(Yeaaah, I just wanted to write it and see how it goes. Also just as an explanation, a hireback for a fire department is when you basically trade off shifts with someone else. And also it can mean when you get called in because there's no one to cover for someone. But yeah, I hope you enjoy the oneshot!

Also quick side note, but this song ^^ is what i listened to on repeat while writing)

Mikey woke up on Christmas eve to an empty bed, not seeing his boyfriend anywhere near. He sat up a bit, letting out a small whimper, hugging his knees into his chest. He scanned over the bedroom, spotting a note on Frank's pillow. Mikey picked it up, reading what had been written inside. 

    "Well, I didn't want to write this, but here we are...Dear Mikey, I'm so so fucking sorry I wasn't here when you woke up, I got called into work, the station needed me since it's Christmas Eve, and a lot of guys haven't shown up. I'm so sorry, and I promise that I'll be home as soon as I can. I know we made plans, but we might have to put those off, maybe next year? I feel really bad, but I will be home as soon as possible. I promise to stay safe, and I love you more than anything in the world. Love, Frankie"

Mikey sighed, flopping back down onto the bed. This had happened two other times before, at one point he and Frank spent their Christmas in the fire station. Why couldn't it be their turn to be home? To actually be together during a holiday? Mikey took rubbed his eyes, trying his best not to cry as he decided to just get up and move on with his day. He did have other things to do anyway, and he had a conference call with his job in a few hours. 

After a quick and cold shower, Mikey walked into the kitchen, pulling a decent looking shirt of Frank's on. He was actually wearing things that belonged to Frank, but he called it payback since he had seen that his black hoodie was gone. He saw all of the stuff for coffee already set out, a sticky-note stuck to the bottle of creamer. Mikey smiled a little, rolling his eyes. "Always being extra..." He said under his breath, pouring himself a cup of coffee, his eyes scanning over the note Frank had left. 

"I thought I'd get this stuff set up...by the way I finished the hazelnut creamer since you said you didn't like that kind, but I did take some of your vanilla, oops. I love you, Mikes. Mury Chrismass, Frankie"

Mikey grinned, taking a sip of his coffee. He straightened his glasses, sitting down at his desk, opening up his laptop, which of course also had a note taped to it. It was older, and Frank had put it there when he had gotten his laptop, and Mikey didn't ever feel like taking the small note that said "I'm proud of you" off. Mikey rolled his eyes a bit, but his smile stayed on his face, feeling a bit better than he had when he first woke up that morning. He got on his work after a while, drumming his fingers on the table as a nervous habit. It always drove Frank crazy, so he would hold Mikey's hand to calm him down and try to distract him. 

Mikey was pulled out of his thoughts after a few minutes, quickly joining the conference call. He saw his boss, who was also one of his best friends Ray, his co-worker and brother Gerard there also. 

"Hey, guys, Merry Christmas, sorry for the late call, but I needed to make a few quick announcements before the new year." Ray said casually, running his hand through his long curly hair. "Michael, do you have that spreadsheet for January?" 

"Yes I do, I can send it to you after we get off of here." Mikey replied, seeing yet another note on the side of his desk. "Little reminder, you have an extra spreadsheet in our room, I put it on top of the dresser, I left a note on that too. Love ya, Frankie."  He nodded, carrying his laptop upstairs with him, trying to pay attention as Gerard began talking about another retailer he had been talking to the other night. Mikey found the spreadsheet after a few seconds of looking, seeing a line of notes leading to it. 

"Little closer" the first said. "You're almost there",  "Oh my gosh you still haven't found it have you, my love? Well keep going", "Up a little, look up, on TOP of the dresser, honey..found it yet? Okay if you're reading this then you found it" Mikey read, smiling as he picked up the spreadsheet, still holding the notes tightly in his hand. He coughed a little, getting Ray and Gerard's attention. 

"I found my spreadsheet, so we could go over that if you'd like." Mikey said quietly, becoming anxious as he thought about having to talk to all of his co-workers about something he had come up with. He wished Frank was there to be there to support him from the other side of his computer, giving him a thumbs-up while he talked, or tried to make him laugh and become less tense. Mikey sighed, unfolding his spreadsheet, seeing Frank's handwriting in the top corner. He never did this when he had to leave, and only maybe left a note on the coffee machine that said good morning, I love you, and that was all. But this was above and beyond. 

"Mikey, you've got this, I'm so proud of you and you'll do great at this, just stay calm and remember to speak up okay? I love you so much ~Frankie"  Was what Mikey made out of the messy handwriting, feeling himself calm down a bit, but his chest tightened a little. He looked back over at his laptop, seeing his team waiting. "So sorry! Are we good to go over this?" 

"Yeah we are, so go ahead." Ray said. Mikey sighed, beginning to explain what he had written down, trying to remember to speak clearly, almost like he was saying all of this to his boyfriend instead of all the people at his work. He finally finished up, looking over the top of the paper, seeing his boss smiling a little, nodding. "Sounds good, Michael, thank you!" 

"Of course, I'm glad it was okay!" Mikey said, exhaling deeply. He put the spreadsheet down, listening to his brother begin to talk again, asking a few questions about the plan they were trying to get together. Mikey put his laptop in the crook of his arm, walking back downstairs, taking another quick detour into the kitchen, opening the refrigerator. He looked around, trying to see if there was anything he wanted. He settled on some leftover pizza, then heard something fall onto the floor. He turned around, seeing a small slip of paper halfway under the fridge, so he bent down, grabbing it. 

"Mikey, why're you on the floor, lil bro?" Gerard asked. 

"Oh, Frank keeps leaving me notes around the house, and one of them fell onto the floor." Mikey replied, sitting down at the kitchen table, laying all of the other notes out. He smiled, reading over the newest one of his collection. "Are you doing okay right now? I hope that I'll be home soon, I love you, and I'm so proud of you."

"Aw, that's really sweet. What are you both doing for Christmas?" Ray asked. Mikey's smile faded a bit, feeling the tightness in his chest come back. He set the small paper down, facing the screen again, trying to look like nothing was wrong. 

"He's at work at the moment, he got called in all the sudden." Mikey said quietly, starting to miss his boyfriend more, it wasn't even that late in the day, but he wanted him home. "He should be home before tomorrow, but you never know..." 

"I'm sorry, Mikey." Gerard said, frowning. "I hope he'll be home soon." 

"I do too." The younger man replied, pulling his knees up to his chest, hiding his face from the screen. "Um...is the meeting over with?" Ray nodded and said goodbye, ending the call. Mikey shut off his laptop, instantly bursting into tears, curling up in a small ball, just wanting Frank to be with him, just for this one Christmas. He had done this for two years before, and now a third? He began to worry if his boyfriend was alright, if he was safe or not. Was he on a call right now? What was he doing? 

After Mikey had a fairly long cry, he calmed down a little, deciding to finally eat something and work on finishing wrapping Frank's presents. He went upstairs, still eating the last piece of pizza, setting it down on the dresser in his bedroom so he could get all of the things from his closet. He lay out the last few gifts for Frank, seeing that there were only a few left to do. He rolled out some of the wrapping paper that was closest, seeing a few sketches on it. Mikey squinted his eyes a little, seeing that it was a small and simple sketch of himself from behind, facing the Christmas tree that was set up downstairs. He smiled a little, moving the paper over more to read whatever was written there. "Really sneaky with my photos, huh? Anyway, I think you're the most beautiful thing in the entire world, babe. ~Frank"

Mikey blushed, tearing off that part of the paper, putting it in his pocket. He picked out some different wrapping paper, starting to make Frank's presents look perfect. He tried to waste some time, wanting to drag everything he was doing so he would be occupied while he waited. After an hour and a half, he got a sudden notification on his phone, and he picked it up as quickly as he could. 

There was a large fire at one of the buildings downtown, and as soon as Mikey saw some of the pictures he realized it was really serious and dangerous. He began to panic, becoming more and more anxious as time went by, and nothing changed at all with the news stories. He tried to do other things around the house, but ended up just wandering around, trying to see if anyone was hurt, or if the fire was out yet. One news story popped up, and he saw that the building had collapsed. Mikey became even more panicked, not being able to breathe. All he wanted was for his boyfriend to not have been inside, for him to be safe, for him to come home and just hug him and say he was there. 

After three panic attacks, Mikey finally got up again, going back upstairs to get some medicine since he had a headache. He noticed another small note on the bathroom cabinet, and he smiled sadly, reading it. "Remember to only take what you need, I don't care how stressed you get, I love you, ~Frank"  He nodded to himself, taking the amount of pills that was allowed, quickly downing them, then flopped back onto his bed. He tried to fall asleep, but soon became restless, and we began pacing all over the house, the time passing by unnoticed. In the process of pacing, he found two more notes that were on the TV and in the Christmas tree. One said "You're the best thing that ever happened to me", and the other said "Merry Christmas, babe, I should be home soon". 

Mikey looked down at his phone, seeing that it was almost one in the morning. How the time had flown by this fast surprised him, but he didn't know what else to do but stay up. He didn't feel like checking anymore news stuff anymore, and he just leaned against the wall of the living room, staring off into space, just feeling numb to the world. 

That was until he felt two arms around his waist, and a pair of lips against the back of his neck. Mikey spun around, letting out a scream as he tackled his boyfriend into a hug, starting to cry again. Frank was still in his firefighting gear, and he smelled like smoke, but Mikey didn't care at all, he was too overwhelmed at the moment to even realize that. Frank smiled, holding his boyfriend close, rubbing his back gently. "Merry Christmas, sweetheart, I'm home." He said softly. 

"I'm so glad you're safe, are you hurt? Are you okay? Jeez you scared me." Mikey gushed, curling into Frank's side as he held him. Frank smiled again, kissing the man next to him deeply for a few minutes, then pulled away to answer the questions. 

"No, yes, and I'm sorry. Also did you get my notes?" Mikey nodded quickly, pulling Frank into the kitchen, pointing to the notes that were laid out on the table. The shorter man smiled widely, then turned back to his boyfriend. "Notice anything about them, babe?" 

"There's a lot of them..." Mikey said, laughing a little. 

"No, look at the first letters of each of the notes...okay watch me." Frank said, beginning to arrange the papers in a certain way, but then paused, reaching into his pocket. "I almost forgot, read this." He said, handing over a larger note to Mikey.

"You write a lot of these." Mikey giggled out, opening the card up, leaning against the refrigerator as he read it. "Even through the good and bad times, I promise to be by your side no matter what. I'll love you through thick and thin, and I only have eyes for you, my love, I love you more than anything on this earth, and I want you to be mine for forever. I love you, Mikey." It said, and Mikey smiled a lot, looking back up at Frank, seeing that he had finished what he was doing. 

"Gimme this for a second..." Frank said, snatching the note out of his boyfriend's hands, setting it on the table with the rest of it's kind. "Okay, pay attention to the first letters of each note alright? They make a sentence." 

Mikey raised his eyebrows, then looked over at the table again. He was extremely confused, but did what Frank said. "Um...will you marry me? It says wi-oh my fucking- no way! No fucking way!?" 

Frank smiled, opening a small box with a ring in it. "Surprise! Mikey, I love you so damn much, will you-" 

"HELL YES!" Mikey exclaimed, kissing Frank excitedly, bouncing up and down as Frank slid the ring onto his finger, and they kissed each other again. "Holy shit...holy fucking shit!" 

Frank laughed, nuzzling his face into Mikey's neck, holding him as close as possible. "I had a whole fuckin speech, damnit." He muttered. 

"Yeah, but I liked this better...I love you, Frankie, Merry Christmas." Mikey said softly, smiling widely, seeing his engagement ring sparkle a little, which made him smile even more. "This is the best Christmas ever, you're the best boyfriend ever." 

"Hey hey hey, fiance now." Frank said, grinning. "I love you too, Mikes, Merry Christmas." 

(I hope you liked this!!)