biological 》ian gallagher

five

Ian woke up to a slight shuffling coming from beside him. Upon turning his head, he saw Rosie wrapping her arms around his left one. Her arms had to have been a quarter of the size of Ian's, which made him laugh silently. Slowly, he pulled his arm out of the lock she had on it, accidentally making her wake up, too. Ian grinned at her, warmly.

"Good morning." He smiled, standing up to rummage through his dresser drawers to find clean clothes. Rosie slowly sat up, rubbing her eyes, before watching every move her father made. "Do you have a toothbrush?" He asked her, sitting down on the bed next to her, reaching down for her small, pink, backpack. She nodded, as he pulled out, practically everything, from the bag.

She had a toothbrush, three other outfits, a small, original, stuffed brown bear, the Army hat, and an envelope, with the name IAN written on the front. Ian glanced over at Rosie with confusion, who had all of her interest on the purple sun dress, straightening out the bottom of it.

Ian couldn't help but notice the lack of weight in the envelope, although it had a thickness to it. Eagerly opening the envelope, his fingertips grazed upon the countless twenty dollar bills. He grinned slightly, feeling relief wash over him. This should buy him more time from Fiona.

Before he would let the chance of anyone seeing the envelope from happening, he stuffed it underneath his shirts, in his dresser drawer.

"Come on, get up, sleeping beauty." He smiled at Rosie, who followed his orders, pulling along with her, the purple dress and her toothbrush.

Ian led her to the bathroom, where they would both brush their teeth in sync.

"Daddy, my hair is messy." Rosie stated, running her tiny fingers through her red locks. Ian quickly grabbed the brush from the counter, going behind Rosie to run it through her hair, gently.

"What do you want to do today?" Ian asked, to try and find more about what Rosie liked and didn't like. He already knew that she loved the color pink, and purple, apparently, judging by the dress she chose. But, she just shrugged her small shoulders in response, forcing Ian to think of something, instead.

Ian stopped brushing her hair, running his fingers through it to make sure he got out all of the tangled knots.

"Okay, you put this dress on, I'll be downstairs." Ian stated with a weak smile, to which Rosie nodded at with a grin. Turning around to leave the bathroom, he noticed Carl looking through the doorway at the two of them. Ian closed the bathroom door, passing Carl by as he went back to his bedroom to change.

"Okay, seriously, who is that?" Carl asked, following Ian into the bedroom. Ian pulled his shirt off, over his head, feeling hesitant to tell Carl. But, Carl was never one to be so judgemental, especially towards family. Carl was an optimist.

"Your niece." Ian stated, bluntly, putting on a plain black t-shirt. Carl didn't respond at first, as he thought of what to say next.

"Thought you were gay?" Lucky for Ian, Carl could be just as straightforward and blunt as anyone else.

"Yeah." Ian said with a breath, glancing over at Carl. Carl got the message, knowing Ian didn't want to explain any further. Sure, Carl was an optimistic boy, but there were some things you never discussed with Carl. One of those things were anything about sex.

After Carl left, feeling satisfied enough by his response, Ian had changed his pants, too. After Ian was done, he went downstairs, and was greeted by Lip, who was pouring a cup of coffee for himself. When Lip noticed his brother, a smile came to his face.

"Holy shit, the man himself has risen." Lip joked, approaching his younger brother, before pulling him into a loose hug. "Where the fuck you been, huh?"

"I could ask you the same." Ian grinned, remembering that Lip wasn't home at all yesterday.

"College." Lip said, before bringing the coffee cup to his lips to drink.

"Army." Ian responded, nonchalantly. It made Lip's eyes widen, momentarily, and his eyebrows furrow in confusion.

"Do I want to know?" Lip asked, as Ian sat down at the table. At this time, Fiona had came into the kitchen, too.

"Trust me, you don't." Fiona said, half jokingly, and half serious.