Chapter Text
When you're quiet, but your eyes
Are saying everything I need to know
I want to burrow like a sparrow
Dodging alley cats and whiskers
Why do we talk in whispers?
Is it painful hearing voices ring
So early in the morning?
As the sun peeks through the curtains in the hotel room, Nick is woken up by his lover stirring in his arms.
That's such a nice word to attach to Frankie.
Lover.
Due to their arrangements, their respective roommates, and the fact that Tommy's too cheap to get four separate rooms, this kind of morning is a rarity. No pounding headache, no hearing Tommy snore a few feet away, just sleepy, but loving brown eyes staring up at him, making his heart race. Every single time, they have to jump through way too many hoops to achieve this, but it's all worth it, because it always seems like a miracle whenever he wakes up like this.
And judging by the content look on his face, Frankie thinks so too.
I've been waiting for the day
When I can throw away these numbers
That line my dresser drawers and cupboards
Start me over
Life seems so much slower
With your toothbrush by the mirror
Can I make it any clearer?
Nick hasn't slept with anybody else ever since he and Frankie got together. It isn't frustrating, like when he married Margie, seeing all those beautiful women and feeling almost forbidden to do anything about it. Now he actually prefers not to do anything about it. Whenever Tommy tries to point out women at the bars giving him the eye, making it all too obvious they want him, he replies with a simple shrug. And then the taunts come, those little, but hurtful insults and words that Tommy has no idea are completely accurate. To Tommy, it's all fun and games, and he always pats Nick on the back before pursuing the woman himself, leaving him feeling bitter, and unsafe.
And on those rare occasions, when Tommy succeeds with those women and actually stays with them for the night, he can room with Frankie again. The mornings after jumping through those hoops are calm, and quiet. When he steps out of the shower, sees Frankie leaning over the sink, freshly shaved and brushing his teeth, it makes his stomach flip. It almost fools him into thinking they could actually do this. Be together like this, share a home. But with the fact that they're on tour for what seems like eternity, and the fact that they'd never be accepted...well, not by Tommy, anyway, he has no idea how Bobby would react, he's pretty much kissed that dream goodbye by now.
Maybe being with Frankie made him lose his ability to hide how he's feeling, because as soon as he turns to Nick, Frankie's brows knit with concern, and he presses a tender, minty kiss to Nick's lips.
And then everything seems okay.
And I just might say it tonight
I just might say it tonight
I just might tell you tonight
That I love you
And you should stay all my life
It doesn't matter how scared he gets, really. Because Frankie's always there for him. If Nick believed in that sort of thing, he might even call the two of them soulmates. It doesn't matter if they're burned out from performing or have had a fight just moments ago. They can come together, take a drive, and huddle close together on the car's bench seats until they're ready to face reality again.
It's nights like these, when the stars are out and shining bright above the two of them that he almost feels brave enough to say something. To address the tiny box burning a hole in his front pocket.
But he doesn't.