Work Text:
My Other Dad
The morning of Dimitri's first birthday started out just like ever other morning, except Ian made him Mickey Mouse pancakes and bacon for breakfast. (The bacon was more for Mickey, a delicious—albeit small—apology for all the Mickey Mouse jokes the brunette would have to endure that morning.)
It had taken a while for Dimitri to start making friends at school, but by the time he was in second grade, he and Kaya were inseparable. When Mickey had asked his son how he wanted to celebrate turning seven, he had insisted on having a sleepover. Ian had talked to Kaya's mom and arranged everything.
Ian spent the entire day cleaning the house because it was the first time Kaya was going to be spending the night. He set up an extra mattress on the ground beside Dimitri's bed and even put leopard print sheets on it to match Dimitri's jungle-themed room (which he thankfully hadn't grown out of yet). He bought a Carvel cake and put it in the freezer, and even remembered to pick up candles from the dollar store. Everything was set by the time the kids got off the bus, even though they'd have a few more hours of waiting before Mickey would arrive home from work.
After getting the kids settled in and getting the run-down of what Miss May had taught them, Ian made them a snack of carrots, celery and a greek yogurt dip. (Despite Mickey's protests, he was determined to get Dimitri to eat better.) Kaya looked disgusted by the vegetables, her hazel eyes wide-open in shock at the lack of junk food, but decided to give them a try after Dimitri happily gobbled them down. The spent the rest of the afternoon watching cartoons.
Mickey got home half an hour later than usual, because he had to stop and pick up a pie of Dimitri's favorite pizza. Ian didn't know how they lasted that final half hour while Mickey showered and changed out of his work clothes, the smell of the pizza filling the whole house.
They ate the pizza, sang Happy Birthday and ate the ice cream cake, until it was finally time to give Dimitri his gifts. Ian got up to get the books he had bought and wrapped weeks ago for Mickey's son.
“You're gonna LOVE what I got you!” Kaya said with an excited giggle. Ian stood in the hallway and watched the little girl give him the box her mom had dropped off earlier that morning (along with overnight clothes for Kaya). She was giddy, natural curls bouncing right along with her in her seat, as Dimitri tore open the package. It was a Wii game—some Mario party thing—and Dimitri was absolutely beaming.
“My cousin got it for his birthday and it was so much fun. Mom said she checked that you guys had a Wii first before buying it. You wanna play?” she asked him.
Ian went to the closet, got the packages full of books they'd carefully hidden, and began heading back to the kitchen.
Dimitri nodded eagerly. “Yeah! But I have to ask my dad first. I'm not allowed to play video games on a school night,” he explained to Kaya.
“But it's your birthday,” Kaya whined. “Can we play, Mr. Milk-vich?” she asked, stumbling over their last name as she turned to face Mickey with a puppy-dog frown.
“No, my other dad,” Dimitri corrected. Ian froze in his place, eyes flicking quickly to Mickey, who was suddenly watching his son with unwavering attention.
“Ian, is it okay if we play the game? Please?” Dimitri begged.
“Uh... sure, Dee. But not for too long.”
He watched the kids run into the living room and busied himself with cleaning up the dessert plates. Mickey put what was left of the cake back into the freezer.
An hour later, Mickey still hadn't said a word. Ian was nervous, ready for the blow-up that was bound to happen once the kids were asleep. Dimitri always called him Ian, so it was a surprise to him too when the boy told Kaya he was his 'other dad'.
He didn't have time to worry about it because he had to get them ready for bed. Ian read them the next chapter of Harry Potter (he and Dee were up to book three already!) before turning off the light and closing the door.
Mickey was sitting on the couch in the living room, pretending to watch TV. (Ian knew he was pretending because the news was on and Mickey never watched the news.) He took a seat across from the brunette.
“Are we gonna talk about what Dimitri said?” he asked Mickey.
The older man looked at Ian with tired eyes. “Do we have to?”
Ian sighed. “Yes, of course we have to... Shit, Mick! I swear I didn't get him to say that. Fuck...I'm so sorry.”
Mickey looked up at him with confusion. “What do you mean?”
“He calls me Ian! He even called me Ian two seconds after he said it. I don't know what to do. What are we going to tell him? How am I going to explain to him that I'm not his dad?”
“Nah,” Mickey said, shaking his head. “I mean, why are you freaking out? S'fine.”
“I'm sorry. I love him so much and—wait, what?”
“I'm not mad.”
“You're... not... mad?” Ian heard the words but it was like his brain still couldn't understand them.
Mickey shook his head. “You're his dad too. You don't get that? Of course he's gonna call you dad.”
“But...”
“But what, Gallagher? You spend more time with him than I do. You cook for us, you do his homework with him, you read to him, you made a fuckin' jungle in his bedroom, not to mention you clean the house every day...”
“Yeah but...”
“Stop it with the 'but's. You should just be happy he didn't call you 'mom',” Mickey said with a grin.
Ian laughed and shoved Mickey's shoulder. “Shut up! I am not his mom.”
Mickey shoved him back hard enough for Ian to fall into the couch. Mickey mounted him, saying, “yeah, you totally are. Now be quiet before you wake 'em up,” right before leaning in to kiss him.