Chapter Text
Five years of hard work. Of late nights, libraries, interviews, shitty jobs, being elbow deep in shit he was forcing himself to learn, had brought Mickey to this moment. He left the computer lab on the UIC campus, the newest tech support worker. He started in a week when school started. He didn't believe in god, but the opportunity nearly made him a believer.
It had been five years of teaching himself the ins and outs of computers. Surprisingly enough, some of it came naturally, and the rest hadn't been too much of a struggle to learn. But it was a lot of shitty jobs where he sat in a store and waited for someone to bring in their laptop complaining it wouldn't turn on. It was boring and didn't pay enough.
So when he was told about an opening at UIC he decided to take the risk. He needed the job, not to mention it was a nicer area to live. He'd gone to Mandy who tended bar in a fancy club on the northside, and sheepishly asked her what make-up he should use to cover the lovely FUCK U-UP tattoos on his fingers. He normally taped over FUCK, but this was a proper job and he needed to appear professional.
And by some miracle it worked. They actually liked his resume and admired his work ethic. The director of tech support on campus, Mr. James Egan, warned that it would mostly be work helping students who couldn't understand how to troubleshoot, but there would be a steady flow of work.
Mickey was set up with discount housing, which was an apartment way bigger then he ever thought he'd be able to afford at this point in his life, a teacher ID, a Metra pass for the school year, which was great because he didn't own a car, a key to the buildings on campus, and a key to the offices. The tech office he'd mostly be in, unless working in a computer lab or library, was crammed full of parts, tools, and computers in various states. He'd been given his own desk in the other half of the room, there were six other desks, and told he was free to work there or in the workroom half. All orders went through the main computer at the main tech desk and any questions went to Mr. Egan, who told Mickey to simply call him James.
Mickey felt good as he crossed the street to the park. It was just a few blocks from his new apartment and would soon be fitted with a deaf child at play sign.
Six years ago, during a dark time in Mickey's life, his son Yevgeny was born. Mickey had been caught fooling around with another guy by his father who proceeded to beat both of them bloody, before bringing in Svetlana to fuck Mickey straight. It was the beginning of a long, miserable two years.
About a year after Yevgeny was born, Svetlana decided to split. As if her marriage with Mickey was hard enough, having a deaf son took it's toll. So Mickey was left alone with the baby and divorce papers. Only thing thrilling about the entire situation was the divorce papers.
But now things were good. Mickey had a decent job, Yev would go to a decent school, and they were far away from his homophobic father. Not as far as he'd like, but far enough.
“Daaaad,” Yev droned in his flat voice. “Lemme down already.” The six year old was sitting on his fathers shoulders. Mickey laughed, lifting the kid down, and setting him on the ground. Yev was eying the slide, but Mickey turned Yev's head so that he was looking at him.
“Don't wander off. I'll be on that bench,” Mickey said while signing at the same time. The six year old sighed and rolled his eyes as if Mickey had given him the hardest task in the world. “Go,” he barked pushing Yev toward the slide before going to sit on the bench.
He yearned for a cigarette, one on the walk over hadn't been enough, but he did his best from smoking or swearing in places where there was potential for being a lot of kids. He didn't want some mom thinking they needed to call DCFS. He tried to concentrate on following Yev around the park. For the most part he listened, but then there were the times where he was suddenly half way to Mexico because he decided to follow a squirrel.
Luckily there were only two other kids in the park as well as two more tearing their way across the field towards the park. The little girl looked about Yev's age, long, wild black hair and what looked like an entire box of bandaids on her leg, and her companion was younger and did his best to catch up to her.
“UNCLE IAN I WIN!” the girl shrieked loud enough that Yev even turned his head. The person she was yelling at reached the park shooing her off to play. He made his way over to the bench next to Mickey. And Mickey tried his best not to check him out.
But the guy was definitely Mickey's version of hot. He had bright red hair that looked like it was burning in the Mid-August sun. He was tall, his bare arms were toned, his skin was covered in freckles...
“Hi,” he said before Mickey could register that he'd turned dark blue-green eyes to look at him. He watched the guy take a long drink from the water bottle in hand.
“Hi,” Mickey echoed. He glanced at the slide where Yev stood. He was looking at something in the sand. Hopefully it wasn't cat shit. Again.
“Don't usually see many guys here,” the red head said leaning back. The way he was dressed, the heavy breathing, Mickey guessed he'd just come back from a work out.
“Just moved in a few blocks away,” Mickey said.
“Student?” the guy asked taking his eyes of Mickey to look at the kids he'd arrived with.
“No uh tech support at UIC,” Mickey said realizing how relieved he was to say he had a job that didn't make him sound like a thug.
“Mmm, I'm a senior,” he said. “Which kid are you here with?” he asked. Mickey pointed to where Yev was digging in the sand with a stick.
“My son is the one in the Buzz Lightyear shirt,” Mickey said hoping that mentioning he had a son wouldn't turn the guy away.
“He looks a lot calmer then my niece,” he laughed pointing to the girl. “Elise and her brother Ethan. They are my older sisters kids.”
“Trust me Yev is not always this calm,” Mickey laughed. “He's usually a little shit. Curious about everything.” The curious incidents Yev had gotten into rush through Mickey's mind. How the kid found the dildo he'd never know.
“I'm Ian,” the guy said extending his hand.
“Mickey.” They shook and Mickey was glad his tattoos were still covered. Not that it really matter, but he wanted to leave a good impression because Ian was attractive.
“Do you come here often?” Mickey hoped Ian didn't read into it much, but he was hoping to see Ian again.
“Uh well I run on the track and stuff during the summer. And when I watch any of my nieces or nephew I come to the park.”
“Do you have a lot?” Mickey asked. Ian shook his head.
“These two and then my older brother has a daughter and a baby on the way. My younger sister and brothers luckily don't have kids yet,” he said with a short laugh.
“Big family,” Mickey commented. Ian shrugged.
“There were six of us, but living on my own now feels so lonely,” Ian admitted. Mickey nodded. “Is your family big?”
“Eh, I guess, but I only am close with my sister.”
“I understand,” Ian said looking over the park. Mickey looked at Yev who was lying on his stomach on a swing and pushing himself with his feet and holding out his arms like superman. “Do you want to go to McDonald's with us? I promised them happy meals because it's a Skylander toy.”
“What's a Skylander?” Mickey asked even more anxious for a cigarette now that Ian was asking to go places with him. Even if it was just McDonald's.
“No clue, but they said they'd die if they didn't get one,” Ian said with a smile.
“You better do it then,” Mickey said returning the smile. Yev would be happy. They rarely ate out and if they ordered food then Mickey chose Chinese. He pulled out his phone to check the time. He was surprised to see that it was close to six and Yev hadn't shown up begging for a snack or something.
“So you want to come?” Ian asked. Mickey could have sworn that he looked hopeful. But maybe he just wanted Ian to be. He nodded, standing up to go get Yevgeny. Ian was calling his niece and nephew. Elise launched herself off her swing at his call. Mickey grabbed Yev's swing, stopping it and making the kid look up at him.
“We are going to go out to eat,” Mickey said while signing. He did it out of habit and because he knew half the time Yevgeny wasn't listening to him. With hearing aids he could hear if Mickey talked in a clear voice, but was still more used to reading sign and answering verbally.
“Where?” Yev asked standing up.
'A surprise', Mickey signed grinning. Yev lit up. Mickey took his hand leading him over to Ian and the other kids. Yev walked slower as they approached, hanging back so he could assess the other kids. Mickey wouldn't necessarily say he was shy, but he was definitely cautious and rarely spoke in front of new people. Mickey pointed to Ian. “Ian,” he told Yev spelling it out. He pointed to Elise. “Elise,” he said spelling it out. “And Ethan,” Mickey finished. Yev nodded. “Want to tell them your name?” Mickey asked. Yev made a Y in sign language and shook his hand back and forth. “That's the sign he chose for his name, Yevgeny. Or just Yev,” Mickey explained.
“What's wrong with him?” Elise asked point blank.
“He's deaf, he can't hear,” Ian said before Mickey could. Elise nodded.
“Let's go get McDonald's now,” Elise said taking Ian's hand.
“Yeah!” Ethan agreed. Yev looked up at Mickey excitedly.
As they walked Mickey took the opportunity to have a desperately needed cigarette. He hoped Ian didn't mind. He watched Mickey light up, but said nothing. He just held out his hand and nodded towards the cigarette. Mickey took a long drag, holding the burning smoke in his lungs and exhaled passing the cigarette to Ian.
He had his eyes glued on Ian as he too the cigarette between his fingers and brought it up to his lips. Mickey felt like he was about to drool, so he turned his attention forward. It had been a long time. A very long time since he last got laid. When Yev was a baby and even a toddler, it was easy for him to leave Yev with Mandy for a few hours and head to a bar, occasionally a club, and find someone to fuck him in the bathroom or suck him off in the alley.
But by the time Yev was 4 he started waking up and looking for Mickey in the night. That's when he knew he had to call it quits. Maybe he'd go back to it when Yev was older, but for now he had to be there for his son. Even if it made him lonely. Not to mention he missed the feeling of a cock inside of him. Filling him up, stretching his hole. The heat of another body pressed against his.
Mickey shook his head to get rid of the thoughts and gratefully took the cigarette from Ian. He finished it, stubbing the butt out with the toe of his shoe, and denied his craving for another. McDonald's was right there anyway.
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The kids were silent as they ate, all in various states of bliss. Mickey and Ian kept their conversation light. Mickey learned Ian was studying to be a high school teacher. He had wanted to be a social worker, but his sister and brother had convinced him it would be too stressful. So now he was set on helping keep kids from dropping out of high school. Mickey laughed left out the fact that he'd dropped out at 16. Mickey did tell Ian that everything he did with computers was self taught. Ian found it impressive and Mickey did his best to not preen at the comment.
When the kids were done and half asleep from food comas, Mickey decided it was time for them to part ways. Not that he wanted to so soon. He hadn't found many people to feel relaxed around. Partially he was never somewhere he felt he could trust strangers, and partially because people were usually turned off by the fact that he had a kid.
Mickey picked a sleepy Yevgeny up and placed him on his hip. The kid was getting big and Mickey had no doubt in his mind that one day Yev would be towering over him.
“We should exchange numbers,” Ian said returning from throwing trash away. “So we can all get together again or you know, whatever,” he added with a glint in his eye that Mickey wasn't sure he saw. The heavens never placed hot and gay men in front of Mickey.
“Sure,” Mickey said pulling out his phone and opening contacts. Ian recited his number and Mickey saved it. He then shot a quick text to Ian, so that their numbers were both shared and it was up to him as well as Ian regarding making the next move.
“Thanks, this was nice Mickey,” Ian said holding the door for everyone.
“Yeah,” Mickey said. He waved as they turned to head in opposite directions. Once he was away from Ian he lit a cigarette and took a long drag. He felt jittery, like he was full of restless energy. Like he wanted to immediately text Ian. He had nothing to say, but really didn't want their meeting to be a one time thing.
Walking to the apartment calmed him a bit, or it was the two cigarettes, and he felt good to be home after a long day. He toed off his shoes kicking them to the side and walked into the apartment. It's open floor plan made it seem way bigger then it really was. He placed his keys on the kitchen counter and went to set Yev on the couch. He was groggy, but waking up.
“Hey, you've got to take a bath,” Mickey said as he signed, but Yev's eyes were barely open.
“Toy?” he asked as Mickey pulled Yev's shoes off. He handed him the blue dragon like figure. Yev held is happily.
“Tub,” Mickey said again pointing to the bathroom. Yev frowned, but rolled off the couch and went. Bath time was something that had taken a lot of practice over the years and Mickey was just getting the hang of it. He was glad that Yev was at least past the age where he'd probably drown in a centimeter of water.
“Is Ian your friend?” Yev asked as Mickey rubbed shampoo into his dark hair. He turned to look at his dad.
'Yes' Mickey signed tilting Yev's head back so he could rinse his hair.
“I want them to come over and play,” Yev told his dad. Mickey smiled.
'Okay I'll talk to Ian and ask.' Mikey signed glad that Yev had warmed up so fast. It helped that Elise talked non-stop and didn't seem to notice Yev only nodded or shook his head. She did have both Yev and her brother laughing though.
Mickey tucked Yev away in his bed. It was his third night sleeping in his own room and luckily it was going good. If he woke up in the night, he had been taking his toys out of their packing boxes and playing instead of waking Mickey.
He went to his room, stripped down to his boxers, pulled on a clean shirt, and went to the living room to watch TV. He held his hands out in front of him and thought about the things he hadn't told Ian. He made it sound like he was this all over good hardworking dad, but really he was just some thug who ended up with a kid he was forced to take care of it. And yeah he could have not done shit, but Yevgeny didn't deserve it. It wasn't his fault he was conceived.
Mickey sighed, looking at Ian's number in his phone. He felt dumb for wanting to text Ian again. And then he felt even dumber for feeling dumb about wanting to text a hot guy. A hot guy who did things that made Mickey question if Ian could, perhaps, be interested in him... He shook his head. It was desperation. He saw a hot guy and it'd been so long that all he could do was fantasize about being fucked by the hot guy. By Ian.
Wow he was pathetic.
Mickey set his phone aside and began channel surfing. There was never anything on. At least not when he desperately needed to be sidetracked.
He, eventually, settled on a documentary about spies during the revolutionary war, Yevgeny had a strong interest in documentaries that Mickey didn't understand partially because he was only six. He'd gotten a beer out of the fridge and was watching the TV through half closed eyes. His phone buzzed, jolting him back to reality.
His heartbeat increased as he picked it up. There was no way. There was no fucking way that it was Ian. He wasn't that-
“Fuck,” Mickey muttered staring at the lit up screen.
It was a text from Ian.
And all it said was “You're hot.”