~three~

"take a seat, boys." doctor verne mumbled, flipping through a packet of papers.

they did as so, still keeping a distance. it had been days since the incident happened. gerard was heavily sleep deprived, brendon became more violent towards others, and frank was seriously depressed. it was taking a turn for the worst.

"why do we have to be here?" brendon asked, rolling his eyes.

"we need to solve this issue between you three. i heard the incident. now, how are you all holding up?" the doctor asked again.

"fine" frank and brendon said in unison.

"what about you, gerard?" the doctor pointed his pen at gerard, leaving him to feel obligated.

gerard didn't say anything, just staring heinously at doctor verne. he nodded, taking notes once again.

the doctor kept asking questions yet nobody answered, just looking around. he then decided to talk to each one individually.

"now frank, i need you to tell me your side of the story." the doctor looked up, seeing frank glancing around again.

"i was worried about my grades so i went to look at them and gerard showed up. he-he had a... a knife. he said something about me being afraid of him? or that i have to be afraid of him?-"

"sorry for stopping you but, he told me about you. and i insisted that he needed someone like you to hangout with. but he couldn't understand that. now, go on."

"i don't think he realized what he was doing at the time.  like, he kinda just snapped and y'know.. but then brendon came in and they just started fighting, badly. i was sure one of them would be hospitalized, if not both, but they were fine. even with that amount of.. b-b-blood."

frank covered his face in his hands, trying to hold back tears. snippets from that day flashed through his head, making him flinch every time.

"i'm so sorry, frank. gerard does this a lot.. and i hate it happened to you-"

"that's the thing. i'm not mad at him." frank lifted his head, making eye contact with doctor verne.

" i can't be mad at him." frank went on. "i shouldn't have been in there at that time.. and he was just there. but that's my fault."

"no, no, frank. it's not your fault. we all make silly mistakes. but gerard needs mental help, and that's why i'm here." doctor verne insisted.

"b-but none of this would've happened if i just didn't fucking look at my grades!" frank broke down into tears, covering his face completely. his tears soaked into his gloves with choked sobs, making him catch his breath every time. though doctor verne tried comforting him, it didn't help. he sat there crying, blocking out everyone.

frank was eventually released out of his office and back out to the waiting room where only gerard sat, flipping through magazines. brendon went in after him, only leaving him and gerard. frank still sniffled here and there, but couldn't stand to look at gerard.

"this motherfucker tried to kill him, and you're acting like it's nothing!" brendon yelled from inside the office. everyone could hear it. even gerard's head shot up.

once the yelling died down, gerard glanced over to frank. he was staring at the wall, tears rolling down his cheeks. gerard, of course, had assumed he caused this, hesitant to do anything.

"i guess my plan had worked." gerard mumbled. frank turned his head to face gerard, who was only chewing on his bottom lip to hold back a smile.

"gerard, why did i go in there?" frank asked, rubbing his eyes.

"what do you-"

"if i were to never be in there, none of this would've happened. and now we're in fucking therapy and it obviously isn't helping." frank went on.

"it really isn't helping." gerard retorted, looking at the door to doctor verne's office.

"brendon was in the office all day yesterday and he's gotten like.. bad. out of control. he's not like in the verge of killing people, he just has horrible anger issues." frank stared off into space, cracking his knuckles every few minutes.

"he'll eventually get on the verge of killing people. unless he gets help before it gets too bad. but, you know, here i am." gerard sighed.

"have you ever killed anyone?" frank asked hesitantly.

"we can talk about that another day." gerard looked off, not daring to make eye contact with frank.

"when, in any case, would we talk somewhere else besides here?" frank asked, leaning closer to gerard.

"oh, frankie-" 

"gerard, come in here." doctor verne raised his voice, peering at gerard through the creek of his door. brendon walked back out, tense and angry.

gerard stood up and walked back into his office, closing the door slowly behind him. he stood at the door for a split second, eyeing the place. he then sat down, crossing his legs.

"good evening gerard, how are you?" he asked, flipping to a new page.

"fine." gerard mumbled, biting his lip.

"i heard you talking with frank out there.." he looked up, pencil still writing.

"it was nothing, doc." gerard said firmly. doctor verne nodded, writing down more.

"how's michael?"

"he's been locked in his room around 3 days now. he's been crying nonstop. mom insists he gets food at night, but i'm pretty sure he's starving in there. and he won't come out for anything."

"again?"

gerard nodded, staring at his feet.

"what did frank tell you when he was in here?" gerard sat up, leaning to doctor verne's desk.

"im not allowed to let out a patients personal information, gerard. you know this." doctor verne raised an eyebrow.

"what did he say!" gerard slammed on the desk, making doctor verne jump back slightly.

"gerard, please..." doctor verne tried to calm him, but he was far over the edge now.

gerard stood up, leaning against the desk. he was nearly hovering over doctor verne before standing up straight. he put his hands in his pocket, as if he was now calm. it was only seconds before he heard the metal sound of the knife.

"gerard, how did you get that back?" doctor verne stood up and backed away, pointing towards it.

"i have plenty, sir." he grinned, pulling the knife up.

"put it down." the doctor demanded, taking his ground.

"no." gerard chuckled, putting the tip of his knife under his own chin.

"i can call security and they can take you away. and gerard, i don't wanna do that. but i need you to put the knife down."

gerard scoffed, aggressively stabbing the knife into the desk. he didn't let go of it, just keeping that same, fiery glare with doctor verne.

"what did he say?" gerard asked calmly, smiling innocently. he was good at this.

"he was blaming himself for all of this. and i told him how you needed someone like him, but you ignored it. he kept saying he caused everything."

gerard nodded, pulling the knife out from the desk, slipping it into his pocket, and walking back out.