Work Text:
"Mommy, mommy! Look, it's Santa!" a five year old Yevgeny called up to his mother, clutching and swinging her hand excitedly.
Svetlana had taken Yevgeny Christmas shopping with her. They had been in the mall no longer than fifteen minutes when Yev spotted the large Christmas display in the middle of the ground floor where parents took their children to have their pictures taken with Santa. And of course, Yev wanted to be one of those kids. He begged and pleaded until his mother gave in to his demands. The line seemed endless and they had been waiting for nearly an hour. Svetlana was growing tiresome since she had yet to even begin shopping and ended up calling Mickey to relieve her of parental duties for a while.
When Mickey finally arrived, Yevgeny and Svetlana were closer to the front of the line.
"Where have you been? I wait half hour for you," Svetlana griped. "I must look for present for Nika."
"I was busy," Mickey answered vaguely.
"You were with orange boy?" she questioned with an accusing eyebrow.
"No!"
"That means 'yes'," she said smugly. "He is here now?"
Mickey was about to deny it, he didn't want to give Svetlana the satisfaction. Ultimately he sighed and admitted the truth. "Ian's parking the car, and," he said turning to his son, "getting chocolate chip cookies."
"Ian's here?" Yev chimed.
"Yup, he'll be here soon."
Svetlana groaned. "He does not need more sugar. You take him tonight. I do not want to deal with tantrum."
"Fine. Go look for a present for your lesbo girlfriend."
And with that, Svetlana bent down to give her son a tight hug and said her goodbyes for the day so she could finally get some shopping done.
Mickey took Yev's small hand into his own and moved up the line, they were fourth up. Mickey felt as though someone was watching him. He anxiously looked around when his eyes caught one of Santa's elves staring at him. And the elf made no attempt to hide the fact, even brazenly winking at Mickey who immediately looked away, trying to ignore him. But the elf wasn't having any of that, and confidently strolled right up to Mickey.
"Hey," he greeted smoothly.
His voice was suave, Mickey had to admit. And he wasn't bad looking either. Chocolate brown hair, hazel eyes, and tanned skin. He was also tall and lean, but not as tall or as toned as a particular redhead Mickey knew. He would have maybe been more into the guy if it weren't for that ridiculous elf get-up he was wearing.
"Hey," Mickey answered back.
"I'm Ryan."
"Good for you."
Ryan smirked, clearly the bad attitude Mickey was giving off was doing the exact opposite of what he intended.
"Playing hard to get. I like that."
"I'm not playing, I'm just not interested."
"So you are gay?" Ryan asked, smirking at Mickey.
"I'm just tryin' to take my kid to see a mall Santa, is that ok with you?"
"'Course, I like kids. What's his name?"
Mickey was about to tell this guy to fuck off before Ian, seemingly coming out of nowhere, stepped in.
"How is that any of your business?" Ian said, his eyes darkening.
"Ian!" Yev beamed.
"Hey, bud!" Ian beamed back, swooping Yev into his arms. "Who's Daddy's knew friend?"
"His name's Ryan," Yev answered. "He and Daddy were talking."
"Oh, yeah?" Ian raised an accusing eyebrow at Mickey. "Talking about what exactly?" he was asking Ryan, his voice becoming stern.
Ryan clenched his jaw and let out a frustrated sigh. "Looks like you're almost up," he said and abruptly walked away.
Ian, who was still holding Yev, turned to his partner. "What the hell, Mickey? I leave you for five minutes and you're flirting with Santa's helper over there?"
"I wasn't flirting!" Mickey protested. "I was about to tell him to go fuck himself."
Yevgeny giggled at his father's use of profanity.
"Oh, uh, Yev, don't say 'fuck'," he tried to sound authoritative.
"Great, now Lana's gonna be pissed at us for teaching him another 'bad' word."
"Like, he's not learning a bunch of Russian swears at her place anyways."
"Whatever," Ian sighed. "Stop flirting with Christmas elves."
"Ian," Mickey began, "I swear I wasn't flirting with anyone."
Ian set Yev down since his arms were getting tired, five year olds are heavy, but still held onto the toddler's hand. "Really?"
"Promise." Mickey then cupped Ian's face and gently kissed his lover's lips.
Reassured, Ian kissed Mickey back.
Suddenly, the pair were interrupted by a woman standing behind them with her daughter, clearing her throat. "You boys are up next."
"Uh, right, sorry," Mickey apologized embarrassedly.
Ian merely grinned. He would have been embarrassed too but Mickey was always embarrassed of their public displays of affection enough for the both of them, something Ian found immensely endearing about his partner.
When his fathers were busy kissing, Yevgeny had taken the opportunity to steal himself a cookie from the bag Ian held in his other hand.
"Hey, those are for later," Ian lightly reprimanded, taking the bag back. "Go, tell Santa what you want for Christmas."
Yev was ushered by one of the female elves onto Santa's lap. He looked so happy and innocent, with a childhood neither Ian nor Mickey ever had the chance to live themselves. They couldn't help but smile at their son.
The picture was taken and as the trio was leaving Ian shot one last glare at Ryan.
This did not go unnoticed and Mickey didn't hold back his laughter. "Alright, Firecrotch, stop acting like a jealous girlfriend. Let's go home."
"Whatever," Ian grumbled.
But it was difficult to be angry when Mickey slipped his hand into Ian's and laced their fingers together. Yev was on Mickey's right, Ian on his left. And the three of them happily walked back to the car holding hands, and went home.