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"So… When did your dad leave you?"
The question from Ryan was somewhat awkwardly placed. Luna had invited him into her bedroom after everything that had happened on New Years Day - and while he and Aaron had 'made up', it wasn't going to make up for the years of abandonment - and he was sitting on her bed, watching as she glued and sticky taped pictures from their adventures into her scrapbook.
Luna stopped, eyes wide.
"…How'd you guess that?"
Ryan shrugged, still sitting cross legged.
"I mean, I saw the look on your face when Aaron - my dad - came back," he explained, "it was like… You were personally hurt. Like you'd been shot,"
Luna cleared her throat.
"I was six," she began to explain, "my mom and him kind of had a shotgun wedding after I was born. Then he stuck around to have another kid - Perry, my younger brother. Guess he decided he couldn't take care of either of us, so he went out for milk and cigarettes,"
"You have a younger brother?"
Luna nodded, "yeah, Prospero,"
"Jesus, poor kid,"
Luna smiled, "we call him Perry,"
"Like the Platypus?"
Luna snorted.
"Yeah, like the platypus," She rolled her eyes, "wow, Phineas and Ferb still exists in your universe, some things don't change,"
She leafed through the book, seemingly distracted from her previous statement.
"The Doctor used to have a friend called Peri - with an i, not a y," Luna said, casually, "uh, not important, but I can show you a picture of her—"
"Luna, I know you're deflecting," Ryan said.
Luna blinked.
"What?" Luna said, "h-how did you know I was deflecting?"
"'Cause you do the same thing the Doctor does," Ryan continued, "focus on things from the past but not important things from the past,"
Luna sighed.
"Fine, what else do you wanna know about my family?"
"Well," Ryan paused, taking a deep breath in, "I mean, I know Aaron hid after Mum died, and didn't show up to Nan's funeral… And I know he said he's trying, but there's a difference between saying you're trying and actually trying… So, why don't you talk about your mum? Do you still live with her?"
Luna shook her head.
"No," she frowned, "I moved out a long time ago - soon as I turned 18, I ran for the hills. First, I moved in with my friend Nate and his girlfriend Rachel, but she had to go off to school in New York, and it just felt awkward living with a guy who had a girlfriend… Bounced around a few Houseshares before moving in with Amber,"
"You moved out quickly," Ryan commented.
"Well, you would understand," Luna said, somewhat too quickly, "sometimes parents don't get it when you're different. When you're not like them. Whether you're gay, or a mutant, or just like wearing pants to a social event…"
Ryan blinked.
"Oh,"
Luna sighed.
"When I was living with my mom, she made me feel like I was stupid," she continued, "she always focused on Perry and his achievements - she'd go to his sporting events, his music recitals, she'd tell everyone who'd listen about the grades he was getting and the friends he was making. It was like I didn't fucking exist…"
"I'm guessin' she also compared you to him, right?" Ryan said, "I mean - I was lucky. Only child and all that, but I guess, deep down inside where I lived I always had this feeling that I was the reason my dad left,"
"Please don't tell me you thought that if you knew how to ride a bike your dad would come back," Luna commented, as Ryan chuckled.
"Well… Kinda, I guess?" He shrugged, "I thought that maybe if I could 'act' normal, then he'd decide to come back, maybe if I wasn't… Like this,"
Luna frowned. Ryan mimicked her mouth movements.
"I know it's a bad thing to think,"
"Yeah, it is but, that's normal," Luna sighed, "internalised discrimination is a bitch and a half,"
Ryan nodded.
"Did your mom know you were a mutant?"
Luna nodded, "yeah, that was part of the reason she preferred Perry to me. He was 'normal',"
She sighed.
"We have a not so nice word for 'normal' people -" Luna put quotation marks up as she said this, "-'flatscan'. They've reclaimed it, though - people say that they're 'flatscans and proud' or whatever, when mutants only make up a small part of the population… I asked my mom if she'd like me better if I was a flatscan and she said 'yes'."
Ryan blinked, "immediately?"
Luna nodded.
"I know, I was shocked too," She frowned, fiddling with her hair, "that was the night before prom. The night before I might the Doctor for the first time. She said that she loved me but she wished that there was a way to make me normal. She brought a fluffy pink dress for prom for me, even though I got a dress I liked. She was so mad when Amber showed up at the door to take me to prom… Thought that me liking girls was a phase…"
She placed her finger to her mouth and bit her thumb. Ryan sighed, uncrossing his legs and moving to the floor, next to Luna.
"Uh… Am I allowed to hug you?"
"Oh! Sure thing!" Luna exclaimed, as Ryan did so, "I'm a hugger. You can ask the Doctor - last version of her would complain that I was 'crawling on him like some sorta insect',"
Ryan smiled, pulling back.
"Hey, uh, the Doctor didn't really explain the whole White Haired Scotsman thing,"
Luna's eyes brightened.
"Oh, I've got pictures!" She exclaimed, leafing back through the scrapbook, "you'll laugh, but they're all the Doctor,"
Outside the room, the Doctor grabbed onto the strap of her suspenders, eyes narrowed. She frowned. If she ever met Luna's mother, she was going to give that woman a piece of her mind…