#& is actually significantly more powerful than he looks or puts forth (he never drinks anything but human blood if he can help it
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Aftermath, Ch.9-Replacement
If you would prefer to read it on AO3, it can be found here.
You can read from the beginning here.
Warnings: Mild alcohol use
It was borderline-impossible to find Lea’s room in the tower; all the shifting and cosmic apparitions were annoying, to say in the least. How did anyone here go to bed within five or ten minutes of deciding to do so? He had a hunch the place was sentient and didn’t like him very much.
Eventually, though, Isa knocked on a select wooden door and it and heard Lea yell, “Yeah, come in.”
He slowly opened it and walked in, paper grocery bag in his arm. Well, at least the door didn’t want to stop him quite as much as the rest of the place’s architecture. Maybe it was imbued with Lea’s welcome attitude or something like that.
Lea was sat on the floor and leaning back against his bed, scribbling something in a notepad. He perked up upon seeing Isa step into the room and sat up on the bed.
“I’m surprised you didn’t bring vodka.” Lea chuckled as Isa firmly set a bottle of brandy down on the floor and opened the other one.
“I was in the mood for something more pleasant. You can keep the other one if we don’t open it.” Isa flatly explained, sitting down on his bed next to him.
“Works for me.” Lea smirked, taking the open bottle and not even bothering to get a glass. “Alcohol’s alcohol. Haven’t had time to sit down and drink in a long time, either.”
“I certainly can’t argue with that sentiment.” Isa uttered as he sank against the wall and into the stuffy creamsicle-orange quilt on Lea’s bed.
That was that. The bottle went back and forth between them, few words interrupting the silence while they watched the sunset drag itself across the parallel cream wall. That occasional brush of their palms and fingers against one another’s was never brought up or joked about.
“It’s strange, this normalcy.” Isa murmured and folded one leg over the other, as he typically did.
“Mm.”
Lea rubbed his neck and turned his stare down to his lap.
“I do miss having a steady routine, though.” Isa added.
“Heh, I don’t! I like having free time and just doing what I want without being turned into a Dusk.”
“That’s fair enough.”
“Hey, can I bring up something a little, uh, stressful?” Lea asked, his previous joking tone gone and replaced with a slight quiver.
“Sure.” Isa softly replied, studying the label on the bottle in his hands.
“I know everything went to shit and we were pretty terrible to each other—situation and everything--but…”
“We were, and?”
Lea sighed, but looked to Isa hopefully, “…you think we have a chance?”
Isa froze, but his face didn’t belie him. Don’t give him that damn look like that.
“We’ve outgrown each other when it comes to that.” He simply said then took another drink.
Lea was quiet. After scanning Isa’s face, he resumed facing forward and dryly chortled, “Right. ‘Course. It’s really been a while since we were…actually a thing…”
“You could also say I’m emotionally occupied, as it is.” Isa added.
Being handed the bottle, Lea frowned as he took it slowly. “Emotional—oh. Yeah.”
Stretching with a grunt, Lea then laid down on his side with his head rested in his hand. The hard beam of light now made the space right under the window seem significantly darker.
“I can’t believe you still like Xemnas. As in like-like him.” Lea groaned, pressing his back against the wall with bottle in hand.
“I can’t believe you just used ‘like-like’ as a 26-year-old.” Isa sneered.
Lea nudged his side with his foot, frowning and retorting, “Hey! I’m around a lot of teenagers with repressed feelings and questionably-developed social skills. Some are like…literally two years old.”
“Say what you will, but regardless. It was easier to like being around him than hating every second.” Isa sighed. “Also, I think I did develop some genuine form of feelings for him not caused by survival instincts.”
“Yeah, it has a name, right? Stock-something Syndrome?” Lea tilted his head like an intrigued dog, frowning slightly.
“I wouldn’t say my reaction goes as far as Stockholm Syndrome. As I’ve said, genuine feelings and reasons and not a simple reaction for survival.”
“Mm. I guess the sleeping with him thing was all started by you, so huh. Just a fucked-up situation, then. Can’t believe you got attached, though. All that tall, dark, and handsome?”
Isa mumbled in response about some psychological effects are hard to discern from genuine feelings and interpretations, however, but he doubted they’d last this long and took the bottle from him for a bit more than a swig.
“But hey, you can move on, right?” Lea commented reassuringly.
“I guess, and I sort of wish to, but Lea,” Isa sighed, averting his stare, “he’s alive.”
He got a blank stare, then a stunned “Shit.”
“He’s sort of alive, anyhow. He’s currently resting in my heart.” Isa explained, locking eyes with him—seemingly to be sincere but it just came off as his usual cold intensity—and shrugged. “His is still severely damaged and cannot exist by himself.”
Scrambling back up into a sitting position, Lea hissed, “Isa—Isa. Isa? Are you serious? After everything that happened, you let him in?”
“Terra’s not happy with me for doing it, either. But despite everything we did and the lives we took and ruined, we got a second chance at life, so why not him? He’s a branch of Xehanort, but not he himself.”
“He’s still Xemnas! Who knows if he’s gonna pull some shady shit on you!”
“Should he attempt,” Isa argued, annoyed and voice louder, “I have the power to oust him and kill him as a result. I have a metaphorical knife to his throat and his being a threat will not be taken lightly or with hesitation. He’s not exactly strong enough to try at the moment, either.”
“Well, you should do it now! Save everyone the stress.”
“If he decides to return to his antics, I will. Having his own heart may affect him.”
Lea sighed in frustration.
“What the hell is it about him?” He asked in a low tone and with hunched shoulders.
Silence.
“…I don’t know.”
Isa tucked his legs under him and added, “I guess I don’t want to have to tear open old wounds to a new person. And he’s possibly a new person but at the same time someone I know. As he’s said, there’s comfort in familiarity, and that certainly is true even when that familiarity isn’t ideal.”
“Maybe? But you don’t need to bear your soul when you don’t need to to just everyone. Nobody expects that from you except invasive assholes. If you’re worried about Terra being that way, he’s not gonna press you. He probably remembers most of the stuff Xemnas learned about you, anyway.”
Lea’s eyes wandered from the floor to his quilt, and then to Isa’s face.
“Besides, it’s not only just Xemnas, is it?”
Despite Isa’s typical stony composure, Lea could see the slightest crack in it forming.
“I feel terrible.” Isa muttered. “I know who was in there reciprocating, but I don’t…”
He let out a tiny, tender sigh.
“…Xemnas acts like Xemnas, and Terra acts like Terra now. Them being separate people truly complicated it.”
Lea raised an incredulous eyebrow, muttering, “And you...like how Xemnas acts or something?”
“I guess I sort of do...and I guess I would in a more normal setting. I’m used to it. And, oddly, I suppose I associate his face with the experience even though they have the exact same one. Terra isn’t bad, of course, but I’m not used to him."
Isa paused, then added, "His perkiness is something new.”
“Different isn’t bad, you know.”
“I know. I just have a comfort zone I love to stick to. Having a routine, as drab as it was, was nice.”
“You sure do.”
"And, well, even though we thought we didn't have feelings..." Isa groaned, "...we did. So much for no-strings-attached. God damn it."
"I guess he was kind of a replacement for when I stopped hanging out with you and doing all the intimate nonsense, huh?" Lea guessed.
Replacement...
Isa groaned again. In his slightly-inebriated state, this was irritating him more than normal. He'd sort it out some other time.
“Can we talk about something else?" He asked, glaring at the ceiling, "Plenty else has happened, and it could stand to be discussed. We’re always circling back to the situation with Xemnas, these days.”
Lea frowned, retorting, “Isa, you basically gave a potential harbinger of doom a couch to crash on for a while. We’re all a tad worried about that.”
“As I’ve said, if he tries anything of that nature, I won’t hesitate to end him myself.”
“Dude, you’re emotionally constipated right now, you’re probably gonna come up with some excuse when that happens.”
“The most he’s doing is taking days-long depression naps at the moment.”
“Still, we saw what happened with Sora and Ven. If his personality and memories start bleeding into yours, I’m kicking his ass.”
Isa chuckled, imagining Xemnas and Lea squaring off in a fist-fight. While they probably would use their weapons, envisioning them just slapping each other around was oddly hilarious to his semi-inebriated mind.
Then he paused.
“Wait, would that mean you’d also kick mine?” He asked, more amused than offended.
“It’s a necessary evil!” Lea argued, shrugging defensively. "Do you want me to just astral project and kick his ass?"
<><><>
A little more than tipsy, Isa took a dark corridor home. He was good at caring for himself even while mildly drunk, but his emotional walls tended to drop faster than Demyx with responsibilities. He felt good and everyone would have been able to tell.
He stumbled into the small living room with a yawn and walked into the kitchen to get a considerably-sized glass of water and then went to the bedroom. Not in the mood to bother changing into his pajamas or putting up with sleeping in jeans, he stripped down to his underwear and socks and clambered into bed. He snuggled into the sheets, mentally remarking to himself about how soft and comfortable they were, then gravitated to Terra’s body heat.
Most of his emotional inhibitions and concerns about being into two people at once and how they stemmed from the same person were both swept away by this point.
“Are you aware your hair is amazing?” He mumbled into the back of Terra’s neck and, for some reason even he didn't know, massaged his shoulders.
Groggily, Terra lifted his head and looked over his shoulder at him. “Yuh—wha? Thanks.”
He laid his head back down as Isa snaked his arms around his waist and resumed nuzzling into his hair. He didn’t mind by any means. Terra was a rather touch-starved individual.
Ooh, the tight tri-blend t-shirt he was wearing felt luxurious. Terra chuckled, confused--as anyone would be--at Isa’s catlike kneading and rubbing of his shirt.
“Oh, cuddly.”
“Mmyeah.” Isa purred and attempted to wrap a leg around Terra too but gave up. “I’m in a good mood.”
“I can tell. That’s good.”
Is this what you’re like when you get drunk and let loose?
Like a koala to a eucalyptus tree, Isa clung to him and passed out without another word.
Watching the moonbeams slipping through the blinds scale the wall, Terra smiled. It'd been a while since they'd had any contact like that.
---
Isa could hold his alcohol, but damn if he wasn’t hurting pretty bad. At least the bed was warm, but if the sun would kindly come down so he could punch it and stop this headache coming on? He opened his bleary eyes and painfully glanced around.
“Morning.” Terra yawned through the fresh muscle-shirt he was pulling on over his head, padding over to Isa’s side of the bed. “You’re not too hungover, are you?”
“I’m fine.” Isa sighed as he rolled over and winced.
Nodding, Terra fixed his shirt and continued. “Good, because I wanted to ask if you wanted to go check out a world with me to make sure no funny business is happening.”
Isa paused, nodded, slipped out of bed, then meandered into the kitchen for breakfast. A simple answer was probably the most of a response he was going to get for now.
And then it was off to Neverland.
The gently swaying palm leaves stood out against the intense blue sky of Neverland. The heat washed over the two of them, prompting simultaneous groans. They were more acclimated to the frigid halls of the Castle That Never Was and the mild climate of Radiant Garden.
“Huh, we might have to go for a swim later.” Terra chuckled, hands on his hips as he gazed up at the cliffs above and the waterfall cascading down it.
He prayed those seagulls wouldn’t poop on them.
Isa loosely folded his arms and walked ahead.
“Let’s see to what we must first.” He suggested while he smeared sunscreen across his exposed arms and face.
“Well, yeah, of course. No reason why we can’t enjoy our time here, though.”
They entered the foliage while internally angsting about the horrific tactile experience that was sunscreen. They walked on in silence for a while, eyes snapping to anything that looked unusual. As it turned out, not a whole lot was happening, so they simply enjoyed the heat and smell of the sea. Not much was seen of the inhabitants aside from a ship drifting lazily along the horizon.
“It’s good to just be away from everything else. No people, no Unversed or Heartless, no chatter.” Terra sighed from his seat on one of the raised rocks at the coast cliffs.
Isa nodded and muttered a soft “absolutely.”
I wish I could find such peace elsewhere. No change, all play, no worries…
He took in another breath of the sea air and gazed out at the glittering water, hands sliding into his pockets.
…I wish I could have been a child for longer than I got the chance to, but far away from adults.
“Are you ready to keep going?” Terra asked, glancing over his shoulder.
“I’m ready when you are.”
They leisurely walked along the coast and the jungle, occasionally climbing up the cliff faces and wading through the streams. By the end of it, they were wet up to their knees and had a few mosquito bites.
Terra plopped down on a soft patch of grass in the shade of some massive palm trees, practically beaming at the comfortable resting spot and being able to rest his legs.
“I’ve heard of the crocodile here. I wonder if he’s still around and if he’s finally lost interest in that pirate.” Isa uttered while he did a few stretches.
“I have no idea, but if this world is as repetitive as other ones then probably not.”
“That’s true. I think I’ll go for a swim, then; it’s been a good decade or so since I’ve done that.”
“Really?” Terra asked thoughtfully, watching him slip his black v-neck off then unbuckle his belt with nimble fingers.
“Indeed. As it were, there’s not much water in Radiant Garden to swim in or anything beyond a bathtub or a puddle in the World That Never Was.”
“Yeah, those wouldn’t work.”
“Could please you assist me with the sunscreen, by the way?” He asked, already rubbing some on his chest and stomach which prompted Terra to watch his hand go over those washboard abs.
To be fair, that was to be expected when he had to build himself up to be strong enough to handle going berserk like he did.
“Your back?” Terra asked in return while being handed the tube.
“Yes.”
Isa turned around and rubbed the remaining sunscreen on his hands onto his shoulders.
“You are so tense.” Terra stated while he smeared some sunscreen on Isa’s upper back.
“It’s to be expected.”
“No, I mean, maybe you should see a chiropractor or something.”
“It’s not as though my back hurts.”
“Okay….”
Stressed just seemed to be the natural state of Isa.
Thanking him, Isa pulled off his boots and wiggled out of his pants then folded his clothes in a neat stack.
“Perhaps I should…” Isa mumbled to himself in contemplation, “…mm, no, there are flying children about.”
“Is skinny-dipping in the ocean really a good idea, anyway?”
Isa replied as he walked down to the sand then stepped into the water, “I just don’t want to walk around with soaked underwear.”
“I don’t think anyone does.”
Watching him wander further into the water (and admiring the muscles and shoulder blades sliding under his skin as he went), Terra leaned back on his elbows under the shade of a comically-large palm leaf.
He didn’t know how long he was sleeping, but he groggily lifted his head to the sound of…ticking? Wait, where did he hear that before, here? Something about the ocean, and pirates…?
Wide awake, he shot up and saw a dark submerged blob sidle up behind Isa.
“Oh, dammit, Isa!”
“I’m well aware,” Isa said, face emotionless in preparation and voice flat.
Terra cautiously but quickly made his way down to the shore and swore he saw a glint of gold in Isa’s eyes as he coiled back.
The crocodile shot up out of the water and was promptly slammed back down into it.
“The fool.” Was all Isa hissed as his grip left its snout and it swam back into the blue.
“Don’t go berserk on an innocent crocodile…”
“Were he innocent, he would have stayed tailing his usual hook-handed prey. Perhaps his curiosity got the best of him.”
Isa stepped in up to his waist then splayed out. As he floated, he looked Terra’s way.
“You said you wanted to swim, so why don’t you join me?”
“If you insist.” He shrugged, pulling off the replacement to his older tight shirt (which Isa was now wearing around the house as it fit him), his hakama khaki (khakima) pants, as well as his shoes. He smeared some sunscreen on as well as he could, took a few steps back, readied himself, then then dove into the water.
His head splashed through the surface, shaking his bangs out of his eyes in the process.
“If any more renegade crocodiles come along, I’ll protect you from them.” Isa chuckled lightly. “Though I’m sure my display scared them off.”
Terra waded further in and studied the sand below, watching the light distort and bend and cause it to shimmer.
“Yeah, I don’t think they’ll be interested in chomping on either of us after that. They'd have to deal with you being pissed at them.”
"I would say my reaction would be more akin to annoyance."
"Yeah, I guess. But if I have any crocodile problems, I'll just call you."
He got an amused snort from Isa. He wasn't in the mood for much small-talk, it seemed.
With a content sigh, Terra turned his eyes skyward and watched the fluffy clouds drift as lazily as he was.
We're going to be so tired when we get home... they both thought.
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In Case You Missed It Pt 7-2x02
When Ian goes to pick Mickey up from juvie, notice Mickey’s eyes don’t stray from Ian basically from the time he notices him.
Of course, he has to play it cool so he can’t show that he’s happy Ian’s there because Mandy still doesn’t know Mickey is gay, but let’s consider something: Maybe, despite all of the effort Ian has put into their arrangement and how hard Ian has clearly been pining after Mickey, *maybe* Mickey is surprised that Ian is there to pick him up. Maybe he really didn’t realize how dedicated this little goof was to him and is genuinely confused as to why his fuck-buddy is there.
Ian has a backup story (however bad it is) to excuse his desire to see Mickey as soon as possible. Of course, it’s completely silly and Mickey doesn’t buy it for a second.
Allow me a moment to point out a teeny detail regarding Mickey’s attitude towards women. He easily could have accepted Ian’s piss poor excuse, but Mickey will not allow his sister’s capability of defending herself to be insulted. He knows full damn well that young woman can kick major ass and as sweet as it is that Ian risked their secret going to see him, Mickey will not allow this piss poor excuse to belittle Mandy’s ability to defend herself because she is fully capable and she’s a Milkovich.
Now of course we need to talk about Mickey’s slight immaturity because I’m sure this next part irritated some people.
Let’s keep in mind however that these are not only siblings, but siblings who are close in age. And a lot of people seem to forget Mickey’s age at this point in the show anyway (maybe because Noel is significantly older? I don’t know...) But I’ll clarify for you. Ian is about a year and a half younger than Mickey and Ian probably just turned 15 when the show started so let’s assume that Mickey is a fresh 17 right now. Even though we seem to hold 17 year olds to a high maturity standard in our fiction, a lot of 17 year olds (in particular boys) in our reality are still SUPER immature! And that’s just how the cookie crumbles. I will also argue that for siblings this close in age it’s super easy to fall into immature behavior (such as titty twisters and juvenile bickering). I personally find this exchange hilarious though some people may find it odd or inappropriate.
Next comes the most beloved and hilarious example of Mickey’s immaturity, his clear disregard for authority.
This kid has probably never had to answer to any authority figure in his life other than his father and perhaps his mother before his stint in Juvie. We don't know if the Milkovich children have been in the foster system as it's already been established the Gallaghers have, we don't know if they have had to answer to authority figures such as teachers (for all we know they run rampant in school or just never go and of course Terry wouldn’t care one way or the other), we already know that shop owners are not off limits, we see Mickey effectively dodging law enforcement.... So who really has been in Mickey's life to show him a need for respect of authority figures?
No one before now that we can see.
He's now had to answer to authority figures in juvie and he likely learned how to get around authority figures in juvie from Iggy so he probably didn’t learn much while in there unfortunately. Other than that, it seems as though the Milkovich family has a habit of laughing at authority because they believe they can get around whatever trouble they find themselves in, in their struggle to survive.
Obviously because this is fiction, him flipping off authority figures is only funny because it’s fiction. If this were real life it wouldn't be, but as we connect these two situations (reality and fiction) let’s try to learn something from this: keep in mind that we know a lot more about Mickey than we would any random kid flipping off authority figures. We don't know why a lot of thugs don't have respect for authority figures because there can be numerous reasons that many of us will never understand. It could be that they have never had one, it could be that their authority figures taught them to be disrespectful to others and only respect them, it could be their authority figures didn't enforcing anything or prove that authority figures need to be respected and obeyed, for them we don't know if they have been raised to laugh at authority figures and believe that they are in fact above the law as I suspect Mickey has been.
So obviously I'm not excusing his disrespect for authority figures or condoning his blatant disrespect for police, but if we look at his background and we understand why he wouldn't have respect for authority figures, I think we can start to get a better picture of why thugs do not respond to law enforcement and do not answer to authority figures the way we in society expect them to.
Then we get a teeny glimpse of more Gallavich development as Ian leads Mickey away from brewing trouble. Notice at first Mickey allows himself to be lead away by Ian, but then remembers himself...
He seems to start accepting the affection before remembering that wall he’s supposed to have up. Remembering that this is not a relationship, it’s a friendship with some fucking involved. We have officially moved past just fucking into friendship territory...
So now let's move on to the baseball field scene. Here we are really seeing the friendship that Ian and Mickey have, and they have just bounced right back to where they left off, even developing past where they left off really. It’s possible that Ian visited Mickey a couple of times and what would we expect to happen from their actually sitting down and having no other choice BUT to talk to each other? That’s right, when they have no option to take their clothes off and can only talk it stands to reason that they would develop a true friendship. They aren't just fuck buddies anymore... they are actual friends and we didn't really get to see that in the first season.
But here we see Ian telling Mickey what he's been up to he's taking a lot of classes over the summer and Mickey’s engaging in the conversation, reacting and teasing him and going back and forth with him.
At first glance it may seem as though Mickey is dismissing Ian’s potential for achieving this goal, but here’s what I see. I see Mickey feeling unconcerned by the looming threat of Ian’s goals because Mickey is still in denial that he cares enough about what will happen to Ian some three or four years in the future since Ian is still too young to enlist and Mickey knows it. Because there is still so much time before Ian can enlist and Mickey is a very in the moment kind of guy, he doesn’t even acknowledge his concern for this kid though I’m sure deep down he’s impressed by Ian’s dedication. Of course though as we already mentioned, Mickey has a huge disregard for authority figures so Ian’s aspiring to not only subject himself to a career in which he’s surrounded by authority figures but then to himself become one is likely an irony that is not lost on this little thug. And if there *is* any anxiety that Mickey feels about Ian’s future, of course he’s going to cover it up with a joke because he’s still trying to convince himself that what he feels for Ian is a lot less than what it actually is.
BUT if we are going to talk about Mickey’s apparent disinterest in Ian, we HAVE to pay attention to The Look. Though hopefully this is the point where most Mickey haters even stop arguing that Mickey is disinterested in Ian, I’m going to show this anyway on the slim chance some people missed it.
Look at him watching every single move Ian makes. Think I’m crazy or that I’m reading too far into it?
There he is still watching him. Laughing with him, drinking him in.
Now here he is trying to act cool and “whatever” about it, but then look at the way he is drinking Ian in...
Look at how they look at each other here... Mickey is trying to act so nonchalant about just wanting to get to the sex, but look at his face! Look at how he is eating Ian up with his eyes and looks genuinely excited to be with him; there is a glitter in his eye that speaks volumes about how he’s actually feeling. And he maintains eye contact with Ian the. Entire. Time! I will scream until my dying breath that this Look says it all about how Mickey really feels about Ian. I think a lot of Mickey haters are missing the little details that Noel Fisher puts into this character to show that yes he is interested, yes he is falling in love just like Ian is (maybe not quite at the same time or the same pace but it is there) and that this is definitely going somewhere. He feels a connection with him, hence the eye contact, he loves the physical connection and chemistry they have, hence how desperately he wants to move on to the sex he’s been denied for a little over a year.
Now we're going to get into the depressing stuff... We're going to look at Mickey’s self-esteem and how he views himself. This is important for Mickey haters to see because how someone views themselves greatly impacts how they treat others and how they interact with others. So, Mickey values his strength and power above basically anything else and I argue he was raised to believe this both directly and through personal experience. He is an intelligent person despite how many jokes are made at Mickey's expense pointing out his lack of education, so when Ian just starts casually doing pull-ups, Mickey automatically jumps on that and tries to one up, and in fact doubles, Ian’s display, and brags that there's nothing else to do in the joint but work out.
When Ian suggests that Mickey could read (showing Ian’s value for education to reach goals and potential) Mickey scoffs.
Why? because we learn in season 3 that he has basically a freshman's education, he has not passed a single class in high school which is probably because of his involvement in his dad’s business, he’s now spent a good bit of time in Juvie and I can't imagine Juvie having a very promising education program (I am completely assuming, if someone knows differently, let me know), and even when he was in school he was paying Lip to write his papers for him so the chances of him taking education seriously in the first place is quite slim. So basically, Mickey never even got a chance to see the value in education and has learned that power and brawn is what gets you places, and anything about himself that does not contribute to those things he views as useless.
Now at first this may just seem like Mickey scoffing at the idea of reading because lots of people of all backgrounds dislike reading (OW my English major heart!!!) BUT what I even missed the first time, and Mickey haters may have missed, was this really sad and really revealing line showing Mickey’s whole outlook on his life.
It isn’t even so much that he doesn’t like to read (though it’s probably safe to assume there’s that too) but what’s the point of him getting an education? His father has trained him to be the perfect thug, to inspire fear in anyone so he can help out in daddy’s little drug ring despite his young age. All of Mickey’s dreams (if he ever had them) are down the toilet to him because even if he wanted to live a law-abiding life and do things the “right way,” he probably doesn’t even know where to start at this point, because he’s never had to do something “the right way” in his life; and besides that, his father would never let him go. Mickey’s been raised to believe the southside mentality, which is what Lip kept chanting to Fiona in season three, “the only way to make it in the southside is to scam it, or steal it.”
So because he has no trust in the system or in his own ability to make it on his own gifts, he has to develop himself in ways that are familiar, and what is familiar is the thug life. He's accustomed to stealing and scamming and threatening his way through survival, and he knows that book smarts are not going to help him with that.
So now he’s being forced to act as though he gives a shit about going straight in his life because a condition of his probation is to find legitimate employment. And even there, he has no idea where to start. He has a reputation for stealing and menacing so basically any storefront/retail is out, (could we ever see Mickey bussing tables????). His idea of what jobs he’s capable of doing, or expected to do reveals a lot about him and our society.
For Mickey his only options are the meat-packing plant and tarring roofs or some other form of construction or dangerous work. The fact that I just automatically sighed in pity for this boy due to these options reveals a lot about how our society views these workers. I feel like in media in particular these skilled workers are frequently stereotyped as having a record or being under-qualified (otherwise incapable) for anything else (ex. Law & Order SVU, most released rapists they question work in meat packing districts or construction), but the truth is if we didn’t have these workers, our country would fall apart real quick. Literally. Anyway, that was off-topic but I definitely felt needed to be said. Food for thought, you’re welcome. :)
This conversation also reveals Mickey’s lack of trust in the system. Keep in mind that Mickey is still young, 17, but the system is treating him as an adult despite the fact that he just came out of a juvenile detention center. Mickey is convinced his probation officer is going to find him a job definitely meant for adults and because it is a dangerous job, this reveals a disregard people feel for released criminals (even child aged ones) who are supposed to be getting rehabilitated to become productive members of society.
In this country it seems, once a criminal always a criminal. Mickey knows the system doesn’t believe in him, his father is going to make him go back to doing the same old shit, and no one cares about that factor, so why should he care? At this point it seems he’s just going to go through the motions until he gets caught doing something else and gets thrown in prison.
Going back to education, we know that Mickey’s smart (despite the many jokes made at his expense) because he's wicked good with numbers as we see in season 4, plus he is smart enough to skirt around the edges of the law (and whether we like to admit that or not it does show some intelligence. It does actually take a capable and intelligent person to get away with crime as much as we don't want to admit that).
So the heartbreaking thing about this moment is, Ian still has potential and can still make something of himself in a way that will satisfy society’s standards of a “good” citizen... Mickey doesn’t (or at least doesn’t believe he does). Ian also still has some trust in the system and still sees value in education. Ian’s optimism, while heartwarming, is not inspiring to Mickey because Mickey sees the realistic course of his life and has already accepted it.
Next we go back to examining their relationship development. We are seeing little glimpses of their friendship (the shotgunning, the talking, Ian trying to help Mickey with his probation) and this is super important. I don't think Mickey haters quite understand why this matters so much, but it matters because Mickey is participating in this relationship with Ian now. It isn't just having sex and leaving anymore, they talk they listen to each other, try to be an ally for each other, and that's the start of something huge.
So here we see another boundary set. Though the line has definitely moved as their friendship has developed, Mickey is still trying to keep a distance and in this case it’s by reminding Ian that talking about community college, making plans in this way is too domestic, too settled. These are the conversations that boyfriends have (at least as Mickey understands it). Ian, luckily, accepts this boundary and drops the subject. Ian, however, is still clearly pining after Mickey and wants to spend as much time with him as Mickey is willing to give.
Obviously this is a strange suggestion, but Ian is at least trying to help. At least working at the store Mickey wouldn’t be working a dangerous job where he could get hurt and they would get to spend more time together; a win-win!
Of course though, because it’s Mickey and he’s missed Ian (though he won’t admit to that at this point) he shuts down the more intimate discussion of jobs and the future, they go back to having sex.
So if anyone is honestly wanting to say Mickey isn’t genuinely into him... Look at that smug little smirk and tell me that boy isn’t smitten.
Moving on to Mickey's first shift at the Kash and Grab I want to look at this scene to further develop Mickey's background because I can't see anything controversial about Gallavich in particular. First and foremost, despite Linda automatically assuming Mickey is going to steal from the store (not that I can blame her, really)
Mickey is actually taking this job seriously. First he stops two kids who think they are going to stuff their pockets
And then Frank.
Considering Mickey has zero sense of control in his life and doesn’t believe that he will ever amount to more than a thug, it actually reveals a good deal that he is taking this job seriously and is putting forth even the minimal effort required.
Next, I’d also like to point out that the reason he feels his life will amount to nothing more than street success, if even that, is because of his Dad. It hasn’t been established WHAT exactly his Dad does. What we know at this point in the series is Terry is a jailbird, he and his children have a lack of respect for the cops, and he and his children sometimes do “runs”. In the future however we will hear some hints that Terry deals with a little bit of every genre of illegal activity from illegal weapon sales, drugs, to possibly mercenary work? In this scene we get a hint at the drugs.
Mickey quickly tries to set up shop for drugs when Lip and Kev are stocking up their ice cream van.
Mickey has been raised for this and probably is expected to help out in the family business, and has a limited conscience for it due to his exposure to this business. I can't prove that this is influenced by Terry, and I can’t prove that Mickey is being forced, but what I do know is that in future episodes I see some evidence that not only is Terry behind this but that Mickey isn’t too fond of the dirty business he’s been dragged into.
I also want to pay attention to Mickey's face when Kev says no to the hard stuff and Lip starts talking to Ian about his tutoring.
It could be that I am reading too deep into this... however just the way that the camera zoomed in on Mickey’s face when he was just standing there, and the way he looked away, he looked a little uncomfortable, maybe even a little sad... All of this makes it seem weighted and a deliberate choice which tells me it is in fact an insight to how Mickey is feeling. It makes me think that maybe he hadn't before consciously thought of what he was doing with his dad’s business; this leads me to believe that his role in this drug ring was involuntary and he probably never even thought of the effects that these harder drugs would have on people (especially young people) and this almost contemplative face makes me think that maybe this is the first time he's thinking about that.
Then lip tells Ian to keep practicing the geometry theorems. Mickey overhears this as well and I also think that sadness in his face comes from knowing that Ian has a future, Ian has potential and options, Ian can go so much further than Mickey can and maybe in a way Mickey is a little jealous of that.
So at first he questions why geometry theorems? Halfway through Ian’s explanation, Mickey gets a little distracted...
Anyway, here we are again with this foil of Ian's future and Mickey's contrasting futures. Mickey is likely doomed to Terry's life. He's being groomed into a mini Terry and let's be honest how many of us honestly want to become our parents, as in full replicas of our parents, whether you have a positive or negative relationship with your parents? Here Mickey is following Terry's footsteps as far as we can see; he has temper, he is in and out of juvie, and he's already started selling drugs for his father.
Ian on the other hand is the exact opposite of his father, which we see right after this conversation. Instead of following Frank's footsteps, Ian sees what happens when you don't chase after your full potential and so then here Ian is chasing after his full potential and doing everything he can to achieve his goals. I think that Mickey recognizes that and is maybe a little jealous that Ian has options that he will never have because he already has a record and already has a reputation that will keep him from achieving everything that he can achieve.
But of course, that reputation can come in handy too...
Mickey’s reputation commands obedience from lots of people in the south side and that’s because that’s how you get what you want in that community: fear and power. Ian is striving after military power and respect but doesn’t command that south side respect that Mickey does. This is something Mickey has over Ian at this point, despite his knowing that in the future, Ian will have the upper hand by far.
For now, Mickey returns to teasing Ian to re-establish their friendship dynamic.
And for a second, Ian brings it back to their constant unspoken conversation on sexuality. For the first time we do get true insight to what Mickey believes this is. He has definitely reduced his sexuality to a kink, though of course deep down he knows he’s genuinely attracted to men (Ian). This is the first time we see Mickey even starting to accept his sexuality and make it clear that his sexuality will not define him.
That’s all I’ve got for 2x02! Let me know if I missed anything or drop me a line to discuss something further!
Until next time lovelies! <3
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#shameless#shameless us#gallavich#ian gallagher#mickey milkovich#defend mickey milkovich#defend ian gallagher#stopping the mickey hate#stopping the Ian hate#defending gallavich#shameless 2x02#icymi#shameless icymi#icymi shameless#icymi gallavich
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Dimension 5
Dimension 5 was written by Arthur C. Pierce. He also wrote The Human Duplicators, which is a sillier movie than this one but only by a very narrow margin. Most of the cast are strangers to MST3K (although a surprising number of them appeared on Star Trek), but we do get to see Kam Tong and Robert Ito from Women of the Prehistoric Planet. That is also a sillier movie than this one, but again, only slightly. Above and beyond that, there are just a million tiny things in Dimension 5 that scream MST3K, and I'm sure the Brains would have had a ball with it.
Our Hero, who the movie wants us to consider the coolest guy in the world, is Justin Power. See? With a name like that, how could he not be amazing? He's a secret agent with a 'time converter', which is some kind of magic belt that looks like part of a circus acrobat's costume (there are plastic jewels on it) but actually allows the wearer to time travel and teleport. Power's current mission is to take on a Chinese terrorist organization, the Dragon, who are planning to explode an atomic bomb in Los Angeles. Along with the beautiful but perhaps not entirely trustworthy Kitty Tsu, he must track down the Dragon leader Big Buddha and foil his evil plot before Lex Luthor becomes the worth's wealthiest owner of seaside property.
The moment I knew this movie was destined for MST3K in some universe (even if it's sadly not ours) was when Power's boss at Espionage Inc arrives, walking with a cane. “Hello, Justin!” he says. “Hello, Cane!” Power replies. It was a weird, confused couple of moments before I realized that 'Caine' was the guy's name, and for the rest of the movie I kept giggling like a lunatic as I imagined Joel and Bots calling out Power's greetings to random inanimate objects. “Hello, Watch!” “Hello, Teapot!” “Hello, Obvious Concealed Bomb!”
I'm not making fun of the movie by calling the organization ‘Espionage Inc’, by the way. That's its actual name.
There are a hundred more moments that beg to be riffed. Consider the utterly baffling bit with a balancing spoon and a scientist who claims he's searcing for the anti-graviton. This feels like it should be setting up a plot point, but it's never mentioned again. A captured baddie is interrogated with a mind-reading torture device that's really just a salon hair dryer. Big Buddha's personal thug, Genghis, looks exactly like Tor Johnson. There's a scene in which Power calls his boss in the middle of the night just to mess with him, and multiple moments when his voice sounds exactly like Adam West. The Dragon apparently have a disintegrator ray and they never use it! If I were in charge of an evil organization with a fucking disintegrator ray, I wouldn't even bother with the stupid atom bomb!
The movie wants so badly to be about how cool Justin Power is. Its opening sequence plays like something you might see on a television screen within an episode of The Simpsons to suggest that a character is watching A Spy Movie. There's a car chase, and then Power kisses a girl before punching her and confiscating the gun she was about to pull out of her purse. He then leads some soldiers on a merry chase back and forth through a cave before being taken away by a very conspicuous helicopter. It all seems slightly desperate, like the movie is waving in our faces and yelling, “look! Our fearless Hero! Isn't he great? This is a spy movie!” Not to mention all the time spent implying that Power has bedded literally every woman he knows, from his female co-workers to the waitresses at his favourite restaurant.
The over-blown-ness of all this seems even more absurd when it's contrasted with Kitty Tsu's introduction. We first see her when she foils an assassination, with such skill that nobody even notices her doing it, even though they can tell somebody intervened. Unlike Power's introduction, Tsu's is also relevant to the plot – Power's opening serves only to be a James Bond wannabe and demonstrate the time converter. All that work put into telling us how cool he is, only for her to be six times cooler without getting a hair out of place.
In fact, the entire first half of the movie consists mostly of Tsu being smarter, more capable, and more on top of things than Power, to the point where I began to think it had to be intentional. Could it be, I wondered, that the film is deliberately making Power look like an idiot in order to parody macho spy movie cliches? Tsu is so far out of his league, both as a spy and a human being, that I really enjoyed watching her take him down peg by peg. She even turns out to have a backstory that's interwoven with the villains', giving her a personal stake in this story that Power just does not have. Surely, I thought, this all has to be on purpose. This is Kitty Tsu's movie, and Justin Power is her sidekick, not the other way around. Right?
Nope. In the final showdown with Big Buddha, Tsu has a monologue moment and is captured, and Power has to save her. Even with the motive given for her behaviour, I find it hard to believe she would be that stupid. I find it even harder to believe that in a crunch she would throw a gun to Power instead of shooting the bad guy herself. Then, in the closing scene, he continues the condescending 'lesson plan' he's been giving her the entire movie, and she responds by kissing him! All that time spent building her up as way more awesome than him was actually, I think, meant to show that she's worthy of retiring and raising his children. Fuck that. The end credits just left me pissed off that Tsu didn't ditch Power and go get her own movie franchise.
The end credits also contain the information that Ken Spalding played 'Negro Agent'.
Tsu is left in very much the same situation as Lisa Dornheimer from The Human Duplicators, in that she's an interesting character in an an interesting situation, well-placed to do something about it, and then... nothing. The viewer gets the idea that Arthur C. Pierce was quite good at coming up with female characters and quite bad at giving them a real role in the plot, preferring to lavish attention on his 'dynamic' male leads while not realizing that they're what's sucking the life out of the story. Human Duplicators would have been much better if Glenn Martin hadn't been the hero. Dimension 5 would have been better with Justin Power relegated to a supporting role.
The weirdest character moment in the movie, however, is at the very end. Power and Tsu have been captured by the Dragon and are about to be shipped to Hong Kong for torture and interrogation. The only thing that stops this is Big Buddha's masseuse. At a critical moment she just steps up and stabs her boss, I think because he'd earlier ordered the death of her boyfriend – I can't say for sure because the relationship is not set up at all. We never even met her until five minutes earlier. She provides the necessary distraction for Power and Tsu to escape, and then while Big Buddha is distracted by the ensuing fight, attacks him again and kills him. Then, as the audience sits there wondering what the hell just happened, the whole incident is rendered moot as Power and Tsu go back in time so that Espionage Inc. can stop any of this from happening in the first place. That was weird.
What else is going on in Dimension 5? Well, this is rather obviously a Yellow Peril movie. The plot to destroy Los Angeles is explicitly a communist one, carried out by agents who are posing as Americans. Restauranteur Kim Fong is Power's friend, but is helpless to do anything but watch when Dragon orders a hit on him. Nancy Ho claims she was born in California and has never even been to China, but she's a liar. Even Kitty Tsu, for all she's one of The Good Guys, has her own motives that are more to do with her native homeland than her adopted one. Despite the presence of token Agent Sato (significantly Japanese rather than Chinese), the theme seems to be that these people are not Americans, and cannot be trusted no matter what they say.
The Asian characters are furthermore a collection of stereotypes – cowards, schemers, dominant women, and sexless men. I think the film-makers may have been afraid that Big Buddha, an intimidating guy whom we see shirtless and being oiled up by a beautiful woman, would seem too sexual, so they put him in a wheelchair to imply that he's impotent. Sure, let's insult disabled people while we're here. And yet... this was in a time when Christopher Lee was still starring in Fu Manchu movies, so I guess I at least have to give them credit for casting almost all the Asian characters with Asian actors. The exception is Genghis, who (like Jang in Women of the Prehistoric Planet) is played by a Hawai'ian, Lee Kolima. I guess one could argue that the movie never explicitly says Genghis is supposed to be Chinese.
If you want a movie that makes for a good do-it-yourself MST3K episode, Dimension 5 is pretty much perfect. The list of things you can make fun of here is almost endless, but like the best of MST3K features, there's also a coherent story you can follow. Get some popcorn, some friends, and enough liquor to invent your own drinking game, and this one comes highly recommended.
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