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Ian never seemed to go well on dates, maybe it was that he got too nervous or too intense too quickly or not quickly enough, either way he wanted this one to break that pattern. Even though they had only met once, their chemistry seemed to align.
He dressed pretty casually, not wanting to over-do it, and brushed his hair back until it sat the way he liked it. They were meeting at a pizza place not too far away from his place so he waited until ten minutes from their meet-up time to head out.
When he arrived, Mickey was leaning up against the window with his hands in his pockets. When he caught Ian’s eye he gave him a smile and walked over to meet him.
“Hey, hope you’re hungry,” he said and Ian nodded a little.
“Starved,” he said and Mickey pushed the door open for him.
It was reasonably small, a few tables off to one side and quiet apart from the noise from the kitchen.
“It ain’t much but they make the best pizza in Chicago,” Mickey said, worrying a little that it wasn’t what he was expecting.
“Are we going to go sit then?” Ian asked and the worry seemed to slip off Mickey’s face as they went to sit down.
Ian watched him a little more as they took their seats by the back wall. He was incredibly handsome, slightly rugged, but Ian liked that in a guy. As Mickey reached out to grab a menu Ian noticed the tattoos across his knuckles and smiled.
“Nice ink,” he said and Mickey looked down at his fingers.
“Thanks,” he said. “Had it for so long I forget it’s even there.”
“Grow up in the South Side?”
Mickey’s lips twitched in the corner. “That obvious, huh?”
“Takes one to know one,” Ian said, reaching for a menu and Mickey seemed to approve of that.
They launched into a talk about the South Side, their first point of commonality and apparently both of their childhoods were nothing to scoff at. Shitty parents, lots of siblings and plenty of baggage that neither of them were ready to elaborate on during a first date.
“So your kid was pretty cute, what’s the story there?” Ian asked after they had ordered their food.
Mickey leant back in his chair with a grin.
“Oh no, you don’t want to open up that can of worms,” he said.
“Oh I kind of think I do,” Ian said. “Believe it or not I’ve actually never been on a date with a guy who had a kid.”
“Well if you make it a couple more maybe I’ll tell you the whole story,” he said. “And I didn’t even like the kid to start off with so I know you couldn’t. He kinda almost gave you a bald spot.”
“Did you just say you didn’t even like your kid to start with?” Ian said with a smile. “That’s kind of rough.”
“Oh come on, now you’re just fishing for information,” he said.
“On a date? How dare I?” he grinned.
“Alright, point to you,” Mickey said. “Smart-ass.”
“That a desirable quality?” Ian asked.
Mickey shrugged. “Works on you.”
“Another point to me then.”
Mickey dropped his gaze and he smiled for a moment as their pizzas came out and they started to dig in. Ian agreed that it was probably the best in Chicago, which launched them into a discussion about food, something they could both talk at length about.
It was strange how well this date was going, neither of them had good dates very often but this one didn’t feel like a first date. It felt like there was a real kind of connection there and as terrifying as that was, it also felt wonderful.
Once they’d finished their meals they both sat back in their seats and Mickey was giving Iana strange look. Ian raised an eyebrow.
“What’s with the look?” he asked.
“Just wonderin’ if you scare easy,” he said and Ian chuckled.
“I don’t know what you mean by that but I’m game to find out.”
“So you’re pretty good lookin’, there some kind of reason you ain’t attached?”
Ian laughed. “I’ll get into that when you tell me about your kid.”
“Gonna play it like that huh? Okay,” he grinned. “When’s the last time you went on a date then?”
“A sit down date?” Ian asked and Mickey nearly laughed.
“As opposed to a lie down date?”
“Now who’s the smart-ass?” Ian said with a raised brow and Mickey shrugged.
“Works on me too, and yeah, a ‘sit down’ date,” he said.
“Uh, probably two… maybe three months ago.”
“Alright, what about a ‘lie down’ date?”
Ian laughed loudly, feeling his cheeks flush a little. “A couple of weeks, maybe more.”
“Dry spell huh?”
“Alright, okay, any more questions?” Ian asked.
“Baseball or football?” he asked.
“Baseball,” Ian said with a smile and a sigh.
“Eat-out or take-out?”
“Take-out and eat-in,” Ian said, a grin forming on his lips. “Though I’m not opposed to eating out.”
This time it was Mickey’s turn to blush as he averted his eyes.
“Point to you again,” he said quietly. “Scotch or Beer?”
“Beer probably, it’s cheaper.”
“True,” Mickey said. “Top or bottom?”
Ian narrowed his eyes a little, smile growing wider. “Top.”
Mickey nodded to himself and Ian tilted his head to the side.
“Is that another point to me or…?”
“Yeah, you could say that,” he said.
Mickey stopped his interrogation and let the conversation start again, and it flowed like they’d known each other for years.
All in all it winded up being the best date either of them had been on in just as long.
Despite the nature of the conversation Ian made sure to end it like a first date should, with a kiss and nothing more. Well, nothing more than a bit of grinding and a breathless goodbye.
Safe to say it was just the beginning of something even more.