coffee dates and other things || frerard oneshots

catfish

Frank twirled the willow leaves through his fingers like it was hair, laying on his back and staring up at the branches. His small rowboat rocked gently before dipping to the side dramatically, causing him to slide a little bit, and he smiled, turning his head to meet the bright hazel eyes of his lover. 

Gerard was grinning, his teeth a littler sharper than normal as he peered over the side of the boat, hair plastered to his head from the water. Some had tangled in the fins that morphed from his ears and Frank carefully reached over and tugged at the soaked locks of raven hair. The texture was mildly slimy but Gerard made a soft rumbling chirp noise somewhere in his chest that usually meant he was happy so Frank ignored it. 

He also chose to ignore the way Gerards overly sharp nails were digging into the soft wood of the edge of his rowboat. It was a hopeless cause anyway, the poor boat was already riddled with nicks from the other boys claws - and occasionally teeth when he got upset and decided to gnaw on the wood. 

Instead he sat up a little bit, extra wary of where he had to be to keep the boat from tipping to the side, and scooped his hair out of his face. "Ready for lunch then?"

Gerard nodded, making the same chirping noise, before disappearing with a gentle sloshing noise. Without the added weight, Franks boat rocked a little dangerously before settling while Frank grabbed the oars.

A few minutes later, Frank was up to his calves in pond water as he carefully dragged his boat onto the grassy shore further upstream. He'd taken his shoes off and rolled his jeans up as high as they would go but he knew it was a losing battle, his pants would still be damp and uncomfortable when he got home. 

After standing there for a moment and mourning the state of his pants, Frank turned and grabbed the basket they'd brought with them, hauling it over to where the sun was leaving a dappled pattern over the grass. 

He'd already unpacked the towels and laid out the blanket they kept in the basket by the time he heard the sloshing of something moving through the shallow waters near the shore. He didn't bother looking up from his fight with getting the thermos out of the basket - how Gerard had managed to fit it in there in the first place was a fucking mystery - until there was a significant amount of grunting and gross mud-squelching noises and then, finally, a low mournful chirp. 

Frank looked over and had to bite back a laugh. Gerard was stuck, his tail still half in the water while he wriggled unhappily, unable to get it free from the mud due to his utter lack of upper-body strength. Abandoning his fight with the thermos, Frank stood up and brushed off his butt before walking over to his boyfriend who was looking at him with wide, helpless eyes. 

Finally letting out a snicker, Frank reached down and grabbed the mermans arms leaning backwards and hauling him up the band, thankful that he spent so much time in his life rowing. He didn't think he'd ever get used to the slimy feel of Gerards skin when he was in this form but he had accepted it a long time ago, instead choosing to focus on the happy rumbling coming from the (technically) amphibian boy.

Once he'd dragged him far enough to be completely free of water and damp grass, Frank threw a towel at Gerard and then sat back down to re-start his attempts with getting the thermos out. He made an unhappy noise and shook it, as if that would somehow stop it from being too long to get it out of the opening. Gerard made a bubbling sort of crooning noise that Frank had learned meant he was being laughed at so he flipped him off and then let out a loud 'aha' when he finally pulled the thermos free. 

Laying in the sun, Gerard was starting to dry off relatively quickly, his fins having already virtually disappeared by the time Frank had finished setting up their whole picnic spread. The merman was laying on his tummy, resting his chin on his arms while watching a bee crawl across a flower. The willow tree they were under cast interesting shadows across his back, the pale skin finally looking like it's regular milky-complexion instead of the weird sickly grey it had been minutes earlier.