Chapter Text
Mickey Milkovich was used to looking after his friend/younger brother, Todd. When they met each other, Mickey was 13 and Todd was 10 and being bullied by a few of the little fuckers on the playground. Normally, Mick couldn't care less about who was getting their ass kicked, but for whatever reason he felt the need to protect the little kid. He chased off the kids who were hurting the boy, then looked down at him as he laid there in the grass, looking totally freaked out. Mickey noticed that the kid wasn't.. all there, as he'd put it, and for the first time ever, he was kind enough to reach down and help Todd up.
He'd never, ever, forget the look that the red-head gave him that day. At the time, 13 year old Mickey was a little weirded out by it, but as they grew up being friends, he got used to it. Eventually, Todd came up to Mickey one day and told him -in his own way- that he had some form of autism, then he went quiet for a while. It took Mickey about an hour to reassure him that, he wasn't going to break off their friendship over something so minor. He didn't care. Then there was that look again, a look of pure fucking innocence -trust.- Mickey smiled at the little guy, and they went on with their day together.
Mickey eventually tried to teach Todd how to fight, which included having to actually hit the boy. The first time he did, Mickey almost started crying because of how pitiful it was. Todd just fell onto the ground and curled up to protect himself, he stayed that way for 30 minutes and had a nasty bruise on his chin that he never stopped talking about afterwards. He'd run around telling everyone in sight that, "Mickey hit me so that I can learn how to fight!" So, eventually, Mickey tried a different method. A slower method.
Todd managed to get hurt with the slow method as well, and they practiced for a few months, with Mickey teaching him how to make a good fist, and throw a punch. "You gotta, y'know, put your weight into it man, like this," Mickey threw a punch into the air to demonstrate, and Todd blinked up at him. "See what I did there? Gotta like, move your hips with, uh, when you're throwin' it so that they'll really feel it." He said. Todd smiled slightly and copied Mickey's stance, "who's supposed to feel it?" He asked him. Mickey scoffed slightly and shrugged, "I dunno, anyone who fucks with you I guess." "But, you are better at punching, really better- so, you can, punch people if they mess with me, right?" Mickey paused for a moment before turning towards Todd and nodding, setting a hand on his shoulder. "Yeah, man. Obviously, but I ain't gonna always be around.. y'know that, so you have to learn this shit.. it- think of it as, doin' your best for me. K?." He said, lightly shoving Todd's shoulder playfully. Todd laughed and kind of shoved him back, then nodded. "Okay." He said with a smile. Mickey chuckled slightly and nodded. "Okay,"
Todd learned the bare minimum, and by the time he was 16, he could kind of fight. He never liked fighting, but he could well enough. Mickey had met Ian Gallagher by this time, and they were on and off. Todd always, without fail, asked Mickey about Ian, and about Mickey being gay. But Mickey denied being gay and made him stop talking about it. Todd didn't really listen until Mickey got mad, then he'd giggle and shut up about it.
On Mickey's 19th birthday, the Gallaghers -and Todd- threw him a birthday party at the Gallagher house. It was Todd's job to tell Mickey about it, and to do anything he could to get the older boy to the house for his party. Todd was beyond excited and he came up with a plan, remembering the time when Mickey said; "If you ever need me somewhere, I'll be there. You understand that, kid?"
Of course, Mickey mainly meant for that to be purely for when Todd was in trouble, but Todd didn't get that message. So, when Todd called him and said something like - "Mick! I need you to go to the Gallagher house, because- uh, well, just come!" It wasn't a surprise when Mickey showed up with a fucking gun. Evidently he relaxed when he realized that this was a surprise party. "Todd, you little shit-- Jesus, you freaked me out man--" Mickey laughed, Todd laughed a little with him, then excitedly grabbed his hand and dragged him into the kitchen where all the Gallaghers were. There were a few gifts, and a cake that looked like it was made by Todd on the counter. They sang the birthday song, loudly, and made Mickey blow out some candles. Mickey watched everybody closely to make sure Todd was okay, he was -at least mentally- the second youngest one there. So he had to keep him safe.
But, Mickey's only human. He can't keep an eye on everything all the time.
----
A few hours into the party, people had started to drink and listen to loud music. Mickey and Ian may or may not have had sex in the bathroom a few times, too. So needless to say, Mickey was having a great time. He wasn't paying attention to Lip and Todd in the corner of the room.
"I don't like the way that stuff smells.." Todd mumbled to Lip, turning away from the bottle of whiskey in Lips hand. Lip scoffed and shoved Todd slightly, and Todd felt the difference between his shove and Mickeys. It was somehow different. Todd shook his head and tried to walk away, but he was shoved back -harder this time-. "Come on, Todd. It's one fuckin' drink.." Lip practically growled. Todd looked away, not saying anything, tensing when Lip got closer to his face. "Don't be a little bitch, Todd. You're already stupid, hah! Maybe this'll make y'smarter, yeah? So drink some. Bitch."
Todd felt his eyes start to sting with tears as he listened to Lips voice. He remembered what Mickey had taught him, but he wasn't confident in his abilities, so he just started to cry as he took the bottle from Lip. Not knowing what else to do. He took a little drink, then spit it out, feeling nauseous already. He felt the poison run down his chin, mixed with his spit, it wasn't helping the nausea. Lip scoffed, "Jesus, what are you too stupid to drink? How the hell does Mick put up with this shit.." Todd squeezed his eyes shut and used all of his strength to shove Lip away, and run out of the house. He immediately started to sob when he was out, he ran off of the porch and out of the yard, running down the street as fast as he could. He ran for a good 15 minutes, all the way to his and Mickey's shared little abandoned house. He stopped running when he got inside, his face was cold and wet from the tears so he did his best to wipe them away. Mickey always told him that it was fine to cry, but there was a time to cry, and a time to suck it up. Todd decided to suck it up. And when he did, he felt angry. Very angry, at Lip for saying those things and at himself for leaving Mickey's party.
With a sniffle, he walks over to his room and climbs into bed. Not caring about taking his shoes off, just pulling the covers over his head and thinking about what Lip had told him, about him being stupid. He knew he wasn't stupid because Mickey told him that he wasn't. "You ain't stupid, T. Don't ever say that shit again, just cause you're different or whatever, don't make you stupid. If anyone ever says some shit like that to you, I'll fuck 'em up personally, understand?" Todd remembers that day clearly, Terry had called him stupid and it made Todd cry and repeat, "I'm so stupid" over and over again. Mickey got fed up and pulled Todd in for a hug, he told him that and it made Todd stop crying. Mickey was good at making Todd stop crying. The boy sniffled quietly again before falling asleep a few minutes afterwards.
Mickey was laughing and joking around with Lip and Ian, before suddenly, he started looking around. His smile started falling and he chuckled, "Hey, hey where's- Lip! Where's T?" He asked, looking around again before facing Lip, scratching the back of his head. Lip looked up at Mickey from the couch before chuckling. "Oh, that kid? He left 30 minutes ago." He said, Mickey's face fell, "He what?" Mickey started making his way to the door, Lip and Ian following him. "Mick- just leave him be." Lip chuckled, Mickey scoffed, "yeah, leave a 16 year old, autistic, kid 'be'." Lip grabbed Mickey, which made him spin around. "No, don't touch me dude, why'd he even leave?" Mickey demanded. Lip held up his hands in surrender, laughing lightly. "Dude, relax-" "Don't fucking tell me to relax! Where is my kid at, Lip? Did you do somethin'? What'd you do?" Mickey basically growled, shoving Lip back. Ian tried stepping in, but stopped when Mickey glared at him. Lip rolled his eyes and stepped closer to Mickey. "I just, told him what he should know." Ian looked over at Lip, furrowing his eyebrows in confusion. Mickey raised his eyebrows, "and what was that?" Lip scoffed. "That he's a retarded little bitch."
Mickey's eyes darkened at this. And before you knew it, Lip's face was connecting with Mickey's knee and he was on the floor, Ian tried to pry Mickey off of him, but after about seven or eight hits, Carl and Kev had to step in and pry Mickey away from Lip, who was unconscious at this point. "Get off me! Let me the fuck go!" They let him go and Mickey raced to the door, "Lip you moron!! What the hell were you-- I should fucking kill you! You're dead!" Mickey ranted as he left the house, racing down the stairs and out of the yard. Ian decided to follow him as he ran down the street in the direction of his abandoned house.
Mickey made it in under 10 minutes. When he entered the house he was breathing heavily. "Jesus, T! Where are you, man? Todd, oh fuck I'm so sorry--" Mickey gasped, running into Todd's room. He saw him curled up beneath his blanket, Mickey relaxed a bit knowing he was safe. Mickey walked over to him and watched as he rolled over a little. His little eyes sparkled when they set on Mickey. "Mick?" He whispered. Mickey sighed slightly and sat down next to Todd, rubbing his shoulder. Todd sat up and wrapped Mickey in a hug, sniffling slightly. "I'm sorry for leaving.." Todd said, his voice wobbly. Mickey recognized it as him trying not to cry, he heard the front door open, but ignored it. Mickey hugged Todd back and rubbed his back. "Hey, man, don't ever say sorry for shit like this.. ain't got nothin' to be sorry for." He promised. Todd didn't say anything, and Mickey nodded. "Now's a good time to cry, little man.."
----
Todd cried for over an hour that night, with Mickey and Ian both reassuring him the whole time that it was okay. Eventually, Mickey had him suck it up and talk to them about what happened. It took every bone in Ian's body to keep Mickey in that house that night, so he wouldn't murder his brother. Even if Lip deserved it. The three of them had their own, way quieter party, and watched some movies. Todd asked Mickey if he could try drinking again, with only Mickey and Ian because; "I feel more safe with you guys.." The two of them agreed that on Todd's 17th birthday, they'd drink together. And Mickey promised him that Lip would never do some dumb shit like that agin, because if he did; "I'll give you his vocal cords as a fucking trophy and sell his skeleton on the black market."
Todd laughed pretty hard at that, and it made Mickey smile.