Miss me? (A gallavich story)

New Beginnings

(Authors note: Hello my lovelies! I know, I know, I'm a terrible person leaving you high and dry for 4 months. I work two jobs, am a university student and gotta deal with health stuff regularly. As a resolution I will try to go back to my old schedule of once a month, no promises, but I'll try my best for you guys! 💕)

       

There had come a point, after he and Ian had been back together for while and were comfortably set up in the Gallagher house, that Mickey decided that he wanted to get his own place with Ian. He wanted them to finally have a break from having to hear Debbie's baby crying all night, listening to the personalized drama that each of them brought back to the house, and Fiona being the only other one who contributed, resulting in everyone constantly worried that they might lose the house.

He wanted a fresh start, one without ugly memories tied into each room, just the two of them. But before they could manage that, it was finally time for Mickey to get a legit job. No scamming or odd jobs for the occasional quick cash. He wasn't even sure where he would begin. He applied for places like Walmart, but was quickly fired for being rude to customers and other employees.
After a couple weeks of failed attempts, one of Mikey's brothers told him about an opening at a liquor store in the neighborhood, so he figured why not.

Ian had been preciously excited for him, laying out a "proper" work outfit that still wasn't too much for the establishment itself. He had settled on a gray button up that Mickey insisted on rolling the sleeves of, and black fitted jeans.

His nerves -that he would never admit to having- made him dread going, but eventually Ian's infectious energy that he had when he was in one of his positive moods  got to Mickey and the nerves slowly turned to excitement.

He had gone there on his first day and settled into his position easily, wondering what it was exactly that made him so anxious earlier. He felt at ease there in the badly lit, cramped establishment, except for one thing. Shawn -a scrawny pale guy with blonde ear length hair- was the guy assigned to train him, and something that Mickey quickly noticed, was that Shawn kept staring at him. He managed to be pretty sly about it, darting his eyes away whenever Mickey made eye contact with him so at first Mickey thought he might of been being paranoid.

But this kept happening all day throughout his shifts, until at one point he was running the register and looked up to see Shawn, who was supposed to be shelving bottles, blatantly staring at Mickey, his expression unreadable.

Mickey filtered through some sassy comments he could make, but he was done loosing jobs through speaking before taking a moment to choose his words. Finally, he settled on, "Can I help you?"

Still, his tone was hostile and louder than he intended. And Shawn ended up panicking and dropping the bottle he was holding, the glass shattering apart as it hit the ground. "I-I'm sorry. I was staring, wasn't I?"

"No shit."

Shawn had swiftly gotten a broom and dustpan to sweep up the broken glass. Mickey just stared, waiting to see what he would say next.

"Ah shit man, I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable. It just... It's been a while since they hired any eye candy around here, and you're well, very... I should probably stop talking now."

Despite how awkward the situation was, Mickey felt the corner of his mouth pull up. The feeling of a guy other than Ian ever giving him that kind of attention was foreign to him and he wasn't sure how to react. He finally settled on, "Um.... Thank you? But I-"

"I know, you're straight. I figured as much." Shawn interjected, his entire face now a bright shade of red.

Mickey paused, considering briefly to just let this guy have his assumptions. But he was no longer ashamed of who he was, and although he wasn't to the point of screaming his sexuality from rooftops, it felt wrong not to correct him.

But of course, since Mickey hadn't made a habit of coming out to anyone, much less strangers, he still wasn't sure how to phrase it.

"No" He cleared his throat a few more times than necessary before continuing. "No, you're not... wrong. About me being gay. I am gay. It's just I have a boyfriend."

Mickey hadn't been able to make eye contact throughout his awkward response, but one he was finished, he looked up to read Shawn's reaction. Surprisingly, Shawn was beaming, his whole face lit up in a teeth showing smile, which Mickey found oddly comforting. He seemed to either not hear, or not care about the last part of Mickey's statement.

"Right. Well, sorry if I made you uncomfortable. And now that we've both... shared, I'll try not to be as much of an gawking mess. You cool with being friends?" Shawn reached out his hand clumsily towards Mickey.

Mickey stared at the slight of him with his hand outstretched and froze for a moment, he was even more at a loss for what to do next then he was before. Sure, guys hitting on him was something new to him. But this was even more foreign. He had casual acquaintances and buddies with whom he would call up for favors or when he needed, but no one had ever outright asked to be his friend before. He didn't want to sit in the though for too long, the thought of how few attachments he had in his life -although the ones he had were incredibly strong- made him sad.

He looked Shawn's hand, whose palm was clammy and slightly shaking, and finally he took it in his own. "Yeah, whatever man."