Gallavich Fluff & Smut

Homecoming

By: imagined_melody

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Summary:

Years in the future, Mickey and Ian- now in a long-term committed relationship- reunite after Ian comes home from a 10-month tour of duty overseas. Written for the last 2 days of Gallavich Week (themes: smut and future!fic).

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The morning of Ian's return, Mickey was pacing. He couldn't stop; he'd woken up from a much-interrupted night of sleep bursting with restless energy, and the hours between his waking and Ian's flight coming in felt like decades. He tried multiple tasks and strategies in order to calm down, but it was impossible to focus on any one thing. In the end, he simply wandered around the house, scowling and feeling annoyingly edgy.

At eleven o'clock his phone rang. It was Lip. "Stop it," Lip said before he even had a chance to say hello.

Mickey frowned. "Stop what?"

Even through the phone, Mickey could practically see Lip's eyes roll. "Doesn't take a genius to guess that you're pacing enough to wear a hole in your floorboards right about now. Relax, man. He'll be home soon."

Mickey shook his head, not even bothering to ask how Lip knew that. "Got any suggestions?"

"Fraid not," Lip said on a laugh. "I'd say jack off, but I bet you're saving that for when a certain someone gets home."

Mickey let out a little stunned laugh; Lip's sexual openness, at once crude and innocent, always slightly surprised him. He had to admit to liking the man, even though he had been incomprehensible to Mickey the first time they had met. "Well, thanks for the advice, anyway," he retorted, snorting out a laugh. "I'll definitely be thinking about it."

"I'm sure you will," Lip said, and his smirk was evident in his voice. "10 months, that's a pretty long time."

Mickey sighed. "You have no fuckin' idea." Sometimes he felt so frustrated he thought he would jump out of his skin. And it wasn't just sexual frustration, although that was definitely a factor; he and Ian hadn't even been able to have bad-connection phone or internet sex on a regular basis, since Ian never seemed to be able to speak to him in complete privacy and therefore couldn't indulge himself. There was a greater, non-sexual frustration there too- years of Ian's constant presence and affection had made him accustomed to the one-man support system, and he felt bereft without it. The past 10 months had been lonely and difficult, but strangely instructive; the solitude, combined with Ian's at-a-distance support, had taught him how to tend to himself. For the first time in his life, he was healthily self-sufficient.

That didn't stop him virtually itching for Ian to get home, though.

"Listen, dude, call me when Ian gets settled in, OK? Couple days from now, when you two are all reacquainted, make sure the rest of us get to see him, yeah?"

Mickey agreed, and the two of them ended their conversation. He managed to pick at some lunch, and at long last, it was time to drive to the airport. He got there 30 minutes early and proceeded to pace in ambling circles around the arrivals gate, trying as hard as he could to not check the flight board every 10 seconds (and, as the landing time approached, failing miserably).

The flight came in, and still Ian did not appear; he had warned Mickey that the wait to go through customs might be a long one, but that knowledge did not make the time go any faster. When passengers finally started to emerge from the gate, Mickey's heart sped up so suddenly that he could feel his blood rushing through his body. He stepped quickly toward the receiving area, eyes frantically scanning the crowd.