love in the time of covid: chapter one
pairing: frankie morales x f!reader
chapter rating: M (alternating POV, mentions of past relationships, age gap <10 years, mentions of past substance abuse, frankie being sickeningly cute w reader)
word count: 3.1k
series masterlist
“Any luck with that delivery girl?” Santi asked while on Facetime with Frankie.
“It’s only been a week,” Frankie reminded, embarrassed by the amount of take-out boxes littering his coffee table.
“Be honest—how much have you spent so far?” Santi asked with a chuckle, Frankie giving him a guilty look before switching the camera around to show him the impressive collection of trash. “Jesus!”
“I know,” he sighed and flipped the camera back around, wiping over his face with his palm. “I feel like this isn’t normal. This is like…incredibly unhealthy, right?”
“Well,” Santi shrugged and let out a chuckle. “In terms of what we’re used to dealing with from you, this is relatively normal.”
“Fair,” he chuckled and let out a congested cough, the one huff of air turning into a series of wheezing.
“You alright there, pal?”
“Yeah, just slowly accepting death.” Frankie reached for his sports drink, taking a sip to ease his throat before speaking again. “Hey, how’d everything go with the move? Is your hyna settled in?”
“Aye pues,” he chuckled and Frankie grinned at his friends blush.
“What? She’s not your girlfriend?” He asked while taking another sip.
“Taking it slow. Whatever that means.”
“I think it means she wants to take it slow.”
“Yes, let me listen to Frankie Morales about relationship advice.” He chided sarcastically, earning a wheezed laugh from his friend.
“Yeah, I do have a winning track record, don’t you know?” Frankie smiled at his own sarcasm, knowing just how unlucky in love he was. The only good thing to come from it was his little girl—who he wouldn’t be able to see again for seven more days at least.
“You talk to Viviana?” Frankie scoffed at the mention of his ex, the two of them having only spoken for Alondra’s sake since the split.
“Told her I had Covid and that I’d have to skip weekends with Alondra the next week. She wasn’t happy about that because her and her new man were supposed to be going to Miami this weekend.” Santi scoffed.
“Have you met this guy?”
“No.” Frankie was trying to hide his irritation at his ex’s sudden romance—the one that overlapped with their own.
“You think she brings him around Alondra?”
He didn’t want to think about that. Another man replacing him in the relationship? Fine. Another man acting like Alondra’s father? Hell no.
“His kid goes to the same daycare as Alondra, but I really hope she’s not bringing him around the house. That was one of the only things I asked her for. I’m all for her going off and finding her happiness and shit, but I don’t want her roping Alondra into it, you know?” Santi nodded and opened his mouth to speak but Frankie’s doorbell ringing cut him off. “Oh, wait. That’s my delivery.”
“Unbelievable,” he chuckled from his spot on Frankie’s couch, the phone left face down on the cushion while Frankie slipped on his mask and walked over to the door.
His heart fell to his feet at the sight of her waiting patiently on the other side of the door with a white plastic bag reading, “Thank You🙂” in hand. He practically whipped the door open, his eyes crinkling from the wideness of his grin as he greeted her.
•••
“Hey,” he smiled at you, shocking you with his good memory when he spoke your name.
“Frankie Morales, apartment 507. How’s Covid been treating you?” You greeted him with a smile hidden beneath your mask, excited to see him again after a week of fantasizing.
You weren’t sure what it was. He was just a guy in an apartment—you interacted with at least fifteen of them a day with this job. He shouldn’t have been anything special, anything that would make you fantasize like this. Except…he was.
Maybe it was his messy head of brown curls that lay over his forehead, begging to be pushed back and combed through with your fingers. It could’ve been those equally brown eyes that pulled you in, your heart sinking into them like a vat of warm molasses. Or perhaps it had nothing to do with his dreamy features at all, and maybe it had everything to do with the way he spoke to you like an actual human rather than a servant—the kindness he showed you all too rare in this industry.
Whatever it was, you were hooked. And seeing him now only proved that it wasn’t going away anytime soon. Maybe this time you’d find enough courage to ask for his phone number.
“Covid is as miserable as they say it is. Hopefully this takes a little bit off my karma,” he joked, a soft chuckle finding its way from your chest to your lips.
Oh, how you wanted to see his smile, the crinkles around his eyes the only tell that he was enjoying this as much as you were.
“At least you seem to have a healthy appetite,” you gestured behind him at the coffee table, a sigh of embarrassment leaving his lips as he turned back to look at it.
“Sorry, if I would’ve known it would be you delivering my food rather than Jeremy H., I would’ve cleaned up.” You laughed again—right until his eyes met yours again. Then, you were too flustered to do anything but blush. “Have you been doing okay?”
“Yeah, thank you for asking. No one really asks me that.” You chuckled, shocked by this strangers kindness. “Uh, yeah. Been trying to find a real job, but grad school’s taking up most of my time these days.”
“Grad school, huh?” He crossed his arms, seemingly getting comfortable for the conversation.
“Yeah, aerospace engineering.” You shrugged nonchalantly, his eyebrows raising in response. “I know, I know. A nerd.”
“No, I think it’s funny. I’m a pilot, actually. Well, was—working on getting my license back.” You wanted to ask more about that, but judging by the way the crinkles in his eyes went away, you could tell the topic was enough to rid him of his smile.
“So…Frankie Morales, apartment 507, has an impressive hankering for el pastor, knows how to fly planes. Super uninteresting.” You teased sarcastically, bringing his smile back.
“And you,” he repeated your first name. “Deliverer of el pastor and aspiring aerospace engineer. Also super uninteresting.” He shot you a wink, your eyes lowering to the ground as you fought away your blush. “This might…might ruin this fun thing we’ve got going on where I order too many tacos and you bring me them—which I love, by the way—but, uh…c-could I possibly get your phone number?”
“Yes!” You eagerly replied, his head tilting in amused surprise. “Sorry, that was way too eager.”
“Eager doesn’t bother me.” Your eyes locked for a moment, a chuckle leaving both of your lips at the tension you felt between you.
“Anyways,” you handed him his food before pulling out your phone, asking for his number and then texting it so that he could save it later on. “Well, enjoy those tacos for me. I should go grab some myself.”
“Oh, do you just want to take these? I—if I’m being completely honest, I’m sort of sick of them.” He chuckled nervously as he handed you the bag, your lips parted in shock at his gesture.
“W-why order them, then?” You hesitantly accepted the bag after he insisted.
“Well, I—I guess I was hoping to see you again. But haven’t had much luck, as you can see from the amount of trash littering my house.” He chuckled and tucked his hands in the pockets of his jeans, shrugging. “But your fellow Dasher Jeremy H. and I have become great friends.”
“Can’t believe I’ve got food delivery competition. Have you been giving him five stars, too?” You asked playfully, Frankie’s head shaking and his hand resting over his heart.
“Nope, I swear those are only for you.”
Jesus, this guy.
“Well, good. Jeremy H. isn’t nearly as cute or good at conversations as me.” He laughed and nodded.
“No, he isn’t.” There he went again, making your stomach flutter. “Well, I don’t want to keep you from stealing any orders from Jeremy H.. But, uh, maybe we can Facetime later? And you can give me your opinions on the food?”
“Yeah, I’d really like that, Frankie.” He looked away shyly and nodded before sucking in a breath.
“Alright, well…I should get back to my Facetime call with my friend. He’s probably going to thoroughly embarrass me in front of you if I don’t hurry up—“
“He sleeps with socks on!” You chuckled at the sound of his friend’s voice coming from his phone, Frankie sighing and pointing backwards.
“Yep. Just like that.”
“Well, you don’t mind eagerness and I don’t mind sock-sleeping. Perfect match.” He smiled at you again, or at least that’s what it looked like. “Have fun getting better. And don’t let him pick on you too much for your sleeping habits.”
“I’ll try not to,” he chuckled as you walked down the staircase to the ground floor of his complex, taking your mask off and shooting him an uncovered smile over your shoulder, shocked to see him doing the same. With a bitten lip, you hopped in your car and tried not to daydream about him too much. Though, you knew yourself well enough to ever think that would be possible.
•••
Frankie was in the middle of watching Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, wrapped up in a blanket to try and soothe the chills and muscle aches that had just set in when she Facetimed him. Blowing his nose, he tried to make himself look half-presentable before answering the call, grinning when he saw her smiling face.
“Am I interrupting anything?” She asked with a sweet voice, a voice that he could imagine stirring him awake in the mornings and soothing him to sleep at night.
“Just watching a movie and trying not to think about being sick,” he joked, earning a light chuckle. “How are you? Was the rest of your day pretty easy?”
“Well, after leaving your place, I ate the tacos—great, by the way.” He nodded and gave her a look of pride. “But then I had a customer throw her smoothie on me because it was runnier than usual.”
“Plot twist, she was only ordering in hopes of seeing Jeremy H.,” she giggled at that, his chest swelling with pride at the sound he was able to draw from her. “I’m sorry that people suck.”
“It’s okay,” she shrugged but he shook his head.
“No, it isn’t.” He watched her give him a tender look, his palm itching to splay out on her cheek.
“You’re right. It isn’t.” She breathed out something along the lines of a laugh, her eyes looking away from the screen for a moment. “So…I’m trying to figure out why someone like you is still single. Coming up short.”
Frankie let out a small laugh as he tried to think of a way to word his past without scaring her off immediately. He had plenty of skeletons in his closet, and if they all fell out at once, no one in their right mind would be able to handle it.
“Well,” he chuckled, eyes flickering to his lap. “Guess I don’t really have a good knack for finding things that are good for me. Or if they’re good, they never seem to stay that way.”
“I get that,” she spoke softly, as though she was trying to earn the trust of a skiddish animal. Perhaps she was.
“I, uh, was engaged a month and a half-ish ago. But, truthfully it hadn’t been a real relationship for almost two years.” He watched her reactions carefully, ready to stop sharing at any point if she appeared to get uncomfortable with the subject, but he was only met with an understanding nod and a softened look. “I have a kid—a baby. She’s nine months old. Anyways, she was a surprise, but we stayed together for her sake. But that ended for the best. Haven’t really thought about getting back out there until…”
“Until you met the world’s most competent DoorDash driver.” He chuckled and nodded, delightfully surprised at how well she was handling his past. “Well, I’m very proud of you for not settling. For choosing yourself. I’m sure your baby girl will be very thankful it happened early on rather than later down the road.”
“Yeah,” he smiled softly, feeling cozy and not at all from the blanket wrapped around him. It was her. Her voice, her humor, the way she strung a sentence together. “What about you? Why hasn’t the world’s most competent DoorDash driver been taken off the market yet?”
“The market is horseshit,” she chided with a dry tone, earning a laugh from him. “I don’t know. Men are so…not it.”
Another laugh. She was good at that.
“Yeah, we’re not great.”
“Nope,” she giggled and he felt his heart race. “Besides, I find it really hard to click with guys. Like, I’m not an idiot, you know? I’m not gonna pretend to be ditzy and cute to make them feel superior, and that usually is the nail in the coffin for my dates.”
“I like how smart you are. I feel like I can have a conversation with you—a mutually interested conversation, you know?” She faked a yawn and he let out a gasped laugh of shock, her giggles filling the room. “You know what? I take it back.”
“Ya know, I really like talking to you, Frankie.” Her confession quieted his laughter, his eyes softening as he looked into hers through the screen. “It feels easy.”
“It does,” he agreed with a smile. “I like how much you make me laugh.”
“I like making you laugh.”
God, his heart was already pounding on the inside of his chest, demanding to be set free so that it could go to its rightful home—the palm of her hands.
“Hey, when I’m Covid free next week, would you maybe want to go on a socially distanced date? We can go to the park, wear our masks. Try to have a normal-ish time in this very not normal world?” She bit her lip, her grin bringing the slightest of dimples in her cheeks as she nodded.
“I’d really like that.” He let out an exhale of relief, for the first time in a long time feeling excited about the future. “But until then, promise me we’ll keep having these Facetimes. I…really like talking to you. I feel like there’s so much I could pick your brain about.”
“Same here.” The pair found themselves staring at each other for a few seconds in comfortable silence, this new and budding friendship making them both feel giddy in a way they hadn’t been used to. “Starting with…what on earth made you want to be an aerospace engineer?”
“Well,” she chuckled and looked mildly embarrassed. “It’s gonna sound silly, but I watched Iron Man when it came out—I think I was like…14? Anyways, I just thought engineering was so cool, but I didn’t want to do the normal shit. And I’ve always had an affinity for space, so…it all just clicked.”
“You’re so cool.” He couldn’t help but to tell her that. He really did find her so interesting and…cool. Whatever that word meant, she was it. “So you’re wanting to go into NASA or something like that?”
“Hopefully! I interned at a Boeing factory last summer and decided that it was too…I don’t know. Too corporate for me. But the year before that, I volunteered at a STEM Camp for high schoolers and one of the guest speakers was from NASA, and it felt like a better fit. But I’ve got to finish my grad degree first before I can even think of applying to one of their programs.” He could listen to her talk about this all day long, her passion for her career matching his own. “What about you? Have you always wanted to be a pilot?”
“Pretty much,” he smiled at her ability to bring him back into the conversation. “I grew up in a Latino household and we never really had a ton of money to go on planes and all that, but I remember my first plane ride was when I was ten. I just got such a high being in the air. Sat by the window and pretended that it was me flying the thing, and ever since then I’ve been hooked.”
“You mentioned getting your license back?” She asked, and he could sense her hesitation in bringing it up.
“Yeah, I, uh…got into a little bit of trouble about a year ago.” He scratched the scruffy beard on his chin, debating on whether or not to tell her the whole story.
“Frankie, you don’t have to tell me anything you don’t want to, but I just want to tell you that I’m a very understanding person. I’m not easily scared off by skeletons and ghosts from the past. I care more about the you that’s in front of me presently—and he seems pretty great.” He bit his lip to try and hide the smitten grin trying to grow on his face—one that would give away just how into her he really was.
“Well,” he took a deep breath, putting all of his pride aside in the name of honesty. “I’ve struggled with addiction, and I got drug tested…so, bye-bye license. But, uh, I’ve been sober since then. Since the baby arrived, I just…I don’t see it being an issue anymore. When it was just me, it was easy to be destructive like that, but…not anymore. I don’t want her to grow up without a dad, or worse, with a dad who’s a deadbeat.”
“Thank you for trusting me with that,” she gave him a gentle smile, one that assured him his admission hadn’t shaken her. “And I’m very proud of you for choosing sobriety. I come from a long line of addicts, so…I know exactly how difficult it is to beat.”
“You’re sickeningly likable, do you know that? Like…nauseating, really.” She laughed and flipped her hair over her shoulder, making him chuckle. “I’m glad we met.”
“I’m glad we met too.”
He needed to sleep, he could feel it in his aching bones and dry eyes, but god, did he wish he could force himself to stay awake just to hear her go on about anything. But, the sleep was beating his heart’s desire, a yawn slipping from his lips.
“You should get some rest, Mr. Covid.” He smiled and nodded, his eyes studying her pretty face for a little bit longer. “Feel free to call me or text me in the morning, okay?”
“I will,” he nodded and took a deep breath. “Thank you for…being you.”
“What a sap,” she teased. “Thank you for being so open with me. You’re a breath of fresh air, Frankie Morales, apartment 507.”
“Goodnight, querida.”
“Goodnight, handsome.”
•••
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