Chapter Text
Ian Gallagher woke up today at five, his alarm sounding and pulling him from his sleep. He takes a second to push the button on his phone to silence it. If it's the first alarm, he allows himself to fall back to sleep, by the second alarm he sits up and onto the side of the bed. Sometimes when he's not fully awake, the only way to know if he's home or out of town for work is the difference in what his feet feel when he hits the floor. If it's soft carpet, or cold floor 99% of the time it meant he was in a hotel somewhere, and if it was warm hardwood floors it meant he was home. Today, he could feel the warm hard floor. Home.
When he's home he'll spend his mornings in his gym, lifting, or most of the time, running on the treadmill. Running clears his head for the day and gets in his cardio and lifting is purely to keep his body in shape, which was a requirement for his job.
Being one of the top paid male models sounds fun, and sure, sometimes it has its perks, but really, it's just constant work. His social life becomes work, if you aren't hanging out with the right people you aren't shit, then you become irrelevant, and nobody wants that. His love life becomes work because being an out and proud gay man in an industry where male models are supposed to appeal to women isn't acceptable, according to his manager, Amy. His vacations even become work with having to post ads on social media and making sure that you're keeping up with everything at all times. Work, work, and more work.
After he's done with a work out he showers, taking his time to properly clean his skin and exfoliate . He washes and conditions his hair, and once he's done in the shower, he'll sit at the vanity counter and, apply various amounts of lotions and creams to keep his skin looking smooth and blemish free. It feels like a whole bunch of bullshit sometimes, but yet again, it's all work. Ian doesn't do this shit for himself, he does it so he can keep living and working in the industry.
Once he's dressed in something casual like a v-neck and jeans he'll make a quick smoothie to go and run out the door because his phone went off 15 minutes ago alerting him that the car was downstairs to pick him up. He thought about getting his own car once, but it's rare that he's home, and most people who lived in New York didn't own a car anyways. So the black SUV sits outside his apartment.
By the time Ian makes it to the studio his manager is already there waiting at the door for him. He knew she was going to be pissed, and was close to not even getting out of the car to deal with her, but then there she was, approaching the door to open it for him.
"Ian, for fuck’s sake, you fired another assistant?" Amy was a tiny little blonde thing but when she got angry Ian had to admit he was a little scared of her, especially if she was in work mode and had on her signature black suit. He made his way from the car and into the building, and she was just a few steps behind as he turned his head back to reply.
"Find someone who isn't annoying and maybe they can keep their job, for fuck’s sake! Amy, she sat crying in that hotel in Peru for two hours about how she missed her kids and wanted to go home, so I let her."
"Okay, what about the girl before that? She was really nice and did a great job and yet you still fired her."
They made their way to the dressing rooms of the familiar studio, which belonged to the agency Ian had been hired under. He was there to model some new bullshit swimwear line from the looks of the beach set up they had going on, trying to get a jump on the summer ad photos, without having to go to an actual beach in the middle of winter. Half the time, he didn't even know what the job was till he arrived. As long as he wasn't doing full frontal nudity, he was cool with almost anything as long as it paid well, and he was making close to $80,000 for this photo shoot, so he'll put on a smile and do his job.
"The girl with the blue hair? Are you serious? She was the one who never answered the phone when I called her! Too busy with her boyfriend half the time to even do her job." Ian sat in the make-up chair, now waiting for the hired make-up artist to come in and get to work.
"It's not easy finding people with no life and are able to drop everything they are doing to travel for work. I'd like to see you do one better." Amy stood in the door frame now, arms folded across her chest while she looked in on Ian.
"I told you I don't need anyone, I can handle it." The woman had come in now for make-up, followed by another woman who hung the wardrobe he would be wearing for the day, a bunch of blue red and orange swimming trunks and tank tops from what Ian could see.
"Right, which is why you are almost always late getting places when you are out of town or even in town for that matter"
Ian rolled his eyes at that, the job didn't start till he got there anyways, so why did it matter if he was late or not? It still got done.
"I can't keep getting calls about you not showing up on time, I'm your manager Ian, I book you jobs and make your deals. It's not in my job description to help you run your life."
"No matter how many people you hire, I'm telling you it's not gonna work out. I don't need anyone controlling my life." He felt like a kid after he said it, Not a 24 year old man.
"Jesus, Ian nobody is controlling you, it's called help. Learn to take it when offered."
Ian rolled his eyes again and then it was quiet between the two of them, Amy doing something on her phone while the woman doing his make-up finished up with him. Once finished, she left the room and the other woman took things over telling Ian about the clothing and asking him what he thought looked good and what didn't, not that it would matter but they always tried to make him feel like he had a say it, once they had a few choices picked out, it was time for him to change.
"Well, if you'll excuse me, ladies." He looked at the stylist and Amy and moved his hand towards the door, the other woman walking past Amy as she left.
"I think I found you someone, a guy this time. He's supposed to be here in an hour, so can you please just do me a favor and not fire him until after your trip to London?" She held her hands up in prayer while holding her phone in between them, begging Ian.
"A guy huh? You think I'm gonna like him more?" He wasn't trying to be a dick, but messing with Amy was fun sometimes, and the people she always hired really were pathetic, always trying to tell Ian what to do and how to do it. He had been working as a model since he was 19, so he felt like he sorta knew it all and didn't need anyone's help.
"Very funny, now get dressed and go to work." Amy pocketed her phone and headed towards the other end of the building where the offices were. Some people would tell them they acted like brother and sister, but deep down he always had that feeling that Amy hated him, and only stuck around because she made good money off of him.
Once finished with wardrobe, he made his way to the set and went to work. The photographer gave him small directions, letting Ian pose and find the right angle so the light would bounce off his chest and make his body look good, all while showing off the swim trunks the company was paying him to wear. He was paler than normal, it was the middle of January and he hadn't gotten much sun lately, so he made a mental note to set up a spray tan before he headed to London.
Ian was in the middle of cleaning off the make-up after getting changed back into his street clothes once the shoot was done, when Amy walked in, but she wasn't alone this time, though.
"Ian, I'd like you to meet Mickey Milkovich, your new assistant." The guy stepped around Amy and closer to Ian, holding his hand out for a handshake, but Ian didn't reach back in return. He only nodded at the guy, and continued to gather up his bags of free shit the company had given him for doing the photo shoot. Mickey put his hand down when Ian didn't take it and stepped back behind Amy.
"He's got everything we are looking for right now and I think he'll be a good fit." She was using what Ian called her business voice, trying to keep things professional in front of the new guy, when really he knew she would have cursed him out by now for not shaking the guy's hand.
Mickey reached out again this time towards the bags in Ian's hands. "Here, let me help you." ‘New guy trying to win points,’ Ian thought, but he didn't let go, he just raised his eyebrows at the guy, giving him a signal to back off. He was being a jerk, he knew it, he just didn't care.
"Just trying to help, man." Mickey spat back as he backed up once again. Ian wasn't expecting that.
Ian took that moment to really look at the guy, he was short, maybe an inch or two taller than Amy, but he would come up to Ian's shoulder if he were standing next to him. Black hair that was slightly shaved on the sides but longer up top, not styled but also not messy looking. He had on a black hoodie with some type of white lettering on it, advertising a bar, a pair of black gloves covering his hands, dark fitted blue jeans with a couple of holes in them, and some black boots that looked worn and old.
When Ian's eyes traveled back up from where they had been at Mickey's lower half, he looked at his face now. The man looked back at him, a look of confusion on his face, after clearly catching Ian checking him out.
"What are you looking at?" Mickey asked and at first Ian was going to reply with attitude, or maybe not even reply at all, but changed his mind and went down another route.
"Ooo, snarky and cute, maybe I'll let you stick around for a while." Without missing a beat, Ian winked at him, leaving Mickey with his mouth open just slightly, and quickly turning his head to look away from Ian's stare.
"Okay, boys, that's enough. Ian will be seeing you tomorrow. Mickey, enjoy the rest of your night." Amy walked with him back to the front doors, but didn't stop herself from turning and giving Ian the evil eye. Amy knew he was gay, she didn't care what he did in his downtime and personal life, as long as it didn't leak out to media, and Ian knew saying something like that in front of someone they barely knew was risky but he couldn't help himself.
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Mickey needed the job. Hell, he had actually wanted the job. He had been working as an assistant now for around six years and found that the job fit perfectly with his lifestyle. At the age of 26, most people he knew were starting to settle down, get married, have kids, typical bullshit. Mickey wanted more out of life, he didn't want to be tied down, stuck, not going anywhere, so traveling around while basically babysitting a full grown adult turned out to be the perfect job for him.
He had worked with various people over the years, his last job being with a musician who was a little twat that got famous because of the internet. The kid was only 17, but acted like he was 30 and knew anything and everything about the world. He had only traveled and worked with him for a few months around the states, nothing international. Most of his jobs weren't. After being bitched at by the kid’s mom over absolutely everything, Mickey vowed to never work with anyone under the age of 21 again. Which is why when the opportunity came up to work with someone close to his age, he was eager and ready to work.
Meeting Ian, he wasn't that eager anymore, since the guy was a dick only after spending maybe a total of 3 minutes together. He was stuck with another client he didn't like, but couldn't just quit again. Quitting two jobs in a row like that wouldn't look good, and could really screw things up for him, so for now he would just have to tough it out.
The meeting with Amy had gone so well beforehand, too. She was nice, ran down how things usually worked with Ian, and how most of his traveling was frequently between New York, Los Angeles, and London, but they traveled pretty much everywhere. Amy explained to him that they could spend only a few hours in each place a day, it was a lot of traveling, and it could get intense sometimes, so if Mickey hadn't been able to handle it, he should walk.
After meeting Ian, he was let go for the day. Amy had told him he would start official work tomorrow morning bright and early. She e-mailed him a list of contact info for herself and for Ian - phone numbers, social media, stuff Mickey should have in his phone. She also sent along Ian's schedule for the next 2 months, and it looked like they would be spending their first week working together in London. Mickey had only been there once for work years ago. He didn't have any downtime then, but this time it looked like he would have at least one day, which was exciting. There was also a list of snacks/food Ian liked to have while he traveled that Mickey would have to pick up, using the credit card Amy had also given after he signed a bunch of papers, stating he wouldn't use it for anything other than business, and that he wouldn't talk to anyone about Ian's life. The typical crap he always had to sign.
Mickey spent the rest of his afternoon packing his own bags, making sure he had everything he would need to be away from home for a week. He spent hours going over Ian's schedule, making sure all of the small details of the trip to London were taken care of, like cars to and from the hotels from whatever event or photo shoot they were at, food options that were near the hotel where they would be staying, making sure the hotel was confirmed, the private jet confirmed, anything and everything you could think of to make the trip effortless on Ian's side of things.
Mickey knew how to do his job and did it well, the only part that was difficult was the actual person he was working with. This was his first time working with someone who had as much fame as Ian did. He had known the dude's face from seeing it on billboards and ads, so he was clearly well known, not that Mickey really gave a shit. As far as he was concerned, Ian was just another rich dude who hired people to do his dirty work.
The job didn't require him to get to know Ian on a personal level, he just had to know enough, and a quick google search told him everything he needed to know. Ian was a little bit of a party boy, he liked to go out, drink, and spend his time with other famous people. Most of the articles Mickey found about him were interviews, but here and there were a few claiming Ian was a ladies man, being photographed leaving bars and restaurants with different women all the time. Mickey was only slightly thrown off, because back at the studio, he thought for sure Ian had been flirting with him and checking him out, but looks like he was wrong.
The paparazzi photos led Mickey to the images search on Google, which pulled up a shit ton of photos Ian had posed for in the past. Some of them were shirtless, even a couple of them popping up where he was almost nude once Mickey scrolled more, Anyone in their right mind could see the guy was hot, and sure, Mickey was gay and would be attracted to him if he had just come across these photos randomly. Knowing just a little bit of who Ian Gallagher was is a big turn off, plus he never ever got involved with his clients like that, because for 1. he could be fired, and 2. he kept his personal feelings out of his work.
Going to sleep that night, Mickey was nervous. Not like a worried type of nervous, but that kind of nervous you got when you were excited. This was one of the best parts about his job, it was unpredictable sometimes, and Mickey loved it.