Mickey’s relationship with physical affection is huge. He’s one of those people who cannot have people touch him. There was a time when he’d shrug off Ian’s touch like Ian had burned him. Like when Ian and Mandy went to collect him from juvie, Ian tried to put his arms round both of them. Mandy leaned into it and put her arm round him, Mickey shrugged him away. Mickey basically refuses affection or touch from Ian unless it’s sexual or in a sexual context (letting Ian take his hand when they fucked, or letting Ian shove him around at the dugouts).
It’s only really by season four that Mickey fully accepts Ian’s hold. Manhandling, letting Ian hold him as they kissed and holding onto him, sleeping with a hand on Ian’s arm, sleeping in Ian’s bed, accepting Ian’s comfort after he came out….with the exception of the 3x11 kiss and the way Mickey actually clung to Ian, or the dugouts moment when he kept his hand over Ian’s when they shotgunned the beer, Mickey has been consistently averse to being touched by Ian up till season four.
And as for anyone else, he winced when Svetlana kissed his cheek-he didn’t look angry or upset or hurt, just mildly frustrated, like he didn’t like it but he resigned himself to it because it was genuine affection. He doesn’t really touch his brothers. He does hug Mandy once, and it’s very, very sweet, the way he holds her. He allows her to briefly touch his shoulder, shares his cigarettes with her, I would probably assume that they have moments of physical affection scattered around, but again considering the level of shit they’ve been through and the fact that Milkoviches don’t show affection, it probably would have been minimal.
As the seasons go on, Mickey remains averse to being touched by people who aren’t Ian for the most part. He side eyes Damon when he touches Mickey’s shoulder. He stares at Larry when he does the same. He refuses Debbie’s kiss (“why the fuck are you touching me right now?”) despite being close to her, which I think was likely because he knew it was a) fake and b) too fucking early (again see his acceptance of Svetlana’s kiss versus his refusal of Debbie’s. Svetlana’s was of genuine affection and he just kind of shrugged it off and he was fully awake by that point, Debbie’s must have felt too much like an ambush first thing in the morning especially with the whole being over nice and house thing because Ian refused it too).
However, he does allow for Carl’s handshake, he does put his arm around Carl and Liam on the night of the block party, he lets Tami give him a hug when he gets married. He’s much less averse when he’s happy and/or a little drunk.
But overall, Ian and maybe Mandy were the only ones he ever actually liked touching him. Everyone else was reserved for being in a pretty good mood.
