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When Ian Gallagher met Mickey Milkovich in New York, he had thought it was fate. They hadn’t met properly back when they were both living in the Southside, but they managed to find each other years later.
Ian had moved up there with Lip when they had both graduated since Lip had gotten into NYU and Ian just wanted to get out of the Southside. He had no intention in going to college, but had ended up interning at a publishing company instead before being offered an entry-level job. So when he had met Mickey, he was on steady ground, unlike the many years of his life where he hadn’t been.
Mickey had moved up there a year after them. Mainly to get away from his father and the mounting problems coming his way, but he had regrettably left people behind. He didn’t feel so bad about leaving behind his brothers, except maybe Iggy, but he more felt bad about leaving Mandy behind — not to mention his wife and kid. Seriously, not to mention them. Ian had no idea they even existed after two years of being together, and Mickey wanted to keep it that way. He sent them money on a regular basis from his job as a manager of a garage and they were happy with that.
It had been a problem last year since he saw them every Christmas and Ian had wanted to go back with him so they could see the Gallaghers and Mandy, but Mickey had just faked sick so Ian and Lip went back and he invited Svetlana, Yev, and Mandy to come up to New York and have Christmas with him…Sort of behind Ian’s back. He just figured that Ian finding out about his wife and kid might be kind of a deal breaker, and he really didn’t want that.
Finally, Ian was demanding to meet Mandy, and Mickey had refused, saying that she couldn’t make the trip. Mickey didn’t want to tell Mandy that he hadn’t told Ian about everything, because she was going to judge him…or hit him. Meanwhile, Ian was finding it very suspicious that he hadn’t met any of Mickey’s family yet, despite being together for two years and living together for six months. So he, as usual, took matters into his own hands.
Stealing Mickey’s phone had been easy, it was pretending to be Mickey that was the problem. He had heard Mickey talking to Mandy on the phone once, though, so instead he just sent her a text saying ‘Come up here, bitch’ with an attached plane ticket. He kept Mickey’s phone for the day, not wanting Mandy to reply where Mickey could see it. Luckily, Mandy had replied ‘Fine, assface. I’ll take time off work’ within a few minutes. Ian quickly deleted the texts and awaited Mandy’s arrival.
*
Mickey had just been woken up for morning sex, and then Ian had gone and made breakfast, so right now, he couldn’t have possibly been more happy. He loved it when they both had days off and could just lounge around, doing nothing.
Ian brought him breakfast in bed, giving him a kiss before heading into the shower. While he was getting dressed after the shower, there was a knock at the door so Mickey sighed and went to answer it in his t-shirt and pyjama bottoms. He opened the door to see a bottle of Jack dangling in front of his face. He frowned, grabbing it out of the person’s hand to see Mandy standing there, smiling at him wickedly.
‘’Sup, douchebag,’ she greeted before tossing her suitcase inside. Once her suitcase was in the apartment, she wrapped her arms around her brother, oblivious to his stunned state. ‘I can’t believe you only invited me down here. What’s your damage? Something bad must be going down.’
That’s when Ian stepped out of their bedroom, still shirtless, but at least he had pants on. He awkwardly waved with a small smile. ‘Uh, hi! You must be Mandy.’
‘Or something very good must be going down,’ Mandy said, moving away from her brother and laughing at her own joke. She grinned at Ian before hugging him, pressing her cheek into his bare chest. ‘I am Mandy. Who are you, you fine fuckin’ creature?’
Ian laughed a little as she pulled away. ‘I’m Ian. Mickey’s boyfriend.’
Mandy frowned. ‘Damn, how long?’
Ian’s smile faltered as he realised that Mickey clearly hadn’t spoken about him. ‘Two years…’
Mandy winced. ‘Ouch. Well, two years ago Mickey was very deep in the closet, so you can’t really blame him I guess…?’
Ian scowled. ‘Oh, I think I can.’ He turned to his boyfriend. ‘You didn’t even tell your sister about me? We live together, Mick!’
Mandy gasped excitedly. ‘You live together?’
‘You didn’t tell me that you went behind my back and invited my sister down here!’ Mickey barked. ‘How the fuck did you pull that one off, Gallagher? I knew you were sneaky and manipulative, but shit.’
Ian’s eyes narrowed. ‘I can’t fucking believe you’re turning this around to be about me right now! Why are you so weird about me meeting your family? What the hell are you hiding?’
‘Fuck you, Ian. I ain’t hidin’ shit.’
‘Ian, if Mickey’s told you everything like he says, he isn’t hiding anything,’ Mandy began, oblivious to the shut-the-fuck-up-right-now glare her brother was shooting her. ‘I mean, anything he would be hiding from you would be super bad, and I don’t think it can get worse than Terry and Svetlana and, well, Yev if you consider a kid bad.’
When Mandy saw Ian’s dumbstruck look, she knew she had fucked up somewhere. She frowned as it dawned on her that maybe Mickey hadn’t mentioned his wife and kid to his boyfriend.
‘You have a kid?’ Ian asked incredulously.
‘Ian—’ Mickey began, sounding apologetic.
‘No. Just—Just shut the fuck up, Mickey. I don’t want to fucking hear it.’ With that, Ian headed back into their room and shoved on a shirt before storming out the front door. Ignoring Mickey’s pleas not to go, he slammed the door shut behind him.
Mandy sighed before grabbing the Jack out of her brother’s hand and saying, ‘Well, I guess this can be put to good use now.’
*
Ian was flopped in his brother’s armchair, ignoring Mickey’s calls and whining to his brother. ‘A fucking kid. He has a fucking kid. And a wife, probably. Mandy mentioned a Svetlana and I know Terry is their father, so it only makes sense that she’s his fucking wife.’ He rolled over to look at his brother with puppy eyes; he looked so betrayed. ‘He got married. To a woman. And then he had a kid with her. Then he doesn’t even tell me, I mean, how fucked up is that?’
Lip sighed. ‘You know, Ian, maybe—’
‘Well, fuck him,’ Ian interrupted, storming through Lip’s train of thought with his own. ‘He can move the fuck out and go back to his real family. They can be the fucking Brady Bunch for all I care. I’ll stay here and make a family of my own with someone who doesn’t fucking lie to me.’
Lip waited a second to see if his brother remained silent and, when he did, tried again, ‘I just think—’
‘What kind of fucking name is Svetlana anyway? She’s probably a massive bitch. Or maybe she’s a really nice girl who thought she had the perfect family with the love of her life until she found out he was a lying, cock-loving jackass.’ Ian frowned. ‘Oh God, what if I’m a home-wrecker? Or, worse, what if I’m a mistress? They think he’s just doing business up here and really he’s fucking living with me.’
‘Ian!’ Lip snapped, finally getting his brother’s attention. ‘Have you considered that maybe he never wanted to marry Svetlana or have a kid with her? Maybe that whole thing was really fucking traumatic is all I’m saying. Maybe he avoids them and doesn’t want to tell you about them because they’re a trigger. He could have fucking PTSD or something.’
‘Why are you sticking up for him?’ Ian cried out. ‘You’re my fucking brother and he lied to me!’
Lip gritted his teeth in frustration. ‘I’m not sticking up for him, Ian. All I’m saying is that you don’t know the whole story. If you’re a mistress or something, by all means, come back and lie on that couch and cry. I’ll even put on some fucking girly shit for you to nurse your heartbreak to. But you don’t know the whole story, and don’t you kind of want to hear it? Don’t you, deep down, want this to have a reasonable explanation so you can go right back to normal with Mickey?’
Ian scowled. ‘No.’
‘I know you love him, Ian.’ Lip rolled his eyes when his brother mimicked him in a silly voice. ‘You can’t just drop something like this without the whole story. Plus, Mickey’s grown on me unfortunately. If this was two months into your relationship when I only really knew him a little, I would be telling you to dump his short ass. However, I’ve gotten to know your short, angry man and in that time, I’ve come to think of him as someone who wouldn’t pull this shit without a good reason, Ian. Go back to him and figure your shit out.’
Ian sighed, heaving himself up. ‘Fine.’
‘Good. Now get outta here, I’m trying to watch The Bachelorette and you interrupted.’
*
By the time Mickey had given up hope, it was seven at night. He and Mandy were in the kitchen, leaning up against the cabinets and getting hammered. It sort of reminded him of when they were younger, except they weren’t in danger of getting beat to death for touching Terry’s booze.
‘You’re a fuckin’ bitch,’ Mickey slurred, rubbing at his face. ‘You had to blurt out about the rugrat and the fuckin’ ball and chain, and now he isn’t answering any of my calls.’
‘I believe you’re the one who fucked everything up, dear brother,’ Mandy responded with a hard punch to the chest. ‘Fuck you for trying to lay that shit on me, that ain’t right; you should’ve told him from the beginning.’
Mickey sighed. ‘You’re right. Ian probably would’ve fuckin’ loved it. Not the Svet part, but the Yev part, fuck. He would’ve gotten him to call him Dad by now.’
Mandy took a sip from the bottle before passing it to Mickey. ‘He seems like he would make a good dad. He would probably get Yev on his side and they would play pranks on you and shit.’
Mickey snickered. ‘He so fuckin’ would.’ He let out a sigh, sounding ridiculously hopeless. ‘Now we’ll never know, because we’re done. Done. Done…Fuckin’ done.’
‘Oh, Jesus, save me from my brother’s bullshit.’ Mandy rolled her eyes. ‘You know everything will work out, so shut the fuck up with your pining already.’
‘You don’t fuckin’ know that!’ Mickey whined. ‘He probably hates me now.’
‘I don’t hate you, dickhead,’ Ian sighed as he came back through the front door.
Mandy made a gurgling noise in excitement, much like a baby. ‘Ian! You’re back! Thank fuck! Mickey’s being so annoying.’
‘Aye, fuck you.’ Mickey hiccuped.
‘Do you want to crash on the couch, Mands?’ Ian requested, gesturing to the couch.
When Mandy started to stand up like a newborn deer, Ian sighed and helped her over to the couch, where she promptly passed out. He rolled his eyes at her. She looked so much like her brother. He returned to said man and helped him up as well, heading to their bedroom. Mickey was murmuring incoherently while Ian got him into bed. He was still in his pyjamas so Ian didn’t bother changing him.
Ian changed into his shirt and boxers before climbing into bed next to Mickey. It shocked him when Mickey immediately attached himself to Ian, wrapping around him like a bear to a tree.
‘Please don’t leave me,’ Mickey whined and Ian could feel his tears dripping on Ian’s collarbone.
Ian sighed, feeling his heart melting already as he hugged Mickey back and ran a hand through his hair. He was such a sucker. ‘I’m not leaving you…for now, but I deserve an explanation.’
‘Dad caught me,’ Mickey mumbled, pulling away from Ian but looking anywhere but at him.
‘Mick, you don’t need to tell me right now,’ Ian interrupted, not sure if he wanted to hear the story anymore if it began like that.
‘No, I’m tellin’ you!’ Mickey snapped. ‘You wanted to know, and you deserve to know.’
Ian went silent at that and let his boyfriend, who seemed to be more and more sober by the minute, continue.
‘Dad caught me fucking around with some guy from the neighbourhood. He beat the shit outta the guy, but sent him away. He had also beat the shit outta me, so I thought it was over, but then…’ Mickey sniffed, clearly holding back tears and Ian tightened his arms around him. ‘He called someone and a hooker turned up.’
Ian felt sick, bile rising in his throat. He didn’t want to know the rest, but he knew this is what he had asked for. And, on some level, he felt like he had to hear it. Mickey had gone through it, so if he felt safe enough to tell Ian, Ian knew he had to shut the fuck up and listen.
‘He forced her to “fuck the faggot” out of me. At first I hated her for it, but now I know that there isn’t much she could’ve done. He had a gun pointed at her, you know? He—’ Mickey seemed to have trouble choking out the next word. ‘—raped both of us. It was bad for both of us…and then she was pregnant. Dad told me that I was going to marry her, and I didn’t want to fuckin’ die so…I agreed. Svet and I hated each other for a while, but then one night Yev had a really bad temperature and we both panicked, even though I couldn’t even stand to look at the kid, I was scared for him. We went to the ER and it all ended up fine, but we were both so terrified of losing him that we ended up talking through everything just because of the emotions and shit. And she fuckin’ cried so hard, man.’ Mickey was sobbing now and Ian ran his hand through his hair, trying to soothe him. ‘She told me she never wanted it, any of it, but when Yev came, she just decided to make the best out of a bad situation. So I decided I would too.’
Ian sniffed back his tears as he held his shaking boyfriend in his arms. He didn’t say anything, thinking that there might be more to the story, and he was right.
‘But then Terry went to prison again, this time for life, and I got a call about a mechanic job in New York. Apparently Svet had lived here for a while and had called in a favour to one of her old, nicer clients to get me a job. She told me to run and never look back. I didn’t want to leave Yev at first, but then I realised that having me around, still messed up, wasn’t really doin’ the kid any favours. We still see each other, but for now, I think having distance between us is better for all of us.’ Mickey seemed pretty sober now, even if he wasn’t, and looked up at Ian with wet eyes. ‘I’m really fuckin’ sorry I lied to you, Ian. I didn’t—I didn’t want to have to…I didn’t want you to look at me like I’m a fuckin’ victim or some shit. I didn’t want you to feel obligated to deal with all my fucked up shit. I just…I don’t know. I know none of this was a good reason, but I’m still sorry.’
Ian sighed, kissing him gently. ‘Mick, you don’t need to be sorry. I mean, yeah, maybe I could’ve known about the kid and wife earlier, but I did kind of walk myself into finding out. I didn’t know it would be anything this bad, and I’m sorry I pushed you.’
‘At least you know now. Can we…can we fuckin’ move on from this?’
Ian nodded, hugging him tighter again. ‘We can deal with this however you want, Mickey. I’m here. I’m staying right here. I love you.’
And now, Mickey believed him. They could get through this. Now Ian knew all his secrets, and he still loved him anyway.
Maybe it really was fate.