Both arms cradle you now

he still has no problem shaking people’s hands. he doesn’t seem to think about it much, at least from what mickey’s seen. when he’s bored or stressed, he’ll spin their wedding ring around and around in circles. He doesn’t realise he’s doing it, mickey knows that much.

mickey likes ian’s hands.

they’re bigger than his, a lot bigger, all freckled and pale. there’s a sweet warmth whenever ian grabs his hands, something attractive and heated about how mickey’s hands are swallowed up by Ian’s.

ian never minds when mickey follows the divots and bumps of the burn scars with his thumb and fingers. mickey’s not sure if he even notices. The skin is roughened and has bursts of raised tissue with bolts of white streaks running through them.

mickey recalls when ian did it. he remembers coming home to ian’s hand bandaged up and no explanation about it. not until years had gone by.

it reminds him, those burns, the scar from the army too, of what could happen if ian went off his meds again. it scares mickey, that thought, sometimes. but more often than not, he puts the fears aside and tries instead to consider how much mickey wants to keep ian from getting hurt again.

it’s dark in their bedroom, moonlight tipping in from the window. ian’s arm is slung over mickey’s shoulders and mickey stops gripping his wrist in favour of pressing his thumb into the coarse skin in the pads of his palms and fronts of his fingers.

ian hums, and mickey can feel his chest rumble with it.

‘you like my scars.’ ian points out, inebriated by sleep.

mickey grunts back in something between confirmation and disagreement. he doesn’t like them, because that sounds as if mickey enjoys that ian was hurt which he doesn’t. but he also does like them, because they’re a part of ian and mickey enjoys the closeness they have that mickey can run his fingers over them without any discomfort.

‘you like when i do this?’ mickey asks, running his finger tips along the scars.

ian leans into his hair, breathing him in and nudging his forehead against the back of mickey’s head.

‘mhm.’ he hums in assent. ‘relaxing.’ he explains.

This wasn’t the plan. Not in the slightest.

When Tami asked Mickey to go out and get drinks with her, he wasn’t expecting to get this shit-faced.

Nevertheless, here he is, swaying back and forth in a bar he doesn’t recognize, knocking back beer after beer, only thinking about one particular red-head.

Help how else does Mickey make Ian smile like this?!

Okay okay so I've always believed that's Ian's “OH. My husband loves me” face

This is Ian after the surprise anniversary party. And his birthday party. Like. Seeing everything Mickey did for him. Mickey taking care to include all the things he knows Ian likes. Hearing Lip and others talk about how Mickey had been planning for it for MONTHS, had threatened all of them against even hinting about the surprise to Ian. Thinking about all the effort Mickey put in just so he could make Ian feel happy and special. It makes Ian feel so fucking FOND. My husband!!! My husband loves me!!! Come here let me smooch your beautiful face😊☺️

Ian after he hears Mickey bragging about him to the old ladies at the farmer's market 🥺 He can FEEL how proud Mickey is of him and he can hear the immense fondness in Mickey's voice and he feels so adored 🥺 He puts an arm around Mickey's waist and pulls him in for lil smiley pecks 🥺

When Mickey randomly plays their song and gently pulls Ian towards him for a slow dance. He feels Mickey snake a hand down his t shirt to caress the skin there and he puts his arms around Mickey's shoulder and just looks and looks at him with so much love 🥺

In the morning when he moves away from a sleeping Mickey and Mickey instinctively reaches out for him and pulls him close again and snuggles upto his chest. He buries his nose in Mickey's hair and feels so warm and cozy ❤️

When he sees the sketches Mickey has made of him; the easy smiles, the sunshine and the freckles. It's like watching himself from Mickey's eyes. It's feeling how much Mickey loves him and how beautiful he thinks Ian is. He cherishes every single one of them and they never fail to make him smile 🥺

-Jewel-Osco is the most common grocery store. Most people just call it "Jewel" (no article, just Jewel. Like I said, no one calls it "the Osco" like Trevor does in S7). Aldi and Mariano's are probably the second most common. -There are two Walmarts in Chicago proper. Both are on the northwest side, weirdly close to each other. There are regular and mini Targets kind of all over, though. -Transit is really good here. There are buses everywhere, the L is great compared to other cities I've lived in. But Chicago is huge and it takes forever to get anywhere. I used to live on the south side (further south than where Shameless takes place) and worked in Wicker Park 10+ miles north and it took me approximately an hour and a half or more on transit to get to work and usually 2 hours to get home.

-There are like zero protected left turns (aka left turns that have a light telling you to turn left and everyone else to wait) in Chicago. It baffles me. When people want to turn left they just wait for there to be a gap; everyone behind them wanting to go straight just goes around them. -When it rains here, the sky dumps the entire lake on your head for about 15-30 minutes, then it stops raining. It rains more in the summer than the winter. People get caught in the rain and then come indoors looking like they jumped in a pool with all their clothes on. I've literally handed out paper towels to customers at work. -There is a distinct difference between street cleanliness in the richer vs poorer areas. In the south side (and where I'm living now in the more westerly northwest), there's trash all over the sidewalks and in the gutters and stuck on fences and things. -There are loads and loads of abandoned houses in the south side. My last apartment had abandoned lots behind and abandoned houses in front/to one side. Sometimes a group of guys will commandeer the stoop of an abandoned house to hang out on. -The beach that is directly east of the Gallaghers is called Oakwood beach. It's kind of a weird indirect trek to get there by transit. It's a party beach, there's tons of people there all the time and it's covered in so much trash and old fireworks and goose shit compared to other beaches in richer areas or even the ones directly south of it closer to UofC. -The Red Line of the L in particular has people selling drugs on it all the time, with far more frequency than most other lines. In general, it's a bit more rowdy than other lines. (The Gallaghers would probably get on the red line at 43rd? I'm not entirely sure exactly where their made up address is supposed to be.)

-People drive like maniacs here. I describe it as people driving like they learned by playing GTA5. Last year I was an in accident where someone was driving the wrong way up an on ramp as I was trying to get onto the freeway. -Scammy evil tow truck companies are an Actual Problem (this could make an interesting scam plot for Mickey). Like, enough of a problem that there is a form you can fill out specifically to report scammy evil towing companies. -"Other side of the river" isn't really an indication of anything (esp because the river bends), but sometimes it's an indication of short distance. Like, I'd say the closest Trader Joe's to my apartment is "on the other side of the river" because that is a straight shot distance of about four miles east. -If you want to talk about where someone is from or where something is, there are actual neighborhood names. Those do mean something, and also are a lot more directionally clear. -A single ticket for the L is $2. One bus ride is $2.50. You can get Ventra cards that you can load any amount onto. Most people have that (either a physical card or just the app) if they commute frequently. You can't use your ventra card on the Metra for some stupid reason; they've raised the price to like $3.75 now or something. -There are electric bikes and scooters all over the place that you can use. (I'm too scared to bike in Chicago because I've watched enough people get hit or nearly get hit.) People just leave them all over the place. One sat in my apartment building entryway for months before the company that owned it came and picked it up. -Two classic Chicago sandwiches that are not deep dish pizza or hot dogs: the Jim Shoe (or Gym Shoe or Jim Shoo) and wet beef. Look up the Jim Shoe. It's a lot. I think Mickey would devour it. -There's a huge Polish population here and also a huge Puerto Rican population. Also, this is something that has been a criticism of Shameless for a while, but the demographic of the area the show takes place is mostly Black. -This is a COVID-related thing (that is also obsolete after November 2024 I think) but there are no pharmacies in the south side that are participating in the Bridge Access Program that will give people without insurance free COVID vaccines. -Nobody gives a shit about tornado warnings. Tornado sirens or the phone alerts go off and people go about their business as usual. Last month there were a bunch of days of tornado sirens/alerts in a row and I remember looking out the window as the sirens went off and my neighbor was just in his chair on his porch smoking and not giving a single shit about anything. -Chicago has the worst bedbug problem of any US city. (Luckily it's legally the responsibility of the landlord to take care of the problem -- at least, if you know that it is and bother them about it.) -Speaking of bugs, house centipedes are a thing. They're not dangerous; they eat smaller pests kind of like daddy long leg spiders do, but they're basically living jump scares. -Everyone who does not live/work in Wrigleyville generally does not want to deal with going to or being in Wrigleyville. -Spring and autumn weather is about 3 seconds long. It's mostly either winter or summer. -There are little heated shelters at most of the outdoor train stations where you press a button and heated lights turn on to stand under. They turn on between October and March. These have been super helpful when I've gotten out of work and the next train isn't for 20 minutes. -Clark/Lake is kind of the main L station in the loop that most of the lines run through. It's outside but covered and I've had some of my weirdest public transit experiences there. -The streets are pretty diligently plowed/salted in winter (though some poorer areas or less frequented streets get neglected). Cars rust out a lot faster here because of the salt. -This happened in my coworker's neighborhood earlier this year:

-There are a gazillion outdoor festivals. If a festival blocks off a street, it's free (but the organizers often ask for a "suggested donation"). Wicker Park Fest happens directly outside my job every summer and it's chaotic and loud. Could be another good Crime Mechanic for Mickey. -Google Maps tends to break if you're walking around in the Loop. It just cannot figure out where you are or what direction you're going. -Juneteenth is a bigger deal than New Years fireworks-wise, but I heard more gunshots at New Years than Juneteenth