Mickey doesn't bother arguing with them when they say that they are all going out for a drink. Tessa had that look in her eyes that said he'd end up fucking hurt if he argued and since his head already hurt enough as it was, he just went with it. Mickey wasn't fucking stupid and he definitely wasn't suicidal, despite popular opinion in his old neighbourhood. But then, it was a long time since he'd been in Chicago.

He always found that it was pretty amazing how little people noticed when you were standing next to three hot girls. Nobody even blinked an eye at his battered and damaged face, not when they had Katy's tits that they could be staring at instead. The club is pretty much packed by the time they get there, but it's not that far away from The Hanger, so people know who Mickey is. All he has to do is crack his knuckles and glare and people are scrambling off one of the couches against a back wall.

"Mick, I'm really really sorry," Katy said for probably the hundredth time since Mickey had woken up, her blue eyes wide and sort of watery in that way that meant she was about ten seconds away from crying.

"You cry and I'll twist your tit off," he says harshly, "And stop fucking apologising, I don't give a shit, it's not like I'm suddenly brain damaged or anything."

Tony snorts, "At least no more so than before.

When she leans forwards to take a beer off of Tessa, Mickey grabs a hold of her bra strap and pulls. Tony yelped and swatted at him, but she laughed at the same time; because that was how they always were. They didn't have a serious bone in their bodies sometimes.

"You do know you're going to have to face at least your sister," Tessa says helpfully, sitting down next to Tony and curling her legs up underneath her. Even being gay, Mickey can tell that she's easily the most beautiful girl in the room; but he wishes there was more fabric to her black dress because he just knows he's going to end up having to punch someone by the end of the night.

Mickey just snorted, "I kind of like having my head on my shoulders actually." He knew how pissed Mandy was going to be, he'd seen it all on her face in that split second before Ian had punched him in the side of the head. She'd looked like she wanted to remove his nuts with a spoon and put them were his eyeballs were supposed to be and he could deal with that, he could deal with Mandy's anger. But what he didn't know how to cope with was the pain that he knew that anger hid. He knew she felt like he'd abandoned her and maybe he had, but it wasn't like he had a choice.

"Come on, don't be a coward!" Tony said, choking out a laugh and guzzling on her beer like someone was about to take it off her. But then she was always like that when she drank. He knew she'd be getting up to get another round in in a minute, then she'd slow down. He chugged back half of his own beer just so he could make her get him another one when she did get up.

"Avoiding my sister when she's pissed off is not being a coward," he said seriously and wiped his mouth on the back of his hand, "It's being smart."

Katy smirked. "Coward," she muttered. And maybe Mickey was being a coward, but it wasn't because of the anger. It would never be because of the anger. The worst part was, he thought the girls knew that. Suspected they could probably see the truth burning in his eyes, they normally could.

"So how was it seeing Ian again?" Tony asked and Mickey gritted his teeth because he really wanted the conversation to turn away from him, but he knew it wasn't going to for a while. They all thought he needed to talk this out or some shit. Maybe he did, but that didn't mean he had to

"I think the fucker grew again," he muttered, because he can't think of anything else to say that won't come out like an insult and he has enough bruises already, so he really doesn't need one of them smacking him around the back of the head. Which he knew they'd do if he slipped up and was a dick about Ian.

Tessa choked on her beer a little, Tony just smirked and Katy said, "He's actually pretty fucking hot," because she was weird like that and liked to make random comments that nobody was sure they wanted to actually hear.

"Yeah, Kate, you do know he's gay, right?" Tony said, her eyebrows raised, "And that he's Mickey's!"

Mickey just kept his mouth shut on that one, because he really didn't want to say anything about Ian being his. He knew he'd only get smacked because he'd deny it. And it wasn't like he'd be wrong for denying it. Gallagher wasn't his, maybe had been once, just a little bit, but he definitely wasn't now. He'd heard from Lip that the redhead had some stupid faggy boyfriend, he wasn't Mickey's anymore. If he ever had been.

"He could swing both ways," Katy said.

Tessa rolled her eyes. "Trust me, they guy's gay," she said, smirking slightly, "He didn't even look at your tits once and no offense, hun, but no straight guy looks at only your face when they're talking to you." She finished off her beer and put the bottle on a nearby table. "How the hell do you think I worked out about Mickey?"

He frowned, he hadn't known that it was that simple. "So I'm not completely obvious then," he said, because he'd been kind of paranoid about that, "I just don't stare at Katy's tits."

"Exactly," Tessa said, laughter in her voice, "Now, I have an important question I have to ask you."

He groaned under his breath because he hated when she got that look on her face. It usually meant that he was going to have to put up with listening to a load of gay jokes. "What?" he asked sharply, giving her a death glare that she just smirked at.

She leant in closer, propping her chin up with the palm of her hand, her elbow resting on Tony's thigh. "Out of you and Ian," she said slowly, her eyes locked on his, her expression completely serious, "Who was the bottom?"

Tony choked, "Tess, you can't ask him that!"

Tessa shrugged, leaning back. "Oh, don't tell me you're not curious," she said, "We've never asked him before and Ian seems like a top, but I can't imagine Mickey being a bottom, so I was just wondering."

If someone had come in then and shot Mickey in the face, they would have been doing him a favour. "I'm not fucking answering that," he told her, scowling.

But Tessa just grinned like it was an answer already.

"I'm going to go get some drinks," Tony muttered, no doubt eager to get out of there before Mickey tried to murder Tessa or something. The Hanger's bartender edged closer to him and rested her cheek on his shoulder, draping one of her long legs over both of his. Her fingers played in the back of his hair, making him shiver because it was uncomfortable and familiar all at the same time.

"Knew it," she muttered in his ear and before she could jerk away, he grabbed her nipple ring through the thin material of her dress.

She squealed and latched on to his nipple in return and they both just sat there twisting until tears sprang into their eyes. "Get the fuck off me, bitch!" he snarled out through gritted teeth, putting a hand on her stomach and trying to push her off the couch.

"You let go first!"

They both gasped and let go when Katy banged their heads together. She looked away innocently, but the smirk on her face told it all. "What the fuck?" Mickey demanded, but he wasn't really pissed off, "Haven't you hurt my fucking head enough!"

Katy rolled her eyes. "Aww, don't be a baby," she said, her voice low and seductive, or at least it would have been seductive if Mickey had been interested in stuff like tits and vaginas. He wasn't though, so it just made him glare. "You want me to kiss it better?" she asked, pouting.

He cringed, "Fuck off." They knew he hated it when they got all lovey dovey and free with the kisses. It creeped him out, because nobody in his old neighbourhood had ever wanted to get that close to him. Well, maybe nobody other than Ian, but Mickey had stopped that shit from going any further than he was comfortable with. Dick up his ass, yes. Kissing, no.

Tony came back with a tray that she'd no doubt managed to get by batting her eyelashes at the bartender, four beers and a handful of shots on top of it. She slid the tray onto the table near to them and then surprised him by straddling his thighs, sitting down on him and smiling into his face like this wasn't strange or anything.

"What the fuck are you doing?" he asked her when she didn't seem like she was going to provide an explanation straight away.

She looped her arms around his neck, her fingers pushing into the back of his hair. "Don't look, but the bitch over there with the fake tits is someone I grew up with," she explained, her voice low and her lips right next to his ear, pressing her breasts against his chest in a way he really wasn't comfortable with. "The guy standing next to her was the guy that dumped me for her, I am not looking like the sad singleton in front of them."

He rolled his eyes, "So why can't you all of a sudden be a lesbian?"

She smiled and bent closer so that their faces were only an inch or so apart. The smile on her face was one that he'd only call dangerous. "Because messing with you is so much more fun, Mick," she said and he gripped her hips hard when it looked like she was about to dive in and kiss him.

"Don't even fucking thing about it," he said, practically growling, "You try and kiss me, I will dump you on your ass."

She pouted, "Why not, just one little kiss to help out a friend!"

He smiled instead of shaking his head, but he knew it wasn't a nice smile. "I don't kiss," he said, "And I'm certainly not going to start off with a girl, so you can sit on me all you like, but I ain't kissing you."

After a minute, she laughed. "Alright," she said, her fingers tugging at the back of his hair, "But Jesus, you need to learn to not be so uptight about shit."

He just rolled his eyes.

Tessa handed out the shots, a smirk on her face and they clinked glasses in that way they always did now before knocking them back. Not one of them flinched, they were far too used to the taste of vodka for that. Mickey gripped Tony's hips hard in retribution for the way that she leant in and the tip of her tongue flicked out to catch the vodka wetting the corner of his mouth.

He gave her a warning look.

"What, it wasn't a kiss," she said, smiling and leaning back a little bit, her thighs tightening against his in a way that he thought was just weird. He didn't understand girls and he didn't understand straight boys for liking them. The way Tony's crotch was pressed up against his did absolutely nothing for him. He liked to feel a hard bulge against his, two cocks rubbing against each other through denim, not. . . this.

She leant back to snag two beers off the tray and handed on to him, smirking when he downed about half of it in one go.

"Seriously, Mick?" Tessa asked suddenly, smiling at him in a way that was more of a sarcastic look than anything else, "Having Tony in your lap doesn't turn you on, at all."

"Not even in the slightest," he said seriously and then looked back at Tony, "Can you feel anything going on down there?"

Tony laughed. "Nope," she said, "Mr Happy's kinda cranky at the moment."

He groaned under his breath. "Please never refer to my dick like that, ever again," he said, lifting the hand off her hip that wasn't holding his beer to rub at his bottom lip, "And after seeing Tony eat ribs, it kind of stop you from seeing her as attractive ever again."

She pulled his hair sharply, jerking his head back, but he just laughed.

"I like meat," she said, "Fucking sue me."

Tessa laughed, "There is kind of a splash zone when you eat ribs though, you have to admit."

Tony just flipped her off.

He stretched back a little, relaxing against the couch, because Tony wasn't really heavy at all and he was finding it weird that aside from the fact that it felt fucking weird having her sitting on him like that, it wasn't uncomfortable at all. He glanced around the club and felt his dick twitch in his trousers.

"Are you finally getting turned on by this or something?" Tony asked him suddenly, looking surprised, but then she followed his line of sight to entrance to the club. She snorted. "Seriously?" she asked, "Hot girl sitting in your lap gets nothing, but seeing him walk in make Mr Happy spring to life?"

He tore his eyes away from where Ian had just walked in with Lip and Mandy and narrowed his eyes at her, "What did I just say about referring to my dick like that?"

"Fine, I'll just come up with a more inventive name," she replied, shifting a little which made him cringe. "Don't pull that face," she said, laughing, "You're the one who had to get hard, I'm just trying to find a comfortable position again."

She wriggled again and he bit back a curse. "Just for fuck's sake stop moving," he ground out between clenched teeth, "That just feels fucking wrong."

"Well at least we know he's definitely gay," Tessa muttered before they all jumped as Katy sprang up from her seat, shouting, "Lip!" She wrapped her arms around the poor guy's neck and hugged him tight enough that Mickey suspected he was probably turning purple. Beside him, Mandy's jaw clenched and she looked like she was seconds away from punching Katy.

"Kate, leave the poor guy alone," Tessa said before he could.

Katy detached herself and fell back down beside Mickey and he reached out and pinched her thigh before he could stop himself. She yelped and on his lap, Tony laughed.

"Good to see you're not a dead man," Tessa said, forever the talkative one, "We were placing bets."

Lip pulled a face at her and looped an arm around a stiff Mandy's waist, pressed a kiss to her cheek. "Well, I think she finally forgave me," he said, "But I hear you tried to do Mickey in last night." He was looking at Katy when he spoke and even in the dim lighting of the club, they all saw the blush spreading across her cheeks.

"That was not my fault," she muttered, refusing to look at Mickey.

Tony snorted, "Yeah it was her alter ego."

"I really am sorry Mick," Katy said, touching the side of his head lightly, her eyes wide and pleading. Her fingertips lingered on the side of his neck, near to his pulse and he could remember when it used to freak him out how much they liked to touch. He didn't know it was a girl thing, or if it was just something that was found everywhere other than in his house, but the three girls liked to hug and grab onto him and sling arms around his shoulders. They liked to touch, to hold on to something or sometimes it was just lingering touches on his wrists, arms or face that he thought was their way of checking he was still there. Or maybe it was their way of trying to get him to loosen up. It had stopped bothering him so much, but it had taken a while to get used to it.

"It's fine," he said with complete conviction, staring back at her, "Seriously, just fucking forget about it."

"Trust me, he's probably been hit a hell of a lot harder than that in the past," Ian said, drawing all attention to him. He grinned and even though it wasn't his full watt shit-eating grin that Mickey had burned into his memory, it was still something.

"Jesus fucking Christ, Mick, seriously!" Tony yelled at him, clambering backwards off of his lap, scowling.

Beside him Tessa and Katy laughed and he edged aside slightly so that Tony could fit herself back onto the couch. She draped her one of her legs over the top of Mickey's and he put an arm around her shoulders because he knew from the way her elbow dug lightly into his side that she wanted him to play along still because of her ex.

"You still owe me a round," he said to Lip, flicking Tessa in the ear just because he could reach. She scowled at him but didn't do anything.

Lip rolled his eyes. "You know you're about as subtle as a brick to the face," he said, but he didn't make it sound like a criticism like he would have done before Mickey left Chicago, "What do you want?"

"Get us some shots," Katy said, bouncing a little in her seat, "I want to see if you can actually hold it all down this time." Lip went a little bit green at the memory of the last time he'd been over and they'd made him do shots until he threw up.

"I want something colourful," Tony said, batting her eyelashes at Lip in a way that made Mandy tense up.

"I want never gets," he said, ruffling her hair.

She slammed at his arm. "Fuck's sake, do you always have to be a dick?" she asked, trying to flatten down her hair with her hands, "You know this took me ages to get just right."

Mickey snorted, "It looks just the same as it usually does." He only just caught the fist that was aimed at his face, squeezing just a little to make the muscle under Tony's eye twitch like it did whenever something was hurting her but she didn't want to show it.

Lip wandered off with a chuckle and Mickey found that he couldn't avoid it any longer. Mandy was standing right there in front of him, Ian beside her, but it was his sister that he focussed on this time. She looked good without all the colours in her hair that had been there in all of his memories. After another hinting elbow to the ribs from Tony, he rose from his seat and stood in front of Mandy sort of sheepishly.

"Hey Mands," he muttered, just loud enough for her to be able to hear him over the music.

In true Milkovich style, she punched him in the face right before pulling him into a hug, her arms locked tight around his neck and her face pressed into the side of his head. "I fucking hate you," she said in his ear, her voice broken sounding.

"Missed you too bitch," he replied, lifting her off the ground to make her squeal.