Archive of Our Own

Gabby and Melissa are chatty. Liam doesn’t mind them, necessarily. They’re okay. But God, are they chatty. 

He’s more fond of Isaac, who’s quieter, even if he’s a bit boring. Isaac’s dating Izzy, who’s Liam’s favourite of the group. He doesn’t really understand dating, especially not at their age. Ten seems far too young to start up a serious relationship, and he doesn’t have the time for that kind of business. Plus, Liam knows dating. All his siblings have someone - or several someones - who they’ve brought home, and they kiss and cuddle and fight and have sex loudly. Liam hates the last one the most, obviously. But all Izzy and Isaac do is look at each other, smile, and pass notes between them. Izzy told him that Isaac kissed her once, near the fence, just before gym class. Once, though. Liam isn’t sure if that counts as dating. Also, he doesn’t get why they’re dating when they practically have the same name. 

Izzy and Liam are the only people actually studying here, he thinks. Her notes are colour-coded because she’s generally messy when she writes, while Liam’s notes look bland - just black ink, thanks - but meticulously organised. Isaac keeps copying Izzy’s work, but she doesn’t seem to mind. Liam thinks she enjoys teaching him the things that he doesn’t know - it probably makes her feel smart. Which she is, but the reminder is nice, Liam guesses. Gabby and Melissa wrote a few notes, and then started doodling, and then started practicing their handwriting. 

With the way they’re talking so loudly, Liam’s starting to think that this whole ‘study group’ thing was a bad idea. 

The problem with the study group, is that it was never meant to happen in the first place. But Gabby invited the group round to her house, which was large and dominated her entire street, to swim in her pool and then Izzy returned the favour with a movie night. Isaac had them all over next to play video games. Melissa had her turn, which was a big group sleepover with pizza and a late night. 

After each outside-of-school meet-up at alternating houses, Liam could feel the dread build. Because soon it would be his turn, and he couldn’t imagine what his private school friends would think of his house, and his family, and his life away from them. 

And then it came, that fateful day, when they all turned to him and begged to come over to his place. They told him to beg his parents - as if he even has any - and promised they’d be so, so good. They assumed he was reluctant because he had a strict family, and he was happy to keep it that way. 

Liam had told them that fine, fine. They could come over. But his family was big, so they’d have to do something quiet. Like a study group. Liam had assumed they wouldn’t want to study outside of school. Liam had assumed that they would be normal ten year olds and just decide to go to Melissa’s again. Liam had assumed wrong, and massively underestimated the curiosity of children. 

So now, on a Saturday, they’re all piled around his kitchen table with books laid out, after their parents dropped them off with worried glances. Gabby’s dad had a full conversation with Lip before he let her leave the car. To make sure there’s adult supervision, of course. 

Said ‘adult supervision’ is passed out on the couch while Fred naps. All other potential adult supervisors are elsewhere, with Debbie and Carl working while Ian and Mickey do something upstairs. Liam made them promise that they wouldn’t have sex. And even though they both seemed repulsed by the idea of having sex while all his friends are here, Liam’s still worried. He trusts Ian, of course he does, but the idea of something embarrassing happening is making him want to claw his eyeballs out. 

The study group has definitely not been a stress free endeavour. 

“So, Izzy,” Mellissa starts, “what are you and Isaac doing for your two week anniversary?” 

Liam won’t laugh at her, he won’t. That would be mean. But she sounds so serious that it’s ridiculously funny. 

Izzy looks up from her work, giving a coy smile to Isaac and then looking back down again. She shrugs, as if it doesn’t matter. Liam can tell it matters to her. 

“You should do something big. Like hold hands at recess.” Gabby adds, nodding along. 

Liam won’t roll his eyes. He won’t. He really won’t.

“Oooh. Yeah, that would be cute!” Melissa coos. “I can design some cards for you guys, if you want. I’m great at designing stuff.” She holds up her decorated notepad for reference, which is, admittedly, well decorated. 

Izzy and Isaac don’t say anything to contribute, instead giving each other shy glances from across the table. 

Gabby giggles at them. “You’re adorable. What do you think they should do, Liam?” She asks, and he’s close to face-palming into the table. 

He looks around at them, at their expectant glances and hopeful, excited faces. It is sweet, Liam thinks, that they can all be so innocent and happy about some little celebration. He doesn’t want to burst their bubble. 

“Well, my brother got flowers for their six month wedding anniversary. That could be cool.” He tells them. It’s the only reference point he has in terms of anniversaries. And it was a nice gesture of Ian, to surprise Mickey like that. It confused Mickey for a while, which was pretty funny, because Ian made it a whole thing. He made it seem like Mickey forgot an important date, then confused him further when Ian told him the real reason. Mickey had been adamant that six month anniversaries were not a thing, and Ian had whispered in Liam’s ear that he was glad that he got to one-up Mickey on the present-giving front. 

Liam goes back to writing his notes, copying and rephrasing the Biology textbook in front of him. He’s expecting more cooing and more teasing of the couple, but for a second, there’s silence. 

“Wait.” Melissa says with a flair of drama. “Your brother’s married?”

When Liam peers at them once more, everyone around the table is staring at him with a mix of surprise and curiosity. 

“Um… yeah?” He replies, entirely perplexed by their expressions. 

“Woah. How old is he?” Izzy asks, eyes wide and wondering. 

“Twenty four.” Liam answers tentatively. 

“That’s so old!” Melissa cries. “I’m the oldest of my siblings. That’s crazy.”

“So… you have a fourteen year age gap?” Izzy figures. “My sister is only a year and a half older than me.”

“Uh. Yeah. I think it’s more like fifteen. But my older sister is thirty, so.” Liam tries, because he doesn’t understand why this is such a big deal. They’ve all seen Lip passed out on the couch. Liam knows for sure that Lip looks older than him. 

“What!?” Gabby screeches, laughing as she does it. “That’s so cool!”

It’s then that Liam realises that they aren’t judging him, they’re looking at him like he’s a hard maths equation that they’re trying to figure out. They’re looking at him like it’s cool and special that older people are in his life that aren’t just his parents. 

“How old’s your dad?” Isaac asks in complete puzzlement, staring at where Lip is asleep. 

It takes Liam a second to put it together, that Isaac is referring to Lip and not Frank, but when he does, he actually starts laughing. “Him? That’s not my dad. That’s my brother, Lip. He’s twenty-six.” 

In a way, Lip is a dad. He takes care of things and he makes sure Liam’s okay and he calls him buddy like a father would. But he knows that explaining the whole concept of father and mother figures over biological parents is something that would definitely confuse his friends. 

“They’re so much older than you!” Gabby gasps. 

“My step-sister is twenty.” Isaac adds. It doesn’t offer much to the conversation, but it’s somewhat nice to know that Liam isn’t entirely alone in this whole ‘older siblings’ thing. Of all the things weird about his house, he didn’t think the focal point would be the fact that his brothers and sisters are older than him. It’s infinitely better than a lot of the alternatives, though. 

“How many siblings do you have?” Malissa says. 

“Five.” 

“And they’re all older?” 

“Yep. Carl is nineteen, he’s closest to me in age.” 

“You’re really the baby of the family, huh?” Izzy teases, shoving Liam lightly. 

“Well, Fred - my nephew - he’s literally a baby. And Franny’s five, so she’s basically a toddler.” He would never say that to Franny’s face. She might be five, but she hits hard. 

Gabby scoffs at him. “You can’t have a nephew. You’re only ten.” 

Liam bunches his eyebrows, lost for words. He can and he does, so he doesn’t know which part of that logic seems to be failing her. 

“Yes, he can. A nephew is your sibling’s son.” Izzy speaks for him, ever the voice of reasoning. 

Gabby looks lost for a moment, then a little disparaged by Izzy’s quick shut-down of what she pointed out. “Oh. I’ve only ever met old people with nephews.” 

“It’s fine, Gabby. I don’t know anyone else who’s an uncle at my age.” Liam tells her to cheer her up. It’s not something he goes around asking people, and it’s not something he’s ever considered before, but the statement holds up. He thinks. 

“It’s so cool that you’re an uncle.” Melissa states. Looking over their heads and into the distance. “I wish I was an aunt.” 

Liam just shrugs at her, and they go back to their studies. Occasionally, they pepper in some questions between his note taking about his family and all their names and what they do. He answers them plainly, not minding the light interrogation. 

Heavy footsteps drop against the stairs and Mickey enters the room, sleep ruffled in a hoodie and sweatpants. He’s rubbing his eye as if he only just woke up, which Liam knows isn’t true because he saw Mickey an hour before his friends came. Alive and awake. On second thought, Liam wouldn’t be shocked if he had taken a nap since. 

Mickey registers the group of kids, who all snap their heads towards him, with a confused scowl. “The fuck? You start an orphanage?” He directs to Liam. 

“Study group. I told you about it, remember?” Liam says in a chiding voice. 

It takes Mickey a second, but then he’s nodding along. “Yeah, right. With all the private school kids.” 

Liam’s past being astounded at Mickey’s clear disregard for social cues. His friends don’t seem to understand that Mickey’s insulting them, probably because they’re used to private school being a good thing, not a point of mocking. 

They stare at him, though, taking in the tattoo on his forearm and his knuckles and his rough accent. 

Mickey seems off-put by the creepy young faces watching him, and he backs away into the kitchen to try and ignore it. On his way, he notices Lip passed out on the couch and snorts. “Fuckhead banned from the bedroom again?” He snarks to Liam. 

Liam gives a small smirk about it, remembering the instance when Tami had forced Lip to stay downstairs because he’d annoyed her on a deep, carnal level. 

“He passed out there when Fred fell asleep.” Liam informs. “Melissa, do you have the notes for Math last week?” He asks, trying to get the attention away from Mickey. He can definitely understand how Mickey would be a real source of confusion for these kids. 

Instead of answering his question, Melissa turns to face him. “People swear in your house?” She whispers, shocked. 

Melissa isn’t very good at whispering, because Liam can see Mickey roll his eyes as he opens two beers. 

Liam shrugs. “Yeah. Mickey more than anyone.”

“Fuck off, that’s not true.” Mickey says, waving his hand in the air as if batting Liam away. 

“It’s totally true.” Liam argues, and rolls his eyes tiredly when Mickey makes a jerk-off motion with his hand to signal his disagreement. “What are you guys doing?” 

“Ian was whining about bein’ thirsty, so.” Mickey holds up the now open beers as a point of reference. “Going back up now.” 

“To do what?” Liam asks, widening his eyes as if to remind Mickey of his promise to behave. It’s not as if Liam really thinks they won’t, but he just wants the point to really be hammered home. 

“Relax, we’re watching fucking Pirates of the Caribbean. Ian says it’s a crime I’ve not seen it.” Mickey scoffs, then stomps back up the stairs, most likely to bitch to Ian about Liam’s friends staring at him. 

Once he’s gone, and fully out of earshot, all of his friends tuck their chairs closer to the table. They stare at Liam with bright, interested eyes. 

“His tattoos were so cool.” Gabby mutters, looking back up the stairs, eyes following where Mickey went. 

Of all things Liam expected to happen, it was not the look of awe on Gabby’s face. 

“No, Gabby. Tattoos aren’t cool.” Melissa argues, nudging her slightly. “He really shouldn’t have been swearing so much.” She adds, and it sounds like a direct quote from her dad.

Gabby furrows her brows and looks at her hands. “I thought they were cool.” She mutters, clearly slightly frustrated at the way Melissa put down her opinion. 

“You don’t look much like your brothers.” Izzy states, twirling a straight black hair around her finger. “Everyone says me and my sister look exactly alike.” 

“I didn’t even think of that!” Melissa cries, spinning to look between Lip and Liam. “You look so different. Were you adopted?” 

“You can’t just ask someone if they’re adopted, Mel.” Izzy tells her, shaking her head. “It’s rude.”

And it’s something Liam’s heard all his life, that he’s probably not related to his siblings because of how they all look so different. Even his siblings thought Frank wasn’t his real dad, but it’s not as if they treated him differently because of that. He’s always just been their brother, and he’s not sure it matters if he’s adopted or Frank’s or not. Even though he is Frank’s. 

“I’m not adopted. We all have the same parents. Aside from Ian, but that’s a really long story,” he says, sighing and going back to his work. When there’s silence and he can feel people looking at him, he mutters, “which I’m not telling you.” 

“But how does that-“ Mel starts. Liam thinks Izzy kicks her under the table, because he hears a thump and he sees her pout. 

Liam appreciates Izzy for that, because he doesn’t need those kinds of questions. She gets them all the time, because her dad’s Japanese and her mum’s from Italy. Oftentimes, because they go to a fancy private school and not the school Lip and Fiona went to, the questions clearly aren’t meant to be rude. It’s things they’ve unintentionally picked up from their parents and are just curious about, and people don’t get how ignorant they sound. 

“So which brother was he?” Izzy asks, diverting the conversation. 

It takes Liam a moment to realise that she’s talking about Mickey, and the ludicrousness of that makes him laugh a little. “He’s my brother-in-law. Not my brother.” 

“Ohh.” She says, and the others nod along. 

Liam can tell Isaac is preparing himself to add to the conversation, because he’s licking his lips and standing up straighter. Isaac’s very shy, but he talks a lot more one-to-one. In group settings, he has to work up to it.

“Which one of your sisters is he married to?” Isaac says, voice calm but quiet. 

Liam swallows. “He’s married to my brother. Ian. None of my sisters are married.” He tells them, making sure he sounds proud of that and not ashamed. He’s witnessed his fair share of homophobia, and he knows this could go one of two ways. But he’s never been ashamed of Ian, and he doesn’t want to sound like he is even if he’s slightly concerned that his friends will flip out about it. 

“Oh, right.” Isaac says, simple and pretty unbothered by the information. 

“Cool.” Izzy adds, smiling and going back to her work. “How long have they been together?” 

Liam shrugs. “I can’t remember exactly. Like all my life. On and off for a while, but I guess they figured it out.” Ian and Mickey are old news. Especially to Liam, who never saw what Mickey was like when he was younger, and even if he’s heard stories from all of his older siblings he will never be able to fully grasp the huge development Mickey had since then. 

“That’s crazy. So, what. They were fifteen when they got together?” She gapes. “That’s so romantic.”

“Yeah… that wasn’t how it was described to me.” Liam mumbles.

“Wait, so that guy was… gay?” Gabby says, whispering the word ‘gay’ like it’s awful. 

“Yeah. What’s wrong with that?” Liam challenges.

“Nothing! He just didn’t seem like he’d be gay is all. I really didn’t mean anything bad.” She stresses, speaking quickly. 

“Well… you kinda did say it like it’s a bad word.” Izzy points out. 

“I didn’t want to be rude! I swear, Liam, I support it, I promise.” Gabby shrieks, looking like she’s about to cry. 

“It’s fine.” Liam says, looking at her like she’s slightly odd because all this freaking out is starting to freak him out. “Calling someone gay can be a homophobic thing if you’re doing it in a certain way, but asking if someone’s gay is usually fine. Plus, Mickey’s more homophobic than anyone.” 

“How does that work?” Isaac asks, surprising Liam with his input. 

“He calls my brother - his own husband - gay all the time. In a bad way. But he’s mostly joking, I think. I mean, Ian usually laughs, so I guess he’s joking. And he uses the F-slur a lot.” Liam tells them. Ian seems very used to how Mickey is with things like that, and it doesn’t seem to bother him. Lip told Liam once that it did bother Ian, once, but that was when Mickey wouldn’t admit he was gay himself. Now, Mickey doesn’t mind it.

“Huh.” Izzy says, nodding as if Mickey’s a real scientific enigma. Around where Liam lives, he fits right in by saying things like that. 

“Do they like… have sex and stuff?” Melissa giggles, whispering it quietly and looking around after she says it like she’s about to be told off. Gabby laughs too, because the idea of sex is unbelievably hilarious to them. 

Liam isn’t even sure they know what sex is. He doesn’t really know what it is, but he knows why he wears earplugs every night and it’s not because Ian snores. 

He grimaces at the question though, entirely repulsed by talking about his brother and sex at the same time. “They’re married.” He emphasises, hoping that gets the point across enough that he doesn’t have to say anything. Gabby and Melissa giggle again, and Isaac goes slightly red. 

After they calm down, they’re giggling about something else. Then they’re giggling because Isaac tapped Izzy on the shoulder, and the conversation is mostly forgotten. 

Once another hour of unfocused study has gone by, Liam notices that even Izzy is starting to get bored of it. That’s not what he wants. Even if he didn’t want them over at his house, he doesn’t want them to think he’s boring either. It’s clear that there’s no one around to care if they’re studying or not, so Liam’s lie has been exposed slightly. 

He swallows and looks around at his fidgeting friends, trying to think of something to do. Lip’s taken up the couch, and Liam doesn’t want to wake him when he’s been so tired recently and Fred’s still out for the count. There’s an old-timey computer upstairs that Ian and Mickey are probably watching their movie on, but Liam thinks he can probably convince Ian to share. Mickey would be happy to get rid of it, too, if it means avoiding what Ian wants him to watch. 

“We could watch a movie in my room if you want.” Liam says, hating how he sounds a little nervous about it. He doesn’t want his friends to think he’s boring. 

“Oh my gosh, yes. I wanna watch something with Hugh Grant in it.” Melissa says. 

“I don’t like his accent.” Izzy says, scrunching up her nose. 

“His accent is to die for.” Melissa argues, giggling. 

“I liked him in Bridget Jones.” Gabby adds. 

“I’m not allowed to watch that.” 

“Well, no one’s gonna know if we watch it now. Right, Liam?” Izzy asks, grinning at him. 

He shrugs. Liam isn’t all too interested in watching a chick flick, he gets it enough from Debbie and Franny, but he thinks he’d be outvoted. Isaac seems pretty interested, surprisingly enough. 

“Sure. Come on.” Liam gets up and puts away his notes as his friends do the same, Melissa and Gabby whispering about Notting Hill. 

They follow him upstairs, where the xylophone door on Ian and Mickey’s room is shut. Liam loves having his own room, now that Carl’s in the basement. He definitely would have had them over at all if they were all still in that one bedroom. 

“This is my room. My sister’s room is here, and that’s Ian and Mickey’s room. This is the bathroom if anyone needs it.” He shows them, gesturing around the landing and leading them into his bedroom. 

They look at all his things, oo-ing and ah-ing over some of his posters and pictures. 

“I’ll just get the laptop from my brother.” Liam tells them. 

“Can we come? I wanna see what your brother looks like.” Gabby asks, looking slightly embarrassed about asking at all. Melissa rolls her eyes at her, clearly disapproving of her little crush on Mickey. 

“Uh- sure, I guess.” Liam allows. He wasn’t going to go inside anyway, but they can peek in from the doorway if that makes them happy. 

He knocks on their door loudly and listens against it, hearing nothing but the low hum of the laptop. 

“Yeah?” Mickey’s voice from inside.

“Can I come in?” 

“Yeah.”

“You both are decent?” 

“Fucking- yeah! Obviously!” Mickey says back, in that exasperated voice he does which makes Liam laugh. He laughs a little now at his clear frustration, sliding open the door. 

“Can I have the laptop?” He asks, noticing how Ian’s fast asleep beside Mickey, his freckled arm thrown over Mickey’s stomach and his face in Mickey’s shoulder. Mickey will definitely be complaining about having a dead arm later. 

“Sure. He fell asleep right before the end of the movie anyway.” Mickey tells him, picking up the laptop and holding it out as much as he can without disturbing Ian. 

Liam walks over to get it from him. “Thanks. How has he not woken up?” Liam questions, because Mickey doesn’t have much of an inside voice. 

“Ginger bastard’ll sleep through anything.” Mickey shrugs. His hand moves subconsciously to Ian’s hair, burying inside of the ginger curls on top of his head. Ian clearly hasn’t been bothered to straighten it or whatever he does to get rid of the curls. 

Liam nods in reply and turns to leave, seeing how his friends are all in the hallway, watching the couple like they’re a zoo exhibit. Liam thinks it’s less because they’re gay and more because they’re different to what they’re used to. They seem to think it’s cool, probably because they’re both young and in an actual relationship and they all want to be in a relationship. 

He shuts the door on his way out, placing the laptop on the floor in the middle of his room and beginning his search for Bridget Jones on the illegal streaming website they all use. 

“Do you have any snacks?” Gabby asks. 

“We can’t watch it without snacks.” Melissa seconds, nodding along. 

Liam sighs. Carl eats all the snacks in their house, but he knows Ian and Mickey have a secret stash in their room that Carl isn’t allowed to know about. Liam gets the privilege, though. Lip also knows about it, but Mickey didn’t want him to know and so Ian didn’t tell Mickey that he told Lip. It’s a whole thing and a very tricky issue for Liam to navigate sometimes. 

“I’ll go get some.” 

He then has to walk back to their room and knock again, but this time he opens the door right after Mickey replies. 

“Can I have some of your stash?” He asks Mickey, who’s doing something on his phone. 

Mickey furrows his brows. “What? No. Maybe when you’re like fifteen.” 

Liam rolls his eyes. “I’m not talking about your weed stash. Your snack stash.” 

“Oh. Yeah, sure. Save the Jolly Ranchers, though. Ian likes ‘em.” Mickey tells him, not moving from his place because Ian’s stopping him. 

Before Liam goes into the room, he hears some familiar whispers behind him and he knows that his friends are secretly trying to snoop. They aren’t being very subtle. 

“Can they come in and choose stuff?” Liam asks, because he knows that anything could be in their cupboards and he doesn’t want his friends to be scarred the same way he was when he saw the ball-gag in their room. 

“I guess.” Mickey says, looking a bit grossed out by the prospect of having to be near private school children. 

“Cool.” Liam gestures for them to follow him, and they nervously do, stepping into the room like there’s landmines under the floorboards. There’s nothing but asbestos under there. 

Mickey shuffles a bit, maybe to make it less obvious that Ian’s cuddled up to his side, but then Ian makes a sound of annoyance and doesn’t let Mickey escape. Mickey sighs at him, but it’s fond. Liam ignores them, very used to their annoying obsession with each other. Gabby and Melissa are giggling somewhere by the door, but Izzy’s mature about it, coming to help Liam as he bends to open the cupboard with the stash.  

When he opens it, he’s greeted by Mickey’s gun, sitting proudly and obviously on top of everything. 

Liam sighs. “Mick, your gun’s in here.” 

“Oh, shit.” He says. “It’s not loaded, but don’t fucking touch it.” Mickey tells him, when Liam was about to pick it up and give it to him. Liam’s held a gun before, he doesn’t know why of all people Mickey is the weirdest about him touching his gun. Liam knows it’s more about being protective of Liam than it is about his love of guns, which is… nice, he thinks. But annoying when it means Mickey goes through all the trouble of wrangling himself free from Ian and taking it out of the cupboard. 

Liam hears Melissa gasp from behind him, and Gabby mutters a very not-quiet ‘oh my god’. Mickey slides it into the drawer of the bedside table and then folds himself back beneath Ian’s arm. Ian promptly rests his face on Mickey’s shoulder again. 

Once it’s gone, Liam starts rifling through the snacks. Izzy, after a moment to recover from the surprise of seeing it, starts to help him choose which ones to take. 

“Why was it even in here?” Liam asks. 

“Ian’s bad at hiding stuff, and he was getting mad because I was cleaning it instead of telling him his hair looks good.” Mickey scoffs, typing something on his phone. 

“Right.” Liam mutters, going back to the snacks. 

Melissa and Gabby inch closer into the room, while Isaac hovers in the hallway. Liam doesn’t expect him to come in; he’s even more nervous around adults than people his own age. Liam doesn’t miss the way Gabby keeps on glancing at Mickey and blushing, no matter how ignored she gets, no matter that Mickey’s literal husband is sleeping on him. They eventually help them choose, forgetting about the initial awkwardness. 

“Ooh! Jolly Ranchers!” Melissa says when she finds them. 

“Not them.” Mickey says, gruffly, eyeing her scarily when she pouts. 

Liam can see that Mickey isn’t entirely comfortable with people in his space, because he keeps sending them all side-eyes as if to make sure that they aren’t snooping or stealing. He also keeps a firm hold on Ian, and Liam doesn’t know if that’s to make himself feel better or because of his intrinsic need to make sure that Ian’s okay. 

Finally, they have what they need and start to pile out of the room. On the way out, Gabby stops right in front of the door, almost making Liam trip over her feet. 

“How many tattoos do you have?” She asks Mickey, blush on her cheeks. Liam wants to shove her out of the room. 

“What?” Mickey grunts when he realises he’s being addressed. 

“How many tattoos do you have?” Gabby repeats, nervous and flustered. 

“…three.” Mickey says, clearly confused by the question. 

“Did they hurt?” 

“Yeah.” 

“Which one hurt the most?”

“Knuckles.” He states, and it should be hilarious the way Mickey is entirely caught off-guard by the line of questioning. 

“What do they say?” 

“They say f-“

“Come on, let’s go watch the movie.” Liam interrupts, giving Gabby a nudge towards the door. She leaves, waving an awkward goodbye and half-stumbling out of the room. “Thanks, Mickey.” He says on his way out, making sure the door is completely closed when he goes. 

Once they’re back in the room, Gabby and Melissa start up again. 

“Could you be more embarrassing, Gabs?” 

“What? I like tattoos.” She says, eyes going all over the room and face in flames. 

“Sure.” Melissa scoffs. “He’s scary.” She adds to Liam. 

“He’s not scary, he’s nice.” Gabby argues, eyes all dreamy. If Liam has to see Mickey’s name in her notebook with hearts, he’s gonna lose it.

“Mickey looks scary, but he’s not really.” Liam tells them as he looks for the movie again. 

“He had a gun!”

“My dad has a gun, he’s not scary.” Izzy tells them.

“You saw his gun once and he keeps it in a safe.” Melissa laughs, and Izzy shoves her nicely with a chuckle. 

“Do you think he’d teach me how to shoot?” Gabby asks Liam. 

“No.” He replies with finality. 

“Why would you want that, Gabs? Shooting is not cool.” Melissa tells her.

Gabby shrugs back, and finally Liam has the movie on and they get distracted by Hugh Grant’s accent.

“I can’t believe I’m watching an R-rated movie!” Melissa giggles half-way through, shocked by the amount of sex references. Liam’s started to worry that he’s a bad influence on them by letting them watch, but he’s been seeing the Saw movies since he was a baby because Carl was obsessed, so he didn’t think this would be a big deal. 

Eventually, their parents come to pick them up, and Liam hopes they don’t say anything about the gun. They probably won’t, and it’s not as if guns are uncommon, but he’d hate to have people come by the house to make sure it’s suitable living or whatever, just because one of their parents took it upon themselves to put in a complaint. Liam decides that if that does happen, he’ll tell the teachers it was a toy gun that they thought was real. 

They all seemed very happy when they left, though, which is good. They kept talking about how Liam’s so cool, although they didn’t have the words to explain why, and Gabby was disappointed that she didn’t get a chance to say goodbye to Mickey. Liam knows there’s only going to be more nagging in the future for them to come over to his place. 

Izzy hugs him on the way out, saying her polite thank yous and talking about how she had such a good time. Lip emerges from sleep to see them all off, his hair rumpled and his shirt full of so many ‘fuck’s that Isaac’s dad almost has an aneurysm. Maybe just that shirt will get Liam a home visit. 

After they’re gone, he’s relieved, but overall pleased with how it went. He’ll have them over again, he thinks. Then Ian comes out of his room and asks if they’ve left, looking far too happy when Liam says yes. He’ll definitely stay downstairs for a while.