Mickey fidgeted about, checked his stolen watch again and again and chewed up the inside of his mouth before he could taste blood on his tongue. The cast had come off his leg and it itched like hell, kind of like when he'd gotten shot. That wound itched as well.

He noticed that there were a lot of women and children standing near him, so he figured that probably meant that he was in the right place. It kind of confirmed it when men in uniform started walking through to greet them.

He didn't know why he was so nervous, but he just couldn't stop fidgeting. Maybe he thought it would be different face to face, that it would all change and that he wouldn't know what to say. God forbid, what if Gallagher didn't know what the fuck to say.

Ian hadn't told his family he was coming home early, he'd worked that out when he'd run into Lip and he'd been all excited about Ian coming home in a few weeks. Mickey didn't know why that made him feel special, but he decided that he wasn't going to hate that feeling.

He yawned and rubbed his eyes, tired because he'd been up almost the entire previous night panicking about whether or not he should go to the airport, whether or not Ian could have changed his mind. He heard a child squeal off to his left and flinched, he hated that sound he decided. He almost bolted.

"You look like you're about to be sick."

Mickey jumped and almost hit the man standing next to him, scowling when he recognised the voice and the face and wondering how the hell he'd managed to be snuck up on. Ian grinned down at him, that smile so completely familiar and the same that it made Mickey's heart stutter inside of his chest.

"Fuck you," he muttered under his breath, because he wasn't good at words or feelings.

He didn't know how to deal with his whole situation.

Beside them someone laughed and a soldier with a small child hanging around his neck smiled at them. "This is your Mickey then?" he asked Ian, laugher still in his voice, "I thought he'd be taller."

Ian grabbed Mickey around the shoulders as he lunged for the guy he didn't know and he stopped, but only because the feel of Ian pressed up behind him was making every nerve in his body catch on fire.

"The fuck did I say about telling people about me, Gallagher, Jesus!" Mickey ground out, glaring at the guy who'd spoken and smirking at the startled look on his face, "This ain't some goddamn fairy tale!"

Behind him Ian laughed and when he found Mickey wasn't actually resisting anymore, nodded to his friend or whatever and started steering Mickey away, an arm slung over his shoulders lazily. Mickey let it rest there for just a few seconds before pulling away, because he was admitting to what he wanted, not announcing his sexuality to the world so he could get his head kicked in.

"Missed you too Mick," Ian told him, smiling and not seeming at all fazed by Ian pulling away from him.

Mickey rolled his eyes but swallowed down his initial impulse to swear at Gallagher over saying that, "I've told you, what's not to miss?" He found that he was oddly pleased with himself when Ian tipped his head back and laughed, loud and throatily. At least something hadn't changed.

"So what now?" Ian asked as they walked out of the airport.

Mickey smirked at him. "Now I'm going to blow you in the car and let you fuck me in the backseat before you make me drive you to go see the rest of your fucking family," he replied bluntly, "Or do you have anything else you'd rather be doing?"

And if Mickey gripped Ian's fingers back for a second when they rested over his on Ian's thigh whilst Mickey was down in the foot well of the car deep-throating the redhead, he'd pass it off as a muscle spasm. Or maybe he wouldn't, it would depend on whether or not Gallagher was stupid enough to fucking comment.