Ian had spent nearly his entire life trying to figure out if his soul mate had a death wish. Every morning, he woke up with a new cut or bruise. It happened to everyone this he knew; When your soul mate got hurt you also got the mark the injury left behind, only it didn't hurt as much. Still, not everyone had a soul mate as violent as Ian did. He began to worry that his soul mate was some kind of hit-man.

Lip commiserated with him. Apparently, his soul mate got into a lot of fights, too. They'd both wake up or be walking and just look at each other. It was unbelievable how many fights two people could get in.

He was able to put it behind him as he got older. He stopped freaking out at every small mark or cut, and just rolled with the punches, almost literally. He was able to not live his life in constant fear. It became an advantage, really. Once he started ROTC, he was more accustomed to pain than any of the others and had a leg up on most of them. Also, ROTC felt like a nice way to get pay back after all that shit his soul mate had put him through. Let him wake up to bruises every morning, hah.

He forgot about the marks, until one day when he was going to bed. He stretched his arm and found a small scar by his elbow. It was in a swirl shape. Ian wasn't sure how long he stared at it, trying to figure out how it could've possibly been made. All he knew was that he fell asleep tracing it, and he'd never slept better.


Ian wasn't eager to meet his soul mate. He didn't know why. Everyone else always was, but as the years went on, he started to care less and less. That is until Mandy came over one Monday.

They were laying on Ian's bed studying and Mandy got up to get water or use the bathroom or something; he hadn't been paying attention. It was what happened next that made him focus. Mandy stood up and stubbed her toe on his dresser. "Ow! Fuck!" She exclaimed and grabbed her toe. Ian started to laugh, but stopped when Lip walked in a second later and yelled, "Fuck!" He hopped on one foot briefly, and Mandy froze.

Lip stared blankly back at her, "What?"

She shook her head, and walked out. "Can I see your back?" Ian said quietly.

"My back?"

"Yeah, Lip, just do it." Ian stood and examined his brother's back until he saw it. "Mandy!" He called, and she came back.

"What?" She replied, and Ian motioned her over to look at Lip's back.

"What are you looking at?" Lip asked beginning to feel uncomfortable.

"Holy shit," Mandy breathed, and they dropped his shirt. Lip turned to face them and Mandy looked like she'd seen a ghost.

"Holy shit, what?" Lip was getting frustrated now. Mandy simply turned around and lifted up her shirt a bit to reveal the Z scar across her lower back. At this point, Ian realised his brother was the stupidest genius ever because he still didn't get it. When he said nothing, Mandy smacked her hand briefly on the dresser.

She winced, and he cried out, and that's when it clicked for him. "Oh... Do you wanna go -uh- talk, or something?" He asked, and she smiled.

"Yeah, okay." She replied softly. They left and went downstairs. Apparently, it was an amazing and enlightening conversation because they didn't stop talking or laughing for a good four hours, and even when Ian told them it was dinner time neither of them made a move to get up.

Ian decided then he wanted to meet his soul mate. He wanted to have that connection. He'd seen Fiona and Jimmy having it for years, but he'd never felt as empty watching them as he did Mandy and Lip.


It always seems like the biggest events in your life happen when you least expect them to, for example, when you're sitting on your fake-girlfriend's couch playing video games.

Mandy and Ian had been playing Call of Duty for around half an hour when Mickey crashed through the front door, "Douchebags."

"Assface." Mandy replied with a small smile as Mickey walked back to his room. Ian felt the strange urge to go after him, but decided against it. He shook his head and focused back on the game. "Hey, you want a pizza bagel?"

Ian blinked, "Huh?"

"Pizza bagel, you want?" She repeated with more concern.

"Uh, yeah, sure." She paused the game and went to the kitchen to make them. At that moment, Mickey walked back out of the room and plopped onto the couch next to Ian. He reached across the younger boy to grab her controller, and that's when Ian saw it. The small swirling scar on the inside of his left elbow, identical to the one he had. Ian grabbed his arm and looked at the scar.

"The fuck are you doing, Gallagher?" Mickey pulled his arm out of his grasp, and resumed the game. He gave Ian a sideways glance before saying, "You gonna play or what?"

"Yeah, okay," Ian picked up his controller from his lap, and played in a daze. There was no way in hell Mickey Milkovich was his soul mate. No fucking way. Though, it would explain a lot. The constant injuries, marks, and the reason he'd always felt weirdly drawn to the boy no matter how much of a dick he was.

"Mickey, give it back," Mandy said sitting back down.

"Bitch, no way. I'm winning." He raised the controller above his head out of her reach. She struggled for a minute to reach around Ian before getting a familiar gleam in her eye.

"I'll trade you for the pizza bagels." She offered. He gave her a measured look before tossing her the controller, and grabbing the food from her. Mandy snatched two from the plate and handed one to Ian. Mickey debated how worth it it would be to fight for them, and deciding it wasn't he went to his room again.

"Have fun, shitfucks." He called, and Ian snorted.

"So, how's Lip?" Mandy asked shyly. The corner of Ian's mouth twitched up in a smile; Mandy was never shy.

"He's good, I guess." He watched her for a second, "How're things going with you two?" She blushed. "Good?"

"Yeah," she smiled, "they're good. I mean, he's my soul mate, so," she looked at him and immediately cleared her throat, shaking her head, "it's whatever. Doesn't matter."

"You liike him." Ian teased, and poked her.

"Shut up. I'm supposed to, punk." They laughed and after a brief moment of silence, Ian stood.

"I'm gonna-uh- use the bathroom."

"'Kay."

He walked down the hall and took a deep breath before opening the door to Mickey's room. He'd barely made it through the door before Mickey called, "Can't you read?" from his place on the bed. Ian knitted his eyebrows and looked at the door. STAY THE FUCK OUT was written on a piece of cardboard in black ink.

"Oh." He said, and stood there for a minute, unsure of what he'd meant to do once he actually got here.

"Can I help you?" Mickey said, annoyance edging into his voice.

"Just, um," Ian rolled up his sleeve and angled his arm toward Mickey. Mickey's eyes flew wide, but he coughed composing himself.

"'M I supposed to know what that is?" He looked at his magazine again.

Ian deadpanned, "Mickey, I saw yours."

"So?" He rose and faced Ian.

"Doesn't that mean I'm your... ya know?"

Hundreds of emotions hit Mickey at once, joy, gratefulness, frustration, sadness, anger. He turned around. "It could mean anything, Gallagher. Now read the sign, and fuck off."

"Mickey..." he started, almost reaching for the other boy's arm.

"What?" He snarled defaulting to the easiest emotion: anger. He turned and stared at Ian, and the hurt expression that now crossed his face. All of a sudden, he wanted to kiss that look away, apologise for being mean. Now, Ian really had to leave.

Ian frowned, "Nothing." And left. When he got back to the living room, Mandy was standing by the front door.

"What was that about?"

"Nothing, it's fine." He snapped, and she raised her hands in surrender.

"Okay, chill. Never mind. You ready to go?"

"Yeah." He followed her out, casting a brief glance to Mickey's room, before shutting the door behind them.


Mickey sighed, sinking to the bed. So, it was Gallagher. He was royally fucked.