this one of my favourite chapters whoops i really like the way it turned out ☆
"FRANK, STOP BEING a little bitch and get dressed." Bob grumbled for possibly the millionth time.
So of course Frank ignored him for possibly the millionth time.
Frank glared at his closet full of clothes without blinking, trying to psychically imagine what shirt he could see Gerard's head laying on or which he could see Gerard bunching up in his hands.
"Are you fuckin'-" Bob grumbled as he looked through Frank's closet himself. He pulled out a light blue dress shirt and a moss green cardigan that Ray had stuck a few pins in.
Frank raised an eyebrow, "You're gonna make me look like a fucking first grade teacher."
"Y'know, I virtually couldn't give less of a shit," Bob threw tossed the clothes on the bed before picking out light blue pants that fit over Frank's cast. "This is a first date, Frank. Not a fucking English Lit exam."
Frank grumbled under his breath, shuffling over to his clothes and pulling the shirt over his bare torso, buttoning it up. He had just gotten out of the shower, of course with Bob's generous help, and so he was only in his boxers. Luckily Frank had finally gotten accustomed to changing himself, so he didn't need Bob groping him every morning and evening anymore.
He put the rest of the clothes on, leaving his hair to stick up in every direction as he silently asked for Bob's approval. Bob sighed before flattening down Frank's light hair, Frank completely missing the point since his hair was too short to really fix anyway.
"It's not an exam but don't make him think you don't care." Bob muttered.
Frank nodded with a shaky breath, swatting Bob's hand away when they went to fix his cardigan.
"Where are you two even going?" Bob asked as he picked up the half-finished beer bottle he had left on the Frank's dresser.
Frank couldn't help the way his eyes were glued to it, knowing that he really fucking wanted a beer, but knowing he definitely wasn't allowed to drink one. Apparently it would mess with his pain meds, and he didn't really want to reek of beer on his date with Gerard either. He already knew of Gerard's slight aversion to alcohol, and he didn't want to make him uncomfortable.
He cleared his throat, his eyes shooting back to Bob's. "There's this outdoor movie festival..."
Bob nodded as he smiled slightly, "I'm guessing you already bought the snacks?"
Frank nodded curtly, "Yeah, cherry Twizzlers and pretzel sticks."
Bob raised an eyebrow, "What the fuck kind of combination is that?"
"Gerard's brother told me he likes to eat pretzels instead of popcorn during movies... and I just like Twizzlers." Frank said quietly, putting his wallet in his pocket
He made sure he had the bag on snacks by his bed and the pillows. He knew they would probably sit on the floor since Frank needed to move his leg around every now and then and it would be easier to do it on the ground. He hoped Gerard wouldn't mind since he had said he was fine with whatever Frank planned.
The only default of it all was... Frank couldn't be the one to drive them. Sure, it was small part of the date, but it meant a lot to Frank. It made him feel guilty and uncomfortable that Gerard had to be the one to drive them there and back.
He assumed Gerard already knew that though, and didn't seem to think too much of it but Frank couldn't exactly help it.
"What a weirdo," Bob muttered, "Go get 'em."
Frank rolled his eyes, gathering his things and putting them under his arms as he walked to the living room.
And as if on cue, there was a knock signalling Gerard had arrived.
Frank quickly shoved Bob away from the door using his crutches, making the man curse.
Frank opened the door as quick as he humanly could, his mouth falling agape in a silent gasp as he took in Gerard's appearance. Well, he definitely wasn't wearing pyjamas.
Instead he had obviously done his hair up and he was wearing a nice shirt with a few colourful designs with a black denim jacket on top.
"Hey," Frank whispered, barely getting a second to process his own words before he was once again taking in Gerard's appearance.
"Hey, loser." Gerard responded with a small smile.
"You look... really nice." Frank managed, flickering his eyes up to Gerard's pretty ones, watching a certain timidness spark in them as he smiled lopsidedly.
"Wow, you tryin' to be smooth with me now, Detective?" Gerard asked as he crossed his arms.
Frank shrugged with his own smile, "Don't want you butchering my body in the back of your car or anything."
Gerard scoffed through his smile, "Killing is more of a third date kinda thing. Besides... I forgot my plastic tarp tonight."
Frank raised an eyebrow, making Gerard laugh before shaking his head. "I'm kidding... you um. You look nice too."
Frank gave him a weak grin, glancing behind him briefly to where Bob was still sipping his beer. Frank nearly flipped him off when Bob winked, blowing a kiss in their direction before he ventured off into the kitchen.
"I uh, I have a few things for our... date." Frank awkwardly mumbled out, turning his head back to look at Gerard. He wasn't exactly used to honeying his voice like he was, but if it made Gerard's face soften the way it was right now then he would keep doing it.
"Okay," Gerard smiled again, "Where are we going?"
"I was hoping you'd wanna go to that movie festival... thing... uptown." Frank said, studying Gerard's expression closely.
Gerard's face immediately lit up like one of those stupid cactus lamps Ellie always kept in Bob's room.
"I love movie festivals." Gerard said happily, making Frank internally thank Mikey a million times.
Frank smiled at his excited expression, "'M glad. I uh, also have pretzels."
Gerard grinned even wider. "Damn, I kinda like the smooth version of Shitero."
Frank didn't respond to the backhanded compliment, instead reviling in Gerard's excited eyes, feeling more than proud of himself.
✩ ✩
Frank felt like he had died and somehow left this world behind entirely. And for the first time, he didn't mind.
Everything was so different but Frank found himself liking all of it. He found himself not minding the cold breeze that brushed against his skin, he didn't mind that Gerard muttered insults at the actors on the screen every two seconds... and he didn't mind sharing a blanket with him either.
They had found a more secluded spot towards the back of the wide lawn where the movie festival was being held, and Frank preferred it that way. Only because he could see groups of teenagers getting it on and if he wasn't technically still on medical leave he definitely would have told them to fucking cool it with the indecent exposure.
But he also didn't want to leave the sanctuary of the brown blanket Gerard had wrapped around their shoulders.
Something Frank had also noticed, along with the horny teenagers, was how right Mikey had been. Gerard didn't just adore attacking the movies they were playing on the screen, but he really loved pretzels. Which was somehow endearing to Frank. Cute even. Not to mention he thought Gerard would make an excellent movie critique if he wanted.
"That's a fucking poor use of negative space," Gerard muttered to himself, making Frank suppress a laugh, "Man, that director is definitely selling his body for a can of soup right now."
Frank's breath caught in his throat as Gerard placed his head on his shoulder all of the sudden, wrapping his arms around Frank's torso as they continued to focus on the movie. Or well, Gerard did.
And Frank just didn't know what to do with himself. Should he wrap his arms around Gerard too? Would that be crossing a boundary or something? He knew was that he couldn't exactly continue to stay frozen like that while Gerard cuddled up to him, but he hadn't been on a date in way too long to know the do's and don'ts anymore
"Thank you," Gerard finally whispered as a scene with a horrifically bad papier-mâché zombie came on.
"For what?" Frank asked quietly, looking down at Gerard who he now noticed was staring at him and not the screen.
"For taking me on a date," Gerard said softly, his eyes nervously stared into Frank's, "Usually I have to be the one to plan everything."
Frank frowned, his arm now moving to loosely wrap around Gerard's body, hoping it would all be fine and Gerard wouldn't pepper spray him. "Why's that?"
Geared laughed quietly, "Dunno. I guess I always go out with the wrong people."
Frank didn't really know if he fell into that category, but he had to imagine with the way Gerard was staring at him and holding onto him that he wasn't. But a small part of him couldn't help but feel insecure.
Gerard must have noticed Frank's hesitancy though, because he smiled before leaning up to sweetly peck Frank's warm lips.
"I thought I was being pretty obvious when I implied this is one of the nicest dates I've been on." Gerard laughed, his cheeks kissed by a soft blush as he turned his head back to the movie screen, cuddling closer to a stunned Frank.
It was around fifteen minutes later that Frank had finally gotten back into the movie, well it wasn't so much a movie as it was a poor excuse of cinematography. It was also coincidently around the same time he had started getting nervous about everything all over again, making him subtly reach for one of the Twizzlers he had broken in half earlier so he could at least occupy himself with something.
But as his hand reached down he felt the soft skin of Gerard's own hand, making his hand instinctively flinch back.
"Oh, sorry... You can have the last one." Gerard said quietly, turning his head slightly to face Frank.
Frank cleared his throat and shook his head, "No, no it's fine... go ahead."
Gerard shook his head too, his small smile reaching his eyes.
"Frank, it's yours, I was just—"
"I want you to have it." Frank cut him off, and Gerard was silent for a moment before he sighed and shifted around, reaching for the sweet.
Frank smiled at that, pleased that Gerard had accepted the candy.
Though his eyebrows furrowed in confusion as Gerard simply stuck half of it in his mouth, letting the rest dangle out. He leaned up and nudged it against Frank's lips, making him catch on instantly.
Frank leaned forward and bit at the other end, their eyes meeting before Frank broke it apart, leaving their lips to connect. Their kiss was firm and tasted sweet, but somehow it still remained gentle and slow. They held it for a few seconds, before their lips began to move in perfect sync, Frank trying to be as cautious as he could. Though soon Frank exhaled through his nose, pulling back and chewing the candy in his mouth.
Gerard laughed quietly as he licked his thumb that had initially been holding the sweet, "That sounded a lot less messy in my head I promise."
But Frank was only half listening, because the moment Frank had caught sight of Gerard's flushed face, he couldn't help but lower his head.
Frank let his hot breath fan across Gerard's neck before his tender lips brushed up against it. He could feel the skin burning with flushes of warmth as they made contact, and he felt Gerard's hand hesitantly run through his short hair as the kisses became just slightly harder.
Gerard's smell was intoxicating, not to mention the shallow breaths and small sighs that were fanning Frank's ear.
Frank kissed his way gently up his neck and back to lips that tasted sugary sweet like the cherry-flavoured candy they had shared.
Slowly, inexorably, he moved their lips. It was soft and chaste and maybe there were no fireworks or sparks this time around, but it was so much better than that – it was a wave of warmth that filled Frank up, spilling out from his heart. The warmth of Gerard's lips on his rushed to every corner of his body: the cracks in between his toes, the crooks of his elbows, the tips of his ears. Every inch of him was saturated with it.
Though with a short tug of Frank's hair, Gerard pulled back ever so slightly.
"Frank," Gerard whispered slowly, prolonging each letter as if to savor them.
"Yeah?" Frank asked through his laboured breaths, his eyes trailing all over Gerard's pretty face.
"I uh... I don't really want to go further than kissing tonight." He said softly, looking almost embarrassed for a short moment before it was covered up completely.
Frank let a small smile take over his face as he brushed away his hair for him in the same way he had seen guys do in those awkward romance movies Ellie always left at their place.
"That's fine." Frank said, trying his best to make his voice sound gentle and not its usual rough and void tone, "Just um, just tell me when you want to stop."
Gerard smiled and nodded, leaning up to capture Frank's lips again in a slow frenzy of caresses.
Frank wrapped his arm around Gerard's waist, keeping his hands strictly above his lower back as to respect his wishes. It wasn't as if Frank's first instinct would have been to grab his ass, but he always lost himself in kissing Gerard and he didn't want to accidentally pull anything.
He didn't want anything to ruin what was happening.
Gerard's hands trailed to his shirt, fingers playing with the dress collar on it almost as if he needed something to busy his fingers with.
And it was around the time Frank's tongue started prodding at Gerard's mouth that Gerard pulled back again, this time with a crooked smile.
"I think that's enough for a first date." Gerard said with that same adorable laugh he somehow always conjured up.
Frank nodded softly, not trusting his voice as his eyes flickered down to his shirt that he noticed has a messed up collar. He supposed he must have missed Gerard pulling it up, and he went to fix it when when Gerard gently swatted his hands away with a shy grin.
"'M sorry about that." Gerard muttered as he flattened down the collar.
"S'fine," Frank answered quietly, watching Gerard closely as he looked back up into his eyes again.
"What?" He giggled, "Did you mess up my lipstick or something?"
Frank shook his head as he sighed quietly, "No, I'm just... I haven't, I haven't really done this in a while."
Gerard smiled softly, "That's okay... we don't have to rush or anything. I know we technically already fucked but... we can definitely go slow if it makes you feel more comfortable."
Frank nodded, searching his mind for anything that would showcase how he was feeling. Showcase that he liked being as intimate with Gerard as he was being, and that he appreciated his patience.
And without much thought he leaned forward, nuzzling his nose against Gerard's cheek in some weird form of showing affection. Though Frank only realised after that he kind of felt like a dog, but Gerard seemed to understand what he meant as he only smiled wider at his actions.
"I just don't... wanna mess this up," Frank shakily mumbled when he pulled back, "I'm really not good at what we're doing."
"Don't say that," Gerard said, his fingers finding Frank's cheek again, "You're doing just fine."
And Frank just looked back to the large screen after a few seconds, not remotely knowing how to respond. Gerard sighed and a few moments later focused back on the screen too that now had a terrible actress across it.
Frank, although still quite conflicted, felt a subtle smile gracing his lips. Everything felt... nice.
✩ ✩
"I hate that I can't be the one to drop you off." Frank muttered as Gerard parked outside of his apartment building, his eyes drifting down to his grey crutches.
Gerard reached over to put his hand over his, "It's fine, Frankie. You don't always have to be so hard on yourself."
Frank didn't answer him as he just sighed, not agreeing with him at all. He should be the one to be driving Gerard to their date, he should be the one opening his door for him.
He felt like a useless dumbass.
Gerard had said himself he always had to be the one doing everything on his past dates, so maybe he secretly hated this. He hated that Frank couldn't even plan a date properly because of the inevitable fact that he quite literally couldn't.
But he had to remember that he was getting his cast removed next week.
He would still be in physiotherapy for a while but he would be able to move around without the same amount of struggle.
Then Frank could be the one treating Gerard, be the one doing all of the nice things he deserved. But it almost didn't matter because their first date had already happened. And he hadn't done any of them.
"You're still doing it." Gerard muttered, making Frank glance up at him.
"What?"
"You're still getting mad at yourself for things you can't control." Gerard said quietly, rubbing his thigh comfortingly.
Frank looked away again, "Can't help it. You shouldn't have to—"
"Frank, I'm fine," Gerard smiled slightly, "I don't care who's driving or who's initiating stuff."
Frank felt unsure, but he didn't have a lot of time to think about it before Gerard was kissing him chastely behind his ear.
"I had a lot of fun, okay? And who knows, maybe next time you can be the one driving." Gerard said, making Frank look at him.
"So... you'd want to go out with me again?" Frank asked softly, making Gerard laugh.
"Of course, dumbass," Gerard rolled his eyes, "God, you are just terrible at picking up signs, aren't you?"
Frank weakly shrugged his shoulders, "Eh."
Gerard shook his head with another smile as he leaned over to press another short kiss to Frank's warm lips.
"Try not to die before I see you again." Gerard teased, making Frank let out a small breathy sigh with his own weak smile.
"Not making any promises."
Gerard rolled his eyes, "Haha, hilarious. Now get outta my car."
Frank laughed and opened the car door, stepping out and making sure he was balanced before turning back to Gerard.
"Don't miss me too much." Gerard smiled, making Frank sigh.
"Won't be a problem." Frank replied, revelling in Gerard's honey-sweet laugh.
"Fuck you." Gerard said, watching Frank close the car door.
And soon he drove off, Frank following the car with his eyes.
//—//
i'm sorry i don't think i'll ever get bored of describing kisses... it's fun okAy