Request: CAN THERE PLEEEEEASE BE A PART 2???? THIS IS ADORABLE I WANT A SECOND PART AHHH
Reader: child!Reader (girl)
Word count: 1 502
A/N: Part One is in the first book!
Gerard and Frank had obviously hoped that after the night the little girl had spent in their bed, the relationship would get better. And it did, but not as much as they had hoped.
Even though she had cuddled into her adoptive fathers after she had had that terrible nightmare, she still would not allow anyone near her the next morning, and she still barely smiled. But at least she started sleeping in her little bed now.
Gerard had been surprised when he had walked her to her room the day after she had slept in his and Frank's bed, and she had, instead of laying down on the floor as she had always used to, climbed into her tiny bed, and cuddled between the pillows, before turning to him, and looking at him wide eyed, as if to check if it was okay. Of course Gerard had had the biggest smile on his face, and whispered a sweet good night after he had covered her with the dark blue blanket.
Over the next weeks she slowly started to make progress, she talked a little more, and started asking questions, the way all four year olds start to ask questions about the world surrounding them. She even started playing with some of the toys and plush animals the two men had gotten her, and Frank started to notice that the small desk in her room had an increasing number of drawn pictures on it, which he secretly shared with Gerard, making him smile happily.
After almost three months the two dads eventually decided that it would be time for her to meet their bandmates. Mikey and Ray had been impatient to meet the newest member of the band family, but had understood that Frank and Gerard wanted to build a relationship first, before introducing her to two tall men, who might scare her.
Much to her dads' surprise, she did not seem to be scared by Ray or Mikey at all, and she even started sharing pictures with them, which she had drawn. Frank and Gerard were impressed, because she had only recently started doing it with them, and that she did it with Ray and Mikey too, meant she trusted them already.
So when Gerard and Frank had an appointment to which their little daughter could not accompany them, they decided to ask Ray and Mikey to babysit.
All four men were equally excited and nervous to see how she would deal with being alone with her two uncles, as Mikey and Ray were referred to by Frank and Gerard. She had never been in a room with someone without either of her dads.
A couple of days ago Frank had told her about how he and Gerard would leave, and Mikey and Ray would come over to look after her. She had seemed to understand what that meant, and not complained. The two men made sure to remind her about it in the upcoming days, but still could see the child's lip quivering when they bent down to say good bye. They both made sure to keep the distance they had found out to be her comfort zone, as they explained one last time that they would be back soon. She nodded bravely, the slightly dishevelled hair, that neither of her dads was allowed to brush, flying into her face, but it still broke Gerard's heart as he pulled the door closed behind his back, leaving his daughter with her uncle and Ray.
"She'll be fine," Frank promised, having noticed Gerard's hesitation immediately, "They'll look after her."
"Does she think we're abandoning her," Gerard worried, as they walked to the car.
"Even if she does, there is nothing we can do about it now. She will have to learn that sometimes we leave without her, and she'll learn that we always come back," Frank assured him, "and she isn't alone, okay? Ray and Mikey are with her, they'll take care of her. She likes them, it's gonna be alright."
~*~
Honestly, Frank and Gerard had no idea what they expected when just two hours later they turned the key in the lock to their home. Probably some version of Ray and Mikey sitting in the living room, explaining she had denied lunch, and the girl upstairs, hiding under her desk.
So it is not an exaggeration to say that their jaws dropped when they walked into the living room, and found Ray sitting on the floor, a collection of different hair ties in all colours spread out in front of him, while Mikey was racing around the coffee table, carrying the little girl on his shoulders.
The deep laughter of the two men, mixed with the joyful squeals of the girl, was filling the air. Her hair was braided carefully, and mismatching coloured bands were woven into it; Ray's work, judging by the way he was sitting between the left over accessories.
From the door Frank and Gerard could see the kitchen table; three plates, obviously used, were still standing on it, and a pot was standing on a mat next to the stove.
So Mikey and Ray had not only managed to make her eat, they had also been allowed brush her hair, and now she was playing with them, like any four year old should.
Had the two not been so overjoyed to see her happy, they might have felt a little hurt that their friends had accomplished something within two hours they had not managed in over three months.
(Y/n) was the first one to spot the two men standing in the door, and she cheered happily.
"My dads are back," she smiled, pulling on Mikey's shirt to stir him over to them.
Mikey followed her orders, and when he was standing in front of them, she stretched out her little arms, signalling Gerard to help her off, which he did, too stunned to even fully comprehend what was going on.
When he held her in his arms, he almost expected her to throw a tantrum, like every other time they had come too close to her, but instead she wrapped her arms around his shoulders, and nuzzled her slightly sweaty face into his neck.
"I missed you, dad," she declared, before she pulled away, and motioned over to Frank, requesting silently for him to take her.
She repeated the same thing with him, before she proudly started babbling about the colourful hairbands Ray had put in her hair. She also told them about how Mikey was better at brushing her hair without hurting her, and how they had cooked together. Ray had carved faces into her cucumber slices, and Mikey had almost put sugar into the sauce for the noodles, instead of salt, which for some reason she found hilarious beyond believe.
When she eventually was finished talking, she put on her best puppy eyes before asking for cookies.
"Uhm, yeah, sure," Frank answered, "Let's get some cookies for everyone."
"Mikey and I can go get the cookies," she decided, and wriggled out of Frank's arms, where he had still been holding her.
She walked over to Mikey, and wrapped her tiny fingers around his big ones.
"Let's go get cookies," she explained, before leading him to the kitchen, doubtlessly already explaining to him where they were hidden.
"What did you do to her?" Gerard's question was more a gasp than anything else. Wide eyed he watched his daughter point to a cabinet. "For months she wouldn't let us touch her, and she didn't talk, or laugh, and now she just can't seem to stop!"
Ray laughed quietly, finally getting up from the floor.
"I have no idea. In the beginning she cried a little, and then she brought the hair bands, and... I don't know, it just went from there on," he explained with a shrug, an amused smile tugging at his lips as he watched Mikey pretend not to know which cupboard she was pointing at.
Secretly both Frank and Gerard were scared that she would go back to her quiet distant self after Ray and Mikey had left later that afternoon. It really was like she was someone entirely different. But much to their surprise and happiness, she stayed just as cheerful. Later in the evening she got moody, an entirely new experience for both Frank and Gerard, but their guess was that she was only tired, so they put her to sleep.
The next morning they got woken up by their very awake, babbling four year old daughter, jumping into their bed, asking for breakfast, before she made Gerard braid her hair. The two men still found themselves going to sleep at night, worrying that maybe things would go back to how they were before, that one morning she would be quiet and shut off again, but their worries were molten away every morning by the first light of day that also brought their daughter to their bedroom, requesting cuddles and breakfast.