Aquarium(Frerard)

Part Two

It doesn't take long for Tuesday to roll around and for Gerard, waking up in the morning is a struggle. Of course, he wants to see Frank but he's not so sure about heading back to the aquarium so soon again, especially to face his fears. He knows that if he wants to see Frank, and continue to do so, he has to do it and by doing so, he gets an awesome lunch date with him.

Gerard arrives at the aquarium five minutes before he's due to meet Frank at the entrance. He clocks a seat and walks over to take it but before he gets there, a small kid jumps in front of him and takes it, sticking their tongue out at him in the process. He sighs and contemplates scowling at the kid and telling it they need to learn some manners, but before he can think about saying something, he feels a soft hand on the small of his back.

"Ready?" Frank asks as Gerard eyes the small child in his seat once again. Gerard sighs and nods.

"Good. I get an hour and half break, so I thought we could go look at some sting rays and then grab something from the canteen? It's good food in there - no fish, for obvious reasons."

"Yeah, sounds like a plan."

After wandering through many different sections of the centre Gerard's faced with a large room of flat sting rays, and of course they are all staring up at him. Frank notices his discomfort and takes his hand, pulling him over to the tank that had a small mesh fence around it.

"This is where you can feed the rays, see?" Frank points at some small children taking pellets of food from one of the staff and slowly lowering their hands into the water to feed the large animals.

Gerard's eyes expand and his mouth grows dry. "You, you really expect me, me me, to feed those?" He asks, not quite understanding what Frank wants him to do.

Frank laughs and places a pot of food that he took from one of his colleagues in Gerard's hand. "You can do it. I know you can." Frank smiles.

Gerard simply shakes his head, no.

"Okay, I'll go first. You watch me."

Gerard nods this time. Frank then takes some of the food from the tub and slowly places his hand under the water, remembering first to make his fist in to a small cone like shape. The rays can get confused between fingers and food, so the cone is a must. Within a few seconds the stingrays swim over to Frank's hand, sucking the food off of his skin.

Frank giggles. "Tickles!"

Gerard smiles a little, thinking that maybe it isn't so bad. Maybe he could give it a try. He edges a little closer where Frank is standing and takes a few pellets from the tub. He turns his fist in to the cone just as he saw Frank do, and lowers his hand down to the water, arm shaking. Frank knows to keep silent for a second and just hang back and watch. Within a few seconds, just like Frank, Gerard's hand is covered by a stingray, it sucking the food from his hand.

With an astonished look across his face Gerard moves his hand from the water and turns round to see Frank grinning.

"Well done you!" He grins some more and pats Gerard on the back.

Gerard's expression is one that reads 'I can't believe I just did that' and he stares at his hand and back to the tank.

"Let's go get some food now, feeding the sting rays made me hungry." Frank states before linking hands with Gerard again and leading the way to the canteen.
As they grab some food and sit down on one of the tables in the far corner they smile to one another, tucking in to their lunch and getting used to the company. They talk about life in general again because that seems like the most obvious topic. Frank's telling Gerard a little more about his job and how he's always loved marine life, and talks about the hundreds of pets he's had before. He's managed to sit and list every single fish he's ever had and that's a lot, Gerard finds out. Frank also tells him the names of his entire track record of fish, their middle names and even their mating partners. Gerard can't help but smile though, because Frank is absolutely adorable.