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jean-does-not-have-a-horseface · 3 years

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Heaven in Hiding

Hello everyone, it's @sasageyowrites 's birthday today and this fic in my queue is dedicated to her and only her. This is my gift to you sweetheart, sweet 17 I love you dearly. On another note I used some line breakers here because I wanted to see how they worked don't mind me I might remove them later on

Pairing: Dabi/reader

Summary: Dabi finds himself unable to get out of your shadow and in despairate need to provide for your and your daughter's safety you confront him, forbidding him of ever being able to lay his eyes on you or your baby

Warnings: Stalking I guess, I mean typical Dabi stuff you know..

Dabi wasn’t a stalker. At least that was what he tried to tell himself in any case he’d come to believe that very statement.

The wind was chilling, blowing his hair anywhere on his face, much like the endless amount of tree leaves that swayed everywhere around him. He glanced around, noticing the first specs of snow had already started to fall down following the sudden harsh blow of air.

He huddled inside the neckline of his black hoodie, his face mask shifting obnoxiously over the metal staples that held the skin of his cheeks together. His black windbreaker jacket did almost nothing to cover him from the excessive cold wind that blew; not that he was any close to freezing -it was more of the opposite- but he’d always feel that tingling sensation of the frozen metal bars on his burned skin. They scorched on his burn even further that he could ever want to admit, but by now he was used to the pain.

Most of the trees around him were stripped off of their leaves, their thin boles put to display for him and any bystander. The clouds were covering most of the sky, only a few tiny specks of baby blue peaked form underneath them, yet they were quickly vanishing under the mellow snowy clouds. In that moment Dabi knew, the enormous sunglasses he wore to hide his undereyes only made him look more suspsicious.

Not that he didn’t look like a fly in a full glass of milk to begin with.

The glass doors before him opened automatically, the red motion monitor beeping in his eyes as the sound of a bell rang once he entered the convinience store. The medium height stalls laid neatly before him, the colors of the numerous products almost catching his attention. He shook his head as if wanting to come to his senses, his attention span traveling back to his person of interest, the person he followed all the way to this store.

Glancing around the store, his eyes quickly met with the security camera view screen. Teal orbs paced maniacally, traveling back and forth between the numerous small windows until they were met with what they were looking for. His feet marched before he could even think, mechanically even, pacing quickly towards the direction he had instantly memorised, much to his demise.

He had to stop himself from grunting just before his body movements came to an halt. Shoving his hands into the pockets of his jacket he sank his face deeper into his hoodie, standing before the glass covered fridge isle, his eyes seemingly fixated on the multiple cartons of milk that lead before him.

When your hand went for the matte metallic handle of said door Dabi found himself mimicking your action, putting his best effort into trying not to raise any suspision. You didnt seem to pay him any mind; as your hand extended further you hesitantely grabbed onto a powder blue carton, carefully placing it into the wheeled basket that was standing down before you.

You probably didn’t care about anyone around you; Dabi figured out that much while noticing you hadn’t even threw a glance in his direction over all the time the had been watching you. Secretly he restented just how much you minded your own business, it came to the point you were naively ignoring your surroundings completely. He knew exactly what you were thinking about; no one cared to bother with a random bypasser like you, but at least he hoped that after your time with him you’d come to understand the way criminal minds worked.

He chuckled to himself as he thought about giving you the least some credit. This was a nice neighborhood, a very well lit part of the town, accentuated in beautiful cherry blossoms that bloomed in spring, filled with numerous families as well as residents of a few of the top ten heroes. This place seemed to be inaccessible to murderous, bloodlusty villains such as himself.

At first it had seemed unreal that you were alive, free of any mark. He had thought he'd gotten the wrong person, still stuck over the fact that he couldn't do much to save you, one of the few people he had cared about in this world, but he was soon convinced, as he witnessed your meeting with Midnight, that this was in fact you, alive and well.

Yet, here he was. Following you around for God knows how many days now, obsessed with the fact that it was you that lived a careless life before his very eyes. For the most part he had tried to deny it, to convince himself that he had gotten completely insane and delusional. And he had wanted for that assumption to be correct. Because he had, or rather, he had thought he had, watched you die a horrible death, engulfed in acid, screaming in agony as it burned through your skin and bones.

And as if that wasn't an earth shattering shocker, it had to be that you were always seeming to be carrying a child with you.

Dabi wasn't dense and he wasn't lucky either. The child was around a year or so, he had figured, adorned with a set of tealy baby blues and (h/c) hair, save for her front bangs and the hair above her ears and nape. As much as he'd like them to be any other color -because, truly, such fact could actually justify the disgusting and full of jealousy throbbing in his heart every time he laid his eyes on the two of you- they shone a bright fiery red.

(H/c) bangs curtained your face as you bowed your head down, giggling as you brought your forehead to bump into a smaller one. Dabi watched as your eyes creased and squinted as a big beam was plastered on your face, your nose coming to bump on the baby’s button one. He almost smiled, sincerely even, at the interaction, though a pinch inside his chest prevented him from doing so. He couldn’t help but stop and stare, unsure of whether he looked dumpfounded or not.

“We got your milk Saku, yay!” you cheered, receiving a small squeal in response from the infant.

His fingers idled with the carton that fell under his hand, a small pink and brown carton, marked with the enormous words of any irrelevant label. His eyes fixated on it, quivering as ever, his thoughts mocking him as to whether he could try and dare to take another glance in your direction. His gut though churned, burning his insides in what seemed like an endless torturous bloodlust. Taken aback, his gut chirped, his throat seemingly forming a loop, preventing him from being able to take another breath. And.if he were to be honest, in the moment he needed one.

The anxiety rushing through his veins worked its wonders on him, raging dangerously towards his face, burning everything in its way. That disgusting antic was back, the obnoxious nervous smile he couldn’t rid himself off formed on his face under his mask. He wanted to slap himself it, yet it was hard to do so before you, it could potentially blow his cover and cause a scene that he didn’t want to in the store. As much as he loved causing mayhem, this wasn’t the time for it.

As the baby chirped, fidgeting her small open fists through your hair, he came to officially convince himself on his involvement with her. Blue springles emitted from the tips of her fingers and immediatelly the discomforting odor of burnt hair filled the air. And damn, did Dabi hate that smell.

“Baby, don’t burn mommy’s hair.” you smiled, stealing a glance in Dabi’s direction as you spoke, taking him aback by the sudden action.

Why was his heart speeding up in such demonic pace though? You probably didn’t even do so on purpose. Thinking that you were actually aware of his presence around you shouldn't be as unsettling as it seemed in the moment, in the end you were bound to notice the black clothed figure following you everywhere like a second shadow, weren’t you? Did he really think you were that stupid?

Sighing to himself he turned on his feet, proceeding to walk in the opposite direction of the one which you walked towards. He couldn’t stand being in this store anymore, his blood boiled at the thought of what he was actually doing. It was safe to say that he really did despised what he had turned into, but there was no going back. Picking up his feet, he exited the store, the chocolate milk still in his hand, burried in the inside of his sleeve.

Damn, he needed to smoke a cigarette or ten.

Dabi didn't know how many hours he had spent in the park across your apartment building; frankly he had lost all track of time and albeit having witnessed the sun set, he was unable to pinpoint how long ago the phenomenon had take place.

Snow fell down in big white blotches, littering his black windbreaker before it melted down into the fabric, only to pushed back out of its surface in the form of steam. His body was churning, the burnt skin that was held by the staples in certain areas practically oozed in tiny specs of blue cremating fire, the fleece fabric of his hoodie protesting as it ceased to exist. At this point he knew he was going to burn his clothes down if he kept staring at your windows and this wasn't his fireproof villainous attire, nonetheless he didn't feel as if his legs could move according to what his brain commanded. Nor did he feel as if he could control his own self.

When he'd think about pushing a leg forward in order to take leaping step, you'd come to the window he had a good view on and stroll around the room, always accompanied by the silhouette of the infant in your embrace and all Dabi was left with consisted of his ability to hide inside his hood or rather, his inability to get himself out of the situation. He secretly liked the way you hadn't pulled the curtain all the way across the window, whether it was intentionally or not -he didn't care to know of- he just enjoyed that he could get that tiny glimpse of you and Saku -or at least, that was the only thing he'd ever hear you call her.

Dabi wished that it wasn't so quiet, he wished he hadn't been able to hear it, but now that he had, he couldn't help but feel a little swirling bulb of bitter jealousy forming in his lower stomach. Yet was what assuring for a second was terrifying in the next; he'd never seen him around your house, or rather, he'd never seen you and him interact in any way. The only thing he knew was that you probably had many gives and takes with the heroes, a thing that put his mind to work harder than it ever should have been.

For a fragment of a second teal eyes meet with obsidian ones, forrowed straight brows met taller thinner ones. Dabi felt belittled as he stared at the male across the street who seemingly stared right back at him but he held himself back from letting out a surprised whimper as a reaction to recognising the man.

Aizawa Shouta, Eraser Head, was standing underneath the main door of your apartment complex, his fingers lingering with what Dabi had memorized to be your doorbell. The ravenette watched as you perked up, your silhouette passing by the familiar window as you paced and only a few moments later the familiar buzz of your intercom rang through the air.

He was confused. Confused beyond a sane point. Maybe that's why he had decided to stick around. Maybe, as he told himself so, you were just a mystery he wanted to solve.

"Thanks for coming." You smiled as soon as you opened the door, your batting eyes falling into the ravenette's stoic ones.

"Don't bother thanking me," Aizawa raised his palm, closing his eyes as he softly signed you to stop "I saw him, you know."

"He hasn't left that spot in the park for hours actually." You confirmed.

A deep sigh left your chest, your brows furrowing as your face fell in a despairate and miserable expression. The corner of your lip twitched and your jaw quivered as your soft pieces of flesh pressed together, a series of actions that Aizawa didnt fail to notice, yet he idled in his spot, his feet bowing slightly as he proceeded to take his shoes off. Once done, his feet mechanically marched towards you, his hands hesitantly coming to cup the tops of your shoulders.

The anxiety in your stomach leaped, throwing hellish boulders in the walls of your intestines, trying to hurt you enough so that you could come to your senses. But your mind protested on what you had decided on, fighting back with every breath you took. Your heart throbbed inside your chest, begging to spill through your ribs in mushy gashes, your throat was dry was you stared at Aizawa with wide eyes.

"Don't worry. I'm here." He spoke, sternly and before you managed to utter a words, making you squint your eyes shut.

Your hands came to hug around your form, the intense cold from outside finally finding its way inside your apartment and setting you as a target. It was now or never, you thought. The last few months ahead taken an enormous toll on you, Dabi's presence always being in your shadow was driving you insanse, filling you with rage and remorse.

He had no right to come after you and intrude on your personal life, yet you didn't know if you could try and not do the same were you in his place. But perhaps that was just an excuse you were making because you resented yourself for ever being involved in the ways you had with him.

You looked up at Aizawa, the inches that separated you, giving you a good lower view of his face. His heavy eyebags resembled his in a way you couldn't explain, his obsidian eyes that stared into yours with assurance -that was the look of a hero who had come to your rescue- yet you couldn't help but compare it to Dabi's ominus, cold glare, damn even the long messy onyx hair screamed Dabi to you and you hated it.

You hated that you could see him anywhere. Whether it was your imagination, dreams or real life, Dabi was always there, hiding in the shadow in the most prominent, ironic way, mocking you for your past choices, staring at your daughter maniacally with eyes so wide that were raged with manic.

Every night you felt like pulling your hair off your scalp, you felt like clawing your face until you ripped your skin or screaming to the walls until they fell down and came apart; you could feel Dabi's eyes on you on whatever actively you were set to do, even sleeping and in occasional fear of being cremated on your sleep.

This was the time to take action and if anyone could help you not get burnt into ashed that was Aizawa Shouta.

"He probably won't try anything funny with you here Shouta. Sakura is asleep but you can have her relax in your arms if you fear that I'll take long." You said rushing to get your combat boots out of the shelf you had them stored.

"Out of all people, did you really have to have a child with Dabi, (y/n)?" Aizawa playfully remarked, yet you furrowed your eyebrows as his expression failed to match with his tone.

You simply sighed back to him, closing your eyes in embarrassing defeat, your chest was run by a sudden chill, causing your body to absurdly perk up and Aizawa huffed through his nose in determination.

"Maybe you should wear a coat." He suggested.

"It's fine," you spoke back playfully "I actually like being cold.

Your breath formed into fog as you exhaled and you watched it annihilate into thin freezing air, your eyes glimmering under the cold lights of the street lamps, your orbs quivering from the freezing cold. You unwrapped your hands from your form as you felt the cold take over you. It was absurdly refreshing, you thought, and immediately your brain protested over your irrational way of thinking, yet your gut was scorching and at least the snow falling on your hair and nose was providing you with some newfound comfort.

You wanted to pick up your pace, but your frozen legs ignored you, deciding to prolong your misery further, your toes going numb with each step you took closer to Dabi's direction. He didn't even flinch. Not even once. You wondered if you shall take another step towards him, the terror that run through you raged over the theory that Dabi was only trying to catch you off guard before he fried you alive.

Still, you focused your gaze on the small streak of smoke that bled out of his hoodie. Soon the smell of tobacco filled your almost too numb nostrils as the sound of Dabi's snarky breath filled your ears. It was criminally quiet tonight, though this street wasn't normally filled with people, many school kids would chose the park across your apartment to hang out after school or during the late hours of night, but seeing how bad the weather was tonight you could blame anyone for not chosing to freeze themselves to death.

Of course, Dabi and you were two of a kind.

"Care to share a cig with me?" You spoke with determination, managing to let out a small hint of teasing in your voice to mask your fear.

"You actually practiced that line or something?"

Dabi chuckled in your direction although you could listen to the dryness in his tone. His hood covered head didn't turn in your direction just yet but his hand reached for one of his pockets, then leaping into another, taking short anxious movements, perhaps, you though, to throw you off. You were though sure Dabi could practically smell fear and if that was true whatever he was doing, he was doing it to mess with you, you knew how he much loved corruption or how he enjoyed the reek of fear from a few of his victims.

"Don't twitch like that, I'm just looking for my pack."

There it was. Yeah. Of course he was messing with you. Great, he was going to kill you weren't he now?

Dabi shift uncomfortably in his eat on the snow drenched bench, his hip bones clashing with the hard wood beneath him but he pushed through the discomfort he was feeling because now he was facing you.

Your jaws were clashing furiously, the hoodie you were wearing was probably doing nothing to keep you warm and for a moment he seriously thought about removing his windbreaker and tossing it over your shoulders, but he knew you wouldn't accept it, so he set on saving himself from the embarrassment.

Picking a hand out of one pocket he presented you with the small carton that held a couple of cigarettes and you didn't miss a chance on grabbing one, not even giving it a second thought. Looking around, you realised there was no lighter in sight and you sighed as Dabi offered his pointer finger, the digit adorned with a sheer blue coowling crown and naively you bowed down, taking a drag as the fire touched the edge of the cigarette.

You didn't bother thanking him as a constipated expression masked your face, your hands coming to rest under your bust just in case you'd ever get tired of holding your cigarette with your lips.

"Care to sit down?" Dabi remarked and you absurdly turned your head in the opposite direction, taking a drag through the filter, the stinky taste of nicotine filling your tingling on your taste buds.

"No, Dabi. You know why I'm here. I can't deal this anymore."

"You can't deal living without me little mouse?" He snarled, his hands quickly working on replacing the smoked cigarette that hung from his lips with a fresh one.

"Dabi I'm serious." You said, squinting your eyes "This is driving me insane. Did you really think I wouldn't notice you?"

Despite your tone suggesting that your question wasn't rhetorical, Dabi made no effort to even part his mouth to reply.

"Care to tell me what you want from me?"

Silence. Dabi looked at you as if you were speaking in a language he couldn't recognise, as if your words fell deaf to his ears.

"Dabi, I'm not going to beg for my life if that's what you want, and I don't appreciate that you're trying to entertain your psychopathic kinks." You said, voice below your normal pitch, indicating the small hints of fear that came with your intuition.

"Is she mine?"

The question hit you like a truck. Shaking, you couldn't help but feel like a deer blinded by the headlights, your blood running cold in your veins. Could you truthfully answer that without setting yourself and your daughter in danger? Stealing a glimpse of your window you vaguely made out Aizawa's silhouette and your heart warmed at the soothing reassurance that came with the action.

"Would it matter for you to know? What would it change?"

"Wouldn't you want to know if you had a little bastard marching astray?" Dabi monotonously remarked, making your stomach growl with rage.

"Sakura isn't a dirty stray dog, you're in no place to talk about her like that, not when you don't know what I went through for her." You raged, your eyes glowing with anger as you burned holes in Dabi's teal orbs.

So that was the name you had given her- Sakura- a plain overused name with a beautiful meaning, Dabi could atone for the fact that he liked it. Nevertheless, he stared at you, his lips puckered together in a determined manner, his cigarette never leaving the right corner of his mouth.

"Hit a nerve, little mouse?"

"Stop calling me that Dabi." Upon snarling you stomped your foot to the ground.

"How should I call you? I don't think I caught your actual name."

Dabi was bitter and he had every right to be, or so he told himself, he felt enraged to look in your direction, yet so speak to you and to top it all his stupid, idiotic feet were shaking and he didn't feel like he could get up, he could only stand there and stare at you, but this was unlike any other time. This time you were staring right back at him (e/c) orbs burning holes into the back of his brain.

But he wasn't going to give in, despite whatever he felt, he wouldn't give in to how soft he viewed you as, he wasn't going to give in to how your familiar smell filled his nostrils or how his heart set at an orbit of its own due to your eyes in his. Anxiously, he took another drag of his cigarette before taking a look towards your window, making out Eraser Head's silhouette in the dim light.

"I won't try to kill you, by the way, you didn't have to bring your friend over."

Your expression hardened as Dabi mentioned Aizawa, your heart skipping a beat as your eyes immediately fell in his direction once again.

"You don't have to obsess over Shouta as well."

"Ah, already on first name basis? With a man that much older than you and here you are calling me Dabi?" He whined playfully, but still his feet wouldn't move.

"What I do in my life is none of your business, you don't have any right on me because you knocked me up-"

"So she is mine."

If you could, you'd wipe that smug look that was immediately plastered on his face, but you knew better and you hated that you did. You knew that he smiled like that when he was in discomfort, you knew that he couldn't move from the spot he was seated on, you could still see through him and it killed you, it killed you because on one hand you were utterly afraid of what he could do to you and on another you wanted to bring a palm to his face and call him by his name.

"Look Dabi," you sighed in defeat "to answer any of your questions, Sakura is your daughter and I brought Shouta here because I'm afraid you're here to kill us. How am I supposed to know you're not playing dumb with me because you want to kill me?"

Dabi quirked a brow at you, bringing his hand to the top of his hood and pulling it down, his hair tousling in the air. "Can't I just be amazed that you're living a careless life when you're supposed to be dead?"

You averted your eyes from his in shame, your body shivering slightly for a brief moment. "I was supposed to take down small nameless criminals Dabi. I fake my death so I could get out of there with my ass saved."

"I should kill you, you know, I've entrusted you with very significant information about me." Dabi growled, his fingers starting to springle in the tiniest specs of cobalt.

Despite watching them dance before you, your gut felt numb and you could thank the freezing cold for that, but you didn't feel the growling eruption of fearful anxiety grow inside you anymore.

"Well it was your fault that you trusted me enough to tell me your name and purpose, but I won't spill the beans on you. Unless..." You prompted, finally taking a seat next to Dabi, your thigh merely brushing against his own.

"Unless?" He inquired, intrigued as ever.

"Unless you leave us alone, Touya." You whispered the name below the sound of a breath, making sure no one around you could hear, yet Dabi quivered by the sound, his eyes glued on your lips. "The truth is, I don't want you associated with Sakura. How will the world treat her if they find out she's the daughter of a serial killer?"

"I... I just." He hesitated.

"You what? If your villain friends know about her they're going to come after us, being a single mother is fucking me up already, give a girl a fucking break Dabi."

You were dumbfounded by how bold you were getting and you only had yourself to blame, cornering the villain felt dangerous and endearing at the same time, his otherwise dominant behavior had crumbled in only a few tiny seconds and between them you had managed to call the shots and push all the right buttons, corrupting your way into the point you wanted to make.

It was true, during your time working undercover to take down small criminals you had indeed picked up on the way criminal minds worked. And in moments like these you used it to your advantage.

"Can I just see her once?"

His tone took you aback, sending your eyes to spread wide as a surprised expression masked your face. His voice was pleading and small, soft and intruding poking you to spare him with any pity you had in you. Shaking your head, you came to your senses, finally aware of the fact that your thigh was pushed against his.

With a shagged breath you made a move to get up but you were forced into the cold bench once again by Dabi's hand, the sound on shifting filling the air as you growled on your spot.

"You don't get to tell me what to do little mouse." He barked, his digits digging into the skin of your thigh almost painfully. "I want to see my daughter. How come that hobo of a man can see her when I can't."

"Dabi, I just explained why I don't want you around her."

"I have every right don't I?" He asked.

"Actually, you have no right, you're a serial killer Dabi, you shouldn't have any right, the only reason as to why I can't arrest you right now is because all I have are this stupid healing quirk and that I have no license to do anything to you. Now if you go in to my house, Shouta isn't going to go soft on you."

Dabi growled in his seat, his hand leaving your thigh as he maniacally went to light another cigarette, this time the small spec of fire dancing on his quivering finger.

"This is a warning, stop stalking us." You sighed and brought your palms over your knees with a slap before straightening them to stand up.

"Wait-" Dabi said as he watched you take a few steps away from him, his head extending to your direction. "If- if you heal me, will I be able to see her then?"

You didn't dare turn around to face him, instead you hugged your chest, taking in a deep breath as you lowered your head to stare at your shoes. The voice inside your head was hot and sweet and it bowed to your natural instinct as a healer, somewhere deep inside your chest you felt as if that in a way it could work. But even if you took away what made Touya Dabi then would he really ever atone for all his sins? You knew you wouldn't be able to sleep with both eyes closed if he were to be by your side, his ideals weren't just something he could give up just because he would leave his appearance behind.

"Look, Touya, I really like Shouta, please don't ruin this for me." you whispered, your voice raspy but you never managed to turn to him. Whether your statement was a lie or not was up to Dabi to decide.

"No wait."

You didn't respond to his call out. You simply hugged your chest tighter, pressing your breasts with your cubits as you took fast steps towards your apartment complex.

You chose to ignore the fittings that you heard behind you, the commotion he was causing coming second to the way your heartbeat annoyingly pulsed in your ears. When Dabi's palm hazed over you you heaped, your breath cutting short and consequentially being trapped inside your weary lungs.

"I'd never hurt a mother and a child." Dabi gulped, his fingers being moments away from brushing over your clothed skin.

But you didn't care, you simply lowered your shoulder, throwing your collarbone forward in an attempt to escape the upcoming contact of his body with yours. You set your feet to work, rapidly and uncarefuly sliding through the snow as you tried to get away.

And once again all Dabi could do was stop and stare. You didn't care about the churning in his gut, you didn't give a damn about the ashes of his heart either, there was no heaven in hiding for him, just this bitterweet taste of tobacco in the buds of his tongue, and the unbearable stinging in his eyes. All he was left with was his wish to see you and Sakura again.

And maybe he could do that. He just needed to become a silent shadow.

#dabi x reader #touya x reader #bnha #bnha x reader #dabi my hero academia #dabi x you #dabi is touya #dabi #mha #mha fanfiction #bnha fanfiction #x reader #dabi is hot #dabi is a todoroki #dabi is a little shit

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toooldforfandom-liveblogs · 4 years

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RWBY V07E07 - Worst Case Scenario

It has been two weeks since I last watched RWBY so let me try and remember what happened. There was a party, some flirting, a kiss... and that's it, right? Nothing bad happened, right? Right?

* sigh *

I assume someone is going to drop the title referring to the fallout after what happened last episode. I expect riots and Grimm, and maybe Robyn trying to commandeer the resources destined for the future Amity Tower (which is probably the only thing Ironwood _really_ cares about since he has been all "it's worth the sacrifice" the entire season so far.) I don't want to keep waiting so let's do this!

Oh no, sad Penny. What an auspicious start for the episode.

This is her dad, right? Those robot pats straddle the line between dorky and sad. I doubt the military wants Penny in the streets so I guess this is the only way he can be with her. Ugh. My heart.

Look at this crime against humanity. RT will answer for this someday!

Oh, one of the thirsty moms survived! The one with the casserole!

She's _terrified_, and with good reason. From her point of view, her own government killed her friends for daring to believe. What if she's next? Is Atlas going to start hunting everyone who supported Robyn? What about the people close to them?

We know that's not going to happen but she (and the rest of Mantle) is in all her right to believe it will

Oh no.

It's interesting how the scene that was, at the time, only a gag showing Jaune's bad luck and some cute kids with their moms, ended up being setup to show us how quick everything changed. Now their moms are dead and they are orphans, alone and in the cold.

Of course, this only furthers my belief that nothing good can be trusted in RWBY because it'll only be used to increase our suffering.

I'm going to _pissed_ if this happens. Stop killing Penny for god's sake.

First: I'm so glad she's okay.

Second: holy shit

did she just absorb an entire truck into her hand? Is she a human pokeball / dragon ball capsule? What a busted up semblance!

Huh. I really thought it was going to be something related to his tower. Unless that's what he's _really_ worried about (was that the truck's destination?)

ah, there you go.

Good!

Was Ozpin an "end justifies the means" man? I think he wasn't really, or at least he didn't consider himself one, but he had spent so much time alive he lost sight of what he was doing and asking people to do for him really meant.

In comparison Ironwood knows exactly what's going on. He believes he's doing the right thing by prioritizing the tower over his people. And maybe he's right from a global point of view? But the fact that the human lives that are going to be lost are the ones that were _already_ suffering is a supremely bad look. What's going to be left of Mantle after he saves the world?

You tell him, Nora!

Nothing good ever comes when someone says "the greater good."

Ilia said exactly the same thing back in Volume 5, almost word for word. I wonder if the callback is intentional or if there's just not that many ways to use that concept as an excuse.

I _really_ thought she was going to say "exchanging Salem for you."

I love how Nora is the one speaking up but I hate that no one is supporting her. Winter looks completely unimpressed back there but I didn't expect much from her or Clover but what about the rest?

_Thank you_

Wow, what did he do to get Salem's personal attention? Because "what are you?" followed by "Beautiful" has to be about her, right?

oh _no_ what is wrong with Reeeeeen.

We never got an explanation about his behavior, he didn't talk and Nora kissing him solved zero problems. Yay.

I was hoping for a cut away to them partying it up before all hell broke lose but oh well.

Treason!

I _love_ that they are all right, or rather, their opinions are all understandable. I can see where both Yang and Blake are coming from and there's no way to say "ah, the show is doing everything it can to show that Yang is wrong."

Which keeps increasing my worry about how they are going to handle the end of the arc because so far the show has been very even handed but any ending where the long term sacrifice and oppression of Mantle ends up being justified is going to be... well, bad. It doesn't help that the "oppression" hasn't been really visible so it could be reaally easy to just sweep it under the carpet and just say something about "things are going to be better from now on" or even "they weren't that bad to begin with"

Anyway, this is me getting worried about things that may not even happen so I won't keep talking about it. Let me say instead how happy I am that they are still dealing with what happened with Adam and of course that would color Blake's views of what she wants to do in the future.

And is that treason I'm hearing here? I expected a team up with Robyn but I didn't expect it to come from these two. Interesting. Is Yang going to spill the beans to her about the tower and Salem?

Look at those green borders inside the boot! Tsk, tsk, Watts. He obviously was getting bored of masking Penny frame per frame.

lmao. Maria is straight up vocalizing the section of the fandom that misses the early simpler seasons

Oh. Watts's plan has _layers_. I'm impressed!

ooh hidden penny lore

how many theories is this going to prove/disprove?

The man under the thumb has to be Watts, right?

WOW

I _really_ didn't expect this to be the answer for Penny's soul. I was in the "there's no artificial soul" camp but I expected something like Pietro transferring someone else's soul or a lost daughter, not him literally giving her part of his soul.

What does this mean for Penny? Does the part of the soul Pietro gives her grow like a plant from a cutting or everything she uses her semblance or is hurt she loses a bit more of it? It has to grow, right?

It's good to see an explanation for Pietro's death flags. Is he going to die saving Penny one last time? Jaune is learning how to manipulate his aura outwards...

Just lol at the being an obvious villain even in the group pictures.

So, is this personal for Watts? Did Ironwood choosing Penny mean the end of his career? Did he try to do whatever he planned anyway and got fired?

The hand again! Is that how she activates her semblance? But if she needs the person to grab her hand, what did she expect from Clover?

Also, props to the show for making everyone react somewhat realistically. Of course, Robyn was going to run the second she saw Ironwood's new pets.

Is Ironwood intentionally using RWBY and the rest to keep suspicions down? "They are all young and attractive, some even look innocent, there's no way they are doing anything _bad_, right?" But again, that would mean Ironwood is playing 4D chess and I'm not sure that's his deal.

Oh no. And Yang is so proud of her pun.

That was a good first step. I can't deny I was hoping for Yang and Blake to join the huntresses and kick ass but I was dreaming too big.

...so it was Ozpin idea to have a city floating above Mantle making ther differences permanently clear? Has Ozpin ever had a good idea?

FREE ENERGY AND THEY STILL ABUSE PEOPLE TO GET DUST

AAAAAAAAAAAAAA

I know it's probably not easy but

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAa

Atlas is 100% going to crash into the ground. I think everyone already suspected it'd happen but this is a gigantic death flag.

Ironwood is sliding down as fast as he can down the slippery slope of the greater good. He didn't want Ozpin's opinion, he wanted Ozpin to tell him he was right.

It feels so bad to take away from Oscar's growth but I wonder if they are already merging.

welp

That was a great episode to return to. Somehow RWBY is managing to handle all the balls it had in the air earlier in the season and hasn't dropped one yet.

I was expecting that the episode would start with Yang and Blake or Weiss and company but nope, just sadness and tragedy. Followed by more consequences, in the form of Robyn and her happy huntresses finally doing what they probably wanted to do from the start. If the "legal" way didn't work, well, time to do it anyway. That does leave me with some questions about how long was the timeskip between episodes, it can't be that same night, especially with the news showing things like "additional deaths confirmed." Maybe same week but at least a couple of days later?

Ironwood needs someone to shake him by the shoulders. Some of the things he's saying wouldn't be out of place in any villain's origin story, especially the part about wanting to get rid of his fear. I hope Jacques being the awful man he is shows him what waits for him in the other side.

Pietro's reveal about Penny's soul really feels like the biggest of his death flags so far. Him dying trying to make Penny live again really feels like end-of-season drama, considering there's no Pyrrha to kill again and apparently RT really likes killing Penny. Jaune _just_ learning about the possibilities of his semblance feels weirdly suspicious now that we know about Penny's aura but... it's a bit too out there since I think they have never talked. Or maybe it's all a misdirect and someone else ends up dying with RT winking at us saying "you really though it'd be Penny, huh?" At this point I'm not sure what'd be worst.

I liked everything about Yang and Blake's talk in the truck. I'm not a big fan of Yang's main trait lately being "dislikes secrets" (the secondary being "likes Blake") but I'm not sure if overcoming that is just her next step in her growth or if that's all there's going to be.

Their chat with Robyn was great, I can't wait for the repercussions of telling the leader of the resistance the biggest secret Atlas has. With Ironwood being who he is, it could be _bad_ for the couple which could push everyone else in one direction or the other, and not necessarily the _same_ direction, as we already saw with Ren who's officially canceled because for some reason he's going all fash (I _really_ need an explanation before the season ends)

This volume is going places, can't wait for the next episode! Until next time!

#rwby #rwby liveblog #rwby v07e07

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lavenderblossom74 · 5 years

Text

Things Like

SUMMARY: Sometimes, Dick forgets how much he has to be grateful for and how lucky he is to have Bruce. But sometimes, he also remembers.

Rolling down memory lane yay! This is an old one-shot of mine, hope you all enjoy!

After five years of living with the man, Dick sometimes forgets how truly lucky he is to have Bruce.

It isn't that there are times when he stops being appreciative, because Dick will always—always—remember the man who had been there for him when no one else had.

It's just that sometimes, Dick forgets the little things. The little things that so often become so normal that eventually they’re easy to take for granted.

Things like Bruce helping with a school project.

The scene: One of the many living rooms in the manor, the floor is littered with paper, popsicle sticks, pipe cleaners, puffy balls and of course, glitter.

Beside Dick, paint containers are spread out before him. Bruce in all his artistic vision holds a paintbrush (he’s the only person Dick has ever met who can make a paintbrush look intimidating)

“So I’m painting the words “Kinetic Motion” in blue, right?” Bruce asks.

12 year old Dick nods enthusiastically “Yes! Aaand…” There's a theatrical dramatic pause “I’LL SPRINKLE THE GLITTER!”

Bruce gives him an exasperated look before muttering something under his breath. Catching something about “glitter” and “death wish” Dick just grins as Bruce begins to paint.

“You have a very steady hand you know” Dick observes.

“Mhm” Bruce answers automatically, most of his attention focused on the poster board in front of him.

As he finishes up, Dick—as promised—happily sprinkles glitter with more joy than even a fascinated two year old would have.

Bruce is just glad Alfred put covered the entire wooden floor with layers upon layers of plastic.

After writing down the definition of Kinetic Energy in a sparkly green pen, Dick begins the fun of the party.

His assignment is to make a model that represents Kinetic Energy. So he decides it's a good excuse as any to make a roller coaster.

A roller coaster made out of an assortment of pipe cleaners, colorful popsicle sticks, fluffy puffy balls, and a whole lot of glue.

The rest of the night goes something like this:

“You just glued my fingers. YOU JUST GLUED MY FINGERS!! I’M GONNA DIE, I’M GONNA DIE. WHAT IF THIS GLUE HAS LIKE, WEIRD CHEMICAL PROPERTIES AND I GET A WEIRD BACTERIA AND OH MY GOD, MY WHELMED FINGERS! THEY WERE TOO YOUNG TO BECOME OVERWHELMED!! WHY DEAR FINGERS, —WHY??”

*Amused look from source of great panic* “You done?”

*Dick stares at panic source incredulously* “Am I done? AM I DONE! I WILL SHOW YOU DONE—”

Bruce cuts him off by calmly unsticking Dick’s fingers.

*gape* “You couldn't have done that before I went ballistic?!”

*Stare*

“Pipe cleaners hate me. This is a fact.” This is what Dick says as he stubbornly gives an innocent pipe cleaner the death glare.

“Really?” Bruce wryly asks.

“YES!” His charge exclaims. “I mean, is it my fault the stupid first hill has to be high so that the ball we send down can gain energy from it so it can continue the rest of the way? Is it my fault roller coasters are biased against poor 8th graders? IS IT MY FAULT KINETIC ENERGY EXISTS AND I HAVE TO DO A PROJECT FOR IT?!” By the end of his rant, Dick is standing up.

As Bruce sticks a puffy ball onto a pipe cleaner, he retorts, “Yes. You chose the model, didn't you?”

Dick opens his mouth to retort, then he closes it. “Whatever” he grumbles but sits back down and continues working in his roller coaster.

Bruce just smirks.

“Long was the haggard night. One blue eyed pre-teen (cough official teen cough) works hard to finish the project assigned by his torturer—teacher—that is due tomorrow. He is ready to drop dead from exhaustion and his stomach clenches in painful hunger but he valiantly continues his work. He will not back down, he will not give up, he—”

“—would not be here if he hadn’t decided to leave everything to the last minute.”

Dick glares at Bruce who shrugs innocently, “It’s true”

“Don’t intrude upon my enthralling narrations!” Dick whines.

Enthralling … ?

At Bruce’s look, Dick pouts. “Don't Judge!!” In a quieter voice he mumbles, “You’re just jealous I can use bigger words than you”

*Another look* I heard that

Dick pouts again. “Whatever”

After what feels like eons, the adrenaline starts to fade. Dick knows his previous excitement and absolute optimism are on their deathbed.

And it’s because this stupid roller-coaster-project-thing was so annoying! And frustrating. And mean. And a bully. And uncooperative. And generally insufferable.

He’s done all the calculations and the model should be working—the ball they are rolling should be able to continue the entire way depending only on the initial push… But it isn't!

Every time he tries to make it work with the pipe cleaners, is only another time he fails and becomes even more frustrated.

The solution is simple—it has to be—But Dick’s brain has become a slushy and is so mushy that he can't see the answer.

He’s ready to throw in the towel, crash on his bed, and forget about this dumb project.

But then his grade suffers.

And so does Robin.

Even after knowing Dick left school work to the last minute, Bruce hasn't said anything about grounding Robin but if Dick doesn't pull this project off and proves he can handle both his duties, Dick knows he will say something then.

Suddenly, Bruce nudges him. Dick looks up to an unreadable face.

“Go to bed,” Bruce tells him

Dick’s eyes widen in panic. Because he knows what's going to happen next, Bruce is going to say that in the morning, they're going to “talk” about how Dick needs to be more responsible and how he needs to prioritize. Then he’s benching Robin.

Dick opens his mouth to say that No, he can finish his project and sure maybe he was a little irresponsible but he’d done the actual research beforehand and honestly hadn't thought making the roller coaster model would've taken so long. It wasn't like he’d decided to be sleep deprived and frustrated on purpose!

Before he can anything in though, Bruce repeats himself. “Go to bed, chum”

Then he says, “I’m going out for a couple of hours; When I get back, I'll wake you so you can finish up and actually comprehend what you're doing.” Bruce stares at the roller coaster pointedly, “For now, just get some sleep.”

And so Dick sleeps. 3 hours later, Bruce—as promised—wakes him up and helps Dick finish up the roller coaster.

Dick had been right before—the solution had been indeed very simple.

Then, Dick heads to school and turns his project in.

Bruce doesn't mention anything about it afterwards nor does he give any reason to imply Robin is grounded.

Dick makes an effort to be more responsible with his school work from then on though.

It isn't until two months later that he finds out that the day Bruce helped him on his project was also the day he’d been awake for more than 24 hours already.

He also finds out that despite having two important board meetings that morning, Bruce had still kept his promise about waking him up and helping Dick finish the project.

---

Things like Bruce letting Dick rant about anything and everything.

Age: 10

Rant Topic: Spicy Foods

“It makes no sense! How come that food is so spicy, how come it makes your mouth feel like it's living fire, how come it makes your ears burn and feel hot n’ cold, how come it’s so hot, if it gonna be so good?! With the hint of lemon and the flavor it leaves in your mouth… Mmmm!” *Dick smiles to himself like a sap before snapping out of it* “... Exactly my point!! Why does spicy food enjoy torturing a kid like me?? I mean did I ever do anything against it? Who was the brilliant person who thought it would be an awesome idea to add hot spices to food anyway?!”

Bruce: “Do you need more water?”

Age: 11

Rant topic: The English Language

“In my humble opinion, English is a dumb language.” *as he rakes his fingers down his face* “I mean why are there so many rules?! Silent E, if it's beside a verb you say it's name, i before e except after c, ph makes a fffff sound… So complicated!! And half of them don’t follow their own rules half the time!! Toe-may-toe, Toe-ma-toe… Same thing!!”

Bruce: *shrug* “That’s why you learn other languages”

Age: 13

Rant Topic: Exams

“I’m done… Mark my words Bruce—are you marking them? I. Am. Done. DonedonedonedonedoneDONE!! My brain cells feel non existent right now… I am stressed beyond relief and I'm still nowhere near done with all these exams! It is impossible to retain all this information!! Who cares about random math dudes who found the formulas to life changing equations or the dates of every major event in history?! We aren't gonna need the info in life so why bother? Why does a test have to define you as a person anyway?”

Bruce: *in his most insightful voice* “It doesn't”

---

Things like sitting at the counter and simply eating along with Dick. An apple, a pear, a banana, a kiwi, baby carrots, a ripe tomato… no matter the fruit, the vegetable—just knowing that he wasn't alone… Sometimes that was enough.

Some of his funniest memories had actually happened at the counter.

Some of his saddest memories had happened at the counter too.

Some of the moments that didn't stand out, that weren't spectacular, that were just there—they'd happened at the counter too.

---

Things like playing a game of basketball with him.

Things like hiding junk food behind Alfred’s back (but at the same time not really since Dick suspected no one—not even the World's Greatest Detective—could hide anything from Alfred).

Things like taking Dick out when it snowed and helping him build a snow fort.

Things like quizzing Dick for his next Mathlete Competition.

Things like hearing about how Dick’s day went practically everyday and never complaining about it.

Things like everyday things.

Things that when Dick stands back and looks at his life—actually really looks at it—he realizes that he should not take for granted.

Things that make him understand how much luck he has in his life. Even after all the tragedy he has gone through, luck somehow found it’s way to stay.

Luck or Hope.

Knowing that there are still people in this world who care for him, knowing that a man he has learned to love and look up to cares for him so much that the care eventually feels normal…

Somehow, that feels like so much more than just luck.

---

When Dick silently enters Bruce’s study, the man looks up.

When Dick whispers, “Thank you,” Bruce blinks in confusion.

When Dick says, “Thank you for everything,” Bruce’s eyes slowly comprehend the meaning behind the words. And he smiles.

#bruce wayne #bruce wayne is a good dad #dick grayson #batman #robin #batman and robin #daddy!bats #Dick being thankful for Bruce #fanfic #LB writes

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edward-or-ford · 5 years

Text

We’re a Family

So here I go again with a new story. Been awhile, I know!

This one is once again set in my “Unexpected” AU. It’s a pretty direct sequel to the original story, taking place a little over two years after the end of the final chapter, and includes some flashbacks to events I had only alluded to previously. As such, it may be beneficial for you to have already read the previous story, but I don’t think it’s absolutely necessary. I think there should be enough detail in the narrative to let you know what’s going on, if you’re new to my writing.

(This story also takes place at Christmas, and I was hoping to have it finished a couple of weeks ago so it would have been topical. No such luck, but oh well!)

Completely SFW story here, but with the obvious Pinecest implications.

December 25, 2017 Westfield, New Jersey

Mabel Pines is roused from her sound sleep by music blaring out of the tinny speaker of her phone, a 90’s-pop rendition of “Jingle Bells” from the Sev’ral Timez Christmas album. She throws back her covers and bounds to her feet in the small bedroom, happy for once to be awakened. After a fast glance out the window to take in the cold but beautifully sunny morning, she does a quick stretch and she’s ready to go. Man, has she ever been looking forward to today! Adult responsibilities be darned! Today’s a day when she should be allowed to be carefree, like every other “officially-an-adult-but-still-wants-to-be-a-kid” eighteen-year-old!

With no consideration to taking the time to change out of her mismatched sleeping attire of holiday pyjama bottoms and an oversized t-shirt, she quickly tip-toes her way across the hallway to the closed door of another bedroom and cracks it open. A thick mop of brown hair and an adorable little face sticks out from beneath the covers at the head of the toddler-sized bed. Oh good, Cassie’s still asleep! Mabel would hate to have missed any of Cassie’s experiences this morning. Getting to watch her two-year-old little Mini-me on Christmas morning is the best thing Mabel can think of!

But as excited as she is, Mabel knows someone else will be just as happy as she is to share in the moment. She has to drag dear “uncle” Dipper’s sorry old bum out of bed before she can wake up Cassie!

Grinning happily, Mabel carefully closes the door and then scurries towards the stairs down to the basement of the modest bungalow. She picks up speed as she rounds the corner at the front end of the hallway.

She bumps right into an attractive woman in her early forties, who is coming from the kitchen. “Oof!” Mabel grunts in surprise, perfectly in sync with a similar noise of impact from her mother. Then they both make a short laugh and apologize at the same time.

“Well, now that we’ve run into each other, good morning! And Merry Christmas, Pumpkin!” Mom says brightly.

“Aw! Merry Christmas, Mom!” Mabel cries back quietly, giving her mother a firm and fast hug. “But shush! I don’t want Cassie to wake up just yet, not until I go get Dipper up.”

Mom shrugs. “I was just on my way downstairs to get the turkey from the refrigerator down there. I’ll wake him up.” She waves Mabel to the kitchen. “Could you go ahead and break up some more bread crumbs for stuffing while I head down there? Thank you,” she says, already on the second step down the narrow staircase.

Mabel pauses a split second, very much wanting to go down and wake her twin brother herself. Then she dismisses it easily. “Gotcha, Momster!” she replies with a genuine smile, heading for the sink to wash her hands before attacking the dried bread.

Cassie finishes ripping colorful wrapping paper from a box that comes up past her waist, then pulls the box over, screeching with delight as she peers inside.

“Unca DIP-pah! Unca DIP-pah! AAAAAAAAA!!!!!” Cassie cries excitedly as she reaches in and pulls out a large pig-shaped neon-pink fuzzy toy.

Dipper laughs from his spot seated on the floor, at the feet of Mabel who is sitting on the couch recording the scene with her phone. He glances back quickly at Mabel, then returns his attention to the toddler. “That’s great, Cass! What’re you going to call him?”

“WAH-dle! WAH-dle!” shouts Cassie, squeezing the stuffed animal securely and spinning around in a circle with her arms full of porcine plush.

“Atta-girl!” Mabel calls out. She playfully kicks her brother. “Like mother, like daughter!” Dipper snorts back with amusement.

The twins’ father smiles and rolls his bespeckled eyes. “Oh great! We just finished finding a proper home for the last pig, now we’ve got another one?” he moans sarcastically.

“Pay no attention to grumpy Grampy!” Mabel fires back, beckoning the girl to come over for a quick hug. “You’re gonna show your new pig to the real Waddles next time we go out to visit him at the petting zoo, aren’t you?”

“YAH!” Cassie jumps up and down across the living room. “Wah-dle Wah-dle WAH-dlllllllle!” In her careless excitement, the oversized toy causes her to lose her balance. With a high-pitched cry of alarm, she starts to fall backwards.

The twins’ mother, with her usual parental instincts, has anticipated this and neatly catches Cassie before she hits the floor. “Whoops-a-daisy! Grandma’s got you!” Mom says cheerfully, sweeping the tot back to her feet and giving her a pat on the bottom as she sets off to continue running around. Then the woman casts a smirk at Mabel. “Like mother like daughter, indeed! You were always way too excited on Christmas morning, too!”

“It is not possible to be too excited on Christmas morning!” Mabel replies haughtily.

“Definitely not possible!” pipes in a grinning Dipper, raising an open hand above his head with his palm facing behind him, which Mabel immediately slaps in a blind high-five. “Excitement today is required behavior, Mom,” Dipper proclaims.

“Oh, of course,” Mom acknowledges. “I suppose it wasn’t that long ago the two of you were tearing around like whirling dervishes when all of Santa’s presents showed up under the tree.” She turns to her husband with a smug look. “Surely it wasn’t my fault they were always allowed to be so crazy on Christmas morning?”

“Are you kidding?” he retorts, his “dad bod” midsection shaking as he laughs. “You loved letting them be off the leash for one day a year.” He glances over to his children. “I guess you guys are passing that little tradition on to the next generation.”

Dipper scratches his scalp as he smiles self-consciously. Mabel just wiggles in delight. “Yay to family traditions!” she cries with a quick pump of her fist.

The morning continues this way. Cassie has several gifts to open under the tree, mostly clothes and small toys. The twins’ parents open their inexpensive (but lavishly hand-decorated by Mabel) gifts from their children. They in turn give each of their children gift cards, which Mabel thanks them for but good-naturedly scolds them for their lack of imagination. Dad raises his hands and accepts this, while Mom says they don’t want to give either of their kids a bunch of stuff they don’t need. Ever the pragmatist, Dipper congratulates his “wise” parents while Mabel pouts comically. But then Mom excuses herself and emerges from the basement with a wrapped present for each of the twins. Everyone, including Cassie, laughs at Mabel’s delighted antics as she enthusiastically rips the paper from her unexpected gift.

As Cassie starts playing with some of the decorations on the tree, her grandmother pulls them out of the tot’s hands and places them back onto the branches, humming “Oh Christmas Tree”. Mabel picks up the tune and starts singing with her mother. Soon everyone is singing, including the men who are mumbling along, faking the lyrics they don’t know. More singing follows, a mix of hymns and modern holiday tunes.

Mabel’s smile is enormous as she picks up Cassie and bounces around while singing “Holly Jolly Christmas” along with her family. Cassie is hugging her back and squealing right along with the melody. Dipper jumps up and joins them, and together they joyfully belt out the last lines of the song. Their Mom and Dad applaud while Cassie reaches out for Dipper. Mabel hands Cassie over, and as he squeezes the girl tightly Mabel hugs them both and makes a “Cassie sandwich”.

Then Mabel waves vigorously at her parents to get up and come join them. They chuckle and indulge her, embracing their children and their delighted granddaughter in a big group hug.

Relishing the moment, Mabel closes her eyes in satisfaction. Happy family times are perfect! It’s been way too long since they’ve all been together like this. All of them have been so busy! For now, she’s determined to hang on to this moment for as long as she can.

Times like this are so much better than they were, almost three years ago …

March 13, 2015 Piedmont, California

“So what is this all about?” Mom asked briskly.

Mabel swallowed nervously as her mother sat down beside her husband on the sofa in the spacious living room. Mom was a bit stressed. So was Dad. Since they were all scheduled to be on a plane to the Caribbean early the next morning for their all-inclusive March break vacation, there was a lot to be done.

But now there was something else that was about to be dropped on their plate. A pretty BIG something!

Mabel sat down in the love seat that faced the large sofa. Dipper sat beside her. Mabel glanced at her brother. He was putting on a brave face, but she could tell her fifteen-year-old twin was afraid. She obliquely wondered if she looked the same way.

“Dad? Mom?” Dipper began. “You’ve always said we should just get to the point, right? That we’re just wasting time otherwise?”

Their father looked back at Dipper. “Yes?” he replied warily.

“What’s going on?” Mom prompted, also looking concerned.

Dipper turned his head to Mabel. His face was now struggling to mask his fear. He nodded curtly at his sister.

Mabel nodded back and took a deep breath. Then she turned towards her parents, but was unable to look them in the eye.

“I’m pregnant,” she squeaked.

There were two loud intakes of breath from their parents. Mabel finally glanced at their faces, and she could tell they were shocked and upset. Of course they were! And there was more! Now she was truly terrified, and instinctively she reached out and sought out Dipper’s hand.

Dipper grasped her palm immediately and squeezed. He also drew a deep breath.

“And I’m the father,” she heard him utter, his voice shaking.

She braced herself for the onslaught.

Mabel pushes the memory away. Now is not the time for stuff like that! Now’s the time for Christmas cheer!

Mom extricates herself from the big family hugfest to put the turkey into the oven. Then she announces to her husband that because she and Mabel have been preparing their big dinner since before either of the men got up, she feels that it’s only fair if he and their son prepare brunch for the family. Mabel wholeheartedly agrees. Following a brief faux objection, Dipper laughs and heads for the kitchen, his father following with a resigned sigh and a lopsided smile. The “girls” of the house start to clean up the carnage left over from gift opening, Mabel coaching Cassie on how everything needs to be tidied up. Soon the living room is clean and the table is filled with pancakes, sausage, and french toast. Everyone gets a kick out of watching Cassie play with her food as the whole family enjoys their meal.

The Pines family may have roots in New Jersey on Dad’s side, but there are no remaining relatives on the East coast to share the holidays with. And of course it’s impossible to open their home up to anyone else, given the very awkward “family secret” of Cassie’s paternity that might be exposed. As a result, they have no one to invite over to share their time with. In their busy everyday lives, the family’s isolation is easy to overlook, but on a day like Christmas it becomes more obvious. After finishing eating and tidying up, things noticeably quiet down.

As Mom finishes putting dishes away, brunch is settling in everyone’s stomachs, and it’s time to relax. Cassie is playing on her own, her attention alternating between a wooden animal puzzle and the big box that squishy Waddles came in. The twins share the couch, Mabel picking up her yarn and knitting needles to make another sweater for her little girl, while Dipper pulls out his phone.

Dad has plans to watch basketball all afternoon and switches on the television to the pregame show for the Sixers and Knicks. Mom asks if he really needs to have that on now? Dad suggests that maybe he can do without it for now, on the proviso he not get any complaints when he watches his beloved Warriors play the Cavs later that afternoon. Mom shakes her head and agrees.

After the television winks off, Dad looks at Dipper, who is engrossed with his phone. “What’re you reading there?” he asks his son.

Dipper glances up briefly. “Nothing important, I guess. Just a blog I follow, by this paranormal investigator who lives out west.”

“That BS again?” says Dad with an amused snort. “I thought you’d moved past that nonsense.”

“Oh yeah,” retorts Dipper, staring down his father with a grin. “I guess I should be concentrating on important stuff, right? Like basketball, I suppose?”

Dad chuckles at that. “Yeah well at least my interests are about something real!”

“Leave him alone, Dad,” chimes in Mabel with a giggle. “He’s got his weird conspiracies, you’ve got your dumb sports. As far as I can tell, you’re both pretty much even in this ‘waste of time’ competition!”

“Fine, fine!” says Dad to Mabel, smiling and waving dismissively.

Mom walks in from the kitchen. “Mabel, when’s your next shift at the hobby store? Were you able to get tomorrow off?”

Mabel grimaces. “No, I wish!” she says with disappointment. “I have to be there when they open up. They say the morning after Christmas is usually a really busy shift.” She’s determined to not be a sourpuss about her job, so she forces an upbeat attitude. “But hopefully I’ll get to see all the cool things the customers are starting to work on. That’s the best part of my job, helping people do their bestest and craftiest!”

“Yes, I know,” her mother replies. “I’ll watch Cassie tomorrow, so it’s no problem. I’m happy you get to work in a place where there’s things that are kind of up your alley.”

“Yeah, I wish I could just keep all the stuff that are on the shelves for myself!” Mabel sighs dreamily. “You know me, the master of arts and crafts! If only I’d-”

Mabel cuts herself off, not wanting to verbalize the end of that thought. She had just about said she wished she’d gone to art college. She knows that it should have been a perfectly feasible goal for her. If not for … Mabel glances at Cassie on the other side of the room, playing quietly. She loves Cassie so much, she’d never go back and change her mind. But still, she’d be lying if there weren’t a few regrets, as well. She tries to get back to positive thoughts as she looks fondly at her daughter.

Mom doesn’t press Mabel to continue, having sensed what caused Mabel’s sudden surge of melancholy. Dad, on the other hand, is oblivious. He turns back to Dipper. “I forgot to ask if you got your final grades for first semester.”

“You didn’t tell him, Dipper?” Mom says excitedly. “Go ahead!”

“Yeah, they were posted on Friday” Dipper replies, shrugging modestly. “I did pretty well, I guess.”

Mabel nudges her brother with her elbow, happy for the change of subject. “Pretty well? Dip, you said you received an email from NJIT that you got the highest average in your entire program this term!”

Dipper nods bashfully. “Really?” says Dad, raising an eyebrow. “Well, then! Congratulations, that’s an excellent accomplishment!” He leans forward in his recliner to reach over and grip his son’s shoulder. “I’m proud of you, son. Good work!”

“Thanks, Dad!” replies Dipper, a grateful expression spreading on his face. “I worked pretty hard this semester.”

Dad nods. “I know you did. You’ve developed a really good work ethic these past few years.” He leans back into his chair again. “You would have done so well at MIT.”

Dipper’s smile doesn’t waver, but his eyes fall to the floor. “Yeah, probably.” he says.

Mabel instantly feels for her twin. Darn it, why does Dad always have to make those little digs? The New Jersey Institute of Technology might not have the same level of prestige as that uppity place in Massachusetts, but she knows his college isn’t exactly chopped liver. She’s seen the projects Dipper has been working on, and although she doesn’t understand engineering, she knows he’s doing amazing stuff!

But before Mabel can say anything to that effect, her mother has chimed in. “So what about next semester, Dipper? What do your classes look like for January?”

“Okay, I think,” Dipper says. “There’s an introduction to biotech course that sounds really interesting, and everything I’ve learned up until now has been good. There’s just …” He makes a frustrated noise. “The only thing is the schedule! They’ve got me down for three evening classes. That means three days a week, it’ll be really late before I can get home.”

Mom sighs. “Oh, Dipper, I’m sorry. That sounds awful, you’re going to be on the train at all hours of the night.” She shakes her head. “You really should have taken one of the rooms in residence on campus. You would have been walking distance to all your classes.”

“Mom, we already talked about this,” Dipper moans. “It’s too expensive! My scholarship doesn’t pay for room and board. I can’t afford it, and you can’t afford to pay it for me.”

“We’d have found the money somehow, we tried to tell you that,” Mom scolds gently.

“Even so, it’s not that bad. If I catch the trains right, it’s only a little over an hour.” Dipper shakes his head. “I’ll be fine, even if it sucks next term.”

Dad looks intently at Dipper. “Of course, you had the opportunity to accept a full scholarship to MIT, including residence. Living on campus would have been no problem there.”

This time Dipper doesn’t look away, and he stares back at his father. He says nothing, but the temperature in the room seems to drop several degrees. No ones says anything for several seconds.

Mabel is about to try breaking up the tension with a funny comment. But Cassie stands up and looks around, distracting Mabel. Cassie looks tired, and she’s late to go down for her nap. She also seems to sense the unease in the room. Looking for someplace safe, she makes a tiny whining noise and toddles over to the nearest comforting set of arms, which happen to belong to her uncle. Dipper picks her up and holds her, giving pats on the back and letting her relax against his chest with her head resting on his shoulder. Everyone watches in silence as Dipper whispers soothing noises to the girl, lulling her quickly into sleep.

“She’s had a really big morning,” Mabel says to no one in particular, forcing a smile on her face as she watches her daughter snooze peacefully in Dipper’s arms. “All those new toys and stuff to play with, it was bound to tucker her out. I’ll bet-”

“Pumpkin … that’s enough,” Dad says with quiet authority. “I’m sorry, but please don’t change the subject. I don’t think it’s healthy to avoid what’s on everyone’s mind here. I didn’t want this to come up today, but …” he crosses his arms with deliberation,“ ...here we are! We need to address this whole issue of Dipper’s education.”

Dipper stiffens. “What’s the problem, Dad? You just finished telling me you were proud of me. I’m at the top of my class, but now that’s not good enough?”

“I am proud of you, Dipper!” responds Dad. “Clearly, you’ve done extremely well this term. And NJIT is a fine school, no doubt.” He straightens up and gestures emphatically. “But I think it’s time for you to admit that you are holding yourself back! You were granted a full scholarship to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology! You always dreamed of going there! It’s the best technical school in the country! And clearly you would have been brilliant there! You must realize how many more doors would be open to you if you’re an MIT alumnus, how many more lucrative and exciting opportunities might present themselves!”

“I get that,” Dipper replies, his voice measured. With Cassie’s ear right beside his mouth, he can’t get too loud. “But it doesn’t matter, Dad. Boston is just too far away! I thought you understood that when I turned down their offer.” He embraces the girl a bit tighter. “I don’t want to be so far away from Cassie. Going back and forth to school in Newark allows me to see her every day. She’s really important to me, you know that!” He gives the side of her head a gentle kiss. “NJIT is a good school. And I’m fine with going there.”

Dad exhales heavily. “It’s just a waste of your full potential!” he mutters with exasperation.

“Now, Honey!” Mom says, lightly admonishing her husband. “Think about how Dipper must feel. There’s nothing wrong with his university. And he can’t be expected to just up and leave his … niece …” she clears her throat quickly, “all at once and not be upset by it.” She gives Dipper and the sleeping child a fond look. “Going to a school near home and commuting to the city every day this year is a good first step for you. Maybe next year, you’ll be more comfortable and you’ll live on campus. Or at least in the city where you’re closer to your classes. You’d be able to come home on the weekends!”

Dipper refrains from saying anything, he just continues to slowly rub Cassie’s back as she sleeps.

“I think that’s a good idea!” proclaims Mabel suddenly.

Dipper casts a strange look her way as she puts down her knitting. Seeing that Dipper is under a lot of pressure from their parents, Mabel has decided to do something about it. She needs to get everyone off of this subject, and she has experience with the fact that sometimes she just has to agree with some of what her parents are saying to make them happy. Or just tell them what they want to hear so they at least leave her alone for awhile. No, it’s not the healthiest way to deal with conflict, but … this is Christmas, man! All this talk about Dipper leaving home can wait for a different day!

“Maybe Mom and Dad have a point, and you should start thinking about when it’s time to bein’ all foot loose and fancy free!” As she says this she turns to face her brother, away from her parents. She tries desperately to communicate to Dipper with her face that she’s not serious about the subject. Dipper nods subtly, telling her he understands. “It’s not like anyone’s moving out tomorrow, or anything. I know it’s weird for me, of all people, but we could stand to talk about it sometime!”

To Mabel’s silent dismay, the attempt to diffuse the conversation fails. “You know, it isn’t just Dipper, Pumpkin,” says Mom. “A day will come that you won’t be living here, either.”

A deer in the headlights has nothing on how Mabel feels now. She’s just put herself in the high beams. “Oh wow. Yeah!” she mumbles.

“It’s not that we don’t adore Cassie, or love having both of you here,” Mom reassures her. “You’ll be here as long as necessary. But someday you won’t be needing us anymore.”

“I haven’t, you know … really thought that far ahead.” She nonchalantly reaches over to Dipper and motions for the sleeping tot with her hands out. Dipper carefully passes her over to Mabel. “I mean … there’s been Cassie, and high school … and now work … it’s just been so busy …” she laments, shifting Cassie into a comfortable position on her shoulder.

“Well,” says Dad, “it seems to me that you won’t be moving out anytime soon.” There’s a long pause, then he continues. “Certainly not until you’ve found yourself some support. You know …” he raises his eyebrows, “support of a … significant other kind!”

Mabel flushes in embarrassment. “Daa-ad!” she groans.

“Oh goodness, Honey, stop being awful!” scolds Mom with a grin as she swats her husband lightly.

“Hey, this is a real issue!” Dad says. “She has a small child. She’s going to have a tough time finding the right fellow. Sure, there’s no hurry, but … why not start looking now? What’s the harm?” He looks at Mabel directly. “Aren’t there any nice young men around your workplace? You ever talk to any of them?”

Oh god, Mabel doesn’t think she’s had a more awkward conversation with her father in a long time. Aren’t Dads supposed to, you know, discourage their daughters from seeking out men? Then again, most fathers don’t have daughters who have been … biblical … with their sibling, either. Her gaze shifts involuntarily to her brother.

Dipper is already defending Mabel. “C’mon, Dad!” he says with a forced chuckle. “Isn’t it kind of old-fashioned to be pushing Mabel into finding herself a …” he pantomimes air quotes with his fingers, “... good man in her life?”

Dad appraises Mabel and her daughter on the sofa. “I’ve never been ashamed of being the old-fashioned type,” Dad responds. “I’m not telling her to go out and marry the first guy who looks at her, for pete’s sake! She should know she’s found the right man, and being a single mother that could take a lot of time. But I see nothing wrong with wanting to see that my little girl is going to be well taken care of. She just has to be open to the possibility.”

Then the man’s gaze shifts back to Dipper. “And that goes for you, as well, son. Sure, you’re in an engineering program, which is still dominated by men. But there must be some young ladies that you’ve met in school? You’ve mentioned several new friends. Why have I never heard about any girls?”

Dipper is stone faced, but Mabel swears she can see a thin film of sweat about to burst onto his forehead. “There are only a few women in my classes, Dad,” he manages to reply. “I haven’t really talked to any of them.”

“Well, don’t wait forever! Any girl would be lucky to grab you!” says Dad with a small laugh. “I’m sorry for being on you about MIT. You’re still going to earn a fine degree, and have a very good career. You’ve got a great future ahead of you! Don’t you think you should be looking for someone to share that future with?” He waves back and forth at the twins. “Both of you should be thinking about this!”

There are many things that Mabel would say to that, if she could. But it’s impossible. And nothing that she can say is coming to mind, with the way her heart is pounding from stress. The room is unbearably silent. Mabel can’t stop herself from looking to Dipper for support, and finds he is staring right back at her, looking as uncomfortable as she probably does.

“I see.” Their mother’s voice is cold.

Mabel’s heart leaps into her throat. Mom hasn’t said anything for some time. She’s just been watching and listening!

Dad looks at his wife, confused. “What?”

“Look at them!” she says curtly. “They have no intention of looking for relationships, and they never have.” She takes a deep breath. “They said that everything that happened in California was over. That they weren’t interested in being … together … anymore.” She fixes the twins with a withering stare, her voice sharp. “But that’s not true at all, is it?” she demands, daring her children to deny the accusation.

Dipper struggles to recover. “Mom, we … we haven’t … it’s not-”

“No, Dip,” interrupts Mabel softly. He looks wide-eyed at her, but with a glance she lets him know that the jig is up.

After a fearful nod of understanding from Dipper, Mabel turns to their stern-faced parents. Cassie now feels ten times heavier on her shoulder. She swallows down the huge lump in her throat, and confesses the obvious truth.

“Dip & I … we’re still in love.”

“What … WHAT did you say?” stammered the twins’ stunned mother.

“You’re PREGNANT?” demanded their father to Mabel, then he wheeled on Dipper. “You … YOU got her PREGNANT?”

Mabel offered the only defense she could. “We love each other,” she whimpered.

Mom looked to be in deep shock, making noises of incomprehensible hysterics. Dad was on his feet, his face wild. “You’re NOT serious! You CAN’T be god damned serious! PLEASE tell me this is a joke!!”

Dipper was just as scared as Mabel by the furious response. Speechless, the twins were rooted in place, unable to respond in any way.

“Oh my god oh my god oh my god,” chanted Mom, her voice squeaky and her face buried in her hands.

Dad was apoplectic, completely losing his composure as he stormed around the room. “What the HELL were you … how did … JESUS you two! WHY???”

Getting no response from two terrified young teens, he stalked over and loomed menacingly over them. “I asked you a question, and so help me god, you will answer me! WHY? How did this happen?” He focused on Dipper, an ugly snarl forming. “If you did ANYTHING to force this on Mabel, I’ll-”

“No, Dad!” Mabel cried as Dipper shrank back in fear. “It was BOTH of us! We …” Mabel had no other explanation, only the one she’d already offered. “We LOVE each other!”

“LOVE?” yelled Dad in astonishment. “You CAN’T god damned LOVE each other! You’re brother and sister!” He cut off Dipper with a vicious glare before the boy could respond. “And you’re only FIFTEEN! You don’t know what love even IS! Guess what, love isn’t FUC-” He stopped himself short, flinching violently. “Love isn’t having SEX with your sister!”

Mom began to cry loudly, distracting her husband from his verbal attack on their children. He sat and held her, both of them unprepared and angry, and trying to gather themselves. The twins cowered on the love seat in silence while they waited.

After the shock began to fade, Mom was beginning to get her sobbing under control. “Are you … are you absolutely sure … you’re pregnant?” she asked Mabel shakily. “How do … you know?”

“I … bought a test. It’s upstairs,” Mabel responded meekly. “And I … I kinda feel all the ways you’re supposed to feel when you’re pregnant.”

Her mother inhaled a stuttering breath. “And you’re SURE that … that Dipper is … he’s the …”

“Yes!” Mabel’s reply was almost indignant, as she was a bit insulted that her mother would think she had more than one sexual partner. It took her a second to realize that her mother might actually have preferred to think that she had slept around with other boys, at least in this case. She withdrew beside Dipper even further, watching her mother’s disappointed face.

Dad made like he was going to begin berating the twins again. “No, that’s enough!” Mom interjected firmly. “We have to stop this right now!”

“We can’t just DROP this!” Dad exclaimed, incredulous.

“Of course we can’t! But nothing good can come of any of this until you and I have a chance to calm down and talk about it, first. We’re done for tonight!” She sighed. “And clearly we’re not going anywhere in the morning.”

“Christ!” Dad groaned, remembering the vacation plans, and immediately agreeing that the holiday could not happen anymore. “That’s just great! Did we buy cancellation insurance?”

“I don’t CARE about that right now!” Mom grumbled back, irritated. “Let’s … let’s just go upstairs!” She frowned at Mabel. “You will go up to your room and stay there! And YOU,” she addressed Dipper sternly, “will sleep in the guest room down here!” She rose to her feet and pointed the way for her daughter. “Get going NOW!” Mabel bowed her head and started reluctantly for the stairs, her parents following closely behind.

Dipper needed to try to protect and comfort Mabel. “How is that fair?” he argued. “You both get to talk and everything … get support from each other. Mabel’s all alone! She only told ME less than two hours ago! She … we need to be able to talk to someone, too!”

Dad whipped around at the base of the stairs, clearly still agitated. “You listen to me!” he growled. “Apparently you two have already had PLENTY of time together, and doing a lot more than just TALK!” He turned his back to Dipper and continued up the stairs, giving Mabel no choice but to go up ahead of him. “One thing you’d better believe is that … THIS … is over!” he shouts. “The two of you will stop this! I WON’T let this continue!”

“I don’t believe this,” grumbles Dad with disgust.

For a moment there’s complete silence, interrupted only by Cassie’s light snoring. Mabel desperately searches for anything approaching sympathy from her mother or father. Dipper can’t meet the intense gaze of either of their parents.

“You both said over a year ago that you were over this!” Dad continues, his voice rising. “You assured us! This sick infatuation was done! And now you’re telling us it’s not?”

“Dad, please!” cries Mabel. “Just listen for a min-”

“Listen to why you’ve been lying to us?” shoots back her father, growing incensed.

Dipper pulls himself together. “Could we please just stop for a second?” he interrupts. “We need to put Cassie down to bed in her room.” He gently touches Mabel’s arm. “C’mon.”

Mabel sniffs and nods in agreement. The twins avoid looking at Mom or Dad as Dipper helps Mabel to her feet under Cassie’s weight. They make their way down the hallway to the toddler’s bedroom, and Mabel lays the girl down carefully. Although Cassie shifts and moans, she immediately relaxes as Mabel pulls up her blanket and returns to a sound sleep.

“I’m sorry Dip,” Mabel whispers shakily.

Dipper hugs her. “It’s okay, it’s not your fault,” he murmurs back, kissing her head. “I love you. That’s what matters, right?”

Mabel nods and wipes her eyes against her brother’s shirt. “I love you too.”

As they nervously return to the living room, their parents quickly abort a hushed conversation. Mom has a firm look of judgement on her face. Dad seems to be back in control of his emotions, but looks decidedly unhappy. His eyes narrow even further as he sees the twins holding one another’s hands. Mabel draws a breath and pulls Dipper to the couch.

“So …” Mabel begins, interpreting her parents’ lack of comment as permission to explain, “... me and Dipper … we wanted to try to move on from each other. We really did!” She glances with uncertainty at Dipper, and he nods reassuringly. “When we moved here, we were still hanging on to everything we were feeling for each other. And you knew that. But we stayed away from each other like you told us to, even though it was really hard.

“And then we got so busy after Cassie was born! I’d come straight home after school every day to look after her. Dipper had all his tutoring students. And we had all our homework! For five days a week we barely saw each other. And even on weekends or during the summer, anything we did that wasn’t work was with Cassie. We were just overwhelmed, we never had time for each other anymore, to even think of each other as a couple anymore. When you talked to us about our feelings last year, about if we had moved on … I thought we had! It was the truth!

“But then Dipper got that letter about the scholarship to MIT. And … I couldn’t stand it! I was sure he’d take the offer and he’d be gone! I expected to miss him a lot … but I didn’t know how much it would hurt to face that! It was devastating!” Mabel paused to wipe her eyes with her sleeve.

“We were both working so hard, just keeping our heads above water, I think … I guess I wasn’t thinking. But when I was faced with it, I just knew …” she turns to Dipper again, “... that everything he meant to me hadn’t gone away. I still loved him, more than ever!”

Both parents sit stoically, waiting for their son’s explanation.

Dipper clears his throat. “I’ve always tried to be what you’ve wanted me to be,” he says, sounding reluctant. “When we moved here, I really applied myself. I wanted to prove to you …” he squeezes Mabel’s hand, “... to all of you … that I would do everything possible to make the best of what happened to us. I’d earn money. I’d get good grades in school. I’d help out at home … and be a good uncle for Cassie. I’d do everything right!

“Last winter was when we were getting ready to put in college applications. I felt really bad for Mabel, that she was going give up any hope of going to college and would be starting work full time instead. You were counting on me. And I vowed to put my education first, so I applied to every big name school because it was … the right thing to do!

“When the package from MIT arrived, you were both so excited. I knew I should have been excited, too, but I wasn’t! Mabel had been acting happy for me, trying to cheer me on, saying I’d do great at MIT. But I looked at her … and knew ...” he blinks back a tear as he gazes at Mabel, “... I knew I couldn’t leave her. The tiny bits of Mabel that I’ve been able to hang on to over the past couple of years … I need that! I can’t live without that!”

He tilts his head towards where the young girl was sleeping. “I told you the reason I turned down MIT was that I’d miss Cassie too much, and I wasn’t lying. I might keep the secret from everyone outside this house, but she’s my daughter! I love her and I want to be near her, and that’s the truth!” He swallows hard and stares back at his twin again. “But she’s only half of it. Leaving Mabel would have been just as bad! With all we did for Cassie, it ended up just making everything I felt for Mabel even stronger. I had to stay!”

Mom finally speaks up. “That’s precisely the problem!” she exclaims, frustrated. “The two of you are still reacting to these … feelings you had! Reacting in ways that you can’t afford anymore! You were just children when this happened, but you aren’t any longer!” She gestures to Dipper. “Think for a second about what you’re giving up for this. How you’re not moving on to finding someone you can actually share your life with!” Then she waves at Mabel. “And you know Dipper can’t be the husband and father that you and Cassie need! It just isn’t possible!”

“Exactly!” grunts Dad in agreement, his arms folded tightly against his chest.

“You can’t function this way, you can’t exist this way!” Mom continues. “It doesn’t matter how painful it is, you have to put this behind you! Like any other brother and sister, you need to … grow up! Now that you’re adults, you need to face your problems as adults!”

Mabel is weeping quietly in despair. She should have known that they wouldn’t understand! Dipper had always said as much. They will simply reject any possibility that the twins could remain in love, that they could always be there for each other. The only options, in their parents’ minds, are that the twins move on to find other relationships, or the twins simply move on alone. To their parents, Dipper and Mabel remaining so close emotionally was an impossible outcome.

Dipper slouches forward, his palm over his forehead. “You don’t get it, Mom and Dad,” he laments. “We can’t just move past this.”

“You can’t be serious,” fumes Dad. “Of course you can move past this! You just don’t want to! But you don’t have a choice, you’re going to have to.” His neck twitches, his agitation growing even as he keeps his tone quiet. “What you and Mabel did was unnatural! It was immoral! And it was illegal!”

Mabel tenses, trying to psychically will Dipper to resist being pedantic at this moment. She fails.

“Technically, it wouldn’t be illegal now,” Dipper mutters. “There’s no law against, you know … adult incest … in New Jersey.”

“That doesn’t mean anyone would think it’s acceptable!” Dad snaps back, his voice dangerously low.

“That’s right,” agrees Mom. “Just because nobody could call the police on you, that doesn’t mean that even if you wanted to, you could ever be together!” She fidgets in irritation. “Imagine trying to live that way! You could never get to be serious. You could never be open. Don’t you ever want to be married? It can’t be with each other! That’s certainly not legal!”

Now Mom is really wound up. “And you know what else is never going to be legal, either? Children! And you already have one! How exactly does Cassie fit into any possible future you two might have together?”

March 14, 2015

The twins were seated at their customary spots across from each other at the big dining room table. Exhausted from lack of enough rest and fighting a bout of nausea, Mabel wasn’t allowed to be in the same room as Dipper all morning until this meeting. The nervous teen couldn’t help noting the location for this conversation, directed by their parents, kept her and Dipper physically separated.

Dad sat down at the table with the kids. His face was inscrutable, and he was avoiding looking directly at either of his children. Mom stood by the china cabinet, considering her words. The bags under their eyes provided evidence of their all-night private discussion.

“We’re VERY disappointed in you,” Mom finally said without preamble. “We’re not interested in how long this has been going on, and we will not be listening to any reason or justification you might have for why you have done this. What you did was wrong, and it will NOT happen ever again!”

The twins made no reply. It was clear that none was expected.

“But …” Mom continued with a deep sigh, “what’s done is done. Regardless of the mistakes you’ve made, we have to deal with what’s happened. Obviously, I’m talking about you,” she nodded soberly at Mabel, “being pregnant.”

Mabel was now very much alone under the microscope, feeling like her womb was an object that was isolated and under examination.

“Your father and I talked at length all night about what happens next.” She drummed her fingers on the surface of the cabinet, staring at her feet. “We have no idea what issues the fetus could have. From what little research we could do overnight, it seems there could be significant birth defects, or there might be nothing wrong at all. We don’t know.” She looked up at Mabel. “We also had to consider what this means to your future. How a pregnancy at your age could be devastating. For both of you,” she added, glancing sharply at Dipper, “if the truth were to come out about who the father is.”

She pulled out her chair at the table and sat down, pursing her lips and then interlacing her fingers in front of her. “We have always been of the opinion that life begins at conception. We haven’t changed our minds about this. But-” her voice broke for an instant, “in a situation like this, we understand how opinions sometimes need to be … flexible.”

After a long pause, Dad finally spoke. “What we’re saying is that as much as we dislike this, we think the best option for you is that you get an abortion,” he said to Mabel.

Mabel looked up to her father, then back to the other end of the table to her mother. Both of them appeared to be looking for acknowledgement from her. She could tell that they thought they had just made a significant concession, and that Mabel should be thankful to them. It was clear that they believed Mabel would welcome the opportunity to end the pregnancy.

Then she looked across the table to Dipper. He made a tiny, meaningful nod of his head, and she knew he would stand with her.

“I …” she swallowed hard, “... I don’t WANT to have an abortion,” she said, her voice squeaking.

Her parents were obviously thrown for a loop by her response. They stared blankly at one another, unsure if they had heard Mabel correctly. Both of them then turned their attention to Dipper, who gravely nodded his solidarity with his sister. Mabel sat silently on her side of the table, timid but trying to appear determined. For the second time in less than twenty-four hours, the twins’ parents were again unprepared to react to unexpected news from their children.

Dad was flummoxed. “So … you want to have the baby?”

“Yes,” replied Mabel, her gaze locked on the table.

He absorbed this. “And what, exactly ... are you planning to TELL anyone? About who got you pregnant?”

Mabel lifted her eyes to Dipper, who was already looking at her, scared but supportive. “We don’t know,” said Dipper softly.

“Well I think that’s something you NEED to know!” Dad demanded, his attention see-sawing from one twin to the other. “If you have no idea what you’re doing, how can-”

“Please, Dad!” exclaimed Mabel with sincerity. “I can’t do it! This isn’t the baby’s fault! I can’t k-” She took a shuddering breath as tears spontaneously leaked from her eyes, “I can’t KILL our baby!”

Mom sobbed and began crying, triggering Mabel to start as well. Mabel instinctively reached out for her mother, who rose and went to Mabel’s side in an instant and they hugged tightly. But the moment only lasted a few seconds. Mom pulled herself back away from Mabel’s grip, visibly struggling to control her emotions. “Keep it together, stay focused” she muttered under her breath as she stepped away. Mabel was hurt by the retreat, but she understood it. Her mother was fighting an internal war: sympathy for Mabel and her unborn baby on one hand, and despair for the baby’s conception and Mabel’s future on the other.

Dad held his tongue for the moment, doing his best to not let the discussion descend into an emotional powderkeg.

Soon his wife had composed herself again. She faced the twins from across the room, but her eyes were closed, her arms braced across her stomach. “Have you … thought at ALL about what will happen when the baby is born?” she asked tentatively. “Surely you must think that … that you can give the baby up for adoption?”

Mabel nods, again wordlessly receiving acknowledgment from her brother. “We talked about it a little, last night,” she said timidly. “But we’re … not sure.”

Dad exhaled hard, his annoyance bubbling up. “You’re not sure?” he repeated. “Mabel, of COURSE you’re going to go the adoption route! You need to think straight about this, and realize what you’re facing!” He leaned forward, elbows and closed fists on the table, closing in on his daughter. “You are in Grade 10! You’ll have two more years of high school after this baby arrives! How would you manage that if you’ve got a kid? And even if you did, how would you go to college? Or get a job? Or go travelling? Or ANYTHING else you might want to do? Keeping this baby will RUIN your life!”

Mabel sunk lower in her chair as her father continued. “This doesn’t even include the fact that this baby is a product of … incest! Can you imagine what it would be like if that gets out? That would harm this whole family even more!” Then he raised his chin. “And it could have health issues. Do you want that heartache? Do you want to put yourself through that? And think of the baby! What if you sentence it to a life of dealing with some awful birth defect?” He paused deliberately, letting his words sink in.

The ramifications were swirling in Mabel’s mind. Darn it, was her father right? How terrible would her life get? Would it be her fault if keeping this baby hurts her family? If the baby has problems because of genetics, would that be fair to it? Might it wish it were never born?

Her father sat back a bit, giving Mabel some space. “I don’t think we can dismiss ANY of the options.” He reached out and placed his hand on Mabel’s arm. “Yes, there’s still adoption. And … perhaps it’s really painful to think about, but … as your mother just explained, we still think that termination is what’s best for you.”

This was all very overwhelming to Mabel, and her father’s persuasion was extremely effective. Her gut was churning with reluctance and regret, but perhaps she needed to acknowledge her father’s logic. She felt herself starting to nod her head in agreement when-

“That’s not for you to decide, Dad,” Dipper firmly interjected.

The man’s attention was diverted to his son, his demeanor instantly less gentle. “I beg your pardon?”

Dipper steeled himself. “You’re trying to manipulate her. You’re trying to make Mabel feel guilty for not wanting an abortion.” He flinched as his father’s stare intensified, but he didn’t back down. “It’s her choice! You can’t make that decision for her!” he declared in a louder voice.

“Is that so?” Dad replied coolly, “Let me tell you something. Parents make decisions all the time for their children. This is no different.” He leaned closer to Dipper. “The two of you are only fifteen years old, and you’re too young for adult decisions. And by getting your sister PREGNANT,” he emphasized forcefully, “I’d say you’ve both definitively proven that you’re not ready for adult decisions!”

“Yes, we screwed up!” shot back Dipper desperately. “Yes, we were irresponsible! We should have used better protection!” His father started to respond, but Dipper kept going. “Or MAYBE we shouldn’t have been doing anything in the first place! All right!?” His breaths started coming closer together, nearly hyperventilating. “We’re SORRY!! Okay?!? We didn’t want this to happen!”

Dipper’s wide eyes found Mabel’s, holding them in determination and devotion. “But Mabel WILL be keeping this baby, if she wants to!” he declared firmly.

Mabel shivered involuntarily from the intensity of Dipper’s defense of her. She couldn’t imagine being capable of loving him more!

But then the question that immediately came to Mabel’s mind was what their father would do next. The product of old fashioned values, he had raised his children to respect his experience and authority and to obey their parents’ directives. The children had likewise been granted reciprocal respect through age-appropriate freedoms as they grew up, so they were always satisfied to comply with their parents. As a result, the twins had never needed to test what serious punishment might arise. Mabel had absolutely no idea what their father might do to them now!

Their father rose slowly from his chair, glaring with intimidation at his son. “Are you DEFYING me?” he growled dangerously.

Dipper managed to meet his father’s stare. He was plainly terrified of what could happen, but he didn’t waver.

“If you’re so set on making your own decisions, you think you’d like making ALL your decisions? Out there, all on your own?” Dad continued menacingly.

Oh my god, thought Mabel in a panic. Could their father throw Dipper out of the house? And her as well?

“Honey …” implored Mom uneasily, then was silenced by a severe scowl from her husband.

Dipper was shaking noticeably. His voice was quivering with fear. But his words were strong. “I’m sorry, Dad, but I don’t care! Last night, before we told you about all this, we talked about what we should do. We even thought about running away, but we decided to tell you instead. So just know that if you don’t want us here, I’m ready! If Mabel wants to have our baby, I’ll do whatever it takes to make sure she can!!”

A minute went by as father and son engaged in a silent war of wills. Dad made multiple wordless twitches, feints that implicitly made the twins believe that he could push Dipper and Mabel out to survive on their own, unless his son would back down. But Dipper would not yield.

And in the end, it was an empty threat. With a loud outburst of frustration, Dad turned and stalked out of the dining room. He may have been furious with his children for their actions and defiance, but was unable to abandon them.

The teenagers and their mother gasped repeatedly, their breathing slowly returning to normal after the tense standoff. Dipper reached across to take Mabel’s hands at the table, an action their mother saw but could not forbid, at least not at that moment.

Finally Mabel had collected herself a little bit. “Mom?” she asked uneasily. Her mother swiped at her eye with a finger, then nodded that she was listening. “Dipper and I came to you and Dad last night because we need you,” Mabel continued, pleading. “We don’t want to leave. We need your help to figure out what we can do. We want to talk about everything! Everything except …” she took a shuddering breath, “... everything except KILLING our baby! Can you please understand that?”

Mom couldn’t handle her own emotions any longer. Again she flew to Mabel and embraced her, despairing for her daughter. This time she didn’t pull back, and didn’t want to let go. “Oh, Mabel!” she cried as she and Mabel wept together. “I don’t know how to fix this!”

“I’m sorry!” Mabel sobbed back, devastated but determined again that she would bring this little life growing within her safely into the world.

“How is that little girl going to grow up in this rosy future that you’ve obviously not thought through?” Mom demands, her rant continuing. “It’s obvious to anyone that Dipper loves her, and he treats her like a father would.”

“So what?” Mabel cries, defending her brother. “There’s nothing wrong with an uncle who loves his niece! He’s allowed to be affectionate, and Cassie deserves it!”

“But if you and Dipper want to somehow be together again, because of your feelings, what is that little girl going to think when she sees you having … feelings … for each other?” Dipper tries to interject, but Mom just keeps going at him instead. “I suppose you’re planning on having Cassie call you ‘Daddy’, right?” she accuses.

“NO!” Dipper fires back immediately.

“Mom!” Mabel cries. “Nothing about the way Dipper and I feel about each other changes what we do with Cassie!”

“We’ve never wanted Cassie to know!” insists Dipper, nodding at his sister in agreement. ‘We still don’t!”

“Yeah, we know that she can’t ever find out that Dipper’s her father, or that I feel that way about him. It’s wouldn’t be fair to her.”

“She’s only ever going to know me as ‘Uncle Dip.’ That’s it!”

Mom is obviously unconvinced. “And if you continue the way you’re going, you can’t think you can hide those feelings from Cassie as she gets older. She’s going to see that her uncle and mother aren’t like other siblings.”

“Oh yeah?” fires back Mabel. “If that’s right, why didn’t YOU see it until just now?” Mabel is suddenly emboldened, feeling like she can make her mother see something her way. “Dipper and I have apparently been doing a pretty good job of hiding our feelings from you, until today! You had no idea until you started asking weird questions!”

“Plus you have the advantage of knowing what you already know,” Dipper adds. “Cassie doesn’t know anything about what happened in California between Mabel and I, and she doesn’t know who her father is. She’ll have no reason to be suspicious.”

Mom ponders this, and Mabel knows her mother doesn’t want to admit that her kids have a point. “We’ve had a lot of practice hiding our true feelings, Mom,” Mabel says gently. “We’re actually pretty good at it.”

For a moment Mabel sees her mother consider what she and Dipper have said. Could it be they’ve gotten through to her? Might she start to-

“Oh for GOD’S sake!!”

Mabel, Dipper, and even Mom jump at the sudden outburst. All heads jerk towards the twins’ father, the source of the angry exclamation. The man is obviously out of patience.

“I can’t believe I’m hearing this! This is god damn ridiculous! Are you actually listening to this?” he nearly shouts at his wife. “After everything that happened in Piedmont! What they did, and the baby! We pulled up stakes, gave up everything!” He spins towards his children, who are rocked back on their heels in fear.

“Why are having to deal with this again now?!?”

March 19, 2015

“We’re leaving Piedmont.”

Dipper had just entered the living room after being called by his mother. Mabel had barely sat down on the sofa herself when Dad had made his simple proclamation. “Huh?” she exclaimed.

“We’ll stay here until sometime in June, after you finish your school year,” Dad explained without much enthusiasm. “Then we’ll be moving East. To New Jersey.”

Mabel was dumbstruck. She had been kept in the dark the last few days after the big confession. The twins’ parents had kept a close eye on Dipper and Mabel, not allowing them to be alone in the same room together. For long stretches of time, Dipper was confined to his new sleeping quarters in the guest bedroom and Mabel in her own room, while their parents talked privately. They gave their children very little indication of what was up, though Mabel knew they obviously were making arrangements of some sort. But moving away? To New Jersey? She didn’t see that coming at all!

Dipper, on the other hand, seemed to almost be expecting the news. “Wow,” he muttered softly as he slowly lowered himself into the sofa. “You’re really gonna do this!”

“We don’t have much choice,” replied Dad in a matter-of-fact manner. Mabel noticed that Dad seemed to be less angry than he was before. She was certain that he wasn’t happy, either, but it was as much as Mabel could expect, she supposed.

Mom also seemed to have steadied herself in the intervening days. “When Mabel decided she’s going to carry the baby to term, we thought very hard about what that would mean,” she explained, looking at her daughter. “Have you thought about how you’re going to explain how you got pregnant?”

Mabel shrugged self-consciously. “Kind of, I guess … I just thought I’d say I had a boyfriend, and he dumped me when he found out I was, you know … preggers.”

“Yes, but WHO, Mabel?” pressed Mom. “That only works if you can invent a biological father, someone nobody will question! Here in Piedmont, the name of the father is going to be everyone’s question. If you can’t identify this ‘boyfriend’ then people will naturally be curious, or suspicious. The truth could then come out.”

“If there’s any question as to the identity of the father of the baby, then there’s a real chance someone will speculate about the two of you,” said Dad, cringing. “Particularly given how well you two have famously always … you know, “got along”.”

“We think we’ve broken down every scenario,” said Mom, “and there’s no getting around it. You being pregnant wouldn’t just be embarrassing, Mabel. It could be dangerous! For BOTH of you!” she emphasized.

“For ALL of us,” corrected Dad. “We’d all have a lot to try to explain if rumours start flying.”

“So the bottom line is we can’t stay here,” concluded Mom. “If we’re going to concoct a story of an unknown father of this baby, we have to do it somewhere else, and soon!”

Mabel let the implications sink in, trying to mentally counter the conclusions laid out by her parents. She couldn’t.

“Why New Jersey?” asked Dipper, ever the more analytical of the twins.

“The company has a branch office in Newark where I could do roughly the same job I have now,” replied Dad. “I went to my boss on Monday, spun a story about needing to move soon to the New York area because of a family issue. He got back to me today, and said yes.” He twitched, attempting to cover his frustration. “They’re cutting my salary because of this.”

“I’m sure I can get my real estate brokerage license in New Jersey,” Mom suggested. “I can pick up my career, we’ll be all right.”

“Maybe,” replied Dad, “but we can’t count on that. And housing there is about as expensive as the Bay area.” He glanced around the living room, already reminiscing. “Whatever place we find, it won’t be as nice as here.”

There was a brief pause as everyone thought of the memories they had of their Piedmont home.

“But until then,” continued Mom with reluctance, “we all have to act like nothing has changed. Other than your father’s coworkers, no one is to know that we are moving away. We need to leave as quietly as possible.”

“What?” cried Mabel suddenly. “What about my friends? I’ve got tell them where I’m going!”

“I’m sorry, Pumpkin. You can’t,” replied Mom sadly. Dad shook his head.

Mabel’s voice got louder. “But I HAVE to tell the gang! I can’t just-”

“They’re right, Mabel,” interrupted Dipper. She gaped at Dipper, who looked back at her with sympathy. “If we tell anybody we’re moving away, they’ll want to know why. And if we can’t answer, all the other questions will follow. Plus they might find out you’re pregnant anyways, if you stay in touch.”

Dad nodded. “Both of you have to finish your school year at Piedmont High, but you can’t mention to ANYONE about us planning to move away.”

“You might want to start knitting a few bigger, baggier sweaters,” Mom suggested. “You’ll … probably be starting to show by June.”

All of these changes hammered at Mabel, coming from every member of her family. The impacts to her life seemed to just keep coming, unrelenting!

“This next bit of information is mostly for you,” Dad said, addressing Dipper. “You need to know that I checked on my company benefits plan. I’m covered for my spouse and dependant children, but NOT grandchildren. We need medical insurance for the baby, not to mention all the clothes, diapers, furniture, and everything else that goes with raising a child.” Dipper gulped as he began to see where his Dad was going with this. “As this baby’s father, you have responsibilities. You need to help financially support your son or daughter. You will have to find a job, with every bit of that money going towards the baby’s expenses. And all the while I expect you to continue to get good grades. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Dad,” Dipper replied without hesitation, though Mabel could tell he was a bit shellshocked.

Mom gave Dipper a comforting hug, then went to kneel in front of her daughter, looking very compassionate. “I’m sorry, Mabel, but things aren’t going to be easy. I speak from experience when I tell you that THIS,” she put a gentle palm on Mabel’s abdomen, “is going to be uncomfortable, painful, and … just draining!” Mabel bit her lip and nodded. “The last month is the hardest,” her mother continued. “And … since your due date is around the end of September, you’ll be enduring that month while starting classes in a new school.”

At Mabel’s wide-eyed realization of this, Mom tilted her head meaningfully. “Oh yes! You still have to go to school, before AND after the baby comes! We’ll work out babysitting times, I’ll probably do all of it in the beginning at least. But you are NOT dropping out of school!”

“I … I don’t want to drop out! I just … I didn’t THINK about school!” stammered Mabel.

“You didn’t think about a LOT of things,” muttered Dad under his breath, drawing a stern glare from his wife. He sighed and raised his hands in surrender. “You’re right, you’re right!” he conceded.

“We don’t want to be discouraging, just realistic,” Mom commented, wanting the twins to know that they were trying to make the best of the situation. Then she turned back to Mabel. “When you told us that you’re determined to have this baby, your father and I really weren’t prepared for that. We reacted badly, and we’re sorry. As Dipper correctly pointed out, it’s your body and your child, and it’s entirely your decision. We aren’t going to pressure you again to change your mind. But … you DO need to deal with all the ramifications of your choice. We ALL do!” she added, looking at Dipper. The twins nodded back, nervous but more secure in knowing where their parents stood.

Mom straightened to her feet and went to her husband. They touched hands lightly, looked at one another and nodded with understanding, then turned back to their children.

“Before we talk about one final thing,” said Mom, “we just want you to really understand the enormity of what is about to happen to this family. Everything is about to change, and it’s going to be much harder than it could have been.”

“We do understand,” said Dipper, looking genuinely contrite. He shifts in place uncomfortably. “You’re … sacrificing a lot for us … so … thank you.”

As overwhelmed as Mabel felt, she couldn’t help but agree. “Yeah, thank you, Mom and Dad,” she said, then glanced at her brother. “‘All of this is our fault, and we’re sorry.”

Dipper nodded. “Yeah. We’re really sorry!”

Dad’s face softened. “We accept your apology, and thank you. We want to … just move forward, and take life as it comes from now on.” He gave each of the twins a small smile. “We forgive you. You don’t have to apologize for what happened any more. As far as I’m concerned, we’re done with this. It’s over.” Mom also smiled in agreement.

Mabel felt so good to hear those words, to know she’d been forgiven. She could tell Dipper felt the same way.

But then Dad’s voice tightened once again. “We’re DONE with this. This is OVER,” he repeated ominously.

As quickly as Mabel’s heart had begun to lift, it sank again. She saw precisely what was coming. And even though she already knew what he was going to say, it didn’t hurt any less.

“The final thing we need to talk about is about the two of you, and your relationship, Regardless of why you two seem to think you feel the way you do, what you’ve been doing is intolerable!” Their father was firm and unyielding. “You have to start living your lives as normal brother and sister again, from this moment forward. What you did was a mistake, and you will NOT let it happen again!”

Dipper tried to provide a meek explanation of his feelings for Mabel. “Dad, we-”

“No!” interrupted Dad curtly. “This is not up for debate! There is NO future for any … unnatural relationships in this family! I expect you to put those feelings behind you and focus on the welfare of the baby.” He crossed his arms. “I may have flown off the handle on Friday night when you told us about all this. But there’s one thing I said that night, something that is still ABSOLUTELY true today. You will NOT be allowed to be together like that again!”

“I’m in complete agreement, by the way,” added Mom succinctly, just in case the twins might have wanted to think that she was going to be easier on them.

Dad took a step forward, looming over the seated twins. “This rule is non-negotiable! We want to be crystal clear about this! Everything else, like your responsibilities and chores surrounding housework, or school, or even the baby … we know stuff will happen. You’ll mess some things up. That’s normal, everyday teenage stuff, and we’ll deal with that. But NOT! THIS!” he emphasized, pointing his finger in turn at Mabel and Dipper as his voice rose in volume. “I promise you there will be EXTREMELY unpleasant consequences if this happens again! All this, all the plans we’ve now been forced to make, all the things that are going to have to change …” Dad was almost wild, panting from the conviction he was feeling, “... this is AS FAR AS I WILL GO! … I love you kids! And I forgive you, I REALLY do, but …”

He paused for a moment. His face fell as he realized something about himself.

“... but I honestly don’t know if I could ever forgive you again,” he finished sadly.

There was total silence in the house. Dipper and Mabel had been good kids, and had never been on the receiving end of a threat anything like this before. They were given the “scared-straight” treatment, and it was very effective. Both of the twins were thoroughly intimidated.

“It’s the ONLY firm rule,” Dad said quietly. “Do we understand each other?”

The twins had no reply. Mabel suspected none was wanted.

“Good!”

“There was one rule that was not to be broken! ONE!!” Dad stands in front of the couch, yelling down at the twins. “Everything else, I could deal with! But not this!”

“Honey, calm down!” implores his wife, grasping the front of his shirt..

“Why should I?”

“Because we need to be fair! Whatever we think about what they did back then, I suppose it felt real to them.” She purses her lips and rolls her eyes. “I suppose it might still feel real to them!”

“So you’re going to ju-”

“What I’m saying is we told them that their relationship was over, and we forbid them to be together. I don’t think we can expect them to control the way they feel. But what we can expect is that they keep control of what they DO!”

Dad nods. “All right!” he acknowledges, and turns to face down the kids, doubt written all over his face.

Mom also turns, hopeful but worried. “You have kept that promise, haven’t you?” she asks them, almost pleading. “I might be able to understand if you still have feelings for each other. But please, please tell me you haven’t acted on them again?”

Oh jeez, thinks Mabel. She wonders what a person’s face looks like when they can’t answer a question with the truth, and they are unable to answer believably with a lie?

Mabel can’t turn her head to look at Dipper. But she actually hears him gulp.

A second is all it takes. Their parents know everything now. It is now painfully apparent that “feelings” are not the only thing that the twins have shared together since Dipper turned down the MIT scholarship.

His suspicions now seemingly confirmed, Dad scoffs dismissively and turns away, stalking away to the other side of the living room. Mom is aghast, fearing the implication of the twins’ silence. “You … you’ve had se- … you’ve been together again? Recently?” she stammers at her children.

Dipper hangs his head in defeat. Mabel looks pleadingly at her mother. “Mom … we’ve … it’s only been a few times …” Her mother makes a high-pitched noise of disbelief, her face looking horrified. “We used protection!” Mabel argues loudly.

“Oh yeah!” barks their father from the entrance to the kitchen. “I recall you were supposedly using protection three years ago, too!” he says with derision. “Look what happened then!”

“Dad, I’m sorry!” pleads Dipper. “I know that we screwed up before, but this time we …” But his father is already gone, waving a disdainful hand and marching back to the master bedroom. The sound of a door slam echos down the hall.

“I don’t believe this!” Mom is shaking her head, her mouth agape. ”How could you do this?”

The twins don’t try to answer. Mabel realizes in dismay that there is no correct answer.

“Do you fully realize the impact of what happened in Piedmont? Not just for you!” Mom is trembling with suppressed fury. “Do you know how much leaving the West coast damaged your father’s career? Do you know how deflating it has been for me to lose my career in real estate? To know I’ve probably sacrificed any hope of starting over again here because I chose to help you raise your daughter?” Her eyes narrow and her lips tighten into a thin line. “Your father is right! After everything we sacrificed for you, this is how we’re repaid? Lying! Sneaking around! Doing ... depraved things! Risking getting pregnant again! Betrayal of the only rule we laid down!

“A rule that wouldn’t have even been necessary if you both could just have been a NORMAL brother and sister! Like EVERYONE ELSE!”

The last invective hurts the most. Mabel bursts into tears. This is terrible! She couldn’t possibly think of anything worse that could happen on Christmas Day!

But then she hears something, and she knows it did indeed just get worse! The sound is the whimper of a small and frightened child, awakened by the angry and loud voices of a family who had forgotten that their youngest member was sleeping just down the hall.

Cassie doesn’t know what’s going on, only that there are loud noises, every person she loves and relies on is shouting and crying, and nobody is happy. Her security shattered and her entire world upside-down, she does the only thing she is capable of. She starts to bawl.

June 27, 2015

Mabel was crying. She couldn’t help it. She felt like she was losing her entire childhood.

She rushed back to her room. Her empty room. Her furniture was already loaded on the moving truck, and the boxes with all the rest of her belongings were stacked by the door with everyone else’s. She looked around at the room that used to be so comforting to her, and now it made everything worse! She cried harder, her sobs reverberating off the bare walls and echoing loudly in her ears.

Looking down, she cupped the bump around her belly button that had become more prominent the last month or so.. Why does she want to keep this baby so badly? Why did she let herself get pregnant? Why was she having sex with her brother? Why did she fall in love with him? Why was she even born in the first place?

Her mother slipped through the door and wordlessly went to Mabel, enveloping the teenager in a warm hug. Mabel clutched her mother desperately, sorrow pouring out of her. “I’m sorry, Mom!” she cried as tears ran down her face. “This is all my fault! I’m sorry!”

“Shhhh,” whispers Mom into Mabel’s ear, stroking her long hair. “What’s done is done, Pumpkin. Nothing will change that, no matter how upset you get. What matters is making the best of our lives as we go forward. Don’t look back.” She kisses her daughter gently on her hair behind the ear. “Now that you’ve decided you’re going keep and raise the baby, we’re not going to have the TIME to look back!” she muttered with a forced smile.

“But …” Mabel whimpered, her chin buried over her mother’s shoulder, “... everything is so messed up because of me … How can you be so … FINE … with everything I’ve done?”

“Oh Mabel! I’m NOT fine, trust me on that!” Mom sighs, hugging the girl tighter. “But I’m doing the best I can! And now, you have to do your best, as well! Your father and I, we are really counting on you and Dipper, so we can all pull through in our new surroundings.”

Mabel nodded, sniffing as she gathered herself. Mom pulled back and looked her daughter in the eye. “I love you, Mabel,” she said earnestly, “and your father loves you. And Dipper, too! Everything’s fine. We’re all going to stick together, and we’ll be okay!”

Mabel leaps to her feet the instant she hears the beginning of Cassie’s desperate keening. Through her own tears, she rushes past her now-silent Mom to scoop up the toddler. Dipper is right behind them as Mabel clutches tightly to Cassie and flees to the girl’s bedroom.

For many minutes, Mabel can’t stop the torrent of sorrow erupting from within her. This is all so unfair! She’s known that their parents wouldn’t approve if they ever found out their kids were still in love, and couldn’t stop themselves from acting on that love. But she didn’t imagine it would have been this awful!

She loves Dipper! And he loves her! Why can’t it just be that simple? And why can’t she ever imagine a time when it will be that simple?

Eventually she starts to collect herself, whispering comforting words through her own cries to Cassie, who is still weeping hysterically. She feels Dipper’s strong arms around them both, holding them all close together. The tight embrace seems to be working, as Mabel feels some of Cassie’s panic being released along with her own. The girl’s cries fade to hiccuping sobs.

“What’s … wong … Mommy?” Cassie manages to ask pitifully.

Mabel kisses her daughter’s head. “Nothing,” she whispers. “Everything’s fine!” Mabel idly ponders why she can lie to Cassie so much easier than to her parents.

She feels Dipper drawing a deep breath. “Mabel, we need to talk about all this,” he murmurs gently. “Can we go for a walk?”

Nodding in agreement, Mabel presses her lips to Cassie’s temple again to apply another quick kiss. “Mommy and Uncle Dip need a little time, Little Miss!” she tells the tot in a shaky voice. “You gonna be okay to stay for a bit?”

Cassie doesn’t reply, but doesn’t start crying harder, either. She is solemn and unresisting as Dipper picks her up from Mabel’s arms and purposefully carries her back to the living room, Mabel following meekly behind.

Mom is sitting alone on the couch, fingertips to her temples. She looks up as Dipper approaches, and in a brief glance Mabel can tell her mother has been crying as well. But like her daughter, she’s in the process of pulling herself together. Mabel turns her eyes away again.

“Can you please watch Cassie for us, Mom?” Dipper asks formally. “Mabel and I need to go out for a while.”

“Of course I will,” she responds instantly, her voice cracking. “Where are … h- how long will you be gone?”

“I don’t know,” Dipper replies curtly, then he forces an upbeat tone as he turns to his little girl. “You’re going to play with Grandma for a little while, okay?”

Mom also puts on a happy face. “Oh yes! We’ll play with all your new toys! Would you like that?” Cassie nods glumly.

Dipper kisses Cassie again. “Everything’s fine, Cass! Mommy and Uncle Dip will be right back.” He sets his daughter down and pats her on the back. “Go play now, okay?” he encourages her.

Mabel can’t look at her mother as she and Dipper pull on their coats and boots. The twins leave the house and into the chilly afternoon without another word.

August 31, 2015 Westfield, New Jersey

“Haaaaapy Biiiiirth-daaaay Toooooo Youuuuuuuu!!!” sang Mom happily, with Dad doing his best to sing along.

Mom had baked and frosted a cake for the occasion, topped with “1” and “6” candles that were burning brightly. She set it down in front of the twins, who were seated at the table in the small dining alcove. Unpacked moving boxes were stacked against the wall, a constant reminder of the fact that the bungalow just didn’t have enough space for all the belongings they brought from California, and there hadn’t been time yet to do any downsizing.

A very pregnant Mabel was beaming as she complemented her mother on how cute the cake looked. Dipper, sitting across the corner of the table beside his sister, teased his father on his singing voice. The man chuckled, telling his son to listen to his own voice sometime. Everyone was in an upbeat mood, a welcome relief from the chaos of getting ready for the start of classes in a new high school in only a week’s time.

Mom noticed that hot wax was threatening to trickle down the cheap candles onto the cake. “All right, hurry up, you two!” she ordered with a laugh. “Blow out the candles, quick!”

Mabel grunted and struggled to her feet, her belly getting in the way as she leaned partly toward the cake. Dipper made sure she was steady, then got into position as well. “Ready?” he smiled.

“Ready!!” exclaimed Mabel.

Together they leaned all the way forward and blew out one candle each. Dad applauded sarcastically, causing Mom to giggle. Still hovering over the cake, the twins turned to each other, grinning happily.

Their faces were only an inch apart, looking directly into each other’s eyes. And in an instant their smiles were gone. Mabel’s heart jumped almost painfully, and Dipper’s breath was unsteady.

They straightened up, still locked in an intense gaze, the electricity between them plain for anyone to see. For several seconds, no one said anything.

Mabel turned to her parents. “Mom, Dad, please! It’s our birthday! Can we please just have one kiss? Just this once?”

A few seconds passed without an answer. Their parents looked at one another, unprepared for the sudden re-emergence of this uncomfortable part of their kids’ relationship.

When she didn’t hear anyone saying she couldn’t, Mabel spun back to Dipper and pulled his head down to hers. Her lips pressed firmly against his as she moved her hands down around his back and hugged tightly. Dipper responded immediately, driven by instinct to push into the kiss heatedly, his arms wrapping securely around Mabel’s head and body.

The fiery passion of the moment lasted only a second, followed by only immense relief and comfort. The twins relaxed into each other’s arms, sighing out loud with contentment, their mouths delivering gentle kisses of months-long suppressed affection and love to their soulmates.

Mabel could have stayed there forever!

“All right, that’s enough,” muttered their father gravely.

Ripped back to reality, Dipper looked like he was in pain as he backed away from Mabel’s face. The twins reluctantly parted, Mabel not knowing where to look or what to do with her hands anymore. All she wanted to do was fall back into her brother’s embrace, back to where she felt like everything was the way it was supposed to be!

The cake was cut and served, but the household was quieter and far more awkward. The twins’ feelings were the obvious elephant in the room, but no one was willing to point it out.

Finally, Mabel couldn’t take it anymore. “I’m sorry,” she mumbled. “It’s just … it’s just REALLY hard!” She put her fork down dejectedly.

“No one is saying it isn’t, Mabel,” replied Mom softly, her attention focused on her plate.

“So you can try to understand?” Mabel was trying to be meek and obedient to her parents’ rules, but needed to try to express herself. “To feel the way we feel, to always be near each other … and not be able to DO anything about it?”

“No, we DON’T understand,” said Dad firmly.

Mabel sunk low into her chair, as low as her distended belly allowed. Dipper stared longingly at his sister, desperately wanting but not daring to go to her and comfort her.

Finally Mom cleared her throat. “Look guys, your father and I were serious when we told you this must stop,” she said, pleading for compliance. “It’s just … so WRONG! You might have these feelings now, but eventually you’ll move past this! For your own good we have to stop you now, and someday you’ll be glad we did!”

“What if we don’t, Mom?” Dipper sounded wounded. “What if you’re wrong, and we don’t move past this?”

The woman exhaled heavily. “Dipper … we CAN’T entertain this. Certainly not now, not with the baby coming just a few weeks from now!”

Dipper pounced when he saw an opening. “But you might, someday? If not now, if we still love each other, at some point you’ll at least consider changing your mind?”

Dad scowled. “Dipper …”

“A year from now!” Dipper pleaded, trying to make a reasonable case while he still could. “I promise we won’t even mention anything about it for a whole year! Just say we can talk about it on our next birthday!” He focused on his mother. “Okay?”

Mom stared back at Dipper, and then at her daughter. Mabel mouthed “Please?” silently, imploring to her mother to not reject the request.

After a long moment’s consideration, Mom turned to her husband. “A year,” she said simply. “We promise them nothing, other than that we will talk about it. Fair?”

Dad shot daggers with his eyes at his wife, but didn’t contradict her.

The sun is setting when the twins return to the house. As they open the door, the smell of roasted turkey and stuffing wafts over them. Mom is setting dishes on the table, and is relieved to see Dipper and Mabel come back.

Dad has come out and is in his chair with Cassie on his lap, reading his granddaughter a story. Cassie is happy again, and she squeals with glee when she sees her mother and uncle. Dad puts her down and watches the girl scamper over into Mabel’s arms. After the twins have removed their coats, he clears his throat. “What do you both say we … we all just have a nice Christmas dinner, all right?”

Mabel finally gives her father a timid look and nods. “I’d like that!” she says gratefully.

“Thanks, Dad,” adds Dipper softly, acknowledging his father’s olive branch.

For Cassie’s sake, the next few hours pass uneventfully. The twins and their parents tiptoe around the eggshells of their earlier discussion and mostly keep their focus on Cassie. The family eats a lovely meal, followed by watching a few classic Christmas cartoons on television.

By eight o’clock, Cassie is growing quite tired. She has never been a happy camper at bedtime, and tonight is no exception. Mabel had already given her a quick bath, and Dipper fights to get her into her warm sleeper. As the twins kneel beside her bed and perform a tag-team of storytelling, the girl finally stops battling her fatigue and falls into blissful sleep.

Dipper gently strokes Cassie’s back. “She’s beautiful!” he whispers, then turns to Mabel with a small smile. “Like her mother.”

Mabel’s finger brushes across her daughter’s forehead, lightly tracing the pattern of the Cassiopeia-shaped birthmark. “And her father,” Mabel replies, returning the tiny smile. Then she bites her lip. “I guess … we’d better do this!”

“Yeah,” Dipper nods reluctantly, pulling Cassie’s blanket up to her chin. Dipper straightens up and takes Mabel’s hand, giving her balance as she also rises to her feet. Their fingers intertwine, and Mabel looks up into Dipper’s eyes.

“I love you,” they murmur together. Their lips touch briefly.

Then the twins turn and make their way back to the living room. Their parents are still sitting in front of the television in their respective chairs, and they look up at the twins’ approach. Mom and Dad both silently note their children are still holding hands. Dipper self-consciously coughs, then leads his sister to the empty sofa. Their parents wait for the kids to start the conversation.

“Okay,” Dipper begins, “while we were out ... we decided we’re not going to lie to you anymore. It’s not fair to you, and getting caught was too hard for us, anyways. From now on, you’ll know everything.”

“We know that doesn’t mean a whole lot now,” Mabel adds. “I’m sure you don’t trust us anymore, and … I guess you don’t really have any reason to.” Mabel notes Dad’s small nod of agreement.

“Regardless,” Dipper continues, “it means that we don’t have the option of continuing to be together while telling you we’re not.” He shifts uncomfortably. “So Mabel and I have a choice. We either have to finally move on from each other, or we … we hold on to what we have and be open about it with you. And … and ...”

As Dipper struggles with how to articulate the next thought, Mabel gathers herself and says it for him. “And we can’t move on from each other.” she confesses.

Dad slumps in his chair, and Mom’s eyes close as she exhales heavily. “We really considered it, Mom!” Mabel cries. “We talked about everything you and Dad said. You’re right! Everything would be so much easier for us if we were … normal. But … we’re not normal! I love Dipper! I’ve loved him for years, and I don’t know how I could ever put that genie back in its bottle!”

“Mabel isn’t just my sister, she hasn’t been just my sister for a long time,” Dipper says with earnestness, staring his father in the eye. “She’s my soulmate ... she’s my love, and … she’s the mother of my child!” He swipes at his eyes. “It’s not possible for me to move on from that!”

The twins’ father looks like he wants to say something. Mabel doesn’t let him. “We know you don’t like this. We know we defied your rules! We even get that nothing came of that promise you made for our seventeenth birthday. You didn’t reconsider back then because you’re never going to be okay with it! We can’t expect that’s ever gonna change!”

“What we’re saying is w- … we don’t expect you to accept us,” Dipper says. “We don’t think you can do that any more than we can let each other go.” He feels Mabel squeeze his hand tighter in support.

“We won’t … we can’t wait for you to get so mad that you don’t want us here anymore.” Dipper continues, his voice heavy with emotion. “The best thing … for everyone, is for us to …”

Dipper takes a deep breath,

“... is for us to leave.”

Mom’s hands fly up to her mouth. “No-ooo!” she whispers.

Dad is taken aback. “Kids! You d- … you don’t have to just up and leave right this instant! You can-”

“We’re not,” Mabel interrupts, struggling to stay calm. “But we’re gonna start making plans. Tonight.”

Mom’s eyes widen. “Cassie!” she gasps. “You’re not going to …”

“Yeah, Mom,” confirms Dipper sadly. “We’ll be taking Cassie too.”

“You can’t- … you’re only eighteen … I mean surely …” Mom pleads, turning to her husband in near panic.

The man appears shocked, not expecting this news. “Maybe we … we can work this out,” he stammers. “I mean, you don’t have t-”

“Yeah, Dad, we do!” says Mabel desperately. “We love each other! We will be together, and be there for each other! Are you ever going to be okay with that? If we stay here, will you let us be in love?

He can’t answer. His tries to force himself to say he could live with that, but he can’t.

Mabel turns to her mother. “Will you?”

Mom’s mouth moves, but no words emerge. Finally, she also realizes that Mabel is right: she cannot condone her children’s relationship together. “Oh Mabel! … Dipper! … Please …”

“If we stay, this will only get worse, Mom,” Mabel says weakly. “But if we leave, we can be who we are.”

Dipper looks at his father, forlorn and apologetic. “There just isn’t any other way,” he sighs.

Resignation envelops the room, as everyone accepts the truth. Their family is shattered. The twins will be leaving.

October 2, 2015

Mabel was already exhausted. It had been less than a day since coming home from the hospital. But Sweet Sally, she was tired!

Cassie was being blessedly quiet at that moment, as Mabel tried to eat some breakfast. It was awkward, though. The only reason the healthy newborn infant was being quiet was because she was greedily suckling on one of Mabel’s breasts. Still, this was one of the first times since Cassie had burst out into the world that Mabel’s head was clear enough to think. Balancing a baby across her chest with one arm while eating with the other? Surely she could handle this!

Dipper and Mom sat eating at the table with Mabel and the baby. Mabel thought they looked about as tired as she felt.

Dad strode in from down the hall, pulling on his jacket and getting set to leave for work. “You almost ready, Dipper?” he asked. “I can drop you off at school.”

“Yeah okay,” replied Dipper, trying to stifle a yawn. He reached over to fondly squeeze Mabel’s fingers, and lightly stroked Cassie’s thin hair with his other hand. “I’ll be home as soon as I can, but it’ll probably be after dinner.”

Dad harrumphed and glanced meaningfully at his wife. She sighed, and then addressed the twins. “Kids, today marks the start of what’s going to pass for normal, from now on. I hope you’re ready, because right there,“ she nodded at the bundle in Mabel’s arm, “is the focus of everything you’re going to do for a long time.”

“Last night, after you got home, Dip,” their Dad said soberly, “your mother and I let the two of you have a little moment together. Don’t get used to that.” He stared at Dipper’s hand, which still held onto Mabel’s. Dipper reluctantly let go. “As much as Cassie is your daughter, that doesn’t mean we’re any more willing to let you two be together.”

“Besides,” added Mom, “you won’t have any time for each other anyways, if I’m right.” She exhales heavily, giving her children a look of pity. “Everything gets even harder now.”

“Where will you go?” Mom weakly asks.

Mabel looks to Dipper for strength. “We don’t know,” she whimpers. “Not yet.”

A long pause. Then Dad quietly speaks up. “There’s only so much we could do to help you out. How will you support yourselves?”

“We don’t know that yet, either,” replies Dipper, shifting uncomfortably. “but I’ll need to get a job. Maybe two. And as soon as possible.” He scratches the back of his head for a long moment as he stares at the floor. “I’ll probably have to drop out of college. At least for a while.”

“Oh my god,” moans Mom into her palms, as she collapses into her chair.

“Jesus,” mumbles Dad under his breath. Mabel doesn’t think she’s seen her father ever look so sad. Then she looks back to Dipper, an identical expression of sorrow on his face as well.

She rushes to her brother, wanting to be supportive, needing his support in return. They embrace as a tear threatens to begin leaking once again down her cheeks.

She has Dipper, but right now she needs Cassie as well! She needs to feel the warmth of both of them, her lover and her child, right now! She quickly drags Dipper to Cassie’s room and picks up the sleeping girl, snuggling her without waking her. Dipper pulls them both in securely.

Their parents watch from the doorway, trying to comprehend the bond of love that their children share.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Dad asks, his voice as soft as Mabel can ever remember.

Mabel didn’t want to be discouraged, but the ominous lecture from her parents felt very heavy. The baby was still busily nursing, but Mabel was no longer hungry. Dipper looked pretty down, too.

Mom saw they state they were in and came around the table, bending over to hug her teenage children. “I’m so sorry for you two!” she lamented. “This is so hard, I know.”

Dad stepped forward as well. “But we’re all going to get through this,” he said, putting his palm on Dipper’s shoulder and gripping reassuringly. Dipper and Mabel both looked up at their father. His demeanor was authoritative, but encouraging. “And you know why?” He smiled warmly. “Because we’re a family!”

Dipper looks up at his parents, protective arms around the two most important people in the world to him. “We have to do this,” he replies, his voice firm yet barely audible..

Mabel raises her face and Dipper lowers his, their foreheads resting together. They gaze at each other with pure commitment and devotion.

“We’re a family,” Dipper whispers.

#pinecest #unexpected au #sfw

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merigreenleaf · 6 years

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FOR THE TRIO: one HAPPY ANNIVERSARY YAH DORKS! Second some qs ! Whose the big/little spoon? Who squishes the spiders? Who does what household chores (dishes, shopping, vacuuming, etc)? Who hogs the blankets? What do they do for anniversaries? What was their first official date? bonus points of you write a Drabble for any of these!!! (especially the last one I’d like to see that)

Yay questions! Thanks! :D I'll answer these first because this is the easiest ask, then I'm going to edit the story I'd like to share tonight, then I'll get to your other one. And the drabble because I'd love to write that! And I'll answer a few other questions I was asked. This is adorable and fun and I'm so happy people asked me things! -Who's the big/little spoon?It's not so much "spoon" as "cuddle pile." Adair loves loves loves snuggles and hugs and affection and he sleeps best when someone's sharing a bed with him. Etri is super happy about this whole situation because it's the first time in his life that he's not cold trying to fall asleep so heck yeah sign him up for cuddles. Blythe grumbles about how much she misses having a bed to herself, but the other two know that she doesn't actually mean it. If there’s any spooning involved, she’s inevitably the big one.-Who squishes the spiders? None of them- Adair won't let the other two squish spiders because he always wants to set them free. The problem is that he's short and can't reach the ceiling, so inevitably it's actually Blythe and Etri stuck doing the rescuing lol. (That said if the spiders are at Adair's level? Then it's a mad scramble between him and the cat to get there first because the cat wants to eat them.)-Who does the household chores?They divide it up. Addy does all the cooking because he loves it and because Blythe hates cooking and Etri literally can't cook. (If he gets too close to fire he snuffs it out, so he helps by chopping veggies.) Etri does most of the cleaning because he's a very tidy person and can't stand a mess and wants everything in its right place. (Blythe is a neat person, too, just not quite as concerned about it as Etri is. Adair's a mess and forgetful so it's usually him Etri's picking up after.) That leaves Blythe with the laundry, which is cool because she doesn't really like the other chores, but she's always complaining because how are there so many socks??? How many feet do you boys have??? They go shopping together because it's a chance to spend time together, although usually Blythe's exasperated by the end of it because Adair takes SO LONG to pick out the food and spices and stuff that he wants. He's really picky about the ingredients he uses.-Who hogs the blankets? Etri, definitely! His magic makes him always cold so if the other two aren't in bed with him (they tend to wake up earlier than he does), he's like a blanket cocoon.-What do they do for anniversaries?I'm not really sure because in the books they haven't had one yet and I haven't written a story about it yet. I'd imagine Adair would cook their very favorite foods and probably surprise them with a dessert or something that they've never had before but is exactly the kind of thing they'd love. (Addy is REALLY good with food. His master's one spouse is a master chef and Adair learned how to cook from him.) Anyway, no matter what it is that they end up doing, at the end of it they always go stargazing because it's their tradition. Etri loves the stars and he's teaching the other two about constellations and myths/stories about the stars from their own and other cultures. Which takes me to...

-What was their first official date?Technically their first date was before they actually started dating, but only because of Plot getting in the way. Blythe and Etri were working with Addy to help him with his fear of heights, so they ended up on the roof of the wagon (somewhere Etri spends a lot of time anyway) sitting on either side of him. They finally managed to distracted Adair by talking about the stars, which was a way of getting him to look up instead of freaking out about *down*. It got super cute with the three of them sitting near each other and joking and being sweet and Etri was *this close* to asking them out, he had the knotting ribbons in his pocket and everything- then Plot showed up. (Each carnival troupe has a specific color ribbon that designates you're a member of that troupe. You tie one around your significant other's wrist when you start dating- that way if they're not already a member of the troupe to start, they now have a ribbon and become a member.) Basically the whole thing book 1 plot about Adair trying to get his map back and magic being stolen from people kicked in and interrupted them because Etri had to leave for a while. So it wasn't *technically* a date at the time, but looking back on it they consider this their first date. (Bonus fact: they name their first kid Astra after the fact that their first date was stargazing. She’s an MC later in the series.)(I was actually thinking last week about writing a drabble/scene that was what would have happened had they not been interrupted and started dating then instead of at the end of the book, but I never got around to writing it. This is a scene from book 1 otherwise, so it would be kind of weird to write it as a drabble. Unless you maybe wanted me to tell it from Etri's POV? That would probably work because he's the one who saw it as a date at the time and I think it would be really sweet to tell it from his POV. Or I could drabble any of these other things? Let me know what you want, I’m game for any of it. :) )

#writing #ask #unexpected inspiration series #about my characters #alittleyellowdinosaur #writeblr #my writing ramblings #UI POV: Adair #UI POV: Blythe #UI POV: Etri #UI POV: Trio

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rongasm · 7 years

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What do you think Stiles and Lydia's house would be like as adults?

Okay I hate how specific my head canons for this are.

Outdoors:

Yellow house

Small

Deep red door/shutters.

There’s a small backyard patio that Lydia literally makes Stiles do all the work on, so like they have a deck with a grill and a big table (bigger than their kitchen table) and Lydia sits out there grading papers and bossing Stiles around while he does literally all of the gardening and heavy lifting,

He wants to hate her for it but he gets very, very nicely rewarded.

Living Room:

Stiles gets to pick out the couch, that’s his one job, and Lydia builds the rest of the room around it.

One of her art pieces is hanging up above the couch. Stiles does it when she’s out of town, and at first she’s mad but she grows to really like it and it actually inspires her to paint more, which it turns out is really amazing stress relief for Lydia.

They have nerdy-ass throw pillows.

Like, one of them has Shakespeare on it.

One of them has the periodic table of elements

One of them has the cover of Stiles’ favorite book that his dad used to read to him when he was growing up.

So on, so forth.

There’s candles everywhere, which they totally intend to use but once they get a dog they’re banned from lighting them because suddenly everything in the house is a fire hazard.

Lydia’s got cozy blankets hidden behind the couch and she likes to wrap herself up in them when she’s got a cold. All you can see is the top of her hair and a red little nose.

There’s really fancy, expensive looking art/photography books on the coffee table for guests and Stiles always puts his coffee cups on them. Which, one one hand, yay, coaster, but on the other hand Lydia payed $80 for that book when they were in Paris??? Like???

They have an alcohol cabinet in the living room that they rarely ever touched but Stiles keeps stocked. He always knows what people want when they come over, due to his bartending days in college, which makes him an excellent host.

Kitchen:

Pretty small

Stiles whines about lack of counter space frequently but then Lydia has to sit really close when he’s cooking so like. What’s the real loss, here?

There’s a small circular table that comfortably seats two and less-comfortably seats three. They keep saying that they’re going to get a bigger table, but they never do because they ultimately not being able to host stuff.

(If they do people over, it’s in the summer, on the back patio, but other than that, their house is their space and they like it that way. They go to Scott’s for most holidays, anyways.)

The fridge is covered in a collage of their lives. Postcards from Isaac, magnets from Kira, pictures of the pack members printed out and lovingly stuck on there.

There’s a really nice picture of all of them together on the little table next to the front door, where they keep the mail and put their keys in the little dish next to the fake flowers, but this is where all the lovely, goofy pictures are.

The window is perched over the sink, looking out into the backyard, and Stiles likes watching Lydia’s face in the morning sunlight as she washes their plates after breakfast on Saturday mornings.

Lydia’s Office:

Almost everything is white or soft blue

This is her sacred room, it’s very soothing to her

There’s shelves and shelves of books, a desk made of black wood, and an extremely comfortable chair that goes with it.

There’s pretty and simple art on the walls so that it’s not completely bare, but not nice enough art that Lydia feels distracted by it while she’s working.

It’s usually very neat but also covered in stacks of paper, upon which Lydia keeps her reading glasses. (Whenever she can’t find them, they’re always in her office.)

Stiles is rarely allowed to come in, and if he is in there, he has to sit on the white couch and be quiet.

Same goes for the dog.

It has a window seat, which is why Lydia loves it, and she’ll frequently just go read on the window seat on the days that she doesn’t have much to do.

She sketches Stiles from memory on rainy days while she sits in the window seat. She is on a quest to get his nose right-- feels like she can never quite capture its spirit

She’s A+ at drawing his mouth though, probably because she has a very intimate knowledge of it.

Staircase

Light wood, no carpet.

There’s black & white pictures in dark black frames leading all the way up the stairs.

Lydia is very proud of the way they’re arranged.

She thinks they’re very aesthetic.

The stairs are lined with pictures of the most important people-- Stiles’ mom and dad on their wedding day, Lydia’s mother holding baby Lydia, Scott and Stiles as little kids, Scott and Stiles as teenagers, Allison laughing and wrinkling her nose as she holds a dandelion, Malia, Kira, and Isaac posing together at a long-forgotten Christmas party, Mrs. McCall hugging Stiles around the middle at his college graduation, Stiles and Lydia and Scott at Lydia’s thesis defense, Stiles and Lydia sitting with his dad at the kitchen table on Thanksgiving, several pictures of Scott’s little girls, together and separately, and finally, at the very top, Stiles and Lydia on their wedding day, a candid that Kira had caught with her expensive camera that had somehow come out better than anything their official photographer had snapped of them.

Bedroom

Their bedroom is the room of the house which had taken the most compromise.

It’s a soft white color with gauzy white drapes that blow prettily in the breeze whenever the windows are open.

Stiles says it reminds him of the veil in Harry Potter.

There’s a very tall king sized bed with a very simple, modern bed frame and a dark headboard.

The duvet is deep, dark blue. The sheets are white. The large decorative pillows that they throw over the bed are another shade of blue.

Lydia loves these. Stiles hates them because it makes it harder to leap onto the bed with finesse at the end of the day.

He usually ends up taking them off when he comes home from work, kicks his pants to the floor, and settles into bed to do nothing.

There’s two bedside tables with matching lamps.

Lydia’s bedside table always has a book on it, marked with her spot. She tries to read a little every night but for the most part does not succeed. It also has a nice candle on it and an old silver clock that was her grandmother’s, and a picture of Stiles and Scott.

Stiles’ bedside table usually has money from his pockets, candy wrappers, mugs, and folders from work that Lydia is always tucking into his second drawer down in an effort to straighten up because “it’s not like you’re going to do work in bed anyways, Stiles!”

It’s also got a picture of him and Lydia at the winter formal sophomore year and another one of Lydia with his dad.

Stealing this from @rememberiloveyou: Lydia, for their anniversary one year, bought a huge wooden slab and painted “I love you” “I know” onto it in beautiful white brushstrokes and very fancy handwriting. It hangs right above their bed and is Stiles’ favorite part of the room.

He had been begging her to let him have a Star Wars poster. This is the compromise.

There’s a little chaise lounge in the corner which is supposed to be for decoration but ends up being where Stiles shoves most of his clothes when he’s too lazy to walk over to their walk-in closet and throw them in the laundry bin.

Lydia’s bureau was a gift from her mother when she moved into her first apartment with Stiles and it is boss.

Antique, enormous, with a huge, ornate mirror that is her pride and joy.

It has one of those soft, cushy stools.

Her makeup drawers are so organized she wants to cry. It is literally her happy place.

There’s a bunch of blue rugs that stretch across the hardwood floor. Their dog likes to sleep on them. In the winter, Stiles cracks up as Lydia jumps from rug to rug to try to avoid how cold the floor is.

And then there’s a guest room that is easily the fanciest room of the house and is Lydia’s pride and joy. Stiles didn’t give a rats ass what it looked like so she just sorta went off and made it super decorative and modern. Also, they’ve got a bathroom with a separate bathtub and shower because Lydia loves taking baths.

#answered #tw ask #niche verse #head canons #Anonymous

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the-last-airbadger · 7 years

Text

Get To Know Me Questions

Ok so I reblogged this thing a few days ago, and even though nobody asked me questions, I’m still going to answer them, because I really like doing these things and maybe, just maybe, there’s someone out there that’s actually interested in my answers to these questions but was too shy to ask me or didn’t see the post. But now the answers will be in my personal tag forever. Yay ^-^

(please beware this is a very long post these are 125(!) questions! It took me three days to finish!)

I hope you enjoy these questions and my answers to these questions!

1. What is your full name? Skylar Elliott (Dutch last name). (I’m not sure if I wanna post my last name on tumblr…)

2. What is your nickname? I don’t really have a nickname… everyone calls me Sky though, I guess that counts…

3. What is your zodiac sign? Gemini!

4. What is your favorite book series? Percy Jackson and the Olympians. I have never enjoyed reading a book as much as I enjoyed reading these books.

5. Do you believe in aliens or ghosts? I don’t know? I’d like to say I believe in aliens and ghosts but there’s always this voice in the back of my head that tells me that it’s “cool, but they don’t actually excist because it hasn’t been proven”. Although I do believe that aliens must be out there somewhere I mean the universe is so big we cannot be the only life forms. I just think aliens are so much more different than we humans can even imagine.

6. Who is your favorite author? Rick Riordan! Very sassy, author of my favourite book series and cares a lot about representation in books which is very gud.

7. What is your favorite radio station? I mean I don’t really listen to the radio but I kinda like skyradio because it has part of my name in it and I also love npo2 between christmas and new years eve because they play a top2000 of music that you can vote for and it’s really fun. (These are both dutch stations I believe, so if you don’t recognise these stations, that’s why)

8. What is your favorite flavor of anything? Usually strawberry. Strawberry ice cream, strawberry sweets, strawberry sauce, strawberry lemonade, strawberry tea, strawberry smoothies… I love them all.

9. What word would you use often to describe something great or wonderful? “Awesome” or “cool”

10. What is your current favorite song? Heaven - Troye Sivan ft. Betty Who Prove me wrong - Fireflight Escape - Fireflight They share the first place so I listed them all. I literally cannot choose.

Heaven makes me feel much lgbtq+ pride and happiness, as well as sadness and determination to change the world. Plus I can really relate and let my emotions out by listening to this song

Escape is a very good song about overcoming fears and, again, I can really relate to this song. I really like the refrain because when singing it I can really throw my emotions into this and let them out. Again, this song fills me with determination to change the world and the way I handle problems. It makes me feel stronger. And the ending is really reassuring and beautiful.

Prove me wrong, I can also really relate to. It’s about being insecure about yourself but then someone else helps you see that you are actually a really nice person. It reminds me of my friends.

11. What is your favorite word? Ethereal - “Extremely delicate and light in a way that seems not to be of this world”

12. What was the last song you listened to? Heaven - Troye Sivan ft. Betty Who (listening to it right now)

13. What TV show would you recommend for everybody to watch? Brooklyn Nine-Nine because it’s hillarious and very progressive and inclusive and the characters are very lovable.

14. What is your favorite movie to watch when you’re feeling down? Probably just any Harry Potter movie. They never get old.

15. Do you play video games? Sometimes. I’m not that big of a fan of videogames but I like games like life is stranger or all the harry potter games and I sometimes play mario with my brother.

16. What is your biggest fear? I’m afraid of my house setting fire and I’m kinda afraid of all bugs but I think my biggest fear is wasting my life and dying unhappy and unfulfilled.

17. What is your best quality, in your opinion? I’m a very positive person and I have and okay face and I make bad jokes (that I secretly think are hillarious). And I always try to learn and improve myself and become the best person I can be.

18. What is your worst quality, in your opinion? I’m insecure about EVERYTHING and I overthink every move I make in life and that makes me feel like I’m failing everything and everyone especially the people I care about.

19. Do you like cats or dogs better? Cats! I think dogs are very cute but irl I kinda shy away from dogs because I’m still lowkey scared of dogs but cats are so cuddly and cute and I want

20. What is your favorite season? Probably fall. Because of Halloween and the leaves FALLing (get it? Fall, falling. haha) from the trees and the colours and the wind and the whole leadup to christmas. I also like that the temperature isn’t to high or to low. Winter’s too cold and summer’s to hot and spring is okay but not that special.

21. Are you in a relationship? Nope. But right now I’m only interested in friendships anyway so I don’t mind. (also being both ace and trans I kinda feel like it’s impossible to find anyone who’d actually want to date me so I kinda just… don’t bother. Transition first, relationships later)

22. What is something you miss from your childhood? I miss that I was so social and talked to everyone without restraint or fear. And I miss having the time to read.

23. Who is your best friend? @asiandutchgirl @the-official-pentacorn They’re both two of the most wonderfull people I’ve ever met don’t you dare make me choose

24. What is your eye color? Brown. There’s some green in them somewhere too if you look really closely but it’s mostly brown.

25. What is your hair color? Also brown but I’ve been thinking about dyeing it for a long time… but usually I can’t because my acting class won’t allow it.

26. Who is someone you love? My siblings, my parents, my best friends, my grandparents, my household, my pets (although pets aren’t really people but I LOVE THEM OKAY)

27. Who is someone you trust? My siblings and my best friends. I could tell them anything.

28. Who is someone you think about often? I hope this doesn’t sound weird but My best friends. They make me happy and they’re a big part of my life even though I don’t see them nearly as often as I should. And I guess, because of that, I just miss them often.

29. Are you currently excited about/for something? I’m in the middle of the process of legally changing my name and gendermarker! I cannot wait to see them on my new ID!!

30. What is your biggest obsession? At the moment definately VOLTRON (season 2 was so guddd)

31. What was your favorite TV show as a child? I used to loooooove Zack and Cody. And after that I started to enjoy ICarly and Victorious a lot. I used to spend whole weekends watching these shows.

32. Who of the opposite gender can you tell anything to, if anyone? My best friends and my sister.

33. Are you superstitious? A little bit. I mean I know it’s bullshit but somewhere, in the back of my mind, I still believe bringing “lucky items” to stressfull situations will help me somehow.

34. Do you have any unusual phobias? Uhh… not really? I mean the only thing I can think of is that I cannot sleep in a room with, for example, my mom, because I know she snores and then I am so afraid that it’ll keep me awake that I cannot sleep… -_-

35. Do you prefer to be in front of the camera or behind it? I prefer to be in front of the camera because being behind the camera makes me responsible for the final product while being in front of the camera comes pretty natural to me. My granddad always films every important family event and I grew up with a love for acting and being on stage so… I like that.

36. What is your favorite hobby? Watching a show that is soooo goood you just have to binge it and being on the edge of your seat the whole time and just getting lost in it basically.

37. What was the last book you read? A book for school. “Two women” by Harry Mulish. I didn’t really like it. *spoilers* a lesbian main character was killed in the last two pages just as I thought she’d live happily ever after -_-

38. What was the last movie you watched? Iron man… I think… yeah I watched that the day before my brothers birthday when his friend stayed over.

39. What musical instruments do you play, if any? I play the piano! I’m not that good at it but hey, I enjoy it.

40. What is your favorite animal? I really like Lions. They’re like big cats and also super majestic.

41. What are your top 5 favorite Tumblr blogs that you follow? the-official-pentacorn, asiandutchgirl, hagraeven-side-blog, slytherin-bookworm-guy, relatable-pictures-of-pidge… I think…. there are much more, I’m sure, but these are the first ones I came up with and they all have a special place in my heart.

42. What superpower do you wish you had? I’d love to be able to fly, but, as a trans guy, I think shapeshifting would probably make me the happiest.

43. When and where do you feel most at peace? In the cinema. Just comfortably sitting in a chair with food. My only responsibilities being watching a movie, keeping my mouth shut and eating. Perfect.

44. What makes you smile? Music, My friends, A happy scene in a tv-show or book, a very bad joke, realising how much I love the people that matter to me, having an actual nice social interaction that wasn’t in any way awkward, gender euforia, doing something I love.

45. What sports do you play, if any? …Have you ever seen me trying to exercise?

46. What is your favorite drink? Fresh Lemonade. I had some in Greece and it was literally the best thing I’ve ever tasted… Why don’t we have that in the Netherlands :’(

47. When was the last time you wrote a hand-written letter or note to somebody? Probably sometime when I left the house to get some groceries and didn’t know when my dad would be home so I left him a note on the table

48. Are you afraid of heights? It depends. If I’m walking next to a very deep drop I’m terrified I’ll fall, but in a rollercoaster, on a plane, or even a on bus that’s driving on narrow roads next to a massive ravine, I have no problem with heights. I guess I just don’t trust myself at great heights because of my clumsiness.

49. What is your biggest pet peeve? Whenever I’m trying to concentrate on something I cannot handle it when people ! start ! to ! eat ! crisps ! or ! nuts ! or ! something ! VERY ! LOUDLY !!!! Somehow this mainly happens around my mom and sister and not really anyone else but sometimes it gets so bad I literally have to leave the room. Also snoring… because if someone starts to snore I will not be able to sleep for hours unless I have my phone and some earbuds nearby.

50. Have you ever been to a concert? Yes! I’ve seen Al di Meola (when I was six, with my dad), Lissie, Maria Mena, Delain, Within Temptation (twice), Vanessa Carlton and K3 and I’m gonna see Lindsey Stirling in March!

51. Are you vegan/vegetarian? Nope! But my dad is vegan so half of the time the only meat I eat is the sausage on my sandwiches.

52. When you were little, what did you want to be when you grew up? Cassier, Artist, Inventor, Archaologist, Game-Designer, Actor, Writer, Idfk. All in this order.

53. What fictional world would you like to live in? I’d love to live in the world from Avatar: The Last Airbender because it’s basically the same as ours only with DRAGONS and BENDING and all other kinds of cool animals and cool stuff.

54. What is something you worry about? In a week and a half I have test-week and then in a little more than a month I have another test week and then in May I have my final exams and I have SO MUCH LEFT to study and SO MANY PROJECTS left to do and SO MANY BOOKS left to read and I worry I will never pass and die in the process and start hating my life. (which I already kind of do because of school, but hey, only four months left… only four months left…)

55. Are you scared of the dark? Depends. Around 8pm I have no problem with the dark but around 11pm/12pm/1am I am not a fan of walking down two sets of stairs to go to the toilet.

56. Do you like to sing? YES. Omg I absolutely love singing!! I sing everyday and I’m also in a choir (that has been founded for trans people specifically so I don’t have to worry about my high voice) which is super awesome and I love it.

57. Have you ever skipped school? Nope. At least not without my parent’s permission.

58. What is your favorite place on the planet? Probably just any cinema or my home. They’re both places I can just feel at ease and eat.

59. Where would you like to live? Tbh I am perfectly happy in the places I live right now and I don’t think I’ll ever move far away from here, but it would be supercool to live in London!

60. Do you have any pets? Yes! I have two guinea pigs (who are both supercute and cuddly) and a cat (who is supercute, but anything but cuddly)!

61. Are you more of an early bird or a night owl? Night owl. Mornings are for sleep

62. Do you like sunrises or sunsets better? Sunsets because sunsets happen around my favourite time of the day, and I only see sunrises if I have to wake up very early or if I’ve pulled an all-nighter and I hate both of these things. Like I said, mornings are for sleep.

63. Do you know how to drive? No, I don’t. I will probably start lessons next year though!

64. Do you prefer earbuds or headphones? I prefer headphones because of the sound quality, but after I’ve worn my headphones for an entire day they always start to hurt because they press my glasses against my head and when I’m going outside earbuds are a lot easier to take with me. Same when I’m trying to listen something calming to fall asleep, earbuds are easier.

65. Have you ever had braces? Yes, I’ve worn braces for about nine months when I was thirteen

66. What is your favorite genre of music? I don’t really have a favourite genre, but I really enjoy soundtracks, rock, some pop and some dubstep songs.

67. Who is your hero? I don’t really have a hero. There are a lot of people I look up to but I think that if I’d have to choose someone right now I’d choose Thomas Sanders because he’s just the nicest human on the planet and I aspire to make people laugh and smile like he does.

68. Do you read comic books? No, not really. They don’t really grab my attention the way books or tv-shows do and I always end up skimming the pages and spoiling myself.

69. What makes you the most angry? Ignorance. Whenever someone refuses to be open minded. Whenever someone claims to know something better than I do and refuses to listen to me. Whenever someone tells me how I should be feeling when they don’t even try to understand what I’m feeling. Whenever someone even tries to shit on my community, friends and interests.

70. Do you prefer to read on an electronic device or with a real book? I prefer reading a real book because books never run out of power, smell good, and just give me that nice reading vibe. And because my e-reader is slow as heck and I have to wait ages for the pages to turn.

71. What is your favorite subject in school? My favourite subject is probably Ancient Greek. I really like learning the ancient greek language and culture and I’m also pretty good at it. Plus my ancient greek class is a very nice group of people and we have an awesome teacher.

72. Do you have any siblings? Yes! I have a sister who’s eightteen and a brother who’s fourteen and I love them very much.

73. What was the last thing you bought? Last monday I bought myself crisps, cola and some liquorice candy because I had a sore throat. (edit: and today I bought some more crisps, some more cola, and candy’s agains coughing… they didn’t help)

74. How tall are you? Last time I checked (about nine months ago at the hospital) I was about 165 cm tall which is about 5’5″

75. Can you cook? … I can make eggs… and pancakes… and really easy pieces of meat that you basically only have to heat up in a pan…. And I can warm up soup from a can… and that’s about it I guess lol

76. What are three things that you love? Time for myself, watching tv-shows, rain.

77. What are three things that you hate? playing sports, homework, stress.

78. Do you have more female friends or more male friends? Definately more female friends. I can’t relate as much with cis men and I don’t have that many trans people that are actively involved in my day to day life. Plus girls are amazing.

79. What is your sexual orientation? I identify as asexual. I don’t really understand what sexual attraction is exactly… and like… I do not understand how you can associate people you actually know in your life with sex without being creeped out? And the idea that people that are in a relationship are having sex with eachother just… really boggles my mind. Especially because to everyone it seems so normal? and then I’m just like “why would you do that…”

80. Where do you currently live? I have two houses (divorced parents) and I live in both a small city and a big village. They’re both about half an hour away from Rotterdam in the Netherlands but I’m not sure if I wanna post the exact places I live on tumblr…

81. Who was the last person you texted? My brother. He asked me which one of us would buy banana’s and chocolate. I said he should because I was still at school.

82. When was the last time you cried? Last sunday. I was super stressed out because of school. I had to finish a project and I had two hours left but my brain was dead so I kinda crashed.

83. Who is your favorite YouTuber? Phil Lester (AmazingPhil), Dan Howell (danisnotonfire), Sean McLaughlin (Jacksepticeye) and Chase Ross (uppercasechase1). Dan and Phil always make me laugh and make me feel appreciated and I love them and their video’s and their dynamic a lot, Jack feels like one of my closest friends and he’s such a nice and funny guy, and Chase has helped me so much with transition-related problems. They’re all amazing and I cannot imagine my life without them.

84. Do you like to take selfies? Yes, I do! A lot! Whenever I’m on a trip or I look good or I just feel like trying on some new clothes and stuff, I always make selfies.

85. What is your favorite app? Probably the tumblr app. I spend half my life on there. Nothing is better than using my tumblr app to avoid social contact.

86. What is your relationship with your parent(s) like? Really good. My mom is a very warm person that I can tell almost anything to. She’s very understanding and her hugs are very soft. She values my opinions a lot and is always there to listen to what I say. With my dad I find it harder to tell him everything but that’s probably because I get the feeling that he expects a bit more from me? Idk if that’s true though, might just be my imagination. But he’s a very chill and self-assured person and I like that it’s always so calm at his house, whereas at my moms house things can be very chaotic and sometimes stressfull. My dad is very open and very accepting and he keeps surprizing me with how much he’s okay with. Overall my parents are really really nice. They support my transition and my life choices and they just want me to be happy. I couldn’t have wished for better parents.

87. What is your favorite foreign accent? I really love scottish it’s amazing. A gift to humanity.

88. What is a place that you’ve never been to, but you want to visit? Japan!! I really wanna go there it seems so awesome!!

89. What is your favorite number? 13

90. Can you juggle? I can’t even aim, throw or catch a ball of course I can’t juggle

91. Are you religious? Nope

92. Do you find outer space of the deep ocean to be more interesting? Outer space. There are so many things left to discover and it’s so big!! It feels like everything is possible in space. Also it’s very pretty.

93. Do you consider yourself to be a daredevil? Not really. Whenever something scary happens, I’m out. I’ll run away as fast as I can. I do really like rollercoaster and stuff though and I’d love to try and sky-dive or bungee-jump… but I guess that’s because I’m not the one who’s in control in these situations.

94. Are you allergic to anything? Not that I know…

95. Can you curl your tongue? Yup.

96. Can you wiggle your ears? A little bit

97. How often do you admit that you were wrong about something? I try to always admit it when I’m wrong about something. It’s a very decent thing to do and it prevents conflicts from happening or escalating. Plus you won’t really gain anything by refusing to admit you’re wrong about something.

98. Do you prefer the forest or the beach? The forest. I hate the beach. It’s either way too hot or way too cold and there’s sand everywhere I hate it.

99. What is your favorite piece of advice that anyone has ever given you? I don’t know. I can’t really remember all the advices I’ve ever been given, and I don't think that one piece of advice alone can have that much impact. It’s the combinations of all the advice you’ve ever had that really makes a difference. If you can combine different people’s experiences and advices you’ll figure out what to do by yourself. But I guess if I had to choose one piece of advise that I value, I’d say: “It’s good to think about others and help other people, as long as it isn’t at the expense of yourself. In the end, you are the most important to yourself. You are the one that has to live with yourself for the rest of your life. You shouldn’t always put others before yourself because you are important too and you deserve love and kindness and happiness too. You deserve to be happy” (I think most of this advice I actually got from markiplier, from his most recent believe in yourself video. It’s a very motivational video, go and watch it!)

100. Are you a good liar? Yes I am. I used to lie about everything to fit in with the cool kids and keep them as my friends. It was like second nature to me. I guess I did learn something from acting class… I still lie a lot to my acting friends by the way, just because they party every week and I hate parties but if I tell the truth they think I don’t like them, which isn’t true at all. I like them! But I really hate parties… and they can be a bit draining to be around.

101. What is your Hogwarts House? You might belong in Hufflepuff, Where they are just and loyal, Those patient Hufflepuffs are true And unafraid of toil

102. Do you talk to yourself? Yep. Pretty often. Whenever I’m home alone I just sorta narrate my life. Sometimes I make it a musical!

103. Are you an introvert or an extrovert? Introvert. Interacting with people is fun but after a while I really need time alone, it really drains my energy, especially when I am not feeling well anyway. The only interactions with people that actually give me energy are interactions with my closest friends and family.

104. Do you keep a journal/diary? I keep a transition-diary to write down the important moments related to transition, so I can read it back when I’m older and I won’t forget anything.

105. Do you believe in second chances? Yes. If someone is really willing to better themselves and are working hard to improve I think they deserve a second chance to give them the opportunity to learn from their mistakes.

106. If you found a wallet full of money on the ground, what would you do? Probably leave it. I woudn’t want to go through either the trouble of handing it in or the guilt of not doing that, so I’d probably place it somewhere more noticable and let someone else decide what happens with it.

107. Do you believe that people are capable of change? Yes. People go through all kinds of things in live and they keep learning and bettering themselves. If a person really wants to change then I believe they can, no matter how long it takes. They’ll get there.

108. Are you ticklish? Yes. Very. If you tickle me I start screaming and kicking and I sometimes fall on the floor. It’s my weakness…

109. Have you ever been on a plane? Eight times. To Rome and back, to portugal and back, twice to greece and back.

110. Do you have any piercings? Do earrings count? Because I wear earrings sometimes.

111. What fictional character do you wish was real? Aang. I feel like we would be pretty good friends and our world really needs the avatar tbh.

112. Do you have any tattoos? Nope. But I do want one. I just cannot decide what I would want on my body forever… probably either something avatar related (like the air-nation logo or something, because that’s really cool) or something transition-related because it’s such an important part of my life and it’s something about me that will never change.

113. What is the best decision that you’ve made in your life so far? Coming out and contacting the hospital to start my medical transition. Because without that, where would I be? I’d be the unhappiest little shit ever.

114. Do you believe in karma? Nope

115. Do you wear glasses or contacts? I’ve worn glasses ever since I was eight years old. I will never wear contacts. ever. They freak me out! Why would you put something in your eye.

116. Do you want children? I don’t know. I always wanted kids, but ever since I found out I was trans and realised that I couldn’t have them naturally, I’m not sure anymore, because I don’t know if I want to adopt. I think it’s really gonna depend on if I have a partner or not and what the possibilities are… we’ll see. Babies are very cute though… and I think I’d love being a dad, even though I’m very afraid of becoming a terrible father. If I have kids I want them to be happy and decent humans. My sister will definately have kids though because she really really wants kids so I’ll definately be an uncle and maybe that’ll be enough for me. Who knows? And mayble I’ll get a partner with young kids and help them raise their kids… I think I’d prefer helping someone raising kids and giving the kids good life advice and do fun things together without being the one who has the most responsibilities.

117. Who is the smartest person you know? My sister has a friend who scored really well in school (an average score of around 90% I believe), who now studies both medical science and classics, plays the piano flawlessly, and is also a very nice person. She also won a price in an ancient greek competition, she was the best of the country!!

118. What is your most embarrassing memory? I was ten years old and I had a friend who was a pretty big bully and I really wanted to stay her friend so I kinda just went along with it. One day I thought I was being cool and asked said friend to place a folded airplane on the bullied guy’s table that said something like “idiot” on it. The guy then proceded to tell the teacher who told the entire class and demanded to know who had done it. I was terrified! Then my supposed friend ratted me out. I wanted to dissappear!! My teacher at the time was kind of my hero and I did not want to dissappoint her at all. I then proceded to lie that I just wanted to give the guy a folded airplane because I knew he liked them and didn’t know that it had the word “idiot” on it. I said that the word idiot wasn’t directed toward the guy and that I didn’t turn myself in because I was to scared the teacher would be angry at me. She believed me and everything went well but damn. This is the memory that still haunts me at 3am when I’m trying to sleep.

119. Have you ever pulled an all-nighter? Yes. A lot. Always at sleep-over parties. I used to really love pulling an all-nighter but now… not so much. When it’s 4am, I just want to sleeepppp.

120. What color are most of you clothes? Most of my clothes are blue! I have a lot of dark blue sweaters and hoodies.

121. Do you like adventures? Meh. I used to, but now I just want to go home and watch a movie.

122. Have you ever been on TV? Nope, but I’m probably gonna be! Right now there is a documentary in the making about my choir, which will be on TV and I’ll be in it!

123. How old are you? I’m 17 years old and I’ll turn 18 on June 4th 2017.

124. What is your favorite quote? I really like the entire songtext of escape by fireflight, but I can’t really put an entire songtext here, can I? The part of the song I love most are: “You are not hopeless. You are not worthless. You are loved. Don’t give up. This is your time” and “We don’t want to save ourselves” But if I had to pick an all-time favourite quote I’d probably pick the following quote from Dan Howell: “And at the end of the day, if something makes you and other people happy, that’s what’s important”

125. Do you prefer sweet or savory foods? Savory. I really like sweet foods from time to time but I am always craving savory foodsss ohm yg od

So there it is, I hope you enjoyed these questions and getting to know me a bit more! I really enjoyed answering these questions and they also kinda helped me study, because I only allowed myself to answer ten questions after finishing a certain amout of homework, so that’s good…

I hope you liked this and have a nice day!

#personal #long post #troye sivan #fireflight #music i like #gemini #hufflepuff #dan howell #phil lester #jacksepticeye #chase ross #thomas sanders #markipleir

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