Unhinged- a Newsies Chatfic

The Miscar Date

Mickey was nothing short of excited. He could barely contain it.

He'd been planning since he asked Oscar out. It had to be perfect; nothing could go wrong. He'd vigorously planned everything, down to the very last detail. He even skipped out on a dinner just to focus on getting everything right.

Sure, it made him anxious and he couldn't stop thinking about it all day, but Oscar was worth it.

Mickey took a deep breath, pacing the carpet of Oscar and Morris' living room. He made sure not to miss one step and step on the faux wooden floors as he counted, or else he'd have to start over.

"What the hell are you doing?" Mickey stopped, looking up to see Morris standing in the kitchen with a very large cup of water. Mickey swallowed as the feeling of ants crawling over his skin washed over him. He needed to take his medicine now.

"I...I was just pacing", Mickey stuttered, and Morris nodded dramatically. Standing in front of him made everything worse.

Morris wasn't necessarily horrible to Mickey, but he wasn't the best. The new guy had been staying in the apartment for about a week, and Mickey still didn't know where he stood. There was a constant battle of feeling welcome and feeling pushed aside, and it was the most horrible feeling in the world.

"Yeah." Morris checked him out—he was decked out in a suit as the clock nearly struck seven, and Morris wondered if it would be weird to see two guys wearing suits outside, after work times, when the sun was still out. He didn't look half bad, though, he had to give him that. "You okay?"

The short answer would be "No", but Mickey didn't want to have to explain why. He was already struggling to not go back to pacing the room fifty times, one hand in his pocket as the other pulled his ear. His heart was beating fast as anxiety overtook him. Calm down. "Yeah, I'm, I'm fine. Just...nervous."

That wasn't even the half of it. "Okay."

Morris took a long sip of his water, staring at his little brother's date. He didn't blink, nonetheless look away, and Mickey could feel him staring into his soul. He needed to do something as he tapped his fingers on his right hand against his left. 100, 99, 98...

"What do you guys plan on doing tonight?"

"It's a surprise", Mickey informed, trying his best to smile. 87, 86, 85... "But we're taking a stroll through the city, getting some food."

"Is it expensive food?" Mickey raised a brow at the question. "Oscar's not a big fan of fancy food, is all."

He knew that. He'd spent the week with the guy, having talked for weeks before they met again. He couldn't say he knew everything about Oscar, but he knew that the man refused to eat escargot or sushi. "Yeah, I know. The theme was-"

"The theme?"

"Yeah, I had a theme", Mickey shrugged, and the tapping got faster. 65, 64, 63, 62... "It just keeps me more organized. But the theme was fancy casual. That's why we're wearing suits."

Morris had to admit that was pretty smart. "Oh. That's cool."

"Are you grilling him?" Oscar rolled his eyes as he walked out of the bathroom, making his way toward the living room. Mickey grinned, pretending like little ant bites weren't bothering him to the ends of the earth. "Dude, I told you to stop doing that. You'll make the guy nervous."

"I don't see why", Morris responded, and Mickey could see a completely different side of him, the side that only Oscar got to see. "I didn't touch the guy-"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah", Oscar waved his brother off, moving toward Mickey. Morris walked away and into his room, leaving the (hopefully) couple to stand together. "Hey."