“Shameless”: The Ballad Of Ian And Mickey

My little brother (who’s straight) recently turned me on to Showtime’s Shameless by declaring that “you’d like it, there’s a gay storyline but it’s totally fucked up and violent but the two gay dudes are awesome.” He was talking about Ian Gallagher and Mickey Milkovich (played by actors Cameron Monaghan and Noel Fisher). Ian’s a high-schooler from a completely dysfunctional, semi-criminal family on the south side of Chicago who just wants to escape into the Armed Forces. Mickey is a full-on homophobic thug with anger management issues. And they’re both gay and (we think) totally in love with each other. I have never seen a gay coupling like this on TV. You can’t really call it realistic seeing as the show is a big farce, and any sane person would run screaming from a closeted sociopath like Mickey. But their relationship has this distinct sweetness to it, as you watch two rough n’ tumble young dudes from the ghetto fall for each other. Their coupling is violent and insane, but compelling as fuck. The most recent episode had Mickey introduce Ian to anal beads, and wow, did I have a boner (despite being an urban terrorist, Mickey is a bottom). I had a boner until Mickey’s virulently homophobic dad caught them together and it got really awful, really fast.

Anyway, Ian and Mickey are a whole new angle on the depiction of gay relationships on TV so they deserved a post. It also helps that they are bareass a lot of the time and both sexy as fuck in a twinky way. Well, in a brawling, gun-firing, closeted aggro twinky way. Check out some clips from the show below. Keep in mind the last one gets really violent and scary. You’ve been warned. Damn, I hope they bounce back from that.