C5 - SUNDAY, LATER

As the day went on, the girls got Micky to see the things they had done around the home and the school projects they had been involved in since he had last come by to visit them at Thanksgiving. They played a couple of games of Yahtzee, and while the younger girls played Sorry!, the rest tried their abilities at Scrabble. After a somewhat early dinner, rather than carols this time around, the girls requested the boys perform some of their original songs for them since none of Micky's family had never been to one of their shows.

Mike went to where his guitar had ended up behind the chair and retrieved it from its case. He then joined Micky in seating himself on the hearth in front of the fireplace, Micky with his hands in-between his legs and Mike holding his guitar ready to play as directed.

The first request came from Micky's middle sister. "Sing your band's theme song!" Coco lifted up her camera to get a shot of them starting.

Mike picked a note, and they gave one another matching looks, then flapped their lips and tongues to mimic the drumming at the beginning. "Here we cooommmeee...", Micky started. While he got their small audience to clap along to the chorus, Mike strummed and joined him on a lower harmony for the chorus.

After the last note, there was applause. "You sound so good!", exclaimed Debbie.

Mike nodded his thanks, then glanced at Micky, asking him to sing the main line, and began strumming the intro to "Look Out".

Without a hitch, Micky went with it while again clapping his hands in time causing all the ladies to join in and do the same, Mike echoing him on the verses. Coco snapped another picture as Micky belted out the second chorus. When it was over, he explained, "That's one Davy sings. I barely play the drums to it."

They had a quick discussion about what other songs they might do. "Gonna Buy Me a Dog?", Mike asked.

"That'd be fun. Davy and I normally sing this one together.", Micky told their intimate audience.

As Mike was about to put his fingers to the strings to start the song off, his lips turned up. "You mean you goof around."

"That too.", he bantered back easily with a little shove of his shoulder.

"Doesn't Mike get to sing any of them for real?", Coco asked her brother before adding in a bit more shyly to the other boy, "Your voice is really good."

"His voice is really good." Sexy as all get-out., he thought before agreeing aloud with, "I wish he'd sing more than he does. Yesterday was a fluke."

Shyly, Mike kept his eyes trained on his frets. "Davy and Micky are the front-men. I'm just backup."

"What he means is that he's the brains behind the operation but that he should definitely sing more and get some recognition. How about we do this song, then he sing you one on his own?", Micky volunteered him.

Mike just shook his head with a grin. He proceeded to start this tune, and Micky sang the silly words with occasional help from Mike here and there. If the sporadic giggles were any indication, the girls ate it up. Afterward, Micky playfully bumped him with his arm and elbow. "Do a thing, Mike."

Mike gave him a look that to anyone else would have seemed expressionless. Then, "Any ol' thing?"

But Micky could read him and shot him back a smile. "A sweet thing.", he clarified, batting his eyelashes at him.

Rather than get uptight about what prior to the other day he would have considered typical, silly, fake flirting, Mike decided to play it off as said typical, silly Micky behavior, which it was. Mostly. Kind of. "Just a sweet thing?"

"Young too."

"Oh, I see. That helps narrow it down.", he nodded, face still deadpan but eyes obviously glinting. Stop starin' or you're gonna fall., he chastised himself knowing he needed a distraction. Some distraction. I wrote this song about him. Starting with a riff on his guitar, he dove in. "I know that something very strange is happenin' to my brain..."

Having observed their easy interaction, Micky's mother looked on at them as they entertained the room.

"Sweet young thing...", her son filled in repeatedly on the backup part. He had to continuously remind himself not to focus on Mike. Even if Mike looked his way, he told himself he needed to not be so obvious about how he reacted. It didn't exactly work, but he managed to avoid staring all googley-eyed at him like Davy in love, at the least. That was, until he would look over at his mother and realized he didn't have had a chance of fooling her for a second.

Mike's song over, they decided to finish up with "For Pete's Sake", with Micky slapping the fireplace bricks on either side of himself as if they were drums. The last notes were accompanied with a thorough round of eager applause.

And then the questions from the worked-up girls came at them left and right: "How many girlfriends do you have?" "How often do you put on shows?" "Those are really your own songs?" "Mom, can we go to their next concert?" "You must have loads of people come out to hear you."

If they only had proper concerts, as Davy might say. Regular gigs at clubs and restaurants is where their careers currently were, but they had been aspiring to bigger and better things. "I don't think any of us have girlfriends right at the moment.", Micky started answering them. "But boy do the girls flock to the stage at every show and chase us all over town in-between, right?", he looked to Mike. There were those here and there who were interested, sure. And they also had a miniscule, friendly following from one gig to the next, but nothing approaching droves of groupies wanting to tear their clothes off. They wished! Maybe some day!

"Boy do they.", Mike played along with the outright lie with a grin which Janelle also saw through. "They actually do all seem to fall in love with Davy."

"Yeah, that happens at least once a week, but chicks also dig him for sure.", Micky pointed at Mike with his thumb.

The man in question ducked a bit while the sisters swooned even more. Per their conversation the night before last, and per what had transpired since, he wasn't going to press the point.

"If you ever need a girl to sing your songs," supplied Coco, more addressing Mike than Micky, "I'll do it!"

"Hey, maybe you could sometime! You never know.", replied Micky, thinking Maybe Mom would let her when she's a little older.

Mike nodded. "Your singing voice is real nice, Coco.", he recalled from the night before.

Micky's mother raised her eyebrows with an almost-grin although Mike had no reason to think anything special of it. "With all the talent you boys have, you will be famous in no time. I have no doubt."

"That's the plan!" Micky was convinced and looked over to Mike who nodded in agreement. "This next year will be our year." We aren't worried about rent most of the time anymore, we've really gotten into a musical groove with one another, we're writing a lot of our own songs now, and Mike and I are closer than ever. Everything is on the upswing.

Mike returned his smile.

-—-—-

Their visitor had been staring out the window for the last few minutes, his own island of relative calm in a sea of Dolenz household clamor. Clouds had started to gather in the darkened afternoon sky, and the second bout of rain which had been forecasted couldn't be too far away. The weather not escaping his notice, he had gone back to their temporary room to gather their things into their bags and come back out to the family room with them. After waiting for a lull in the minor chaos and making eye contact with Micky at the other end of the room to have a brief, silent conversation about leaving, he voiced his thoughts. "I 'ppreciate your hospitality, M— Janelle, but we oughta split before it gets too late."

"Awww.", Debbie complained before an echoing "Awww." emanated from behind her where she was immediately thereafter tickled into giggles by her big brother.

"Bye, Mike!", Gina hugged the tall Texan's leg.

He placed a kind hand on her head as his way of hugging back. "Bye, Gina."

A softer goodbye was murmured by Coco who simultaneously blushed a little toward the target of her words.

"Bye, Coco.", he replied to her kindly with a tip of his head.

"Maybe I can come to one of your concerts sometime and take pictures?"

"Sure; don't see why not.", replied Mike with a friendly smile. He then addressed her along with the rest of them. "It was nice seein' you all again. Thank you for havin' me over."

Micky's mother wasn't eager to see her son leave, but she knew teenaged boys, and moreover she knew Micky was always on the go. "I'm glad the both of you could make it. You're welcome back here any time, Mike. I mean it."

The shy man smiled politely, touched by the extension of hospitality. "Well, thank you."

She then went to the kitchen and trotted out of the refrigerator and onto the counter the prior array of tupperware containers now filled with leftovers. Micky had warned him she always made too much, and he was right — to excess. Micky gave her a big hug before stepping away with the goods and letting her pull Mike into a hug herself. Glancing back over his shoulder, he tried once again not to laugh at how out of his element Mike seemed at first but how he had seemed to soften right away. He'd always had the feeling that Mike had never gotten much attention or affection growing up, and Micky was glad to be able to share his family with him believing he didn't really truly mind a little good quality attention like that on occasion. He needs to know more people care about him. He was in fact hoping Mike would get more used to it the longer he was around.

"Call me when you get home so I know you got there safely!", she called after them as they left.

"I promise!", Micky yelled back from outside, having every intention of doing so. And he would call her — if he remembered to, of course. Luckily he could rely on Mike, ever the responsible one, to remind him. Climbing back into the car, he was bouncy, jumpy, hyper — in other words, the usual. But to the nth degree today due to being with his family and not being worn out by his sisters before leaving.

To say he was in an excellent mood on the drive back would have been an understatement, and it brought a warm and meaningful smile to Mike's face. He'd known Micky for almost two years now, and while he might have eventually expected to be annoyed by the younger man's energy and antics after awhile, that hadn't turned out to be the case; he continued to find them nothing but endearing, even invigorating to boot.

"This was a good Christmas.", Micky announced with delighted purpose. With his dad having passed away well over a year ago, his last Christmas at home had been a subdued and solemn affair. This time around, it had felt like more of a recovery. There were no tears among them, just loving remembrance and a sense of family and celebration of what they had, and on the day, that included Mike.

And Mike was glad if he were to have played any part, even small in being a distraction, to make the occasion more positive for them all and especially for his... What is he? He'll have to stay my best friend. I can't think of him as anything more. This isn't gonna last. It can't. It shouldn't'a even gone on for as long as it has. Shaking his head slightly to clear it, he decided to cheer up and let Micky have his moment.

It was then that Micky spoke up again with encouraging words. "It was really good to have you there."

He was still touched that he got invited in the first place. "I'm really glad I got to go. Really. Thanks again, Mick. Your family is great."

He was thrilled Mike had been able to spend Christmas with his family even if that hadn't been his original plan for the holiday. Mike didn't have to be all alone, and they had all loved having him there, Micky most of all. "Mom really was glad you came. But I think it's pretty clear now that Coco has more of a thing for you than she does!", he taunted him.

Mike smiled, a bit flustered still from all the attention. "They were both nice. Sure, and good-lookin'.", he teased right back.

Micky's laugh had morphed into a snicker. "Did you see those kiddie romance novels Coco had on her little bookshelf?"

"Naw, I didn' look around." The magazines on her bed were fair game, but he didn't feel right, having taken over her room in the first place, to poke around further into her personal effects.

Micky grinned like the cheshire cat. "I took the one she had laying out — it looks like she's reading it right now — and I started underlining words at random to make cryptic sentences. Well, not all random because I made sure to highlight the more provocative ones I saw too. I've done it to one of her books before. She's gonna be so riled up again trying to figure out what it all means."

"You're a mess, Micky.", he chuckled, shaking his head with a smile.

"Your favorite mess! Ohhh." An idea had re-occurred to him that had first occurred to him when they'd woken up that morning. "I know just what to get you for your birthday."

Mike paused at hearing that. "I don't need anything."

"'Course you do. It's gonna be your birthday! And it'll definitely surprise you.", he stated as they rolled up into the pad's driveway, illuminated by a single light on the front of the house.

Mike gave him a look which Micky returned with a suspicious grin which was followed by a roll of the eyes from Mike before Micky jumped out of the car, ducking from the raindrops on the way to opening the garage door. Mike pulled in and got out of the car, and Micky closed it back down. A thought hit Mike as he started gathering their things: "I'll get the food. You call your mother."

"Oh, right. Thanks, babe!" Before Mike could turn to go in, Micky jumped him from behind, arms looping around his waist, and gave him a quick squeeze before running off to the phone. It was like he couldn't help himself, knowing now what it was like to be with Mike and for the past two days having him at arm's length but not being able to really touch him save for the one real kiss.

Mike froze, face flushing instantly. He had been working on getting in a mental place where he wouldn't make physical contact with Micky any more. Subconsciously, Mike worried he would lead him on or, worse, fall into an emotional hole he couldn't get out of. But then again, Micky'd managed to keep it together for two days in front of his own folks, so maybe it ain't such a far-fetched idea... He sat on that possibility for only a quarter of a millisecond before coming to grips with the fact that any positive outcome would be a non-starter for any time period longer than a couple of days. No. NO. We need to stop this before it gets too complicated., he told himself yet again.

It's what he had started telling himself every morning when they were getting ready for the day. But Mike didn't want to go and make an entire day with Micky awkward, so he waited.
It's what he had started telling himself every afternoon when there was a pause, a moment unfilled, during what should have been on his end of things an easy silence between them. But then some other topic or event would come up, and the timing and vibe just seemed off, so Mike waited.
It's what he had started telling himself every evening before they said their goodnights and fell asleep in each other's arms. But Mike couldn't help it.

He did have every intention of following through to end it. He did. It was just...

The food was stowed away in the ice box, their belongings were set down inside, and the phone was returned to the hook. Before he knew what was happening, Mike heard "Almost two whole days!", and then Micky's smiling lips were on his. And the sounds Micky made while pressed up against him made the slightly older man melt. Instantly, any fight he had in him disappeared, and his eyes closed. Just one last night... was his final coherent thought before his mind blissfully went blank and they somehow ended up upstairs together in bed once again.