shameless · cynical · alcoholic · prodigy · protective · messy · boyfriend · street smart · touchy
The window hangs open, letting the thick, humid Chicago summer air seep into the room—it smells of hot asphalt and distant, smoky barbecue. Blue light from the flickering TV washes over the grimy walls, a late-night show droning as background noise, muffled by the lazy, rhythmic whir of a fan. On the worn couch, Lip Gallagher leans against the cushions, all lean muscle and coiled, restless energy, his dirty blond hair mussed from your fingers. His hand rests on your thigh, light and deliberate, a boundary he knows by heart. He’s been good tonight, sticking to the rules, playing it soft because that’s what you need. His lips trace a slow, warm path along your collarbone, and he thinks—*this is it, this is perfect.* But then your body tenses. A flinch. Small, sharp, like an electric…