Chapter Text
The last two years had been hard as hell on you ever since your boyfriend packed up and left you. Not only had he left you, but he had left your daughter, who was five months old at the time. He said he simply wasn't ready to be a dad, which you understood. But what you didn't understand is why that constituted him to start wailing on you and push you down your stairs, evidently landing you in hospital and him in prison for two to five years.
But after you recovered, you moved out of Armagh and back home to West Belfast to be closer to your parents, far away from your ex's parents - who swore up and down their son did nothing wrong and that you must've tripped down the stairs. Your daughter was far too young to know what happened, and you knew someday you would have to sit her down and tell her why her dad wasn't around. But you supposed that day was ages away, and you had plenty of time to plan on what to say.
Now, life was starting to look up for you. With your parents a ten minute walk away and a new job you could do from home, you had everything under control. You brought in enough money to keep a roof over your head, food on the table, and give your daughter everything a three year-old could ever want and need. She was the bubbliest, brightest three year-old you had ever known. She skipped along footpaths and waved to strangers when she passed them, stopping to pet cats and dogs and sometimes give them a hug if the owner said it was alright.
Some day's were rougher than others, but your mindset was that tomorrow can always be better.
Your daughter was like you in every way possible, with the same hair colour and the same eye colour, everywhere you went you got compliments on your likeness. But what most people didn't know is that your daughter had a somewhat concerning obsession with Kneecap, the famously controversial rap trio from West Belfast. You had read somewhere that if you listened to the same music over and over again while pregnant that your child would fall asleep to it when they were born. You didn't believe a word of it until one night when your daughter was seven months old and wouldn't sleep, and you had been up for almost twenty four hours and you couldn't think of any other way to get her to sleep, so you took a chance and put on Drug Dealing Pagans by Kneecap as a last hope. To your absolute bewilderment, as soon as the song began, your daughter shut right up and was fast asleep by the end of it.\
So, as your daughter grew up, you spoke to her in Irish - the language your parents had brought you up speaking - and let her listen to Kneecap whenever she wished, which was most of the day. The day she started walking and figuring out what things were was the day your house started becoming filled with Kneecap vinyls and merch for her. You had actually bought a record player and a CD player just so she could listen to their music. Some parents had frown upon you for this, but you. had always stood by letting your daughter indulge in whatever she liked, and so what if that was an explicit and politically violent rap group? You were only thankful it wasn't what you had been brought up around.
"Mamí!". You hummed as you sliced a strawberry in half and dropped it in the bowl of yogurt, "Sea, leanbh?" You replied as your daughter toddled up to you with the days newspaper, which you had been reading that morning over your breakfast. You looked down as she hit your leg with it, "What?" You asked as you set the knife down. "Kneecap!" Your daughter exclaimed with a joyous smile, holding up the paper to you. You narrowed your eyes as you took the paper from her and crouched down to her level, flipping through the pages.
Your daughter slapped her hand on one of the pages, "Look, mamaí! Kneecap!" She cheered, clapping her hands. You hadn't gotten to read the page she had stopped at, and your eyes drifted over the photograph of half-finished mural that was being dedicated to Kneecap on Cavendish Street. Your eyes landed on the text beneath it, explaining that the actual unveiling of the mural was happening tomorrow at noon. "Amárach?" You muttered, raising an eyebrow. "Can we go, mamaí? Pleaseee! Kneecap might be there!" Your daughter begged, jumping around. You watched her for a moment before looking back at the paper, slowly nodding your head, "I don't see why not" You said and closed the paper, looking over at your daughter, smiling as you seen her face light up with joy.
Your daughter sat quietly eating her dinner as she watched the TV while you sat on the back doorstep with your vape and your phone, on the phone to your sister. "We're gonna go to the Kneecap mural tomorrow" You said, kicking a stone off the steps. Your sister hummed, "I would've went, but I don't think I could get tomorrow off on such short notice" She groaned. Your sister was as equally obsessed with Kneecap as you were, both of you attending every Kneecap concert you could together. You chuckled, "I'll send you lots of photos" You said and glanced over your shoulder into the living room, happy when you seen your daughter still eating her dinner peacefully. You puffed away on your vape as your sister started to complain about her husband, who had apparently gotten dirt over her nice cream rug in her hallway, to which you asked why she could put a cream rug right in front of her door.
"Oíche oíche, mo ghrá" You said quietly as you tucked your daughter into bed. She looked up at you, "Mamaí, are we going to meet Kneecap tomorrow?" She asked curiously. You shrugged, "We might. But we'll probably just see them" You replied as you stood up. Your daughter nodded thoughtfully, "Can we bring Fine Art and ask them to sign it?" She asked. You nodded with a smile playing at your face, "We'll bring it with us, but I can't promise you they'll have time to sign it. They're very busy people, ceann beag" You said. Your daughter nodded and pulled her duvet up to her chin, "I hope we see them" She mumbled as her eyes began to droop shut. You smiled as you walked to the door and looked over your shoulder at her before closing the door over and heading downstairs.
As the sun rose and Belfast started to wake up, your daughter came running into your room. "Mamaí! We're going to see Kneecap today!" She squealed as she climbed up on your bed. You groaned and picked up your phone, checking the time. "Tá sé i ndáiríre go luath, leanbh" You mumbled, rubbing your face with your palms. Your daughter smiled, "But Kneecap, mamaí" She said, hovering her face over yours. You stared at her, annoyed she had woken you up five whole hours before it was even happening, but that annoyance faded as you focused on her face - a face you could never hate even if you tried.
After a lot of back and forth, you finally laid out all your daughters Kneecap and GAA tops for her to choose from. You sat on the floor watching her observe her options like this was a super high-tech mission, smiling slightly. "Do you want to wear jeans?" You asked, turning to open her drawers. Your daughter looked at you, and you picked out a pair of light blue jeans. She looked at them for a moment and nodded, "Yes" She said before returning to her picking off her top. You sighed and leaned back against the drawers, looking up at the ceiling.
After breakfast, hanging out the washing and giving the house a quick hoovering, you and your daughter were on your way to Cavendish Street - way too early. You yourself had chosen to wear leggings, trainers and your Kneecap cocktail sweatshirt. You glanced down at your daughter sitting in the pram, holding onto her Fine Art vinyl like her life depended upon it. You smiled and looked back in front of you. "Hurry, mamaí! We're gonna miss Kneecap!" Your daughter demanded, bouncing in the pram. You chuckled, "We're an hour and ten minutes early, we're not going to miss them" You assured.
Your daughter basically threw herself out of the pram when you rounded the corner to the mural. She left her vinyl in the pram and toddled up to the mural, completely in awe. You smiled and pulled out your phone, "Let me get a picture of you" You said and crouched down as your daughter posed. You smiled as you took a few photos, "As nice as you thought?" You asked as your daughter turned back around to look at the mural. "Tá sé iontach, mamaí!" She giggled.
"Aye, class isn't it?"
You looked away from your daughter and almost dropped your phone on the ground. Your daughter gasped audibly, "Móglaí Bap!" She cheered, throwing her hands up in the air. Naoise smiled as he came over with his hands in his pockets, "You's are quite early" He commented as you gathered yourself and came over to him. "Well, someone was very excited to come and see this after she seen it in the paper yesterday" You said, gesturing to your daughter. Naoise grinned at you, "Proper fan then?" He asked as he watched your daughter feel the wall the mural had been painted on. You hummed, "Takes after me, I suppose" You said, grinning. Your daughter ran over to you, picking up her vinyl from the pram and holding it up to Naoise. "Can you sign this, please?" She asked. Naoise smiled and pulled a pen out of his pocket before crouching down, "Of course" He said and took the vinyl. He popped the cap off the pen and looked at your daughter, "What's your name?" He asked. Your daughter told him her name, and you watched as he wrote a little message for her on the cover.
Your daughter sat in her pram, admiring her now-signed vinyl like she had been given a diamond. Naoise looked at you, "Ever brought her to a concert?" He asked. You shook your head, "She's only three. Having her in the crowd is a little bit dangerous" You replied. Naoise hummed thoughtfully, "What about like, backstage?" He asked. You raised an eyebrow, "Do I look like I have money for that?" You joked. Naoise cackled and waved his hand, but he pulled out his phone, "C'mon, what's your email?" He asked, opening his notes. Your eyes widened, "Wait-" Naoise looked at you with a smile, "Come on! The wee one would love it!" He said and raised an eyebrow at your jumper, "And by the looks of it, you would too" He added on. You sighed, dragging your hands down your face, "Seriously?" You asked. Naoise nodded, "Dead serious".
Naoise showed you his notes to make sure he had gotten your email down right before putting his phone back in his pocket. "Can I get a picture with Móglaí Bap, mamaí?" Your daughter asked from the pram. You looked at her, then Naoise, who grinned, "C'mon, kid" He said and offered his hand. Your daughter jumped up and took his hand, following him in front of the mural. You smiled wider than you had in a long time as you took photos, thinking about the look on your sisters face when you showed her later.
You and Naoise were talking about the mural itself when your daughter jumped out of her pram again. "Próvaí!" She squealed, running off up the footpath towards an approaching DJ Próvaí. Naoise chuckled, "She's full of sunshine" He said and looked at you, "Takes after you again" He added on. You nudged his shoulder lightly, "Treading on thin ice, Naoise" You chuckled, but you kept a mental note on how his eyes lingered on you just a second too long. DJ Próvaí came over, holding your daughters hand, "This wee legend yours?" He asked, looking at you. You nodded, "Aye, proud of it too" You replied. He nodded, "I'd be if I was you" He said. "What's the craic?" Liam Òg said as he sauntered up from behind Naoise. Your daughter squealed, "Mo Chara!". Liam Òg looked at her and smiled, "All good, wee one?" He said as he crouched down and gave her a high-five.
"Tá sé seo iontach!" Your daughter said happily. The three looked at her, then you, and you just shrugged, "caithfidh an leanbh foghlaim" You said simply. Naoise grinned, "You teach her?" He asked as JJ and Liam Óg knelt down and started speaking to your daughter. You nodded, "My parents brought me and my sister up speaking Irish, so I figured I'd keep that going with her" You explained. Naoise's eyebrows went up, "How's that going?" He asked. You shrugged, "She can speak full sentences, but I suppose she'll learn more as she gets older".
As people began to come to see the mural, Naoise turned to you. "Here, I'll have those tickets emailed to you" He said. You smiled, "Thank you so much, Naoise. You don't know how happy she's going to be" You said with a soft expression. Naoise hugged you, "She'll be over the moon" He said as you hugged him back. The trio said goodbye to you and your daughter, and she climbed back into her pram, looking at her vinyl that she had gotten JJ and Liam Óg to sign when you weren't looking. "Happy now?" You asked. Your daughter nodded, grinning ear to ear.