Chapter Text
The Gallagher house was pure chaos. It definitely wasn't anything new but this time, Ian was the reason for it.
“Do you really need this many pairs of jeans?” Fiona’s voice came from somewhere behind him as she shoved another crumpled hoodie into the already overstuffed duffel bag on his bed. “You’re not moving to the middle of nowhere. They have laundry there.”
“They also have weather,” Ian shot back, trying to zip the bag shut while Lip sat in the corner smirking like he was watching a bad sitcom.
“College boy’s gonna come back wearing loafers and a sweater tied around his neck,” Lip said leaning back in his chair. “Bet you ten bucks.”
“Keep your money,” Ian muttered. “You’ll need it when your liver gives out.”
Carl barged in like he’d been listening from the hallway. “Are you gonna hook up with like a ton of dudes?”
Ian blinked, deadpan. “Sure, Carl.”
That seemed to satisfy him, though he grabbed Ian’s phone off the dresser on his way out. Ian yelled after him, but Carl was already gone. He was probably trying to figure out if Ian had any nudes saved.
“Hey,” Liam piped up from the doorway, holding onto the hem of his oversized t-shirt. “Can I have one of your hoodies? The black one.”
Ian sighed, pulling the hoodie off the bed and tossing it to him. “Take care of it. And no getting paint on it this time.”
Liam grinned and disappeared down the hall.
Frank chose that moment to stumble in, a half-empty beer in his hand. “My boy! Off to higher education. You’re gonna do great things. Join a frat, get some rich girl pregnant”
“Right, Frank.” Ian cut in, shoving past him with another bag before Fiona could yell.
Ian shoved the last box into Lip’s beat-up truck when Debbie appeared in the doorway, with her arms crossed and her shirt sleeves over her hands.
“You got everything?” she asked flatly.
“Pretty much. You gonna say bye or just stand there mean-mugging me?”
She rolled her eyes, trudging down the steps. “Whatever. It’s not like you’re moving to the moon. You’ll be back next week begging for leftovers.”
Ian smirked. “We don’t even have leftovers.”
“That’s not the point,” she muttered, staring at the ground. “Just, don’t turn into some college asshole. And call. Sometimes.”
His chest tightened. He pulled her into a hug before she could dodge. She hugged back, quick and tight, then pulled away with a scoff. “Okay, go before this gets weird.”
“It’s already weird,” he grinned.
“Shut the fuck up and get in the truck.”
As the truck pulled away, she lingered on the porch with her phone in hand, watching until it turned the corner.
—
The drive to campus was crowded. Fiona was driving, Lip was in the passenger seat, and Ian was squished in the back with boxes and a backpack wedged against him. Lip kept making snide remarks about the “ivory tower” and how Ian would probably start calling it university instead of college.
By the time they pulled up to the dorms, Ian was more than ready to get out.
The campus was busy, to say the least. Too many people going in too many directions, all with the same wide-eyed what the hell am I doing here look. The dorm itself was a squat brick building that looked like it had survived multiple decades and probably a small fire.
Unpacking was quick but messy. Ian’s roommate wasn’t around yet, so he dumped his stuff on one side, set up his fan, and made the bed. He was halfway through deciding if he wanted to unpack now or later when he decided to get coffee.
The campus coffee shop was loud and smelled like burnt espresso. He didn't expect to see someone he knew since most people from the Southside never really made it to college. Until he saw a slightly familiar face. It was the same girl he saw at orientation. She had been leaning on a wall, glaring at the welcome banner with a slightly familiar scowl. They ended up making a small conversation about how fake the whole thing had felt. She was cool in that sort of unfiltered way that he liked. She was easy to spot. She had black eyeliner, ripped jeans, her hair pulled back in a messy knot. She waved him over, a lazy grin on her face.
“Look at you,” she said, eyeing him up and down. “Freshman glow.”
“More like exhaustion,” Ian said, simply. He sat down at the table after she waved him towards the seat across from her.
“I've been there, for sure. But it's better than being stuck in the Southside.”
Ian paused for a moment slightly taken aback not expecting any people to come from the same place as him. The college definitely wasn’t some Ivy League, but it was far enough from the Southside to feel like another planet.
He raised an eyebrow. “You're from there too?”
She smirked like she knew more than she was letting on. “Something like that.”
The two talked and caught up, learning that they actually lived in neighborhoods close to each other and even went to the same middle school.
“Small world,” Mandy said with a shrug, leaning back in her chair. “Guess my fuckin’ brother wasn’t lying when he said everyone from the Southside’s connected somehow.”
Ian tilted his head, about to ask more, but the barista shouted an order loud enough to make them both glance toward the counter. By the time he looked back, she was sipping her coffee like she hadn’t just dropped a breadcrumb he couldn’t quite place.
They drifted into easier topics like classes, professors, where to get the best weed, and the best places to get food that didn’t taste like cardboard. Mandy had opinions on everything, half of them sarcastic and all of them unfiltered. Ian found himself laughing a lot more than he expected.
“You’ll figure it out,” she said as she tossed the last of her cold coffee into the trash. “College is just like the Southside except everyone’s pretending to be cooler than they are.” She stood, slinging her bag over one shoulder. “Anyway, I gotta run. Try not to get lost.”
“Yeah,” Ian said, watching her weave through the crowd and out the door.
He lingered a little longer, tapping his fingers against the table. Fuckin' brother. The words stuck in his head for no reason he could explain, and even when he finally stood to leave, they followed him all the way back across
By the time Ian made it back to the dorm, his roommate still hadn’t shown which was fine by him. He shoved the last of his clothes into the dresser, grabbed a notebook, and headed out again.
The walk to his first lecture was easy enough. There were tree-lined paths, kids biking past, and flyers for clubs he’d never join stapled to every bulletin board. He eventually found the building, the room he needed to go to, and was immediately hit by the fact that the professor had the kind of voice that could put someone to sleep in ten seconds flat.
Half the class was scribbling like their lives depended on it while the other half looked like they were already regretting their tuition bill. Ian sat somewhere in the middle. He was interested enough to listen, but not so focused enough to the point where he didn’t notice the girl in the row ahead scrolling through her phone the whole time.
After an hour that had felt like an eternity, he spilled back into the hallway with the rest of them, shoving his hands into his pockets. The air outside smelled like damp leaves and coffee from somewhere nearby, and for a second, he wondered if Mandy was already done with her classes too. Not that he was particularly looking for her or anything but rather, he was excited at the thought of him possibly having a new friend. She had a sharp sense of humor that made their conversations effortless.
—
Mandy checked her phone, groaned, and shoved it back into her pocket. “Shit, I’m late. My idiot brother’s blowing up my phone about something stupid.”
Ian raised an eyebrow. “Sounds urgent.”
“Trust me, it’s not.” She stood, slinging her bag over her shoulder with that lazy grin again. “Catch you later, Gallagher.”
He watched her weave through the tables and vanish into the crowd before finally stepping outside himself. The walkway was packed. Students weaving around each other, skateboards clattering over the pavement, someone blasting music from a portable speaker.
He had to sidestep a guy coming the opposite way, gray hoodie, hood up, head down, hands shoved deep into his pockets. They passed without a glance.
By the time he reached his dorm again, the sun was starting to dip, the sky streaked in gold and gray. The hallway smelled faintly of burnt popcorn and too much cologne. His side of the room was already starting to feel lived in, even if the other bed sat untouched with crisp corners from the last time the sheets had been washed.
He dropped onto his mattress and flipped open his notebook, meaning to jot down his class schedule. Instead, his pen hovered over the page while his mind wandered.
Fiona had been right. It wasn’t the middle of nowhere, but it was far enough from home that the quiet felt strange. No shouting from the kitchen, no sirens in the distance. Just the low hum of voices from the hallway and the muffled bass of someone’s speaker down the hall.
He shook it off, scribbling out a list of things he still needed to pick up. Laundry detergent, a shower caddy, maybe an extra pillow.
By the time he stretched out on the bed, the day was already catching up with him. His eyes drifted shut with the faint smell of burnt espresso still clinging to his hoodie.
—
Ian woke to sunlight slicing across the room and his phone buzzing against the nightstand.
—----------------------------
Mandy (7:32 AM): Got time before class? Swing by the quad.
Ian (7:33 AM): Yeah. Be there in a sec then.
—----------------------------
He still had an hour before lecture, so he pulled on a hoodie and headed out.
The quad was buzzing. There were skateboards clattering, music spilling from portable speakers, students weaving around each other with coffee cups and overloaded backpacks. Mandy, as always, was easy to spot, leaning against a picnic table with a smirk and coffee in hand. To Ian's surprise, she wasn’t alone.
By the time Ian reached the picnic table, the group was already breaking apart. Mandy’s friends were walking away next to each other. One was tall and wiry, flicking a lighter and another was hanging back with his hands in his pockets.
Mandy stayed behind sipping what was left of her coffee. “Damn Ian, took you long enough.”
“I didn’t realize there was a timer,” Ian said, dropping onto the bench.
“You missed the circus.” She tipped her head toward where her friends had gone. “Probably for the best. They’re loud.”
“Family?” he asked.
“Something like that. You just wait until you see the third one with them” She smirked, then stood, tossing her empty cup in the trash. “I gotta run, class calls. Walk with me? I know yours hasn't started yet so you can't say no.”
They walked together to her class before Ian headed off to go to his lecture. Inside, the room was already filling. Ian slid into a middle row, pulling out a notebook he probably wouldn’t use. The professor’s voice droned on, but his mind kept drifting back to Mandy, to her half-smile, and the way she said the third one. He had heard some names in their conversations.
Ian scribbled in the corner of his notes the names he half-remembered from her rambling. Iggy. Colin. And the mystery third one.
Her idiot brother.
The words stuck in his head longer than they should have.
He shook it off, dragging his focus back to the lecture. Halfway through, the door opened and someone slipped quietly into the back row. Someone with a gray hoodie.
Ian barely noticed. It was just another late arrival in a sea of strangers.
By the time class ended, he’d already forgotten about it.
Outside, the air felt different, brighter somehow, even with the clouds rolling in. Students swarmed the walkways, music and chatter mixing in the background. Ian adjusted the strap of his backpack and headed toward the quad, the names still faintly echoing in the back of his mind.
Iggy. Colin. And the one whose name he didn’t know yet.