Bloody Knuckles • Gallavich

The Future

He chuckles. "Do I ever have anything to do? What if we got a pack of beers and headed out to the baseball fields?" Mickey asks.

Ian grins and nods. "Yeah, we can head over to the Kash and Grab and get some."

The two boys walk side by side down the sidewalk. It was early spring so the snow was finally melted and made the grass outside turn into a soggy, muddy mess. The sky was slightly clouded and the trees blew in the wind.

Ian leads Ian to the Kash and Grab and pulls the door open, the little bell dinging about as they both walk through. Kash looks up from behind the counter and immediately smiles when he sees Ian. "Hey, Ian," he says, standing up. Kash walks out from behind the counter and smooths his shirt down.

Ian forces a small smile. "Uh, Hey, Kash. Mickey and I were just gonna grab some things from the store."

Kash's eyes switch over to look at Mickey who raises an eyebrow at the older man. "There a problem with that?" He mumbles, folding his arms over his chest.

Kash shakes his head. "No I- I'll be behind the counter when you guys find everything," he mumbles.

"Don't need you anyways, towel head. Not like I'm planning on paying for this shit," he snorts, grabbing one of the small plastic baskets.

Ian hits Mickey in the side. "Mick, it's fine. We're paying for this. I've got cash for it anyway."

Mickey rolls his eyes. "Whatever, you pussy," he teases.

Ian laughs softly. "Sorry that I rather not end up in juvie. And I know you rather not end up there either."

Mickey shrugs. "Then you obviously don't know me. Now, barbecue or cheddar?" Mickey asks, holding up two bags of chips.

Ian smiles. "Definitely barbecue."

Mickey nods and sets the chips into the basket. He also ends up grabbing a case of beer, beef jerky and a can of Pringles. "Anything else you wanna get?"

Ian shakes his head. "No, I think that's good," he says, pulling cash out of his pocket.

"Hey, come on let's just take this shit and go," Mickey encourages.

"No, way. This is where I work, Mickey. I'm not stealing from my place of work," he sighs. Ian grabs the basket from Mickey's hands and against his will, walks it up to the counter.

Kash looks at him from over the counter. "You don't have to pay for this. I can handle it," he says to the younger boy.

"Oh, uh, no it's fine, Kash. I want to pay this time." Before, Ian has no problem with Kash buying him things and giving him free food. But now he was with Mickey and Ian knew this was Kash's way of trying to get him back.

Kash glances over at Mickey as he approaches the counter. "We got a problem here?" Mickey asks, folding his arms over his chest.

Kash frowns a bit and looks between the two before shaking his head. "No, no problem at all," he says, scanning the items.

Mickey smirks. "Good. And while you're at it, why don't you toss in a pack or two of smokes for us?"

Kash reaches behind him and adds a pack of cigarettes to the mix of junk food before producing the price. Ian grabs his money from his pocket and hands it over.

"Here you go," Kash says, handing the bags over. "I'll see you at work tomorrow."

Ian forces a small smile and nods. "Yeah, see you around, Kash," he says. He grabs the bag while Mickey grabs the case of beer and the two of them walk out.
"I can't believe you actually used to fuck with that guy," Mickey mumbles, glancing over at Ian.

He shrugs. "Yeah... I honestly can't believe I was ever in a relationship with him either."

"That's not a fucking relationship. Whatever the fuck you two had was definitely not a relationship," Mickey says.

Ian shrugs. "I know that now. I know what a real relationship is now," he mumbles.

The two boys reach the fence to the dugout. Mickey sets the beer on the other side before hoping it, Ian following behind. "Okay, Fine. Then what is a real relationship?" He asks, carding the beer to the dugout.

"What we have," Ian admits. The words cause Mickey to freeze for a moment. He had considered Ian and him to have a relationship, but he didn't think Ian felt the same. Mickey still believed that as soon as someone better came along, he would get dumped and left behind. Because that was what it was always like for him. His dad had picked drinking and drugs over him. His mom had picked a life free of kids over him. Now he was almost certain that Ian would do the same. "We are in a relationship... aren't we?" Ian asks shyly.

Mickey sets the box down onto the bench before turning to Ian. He grabs him by the hips and gently pushes him up against the fence, kissing him deeply on the lips. Ian grabs the back of the older boy's neck and melts against his lips.

Mickey smiles as he gently pulls back, resting time foreheads together. "Course we are." He backs away from Ian and turns around, grabbing the case of beers. "Want one?"

Ian smiles and rubs his thumb over his bottom lip. "Yeah, grab the box of cigarettes too."

Mickey nods and pulls out a beer along with the pack of cigarettes. "Shotgun," he grins. He reaches into his pocket to pull out a pocket knife. His thumb swipes up, opening the blade and jamming it into the can so that the beer leaks out the side. He places his hand on Ian's back as he moved closer to him and holds the beer against his lips. Ian reaches up to the side and holds onto the can as he downs half of it. He then passes it back over to Mickey who downs the rest of it.

He grins and crushes the can against the concrete wall. "Wanna smoke?" He asks, pulling out two cigarettes. Ian nods and takes one of them.

"Hey, Mick... hypothetically... if you did go to college what would you study?" Ian asks.

Mickey shoots him a look as he lights up their cigarettes. "There isn't even a hypothetical major I would consider because I'm not fucking going."

Ian shakes his head. "Would you at least fucking consider it?" He snaps. "You don't give yourself any props, Mick and I'm sick of it. You never think you will amount to anything because your dad never did, but that's bull crap. Mickey... I know you're smart. Hell, you're better at math than I am. You just don't try. If you were to put yourself out there and try you can get into college. And I know it would be expensive and tough, but I would help you. I just... even if we go out separate ways after high school or whatever, I still wanna help you. I wanna see you get out of this shit hole cause it's what you deserve."

Mickey stays silent for a moment. His cigarette dangled between his lips as he stares down at his feet. "I just... it's hard," he mumbles. "My whole life I've been told I ain't worth shit and at some point, I just started to believe it."

Ian nods a bit and walks over to the bench. He grabs two beer cans, handing one over to Mickey. "How about tonight you spend the night at my place and we can look at community colleges that we both like. I'll help you figure out what major you'd wanna go with. I mean it'll take a while to figure everything out but I think now is a good time to start it."

Mickey cracks open the beer can and plays with the tab. He shrugs. "Yeah... Yeah, okay we can look," he says, swiping his thumb against the side of his nose.

Ian smiles. "Awesome. I'll make sure to grab the laptop from Debbie's room and we can figure it out."

Mickey nods. "Thanks, Ian," he says quietly.

The other boy smiles. "Of course, Mick."