Finals week at MIT didn't scream.
It whispered.
Long hallways at 2 a.m.
Coffee gone bitter.
Eyes burning from too much screen and not enough sleep.
This was the kind of pressure that didn't explode—it leaked.
And Luke felt the leak.
The Old Reflex
It happened after the third exam.
Not the hardest one.
The one that should have gone fine.
A group from the dorm drifted toward a bar off campus. Laughing. Loose. Relief already fermenting.
Someone clapped Luke on the shoulder.
"Come on, Gallagher. You earned it."
For a split second—just one—
Luke smelled cheap beer and old kitchens.
He remembered Frank's laugh.
Fiona's hangovers.
Mornings that began with regret and ended with survival math.
The reflex was there.
Drink. Take the edge off. You've always survived it.
The Gallagher solution.
Psychological Fortitude — Engaged
Luke stopped walking.
The System didn't interfere.
It reminded.
[Psychological Fortitude: AVAILABLE]
Note:This is a choice, not a save point.
He breathed in.
Then out.
Slow.
Deliberate.
"I'm good," he said. "I don't drink."
The words felt strange.
Foreign.
But clean.
The Chain Breaks
No dramatic declaration.
No applause.
Just a quiet refusal that echoed louder than any toast.
Luke walked back to his dorm alone.
And for the first time, alone didn't feel dangerous.
Stress Without Escape
That night, the pressure didn't disappear.
It stayed.
So Luke faced it sober.
He ran.
He organized notes.
He slept four hours instead of zero.
And in the morning—
He was still himself.
Patching the Family Holes
The pledge didn't stop at him.
Luke called Fiona.
"Don't keep booze in the house this week," he said. "Not because you can't—because you're tired."
She hesitated.
Then agreed.
He checked on Ian.
On Debbie.
On Liam.
He didn't lecture.
He adjusted environments.
Removed triggers.
Added routines.
Closed the cracks where old habits crawled back in.
System Update
[Major Behavioral Chain Broken]
Gallagher Alcoholism Probability: Significantly Reduced
Karma Gain: High (Behavioral Override)
Final Thought
Sobriety wasn't a vow to purity.
It was a refusal to numb.
Luke lay on his bed that night, mind clear, stress sharp but manageable.
The world hadn't gotten easier.
He had just stopped poisoning himself to survive it.
And that—
That was how cycles ended.