Chapter Text
The picture that caught Ian's attention had been pushed back on the mantelpiece over the years. He smiled as he took it in his hand and ran his thumb across the cold glass in the frame.
The picture was pretty worn. Faded and bent in the middle, the corners scuffed. He could still remember putting the photo in the frame when he found it in the box with his old uniform. He had taken it out of his breast pocket, where it always had a place above his heart. It had been there for years, but when he had it in his hand, he decided it would be nicer to put it into a frame. It was really worn, and yet it was one of his favorite pictures. Mickey looked so happy in it. The teenager, with the ocean-deep blue eyes that he had fallen in love with back then and that he still got lost in so often today. And Ian, grinning like an idiot because Mickey had agreed to take this photo. So many memories were attached to this photo. Even those that Ian had long left behind. Lonely nights in deserts miles away, on camp beds whose mattresses were no thicker than cardboard. Despite all of these memories, or perhaps because of them, Ian loved this photo.
But it had moved far to the back, new frames had been added and almost pushed it out of its place. Photos from the wedding, of them happily looking into each other's eyes and seeing nothing else but their love for each other.
A picture of Mandy and her big belly on the porch of her house. How she grinned and held her middle finger up to the camera. Ian had to smile and remembered the hot afternoon in late summer. Mandy had cursed him and his puppy eyes. Had cursed herself and wondered why she had agreed to be her surrogate mother. Her feet were swollen and her back hurt and she had sworn never to do it again.
A picture of Mandy sitting in her kitchen two years later eating ice cream in the dead of winter since she was craving it because of her pregnancy.
Another picture of Mickey in the hospital with his baby daughter on his bare chest and grinning proudly into the camera. Their firstborn also proudly in Ian's arm next to him.
Alex came into their lives later by chance. He was already 4 when they took him in. Ian had worked as a vet in the army for a few years, then he had done additional training and saved lives as an emergency in a local hospital. Alex's parents died in an accident and he had no other relatives. The adoption had taken almost a year, but finally their life was complete.
There was also a picture of Alex first day of school on the mantelpiece. The dark blue rocket school cone and the gap in his teeth made Ian smile. He thought of the nights when Mickey sat at the kitchen table, his hands full of glue and the floor full of scraps of paper as he eagerly and cursingly made the school cone and Alex's eyes beamed when Mickey finally showed it to him.
A picture of Franny throwing her graduation cap in the air, Lip in the background, applauding with a smile. He had turned things around. Hadn't become like Frank. Had made peace with Ian.
"Hey" strong arms around his middle brought him back to reality from his wandering thoughts.
"Hey" Ian answered gently and put an arm over Mickey's, stroked up to the wrist and intertwined his fingers with Mickey's. On the other hand he was still holding the crumpled photo in the silver frame.
"Nostalgic? Or wistful?" Mickey asked with a warm voice against his neck.
Ian shook his head “None of that. Just-"
"I know," Mickey breathed and kissed his hairline on the back of his neck. Today was the anniversary of the attack.
Ian sighed and put the photo back on the ledge. "We've grown old." He stated and turned around in Mickey's arms to look at him.
Mickey hadn't loosened his grip and grinned as Ian put his forearms on his shoulders.
"You, maybe. I'm still as young as in the picture." Mickey joked, grinning.
"We're not seventeen anymore, Mick." Ian leaned down and kissed him.
Mickey smiled into the kiss. When Ian pulled away, Mickey seemed to see it in his eyes, because Mickey's gaze softened. "Do you need a distraction?" he asked.
"It's been years, Mick. I'm fine." Ian tried to smile, but failed when Mickey's eyebrows shot up. He couldn't fool him.
"Some anniversaries are harder, others are easier. You know that." Mickey smiled, the wrinkles around his eyes the most beautiful thing Ian had ever seen.
Ian nodded and felt Mickey's hands move to his hips. He pulled him close. Mickey's head instinctively buried itself in Ian's neck and they rocked in the living room. Without music, but they had enough imagination to picture it.
"It's been 24 years Mick and it still haunts me." He finally admitted, whispering.
"I know." He said against his chest, his hands on Ian's back, drawing patterns on his spine. Ian's head on the salt and pepper hair.
They rocked past the fireplace. Ian smiled warmly when he saw the picture from last Christmas. The first Christmas with Elli - their granddaughter.
Mickey had played hide and seek with her. Ian had pretended not to see her, winked at Mickey.
They had grown up and had coped with the challenges and hurdles that life had in store for them.
A boy who was once a soldier and a boy who was once a civilian. Now two men who are a family.