After all that "thing" with Ian and his friend Trevor, Guest ended up getting close to him and, later, to his family. In other words: now Guest was kind of part of the Gallaghers' craziness.

It was good, chaotic, noisy, often stressful... but good. Guest helped out whenever he could and pretty much got along with everyone, especially Ian – since he was the first Gallagher Guest met – and Debbie – He really likes her cute little daughter.

Guest also gets along very well with Carl – and his strange girlfriends –, Liam, Fiona – and her strange boyfriends (this family has serious problems in their love lives) – and those neighbors: Veronica, Kev, and their cute twins – sometimes Guest even helps with them because, again, he loves children.

But then there's Lip. Lip Gallagher.

The two aren't close, they don't talk much beyond the bare minimum, and it's usually vague and banal things... sometimes they only talk out of necessity, like to give a warning or just because they're in the same group chat.

Why? Well, he's... weird.

Like, okay, everyone in this family is weird. And it's not just about him being a jerk who just yells and has alcohol problems... he also stares.

A lot.

Like, he stares at Guest all the time, and when Guest looks back, he looks away and pretends it didn't happen. He barely talks to Guest, practically ignores him, and sometimes when Guest arrives he walks away, it's weird.

Guest assumes he hates him or just doesn't like him, maybe because Guest's a trans guy like Trevor – who told Guest that the first thing he said when he saw him was that he looked like a "real guy"- Lip doesn't like Guest, or maybe he doesn't even have a reason. Guest didn't ask and won't.

He's not yelling at Guest, Guest's not yeling at him, nobody's insulting each other, hitting each other, or arguing... so it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter.

Now it's night and Guest, like a good friend, came to look after Franny since Debbie is busy with... whatever she has to do at 11 PM on a Tuesday night.

Anyway, the baby fell asleep and it seems the rest of the house did too, so Guest decided he want a cigarette and he definitely won't smoke near a child, so he went downstairs.

The house is silent, dark... practically empty since everyone is in their rooms. He walks cautiously, slowly, lightly, just trying to avoid making noise so as not to disturb anyone while he goes down the stairs.

He passes through the living room, then the kitchen, and then go outside: it's cold, but his coat keeps him warm. The moon is bright, the sky is clear and dark, the street is practically empty, but he can still hear the chaos of the neighborhood.

As soon as he sit on the first step, he felt a presence behind him that made him jump, turning towards it with wide eyes and arched eyebrows.

Lip.