Our True Selves

by Life_is_endless

Summary:

Illi Way-McMillin had started to discover herself during the summer going into her senior year of high school. She had found herself googling her feelings about how she was a man but felt like a woman. She went down a rabbit hole of learning about trans people and talking to some of them on online chatrooms.
Frank Iero had started to discover himself earlier than Illi, but found himself in the same spot with googling different things about being trans and found the same chatroom as Illi. They had started talking over the summer, but never in person—at least they didn’t think so.
They knew each other in person but as their birth names Gerard Way-McMillin and Frances Iero.

Follow them on this adventure of self discovery and opening up to yourself but also together.

Notes:

Thank you so much for picking this story and I hope you enjoy!

Chapter 1: Prologue

Illi Way-McMillin knew that she was different from all the other boys her age—it might have to do with the fact that she wanted to be called a girl and wanted to dress like one. For the longest time she didn’t know what her feelings meant or why she felt them so she tried to ignore them—for years but they would always linger in the back of her mind.

During summer going into Illi’s senior year she couldn’t take her feelings anymore—she wanted to figure out what she felt and why she wanted to tell everyone that her pronouns. Illi decided to open up to her brother—Mikey—before she told anyone else about what she was feeling. She felt that he would understand what she was feeling and that he wouldn’t judge her for what she felt. She was proven right when Mikey suggest that she googles her feelings.

The internet was the place she found the word that describes her—transgender. She went a little insane with her googling and looking up different words. She also came across people he felt the same as her. Illi would meet Frank on the internet in a chat room. She had never felt that she was seen before she meet him. It was like they clicked and they were unable to stop talking to one another.

Frank had never met anyone like himself either—but different than Illi Frank knew who he was from a young age. When he was nine Frank brought up his feelings to his mother about how he wanted to be a boy and if other people felt that way.

“The people you are talking about are trans, but that’s not you, Frances. You’re just confused.”

He knew that his mother was wrong, but he didn’t say anything out of fear of his mother saying something worse.

The more he grew up the more he understood his mothers words—not that he excepted them, but he could understand why she thought that. Franks family was overly religious to the point that he went to a catholic private high school.

The more he was online the more he started to stray away from the religious ideals because he could see how it harmed people and he didn’t want to be apart of that group.

When he met Illi in a trans chatroom he felt connected. He told her things that he had never told anyone else before. He tried to figure out what it was about Illi that made him feel comfortable and he came to the conclusion that it was because they didn’t know each other. There was no disappointment that could happen and they were in the same boat.

Now Frank was also getting ready for his first day of school also interning his senior year. And a small thing that either Illi and Frank knew was that they went to the same school and they were best friends—under the name the names that were slowly eating them alive.

Chapter 2: Chapter One

“Gerard! You need to get up for school!.”

Illi’s most dreaded days each year for over seven years—the first day of school. It was something she was dreading but also exited for it at the same time. She was nervous about starting her last year of high school but also nervous about sharing her true self with others. She knew deep down that she wasn’t going to tell anyone mostly because she went to a catholic school and she knew how people would react, but also because she didn’t want her parents to find out. It would be a death wish to tell someone.

Of course she had thought of doing it but that didn’t mean she was going to do it.

“Illi, you need to get up before mom comes in here and,” her brother—Mikey—had said standing on the floor staring up at the top bunk Illi was laying on.

Mikey and her shared a bedroom with a bunk bed. It was a something temporary so they could get the basement ready for Illi to live in.

Knowing that Mikey was right about their mom coming in there she got up and grabbed her school uniform—the boys school uniform. She had thought of asking for the girls uniform during summer fittings, but she knew that it would be a bad idea.

The uniform was another reason why she had been dreading this year. She knew that right when she stepped into the outfit she was going to be overly uncomfortable and itching to take it off.

Most of her time getting ready was spent staring at herself in the bathroom mirror—nit picking different things that she wanted to change about herself. Most of the time she would sit staring at herself in the mirror until Mikey or her mother snapped her out of it. A lot of the time she would notice how much more feminine she wanted to be or outfits she would wear if she was open about herself.

When both Mikey and Illi were done getting ready and Illi had fought with herself on if she wanted to put eyeliner on and chose to do it. It was something she was proud of herself on doing, but also nervous on doing. She just hoped her parents wouldn’t notice. They said an awkward goodbye to their parents and were on their why to school.

“Do you think your going to tell anyone anything,” Mikey asked when they were were farther from their school and giving Illi a side eye.

In a way she was glad she told Mikey about her feelings of her identity, but when he asked thing like that was when she started to regret it.

Mikey knew that Illi wasn’t going to tell anyone anything, but he asked anyways because he knew it was the only way that he would get information out of her.

“I’m not gonna say anything because one we got to a religious school and two I don’t need mom and dad to find out about it,” Illi said while kicking a pebble and Mikey nodded his head in understanding. Neither one of them wanted to know what would happen if their parents found out.

“I hate that they care so much.”

Neither of them said anything for the rest of the walk because they both agreed with the statement and felt there was nothing left to say. But once they got to school again was when they started talking—especially to Frances—Frank.

“Hey Frances. How was your summer?”

None of them hung out during the summer because Frank kept saying that he was busy. Now, Illi knew that Frank wasn’t really busy, but she didn’t say anything about it—mostly because she had lied about the same thing before.

“Oh you know, busy,” Frank said trying to cover up that he did absolutely nothing during the summer. “Um, what about you guys,” he asked trying to get rid of the awkward silence.

The way Frank said his question in a way that sounded like he was asking both Mikey and Illi, but the eye contact that he had with Illi said another story. She knew the question was directed towards her.

“Um, I drew most of the of the summer—went through like two sketch books.”

Both Mikey and Illi knew that she wasn’t lying, but the other half of her time was spent talking to Frank online—neither of them knew that they were talking to Frank right now in person.

“Dude, that’s cool. You definitely gotta show me some of those drawings later,” Frank said with a smile and a smirk.

One thing that Illi had noticed throughout the years of knowing Frank would be the way his voice sounded deeper or doesn’t talk like a ‘normal’ girl would. Illi didn’t speak her observations out loud—she kept them to herself in a folder named Frances.

With a light blush on her face Illi reply’s, “yeah, maybe.”

Illi didn’t really share her drawings with other people, but when she did it was always with someone that she trust—mostly Mikey.

When Mikey saw the blush on his sister’s face he walked away from them and went to find Pete. There was an awkward silence between Frank and Illi, but it was quickly broken when the bell rang.

Frank cleared his throat before asking, “what’s your first period?”

Illi looked down at her schedule to find her first class. “Um, chem with Sanders,” she said while her eyes peeked over the paper, waiting for Franks response.

His eyes light up at Illi’s answer. “Dude, we have the same class.” Frank exclaimed and started to walk away from Illi before noticing that she wasn’t walked with him and she was standing in the same spot. “Well come one!”

And with that both Illi and Frank were off to find their chem class. When they were walking together Illi couldn’t help but notice small things about Frank—mostly his long hair with a buzz on both sides, but another think he noticed was the girls uniform that he was wearing. Illi would kill to wear the girls uniform, but when she saw Frank wearing it she couldn’t help but notice how uncomfortable he looked in it.

When they arrived at the chem class there was only one lab station left so they walked over and sat next to one another.

Nothing really happened during their class, just introductions and ice breakers, which. both Illi hand Frank hated, but they stuck by each others side the whole time.

Illi and Frank had known each other since freshman year, but they had a slight falling out. Nothing dramatic happened just a…falling out—two people that wanted different things at the time. But now neither of them cared what happened in the past—they were living the present and they wanted to rekindle their relationship.

“Do you wanna sit with us at lunch,” Illi asked when they were leaving class together. “And, um, by us I mean me, Mikey, and Ray. Also my brothers little boyfriend might sit with us.”

There were many times when Frank would give Illi’s lasting table lasting looks. It was a table that he once sat at during freshman year, but stopped during sophomore because he wanted to find himself—now he wanted nothing more than to sit with them again.

“If all the others are okay with it than sure,” Frank said with a light smile, but hoping he wouldn’t get rejected.

“Trust me, no ones gonna care. We all miss you,” Illi said with a reassuring smile.

Franks thoughts were spiraling. Did they really miss him or was she just saying that? Either way he said, “then sure, I’ll sit with you guys.”

and with that they both said a quiet goodbye and both of them had a bright smile on their faces.

When lunch rolled around Illi was nervous about the whole thing with Frank sitting with them at lunch. She didn’t think that he would actually want to sit with them again, but it didn’t surprise her. She had seen Frank looking at their table like he wanted to sit with them again but ended up walking away.

Illi probably should’ve asked everyone else before she said anything. Nobody was necessarily mad at him, but they weren’t exactly proud of him. They had all seen how much it affected Illi and they never wanted to repeat that, but here they are—Frank walking over to their table.

“Is there a reason Frances Iero is walking over here,” Ray asked with picking at his food but looking over at Frank walking over.

“I, um,” Illi started to say before clearing her throat. “I invited her.”

Everyone looked at Illi with a shocked expression, but none of them could say anything before Frank arrived at their table.

“Hey, um…Gerard invited me over. If you don’t want me to sit here just tell me.”

They all gave Frank a blank stare, but snapped out of it when he talked.

“Of course you can sit here,” Mikey said before anyone else could say anything.

Frank didn’t know if he was relived or not when Mikey talked. He had been overthinking it since Illi presented the idea to him.

It was awkward for a while. None of them knew what to say to Frank who had basically abandoned them after their first year. Again they weren’t mad at Frank but they weren’t exactly proud of his actions.

Ray was the one who tried to break the awkward silence. “So, how was high school for you.”

He didn’t mean it too come off as rude as he did, but he knew that it was as soon as Frank scoffed and dropped his fork.

“Okay, I’m gonna say this now. I’m sorry I abandoned you guys after freshman year. I wanted to find myself and obviously it didn’t work out the way I wanted and now I’m back. But it’s our last year—except for Mikey—and I wanna end where I started off,” Frank said with an annoyed voice.

He wanted to end his year off with actually having friends. He wanted to know people when he left school and know actually nice people, but know he was starting to regret that.

“Right well we have that cleared out of the way,” Mikey didn’t say it in a rude way, but in a way that seemed surprised.

“I didn’t mean to come off rude,” Ray mumbled out, but sounded sincere.

Frank let out a sigh.

“I know you didn’t mean it like that, I took it that way cause that’s what I’ve been thinking about all day.”

They quickly moved on to another topic. It was still awkward after Franks out bust, but they were able to move on from it pretty quickly.

Illi was glad that everyone was able to move on from it quickly, but what she couldn’t ignore was the way it felt like the old days. It felt like they were freshman again—didn’t know what was to come, but still excited. Now they were excited to move on to college for some of them and move onto the next chapter.

When the group got quiet Illi said, “thank you guys for sharing this last year with me.”

Everyone looked over at Illi, not expecting her to say anything, but didn’t mind.

“I’m glad we were able to share it with you,” Frank said with a light smile.

They could tell that this year was going to be completely different from all their other ones.

Chapter 3: Chapter Two

Notes:

Thank you so much for the support on the last one I hope you enjoy this one :)

Once lunch was over Illi and Mikey walked out of the cafeteria together since their classes were in opposite direction than everybody else.

“Well, lunch didn’t go as planned,” Mikey said with a light smile shaking his head.

He was trying to break the tension with Illi because he could tell that she needed something else to focus on so her thoughts didn’t run crazy.

Illi let out a frustrated sigh before talking. “I waned him to sit with us as like a family reunion or something, but obviously it didn’t turn out that way.”

Mikey could understand where Illi was coming from, but he thinks she should’ve gone about it in a different way. He might not have been in the same school when Frank was in the friend group at the time, but he knows how much it affected her when he left. Illi didn’t say why it affected her so much or what she felt during that time, but everyone knew that something was wrong with her because of the mood drops and and didn’t want to do anything with herself.

Nobody wanted her to feel like that again so they were being extra careful.

“I know why you did it. I just wish you could’ve asked before you did it,” Mikey said over the loud crowed of people.

“You didn’t ask us before Pete and Brendon sat with us. Whatever, I need to get to class,” Illi said and walked a way from Mikey as fast as possible.

She couldn’t understand why everyone was so upset about Frank sitting with them. Usually everyone was so nice and kind when someone knew sat with them, but with Frank it was a different story. She wanted someone to help her understand why they were acting like that.

When she got to her third period class she couldn’t but roll her eyes at what she saw—Bert McCracken and next to him was the only seat open.

Bert was someone that everyone tried to avoid. He was overly grotesque with his jokes, hit on everyone and everything that moved and always had something to say about everyone. Illi has despised him ever since freshman year when he tried hitting on her.

“Well, if it isn’t Gerard. How was your summer,” Bert asked Illi when she sat next to him at the single seat table.

Bert was talking in a sweet way that made Illi feel special in a way. Nobody had talked to her like that besides Frank. To say she was surprised would be an understatement.

“It was okay, what about you.”

Bert gave Illi a smirk because he had her right where he wanted her—not that she knew that yet.

“Good, good. Hey did you change your hair or something?”

Illi went a light shade of pink up to her ears. She didn’t anyone had noticed anything different about her.

“Um, yeah. I grew it out a lot during the summer—wanted it to be longer,” she said, subconsciously messing with her long black hair.

“Yeah I could tell. You almost look like a girl,” Bert said with a light laugh and turned away from Illi.

She didn’t say anything after Bert had said that. The only thing that was playing in her head was the word almost. She still looked like a man even when she tried harder to look like a woman. She would never pass to matter how hard she tried.

For the rest of the day she was on auto pilot. Everything was moving in slow motion and she couldn’t speed it up no matter how hard she tried. Illi went through her last period class—the one she had been waiting for all day—art. She had completely zoned out.

The only time she zoned back in was when she ran directly into Frank.

“Sorry Gerard,” Frank mumbled out, but quickly changed his tone when he noticed the state she was in. “Are you okay? What happened?”

Illi didn’t know what she looked like in that moment, but honestly she didn’t care. She had too many things running through her head and couldn’t focus on anything.

Her eyes were rimmed with red from being on the verge of crying. Her hair was a mess from messing with it, but to Frank she looked pretty. He pried himself away from the thought and tried to figure out why she was about to cry.

“Gerard, what happened?”

Frank didn’t know what he said, but it complete sent Illi over the edge. She had tears running down her face. They were in the hallway with people rushing around them to get home as fast as they could, so Frank pulled Illi to the side of a building where people couldn’t see them.

“Do you want me to call Mikey,” Frank asked Illi and, she nodded her head. “Do you know where—” Before Frank could finish his question Mikey was rushing over to them.

“Frances! What the fuck happened?”

Frank was utterly confused as to what had happened, but still tried to recite what happened.

“I don’t know. He bummed into me and looked like he was gonna have a breakdown—and obviously she did.”

Mikey knew that this was going to happen at some point, but he didn’t think it was going to be so soon.

“Illi, I need you to pay attention to me,” Mikey whispered softly to her so Frank couldn’t hear them.

She blinked her eyes at Mikey letting him know that she’s paying attention, but couldn’t talk. They had been through this more than once—enough to have a system.

Frank had watched the siblings silently. He was confused as to what just happened. One minute he was leaving school and the next he was helping Illi freak out.

After a few seconds of watching Mikey calm down Illi and having her copy his breathing, Frank felt like he was overbearing them. He turned around to walk away before a small voice stopped him.

“Stay, please,” Illi said so quietly barely any of them could hear her.

Both Mikey and Frank were surprised and confused at her statement. From both of their views Frank had tipped her over the edge causing her to have a breakdown—so why did she want him here? But he stayed because she wanted him there.

Mikey had thought that Illi was going to tell Frank about her true self, but that thought quickly vanished when she started talking.

“Sorry you had to sit through that,” Illi mumbled out, now sitting on the floor.

Everybody followed suit, sitting on the floor with her.

“It’s okay. We all have sit going on,” Frank said back to her.

Illi had gotten deja vu when Frank said that. She had heard Frank—the one from online even if they were the same people, she didn’t know that yet—say that before. She smiled to herself when she thought of the conversation.

“Yeah, very true.”

The thought of telling Frank about herself and how it made her feel. She shook her head before she could stay longer on thought and changed her own mind. For now only Mikey would know even if it ate her up inside.

They all sat on the floor in a circle in silence for a while before Frank broke the peace.

“Alright,” Frank said as got up from the floor. “This has been really interesting, but I need to get going before my mom kills me.”

“Yeah, we should probably get going too. Come on Ill—um, Gerard.”

Both Mikey and Illi cringed at Mikey using her dead name, but it was something that needed to be done so she could stay a secret—but it defiantly added to the list she wouldn’t be able to stop thinking about.

When Frank parted with the siblings he was again bewildered with what had happened, but now it was mostly how Mikey had started to say another name and how it sounded a lot like Illi, but that was crazy. It must’ve been an embarrassing nickname he was going to say.

Frank had arrived home later than his mom would’ve liked, but she wasn’t completely angry with him—mostly because he had lied about why he wasn’t home sooner.

The first thing he did when he got home—well after all the chores and eating dinner as a family—was go online to talk to Illi.

They were both starting school on the first day and he wanted to see how it went for her.

Frankie😋: What’s up! how was your first day back?

Illi was sitting at her desk with the computer on when she heard the beep from the notifications. She had waiting for Frank to text her as soon as she got home. She wanted to take her mind off of somethings and Frank was a good distraction. She always felt a little better when she talked to him.

Illi✨: Heyy. It could’ve been better. I had a complete breakdown in front of my brother and a friend :(

Frank had thought it was a complete coincidence that Illi had also had a break down when Gerard—same person—had one too, but he moved on from the thought because that would be crazy.

Chapter 4: Chapter Three

Notes:

Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoy!

Their second day of school was calmer than the first. Everyone had gotten their schedules figured out and they was no need to stress—until Illi had gotten to third period. She had been dreading getting to math mostly because of Bert.

Bert was the reason Illi had a freak out yesterday and she didn’t want a repeat of that. When she entered the class room Bert was staring at the door just waiting for her to walk through the door.

“What’s up Gerard? I feel like we didn’t talk a lot yesterday,” Bert said with a smirk.

He knew that he had upset Illi yesterday and honestly he didn’t care. He couldn’t wrap his head around what he had said to make her dissociate, but he couldn’t find it in him to care enough.

Illi flinched at the use of her dead name. A lot of the time she could ignore it, but there were times where it made her want to scratch herself out of her skin.

She sank down in her seat completely ignoring Bert and whatever he was trying to say to her. She wanted to be able to get through to class without thinking how she’ll never be a girl and she wanted to listen to her art teacher.

“Gerard, you can’t ignore me foreverrr,” Bert said in a sing song voice.

Despite what Bert said Illi ignored him and pretended that he wasn’t there. But she could hear his voice and it made her want to turn around and tell him to shut up.

“Can you just please leave me alone. That’s all I ask,” Illi mumbled out to Bert, but still not looking at him.

She wanted to get the point across that she didn't want to talk to him—she wanted to be left alone with her thoughts so she could spiral because she wanted to, not because someone else sent her there.

"Oh, you know you don't want that. Come on, just talk to me."

Illi was getting sick and tired of this conversation. She turned to look at Bert and said, "Bert, I swear to god if you keep trying to talk to me I'll—"

"What? Are you gonna hurt me? Try to kill me," Bert said trying to provoke Illi.

At this point the whole class could pretty much hear what Illi and Bert were saying—that everyone also included the teacher.

"Bert and Illi. Do you need to step out of the classroom to work our your problems or should I move your sets?"

Illi had never thought about moving seats but right now it felt like the best option. She didn't want to sit next to Bert ever again and she would die on that hill.

"Can we just move seats," Illi asked in a small voice looking up at the teacher.

Bert looked over at Illi with a smirk. He had gotten her right where he wanted her, but maybe he didn't want that. The more he looked at her the more he saw her. From the long black hair that wasn't only in her face but framed it too. There was a softness to her face that anyone could see with their own eyes.

In that moment he wanted her in a way that he had never wanted anyone else. Of course he had wanted different people, mostly girls, but Gerard—Illi—looked like a girl. For god-sake she was a girl, but Bert didn't know that yet.

He was going to her no matter how much it took.

"Gerard, I promise I'll move your seat when class is over—only you let me get through the rest of the lesson without a problem."

She thought that was a far trade so Illi nodded her head and ignored Bert during the rest of the class.

Just as her teacher—Mrs. Sykes—had promised she had talked to him after class as what happened. They came up with the conclusion that she was going to move the two teenagers away from each other on different sides of the classroom.

Luckily for Illi she hadn't dissociated for the rest of the day and was able to pay attention to everything that was being said. She also hadn't had a break down which she counted as a good thing.

"Hey Gerard, how was class with Bert," Mikey asked when Illi and him met up together for passing period.

After yesterday Illi told Mikey the reason she was so out of it was because of Bert and he thought that made a lot more sense. The whole time Mikey was waiting for Illi to tell him what happened he couldn't believe that Frank was the reason she freaked out.

"Oh god, don't even get me started," Illi said with an annoyed sigh and rolled her eyes. "The whole class heard our conversation—argument—and then the teacher had to break us up. Now I have to move seats all because Bert doesn't know how to keep his mouth shut."

Mikey thought that it should've been the other way around—Bert should have to move seats and Illi should be able to stay.

"What was the argument today about?"

"Just him being an asshole saying that I can't ignore him forever and then I tried to threaten him," Illi said with a shrug of her shoulders.

Mikey was going to respond to Illi, but was cut off by Illi calling Frank over.

Frank had his hood over his head trying not to get noticed by Illi and Mikey. He still didn't know that he wasn't the reason for the breakdown yesterday. He wanted to live in peace of not knowing for sure if he was the main reason for it or not.

"Frances! You didn't sit with us at lunch, what's up," Illi asked while Frank walked over to them.

Illi was a hurt when Frank didn't walk over to sit with them today. They had made this whole thing yesterday about how they started school together and were ending it together, but when Frank didn't turn up it made her feel cheated—like it was just aa big lie.

"Well, lunch yesterday was off and I didn't know if it was okay for me to sit there or not."

If Frank was being honest he didn't want to sit with everyone because he knew that everyone—besides Illi—was upset with him and he didn't really want to deal with all that.

"That doesn't mean we don't want you there." Illi was really starting to hate her friend group—she actually loved them, but right now she was upset with them. "The guys are just giving you a hard time which I will yell at them for it later."

Illi looked up at Frank just at the right time and they made direct eye contact. Mikey could see them eye fucking each other and immediately called Pete over so he wouldn't be third wheeling and that seemed to snap them out of it.

"Hello Gee, Frankie," Pete said with a wide grin on his face.

He had been calling Illi and Frank by nicknames ever since he had meet them. It was the only other name Illi was okay being called cause it wasn't masculine or feminine—there was no gender to it and honestly she was okay with that.

"And hello Mikey," Pete said with a smile looking at Mikey and leaned in to kiss him.

"Ew, please stop," said Illi with an exclaimed voice.

It wasn't the first time she had seen Pete and Mikey make out, but she didn't want to keep seeing it. Who would want to see their brother make out with someone else?

"Do they do this often?"

Frank didn't want to watch Mikey make out with someone, but he just couldn't draw her eyes away—it was like watching a car crash.

"Sadly yes. Okay break it up please, the bell is about to ring."

When Illi talked it pulled Pete and Mikey out of their make out session, but they were still leaning on one another in a lovey-dovey way.

"Okay, we all have to go now before we're late."

Mikey and Pete broke off from the others leaving Illi and Frank.

"What class do you have next," Illi asked Frank.

"Ugh, math. My most hated subject. What about you?

Illi giggled—yes giggled—at Franks over exclamation of his hatred of math. She needed to excuse herself from this conversation before she makes a fool out of herself.

"Um, art," Illi said while Frank and her started walking so they wouldn't be late for class.

She cringed at herself when she said what class she was in. It was a little cliche, but she loved it so she didn't mind.

"Dude that's so cool. You gotta show me some of your art later, bit for now I must leave before both of us are late."

Before Illi could reply Frank had vanished like he wasn't even there in the first place. He was like a ghost that had vanished before anyone could see him, but she had seen him and she didn't know how to feel about that.

Illi had made her way to art class, but she arrived late.

"Somethings always going to go wrong with this class isn't it," She mumbled before walking into class.

She was just glad that her art teacher didn't really really care if she was late or not.

During her class she was actually able to pay attention to the class and what she was being taught and turns out she hates it. Illi has to draw whatever her teacher is telling her and there's no room for creativity.

Illi wanted to have a class where she could show some of herself, but this class wasn't that. She didn't want to have to stare at a bowl of fruit and copy it down. The only thing she was hoping for was for the class to change to where she can show some of herself and show some off some of her work.

After class she deicide to talk to her teacher because if she didn't know what was going to happen for the rest of the semester.

"Um, Mr. Weekes," Illi asked when it was only her and the teacher left in the class room.

Mr. Weekes looked up and Illi and gave her a small smile. "Yes Gerard?"

Illi flinched at her 'name' but ignored it.

"I was wondering if we were going to have a creative unit."

He let out a quite laugh at her question. "Trust me, there's gonna be a creative unit. I just want people to know what their doing before we start that."

She side of relief at his explanation. When Illi talked to Mr. Weekes she felt like she could open up—like he didn't care what she identified as. Maybe it was because he was an art teacher—she had no idea.

When she left the classroom she wasn't expecting to see Frank and Mikey standing there.

"What are you doing here," Illi asked, staring at Frank. "Wait, that sounded really mean. I just mean like…don't you have to go home or something?"

Mikey laughed at his sisters embarrassment. He could tell that she has and will always be flustered around Frank.

"My mom will believe me if I lie to her. Her get little bo—girl—can never do no harm."

Frank didn't even realize that he had started to say boy. It felt right to say it like that and he didn't even think about it.

"Right right," Mikey said. He was a little suspicious of Frank, but he didn't say anything about it. "Well the reason we're here is because yesterday you freaked out and we didn't want that to happen again. I guess you can say were your bodyguards for your mental health."

"Yeah yeah whatever. Just because I freaked out yesterday doesn't mean it'll happen again," Illi said as they started walking and she crossed her arms across her chest.

"It was my idea," Frank mumbled. "I just wanted to make sure you were okay."

Illi's felt butterflies in her stomach and her face warmed up with heavy blush.

"Okay, fine I forgive you," She said walking backwards looking at both her Brother and Frank. She turned back around and started walking next to Frank. "Thank you. It means a lot," she mumbled so only Frank could hear her.

"Of course. I'll always help," Frank softly said back.

Notes:

Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed!