Bloody Knuckles • Gallavich

The Sins of a Caretaker

Mickey wakes up to the angry yells of his father. "Go get your fucking brother like I told you to ten minutes ago! This is a big run. Means all hands on deck."

Mickey let's out a small groan and pulls the pillow over his head. Maybe if he pretended not to hear them, they'd leave him alone. But he knew he was wrong the second he heard his door creaking open and shutting. A hand comes down onto his back and shakes him gently. "Mick," Iggy whispers. "Mickey gotta get up."

"Get the fuck out of here, Iggy," Mickey complains. He kicks his leg out and hits Iggy in the side. It was his last day of winter break and Mickey wanted to spend it in his bed where he was alone.

"Trust me, I don't wanna drag you along with us either," Iggy says. As much of an asshole that his brother was, Iggy still cared for Mickey. He hated when they had to bring his little brother along on drug runs because sometimes things went south and the last thing he wanted was for Mickey to get hurt or thrown back into juvie. "Dad wants you to come with us to Detroit." The drive was nearly four and a half hours and Mickey didn't know if he could survive such a long drive with his dad and brothers.

"Tell him I'm sick or some shit. Ain't gonna go," he grumbles. Iggy sighs.

"Come on, Mick. Get your ass up before dad comes in here and yells. We're getting everything in the car now so meet us out there," Iggy says as he walks out.

Mickey knew his only option was to drag his ass out of bed, even if it was four am, and follow them to the car. He tugged on a pair of faded jeans, his black flannel and then his navy jacket on top of it. He walked out of his bedroom and slipped into his shoes before going to the car. Everyone was already inside. "Fucking took you long enough!" Terry calls from the drivers seat. Mickey reluctantly walks over and gets into the backseat with Iggy.

Iggy glances over at him and flashes the younger boy an apologetic look. "Sorry," he mouths. Mickey nods and shrugs a bit, looking out the window

The drive to Detroit was rather boring. The first part of the drive was through Indiana which was nothing more than corn fields, small boring towns and even worse highways. Mickey had to sit in the middle seat since the other window seat had some sort of mysterious stain that vaguely resembled vomit. Mickey would be lying if he said he wasn't disgusted from just glancing at it.

Iggy ended up nodding off quite frequently and every single time his head would slowly tilt to the side and land on Mickey's shoulder. And every single time that did happen, Mickey's response was the same. He'd shove him off and curse and Iggy would apologize and fall right back to sleep. It was annoying and Mickey wanted nothing more than to just get out of that fucking car.

But as the drive went on and the same boring roads of boring houses and boring gas stations stretched on, he found his thoughts drifting. He found himself thinking of that afternoon a few days before. Mickey remembered how nice it was to be pressed behind that block next to Ian at the laser tag place. How his body heat was a comforting feeling, something that seemed to ground Mickey and make him feel safe.

And wanted.

And feeling wanted wasn't something Mickey was used to. He had Mandy, who he was kind of close with but she had other friends. Mickey only had her. But now, he had Ian and Ian wanted him. He wanted to hang out with him and talk to him and invited him to places. It was an amazing feeling. Something Mickey didn't feel often and it terrified him. It terrified him that he had this new feeling that he felt so strongly towards someone. Especially a boy.

Whenever he got too close to Ian Mickey always felt his heart beat pick up and he began his nervous ticks; biting his lip, rubbing his nose and cracking his knuckles. It was like he couldn't stop when he was around Ian. Mickey hated it at the same time he couldn't help but be drawn to it.