Author's Note: "Why are you doing this?" "Because I love you and I want you to be happy." – Mary and Tom, Downton Abbey.
Disclaimer: If I owned any of this, I wouldn't hardly be writing fanfiction about it.
They were twins. He thought they were twins. They looked enough alike to be twins, and Mickey didn't think it was either his imagination or the alcohol, because he was nowhere near as drunk as he was pretending to be.
The twins had allowed him to buy them each a beer, and he thought it not impossible that he might actually end the night with them, given sufficient time to persuade them. This by way of making his own fun, because his cousin Ray, after that one glorious day of camaraderie, was ignoring him again.
He had paid off Tim Reilly.
Mickey did not know what he had expected. He could hardly expect Ray to praise him for fulfilling his court ordered restitution, but… he had expected his cousin to say something.
He only knew he'd paid Reilly off because his pay envelope had had real money in it—well, he knew because he'd been keeping track. Nevertheless, he went so far as to seek his cousin out about the matter. "I paid off Reilly?" He'd meant it as a statement, but it came out as a question, and a hesitant one at that.
Ray was writing something. "You sure did. I'm finishing my final report to the judge now." He scratched the corner of his mouth, and wrote a little more, before looking up at his young cousin. "How does it feel?"
Mickey's thoughts had strayed. "How does what feel?"
Ray laughed. "Working for yourself. You have been for the last week, you know."
Mickey's chin rose as he tried unsuccessfully to suppress a sudden bleakness. Why wasn't he happy? "It feels terrific," he lied, then fled the office, suddenly afraid his cousin would ask him when he was going back to Kansas.
Why afraid?
Did he want to stay here? What for?
As long as he was working to pay off the debt to Reilly, Mickey had felt an obligation to attend to his work. Now… he didn't.
Ray would be angry if and when he found out Mickey had left the ranch, but it made no difference. He could no longer report him to the court, and if Ray fired him, he'd just go home.
He didn't care what Ray thought.
Mickey had sometimes heard adults accuse children of acting up because they wanted attention. He had thought it a stupid idea. Kids did what they wanted because that was what they wanted, not because they were trying to get in trouble.
He was not trying to get Ray's attention.
He was just trying to get lucky.
He wondered how Ray had found him. And why?
Whatever. He could have done without the lecture. All that tripe about paying his dues and making something of himself. He'd paid his debt, and whether he pumped gas in Kansas, or chased cows in Texas, it amounted to the same thing: he was on his own.
His beer was getting warm, and the twins wouldn't wait forever.
It wasn't as if Ray even wanted him around, anyway. All his cousin ever did was assign him work and leave him alone to do it. And keep leaving him alone when his work was done. He started to move away.
"Just hold it. You're heading back with me."
Resentment mingled with curiosity. "Why do you care, anyway?"
"Because we're family."
It wasn't the answer he wanted to hear. "Oh, yeah, big deal," he scoffed.
"Family may not mean much to you, but it does to me, Mickey."
"Terrific." Mickey started to move past him again, back to the waiting girls. They'd be a comfort, anyway.
"Just hold it." Ray had not so much shoved him back as put out a hand, and let Mickey's slight momentum press his sternum against it. "Listen! 'Cause from now on, I'm your shadow! That means I'm on your tail day and night. I'm either gonna make you, or I'm gonna break you!"
Mickey just stared at him. He felt the weight of Ray's restraining hand against his breastbone. Inside his mouth, the tip of his tongue pressed against the smooth back of his teeth thoughtfully. He could still taste the beer he hadn't actually drunk very much of. Was it a threat? Was Ray actually threatening to spend time with him?
"Okay," Mickey said, finally. "I'll go back with you."
As they passed the bar, Mickey saw that the pickup truck twins were already gone.