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“And then…and then…” Dexter sobbed, little fists pushed against his eye sockets. “And then he said…” he gave a small hiccup. “He said boys can’t…boys can’t be fairies…but…but…”
“Hey hey,” Frank said, smoothing the little boy’s wild hair down. “S’okay Dex, s’okay.” He pulled Dexter close against his chest, rubbing his back. “Did the teacher tell you that you couldn’t be a fairy?”
Frank felt Dexter shake his head slightly, face smushed up against Frank’s clavicle.
“Well if you wanna be a fairy, you can be a fairy, okay?”
Dexter stepped back, sniffing and rubbing his eyes. “Yeah?”
Frank smiled and nodded, and cupped the little boy’s cheek. “You can be whatever you want, kiddo.”
//
“I’m gonna be sick,” Gerard said as he and Frank took their seats in the small school auditorium.
Frank rolled his eyes and squeezed Gerard’s hand in his own. “He’s gonna be fine, okay?”
Gerard swallowed and nodded. “Did he remember his--”
“Yes,” Frank breathed. “I got him dressed myself.”
Gerard nodded again and took a deep breath as the lights went down.
“Sucks he couldn’t be Peter Pan,” Gerard whispered as the show started.
Frank giggled. “I think you’re the only guy in history to be Peter Pan,” he said. “But he got what he wanted.”
At that, Frank felt Gerard squeeze his hand painfully tight as Dexter walked uneasily onto the stage, eyes a little wide and chewing on his bottom lip. He had the sparkling wand in his hand that he’d spent hours making with Mikey, and little blue and purple tie dyed shorts and vest, all sparkling with too much glitter (well, Frank had thought it was too much, but Dexter thought it wasn’t enough).
Dexter stepped up with the rest of the fairies and stared into the crowd, eyes searching before they landed on his father and Frank in the front row. Frank met the little boy’s eyes and nodded, grinning widely. At that, Dexter took a deep breath and started dancing along, a little uncoordinatedly, with the rest of the fairy troupe.
Frank had never been so proud in his life.