This Carter and Frankie story is called Who You Are Is Okay (or alternatively Carter And Frankie Find Out They Have Some Awesome New Friends).

This is a prompt from Godzilla183.

WARNINGS: INCEST, VERY BRIEF SEXUAL REFERENCE (IT'S ONLY LIKE A HANDFUL OF SENTENCES IN PARAGRAPH 3)

Disclaimer: I do not own the movie Benji, 2018. I only own my OCs.

Big Brother, Little Sister: Who You Are Is Okay

We feel, We hear,
Your pain, Your fear
But we're here,
To say,
Who you are,
Is okay

And you don't have to go through this on your own
You're not alone

You have more friends than you know
Some who surround you
Some you are destined to meet
You'll have more love in your life

Don't let go, give it time

Take it slow
Those who love you the most, may need more time to grow

It's gonna be okay (It's gonna be okay)
You have more friends than you know

-"More Friends Than You Know," Glee Version

Carter and Frankie hadn't been this excited in a long time. December 14th was the last day of school before Winter Break and the day of the Winter Dance.

Their school had three dances a year- one at the beginning of the school year, one before winter break, and one before summer break- and they were big events, at least to the students, who saw the dances as their chance to have fun with their friends and to have fun in general (there were chaperones, but most of them didn't pay much attention, so you could break as many rules as you wanted. The Great Prank of 2017 took place on the night of the Back To School Dance, and even over a year later, they still didn't know who did it). At their age, most kids hadn't started dating, so they attended the dance with groups of friends, and the ones who did date brought their boyfriend or girlfriend with them. Carter and Frankie were the latter.

Music blared throughout their room (after the kidnapping incident, their mother had- if a bit reluctantly- allowed them to share a room as long as there was 'No funny business.' Her words, and that was okay. Carter and Frankie's relationship wasn't about the so called funny business she mentioned. In fact, they probably wouldn't be ready for that for many years. At this point in time, they were simply content with each other), getting them hyped up to have the time of their lives (looking back on it, they did have the time of their lives... just not in the way they thought they would, and that was okay. What happened that night was much better than what they had planned). The song Raise Your Glass by P!nk found their ears as Carter happily did Frankie's hair into pigtails. Carter loved to do other people's hair, especially his girlfriend's. Some kids at school made fun of him for it, but he didn't mind. He loved doing it, and that was that. He didn't see why he should stop doing what he loved (or being with the person he loved) because some bitter people couldn't accept him or at least agree to disagree.

That was where most people got it wrong. You would think Carter and Frankie would want people to accept them, but no, they didn't care if you approved. But was it too much to ask to stay out of it, let them be who they are? You don't have to agree with them or support them or be their friend. But that doesn't mean you have to insult them or glare at them either. If people stopped with the angry glares and the sneers and the cruel words and simply kept their opinions to themselves, Carter and Frankie would be more than happy.

You don't have to accept them. Just don't hurt them... with words or actions.

"Excited?" Carter inquired, leaning in closer so Frankie could hear him over the music.

"Definitely," she responded as he tied her first pigtail with a ribbon and started on the second one. "You?"

"Excited doesn't even cover it," he answered, making her laugh.

"Our first school dance as a couple," Frankie stated. "Can you believe it's been three months since we came out at school?"

"I don't think I can believe it's been five months since the kidnapping incident," Carter said.

That was right. Five months had passed since the kidnapping incident, and a little over four months since Syd and Titus were charged. The siblings had gotten more comfortable about talking about it, and could even mention it casually from time to time, which they would've thought impossible only two months ago when the mere mention of the worst days of their lives were mentioned would send them spiraling into a panic attack.

Frankie nodded. "I know," she murmured, voice sad but more deep in thought than truly depressed. "Sometimes it feels like it happened yesterday, and other times… it feels like it happened years ago, like it happened in another life or to someone else."

Carter nodded. "I know what you mean," he said, finishing Frankie's hair, and he stood up, and he held out his hand, which his sister accepted, and he pulled her to her feet.

Frankie smiled, softly, at her loving boyfriend, brushing a lock of his silky brown hair out of his face as she leaned in to capture him in a kiss, her hands cupping his face gently.

"I love you more than you can imagine, Carter," she told him, voice muffled but oh, so clear against his lips as she separated from him but remaining only a breath away.

"I think I can imagine," Carter replied, "Because I love you just as much, if not more."

"Liar. I'll always love you more," she joked with a snicker.

"No, I will!" he laughed, catching the joking tone in her voice.

"No, I will!"

"No, I will!"

"Bark!"

The two of them turned to see Benji looking up at them, pacing near them in excitement, and if dogs could smile, the siblings could swear Benji was grinning.

"I think Benji will always love us the most," Carter chuckled as the two knelt down to pet their beloved companion.

"I agree," Frankie said.

"Don't you two get dog fur on your clothes," their mother giggled from the doorway. "Now, come on! The dance is in half an hour, and I still need to get pictures."

"Okay, Mom!" they called as they returned to a standing position.

"Are you ready for this, milady?" Carter wondered, taking her hand.

"Ready as I'll ever be, my prince," she responded, sending the two into peels of laughter as they followed their mother into the living room.

"Well, you two look amazing!" their mother practically squealed as she hurried to snap a few pictures of the loving couple in front of the fire place. Benji barked, as though agreeing with her.

"What is it with parents and taking pictures?" Carter wondered through gritted teeth as he smiled for the camera, speaking quietly to his sister so his mother wouldn't overhear.

The two of them stood beside each other in front of the fireplace, one of Carter's arms around Frankie's waist and one of her arms circling around his back. Carter's suit was ironed and sleek and free of dog fur (unlike most of his clothes), and his black loafers were just a little big on him, but not so much that they were uncomfortable. His hair was brushed and tamed, compared to the unruly mess it was before his mother had taken a brush to it. Frankie was wearing a pink knee length dress, the color of cheery blossoms in full bloom, and her brown curls were in pigtails that nestled on both sides of her head and were swept over her shoulders, brushing the skin just below her collarbone. The pigtails were tied off with ribbons to match her dress, the ribbons threading into her hair, and she wore silver flats. Her necklace lay against her chest, the same necklace Carter had given her for her birthday last year, the same necklace she had worn during the kidnapping incident.

Carter found it hard to look away from his beautiful girlfriend as he constantly lost himself in her gorgeous sky colored orbs, a fact his mother had laughed at him for multiple times when she realized he wasn't looking at the camera, but was instead staring at Frankie.

"Who knows?" Frankie chuckled, her blue eyes sparkling with delight, as she grabbed the left side of her pink dress, popping her hip in what can only be described as a partial curtsy, the living room lights glinting off of her necklace. Frankie had always been naturally photogenic, unlike Carter, who stood there looking like a statue in every photo he'd ever taken.

"All right, why don't you kiss for this one?" Their mom asked.

Their mom had come so far in the past couple of months. She was still awkward around them in the weeks after the kidnapping incident, as they often called it, but she wasn't outright disapproving, which was a big step. After the trial, however, she not only seemed to drop her disapproval entirely, she supported their relationship, and Carter and Frankie couldn't have been happier.

The two of them turned and pressed their lips against each other's, lost in the moment as their mother snapped a few pictures.

"All right, love birds," their mother quipped. "How about you actually face the camera this time?" She chuckled, and the two of them blushed at being called out before turning to smile for the camera once again.

"Mom!" Carter groaned after the tenth picture. "We're going to be late!"

It was the night of the Winter dance, the first dance Carter and Frankie would be attending as a couple after officially coming out at their school a few months ago as boyfriend and girlfriend, and they did not want to miss it.

"Right!" their mother replied, taking one last photo before pocketing her cell phone. "Aw, my little ones, going to their first dance. It seems like just yesterday you were babies," she giggled as she swept them into a tight hug.

"Mom!" they moaned with no real bite in their voices. In fact, smiles of amusement made their way onto their faces at their mother, the one who would barely even look at them only a few months ago and was now so affectionate with her children, it almost gave them whiplash.

That isn't to say it wasn't a welcomed change.

"Well, you two better get going," their mom stated, pulling back. "Be careful walking there. Watch for cars, don't talk to strangers, watch out for each other, you know the rules."

This was a monumental step, considering their mother hadn't let them out of her sight since they got kidnapped. This was the first time she was allowing them to walk to the school by themselves. Like I said, a monumental step.

Benji barked at them in the dog's way of saying goodbye. Or maybe it was see you soon or bring me back some bacon. It was hard to tell.

Carter and Frankie waved to their loyal dog and their mom before exiting the apartment and heading down the steps.

"Our first dance. Can you believe it?" Frankie said, practically vibrating with excitement, as Carter swung open the door to their apartment building, allowing the brisk air to wrap itself around them.

"I know," Carter exclaimed. "It's so exciting," he stated as he hopped off of the steps of the apartment building and gave a small bow, holding out his hand. "My lady."

Frankie giggled and accepted his hand as she stepped down onto the sidewalk, her silver flats clacking against the concrete before she pulled her boyfriend into a kiss as she landed beside him. She pulled away from the kiss with a joyful smile, happy to be with her boyfriend in public (which was very rare, not only because of discrimination, but also because they had been scared to leave the house for over a month after the kidnapping incident), but her hand remained intertwined with Carter's, even after she stepped off of the steps.

"My Prince Charming," she responded in the same mock posh tone of voice, and hand in hand, the two of them walked towards their school.

The decoration committee had really outdone themselves with blue and white streamers hanging from the walls and the ceiling, dazzling blue lights shining upon the stage and the packed dance floor while pop music played in the background. A table of food and drinks was set up against the left hand wall, and they'd even gotten a chocolate fountain for the occasion. A photo station was set up in the right corner by the door, and a girl in a lovely red dress with her tall, handsome date were getting their picture taken, his arm wrapped around her waist and bright, genuine smiles on their faces.

Before Carter and Frankie could take more than two steps through the door, a teacher stepped in front of them.

"Carter, Frankie, I'm so sorry, but you can't be here," Mrs. Abbot informed them, an expression of false pity on her face.

Mrs. Abbot was a tall, narrow woman with almost permanently pursed lips, like she'd eaten something sour, and her blue eyes glared down at them over the tops of her glasses, one hand placed on her hip. She was wearing a red dress with a beige jacket and high heels that made her at least two inches taller, causing her to tower over her students. Mrs. Abbot was a strict, no funny business kind of teacher, and she always seemed to have it out for Carter and Frankie, and that dislike became outright disgust after they came out as a couple.

"What?" Carter demanded. "Why?"

"Well, the other teachers and I have been talking, and some of the parents are concerned that you might be a bad influence on their children," she stated, concealing a mean smile behind an apologetic expression that anyone could recognize as fake.

"Bad influence?" Frankie echoed, angrily. "What? Do they think we're going to infect them with some kind of disease?"

"No, of course not, but we don't believe your… relationship is appropriate in this setting," Mrs. Abbot explained, hesitating before the word relationship like she was thinking of a hundred worse words to describe the love between the siblings.

"But that's discrimination!"

This didn't come from either of the siblings. It came from a girl, older than Frankie but maybe a year younger than Carter. Her brown hair was curled lightly, and her yellow dress was the color of captured sunshine. She sounded very smart and matter of fact, and she stood tall, determined, with an aura of confidence, which was both cool and comical coming from somebody so young. Carter recognized her as the girl who had shared her lunch with him after some bullies had taken his, but for the life of him, he couldn't remember her name.

"This does not concern you, Ms. Torrents," Mrs. Abbot stated, flatly and impatiently.

"Like heck it does, they're my friends!" the girl said. "And keeping them out of the dance is unfair."

"Rules are rules," Mrs. Abbot replied, frustrated.

"Oh, really? Because I have read the student handbook, and it isn't mentioned anywhere that a brother and sister in a relationship cannot attend a school function that is open to all students. Kicking them out is prejudice," the girl told the teacher.

"That is the way things are, Ms. Torrents. If you continue to argue, I will have you removed from the dance as well. Carter, Frankie, I'm sorry, but you have to leave," Mrs. Abbot ordered before disappearing into the crowd, and Carter and Frankie stormed out.

The siblings walked a few blocks before taking a seat on a park bench, choosing to take a moment to brew in their anger at the school.

"They can't do that," Frankie pointed out.

Carter nodded. "I know, but they're the adults, and we're the kids. What are we going to do?"

They sat in silence for a moment before Carter gently nudged Frankie.

"Besides, they're just bitter because they know they'll never love someone like we love each other," said Carter, and it made Frankie smile.

Carter leaned over and pressed a kiss to her lips before beginning to take the pink ribbons out of Frankie's hair, allowing the pigtails to fall into loose curls (something he had learned after the kidnapping incident. Doing Frankie's hair was the equivalent of a tranquilizer during her panic attacks, and even though Frankie- or Carter, for that matter- hadn't had a panic attack in a while, doing Frankie's hair still worked wonders whenever she was upset). The two of them sat in a comfortable silence while Carter braided the brown locks before finally speaking as he tied off with one of the ribbons, wrapping the other around his wrist like a makeshift bracelet.

"Sure, it may be disappointing, but we can still spend the night together," Carter pointed out. "Order some take out, watch some unrealistic Disney movies..."

Maybe take you out on a real date this weekend to cheer you up, Carter mentally added, his smile growing.

Frankie nodded. "All right," she agreed, leaning over to kiss her boyfriend one more time, and the two of them stood up from the bench, hands locked, and they began the trek back to their apartment building.

"So what are we going to tell Mom?" Carter asked as he unlocked the door to their apartment. "you know, so she doesn't walk down to the school and get every member of the staff fired?"

"At this point, I think I'd let her," Frankie replied, but but before Carter could even laugh at the truthful response, the two of them were greeted with a loud cheer, causing the two of them to whirl around to look into the apartment.

Around twenty kids were inside, all dressed in nice clothes, obviously having come from the dance. Carter and Frankie recognized a few of their classmates and some kids they'd never spoken to before. Yellow and silver streamers had been hung from the ceiling; pop music flooded the room from his mom's old boom box; and snacks had been set up on the kitchen table from Lays chips to a plate full of Oreos.

"What is this?" Frankie gasped as the two of them walked inside, shutting the door behind them.

"It's your dance," their mom responded, excitedly.

"I know it's nothing compared to the school, but-" a young blonde girl from Frankie's class (Lucy, Carter recalled) said, shyly.

"You're right," Carter responded, eyes wide as he stared at all the decorations and party supplies. "It's better!"

"It's perfect," Frankie agreed. "But... how..." she trailed off, knowing they would understand what she was asking.

"These kids told me what happened," their mom answered, gesturing to the kids standing all around their living room and dining room, "And we worked together to give you the dance you wanted. The dance you deserved," a small undertone of anger took its place in her voice at the reminder of what the teachers at the school had done, but her happiness over the generosity of the kids that had gone to such lengths to help out her own children won over her anger at the school as the smile appeared on her face once again when a boy spoke up, beginning the story that had led them here.

"Yeah," Drake, a boy from Carter's class, exclaimed. "It was epic. We're at the dance, right? When suddenly the music stops, and this girl from like third grade climbs up on the stage, grabs the microphone, and tells the entire gym what happened. She says, and I quote, 'whoever thinks this is a horrible injustice, come with me,' so all of us walk right out of the gym, and this girl- keep in mind, she's like nine years old- tells us this plan, and a few of the chaperones drove us all here. We told your mom, and she had all this extra party stuff, so we worked together to do this."

Carter smiled. "I… But… How? We were only at the park for ten minutes."

"You'd be amazed at what twenty kids can do for their friends," a boy from Frankie's class (Drew, maybe? Carter thought) piped up.

A warm, fuzzy feeling filled the siblings at the boy calling them their friends. They weren't sure if they even had any of those left after they came out to their school.

"Besides, you really think you're the only ones kicked out of a school event because of who they fell in love with?" a boy with black hair asked, reaching over to grab the hand of a blonde boy, who blushed at the sudden contact before a smile made its way onto his face.

"And this girl…" Frankie trailed off, having a hard time processing the fact that anyone, much less their classmates and a few other kids they didn't even know, would do this for them.

The girl in the yellow dress, the one who had stood up to Mrs. Abbot for them, stepped out of the crowd, and she held out her hand in a gesture so professional and mature, Carter wondered if she was a forty year old trapped in a nine year old body.

"Carly Chloe Torrents, age nine," she stated, shaking their hands. "And you are Carter and Frankie! The whole school knows about you, and I think it's unfair that you get treated like this, not only by your classmates, but also by your teachers, so I decided to show you that not everyone at our school is a jerk."

She said this in such a firm tone, like an adult giving a speech to her coworkers, that Carter almost laughed.

"Thank you, Carly," Frankie said.

"It was my pleasure," Carly replied. "Now… let's dance!"

Carter and Frankie chuckled at the girl's enthusiasm as a girl turned the music back up, and the sounds of Sabrina Carpenter blared through the speakers, and the boyfriend and girlfriend began to dance and have fun together, soon forgetting about Mrs. Abbot and the dance they had been deprived of because it had led them here, to a much better and more fun dance where they could be themselves, surrounded by the people they were proud to call their true friends.

Did you like my OC Carly? I thought she was hilarious, brave, and adorable, and if you think the same thing, my job here is done.

Word Count (including authors notes): 4, 000 words

All reviews are amazing; constructive criticism is appreciated; and all flames will be ignored and deleted or reported if necessary. Basically, just be kind. If incest isn't your thing, don't comment on it. Hit the back button and find something else. It takes less time to hit a button than to type out a hateful comment.

Thanks for reading, and please leave a review! Have a nice day, and make sure to follow me so you don't miss any of these Carter/Frankie stories.