Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Hey, Mom? Why am I going to stay with uncle Milford again?” Stephanie asked curiously, playing with the hems of her shorts.

She watched as her father walked over to her mother. They exchanged a look and a soft smile spread on her mother’s face. “He’s going to watch you tonight. Mommy and Daddy are going on a date.”

Stephanie nodded. She understood that children weren’t allowed on their parents’ dates. She had asked before if she could join, but she was told that dates are private. She looked up. “Why isn’t my babysitter coming, then?”

Her father’s face fell. “Ah, well, she’s sick.”

Stephanie nodded again. “What’s uncle Milford like?”

When no answer was given, Stephanie looked up, confused. “Is he mean?”

She watched as her mother knelt down. “He’s nice. You’ll have a wonderful time, Steven.”

A bit saddened upon hearing that name, Stephanie sighed. “Okay.”

When the time came to leave, Stephanie found herself more confused. “Why are we taking my clothes?”

A look was shared between the parents. “You’re going to stay the night.”

Something wasn’t right. Even if Stephanie was staying the night, why was all of her clothes being brought?

When the car started, Stephanie had a sinking feeling in her stomach. She looked over to her younger sister who sat and giggled in her car seat. With a glance out the window, a thought stuck in the back of her head.

This is the last time you’ll see your home.

Worried, Stephanie curled up in her seat. Something was definitely not right.

When the car slowed to a stop, she couldn’t help but marvel at the house. It was a warm yellow, with a large, white door. Her mother helped her little sister out of her seat while Stephanie slipped out of the car, her eyes wide in wonder at the size and beauty of the house.

“Uncle Milford lives here?” She found herself amazed, walking up to the front door in a trance, not even realizing her father right behind her, reaching for the knob. When it opened, another feeling darted into her. A warm, fuzzy feeling, that she couldn’t place a name to.

“I’m in the kitchen! Is that little Steven?” A voice called out, and Stephanie’s stomach lurched into her throat. She didn’t realize how scared she was until now. She had never met her uncle. Why hadn’t she? Certainly her mother lied. He has to be mean. He was probably in the kitchen, prepping the oven for a little kid’s body right now!

Nervous, Stephanie nodded. She knew he couldn’t hear her, but she wanted to keep it that way. Her father’s warm hand nudged the back of her head and she stepped further into the home, making her way over to the living room. This house was huge!

Stephanie sat on the couch, holding her small plush dinosaur close to her. She jumped when she heard footsteps behind her. She was expecting her uncle to look terrifying, but instead she saw a man only a few feet taller than her, his body wrapped up in a frilly, yellow apron, a smile on his face. Seeing him made Stephanie grin slightly. “Are you my Uncle Milford?”

The older man chuckled, pulling his duck-printed oven mitts off, sitting beside the child. “It matters. Are you my little nephew Steven?”

A toothy grin grew onto Stephanie’s face and she relaxed. Maybe this wasn’t going to be so bad. It was only for a night, after all. “What are you making in the kitchen?”

Standing up, the man grinned. “Well, how about you come in and find out?”

Stephanie cheered and followed him, a whiff of cinnamon flowing into her nostrils as she entered the kitchen. Upon looking around, Stephanie figured that the only people her uncle was cooking was gingerbread people. She sniffed the air and smiled. She was going to have a good night!

“Oh, wait, Uncle… did you use eggs in these? I can’t eat eggs.” She frowned, turning her head as her father walked into the kitchen.

“I’m going to go ahead and apologize about that,” her dad said to her uncle, walking up behind him, “she’s been avoiding a lot of foods, she read about stuff on the internet and ever since has refused to eat animal products.”

Stephanie looked up to her uncle, who seemed unmoved. “That’s quite alright! There’s a man staying her with us that doesn’t eat animal products, either. He also doesn’t eat sugar, though, so I made some sugar-free and animal-free ones! They’re still in the oven, though. Plus, you wouldn’t want to eat any before dinner, would you?”

Stephanie shook her head. “No, of course not!” She smiled, but it faltered. “But who else is staying here?”

Milford smiled at his niece. “There’s two people other than me staying here. You’ll meet Sportacus at dinner, and I can introduce you to Bessie now, if you’d like.”

Stephanie shyly nodded. She didn’t know there was another girl in the house. That made this whole ordeal a lot easier and less scary.

“Now, she might be working, so we have to go in quietly, but she’s right in here.” Milford whispered as they neared a door in the hallway. He pushed it open, slightly nudging the child forward, setting Stephanie in the eye sight of an older woman, with tall, curly pastel blue hair and bright red lipstick that would make her stand out in a crowd. Right away, the woman smiled.

“I’ll talk to you later, Bailey.” She set her phone down and stood up, walking over to Stephanie, cupping the child’s face in her hands. “Well, aren’t you just adorable. How old are you?”

Stephanie straightened herself up a bit. She didn’t love being fawned over like this, but she tried to remain polite. “I’m 12, M’aam.”

“And what good manners!” Bessie exclaimed, ruffling the kid’s hair. Stephanie just awkwardly laughed.

“Has Sport called you today?” Milford asked the woman. Stephanie let her eyes drift from one to the other.

The woman grinned from ear to ear, showing off her wrinkles. “Yes, he called about an hour ago. He said he’ll be here in time for dinner.”

“Perfect! I’m making lasagna tonight!” Milford said, and Stephanie couldn’t help but grow a grin of her own. She loved lasagna! In fact, it was her favorite dinner at home! Did they somehow find out?

“Uncle Milford, can I help you make dinner?” Stephanie asked politely, her hands behind her back. She always wanted to help cook, but her mother stopped letting her help in the last year, saying it was time for her to start “acting like a boy,” whatever that meant.

The man laughed a jolly laugh and touched the back of the child’s head. “Of course you can help. All the fillings are ready, but I haven’t layered any of them! That sounds like the perfect job for you.”

Stephanie nodded in agreement and followed him out of the room and back to the kitchen.

Within thirty minutes, the food was shoved into the oven, and Milford gave Stephanie a remote and sat her down to watch whatever movie she wanted to watch on Netflix in the living room, her little sister following suit.

In the kitchen, Milford stood arguing with his sister and her husband. “Look, are you sure you want to do this?”

“We’re sure.” Stephanie’s father said, his arm tightly around his wife, who was sniffling.

“Priscilla,” Milford whispered to his sister, stepping forward and causing her to look up. “Your kid might never want to see you again. You might stop Steven from trusting you forever. Are you sure you want to do this?”

“We said we’re sure.” Her husband spoke up, stepping forward so he was hovering over Milford.

“I’m sorry, Milford, I just…” The woman sniffled, wiping her nose with a tissue, “I’m scared for my baby. I don’t want him to get picked on anymore.”

Milford looked sadly at the two, taking a step backwards. “Have you even told him that he’s staying yet?”

Looking up, the woman shook her head. “I couldn’t, Milford. I couldn’t bring myself to tell my baby Steven that we’re leaving him alone.” The woman sobbed, hiding in her husband’s chest.

“We’ll leave after dinner.” The taller man said gruffly, rubbing circles in his wife’s back.

Nodding, Milford lowered his head. “What do you want me to tell him?”

A sigh escaped the child’s father. “Tell him that Mommy and Daddy need a break, but… we’ll be back for him one day.”

“And what about Emily?” The mention of the child’s sister caused the mother of the two to reveal her puffy, red face again.

“We’ll be taking Emily with us.”

Milford rubbed his forehead. “You’ll at least let Steven call you at night, right?”

The couple shared a look. “Not every night.” The father said, sending the mother’s face into backflips.

“But we will call him!” The mother fidgeted for something out of her purse. “I even bought him a little phone for this.” She pulled out a small iPhone, easily no later than a 5s, covered in little star stickers.

Milford nodded his head solemnly. “Alright. And you’re sure you’ve filled out all the papers for him to enroll in school this week?”

The mother nodded. “They’re in his backpack. He doesn’t know what they are, but they’re in his little green folder.”

“Well, dinner is almost ready.” Milford said, glancing at the timer that showed only twenty minutes left until it would ding. “How about you two go and spend a little more time with your son before you up and leave him?”

The couple nodded slowly, and after drying her eyes better, the mother rushed into the other room, followed by her husband.

The minute they left the room. Milford sat down at the table. The sound of his ringtone filled the room and he smiled down at his phone. “Hey, Sportacus.” He said, the second he answered, “are you almost here?”

“Yes!” The sound of the other man’s excited voice made him grin, “do you think a jump rope or a soccer ball is a better gift for little Steven?”

A bit taken aback, Milford chuckled. “I can’t tell yet. Get both, you can say one is from you and the other is from me. I’ll pay you when you get back. How far are you, anyway? Dinner will be done very soon.”

“You don’t have to pay me back,” the other’s voice was joyous, “and I’ll be there in about ten minutes. I’m in checkout now.” Though a bit taken aback by how fast the other house occupant transferred from the toy aisle to checkout, he laughed.

“Alright, alright. Well, I made lasagna tonight. I hope that’s alright.”

“Sounds delicious!” Sportacus cheered. “I’ve got to go, it’s my turn in line. I’m excited to meet the little champ!”

Milford smiled. “I think he’ll need you here. Alright, I’ll talk to you when you get home.”

And with that, the phone clicked goodbye, leaving the man alone in the dark kitchen. He peeked in on the couple and their kids, a feeling of grief washing over him. He really didn’t understand why they had to handle the situation so messily. Not to mention, all they told him was that the child was being bullied very badly in school. Milford didn’t get any details aside from that information, and it made the situation even more stressful. How was Milford going to be of any help? He sighed and returned to the kitchen, staring absentmindedly at the stove until the timer went off.

When the oven opened and the scent of warm Italian spices flooded the house, Bessie emerged from her office and helped set the table. As if he arrived faster because of the food being done, the doorbell rang and Bessie brought Sportacus to the dining room, the two of them setting the table together. After all, they were having more guests then they did even on the nights when Bessie’s relatives visited, or when businessmen came over to talk to Milford about a law he was passing or not passing.

After dinner was over, Stephanie’s parents prepared themselves to say goodbye. Her father carried her sister to the car, the small child unaware of what was going on. Stephanie’s mother knelt down in front of her daughter, placing gentle hands on her cheeks.

“Hey Steven, Mommy’s gotta go now.” The woman said, tearing up slightly again, pulling her child close to her and hugging her tightly. “You’re going to stay here for a while, okay?” She whispered, causing a deep shiver to run down the child’s spine.

“What do you mean, Mom? It’s just for tonight, isn’t it?”

The woman pulled back and shook her head sadly, watching as her child started to break down and crumble like a delicate pastry.

“Mom, please, what do you mean? How long will I be here?”

Clearing her throat, the woman brushed blue curls out of the child’s face. “I don’t know yet, sweetie. But your Dad and I, we can’t…we can’t handle all this…girly stuff anymore.”

Now sobbing, the eleven-year old held tightly onto her mother. “Mom, please, Mom, I’ll do anything, please don’t leave me!”

Wiping her face, the woman stood up and cupped her child’s face again. “Just…just get better, and I’ll come back for you. I promise.” The woman kissed her kid’s forehead sloppily, wiping at the lipstick that now smeared on the child’s forehead.

“Wait, Mom, please!” The little kid sobbed, as the mother pulled away, holding her purse tightly at her side, taking one more lovelorn gaze at her child.

“I’ll come back when you’re better, Steven. I’ll come back when you want to be Steven.” The mother said in a tender voice that confused the child further.

And with that, the woman stepped outside, heading to her car without turning to watch as her child raced after her. When she reached the car, the woman pushed the kid back a little. “Now, I mean it, Steven! You have to stop that blubbering, and, and,” she looked her child up and down, “and become a young man.”

“Mommy, please,” the child begged one last time, holding desperately onto her mother’s arm, her eyes blurry. “Mommy, please don’t go.”

But with that, the woman opened her car door and climbed into the passenger seat. Without another glance, the woman shut the door in the child’s face, the minivan starting its engine and making a departure that took all of Stephanie’s tears out of her eyes.

After what felt like hours, which in reality was only a few minutes, the young child stood up, slobber and snot running down her face, and made her way back inside. Right away, she grabbed her dinosaur off the couch and curled up, hiding the reptile toy in the ball of her stomach as she sobbed into her knees.

Slowly, Milford made his way over to the child, sitting beside her on the couch. The other two adults watched hesitatingly by the door way before quietly slinking to the child’s side as well. Gently, Sportacus placed his hand on the kid’s back, causing her to look up, eyes still red and her face blotched from crying so hard.

“Uncle Milford,” she hiccupped, launching herself into his chest, “I don’t understand. My Mom keeps getting mad at me for stuff like playing with dolls and practicing my makeup, and she’s always telling me to be more like a boy. But I don’t get it.” The child curled up again, squeezing her dinosaur plushie with her fingers. “I’m not a boy. I’m a girl.” She broke down in sobs again, leaning against her uncle. The trio watched the child and rubbed her back and hummed to her until she slowly stopped crying.

Once she did, Bessie took a deep breath and pulled the child closer to her. “Hey sweetie, is there another name you would like to be called? Steven is usually a boy’s name. It doesn’t suit a little girl like you.”

Smiling slightly, Stephanie leaned into the woman’s arms. “I…I think my name is supposed to be Stephanie. In my dreams, that’s what Mom and Dad call me.”

“Yeah?” Sportacus jumped in, smiling at her. “Then your name is Stephanie.”

“You’ve got a lot on your plate, Stephanie, how about we go do some fun girl things to cheer you up a little?” Bessie cooed, wiping at the child’s face.

Smiling lightly, Stephanie looked up. “Girl things?” She sniffled. “Like what?”

“Well, how about I do your makeup?”

The little girl grinned, showing off her teeth. “Really? I’ve never had my makeup done by anyone!”

Bessie pulled the little girl up and held her arm protectively. “Yeah? Well, then this will be fun, won’t it?” She looked at the two men sitting on the couch and bid them good night, leaving them in silence.

“Hey, Milford… what are we supposed to do?” Sportacus asked curiously, looking down at the bag in his hands nervously.

The mayor shrugged. “I don’t know yet. But maybe we should go ask if we can help.”

Sportacus nodded, set his bag down, and hurried over to the restroom where the little girl was getting her makeup done, Milford following.

“Miss Busybody,” The mayor asked softly, “is there anything we can do to help?”

Bessie covered the little girl with a towel and smiled. “Yes. How about you go get me some pink Kool-Aid packets?”

“Wait, why?” Milford asked, clearly taken aback by the request.

“Well, I think I’m gonna teach this little girl how to dye her hair. She’s old enough to know.” She looked back. “It doesn’t go against the dress code, does it?”

The two men shared a look. “Um, Sportacus you go check the school’s website if it’s allowed while I run to the store and pick up some pink Kool-Aid.”

Bessie smiled, widely, her crinkles peeking through. “And try to get some sugar-free Kool-Aid.” She looked at Stephanie. “It’s better for your hair.” Stephanie nodded, taking in the information.

Milford hurried off and Sportacus peeked his head in the restroom, grinning widely. “If it’s alright, Bessie, I have a lot of unopened perfumes and make-up kits that I can give Stephanie.” He looked directly at the child, who seemed taken aback. “If she’d like it, of course.”

The little girl grinned from ear-to-ear. “Of course I’d like it!” She flapped her hands excitedly. “I’m so happy! I’ve never owned my own make-up or perfumes! I always had to sneak them from Mom.” The little girl’s face fell at the memory but brightened again when Bessie approached her and sat down in front of her.

“Well, little angel, I’ve got a lot to teach you. And you won’t have to steal make-up or perfume any more, okay?” She pulled out her concealer pen and applied little dots to the child’s blotched spots and blemishes. “Us girls gotta stick together, right?”

“Right!” Stephanie said proudly. She wasn’t used to having other people call her a girl, and she couldn’t help but flap her arms again in excitement.

“Especially us girls who were told we were boys.” Bessie put the concealer pen away and put her thumb on the girl’s chin, cocking it forward. “Right?”

Stephanie gasped a little. “Did they tell you that you were a boy, too? But why? You’re so pretty!”

Bessie chuckled lightly. “They did. But, you’re a pretty little girl, too, ya know.” She pulled out her beauty blender and tenderly blurred the concealer into her complexion. “That reminds me, Sportacus,” she pointed her nail-polished finger at the standing man, “make sure to call the schools and tell them to change some of those papers up, alright?” She smiled back at the girl. “Tell them that there’s been a mistake. We don’t have a little boy, we have a little girl, and her name is Stephanie.”

Sportacus smiled widely. “Of course.” He popped his head out of the room and back in, “and I’ll go ahead and gather up all my old make-up and perfumes for her, too.”

Bessie nodded in response as the blue-cladded man dashed off.

“He’s kind of weird.” Stephanie whispered, and Bessie couldn’t help but laugh.

“You think so?”

Stephanie nodded. “He’s really jumpy. But it’s okay.” She smiled softly. “I’m kinda jumpy, too.”

“Then you two will have fun being jumpy together. I know you will.”

A sad expression crossed the girl’s face. “Miss Bessie?”

“Yes, Darling?” The woman cooed as she brushed bright purple eyeshadow on the girl’s eyelids.

“I was made fun of at my old school.” She cleared her throat. “Will people make fun of me, here, too?”

Bessie bit her lip. She honestly wasn’t sure, and while she knew the superintendent and principal—who were both openly gay—she had a feeling they couldn’t prevent every little girl from being called a boy. “I’m not sure, Honeypie, but you know what?”

The little girl sounded defeated as she voiced out the word, “what?”

“You’re going to make it. And you’ll make friends. And you stick to those friends like glue, and you’ll be okay.” Bessie cocked the girl’s chin again, applying blush to her cheeks. “Because you’re a strong girl, okay?” She stopped her hand and stared at the child, smiling softly.

The little girl nodded. “Thank you, Miss Bessie.” She looked down at her hands and tapped her fingers together nervously. “I’ll try my best.”

“That’s all you can do, Sweetie. Just try your best and everything else will work itself out from now on, okay?”

The girl nodded again. The two went on in silence until Sportacus returned, a small bag in his arms.

He pulled a few tiny containers out, still wrapped tightly in plastic. Right away, the young girl’s eyes widened. “Is that lipstick?” Her mouth fell into an ‘o’ shape. Seeing lipstick so close to her and knowing that she was going to be allowed to actually wear it was almost too much for her. She flapped her hands hard and giggled. “Can I wear some, please?”

Sportacus looked up at Bessie, who nodded, before setting several of the containers in the small girl’s hands. “Of course you can. It’s all yours.”

Smiling widely, the little girl looked at the different colors and paused at the sight of a bright pink one. “Can you put this one on me, please?” She held it up to Miss Busybody, who saw the color and giggled slightly before nodding.

“Of course I can. Just hold still.” Bessie said, tilting the child’s chin. “Now, make duck lips!” The girl gigged before doing as she was told. “Sportacus, were you able to get things changed at the school? And is she allowed to dye her hair pink?”

“Yes, the office workers were happy to change everything we needed. And yes, she’s allowed having her hair any color. They greatly encourage kids to express themselves through their hair and clothes, as long as there is no offensive language or messages on it.”

Bessie chuckled. “Thank you, Sportacus. You can go wait for Milford downstairs now.”

The man nodded and ran off, once again surprising the little girl.

“Does he always run like that?”

Bessie chuckled. “Yes, he’s very active. He runs the local tee-ball team, works from home, and still does almost all of our shopping for us.”

“Is he your son? He seems a bit too old to be your son.”

Bessie smiled a bit at that. “Not exactly. His dad is…how do I explain this?” She whispered to herself, as she pulled out different shades of pink nail polish, much to the girl’s excitement. “His parents weren’t the nicest to him, and we took him in, but he was already almost an adult when he moved in.”

“Was he abandoned by his family, too?”

The little girl’s question struck a chord within Bessie and she set the girl’s hand down completely. “Abandoned is a big word, Sweetie.”

“It’s a big word that means you are left alone.” Stephanie added on quietly.

“But you’re not alone, and neither is Sportacus.”

The girl nodded slowly. “Because we have you and Uncle Milford, right?” Stephanie didn’t sound too excited by that.

Bessie cupped the girl’s face and cradled it in her palm. “I know this is tough on you, Sweetie, but it’s not your fault any of this happened, and because of that, it’s going to work out just fine.”

Still a bit upset, the girl nodded.

“Now, let’s get to these little nails of yours. I bet you’ve never had a manicure, have you?”

Within the hour, Milford had returned, a large bag hanging off of one arm and a smaller off the other.

Upon seeing him, Sportacus helped unpack the bags and put things away. While at the store, Milford had bought a few dresses, skirts and other pink clothes and accessories for the little girl, along with a pink and white soccer ball and a pink jump-rope, and of course, the pink, sugar-free Kool-Aid. Unpacking the clothes into the girl’s drawers, Milford took the girl’s suitcase of clothes her parents brought and hid it in the back of his closet so she wouldn’t have to even think about wearing them.

Setting the gifts upon her bed for her to find, with the frilliest bed set he had, which was an old one from Bessie, he made his way with the pink Kool-Aid into the restroom with the girls. Smiling upon entering, Milford could smell the familiar scent of nail polish and looked at the young girl’s nails, which were decked out in hot pink.

Bessie didn’t even wait for the man to talk before she pulled the Kool-Aid packets out of his hands and stated ripping them open. “Now, when I put this on you, you’re going to have to sit still for about thirty minutes and not touch your hair. Can you do that for me?” She interrogated the young girl, who nodded and happily flapped her arms in excitement.

Within a few moments, the girl’s head was fully coated, and with a towel still draped on her shoulders, she was given headphones and her new phone to listen to music on while she waited. When she was finally done, and the dye was washed out in the sink, Bessie couldn’t help but gasp.

She put way too much Kool-Aid. What was supposed to be a light, pastel pink was now hot pink and vibrant. Nervous, she leaned toward the little girl. “Alright, Stephanie, what do you think?”

The girl, who had her eyes closed prior to the words, opened them up curiously and gasped as she looked in the mirror. “It’s perfect!” The girl flapped her arms excitedly and spun around, smiling at herself in the mirror. “Kids will definitely wanna be my friend when they see my cool hair tomorrow!”

Bessie exchanged looks with the other two adults and shrugged. There was nothing they could do now but wait. Grabbing her by the hand, Bessie led the girl to her room. “Now, you need a good night’s sleep. Tomorrow you start school, and I won’t lie to you,” she looked back at Milford and Sportacus, and then at the gifts on the bed, “it’s going to be a bit bigger than your old school.”

Stephanie, who was too busy marveling at said gifts, barely heard the words. She hugged the soccer ball close to her chest and grinned. “That’s okay. The bigger the school, the bigger chance I have to not get picked on.”

Bessie nodded and smiled. “Exactly. Now, lay down, Stephanie. You’re going to need plenty of sleep. Especially if you want me to do your makeup tomorrow morning.”

The little girl nodded and yawned, pulling her stuffed Stegosaurus to her chest. “Okay, okay.” She laughed, laying down in her bed and sighing in comfort. She watched as Bessie left the room and flicked the light off.

A few minutes passed and she tried to sleep, but Stephanie couldn’t help but think about her mother’s face when she left. Stephanie felt happier than she had in years being able to dress as a girl, as herself for once. So why did her mother find that so bad?

And then there was her father. He didn’t even hug her goodbye, and the more she considered the day’s events, the more she thought that he didn’t want to hug her goodbye.

Sitting up in her bed, Stephanie felt the tears start to crawl out of her eyes and onto her face, though she fought for them to stay in place. She squeezed her plush toy and quietly started to cry into it.

After a moment of calming herself down, she ventured out of bed and down the hall, and slowly, she made her way down to the living room. She thought that maybe if she could watch a little more cartoons, she would be able to sleep.

What she didn’t expect to find was Sportacus, sitting up on the couch, watching cartoons himself.

A smile grew on her face as she neared the corner and watched from a distance. She didn’t feel like confronting him, so she decided to stand in place and watch. People could fall asleep standing up, couldn’t they?

She planned to do just that, but as one of the characters in the cartoon fell down, she found a tired giggle escaping her throat.

Right away, Sportacus whipped his head around and small grin appeared on his features. “What are you still doing up?”

Sighing, the girl inched her way towards him and sat next to him on the couch. “I can’t stop thinking about my parents.”

“Yeah?” He placed a gentle arm around her and let the young girl lean against him. “You’ve went through a lot today, though. Your brain is tired.”

She giggled. “My whole body is tired. I just don’t want to go to sleep and dream about them.”

The other couch occupant thought for a moment. “Well, than how about you watch the cartoon for a while, and then when you fall asleep, you’ll dream of it instead.”

She strained a smile and leaned back. “That’s why I got up. I’m hoping some cartoons will help.”

He nodded and yawned himself, leaning back. Within an hour, the girl was snoring on his arm, so Sportacus carefully stood up, lifted her into his arms, and carried her to her bed. Just as she was being tucked into her blankets, her eyes fluttered open.

“Hey, Sportacus?”

He smiled. “Yes, Stephanie?”

“Do you think my parents will ever come back?”

Sportacus paled and swallowed hard. He didn’t know the answer to that, but he brushed her bangs from her eyes and grinned anyway. “’I’m sure they will. They’ll realize what they’ve done and come around.”

“I hope so.” She yawned out, snuggling into her blanket. “Thanks, Sportacus.”

“It’s nothing, Stephanie.” And with that, he quietly sneaked out of the room, flicking the light switch off, leaving the young girl alone with her dreams.

Chapter Text

The next morning, Stephanie woke up, not remembering much of the previous day’s events. Looking around the room, she felt like she was still dreaming. As she stood up and fell out of bed with a thump, however, everything came flooding back. With a deep breath, she made her way downstairs, only to find Sportacus humming in the kitchen and cooking breakfast.

Curious, Stephanie peeked over the other’s shoulders to see home fries being cooked in one pan, tofu in the other. A wide smile spread across her face and Sportacus looked down at her, growing a grin of his own.

“Hungry?”

She nodded and sat down at the table, where the plates were already set.

The two ate in silence until Milford and Bessie joined them, who talked among each other about whatever paperwork they were doing today. Stephanie ignored it until the clock said 8:00.

She turned to her uncle and lightly tugged on the man’s sleeve. “Uncle Milford, who’s taking me to school?”

Unsure, the mayor turned to Bessie and the two whispered to each other about who should be given that duty until a cheerful Sportacus interrupted.

“I’ll be happy to take her.”

A bit taken aback, the mayor sat up in his chair. “Are you sure, Sportacus? Won’t that cut into your schedule for today? I know you hate to miss your morning jogs.”

Laughing, the blue-clad man cut the mayor off before he rambled himself into nothingness. “I’ve already done my morning jog, Milford. It’s no problem, I’d really be happy to take her.”

Milford laughed and went back to his food, talking with Bessie again.

Within an hour, the young girl found herself standing in a cafeteria full of kids. Quickly, she found her class and looked around at the other students, who seemed too preoccupied with friends they already had to talk to her. A few of them even stared and giggled at her pink hair, which made her feel even worse. The only reason she hadn’t begged again to go back home yet was the prospect of a fresh start in a new school, with people who didn’t know her past at all.

But the eyes of the students burned into her head and she found herself looking down, twiddling with the corners of one of the new dresses that her uncle had bought for her the day prior.

Suddenly, a hand tapped her shoulder and she whipped her head around like a lasso, smiling brightly, hoping she came off as friendly.

“Hey pink-hair, what’s your name?” A boy slightly taller than her peered down at her, a sly smile on his lips.

Nervously, she cleared her throat. “My name is Stephanie. I’m new here.” She said awkwardly, looking at her shoes.

“I can tell. Nobody has dared to have their hair that bright in our school before. They’re all too scared of standing out.” The boy snickered, two other boys standing behind him now. “Name’s Gabe,” he said, holding his hand out, “this is Tristan,” he pointed to the yellow-clad boy to his left, “and this is Paul.” the green-wearing boy to his right waved.

She smiled and reached out, shaking the hands of the boys. Maybe this was all going to be alright after all.

“Alright class, separate into boys and girls for headcount!” The teacher called. Stephanie skipped into the girls’ line and smiled over at the boys. She could feel the beginning tingles of a friendship in her stomach. “Hm… looks like we’re missing a little boy.”

Right away, Stephanie’s head turned to the teacher. She bit her lip, she closed her eyes, and she wished as hard as she could that the mistake wasn’t what she thought it was. But, of course, the teacher cleared her throat and the pink-haired girl’s eyes shot open in horror as she talked on.

“Is there a Steven Splitz here?”

Her eyes glued to the ground in shame, Stephanie raised her hand and stepped forward. “Um, it’s Stephanie Splitz now, Miss Regina.”

“Oh.” The teacher gave the child an awkward smile and wrote something down on her clipboard. Stepping back into line, Stephanie clenched her fists around her backpack’s handles, refusing to meet anyone’s curious gazes. Many of the children turned their head back to the teacher as head count went on, but Stephanie could feel eyes lingering in curiosity.

When she looked up, she saw the face of the boy she was talking to before. His eyes were lidded and he squinted at her, as if trying to figure something out, his lips in a tight, judging line. Stephanie looked back down.

Slowly, the line started to shuffle through the halls and whispers picked up again. The boy leaned over to her and spoke lowly. “What do you mean, it’s Stephanie now?”

Clearing her throat, Stephanie peeked over at him. “My name was Steven before I figured out I was a girl.”

The boy went silent for a brief moment before he spoke up again. “What do you mean, figured out you were a girl? You’re either born a girl or you’re born a boy. You can’t change that later.”

Stephanie found her fists turning white as she again tightened her grip on her backpack. “Well, I did.”

“So, you’re saying you’re really a boy, then?” The boy spat, causing Stephanie to look up fully now, her voice raising a little.

“No, I’m a girl. I have pink hair and I’m wearing makeup and a dress. I’m a girl because I say so.”

Tristan laughed. “I’ve heard of that. So you’re a drag queen?”

“What? No, I’m a girl.” Stephanie’s eyes met the ground again, but her voice stayed level.

“Just because you look like one doesn’t mean you are.” Paul said, catching the ears of other students now.

“But I am a girl!” Stephanie said now, her teeth gritting together.

Gabe rolled his eyes. “Then why can I see your adam’s apple?”

Nervously, the girl covered up her throat with one hand, the other on her bag’s sleeves. “Leave me alone.” She held tightly onto her backpack strap as if it would protect her.

She hated feeling so singled out. Looking up, the girl bit her lip and hoped that the tears forming in her eyes weren’t noticeable.

But, of course they were, to the tribe of boys watching her.

“Oh, boys don’t cry. Grow up.” Tristan said, is arms crossed.

Gabe leaned forward. “Yeah, stop whining, Steven.”

Sighing, Stephanie kept her head up and wiped her tears away with the sleeve of her dress. “It’s Stephanie.”

The girl ahead of Stephanie whipped her head around.

“Hey Gabey, stop talking so loud! You’re going to get in trouble!” The girl whisper-shouted, showing off her braces.

“Oh, shut up, Trixie.” Tristan spat, causing the taller girl to turn around fully now, walking backwards.

The girl looked around before flipping the boys off, causing one of them to gasp. The teacher turned around at the sound, seeing the child’s middle finger proudly displayed.

“Trixie!” The woman said in disbelief, telling the kid’s in front to stop walking as she made her way over to the girl. “What are you doing?”

Right away, the girl started crying. A little shocked, Stephanie pat the girl on her back, who continued wailing.

“M-Miss Regina! They did it first! I didn’t know it was bad!” The girl blubbered, causing the boys to cross their arms.

“No we didn’t!” Tristan huffed, stomping his foot. The teacher looked between the four students and then to Stephanie.

“Did you see what happened, Stephanie?” The teacher whispered, holding the young girl’s arm. Stephanie looked past the teacher and to the students, the girl smiling softly at her, already drying her tears.

Nodding, Stephanie pointed at Gabe. “He flipped me off to be mean. This girl just jumped in and saw, she didn’t know that the middle finger is bad. Honest.”

The boys mouths all fell open as they stared at her in shock. They started to defend themselves, but the teacher shushed them. “Whatever happened, I don’t want any more out of you three. Now, go to the front of the line and stop picking on the girls.”

The boys all glared at the pigtailed girl and the pink-haired girl, making their way to the front as the teacher ordered.

Once the line started to move again, Stephanie shyly tapped the girl on the back. “Thank you for standing up for me.”

The girl shrugged. “It was nothing. They used to pick on me, too, until I beat one of them up last year.”

A bit shocked, Stephanie’s mouth fell agape. “You beat one of them up? Really?”

Chuckling, the taller girl nodded. “’Yeah. They were picking on my kid-brother and stealing his bag and threatening to flush it, so I popped one of them in the nose and started wailing on ‘im. I learned how to on my mom’s wrestling show.”

Smiling now, Stephanie loosened her grip on her backpack and sighed internally. “Didja get in trouble?”

“Well, yeah.” The other kid said matter-of-factly, a coy smile on her face. “But it was worth it. They deserved it.”

Stephanie giggled. She covered her mouth shyly when another student turned around and shushed the two. “They don’t seem very nice. They act like goblins, or something.”

The other kid snickered, earning another shush. “Yeah, they’re like little evil goblins. They’re rude and stuck-up. They think that just because their moms work here that they can be jerks to everyone.” A sad expression spread on the kid’s face before she turned around again, walking backwards. She held out her hand. “Name’s Trixie, by the way.”

Abashedly, Stephanie reached her hand forward and shook it firmly. “Mine’s Stephanie.”

The two whispered for a little longer until they made it into the classroom. Right away, the teacher ordered the kids to pick a seat buddy. Without hesitation, Trixie latched her arm onto Stephanie’s, pulling her over to one of the joint desks.

“If you sit with me, those boys won’t bother you at all.” Trixie said, sitting in her seat and pulling folders out of her bag.

A small smile grew on Stephanie’s face as she sat down. “Well, I’d sit with you anyway. You’re the first person who was actually nice to me.”

Shyly, Trixie laughed off the words. Stephanie looked around curiously, realizing that the seats all around them were empty. The rest of the students seemed to be purposely sitting away from the duo.

Curiously, Stephanie turned to ask Trixie if she knew why, but before the words could exit her mouth, Trixie seemed to know what was on her mind.

“The kids here don’t like me that much.” Her voice was softer, gentler than it was before. When Stephanie looked at her with confusion, she continued. “They’re scared of me. I’ve got two moms, and everyone figured out last year. Ever since then they’ve not liked me.”

Nodding, Stephanie slowly slinked her hand over to Trixie’s, gently squeezing it. “I’m not scared of you. You seem really cool, Trixie.” She smiled. “And if you’re fine with me being different from the other girls, I’ve got no problem with you having two moms.”

A gently, shy grin erupted onto the other girl’s freckled face. “Thanks, Pinkie.”

The girl stifled a giggle at the nickname and only stopped when the teacher stood in front of the room, calling the students attention to her.

After a brief introduction, the teacher handed out a sheet full of personal questions, which Stephanie took nervously. “Now, once you’re done, I will pair you up with another random student, and you will get to know each other.” Many of the kids rolled their eyes and whispered amongst each other about how silly the idea was, but Stephanie found herself clinging to Trixie’s arm, worrying about being separated and paired with another bully.

Staring at the questions, Stephanie felt even more embarrassed. “Tell about your family?” She whispered to herself more than anyone, but Trixie leaned towards her.

“Tell me about it! The kids already don’t like me, now I have to tell them about my moms?” Trixie groaned and pulled another giggle out of Stephanie’s throat.

Once the teacher came around and collected the papers, Stephanie found herself sitting closer to Trixie again, nervously waiting as the teacher started to tell the students who their buddies were.

When Stephanie’s name came up, she could practically hear the blood pumping to her head, turning her a shade of scared scarlet. When the name Gabe escaped the teacher’s throat, Stephanie almost burst into tears. As the teacher listed the last name, students started walking over to their buddies and chatting them up, but Stephanie looked to Trixie nervously instead.

When Trixie saw the look on Stephanie’s face, she grabbed her arm and smiled. “Don’t worry about a thing, Pinkie. I’ll go with you.”

“But… your partner is,” Stephanie started, her voice squeaking like a chew toy.

Trixie held her finger up and shushed her, “My partner doesn’t matter. I’m going with you and that’s final.”

Stephanie grinned softly, happy tears pulling at her eyes. She wiped them away and Trixie giggled as she led her over to the bully. “You sure cry easily, Pinkie.”

The pink-haired girl giggled and kept a tight grip on Trixie’s arm. When Gabe’s eyes settled on Stephanie, she felt her heart sink. The look on his face was one of a predator about to pounce on its prey, and she felt herself becoming sick. Trixie stepped in front of Gabe slightly and his eyes flickered around, still harsh, but slightly softer.

“Heya, Gabey.” Trixie said confidently, her chest puffed out like a proud bird.

Gabe pushed his glasses up on his nose. “Trixie.” He looked over to Stephanie. “And Steven.”

Once she heard the name escape the boy’s lips, Stephanie looked down in shame. “It’s Stephanie.” Trixie spat, pulling his paper away from him, glancing over it. “Bragging about your Mama again, are ya? ‘My mother is in charge of the student counsel and helps the football team with fundraising,’ and blah, blah, blah.’” She looked over the paper more. “And what’s this? ‘My hobbies include reading and playing football.’ You? Football?” Trixie cackled. “As if. You’re way too small, you won’t even make the team.”

The boy looked defiantly up at her. “And what? You could?” He crossed his arms. “I’m sure that will make your mommies very proud, now wouldn’t it?”

“Leave them out of this.” Trixie growled, stepping forward a little, only stepping back when Stephanie tugged on her arm.

“And what about your parents, Steven? They’re probably janitors or fruitcakes, right?” The boy snatched the sheet out of Stephanie’s hands, glancing over it, a smug grin on his face. Slowly, the look on his face morphed into one of confusion. “Why’d you just write the word ‘gone’? You were asked to describe your parents.”

Nodding, Stephanie looked up. “They dropped me off at my uncle’s yesterday and told me they aren’t sure if they’re coming back or not.”

Gabe looked at the paper, then back to Stephanie, the confusion changing to one of embarrassed anger. “Yeah right. I don’t believe you.”

Shrugging, Stephanie looked at Trixie. “I didn’t ask you to believe me. If you don’t want to believe the truth, that’s your problem.”

Trixie grinned proudly at Stephanie. The two girls stared the boy down, as he boiled in embarrassment. “Well, at least I was born a boy!” He huffed, hurrying to the front of the class room. Curious, the girls followed him and watched in shock as he stood on the teacher’s podium.

Before the teacher could reach him, he smacked the board, attracting the attention of the rest of the class.

“Hey, everyone! Stephanie is really Steven! Steven is a boy! He’s a boy! He’s a boy!” He hollered, causing the class to look around and whisper to each other. “He’s got boy parts! He’s got boy parts!”

The teacher grabbed the young boy forcibly and pulled him to the ground, staring disappointingly at him. “Young man, office, now.”

As the teacher escorted the boy out of the class and down the hall way, Stephanie clenched Trixie’s arm, her eyes squeezed shut, her free arm covering her ear that wasn’t smashed against the other girl. She felt like she was going to explode.

Before anyone could say anything to her, she dropped her hold on Trixie and sprinted out of the room, covering her throat again. Once she reached the little girls’ room, she collapsed and slunk to the ground, head in her knees, sobbing hysterically.

Now everyone in her class knew the truth. Now she was destined to be alone. When she finally dried her eyes, she looked up, only to see Trixie sat by her side, awkwardly sitting with her arms crossed.

“When did you get here?”

A small, smug smile found its way onto Trixie’s lips. “Shortly after you did.” She rubbed her neck awkwardly. “I wanted to make sure you were okay. The teacher returned a minute ago and she was worried, so she sent me to check on you.”

Stephanie huffed sadly, hiding her nose in the creases of her arms. “You must think I’m gross, right..?”

The question took Trixie back slightly, and the kid’s eyes darted around for some sort of solution. “No, of course not.” She said softly, not knowing what else to say.

“Yeah, right.” The young pink-haired girl felt broken. She leaned against the wall more, stretching her legs out across the floor. “You probably don’t want to talk to me anymore, do you? I bet you think I’m a boy, too.”

Trixie copied the other kid’s movements. “I’m talking to you right now, aren’t I?”

“Yeah, because the teacher told you to.”

“Actually, I volunteered.”

Stephanie looked up, stimming softly with her hands. “You did?”

Nodding, Trixie grabbed Stephanie’s hand, pushing it to the other girl’s chest. “Hey Stephanie, I’ve got a question for you.” When Stephanie didn’t say anything, she proceeded. “You’re a girl in here, aren’t you?”

Confused, Stephanie looked down at the other girl’s hand, swallowing the lump in her throat. “Yeah, of course I am.”

Not removing her eyes from the other’s face, Trixie moved her hand away slowly, leaving only Stephanie’s hand on her own chest. “Then you’re a girl to me, and I know you’re one to you. That’s what matters most, right? You know you’re a girl.”

A small smile spread on the girl’s blotched face. “Yeah, I guess.” She looked shyly at the ground. “I bet they’re all talking about me in there now, right?”

“Nah,” Trixie shrugged, “they’re trading silly bands in there right now.”

Giggling, Stephanie leaned forward and hugged the other girl. “Thanks, Trixie.”

The other girl shrugged and hugged her back. “No problem, Pinkie.” She stood up, reaching her hand down, helping the other girl up. “Now, let’s get back to class.”

Once they made their way back to the room, Stephanie took a deep breath before pushing the door open. Upon seeing the duo’s return, the class went silent for a short second before the students turned back to their own conversations, trading silly bands under the table.

Smiling, Stephanie released a breath she didn’t realize she was holding. For the most part, she was liking the new school so far. As long as she had Trixie by her side, it would work out.

The two girls sat down in their joint seats before turning towards each other and chatting the rest of class away. When recess finally rolled around, Trixie dragged Stephanie over to play with her and her and a little boy.

“So this is my kid-brother Stingy,” Trixie pushed the boy forward, presenting him to her friend. “he can be a little weird sometimes, so just let me know if he bothers you too much.”

The boy scoffed at the words, sticking his hand out, a dignified grin on his lips. “My name is Nenni, actually,” he shook her hand and pulled his hands back to his bowtie, straightening it, “but people call me Stingy.”

Scrunching her nose up, Stephanie couldn’t help but smile coyly. “’Why do they call you that?”

His smug grin escaped and he looked to the side, a slight pout taking reign over his features. “Well, I think they’re just jealous of me, so they insist that I’m greedy.”

Rolling her eyes, Trixie pulled the two over to the basketball hoops. “In first grade, he stole all of the crayons in the classroom and refused to share them. The teacher told him not to be so stingy, and it just stuck.”

Huffing at the story, Stingy crossed his arms. “I didn’t steal them. But other kids were chewing on their crayons! And they were pulling the paper off so you couldn’t read the labels, and it was just disgusting! I had to teach them a lesson, so I took them so I could fix them. But those little brats tried taking them from me!” He rambled, taking the basketball from Trixie and shooting it mindlessly, missing terribly.

Trixie rolled her eyes and fetched the ball. “Anyway, that’s how he got the name. It was wild, you had to be there.”

A giggle escaped Stephanie’s throat. “Sounds like it. And biting crayons and pulling the wrappers off is gross.”

Nodding in agreement, Stingy shot another clumsy hoop before tossing the ball to Stephanie.

The group went on, chatting and giggling until the bell rang and brought them back inside.

The rest of the day went by easily enough, with Stephanie chatting with her new friends the entire day.

When she finally got home, she hurriedly finished her homework and dinner before she decided to throw on a movie. Within ten minutes of it, Sportacus joined her and the two chatted and laughed through the first half over their veganism, and they would have kept talking if Stephanie didn’t suddenly realize the scene occurring on the Hallmark film felt like something out of one of her dreams.

The mother in the movie was telling her young daughter that she loved her no matter what and would never leave her behind, which quickly reduced Stephanie to nervous tears.

Upon hearing the sound, Bessie and Milford slowly made their way into the room and joined the duo on the couch, softly comforting the girl.

“I just don’t understand,” she whispered, leaning against Sportacus as Milford dabbed at her eyes and Bessie smoothed out her hair. “why can’t my mom feel like that about me?”

The adults exchanged looks of pity before Milford slowly cleared his throat. “She does, Stephanie.”

The girl looked angrily up at her uncle, breathing in shaky breaths as words escaped her mouth. “No, she doesn’t. She abandoned me.”

“Stephanie, darling—” Bessie began, but the little girl cut her off, sitting up suddenly, “she doesn’t love me for me. She only loves Steven.” She started to sob harder, and Bessie cleared her throat again.

“She does love you, Stephanie. She’s just…she just needs time to understand that.”

Irritated, the girl curled her knees back to her chin. “But why? Why can’t she just love me and stop making excuses?”

Softly, Bessie rubbed circles on the girl’s back. Milford cleared his throat, “I don’t know, Stephanie, but…we’re here for you.”

The girl looked up and around at the people surrounding her. “Is it because I’m selfish?”

“What?” Sportacus asked, taken back by the girl’s sudden question.

“I’m selfish. My mom can’t love me because I’m selfish. Here I am crying and pushing my problems onto other people.” The little child shuddered as tears heaved down her face.

“You’re not pushing your problems onto us, Stephanie.” Sportacus said softly, giving the girl’s arm a soft squeeze.

“It’s not your fault all of this is happening.” Bessie added on, holding the girl’s hand close to her.

“Your parents made a big mistake,” Milford said, pulling the girl’s eyes up by cupping her chin, “you deserve a loving family. And we might not be what you had in mind,” he laughed awkwardly, looking between the other adults, “but we will be here for you. We won’t leave you alone.”

Slightly unconvinced, the girl nodded and leaned against Bessie. “I’m sorry, I just… I wish my mom loved me. I’m sorry.” Whimpering, another sob erupted from the girl’s mouth. Watching in pity, the adults once again exchanged gazes.

“You have nothing to be sorry for, Stephanie.” Sportacus whispered, rubbing the girl’s shoulders.

“I just don’t get it.” Sobs pushed their way through her body and snot started to run down her chin.

Suddenly, Bessie leaned forwards. “Would talking to them help?”

Quick breaths swam through the girl’s chest and she looked over at the woman, taken back. “What?”

“Do you want to call your parents?” Milford asked in a small voice. Not knowing what to expect from a phone call with the girl’s parents, he dreaded her answer.

Nodding her head rapidly, she wiped her snot and tears away on her sleeve. Smiling awkwardly at the child’s antics, Sportacus stood up and returned with tissues. After another few minutes of slow breathing and cleaning herself up, the young child pulled her phone out of her bag, her hands shaking. She looked up once again to the people around her, as if asking if it was really alright.

When her uncle nodded, she started dialing her mother’s phone number.

“Mom?” The word flew out of Stephanie’s mouth quicker than she had thought it.

“Steven?” The woman’s harsh voice whispered. “Honey, Honey, it’s Steven!” The woman called excitedly to her husband and Stephanie felt her stomach grow fuzzy at her mother’s joyous tone. She vaguely heard the sound of her father’s voice in the background before her mother’s returned full force. “Oh, Steven, how are you doing, sweetie?”

“I’m doing okay.”

The woman rambled on again about how much she missed her son before the girl interrupted her.

“Do you still love me?” After no answer, Stephanie pushed forward, “Please, answer me.”

“Of course, I still love you, Steven.” The woman’s voice tremored, leaving a sour look on Stephanie’s face, as if she just bit into a lemon.

“Leaning back into the couch, Stephanie sighed. “No, you still love Steven.”

Confused, the woman could only answer with small sounds of protest.

“You don’t love me for me.”

“Steven, not this again.” Her mother’s voice changed to one of disappointment, causing the girl to cross her free arm over her stomach.

“It’s Stephanie now.” She waited a minute before continuing. “My name has always been Stephanie. You just refused to understand that.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Steven.”

The child scoffed. “You want ridiculous? How about the person you trust the most leaving you to fend for themselves in a new town, all because you can’t understand them? How about refusing to listen to your kid, and instead speeding off without them? How about abandoning me?” Tears started again to form at the corners of the child’s eyes. Milford rubbed circles on the child’s shoulders as she started to slowly let her heart out.

“I didn’t abandon you, Steven.” Her mother was growing impatient. “Baby, I would never abandon you. I’m letting you stay with your uncle.”

A few seconds of silence pass on the other end before Stephanie adds to her case. “You left me here. I’m just lucky he cares about me. And Mom? My name’s Stephanie. And,” the child grew a large, coy smile, “my hair’s pink now.” She listened in satisfaction as her mother gasped on the other end. A few whispers in the background later, and her mother’s voice returned full force.

“Your hair is what?” She sounded angry. Stephanie grinned for a minute before it faltered back to its usual state.

“Why can’t you just be happy for me? I’m not happy being Steven because he’s not me. I’m only happy as Stephanie. Your daughter.”

A few seconds of silence pass and again, her mother’s voice strains itself to not be too loud. “You’re my son. And nothing you do will ever change that.”

Tears streaming down her cheeks, Stephanie leaned against Sportacus. “Mom, I want you to love me as Stephanie. You either love me as Stephanie or you don’t love me at all.”

Milford looked worriedly at the other adults in the room, their expressions matching. They knew that nothing that followed the words were going to be easy on the young child.

Finally, the mother’s voice returned. “I love you as Steven. My son.” Stephanie could hear the tears in the woman’s voice. Shaking her head in distress, the young girl sighed softly.

“Then I hate you.”

And with that, the defiant girl clicked the little red circle on her phone that ended the call.

A few minutes of sniffling later, and the group of adults scooted forward.

“Stephanie…” Milford said slowly, pulling the child close to him. She just stared forward, light tears trickling down her face like a leaky faucet.

“I give up.” She said, leaning her face into her uncle’s chest. “I give up trying to make her happy.”

The mayor just nodded softly as the group rubbed her back and ran fingers through her hair and hummed softly to her. Within minutes, the exhausted child dosed off in her uncle’s arms.

Smiling softly, the man attempted to lift his niece up only to struggle against her weight. With a soft smile, Sportacus gently took the girl out of her uncle’s arms and carried her up instead, followed by the other two adults.

As the girl was tucked gingerly into her bed, she fluttered her eyes open for a short moment before smiling. “Thanks again, Sportacus, aunt Bessie, uncle Milford.” She yawned and pulled her stuffed Stegosaurus close to her, her eyes gently closing.

With a small kiss to the child’s forehead, Milford left the room, soon followed by Bessie and Sportacus.

Chapter Text

As Stephanie kicked her legs under her seat and chatted with Trixie the next morning, she felt much better than the night prior. A smile lined the child’s face and she felt at peace until Miss Regina made her way over to her desk. The teacher leaned forward, a tired smile on her lips, resting her arm on the kid’s desk.

“Stephanie, you’re needed in the office.” The woman yawned, giving the child a reassuring grin.

Nervously, Stephanie flickered her eyes over to Trixie and back to the teacher before pulling herself to her feet. “Am I in trouble?”

The teacher chuckled. “No, you’re not in trouble.” She yawned again. “The office just needs you to come by and help them sort out your papers.”

Sighing in relief, the small girl nodded and made her way out of the room and to the office.

When she opened the door, she couldn’t help but hold pity in her heart for the office workers. Two men sat at the tall desks, sorting through papers and rubbing their heads in concentration, and she could almost feel their migranes.

“Excuse me?” Stephanie said softly, peeking over the desk at one of them. “I was called down to help sort through my papers?”

The man ahead of her, who wore a green suit and a name tag that said, ‘Hi, my name is Timothy Simpcan” on it, sat forward when she spoke, peering over the desk at the girl. A smile lined his mouth as he noticed her bright pink outfit and matching hair. “Well, what’s your name, Pink girl?”

She giggled a little and leaned on the counter. “My name is Stephanie Splitz, but it was Steven Splitz before.”

The man made an ‘o’ voice before sorting through some of the papers, finally reaching hers. He looked down at her and swallowed hard. “’Honey, I can’t find your paper at all.” He pushed his glasses up on his nose. “Do you have any other last names?”

Stephanie twisted her arm behind herself abashedly. “Well, I’m staying with my uncle right now. His last name is Meanswell. Maybe Sportacus put it in as that?”

Nodding, the man flicked through the thick stack of papers again, stopping on one and pulling it out. “Yeah, here it is. Do you want it changed to Splitz?”

Stephanie bit her lip as she looked at the man. Honestly, she wasn’t sure if she wanted that or not. Her relationship with her mother was rocky enough right now, but she felt wrong completely abandoning it. When the man realized the girl’s nervous nature, he gave her a pitiful grin.

“Going through stuff at home?”

Nodding softly, Stephanie met his eyes.

“How about we leave it for now?” He put the paper down for a moment. “If it needs changed later, you can come tell us.”

Stephanie nodded, smiling softly at the idea. She wasn’t sure if she considered herself a Meanswell just yet, but she also didn’t feel safe calling herself a Splitz anymore.

“One more thing,” he pulled out another paper, “we need you to bring home this paper and fill it out. Since you’re new.” Looking at the paper she was handed, Stephanie nodded. It was just an Emergency Medical Form.

“Oh, and Mr. Simpcan?”

The man perked up slightly, nodding, “Yes, Stephanie?”

She twisted her arms behind herself again. “’What do I do if other kids are being mean to me?” She quickly elaborated. “Because of how I was…because of how they thought I was a boy before.”

The man nodded slowly, considering what to say. “Well, we’ve been considering having an LGBTQ club again.”

One of the other office workers over heard, spinning her chair over to the two, “It will be brought up at the PTA meeting tonight.” She said, smiling down at the child. “We all want it to happen,” she motioned to herself and the other two office workers, “but some of the parents don’t like the idea. They think we’re forcing ideas onto the kids. It’s an elective club, though, of course, so I don’t get the big deal.”

Stephanie nodded, putting her hands up on the desk. “Yeah, I think they just don’t like people who are different. Like me.” Stephanie narrowed her eyes. She trusted these people. They were adults, after all. “I’m different because everyone used to think I was a boy, but I’ve always been a girl.” Looking up at the woman in particular, she fidgeted her hands together. “Would I be allowed in the LGBTQ club?”

Nodding, the woman gave her a small smile. “Of course, dear. Everyone is allowed to join.” She looked at the papers in her hands, “it’s mainly for little kids going through things like you are, but we encourage other kids to join, too, so they can learn how to be respectful to the other students, and just learn in general.”

Stephanie nodded. “What does LGBTQ mean, anyways?”

The woman shared a glance with the man beside her, who snickered and took over. “Let’s just say that it’s something all of the people in this room are.”

Slowly nodding, Stephanie accepted the answer, but made a note to herself to ask about it at home. “Well, I’m going to ask my uncle to bring me to the PTA meeting tonight. I know he’ll want the club to be made.”

“That’ the spirit, kiddo!” The woman cheered, pushing her glasses up, “But for now, you better hurry back to class!”

Now excited with the idea of a club full of kids that don’t hate her swimming around in her head, Stephanie skipped out of the room, flapping her arms happily.

The rest of the day went by swiftly, with Stephanie telling Trixie and Stingy about the possible LGBTQ club that would be made, the two agreeing to join in support of their friend and out of their own curiosity.

When the twelve-year old made it home and ran into the house, it caught Milford off-guard, who was happily baking cookies in the kitchen.

“Uncle Milford! Uncle Milford!” She cheered, grabbing his arm and smiling up at him. “Can you take me to the PTA meeting tonight? It’s very important!”

The older man looked down at his niece, a tender smiling tugging at his lips. “I’d love to, but I’ve got a lot of work to do this evening.” He ruffled the kid’s hair. “And I’m afraid Bessie does, too.”

Suddenly, the happiness drained from the girl’s face and became one of nervousness. “What about…what about Sportacus?”

The mayor smiled wider. “He might be free! Go ask him, he’s in the living room.”

Cheering, the little girl raced to the other man in the house, struggling to talk for a minute, flapping her hands in front of him. Gently, he led the girl to the couch and sat her down while she calmed down enough to talk.

“Sportacus, Sportacus! Will you come with me to the PTA meeting tonight?” She managed out, her voice squeaking like an unoiled faucet.

Chuckling, he ruffled her hair. “Well, sure! But why are you so excited for a PTA meeting?”

Flapping her arms excitedly, the girl pulled her backpack off, pulling out a sheet of paper with doodles all over it. On the paper, in the corner, the words ‘LGBTQ club’ was written. She pointed at the word and continued to happy flap.

“Ah, an LGBTQ club? That would be good for you.” He glanced at the other doodles on the page, which were just sill drawings of Stephanie and her friends. “Do you know what LGBTQ stands for?”

The little girl shook her head. She took a deep breath before speaking, “I just know that I am LGBTQ somehow. And so are the office workers. They said so.”

Nodding, Sportacus handed her the sheet back. “Do you want to know what it stands for?”

Stephanie shook her head.

“Well, the L stands for Lesbian. A lesbian is a girl who only dates girls.” He explained, pointing at the letter L, watching the child nod before continuing. “And the G stands for Gay. That’s when a guy only dates guys.” The girl smiled and clapped her hands. Sportacus took that as permission to move forward. “B stands for bisexual. Bisexual people are people who like two or more genders.” His eyes locked with hers. “Do you know what genders are?”

Shaking her head, Stephanie looked at the paper. Sportacus grinned. “Well, gender is who you are. For example, you’re a girl, and I’m a boy. That’s your gender.” Stephanie nodded.

“So, a bisexual person likes two or more genders?” She asked softly, and Sportacus nodded.

“And T is transgender.” He stared into the little girl’s eyes again. “Have you heard that word before?”

Stephanie nodded slowly. “Mom used to say it a lot. She said it was a disease, though.” She looked at the paper.

Sadly, Sportacus rubbed the girl’s shoulder. “It’s not a disease at all, Stephanie. It’s a little hard to explain, but…” he squeezed her shoulder, causing her to look up at him. “You know how people used to say you were a boy?” She nodded. “But you’ve always been a girl on the inside, right?”

Nodding, Stephanie looked at her hands and stopped happy flapping. The mention of the past made her nervous, and far from excited.

“That’s what transgender people are. It’s better to just say trans, though.” When the girl looked up, her head tilted, her went on. “When people say the whole word, it sounds really technical and rude, doesn’t it?”

Stephanie nodded. “It makes me sound like a science experiment.”

“Exactly. And the same thing happens to little boys, too. Sometimes they get trapped in the wrong body when they’re born.” He leaned back in his seat. “And Q usually means Questioning. It’s for people who are not sure if they’re LGBTQ or not, yet. Sometimes it also means Queer.”

Stephanie knitted her eyebrows together. “I thought that was a bad word, though.”

“It can be a bad word.” He looked down at the confused child. “But sometimes it’s not. It matters who says it. If a Queer person says it, then it’s okay. But people who aren’t queer should avoid it.” He went on, relaxing into his seat. “Do you know what it means?”

The girl thought for a moment before shaking her head.

“Well, it’s used as an umbrella term. That means many different LGBTQ people can use it. A bisexual person can be queer, but so can a gay person.”

Stephanie nodded in thought before biting her lip, Stephanie looked up at the man. “So, you can take me, though?”

Sportacus jumped up from his seat. “Of course, I can! What time is it?”

Nervously, Stephanie twiddled at the paper. “I forgot to ask.”

Chuckling, Sportacus pulled her to her feet. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll go look it up on the school’s website and we’ll go tonight, alright?”

The girl nodded excitedly and flapped her arms. Sportacus left the girl on the couch and searched up the needed info and returned promptly. The two sat and chatted until it was time to go.

Slouching over in her chair, Stephanie found herself bored. She waited and waited for the discussion to arrive at the possible LGBTQ club. When it seemed to not be arriving, Sportacus nudged the girl. “Hey,” he whispered, a small, awkward smile on his face, “how about you go play with the other kids? You look bored.”

Grinning in agreement, the girl gave him a nod and approached the group of students in the corner. One girl looked up and noticed the newcomer, poking the other girl at her side, who glanced up as well, eyes widening. The two girls turned away, followed by the boy standing with the group.

Whispers flew among the small kids until Stephanie tapped one of the girls on the shoulder and they went silent. “May I play with you?” She motioned to the meeting occurring behind them. “I’m bored, too.”

The tapped girl twirled to her side. “We’re not allowed playing with kids like you.”

A little hurt, Stephanie tied her arms to her side. “What do you mean…? I’m just a kid like you.”

A grimace on her face, the girl turned around fully, followed by the other two children. “But…you’re not like us.” The girl beside her nodded.

“You’re a boy...aren’t you? Gabe told us so.”

Tears pricked at the corners of Stephanie’s eyes. “I’m not a boy. I’m a girl, too.”

The group of bullies exchanged nervous glances. “No, you’re not. You’re just pretending to be a girl.”

The boy nodded. “It’s kinda gross.” He snickered. “You weirdo. Dressing as a girl doesn’t make you one.”

The girls joined in the laughter and Stephanie hung her head in embarrassment, tiptoeing back to Sportacus. Burying her head in his arm, Stephanie sniveled.

Taken aback, Sportacus turned to the young child. “What’s wrong, Stephanie?”

Wiping her eyes, the girl gazed up at him. “The other kids don’t want to play with me. They think I’m too…different.”

Gently, Sportacus started to dab the girl’s tears away. After a moment of thought, Sportacus received an idea. “How about you tell all these parents what just happened and why it happened?”

A bit confused, Stephanie leaned over the table anyway, clearing her throat. “Excuse me?” The principal, who was the one currently talking, stopped, his eyes falling on the young girl, many other eyes following. “Mr. Principal, I was just picked on because people look at me different for being born a boy. As you can tell, I’m a girl, so it hurts.”

Smiling, Sportacus patted the girl’s back. “And that is why a LGBTQ club would be very helpful. This poor girl gets picked on because students don’t know how to accept diversity.”

The principal nodded. “An LGBTQ club? We haven’t had one of those in years.” He rubbed at his beard, scanning faces. “Well, I think it would be a fine idea, Mr.…”

“Sportacus.”

“Mr. Sportacus?”

The mentioned man nodded. The principal seemed a bit taken back by the name, but smiled anyway. “Well, we don’t have anyone to lead the club.” He looked around the room. “Any volunteers?”

“I wouldn’t mind managing the club.” A voice said, and when Stephanie turned to see the person, she was happy to find Mr. Simpcan’s face.

“Are you sure an LGBTQ club is a good idea, Mr. Orlando?” A woman asked suddenly, her eyes staring the principal down.

He grimaced and turned his head to the superintendent. “I don’t know, what do you think, Barb?”

The jolly woman smiled at the principal and then to the worried woman. “Well, I think it’s a wonderful idea. Could definitely help kids with their self-esteem and prevent bullying to an extent.”

Stephanie leaned against Sportacus and nodded. “I would like to not get picked on anymore.” She said innocently, and the superintendent smiled gently at the girl.

“Well, we’ve got a club leader, now we’ll just need a few volunteers to help out with organizing meetings. Any takers?” The principal asked, and right away, Sportacus raised his hand as if he was a student himself.

“I’d be happy to help out with the club.”

The principal smiled at Sportacus before glancing over the room. “Well, little girl, looks you’re your dad is willing to help. Anyone else?”

Stephanie looked up at Sportacus, slight discomfort showing on her face from Sportacus being called her father. She flapped her hands slightly, and he pat her back. “They just didn’t know.” Stephanie simply nodded and kept flapping.

One woman raised her hand, the woman beside her copying the act. “We would be happy to help out the best we can.” Stephanie took notice of the woman’s touching hands and smiled to herself.

One other woman joined in before the principal decided that was plenty volunteers for the time being.

“Would it be alright if we had the first meeting soon?” Mr. Simpcan asked suddenly, taking the principal off guard.

“Well, why hurry so much? We have plenty of time to plan.” He replied, knitting his hands together.

Mr. Simpcan glanced over at Stephanie. “With all due respect, Sir, I think it would be best to start as soon as possible, to help spread information and give the LGBTQ students in the school a support system within the school walls.

The principal’s eyes fell on Stephanie, softening, before returning to the office worker. “That would be alright, I suppose. When would you like to have the first meeting?”

The office worker grinned in relief. “Well, I was thinking of having the meetings on Fridays after class is dismissed, so how about next Friday?” He leaned forward, elaborating, “That would give us enough time to spread the word and still have time to prepare a room and whatnot.”

Scanning the parents in the room, which ranged from incredibly happy to incredibly upset, the principal shrugged. “That’s fine with me.”

Immediately, a woman spoke up. “Are you sure this is a good idea? I don’t want my children poisoned like this.”

“It’s a club, your child wouldn’t have to attend.” Mr. Simpcan said abruptly, flapping his hands nervously.

The woman rolled her eyes. “Yeah, but the school would be filling up with gay kids! I don’t want my kid to turn gay because of all of this.”

A man across the table started hollering at her, and within seconds the room was overbearingly loud. Stephanie shrunk against Sportacus side, wincing in pain. Why did people have to be so loud? She gently tugged on his sleeve, causing him to look down at her.

“Something wrong, Steph?” Sportacus asked softly, and the girl nodded.

Normally, talking was easy for Stephanie, but the sound of people arguing often overwhelmed her and forced her into going nonverbal. She simply flapped her hands in distress before pointing at the door.

“Do you want to go home?” Sportacus pulled her slightly closer to him, trying to soften the noise on her ears.

She recoiled away from the touch, pointing again, this time more aggressively.

Nodding, Sportacus stood up and slowly ushered the child out of the room.

Once in the hallway, Stephanie shrunk and covered her ears, breathing heavily. It didn’t completely alleviate the intense feeling in her chest, but it helped slightly. Worried, Sportacus slunk down beside the girl, waiting patiently for the silent meltdown to pass.

After a few minutes, Stephanie’s breathing had returned to normal and she looked over to the man. She still didn’t have the energy to speak verbally, but she pointed at the exit, and Sportacus nodded.

Raising to his feet, he offered his hand to the child, which she graciously took, nearly falling as she rested on the balls of her feet. Without another word, he walked her out of the building and to the parking lot.

Once in front of the car, she prepared herself to climb in the back seat before Sportacus opened the passenger door, motioning her in. Flapping her arms in comfort and glee, the girl climbed inside and buckled herself, relaxing into the comfortable seat instantly. Before they could even arrive home, Stephanie dozed off.

Carefully, Sportacus carried the child inside and to her room. Lightly tucking her in with her Stegosaurus plush, Sportacus flicked the light off and was ready to leave the room when a small voice stopped him.

“I’m sorry.”

Confused, Sportacus turned the light back on and entered the room, crouching by the side of her bed. “What do you mean?”

“I don’t know why I acted like that, back at school. I just felt really overwhelmed. It was really loud.” Pulling her plush close to her, the girl looked down at it abashedly.

Smiling softly, Sportacus put his hand softly on the girl’s. “There’s nothing to be ashamed about, Stephanie.” He gave her a reassuring smile. “I think you might’ve had a meltdown.”

The tired girl sat up in her bed, leaning against the frame. “A meltdown? What’s that?”

Leaning forward, he crossed his hands in front of him. “Well, a meltdown happens when people get too overwhelmed. Sometimes things are too loud, or too bright, or just too intense.” A small grin grew on his face. “They’re completely normal. A lot of people have them. I have them sometime, too.”

Her mouth fell open dramatically. “You?”

Sportacus chuckled. “Yes, even I have them sometimes. For different reasons though.”

Curious, she tilted her head.

“Well, you know how you were too overwhelmed because things were too loud?” The girl nodded in response. “I’m kind of the opposite. When the world gets too quiet, it scares me. It overwhelms me.” He stood up. “That causes me to have meltdowns sometimes. Now, you must be exhausted from that.”

She yawned and smiled in reply, scooting herself under her covers. Sportacus chuckled and tucked the blankets in around the girl.

“Well, goodnight, Stephanie.”

“Night Sportacus.” With that, the lights went off for a final time that night.

Chapter Text

The next day when Stephanie went to school, the day went by smoothly until her third class. The school let students have art half of the week and science the other, and this was her first science class. Nervously, she looked around the room as she sat down, keeping her eyes on Trixie. Unlike her other classes where the kids could choose their seats, science class required the students to sit in alphabetical order.

Luckily, that didn’t set her too far from her friends. Trixie was a few seats over, and Stingy sat right beside her.

Stephanie giggled and chatted with Stingy until the teacher shushed the class and began introducing herself. A few minutes later, and teacher announced that there would be a small science project beginning today; the kids would have to construct a tower with only spaghetti noodles and marshmallows. At the end, all the groups would set their tower on a desk and the teacher would shake it. The tallest one left standing would win. The groups had to have at least 4 people, which caused Stephanie to glance over at her friends worriedly.

Right away, Stephanie flocked over to her group of three, the trio clinging together like snowflakes as they scanned the room for someone, anyone else to add to their group.

Smiling, Stephanie pointed at a boy in the front row, who sat in the front row alone, hunched over his paper. The teacher had a quiet conversation with him before glancing up and seeing the trio. “How about you join those three over there?” She helped the other up and led him to the group of kids, smiling.

“Can Pixel join your group?”

“Of course, he can!” Stephanie said excitedly. The teacher smiled and left the group alone. Nervously, the boy looked up at the group.

“Sorry, the teacher won’t let me work alone.” His voice was deep and shy, causing the group to glance between each other.

Trixie grinned. “Well, what your name again? I’m Trixie, this is Stingy,” she motioned to her kid-brother, who seemed dazed for some reason, “and this is Stephanie.” She looped her arm with the other girl, as if presenting her.

Abashedly, the boy grinned at them. “My name is Pixel.” He glanced over at Stephanie. “You’re the new girl, right?”

Nodding, Stephanie led him over to the group’s table. “That’s why nobody picked me, but… why did nobody pick you?”

Awkwardly, the boy rubbed the back of his neck. “People find me annoying. I know a lot about science and sometimes I talk too much about it and people get annoyed.”

Stephanie smiled openly at him. “Well, we don’t really know where to start. If you’re good at science, I’m sure you can help us.”

The boy grew a grin and leaned over the table, looking at the tools they were given. “Well, I’ve built a few of these before. We could build a tower like the Eiffel tower, if you want.” He opened the box of spaghetti noodles, “It’s very stable, and we would probably win if we did.”

Nodding, Stephanie glanced at the other two team members. “That sounds fun to me. What about you guys?”

Trixie flashed a toothy grin and stepped forward, ripping open the bag of marshmallows. “Sounds fine to me.” She swallowed one marshmallow before Stingy gasped and lurched forward.

“Stop that! You’re not allowed to eat any of them!” The two continued to bicker, leaving Stephanie and Pixel to chuckle and begin the project.

Once the two siblings settled down, they all began to talk and plan out their tower, which they agreed should have a square base.

“Hey, you said you know a lot about science, can you tell me something off the top of your head?” Trixie suggested suddenly, causing the silent boy to look up.

“Well…alright. Do you guys know what Rigor Mortis is?” The kids all exchanged glances before they shook their heads. “Well, it’s Latin for “stiffness of death,” and it’s when your body gets all rigid after you die.” He smiled. “Do you know how it works?” The kids shook their head again. “It’s pretty cool. What happens is ATP, which stands for Adenosine Triphosphate, starts to die. This is bad of course because it supplies energy to the cells. When the ATP starts to die, it causes Rigor Mortis. It’s also environmentally…” he looked up to the group, who had expressions of mixed confusion and astonishment. “I’m not…boring you guys, am I? Sorry for rambling, I didn’t mean to.”

Stingy was the first to speak up. “It’s environmentally what?” He seemed to dismiss the other’s embarrassment. “You didn’t finish your sentence.”

Blushing a bit, Pixel gazed at Stingy. “It’s environmentally influenced. It works different depending on the environment.”

“You should join the science club with me.” Stingy looked at his kid-sister, a hint of disdain on his face. “I haven’t joined yet, but they meet every Tuesday night. It’s really cool. If enough people join, we even compete with other schools.”

“The school has a science club?” Pixel seemed to perk up at that.

Trixie butted in, rolling her eyes at her brother. “Yeah, they mention every day during the evening announcements. How come you didn’t know? Are you new?”

Abashedly looking at his shoes, Pixel responded. “No, I’m not new. It’s just…” he looked up at the group, “I have a hard time listening to things like that. I love science and know a lot about it, but it’s hard for me to learn, or sometimes even listen to, other things.”

Stingy leaned forward, laying his hand on the other boy’s arm. “That’s fine, it happens. But we’d be happy to have you.”

Still a bit nervous, Pixel shook his head. “I don’t know. I have a hard time working with other people. Sometimes I get really shy, and sometimes I just… can’t talk.” He drummed his hands nervously together.

A thoughtful look on his face, Stingy squeezed the other’s arm. “That’s alright.” His voice was softer than usual. “Some of the other kids get like that, too. I don’t usually, but sometimes I get really overwhelmed and have to leave the room to calm down.” He smiled. “A lot of us have things like that. I don’t want you to feel like you have to join, but you are really smart, and I think you’d like it. We’d be happy to hear you talk about stuff like that.”

Shyly looking down again, Pixel smiled. “Well, I’ll definitely consider it.”

The bell rang suddenly, shocking Stingy’s hand off of Pixel’s arm.

“Finally, lunch time! I’m starved!” Trixie groaned, pulling a cheeky laugh out of Stephanie as she followed her.

“Your brother seems to really like science.” She whispered to the girl, who laughed.

“Yeah, he likes it, I guess... He likes math more, though. He’s a bit weird like that.” Trixie whispered back, looping her arm with other girl’s. “It’s good that he has someone to talk to it about now instead of me, though.”

Curious, Stephanie looked over at the other. “Do you not like science?”

Shrugging, the other returned her gaze. “Not too much. Experiments are fun, especially ones that make messes. But other than that, I get bored with it. Stingy watches documentaries sometimes, and I just don’t get it.” She shrugged, glancing over at the other. “Why? You’re not super nerdy too, are ya, Pinkie?”

Laughing, Stephanie shook her head. “Not really. I don’t mind it, but it is kind of boring to me, too.”

Trixie sighed in relief and Stephanie laughed again.

When the group reached the cafeteria, Stephanie immediately noticed a table set up with a large sign reading ‘LGBTQ Club’ over it. Right away, Stephanie squealed, surprising her friend, and hurried over to it. Curious, her friends followed.

“Hello Mr. Simpcan!” She cheered, smiling brightly at the man sitting. Looking up from his phone curiously, the man grew a grin as well.

“Well, hello Stephanie!” He looked behind her to her curious friends, who followed the excited girl. “Did ya bring some new recruits?”

Shyly, she looked back at her friends. “I sure hope so!” She turned to face them fully. “Will you guys join with me? It’s a club for girls like me who are different, and other LGBTQ people, too!”

“LGBTQ people? The L stands for Lesbian, right?”

“Mhm!” Stephanie hummed, turning around and signing herself up instantly, twiddling the pen in her fingers.

“Well, my moms are lesbians, but I don’t know the other stuff, so I guess it’d be good for me to join. They mentioned something about it when they got home from the PTA meeting last night, anyways. Maybe this club is what they meant.” Trixie took the pen and signed up as well.

Stingy crossed his arms. “Well, unlike Stephanie and Trixie, I have no clue what LGBTQ means.”

The man at the table picked a sheet off the table and held it out to the yellow-clad boy. “We have a FAQ page. It goes into detail about what the club is about and what we’ll be doing.”

Stephanie took one as well, scanning the paper curiously. Her eyes widened at one of the sections. “Fieldtrips?” She glanced up at the office worker, who smiled widely right back at her.

“If we get enough members, we’d like to try and do a few fieldtrips, yes.”

The girl flapped her arms excitedly and turned to Trixie, the two moving out of the way for the boys to sign up. “I wonder what kind of fieldtrips we’ll go on?”

Stingy skimmed through the paper as well, uncrossing his arms and looking over to Pixel. “Well, my dad is gay, so I guess I’ll join.”

As the boy was signing, Pixel leaned over and whispered to him. “I thought you and Trixie were siblings, though.”

“We are.” He said, throwing a heart over the i in Nenni. “Well, kind of. My dad wanted a kid but didn’t have a partner, so one of Trixie’s mom had me. We wouldn’t be considered related to a lot of people, but our parents are good friends and we celebrate a few holidays together. Her moms are like my aunts and my dad is like her uncle, in a way.”

Pixel nodded and stared at the pen that Stingy suddenly handed him. He looked over at the trio briefly before signing up as well. He wasn’t sure if he really wanted to, but he also hated not having friends, and joining a club with them was like signing a contract that they would be friends, for at least a few years, right?

He silently joined the group and listened to them talk as they all entered the lunch line.

Before long, the group had finished eating and hurried out to recess.

Shyly, Pixel asked the trio he played with if he could join and they gleefully let him. The game quickly became eccentric and creative, with the group pretending to be knights and ATP cells. They had a war to cause Rigor Mortis in the princess Rigor Morticia, which Stephanie happily played the part of.

When recess ended and the group headed inside to their next class, Stephanie started to dread the following lecture, upon seeing none other than Gabe sitting in the seat directly behind hers. She sat next to Trixie anyways, ignoring the boy’s pestering glare the best she could. The teacher quickly handed out a simple worksheet with addition problems printed on it and Stephanie got to work.

At first, everything was fine. But then a tap hit her shoulder and she shuddered. “Hey, Steven!”

She kept her eyes on her paper and tried to ignore the taunts. “Steven!” The boy whispered again, causing Trixie to look back at him.

“Leave her alone.” She whisper-shouted, quickly returning to her paper.

A minute passes and a crumpled paper is tossed at her. She unravels the sheet only to see the name ‘Steven’ written in big letters on it. Frustrated, Stephanie crumbled the paper back to its previous state and looks at her paper. Unable to focus on it, Stephanie started writing the name ‘Steven’ over and over in the margins, writing Stephanie above it each time.

Before the girl can blink, the bell rings and the kids all stand up and turn in their finished work. Looking abashedly at her half-finished sheet, Stephanie tiptoed to the front of the room and turns her paper in. A quick glance at it and the teacher stops her. “Stephanie, stay after class, please.”

Trixie sees the scene and loops her arm with the other girl’s. “I have a question, Miss. Can I stay after as well?”

The teacher nods and ushers the rest of the students out of the class. Gabe stayed behind as well, making the same claim as Trixie, who glared at him.

“Stephanie, why did you write your dead name all over your paper? Is something wrong?” The teacher asked softly, putting a gentle hand on the girl’s shoulder, who shuddered at the touch.

“No, Ma'am. Sorry.”

With that, Gabe piped his head over Stephanie’s shoulder, glancing at the paper. He laughed.

“Finally, you know how to write your real name, you drag queen.”

Right away, the teacher snapped her head up and glared at the boy, but before she could speak, Stephanie wailed around and tackled him to the ground.

Trixie cheered the girl on, mocking a wrestling broadcaster as she did, to the horror of the teacher who tried to pull the kids apart but failed when Gabe punched Stephanie in the eye, shocking the woman. Squinting with her other eye, Stephanie hook-punched the boy in the nose. She watched in both delight and fear as blood trickled out of the other child’s nose. At the sight of blood, the teacher roughly pulled the girl off the boy, yelling for another teacher, who quickly ran in and pulled the boy up.

Both kids still struggled against the weight of the adults holding them back, Stephanie giving up first as she realized how much her eye hurt. She held her hand over it as the boy scowled and wiped blood out from under his nose. Stephanie grinned in triumph before the teacher set her down.

“Stephanie! What was that all about?” The teacher asked angrily, grabbing the child by the wrist and causing her to flail.

When the girl didn’t reply, the teacher let go and crossed her arms. “Office! Now!”

Trixie huffed and grabbed her friend’s hand. “What about Gabe?”

She turned to the boy and scowled. “You go to the office as well!” She turned to the other teacher who let go of the boy. “Can you please escort them? I don’t want them to fight on the way.”

The man nodded in reply and ushered the children out of the room and to the office. Trixie followed, worriedly glancing at her friend’s eye. “Man, I think he gave you a black eye.” She whispered to the other girl, causing her to wince.

“I hope not. I don’t know what Uncle Milford will think when he sees it.”

Trixie pouted. “Well, I saw the whole thing, and I know that he deserved it. I even grabbed that paper he tossed at you for proof.”

A soft grin grew on the girl’s face. “You did? You’re the best, Trixie.”

The other girl pulled at her overall straps. “Well, I wouldn’t say that.”

Stephanie stifled a giggle before wincing at her injury again.

When the door opened and revealed the office workers she had grown fond of over the past day, Stephanie hung her head in shame.

“Oh, Stephanie! What did you get yourself into?” Mr. Simpcan asked right away, standing up at his seat and gazing over the desk at the girl.

The teacher escorting them cleared his throat. “These two,” he ushered Stephanie and Gabe forward, “got in a fight in the class room.”

“She started it!” Gabe whined, pointing an accusing finger. “And I’m gonna tell my mom!”

Mr. Simpcan, who was constantly tired of the mother of the boy’s antics, rolled his eyes a bit. “Well, let’s learn exactly what happened before we do that.” He glanced at the three children, pointing at Trixie. “You, pigtails. Can you tell me exactly what happened?”

The girl curtly nodded. “Well, when we were in class, Gabe kept whispering Stephanie’s old boy’s name to her to bother her. At the end of the class, he told called her a drag queen and said that if she were a normal boy people would like her.”

Scoffing, Gabe stomped his foot. “I did not! I would never do that to Stephanie.”

Both girls rolled their eyes. Trixie pulled the crumbled sheet out and handed it to the man. “He even threw this at her.”

Scowling at the paper, he turned his face to the little boy. “Now listen here, Mr.Carter, you march yourself into the nurse’s office. When you’re done you sit in the waiting seats until Mr. Orlando can come and talk to you about discriminating against other students.”

The boy shuddered a bit. “Now, Stephanie, even if what he was doing was wrong, you should’ve told someone instead of beating up another student.”

The girl nodded simply and continued to stare at the floor in shame as Gabe was escorted out of the room and into the nurse’s office.

“Come here, Stephanie.” The girl did as she was told, her friend following. He reached forward and gently moved the girl’s hand, wincing at the sight. “I’m afraid that’s going to become a black eye, sweetheart.” Those words caused the other two office workers to curiously rush over, both of them wincing.

“Oh, Sweetie…” Miss Gooddrop cooed. “Come with me, I’ll help you while the boy’s in the nurse's office.”

The young girl looked to her friend nervously. Miss Gooddrop chuckled. “Your friend can come to, if you really want her to.”

Trixie bounded after the duo, a worried look on her face. The woman opened one of the mini-fridges behind the desk and pulled out an icepack, wrapping it in some of the tissues from her workspace. “Now, hold this on there for a while, alright?”

Stephanie nodded and made her way back to the waiting area, sitting next to her friend. Mr. Simpcan came over to the two girl’s and leaned over them. “I know you want to, Stephanie, but are you sure you’ll be able to make it to the meeting next week? I don’t want you to feel embarrassed in front of all your friends.”

The two girls exchanged glances. “I think I’ll be okay, Mr. Simpcan. I think my friends will all understand. And if not all of them, I’ve at least got Trixie.” She looped her arm with the other girl’s and smiled up at him.

A soft grin emerged on the man’s own face. “Alright, Stephanie. Well, if that boy gives you trouble again, feel free to come and hang out here while we sort stuff out.”

The girl nodded and wiped at her eye.

“Don’t be doing that!” He warned. “It will hurt more later if you scratch at it now.” She pouted up at him for a minute before giggling. The man made his way back to his seat, leaving the two girls alone.

Trixie turned to her friend and smiled. “Man, I gotta say Pinkie, I didn’t think you had it in you.”

Stephanie gave her a prideful smile. “Either did I, but I just couldn’t handle it anymore. He made me feel bad for being me, so I wanted to make him feel bad for being him.”

“Power to Pinkie.” Trixie boasted, causing the pink-haired girl to stifle a giggle. The two continued to chat about what happened until it was finally time for the two to leave the office.

Already, Stephanie felt much better than she did earlier. While her eye was still stinging somewhat, she felt proud of herself, as well. She had finally stood up to the boy who had made her cry multiple times now.

When the school day finally ended, she had completely forgot that her eye was swelling until she stepped into the house, her uncle gasping upon seeing her.

“Stephanie! What happened to you?” The taller man pulled her into the living room, the other two house residents following him curiously and gasping as well.

“Well, there’s this boy who has been picking on me for a few days now, and I just couldn’t help it anymore. He called me Steven today and was making fun of me, so I jumped on him and punched him.”

Sportacus covered his mouth in shock. The other two adults looked worriedly at the girl. “Stephanie…”

Upon hearing the disappointment, Stephanie pulled the crumbled-up piece of paper out of her bag, unraveling it and presenting it to her family. “He threw this at me today in math. That’s the class we fought in.”

Bessie took the paper and grimaced. “I see…” She worriedly looked down at the little girl, running her long fingernails through the child’s hair. “Did you get in trouble?”

Proudly, the girl shook her head. “When I explained everything that happened, they let me off with a warning about beating up other kids and told me to leave the office.” She looked down at her hands. “I kinda wish I told the teacher instead of wailing on him, ‘cause my eye really stings, but it also felt good to wipe that smile off of his face.”

The adults exchanged nervous glances. “This isn’t…you’re not going to be a problem child, are you?” Her uncle asked softly, shocking her.

“No!” She huffed, pulling her feet close to her. “No, of course not, Uncle! This kid has just been picking on me since the first day I went to school! A-and he was calling me by my old name, and it…it made me think of Mom, and I just had to do something… I didn’t want people to think I’m a doormat, Uncle.” The girl didn’t mean to, but she found herself sniveling slightly.

With a glance to the mayor, Sportacus sat next to the girl, pulling her close to him. “No need to cry, Stephanie. We’re not angry.”

The standing man nodded. “We’re really not, Sweetheart. We were just worried. It’s not every day you come home with an eye swelling like a balloon.”

Bessie bit her lip, sitting on the other side of the girl. “Oh, don’t look so upset, Stephie. We’re here for you, darling.”

The girl smiled a bit and gently dabbed her tears away. “I’m sorry. It’s been a long day.”

The group snickered. “We can tell that much.” Sportacus whispered, causing the girl to giggle.

Bessie smoothed the girl’s hair out. “Can you promise us that this was a onetime thing and you won’t go handling these things by yourself anymore, Stephie?”

“Well, I can’t promise…”

Uncle Milford gave the girl a lopsided smile. “Stephanie…”

A giggle escaped the child. “Just kidding!” She slowed her laughter and smiled genuinely. “I promise.” She reached her hand up and pinkie-promised her uncle.

The group sat in silence for a moment before Stephanie spoke up again. “I made a new friend today.” She flapped her hands suddenly. “And all my friends signed up for the LGBTQ club with me!”

Milford smiled awkwardly. “You signed up for a LGBTQ club? I didn’t know the school had one.”

Proudly, Stephanie glanced between her uncle and Sportacus. “They didn’t, but Sportacus helped me suggest it at the PTA meeting!” She grinned up at the said man. “He even said he’s going to help the club with planning. And I found out today we might take a fieldtrip at some point!” She clapped her hands and leaned back, wincing in pain suddenly.

Right away, Bessie stood up to her full height, grabbing the twelve-year old’s hand. “Let’s go get you an ice pack and some Ibuprofen, dear.”

Once the two girls were out of the room, Milford turned to Sportacus, a strained expression on his face. “You helped her make an LGBTQ club?”

Sportacus shrugged. “Look, if it helps, I wasn’t actually going to, but then kids started picking on her at the meeting and I couldn’t help it.” He furrowed his eyebrows. “I’m confused, do you think it’s a bad thing?”

“Well, no, but…” The other man rubbed his temple. “You know, if her parents hear about it, we’ll never hear the end of it...”

Sportacus placed a gentle hand on the other’s shoulder. “I know, but…you should’ve seen the look on her face at the meeting when she realized that people at her school were going to be respecting her.”

Milford looked up at him, a strained smile on his face. “I just don’t know what to do. I don’t want her parents to take her back and force her back into being someone she’s not.”

Sportacus nodded. “We just have to help her now the best we can. Things will work out when we get to them, one way or another.”

The other man chuckled. “You and your optimism…Anyways, I’m getting a headache, I’m going to go and grab an Ibuprofen as well.” He stood up and stopped in the doorway. “Oh, and Sportacus?”

“Hm?”

“Thanks for bonding with her. I don’t think I’d be able to handle this all without you.” With that, he went into the kitchen, leaving the other smiling at the floor.

Chapter Text

Before she could blink, it was time for the first meeting. Stephanie stood in front of the mirror for the millionth time that day, a dress thrown over her shorts.

She huffed and tiptoed into her aunt-like-figure’s office, peeking her head around the corner.

“Miss Bessie?”

The woman looked up from her computer, a soft smile on her face. “Yes, dear?”

The young girl twiddled the hems of the dress in her painted finger tips. “Can you help me pick out an outfit?”

The woman rose to her feet and approached the child, a slightly confused look on her face. “Well, your dress looks fine, darling. What’s wrong with it?”

Stephanie sighed and bit her lip. “Do I look girly enough? I just want people to be sure that I’m a girl.”

Cooing, the woman bent over to be at eyesight with the girl. “You look fine and very pretty, sweetheart. They will be sure.”

Unconvinced, the girl looked down at her outfit. “I don’t feel pretty enough. I’m scared, Miss Bessie.”

Pulling the child into a hug, Bessie stroked the child’s hair. “I know, darling. There’s no need to be scared, though. And to help you see that, how about I do your makeup?” She chuckled and pulled away, pushing hair out of the girl’s eyes. “It will help cover your black eye a little bit, anyways.”

Stephanie nodded. “Thank you, Miss Bessie.” She held the woman’s hand as she was lead to the restroom. Stephanie sat down and relaxed as her makeup was applied.

“Have you been practicing painting your nails?”

Stephanie giggled. “Yeah, I’ve been practicing on them a lot. I even bring my nail polish to school now. I painted my nails and all my friends’ nails at recess.”

Bessie chuckled. “Yeah? That sounds like lots of fun.” A moment passed before a thought crossed the woman’s mind. “You’ve made a few friends now, yeah? What are they like?”

“Well, they’re all really different. I have three friends at school so far.” She smoothed out her dress. “The first friend I made was Trixie. She stood up for me when Gabe was being mean to me.” She paused. “That’s the kid I beat up last week.”

“I assumed. And what about your other friends?”

“Well, Trixie has a brother named Stingy. His real name is Nenni, but everyone calls him Stingy because in 1st grade he stole everyone’s crayons and the teacher told him not to be so stingy.”

Bessie chuckled. “Really? He sure sounds fun to be around.”

“He is!” Stephanie thought of her latest friend. “And then my other friend is named Pixel. He doesn’t talk too much, but when he does, he says really smart stuff. He knows a lot about science. He told us all about Rigor Mortis when we met him.”

A bit surprised, Bessie stopped applying the girl’s eyeshadow for a moment. “He taught you about what now?”

Giggling, Stephanie played with her dress more. “Rigor Mortis! If I remember right it’s when your body goes all stiff when you die.”

Chuckling, Bessie pulled a blush brush out, applying rouge to the girl’s cheeks. “Well, he sounds very smart.”

The girl kicked her legs as the woman finished up the girl’s makeup. “Now, go look in the mirror.”

Hopping off her throne and twirling around in front of the mirror, the girl’s usual jolly expression returned. “I look really pretty!” Her face fell, “just…there’s one problem.”

Bessie joined the young child’s side, confused. “What’s that, sweetheart?”

Stephanie held her finger up and ran it over the developing bump on her throat. “I don’t want people to see my Adam’s apple. Then they’ll know I used to be a boy, no matter how pretty I am. It’s embarrassing.”

Pursing her lips, Bessie knelt down in front of the child. “I’ll help you cover it up if you really want, Stephanie, but do understand that you don’t have to hide it. You’re just as much a girl as any other girl in that school, or in the world for that matter, and you having an Adam’s Apple doesn’t change that.” She ruffled the girl’s hair. “Now, are you sure you want it covered?”

Fidgeting with her dress nervously, Stephanie nodded. “Maybe later I won’t feel bad covering it up, but for now I’d like to. At least until my black eye is gone. I’ll have enough attention on me for that as it is.”

Bessie chuckled. “That’s true.” She raised to her full height, leading the girl by the shoulders to her room. “Now, I believe I have some old chokers. You’re free to take a few, but be careful with them.”

“I will! I promise I won’t break them. I’ll be careful.” Bessie turned around, a magenta colored choker in her hands.

“I’m not worried about you breaking them, darling. They’re very replaceable.” She gently wrapped the jewelry around the young girl’s neck, fastening it with care. “It’s you that it’s irreplaceable. Be careful and if it ever feels too tight, take it off. Your safety should always come first.”

Pouting a bit, Stephanie looked up at her aunt-figure. “But…what if I start feeling really bad, and I feel like everyone is looking at me as a boy?”

Bessie stared thoughtfully at the child. “Then you excuse yourself and find a place where you can be alone to breath. Promise me you’ll do that.” She cupped the child’s face in her hands. “If you promise me anything, promise me that you will try your best to stay safe.”

The girl nodded, rubbing her cheeks as Bessie released them from her grip, causing the woman to laugh. “Was I squeezing too hard?”

Stephanie just gave her a funny smile and skipped into the living room. “Hey Sportacus, is it time to go yet?”

The man sitting on the couch glanced at his phone and smiled at the girl. “It’s little early, but if you’re that excited we can head on there.”

In response, the girl flapped her arms excitedly. “Yes, please!”

With a playful chuckle, Sportacus sprung to his feet, offering the girl his arm. She took it within the blink of an eye and started to pull the man outside.

When the group arrived at the school and found that the club was meeting in the cafeteria, they were a bit taken aback. Stephanie looked up at Mr. Simpcan curiously.

“Mr. Simpcan, why are we meeting in the cafeteria?”

The man awkwardly rubbed the back of his head. “Well, while we would love to meet in a classroom eventually, until we have an exact amount of members, the principal wants us to meet here. If all goes well, we’ll be in our own room in no time. Until then, we’re stuck here.” He looked around at all of the empty tables with an awkward laugh. “But hey, we won’t run out of seats!”

Stephanie giggled. “That’s true!” She looked at her hands and twiddled them. “When do you think the other kids will be getting here?”

The man chuckled. “Well, you guys arrived a bit early. They won’t be here for at least another half hour.”

Stephanie pouted for a moment before grinning again. “Well, do you need to do anything else to prepare for the meeting?”

Grinning down at the child, the office worker nodded. “I was going to put some tablecloths on about two tables so when you guys are eating the snacks I brought for this week it won’t make a huge mess.” He chuckled. “And I still have to get the snacks out of the office and onto the tables, of course.”

Stephanie looked up at Sportacus, pulling at his arm. “Hey, let’s help Mr. Simpcan set up!” Right away, the office worker went to tell Sportacus that he didn’t need to, but before he could finish his sentence, the blue-clad man flashed him a grin.

“That sounds like a great idea, Stephanie! Let’s get to work!”

And with that, the three started to set the tables up so everything looked presentable, and sure enough, the time flew by and the sound of Trixie laughing as she entered the cafeteria sent Stephanie running to her.

“I’m so excited, Trixie! This is going to be really fun!” Stephanie grabbed onto the other girl’s hand and raced over to the tables, leaving her friend’s mothers staring.

The taller mom looked at her wife. “Hey Wanda, isn’t that the little girl that suggested the LGBTQ club to begin with?”

The other glanced over at Stephanie and smiled. “Well, I don’t know how many pink-haired girls are in the school, so I imagine it is.”

The two women approached the other two adults, who were idly chatting away.

Wanda reached her hand out to Sportacus enthusiastically. “Hey, you must be Stephanie’s father! It’s so nice to finally meet you.” When he took her hand and shook it, she went on. “My name is Wanda, and this is my wife, Leia. We’re Trixie’s moms.”

Graciously, Sportacus smiled at the two. “My name’s Sportacus! It’s great to meet you both as well! Stephanie comes home telling me all about Trixie every day. It’s so nice to meet her parents.” After a moment, he glanced over at the girls who were gleefully chatting. “But Stephanie’s not my daughter.”

Surprisingly, the two didn’t seem startled by the name. Instead, they seem preoccupied with the second fact mentioned by the blue-coded guy. Wanda glanced at her wife and back to the man. “If it’s alright for me to ask…”

He gave her an understanding smile. “It’s complicated. Her parents dumped her off at her uncle’s. I’ve always been a close family friend of his, and since he’s so busy, I’m usually the one driving her to things like this.”

The taller woman nodded. “I had no idea the poor girl had to deal with all of that. I hope she’s been adjusting well.”

A fond look settled in the man’s eyes. “Surprisingly, she’s been adjusting wonderfully. Her parents didn’t let her be herself, and they sent the poor girl to her uncle’s to ‘straighten her out.’” A grimace appeared on his lips but quickly vanished. “They didn’t realize that her uncle would have been so supportive. They still haven’t really noticed.”

Wanda sighed sadly at that. “Poor kid. From what Trixie’s told us, she seems like such a dear. It breaks my heart to hear she’s been through so much because of her own parents.”

“Me too.” Sportacus said wistfully, watching the girls laugh at something together. “She seems to happy right now, despite everything.”

Both of the moms nodded in agreement. “She certainly seems like such a strong-willed girl, I hope she’s able to stay that way.” Leia said pitifully. The group stopped talking for a minute when yet another parent and child combo entered the building. Right away, the two women approached the father and started talking to him.

After a minute of staring awkwardly Sportacus joined them. The boy ran off and started talking to the two girls, leaving the parents by the door. The man looks at Sportacus and awkwardly grins. “Ah, I’m guessing you are the parent of the pink-haired child?”

“Not parent, but guardian, yes.” He reached his hand out for the man to shake. “Sportacus.”

“Richard Spoilero.” He looked the blue-clad man up and down with a soft grin. “I’ve heard you and your kiddo helped start this club.”

Sportacus smiled a little wider at him. “That’s true. She heard people in the office considering starting one and brought it up at the PTA meeting.”

“That’s awesome. It gives my son a chance to really interact with other kids. Other than Trixie, he doesn’t usually talk to others.”

The door clicked open again and Pixel entered the room, hurrying over to his friends. Another door click and the parents and children all gathered around the two set up tables, with adults at one and children at another, aside from Mr. Simpcan, who stood in front of the children and went through the LGBTQ acronym letter by letter, explaining the meanings to the kids.

When he was done explaining, he left the kids to their own devices with snacks on the table.

“How about we all introduce ourselves?” Stephanie suggested, eyeing the two unfamiliar girls at the opposite end of the table as her.

Trixie grinned. “Yeah, alright!” She nudged her friend in the side. “You start.”

The kids went one by one telling their name and a little bit about themselves. When it came to the two little girls, one of them looked to the other nervously.

“My name is Tina. This is my sister Gina.” The one with pigtails said suddenly in a soft voice. “She can’t speak right now.”

The mentioned girl turned to her sister and signed something. The other nodded. “She usually uses sign language. Do you guys wanna learn some?”

The kids all glanced at each other before giving the girls a smile. “Sure! That sounds fun.” Stingy said suddenly.

Pixel nodded. “Sometimes I can’t speak either, but I never was taught ASL. It would be cool to learn some.”

Tina smiled. “I think the easiest thing would be to teach you guys how to finger spell. You can learn other signs later, but finger spelling always works.”

The kids all got to work as Tina went through the alphabet, teaching the other kids graciously.

Meanwhile, Sportacus awkwardly sat while the parents had some conversation that seemed a bit mundane to him. Something about a birthday coming up in Richard’s family, and he was inviting Trixie’s mothers. It didn’t concern him, he had to remind himself. He only looked up when the parent at the table who hadn’t spoken nudged Sportacus.

He looked up at the blonde woman, who appologized and offered her hand to him. “Sorry, I don’t think I’ve met you. I know Richard, Wanda, and Leia well enough, as our kids used to play t-ball together, but I don’t recognize you at all. Your Stephanie’s guardian, right?”

Sportacus nodded her hand, thankful for a distraction that didn’t force him to stare at his phone. “Yes, I am. My name’s Marcus, but everyone calls me Sportacus. You are miss Brenda, right?”

She seemed flattered that he knew, and something twisted in his stomach slightly.

“Well, it’s a nice change to meet another single parent.”

That caused Richard to look up towards Sportacus, and he felt a bit flustered with the attention centering on him.

“You’re single?” Richard said confidently, a wide smile on his face. Oh no. Sportacus could feel his face heating up as he nodded.

“I am.”

“That’s too bad. You’re too handsome to be si--”

Sportacus started coughing, silencing the other. “Sorry, there’s uh, a frog in my throat.” He stood up and excused himself, heading to the restroom.

Once alone, he splashed his face with cold water. He hated being flirted with, and especially when everyone else was already staring at him. He was never sure how to react to flirty talk when he wasn’t interested. Distractions seemed necessary.

When he finally decided to return, he immediately noticed a pigtailed child, only slightly older than Stephanie sitting alone at a table far from the other kids. Frowning, he tiptoed over to the kids and motioned Stephanie over.

Pointing out the lonely kid to her, he grimaced. “Maybe you should go ask that little girl to join you guys. I don’t know how long she’s been sitting there for, but she’s all alone.” Stephanie nodded and skipped over to the target, sitting next to her.

Slowly, the other girl looked up at her, a bit taken aback. “Do you need something?”

Stephanie smiled brightly at her, resting her head in her hands. “You seemed lonely. I was wondering what you were doing, sitting her all alone.”

The girl knit her lips into a tight line. “I’m waiting for my dad to finish work.” She looked at her hands. “He’s the janitor.”

Humming, Stephanie gave her a small smile. “Well, there’s no need to wait alone. Would you like to come sit with my friends and I?”

Curiously, the girl peeked over at the table of other children, biting her lip. “I don’t know. I’m not very good at hanging out with people.”

A small frown drew on Stephanie’s lips. “Well, alright. If you change your mind, you can always come join us!”

As Stephanie stood to leave her be, the other girl rose as well. “I-I’ve changed my mind.” Smiling, Stephanie turned around to face her. “I guess I could come join you.”

Stephanie cheered at that and grabbed the other by the arm, excitedly pulling her over to the kid table. As she approached, the table occupants went quiet for a minute at sight of her.

Nervously, the girl glanced around before sitting next to Stephanie. All of a sudden, Trixie grinned and threw her hands into the air. “Hey Rottenella!”

Confused, the kids all glanced between the two. “It’s just Ella now, actually.” The other girl said very politely.

Now Trixie shared everyone’s look. She smiled lopsided and explained. “Ella and I used to hang out a lot and pull pranks on the teacher and other students. I still pull pranks every once in a while,” she looked over at the other girl, “but Ella stopped. She just stopped coming to school all of a sudden one day, and when she came back, she refused to do any pranks.”

The new girl fiddled with the bottom of her skirt. “Well, I just matured some. That’s all.” She cleared her throat and glanced around the table. “So, who are all of you?”

Stephanie smiled and pointed her thumb at herself. “Well, my name is Stephanie. And this is Stingy, Pixel, Gina, and Tina.” She pointed at each member individually. “And you said your name is Ella, right?” The girl nodded. “Well, we’re all happy to meet you, Ella!”

The girl nodded again and looked down at her hands. “So, um…what kind of club is this, anyway?”

Trixie took over again. “Well, this is an LGBTQ club. Do you know what that means?”

Shaking her head, Ella kept her eyes glued to her lap. Trixie went through and explained each letter of the acronym, Ella nodding after each explanation.

Finally, she looked up and around the table again, taking notice of Gina, who was currently signing something to her sister. A small smile lined Ella’s lips. “Oh, you know ASL, too?”

When the little girl shyly glanced at her sister and then to Ella, the older girl took that as a yes and started to fluently sign something to the other. Watching in amazement, the group all went silent until Gina started clapping happily.

“What’d you tell her?” Stephanie asked curiously.

Ella smiled brightly. “I told her that the ribbon in her is very pretty and that I liked it.”

The group all smiled and continued to talk to each other after that, Tina once again going through the finger spelling alphabet for the group, this time Ella going along with her and helping correct the other kids’ simple mistakes.

Suddenly, Tina furrowed her eyebrows. “Hey, Ella?”

The other girl looked up from where she was helping Stingy correct his ‘k’ sign. “Hm?”

“Why haven’t I seen you at school before?” She glanced at Trixie and back to the other girl. “I mean, if you’re not new…”

The other girl sighed. “Well, I don’t usually talk in class…or out of class.” She pulled her hands to her chest. “That’s why I use ASL so much. I don’t really have friends, and I don’t like talking to teachers, so I usually stay quiet.”

A pity-fueled look on her face, Stephanie gently put a hand on the taller girl’s back. “Ella…you’re always welcome to be our friend.” She gave her a small smile. “You’re really smart, and you seem really nice. No one deserves to not have friends.”

The small group perked up, agreeing with their pink-haired friend.

Matter-of-factly, Ella shook her head and brought her voice back to a monotone sound. “Thanks, but…I don’t need friends.” She stared at them all, her eyes unwavering. “I just need my dad.”

As if summoning him, a man suddenly closed the janitor’s closet behind him, locking it up and slowly approaching the girl, who bounded over to him. “You haven’t been waiting too long, have you, Ella?”

The girl shook her head and looped her arm through her father’s. She glanced over her shoulder at the group, which all seemed occupied with practicing ASL except for Stephanie, who curiously and almost pitifully gazed after Ella. When the two caught eyes, the pink-clad girl waved softly. Ella just turned her head and ignored the small bubble in her chest.

Like always, the car ride was silent. Ella snuck a few glances towards her father, wondering to herself what he would think of her possibly joining the club. She quickly decided that asking wasn’t worth it, though; ever since her other father died, her living dad had been such a stickler for her behaving and being polite and reserved, and she hated the idea of disappointing him. He was all she had, after all. She didn’t have time to waste with friends; she had to work hard in school so her dad could be proud.

When the two finally made it home, they heated up tv dinners in the microwave and threw a sitcom on, the sound of a laugh track blaring in the background. As the two sat down to eat in silence like usual, her father spoke up, nearly causing her to choke in surprise.

“Who were those kids you were sitting with?”

Picking at her food nervously, she replied with a distinguished smile. “It was the LGBTQ club. They just started recently, I think.”

Now her father wore a face of surprise. “They started an LGBTQ club? I’m a bit surprised.”

But just like usual, the conversation was dropped and the two continued in silence. Every once in a while, the two would idly chat about their respective days at school and work, but it didn’t feel right. The conversation was never warm and always was spoken as if they were neighbors or in-laws, and not daughter and father.

Ever since her father died their home life wasn’t the same. It was strained and cold, and the remaining father and daughter duo rarely did things that they both longed for. Of course Ella wanted to have friends, but she felt as if it wasn’t worth it. Everyone she ever felt close to, both of her fathers, either died or pushed her away. She used to have friends at school, but even they didn’t know what to say and therefore didn’t talk to her when she returned. There were nights she stared at the ceiling wishing she wouldn’t fall asleep in fear of being happy in her dreams and only waking to the dull life she lived now.

Part of her knew that meant something was wrong. She had heard of the strange pink-haired girls home-life from the gossiping parents near her, but still the odd girl laughed and smiled at her. Ella couldn’t help but feel the bitter taste of jealousy being left in her mouth as she took the last bite of her dinner. Maybe she was still rotten, to some extent. She wondered if other little girls thought such horrible things. Tossing the box away, she announced she was going to her room, leaving her father alone.

Sitting up against the back of her bed, the girl pulled her shoes off and stretched her legs out. She really did want to join the club. She couldn’t remember what it felt like to be so appreciated, like she felt today. It was so refreshing and shook her out of her shell. The girl stood up and turned her cd player on, slowly starting to dance around the room.

The one part from her life before that the girl didn’t lose was her love for dancing. While she didn’t do it as often as she used to, she still had a natural affinity for it. She hummed along to the song and kept dancing as it ended and progressed to the next tune. Once the cd finished, she rested against the wall and smiled to herself.

She needed to ask.

Even if she wasn’t allowed to join, she needed to try. Tip-toeing out of the room and back to the living room, she spotted the silhouette of her father sitting on the couch, lit up by only the lights flickering from the television.

With a deep breath, she approached the figure and stopped behind it. “Dad? Can I join the LGBTQ club, please?” When no answer came, she cleared her throat. “Please?” Her voice felt as small as a mouse as she peeked over the couch and saw that her father’s eyes were sewn shut, his mouth falling agape. Sighing, she pulled a blanket out of his room and to the couch, tucking her dad in.

“He wouldn’t let me join, anyway.” She whispered to herself, as she quietly made her way back into her room, flopping down on her bed ungracefully. Holding her pillow close to her face, she whispered her insecurities into it starting with the one she whispered mere minutes ago, continuing on with, “they don’t want me to join” and so on until sleep carried her away to a world where her other father was still alive, and everything felt better.

Chapter Text

Stephanie sat with her friends at lunch as usual, the two little sisters from the night before joining the table. While there were still many empty seats, the pink-haired girl couldn’t help but feel as if the table was full, with how much happier she had been since she transferred.

Today, Pixel came into class with a list of his favorite subjects in science, and the boy hurriedly rambled on about evolution and about how he was upset that he wasn’t taught about it earlier due to irritated parents rioting against it in the PTA years prior. The table nodded along and listened intently until Stephanie looked up and saw Ella approaching the table shyly, a brown paper bag knit tightly in her hands, and gasped aloud. Each head at the table looked curiously in the direction Stephanie was staring. The children smiled up openly at her, causing the girl to stop in her tracks and stare abashedly at her feet. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea. She didn’t need friends after all, right? She mentally scolded herself and bit her lip, frozen to her spot, before she looked up and saw the strange pink-haired girl skipping over to her, gleefully tugging her to the table as if she were pulling her in from sea.

Taking a deep breath, Ella sat down next to Stephanie, watching in silence for a moment as Pixel continued talking. Suddenly, the girl smiled slightly.

“That bothered me, too. I used to love science class. I love engineering the most, though.” She said politely, watching as Pixel exploded into glee, going on about engineering. It was apparently one of his favorite science subjects, as well.

Once the two were done chatting, Stephanie bumped in. “Hey, Ella, so what kind of games do you like to play?”

“Games…?” The girl’s face fell. “Well, truthfully, I don’t really play games. I like playing with dolls a lot, and sometimes I like playing with trucks. I don’t really play games, though.”

Nodding, Stephanie cleared her throat. “Well, surely there’s some sort of sport you like, right?” She smiled, going on matter-of-factly, “everyone likes some sort of sport.”

Ella bit her lip. “Well, I guess I do like dancing. That’s a sport, right?”

An excited grin spread across Stephanie’s face. “Of course it is!” Her face faltered a bit. “But I’ve never seen you at recess. Where do you play at?”

A sly smile appeared on the other girl’s face. “Well, I have a secret place where I dance on the playground.”

Surprised, Trixie launched forward. “A secret? Well, now you gotta show us!”

Stingy rolled his eyes. “She doesn’t have to do anything.” He smiled coyly. “But, I would be delighted to see some of your dance moves, Ella.”

Shyly, the girl nodded and poked at her food. “Alright, I guess I could show you. But you all have to keep it a secret! I don’t want people to start playing in there and making it messy.”

The group nodded. Suddenly, a bell rang loudly in the ears of the kids, surprising them. Quickly, they all threw their trash away and hurried out to the playground.

Once outside, Ella glanced around and made sure the majority of the other children were distracted with their own games and toys as she turned to the group following her. With a silent shushing motion, she led them to the supply closet, where all the basketballs and hula hoops were brought after recess.

Trixie glanced around, unimpressed. “The supply closet?” She crossed her arms. “Really interesting, Ella.”

Rolling her eyes, the little girl pulled a keychain out of her sock, unlocking one of the doors in the small room. “It’s a spare janitor’s closet.” She said simply, leading the group into a tiny room with empty shelves, aside from a small cd player on one of them. Once inside, the kids all pinched their noses aside from Ella, who looked confused for a minute before giggling. “Oh, you’ll get used to it. It‘s just what wet mops smell like.”

Scoffing, Stingy glanced around the dusty room, cringing slightly. “I don’t know if I could ever get used to it. How do you deal with this?”

Ella shrugged. “My dad’s a janitor. It used to be really bad, when he came home smelling like vomit and dust every day,” the girl explained, plugging the cd player in, “but I just got used to it. I had to.” She explained.

Still slightly appalled, Stingy force a small smile. “Well, can you show us your dancing?”

The girl nodded, pressing a button on her cd player. “Of course I can. Just watch closely.” And with that, the girl started doing her ballet-styled moves, humming to the tune of the song, her face void of expression. As the song ended, she slid down into a split, throwing her hands up as if in celebration when she ended it.

Right away, the small group of kids in the room applauded her, both Stingy and Stephanie launching forward towards her. “Can you show us how to dance like that sometimes?” Stingy pleaded instantly, surprising the girl as she slowly brought herself to her knees and then to her feet.

“Well, I guess I could show you sometime, if you’re really sure you want me to teach you.” She shyly squeezed her hands together, not making eye contact with the two over-enthusiastic kids. The other kids just smiled and nodded. They were clearly not as interested.

Stingy rolled his eyes. “Well of course we want you to show us! You’re amazing!”

Stephanie nodded, flapping her arms slightly. “Yeah, I’ve only seen people dance like that on tv!” She grabbed the girl’s hand, holding it in between both of her own, “I’d especially love to learn to do the splits. Then I can live up to my last name, Splitz!”

Abashedly, the girl rubbed the back of her head. “Well, I’d be happy to show you. Maybe not here, though. It’s much too small of a room for this many people dancing.”

Stephanie nodded in agreement. “Well, do you wanna come play with us?”

Ella bit her lip and gazed towards the door before shaking her head. “No thank you. I want to stay in here.”

One by one, the kids exited the small building and went back out onto the playground, until it was just Stephanie and Ella. A tender, pitiful smile on her face, Stephanie reached out and grabbed Ella’s hand again. “Are you sure you want to play all alone? I could stay in here at least, if you want me to.”

Smiling slightly, Ella shook her head. “No thank you. I just want to dance alone for right now, if that’s alright.”

“Of course!” Stephanie said softly, closing the door behind her gently, leaving the purple-printed ballet dancer alone.

Once again, as the group left her, she found herself grinning as she danced. As the song ended and she miss-stepped, she couldn’t help but feel giggles erupt from her chest like little butterflies. She covered her mouth and felt strange. She liked those kids. They made her smile, and she couldn’t help but feel more relaxed in their presence. With a soft smile, Ella tiptoed to the exit of the small building and peeked out of the door, she watched the group laugh and toss a ball, finding herself longing to join.

Before she could, however, the bell rang loudly in her ears, and the kids all started to run for the main building. Staring at her feet, Ella let them carry her until she found herself walking next to Stephanie again. Silently, she reached forward and grabbed the other girl’s arm, pulling her back so that they were looking at each other. “Hey…if you and Stingy want me to teach you to…um…” She found herself staring at the girl’s arm helplessly. She knew what she wanted to say, but the words stuck to the roof of her mouth.

As if somehow reading the other’s mind, Stephanie suddenly sprang to life. “Maybe we could have a sleepover sometime!”

Ella’s eyes flicked up at the other, shining slightly. Nodding, she agreed, as Stephanie alerted the rest of the group and suggested a slumber party at her house. Breathing slowly, Ella relaxed and let a smile crawl onto her lips.

It had been years since she had went to a slumber party. She couldn’t help but feel happiness leaking into her bones like spilled pink paint.

“I don’t know if I’ll be able to stay the night, but I can definitely come over.” Ella said politely, a curt smile appearing on her lips.

“Maybe we could even do it after this week’s meeting!” Stephanie added, happily flapping her arms about at the idea. Her friends all agreed and the group went inside for the rest of the school day.

When Stephanie arrived home, she bounded over to her uncle and asked sweetly if she could have friends over later in the week. Once he told her that it was up to Sportacus as he would most likely be busy the entire time, the blue-clad man glanced up from his newspaper and watched as the child pushed her bottom lip out, pouting at him.

Sportacus chuckled and nodded, setting his paper down. “Well, of course you can have friends over. How many are there, though? You keep making them so fast.”

With pride at the comment, Stephanie held up six fingers.

Sportacus chuckled again. “Six? You’ve already made six friends?” Stephanie nodded, showing off her teeth with glee. “So, that’s the LGBTQ club and who else?”

“That girl that came and sat with us last Friday. She sat with us at lunch today, and she’s really good at dancing. She says she’s going to show me and Stingy how to dance!” The little girl flapped her hands excitedly at the idea. “Her name is Ella!”

“I’m so proud of you, Steph! I had a feeling you two would be friends when I saw you two talking last time. I’m happy this is all working out.” He nuzzled the girl’s hair. “It seems you’ve really liked staying here so far.”

That caused Milford, who had been writing something down, look up from his paper and glance between the two nervously. He knew this was a touchy subject. Gritting his teeth together, he shot Sportacus a look for bringing it up, but the other man didn’t seem to notice.

“Yeah, I do like it here.” Stephanie’s smile faltered a bit, to one of a content little girl instead of an excited one. “I still miss my mom and dad, and my little sister, too, but…my parents don’t seem to miss me that much.”

“They do miss you, Stephanie. They’re just a little lost right now.” Her uncle said softly, raising to his feet, the little girl gazing up at the man’s soft expression sadly.

She bit her lip and looked at her shoes. “They miss Steven, not Stephanie.” The little girl kicked at one of the legs of the table. “That’s who they love.”

Milford sighed. He didn’t know what else to say. Glancing at Sportacus, he figured he didn’t know either.

But, still, Sportacus surprised him as he set a gentle hand on Stephanie’s shoulder, pulling her against him. “They’ll learn to love you. The same way you learned to make friends and be yourself. It just takes time.”

Nodding, Stephanie squeezed the man’s sides tightly. “What if they don’t?”

Milford sat back down silently, rubbing his temples. He wanted to hold his niece and promise that they will, but the trust he had in his sister had been slowly diminishing like a flame as he saw his niece’s own bond with her mother breaking.

“We will be here, then. But, don’t think like that. Always have hope.” Sportacus whispered softly, reaching down and lifting the girl up, causing a gasp to escape her throat. “Now, we have some slumber party planning to do, don’t we?”

The girl giggled as she was carried into the living room and gently set on the couch as Sportacus retrieved a notebook and pen for a list of items they would need. The two finished their list swiftly and as Stephanie was tucked in to bed, she pulled Sportacus into one last hug and thanked him.

Sheepishly, he told her there was no need to thank him. When she lay down to sleep, she felt as if she would drift off easily, but sleep kept escaping her.

With a determined pout, she snuck out of bed with her toy dinosaur and tiptoed down the stairs, sitting next to Sportacus on the couch, who was once watching cartoons. She leaned against him and as she was dozing off, he nudged her.

“Hey, do you want to see a trick?” He asked her quietly, the girl nodding eagerly, a small yawn leaving her mouth.

With an overconfident grin, Sportacus stood up and tiptoed over to the center of the room. Once he was sure he had the girl’s full attention, he bent over and placed his hands on the ground, lifting all of his body weight up. The girl stared in disbelief as he walked over to her on his hands confidently bending his legs and throwing himself back onto his feet.

“Can you teach me how to walk on my hands, Sportacus?” She asked tiredly, as he lifted her up once again.

“Maybe some time. If you’re serious about learning to dance, it’s good to know how to do things like walk on your hands and cartwheels. Do you know how to do a cartwheel?”

Stephanie grinned. “No, not really. My mom always thought boys shouldn’t dance, so she never let me learn.”

With a sheepish grin, he lowered the girl into her bed and ruffled her hair. “Well, we understand that you’re a girl here. And if that means you want to learn how to do a cartwheel, I’ll gladly teach you.” He leaned forward and whispered to her, “But anyone can learn to do cartwheels, of course, not just girls. That’s why I know.”

She giggled and nodded. “You know because you’re Sportasilly, and you know a lot of weird things.”

Rolling his eyes gently, he handed the girl her plush dinosaur and watched as she snuggled up to it right away. “That’s true. Well, you get some good sleep tonight. Every day is a new chance, and who knows, maybe by the time Friday rolls around, you’ll have even more friends coming over.”

A broad smile broke out onto Stephanie’s face. “That would be really cool, but I already have seven friends.”

He furrowed his eyebrows. “Earlier you said six. Did you forget someone?”

“No, I added someone.” Her smile faltered again, back to its content state. “I added you to my list.”

Cooing at that, Sportacus leaned down and gave the girl another hug before standing up and backflipping to the doorway, leaving the child clapping and cheering him on. “Sleep well, Stephanie!”

Yawning, the girl murmured “you, too” before relaxing against her pillow and falling into her dreams.

The week passed by quickly, and before she realized it, Friday had arrived. The day sped by quickly and after the meeting, the club plus Ella came over, their parents with them. All the adults sat chatting in the living room while Stephanie led the children throughout the house and showed them where all the rooms were.

Once all the kids knew where everything was, Stephanie led the group to her room. She flicked her cd player on and stuffed a random cd into it that Sportacus had let her borrow.

Right away, Ella started her lesson to Stingy, Stephanie, and the two twin sisters, while Trixie and Pixel started plugging up a game system to the small tv in the room. After about an our of dancing and gaming, the kids all headed down stairs and ate the pizza that Sportacus had ordered.

Stephanie sat next to Ella and leaned over to the other girl. “So, are you able to stay the night?”

The pigtailed girl looked up and gave the other an embarrassed smile. “I’m not. My dad and I always spend all Saturday watching movies together, and I have trouble sleeping at other people’s houses.” She twisted her legs together under the table. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay. I don’t usually like sleeping at other people’s houses, either.” Stephanie said, sipping her coke with a smile. “But you and your dad watch movies all day?”

Ella smiled coyly and nodded. “It’s not as fun as it used to be when my other dad was alive, but it’s like tradition for us, so we always do it.” Her smile grew a bit as she stirred her straw around. “Tomorrow will be a scary movie marathon. We only do those once a month.”

Stephanie’s mouth fell open. “Your dad lets you watch scary movies?”

A giggle escaped the other’s mouth. “Well, yeah! Only if he’s watching it with me, though.”

“That sounds like a lot of fun.” Stephanie said, kicking her legs jubilantly.

A sad expression crossed Ella’s face. “It’s not as fun as it sounds. My dad doesn’t laugh a lot, but sometimes he’ll laugh a little during a movie, and that makes me really happy, but it still makes me sad, for the most part.”

Confused, Stephanie sat her drink down on the table, putting a soft hand on the other girl’s shoulder. “Why does that make you sad?”

“It used to be a lot of fun. When my other dad was alive, he would pop popcorn on the stove, and we would all make a fort together and sit in it while we watch the movies. When it was all over, we would put on a Disney movie or some other movie that we wouldn’t pay much attention to, and we would all fall asleep to it. Now we just sit on the couch with microwave popcorn, and when the movies are over we go back to our rooms.”

Stephanie rubbed a circle in her friend’s back, a look of pity on her face. “I think I get what you mean. Not exactly, but with how my mom used to treat me and how she treats me…sometimes she feels like two different people. Parents are weird.”

“Agreed.” Ella said softly, going back to her drink and trying to distract herself from the memories circling around like birds over her head. Suddenly, an idea hit her, and she sat forward. “Hey, do you think if I ask my dad, I can join the LGBTQ club?” She twiddled her hands together. “I mean, if that’s alright. I want to join, but if I’m not welcome, I understand. I know I can be—”

Stephanie cut her off. “Of course you can join.” She grabbed the other girl’s hand. “You’re always welcome.”

Ella smiled for a moment before her grin fell. “Will you…uhm, will you come with me?”

Stephanie bit her lip at that. She didn’t know Ella’s dad at all, and he seemed intimidating the last time she saw him. She glanced into the living room and back to Ella. “How about I go ask Sportacus to help us? He’s brave and can ask your dad for us.”

Ella nodded, peaking into the living room as well.

“I’ll go get him. Stay right here!” Stephanie insisted, tiptoeing into the room and tapping Sportacus’ shoulder. “Hey, Sportacus, can I talk to you in the kitchen?” She whispered, and the man smiled and followed her happily.

“What’s up, Steph?” Sportacus asked once they were safely in the kitchen. He relaxed a bit right away. Being around kids sloppily eating pizza and laughing loudly was a lot easier than being around adults who dramatically drank water like it was wine and bragged about their job or their kids.

Ella cleared her throat and shyly looked up at Sportacus. “We were wondering…um, I want to join the LGBTQ club, but…” She wringed her hands nervously. “I’m scared to ask my dad.”

“Can you please ask him instead?” Stephanie piped in, smiling sweetly up at the blue-clad man.

Sportacus nodded and made his way back to the room. He tapped the other man’s shoulder and said something the girls couldn’t make out before the two of them made their way to another room. Ella exchanged looks with the girl beside her and they came to a silent agreement to follow the two men.

Quietly, they made their way into the living room and followed the two adults. Ella peeked into the room, Stephanie copying the move, as the two men talked.

“I was wondering if it would be alright for Ella to join the LGBTQ club with the other kids.” Sportacus said, grinning up at the man. Was he always this tall? He couldn’t help but sweat slightly under the man’s strict gaze.

The other man sighed, rubbing his temple. “I don’t know. I’ll have to think about it.” With that, Ella started to tear up slightly.

She looked over towards Stephanie, who gently grabbed her hand again. “He’s never going to let me join. He never lets me do anything.” She cried softly, wiping her eyes.

“Well, she’s really been getting along with the other kids. If it conflicts with your schedule, I’d be happy to work something out—” Sportacus reasoned, but it was too late. Ella was full on sobbing, making no attempt to quiet herself, attracting the attention of the two men and the rest of the adults in the room over.

“I’m a good kid now! Why can’t I join? The kids are all nice to me, and I’ve actually been making friends!” The girl full on wailed now, snot dripping down her face ungracefully as struggled to wipe it away. “Don’t you want me to make friends, Dad? Just because you don’t want friends doesn’t mean I don’t want any! I wanna get better, Dad, I do. I’m tired of being lonely. Why do you hate me?” She whined out through gulps of breath, the rest of the adults now standing in the doorway, confused.

Sportacus looked to the adult man beside him, who just stared in shock. Clearing his throat, Sportacus knelt down, setting his arms tenderly on the girl’s shoulders. “I’m sure your dad doesn’t hate you, Ella. There’s no need to be so upset.”

“Yes he does. He doesn’t love me at all anymore, he doesn’t…” she cried more quietly now, though her cries were still separated by large breaths of air.

Robbie could still only stare in raw disbelief. He knew that he had a hard time bonding with his daughter since his husband died, but he didn’t realize how badly it had been hurting her.

Slowly, Wanda and Leia approached the crying girl and joined Sportacus in kneeling down to her level. Leia pulled tissues out of her purse and Wanda rubbed the girl’s back, whispering words of comfort the same way Sportacus did.

The other parents joined them, and soon all the adults were on the floor, comforting the girl in some way, except for Robbie, who still stared in shock. Once the shock wore off, he realized how badly he wanted to burst into sobs the same way his daughter did, but a look around the room full of adults who would forever judge him stopped him. He knew that if he opened his mouth a sob would escape, though, so he did the only option circling around his mind and stormed out of the room.

Confused, Sportacus stared after him and stood up, following the other man out of the room. “Wait, Mr. Rotten—” He gently grabbed the other man’s wrist, causing him to stop walking. The other man whipped his entire body around and stared down at him, yanking his wrist away from him.

He managed out an irritated growl of the word, ‘what’ but nothing else.

Sportacus bit his lip and motioned back to the other room. “She needs you.”

Robbie’s face softened slightly before he realized there were definitely tears in his eyes. He pushed the other man back slightly and turned back around, storming out of the house.

The kids all heard the commotion and made their way into the hallway, staring up at Sportacus curiously before making their way into the other room, joining in and comforting Ella.

After a moment of staring at the door the man had stormed out of, Sportacus turned around and joined the group again.

Once Ella had dried her tears up, she peeked out the front door and could see the silhouette of her father in the car, the lights all on. She watched him for a moment as he buried his face in his hands at first and then leaned his full body weight against the steering wheel, hiding his face in his arms.

Biting her lip, the girl bid her friends good-bye and left the house, the parents staring after the girl in pity.

Sportacus sat amongst the adults who now freely gossiped about the man and his daughter, leaving Sportacus speechless. With a soft sigh, he left the room and joined the kids in the kitchen instead.

Sitting next to Stephanie, Sportacus looked down at her with gentle eyes, the girl smiling tenderly. He sat with the children, eating a slice of pizza himself, listening to them chat.

“I don’t know, Mr. Rotten seemed really mean.” Trixie said to Pixel, poking at her pizza.

Stingy nodded in agreement. “He wouldn’t even hug her!”

“I don’t know…” Stephanie said softly, rubbing her hands together to stay stimulated under the stress. “He seemed sad, too.”

A bit taken aback, Trixie crossed her arms. “What makes you think that?”

“Well, his lips shook a lot, like someone who is about to cry. I think he was sad like Ella.” She pulled her Coca-Cola toward her. “Ella says her and her dad have it tough, because she used to have two dads, but one of them died.”

Trixie nodded sadly. “If one of my parents died, I would be sad, too.” She said matter-of-factly, gazing sadly upon her pizza.

Nodding along, the other kids agreed. “I think you’re right, Stephanie. When I followed him, he looked really heartbroken. I can’t imagine being in his shoes.”

Clearing his throat, Pixel added on. “Me neither. That must be very hard, losing someone so important to your everyday life.”

The kids nodded again and went back to small talk to cheer themselves up. Sportacus listened closely and joined in, feeling much more relaxed around the kids than the adults.

When it came time for the parents to leave, the two twins ended up too afraid to stay and went home with their mom. The rest of the kids clambered up the stairs and watched a movie before all sleeping on the floor in their sleeping bags.

Meanwhile, Ella sat in the car with her father as he drove the two home in silence. “Are you mad at me, Dad?” The girl asked softly, peeking over at her father. “I didn’t want to embarrass you or anything.”

The man kept his eyes on the road, his mind still cloudy. “I’m not mad at you.” He glanced over, inwardly sighing. He hated seeing his daughter sad. “But, that Sportaweirdo did make me a little upset.”

Ella found herself smiling slightly. “Why did Sportacus make you upset?”

“He came in and asked if you could join his little club the first place.”

Ella knit her hands together. “That’s because I asked him to.”

A bit taken aback, Robbie tightened his grip on the wheel. “Why didn’t you just ask me yourself?”

“I thought if someone you didn’t know well asked you’d be more likely to say yes.” Ella tightened her seat belt. “Sorry, Dad.”

“Don’t apologize to me.” He practically ordered, causing her to smile slightly again. “But you don’t have to be afraid of me, Ella.”

“I know, I just…” She stared down at her hands. “I’m just tired of being sad all the time. I want to join the club so I can have friends.” Gazing out the window, she found herself tearing up slightly. “But I should’ve known you would say no.”

Hurt by the words, Robbie went silent for another moment before replying. “You can join.”

Surprised, the girl wiped the tears away and sat up in her seat. “Really?”

“Yeah, I guess, if it will make you happy again.”

A broad smile grew on the girl’s face, and as Robbie caught a glimpse of it in the mirror, he found himself smiling, too. “Thank you so much, Dad!”

Robbie rolled his eyes slightly. “Don’t thank me, either.”

Ella giggled slightly before slouching over again slightly. “And Dad?”

“Hm?”

“Can we turn the radio on?” Ella tested in a quiet tone. The two rarely used the car’s radio—they had barely used it three times since their other family member had passed away—so it rightfully caused Robbie to look back into the mirror again, biting his lip.

Part of him didn’t feel ready too, but he nodded and reached over and flicked it on, finding a station that played soft pop music, relaxing a bit at the sight of his daughter smiling widely. It felt as if it had been way too long since he saw her smile, and if he wasn’t driving, he would willingly stare for hours.

Ella leaned back in her seat and yawned—crying always wore her out—before closing her eyes and listening to the soft rhythm flowing from the radio.

When the two had arrived home, Robbie had to carry his daughter inside. He set her down in her bed gently, ready to leave the room, when a small voice made him turn his head around. “Dad…can you tuck me in?”

Swallowing hard, Robbie made his way over to his daughter’s bedside and did as he was asked, tucking the blankets tenderly to his daughter’s side. Once she was fully engulfed in her blankets, Robbie leaned forward and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead. Within minutes, Ella found herself dozing off, much faster than she had been for years.

Chapter Text

When Ella woke up the next morning and shyly made her way to the living room, she feared the worst. Memories of her argument with her dad the night before flooded back to her and she couldn’t help but feel nervous as she peeked her head into the room and to once again find him sitting on the couch, hunched over slightly.

As quietly as she could, Ella made her way around the couch and sat next to her father, her eyes focused forwards like his, peeking over at him slightly.

“Are you ready to start our marathon?” She asked suddenly, startling the man, his eyes snapping over to her.

After of staring for a moment with his tongue in is cheek he looked back at his hands. “Well…how about I go get our popcorn ready first? You can pick out the first movie while I’m doing that.”

Ella nodded and took the remote, skimming through the Netflix selection eagerly. She settled on some Disney movie she didn’t recognize—Brother Bear, or something—and clicked on it, readying it for their marathon.

Curiously, she eased her way into the kitchen when she noticed her father standing at the stove. “What are you doing?” Her voice traveled softly across the room, bringing the man’s eyes back to her.

“I thought about what you said yesterday, and…Ella, I want to get better, too. So, I thought maybe we could start by doing something we used to do with Dad.” His eyes turned to the stove as he poured about a bag’s worth of kernels into the little pot with buttery oil.

Right away, Ella felt tears trickling out of her eyes. A broad smile spread on her face, and she raced over to him, hugging his waist.

The man breathed in slowly and lightly rubbed her shoulders, giving her a wry smile as he turned his attention back to the stove.

“Can we built a fort, too?”

Robbie was prepared to decline, giving some sort of excuse about his age or whatnot, but when he turned to reply his eyes stopped on his daughter’s smile and he couldn’t help but give in. “I…guess we could do that.”

Once again, the girl started to cry tears of joy and nostalgia, squeezing her father tightly in her arms, before racing into the living room to get started on their fortress. He could only stare after her before the first ‘pop’ from the stove diverted his attention away.

When the popcorn was done, he tossed it into a large bowl and made his way into the living room, where blankets, pillows, and chairs were strewn around the room, creating a large fort in the middle of the room.

With a soft smile, he silently joined his daughter within the fort, leaning on his side. “The popcorn burnt a little, I hope that’s alright.”

She popped a piece into her mouth anyways. “That’s alright, Dad. It tastes better burnt”

The two sat in the darkened castle and watched the movie drag on before throwing on another, and another. By the time they were on their fourth movie, Ella found herself growing emotional at the Hallmark film they threw on.

“What’s wrong, Ella?” Robbie asked gently, sending his daughter a confused look as she curled up at his side.

“You didn’t—you won’t forget about me, will you?” Her words were quiet and uncertain, and her eyes wouldn’t meet his.

“Ella? Where’d that come from?” He asked softly, reaching forward and rubbing his daughter’s shoulder. “Why’d you think that all of a sudden?”

Ella bit her lip and glanced up at her father before darting her eyes back down, focusing on the ground. “You…you forgot about Dad, didn’t you?” She hugged herself. “You won’t forget about me, too, will you?”

Robbie stared for a moment before shaking his head rapidly. “I’ll never forget about your father. And I won’t forget about you, either, El.”

Her eyes flew back up and caught with her father’s, her lip still being dug into by her teeth. “Why don’t we do stuff like this anymore, then?” She knit her hands together nervously. “I mean, we’re only doing this because we fought yesterday, right?”

Robbie stared at his own hands for a moment, returning them to his own side. “No, of course not, El.” He forced out, a heartbroken tone in his voice. “We’re doing this because we want to get better. That’s what you want, right?”

“Of course, but…” Ella trailed off, shaking her head softly. “Is that what you want, Dad? I want to get better, but…can we get better?”

“What do you mean?” Robbie whispered gently, reaching his hand forward and resting it on his daughter’s arm. “Of course we can get better.”

Tears trickled down Ella’s face. “Then why haven’t we? It’s been so long, Dad, and I still feel sad. I still wake up and miss him.” She couldn’t help but sob a little at her own words, her own memories flooding back with them.

Robbie stayed silent, unsure of what to say. He felt the same way as his daughter, so how was he supposed to comfort her? “I… I know, El, but…we have to keep trying. People always say it gets better, so we just have to keep going until it works.”

Ella sobbed angrily, shuddering violently. “I just want him to come back.” She whisper-shouted, the words sounding hoarse and pleading.

Robbie couldn’t handle it anymore. Tears fell down his face and he leaned forward, pulling the small girl into his arms. “I know, Ella, I know.”

She looked up between sobs, staring in disbelief. “Dad, are you crying, too?”

He didn’t answer and just hugged the child tightly, sobbing into her hair. She took that as a yes and buried her face in her father’s chest. “I miss him, too, El, I miss him so much.” He tremored against her and she trembled back, the two ceasing their conversation as they just held each other and bawled.

When the two finally stopped, they lay down in their fort, both feeling defeated and lifeless. After minutes of staring at the other, Ella finally spoke up. “I didn’t know you were as sad as I am, Dad. You never cry.” She said the words in a depressed, matter-of-fact way.

Robbie nodded and reached forward, gently brushing his fingers through her hair. “Of course we’re both upset, El.” He rested his hand on her ear. “I just try to be strong for you. I do cry. I cry a lot, in fact. I just try to not cry in front of you.”

She scooted closer to him. “Crying is alright, Dad. You’re still just as strong if you cry.” She smiled up at her father. He gave her an awkward grin as a thank you and nodded softly.

“Dad?” She asked gently, pulling her knees close to her body. “I know we’ll ever see him on earth again, but…is heaven real?”

Her father sighed, pulling his daughter closer so that her head was on his chest. “I can’t promise to you that it is, but…I think it is.” He kissed the top of her head. “And I think one day we will all be together again.”

She sniffled a little at that and hugged him tightly. “Do you think he’ll remember me?”

Robbie pushed the girl’s head back slightly so they could look at each other. “Of course he’ll remember you. Why wouldn’t he?”

“Well, I’ve read before that people in heaven don’t remember anything, so they’re not sad anymore.” She whispered up to him, her eyes watering slightly. “They especially don’t remember bad things, or bad people…I’m not bad, am I?”

Shaking his head, Robbie pushed the child’s bangs back. “That’s not true. They remember what and who made them happy, knowing that they will see everyone again someday.” He kissed her head again. “Plus, you’re a good kid. Why would you think otherwise?”

“Well, when Dad died, he told me to be good…why would he say that if I was already good?” She confided, taking a deep breath. “It was because of how I used to play pranks on other kids, wasn’t it?”

A soft smile lined Robbie’s lips. “El, he loved your pranks. He knew you were good. He just meant keep being good.” His smile faltered. “Is that why you stopped playing pranks?”

She nodded and tiredly lay her head against her father’s chest.

“He always thought you were silly and goofy, but never bad. I promise.”

A small grin grew on the girl’s face. “Do you remember when we all went out for pizza and when Dad went to pour Parmesan cheese on his slice, and the lid fell off and buried his pizza?” She giggled slightly. “I never told you, but I did that.”

“I figured. Do you remember the look on his face?” Robbie couldn’t help but smile down at his daughter, his eyes softening at the memory.

She simply laughed and nodded tiredly.

“Do you still want to be a comedian when you grow up?”

Her face fell slightly. “Kind of. I love making people laugh, but…I wanna do something that would make Dad even more proud.”

Robbie sighed, rubbing his daughter’s back. “He’s proud of you no matter what you choose to be, as long as you are trying.”

“What about when I’m not trying?”

Another sigh escaped the man’s lips. “Whether or not you realize it, you are always trying. Sometimes you just don’t notice you are.”

She rolled her eyes. “Whatever, Dad.”

He laughed lightly and sighed again, this time in content. She yawned, and he glimpsed down at her as she closed her eyes. “Night, El.”

“It’s one o’ clock, but I am taking a nap.” She said in a prudery tone, giving her father a coy smile. “Night, Dad.”

Within minutes, the girl had fallen fast asleep, and her father followed suit.

As she woke up half an hour later, she kept her eyes closed and could almost swear there were two pairs of arms holding her tightly. Scared to open her eyes without her late father there, however, she forced herself to fall back asleep against her father’s heart, listening to it’s rhythm and reminding herself that while she did lose someone who meant the world to her, she didn’t lose the world, and he was still dozing in front of her. Minutes later, she fell back asleep in her cozy fort, remembering how her dads would tickle her and the sound of their laughter, a smile on her face.

Everything would work out in the end. She had to believe that, above everything else.

Chapter Text

The next school-day, Ella sat by herself at lunch, avoiding the confused glances of the group of kids she previously hung out with. While she wanted to join them, she didn’t know how they would react to seeing her, since the last time they did she was crying her eyes out.

Luckily, Ella found an empty table, and began eating her snack-cake with a determined pout, not moving her eyes off her food until a hand tapped her shoulder. Turning around slowly, Ella found herself a little surprised to see the entire group of kids had stood up and approached her. One by one they took a seat at her table, chatting amongst each other as if nothing happened. With Stephanie on one side of her and Stingy on the other, she began to relax slightly. Maybe this wouldn’t be so embarrassing after all.

“Sorry about ruining the party Friday.” She whispered to Stephanie, who didn’t seem affected by the words.

“Wasn’t your fault.” She shrugged, taking a bite of her sandwich. “Sometimes you just need to cry.”

“Yeah.” Stingy agreed, patting her shoulder. “Plus, your dad should have let you join.”

“Actually, when we were leaving, he told me I could.” She smiled softly.

Stephanie grinned widely. “That’s awesome! Now our entire friend group has their own little club!”

“I’m confused,” Trixie announced suddenly, causing the table to turn to glance at her, “your dad sounded so mean. What made him change his mind?”

Ella shrugged. “He was really embarrassed. He wasn’t mad.”

Still lost, Trixie shook her head in concentration. “But…why would he be embarrassed? You were just crying. Crying is normal.”

“Adults can be weird like that.” Pixel said to the girl.

“He was embarrassed because he was sad, too. He doesn’t like crying in front of people.” Ella twisted her fingers together. “When my other dad died, he tried to be strong, so I wouldn’t be so sad. But it made him even more sad.”

Stephanie nodded, a genuine smile on her lips. “Bottling up your feelings hurts.”

The group agreed and continued to eat until the bell rang. When it did, the group lined up to go to recess until Stephanie spotted one of the office workers leaving the office and raced over to him, the group of kids with her following curiously.

“Hey, Mr. Cooper!” Stephanie cheered, glimpsing at the stack of papers in his hands. “What are you doing?”

The man smiled gently at the girl. “Oh, hey, Stephanie.” He glanced at the papers. “I’m just brining these fliers to Mrs. Anderson. Her mailbox is jammed, and we can’t get it open, so I volunteered to deliver them.” He flashed her a toothy grin. “Any chance to stretch my legs, ya know?”

Trixie nodded. “It must suck being stuck in that stuffy office all day.”

Mr. Cooper guffawed. “It can suck, yeah.”

Ella curiously stood on her tippy-toes, trying to read the paper, but failing. “What are the fliers for?”

The office worker turned to the other girl. “Well, we’re having a talent show soon! It’s got all the info on it. You should be getting one in your class after recess.”

Right away, Stephanie lit up. “A talent show? Like one that you can dance in?”

Mr. Cooper let out another laugh. “Well, sure. You can dance, sing, play an instrument…whatever you’re talented at, I suppose.” He glimpsed over the kids. “I’m excited to see what you all come up with. It isn’t mandatory, of course, but the winner gets 100 dollars to spend as they choose. And if one of you win, it could help make your club more well known in the school.”

Flapping her arms, Stephanie turned to the group, unable to lessen her wide grin. She didn’t have to say anything, the kids all knew they had a trick or two they could show the school.

“I’ve got to go now.” He glanced at the line of the other children disappearing out of the school and to the playground. “And it looks like you guys should go ahead, too.”

The group thanked him and hurried outdoors.

Once outside, Stephanie received a bright idea and spun around to face Ella, grabbing the other’s arm and nearly knocking her down. “Ella, Ella! Can we do a dance together?”

While Ella had a stand-up routine in mind, she didn’t feel quite ready to write her own, so instead she nodded along to the idea. “That sounds perfect. We’ll have to practice a lot, but it could be fun.”

“And you were going to be teaching me to dance, anyway!” Stephanie added, swinging the other’s hands.

Stingy overheard and crossed his arms. “What about me? Can you still teach me, too?”

Ella glimpsed between the two friends in front of her and shrugged. “Sure. Can we practice at your place, Stephanie? Your room is a perfect practicing place, and my dad would be too awkward to have anyone over.”

“Of course!” Stephanie exclaimed, flapping her arms in glee. “We should practice as soon as possible! How about tonight? We can figure out what song we will dance to for starters!”

“Alright, that sounds fine.” Stingy said proudly, turning his head back to his sister and leaving the two girls to chat.

“Do you have any song ideas?” Stephanie interrogated instantly, looping her arm with Ella’s.

Ella squinted her mouth up in concentration before shrugging her shoulders. “I’m not too picky. Just something fun, but distinguished.”

“Distinguished, huh?” Stephanie tightened her face as well, thinking deeply. “Well, bring your favorite CDs and we can figure something out!”

Ella nodded as the two reached the playground. “If you want, you can come dance with me today during recess.” She felt shy asking, but with the contest coming up, she didn’t mind the company.

Stephanie nodded and skipped with the other girl to the little hidden room, and the two danced gleefully to a silly song on the radio until recess ended.

After school, Ella hurried home and begged her father to come with her to her friend’s house again. Robbie was confused, but hearing his daughter’s fear of being embarrassed again, he couldn’t help but give in.

He didn’t know, however, that he would be the only other parent there.

As Robbie was led to the couch by his daughter and her excitable friend, he couldn’t help but realize how embarrassed he was. There was no one else in the room other than him as the two girls clambered up the stairs and abandoned him like a cold bath.

After about an hour of playing three different CDs, the girls settled on a fun, bouncy song, and started planning out what they would wear.

Suddenly, something hit Stephanie. “What about our make-up?” She smiled widely. “Do you do your own makeup, Ella?”

The girl nodded proudly. Stephanie gasped softly and continued on. “Who taught you?”

Ella twirled a strand of her around her finger. “Well, my Dad taught me.” She pursed her lips slightly. “The one that’s alive, I mean.”

The smile on the pink-haired girl’s face faltered and became softer and more shy. “Do you think he would teach me how to do mine?” She stared down at her hands. “I would ask my aunt Bessie, but I think I want to surprise her by doing it myself.”

Ella bit her lip. “I think that would be alright.” She smirked slightly. “I’ve got to use the restroom, though, could you ask him yourself?”

Unsure of herself, Stephanie gave her friend a wide, toothy grin. “Sure!”

As her friend left the room, she let out a nervous sigh. She tiptoed out of the room and down the stairs, spying the man sitting on the couch in front of the television. Humming anxiously, Stephanie received a bright idea when she remembered that Sportacus was home.

Racing to the kitchen where the man was, Stephanie tugged the man’s arm so that he would look down at her.

“What’s up, Steph?” He asked softly, setting the cup he was washing down gently on the side of the sink.

“Um…well, could you ask Mr. Rotten to teach me how to do my makeup?”

Baffled by the words, Sportacus set his rag that he was using to wash the dishes down and turned the sink off, staring at the girl. “Why don’t you ask Miss Bessie?”

“Well, I want to learn to do it myself and then surprise her.” Stephanie explained matter-of-factly.

Sportacus nodded. “That makes sense…but what makes you want to ask Mr. Rotten?”

A broad smile lined the girl’s lips. “Ella said that he taught her how to do her makeup.”

“Oh...well, alright. I guess I can do that.”

Stephanie clapped in glee as she followed Sportacus into the other room like a lost puppy, cowering behind him slightly as they reached the man.

“Mr. Rotten, can I talk to you for a moment?” Sportacus asked softly, causing the distracted man sitting on the couch to look up, a bored look on his face.

“Oh, it’s you.” He said tiredly, rubbing his temples. “Sure, what do you want to talk about?” He gave him a distant, sarcastic grin.

Sportacus took that as a genuine smile and gave one back. “Well, Stephanie here,” he pushed the girl forward slightly, just enough so she could be seen by the other man, “was wondering if you could teach her how to do her own makeup.”

Robbie stared at the girl for a moment in bafflement before his eyes traveled up to Sportacus’ face. “And why are you asking me of all people?”

“Ella told me you taught her, and her makeup is always really pretty.” She smiled brightly at the reclusive man, causing him to look away abashedly.

Awkwardly, he rested his head against his hand, sighing. “Well, I did teach her, but that was nearly a year ago.” He saw a glimpse of disappointment on the little girl’s face, and rolling his eyes, continued. “But I guess I can teach you sometime as well.” The girl cheered at that clapping excitedly. “I don’t have any of my—I mean Ella’s makeup with me right now, though. We’ll have to wait until…some other time.” He felt awkward inviting himself over yet again, but neither the child or the standing adult seemed to mind.

“That’ll be awesome! Can you come over tomorrow?” Stephanie exclaimed, gripping the man’s shoulder. When she saw the bafflement on his face from it being so soon, she continued. “It’s always good to learn early on.”

Robbie couldn’t help but release a small snicker. “That is true.” He shrugged slightly. “I guess I can come over tomorrow, if that’s alright with the adults of the household.” He looked up at Sportacus, who didn’t realize that he was being to referred to for a moment.

“Oh, um, yeah, that would be fine!” Sportacus cheered, crossing his arms and glancing down.

“Then I’ll come tomorrow. If Ella wants to come again, of course.” He said matter-of-factly, knowing that his daughter would want to come over again. He didn’t mind too much—the house was clean and decorated beautifully, and if for anything he was coming to stare at the house’s architecture.

“Thank you very much, Mr. Rotten!” The girl exclaimed, launching forward and wrapping her arms around his neck. The man just sat awkwardly and lightly pat the girl’s shoulders.

When she released him from her Kraken’s hold, she bounded off jovially back up the stairs. Sportacus stared after her before making his way back to the kitchen, leaving Robbie alone in the house again.

The minute Stephanie told Ella that not only was she able to come over again tomorrow but that her father was going to return as well and teach Stephanie how to do her makeup, the two girls jumped around jubilantly.

The next day arrived swiftly, with the girls rushing to the mayor’s house, dragging Ella’s awkward father along with them.

As he set the two girls down on kitchen stools and opened his bag of cosmetics, he couldn’t help but feel the eyes of the strange blue-clad man on him curiously.

He glimpsed up to tell him to stop, when he noticed the other had already turned around and continued to wash the dishes. Robbie squinted slightly at this but continued on his mission.

“Alright, you should always start with your eyeshadow.” He pulled out a few pallets of both bright and dull colors of eyeshadow. “Go ahead, pick out two colors that you think work together.”

Right away, Stephanie grabbed one of the pallets that held a bright pink eyeshadow and stared in concentration at the other colors, rubbing her chin in thought. Chuckling slightly, Robbie lifted up a pallet that held a shimmering gold in it. “If you want a bright color, it’s good to choose a soft color to bring it out and still make it look sophisticated.

Stephanie nodded. “Now how do I put it on?”

Robbie smiled softly and opened the pallets, picking up a tiny eyeshadow-brush. He clicked the pallets open and rubbed the brush into the bright pigment, tapping it against the container lightly. “You always want to tap it like this. It helps you make sure you’re not putting on too much at once.”

He pulled out his miniature vanity mirror and held it in front of the child. “Now, just slowly rub it on.” Stephanie did as she was told and stared with glee into the mirror.

“It looks so pretty! Thank you, Mr. Rotten!” Stephanie shrieked in joy. Robbie just abashedly shrugged his shoulders as the girl applied pink to her other eye as well.

He instructed the girl through the rest of her makeup tutorial until her face was bright and colorful.

“Okay, we’re going to go practice now!” She called to the man, dragging her friend up the stairs with her. Robbie cleared his throat and awkwardly stood, ready to make his way into the living room again, when Sportacus whirled around on his heels and held out his hand to stop the other from leaving.

“I’ve, um, made cookies, as an apology for last week. Would you like some?” Sportacus said gently, rubbing the back of his head, his eyes flickering from the surprised man and the floor.

Robbie couldn’t help but smile awkwardly, sitting back down at the table. “Um, sure.” He twiddled his hands as Sportacus pulled the freshly baked sugar disks out of the oven and set them on top of it. “What kind are they?”

“I’ve made chocolate chip and white chocolate Macadamia ones. I apologize if they’re not very good, I don’t usually bake.” He gave the other an awkward smile as he pulled two glass plates out of the cabinet. “I hope that’s okay.” He handed one of the plates to Robbie, who took it gingerly.

“Well, they smell delicious.” Robbie murmured, standing up and approaching the cookies, followed by the other man. He took one of each kind before returning to his seat at the table. He waited for Sportacus to sit down before he lifted one up and took a small nibble out of it.

It was pretty good. He wanted to dig in and swallow the cookie whole like a black hole, but he stopped himself and set it back down on his plate.

“Are they any good?” Sportacus asked shyly, smiling tenderly at the other.

Robbie glimpsed up at the other and nodded. “Yes, they’re very good. Thank you.”

Sportacus shrugged. “It’s the least I could do.”

Confused, Robbie sat his hands upon the table, causing the other man to look up. “What do you mean, it’s the least you could do?” Ideas swirled around in the taller man’s head. These weren’t pity cookies, were they?

Awkwardly, Sportacus fiddled with the cookie in his hands. “I mean, you helping Stephanie with her makeup today. And your daughter has been a really good influence on her, too.”

Proud, but still a little lost, Robbie gave the other a small smile. “What do you mean, my daughter has been a good influence? Your kid is easily influencing my kid positively, not the other way around.”

A small chuckle escaped Sportacus’ throat. “Maybe they’re both influencing each other. I know that Stephanie’s felt way more confident in herself since she met your daughter, and I’ve never seen her so excited about dancing before.”

Robbie played with his tie. “Well, my daughter hasn’t been this happy in ages. She’s always struggled to make friends, but your kid and her little group just pulled her in like it was nothing. It was pretty amazing, really.”

“I have to agree with you there. That little group of theirs is really something.”

The two nodded and continued to have small talk as they ate their cookies.

When it finally came time to leave, Robbie felt himself smiling in the car as he set the Tupperware container of cookies that Sportacus gave him in the passenger’s seat.

“What’s with the long face, El?” Robbie asked his daughter in a soft voice as the two made their way home.

“I’m scared, Dad.”

“What are you scared of?” The question was genuine and gentle, but Ella couldn’t help but shudder at it.

“Of the talent show…I love dancing, and we’ve got out routine down and ready, but...I’ve never performed in front of people before.” She sighed outwardly, tightening her seat belt. “But, I don’t want to let Stephanie down.”

Robbie hummed in thought for a moment before replying. “I think you’re going to be fine, dear. You’ve got the making of a performer in you.”

“What do you mean?” The girl scrunched her nose up at her father’s words.

Tightening his grip on the steering wheel, Robbie glimpsed into the mirror and at his daughter. “Your…your Dad was a performer. Do you remember?”

A small smile laced its way onto the girl’s lips. “Of course I remember. He was a comedian.”

“When you get up there, you just gotta pretend he’s standing with you, alright?”

Ella relaxed a bit against her seat. “Alright, I can do that.”

But when the night came, she found herself absolutely unable to do that.

It wasn’t their turn yet, but Ella still found herself biting her lip and nervously glancing over to Stephanie, who tried her best to console her friend by rubbing circles on her back. She watched her other friends put on their acts; Gina and Tina gave a little puppet show, Stingy and Pixel did a dance as well, with Stingy doing most of the dancing part, and even Trixie rapped out a song on stage, her moms going wild when she finished.

“And now, Miss Stephanie Splitz and Miss Ella Rotten, please come to the stage!” The announcer’s voice bellowed, and Ella felt sick upon hearing it.

The two stood up and started making their way to stage, but Ella stopped right before they stepped onto the platform and put a soft hand on Stephanie’s arm. “I’m sorry, Stephanie…I can’t do this.” Tears pricked her eyes and she felt like vomiting. Instead, she did what she knew would work and dashed out of the room, leaving the announcer and crowd staring in bafflement.

Right away, Stephanie raced after her friend, and the rest of the group of her pals joined in and chased her as well.

Sportacus glanced over at Robbie, who stared in shock and something that Sportacus couldn’t quite put his finger on, and without warning, Sportacus grabbed the other man’s hand and chased after the group of kids, dragging Robbie along with him.

When they finally reached the hallway, they spotted the boys of the group standing outside of the restroom, nervously glancing at each other for support.

“What’s going on?” Sportacus asked softly, his eyes on Pixel.

“Ella went into the restroom and locked herself in a stall. Stephanie, Trixie, Gina, and Tina are trying to get her to come out.” Pixel said matter-of-factly, a worried look on his face.

“Stephanie, come here for a minute.” Sportacus called into the restroom, prompting the pink-haired girl to peek her head out of the room. “Can you tell Ella to come out here, please? Tell her she doesn’t have to participate, we just want to talk to her.”

Nodding, Stephanie ducked back into the room, and a minute later, a softly whimpering Ella emerged as well. Right away she ran over to her father and hopped into his arms, sobbing into the crook of his neck.

“What’s wrong, El? Why are you upset?” He whispered soothingly, stepping away from the group to talk to his child one-on-one.

“I’m such a failure. I can’t do anything in front of that many people. I’ll never make Dad proud.” She sobbed, wiping her snot away on her arm before tightly gripping her father’s shoulders for support.

“El, don’t say that. You’re not a failure.” Gently, he swayed from side to side and held the girl close to his chest. “Your Dad is proud of you no matter what you do. He’s proud of you for existing, okay? And he’s been extra proud of you lately.”

“What do you mean?” She pulled back slightly to look at her father.

“Well, look at all the people who came to help you.” Robbie whispered, watching his daughter peek her head over his shoulder, gazing at all of her friends. “You’ve made so many friends, El. You’ve really pushed yourself out of your comfort zone, and it’s helping you.” He rubbed her back. “You just went a little too fast, is all. That doesn’t make you a failure.”

She whimpered and leaned her head onto his chest. “I just don’t want my friends to hate me. This is the second time I’ve started crying like this in front of them, it’s so embarrassing.”

Rubbing the girl’s back, Robbie gently set the girl down. “How about you ask them?”

She gave her father a nervous look before gulping and nodding, grabbing his hand in hers as she wiped away the last of her tears with the palm of her other hand. She walked over to her friend group, her eyes on the ground. “I’m sorry for crying again, guys. I hope you don’t hate me.”

Stephanie was the first to speak up. “Hate you? You’re one of my best friends, I could never hate you!” She said confidently, leaning forward and hugging the other girl gently.

Ella snickered slightly and embraced her back, her fears slowly lessening.

“If you don’t want to do the talent show, we don’t have to. I had fun dancing with you and practicing, either way.”

Ella pulled back, holding the other girl’s hands. “It’s not that I don’t want to dance. I’m just so afraid.”

“If it helps, I’m afraid, too. But what matters is we have fun, right?” Stephanie whispered, watching as the other girl smiled slightly.

“You’re right…do you think, maybe if we asked…they would give us another chance?” Ella wringed her hands together. “I’m really nervous, but… I at least want to try.”

Swinging the other girl closer to her, Stephanie tossed her arm over the other girl’s shoulder, Trixie joining Ella on her other side and doing the same. “Then, that’s we have to do.”

Ella nodded shyly and let herself be led back into the auditorium, where the two waited for the last contender to finish before Stephanie, followed by her friend, tiptoed up to the stage.

“Sir? Can my friend and I please have another chance to perform?”

The man glimpsed down at the two girls and took notice of the purple-clad girl’s puffy eyes and couldn’t help but pity her. “Alright.” He whispered to the two of them, turning back to the microphone. “And before we turn to the judges, we have one more act for you tonight!”

The audience applauded and Ella took a deep breath as she stood in front of the crowd, posing in position to start the dance.

Once the first few beats of “Toxic” by Britney Spears started to play throughout the room, the girls started to do their dance routine. When it ended, Stephanie did a cartwheel and Ella went down into the splits.

The crowd exploded into applause so loud that both girls had to cover their ears as they glimpsed at each other and giggled.

The two went back to their seats and chatted with their friends about everyone’s performances until one of the judges took the stand.

“Alright, in third place are the late contestants, Ella Rotten and Stephanie Splitz! The duo was unexpected but worked wonderfully!” The judge announced, causing the two girls and their friends to erupt into cheers.

“In second place are Nenni Spoilero and Pixel Hyperbyte! When we heard that Pixel had made the background music himself, we knew you two were going on the list!”

The two boys high-fived and the group congratulated their other friends as well.

“And in first place is Gabe Carter, Tristan Newman, and Paul Walker! When we saw you three’s dance routine, we knew right away that you were going to be our winners! Congrats everyone!”

The judge left the stage and called over winners for their trophies. Making their way over to the table, the group right away took notice of the smirking boy who stared at Stephanie in particular.

“Hey, Steven. Looks like you are your freak show didn’t practice hard enough. You’re all such losers.” Gabe mocked, snatching the first-place trophy.

Stephanie bit her tongue at the mention of her dead name, but whipped her head around anyway. “I don’t think it’s about winning. Plus, we still got third place, and that’s pretty great.”

Ella put a hand on her hip. “And we still get pizza afterwards!”

Gabe rolled his eyes. “Of course, it’s about winning, dingus. It’s always about winning.”

Trixie laughed. “That’s such a sad way to think! Winning doesn’t matter that much.” She turned back to her other friends.

“Yeah. And Ella and I both had a lot of fun dancing, and that’s what’s important.”

Gabe seemed repulsed by this and made his way over to his mother.

“Hey Mom, since I won, can we get pizza?” He asked coyly, cradling his trophy.

His mother glanced down at her son and groaned. “Pizza? I don’t feel like it. Go ask your father.”

A bit defeated, the boy did so, his chest still puffed out. “Dad, can we got out for pizza?”

A disinterested glance towards the boy answered his question. “How about you go with those other kids? Here’s twenty dollars, that should be plenty. I’ve got too much work tonight to deal with this.”

And with that, the boy was shoved out of his comfort zone and he watched as Tristan and Paul left the building with their parents. Huffing slightly, Gabe made his way over to the group of kids he had convinced himself that he despised, his arms crossed.

“Can I get pizza with you guys?” He muttered out, causing Stephanie to turn her head and grimace.

“I don’t know…” she said slowly, her other friends joining her side. “you’re always mean to me, and you won’t even call me by my real name. Why should I be nice to you if you’re never nice to me?”

Gabe tightened his grip on his trophy. “Look, if I call you Stephanie or whatever, will you let me come with you? I just want pizza, too.”

Slowly, Stephanie’s frown morphed into a gentle grin. “Alright. You can come with us. Just let me check with Sportacus.”

With that, she tugged on the man’s arm who led her aside upon hearing her question. “Isn’t Gabe the boy whose really mean to you?”

“He is, but he said if he can come with us, he’ll stop calling me Steven.” She smiled at that. “And I kind of feel bad for him.”

Confused, Sportacus glimpsed back at the boy. “Why is that?”

“Well, he won first place and everything, but his mom just kind of left him here.” She pointed out where his parents were standing previously to show that they did just expect he would be allowed to join the other group and left. It seemed as if his friends all left him, too.

“That is kind of sad. Are you sure you want him to come with us?”

Nodding, Stephanie led Sportacus back to the group and smiled at the boy. “Alright, he said it’s fine.”

And with that, the group left the building, all chatting and discussing what they would get on their pizzas. Gabe just silently watched the group with a pout on his lips.

His expression didn’t change as the group made it to the pizza place and all crowded around one table. A glance around the table made him feel unappreciated. Everyone chatted to each other, but left him out of the equation. Was it because of how he was sometimes mean to the other kids? Is that how he made them feel before? Alone?

Stingy knocked him out of his thoughts. “Can I hold your trophy for a minute, Gabe?”

Though a bit taken aback by the question, the bullying child nodded slowly and gently handed it to the other. “Wow, it is heavier than the other two!” The golden-clad boy grinned at the distorted reflection showing against the metal. “You and your friends’ act was really good, Gabe. Where did you learn to dance like that?”

“I go to a class on Saturdays.” The boy replied, gingerly taking his trophy back.

“You go to a dancing class? I didn’t know our town had one.” Trixie said in disbelief, sipping her coco-cola.

“Yeah. I’m in that and on the football and soccer team. And I’m supposed to be joining band next year, too.” Instead of coming off as proud, though, the words sounded as if they were laced with disappointment.

“Well, that sounds like an awful lot of fun, but…don’t you have time to just, ya know, relax?” Pixel spoke up, causing the other boy to shrivel against his seat.

“No, not really. I’m on a really strict schedule.” He said matter-of-factly, spinning his straw around in his glass. “My parents aren’t home often, so when they are home, I try to make them as proud as I can.”

The parents glanced at each other in worry. “Well, don’t get yourself hurt, kiddo. You don’t have to carry that all on your shoulders.” Wanda said tenderly, holding her wife’s arm close to her.

“Yeah, I’m sure your parents are proud of you no matter what.” Leia added, causing the boy’s lips to sew themselves into a tight line.

“I don’t know. They never show it.” He stared into his trophy. “I just want them to be proud of me, but nothing I do catches their attention. They brag about me, but,” he grimaced, “they never tell me that they’re proud of me. They just don’t.”

Richard cleared his throat. “Well, that’s their problem. You shouldn’t put it on your shoulders.”

The boy squeezed his trophy to his chest as if it were a lifeline. “Maybe it is their problem, but I feel the after math of it.”

Sportacus reached forward and hesitantly tapped the boy’s shoulder. Looking up at the man, the boy looked vulnerable and insecure, unlike the hateful boy Stephanie thought she knew. “If it counts for anything, we could be proud of you, Gabe.”

The boy stared into his reflection, avoiding the loving gazes coming from all angles. If he looked up, he was sure to start crying. “Thanks.”

When the group finally departed and Sportacus dropped the boy off, only Stephanie and her guardian were left in the car.

“I think I understand him a bit more. He’s just sad.” Stephanie said, kicking her legs gently against the seat in front of her.

“Yeah, I think so, too.” Sportacus kept his eyes on the road, unable to shake the boy’s poor vulnerable face from his mind. “Maybe you should ask him to join the group. If he keeps being nice, I mean.”

A soft grin grew onto Stephanie’s face. “I think that’s a great idea. I want him to really apologize to me, because he really hurt me by calling me Steven so much, but...maybe once he does that, he’d like to try and be my friend again.”

And it was an idea that the young girl was ready to push into motion as soon as possible. Even if it meant starting it the next day.

Chapter Text

On Monday, Stephanie sat down at lunch along side with her friends, chatting jubilantly until she spotted her former bully out of the corner of her eye, marching towards the group.

She crossed her arms and pointed him out to her friends who copied her motion and glared. She still felt nervous seeing him.

“Hey, I know it’s weird for me to ask, but…” the boy murmured, scratching the back of his head. “Can I sit with you guys?”

A bit shocked, the group dropped their defenses. “You really want to sit with us?” Stingy asked aloud, his arms uncrossing.

“Yeah, if that’s okay with you guys.” He clenched the tiny bag in his hands. “If not, I can go sit somewhere else.”

Trixie squinted slightly. “Why do you want to sit with us instead of your other friends?” She glanced over his shoulder at where Tristan and Paul sat.

“To tell ya the truth, they don’t want me sitting with them anymore.”

Confused, Stephanie stepped forward. “Why not? That’s not very nice of them.”

“I told them about yesterday, and they got mad at me.” He rubbed the back of his head again, frowning slightly.

Visibly upset at that, Stephanie rubbed the boy’s shoulders. “Well, if you promise to be nice you can sit with us.”

Nodding, the boy sat down, pouting.

“So, why are they upset at you?” Pixel asked, a bit lost. “They left you all alone.”

“I know.” Gabe huffed, opening his lunch box. “But they think you guys are weird…kinda like I did before. And I still don’t understand you guys a lot, but…” he took a deep breath, “I thought…maybe if you guys let me, I’d try and learn.”

Tina hummed at that. “What do you mean, ‘learn more about us?’” She sounded unconvinced by his polite façade.

“Well, ya know…about the whole LGBTQ thing…I was always told it was something bad, but…after how you guys were so nice to me yesterday, I feel like maybe I should learn for myself…” He seemed embarrassed. “Maybe I should just go sit alone, I don’t want to bother you guys.”

“Wait!” Stephanie murmured, catching his wrist. “How about you join the group with us?”

The kids all whispered and muttered in uncertain tones, their eyes glued on Stephanie and the boy.

“Are you sure that’s okay?” The boy seemed lifted up by the offer. “After how I acted...”

“Do you promise to call her Stephanie, and only Stephanie?” Trixie interrogated, and Ella joined in as well.

“And only use she and her when you refer to Stephanie. She’s a girl.”

The boy nodded. “Yeah, I can do that.” He smiled at the group. “Thank you guys so much. I promise I’ll try and be nice.”

“You better be.” Stingy murmured, causing the group to laugh a little at their own protective antics.

“Anyway, you said you’re on the football team, right? What’s that like?” Trixie leaned over and questioned the boy, the group continuing on jubilantly until recess came.

Gabe volunteered to teach the group some of his dance moves when they spotted his two ruthless and usually loyal lackeys approaching the group. Nervously, some of the kids stepped back, leaving Stephanie, Trixie, and Gabe on the front lines.

“Hey Gabey.” Tristan growled upon the sight of the other boy. “Why you hanging around with these bozos?”

Gabe nervously glanced between his ex-friend and the two girls on his sides. “I was teaching them to dance.”

Paul laughed. “Why? Didn’t your mom just make you join that talent show?”

“Yeah... don’t tell me you actually like dancing? You’re a bigger loser than I thought.” Tristan laughed, and Trixie stood in front of the boy.

“What do you want?” She glared him down, her hands clenched in fists.

Tristan snickered and pushed her away. “Out of the way, girlie.”

Trixie didn’t take the words well, and with a glance to her friends and back to the bully, she wound up her fist and punched Tristan in the nose. The boy covered his nose momentarily, and upon the sight of blood, he turned to punch Trixie back.

Gabe stood in front of the girl and watched his friend hesitate. “Leave us alone.”

The two bullies stared them down, grinding their teeth. “You’ll regret this, Gabey.” Tristan growled, turning away and departing from the group, Paul following him with a reluctant look back towards his old best friend.

Luckily, none of the kids got in trouble for Trixie’s confident punch because of how the boy had shoved her before-hand. The two got off on a warning and went back to class as if it didn’t happen.

Stephanie turned to Gabe as the group was walking back inside. “You really stood up for us back there. Thank you, Gabe.”

The boy laughed awkwardly and rubbed the back of his head. “Was the least I could do. You guys were so nice to me…I know you would have done the same.”

“That’s right!” She cheered, smiling down at him. “Remember to ask your mom if you can join the club today.”

He nodded and the two bounded off to class.

That afternoon, Gabe sat down with his parents at dinner, chomping down on the roast beef and vegetables that is father had made that evening. While the two were focused on their food, Gabe sat down his fork and glimpsed up at them. “I’m thinking of joining another club.”

His mother flickered her eyes upwards. “And what club is that?”

“The LGBTQ club.” He took a bite of his food and watched as his mother wiped her lips, her eyebrows knit in thought. His father just stared, surprised.

“That’s fine.” His father uttered, returning to his food.

“That is everything but fine! Gabe, you are a Carter, you are not going to join some sick freak-show club.” She stood up, her husband following.

“Honey, it’s just a club, it’s not going to do anything to do him.” His father reasoned, as the two made their way into the kitchen, Gabe staring after them in confusion.

“What if it does? I don’t want a gay son.” She wiped her brow, as Gabe peeked into the room and watched his parents argue. “Maybe I’ve been too soft on him. That’s what I get for letting him join a dancing class.”

The two adults went back and forth until Gabe had eaten his entire bowl of food, that now felt like slimy slop in his stomach. Lost, the boy made his way up the stairs and to his room, tossing his laptop open. Once Youtube was opened, he searched up videos on LGBTQ people and leaned his head against a pillow, dozing off as he learned some of the common terms.

Once he was finished, he turned his laptop off and lay down with the lights off, staring at the wall in concentration. He couldn’t comprehend his mother’s thought process, and he felt sick thinking about how upset he had made her by simply bringing up the club. The distant sound of his parents arguing still droned on in the hallway, and he found himself tearing up a bit.

Why was she being so hateful? All he had asked was to join a club in school to support the few people who made him feel appreciated. At least his father seemed fine with it. Maybe if he asked his father the next day, he’d be allowed.

As if summoning his parents, he heard the creaking of his bedroom door, and he knew by the shadow that if turned around he would see his mother staring down at him. Instead, he closed his eyes and ignored her presence.

“My son is not joining that club.” She whispered to her husband, who simply hummed, as if giving in. “He’s my baby. I can’t let them corrupt him.”

Gabe felt like screaming at her about how nice they had been to him, about how reading what LGBTQ meant how despicable his mother seemed, but he zipped his mouth closed and forced himself to fall asleep.

When the boy went to school the next day and met with his friends at lunch time yet again, he found himself dreading to tell them the news. “I don’t know why, but when I asked Mom if I could join, she freaked out on me.” He crossed his arms and pouted. “Her and my step-dad fought for hours over it. He thought it would be fine for me to join, but she threw a fit over that and decided I’m absolutely not able to join.”

Stephanie exchanged glances with some of her friends. They all had been able to join rather uneventfully, so she had no clue what to say.

Ella leaned forward. “Well, she’ll come around. In the meantime, we can sneak you in.”

Unsure, the boy fiddled with his hands. “How are we supposed to do that?” He seemed completely defeated.

“Well, isn’t there a chess club that meets on Friday nights, too? Why don’t you just pretend to join chess, instead?” Trixie suggested, and the boy nodded.

“Yeah, okay… but if Sportacus drops me off, she’ll figure it out.”

Stingy hummed in concentration. “How about you tell your step-dad, and have him pick you up?”

The boy bit his lip. “I don’t know, he’d probably just tell my mom.”

“What if you get a chess uniform and just wait in the office a few minutes before the meeting ends? Then she would think you just came from the chess club.” Pixel suggested, bringing light back to the boy’s eyes.

“That’s a perfect idea!” He exclaimed, smiling at it. He could already feel some of his fears melting away. “Hey, you wanted to join the football team, didn’t you?” He turned to Trixie, who smiled at the words.

“Well, yeah, but they won’t let me on. The other kids said that girls can’t play on the team.” She huffed at that and crossed her arms. “Why?”

“Well, I know the captain really well, and if you can prove that you’re good, he’ll be happy to let you join!” Gabe said proudly, warming up to the group. “There’s no written rule about girls not being allowed to join. People just assume that.”

Trixie puffed her chest out excitedly. “I can really join? That’s awesome!”

The next few days went by quickly, with Trixie making the football team jubilantly after she tackled one of the quarterbacks. Right away, she was allowed on, though she had to be explained to that it was flag football and not tackle football. In response, Stingy, Stephanie, Ella, Gina, and Tina all joined the cheerleading team to help support their friends and also be involved in a sport aside from their dancing lessons with each other. In the meantime, Gabe, Pixel, Stephanie, and Ella gleefully joined the science club to help support their friend Stingy,

At one point, one of the kids had brought up the possibility of a fundraiser, and Stephanie suggested a bake sale during the meeting of the week. To make sure everyone had something they could eat samples of, they made sure to assign certain allergen-free treats to some kids, while others took on decorating the bags that the snacks were put into.

“What are we going to do with the money?” Gina signed to her friends one day, staring confused at the stack of cookies in front of her while the group worked together in the kitchen.

Ella noticed and hummed in thought before signing back that she would ask Sportacus.

Approaching the man who gingerly stirred some of the dairy and egg free brownie batter, she tapped him on his back and he spun around, a wide smile on his face.

“What’s going on, Miss Ella?”

“We were wondering…we’re doing a fundraiser, but what for? What are we going to use the money on?” She asked, twisting her arms behind her back.

“Hmmm… well it was going to be a surprise, but I guess I can tell you all now. Go get the other kids.”

Ella did as she was told and the rest of the kids all stood around the man, bits of frosting and filling and icing splattered on the group’s aprons. Sportacus smiled at the innocence and set his bowl and whisk down, waving over the present parents as well.

“Little Ella was wondering what we’re raising money for. Is it alright if I tell them?” Sportacus asked Mr. Simpcan, who grinned widely.

“Alright, go ahead.”

Sportacus cleared his throat, and every voice that belonged to a child went silent as they leaned forward in anticipation. “Well, we were thinking about taking all you kids on a field trip. If we make enough money for that, of course.”

Right away, the kids erupted into cheers and Robbie had to shush them.

With cheery faces, the kids all left the room and went back to work.

Sportacus made his way over to the other man, who had a proud smile on his face. “Thank you again for providing us with all these recipes. We couldn’t have done it without you.”

Robbie glimpsed away abashedly. “Well, my daughter has never been this involved with other kids, and I wanted to do my part.” He smiled contently. “She’s been much happier since she’s joined. And when she does get upset, she’s able to cheer herself up faster than she was able to before.”

A sly smile on is lips, Sportacus elbowed the other in the side. “You’ve seemed happier, too.”

Robbie cleared his throat awkwardly. “Yes, well. Seeing your children thrive does that to a father. I’m sure you can relate.”

“I’m…actually not Stephanie’s father.”

Intrigued, Robbie turned to the other. “Step-father…?”

Sportacus rubbed the back of his neck at the catechization. “Actually, I’m not related to her at all. It’s a long story.”

Robbie sipped out of his water and leaned back against the wall he was standing in front of. “Well, we will be here for a while.”

With an awkward grin, Sportacus rambled on and on about the situation that Stephanie had been tossed into. Robbie nodded and provided questions every few minutes until the entire story had been told of how she ended up staying with her uncle who was too busy to care for a child.

“So, you’re kind of an adoptive father to her?”

Sportacus gazed over at the little girl with softened eyes. “I…don’t know how she thinks of it yet, but depending on her parents…I mean, we don’t know if they plan to come back or not.”

Nodding slowly, Robbie couldn’t help but gaze sadly upon the child. “That’s tough. Ya know, she doesn’t act very upset, so I think that means you’re doing a good job.”

“You too.”

Robbie coughed awkwardly and excused himself. He wasn’t used to compliments like this.

By the time everything was baked, the kids were all tired and ready to go home. One by one children were picked up or dropped off, soon leaving just Ella and Stephanie.

With puppy-dog eyes and a pout, Ella approached her father, her hands in a begging motion.

“Dad, can I pretty please stay the night wit Stephanie?” The girl pleaded, shocking the father.

“Well, if that’s alright with…”

Sportacus piped up before he could finish the sentence. “Of course it’s alright.”

Robbie laughed and pulled his daughter aside. “Are you sure you wanna stay the night? Ya think you can do it?”

Ella, while nervous, held a confident grin. “Yeah, I think so.”

“If you change your mind in the middle of the night, you know my number, right?”

Snickering, Ella nodded. “Of course I do, Dad!” She grinned proudly up at her father. “So, I’m allowed?”

The man nodded and ruffled his daughter’s hair. “Yeah, alright. I’ll be going home soon, then, is that alright?” The girl simply nodded again before launching forward and hugging her father tightly and running off.

Once she left his sight, Robbie began searching for his jacket. Once he found it, he departed from the house, leaving his daughter behind.

At exactly 2:06 am, Ella woke up in a sweat. She had a dream of her parents wedding, remembering how she had felt so elated as she twirled in her little flower-girl attire. Her late father had knelt down and called her over, and when she reached him, he lifted her up and held her between him and her living father. The two men kissed and laughed, spinning the little girl around in their arms.

Ella wiped at her eyes. She hated nights like these, where her thoughts drifted to her memories, and she was unable to sleep. Looking over, her mind started to catch up and she realized where she was and why.

She didn’t want to wake her friend, but she knew she had to talk to someone. Preferably her father, since he understood her grieving the best.

Still, she felt horrible at the idea of waking him up, so instead she tiptoed into the hall and onto the terrace, overlooking the back yard of the family.

Only now did she realize how cold it was. The concrete ground reminded her of the hospital floors as she pulled herself up onto the railing, dangling her feet over the world.

Staring at the sky, she felt her body stop fighting for glee and shroud itself in memories. When did she start crying? She didn’t realize when, but sure enough, tears raced down her hands and onto her skirt. Snot slowly inched out of her nose and she couldn’t help but feel alone.

It felt like months since she had been this lonely, but she knew it had only been weeks at most.

Glancing up at the stars, she began to calm down slightly. While the world seemed so large when you looked at the stars, it somehow helped her relax. If the world is so big, her problems will fade over time, just like the stars.

Like the stars, her problems weren’t usually there anymore, but they still peaked out from behind the darkness when the timing was right. The thought made her smile and release a shudder that she didn’t realize she had been holding.

A thought creeped into her mind and the girl slid off the railing and back onto the terrace, tiptoeing back inside. It didn’t take her long to find a few candles and a kitchen lighter, returning to her spot outside, this time with a blanket draped around her shoulders.

Ella remembered seeing people sit in a circle and light candles to speak to the dead in movies, so surely it worked in real life, right? One by one the candles were brought to life with vivid orange and yellow flames. Carefully, she stepped over the flames and into the circle sitting criss-crossed in the center of her circle.

Clearing her throat, the girl began to speak. “Dad? I don’t know if this works, but…I have to tell you something.”

No response came, but Ella pressed on, if only for her own comfort. “I miss you. A lot. Dad misses you, too.” She let another happy memory of one of her birthdays flicker through her mind. “But I’ve had a hard time remembering details.” It was true. The longer she went without him, the harder it became to even recognize him in photos. “I remember what you sound like. Sometimes when I can’t sleep, I just listen to your voice on repeat in my head.” Taking a deep breath, she felt a shiver run down her spine. “But your face… the longer you’re gone, the more gray you become in my memories. And it makes me scared.”

Now she couldn’t help but sob violently, and she didn’t notice the silent silhouette behind her. “I don’t want to forget you Dad, but if I do…please forgive me.”

The shadowed figure stepped out from where her was hiding, sighing softly. “Ella, are you alright?”

It was Sportacus.

The girl whipped her head around suddenly, and in an attempt to raise her arm and wipe her tears away, a corner of the blanket came up with her and got caught in the flame, immediately catching fire.

Ella stood up right away and stomped the fire out, wrapping her now bare and cold shoulders in her hands. “I’m sorry Mr. Sportacus,” she whined softly, looking down at the crisp corner of the blanket.

With a deep sigh, Sportacus reached forward and put out the rest of the candles with his finger-tips. “What were you doing with all of these candles, anyways?”

Ella stared at the ground and tried to stop the tears in her eyes from falling, but she couldn’t. “I’m sorry, I was just… I thought I could talk to my dad if I…”

Catching on quickly, Sportacus nodded and stepped a little closer to the girl. He pulled the two lawn chairs apart and set them beside each other, sitting on one. He pat the other one, calling the girl over.

Sighing, she sat down next to him. “I know it’s silly to believe in ghosts and heaven and all that junk, I just…I’m really sad.”

Giving the young girl a soft smile, Sportacus pulled his jacket off and slid it around the child’s shoulders. “Do you want to tell me about why?”

The girl bit her lip. “Only if you promise not to tell my dad.” She held out her pinkie, offering it to the other.

Nodding, Sportacus reached forward and pinkie-promised the child, a soft smile on his lips. “So, why are you up so early?”

Bringing her knees to her chest, the girl sighed and rested her chin. “Well, I had a dream about the day my dads got married.”

“Why did that make you upset, Ella?” He knew that the girl’s other father was dead, but hearing the girl grieve at a seemingly happy memory confused him.

Glimpsing up at the stars, she felt tears start to trickle down her cheeks again. “I just… I really miss him, and it’s as if…I’m forgetting about him.”

Sportacus reached forward and rubbed the girl’s shoulders softly. “What makes you think you’re forgetting about him, if you had a dream about him?”

“He’s…changing in my dreams.” She bit her lip. “His voice never changes, but…his face does, and his skin.”

“What do you mean?”

Sighing, Ella returned her eyes to the ground. “His face has more wrinkles. His hair starts graying, and his skin…it looks oily and cold. As if, even in my memories, he’s not…he’s not alive anymore.”

“Have you talked to your Dad about these memories?”

Ella shuddered slightly and sadly gazed at the ground. “Not really. I know we both miss him, but I hate bothering him…”

Sportacus cleared his throat and the girl glimpsed up at him, her eyes still watering. “You aren’t bothering him. In fact, I think it helps you both a lot when you talk about it, instead of bottling it up.”

“I…don’t usually bottle it up. We had a big talk a few weeks ago, and we’ve been able to laugh at things together again, and we’ve both been smiling a lot more, but…is it really worth it? Will I ever feel better?”

His lips in a thin line, Sportacus took his eyes off the girl and stared into the sky. “I can’t say that you’ll ever feel 100% better again, but it will get easier to deal with. Some days you won’t even think about him, and that’s okay. But sometimes, you’ll think about him for hours on end.” He brought his eyes back to the child, who stared at him expectantly. “And that’s okay, too. And soon, it will start to get easier.”

Sighing, the girl leaned her head to the side. “Why does it take so long?”

Sportacus wasn’t sure how to console that thought away. Turning his head, he caught the girl’s eyes. “I don’t have an answer for that. I can’t tell you why. But just know that it will get better. Slowly, but it will.”

The girl’s shoulders tightened and she felt a sob run through her like a criminal being chased by the police. “I don’t want to forget him. I only have so many memories of him, I don’t want to lose those, too.”

“You’ll never fully lose those, Ella.”

The girl bit her lip as she tried to stop her tears from falling. “Mr. Sportacus, can I have a hug?”

Chucking softly, Sportacus motioned the young child over so she sat on his chair’s arm. After crying for about half an hour, the girl dried herself up. “I think I feel a bit better.”

The man simply nodded. “It’s good to cry every once in a while. It pushes the bad feelings out and makes room for good ones.”

The girl nodded and leaned against the man completely now. “Do you think Stephanie will be angry that I burnt one of her blankets?”

“Nah. It wasn’t hers.” He comforted the child, who laughed a little in response.

“Whose was it?”

“That was one of my spare blanket, but I’m not upset.”

Still, the girl gave him an embarrassed smile. “Sorry Mr. Sportacus.” A minute passed and she yawned against him. “Why is your name Sportacus, by the way? My dad has been wondering, and I have been, too.”

“It’s a nickname I got in college. I was always playing a sport, and my friend thought it was funny when I got a little competitive during basketball one day, so he called me Sportacus.”

Ella giggled lightly. “Like the war guy, Spartacus?”

Sportacus nodded. “Yeah, like him.”

Melting like butter, the girl yawned again. “You’re really silly, Sportacus. My dad called you Sportaweirdo when we were in the car the night I asked to join, in fact.”

That earned a snort out of Sportacus, who gently stood up, the little girl in his arms. “Really? That’s a new one.”

“Do people usually give you nicknames like that?” She seemed surprised at his response.

“Yeah, ever since college people have made variations of that original nickname.”

Ella grew a sly grin. “Can I give you one?”

Sportacus gave a goofy grin in reply. “Yeah, sure.”

“Hm…well, Sportafool doesn’t sound too bad, but…it’s kinda silly. Let’s see, what do you remind me of…” The girl put a finger to her mouth in thought. “You’re kinda like a dad to Stephanie, so I think…Sportadad or Sportapop both are good candidates.”

Sportacus chuckled along. “Alright, but you do know that I’m not really Stephanie’s dad, right?”

The girl rolled her eyes. “Of course I know that. I said you’re like a dad. Stephanie has told me about her parents before.”

Sportacus paled slightly. “She told you about them?”

Nodding, the girl relaxed into the other’s arms. “She explained it during a meeting one night while the parents were talking to each other. She didn’t want anyone to get confused and call you her dad.”

Sportacus looked a bit upset at the info that even the idea of him being considered the girl’s father upset her so much that she went out of her way to tell everyone about her home life, which was no doubt stressful for her.

“But, sometimes, if we’re just at school and a kid not in our group asks about you, she’ll just say you’re her dad. And if the teachers ask, she tells them you’re her dad. I think it’s easier to o that then explain it all the time for her.”

“I imagine.” Sportacus mumbled, setting the girl down right outside of her friend’s room. “Now, do you think you’ll be able to go back to sleep? You’ll need it. Your dad says he’s coming to get you early tomorrow morning.”

The girl nodded before hugging the man tightly. “Thanks, Sportacus. Talking helped me a lot, I think.”

Sportacus simply grinned and ruffled the girl’s hair before she tiptoed back into the room, staying in there for the rest of the night.

The next morning, Sportacus woke to the sound of someone knocking on the door. A quick glance around downstairs told him that the girls were most likely still asleep, so he let the parent in and ushered him into the kitchen right away, explaining what the purple-clad girl had talked to him about the previous night.

He knew that he promised the child he wouldn’t tell, but he couldn’t hold in the contents. Worriedly, he suggested therapy to the father, who solemnly nodded.

“Yes, thanks for letting me know. I’ll have to call up our old family therapist.”

Sportacus nodded and smiled at the man. “Hungry?”

A bit taken aback, Robbie chuckled. “Sure.”

By the time the girls had woken up and made their way down the stairs, the two men had already finished eating, but surely, a stack of pancakes awaited the two children. Gleefully, they both took one and chowed down.

At one point as Robbie set his mug of coffee down, he stared the strange blue-clad man down. “Do you… do you have an actual name that I can call you?”

“Oh, of course.” Sportacus replied, lifting his glass of orange juice up and holding it gingerly, “my real name is Marcus, but you can keep calling me Sportaweirdo, if you want.” With that, he took a long sip of his juice, watching in amusement as the taller man stood up, taking his daughter’s hand in his.

Without warning, he lifted up the child and with a smirk started heading towards the living room. “I’ll take that as my cue to leave.”

That caused everyone to start giggling uncontrollably. Robbie made his way back into the kitchen and set his daughter back down, who gave Sportacus a knowing glance.

Robbie just smirked and went along with it. It was funny, after all.

Chapter Text

Stephanie bounded excitedly to the park where the city had agreed to let the group host their fundraiser. The pink haired girl claimed the lemonade stand as her work place, while the other kids were divided into their own stations.

Energetically, the children all smiled and kept their chins up as they sold their last cookie. Ella turned to Stephanie, grabbing the other girl’s hand. “We did wonderful today! I didn’t think this many people would come.”

The other girl nodded in agreement as she gazed over the crowd of people at the park. One of the parents had brought in a bouncy-house, and others had provided the tables, equipment, and the small open tent that kept the children from becoming sun burnt on the hot day. “Me either!”

What she didn’t know was that when Sportacus had told the mayor about the fundraiser, he had made a public announcement to the city to make sure the kids raised enough cash.

As the day dragged on, the parents began to notice the youngsters’ declining zest and issued a break for them; one that, of course, consisted of eight excited kids hopping around in the bouncy-house. Once the group departed, they all seemed reborn with energy.

By the time the sun was starting to set, the kids all began to pack up with help from their parents, when Ella spotted Gabe’s ex-friends out of the corner of her eye. She nudged the boy beside her and he visibly shuddered.

“Not them again.” The boy groaned, dreading what was guaranteed to happen now that the two caught the boy’s eye. Swiftly, the duo started to march their way over to the group, when suddenly, a woman came up to them and dragged one of the boys away, forcing the other to stop in his tracks as he stared after his comrade.

“Whose that?” Stephanie asked Gabe, who shrugged and glanced over to her.

“Tristan’s mom. She’s kinda nice.” He tapped his fingers together. “She’s the one who hosts all those anti-bullying poster contests in school.”

Ella nodded and watched at the remaining bully nervously glanced after his friend and back to the group. Once Tristan was out of sight, the boy made his way over to the club, abashedly knitting his fingers together.

Paul stopped when he reached the group. “Um, I don’t really like sweets, but can I give you guys a donation?” He held out two dollars to Gabe, his eyes glued to the ground.

Ella and Stephanie glimpsed at each other, staring the boy down. “…Sure.” Ella said, gingerly plucking the money out of the boy’s finnicky hands.

Determined, Stephanie leaned over the table and rested her head upon her fist. “What do you really want? Did you come here to pick on us again?”

“Or did you come to try and steal Gabe from us?” Stingy huffed, his hands sliding onto his hips.

Gabe gave the boy a cautious look. “Yeah, Paul, why’d you come over here?”

The boy inhaled a sharp breath and released it, his eyes still on his shoes. “I…I still want to be your friend, Gabe.”

A bit surprised, the former bully peeked at his pals and gave them a lop-sided grin. “Let’s take a walk.” He said dryly to his old friend, who nodded and joined the other’s side.

Once the two were out of ear shot of the group, Paul turned to his ex-friend. “I miss being your friend.” Gabe just stared blankly at the other. “Tristan is no fun to be around. He picks on me, and he picks on you…”

Rubbing the back of his neck, Gabe sighed outwardly. “I’ve…had a lot of fun being around those other kids,” he jabbed his thumb in their direction, “but of course I missed hanging out with you. Tristan has always been…a bit pushy, but you were always there for me.”

Nodding along, the other boy tapped his fingers together. “We were best friends, Gabe. We’ve known each other forever. I don’t want that to all be thrown away because of how I acted.”

Gabe smiled slightly, slinging his arm over the other’s shoulder. “Awh, it’s okay, Buddy. I forgive you.” Paul relaxed a bit against the touch and gave his friend a small grin.

“You seem to have a lot of fun with those other kids… and I don’t want to be around Tristan at all anymore. My mom says he’s a bad influence on me and he tried getting me to smoke after school the other day.”

Gabe furrowed his eyebrows together in apprehension. “He did…? That’s awful, Paul. Maybe we should tell his mom. I know she would flip if she found out.”

Shaking his head, Paul leaned against the other for support. “He said he would beat me up and tell everyone that I’m gay if I tell anyone.”

Huffing out of his nose, Gabe shook his head as well. “He’s not going to touch you. And he needs to grow up…being gay isn’t a bad thing, ya know.”

Swallowing the lump in his throat, Paul continued on. “It isn’t..? Hey, um…when I asked my parents what it meant, they wouldn’t tell me. What does it mean to be gay? They just said it was gross…I know it describes people, but…”

“Well, ya know how people get crushes, right? It’s when a guy gets a crush on another guy, or the other way around with girls. There’s other words, too, but I’m still learning them.”

“Like… a crush guys usually get on girls?”

Nodding, Gabe barely noticed as his friend’s face shattered, as if all the air was knocked out of him.

The two walked in silence for another minute before Gabe stopped. Once Paul realized, he turned around curiously.

“You should join the club with me.”

A bit taken aback, Paul stepped forward, laughing awkwardly. “I dunno, my mom might not let me, and I don’t think your new friends would like me.”

Gabe grinned and grabbed his friend’s arm. “Ya kidding? They’d love ya, as long as you apologize. And about the whole mom thing—my mom doesn’t even know I’m in the club. The other kids understand how important it is for us to learn about other people and they helped me go behind her back.”

Paul nodded along, jogging over to the group with his friend at his side. Once in front of them, Gabe patted his friend’s shoulder, urging him to speak.

“Hey, um…I’m really sorry about how I treated you guys.” The boy rubbed the back of his neck. “Would it be alright if I joined? I want to learn more about this stuff.”

Stephanie smiled and shrugged. “Alright. Well, if you’re joining, please, call me Stephanie.” She reached her hand out and shook the boy’s hand, followed by the rest of the group’s members. The pink-haired girl told Sportacus the news, who gleefully welcomed the boy, followed by the rest of the parents.

Sportacus let the kids all play on the bouncy-house one more time before they tor it down, as the parents packed up the last of the tables and supplies.

Wanda, Leia, and Richard offered to clean up the inflatable, and in return, Sportacus dropped off their children.

Within a week, Paul had integrated into the group the same way the Gabe had, the kids all looking up to the slightly older boy. Unlike Gabe, Paul’s parents didn’t pressure him into joining multiple clubs and teams, and the boy was only on the soccer team and in the LGBTQ club. He gleefully introduced the group to writing poetry, and helped the kids all write poems for their next fundraiser, which would be a poetry slam at the local café.

Sportacus sat down at the table with the children as they wrote out their poems, glancing around at them. “So, what are you all writing your poems about?”

Stephanie clapped excitedly and started out. “I’m writing about being a girl and how my parents took it.” Sportacus gave the girl a gentle smile and ruffled her hair.

Trixie took over. “Um, I’m writing about being a lesbian,” the girl said quietly, causing the kids to all turn to her. Right away, she tensed up slightly, continuing on. “I’m having my moms help me write it. It’s a gift for them.”

After Trixie finished, Stingy cleared his throat. “I’m writing about being a boy on the cheerleading team.”

“I’m…I’m writing about being autistic,” Pixel voiced out slowly, keeping his eyes down. It wasn’t something he was used to talk about, but he had been growing more confident in his identity.

Tina took over when he finished. “Gina and I are writing one about being twins. I’ll say it out loud and she’s gonna stand next to me and sign it.” The group applauded them on the creativity and moved onto Gabe.

“I think I’m going to write about feeling unappreciated by my parents.” The boy said, a wry smile on his mouth.

Next, Paul took over. “Mine is going to be about how I’m a bit of a pushover.” Gabe snickered and elbowed his friend in the side. Lastly, eyes fell on Ella, who stiffened in her seat.

“I think…I think I might write mine about losing my dad.”

The group awkwardly glanced at each other, not knowing what to say to the girl. Finally, Paul spoke up.

“That’s a hard thing to write about, Ella. But when I lost my dad, I first started writing poetry. It can really help it hurt less. If you ever want to talk to a kid who went through the same thing, I’m fine with chatting.” The kids all went back to their own writing, leaving the two children with a missing parent staring at each other from across the table.

“That’d be nice sometime.” Ella said after a long minute, returning to her writing before Sportacus pulled her aside.

“Ella, does your dad know what you’re writing about?” He asked softly, leaning over slightly to be at a better eye-level with the child.

Shaking her head, the girl stared at her shoes. “Not yet. I was going to tell him during dinner tonight.”

Sportacus nodded. “That’s a good idea. It’s important that he knows.” He gave the girl a final grin before standing up and motioning her back to the table.

When Ella went home that night and her and her father sat at the dinner table, digging into their tv dinners ungracefully. Once they were both done and Robbie had plopped down on the couch, flipping the television on, Ella tiptoed over to him and hopped onto the cushion next to his, leaning on him.

“Everything okay, El?” The man muted the television and turned to face his daughter, who stared down at her lap.

Nodding, she played with her finger nails nervously. “Can I read you my poem so far?”

Shrugging, Robbie leaned his back onto the sofa and smiled. “Alright. Let’s hear it.”

Ella stood from the couch and picked her notebook up, clearing her throat and standing in front of her father. With a deep breath, her eyes scanned the paper. “People always say ‘it gets better.’” She looked up at her father, who watched in anticipation. “And to an extent, that’s true. And to an extent, it’s not. It’s true that the pain lessens and time helps wounds seal up, but still, scars are left behind. Just because you don’t think about the pain every day doesn’t make it any less real. It doesn’t go away, because when someone dies, it’s like stepping on a piece of glass. The longer you walk, the deeper that glass is going to go. While you can’t see the glass much anymore, your foot still aches and sometimes it bleeds, and eventually, it scars. That’s what losing someone you love is like. You ache, and sometimes you don’t feel it, but the hole that person left behind is still there, and no amount of time will fill it up.” She looked up from her paper, her lip trembling slightly. “That’s all I have so far.”

Robbie stared past his daughter as if she wasn’t even there, nodding slightly. He patted the spot beside him, urging his daughter to sit next to him again. Once she was, Robbie pulled her head to his chest and kissed her forehead sloppily, rocking her slightly against his shoulder as if she were an infant. Ella knew he figured out what it was about.

After a few moments of holding his daughter, Robbie released the embrace and held the girl’s hands in his own. “You’re very talented, Ella. I want you to know that you make me very proud. Dad would be very proud of you, too.”

Ella nodded, feeling tears prick her eyes like thorns. She smiled wiped her tears away. “I know, Dad. Thank you for being here for me.” She felt the tears fall a little heavier, and her father pulled her back into his arms.

Once she had dried herself up, she glanced at her paper from across the room and gave her father a smile. “Dad, will you help me finish it?”

The man met his daughter’s hesitant eyes and slowly nodded, bringing the notebook to her.

Soon enough the night of the poetry slam had arrived, and the kids all straightened their ties and dresses out and wore their makeup proudly. The kids all practiced the parts of their poems they were nervous to say aloud to each other, building their confidence up like Lego blocks.

Ella stood nervously next to Stephanie, skimming through her poem, bouncing from foot to foot as she glimpsed in the crowd. She spotted her father and clung to her friend even tighter, surprising the other girl a bit. “What’s wrong, Ella?”

“I’m just a little nervous again.”

Paul, who had over-heard, made his way over to the girl. “Once you get out in front of that audience and you start speaking, you just don’t stop. Just start speaking.”

Ella smiled and nodded awkwardly, sighing deeply.

She watched as Sportacus went onto the stage and called out into the crowd that the LGBTQ club would now recite their poems, and the audience applauded. He skidded back to the kids and glimpsed over all of them. “Who wants to go first?”

Right away, Stingy raised his hand excitedly. “I’d love to go first, please.” He set his hand down. “My dad can’t stay the whole time, and I want him to hear my poem before he has to go.”

Sportacus nodded and escorted the young boy to the stage. As if he had been doing it his entire life, the boy stepped up onto the podium and delivered his poem magnificently, pulling a few tears and cheers from the crowd.

The boy bowed graciously and hopped off the stage, racing to his father and jumping into his arms. Soon, the boy’s father left and he joined the group again as Gina and Tina took the stage.

With only a few slip ups, the twins finished their poem, the crowd applauding as they finished. The two returned to the other club members as Pixel nervously skidded onto the stage. As he was speaking, his voice started to shake and he began to feel a bit overwhelmed, but he finished his poem with a small smile before making his way off the stage.

Gabe took the stage next, and after him Paul took his turn. With Stephanie’s encouragement, Trixie went next and delivered her ballad-like poem to the crowd, which ended with both her and her mothers tearing up. Near the end of it she clearly mentioned how she herself liked girls, which brought a little shock to her friends, but it was soon overshadowed by acceptance.

Ella was set to go next, but she became frightened and gripped Stephanie’s hand in hers, begging her to go first. The girl cheerfully listened and strode to the stage, silencing the audience with a determined glare. Once she had finished her poem, the girl dropped the microphone dramatically and skipped back to the group, tugging on Ella’s hand energetically, urging the other girl to make her way onto the stage.

Nervously, the girl took slow steps onto the stage, lifting the microphone into her hands gently, taking deep breaths before composing her poem. She started out slow and graceful, but as she continued the words became more intense and powerful, and her voice shook and hollered, and when she finished she was sweating and crying. The crowd erupted into applause, and the girl couldn’t help the smile that flew onto her face.

She peeked to her father in the crowd, who was standing and still clapping. She felt her eyes watering again and made her way back to her friends, who all congratulated her and looked over to see their donation box filling up generously.

Before the group could depart homewards, a woman from the newspaper took the crew’s photo promising it would be in one of the papers. Once the woman had a smiling photo of the kids within her camera, the kids were all taken home.

The next day during lunch, the kids glance dup from their food to notice a young child with long blonde hair approaching them. Stephanie nudged Trixie and the group all looked up at the kid, who confidently approached them, a cape flying behind their back.

Right away, the child sat at the table with the group across from Stephanie, as if they belonged there. “I saw you guys at Lorietta’s last night. I loved your poems.” The kid pulled out their lunchbox and unpacked it, revealing multiple snack cakes. Munching into a swiss roll, they puffed their cheeks out and grinned. “My name’s Izzy, by the way. But please, call me Izzy the Great.” When the other kids stared at them strangely for that comment, they shrugged. “Or just Izzy.”

Stephanie glimpsed at her friends and shrugged d as well. “I’m Stephanie. It’s nice to meet you.”

The rest of the kids one by one introduced themselves to the new child. They tore into the honey bun in their lunchbox and grinned like a chipmunk again. “My mom is the woman who took your picture. She works for the newspaper. You guys are in a LGBTQ club, right?” Ella nodded slowly. The other kid continued on. “Can I join?”

A bit taken aback, the kids all glanced at each other for an answer before Stephanie took over, shrugging. “Sure, that would be fine.”

“Thanks!” The kid cheered, setting their current snack back on its wrapper. “Hey, Stephanie, your poem especially got to me. The whole being trapped in a body that doesn’t like you thing was really good. I’m a boy, but everyone insists I’m a girl.” He rolled his eyes. “That’s why my hair is still long like this. I don’t like it. It makes me look like a girl, I think.”

Stephanie grinned slightly. “Why don’t you cut it off?”

The smaller child lit up at that. “I never thought about that. I’m not good at cutting hair, though. Do you think during recess you could chop it off for me?”

A bit surprised at the sudden idea, Stephanie stared at him in shock before replying. “Well, sure. That would be fine.” She set her arms on the table. “But I dunno where we’d get any scissors at recess.”

A small grin on her face, Ella leaned forward. “There are some in Dad’s supply closet. We could give you your haircut in there and sweep it up, too.”

Stingy propped his head up on his chin. “We won’t get in trouble for doing that, will we?”

A devious grin on her face, Trixie shrugged. “I doubt it. Only if they catch us.”

Slightly unconvinced, Pixel leaned forward and looked at Ella. “There isn’t a camera in your dad’s closet, is there?”

Ella shook her head. Pixel gently set a hand On Stingy’s hand. “See? We won’t get caught.” The other boy seemed to sigh in adoration, causing Trixie to roll her eyes and lightly kick her brother under the table, who snapped out of it right away with a glare.

Stephanie tapped Izzy’s lunch box slightly, causing the boy to glimpse up. “Hey, Izzy… do you like your name?”

Solemnly, the child sighed. “Not really. It’s really girly, but…I haven’t found any other one that fits me yet.”

Stephanie grinned slightly. “Maybe we could help you find one.”

Izzy grinned softly at that. “Thanks. I’d appreciate that…” he looked up. “How’d you find your name?”

Stephanie shrugged. “I didn’t want my name to be super different from my old one, but I needed people to think I was a girl when they heard it. Stephanie was really close to it, so I chose it.”

The other child nodded in thought. “That sounds cool. I hope my new name will be cool, too.”

“I’m sure it will be!” Stephanie assured, twiddling her fingers happily.

Sighing nervously, Izzy glanced up at the pink-covered girl. “What was it like using a new name? I mean, I know I want a new name, but…is it hard to get used to?”

Shaking her head, Stephanie leaned her head into the palm of her hand. “A little bit. But eventually you just stop thinking about your old name. As long as enough people help you, it can even be easy. And we’ll all be happy to call you by a new name.”

The group agreed and caused the child to smile profusely. Once the bell rang, the squad raced outside and into their little hide out, where they set the boy in a chair and wrapped the front of him up in Stingy’s jacket and the back in Pixel’s. Within a few moments, Stephanie and Ella had began to snip at the back of the boy’s head with the scissors ununiformly. Yet again the bell rang, and the children tossed their scissors back into the bin they were taken from, hurriedly cleaning the hair off of the floor and the jackets.

Soon, the children raced back outside and into the lines to go back inside. They exchanged glances and couldn’t help but smirk and giggle until one of the teacher’s noticed the change and loudly gasped. Right away, she approached the boy and put her hand behind his head, guiding him in front of the other students. Right away, Trixie jumped into action.

“What are you doing?” She piped up, causing the teacher to turn her attention to the pouting child.

“I’m taking her to the office. She shouldn’t have cut her hair like this!” She turned away, taking the kid by the hand and dragging him inside, leaving the other kids staring. Right away, Stephanie turned to her friends.

“What if he gets in trouble with his mom? I didn’t even think about that.” She hummed nervously. “I don’t want him to get in trouble because of us.”

Trixie placed a comforting hand on the other kid’s shoulder. “It’ll be fine, Steph. If his mom is the woman who excitedly took our picture yesterday, she’s probably accepting.”

Still a bit anxious, Stephanie knit her hands together. Stingy put his hand on the girl’s free shoulder. “We did the right thing, Stephanie. That’s what matters.”

Nodding slowly, Stephanie accepted the information as the group slowly shuffled inside.

The next day at lunch time, the group spotted Izzy and instantly stood up and approached the kid. Upon close inspection, they realized that the boy’s hair was now even, and he was grinning proudly.

“What happened yesterday? Did you get in trouble?” Pixel asked softly, studying the boy’s new hair.

Izzy chuckled. “No, not at all. My mom is my best friend in the entire world.” He started to walk back to the table with the other kids trailing behind and alongside him. “When I told her that I’m a boy, she freaked out a little bit. She started crying a lot and had to sit down. She doesn’t usually cuss, but I think I heard her saying a few bad words under her breath, too.”

Gabe couldn’t help but frown at that. “That doesn’t sound good. But I’m guessing she fixed your hair.”

Nodding, Izzy continued on. “When she was done crying, we sat down and watched a few videos about boys like me who are born being called a girl. She cried some more, but she said she was just happy that I told her and that she’s going to try and help me the best she can.” He pointed to his hair. “That’s why she cut my hair. She said if I was wanting to be a handsome boy I would have to fix my hair.”

Stephanie grinned at the memories of Bessie helping her fix her own hair. “Yeah, that kinda happened to me.”

A wide grin hopped onto Izzy’s face. “She also said she’s super happy that our school has an LGBTQ club and that I’m joining. She said that she’s going to have to learn a lot about how to help, but that she wants to make my life as a boy a super happy one. She said when she gets her next paycheck she’ll even take me to get some new clothes!”

“That’s really awesome!” Pixel applauded, clapping the other kid on the shoulder. “I’m really happy your mom accepted you so quickly.”

A giggle escaped Izzy’s mouth. “Me too! I didn’t want her to be disappointed in me when she found out. But she was actually really happy! A little too emotional for me to handle, but happy!”

The group continued to chat with each other as they ate their meal.

When the next meeting arrived, Izzy brought his mom and announced that they had found a name for him. His new name was going to be Zigfrued like his grandfather, but everyone was free to call him Ziggy. Excitedly, the group took the news, and left his mother to integrate into the adults’ table.

After she introduced herself as Jolene Zweets, the woman immediately sat next to Mr. Spoilero, chatting amongst the group and asking numerous questions to the parents on how to help her son. Once Robbie finished his cleaning for the day and joined the table, she instantly gazed upon him and grinned in awe, shaking his hand and introducing herself. Right away, the look the woman gave him made a shiver run down Robbie’s spine. The way the woman stared at him as if he were a meal made him shrink into his seat to the best of his ability.

Richard couldn’t help but chuckle as he elbowed the woman in the side. “He’s hot stuff, isn’t he?” He whispered, and Robbie found himself wishing he didn’t have ears suddenly. Sportacus picked up on the flirty duo’s words and tone and hurriedly tried to change the conversation for the poor awkward man’s sake.

“Robbie, did you like the those cookies I gave you the other week?”

Relieved, Robbie chuckled awkwardly and hoped the two flirty parents would drop it. “Yes, they were really great. Ella loved them, too.”

However, the mention of his fatherly side only fueled the other parents’ adoration. Both sighed in unison and caused Robbie to tense up more. The duo stared nervously at Sportacus as if begging him not to change the subject again, while Robbie gazed pleadingly at the other man to do just that. Sportacus easily picked the more vulnerable look and spoke up again.

“So, we’ve been considering taking the kids on a field trip. Does anyone have any ideas?”

Right away, Mr. Simpcan took over on speaking, and Robbie released a breath he didn’t realize he had been holding in. He gave the strange blue-splattered man a thankful grin and listened into the office worker’s rambling. Apparently, Mr. Simpcan was way ahead of the rest of the group and had already started to plan out a trip to the nearest amusement park. He had talked to the school and they agreed to lend a bus and a bus driver for the trip there and back.

As the adults chatted, Stephanie found herself a bit under-stimulated and bored and leaned back so she could snoop on the adults’ conversation. Once she heard the words amusement park leave the familiar office worker’s mouth, she gasped aloud, causing the other kids to look up from their coloring pages and at her.

When asked about it, Stephanie immediately started to happy flap and needed a moment to gather herself before she could speak. She leaned forward to try and falter her excited voice slightly. “I just heard Mr. Simpcan say amusement park…I think we’re going on a trip to one!”

Right away, this caused Trixie to punch the air jubilantly and hoot in glee. “An amusement park? That sounds awesome!”

Mr. Simpcan whipped his head around to face the kids and glimpsed back to the other adults, shrugging. “Guess we know what the kids want.”

Laughing, Sportacus leaned back. “Well, an amusement park it is! What’s the name of the one you were thinking about, Mr. Simpcan?”

A small grin on his face, the man pushed his glasses further up onto his nose. “It’s called Queens Island, I believe.”

That caused Paul and Gabe to cheer loudly. “We went there a few years back! They recently built a brand new rollercoaster!” Gabe pumped his fist in the air the same way Trixie had moments ago. That caused Trixie to do the motion again and excitedly join the boys’ conversation about the park’s rollercoasters.

Gina, Tina, and Ella gleefully signed to each other about how excited they were for the spinning rides while Stingy and Pixel chatted excitedly over the arcade the park had, leaving Ziggy, and Stephanie giggling over some of the smaller rides and the treats they would surely eat there.

The parents couldn’t help but shake their heads and chuckle at the childrens’ enthusiasm for the trip.

Chapter Text

Finally, the field trip day had arrived, and Ella had a plan up her sleeve.

It wasn’t one that she thought was devious or immoral, but when she told Stephanie what she had done, the other girl couldn’t help but gasp in surprise.

She had lied. And not about something small, either.

The other night, when her father was deciding whether or not to accompany the children on their trip to the amusement park, she saw the beginnings of disinterest in him and jumped into action, begging him to join her, claiming that she was terrified to go alone.

Of course, this wasn’t the case. She was far from afraid—in fact, she was incredibly excited about this trip and had been gushing about it to her friends the entire week leading up—but she had told him so her plan would work. Her plan, of course, was to force her father somewhat out of his shell and into the world where other adults existed and talked and made friends with each other. She hated seeing her father struggle to hold even the simplest of conversations up because of his awkward and reclusive nature, but she had decided that she had to do something about it—even if it meant lying directly to his face.

Of course, she felt guilty over doing this to an extent, but the compliments that rained in from her friends when she told them what she had done and the light, genuine smiles that appeared on her father’s face as he sat down next to one of the parents and began chatting away with them washed away all of her insecurities. How could she be upset when what she was doing seemed to be helping her father?

As the bus pulled to a stop at a gas station, she tip toed out of her seat and to her father, claiming she needed him to accompany her to the restroom. She didn’t have to go, and lying was becoming easier and easier for her. Once the two were inside the tiny convenient store and gas station duo and away from the other kids and parents, she hugged her father tightly.

“Are you having fun talking to the other parents?”

Scoffing slightly, he ruffled his daughter’s hair. “Sure, but don’t worry about that too much, El. You should focus on having a good time yourself.”

The girl shrugged. “I can’t help it. you always seem so sad, so when I see you looking happy, it makes me really happy. And I just want to make sure you were actually having a good time and not pretending to have a good time…you do that a lot.”

He let out another laugh. “Oh, I do, do I? Like I haven’t seen you do it.”

She crossed her arms. “So? I never said it was an entirely bad thing. Sometimes we both just get tired of talking and have to pretend. But I wanted to make sure you weren’t pretending. At least, not yet.”

Robbie rolled his eyes and led his daughter to the restroom. She smirked up at him. “I didn’t have to actually use the restroom, silly.”

Huffing, Robbie shook his head and led his daughter back to the bus. Still, she felt her eyes flickering over and checking on him and how he was interacting with the other parents as if he were a dog in a dog park and not her father. She just wanted him to fit in and be happy again.

Finally, the group neared the amusement park, and the children all began to restlessly cheer as one by one they hopped out of the vehicle and started planning out who they were going to go with and what they were going to do.

After about half an hour of planning, it was decided that Paul, Gabe, and Trixie would be taken to the rollercoasters by Trixie’s moms, who were also very pumped for riding the fast, looping machines. Stingy and Pixel teamed up to go to the arcade with only Stingy’s father joining them as Pixel’s parents both had work and were absent. Of course, Stingy was not as eagerly excited by the idea of being in a cooped-up dark room full of dozens of other sweaty kids, but he was eager to be hanging out with Pixel without kids from the group disturbing him. Gina and Tina were far too afraid and far too short for the majority of the rides, but they were gleefully prepared to follow their mother to the kiddie rides. Ziggy wasn’t interested in riding anything and instead decided that all he wanted was to eat the amusement park food, and didn’t even end up buying a ticket with the hopes of using that money on said snacks instead. The last group, of course, included only Stephanie and Ella, who were wanting to ride the normal rides but not the rollercoasters, who were led by Robbie and Sportacus.

Ella watched all of the kids excluding herself and Stephanie rush off into their groups jubilantly, leaving the group of four behind to think. After about a moment of glancing at the map of the amusement park, the girls decided they first wanted to ride one of the spinning teacup rides near the middle of the park. Skipping, they lead the men to the ride and dragged them on with them.

At first, the group laughed and giggled and enjoyed themselves as they spun faster and faster, but after about five rounds of the same ride, Robbie felt himself growing ill. Upon seeing her father’s ill state, the girl couldn’t help but feel guilt sting in her chest. She knew when she dragged him along that he couldn’t handle amusement park rides very well, especially ones that whirled him around with barely any restraint to the seat, causing him to smash against the person beside him or the seat beside him.

As Sportacus helped the girls onto the same spinning ride on their own, he placed a gentle hand on Robbie’s back and guided him to a nearby bench. Right away, the other let out a small whimper of pain and squeezed his hand over his abdomen. When Sportacus shot him an extremely worried look, like one of a man who would lift the other up bridal style and race him towards the hospital look, Robbie laughed lightly, wincing. “I’m fine. I just don’t usually do these kinds of things.”

Sportacus nodded slowly, leaning back against the bench. He listened closely to the other as began to speak. “You know, I wasn’t going to come originally. Things like this always happen to me.”

Sportacus solemnly nodded at that. He couldn’t help but pity the other. “Why did you end up coming? I mean, if you knew you wouldn’t be able to handle rides like that…”

Robbie sighed and stared at the twirling cups. “Ella begged me to come…said she would be too scared to come without me. That she would get sick like I do. But she’s never had that happen. She rarely gets sick, at all, really.”

Furrowing his eyebrows, Sportacus tilted his head slightly. “That’s….strange, to say the least. She didn’t tell me she was scared…in fact, she told me all week about how excited she was for this. I don’t know why she would tell you she was afraid.”

Nodding, Robbie rubbed his temple. “That…explains a lot. I know why she did it, now.” Sportacus tilted his head again, so Robbie continued on. “Well, she’s always worried about me not making friends…isn’t that silly?”

Sportacus couldn’t help but stifle a chuckle. “Yeah, it’s usually the other way around.”

“Mhm.” Robbie sighed and removed his hand from his stomach as it calmed. “But every since my husband died and she joined this little club she’s been dedicating all of her energy at home to making me get out of my box. It can kind of sweet sometimes, but other times it’s just exhausting.”

“Like this time?”

Robbie chuckled again and winced, slapping his hand over his gurgling abdomen. “Yeah, like this time. But stop making me laugh. I don’t want to hurl on you.”

“That wouldn’t be ideal.” Sportacus murmured sarcastically, causing another painful snort to escape the other’s mouth. This time he added a playful punch to the arm as a warning to the other on his stupid jokes and one-liners that made him laugh.

Robbie almost didn’t notice the girls hurrying off the ride and over to them, and he certainly didn’t notice the way they giggled and whispered as if they knew the secrets to the universe.

Robbie gave them a suspicious look and let them off the hook for the time being as they made their way to the girls’ next desired ride. It was another spinning ride, so once again, Robbie and Sportacus leaned against the railings of the ride and chatted to each other instead of riding it themselves.

At one point, Robbie found himself once again begrudgingly chatting about his past lover and couldn’t help but slightly lean against the other for a bit of support. He hated relying on others for anything, but seeing his daughter prosper from learning to lean on her friends and the adults around her made the idea very tempting. When Robbie found a small tear leaving his eye, he forcibly shut himself up, even if he wanted to scream out his insecurities and pains of the past, knowing that if he did act out as he felt exactly he would be an embarrassment to his child and her club, and he wasn’t ready to ruin her day.

“Hey, Mr. Rotten?” Sportacus whispered suddenly, surprising the taller man slightly., who was currently wiping away one of his tears. The other just looked down at him, smiled, and nodded. “Can I give you a number to call about these types of things?”

Thinning his lips out, the taller father groaned. “I don’t know, what kind of number is this? A help line or something? Look, I appreciate the sentiment behind it, but I’m a grown man, I can look up a help line if I need one myself, I don’t need your sympathy.” He started to regret voicing any of his thoughts to the other man. The number thing he hated was being pitied.

Sportacus tensed up at the words before staring at the number in his phone and reconsidering his choices. “It’s…not a help line. Not really, anyways.”

Crossing his arms, Robbie peered down at the other. “If not a help line, than what?”

A flustered grin grew onto Sportacus face as he glimpsed up at the other. “It’s…my phone number.”

Shocked, Robbie dropped his arms, jaw, and defenses in the same movement, taking a moment to recover. “Why do you want to give me your number, exactly?”

“I just thought…if you wanted to be able to talk to a fellow parent, or if you want to talk stuff out without having to call a help line and feel embarrassed or have to wait numerous hours…I’m always open and happy to listen others problems.”

Robbie nodded slowly and stared at his phone. “Well, if you’re really alright with it.” He rubbed the back of his head awkwardly and handed the other his phone.

Smiling gently, Sportacus nodded. “I promise I won’t try to bother you, but I’d be happy to share some of my recipes and whatnot with you some time.”

“You do bake some wonderful cookies…” He couldn’t help but watch affectionately as the other entered his phone number.

“And I can bake other sweets as well, if you’re interested. I make the best cupcakes.”

Robbie couldn’t help but laugh at the enthusiasm of the other. “I don’t know, you haven’t tried my cupcakes.” He glimpsed over to Ella, who was spinning around gleefully on her ride. This is what she wanted, right? This is what making friends was like, right? He couldn’t help but doubt himself.

“Are you sure you wanna do this? I’m such a depressing person to be around.” Robbie asked quietly, a bit taken aback by the other’s confession.

Sportacus nodded softly, staring at his hands. “I don’t think you’re depressing. You’re just going through a hard time.” Confused, Robbie stared at him. “I just think…nobody deserves to be alone, especially while they’re grieving.”

Robbie looked forward and found a small smile creeping onto his face. He still felt that he was being pitied to some extent, but the strange man seemed to genuinely care about his happiness. It was almost... refreshing, to see someone wear their heart proudly on their sleeve. “Well...thank you.” He whispered, glancing back up at his daughter, who was now exiting the ride. The two idly chatted about cooking while they were led to another ride, to the delight of the purple-clad daughter.

Eventually the day pulled to a crawl and the children all clambered back onto the bus with the intentions of having a slumber party at Stephanie’s house. The groups excitedly chatted along until the bus stopped to let Paul and Gabe return home to Gabe’s abode from their made-up ‘soccer game’ in another city.

Luckily, his parents were in the kitchen and didn’t notice the bus speed off, a rainbow flag flying from the back of it gracefully.

When the bus stopped next, it was to allow Gina and Tina go home, as they were too nervous to stay the night at someone else’s house.

Finally, the bus pulled into the mayor’s driveway and all the children and remaining parents hopped out of the vehicle. The group of children jubilantly hurried inside, shouting out their plans for the evening to each other, their parents chuckling and trailing behind.

Robbie found himself once again standing next to the loud blue man, a soft grin on his lips at Ella’s enthusiasm. He hadn’t seen her this excited in years.

One by one the parents found a seat in the living room, with what was definitely too many people crammed onto the same couch, with Robbie practically attached to Sportacus’ hip in the process. He wasn’t used to the contact and shivered immensely any time one of them shifted in their seat. Slowly, the number of sitting parents diminished as adults stood up and told their children goodbye, leaving them with gentle kisses on their forehead.

Before long, Robbie found himself being the last parent to leave, with only Sportacus, Bessie, and Milford sitting on the couch.

At one point, Milford, who had a long day of work while last the kids were out riding rollercoasters and eating cotton candy, suggested they all open a bottle of wine. Robbie felt fine with this—he had been fine with holding his liquor in the past, but found himself a bit nervous at the idea. He hadn’t drank in years because of Ella being in the house, and he wasn’t sure he still could handle it. He definitely knew he didn’t want to be driving home drunk and risking her losing her only living parent.

Sportacus seemed to catch onto the other’s expression and elbowed him, whispering. “I can drive you home later, if you need it.”

Robbie nodded in agreement. That made him feel more confident in drinking. The worst he would probably do is start crying over his husband, but he made sure not to fill his glass too much to prevent that from happening.

After a few moments of talking in the living room, the group made their way out onto the patio and relaxed in the lawn chairs. Robbie’s head started pounding and he knew that it was time for him to stop drinking, but instead he indulged and kept going. He knew he would regret this later.

Bessie and Milford noticed how tired Robbie seemed and it made them yawn as well. Bessie stood up and announced she was going to bed and that she had a nice time talking to Robbie before leaving, soon followed by Mayor Meanswell. A few minutes of silence apart from the crickets chirping drove Sportacus mad.

He reached for the bottle of wine and tilted it towards Robbie. “Want anymore?”

Chucking solemnly, Robbie leaned against the back of chair and sighed. “No, I better stop before I make myself sick.” He peeked out of the corner of his eyes and noticed how uncomfortable Sportacus seemed in the silence and sighed. “I wish my daughter didn’t feel like she had to lie to me.”

Intrigued, Sportacus leaned forward in his seat and sat the wine bottle down. “What do you mean?”

“She…lies to me a decent bit. Not about super serious things, but…stuff like today. She cares about me a lot and knows I have a hard time being alone.” Robbie huffed, pulling his legs up to his chest. “I imagine she invited me today because of that. Otherwise I would have sat around the house moping, and because of her, I had a good time. Got a little sick, but had a good time. I just…wish she didn’t have to lie to me. She could have just invited me.”

Clearing his throat, Sportacus set a gentle hand on the other’s shoulder. “If she had just asked, would you have said yes?”

Sighing, Robbie rested his face against his hand. “I don’t…I don’t think I would have.”

“Why not? You obviously had a good time.”

Robbie glimpsed at the other and considered hiding his emotions, but the liquor convinced him to keep talking. “I don’t know… I want my daughter to have a good time, but I’m still working myself up to the idea of me joining her. I hate to be alone at home, though.”

“I think you did a great job today, if that counts for anything.” Sportacus relaxed against the back of his chair. “And I think she believes the same.”

Robbie shrugged the others hand away and sighed again, a shudder running down his spine. “I’m sorry. I know this must be embarrassing to hear.”

Shrugging, Sportacus grinned at the other. “No, it’s not. Just talk your heart out, I’m here to listen.”

Robbie stared a minute before chuckling and resting his chin on his knees. “You sure? I can be quite the downer.”

“Well, go on. You keep saying that but I haven’t seen that side of you.”

Solemnly, Robbie settled back into his own restlessness and leaned slightly against Sportacus. “Well, I guess I…can’t stand being alone. At least, not in my own house…that’s where I was when I found out my husband had died. I wasn’t there with him, and neither was Ella. Poor kid was at school and I couldn’t even try to let her finish the school day. I went and picked her up right away, and we cried for hours together. We were both so broken. Now anytime I’m alone in that house, I feel like she’ll get taken away, too.” He sighed and wiped at his eyes, which were now watering. “I know that’s silly and I shouldn’t think like that, but I can’t help it. I don’t want to be alone. I hate it. But being with other people is hard, too.” Robbie didn’t realize how hard he was sobbing until Sportacus slowly pulled him into a hug. He tensed up a bit and Sportacus released the hold but held his arms still, gazing at the crying man in front of him. After a moment of staring back, Robbie plunged himself back into the other’s arms. While it was true he was most often touch-repulsed, he had never felt so utterly touch-starved before. Quickly, he dried himself up, the last little bit of his sobriety smacking him in the face.

Damn that wine, making him act like this.

“Look, I imagine that was awkward,” Robbie wiped his eyes and could only laugh when Sportacus attempted to pull him back in for another embrace. “I’m fine now, Sportahug.”

The latter chuckled and let go, causing Robbie to lean back into his chair. “I do hate being alone, though. In my house anyways. I want Ella to go and be happy, though, so I don’t want to keep her all cooped up there, either.”

Sportacus gently rubbed the other’s back. “You’ll just have to go with her, than. That works out for both of you.”

Robbie couldn’t help the small grin growing on his face. “Yeah, you’re right… I’ll just have to get used to it. I was never an incredibly social person, and I don’t think I’ll be able to change that, though.”

Rubbing the back of his head, Sportacus found himself smiling abashedly at the other. “Maybe you should just talk to the right people, than. Not many people like spending time with strangers…You and Ella are both always welcome here.”

An equally embarrassed grin found its way onto Robbie’s face. “I figured that, Sportahold.”

A small chuckle escaped Sportacus’ mouth as he leaned forward in his chair. “You really are welcome, though. I mean, even tonight, if you want.”

Staring in disbelief, Robbie felt his mouth fall slightly open. “What do you mean?”

“Well, if you’re worried about going home tonight, we have guestrooms here. You’re free to stay in one.”

Robbie couldn’t help but continue to stare in shock as Sportacus stood up and held out his free hand, the bottle of wine in the other, “come on, I’ll show you where they are. There’s one pretty close to the kids’ room, and there’s one at the other end of the hall, as well.” He gently grabbed the other’s hand and helped him stand up. “Which one of those sounds the best to you?”

Slowly, Robbie moved his hands away from Sportacus’ and nodded. “Um, I’d prefer the one at the end of the hall, please.”

Grinning from ear to ear, Sportacus lifted up the bottle again and brought the other man up the stair ways and to said bedroom. He pushed the door open and flicked the light on, smiling as light flooded the clean room. “Sorry it’s a bit dusty in here. If you need anything, just let me know. I usually sleep down on the couch.”

That caused Robbie to stop him. “Okay, I do need something. I need to know why you sleep on the couch when you said there’s not one but two guest rooms in this house. Why don’t you take one for yourself?” He set down on the bed and crossed his arms.

“Oh, well…I have my own room, but I just typically don’t use it. I have really bad insomnia and my room is right above the Milford and Bessie’s’. I watch television real late at night to help me sleep sometimes, and it can bother them, so I spend time on the couch most of the time. People can’t hear if from down there.”

Robbie smiled awkwardly at the other. “Yeah, I get that. I have bad insomnia, too. Usually have to use a fan to sleep.”

Right away, Sportacus rushed out of the room without another word and returned a minute later with a fan. Robbie found himself laughing again and Sportacus awkwardly joined in. “Thanks. I appreciate this a lot.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “What kind of tv do you usually watch?”

“Ah, cooking shows, those weird pawn shop shows, whatever is on the comedy channel.”

A small grin grew onto Robbie’s face. “Care if I join you for a while longer?”

Sportacus found himself smiling widely. “Of course not.”

The two clambered back down the stairs and sat on opposite ends of the couch, casually choosing sides on whatever cooking show was on and rooting for opposite competitors for laughs.

Near the end of the second episode, the kids’ door creaked open and a little face peered over the railing and down at the men. Sportacus nudged the other as the glanced up and saw Ella staring down at them, clinging to a blanket that was tied around her waist, her eyes teary.

Right away, Sportacus sprung into action and made his way up to the girl, Robbie following suit. “What’s wrong, El?” Robbie whispered, and his daughter shook with tears as the two adults led her downstairs to the couch and set her between them.

“I..I had a dream about Dad again…it was a nightmare this time.” She sobbed, clinging gently to her father. “I feel really sick. I don’t know what to do. It’s making my stomach hurt.”

Sportacus rubbed the girl’s back gently as she pulled her knees to her chest and hid her face in her father’s shirt for a moment before peeking her head back up. He glimpsed at Robbie, who looked lost on what to say or do other than to join in on rubbing his daughter’s back, which he willingly did.

Noticing his distress, Sportacus took over and whispered to the small girl. “Will telling us about your dream help?”

Nodding, she took a deep breath before beginning. “Well, in my dream, I was at home, and no one else was there.” Swallowing hard, she continued on. “I kept walking around and calling for someone, anyone, to come and show me that I wasn’t alone.” She squeezed Robbie’s shirt in her fists. “But no one was answering. I went into the kitchen to grab the phone and call you,” she looked up at her father, “but there was something else in the kitchen…it was a big dark red box. I was really confused, and my stomach started hurting really bad. I walked up to it to try and figure out what it was, and it had a big lid on it.” She twiddled her feet together nervously and bit her lip. “I pushed the lid off and…inside of it was Dad. His eyes were still open, like he could see me, but he couldn’t move or talk or breath or anything.” She cried against her father’s chest, “I reached forward and tried to hug him, but he started spitting out blood and it got all over me. He just kept coughing and coughing and no matter how many times I tried to help he kept coughing, and then he just stopped. He didn’t move no more and his eyes closed really tight…like he was making a wish.” She rubbed at her arms as if she could still see the imaginary blood covering her arms. “I feel so sick. It’s not fair that Dad had to die. It’s not fair.”

Sobbing harder, the girl rocked in her father’s lap like an infant would, clinging to her own arms. Gently, he hugged his daughter closely and nuzzled his nose into her hair. “I know it’s not fair, Sweetie, I know.” The girl continued to shake and shudder as she wailed into her own arms, unable to stop.

Sportacus didn’t quite understand what the child was going through, but he rubbed her back and cooed to her anyways, hoping he was being supportive to her in some way.

Slowly, the girl pulled herself together from the bootstraps, leaning against her father and squeezing Sportacus’ hand. “I hope I go to heaven. I want to see Dad again really badly.”

“I know you do, and I do, too, sweetie. But you’ve got a lot of memories left to make, okay?” Robbie whispered, his daughter nodding softly.

Sportacus glimpsed between the two and with another gentle rub to the young girl’s shoulder, he added his own comment. “If you make a lot of memories, you’ll have a lot of memories to share with him when you meet him again.”

Ella smiled softly at that. “I didn’t think of it like that… I would be able to tell him a lot already, but… if I keep going, I’ll be able to tell him so many more things…and I think I want to have a kid of my own one day, so they can meet their grandpa.” She smiled at that and Robbie let out a chuckle.

“Don’t worry about that too much right now, though, El. You don’t need to have kids anytime soon. The longer you wait, the easier it is, most of the time.”

The girl giggled as her father brushed her hair out of her eyes and held her close to his chest. “I know, Dad…” she glimpsed between the two men nervously. “Can I stay down here for a while? I don’t think I can go back to sleep just yet.”

Sportacus glanced at Robbie for permission before nodding. “Of course you can.”

The girl clapped in joy before looking at the tv and smiling brightly. “Oh, you’re watching cooking shows? I love those!” She glimpsed between the contestants as they were listed off on the new episode. “I think Kaleb will win, for sure.”

“Really? I think Brittany is a way better bet.” Robbie huffed, turning to the tv and smiling down at his daughter, Sportacus joining in on their antics. Two episodes later and the girl yawned, falling fast asleep in her father’s lap.

Chuckling, he lifted the girl into his arms with tender care and turned to the stairs. “Hey, thanks for your help today. I mean, for everything…”

Shrugging, Sportacus turned to the tv abashedly and snuggled under his blanket. “Sleep well, Robbie.”

Robbie just laughed and made his way up the stairs, setting his daughter down in the room with her slumbering pals before going back to the guest room he was staying in. He couldn’t help but smile as he slept, taking Sportacus words to heart.

While the words were simple, they were surprisingly comforting.

‘If you make a lot of memories, you’ll have a lot of memories to share with him when you meet again.’

Chapter Text

When the next meeting rolled around, Pixel excitedly hurried into the cafeteria and hopped onto a seat next to Stingy, beaming at the other kids in the group. Flapping his arms around gleefully, he took a moment before he could manage to speak. When he finally could, he cleared his throat and grabbed the table’s attention. “I found a new word today. A new identity!”

Stephanie glanced curiously at the boy and back to her other friends, putting a hand on the other’s. “Well, go on, tell us about it!”

Carefully, the boy set his Mario-themed backpack onto the table and unzipped it, pulling out a slightly-crumpled piece of paper out. “The term is gender fluid, and I printed out a lot of info and positivity stuff about it. I was hoping I could teach the meeting, because I think I might be this term!”

The kids all nodded and let their friend stand up at the head of the table as if he was a teacher talking to the class. “Okay, so my brother is the one who told me all about the word, so if I get anything wrong it’s his fault, not mine.” He started out, causing a few of the kids to stifle a chuckle before leaning forward and focusing. After he had explained the word and told the joke about the positivity posts he had found, they all thanked him and he sat down next to them.

“It’s really cool, isn’t it? My brother is going to help me make a triangle necklace, so I can easily show when I’m having a boy day, a girl day, or a non-gendered day!” He said excitedly to Stephanie, who nodded in agreement.

“That is really cool! Until then, is it okay if we just ask in the mornings, or…?”

The child nodded. “Of course! And I’m still going to go by Pixel, by the way!” The kids all listened and agreed to respect their friend as the group started to munch down on their snack for the day, which were sugar free cookies provided by Sportacus.

The group chatted idly about their identities until the end of the meeting. Instead of his parents picking him up after the meeting, however, Pixel’s mentioned older brother came instead, a wide smile on his face.

“Hey Pixxie!” He called to his little sibling, who excitedly ran up to him upon sight and hopped into his arms. The two didn’t get to spend much time together because of the elder sibling’s part-time job and several extracurricular activities, but he had recently quit band to have more time with Pixel. Laughing, the teen adjusted his sibling in his arms before setting him down gently.

Pixel stared up at his brother expectantly. “Are you picking me up today, or is Mom in the car?” The kid sounded nervous at that.

“Don’t worry, little bud, it’s just me.” Jives ruffled the other’s hair and let the smaller boy lead him over to his friends.

Jives glimpsed over the children and smiled widely. “So, this must be the LGBTQ club I’ve heard so much about.”

Nervous at the sight of the towering teen, the other kids cowered slightly behind Pixel. The only other kid who had a much older sibling was Ziggy, who was still distracted by his snack and not paying much attention to the conversation at hand. The sticky honeybun he had snuck in his shirt pocket required his attention much more, after all.

Chuckling awkwardly, the teen slapped his hands into his hoodie pocket. “Hey, no need to look so afraid of me. I used to be a kid, too, ya know.”

The children stayed silent for another minute before Trixie shyly pulled at his sleeve. “Pixel said you’re gonna help him make a little necklace with pronouns on it. Is that true?”

Confirming the question, the kids all started to chatter as if the sentence had released their energy. Jives patiently talked to the kids until a glance over towards the adult table shocked him.

“Mr. Rotten? Is that you?” Jives asked aloud suddenly, silencing Ziggy, who had been asking him if his beanie gave him superpowers. Curiously, all the children turned to face Ella’s father as well, following the teen as he walked over to the man in a trance. “It is! Wait, shouldn’t you still be at the drama meeting?”

Confused, the children all glimpsed between each other. What did the strange green teen mean?

Robbie tensed up in his seat. He glimpsed the teen up and down and instantly recognized him, standing up and shaking his hand. “Well, if it isn’t Jives Hyperbyte! I haven’t seen you since you were shorter than Ella!”

The two reconciled for a moment until Stephanie approached the two and tugged at Jives’ sleeve. “Mr. Hyperbyte? What do you mean, Mr. Rotten should still be at the drama meeting? We’ve never seen him go to one of those.”

The older man quickly looked to the teen. “After my husband died, I had to retire. I couldn’t handle it anymore. I became the janitor, instead.”

Right away, Jives grew a face of embarrassment. “Oh, I had no idea… I knew that he died, but I didn’t hear about the retirement.” He rubbed the back of his head. “I’m so sorry for bringing it up. I didn’t realize.”

Shrugging, the older man clapped the boy on the shoulder. “It’s fine. Anyways, how’s your old man doing?”

The teen tensed up slightly and twiddled with his hoodie strings. “Actually, he died last year.” He stuck his hands in his pocket.

A saddened-expression crossed the man’s face. “I’m so sorry to hear that.” He thought about his daughter and how she had to go through the same thing two years ago and thinned his lips. The poor boy in front of him wouldn’t be able to see his father at his graduation ceremony, or at his wedding if he ever had one, and he couldn’t help but bite his lip. He was sure he appeared visibly distraught, but he tried his best not to show it.

Picking up on the tough atmosphere despite the other’s defenses, the teen continued on. “It’s alright, though.” That shocked the other, prompting the teenager to elaborate. “We found out last year that he had been cheating on mom for the past three years. While we’re still sad, we also feel incredibly betrayed. We’re trying our best to move on without him.” The green-painted boy shivered slightly. “Mom’s been doing pretty good, though. She has a boyfriend right now, and he’s really nice. Pixel doesn’t get along with him, though. Still in denial and stuff, ya know how tough it can be.”

Robbie nodded gently, patting the younger man on the shoulder. “Poor kid…neither of you should have to go through that.”

Jives gazed off to the side and sighed before flickering his eyes back forward and switching the subject to a much friendlier one. “Have you considered taking your job back? I’ve heard from Pixel how much the new drama teacher sucks, and they could definitely use a new one.”

Smiling softly at the memories he had as a drama teacher, he shook his head. “I don’t know. It’s true I used to love my job, but…Even if I wanted the job back, it’s been so long. I’m out of touch, ya know? I haven’t made a costume in two entire years.”

A smirk lined the teen’s cheeks as he glanced back at all the kids that held eager gazes at the two. “Well, I think you have plenty of test subjects, if you’re up for it.”

Catching onto what they meant, Ella bounded out of her seat and over to her father. “Dad, do you mean you’re going to start making your costumes again? That would be so cool! Maybe we could go to karaoke all dressed up, like we used to do!”

Right away, a gasp left Stingy’s mouth. “Costumes? You mean, you could make me look like a prince?”

Trixie rolled her eyes. “Stop trying to be a prince all the time, it’s not gonna happen. Princes aren’t elected, they’re born into that role, dingus.”

Huffing, the boy crossed his arms. “Not true! Sometimes they can marry into that position!” He stuck his tongue out at the girl before turning his head back to the ex-teacher.

“As if anyone would marry you, Stinky.” Trixie spat, causing the boy to lurch forward, prepared to start wrestling with his kid-sister, when Jives stopped him, and the sound of the cheerful Stephanie’s voice pulled the two’s attention away.

“And can you make me look like a princess?” Stephanie asked gleefully, flapping her hands around in excitement.

Glimpsing between the ex-teacher and her friends, Trixie couldn’t help but feel left out. “If Stingy gets to be a dumbie prince, then I want to be a knight!”

Paul and Gabe glanced between each other, as if trying to figure out a duo costume. They whispered to each other for a moment before Gabe gasped and turned his head. “We want to be soldiers!”

Gina and Tina glimpsed at each other and both smiled at that. “We want to be dinosaurs!” The signing sister expressed, gleefully shaking her fists after her request.

Puffing his chest out proudly, Ziggy threw his hands onto his hips. “I wanna be a superhero!” He leaped off the cafeteria table and landed in a superhero-like pose before rubbing at his feet.

“I want to be a porcelain doll!” Ella giggled, throwing her arms around her father. “I miss not getting to dress up anymore. Can you please, please, please with sprinkles on top make us some costumes?”

Robbie couldn’t help but hold a small amount of resentment in his heart towards the teenager for bringing up his past, and it was showing. The teenager picked up on the discomfort and quickly grabbed the attention of all the kids, by playing some background music on his phone and beginning to rap.

The kids were entertained and laughing at the spectacle, but still the topic of a possible karaoke night complete with costumes came up again after the teen ran out of rhymes.

Stephanie nudged Ella, a nervous look on her face. “Do you think your Dad will really make us costumes?”

Biting her lip, Ella held an uncertain expression. “I’m not sure… but if he does, he’ll do amazing, I promise!” She cheered, an innocent smirk flying onto her face. “And he could maybe do our makeup, too!”

Robbie cleared his throat. He felt like there was a chance he would regret the decision, but his daughter’s glee made him agree. “I…I guess we can do that.”

The kids all threw their arms in the air and cheered enthusiastically at that, and Robbie could already feel the migraine of the day it was going to happen sinking into the back of his mind.

“Well, I don’t know if the kids have ever tried it, but I know a perfect bowling karaoke place downtown that’s got cheap pizza that my boyfriend and I go to every Friday night.” Jives suggested to the man, who was now stuck in his own mind at the predicament.

As Jives continued to chat with Mr. Simpcan, who was interrogating Jives over the places name, address, and prices, Robbie groaned. “I don’t know how I’m going to handle all of that…” He said quietly.

He tuned to the table of adults, three of which stared at him in lovestruck awe. Only Sportacus snapped himself out of it quickly. Robbie sighed. “What is it? Why are you all looking at me like that?”

“Sorry, you’re just so good with kids.” Richard sighed, leaning on his hand.

Jolene nodded in agreement. “You’re such a natural leader and father. You really should give teaching another go.”

“Maybe… I don’t know, it’d be a big change, I’m not sure if I’m ready.” He mumbled, staring at his hands.

Leaning forward, Jolene placed a hand on the other’s hand. “Sure, you are! You just have to try.”

“Yeah…” Robbie mumbled, clearing his throat suddenly. “Anyways, I’ve probably got myself into too much sewing work.” he laughed slightly, clearly uncomfortable.

Right away, Sportacus leaned forward and grinned. “I could help. I’m sure the other adults feel the same! I don’t know how to sew that well, but a sewing machine can’t be that hard to use, right?”

Jumping at that, Richard let out a small laugh. “Oh, I love sewing! I’m pretty good, I could definitely help!”

“Thanks, I’d appreciate that,” Robbie said, smiling very lightly.

“God, you’re beautiful.” Jolene blurted out, a wide grin on her lips.

“Uh...thank you...” Robbie just shifted in his seat until Sportacus pulled a deck of Uno cards out of God-knows-where and suggested a game, saving Robbie from at least the embarrassing comments yet again.

As Robbie hopped into the car that night, instead of driving directly home, he drove to an oddly familiar store that had the words ‘Fabric Labyrinth’ planted up in large neon colors above it. Ella cautiously followed her father inside, not recognizing the place at first.

“Dad, where are we?”

A bit taken aback, Robbie looked down at his daughter, who clinged closely to his hand. “You don’t remember this place?”

The girl shook her head. “Not really.”

Sighing a bit, he pulled his daughter into the building and watched as she gasped. “Dad, is this the ‘Threading Needle?”

Robbie just nodded. “They changed their name last year, but I didn’t think to tell you. We haven’t been here in a long time, but they still have all the stuff we will need if we’re going to be making costumes again.”

The girl ran swiftly up and down the nostalgic isles until she found the one that began the rows and rows of fabric. She took a slow, shaky breath before letting out a laugh. “It’s been so long since we’ve been here! It’s still such a beautiful, store, though… I wonder if Mrs. Crawford still works here?”

Robbie shrugged. He really had no clue if the old woman that used to talk to them for hours on end in the store still worked there, or at all, for that matter. Excitedly, the child raced off to the front desk and asked, but returned, deflated. “She retired.”

“She was an older woman, sweetie. You have to understand that when people are old and tired, even things they love can be harder to do.”

The girl nodded and remained solemn as they strolled through the isles until she spotted a pastel purple sheet of lace, clinging to it as if it were a lifeline.

Her father chuckled. “Do you want lace on your doll costume?”

Rolling her eyes up to him, the girl tossed it into the cart. “Of course, I do! What kind of doll doesn’t have lace?”

Robbie could only laugh again as the two strolled through the aisles. As the two were standing in the checkout line with everything they would need for Ella’s costume and a few other sewing necessities, the girl yawned and leaned against her father tiredly.

As the two made it back to the car, the girl could barely stay awake as she slipped into the passenger seat and dozed off instantly.

When they arrived home, Robbie carried her in with tender care and couldn’t help but smile down at his daughter as he tucked her in, as he had been doing since their last heart-to-heart. He pushed the bangs out of her eyes and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead, leaving the small child smiling in her peaceful slumber.

As Robbie slid under his own blankets, he found his mind blank, yet content, for the first time in a while. Of course, painful memories of his late husband still hid in the crevasse of his mind and heart, but at least they were not on the battlefield at the moment, letting him close his eyes and sleep comfortably.

Once again, Robbie could sleep knowing that everything was going to end up alright for him and his daughter, even if hardships followed them; they were still far ahead of their trailing troubles.