Chapter Text
One thing you need to know about Mickey Milkovich is that he’s fucking gay. Another thing you need to know is that he lives with his six year old son, Yevgeny, and his ex-wife, Svetlana. Some would ask why would he live with his ex-wife? Well, simply, convenience. Mickey hated Svetlana when they met, who could blame the guy? She was a prostitute at the time and was hired by his extremely homophobic father to “fuck the gay out of him” when he caught his son getting ass fucked by some stranger in an alley. Mickey was only eighteen when this happened. He impregnated Svetlana, of course, and was forced to marry her unless he wanted to end up six feet under by the hands of the man he’s hated all his life.
By the time he turned nineteen he had a new baby boy that he couldn’t even look at and a wife that he hated and blamed. There was no other option but to hate the woman who raped him but realizing she had no say in the matter just as much as he had, it was hard to keep hating her. She was in Chicago illegally and working as a sex worker. When your pimp sends you to fuck someone and the guy holds a gun to you and his son, you do your fucking job. It took a while for Mickey to grasp this concept and it wasn’t an easy road. Mandy helped him though. Mandy always helped him.
Mickey told her that he was gay when she found out about Svetlana, thus him telling her about how it all went down. Mandy made him realize she was just as much a victim in this as he was. What was Svetlana to do? Say no then end up dead and have Terry just call another hooker? She did what she had to do. She fucked Mickey and then became his wife and the mother of his child. And hopefully later, even his friend.
Eventually, Mickey had to get over it and be a father. He started taking care of Yevgeny (he really shouldn’t have let Svetlana name him), and actually started to love him at some point, he doesn’t really know exactly when it was but it just sort of happened. He also started to care for Svetlana (and not in a sexual way). He developed a real friendship with her and became very protective of her.
When Mickey’s oldest brother, Colin, got released from prison a couple years into his marriage with the news of their father’s death, they sold the house and split the money four ways. Mickey took Svetlana and Yevgeny out of the south side and moved into a three bedroom apartment in downtown Chicago. Mandy moved in with a couple of girl friends, Iggy moved in with his newest girl, and Colin went God knows where, probably back to jail for all Mickey knew.
So there they were, four years later. At twenty-five, Mickey’s living in an apartment with his ex-wife and six year old son. After three years of marriage and obtaining her green card, Svetlana was able to apply for citizenship, and thus her and Mickey were able to get a divorce, and it actually couldn’t get any better. His little family is doing great, Mandy and Iggy are doing good as well, and Colin, well, Mickey didn’t know where Colin was. He hasn’t seen him in four years but they were never that close so he didn’t really care.
“Lana?!” Mickey yells from the kitchen.
“What?” Svetlana says back as she joins him in the kitchen. Accent still and forever present.
“Are you just gonna stand there or you gonna get the kid up? He’s got his first day today,” Mickey says gesturing to their sons bedroom, where Yev still lay asleep. Today was his first day of primary school and Mickey felt like a nervous wreck. He couldn’t believe how quick time could go. One minute Yev’s not even born and the next he’s having his first day of elementary school.
“He has time still, don’t want him to be tired on first day,” Svetlana says tightening the rope around the waist of her long black robe.
“Can you please just get him up and dressed? I have work right after and don’t need to be late,” Mickey says nicely. He learned the hard way that if he fights with her or orders her to do something he won’t get anywhere.
Once Mickey and Lana moved away from the south side they were both able to try to get decent jobs, also, they both didn’t want Svetlana to be a prostitute anymore. Mickey ended up getting a pretty good job as a temp at some big shot advertising company for a little bit before it turned into a full time position. He got the job when they saw some of his work online and didn’t want to pass him up just because he came from the south side and had very crude tattoos. He’s been there four years now and is one of their best graphic designers. He was just offered a position right under the big boss, so he would be right there working with him on all of his big deals. Mickey was stoked to say the least. This meant more money for his family and he couldn’t be more thankful. He was going to start next week so for this week he just had to finish up his remaining projects before moving up. As for Svetlana, she started working in a restaurant as a waitress and occasional bartender. She’s now their head waiter and makes pretty damn good tips seeing as though the restaurant rakes in a very big crowd most days.
Svetlana rolls her eyes but heads to Yevgeny’s room to wake him up. Less than ten minutes later she’s walking back out with a tired Yevgeny, at least he was dressed for the day.
“Hey buddy,” Mickey says. Yev looks up at him and walks over to him. Mickey picks him up and hugs him close. He peppers a few kisses all over his face making him laugh.
Putting him down Mickey says, “Want pancakes?”
“Obviously,” Yev says with a bright smile, going to sit at the table.
“Oh well excuse me,” Mickey laughs, “Where’d mommy go?”
Yev lifts his little shoulder as he lets his head fall to the table to catch a bit more z’s.
“No, little man, head up,” Mickey says coming over to ruffle his hair with one hand and putting the plate of pancakes down on the table. “Here,” He says taking one of the banana pancakes and putting it on a smaller plate in front of Yev, before letting the kid pour his own maple sirup.
Once Mickey’s seated, Svetlana comes back out dressed in jeans and a white blouse. She doesn’t have work today but being a mom she just wakes up this early anyway. Plus it’s her sons first day, she had to drop him off, she needed to take a bunch of pictures and cherish them all. They ate together like they do all the time, some moments in silence and some with one of them talking about whatever they wanted, usually involved Yev just chatting like the chatty child he was.
It was time to go and the three of them headed down to the garage and got in the car. Mickey driving. They were able to buy a car a few months ago with the money Mickey’s been making and Svetlana’s really good tips she’s been making over the years.
They got to the school and walked Yev inside. He was really nervous and it wasn’t hard to tell, seeing as though he said it, “Daddy, I’m scared.”
Mickey crouched down next to his son so that they were eye level. He puts his hands on his little shoulders and says, “Don’t be. You’re a Milkovich. You got this, kid. Just make some friends, you’re good at that, and be sure to listen to your teacher, okay?”
“Okay,” Yev says and nods once.
“Good boy,” Mickey says kissing his cheek. “Nothing to be scared about, it’s just like kindergarden but a year higher.”
Svetlana rolls her eyes at Mickey but can’t help but smile at her best friend and her son. She pulls her phone out and takes a few shots of them.
“You just take a picture?” Mickey says with a glare looking up at her.
“Of course I did, what you think? Our babies first day of real school,” Lana says taking another picture now that they were both looking at her. Yev smiling as always whenever a camera was pointed at him, the kid loved taking pictures and posing for them.
After their goodbye hugs and a couple of tears from Svetlana, the two of them left their baby at school and headed off. Mickey drove to work with Svetlana. Since she’s off he was going to leave her the car and she would be picking up Yev at three then come to get him at five.
Mickey pulled up in front of work and put the car in park without turning the engine off. They both got out and went around the front of the car.
Svetlana stopped Mickey by putting her hands on his chest. She adjusted his tie making it straight and a bit tighter, he tended to wear it a bit looser. She pecked him on the cheek and said, “Have good day.”
Mickey gave her a smile before walking past her and into the building. ‘Keller & Co.’ Mr. Keller created this company out of nothing basically and has run it for almost forty years. He’s retired now and left his only son in charge of the company, aka Mickey’s new boss as of next week. Well, technically, Mr. Keller is already his boss but not directly, yet.
Mickey went about his day like he does every day. Gets in for nine am, gets his coffee, and gets to work. At a half past twelve he goes to the cafeteria and has lunch, some days he’ll go out for lunch, but since they had leftovers (and Lana took the car) he was having lunch at work, and then he heads out at five.
Between the time Svetlana picked Yev up from school and had to go get Mickey she was able to help him with the little homework he had to do. Yev was a really bright kid at his young age, well, ever since he was born basically. He never really needed much help doing anything but since he’s still young he still needs some help with his homework. Though neither Svetlana nor Mickey graduated high school, they are smart people and both have their strengths regardless of their educational background.
The two of them went to pick up Mickey at five and drove back home with Mickey asking Yev all about his day. When they got home they got ready for dinner since they were headed out to celebrate Yev’s first day. Mandy and Iggy were to join them as well.
They met Mickey’s siblings at the restaurant and waited to get seated. They chose an Italian restaurant that they’ve been to before because they know Yev likes their spaghetti and meatballs. The kid can be very picky with his food. Not an easy task for his parents.
Yev was rambling about his awesome first day to his aunt and uncle and Mickey tuned him out (don’t blame him, he just heard all of this in the car ride home). Mickey already chose what he wanted to eat and ordered his drink so he sat back and looked around the restaurant. He took a sip of his Jack Daniel’s (neat) and looked over his sisters shoulder to see a really good looking guy. No but really good looking guy. Mickey was out to his family and even had himself a guy he called sometimes to fuck but he didn’t understand what was happening right now. He can appreciate when a guy is good looking but what was happening right now was all new to him. He felt it in his bones as the guy got closer and closer and their eyes locked, blue to green eyes.
Until the guy was right behind his sister and putting his hands on her shoulders. Mandy flinched and turned around ready to cuss out whoever it was touching her, but it didn’t come. Instead she said excitedly, “Hey!”
“Hey, Mands,” The guy said with a bright smile that twisted Mickey’s insides, in a good way, or not, Mickey didn’t know what was happening.
Mandy stood up and hugged him tight. She pulled back but stayed standing, “What are you doing here?”
“Dinner with the family,” The guy said with a small shrug, “Everyone’s actually here finally. What about you?”
“Same,” Mandy said before realizing and turning to face her family, “Oh, Ian, you know my brothers Iggy and Mickey,” Mandy said as she pointed to them before adding, “And that’s Svetlana and you know her and Mickey’s kid, Yevgeny, my favourite nephew,” with a wink to the kid.
“I’m your only nephew!” Yev protested. Iggy has been living with his girlfriend for the past four years and she gave birth to a baby girl a year ago.
“Ian?” Mickey says out loud then realizing why the red hair looked familiar, “Oh shit, Gallagher?”
“Yeah, hey, Mickey,” Ian says, flicking his eyes over him once.
Mickey couldn’t help but admire how much Ian Gallagher has changed over the past- shit, eight years, was that right? The last time Mickey saw Ian was when he was called off from beating his ass to a pulp. Mandy said he messed with her and so him and his brothers went after him but couldn’t seem to find the fucker, that was until Mandy told them it was a misunderstanding and to leave him alone. Mickey didn’t though, he went in every day that Ian worked at the Kash’n’Grab and messed with him a bit. Stealing shit and knocking things over. It was also to piss Kash off, he hated that fucker. It didn’t last long though since he got sent back to juvie. When he got released he didn’t see Ian around anymore. He didn’t come by the house to see Mandy nor did he work at the store anymore. Seeing Ian now after all these years he can’t help but stare a little bit. The guy is fucking sexy; the way his deep green eyes bore into his, or the vibrancy of his red hair, or the way he’s dressed in a button down shirt with the sleeves rolled up his forearms and he can see how strong they are, or the fact that he’s biting his bottom lip as he watches him.
He realizes he hasn’t said anything back to him so he just grunts in response feeling really awkward now.
“Hey, Yevy,” Ian says to his kid, “How’s it hanging, buddy?”
Yev grins brightly and says back, “Good! I had my first day of grade one today.”
Ian gasps slightly and says, “You’re so old now!”
Yev starts to laugh and says, “No, you’re old!”
“No way Jose, you are,” Ian teases.
“You’re a Jose!” Yev says back and starts to burst out in laughter.
Svetlana shushes him, “Not so loud, we are inside, Yevgeny.”
“Sorry mama,” Yev says as he calms himself from the laughter. He only calls Svetlana ‘mama’ or Mickey ‘papa’ when he’s sorry, knows he did something wrong, or when he wants something he knows he shouldn’t have (like cookies before dinner).
“How do you know my kid?” Mickey asks curiously. Seeing them interact pulled at something inside of him.
“When I babysit, sometimes Ian would come over to hang out,” Mandy says, “They’re obsessed with each other.”
“Oh is that right?” Mickey says flicking his eyes over Ian, seeing a blush creep up his neck. He turns his head to the left to look down at his son, “You talk about everything else but not somebody you’re obsessed with?”
Yev shrugs his shoulder and Ian chuckles from across the table. He pats Mandy’s shoulder and says, “I gotta get back, they’re waving me over,” as he points over to the group of people in fact waving him over.
“Alright, I’ll see you soon, yeah?” Mandy says giving him a hug.
“Definitely,” Ian says hugging her back. “Nice to see you all,” He adds before giving Mickey one last glance and heading back to his family.
“Geez, you’re still friends with Gallagher,” Mickey says once Mandy’s seated again.
“Yeah, he’s my best friend,” Mandy says looking her brother over. “Oh my God, do you like him?”
“What the f-,” Mickey’s about to swear when Svetlana pinches him to stop him, “Ow.” He glares at Svetlana before turning back to Mandy and saying, “What are you talking about?”
“Oh common, you’re blushing right now, Mick. Ian’s totally hot and you so like him,” Mandy teases as she grins at him like the fucking cheshire cat or something.
Mickey groans and rolls his eyes, “You’re insane.”
“Orange boy is hot,” Svetlana comments with a small shrug.
“Jesus Christ,” Mickey groans again and finishes off his drink. Their food comes just in time.
After dinner, the five of them are heading outside and into the parking lot. Mandy walks beside Mickey and says to him, “You know, Ian’s gay.”
Mickey doesn’t even bother looking at her, “Good for him.” Then he realizes something and turns to her, “Wait, that why you called us off from beating him up?”
“Yup,” Mandy says, popping the p.
When Mickey doesn’t say anything she says, “So should I give him your number?”
“Fuck off,” Mickey says. They reach the others at the car and they all get in. Mickey drops his siblings off at home seeing as though they don’t live too far away before heading home.
When they get home Mickey takes Yev into his arms, he fell asleep in the car ride home, and carries him in. Svetlana cleans up the little mess they left in the kitchen as Mickey brings his son to his room to get him ready for bed. Yev wakes up slightly and Mickey helps him change into his teenage mutant ninja turtles pyjama’s before bringing him to the bathroom so he could brush his teeth. Svetlana comes to say goodnight before Mickey goes to get Yev in bed.
Back in his room, Mickey tucks Yev in and kisses his forehead.
“Daddy?” Yev says before Mickey could turn the lamp off.
“Yeah, buddy?”
“Do you like Ian?”
“Go to sleep, Yev,” Mickey says avoiding the question.
“I like Ian,” Yev says as he shoves his face into the pillow as he turns to the side.
Mickey chuckles and says, “I know. Goodnight, kiddo.”
“Night daddy.”
Mickey closes the light and kisses Yev’s head one last time before leaving the room and closing the door half way. He goes to his bedroom to change into a tank top and some pyjama bottoms before joining Svetlana (who’s already in her pyjama’s) in the living room. Both with a beer in hand they watch TV for a little while. Svetlana goes to bed first leaving Mickey alone.
Once Mickey’s alone he can’t help but think back to the redhead he hasn’t seen in years. The same redheaded kid he used to terrorize at the Kash’n’Grab back in the south side.