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Mickey had been crushing on Ian Gallagher for years before anything had happened.
Then one day, Ian had needed a math tutor and one thing had kind of lead to the other.
The had only seen each other in the library at first.
Mickey had tutored Ian while desperately forcing himself not to look at his deep green eyes or the sharp cut jawline.
That had been going on for a few months and then, Mickey started to notice small signs.
Like the way Ian’s gaze would linger a little bit too long to just be friendly.
And the way his hand would touch Mickey’s a second more than needed when they handed each other something.
At first - of course, Mickey had convinced himself that he was imagining all of it.
There was no way the most popular guy in school was the east bit into him, at least not until the day that hell froze over.
But then, the more time that went by, the more signs started to show and finally, Mickey had had enough.
”The fuck’s your deal, Gallagher?”
”What do you mean?” Ian asked, not looking up from the book.
Mickey looked around the library for a second to make sure it was really empty.
”You into me or some shit?”
Ian had looked up into the blue eyes, looking like a deer in headlights, and Mickey knew he had his answer.
That day, they had flirted and the next day, Ian had wrapped his arms around Mickey as soon as they saw each other, capturing his lips with his own and mumbling that he had waited way too long for this.
As much as Mickey had been against kissing, that was to this day one of the best moments of his life.
They had dated for about six whole months when Mickey was starting to get annoyed.
It wasn’t that he needed everybody to know that Ian was his, really… actually, that was precisely it.
Ian was Mickey’s and Mickey was Ian’s and Mickey despised the fact that they had to stay on the down low.
Sure, their families knew - well, the Gallaghers and Mandy - and a couple of their friends but somehow, it wasn’t enough.
And Mickey never thought he would think it in a million years, but he didn’t like the fact that people didn’t know he had a boyfriend, or that Ian did.
Mickey knew that Ian was the popular guy and he had a reputation to uphold, and it wasn’t that Mickey thought he was ashamed of him, not really.
It was just that Mickey wasn’t exactly the popular guy, he wasn’t bullied, fuck, he wasn’t even the bully.
Mickey was nobody.
And on some level, he understood why Ian wouldn’t want anybody to know about them.
The problem, though, was that they had never talked about any of this.
Mickey didn’t know how to bring it up.
He didn’t know if he was imagining Ian’s resistance to people knowing or if it was really there but either way, Mickey felt uncomfortable asking, which was new.
It was usually really easy to talk to Ian, it was nothing.
This felt sensitive, though.
So, he went to Ian’s basketball games and he cheered him on when he got a good grade in math.
He stayed in the background.
This all changed on the day of the state championship.
Mickey was sitting on a bench, watching as the clock counted down the last twenty seconds of the game.
”Hey” Someone said next to him.
”Hey?” Mickey said, phrasing it as a question because he didn’t know who it was and he wasn’t interested enough to take his eyes off of the game for a single second.
”I’m Mike”
”Mickey”
Ten seconds left.
”You know anyone on the home team?”
”Yeah”
Mickey still hadn’t taken a single look at this guy.
”Who?”
Mickey didn’t answer because the game ended and Ian had made the winning shot on the last second.
Mickey stood up, cheering as the confetti started falling down from the ceiling.
”That was close”
”What? Yeah” Mickey said, finally turning towards whoever had been talking to him.
He actually didn’t look too bad, he was his age, tall and muscular with brown hair in a buzz cut.
Mickey didn’t have time to look for long, though.
He made his way down to the bench to try to get a hold of Ian.
Buzz cut followed.
”Listen, would you maybe like to go out - ”
”Babe!” Ian yelled and as much as Mickey despised pet names, he couldn’t help but grin as Ian picked him up and spun him around like something out of one of Mandy’s fucking chick flicks.
”Oh. I’m sorry, I though maybe - ”
”You thought wrong” Ian stated, cutting buzz cut off.
Buzz cut left and Ian wrapped his arms even tighter around Mickey’s waist as he pressed their lips together.
Mickey was surprised to say the least, but he responded eagerly, running his tongue over Ian’s.
”Thought you didn’t want people to know you were with the no good thug” Mickey yelled over the loud cheery music.
Ian shook his head as if he thought Mickey was stupid.
”Maybe I didn’t”
Mickey raised his eyebrows as Ian tightened his grip on Mickey, pulling them even closer together.
”It was stupid”
Ian leaned their foreheads together and Mickey nodded.
It was stupid.
”I saw you with that guy and I just…”
”You got jealous? I barely said a word to that guy”
”Doesn’t matter” Ian said. ”He was interested in you. You’re mine”
Mickey wished he could stop the sides of his mouth from pulling into a smile but it was impossible.
”I’m sorry I didn’t want people to know. Forgive me?”
”No” Mickey said and Ian rolled his eyes, lowering his head slightly so that their lips were closer together but their foreheads were still against each other.
”Forgive me” Ian said, not yelling anymore.
Despite the loud music, they could hear each other perfectly when they were this close.
”No”
”Forgive me” Ian said, their lips already touching the slightest bit.
Instead of answering, Mickey just kissed him.