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Fiona picked up a dirty plaid shirt from the floor in the hallway and threw it into the laundry basket that she was carrying. Life for the past month had been like a haze in the sense that she was just doing stuff.
Between cooking, cleaning, working, and making sure her little brother didn’t get sent back to juvie, she barely had time to think. It was fine, though. It was how she had lived for years, and in a way, it was nice to have that back. Fiona had been way too selfish the past year, she knew that now.
So all she could do was try to focus on her family and try to make it up to them.
Fiona knocked two times on the boys bedroom door before entering.
She made a face at the obviously come soaked underwear on the floor before picking them up between her thumb and index finger and dropping them in the basket.
When she looked up, she realized the room wasn’t empty like she had first thought.
Ian was laying on his bed, facing the wall with the covers pulled all the way up to his chin. Fiona let out a quiet sigh to herself. From what she had seen, Ian had been up and out, taking his meds every morning and every night.
She could never be one hundred percent sure, though, so of course she got worried, seeing him lay there at one pm on a Tuesday.
She put the basket down on the floor and walked over to the bed, sitting down on the edge.
”Hey, precious. You take your meds today?”
When she got no response, she put her hand over the covers where she guessed his upper arm was. Ian pulled away from the touch.
”Leave me alone” Fiona sighed again.
”I can bring them to you. Is there anything special you want to drink with them?”
Fiona tried her hardest to be a good parent to all of her siblings, but sometimes, in cases like this, she just didn’t know what she fuck to do. She distantly wondered what Mickey would have done, but she quickly pushed the thought out of her head. Mickey Milkovich had broken her little brothers heart, he didn’t deserve him.
”I took them” Ian mumbled. ”Just leave me alone”
Fiona tilted her head and placed her hand back onto Ian’s arm. She didn’t really believe him, but she decided to go with it.
”Okay. That’s good. Then what’s bothering you?” Fiona could see and feel Ian breathing out, but he didn’t say anything at first.
”I took them, Fi” Ian finally sighed, and this time Fiona just knew he was speaking the truth. ”I promise. I just… need to lay here, okay? Leave me alone”
Fiona sighed deeply, but nodded to herself and stood up, picking the laundry basket up from the floor.
With a last look to her little brother, she exited the room.
When Debbie came home from school a few hours later, Ian still hadn’t gotten up, and Fiona was starting to get really fucking worried.
”What’s wrong?” Debbie asked as she put down her bag, immediately noticing that her sister had something on her mind. Fiona momentarily stopped biting on her fingernail to answer.
”Ian won’t get out of bed” Debbie ran a hand through her hair.
”Did he not take his meds this morning?” Fiona shrugged.
Obviously that was her first thought, too. And her second one, and her third one. Yet,
”I think he did” She answered honestly. ”I counted them”
”He could have flushed them to make it look like he took them” Debbie pointed out and Fiona nodded.
”I guess. But I asked him, and he said he did. I know what he sounds like when he’s lying” Debbie nodded.
After living in a house this small for so many years, the Gallaghers could read each other like open books. At least when it came to lies and manipulations.
”You want me to try and get him up?” Debbie asked then and Fiona nodded.
”Don’t know if it’ll do any good but it can’t be bad” Debbie shrugged her jacket off and walked up the stairs.
She entered the room without knocking and just like she had expected, Ian was still lying under the covers, facing away from the door.
”Ian?” Debbie said, walking closer to the bed, but not sitting down. ”Ian, what’s wrong?”
”Leave me alone, Debs” Ian mumbled, his voice cracking so badly it almost broke Debbie’s heart.
”Ian” She whispered, unsure about how far she should push him. ”Did you take your meds?” She tried, even though she knew it wouldn’t do much good.
”Yes. Get out”
Finally Debbie gave up, giving a reassuring squeeze to his bicep and then exiting the room with a sigh.
She came down the stairs, shaking her head at Fiona, who bit her lip, looking as if she were in deep thought.
The silence was broken my Carl who burst in through the kitchen door, letting it slam behind him.
”Carl, don’t do that. You’ll break it” Fiona warned. It wouldn’t be the first time.
”Sorry” Carl mumbled, to his sisters surprise. ”What’s going on?” He asked then, noticing that Debbie and Fiona were just standing around in the kitchen doing nothing.
”Ian won’t get out of bed” Debbie explained.
”Want me to drag him down here?” Carl asked, completely serious.
”No” Fiona said immediately. ”We have to go about this right, I have no idea what’s going on with him. As far as I can tell, he’s on the meds”
”If he wasn’t, he wouldn’t talk to us at all” Debbie agreed.
”Tell me how that works out” Carl said, grabbing his bag and heading towards the front door.
”Wait!” Fiona called him back to the kitchen.
”What now?”
”Would you please talk to him?” She asked. It probably wouldn’t do much good either, but if someone in the Gallagher family knew how to get Ian out of bed, it was Carl. Even before the whole bipolar thing.
”Fine” Carl said, putting his bag back down onto a kitchen chair and then heading upstairs.
He entered the room without knocking and got Ian’s attention by sitting on the edge of the bed, shaking him violently.
”Go away, Carl” Ian groaned, not even having to turn around to know who it was. Carl was the only one who would never try to be careful around Ian because he was sick. Most of the time, Ian liked it. It made him feel normal.
Now, though, he wanted nothing but to be left alone again.
”You know what? Grow the fuck up!” Carl said loudly, although not screaming.
Ian didn’t do anything to acknowledge him, so Carl continued.
”I don’t know if you took the pills or not, but either way you need to get up. Debbie and Fiona are freaking out downstairs. You’re a selfish fucking prick, you know that?”
”I know” Ian agreed, so quietly Carl wasn’t even sure he had heard right.
There was a special crack in Ian’s voice. The kind that only happened when Ian was thinking of one person.
Suddenly, Carl felt like an idiot.
The answer had been there all along.
”Fuck” Carl cursed, exiting the room and running down the stairs.
”How did it go?” Fiona asked, standing in the same place she was before.
”Can’t talk, gotta make a phone call” Carl explained, grabbing the phone from the kitchen counter and then he headed out to the porch, dialing the number.
It took almost a minute before he picked up, and every second made Carl’s skin itch even more.
Maybe he didn’t have a reputation for being the good guy, he had no interest in that either.
But when it came to his family, and especially his sick older brother, he would do anything.
Even if he wouldn’t admit it.
”Hello?” The careless voice came through the receiver.
”Hey, it’s Carl. You gotta get over here. Now”
Almost ten minutes later, Mickey reached the Gallagher house, and Carl was still out on the porch, waiting.
Mickey walked up to him, running a hand over his mouth, obviously nervous to face whatever Carl needed him to face.
”What the fuck is going on? You know me and Ian aren’t together anymore, right?” Carl nodded.
”Yeah, yeah. But he won’t get out of bed. Debbie and Fiona are freaking out, I - ”
”He take his meds?” Carl nodded again.
”I think so, but he’s acting as if he hasn’t”
”Okay, then what the fuck do you want me to do?”
Carl looked up at him, wondering how the fuck he should explain this.
He had never been one to think too much, and he had never been very worried to mess things up.
Now he was, though. He needed not to mess this up, but he didn’t really know how to make Mickey understand.
Finally he shrugged, and said the only thing that in his mind, made sense.
”You’re Mickey”
Mickey’s look softened, and his body visibly relaxed, and if Carl didn’t know better, he’d say his eyes were starting to tear up.
”You’re Ian and Mickey. That’s the only fucking thing I can say. No matter what the fuck went down between the two of you, you gotta at least try” Carl sighed. "He loves you" He added quietly.
Somehow, those words worked.
Mickey dragged himself up the stairs, and through the hallway, stopping right outside of the room.
He hesitated for a couple of seconds before he opened it and entered the room.
Mickey stopped in the doorway for a second, taking in the sight.
Ian was laying in his bed, facing the door with his covers pulled up to his chin. His hair was a mess, and his eyes were closed.
Mickey tilted his head before taking a step forwards and crouching beside the bed.
Ian opened his eyes at the presence, and when he saw who it was, the tired look on his face turned into almost a look of shock.
He didn’t move, though.
”Mick” He just croaked, and Mickey couldn’t help but place a palm, flat against Ian’s cheek.
”I’m here” He whispered back, and Ian nodded.
They looked at each other for a second before Ian slowly moved back towards the wall, almost as if testing the waters.
Mickey smiled at him, carefully laying down beside Ian on his side, looking into his eyes.
”I missed you” Ian whispered, and Mickey nodded, pulling Ian closer so that his head was resting in the crook of Mickey’s neck.
They needed this, Mickey didn’t care how it looked.
”I know” Mickey whispered. ”That why you won’t get out of bed?” Ian said nothing, and it was answer enough.
Mickey pulled Ian even closer and kissed the top of his head.
”I’m here now” Ian’s breath hitched at the words, and Mickey could almost hear the wheels turning inside of that damn orange head. ”What’s up?”
They didn’t look at each other, because Ian’s head was still buried deep inside of Mickey’s neck.
”Just tonight?” Ian asked and Mickey immediately shook his head.
”No. Not fucking leaving you again, you hear me?”
Ian’s only response was a soft kiss to Mickey’s collarbone, and Mickey pulled him even closer.
”I’m sorry” Ian whispered, but Mickey shook his head.
”Don’t fucking apologize to me. That wasn’t you talking” He reminded Ian.
”Still sorry” Mickey placed a kiss to his forehead.
”Doesn’t matter now. I’m here, always fucking will be”
They didn't talk much more, they didn't need to. For now, they just held each other.
An hour or two later, Mickey came down the stairs, and bumped into Debbie and Fiona who had apparently still not moved from the kitchen.
”How is he?” Fiona asked.
”Did he talk?” Debbie’s voice clouded hers.
”Yeah, we talked. He’s asleep” Fiona nodded.
”So you’re back together?” Mickey nodded, not giving her more. ”I get that having a boyfriend with bipolar disease in hard, but you can’t dump him again, Mickey. He can’t take that”
”Disorder” Mickey corrected her. ”And for your information, he dumped my ass, not the other way around” Fiona raised her eyebrows.
”Oh. I thought - ”
”I know what you thought” Mickey said, with a smile on his face that he didn’t even attempt to make believable. ”Now, I gotta go get some clothes from my place” He said, walking past his boyfriends sisters.
”You’re staying here?” Debbie asked.
”Told him I wasn’t leaving” He stated, and then he exited out through the backdoor.
Fiona was left thinking that maybe she did judge her brother’s boyfriend a little too hard.
They seemed happiest when they were together.
Maybe that was what should matter.