Chapter Text
A rowdy group of people in heavy winter clothing are passing around alcohol and having a good time while they all watched a car burning in the middle of an empty lot. It might look odd, but this was just a typical Saturday for the residents who called the South Side of Chicago their home.
‘Nobody’s saying our neighborhood’s the Garden of Eden. Hell, some people say God avoid this place altogether. But it’s been a good home to us, to me and my kids, who I’m proud of…because every single one of them reminds me a little bit of me.’ The man narrating was among the crowd. Dirty blonde hair, blue eyes, 5ft9 and an Irish drunk in his mid-forties. Wearing secondhand dirty clothes, a cigarette in his mouth, a whiskey bottle in his hand, and looking like the epitome of Irish trash, was Frank Gallagher. A notorious resident of the South Side for being nothing but a hopeless and worthless narcissistic alcoholic and non-existent father to seven kids.
The eldest Gallagher was a young woman, 21 years old with olive skin, brown hair, and dark brown eyes. Even though she was wearing heavy layers she had an athletic, slim figure matching well with her height. ‘Fiona, my rock, huge help, has all the best qualities of her mother…except she’s not a raging psycho bitch.’ Through the narration we see Fiona take care of her younger siblings while they are doing homework. She got napkins and made them blow their noses into them.
The second oldest were the two twins, Theodore Theo/Teddy and Phillip Lip. Both were handsome but looked nothing alike, so you’d never suspect that they were twins. They were just fraternal twins, so they looked nothing alike, but they shared plenty. Both were incredibly intelligent and handsome, so they had no problems with the farer sex. Lip had blue eyes and short dark brown hair he left alone, so it was slightly curly while Theo had blonder hair he had a little longer, so it rested just above his ears, and it was more combed but had the same blue eyes.
One distinction that sort of added to the confusion of them being twins was that Theo was taller. Lip was about 5ft7 while Theo was taller at 5ft10-11, but it helped with his status as the older twin. Older by ten minutes and he never let Lip forget it. Lip took a swig of beer before he handed it to Theo who took a swig with his arm around his close friends who were all at the little car bonfire and passed the beer around. ‘My twins. Teddy and Lip. Both are smart as a whip. Straight A’s and the honor roll. The boys are definitely going somewhere. Especially Teddy. He’s always thinking up something.’ After the narration we see Lip running down the stairs of the El train with the transit cops right on him. While Lip is running from the cops, Theo is seen walking down the sidewalk of Chicago’s nicer neighborhoods, this time being Lincoln Park. He waited at the crosswalk with other pedestrians and then walked like he was heading somewhere and accidentally bumped into some people. He apologized and continued on but when no one was looking he pulled a modified I-Phone out of his pocket. On the screen read money captured with a total of several hundred dollars. He used his smarts to rig a device to wirelessly read the magnetic strips in credit cards to steal money. Using his smarts to make money and it was easy as pie with no one the wiser.
Next to Lip and Theo was their younger brother Ian Gallagher. A year younger than his older brothers with red hair, green eyes, and some freckles. About as tall as Lip at 5ft7. ‘Ian. Industrious, conscientious, ambitious, incredible work ethic. Don’t have a clue where he got that from. Wants to be a paratrooper. Knows how to disembowel an enemy with a roll of dimes and an old gym sock.’ The narration continues as Ian is in a ROTC class with other cadets handling M14s in practiced Honor guard movements.
Theo saw Carl drinking a beer, so he quickly pulled it away and shook his little brother on the head. He was only 8 years old and already a menace. ‘Carl…um, I don’t really know that much about Carl. Oh, loves animals. Always dragging home some poor stray he found, taking them up to his room.’ The narration belied the fact that it wasn’t for good reasons. Carl was in his room with a stray cat in one hand and a blowtorch in the other and a welding mask on his face to complete the look. Not good.
Sitting next to Fiona was her younger sister, Debbie Gallagher. Red hair like Ian, cute face, freckles and covered up with a thick winter coat. She was a year older than Carl. “Ah, Debbie, send by God, total angel. Raises money for UNICEF year-round, some of which she actually turns in.’ Debbie kept the money and put it into a sock for safekeeping.
Next to Debbie was a young dark-skinned baby less than a year old. The youngest Gallagher, Liam. ‘Liam. You’re gonna be a star. I’m not a biologist, but he looks a little bit like my first sponsor. He and the ex were close.’
With the Gallaghers were a couple, Kevin Ball and Veronica Fisher. Kevin was a tall white male at 6ft3 with curly black hair and hazel eyes. He owned the local bar of the South Side, the Alibi Room. Veronica Fisher was dark skinned with brown hair and much shorter at 5ft2. She worked as a nurse and she and Kevin were neighbors to the Gallaghers. ‘Kevin and Veronica, fantastic neighbors. There’s nothing they won’t do for each other…or to each other.’ The narration was right about that last part. They were…adventurous. ‘I never realized how little sex I was having till V and Kev moved next door.’
We then moved back to Frank, drinking another beer. ‘And me, Frank Gallagher, father, teacher, mentor. Captain of our little ship. We may not have much, but all of us, to a man…knows the most important thing in this life: We know how to fucking party! Wa-ha!’
Police and fire department sirens were heard, and they arrived to put out the fire and break up the party. Just another night on the Southside.