Work Text:
It’d been a pretty typical workday for Gallagher-Milkovich Security —Or Gallavich, as Ian insisted, despite the company, would never officially be under that title. That fact didn’t stop Ian. Mickey would roll his eyes; “That’s gay, man”. Ian would always beam at this, smirking “Good thing we’re gay husband of mine”—.
The two had six deliveries that afternoon. A little less than usual but neither complained. Less work just meant they had got to go home early. It had been a pretty busy week. Three new dispensaries were added to their route and four more needed to be considered plus interviews still needed to be conducted so they could expand their business. But that was a Monday problem. A weekend of doing absolutely nothing but laying around and ignoring whatever errands needed to be done awaited the two for now.
Ian drove. His fingers tapped against the wheel to whatever top-100 bullshit played on the radio. His free hand rested on his husband’s thigh. The pad of his thumb slowly caressed the cameo fabric underneath as he hummed. Mickey was perfectly content, resting his hand atop Ian’s, playing with his wedding band.
Now with two years of marriage under their belts - dirty joke intended- the two had become very comfortable sitting in complete silence. There was no need for talking, just being next to one another was enough. The song that had been softly humming in the background came to an end, the peppy voice of the radio’s DJ followed. “And now for a bit of throwback tune for all my 80’s babies”
Mickey couldn’t help but roll his eyes as he often did when he heard her voice. Ian had frequently joked that he had a personal feud with the lady on the radio. Mickey was so thick with annoyance he didn’t notice Ian moe to turn the song up. His hand returned to Mickey with a squeeze.
“Hey, remember this?”
Mickey took a moment to answer, trying to figure out what Ian was talking about. It hit him the second he heard ‘ We are young, heartache to heartache, we stand’
“Mhm,” Mickey hummed, thinking the memory over. “You were so wasted”
Ian looked over at Mickey briefly, seeing a goofy smile plastered across his face which immediately infected Ian’s own expression. The more Ian thought about it a second longer, a frown suddenly replaced that delightful smile.
“We never got to go on that date though”
“Whaddya talkin about, man? We’ve been on plenty of dates since then”
“Not recently”
“We went on a date last week!”
“Sex doesn’t count”
“First off all it totally does if the foreplay is long enough but also the fuck? We had sex this morning why would I just not say this mornin if that’s what I meant?”
“Ballgag,” Ian said simply, somehow Mickey understood his point.
“Yeah yeah. But I was talkin about Thursday. When we went to that bullshit garden thing with Tami and Lip”
Ian’s frown deepened. “That doesn’t count. I mean like a nice sit-down, wearing nice clothes, just the two of us, date”
Mickey sighed, looking back over at Ian. Sometime between the start of the song and now Ian’s hand had ended up in Mickey’s. He gave it a tight squeeze. “Wanna go on one tonight? Not like we have anything to do tomorrow anyway”
A squeeze back. “Yeah Micks, that sounds really nice”. The smile reappeared.
The two went back to their apartment first. Changing into something nicer than their work clothes. Nothing fancy, just a dress shirt and a pair of jeans. As promised all those years ago, Mickey stole one of Ian’s shirts to wear. It was slightly ill-fitting on Mickey’s shorter frame but he didn’t care. He liked the subtle smell of his husband that lingered on the fabric.
They ended up in a restaurant a few blocks away from their home. A new-age yippee place that’s menu no doubt consisted of 87% vegan options. The boy’s options were limited, however, it being a Friday night in the ever-bustling Westside and this was the only place without a waitlist that extended into the new year. Ian thought the place was cute enough, though. Plus Yelp had said that the steak was good and the live music was quoth: vibrant and tasteful.
“Table for two?” The hostess' smile was annoyingly bright as she greeted the two.
Ian nodded. “It's our first date”
The young woman, Emma, gave an enthusiastic, “Oh, that’s wonderful!” At the same time, Mickey huffed “No it ain’t”.
“I’m sorry?” She tilted her head.
“We’re married, he’s just an idiot” Mickey raised his left hand to show his silver band.
“It’s our first date in a while” Ian corrected, his glare directed at Mickey, instead of Emma, now.
“Okay well… If you could follow me” She led the two to the back of the restaurant.
“Is this your idea of kinky foreplay or some shit? That we don’t know one another?” Mickey muttered to Ian who immediately gave an eye roll.
The two were seated in a booth in the far right corner of the restaurant. Ian secretly thanked Emma for the seating arrangement. There was a live band towards the centre of the large venue that consisted of a young woman strumming her guitar, singing covers and two older looking men playing the bass and keyboard behind her. The table was far enough that they didn’t have to scream at one another just to be heard but could also watch.
Within the first second of sitting down, Ian almost hit his head on the low hanging ceiling light as Mickey almost burnt himself on the tealight candle in the middle of the table. The two were definitely meant for one another. Ian tapped his fingers against the table. “So what do people do on first dates?”
“Starting with this shit again?”
“Just go with it, trust me” He raised his eyebrows mischievously, getting that devilish glare he got when he was being flirty.
“Oh,” Mickey’s own eyebrows raised. He swallowed hard. “I dunno I’ve never dated anyone else-”
He saw the stern look aimed in his direction, he stumbled over his words to go along with his husband’s thing. “I mean, never dated anyone. Get to know stuff about the other? Suck each other off in the nearest bathroom?”
Ian laughed at the last question before pulling his phone out of his pant’s front pocket. He quickly googled ‘questions to ask on a first date’ before clicking the first link that popped up.
“What do you like to do in your free time?” He read off the screen.
Mickey couldn’t help but smirk, “You”
Ian rolled his eyes, trying to mask his own smile forming. “I like to garden”. He looked back down at his phone, skipping over a few questions. “How many siblings do you have? Who do you get along with best and why?”
Mickey took a moment to just stare at Ian. He wanted to tell him how dumb this all was but the excited look on his husband’s face made him just suck it up. “Four that I know of, there are probably some neonazi whore raising my dad’s kids. Mandy’s my favourite because all my brothers are assholes. How about you, Red?”
“Five. Lip because-”
“You worship the ground he walks on?” Mickey was quick to tease.
“You’re not very good at this”
Mickey’s hands rose in mock defence. “Next question?”
Ian’s eyes scanned, finally landing on “What’s your favourite meal?”
Mickey bit his lip looking around the restaurant as if he was a little nervous “I like that tomato pie you make”
Ian’s smile grew, he reached for his husband’s hand. He raised it to his lips, ghosting over the F U C K on his knuckles. “Aww Mick that’s sweet”
“If you made fun of me I swear to motherfucking christ Gallagher, I will drag you to the courthouse right now to divorce your stupid ginger ass” Mickey stiffened but made no effort to pull away. Ian placed one last kiss above his knuckles before dropping his hand.
Mickey rolled his eyes, finally making eye contact again. Slightly less embarrassed. He couldn’t help but smile.
The two went on with their silly game, laughing at one another’s responses. The act lasted till the entree came when they finally decided on just being themselves.
The two of them pushed their plates away from themselves into the middle of the table both stuffed. They waited for the bill to come so they could go home and crash.
Ian noticed a few couples making their way towards the band. It seemed to be the last song in their set, a slow song that the restaurant patrons seemed to take upon themselves to make a slow dance out of.
‘Cause darling, it was good, never looking down, And right there where we stood. Was holy ground’ the singer softly crooned, strumming her guitar.
“Hey Mick,” Ian’s eyes didn’t leave the two ladies that were sitting to the side of them. They were obviously tipsy as they ran to the centre. “Let’s go dance” He nodded towards them.
’ Tonight, I'm gonna dance, for all that we've been through’
“I dunno man” Mickey was quick to protest, he definitely didn’t consider himself a dancer.
Ian thought about how he hadn’t danced in a while and rarely ever with Mickey. In fact, the more he thought about it he realised he had really ever danced with the man twice; once on their wedding day the other their first anniversary. He had danced casually with Trevor and Caleb but never the man he married. He wouldn’t dare bring that up though.
‘But I don't wanna dance, if I'm not dancing with you’
Instead, he opted for standing up, extending his branded hand to Mickey who huffed but eventually took the invitation.
“You’re such a sap” Mickey muttered as Ian found them a stop on the floor.
“You know it” Ian grabbed Mickey’s waist pulling him in closer to his own body. His hand went to Mickey’s lower back, the other gripping his hand.
‘Tonight, I'm gonna dance, like you were in this room’
“I can’t believe I’m dancing with you to a fucking Taylor swift song” Mickey muttered. Ian placed a soft kiss at the crown of his head. “How do you know it's Taylor?” His smile was evident in his voice.
“Shut the fuck up and just dance with me” Mickey’s hand got a better grip on Ian’s. Eventually, all tenseness in Mickey’s body melted, his head migrating to Ian’s shoulder.
Ian thought about how far that dirty, closeted boy that wanted to beat him up for messing with his sister had come. He was now an out and proud man who wasn’t afraid of swaying gently against his husband in the middle of a public space.
‘But I don’t wanna dance’
Ian couldn’t think much past that. “This is nice” He was finally able to vocalise.
He felt the vibrations of Mickey’s “Mhm” against his neck. Mickey lifted his head, his eyes looked blissed out as he freed his hand to place it against Ian’s cheek.
“We should go on dates more often”
Ian couldn’t make out how happy that simple statement made him, instead, he leaned forward, placing a soft kiss against Mickey’s lips.
‘If I’m not dancing with you’
The two were the last to leave the dance floor.