Part Fifty-Four: Together

I am roused from sleep by Ian's voice coming from downstairs. I'm in the Gallagher house. The first place I go is the bathroom. Ian's clothes from the night before are on the floor. I can't help but smile to myself knowing he's home. I did that. I brought him back. He's where he belongs. But it's almost unbelievable.

Ian's family is crazy. They're very loving, but fucking crazy. I can hear Ian's voice again. Is he fucking singing? What the fuck? Downstairs Mandy is waiting for me. She tells me my bitch of a wife is in labor with the child that may or may not be mine in the first place. I don't give a shit.

"Congrats," says Ian. I flip him off. He grins at me. I load a plate of whatever Lip is making for breakfast. I lean against the counter as Fiona, Debbie, and Carl argue over some shit. I can't help but wonder what Ian's family thinks about me being here. Not that I give a shit.

I sit down beside Ian at the table and pour him some coffee after everyone leaves. Fiona begs Ian for money. "You want to work with me tonight?" Ian asks.

"Sure, I have nothing better to do than watch a bunch for pruny queens slap their sacks against your ass cheeks."

"Why don't we hang out this morning?" Ian suggests.

"Sure."

Ian and I bundle up. We walk side by side down the street. About half way, I drag him into an alley and kiss him like the sun won't fucking rise without him. I slide my tongue into his mouth and press myself against him. He moans into the kiss. I moan into the kiss. I rub my thigh against him and feel his hardness against me.

"We can't fuck here," says Ian panting after the kiss. "It's too cold."

But I don't care. I'm willing to do it in a fucking briar patch if he would just fuck the shit out of me. Ian does. He pounds my ass like he fucking owns it. We're not alone in the alley. There are two men doing a drug deal, but they're not paying attention to us. I can't blame them.

When we're finished I pin Ian against a wall and kiss him hard. He kisses back. I show ownership. I dominate. I refuse to let him take over. I push his hands away as he tries to be in control. He starts to become more aggressive. Soon he has over powered me and is leading the way. I give in.

"I missed you," Ian says with the last bite on my neck.

"Ditto," I say. He pulls back.

"What? You still can't say you like me?"

Oh, fuck, not this shit again. I light a cigarette. Ian walks away. I quicken my pace to keep up with his long fucking legs. He walks into the department store nearby and I put out my cigarette and go in after him. He grabs a cart. Why the fuck are we here?

"Ian," I say, chasing after him.

"Leave me the fuck alone," Ian says.

"I missed the fuck out of you. I was," I look around the store, and notice people are watching us. I flip them off, I lower my voice to a whisper, "I was pining for you."

"You were?"

"Yeah," I say looking right in his eyes. He tries to kiss me, but I back away. He shrugs and goes back to shopping. I throw Bisquick in the cart along with syrup. Ian smiles at me as he looks around for different shit.

I spot some fucking cookies I want on a high shelf. I look for Ian. He is preoccupied with something. "Fuck," I say, standing on tiptoes to try to reach it. I hate being fucking short.

"Here, let me get that," says a tall stranger. I look up into the face of a man with bright blue eyes. He has dark hair. He's smiling at me. He hands me the cookies. "I've never seen you in here. I'm Ezra."

"Yeah, hi," I say feeling awkward. I don't socialize, especially not with men in grocery stores.

Ezra leans in closely and I catch a whiff of his fucking cologne. It smells nothing like what Ian wears. It's not bad. "So, uh, I prefer Oreos to chocolate chip. I really like the crème filling," he says slowly.

Suddenly a cart hits the shelf behind us with such force it knocks several boxes of cookies into the cart and the rest fall on the floor. Ian is fucking angry. Like really fucking angry, like ready to cut a fucking bitch angry. His face has turned the exact color of his hair. I put as many steps between me and what the fuck his name is as I can. I've never seen Ian angry, but from what I've heard about red head's combined with Gallagher tempers, this will get fucking ugly.

"Back the fuck away from Mickey," Ian says slowly, closing the distance between himself and the Friendly Giant. When the man starts laughing at the pout on Ian's face, I can see fire blazing in Ian's eyes.

"Ian," I say stepping between them.

"Is this your boyfriend? He's fucking insane. You could do a lot better," says Tall Guy, who's name is a distant memory. "He's cute, but I think he's fucking crazy. You should lock him up."

"Ian," I say, trying to get his attention. He has his hands on Tall Fucking Asshole's shirt and has him pinned against the shelf. "Ian, calm down."

"He hit on you," Ian says, "He's mine." Ian slams the man against the shelf. "Mine."

"Ian, can you fucking hear me?" I ask. I wedge myself between them and give Ian a hard shove. He releases the man for a moment then grabs a hold of him again. By now several employees and onlookers have circled. "They're going to call the police."

"Mickey?" says Ryan with a shopping cart in front of him. I nod at him and with a jerk of my head beg for his help. He grabs hold of Ian and pulls him off the man. He is able to restrain him while I deal with the employees.

"I'm so sorry. I don't know what's going on with him. Don't call the fucking police," I tell them.

"Is he on drugs?" asks a female worker who looks frustrated.

"I don't fucking know. I'm sorry."

I walk away and join Ryan and Ian in the check out. Ian is clutching his cart with a grip so tight his knuckles are turning white. I put my hand on his. I don't care if we're in public. I don't know what the fuck happened back there, and it scared the shit out of me. I have never seen Ian act like that.

"So, I think we need eggs," Ian says finally. What the fuck? He's fucking smiling.

"I'll get them," Ryan says, rubbing Ian's back gently. "Stay here in line and I will get them."

Ryan is gone all of five minutes when he returns with eggs for Ian. Ian picks up a box of Reese's Pieces and a Snickers and puts them in the cart. When it's his turn to check out the poor girl who was about to call the police refuses to look him in the eye. She's trembling.

"We should go to the aquarium. I've always wanted to go, I've never been able to afford it, but with what I make at the club we can go. Do you want to go?" Ian asks as the girl scans Ian's items.

"I fucking hate fish," I tell him as I step in front of him to pay for the groceries. Ryan is keeping close to Ian. I look at him. He shrugs. "But yeah, we could go."

"We'll go in the spring when's warm."

"Your total is $23.75," says the girl. I hand her twenty-five and grab our fucking sacks. I motion Ian along. We wait while Ryan pays then the three of us leave together. Ian walks a step ahead.

"What the fuck just happened?" Ryan whispers.

"The fuck if I know, man," I say lighting a cigarette.

"Is he on drugs?" Ryan asks.

"I have no fucking clue. It could be anything."

"Well, I have to get back, I'm making chili and I forgot the peppers. I have a date tonight."

"Jesus, you didn't kidnap some chick did you?" I ask.

"No. She legitimately agreed to date me. Can you believe it?"

"Is this girl real? She's not a fucking Sim is she?" I ask teasing him.

"Fuck you," Ryan says with a smile. He flips me off and leaves with his groceries.

I catch up with Ian and we walk back to the Gallagher house so he can get ready for work. I want to bring up what happened in the market but I have no fucking clue where to even begin. Ian is talking a mile a minute about this solider from Basic until I reach a fucking breaking point.

"Okay, I get it. You were fucking jealous. I am sorry I even let that asshole hand me the fucking cookies, but can you please shut the fuck up about this G.I. asshole you met at Basic. I'm sure his dick was like a python but I don't want to hear about it."

"I wasn't jealous of you with that, Mickey. I don't get jealous."

"That wasn't jealousy. What the fuck was it?" I ask.

"I just didn't like him," Ian says.

I stop walking and stare at Ian for a moment. He doesn't seem to have noticed. I finally move again. What the fuck? I choose to drop it. He's going to deny it, fine. I will too.

Ian puts the groceries away immediately and runs upstairs without so much as looking at me. Fiona watches me closely. I shrug at her and follow Ian upstairs. The water is running in the shower. I wait. When he comes out with just a towel around his waist I grab him.

"You have a fucking tattoo?" I ask. How the fuck did I just now notice? Has that always been there? I trace it with my finger. I feel myself getting hard. "I like it."

"You like it, but you won't admit you like me."

"Not this again. I fucking admitted that I missed you, isn't that enough?" I ask.

"No. It's not."

Ian starts to walk away from me; I take him by the hand. I spin him around and bring my lips to his. Ian hesitates before he kisses me back. I lean into the kiss and he puts his hand on the back of my head.

"I like you," I tell him afterwards, "now fucking drop it."

Ian gets dressed. I don't know why, he'll be out of those clothes and into a lot less in a few hours anyway. I am not fucking happy about Ian's job, that's why I'm going to make sure all those fucking queers keep their fucking hands to themselves.

The club smells like cum, alcohol, and a mixture of different colognes. It's almost nauseating. I pick a seat close to the platform where Ian is dancing and start ordering beers. Ian's not a terrible dancer; it's just not my thing. I would rather him dance just for me.

One fucking fat faggot tries to slide Ian a ten dollar bill. I grab him by the hand and stop him. Oh hell fucking no. "Those fingers go anywhere near that cock and I'll break every knuckle in your hand, all fifteen of them."

"Settle down, Rumblefish. The hand only has fourteen knuckles."

"You want to fucking die?" I ask.

Ian jumps down from the platform. "We got invited to an after hours at the loft of one of my regulars," Ian says happily. The eye liner around his eyes is kind of flattering. "It's fun. What's wrong with fun?"

"Nothing unless it involves some fat faggot shoving his hands down your—" and Ian tries to kiss me. I instinctively back away. I look around. There are lots of men kissing in here. No one gives a shit. No one is looking at us. I grab Ian and kiss him. The first time we've ever kissed in public. It feels good. He feels good. His skin is so warm and his muscles are so hard, and I'm happy. He's kissing me in public and I'm kissing him back. It feels fucking amazing.

I kiss Ian all night. Even when we're that queer's loft, I kiss Ian. I wrap him up in my arms on the man's pull out couch and kiss him. I kiss him when other men try to talk to him. Until they finally get him away from me longer than a couple of minutes.

"He's so sexy," says one faggot.

Are they fucking talking about Ian?

"Did you see his knuckles, they say 'Fuck U-Up' I am so turned on," says another.

They're talking about me. Ian returns to my side.

"Ian is with him? Are they together or did they just meet?" I move Ian away from those idiots. I don't want him to hear them. I need to avoid a repeat of the grocery store incident.

"They're all talking about you," I tell him.

"Nah, they're talking about you. You're new and they think it's interesting," says Ian.

"Fuck them. Come here," I tell him. I kiss him in front of them.

Ian and I sleep on the pull out couch. We spend the night mostly talking. I put my hand on Ian's arm and hold on to him. I don't want him to get up and run off in the middle of the night. I want him to stay right here. If I'm touching him and he moves I'll know it.

I feel a hand touching my shoulder. I take my hand off Ian's arm and swat at the person touching me from reflex. You never can be too certain in my neighborhood. It's the host of last night's party. If you can fucking call it that.

"I'm taking breakfast orders: Scrambled eggs, pancakes, or French Toast?"

"Eggs," I say rubbing my eyes.

"What do you think he'll want?"

"I don't know I'm not his keeper." Pancakes. Ian will want pancakes.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to assume. Did you two just meet last night or are you together?"

I think about it for a moment, "Together."Ian and I are together. We're a couple. We're together. I can't believe I fucking admitted that, and the little sleeping bastard didn't even hear it. Mandy's right, I am a fucking pussy.

A/N: Hey guys, sorry I haven't updated. OMG, I don't want to go into detail, but I've had a rough week. I had a wisdow tooth removed then my car broke down. It's been crazy. Anyway, here is the chapter.