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"And then Kash shot Mickey in the leg!" Lip was saying to some girl he had been seeing. Trevor was on the couch waiting for Ian to finish changing so they could go out, and unintentionally tuned into Lip's dramatic retelling about some incident that happened in the past. He didn't know who Kash was but from the snippet he heard from Lip, he sounded like a dick. Mickey, however, was a name Trevor had heard before, many times. Sometimes Carl or Debbie would mention him, only to be shushed by Lip or Fiona, and Ian would make a face, like he was suddenly taken somewhere else. He was clearly someone the family knew well, especially Ian. Trevor was taken out of his thoughts, however, when Ian finally came down the stairs dressed and ready to go.
Trevor didn't think about Mickey for a few days, until he was sitting in Ian's room, listening to Ian talk about his day at work. Debbie came in, interrupting Ian's explanation about how a woman had taken a bat to her husbands head on the side of the road and Ian had been losing his shit on the way to the hospital about the reason why. Trevor never got to find out why that woman had tried to kill her husband because Debbie just needed to come in.
"Hey, uh, Ian, I found one of Mickey's old shirts under the dresser. Should I toss it?" He asked. Ian looked at the shirt like it was a ticking time bomb, but after a moment he took the shirt and shook his head.
"I'll keep it for him. He might want it when he gets out," Ian finally said. The shirt was a plain white sleeveless shirt, nothing special. Debbie shrugged and walked out of the room, clearly over the conversation. Ian finally put the shirt in his drawer, and sat back down on the bed, deep in thought. Trevor didn't know what he should say, so he said nothing, just sat next to him awkwardly. He eventually left and went back to his apartment, finally making up his mind about asking about Mickey.
Exactly three days later, Trevor showed up at the house when he knew Ian was at work. He was working a double that day and would be at work for almost the whole night and wouldn't be home for awhile. Lip opened the door and looked shocked when he saw Trevor, but let him in anyway. Trevor saw Debbie and little Franny on the couch, watching a very colorful kids show. Trevor shuffled his feet awkwardly and saw Lip looking at him expectantly. Trevor finally looked up at him and opened his mouth.
"Can I ask you guys a question? About Ian?" The two siblings looked at each other confused, but eventually Debbie shut of the show and turned to Trevor waiting for him to continue. "Who is Mickey?"
The two siblings looked taken aback by the question. Lip sat at the couch and motioned for Trevor to do the same. Debbie was fidgeting with Franny for a second before finally saying something. "Mickey was Ian's boyfriend." she said. Slowly, all the details he had learned about the mystery man made sense. His effect on Ian whenever he was brought up, the shirt in the house, and everyone seemingly knowing who he was. But what didn't make sense, is where was this guy? His shit was still here but he wasn't.
"Ah," was all Trevor could say for a minute. Finally he opened up his mouth again. "So why is he so important. I mean some of his stuff is here but, like, where is he?"
"Gone. He's not, um, he's not dead or anything, just in prison. For awhile. Like, fifteen years," Lip said. Suddenly a thought came into Trevor's mind that he knew he might actually die if he didn't ask.
"Is Ian in love with him? Still?" He said. Honestly, he wasn't sure if he wanted the answer now. The two were silent for a moment, clearly knowing the answer but not saying it. Finally, Lip said it.
"Yeah, yeah he is. He's pretending he's not, cause it's his way of 'coping' or something. Not visiting him and shit. Ian jumped right back into dating cause that's all that could get his mind of of him. But uh, yeah, Ian's still in love with him," Lip word-vomited. The words felt like a rock pelting him in the head, over and over again. Ian was in love with someone else. A criminal.
"Well, uh, thanks guys." Trevor said and quickly left before the two could say anything more. He walked into the cold night air and left the house as fast as he could. He needed to talk to someone, preferably not Ian.
It took awhile for Trevor to talk to Ian about Mickey. Monica arrived, meaning Ian's mental state was fragile constantly. After awhile, Ian had invited Trevor out with Monica, and Trevor knew he couldn't say anything then.
The night started out okay, the found a knew bar that thankfully didn't card, and Monica seemed eager to be around her son. Ian looked like he was close to snapping. Eventually, as they went home, Monica was walking next to Ian, trying to get him to talk about what he has been up too, when she said something that made him snap.
"What happened to your boyfriend, Mickey, right?" Ian looked at her and said nothing at first, looking as shaken as he normally did, but this time it looked like it all was boiling over.
"Why are you here? Why are you here now?" He asked. Monica looked shocked at this and tried to sputter out a response, but Ian cut her off. Ian berated her more and eventually just took off before Trevor or Monica could say anything. Monica looked at him pleadingly while Trevor followed after Ian quickly.
Trevor got to the Gallagher house soon enough and went up to Ian's room, finding him sitting on his bed, looking angrily at his wall. He didn't even look up as Trevor sat next to him, just moved over a bit so he could sit. As they sat in silence, Trevor realized that 'Its now or never' and opened up his mouth.
"I asked your siblings, about Mickey," Ian looked shocked at that, definitely not expecting that. "I asked them if you were still in love with him."
"What'd they say?" Ian responded.
"That you were, that you were coping by not visiting him. Is it true?" Trevor said. He didn't want to mention the part about the dating being apart of the coping, cause that might just be too much for him.
Ian nodded at his words, trying his best to look anywhere but at him. It all became too real for Trevor, all of the news. Ian didn't love him, he loved a goddamn criminal. Trevor loved Ian, but Ian didn't love him. Trevor was going to leave when he heard Fiona yell for Ian from outside. The two went out there to find a detective outside asking for the redhead.
It was just his luck that Mickey had escaped. Trevor didn't even need to look at Ian to know how he looked. The same look that he got whenever that fucking name was mentioned. Trevor mentally cursed himself for not realizing it all sooner. Ian was so clearly in love with this boy and Trevor didn't want to admit it. But now he couldn't deny it. Trevor left the house after that, saying goodbye to Ian and telling him not to call him. and Ian had the audacity to not look upset, to not even fight it. He just nodded and watched him leave. Trevor was fuming by the time he got home.
Over many months, Trevor would get over the stupid redhead and find himself a new guy, but he still kept tabs on Ian. Monica had died and Ian had left with Mickey, only to come back after driving all the way to the Mexican border with him. Eventually Ian started some gay religious shit and got himself thrown in prison. For awhile, that was all he heard about him. Two years was what he got. Trevor had wrongfully assumed that would be the last he would hear about him. But he was very wrong. Trevor had been scrolling through Instagram, the mindless action taking his mind off of work. He saw that Debbie had posted a new picture including Ian, meaning he was out. Ian was next to a shorter many, with black hair and blue eyes. Ian looked older, and happier. That bit hurt. The two men had their arms around each other, and Ian was smiling bright at the camera, while the other man had a closed off look on his face, but he could tell the man was hiding a smile. When Trevor saw the caption, he suddenly felt numb. 'Congrats to these two dumb fucks for getting their heads out of their asses. Your one step closer to becoming an official Gallagher Mick.' She also tagged Ian and 'Mick' in the post. Trevor zeroed in on the word Mick. It couldn't be, could it?
Trevor looked at the mans account, and sure enough he was in fact Mickey Milkovich. The man who was supposed to be in prison. The man who Ian was in love with. His account had no post, his profile picture was of someone, presumably Mickey, raising their middle finger. But his caption was what got Trevor. 'Forced to get this by Ian' with ring emoji. Trevor finally closed the app before he lost his mind.
He knew he was over Ian. But the fact that he got back with the fucker who he left him for drove him insane and he didn't know why. And plus, shouldn't the two of them be in prison or something? Finally, Trevor decided it was better that he didn't know.