Bloody Knuckles • Gallavich

It's a wonderful Life

Mickey glares at him. He was starting to like Ian, but he was annoyed and not in the mood for small talk. "Does it fucking seem like it?" He asks, raising an eyebrow. Ian shakes his head a bit. Stupid question. He knew it was. The Milkovich family never did anything for holidays and Ian felt kind of bad. That was why he always invited Mandy over for things.

He nods. "You could come over to my place for tonight. We got a shit ton of food, beer, gonna watch the bulls game. It'll be fun. You should come with."

Mickey raises an eyebrow. He wanted to come, he'd do anything to get out of the house. When their mother was still around, Christmas used to be halfway decent. They would bake cookies for Santa, get a shitty tree with just a few presents underneath that were wrapped in newspaper. But the Milkovich kids always loved it. It was the one time of the year that Mickey didn't completely hate his house. But Mickey didn't want to seem too needy or desperate to come so he just shrugs. "I don't know. Got shit to do around here."

Ian smiles a bit and raises an eyebrow. "Okay, like what?"

"I don't fucking know. Just shit."

Ian laughs and nods. "Okay, well if you change your mind just come over. I don't mind," he says as Mandy walks out. She smiles at Ian.

"Hey, you ready?" She asks and Ian nods. She grabs Ian's hand and the two of them walk out of the house, leaving Mickey alone in the living room. He flops down on the couch and sighs heavily. It was quiet in the house other than Terry's snoring from somewhere. Mickey just figured the man had drank too much and passed out on the floor again.

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Mickey tugs on his jeans and curses himself. It had been two hours and he had done a good job at not cracking and going to Ian's. But that was about to change. Mickey tried to distract himself by playing video games or jerking off but nothing worked. He kept thinking about Ian's and for some reason he felt jealous. Jealous that his sister was hanging out with Ian but he wasn't.

He zipped up the faded blue jeans before pulling a black hoodie over his head and lacing his boots. He placed a cigarette between his lips and walked out of the house, the cold air practically smacking him in the face. He cups a hand around his cigarette and lights up the end. His head hangs low so that he could shield himself as much as possible from the brutal winds. The walk seemed to take hours but finally two blocks later he made it to the Gallagher's. He pressed his cigarette into the snow before walking up the steps to the house. He rubs the side of his neck before hesitantly knocking on the door. A few moments later Fiona opens the door and stares back. "Yeah?"

"Uh, Ian said I could come over," Mickey mumbles. Fiona just stares back, not believing him. She knew he was a Milkovich kid and knew Ian didn't hang out with him. "You gonna fucking let me in or let me freeze my ass off out here?" He asks, raising an eyebrow.

"Mickey!" Ian says, coming up to the door behind Fiona. "Hey, I didn't know if you were coming or not," he says. He opens the door wider and allows Mickey to walk inside. He glances around quickly before looking back at Ian.

"Yeah, figured might as well," he says, shrugging as Fiona walks off. Mickey shrugged his coat off and tossed in on the ground by all the others.

Ian couldn't help the stupid grin on his face the moment he saw Mickey. Sure the boy was rough and rude, but Ian liked him. He liked the way his eyes lit up when he smiled and the small faded freckles that scattered his cheeks. "There's beer, eggnog, and snacks in the kitchen. Help yourself to anything," he says before leading Mickey into the house. Mandy smiles up at him from the couch.

"Hey," she says, confused look on her face. "You came too?" He just shrugs. Mandy knew Mickey was in boxing with Ian but she didn't really think they talked outside of it. Mickey never really did friendships. Ever.