Mickey woke with a jolt when he heard his alarm go off, blaring from the pocket of his jeans. With an exasperated sigh, he reached down under his blanket to pat his pockets in hope of finding his phone.
"What the fuck..." he mumbled sleepily as he pat down on something hard, poking into his back. Must be his fucking phone. He grabbed it tightly and pulled.
"OW! Fuck!" Ian hollered, cowering away from Mickey. "My fucking d-dick!"
"Oh shit!" Mickey yelped, last night's memories slowly fading back into his head. He felt his body get heated as he sat up on his knees on the bed and looked at Ian who was curled up into a ball, his hands covering his junk. "Shit, sorry man. I thought it was my phone-"
Ian's eyebrows furrowed as he squinted at Mickey. "What- am I dreaming? The fuck am I doing here?"
Mickey's mouth went dry as he played dumb. "Oh, I uh, have no idea. What are you doing here?"
Ian didn't look like he was planning on moving anytime soon, which didn't really bother Mickey. Instead, Ian breathed heavily through his nose for a few seconds before putting his hands behind his head and yawning. Mickey watched him, still up on his knees. "Mickey Milkovich of all people had an alarm on. What is it, eight in the morning?"
"It's eleven, dumb shit," Mickey rolled his eyes, a small smile tugging at his lips. "And because sleeping late makes me feel shit all day. You get an early start, you feel refreshed."
"No work today?"
"Nah," Mickey huffed and dropped back down on the bed next to Ian. Their elbows grazed, but none of them bothered moving. Mickey didn't care if he promised himself not to fall back for Ian, he didn't care if this completely goes against everything he's thought for the last week. Right now, at this moment, as he sat with Ian on his bed in a comfortable silence, it felt okay. This felt right.
"I'm lookin' for a job too," Ian stated conversationally, turning onto his side and grinning at the dirty-blonde haired boy. "What'dya think I should do?"
"Army gone forever?"
Ian's smile faded softly. "...yeah. It just doesn't float my boat no more."
Mickey snorted. "Float your boat, huh?"
Ian unconsciously put an arm around Mickey, letting the boy rest his head on Ian's chest. "I like the idea of saving people. That's why I chose the army."
"Saving people?" Mickey asked. He thought for a minute, enjoying the feel of Ian running his hand through his hair. "How about policing? I'd fucking hate you, but at least I'd get to fuck a cop."
Ian snorted, both boys surprised Mickey had said that. It felt good that Mickey was getting back to his original state, the gross jokes and un-filtered words. "As long as it works for you, huh?"
"You know it," Mickey laughed. He ran a hand over Ian's red chest hair peeking through his shirt. "Fire."
"What?"
"Fireman," Mickey sat up, looking at Ian with wide eyes. "Ian, be a fucking fireman."
Ian shuffled up and sat against the headboard. "You think so?"
"You get to save people, put out fuckin' fires for a living," Mickey smiled happily, proud of himself for coming up with the idea. "Plus, it's hot."
"No shit it'll be hot," Ian snorted. He looked at Mickey with adoration spilling from his eyes. "Let's make a bet."
"Bet?"
"If I become a fireman in two months," Ian ran his tongue over his bottom lip, eyeing Mickey mischievously. "You go on a date with me."
Mickey laughed, cheeks blushing. "Two months?"
"I can do it."
"You gonna fuck your way to the top or something?"
Ian stood up from the bed, running a hand through his hair. "Only if you're up there."
Mickey watched as Ian left the room, heart bursting with want, need and most importantly, love.
-
--
-
"Oh hey," Fiona smirked as Ian walked downstairs. She stood in the kitchen flipping pancakes while Colin stood next to her, pouring coffee.
"Ian," Colin choked back a laugh, his body jolting. "How was your night."
"It was-" Ian stopped, narrowing his eyes at the two. "Hold up a second. Did you pricks drop me in Mickey's room last night?"
Both Colin and Fiona let out wheezing breaths only they would call laughs as Ian glared at them. "Oh god, Ian," Fiona sputtered, tears filling her eyes. "I-I'm not even sorry."
"If anything, we did you a favor," Colin chuckled, wiping at the corners of his eyes.
Ian shrugged, picking a pancake off the stack and grinning. "You two definitely did me a favor. I love you both!"
"Where are you going?" Fiona called out as Ian opened the front door.
"Fire station!"
-
--
-
Lip tossed the football to Mickey, who caught it effortlessly and passed it back. Liam sat on the grass near them, playing with his trucks and watching the two men toss the football back and forth.
"You wanna play Liam?" Mickey asked for the fifth time, getting another silent shake of the head in response. "Okay then."
"The kid doesn't like football, how many times do I tell you?" Lip chuckled.
Mickey grunted as he caught a particularly hard throw. "I get that, but he's just fucking staring. It's starting to creep me out."
"He's learning, Mickey. Don't you know how kids work?"
"Man, I don't even know how I work," Mickey scoffed. He caught the ball again and sighed as he looked at Liam who was still watching them interestedly. "Alright, that's it. Get up Liam, come here."
Liam blinked up at Mickey for a minute before standing up, walking to where Mickey stood. Mickey handed the toddler the football and pointed at Lip. "Throw it to ya brother, come on."
Liam looked uncertain as he held the egg shaped ball in his hand but he tried throwing it nonetheless, the ball only going a few feet forward. He looked up at Mickey again. "I'm bad at this."
Mickey gave a mock gasp. "No, you're not. That throw was awesome, kid!"
Lip jogged forward and picked up the ball handing it to Liam again. "Here, Uncle Mickey's gonna go long and you're gonna throw the ball as far as you can. Can you do that, Liam?"
Mickey looked at Lip with a raised eyebrow. "Why do I gotta go long?"
"Because there's a guy whose been eyeing you for the past twenty minutes back there and I'm not letting Liam witness any nasty shit that might go down."
Mickey turned his head and looked at the guy who sat at the park bench, squinting in the sunlight. Fuck, it was Casey.
He remembered how Ian asked him if he knew Casey, which immediately got him interested. How did Ian know Casey? Did he bump into him? Meet him? Is Ian going to therapy sessions?
Well, there's only one way to find out.
Mickey walked towards Casey, joining him at the bench. "Casey?"
"Mickey," Casey held a hand out and shook Mickey's, smiling. "Didn't know you had a kid."
Mickey snorted as he looked back at Liam. "You jokin' or are you just retarded?"
Casey chuckled. "Who's the other fella?"
"Not that it really matters but he's a friend. What you doin' here?"
"My niece," Colin pointed at a cute little girl running up and down the slide. "Decided to take her to the park for a while, didn't know I'd see you here. Usually we meet at the garage."
"Day off. Gotta tell you, hanging at the park definitely beats fixing up cars all day."
"You like your job?"
Mickey shrugged, taking a cigarette out of his pocket and lighting it. "Job's a job. As long as it pays, but it ain't so bad. I've worked worse."
"I work down at the hospital," Casey stated, watching Mickey blow out the smoke. "Pharmacy assistant. Stock shelves and shit, it's okay."
The two men sat in silence for a while, a little awkwardly. It felt dry, like there was nothing left to talk about. It was only then that Mickey remembered he was here to ask about Ian. "Hey Case, you uh, know a Ian Gallagher by chance?"
Casey wasn't surprised by the question, it was almost as if he was expecting it. "Sure do. He a friend of yours?"
Mickey furrowed his eyebrows at the tone in Casey's voice. "Maybe fucking maybe not. How do you know him?"
"You interrogating me or something?"
"Since when is a fucking question interrogation?"
"The fuck are you so pissed about?" Casey spat, a scowl on his face. "Your boyfriend left you for the army? That's whats eating away at you?"
"Maybe he fucking did, that's not your business is it?" Mickey fists clenched as he held off punching this fucker in the nose. "I asked how you knew him."
"The bitch comes to my-"
Mickey raised his eyebrows when Casey suddenly stopped. "Your what?"
Casey looked up at Mickey with a smile. "Well... there is one thing you don't know about me, that I'm guessing you don't know about Ian either. I'm a sex addict. Ian was at our therapy sesh yesterday."
"Bullshit," Mickey wasn't even stunned for a second. "How the fuck is he a sex addict when he hasn't been fucked since the army?"
"You just answered your own question, Milkovich," Casey stood up and waved at his niece. "Well, looks like you've got some talking to do with your little ex. I'm gonna head on home."
"If I find out you're lying about this," Mickey didn't have time to finish, since the small niece skipped towards them. He plastered a big, fake smile on his face.
"Hey Jen, this is Mickey," Casey introduced him.
"Hi, Jen," Mickey spoke through his teeth.
"Hi," Jen replied.
Casey looked up and grinned at Liam. "You know Liam, Jen?"
Jen turned her head and squinted at Liam who was currently tackling Lip to the ground. Mickey grimaced. "Yeah, he's in my class at school."
"I better get goin'," Mickey began to walk backwards. "See you later."
"For sure, Mickey," Casey chuckled, shaking his head. "For sure."
-
-
-
Ian glanced down at his phone, leg bouncing nervously as he waited for the shitty data to load the Southside Fire House webpage. He started to lose hope when it reloaded.
"Fuck it," he sighed, walking straight into the station.
"Can I help you?" A man stopped Ian before he could make it further into the station where the other firemen were.
"How do I became a fireman?"
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