A/N Happy New Year's Everyone!
"Son of a bitch!" Micky slammed the phone down.
He stood there a moment, feeling furious as he replayed the conversation he'd just had over in his head. He wondered if there was anything he could have said to change the outcome.
But then he snorted. No! There wasn't!
She hadn't even let him get in 4 words, let alone a rebuttal so unless those 4 words had the power of God behind them, he wouldn't have stood a chance anyways.
He finally walked out of the kitchen and sat down on the living room couch. He looked around and sighed.
It was a beautiful site. There were blue and silver balloons everywhere. Left over Christmas tinsel and streamers of varying colors were wrapped around the banister and dangled from the walls and ceiling. Confetti glittered the floor and the table where they were going to set the punch bowl and pretzels was covered with little gold and silver party hats and paper horns and poppers.
It was as if the entire room had fallen victim to a wonderful and festive shining explosion that was full of promise and fun.
It was a beautiful site indeed.
A site that Micky had been all too excited about until he had gotten that phone call.
Now the colors and glitter only seemed to mock him.
After all, it was New Year's Eve and Linda, his girlfriend, had just broken up with him.
"On New Year's Eve!" Mike exclaimed when Micky had finally dragged himself off the couch and gone outside to where the guys were still decorating to tell them the bad news.
"Gee… Mick… I'm sorry man." Peter hugged him tenderly and even cried a few empathetic tears into the shoulder of Micky's new brightly colored tunic that he had bought just for the party.
Davy didn't say anything. He just gave him a sorrowful but thoughtful look and continued to fasten some silver balloons to their mail box.
"Whatever …" Micky shrugged, "… I mean its fine." He said trying to play it off like he wasn't as upset as he was. "It'll still be fun. I'll still have fun." He said more for his own reassurance than that of the guys. "At least we invited all those chicks, right?"
And they had invited a lot of chicks.
Probably too many, Davy mused as he watched Micky dance with the latest in a long line.
It was Sheila, a cute redhead with a short skirt and disco boots.
Before Sheila it had been Aubrey, and before that, Kelly and then Liz and April and Mary and…
Oh bloody hell. Who hadn't Micky danced with tonight?
Davy turned back to his date with a sigh and a tight feeling in his stomach.
He refused to acknowledge the tight feeling. It was something that he'd had for a few months now. At first he'd thought it was just a stomach bug. But when he didn't have any other symptoms and it had persisted for weeks on end he knew it was something else.
"I'm going to go freshen up, Davy." Melanie, Davy's date said giving him a little peck on the cheek. "Save my place?" She asked getting off the love seat they were sharing.
Davy gave her a wink and a grin as she headed off towards the bathroom.
Then his smile faded and he turned back to watch Micky.
That tight feeling… what was he going to do about it?
It had started back in October when they had been out on the beach. The weather had still been nice even though it was fall. They had all been surfing… except for Mike who had been fully clothed from head to toe but was still somehow trying to get a sun tan.
A particularly nasty wave had knocked Davy off of his board and roughed him up a bit, pulling him down and then spitting him against the shore.
"Davy!" Micky hollered as he rode the same wave in. He jumped off his board and rushed over.
Mike, who had been snoozing on the beach and Peter were close behind.
Davy was coughing and spitting out water.
The three guys knelt around him, patting him on the back with worried exclamations and questions on his well being.
"I'm fine fellas… I just lost my bearings." Davy said, still trying to catch his breath. "It was nothing. I'm alright."
"You're alright?" Mike asked looking at Davy's shoulder. "Then what's that?"
Davy looked at his shoulder. He had a nice little gash on it. Probably from a rock he vaguely remembered colliding with on his tumble towards the shore.
"It's just a scratch, mate. Nothin' to worry about. Look ,I just wanna get back out there." Davy said, feeling like his ego at not catching that beautiful wave was hurting more than his wrecked body was.
But as he tried to get up he winced in pain and looked down at his knee. He must have hit it too. It was starting to swell like a balloon.
He sighed and looked up at the faces of his friends in defeat.
"Whatever…" Davy said. "I'll just go back to the pad and put some on ice on it. It'll be good as new in a couple hours."
"Well we'll go back with you." Mike said.
Davy shook his head adamantly. "No… you guys stay out here. It's a nice day. I don't want to ruin your fun."
Mike was about to protest but Micky beat him to it. "Look, I was looking for a reason to go in anyways."
"You were?" Mike asked skeptically.
"Yeah… yeah -you know, I mean -you know…the heat!…Yeah, the heat.-Man, the heat's getting to me." He wiped imaginary sweat off his brow and fanned his face dramatically with his hand. "But you guys should stay." He said turning to Mike and Peter. I'll just take Davy up when I go."
Davy bit his lip in agitation. He knew exactly what Micky was doing.
Micky saying the heat was getting to him was like saying that hell had frozen over.
Micky lived for the outdoors and loved warm weather. He complained about being cold when it was 75 degrees outside.
It was obvious that he was just saying it for Davy's benefit so Davy wouldn't feel guilty about taking him away from one of his favorite activities on one of the last warm days of the year.
Mike seemed to realize this too. He eyed Micky for a moment before nodding approvingly. "Okay, Mick. Go get yourself cooled down."
Micky was about to jump up but then Peter suddenly leaned in and placed a hand on both Davy and Micky's shoulders. "I'm so sorry you hurt yourself Davy. And I wish you weren't so hot Micky." He said with sincerity. "It would be nice if you could stay. It's such a drag that you have to spend a day like today cooped up indoors."
Then he smiled a big dopey grin. It was quite clear that even though he was so sorry they had to go in, that he, himself was extremely happy that he would still be able to play outside.
"Aww, it's alright Big Peter." Micky said. "Tell you what... Why don't you go catch a big wave for us? That will make us feel better."
Peter looked confused and just a little worried. "I don't think I can do that Micky."
"Why not?"
"Because I don't have a big enough net."
Micky smiled disarmingly. It was obvious though that he wanted to laugh. "That's okay Pete. Just go have fun."
Peter nodded enthusiastically and ran off almost on a skip back towards the ocean and his surf board.
"Mike…" Micky said still watching Peter. "Keep an eye on him."
"Always."
And with that Micky fanned his face again and said. "Well Davy, shall we?"
Davy sighed. "Sure."
.
And so Micky helped him up and as Davy stumbled up the sandy slopes towards the pad, Micky stayed right by his side supporting him and helping him along.
Davy had no doubt that Micky would have carried him if he thought Davy would let him.
Davy's ego was still fighting him but he was happy to have Micky along. And his heart was warmed at not only Micky's desire to help but also his sensitivity to Davy's desire not to be helped.
.
When they finally got into the pad, Davy collapsed on the couch as Micky made a show of pouring himself a tall glass of water and adding lots of ice.
Too much ice.
He also grabbed a rag and sat down next Davy. He drank a few drinks of his freezing water and sighed enthusiastically at its apparent refreshment. Then he laughed. "I put way too much ice in this… it's so cold." He pulled several ice cubes out of his glass. "But I guess you needed some ice for your knee anyways so…" He wrapped the excess ice in the rag and turned towards Davy. "Put your knee on my lap."
Davy frowned. "I don't think I can lift it right now."
Micky gave him a thoughtful look. "Oh okay… well that's fine."
Davy expected Micky to just hand over the rag but instead he slid off the couch to his knees and got between Davy's legs. He gently touched the icy rag to Davy's injury.
Davy flinched.
"It's alright." Micky said soothingly looking up into Davy's eyes. Then he began to lightly massage Davy's upper calf with a feathered touch. He carefully made his way to the back of Davy's wounded knee.
"This is just supposed to help the fluid under your knee cap drain... and also get the blood circulating so it will heal faster...Or at least that's what I've heard." He smiled softly.
That was when the tightness in Davy's stomach had first appeared.
…
Looking back, Davy sincerely doubted that Micky had meant anything by the gesture but as Micky had massaged his leg and looked at him with what Davy had obviously mistaken as a heated gaze...
-And then carefully and gently tended to the gash on Davy's shoulder, rubbing ointment into it and breathing softly against his ear as he did -The tightness in Davy's stomach had intensified to a point where he had dismissed himself and gone to bed early saying he thought he was probably coming down with something.
And that 'something' just happened to be a case of 'Micky Love' as it turned out.
It had taken him two full months to realize that was what it was.
And when he finally did, he had denied it over and over.
But now as he sat watching Micky dance with Charlotte, he knew he couldn't deny it anymore.
And he knew he would have to do something about it... soon.
Or else this tightness was going to eat him up.
Micky had danced with 12 girls tonight. He felt proud of that. He really did.
He'd show Linda that he could still have a good time without her!
Except that he wasn't. He wasn't having a good time at all.
Yeah most of the girls had been really pretty. And a lot of the girls had rubbed up on him in a more than friendly way, restoring his confidence as a desirable male.
He knew with a whisper or gesture he probably could have had any one of them in his bed by now.
But he just wasn't feeling it.
Every girl reminded him of Linda and the way she had hurt him.
After all, he'd met Linda in a similar fashion 6 months ago.
They had been at Van Go-Go's, dancing the night away without care or worry.
She'd been nothing to him at the time, the same way he now realized he'd been nothing to her… ever.
But after seeing her there a few weekends in a row, he'd become infatuated
In reality, though, their relationship had been destined to fail from the start. They had no history, no friendship, nothing in common, other than dancing and a few mutually skilled moves in the bedroom.
Yeah it had been fun to dive in with such abandon.
But that was the problem… the same way it would be a problem for him to hook up with any of the now 13 girls he'd been grooving with.
There was no substance there.
And as much as he would enjoy it, he just wasn't ready to throw himself back into that scene.
No… he needed something more than a one night stand.
He needed somebody who actually cared about him.
Somebody that wouldn't leave him just because they found some 'artist' that intrigued them a little bit more than a small time local musician… the way Linda apparently had.
And that's why he eventually stopped dancing with Denise and made his way outside through the French doors and across the abandoned patio.
Davy noticed when Micky left and went outside. He had been standing in a little gossip circle as his date Melanie and her best friends Wanda, Shanna, and Elise talked trash about their past boyfriends and particularly their past boyfriend's new girlfriends.
He'd wanted to get away for a long while now but didn't want to be ungentlemanly and leave his date.
But when he saw Micky leave with a distraught look on his face, being a gentleman suddenly seemed over rated.
He knew it was now or never. Micky had gone out alone and Davy had consumed just the right amount of cocktails to feel a little daring. It was New Year's.-A time for resolutions. If he was going to get to the bottom of this 'feeling' he had to do it now.
He laid his hand on Melanie's shoulder. "Hey love, my stomach isn't quite right at the moment. I think I'm gonna go get some fresh air."
Melanie gave him a short, distracted and almost irritable nod before immediately turning back to Elise whose latest complaint about her ex's new girlfriend was that the part in her hair wasn't totally even.
Davy rolled his eyes and felt relieved the second he stepped away.
The relief was short lived though when he got out onto the patio and found that Micky was nowhere to be seen.
What the blazes? Where did he go? Davy was confused.
But then he saw a lone figure sitting on the slopes of the beach under the moonlight.
He knew it was Micky. The nerves in his stomach came back and he groaned.
Bloody hell… was he really going to do this?!
But then he took a deep breath and nodded to himself in resolve.
He quickly made his way down the back steps to the beach.
Micky was sitting in the sand just wishing the night were over.
He watched the waves roll in and out and wondered dumbly if they knew it was only fifteen minutes until the New Year.
Probably not. He chided himself. They were just waves. They were oblivious to human time marks. They were timeless and would continue to do their whole wave thing forever, regardless of how many years passed.
He suddenly wished he could be as disconnected from tonight as they were. He wasn't looking forward to ringing in the New Year alone and on such a miserable note.
He'd looked forward to their party for a few weeks now and he'd had so many expectations.
Expectations that had been crushed with a single phone call.
He felt empty. He felt lonely He realized that the futility of his relationship with Linda had not been an isolated incident. Every relationship he'd ever been in had been shallow and pointless.
He wanted something deeper. Something meaningful.
He wished he could find someone who made him feel the way his friends made him feel.
Like he was home. Like he was part of a family. Like he was needed and was loved unconditionally.
Too bad he couldn't date one of them. The thought just popped into his head.
He laughed at the absurdity but let the thought linger as he turned it over in his mind.
Yeah… that would be wild. He decided to indulge his line of thinking.
…If he could date one of them, who would it be?
He pondered for a moment, mulling it over.
Well… Mike was a little too overbearing. He was like an over-protective father figure. Micky could just see them getting into little quarrels all the time, especially since Micky tended to live pretty recklessly.
Peter wouldn't work either. He was just too… 'Peter'.
So what about Davy? He let himself imagine a relationship and found that he was actually drawn into it… a lot.
Then he caught himself and shook his head.
God, don't be stupid. Why are you even entertaining this thought? Aside from the fact that you're not queer, it would never work. Davy has a list a mile long of girlfriends that probably wouldn't be too happy if you tried to step in.
.
He was deep in these troublesome thoughts when Davy suddenly plopped down in the sand next to him.
Micky jumped. "Davy!" He unintentionally yelled. "You scared the shit out of me!"
"Sorry mate." Davy said quietly."Whatcha doin' out here?"
"Just thinking."
"About what?"
"Just… stuff."
Davy nodded, not wanting to press.
"What about you?" Micky asked. "It's almost midnight. Shouldn't you be inside with Mandy… or Melissa... or whatever her name is?"
"Oh… Melanie…" Davy sighed. "Yeah but I don't really like her that much."
Micky stared at him."Really?"
"Nah. I mean she's pretty and all but she just doesn't really do it for me, you know?"
Micky nodded.
"Actually I doubt you do." Davy said in a voice that was almost a whisper.
"Huh?" Micky asked, confused.
Davy sighed anxiously. "Look Micky, I saw you come out here and I followed you." He said as though he were relaying a deep secret.
"So?"
"I've been needin' to talk to you about somethin'… -I've been needin' to get something off my chest… or, well off my stomach, actually."
"Davy, what in God's name are you talking about?"
Davy blew out a deep breath. "I've been feeling sick, Micky."
Micky immediately grew concerned. He scooted closer to Davy and looked at him intently.
"Davy what is it? Are you okay? It's not serious is it?!"
"Oh… no. It's not serious…" Davy shook his head. But then he immediately contradicted himself. "Well actually it is serious. Very serious. But don't worry. I'm fine."
Micky looked more confused than ever.
Davy couldn't help but laugh. "I'm sorry mate. I've totally thrown you for a loop haven't I? What I meant to say was it's not the kind of sickness you think."
"Well… what kind is it?"
Davy stared at him for a moment and swallowed. "It's love sickness."
"Love sickness?"
"Yeah."
"What do you mean? Are you saying that you are in love with somebody?"
Davy looked away. "Micky, have you ever felt like all the birds in the world wouldn't matter if you could just find that one person that is right for you?"
"Birds?"
"I'm talkin' about girls, Micky." Davy smiled shyly. "Have you ever felt like even though you could get any girl you wanted, that you don't really want any of them back… because all you really want is to find that one person that you really love?"
Micky stared at Davy long a hard with a surreal feeling creeping over him. "Are you serious Davy? Are you inside my head right now? That's exactly what I've been thinking all evening."
Davy eye's started to gleam in the moonlight. "Is it really?"
"Yeah." Micky laughed.
Davy smiled nervously. "I've felt that way for a few months now."
"So who is it Davy?" Micky asked. "Who have you been feeling this way about?"
Davy bit his lip. "I'm not sure if I want to say." He said, suddenly feeling terrified that he would be rejected if he told Micky the truth.
"Why not?"
"Because I am pretty sure that it isn't a mutual feeling. I'm pretty sure that this person doesn't like me like that."
"Oh come on Davy. Who wouldn't like you like that? I mean you're so charming and sweet and caring… and…cute."
Davy laughed. He was thankful it was dark out so that Micky couldn't see him blush.
"You think I'm cute?"
Micky snorted. "Well… yeah. I mean of course I do. Everybody does. That's not big news, man."
Davy's heart felt like it could soar.
"So who is it?" Micky asked again. "Aren't you going to tell me?"
Davy stared at Micky in silence for a long while as he tried to get up his nerve. "It's a friend of mine, Micky." He finally said. "A friend that I have known for many years now. A friend that I care a lot about, who makes me laugh and always cheers me up. Someone who has always believed in me and is always there when I need them…" Davy paused, drawing out his words "…even when it's one of the last warm days of the year and all they want to do is stay outside and enjoy the weather, but instead they decide to go inside and take care of me because I have somehow managed to hurt my knee while surfing."
Micky looked confused for a moment trying to figure out who Davy was talking about.
But then it hit him.
"Me?" He asked in a whisper as shock spread over his face.
Davy didn't answer. He only stared at Micky uneasily as his heart pounded in his chest.
Then Micky's shock was replaced by a smile that grew and grew until it enveloped his entire face and his eyes began to shine. "Are you serious Davy?"
Davy nodded slowly. "Yeah mate, I am."
"I had no idea." Micky breathed in amazement. "…Davy this is…wonderful…"
"It is?" Davy felt his head swim. This wasn't the reaction he had expected.
"Yeah it is." Micky gripped his shoulders. "I feel the same way." He laughed easily. "In fact I was just thinking about you when you came out here."
Davy frowned. "You're puttin' me on."
"No I'm not! I swear."
"Really?"
"Really!"
Davy shook his head but he couldn't help but let a shy smile touched the corners of his mouth. "I thought this was going to be a lot harder." He said in disbelief.
Micky grinned.
The tightness in Davy's stomach suddenly vanished.
Then Micky's hand rose to cup Davy's face. "Who would have thought?"
Davy leaned into Micky's chest and chuckled against it. "I know."
Micky stroked Davy's hair.
They both felt a little awkward and clumsy in this embrace.
But they also felt an excitement, almost an electricity, between them.
Davy finally raised his head and it was obvious what was coming next.
As their lips touched for the first time, fireworks went off over their heads just like in a fairy tale.
The clock had just struck midnight.
Their kiss lasted for what seemed like hours into the new year.
In reality it was probably only a few minutes.
Their mouths and hands explored each other as shouts and cheers and sirens and horns crescendoed up and down the beach and more fireworks went off.
They paid no attention.
When they finally broke away they looked at each other in a daze and laughed giddily.
"Happy New Year, Davy." Micky grinned.
"Happy New Year, Micky."
