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Ian buttons up the dress shirt his mother had bought for him in the previous week.
He runs a hand through his hair and looks in the mirror.
He looks fine, but he’s not really feeling it.
Eighteen is supposed to be the age where everything is amazing, and it was in a way.
It was just that Ian had always lived like this.
He had always lived in a castle, which sounded really 1800’s, it was more of a mansion, really but that’s besides the point.
He had always lived in a huge house with his mother and father and he had never had anything that he needed to worry about, at least not normal things.
Sure, he worried about being a good person, and he worried about being his own person because there was a lot of people around him telling him who he should be, what he should stand for and it was sickening.
Ian knew no one meant these things in a bad way, the people around him cared, they did. It was just that today - or more precisely in an hour, he was eighteen years old.
And the closer he got to it, the more apparent it was becoming that he wasn’t living the life he wanted to.
Ian was lucky that everyone around him had accepted him being into guys and not girls, but it was just kind of… lame to live like this.
And he didn’t know if that was the right word, because lame implied that he was worried what other people would think and that wasn’t it at all.
If he was honest, Ian didn’t completely know what the fuck to feel.
He had a good life, and a part of him knew he should stay in this house forever, but he didn’t want that.
He wanted to backpack through Europe, and he wanted to go to London, and he wanted to go to College and live in a dorm.
The problem was that whenever he brought these things up, everyone around him would shut down, and they didn’t even do it consciously.
Ian wasn’t going to do these things because he didn’t ’need to’ - because it wasn’t ’what princes did’.
The scariest part? Now Ian was eighteen, and he could do whatever the fuck he wanted, and yet - he wasn’t brave enough.
No one noticed Ian as he exited his room and walked out into the rest of the house, he’s kind of happy about it too.
He’s never been one of those people who loves social events, or even socializing at all.
Alas, when your family is this rich, and this important, you kind of don’t have a choice.
”Ian, honey? Everybody is downstairs. Your father will be home shortly”
Ian nods and paints a grin onto his face as he walks away from his mother and down the stairs.
The party isn’t lame. In fact, it’s actually kind of cool.
There’s beer, food, loud music and so many people that the house feels like it’s a million degrees.
Ian kind of likes it in a way, but on the other hand, he doesn’t know the names of half these people even though he recognizes most of them.
This isn’t really his scene, but this is still his eighteenth birthday part, so he figures he should at least try to have fun.
And he does. He tries, and he actually succeeds.
He talks and eats and acts social, he accepts the birthday wishes with a smile on his face, and soon he’s forgotten everything about not having a good time.
”Ian” Ian turns around and comes face to face with his father.
The atmosphere in the room changes, the music turns down because nobody wants to make Ian’s father upset, they all respect him too much.
”Father” Ian greets, wishing - not for the first time - that they were a normal family and he could just say
”Hey, dad” or ”Hi, pops”
But that wasn’t what his parents were like.
Sure, they allowed this party, but it was his eighteenth birthday and there were adults everywhere making sure nothing too ’inappropriate’ was going on.
”I have an announcement”
Ian’s father raises his voice and Ian quirks a brow, wondering what in the actual fuck is going on.
He wouldn’t make this as big of a deal if he were just to wish Ian happy birthday or give him a gift.
The room is quiet and Ian is holding his breath.
Whatever the fuck his father has planned, he has a feeling he won’t like it too much.
”Ian, my son”
”Fuck” Ian mumbles, so quietly he can barely hear himself.
”You have asked for a lot of things for your birthday, but there is only one thing I can give you that would bring you happiness and a future”
Ian closes his eyes.
Please don’t say it. Please don’t say it. Please don’t say it.
'”My son, you are getting married to the prince of Ukraine. Mikhailo Milkovich”
Ian tried to stop himself from rolling his eyes, really.
He did.
But he did it any way.
Ian had had a feeling his father would promise him to somebody, but this was worse that he ever could have imagined.
Mikhailo Milkovich was an asshole, and he wasn’t even going to let himself feel bad for using that word.
Ian hadn’t seen Mikhailo since they were around ten years old but he doubted he had changed or ever would.
This guy’s family was practically the same as Ian’s, but he didn’t see how he could have become such a huge dick.
Ian didn’t have a problem with getting married young, it’s nothing he would have chosen but he had accepted it.
It was getting married to Mikhailo he had a problem with.
”Ian, smile!”
His mother whispered into his ear, snapping him out of whatever planet he was on.
He looked up and smiled at nothing.
”Ian, I have another surprise” His father said, this time to just him and not the entire room.
The people had gone back to talking amongst themselves anyway.
”What is it now?” Ian just barely managed to keep his voice leveled.
As he turned around to face his father, he came face to face with not only him, but also someone else.
”Mikhailo” Ian greeted calmly, but the guy scrunched his nose.
”Fuck that shit, man. I’m Mickey now”
”Mickey, we don’t use that kind of language” A lady warned from behind him, probably some kind of nanny or some shit who followed him into the country. Ian knew his parents wouldn’t let him travel alone either for a few years.
Their families were too high profile and too much could go wrong.
”Whatever” Mikha - Mickey sighed. Mickey looked at Ian up and down, as if he was trying to figure him out.
”You have something to do with this?” He finally asked after a few minutes of sizing the redhead up. Ian immediately shook his head.
”No. I don’t wanna marry you, are you insane?”
”Don’t say that, I.G” Ian’s father warned from behind him. ”Why don’t you two go somewhere and get acquainted?”
It sounded like he wanted them to go and fuck, but Ian knew that wasn’t how he meant it so he didn’t comment on it.
Although he wasn’t thrilled with who his father had picked out for him, he knew that he had to marry Mickey, and there wasn’t anything he should or could do about it.
So Ian rolled his eyes and gestured for his fiance to follow him.
They walked side by side until they were in a completely different part of the building, they could barely hear the muffled music anymore.
Ian had to admit that Mikhailo… Mickey had changed quite a bit since the last time they saw each other.
Of course it was almost a decade ago, but still.
Mickey was quiet, and Ian guessed that that was what threw him off the most because the Mickey he remembered was anything but quiet.
”So…” Ian started, feeling like the silence was getting a little bit heavier than what he could handle.
He stopped walking and turned towards Mickey.
”So?” Mickey cocked a brow.
”I don’t have anything to do with this. Did you?”
”’Course not. Why would I wanna marry an asshole like you?” Mickey snorted and Ian tried his hardest not to be offended.
”Pretty sure you’re the asshole. Why else would I have spent the past ten years hating your guts?”
”You hate me? Too bad I’m gonna be your husband. You’re a fucking hot head by the way. You got pissed about everything” Mickey commented with a smirk on his face as he stuck a cigarette between his lips and lighting it up.
Normally, Ian wouldn’t like it but he had too much already going on in his mushy brain.
Yelling at Mickey for smoking wasn’t on his list of priorities right now to say the least.
”Yeah” Ian sighed instead, sliding down the wall to sit on the floor.
Mickey joined him, sitting a little bit closer than what Ian thought was necessary.
Alas, he’d have to get used to this.
”These arranged marriages really suck, huh?”
Ian grabbed he cigarette out of Mickey’s mouth before he really knew what he was doing.
He took a puff and then Mickey grabbed it again.
”Guess they work out. Sometimes” Mickey mumbled.
”If the people match. We don’t. Obviously” Ian chuckled and Mickey raised a brow.
”I don’t know, man. We’ve spent the better half of the past half hour, talking as if we knew each other since birth”
Ian registered the words and quirked a brow.
Mickey was right.
”Our parents still suck”
”That they do. Don’t worry, Gallagher. We’ll find a way not to be miserable”
”Yeah?” Ian turned his head towards his fiance. ”How?”
A side of Mickey’s mouth went up as they inched closer together.
”Figure we’re gonna be married soon. Might as well practice, right?”
Ian smiled for a second and then their lips were moving together.
It was nicotine, teeth and tongue, the intensity of the kiss growing with every second.
Soon, Mickey was straddling his fiance, Ian holding his hips in a firm grip as he massaged Mickey’s tongue with his own.
”You’re still a fucking asshole” Ian breathed once they had pulled apart.
”Still a fucking hot head” Mickey insulted back before connecting their lips again, making them forget why they had even been against this in the first place.
It may have to move faster than they would have liked, but their marriage was going to be fucking amazing.