Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

BRING BRING

BRING BRING

BRING BRING

SMACK

"ughhh..." Tina groaned as she hit her alarm clock, taking three rings to stop thrashing and begin to wake up, "what time is it?"

Tina looked at the alarm clock on her bedside table. She squinted for a moment before grabbing her glasses and looking again.

"6:30," she said aloud to no one.

Then she heard a knock on her door.

Linda yelled through the door, "Honey, it's 6:30. Time to get ready for your first day of grade 11!" Linda's tone that followed was less excited and quieter, "My little Tina Bina, all grown up."

"Thanks, mom, I'm up," Tina replied.

"Alright" Linda's footsteps were heard walking away from the door.

Tina stood up from her bed, looking in her dresser for what to wear. She decided to wear a jean skirt with a band tee, black stockings, and black boots. She walked into the bathroom to quickly brush her hair and put in one of her signature yellow barrettes. Her hair was slightly longer now than it was a few years ago. The barrette was iconic, in her opinion. As she finished fixing her hair, she heard someone walk up to the door. She opened the door to see Gene standing right in the doorway.

"Hey T! Sorry, gotta go!" Gene pushed her out of the room and shut the door. Tina blinked for a moment and regained her composure before walking to the kitchen. Tina had a normal breakfast, or as normal as it got with an eccentric sibling like Gene, and finished getting ready for school.

As she headed for the door, she remembered that Gene was in grade 9 now and called to him.

"Gene?"

"Tina, wait! I'm coming!"

Tina watched as Gene used the railing on the second floor to swing around to the stairs and almost fall on their face. They caught themself with their hands and stood up.

"Gene, are you okay?" Tina's hands were covering her mouth as she watched the fall.

"Yep," they said, wiping his hands on his pants, "All good! Let's go. The first day of high school, baby! I'm so excited!"

"Alright, Gene, but you know, high school isn't always as good as the movies, right?" Tina was concerned about Gene's enthusiasm.

"I know. I know. I'm sure it's much more fun when you got a super cool older sister there to help out." Gene bumped her shoulder playfully.

"Yeah, sure. I mean, I'm always there if you need me."

"I know you got my back. Now let's go!"

Tina and Gene walk to school. They reached the entryway, and Gene seemed to notice someone. As Tina followed his eye line, she saw Alex and Courtney talking.

"Bye Tina, see you!" Gene smiled as she very quickly walked over to her friends.

Tina walked to her locker and saw Dillon leaning against it.

Dillon was dressed in her romantic goth aesthetic. She wore a red corset over a long black lace dress, Mary Jane style shoes, black lacy socks, dark makeup and a silver necklace with a cat as the charm. Her ears had many piercings, and she had nose and eyebrow piercings.

"Hey, T" she opened her arms for a hug, "can I hug you? It's been a couple of weeks since I've seen you."

Tina walks up to Dillon and hugs her, feeling comfort in Dillon's asking before acting. Sometimes Tina didn't want to be touched, and Dillon understood that. Dillon had been on vacation for a couple of weeks with her family. Before that, they were having the perfect teenage summer.

"I missed you, Dillon. How was the vacation?"

"Fine. My mom is… y'know, fine."

Tina smiled in response.

RING RING RING

"Crap, better go," Dillon said, pushing off Tina's locker and heading to class.

"See you at lunch?"

"For sure."

Tina watched as Dillon hurried to her class, clearly heading for the stairs. Tina shoved some stuff in her locker and headed to class as well. She double-checked her class schedule via a picture on her phone. Her first class was English, so she went to the familiar room number on her schedule. It was Mrs. Haber's class, and this wouldn't be the first year Tina had mrs. Haber. This year was going to be Tina's year.

…

RING RING RING

Tina heard the lunch bell and headed to her locker. As she walked down the hall, she saw Dillon and Zeke waiting and chatting in front of it.

Zeke was wearing his black tank top with the sleeves ripped off, jeans, a Jean chain and a pair of brown work boots. His was shaved at the sides now and slightly longer in the back.

"Hey guys," Tina said

"Hey T-bird, how were your morning classes? watcha got again?"

Tina opened her phone to the picture of her schedule and showed it to Zeke. Zeke and Tina had hung out a few days ago to watch drama movies and soak up the last few days before school started. School talk was forbidden during the summertime, so they weren't very familiar with each other's classes.

"Man, English and creative writing! Isn't that gonna hurt your hands?" Zeke asked

"I mean, typing isn't that bad." Dillon countered

"Oh, right. You with your silly technology." Zeke said

"Don't you have to type stuff too, Zeke?" Tina asked

Zeke wasn't big on technology, but typing was required for English class... and most classes.

"I mean, Yeah." Zeke sighed, clearly upset that technology won "well, I'm hungry, let's eat!"

Tina's lunch was average. Zeke and Dillon got lunch from the cafeteria with Tina, then Zeke went off, and it was just Dillon and Tina. After lunch, Dillon and Tina went to creative writing together. The day progressed, and Tina went to cooking class, the only class Zeke has with her this year. The day ended, and instead of seeing Dillon at her locker, she saw a familiar boy.

"Hey, Jimmy Jr." She says, surprised to see him.

Jimmy Jr. and Tina hadn't spoken since the last school year ended. Tina had waited for his text but never got one. Tina saw Jimmy Jr.'s Instagram posts, and he didn't go away. Some of the posts were with girls from their school's dance program, and some were with the kids who were in the school play the year prior. Tina tried to text him a couple of times but never got a response.

"Hi Tina." Jimmy Jr. smiled.

Tina looked at him, trying to understand the face he was making. She looked at his face, not to make eye contact but to analyze. She looked his face up and down, analyzing how his eyebrows looked slightly pained for some reason. Tina would consider herself bad at reading people, often not noticing nuanced glances or putting emotions where there weren't any. This was important to understand. Tina and Jimmy Jr. were more off than on nowadays, and Jimmy Jr. was rarely excited to see her, even since they started this whirlwind of a romance. His smile seemed genuine to Tina at first glance, but she stood there looking at his face over and over again. She sees a sense of stress. Maybe it was because she was staring for too long.

"So, umm, what's up?" Tina asked, breaking her stare and making eye contact as best she could.

"I was wondering if you'd want to hang out tonight?" Jimmy fidgeted, looking unsure about what he was asking from her.

Jimmy Jr. wanted to hang out after all this time. Tina was ready for a nice patch of on again.

"It's been a while. I'd love to hang out!" Tina said in her excited voice, which was about the same as her normal voice.

"Alright, I'll pick you up at 7, and we'll go see the new marvel movie. I've been wanting to see it, but none of my friends wanted to see it." Jimmy Jr. looked caught up in thought as he said this.

Tina realizes he's probably just using her so he wouldn't have to go alone, but Tina didn't mind. At least Tina shouldn't mind. Something was bothering Tina about this interaction after not talking for two months though.

"Okay, bye Jimmy Jr." Tina gave a small wave.

"Bye, Tina." Jimmy Jr. said as he turned to leave.

As he walked away, Tina looked down. She remembers why she always got drawn back in, and it worked again.

"Those buns win every time," she muttered to herself.

"What?" Gene's voice brought her back to reality, and also, scared the crap out of her.

"Oh, nothing. Nothing" Tina shook her head.

"Alright. Well, let's head home. I already have homework for my music class, and I wanna get to my keyboard." Gene still seemed excited about high school even after the first day. Tina knew that enthusiasm and wished she still felt that. The drama of high school could be fun, but it was mostly normal days. Special events came once in a while, but Tina still had to go to work at the restaurant and do more homework than in grade school.

Tina sighed and grabbed her bag as Gene led the way. Gene didn't seem to know where he was going and ended up following Tina down an unexpected turn.

"It's this way. This door is closer to home," Tina said

"Yeah yeah. I knew that" Gene let out a breath and followed Tina the rest of the way.

As they walked, the loud halls drowned out into white noise, and Tina thought about Jimmy Jr. and his inconsistencies. Jimmy had been on and off with almost every girl in their grade who was in the school play. Jimmy was the hotshot guy of the dance and theatre kids. He was one of the best male dancers at the school. Since the performing arts, high school was so close, most of the kids who loved dance went there. Jimmy's dad wouldn't let him even audition for that school, but that didn't matter to the girls that swooned for him. Jimmy was likable and charismatic, and he had daddy issues that made him vulnerable. He loved poetry and was sensitive but was strong enough to lift the girls he danced with (for a few seconds). Tina often got frustrated fighting for his attention but also remembered the abilities that made him well-liked.

Maybe this would be the year Jimmy noticed Tina. Tina was a smart woman, and eventually, Jimmy would have to acknowledge her, right?

Chapter Text

Gene walked into the kitchen and sat next to Tina at the breakfast table. Louise was probably still asleep since grade school started about an hour after high school.

"Oh, my little Genie Beanie, already in high school. It feels like just yesterday you were my little baby!" Linda cooed, placing breakfast on the table for him.

"Mom, you know I'm still your baby. I'm just older now. An old baby!"

"Gene," Bob said, exasperated.

Breakfast continued, and Gene pulled nail polish out of her pocket.

"Not at the table Gene." Bob scolded.

"But dad, I must look fabulous on my first day of high school" Gene flipped her hair out of her face dramatically.

"Okay, but finish eating first."

Gene finished eating, then went to get dressed and put on the nail polish they were trying to put on earlier. Gene wore jeans with sunflower patches, a rainbow sweater, sneakers with beads in the laces, bead bracelets, and sunflower earrings. The outfit was finished with a lemon-themed beret. They took their hair and put it into a low pony, exposing the yellow dye underneath. He started growing his hair out a few years ago and it was longer than Tina's now.

Gene headed downstairs to meet Tina and made their way to school. Once they entered the building, Gene spotted his friends.

"Hey, Courtney! Alex!" Gene yelled.

Courtney was wearing fishnets under ripped black skinny jeans. A Fall Out Boy for their album Folie à Deux. A chain necklace. Black Doc Martens and a plethora of band bracelets. Their hair was down, and the red tips faded into a pinkish colour.

Alex wore a red hoodie, black cargo pants, vans, and clip-on silver earrings. He also had a jean jacket with plenty of patches and pins. The patches varied in themes, including: space, NASA, robots, superheroes (Marvel and DC), sonic, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and various other cartoons and anime. The patch closest to his heart was the pansexual flag with 'he/him' stitched onto it.

"Hi Gene," Courtney said, waving, "Alex and I were looking for you, but there are so many people here, let's go find some lockers."

Gene followed as they looked for three open lockers and found them fairly quickly. He looked around as the loud hallways became slightly overwhelming. Kids yelled and pushed each other, while some sat on the floor. Gene thought that the noise would be okay, grade school was fine, but he was used to grade school. They were in a new place with so many people he didn't recognize. He usually liked meeting new people and making friends, as long as he could go home to his mom for a proper goodnight. He swayed back and forth, shifting his weight from foot to foot and trying to find something to distract him from the noise.

RING RING RING

Saved by the bell, Gene followed his friends to their general English class they all had together. He sat next to them as class started.

'I have to get some headphones,' Gene thought as the class continued.

He had music class with Courtney before lunch, so they walked to lunch together, meeting up with Alex in the cafeteria.

"It's so loud," Gene said as they sat down.

"Ya I know, so how was your first…" Courtney and Alex continued the conversation, and Gene got lost in the amount of noise around him.

The sound of Courtney chewing on her necklace. The sound of hundreds of students talking and eating. Music and videos playing and being shared between friends. So many faces Gene's never seen before. Alex accidentally hit Gene's hand, which Gene didn't notice was tapping the table.

Gene was not ready for the sensation of being touched and felt an overwhelming amount of energy and stress fill her body. The harsh feeling started in her throat, flowing through her and creating a scream.

"AHHghHHh" Gene yelled, almost running out of the cafeteria to the much quieter hallway.

Gene sat with their back against the wall and put their head on their knees. He wrapped his arms around his head to cover his ears, shaking slightly. They rocked back and forth, trying to soothe themself.

The hallway had less noise but was still noisy. The stress and overwhelmed feeling didn't go away as Gene's mind raced. Trying to pick something to focus on, Gene felt like they couldn't breathe.

Gene heard Courtney talking.

"Alex, I'll handle this. I know you didn't mean to freak him out, but I think I know what to do."

"Alright, Courtney" Alex took a step back as Courtney crouched in front of Gene to get his attention.

"Gene?" Courtney asked.

"Yes," Gene looked up from his hands, showing only his eyes.

"Is it okay if I sit next to you?"

Gene nodded in response as he heard Courtney sit down and scooch next to him. Gene leaned on her shoulder, using her breaths to steady his own. His eyes were closed.

"Can I rub your back? It usually helps me."

Gene nods again as Courtney slips her hand on his back and rubs circles to comfort him. Alex sat on the other side of Gene, not touching them, but looking as their breath came back to them.

"I'm really sorry Gene, I didn't mean to touch you or make you freak out," Alex said, sounding very upset.

"It's not your fault Alex, usually it would be fine, but I- I just think it's because this place is so new. It's loud and unfamiliar" Gene took a moment to breathe, holding back tears "I'm really sorry"

"Gene, it's not your fault. How about we look for somewhere else to eat" Courtney suggested

Gene and Alex agreed with Courtney as they saw Zeke walking out of the cafeteria with a muffin and a milk carton.

"Heya Gene-town, other kids I don't remember, 'sup?" Zeke asked.

"We were wondering if there was somewhere quiet we could go to eat," Gene says, looking up at Zeke from their spot on the floor.

"Oh, I'm headin' to the GSA right now. It's fairly quiet. Like 10 kids on a busy day during lunch." Zeke explained, "follow me. I'll bring y'all there."

Courtney and Alex stood up and helped Gene up. Alex and Gene walked behind Courtney and Zeke as they talked.

"Are you sure you're alright, Gene?" Alex asked.

"I'm fine. I just feel sort of tired now." Gene sighed. Gene's body felt heavy and tired from the stress of the panic.

Gene put their arm on Alex's shoulder for a second and then let go.

…

They reached the GSA and sat at a small table with about 5 or 6 chairs. There was another table with 3 chairs and a small, very old-looking couch. The white room had storage bins and a set of cabinets. The walls were decorated with a pride flag, some drawings of rainbows and various flags, and a big banner that said "Huxley High School Gay Straight Alliance: everyone is welcome".

As they sat down, Zeke started talking.

"So, what classes do you guys have this year?"

Courtney looked at Zeke for a moment and started talking, ignoring the question.

"Are you a g in the GSA?"

Zeke looked at her with a confused look on his face.

"D'What?" He thinks about what she's asking for a moment "Ohh, no I'mma trans man, he/him, but I'm actually straight, y'know?"

"I see," Courtney says "are we supposed to, I don't know, say what we are?"

"Usually we just do introductions of names and pronouns, but labels aren't something that we say in introductions." Zeke answered, "anyways, how are you, Gene? Some kids said they saw you yell and run out the cafeteria."

"Yep, that's me! The kid who freaked out on the first day!" Gene tried to laugh as gestured wildly with his hands, "I was just getting overwhelmed. It was really loud in there and… I don't know. I'm usually fine when it's loud, I think. I mean, there have been a couple of times where I reacted that way, but never for a reason like this"

Zeke responded, "Hey Gene, y'know, the first day in a new place isn't easy. I was definitely nervous on my first day here. The day-to-day will get easier, and it seems you have some friends who know how to help ya out."

Gene smiled, thinking about what Zeke said. They really were good friends. When Gene first met Courtney, he never would have thought they would end up so close. They both loved music and acting, but Courtney often seemed annoying to Gene when they first met. After getting to know each other, Gene ended up finding familiarity in Courtney's quirks most of the time. Courtney often experienced noticeable anxiety that Gene didn't know how to help with at first. Gene was usually the one to comfort Courtney, or at least find someone who could help. It was almost a perfect parallel to what happened today.

When Gene first met Alex, they thought he was odd too. Alex was very motivated by sugar and finding serotonin in general. Gene often worried about Alex's motivation, or lack of, for things he said he enjoyed. Although this is true, Alex was always there for Gene if he needed an ear to listen. Unlike Courtney, Gene always liked Alex. They considered Alex their best friend and wanted to protect him, although he had issues that couldn't be fixed with just a good friendship. Being different was something Gene was used to, so finding a group of odd friends made sense.

"Yeah, my friends are pretty great," Gene said, smiling at his friends.

The day continues fairly uneventfully. When Tina asked if Gene had a good first day, Gene came to the conclusion that it was a good day, and that her friends were always there for her. Gene and Tina walked home together. Gene, with no other plans, worked in the restaurant until closing. Then he worked on a music mashup on the family computer until it was time for bed. Maybe this year would be alright.

Chapter Text

Louise woke up to the sound of a loud guitar cord coming from their tablet. They hit the tablet to turn off the alarm. Almost like magic, a knock on the door followed the ending of the alarm.

"I'm up mom!" Louise yelled.

"Alright, breakfast is ready and you gotta walk to school by yourself now, so no dilly-dallying" their mom said, sounding excited for the day ahead.

"Got it." Louise sounded annoyed as they got up and got ready for school.

Louise wore black ripped skinny jeans with a neon green Kuchi Kopi zip-up hoodie, a death note t-shirt underneath, and a pair of knockoff converse. Their hair was down and short in the back, the length of a Pixie cut, with two long strands framing their face and bangs. Their hair was mostly black with the front strands dyed a bright green. They wore their bunny ears that now had Kuchi Kopi and a non-binary patch sewed on with the help of Tina's knowledge from the Thundergirls.

Louise brushed their hand over the patches on the bunny ears and was reminded of the year Tina went to high school. It was new at the time for just Gene and Louise to be at Wagstaff, but this year, Louise had decided, would be worse. At least their large brother was there then, but now Louise was all alone. Louise wouldn't admit how much they would miss Gene at lunch and recess. They did not like change in most capacities. They didn't fall asleep very fast last night, since they stayed up thinking about all the shenanigans they had gotten into with their siblings at Wagstaff. Louise would consider themself an independent person on the surface, but there was going to be a new sense of loneliness this year.

Louise went to breakfast and didn't talk much as they ate, ignoring their mom’s attempts to cheer them up as they left for school.

Louise arrived at school and was greeted by Andy and Ollie at a locker near theirs.

"Hey, Louise!" Andy yelled.

"Hi, Louise." Ollie echoed.

Andy was wearing a blue sweater over a button-up, blue jeans, black converse, and a silver necklace. His hair had a few blue streaks at the front that were added only because of the "hair dyeing party" Louise threw as an excuse to dye Rudy's hair.

Ollie was wearing a plaid shirt over his graphic sonic t-shirt. He wore black ripped jeans and Doc Martens. His hair was all a dark blue to match his brother's hair.

"Hi, guys, what's up?" Louise asked

"We were talking about our favourite sonic characters from the comics!" Andy explains.

“The IDW comics.” Ollie clarified.

"Cool," Louise said, not really sure why they asked. Seeing Andy and Ollie together made them sort of envious. They would get to go to school together all through grade school and high school since they were twins. Louise wished they had someone who would always be there in case something happened, like all those times they were there for Gene and Tina when they were in grades 7 and 8. According to Tina, the drama usually gets interesting around this age. Louise wouldn’t have someone to tell about any possible drama right away at school anymore, but they weren’t concerned about that. They were more concerned about the pranks and shenanigans that they would pull with Gene that made school fun. It was a good way to get out energy. Louise would argue their pranks made them better student since they could focus more if they got that energy out of their system.

Louise didn’t like the drama the same way their sister did though. The idea of having ‘dating problems’ was strange to Louise. Although Louise loved both Gene and Tina, they had never felt the need to be in a relationship like their siblings did. Not that they wouldn’t want one, but they couldn’t see themself "falling in love" or inclined to date someone off the street. People on the surface level were not attractive to them. Most people would say they were too young to know, but Louise would consider themself pretty smart and aware of their feelings, even when trying to hide them. They had felt some romantic attraction to Millie before Millie left Wagstaff last year, but they had become very close friends before that happened. At first, Louise thought it was because they might be attracted to only girls, but since then, they had felt absolutely nothing towards girls. Louise had come to the conclusion they were just different than their peers.

Louise followed Andy and Ollie to class as they bumbled on about the comic books they were reading. Louise sat in the back of the class and hoped there wouldn't be assigned seating. Being close to the front made it harder to start trouble. Rudy sat next to them. He looked out his side vision to see if Louise would attest to this.

"Hey Rudy, I like that earring," Louise said, properly catching their attention.

"Umm, thanks. It's fake." Rudy looked down at their book and started doodling.

Rudy was wearing an oversized sweater with clouds on it, light gray jeans, white sneakers, and a fake earring cuff at the top part of his ear. He had a small bag with his inhaler in it that had been shoved on his desk but it was covered in patches of clouds, cows, and an animal crossing pin. His hair was a buzz cut dyed to have blue hearts and was bleached blond everywhere else.

"Alright class, my name is…"

Louise's morning classes went very slowly. Their mind was racing through a million things that had nothing to do with whatever the teacher was saying. They didn't have the comfort of knowing that Gene would be there if no one wanted to hang out with them. It was frustrating and scary. Louise had friends and enemies at school and there was no way for them to tell if a friend would become an enemy before it was too late.

"Louise, you coming?" Rudy was staring at them as Louise looked off into space.

"What?"

"Recess, Louise. You okay?" Rudy seemed concerned.

"Oh, I'm okay. It's fine" Louise looked away intending to hide how upset they were about the changes happening around them.

"Is this cause Gene's not at Wagstaff anymore? When I was at your house the other day and he was talking about it I could tell you were upset." Rudy wasn't sure if he was right about this, but it was worth a try.

Louise, however, was terrified that Rudy was reading their mind. How did he know why they were upset? To Louise this was them losing their ability to hide their emotions. This was a true moment of vulnerability all based on a guess on Rudy's part.

"Um," Louise tried to cover the tear that fell from their eye "well, no. Or ya. I mean, you're right, but I don't want to talk about it."

"Oh, it's cool Louise. You're always there for me when I'm really upset, so I just want you to know I'm here for you too. We can eat lunch together every day if you want."

Rudy was still reading Louise's mind somehow.

"Ya, that'd be great actually. Thanks a lot, Rudy."

"No problem Louise."

Louise wiped away their tears, glad that Rudy didn't notice, or at least acknowledge their crying. There was a comfortable silence as they walked to recess together. Louise knew it would still be lonely at Wagstaff without Gene, but at least they knew Rudy would be there.

Chapter Text

It was the evening after the first day of school, and Jimmy Jr. sat in the living room with his father watching some stupid sport. His dad never let the kids choose what to watch, which meant Jimmy Jr.’s brothers spent most of their time in their shared room. Jimmy Jr. thought his brothers were strange most of the time, talking nonsense to each other in the house more than outside. He wanted a connection like that and leaned on any validation from his dad he could grasp, which included watching dumb sports with no creativity or artistry. Jimmy Jr.’s favourite sport was wrestling but he didn’t play anymore since the dance club and the play kept him busy most of the time. This caused a large rift in Jimmy Jr.’s relationship with his father. The day his dad asked when wrestling tryouts were two years ago was the day Jimmy Jr.’s dad really realized they were actually very different people, and he did not take it well. Jimmy Jr. had to explain to his dad that wrestling wasn’t his priority and then he was yelled at for about ten minutes before he left without getting a single word in. Jimmy Jr. knew that he and his dad were very different years before that but still tried to fit his dad’s version of the perfect son. His dad did not like the twins since they were born, which is likely why Jimmy Jr. also had a fairly nonexistent relationship with them. Jimmy Jr. needed that validation of being his dad’s favourite somedays, like today. So he watched the stupid sport that was on the TV, pretending to be invested and cheering when his dad did.

Jimmy Jr. couldn’t beg for validation from his father for much longer since he had a date tonight with Tina. Tina Belcher was a beautiful girl that Jimmy Jr. had been dating on and off for years, but Jimmy Jr. wanted to keep things casual. His lack of validation from his father led him to be a player, searching for validation through dates with others very often. Jimmy Jr. was very popular amongst the girls in his dance classes and the play. He dated around with girls and boys alike, but he had much worse luck with boys. He felt that he couldn’t come out to his dad and didn’t even have a label picked out. He didn’t like labels and didn’t want to be forced to pick one, so he planned to remain unlabeled for the rest of his life. This was fine, but it made it very hard to get boys to like him. They all thought he was either straight or too cowardly to come out as gay. Most of the kids at school thought he was the ‘straight guy’ who did both dance and drama. When this label got around to Jimmy Jr. he was upset but didn’t know how he would even correct it without being out to the entire school. He mostly found guys outside of Huxley to date but stayed within Huxley for the girls. He was looking forward to going out with Tina after the months of summer vacation and his longest relationship with a boy ever, lasting all summer. He would admit he was using Tina as a rebound, but he definitely still liked her.

Jimmy got up without a word and went to his room to get ready for his date, picking a jean overshirt with a white t-shirt underneath, black pants, and his black doc marten style shoes. He played with the ‘stupid poof’ in his hair and sighed. He wanted to be able to talk to someone about his boy problems, but everyone around him would be more shocked about the ‘boy’ part and not care about the ‘problem’ part. Maybe Tina would be okay to talk to. Jimmy Jr. knew Tina was bisexual, but that usually didn’t matter in his brain. Since Tina would likely be open to Jimmy Jr.’s sexuality, it might be okay. Jimmy Jr. left the house, not saying goodbye to his father and went to meet Tina at her family's restaurant.
…
Jimmy Jr. peaked through the window to see Tina sitting in a booth, swinging her feet, clearly out of work mode. He opened the door and Tina perked up, scooching out of the booth. Jimmy Jr. turns towards the door as Tina walks towards him and holds out his hand for her to hold. She takes his hand and they make their way to the movie theatre. Jimmy Jr. actually did want to hang out with Tina but didn’t like to show too much interest in her, playing it cool most of the time. For one thing, his dad didn’t like her, for another, they were very close but still both dated other people. Jimmy Jr. knew he wouldn’t want an open relationship, so he tried to keep his ‘relationship’ with Tina, not an actual relationship. The Marvel movie was an excuse to hang out after ghosting her.

On the way to the movie, Jimmy Jr. didn’t say much. Tina talked about her first day, which was just small talk to Jimmy Jr. They watched the movie silently, not really acknowledging each other. Tina was still very confused about why Jimmy Jr. would initiate this date, especially since he seemed very preoccupied in his head.

The movie finished and Jimmy Jr. talked for what felt like the first time during the whole date, “The Marvel movies feel like they get worse every time, what was the tone even supposed to be? The comedy felt like it took away from the horrible shit that was happening to the character. No one would be okay after what happened to them.”

“Jimmy?” Tina sounded very concerned about Jimmy’s ranting.

Jimmy wasn’t aware of Tina trying to get his attention. Tina was mostly concerned because Jimmy Jr. was swearing about something like a movie, which he never did unless he was really frustrated. Jimmy Jr. continued his ranting, jumping between topics in the movie at random. Jimmy was usually a Marvel defender, mindlessly consuming the movies at face value. Today was different, the breakup was getting to Jimmy Jr. and he couldn’t tell his friends about it. Tina was his friend, but HE was the one to ghost her. It was his fault they hadn’t talked in so long. Jimmy Jr. didn’t hear her the first time, so she spoke louder as they got outside.

“Jimmy Pesto Jr., what has gotten into you?” Tina was very frustrated that her date turned out like this. She wanted Jimmy Jr. to notice her so badly, and he did in some ways. Jimmy Jr. just didn’t feel special with any of the people he dated, except for the boy he dated over the summer. He gave Jimmy Jr. the special feeling from the movies, this was Jimmy Jr.’s first real breakup, and it was hurting. Jimmy Jr. finally snapped out of it.

“Tina, I’m really sorry,” he had tears in his eyes as he looked at her and continued speaking, “ I-I just… can I tell you something, you can’t tell anyone. You have to promise okay?”

his speech impediment became more prevalent as he choked back tears. His speech had gotten better over the years with a lot of speech therapy, but it took more effort to hide than he let on. He still had the speech impediment normally, but at this moment, Tina was reminded of meeting Jimmy Jr. all the way in kindergarten. The cool boy in kindergarten to her, someone she wanted to be friends with.

Tina huffed and answered, “Jimmy, we have known each other for so long, I consider you my friend. It’s hard not seeing you for so long, but I think something must have happened. I’m not talking as your date right now, I’m talking as your friend, you can tell me whatever you need.”

Tina had given up on keeping this a nice date. Seeing Jimmy Jr. crying like this made the romance that didn’t even exist tonight even further out of sight.

“I’m, I’m not…” Jimmy Jr. choked on his words, “I’m not straight Tina.”

A million possibilities ran through Tina’s mind. He didn’t say he was gay, and he dated so many girls so it wouldn’t make much sense anyway. It also didn’t seem like Jimmy Jr. had never found romantic interest in Tina so she gestured for him to continue.

“I’m unlabeled and I’d like to stay that way, but I’ve dated guys too. Just wherever I can find someone to go out with, I go. But there was this guy over the summer from another school, and he dumped me at the end of the summer because we wouldn’t see each other. He was just staying here with his mom for the summer. It really hurt cause I really liked him, but I haven’t been able to tell anybody why I’ve been upset these past few days because no one knows I’m not straight.” Jimmy Jr. was crying while he was talking about his breakup.

Tina was trying to understand the words coming out of his mouth. She understood that telling your parents you weren’t straight was hard, but a lot of her friends were queer and out. Tina didn’t hang out with the kids who weren’t accepting, but in Tina’s mind, neither did Jimmy.

“Why couldn’t you tell your theatre friends? Aren’t most of them also queer?”

“not the girls and everyone calls me the straight guy as a joke. I don’t want to put a label on myself, which is what people expect. I just want to be able to date whoever without it being a big deal.” Jimmy wiped his face as he started to calm down.

“Jimmy, I don’t think it’s a big deal that you dated a guy. It sounds like this guy didn’t see what a catch you were though.”

Usually, Tina would say this to flirt, but not today. Although her tone didn’t change much, she put an intentional and unnatural smile on her face.

“Thanks, Tina, I’m really sorry about our date. I just couldn’t think of a reason to hang out with you outside of a date” Jimmy recognized Tina's look as an act of kindness.

They had known each other for a long time.

“Well, don’t do it again, especially to other girls, they won’t be so nice.” Tina let out her genuine laugh.

“I’m serious though, thanks. I’ll take you home, and maybe see you tomorrow?” Jimmy asked because he knew what he did was wrong.

“Well I don’t know about tomorrow, but I’ll see you around”

Tina was frustrated with Jimmy Jr. for sure but was trying to understand what he was going through. She has had some bad breakups, so she used what other people had done to help her out, to help him. The way Jimmy let go of his stressed face and seemed to relax was something Tina was actually able to clock. On the way home, they talked more about the movie and its glaring issues. Jimmy Jr. accepted his defeat in terms of enjoying new Marvel movies but still planned to see each one when it came out. This date was objectively bad but was good for their friendship. Tina accepted that Jimmy Jr. and her would likely be off for a while, but she saw potential to get back together. This was just another part of her boring first day at school.

Chapter Text

Louise sat in the living room as Gene and Tina watched one of those stupid ‘love-at-first-sight’ romance movies. Louise found no interest in this, so they scrolled through their phone. Gene had been talking about watching this movie for weeks and Linda, much to Bob’s dismay, bought it as a surprise so the kids could watch it during the downtime today at the restaurant. Louise took the opportunity to take a break from work, but sort of regretted it. Hearing their siblings talk about their love interest was gross. Who would want to date some guy they just met? Who cares that they know your brother’s dog groomer, it's weird. Louise didn't really see why someone would want to go on a date. That’s not to say Louise didn’t want a partner, nor that they couldn’t feel those feelings towards someone, just that it would take a lot of work to do. It was a lot of effort that sounded like it should be avoided.

Louise especially didn’t understand what would possess their siblings to call this random actor ‘hot’. He just looked like some guy. Beauty was also something Louise didn’t quite understand. Bodies were just vessels for people to navigate the world; the way they looked didn’t matter. Louise didn’t see other people the way Gene and Tina did, but they thought their siblings were just weird.

As the movie ended, Gene let out a loud sort of cry as the main character and the love interest got together. “Oh man, I want what they have.''

Gene hugged Tina as dramatically as his cries were, partially for the theatrics. “I think we all do, Gene '' Tina responded, patting his head. Gene sat up.

Louise still didn’t understand their emotional investment in this stupid movie. “You guys are nuts,” Louise huffed out, “that was the dumbest movie I’ve ever seen.”

“Y'know Louise, you don’t have to be mean about it.” Gene sounded mildly offended.

“No, I seriously don’t understand your guys’ attachment to people and how you can be so quick to call a guy” they made air quotes with their hands as they dramatically said, “hot”.

“Louise, have you ever considered you might be aroace? I mean Dillon says similar things to me when I talk about people I like” Tina said, very matter-of-fact.

“No, that’s not possible because I have liked people in the past” Louise was sent into a whirlwind of confusion and possibilities. Would they want to never end up with anyone? Would they want to live their life without a partner to share it with? The answer was no to both questions and Louise was certain they had liked people before, maybe not as easily or to the same extent as their siblings, but they had.

“Louise? You all right?” Gene spoke and seemingly woke Louise out of their thoughts.

“I’m fine, let’s just go work.” Louise tried to keep their composure as they stood up abruptly and very quickly walked down the stairs.

Tina and Gene walked behind Louise as they walked downstairs, whispering about how concerning it was that Louise wanted to work instead of having this conversation. Tina felt as though she had passed a boundary she wasn’t supposed to after Gene pointed this out to her.

As they reached the restaurant, they saw Andy and Ollie sitting on the stools, wiggling back and forth in unison.

Gene started a conversation with them as they walked by, “what’s up guys?”

“We are living with our dad for a while, so we have to be at the restaurant if Jimmy Jr. isn’t home” Andy explains.

“He doesn’t trust us alone because we started a fire.” Ollie further elaborates.

“It was one time dad” Andy cursed at the sky.

“Wow, okay Andy, calm down” Louise cut in, they seem to be recovering from the previous conversation with their siblings still.

“Geez Louise, what’s going on with you” Linda, who had been talking to Andy and Ollie before they walked into the restaurant, chimed in.

“I’m fine mom.” Louise was clearly upset.

“How about you go hang out with Andy and Ollie? I don't want any bad mojo on the burgers. Now go, go!” Linda said, shooing them away.

Louise huffed as she led the twins downstairs. The twins seemed to be distinguishing themselves more this year, which made it easier for Louise to tell them apart. Andy typically wore a lighter aesthetic compared to Ollie and refused to dye his whole head, claiming the blond made him smarter. Which was definitely not true. Ollie’s hair was all blue but had faded since the last time they all dyed their hair was a few weeks before school started.

“Louise, should we do another hair-dying party, I can tell you're staring at how bad Ollie’s hair looks right now” Andy stared at Ollie’s head.

Ollie tried to pull a piece of his short hair in front of his eyes to look at the colour. They made a scrunched-up face as they focused on finding the hair in their vision. Ollie couldn't see the hair, so he let go and shrugged his shoulders. "I can't tell, but if you're staring at me it's probably bad, you don't usually look at anyone"

This pushed Louise further into their head. These stupid twins were somehow encouraging them to analyze their actions even more. They didn't look at people? What does that even mean? Louise would admit that they weren't good with eye contact in casual conversation, since they saw it as an act of intimidation. Not looking at people was normal for them but Louise was thinking about the previous conversation still. Did their lack of acknowledging people in a romantic sense have to do with them not actually looking at them? But they looked at the people in that stupid movie, analyzed their features, and still felt nothing towards them, or anyone in the movies.

"Louise? D'you wanna talk about something?" Andy noticed Louise staring out into space and not really saying anything for a few moments longer than what was normal.

"Maybe? I don't know." Louise felt hopelessly confused. It felt the same as when they came out as nonbinary but worse. They felt as though something was different about them. They weren't aroace, they knew what that meant. At least not fully. It was confusing and specific. It felt like they were reading too far into it, but it was weird to be othered and not know why. "What do you guys know about being aroace?"

There was a pause as Andy and Ollie looked at each other, then turned back to Louise. Andy spoke first, like he usually does, "Louise, have we ever talked about our sexualities with you?"

"No, I don't think it ever came up" Louise looked at them, hopefully, that they weren't secretly judging them with some sort of twin language of gestures.

"Louise, I'm asexual and…" Andy looked over at Ollie for approval.

Ollie attempted to pronounce the sexuality Andy was hesitant to say because it wasn't well known "He's quar- qu- qui-"

"Quoiromantic," Andy said.

"That's the word, sorry I'm bad at speaking sometimes" Ollie responded.

"Anyway, it basically just means 'what' romantic. I don't if I know what romantic attraction is, so that's the label I use internally, and with Ollie of course." Andy explained. Ollie watched as he spoke and they high-fived. Louise found this strange but could tell it was Ollie's turn to speak.

"I'm demi-romantic," Ollie said. It didn't seem like he wanted to elaborate on to whom, but that's all Louise needed to hear to realize what he meant.

Louise had heard this term before but wanted to make sure they were right. "That's when attraction occurs when there is already an emotional attachment, correct?"

Andy and Ollie nodded in unison.

This label would perfectly describe how their attraction had worked in the past. Louise was demi-aroace. This revelation hit Louise and they felt intense relief.

"So it's normal? Well, I guess not since it has a label" Louise wanted to continue and say that they felt less alone knowing they weren't the weird one.

"Why would it be 'not normal' Louise? Stuff like that isn't really in our control, so it wouldn't matter if it was super weird anyway" Andy reassured them.

"Thanks a lot, guys" Louise let the relief be heard in their voice.

"No problem Louise," Andy said as Ollie checked his phone.

"We gotta go, Louise, our father just texted we have to leave now" Ollie explained.

"And you wouldn't like him when he's angry. Rawr!" Andy said, looking at the message on Ollie's phone. The twins had an increased inclination to hurry up as they left.

After the twins said their goodbyes and left, Louise sat on the basement floor. They took their hoodie and wrapped it around their legs since it was cold on the floor. They rested their head on their legs and sighed thinking about the revelation of the day. Louise didn't really know who they were attracted to, but labels like that didn't matter to them. Understanding how their attraction worked was more important to them. They were hoping to find a partner in the future but knew it was best not to rush into something if they didn't truly like them. Which they did learn secondhand from Gene's interactions with Courtney years ago. This would allow them to explain their struggles with just 'going on a date' to their siblings since sometimes they pressured them into such things. Next time Gene or Tina asked who they liked, they would come out to them.

Chapter Text

Tina sat upstairs, talking to Gene about a stupid date she had with Jimmy Jr.

"He really doesn't deserve you girl!" Gene exclaimed at the explanation of the date.

The shifting of Louise walking up the stairs brought them both out of the conversation after what happened earlier that day. It had been Louise's turn to help close, so their parents would probably be up in a few minutes.

"Louise, I wanted to apologize-" Tina began to speak.

"Shush" Louise cut her off, putting their finger over her mouth, "do you want mom and dad to know?"

"I don't care if mom and dad know we…" Tina paused, "had a fight? I don't know what happened but I obviously passed a boundary and I'm sorry."

Louise talked in a loud whisper, "alright, I suppose I shouldn't wait to tell you guys."

Louise had planned to wait till it was brought up to tell Gene and Tina about their revelation of their sexuality and being demi-aroace.

"You got a secret? Gasp! How dare you?" Gene said dramatically, putting the back of his hand on his forehead like he was about to faint.

"It's not a big deal, Andy and Ollie kinda helped me figure out I'm demi-romantic and demi-sexual." Louise let silence fill the room, wondering if their siblings knew what they meant.

"Cool," Tina said, casually.

"Yeah, was that what you were freaking out about?" Gene asked.

"Yes? It's more that I wasn't sure why I felt the way I did when you guys talked about your attraction to people. I was just kinda confused."

"I see, well I'm still sorry," Tina said, looking down at her hands.

"It's not a big deal, why would you wait to tell us?" Gene asked. She genuinely did not like when secrets were kept from her.

"You know coming out can be scary Gene, I remember when you came out to mom and dad, you were freaking out for like a full week before," Louise explained themself.

"Ya makes sense, but it's different with us," Tina said.

"Yeah Louise, we all know all of us are queer. You can trust us" Gene explained.

"Thanks, guys." Louise felt a little relieved after telling their siblings about their revelation.

As Louise finished their sentence, the sound of the door opening and their parents walking up the stairs.

Linda and Bob appeared, walking through the entryway.

"Alright, kids. Go do your homework. I know that Louise had homework they were putting off today." Linda said, pointing at Louise.

Bob nodded in agreement as the kids went to their rooms to work on schoolwork, hopefully.

"I already finished my homework," Tina said as Louise and Gene went to their rooms.

"Alright, well you can stay up with us if you want Tina, but your dad and I are watching 'Call of the Midwife'" Linda said.

Tina stood up, groaned, and then went to her room. She did not like that show. Tina sat on her bed, thinking about Louise's hesitation. Tina always tried to be equally close with her siblings, since she was the oldest, but the first week of school was very different this year.

Tina was used to being the one that went to a different school. Since Gene and Tina go to school without Louise now, they have more to talk about without Louise.

Tina sighed and got up from her bed. She walked to Louise's room and knocked.

A yell was heard through the door "Come in!"

Louise was sitting at their desk under their loft bed, actually doing homework.

"What do you have for homework?" Tina asked.

Louise didn't look up from their book. "Math." Louise sounded tired as they spoke.

"Louise, I think we should talk"

"About what, Tina? I told you guys already." Louise was getting frustrated.

"Not about that. I just want to know why you actually didn't want to tell us about what was going on. I was trying to help you. I didn't realize saying aroace would freak you out." Tina was being genuine.

"It's not that it freaked me out, I just don't want to be alone forever." Louise's frustration was making their voice crack as they talked.

"Louise, being aroace doesn't mean you end up alone. Partners can be platonic too. Also, aroace people can feel some attraction." Tina explained.

"I didn't know that, but that doesn't really matter to me. I figured it out without you guys, just like how you are doing fine at school without me!" Louise yelled and their voice cracked more as they got louder.

Louise had dropped their pencil by now. They put their face down on their homework as tears of frustration left their eyes. They gripped the hair on the back of their head, trying to stop the frustration they were feeling.

"Louise? Is this what this is about?" Tina's thoughts earlier were right, but that made her feel worse, "I'm sorry if we made you feel left out, I do try to include you in conversations, but Gene can be very loud sometimes"

"It's not that. I just hate going to school without Gene, and you do too. I'm just scared that I'll get in a fight with Rudy and have no one to sit with. Gene was able to make conversation with everyone, even if they did find him annoying. It's just a lot harder without him there." Louise explained. Tears were still falling, "people see me as a dangerous troublemaker, but I'm not always like that. Mr. Frond calls me a bad influence to students he sees start hanging out with me. How am I supposed to make friends like that?"

Tina sighed and walked to lean on Louise's desk. "I don't think Rudy is gonna stop hanging out with you because of a fight, and Andy and Ollie are your friends too, right?"

"I guess so… I'm sorry for not talking about this before T" Louise felt another wave of relief wash over them.

"You don't owe me an apology, Louise. I just want you to know that me and Gene going to school together doesn't mean we can't be close too. You're still my favourite youngest sibling." Tina said in her 'older sister' voice and gave a small smile.

"Thanks, T" Louise stood up and hesitantly hugged Tina. When Tina hugged back, Louise relaxed and let the tears fall. Eventually, they calmed down and the tears stopped falling.

Tina felt a lot better after talking to Louise. She knew it wasn't a big deal if Louise didn't come out with every label they found fitting to them right away, but Tina obviously propelled Louise into their head. Tina just wanted Louise to know their problems were important to her, and that she wanted to help and listen whenever she could.

Chapter Text

Ollie sat on the floor of his and Andy's shared bedroom. Or what used to be their shared room. They were moving to a bigger house that was closer to the family restaurant and Andy had asked for his own room. Andy and Ollie had started becoming more distinct from each other a couple years ago when they got slightly different haircuts. They were still close and acted like “creepy twins” and would get upset when split up by force, but they both started exploring their own personalities, interests, and styles.

Andy was happy to become a more distinct person, but Ollie was finding adjusting to having separate interests difficult. Ollie always knew conceptually that he was a different person from Andy, but he still had a very egocentric view of Andy, seeing him as a mirror of himself. Sometimes he forgot that Andy didn’t feel everything he felt, and did not react to things the same way as he did. Typically their similarities outweighed their differences, but to Ollie, all he could think of were the differences.

Andy wasn’t home right now since he was at the ‘Geography and Tourism’ club he had begged one of the teachers to start. Ollie found this topic uninteresting and stupid, but he wouldn’t tell that to Andy. Ollie tried to stay for a meeting but got so bored he actually decided to leave without Andy. He simply couldn’t sit still when he found something uninteresting. It made him feel itchy, and like the chair, he was sitting on was attacking him and making him move.

Now Ollie sat alone on the floor, staring at the wall, thinking about all the changes that had been happening recently. A new house and a new club weren’t even the worst part. His mom was also away for business for 6 months starting a few weeks ago, so Jimmy Jr., Andy, and Ollie would be staying with their dad for six months straight. Usually, the custody was split fairly, but work won this time. This would be the longest they would be away from their mom. All three of them preferred their mom most of the time, with their dad not understanding their love for creativity.

Andy and Ollie usually went to the Belcher's restaurant when their dad brought them to the restaurant. Louise and the twins had become better friends since Jimmy Jr. and Tina went to high school. Jimmy Jr. typically avoided his brothers, but they usually had each other.

Ollie was fidgeting with his hands now, analyzing the textures of the paint on the wall from afar. He closed his eyes, feeling the overwhelming feeling that was very familiar. Being away from his twin made it hard for him to function. Andy was the talkative one, he would lead the conversations with everyone around them. Ollie liked it this way. He wasn't good with words like Andy was. He started to feel tears fall down his face as he silently cried. His breathing picked up, but he did not let himself make any noise. He huffed and wiped his eyes. He covered his face as he listened to the clock tick.

TICK

TICK

TICK

He counted the ticks of the clock out loud to calm himself down.

TICK

"One"

TICK

"Two"

TICK

"Three"

KNOCK KNOCK

"OLLIE"

"Fuck" Ollie whispered under his breath as his dad opened the door and yelled simultaneously, "sorry dad, what's up?"

"Nothing, just wondering why you're sitting on the floor, crying. What are you being dramatic about now?" His dad asked in an unsympathetic, almost sarcastic tone.

Ollie wasn't sure how to respond, words passed through his head so fast he couldn't grab onto a single one to form a sentence. His dad stared at him as he looked at the floor, chewing on his lips. His face was still wet from crying and the stare felt like fire on his face.

"Nevermind, it's probably something stupid like always. I actually wanted to know where your brother is" Jimmy asked.

"Club" was all Ollie could muster up.

"Right, that stupid club. Well, next time tell him to leave a note. I knew he wasn't here 'cause I didn't trip on his shoes that he always leaves right at the entrance" Jimmy huffed a little and left, closing the door.

Ollie sat in silence again, time passed as he let the overwhelming feeling consume him. He was laying down at this point. He heard the door open and wiggled to see Andy standing in the doorway, confused.

"Ollie?" Andy was asking if Ollie was okay.

"M'good, watch turtles?" Ollie responded.

They used fewer words when talking alone, filling in the blanks after being together for so long.

"12 or 18?" Andy asked.

"18" Ollie responded as Andy walked over to the laptop they shared and put on 'Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' to watch together.

Ollie slid across the floor and they both sat next to each other on the lower bunk of their bunk bed. The laptop sat on a small table in front of the bed, as Ollie curled in on himself against the wall and scooched so he was shoulder to shoulder with his twin. Andy was concerned but could fill in what Ollie was upset about. They would probably talk more about it after but for now, they let the show they were watching take over their brains.

Chapter Text

Gene woke up feeling particularly gross. Ever since she started at Huxley high, she had been having a hard time at school. Her energy which was normally mildly accepted had been scolded more and more as she got older. All of their energy that was once used to entertain had become anxious and difficult to deal with. She jumped out of bed, trying to deal with the energy she had after sleeping a full night.

The gross feeling was like grime under their eyes and behind their ears even though they had just showered before bed. She yawned and she felt the warm air escape her mouth as her bad breath attacked her senses accidentally. She cringed and backed away “ew”. She went to take another shower. As they looked at themself in the mirror in their pyjamas, with no makeup, hair with faded colour, and heavy bags under their eyes they felt horrible.

Despite feeling so hyper and like they needed to move, there was intense emotional exhaustion underneath. She knew this exhaustion could decrease to the point of a breakdown, which she tried to avoid. Her sibling, Louise, would say that her breakdowns were because she’s a middle child, but she disagreed. She couldn’t help her emotional responses, no matter how hard she tried. If she couldn’t move freely, she became uncomfortable and frustrated.

She also felt particularly feminine today, which made their reflection especially taunting. She didn't usually feel particularly bad about the way she looked, but being constantly perceived as a boy sucked on days like this. She wouldn't say anything to anyone about it but being called 'he' some days made her cringe. She still liked using 'he/she/they' pronouns but wished people would use their other pronouns, not he, more often. Sometimes it was exhausting trying to explain that some days they wanted to be seen as a different gender than the day before, so they didn't bother. Their friends would be very supportive since they were also queer and open-minded. Courtney was genderqueer but stuck with "she/they". Gene was sure Courtney probably wished people used "they" for them more often, but they have mentioned that there wasn't much fluidity to their gender, which meant they didn't need to explain days when all their pronouns weren't comfortable.

Gene was already mentally exhausted from going to school every day and fighting their physical energy, bringing up their gender was something they shouldn't be concerned about. What they should be concerned about was different than what they ended up being concerned about, so Gene considered how she might express this to her friends that day as they showered and did her makeup. She made sure to wear the bracelet Tina gave her when she came out since it was easy to fidget with, even though that's not what it was for.

On the way to school, Gene felt the need to move around. She tapped her hand on her legs as she walked.

At school, Gene found their friends. They were standing at their lockers, and Alex was shuffling stuff around. He was looking for a book or something.

“Hi Gene” Courtney spat out her words, it annoyed Gene more than usual today. Gene grabbed the back of their neck to calm their nerves. The pressure of their hand helped them deal with the annoying feeling.

“Hey, Gene” Alex waved. He looked up from his locker and pushed up his glasses to look at Gene. “Is that different makeup? You look more sparkly today”

Courtney stared at Gene’s face, looking at the eye makeup that was much more sparkly since it was sticky glitter, not powder.

“You're right, Alex. How did you notice that so fast?” Courtney questioned,” You never notice when I wear different makeup, but when he does it you notice?”

Alex stood upright at his locker, fidgeting with the sleeve of his hoodie, “Oh, um. I don’t know, I just… well she was standing close to me” He was looking away from Gene. Courtney rolled their eyes at Alex trying to lie. Then the bell rang. Gene went to her first class, which she had with Alex and Courtney.

“He” was all Gene could think as she walked to their class. Gene did not want to be called that today. She just didn’t know how to tell them. At least Alex didn’t use he, but he usually tried to be very mindful of using all of Gene’s pronouns equally. Gene sat through her first class, fidgeting more than usual. She played with the colourful bead bracelet she had picked out this morning, not really listening to what the teacher was saying. Her mind jumped from topic to topic as her legs became restless, moving her leg up and down, she went to let go of the bracelet and the knot that was holding it together came undone. The beads flew across the floor.

"Crap" Gene whispered under her breath.

Courtney and Alex both got up to help as Gene stood up staring down at the floor. She didn't say anything or move, just watched as their friend picked up the beads that were flying everywhere. The teacher looked over for a moment then kept teaching. Alex seemed to notice that Gene seemed paralyzed at the moment and walked up to the teacher. He whispered something to her, then he walked up to Gene and held out his hand.

"Do you need a minute?" Alex asked, then he looked at Courtney, "we'll be right back"

"Sure thing" Courtney blinked at Alex's attempt to help Gene. He had been trying to learn how to help with stress like this since the first day of school.

Gene took his hand and Alex led them down the hall to a water fountain. Alex stopped and kept holding Gene's hand as he thought of what to do. Gene became flustered for a completely different reason now. Alex has been holding her hand for a moment longer than what felt natural but it felt… nice? And scary too, definitely scary.

Alex turned to Gene, “do you want a drink? Are you okay?”

“I'm okay” Gene tried to say but it came out in a huff.
Alex looked Gene in the eyes. Gene had not been panicking in the classroom, she just didn’t know what to do. She was overwhelmed, but not to the point of a breakdown. This moment freaked her out more than any of the other problems she had today. She didn’t think she liked Alex, but she must’ve been wrong.

In an attempt to cover up this realization, she started to speak, “Can you use just she/they for me today?”

Alex continued to look at Gene, but now he was confused.

“Sure thing. I thought you were freaking out because of your bracelet.”

“I mean, I'm sure Tina will make me a new one. I’m not really worried about that. I just didn’t know how to react”

“Okay, well…” Alex looked down at their hands and let go. Gene looked at her hand for a second.

“Sorry, I didn’t realize I was doing that. Anyways, your pronouns are she/they now?” Alex tried to confirm.

“Today, I like my pronouns, but some days I feel more feminine and I don’t like the he” Gene spoke in a very calm voice that was unlike her.

“Okay, no problem Gene. You can tell me whatever pronouns to use on any day and I will.”

“Thanks, Alex. Usually all three work but I'll let you know if it’s different”

“Are you okay to go back inside?”

“Yep, let's go rock that Shakespeare” Gene exclaimed.

they walked back to class and the teacher went back to teaching. At this point, there were about ten minutes left of class. Gene still felt horribly antsy. Without her bracelet, she had one less place to exert her energy. She lightly tapped her desk for the rest of the class.

As the bell rang, Courtney walked up to Gene, “Gene, are you okay? I know you were using that bracelet to fidget, I have some little fidget toys if you want to use one”

Alex joined them as they walked out of their class and moved down the hall toward their lockers.

“That sounds great Courtney, thanks” Gene responded.

“What’s up?” Alex asked.

“I was just offering him a fidget toy since the bracelet broke”

“It's she/they today,” Gene said.

Without thinking about it, Courtney corrected themself, “sorry, her”

Courtney didn’t react to this correction. She knew more about what genderfluid was than Alex, so she didn’t seem to need an explanation.

“So, do you guys want to come over tonight and watch a movie, we can hang out at 8 so Gene doesn't have to worry about pawning off her restaurant duties because it’s not a school night,” Courtney asked.

“I’d be down,” Alex said as they reached their lockers.

“I don’t know guys, I'm kinda tired today,” Gene said. The restless feeling persisted. The feeling of sinking under their eyes was more noticeable when she said that.

“It’s just a movie Gene, I'll give you a blanket and you can take a nap if you want, it’s just a good excuse to have a break from homework, and I'm sure Alex would appreciate some popcorn with butter.”

“popcorn?” Alex looked at Courtney like a child about to get a piece of candy, then turned to Gene to give her puppy dog eyes, “please Gene, it won’t as fun without you”

Gene rolled her eyes “fine I’ll go, but I'm bringing a pillow and I don’t want any drama, unless it's about someone else, then spill. The. tea” Gene snapped after each word at the end of the sentence.

Gene kept her earbuds in for the rest of the day, she didn’t play any music, just let the sound be muffled by them. Luckily, none of the teachers seemed to notice, or at least care. Gene still could hear the teacher and wrote notes like usual. She found that the earbuds helped drown out the faraway noise that was likely to distract her. The day went slowly. Work went a little faster since she could move around more. It may have been a little distracting to watch her dance while she worked but Linda encouraged it. Linda loved seeing Gene express herself but likely didn’t realize how hard it was when Gene wasn’t given that luxury at school.

When Gene felt like the day was over, it was time to go to Courtney’s house. Gene brought only her pillow and her purse. She wore her lazy clothes. When she knocked on the door, Courtney opened it.

“Hey Gene, you and Alex can have the couch. I have my chair” Courtney sounded excited. Courtney's TV had surround sound speakers since her dad got a discount at the music store that had them in stock sometimes. Alex was already sitting on the couch with a big bowl of popcorn in front of him and a big fluffy blanket beside him.

“Ooo, popcorn, gimme gimme gimme” Gene excitedly ran over to the bowl and ate a few handfuls.

Alex smiled at this, “I don't know how your dad makes it, but it's so good”

“That causes your parents won’t let you eat butter,'' Gene retorted.

“They think it's the devil” Alex laughed as he spoke.

“Alright guys, what do we want to watch,” Courtney said.

“I think the only thing we can ever agree on is a comedy, so maybe Hot Fuzz?” Alex suggested.

“I like that movie!” Courtney said as she pulls up Netflix to find it.

“What’s that? My house only has spaghetti western DVDs” Gene asked.

“I forgot about that” Courtney said.

“Well, Louise uses nefarious means to find the shows I want to watch on the family computer, and that's all I really need,” Gene laughed.

Gene was starting to feel better in the comfort of her friends. As promised, they didn’t bring up the super heavy stuff just for tonight. Of course, Gene would listen if they really needed it, but having a moment to just be in the present was so nice. Gene wrapped themself in the blanket and put the pillow on the couch arm as the movie started playing.

Alex had his own blanket that he definitely brought from home since it had Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on it, which Courtney did not care for.

“Gene do you want to lean on me?” Alex whispered.

Gene didn’t respond. She leaned her shoulder on Alex’s. They had two layers of thick blanket between them, but Gene would admit that the pressure was nice. The pressure of Alex’s shoulder made her feel grounded, and she finally felt like she could calm down. The restlessness faded as the warmth took over her. She fell asleep like that, leaning on her friend's shoulder. Such a simple thing made her feel so much better.

Chapter Text

Alex heard both his parents leave for work between 5:30 and 6:00 in the morning. Alex was responsible for getting up and going to school on his own since he started high school. His mom got a new job in the summer that inhibited them from spending the mornings together.

Alex hadn't gone to sleep that night. He sat up on his bed wide awake. Most of his night was spent in silence or with music playing as he tried to avoid looking at his phone. He yawned, and a few tears from the tiredness streamed down his face. The light from the window started to shine through. He was alone in the house. He tried to reason with himself and find a single reason to get up and get ready for school, but it was hard to find a reason.

He loved his friends and had fun with them most of the time, but the power of friendship wouldn't fix the pointlessness he felt in his everyday life. He grabbed his phone and read that it was 7:00 am. He would have to be out the door in 30 minutes if he wanted to make it to school on time.

He decided that there was no benefit to this. There was a spoken presentation due this week but no important tests or easy assignments that he knew of. The presentation was something he had been stressing out about for weeks and he still hadn't finished what he was going to say. It seemed to be more trouble than it was worth to go through the motions another day.

Alex's mom had lowered Alex's carb and sugar intake even more lately. Alex snuck snacks quite often and only really felt excited to go through the day when he had sugar in his hand. Today, however, was different. There was nothing that would get Alex out of bed that wasn't physical force. His chest felt heavy and tiredness took over his ability to move freely.

Alex texted his mom to tell her that he wasn't feeling well, which wasn't really a lie. Alex didn't feel good, but it was mentally, not physically. His mom said he could stay home, so at least he wasn't actually skipping, right? Alex then texted Gene to let them know he wouldn't be at school.

Alex laid back down, and a sigh escaped him as he felt like he was drowning. A sadness washed over his face as he felt his eyebags sink deeper. He rubbed his eyes hoping to wake himself up. He had been awake for 24 hours at this point, what was 24 more.

Alex tried to let his thoughts wander, but found himself starting to get stuck on this nagging feeling of worthlessness.

'Why am I still here? There is nothing left here. I can't do this anymore. Every day I wake up and feel empty. I just don't see any worth in doing this again tomorrow' Alex thought

Alex was snapped out of his thoughts by a clawing at the door. He went to let his dog out. As he stood up from his bed he felt dizzy and out of breath. He took a second to put his hands on his knees and breathe before walking to let the dog out and slinking back into bed. He opened his laptop and started a fourth full-streamed rewatch of the 2012 version of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. He said lines he remembered and got caught up in the characters he grew up loving. He felt happy for the first time in days until he realized it was 6 pm.

It began to hit him that he spent a whole day doing nothing. He really did feel useless to the world. Why couldn’t he spend his days without anyone else, they wouldn’t mind eventually.

He ate the disgusting supper his parents made and slugged back to his room. He fell onto his bed and passed out. He woke up 15 hours later, covered in sweat. It was 10 am, and he had a text from his mom and Gene. His mom said that he could stay home since he still seemed sick when she checked on him that morning. He didn't feel physically ill though, just stressed about going back to school after a day, now two days, off. The text from Gene was just saying he hoped he felt better soon and that he would bring any homework if Alex didn't come back to school by the end of the week.

Suddenly it was Thursday. Alex woke up at around 4 pm. The feeling of a heavy weight on his chest made it hard to breathe. Thoughts of ending it all swirled in his head as all reason of life escaped him. He tried to breathe but something got stuck in his throat and he started to choke on the air. Tears fell as he reached for one of the many empty cups on his nightstand that he was only allowed to have water in. Week-old water reached his lips and he could breathe again.

Although he could breathe, he didn’t really want to. It was just more painful than he realized to almost suffocate and his instinct took over.

He felt gross. He hadn't showered since before this week started and somehow it was Thursday. He curled into a ball as he heard his mom open the door.

"Hi Alex, sweetie are you alright?" His mom sounded concerned.

"I'm fine mom, just don't feel good" Alex was on the brink of tears. All he could think about was how much he wanted it all to end.

"Okay, well, you can take tomorrow off but you gotta eat something sweetie." She placed supper on his bedside table and left the room.

Alex ate like he hadn't eaten in days. To be fair, he hadn’t eaten in almost 24 hours, but it wasn’t like he needed to move. After he ate he went back to watching TV.

DING DING DING DING

The sound of the doorbell being hit filled the house. Alex almost fell as he got out of his bed and went downstairs to get it. He looked at the clock on the wall, it was about 2:30. He had been watching TV for a lot longer than he realized. He figured he might have fallen asleep for some of the night but he didn't really remember. His parents still weren't home so he looked through the peephole. He saw Gene standing there looking at their phone.

Alex opened the door, "Hi Gene, what's up" Alex noticed Tina standing on the sidewalk as Gene started talking.

"Alex? What's wrong? You don't look good and you haven't texted me in four days. I have your homework and stuff but I'm honestly more worried about you." Gene was trying not to yell. They looked distressed.

"I'm sorry" Alex was trying hard not to cry, he felt dizzy, "do you want to come in? I need to sit down."

"Alright." Gene followed Alex into the house.

Alex sat down on the couch and slumped over his own legs.

"Alex, buddy? Do you want some water? you seriously don't look good."

Alex nodded so Gene got Alex a glass of water and sat next to him on the couch. Alex took a sip of the water and then laid down on Gene's legs. He curled in on himself, trying to find warmth where he wasn't touching Gene.

"Alex, listen. I think you need help. You seem really out of it and I'm worried about you" Gene touched Alex's hair and Alex finally broke.

"Gene, I'm sorry," he said as he started sobbing. The sadness and terrible feelings of the past week, and maybe his whole life, came out all at once, "I- I just don't see the point of waking up anymore. There is nothing I can do right. I only really feel happy when I'm watching my shows but as soon as I have to do something else I feel heavy and exhausted. My mom said she thought I was sick. I don't know"

"Alex, that sounds like more than being sick. If you feel like that, you have to talk to someone. I’ve been talking to my parents about my ADHD and I started getting help recently. It really helps. How about we talk to your mom and see if someone can help you?" Gene was crying now too. Hearing their best friend say they didn't see a point in living was hard but they cared about Alex and not talking at school for a week made Gene's days worse too.

Gene tried his best to be sympathetic but a part of him wanted Alex to be magically better so they could hang out again. Gene wanted nothing more than to be there to try and cheer Alex up a little. They liked hearing Alex laugh, but now all they heard were his sobs as he covered his face with his hand.

"Alex, come here, let's hug it out then put on a show or something. I gotta text T that I'm staying here so I can be behind you while you talk to your mom."

Alex scooched up and hugged Gene. The warmth filled his touch-starved body and he curled up to get more of Gene near him. The comfort Gene gave was helpful at the moment, but they both knew it wouldn't magically get better. They stayed like that for a while. When Alex’s mom got home, she saw her son curled up against Gene with a face wet from tears.

“Honey, what’s wrong? Why is Gene here when you’re sick?” Alex’s mom asked.

“Mom, I need help.” Alex hid his face out of fear of her reaction.

“Mrs. Papasian, Alex hasn’t been doing well mentally this week, he's not physically sick,” Gene said.

Alex felt comfort as Gene explained the situation so calmly.

“Alex, honey, why wouldn’t you tell me?” She asked

“I don’t want you to take my sugar privileges away, and I don’t want to disappoint you. I’m a failure if I need help. That means I’m weak. I want to be a strong boy, but I just don’t know why I'm alive. I feel like needing help means I really shouldn't be alive.” Alex said

Gene spoke before Alex’s mom could, “Alex, plenty of people need help with stuff like this. It doesn’t mean you failed”

“Alex, I don’t know much about this stuff but if you need the help of course we’ll try and get it for you,” Mrs. Papasian said. She went to Alex and opened her arms for a hug, and he accepted.

Chapter Text

It was after school and Tina was working, chopping vegetables. It was about 3 pm and there were a couple of people in the restaurant but it wasn’t lunch or dinner rush busy.

Tina heard the door open and then her mother spoke, “Hi Louise. Hi Andy, Ollie. What are you guys up to.”

“We just moved and our dad is all grumpy,” Andy said

“ya, he’s like a bear” Ollie said.

The twins proceeded to growl at each other in the same pitch as if they had done this before. It only lasted a few seconds, “like that” Andy said.

“Do you guys want some punch?” Linda asked.

Tina started to drown out the noise to focus on the vegetables after the growling stopped. She started thinking about things with Jimmy Jr. since they hadn’t hung out in a while. They had talked at school every once in a while, but after she got upset with him for a ‘date’ they went on at the beginning of the year, Tina wasn’t sure how she felt. Jimmy Jr. was a boy she had always wanted to be with but for some reason, it never worked out. As Tina was getting lost in thought, the bell chime of the door opening rang again.

Tina recognized a familiar voice “Come on guys, dad doesn’t like when you guys don’t at least show up at the restaurant after school”

Tina peeked out from the kitchen behind the counter, “Hi Jimmy Jr.”

“Oh, Hey Tina. I was just getting my brothers. My dad has been-” Andy and Ollie cut Jimmy Jr. off with their in-sync growl again. “I was gonna say controlling but grumpy works too.” Jimmy Jr. said, somehow also knowing what this growl meant.

The twins definitely do that at home a lot.

“Stupid life stupid sucks” Ollie tried to whisper, but he had a very loud whisper voice so everyone heard it.

Andy gasped “No naughty words, you know mom said those are at-home words.” Tina giggled to herself as the boys referred to the word stupid as a swear word when Louise had been saying much worse around them for years.

Ollie sounded disgruntled as his voice reached a yell, “Well mom’s not here right now. She is off doing business things” He looked around for a moment as the people in the restaurant stared at him. He felt as if the world was spinning. Then his voice went sad and quiet as he continued his sentence with tears forming in his eyes, “so it doesn’t matter what she said.”

The restaurant was quiet. Linda walked up to him and opened her arms and Ollie clinged onto her in a hug as he started to properly cry. Andy and Jimmy Jr. stood there stunned. All of them missed their mom, but Ollie had been taking it the hardest. Andy knew Ollie really didn’t like moving and the other changes happening, but he’d never seen Ollie snap so easily in front of other people. Tina watched Jimmy Jr. as his brother cried into Linda’s arms. Linda has become like a second mom to Andy and Ollie since they spent all of their free time at the restaurant when they were staying with their dad. Jimmy Jr. walked up to Ollie and put his hand on his back, trying to show him that it would be okay.

Jimmy Jr. had spent most of his life brushing off his younger siblings, not even taking the time to tell their personalities apart until it became more noticeable. A feeling of guilt rushed through Jimmy Jr. as he felt like he was a bad brother. Jimmy Jr.’s father was terrible to Jimmy Jr., but he was way worse to the twins. Jimmy Jr. thought back to all the times they got yelled at for the smallest things, and how he was just glad it wasn’t him. Their dad was more likely to ignore Jimmy Jr., but he had no problem becoming more aggressive with the twins. He never hit any of them, but sometimes the yelling felt like it could lead to it. The guilt Jimmy Jr. felt made him angry at his father and also at himself. He should have protected them more. Jimmy Jr. looked at Tina as she was looking at him.

”we, um. We have to go buddy” Jimmy Jr. said, patting his back.

''I don’t want to go home, I miss mom.” Ollie’s voice came out muffled on Linda’s shirt as talking made him cry more.

Jimmy Jr. sighed. “I do too, but the longer we wait to see dad, the more he’ll yell.”

Ollie gave Linda one last squeeze and let go.

“You boys can always stay with us if you need to,” Linda said.

“Mom, aren’t we poor?” Louise cut in.

“Oh, I’m sure we could figure it out until their mom comes back. Stop being such a negative nancy.” Linda retorted.

“we’ll be okay Mrs. Belcher. Thank you” Jimmy said, but he wasn’t actually sure they would be. He was sure he’d be okay since he tried his best to fit the mould his dad set for him, but he wasn’t sure about the twins.

The Pesto’s left for a while. About an hour later the twin came back to the restaurant. They sat down at the stools they usually sat at and started doing their homework. Tina and Gene were working in the restaurant and Louise was upstairs.

The boys didn’t speak until Linda walked up to them, “is everything alright?” she reached her hand over and patted Ollie’s head. He smiled.

“He didn’t yell that much,” Andy said. Ollie didn’t say anything. He just went back to focusing on his homework, and the smile on his face faded.

Tina watched as Linda treated them with so much kindness and thought back to Jimmy Jr.. She was realizing that Jimmy Jr. had it harder than she thought, especially right now. She knew he had always had issues with his father, but Andy and Ollie’s reaction to him made it much more obvious how bad it was. She also started to realize that maybe Jimmy Jr. shouldn’t be dating all these people. She tried to take the view of an authority figure instead of a peer/love interest. She knew Jimmy Jr. dated a lot of people and sometimes it felt personal, but he was dealing with a dad who didn’t respect him. Tina didn’t see this as an excuse for all the times he flaked out on her or left her on read for three weeks, but it was probably part of the reason.

Jimmy Jr. entered the restaurant again and sat down at a booth. He looked upset and avoided eye contact with anyone.

“Do you want something to eat, sweety?” Linda asked from over the counter. Jimmy Jr. nodded as he pulled out his wallet to see what he could afford. “Don’t worry about paying for it today, I'll handle it so the boss doesn’t get mad” Linda made a small gesture to bob.

“Lin” Bob huffed

“Oh come on, the kid is hurtin'’' Linda defended herself.

"Not that, don't call me your ‘boss’ is what I meant. It's weird. We're equals" Bob explained.

“Oh, Bobby! I’m just kiddin’ around” Linda exclaimed.

Bob rolled his eyes in response.

Tina delivered the burger to Jimmy Jr.. He looked down at the plate that was placed in front of him, then grinned at Tina. The restaurant was fairly empty, so she sat in the booth with him.

“What happened? Are you okay?” she asked.

“My dad yelled at them and Ollie cried again. It’s so frustrating Tina. I’ve gone all my life only protecting myself, and they…” Jimmy trailed off. He looked at Andy and Ollie and his jaw clenched as he felt angry. Angry that he couldn’t save them and angry that he didn’t feel the need to protect them before this point, “I failed them, Tina. I ignored them when I was a kid, and sometimes I even envied them because they always had each other. I never thought they needed protection, but they did. Today was a chance to stand up to my father, but I still couldn’t do it.” Jimmy Jr. huffed as he tried to suppress his anger.

“Jimmy, I don’t think it’s your fault. You were also just a kid” Tina tried to comfort him.

“But I’m older. It should have been my job” Jimmy Jr. said. He put his head in his hands and whispered to himself, but Tina could hear him, “It’s my fault”

“I have two younger siblings too, but it was never my job to protect them from our parents. It should be your parents' job to protect you from the world” Tina reasoned, “Your dad didn’t do his job, it’s not your fault you were too young to fill the job meant for an adult”

Jimmy thought before he spoke. Tina was right, Jimmy Jr. knew that in theory. It shouldn't have been his job to protect his brothers from his own dad, but he still felt responsible. There was no one else to protect them when their mom wasn’t around.

“You’re right, but I’m still upset. They hate being at home, and honestly, I do too” Jimmy looked up from his hands as he spoke, looking at Tina.

Tina was looking at the twins, their usual hyperactive sunshine demeanour was gone. It was replaced with something solemn. They weren’t talking or wiggling in their chairs like they usually did.

“You know, I think it'd be best if you guys stayed here tonight,” Tina said. She just wanted to see the twins bright and cheery again.

“I think you're right. A night away might be good for all of us” Jimmy Jr. said while looking at the twins as well.

Jimmy Jr. texted his dad about the change of plans, and his dad didn’t seem to care.

The Pesto kids spent the night in the Belcher’s living room, wearing some old clothes the Belchers had. In the morning, the twins seemed to be their cheery selves, and Jimmy Jr. swore to himself he would try to stand up for them in the future.

As for Tina, her relationship with Jimmy Jr. felt more platonic than it ever had before. She still had some hope for them as a couple, but it wasn’t looking like anything would happen between them anytime soon, which for the first time, she didn’t mind.