Like every Tuesday Ian waited in the hallway for Mickey to come out of Dr. Newman's office. He was looking through some weird magazine about cooking because of the lack of other options but actually found some recipes that sounded okay-tasting when the door to his right opened and Mickey appeared in the frame.
"The fuck are you looking at?" Mickey asked as he saw the magazine on Ian's knees.
"Good to see you too" Ian answered and grinned as Mickey mumbled, "Yeah you too."
"Hey did you know there are seeds called quinoa? Apparently they're a superfood. Maybe we should get some."
"And shove money into these faggy hipster pants that sell shit like that? Fuck no."
"Still not the organic type?" Ian smiled and placed a kiss on Mickey's head who flipped him off.
"Hello Ian", another voice said. Ian looked up and saw Dr. Newman standing behind his boyfriend, "Can I talk to you for a second?"
"Sure." Every now and then she called him into her office to tell him how Mickey was doing and ask him a few questions. Although she never really revealed what Mickey said exactly. This was between patient and therapist, he knew that from his own visits to his psychiatrist. But today Ian had something to talk about as well.
"Wait for me here okay?" he asked Mickey who was looking for something else than a cooking magazine to read.
"It's not like I would come very far." Ian rolled his eyes as he heard that but also smiled. Mickey was slowly getting used to the fact that he couldn't walk and sometimes he would even make a joke about it. Something Ian was more than glad about because it meant Mickey was doing better. It had worried him how Mickey acted the first months after his diagnosis but he was becoming his old self again apart from the increasing number of gentle gestures which Ian definitely wanted to keep.
"So what do you want to talk to me about?" he asked when the doctor and him sat down in her office. She looked at him and seemed to be hesitating which he had never seen before. Newman was what he would describe as a woman who would rarely show it but was tough as fuck and definitely not a pussy when it came to embarrassing topics.
"Uhm... I asked Mickey about it but as I suspected he said it is none of my business and I would say he's right and I shouldn't even talk about this to you but-" she started and Ian interrupted her by saying, "What?"
"I really don't want to barge into this part of your life but have you- have you had sexual intercourse since you got back together?"
Oh. That really was none of her fucking business but he knew that Newman must have her reasons to ask something like this.
"Uhm no. I thought I should wait until he wants to... When he's in less pain and you know... ready. Why?" Sure he missed the sex with Mickey. They were absolutely great in bed but he had lived without it for four years until he made up with him. He didn't mind waiting another six months or longer since all he wanted was Mickey to recover and especially with all the cuddling and kissing it wasn't so hard to abstain from actual sex.
"Well glad to hear you're willing to wait until he's ready", she said and wrote something on the paper in her lap, "but even when he'll eventually say he is he might not be."
"What exactly do you mean?"
"You know that Mickey has very low self-respect although he doesn't really show it."
He nodded, hell yeah he knew that.
"So when you actually do have sex it could be the case that in fact he feels really uncomfortable and won't tell you. The fact that he couldn't stop you if he wanted to at least not in the way he used to be able to could make it difficult for him. Even if he doesn't want you to stop. I believe that the feeling of being extradited could be triggering for him. That's why I'm asking you to really pay attention to his behavior when you're about to sleep with each other. And you should-"
