A Friend in Need
Title: A Friend in Need
Author: imsilka
Rating: Adult
Pairing: Ian/Michael
Genre: AU
Disclaimer: Don’t own them, don’t want to. But I wish I could rent Thorpe for at least a day! None of this happened!
Authors Notes: Thank you to my beta readers bitter_femme and soupypictures. Thanks so much for all of your hard work and lovely comments. All mistakes are mine as I do insist on tweaking.
Michael got out of the taxi and unlocked the door to his townhouse. Things couldn’t be much worse. He figured the judge at the hearing for his driver’s license would at least let him drive to school and practice but the judge didn’t seem to think that was necessary. He told Michael that he had enough money; he could use some of it on taxi fares when he needed to get somewhere he couldn’t walk to.
His bleak thoughts were interrupted by the sound of his phone ringing.
Michael looked at the phone like it was an alien bug. He hoped it wasn’t Bob calling. He didn’t need that right now. Sighing he picked it up, “Yeah, Phelps.”
“Hey, are you up for a friendly shoulder?” Ian Thorpe’s smooth Australian accent floated over the line. “I’m in town and I’d like to see you.”
Michael froze for a second in disbelief. His pulse started pounding like he was in the middle of a race. Taking a deep breath he answered, "Sure, that'd be fine. Do you need directions?"
“No, I think the taxi driver can find it. See you in a bit.”
The phone line went dead and Michael’s bleak thoughts returned along with a new one.
Fuck! Ian is coming here. What does he want and how does he know where I live?
Michael replaced the phone in its cradle carefully. He felt like he was coming apart at the seams. He bounced between despair over the hearing and elation at the thought of seeing Ian again. Then he went back to despair again.
Oh, God. Ian’s coming here. Breathe, yeah breathe. It’ll be ok. I can do this, just breathe.
Ten minutes later, his doorbell rang. He opened the door to find Thorpe slouching on his doorstep with a smirk on his face.
Ian stepped through the doorway and enveloped Michael in a hug.
“So, how did it go? I talked to your Mom earlier and she said you were feeling a bit low.”
Michael pulled back and held Ian at arms length. “So why are you here?”
“I was in New York on business and decided to make a short detour to see you. I heard about your hearing and thought you might need to see a friendly face. I can’t stay long, only a couple of hours.”
A few minutes later found them ensconced on the couch, cold bottles of water in hand pulled from Michael’s fridge.
“Damn, I still can’t believe it. I didn’t think he’d take my license away completely! A whole year! Jeez.”
“It’s not all bad, think of all the gasoline money you’ll save.” Ian grinned at him and reached over to rub Michael’s back.
Michael pulled away and retreated to the end of the couch.
“It’s been awhile since Athens. I figured you would have called at least once. I know I tried to call you several times.” Ian said softly, frowning as Michael moved away.
“Yeah, I know. I figured Athens was just a one-time deal, you know? I have a girlfriend.”
“So, Mikey, where is she? How come I’m here and she’s not?”
Michael knew exactly where she was or rather why she wasn’t here. After his arrest she’d tried to be supportive. Michael couldn’t fault her on that. But after awhile she started making excuses not to see him. When he called her on it, she told him that she just couldn’t be second in his life anymore. If swimming or college had been first she could have understood but they weren’t. She just couldn’t compete with a memory.
“Well, actually if you want to know the truth, she broke up with me.” Michael took a long pull on his water and glanced sideways at Ian. “She said I didn’t seem interested enough in her.”
Ian chuckled, “No I don’t suppose you were. We both know which way your tastes really run.”
Yeah, Michael thought, my tastes run toward tall blonde men with incredible bodies.
At Michael’s silence, Ian started speaking slowly. “I thought we had a chance. I didn’t understand why you left without saying anything. It wasn’t just a fling for me. I’d really like to know what happened.”
Michael let his mind drift back to Athens. They hadn’t met in Athens, they’d seen each other before at other meets, but Athens was really where it all happened.
***
Michael lay on his stomach on the bed, the controller to his Playstation clutched in his hands. He wasn’t doing too well at his game; his mind just wasn’t on it. It was actually out partying with his teammates. It was a real bitch being well known sometimes. He knew if he’d gone with them there would have been a mob scene. No one would have had fun then, so he just stayed in his room playing games like a high school kid not allowed out after nine. It was almost a relief when the phone rang.
“Hello?”
“Hey, Sweetie! How’s my favorite gold medal-winning son?” The noise of a party could be heard in the background.
“Hey, Mom. Umm. You do know I’m your only son right? Unless there’s something you want to tell me?” Michael sighed into the phone. At least his mom hadn’t forgotten him.
“Why are you still in your room, honey? I figured you’d be down here celebrating with the rest of your team.”
Michael rolled over on the bed to stare at the ceiling, “Can’t. I get mobbed whenever I leave the village.”
“Well then, I’m going to send you an escape artist. This person is an absolute master. So pay attention, there’s going to be a test later!”
Michael heard a click and the phone went dead. She hung up on me! Michael put the phone back on the hook and started his game again. He didn’t know who his mom was sending but he’d have to be Houdini to get past the crowds that always seemed to lay in wait for Michael these days.
He didn’t know how much time had passed when he heard the soft knock on his door. Tossing the controller in a corner he got off the bed and opened the door to find Ian Thorpe leaning against the door jam.
“Hey, ready to go?” Ian smirked.
Michael thought he was going to melt into a puddle. He’d had a crush on Ian for ages. He didn’t think it was a coincidence that his mom had sent him. He figured that his mom knew that on a Kinsey scale of 1 to 6 with 1 being totally straight and 6 being totally gay, Michael was a 3 or a 4.
“Yeah, let me grab a hat.” Michael reached for one of his ever-present ball caps and pushed it on his head. As they walked out the door Ian slung his arm companionably around Michael’s shoulders.
The next week was spent in Ian’s company. He took Michael to all the places that the general public had never heard of, where a couple of guys could get to know each other well without prying eyes. The days were mostly spent in private hideaways where they got to know each other’s bodies. By the end of the week Michael was pretty sure he was falling in love.
Michael pulled open the door to the Aussies’ apartments in the village. The bright sunlight made the hallway as dark as a cave. He heard one of the doors open and the light coming out of the apartment lit the man coming out. It was Pieter van den Hoogenband. Pieter was blocking Michael’s view of the man who followed him to the door. As Michael watched, they kissed passionately then Pieter turned and went down the hallway in the opposite direction and the door to the room closed. Neither he nor the other man in the doorway had seen Michael in the shadows. Time seemed to slow down. Michael recognized the room that Pieter came out of. It was Ian’s. He knew that Ian and Pieter had once been lovers, now it seemed to him that they still were. He couldn’t breathe. Silently, he willed his frozen limbs to move and turned around and went back to his room. He hadn’t seen Ian again until today.
***
Ian had stopped speaking so Michael gathered his courage and turned to confront him, “I saw you and Pieter in Athens. I saw you kissing him outside your room on the day of the closing ceremonies.”
“Whaaat?” Ian seemed totally confused, “I never kissed Pieter in Athens. We were finished long before then.”
“I saw you! How can you deny it?” Michael was vehement in his accusation.
“Listen, I think I would remember kissing someone. The only one I kissed in Athens was you.” Frown lines ran across Ian’s forehead as he tried to remember the events of that night.
“I was in the hallway, I saw you. Don’t lie and make it worse.” Michael was starting to tremble. He couldn’t believe that Ian would deny it.
“Are you sure it was me? Unless I’ve totally lost it, I really don’t remember kissing anyone outside my room. Let alone Pieter.” Ian’s face lit up as a thought occurred to him. “In fact, that’s when…”
“Come off it! I went to your room to see you before the closing ceremonies and he came out of your room and laid one on you. Practically bent you over.”
“No wait! Let me finish!” Ian was excited now, “That’s when my roommate Grant started seeing Pieter. You didn’t see me with Pieter, you saw Grant!”
“Grant? So you’re saying that Grant and Pieter were making out in front of you? In your room.”
“No, Grant had kicked me out earlier, said Pieter was coming over. I was in the commissary getting something to eat. I didn’t get back to the room until about fifteen minutes before we left for the ceremony.”
Now that Michael really thought about it, he hadn’t seen the face of the person that Pieter had been kissing. Coming from the bright sunlight he could only tell that the man had been tall and they had been standing in Ian’s doorway; which was also Grant’s.
A feeling of joy shot through Michael, Ian hadn’t been cheating on him. It was Grant that had been kissing Pieter in the doorway!
“I can’t believe it, all this time you thought I was cheating on you?”
Michael ducked his head and nodded silently. He now felt completely stupid. Why hadn’t he checked? He’d blindly gone with what he thought he’d seen and hurt both of them.
Ian smiled brilliantly at Michael, “I can’t believe that you mistook a bald Grant Hackett for me.”
“Speaking of which, what the hell did you do to your hair? I can’t believe you actually paid someone to do that to you! Dude, you really need a new stylist.” Michael grinned back.
“I just dyed it black and got oil treatments. Bleaching it blonde really dried it out and I was ready for something different since you didn’t seem to care for blondes.” Ian stuck out his lower lip and pretended to pout.
“Who said I don’t like blondes? Besides, aren’t you supposed to wash the oil out of your hair?” Michael continued to tease Ian. He was feeling much better now and hope had started to be renewed in him.
“I did!” retorted Ian, “It’s just that my hair is really finely textured and I’m not using any styling products anymore. It just looks oily.”
“Sure, I bet you say that to all the boys.” Michael reached out a hand to run his fingers through Ian’s hair. “Gotta say though, it really is soft.”
Ian scooted closer to Michael, “So, are you interested again?”
“Never was not interested. Just didn’t think there was a future for us.” Michael had a bemused smile on his face as his fingers continued to thread through Ian’s hair. “I did miss you, you know. Just didn’t want my heart stomped on and you did call me an idiot.”
“Well, you were drink driving. Not a very smart thing to do.” Ian leaned in and captured Michael’s mouth with a soft kiss.
“Yeah, I know. I learned my le… oh!” Michael gasped as Ian’s tongue found his ear.
Ian moved closer still to Michael. As his lips started doing devastating things to Michael’s ears and neck, his hands moved randomly across his chest.
The next few minutes were filled with sighs and moans as the two lovers relearned the taste of each other’s kiss.
“Let’s move this to your bed shall we? I really didn’t plan this but I missed you so much.” Ian kept his hands busy removing Michael’s shirt.
“Yes, we should.” Michael’s hands were also busy having moved from Ian’s hair to slip under his shirt to rub Ian’s nipples.
Michael heaved himself up from the couch with difficulty then reached out for Ian’s hand to pull him up too. They climbed the stairs to Michael’s bedroom where Michael opened the door and pulled him in.
Ian pulled Michael to him, capturing his mouth in a searing kiss. His tongue demanded and was granted entry. Having already dispatched Michael’s shirt, he backed Michael to the bed and after Michael was seated on the edge, he proceeded to remove Michael’s shoes and socks. Pulling him back to his feet he reached for the waistband of Michael’s slacks and unbuttoned and unzipped them. He slid his hands beneath the stretchy waistband of Michael’s shorts and pushed them and the slacks over Michael’s hips careful to pull them away from Michael’s erection.
Having completed divesting Michael of his clothes he made short work of his own as Michael lay back on the bed and reached into the nightstand for the lube. Ian climbed on the bed and positioned himself between Michael’s knees. Taking the tube of lube from Michael he quickly prepared his lover for entry.
He fucked like he swam, with long seemingly slow strokes that captured a lot of water. He arched his back and drove into Michael, each time hitting his prostate in just the right way. Michael’s body shuddered, his legs jerking with the intensity of his orgasm, his anus fluttering strongly around Ian’s cock. His scream of release ripped through the air as his come coated both of their stomachs. Ian thrust a few more times and came deep in Michael’s rectum. He leaned down and kissed Michael on the mouth deeply then slowly rolled to the side letting his softened cock slide from Michael’s body.
*******
Ian got out of the shower, dried himself off and wrapped the towel around his hips. He looked over at the bed where Michael was lying on his side staring at the wall.
“Alright then?” he asked, patting Michael on the thigh as he sat down on the bed.
“Yeah, I, yeah, I’m fine.”
“I’ve got to go now. My plane leaves in a little over an hour.”
“Yeah, sure, I mean, yeah. Will you call?” Michael swung his legs to the side of the bed and sat up, looking at the floor afraid to see the look in Ian’s eyes.
“Hey, Babe. Of course I’ll call. I didn’t come all this way just to leave you. I came because I care about you. Now that we have things straightened out between us I don’t intend to let you go. You know you can call me anytime it gets too much for you. Or if you just want to talk. I’m always happy to hear from you, you know that.” Ian slid over on the bed and tilting Michael’s chin up with his hand leaned down and kissed him on the mouth. Putting his arms around him, he hugged Michael to him and smiled when Michael’s arms came up to return the hug.
“Right.” Ian leaned back, ruffled Michael’s hair and kissed him on the forehead. “It’ll be fine you’ll see. I’m only a phone call away.”
Fifteen minutes later Michael stood in his doorway as the taxi Ian was in pulled away. He heaved a sigh and closed the door. Yeah, Ian was right, it would be ok. But what he’d save in gasoline he’d spend in phone calls to Australia.
~fin~
Author: imsilka
Rating: Adult
Pairing: Ian/Michael
Genre: AU
Disclaimer: Don’t own them, don’t want to. But I wish I could rent Thorpe for at least a day! None of this happened!
Authors Notes: Thank you to my beta readers bitter_femme and soupypictures. Thanks so much for all of your hard work and lovely comments. All mistakes are mine as I do insist on tweaking.
Michael got out of the taxi and unlocked the door to his townhouse. Things couldn’t be much worse. He figured the judge at the hearing for his driver’s license would at least let him drive to school and practice but the judge didn’t seem to think that was necessary. He told Michael that he had enough money; he could use some of it on taxi fares when he needed to get somewhere he couldn’t walk to.
His bleak thoughts were interrupted by the sound of his phone ringing.
Michael looked at the phone like it was an alien bug. He hoped it wasn’t Bob calling. He didn’t need that right now. Sighing he picked it up, “Yeah, Phelps.”
“Hey, are you up for a friendly shoulder?” Ian Thorpe’s smooth Australian accent floated over the line. “I’m in town and I’d like to see you.”
Michael froze for a second in disbelief. His pulse started pounding like he was in the middle of a race. Taking a deep breath he answered, "Sure, that'd be fine. Do you need directions?"
“No, I think the taxi driver can find it. See you in a bit.”
The phone line went dead and Michael’s bleak thoughts returned along with a new one.
Fuck! Ian is coming here. What does he want and how does he know where I live?
Michael replaced the phone in its cradle carefully. He felt like he was coming apart at the seams. He bounced between despair over the hearing and elation at the thought of seeing Ian again. Then he went back to despair again.
Oh, God. Ian’s coming here. Breathe, yeah breathe. It’ll be ok. I can do this, just breathe.
Ten minutes later, his doorbell rang. He opened the door to find Thorpe slouching on his doorstep with a smirk on his face.
Ian stepped through the doorway and enveloped Michael in a hug.
“So, how did it go? I talked to your Mom earlier and she said you were feeling a bit low.”
Michael pulled back and held Ian at arms length. “So why are you here?”
“I was in New York on business and decided to make a short detour to see you. I heard about your hearing and thought you might need to see a friendly face. I can’t stay long, only a couple of hours.”
A few minutes later found them ensconced on the couch, cold bottles of water in hand pulled from Michael’s fridge.
“Damn, I still can’t believe it. I didn’t think he’d take my license away completely! A whole year! Jeez.”
“It’s not all bad, think of all the gasoline money you’ll save.” Ian grinned at him and reached over to rub Michael’s back.
Michael pulled away and retreated to the end of the couch.
“It’s been awhile since Athens. I figured you would have called at least once. I know I tried to call you several times.” Ian said softly, frowning as Michael moved away.
“Yeah, I know. I figured Athens was just a one-time deal, you know? I have a girlfriend.”
“So, Mikey, where is she? How come I’m here and she’s not?”
Michael knew exactly where she was or rather why she wasn’t here. After his arrest she’d tried to be supportive. Michael couldn’t fault her on that. But after awhile she started making excuses not to see him. When he called her on it, she told him that she just couldn’t be second in his life anymore. If swimming or college had been first she could have understood but they weren’t. She just couldn’t compete with a memory.
“Well, actually if you want to know the truth, she broke up with me.” Michael took a long pull on his water and glanced sideways at Ian. “She said I didn’t seem interested enough in her.”
Ian chuckled, “No I don’t suppose you were. We both know which way your tastes really run.”
Yeah, Michael thought, my tastes run toward tall blonde men with incredible bodies.
At Michael’s silence, Ian started speaking slowly. “I thought we had a chance. I didn’t understand why you left without saying anything. It wasn’t just a fling for me. I’d really like to know what happened.”
Michael let his mind drift back to Athens. They hadn’t met in Athens, they’d seen each other before at other meets, but Athens was really where it all happened.
***
Michael lay on his stomach on the bed, the controller to his Playstation clutched in his hands. He wasn’t doing too well at his game; his mind just wasn’t on it. It was actually out partying with his teammates. It was a real bitch being well known sometimes. He knew if he’d gone with them there would have been a mob scene. No one would have had fun then, so he just stayed in his room playing games like a high school kid not allowed out after nine. It was almost a relief when the phone rang.
“Hello?”
“Hey, Sweetie! How’s my favorite gold medal-winning son?” The noise of a party could be heard in the background.
“Hey, Mom. Umm. You do know I’m your only son right? Unless there’s something you want to tell me?” Michael sighed into the phone. At least his mom hadn’t forgotten him.
“Why are you still in your room, honey? I figured you’d be down here celebrating with the rest of your team.”
Michael rolled over on the bed to stare at the ceiling, “Can’t. I get mobbed whenever I leave the village.”
“Well then, I’m going to send you an escape artist. This person is an absolute master. So pay attention, there’s going to be a test later!”
Michael heard a click and the phone went dead. She hung up on me! Michael put the phone back on the hook and started his game again. He didn’t know who his mom was sending but he’d have to be Houdini to get past the crowds that always seemed to lay in wait for Michael these days.
He didn’t know how much time had passed when he heard the soft knock on his door. Tossing the controller in a corner he got off the bed and opened the door to find Ian Thorpe leaning against the door jam.
“Hey, ready to go?” Ian smirked.
Michael thought he was going to melt into a puddle. He’d had a crush on Ian for ages. He didn’t think it was a coincidence that his mom had sent him. He figured that his mom knew that on a Kinsey scale of 1 to 6 with 1 being totally straight and 6 being totally gay, Michael was a 3 or a 4.
“Yeah, let me grab a hat.” Michael reached for one of his ever-present ball caps and pushed it on his head. As they walked out the door Ian slung his arm companionably around Michael’s shoulders.
The next week was spent in Ian’s company. He took Michael to all the places that the general public had never heard of, where a couple of guys could get to know each other well without prying eyes. The days were mostly spent in private hideaways where they got to know each other’s bodies. By the end of the week Michael was pretty sure he was falling in love.
Michael pulled open the door to the Aussies’ apartments in the village. The bright sunlight made the hallway as dark as a cave. He heard one of the doors open and the light coming out of the apartment lit the man coming out. It was Pieter van den Hoogenband. Pieter was blocking Michael’s view of the man who followed him to the door. As Michael watched, they kissed passionately then Pieter turned and went down the hallway in the opposite direction and the door to the room closed. Neither he nor the other man in the doorway had seen Michael in the shadows. Time seemed to slow down. Michael recognized the room that Pieter came out of. It was Ian’s. He knew that Ian and Pieter had once been lovers, now it seemed to him that they still were. He couldn’t breathe. Silently, he willed his frozen limbs to move and turned around and went back to his room. He hadn’t seen Ian again until today.
***
Ian had stopped speaking so Michael gathered his courage and turned to confront him, “I saw you and Pieter in Athens. I saw you kissing him outside your room on the day of the closing ceremonies.”
“Whaaat?” Ian seemed totally confused, “I never kissed Pieter in Athens. We were finished long before then.”
“I saw you! How can you deny it?” Michael was vehement in his accusation.
“Listen, I think I would remember kissing someone. The only one I kissed in Athens was you.” Frown lines ran across Ian’s forehead as he tried to remember the events of that night.
“I was in the hallway, I saw you. Don’t lie and make it worse.” Michael was starting to tremble. He couldn’t believe that Ian would deny it.
“Are you sure it was me? Unless I’ve totally lost it, I really don’t remember kissing anyone outside my room. Let alone Pieter.” Ian’s face lit up as a thought occurred to him. “In fact, that’s when…”
“Come off it! I went to your room to see you before the closing ceremonies and he came out of your room and laid one on you. Practically bent you over.”
“No wait! Let me finish!” Ian was excited now, “That’s when my roommate Grant started seeing Pieter. You didn’t see me with Pieter, you saw Grant!”
“Grant? So you’re saying that Grant and Pieter were making out in front of you? In your room.”
“No, Grant had kicked me out earlier, said Pieter was coming over. I was in the commissary getting something to eat. I didn’t get back to the room until about fifteen minutes before we left for the ceremony.”
Now that Michael really thought about it, he hadn’t seen the face of the person that Pieter had been kissing. Coming from the bright sunlight he could only tell that the man had been tall and they had been standing in Ian’s doorway; which was also Grant’s.
A feeling of joy shot through Michael, Ian hadn’t been cheating on him. It was Grant that had been kissing Pieter in the doorway!
“I can’t believe it, all this time you thought I was cheating on you?”
Michael ducked his head and nodded silently. He now felt completely stupid. Why hadn’t he checked? He’d blindly gone with what he thought he’d seen and hurt both of them.
Ian smiled brilliantly at Michael, “I can’t believe that you mistook a bald Grant Hackett for me.”
“Speaking of which, what the hell did you do to your hair? I can’t believe you actually paid someone to do that to you! Dude, you really need a new stylist.” Michael grinned back.
“I just dyed it black and got oil treatments. Bleaching it blonde really dried it out and I was ready for something different since you didn’t seem to care for blondes.” Ian stuck out his lower lip and pretended to pout.
“Who said I don’t like blondes? Besides, aren’t you supposed to wash the oil out of your hair?” Michael continued to tease Ian. He was feeling much better now and hope had started to be renewed in him.
“I did!” retorted Ian, “It’s just that my hair is really finely textured and I’m not using any styling products anymore. It just looks oily.”
“Sure, I bet you say that to all the boys.” Michael reached out a hand to run his fingers through Ian’s hair. “Gotta say though, it really is soft.”
Ian scooted closer to Michael, “So, are you interested again?”
“Never was not interested. Just didn’t think there was a future for us.” Michael had a bemused smile on his face as his fingers continued to thread through Ian’s hair. “I did miss you, you know. Just didn’t want my heart stomped on and you did call me an idiot.”
“Well, you were drink driving. Not a very smart thing to do.” Ian leaned in and captured Michael’s mouth with a soft kiss.
“Yeah, I know. I learned my le… oh!” Michael gasped as Ian’s tongue found his ear.
Ian moved closer still to Michael. As his lips started doing devastating things to Michael’s ears and neck, his hands moved randomly across his chest.
The next few minutes were filled with sighs and moans as the two lovers relearned the taste of each other’s kiss.
“Let’s move this to your bed shall we? I really didn’t plan this but I missed you so much.” Ian kept his hands busy removing Michael’s shirt.
“Yes, we should.” Michael’s hands were also busy having moved from Ian’s hair to slip under his shirt to rub Ian’s nipples.
Michael heaved himself up from the couch with difficulty then reached out for Ian’s hand to pull him up too. They climbed the stairs to Michael’s bedroom where Michael opened the door and pulled him in.
Ian pulled Michael to him, capturing his mouth in a searing kiss. His tongue demanded and was granted entry. Having already dispatched Michael’s shirt, he backed Michael to the bed and after Michael was seated on the edge, he proceeded to remove Michael’s shoes and socks. Pulling him back to his feet he reached for the waistband of Michael’s slacks and unbuttoned and unzipped them. He slid his hands beneath the stretchy waistband of Michael’s shorts and pushed them and the slacks over Michael’s hips careful to pull them away from Michael’s erection.
Having completed divesting Michael of his clothes he made short work of his own as Michael lay back on the bed and reached into the nightstand for the lube. Ian climbed on the bed and positioned himself between Michael’s knees. Taking the tube of lube from Michael he quickly prepared his lover for entry.
He fucked like he swam, with long seemingly slow strokes that captured a lot of water. He arched his back and drove into Michael, each time hitting his prostate in just the right way. Michael’s body shuddered, his legs jerking with the intensity of his orgasm, his anus fluttering strongly around Ian’s cock. His scream of release ripped through the air as his come coated both of their stomachs. Ian thrust a few more times and came deep in Michael’s rectum. He leaned down and kissed Michael on the mouth deeply then slowly rolled to the side letting his softened cock slide from Michael’s body.
*******
Ian got out of the shower, dried himself off and wrapped the towel around his hips. He looked over at the bed where Michael was lying on his side staring at the wall.
“Alright then?” he asked, patting Michael on the thigh as he sat down on the bed.
“Yeah, I, yeah, I’m fine.”
“I’ve got to go now. My plane leaves in a little over an hour.”
“Yeah, sure, I mean, yeah. Will you call?” Michael swung his legs to the side of the bed and sat up, looking at the floor afraid to see the look in Ian’s eyes.
“Hey, Babe. Of course I’ll call. I didn’t come all this way just to leave you. I came because I care about you. Now that we have things straightened out between us I don’t intend to let you go. You know you can call me anytime it gets too much for you. Or if you just want to talk. I’m always happy to hear from you, you know that.” Ian slid over on the bed and tilting Michael’s chin up with his hand leaned down and kissed him on the mouth. Putting his arms around him, he hugged Michael to him and smiled when Michael’s arms came up to return the hug.
“Right.” Ian leaned back, ruffled Michael’s hair and kissed him on the forehead. “It’ll be fine you’ll see. I’m only a phone call away.”
Fifteen minutes later Michael stood in his doorway as the taxi Ian was in pulled away. He heaved a sigh and closed the door. Yeah, Ian was right, it would be ok. But what he’d save in gasoline he’d spend in phone calls to Australia.
~fin~