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Mickey didn't have any fucking clue what he was doing here. Something had to have gone very wrong for him to be at some trendy college bar with Lip Gallagher and his friends.
Ian laughed at something Lip said and Mickey immediately revised his opinion of the situation. Something must have gone very right in his life that he was sitting here with Ian. It was just Lip and the others that he could do without.
"So," one of the girls—Mickey thought her name was Samantha—said leaning in close to him. "What are you studying?"
Mickey barely kept himself from groaning out loud. Why did everyone he meet have to start digging into his life? There was no way he could tell this sorority chick that he was a pimp. "I'm not in fucking college."
"Really?" Samantha leaned closer and laid one of her hands on his arm. She trailed her fingers down to his knuckles and traced the "u" tattoo with one finger. "You're a bit of a bad boy aren't you?"
Mickey yanked his hand away from her and scooted his chair closer to Ian. Those tattoos should be scaring away rich girls, not attracting them. There was something very wrong with these college kids.
Samantha took a large sip of her martini and then leaned forward again, not at all deterred by his obvious disinterest. "Did you get the tattoos in prison?"
Fuck, she was probably one of those girls who wrote letters to prisoners hoping to get a boyfriend. Not that there was anything wrong with that—that was how Mickey's cousin met his wife—but Mickey was the opposite of interested.
"Listen," Mickey said, trying to get her to back off. "I'm seeing someone."
"Where is she?" Samantha winked at him. "She shouldn't let a guy like you out of her sight."
The girl had to be drunk. That was the only explanation because no girl had ever hit on him like this before. It was just his luck that he was stuck sitting next to the drunk girl with a fetish for bad boys.
Mickey sighed. So much of his life had been about staying in the closet that he'd never really thought about the realities of coming out. He'd been stupid enough to think that coming out the one time—in such a dramatic fashion—was all it would take, but the South Side gossip didn't spread this far and Lip hadn't bothered to introduce him as Ian's boyfriend when they'd arrived. Neither he nor Ian fit the stereotype—thank god—so no one realized they were actually together. Mickey was starting to understand that being out meant coming out over and over again and he fucking hated it.
Mickey took a deep breath to steel himself and then grabbed Ian's hand. He avoided looking at anyone as he laced his fingers with Ian's and rested their joined hands visibly on the table. He really hated doing shit like this in public, because it left him feeling exposed in ways that he was not comfortable with, but it was easier than saying the words.
Ian looked over at him with one eyebrow raised. Mickey jerked his head in Samantha's direction and Ian looked past him at the girl who was staring at their hands in surprise. Ian smirked and leaned over until his lips were brushing Mickey's ear. "Girls should flirt with you more often if this is the result."
"Fuck you," Mickey muttered. He could feel his neck flushing, but he wasn't actually sure if it was from embarrassment or the feel of Ian's hot breath teasing his ear.
"I'll let you later," Ian whispered and suddenly Mickey wasn't worried about blushing anymore because all of his blood was running straight to his dick.
Mickey turned his head and quickly pressed his lips against Ian's. It was a barely there brushing of lips but it made his heart race to do it in front of people and when he pulled back Ian's eyes were wide in surprise. That was the first time they'd ever kissed in public outside of Boystown and Ian was probably shocked that Mickey had been the one to initiate it.
To be honest Mickey was kind of shocked too. He blamed it on the blood rushing out of his brain. He shrugged away the sick, nauseated feeling that always came with exposing himself like that and made himself look around the table at all of the curious stares they were receiving from Lip's friends. "Faster than a coming out speech."
"I like it." Ian smiled at him.
"As long as there are no fights, I call it a win." Mickey darted his eyes from face to face. "I'm pretty sure we could take all of these geeks if we had to though."
Ian rolled his eyes. "None of them care."
Ian was right. Everyone was already returning to their conversations as if nothing had happened.
Mickey turned his attention to Samantha and was glad to see that she seemed to have finally gotten the message. She moved out of his personal space and dropped all of the awkward seductive looks.
"You have any brothers?"
Mickey shook his head. "None I'd recommend. Trust me on that."
Samantha grinned at him. "A girl can try."
Mickey pointed across the bar to where a kid with a leather jacket and a Mohawk was playing pool. The guy was obviously trying way too hard to look tough, but that was probably better for Samantha than if she found an actual ex-con. "Maybe you should play a game of pool."
She tilted her head and studied the boy for a minute before standing up and grabbing her martini glass. "That sounds like a wonderful idea."
Mickey watched her put the moves on the Mohawk guy for a few minutes. She was really laying it on thick, but the guy seemed receptive.
"So," Mickey leaned over to whisper in Ian's ear. "About later. How much later are we talking?"
Ian threw his head back and laughed. He squeezed Mickey's hand. "Just let me finish my beer."
Mickey returned the squeeze. Now that he'd declared himself he could probably let go of Ian's hand, but it wasn't actually so bad. He kind of liked having a physical connection to Ian that everyone could see. It let everyone know that they were in this together.
Coming out might suck, but Mickey was glad that he'd never had to do it alone.