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Frankie is a fucking good cuddler. There’s no doubt about that. Everyone in the band figured this out within the first week or so of touring in the van.
Frank is soft in all the right places and his hair isn’t so big and fluffy that it gets all up in people’s eyes or mouths. Frank can curl up and make himself small if necessary, but he can also stretch out and envelop anyone who needs some good full-body snuggling.
Frank seems to have an uncanny ability to be able to sense it when someone needs a good snuggle. It’s especially helpful for someone like Mikey who will rarely come right out and say it if he’s bummed or feeling down for some reason. Frank always notices, though, and will engage in non-con cuddling if necessary when Mikey’s being contrary. In the end, Mikey always ends up sighing long-sufferingly, but going along with it when Frank suddenly seems to have grown eight limbs. Within three minutes of that kind of full-on cuddle attack, anyone would give in and Mikey always does, usually falling asleep with a smile on his face.
When piling into the van for a long drive, the words, “I call Frankie,” can be heard being shouted nearly as often as the classic, “I call shotgun.” There is nothing quite as nice as resting curled up against Frank on a several-hours long trip. Frank is always warm, hot even. His body puts out heat like a miniature human furnace, or a heating pad that can wrap your whole body up and put warm pressure on the muscles that ache the most.
Everyone knows this and so after a particularly exhausting show, it isn’t uncommon for actual arguments to break out over who gets to sit with Frank. For a while they tried having a rotating turn-taking arrangement. For a plethora of reasons, that decidedly did not work out. The biggest reason being that not all drives are the same length and so some turns would only end up being 20 minutes long and then some turns would be three hours long -- not exactly fair. Another reason is that it’s just plain hard to keep track of turns when there are four people involved who all want it to be their turn. That doesn’t even take into account the confusion caused when Frank drives or rides shotgun because it’s his turn to control the music.
The current argument against turn taking comes about when the rest of the band finally catches on to a shift that’s been taking place lately in Frank and Gerard’s relationship. It’s Ray who speaks up about it first, loudly stating that he doesn’t think it’s fair for Gerard to get a turn cuddling with Frank in the van because Gerard gets to cuddle with Frank at night every time they stay over somewhere.
When faced with it that way, Gerard can’t really argue, because it’s true. He and Frank have always flirted a lot and been super touchy-feely with the occasional kiss and sometimes full-on make-out session that never really goes anywhere. But lately Frank’s been acting a bit… different, only slightly, barely noticeable if you aren’t looking for it, but of course Gerard’s been looking because there really isn’t anything he’d like more than for the now-more-frequent make-out sessions to actually start going somewhere.
It was about a week or so ago that it really started to sink in. They were spreading out blankets and sleeping bags on some really nice dude’s living room floor when Frank came over and plopped his own pillow down at the top of Gerard’s favorite blanket, as if his pillow belonged there. And Gerard realized as he watched Frank retreat to the bathroom to brush his teeth that he couldn’t remember a time on this particular tour when Frank hadn’t bedded down with him. As he lay down, Gerard realized that he was getting used to falling asleep to the feel of Frank’s octopus limbs wrapping around him as Frank spooned up behind him and nestled his face into the back of Gerard’s neck, never complaining about Gerard’s greasy hair or odor no-matter how long it had been since Gerard had showered.
And that’s how it’s been ever since. If it’s one of those rare nights when they stay in a crappy motel, Frank plops his pillow down on the bed with Gerard’s blanket as soon as they enter the room. None of the other guys even try to interlope. Gerard figures that’s because as much as they like Frank and love cuddling with him, they aren’t interested in the same thing from Frank that Gerard’s interested in. That thought made Gerard pause at first and he wondered how obvious he’d been about his feelings for Frank. But he’s over it now. Now he just goes along with it, dreaming of a time when he and Frank might actually get a moment to themselves, a chance to cuddle without anyone else around and maybe their make-out session can go somewhere interesting.
Gerard mentally flips through his Frank fantasy book as he sits down in the front seat of the van. He takes shotgun and music responsibility, letting Ray have Frank cuddles because Ray’s right, Gerard does get more Frank cuddles than the rest of them and it probably isn’t fair for him to have as many turns cuddling with him in the van as the other guys.
Gerard pulls out his favorite Cure mix CD with ‘Just Like Heaven’ as the first song. He slides it into the CD player and the first song comes on just as they accelerate on to the highway, settling in for another long drive. He turns in his seat and looks back to where Frank has Ray’s head cradled on his chest, running his fingers through Ray’s nappy strands of hair. Ray already has his eyes closed, a totally blissed-out expression on his face. Frank notices Gerard looking and gives him a little wink. Gerard smiles and hopes he doesn’t blush as he turns around in his seat, turns the music up, and thinks about all the possibilities for when he snuggles up with Frank after the show tonight.