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It was finally Lily’s eighth birthday, and her dads couldn’t have been more excited to celebrate with her. The morning started with warmth from the beaming July sunshine coming through the window in Dream and George’s room. They had allowed Lily to stay in their bed for the night, giving into her puppy eyes and pleas of "But Daddy, it’s my birthday tomorrow!!"
George woke up first on that sunny morning, which wasn’t a very rare occurrence. He looked over his little family with fondness painted across his face, before leaving a kiss on each of their foreheads. He proceeded to step out of the king-sized bed and make his way to the kitchen with the goal of making breakfast for the birthday girl and his husband. He got started on some french toast after swiftly checking on the cake Dream picked up yesterday. French toast was Lily’s favorite breakfast food, so George made sure she would get it on the special day.
George quickly gathered his ingredients and got to work; he knew Lily would wake up as soon as the clock struck 8:00. And just as he predicted, he heard the soft pattering of footsteps running down the hallway towards the kitchen just 15 minutes later.
The little girl arrived at the open doorway into the kitchen with planted feet and labored breaths, as she used all her energy getting there in the first place.
"Papa!! Do you know what today is?"
Seeing the excitement on the girl’s face over the occasion, he decided to play dumb.
"Hmmm... I’m not sure! Why don’t you tell me, princess?"
"It’s my birthday, Papa!"
Dream stumbled into the kitchen after her, still wearing her pajamas. He caught on to the act George was putting on and decided to join in, "Wow! Is it here already? "How old are you going to be, love?"
A look of uncertainty washed across their daughter’s face, and she quickly ran over to George to whisper in his ear. With the girl being much shorter than her dad, George bent down to hear the message,
"Papa, how old am I?"
George snorted at the question, which then made both him and Lily erupt into giggles.
George continued to whisper, as if Lily’s age was top secret information.
"Eight, darling, you’re turning eight today."
"I’M EIGHT, DADDY!"
"Wow!! Such a big girl, aren’t you, angel?"
"Yeah!!"
George smiled softly at the excited banter between his daughter and husband as he finished up the french toast.
"Well, I think that such a special day requires a special birthday breakfast, hm?"
A big gasp escaped the girl as she hadn’t spotted the french toast previously. She was quick to hug George’s waist and repeatedly thank him for making her favorite breakfast with a wide grin.
The rest of the morning was spent eating french toast on the couch (also a birthday treat), and watching High School Musical, as it was the movie Lily was obsessed with at the time. George sat on the left of the girl while Dream sat on her right, per her request for a "family sandwich." George reminded Lily to be careful about not getting syrup on the couch because cleaning that up did not sound fun, and she ended up being successful in carrying out the plea, to both George’s and Dream’s surprise.
The movie eventually ended, and dirty dishes were left in the sink to be dealt with later. George was focused on making this day special for Lily; dishes could be dealt with after she fell asleep.
The time was approaching 1:00 when the small family was gathering around the kitchen table for cake. The cake was vanilla with rainbow sprinkles inside; the dads knew how fond Lily was of rainbow colors and patterns. On the outside, there were decorative drips of pink icing cascading over the top edge of the cylinder-shaped cake, and the words "Happy 8th Birthday Lily!" printed in pretty handwriting with teal icing. Lily admired the beauty of her cake for several minutes while Dream and George gathered the candles, lighter, and cutting knife from the designated "miscellaneous" drawer in their kitchen. When eight rainbow candles had been placed in a circle on the top of the cake, George took Lily back a few feet for Dream to light them. The parents had explained the dangers of playing with fire to Lily, and the last thing they wanted was for someone to get hurt from such an innocent act like lighting birthday candles, so they made sure to step back just in case of an accident.
Once the candles were lit, Lily was released back in front of the cake, where she sat as Dream and George sang the happy birthday song for her. The song was followed by applause and a big intake of breath from Lily in an attempt to blow out all eight candles at the same time. She huffed loudly, exhaling her breath across the candles, and her parents’ faces lit up as they watched the flames on each rainbow stick get extinguished. The applause continued as Lily smiled, sitting back in her chair.
"Can we cut it now, Papa?" she requested.
George responded, "Of course, princess! Do you wanna help me?"
"Mhm!!"
The cutting of the cake commenced, with George’s bigger hands guiding Lily’s on the knife’s handle to prevent any injuries.
"Good job, love!" Dream praised after the first slice had been cut as he pressed a kiss into her hair.
The cake was put onto plates for the three of them to enjoy and was carried into the dining room by Dream and George while Lily searched the game cabinet for Candy Land.
Hours passed with board games and the opening of birthday presents before the evening became apparent through the windows in the living room, and it took Dream’s attention away from Lily playing with her new toys. The rapidly dimming sunlight could mean only one thing: it was time for their annual birthday adventure!
Ever since Lily was a baby, Dream and George had a tradition of bringing her up to a nearby hill to watch the sunset and play whatever active game their daughter suggested.
Dream alerted George and Lily of the time before gathering a few balls and a frisbee from the coat closet as possible equipment for whatever Lily decided to play, while George was getting Lily’s hair up and getting her shoes on. They piled into the car with the equipment in the trunk and started the 25-minute ride to the hill.
Upon their arrival, the sun was beginning to lower towards the sea, and pretty shades of lilac were being cast among the clouds. While George helped Lily unbuckle from her booster seat and hop out of the car onto the gravel path, Dream retrieved the bag of outdoor toys from the trunk, and the family began their journey up the slope. It wasn’t a long or rigorous walk; Dream and George would’ve determined that early on when Lily was still too young to walk and they had to carry her if it was. Lily skipped ahead of her dads while they stayed behind and held hands while admiring their daughter from afar. Lily reached the top first and shouted for her dads to hurry up, which they did, as the sun was setting faster than they expected. They all made it to the top a minute later, and Dream dumped out the contents of the bag for Lily to choose from, while George crept closer to the downward slope on the other side of the hill to admire the sunset. He unintentionally started reminiscing about all the journeys they had made there over the years.
It started with Lily’s first birthday, when they knew she didn’t have a developed enough brain to remember anything about the adventure, but she had a smile on her face and a giggle with everything she said the entire time, so they knew she was enjoying it. There were two little pigtails collecting the small amount of blonde hair she had, and she was wearing a pink plaid dress with flower embellishments on the straps. George thought it was the cutest sight he’d ever seen; it’s still up there on the list, but he was unaware of just how many more lovely memories the family would make as Lily grew up more and more each day.
His thoughts were interrupted by a shout of "PAPAAAA" and an almost four-foot figure slamming into his left side; it wasn’t enough to knock him over, but enough to make him stumble and take a few steps back to stabilize himself.
"Hi baby!" he replied enthusiastically, with a laugh. Dream came up behind her and put his hands on her shoulders while looking down at her.
"Did you scare your Papa??" he questioned without an ounce of malice in his voice.
A burst of giggles escaped Lily, "Hehe, yeah I did Daddy!!!"
"Silly goose," George replied with a soft smile while ruffling her hair.
George decided to join the game of makeshift soccer Dream and Lily had started, deciding to join Lily’s team because Dream had the most sports experience out of the three. George hadn’t realized how much time had passed, but the next time he looked at where the sun used to be, deeper blues replaced it, and there was a moon on the opposite side of the sky, hovering above their car. Apparently Dream hadn’t had the time to break away from the intense soccer match either, because he looked equally as surprised when George asked him to check the time. They decided it was time to pack up the trip and head back down to the car.
In contrast to the intense energy Lily was displaying only a few minutes prior, their daughter’s eyes appeared to be fighting against sleep in the backseat of their car moments after she was buckled in. Dream and George shared an adoring look before Dream put the key in the ignition and started the drive back home.
Lily was fast asleep by the time they arrived home, the feeling of the car moving smoothly under her lulling her away to dreamland. George was careful while clicking off her seatbelt and picking her up to take her inside. She was bordering on being too heavy to carry, but George managed because he didn’t want to disturb the seemingly peaceful sleep his beautiful daughter was experiencing.
The pair opted to skip bath time that night, but they made sure to remove Lily’s muddy shoes and wipe down her lower legs with a wet washcloth so she didn’t get any dirt on her bed. They left her to sleep for the night with a forehead kiss from each of them before turning on her nightlight and not fully shutting her door. The couple retreated to their own room for the night, with their own sleepiness and smiles.
Dream spoke first, "I don’t know about you, but I’d say that was a pretty damn good birthday."
George’s smile only grew at his husband’s words, "Yeah, I’d say that too."
It didn’t take long before soft snores filled up the room and they too were whisked away to sleep themselves.