Chapter Text
Dib sits at the dinner table, tapping his foot on the floor. His sister, Gaz is there as well, Drawing on some paper.
they were waiting for their Dad to get home, he had been away from home for almost a year, only to come home during certain holidays. and those days were less than pleasant. Today, he was coming back to tell him, and Gaz, some exciting news, and have a celebratory dinner.
The room was dead silent, the only noise coming from Gaz's pencil hitting her paper, and the clock ticking from the living, Dib looked outside the window above the sink, watching the clouds pass by on the sunset sky. After a few moments, an idea struck him. He turned to Gaz, who was sitting across from him.
"Gaz, I have an idea, but it's risky" he starts, Gaz looks up from her paper, turning her attention to him. "well, what is it?"
"Okay, this is going to sound crazy, and dangerous, and just out right stupid." He pauses, and takes a deep breath, Gaz raises her eyebrow. "What if we... runaway...from home?' Gaz's eyes widened, and she jolted to sitting in an upright position. "What do you mean, runway from home? If Dad finds out that you even thought of this, you are basically dead!" she half yelled at her brother. "But, that's the thing, Gaz, if we plan this just right, he wont find out, and, aren't you tired of living in fear? tired of living with... him? " Dib said, trying to persuade his sister. she sat back in her chair, and started to think. Dib looks at her, silently hoping she would agree to this crazy plan of his.
after a little while, she sighed. making dib jump slightly. "Okay, I thought about it, and, you're right. living with Dad is a nightmare." Dib smiled.
"Then we start preparations tomorrow? when Dad leaves for work again?" Gaz nodded, and Dib gave a sigh of relief. Finally, he could give them both a better life.
a few minutes passed, and they hear the door open. Dib sucks in his breath. and Gaz quickly stops her drawing. a voice echoes through the house. "Kids, I'm home, come and greet me." Quickly, they both get up from their seats and head over to the front door. There they see their Father, a looming figure, standing in the doorway, they stop just a few feet in front of him, and in unison they say, "Hello, Dad, welcome home." Dib forces himself to keep eye contact as he sees his father grin from under his lab coat. "I've got some good news, Kids, tomorrow morning, I will be releasing a brand new invention of mine." he says, as he makes his way to the kitchen, Dib and Gaz following closely behind him. "it's a patrolling robot, made to roam the streets, and alert the nearby police if it spots any suspicious activity." he takes a seat at the dinner table, and snaps his fingers for Foodio 3000. who comes whizzing around the corner. "Foodio, can you start preparing us a meal? something healthy. thank you." he says, as Dib and Gaz take a place at the dinner table. "right away, I will cook it with lots of love " and he whirs off to start to prepare the meals.
"now children," started Professor Membrane, turning his attention to his kids, sitting across from him. "what were you up to today?" Dib tensed up. "oh, uhm, nothing much, just.. reading?" he sees his father give a disappointed look. Gaz speaks up. "I cleaned my room, and I drew some new pictures."
"Is that all you were up to? very unproductive, why not start preparing for school? Or even sign up for an internship at my Labs. I'm very disappointed in the both of you" they slouch slightly in their seats. Dib feeling guilty, and Gaz feeling Embarrassed. Their Dad sighs. “Next time, try to do more for your brains, and the house, cleaning your room, and reading a few books isn't going to be enough.”
“We’re sorry Dad, we’ll try harder next time.” said Gaz and Dib in unison, their father nods, in a ‘ you’d better ’ type of way. Just then Foodio comes whizzing over to the table, handing the family their dinner. Spinach, beef roast, and some basic side foods. They start eating, and afterwards, head off to their rooms.
Dib sits at his desk, with his laptop open, and some paper scattered in front him, he was going to start the panning. He took a deep breath, and turned on incognito mode, he couldn’t let his father see what he was searching up. The first few things he searched up were money based, how much did basic groceries cost? How much did a motel cost per night? How much was the bus fair? He, and his sister would have to save up money if they were going to be leaving on the run. After he did that, and wrote it all down, he started his basic planning. He needed to figure out how they were going to escape. And when.
A few minutes later, dib whips out his phone. It was an old flip phone, Since he already had a laptop. He starts to message his sister the details of the basic plan.
“ So when we save up enough, we can go? And you already have a place we can stay for the first night?” replied Gaz, once she had heard the plan. “ Yeah, and we got to make sure dad is out of the house when we do, for our safety.” they start to text each other back and forth, fleshing out their ideas. After a few more minutes, They finalize their plan, and Dib heads to sleep.
The next day. Their father leaves, and the Siblings start phase one of their plan, Gathering up money.
Dib went online, and started to search the internet for some part-time, or freelance job. He already knew Gaz was going to try to sell her art, and do some commissions. He was sitting at his desk in his bedroom, already, he had considered up for the internship at membrane labs, but that would mean he would have to work under his father, and that was the last thing he wanted. After a while of browsing jobs, he sees an advertisement for a job he would be interested in, curiously, he clicks on the ad.
Over in Gaz’s room, she clutches her hair. ‘ Dammit, why’d I have to get an art block now?’ she looks at the blank paper in front of her. She just needed an idea, ONE idea, so she could sell this. Now that she thought of it, she’d have to borrow Dib’s computer in order to actually find a platform to sell her work on. Damn if only she got a computer instead of that stupid Game-Slave.
Looking around her room, she looks for something to inspire her. Then. her eyes landed on her small pile of plushies.
Taking out her phone, she takes a picture, and gets to work.
A few hours later, the siblings meet in the living, both obviously exhausted. “So,” Gaz started. “Did you find any jobs today, or did you have no luck?” Dib nods, and slouches into the couch. ”yeah, I found something. And i can work from home, but man. I can already tell it's gonna be tough.” he puts his turns to Gaz, “and you? Were you able to sell anything yet?” Gaz shakes her head, she slouches into the couch as well. “No, but I did only put the ad up an hour ago. Though, I am tired from drawing all those pieces.” Dib nods his head in agreement.
They sit there in silence for a while. After a while, Dib takes out a small piece of paper from his pocket, and hands it to Gaz, who gives her brother a confused look.
“What's this?”
“I got in contact with a nearby grocer, they said, due to our circumstances, they’ll let us have a week's worth of discounted food. And they won't rat us out either, since they aren't big fans of our dad, this is their address.” Gaz grabs the paper, and unfolds it. “Oh, I know this place, are they really willing to help us?” She said, turning to her brother, and handing him back the paper. “Yeah, so that’ll make this money thing easier, but we do have to contact them when we go.”
“Okay then,” Gaz stands up from the couch, and stretches. “Let's get back to work then.”