It was early as Mickey forced himself to get up, he turned to grab his phone to find it wasn't there. He always slept with his mobile by his bedside, it acted as a watch, a phone, a security blanket, an alarm clock... He didn't often sleep without it by his side. As his eyes adjusted to the daylight breaking through the half opened curtains, he looked at his wife, she'd be asleep for a while. He grabbed a pair of fairly clean boxers, put them on as he walked out the opened door. He didn't remember leaving it open, then again he didn't remember closing it either.
As he walked into the bathroom to relieve his bladder, he heard something coming from the front room. That wasn't unusual, his dad would often be up early from the night before dealing with packing the new "package for shipping out." As he threw water over his face to help him wake up, he took a small swirl of mouthwash and spat it into the urine covered toilet before flushing it. He passed Mandy's room without incident.
As he walked into the living room he was immediately hit with 2 things. The smell of last night's beer, which he at least couldn't currently taste; and the banging noise of bottles as they were being put into the trash.
"Morning firecrotch" Lip happily chirped, he was cleaning the place. He'd been up for a little while, drunk plenty of water and eaten some toast and bacon. He knew he was playing with fire by using that term of endearment with Mickey Milkovich.
"What the fuck did you call me?" Mickey was bearly away, he may have let his hair down last night, but he wasn't going to take any bullshit from Lip.
"Firecrotch, where is Ian?" Lip said turning to now face the aggravated Milkovich as he continued to do his part. "He was gone when I got up this morning, since I left him with you last night I decided that I'd ask you where he is." Mickey didn't know what Lip knew, but he knew what he was insinuating; that if Gallagher wasn't there it was Mickey's fault.
"You seem to have been up for a while, you should be able to tell me." Mickey said as he walked towards the kitchen.
"I'd call him, but I don't have his number. Wasn't he sleeping with you last night?" God how Mickey hated happiness first thing in the morning.
"No, he didn't sleep in my room last night as you can see. Why do you think the blanket and pillow are sat right there?" Mickey walked off, he didn't know why he wasn't being honest. He wasn't awake right now.
"What does he need to talk to you about?"
Something flashed in Mickey's mind. Last night, he had gotten rid of Gallagher. Why hadn't he just let Mickey tell him what he needed to. Then he felt rage building up. Svetlana, he had fucked her last night. Then a shiver of why Gallagher wanted to talk to him, why had Lip said that? As Mickey turned to get the information he wanted, he was stunned to see his phone nearly hit him in the face.
"Call him. Tell him the truth for once." Lip said as he stared Mickey in the eye, daring him to say anything. Mickey was silent as Lip grabbed his jacket and walked to the door before adding the words that could have gotten him shot. "Before I tell him."
What was there to tell? Did Lip know something that he wasn't aware of? What could he possibly tell Gallagher that he didn't already know, or get him into trouble? Then it hit him in the chest like a ton of bricks, crushing all his internal organs at once. He knew, he knew.
The door had been left open, the knowing smile of a smart ass... Lip knew that Mickey had been fucking Svetlana last night, he knew the perfect way of making Gallagher see sense. He was going to lose him if he didn't break him himself. Lip was going to tell his brother.
.
As Lip spotted Ian, he started to almost skip along to catch him. He didn't make empty promises, he would tell his brother the truth. As much as Ian would hate his brother for it, he knew it was the right thing to do. Ian was heading to work, as Lip caught up with him.
"Wait up!" Lip called.
"Don't want to be late, it takes me long enough to get there." Ian replied, phone in hand, secretly looking at it every few minutes. Hoping for a response.
"I need to talk to you about last night." Lip said hoping to slow down his brother.
"Sure, what about?" Ian said, not knowing the seriousness of what Lip was trying to tell him.
"What you doing later?" Lip couldn't do it here in the middle of the street. He'd have to sit his brother down and extract information before refreshing his version of his relationship.
"I might have plans." Ian said looking at his brother as if he had something written on his forehead.
"Oh, you spoken to Mickey then?"
"No, but we might catch up later." Ian explained, had he had a falling out with Mandy or Karen? "If you've got a problem I'm all ears. I'm here for you."
"Tomorrow? Tomorrow then? Lads night out, just the 2 of us." Lip stuttered out. He didn't want to be the bad guy in this. Mickey had one day to tell him, every little detail.