Work Text:
Getting a dog had always been at the top of Ian's wishlist, so when Mickey and him had moved into a little apartment away from the Southside, one of the first things he had done was go on the internet and look for puppies in the area.
He was sitting on the old, smelly couch they had taken with them from the Milkovich house, his laptop in his lap, scrolling through hundreds of ads for puppies.
The amount of options were overwhelming, so Ian called for help.
„Mick!“
„What?“, his boyfriend snapped from the kitchen.
„Come here and help me decide.“ He heard the unnerved sigh all the way to the living room and grinned when he saw Mickey make his way to the couch.
„What's up?“, he asked, leaning on the backrest, looking over Ians shoulder into the computer.
„I need you to help me decide what puppy to get!“
Mickey rolled his eyes. He wasn't a big fan of the whole Ian getting a dog thing, but Mandy had ordered him to be a more supportive partner, so he shrugged and nodded towards the laptop.
„Alright, show me your options!“
Mickey turned out to be of little help because he liked all the dogs that looked like they were about to rip your throat out, the bigger the better, whereas Ian was more drawn to more cute looking dogs that would actually fit into their apartment.
„What do you think of this one, then?“, Ian asked, clicking on the ad of a 5 weeks old French Bulldog Puppy. Mickey scanned the page and laughed as he recognized the owner.
„You saw who posted the ad, right? That's Manny. He lives a couple of blocks away from dad's house.“
Ian raised his eyebrows. „So?“ His boyfriend scoffed.
„So? He keeps all of his dogs in that little shed behind the house and trains them for dog fighting, dumbass. That dog will be damaged before you get the chance to screw him up.“
His comment earned him a shove, but he dodged it by standing up and walking back to the kitchen.
„I don't know, man. Do whatever you want. It's your mutt.“
Two weeks and heated discussions with Mandy, Debbie and Fiona, who where, contrary to Mickey, very invested in Ians choice of puppy, later, Ian had settled on a puppy, driven out to the Northside of Chicago and met with the owner to bring the dog home.
Mickey was seated on the couch eating gulasch from a cup because all the plates were empty and he couldn't be bothered to do the dishes, when Ian walked through the door, a big, happy smile on his face and a barking, little black ball of fur in his hands.
„Hey,“ Ian beamed as he slammed the door shut with his foot and sat down next to Mickey who was eyeing the little dog in the redheads hand suspiciously.
„What kind is that?“, he asked as he stared at a little face with big black eyes.
„It's a Labrador Retriever. Do you like him?“
Mickey squinted and tilted his head.
„Looks like something I would accidentally step on.“ Ian snorted and held the puppy protectively.
„Don't you dare. That thing costs a fucking fortune. Don't worry though. I bet you'll warm up to him.“
Unnecessary, Mickey thought as he watched the little nugget in Ians freckled arms, curiously sniffing everything, cheeping around like his life depended on it. He was already starting to like the little guy, but he wasn't going to give Ian the satisfaction of getting to say I told you so.
„What are you gonna name the little shit?“, he asked and looked down on his food, trying to make it seem like he wasn't really interested in the answer. Ian shrugged and ruffled through the dogs fur.
„Don't know yet. How about Colin?“ Mickey rolled his eyes and huffed out a laugh. „You know that's my brothers name!“
Ian grinned maliciously. „I know, that's why I thought of the name. He does look like a dog sometimes, though, doesn't he?“
Mickey shook his head, laughing, as he put his dishes into the already full sink.
„We're not naming him Colin. End of discussion.“ He walked back to the living room and frowned at Ians surprised grin.
„We?“ Shit.
„Oh, fuck off. Nobody's naming that fucking furball Colin, got it?“ Ian nodded but still had that sly grin on his face.
„Fine, so suggest a name then, if you don't like Colin.“ Mickey sighed and started to get his stuff ready for work in the morning.
„How about Crusher?“
„Crusher?“ Ian shook his head vehemently and put the puppy onto the floor.
„Fine. How about Putin?“
„As in Putin, president of Russia?“ Mickey nodded excitedly. „Nobody's gonna fuck with a dog named Putin.“
Ian crossed his arms before his chest and shook his head again. „NO.“
„Fine. Brutus? Hitman? Reaper? Sniper? Loki? Titan? Blade? Trigger? Genghis`?“ He went throught the list of names he knew and liked and Ian negated every single one.
„Those are horrible. This is a little puppy.“ He pointed towards the little dog who was running around sniffing everything.
„Fine, your loss. How about Alpha?“ Ian tilted his head as he thought about the name. It wasn't as horrible as Genghis or Reaper but it still sounded cool and he wanted to Mickey to like the name, too, so he nodded.
„Yeah, what the hell. Let's name him Alpha.“
Mickey shrugged and walked off to the bathroom to take a shower.
When he was done, he pulled on a pair of sweatpants and a shirt and walked to the living room where Ian was lying on the floor, with the dog on his chest, licking his face. It was, and he shuddered at the choice of words, cute.
The redhead had a big smile on his face and he was talking to the Puppy as if he was able to understand him. Without disturbing the both of them, Mickey tiptoed back to their bedroom to grab his phone. He took a bunch of pictures of the scene, then put the phone back in his pocket and harrumphed as he entered the living room.
„I'm going to bed,“ he stated, looking at his boyfriend, who was barely able to take his eyes off his new puppy.
„Okay, I think I'm gonna stay up a little while longer. Good night!“ He looked up at Mickey who was now standing next to his head and gave him a small smile.
Mickey growled, having hoped that Ian would join him. Although he would have never admitted it, he hated falling asleep without Ians arms wrapped around him.
He couldn't fall asleep instantly, like he usually did, so he got out his phone and went through the pictures he had taken earlier.
There was one in particular that he liked, where Ian had lifted the puppy up in the air, beaming at him as the dog sticked his little pink tongue out.
The redheads t-shirt had slided down his arm, showing of his muscles and freckles, and you could even see the little dimple that formed on Ians cheek when he smiled as brightly as he did in the picture. Thank god for high quality camera phones, Mickey thought, as he cropped the picture and set it as his background, viewing it contently, before setting his alarm clock and turning off the light.
He slept restlessly for a couple of hours, until Ian finally came to bed, cuddling him tightly and pressing a kiss onto his neck.
„I love you.“
A couple of days later, when the weekend rolled around and Mickey could finally use the saturday morning to sleep in and recover from the strains of working in construction, he was woken up by gentle kisses to the face.
He sighed blissfully, keeping his eyes closed, as he stretched his hand out to find Ian, but he grasped at nothing. With a bad presentiment, he opened his eyes and found Alpha, sitting on his chest, licking his face.
Ian giggled somewhere in the room and Mickey growled disappointedly.
„Morning, babe. I'm off to the Gallagher house. I'm helping Fiona move some stuff so you have to keep an eye on Alpha, okay?“
„Doesn't sound like I have a choice in this,“ Mickey mumbled and pulled the covers over his wet face. Ian laughed.
„You're right, you don't. I'll see you later then.“ He leaned down and kissed the blanket where he suspected his boyfriends mouth to be, then petted the puppy before leaving the apartment.
Mickey had no idea how to occupy a dog, so he lifted him to his chest and just carried him to wherever he was going. He quite liked the little guy. His eyes and paws seemed too big in proportion to his tiny body and it looked adorably funny when he started shambling around, stumbling over his own feet and bumping into objects because he was running too fast.
When he'd had breakfast and a shower, Mickey decided to take Alpha on a walk. It took him a little while to find his leash, but after a couple of minutes, they were good to go.
He lit a cigarette and walked around the neighborhood, intrigued by how much the dog seemed to love getting the chance to run around in a bigger place than the 58 m² of their apartment.
After about an hour, they reached a park that Mickey had never seen before. There was a huge meadow and some trees and no one around, except for a few runners, so he unleashed the dog and had him fetch a stick he found under one of the trees.
They romped around until Mickey's pack of cigarettes was empty and his lunges almost surrendered, then walked home leisurely.
The fresh air and exercise had tired them both out so Mickey decided it was time for a well-deserved nap.
When Ian came home, an hour later, he found his boyfriend and his dog, cuddled up on the sofa, sleeping peacefully. He got his phone out to capture the moment, before squeezing onto the couch, waking Mickey with the movement.
„I knew you would love him,“ Ian whispered, wrapping one arm around his boyfriends waist and petting the puppy with the other.
Mickey breathed deeply, trying to wake up a little bit more before shrugging and intertwining their fingers.
„He's alright!“ Ian smiled and Mickey grinned back, then his face fell.
„What's wrong?“, Ian asked, alarmed by the older boys experession. Mickey sighed deeply.
„Pretty sure Alpha just peed on me.“