Chapter Text
They all fell silent as they heard the door slam behind them. Yev looked down to see Riley missing and immediately headed for the door.
‘Where do you think you’re going?’ Svetlana spat.
‘I’m going to get my fuckin’ boyfriend,’ Yev snapped back, circling back to confront his mother again. ‘Because you fucked everything up! Why can’t I just be happy? Why do you insist on fucking up my relationship?’
‘I’m just trying to protect you, Zhenya!’
‘Oh, fuck off with that bull!’ Yev shouted. He could pretty much see everyone’s shock at the way he spoke to Svetlana, but, in that moment, he didn’t care. In that moment, Riley was all that mattered. Riley was everything. ‘You and Fiona clearly have issues, but that has nothing to do with me, and it certainly doesn’t have anything to do with Riley.’
Svetlana’s eyes teared up, and Ian herded his family out the door into the backyard, leaving only Mickey, Ian, Svetlana, and Yev. ‘I just don’t want you to get hurt, Yevgeny. Gallaghers. They do this — they hurt people.’
Yev looked at his fathers give each other an awkward look, and took a deep breath before facing his mother. ‘I love you, Mom, so thank you for trying to protect me. But I also love Riley — I love him like I’ve never loved anyone else. So you have to deal with this…and you can’t get in the way of our relationship. He’s not bad for me and he wouldn’t hurt me.’
‘And if he does?’ Svetlana arched an eyebrow through her tears.
Yev shrugged. ‘I’ll deal with it then, but he’s worth it.’
Svetlana smiled softly, touching his cheek lightly. ‘You Milkoviches — too sweet for your own good.’ There was clear confusion from everyone in that statement, but Svetlana smiled like she knew something the rest of them didn’t. ‘Go, Zhenya, make up with your boyfriend.’
Yev smiled back, patting his mother’s hand against his cheek before rushing out the door, heading after his boyfriend.
Meanwhile, Svetlana composed herself quickly, sniffing and leaning in close to Ian. ‘You tell that nephew of yours — he hurts my Zhenya, I remove testicles with garden sheers.’
Ian blinked as Svetlana leant away, making her way out of the house. Turning to Mickey, he blurted out. ‘I really don’t think the Milkoviches are as sweet as she thinks you are. I mean…she’s technically still a Milkovich…and she just threatened Riley’s balls.’
Mickey snorted. ‘I think Milkoviches define sweetness in a different way…Alright, should we go after Riley too?’
Ian glanced at the door that Yev had disappeared through and shook his head. ‘Nah, they need to deal with it themselves.’
Mickey nodded in agreement before wrapping his hand around the back of Ian’s neck, pulling him down for a short kiss. When he pulled away, he hummed, ‘Sweet.’
Ian snorted. ‘Yeah. Okay.’ Pulling away, he wrapped his arm around Mickey’s shoulders and lead him toward the backyard, where the family was waiting. ‘So glad we don’t have to deal with all that teen bullshit anymore.’
‘Got that shit right.’
When Yev finally found his boyfriend, the sun was going down. Riley had been lying on the beach that he’d brought Yev to that one time. He wasn’t sure why, since they had been arrested, so it wasn’t a really good memory, but he sat down next to the curled up boy anyway.
‘Well, that went…exactly as expected, huh?’ Yev tried to joke a little, but Riley just stayed curled up, watching the waves in silence. Reaching out hesitantly, Yev touched Riley’s knee. ‘Riles?’
Riley turned to him, and Yev almost gasped at the look on his face. He looked fuckin’ devastated. ‘You didn’t have to come down here to break up with me.’
‘What?’ Yev blinked. ‘What fuckin’ reason is there that would have me breaking up with you?’
Riley shifted uncomfortably. ‘I know how much you love your mom…If she hates me, I didn’t think you’d want us to keep going.’
Yev sighed, rubbing at his eyes. ‘Not that it matters to me, but she’s said she’s okay with it.’
Riley blinked in shock. ‘She has?’
Yev scrunched up his nose a little. ‘Well, in her own way, yes…But even if she hadn’t, it wouldn’t stop me from being with you.’ Yev moved closer, putting a hand to the back of Riley’s neck and rubbing gently at the hair there. ‘I love you.’
Riley smiled slightly. ‘I love you.’ He hesitated before asking, ‘So…everything’s okay? Everyone knows now?’
Yev nodded, before looking up in shock. ‘And look! Sky’s still up there. Hasn’t fallen.’ He gave Riley a little teasing smirk.
‘Shut up,’ Riley laughed, before pulling Yev in by the collar of his shirt and giving him a gentle smooch. ‘No more family dinners for a while, okay?’
Yev grinned. ‘I think I can agree to that, yeah.’
Unfortunately for them, there were many more family dinners in their future — full of more drama and fights, but also a lot of laughter and love. They really didn’t need to know about that yet, though.
They’d find it out for themselves soon enough.