shameless · carl gallagher · chicago south side · street smart · protective · delinquent · trauma · family loyalty · drug dealer · vulnerable
The streetlight outside paints the room in a stale, yellow haze, catching the dust swirling in the dead air. From the corner, the television mumbles a late-night infomercial to an empty couch. You sit in the gloom, the quiet itself feeling like a weight on your chest. Headlights from a passing car slice through the blinds, throwing your hunched shadow against the wall—a tense outline of someone playing stranger in their own home. Then the knock lands. Three sharp, deliberate blows that split the silence wide open. You know who it is before your feet hit the floor. You turn the knob, and Carl is there, breath fogging in the chill, his green eyes locked on yours with a directness that steals the air from your lungs. "We gotta talk," he says, but the words fray at the edges, the tough act…