#also adjacent

Ian should really have clocked the teasing smirk on his husband’s face as Mickey pulled up outside Ian’s work, but it’s been a long day and Ian is fucking exhausted, so excuse him if he isn’t at his sharpest. He falls into the passenger seat with a brief ‘hi’ and a heavy sigh, immediately closing his eyes.

All he wants is to sleep through to Monday, but eventually Ian catches on to the excitement radiating off the man in the driver’s seat, drags his eyes open and turns his head, drawing breath to ask Mickey what’s going on. Which is when he sees… it.

“The fuck, Mickey?”

Mickey immediately bursts out laughing. “It’s you, see?”

No. Ian does not see.

“I found it at the gas station, by the check out! The packet said it’s a ginger! … Get it?” Mickey gleefully explains, and Ian? Well. Ian does not have the energy to deal with this right now, so he shakes his head, closes his eyes again, and tries to ignore his husband’s continuous chortle.

He’ll get him back. After he’s had some sleep!

It takes Ian a lot longer than expected and several fruitless online searches - who knew cutsie car air fresheners were that fucking popular?? - but after clicking through seemingly hundreds of different ones - almost giving up and just buying the middle finger one cause… well… Mickey - he finally finds and orders the perfect one!

A grumpy black cat, with scruffy hair, blue eyes, and ridiculously angry eyebrows.

And the crowning glory? The cat is much shorter than the ginger!

“Oh, fuck off!” Mickey grumbles, while Ian beams, attaching the second air freshener to the rear view mirror of their car.

Mickey may bitch about how he’s not “a stupid fucking cat”, and later on that it “doesn’t even make sense. You actually are ginger!”, and even later still “And my eyebrows do not look like that!!”

And yet, Mickey doesn’t take them down.

In fact, Ian often catches Mickey glancing at them - swaying and bouncing against each other as the car rumbles down the road - and sometimes Mickey even cracks a little smile.

But only when he thinks Ian isn’t looking, of course.

The End.

Medium: Felt

(Some in progress pictures behind the cut)