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“You’re telling me you’ve never skied? Ever?”
Frank pokes at his french fries, pushing them around his plate. “I mean, not never. I learned as a kid, like everyone else. It’s not like I had a choice. ‘Sides, I never looked back once I strapped into a board.”
Gerard raises an eyebrow and sips at his drink, knowing that he’d seen Frank on skis just last week.
Frank scoffs and stabs at his plate. “Whatever, at least I have the range. I’d like to see you give boarding a go. You’d faceplant before you even got off the lift.”
“Hey, no I wouldn’t!” Gerard pouts at his date from across the table. “C’mon, have some faith in me.”
Frank chews thoughtfully and considers his words. It’s a cruel move, he knows it. There’s no hope for Gerard in what he’s about to propose, but it would be the only way to convince him to give the opposing team a chance. Frank swallows and takes a huge gulp from his water before leaning forward and crossing his hands in front of him. “Alright, how ‘bout this. I take you out on a board, and if you make it down a green without falling, I’ll pay for every date for a month.”
Gerard narrows his eyes. “And if I fall?”
Frank shrugs and leans back in his plastic chair. “Then I get the satisfaction of knowing I’m right.” Gerard doesn’t trust that. Frank never wanted ‘just the satisfaction.’
“Okay, you get the satisfaction… and?” Gerard prompts when Frank offers nothing else to the deal.
“Oh, and you’ll owe me a blowjob.” Frank says calmly as he shoves another forkful of loaded fries into his mouth.
Frank watches smugly as Gerard blushes bright red and chokes on his veggie burger.
“Fuck you.” Gerard manages when he’s recovered.
“Maybe if you win.” Frank smiles a shit eating grin as his boyfriend glares at him.
--------
And so Frank digs out one of his spare boards and snags a pair of boots from his roommate, dragging Gerard to the mountain for their day off.
It goes about as well as Frank expects it to. Gerard falls immediately after getting off the lift, which leaves Frank (having smoothly skated away) cackling as the lift attendant yells for Gerard to get out of the way. Matters are made even worse when Gerard offers the attendant a choice gloved finger and Frank realises it’s his brother Mikey who was forced to stop the entire lift to allow Gerard to scramble and drag himself away from the offloading area. Frank clutches at his sides and falls backwards into the snow as he howls with laughter.
Gerard huffs when he finally makes it over to Frank, hobbling awkwardly from the single foot strapped into his board. Frank makes an effort to contain himself and regain his composure when he sees Gerard’s face. “That doesn’t count.”
Frank can’t help himself, and grins again. “Uh, yeah it totally counts. I’ve won, and you owe me a blowjob.”
Gerard looks around wildly, and Frank can imagine how his eyes are wide under his goggles. “Frank! There’s families around!” He hisses, mortified that someone had overheard. Frank waves his hand in response.
“Yeah, yeah. It’s fine, no one’s paying us any attention anyways. They’re all busy trying not to get run over.” As if on cue, someone faceplants off the next chair and promptly takes down the rider who had been seated next to them. Mikey had stopped the lift and was once again pressuring the fallen riders to get out of the way so he could start it back up again. Gerard found a bit of comfort in knowing that he wasn’t yelling at those kids any different than he’d yelled at him. Regardless, he tried to pretend he wasn’t mortified that he’d just been in the same situation.
Gerard looks back at Frank and crosses his arms in front of him. “This isn’t part of the run. It doesn’t count.”
“It’s totally part of the run.” Frank argues.
“No it’s not, I’m not even strapped in. Anyone would fall with only one foot in the bindings!”
“I didn’t fall.” Frank points out.
“Yeah, well, you don’t count. I get a do-over.” Gerard stares at Frank, seeing himself reflected in the lens of his goggles. He was relieved to see he didn’t look as dumb as he felt.
Frank rolls his eyes. “Okay, fine. You get one do-over. If you fall with both your feet strapped in, though, it’s over.”
Gerard nods and sticks his hand down towards Frank. “Deal. And falling trying to stand up doesn’t count.” He adds just before they shake on it.
Frank gasps and jerks his hand back. “Not fair! I take back the deal!”
“Nope, it’s sealed.” Gerard grins at Frank’s pout.
“Fine, just strap yourself in already. My butt’s going numb.” Frank wiggles against the snow to demonstrate his point.
Gerard falls back against the snow next to Frank and starts on doing up his bindings. Frank, the good boyfriend that he is, watches patiently and even kindly points out that the toe strap goes over your toes , not your whole foot. He even takes over and ratchets the straps into place tight, picking up the slack that Gerard had missed. Once he’s certain that everything is safely in place, he pushes himself off the ground and flips around to face Gerard.
“Your turn!” He says brightly. Gerard takes a deep breath and braces his hands behind him, trying to imitate the way he’d just observed Frank standing up. He throws his weight forward onto his toes as he shoves off with his hands, but nothing happens. His butt arches away from the ground and his feet slide out from under him before he collapses back into the snow. He tries again, with the same result. He tries a different approach, pulling his board under himself and trying to stand up from a weird sort of sitting squat. Turns out, he doesn’t quite have the muscles for that one. He tries again and again to no avail.
Frank stays silent, his amusement barely masked as he watches the skier struggle before giving up and pouting up at him. “That’s not fair, you didn’t tell me it was going to be this hard!”
Frank grins in return. “I never said it’d be easy. C’mon, I’ll help you.” He scoots forward and holds out his hands for Gerard to grab. “On the count of three, stand up. Keep your weight back, or you’ll start sliding into me. Ready?” Gerard nods.
“One, two, three,” Frank heaves upwards, but as he had expected, Gerard overshoots and throws himself forwards onto the smaller man. Frank digs his board into the snow to stop the pair of them from tumbling backwards and steadies Gerard, whose eyes are wide with surprise. “Oops,” he breathes, his breath creating a small cloud in the cold air between them. Frank pats his shoulder in a comforting way and moves back.
“Because I’m the best boyfriend in the world, I’ve decided I’ll give you a few pointers. To make things fair, or whatever. Start it off easy, keep your weight back in your heels and your board parallel to the slope, don’t let the nose of your board go down, just keep it even. Let yourself go down slowly, like this.” He demonstrates the movement, sliding down the mountain a few feet on the heel edge of his board. “It’s called the falling leaf. Keep your legs bent and your weight back, and push the board forward a few inches at a time. Take it slow.”
Gerard experimentally pushes his feet forward and feels himself slide a bit. He does it again, and again, slowly making his way down to Frank. He grins in triumph as he comes to a complete stop beside him
Frank is impressed. “Alright, I’ll admit it, that wasn’t bad for a first timer. Don’t get your hopes up though, I’m too broke to afford to pay for our dates, so I’m just waiting for that first fall.”
“In your dreams, Iero. I’ve got this in the bag.”
Frank rolls his eyes dramatically. “Yeah, whatever you say.”
They practice heel and toe edges for a while, and it isn’t until Frank shows Gerard how to turn between the two that he falls. He’s switching from toe to heel when his board catches the snow and he topples backwards. It didn’t hurt, at least physically. He couldn’t say his pride wasn’t a bit damaged from the small tumble. He hadn’t been expecting to win, really, but there were a few minutes where he’d thought he’d might actually have a chance. He groans as Frank stops beside him.
“Yeah, yeah, whatever. I owe you a blowjob and have to pay for my own dates.” Frank’s smiling ear to ear, smugness radiating off him in waves.
“Fuck yeah you do.” He sticks out his hand to help Gerard up again. “Hey, man, no hard feelings.”
Gerard rolls his eyes and lets himself be helped up. If he couldn’t win the bet, he was now determined to show he was capable regardless. Okay, so he couldn’t go down without falling, but he was going to get down without any help. He wasn’t going to be like those kids who skied in front of their parents on a leash. He was going to be independent .
“Ready?” Frank asks, and Gerard nods. “Sick. Oaky, just like before. Start on your heel for a bit, put your weight on your front foot to go down, and then onto your toes. Yeah?”
Gerard nods and sets off with determination. He does as Frank had instructed, successfully completing a full turn. Now facing up the hill, he feels himself teeter forward as he slows, but catches himself with his arms and pushes back upright before he’s fully down. It feels kind of cool, if he’s being honest.
“Perfect! Just like that! Keep going, back to your heel!” Frank shouts encouragingly, immense pride at his boyfriend swelling in his chest as Gerard switches back to a heel slide.
As he prepares to start another turn, he feels his left foot starting to slide forward before he’s ready. Panicked, Gerard tries to throw himself sideways before he slides too far, but only succeeds in turning his board completely parallel to the downhill. He picks up speed a lot faster than he thought he would, feeling out of control as he slides down faster and faster. He hears Frank yell something, but is far too focused on trying not to die to hear what he said. A million thoughts race through his head as he tries to regain control. He’s going to crash, he’s going to run into a child at fifty miles per hour and kill them like it says on the warnings plastered on the resort busses. He’s going to careen off the edge of the run and ski patrol is going to have to lift his body out with a crane.
Frank watches as Gerard’s board spins forward, and quickly glances around to make sure no one’s coming down behind them. The run is clear, thankfully. “Fall, Gerard, fall! Lean back and fall on your ass!” He wasn’t really going that fast, but Frank remembers how even the slowest of speeds can be terrifying when you feel you have no control. He watches in worry as Gerard tries to turn his board back around, instead catching his toe edge and sending himself flying forwards. Frank winces as he does an honest to god head over heels fall, doing a few barrel rolls before finally coming to a stop.
Gerard is out of breath and covered in snow when he finally comes to a rest. His face hurts from the cold and there’s an ache in his head similar to a headache. The rest of his body has yet to feel the effects, but he already knows he’s in for a hell of a day tomorrow. He hears Frank come up beside him and shakes his head to clear it and stop the pain. “I’m good, I’m okay.” He answers before Frank has the chance to ask.
“Sure you are. Just uh, take a moment maybe. That was a tough fall.” Frank’s voice is gentle, and Gerard thinks he might have sounded a bit guilty. He shrugs, like it was no big deal. “I’m fine, don’t worry about it.” Though his head is still hurting, he stands back up and heads off before Frank has the chance to say any more. He was not going to be coddled, he wasn’t.
He catches his edge again soon after, falling forwards and hitting the ground so hard he thinks for a terrifying second that he’s going to piss himself. Not to be deterred, he struggles back to his feet with a grunt and sets off again, only to find himself faceplanting in the snow. Again.
Gerard is growing more and more frustrated with every fall, his distress showing in the way he angrily pushes himself back up and starts moving before he gives himself a chance to properly recover. Frank trails after him in concern, afraid he’s going to make matters worse if he watches too closely. He recognises the set position of his shoulders, and knows that Gerard hates to be babied and pressured when he’s like this. Frank is concerned, though. At the rate he’s going, Gerard is going to seriously injure himself if he doesn’t calm down and focus.
They make it halfway down before Gerard pulls himself to the side of the run and collapses, convinced he’s never going to make it down. Angry tears prick at his eyes as he tries his best not to burst out crying at something that had been meant to be fun. It had been fun, up until Gerard started to suck at it. He knew he was having a bad attitude and that it was ruining the whole day, but he couldn’t stop himself. It had all been so great at the start, but now he felt nothing but hopeless.
“I can’t do it, Frankie.” He sniffs, not sure if it’s from the cold or his tears. Maybe it was both. Frank’s voice is gentle as he sits down and presses up against Gerard, trying to offer some form of comfort. “Hey, no, it’s okay. Don’t cry, you’re doing a great job. You just need to slow down, go easier on yourself. You’re rushing into it too fast.”
Gerard watches bitterly as a kid who couldn’t be any older than seven barrels down past them. Frank watches Gerard’s head follow the kid until he’s out of sight and tugs at his hand to get his attention. “Hey, look at me,” Gerard turns to look with another sniff. Fuck, he swore he wasn’t going to cry. “That kid’s probably been doing that since he was like, two or some shit. It’s not his first day. He probably fell on his ass a million times, and he has a low center of gravity on his side.” Gerard shrugs weakly and wipes at his nose with the sleeve of his jacket. It kind of hurts and doesn’t work very well.
“You’ve seen me fall loads of time, it’s no big deal.” Neither of them mention that Frank was usually falling after some sort of jump or trick in the park, it didn’t seem important to point out at that moment. “As long as you’re okay, just take some deep breaths and center yourself. If you need to take a break, take a break. Get in the right mindset before you try again. You won’t get anywhere if you’re frustrated. And,” he glances over at Gerard pointedly. “You won’t get anywhere if you won’t accept help.”
Gerard sighs and looks down at his gloves, picking up a bit of snow and pressing it into a solid lump before breaking it back up again. “Yeah, I know.” He mumbles. “I just wanted to be able to do it myself.” There were no other adults on the mountain being helped down hand in hand with an instructor, and Gerard wasn’t keen to be the first. But if it came down to holding Frank’s hands down the rest of the run and walking down, Gerard would slide down clinging to Frank for dear life before he was caught walking down a green in defeat.
Frank nods sympathetically and reaches out to unbuckle Gerard’s helmet. “It’ll help your head if you take this off.”
He’s right, of course. Gerard squints and blinks against the sudden brightness of the snow without his goggles on, but his head does feel better without the added pressure of his helmet. He’d crashed plenty of times on his skis, but he swears it’s never hurt as bad as this does. His head was pounding and his wrists were aching fiercely from the number of times he’d caught himself with his arms outstretched.
They sit quietly for a few more minutes, and Frank works on building a miniature snowman beside them. Gerard watches as Frank hunts around for pine needles to use as arms, feeling his head start to clear and some of his motivation return. He’s got this, he can do this. Frank would help him, he wouldn’t laugh at him or make him feel bad. He was on a green run, nothing mattered here. Kids could ski on leashes, teenagers could sit in the middle of the runs, and adult men could scoot down the mountain while holding hands with his boyfriend to stay upright. No one would even notice them, probably.
Frank looks up when Gerard pushes his shoulder against him. “Ready to try again?”
Gerard nods and pulls his helmet back on, securing his goggles into place and buckling up the strap. “Yeah, I’m good.”
Frank nods seriously. “Okay, we’re gonna take it slow. I’ll be in front of you the whole time, don’t worry about bringing me down. If we fall, we fall. Just uh, try to fall up the mountain, yeah? Hurts a little bit less. Can you stand on your own?” Frank was back up, shuffling his board around to face Gerard just as he had at the top of the run.
If Gerard had mastered one thing today, it was standing up. He pushes onto his feet quickly, nearly overbalancing as Frank’s arms shoot out to catch him. Okay, nearly mastered standing up.
Frank grasps Gerard’s forearms with his hands and instructs him to scoot forward on his heel edge, to get them out of the trees and back onto the slope. He bends his knees to put his weight onto his toes and does a weird sort of shuffle walk backwards as he helps Gerard out. Fuck, his legs were going to kill him tomorrow.
Frank explains the plan when they’re back on the hill, triple checking that Gerard is okay before they set off. It was a simple practice of switching from going down to an edge stop. They’d go slow, and Frank would be there for support. They make their way down, ever so slowly. Frank moves around Gerard, offering pointers and grabbing hold to balance him when it’s necessary. No one paid them any attention, too focused on their own path to spare a second look at the pair.
Gerard feels his body starts to adapt to the motions, and it becomes more natural the further down they travel. He realises the change in direction is more about shifting where you’ve centred yout weight, and less about the actual movement of your legs. Frank demonstrates how you can turn with the slightest weight shifted onto your heels or toes, and Gerard starts to understand.
The bottom of the hill is in sight now, loose crowds of other riders milling about on the flat ground around the lifts. Frank surveys their surroundings and squeezes Gerard’s arms. “Hey, wanna give it a go on your own the rest of the way? I’ll be right here, but I think you can do it. ‘Sides, there’s no one coming down behind us.”
Gerard chews on his lip and looks down. It isn’t very steep, it’s practically flat, just enough of an incline to keep you going but not enough to get any real speed. He feels okay, he feels confident. He’s adjusted to the way his feet feel in his bindings compared to skis, thanks to Frank’s help and instructions. He takes a deep breath to prepare himself, and lets go of Frank’s arms for the last time. “Yeah, I’ve got it.”
Gerard shifts his weight onto his left foot, straightening his board out downhill. He has to rock a few times to get himself moving, but he’s soon sliding slowly downwards. He keeps his knees bent and his arms out and aligned above the nose and tail of his board, doing his best to remember everything he was told. As he nears the bright orange markers at the bottom of the run reminding everyone to slow down and look out for others, he starts to shift his weight onto his heels, bringing his right foot around and turning his board to come to a smooth stop. He teeters for only a moment before regaining his balance and coming to a complete stop. He can’t help the smile that spreads across his face as he remains standing.
He’s startled by a loud whooping behind him and topples backwards in surprise, landing on the ground with an “oof.” Frank slides to a stop next to him, grin plastered ear to ear. “Fuck yeah, Gee! That was perfect!” He holds out his fist, and Gerard rolls his eyes before returning the bump. He was ridiculously proud of himself, and Frank was beaming.
It isn’t until they’ve unstrapped from their boards and set them on the rack in hunt of some water that Frank asks, “Do you want to go again, or uh, or no?”
Gerard looks at the lift, considering. His brief run alone had given him new confidence, and he thinks that he might be able to make it off the chair without utterly embarrassing himself in front of his baby brother. He nods to himself and turns to Frank, who can’t hide the hope on his face. “Yeah, why not.”
Frank breaks into a grin and stands on his toes to plant a kiss on Gerard’s cheek. “Fuck yeah, I knew you would.”
--------
“Hey, Frankie!” Gerard and Frank look up at the voice as someone skies towards them in a bright red jacket. “No way, dude. Is that Gerard? On a snowboard? ” Ray gasps as he comes to a stop near them. “Shit, has Mikey seen this?”
“Fuck yeah he has, watched him faceplant first time off the lift like some kind of flatlander.” Frank jokingly shoves Gerard’s arm, and Gerard thanks whatever gods are listening that he didn’t fall over. Yeah, he got this, he was cool. He was totally cool because he could maybe snowboard a green and not fall over when pushed.
Ray smiles at the two of them. “I’ll be honest, I never thought I’d see the day. I’ve been trying to convince him for years, he’s far too stubborn for his own good. How’s it feel?”
Gerard shrugs. “It’s alright. Now that I’m not making an idiot of myself every five seconds, I can see why Frank likes it. It’s got an element of danger.”
Ray nods sympathetically. “I feel ya, it’s good fun, but there’s a reason it’s called ski patrol and not snowboard patrol.”
Frank gasps and puts on a look of hurt. “Hey!” Ski patrol is just one more factor of the immense superiority complex that skiers have over boarders. Yeah, so some of your team is highly trained medical specialists who save lives on the mountain. Whatever. Not all of them were purely skiers living it up in the Alta universe, some of them snowboarded, too. Frank thinks Ray is the perfect example of this, for as much as he is a picture perfect textbook definition member of ski patrol, he’s always ready to hit the park with Frank in his free time. Ray had even taught him how to ski in exchange for Frank’s help in landing his backside 270.
“No harm, man, you know that.” Frank did know that, but it didn’t make him any less grumpy. “I gotta get going. Brian is waiting on me, and you know how he gets. I’ll see you later, yeah? Maybe we can stop by the bar tomorrow? I’m off at six, just let me know.” Ray pats Frank atop his helmet, a habit that Frank despises. He swats away Ray’s hand in annoyance, who’s laughing as he heads off. “Good luck, Gerard!” He calls.
Gerard is mumbling something about missing his skis and hating Frank right now, but Frank pays him no attention. “C’mon, grumpy pants. We’re almost down.”
They ended up going on a few more runs, and Frank was close to convincing Gerard to try one of the easier blues before he had gotten too nervous and backed out last minute. By the time the lifts shut down at four, Gerard is exhausted, but mostly content. He’s damp, sore, and cold, but he’s proud of himself. On their last few runs Gerard had made it the entire way down without a fall. He’d mastered linking turns and had even given a go at a small ollie. That had knocked him right back onto his ass, of course, but it was the effort that counted.
Exhausted, Frank slips his hand into Gerard’s as they troop back to the parking lot. It’s pretty empty, most of the families having packed up and left long before the lifts had shut. Frank starts up his car and cranks the heat as they load their gear into the car, but it doesn’t do much to combat the cold by the time they’ve climbed inside. Gerard feels naked without his bulky ski pants on and pulls a blanket from the backseat to cover up with. Fuck, even the blanket is cold.
“So, snowboardings not so bad huh? Maybe now you’ll believe me when I say it’s the superior way to slide on snow.” Frank turns down his obscenely loud music to talk to Gerard when they’ve both started to defrost.
Gerard twists his face up. “Ew, no. Skiing is way better. I still feel like my feet are strapped together.” He wiggles his toes, still feeling the ghost of the snowboard locking his feet into place.
“Hm.” Is all Frank says. “We’ll see.” Gerard doesn’t like the sound of that.
The sun has already dipped behind the ridges of the mountains by the time they reach Frank’s apartment, bringing the temperature down with it. It’s freezing out in the most literal sense, and Gerard feels his whole body trembling, barely containing his teeth from chattering together as he helps Frank drag their boards off the top of his car.
Frank shoves open the door to his apartment and curses. Instead of the enveloping warmth he’d been expecting, it’s only marginally warmer than the outside. His shitty heater must have turned off again. He looked at Gerard, wrapped in the blanket from the car, and sighed an apology. “Sorry, Gee. Heater’s broke again. I’ll get it back on but uh, it’s gonna be cold for a bit.” Gerard only shrugs and pulls the blanket tighter around him, trying to protect his still damp-clothes from the chill of the air.
“Go get changed, for fuck’s sake.” Frank shoos him away, and Gerard scampers off towards Frank’s room. Frank puts his board up and hangs up their coats and gloves to dry. He’d made the mistake of leaving them on the ground only once, the misery of the next day had been enough to convince him to never do that again.
Gerard cracks open the door to Frank’s room and strips down to his boxers, shivering violently as he digs through Frank’s closet for the pair of sweatpants he knows he left here last time. He finally pulls them on, along with one of Frank’s old sweatshirts, and heads straight to the bed, nearly tripping over his abandoned boots on the way. He dives under the covers and curls into a small ball. The sheets are cold from being abandoned all day, but they’re made of a thick flannel and warm up quickly once he’s nestled in. He hears Frank moving around his apartment outside the door, and waits impatiently for him to join him. It feels like a million years before the door pushes open, light from the hallway spilling in. Gerard peeks out from under the covers, only his eyes visible from the doorway.
“Jesus, why didn’t you turn the light on?” Frank asks as he heads towards his desk to switch on a lamp. Now enveloped in the darkness, turning on the ceiling light feels like too much. A soft yellow light fills the room. “‘S too cold.” Gerard’s voice is muffled.
“I turned the heat back up, it should warm up soon.” He disappears from Gerard’s view as he changes into pajamas of his own. The bed dips down as Frank gets under the covers and wiggles to be closer to Gerard. “Guess we’ll have to do this the old fashioned way.” Gerard hums and Frank wraps his arms around him as best he can. “Sharing the warmth never fails.”
The cold never seemed to get to him, but maybe that was because he was always moving, going. It was cold on the mountain, but it wasn’t so bad when you were essentially doing a full body workout the entire time you were out there. A full body workout that for Gerard, unfortunately, had involved lots of snow getting into his clothes and dampening his underlayers despite his best efforts to cinch his gloves tight. The worst moment had come from Gerard’s rather impressive scorpion fall that had made his layers ride up and sprayed freezing snow all over his lower back. The memory of it sends another chill through his body, and he pulls his blanket tighter around himself.
Gerard shivers and presses closer to Frank, tucking his icy toes under his legs and getting a sharp yelp in response. “What the hell, man! What’re you so cold for?”
Gerard pulls his feet away but snuggles closer to Frank’s warmth, trying to absorb as much as he can in case he gets kicked away. “I dunno,” he mumbles. “Boots cut off my circulation ‘n numbed my toes. ‘s fucking cold.” He debates nuzzling his cold nose against Frank’s neck, but decides he rather enjoys cuddling and it isn’t worth the risk. He presses against Frank’s shirt instead, feeling his own breath against the fabric warming his face. Gerard shivers, feeling chilled to the bone. He was cold and achy all over, and Frank was like a human radiator beside him.
They lay in the quiet, listening as the heater works to warm the house back up. Frank shifts into a more comfortable position, pulling Gerard’s head to rest on his chest, his arm still around his back. Gerard feels safe and comfortable, and his toes are starting to tingle as they regain some warmth. Frank is solid under him, and he uses his free hand to twirl pieces of Gerard’s hair.
He smells familiar, like cold and sweat and clean laundry. Gerard hums softly, feeling much warmer already. “Frankie?” His hand stills in his hair.
“Yeah, what’s up?”
“Do I suck at snowboarding?” He asks. “Please be honest.”
Frank’s voice rumbles through his chest, deeper from his half-asleep state. Gerard reaches over and links their fingers together. “Everyone sucks at snowboarding their first day.” That’s not the answer he’s looking for. “But no, I don’t think so. I still think you could’ve made it down that blue, which is more than I could’ve done on my first day. I’m pretty sure I could’ve been considered a danger to myself and others. I had no control, Ray would’ve kicked my ass off the mountain so quick had he been on the patrol back then, child or not.” Frank had been like a rocket going down his first runs, doing his best to outrun his instructors despite their shouting at him at the lectures and threats from his parents. “I sucked for the first few times, actually, broke my arm crashing into a tree in my first month. I think I only survived that one because eight year olds are invincible.”
Gerard considers this. “Hm. I think I’m going to stick with skiing.” He rubs his thumb over the back of Frank’s hand and hesitates, biting his lip. “Also, I don’t think I can give you that blowjob tonight.”
Frank laughs softly and kisses the top of Gerard’s head. It’s kind of gross from being in a helmet all day, but it’s not that different from his normal grossness. Frank doesn’t mind. “No, I’d rather not have you fall asleep with my dick in your mouth.”
Gerard nods solemnly, he’d had enough embarrassment for the day, he thinks that would be the final straw to send him into an early grave. “Yeah, me neither.”
He yawns and stretches a bit, feeling warmed all the way through. The heater had started doing its job, and the bed was toasty from their combined heat. He was ready to sleep for the next ten years.
“Goodnight, Frank.” Gerard mutters against Frank’s shirt. He barely hears Frank’s answer as he drifts off.