My husband and I will be taking a babymoon for the next 10 days, so I wanted to post one more chapter before we left! Hope everyone has a good Victoria Day and/or Memorial Day Weekend!

Chapter 20

(Mickey POV)

They woke up the next morning in a tangle of sheets and limbs. They were naked and wrapped around each other, Mickey's head resting comfortably on Ian's chest, one of the redhead's arms and legs propped over Mickey's back and butt, respectively. Ian was holding on to Mickey's body possessively.

Mickey opened his eyes, wishing desperately that he had remembered to close the window the night before. The incessant chirping of birds was giving him a headache. They'd also forgotten to draw the curtains shut, and Mickey hoped nobody had witnessed anything he wouldn't want them seeing.

He placed his hand gingerly on Ian's body and traced the outline of his abs. He loved that Ian was in such good shape. His chest rose and fell with his breaths. Mickey tilted his head and planted a soft kiss on Ian's pec. Ian moved underneath him and the grip he had on Mickey's back tightened as he woke up.

"Hey."

"Mornin'," Mickey said, kissing Ian's chest again.

"Mmm," Ian moaned, smile playing on his lips. "This is nice..." Ian rolled him over without warning, so that Mickey was on his back with the redhead on top of him again. Mickey saw Ian look at the alarm beside the bed. "So, why are you waking me up at 7 in the morning?"

Mickey chuckled. "I can't help it, man. I'm already at work by this time," he explained.

"But you know breakfast isn't until 9, right?"

"Yeah, sorry..."

"Don't be sorry..." Ian drawled. He looked down at Mickey's face and smirked. "We'll just have to come up with something to do until then." They passionately locked lips, neither one caring about the other's morning breath.

"Okay," Mickey said, delicately holding Ian at bay with his hand pressed against the boy. "Just let me close the window first. If I have to hear those fucking birds for another minute I'm gonna go out and find some fucking rocks to throw at them."

Mickey got up after Ian moved off of him. He walked to the window and proceeded to close it, and then unhooked the curtains on both windows and let them fall into place, effectively restoring their privacy.

"Hurry up," Ian said, motioning Mickey over. "There are still some things I want to teach you."

"Oh yeah?" Mickey raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah..." Ian grabbed Mickey by the wrist and pulled him onto the bed to lie face down. "Lesson number two: rimming."

Two hours later, they were dressed and had shoved what few clothes they had brought along back into their backpacks. They made their way to the dining room, smiling and holding hands. As soon as Dena greeted them, Mickey let his hand drop from Ian's grasp, not noticing the sudden hurt that flashed on Ian's face. The breakfast was delicious.

They checked out after eating and drove back to NYC. Mickey was fascinated by the feeling of Ian's long fingers laced between his own. They just felt like they belonged there—like they were made to fit between Mickey's.

They'd been driving for about half an hour before Ian turned down the radio. Mickey looked over at him and saw that he clearly had something to say, but when Ian didn't say anything, Mickey had to. "I know you want to say something so just spit it out, fucker."

Ian sighed. "I thought I'd imagined it."

Mickey waited but Ian didn't elaborate. He grunted. "Imagined what, Firecrotch?"

"I don't know. Us... This... You..."

Mickey took his eyes off the road for a second to give Ian a confused look, urging him to continue.

"Look, I know you don't like talking about feelings or whatever, but this is not about your feelings. It's about mine." He looked at Mickey and waited for him to nod before starting. "Well... You would always come visit me at the store for no reason, and I loved it. I loved talking to you. You made the time fly by. I had a crush on you from the start, but I knew you weren't gay, so I was content to just be around you as a friend, even if it would never lead to anything..." Mickey chanced a look at Ian and saw his cheeks were already crimson. He squeezed Ian's hand reassuringly.

"But then that day in the backyard when you thought I'd knocked up Mandy, and you were on top of me... and beating the crap out of me..." Ian cringed, but continued, "I felt your hard-on. I saw the way you looked at me, and I thought, 'finally, I can tell him how I feel...', but you never came to talk to be. Nobody explained anything, and then you were just gone..."

"When I came to visit for Christmas, I didn't know how things stood between us. We hadn't talked since Mandy's pregnancy. And after that, I wasn't sure what was going on between you and Sara. It took me so long to get up the nerve to ask you about her, and I was so relieved when you said there wasn't anything going on. You bought me that hoodie—I swear, I wear it so often it's starting to thin out! But then we were standing under the mistletoe... and you ran away... and we didn't talk again until New Year's Eve..."

Mickey's stomach fell, but Ian wasn't done.

"I kissed you, and I knew you kissed me back. In that moment, I was so happy... I felt your hands on my back and your dick was pressing against me and I thought that was it... That was the beginning..." He sighed again. "Boy was I wrong..."

"After that, I convinced myself that I'd been imagining everything. I tried to get you out of my head. I hooked up with this kid from ROTC, but he was such a fucking spaz... I started going to that gay club I told you about, where I met Lloyd... and I think I managed to do it...to convince myself that you didn't have any feelings for me at all. Even the last couple of months, when we were texting, I was still sure we were nothing more than friends."

"Those two times I fell asleep in your bed during Spring Break? Those were probably the best nights' sleeps I can remember having, like, ever. Minus last night, of course. Because unlike this morning, when I woke up those times, it was with a sudden panic in my chest, thinking you were going to flip out and beat the crap out of me... again..."

"I'm sorry, Ian... I..." He glanced at Ian again and saw that there were tears forming in the redhead's eyes. Mickey's heart couldn't handle this. He flicked his signal up and pulled over onto the right shoulder. He put the car in park, turned on the hazards, and turned to look at Ian. "I'm so sorry, I was a fucking jerk. I was... I was scared, okay? And I didn't know what to do. Please, tell me what I can now do to fix it."

"No, Mickey. You don't understand. I'm not upset... I'm happy." A single tear fell from Ian's eye. "I just wanted to tell you that. I've wanted this for so long and it feels... I don't know... like I've made it all up."

Mickey grabbed Ian by the back of the neck and pulled him close so that they're lips met. "You are not making it up. I... I was an idiot... and I didn't know how I felt." He kissed Ian again with even more ferocity. He wanted to make Ian feel better. He wanted to lighten the mood in the car, which had become almost suffocating. "You should have seen me these last few months. I was a wreck." He surprised himself with his candidness.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah," Mickey confirmed. "I mean, I hadn't seen you since March, and when you left, it was like a piece of me went with you. It took me until summer to realize that, and I honestly don't know what I would have done if you hadn't texted me. It's fucking August now. I had 5 months to think about what the fuck would happen when you came back, and I was definitely not expecting it to go like this." He motioned between the two of them.

Ian smiled. "You have Mandy to thank for that. She gave me your number one night. Said I had to talk to you." Mickey grunted. Fucking Mandy was always sticking her nose into other people's business.

"But seriously, Mick... You didn't have to plan this whole West Point trip. We could have just talked..."

Mickey shrugged. "It was for your birthday. I knew it would make you happy. And it sure as hell didn't hurt my chances, right?" He stuck his tongue out slightly into the corner of mouth and bit the tip. Gallagher smirked back at him, and Mickey could see that the boy had calmed down. He resumed driving and they were back in no time. Mickey dropped Ian off at the apartment with their bags and gave him his key so he could go upstairs. He dropped the rental car off at Enterprise and took the bus back.

Ian was lying on his stomach on Mickey's bed when he got back. His legs were bent at the knee and crossed at the ankles in the air above the pillows, and he was reading through his West Point materials. He'd left the door unlocked.

"I'm going to ace the physical exams."

"No doubt..." Mickey said, smiling at how happy Ian was. He kicked his sneakers off and plopped onto the bed. He tried to push the thought of Gallagher joining the army from his mind. He had just gotten Ian back, he didn't want to lose him. But a nasty idea started forming in his mind then. Gallagher wasn't his. Not at all.

He sat up and leaned on his elbow for support. "Firecrotch... Can I ask you something?"

"What's up, Mick?"

"What happened to that geezer you were seeing? You kinda just stopped mentioning him."

Ian was quiet and Mickey prodded him with his knee.

"It's a long story..."

"I'm all ears," Mickey said sarcastically.

"Well, actually it's not that long. He turned out to be Jimmy's dad, so I haven't really seen him since then."

"Jimmy...?"

"Oh. Yeah... I forgot you didn't hear about that either. Steve is Jimmy. He lied about his name for work. Turns out he's actually from a rich family..."

Mickey lied back and listened to Ian talk while he relaxed.

His phone made a beep and he flipped it open to read the message.

[5:16pm Mandy: leavin work now. c u soon.]

Mickey was snapped back to reality, because he knew the happy bubble he'd been in for the last day and a half was about to pop. He had to made a choice about whether or not tell Mandy about him and Ian. If he told her, it would mean coming out to his sister, which he was really not ready to do. He couldn't even say the words to himself yet. The other option would be pretending that there was nothing going on between them. It was obvious that the latter would be easier, but there were two things about it he was not looking forward to: the disappointment and resentment Ian would feel, and the sneaking around.

Mickey didn't want to even consider not being able to be with Ian. He wanted to sleep next to him and hold his hand, and not worry about stealing kisses when they were alone. If they only had the week together, he wasn't going to waste it being a pussy.

It took Mickey a minute or two to realize that Ian was watching him. "What are you thinking about?"

Mickey sighed. "I don't know what to say to Mandy..."

Ian's face fell. "You don't have to tell her if you're not ready."

Of course the fucker would say something selfless like that. Mickey picked up one of his pillows and threw it at Ian, and voiced his earlier thought. "You think I'm gonna waste this week sneaking around? I just have no clue what to say, or where to start."

Ian hit Mickey back with the pillow, but the older boy blocked his face and reached to tickle Gallagher. Mickey got on top of Ian and straddled him for a change. When Ian saw that he had no way of escaping, the tickling turned to making out.

"Hey douche-bags, I brought back some leftovers-" Mandy stood in the doorway with a bag of food in her hand. Her jaw hung open. She continued to stare at the scene before her for about 10 seconds before she grabbed the doorknob and yanked the door shut and walked away.

Mickey dropped his face to hide it against Ian's chest, and Ian started laughing hysterically.

"Well, at least you don't have to worry about what to say to her now!" he said, when he had calmed down enough to make a coherent sentence. Mickey just groaned in response.