With their combined incomes, Mickey, Iggy, and Mandy had moved out of the Milkovich House of Horrors as soon as they were able. The current apartment was still South Side, but had some amenities that Mandy had insisted on, like plenty of hot water and working appliances.

It was a nice place. Just not nice enough to include a doorman, which is why Mickey could hear their uncle yelling before he even exited the elevator. Mandy had the doorway of their place blocked so Uncle Joey couldn't enter, but it hadn't deterred him enough to actually just leave when he was clearly unwelcome.

"Eh!" Mickey barked, drawing their uncle's attention away from Mandy long enough that he removed his foot from their door, allowing Mandy to slam it in his face.

In a way, Mickey was relieved that this was the reason for Mandy's SOS. She likely wouldn't have called her brothers home to face the police, and the cops had already been to their apartment to interview them about the deli fire. Plus, it really would've been a little soon to have them at their door already about tonight's fire.

"What the fuck are you out here yelling for? Irritating everyone," Mickey muttered.

"I wouldn't be out here if my own goddamn niece would let me inside!" Joey yelled towards their closed door.

"Fuck off!" Mandy yelled from inside.

"You're the one I wanted to talk to anyway, Mickey." Joey turned his back to the door as if he was dismissing Mandy from the conversation. "You know that Terry expects us to keep his business going while he's inside."

Mickey snorted and crossed his arms over his chest. "Told ya we ain't helping."

Joey began to glare at him. "You ungrateful – Terry has always supported your asses and this is how you repay him?"

"Supported feels like a really strong word in this situation. Not to mention, we've been working for the old man since we were babies, not that we ever got to keep any of the profit."

"All we have to do is torch whatever Terry's contacts want torched. We keep the contacts happy for Terry and we make money," Joey stated slowly, as if Mickey's comprehension of the issue was the real problem here.

"We ain't doing shit, since last I checked you don't have fire power, else ya wouldn't be here beggin us to do the dirty work." Mickey pulled out a cigarette and snapped his fingers to form a flame to light it. The snapping wasn't necessary, but it served its purpose as he watched Joey's glare intensify.

The elevator doors opening down the hall drew their attention, and Mickey watched as Iggy stepped out. When he spotted the two men squared off in the hallway, he heaved an aggravated sigh, but still sauntered toward them.

"You used to know to respect your elders, Mikhailo," Joey growled.

"Yeah, well I'm intellectually older than you are now, Joseph. Get the fuck out of here. Forget you know us."

"Iggy -" Joey attempted, turning towards his other nephew when Iggy joined them.

"Nope," Iggy waved him off, "whatever Mickey already said is my answer, too." Iggy opened their apartment door with his key and held it open as Mickey headed inside.

"Terry won't be happy when he hears about this," Joey yelled after them.

"Yeah, we're real worried," Iggy muttered as he shut and locked their door.

Mickey joined Mandy in their small kitchen. "Was that the only SOS?"

"Yeah," Mandy nodded. "He's so fucking loud and he wouldn't go away. Kept insisting on talking to one of you boys. I guess he thought the men of the fucking house would be more reasonable than me." Mandy eyed Mickey for a moment before asking, "Why?"

"Another fire."

Iggy groaned from where he'd already settled out on their couch.

"Christ. Maybe we should just do the cops' fucking job for them and find out who's setting them," Mandy ranted. "I'm taking a bath. Do not interrupt me!"

Mickey grabbed a couple beers for him and Iggy and joined his brother on the couch. Iggy already had a movie pulled up and knocked the neck of his bottle against Mickey's after he opened it.

"You go to this fire, too?" Iggy asked.

Mickey nodded.

"Notice anything?"

Mickey began to shake his head, but then stopped. "It was a place next to a bank."

Iggy hummed. "Well, if the fire was just a distraction, it'd be the first one set for that reason. Could be unrelated, if that's true."

Mickey nodded. "Guess we just wait to hear if there was a bank robbery or something."

"Were you spotted this time?"

Mickey slumped further into the couch as it hit him that he'd just abandoned Ian at the bar. He imagined what Ian's sad puppy face must've looked like whenever he'd turned around and realized Mickey was gone. At least, he realized he hoped Ian was a little sad when he realized Mickey had disappeared. Too bad he didn't have a way to contact the redhead.

"Gallagher showed up off duty, actually."

"What?" Iggy's attention left the screen and focused on him. "Why would he be there off duty? Could he have something to do with setting the -"

"No," Mickey scoffed.

"How do you know?"

Mickey grumbled for a minute. Now he wished he hadn't mentioned Ian to Iggy at all. Was he supposed to tell his brother that Ian was there looking for him? No fucking way.

"He just happened to be there."

"He just… happened to be there?" Iggy had practically turned his body away from the television and towards Mickey now.

"You know he used to be friends with Mandy. It's not like we don't know the guy," Mickey defended, which he knew was making this worse.

"Mickey, he could still be involved in the fires. Why else would he happen to be there?"

Mickey grumbled again. "He's like a disarmingly nice puppy. An EMT puppy. He saves people. He doesn't set fires."

"You are… so red right now," Iggy said with a giant smirk. "I've never seen you blush or ramble like this, little bro. You've got a crush on an arsonist!"

"He's not a fucking arsonist."

Iggy turned back to the movie and could barely drink his beer with how wide his smile was.

"Fucking what, Igs?"

"That's the only part of what I said that you're gonna disagree with, huh?"

"Fuck you." Mickey pushed himself off the couch and headed towards his bedroom.

"Still say he could be setting the fires!" Iggy called after him.

Mickey groaned, stopping in his tracks so he could turn and glare at his idiot brother. "He wasn't there randomly," he admitted, rubbing his middle finger over his eyebrow, which only made Iggy laugh. "He was there looking for me. We grabbed a beer until I got that text from Mands. That's it. Okay?"

He didn't wait for a response before continuing into his room and slamming the door behind him. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to block out Iggy's loud and obnoxious laughter. Iggy was going to tease him forever, probably, but at least he wouldn't suspect Ian of burning down the city.

"Uh, Mickey?" Ian stopped in his tracks when he spotted Mickey leaning against the brick. "What are you doing here?"

"Looking for you."

The blatant surprise melted off Ian's face and was replaced by a pleased grin. Mickey wondered if it was because he had managed to find Ian's station house and was waiting for him outside, or if it was because he was repeating back the words Ian had used the other night in the bar.

Mickey rubbed his thumb against an eyebrow as he said, "I'm sorry I had to just leave the other night."

"No." Ian shook his head. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have gotten into it with Caleb like that. I should've -"

"Nah, man." Mickey shook his own head, unhappy to realize that Ian had blamed Mickey's disappearance on the interruption by Ian's ex. "While you were talking to that shithead, I got an emergency text from Mandy and had to get home fast."

Ian's eyes widened in alarm and Mickey was really beginning to feel like a dick for running Ian through so many emotions in such a short period of time.

"Is Mandy okay?"

Mickey waved a hand. "Yeah, she's good."

Clearly relieved, Ian smiled again. "Did you go through all the trouble of finding me just to tell me that?"

Mickey thumbed his eyebrow again. "Depends."

"On what?"

"On if you're hungry or not?"

Ian's smile widened across his entire face. "Can we go to my place first so I can change?"

Mickey bit his lip and let his eyes travel purposefully up and down Ian's uniform-clad body. "You want to take me home before dinner? You're turning into a real cheap date, Gallagher."

Ian had the dorkiest laugh, Mickey decided, as Ian laughed and bumped his shoulder into Mickey's to turn him in the direction of his home.

Mickey was only slightly surprised when they passed through the front gate of the old Gallagher house. He would've expected the Gallaghers to have moved up by now, especially when they entered the home and it was clear that nothing had been updated inside for years. Whatever the Gallaghers were doing with their alleged art heist money, it wasn't fixing up this house.

A gust of wind hit Mickey before he realized it was odd to feel such a thing inside. And without further warning, Lip Gallagher appeared in front of them. Mickey couldn't even tell you from which direction Lip had entered the room, only that it made him slightly dizzy, which he hadn't expected. He'd only ever seen anyone with speed powers depicted on TV shows or movies.

"Ian, I gotta talk to you, man," Lip said, words tumbling out of his mouth almost as fast as his feet had moved.

"Lip," Ian sighed with an eye roll. "This is Mickey. Mickey, this is my brother, Lip."

"Hey," Lip offered quickly to Mickey. "Milkovich right? I think I wrote a paper for you once."

"Neat," Mickey deadpanned, not sure what else to say.

"I'm just here to get changed," Ian said with purpose to his brother. "Mick, are you okay down here for a few minutes?"

"Course," he said with a nod before plopping down on the nearby couch as Ian headed upstairs. Thankfully, Lip followed Ian instead of staying downstairs with Mickey.

Mickey had gone from not knowing if Ian would even be happy to see him outside that station house to sitting in Ian's house waiting for him so they could head to dinner together. He breathed a sigh of relief for a moment.

"Who are you?"

"Jesus Christ!" Mickey yelped as he jumped up. His previous moment of calm replaced by a pounding heart. He stared down at the couch, and then glanced around the room, but he couldn't see anyone else in the room with him.

The giggling, though, told him that there was definitely someone else here.

Frustrated, he quickly extinguished the small flames that had appeared at his fingertips. He and his siblings had only recently learned that torches could go through phases of power surges, but he didn't know if there was a connection between that possibility and why he had been lighting small hand fires when startled lately.

Ian's pounding feet were heard next as he came running back downstairs. When he spotted Mickey frantically looking over the couch, he groaned a bit before saying, "Franny!"

There was more giggling, which gave Mickey a general direction to look again, but he was still surprised when Ian rushed to the back of the couch and quickly appeared to pick up nothing in his arms. He gently shook what looked like air for a few seconds before the air turned into a still giggling little girl.

"Franny, we told you to stop scaring people when you're invisible!"

"How the fuck did you see her?" Mickey asked.

"She can't hide from family," Ian said with a laugh, tossing the little girl a bit. "Franny, this is my friend, Mickey. Mick, this is my niece, Franny. She's my sister Debbie's daughter."

Mickey was trying to pay attention, because the small ginger kid was cute. But Ian tossing her around made the muscles in his arms flex. And speaking of, Ian had run down here mid-change and it was hitting Mickey pretty hard that Ian still wore his EMT uniform pants and nothing fucking else. The little girl was hiding part of his abdomen, but not enough that Mickey didn't understand that Ian was apparently hiding a goddamn masterpiece under his shirts on a daily basis.

His swallow was likely visible to Ian as his eyes trailed from biceps to pecs to defined abs and a line of red hair that ran down his flat stomach and into his pants. His vision was forced away when Ian bent to gently toss Franny back on the couch. That didn't mean that Ian didn't meet Mickey's gaze right after, showcasing not only a smirk but the way his green eyes had darkened under Mickey's appreciative gaze.

"I'll be back in a minute," Ian said, voice slightly hoarse.

Mickey nodded, not trusting his own voice, and then unabashedly watched Ian's ass as he headed back upstairs.

"Do you love Uncle Ian?"

Mickey jerked his head towards the little girl again. "I haven't seen him in a few years, kid."

"Where are you going?"

Mickey decided to settle himself in the chair next to the couch this time while he eyed the curious little girl. Her red hair fell to her shoulders and her eyes were currently wide and excited, which only reminded him of Ian. He sighed as he realized he was going to have to acknowledge this new weakness he'd discovered for ginger puppies.

"Out to dinner," he finally responded.

Franny jumped up on her knees on the couch cushion. "Can I go?"

"No," another voice out of nowhere responded.

Mickey was a little more prepared this time for a voice without a body. He stilled in his seat and let his eyes dart around.

"Sorry about startling you," a boy said as he materialized on his walk from the kitchen to the couch. "I was practicing my invisibility skills for tonight. I'm Liam."

Mickey nodded in greeting. "Mickey."

"What's tonight? Can I come?" Franny asked. "I can be invisible."

"You can come when you can control it better," Liam replied.

"I can control it," Franny grumbled, flopping back on the couch with her arms crossed, pout clear on her face.

"You are getting better," Liam allowed, which led to a bright grin from the little girl.

"Ready, Mickey?" Ian called as he came bounding down the stairs, still pulling on a jacket.

Mickey nodded and rose from his chair. He headed towards the door.

"Ian?" Lip called after him.

"Yeah, I heard you. I'll see you later," Ian said, smiling at Mickey even as he yelled back at his brother.

Mickey led them to a diner he liked a few blocks away and hoped it was okay for Ian. The way Ian smiled as he slid into a booth across from Mickey had him believing Ian was fine with the choice.

"So, Mandy is okay from the other night?" Ian asked as soon as the waitress took their orders.

"Yeah. I mean, she can handle herself."

"Oh, I remember," Ian said with a laugh.

"Our shitty-ass uncle was at our place and wouldn't leave. He's mad because we won't help him."

"Help him with what?"

Mickey thumbed his nose. "He wants to keep taking jobs from Terry's contacts. Wants the money. But he's not a torch, so." He shrugged.

"He wants you guys to do the work."

Mickey nodded.

"How long do you think he'll keep asking?"

Mickey shrugged again. "Hopin he just gives up soon. I don't know if he's just trying to take over or if he thinks he's keeping the lines open for when Terry gets out? I don't think he's realized Terry ain't getting out this time."

"So, if you're not working in the family business, what are you doing?"

"I work with an old friend of Terry's," Mickey began to explain and quickly continued as he saw a frown start to form on Ian's face. "Artem's a torch, too, and he and Terry apparently used to be hellions together when they were teens. Terry just never grew out of that phase, while Artem did. He got married and his wife didn't want him going to jail."

Ian chuckled. "Wives, huh? So demanding."

Mickey snorted.

"So, they parted ways?" Ian asked, urging Mickey to continue.

"Yeah. Artem opened a workshop. I guess he kept tabs on Terry, because after Terry was picked up this last time, Artem reached out to me, Igs, and Mandy. He asked if we'd want to apprentice with him. He's got some arthritis that's making it difficult for him to work, but his shop is so busy. He needed the help. Thought we'd be a good fit for it."

"Was he right?"

Mickey nodded but also ducked his head when he felt a smile pull at his mouth. Maybe most people who liked what they did for a living felt okay about that fact, but it was still a strange sensation for him to feel proud and happy about what he did for legitimate work.

Ian's smile softened as he watched him. "What kind of workshop is it? What do you guys do?"

"You're gonna laugh."

Ian straightened excitedly in his seat. "Oh, I love to laugh."

Mickey chuckled. "Asshole. You're supposed to say you won't laugh."

Ian frowned and Mickey was reminded of Franny pouting.

"Sounds fake, but okay. Mickey, I won't laugh," Ian said in his most put upon voice.

"Ian?"

Ian turned his attention to the guy standing by their booth and a slightly hysterical laugh escaped him before he said, "Hey, Trevor."

"It's been a while." Trevor eyed Mickey as he asked, "how have you been?"

"Great," Ian said with a nod. "This is Mickey. Mickey, this is Trevor."

"Ian and I used to date," Trevor informed Mickey, even though he definitely didn't ask.

"We runnin into an ex right now, Gallagher?" Mickey asked. "Can't take you fucking anywhere, huh?" he added with a laugh and then watched as a red flush ran up Ian's neck to his cheeks.

"You picked the place! I had nothing to do with this," Ian laughed in return while throwing up both his hands, palms facing Mickey.

"Are you two on a date?" Trevor asked.

Mickey paused, not sure they owed this dude an explanation for what they were doing out together. But then Ian didn't answer right away, choosing instead to pick up his glass and look busy drinking water while glancing almost shyly at Mickey.

"Second date?" Mickey asked Ian.

And, uh, yeah. That was the right answer with the way it made Ian's head tilt while a small smile pulled at his mouth.

"How'd you two meet?" Trevor asked. "Can't be funnier than the way we met, huh, Ian?"

Mickey didn't like the way this guy was smiling at Ian, obviously aiming for a walk down fucking memory lane. But Ian kept those soft eyes on Mickey as he responded.

"I picked him up on a street corner one night."

"Oh," Trevor replied, and his genuine surprise told Mickey he didn't recognize that Ian was joking, despite the big obnoxious grin that currently sat on the redhead's pretty face. "So, you're a -"

"A guy who happened to be standing on a sidewalk one night when this lanky asshole showed up, yeah."

When Mickey kicked at Ian's foot under the table, Ian's only response was to laugh and trap his foot between his own two feet. Leaving Mickey to resort to trying to glare at Ian for forcing him to explain to a stranger that he was not a prostitute. Ian's answering smirk told him he knew exactly what he had done.

Thankfully, the waitress returned with their food and Ian's ex wandered off when they began digging into their meals.

He (lightly) stabbed Ian in the back of his hand once when Ian tried to steal some of his fries, although he did attempt an apology for that reaction. Tried to explain it was how he was raised on top of a learned response from juvie. Ian only laughed his dorky laugh and said that with five siblings at the dinner table, he'd been raised the same way.

Ian told Mickey some stories about his family. How he was close to all his siblings, but especially Lip. He and Lip had been hauled in together once for driving a stolen car, and even though Lip's speed would've let him disappear before the cops could capture him, he refused to leave Ian behind to take all the blame.

Mickey could appreciate the family loyalty. He liked that Ian's family had his back. He haltingly told Ian about the unspoken agreement he seemed to have with his siblings to stick together after Terry was sent away.

And when Mickey was distracted with his drink, Ian managed to steal some fries anyway. All while keeping Mickey's foot hostage between his own.

It wasn't a terrible date.

Afterwards, Mickey walked Ian home from the diner, because he was a gentleman. Then he pushed Ian into the wall of the alcove just inside of the Gallagher house, because he was not.

With one hand pressed to Ian's chest and the other resting on the wall by Ian's shoulder, he paused. His eyes scanned Ian's face, noting the playful response to his actions displayed plainly in Ian's green eyes. He glanced up at his fiery red hair before his eyes trailed back down. He got distracted by the freckle patterns under Ian's eyes before he finally glanced down at Ian's mouth.

He hesitated, not willing to push further. Not willing to screw this up already.

His only warning that Ian was about to make a move was the hint of smirk pulling at the very lips he'd been eyeing before Ian reached around him to slam the front door shut and push Mickey into it in one smooth move. Mickey felt one of Ian's large hands wrap around the back of his head, protecting it from impact, and he barely registered his back hitting the door before Ian's mouth crashed onto his and they were kissing.

Mickey immediately forgot about his former worries. All that mattered right now was how good Ian's mouth felt against his own. And the pleased grunt he heard when he pushed his tongue into Ian's mouth. One of his hands slowly lifted and he reveled in the shiver he felt from Ian as his fingertips slid from Ian's ear down his neck. Ian grunted again before his mouth moved to work its way up Mickey's jaw. Mickey's breath hitched as Ian sucked on the skin behind his ear. He didn't even know he was fucking sensitive there.

Ian pushed his body against Mickey's, and Mickey had zero fucks to give about being truly trapped against the back of this door. Not with Ian ticking so many of his boxes. He arched against Ian when the redhead latched onto the skin behind his ear again.

"Your skin's so fucking warm," Ian rasped in his ear, "and you smell so good, Mick."

Mickey huffed a quiet laugh. "You like the smell of smoke?" It was the side effect of being a torch. A residual smokiness that clung to them. He'd had past partners complain about it.

"Mm-hmm" Ian hummed. "Reminds me of a campfire. It's not just smoke, though. Metal?"

Mickey's eyebrows rose in surprise.

"Plus, something that's probably just you." Ian ran his nose along Mickey's neck and up into his hair, inhaling along the way. "I like it."

Mickey wrapped his hands around Ian's face and pulled him back so he could reclaim his mouth. Let himself press against Ian again. Let himself enjoy how solid Ian felt. Let himself sink into the kiss. They were still hidden from the rest of the house in the front alcove, but he was beginning to think he should've brought Ian back to his place versus what was probably a pretty crowded house, if what he'd experienced earlier was any indication.

"Jesus!"

Lip's voice hit them, and Mickey jerked back. He would've hit his head on the door, except his head was still cradled in Ian's large hand, providing protection. He didn't know what Lip had to be surprised about, they were the ones being interrupted. Ian sighed against his mouth in a resigned sort of way.

"I thought I heard the front door," Lip continued. "Didn't expect to find you… still using it…"

Ian flipped him off and slowly pushed himself away from Mickey. Mickey chewed on the side of his lip and tried not to glare at Ian's favorite sibling.

"Ian! We have to go!" A female voice further in the house called out.

Lip sent them both a grimace but nodded. "Yeah, we're about to be late."

Ian nodded and Lip thankfully disappeared back into the house.

Ian sighed again. "We have, uh, a family thing to do tonight."

Mickey licked his lips and admired the way Ian's lips were slightly puffy.

Ian smiled as he watched him. "You're going to make it difficult for me to leave, aren't you?"

"You bet, Red."

Ian chuckled before he leaned in for another kiss. Mickey sighed happily against his mouth and lifted a hand back to Ian's neck.

"Ian!"

Ian growled against Mickey's mouth, which, if he thought Mickey was going to happily release him after that, he was sorely mistaken.

"Fuck," Mickey whispered and pushed himself against Ian again.

"Don't make us leave you here!"

"Shit," Ian cursed, voice full of frustration. He pulled back and eyed Mickey again. "I'm sorry, Mick."

Mickey smiled at him and decided to give him a break. "It's okay, man. I ditched you the other night for a family thing, after all."

"I'll see you soon?"

Mickey nodded. He reached behind himself and turned the door handle, letting himself slide out the front door as Ian hurried towards the back of the house.

"Hey, Mickey?" Ian suddenly called to him, popping his head out the front door after Mickey had already reached the front gate.

He turned and lifted his eyebrows in question.

"Thanks for coming to find me today."

He only grinned in acknowledgement before passing through the gate and heading down the sidewalk.

He was halfway to his place before he realized he still hadn't managed to get Ian's phone number.