Ian had roped Lip into going over with him to Mandy's to help paint Kiera's bedroom. He didn't take much persuading though, because after he had got home late the night before he had told Ian about how Kiera ended up walking around in nothing but her bra and and pyjama bottoms and how she was actually really cool so he pretty much jumped at the chance to go over there again. Debbie had overheard them talking about it and asked if she could come too because she was eager to meet Kiera.

So that's how the three of them ended up standing outside Mandy's front door waiting for it to open in the shittiest clothes they could find, which wasn't a hard task, and Ian knew that he and Lip would probably end up taking their shirts off because it was a crazy hot day and none of Mandy's fans were working.

The door swung open and all three of them opened their eyes wide because there stood Kiera in her bra and what Ian hoped to God wasn't a thong.

"Hello," she said casually, smiling softly at all three of them.

"Hey," Lip breathed out and when Ian looked at him he could tell that he was turned on.

There was an awkward silence as Lip and Kiera stared at each other like they were trying to send messages with their eyes.

Ian looked back and forth between them then down at Debbie who was staring at Kiera. "So," he said breaking the silence, "we're here to paint." That got Kiera's attention and she finally looked away from Lip and at Ian.

"Yes, right. Oh, you must be Debbie," she cupped her cheek and Debbie barely even flinched because Ian had told her about that. "You have beautiful hair," she said, taking hold of one of her hands and leading her inside.

Ian couldn't tell if Debbie's smile was genuine or just to be polite, but when they finally walked inside he could tell that Lip's certainly was as his eyes followed Kiera's ass as she and Debbie went into her room. "Your boner's showing," he whispered to his brother as he walked past him, earning him a hard shove. Ian just laughed it off and went into the room.

Kiera's bed was in the centre and everything else was either in the living room or the kitchen. There were old newspapers all over the floor to protect the carpet and four tins of paint that were all different shades of purple that Kiera had bought earlier that day.

She slipped on a large t-shirt that Ian instantly recognised as being one of Mickey's which Kiera must have picked up on because she gave him a sly wink. "Okay, it actually works out well that you brought this little beauty with you," she began, putting a hand on Debbie's shoulder who was sat on the bed cross legged, "because now we can paint one wall each."

They all agreed that that was a good plan then Ian said he would paint the wall by the window - the heat made him lazy and it was the wall which had the least amount of actual wall to paint - and the others decided amongst themselves which wall they would paint.

Within five minutes of painting, both Ian and Lip had removed their shirts, Kiera had tied up the t-shirt she wore with a hairband and Debbie had rolled her pink shorts up because the heat in that room, even with the windows wide open, was almost unbearable.

"Purple's my favourite colour, too!" Debbie chirped once Kiera had told her why she chose to paint her room purple. The two of them had been rambling on about all kinds of things like cartoons and Little Hank, who was now Debbie's boyfriend, and if Kiera had a boyfriend too - Ian noticed the not so subtle way Lip stopped painting and turned his head to hear Kiera's response over the radio - and why she didn't. They spoke about about things you'd expect to hear two twelve year olds talking about, not one twelve year old and a seventeen year old. Ian thought it was sort of amazing how Kiera had the ability to make people she only just met feel comfortable in her presence and like they'd known her all their lives.

Ian was getting kind of bored. Not because the conversations they were having were boring or anything, but the actual painting itself was and he had already finished the seond coat. He looked across at Debbie and smiled to himself before he sneaked up behind her and wiped his paintbrush all over her cheek. She shreaked, startling Lip and Kiera and Ian laughed to himself then retreated backwards as she ran at him and smeared paint all over his stomach.

Before any of them could think that it may not have been the best idea, they all started flicking paint at each other and wiping their paintbrushes on each other's faces and arms and legs and basically any body part they could.

Lip tripped onto his back and managed to bring Kiera down on top him. Ian was impressed with how she pinned him there so easily, despite Lip trying to wriggle free as she painted all over his stomach, laughing widly as she did but she made the mistake of looking across at Debbie because Lip then rolled them over so he was pinning her down and for a second Ian thought Lip was going to kiss her but he didn't, he just smiled down at her then stood up, pulling her with him.

"Oh, you two need to be hosed down," Kiera said, pointing her brush at Lip, dabbing it on his nose, then Ian because their torsos were completely covered in different shades of purple.

They went out to the garden and Kiera got out the hose. "Strip."

Ian and Lip looked at each other, confusion all over their faces.

"Just down to your boxers, you aren't part of Chippendales."

And so they did, they peeled off their shorts, getting even more paint on them but not really caring, then stood there in nothing but their boxers.

Kiera gave them no warning before she turned on the hose and blasted them with freezing cold water.

"Jesus!" Lip yelped, jumping at the same time Ian did.

"It's only water!" Debbie shouted at them, laughing along with Kiera at their, what Ian thought were probably two very girly, reactions.

Ian spluttered and coughed as the water hit his face and put his hands up to cover it because even though the cold water was begininng to feel quite nice, the Milkovichs owned one hell of a powerful hose.

He and Lip wiped at the paint that was on them until they were both clean then Kiera shut off the hose looking pleased with herself.

"That was very Pulp Fiction," she said.

Ian and Lip both shook their heads like dogs and shivered as they walked toward the two girls with their shorts in one hand and took the towels that Debbie handed them, smiling their thank yous.

Ian and Debbie left once his boxers had dried up and Lip said he was going to stay a little longer and he didn't have to say why because Ian could see the reason in his brother's eyes.

It was a few days later when Lip finally came home and not just to change his clothes and shower. He had been hanging out with Kiera and Louis and Mandy, but mainly Kiera, getting stoned and playing Halo. The main reason he had come home was to tell everyone that Kiera had bought this crappy little barbeque with the money her dad sends her and wanted them all to come round.

An hour later and all the Gallaghers, along with Kev and Veronica because they were family, were in Mandy's back yard feasting on hot dogs and burgers that Lip and Louis were cooking, getting to know Kiera.

Ian was sitting on the shitty porch steps with Liam on his lap when Fiona walked up to him.

She smiled broadly. "Kiera's quite something, huh?"

Ian smirked and nodded, looking over at Kiera who was talking to Kev, Jimmy and Vee.

Fiona sat beside him. "I think Lip's fallen for her," she said, and though he didn't look at her, Ian knew she said that with a smile. He knew that Fiona was pleased because Lip had fallen for a girl who wasn't a complete bitch - wasn't even slightly a bitch - and, given the chance, would treat their brother right. Ian didn't know how, but he felt like that was a fact.

He sat there with his sister for a little bit longer until Fiona was being called over by Vee, taking Liam with her as she left.

Now that he was alone, Ian let his mind wander back to Mickey; how he was doing and what his reaction would be to how Kiera had bonded with everyone; how he'd feel about her being close with Ian and even Lip; he wondered if Mickey would ever apologise for what he had said or do his own version of an apology. Ian wondered about all of the maybes and the what ifs concerning Mickey's release. He wondered until Lip sat down beside him and forced him back into reality.

"You're not done with him, are you?" Lip asked, staring straight ahead of him just as Ian was.

Ian sighed and took the cigarette that Lip passed to him. "No," he admitted.

Lip nodded his head and briefly looked at him. "Kiera told me he misses you."

Breathing out the smoke, Ian nodded. "Yep, she told me that, too. Told me he doesn't think I'll forgive him." He passed the cigarette back to Lip.

"Will you?"

Ian shrugged. "I hope so."

Mickey couldn't sleep the night before he was released. It wasn't down to excitement, at least he didn't think so, but because he was actually fucking nervous. Kiera had been to visit him which was kind of weird because he had never seen her in anything but a blue jumpsuit and he thought she looked like a little girl in her floral dress and he didn't hesitate to tell her. She told him that she'd met Ian and everyone else and really liked them and that her dad had finally bought her a car so she'd pick him up when he was out.

It felt weird to Mickey to be in his own clothes and outside, like properly outiside. The sun was shining down on him and it fucking burnt but he loved it all the same. He looked out and could see Kiera stood waiting for him in another little dress that made him smirk.

She went to hug him but he shoved her away. "That's for bein' a sneaky little bitch," he said, though there was no venom in his voice and Kiera smiled because she knew just what he meant by that. And when she went to hug him again, Mickey held her tight because, fuck it, he had missed her.

Mickey laughed in disbelief when they got to Kiera's car because he was no expert, but he knew an expensive car when he saw one.

Kiera looked over at him. "My dad's way of saying 'yes, I'm a shitty excuse for a father, a human being, a living organism even, but I have money'."

It was fair to say that Kiera drove like a damn mad man and Mickey found himself putting on his seatbelt quicker than he ever had before. Hell, he never even wore his seatbelt usually but he thought that they had probably been invented for moments just like this one.

"Mandy's having a party on Sunday for her birthday," Kiera informed him. "I was quite surprised that she didn't plan one for your big coming out," she drummed her fingers on the steering wheel and gave Mickey a sideward glance.

Mickey glared at her. "Fuck off," he muttered.

When they arrived at his house and got out of the car, Mickey frowned at the sight of a clean front yard, wondering how the hell it had gotten like that before remembering his brothers and dad no longer lived there. Mandy burst out the door just as Mickey was about to open it and pulled him close.

"I missed you, fuckhead," she whispered into his ear.

"Yeah, you too," he whispered back because they didn't publically show real affection towards each other besides the occasional hug, and Mickey didn't see them starting to anytime soon.

He was dragged into the house and met by a topless Lip and topless random guy Mickey assumed was Mandy's boyfriend. Luke? Lewis? Mickey didn't really give a shit. He was kind of hot, Mickey thought, as gay as that was to think.

"Hey man," Lip said to him casually.

"Hey," Mickey said back, because he didn't really have any reason not to.

Mandy's boyfriend stood up and shit was he tall. He put an arm around Mandy's shoulder and extended his hand.

Mandy gave him her best death glare so he shook the guy's hand quickly.

"I'm Louis, how's it hangin' bro?"

Mickey wanted to laugh because seriously, who said 'bro'? But he bit down on the inside of his cheek because Mandy was still glaring at him and he didn't really fancy getting punched in the face. "Not too bad," he finally said.

After the introductions and the general chit-chat were over, Mickey headed to his room and was happy to see that it was all still the same, still messy as fuck. He took off all of his clothes except his boxers because it was just ridiculously hot and collapsed onto his bed.

A while later he was woken up by someone knocking on his door. "What!" he growled out into his pillow.

He heard the door open and turned his face to the side to see Lip standing there.

"You gotta piss just go fuckin piss, man," he mumbled.

He heard Lip laugh a little. "You gonna see Ian?"

Mickey wanted to scream because first of all, he hated being woken up and second of all, he didn't want to talk about Gallagher with his fucking brother. He rolled over onto his back and covered his face with his forearm because his curtains were open and the sun was too bright for his liking.

"The fuck do you care?"

"Lets see, because he's my brother and he's been pining for you for months and what you said really fucking hurt him," Lip's voice rose slightly.

Mickey sat up, back against the wall. Even now he didn't know how he felt about Lip knowing. When Ian fisrt told Mickey that he had told Lip, he hit him. Hard. But then he realised that not once did Lip look at him any differently or move out the way whenever Mickey walked behind him or any shit like that. Lip was cool with it so he sort of let it go. Sort of.

"Whatever, I'll probably see him eventually," Mickey muttered.

"Well he's in your living room right now and Kiera sent me to get you so unless you want her to cut off your dick, her words not mine, you'd get your ass out there," he said quickly, throwing a pair of jeans at Mickey.

Mickey sighed heavily. "Fucker," he snarled as he stood and shoved on his jeans before shoving past Lip and walking out into the living room.

Ian was sat beside Kiera watching the tv and Mickey literally froze where he stood like his whole body was now stuck in that position. Kiera looked up at him and Ian followed her eyeline and his eyes opened wide once they were on Mickey.

Before he could make it anymore obvious that he was practically fucking mesmerised by Ian's presence or some shit, he spoke. "Happy?" he said to Kiera, not giving her a chance to respond before charging back into his room and flopping down onto his bed, punching his pillow a bit just because it was something to punch.

Lip was around again the next day playing Halo with Louis whilst Kiera and Mandy were out shopping.

"Wanna game?" Lip asked him as he shuffled into the living room.

He shrugged and sat down beside him picking up a controller. And that's how they spent the rest of the day: asses glued to the couch only getting up to piss or for a beer. It reminded Mickey of when he used to hang out with Lip and wondered why he had stopped because Lip was actually cool to hang out with and always had good weed on him and clearly didn't give a shit that Mickey liked it up the ass. And Louis wasn't actually that bad, either. He was dumb as fuck but that just made him kind of entertaining.

Mickey knew that this was all the calm before the storm because he knew, he just knew, that sometime soon Ian was going to want to talk to him because he always fucking talked and the worst part was Mickey knew that he had to let that happen because whenever Ian had been pissed at him in the past he did stupid shit and he was on parole so he couldn't do that anymore. He was going to have to deal with it head on, regardless of how badly he didn't want to.