous! Okay we’ll talk after choir Patrick. Now everyone let’s stand up and do a run through of all our songs before the end!”
---
On Gerard’s way out of the music department he caught the sound of Patrick and Mr. Urie practising the song he was going to sing. It was unfamiliar to Gerard but he liked the sound of it. It was pretty and sort of soothing. Mr. Urie stopped singing and Gerard listened closely. What he heard maybe blew his mind. Patrick’s voice was something amazing. It was smooth and soulful and full of…something. Just full to the brim with this…something. Gerard hung around for as long as time would permit him before he headed on back to Bob’s house where he was staying, humming that pretty tune he remembered vaguely from somewhere.
**
The next four weeks were fantastic. Gerard had decided to do something about his short hair so he thought he would have fun with it and after a few days of coming to school with a hat on he walked in bold as brass with white blonde hair. He attracted a lot of attention and gained a lot of respect from Gabe and his friends. Brian the headteacher told him that teachers weren’t really permitted to do things like that usually but it was a bad ass move so he would allow it. Bob died a little bit and Vicky went a little bit crazy and said she was making plans to run away with Gerard.
Patrick had deemed it ‘brave’ and ‘pretty cool’ and Gerard thought that was his favorite reaction.
Patrick was cool. Not cool like high school cool though. He was a quiet kid with a good sense of humour, a lot of brains and he was a little nerdy which basically described Gerard’s kind of people which is why they hung out every lunch time.
“We could totally hang once you’re allowed to stay out past six o’clock,” Gerard had told him and Patrick had half-glared, a smile being coaxed out of his lips by Gerard. It wasn’t an exaggeration either. His mum was ‘sort of over-protective’ as Patrick put it but Gerard could sympathize since he wasn’t allowed out much as a kid either. But it was less over-protectiveness and more that most parents don’t want their kids being killed or anything and where they lived wasn’t exactly the safest part of the world.
“So I’ll hang out at your house probably,” Gerard shrugged and took an offensively huge bite out of one of Patrick’s sandwiches - he swears Patrick’s mum is some kind of demi-god - and talking with his mouthy full. “I’ll tell your mum the school is working on a new 24 hour teaching program for classroom delinquents.”
“Oh wow,” Patrick said, sounding unimpressed. “I had no idea I was that bad.”
“Oh completely,” Gerard nodded. “I’m only here to monitor your behaviour and eat your food. It’s not like you are awesome to hang out with and I can’t stand the smell of stale tea in the staffroom or anything.
“By the way, I can see you totally want to play some guitar from the way your fingers are twitching so go ahead.”
They proceeded to duet on countless songs and Gerard is sure Patrick serenaded him with ‘Good Riddance’ by Green Day.
They talked about everything with each other. Books, music, friends, music, spare time and even music. Patrick even confided in Gerard about his sexuality.
“No one knows I’m gay,” he confessed. “Only Greta and my mum but they both guessed. They’re scary like that.”
“It’s a lot more awesome when you’re older,” Gerard assured him. “We get the best clubs and bars. Oh, I have to take you to gay pride in a few years. It’s fucking insane!”
Patrick liked to talk about his friend Pete to Gerard but Gerard didn’t like Pete. He wasn’t sure why but when Patrick talked about him in the wistful way he did it made Gerard burn with unbridled jealousy and want to take this so-called ‘amazing’ guy and shove his apparent talent somewhere. He didn’t tell Patrick this, of course, but just smiled and nodded, fuming behind his sunglasses.
He had, however, received some ridicule and some stern words from his colleagues about this. Various teachers had asked him if he knew what he was doing and how it looked. He assured them that he and Patrick were just friends. Some teachers left it at that but most responded,
‘A teacher’s job isn’t to make friends of their pupils. Their job is to teach.’
By the time it was Bob and Vicky’s turn to talk to them he’d had an earful and snapped at them to ‘butt out’ and didn’t speak to either of them unless he had to for days. He apologised afterwards but only because they were his friends. He saw absolutely nothing wrong with spending time with Patrick. They were just friends having fun at lunch time. There was nothing wrong with that. At all.
Rating: PG
Beta:
paper_teenheart
Summary: Highschool AU. Gerard is a student teacher, Patrick is sixteen, adorable and eats lunch alone.
Pairing: Patrick/Gerard
Disclaimer: All fiction. I own nothing but my plot.
Author's Note: Had to change it to A and B sections. Post was too large. BLEH. x-posted
“…and the staff bathroom is down the hall to the left, all right? Here’s a map of the school just in case you get lost and if there’s any problem you can totally come to me, no worries?”
Gerard was a little bit dazzled by all the new information he had just had to retain but he was prepared to cope since this seemed like a nice school and he wanted to make a good impression - and the head teacher was kind of hot but that was unprofessional and Gerard will stop now - so he smiled and replied,
“No worries, thanks Mr. Schechter. But, do the kids really have to call me Mr. Way. I’ll think my dad is in the room or something.”
“It’s Brian,” Mr. Schechter smiled. “And yeah, I know it’s weird, right? But we kind of have to be formal or we’ll all be arrested for paedophilia on the spot.”
Gerard’s eyes went wide. He knew they were pretty strict about things like that in the law but-
“Dude, it’s a joke!” Brian laughed, patting Gerard on the shoulder and he went red and tried pushing his hair into his face but remembered he had cut it because he wanted to make a good impression. His mum had assured him it would make a better impression if his hair was cut and he wore a suit. He didn’t feel like he was making a good impression. He just felt uncomfortable and he missed his hair. He later found out that the hair cut wasn’t much needed when he met Bob in the morning and was laughed at. Loudly.
“S-Sorry Mr. Schec-uh, Brian. I’m a little nervous,” he said shyly and Brian patted him on the back.
“Don’t worry,” he said with a smile. “Remember, call if you need me!”
“Okay,” Gerard nodded thankfully and immediately drew back into himself when Brian was out of sight and in his office. He skulked down the hall to the staff room and sat down in a chair, clutching his warm cup of Starbucks’ coffee, next to his best friend Bob.
Bob was the reason he had got the opportunity to teach in this school for a few weeks as a student teacher because he recommended him to the headteacher and showed him some of Gerard’s artwork. Luckily the head teacher was a comic book fan so he was delighted to accept Gerard. He was currently studying to be an art teacher so he would be sitting in on lessons with the head of the art department, coincidentally Bob’s girlfriend Vicky Asher, and teaching some of her lessons later on. They were being sweet over to the left of Gerard and looking at new furniture for their apartment. They were arguing over an armchair Vicky was in love with.
“Gerard!” she called and Gerard yanked himself out of his daze to look over at her concerned face. “C’mon, don’t you think this is the most amazing chair you’ve ever seen?!”
It was definitely an interesting little thing. It was white and hung from the ceiling, covered in large fluorescent musical notes and reminded Gerard way too much of that band Hellogoodbye but on acid. It was…gaudy…and very scene…but pretty, he guessed.
“It’s interesting,” Gerard shrugged. “Little bright for my taste. Bob might die.”
“See?!” Bob exclaimed. “You’re just fucking nuts.”
“Wow, love you too,” Vicky said sarcastically. “Don’t worry. You’ll see that chair in the flesh soon enough and you’ll totally change your mind!”
“You can totally have it hon’,” Bob smiled. “So long as you make it invisible whenever I’m in the room. By the way, since when do chairs have flesh?”
Vicky huffed and Bob turned to face Gerard, rolling his eyes.
“So, nervous on your first day?” he grinned and Gerard shrugged, taking a long drink of his coffee and shaking himself out to get the warmth running through his body. He had been spending most of his time in classrooms and his bedroom. He had totally forgotten it was cold in October, especially in Chicago, where he was teaching, where it snows all year round.
“I’m okay,” he shrugged. “I haven’t been in a high school since I was eighteen but whatever, I’ll just shove myself into a locker and remember the good times.”
“Awesome,” Bob laughed and ruffled Gerard’s short hair. “I’ll totally give you a hand with that.”
“Fuck you Bryar,” Gerard grinned. “You’ll be in the locker next door while Vicky goes off to get that chair.”
Vicky grinned broadly at Gerard.
“This is why I like you better. I’ll totally turn Gerard against you and your beige ways!”
Bob sighed,
“Artists, so temperamental.”
Both Gerard and Vicky kicked him in the shins and Gerard felt like he was going to have more fun here than he expected.
**
“Hey, Stumpy! Catch this, four-eyes!”
“Oh wow very original. Give me my stuff back, asshole!”
“Oh wow! Shorty’s got a mouth on him!”
“Just give me my shit, please? I kind of need it.”
“Tough shit, specky!”
Gerard had been trying to find his way back to Vicky’s classroom after first break but ended up around the corner from a kid who was being bullied by some jock, holding his bag over his head and laughing when the kid jumped for it. Gerard frowned and stepped out to help the boy.
“Hey, you!” he called, putting on his best ‘here to save the day’ voice. “Give that bag back and run as fast as you can before I call the headteacher.”
“Shit,” the boy cursed, dropped the younger boy’s bag and turned to him before running away. “You got lucky Stumph!”
The boy picked up his bag and dusted it off,
“Thank you, sir,” he said quietly, not raising his eyes to meet Gerard’s and was about to run off before Gerard caught his shoulder.
“You can blame me for being late to your next lesson,” he smiled. “Now, what’s your name kid?”
“P-Patrick Stumph,” Patrick stammered, eyes still locked to his battered trainers.
“Nice to meet you Patrick,” Gerard said warmly. “I’m Gerard but you totally have to call me Mr. Way or I’ll get arrested for paedophilia or something…”
Patrick laughed nervously and Gerard felt a little bit like an idiot for not getting that joke before.
“Hey so,” Gerard continued. “Any more stuff like that, right, and there’s this awesome hiding spot nobody uses. The space under the emergency exit stairs from the art department. Or you could, you know, come get me or some other teacher. I know kids can be asses…God, can I say ass?!”
“You can’t,” Patrick laughed. “But don’t worry. I won’t rat you out.”
“Thank fuck,” Gerard sighed then grabbed his mouth and Patrick laughed again.
“You don’t do that in class do you?” he asked and Gerard shook his head.
“I don’t talk in class,” he grinned. “Speaking of class, you had better run! I’ll see you later Patrick!”
Patrick smiled and waved as he ran off to his classroom and Gerard waved back, hoping to see that smile more often.
**
Gerard’s mind was wandering during his third sit-in lesson. He was sat in a corner behind some of the kids, doodling the classroom, twisting and contorting the shapes and faces into something out of a nightmare. He liked it but there were little things annoying him like the shape of one girl’s faces or if three jack-o-lanterns were maybe too many. He would have usually been stressing over this but his mind was only half in it and half thinking about the kid he had saved earlier, Patrick Stumph. He was sure the kids in this class were his age. He couldn’t really tell with kids anymore but his mum told him that happens with age. He was only 23 but he was an old man at heart, he guessed.
“Hey, um,” Gerard whispered to a girl in front of him. “How old are you?”
“Oh! Um…fourteen,” the girl replied, startled by the sudden attention. She was very young looking compared to the rest of the class with long blonde hair and earnest brown eyes.
“Do you, by any chance, know a kid called Patrick Stumph?” Gerard asked and the girl nodded.
“Yeah, but he’s not in my year. He’s sixteen.”
Gerard nodded slowly, preparing to take in anymore information. Purely to be an understanding teacher and hopefully save Patrick somewhat from the horror of High School. At least for the remainder of it.
“He’s maybe the nicest person in the world,” the girl continued. “We’re in orchestra and choir together. He plays drums, piano and guitar and I think loads of other stuff. He’s awesome at singing too but he never takes solos or anything ‘cause he’s kind of shy and stuff.”
Gerard nodded, smiling and taking in all this new information.
“I don’t know what lessons he has today but we have choir after school so you can come see him then,” the girl continued with a knowing smile and Gerard did a double take.
“How did you know I wanted to see him…?” Gerard asked and the girl shrugged,
“I assumed. But I'm right, huh?”
Gerard liked this girl. She was very clever and presumptuous in a good way because she noticed things. You could tell she was right about pretty much everything.
“Thanks,” Gerard said quietly and gestured in the direction of Vicky - in Ms. Asher mode now - who was talking to the class. “What’s your name?”
“Greta,” the girl replied in a whisper, her eyes not moving from the front of the room. “And you’re welcome, sir.”
**
His first day as Mr. Way and Gerard was already looking forward to the next. The classes he had sat in on were full of talented students and big personalities. One girl Hayley was very promising and there was a boy in Patrick’s year called Gabe who might just be out of his 16 year old mind. He was worse with his little troop Adam - he preferred Sisky -, William, Travis and Ryland but Gerard was sure he’s break through to them in a week or so. They were friendly kids after all. Also, there was Patrick.
Gerard was a little bit fixated on this kid. He maintained that he just wanted to make sure he was okay and he was just thorough about it. For instance, he took the long walk through the lunch hall to the staff room to see if he could spot Patrick but no such luck. He swears he didn’t go looking and just left an empty cup of coffee in the art classroom and he was a little bit pedantic about litter but whichever story you believe he ended up finding Patrick under the stairs to the art building like Gerard had suggested. He smiled that the boy had taken his advice into account but was a little bit upset because he knew that those kids had been hassling him again.
He watched him for a little while from a distance, eating his lunch half heartedly but focusing on tuning his guitar. Gerard remembered Greta talking about his talents and he remembered guitar being one of them. He was planning to be cool and just swoop down and sit with Patrick but as soon as he started walking he became…weird and nervous. Instead he walked on up with his head down and prayed Patrick would call him over.
“Hi sir,” Patrick called and Gerard silently thanked God.
He looked up and beamed at the boy.
“Hey there Patrick,” he said. “Took my advice?”
“Totally,” he nodded. “Nothing happened but this seems like a pretty good spot. It beats eating lunch alone inside and I can only hide out in the music department for so long before they tell me to go get some fresh air and leave my work for class.”
Gerard laughed and sat down in front of Patrick.
“So you’re a music fiend?” he asked and Patrick shrugged, looking down at his guitar. He became a little bit more closed up when Gerard sat down.
“I guess. Um, are you okay sitting here sir?”
“Well there’s no rule against it I don’t think,” Gerard shrugged. “Why don’t you eat lunch with Greta?”
Patrick looked startled and asked,
“How do you know Greta?”
“Um, art teacher in training over here? I make it my business to skulk around classrooms and pick the brains of Ms. Asher’s students.”
“Ah. Well, Greta’s awesome but to be honest, her friends are kind of scary. They’re all like my age and they’re just a bit…much.”
“Like who?”
“Hayley Williams…”
“She’s a sweetheart!”
“Um, Gabe Saporta…”
“Stop right there. I’d be scared too if I were you.”
Patrick chuckled and looked down at his guitar again, playing something and concentrating hard. Gerard watched his hands moving up and down the fret board and his head down and concentrated, chewing on his bottom lip, glasses sliding off his nose and blonde hair the right side of long crowning his face like a gold frame. Gerard thought it would be cool to draw him. Not caricatured and contorted or made into a cartoon but he might just follow his old art teacher’s familiar words, ‘draw what you see, not what you think you see.’
He hums something of a rough melody, following the chords Patrick is playing and can see words forming pictures in his minds eye. Something about longing and the night sky, maybe love but not quite and probably memories of holding hands and kicking empty cans of beer into a canal. He wasn’t quite sure. He wrote lyrics from time to time and he was pretty musical. He had been in a couple of bands before, during and after art school but nothing special.
“You only teach art, sir?” Patrick asked suddenly and Gerard yanked his mind out of the cloud he had been residing in.
“I’m a student teacher so I don’t really teach yet but uh, yeah art,” he nodded. “Why?”
“Oh,” Patrick went red. “I thought you might teach music too because you, uh, have a cool singing voice and…yeah.”
“Well thanks Patrick! I’ve been told you’re pretty good yourself from our friend Greta.”
“Oh wow. She, um, exaggerates…”
“We’ll see.”
**
He listened to Greta and decided to sit in on choir. It sort of counted as extra learning in that he would be able to talk to the teacher about organising after school clubs and if dealing with kids during the day and after school was any different and all that jazz, but mainly he wanted to hear Patrick sing.
The choir as a whole were good. Granted it was no Sister Act 2 deal - yes, Gerard had seen the film and he would always sing along to the end despite his, hopefully, deep artistic exterior - but they were a good bunch of singers. Mr. Urie made a point of introducing Gerard to the class once he had asked to sit in.
“This is Mr. Way everyone. Some of you may know him from art lessons today but I hope you all sing at your best since he have a visitor!” Mr. Urie smiled brightly and motioned to Gerard to sit down at the back of the room. Greta and Patrick were sat in the second row from the front and Gerard waved surreptitiously at them. Patrick went red and avoided his gaze but Greta smiled. She looked at Patrick, threw Gerard and apologetic glance and prodded Patrick in the side. Gerard liked this girl a lot.
“Right, so I was dreaming up the order of the concert, which is only a few weeks away ladies and gents, and I realised that if I wanted it to go the way I planned we would be singing two songs in succession which I do not want under any circumstances. So, do we have any volunteers for a solo or group piece?”
Gerard was certain he saw Patrick’s head pop up at that, but he drew back into himself almost immediately. He wanted to prod Patrick and tell him ‘go for it’ but it seemed Gabe Saporta got that vibe as well.
“Patrick wants to!” he announced and Patrick shot him a terrified glance.
“Well Patrick?” Mr. Urie asked and Patrick shuffled uncomfortably in his chair.
“I…uh…maybe?” he shrugged and Mr. Urie frowned. “I mean, I’m already playing piano for Greta’s solo thingy.”
“Yes, but this time we want to hear you sing Mr. Stumph!” Mr. Urie said with a theatrical gesture and a broad grin. “What do you think Mr. Way? Is he up for the challenge?”
“Definitely,” Gerard said reflexively. “I’ve been told he’s a very talented kid.”
“So, Patrick?” Mr. Urie asked again and Patrick stared at his lap.
“O-okay. Yeah, I’ll do it.”
“Fab-u-lous! Okay we’ll talk after choir Patrick. Now everyone let’s stand up and do a run through of all our songs before the end!”
---
On Gerard’s way out of the music department he caught the sound of Patrick and Mr. Urie practising the song he was going to sing. It was unfamiliar to Gerard but he liked the sound of it. It was pretty and sort of soothing. Mr. Urie stopped singing and Gerard listened closely. What he heard maybe blew his mind. Patrick’s voice was something amazing. It was smooth and soulful and full of…something. Just full to the brim with this…something. Gerard hung around for as long as time would permit him before he headed on back to Bob’s house where he was staying, humming that pretty tune he remembered vaguely from somewhere.
**
The next four weeks were fantastic. Gerard had decided to do something about his short hair so he thought he would have fun with it and after a few days of coming to school with a hat on he walked in bold as brass with white blonde hair. He attracted a lot of attention and gained a lot of respect from Gabe and his friends. Brian the headteacher told him that teachers weren’t really permitted to do things like that usually but it was a bad ass move so he would allow it. Bob died a little bit and Vicky went a little bit crazy and said she was making plans to run away with Gerard.
Patrick had deemed it ‘brave’ and ‘pretty cool’ and Gerard thought that was his favorite reaction.
Patrick was cool. Not cool like high school cool though. He was a quiet kid with a good sense of humour, a lot of brains and he was a little nerdy which basically described Gerard’s kind of people which is why they hung out every lunch time.
“We could totally hang once you’re allowed to stay out past six o’clock,” Gerard had told him and Patrick had half-glared, a smile being coaxed out of his lips by Gerard. It wasn’t an exaggeration either. His mum was ‘sort of over-protective’ as Patrick put it but Gerard could sympathize since he wasn’t allowed out much as a kid either. But it was less over-protectiveness and more that most parents don’t want their kids being killed or anything and where they lived wasn’t exactly the safest part of the world.
“So I’ll hang out at your house probably,” Gerard shrugged and took an offensively huge bite out of one of Patrick’s sandwiches - he swears Patrick’s mum is some kind of demi-god - and talking with his mouthy full. “I’ll tell your mum the school is working on a new 24 hour teaching program for classroom delinquents.”
“Oh wow,” Patrick said, sounding unimpressed. “I had no idea I was that bad.”
“Oh completely,” Gerard nodded. “I’m only here to monitor your behaviour and eat your food. It’s not like you are awesome to hang out with and I can’t stand the smell of stale tea in the staffroom or anything.
“By the way, I can see you totally want to play some guitar from the way your fingers are twitching so go ahead.”
They proceeded to duet on countless songs and Gerard is sure Patrick serenaded him with ‘Good Riddance’ by Green Day.
They talked about everything with each other. Books, music, friends, music, spare time and even music. Patrick even confided in Gerard about his sexuality.
“No one knows I’m gay,” he confessed. “Only Greta and my mum but they both guessed. They’re scary like that.”
“It’s a lot more awesome when you’re older,” Gerard assured him. “We get the best clubs and bars. Oh, I have to take you to gay pride in a few years. It’s fucking insane!”
Patrick liked to talk about his friend Pete to Gerard but Gerard didn’t like Pete. He wasn’t sure why but when Patrick talked about him in the wistful way he did it made Gerard burn with unbridled jealousy and want to take this so-called ‘amazing’ guy and shove his apparent talent somewhere. He didn’t tell Patrick this, of course, but just smiled and nodded, fuming behind his sunglasses.
He had, however, received some ridicule and some stern words from his colleagues about this. Various teachers had asked him if he knew what he was doing and how it looked. He assured them that he and Patrick were just friends. Some teachers left it at that but most responded,
‘A teacher’s job isn’t to make friends of their pupils. Their job is to teach.’
By the time it was Bob and Vicky’s turn to talk to them he’d had an earful and snapped at them to ‘butt out’ and didn’t speak to either of them unless he had to for days. He apologised afterwards but only because they were his friends. He saw absolutely nothing wrong with spending time with Patrick. They were just friends having fun at lunch time. There was nothing wrong with that. At all.