frerard one shots | ✔️

seventy-six ~ second date fluff

Just some light fluff, I've been working on a book this summer so I'm putting this out there to tell you guys that! I think it'll be out by late August, maybe early September, but here's something to hold you over, and maybe I'll write some more fluff in between just to keep this book updated :)

"Ray, how the fuck do I impress him if we've only gone on one date?"

"Make something simple, something you can't fuck up," Ray responded, running a hand through his hair as he scrolled through Netflix. "Like, what do you know how to make already?"

Frank took another bite out of his pizza and thought about it a little bit as he watched Ray scroll through at least three good movie options. "Mushroom ravioli is my best bet, but who knows if the guy likes mushrooms?"

"You could text him and ask," Ray suggested, reading the description of a movie and then scrolling past it anyways. "There's no unspoken rule about that. Plus, you make a mean vegetable stir fry."

"You're right, but what if it weirds him out that I'm texting him? But what if he'd rather know what's for dinner? Or... I don't know, Ray, you have a girlfriend, what did you do the first time Christa came to your place for dinner?"

"I kicked Bob out."

"No, you idiot, you know what I mean," Frank grumbled, but laughed a little.

Ray grinned. "I asked her if she liked lasagna, burnt it, and we ordered Chinese takeout instead. And it was also on the second date, and now we've been together a whole year, going strong."

"Stop bragging," Frank mumbled but shot Gerard a text about mushroom ravioli because if it worked for Ray, it had better work for him. "He says he loves it, and he'd really like to try mine. He even put a smiley face."

"Told you," Ray said, chuckling. "Now, do you wanna watch Love Island or not?"

...

"Hey, Gerard," Frank said, answering the phone, nerves twitching at every little sound. "What's up?"

"Hey, Frank, I just wanted to let you know I'm on my way, but I've gotta drop my roommate off to pick up her car from the dealership, so I might be like ten minutes late."

"Oh, no problem at all," Frank replied, doing his best not to sigh in relief. "Don't worry about it."

"Thank you so much, you're the best."

"No biggie, I promise," Frank said, smiling a little. "I'll see you soon."

"See you soon, bye!"  Gerard replied, and they hung up. 

"Thank fucking god," Frank muttered, smiling in relief that Gerard wasn't going to abandon him. He figured Gerard would be there in around twenty minutes, so he turned the heat down on the ravioli and got changed. 

They'd agreed on dressing casually since neither of them wanted to make it a super formal affair. But what kind of casual did Gerard mean? Frank knew he was stressing out about it way too much, but he still video-called Jamia who was visiting her parents for a week in Vermont. 

"Mia, what do I wear? Gerard's gonna be here in twenty minutes and I have no idea what to wear," he said, voice a little panicky, and she giggled. 

"You agreed on something casual, right?"

He nodded. "But I don't wanna look like a slob."

"That new Deftones tour shirt and some nice, but comfortable black jeans."

"You're a genius, thank you so much," Frank said, hurriedly changing, not caring that Jamia could see him doing so. 

"What the fuck, go away!" she whined, but her laughter calmed Frank down a little bit, and he rushed back to the kitchen, smiling in relief when nothing was wrong with his ravioli. He turned the heat off just to be safe, though, as he continued talking to Jamia.