Chapter Text
“Fuck!”
Ian’s head snapped up. A loud rumble followed the cursing. He narrowed his eyes at the wall opposite him. A second later he heard a thump followed by a low string of curses.
Ian picked up his phone. 1.30 am. Rubbing his eyes he sat up. He turned off the TV and stretched, groaning when his neck popped. He must have dozed off on the couch.
As he looked down at himself he was glad to find that he had at least managed to change into something comfortable, sweatpants and an old, way too big t-shirt. He ran a hand through his hair, still a bit disoriented.
Another thump from the neighboring apartment reminded him of what had woken him up. He sighed, contemplated the idea for a moment before he got up, pocketed his keys, and left his apartment.
Two seconds later he was knocking at his neighbor’s door. He yawned loudly, too lazy to cover his mouth when the door opened to a very hot, very shirtless guy. Ian kind of froze mid-yawn, eyes wide.
The guy raised an eyebrow at him.
“Can I help you?” he asked, clearly annoyed.
Ian ran a hand over his mouth, cleared his throat awkwardly, and then started nodding.
“Yeah, yeah. I mean no,” he stammered as he switched to shaking his head. “Uh, I thought I might help you.”
The guy watched Ian, an amused smile playing on his lips. Ian sighed. Jesus, the guy was really handsome. He didn’t know what to settle his eyes on, the full lips, the hair that looked like fingers had run through it in frustration multiple times, or just the smooth skin of his torso.
“Why’d you think I need help?” the guy asked.
Ian’s eyes snapped back up.
“I live next door,” he explained, pointing his thumb over his shoulder, “and it sounded like you were having some trouble.”
The guy seemed to think for a moment before he sighed and ran a hand through his hair, messing it up even more and Ian almost groaned at the sight.
“I suppose I could use some help, yeah,” he said and opened the door wider. He turned and Ian followed him inside.
“I’m trying to build this fucking IKEA bed, but it’s being a little bitch,” he explained as he led Ian through the apartment, but Ian was hardly listening.
He had found something to settle his eyes on and couldn’t look away. The guy’s sweatpants hung lowly on his hips revealing the cute little dimples on the small of his back, but most importantly, they sat perfectly snug around his ass, outlining its round perky shape. Ian had the strong urge to find out if his hand fit as nicely around it as he assumed. But he controlled himself as they reached the doorway to what he assumed was the guy’s bedroom. The guy turned around to him.
“You know anything about IKEA beds?” he asked.
Ian leaned forward to take a look at the mess of wooden boards in the room. Next to the door was a dresser and Ian took the instructions that were lying on top of it.
“Yeah, actually. I have pretty much the same bed,” he said.
The guy nodded and then led the way into his bedroom.
It took them about an hour to put the bed together and put fresh sheets on it. In that time Ian found out that the guy’s name was Mickey and he’d only moved in the day before. He told Ian a bit about his job at a bar and the university he went to, quite a fancy one. And Ian shared some of his own stories from his job as a waiter for an event agency. It was fun and Ian couldn’t remember the last time he had laughed that much or the last time he had been so smitten so quickly with someone.
Ian shed his own shirt at some point in the hopes of finding out if Mickey could be interested. But he didn’t catch any curious looks, so he put it back on when they were done.
Mickey led him into the small open kitchen just to the left of the bedroom.
“You want a beer?” he asked.
Ian leaned against the counter and watched as Mickey rummaged through the fridge.
“Yeah, thanks.”
Mickey nodded and handed him an open bottle. He opened his own and hopped up onto the counter next to Ian. They drank in silence for a while until Mickey broke the silence.
“You into baseball?” he asked.
Ian furrowed his brows, but shrugged and said yes.
“My friend canceled on me and I already got food and beer, so if you want to come over to watch the game tomorrow…” he trailed off, eyeing Ian cautiously.
Ian bit his lip and raised his bottle to his lips to cover his grin.
“Yeah, sure,” he said as casually as possible before taking a long gulp from his bottle. They were silent again after that, finishing off their beers. Mickey took Ian’s empty bottle from him and placed it with his own in an empty box by the balcony door. He turned back to Ian who had pushed away from the counter.
“I’m gonna go then, pretty late,” he said and Mickey nodded. “Hope you sleep well in that new bed.”
Mickey grinned and walked him to the door. “Thanks man. I really owe you one.”
Ian waved him off. “Don’t worry about it.”
Mickey smiled and waved once more before he closed the door and Ian made his way back to his apartment, smiling and giddy. There was no way he would find sleep that night.