Fic: first date (2/2)
Title: First date (2/2)
Pairing: John Terry/ Frank Lampard
Word count: 2,292
disclaimer: never happened and probably never will
summary: John takes Frank out on a first date, 16 yr-old style, but not everything goes to plan...
A/n. Sequel to this, mistakes are my own, I apologise in advance, but i hope you enjoy
Comments are loved.
As he stepped outside, he took a large gulp of fresh air “never, ever, again, i’d rather walk home then get on another tube”
“It’d take about 3 hours mate...”
“I don’t care, it smelt of piss and sweat and god only knows what else”
John just smiled and laughed at how out of touch with the rest of the world frank was sometimes.
“Right” frank put his arm round john’s shoulder, “so where we going then?”
“Dinner or amusements first?”
“Dinner, I'm starving,” then, as if to prove a point, frank’s belly chose that moment to let out a huge rumble.
“Ha, well I suppose we’d better feed the beast, else I'll get no peace all night” he said, laughing and patting frank’s stomach. Putting his arm round frank’s shoulder, he led the way from the station, down main roads and side streets in the setting sun.
“Do you even know where you’re going mate?” Frank asked, as John stopped yet again at a corner, pondering whether it was right or left
“Course! Grew up here, know it better than my own mothers face, or your face for that matter”
“Well then I’m terribly offended, as we’ve been down here already!” Frank was getting bored now, something it didn’t take him long to do. The amount of times John had had to think of ways to keep him entertained, on the coach, in the evenings, when out, honestly, his attention span was shorter than Georgie or Summer’s.
John chose to ignore Frank, not wanting his growing bad mood to put a downer on the evening and jogged down to the corner. When he reached it, he turned back to the older man whose arms were crossed, huffily across his chest, a huge grin across his face as he beckoned for him to come.
“Look! This is the road... and see that Italian, that’s where we’re going!”
Amongst the grey and dirty buildings, one stood out from the others. Even from the other end of the street, it looked warm and inviting. A large sign hanging from the side, swaying in the wind was in the shape of a pizza with “Papa Luigi’s” emblazoned across the middle. The light shining out from the windows cast a glow across the street, making it seem all the more warm and inviting.
Frank’s mood began to lighten instantly as the restaurant got closer while John rambled on about his many delicious home-made meals experienced here. As they approached the restaurant, John took his arm from Frank’s shoulder and went in first.
“I’m telling you Frank, the food here is simply...” John trailed off as a hundred faces all turned silently and glared at the two millionaire footballers that had just interrupted them. John blushed scarlett, cursed under his breath and slowly backed out, stammering his apologies and best wishes.
“Shit! I’m so sorry mate, I thought...oh great start... I should have checked” John felt so stupid, but when he looked up he relaxed. Frank was in fits of giggles, having to lean against the wall for support he was laughing so hard. “Did you... Did you...” he managed to stutter out between fits of laughter “Did you see...their faces...” John couldn’t help but crack a smile at that point, “The old woman’s face!” John started laughing too, “And the absolute horror on the face of the man giving the speech!” Soon John was laughing just as hard, grabbing onto Frank for support. He looked up into his best friends face, he really was something special, he’d never had so much fun with anyone else. Frank caught his eye and they both stood there for a minute, still embracing each other. John looked down at Frank’s lips and couldn’t resist a quick kiss. He pulled away quickly and slapped Frank’s arse,
“Come on mate, lets get going, things to do, places to go...” He put his arm back around Frank and began to walk, “And this time, I definitely know where I’m going” Frank rolled his eyes, but smiled nonetheless.
The overhead clouds and impending sunset, caused the dark to come on quicker than usual, and as the streets were getting smaller and emptier, and the buildings more and more rundown, Frank found himself walking closer and closer to John, seeking protection,
“JT? You sure it’s safe round here?”
John smiled at the younger man who was literally walking on top of him now. “Course, grew up round here. The great Frank Lampard isn’t scared is he?”
“Course not” Frank muttered straightening up, trying to act nonchalant, yet he gave it all away when he completely tensed as two young men in addidas hoodies and trackies walked past. John couldn’t help the laughter that seeped out.
“Take that for a yes then, don’t worry I’ll protect you" he said, giving him a small squeeze, Frank just elbowed him in the ribs.
“Oi, it’s not funny, you’ve heard all the stories of the yobs with a hundred knives down the pants, picking on passers-by. We’re perfect prey you know, plus its dark, no-one would see us to die.”
John was laughing again, “mate you have a very, erm how can I put it, interesting view of the world!” John had to keep the laugh in this time, laughing at a sulking Frank, is a very dangerous thing indeed.
“Right its just round this corner” As he turned the corner, he suddenly stopped abruptly, causing Frank to walk into him.
“What? No way it can’t be!”
“What?”
“Its...just look at it”
Frank looked up to see an almost dilapidated building, half the windows were boarded up, the remaining ones smashed in. A sign, the only remainder of its former glory, now hung sideways, “Pete’s palladium”, the door had been broken in, probably by squatters.
Frank snorted, “You clearly haven’t been here in ages, either that or you really don’t know anything about dates, mate this place is a shit hole”
“Oh just shut up would you” John bit back, then immediately regretted it, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to snap” john sighed and ran his hand through his hair, “It’s just I feel so stupid...i had this whole evening planned...”
Frank took John’s hand, “Hey, you don’t have to be sorry around me, let’s go back and how about we...”
Frank was cut off by John shouting, “Shit run!”
He turned around to see two ragged men advancing out of the building, shouting at them, holding bats above their heads. He didn’t think twice before sprinting after John, not even daring to look back.
They ran for a good ten minutes, not wanting to stop, even though they were sure they had long lost their attackers. It was only when they came to a busier area, where they were earning some strange looks that they finally stopped. Frank leaned against the wall, “Well, this is a very interesting first date, you sure know how to impress a woman,” Frank smirked. John just glared at him, before turning to rest his head against the wall, and thumping it with his clenched fist. “Yeah ok Lampsy, gloat why don’t you? I know , I’ve ruined everything, happy now?”
Frank put his arm around John, “hey, relax mate, seriously, don’t worry, it was all just a bit of fun!” He looked around, at where they were, and suddenly got an idea, “Wait here, I’ll be back in a sec” and he jogged off, before John could protest.
Too add insult to injury, the heavens chose that moment to open, rain splattering down, making John even more miserable, the evening couldn’t have gone worse if he’d tried.
He turned around to see Frank jogging back across the road, hugging two packages under his coat.
“C’mon follow me!”
“But Frank, where we going, it’s raining, let’s just call it a night, go home and forget all about it” Frank just took hold of John’s arm and started frog marching him down the street,
“Ah, quit your whining...now lets see...it was somewhere around here...aha!"
John looked up to find himself face to face with large gates, surrounding a small park. He looked warily at Frank, “you must be joking, we’re NOT going in there Frank! It’s raining, not to mention the fact the GATES ARE LOCKED, and what about all the druggies and homeless people that are surely in there. Frank, turn around we’re going home!”
Frank smirked at the change of roles, “You’re not scared are you, the great, fearless John Terry!” He mocked John from earlier.
“No!” John said, a little too defensively, “Besides, how you going to get in?”
“In true 16 year old fashion” Frank smirked.
John just rolled his eyes and sighed as Frank handed the warm parcels to him and winked before hoisting himself up the gates and proceeding to climb over.
“Frank...you’re insane, what if we can’t get out, what if we get caught!” Frank brushed him off with a laugh,
“Well you coming in or what? Coz if not, pass me chips through would you?”
John quickly checked no-one was around being handing the two newspaper wrapped packets through the bars, while glaring at Frank, before proceeding to attempt scaling the gate himself. Safe to say, John didn’t quite have the grace or agility of Frank and after a few attempts, he finally landed in a heap on the other side, much to Frank’s amusement.
“Watch it” John mumbled as he he got up a brushed him self down, his jeans wet from the puddle he fell in, “Lets go find a seat.”
As they made their way around the dark, damp park, john thought about how they’d ended up here. At the beginning of the evening, he’d a brilliant, foolproof plan, or so he thought. And now look what had happened, he’d been reduced to breaking into a park in the pouring rain, he never thought pretending to re-enact his youth with frank would be this realistic.
Frank chose a bench semi sheltered under a tree and sat down as he began to unwrap his fish and chips. John sat down next to him, shuffling closer so as to share as much body heat as possible. He unwrapped his fish and chips and was grateful for the warmth and relief they brought, the fact frank hadn’t forgotten his pickled gherkin didn’t go unnoticed either.
He looked across at Frank, who was tucking into his own food with the little wooden fork. He brought his hand to Frank’s face and turned it until they were facing each other. He’d always thought there was something special about how Frank looked when it rained, and now was no exception. The semi light from the moon and streetlights cast a wonderful glow on his wet face and his hair, flattened, messy and wet brought an almost youthful charm about him. He lent in and kissed Frank, deeply and lovingly, the older man responding eagerly. He broke apart and rested his forehead against Franks,
“I’m so sorry Frank, this evening was a complete failure, I tried I really did, I had it all planned and everything, the perfect meal, the perfect place to go afterwards, I used to go to Pete’s palladium all the time when I was younger, it was the best place. I was so excited about showing you what I was like, trying to impress, you, going on like an almost normal date with you, but all I’ve managed to do was show you what and idiotic failure I am,” John was getting more and more worked up, “I know you’re sitting there now, wishing you were at home, wishing you’d never come out, and now thanks to me we’re probably gonna be ill for the next match, and I’m sorry Frank, I understand if you hate me after this,”
“hey!” Frank stopped him there and took John’s hands in his own, “Don’t say that, I love you now, just as much as I always have done, and it’d take more than a rainy evening wandering around the streets to change that, and like I said earlier, you don’t ever have to be sorry around me, I understand, I always do.” John was looking at his shoes, Frank waited until he was looking back up at him to continue, looking him straight in the eye as he carried on speaking “tonight’s not a complete failure anyway, Ok it might not have gone to plan, but you know what, I haven’t laughed so much in a while, and besides, I don’t care what we do, as long as I’m spending my time with you, and I have to say, these are bloody good fish and chips. And one thing’s for sure, its a night I’ll never forget, it’s certainly been... ummm... interesting” John began to relax, and laughed at Frank’s last comment, “Finally, like I said, I don’t care what we do, I don’t care if we end up sitting on a park bench in the pouring rain eating fish and chips, as long as I’m with you, that’s all I want, that’s all I need.” Once again, the two men’s lips came together expressing what was too special to say in words. John wrapped his arms around Frank, safe in the knowledge they were hidden from anyones view. He knew he agreed with Frank as the older man had brought out his rarely shown, rather soppy side, a contrast to the air he normally gave off, it didnt matter what he did, as long as he was with Frank, he was having the time of his life. On the outside he was cold and wet, but inside he felt warm and fuzzy as Frank filled all his senses.