Trauma At Its Finest (Lip Gallagher X Male Reader)

Ch 50. Steps To The Right Directions

"Are you sure this will work?"

Sitting in the waiting room of a therapist's office, Lip waits for his appointment. Y/N sits beside him, determined to make sure his boyfriend actually went through with it. After a lot of convincing, the blonde finally gave in to try therapy, though he isn't excited in the slightest.

"It worked for couple's therapy. I imagine it'll work for this too." Y/N answers. "Besides, better to try than not."

"I dunno..." Lip sounds doubtful. "It's just talking. I don't want some old lady with four cats knowing about my life problems."

"They can't share what you say. If they do, we can sue them."

"That's not what I'm worried about." Lip shakes his head. "It's just the talking. It's... not something I do."

"Neither do I, but clearly we need to." Y/N replies. Lip still looks unconvinced. "If you're not gonna do it for yourself, then do it for the kids."

Lip sighs, remembering his nightmare too vividly. Despite not wanting this, he keeps in mind who he's doing it for. "Fine..."

Y/N wraps an arm around him. "And I'll be right beside you."

Lip looks back at him. Even after all the anger, Y/N only wants solutions. With a simple nod, the Gallagher agrees.

Soon enough, a professionally dressed woman enters the waiting room. "Mr. Gallagher?"

The couple follow her inside, taking seats across from the desk. Mrs. Owens sits on the other side, pen and notepad in hand. Lip feels awkward, tense, already dreading having to talk about his feelings of all things—but he also feels Y/N's presence beside him, pushing him forward. He can't blame his boyfriend for it.

"I guess this all began when Y/N got shot... That's when the nightmares started. I often wake up from them and just... stay awake. I feel like something bad's about to happen all the time..."

Mrs. Owens hums thoughtfully. "What are the nightmares about?"

Lip hesitates. Y/N rests a hand gently on his back, grounding him.

"Where do I even begin? There are just so many of them..."

Y/N speaks up. "We've been through a lot the past year. There's... a lot that needs explaining."

"Then how about we start with you getting shot." Mrs. Owens suggests. "Whenever you're ready, Mr. Gallagher."

With a deep breath, Lip begins. He's told this story before—at rehab, in AA meetings—but the anxiety of sharing it never really goes away. He talks about Y/N getting shot, how that drove him to drink again—though just once. That's when he explains his first nightmare, where Mikhail and Alyosha kicked him out for being a drunk.

Not long after, he moves to the tragedy of Phil. How excited he was to be having another son, only to never meet him at all—learning the truth five days later. How he was acing his exams at the same time one of his children died, while Maksim was fighting to stay alive.

He talks about his fear of repeating Frank's mistakes—only worse. In his nightmares, he becomes an abusive father. In his waking hours, he lives with the terror of one slip costing his kids everything.

It doesn't stop with the past year. Lip digs deeper. Back to Mickey, trying to convince him to stop Mandy from leaving, only to have her disappear anyway. Back to Helene—how he thought it was love, only to realize it was just sex. Back to Amanda, how he cared for her before he betrayed her with Helene. And finally, back to Karen—how he thought he'd spend his whole life with her and raise a son, only to have that dream ripped away as a lie.