A Different Kind Of Dysfunction - A Shameless Fanfiction (Book One)

Keira didn’t mean to end up at Ian’s again.

She wasn’t looking for anything.

Not a hookup.
Not advice.
Not even comfort.

She just needed somewhere quiet — and the Gallagher house, somehow, was the closest thing to that on the South Side.

It was barely 9 p.m., but Liam was already asleep on the couch, and Carl was off with Leah somewhere. Lip and Sophie were in the backyard working on their car. Debbie had a friend over and was upstairs, door shut.

Only Ian was in the kitchen — barefoot, hoodie on, stirring something in a pan that smelled vaguely like burnt onions and defeat.

Keira hovered in the doorway.

“You always cook like you’re mad at the ingredients?”

Ian glanced back and grinned. “You always show up without knocking?”

She smirked. “Your front door doesn’t lock. Don’t act like it’s exclusive.”

He stepped back from the stove and handed her the wooden spoon. “Stir that. You break it, you’re buying pizza.”

Keira took it without argument.

They didn’t talk for a few minutes.

Just stirred and salted and moved around each other like they’d done this a hundred times.

Maybe they had.

---

When they finally sat down at the counter — two chipped bowls, two cans of Coke, nothing fancy — Keira was the first to break the silence.

“I think I’m losing it.”

Ian didn’t flinch.

“What kind of losing it?” he asked.

Keira looked down at her food, untouched.

“I don’t know. The kind where everything feels too loud and too quiet at the same time.”

Ian took a slow sip of soda.

“You’re not the only one.”

She looked up.

“I used to think if I just kept everything together — grades, face, attitude — it would get better. Or at least make sense.”

Ian nodded slowly. “Did it?”

“No.”

Keira smiled bitterly.

“It just made me numb.”

Ian leaned on his elbow.

“You don’t seem numb.”

“I fake it really well.”

---

She set down her fork.

“I hate feeling out of control,” she said. “And right now, everything’s spinning.”

“Lily,” Ian said quietly.

Keira nodded. “Tessa caught her high. Rory got suspended. Adeline’s barely hanging on. Sylvia—”

She stopped.

Took a breath.

“She’s not even the problem anymore. It’s the damage she already did. It’s like we’re all walking around trying to patch holes in a sinking ship.”

Ian was quiet for a second.

Then: “You think you’re supposed to fix it?”

Keira nodded. “Someone has to.”

“Why you?”

“Because I don’t cry about it. Because I don’t break.”

“Yet.”

She looked at him sharply.

He didn’t apologize.

“You don’t get points for bleeding quietly,” he said. “Not with me.”

That hit harder than she expected.

Keira looked away, suddenly blinking too fast.

“I don’t know how to be anything else.”

Ian reached across the counter, his fingers brushing hers lightly.

“You’re allowed to fall apart.”

“I don’t have time.”

“You don’t need time. You need space.”

She met his eyes.

And for a second — just a second — she let herself admit how tired she really was.

“I don’t even know what I want,” she whispered. “Some days I just want to run. Others I want to scream. And sometimes I just want to feel... something real.”

Ian held her gaze.

“I’m real.”

Keira swallowed.

“I know.”

---

The silence stretched.

But it wasn’t heavy.

It was warm.

Like something they were building brick by brick.

Not rushed.
Not forced.

Earned.

“I used to think love was a distraction,” Keira said softly.

Ian nodded. “Sometimes it is.”

“But this doesn’t feel like that.”

He smiled. “What does it feel like?”

She thought about it.

About late-night texts.
About quiet porch conversations.
About the way he never asked for anything — just offered space.

“It feels like breathing,” she said. “Like I forget I’m drowning for a second.”

Ian didn’t say anything.

He just moved around the counter, came to her side, and wrapped his arms around her gently.

Not possessive.
Not needy.

Just there.

Keira rested her head on his shoulder.

And for the first time in weeks — maybe months — she let herself exhale.

---

They didn’t kiss that night.

Didn’t need to.

Some things build slow.

Some things are solid because they take time.

And Keira — for once — wasn’t afraid of time.

[Word count: ~716 words]