Author's Note: This is my first time trying to write a proper Shameless fic, please let me know what you think. Hopefully you like it.
"What the fuck do you mean he's in Mexico?" Mandy Milkovich raged down the phone. She knew Mickey had done a runner, she knew all about it because her shithead of a brother got himself on the news, and in true Milkovich fashion it wasn't for anything heroic. She felt herself growing frustrated by this news, choosing not to get involved was the wrong thing to do. When the cops had come to question her about Mickey she had felt paranoid that they were there investigating something she had done, she nearly avoided being arrested for cussing them out, making a scene that she now felt embarrassed over.
Iggy wasn't entirely sure why his younger sister was having so much trouble believing the words that fell from his lips. He had simply told her what he had heard on the grapevine, the grapevine being Ian when he ran into him in a 7-Eleven a few days ago. The red head had acted as if he didn't recognise him at first, but Iggy made sure he remembered real quick. "I mean he and his boyfriend drove across the fucking country, and he drove straight over the border," Iggy explained to her again, although he hadn't mentioned the Ian part yet, he wasn't so good at relaying information, always seemed to miss out important details.
"Ian's in Mexico?" She asked breathlessly as she tried to piece it all together. She didn't know how the two of them could be so stupid, she would kill the both of them if she ever saw them again, tear them apart with her own two hands.
"Nah, he ditched Mick because even he knew how fucking dumb that shit was. Fucking asshole, why'd he even leave the joint in the first place?" Iggy pondered out loud. He didn't know if he should be offended that his brother skipped town without telling him, or if he was impressed by how flawlessly it had gone down. If anybody could pull off an escape like that, it would be Mickey.
"So he's alone in a foreign country? Shit." She shook her head and sat down on the end of her bed, she needed a minute to process all of this. It was too much to take in and she hated that Iggy was the person she had to hear it from, knowing him he had probably been sitting on this information for a while, twat didn't have good judgment when it came to urgency.
"Yup. Probably got himself into trouble already, fucking dumb shit." Iggy laughed, he was sitting on the couch in the Milkovich living room. He had been living there the last few months on his own, with his father still in the joint, and Mickey away on his Mexican vacation, it was his own private castle and he was quite happy keeping it that way.
"I have to call Ian, okay? I'll call you back." She assured him, ending the phone call before Iggy had a chance to tell her he didn't care if she called back or not. He shrugged his shoulders and set his phone down next to him, picking up his bag of Cheetos instead.
Ian didn't know who he expected it to be when his phone started buzzing in his pocket. He had only walked through his front door when Mandy's phone call came through. The first reaction he had was to feel happy, he had been thinking about her a lot lately, he still considered her to be his best friend, even though things hadn't been the greatest between them lately, he hadn't talked to her months and didn't make an effort to change that. "Mandy, I was just thinking about calling you." He lied, trying to make up for him being a shitty friend lately. To be fair she didn't live locally anymore and they both lived pretty busy lives.
Mandy wasn't in the mood for a catch-up, she didn't know how Ian didn't see it coming if he went blabbing to Iggy he had to know that she would find out eventually. "Oh yeah? Like you were thinking of calling me when you almost left the country with my felon brother?" She asked him, feeling fucking annoyed with him. She felt anger towards Mickey mostly, for ruining his whole life, leaving her behind, leaving all of them. She thought that he could have easily proved himself behind bars, tried to get out another way. He could never come back from this and it made her feel like he had ripped her heart out. He deserved more than this life, he was too stupid to see it.
Ian's face fell when he heard her words, his heart started to throb in his chest, he felt sick in his stomach and for some reason, he didn't see it coming. He shot up the stairs and locked himself in his room to avoid being overheard. "I can explain." He said softly, closing his eyes as he sat down on the end of his bed. It wasn't like he had purposely set out to keep her out of the loop, it was one of the hardest decisions he's ever made in his life, the decision to change his life forever, or to try to keep it the same at the expense of his relationship with Mickey. He still didn't know if he made the right choice, he didn't know if Mickey was safe, or if he would ever see him again.
Mandy let out a bitter laugh, she loved Ian, she really did but this hurt her in a way that she didn't even know how to describe. She didn't want to know all of the details, didn't know what she would do with them if she did hear them. "Fuck Ian, do you know how much trouble you could have been in?" She asked, finally allowing herself to breathe. She knew that this wasn't something he took lightly, she knew how much Ian loved her brother, he would have to or he wouldn't do something stupid so willingly. "If I was closer I would punch you in the fucking face." She told him, although her voice didn't have the threatening tone she was hoping it would.
"I'd probably let you," Ian said meekly. He knew that things could have been handled better, he knew that it would have been different if he had just visited more often, given Mickey hope that things would be okay. He couldn't carry all of the blame, it wasn't his fault that Mickey escaped prison, but he still felt some guilt for not helping him find a better option. He laid awake at night hoping that his lover had found some kind of peace, or that he would. He came so close to throwing everything away, leaving his family behind for some kind of life where he had to rely on himself alone, he couldn't fall back on his family as a safety net if things with Mickey went south. He was scared, he was still scared of needing them too much.
"I can't believe you didn't tell me," Mandy said in an equally as quiet tone. She knew parts of her were being selfish, being upset over how this all affected her. Her favourite sibling had vanished and she couldn't handle it because of what it did to her life. She used to send him letters in prison, postcards, but he never wrote back, she wasn't even sure if he received them.
"What the fuck was I meant to do Mands? Text you, oh, by the way, Mickey made me a fugitive for a day and then I ditched him at the Mexican border. It's not something I'm proud of." He sighed, rubbing his frustrated eyes with one of his fists.
"I don't know." She told him earnestly. It wasn't a situation she had found herself in, so it was hard to come up with an answer. She just kept thinking about Mickey being there all alone. He's never been alone for long, always seemed to be able to find people who were willing to be loyal, willing to do anything for him. She didn't know how he did it but he did. "I still don't know how this is real." She said with a small sigh. It was so hard thinking about it, she had to pinch herself sometimes as a reminder that this was her life, this was all real.
"You're telling me," Ian said with his own sigh. He felt the same way at several points in his life but each time he just had to bring himself back, look at how fucking messed up things had been in the past and hope that they got better again soon.
"Ian. I'm coming home." Mandy told him after a moment of silence fell over them on both sides of the line. She didn't have anything to lose, she didn't have anything to leave behind. No matter where she went, she'd always find work, that's what happened in her business. She needed to be around her family, and that included Ian. "I don't know when, but I'll see you soon. Okay?"
Ian didn't have a chance to respond, because for the second time that day Mandy didn't wait for one.