Work Text:
Names
“I don’t get it,” Mickey said, shaking his head a little as he did so. They’d long-ago agreed to be completely honest with each other, and had started the conversation talking about “Steve’s pedophile dad,” but it had somehow turned into an argument about Fiona’s ever-elusive, on-again off-again boyfriend.
Mickey was always giving Ian crap for sleeping with Ned, but to be honest, Ian didn’t regret it. Ned had always taken care of him and respected him, and he’d been there for Ian when the younger boy had needed help in the form of a place to stay. He didn’t cut Ian off when he needed him the most, unlike what his son had done to Fiona.
“What’s not to get? His name is Jimmy,” Ian said slowly, as if that was going to help Mickey understand. He turned to face the older boy, using his arm to prop himself up on his side of the bed.
“Why’d you call him Steve?” Mickey wondered, also turning onto his side to face his boyfriend.
Ian cracked a smile. “Steve was just a fake name he used back in the day, when he was stealing cars.”
“What a fuckin’ pussy,” Mickey sneered. “Just like his geriatric dad.”
Ian raised an eyebrow at Mickey, indicating that he wasn’t following the older boy’s thought process. He could guess why Mickey thought Ned was a pussy, since he’d basically let Mickey beat the crap out of him that time in front of the Fountain, but had no idea why Mickey thought Jimmy’s having an alias was a bad thing.
“He was expecting to get caught,” Mickey explained.
“More like he was prepared, in case anything went wrong,” Ian reasoned.
“He’s a chicken for not dealing with shit head-on. Didn’t you say he ditched your sister at the first sign of trouble?”
“Uh-huh, but he still came back,” Ian countered, unsure of why he was defending Jimmy. They hadn’t all forgiven him yet…
Mickey shrugged. “Whatever, man. So who the fuck is Jack then?”
Ian dragged his fingers of his free hand down his face. He was not in the mood to explain it all to Mickey. He chose a different tactic instead, attempting to change the subject.
“What would your alias be?” he asked the brunette, actually curious to know what kind of name Mickey would choose.
“Like if I had to pick a fake name?”
Ian nodded.
Mickey furrowed his brow in deep thought. He opened his mouth to say something but shut it quickly and frowned. “Why does it feel like any name I give you is gonna sound like a porn-star name?”
Ian burst out laughing, realizing that the name he’d been thinking of for himself could also be used as a porn name. He was pleased to see Mickey smiling though. It was a nice change.
“Well it wouldn’t be anything faggy like Curtis,” Mickey teased, shoving Ian back by his shoulder.
“Hey!” Ian scoffed in mock offense. “Curtis is a great name!”
“It’s fuckin’ lame. You should’a picked something like Damien. Now that’s a sexy name.”
“You think I could pull off a name like Damien?” Ian asked dubiously. “It sounds so… evil…”
Mickey flashed Ian a wicked grin. “As if you don’t know you can be an evil motherfucker when you wanna be… You’re such a God-damned tease, Gallagher.”