Trauma At Its Finest (Lip Gallagher X Male Reader)

Ch 57. The Cycle Of Bad Jobs

With another morning comes another day of commotion. Today, they'll be hearing whether or not Frank will plead guilty to the several crimes he's committed. Since they know the man all too well, they assume he'll plead innocent, so they don't have their hopes up. What does stress Lip, however, is the lack of income from his fiancé.

"How many times have you been fired from your job?" Lip asks, a bit annoyed as he feeds Mikhail and Alyosha, who are sitting in their highchairs.

Across the table, Y/N is feeding the youngest children one by one—starting with Maksim. "Why do you sound so judgmental?"

"God, I don't know. Maybe because you've been borrowing money from Vlad for, what, three or four months?"

"It's hard to get a well-paid job, alright?" Y/N replies defensively. "Nowadays you need a degree and several years of experience just to get hired."

"And the jobs you do get, you get fired from." Lip mutters—quietly, but loud enough for Y/N to hear.

"I'm sorry if the customers were acting like bitches. What was I supposed to do? Let them complain to me?"

"Maybe not call them pathetic?" Lip shoots back with a bit of snark.

Y/N sighs and rolls his eyes. "Look, I don't even enjoy working. Every job I get is just dull. Maybe if it was something I actually liked, I'd do better."

Lip finds the solution to that problem obvious. "Then get a job you find fun."

"Besides singing, there's nothing I enjoy."

Lip quietly sighs, getting tired of the cycle. At this point, he just wants solutions instead of complaints. As he thinks, his eyes wander to the dishes sitting on the counter, giving him an idea.

"Have you tried cooking?"

"No."

"Why not?" Lip looks surprised—Y/N cooks almost every day and yet hasn't thought of becoming a chef or something similar. "You're good at it."

"Yeah, that's true." Y/N admits. "I'll look for something."

Lip can't help but make one last comment. "And don't get fired..."

-

The Gallaghers are once again in the courtroom. This time, however, they're rooting for someone's downfall. It isn't just the family who's there for him — Kev and V are present as well, along with Mickey. Not only those who know him personally, but even a representative from the fertility clinic has shown up. It takes a few minutes before Frank's name is finally called.

Although they knew they'd see him, Lip and Y/N can't help but feel their blood boil. The blonde still has nightmares about what happened — and he blames his father.

As Frank sits down, looking completely unbothered by the situation, the family can't tell if he's bluffing or if he actually has a trick up his sleeve. Still, it's hard to justify kidnapping children when there's solid evidence against him.

The stern-looking judge then speaks up. "Frank Gallagher, you stand accused of multiple counts, including kidnapping, arson, blackmail, fraud, and various assaults. How do you plead?"

Frank stands up. Before answering, he glances around until his eyes lock on Lip and Y/N — as if to rub salt in their wounds. Then, smirking, he looks back at the judge.

"Not guilty, Your Honor."

Multiple people in the courtroom gasp and murmur in disbelief, surprised Frank would actually plead that way. But those who know Frank aren't shocked.