The Apprehensive and The Optimistic

Chapter 14

warnings: Uses of 'fuck' and 'bitch', among others, a lot. Sorry but one character involved is a potty mouth ;D

AN: I've changed the rating to T, because I haven't decided if I'll include smut or not. also sorry for the late update i've been busy

all mistakes are mine

APIH

"Have you ever been to this town?" Anthony asked Ian, as they finally passed the sign welcoming him to the town in which his father lived. Anthony loved coming here for Christmas. A lot of the time he felt bad leaving his mother alone on the holiday, but this year, he found himself ignoring the guilt. She hadn't spoken to him, and he vice versa. It was almost as if he was invisible to her. Two could play at that game.

Ian's head rested against the window, he sighed softly, "No. I may have driven through here once, but the towns too..." He made a face, "Middle class for me and my mom's taste." He sat up and stretched yawning, "How long til we're at your dad's mansion?"

Anthony chuckled, "It's no where close to a mansion, dude, don't get your hopes up." He chuckled at Ian's groan, "It's about fifteen minutes from here."

"Fifteen minutes. I can do fifteens minutes." He said, "You have any family tips, or need to knows?"

Anthony shrugged his shoulders, "No really. My dad's and step mom's family are pretty chill. Keep cursing at a minimum. You can get away with anything but bitch, and fuck. Or inappropriate parts of the body."

"I may have to have my mouth washed out with a bar of soap then." Ian said in a matter-of-factly tone, "Is your step mom bangable?"

"Sorry, she's not a man in disguise." Anthony said, causing Ian to snicker.

When they finally into Anthony's fathers part of town, it was going on seven. Ian was snickering still, and when Anthony asked what with his own chuckled, Ian's reply was, "You're dad lives in this kind of place."

"Um.." Anthony frowned, "What do you mean?"

"Y'know, one of those places you retire to with a homey wife and like three kids! One of those places."

"Oh." Anthony lifted an eyebrow, "Isn't that where everyone wants to end up?" He liked the idea. Living in a place like this, having kids, building a tree house in the back yard. He didn't care who he spent the rest of his life with, but he kind of like the idea of a story book, stereotypical ending.

Ian scoffed, "No, not me."

Anthony raised an eyebrow, giving his a glance, "And where is it you want to end up?"

Ian smirked, and turned to Anthony, "Well, I'm glad you asked friend." he cleared his throat, "Madagascar."

"Madagascar?" Anthony laughed, "And how are you going to get there?"

"Well, I'm dropping out of school next year." Anthony turned and stared at Ian in shock as long as he could before he had to look at the road again, "I'm going to drop out of school, and I'm going to become an international thief! I'll go around to all the capitals in the world and I'll steal the most precious and prized gems!" He gave a little, mwuhaha, after that and Anthony laughed, weighting the pros and cons of calling him cute, "My only friends will be lemurs, and I'll have a chubby kid I picked off the streets to be my predecessor, who will avenge my death!"

Anthony laughed, "You should write books, Ian, you're pretty creative." Ian hummed, and smiled as he looked out the window again, "Now what is it you really want?"

Ian sighed, and Anthony could feel the roll of his eyes, "If you must know," He cleared his throat again and sat properly in his seat, "Lately, I've been tossing around the idea of a small house in England. Always been a fan of the country," He admitted, "Maybe, visit a new country every summer until I die. See how many of them I can knock out of the way before I croak."

Anthony tightened his grip on the steering wheel, "I-I, uh, I think that sounds really nice, Ian. And a little depressing."

"Yeah." Ian said, with a shrug.

Anthony decided to change the subject, "I bet I can guess what country you want to go to the most."

"No way." Ian laughed, "Go for it."

Anthony only had to think about it only for a moment, before he took his guess, "Japan."

"What the hell." Ian gasped, "How did you know that? Did I already tell you that man? That's totally cheating if I did!"

"I'm a good guesser." Anthony chuckled, pulling into the driveway of his dad's house.

"I bet I can guess yours smartass."

"Sure, try it." Anthony laughed as he got out the car, and walked to the back, opening the trunk.

Ian met him there, "Uh, Hawaii?" Anthony shook his head. In all honestly, he didn't know where he wanted to go, but he knew that Ian was wrong. "How about Paris, France? City of love?"

Anthony laughed, "No. What? You think I'm romantic?"

"I like to." Ian laughed and before Anthony could comment on that, or even comprehend it, Ian was guessing again, "What aboot Canada, eh?"

"Just shut up." Anthony laughed, handing Ian one of his bags.

Ian pouted slightly, "Fine. Douchebag." He looked up at Anthony, "So, where do you wanna go the most?"

The taller of the two smirked, "Well, your mom, I guess."

Ian frowned, "HEY! That doesn't even make sense!" He slapped Anthony on the arm and Anthony only laughed in response, walking up to his dad's house. "But, really where?"

Anthony shrugged, hand on the door knob, "Honestly? I have no clue. But, England and Japan sounds kind of cool."

Ian hummed, "Maybe we should visit them sometime."

Anthony scoffed, opening the door, "We don't have the money for that." He shut the door behind Ian, "But I do like the idea."

"Me too." Ian agreed as they walked though the living room and dinning room, Anthony and Ian entered the kitchen and Anthony's step mom was standing at the sink, humming.

Anthony cleared his throat, "Hey, Karen! Ian and I are here."

She turned, and smiled, "Oh hello, boys!" She dried her hands on a towel and walked over to Anthony giving him a hug. She held out her hand to Ian, "It's a pleasure, Ian. Anthony mentioned you would be joining us for the holiday."

Ian smiled widely, "The pleasure is all mine, Mrs. Padilla." He shook her hand, "Excuse me, I'm a little taken back at how beautiful you are, Anthony hadn't mentioned that his step mother was so lovely."

She laughed, taking her hand back, "Anthony didn't say you were a charmer. Too bad you play for the opposite team." She turned and walked into the laundry room.

"I never thought it was shame until I met you!" Ian called after her, and Anthony elbowed him with a chuckle.

When she came back in, she had two gifts in her hands. Anthony knew what they were, and smirked at Ian's confused expression, "Here you boys are!"

Anthony waited for Ian to open the gift. The bowl haired teen ran his fingers over the wrapping paper, and slowly peeled it away, revealing the sweater. Anthony laughed as Ian tried to keep a kind expression, "O-Oh! This is great...my grandma would be jealous of your needle work."

"Oh stop it." She laughed as Anthony opened his, and took the wrapping paper away from them. As she threw the paper out she said, "Your father went to pick up his parents from the airport. They'll be staying until the day after Christmas. My brothers family, and my mom will be here Christmas day."

"I guessing dad took Matt, Suzy, and John with him?" Anthony asked grabbing to sodas from the fridge and tossed one at Ian who cracked it open immediately, taking a large slurp from it.

His step mom moved back to the sink, "Yeah. They should be home in an hour Matt's doing well in school here." She said fondly, "He won' admit it but he misses you."

Anthony felt his mood drop and he sighed, rubbing his thumb along the can, "Yeah...I miss him too." He said quietly. Ian's hand came up hand rested between his shoulder blades, giving him a comforting tap. Anthony turned and when Ian smiled, he returned it. His hand lingered there as his step other spoke again.

"Do you and Ian want to bake some cookies on Christmas eve?" Anthony still found it hard to believe Christmas was only four days away.

"Totally!" Ian answered for the both of them, and then took another gulp of his soda.

"Great!" She chuckled fondly, "How about you two go get settled in? Play some of those video games or sleep, you must be tired."

"You got that right." Ian said, then he grabbed Anthony's wrist, "Lead me too the guest room?"

"With pleasure." Anthony said as Ian let go of his wrist, and Anthony lead him up the stairs. The pointed to the door closest to the stairs, "Bathroom. There's also one downstairs, in the laundry room. That one only has a tub though, and no one really uses it." They continued down the hall and Anthony set his hand on a door knob, "This is the guest room, mine's right next to it, to the—"

"VAD FAN!" Anthony's attention was taking off Ian as he turned and stared into the room where a blonde Swede stood, his clothing surrounding him on the floor, "While I was gone did a Americans decide that people don't fucking knock anymore?" Anthony grinned as he stepped into the room and wrapped his arms around Felix tightly. The Swede laughed and hugging back, mumbling something in Swedish.

Anthony leaned back, but his arms were still loosely around him, "Wh-what are you ding here? When did you get here? How long are you staying?"

"Too many fucking questions!" Felix laughed.

"Am I interrupting some heart warming reunion?" Ian said, letting out a breathy laugh.

Felix blinked at him, and a smirk crossed his lips, a smirk all too familiar to Anthony. "Ah! You must be Ian! I hear all about you and your bowl hair." He walked past Anthony and stood in front of Ian, hands on his hips, "And when I say hear all about you, I mean, the only reason Anthony started talking to me again was because of you. And to talk about you."

Ian lifted an eyebrow, and glanced at Anthony, "O—kay?"

Anthony stepped forward, "Felix let's—" He set a hand on the blondes shoulder.

Felix just ignored him, snickering, "So you're Ian." he looked him over, scratching his chin, "Yeah, I guess he's pretty cute, Anthony, I see the appeal." Anthony's face turned red, and felt a pain his chest. What the hell was Felix doing?

"What the fuck?" Ian said, frowning and furrowing his eyebrows, arms dropping his sides, hands clenching into fists, "Who the hell are you? What're you—?"

The blonde snickered, "Aw, he is adorable when he's angry! Anthony you were right about him, he's a keeper!" Felix shrugged his shoulders, "C'mon, Ian, you can't tell me you haven't figured it out yet." Ian expression softened, and his hands unclenched, he opened his mouth, but Felix spoke instead, "Fine. Fine. I'll spill the fucking beans. Basically, Anthony's got a HUGE boner for—"

"FELIX!" Anthony yelled, and both of them blinked at him. His face was red, and he didn't realize he was shaking. He sighed, rubbing his neck, "Stop it. Ian go wait in my room. It's right next door." Ian blinked at him, but didn't argue. He backed out of the guest room and turned to his right. Anthony cracked a smile, "Other way." Ian walked past the door again, now in the correct direction. Anthony pasted Felix and shut the door. He turned around and Felix was picking up his clothes from the floor. Anthony sighed, folding his arms over his chest, "What was that, man?"

"What was what?" Felix asked innocently, batting his eyelashes.

"You know what."

The Swede sighed, and toss his clothes messily in his suitcase, "I was just trying to give you guys a push."

"You should've have. It's going to be awkward and that was the last thing I wanted." Anthony said.

Felix sighed and sat down on the bed, "Well then, when are you going to make a move?" The brunette opened his mouth to answer the question but Felix continued, "And don't you fucking say you're not, man, because we both know you need to stop being a pus and so something about it."

Anthony scoffed, "He and his boyfriend of two years just broke up, Felix, he doesn't want me to leap into his arms."

"He broke up with him, like, what? Two weeks ago you texted me?" Felix said, "You need to do something to let him know you're interested. Jesus fuck, Anthony."

"W-We're friends okay!" Anthony said, raising his hands in exaggeration, "Jesus, why is it everyone is pushing this!" He knew that last part was a lie. But with his own thoughts, David saying he thought Ian felt the same, and now Felix pushing him, he felt overwhelmed, what was he supposed to do? He was one guy! He couldn't do this all at once. He didn't have the confidence to ask him straight out. It wasn't only that, but Anthony valued Ian's friendship so much that he would deal with staying friends. He didn't want any awkwardness between them, he didn't want Ian to feel bad for him, or for Ian to think he was pathetic for liking him. Even though he had a feeling Ian would be cool with it. Hell, Ian probably knew already, which meant that he didn't like Anthony, because he wasn't a move either.

Felix rolled his eyes, "You're not okay with being put in the friend zone, Anthony, and you know it."

Anthony frowned, shrugging. "Friend zone is a girl, guy thing."

The blonde scoffed, "Well if you're going to be fucking technical, the friend zone isn't even real." He said, standing, "It's a stupid excuse guys make up when a girl just isn't interested."

"Whatever."

"Yeah, that's not the point." Felix walked up to Anthony, and smiled some, "I'm not teasing you, I'm looking out for you, man." He placed a hand on his shoulder and squeezed it.

Anthony gave a half smile, "Just..let me take it at my own pace? But..keep me on course."

Felix laughed, "Deal."

Anthony left the room then, and shut the door behind him. He walked to his room, and opened the door. Ian was sitting on the bed, his phone out, the second Anthony was in the room Ian looked up, "Hey." He mumbled.

"Hi." Anthony said, shutting the door and leaning against it.

Ian cleared his throat and looked at his phone, "I...You know you're kinda of intimidating when you yell?"

Anthony chuckled, "Yeah?" Ian nodded, shoving his phone in his pocket, "Hey...I'm sorry about Felix, he didn't mean anything, that's just how he is."

Ian shrugged, "I'm not mad. I was annoyed, but I figured it was...well, pointless, I guess." he stood up, and shoved his hands in his pockets, "I guess I'll be staying in here with you?"

Anthony smirked, "Unless you wanna share a bed with the Swede next door."

"Yeah." Ian rolled his eyes, "I'll pass."

"Good." Anthony chuckled.

APIH