by; mhunter10
Summary:
Ian and Mickey are high school seniors in 1956. And they're also boyfriends....sort of.
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Mickey was brooding at the gas station, watching as Ian Gallagher was walked home by Harry Fletcher. He rolled his eyes and pressed his lips tighter on his cigarette when Harry took Ian's books and carried them with his own. He could see Gallagher blushing from where he stood and it made him feel sick. He finished pumping gas for a family with three brats and pocketed his five cent tip. If he put it with his other nickel, he could maybe get a slice of pie after his shift, if Agnes was feeling nice today. By the time he looked back up, Ian and Harry had disappeared. He didn't care.
"What were you doing hanging with Harry Fletcher?" Mickey asks a day later at lunch, finding Ian sitting at a table outside with some girls. They were talking about the year book or the sock hop or some shit, Ian included. They quickly left with disgusted faces, as Mickey shoveled macaroni into his mouth.
"Like you care," Ian says, sipping his milk. Mickey doesn't respond, as usual, so he continues with a shrug. "We ran into each other at the library."
Mickey bites noisily into an apple. "Don't mean he gotta walk you home or something."
Ian turns to him and glares. "What, were you spying on us like the Russians? At least he's not afraid to be seen with me."
"We hang out all the time. I'm being seen with you right now, Ian," Mickey counters, half-joking.
"At least he's not afraid to share a soda with me...or kiss me," Ian challenges. Mickey tenses up and goes quiet, looking down at his tray. He'd gotten an extra brownie for Ian but he was getting up and leaving. Mickey wanted to stop him, and Ian looked at him like that's all he wanted, but instead he took another bite of his apple. Ian shook his head and left.
"You're a loser, Mickey," Mandy says later on, hitting him on the shoulder. "Ian told me you got all mad at him for getting his kicks with someone other than you."
"He can blow his rocks with whoever he wants. It's not like we're going together," Mickey trails off pathetically, throwing a baseball up and catching it. He's been in bed all day, wondering what the heck to do about Ian. Mostly he's been thinking about punching Harry's lights out.
"Exactly! You got no right then to get all pissy, just because Harry's tons better than the likes of you."
Mickey stops throwing his ball and stares at her. "Am I supposed to be taking advice from the neighborhood skank now?"
She crosses her arms over her low-cut top and sneers at her brother. "At least I'm not staying home on a Saturday night."
"Yeah, okay, have fun getting knocked up, Marilyn," Mickey snorts.
Mandy sighs, putting her hands on her hips. Her skirt is tighter than anything and Mickey isn't sure how she even walked into his room. "Call your boyfriend, you rat." She spins on her flats and leaves.
Mickey sighs, knowing she's right. Ian had been hanging out with Harry more and more, and he didn't like it. He wasn't going to admit that, so his next option was to steal him back. He picked up the phone in the kitchen and dialed Ian's house, hoping he would pick up instead of his dad or whoever.
"Hello?" It was his older sister Fiona. She worked at the diner with Agnes and would sometimes give him free pancakes, even though she didn't like that Ian hung out with him.
"Uh, it's Mickey. Ian there?"
"Yeah, hold on. Ian! Ian, phone!" She yelled into the house. It took a minute but finally Ian came to the phone.
