Chapter 9: Doing My Best for Lip's Dignity
Lip didn't say a word.
He took a slow drag from his cigarette, then passed it to Ian, who accepted it with a dazed, uncertain look.
Without speaking, Lip went back to his bed, lifted the mattress, and pulled something out from underneath — a crudely taped-together magazine.
He tossed it across the room.
"Nothing serious," Lip said flatly.
"Just wanted to know if you've been giving other guys blowjobs.
Pure curiosity."
Ian froze, staring at the magazine in silence — his mind a tangled mess.
"What the hell is going on today?" he thought.
"First that random stranger somehow figures me out… and now my own brother?"
Yeah. Definitely his unlucky day.
His eyes darted toward Lip, but he didn't say anything.
Beside them, Carl was asleep with his headphones in — oblivious, drooling a little.
Even if he'd been awake, he probably wouldn't have cared.
At that age, Carl's "experiments" with women mostly involved putting dolls in microwaves just to see what would happen.
A rare and dangerous curiosity phase.
---
Then — thump, thump, thump — footsteps sounded downstairs.
Fiona was home.
The two brothers exchanged a look.
Carl stirred slightly, rubbing his eyes.
---
Downstairs
William sat awkwardly on the couch — or what passed for one.
He didn't even dare lean back.
The thing was sticky.
He couldn't tell if it was beer, sweat, or ten years of uncleaned misery.
Either way, his soul was in pain.
Cleanliness, in both his lives, was practically a religion.
And this sofa…
looked like it had been blessed by chaos itself.
---
"Beer?"
Fiona came over with three bottles.
She handed one to Veronica, then passed another to William.
He nodded, forcing a polite smile, and took it.
As Fiona turned away, laughing at something Veronica said,
William subtly wiped the bottle's rim with his sleeve.
Old habits die hard.
---
At that moment, Lip, Debbie, and Carl came down the stairs.
All three froze when they spotted the blond stranger sitting in their living room.
Their reactions couldn't have been more different:
Lip looked surprised but not hostile,
Carl didn't care much at all,
and Debbie — sweet, curious Debbie — looked absolutely fascinated.
A clean-cut, handsome man in a Gallagher house?
To her, that practically screamed new fling.
"Is this my sister's new boyfriend?" she thought, tilting her head.
Truth be told, normalcy was a rare commodity in the Gallagher household.
---
"Need me to check you over, sweetheart?" Veronica teased, sitting beside William with a grin.
"After all that action earlier, you might've pulled something."
Her tone was playful, but her eyes weren't.
She was definitely flirting.
William gave her a brief look — assessing.
The woman wasn't unattractive, exactly.
Her figure was impressive, and she had confidence, which helped.
But she wasn't his type — and more importantly, she wasn't part of any mission.
No risk, no reward. Not worth it.
And with [Freestyle Combat Mastery], he hadn't taken so much as a bruise anyway.
"I'm fine," he said quickly. "Didn't get hurt."
Better to shut that door early.
---
For a second, Veronica looked genuinely disappointed.
But she quickly recovered, smirking.
"Come on, give me some credit, handsome. I am a nurse, you know."
"Yeah, sure," Fiona said dryly, shooting her a look.
"More like a nurse who cleans bedpans."
Lip chimed in helpfully, "She works housekeeping at Cook County Hospital. Sheets, floors, the full package."
Veronica gasped. "Excuse me! I was accepted into nursing school!"
Fiona snorted.
"Uh-huh. Until you got kicked out for selling prescription meds on eBay."
Veronica blinked — caught off guard.
Her jaw dropped.
"You wanna maybe not embarrass me in front of strangers?" she snapped.
That jogged Fiona's memory — right, William might know Lip,
but not the rest of the family.
"Anyway," she said, brushing it off, "this is my brother Carl."
---
William smiled faintly and extended a hand.
"Nice to meet you, Carl."
Carl grinned, shaking it eagerly.
"Carl."
William watched him for a moment, thoughtful.
"The only Gallagher who turns out halfway normal," he mused.
"Grows up to be a cop — not bad for a South Side kid."
For once, William felt a flicker of respect.
At least someone in this house wouldn't end up on fire.
For a kid from the South Side, Carl Gallagher growing up to be a cop was nothing short of a miracle.
In this neighborhood, that was the stuff of legend.
---
"This is my sister, Debbie," Fiona said, tugging the younger girl closer.
William smiled politely.
"Nice to meet you, Debbie."
Debbie didn't answer.
Instead, she just stared at his coat.
"Nice jacket," she said finally, tilting her head.
"How much was it? Ten bucks?"
William raised an eyebrow.
On the surface, Debbie looked every bit the sweet little angel —
the kind of kid who'd fluff Frank's pillow when he passed out drunk.
But beneath that innocent act, the Gallagher schemer genes were already growing strong.
"Yup," William thought, "she's definitely eyeing my wallet."
---
Just then, Ian came downstairs.
Fiona gestured at him with a bright smile.
"And this is my other brother, Ian.
Oh, right — you two already met this morning, didn't you?
I saw you talking by the door."
William turned, meeting Ian's eyes — and immediately saw the panic behind them.
The poor kid looked dazed, clearly still reeling from Lip's discovery earlier.
Having your brother find out you're gay was bad enough —
but having the weird blond stranger who already knows your secret show up in your living room?
That was a full-on nightmare.
Ian froze for a moment, then awkwardly waved.
"H-hey, William."
Inside, though, his thoughts were chaos.
"Holy crap! This guy was talking about Fiona this morning — and now he's in my house?"
"What is happening today!?"
---
"Handsome," Veronica chimed in suddenly, leaning forward with curiosity,
"what do you do for a living?"
She'd been wondering since the moment he walked in.
William gave a casual shrug.
"College student."
That answer caught Lip's attention.
The kid glanced over from his seat, curiosity flickering across his face.
William noticed — and smirked slightly.
"Right… Lip. The prodigy who never quite catches a break."
He thought of Amanda — Lip's future girlfriend.
A rich girl with serious control issues, sure,
but compared to the rest of the women in this madhouse of a story,
she was practically a saint.
And being honest, her controlling streak was just standard issue for someone raised in wealth.
Still, letting Lip get crushed under Amanda's dominance felt like a waste of potential.
William sighed inwardly.
"Guess I'll have to take one for the team."
"All for Lip's dignity, of course."
He looked around the messy living room,
at Fiona flirting without realizing it,
at Veronica pretending not to,
and at Lip silently studying him like a math problem.
Then he grinned faintly.
"Yeah… for the sake of this family's future, I've got my work cut out for me."