Why is it always stormy weather
And brother, tell me if it all gets better
Why did you leave? Why did you die?
You finally made your brother cry
I know you're watching over us tonight
And I hope you're watching over us tonight
- Brother by Falling in Reverse
Chapter 15 - Brother
Iggy Milkovich couldn't help but wonder about his brother. After Mickey had talked to the prisoner, his youngest brother refused to look at him and just quickly walked away, but Iggy was sure he had cried.
Iggy usually just did what he was told to do. When Ian Gallagher came into his office yesterday morning, he was captured and put into one of Terry's torture rooms. No questions asked.
Terry said he was a snitch and with that it was over for Iggy.
But he had met Ian Gallagher a few times over the last months he had been here. He was the best bodyguard Mickey ever had. He never let him escape, he spent the night with him when Mickey was tripping, he hid his drugs so Mickey would quit using so much. He had considered Ian a good friend to Mickey.
And Mickey and he seemed pretty close. Mickey wouldn't allow any random bodyguard to sleep in his room on the couch just because he got high. He wouldn't allow his bodyguard to hide his drugs, he wouldn't demand to see him, and he wouldn't cry after seeing him.
Something was going on here, something Terry, Collin and he didn't know about, probably shouldn't know about. It was itching the inside of Iggy's brain, usually nothing did that. Usually he couldn't care less about anything... but Mickey worried him.
All the drug use over years and the running away and coming back beaten up – Gallagher put a stop to that. Mickey's wish to leave, Angus Field calling one of them (probably Mickey) evil, Mickey crying when Ian was in a cell for being a snitch... Iggy couldn't help himself but wanting to find out what was going on.
It was around midnight, he was pacing through his room when he made up his mind.
He put some clothes on and quickly walked through the hallways of the building, his own security detail followed him closely. He got down to the room Gallagher was in. He was guarded of course but the guard let Iggy in pretty quickly.
Gallagher was allowed to sleep on a stained mattress in the corner of the room. Iggy quietly walked over to the camera Terry always used to film his prisoners with. It was shut off... Mickey must have shut it off... he didn't want anyone to see or know what he had talked about with Gallagher. He walked to the left where another camera lay, a smaller one. Almost no one knew about it because it was exactly for spying on people who wanted to talk alone to the prisoner and shut off the first camera.
Iggy hoped Mickey had no idea about the second camera. He took it, it was still on. Iggy checked the recorded material. Yes, there Mickey and Ian, talking, hugging... kissing.
Iggy's eyes widened. He stopped at a random point and tried to understand what they were saying.
"I love you so much, Mickey, look at me... please look at me"
Mickey looked up at him again.
"I love you"
"I love you, too"
Iggy almost let the camera fall. They weren't friends... they were lovers...
Iggy hid the camera under the thin jacket he had thrown over his clothes and left the room.
He wordlessly made his way to Collin's room. He didn't have a plan, he didn't know what he wanted from Collin, his legs brought him there on their own.
He barged into the room, "Collin I need to talk to you!"
It was late, but Collin wasn't sleeping yet. Instead he was in bed, naked, with a woman on top of him,
The girl squealed and pulled a blanket up to her chin.
"Ig, the fuck do you want? Can't you knock? Where is my fucking – Henson! Where the fuck are you?"
Collin's security detail Henson came in behind Iggy, "I'm sorry Sir, I tried to stop him, but-"
"Shut up, Henson", Iggy said to him, "Collin send that girl home, it's important"
"Whatever it is I'm sure it can wait until I'm finished here."
"No, it can't! Send her out or I tell dad about her. You're supposed to marry that Mexican girl soon!"
Collin rolled his eyes and then said something in Ukrainian to the girl. She said something to him, and he just rolled his eyes, apologized, kissed her, and pushed her off him. They got dressed and the girl left the room angrily.
"So, what is it? Or did you just want to look at my dick"
"It's about Mickey and the new prisoner, the bodyguard.", Iggy said when they were finally alone, and Collin sat down behind his desk.
"What about them?"
"We can't kill the bodyguard, Collin."
"Why not? He's a snitch, that's what we do with snitches."
Iggy shook his head, he went around the desk and showed him the camera.
"Mickey wanted to see Gallagher today and he didn't shut off this camera. Watch it!"
"Why, what's on it?"
"Just watch it!", Iggy demanded.
Collin sighed and took the camera, he watched the scene of Ian and Mickey. How they kissed and hugged each other, how Mickey cried, the love declarations, the plan to run away.
"They are in love, Collin", Iggy summarized.
Collin sighed, then looked up at his brother, "Did you show this to anyone else?"
"No"
"Good", he took the SD card out and then smashed it with a heavy figure, which stood on his desk.
"Collin!", Iggy exclaimed, "Why did you do that?"
"Because no one can know about this."
"It doesn't matter, we need to get Gallagher out of that hole. I don't think he is a snitch, I think he loves Mickey."
"Of course, he is not a damn snitch, Iggy", Collin said and threw the remains of the card into the trash.
"What?"
"He isn't a snitch", Collin said, "He's just gay and dad wants to kill him"
"Why? Mickey said the guy wanted to quit anyways, why would dad want to kill an innocent?"
Collin sighed, "Iggy, sit down."
Iggy looked at him confused and sat down at the other side of the desk.
"It's complicated... you see, years ago...fuck, there was this guy coming to dad. He said the kitchen boy and Mickey were having an affair."
"So, dad knows he is gay?"
"Fuck, you know Mickey! He was the uncontrollable rebel child. Do you think dad wanted people to know that he was gay? He thought it was just part of Mickey's rebellion and if he would kill his boyfriend, everything would be fine again."
"Terry killed Mickey's boyfriend to scare him straight?"
Collin sighed, "Pretty much, yeah. Before that he killed the other guy so he wouldn't tell more people about it. The kitchen boy was innocent too. He executed him, said he was a snitch. He was cleaning the kitchen for a few weeks, he didn't even know anything he could have snitched to anyone. I tried... I tried to convince dad to let the boy go, so what if Mickey likes dudes? Who cares?... He broke my arm because he cared. He doesn't want to have a gay son, it would... I don't know, ruin his reputation or whatever."
"That's bullshit!"
"Of course, it's bullshit!", Collin exclaimed, "You know dad, all of his fucking rules are bullshit. A few days ago, this dude is brought in. He has debts. He tries to buy himself free with information. We have a queer working for us and shit... Then dad gave the order to capture Gallagher."
"So... does he know that he and Mickey too...?"
"That's what he wants to find out. He beat that dude to a pulp the last couple of days to find out if he and Mickey have an affair too. Back then with the kitchen boy he brushed it off as Mickey's rebellion. He said, he gets a chance to get his shit together. If he finds out that-that Mickey is still gay, that he and that bodyguard are together and that they even wanted to run away together – he will kill Mickey."
Iggy swallowed hard and sunk into the chair, "So it's either the bodyguard dies, and Mickey can leave for Sandy like he planned, or both die?"
"Yes, pretty much.", Collin sighed, "Hey, I feel for the kid too, okay? The bodyguard shouldn't have to die, Mickey should be allowed to love him. But that's not how it works, okay?"
"It's fucking unfair."
"Yes, it is", Collin nodded, "But if he dies without Mickey interfering, Mickey can leave and be with Sandy. And in New York he can do whatever he wants with whoever he wants. You heard that guy in the video, he's gonna leave and he's gonna find a new love."
"You think he would find someone new after Terry killed not one but even two of his boyfriends?", Iggy asked and got up, "People call me the stupid one in this family. Maybe I am fucking stupid. So explain this to me: Why is it okay that I have day-long orgies with women and men in my room, why it okay when dad tells us how he raped dudes in prison, why is it okay to kill innocents... but it's not okay for our little brother to marry a man?"
Collin didn't have an answer for him, there was no answer to this because it was bullshit and they both knew it. Collin said nothing, he just lowered his eyes on the desk in shame. Iggy shook his head and left the room.