MICKEY
I slowly crawl out of bed, making sure not to wake up Ian, as my phone rings in my pocket. I hold it up and rub my foggy eyes as I see Mandy on the caller ID. I answer it, croaking out a groggy "hello?"
"Hey, you up?" Mandy asks.
"No. I'm fucking dead. I'm obviously up, Mandy." I grumble tiredly. Shit, I need coffee.
"Mental note, Mickey wakes up in a bad mood." She mutters sarcastically as I sigh and incoherent apology.
"You fuck Lip last night?" I ask, and I hear him kiss her with a gross smooching noise. "Jesus, keep that shit outta here, will ya?"
"Says the guy who almost fucked his boyfriend at the table last night." She scoffs as I groan in response. I got a terrible sleep, having a fucking nightmare about a gorilla with Terry's face chasing me in a rainforest.
"Hey, ask Lip somethin' for me. He's smart, right?" I ask as Mandy hands Lip the phone and he waits for me to continue. "I had a dream where Terry was a gorilla and he was chasing me. Does that mean something? Is there some shit I'm missing?"
"Well, usually a dream where you're being chased means you're avoiding a certain person or problem. You got something you wanna get off your chest?" Lip says as I stare at a wall, perplexed by who I could be avoiding.
"I mean, the whole Terry shit, maybe? I don't know, man. I haven't really talked about him since that whole thing." I admit as Lip calls Mandy over and says something about my father.
"Oh, yeah. Not to add any stress but there's Terry's trail on Thursday. We're all gonna be there." She reminds me as I grouch in annoyance.
"Jesus, they just want me to kill the fucker." I mutter, and I can sense Mandy roll her eyes dramatically.
"Just don't fuck it up, Mick. And dress nice. Take a shower before you go, too. Also make sure to scrub your hair extra good."
"What's wrong with how I scrub it now?"
"You've got bad dandruff, Mickey. Like really bad dandruff."
"It's not that bad. You can barely see it."
"It looks like you were rolling your head around in the fucking snow."
"Fuck you. No it doesn't."
"Yeah. Yeah it does."
"You called me to tell me about my dandruff?" I hiss as Mandy groans.
"No. I called you to tell you that you, me, Lip and Ian are all going out to dinner tomorrow night on a double date." She tells me as I laugh unbelievably.
"Rephrase that: you think we're all going out on a double date tomorrow." I say sarcastically. There's that fucking eye roll again. I know when that bitch pulls that shit.
"Rephrase that: you are going on a double date with us tomorrow. I'm not asking, I'm telling." She demands snakily.
"I don't do dates, Mandy. You know that." I spit at her.
"Well you do them now. See you tomorrow at seven." She says, and before she hangs up she reminds me, "and don't forget to scrub your fucking head."
I grumble, exhaustedly rubbing the bridge of my nose in frustration. "It's too early for this shit," I mutter, but when I look over at the clock I notice the time: 1:21. I have work in two hours and I'm more focused on my double date than I am about making sure I get to my job on time.
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I hop out of the shower and throw on a really tight shirt, then realizing it's Ian's, but I still look pretty good in it. Never knew black V-necks were my thing. "Ian." Speak of the devil, I call out his name getting nothing in response. I throw my shoe at him playfully as the sheets ruffle but not much movement is received.
"Hey." I coo as I climb on top of him, and he turns his head away from the brightness of the blinds. "You okay?" I ask as he rolls and I fall over with his suddenly shift in movement. I immediately go into my his nightstand drawer and notice that his pills from last night's container are still in there. I curse under my breath and I bend down by Ian's bedside. "Okay, I know you're having another episode. You gotta remind me about pills, Ian. It's a two part thing. You want these closed?" I ask Ian, pointing to the blinds as he groans in response. I shut the blinds and leave the room in darkness as I lean over and kiss Ian's head, or the blanket covering his head. "I gotta get to work but I only have one guy today so I'll get here as soon as I can. Promise." I say as I leave the room and close the door, running a stressed hand over my solemn face.
Ian's having a low. Forgot to take his meds. I'll be home in about an hour to be with him so don't come by, just let him have his space.
I send the text to Mandy, who responds with tell him I love him :( and I sigh in response, taking a few deep breaths and glancing up at mine and Ian's room grimly, finally deciding to leave for work.
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Some asshole came in for work, not for me luckily, but he disrespected the girls so I did my Mickey thing and punched him in the face. I had some old woman who was complaining the whole time about some other bitch who was being a bitch to another bitch, and I nodded my head and pretended to listen. About an hour later she left, I got paid my two hundred, and I was out.
I see Fiona on the L, who asks about Ian and if he is alright and if I need help talking care of him, to which I say no, and before I know it we're creating small talk.
"So are you and Ian, ya know, back together?" Fiona asked as I sat down next to her. I ponder it for a second and it hadn't hit me that we still weren't officially a couple.
"It would seem that way, but not yet. Don't wanna jump to conclusions without Ian's word." She nods and I, deciding to be somewhat nice, ask her how she is holding up after Frank decided to crash her fucking wedding and ruin her love life. Though what he did was fucked up and I hate the guy, Fiona was better off knowing before it was too late.
"After the shit with Sean, I'm over men." She replies, following it by a long huff.
"Women?" I ask as she shakes her head.
"I mean all relationships. I need Fiona time. Too busy focusing on the rest of the shit show I forgot about myself." I nod, which seems to end the conversation as we both sit in silence, each of us thinking about our own shit. At this point I am fucking urging to get home and see Ian, all of this talking making an ache in my chest that only his steady breathing can mend, and when my stop arrives I'm fucking thrilled. I get to see Ian, a nice bed, and nudity.
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I throw my flannel off onto the couch, kicking off my shoes as I stumble upstairs. Ian is still a lump under the covers, and I dreadfully sigh when I see his still body. "I'm home." I whisper softly, this time getting a head turn in my direction. It's not far enough to look at me but it's still a movement that makes me exhale with relief. I strip down into my boxers and a shirt and lay on top of the comforter, wrapping my arm around his waist and leaning my head against his shoulder. "Not even gonna talk to me, huh?" I mumble as Ian scoots farther away and I pull back, sitting against the headboard.
I decide to leave him for now, going downstairs to make dinner. I was thinking about making dinner for Ian earlier, but what's the point if he won't eat? If I can't even get him to talk to me, it might as well be marked Fucking Impossible to get him to take a bite. Instead I make Taquitos and grab a beer, and I collapse onto the couch as a sharp pain runs through my arms and shoulders. I cuss profusely at the ache and this is one of the moments where I long for Ian's hands to sooth my tense body.
I stand up, but another excruciating jab shoots into my hip as I fall down, hitting a cabinet as whiskey bottles fall from the top and shatter on the ground. "Fuck." I moan as I grab my neck, the center of the pain. I groan and I try to get myself on my feet, every step causing more and more agony in my neck and back. I make it to the doorway of my bedroom before the excruciation kicks in and my legs buckle underneath me. I tightly wrap both arm around my aching neck as I cry out in pain, only making it ten times more unbearable.
"What the fuck?" I cry out as I let a dry sob escape my throat, not followed by tears but only because of the pain I am suffering. At least when you get shot you go numb from shock, but shit. What the fuck is happening to me? I drag myself towards the bed, reaching a sleeping Ian's nightstand. Still on the floor, I pop open his tablet container and open the Saturday tab. He better fucking take the pills. I didn't just go through the torture of dragging my body across the fucking floor for nothing.
"Ian." I call weakly, shaking him awake. "Bitch wake the fuck up." I beg as he grunts in response. "Ian, I'm fucking serious please just open your fucking eyes or something. It's six-thirty. Time to take your pills." I say, my voice shrieking from the pain in my neck. It gets worse and worse when I talk, and even breathing makes me feel like I'm being stabbed with a fucking shiv.
Ian, miraculously, opens his eyes and glances down at my limp body in confusion. I hand him the pills and water, which he takes, and looks at my in puzzlement. "Why are you on the floor?" He croaks out, and the gasp of relief I breath is quickly overshadowed by the stabbing sensation in my shoulder blade.
"Fuck." I cry out as I lie down on the floor, gripping my back tightly. "I don't know." I groan as I feel it becoming harder to speak. "My neck, shoulder, back. My whole fucking body hurts."
"I'll call Lip." He says, but I stop him by slowly reaching up and pushing an arm against his chest.
"I-" I begin, but the flaming knot I feel in my neck gives me second thoughts about stopping him. "Okay." As long as this stops I don't give a shit who he calls. Just make it stop.
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Lip and Mandy rush upstairs, Mandy comforting Ian and Lip searching for me. "I'm on the floor." I call out, barely lifting an arm. Lip walks over to me and when he lifts me from the ground it feels like a million bullets are lodging into my back as I let out a painful screech. I flop onto my stomach as I lay on the bed, letting my body sink into the comforter. If I thought that getting shot hurt like a bitch, then what the fuck is this?
After a few minutes of examining my back, along with murmured conversation and "Jesus Christ" I hear Ian ask "what's wrong with his shoulder?"
"Ian. You're fucking amazing." Lip says as he lifts up my right arm, earning a loud groan from me.
"What's wrong with my shoulder?" I repeat as no one answers.
Finally, after arm lifting and poking at my sides, Lip says, "Mickey, you'll be good. After I pop your shoulder back in its socket."
"Fuck no. No fucking way. How the-" I trail off as cuss as I realize what is happening. "I hit that guy today. Really fucking hard. His tooth pierced his cheek and went through. Didn't think I'd die from it though." I scoff in annoyance.
"Well-" Lip grips my arm and I let out the loudest scream of my whole entire fucking existence, the loudest scream the Earth has ever fucking heard, as he shoves my shoulder and I hear a pop. I dig my face into the pillow and screech, the pain agonizing and fucking searing. I cry dryly, no tears, only the pain in my body being released trough rough gasps for air and loud moans.
"Also," Lip says seemingly completely unaffected, "you tore a tendon in your left side so be careful of that."
I glare up at him, my neck in less pain than before but my shoulder still throbbing as I hiss viscously, "I'm going to fucking kill you."
"You're welcome." He says sarcastically before tossing Ian a huge ass bottle of Advil. "You'll need these for the bitching and moaning." He stops in the doorway and says, "also Mickey, if you think that the relocation of your shoulder was bad, tonight's gonna be a living Hell."
I look up at Ian, who stares at me in sympathy as I mutter, "just fucking kill me now," and lay my head on his lap. "Just kill me." I repeat as he ruffles my hair.
"Take your pills, bitch." He mocks me as he thrusts me a handful of Advil.
"I'm glad that you're here to help me successfully overdose." I tease grimly as Ian gives me a playful glare. The comment earns me most of the little round medications being removed from my hand and a small kiss on the cheek.
I look up at him, taking a sip of my water and warning, "Also, stop stealing my lines."