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Despite growing up around his Uncle Ian and his partner, Mickey, his whole life, Riley Gallagher didn’t actually know much about their past. He knew a lot about his mother, Fiona, well…he knew enough. He knew about Liam and the coke, and the fact that she doesn’t know who his dad is. He knew his Uncle Lip stole a laser once for a robot competition and that he’s an alcoholic. He knew his Aunt Debbie got pregnant around the same time as his mom and that’s his cousin, Frannie. He knows that Uncle Carl went to Juvie for drug dealing and then later became a cop, but then later quit that to be a tattoo artist. He even knows that Ian used to mess around with his boss at the Kash N’ Grab, which was owned by the dude’s kids now, and also his mom’s ex-boyfriend’s father.
But he didn’t know anything about Mickey and Ian’s relationship.
And he sort of wanted to. If only because he wanted something to relate to…and because he was dying to know what Mickey was like as a teenager. He figured out a year ago that he was bisexual — it helped that Carl was too, so at least he knew that was a thing — and he figured out a few months ago that he had a huge crush on Mickey. He had already come out, there was no problem with that for him, but he didn’t dare even think about the crush or act on it. Mickey and Ian had been together his whole life, and he knew this was so fucking inappropriate. It really was unreal how much so.
His questions were all answered, though, one family night. The adults were all in the kitchen, reminiscing, and the kids were supposed to be upstairs. Not that he was a kid; he was fifteen for fuck’s sake. Yev was even older than him, seventeen, but he was still forced to hang out with the kids. He seemed fine with it, but Riley wasn’t, so he decided to sneak down to the middle of the stairs and listen in on everyone’s conversation.
‘Only because you fucked off to fuck knows where and I was fuckin’ worried,’ Mickey snapped back, sounding embarrassed about something.
‘Mick, you know how much I would’ve killed to have you ask about me?’ Ian laughed.
‘Yeah, I do, fuckhead. You were thirsty as hell.’
Lip snorted. ‘Jesus. Whatever, it wasn’t nearly as much as Ian asked about you. I mean, fuck, he even asked me to ask Mandy once how you were doin’ in Juvie. Like I would fucking care.’
‘Fuck you, Phillip.’
‘Fuck you right back, Mikhailo.’
Riley mouthed, ‘Mikhailo’ to himself, liking the sound of that. It was…different…sexy.
Mickey’s sexy full name aside, Riley was now very interested in this whole Ian-going-away-somewhere story. He was about to listen in and wait for more, but a hand landed on his shoulder and he jumped.
‘Holy fuck,’ he whispered, glaring up at Yev, who was grinning down at him.
‘’Sup, Riles?’ Yev laughed quietly, sitting down beside him. ‘You eavesdroppin’ or somethin’?’
Riley had once had a crush on Yev, or at least thought he had, but he had soon realised that he liked older men. People did say that he was a lot like Ian in some ways, so it wasn’t all that surprising. Neither was his small crush on Yev, since he was pretty much a young, less angry, Mickey — always getting into trouble, swearing a whole fucking lot, and getting wasted at parties. He was badass, and Riley liked tough guys.
Riley shoved at him roughly, but still continued the conversation in a whisper, ‘Fuck you, no. I’m just…sick of hanging out with the fuckin’ kids.’
‘You realise we’re not that young, right?’ Yev laughed. ‘And Frannie and I are older than you.’
‘Yeah, Frannie by, like, a fuckin’ month.’ Riley waited a second, hesitating, before asking, ‘What do you know about Ian and Mickey’s relationship when they were younger.’
Yev’s jaw clenched and his eyes narrowed. ‘Why do you ask?’
Riley shrugged. ‘Curious. They were just talking about Ian taking off.’
‘What time?’ Yev snorted.
‘Uh…I dunno.’
Yev rolled his eyes. ‘Shit, man. If you really wanna know this crap, can we go somewhere we can actually talk? Wanna get high in the van?’
Riley nodded eagerly and they headed back up the stairs, across the hall, down the second set of stairs, out the front door, round the back, and into the van. Yev pulled out a joint and lit it, taking a drag before handing it to Riley.
‘Right. So. I dunno much about them before I was born, but I was and it fucked things up for a while. Ian was all pissy about it and he joined the army illegally. Dad was kinda…fuckin’…destroyed at that, from what I’ve heard.’ Yev nodded at Riley’s widened eyes. ‘I fuckin’ know. Anyway. When Ian came back, he was manic and dancin’ in a club. No one really knew that, though, and everything was going fine, until he almost…forced my dad into coming out in front of Terry at my christening party. Terry almost fuckin’ killed him. I mean, I don’t think my dad’s too upset about it, but every time I hear the story I just…’ Yev’s fist clenched and Riley worried that maybe Yev wouldn’t finish the story, but he continued anyway. ‘But, yeah, Ian woke up the next day depressed.
‘Dad kind of couldn’t grasp what Bipolar Disorder was, and he thought he could handle it. He really, really couldn’t. Ian cheated on him, kidnapped me for a little while, and…he, uh, smacked my dad around a little. Only once, but, uh…yeah. Mom really didn’t like that when she found out about it. Ian wouldn’t take his meds and, after some shit went down with the army, he ended up running away with Monica. Then he came back and dumped my dad. Dad was a fuckin’ wreck, not that I remember it.
‘After that, it was probably…half a year apart, and Ian dated other people, then Ian came back asking for another chance because he finally had his shit together, and Dad said no. Then, it was a few more months, almost a year from when they broke up, that Dad reconsidered and they started dating again. They were apparently only back to the way they were around two years after they broke up, though…And I was four when I was re-introduced to Ian. I remember that. Fucker cried.’ Yev laughed a little. ‘Anyway, yeah, that’s their fucked up story, but they’re doin’ better now. Sometimes I still think Mom’s just waiting for Ian to fuck up again, though.’
After hearing what heartbreak Ian had put Mickey through, Riley himself wasn’t too sure that Ian wouldn’t fuck up again. And now he knew he had to know. If not only for Mickey’s sake, but for his own. Maybe things could work out for him and Mickey. Suddenly, he was filled with a renewed sense of determination. Ian was bound to fuck up and, when he did, Riley Gallagher was going to be waiting there with open arms.
*
Riley knew he was good-looking. Coming from his family, obviously he would be. He looked like a male Fiona — dark, wavy hair and deep, brown eyes. He was lanky, but that was usual for a boy his age, and he had a smattering of dark freckles across his nose. Although he looked so much like his mother it wasn’t funny, so many people said he looked like Ian when he was his age. This knowledge only gave him more confidence in catching Mickey’s attention. Mickey got with Ian, and Riley’s seen pictures, he knows he’s better than fifteen year old Ian Gallagher.
Knowing his shit and doing his research, he threw on a hoodie, t-shirt, an open, plaid button-down, and fitted jeans. He looked himself in the mirror and smirked before heading out to visit Mickey and Ian. Well, more Mickey since he knew Ian was out, but at least he had a plausible reason for visiting. When he got there, though, all words flew from his mouth as soon as Mickey opened the door and frowned down at him.
‘Aye, Riley. What are you doin’ here? Ian’s at work,’ Mickey said.
Riley just gave him a goofy, lop-sided smile and said, ‘I know. I came to see you, actually.’ Shit, Riley, that wasn’t what you were supposed to say.
Mickey seemed confused, but nodded and let Riley inside. He gestured for Riley to sit at the kitchen table and he grabbed a beer before sitting across from him. ‘So…why did you wanna see me?’
‘It’s just…’ Riley sighed. ‘I saw this photo and I was wondering if you could tell me who this guy is.’
He placed the old photo on the table and slid it across to Mickey. It was a picture he had found when looking through old photo albums for exactly this photo. It was a picture from his mom’s almost wedding. She was going to give birth in a month, and she and this dude, Sean, were going to get married, until Grandpa Frank ruined everything. It was a photo of some of the family, and some black dude he’d never met. They were all standing by the Chicago River, for some reason he didn’t know.
Mickey took a look at it, shoulders stiffening as he spotted the guy, before tossing it across the table and taking a sip of his beer. ‘Just some ex of Ian’s, man. Why did you care? Plenty of random people in your family photos.’
Riley shrugged, not really liking the hurt look in Mickey’s eyes, but he knew it was necessary to get Mickey to watch out for Ian to fuck up again. ‘I just was wondering. He looked…close to Ian. I only knew that you and him dated since he was fifteen, and he looked old in this photo. Was worried that…’
Mickey frowned. ‘That what?’
‘That maybe he cheated on you.’
‘He did.’ Mickey sighed. ‘But it’s a long fuckin’ story, and this guy wasn’t a dude he cheated with. We broke up for a while, and he was someone Ian dated in that time.’
Riley gasped as if he had no idea any of this had happened. ‘Wait, you guys broke up? I mean, I’m assuming you broke up with him…’
‘Why would you fuckin’ assume that? He broke up with me, actually.’ Mickey seemed a little pissed off now, so Riley knew to tread carefully with what he said next.
Riley just looked up at Mickey from under his lashes, playing around with the table cloth. ‘Who would want to break up with you? Or cheat on you, for that matter.’
Mickey snorted. ‘Yeah, thanks for the compliment, kid. Anyway, is that all you came for?’
Riley frowned, but nodded.
‘Great, I’ve actually gotta meet up with your Uncle Lip in a bit, so you should get going.’
Riley was a little put-out with the fact that Mickey was pretty much kicking him out, but he knew this would give him more time to go and spy on Ian. Maybe Ian was up to something that Mickey didn’t know about. After all, Mickey had said Ian was at work, and Riley had known for a fact that Ian was hanging out with Carl at his work. Why would Ian lie?
*
Riley trudged down the street, heading to Carl’s tattoo parlour, when Ian came out the doors. Riley stopped dead in his tracks, pulling his hood up and ducking into an alley. He stepped back out when Ian started walking in the opposite direction, and he started following him. Ian was acting weird, he kept rubbing his shoulder before wincing and flinching away when he did. Riley had no idea what that was about, but decided to keep following him as he got on the L and headed into the North Side.
Maybe he was meeting a secret lover. Riley thought that could be possible. He lied about where he was going to Mickey, and now he was going into the North Side, which was strange for Ian unless it was for work. However, he didn’t go to his work, he went into a store. He came back out with a box and headed back to the L. Riley frowned and followed him back, hoping something would happen so he could go ahead and tell Mickey, letting him fall into his arms.
Ian didn’t do anything shady…at all. He only went home and hid the box before watching TV. Riley went home with a heavy heart, annoyed that he couldn’t find anything that Ian had done.
Damn.
*
It was a month later that that day fell into place. All this time, Mickey had been complaining that he wasn’t getting laid. Apparently, Ian not being in the mood could be a usual thing if there was a med change, but there hadn’t been, so not having sex for a month was apparently putting a strain on things. For a while there, Riley had thought that maybe he could seduce Mickey, but Mickey hadn’t caught on to anything he had tried. In the end, he had given up, only to end up at a party celebrating their anniversary.
It was just a regular Gallagher barbecue, nothing too special, but Riley was a little miffed to have to be there. He really didn’t want to see Ian and Mickey celebrate their love. But when Ian had stood up, making a speech about all the tough times they had been through and how he was so glad they had made it, it all made sense to Riley. Mickey was wearing a brand-new gold chain, which he looked super fucking hot in, by the way, and when they all got in the pool, Riley could see a small tattoo on Ian’s shoulder.
It said Mickey.
Riley wanted to throw up at the gooeyness of it all. He gagged just seeing it, shaking his head and deciding to head out to the empty porch to smoke a joint. He didn’t expect Yev to flop down beside him and steal it away from him.
‘Makes you fuckin’ sick, right?’ Yev laughed. ‘They’re both such fuckin’ saps, if you can believe my dad being a sap. He is, though — worst kind.’
Riley shrugged. ‘Yeah, it’s pretty gross and romantic, but…also kinda nice, to be completely fucking honest. Who wouldn’t like someone to share something like that with?’
‘Yeah…’ Yev breathed, staring out at the sky before glancing back at Riley.
Riley was only now noticing how cute Yev looked tonight. He actually had dressed half-decent, unlike his usual rocker shirts and jeans. He had tight black jeans on, and a white shirt with almost half of the buttons undone, showing off his milky, hairless chest. Yev was all skin and bones, unlike his parents, who were both pretty curvaceous, but Riley found himself digging it nonetheless.
And, with his bright, blue eyes staring back at him, Riley found the courage to do something he had wanted to for a while back then. He leant in and kissed Yev.
He was shocked when Yev didn’t pull away. He had thought Yev was straight, but with the way he was kissing Riley, clearly Riley had been wrong. Embarrassingly enough, it was Riley’s first kiss, and he couldn’t think of a way it could’ve been better. It was under the stars with a cute boy, and who didn’t want something like that?
Riley immediately decided never to tell Yev about his plans to break Ian and Mickey up and ultimately have Mickey to himself. Riley sort of had a psychopathic approach to dating, like Aunt Debbie and Mandy…but Yev really didn’t need to know that yet.
He’d figure it out for himself soon enough.