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When Ian and Mickey got married, Ian suggested maybe Mickey stop working and just take care of Yev. It made sense, since Mickey absolutely hated his job and absolutely loved his kid. Plus, Ian was now making enough money to support them all. So Mickey figured why not?
And, as it turned out, he fucking kicked ass when it came to being a stay-at-home dad. So much so, that both Debbie and Fiona used him as a day-care service, which he complained to no end about to begin with, but when he found out that Frannie and Riley were pretty cool kids, so he didn’t really care. Yev was five now, which was old enough to entertain the three year olds while Mickey cleaned up or made lunch for them all.
‘Okay,’ Mickey grunted as he planted himself on the floor beside the kids, who were all staring wide-eyed at the TV. ‘Here ya go, guys.’ He handed the toddlers a plate each with cheese sandwiches on them. ‘Yev, don’t give Riley any of yours, okay?’ He handed his son his crackers with peanut butter spread on them. ‘Remember, he’s allergic to peanuts. And I want you to wash your hands after you’re done eating them.’
Usually he wouldn’t let peanuts anywhere near Riley, but Yev had screamed and screamed until he had gotten his way. So Mickey made a compromise that he had to keep it away from Riley and then wash his hands after.
Mickey grabbed his own sandwich and looked at the TV to see some weird shit on. This girl in a yellow dress was dancing with this giant, furry thing. He frowned, turning to his son. ‘What are we watching?’
‘Beauty and the Beast,’ Yev said through his mouthful of crackers.
Mickey huffed, but rolled his eyes and turned back to the TV. ‘Looks like fuckin’ wrong, but whatever. So, the girl loves the dog, does she?’
‘He’s a beast, Papa.’ Yev rolled his eyes.
‘Well, excuse the fuck outta me.’
Ian came home a few hours later, followed by the Gallaghers. Mickey scowled immediately as almost fucking all of them came through the door. One or two was bad enough, but why did the whole brood have to invite themselves over all the time?
‘Look who I found coming up the street,’ Ian said, dumping his stuff on the kitchen counter.
Fiona came forward, cooing at Riley. ‘Hey, Riles!’ She lifted him from his seat next to Frannie and cuddled him close. ‘How are you doin’, sweet face? Did Uncle Mickey take good care of you today?’
‘Holy shit, are you wearing a fucking apron?’ Lip snickered, eyeing Mickey.
Mickey flipped him off. ‘How the fuck do you expect me not to get shit all over me? Taking care of these little snots is messy.’
‘Mickey, how many times have I asked you not to swear around Frannie?’ Debbie sighed, picking her aforementioned child up. ‘I don’t want her getting bad habits.’
Mickey frowned. ‘I’ve taken care of your spawn for a while now. She had bad habits when I got her, Red. I made her stop picking her nose.’
Ian dropped down on the couch, rubbing his hand against the crown of Mickey’s head. ‘Yeah, it really grossed him out so he started handing her a stuffed animal every time she does it and getting her to blow her nose. Out of nowhere, every time she wanted to pick her nose, she would just ask for a tissue and grab the stuffed animal.’
‘Did you brainwash Frannie?’ Carl cried out in awe. ‘Dude, we should totally brainwash her to bite people we hate!’
‘Carl!’ Debbie glared at him. ‘You’re not brainwashing my child into doing bad things.’ After a few more seconds of glaring, she turned back to Mickey. ‘But interesting approach to the nose-picking.’
‘Yeah, how the hell did you know that?’ Lip frowned.
Mickey shrugged, muttering under his breath and praying no one asked him to say it more clearly.
‘What was that, Mick?’ Liam laughed.
‘I fuckin’ read it in a parenting magazine, okay?!’
At that, everyone began to cackle, imagining Mickey sitting around and studying up about how to be a good parent. Mickey just scowled, thinking that none of these assholes really knew what it meant to be a full-time parent. At least not anymore. Mickey was taking care of all their kids.
‘Wow, look at him go,’ V commented from behind the counter at the Gallagher’s house as Mickey entertained all of the children, including Amy and Gemma.
She had just come over to visit, but she had taken the kids with her and Mickey had been visiting Fiona as well. Mickey said that V looked tired and offered to take care of her kids while she and Fiona talked for a while. While Fiona seemed unsurprised and pretty much didn’t acknowledge the offer, as if it was a given, V had almost collapsed to her knees and kissed his feet. Her daughters were six now and, as much as she loved them, they were a fucking handful.
Fiona smiled back at Mickey as he played hide-and-seek with all the kids. ‘Yeah, he’s good.’
‘How do I get my kids on this day-care service?’ she asked. ‘They’re driving me crazy. How much does he charge?’
Fiona leant in. ‘It’s even better, he does it free of charge. I’m tellin’ you, V, he’s a really good dad. So much better than I thought he would be at first.’
There was a knock at the back door and Fiona turned to open it, seeing Svetlana barge through. Fiona and V exchanged smiles and eyerolls as Svetlana ignored them and walked into the lounge room to confront her ex-husband (sort of).
‘I want my Yevgeny,’ Svetlana commanded. ‘It is my day to have him and you have been hogging baby!’
‘One, he’s not a fuckin’ baby, and, two, the kid wanted to hang out with his friends and visit Fiona. What did you want me to do, say no?’ Mickey heaved himself up from the ground, crossing his arms.
‘Yes!’ Svetlana huffed. ‘It is your duty as parent. I am sick of being bad guy. You spoil him!’
Svetlana bent down to pick up Yev and Riley, who had been sitting beside him, started shrieking, reaching up for the five-year-old and tugging at his foot. Svetlana rolled her eyes and said to Fiona, ‘You should stop these tantrums early, or he will grow up to be whiner.’
‘I’m learning to let him cry it out,’ Fiona explained airily from her perch on the counter, wine glass in her hand.
Svetlana rolled her eyes. ‘More like letting Mickey take care of him.’
Fiona scowled. ‘Hey, I have a job! It’s not like Mickey has anything to do all day.’
Mickey rolled his eyes to himself, but stayed quiet. Nothing worse than getting involved in a fight between these women. In all these years, he learnt to just avoid getting caught in the middle.
‘Mickey does have job,’ Svetlana snapped back. ‘Being a father to all of your children is his job.’ And, with that, she strode out the back door with Yevgeny in her arms.
Mickey cleared his throat awkwardly. ‘I’d better get goin’, actually. I’ll just take Fran back home and wait for Debs to pick her up.’
Fiona frowned, beginning to think maybe Svetlana had a point. They’d kinda been taking advantage of Mickey all this time and taking him for granted, thinking that he had nothing else to do with his life, so why wouldn’t he take care of their kids? She figured it must be exhausting. Sure, she had a kid and she took care of him on weekends, but otherwise, it was always Mickey. Looking down at her son and niece, she thought about how much she’d missed out on with them, because she had just left them with Mickey. Remembering only catching Riley’s first steps on a video on Mickey’s phone, she stopped him.
‘No, Mickey, don’t worry about it. I’ve got the day off; I can take care of Frannie. You just go home and relax for a bit, okay?’ Fiona gave him a wide smile, touching his arm.
He frowned, seemingly confused. ‘Are you sure?’
She nodded, taking Frannie from his arms. ‘I’m sure. Thanks for everything, Mickey.’
Mickey just nodded slowly, going and picking up his backpack full of diapers, bottles, and toys. Looking behind him once more at Fiona, he saw her nod before he headed out the door. Walking towards the L, he registered how strange it felt without the weight of a kid in his arms and without a kid chattering his ear off. Frowning slightly, he let himself drift off in his head for a bit as he made his way home.
When he got home, he took a long overdue shower, washed the dishes, and curled up on the couch to take a nap. It was silent in the apartment, which was weird to him, as he drifted off. He forgot the last time he was this relaxed and uncomfortable. He loved taking care of the kids, but he hadn’t let himself have a break in years.
He slowly slipped into sleep with a smile, feeling content and appreciated. He finally had something he was good at, and he mattered. More people than Ian depended on him, and they appreciated what he did for them. It was a nice feeling.