Alone Together (Gallavich)

twenty-two

mickey

Two hours and two beers later, I clearly was victorious in today's activities. Who the fuck knew I could hit a baseball so hard. Ian was definitely not in the best physical or mental state this last month to have any kind of leg up in the challenge but that didn't stop him from getting incredibly into it. He would swing so hard I swear his shoulders could have popped right out of his arms. Everytime, his ball would land about a foot in front of mine and he would just throw me another one, ready to try again. It got to a point where it was clearly frustrating Ian that he just couldn't get his swing to launch the ball far enough so I made sure to end the game before he got anymore upset and worked up, saying I'd pay for dinner anyway considering he brought the beers.

We were walking towards Burger King now, Ian a little past tipsy with the mixture of meds and beer in his blood. The sun was practically gone already even though it was only 5:30, but that's winter in Chicago I guess. Speaking of which, it was freezing outside. Ian and I both had heavy coats on all day but it wasn't enough to keep either of us warm, even after we ran around the baseball field for a few hours. That being said, we made it a point to walk decently fast to the restaurant, begging our legs to take us to a heat source quicker than they were.

On the way there, due to the publicity of the whole escapade, I made sure to keep distance between Ian and I as we walked (really a slow jog) and keep the conversation light. Usually it isn't hard for me to act like a situation is no big deal. Living with a dad like Terry kinda forced you to be able to do that. If he saw any emotion that displeased him, you'd be walking with a limp and blinking through a black eye for the next week and as much as I had gotten used to that too, I'd rather pretend like I felt nothing at all when I needed to than to not be able to move my body. None of that, however, prepared me for moments like this - walking in the wide open streets of Chicago's south side on my way to Burger King with my boyfriend. God, part of my mind flinched at the thought of it all; having a boyfriend, being in public with him, the possibility of getting caught. It wasn't easy to suppress my feelings with him the last few days, especially since part of what kept him sane was being aware of how everyone around him was feeling. It's not even like I wanted to be on top of him all the time, or under him I guess. I could control the lust, hell I'd controlled it for almost two decades around every person who I couldn't fuck, but the care is what fucking got me. All I wanted was for Ian to be happy and smiling and as you'd guess that's extremely fucking hard to ensure when you're avoiding showing any feelings in fear of getting practically murdered by your dad for them.

It didn't matter much I guess. No one had any way of knowing that this was a date; that Ian and I were in any kind of a relationship past neighbors going for a bite. Didn't mean we couldn't have a good time anyways.

We walked up to Burger King eventually, racing inside to escape the cold. Ian grabbed the door for me like the gentleman he was, a smirk on his face.

"After you Good Sir," he slurred in his intoxicated state.

I returned the smile but that was all I gave in to. Like the closeted fuck I was, I just grabbed the other door and opened it for myself, walking in the restaurant ahead of Ian and up to the menu above the front counter. Ian quickly was back behind me, rubbing his hands together and blowing into them in an attempt to bring warmth to himself. My instinct was to reach out and rub my hands with his, doubling the heat, but luckily my brain caught up with my heart and I stopped myself.

"Know what you're gettin Frosty?" I asked the redhead.

"This is Burger King Mickey. Frostys are at Wendy's," he responded, amusingly confident in his snarky comment.

"No, dipshit. Frosty as in the snowman, as in the fucking cold, as in you're freezing your ass off and I wanna know what you're getting so we can finally order and eat." I snipped back at Ian, turning over my shoulder to look at him and ensure that he saw the glare I pointed at him.