When he woke up the next morning, it was due to Fiona barging into the room and shouting.
"Everybody up, school today! Carl, take a shower, and no launching yourself down the laundry chute again! Lip, don't make me use the Gallagher tickle spot again! Mandy—put some clothes on!" Fiona grabbed all the dirty clothes from the ground before reaching out with her free hand and shaking Mickey.
"Fuck off…" Mickey mumbled, burying his face into the pillow to get more sleep, inhaling Ian's scent with it.
"Up, Mickey. You need to shower after Carl. God knows you need one." With that, Fiona scrunched her face and walked out, leaving Mickey alone to sit up and wonder if she was serious. "If you aren't showered and downstairs for breakfast in ten minutes, I'll send Carl in with his gun!" She shouted out.
"Jesus, the little sociopath ain't necessary!" Mickey shouted back, then groaned and got up. Everyone was already running around the hallway like fucking chickens with their heads cut off. He rubbed his knuckles through his hair and walked through the traffic to the bathroom. Milkovich's didn't do showers, aside from Mandy. It was considered a luxury rather than a necessity. But there he was, sitting on the toilet as he waited for Carl to finish, watching as Debbie ran past the doorway after Liam and then Lip staring at Mandy's chest as they talked, obviously not that she minded.
"Yo, Gallagher." The ex-con called out. Lip's head jerked up and turned to look at him. "Eyes don't go there. Does my fist need to remind you where to look?"
Lip shook his head quickly and walked downstairs, Mandy giving her brother the middle finger before following after her boyfriend. Mickey smirked, though he really wanted to ring his sister's neck for always wearing the skimpiest of clothes. And then in turn, he wanted to kill every single guy that dared to look at her the wrong way. That's what siblings do for each other. At least, Mickey thought they did.
Carl hopped out of the shower and grabbed a towel, leaving the water on for the ex-con. Before running out of the bathroom, the kid stopped and looked at Mickey, giving him a smile that made the older boy squirm because of how unsettling it made him feel.
"The fuck you lookin' at, kid?" he scowled. Carl's smile turned into a grin, like he was getting the exact reaction he wanted. It wasn't easy to make a Milkovich feel uncomfortable, but this Gallagher had it in the bag.
"You ever use rat poison to try to kill a guy?" Carl asked. Mickey raised his eyebrows, wondering who in their right minds had set this kid off enough to make him try murder.
"I'm more of a hands on guy. Of course, bats are great to use, too. A lot more power, a lot more damage." Mickey replied, and to his great surprise, that grin seemed to grow even bigger.
"I used a bat once to break a guy's leg. He tried to drop Lip out the window over some SAT scores or something."
Mickey nodded; he had to admit Carl impressed him. But he still had plans on keeping a distance from him. And to check his food for rat poison form now on. He stood, shoved Carl out of the bathroom and then stripped out of his sweats before climbing into the shower.
The ex-con stood in the shower, letting the hot water rain down on him as he did nothing but think. Eventually, he began to slowly scrub the long existing layer of dirt from his skin, noticing for the first time how pale he skin was underneath it. He traced his tattoos, then the bite marks still remaining on his skin as a reminder of the red head he won't see for the next few years. His fingers brushed over the bruises and crescent-shaped marks on his hips, and then finally rested on the circular scar on his thigh where Kash had shot him in the store.
Mickey remembered the feeling of pain, when it happened, but that wasn't what he cared about. He cared about the pair of hands that had tried to stop the bleeding, that held his face and tried to calm him down while the police got called. Those hands had left a feeling when they touched him, they broke through the walls Mickey had built up and felt so good to the touch. There were secret moments when Mickey wanted Ian to just hold him for hours, nothing else. Then the world would melt away and he could feel safe.
If Gallagher—if anything were to happen to Ian, the ex-con didn't know what he'd do. Since the day Mandy had come home crying and saying Ian had hurt her—which now seemed so stupid that he had believed it—their lives had become intertwined. Yeah, it's gay, but it's also the truth. Ian had made Mickey feel human, that someone other than Mandy gave a shit about him. That he was more than a violent, anger-filled ex-con.
Fuck did Mickey hate it. At least, he wanted to hate it, he sure made a point to act like he did. He'd been too afraid to let it happen. He was afraid Ian would finally realize how undeserving the ex-con was, afraid that his father would find out everything.
Yet Ian still wants him. Ian still cares. And his father had found out, tried to kill him, but is dead himself. Left to be burned into ash at the coroner's office for his brother's to pick up. The only thing left to fear is Gallagher getting killed. If that happens, then Mickey had nothing left. Mandy takes care of herself, has the Gallagher family to look after her like he had tried to. But there wasn't a nerve in his body that would last without feeling the roughness of Ian Gallagher again.
Suddenly a pounding on the bathroom door brought him back to reality.
"Mickey! Breakfast, now!" Fiona's voice rang out as she pounded on the door again.
"All right, I'm comin'!" Mickey shut off the water and got out, snatching a random towel hanging around to dry off with before grabbing his sweats. He quickly went to the bedroom to change and went downstairs while pulling on a "fresh" tank top. As he reached the bottom of the stairs and stepped into the kitchen, he watched in amazement as all the Gallaghers and his sister rushing to eat, Fiona nowhere in sight and her boyfriend Jimmy was at the stove, cooking.
"Sit your ass down already and eat, Fuck Face. The food's better than the shit we used to eat." Mandy barked at him, her attention mostly focused on scarfing down her food in between the looks she was sharing with Lip. Get a fucking room.
All Mickey did was glare and walk to the table, sitting down between Carl and Debbie. As he dug into the food Mandy was kind enough to pass over, he noticed Debbie staring at him.
"What?" he asked, rubbing his bottom lip, getting syrup on his thumb.
"You should have Veronica give you something for those bruises." She said, worry in her eyes. Mickey looked at her in disbelief. This little girl was actually worried about him.
"I can take care of myself. I've had worse, this is nothin"
Debbie seemed to think about it and find the answer good enough, going back to her breakfast, but still watching him out of the corner of her eye.
"How are you at dealing with kids?" She asked him after a minute.
"I don't do kids. On the other hand, if they're the ones causing trouble, I simply use my very convincing argument to shut them the fuck up." He rubbed his knuckles and leaned closer to her. "You got someone you need taken care of?"
Debbie was about to answer when Fiona walked in form the living room, kissing Jimmy before plopping a newspaper and a college course booklet in front of Mickey.
"The fuck are these?" he stared down at them.
"Job listings and classes. Start lookin, Mickey." She replied as she poured herself some coffee.
""You're fucking kidding me. I don't do school. I never even fucking finished high school. Besides, I already got a job."
"Stealing isn't a job. See if Linda at Kash and Grab will hire you again." Fiona handed out bags of lunch to everyone.
"I'm not going to—"
"Mickey? School?" Mandy and Lip cut in, smirking.
"Like that'll ever happen." Lip continued. Mickey stood up, cracking his knuckles.
"You think I ain't cut out for it, Lip? That I can't do it?"
"Not really, considering you haven't gotten a grade other than 'F'." Lip's eyes were challenging him, daring Mickey to do something.
"We'll see about that." Mickey grabbed the course booklet, gave Lip the finger and twisted Mandy's nipples real quick like he usually did to her in a fight before he stormed to the door.
"Where are you goin', Mickey?" Fiona called out after him.
"The fuck do you think I'm going? I'm going to fucking school." mickey slammed the door shut behind him. He'll wipe that fucking smirk of Lip's face. After all, he just gave Mickey something to prove.