They got into the van and Mickey closed the door behind him. He looked over at Jake and thought he should make something clear,

"I know it's difficult with my face looking exactly like Ricky, but I'm a different man; I'm not here to replace him." Mickey could tell that Jake and Ricky were close, and even if he had grown a pair, he was no Ricky, nor does he wants to be and he thought that Jake should know that.

"You never could." Jake shook his head, "I'll never have another boyfriend like him."

Mickey eyes widen and he gaped for a moment; he knew they were close, but he had no idea they were THAT close. "Okay, definitely not replacing him." Definitely not, Mickey thought. Jake just gave a wide but sad smile at this and nodded.

"But we can remember him; by fighting in his name." Mickey assured. Again, Jake just nodded. After a moment of silence, Mickey broke it by asking, "With all those Cyber factories out there, do you think there'll be one in Paris?"

Jake nodded, "Yeah."

Mickey smiled, "Then let's go and liberate Paris." At this Jake looked at him as if he was crazy.

"Are you serious? Paris? You and me? In a van?"

"Nothing wrong with a van," Mickey beamed, "I once saved the universe with a big yellow truck!"

Jake gave a small chuckle and shook his head before starting the engine and started driving.

"Before we make our way to Paris though, would you mind if we visit my Gran?" Mickey asked "Well Ricky's Gran…mine and Ricky's Gran?" he stumbled.

"Sure," Jake answered with a smile, "I'm sure Ricky would have wanted to make sure his Gran was well taken care of, anyway." If Mickey was Ricky, and if he was being completely honest with himself, Mickey would have thought Jake had a really cute smile –and then he realized what a weird thought that was, so he just shook it off.

Less than half an hour later, the van pulled up at a small flat in Waterton Street SE15. They walked up to the flat and knocked. Three knocks later, Rita Anne smith opened the door, cane at the ready.

"It's me Gran!" Mickey said quickly, not wanting to feel the wrath of the cane.

"Ricky?! Finally decided to come home, boy?" Gran scolded, and smacked Mickey.

"Gran! Stop hitting me, my friend is here!" Mickey whined.

"Friend? Is this one of those new friends of yours?" Gran questioned. Jake decided it was a good time to introduce himself.

"Good evening, Mrs. Smith, I'm Jake Simmonds, a friend of Ricky's."

"Oh! Well excuse me boy, my eyes have gone bad, didn't notice you there." Gran replied.

"Can we come in now, Gran? It's getting chilly standing out here." Mickey asked

"oh, so you do know it's cold outside do you?" Gran scolded, "did you think of that when you were out all night for days and days?" Gran smacked Mickey again.

"Ow! Come on Gran!" Mickey protested

"You know it hurts but you never learn boy!"

"I know, I know Gran, but can we get inside now?"

"You're hungry now aren't you?" Gran shook her head and turned to walk in, leading the boys into the flat. "boys nowadays…you boys head to the table and I'll fetch you dinner."

"it's okay Gran, I can do it myself…" Mickey offered but was cut off with another smack,

"Do you think I'd trust you in my kitchen? Go sit down at the table boy!" Gran snapped. Mickey rolled his eyes and Gran yelled "I see that young man!" which made Jake laugh at Mickey's deer in the headlight expression.

Ham and mashed potato was served for Dinner that night. As they were eating and chatting casually, Gran suddenly asked, "So it's Jake, hmm? And how long have you two known each other?"

"We met six months ago at a party, Gran." Jake answered; he turned to Mickey and mouthed "It was a club."

"Hmm," Gran nodded and turned to Mickey, "Is this why you've never brought a girl home?"

Mickey nearly choked on his vegetable and Jake burst out laughing, Ricky wasn't kidding, his Gran is something else.

"Gran!" Mickey exclaimed, perplexed.

"Oh, don't you Gran me!" Gran retaliated, "I've always knew you didn't fancy girls much….so you two are together?"

"NO!/Yes." Mickey and Jake said at the same time. Mickey shot Jake a "what the hell?" look and Jake kicked him and gave him the "just go along with it look."

"We'll take care of the dishes, Gran; go enjoy your soap." Mickey told his Gran after grabbing the dishes and signaling Jake to follow.

Once they were in the kitchen and out of Gran's earshot – Mickey turned on the water, for security – Mickey glared at Jake.

"What the hell was that? What happened to 'not replacing Ricky'?" Mickey snapped In a hushed tone. Jake rolled his eyes.

"Look, first of all; Ricky and I WERE together, secondly; what do you think will be easier for her to accept; that her grandson is gay, or that him and his mate saved the universe from being taken over by Tin Man and his kind by turning humans into one of them? Third of all; why are we whispering while the water is running?"

"To keep her from hearing us," Mickey replied in a no-duh tone, "her eyesight is going but I swear she has super-hearing. And I would rather she think I'm a hero than a fag" at this Jake shot him a glare, "Not that there's anything wrong with gays!" Mickey quickly clarified. "but…I suppose you're right."

Right then, a splash of water dropped to the floor, Mickey and Jake realized the sink was overflowing and scrambled to quickly turn off the water and stooped down with a towel to wipe off the floor, bumping their heads together on the way down.

"OW!" both exclaimed,

As if she teleported there, Gran was at the archway, "You boys okay, here?"

"Yes Gran, you just go back to your soap, we'll be out in a minute." Mickey replied.

"Alright then, you boys call me if you can't handle it." Gran replied and walked back to the sofa.

Mickey blew out a sigh of relieve, he went back to wiping up the floor when Jake splashed some water in his face. Mickey winced at the dirty water on his face and glared at Jake, who just laughed and splashed more water at him.

"Oh, real mature." Mickey chuckled and splashed some water at him in return. Jake responded by giving Mickey's shoulder a playful push, which Mickey returned, at which Jake tackled him down and was on top of him with a playful smile. Mickey gulped and cleared his throat,

"Remember, I'm not Ricky."

Jake jaws tightened and he roughly pushed himself off of Mickey, "Geez, thanks for reminding me." He huffed and stormed out, to Mickey's great confusion.

After Jake had left him to finish cleaning up the floor by himself, Mickey decided it was a good time to fix the tear in the carpet, while Jake was sitting on the couch, watching TV and having idle talk with Gran. Mickey kept looking up from his work to look at Jake, to see if he would look back, but it was as if Jake was determined not to look back at him. For some reason, this made Mickey real uneasy, he felt that he had upset Jake somehow back in the kitchen, and he wanted to apologize. While he wasn't paying attention, Mickey accidentally cuts himself with the pocket knife he was using.

"Argh!" he hissed, a little blood already oozing out of the cut. This time Jake did look back and quickly ran up to Mickey. He grabbed Mickey's hand to examine the cut.

"Gran, could you get the first aid kit? Ricky the idiot cut himself." Jake called, and Gran quickly went to fetch the first aid kit. Once she was back, Jake pulled out an alcohol pad to clean the cut, shooting Mickey a glare when he hissed in pain. "Quit being a baby!"

"It stings!" Mickey whined

"Why the hell were you even using a knife if you're supposed to be fixing a tear?" Jake asked as he applied a band-aid to Mickey's finger.

"I was cutting off the excess carpet!" Mickey replied.

When it started getting late, Jake excused himself and was about to go when Mickey stopped him. He knows Jake would go back to the old warehouse that was the Preachers' base, and he didn't think Jake should be alone, there, after what happened today.

"Gran, Jake lives all the way on the other side of town; I don't want him driving back alone in the dark, could he stay here for the night?"

"What?" Jake exclaimed, surprised, and a bit indignant, "Dude, I'm a dude; I can take care of myself in the dark."

"Not after what happened today, you don't." Mickey stated.

"Of course the boy can stay with us tonight; he can stay in your room." Gran replied.

"WHAT?!" Both boys exclaimed, shocked.

"Well you are together aren't you? And don't you try to tell me you two haven't done any funny business, I know you boys these day." Gran responded as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

"Uhh…right.." both boys responded in unison again. After Gran had gone off to bed, both boys were still standing where they were looking at each other awkwardly. "I'll take the sofa." They both said in unison, again.

"It is your room." Jake reasoned

"It's actually Ricky's, remember?" Mickey reminded. Jake wasn't happy about this.

"Would you shut up about Ricky? I don't need the reminder, okay?"

"But I was just saying-" Mickey started, confused as to where that came from, but he could understand, "Sorry, it really doesn't help when I keep bringing him up, does it?"

Jake looked as if he was about to cry and looked away from Mickey to hide it from him. "It's okay, I'm sorry..it's just…..I miss him…and you looking exactly like him, doesn't help…you know?"

To his and Mickey's great surprise, Mickey pulled him into a tight hug and whispered. "I'm sorry."

They pulled away from the hug after a while and there was an awkward moment, that was broken when Gran came out of her room,

"You boys just gonna stand there staring at each other the whole night? Get to bed!"

"Yes Gran!" they both answered, and looked back at each other laughing.

"Like I said, it is your room." Jake offered.

"how about we do this the logical way," Mickey replied, placing his fist in his open palm. Jake raised a brow and gave him the "what the heck" look.

"Rock Paper Scissor?" Jake asked skeptically.

"Yeah," Mickey replied as if it should have been obvious, "it works."

Jake chuckled and shook his head, "I can't believe I'm doing this; for a bed!"

Rock-Paper-Scissor; they both came up with rocks.

"Best out of three." Mickey suggested. Rock-Paper-Scissor; they both came up with paper this time. Rock-Paper-Scissor; they both came up with scissors.

"Best out of five, then?" Jake offered. Rock-Paper-Scissor; Rock again. Rock Paper Scissor – Paper again.

"This ain't gonna work." Jake chuckled, "brilliant plan."

"Hey, it had always worked before!" Mickey argued, "you sure you can't read minds or something?" he asked seriously.

"I was about to ask you the same thing." Jake laughed. Right then, Gran walked out again,

"Are you both still awake? Go to bed already!"

"We're trying to decide who gets the bed and who gets the sofa." Mickey replied innocently.

"okay, I've decided; both of you in the room, now!" Gran ordered.

"What?!" both boys cried in unison

"You heard me, I know you both wanna, so get!" Gran snapped.

"EEW! Gran!" Mickey cried in horror.

"You're grown men, and I was your age once." Gran responded with a straight face. She came out and shooed both of them into Ricky's room and closed the door.

Once Gran was gone, both men looked at each other awkwardly for a moment before Mickey opened the drawer to see if there were any spare pillows and blankets. Luckily for them, there was. Mickey pulled out two blankets and a pillow and laid out a makeshift bed beside the real one. Now it was deciding who sleeps on the bed and who sleeps on the makeshift bed on the floor, which was an easy decision for Jake.

"You get the bed, I'll get the floor." He told Mickey.

"You sure?" Mickey asked

"Yeah," Jake nodded, "as much as it would be nice feeling his presence, sleeping on his bed; I would miss him too much if I did that."

"Okay," Mickey nodded. He remembered one more problem, "Uhm, I sleep in my boxers brief…would you mind?"

Jake had a slight deer-in-the-headlight look before he realized the problem, "OH! Uhm, go ahead…" he nodded, "I uhm….sleep naked….would you mind?"

"Uhhh…" Mickey uttered, it was his turn to have the deer-in-the-headlight look, an image of naked Jake came to his mind and he quickly shook it off. "Uhm, not that I would mind….but I don't think it's a good idea, what's with Gran being across the hall."

"Right," Jake responded, grateful that Mickey couldn't see his blush in the dark; oblivious that Mickey was thinking the exact same thing. "I'll just sleep in my boxers then."

They turned away from each other to strip down. Jake took a step back and couldn't help a gasp when he looked back and saw Mickey in his black boxers brief.

"It's so unfair, you even have his physique and his underwear preference." Jake whined

"Uhm, Sorry…should I put a top on?" Mickey responded sheepishly; fully aware that Jake was checking him out. Jake must have realized this too, because he turned away quickly to hide his blush and laid down on the makeshift bed, covering himself up.

"S-sorry, I'm gonna sleep now, goodnight." Jake said quickly, before turning his back to Mickey and closed his eyes.

"Yeah…Goodnight…" Mickey replied. This was gonna be more awkward than he thought; at least they didn't have to sleep on the same bed, he thought.

…

The next morning, Mickey woke up to feel a body against his chest….A BODY AGAINST HIS CHEST?! His eyes flew open and looked down to see Jake curled up at his side, and his hands were around Jake's shoulder…WAIT, JAKE IN BED WITH HIM?! Mickey lifted the sheets and gave a sigh of relief, underwears still on, good….that meant nothing happened; but why was Jake up in the bed with him, and why did he have his arm around the guy? Jake stirred and Mickey thought he was waking up, but he just moaned sleepily and cuddled in closer to Mickey's side. Mickey chuckled inwardly; he is so teasing Jake about this later. Mickey tried to slide his arm out from under Jake's head and get Jake off of him, but that made him stir, and he does NOT want Jake to wake up to find him in such a compromising position right now, so he laid back down. He thought of waking Jake up, but he look so adorable….wait…ADORABLE?!… peaceful….he meant peaceful! Jake looked so PEACEFUL sleeping, that Mickey didn't have the heart to wake him up . The job was done for him, however, by his Gran who opened the door and walked right into the room.

"Time to get up, boys!" she hollered.

"Gran!" Mickey cried in horror and sprung up from the bed, dropping Jake's head with a soft thud. Jake stirred and opened one eye sleepily, springing both eyes open and pushing himself away, once he found himself cuddled up with Mickey on his bed, causing him to fall off on his back.

"You boys okay? What you so scared for? It's just me!" Gran scolded, "Now wash up and come to breakfast before it's cold."

Once Gran was out of the room, Jake turned to Mickey, "Sorry about…you know….that….I had a bad dream last night and….I guess… I just looked for the warmest place…."

"It's okay, man" Mickey cuts him off with an understanding smile, that turned mischievous, "Never thought you'd be a cuddler though." He laughed.

"Oh, shut up!" Jake laughed through a blush, and threw the spare pillow at him.

They went to brush and shower – taking turn, Mickey allowing Jake to shower first – and went down for breakfast. They both borrowed a fresh pair of clothing from Ricky's closet, which of course fitted Mickey perfectly, while hanging rather loosely on Jake. Breakfast was eaten in relative silence before Mickey remembered Paris.

"Uhm, Gran?" Mickey started, "the purpose I came home was of course to visit you and make sure you're okay and will be well taken care of, but also, Me and Jake are thinking of going to Paris….for a job."

"Paris? For a job? Can't you find work here, boy?"

"It's kind of a big deal. We….got approved for a contract with a big mechanical factory over there." Jake jumped in, "and once we're done, they're gonna send us to other countries all over the globe too!" he finished and shared a look with Mickey. Mickey had to admit he was quick on his feet, so to speak.

"Yeah, and we'll come home and check on you regularly."

"Do what you must," Gran replied, "Just be sure you are working and not fooling around." She turned to Jake, "you keep an eye on him, make sure he doesn't get mixed in with the wrong crowd, he's a good boy, but he's an idiot!"

"Gran!" Mickey protested, which just made Jake laugh.

"Don't worry Gran," Jake replied, "I'll take good care of him." He smirked and winked at Mickey when he said this, who just shook his head and chuckled.

After breakfast, the boys offered to do the dishes again. As they were doing so, Mickey decided to be a brat and hit Jake's side of the sink, so that the soap water would splash on his face,

"Hey!" Jake protested and did the same to Mickey. After a few seconds of splash war, they play pushed each other and wrestled each other to the ground. When they were done laughing, their eyes met and Jake leaned down to give Mickey a kiss, at which there was no protest this time.

After the dishes was done and they had cleaned up the kitchen and washed off again, they got packed, kissed Gran goodbye and got out to the van.

Once inside the van, Mickey looked over at Jake and smiled, "Well that was quite an adventure huh?" at which Jake laughed and nodded his head.

"But here's where the adventure really begins." Mickey turned on the radio and to his horror Chris Salvatore's "I kissed a boy" gay remix started playing. Mickey and Jake just looked at each other in shock and bursts into laughter.

"Ironic, I just kissed a boy not too long ago." Mickey smirked

"Did you like it?" Jake laughed

"to be totally honest? Yeah, I did." Mickey chuckled

"You sure Rose wouldn't mind it?" Jake asked teasingly

"Nah, I don't think she would." Mickey smirked, "Now, to Paris?"

"To Paris." Jake nodded

"Then as the Doctor would say, Alons-y, Jakey!"

They rode off into the sun to the beat of "I kissed a boy" thus, ending our story here, but just beginning their adventures.