Shining Through Pollution

Summary: Mickey ordered Ian not to see people other than him, and he begrudgingly agreed to do the same, but Ian had one condition: they had to go on a real date. Ian/Mickey gay slash; Written for Gallavich Week Day 1 prompt: I Like Em Sweet

Disclaimer: I don't own Shameless.

I'm not exactly sure when this fic would take place. Probably sometime when Mickey and Ian are finally starting to become "boyfriends" and Mickey is more comfortable with showing affection, but he still has a problem saying it.

I sure hope I kept him in character though. Mickey really makes fluff hard to write. D: Let me know what you think!

They're basically stargazing instead of looking for shooting stars but oh well. Shooting stars are rare and you can't really see the stars very well in Chicago anyway. xD


It was the middle of the night on the Chicago South Side. Just like on any other day, the city was noisy, and the occasional gunshot fired in the distance. It was anything but romantic.

But remarkably, the atmosphere seemed different around Ian and Mickey that night. They were both lying next to each other on the roof of the abandoned building where they always hung out together. Ian had spread a blanket out for them, and they were both staring up at the dark sky.

It hadn't been easy for Ian to convince Mickey to come.

A couple weeks ago, Mickey came across Ian hanging out with another guy. To be honest, Ian hadn't really liked the guy that much, but Mickey got unbearably jealous at the sight of them together.

Mickey harassed them until the other boy left in a huff. Ian got angry, and they argued for hours.

They didn't stop arguing until Mickey finally admitted it: he didn't want Ian to be with anybody else. He wanted Ian all to himself.

And suddenly it was understood between them that they were officially a couple. Ian agreed not to see anyone else, and Mickey begrudgingly did the same.

But Ian had one condition: they had to go on a real date.

So there they were. Lying on a blanket together and staring up at the stars like a couple of queers.

"Your turn," Ian said, nudging the boy lying next to him with his elbow.

"I can't believe you got me to do this," Mickey grumbled.

Mickey reached over and grabbed a joint, lighting it and inhaling the smoke into his lungs. He passed Ian the joint, letting him have a puff.

"Your turn," Ian repeated with a grin. He refused to let Mickey change the subject. "Point out something you see in the stars. Anything."

"This is so fuckin' gay, Gallagher," Mickey replied, still refusing to cooperate. Ian just laughed.

"Don't act like you're not having fun," he said. He smiled even wider at Mickey's glare. "You're the one who mentioned going to see the stars, remember?"

"I was making fun of sappy shit like this, I wasn't suggesting it," Mickey grumbled defensively.

"Uh huh," Ian replied, unconvinced. "You agreed to go on a date. A date is romantic, Mick." Mickey just scoffed.

"I only agreed to do this stupid shit 'cause I don't like other people touching what's mine," Mickey growled.

Ian smiled. Mickey called him his. That was about as romantic as Mickey could get.

They settled into a comfortable silence, taking turns smoking. Ian looked over the sky, trying to see another shape in the stars.

He was surprised when Mickey was the one to speak next.

"I see a fish," Mickey muttered. Ian grinned. He'd been convinced that Mickey wasn't actually going to participate.

"Where?" Ian asked curiously.

Mickey pointed towards the sky. "See? There's the head and there's the tail."

"I still don't see it," Ian said. Mickey sighed, grabbed Ian's hand, and directed it in the air, tracing the outline of the stars.

"Oh yeah! It does look like a fish," Ian agreed with a nod. He smiled knowingly as Mickey became aware that their hands were touching and quickly moved away.

Mickey took a long drag of his joint before handing it to Ian.

"You can finish it off," the brunette said simply. Ian smiled and accepted it gladly.

Ian sucked in the smoke, holding it in his lungs. He quickly rubbed the joint out on the cement before tossing it. He sat up and leaned over Mickey.

Mickey already knew what he was about to do.

Ian hovered his lips an inch above Mickey's and exhaled smoke into the other boy's mouth. Mickey sucked it in, savoring the high it gave him, before breathing it out slowly. Smoke billowed from his nose.

Ian grinned before leaning down to kiss the boy underneath him. Mickey kissed him back lazily, letting out a little grunt of satisfaction. His lips tasted like smoke.

Ian pulled back and looked down at Mickey, a twinkle of something that looked dangerously like love in his eyes. Butterflies filled Ian's chest, and Mickey would never admit it, but they filled his too.

Mickey didn't want to look in Ian's eyes anymore. There was something there that he couldn't ignore, something that he didn't want to deal with.

So he pulled the redhead down and wrapped his arms around him instead. Ian laid his head on Mickey's chest, turning to look back at the sky.

They both laid there and held each other. Neither one of them wanted to move.

Mickey's heart beat fast and he hoped that Ian couldn't feel it as they pressed together. But Ian could hear it. He took comfort in the smaller boy's thumping pulse as they lay in silence.

"I suppose this could be worse," Mickey admitted softly. It was so quiet that Ian could barely hear it.

The truth was, the sky in Chicago wasn't clear enough to go stargazing. There were only a handful of visible stars in the sky. Pollution filled the air of their fucked-up city, obscuring their view of the constellations above.

But neither one of them brought it up, and they had fun anyway just being with each other.