Trauma At Its Finest (Lip Gallagher X Male Reader)

Author Notes

Hey, if you made it this far, thank you very much for reading and enjoying the story! This is by far the longest story I've ever written, and I'm not sure I'll write something this long again for quite a while.

Anyway, since this is an important milestone, I thought I'd add some behind-the-scenes details that may interest you, as well as some of my thoughts looking back on the story and the writing process. I've also separated these into different paragraphs to make them easier to read, so if any of these topics interest you, you can jump to those sections.

How Lip Became My Favorite Character

After I ran out of shows on my watchlist, people recommended that I watch Shameless. I did, and I instantly became uncomfortable with the amount of nudity, so I wanted to watch something else. Still, I found it fun.

I pushed through, though, and I ended up really loving it. Ever since I was young, whenever I played The Sims, I always created families with way too many kids. I never made a normal family—only families that were far too big and chaotic. I think that's the biggest reason why I ended up loving the show so much.

Still, just because the concept is good doesn't mean the characters are good. Luckily, I liked the characters. (At least most of them. Looking at you, Debbie.)

When I started the show, I liked Lip, but I didn't necessarily love him. Matter of fact, I liked Ian more at first because I felt that a lot of gay guys in media are portrayed as, "I'm gay and insecure, but I'm still doing girly things." Ian didn't fit into that mold. While he was hiding his sexuality, it felt more like he simply didn't care what other people thought, and I found that refreshing.

However, as the show continued, I liked Lip more and more. What ultimately earned him the number one spot for me was the entire arc where he thought he was going to be the father of Karen's baby. He was such a sweetheart throughout the whole thing. He was willing to sacrifice his entire future just to be a dad and avoid becoming a terrible father like Frank. I found that really endearing.

Then, when it was revealed that the baby wasn't his, my heart broke for him. It felt like no matter what life threw at him, he was constantly getting dealt a bad hand and forced to deal with it.

Lip's parental nature comes back later in the show when Liam almost overdoses on Fiona's drugs, causing Lip to step up as a big brother and take care of him for a while. I found it really sweet how he tried to balance school while also looking after Liam.

Throughout the series, Lip is constantly put into awful situations, whether because of his alcoholism, his bad habits, or just sheer bad luck. I felt so bad for him that it almost became depressing to watch the show at times, but I still felt hopeful for him.

That was until the end of the show.

I absolutely hate the ending of Shameless. It felt like, throughout the final season, Lip was being kicked down at every opportunity. Whether it was losing his job, drinking again—even if it may have only been a one-time slip-up—or failing to sell the house properly, it all became too depressing.

What's worse is that, by this point, he could arguably be considered the main character since Fiona left and Frank's dementia began taking over his storyline. Not to mention that all of Lip's siblings seemed to get some kind of happy ending.

Ian and Mickey got an apartment and started talking about having children. Debbie found a new girlfriend she could relate to after feeling hopeless. Carl and his cop friend discussed opening a bar. Liam was still a kid and was going to live with Lip.