Archive of Our Own ^beta

Valentines Day.

Mickey never understood what was up with people on this day. It was just another day, just another cold February day.
But his dad would suddenly bring roses for his mom.
His twin sister Mandy would get little letters and presents from boys, that hoped to jump her.
His brothers would steal chocolate for some chicks.

Mickey could only roll his eyes at all of them.
He was never interested in any of that shit, why would you act differently towards your partner just because it was the 14th?
It just didn't make sense to him.

He was fourteen and walked into the Kash'n'Grab, a little store, owned by Towelhead Kash.
Even in here everything was decorated for stupid Valentine's day - red and pink and hearts everywhere.
Mickey groaned when he saw the decorations, as response he got a giggle from the counter.
Mickey turned around and saw a redhaired teenager around his own age behind the counter. He worked here.

"The fuck are you laughing at?"
"Nothing", he stated and looked back down to his magazine.
Mickey went through the aisles and got some BBQ Pringles and Gatorade.
He walked towards the door with his stuff when he heard the ginger's voice again.
"You have to pay for that"
Mickey stopped and turned around to him.

"You're new, aren't you?"
Ian bit his lip and nodded.
"So, one thing, freckles", he said and stepped closer to him, looking him intimidating in the eyes, "I can do what ever I want. Ask your boss, the little bitch can try to stop me"
Ian raised his eyebrows.
"You're talking about Linda?", he asked confused, who would dare to talk about Linda like this? Was this guy crazy?
"No, the towelhead guy"

Mickey smirked at him, showed off his pringles and his drink and then left the store.

Later that day, he sat on his couch, watching a horror movie, he was alone, and he was glad.
It suddenly knocked on the door. Mickey didn't want to get up and hoped, whoever was there would just fuck off.
It knocked again, more aggressive this time.

Mickey still wouldn't react, and a few minutes later, he heard something hit the door, like a rock or something and Mickey jumped from the couch and ran to the door.
"Who the fuck- ", he yelled when he opened the door, but it was no one there.
He looked furious around, but no one was in the streets.
He suddenly noticed something lying to his feet.

He bent down and picked the object up, he stared at it confused.
It was a red, heart shaped box of chocolate.
He quickly took it inside and went to his room with it, before someone could see him with it.
He sat on his bed and inspected the chocolate box, it looked completely normal... you could buy those in every store around here. But the plastic wrapper around it was already gone.

Mickey hesitantly lifted the lid up, all chocolates lay in the box seemingly untouched, but to the lid someone stuck a little letter.
Mickey took it out and unfold it.

Roses are red,
Your eyes are so blue,
You are damn beautiful
I can't stop thinking about you

Under it was a little heart.
Mickey didn't know how to react to the little poem.
It was cringy and bad, but... Mickey couldn't help but feel flattered.
A smile crept up his face and he wondered, who might have written this.

But in the next second, he asked himself, if this maybe was just some sick joke...
Maybe someone tried to make fun of him, one of his brothers, because Mickey didn't had a girl on Valentine's day.
The smile fell from his lips.

He gently stroked over the paper and the messy handwriting.
He bit his lip and folded it, then he hid it in the back of his closet.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

One year later he had almost forgotten about the little letter.
It was Valentine's day again. He walked into the Kash'n'Grab like every week.
The ginger behind the counter rolled his eyes at him.
"Morning Mickey", he smirked.

"It's not morning, freckles."
The ginger smiled at him, without looking up from his magazine.
"Hey, you're out of BBQ Pringles", he called through the store.
"Yeah, other people eat that stuff and actually buy and pay for it, you know. I don't safe them for you to steal them"
Mickey rolled his eyes at him.
"Fucking moralizer", he muttered and grabbed some other potato chips.

He walked towards the door.
"You don't want chocolate? It's Valentine's day, your brothers already came by over the whole week and stole some for their girlfriends. You ain't got one?"
Mickey turned around to him.
"I don't fucking need to bribe girls with chocolate to fuck me, red.", he said and left.

Later he was in his room, listening to music and drinking some beer.
His thoughts were at the ginger boy from the store. He liked seeing him every week, making him smile with his snarky comments, making him grin slightly when he called him various nicknames. Mickey knew, that they also went to one school and that the ginger was in his year, but they didn't share any classes.

He was startled by a noise at his window.
He turned around and looked warily at the glass.
Suddenly, another object hit the window, a pebble.

Mickey got up and opened the window, looking around angrily.
"Who the fuck throws shit at my window?", he asked loudly.
No one was to be seen.
He looked around, nothing, just high fences and hedges, trash and dirt.
under his window was a small ladder that Mickey had places there years ago, so he could climb in and out of his room in secret.

He stopped yelling and looking around when something on the ladder caught his eye.
A heart shaped box with chocolate and... a small teddy bear that held a heart.
Mickey bit his lip and looked around again, no one was supposed to see him with a damn tiny teddy bear, when he thought the coast was clean, he quickly pulled the presents into his room.

He put them on his bed.
His mind travelled back to the Valentine's day a year ago.
He hesitantly opened the chocolate box and couldn't help but smile when he found another letter in it.

Blue
Your eyes, so big and beautiful
Sapphires, glisten in the dark
If you'd only knew,
how beautiful you are

Mickey chuckled. That wasn't really that much better than the first one.
He traced the small letters, the little heart under the message.
He took the little teddy bear. In the heart, held by the bear, the words My Love were embroidered.

"Who are you?", he asked the bear quietly, "Some stalker chick? Some old creep?"
He bit his lip and sniffed on the teddy. He smelled like cigarettes and something else that Mickey couldn't put his finger on, but it was strangely familiar.
"I shouldn't even keep it", he whispered while putting the bear and the new letter away in the hiding spot in his closet, "Probably some joker or a stalker"

His eyes lingered on the chocolate.
He fucking hated chocolate, never liked the taste of it. It was kinda sad, someone was so nice to bring him chocolate and he couldn't even fucking eat it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A few months later it was Mickey's and Mandy's birthday.
The Milkovich's had a party at their house. It wasn't exactly a birthday party with their friends or something.
They used their birthday as excuse to get hammered and high and lots of people in their neighbourhood used the chance to buy drugs from the brothers and get free beer.

Mickey was drunk and sat outside in the backyard, he smoked a cigarette and gazed into the sky. He didn't like crowds. He didn't like parties. He would've enjoyed to just get fucked up with his siblings alone. But his sister loved it

"Hey Mickey", a voice caught his attention.
Mickey looked at him and blew cigarette smoke in his direction.
"Fire crotch", he greeted the ginger from the store.
"What are you doing out here?"
"It's my damn yard, freckles", he said and blew smoke up in the sky, "What are you doing here?"
"Needed a break from all the people in there. Name's Ian, by the way. I mean, I have no problems with the pet names, but I think you should at least know."
"I know your fucking name, Gallagher", Mickey rolled his eyes.

"Good. Well, I gotta get going. Happy Birthday Mick", he smiled, and Mickey was glad that Ian couldn't see his face that good in the dark, because he probably looked like a crushing school girl at the ginger.

He woke up around noon the next day.
He opened his eyes and closed them again, irritated by the sudden light in the room.
He pulled the blanket over his face and blindly grabbed for his phone on the bedside table.
Instead he felt some kind of box wrapped in paper...

He pulled the object under the blanket, the light shone through the thin fabric so he could see that it was a birthday present...
A small box wrapped in black wrapping paper and a heart was glued to the top.

"What the fuck?", he whispered and dared to peek into the room from under his blanket.
Door closed, no one in front of the window, no one in the room.
He got under the blanket yet again and pulled the silver paper heart from the box.
"I want you to be mine", Mickey read the small black letters.

Mickey couldn't help but admire the message, the whole thing could also be looked at as really fucking creepy. But the writing style and little gifts from the past Valentine's day pointed more on a crushing teenager than some paedophile-stalker shit.

Mickey freed the box from the wrapping paper and opened it.
It contained a pile of sticky notes.
He pulled it out and read the words on the first one

You deserve to be told that you're beautiful every day

Mickey bit his lip. No one ever called him beautiful except for the Valentine's day person... no one even told him he was really that attractive. He maybe was something along of the lines of fuckable.

Mickey lifted the first note up to see what the second one said.

You are beautiful

Mickey couldn't help but smile. He lifted the second one up, careful not to detach the notes.

You deserve to feel loved every day

Mickey but the notes back into the box.
If he was correct, there would be a note for every day until Valentine's Day. If that was the purpose of the gift, he wouldn't ruin it now.
He got up and hit the shiny paper heart and the sticky notes in his closet.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I just really hope you don't think I'm creepy

That was the note of the day.
Mickey had picked up the habit of answering the notes.
Today he wrote under the words:

"I'm not, I think It's really cute"

Mickey walked home from school with his twin sister.
"What is up with you in the last weeks?", she asked.
"Don't know what the fuck you mean", Mickey mumbled and quickly hid his smile. He was thinking about the notes and the person behind it again.
"You're smiling. You're never fucking smiling usually. But you ain't stopping since our birthday."

Mickey shrugged.
"Fine, whatever. Don't tell me. God forbid you share your happiness with your sister.", Mandy huffed, "Hey, I'll go over to Ian's later, that's okay with you?"
"Ian?"
"Yeah, you know, Gallagher, the ginger working in the store you rob every week?"
Mickey nodded. Ian, yeah, he also couldn't stop thinking about him.
He was always excited about the days he got to see him. By now they had two classes in school together and he robbed the store weekly, where they exchanged a few snarls and comments, making the ginger smile brightly at him.

"He your boyfriend or some shit?", he asked his sister. How ironic would that be? The guy he was crushing on for over a year being with his twin...
"What? Fuck no, we're just friends. But I'd bang his brother if I could"
Mickey nodded and mentally sighed. At least he didn't have to pretend he would be okay with red dating pretty much the female version of himself.

The next note said
I love your hair, I want to run my hands through it while I kiss you
"I want to know who you are, so I can do the same", Mickey wrote on it.

This was such a weird situation.
He felt so... admired and loved by some person he didn't know gender and looks of, not even to mention his name.

I want to hold your hands in mine, hold them tightly, just to show you, I wouldn't leave
"I don't even know who you are, and I don't want you to leave...", Mickey answered, he really made a fool out of himself here.

I'm making a fool out of myself
"You? Did you see what kind of sick shit I answered without knowing you at all?", he chuckled at himself

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The note of the day said
Your guard is always up - I want to see the beautiful person behind it... hold you close and protect you
"I want to protect you from this mad world"

Mickey wanted to walk into Kash'n'Grab. He was confused when he read the "Closed" sign.
Why would they close up around this time? It was afternoon, why would they be closed?
He was hungry and he wanted to see the Gallagher, he also needed more chips and he was out of beer.

He walked around the store to the back and picked the lock in no time.
He was curious, as to why the store would be closed around that time.
He walked into the store.
"Yo, freckles?", he called.

He walked further into the store.
Growing up with Terry Milkovich had the side effect that Mickey's ears were extremely good.
He heard some ruffling in the back of the store. Mickey just shrugged and walked up to the counter. If no one bothered to be here, he could at least steal a pack of smokes.

"Hey Mick", Ian said, who suddenly walked out of the aisles, beer in hand.
"What are you doing back there, red?"
"Uhm...", he looked back and bit his lip, "Restocking", he mumbled and walked up to the counter and put the beers in front of him, "The usual I guess?"
Mickey put the smokes on top of the beers.
"So, now you're not only just watching me robbing the store, you gon' help me too? Damn, Gallagher, who knew you had it in you?"

Ian looked down and mumbled, "Well, maybe Kash deserves it for being such a pussy. Let's his store rob by a Teenager? Every day? Take what you need"
With those words he walked into the storage room, Mickey looked after him in confusion.

He walked back into the snacks aisle to get his potato chips, when he spotted someone through the shelf.
He walked around it and saw Kash, adjusting his shirt and taking a deep breath.
Mickey was confused, why Kash was hiding here, but he figured not to think about it too much.
Instead he left the store quickly with his stuff.

Halfway through and I don't even know if you will ever read any of this, in case you do, just know that there is no one else I'd do this sappy shit for, but I'm glad I'm doing it for you
"I read it all and I look forward to doing so every day"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I think it's time for a confession... I'm a guy... Christ I don't even know if you're gay, but I'm gonna dream about it anyways...
Mickey turned the pen in his hand. He wanted to answer that he was, indeed, gay. That he had hoped he was a guy. But he couldn't.
He couldn't bring himself to write the words down... to write that word down. Also... what if someone would find this note?
He took a deep breath and finally put a small heart under the message. That had to be enough.

Every time I see you, I fall for you more and more...
"Every time I read a word you wrote, I fall for you a little bit more"

I want to hear your voice every day, I want to hear about your live, about your day, how you feel
"I want to hear your voice"

I get all tingly when you talk to me, I can't stop smiling when you call me stupid things
This one had him stop. Whoever this was, he actually knew him. They apparently talked, engaged with each other...
"Who are you?", he wrote on it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was Valentines Day again.
Like every morning he sneaked the box out of his closet and finally looked at the last note.

I think I love you
"I want to get to know you, I want to fall in love with you"

Mickey smiled and put the sticky note back into the box to the others. Then he took it out and glued a little dark green paper heart on the box.
"I hate chocolate", he wrote on it and smiled.

He held the box in his shaking fingers, took a deep breath and walked up to his window.
Mickey flicked his tongue over his bottom lip and placed the box under his window on the small ladder, trying to slightly hide it behind some small rocks, placing a pebble on to of them, hoping his Valentine would get the message.

Mandy and he sat together for lunch.
"So, Mick, you've got a date tonight?"
"Why would I? You know I hate this fucking day"
"Oh come on, Mick! I know there is someone you like... you were all happy, smiley lovey-dovey in the last months. You even hugged me a few times and didn't pick random fights with our brothers or strangers. Who is it?"
Mickey only shook his head.

"Hey guys", a voice said suddenly, Mickey's head snapped up.
"Ian!", Mandy grinned up to him, "You finally decided to fucking join me for lunch?"
The redhead sat down across from him.
"Lip's skipping to fuck Karen, so I thought, why not stay with you, you're way better company than my brother anyways", he grinned at her.

"So, what were you talking about?"
"Nothing", Mickey huffed.
"Mickey has a girlfriend", Mandy smiled.
Ian raised his eyebrows.
"No, I fucking ain't"
"Oh come on, do I have to repeat myself? You fucking look happier than ever, there has to be a girl behind that! And you have to have something fucking planned for Valentine's Day, Mick."
Mickey only shook his head, "You know what, Mands? Maybe I do have something planned. But even if, it's none of your fucking business. And none of yours", he said pointing at Ian.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Later that day he sat in the living room, munching on potato chips. It took all his willpower to not sit outside and look for his Valentine's guy. But he kind of wanted him to stay a secret a little longer. He liked it this way.
Of course, he wanted to know who he was. He wanted to do all the things he wrote down.

He wanted to hear his voice, see him smile, run his hands through his hair, see him, feel him, touch him.
But the way it was now, it was something he had just for himself. A small love story in letters and bad rhymes. It was just for him, and it was perfect. What if the reality wasn't as perfect as the little dreamworld in the box outside?
He wasn't ready to risk it yet.

After he watched a decent amount of episodes of his TV show, he walked into his room to his window.
He hesitantly looked outside and started smiling like he was the happiest guy on earth.
He opened the window and pulled the objects inside.

A bottle of whiskey, a pack of smokes and jello.
"So, no chocolate than from now on", said the front of a little not that was stick on the jello.
Mickey smiled and grinned and started laughing.
This was happiness, this guy... he really was something.
Mickey shook his head and took the folded note, opening it.

I just wanted you to know
That the world is ugly
But you're beautiful to me
Are you thinking of me,
Like I'm thinking of you?

Mickey heart warmed at the words.
He really felt himself falling in love with a fucking unknown person.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mickey walked into the Kash'n'Grab.
Kash and Ian stood side by side behind the counter, Ian's head snapped up when he heard the Milkovich stepping inside and he looked weirdly tense.

Mickey just tried not to concentrate on it too much and went to get his stuff.
He was small, and he hated that fact, but it gave him the opportunity to hide behind a shelf and look through the stuff to the off pair by the counter while pretending to look for food.

Kash leaned over to Ian whispering something in his ear, the gingers eyebrows went up and he bit his lip.
Mickey frowned at the weird interaction between boss and employee, when Kash ran a hand over Ian's back, smiling at him.
Ian didn't seem to mind, he let him do it and grinned back.

Mickey's heart stopped.
He still had a major crush on the redhead, even though he sometimes forgot about him in favour of his Valentine, and he couldn't help but feel the jealousy creeping up his body when he saw the attractive ginger giving this beautiful grin to someone that wasn't Mickey.

He opened the little fridge-like thing and got his beer out, pushing the door shut loudly so the two would snap out of it before he rounded the aisle and grabbed his chips.
He was angry... angry at himself for his stupid crush, angry at Ian for being so beautiful and so nice and grinning like that to Kash and angry at Kash for getting this grin instead of him.
He didn't know what was going on between them, but he wanted them to stop.

"Fuck you Gallagher", Mickey thought when he left the store, "Don't fucking need your attention. I've got someone better anyways."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The following weeks Mickey wouldn't go into the store.
He couldn't, he didn't want to see Ian with that creep again.
instead his mind was constantly on his Valentine. He couldn't stand that he had to wait until the next Valentine's day for him to reappear... or maybe just until his birthday... who knew?

But today his twin sister dragged him into the store.
"Our birthday is next week, Mick, we finally gotta get stuff for it!"
"I don't get why we have to have another party. You know I hate that shit, too many fucking people", he mumbled when they entered the store.
Ian looked up and his face erupted in a smile.

"Hey Ian", Mandy grinned and walked over to hug her friend.
"Hey Mands, hi Mick"
Mickey ignored him.
"Ian could you help Mickey, we need lots of stuff for our party and I'm sure he can't manage by himself to get all the right stuff... I mean he could, but he's too grumpy and stubborn"
"What the fuck Mands? You want that damn party and now I have to get the fucking stuff for it?"
"Yeah", Mandy stated, "I meet up with some friends, got stuff to do, you only sit in your room the whole day. See ya"

Mickey looked after Mandy in anger and then walked to the snack aisle without looking at Mickey.
"I'm glad you're back", Ian said and followed him, "Why didn't you come by the last weeks?"
Mickey shrugged, "Had better shit to do"

Ian swallowed and watched Mickey eyeing the bags of chips.
"You ignored me at school"
"Did I?", he asked nonchalantly.
"Yeah... I thought I did something wrong... did I? If yes, I'm sorry"

Mickey clenched his jaw and turned around to Ian.
"You are fucking towelhead?", he asked without looking him in the eyes.
Ian opened his mouth to speak, but he didn't know what to say.
"I mean, it ain't my fucking business who you fuck, but... really? That old fucker?"

"How...", he scratched the back of his head, "How did you find out?"
"M not fucking blind, Gallagher. But whatever. I don't care. It's disgusting that's all. Didn't want to get stuff from a child fucker, I might end up with your jizz on my chip bags or some shit.", he shook his head and turned away, "Fucking in the store, you're really something"

Ian grabbed his shoulder and turned him around, earning a surprised look from the Milkovich, finally getting to look into those shining eyes again.
"I used to have a crush on him, and we started hooking up, now I only do it for the free stuff he gets me, that's all, I swear.", he whispered, his face dangerously close to Mickeys.
"Like I said", mickey said, trying to concentrate to not look at his lips or into his eyes too long, "Ain't my fucking business who you fuck"
Ian gave him a small smile.
"Maybe I want it to be your business", he whispered.

Mickey swallowed breathlessly... what was the ginger doing?
His eyes flicked to Ian's lips... he loved those lips. He always stared at them when Ian talked, when he smiled and grinned at him and he wanted to kiss them so badly.

Mickey fanatically looked around if really no one else was here and could see him, before pulling the ginger down to him by the back of his neck and kissing him roughly.
It was a hard, fast kiss, so fucking impatient and so fucking long waited for. Ian kissed back immediately, pulling Mickey close by his waist.

The sudden noise of the bell above the door made them pull away quickly.
They panted and looked at each other with red faces.
"Ian?", a voice called.
Ian bit his lip and had to pull his eyes away from Mick.
"Fuck", he breathed, and Kash walked over to them.

Mickey pretty much ran away from Ian to the other end of the aisle, his face still red and eh was panting like he just ran the whole fucking way from his house to the store.
He watched Ian and Kash talking. How Ian seemed to be more dismissive towards his boss.
They exchanged a few sentences and Ian shook his head. Kash frowned at him and quickly looked over to Mickey and then back to Ian. He said something else and Ian seemed to get defensive. Though his very good hearing ability, he didn't understand what they were saying, simply because he really didn't want to. He didn't want to think about Ian fucking this old creep.
His mind was occupied by the kiss anyways.

"Hey", Ian's voice startled him and tore his attention away from the kiss playing over and over in his head.
"I wanted to do that since we were fourteen", Ian whispered.
"Well, shit Gallagher, I turn 17 next week. You're always this fucking slow?"
Ian smiled at him, a smile that let his eyes sparkle.
"I want to do it again", he whispered.
"Yeah, right, in the store with your fucking affair a few feet away. You mental or something?"
"So, you want to do it again as well?", Ian grinned.
Mickey bit his lip and looked around to see, if Kash was listening.
"Come back to my house after your shift."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Valentine's day.
Mickey and Ian have been dating for over 9 months now.
Mickey loved every second of it. The secretive meetings, the spontaneous dates, that consisted of them going to one of their hiding spots, drinking talking, having sex. He hidden kisses, the love filled looks.

But the closer Valentine's Day came, the more he thought about his secret Valentine.
He hadn't told Ian about the whole thing. He didn't want to seem like a cheating asshole or something... but he couldn't deny that he was still in love with the sweet words from the other person.

Of course, Mickey wished, they would be the same man. How big were the chances that two people loved him so much? That two people made him feel to good and admired? But Ian never mentioned anything about it and Mickey had tried to forget about it.

But now it was Valentine's Day again.
Mickey had stayed the night at Ian's house. It was safer than at Mickey's place. They still acted like normal friends in front of Ian's siblings, even though they had probably already caught on due to the fact that they knew about Ian being gay.... What might be the reason why Lip said Ian and him could sleep in his room for the night so they wouldn't have to share the small bed in the room with the two youngest brothers.

Mickey woke up with his back pressed against Ian's warm body, their arms over each other, Ian holding him close in a protective manner.
Mickey loved waking up like this. They couldn't do it often, because Mickey couldn't risk anyone at home finding out about Ian.

Ian's hand rested on top of Mickey's and Mickey leaned down slowly to press a kiss on the back of his boyfriend's hand.
It didn't take long for Mickey to wake Ian up - he grinded his ass on Ian's dick a bit and played fondly with his fingers, letting his breath ghost over his knuckles.
He eventually felt a kiss being pressed to the back of his neck.

"Morning", Ian whispered and loosened his grip around Mickey a tad bit so the Milkovich could turn around in his arms and look at his beautiful face.
"Morning, freckles", he mumbled and kissed him sweetly and short on the lips.

"Happy Valentine's Day"
"Ugh, don't remind me, isn't that more of a straight couple day anyways?"
"Oh, shut up, I know you're excited to spend the Day of Love with your boyfriend", Ian mumbled and kissed him.
"Oh, am I?", he grinned and kissed the Gallagher's neck, pushing him on his back and sitting on his crotch while kissing his way down his body, "Right now, I'm just looking forward o give my boyfriend his Valentine's Day Blowjob"
"Valentine's Day Blowjob sounds nice", Ian grinned, "Interested in some good Valentine's Day pounding afterwards?"
"Am in the mood for riding today", he grinned up at him while pulling Ian's boxers down.
"Really?", Ian beamed, he loved it when Mickey was riding him, but he sadly wouldn't do that too often.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When Mickey got home from Ian's house he had almost forgotten about his original Valentine.
Mickey was supposed to get home, check if anyone was there and when they would come back, so he would know when it was safe for Ian to come over and continue their couple day.

"Anyone fucking here?", he yelled through the house.
He looked in every room before finally going to his own room.
His eyes fell on the closet and he was reminded on the little hidden messages and letters from his Valentine. He wondered...he looked to his window and bit his lip.

He had a boyfriend... he loved him... there was no need for the sweet messages of a stranger... but he fell in love with the Valentine even before he fell in love with Ian.
He walked over to his window and opened it.
On the little ladder on it sat a heart shaped box with a letter stuck to it and a bottle of whiskey next to it.

Mickey quickly pulled them in and put them on his bed like always.
He took a deep breath and opened the box.
"Weed. You are fucking amazing", he smiled and closed the box again, finally paying attention to the letter.
He didn't want to read it... he knew he would fall in love with the Valentine all over again. It was like cheating on Ian on an emotional level. Mickey would freak out if his lover would do something like that.

He took a deep breath and detached the letter form the box though.
"You are so goddamn stupid", he read on the front of the letter.
He frowned. What the fuck kind of message was that? Did the Valentine found out that he was in a relationship and now was angry at him? Or was indeed just a big con that was dragged out over the last years?
He opened the letter

If I could be with you tonight
I would sing you to sleep
Never let them take the light behind your eyes
One day, I'll lose this fight
As we fade in the dark
Just remember you will always burn as bright

Just as Mickey finished reading, he heard a knock on the door.
He carelessly placed the letter on the bed and walked to the front door.
He opened it and found Ian standing in front of him with a shit-eating grin on his face.

"Hey Mick", he smiled and walked in, "Coast clear?"
Mickey nodded and within a split second the gingers lips were on his.
Mickey panicked, the presents of his emotional affair lay on his bed.
The bed that Ian wanted to fuck him in now, where they cuddled and kissed and told each other that they loved each other in whispering tones.

"Hey, uhm, wait here a second, yeah? Just need to clean up something in my room"
"Clean up?", Ian asked grinning, "What you gotta clean up? You usually don't care either if the floor is covered in used boxers and empty beer cans - I watched you jack off to gay porn while I put a dildo up your ass, whatever it is you gotta 'clean up' trust me, you don't need to"
"I told you, we don't talk about that evening", Mickey mumbled and felt his face heat up.
"But it was so hot", Ian whispered and pulled Mickey closer.
"I only did that, to do you a favour when you were too sick to fuck me, now forget about it, perv", he playfully hit him against the arm.

Ian smiled and walked towards his bedroom.
Mickey followed him awkwardly.
Mickey watched in horror when Ian walked over to his bed and took the letter in his hand
"Don't read that", Mickey mumbled and snatched it away from him together with the heart shaped box and put them on his bedside table.
Great, now he had to explain that shit to his Gallagher.

But Ian suddenly started laughing his ass off, fell back on the bed and laughed at Mickey.
"The fuck are you laughing about?", Mickey asked hysterically.
Ian finally managed to tune down the laughing to a giggle and stretched his arms out for his boyfriend to crawl into them.
Mickey lay next to him, resting his head on Ian's shoulder.
The redhead pressed a kiss to Mickey's forehead.

"You and Mandy are both so fucking oblivious, it's killing me sometimes", he giggled.
"What? What do you mean?"
"She still didn't notice her best friend fucking her twin brother for almost a year now", Ian grinned.
"No, what's that got to do with me?"
Ian giggled and leaned over to snatch the letter from Mickey's bedside table.

"I wrote that, you dumb fuck", he smiled.
Mickey looked at him surprised.
"Been sending you messages since we were fourteen, thanks for noticing"
Mickey stared at him with an open mouth.
"Is that open mouth an invitation or are you about to say something?"

"Why the fuck didn't you say something?"
"Why didn't you ask?"
"Why would I randomly ask you, whether you wrote me love letters?"
Ian chuckled.
"I read all your responses by the way", he admitted and kissed his forehead again, "I love you so fucking much, I sometimes can't believe it myself"

"Alright, now I believe you that you wrote them, you sappy fuck.", Mickey chuckled and leaned up to kiss him, Ian hummed against his lips.
"Did you... did you keep them?", he asked not looking at Mickey.

Mickey got up from the bed, locked his door quickly, as if he was about to tell him the biggest secret in the world. He walked over to his closet and got the little box that he hid Ian's letters in.
"I even kept the stupid teddy bear. I want the sticky notes back, by the way", he said as him and Ian sat next to each other with the box on Mickey's knees, "They belong in here"
Ian smiled fondly at his boyfriend.
"I'm so damn lucky to have you", he whispered.
"That's nothing, I have you, that's so much better"
Ian chuckled and kissed him again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Almost ten years later they already lived in their own house.
But they would stay with their little tradition every Valentine's Day.
When they moved into the house Mickey had chosen a wall in their bedroom and had started to put all the sticky notes from their teenage years on the wall. If course he would actually glue them on, not only stick them to the wall and hope they wouldn't fall off.

When they lay in their bed, they could see the wall across from them: Yellow paper with love confessions on them.
Every year new one's joined them, not only on Valentine's day, every time they felt like showing some love.

Mickey's personal favourite was
Will you marry me?
And the answer was a simple yes written in the prettiest handwriting Mickey could do.

Ian's favourite were the two sticky notes they had written their actual wedding vows on.
He read them almost every day at least once.

Another one of mickey's favourites was
How about kids
And Mickey had answered "Your family has a history of stealing them What did you do this time?"
It was a playful answer that he wrote while laughing and afterwards he kissed Ian a thousand times and told him how much he actually wanted that

Their kids had kind of picked up the habit with the sticky notes and gave them notes with hearts on it to their birthday and Christmas. Mickey loved them.

"Happy Valentine's Day, my love", Ian whispered into his husband's ear and kissed his cheek.
Mickey grinned and turned his head to be able to kiss his lips.
"Talked to your sister, she's gonna take the kids so we have some couple time"
"Sounds great", he smiled, and Mickey turned his attention back to the breakfast he was preparing.
Ian put a sticky not on the counter next to him and left to wake up the kids.

I love you more than I could ever say or write

Mickey grabbed a pen.

"I will show you how much I love you every day - till the day my heart stops beating"