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the-utoniums · 3 years

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Any idea how the professor took in our fav green kids? I'm sure they were hesitant to have somebody new in charge of them.

It was a slow process. The idea of adopting these children as his own didn’t fully form until long after he was already emotionally attached to these green disasters and vice-versa.

It all started when Dominic recognized a pair of twins, dejected and crestfallen in the swings of the park in his walk home one night.

You see, Sandford and Ivory Ingleberry weren’t born “bad kids”. No child truly is. But there is only so many options for someones future when your parents kick you out of the house for the horrible crime of being born green and slightly scaly. Such was the logic of image obsessed people.

This all started because their boss may be an egotistical asshole, but Ace was their egotistical asshole and they were His. And as His gang, any slight against them that was not committed by him was seen as the highest offense and a personal attack on him. Ace was complicated like that. As such, his birthday present to the twins was a cathartic “Let’s keep your DNA donors hostage and trash their place as they watch, that will be fun!” and being honest? Snake could have kissed the guy in the mouth if he didn’t know that would only warrant him a knuckle sandwich right to the teeth.

But they had to plan it first. Not because they cared about the consequences or the possibility of being caught, oh no. The Ingleberrys were just that kind of suburban couple that would not call any negative attention to themselves if they could help it. And “having your house trashed by your ‘delinquent problem children’ that ‘ran away’ at age 10” is not something that you can just tell the police without questions being made and losing some face along the way. The gossip circus of middle age suburban women could be so cruel.

No, they had to plan for a day were the little kid would not be there.

It was a surreal experience, really. Walking around your old house but all the old pictures that you were sure had you in them were… not there. Like you never existed at all. In the place were your face used to be there is a a new kid. A smiling, happy, normal little face. Ivy and Snake didn’t blame little Alexander for their lot in life, but they would not lie and pretend that the moment their perfect little brother was born the clock didn’t start ticking for them.

They replaced us.

It was a sad thought, but not a false one. It was an announced tragedy from the start. A inevitability brought by parents that care more about being perceived as a picture perfect American couple and family than loving and supporting their children because they didn't fit with the image they planned.

Didn't make it hurt less, though.

As they broke the fine china, set the antique photos on fire, let Billy jump on their parents bed until the frame was pulverized, asked Grubber to break the dinning room chandelier after swinging on it like a deranged ape, unleashing Weevil and Arturo on the walls with spray paint and enough sugar to murder two man twice, and watched with a great lot of amusement as Ace sat on their dad’s beloved armchair, one of his legs resting over one of the armrest, a baseball bat over his shoulder and a shit eating grin as he glared without blinking at the tied up and gaged couple in the middle of the room, the twins let themselves enjoy the felling of retribution.

Your beloved things will not be so easy to replace.

By the end of the day, after Weevil and Arturo set the kitchen on fire as a final cherry to the shit pie that was their little therapy vandalism, only one bedroom on the whole house was left untouched. Their beef was with their parents, Little Alex had as much say on the way he was born that they had. The boy's room was spared.

The Gangreen gang parted ways.

Of they went to do their own thing, sure on the fact that the old shed at the Junkyard was going to still be there waiting for their return. Either that or another night on the jail cell with Officer Benny and his weird as fuck tales.

Officer Benny was all right. Not much of an asshole he could have be to the delinquent green fuckers he has to look after every time they break the windows of the grocery store near the junkyard.

"Little fuckers gonna eat." He would say, giving Weevil half of his donut. "Can't fault them for that.”

Yeah, not much of an asshole as he could be.

So the twins made their way around, enjoying the lack of anxiety that came with walking at night, when there is no people to look at you and judge you, no side glances, no mothers taking their children to the other side of the street in a hurry. Just a brother, a sister and the desert roads of Townsville.

Which brings us to that night in the park. Professor Dominic Utonium had the habit of shopping at night. He has no idea when it started, but he chalks it to the lack of people at these hours. Before his girls made Townsville a better place to live, the best time to buy anything was at night, after all almost all criminals need to sleep too.

It didn't stop people from getting shot back then, but it was way less than during the day that's for sure.

So he is walking home (what is the point of making flying boots if not to use them?) when he just hear the tinniest sound of crying. It's barely there, a whisper in the wind, but it is unmistakable to any parent: a heartbroken child. He is moving towards it on instinct, stopping only when he has a clear view of the source of such pained but muffled sobs.

He recognizes them immediately. There is not that many green teenagers walking around in Townsville. Seated side by side in a set of swings, holding hands and swinging softly, their chests contracting in what Dominic recognizes as silent weeping.

His first instinct is to flee. Activate his boots, grab his things and fly home... but he doesn't. And it takes a little while for him to decipher why. It's only when he has already walked all the way across the playground towards the swings, his steps loud so he would not scared them, his posture open and two cupcakes in his hands that it hits him.

They are just kids. Heartbroken in ways no child should be, skinny and alone.

They are frozen in their seats, looking at him like caged animals one second from either pouncing on his throat or fleeing like the swings are on fire.

There are tear tracks on their hollow cheeks.

Where they always this skinny? The Professor's heart hurts just by thinking of it. It never occurred to him before, but no parent that was worth their salt would allow their children to look as emaciated as the Gangreen gang looked.

Where are your families? His heart asked. Where are your parents?

They have none. His brain would respond and he hated himself for not noticing before.

They were a small gang, committing small time vandalism, grafting walls, stealing snacks, bulling younger children. Antisocial behavior? Yes. But until that point he chalked it all to wrong choices of youth. Hell, he remembers the absolute disaster he was at their age and the many trash cans he threw in the volcano back when it was not a evil chimp "secret" lair.But the more he looked at the weary eyes that looked at his hand, at the small offering of cupcakes with distrust but desire for what was a simple treat he had to rethink everything he thought he knew.

"I just bought them," he urged them giving one step closer. "There is nothing on them if thats your fear. Here." he took a chunk of each cake, eating them visibly and clearly, making sure they saw him swallow the chocolate treat.

Slowly, very slowly, Snake reached towards him, taking the cupcakes from his hand, almost like he expected him to take them away any minute now.

Ivy looked at her brother when he got back to his seat. Out of any people that would interrupt their little "Mom and Dad fucking hate us" cry session they had every day on their birthday, they were expecting a drunk bum or a homeless guy not PROFESSOR FUCKING UTONIUM with cupcakes at 2 am.

She waited for her brother to bite first. Snake (no matter how many times she told him that 5 minutes ain't shit) was older than her and made his life mission to be her Big Brother and protect her in the small ways that he could. Making sure he would die first so she could run was apparently one of then. When her brother didn't die, she allowed herself the small luxury.

They had raided her parents pantry, a small price to pay for the day they drove them to the park to play one day, left to buy ice cream and never came back. The shed now had food for 1 month, if they were careful (and made sure Billy had no idea were the keys were) they could make it last 3. But they had to be idiots to deny free food so easily given by a pillar of the community.

All of them stay there in silence. The twins chewing the cupcakes and the professor walking to the remaining swing. Now seated by their side they stay there, saying nothing. When the cupcakes are no more, he wordlessly offers them a bag of chips. When those are finished, a bottle of grape juice follows.

It's 3 am now. They turn to the professor, in his pink sweater and star covered socks. Why he is being so nice is a mystery to them, his daughters had made an habit of beating the shit out of them after all. Sure, they are normally stealing some store when that happens, but shouldn't that make this weird kindness even more of a weird thing?

"If you need..." he cut himself. "You and your gang are in seven, right?"

They nodded. What exactly he was going with this?

"You see that tree?" He pointed to an old tree, at the edge of the playground. It was a big oak, large and old with a big hole in the trunk.

Now understanding even less what the man was trying to tell them, they watched dumbstruck as he got up, walked towards the tree and, after searching his grocery bag, put a whole pie inside the oak. The hole was dark and deep, so much so that no passerby would know that there was something there unless they physically put their hand inside and the old tree was so far away that it was out of the line of sign of almost everyone if not pointed to them.

"I will live something here for you guys everyday. If you need something specific just leave a note inside for me." And then he smiled, like he was simply talking about a picnic.

They could only stare. He smiled once again, telling them that if they didn't want him to do it, they could just ignore the first offer and he would know to not leave anymore the next time. That said, he waived them goodbye "The girls are waiting for me, I should not worry them further." and started walking towards the street so he could have an open space to activate the boots. He had just turned away when Ivy got up from her seat.

"Why?"

He turned back. "Why what?"

"Why are being so nice? What is in for you?"

"There is nothing in for me. Children not going hungry is reward enough."

"Bullshit." Snake exclaimed. "We have been by ourselves since age ten. If 'children not going hungry' was an actual motivation, people wouldn't sneer at our faces when we ask for a cup of water."

Dominic looked broken-hearted. The City of Townsville could be so cruel to the ones that looked different but had no great ability to compensate. Sometimes he stays awake at night, thinking about his time in jail, "The mad scientist creator of bug eyed monsters" they called him back them. His girls, monsters?! No, they were kids. Young, impressionable and so so naive. They hadn't mean it, but they didn't care what they meant or not. It was only after they saved the day that the town changed its mind and with time, they grew to love his perfect little girls. But he was no fool. That love came after. He spent many a sleepless night questioning himself if they would had allowed themselves to open up to know his girls, to love them, if they had never raised up to defend their lives.

"I will not say sorry, because I know that is worth nothing right now." The professor said, making sure that his every word was sincere, that his face was open. " But know this: No one deserves to be abandoned by the community that should have accepted them no matter what. See what I'm doing here not as a pity, but as something that should have been done to you since day one. Support."

He waved them goodbye once again, leaving behind two dumbstruck children. He stayed a little bit on the sky looking down at the green teenagers. He saw they talk to each other, clean each others tears. Arm in arm they went to the old oak tree and took the pie with them. Smiling, Dominic Utonium flew back home.

And so it went like that for months. They barely interacted outside the notes left on the hole, their requests starting small (some chips, maybe soft drinks), later growing bold and more specific (baked beans, eggs, oil, a frying pan, hygiene products, underwear, an honest to god stove) and sometimes something trivial (coloring pencils, blank paper, a giant teddy bear that he had to hide on the leaves of the tree because it didn't fit on the hole) and slowly he could glimpse a little bit of the twins he talked that night.

Ivy's notes started to show little anecdotes, from places she been too, little tales behind a specific request ("Big gets whiny and clingy when he has a cold. A giant teddy to hug will save us a collective cold like last time.") or just a small doodle on the margins.

Snake's notes were more direct, but no less personal. Clearly left handed, the boy would hesitate in his requests, specially the personal ones ("The nice ink set in the window of the art shop on smile avenue just give me whatever ink set you can find" one note said, like he was afraid of being too forward. He got him the Smile Avenue ink set.). As his sister would, his notes were covered in doodles, but were his sister used pencil and nothing else, Snake's were almost full on mini illustrations, as much as if he was taking pages of a sketchbook to write his notes in. Dominic had all of the drawings safely saved.

It was a system that worked for them, and Dominic was pleased in notice that the girls didn't have an encounter with the gang in a good while. "Almost like they stoped crime all together. The most I saw any of them do was graffiti but that small potatoes in the big scheme of things." Blossom said one dinner when the gang silence became the topic of the night. The professor smiled secretively to his mug.

He didn't have any other contact with the gang besides the applicably named "Giving Tree" and his one sided notes between the twins... Until one day he was accosted on the street by a frantic Arturo looking for him, asking him for his help, something about "she fell and I don't know what is going on and she is so pale and there is a fever" before cutting himself off, breathing long and hard, grabbing his sleeve and dragging him all the way to the Junkyard without a moment to pause....

But that is a tale for another time.

#The Utonium Family #how it all began #an act of kindness #professor utonium #gangreen gang #snake ppg #ivy ppgz #sandford d ingleberry #ace copular #lil arturo #arturo de la guerra #ppg #ppgz #PowerPuff Girls #powerpuff girls au

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