HARD TIMES ━ lip gallagher²

02 | birth mucus

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"YOU SURE YOU'RE GOOD to walk?" Lip asked for what it felt like the thousandth time as they made their way through the subway station. Amara rolled her eyes and nodded, still walking besides him while he pushed the stroller. They'd stayed in the hospital overnight, and the entire Gallagher and Gilbert family merged together again once they learned the news about the baby being born. But once they left, the two new parents struggled to come up with a name.

Amara, of course, suggested Douglas, (partially joking) but Lip looked ready to bite her head off at the recommendation. She also had said "Happy," because she was "happy to have that thing out of her."

They tossed names back and forth until sunrise, before agreeing on Freddie around five am, the two of them completely exhausted. Lip had blurted it out, saying a bunch of names from Harry Potter, but surprisingly, they both found that it fit. And Freddie Gallagher was the newest member of the family.

"There's a flight of stairs up ahead," Amara said, and Lip went to push the stroller down them. She yanked him backwards by his sleeve. "The fuck are you doing?!"

"Uh..." He blinked. "Walking?"

"Oh my God," she shot him a look and reached down to grab Freddie out of the cart. "Now do it."

"He would've been fine."

"Lip!"

"Well now you just woke him up. Good going."

"You almost just put him through an earthquake that would've woken him up faster."

"It would've felt like he was being rocked."

"Jesus Christ," she glared at him and started down the stairs. "I'm never leaving you alone with him. Where did you park the car?"

Lip sighed and closed the stroller up, pointing somewhere down the road. "Not that far."

"Did you get a car seat?"

He paused and the two of them stopped to stare at each other. "Fuck."

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"Dude, your kid is totally white," Liam said, staring at Freddie who was being cradled in Amara's arms. She raised a brow, snorting suddenly at the statement, and Lip poked his head back in through the door. "Doesn't even look like he has one drop of black blood in him."

"Have you seen his parents?" Lip questioned, blowing out cigarette smoke.

"Isn't it easier just to quit smoking?"

"Planning on it," Lip replied. Amara rose to her feet and gently placed Freddie back onto the couch cushion before making her way into the kitchen to grab a cup of coffee. She probably got around twenty minutes of sleep in the past forty hours—it felt like she was going to pass out at any moment.

When she got back into the living room, Lip was on the couch cradling a wailing Freddie, listening to Liam. "I went to Urban Outfitters, and a security guard followed me for twenty minutes. Says 'urban' in their title."

"I think he's hungry," Lip said, glancing up to Amara, who crossed her arms at the glint in his eyes.

"No fucking way."

"Amara-"

"No!"

"It's cheaper. Just do it." She rolled her eyes and reached over to grab the bag off the side, pulling it onto the arm of the couch to search for something. "What're you doing?"

With a pointed look, she pulled out a box of baby formula. "I had Silvia pick this up while we were at the hospital yesterday."

Lip narrowed his gaze. "Are you serious?"

She shrugged and moved towards the kitchen, hearing Lip's footsteps trail behind her. "I was in labor for eleven hours, the last thing I want is more pain right now, okay? So shut up and deal with it."

"Fine," he sighed, sliding onto one of the chairs, still holding Freddie, who was fussy in his arms. When the microwave beeped, she took the bottle out and stepped over to them. "How do we do this?"

"Put it in his mouth?" Amara replied, furrowing her brows. "Um, you have fun figuring that out."

"What-"

"I'm covered in birth mucus, I need to shower."

"I have no idea what I'm doing."

"Figure it out," she trudged to the stairs. "It can't be that hard. I'll be back fast, I just want to not feel disgusting."

The rest of Lip's protests were cut off as she shut the bathroom door behind her.

☆

"We do not need this couch!" Frank yelled, rushing into the house. Amara was sat on the floor next to Lip, who was struggling to figure out how to put together the bassinet Veronica brought them, and Debbie was smirking smugly at her father. "Take it back right now."

"Sorry, man," one of the men said on his way out the door. "We just deliver shit."

"Ah," Debbie breathed, flopping onto the new couch. Amara shifted Freddie in her grasp when he began to fidget. "So comfy. And look, no fecal stains."

"That's my money you're sitting on," Frank accused. Amara shared a look with her boyfriend before focusing her attention back on their son.

"We needed a new couch, Frank. So I took care of it. How about you thank me instead of bitching at me?"

"Six hundred dollars?!" Liam read off the price tag, a series of groans in disbelief sounded afterwards.

"Nice things cost," Debbie answered, unfazed.

"We could've used that money for baby stuff," Amara was glaring at her now. "Are you kidding me right now?"

"Yeah, it's our money too," Carl agreed. "We should have a say in what we buy."

"It'd be nice to have some cash to buy diapers," Lip chimed in. "I had to use the last of Amara's pads to make one. Stop being greedy."

"I, for one, am tired of being repressed and controlled by the women in this family," Frank announced.

"Don't make it about the women, we're better leaders than any of you could be," Amara said, handing the baby off to Carl, who had been asking to hold him moments prior. "Just blame Debbie, she's the control freak."

"I'm right here," the redhead reminded her. Amara pretended not to hear it.

"It might just be the sleep deprivation, but I kind of agree with Frank," Lip stated.

"Yeah, you Debbie and Fiona have been bitching at us our whole lives," Carl added.

Amara snapped her head over in his direction. "I'll still manhandle you, I don't care if you're holding my kid."

"Do you see what you've done?" Frank accused. "No one wants you to be in charge. We didn't elect you. We're in best behavior for this little infant boy, who still stands a chance of feeling like a man someday."

"Okay," Amara stood up and took Freddie back. "We've had enough of this. Going upstairs now, away from you misogynistic dickheads. Feel free to call us back down when you're done."

"Oh nice going Frank," she heard Lip say. "Thanks for pissing off my girlfriend. And that was the stomp and cry. See you all in sixteen hours."

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a/n

lip and amara being chaotic parents is something i didn't know i needed