A/N: frank lives kinda off the suburbs in new jersey but it's like off on the edge near the woods like where i used to live, where there's not really any close neighbors. just in case you were wondering why no one's come investigating yet :^)
~
Frank stayed up all night going over the events of that day. He was laying in bed in the dark, and the last time he checked what time it was his phone told him 4:30, but he was sure at least an hour had passed since then. He believed he had gotten over the actual shock of aliens by now, (at least he was trying to make himself believe that he had) and had gone over the memories of what had happened in his mind at least a hundred times. But for the life of him he couldn't remember what he was doing before it actually happened. He scrunched his eyebrows together and wracked his brain.
Oh shit.
That's right.
Cleaning.
He was cleaning.
But why was he cleaning?
He absentmindedly checked his phone again, and there it was.
5:21 am, but no, that wasn't it. It was what was beneath it.
5:21 am, Sunday, October 31st.
Shit.
It was his birthday.
And his parents were coming over.
And then his friends were coming over.
And Zero was here.
He sat up and looked down to the foot of the bed. Zero was curled up in one of Frank's spare blankets, snoring softly. Frank still felt weird about them being there. It was like a dog. Originally, he had tried to get Zero to sleep on the couch. He'd set up the pillows and blankets and everything. He even fed them before he went to bed, giving them a big bowl of Lucky Charms right after their "bath". Confident that Zero could handle the rest of their nighttime routine by themself, Frank headed to his own bed.
When he first heard the shuffling, followed by soft steps down the hallway, Frank wasn't very surprised. He'd left his door about halfway open, and the round, red-haired face peeked in only moments later. Zero looked nervous, but when they saw Frank they smiled. They pushed the door open and padded across the room to the bed. Frank had given them a spare pair of his pajama pants and an old sweatshirt, and even though they were too small it was better than nothing. At least, Frank tried to convince himself of that.
Regardless, Zero reached the bed and pounced onto it like a child, sending Frank's small body a few inches up into the air. He couldn't help but laugh.
"Go to bed," he said halfheartedly through his laughter, waving a hand at Zero.
Zero was laying on their side at the foot of the bed, smiling up at Frank.
But after Zero had remained in his room for over an hour, Frank realized they weren't planning on going anywhere. He rubbed his heavy lidded eyes, sighed, then got up and yanked on one of Zero's arms.
"Go to bed, seriously this time. I'm tired," he grumbled.
Zero gave in after a moment and let Frank lead them back to the couch. They plopped down on the cushion, not lifting their eyes to look at Frank.
Frank sighed again, "Goodnight, Zero," he said quietly, and returned to his room.
It had to have been barely fifteen minutes before Zero was back hovering in his doorway.
"What now?" Frank groaned.
He didn't sit up this time, rather closed his eyes and turned his face more into the pillow, pulling up the blankets to cover his head. He heard the footsteps anyway, and felt the leaning of the mattress as Zero sat down on the end. He could feel their eyes on him, but didn't move.
"Go back to bed," he mumbled, muffled by the covers.
He felt their weight shift on the end of the bed, but they didn't leave.
They'll take the hint eventually, he told himself, and remained motionless.
He was right. But just as soon as Zero had left, they were back again. Frank was still under the blankets, but when he felt the familiar weight flop down onto the foot of his bed, he knew. He sat up this time and looked over. Zero was curled up at the end of the bed, with their own blanket and pillow this time. They gazed and Frank with sad, wide eyes.
He sighed and rolled his eyes, "Fine..." he groaned, and lay back down.
He felt weird about this. The thought of at least inviting Zero to move up and lay next to him like a normal person came to him, but he wasn't sure if that would make him feel any less uncomfortable. So he left well enough alone. Only a few minutes had passed when the quiet snores drifted up to his ears. Frank sighed and closed his eyes. He still couldn't sleep. That's when he started going back over the memories again.
And now here he was.
He filtered through all the thoughts going through his mind.
He had even more to clean now than when he started.
That was fine.
His parents were coming over.
That could work out. He could pass Zero off as a friend.
His friends were coming over after that.
That wasn't fine.
Frank ran a hand through his hair. He didn't have many close friends, but the ones that he did knew him better than anyone, and they certainly wouldn't fall for any lie he tried to tell. Not to mention the gaping hole in his backyard.
Okay, maybe it wasn't "gaping". Zero's ship was small, only about the size to hold one person, and the damage it had left behind wasn't as bad as he thought, now that Frank looked back at it. But still. Would he have time to cover it up? And if he did do that, what the hell would he do with the actual spaceship? All these questions flitted through Frank's mind as he tried to figure out solutions. His head was pounding and his eyes could barely stay open at this point. He didn't realize he had actually ended up falling asleep until he woke up the next morning.
~
The sound of his phone ringing roused Frank from his sleep. He rubbed his eyes, yawned, and then squinted at the bright screen trying to read the name.
Mom.
Fuck.
He pressed answer right away, without even thinking what he was going to say.
"Uh... hello?"
"Frankie!" his mother squealed on the other end of the line, "Happy birthday, baby! I've been trying to call you all morning, what on Earth have you been doing?"
Frank yawned again, "What time is it?" he mumbled.
"Half past noon! Your father and I were just about to leave the house, don't tell me you were still sleeping?"
Shit.
Frank practically fell out of the bed as he tried to get up and untangle himself from the sheets.
"Um - uh- I gotta go, Ma," he said hastily before hanging up the phone and tossing it back onto the mattress, not taking notice that Zero was no longer there.
He stumbled out of the bedroom and into the living room. Glancing around, he only saw a couple pieces of trash left over from his attempt at cleaning yesterday. Other than that the room was in pretty decent shape. Next Frank shuffled over to the kitchen, bracing himself for the chaos he knew was still there from yesterday. He stood in the doorway rubbing his eyes, and when he looked up, he was in shock. The kitchen was spotless. Completely spotless, as though it had never been touched. His eyes roamed over all over the room until the finally settled on Zero, who was standing quietly in the corner.
Frank closed his mouth and blushed, not even realizing it had been hanging open, and walked over to them.
"Did you do this?" he asked quietly, looking up at them.
They shuffled their feet a little bit, but kept their eyes cast down. Frank could see a slight blush on their cheeks. Without even thinking, Frank wrapped his arms around Zero's chubby torso, the way they had done to him last night.
"Thank you," he murmured into their sweatshirt.
He felt their arms slowly wrap back around him. Their movement was a bit jerky, but it was there all the same. Frank picked his face up and unraveled his arms from them, smoothing out his own hoodie. He leaned up and gave Zero a kiss on the cheek, so faint that they barely touched. He turned around quickly went over to the fridge, taking out a carton of eggs and then moving over to grab a frying pan.
"I guess I'll make breakfast then," he said, trying to hide his smile and his blush.
Frank heard no sound or any sign of movement while he cooked. He looked up cautiously as he put the last bit of scrambled eggs onto the plates. Zero was still planted in the same spot, their fingertips barely resting on the cheek where Frank's lips had touched earlier. They gazed at him with wide eyes. Frank felt himself blush harder.
"It's not that big a deal..." he whispered to himself.
Turning his eyes back to the food and moving it over to the counter where the stools were.
"Come here," he smiled back at Zero.
They remained unmoving and unblinking, still in the corner of the room. He reached out with his hand. Their eyes darted from Frank's face, to his hand, then back again. Then, they put one foot forward slowly, gradually making their way across the room to him. Frank tried to figure out if it was just because of Zero's hurt ankle or the fact that he'd made them nervous or both, but he pushed the thought away as they came closer.
"Here," he said happily, holding up a plate of eggs.
Zero took it carefully. Frank reached over into a drawer beside him, to grab forks for the both of them, but when he looked up Zero had already started eating. With their fingers.
"No," Frank scolded, finding himself laughing this time instead of using the stern voice he had already used with them so many times before.
He held out the fork. Zero took it, once again very carefully, but couldn't seem to figure out how it worked.
"Let me show you," Frank said, demonstrating with his own.
Eventually Zero got the hang of eating breakfast. As they finished eating (taking three times as long as Frank and being careful not to let a single piece of egg fall off the fork) Frank finished cleaning up the rest of the house. He wandered around from room to room and back again making sure nothing was out of place. When he finished his rounds he stepped back into the kitchen and found Zero staring blankly at their empty plate. At the sound of Frank walking in they turned to him, looking very distressed.
Frank laughed, "Gimme that," he giggled, taking the plate carefully and washing it off in the sink.
He put it back in its rightful place, then turned back around, smiling.
"You made my job a lot easier you know," he said, crossing the small space in between them so that he was face to face with Zero. "Now all I have left is..." Frank's smile faded as he trailed off.
He'd just remembered the ship and the hole in his backyard. Taking his phone out of the pocket of his hoodie, he checked the time. Almost 2 o'clock. He cursed under his breath. Frank's parents lived about two hours away from his place; and they'd said they were leaving at half past noon. That gave him until 2:30. Was it possible to cover up an alien crash site within half an hour? He let out a breath he didn't even realize he was holding. Only one way to find out.
"Come on," he commanded, grabbing Zero's hand and not even waiting to see if they would follow.
They didn't protest, and limped out the backdoor after Frank, hand in hand. Frank carefully led them over to the edge of the "crater". The small ship sat in the middle, no longer smoking, but the ground around it was charred.
"Stay here," Frank told Zero, dropping their hand and glancing over briefly before he slid down the incline.
He had no plan in mind, so he decided to improvise. He made his way up to the ship and pushed against the side. It didn't budge.
Well there goes that idea.
Frank scratched his head and looked around for a moment. He knelt down to inspect just how stuck in the ground the ship really was. To his surprise, it wasn't too bad, but it was gonna be a two man job. He gazed up at Zero, who had remained in the same place. They stared back at him, shuffling their feet again and looking worried. Frank knew they wouldn't be able to help him because of their ankle. His mind went to the first person he would normally call when he needed help like this - his best friend Ray. But the whole idea of this plan was to hide the ship beforeanyone else saw it.
He took a deep breath again. Could he trust Ray? Could he trust anyone with something like this? His instinct must have gotten the better of him, because before he even realized it, his phone was out and he was dialing Ray's number. Frank realized immediately that he probably should have thought this out a little more first. Ray picked up after just a few rings, and Frank was at a loss for words.
"Hey man, happy birthday! What's up?" came Ray's voice from the other end of the line.
"Hey, uh, could you help me - help me move something?" Frank's voice was barely audible and he started to feel panicky.
He awaited Ray's response.
Bad idea, bad idea, the voice in his head was telling him.
Though it seemed like hours to Frank, Ray's reply came pretty quick, "Yeah dude no problem. You want me to come now?"
Frank nodded, exhaling, then realized Ray couldn't actually see him.
"Y-Yeah. That'd be great," he stuttered.
"Okay, see you in a few,"
Ray hung up without another word. Ray was always like that - quick, to the point, and in as few words as possible. Frank slipped his phone back into his pocket with a shaky hand. He turned his eyes back up to Zero, who's position was still unchanged. Frank climbed back up to join them.
"Come on," he said, gentler this time, walking Zero back into the house to wait for Ray.
~
Ray arrived at Frank's house about fifteen minutes later, and Frank was outside waiting for him. Ray knew something was up the second he pulled into the driveway. Frank was waiting on the front steps, his arms wrapped around his torso, eyes on the ground, shifting his weight back and forth from one foot to the other.
"What's up?" Ray called as he climbed out of the car.
Frank looked up at him and Ray heard him murmur something before casting his eyes back down. He didn't look back up until Ray had walked closer to him. He tried to walk inside but Frank stepped in front and stopped him.
"Wait," Frank cried out, putting his hands up to stop Ray from going any further.
Ray took a step back and raised an eyebrow at Frank, "Um, are you okay dude?"
Frank looked back down at his feet and started fiddling with his hands.
"Okay here's the thing..." He grew quiet.
For the life of him he couldn't figure out how to explain the situation.
"M-Maybe it's easier if I just show you."
Ray barely heard Frank's voice, but got the idea as Frank turned to go back inside. Ray followed slowly, looking around to try to find the cause of what was bothering Frank. He couldn't have missed it. A young man (Were they a man?) with a shock of bright red hair was sitting on Frank's living room floor, barely a foot away from the television, with his eyes glued to the screen. From the glimpse that Ray caught, it looked like he was watching E.T. Ray looked back to Frank, eyebrows raised, waiting for an explanation. Frank scratched the back of his neck nervously, eyes darting back and forth from the man to Ray, until they finally settled on Ray.
He took a deep breath, "So Ray, this is..." he paused to steady himself, "This is Zero."
Recognizing the sound of their name, Zero turned and looked up with wide eyes. Their eyes raked up and down Ray's figure for a brief moment before they returned their attention back to the movie. Ray opened his mouth to speak but Frank interrupted.
"They're kinda part of the reason why I needed your help."
Ray's expression grew even more confused, "I thought you said we were moving something?"
He had a million questions he wanted to ask Frank right now. Why was he so nervous? Who was this person watching movies in his living room and acting like a child? But he decided to take it one at a time. Without a word, Frank motioned for Ray to follow him to the backyard. Ray shot one more glance over his shoulder at the red-headed person before they stepped outside.
Ray almost couldn't believe his eyes when he saw what was out there. There was an enormous hole taking up a pretty decent portion of Frank's yard. Right in the center was some sort of metallic thing with shards of broken glass littered around it. Before he could say anything, Frank jumped in again.
"We gotta get it out of here before my parents come, they're gonna be here any minute," he babbled nervously, pointing a shaky finger towards the ship. "There's no time to explain," he shouted as he climbed down the side of the crater, motioning for Ray to follow.
Ray shook his head, but followed Frank nonetheless. He couldn't quite find the words to ask Frank exactly what was going on. He could barely wrap his head around the scene before him, or what they were about to do, so he just did as he was told. He figured he would at least get some kind of explanation after.
~
Frank thought it was too good to be true. They had actually managed to get the spaceship up out of the crater and into Frank's garage, just in time before his parents showed up. He and Ray were standing in the kitchen now, each with a beer in hand. He wiped a trickle of sweat off his brow and looked over the counter into the living room where Zero was still sitting. They were watching E.T. after all, as Ray had guessed, and right now it was the part where he was trying to hide in the pile of stuffed animals.
"...so yeah. Here we are," Frank finished.
He had recounted to Ray all the events of that morning and the day before.
Now, Ray was a quiet guy, but this silence was deafening. Frank wasn't sure if he was still sweating from exertion, or from nerves.
Ray exhaled and took another sip of beer. "I-"
The sound of the doorbell cut him off. Frank almost dropped the can he was holding.
"Shit," he hissed, sliding the can onto the counter and rushing into the living room.
He hooked his hands under Zero's armpits and yanked them up. They let out a sound of protest and batted at him with their hands, craning their neck to look past him at the TV.
"You gotta go!" Frank insisted, trying to haul the alien to their feet.
He heard the sound of Ray setting down his can, and then felt the weight in his arms relieved as Ray pulled Zero to their feet in one quick swoop. Frank grabbed their arm without hesitation and dragged them down the hallway to his room. He pushed Zero down onto the bed and held up his hands in a gesture that Zero was quickly becoming familiar with.
"Stay," Frank commanded in a stern voice.
Zero crossed his arms and pouted, but showed no signs of disobeying. Frank turned back around and found himself face to face with Ray in the doorway.
"I'll stay with... them," Ray assured him, not seeming very sure of himself.
Frank wasted no time, "Alright, alright. The TV remote's on the nightstand. I- I don't know what channel they were watching."
He didn't even make eye contact as he shoved past Ray and hurried back into the living room. He took a deep breath and ran a hand through his hair before slowly turning the knob of the front door.