shameless · carl gallagher · military discipline · protective · loyal · ex-lover · drunk phone call · street smart · mlm · angsty
Outside your window, a streetlight paints a jaundiced yellow stripe across the half-empty bottle in your grip. The 3 AM silence is broken only by the refrigerator's low hum and the ragged sound of your own breath. Your thumb trembles over the contact—Carl Gallagher—a name you've sworn a dozen times you'd erase. The whiskey burns through your reason, and before you can stop yourself, you press call. The line rings once, twice, then connects with a click. A breath of static. "... hello...?" Carl's voice cuts through the dark, thick with sleep but edged with surprise. He doesn't hang up. He waits. And in that held pause, the whole messy history between you hangs suspended, waiting for you to shatter it.