Crown of a Prince (Finn Shelby)

*III*

Just a one time thing - Liam and Ada

This is not an update of COAP but it is an update of sorts! In case you didn't see my announcement, I am working on COAP and I'm getting there but it might be another little while before I have it finished and ready to post! This is just something I wrote over Christmas while I was bored and thinking about my favourite side couple, Liam and Ada. 

Just keep it out for another day.

That's all Liam Kennedy was trying to do. Don't let it consume you, don't let it ruin you. Yes, John was dead. Séan was still dead. His parents were still dead and the mafia were coming for them but he wasn't going to let it ruin him and even if it did, he wasn't going to let it ruin Ailbhe's birthday.

It was Ailbhe's 18th birthday, crown princess of Birmingham's coming of age and there was no holding back. The barkeeps were instructed to keep the champagne and whiskey flowing, to have the music loud and to keep going until the sun came up or everyone passed out drunk or asleep. By order of the Peaky Blinders.

The Shelby Kennedy clan were celebrating tonight, despite the hard times they had just faced as well as the deep cracks in the family they were only just beginning to pave over.

Liam was glad to be out, wanting to get out of his own head and be around some noise. Maybe he could even drink away the ache in his chest and his head that he couldn't seem to get rid of. Their family was back in Small Heath and his little sister was turning eighteen. It was meant to be a happy occasion, but Liam couldn't gloss over the mess that was their lives as well as everyone else.

John was dead. Polly was a mess, ranting and raving about spirits and voices. Niall didn't trust Tommy as far as he could throw him anymore and with Niall having at least fifty pounds and a foot on Tommy, he could throw him pretty far. Ailbhe and Finn were at each other's throats and nobody wanted to trust Tommy.

However, seeing the smile on Ailbhe's face when they gave her the key to her car and how she laughed with Isiah, he felt a little better.

Ailbhe had been trying her best to cheer up since they left Small Heath but Liam saw how lonely she was, how deep the cracks ran. Liam did alright on his own, he always had. But Ailbhe needed her family more than she perhaps would admit. Without a mother and a father for most her life, she compensated with Uncle Charlie, with Polly and Lizzie, even Ada as her surrogate sister and the boys as her extra brothers. Liam had been there for her as much as he could, when he remembered in London. But he was a poor substitute for the entire family, for Polly who mothered her, for Ada who spent proper time with her, for Finn who seemed to make her laugh more than anyone else.

Liam was glad to see that the ice was clearly thawing between Finn and Ailbhe, things seemed lighter between them. The vicious glares and seething glances had taken the night off. Thankfully. Liam had nearly a decade on them and they still put him on edge when they started arguing.

"Oi, try smiling you ugly git"

The chime of Ada's voice snapped Liam's attention into focus. She was sitting beside him, watching him closely and seeing how his brow furrowed and his eyes seemed frozen in focus.

Liam pulled an over-the-top, unfamiliar grin onto his face to vex Ada who rolled her eyes and pushed his face away from hers with an open palm.

"We're meant to be having fun... It's her birthday Liam" Ada jibed in a sing-song voice that made Liam look at her more closely.

Her cheeks were pinking up, even beneath the rouge she wore, and her eyes seemed to hold a bit of a glassy mischief in them that wasn't there earlier. The bottles of champagne were being emptied quickly and Liam was quite sure Ada was taking real advantage of Linda minding Karl for the night.