The way Frank and Gerard meet is one they don't speak about often. It had left Frank scared and anxious for months, and some days he still couldn't stop himself from getting so nervous that he just couldn't leave their apartment. The thought of having to go through it again frightened him to no end, but then he remembers that he probably wouldn't have met Gerard any other way.
It had been a good day for Gerard. He'd been able to move further forward with his comic book, which was soon to be published, and he only had to stock up on food before he was able to go home. The store was relatively quiet, only a few cars had been in the parking lot when he'd arrived.
When he turns into the frozen food isle, he stops. At the other end is a man, tall and obviously well built from the size of him, with short, blonde hair and an ugly face. In front of him is a smaller figure, a woman, and he's stopping her from moving with his arms on either side of her petite body. She's recoiling away from him, desperately trying to free herself of the man's grip, but he's much stronger than her.
"You're nothing but a dirty fucking faggot," The man sneers, grabbing the woman's shoulders and slamming her hard against the freezer doors behind her. She whimpers, pleading him to stop. "Thinking you could come here dressed like this," He slaps her and she lets out a cry, pushing at him but he only presses her back into the door more.
"Please," She whispers, choking on her breaths. "P-please just let me go, I won't come b-back, please,"
The man laughs, "Like hell I'm letting you go," He spits, grabbing hold of her chin so she looks at him. "No one is here to stop me, are they?" She lets out a sob, struggling at her best now, but it does nothing as the man rips her dress strap and it hangs down, revealing the top of her bra. "Thought you could get away with everyone thinking you were a pretty girl, didn't you?"
Gerard begins moving towards them, deserting his basket before breaking into a run. "Hey, get the fuck off of her!" He shouts, grabbing the man by his shoulders and yanking him back, but Gerard barely weighs a thing compared to this guy, so the man barely moves an inch.
"What'd you say, faggot?" The man says, turning to glare at Gerard who's only slightly shorter than him. He still has a firm grip on the woman's body.
"I said, get the fuck off of her." Gerard growls, and the man laughs. He lets the woman go and she slides to the floor, curling into herself. When the man is facing Gerard, he smiles.
"And what are you going to do about it?"
Gerard's never been a violent man. He kind of hates violence in itself, but he knows that in this situation it's necessary and deserved on this asshole's behalf. He smiles slightly at the man, before pulling his arm back and swinging the man right on his jaw. The man stumbles back and trips over his own feet and lands on his ass, and it surprises Gerard because he never knew he even had any upper arm strength at all.
"Back the fuck off," Gerard then says, just for good measure, and the man scrambles to his feet.
"You'll pay for this, Frankie," He spits at the woman on the floor, before turning and disappearing. Gerard watches him go, making sure that he was definitely gone before he turns to crouch beside the woman.
As he reaches to fix her strap, she flinches away. She hasn't looked up from the floor yet. "Hey, I'm not going to hurt you," Gerard says softly, and she finally looks up. Her dark hair is short apart from her fringe, which hangs over her face and she doesn't move to push it back. Her eyes are light brown with a glint of green if Gerard looked any closer, but he doesn't want to scare her any more. Her jaw is curved, and just under her make-up Gerard can see the faint shadow of stubble and then it all clicks into place.
It was a guy, not a woman, and the man had been hurting her because it was a man. In a dress.
He can see in her eyes that she knows that he's just realised, and the fear encloses on her again, but Gerard just smiles softly. "It's okay, I'm just going to tie it to the other ripped part, alright?" She looks confused for a moment, but leans forward a little so Gerard can gently tie the two ends of the strap together. "I'm sure we can get this fixed, or get you a new one?" He looks at her again, and she nods. "What's your name?"
"Frank," She murmurs, the look of confusion still clear on her features.
"It's nice to meet you. I'm Gerard," Gerard says as he stands and holds his hand out to her. "You want to get up?" She takes his hand cautiously, and lets Gerard help her up and steady.
"Thank you," Frank says quietly, arms wrapped around herself. "I um- I should get going, I need to get my stuff from his house," She glances in the direction the man went in and shudders visibly.
"I really don't think that's a good idea," Gerard says, frowning and scratching his neck. "You don't have anywhere else to go for a while?"
"Why would I?" Frank snaps bitterly, face screwing up in distaste. "I'm just a freak." Gerard hates the look of pure hatred at herself that crosses her delicate frame, and the way she just closes in on herself more.
"You could stay with me," He blurts before the thought is even finished processing. She looks at him like he's crazy, and he shrugs. "I'm not expecting anything, I just-" He pauses and shrugs again. "I just want to help, I don't know."
She stares at him for a long moment, looks him up and down a few times before she nods. "Okay," She agrees, smiling a little. "Thank you,"