Him & I (Gallavich fanfic AU)

One: Ian

"So you're a fuckin' stripper now, Ian?"
I glare up at my older brother, Lip. He was holding my bag of costumes and a piece of paper I've written my job's information on. I stay silent.
Lip sighs as he drags a hand down his face and stops to where his mouth is covered for a moment before he removes his hand to speak again, "What happened to you joining the army? You're nineteen! You've just graduated high school last year!"
I chuckle as I look down and shake my head, "Don't you remember when Monica came back over the summer and it was mostly me and her?" My eyes go back to looking up at Lip, "I don't really know or care where everyone else was, including you, but spending the summer with her made me realise-"
He scoffs, "Realise what? That you wanted to fuckin' forget your dream you've had since you were nine?! You fuckin' joined those ROTC programs!"
I roll my eyes, "You know what, fuck it," I begin as I stand from my bed to leave the room, "I'm not gonna explain myself anymore. No one ever fucking listens.. It's like I'm yelling at a wall..." I snatch my things from Lip's hands and go downstairs.
"Yeah, go on and suck that wall's dick!" Lip shouts after me. All I did was send a middle finger towards the direction of the room as I pass a confused Fiona.
"What's going on between you and Lip?"
I scoff and continue to the front door to get my boots on, "Why would you care?" Her hand was soon on top of mine on the doorknob to stop me from opening the door. I sigh and look down at her. She was looking at my bag of cheap metallic shorts and kinky accessories.
"What's in the bag?"
"He's a stripper, Fi."
"For fuck's sake, Lip.. Why can't you ever just mind your own business?!" I say as hot tears begin to fill my eyes and my nose starts to burn from the urge to cry.
"You're a stripper?! What happened to the army??" Fiona exasperates.
I tug my hand out from under hers and push past her and Lip to try the back door.
"Ian!" Lip calls out, but I ignore him as I leave the house.
Why did he have to go looking through my stuff? Why do they care all of a sudden? Everyone's got their own thing going on for them, so why is it now that they decide to focus on me? I sigh as I go up the steps of the train station to get to the platform. I honestly don't know where I'm going now, but it doesn't really matter as long as I'm away from those people. I chuckle to myself as I sit on a metal bench.
"Hey."
I flinch and look up at my friend, Mandy, who was now joining me on the bench, "Oh, hey.."
"What's up with you?" She asks as she sets her purse down on her lap.
I shrug, "They found out.."
"That you work at a strip club?"
I nod slightly and look down at my boots. She puts a hand on my shoulder,
"Are they kicking you out or something?"
"Not yet.." I scoff, "Probably will, though. Make one of those Gallagher ultimatums." I say as I roll my eyes. I then glance over at Mandy to see that she was staring at me while chewing the inside of her cheek.
"I would offer to let you stay at my place, but my dad is home and... Well, you know my dad.. He's a fuckin' ass..."
"Yeah, a homophobic ass.." We both laugh at my comment and look over at the train that was pulling up to our stop. I stand up and hold a hand out for Mandy. She thanks me as we get into a train car.
"Have any ideas on where you plan on staying?"
I shrug, "I'll probably just stay at a cheap motel near the club.."
She is now silent and appears to be thinking.
"Don't think too much about me, Mands. I'll figure something out."
She frowns, "What if..." Her face soon lights up with an idea as she turns to face me, "What if you stayed at my aunt's??"
"You have an aunt?"
Mandy nods, "Her name is Brenda. She lives a few blocks from our neighbourhood on Kedzie near that Exxon gas station."
"Hmm... You really think she'd let me stay with her?"
"Yeah, she's a nice woman once you get to know her." She chuckles, "I'll stop by and ask."
The train stops at my destination and I stand up from my seat, "Alright, I guess let me know what she says. See ya, Mandy." I say before stepping off.
I'm beginning to realise that I was going to my job, the Fairy Tale. It kind of makes sense. Maybe I can get a quick fix from my coworker, Bryce.
I walk in through the back and coincidentally see him. He's walking to the makeup station to put his eyeliner on. He sees me through the mirror and turns to face me,
"Ian, what're you doing here? Don't you start at eight?" He asks as he sharpens the liner pencil.
I nod, "Yeah, I just thought that maybe I'd come early..." I bite my lip and look over at our locker area, "You have any xans or coke or something?" I ask as I make my way to my locker.
I hear Bryce sigh, "Yeah.. They're in the brown bag in my locker."
I smirk, "Sweet..." I open his locker and look into the brown bag that promised some form of high. I see a few bars of xanax and a dime of coke, "Mind if I take a bar or two?" I ask and look back at him, "I'll pay you back."
Bryce looks hesitant as he stares at me through the mirror, "...Sure.. You still owe me though, Ian.."
I was already grabbing the two pills out of the five in his bag, leaving him with three, as I listened to him, "Oh?" I begin as I pop the xans into my mouth and dry swallow them. I turn to face him, "Since when?"
Bryce rolled his eyes, "Remember last week when we smoked a blunt after work?"
I bite my lip. He remembered...
He scoffs, "Yeah, you thought I forgot, didn't you?"
I feign that I care, "No! No, I didn't think you forgot! I'm the one who forgot!" I walk up to him and put my hands on his shoulders, "I'm sorry, Bryce.."
He looks down at my hands and seems to be contemplating something. He then has me let go of his shoulders and turns back towards the mirror, "You owe me twenty dollars, Gallagher."
I try to not roll my eyes as I say, "Of course, I got you after tonight."
"Don't see why you can't pay me now..." He mutters.
I pretend that I didn't hear what he said and go to the changing rooms to get ready for my shift.

Out on the floor, I saw many customers. Some old, some new. Currently, I'm looking at this one booth where a lot of my coworkers are. They must be working a party or something. Lucky them. I sigh and get up on the stage to start dancing for the money I need. I seriously need to get my own supply from now on. I can't keep track on the people I owe.
"Hey there, gingersnap! Wanna give me a lap dance?"
I look down at an older man who seemed to be in his fifties and smirk slightly. The older customers gave generous tips. I hop off the stage and take the man to a seat. He sits down, and right when he sits down I see the party booth again. The customers there were very attractive... I snap back to focus when I feel the old man pull me down to get on his lap. He whispers in my ear,
"Give you a good fifty for ten minutes, get going.."
I bite my lip and begin to grind my hips against his as his hands roam my ass. I try to keep eye contact so it makes the fantasy more personal. Hopefully he'll pay more for this. As I got up to sit the other way, I glanced back over at that one booth and saw one of the men eyeing me down. He was probably the most attractive one there. I sigh and face the other way to continue this lap dance.
I can't stop thinking about the guy... I swear I still feel his eyes on me.
I feel my customer's hand dig around his pockets to take something out and soon learn that it was his phone because I now hear him talking to whoever was calling. He was massaging my left thigh aggressively with his free hand. I think he's close to coming.
"Alright, alright! I'll be there in a bit!" I hear him say before he hangs up. He then pats my hip, signalling for me to get off, "Looks like I have to go." He quickly pulls out his wallet, "Here's your fifty, hopefully we'll have more time next time I'm here?"
I smile and take the fifty dollar bill and shove it in my shorts, "Of course, come back soon." As I turn away, I lose the fake flirtatious smile and get back on stage. I scan the crowd and see that the booth was no longer occupied. I kinda wish they were still there...