like a tickertape parade
Happy birthday, fleurdeliser!
♥
Have some NASAverse flangst, bb! :))) Theirloveisso♥__;
It's late on a Friday night and Mikey is holed up in his room on the phone with Alicia, cord stretched as far as it'll go across the floor and through the crack in the door. Frank can hear his murmuring, just slightly, underneath the TV. He and Gerard are curled up under a blanket on the couch, watching Johnny Carson. It's been cold out lately, down as low as mid-forties at night, which feels chilly inside Gerard and Mikey's drafty apartment. Frank shivers, tucking his feet more closely under his thighs, and Gerard casts him a concerned look.
"Here," he says, pulling the plaid wool blanket up around their shoulders, "c'mere." He gestures Frank nearer, pulling gently at his arm until Frank gives in and scoots over into the V of Gerard's legs, leaning back against his chest.
It still feels a little awkward to Frank at times, cuddling up with someone, with a man. His lover. That word feels... strange, in both right and wrong ways. He thinks about it a lot, turning it over in his head while he lies awake at night, alone in his own apartment. He spends his time thinking about that instead of rocket engine designs, which even Frank knows means something.
"There, hmm," Gerard murmurs, settling back and kicking lightly at the edge of the blanket with his toes, stuffing it back under their feet. With surprising hesitancy, then, he plants a small kiss on Frank's jaw.
Frank turns into the kiss carefully and tries to make himself relax that last little bit. He thinks at times that Gerard probably senses his misgivings and slight discomfort and he feels guilty about that, about not being able to make Gerard feel sure of him like he promised Mikey he would.
The audience roars as Johnny comes out, curtains swishing aside, and Gerard noses Frank's neck, turning his head to watch. There's supposed to be a NASA guy on tonight, some higher-up who works over in Building Nine, and nominally at least, they're watching out of interest in how the program will go over. In reality, Frank knows, everyone'll be lampooning the suit at work tomorrow and even Frank wants to be in on the joke when they do.
Mikey pokes his head out the bedroom door, receiver still glued to his ear, and watches Johnny's monologue for a moment. Then he turns toward the couch and smirks as he takes them in, gesturing for Gerard to yell when their guy comes on. Frank can feel Gerard nod his head but he's too busy looking down and pulling his knees up to his chest to pay much attention. Once Mikey shuts the door behind him again, he lets his shoulders un-tense somewhat. He hears Gerard sigh against his ear and a hand creeps up to rub at his belly.
"He doesn't care, you know," Gerard tells him quietly, like he has a hundred times over the past month.
Frank nods like he always does, and lays his head back on Gerard's shoulder, tipping it away so he can see the TV screen. Gerard lets his hand rest on Frank's stomach, warm and heavy, and it's that more than his reassurances that finally allows Frank's muscles to melt back down. He watches sleepily all through the animal segment, the monkey picking god-knows-what out of Johnny's hair and eating it while the audience screams with laughter and Johnny give the camera that look he does.
"What d'you s'pose they put in his hair?" Gerard wonders aloud. "Monkey food? What do monkeys eat?"
"Bugs?" Frank guesses, then imagines bugs crawling around in his hair and grimaces.
Gerard laughs into his shoulder and Frank joins in after a moment, turning his head so he can watch the flickering expressions on Gerard's face. He really does like that, just looking at Gerard when he's happy. That's definitely the best part about sex, he's discovering--not the getting off, which he always thought was the point, but the ways he's discovering it can make one feel. Gerard's feelings are always written across his face when they're in bed together and at times that's overwhelming but mostly it's a revelation. Mostly it gives Frank the most amazing feeling in his chest, a little strange but all in the right way. His lover.
Frank doesn't realize he's whispered it to himself until Gerard's eyes turn from amused to bright, joyous. Frank flushes deeply, staring at him unabashedly, admiring him, forgetting the TV and Mikey in the other room.
"Lover," Gerard repeats back to him happily, bending close so that his winter-chapped lips brush against Frank's in a way that makes him feel hot and shivery. He cuddles closer and Gerard's thighs tighten around him, bracketing his hips sideways against Gerard's, half-turned in his lap.
Frank breathes out slowly, opens his mouth to fit it wetly against Gerard's lower lip, the silky feel of the inside of it on his tongue. His hands are caught, the right one between their chests and the left hitching Gerard's knee up farther so it rubs against him just the right way. Frank moans quietly as Gerard moves it slightly, pressing there, and his hips follow, grinding sideways over Gerard's.
Gerard's breath hitches un-quietly, because he's never terribly good at restraining himself in that regard.
"Mmmh," Frank responds, slipping his tongue deeper, back into the slick recesses where, he imagines, his salty-sweet taste buds meet Gerard's bitter ones. He likes that thought inordinately, really, and likes the taste of it even better, Gerard's mouth dark with after-dinner coffee and a splash of rum.
Gerard's fingers press into his lower back and Frank can feel each one if he pays attention, each small divot where Gerard wants him. Frank pulls his mouth back a little to rest his nose against Gerard's and breathe with him for a moment.
"Frankie," Gerard whispers, mouth shaping strangely, open like it misses Frank's tongue.
"I want--" Frank swallows thickly. "I want to be sure. I don't know if that's enough. But I do."
Gerard's warm breath rushes over his wet lips on a sigh, eyes searching Frank's thoughtfully.
Frank meets the gaze solemnly, then closes his eyes again, lashes brushing Gerard's cheek as he fits his mouth back to Gerard's and tries to let everything else go.