Love Me Like You Do (Ianthony AU)

Chapter 11: Ianthony?

After everyone greeted me with hugs or 'manly' fist bumps and pats on the back we sat down on the couch and the chairs, me on the floor in front of the table of presents. Everyone gestured for me to open one. I hesitated before grabbing a small box that had a tag saying:

To: Mr. Bowl Hair From: Matt :) and David >:)

I rolled my eyes, but kept the smile on my face as I pulled the lid off the box to reveal a Mass Effect t-shirt. I pulled it out of the box and grinned before folding it back up and carefully placing it back in the box. I turned to them and spoke, "thanks you guys! I love it."

They both grinned back at me, David responding. "No problem, man. We knew you'd like it because you never shut up about those games."

I rolled my eyes in fake annoyance and grabbed a small bag from the pile that just had a big heart on it, definitely from Mari. I took out the tissue paper to reveal a beautiful framed photo of Daisy, she was standing in my backyard in the sunlight and was looking up at the sky. The angle the photo was taken at showed the blue sky in background and it was just so beautifully taken. I glanced up at Mari with a smile on my face and happy tears brimming in my eyes. "Thanks so much Mari. When did you even take this photo though?"

"When you left me to dog-sit when you visited your parents for that weekend in September."

"You're sneaky Mari, very sneaky."

"Well I am descended from the ninja's you know," she told me, trying, and failing, to be serious when saying that. 

I shook my head and grabbed another box off the table after carefully setting the picture down on the ground beside me. I was surprised when there was no name or doodle or anything on it. I looked up at Wes, Amra and Josh questioningly, but they all shook their heads. "Not from us dude, it's still on the way here in the mail." I then looked at Dan and Phil but they shook their heads as well. 

I shrugged and lifted the lid off the box to reveal a note stuck on top of a pile of fabric that was a weird yellow-orange color. The note said: 

Dear Blue Eyes,

I figured you would need an actual cat suit for next Halloween . ;)

No. He did not get me a cat costume! I quickly pulled it our of the box and lo-and-behold it was a cat onesie, tail, ears, and paws included. My face heated up in a blush and I heard my friends laughing at the strange gift. I didn't even notice he went out to the car to grab this, he must have done it when everyone was greeting me. Sneaky bastard. 

I quickly shoved it back into the box and put the lid on, hiding it from view. I moved onto the second last gift on the table, which was of course from Melanie. It felt like several frames all wrapped together, more pictures maybe?

To say I was surprised when I unwrapped several drawings of me was an understatement. The first was just a sketch of me as a cartoon with huge anime eyes. The second was me in my cat costume from Halloween, an actual drawing now and I was smiling happily. Third, most surprising to be honest, was a sketch of me and Anthony. From when we first met at the coffee shop, sitting across from each other. It was colored and everything, my face lit with a blush and looking awkward in my uniform and him looking just as confident and mischievous as he was that first day we met that seems so long ago now but wasn't in reality. The only difference between that drawing and the real life meeting was the small heart that was drawn between us as we looked at each other. I set that one down with a tentative smile on my face and felt tears build-up again in my eyes as I looked at the last drawing. It was a drawing of a picture from about a year ago, from Mel's birthday party. I was standing between Mari and Melanie and we all had our arms around each other. But what really made me smile was the pretty writing at the top that said: Ian, Mari & Melanie, best friends forever!

I stood up without a word and grabbed her in a bone-crushing hug. She wrapped her arms around me in return and I could tell she was smiling as she said, "I'm glad you like them, Ian."

"I don't like them, I love them," I told her gently, assuring her of how much I loved them.

I couldn't help but think of the drawing of Anthony and I she'd given me, what's with the heart? 

Does everyone ship this Ianthony?

As I glanced at Anthony over Mel's shoulder I couldn't help but feel like I shipped it myself. 

 A.N: So this story has gotten 800 views! That's amazing so thanks everyone for reading :) This chapter was supposed to be up a few days ago but I was really busy. I'll hopefully have another chapter up within the next 2 days, but I hope you like this mess of a chapter:P