The days seemed to be passing by far too quickly for Mickey's liking; they were the most carefree he thought he'd ever been which felt odd because he was so used to being on edge fucking 24/7, but it also felt good and so he let it stay that way which meant fucking giving in every time Ian kissed him and kissing him back but only if they were alone or around Lip and/or Kiera because that's all he could really handle. When he thought about it, he reckoned they made out a lot more than they fucked which he pretended to hate to Ian but he actually thought it was pretty great. If Ian wasn't such a good kisser he'd probably think otherwise but Ian kissed like a pro and it turned Mickey on faster than anything else, which was a bit of a problem because that meant having to rush to his - it was mainly his - or Ian's room and while he didn't mind fucking whilst Kiera was in the house, it still felt kind of weird fucking whilst Lip was. How that was any weirder than fucking whilst his sister and dad had been home he didn't know. But yes, kissing Gallagher was actually really fucking good. And somehow sex with him was even better now if you didn't count the times when Kiera would wander in in search for Mickey's dirty clothes to wash - the very first time she did that, both boys freaked the hell out and Mickey cursed at her, but the next couple of times they simply stopped, put the sheet over them if it wasn't already then started up again when she left.

So things were going surprisingly good, and Mickey thought it was quite possibly happiness that he was feeling and he didn't really have time to fret, especially not when he and Ian were talking about a load of irrelevant bullshit or Ian was balls deep inside of him. Like he hade been a few moments ago.

They had fully taken advantage of the fact that Mickey had a free house and hadn't even made it to the bedroom for their first round opting for the floor and Mickey complained about the rug burns he now had on his knees as he pushed Ian into his bedroom. Ian pulled him down on top of him, both still completely naked. Ian wrapped his arms around Mickey as they kissed lazily.

Mickey began grinding his crotch against Ian's and smirked at the way Ian's breath caught in his throat as he sucked and bit at his neck.

"Mickey?" Ian whispered.

"Hm, what?" he mumbled into his neck before pulling away and looking down at him.

Whilst he played with Mickey's hair, Ian looked everywhere but his eyes. "I'm not going to West Point anymore," he said, finally looking into Mickey's eyes.

I know, he thought, but didn't say, because it was obvious that it meant something to Ian to be the person who told him and there wasn't any reason good enough to tell him that his brother had beaten him to it. "Yeah?" He propped himself up onto his forearms.

Ian nodded and smiled a little, but it didn't seem genuine, not to Mickey. "Failed my classes," he paused a little, "I don't know, Lip talked some sense into me and he was right. I wanted to go for the wrong reasons."

Mickey watched him so intently as he spoke, like he was trying to figure out if all of that was a load of bullshit or not. He didn't think it was. "You still want out?" And Mickey didn't know why that question felt so important, so final.

For a moment Ian just stared at him and it his hands stopped playing with his hair. "I'm beginning to change my mind," he whispered with a little smile.

Mickey liked those words, he liked them because they were close to a promise yet they weren't quite there and Mickey hated promises because a promise can be broken: his mom promised she'd stick around to protect him then she killed herself; his dad drunkenly promised he wouldn't hit him again but of course he did, over and over; his brothers promised they'd back him up in this fight he'd had against three older guys when he was twelve but all they did was laugh even when he was crying and cracked a rib. Mandy never promised him anything.

"You're pulling that face again," Ian laughed out, dragging Mickey from his thoughts. "The one when you look like you're in pain."

Mickey smirked. "Nah man, I was just thinkin'," he said, running a hand through Ian's hair.

"Yeah? What about?"

"Never promise me anything, okay?" he said, trying to ignore the desperation in his voice and the way Ian was looking at him.

Ian nodded because, and Mickey knew this for a fact, he understood exactly what Mickey meant by that because he had shitty parents that broke promises like they didn't mean anything to begin with. "I like it when you're not being an ass," Ian said before he kissed him so softly that Mickey almost asked if he had actually kissed him at all. Those were the kisses Mickey had a love/hate thing for.

"I know," Mickey said casually, "that's why I don't do it very often." He smiled wickedly then yelped when Ian began tickling his armpit. "Shit, Ian!" he yelled out through laughter. He eventually got hold of Ian's wrist and pinned them either side of his head.

"Does anybody else know your weakness?" Ian asked him, a smug grin on his face that was so fucking punchable.

Mickey scowled at him. "Fuck off," he muttered as he rolled off and lay down beside him an arm behind his head.

"Oh!" Ian propped himself up on his elbow. "I've been meaning to ask you, do you want to talk to Linda about getting your old job back?"

Mickey shook his head. "Louis got me some job at the construction site he works at, start next week." Apparently Mandy had been talking to Louis about Mickey needing a job and Louis offered to help and even managed to get him a job working with him so he wouldn't have to do much because Louis had more heart than sense.

Just as Ian was about to speak they heard the front door open and they froze before they heard Lip and Kiera talking.

"We've got pizza, young lovers!" Kiera shouted, making them both roll their eyes. Mickey put on his boxers and sweatpants whilst Ian, begrudgingly, put on all of his clothes.

Kiera and Lip were sat on the floor on one side of the coffee table which often doubled as the place where they ate all of their meals and Mickey sat on the couch, followed by Ian, and grabbed a piece of pizza.

"Careful, it's-" Lip started.

"Motherfucker!" Mickey growled through gritted teeth, dropping the pizza back in the box.

"Yeah, I was gonna say it's hot," Lip said, chuckling a little along with Ian.

Mickey looked across at him. "Oh, you think this is funny?" Ian just smirked and shrugged. "Sadistic fuck."

Ian scoffed loudly and put a slice of pizza on his plate. "I'm the sadist?" he asked, eyebrows raised as he pointed to the hickeys and bite marks he had on one side of his neck.

Taking a large bite from his pizza, Mickey shrugged. "Didn't hear you complaining," he said with a mouthful and a dirty smirk.

All four of them sat there eating and talking about random crap and Mickey thought that it should have been weird and uncomfortable, but it really wasn't. These people had now become his little circle of, well fuck, they were his friends. That word felt foreign in his mind but it was welcome.

They had finished eating and Mickey and Ian were sharing a cigarette as Lip and Kiera shared a joint. Mickey didn't miss the way Lip stared at her. He thought about whether or not that was the way he looked at Ian.