Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The Tea-Timers are Almost Never at The Creek - Jane, Eliza, and George - serious illness (specifically cancer)

Secrets and Siblings - Marie and Secret Keeper

You Don't Have to Like Dresses - Handlebarb and Angel José

Late Night Conversations - Tea Keeper (George/Secret Keeper), Marie, Jane, and Eliza

What's in a Name? - Moriah and Handlebarb - cw for unintentional dead naming

Chicken Dinner - Kelsey and her Dad

Chapter Text

George couldn’t help but dig the toe of his new sneaker into the concrete. Jane was texting Eliza that they were there and ringing the doorbell sporadically, so he didn't have much to do. Adjusting the school bag on his shoulders, he adjusted his grip on the folder of papers he carried. The door opened and Eliza’s mom stood above them.

“Jane, George! So nice to see you.”

“Hello Mrs. Barrere.” Jane smiled up at the woman and they fell into the familiar routine.

“We brought Eliza’s school work.” George said as he handed the folder over. She might not come often, but she was still enrolled and had assignments to do.

“I can’t thank you enough for doing this for Eliza every time she’s out, you two are good friends.” 

“Is Eliza feeling well enough for us to see her?” Jane asked, hoping that today was a good day. Things hadn’t been very good lately and they both missed their friend. 

“Let me ask.” Mrs. Barrere left the two at the door.

George sat on the ground as Jane leaned against the house, pulling out her phone. She scrolled through the messages she had sent Eliza, all which had gone unanswered today. That wasn’t uncommon, sometimes all she could do was sleep and watch tv. Other days she was busy with appointments and studying with her tutor. They had barely gone to the Creek at all lately. Leukemia sucked.

Eliza had Leukemia years ago, but it went away relatively quickly and everyone relaxed. They thought that it was over and they could go back to normal, never having to think about it again. Then, six months ago, almost four years to the day after the first diagnosis, it came back. It came back and it was terrifying. 

George noticed that Jane hadn’t been scrolling on her phone for a while.

“Jane?” Her head snapped up and she looked at George. “Are you okay?” She bit her lip and looked at the phone’s screen, the American Cancer Societies page for acute lymphoblastic leukemia up once again.

“What if it gets worse? What if she doesn't get better?” Her voice was small, much smaller than it ever was at the Creek or at school. She could feel her eyes start to fill. Shutting her eyes tightly, she willed the traitorous tears to stop. Arms wrapped around her and she buried her head in George’s shoulder. They stayed like that for a while before Jane picked her head up.

“God, I got mascara on your shirt. Sorry.” George shrugged.

“Not a big deal, I have more.” 

“That’s not the point.” The conversation was interrupted by Mrs. Barrere opening the door again.

“You can come in.” They scrambled to get their bags and get inside the house. Sparing only a moment to put their shoes and bags by the door when Mrs. Barrere shot them a look.

Eliza could hear them coming up the stairs, and pushed herself up in bed. She had done her best to look presentable, but there wasn’t much she could do. She didn’t even have the energy to get out of bed, much less put on her wig or makeup. Today's round of chemo had been particularly draining. Jane and George wouldn’t care though, they had seen her looking worse. (They did not speak of the chicken incident.)

The footsteps stopped in front of her door and a quiet knock sounded through the room. 

“Come in.” Jane and George rushed in, still in their school uniforms. That’s one thing she didn’t miss in the slightest, those things were horrendous. They payed good money for that school and the uniforms somehow managed to look both tacky and bland.

“Hey Eliza,” George said. Eliza motioned for them to come sit on the bed.

“How’s school been? Anything interesting happen?”

“You would not believe!” Jane said. “So, you remember Meghan Smith? Yeah, she apparently has a crush on Felicity Quinn!”

“No!”

“Yes!” 

“I knew something was up with those two! Does Felicity like her back?”

“I don’t know, but it gets even better. Dahlia Kowalski and Anshel Bloomberg also have crushes on Felicity.”

“Oh. My. God. You’re joking.”

“I am not! Felicity has a full on fan club now!” George sat back and watched the two chat, gossip always being their thing. He was never particularly invested in it, but he did try and keep up with what was going on.

“Wait, so did Dahlia break up with Axel?” Eliza said.

“Yes! It was so dramatic, omg, you will not believe! Here, I think Sadie sent me the video.” Jane scrolled through her photos before finding the video and holding it out for Eliza to see. George leaning closer to watch as well. 

In the video Dahlia, a tall girl with long black hair, approached Axel, a short boy with dyed green hair, and handed him a bead necklace. The audio was quiet and grainy, but Eliza could make out ‘I’m sorry’ ‘I trusted you’ something about a dog, and ‘how could you’. Then Axel shoved Dahlia to the ground. The video cut off there.

“I wasn’t able to get the rest of it because Mx. Shandry came out and broke up the fight, but Axel got at least one good punch in.”

“Do you know why they broke up? Was it because of Felicity?” 

Jane shrugged “No clue. We can’t find anything and you’re always the best at getting people to spill their own secrets.” 

“Well then, once I’m back we’ll do some digging! I think they said something about a dog, maybe look into that?”

“Did they?” George says before pressing play on the video again.

Listening carefully they all manage to make out the comment about the dog. Well, most of it.

‘Left the gate…out’. 

“Oooo, interesting.” Eliza said, thinking over what she knew about Dahlia and Axel. I think I remember him mentioning a dog before… “Well, see if you can ask around about it. Let me know what you find.”

“Definitely.” Jane put her phone down. “Hey, when your feeling up to it, do you want to host another tea party at the Creek? I’ve been brainstorming a guest list.”

“Absolutely! You up to it George?” He gave a shrug.

“Whatever you want. Just don’t make me cook again, I made that appetizers all wrong.”it

"Never!" Jane said, making a face. "How do you even confuse sugar with paprika?"

"Don't give me that. Last time you tried to make an appetizer you burnt it." The two settled into a familiar pattern of lighthearted bickering and snide remarks. 

Eliza simply smiled. Not matter what happened, these two would always make her feel better.

Chapter Text

Marie and Ben had known each other for two years, and they had been siblings for even less than that. 

The first time they met was when their parents went out for dinner. Marie’s mom had told her to wear something nice so she put on the light blue dress that never felt quite right and wondered why she was getting dressed up if it was her mom going out for dinner. Was the babysitter bringing her someplace? Was she going too? Then the door bell rang and all of a sudden there was a strange man with a strange kid in the living room.

“Marie, I want you to meet Ben O'Shaunessey and his father. Ben is eight, just like you!” Oh. “I’ve called the normal  babysitter, he should be here soon.” Marie’s mom grabbed Mr. O’Shaunessey’s arm and took him to a different room leaving Marie and Ben alone together. 

Ben fidgeted with the collar of his button down shirt and Marie could feel the air grow heavier by the second. She had to say something to break the tension.

“Do you like basketball?”

“What?”

“Do you like to play basketball?”

“Uh, yeah, I guess. I play with my friend Isaiah sometimes. He’s really good at it.” Ben smiled softly at the mention of Isaiah and Marie took that as a good sign.

“Well, can we play basketball then?”

“Sure.”

It took a bit of sneaking but they managed to get to the driveway without either of their parents noticing. Marie threw her worn basketball to Ben and he made a half decent free throw. 

“Not bad,” she caught the ball, “but you’re not bending your elbows right.”

“What?”

“You have to bend them like this, more to the rim of the basket.”

“What are you talking about?” Marie positioned herself to demonstrate.

“Like this.” She shot the ball, and it went in.

“Yes! Score!” Marie pumped her fist.

“You Basketball nerds.” He grabbed the ball. “How about a game of HORSE?”

They played HORSE until Marie was a giggling mess and Ben had lost twice. They wanted to keep playing, but Marcus, the babysitter, drove into the driveway. 

“Marie? It’s almost eight— What happened to your dress?!” She looked down and saw that the front of her nice dress was covered in dirt from the basketball. Ben’s dress shirt wasn’t looking much better.

“Uhh, oops?” A futile attempt on her part, but she had to try something.

Marcus dragged a hand down his face. “Oh your mom is going to hate this.”

The grounding she got for staining her best dress was expected, but the fact that Ben and his dad kept coming over was not. Eventually every Friday Ben would visit and their parents would go out for dinner or something.

“Hey, Marie?” Ben said, sitting on the floor of her room.

“Yeah?” Marie sat up on her bed and put the book she had been reading down.

“Do you think our parents are dating?” The sentence took a moment to set in.

“What?”

“Like, they keep going out to dinner and stuff, like dates. And I think they kiss each other? I’m not sure about that but that’s what it looks like they’re doing.” Marie’s eyes widened.

“Oh my gosh our parents are dating.”

Their parents told them they were dating a few days later. 

Then, about seven months later Mr. O’Shaunessey pulled Marie and Ben aside and asked them if he could ask Marie’s mom to marry him. They both said yes, and the wedding was set. A new house for the two families was bought and clothing was shopped for.

That’s how, about a year after they first met, Ben and Marie became siblings.

Now it was a year later and Ben had just saved Marie from having her deepest, darkest fear revealed to all her friends and she wanted to know why.

It wasn’t hard to find the old willow tree where Ben stayed, she had been there before after all. Flowers filled the air and water seeped into her shoes. Annoying, but she had more important things to focus on. Ben was reorganizing the bottles, again, and almost dropped the bottle he was holding when she grabbed his shoulder.

“Marie! Don’t sneak up on me like that!” 

“Why did you do it?”

“What?”

“Why did you say that was your secret?” Ben put the bottle back on the shelf. 

“Can we talk about this at home?”

“Nope, you’re going to your mom’s house after this so we won’t be able to talk at home.” She sat on the table. “C’mon, why?” 

“Because I’m your older brother?”

“Nope, you only pull the ‘four months older than you’ card when you have something to hide.” Ben sighed and sat in his floaty chair thing.

“Because it would have ruined your friendship. You know that.” 

“I do, but you could have just let it go unclaimed. You didn’t have to say it was yours.”

“You’re not going to let this go, huh.” 

“Nope.”

“Okay.” Ben took a deep breath and brought his knees to his chest, wobbling the floaty a bit. “Because even if you don’t claim the secret, people will figure out that it’s yours. No matter how much you try and make it go away they figure it out eventually and you loose your best friend. And you shouldn’t have other people decide if your secret gets told. Your the only one who gets to tell your secret.” Tears were falling down his face now. He wiped them away. “Sorry, sorry.”

“Ben, did something happen?” He froze a bit before nodding slowly.

“It was about a year ago, before the wedding,” he began, “Somehow rumor got around that someone had a crush on my friend Isaiah. No one ever came forward about the crush, but they figured out that it was mine, I had a crush on him, and then things got weird between us because didn’t feel the same way. And then we he stopped talking to me and I lost my best friend.” Marie sat there for a moment before tackling Ben in a hug. 

“I’m sorry that happened.”

“Careful! Your getting water in the floaty!” 

“I’m trying to have a heartfelt moment with you!” 

“Well do it later, you’re going to—“ They fell out of the floaty before Ben could finish his sentence.

Chapter Text

It was the quietest day that the daycare had seen in a while, so of course something had to happen and make it eventful. 

Angel was in the process of putting the kids down for naps when a kid on a bike stopped at the entrance to the daycare.

“Um… Angel?” The kid took off their helmet and stood at the daycare entrance, obviously uncomfortable and out of their element. One of the Ten Speeds if Angel had to guess, not like the bike gear gave anything away. They had the number four on their shirt, for some reason, but that was about as notable as they got.

“Yes? You have a kid to drop off?”

“No, I uh, have a question to ask.” Of course they did.

“Which is…?”

“I- how did you know you weren’t a boy or a girl?” God, not another one of these kids. Always asking questions.

“Look, I don’t owe you an explanation, it’s none of your business, and I’m busy.” They turned to leave.

“Wait! No, not like that. Crap, I’m sorry I just, I don’t know who else to ask and I thought that you might know something but yeah you’re right this super insensitive, but— I just—“ The kids voice grew quiet, and they clutched the hem of their T-shirt tightly. “I think… I think I’m a girl.” 

Oh. Okay, that makes more sense.

“Alright, let me get the kids down for their naps, then we’ll talk.

“Y-yeah. Cool.”

Lil’ Chris finally went down, and Angel sat near the entrance next to the kid.

“Alright, first off, what’s your name?”

“Oh, I’m Handelbarb!”

“Right. So, you think you’re a girl.”

“Yeah. I think, at least. I’m not sure, but I thought you might know something about this.”

“Mhmm. So, why do you think you’re a girl?”

“I don’t like being a boy. I-I really don’t like it.” Handelbarb took a shaky breath, and Angel prepared for a story. 

”We had an actor come to school a few weeks ago and she brought in a bunch of costumes. Like pirates and princess and astronauts and everything! And I tried on a dress because, y’know.

“But, when I put it on, I hated it. I hated how it looked and felt and just, everything. But girls like dresses, right? Girls like dresses and pink and dolls and things like that but I don’t. But I don’t want to be a boy either.” Handelbarb looked close to tears.

“Hey, remember to breath.” She took a large, shaky breath. “Good. Okay, you do know that girls don’t have to like dresses, right?” Her eyes widened.

“They don’t?”

“Nope.”

“Really?”

“Yes, really. You can be a guy and like to wear dresses, you can be a girl and hate to wear dresses. Who cares how you feel about dresses? That doesn’t determine your gender.” Handelbarb stared intently at a rock, taking in all the new information.

“Then… yeah. I’m a girl.” A huge grin spread across her face. “I’m a girl.” She wrapped Angel in a tight hug before jumping on her bike and rushing off, shouting a quick ‘thank you’ over her shoulder.

Well, at least she didn’t wake up any of the kids.

“Lil’ Chris hungry!” They grimaced. Never mind.

Handelbarb swore that she was almost entering Canon Space with how fast she was going. (She!) It was getting close to dinner time, and she wanted to tell the rest of the Ten Speeds about her news before they all went home.

As she came up on Ramp City, she could see Warpspeed finish a Nollie 180.

“That was so sick!“ She yelled.

“Thanks!” He yelled back. Handelbarb biked over to where the rest of the Ten Speeds were waiting.

“Did Angel answer your question?” Todd asked. She told them where she was going, but not why. Suddenly her stomach wormed with anxiety.

“Yep, they sure did. Actually, can I talk to you guys?”

“Yeah,”

“Sure,”

“Of course!” 

“Okay.” Handelbarb hopped off her bike and sat on the ground, everyone else following suit. She took a deep breath. “I’m a girl.” She couldn’t move her eyes from the ground.

“Congrats, HB.” She looked up and Canonball gave her a smile.

“Yeah! That’s awesome duuuu—“ Warpspeed’s eyes widened. “—uuuudette. Dudette! Sorry, sorry.”

“It’s chill. You can still call me dude and bro and stuff, I’m just not a boy.” The dinner horn filled the Creek.

The Ten Speeds rode home and Handelbarb had enough energy to do five more laps around the neighborhood, but her parents had promised pizza that night.

Chapter Text

“May I have your phone number? So we can set up a day and time?” Ben looked back at George stunned. 

“Wh- Ah! Yes, absolutely, of course!” He stumbled over his words, still a bundle of nerves.

George pulled out his phone and opened it, handing Ben a new contact page. He quickly did the same and took the phone. Hands shaking, it took a second to adjust to the larger screen size and bright light. 

Halfway through putting his phone number in, he had to backtrack completely. (That was not his number, function brain! Function!) After finally getting the correct number, he paused a moment before adding a cat emoji next to his name.

“Done!” Ben said. 

“Ah, lovely.” George took passed back Ben’s phone and took his own.

Ben looked at the contact, very simple with his full name and number, and felt his chest flutter again. He had his number. 

“Crap!” Ben exclaimed, looking at the time. “It’s getting so late, oh no.” He pocketed his phone and turned to go, hesitating. ”I’ll see you later?”

“Yes, of course.” George said. 

Ben took one last look at him, light from inside the willow tree illuminating his face in an ethereal way. He felt his face heating up again and ran home.

︵‿︵‿୨♡୧‿︵‿︵

Marie had been just about to fall asleep when Ben burst into her room.

"MARIE! Marie oh my god, oh my god." He closed the door behind him and sunk down to the floor.

“Mmmm… what? What happened?” She sat up rubbing her eyes.

“I was out at the Creek, right? For the Cardboard City event?”

“Yeah, I was there? What—“

“I told George I like him.” That got her attention.

“You what!?” Marie threw back her blanket and hurried over next to him. “How? What happened? Did it go well?” Ben buried his face in his hands as she sat down next to him.

“It went well, but I made a fool of myself.” Ben said into his hands.

“Whaaat? No way.”

“Yes way! I acted like a total dork when he asked me to hang out, and I almost gave him my mom’s phone number instead of mine!”

“That’s just the nerves talking, there’s no way you could possibly act as a dork. I should know, I’ve seen you closest to being a dork.”

Ben chuckled a little and lifted his head. “Thanks Marie.”

“Any time, now get out of my room. It’s past nine and I’m tired.”

“Wow, love you too.” Ben said as he stood up.

︵‿︵‿୨♡୧‿︵‿︵

The Tea-Timer's willow tree was dark as Eliza and Jane finished turning all of the lights off. Their phone flashlights guided them out to the front of the tree where George stood, in the same spot he had been in for a while.

"George, what happened? Where were you?" Jane said.

"I— I do believe that I just asked the Secret Keeper on a date." He looked stunned, with a small smile on his face. Jane gasped, eyes alight.

“What! George you sneak, I didn’t know you liked him!” Jane said, giving him a playful punch in the arm.

“Well, it was just a small crush so I didn’t think it mattered much. However, the Secret Keeper, he said he also liked me and I asked if he would like to hang out sometime.”

“Seriously?” Eliza said. “Good for you George! You’re going to have to let us in on all the details.”

“You did get his phone number, right?” Jane chimed in.

“Of course I did, though I almost gave him the wrong number.” He chuckled sheepishly.

“Really?” Eliza said smugly. “That doesn’t sound like ‘just a small crush’” She and Jane giggled.

“Oh, hush.” George said, a blush dusting his cheeks.

︵‿︵‿୨♡୧‿︵‿︵

George tugged at the sleeve of his sweater and glanced back at the houses front door. It felt odd going to the Creek in different clothes, but he wasn’t about to get his suit dirty.

Besides, this was a casual hangout, a suit would seem out of place and pretentious.

Glancing at the door again, he paced slightly faster. The public schools did get out later than Herkleton Academy, but he had checked the time twice. Ben should—

He was jarred out of his thoughts when Ben came walking down the street with… one of the horse girls? It was Marie if he remembered correctly. They were holding juice boxes. Ben stopped in his tracks upon seeing him. Marie gave him a small shove and he rushed over.

“George?! Have you been waiting—“

“It’s alright, I miscalculated when you would get home.”

“Let me put my stuff down, I’ll be right back. Then we can go!” Ben said hurriedly. Running inside, he left George alone with Marie.

“Hey.” Marie said.

“Hello. I didn’t know you two were friends.”

“Siblings, actually.”

“Ah.”

“Yep.” 

Marie took a long sip from her juice box. Awkward tension filled the air between them. Ben saved them by coming out soon after.

“I’m here, ready to go!”

“Cool, see you later.” Marie said as she went inside, leaving the two alone.

A slight breeze blew by, ruffling their hair.

“Hey.” Ben had a soft smile on his face and blush on his cheeks.

George felt his own face heat up a bit. “Hey.”

Chapter Text

It probably would have been easier to just find Handlebarb at the Creek later that day, but Mariah was too far in to turn back. She had skipped Saturday morning cartoons, gotten Handlebarb's address from Craig, and everything. Now she was just stuck wandering the neighborhood because they didn't label the houses properly. (Why were houses 106 and 112 skipped? Where on earth were half the odd numbers?) Nevertheless, with her sick navigational skills (and a quick text to Razor, the resident Herkleton Oaks expert on account of her cousin living there) Mariah found Handlebarb's house.

After a quick double check of the house number and Mariah scampered up to the front porch. Two knocks at the door, and Mariah sat back to wait, checking her pockets for her face paint. A few seconds later and a woman answerd the door. She had light brown hait thrown up into a bun and a shimmering golden hairclip that Mariah had seen in a fashion magazine once. 

"Yes?" The woman asked.

"Hello, ma'am. I'm Mariah and I'm looking for Handlebarb." It was only after the woman gave her a confused look that Mariah realized she had never gotten Handlebarbs real name. 

"Oh, you're one of Jake's creek friends." The woman was relieved, but it left Mariah in confusion. Did Handlebarb have a brother? "Jake! One of your friends is here!" The woman called out. 

Footsteps raced through the house and Handlebarb appeared at the door. "Warpspeed?" Her face fell immediately when she realized it was Mariah instead. She looked almost scared that she was there instead of the biker.

"It's a little early, but I suppose you could head out to play now." The woman said. "Provided you finish cleaning your room later this evening. You hear me Jake?"

"Yes mom." Jake(?) mumbled, quickly tugging her(?) shoes on. As soon as that was done, Mariah was dragged away from the house, Handlebarb(?) grabbing her hand tightly.

Barely a moment after picking up her bike, Handlebars turned to Mariah. "Don't tell anyone my name. I hate it."

"No problem. Handlebarb is way cooler anyways." Mariah hesitated a moment. "And... I'm sorry."

"What for?"

"Well... I thought you were a girl. I shouldn't have assumed, that's on me..." Moriah trailed off, Handlebarb had stopped walking. Her eyes were shining, face flushed.

"You thought I was a girl?" 

"Yes, I'm--" Handlebarb cut her off with a hug, bike abandoned on the sidewalk.

"Don't apologize!" Handlebarb exclaimed. "That's the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me." 

"You’re welcome?" Mariah was back to being confused.

Handlebarb pulled away. "I am a girl, really, I just..." She dug the toe of her shoe into the pavement. "...haven't told my mom yet." 

The puzzle peices clicked into place. "Oh! You're like my big brother! He's trans too."

Handlebarb took a moment to process before grinning. "Wicked!"

"So why haven't you told your mom? Would she not be chill?" Mariah asked, slightly concerned.

"No, my parents would be super supportive." Handlebarb picked up her bike. "I'm just not ready yet. I don't even know what my name should be."

"Does Handlebarb not work?"

"I don't think so, not as a real name anyways. I love it, it’s the sickest nickname at the Creek, but can you imagine a teacher calling me that?" The two girls continued walking to the Creek.

"Nah, that'd be a little weird. But hey, no rush right?"

"Nah, not really." Handlebarb smiled. "Besides, Warpspeed and the gang are helping me try some out. We'll find one that fits sooner or later."

Chapter Text

All in all, middle school had been going well. Much better than Kelsey had expected, at any rate. Classes weren't too hard, the homework was still manageable, and despite it all, she could still meet her friends at the Creek every day. A few weeks ago she and Stacks had finally made things officially official and they were going on their first real date (as girlfriends!) in a few days. Really there was only one issue in Kelsey's life.

Adults were getting weird.

Kelsey met up with Craig every morning in the school library (because different grades be damned she was going to see her friends during school hours), and one of the librarians kept giving them a weird knowing look. In science class at the beginning of the genetics unit, they had to choose a celebrity to make a fake baby with. The website was cool, but when she submitted her assignment (featuring some random movie star that JP assured her was "almost as hot as Raj's dad") the teacher chuckled and said that it "checked out". Dozens of things like that made Kelsey's gut twist . It was manageable though, until her dad insisted she couldn't have any more sleepovers.

It had just been an average Wednesday night dinner, chicken and rice, when her dad brought it up. He hesitated and avoided eye contact when he said it, something so unbelievably unlike him that it stung.

" Why ?" Kelsey asked forcefully. "Is this about the popcorn incident? Because I promise we learned not to- "

"No, I know. It's just, you're getting older, and I don't think it's... proper for you to keep having sleepovers with Craig and JP. Because they're- Well, you're at that age..."

Kelsey's face burned. " Gross ! Dad, they're like my brothers! Ew!" Even the idea of anything like that made her stomach churn.

"I'm not saying- it's not specifically a problem with them. It's just the principle of the matter. I wouldn't let you have a sleepover with any other boys, so..." Again, he trailed off, eyes darting away. Kelsey stabbed her chicken harshly.

"It's not like you even need to worry about any of that." She grumbled under her breath.

"Why not?"

Kelsey froze. Her dad wasn't supposed to hear that. Now she was the one looking everywhere except his face.

"Kelsey." His voice was so much softer now. "You know you can tell me anything, right?"

This wasn't supposed to happen. Not yet, anyway. Stacks had come up with a whole plan for the two of them; baking a cake together and presenting it to both of their parents. Letting them know about them together. But if Kelsey has learned anything from writing high fantasy stories, it's that the best plans always fail.

"I don't even like boys." She says. "I'm a lesbian." It's exhilarating to finally say it out loud. She hadn't come out to her friends as much as she had just started talking about how much she liked Stacks one day. The same way she just knew that JP liked Omar and Maney and that Craig didn't really care for anyone.

"I see." Her dad says, in the familiar way where he's not reacting yet, just processing the information he's been given. Mulling it over until he catches up.

"And I have a girlfriend." She tacks on.

They sit in silence for a while longer. Long enough that it crosses over from "processing information" into "worryingly quiet". They're nearly finished eating when he finally responds.

"Thank you for trusting me with this, it means a lot. I love you very much and that will never change." It's sweet but said so stiffly that Kelsey can't hold back her snort.

"Did you memorize a script for this?" She jests, but he clears his throat in a tell-tale sign of embarrassment.

"I suppose I can talk with Craig and JP's parents and see if it's alright for you three to still have your sleepovers. That is if you're alright with me talking with them about this."

Kelsey rolls her eyes fondly. "Go ahead. Whatever keeps sleepovers on the table."

"And I'd like to meet your girlfriend soon."

"You already have." Kelsey stands to put her empty plate in the sink. "She's been over a couple of times."

He stands as well. "Can I know who?"

"I'd have to ask. She's not out yet." Kelsey takes a leftover strip of chicken to Mortimer's cage. "But we were planning on telling you guys soon, so you won't have to wait long."

That's where the conversation ends. Kelsey regales Stacks with the tale over video call that night and they laugh over how awkward her dad was every step of the way. Stacks starts making a new plan for herself, how to tell her own family.