Finger Paintings • gallavich

Watch Tower

Mickey was sitting on the front steps of his house. It was nearly one am and the air was cold, turning his cheeks a soft pink color. He glances up when he hears footsteps on the pavement. "Hey," he says to Ian. Ian grins and takes a seat down next to him.

"So you find a lawyer and shit today?" He asks. Mickey shrugs, passing his cigarette over to Ian.

"So can't afford a fuckin' lawyer right now. Those stuck up pricks are worth more than mine and your houses combined. Could get a shitty one for cheap but I could probably put together a better case on my own than they could. But I set up an appointment for tomorrow afternoon with a free legal family lawyer dude. Supposed to be good at what he does. Name's Calum Walters. Think he's based out of Indiana but read up on some reviews and he sounds top notch."

Ian nods. He takes a drag from the cigarette, blowing smoke out into the dark air before passing it back over. "That's good. Want me to come with? I could call off work."

Mickey raises an eyebrow, looking over at him. "Why the fuck would you come with?" It wasn't that Mickey didn't want Ian to come. Hell, if he could Mickey would spend every second with Ian. But of course he could never admit that to the man. Even if he knew the feelings were mutual.

He shrugs. "Dunno. Emotional support?" He jokes.

Mickey laughs and shakes his head. "You look at any apartments?"

He nods. "Saw a few. There's this nice one on the north side I really like and it's not too far from the southside so I can still be close to my family and you with Mandy. Its one bath, two bedrooms. Think we can afford it too," he grins.

Mickey smiles. "Maybe this weekend we can head over to check it out. Even got me a job interview set up so we may be able to afford more."

Ian's eyes go wide. "No way!? Where at?"

Mickey rolls his eyes at his boyfriend's excitement. "It's nothing special at all. But, uh, got a job as a waiter at a small restaurant over on the north side. Pay is decent though." Ian's smile only grows and he leans over to peck Mickey on the cheek.

"Mick that's awesome! Guess that means no more badass pimp anymore, huh?"

"Oh, fuck off. Doubt I'll even get the job," he says, laughing quietly. "But yeah. Figured having a decent job would give me a better chance at winning custody for my kid."

Ian nods. "Definitely. You sure Yevgeny will be okay with leaving Svet?" Mickey let's out a heavy sigh.

"Honestly? Don't know," he admits. Mickey knew the boy loved his mother but he also knew that she wasn't the best role model for him. Now either was he but he was trying to change, to better himself for his kid. Yet Svetlana would still take Yev to meet with "clients" and Mickey didn't agree with it one bit. He also knew he had to get Yev away from Terry because he'd be damned if his father ruined one more life.

Family was everything to Mickey. The second someone got into his small circle, he wouldn't let go. And Yev was in that circle. He didn't want to lose his son. He wanted to help him grow up and be happy in love and he felt the only way to do that was to raise him away from Svet and his childhood home.

Ian nods slowly. "You need to talk to him about it before all this shit goes down," he says.

"I know. I'm going to eventually just need to figure out how first. Also got Terry to worry about." He takes one more drag from his cigarette before sticking it in the snow.

"Is Yev close to him too?"

Mickey snorts and shakes his head. "Fuck, no. Terry's... he's never laid a hand on Yev but that's Thanks to me. He's an asshole like I told ya before and he's tried to hit Yev before but I make sure he doesn't put a hand on my son."