Chapter Text
Ian had always hated the way his sister infantilized him.
Certainly, she had brought him up and for a very long time, he could not deny being actually a child, even if his life was far from a normal child's life. But now he was an adult, and Fiona continued to treat him like a kid.
Happy to finally have enough money to be able to help his family financially, he had wanted to offer his first salary to Fiona, but the latter had not really welcomed his gesture as he had hoped.
Rather than thanking him, she had lectured him, accusing him of wanting to spend all his money rather than putting it aside for the times when he would need it.
Ian did not understand why she wanted him to keep this money rather than use it for her and their family as she did with the money she earned. Especially since Fiona had at least four part-time jobs and she still struggled to get by.
She had been deaf to his arguments and had left the house leaving him alone in the kitchen.
Ian had hesitated a moment to leave the money on the counter or in his sister's room, but he knew perfectly well that it would annoy her even more and that she would send it back to him immediately.
Besides, if Carl or Frank, unfortunately, found it first, they would use it for very different purposes.
Frustrated and upset, he finally had kept his money with him and had gone back to the small apartment he shared with his boyfriend.
Seeing the latter nowhere, and finding nothing to do in their apartment, he decided to go out looking for a place where to spend some of this problematic money.
He drank glass after glass until he no longer knew where he was or how much money he still had in his pocket, without succeeding in driving away his annoyance.
Feeling his bladder about to explode, he slipped away to the back of the building to empty himself into the alley, convinced that even if the bar had toilets, they should not be much cleaner than this aisle.
He muttered a few words, his head pressed against the wall of the building before feeling a feeling of relief take hold of him.
He let out a nervous giggle as he realized that after fantasizing about being able to help Fiona with his first salary before going to party with his boyfriend, the thing that had finally given him the most pleasure of the day was to empty his bladder.
He turned around, lamenting before immediately stop when he saw someone sitting nearby.
He quickly unbuttoned his pants and walked over to him apologizing before stopping dead, realizing that this man might not in fact be one.
He had a disproportionate head, and his body seemed covered with hairs.
Ian approached him a little more, hoping to be able to discern reality despite all the alcohol he had ingested, but his vision remained the same.
“Who left a giant plush here?” He questioned out loud before raising his hand to judge the softness of the giant plush's fur.
He jumped and backed away quickly when the plush began to move and remained silent for long seconds before timidly approaching the big plush again and asking.
"Are you alive? Are you a haunted plush? "
The plush remained silent and motionless, causing Ian to get closer. He jumped again when it moved its head towards him, but kept walking to sat next to it.
"Are you bewitched by a demon or something like that? Are you going to eat me?"
Taking the silence of the plush for a no, Ian relaxed a little more.
"What does a giant plush like you, do in a dark alley? Did you also want to pee? Do giant plush pee? ”
He stayed silent a few moments thinking honestly about this question, his gaze fixed on the plush.
"You are not very talkative ... I’m just the opposite, I really like to talk, Lip says that sometimes I talk too much- Lip is my brother. But don't listen to what he says. He's a pretentious moron. ”
Realizing what he had just said, Ian started to panic. He had always been pissed off at Lip's pretentious side but never dared to tell anyone for fear that it would happen to Lip's ears and that he would get angry.
"Don't tell him I said that!" Ordered Ian panicked before adding with a nervous laugh.
"It’s right, plushies don’t speak…"
He raised his hand again to put it on the fur that covered the plush's head and which looked so soft, but the plush jumped up to dodge the contact.
“I'm gonna stop! I promise I'm not gonna do it again! ”
He raised his hands in a sign of surrender hoping that it was enough to calm the fear of his curious interlocutor until finally, the latter sat down next to him.
"I like talking to you ... you know how to listen to people." Ian said with the most serious tone in the world.
"You know... I didn't have a great day. At first, I thought today was going to be a special day, but my sister didn't want to hear anything, and my boyfriend was not even there when I got home. "
The plush turned his head to Ian who stared into its eyes for a moment before continuing.
“I wanted to spend the evening with him to celebrate my first salary but he is I don't know where."
Ian was not usually in the habit of openly admitting being gay to strangers, but this case was an exception and the alcohol flowing in his veins also helped him to forget the fears that usually accompanied this subject.
"Ah! Are there gay plushies? I don’t know a lot about plushies sex preferences… Are you all asexual. ”
He laughed at his own question before adding seriously.
"I couldn’t be abstinent or asexual- I know it's not the same thing- But I love sex too much for that. One of my exes tried to explain to me all this lgbt stuff with the all asexual shit, but I didn't get it all. It’s not because I’m gay that it’s easier for me to understand all this stuff… He was pissed because I couldn’t imagine being asexual, but I also couldn’t imagine being straight! That's too disgusting! I don't give a shit about what people do or not do in their bed, but that doesn't mean they can't do or can't not-do it- You understand?!? ”
Ian laughed as he thought about the only time Frank had given him good advice.
“Frank once told me that you don't care who has sex with whom. That the only thing was to find someone with whom to do it preferably without paying... So, are asexuals looking for someone with whom not to do it? Are you Plush looking for someone with whom not to do it?”
For a second Ian thought he heard the stuffed toy laugh, but when he approached it again he couldn't hear any laughter anymore.
Convinced of being fooled again by the alcohol flowing through his veins, he looked up at the sky.
"I really say huge bullshit when I'm drunk... And I talk with a plush... You are a plush... I wanted to spend this evening with so many people but I'm here talking with a giant moving plush."
Ian's little laughter had now turned to tears and he looked sadly vague.
A loud noise echoed in the alleyway and the plush rose before walking to a door that Ian only noticed at that moment. It put its hand on the doorknob, ready to open it before turning around and coming to stand in front of Ian, his eyes still filled with tears.
Ian's eyes widened and his breath stopped when the big plush gently placed its hand on his head, tapping him kindly.
Before he could do anything, the giant plush shifted again and disappeared from the aisle.
* - * - *
Ian had staggered to his apartment and had collapsed on his bed without paying attention to his boyfriend sleeping next to him until the morning where Greg had made him a scene.
Ian had wanted to recall Greg that he had gone to drink alone because he had not found him when he came back even though he knew very well that he wanted them to celebrate his first salary together. But he was sure that this statement would backfire on him immediately, so he didn’t.
Greg was a busy man and a talented lawyer. He had supported Ian financially while he was preparing to become EMT without asking him anything.
He had welcomed him into his apartment and paid for all their outings and their trips.
Money was never a topic of discussion between them, except when they were arguing and Greg used the situation they were in as an argument against Ian.
Not wanting to argue with him, Ian just listened to Greg and validated each of his arguments apologizing for his behavior, even if he didn't mean it.
After he got off his chest, Greg quickly prepared for work and left the apartment without another word.
Ian sighed and dropped back onto the bed, trying to remember what he had done the night before.
The vision of a surreal discussion with the giant plush came to his mind and for a moment he questioned his memories.
Unable to decide whether he could believe his mind or not, he simply decided to push these strange memories to the back of his mind and focus on something much more realistic.
He had his day off and planned to take advantage of it.
He saw out of the corner of his eye the money he had placed the night before on his bedside table and thought that now that Fiona had refused it was probably smarter to put it in a bank account.
He got up from his bed and went to the kitchen to pour himself a large glass of water hoping to flush out the last residue of alcohol which clouded his mind when the ringing of his phone resounded in the apartment.
He smiled tenderly when he saw Mandy's face appear on the screen and immediately picked up the phone.
“How is my best friend?”
"Not so good ... I just realized that you had your first real pay as an honest man yesterday and that we didn't even go to celebrate that."
Ian let out a little laugh as he remembered all the times he had talked with Mandy about his first salary and all that went with it.
"It doesn't matter…"
"It doesn't matter?!? I was counting on you to offer me a drink! At least if you have enough to pay it after helping Fiona. ”
Ian sighed and ran a hand nervously over his face.
He hadn't been able to speak with Greg this morning about what had happened with Fiona and was convinced that his companion did not want to, but he still needed to talk about it to someone.
He usually preferred to avoid overly depressing subjects when speaking with Mandy to make the most of the few moments they could have together, but this time would be an exception.
He calmly told her about his argument with Fiona. And before realizing it, he also told her about his argument this morning with Greg, just keeping his strange discussion with this giant plush for him.
Ian had already suspected that Mandy was not a fan of Greg and the nervousness that she displayed quickly confirmed his doubts.
“This guy is a moron who doesn't deserve you! How can he yell at you when he wasn't even there when you got home?!? "
"Don't worry Mandy, it doesn't matter-"
“It matters! This guy is a pretentious moron with a stick up the ass who thinks he's better than everyone else and he deserves to be brought down to earth! ”
Ian could not suppress a little laugh when he couldn't prove his friend wrong. He had always hated the pretentious side of Greg but had always made sure to ignore it to dwell on his qualities.
He stayed chatting with Mandy on the phone for a good hour, gradually forgetting all of his worries, and promised to meet her the same evening to pay her as much drink as she wanted.