gerard stared nervously at the clock. it was 12:01. suddenly, an engine rumbled outside. his eyes widened and he grabbed his phone from the counter and lept to the door.
"i'm leaving, bye!" he yelled quickly, rushing out the door and slamming it shut. once gerard got outside, he stopped for a minute to catch his breath with two hands on his knees. sitting in that black car across the street was frank. his... boyfriend? thing?
slowly, he straightened his body up to look over at the car. frank was inside, tapping his hands nervously on the steering wheel, and hadn't noticed gerard yet.
he jogged across the street and tapped on the window. frank looked up, startled, but smiled when he recognized who it was. frank waved and unlocked the doors.
gerard circled the car and got in on the passenger's side. the blast of cool air was refreshing.
frank cleared his throat.
gerard tapped his feet.
"so how are-"
"hi! what's-"
they started at the same time. frank waved gerard on to talk first. he laughed awkwardly.
"um. you know, let's just forget how awkward this was. how are you?" gerard said.
"i'm good! i'm rad. i'm also borrowing my mom's car so that's cool. please help me make sure i don't accidentally wreck it because honestly i probably will." frank smiled as he pulled out onto the street.
"yeah i'll try, but i'm not the most organized or safe person." gerard laughed. he was feeling a lot more comfortable now, and greatful that the awkwardness was gone.
"we'll probably get to the carnival thing in about 15 minutes, so just hang tight, okay?" frank said, and gerard nodded.
but 15 minutes later, they were still 30 minutes away. the traffic was extremely thick.
"do you uh, do you just want to bail? i'm kind of sick of sitting in the car for our first date..." frank suggested. gerard breathed a sigh of relief.
"yes, i thought you'd never ask. there's a mcdonald's right up here. let's go there instead."
frank nodded and when the light turned green, he moved up and pulled into the parking lot.
"are we gonna go in? or drive through?" gerard asked.
"let's go in. that way i can choose how much ice i want in my soda." frank decided. they parked and headed in.
"fuck. it is hot as satan's asshole out there i'm dying." frank said once they got inside. gerard nodded.
"yeah what the hell. okay. anyways. i'll have the number four meal with a fountain drink." gerard said to the cashier.
"i'm going to get the 24 piece chicken nugget box with a large soda." gerard said. frank stared at him.
"you're going to eat all of- you know what? nevermind i already know you can." frank shook his head and smiled, grabbing gerard's hand and squeezing it.
the cashier came back with the two cups and a tray. "that'll be 15 dollars and 96 cents."
frank and gerard both reached into their pockets and pulled out their wallets.
"i'll pay." frank said.
"no, no. i got it."
"no, gerard really, i can pay.
"i already know you only have 10 dollars in that wallet. i can pay."
frank relented with a sigh. gerard was basically right.
"11 dollars." frank muttered.
gerard heard the comment but ignored it, handing the cash to the lady and grabbing the cups. he handed one to frank.
"fill up your soda and have a seat, i'll grab the food." gerard said. frank obliged and found a good table to sit at.
once gerard got his drink and the food, he went over to where the other boy was sitting and sat down.
"honestly, i love chicken mcnuggets so much, i would die for them." gerard said.
"you'd die for a bunch of processed meat?"
"yes. and i wouldn't regret it."
frank smiled at gerard, who was looking very focused as he dunked his chicken into the package of sweet and sour sauce, and then the barbecue sauce.
he had a feeling that things would turn out just fine for them.
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holy shit that's the last chapter, there's gonna be a really short epilogue after this that i'm writing AS WE SPEAK!!! so yeah. thank god.
