Disclaimer: Wish I did, but sadly I don't own Shameless.
A/N: So after writing a rather pessimistic version of events after 3.09, I decided to try and balance it out with a more optimistic view of what I wish would happen. And since I'm still craving some big brother Lip, I threw him in this as well. I hope you guys like!
Olive Branch
"Your sister's not here." Fiona says from the doorway to the kitchen, with the youngest Gallagher perched on her hip.
Mickey knows his sister isn't here. She's back at their house getting ready for the impromptu celebration. They're free from their father for the forseeable future. With that in mind he has something he needs to do. He shifts nervously from one foot to the other. "I'm not here to see Mandy, I need to talk to Lip."
"Lip?" She questions with wide eyes. Probably thinking what the fuck does the neighborhood thug have to say to her genius brother. Well, there's always one possibility.
Sensing the unspoken concern, Mickey says with a roll of his eyes, "I'm not gonna beat the shit out of him if that's what you're thinking. If I was I sure as hell wouldn't knock on your door and do it here."
Probably more out of curiosity than anything else, she moves to the side and lets him in. "He's upstairs."
Mickey quickly climbs the stairs. He shakes his head when he looks into one room and sees the other Gallagher boy holding a blowtorch to a Barbie doll. That kid is a fucking nutjob. He keeps walking until he spots Lip in another room. There's a cigarette hanging out of the corner of his mouth and he's holding a pair of pliers, fucking around with what looks like something electronic.
"You electrocute yourself and leave my sister a crying mess, you do know that I'll have to kill you." Mickey says as he walks into the small room.
Lip looks up and gives him a glare. Mickey doesn't expect anything different. The two haven't spoken in about three weeks, not since Lip showed up at his doorstep and basically told Mickey to stay the fuck away from his brother.
The genius returns his attention back to fucking with whatever he has. "Your sister isn't here."
Mickey rolls his eyes. "I know that douchebag."
Without looking up he says, "Then what the hell are you doing here? If this doesn't have to do with your sister then you have no business here."
And what Lip doesn't say, says plenty. If he's not here to talk about Mandy then he shouldn't be here. Mickey determined that himself, he has no other reason than his sister to come to the Gallagher house. He decided that when he chose to beat the shit out of Ian and break his heart.
"And I know you sure as shit didn't come back here to get back into my brother's good graces after that farce of a wedding fell through," Lip says tersely as he looks Mickey hard in the eye.
Mickey bites his lip. Of course Lip knew that the wedding was called off. That the bitch he supposedly knocked up wasn't so knocked up. The Southside survived on a steady supply of booze, drugs, violence, and gossip.
"Mandy told you?" Mickey asks.
Lip nods his head "And Ian."
And a bout of…sadness fills Mickey. He royally fucked things up between him and Ian. He thought for sure that Ian really didn't know about the wedding be called off. Before he told Mandy to shut the fuck up about Gallagher because she was bitching over the last three weeks about how miserable Ian has been. How all he did was go to school, work, and stay in his room. Mickey thought (and hoped) that he didn't hear about the wedding being off. For if he did, Mickey assumed that the redhead would have tracked him down. Gallagher was always so fucking persistent when it came to the two of them. Showing up when he shouldn't be. But Ian did know that Mickey didn't get married, and he never went looking for the ex-con. Looks like for once Ian finally got what Mickey was saying. That they were over.
Lip looks up and glares at the ex-con. "Yeah, she came over here that night. It was nice to have her here to help with Ian. By the time she got here to share the good news, the damage was already done. He was already a fucking mess. I had to hold him up while she hosed him off outside. It took the two of us to get him-" But, Lip stops himself. He doesn't want Mickey to hear how grateful he was that Mandy decided to return home. That he spent the rest of the barricaded in his room with a crying Ian who told him EVERYTHING. From when Terry walked in to how he egged Mickey on to the point where the ex-con beat him.
Mickey bites the inside of his lip. "But, he's okay now, right?"
Lip throws his hands up in aggravation. "What the fuck do you think?!" Then something clicks in Lip's head. "Let me guess you think he got over your ass because he hasn't come see you in the two days since your wedding was called off?"
Mickey rubs his bottom lip anxiously. Selfishly, he hopes that is not the case. That after hurting Ian the way he did that the redhead didn't move on without him.
"Well, congratulations. Despite my best efforts, he's nowhere near over your ass," Lip spits out. "The reason why he hasn't tracked you down yet is because he spent all of yesterday in bed, nursing one hell of a hangover. And he had to go into work today because Linda had to take the kids to see their grandmother." And then as a final insult he adds, "You know my brother, loyal to a fault. He wouldn't leave Linda in a lurch just because he has a shitload of personal shit going on."
Mickey feels a sense of relief. Ian may not have completely written him off. The redhead literally had no time to come see him. He may not be avoiding him. A small smile reaches his face.
"Why the fuck are you here? You decided your gay again?" Lip asks.
The way that Mickey is letting Lip talk to him is further proof of how Ian has changed him. If anyone else spoke to him that way and said the shit he just did, Mickey normally would have popped them no questions asked.
But, not this time. Mickey can't afford to do that. In a sick way he knows that Gallagher would take him back. Gallagher was too…good not too. He's like a puppy. No matter how many times you put him down, he'll always come back for more. At least when it comes to Mickey. That's one of the reasons why he was so special. He always saw the good in people, in Mickey. But, the ex-con knows that Ian is not the real problem. Lip is. Lip has proved that he has the balls to stand up to Mickey, telling him to stay the fuck away from his brother. This thing with Ian is going to tough enough, he's going to need all the allies he can get. He'd rather have Lip with him than against him. That's why he's here putting up with Lip Gallagher's condescending attitude.
"Just because the wedding is off doesn't give you the green light to take up where you left off. What about your fucking lunatic father. If anything Ian probably has more of a target on his back now because you didn't marry that slut. Terry probably thinks that my brother reinfected his newly reformed straight son with the gay." Lip says.
Mickey takes the cigarette that's behind his ear and lights it. Inhaling, he replies "My father won't be a problem."
"Oh really?" Lip says sarcastically. "He's all for the gays now?"
"Shut it, Gallagher. Apparently my father must have pissed off someone because he was picked up out of state late last night. There's a list a mile long of charges, including attempted murder of a cop. He's not going to get out any time soon," Mickey retorts.
Lip nods his head in understanding. "I still don't get why you're here though. I thought you would have left when you found out that Ian isn't home," Lip says as he takes a long drag from his own cigarette.
"Look, I didn't come here to see your brother. I needed to do something first before I did that." Mickey says, his voice rising.
"Like what?" Then Mickey can see the realization in his eye. But then again, Lip is smart. Way too fucking smart for his own good. "You came here to speak to me?" Lip guesses.
Mickey goes to open his moth, but stops himself because he really doesn't know how to put into words what is on his mind. "I'm here…I came here… to speak to you first."
Lip looks at him with a confused look. "Are you asking my permission to fuck with my brother again?"
The ex-con rolls his eyes. For someone who is so fucking smart, Lip can be a real dumbass sometimes. "Not that. At least not yet. I was hoping to at least I don't know…" Mickey stops again. "talk to him?" God, that sounds strange. He's never one who is up to talking, that was always Gallagher's area. But, this time it falls on him.
Lip raises his eyebrows, smirking. "You're seriously asking my permission to talk to my brother?"
Fucking a, Lip is getting a kick at this. At him bumbling like a fucking idiot. Then again, if the situation was reverse and Lip came to him, begging him to talk to Mandy after he ripped her heart out, he'd probably do the same thing out of a sense of some sibling loyalty or some shit.
"Shut the fuck up, Gallagher. Are you gonna give me shit or not if I go talk to your brother? Or are you gonna like rat me out to my sister, telling her that I'm screwing her best friend?"
Lip doesn't say anything at first. The fact that Mickey fucking Milkovich is standing in his bedroom, stuttering like a fool (or more likely a lovesick teenager) helps Lip makes his decision. But it's when Mickey uses the present tense of screwing not the past tense of screwed that seals the deal. For that verb tense tells him that whatever it is you call what's going on between the ex-con and his younger brother is not over. Not after Terry caught them. Not after Terry pistol whipped his own son. Not when Mickey was forced to let that whore fuck the fag out of him. Not when said whore said she was pregnant. Not when Mickey planned on marrying said girl. And apparently not beating the crap out of Ian after telling him he '"felt better now." Lip knows that he has no right to get in the way of his brother and Mickey's "thing". He wouldn't want Ian to do that to him, so he sure as hell wouldn't do it to him.
Lip nods his head. "He gets out at three."
Taking that as permission, Mickey turns to exit the room. But as he reaches the door, Lip calls out. He turns to look at the young genius, "Yeah?"
Lip looks at him straight in the eye."You might have the muscles, but I have the brains. If you ever hurt him like you did a couple of weeks ago, you're gonna wish your homophobic dad beat the shit out of you. I'll find a way to induce some kind of heart attack or aneurysm and you'll die real slow. And no tox screen will be able to pick it up. Got it?"
Mickey wants to laugh in Gallagher's face. Does he really have the balls to do that? Then again he remembers Mandy telling him how Gallagher used a fucking laser to fry shit at some robot tournament. And the determined look on the blonde's face tells the ex-con that Lip is fully capable of the threat he just made. More so, if he ever hurts Ian again like he did before, he would welcome Lip's revenge.
But instead he tells Lip to fuck off as he gives him the finger on his way out. He rushes pass Fiona on his way out, trying to avoid any more questions and confused looks. As he steps outside he finally takes a breath that he felt like he's been holding for fuck knows how long. With a smile on his face he starts to walk home thinking of what he can do to pass the time. Three o'clock is only a couple of hours away, but it feels like a lifetime. But then again, he has waited longer to see Gallagher, a few more hours won't kill him.
I hope you guys liked it. Like I said I wanted something a little bit happier, but I also wanted some more big brother Lip. I apologize if Mickey seems a little out of character, but from the last couple of episodes you can see that he's really struggling with his emotions.