[Team 1] Lazy Afternoons
This probably isn't something any of you particularly care to read, but I was struggling with how to start, then yararanger mentioned monarch butterflies. The idea has been on my mind forever and it was too perfect a fit not to use 8D
Monarch butterfly wings fluttered past Gerard's nose, hovering in the air for a long moment before settling on Frank's arm, right at the hilt of one of the five swords inked into his skin. The butterfly continued to move its wings gently, alternately hiding and revealing the Virgin Mary's face as Gerard watched. It took off when Frank shifted and rolled onto his side, and Gerard continued to watch as it rose into the sky, growing smaller and smaller until he could no longer pick out the orange and black from the foliage overhead.
"Do you miss it?" Frank asked. Gerard could see him in his peripheral vision, arm now curled up under his head to protect it from the ground.
Gerard cast his mind back to the years they'd spent crammed into their tiny van, curled around amps and guitar cases, back when soft beds were a luxury and privacy was nothing but a pipe dream. When they'd been running on coffee, cigarettes and adrenaline because their grocery money had gone towards merch and new guitar strings. Then there was the tour buses and year-long road trips with his four brothers, the roar of a sold-out crowd, the catharsis of screaming his heart out night after night and having every kid out there scream right back at him.
"Every day," he replied softly, meeting Frank's eyes. He didn't need to say anything else, knew Frank remembered everything just as clearly as he did - the really, really bad and the good that was so incredible it felt like nothing on this Earth.
The silence stretched on between them, comfortable and easy, and Gerard pressed his head back into the ground, flexing his fingers and toes to feel the grass between them. Eventually his eyes must have drifted closed, soothed to sleep by the heat from the sun and the distant sound of children giggling, because when he next opened them the shadows were falling differently across his face and the laughter was much closer than it had been before.
Blinking sleepily, Gerard felt Frank shift next to him and looked up to see him watching his wife with beaming smile on his face. Jamia was running around the backyard, Lily and Cherry hot on her heels brandishing cardboard swords. She ducked behind the garden furniture for protection and both girls clambered up on top of it, falling over each other and shrieking joyfully when Bandit shot out from under the table to take Jamia prisoner.
"Would you change it?" Frank picked up easily, voice low and thoughtful. Gerard didn't have to ask to know what he meant, remembered the days spent holed up together making the impossible decision, then the even more impossible decision of how to tell the rest of the world. He remembered the announcement going out - and the inevitable backlash - like it was yesterday.
Gerard heard his daughter's delighted squeal and glanced back over just in time to see Lindsey come to Jamia's rescue. She swooped in, grabbed Bandit around the waist and span her around, tiny arms and legs flailing all over the place and sending the other girls running for cover. Lindsey turned to grin in their direction, and Gerard felt it hit him like a ton of bricks, felt himself fall in love with her, with both of them, all over again. He smiled slowly and knew he didn't even have to think about his answer.
"Not for the world."
yararanger, you're up!
Monarch butterfly wings fluttered past Gerard's nose, hovering in the air for a long moment before settling on Frank's arm, right at the hilt of one of the five swords inked into his skin. The butterfly continued to move its wings gently, alternately hiding and revealing the Virgin Mary's face as Gerard watched. It took off when Frank shifted and rolled onto his side, and Gerard continued to watch as it rose into the sky, growing smaller and smaller until he could no longer pick out the orange and black from the foliage overhead.
"Do you miss it?" Frank asked. Gerard could see him in his peripheral vision, arm now curled up under his head to protect it from the ground.
Gerard cast his mind back to the years they'd spent crammed into their tiny van, curled around amps and guitar cases, back when soft beds were a luxury and privacy was nothing but a pipe dream. When they'd been running on coffee, cigarettes and adrenaline because their grocery money had gone towards merch and new guitar strings. Then there was the tour buses and year-long road trips with his four brothers, the roar of a sold-out crowd, the catharsis of screaming his heart out night after night and having every kid out there scream right back at him.
"Every day," he replied softly, meeting Frank's eyes. He didn't need to say anything else, knew Frank remembered everything just as clearly as he did - the really, really bad and the good that was so incredible it felt like nothing on this Earth.
The silence stretched on between them, comfortable and easy, and Gerard pressed his head back into the ground, flexing his fingers and toes to feel the grass between them. Eventually his eyes must have drifted closed, soothed to sleep by the heat from the sun and the distant sound of children giggling, because when he next opened them the shadows were falling differently across his face and the laughter was much closer than it had been before.
Blinking sleepily, Gerard felt Frank shift next to him and looked up to see him watching his wife with beaming smile on his face. Jamia was running around the backyard, Lily and Cherry hot on her heels brandishing cardboard swords. She ducked behind the garden furniture for protection and both girls clambered up on top of it, falling over each other and shrieking joyfully when Bandit shot out from under the table to take Jamia prisoner.
"Would you change it?" Frank picked up easily, voice low and thoughtful. Gerard didn't have to ask to know what he meant, remembered the days spent holed up together making the impossible decision, then the even more impossible decision of how to tell the rest of the world. He remembered the announcement going out - and the inevitable backlash - like it was yesterday.
Gerard heard his daughter's delighted squeal and glanced back over just in time to see Lindsey come to Jamia's rescue. She swooped in, grabbed Bandit around the waist and span her around, tiny arms and legs flailing all over the place and sending the other girls running for cover. Lindsey turned to grin in their direction, and Gerard felt it hit him like a ton of bricks, felt himself fall in love with her, with both of them, all over again. He smiled slowly and knew he didn't even have to think about his answer.
"Not for the world."
yararanger, you're up!