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Ian hadn’t seen Mickey in years, not since that last time in prison. Not for a lack of looking, though. A few months after the break up, Ian had gone to the prison to try and patch things up, even if it looked bleak, but Mickey wasn’t in there anymore. The guards told him he’d been released, but no one knew where he was. He tried to call Mandy, but her number was out of service. He went to ask Svet, but it turned out that she had left too somewhere in the few months that he had cut them all off. She didn’t even tell Kev or V, who’d she been living with at the time. She just disappeared — like the rest of the Milkoviches. For these past few years, though, he hadn’t given up. He still searched for any of the Milkoviches — anyone who would know where Mickey could be.
He got a job at a new franchise, making his way up to the lowest position of the marketing team, which was still good considering his lack of college education and high school diploma. They ended up moving him out to their NY branch and he left Chicago with a full heart, excited for this new opportunity. Now he was working in an office in New York, he was living in a pretty decent apartment, and he had plenty of friends. He hadn’t dated anyone in about a year, but he was okay with that. He wished, deep down, that he could still find Mickey, but he was at the point where there wasn’t much hope of that happening.
Earlier that week, he had found out he had gotten a promotion to assistant manager of their marketing team. He was thrilled and immediately called his family to tell them. His friends took him out for drinks to celebrate and he was slightly hungover the next day, which made him all the more nervous because it turns out their CEO wanted to lunch with him to discuss a few things.
He’d heard all about the CEO, mainly because there was a lot of gossip going around about him during lunch. He knew his name was John, he was gay, he was in a relationship for the past few years, and he was hot. The women in the office constantly swooned over the man, all the while wishing he wasn’t gay. Ian just rolled his eyes at everything that was going around about him. The poor guy probably just wanted to live in peace, for fuck’s sake.
‘Ian, you have lunch with him today!’ Ellie cried out as she made her way into the marketing meeting room. She flopped down into her chair, tying her colourful dreads up into a bun. ‘You’re so lucky.’
‘How are you so peppy? You’ve gotta be hung over too. Also, he’s in a relationship; what’s there to be lucky about?’ Ian laughed. ‘Besides, the guy’s my boss.’
‘And also, Ian’s still hung up over his teenage sweetheart,’ Dan, also a member of their team, said as he wandered into the room.
‘Not the point,’ Ian muttered to himself as he edited something in one of the reports sent to him. ‘Can someone tell Ana that she needs to use spellcheck in her reports?’
Ignoring him, Ellie continued, ‘Did you hear about how sweet John is, though? Like, Ian, you couldn’t steal him if you tried, anyway. Dude flew his boyfriend to fucking Paris for their anniversary. Apparently, his boyfriend isn’t exactly a romantic, but John loves to do this shit for him anyway. Once we lunched together and I, being the nosy asshole I am, asked him about his boyfriend. He told me he was once in a relationship that doesn’t exactly sound healthy — Well, he doesn’t see it that way, but John does — and now John just wants to eat—I’m sorry, treat that boy right.’
‘You’re disgusting,’ Dan snickered, before eagerly adding, ‘I once heard him on the phone to his boyfriend. They were cute as fuck — all domestic and shit. I’ve been yelled at by John before, and I never even knew his voice could be that soft. Damn, almost made me wanna go in and bang him.’
‘You’re straight,’ Ian snorted.
Dan nodded. ‘Exactly!’
Suddenly, Ana poked her head in. ‘We talking about John in here?’
Ellie grinned. ‘Always.’
‘Well, we’re talking about John; Ian’s ignoring us and going over your horrible report,’ Dan added.
Ana rolled her eyes. ‘Spellcheck doesn’t do shit. You can barely see the red line!’
‘Well, that’s just not true, is it?’ Ellie laughed. ‘That’s just a flat out lie!’
‘Can we please get into the meeting now?’ Ian sighed, frustrated and really not in the mood to hear about how someone was a doting boyfriend. It hit way too close to home.
‘No way, big man!’ Ellie argued. ‘I’m the manager of this group and I say we talk more about our delicious CEO.’
‘This is why you’re manager.’ Dan grinned. ‘Anyway, I heard that he’s just the most doting boyfriend ever. Now, this could be a rumour, but on their first date, John took him on a helicopter ride above New York. At night. Stars and everything.’
‘Well, the stars weren’t really his doing, were they?’ Ian said flatly.
‘Why you gotta ruin everything with your cynicism?’ Ellie frowned. ‘Besides, I heard about that from the man himself. Apparently, his boyfriend just rolled his eyes and was all “this is way too much”. And that was it for John — true love. I guess he was just glad to find someone who clearly didn’t want him for his money.’
Ian frowned, really not giving a shit about this. ‘Whatever, can we start now, please?’
‘Ugh, fine,’ Ellie sighed.
Ian shook out his hands, trying to ignore how sweaty they were. He was supposed to meet John for lunch down the street, and he was so fucking nervous. What if he completely fucked up? He tried to push those thoughts away and entered the restaurant.
‘Hello, how can I help you?’ a hostess asked with a big smile.
‘Uh, hi, I’ve got a lunch with John Cline?’
‘Oh, right over here,’ the hostess said and gestured for Ian to follow her. As they made their way into another room, that had people in it but not as much as the main floor, she told him, ‘He’s a regular here, and his boyfriend owns the place, so he gets the same table every time. Don’t be nervous, kid. He’s really nice and you’ll do fine.’
Ian smiled awkwardly. ‘You can tell?’
She only smiled back before gesturing to a table. Ian looked over to see his boss sitting there. Ian couldn’t deny, the man was attractive — dark hair, dark eyes, strong jaw. This made him feel even more awkward as he approached. When he finally got to the table, he stuck out his hand.
‘Hello sir, I’m Ian Gallagher?’
John immediately smiled, standing and shaking his head. ‘Yeah, hey, Ian. Nice to meet you! I’ve been hearing great things.’
They both sat down and Ian said, ‘Oh, that’s good to hear.’ He almost wanted to face-palm.
John didn’t seem like he cared, though, he just smiled. ‘I just wanted to have you to lunch to just get a feel of who you are, seeing as you’re moving up in the company. I only want the best people on board in the long run, you understand.’
Ian nodded. ‘Of course, sir.’
‘Please, call me John. Sir makes me feel really old, and I’m only thirty-three.’
Ian cracked a smile. This guy was nice, and easy to talk to. ‘Sure thing, John.’
‘I hope you don’t mind, but I’ve ordered for the both of us. The only way to get off-the-menu is if you know someone, and there’s a dish or two off-the-menu that you have to try.’
Ian nodded. ‘Yeah, I’ve heard your boyfriend owns the place.’
John grinned, seeming excited now that the conversation was on his boyfriend, which was kind of sweet. ‘Yeah, he’s really smart and has a great work ethic. He didn’t have much confidence at first, since he’s from the Southside of Chicago, and no one there ever told him he could do anything he wanted. Obviously, this isn’t true for everyone anywhere, but although it took him a while to get the place off the ground, but he did it — all on his own. He’s amazing at what he does.’
Ian smiled back. ‘Good to hear someone who got out did well. I’m also from the Southside.’
John’s grin grew even wider. ‘What a coincidence! Maybe you know Mickey.’
Almost immediately, Ian’s blood ran cold and his mouth went dry. He just managed to croak out, ‘Mickey Milkovich?’
John nodded. ‘Yeah, did you know him?’
Ian nodded also. ‘Yeah…I did. I was—I was best friends with his sister, Mandy.’
John’s smile dropped and his eyes went cold. ‘Oh…Well…that’s not all that you were, were you?’
Ian’s breath stuttered in his throat and he responded, ‘No, no, that’s not all, sir.’
‘Yeah, I’ve heard about you. Didn’t know your name, until now…but…’ John seemed conflicted, tapping his foot anxiously on the ground. ‘I honestly don’t know what to say, here. This has never happened to me before.’
Ian shook his head. ‘Yeah, no, me neither.’
John licked his lips, leaning in. ‘Look…Mickey doesn’t think your relationship was bad, but I do. I think it was a very unhealthy one and it left him broken, in the end. I worked very hard to break his walls down and get him to trust me. I would appreciate it if you didn’t try and ruin that, because he did love you, but he loves me now and I love him. I really think he could be…you know…it for me.’
Ian frowned. ‘What, are you telling me to stay away from him?’
‘No way!’ John looked disgusted at the very idea. ‘No. I wouldn’t control Mickey’s right to autonomy like that. I’m sure you both probably have a lot to discuss, and it’s fair enough that you see each other again…but if you could try not to actively destroy my relationship, I’d appreciate it.’ John’s gaze wandered and Ian turned to see Mickey talking to someone across the restaurant.
Ian’s breath caught in his throat as he watched Mickey laughing, smiling — happy.
Dude flew his boyfriend to fucking Paris for their anniversary.
I never even knew his voice could be that soft.
True love.
Ian turned back to John. ‘I won’t do anything to your relationship…Mickey deserves better, and I think that’s you. He seems happy and you seem great, so… If you don’t mind, I think I’m gonna go, but I would like to see Mickey again, as a friend.’
John nodded. ‘Of course. I’ll see you in the office tomorrow, Ian. Whenever you want to set up a meeting with Mickey, here’s his number. I’ll let him know so it’s not a total shock.’ He quickly writes down Mickey’s number on the back of a business card, handing it to Ian.
Ian took it with a trembling hand and raced for the exit. At the last moment, his eyes met Mickey’s. Mickey’s eyes widened and Ian just continued on, getting in the first taxi he could see that would take him home. Once he got home, he faced the small cork board where he had the few notes about where Mickey could be, and the one photo he had of him. Removing them all, he tossed them in the wastebasket before pinning the business card in their place.
Sighing, he sat down and ran his hands through his hair.
It was time to give up the search. He’d found Mickey and he was happy. Now all Ian had to do was continue on with his life, maybe even with Mickey as a friend.
It was over.