Chapter 6: Until We Get There

In the 90s and early 00s, they were distant neighbors on a long, dirt road out in the middle of vaguely Georgia farmland. Ian and Mickey: two poor, closeted Southern kids with similar financial situations but very different families, harboring secret crushes that felt illegal and that manifested themselves as sharp words, punches, and self-loathing.

In 2021, Ian, a high school teacher in need of a fresh start, returns to his childhood home after nearly 20 years to find himself once more sharing a lonely dirt road with Mickey, the boy he once knew and the man he’s desperate to get to know.

Rating: E overall, this chapter T/M

Chapter Word Count: 23k

Summary: He thinks the main difference between him and Ian is that Ian is brave and he isn’t.

Fic Playlist: Click

Click here to read Chapter 6 or here to start from the beginning.

hi everyone! love you all and thanks for the concern! i’m totally good. ♥️ i have simply fallen into the problem of my writing getting placed on the backburner because i’ve been spending time with other hobbies (i’ve gotten back into hiking and have been doing bouldering/climbing training) and then i’ve been having trouble getting back into the habit of writing when i do have the time.

i’m committed to getting this baby done. i’m actively working on chapter 7 today and i feel like once i get this one done, the next will come easier and hopefully faster. sorry. i really hate being slow to update and am also sad that i’ve reached a point in which i’ve gotten like this (though it was bound to happen lol; i’m frankly surprised i managed 2 full years of pretty consistent updates). i just used to be writing constantly and for very long stretches of time, and while that allowed me to be relatively prolific, it didn’t really leave room for a lot of other things. now that i’ve got other things i’m doing, i’ve just been writing in bits in pieces every now and again. i get that it’s probably frustrating as a reader, and i apologize and appreciate your support and love. i’m just in a really good place in my life right now. for me personally, my mental health is tied in so much to the outdoors and physical activity, and i’m trying to lean into that as much as i can now that i’m miraculously in that mindset again for the first time since covid quarantine. 

i know tbm is not the most fun to have a long waiting period between updates right now because it’s a little angsty, but a lot of that should be over soon and the next several chapters will be very sweet.

don’t worry. i have every intention of finishing and will keep chugging along with it. thanks for your patience, kindness, and love over the past couple of years. you all have enriched my life, and i appreciate you more than you’ll ever know!

love, gray ♥️♥️♥️

aww happy birthday! ♥️ hope it’s a great one!

i’m hoping to finish very soon. sorry for the delay. i just haven’t been sitting down to write as frequently as usual. but here are some emojis!

⚖️💊🍻 | 🧑‍🦱👦🏼👨🏻‍🦰🏡 | 🚤🏊🏻‍♂️🩳🥵☀️| 🏍🌳🌳🍃🌅📱😳 | 🤦🏻‍♂️🙋🏼‍♀️👦🏻👨🏻‍🦰🔥 | 🔥🌕😳😊

thank you for your kind messages! 🥰️ don’t worry! i’m still working on tbm and have just been taking a while with chapter 7. it will be here soon!

[also i am really behind with asks but i will try to get to them all asap.] ♥️

😭😭😭 i miss them

the cutest and most awkward. 🥰️

well my intention was that ian was going to borrow it at least once more before he bought his own, but i completely neglected to address it in the previous chapter! so he’ll probably end up with his own the next time we see him mow.

i love him so much, too, and i promise he is going to get so much love and support he won’t know what to do with it all! <333

yes to one of those things 😉

ahhh this is so kind of you to say and it made my morning! thank YOU so much for your love! ♥️♥️♥️

chapter 7 will give you an idea of where it’s going and will give ian some much needed information. in chapter 8, you’ll start to see some results of that information… 😉