Alone Together (Gallavich)

twenty-one

"The fuck are you taking me Gallagher?"

"Just be patient Mick. You'll see."

"Not with this stupid ass blind fold on I won't."

"Shut up asshole, we're almost there."

With a bucket in one hand and a bat in the other, I led Mickey down the sidewalk, walking backwards so that I was facing him, making sure he was going in the right direction and occasionally giving him orders to stop or watch out for a garbage can. I had told Mickey I had a surprise for him and his immediate reaction of course was confusion with a hint of disgust. He tried refusing to come out with me but after fifteen minutes or so of begging, I convinced him to trust me and go along with it. That didn't stop him from making a sarcastic comment or two - or three or seven, but who's counting - about the whole ordeal. I could tell he was still interested though so I proceeded with the plan.

"Ok, stop," I instructed Mickey when we were outside of the gate. "Give me one second."

Once I was able to unlock and swing open the fence, I continued my instructions, now holding the bat and bucket in the same hand.

"Now take my hand," I directed, reaching my hand out in front of Mickey, who still had his blindfold on, for him to grab.

"Fuck no Ian."

"Come on Mickey, there's no one around. It'll be like six fucking seconds. Just do it."

With a clearly dramatized groan, Mickey reluctantly reached out his hand towards mine. I gladly grabbed it and turned back towards the gate, walking onto the field with Mickey in tow. When we got to home plate, I put down the bucket and the bat next to my feet and dropped Mickey's hand.

"Kay, you can take the blind fold off now."

So he did, pulling it over his slicked back hair and rubbing his eyes in adjustment. He looked around confused for a second before noticing the bucket full of baseballs and a six pack of beer on the ground next to me, along with the baseball bat.

"We going back to little league or some shit?"

"Yeah cause I totally want to watch you take a piss on first base again."

"That was fucking legendary, don't even try to question it bitch."

I laughed and reached down for the beers, grabbing two and handing one to Mickey. He took it but gave me a questioning look in the process.

"You sure you should be drinking on your meds?" He asked hesitantly. I simply proceeded to pop the can open and take a sip anyway.

"It's my day off," I responded as Mickey opened his beer and took a sip himself. "It's both our days off."

"And what the fuck exactly is the plan for "our day off" Mr. Comiskey?"

"Well considering I've practically put myself on house arrest the last two weeks unvoluntarily and you've had to deal with my shit, I figured it'd be nice to actually see the sunlight for a change."

"Can't argue that. Your ass is a mother fuckin pain to handle sometimes." A small smirk moved onto Mickey's mouth with the remark, causing me to smile back slightly.

"Alright calm down, this isn't a "shit on Ian" party," I scoffed in response.

"Sorry, I didn't get the memo about what this fucking was yet so I just assumed."

"Thought it'd be fun to have a little batting practice. Person who can hit the furthest ball gets dinner on the house, out of the house."

Mickey's face dropped slightly. It took me a second but eventually I understood his reaction s I felt my heart sink a little.

"Doesn't have to be anything crazy Mick,"
I defended calmly. "I'm not asking you to go on a date with me or whatever. Nothing public, I know. It was a stupid idea anyway."

I took a sip of my beer and looked around at the baseball field, trying not to make eye contact with Mickey even though I could see his face in the corner of my eye and he clearly was following mine.

"It wasn't a stupid idea Ian, I just - " He took a deep breath and ran his hand over his mouth before continuing. "We'll do Burger King or some shit, alright? Nothing crazy, like you said. But something."

"Yeah, that sounds good." I said, feeling better with Mickey's effort to keep my plan alive and do something together outside of the house.

With one last chug of his beer, Mickey chucked his empty can to the side and grabbed the bat from the ground. He looked at the bat in his hands and grinned.

"Not how I originally intended but looks like I'll finally get to beat your gay little ass with this thing afterall," he said smirking, moving the bat around in mock swings.

I put my beer down, grabbed one of the balls from the bucket and made my way to the pitching mound.

"We'll see about that," I called back to Mickey, trying to intimidate him at least a little.

As soon as I released the ball, it was flying back my way with a crack of the bat and a crazy swing from Mickey. I turned around and watched it land right in front of the fence in center field. My jaw basically was on the floor when I looked back over at Mickey who was smiling in the most smug way ever. He reached into the bucket, grabbed another baseball, and threw it at me, already excited to keep going.

"I guess we just did, Tough Guy."