all in favor | ian gallagher

SCREW LOOSE [TWO]

Poor. Fearful. Misunderstood.

Adjectives that the second youngest child would use to describe his family. Even he didn't enjoy the monotony of life. He was grateful. They all were. Some of them just didn't prove it.

Carl felt left out from their dinners, game nights, and fires. Fiona had treated him better than either parent ever could yet he still would ditch if someone allowed him to. Nonetheless, Carl would show them that he serious. Although the result of his choices would do more harm than good.

Not a moment after his favorite ginger crossed the threshold, practically the entire group was latching onto him as if he were a telescope for a view of the stars.

"Ian Clayton Gallagher, you better have an explanation," Fiona growled, dragging her brother by the forearm and into the next room.

Twice in a row. Twice in a single week Carl had to see the person he loved storm across the hallway with hot tears welling up in his eyes. Whoever did this to Ian would pay. And Carl would guarantee it.

"Nah uh. Sit down, young man."

Imitating Lip's uptight look, Carl rolled his eyes and continued his way through their house.

Meanwhile, Fiona pointed a finger at the boy on the rug with ugly incisions and purplish-green bruises.

"I told you to stay away from them!" she told Ian, exasperated.

Ian peeled off the ends of his fingernails to avoid his sister's wraith. Anything he could do to go back and fix his foolish, naive, adolescent mistakes— he'd do.

On the other side of the coin... if she got hurt, he'd rather be buried alive.

Petal hadn't contacted him since their encounter with Mickey days prior. Slowly but surely, the Gallaghers would connect these pieces and come to a conclusion.

Their brother was becoming enamored. It was no surprise to any of them. Well, except for Carl and Debbie. They were too young to understand what love was. Given that their parents were the definition of a toxic relationship, it wasn't much of a surprise.

"How else was I gonna stop their dumbasses?" retorted Ian.

His head lifted off the carpet for a brief moment to give his sister a shrug.

"We know how reckless the Milkoviches are. Listen, if there's one lesson they've taught me, it's to trust your instinct. Because if you don't, shit goes down."

Part of her sentence was true, Ian had no issue admitting that. As much as he wished for people to defend him, he had to remind himself of how nobody could be there every time he gets into trouble.

-

At Petal's house across town, things weren't different. Oddly enough, her siblings pinpointed a change, too.

"Mom, I told you— I don't have feelings for him."

Gretchen, her mother, laughed softly to herself before patting her daughter's knee.

"Guess what? When I was your age, I said the exact same to my mother. Now I'm married to the man I was telling her about!" she joyfully exclaimed.

Shaking her head with a grin, Petal arose from her chair at the table and went in her bedroom. There, she drew her curtains to have the west side warmth pool through her window.

Five days had already passed following her time spent along Ian Gallagher and the mysterious boy after him. She was sorry for Ian. No kid his age should be targeted by someone Mickey's age. It rubbed her the wrong way.