Disclaimer: I don't own Shameless. If I did there will be a hell of a lot more Ian/Mickey.
A/N: This is my first venture into Shameless fan fiction. I just recently started watching Shameless and fell in love with the Ian/Mickey dynamic, so I wanted to write my own little piece to add to the collection of Ian/Mickey fan fics out there. Be gentle.
Sick Day
Mickey saunters into Kash and Grab about half an hour later than he's suppose to be there, and picks up a magazine off the rack. At first glance he doesn't see the redheaded Gallagher.
"You're late!" Linda calls from one of the back aisles.
He just shakes his head. She's lucky that he's even here at all after all the weed he smoked and the booze he drank last night. Fucking Gallagher was nowhere to be found last night, so he had to entertain himself some other way. He would still be in bed if Mandy didn't wake his ass up with the promise of eggs and bacon. And once he was up, he may as well have gone into work. Nothing else to do. And he needs to keep his probation officer off his back.
Linda walks toward the cash register. "Even though you're late, I'm happy you showed up."
Mickey raises his eyebrows at her.
"Ian called out. And I have to take the boys to Boy Scouts," She answers his unspoken question.
Mickey thinks for s second. Gallagher called out. He never calls out. Did something happen to one of the rugrats? He quickly stops himself because for a second it actually sounds like he gives a shit about why fire crotch isn't here.
Linda closes her eyes for a few seconds as if to give her the nerve to say what she's about to. "I can't believe that I'm actually doing this, but can you watch the store? I have no other choice."
"Guess so." Mickey responds with a shrug.
"Just remember I know my inventory. Anything missing comes out of your pay. Clear?"
"Crystal."
"Fine." Linda says before she turns around and leaves the store.
XXXXX
Mickey looks up from the magazine he's looking at when the door opens. It's a Gallagher, but not the Gallagher he's looking for.
"Hey, Mickey." Lip greets as he makes his way towards the soda.
"Lip. What's up?" Mickey says as he takes a swig of orange juice. There's no way in hell he's getting whatever fire crotch has.
"Same old shit. You?"
"Bored out of my fucking mind. You're fucking brother called out sick and now I have to watch the fucking store because Linda's out. Can't even take a fucking break."
Lip walks up to the cash register, and places a bottle of Sprite and crackers on the counter. "Believe me. You're better off with Ian not here. He's been up half the night puking. When I left the house he finally gave up and was lying on the bathroom floor."
A look of disgust briefly crosses Mickey's face and he picks up his bottle of juice and takes a long swig.
Lip looks at Mickey and points to the bottle of oj. "Trying to boost your immune system?"
Mickey lets out a loud belch. "I work with the shithead. I ain't getting whatever mutant bug he has."
Lip laughs. "Well, I don't think you have to worry about that. No one else in the house is sick. The general consensus is that he has food poisoning. He ate some chicken dish that was left out for like three days. No one else ate it. Not even Carl. So, I think your safe, Mick." Lip says as he pats Mickey on the shoulder.
Mickey looks at Lip's hand. "Get your fucking hand off of me, Gallagher."
Lip quickly takes his hand off of Mickey's shoulder. "Later, Mickey."
"Later."
As Lip opens the door to leave, Mickey calls out "Gallagher, tell your shithead brother he better get better fast. Or I'm gonna kick hi ass. I don't know how much longer I can take that bitch Linda by myself."
Lip looks back over his shoulder, "Sure thing, Mickey."
Mickey goes back to looking at the magazine in front of him, not noticing Lip's smile.
XXXXX
Mickey chugs his beer as he walks home later that night. He has a good buzz going on. He deserved it after the long ass day he had. It wasn't bad or anything, just boring as fuck. When there was no one in the store he sat at the counter and read every fucking magazine the shithole had. And he had to listen to Linda's bitching. It was hell. That asshole Gallagher better be back to work tomorrow. At least then Linda wouldn't only be bitching at him.
Mickey walks into his living room to find his sister and Lip on the couch playing Xbox. "Hey assholes."
"Fuck face." Mandy greets. "I'm hungry. Do you want some pizza bagels?"
Mickey nods his head.
Mandy glares at him. "I was talking to Lip. Not you."
Mickey rubs his bottom lip with his thumb. "Well, if you don't cook me something. I will. And you remember what happened the last time I cooked."
"Shit. I guess you're right. We can't afford to buy another stove."
Mickey just smirks as he takes another sip of beer and Mandy disappears to the kitchen.
Mickey sits down next to Lip and takes the abandoned controller.
"Should I make Ian some for you to bring over for him?" Mandy yells from the kitchen.
"Trust me, Mandy. Pizza bagels are the last thing he needs. He finally stopped puking. Pizza bagels are not exactly the blandest food. He'll be puking again in no time. If Ian starts puking again, Fi's probably gonna drag his ass to the clinic. " Lip calls loudly.
Mickey doesn't say anything because then it would sound like he actually cares for the redhead. That and Lip talks way too much. Fuck, he thought fire crotch was bad with his never ending need to talk. So, he continues looking at the television and plays Call of Duty.
"Besides, I think he was finally sleeping when I left. Nothing much left to puke. I don't want to wake him up." Lip adds
Mandy returns to the living room. "That why you're over here? You don't want to wake him up." She says with a smile as she sits back down next to Lip and kisses him. "You're so sweet."
Mickey can feel puke rising in the back of his throat. And he knows damn well it's not from the booze. "Get a fucking room. I don't need to see this shit fuckwads."
When his sister and Lip don't come up for air, Mickey stands up from the couch. "I'm getting another beer. You two good?"
When neither answers Mickey shakes his head and walks into the kitchen. He grabs a can of beer from the fridge and lights a cigarette. As he inhales the smoke, he hears Mandy and Lip talking. It's hard not to since the house is so fucking small.
"You're such a good big brother. Leaving the house so he can rest." Mandy says.
Lip laughs. "Well, I'm also being a little selfish. Ian can be a real pain in the ass when he's sick. As much as Fiona would hate to admit it I think she's secretly glad that she had to go into work tonight. She says that we can't afford to have her miss two nights of work, but I think that she just couldn't take being around a sick Ian anymore."
Mickey walks to the doorway of the living room silently, still listening to his sister and her boyfriend's conversation. From where he's standing Mickey can see Mandy slap Lip in the shoulder.
"That's really mean, Lip Gallagher. He's your brother."
Lip playfully rubs his shoulder as if Mandy hit him that hard. Fucking pussy, Mickey thinks.
"I'm not joking, Mandy. No one can stand being around Ian when he's in this stage of sickness. At first everyone's concerned that he's really sick. Then when that ends he's a pain in the ass. Ask my sisters about the great bronchitis stint of 2010. I think that even Debs was ready to kill him at some point. That's why Fi's at work. Debs and Liam's at Vee's. And Carl's sleeping at Little Hank's. We all needed a little bit of a break."
"Whatever, I still think that's a mean thing to do. Leaving your brother alone when he's sick." Mandy replies.
"Believe me Mandy. After you spend one day with him when he's sick you'll feel the same way. Besides I'm not totally heartless. I left him a bottle of Sprite by his bed and both Fiona and I are gonna call and check on him."
Lip's answer must have been convincing because Mandy drops the subject. "Do you want ice cream after pizza bagels?" She asks.
Mickey just shakes his head. He really does love his sister but she has such a short fucking attention span. He walks closer to the couch and lets out a loud belch. "Hey, doucebags. I think the pizza bagels are almost ready."
Mandy's eyes light up and she quickly gets up and heads back to the kitchen.
XXXXX
Mickey kicks a rock as he walks down the street as he cracks open a beer. He's not doing this because he cares. He's doing it because he needs to make sure that fire crotch isn't dying. He hasn't gotten laid in two days, not since Ian came down with food poisoning or whatever has him puking his brains out. And he needs to make sure the redhead is in fact getting better because he's gonna need to get some soon from something other than his hand.
He also needs to make sure that he's getting better because he needs Ian back at Kash and Grab because he doesn't know how much more he can take Linda's non-stop bitching. At least if Gallagher's there he gets some of it directed at him. Misery loves company, right?
Mickey lets himself into the Gallagher house with the key that Lip left on the kitchen table when he and Mandy went into her bedroom. Mickey tries desperately to not think about what the couple is doing right now. First, that's his baby sister. Secondly, the thought of straight people having sex makes him want to puke.
Mickey makes his way into the unusually quiet house taking another sip of beer. He remains quiet as he walks up the stairs and towards fire crotch's room. He knows which one is his because he has come over once when all of the Gallagher's, minus his, were at one of the sociopath's football games.
Mickey nudges the door open with his toe and at first takes a deep breath when he inhales the scent of sickness and sweat. He makes his way over to Gallagher and sees he's curled up in a ball, twisted in his sheets with no shirt on. Mickey leans in closer and sees that Gallagher is resting somewhat peacefully. Satisfied that fire crotch isn't dead. That as soon as firecrotch is up for it he'll be getting some, Mickey goes to leave.
But, before he can he hears firecrotch let out a pitiful moan. Mickey hates hearing that sound. Especially coming from Gallagher. He looks around the room, thinking. He recalls how Gallagher is a pretty dead sleeper from the few occasions when he didn't kick him out of bed after they fucked. Mickey had to almost push him out of bed to wake him up. Probably had to be able to sleep through anything to get any halfway decent sleep when your father is Frank Gallagher stumbling in at all hours at night.
Mickey rubs his bottom lip with his thumb. "Fuck it." No one's here and he knows that he can sneak out in the morning before any of the Gallaghers get back in. And he knows that his Gallagher probably won't even know he's here. He toes off his shoes and in one chug finishes his beer. He puts the empty can besides the half filled cup of soda and gently gets into fire crotch's bed. Ian's facing the wall now so Mickey places himself between the redhead and the door. Comforted with the fact that it's late and that both Lip and Fiona have already called and checked on their brother, Mickey cautiously wraps his arms around his Gallagher. He doesn't inch away from the sweaty back that's against his chest nor the hair that smells of apples, sweat, and the unique smell of fire crotch. He knows that he has smelt a hell of a lot worse than this.
Mickey keeps telling himself that he's only doing this to make sure that Gallagher is in fact okay. That and it is kinda shitty that his own siblings have left him alone when he's sick. He knows he's an asshole, but he would never do that to his siblings. Well, maybe his brothers. But definitely not his sister. Even though she can be a whiny bitch when she's sick.
Mickey keeps repeating that he's not doing this because he and Gallagher are a couple to himself as he closes his eyes, and falls asleep with his arms wrapped around fire crotch. He may like taking it in the ass, but he's not a fuckin queer.
XXXXX
Ian ignores the jab in his side at first. But then an even harder one makes itself known. He has no choice but to open his eyes. He tiredly rubs them as he looks around. He sits up and quickly spots Lip grinning at him.
"Look! You're alive. I was getting ready to call the CDC if you didn't wake up or was still puking."
"Fuck off." Ian replies as he lies back down.
"Seriously, how you feeling man? You were really out of it yesterday."
"I was?" Ian asks with a yawn.
"Yeah. You had a fever of like 104 and when you finally stopped puking up your stomach lining, Carl could have burnt down the block and you wouldn't have woken up."
So, he had a high fever. That would explain what he thought he saw last night when he briefly woke up. He thought he saw Mickey in his bed with his arms wrapped around him. He remembers smelling cigarettes, sweat, and the smell that is distinctively Mickey. Then again Lip is always smoking. And he shares a room with two brothers, of course he's going to smell sweat. He knows that he too is kinda ripe right now. And most importantly he knows there's no way that Mickey would be caught dead in his bed cuddling. Especially if there was no sex involved. And he knows there was no sex involved because as much as he may have been out of it because of the exhaustion that's associated with puking non-stop for eighteen hours, and the fever he would definitely remember having sex with Mickey for every single memory of them sleeping together is firmly ingrained in his memory.
"Was out of it?" Ian says as he rolls over in bed facing his brother.
"Completely. I called you three times before you answered last night to check on you."
"You left me?" Ian says a little hurt.
"Don't give me that look. You know how you get when you're sick. Remember the great strep throat fiasco of 2008? Besides, I didn't leave until almost nine. You were fine when I left here."
"There was no one here?" Ian asks quietly.
"Nope. Fi was working. I was at Mandy's. Debs and Liam were over at Vee's. Carl was at his friend's, Hank's house. You good? Do you need anything? Tylenol? Puke bucket? Water?"
Ian closes his eyes and shakes his head. "Nah, I'm good."
The brothers can hear Debbie and Carl fighting yelling downstairs. "If you're good, I'm gonna go make sure that they don't kill each other."Lip says as he points behind him. When a loud thud is heard he continues, "Better yet, make sure they don't wake up Fi. She just got in a couple of hours ago. And you know how she gets when she doesn't get an adequate amount of sleep."
The younger Gallagher shakes his head as he starts to fall back asleep.
Lip shakes his head as he makes his way downstairs toward the chaos, making sure to shut the door to give Ian a little bit of peace and quiet. He smirks when he realizes that his plan worked. It's true that Carl had a sleepover at Little Hank and that Deb went to spend the night at Vee's so that she could do the young girl's hair. He didn't tell Ian that he asked Vee to also watch Liam so that his sick brother could rest peacefully. He also didn't tell his brother that the real reason why he was able to convince Fiona to go to work the night before was that he promised her that that someone would be looking after him throughout the night.
Lip didn't tell Fiona that it wouldn't be him.
He didn't tell anyone how he conveniently left behind his house key on the kitchen table at the Milkovich's when he and Mandy fucked. Or that it was gone when he went to get him and Mandy a beer.
He told Mandy that he didn't know where Mickey was when she saw her brother wasn't in his bedroom when she went to the bathroom.
Nor did he say anything when his house key reappeared early this morning when he got up to go back home before his sister got in.
And he didn't say anything when he found the empty beer can by Ian's bed this morning.
Lip's smart. He knows when to open his mouth, and he definitely knows when to keep his mouth shut when it concerns whatever you call what's going on between his brother and Mickey Milkovich.
Like I said this is my first Shameless fic. I hope I didn't disappoint. Go easy on me.