(A/n)
Requested by pigeonmustdie
what's it like to be short, guys? 😳
hah, not me acting like if i was rly tall
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Tiredness already plays around my eyes and down my legs, but I know I won't be able to fall asleep if I do it now and the brief moment I'm spending slouched against the side of the van while the other four decide where we should go may be enough. My eyes avert to Frank. He's standing a bit apart from the other three, eyebrows furrowed as he watches them attentively, eyes averting to whoever is talking from time to time. A cigarette rests between his pointer and index finger, smoke escaping his lips every now and then.
There's something about him.
As if sensing my gaze, Frank turns his head to face me and raises his eyebrows in a silent impatience which I partially share. He shakes his head to himself, giving up on the others, and approaches me instead. He takes a deep inhale and, in the moment he stops, he blows it all over my face.
"Stupid," I say as wrinkling my nose, too tired to even step away.
A smile plays on Frank's lips and I reach for the cigarette, taking a drag of it myself while he watches, leaning back against the van too. Pretending I'm going to copy his actions, but I blow the smoke to the night air instead.
Frank lets out a humorous hum, observing me with a tiredness which I imagine to equal mine, however, it's something difficult to tell and kind of improbable even after almost an hour of jumping around on a stage without ceasing. I lift the cigarette to his lips, letting him take a drag then I do so myself and throw the stump on the ground, smashing it against the parking lot's pavement with the heel of my shoe.
"Hey," Mikey's voice averts our attention away from each other. "We're going to the amusement park." He points to the lights in the distance, luminous spots making out the shape of a Ferris wheel and a rollercoaster. That might be fun.
My feet are still heavy when I start to follow them in a walk that hopefully won't be a too long one, with Frank right beside me.
Hearing the screams of people going down the rides, the music, or even the loud chatter coming from the amusement park becomes easier according to how close we get to it and, inevitably, we're slowly pulled into the specific vibe the place carries. A pleasant one. Once we step past the gates, we all share some looks like if checking each other's opinion on the place and, in general, it works.
"Imma buy us the tix," Gerard mutters, looking around before he lights himself a cig and tucks the lighter in his pocket to pull his wallet out of it this time. After we all hand him money, Gerard has enough dollars and soon returns with all the tickets, handing each of us an equal quantity, about four for each. "Where should we go first?"
"Rollercoaster," Mikey suggests almost immediately, tucking the tickets into his hoodie's pocket.
A hum of agreement comes from Ray as he glances at the rollercoaster and at the line for it, which isn't that long. "Sounds like a good idea. Y'all up for it," he questions as eyeing everyone – Gerard nods while Frank seems excited about it, clapping his hands together; he looks at me and it's not like I've got any choice, but it's not a problem either.
Frank approaches me when we start walking towards the rollercoaster; he hugs my arm and rests his head against my shoulder and maybe he's more tired than I had presumed.
"We gonna stay somewhere tonight or van it is again?" I ask when we come to a stop, actually more interested in just maintaining a talk with Frank rather than with the other three too. Not that I've got anything against them. I'm tired.
"Honestly?" Frank breathes a chuckle, moving his head lightly to look at me. "I accepted the fact we're sleeping in the van again in the moment Gerard started talking about going out after the concert and the motel's money is right there in that fucking tickets booth!" He groans and wraps his arms around me, burying his face in the crook of my neck.
"The struggle is real, Frankie," I say with equal frustration as hugging him back. He hums lazily.
Turns out Frank continues in the same position for a long time, more specifically, until it is already our time to get in the carts. Every time we needed to move, I'd need to practically drag Frank with me because he just wouldn't let go and that's it on letting him gain proximity with you.
Gerard, Mikey and Ray go ahead since they were in front of us already, then it's us.
Us, but actually no.
"I'm sorry," the park's staff person says after taking a glance at us, extending a hand towards the discreet structure that shows the minimum height for the ride with a stupid 'you need to be this tall' written in bright letters. The motherfucking limit is about an inch above Frank's head. "You two can't go in the ride because your height doesn't meet the security policy's limits." Their voice is tired and it's like they've said this repeatedly, to a point they don't even wait for our response before yelling next.
Frank and I are left without reaction, eyes wide as we share an indignant look which goes pretty much ignored too, so we try to recur to the guys and the only one that catches our gaze is Ray.
The motherfucker shrugs in a what can I do? manner.
"Fucking hell, what kind of amusement park still has the height thing?" Frank clicks his tongue, shoving his hands in his jeans' pockets while he kicks the ground in disappointment. "It's so high, that shit's unfair."
"The kind of park that cares about you," a sudden voice says and we turn to see a stereotypical Karen standing there in the line, twisting her mouth at us.
We glare, solely. It's better to ignore it than to feed the troll because heaven knows it wouldn't end well.
I sigh. "Okay, let's go so something else. Maybe we can buy some food or whatever," I tell Frank as hooking my arm with his and starting to drag him with me off to somewhere else. "Or maybe we can go on another ride," I mutter with a bit more of grudge than I should.
"Oh, so it's just the two of us?" Frank grins, his tone teasing. "As in a date?"
"Yes, Frankie," I tell him in a similar tone and grin, knowing he wasn't waiting for this. "As in a date, like I should've done long ago." And his expression is probably the best thing ever – the red color taking over his cheeks almost immediately is visible even under the colorful lights. He isn't certain about how to react, lips pressed together and twitching before a breathy chuckle comes from him. He does suck in a breath in a way it looks like he is going to say something, but it only turns out in another groan of frustration as he buries his face in my shoulder, making me laugh lightly. "Come on, shortie, let's go do something!"
"You're short too," he mutters, glaring at me as he pulls away so we can walk properly.
"We don't talk about that anymore," I tell him, playfully returning the glare.
Frank pouts, looking at me for a moment longer before averting his attention to our surroundings. "Oh, hold on, I'm going to buy us popcorn!" He runs off, leaving me standing there – well, I choose to stand there after seeing he doesn't stop too far – and soon returns with a small paper bag filled with popcorn covered in pink dyed sugar. Frank brings one to my lips, seeming pleased with me accepting it. "Anyways, what about the carousel? Maybe we're tall enough," he says bitterly, narrowing his eyes at the rollercoaster.
"Sure." I shrug, not really having much excitement anymore after the earlier event. Still, Frank seems excited again once I agree, starting to pull me towards the carousel.
There's no line and most of the horses are free, so we just hand the staff person our tix and step on the carousel. I sit sideways on a black and red horse, one of my hands around the metal pole. Frank takes what seems to be the pinkiest one and looks at me like if he's proud of it, making me smile, shaking my head to myself.
"Gimme more popcorn," I tell Frank, reaching a hand even tho he's too far.
"No," he replies with a pout, grabbing a handful of it and bringing it to his mouth while keeping his gaze locked with mine. What a bitch. He just gives me this evil smile.
Rolling my eyes, I turn my attention away from Frank, looking around instead and I guess that, by now, the guys have left the rollercoaster already, but it doesn't even matter. Watching all the people walking around, laughing to themselves while eating, playing something or simply standing around helps with making me calmer, somehow. Or perhaps it's the tiredness. Well, I'm not up to finding out, to be honest.
I'm pulled away from my thoughts with sensing some motions close to me and I push myself back lightly, startled, but I calm down once my eyes land on Frank. "You startled me, you idiot."
Frank chuckles and continues raising his hand in the air with the popcorn between his fingers, which had startled me at first place. I move to eat the popcorn and he smiles with it, moving to do it again, eating some of the popcorn himself while I'm still munching down on it.
Due to the movement of the carousel, Frank ends up needing to step closer to make himself steady, lower body pressed against the horse as he stands between my legs, by none of us mind it, continuing to peacefully eat the popcorn until the carousel stops and the staff person tells us to leave. We sigh, doing it as said.
We decide to take a walk around the booths, observing the people playing all the games and failing at most of the time.
"Y'know," Frank stops at some point, "that looks nice." He points to one of the prizes of a booth – a balloon popping one – and it's a black bat plushie, a cute one. He says it like if he wants nothing, but I know Frank too well.
"Imma win that for you, Frankie, come on," I wrap an arm around him, bringing him with me closer to the booth.
"What?" He furrows his eyebrows, shooting me a look, trying to continue standing there, but I don't let him do so. "No, (y/n), save your fucking money! You know how these are full of tricks!"
"Frank, c'mon, let me at least try!" I tell him, stopping by the counter. "It's dart throwing, you know how good I am at that!" All the time throwing darts at posters with Gerard and Mikey ended up making us three become good at it, but Frank fucking sucks.
He sighs. "Okay, then." There's a bit of a feeling I can't identify in his voice, however, he does flash me a smile after a moment. I return the gesture, gazing at him for a moment.
I press a kiss to Frank's cheek before turning to the booth's worker, asking for the three darts for a dollar as promised by the big letters on the paper written on the paper hanging on it. Once I've got the dart in hands, I take a deep breath, holding the first dart up then throw it. First, failed. Second, failed. Third... pop.
A gasp comes from Frank in the same moment the balloon bursts and he grins, jumping excitedly and pointing to the bat before the booth's worker can even say anything.
"Thanks a lot, (n/n)!" Frank hugs the bat close, throwing the empty paper bag in a nearby trashcan. "Can I... Can I ask for something else too?" His eyes drift away for a moment before he looks back at me, tongue playing lightly with his lip ring.
"What?"
"Would you... give me a kiss? A peck, maybe?" He keeps the grin on his face despite he seems more awkward as the seconds go by, but his face ends up gaining a dark red tone after a moment and he looks away. "Okay, sorry, that was stupid. It's just that-" His breath is caught on his throat and he turns to look at me, still nervous.
"Damn, I like you a lot! More than as a friend, hell! And it started long ago! I didn't want to tell it to you to not ruin our friendship, but today..." Frank sighs. "The way you looked at me during the concert, when we were smoking by the van, hugging when in the line, earlier in the carousel, then you pecked my cheek and, fuck... It's difficult not falling for you." He doesn't avert his eyes away from mine and everything is just so raw and so perfect that it makes my heart so tight in my chest and also makes me fucking realize I'm more in love with him than I had thought.
"Really?" A breathy chuckle of happiness comes from me as I still observe him, processing his words. "Goddamnit, we lost so much time." It's also been a long time since I started liking him this way.
Frank looks at me with eyes wide in disbelief, slowly stepping closer; his free hand rests on the side of my neck. His gaze falls from my eyes to my lips a few times. "So...?" He asks and I nod, wrapping an arm around his neck as pulling him closer, finally pressing our lips together.
His lips are perfectly warm in comparation to the cold night air, moving slowly against mine like if he's still afraid of something, clearly still nervous.
Frank pulls away after a moment, sighing as he rests his head against my shoulder, hand dropping to my hip. "Thank you," he whispers.
"You don't need to thank me for anything." I move my arms to around his torso, holding him close.
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