Did you see that dog? Who: Ronnie & Mikey What: A conversation about important stuff When: Present, evening Where: Ronnie’s trailer Rating: Low Status: Complete
Ouch
Ouch.
Ronnie had never been the type not to step in and help in a situation if it was something he knew he could assist with that was beneficial to the ailing situation.
Taking another shift so someone could go home because of an emergency unforeseen, mowing a yard for a neighbor who may be sick. Assisting an animal from impending doom.
It was this latter event that brought about the state of pain he was currently in.
The dog wasn’t big at all; it had a collar, seemed to belong to someone that took care of it, and how it ended up in the middle of the street he didn’t know. But he couldn’t just go by and leave it there. It seemed lost. The animal had sat down in the center of the two lane road and Ronnie spotted it, fortunately, before it was in danger. It wasn’t like the street was a highway with a lot of cars but still.
“Hey little fella,” he started, approaching the animal cautiously. Ronnie managed to grab hold of it gently and while he was expecting the animal to be frightened, he wasn’t expecting the result.
By the time he got the pup to the roadside he was sporting a bite on an upper arm. It smarted, ached, and there were tiny teeth prints embedded in his skin but fortunately he wasn’t bleeding.
Frustrated, he drove home. His arm ached but he felt like his inside hurt a bit more. He’d only been trying to help.
Out of the truck, he made his way into the trailer, palm over his opposite forearm to put pressure on the area. As if that would help.
Mikey was on his way over to Ronnie’s -- they were due to look at some listings of places -- and got a short text with a ‘got to be a dog’s chew toy today ow ow ow’ followed by a frowny face and a picture that showed an arm that was red, but thankfully not bloody.
He drove the rest of the way there with a frown on his own face, and swung out of the cab. “Hey, gorgeous,” he called out as he walked up the stairs, “m’ here. How’re you?”
By the time the blonde arrived, Ronnie was sitting on the couch. His shoes had been left in the usual pile by the door, socked feet buried in the split of the cushion. His arm still hurt. But the task ahead made him feel a bit better considering he and Mikey would be looking at a few places for the eventual move.
It was a subject that was on his mind daily - where, why, the pros and cons. It wasn’t necessarily about the how but he did know it needed to be a mutual decision. He had asked Mikey to move in, after all, and that meant they both had to love whatever place they ended up in.
“Hey babe,” Ronnie called from his place on the couch. He moved to get up, padded to the screened door and pushed it open for the other man. “I’m way better now.” He laughed then grinned, beckoning Mikey inside.
Mikey paused in the doorway, and took Ronnie’s arm, sniffing it carefully -- no breaks in the skin, although he could smell the start of a bruise. He kissed it gently. “The dog okay?” He asked as they made their way inside. “Didn’t see it driving in.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Ronnie said. He couldn’t help the grin as Mikey kissed the spot tenderly. There was so much love in his heart for this man he found himself suffocated by it. “Got it out of the street. I think it took off after that.” For what it was worth, he hoped the little thing was okay and had found its way back home or to some place where it would be out of the way of traffic.
Once they were inside he closed the door behind the pair of them.
“Have a good day?” As soon as the question was out he pulled Mikey into his arms and held on to him. Missing someone was hard.
“We should send out a notice on Facebook or somethin’ in case someone’s missing him,” Mikey replied. “And yeah,” he added, feeling how close Ronnie was holding him, and holding him close right back. “Yeah, I’m good. Even better now. You?” He rubbed a cheek against Ronnie’s head.
“I’ll let you try to catch him this time,” Ronnie laughed. He would take pictures from afar if he saw the little dog again but he wasn’t going to risk another dog bite.
“Me too. I’m always glad when you’re around, babe. Maybe it’s cheesy but I miss you when you’re not here.” He leaned in for a kiss and then took Mikey by the hand, heading for the couch. “I looked at a few places earlier,” he mentioned, flopping down on the couch. A second to pick up his phone and he was scrolling through a few listings.
“Those little guys hate me,” Mikey replied. “Tend to run away growling. And yeah?” He added as he sank down next to Ronnie, swinging his legs over Ronnie’s as they lounged. “What’d you find?”
A hand went to Mikey’s leg as he stretched out, nestling himself in the crook of Mikey’s arm so they both could see the screen clearly. “Okay. So, there are a few small places in Searchlight,” he explained, showing Mikey the listings slowly. They were trailers nearby that had recently come up for sale.
“And there’s a couple in Vegas, but I don’t wanna take you too far from your family. Derek said there was a place open next door to him.”
Ronnie turned to look at Mikey for reactions to anything.
Mikey hummed a little in thought, resting his chin on Ronnie’s shoulder.
“I mean,” he said, “I…” he paused, and then exhaled in a light huff. “I know it’d be awesome for you, being next door to Derek and all,” he said. “You… you want to get a job in Vegas?” He added. “I sorta figured you would eventually,” he continued, “I mean, you said it the other day, with Ro, that Searchlight wasn’t ever gonna be ready for the kinda food you like to make.”
Ronnie managed to sneak a kiss onto Mikey’s cheek.
And then he tilted his head and looked at his boyfriend with curiosity. “Yeah, but I worked in Vegas. It’s stressful and I worked a lot. Plus...if you lived there with me you’d be so far from your family and work.” And that just didn’t make a lot of sense. Mikey was family oriented and Ronnie didn’t want to put any distance between them.
“So what if Searchlight isn’t ready for my style of food?” He laughed a bit, “I’m fine with Terrible’s.”
“...Are you?” Mikey asked after a bit of a pause, raising his eyebrows in question. “And… is fine gonna be enough?”
He knew Ronnie’d come back into town to take care of his mom, had gotten the job at Terrible’s to pay the bills, and now the only real reason Ronnie was still here was… well… him.
He’d bet a nickel that if he hadn’t been in the picture, Ronnie would take that apartment next to Derek in a heartbeat. And Ronnie was always quick to smile and joke, but Mikey would hate to keep Ronnie from pursuing something brighter and bigger, hate for Ronnie to feel stuck here too.
His eyebrows lifted. “Yeah, of course,” he nodded. “I like it here. It’s quiet. Maybe there’s a monster or two, but I’ll be safe with you.” Right?
“Did you want to look at places in Vegas? I mean, I just don’t want you to be too far from your family, and I would never put you in a position to have to choose between them or me. I’ve been there - and I chose family. I bet you’d do the same thing a million times.”
“Except for Derek’s your family,” Mikey replied quietly.
He paused for a while. “And I…” he frowned. “It’s not just family, although that’s part of it, it’s… I’ve got a responsibility to the land, to my family’s territory, and…” he frowned a little more. “And Vegas is… it’s okay to visit? It’s full of people, and it’d be harder to get out in the open where I can stretch my legs safely, you know, all four of ‘em, and I’d have less time for it with the driving, and…” he chewed on his lip, not quite making eye contact with Ronnie, realizing how selfish it all sounded. “...no,” he said, “I… I don’t.”
Ronnie nodded. “Okay, then we won’t move to Vegas.” He offered a bit of a smile, “Seriously. I want to be close to you. Living in Vegas while you’re here isn’t smart, anyway. I’m just further away if something happens and vice versa. Derek is family, sure, but he comes here as often as I go there. But your opinion matters, babe.”
His head tipped a bit and he ducked his head trying to get Mikey’s attention again. “So you wanna look here, or what?”
Mikey nodded back. “Yeah,” he said, trying his best to dismiss that small, insistent voice that Ronnie’d find out in a few years that settling for Terribles -- and Searchlight -- and, by extension, him -- wasn’t good enough after all. “Yeah,” he repeated, “let’s… maybe… scroll back to that one up on the hillside?” He cleared his throat. “I think it had a patio?”
“Sure, yeah. That one looked cool.” Ronnie nodded, opening his phone back up. “Or we could just find some land around here and build.” It had been an idea he’d thought about, but he wasn’t sure how the idea would go over.
“This one?” A bit of scrolling and he landed on the one Mikey wanted to look at. “Oh look, there’s a ton of pictures.”
Mikey hummed. “Maybe… maybe that’s like the five year plan?” He replied. “Workin’ up to building our own place?” He knew it assumed a great deal, but it did appeal to him. He kissed Ronnie on the lips lightly before turning back to the pictures. “And yeah,” he added, “that’s the one. It got a decent kitchen?”
While building a place could be expensive, he wasn’t worried about the cost. What he wanted was the flexibility to custom design everything and also give Mikey the ample space to run if he wanted to. But of course it needed to be planned and talked about. Goals were good!
“Sure, sure!” He liked the idea of being together still in five years. Forty wasn’t a bad age, he supposed, to be planning stuff. And it would give more time to save.
“These pictures are never accurate.” Ronnie squinted at the kitchen, using his fingers to enlarge the pictures. “Seems decent enough. Trailers just aren’t built for entertaining.”
“Yeah,” Mikey said. “...We could… We could build like a whole outdoor kitchen area,” he added. “Eventually. Have a sink out there, a range, lotsa counter space, a covered seating area…” he shrugged. “It’s a thought. And you did just fine with Ro,” he added. “I mean, dishes for days,” he continued with a small grin, “and like, five different kinds of wine glasses, but she didn’t have any complaints. She’s cool,” he added. “Not human, can’t pin down what exactly, but she’s cool.”
An outdoor area. That sounded perfect. His expression became thoughtful, dreamy, as he contemplated what such a space might look like. “I like that. We could design it, you and me, and it would be perfect.” He could imagine being out there grilling for Mikey and his family or Derek and Penny and Ro, all of their friends.
Ronnie nodded at the comment about Ro, “Yeah, she’s awesome. I had a feeling she wasn’t, but of course I never wanna ask, you know?”
“Yeah, she seemed private about it,” Mikey replied, “which I get, I mean, I don’t just up and tell folks. I’m just at a bit of an advantage when it comes to sniffin’ them out. How’d you meet up, anyways?” He asked, resting his chin on Ronnie’s shoulder. “We could have lights strung up,” he added. “I bet it’d look real nice.”
“I figure most people are when it comes to that stuff,” Ronnie nodded. He knew that if he had something like that, he probably wouldn’t want to share it with a lot of people, either. “Derek’s girl, Penny, she introduced me and Ro. That’s where we came up with the dessert competition. They came to Terrible’s, asked for me, so I went and hung out a little.”
Porch and patio lights would really bring the atmosphere together.
“That’s cool of her,” Mikey replied. “We should all hang out some time, now Derek’s on the mend.” He kissed Ronnie lightly on the cheek. “I’m… We can head up to Vegas whenever for visiting, you know,” he added. “I honestly don’t mind visiting. I hope… d’ you think he’ll be disappointed you aren’t moving in next door?”
“Yeah! She’s pretty cool, Penny. I’ve only met her a handful of times. I don’t know her that well.” He knew she was a siren, and she was married to Derek, but that was about it.
“Yeah, we can visit. That’ll be good. Maybe he will but I want to be with you, first and foremost. Derek and I have been making this friendship work for a decade, it isn’t gonna change because of this.”
Mikey hummed, and wrapped his arm around Ronnie’s shoulder. “How’d you and Derek meet again?” He asked. “It’s pretty cool, to have someone you’re so tight with. I think that’s my sister, for me. And Cian,” he added. “Any other properties you wanna scroll through?”
Ronnie’s brow furrowed. The story wasn’t exactly his to share considering he didn’t want to give up too much on Derek so he thought about the bare bones of the meet up. “He was walking down the side of the highway. It was night time, of course, about ten years ago. I was visiting Mama from New York and heading to the bar when I saw Derek. Guy looked like crap. We ended up at a nearby bar, I bought him a beer and listened to his story,” he explained. “I helped him out a bit, you know, to get back on his feet. He ain’t from here, and was a long way from home.”
At mention of properties, Ronnie nodded and turned back to the phone. He opened his phone back up and looked.
“Oh!” He pointed at a trailer. “Look, babe, that’s a double wide.”
Mikey nuzzled a little into Ronnie’s neck. “You’re a good dude, you know that?” He said. “You know that? Like… a really really good guy.” He kissed a little at Ronnie’s neck. “How’d I end up with someone so sweet?” He asked in a low rumble. “And yeah,” he added, looking over at the phone, “yeah, that’s got a lot more room, looks like. The kitchen good on that one? How’s it compare?”
That nuzzle at his neck made him smile. “Everyone needs a chance sometimes, you know?” If Mikey asked, Ronnie would give him the details on exactly how he’d helped Derek but otherwise he left it alone. “You saw me juggling apples at the store.”
He didn’t mind being good to someone who needed help and he never expected to get anything back. Derek didn’t have to pay him, he’d been paying him back in kindness and support when Ronnie hadn’t been able to be there for Rose when she was sick.
Snuggling in closer, if that was even possible, Ronnie nodded. “Looks decent from the pics but you never know until you see the place. Maybe we should take a look at it.” He looked at the yard. It had a bit of land on it, which was nice. It wasn’t enough to build fortresses on or farm, but enough to be comfortable and entertain.
“Yeah I did,” Mikey replied. “I saw this cute as heck guy makin’ a kid laugh. God, your smile,” he added with a fond expression. “Those curls. And then I was all awkward,” he continued, “could, like, barely string together a coupla words about pies and juggling, because I thought you were cute and didn’t have any idea about whether you’d be interested back, and I still can’t believe you took that trainwreck of a conversation and figured it out.”
He hummed a little. “And yeah,” he said, “maybe both of ‘em to have something to compare to?”
Ronnie smiled fondly, listening to the description and the story. It hadn’t been that long ago even though it felt like an entire lifetime since then.
He nodded, but set the phone down for a second. “I need to get real with you for a second, Kay? Not in a bad way or anything. But you know, this house stuff and all has me thinking a little bit.”
Twisting a bit, Ronnie looked up at Mikey. “First of all, I wanna meet the rest of your family. And Cian. You talk about him a lot, clearly he’s important. I know your bond with your family is tight and that means they’re important to me, too.”
And then his head would tip a bit. “Secondly, whatever place we decide on, I’m planning on buying it outright. You know, dropping cash on it. I hate being in debt. I figure this place is worth about seventy, and even if I decide to keep it and rent it, that’s still extra income. But I’m curious - I know we’re still early in our relationship and all and I don’t wanna put more on you than you want, but I also need your input. If we get a house, are we getting it together or like, do you want me to get it and you move in? I’m totally cool with either option. I just need to know the plan before we commit to this thing.” He knew Mikey could outgrow him, and pinning him into an investment may not be the smart move.
Mikey blinked, and paused with a thoughtful frown. “I… I was thinkin’ we were gonna rent,” he admitted, “so it’s probably good to, you know, be on the same page? I don’t…” he paused again. “It’s… I love you, I want to live with you, I don’t know that I’m ready to co-own property with you?” He looked at Ronnie carefully. “I can chip in on what I’d pay in rent, for, like, upkeep, and stuff?” He shrugged a shoulder. “I… is that okay?”
Ronnie smiled and nodded, “Yeah, I feel you. That’s why I wanted to ask. Assuming doesn’t do anyone any good. If you wanna look at rental places I’m cool with that, there just isn’t a lot of flexibility with rental properties and landlords can be awful. But hey, I’d be happy living with you in a milk crate on the side of the road.”
With that part settled, he picked his phone up again. The filters on the listings changed, updating to include rental properties. “Okay, so let’s look at these.”
“Okay.” Mikey settled back against Ronnie. “And I do want you to meet ‘em,” he added, quietly, as Ronnie started flipping through the pictures. “Maybe start with Cian, work up to the grandparents?” He bit his lip. “They don’t…” he shook his head. “They’re sorta traditional. Did your mom know?” He added. “That you were…”
Snuggling back against Mikey, Ronnie took a second to relish in the warmth and security. Whatever it took, he would do it, to make sure the man he loved was happy and provided for. That soft murmur was met with delight.
Pausing mid-swipe on the phone he looked up and over. “Yeah. Of course, we can start with Cian. You know your family better than I do, I’ll let you lead.” Then Ronnie nodded. “Yeah. We were close. Even though she was more the church going type, she never judged me for the things I wanted in my life. She knew about Skylar, I told her when I first met him. She was real happy for me.”
Ronnie leaned over to press a kiss against Mikey’s cheek. “And she woulda loved the hell out of you, babe.”
“Yeah?” Mikey replied, a small smile playing over his face. He paused, chewing his lip. “You’re sure you’re cool about not living in Vegas?” He asked.
“Totally! Staying here is fine with me. I want to stay here, I like it here.” There were so many reasons to stay.
Mikey nodded. “Just so you know,” he said, “if… if that changes, talk to me? It’d take some working out, but I’d wanna work on it. I’d go to Vegas if you didn’t wanna be here anymore. You’re the only one who could get me there, but I’d go.”
His smile brightened. “Of course. Thanks babe. I try to talk to you about everything, but something like that I wouldn’t forget. I promise.”