Bloody Knuckles • Gallavich

Bruises

Mickey got to the alibi and pushes the door open. He scans the room and sees Terry at a stool with a couple of his buddies. He was chuckling loudly while downing what Mickey figured was his tenth beer. He made his way toward his father and as he did he could feel his anxiety rushing back in. He could feel the familiar fear overtaking his body, but this time he wasn't going to give into it. He was going to stand up for himself and his sister and he was going to kick the shit out of Terry.

Terry saw his son approaching when he was a few feet away. He gave him a confused look before tipping back the rest of his beer. "The fuck are you doing here, Mick?" He mumbles.

"Get up," Mickey says in a firm voice.

Terry chuckles. "What?"

"I saw what you did to Mandy you sick fuck! Now get the hell out of the chair and fight me like a real man and not the fucking piece of shit coward you are!" He screams. Mickeys words were enough to make everything else in the bar freeze, including Kev and V who were behind the counter.

Terry stands up so abruptly, that the chair he was sitting on clatters to the ground. He grabs his son by the throat and slams him back up against the wall. "Why don't you get the hell out of here before I kick your ass in front of everyone," Terry spits.

Mickey's eyes narrow and he kicks his leg out, connecting with Terry's crotch. He bends over and groans in pain. Mickey then winds his fist back and gets a hard punch in on Terry's lip. The older man's head snaps back as blood dribbles down his chin. "You fucker!" He yells angrily. He charges after his son and grabs him by the front of his shirt and slamming his fist into Mickey's face.

Before the fight could escalate any further, Kev was making his way over towards the two. He shoves Terry off of Mickey. "Enough! Terry, get the hell out of my bar before I call the cops on you!" He yells angrily.

Terry shoots him a look before looking towards Mickey and pointing. "You're dead when you get home," he says before shoving past everyone and leaving.

Kev sighs and looks back towards Mickey. "You good?" He asks, placing a hand on his shoulder.

Mickey shrugs his hand away and nods. He rubs his fingers gently over his bruised neck. "I'm good. Just should have brought my fucking gun," he scoffs. Before Kev could say anything else, Mickey walked away and out of the bar.

He kept his head down as he headed down the sidewalk. His feet started to dampen as he stepped in the slushed up snow that was running down the streets and into the sewers. Mickey felt his eyes water up but he quickly rubbed them before any tears could fall.

Mickey was terrified of going home, knowing Terry was already on his way there. So instead he sends a text to Mandy, letting her know he wasn't going home and shoved his phone back away. He huffs out a small sigh and glances forward down the street.

He wasn't sure which way he wanted to go. He could either go home and deal with a serious beating from Terry. Or he could go to Ian's and risk his family finding out about their secret.

At this point, Mickey was so tired. Tired of the violence and the yelling and the feeling of not being enough. Now he just wanted a break from it all and he knew he could get that at Ian's. So that's where he went. His legs guided him with no thought to it, taking him to the younger boy's house.

By the time the melted snow had soaked through his boots completely, Mickey had made it to the Gallagher's house. He climbed the steps to the small house and knocked on the door. He stood there with his head down and hands in his pockets until he heard the front door creak open.

Mickey looked up and was met with Lip looking back at him. "Yo, your brother home?" Mickey asks, swiping his thumb against his bottom lip.

Lip nods a bit, eyes flickering down to the finger-shaped bruises on Mickey's neck. "Yeah, he's up in his room," he says, moving to the side. Mickey gives him a nod and walks inside, kicking his shoes off.