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“Daddy?” Mickey felt a soft breath hit his neck. He knew that if he opened his eyes -which he didn’t plan on- he would see a pair of hazel eyes looking down at his features. He gave her a grunt in response, blindly reaching out to grab his kid. It wasn’t an unusual occurrence, the kids climbing into their dads’ bed early in the morning. Once he had her comfortably in his embrace he gave a small sigh of content, ready to fall back asleep.
“Dad, no” Ruby bawled her fists, hitting his chest lightly. She squirmed around trying to free herself from under his arm. “You have to get up! Did’ya already forget what today was?” One of Mickey’s eyes peeled open to see the pout she was sporting.
He let the girl go, shifting over to his back so he could properly mull over what was supposed to be happening. In his sleep-riddled state, he considered the fact he may have missed an important date. Upon sobering a little he remembered that it was the beginning of February.
Nothing worthy of marking the calendar was happening. He already had his Valentine's Day plans for Ian secured so it wasn’t that. No anniversaries, no death dates or birthdays, not even to any of his million cousins. Ruby must have decided that he was taking too long to answer as she gave a little huff. “Dad, it’s Ruth’s birthday!” She fell back against his chest with a little ‘oof’ , always one for the dramatics.
Oh right. That . A few months back, around Ruby’s birthday, she questioned why none of the chicken’s got to celebrate their birthdays. She didn’t take the answer of “Because they’re chickens” very seriously. So, she decided that she would declare a random day to be her favourite chicken’s birthday.
Mickey and Ian didn’t have the heart to tell her that since they got most of the chicken’s on the same day, that meant that they all technically shared a birthday. Nor did they really want to break it to her -And her little sister who she had wholeheartedly got into the plan- that chicken's had no concept of what a birthday was in the first place. They figured the entire situation would be forgotten. That was until about a week ago when she had asked them to deliver handmade invitations to her cousins. Mickey was honestly quite impressed that she remembered.
“Dad!” Ruby whined again.
“Yeah, yeah I’m up” He rubbed his pinky across his brow. “I-Go… where’s your dad?” Mickey rubbed his tired eyes, suddenly realising how big the bed felt despite the fact the two were crammed into the corner.
“He’s making Ruth a cake!”
“Course he is,” Mickey muttered under his breath. “Ight well go help him, I’ll be out in a minute”
Ruby sat up from against his chest, staring at him with an incredulous look.
“What?” His eyebrows grew higher across his forehead. Ruby gave him one last look before deciding to trust in his promise to not fall back asleep.
“Nothin” She hopped out of the bed “But hurry we’re all gonna sign the card before we go feed her”. Before Mickey had the time to grumble defiantly about signing a card for a chicken, she was gone.
Ruby made her way from the bedroom and back into the living room where she watched Lip push his way through the front door. His sons trailing behind him.
‘Mornin!” Ruby’s eyes lit up, running over to hug his leg. “Dadda! Uncle Lip is here!” She yelled out into the air before grabbing Freddie by the arm and pulling him into the direction of the kitchen. “Fred! OK so my dad bought a card last night. Me and Auttie did some colouring but we’re gonna-”
The two disappeared behind the archway to the kitchen, Robbie chasing after them.
Lip followed suit, entering the kitchen to find Ian situating Autumn on a chair. Holding her hand so she could get her footing enough to stand on the cushioning. Autumn was the youngest out of the cousins present in the home and needed a little help to be able to reach the counter in front of them while the other kids were just fine. Autumn, Freddie and Robbie reappeared at Lip’s side.
From Lip’s very good deduction skills - overhearing Ruby talking and Autumn covered in flour- he was able to gather the kids were on cake making duty. Ian told the litter something Lip couldn’t hear over the chicken’s squawking in the backyard behind him, before patting his nieces’ hair and heading toward his brother. A smile took up his entire expression.
“Hey Man,” The brother’s greeted each other with a small side hug.
“Aye,” He looked back to see all four of the kids gather around the floured surface. Autumn played with the sack of almond meal, taking little fist fulls and dumping them out on the granite. Robbie from beside her continuously poked the already made dough with, what Lip knew, were dirty fingers.
“Don’t worry,” Lip’s head snapped back over to Ian as if he was reading his mind. “That’s the one for the chickens. The human cake was made last night and in the fridge. Just thought it’d be fun for the kids”
“Oh, thank god,” Both men gave a little laugh. “I’m really not in the mood to stomach whatever they’re doing right now” Then it hit Lip. “Wait, did you really make a cake for this?”
Ian’s cheeks grew red as he forced out a laugh. “Shut the fuck up, I want an excuse to eat cake. Plus, I’m indulging my kid a little. She’s excited”
Lip’s hands rose in mock surrender as if to say ‘no judgement here’. He turned his head looking back at the kids again. He watched as Freddie took some shredded carrots from the bowl beside them, accidentally dumping half of the contents on the floor. Roma the dog was quick to get the fallen food before anyone could pry it from her mouth. All four of the kids shared the same wide-eyed look with one another before bursting out into their own laughter.
“I can’t believe that I’m at your house at 9 AM on a Saturday to celebrate a chicken’s birthday.” He held up quotations around the birthday. The ginger man just gave an amused huff, patting his brother’s left arm.
As downright silly as the whole situation was, Ian would have it no other way. He looked to the right of him, watching as Freddie and Ruby tried to aid their little siblings in kneading the dough across the counter. He would do anything for those kids. His daughters and nephews. No matter how prosperous. He also knew that so would the rest of his family, even if it was met with eye-roll or sighs. The Gallagher were never ones to decline the strange or unusual.
Ian had always loved how close the cousins were. Whenever the kids were all together they reminded him of his own childhood with his siblings. After all, there were six of them. Lip’s three sons, his two daughters and of course, Franny.
Franny was also supposed to be there that morning but a pretty severe cold had knocked her and her mom out. From what Debbie had told Ian on the phone the night before, she was pretty devastated she couldn’t make it to the event. Despite the fact she was much older, already halfway done with High School, she adored her little cousins. She had immediately decided she was all of the kids' surrogate older sister. She reminded him of Fiona in that way. She was always more than willing to help out any way she could.
She was a good kid. They all were. He guessed that was the difference between them and him and his siblings. That despite their upbringing the Gallagher’s were able to raise good kids who would never need to steal or cheat to be able to make ends meet. Ian was proud of them for that.
“Well you are” Ian gave another pat before his hand fell back to his side.
“Yeah, because you got my kids obsessed with those fucking chickens of yours. All I ever hear anymore is ‘Can we go to Uncle Ian and Mickey’s to see Henrietta?’” Lip’s eyes followed Ian as he handed the kids a small saucer of berries to add into the dough.
“For Christ sake, at this rate, I think Charlie’s first word is going to be chicken”
Another laugh arose deep from Ian’s chest. “What can I say? My ladies are the best”.
“Hm,” Lip snorted indifferently.
“Speaking of ladies: no Tami?”
Lip gave a little sigh. “She wasn’t too thrilled about getting up early and opted to stay home with Charlie”
“He still teething?”
“Mhm,” Lip thought it over for a second of how Charlie really didn’t seem any fussier lately and at that moment he realised he was being played. “Yeah and I’m starting to think she’s smarter than me”
“She's definitely smarter than you, shithead” Mickey finally made his way into the kitchen, stopping to place a kiss on Autumn's soft blonde hair, then Ruby’s red before belining to the coffee pot.
“Good morning to you too, Mick”
Mickey wrapped his robe a little tighter around his centre, grumbling something intended at Lip before deciding that just flipping him off would be more effective at getting his point across.
“Dad, can you put the cake in the oven?” Ruby bounced over to the three adults.
“You got a schedule to keep or somethin?” Ian couldn’t help tease, scrunching at her hair. The comment was met with an immediate eye roll and over dramatised sigh for good measure.
“Yeah I do, gotta make sure Ruth’s birthday is good if no one else is!”
Lip elbowed Ian’s rib. “Definitely you kid” He chastises watching Ian follow her to the other side of the kitchen.
Even though Ruby wasn’t technically related to her dad's, she took after him. Stubborn, ambitious and motivated as all hell. Ian and Mickey were definitely to have their hands full when she was grown.
Ian took the small tin from the counter trying not to grimace at the ‘cake’. The dough had turned gray from all of the blueberries buried in the mixture. There were a few seeds and carrot chunks sticking off the top. Flour littered everywhere but the designated tin. Not that the Milkovich-Gallagher kitchen was clean to begin with but now it was likely it would never recover. Ian chose to ignore that in the moment, and what he wished could be indefinite, as he headed towards the oven.
“What’s your plan for today little lady?” Ian kicked up the oven door with his foot. He leaned forward to bop her nose, his finger coated with the dough that was lazily dripping around the edge of the container.
She squirmed at the cold touch, swatting at her nose. “Well we gotta wait for the cake to bake then we’ll go see all the chickens and have Ruth’s party! Then we can come in and eat cake and then we can go take a nap”
“I like the nap part of the plan” Mickey nodded, he still leaned against the back counter as he sipped his coffee.
“Oh but first we gotta sign the card!” She skipped back over to the counter where Robbie and Autumn were. “Dadda you got to write Autumn’s message down since she’s still little”. Ruby lifted the piece of paper Autumn was scribbling on raising it up to Ian. Autumn let out a whine, her little fists balled upward trying to retreat the paper from her older sister's grasp.
Ian swooped in, grabbing her before a tantrum could commence. “Whatdya want me to write, sweetie?” Ian kissed her cheeks making her erupt in laughter. Crisis successfully avoided.
Before Lip had arrived, Autumn and Ruby had taken the liberty to decorate the card Mickey had brought home the night before. Ian had bumped shoulders with his husband a shit-eating grin consumed his expression as he chastised “You’re getting into this birthday thing too”. Mickey bumped their shoulders this time, much more forceful. His lips curled inward to try to stay nonchalant. Ian still noticed his cheeks flushing pink despite his efforts. “Whatever man, it like was a dollar and Bee asked me too, so fuck off”
Ruby appreciated the gesture. She spent most of the morning humming a tune as she very methodically drew a portrait of Ruth. Autumn on the other hand, was much younger and couldn’t quite comprehend the concept of a lucid illustration. She scribbled her crayons on the side of the card. When Mickey looked back at it to show Ian he gave a little chuckle. “A testament to her love” They joked.
Everyone in the kitchen eventually took turns leaning over the counters, scribbling their own halfhearted messages about Ruth. Freddie and Ruth were at the forefront of the enthusiasm while Robbie encouraged it, just happy to be involved. Ian handed his pen over to Mickey with a grin to write his own message. Mickey gave an eye roll, all for show , before writing down: Happy birthday to the superior chicken fuck Hentietta.
Ian read it, reached his hand backwards to hit the back of Mickey’s head and then went on to scribble out the fuck to not much success.
Lip stood to the back munching on an overly ripe banana he had found in the fridge. He watched as the moments of domesticity played out in front of him. Autumn had crawled underneath Ian’s arms that rested against the counter. Lip assumed he was asking her what she wanted to write as she looked up at him rambling something before the pen went back into motion again. Part of Lip thought that Ian was excited for this event as Ruby. All of Mickey knew that to be the case.
Eventually, the oven dinged, signalling the cake was done baking. Once it was cooled and breakfast could properly be scarfed down, the group made their way into the backyard. The roaster mugs from the old Gallagher house Ian managed to swipe in all three men’s grasp.
They made their way past Ian’s garden and towards the chicken coop in the back of the yard. Ian led the charge opening the gate that separated the livestock from his produce.
The chickens gathered around their feet. Despite the fact that Ian had already been out there once that morning, to feed them, the hens had a fifth sense for any food related thing. “Good morning, Ladies” Ian beamed ushering everyone in towards the coop.
“Henri!” Robbie cheered watching as the larger white chicken strutted over. Freddie leaned down to pet Henrietta's feathers, holding the tin of cake he was charged with the responsibility of keeping above his head to stop the chickens from snatching it up. His attempts seemed to be fruitless as the birds swarmed him.
“Hey buddy can we play with the chickens after we’re done with the Ruth thing?” Lip took a step
forward to keep the chickens at bay. “I think you’re mom would kill me if I let a bunch of chickens eat you” His hand extended outward, Freddie took it to stand back up.
Henrietta, no longer getting the attention wanted, then made her way towards Autumn who was trailing behind. The ground was uneven and hard for someone who mastered walking less than a year ago but the toddler refused to be held.
She made her way behind the toddler lunging towards the toddler's leg to peck at. Luckily Mickey was watching- he always was when it came to Henrietta. He didn’t trust her- and swooped in before Henrietta could make her attack.
“Aye fuck off demon bird” Mickey shooed her away with an aggressive wave of his hand. She did, running off towards the herd of other hens, immediately pecking one of them in the back. “Fuckin’ bitch” Mickey muttered under his breath, swinging Autumn up to his shoulders to asure the devil chicken couldn’t get to her.
Ian eventually found Ruth. She was still in the coop, no doubt hiding from her tormentor, Henrietta. They took her over to a more secluded area to avoid the crowd.
“I’d like to say a few words!” Ruby bounced in front of the group. She kneeled on the ground, taking a squabbling Ruth onto her lap.
“You do that at a funeral, not a birthday, sweetcheeks” Ian elbowed Mickey’s side. Getting a swint of annoyance in response.
Ruby didn't take Mickey’s words into consideration. “We gather here today,” she starts. Lip and Mickey both have to physically restrain themselves from laughing. Ian makes sure to stare daggers into them. “in honour of Ruth turning,” her face scrunched up in deep thought “Dadda how old is Ruth?”
“dunno sweetheart, probably like four?”
“Four!” Ruby repeated worth much more enthusiasm “We gather here for Ruth's fourth birthday. Ruth is a good girl! She’s the smallest chicken and gets picked on for her size sometimes but she's still the nicest and funniest chicken we have. She’s super soft too which makes her the best to hold” Ruby stroked her feathers a few times almost getting lost in the motion before her head snapped back up to look at the small crowd in front of her “Oh! And she’s daddy’s favourite so that makes her the best”
Mickey felt his chest contract slightly, his heart twinging. ‘Ok fine maybe this whole thing wasn’t stupid’ he thought.
“Can I give her the cake now? This thing is hot” Freddie finally spoke up, shifting the tin from one hand to the other.
“Yeah, bud of course” Lip ushered his son forward, helping him peel the tin off and sectioning of pieces to give to the kids to give to Ruth.
Freddie held up a chuck in his hand turning back to face his dad and uncles. “To Ruth?” He asked before throwing the piece of cake in her direction. All three men gave a little shrug. It was a good cause.
“To Ruth, I guess” Lip raised his cup of coffee, Ian and Mickey followed suit, the ceramics clicking.