First fic. one shot. slight OCC. Comments welcome :)

Not a proposal.

Mickey sat on the sofa, drinking a beer and waiting for Ian to come home. After the wedding and Ian almost leaving for the army (after Mandy told Mickey she'd never speak to him again if she didn't go after him) they had been seeing each other. Not in secret now that Terry had been caught of one of his many drugs runs along with Mickey's brothers and they were all in prison for the foreseeable future.

Svetlana didn't really care what Mickey did, she'd only married him for a green card anyway, but she and Mickey had learned to tolerate each other. She slept in Mandy's room now that Mandy had practically moved into the Gallagher's. They were quite happy with their dysfunctional set up.

Mickey heard the door open and Ian walked in. He sat down next to Mickey and gave him a peck on the cheek, much to Mickey's annoyance. He was cool with kissing, but 'pecking', that was just way too fucking gay.

"How was school?" Mickey asked, not wanting to seem like he cared (he did) but wanting to say something.

"Ok...it's final year so I really gotta work hard if I wanna get into West Point". Ian may have stayed this time, but that wasn't going to stop him giving up on his dream of becoming an officer. Whether Mickey liked it or not.

"You still wanna go there? Join the army?" Mickey asked.

"Yeah, it was always my dream. I was always gonna go, I thought you knew that?"

"I did...I mean...I do. I just don't want you coming back with your arm blown off" Mickey said quietly.

Ian let out a small laugh. "That won't be for a while, until I'm finished school at West Point. Not that I plan on getting my arm blown off...It's nice that you care about me though" Ian smiled.

Mickey got up and walked to the kitchen. Ian followed.

"What's up?" Ian asked, leaning against the refrigerator.

"Nothing"

"Come on Mick, I know you. I know when something's bothering you"

"Nothing's bothering me..."

"Is it because I still wanna go to West Point? I'll come back for the holidays and stuff; we'll still see each other. Besides, that's not until I finish school. We still have plenty of time to be together" Ian walked over and wrapped his arms around Mickey.

"Come on, let's go to bed" Ian said and walked off to their bedroom. Ian had practically moved in, why not? Mandy was living in his house.

When Mickey walked into the bedroom, Ian was already in bed. He undressed and climbed in next to him. He had only just come to enjoy sharing a bed; he and Ian didn't snuggle though, when Ian had suggested it, Mickey called it gay and rolled over. Mickey liked to feeling of waking up next to Ian, though he would never admit it.

Mickey was still awake 20 minutes later; he thought he'd try something. He turned over and cautiously put his arm around Ian's waist, his head near Ian's shoulder. Not on it, just near it.

"What are you doing?" Ian asked sleepily.

"Just trying something" Mickey said, tense because he didn't really know how to behave when one would 'snuggle'. If that's what you would call it.

"I can move if you want me to?"

"No, it's fine. It's new. We've never done this before" Ian said, still sleepy but with a smile on his face.

Ian was just dropping off to sleep again when he heard...

"I love you Ian"

"What?"

"You heard"

"You called me Ian..." Ian said, completely ignoring the fact that Mickey has told him he loved him.

"That's your name isn't it?"

"You never called me 'Ian'; it's always 'Gallagher'"

"Well I can hardly call you 'Gallagher' for the rest of our life, can I?" Mickey said and Ian's mouth dropped, then quickly turned into a huge smile.

"I love you too" Ian finally said.

"That wasn't fucking proposal by the way" Mickey said, with no real warning in his voice.

But Ian knew it sort of was.