If You Think You're Bulletproof, You're Right
If You Think You're Bulletproof, You're Right
Frank/Gerard
~2,400 words
Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. These characters are based on people of the same name, but that's pretty much where reality ends here.
Warnings: Transfic
Notes: So, I told theworstliar that I really wanted FRANK/GERARD DOMESTIFIC WHERE THEY HAVE A LITTLE TRANS DAUGHTER AND THEY SEW HER PRETTY OUTFITS TO WEAR AND MAKE SURE HER TEACHERS ~UNDERSTAND HER AND GLARE AT ANYONE WHO LOOKS AT HER FUNNY. ;_________________; So here it is, at least some of it. I really like this 'verse and there are more fics I want to write in it. ♥ to fleurdeliser for the read-through.
"Are we doing the right thing?" Gerard whispers, breath warm against Frank's jaw. His fingers are shaking slightly, tracing the rays inked into Frank's elbow, up and down and around in a star shape.
Frank snuggles him closer, flexing his toes into Gerard's calf, partly as comfort and partly as stress relief. "I don't know," he breathes, then drops his forehead a few inches to press against Gerard's. Their eyes meet in the dark, wide and scared, both seeking reassurance that things are going to be okay.
"We should've homeschooled," Gerard insists suddenly, shooting upright in bed, spine stiff, pillow creases exaggerating the small wrinkles at the corners of his eyes. "This is a big mistake. I can feel it. I can't believe we're--how can we do this to our daughter?" he laments, turning to Frank, eyes desperate.
Frank reaches up quietly, gently running his palm down Gerard's spine until he collapses a bit. "I think," Frank says thoughtfully, "that we should give it a shot. For like two weeks, maybe. Because if she likes it--if it works for her, then she deserves to have that. We can't keep her with us forever."
"She's six!" Gerard hisses fiercely. "And I'd keep her with me forever if it meant she wouldn't get hurt!"
Frank's jaw tenses for a moment, working uselessly against words he doesn't even want to think. "I know," he manages finally. "But we can't do that; it's just not practical or fair to her. She needs--she wants new friends--" his eyes break away from Gerard's, gazing out the window at the streetlit front yard. "I want her to have the chance to try it, herself. We can't be good parents if we don't give her that," he says firmly with a tinge of regret.
"She's got Aud and Cy," Gerard protests weakly, dropping his head onto Frank's stomach. "I--I'm just having last-minute jitters," he sighs after a moment.
"Me, too," Frank nods tiredly. "I--yeah. I know. God, I know. Shit," he laughs silently, "the amount of sleep I've lost over that girl."
"Hmm," Gerard agrees, closing his eyes and scooting upward, away from Frank's vibrating belly.
"It'll be okay," Frank repeats under his breath as Gerard's arms snake around him, and then shifts, turning so that he's tight against Gerard's front, the small spoon. "We did everything we can. It's an alternative school. The classes are tiny. We vetted the teacher. Aud will be there with her." It's a litany they've recited to each other for weeks, over the phone to their worried mothers, over dinner to a long-suffering Mikey and Alicia.
Gerard kisses Frank's neck right behind his ear. They lie there, breathing quietly together and watching the purple of the horizon burn into red and then orange until the bedroom door creaks open and there's a shuffling of bunny slippers and the familiar thwump of Lily hitting the mattress. Gerard reaches back and small fingers clasp his thumb and forefinger as Lily scales him, draping herself over his side and fisting a hand in Frank's ratty Black Flag t-shirt.
Frank glances back, smiling tiredly, and squeezes her ankle where it pokes out from under her sprigged flannel nightgown. "Hey bunny," he says, voice croaky, touching a finger to the tip of her slipper's nose. "How'dja sleep?"
Lily's wide dark eyes are squinty, sleep-crusted under the fringe of sideways bangs she cut with her PlaySkool scissors the other day, and she scrunches her nose. "Okay. I had a dream Cy was Harry and I was Hermione and we flew on a broom. And then Aud had a pet monster that bit." She yawns and rubs her nose on Gerard's shoulder, snuffling mucus. "Can we have cim'n toast?"
"If you eat some eggs, I'll make you cinnamon toast," Gerard bargains, hand resting lightly on Lily's back in case she tilts over.
Lily squirms against his hand, making a face. "Eurgh," she whines, "Daddy, eggs are sticky and gross!"
"I like 'em," says Frank, turning over to face her and then divebombing her tummy. "Om nom nom!" he growls, "Sticky eggs!"
Lily shrieks and bats at Frank's head, yanking his hair. "Nooooo!" she moans, "I'm not a baby!"
"You're right," says Frank, pulling back to rub at his scalp and wincing, casting a rueful glance at Gerard's smirk. "You're starting school today, huh? That means next week you get tattoos, right?"
Gerard glares balefully while Lily giggles and shimmies backward off the bed, pattering down the hall to the bathroom. "Can I wear my rainbow one?" she cries, and they both know she's up on the step-stool rifling through the medicine cabinet for her temporary tattoos. "And my sun dress?" she begs, followed by the soft crash of maybe a box of band-aids spilling all over the floor.
"Okay, honey!" Gerard calls, rolling his eyes and throwing off the comforter. "But please pick up whatever that was!"
"I know," Lily calls back.
Frank's got a cast iron skillet in one hand and a spatula in the other, with the carton of eggs balanced precariously in the crook of his arm as he tries to make out the expiration date. Gerard is standing in front of the coffee machine, zoning out to the steady drip and the well-modulated hum of NPR news.
"It's the third, right?" Frank asks dubiously, setting down the skillet on the stove with a clang and nearly fumbling the eggs.
"Mmm," nods Gerard, starting into motion and opening up a cupboard in search of their favorite mugs. Frank's is a ten-gallon cowboy hat from some gas station in the suburbs of Dallas. Gerard's is a hideous pink thing from the Hallmark store at the Paramus Park Mall that says World's Best Mommy. Lily had wanted to get it for Gerard's birthday two years ago because they both like pink and Frank bought it for her because, well, she wanted it, and he thought it was hysterical on a couple different levels, at least. Gerard kissed them both on the cheek and pronounced it just what he'd always wanted.
"Can you do my bobbies, Daddy?" Lily calls, running into the kitchen with elastics in hand and climbing up to stand obediently on a kitchen chair.
"Sure," Gerard says, slurping quickly at his coffee before setting it down and reaching for Lily's pile of baubles.
"The purple ones," she instructs. "I want braids."
Frank smiles to himself a little and wipes an eggy hand against his sweatpants, then grabs the whisk. "Hey Lils," he says, whisking as he turns around to make sure she's listening, "you know how Daddy and I are coming to pick you up after school?"
"Uh-huh," Lily answers, fiddling with her dress, which she calls her sun dress because it's bright yellow, although it is, in fact, also a sun dress.
"If something happens and you need to come home before then, I'm giving you a piece of paper with our phone numbers on it, okay?"
Lily rolls her eyes in a pretty practiced way for a six-year-old. "I know our phone number, Papa," she informs him.
"I know you do, bunny," he nods seriously, leaning his crossed arms on the chair-back across the table from her. "But I want you to take the paper anyway, all right? Sometimes when stuff happens we forget what we were supposed to do, and that's okay. But it's good to have a reminder with us just in case."
Lily watches him as Gerard carefully parts her hair, finger-combing through the snarls. Her deep brown eyes turn nervous for the first time Frank's seen this morning and she fidgets, swaying side-to-side until Gerard lays a calming hand on her shoulder. She looks down then, at the tabletop. "People will like me?" she asks very quietly, digging her chipped purple nails into her dress.
Frank reaches out a hand, trying not to let it tremble, and wraps it around her smaller one as completely as he can. "Of course they will, bunny," he tells her softly. "People will love you just like we love you." He comes around the table to kneel in front of her and tugs playfully at the hem of her dress with one hand, curling the other around Gerard's calf. "You're fun and imaginative and smart and lovely, and you're going to have a great first day, okay? And if anyone does anything that makes you feel bad, tell Daddy and me and we'll take care of it."
Lily's bare toes curl around the edge of the seat but she nods hesitantly.
Gerard wraps an elastic around her last braid and leans down to plant a kiss on the crown of her head, then whispers in her ear, "D'you wanna help me make cinnamon toast, honey?"
Lily nods and Gerard bundles her up in his arms for a tight hug before setting her down on the wood floor. "C'mon," he says, "you can mix the cinnamon and sugar and I'll slice the bread. And Papa will make scrambled eggs for us, mmkay?"
Lily wrinkles her nose and Frank laughs and tweaks it, then turns back to the stove, leaning down to eyeball the gas burner. "I'll put cherry tomatoes in 'em, if you want," he offers. One of Lily's favorite things to do in the summer is eat the sweet, bite-size tomatoes off the vine in Gerard's backyard garden. It's right up there with running through the sprinkler in her parrot bathing suit with the sparkles.
"Okay," Lily agrees after weighing the thought for a moment. "Cherries are good." Gerard haphazardly spoons sugar and cinnamon into a small mixing bowl for Lily and she sifts her fork through the granules, watching the colors swirl together.
Gerard leans back against the cutting board and watches her for a long moment, then meets Frank's eyes over her head. Frank brushes his hair off his face with his wrist, hand clutching the spatula, and smiles wanly. It's quiet for a bit, except for the scrapes and rattles of breakfast-making, and Gerard begins to sing under his breath, sawing into the crusty loaf of bread he and Lily picked out at the grocery store yesterday.
When Gerard calls up the stairs that it's getting to be that time, Lily shuffles drearily into the front hall, dragging her koala backpack behind her along the floor. Gerard takes one look at her and squats down, settling himself cross-legged on the scuffed maple wood. "Are you ready?" he asks intently, ducking his head to catch Lily's gaze.
Lily lets go of the koala's paw and violently throws her arms around Gerard's neck, burying her twisted face against his throat. "Don't make me go, Daddy!" she pleads, muffled and hiccuping, shoulders beginning to heave. She clings to him tightly, and Gerard's face crumples, his hands engulfing her small back and cradling her close.
"Shhh, shhh, baby," he murmurs unconsciously, gathering her into his lap. Frank places the car keys back on the front table, biting his lip. "It'll be okay, honey," Gerard promises, rocking Lily slightly as she begins to sob in earnest. "It'll be okay. Aud is coming with you, remember? We're gonna go meet Aunt Alicia and Mikeyway, and then you and Aud can have lots of fun together at school, okay? And remember how we went to meet Andrea, your teacher? Remember how you two played with the pet snake and you liked how it smelled your hand with its little tongue?"
Lily subsides a bit, sniffling and rubbing her face against her elbow unhappily. "Yeah," she snuffles.
"Hey," Gerard shakes her back and forth, smiling weepily, "what was its name? You remember stuff like that, huh?"
"Zeke," she admits resentfully. "He was a garter snake."
"Yeah," Gerard encourages. "You can see Zeke again!"
Lily wipes a clumsy hand over her wet, red face, pushing her bangs even more askew. She breathes heavily, deep in her small chest, for long seconds before muttering, "What if they make fun of me?"
Gerard takes a shaky breath and kisses her reverently on each eyelid. "They won't, baby. Okay? Andrea will be watching out for you and if anything happens, you can just call us and we'll be there in two shakes of a lamb's tail." He tickles her side. "But nothing's gonna happen, know how I know?"
Lily shakes her head, tears drying on her round cheeks.
"Because you're a little scrapper, that's how!" Gerard pulls a tough face, ignoring Frank's giggle. "You and Aud are the toughest girls I know and your girl gang don't take no guff from nobody, right?"
Lily smiles a little near the edges of her mouth at the familiar routine. "Yeah," she mouths softly.
Frank kneels down next to them then, reaching into his jeans pocket. "Guess what you forgot, Lils?" he says seriously, pulling out the rainbow temporary tattoo he found on the floor of the bathroom after they finished brushing their teeth.
Lily reaches out her fingers and traces them longingly over the bright colors, eyes riveted and hopeful.
"Where d'you want it?" Frank asks peeling off the plastic and fumbling above him on the table for the damp washcloth he brought downstairs.
Lily stares at it a moment longer and then taps uncertainly at her right shoulder, just below the bow tying her sun dress strings.
"Good choice," says Frank approvingly, positioning the scrap of paper. "You know," he lowers his voice and peers secretively at her as he presses down with the washcloth, "this tattoo is a super-special superhero tattoo, did you know that?"
Lily peeks down at her shoulder and shakes her head, braids thumping against her neck.
"It is," Frank continues, rubbing his thumb over the wet paper methodically. "It's only for super-special superheroes like you, who can make cinnamon toast and talk to snakes and run fast like the wind and stand up to the biggest pet monsters." He finishes, slowly peeling away the paper to reveal the bright arc of colors across her shoulder, then sits back on his heels and admires. "You look fierce, my brave girl," he says solemnly.
Lily runs her hand over the design wonderingly, and then reaches over to feel Frank's sleeve, comparing silently. "Okay," she nods finally, and turns to Gerard proudly.
Gerard squeezes her arms and kisses her forehead, smoothing back her bangs, and then Frank leans forward to repeat the gesture, ending with a quick kiss for Gerard's mouth.
Lily straightens her shoulders as Frank helps her with the straps of her backpack, and Gerard climbs to his feet, jingling his keys. "Okay, my sweethearts," he says. "Time to go."
Frank/Gerard
~2,400 words
Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. These characters are based on people of the same name, but that's pretty much where reality ends here.
Warnings: Transfic
Notes: So, I told theworstliar that I really wanted FRANK/GERARD DOMESTIFIC WHERE THEY HAVE A LITTLE TRANS DAUGHTER AND THEY SEW HER PRETTY OUTFITS TO WEAR AND MAKE SURE HER TEACHERS ~UNDERSTAND HER AND GLARE AT ANYONE WHO LOOKS AT HER FUNNY. ;_________________; So here it is, at least some of it. I really like this 'verse and there are more fics I want to write in it. ♥ to fleurdeliser for the read-through.
"Are we doing the right thing?" Gerard whispers, breath warm against Frank's jaw. His fingers are shaking slightly, tracing the rays inked into Frank's elbow, up and down and around in a star shape.
Frank snuggles him closer, flexing his toes into Gerard's calf, partly as comfort and partly as stress relief. "I don't know," he breathes, then drops his forehead a few inches to press against Gerard's. Their eyes meet in the dark, wide and scared, both seeking reassurance that things are going to be okay.
"We should've homeschooled," Gerard insists suddenly, shooting upright in bed, spine stiff, pillow creases exaggerating the small wrinkles at the corners of his eyes. "This is a big mistake. I can feel it. I can't believe we're--how can we do this to our daughter?" he laments, turning to Frank, eyes desperate.
Frank reaches up quietly, gently running his palm down Gerard's spine until he collapses a bit. "I think," Frank says thoughtfully, "that we should give it a shot. For like two weeks, maybe. Because if she likes it--if it works for her, then she deserves to have that. We can't keep her with us forever."
"She's six!" Gerard hisses fiercely. "And I'd keep her with me forever if it meant she wouldn't get hurt!"
Frank's jaw tenses for a moment, working uselessly against words he doesn't even want to think. "I know," he manages finally. "But we can't do that; it's just not practical or fair to her. She needs--she wants new friends--" his eyes break away from Gerard's, gazing out the window at the streetlit front yard. "I want her to have the chance to try it, herself. We can't be good parents if we don't give her that," he says firmly with a tinge of regret.
"She's got Aud and Cy," Gerard protests weakly, dropping his head onto Frank's stomach. "I--I'm just having last-minute jitters," he sighs after a moment.
"Me, too," Frank nods tiredly. "I--yeah. I know. God, I know. Shit," he laughs silently, "the amount of sleep I've lost over that girl."
"Hmm," Gerard agrees, closing his eyes and scooting upward, away from Frank's vibrating belly.
"It'll be okay," Frank repeats under his breath as Gerard's arms snake around him, and then shifts, turning so that he's tight against Gerard's front, the small spoon. "We did everything we can. It's an alternative school. The classes are tiny. We vetted the teacher. Aud will be there with her." It's a litany they've recited to each other for weeks, over the phone to their worried mothers, over dinner to a long-suffering Mikey and Alicia.
Gerard kisses Frank's neck right behind his ear. They lie there, breathing quietly together and watching the purple of the horizon burn into red and then orange until the bedroom door creaks open and there's a shuffling of bunny slippers and the familiar thwump of Lily hitting the mattress. Gerard reaches back and small fingers clasp his thumb and forefinger as Lily scales him, draping herself over his side and fisting a hand in Frank's ratty Black Flag t-shirt.
Frank glances back, smiling tiredly, and squeezes her ankle where it pokes out from under her sprigged flannel nightgown. "Hey bunny," he says, voice croaky, touching a finger to the tip of her slipper's nose. "How'dja sleep?"
Lily's wide dark eyes are squinty, sleep-crusted under the fringe of sideways bangs she cut with her PlaySkool scissors the other day, and she scrunches her nose. "Okay. I had a dream Cy was Harry and I was Hermione and we flew on a broom. And then Aud had a pet monster that bit." She yawns and rubs her nose on Gerard's shoulder, snuffling mucus. "Can we have cim'n toast?"
"If you eat some eggs, I'll make you cinnamon toast," Gerard bargains, hand resting lightly on Lily's back in case she tilts over.
Lily squirms against his hand, making a face. "Eurgh," she whines, "Daddy, eggs are sticky and gross!"
"I like 'em," says Frank, turning over to face her and then divebombing her tummy. "Om nom nom!" he growls, "Sticky eggs!"
Lily shrieks and bats at Frank's head, yanking his hair. "Nooooo!" she moans, "I'm not a baby!"
"You're right," says Frank, pulling back to rub at his scalp and wincing, casting a rueful glance at Gerard's smirk. "You're starting school today, huh? That means next week you get tattoos, right?"
Gerard glares balefully while Lily giggles and shimmies backward off the bed, pattering down the hall to the bathroom. "Can I wear my rainbow one?" she cries, and they both know she's up on the step-stool rifling through the medicine cabinet for her temporary tattoos. "And my sun dress?" she begs, followed by the soft crash of maybe a box of band-aids spilling all over the floor.
"Okay, honey!" Gerard calls, rolling his eyes and throwing off the comforter. "But please pick up whatever that was!"
"I know," Lily calls back.
Frank's got a cast iron skillet in one hand and a spatula in the other, with the carton of eggs balanced precariously in the crook of his arm as he tries to make out the expiration date. Gerard is standing in front of the coffee machine, zoning out to the steady drip and the well-modulated hum of NPR news.
"It's the third, right?" Frank asks dubiously, setting down the skillet on the stove with a clang and nearly fumbling the eggs.
"Mmm," nods Gerard, starting into motion and opening up a cupboard in search of their favorite mugs. Frank's is a ten-gallon cowboy hat from some gas station in the suburbs of Dallas. Gerard's is a hideous pink thing from the Hallmark store at the Paramus Park Mall that says World's Best Mommy. Lily had wanted to get it for Gerard's birthday two years ago because they both like pink and Frank bought it for her because, well, she wanted it, and he thought it was hysterical on a couple different levels, at least. Gerard kissed them both on the cheek and pronounced it just what he'd always wanted.
"Can you do my bobbies, Daddy?" Lily calls, running into the kitchen with elastics in hand and climbing up to stand obediently on a kitchen chair.
"Sure," Gerard says, slurping quickly at his coffee before setting it down and reaching for Lily's pile of baubles.
"The purple ones," she instructs. "I want braids."
Frank smiles to himself a little and wipes an eggy hand against his sweatpants, then grabs the whisk. "Hey Lils," he says, whisking as he turns around to make sure she's listening, "you know how Daddy and I are coming to pick you up after school?"
"Uh-huh," Lily answers, fiddling with her dress, which she calls her sun dress because it's bright yellow, although it is, in fact, also a sun dress.
"If something happens and you need to come home before then, I'm giving you a piece of paper with our phone numbers on it, okay?"
Lily rolls her eyes in a pretty practiced way for a six-year-old. "I know our phone number, Papa," she informs him.
"I know you do, bunny," he nods seriously, leaning his crossed arms on the chair-back across the table from her. "But I want you to take the paper anyway, all right? Sometimes when stuff happens we forget what we were supposed to do, and that's okay. But it's good to have a reminder with us just in case."
Lily watches him as Gerard carefully parts her hair, finger-combing through the snarls. Her deep brown eyes turn nervous for the first time Frank's seen this morning and she fidgets, swaying side-to-side until Gerard lays a calming hand on her shoulder. She looks down then, at the tabletop. "People will like me?" she asks very quietly, digging her chipped purple nails into her dress.
Frank reaches out a hand, trying not to let it tremble, and wraps it around her smaller one as completely as he can. "Of course they will, bunny," he tells her softly. "People will love you just like we love you." He comes around the table to kneel in front of her and tugs playfully at the hem of her dress with one hand, curling the other around Gerard's calf. "You're fun and imaginative and smart and lovely, and you're going to have a great first day, okay? And if anyone does anything that makes you feel bad, tell Daddy and me and we'll take care of it."
Lily's bare toes curl around the edge of the seat but she nods hesitantly.
Gerard wraps an elastic around her last braid and leans down to plant a kiss on the crown of her head, then whispers in her ear, "D'you wanna help me make cinnamon toast, honey?"
Lily nods and Gerard bundles her up in his arms for a tight hug before setting her down on the wood floor. "C'mon," he says, "you can mix the cinnamon and sugar and I'll slice the bread. And Papa will make scrambled eggs for us, mmkay?"
Lily wrinkles her nose and Frank laughs and tweaks it, then turns back to the stove, leaning down to eyeball the gas burner. "I'll put cherry tomatoes in 'em, if you want," he offers. One of Lily's favorite things to do in the summer is eat the sweet, bite-size tomatoes off the vine in Gerard's backyard garden. It's right up there with running through the sprinkler in her parrot bathing suit with the sparkles.
"Okay," Lily agrees after weighing the thought for a moment. "Cherries are good." Gerard haphazardly spoons sugar and cinnamon into a small mixing bowl for Lily and she sifts her fork through the granules, watching the colors swirl together.
Gerard leans back against the cutting board and watches her for a long moment, then meets Frank's eyes over her head. Frank brushes his hair off his face with his wrist, hand clutching the spatula, and smiles wanly. It's quiet for a bit, except for the scrapes and rattles of breakfast-making, and Gerard begins to sing under his breath, sawing into the crusty loaf of bread he and Lily picked out at the grocery store yesterday.
When Gerard calls up the stairs that it's getting to be that time, Lily shuffles drearily into the front hall, dragging her koala backpack behind her along the floor. Gerard takes one look at her and squats down, settling himself cross-legged on the scuffed maple wood. "Are you ready?" he asks intently, ducking his head to catch Lily's gaze.
Lily lets go of the koala's paw and violently throws her arms around Gerard's neck, burying her twisted face against his throat. "Don't make me go, Daddy!" she pleads, muffled and hiccuping, shoulders beginning to heave. She clings to him tightly, and Gerard's face crumples, his hands engulfing her small back and cradling her close.
"Shhh, shhh, baby," he murmurs unconsciously, gathering her into his lap. Frank places the car keys back on the front table, biting his lip. "It'll be okay, honey," Gerard promises, rocking Lily slightly as she begins to sob in earnest. "It'll be okay. Aud is coming with you, remember? We're gonna go meet Aunt Alicia and Mikeyway, and then you and Aud can have lots of fun together at school, okay? And remember how we went to meet Andrea, your teacher? Remember how you two played with the pet snake and you liked how it smelled your hand with its little tongue?"
Lily subsides a bit, sniffling and rubbing her face against her elbow unhappily. "Yeah," she snuffles.
"Hey," Gerard shakes her back and forth, smiling weepily, "what was its name? You remember stuff like that, huh?"
"Zeke," she admits resentfully. "He was a garter snake."
"Yeah," Gerard encourages. "You can see Zeke again!"
Lily wipes a clumsy hand over her wet, red face, pushing her bangs even more askew. She breathes heavily, deep in her small chest, for long seconds before muttering, "What if they make fun of me?"
Gerard takes a shaky breath and kisses her reverently on each eyelid. "They won't, baby. Okay? Andrea will be watching out for you and if anything happens, you can just call us and we'll be there in two shakes of a lamb's tail." He tickles her side. "But nothing's gonna happen, know how I know?"
Lily shakes her head, tears drying on her round cheeks.
"Because you're a little scrapper, that's how!" Gerard pulls a tough face, ignoring Frank's giggle. "You and Aud are the toughest girls I know and your girl gang don't take no guff from nobody, right?"
Lily smiles a little near the edges of her mouth at the familiar routine. "Yeah," she mouths softly.
Frank kneels down next to them then, reaching into his jeans pocket. "Guess what you forgot, Lils?" he says seriously, pulling out the rainbow temporary tattoo he found on the floor of the bathroom after they finished brushing their teeth.
Lily reaches out her fingers and traces them longingly over the bright colors, eyes riveted and hopeful.
"Where d'you want it?" Frank asks peeling off the plastic and fumbling above him on the table for the damp washcloth he brought downstairs.
Lily stares at it a moment longer and then taps uncertainly at her right shoulder, just below the bow tying her sun dress strings.
"Good choice," says Frank approvingly, positioning the scrap of paper. "You know," he lowers his voice and peers secretively at her as he presses down with the washcloth, "this tattoo is a super-special superhero tattoo, did you know that?"
Lily peeks down at her shoulder and shakes her head, braids thumping against her neck.
"It is," Frank continues, rubbing his thumb over the wet paper methodically. "It's only for super-special superheroes like you, who can make cinnamon toast and talk to snakes and run fast like the wind and stand up to the biggest pet monsters." He finishes, slowly peeling away the paper to reveal the bright arc of colors across her shoulder, then sits back on his heels and admires. "You look fierce, my brave girl," he says solemnly.
Lily runs her hand over the design wonderingly, and then reaches over to feel Frank's sleeve, comparing silently. "Okay," she nods finally, and turns to Gerard proudly.
Gerard squeezes her arms and kisses her forehead, smoothing back her bangs, and then Frank leans forward to repeat the gesture, ending with a quick kiss for Gerard's mouth.
Lily straightens her shoulders as Frank helps her with the straps of her backpack, and Gerard climbs to his feet, jingling his keys. "Okay, my sweethearts," he says. "Time to go."