Trauma At Its Finest (Lip Gallagher X Male Reader)

Ch 88. A Political Dispute

With summer vacation ending, everyone goes back to their regular lives. For the kids, it means returning to school and moving up to the next grade. For the parents, it means fully getting back to work. Thus, the boss and his assistant are once again attending to their regular duties, with today involving a meeting with the team.

Inside one of the conference rooms, everyone listens as members of the team present their progress. However, Lip can't help but have other things on his mind.

"...As you can see, we're ahead of schedule." The project manager concludes, gesturing to the final slide with a confident smile. "Testing has been smooth, and the feedback from early trials is already promising. This should make the Q3 projections very achievable."

As Lip listens, he feels the urge to smoke again. As much as he wants to resist the craving, he desperately wants some kind of stress relief. Thus, the boss forces a small smile.

"Good." Lip says after a beat, his voice sounding distant even to himself. "Keep me posted on the testing metrics."

He barely waits for the usual closing remarks before excusing himself.

"Just need to go to the restroom. Be back soon."

Instead of heading there, however, he leaves the conference room and takes the stairs downstairs. It doesn't take long before he reaches the parking lot. Moving a little away from the building, he reaches into his pocket and pulls out a lighter and a cigarette. Soon enough, he lights it and begins smoking.

"I thought you quit."

Lip looks a bit startled that someone caught him. He glances to the side and sees Mandy.

"Grown tired of the nicotine patches?"

Lip sighs. "Don't tell Y/N. I don't wanna hear about lung cancer and shit."

"I'll take it to the grave."

Mandy joins him, leaning against the wall nearby. As she watches her boss, she notices how stressed he looks despite trying to hide it.

"You really are nervous, huh?"

"...I'm fucking scared."

Just two weeks remain until Y/N's surgery.

Lip is beyond relieved that nothing major has happened to his husband's lungs. The only serious incident he can remember is when Y/N coughed up blood after his fight with Vlad, but that's it. Still, the boss can't shake his fear of what could happen.

"You know it's just a surgery." Mandy isn't entirely sure why Lip is so stressed. "Nowadays, people barely die from that kind of thing."

Even with that logic—which he keeps repeating to himself—Lip still feels anxious.

"...It's just a lot of bad memories. Y/N got shot. We had this huge fight... and I told him maybe we should break up." Lip looks back at Mandy as she listens closely. "He almost died afterward. I know I'm overreacting, but if Y/N had died that day... I wouldn't be here. And it freaks me the fuck out that the guy I love, the guy who's always there whenever I have even the dumbest problems, could die. I know it's a fucking cliché, but I can't live without him."

"Well... at least you know you're being paranoid, and I understand where you're coming from." Mandy assures him as Lip continues taking drags from his cigarette. "Maybe you need some time to unwind?"

"Not now—"

"Yes, now."

Mandy sounds more insistent, causing Lip to look back at her.