Work Text:
Meringue
/məˈraNG/ noun
a light mixture of stiffly beaten egg whites and sugar, baked until crisp or used as a topping for desserts
“Whatcha doing, you freak?” Mickey stepped through the front door of the home. It was late in the evening, half-past nine. Mickey had gotten a text an hour earlier stating that their medicine, Ian’s typical cocktail and Ruby’s antibiotics for the ear infection she was trying to overcome, were ready at the pharmacy. When he had left Ian was yawning, saying he was going to get ready for bed. In stark contrast he was now standing in the middle of the kitchen, gathering pots and pans and baking supplies.
Ian’s eyes grew wider, like a deer caught in headlights before clearing his throat, going back to gathering the supplies he needed from the fridge. “Carl texted me. Asked if I could help make him a pie” Mickey gave a huff watching as Ian transferred the milk and eggs onto the counter behind him.
“Hmm,” Mickey hummed, placing the plastic bag hanging from his arm onto the counter now in front of him.
“Except I have no clue how to make a pie so I’m settling on lemon meringue pancakes” Expert level baking was definitely not in his wheelhouse. His culinary experiences with sweet treats were extensively just adding an egg to a box mix. Breakfast foods, however, that’s where Ian had some footing.
“Was wondering why you wanted half the store's lemons” His hand reached into the plastic bag, grabbing at the yellow fruit. His eyes got that mischievous glint they always did when he was ready to mess with his husband. Mickey grabbed a lemon, rolling it as hard as he could to the other side of the counter where Ian stood. Ian stood his own ground, catching the lemons being tossed at him in his own huge hands. The last one rolled onto the ground and Mickey couldn’t help but laugh as Ian pouted, placing the haul of lemons he managed to catch back on the counter as he leaned down to grab the runaway.
“So why’s Carl making you bake?”
“His anniversaries tomorrow”
“No shit? You think he forgot?”
“Of course he did, it’s Carl”
“Why didn’t he have Debbie bake it? She lives for that shit”
“She’s still mad at him for breaking the potato masher at Thanksgiving”
“Serves her right, that fuckin potato shit was ours before she stole it”
“Stole it back, you mean?” Ian challenged, eyebrows climbing up his forehead in amusement.
“Fuck you and her” Mickey muttered a response, kicking his shoes off in front of the island before making his way closer to Ian. His arms stretched upwards, landing on Ian’s shoulders. He leaned up, missing the extra inches his shoes gave. Their lips touched softly.
“What a good brother you are, helping your little bro impress his girl” Mickey took the stray lemon from Ian’s grasp, placing it a little forcefully on the counter. Ian was about to scold him for bruising the produce when his lips were met with Mickey’s again.
“Yeah, I am” another peck. “Wanna help me?” Lips touched again.
“No,” Mickey grinned. Their lips were still pressed together.
“Why are you guys always making out?” A whine came from behind the two. Ian strained his neck trying to see Ruby standing beside the arch that led into the living room from the hallways. She rubbed her tired eyes.
“Aye, that’s what happens when you’re out of bed when you're not ‘posed to. You see shit you don’t want to” Mickey teased, also turning to face the girl stepping closer in their direction.
Ruby just rolled her eyes, not in the mood. “Not like it makes a difference. You guys are still gross when I’m awake too” Ruby was always one to have a witty or sarcastic comeback. In some ways, Mickey felt like he met his match with the dramatic little girl.
“Uh-huh. Still doesn’t excuse you bein’ up. It's late, go back to sleep” Mickey’s hand shooed her away. He did however step away from Ian knowing that one of them was going to have to go tuck her back in.
“I can’t sleep,” Ruby immediately whined. She rubbed her eyes, yawning. “My ears hurt and Auttie snoring ain’t making it better” sad eyes followed the sentence.
Ian picked the girl up, settling her on the kitchen counter. “Daddy picked your up medicine for you” he informed her, grabbing the paper bag and ripping it open.
“Ew that shit’s gross” her nose crinkled. Mickey from beside them snorted at her language, Ian just rolled his eyes at the dramatics. The last time she had to take prescribed medicine was when she had the flu at two. He wasn’t sure how she remembered that a whole almost four years later. He reasoned she didn’t and just figured as much over its sickly purple colour.
“Sorry kid, you gotta take it, no choice if you wanna get better” Ian looked up from the bottle over to her. He could see the contemplation in her shifty eyes.
“C’mon” Ian twisted the cap off, looking the bottle over before pouring the recommended amount. “I have to take my meds too, we can do it together, yeah?” He left the plastic lid off to the side, scrambling back through the bag again to grab his three bottles. He poured each dosage into his palm, shifting it to one of the bottle caps to collect them. He then looked back at Ruby who seemed confused.
Her eyebrow raised, “why do you gotta take medicine? Are you sick too?”Ian gave a little sigh Mickey tensed from beside them. Then her back suddenly straightened. “Oh, is it because you’re bi?”
Ian let out a snort. “Uh bipolar, kid. Being bi means something else and yeah the meds are because I’m bipolar” his hand reached to caress her cheek. As she got older Ian and Mickey became more transparent with her. They explained, very vaguely, what being bipolar was. They needed to explain to her why Ian acted off sometimes. She understood to some extent, she was naturally compassionate. She didn’t push for details.
“But enough about me, you need to stop stalling” his other hand reached out grabbing her medicine and holding it up to her lips.
She relinquished with a little sigh, body crumpling in a dramatic surrender, parting her lips enough so that Ian could give her the medicine. He gave her another pat on the cheek, laughing at the sour expression she gave when swallowing down. She looked sad and more damningly, wide away now. Ian gave her one last look before he decided he was gonna take pity on the poor sick kid.
“Do you wanna help me make something?” He asked, watching as she continued to smack her lips at the terrible aftertaste. Her eyes lit up for the first time since she got sick.
Ian had the kids in the kitchen since they could stand on their own two feet. Earlier with Autumn actually, she would wave her no touching rule only for Ian to put her on his shoulder so she could watch him cook. The girls were natural chefs. They absolutely loved cooking and helping out by making meals any way they could.
“Yes!” She immediately cheered. “What are we making Dadda?”
“Lemon meringue, that's Bryn’s favourite… apparently,” Ian thought back to the hoard of desperate texts Carl had sent him less than ten minutes ago. Detailing how Ian would be his favourite brother if he helped him out this one time. Ian rolled his eyes to himself at the time because he knew (or at least convinced himself) that he had already earned that title. Now he was kinda thankful for his brother’s stupid antics, it meant that he now had the opportunity to cheer up his daughter.
“Whats meringue?” Ruby asked, legs kicking against the counter below her.
“Like really soft egg whites”
She stuck out her tongue at that, grimacing “Sounds gross”
“See the brat even agrees with me” Mickey scrunched at her hair before settling behind the two on a chair at the kitchen island. He could have gone back to the room. Changed out of the stiff pair of jeans he had been wearing since he was in his early twenties, took a shower to wash off the day but he felt more content watching the two of them. For one, the familiarity of it all. Watching Ruby create good memories with her parents but also because those two in the kitchen were better than any reality show that ran on the food network.
“Yeah, yeah, you two are the same,” Ian flicked at her nose stepping back to get the large mixing bowl. “Ok, Bee you still want to help me?”
She gave a cheeky smile. “Only if we can have some after”
Ian poked at her belly making her let out a tiny giggle. “Well, we’re making them for Uncle Carl. He’s gonna come get them in the morning”
He was met with an immediate pout. Mickey being the instigator he was, joined in “Boo man, make some extra for us, I’m getting hungry watching you in that apron” he licked his lips at the double entendre, Ian immediately met his husband’s raised brow with a flirty smile of his own. He was thankful that Ruby was still young enough to not understand the dirty talk.
He gave Mickey one last little smile before his attention was back on Ruby. “Ight we can have some but then you have to go to bed ok?”
“Can I sleep with you guys?” she gave him puppy eyes, trying to justify her request by adding an “Auttie is still snoring and my ears hurt again” Ian just eyed her. He figured by the time they finished baking the pancakes they would be too busy for ‘adult time’ so he gave her a little shrug.
“We’ll see” her head drooped a little in sadness.
“Aye, no time for moping” He put his hand under her chin bringing her head up “Can you get the flour for me?”
She stretched her arms out, leaning forward as she struggled to get the bag of flour. Ian put his arms around Ruby’s mid to stabilise her. With his help, she managed to grab the bag by her very fingertips.
She pulled back, the bag dangly loosely. Ian should have really seen it coming in hindsight, the risky placement and half-open bag were not a good mix. Immediately as she pulled back, getting centred, she dropped the bag.
The entire counter by her side as well as her pyjama bottoms and the floor was coated in a thin layer of flour that seemed to spread further by the second.
“I’m so sorry!” She immediately yelled. Ian grimaced from the unexpected volume. She shuffled around trying to collect the flour in her little palms and dump it into the bag. “Dadda, I’m sorry” her voice was pleading.
“Hey, hey” Ian’s hands went to her shoulder getting her to stop her frantic movement, eyes stiff on her dad. “S’okay baby, the flour isn’t the end of the world”
She gave a little nod, eyes looked a little glossy as she undoubtedly looked guilty. He dusked off the extra flour from her pants watching as it fell to the floor.
Ian grabbed the broom from the garage since they hadn’t used it in a while. Ian made a mental note to make sure they dusted more because there were a lot of crumbs and dust in the mix with the flour.
Ruby was now on the floor beside Mickey as he pushed the remaining counter flour with a paper towel to the sink.
“I’m sorry again dadda didn’t mean to make a mess” her eyes followed Ian’s hands pushing the broom. She dusted off her pants once more, more flour falling onto the floor under her.
Mickey had gotten up to help, letting Ian finish up he ruffled her hair, putting her back on the now clean counter. “Yeah because you don’t make bigger messes every day brat”
“Ruby, it's ok, I promise, we’re not mad at you” Ian laughed, planting a little kiss on her forehead. That seemed to get her to lighten up a little.
The week previous she had got in trouble with her teacher. It was before they knew she had an ear infection and was struggling to listen due to plugged ears. Apparently, her teacher warned her that the paint they were using for a project was near the edge of her desk and not to spill it. She, of course, did not hear the warning. Her teacher had freaked out on her about it. Suffice to say the miserable woman was ripped a new asshole when the father’s found out that she had been yelling at their child. They were gonna stick up for Ruby no matter how minor the circumstance, knew they always would.
They would have never made a big deal about something like that. She was a kid, they were messy and sticky like 80% of the time. That just came with the territory. She seemed to be a little more insecure and apologetic when it came to making mistakes now, they tried to correct that by assuring her that they weren’t mad.
“There, All clean” Ian gave a little huff, resting the broom under his arm. He was about to lean down to pick up the duster tray when Roma ran through the kitchen being chased by Missy.
The two animals knocked the tray straight away sending flour falling all over the floor again.
This time Ruby didn't hesitate to laugh. Her giggle only grew once she saw her dads exchange a ‘what the fuck’ gesture.
They went back to dusting again, Ruby’s giggling soundtracked their efforts. This time Mickey made sure to throw the mess away immediately.
“Okay sweet girl, it's getting late” Ie looked over at the stove’s clock and then back to see Ruby suppressing a yawn. “We can go tuck you in if you’re tired” he leaned down to her level immediately getting met with a little whine.
“No, I wanna bake with you Dadda!” Ian’s heart swelled, he tenderly placed a hand on her cheek. “Ight rugrat well we gotta make it fast, ok?”
“Okay” she gave an unwavering smile, she loved being in the kitchen and loved getting to stay up past her bedtime even more. “What’s the first step?”
Ian’s attention went back to his phone, reading out the first step. “We need to crack the eggs” he handed them to Ruby. He cracked one open, one-handed, on the side of the mixing bowl to show her how it was done.
She was always there in the kitchen watching them cook, doing small tasks. Now that she was getting older, with more fine motor skills, they let her participate a lot more.
“Go ahead” he encouraged watching as she struggled to get it crack the egg open. She hit the egg against the counter beside her with little success. Ruby repeated the movement a few times, yolk starting to leak out onto her hands. “Gross it's all slimy!” She stuck her tongue out in disgust, raising the dripping shell over the bowl.
Ian laughed at her gesture, at how light she seemed to be hitting the egg. Like she was afraid of hurting it. “Bee, ya got a-” another chuckled. His hand grabbed hers as he hit the egg against the bowl again letting the rest of the yolk fall down.
“Good, do another” he handed her the next egg taking a moment to help her whip her hand off on his sweatpants. We would have blamed the move on her being a kid as if Mickey didn’t do the very same thing to him with his breakfast that morning.
That time around Ruby was much more forceful with the cracking. The egg, shell included, fell into the bowl.
Ian’s fingers fished out the shell. He chose to ignore the fact that he hadn’t washed his hands and knew she didn’t either. To be fair, the pancakes were for Carl who Ian was pretty sure had accidentally built up his own immunity with his lack of hygiene over the years. As for Bryn, she had been in so many crisis-like situations he was willing to bet his kid’s germs wouldn’t be a huge deal.
“Ok, next?” Ruby looked up at Ian, she handed him over his one, pressing it close to his face. Ian had to push her hand back a little as he couldn’t see the instructions clearly with how close the screen was to her face. Still, he squinted when it was a comfortable distance away. Fuck, he felt like he was getting old.
“Shit says we need yoghurt. Do we have that?” His eyes left his phone, snapping up to see Mickey meeting him back with a shrug.
“Kids have the tube shit” He meekly suggested.
Ian gave his own little shrug, sidestepping Ruby to make it to the fridge. He grabbed a few of the long tubes. Most of the Gorguts were strawberry flavoured he shuffled through the bottom drawer. He found two vanillas amongst the sea of ‘mixed berry’. He made sure to drag an extra tube out, tearing the plastic open of all three with his teeth to a little struggle.
Ian took two of them, pushing all the contents out into the bowl before offering up the third to Ruby. She leaned forward, over the bowl to follow her dad’s movement. Ian’s outturn palm stopped her before she was successful.
“No baby, you can eat that one” he laughed at her innocence and unwavering mission to help out.
“Oooh. Okay, thanks!” She happily dug in before realising something was off. “Here Roma!” Ruby called out, the dog was already asleep on the couch, cuddling against Missy, belly up in the air. She however was an absolute pig of a dog that would eat literally anything given to her. Somehow down the line when her dads would give her an afternoon snack, usually a yoghurt, the dog would whine and beg till she have her some. Roma had conditioned her human and not the other way round as it seemed.
The pitbull gave a little bark, trotting over to where Ruby was. On her hind legs, Roma stood in between Ruby’s swinging legs. Ruby leaned down, trying to squirt some of the yoghurt onto the dog's already lapping tongue. She succeeded, kinda. The dog managed to catch some, licking her lips. The rest of the yoghurt fell straight onto the floor next to the dog’s paw.
Ian couldn’t help but think back to his childhood. There were definitely many things wrong with it. That was an understatement for sure. But there were definitely also a lot of good memories associated with it too. Early mornings when he was in high school. He would be flipping his ‘famous’ banana pancakes over on the stove for the little kid’s breakfast. Fiona was not too far off his side assembling the long line of sandwiches with Lip. Debbie and Carl would run through, frantically trying to find their clothes or homework or toys. Sometimes just chasing one another because Carl hadn’t quite grown out of his little terrorist phase. Then there was baby Liam off to the side. He somehow would manage to steal a banana and smash it to pieces under his tiny hands.
Those olden days were so chaotic. And not that his life then could hold a candle now to the disarray the Gallagher’s brought but something about being in a kitchen making a huge mess but having fun while doing it was so nostalgic to him.
Luckily for him, by the time he stopped thinking about his childhood, Roma had managed to clean up the dropped yoghurt, lapping at the tile beneath him.
“Bee” he got the young girl’s attention back onto him once more. She looked at him, half expecting him to comment on the messy floor but he of course didn’t instead he asked her to finish with the pancake mix.
He had all of the measuring cups and ingredients splayed all over the counter in a disorganised mess. Ian trusted Ruby to be able to measure out things and put them into the bowl. She had been charged with that duty multiple times before. Ian never realised how many batches of pancakes he must have made until he noticed Ruby carrying out the task was looking more like muscle memory.
With Ruby busy, it was time to do the part Ian was dreading. Making the meringue itself.
Ian gave a little sigh, some part of him regretted not taking the hand mixer from when Debbie moved out of the Wallace street house. But then again he really had no use for it other than just to have it as a glorified decoration on his kitchen counter. Regardless he knew his arms were gonna hurt like a motherfucker after this.
He tipped the egg whites between the two cracked shells trying to get the egg white to run down into the smaller bowl, leaving just the yolk remaining. He tossed those off to the side for breakfast the next morning.
“Mick? Favour?”
Mickey looked up at his name giving an overdramatic eye roll. Even though he was definitely going to do whatever Ian wanted from him, he was still going to give him shit about it. That was a spousal right moreover than even just a privilege at that point in their marriage.
He trudge over to Ian, stopping in front of the phone to read what Ian wanted from him. “Can you make the sugar syrup?” His voice was overly sweet and persuasive. Which made Mickey’s eye-roll all that much bigger.
“Yeah fine ” Mickey agreed, he went over to the stove, turning the dial all the way to high. He just needed to melt sugar until it completely dissolved into the water which couldn’t be all that hard.
Ian’s attention went to cracking the last egg. Ruby from beside him was finishing up. “Hey look, we still have enough!” She excitedly squealed, dumping the rest of the flour into the mixer. Ian didn't have the mental energy to worry about the proportion of flour just added so he smiled and nodded, starting to whip the meringue.
He gave it a good minute effort, the eggs looked a little foamy and not all the correct consistency. He had to take a little break, shaking out his sore arms.
Ruby watched him with an amused little giggle, taking her own break to finish up her yoghurt.
“Wanna try?” Ian lifted an eyebrow at her, arms once again assuming the stirring position. Ruby just shook her head, letting a little bit of the yoghurt squirt onto her tongue. “No, you look like ya got it all figured out”
Things went chaotic instantly after Ruby’s snarky remark. A s it turned out, none of them really had it ‘figured out’.
Ian almost immediately snapped the whisk in half from his second wind of vigorous stirring.
Ruby, who had moved on mixing in the wet ingredients to the pancake mix, spilt milk down the side of the counter. Luckily for them, clean up time was being minimised by Roma once again resuming her position of lapping up what she could. Then there was Mickey. Who had taken his attention off the saucepan one second to read the notification buzzing in his pocket.
The sugar would have been burnt to a crisp if Ian didn’t immediately smell the abomination bubbling in the pan. He jumped past his husband, turning the heat off and moving the pan.
Luckily there were no casualties and the sugar was relatively fine. Ian figured the meringue was already going to be fucked up but he was sure Carl wouldn’t mind. It was better than nothing, Ian suspected.
“Ight, I’m done helping you out” Mickey’s arms rose above his head in surrender once he was sure the sugar wasn’t going to catch fire.
“Mhm thanks” Ian’s hand squeezed Mickey’s shoulder as made his way back to his designated seat.
“Dadda, I’m done” Ruby informed him, pushing the bowl towards the centre of the counter. He immediately handed her over a spoon so she could make sure the mix was well incorporated. She gave a little groan but went to mixing. She really was just like her daddy.
Meanwhile, Ian had gone back to reading the instructions, grimacing once more as he read past his current step.
“Says to blow torch the top of it to caramelise the meringue” Ian’s eyebrows fused in confusion, mouth twisting down in consideration. “Who the fuck has a blow torch readily available?”
Mickey didn’t seem to be stumped by that question. Instead, his expression lit up. “We should get a blow torch!” His eyes were comically wide, a smile parting his lips. “Ruby, agree with me,” he added under his breath.
“Yeah, blow torch” she repeated flatly.
“Uh no, to both of you” Ian was quick to shoot down getting a scoff in response.
“Never got my fucking bazooka and now no blowtorch? Why are you so against me havin’ some fun?”
Ian rolled his eyes, turning back around to grab the bowl from behind him. One hand rose up to flip him off.
Mickey repeated the gesture. “Yeah, maybe you're right. Don’t need you blowing more shit up” his tone snarky.
Ian gave another eye roll, the gesture really starting to lose, it's already very small, effectiveness. “You’re fucking hilarious” he settled on saying before his attention went back onto whipping the meringue which had completely deflated in the time Ian spent away from it.
Mickey watched Ian and Ruby stir their respective bowls for what felt like years. He finally gave in to his inner thoughts. “You done yet?” He tried to be nonchalant, eyeing them over once more. Ian had the audacity to laugh.
It had been a long day, in all honestly Mickey wanted to just settle down for the night. Unfortunately for him he had become too used to Ian’s company to do that alone anymore. Even when they had their worst fights they would still return to the same bed at the end of the night. For whatever reason, he just couldn’t justify going and laying in their big bed all alone. Mickey felt as whipped as those egg whites sometimes. He guessed that was a better fate than whatever he would be doing if he had followed the Milkovich way of living.
He kicked himself for posing the question despite his desperate need to be done. He hated back-peddling on things, especially when he swore he wasn’t going to do something and then had to. He sucked it up as Ian looked back in his direction.
“Still got to make the lemon curd”
Mickey instantly grimaced. “Sounds fuckin gross” He repeated his daughter’s previous sentiment about the meringue. Regardless he still stood up, going around to look down at Ian’s phone snatching it away before his husband could protest. “I’ll make it” his voice was small as if he was annoyed that he was getting dragged into this mess again.
“Thought you said you weren’t gonna help anymore?” Ian’s lips were curled upward in victory. Mickey pushed his hand into Ian’s shoulder.
“Yeah, yeah, fuck off” He placed the phone back down flat on the counter, mentally repeating everything he needed to grab. He was a little surprised that they had everything readily available in all honesty. Mickey couldn't believe that ricotta was just something they had casually in their fridge.
“Would like to go to bed sometime this century” Mickey sarcastically muttered, his attention turning to Ruby.
“Would like that one to not be cranky tomorrow morning either” he added with a head nod over at his daughter. She crossed her arms over her chest in protest even though she knew those words rang true. She stuck her tongue out at Mickey.
He repeated the gesture, ruffling the top of her head before making his way to the fridge.
Eventually, they were able to get a little rhythm. No casualties or massive mess-ups that time around. Mickey was stationed with the task of making Lemon curd even though he had no clue what that was. Luckily for everyone involved he had become a considerably decent cook in all those years.
Ian was in front of the stove, pouring the mixture into pretty perfect little circles. He had made enough pancakes in all his years that he had the cooking process down pact.
Ruby on the other hand had been lifted off of the counter. She sat in the dead centre of the kitchen, petting Roma’s head and ‘supervising’ her parents. She was just content abusing the fact that she was staying up past her bedtime.
The meringue was a little sad, runny. Ian swore he didn’t know what happened because he had workouts less intense than how strongly he whipped those eggs.
But it was almost midnight. It was going to have to do.
Still, Ian’s curiosity got the best of him as he poked the bowl beside him, waiting for the last of the pancakes to cook.
He took the stir previously laying on the counter, dipping it into his sad meringue. He tasted it, smacking his lips as he couldn’t quite tell what was off about it. Expect the general everything.
“Mick, c’mere. Does this taste right to you?” Suddenly Mickey felt like the dog a little as he got whatever scraps the two ‘cooks’ were willing to give him. Nonetheless, he was willing, kinda hungry, done with the lemon curd.
Ian’s hand reached out to grab the belt loop on Mickey’s jeans. Manhandling his body so that Mickey stood a few inches in front of him. With no exchange of words, Ian rose the tip of the plastic stir to his husband’s mouth. Mickey licked the rim of his lips as Ian pulled it away.
He grimaced slightly. “A little sour?”
That wasn’t the reaction Ian seemed to have wanted as he hit his husband’s cheek with the stir, leaving behind a sticky residue.
“Hey, keep on feeding me sour shit and you’ll be tastin’ it later”
Ian slapped his cheek again, this time he got a flirty smile paired with wiggling eyebrows. Ian relinquished any need he felt to stay serious, stir dropping to his side as he once again grabbed Mickey’s belt loop, pulling him impossibly close.
Ian’s arms wrapped around Mickey’s lower back, kissing Mickey’s slightly sticky, still sweet lips. Ian smiled into the kiss, feeling the icing he had painted Mickey’s face with transfer over to his. All of a sudden Mickey made a little groan. He pulled away looking down at his leg as the lemon thrown at it bounced away.
“That’s what you get for being gross” Ruby's little voice piqued up from behind them. She had climbed up the stool and back onto the counter. Her legs were drawn up to her chest reaching to grab another lemon to fling at them. A sour expression to match the fruit.
The mischievous glint in Mickey’s eyes didn’t sway as he turned around, stalking towards. “Oh yeah, we’re gross?” He was right in front of Ruby now. She gave a little giggle, a shit-eating grin not wavering any.
As if that was the bait needed he engulfed Ruby in his arms. He hugged her tight for a second as he had done to his husband a second earlier. The false security took Ruby by pitfall. She was never one to refuse affection so she lifted her arms up, wrapping them around Mickey’s neck.
She played right into his plan. Quickly his arms snatched away, poking her sides. Not relenting any as she tried to squirm out of his grasp. He blundered down, engulfing her in his arms once more as he led a tickle attack. “Daddy stop!” She barely got out through the giggles.
“No way sweetcheeks, this is payback” Mickey mocked her tone, fingers jabbing at her side. She giggled and squealed and even tried to get some jabs back to minor success.
Her leg kicked up, in the process the bag of powdered sugar beside her was slashed from the counter. Landing everywhere.
For the second time that night, their entire kitchen was covered in a thin layer of white powder.
Mickey was way past the point of caring anymore, borderline delirious. His hand swiped across the counter. He leaned forward, taking some of the powdered sugar onto his thumb. He smeared the white powder across Ruby’s cheek, he couldn’t contain the forming smile. “There now you’re really sweet cheeks” he finished the look off by swiping his thumb across the tip of her nose.
For what it was worth, they all laughed at that.
They were finally in the home stretch. Mickey, Ruby and Roma by proxy were on cleaning once more. Ian had charged himself with assembling the pancakes. They definitely didn’t look anything like the photos presented on the cooking website but they were his little creation. Had fun in the process even if the finished product was a little sad, pancakes all drooping to one side.
He was about to box them up when he saw his phone screen lit up from the corner of his eye. Hand reaching out to grab it he realised it was a text message.
Carl : Funny story. Bryn also forgot our ‘versary tmrw. We laughed about it but turns out we’re not doin anything special. don't bother with the pancakes. thanks tho, owe you one
Ian read the text with a laugh, attention divulging back to Mickey and Ruby wiping the counters down. They were definitely covered in more sugar now than the last time he looked over at them.
The kitchen around them looked like a tornado had run through it. Dirty bowls stacked high in the sink, open containers, droplets of milk. The whole nine yards. Ian chose to ignore it however in lieu of watching his husband and daughter.
Mickey had once again resorted to playfully wiping the slightly wet, from the paper towel, sugar across her cheeks again. She reciprocated the gesture. Mickey’s previously grey shirt now had several white streaks made by tiny fingers. Both of them were a giggling mess again. Upon watching them Ian couldn’t help but join in their choir.
“Hey, idiots” Ian’s voice dripped in absolute affection despite the word choice. Both sets of eyes snapped up at him again. “Who wants some pancakes?”