"If You Want Me To Be"

Y'all knew I wouldn't just call this 'Epilogue'

Like I said in chap 18, something really important at the end of this.

10 years later

"Gee, come on sugar, I think that's enough scented candles.", Frankie, my husband, laughs. "Honey, you don't understand. There is never enough scented candles." "Don't you think Mitch would just knock them all over all the time?" Mitch is one of our pets. He's a cat we got out of a shelter, together with our french bulldog Susan. They were inseperable, so we just took both of them with us. "Mitch would never and you know that, if all it would be Peppers." "Hey, don't call my baby out like that!" We both start laughing and finally finish our shopping trip for decorations. I'm so excited, Frankie and I have lived in a flat together for about six years, which itself was just amazing and an exciting new experience and now we're moving into a house! Pretty much everything is done now, except for the decorations. And the pretty much almost only things we got are frames, candles and like, three random decorative items, like a porcellain pineapple. Well, we got a lot of scented candles though. I just can't control myself around scented candles. Who does though? Except Frankie appearently, for some reason. Well anyway, we're off to heading home now, but first making a stop at my parents' house. They've pretty much moved out and gave it to my brother, so basically it's Mikey and Pete's house now. And I guess Ray and Trick live there too. I mean, they do have enough room for it. We asked them to cat- and dogsit for us, we didn't just want to leave four dogs and a cat alone. "Hey guys, we're bac- whoa! Honey, the dogs are attacking me, might you call your oh so precious babies off me?" He just laughs and whistles and all the dogs, except for Susan run to him instead. Susan was always rather favorizing me and I honestly can't even tell you why. Frankie and I leash the dogs and Mitch and make us on our way to our home. There, we start decorating everything a bit and the house looks so much nicer now, I think it looks amazing. "And, whad'ya think sugar?" "I absolutely love it. Just like I love you." "You're still as soppy as you were ten years ago, you know that, sugar?" "And you're still as hot as you were back then, I daresay you might be even hotter now." Frankie chuckles and takes my hand. "We should go outside with the dogs, Mikey told me the last time they were outside was a while ago and we drove home so they didn't really havethe chance of doing anything." "Then let's go Frankie." Our at first pretty calm and relaxing walk quickly turns into something a lot more stressful as I spot something in the river right next to us, which turns ou to be a puppy. "Frankie, look! We gotta do something!" "Okay, fuck, umm, yeah- take the dogs for a sec please, I'm gonna get it." Frank, wait-" But he doest listen to me and almost runs to the river. He kneels down and tries to fetch the puppy. I'm having a kinda hard time to hold all of the dogs back because they're all wanting to join my husband. He didn't get the puppy so he's taking his sweater off, jumps into the river and swims after it. The thing is, it's currently a pretty cold april day, so I'm highly doubting Frankie's gonna get out of this without getting sick. But well, he did save the puppy. He's climbing out of the river, wrapping the puppy in his sweater and comes back to me. "We should go back, Frankie, you're soaking and you're also shaking. It's pretty cold and I don't want you to catch a terrible flu or something." Frankie nods and we get back as quick as we can. While my husband is showering, I'm taking care of the small dog. Once Frankie is done, we decide to bring it to a shelter immediately so it can be taken better care of.
"Oh, hello Gee, hi Frank, how can I help you today?" I smile. Miss Jackson hasn't changed at all in the past few years. "Hello, well we're here for an emergency kind of situation basically. We were on a walk with our dogs and then I saw something in the water." "We saved this cute little pupper here from drowning in the river." "Oh gosh, okay, I'm gonna call Ned overimmediately, I'll contact you again as soon as we'll get it to a vet. Thank you so much for bringing the puppy here." "We did what we could. See you soon!" "Bye Frank, bye Gee." We leave again and go home. "Well this was one helll of a day, don't you thik, sugar?" "Yeeeah, today was rather...eventful, that's true. We deserve some rest man. Come cuddle?" Frankie chuckles and nods. "But let me take a shower first, you were already shhowering so you don't need one but I still need one." "How about I join you though?", he whispers into my ear and smirks. "Well then I haven't said anything, feel free to come with me."
Next morning we get a call from the shelter. They'll get the pup to a vet now and ask us if we want to come too. Twenty minutes later we're there. After a while we're told that the dog seems to be fine and there's no serious damage. We get back to the shelter and I see that Frankie seems to want to ask something but holds it back. I look at him, an eyebrow raised and he looks at me with an unsure smile. I put a hand on his shoulder and return a reassuring smile. He slides his arm around my waist and pulls me closer to him. Then we walk over to Ned. "Umm, hey Ned?" "Yeah? What is it Frank?" "Could I...umm could I name the puppy?", he asks unsure. Ned smiles softly at him. "Of course. What name do you want to give her?" Frankie hesitates for a second and then says "Lois. I want to call her Lois." "That's a nice name. Lois it is then.", Ned smiles. Frankie smiles back happily, causing me to smile too. I love to see him this happy. It's one of my favorite things in the world. I especially recall one time I made him extremely happy. When I proposed to him. It was a beautiful day in spring, early may to be exact. The trees were blooming, the meadows all full of flowers and everyone was in a fantastic mood. I asked Frankie on a date that day and we went to get ice cream after being at the record shop for about an hour. After that I brought him to our favorite place in the park and we just sat down for a bit. After a while I got all my courage together and started talking. "Frankie...there is a specific reason I asked you out. And, I mean, of course I did it because I like spending time with you and it makes me happy to see you happy but-... Okay, so we've been together for eight years now. We've been inseperable since pretty much the day we first got to know each other and I wouldn't have any other way. I love you. I love every little thing about you, and you know how often I told you that I wouldn't want to change anything about you. But- oh god this sounded so much smoother in my head...well, I guess I did find one thing I want to change about you. I don't want to call you my boyfriend anymore, I want to call you my husband.", as I was speaking, I got up and then was falling on one knee, "Frank Anthony Iero, will you marry me?" Frankie was lost for words for a second before he just jumped up and tackled me down. "Yes, yes, YES!" He smiled so widely and happily at me that I just melted. God, I love him so much. After a while of him not letting me go, he chuckled lightly. "Wow, when was the last time you called me Frank? It's just feeling so weird to hear you adress me with something else than your nicknames for me. Which make me melt a little more whenever you use them. You're honestly just so adorable." "It's not like you aren't adorable either, Frankie. Like, how you just reacted to this by simply tackling me into a hug which literally still lasts right now. Hey- what are you doing? Get back here, this wasn't me saying you should get off me!" Frankie giggled and held one arm out to me. "I think cuddling works better when we're home. Come on, sugar, let's get back." I took his hand and got up. After that, he got on his tiptoes and kissed my cheek. "Thanks for asking me out on this date. It was amazing from the beginning to the end. Just spending time with you is amazing. I love you." "Aww Frankie, you don't have to thank me. I love you too."
"Gee? Geebear! Sugar, what's on your mind? You seem like you just thought about something very happy." Frankie smiles gently at me and I return that smile. "I was thinking about how much I love it to see you happy. And then I thought about one speific time, it's one of my favorite memories." I look at his hand and he follows my glance and understands immediately. "You're literally so adorable. Yeah, it's one of my favorite memories too. I honestly just love you so, so much." The smiles we gave each other not fading, we just look at each other lovingly for a few seconds, then I pick Frankie up and pull him into a kiss. After some time I realize that we're not alone. I kinda just forgot about Ned, who's now just awkwardly standing there, but he's smiling at us. "Well, I guess we're gonna leave now. Keep us updated about Lois, alright?" "'Course Gee. Bye you two." "See you!" Back home we feed our pets and then lay down on the couch and cuddle. "Sugar?" "Hmm?" "I love you." "I love you too." We just look at each other for a few seconds before our moment gets interrupted by my phone. I roll my eyes and look who's calling. Mikey. Why does my brother have such a talent in interrupting things? "Gee? Oh umm...I hope I'm not interrupting anything important-..." "No, it's uh- it's fine. You sound really excited, what have you got to tell me?" "Oh god- okay so basically, Pete and I are dads!" "What? Really? Oh my god, I'm so proud of you Mikes, this is amazing!" "What's going on sugar?" "Wait a second Frankie." I put Mikey on speaker and ask him to tell it again so Frankie can hear it too. "Pete and I got a son! His name is Bronx and he's so sweet and beautiful. Oh, I'm getting emotional- anyway, I called because I wanted to ask if you want to come over and meet him. Do you?" "Yeah, of course! We'll be right over." "Okay, see you." I quickly hang up and jump to my feet. "Come on, honey! Ooh I'm so excited for Mikes! And Pete too, of course. Gosh, I might just be as excited as them." Frankie chuckles. "Sugar, you're behaving like an excited little child. It's adorable though, because pretty much everything you do is adorable. Okay, let's go meet Bronx then."
A few minutes later, we arrive at the house and get inside as quickly as possible. We're immediately greeted by a very excited looking Trick. "Hey guys! Mikey and Pete are gonna come down in a little bit. There was a little- uhh...incident. Ray's currently out, he volunteered to go grocery shopping, I'd have gone with him but Pete wanted me to stay, just in case. I guess it's good that he did." A few minutes later, I hear someone run down the stairs. "Gee! Frank!" Mikey pretty much just tackles me in a hug. I smile softly. It doesn't happen often that he shows so much emotion while basically everyone's around. "Hey Mikes! How's my baby brother doing?" "I'm great. And I'm excited! Anyway, meet Bronx you guys." He smiles excitedly and looks over to the stairs. In that moment, Pete comes down the stairs, carrying a small bundle on his arm. He looks so happy and proud. "Hey you guys." His voice is merely a whisper, it just feels like one of these moments where it would be inappropriate to talk loudly. Frankie and I walk over to Pete to take a closer look. "He's such a lovely little lad.", I say, smiling softly. "Yeah, yeah he is. Oh I'm so happy we've got him. We haven't had him for long yet, but I love him so much already. I mean, I guess that's normal but it just feels so...insane.", Pete vents for a bit before smiling getly and then looking up at me. "Do you want to hold him?" I just nod, slightly overwhelmed but I can manage that pretty good. I also start talking to him a little. "Hey there little buddy...I'm your- umm...dad's sibling...? And that's my husband and your uncle, Frankie." I nod over to him and he smiles gently at me and comes a bit closer to put his arm around my waist. He talks to Bronx too shortly and it makes me just melt inside. I hand the little one back to Pete and then turn to Mikey. "How'd you get him?" "Well, so you know our friend Ashlee, right? She volunteered to carry him out for us. We've known about this for a pretty long while obviously but llike, we wanted to wait with telling you about it until we got him. And getting this little angel was one of the best things to happen in my entire life by far." Mikey gets really sentimental right now, and I think he's actually tearing up from happiness. He wants to talkon but a small voice crack interrupts him. "Oh- 'M sorry, it's just- god I am so happy right now..." An actual tear is rolling down his face now. "Aww Mikey...You guys definetely made a right desicion. I am so, so proud of you. I really am." We just talk a little after Pete brought Bronx upstairs and Ray came back and it's all pretty emotional and it just literally feels like a family reunion but in great. I mean, basically, in some way it is one but not quite. And it's with people I really want to see and spend time with rather than people I am forced to spend time with. Some time later, we say goodbye to everyone and then get home. "Well this was a rather exciting day, wasn't it?" "Yeah, honey, I guess you're right. Time for some quality cuddling to calm down from everything?" "As if I'd ever say no to that. Care to join me for a bath before though?" "Well what are we waiting for?"
After a relaxing bubble bath and us just being really childish, we lay down in our bed, Frankie immediately spooning me, draping one arm around my waist. I cuddle closer to him and we start talking about a few random things. I's just nice and calm and I really wouldn't have it any other way. I couldn't even imagine a life without him. And I also don't want to. I'm just so, so happy with my life how it is right now. "Geebear? Where are you with your thoughts today? Would you let me in too?" I smile softly at him and tell him about what I thought. "You know...I'm just really happy with my life. And I'm happy I can experience all of this together with you. I wouldn't want to trade this for anything in the world. And I know we've told each other that quite a lot, literally since we were sixteen. Ah, how time passes. Anyway, I'm just happy to live my life with you, I couldn't even imagine living without you." You're so adorable. I couldn't imagine living without you either, my beautiful angel." I blush slightly at the nickname and then turn around to him and pull him into a soft, innocent kiss.
It's now october. Frankie and I have been going to Mikey's place pretty often. We'd even bring some of our pets at times, it's really fun to see Bronx interact with them. Sometimes Pete and Mikey would also come over to our place with him, it's easier for us due to our pets. Speaking of pets, Frankie and I have also been going to the shelter pretty often to check on Lois. Ned told us she'd be free to adoption very soon. And I know that my husband is a bit sad about it. He's really fallen for the cute little pupper and I mean, who can blame him? I also don't know why he didn't come up with the idea of us adopting her. But I guess this makes it easier for me. My train of thoughts gets interrupted as something tugs on my jeans. It's Bronx, to whom I appearently haven't paid enough attention. "Hey little one. You wanna play with me?"
After playing with him and then also together with Frankie, who was feeding our pets before that, Bronx falls asleep pretty quickly. "I'm gonna go take a shower now. Care to join sugar?" Normally I would absolutely not pass an opportunity to do that but I kinda gotta do something. Luckily I have Bronx to back me up. "I think one of us should watch the little on before something happens." "I guess you're right. Well, I'm gonna go now." "Don't die." He chuckles and then leaves for the bathroom. When I'm sure that he's in the shower and likely can't hear me, I call Ned. "Hello? Oh, Gee. What's going, why'd you call? Is it an emergency? Did you find another dog?" " Ned! Calm down dude. No, it's not really and emergency. Just- just a question." "Oh, okay? Shoot then." "Well, you uhh...okay wait. It might be better to talk about that in person, especially because I don't know if Frankie could be listening. Can I coem over tomorrow?" "Yeah sure. Around two?" "I think that should work. See you tomorrow then!" "Bye Gee." Okay, now I need a good excuse to go somewhere because I can't just tell Frankie that I'd go to the shelter without him. Stuck deep in thought, I don't even realize him coming in, until he starts to wave like crazy in front of my face. "Huh? Oh, Frankie, I didn't even see you coming in." He chuckles. "Yeah, I could see that. Anyway, I gotta tell you something. I'll need to go to my parents tomorrow. I'd ask you to come if you'd like but it seems to be an emergency type of situation and it might be too much stress. I wish they'd have told me what this emergency is though. Also I don't know if I'm gonna be back by tomorrow so if you'd come along, no one could feed our pets. Well, we could call Mikey and Pete about that part but they could be busy as well." "Oh, okay. I hope it's nothing too terrible. When will you go?" "I'm guessing around ten. I could take Bronx and bring him to his parents too when I'm on my way. I highly doubt they're gonna come and get him now, once they've got the opportunity to have some, y'know, alone time." "Ahhh I guess you're right." He chuckless lightly. "Yeah well, I'm pretty sure I'm right because Pete just texted me and asked if we could talke Bronx over night." I laugh a little too. "Well, I guess we should head to bed then if you wanna go this early. I mean it's about eleven already."
Next morning, I get up together with my husband to cuddle for some time before he gets up. I stay in bed for a bit more, Mitch curled up beside me. I'm so happy I could get the little dude, I've always loved cats but it's kinda hard to always have a cat around if you're allergic to them. But Mitch's and allergy cat so it's totally fine with him around. After petting him for a bit, I decide to get up too. I pass the time until two by going outside with the dogs and cleaning up a bit, then I make my way to the shelter. "Hey Ned." "Oh, hello Gee. So, what was it that you wanted to talk to me about?" "Well...okay so you told us that Lois would be free to adopt soon, right? I wanted to ask if I could get her. Frankie's birthday is in a week and I know how hard he's fallen for the little pup, so I figured thid would be appropriate. I don't know why he hasn't asked me about adopting her but I guess that way it's easier for me. I can literally imagine his reaction perfectly. He's gonna be so, so happy and that'd make me happy too. Also, I love the little dog a lot too." "You guys are super adorable. And of course you can have her. You could pick her up on the morning of his birthday." "That sounds like a great idea. Oh I hope he's gonna like the surprise." "Like it? He's gonna love it, trust me. As much as he loves you." I smile a bit. "I guess that's why I'm his spouse. Okay anyway, I'm gonna be here around nine then, is that alright?" "Yeah sure. See you soon and good luck surprising Frank." "Thank you, bye!" On my way home I get a call. 'Honey<3 is calling...' I quickly pick up and greet my husband. "Hey honey. Everything allright?" "Hey my sweet sugar. Yeah, everything's fine. I'm gonna be home soon by the way." He sounds a bit annoyed. "Oh? So why'd your family need you so urgently?" ""Well I guess my parents see it as an emergency to tell me that they're not gonna be there for my birthday and hand me my gifts beforehand. I don't know why they couldn't just tell me that over the telephone and maybe spend a few days together with me afterwards. The y kept me in for lunch and coffee and I'll be back in about an hour. See you then. I love you, bye." "Love you too." I hang up and sigh a bit in relief. He hasn't questioned why I'm outside and probably assumes I'm with the dogs, so there's no suspicions there. Thinking about it, this all seems like one huge convenience. Like, I needed an excuse to go to the shelter alone and suddenly I don't anymore because my husband isn't there? What the fuck. Anyway, back at home I start preparing dinner and then play with the dogs for a while. After half an hour, they kinda lose interest in playing, so I lay down on the couch, Mitch next to me. As I'm about to drift away to sleep, I hear the door open. "Sugar, I'm home! Hii Susan, hey Peppers." He literally starts greeting all of the dogs. I smile faintly but I'm too tired to get up. "Oh, there you are. And Mitch's here too, hey little buddy. Sugar? Are you awake?" I groan a little, open my eyes and smile softly but I probably also look extremely tired." "Okay, c'mere." He lifts me up, which is probably a bit hard for him and carries me to the bedroom, where he lays me down on our bed. I hear him take some of his clothes off and then he lays down next to me, pulling me into his arms. "I love you, my angel.", he whispers gently before gently stroking my back. "I love you too." And then I'm drifting more and more off into sleep. A few hours later, I wake up from a loud bang and flashing lights. I need a minute to realize that a thunderstorm broke out. Great. I mean, I'm not particularly scared by thunderstorms, but I do have some respect for them. And I hate the fucking flashing lights, they're distracting me. Someone else in this house is afraid of thunderstorms though. All of our dogs... and Frankie. The thing is, it hasn't been getting better since our teen years, it's kinda been going worse. Looking over at him, I almost sigh in relief because he hasn't woken up from the thunderstorm, but in that moment a particularly loud thunder crashes in and Frankie startles awake. He looks confused for a second, before the confusion pretty quickly fades over into fear. I immediately pull him close to me and call our dogs. Mitch was here anyway but since we fell asleep in the middle of the day, the dogs didn't all follow us. Now they're all huddled up together with us an I'm trying my best to calm my husband and the dogs down a little. I stroke Frankie's back gently and whisper ccomforting things to him. And I keep on reassuring him that I'm there and he's going to bee okay. "Frankie shh...it's fine. I'm here. I'm here for you. It's gonna be okay. I'm here to pass the time with you until it's over. You're safe with me." After a while I feel him shake less. I continue to stroke his back and give him a kiss on the head. The thunderstorm calmed down a bit too and Frankie has too. His voice is still a bit shaky as he asks me how late it is. I look at my alarm and nearly start choking. Our or more rather my originally planned one or two hour nap turned into an almost seven hour nap. "It's umm around eleven thirty." "W- well that was a long nap, wasn't it?" "Yeah, I guess it was. Well luckily I already prepared dinner so that we only have to warm it up." "And what could we do after that? I don't think falling asleep would work too good." "Yeah, guess you're right about that. We could watch a movie or maybe...uhhh...I dunno. Star Wars marathon?" Frankie grins at me. "Star Wars marathon."
The week passes by pretty fast and then suddenly it's already Frankie's birthday. I set my alarm to seven and try to do everything really quietly. In case of him waking up before I'm back, which will likely happen, I leave him a note. 'Hey honey, if you find this and don't find me, don't worry. I'm somewhere it was nessecary. Sorry I didn't wake you up. See you soon! xoGee' and then I head out to get Lois. "Hello Gee. Come to pick up the dog you saved, am I right?" "Yeah, pretty much true, Miss Jackson. So I'm going to get her now, I'm a bit in a hurry." "I see. Okay, see you soon. Tell me how the surprise went." She winks at me and I head off to Ned. He's already waiting for me, Lois on his lap. The little dog jumps from his lap when she sees me and runs up to me. I giggle, pet her quickly and put her on the leash I got before coming here. "A'ight little friend, you ready to move to your forever home? Then let's go." Ned quickly gives me everything I need and then I head off again. When I arrive home. I place Lois behind me and take my shoes and jacket off, while listening if my husband is awake already. But I don't hear very much. Lois appearently found a blanket one of our dogs brought here and lay down there. She's pretty much asleep. I quietly creep into the kitchen, take the note away and make coffee. I also start making pancakes. Then I walk into the bedroom to find Frankie huddled up with the dogs and even Mitch. I quickly snap a photo of it, before making my husband up. "Hey honey.", I whisper quietly and pour kisses all over his face until I feel him move and his eyes flutter open. "Happy birthday Frankie!" He smiles softly and pulls me into a kiss. "Come on, I made us breakfast." As I say that, he quickly gets up, all our pets following us. I quickly go check on Lois while Frankie's on the toilet. She's still asleep, which is pretty good. I just hope the other dogs won't start barking. While we're eating breakfast, we just talk about random things for a while. And then, once we're almost finished I say: "Hey so Ned called before and well, Lois was adopted." "Oh, really?" He sounds kinda happy, probably because he knows that the dog got a forever home now, but he also sounds a bit sad. "Well...I think I've also got to tell you something else. Be right back." Frankie seems confused as I quickly get up. I go over to Lois and wake her up. "Hey sweet girl. You wanna go see your dad now? Yeah? You wanna go see? Okay, follow me!" Lois seems really excited and as I start walking towards the kitchen, she quickly waddles behind me. "Frankie, I want to introduce you someone. Well, you already know her but still. And here she comes!" Lois comes in behind me, looking a bit unsure until she spots my husband. She immediately starts wagging her tail like crazy and even lets out a tiny attempt at a bark. It sounds so adorable. What's also adorable is the look on Frankie's face. He looks really surprised and also really happy. "Lois?!" "Happy birthday Frankie!" "Oh my god Gee. You-  you actually have- wow. I guess surprise succeeded. Thank you so much!" I chuckle lightly and then sit down again next to Frankie. He has Lois in his lap now. He kisses me quickly and finishes his breakfast. We spend the rest of the day together with our friends and my brother. It's a really fun day and I think Frankie thinks that too. When we're then in bed after this particularly long and also kind of exhausting day, he turns to me. " Thank you so fucking much again sugar, for everything. And not only everything that you've done for me today, but everything you've done for me since we first met. I love you so much." "Aww Frankie I love you too. And I'm just as thankful for what you've done for me. I'm so lucky to have you by my side." "Me too, sugar. Me too." I smile lovingly at him, before he pulls me into a deep kiss.

[The End]

Okay to be honest I didn't want to write anything under here anymore. But now I kind of have to. I haven't been feeling too good lately and a lot off that for private reasons and stress in school. SO I'm taking a longer break from wattpad in general. So that's why I never vote or comment on stories anymore, I just can't find time to read things, let alone write. I promile I will be back though. Check my Emo Oneshots collection and my tumblr for updates though please. As soon as something new is posted in the emo oneshot collection, my break has ended and I'll justt normally be on wattpad again. Thank you all for listening, for going on this wild ride with me and for just clicking on this story to begin with. Love out to you all.