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Ian and Mickey lay on their backs, side by side, no space at all between them thanks to Mickey’s shitty little bed. Both enjoyed being crammed up against each other like this but only one would admit it out loud.
The bed was creaking loudly when Ian shifted slightly beside Mickey. The bed was quite sturdy though, you had to give it credit, surviving two teenage boys fucking on it as often as possible. Although Ian had joked about them breaking it at any given second. Mickey said it was all Ian’s fault for bulking up like crazy over the past few months, his bed couldn’t take it (not that Mickey was complaining).
It was nearly four in the afternoon. They were still breathing heavily from the second time fucking each other’s brains out since that morning. It was way too hot in the room. The sun was shining constantly through the dirty window, the crappy blinds not helping at all. Mickey briefly thought of getting up and hang a blanket in front of the stupid thing or something. He’d never liked the feeling of the outside world creeping into his room especially not when Gallagher was there with him. He didn’t get up though. He just felt so relaxed and calm which was a rare thing in his life. The breathing beside Mickey had now slowed down considerably. Mickey tilted his head a little and found Ian sleeping. Mickey smirked to himself, so that’s the reason why Gallagher was so quiet and hadn’t yet started teasing him for looking so content or some shit. Mickey reached blindly towards the cigarette pack on the night stand accidently knocking down the alarm clock on his way. It landed on the floor with a loud crash. Mickey cursed quietly.
“Uhm, what are you doing?” Ian’s voice sounded sleep-clogged but friendly. Mickey never sounded friendly when somebody woke him up (or ever really) but this was Gallagher so.
“Waking you up obviously” Mickey mumbled, finally reaching the cigarette pack. He lit one, took a long deep drag off it and then handed it to Ian as he exhaled slowly.
“What time is it?” Ian said blowing smoke through his nose before passing the cigarette back.
“I have no idea, I think I just broke my fucking clock” Mickey glanced down at the floor where the clock lay in a million pieces.
“You know there are other ways to wake me up right? You could try whispering something nice in my ear. Giving me a compliment. I promise I’ll be so shocked I’ll jump right out of bed.” Ian said teasingly, smiling so Mickey had to look away quickly or he would soon be smiling like an idiot too. It happened way too often nowadays Mickey thought, this looking at each other and smiling for no particular reason. Ian was doing all of this stupid things to him. It was dumb as shit. Mickey got pissed just thinking about it. That feeling was OK with him though, at least it was familiar.
“Why would I want to wake you up? It was all quiet and nice up until now. You don’t annoy me half as much when you’re asleep”. Mickey said angrily but grinned and almost choked on laughter when Ian elbowed him in the ribs. This was hopeless, for how long did he manage to hold on to his pissy mood this time? Like ten seconds?
“I guess I kinda forgot who I was talking to. You would probably burst into flames if you actually said something nice to someone.” Ian yawned and stretched out his arm. If he happened to brush over Mickey’s stomach while doing so it was highly intentional. Ian was just sly like that.
“Something like your eyes have a really cool colour” Mickey glanced quickly over at Ian before looking away again.
“Sure, but you have to mean it. Can’t make stuff up, it won’t work”
“Did I sound like I was kidding?” Mickey scoffed.
“Like you hav…wait, what? Did you mean that?” Ian’s eyebrows shot up in surprise.
Mickey shrugged. Ian looked at him for a moment before smiling widely.
“OK, who are you and what have you done to Mickey?
“Shut up”
“Oh, there you are” Ian deadpanned.
They fell into comfortable silence. Mickey still smoking, eyes closed. Ian turned his head a bit to look at him, especially at those very kissable lips. He really wanted to kiss him. Mickey didn’t want that though. Ian knew that all to well.
Mickey had wanted to kiss Ian the second time he laid eyes on him. He still wanted to kiss him. It wasn’t the kissing itself Mickey feared. It was the intimacy and closeness that came with it that scared the hell out of him. If he kissed Ian like he wanted to he knew he couldn’t ignore how he felt anymore. Kissing meant he cared. He didn’t want that. He couldn’t want that.
Ian kept staring at Mickey’s lips whishing he had unlimited access to them. Mickey must have felt his eyes on him because suddenly the silence was broken.
“What?” Mickey opened his eyes and looked briefly into Ian’s before looking up at the ceiling.
“Nothing. I’m just looking at you” Ian suddenly felt a little braver than usual. “I kinda like you”
“What are you up to now Gallagher?”
“You wanted to know why I was looking at you. Now that’s my answer. I like you. A lot” Ian said as nonchalantly as he could, pushing the limits a little further again.
“And why the hell do you do that?” Mickey said, regretting the words that very same second. He had thought about it though, wondered why Gallagher bothered to stick around. Mickey wasn’t stupid, he knew Ian could easily get someone better than him. He was still amazed how he managed to land this gorgeous guy (yeah Mickey wasn’t blind either) time after another. Sure, the sex was mind blowing, but a worryingly big part of their time spent together they just hung around doing random stuff, like watching crappy movies. They talked too, Mickey hadn’t talked so much in his entire life. He thought he didn’t even like talking until Gallagher came along and messed with his head.
“You really don’t know?” Ian said in an eager voice, turning around and propping himself up on his elbows. “First of all, you have a big…
“Dick?” Mickey said expectantly.
“I guess I should’ve seen that coming” Ian shook his head.
“Cumming? You have already seen that happen. Lots of times” Mickey was grinning widely now.
“Jeez, you are on a roll today. I meant to say that you have a big heart and you are loyal to the ones you care about” Ian said, eyes searching Mickey’s.
“I think you have mistaken me for a dog” Mickey said, refusing to look at Ian, heart beating faster now.
“You are really sweet when you want to be and you do care although you’d never admit it. The only one that thinks the worst of you is yourself Mickey. You are a good person, you just don’t know it”
This silenced Mickey. The words affected him more than he wanted to admit. He hadn’t failed to catch the sincerity in Ian’s voice. He had spoken fast, like he’d thought about saying all of this for a long time and didn’t want to miss the opportunity. Mickey felt a little dizzy. He couldn’t remember a time, if ever, someone described him in such a positive way. And this came from Gallagher, someone he actually respected and, yeah, cared about. Mickey didn’t know how to respond. He wanted to at least be able to joke about it but he couldn’t. He felt completely tongue-tied.
Ian seemed to sense that and said nothing for a while. It was exactly what Mickey needed to gather his thoughts and make his room stop spinning so goddamn fast. Mickey rubbed his hand over his face and let out a deep sigh.
Ian wondered if maybe he’d said too much.
“You want me to leave?” Ian said, bracing himself for the answer.
Mickey slowly shook his head. He touched his bottom lip with his thumb before turning to look at Ian, seemingly making up his mind about something. Before Ian could even react Mickey leaned over, pressed up against him and kissed him. It was a tender kiss, their tongues touching just a bit. It was quick and over way too soon but Ian could feel the kiss throughout his entire body. He felt as though his skin was burning from where Mickey was touching him, his upper body partly on top of Ian’s.
Mickey pulled away with a look in his eyes that made Ian’s heart skip a beat. He wanted to hold Mickey in place right there on his chest and keep him there but Mickey turned around to lie on his back again. He reached for another cigarette, unable to hide the slight trembling of his hands. Ian looked at Mickey whilst he lit what must have been like his fifth cigarette in these last couple of hours.
“These things are gonna kill you you know”
“No fucking way Gallagher. You are the one who’s killing me”