#gallapride

Ian punched Mickey in the shoulder with a grumbled “Shut up”, and left it at that, sure he’d find a way to convince his husband soon enough. He always did.

But then word spread about Gallavich Security and they really couldn’t turn down any new clients because they needed the money for rent, and utilities, and furniture, and ambulance repairs, and Mickey gave those polka dancers an extra big tip at the end of their anniversary celebration, which Ian thought was really sweet, but it all added up.

And so, their lives got busy for a while, and since they weren’t using the balcony for luxurious married couple brunches, Ian started filling the space with plants.

He picked up a load of potted herbs one day, because they were on sale and the idea of having fresh herbs at all times made him smile. And once they had basil readily growing then of course tomatoes had to be next. Mickey found him reading an article about gardening in restricted spaces one evening and the next time he returned from a grocery run he unceremoniously dropped a hanging basket in Ian’s lap. “For your tomatoes” he muttered, before going to the kitchen to get a beer. Ian smiled after him, besotted with his grumpy husband.

Next Ian picked up some ferns for cheap. And one of their neighbours asked if they’d like some of her surplus spider plants, as they propagated better than she had expected.

The week after that Ian bought some blue agapanthus, for more money than he should have spent, but they reminded him of their wedding flowers – which meant he just had to buy them. So yeah, the plants start to add up.

And suddenly it’s June. They’d finally hired two new drivers and just finished training them, introducing them to all their clients, explaining the routes, the shortcuts, the high police presence areas to avoid at all costs… y’know, the usual.

And now? Well, now they have an entire week to themselves! Their first ever “vacation”, and Ian is determined to kick it off in style. He carefully gets out of bed. Mickey grumbles, smacks his lips, and turns his face into Ian’s pillow, inhaling deeply and settling back into sleep.

Ian opens the Pinterest App on his phone (he talks to his plants and is desperate to convince his husband of how great brunch is - of course he has a Pinterest account…) and lays everything he needs out on the counter, before heading out to the balcony to make some space. He shuffles plants around and adjusts furniture until he’s happy they’ll be able to sit comfortably. He heads back inside to start a pot of coffee and get to flipping pancakes.

He’s taken care of the few misshapen clouds from his earliest tries (by eating them, obviously!) and he’s just messing about with sprinkling some powdered sugar on the finished plates when he hears Mickey questioningly calling his name.

Picking up both plates and two coffee mugs he calls back “On the balcony!” before stepping outside and adding the plates and mugs to the already laid out cutlery, milk, and maple syrup. He steps back into the kitchen to get the full coffee pot and he’s just filled Mickey’s mug when the man himself steps out into the snug space.

“What’s all this?” Mickey asks, amusement and fondness in his voice.

Ian glances over at him then quickly away. He feels the tingling heat of a blush on his cheeks and suddenly feels silly for the amount of fuss he’s made, so tries to play it off as casual and says, shrugging “I made us some pancakes.”

Mickey looks at the pancake rainbows and powdered sugar covered clouds on both of their plates, sat next to steaming cups of coffee, and raises an eyebrow at his husband. “Yeah, you sure did…” he starts, teasingly, reaching for Ian’s neck and scritch scritch scritching through the short hair at his nape. He glances back at the table and concludes: “That’s really fucking gay, Gallagher.”

Ian laughs, slapping Mickey’s hand off his neck, only to grab his face in both hands and pull him in for a lingering kiss, mumbling on the pull back to “Shut up, and eat your Pride Pancakes, Mick”

Delivering one more smacking kiss to Ian’s lips Mickey goes to sit down, positively beaming at his ridiculous husband. “Happy fucking Pride to us.”

Rooster mugs created by the fabulous @deedala, and available for purchase here. || If you’d like to see some in progress pictures of the pancakes then head over here :)

And lastly, as an extra sweet treat, below is some real life footage of Ian enjoying the Pride Pancakes!

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Individual charms

Before the bake