Work Text:
Cleaning the Gallagher house was a whole feat of its own. Despite making a collective effort to keep the old, run down house looking relatively decent, dirty clothes still littered the hallway upstairs, stray pieces of trash or toilet paper didn't make it into the trash can in the bathroom, and even dirt would be tracked through the house and left the floors dirty.
Bedrooms were no different, except they can get worse than the hallway or bathroom, surprisingly. You think with multiple people living in the same room they'd keep it a little more tidy. Well, Debbie keeps her and Liam's space mostly clean, but the boys are a different story.
Candy wrappers from Carl (who knows where he stole candy from), Lip’s underwear and socks falling out of the laundry bag, Ian's ROTC gear scattered out from under his bed, and loads of other things.
Any other day, Fiona would get on their asses about cleaning up, but today, she was feeling extra nice (bored), and decided why the hell not?
That's what Fiona found herself doing for the afternoon, waiting for the kids to return from school. She had made pretty great progress in under an hour, picking up any laundry and trash from the floor and discarding it properly.
Everything was going smoothly, and it wasn't until Fiona slipped on a spare button up Ian had left on the floor that her day drastically changed.
Fiona yelps, both of her arms slamming into the dresser behind her to try and catch herself from falling. Upon impact, a paper thud hits the floor, and even though Fiona knows she shouldn't, she's curious nonetheless.
She gets down on her hands and knees, peeking underneath the old, rickety dresser. She's taken aback when there's a huge pair of tits staring back at her.
“What the fuck.." Fiona mumbles under her breath.
With a huff, she reaches under the dresser and carefully pulls the manilla folder from against the wall. When she sits up on her knees, holding the folder in her hands, it's pretty clear what it is. A folder full of porn, a spank bank most likely belonging to Ian, since it was found near his bed.
Fiona can't help but scoff a little, having half a mind to throw the damn thing away, but as she gets up from the floor, folder loose in her grasp, a page of a magazine falls from the manilla folder and lands on the floor by her feet.
Her jaw nearly falls down there right by the page at what she sees.
It's a picture of two muscular men, one a bit slimmer than the other, the other of a larger build. The slimmer one is laying down on a table. He's got his hands hooked behind his thighs, pulling them up so his knees are nearly pressed against his chest. His head is thrown back, eyes closed and his teeth caught between his own swollen bottom lip. The larger one is looming over the other, his huge hands probably squeezing bruises into the other man's hips. He's got his cock buried in the other guy's ass, and it's not a very nice sight for Fiona’s poor eyes.
“Oh. My god." Fiona's astonished voice chokes out into the air, and suddenly her hands are working faster than her brain can.
Without thinking, she opens the manilla folder, and once again her eyes are assaulted by countless pictures of naked men, all in various positions, doing various things that Fiona can't even fathom right now.
She slams the folder shut, holding her breath for half a second before slowly breathing out. No way this is Ian's, it can't be! He's never shown any signs of being gay, has he?
Then it all comes flooding back. Every time Lip has talked about a girl, Ian never once seemed remotely interested. A few weeks ago when she asked Ian if he'd gotten some girl pregnant, he told her she wouldn't have to worry about that. Ian's never even brought a girl home, or even talked about having a girlfriend!
Oh, she's so stupid.
With a groan, she shoves the manilla folder and free page back under the dresser where she had found it. Once she's back on her feet, she ties up the loose trash bag she had been using to pick up the boy's room with and hauls it downstairs. She tosses the bag next to the trash can in the kitchen, ready for when Lip gets home to take them both to the trash cans in the front of the house.
Fiona leans against the kitchen counter, groaning into her hands. She's never been so confused in her life. It's not like she doesn't support Ian; she could care less who he makes out with in his spare time. It's the fact that she didn't know this the whole time, and Ian, in all his 15 years of life, never mustered up the courage to tell her, his big sister. It hurt her heart a little to think about it. Little Ian being too afraid to tell his big sister, the person who raised him from when he was only a newborn, that he was gay.
It's not like she blamed him for being scared, though. The South Side of Chicago isn't the most accepting place in the world. When she thought back on it, she wasn't sure she knew of any gay people who lived on the South Side, and probably for a good reason. Who knows who would jump you out here just for liking the same gender as you?
A sigh escapes her. The sink is full of dirty dishes that hadn't been cleaned in a day or two. She can think more about the whole “Ian being gay" thing once the dishes are clean.
…
It takes only about half an hour of washing dishes before someone walks through the front door.
It's Ian. Speak of the fucking devil.
Fiona glances at the clock in their kitchen. What's he doing home from school?
“Hey, kiddo." Fiona smiles. She waves to him with a yellow gloved hand.
“What are you doing home? You're not feeling sick, are you?" Ian can hear the worry in her voice, and he laughs, trying to soothe her.
"No, no, just skipping.” Ian replies nonchalantly.
Fiona gapes, flicking a little water from her gloved hand onto her little brother as he walks past.
"Ian!” She scolds, turning around and putting her hands on her hips.
Ian's hands fly up over his head, as if the police just pulled a gun on him. "Whaaat!” He moans, "it's just Mr. McDaniel’s class. I know all the stuff in there already. It's last period anyway, nobody will miss me.”
Fiona only rolls her eyes. "Fine, but if I let you stay here you have to help me with the dishes.” She smirks, and watches as Ian rolls his eyes in return.
"Fiiine!” He groans, shucking off his button up on the way over to the sink, leaving him in a gray t-shirt with writing Fiona can't really make out in the kitchen lighting.
“Thanks, carrot top." Fiona bumps her hip into Ian's, listening to him laugh under his breath.
It's silent for all of ten minutes before the urge to ask Ian about the folder starts to make her itch. She can't stop thinking about it. Does anyone else know besides her? How is Ian going to react? She really hopes Ian doesn't freak out and try to run away from her, away from their family. What if he becomes distant and scared of her?
Oh, God. The more thinking she does, the worse this idea sounds.
Fiona shakes her head, trying to get the nasty thoughts out of her mind. She needs to get a hold of herself! She's making a bigger deal of this than it needs to be!
After a deep breath or two, she finally clears her throat to speak.
“Soooo.." Fiona trails off, nudging Ian gently with her shoulder, “anything new?"
Ian shrugs, not giving her an answer. That just won't do, so Fiona tries again.
"Got a crush on anyone?”
When Ian's face turns beat red, and a wobbly, nervous smile spreads across his face, Fiona knows she's got him. Bingo!
“Oooo, you do! C'mon, I need all the details!” She jokes.
Ian groans, avoiding his sister's gaze. “It's nobody! Just someone I met at the Kash N' Grab."
“When'd you meet him?" Fiona lets the word slip off her tongue before she can even think about it.
“Him?" Ian chokes out, almost too quickly, the word dying on his tongue.
A glass nearly slips from his grasp, and Fiona has to catch it before it shatters in the sink. Ian is stunned, standing wide eyed and staring at the sink nearly cleaned of all dirty dishes. He's unmoving, but Fiona can see a tear or two gather in the corners of his green eyes.
Immediately, Fiona springs into action, big sister instincts kicking in. She's suddenly tugging the soggy, yellow gloves off her hands and dropping them into the sink. Her arms land on Ian's shoulders, turning them so Ian is facing her head on, but he still won't even look at her face.
“Oh, E.." She mumbles, pulling him into a strong hug.
Ian doesn't hug her back immediately, instead he stands there, dumbfounded. How had Fiona found out? Did Lip tell her? Oh, if he had, Ian swore he was going to-
Fiona's gentle voice cuts through his thoughts. “I saw the folder. I didn't mean to, I honestly didn't, and even though I'm a little.. weirded out, I'm not mad, okay? I.. It's okay if you like boys, Ian. I really don't care.” She hushes him.
Ian doesn't know what to say. He's kept this secret for so long, being too scared of the consequences if he actually ended up coming out to any of his family. Lip finding out was scary enough, but his older sister too? Jesus, maybe he needs to do a better job at hiding the damn folder with his porn.
After a long silence, Ian hugs her back, sniffling into her shoulder. He's still in shock, but he's snapped out of it enough to hug his sister as tight as he can. It makes Fiona laugh, and she quietly complains he's going to break her ribs at this rate.
When he laughs back, Fiona knows all's okay. She presses a kiss to the side of her little brother's head before pulling away from the hug. Leaning against the counter, she foregoes finishing the rest of the dishes to talk to her brother about his little crush.
“Sooo, what's he like?" She smirks, lifting herself up to sit on the counter.
Ian shrugs, leaning against the sink instead. “He's kinda mean. Puts on this tough guy act, probably because of his dad and stuff, but I know deep down he's nice. Even if he isn't, the asshole persona is still super hot."
“Ewwww!" Fiona fake grimaces, wading up an empty grocery bag from on the counter and throwing it at Ian's chest.
Ian laughs back, letting the plastic bag hit the floor between his feet. “Stop it, you asked!"
“I know, I know!" Fiona defends, putting her hands up for a second before tucking them between her thighs.
It's silent between the two of them for a moment, both of them basking in the comfortable silence. The Gallagher house is never this quiet, and when it is, it's an eerie, uncomfortable silence. Not now, though. Right now is nice.
Fiona glances at the clock, watching as it ticks past 3:30 P.M. The other kids will be home soon, which means she has to get ready for another shift to fill in for someone to make ends meet for a few days.
“C'mon, sweet pea, we both have to get ready for work." Fiona hops off the counter, pressing one more kiss to the top of Ian's carrot top. “I wanna hear about Mister Badass again soon, okay?" Fiona smirks just before leaving the kitchen and descending up the stairs.
The comment makes Ian's pale skin adorn a light pink blush, and he agrees to keep Fiona updated.
Still leaning against the kitchen sink, Ian runs his fingers through his orange hair, sighing out a breath of relief.
That damn manilla folder. He's really got to hide it somewhere else.