kev liked to organise football games for the kids in the neighbourhood in an effort to keep them out of trouble.

Day 1: Sports

@gallavichthings thank you for hosting this event!

I’ve been working on this cross stitch for just over a week to pay homage to one of my favorite Gallavich scenes in the dugout. I stepped way out of my comfort zone to freehand a lot of this without an exact pattern. And of course I had to photograph it on site at a local dugout in my community.

“I’m fucked for life anyway, man.”

Hello and welcome to Gallavich Week 2025!

This year we're back to one-word general prompts and I hope you're ready to get creative!

Gallavich Week 2025 will run 15-21 of June. As always, all kinds of work are welcome, as long as they are original. Please read the guidelines after the break before posting.

Day 1 (June 15) - Sports

Day 2 (June 16) - Lights

Day 3 (June 17) - Laughter

Day 4 (June 18) - Pain

Day 5 (June 19) - Riding

Day 6 (June 20) - Rainbow

Day 7 (June 21) - Free

CREATING AND POSTING GUIDELINES (After the break)

Thank you @gallavichthings for this event ❣️

Day 1: Sports

I saw the prompt and I knew I had to draw the boys in all their hockey au glory.

They are particularly referenced to @jrooc ‘s hockey au fic “Last Cigarette”. ❤️‍🔥

Gallavich Week Day Six: Rainbow

The Colours of Us

Red is for blood. 

Not the skinned knees of childhood. No... For you it's split lips, bloody noses, broken teeth. Grazed knuckles. 

I wrote this ficlet for day one. Since it’s short, I’m posting the whole thing here, along with the ao3 link. ☺️ @gallavichthings

https://archiveofourown.org/works/66582235

Baseball and Forever

“Bullshit, he ain’t safe! I tagged him out!”

Ian turns to look at the boy playing first base. Mickey Milkovich. He knows him from school—kind of. He always seems sort of angry. Ian’s attempt to befriend him by asking for a pencil hadn’t worked out the way he’d intended. But there’s something about him.

He can tell that underneath the anger, the boy is really sad. He’s always dirty, and Ian wonders if he ever takes a bath or a shower. In the Gallagher house, they have a shower schedule—no more than five minutes, in and out. He wonders if Mickey’s family has a schedule, too. Or maybe they just don’t have hot water. He’s seen the boy’s dad around, and some of his siblings. He’s never seen his mom. He wonders if anyone cares enough to make him take a shower.

Ian thinks he wants to be Mickey’s friend. Maybe Mickey would like to come over one day. They could play catch, maybe some video games. He thinks he’d like to see Mickey smile for once, to see him having fun. He doesn’t know if he’s ever seen the dark-haired boy smile before.

But then he watches with shock and amusement—maybe even a little bit of wonder at the ballsiness of this kid—as Mickey whips it out and pisses all over first base, to the abject and utter horror of each and every adult, from the coaches to the parents.

And then, Ian’s caught staring. “The fuck you lookin’ at, Freckles?”

Okay, so maybe not now. Maybe they won’t be friends just yet. But Ian’s sure it’ll happen one day.

******

“Ey. Raincheck on the Sox game, okay? We’ll sneak into the next one,” Mickey says as they look at the freshly watered baseball field through the chain link fence, sharing another cigarette in their post-orgasm haze.

“Yeah, raincheck,” Ian says, trying not to stare at Mickey, but failing miserably. Truth be told, he’d missed him while he was in juvie. A lot. Probably way more than he should’ve. He can’t tell Mickey that, though. Ian knows that if he were to say it, the other boy would just spit some empty threat about cutting his tongue out or something.

But it’s okay, because Ian can tell that Mickey missed him too. He’s starting to see past his tough exterior, and he’s pretty sure that he might be the only one who gets to see the real Mickey. He’s the only one who gets to see the little smile that he so unsuccessfully tries to hold back. He’s the only one who gets to see the little sparkle in his blue eyes when he’s feeling happy. And Ian’s more than okay with that.

******

“The fuck couldn’t we just sneak into the game like old times?” Mickey asks as they make their way to their seats, beers and hot dogs balanced precariously.

“We’re on parole, Mickey. And we can afford to buy tickets to a baseball game. Why not splurge for once?” Ian says as he plops down into his seat, beer sloshing out of his plastic cup and onto his shirt.

“Ain’t no one gonna send us back to the joint for sneakin’ into a fuckin’ pre-season baseball game. Besides, we’re old pros at this. It’s not like we woulda got caught,” Mickey smirks before taking a messy bite of his hot dog.

Ian just rolls his eyes at his…fiancé. Holy shit, it’s still weird to think about. But this man, gracelessly shoveling a hot dog into his mouth, is the only person he’ll ever want to sit next to at a baseball game for the rest of his life. That much he knows for a fact.

******

“Oh, come on! What kinda bullshit call was that?” Mickey shouts in almost complete unison with Lip, both of them standing up and causing the moms at the game to glare at them, clutching their proverbial, non-existent pearls.

Ian had been slightly worried about Lip and Mickey both being in attendance at Freddie’s tee-ball game, and clearly his concerns had been justified. But part of him, a really big part, loves it. He loves his husband’s passion, how seamlessly he’s become a part of Ian’s family. Really, though, Mickey was always family. That was never even a question. And watching him get riled up over a bad call at his nephew’s tee-ball game makes his heart melt, and, well, kinda turns him on if he’s being honest.

So, fuck it. Ian stands up and joins his husband and his brother. “Yeah, come on, wake the hell up!” Because, yeah, that call was bullshit.

******

The house is quiet, eerily so. Ian pulls himself out of bed to look for his husband, who rarely gets up before him. But Ian’s just coming out of a downswing, so he’s been more tired than usual, and he figures Mickey must’ve been letting him get some more sleep.

He walks to the kitchen and sees a freshly brewed pot of coffee with Ian’s favorite mug set down on the counter right in front of it—the one Mickey had gifted him shortly after their wedding, the one that says, “My Husband has an Awesome Husband.” (The other one Mickey had given him, the rooster mug that says, “I Love Your Cock,” remains mostly hidden these days.)

He fills his mug and walks through the house, searching for any sign of life, but he comes up empty. That is, until he approaches the window facing the backyard. He peers through it, and he sees both of the people he was looking for.

Mickey’s out in the backyard with their six-year-old daughter. They’re both wearing baseball gloves, tossing the ball back and forth. Ian just watches as every single toss Mickey makes misses the little girl’s glove and hits the grass. Each time, Mickey runs to pick it up and patiently throws it again.

Ian thinks of the conversation they’d had so many years ago, on their one-year wedding anniversary. Despite how much time has passed, he remembers it like it was yesterday—Mickey expressing his fears about becoming a parent one day. He thought he’d be a shitty dad, but Ian knew so deep down in his gut that this could never be the case. He knew Mickey would be a great dad. And he was right.

Standing here right now, watching Mickey playing with their daughter after having spent several days taking care of Ian during his downswing, he’s so glad that he managed to finally know that boy from the baseball team. The one who’d been so fascinating to Ian, so angry but so sad. Ian just wanted to be his friend. And now, he’s that and so, so much more. Best friend, husband, father of his child.

Fic Links

Since We're Alone: https://archiveofourown.org/works/33757897

Last Cigarette: https://archiveofourown.org/works/65028892

A New Personal Best: https://archiveofourown.org/works/58201258

On Ice: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5485250

In My Veins Like Lightning: https://archiveofourown.org/works/50736748

Something About Him: https://archiveofourown.org/works/32616301

Break Point: https://archiveofourown.org/works/39553572

Rookie Mistakes: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1712258

Catch Me, If You Can: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7122751