Title: Forever
Rating: NC-13 for gay kiss and swearing.
Summary: Over the years, Anthony has had many relationships that have lasted longer or shorter. But as all the girls kept going away, Ian always remained at his side.
Pairing: Ianthony, Dah.
AN: So, here’s my fic for the monthly challenge. I hope you’ll enjoy it. I do love my idea for it, it’s not too cliché. Well, it is, but not in a bad way… Ok. I lost myself there for a moment. Just read it and let me know in the comments if you like :)
Ps: I wrote the fic listening to that song, so maybe you’d love to have it as a background sound. There’s no lyrics. Just music full of beautiful feelings.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fe1dzhY_ps Ps2: Thanks to Vespiquen8 for helping me again in a quick correction of my fic. Thank her too! We love that cute little thing :P
00oo00oo00
Middle school, sixth grade. October.
Anthony was racing in the schoolyard with his friends. The cold wind wasn’t disturbing them from their play, even if the temperature was getting pretty cold. At twelve years old, Anthony really only cared about races, free time and his friends. Screw girls, school and his family. His group of guys were awesome and nothing would ever prove to him that he could be wrong. As he was about to win the race, Anthony looked back at Ian. Ian was a chubby kid who he had gotten paired with for a project about a month ago. After that, they had just kept talking to one another and became best friends.
“Come on Ian!” Anthony called to the breathless boy. “You can do it!”
Ian just smiled with difficulty and Anthony returned to the race, reassured. Speeding up, he passed the people that had went beyond him and won the game.
“I’m the king of the schoolyard!!” Anthony yelled at the sky as his friends were joining him to congratulate him.
“You’re awesome, man!” Ian told him as he finally joined them. “I wish I could run as fast as you.”
“You just need to practice, you know. Then you’d be as awesome as me.”
“You’re right. I should start working out.” Ian sighed, looking at his belly.
Anthony knew he had screwed up with his words to Ian and hurried to reassure his friend. He smiled and patted his friend’s back.
“Come on, Ian. You’re eleven. Fuck your weight.”
The blue eyes of the boy sparkled with emotion and he smiled back at his best friend.
“Thank you An…”
“Anthony?” A girl interrupted him.
The brown hair boy looked at the cute little brunette girl that was now standing in front of him.
“You’re Annie, right?” He asked.
“Yeah, can I talk to you for a second?”
Anthony looked at Ian who just shrugged his shoulders before running away to join their other friends who were about to start another race.
“So, Anthony,” Annie said, getting him out of his thoughts. “I wanted to know if… if you…”
“If I?”
“If you’d want to… be with me…”
“What?” Anthony said. He was kinda lost.
“Like us together…”
“Like a date?”
“Yeah…”
“Ok…”
Anthony didn’t know what to say. He didn’t even really know her anyway. What would he do with a girlfriend? But Annie was in front of him, waiting for an answer.
“I guess I could…” He told her.
After all, Annie was a pretty cool girl for what he knew.
“Really? That’s awesome!! I have to go tell the girls about it!”
Annie grabbed him in a weird hug and then ran away to go look for her friends. The boy just stood there, wondering what to do, when Ian ran up to him.
“Anthony! What just happened? Annie just hugged you!”
“Yeah, I know…”
“So, you two are dating or something?” Ian asked.
“Yeah, I guess.”
“That’s awesome, man. Girls like you!”
“You think?”
“Yeah! But you’re not allowed to leave me for her at lunch. We’re best friends.”
“Why would I ditch you for her? She’s just a girl.”
Ian didn’t respond and just smiled. Anthony smiled back, thinking that the smile of his friend with his chubby cheeks was so cute. He laughed while they returned to hang with their friends before the bell rang.
After school, three hours later:
Anthony was waiting for Ian so they’d walk home together when Annie called his name. He turned to her and went a little worried when he saw her frustrated face.
“Why didn’t you wait for me after class?” She whined at him.
“What? You didn’t tell me I had to do that.”
“Because I thought it was obvious! You’re supposed to eat with me, hold my hand and give me gifts! I’m your girlfriend!”
“What? That’s so stupid. Why would I have to do that?”
Annie took a pause, his eyes starting to get wet.
“I thought you were different, Ant. But you’re just like all the other guys in the class. You don’t know what love is.”
The girl sobbed and ran away, bumping into Ian who was arriving and disappeared.
“Oh my god. Was she crying?” Ian asked his friend.
As they started to walk home, Anthony explained to his friend what had just happened and Ian laughed.
“Oh man, what a bitch! She’s twelve! What did she think you were? The love of her life? Hahaha!”
“Yeah, who even cares about love at our age?”
“Yeah.”
“Hey, I got the new Pokémon game at home. Wanna come over to play with me?”
“Sure!”
They smiled at each other and Anthony hung his arm around Ian’s shoulder while they kept walking, totally forgetting that entire stupid event with Annie.
≈HOURS≈
High school, ninth grade. December.
Anthony closed his locker quickly so that his textbooks wouldn’t fell out. He sighed, grabbed his lunch and tried to ignore Ian who was laughing beside him.
“Dude, you totally need to clean that out!”
“Pff. Look who’s talking.” Anthony groaned as Ian was closing his own locker. “I think I just saw your first lunch of the year in there.”
“I was thinking that it could be useful. “
“Oh yeah? For what?”
“First, if I ever need to miss a class. I could eat it to get sick.”
“Just for thinking that, you’re sick, bro.”
“Or I could throw it at you whenever you piss me off,” Ian joked.
“I didn’t say anything.” The brunette laughed as Ian pushed him gently against the wall of the hallway.
Suddenly, the blue eyes boy stopped to laugh as he was staring at something behind Anthony.
“Ian, what’s wrong?”
“Ok Ant. You’ll never believe it. Guess who’s walking right behind us. If you look, make it quick.”
Anthony looked quickly behind him and stared back at his friend with a totally surprised face. Oh god… It was Maria Stitches. The hottest girl at school. What was she doing here? It was the nerd’s hallway! Not that Ian and Anthony were nerds, but Ian thought that this place was quieter to eat.
“Dude,” Anthony murmured. “I think she’s going to talk to you.”
“What’s that shit coming out of your mouth? Have you fucking looked at me? She’s obviously coming for you.”
“Can you stop being a bitch about your appearance? You look great, okay?”
“Tss, of course.”
Anthony sighed. Ian hadn’t lost his bad impression of himself even though he had started to run cross-country and his body had changed to become more muscular and skinny. To Anthony, Ian looked good, but he was desperate to make it obvious to the runner one day.
“Hey, Anthony,” Maria started as she reached the duo. “Can I talk to you for a second?”
Ian stepped back with a total ‘told you’ face that exasperated Anthony. He’d never get Ian to see himself for who he was. Sighing, he turned to face Maria and smiled at her, wondering what she wanted from him.
“Can I help you?” He asked.
“Ok, I’ll get right to the point. I think you’re pretty handsome and I’m sure you think I am too. So, maybe you’d want to go on a date with me?”
Oh my god. Was Maria really asking him on a date? Was it true or was he dreaming? Clearing his throat, Anthony regained quickly his composure.
“Well, sure. How could I say no?”
“Cool. Just be at my locker after school. Be quick because I won’t wait for you forever.”
“Of course.”
Maria hugged him and kissed his left cheek before leaving with a little wave. Anthony waved back and went after Ian for lunch.
Five days later:
Ian was trying to get himself to leave his computer to go to bed when someone rang at the doorbell. Yawning, he stretched and raised up to get the door. When he opened it, he wondered who the hell it could be since it was almost midnight and his parents weren’t home.
“Anthony?”
His friend was standing in front of him with a sleeping bag, a bag and a pillow.
“Hum… I apologize in advance because, if we had a sleepover, I kinda forgot about it…” Ian said, unsure.
“Can I come in?” Anthony asked with a broken voice, killing instantly Ian’s desire to joke.
“Sure…”
As Anthony entered to house and put his stuff on the ground, Ian noticed his red and swollen eyes.
“Are your parents home?” Anthony asked as he sat on the couch.
“No,” Ian answered, joining him. “They’re at some kind of after wedding party and they won’t be home until… tomorrow night or something like that.”
“Good.”
Anthony sighed, closing his eyes and resting his head on Ian’s shoulder.
“Okay… So… You're staying the night or something?” Ian asked, fearing to hurt his friend's feelings.
“Do you mind?”
“Not at all. But what happened to you?”
“She… Maria dumped me.”
“Oh…”
Ian slowly slung his arm around his shoulder, bringing his friend closer to him, and gently patted his head.
“You were too good for her anyway, man.”
Anthony tried to laugh, but it quickly turned into a sob.
“Can I ask you why?” Ian asked. “You don't need to answer if you don’t want to.”
“Well, since you’re my best friend, I can tell you. I… kinda… refused to have sex with her.”
“You refused to have sex with Maria fucking Stitches?? Dude! She’s like your biggest fantasy!!”
“I know! It’s just that I couldn’t!”
“You couldn’t like… you didn’t get a… Oh.”
Anthony’s face went all red and he looked away quickly.
“It must have been so fucking awkward!” Ian said, holding himself to burst in laugher.
“It was. Believe me. It’s just that I couldn’t stop thinking about you… You know, I ditched you all week for her.”
“Meh, I understand. You were about to get laid with Stitches. So… it that so? She really is that kind of slut?”
“Yeah…”
“See? I was right. She didn’t deserve you. You were too good for her.”
Anthony looked back at Ian as his eyes thanked him for being the best friend in the world, and for understanding what had happened.
≈DAYS≈
High school, twelfth grade, March.
“Hey! Asshole!”
Anthony jumped and filled with fear from the guy who was yelling at him. Ian Hecox. Yeah, that guy was terrifying when he was angry.
“Where the fuck were you last week?” The boy asked, his voice cracking under the frustration. “It’s like you were fucking avoiding me.”
“I… I had a date,” Anthony answered, fearing his friend's reaction.
“Oh really? And calling me to say you wouldn’t be able to come over wasn’t in your plan?”
“I’m sorry, really. I was super busy and everything.”
“Right. Too busy to call your best friend to tell him that you have a fucking date. Understandable.”
“Ian, I…”
“Who is she?”
“Ian…”
“Who is she??”
“Karen Orison.”
Anthony clearly saw something die into the eyes of his friend and the fact that he was obviously trying to hold back his tears.
“Karen Orison? THE Karen Orison?”
“Yeah…”
“The girl I've been in love with since two years ago?”
“Yeah.”
“The same girl that you don’t even like? How… how dare you…”
“Ian, I’m sorry.”
“OH SHUT THE FUCK UP!” Ian yelled, restricting himself with difficulty to not punch Anthony in the face. “Are you at least still going to prom with me?”
Anthony looked down, biting his lips, giving Ian the answer.
“You fucking son of a bitch… You promised me you’d go with me at prom. You cannot drop me like that!”
“Dammit, Ian! Why can’t you just be happy for me??”
“Because you don't have the right to do this to me!”
“Oh right. I forgot that everything here was about YOU!”
Anthony bit his tongue as Ian’s face expressed the purest pain in the world.
“You know what?” Ian started, his face showing that he was on the verge of tears. “You’re right. I’m selfish and I should be happy for you. I hope it’ll work between you and Karen. Oh no, wait. Wrong speech. The one I wanted to tell you is FUCK YOU AND NEVER TALK TO ME AGAIN!!”
Ian gave him the middle finger and ran away before bursting in tears. He didn’t want Anthony to see how much he had been hurt. He decided to skip his last periods and leave the school to go home, trying to forget the horrible pain in his chest.
On his side, Anthony wanted to cry too, but Karen soon arrived and kissed his cheek.
“You okay, Ant?” She asked, holding his hand.
“Yeah… I’ll be okay.”
“Was that your friend? He seemed pretty angry. What happened?”
“He wasn’t my friend. Just forget about it. Come on. We have to go to class.”
Karen shrugged her shoulders and they went to their class together, ignoring what just happened.
A few weeks later, five days before prom.
Ian was driving home, coming back from his last cross-country competition of the year. It was close to eleven and he was getting pretty tired. He finally arrived at his place and parked his car. Turning the motor off, he noticed a shadow in front of the front door. As if someone was sitting there, waiting. Urgh… it’s probably a murderer or something. Ian sighed and slapped himself inwardly. Stop imagining things Ian and just get out of the car! Ian opened his door and got out of his vehicle. Walking to the weird shadow waiting, he recognized Anthony and started to walk back to his car. Well, he tried. Anthony had rose from the ground and caught his wrist, stopping him effectively from leaving further.
“Let me guess,” Ian sighed without looking at him. “She dumped you and you have nowhere else to go besides here.”
Only the silence responded to his words. One minute passed, and neither of them moved. They just stood there not doing anything, feeling the other living beside them, as calm as a desert.
“Are you okay?” Ian asked finally, all emotion gone.
“Depends.”
Ian sighed inwardly. Why were they talking? They were supposed to be mad at each other! Anthony had abandoned him for God's sake.
“Ian…”
Anthony’s voice was calm. Too calm for the situation. Ian finally faced his friend and locked his gaze into his.
“You’re stressed,” he said simply.
Anthony’s face moved from neutral to surprise.
“What? How did you…”
“Because you’re always too calm when you’re about to do something you’re unsure about. Like for an oral or asking somebody out.”
Anthony smiled and Ian almost forgot that they had been mad at each other for weeks.
“I’m only here to tell you that I’m sorry and that I understand if you don’t want to talk to me again. I know I acted like a total ass.”
“You did.”
“I’m sorry, Ian. I really am.”
“Yeah. But you know, bros before hoes.”
“Does that mean...”
“I forgive you. I've wanted to for a while now, but never had the guts to go talk to you.”
“I was about to leave when you arrived so I understand that feeling. I also wanted to ask you one more thing.”
“Which is?”
Ian clearly saw Anthony’s face going red despite the darkness.
“I just don’t want it to sound gay.”
“Well, it’d be less gay if you’d let my wrist go…”
“Oh…”
Anthony released his wrist. He hadn’t noticed he was still holding it. Taking a deep breath, he finally asked.
“Would you like to… go to prom with me?”
They still held the gaze locked in each of the other’s eyes, trying to find a piece of their last friendship, trying to keep believing everything could return like it was before they fought. Before they broke apart.
“Yes,” Ian finally answered. “Yes, I will. But we already have our suits. Do you think we’ll look fine beside each other?”
“We’ll always look fine beside one another.”
They shared a smile, like the old habits were still there, and thought about how much they were glad to be back together.
≈WEEKS≈
Smosh house. May 2012.
Anthony was lying on the couch when Ian came back home. The younger man locked the door behind him and went to the kitchen to find something to eat.
“You won’t find anything, Ian!” Anthony said at his friend. “I ordered pizza and ate it all, since you were supposedly gone for supper with Melanie.”
“Grr. I’m fucking hungry, dude. I need to eat something!”
“I’m sorry,” Anthony said, rising from the couch. “But why are you not with Melanie anyway? Is everything all right?”
“No, nothing is right. Melanie dumped me and I’m hungry. I’m not all right!”
“Well, I’ll go get you some food…”
“You would?” Ian asked with surprise.
“Yeah. I’ve been sitting here for hours. I need to move a bit. Besides, I feel like you need to be alone for a while.”
“Thanks.”
Anthony grabbed his car keys and opened the door. He knew Ian didn’t like it when people were around to see him crying, even if it was just Anthony.
“I’ll be right back.”
“No please. Take your time…”
Anthony shook his head and closed the door behind him, leaving Ian as the he wished.
One hour later.
“Ian?” Anthony called, knocking at Ian's bedroom door.
“You can come in,” Ian replied with a smooth voice. “I’m not… you know… crying.”
Anthony opened the door and entered the room. In the darkness of the place, he was barely able to see Ian sitting on his bed, looking through the window.
“Must be hard for you,” Anthony whispered, intimidated by the darkness. “You too were together for years.”
“Well,” Ian sighed. “That’s probably why I don’t feel too affected. We had the time to… go on our own way. You know. We were slowly going away from each other. I guess this was the time to finally end it.”
“I understand. The same thing happened to me and Kalel,” Anthony said, joining his friend on the bed. “And you know what? While we were together, it just didn’t feel right.”
“Same here. As if something was missing. Like, we weren’t connected like…”
“Like what?”
Ian’s eyes reflected the moon as he turned to Anthony to answer.
“Like you and me.”
As gay as it sounded, none of them thought it was. It was just the right explication for the situation and both understood it without any other thought.
“Hey,” Ian started, breaking the silence. “Did you bring the…”
“The tacos? Yeah. They're right here.”
“Sweet, man! You don’t know how hungry I am!”
They finished off the night, eating their food on Ian’s bed, joking about life and responsibilities before falling asleep together.
≈YEARS≈
Fourth of July, Smosh house:
“Anthony. Hurry up! We need to be there on time!”
“Aww. Come on man!” Anthony complained, “It’s the same shit every year. We go with the neighborhood to the park and watch the fireworks all together. Besides, we still have 30 minutes left.”
“But we need good places!”
“Yeah, right. Let me just finish brushing my teeth.”
Ian sighed inwardly. Anthony was so antisocial sometimes! But hey, at least he was coming with him to the party so Ian had to stop complaining.
“I’m ready,” Anthony announced suddenly, breaking the train of his thought. “You happy?”
“Pff. Yes. Just grab your chair and hurry.”
Ian locked the door behind him and they walked together to the park where most of the neighbors were already there. They found a good spot to sit and waited until the night came. They talked about random topics, greeting the people arriving one after the other.
While it was almost time, Anthony looked at Ian to ask him something, but forgot it the second he saw him. His friend seemed so excited about the party that his face expressed the purest joy in the world. And… it was so cute. Yes, Anthony had just called Ian cute… But it hasn't been the first time. Anyway, Anthony suddenly felt for all the times he'd acted like a jerk while Ian only wanted to have fun and go out.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” Ian asked.
Anthony jumped at Ian’s voice, obviously thinking that his friend wouldn’t have noticed his gaze.
“I… I was just thinking.”
“Thinking about what?”
“Just about the fact that you’re awesome to support me like this. You know, I’m shitty about parties and things in society.”
“Yes, I know… You really don’t wanna be here? Because, we could go back home and have something all private in the backyard.”
“No. You seem too happy here. I don’t wanna spoil your fun.”
“Are you sure?”
Anthony nodded and smiled to reassure Ian and they both returned back to their initial activity. Waiting.
Anthony sighed inwardly with relief. He was so lucky to have Ian. No need to lie. They could just admit what they were thinking and the other would have no judgment on it. And… God, his eyes were so beautiful in the moonlight. What? The darkness was already here?
“Your eyes are beautiful in that light,” Ian said, breaking their silence and ignoring the people around them.
“That’s exactly what I was thinking,” Anthony laughed.
“What? That your eyes are beautiful?”
“No. That you’re beautiful. Not meant to be gay at all.”
“Yeah. That wasn’t gay at all.”
“Oh shut up.”
They laughed and then everyone was interrupted by the host of the neighborhood party who was telling everyone the fireworks were about to begin. Ian moved forward on his chair, like every other normal person on earth, and then the show started.
The first firework made everyone deaf for the rest of the night. Fortunately, the absence of the sound was making every light even more beautiful. At that moment, as Anthony was looking at the red and blue lights in the sky, something broke in his mind and everything became clear. He looked at Ian, at the same time as his friend looked at him too. God. How didn’t he realize it sooner that this man was the one for him? His hands passed behind Ian’s back and neck and he united their lips together. At the second that their mouths brushed the other, all the residual doubt disappeared and they knew it was okay. They knew they were made for each other. It just felt right, all suddenly, the puzzle of life had just found the last piece it needed to finally make sense.
Ian broke the kiss and rested his forehead on Anthony’s. As their gaze locked onto each others, the brunette saw tears escaping from his friend's eyes.
“I love you, Anthony Padilla.”
Anthony didn’t notice he was crying also. He just continued stroking Ian’s hair with love and care.
“I love you too, Ian Hecox.”
≈FOREVER≈
So yeah. That’s my fic for the monthly challenge. I hope you liked it. I do :P Let me know your opinion in the comment and have a nice August! I love you all.
Addicted