Work Text:
It was some time around 4PM as Frank was getting ready for his date with Eddie.
He stood infront of a mirror by his closet in his room, holding two sweaters on clothing racks in each of his hands as he interchangeably held them infront of himself, not being able to choose.
Julie laid on his bed, her legs were up and resting on a wall as she quietly sung some song and messily colored in a coloring book with crayons.
Frank groaned, squinting his eyes as he continued looking at the two sweaters. Julie snapped her head back to look at Frank after noticing him grumbling again, the usual.
"What's wrong!-" Julie asked before quickly letting out a short gasp. She rolled to the side, abandoning the coloring page and crayons. She now laid on her stomach instead, resting her chin on her hands and kicking her legs.
"Oooooo! What'cha getting so dressed up fooorrr?" She continued, giggling with a light tease in her voice.
"Oh I'm meeting up with Eddie soon!" Frank smiled as he turned around to face Julie.
"But I just don't know which sweater to wear! Which one do you like more?" Frank continued, mopingly, before holding up the two sweaters in his grasp, presenting the options to Julie.
One was a simple, earthy green sweater with yellow accents. The other had red, blue and yellow stripes.
Julie wore an overexaggerated thinking face as she pondered. Frank held each of the sweaters infront of himself as the rainbow monster stared.
After a good minute of no words spoken, just loud, grumbly thinking noises, Julie finally made a decision.
"I think the green ones cutee! The striped one kinda gives Barnaby."
"Oh no you're right.." Frank replied, looking at the striped sweater with a lightly disgusted face as he hung it back up in his closet.
He slipped on the green sweater and began closing up the buttons before a loud yelp made him jump.
"Fraaannk! Pleeease let me come with!!! I'm gonna be so bored without you!" Julie squeaked, rolling around on the bed.
"I- Um-" Frank tried to speak but was instantly cut off again.
"PLEAAASE!" Julie kicked her legs furiously as she laid on her back again.
After a moment Frank sighed dramatically and with, Julie knew she won. The grey puppet found it nearly impossible to ever tell her no.
She jumped up from the bed excitedly, but once she was standing, she frowned.
"Oh but now I wanna put on something cute tooooo.." Julie pondered, looking down at her usual red dress, holding the skirt as she twirled to the left and right lightly.
"I'm sure I've got something of yours laying around here somewhere." Frank answered as he began searching through his closet. And after a short moment, he did indeed find something.
He tossed over a cute, noodle strapped, flowey dress over to Julie. It was white with colorful little flowers all over it.
Julie gasped. "I was wondering where this dress was!" She giggled.
Frank turned away from her to let her get changed, in the meanwhile he finished buttoning up his sweater and put on an orange bowtie to tie the whole outfit together.
Once Julie got changed, she quickly tied her hair back into a high ponytail as they walked downstairs, heading out and into the forest.
They walk through the woods on a rocky trail as Frank presented a fun fact about every bug
Julie picked up and excitedly showed him on the way.
From a distance Frank and Julie spotted Eddie, who was sitting on a bench, smoking a cigarette and looking out at the small creek infront of him.
Frank cracked a smile and picked up his walking speed a little. Julie followed, jumping (literally) behind him.
Eddie turned his head with a warm smile on his face as he heard the advancing footsteps from behind, already knowing who was coming.
"Hey Eddie." Frank spoke softly as he now stood next to his date, placing a hand on his shoulder.
"Hey Frankly~" Eddie replied, looking up at Frank and placing a soft kiss on his lips.
Once they pulled away, Eddie glanced behind the grey puppet, spotting Julie, who was currently crouched down and admiring some flower.
"What's Julie doing here?" Eddie asked with genuine confusion in his voice, looking back up at Frank.
"Oh she was just pleading with me to let her come with. It's my weakness, you know I can't say no to her." Frank spoke as he crossed his arms.
"..I hope that's okay?" Frank asked apologetically.
Eddie chuckled and met Frank's gaze again. "Yeah, I don't mind." He replied.
Frank smiled again softly. Eddie looked back to where Julie was crouched and exclaimed.
"Hey there, Julie."
"Hi Eddie!!!" Julie shot her head up, then jumped up and waved her hand vigorously at the mailman as she walked over to the bench the two were at.
Eddie and Frank both giggled. Then Eddie stood up, took the last puff of his cigarette before extinguishing it and throwing it away.
"I'd say let's get going then, huh?" The mailman said, to where the three set off. Julie actually didn't know where they were heading but for whatever reason didn't ask. She was just happy to be there.
They continued on the rocky trail, a small creek drawing out next to them. They walked in a line, Frank walked in the middle with Julie on his left and Eddie on his right. The two guys were chatting away about something, but Julie seemed rather uninterested in their conversationing. She was more into looking at all the pretty plants and nature around her.
Though at some point she peeked her head over to Eddie, she realized she's actually never seen him outside his work clothes. Even when he was off clock at rehearsals at Sally's for example he seemed to always be in his mailman uniform. He probably comes there straight from work, Julie thought.
Though today's the first time she's really seen him outside of work, in casual clothes.
He was wearing a simple longsleeve, white button up with some funky, striped pants. Didn't exactly knock Julie's socks off but she couldn't really expect him to show up with some crazy silly outfit. Still found it cute though.
Suddenly, Julie stopped in place and loudly gasped. Eddie and Frank turned around to face Julie after getting startled by her swift action.
Julie pointed somewhere into the trees, off trail.
"Oh my god I just saw a deer!!!" She exclaimed and in the same breath, bolted in the direction she was previously pointing to.
Eddie and Frank stood there, frozen in confusion, watching Julie speed off. From a distance they noticed her start running on all fours.
They simultaneously turned to eachother, Eddie looked down at Frank, dumbfounded. The grey puppet just shrugged but decided to run after that feral rainbow monster. Eddie followed.
They somehow tracked down Julie, though she seemed to have already abandoned that deer she supposedly spotted and was now focused on something else.
Frank was resting his hands on his knees as he tried to catch his breath, before looking up infront of him.
"Don't even-" Frank muttered.
Julie only giggled as she began taking her shoes off. They have found themselves infront of a lake with a little fishing bridge. Knowing Julie, Frank knew exactly what thought this triggered in her head.
Eddie finally caught up to the two, and just like Frank first had to catch his breath.
He straightened up whilst looking at Julie, mischievously giggling and staring Frank down. He looked at Frank with a puzzled expression, who was currently cupping his face in his hands, before asking.
"What's she doing?"
"She has this thing where she needs to jump into every pool of water she encounters," Frank replied with an agitated tone in his voice, "And she is taunting me with it!!!" He continued, yelling in Julie's direction.
"Come oooon Frank!! Don't be a chicken, you know it's fun!" Julie yelped back before speeding in the direction of the lake.
"Julie don't-" The grey puppet tried to shout but it was already too late as Julie canonballed into the water, dress and all.
Frank groaned dramatically. Though Eddie found it kind of amusing, giggling as he said.
"It does look kinda fun."
"Don't encourage her." Frank snapped back.
"Come on Eddie, don't listen to that grump! The water's nice!" Julie shouted over from the lake.
Eddie began walking over to the pool of water but Frank swiftly grabbed him by the arm.
"Don't, Eddie. We were gonna go to that park, remember? And go read about those bugs?" Frank said, a little sad.
"We'll still go there after, Frankie, promise." Eddie remarked softly as he put his hand above Frank's, which was still gripping his arm.
After a moment, once he saw Frank's face soften, silently approving, Eddie pulled away and continued walking towards the lake. Though backwards, facing Frank as he giggled and swiftly unbuttoned and took off his shirt. Then he quickly slipped off his shoes and jumped in the lake aswell. Julie cheered.
"With your nice pants??" Frank shouted. Then sighed, defeated.
He lazily made his way over to the fishing bridge. He sat down at the edge, swinging his legs in the air. He couldn't help but to watch and chuckle at Julie and Eddie splashing eachother with water, acting like kids.
Amidst the splashing, Eddie turned around to Frank.
"You too now, jump in." Eddie sneered. Julie giggled next to him.
"Forget it, I am not going in there." Frank answered, swinging his head to the side and crossing his arms.
Eddie swam over to Frank and swiftly grabbed the grey puppet by the leg, startling him.
"You've got ten seconds to take your sweater off or I'm pulling you in with it. I am not messing around." Eddie said smugly, snickering.
"No!!" Frank cried as he grabbed onto the railing of the fishing bridge and tried kicking Eddie away, though his grip didn't loosen.
"Pull him innn!" Julie cheered from behind.
Eddie began to count down but Frank kept trying to fight him.
"Ten… nine… eight…"
"UGH fine!!" Frank finally shouted, swiftly taking his sweater, undershirt and shoes off. Eddie and Julie laughed as they watched.
Though Eddie felt petty nonetheless and promptly pulled Frank into the water by his leg, making the grey puppet yelp, dramatically splashing into the water.
Frank floated there, rather unamused, as Eddie and Julie kept playing in the water. He realized these two were gonna be a dangerously aggravating duo.
After some time, all three were now out of the water. Eddie and Frank were sitting at the edge of the fishing bridge and Julie, well, she was in the back shaking off like a dog and rolling around in the grass.
"I can't help it, I don't know why she's like this." Frank flatly remarked as they had their heads turned to Julie, making Eddie laugh.
They both snickered at the comment and overall Julie's absurd behavior. But once their laughing subsided, Frank spoke, looking down into the water as he swung his legs.
"Ah, to be honest I don't really feel like going to that park anymore, all drenched like this. I was thinking maybe we'd just go grab something to eat at Howdy's?"
"Really?" Eddie said, his smile dropping as he rubbed the back of his neck. "Awh man, I'm sorry I didn't mean to ruin our plans-"
Frank turned to look up at Eddie, lightly taken aback by his words. He grabbed him by the hand before cutting in on his sentence.
"What? No way, don't worry about it!" Frank exclaimed, a little frantic but with a sincere smile on his face. "We've still got that movie night later with everybody else, remember? And this can just be an opportunity to go on another date tomorrow." Then he snobbily added. "...Without Julie."
Eddie's smile returned and he giggled as he squeezed his partner's hand. They both looked back over to Julie, who was still entertaining herself in the grass. They both laughed.
"But we should go change first though before going to Howdy's. You look ridiculous with that hair." Frank reached up to Eddie's hair and ran his fingers through his hair. Eddie's hair was, obviously, soaked, so the mix of lake water and Elmer's glue did indeed make him look a little ridiculous.
Eddie huffed. The two then stood up and held hands as they leaned in for a kiss.
"Don't even think about pushing me back in. I know you." Frank mumbled into the kiss which made Eddie burst out laughing again. He did indeed think of doing that.
They walked over to Julie, who was chatting to flowers whilst sitting in the grass, her back turned away from their direction. Frank lightly hit her on the back of her head as they walked past her, then exclaimed. "Come on, we're getting changed and then going to Howdy's."
"Yesss!!!" Julie cheered, jumping up.
"But you're in charge of the joke." Frank added.
Julie giggled mischievously as she ran over to the two.
Julie and Eddie walked out of Howdy's shop, holding 3 ready-sandwiches and small glass bottles of soda. Frank waited for them outside, trying to stay out of Howdy's range of vision. He was rather terrible at jokes and didn't want them stuck there longer than they needed to be.
They sat down at one of those short brick walls, enjoying their meals and chatting away some more before the movie night later.
It was now 8PM, the sun had already set and all the neighbors in their pj's were slowly making their way over to Sally's place.
Frank and Julie both came out from his house because Julie insisted she had a pair of pj's at his. And, low and behold, she indeed did. Frank slowly began to wonder how many clothing pieces and things in general of Julie's he really had around his house.
They met Eddie again infront of Sally's door before they walked over to behind her house, where Howdy was currently helping Sally set up the large projector.
Sally called over Eddie for some more help as Julie and Frank reserved their couch cushion spots in the far back.
For being the first ones there (or atleast the only ones not working overtime for Sally at the moment), Sally bestowed the honor of choosing the movie upon Julie and Frank.
The two sat in a pile of cd's. Loud, grumbly thinking noises came from the two as they looked at and debated their options.
After a couple minutes, still discussing what to pick, Eddie suddenly walked over to them. He looked down at their collection and inhaled as if wanting to say something, but let out a gasp instead.
"Oh I know this movie!" Eddie exclaimed, crouching down and picking up "The Rocky Horror Picture Show".
Frank and Julie turned to face eachother and shrugged. Welp, guess that's the movie then!
Everybody was there now and the movie night could finally begin.
Julie was a good bit away from Eddie and Frank, who were sitting in their previously reserved spots. She was making rounds, individually going over to everybody to chat and sit with for a while. Currently she was chatting with Wally in the far front.
The two were quietly giggling with eachother. After their snickering and chatting subsided a bit, Julie just looked around a little. But her eyes locked on her two buddies sitting in the back.
Julie's smile faded more and her eyes squinted in raw confusion the longer she stared.
Frank was resting his head on Eddie's shoulder and they were holding hands. They didn't seem to be paying any attention to the movie, Frank was looking up at Eddie and vice versa as they quietly whispered and giggled.
Julie tilted her head to the side like a confused dog.
She watched as Eddie whispered something into Frank's ear. Eddie giggled as Frank got flustered and lightly pushed him away, grumbling. Eddie wrapped his shoulder around him and rustled his hair, all to Frank's dismay.
"What are you two doing???" Julie exclaimed across the yard.
Everybody turned to look at her, including the two being questioned.
Eddie let go of Frank and he sat back up. He looked at Julie with also a confused face and asked.
"Who, us?"
"Yeah, you two! Why are you like cuddling and holding hands and stuff!!?!?" Julie squealed back, still confused as ever.
Frank was taken aback. Eddie didn't say a word, just glanced at Frank with a "What is she on about..?" expression.
Before Frank could get another word in, Sally chimed in, saying.
"Yeah, didn't you know they were a thing?"
Julie slowly turned her head towards Sally, mouth agape.
After a short second, Julie squealed.
"WHAT!!???" She shot her head back to the two.
"Yeah, didn't you know you kinda crashed our date today?" Frank replied, so befuddled. Eddie was just laughing next to him.
"That was a daaaaaate????" Julie replied, terrified, dragging her hands down her face in the shocking realization.
"You genuinely had no idea?? I talk about him like, all the time." Frank continued.
Amongst Eddie's chuckling, he breathed out. "Ooo, you talk about me?"
Frank pushed him away by his face as he sighed, still looking at Julie.
She practically jumped over to the two and plopped down on the cushion next to Frank as she grabbed his arm and began aggressively shaking it.
"I'm soooorrryyy!!! I didn't mean to third wheel!! Why did you let me come wiitthh??!!" Julie cried.
More of the neighbors began giggling at this scene.
"I thought this was just another one of your Julie quirks. And you know how I am with saying no to you." Frank remarked. "Plus, Eddie didn't mind."
"Aaaaaaa!!!" Julie kept crying, still latched on Frank's arm and shaking him. "But oh my gosshh! You two are so cute togetherrr." She teased, finally letting go of the poor man.
"I really have no idea how you didn't know…" Frank mumbled, rubbing his finally freed arm.
Julie sat next to the two now like she did at the start of the movie night. All the neighbors laughed about the ridiculous situation for a while before returning to their casual chit-chat and the movie.
Frank laid his head back on Eddie's shoulder and Julie did the same but on Frank's. After a moment, she remarked.
"Hey but don't you dare steal him from me, mailman! He comes with me as a complimentary gift. Non-negiotable."
Eddie chuckled and then replied.
"I wouldn't dream of it."
The three giggled and Eddie wrapped his arm around the two.