When the next meeting rolled around, Pixel excitedly hurried into the cafeteria and hopped onto a seat next to Stingy, beaming at the other kids in the group. Flapping his arms around gleefully, he took a moment before he could manage to speak. When he finally could, he cleared his throat and grabbed the table's attention. "I found a new word today. A new identity!"
Stephanie glanced curiously at the boy and back to her other friends, putting a hand on the other's. "Well, go on, tell us about it!"
Carefully, the boy set his Mario-themed backpack onto the table and unzipped it, pulling out a slightly-crumpled piece of paper out. "The term is gender fluid, and I printed out a lot of info and positivity stuff about it. I was hoping I could teach the meeting, because I think I might be this term!"
The kids all nodded and let their friend stand up at the head of the table as if he was a teacher talking to the class. "Okay, so my brother is the one who told me all about the word, so if I get anything wrong it's his fault, not mine." He started out, causing a few of the kids to stifle a chuckle before leaning forward and focusing. After he had explained the word and told the joke about the positivity posts he had found, they all thanked him and he sat down next to them.
"It's really cool, isn't it? My brother is going to help me make a triangle necklace, so I can easily show when I'm having a boy day, a girl day, or a non-gendered day!" He said excitedly to Stephanie, who nodded in agreement.
"That is really cool! Until then, is it okay if we just ask in the mornings, or…?"
The child nodded. "Of course! And I'm still going to go by Pixel, by the way!" The kids all listened and agreed to respect their friend as the group started to munch down on their snack for the day, which were sugar free cookies provided by Sportacus.
The group chatted idly about their identities until the end of the meeting. Instead of his parents picking him up after the meeting, however, Pixel's mentioned older brother came instead, a wide smile on his face.
"Hey Pixxie!" He called to his little sibling, who excitedly ran up to him upon sight and hopped into his arms. The two didn't get to spend much time together because of the elder sibling's part-time job and several extracurricular activities, but he had recently quit band to have more time with Pixel. Laughing, the teen adjusted his sibling in his arms before setting him down gently.
Pixel stared up at his brother expectantly. "Are you picking me up today, or is Mom in the car?" The kid sounded nervous at that.
"Don't worry, little bud, it's just me." Jives ruffled the other's hair and let the smaller boy lead him over to his friends.
Jives glimpsed over the children and smiled widely. "So, this must be the LGBTQ club I've heard so much about."
Nervous at the sight of the towering teen, the other kids cowered slightly behind Pixel. The only other kid who had a much older sibling was Ziggy, who was still distracted by his snack and not paying much attention to the conversation at hand. The sticky honeybun he had snuck in his shirt pocket required his attention much more, after all.
Chuckling awkwardly, the teen slapped his hands into his hoodie pocket. "Hey, no need to look so afraid of me. I used to be a kid, too, ya know."
The children stayed silent for another minute before Trixie shyly pulled at his sleeve. "Pixel said you're gonna help him make a little necklace with pronouns on it. Is that true?"
Confirming the question, the kids all started to chatter as if the sentence had released their energy. Jives patiently talked to the kids until a glance over towards the adult table shocked him.
"Mr. Rotten? Is that you?" Jives asked aloud suddenly, silencing Ziggy, who had been asking him if his beanie gave him superpowers. Curiously, all the children turned to face Ella's father as well, following the teen as he walked over to the man in a trance. "It is! Wait, shouldn't you still be at the drama meeting?"
Confused, the children all glimpsed between each other. What did the strange green teen mean?
Robbie tensed up in his seat. He glimpsed the teen up and down and instantly recognized him, standing up and shaking his hand. "Well, if it isn't Jives Hyperbyte! I haven't seen you since you were shorter than Ella!"
The two reconciled for a moment until Stephanie approached the two and tugged at Jives' sleeve. "Mr. Hyperbyte? What do you mean, Mr. Rotten should still be at the drama meeting? We've never seen him go to one of those."
The older man quickly looked to the teen. "After my husband died, I had to retire. I couldn't handle it anymore. I became the janitor, instead."
Right away, Jives grew a face of embarrassment. "Oh, I had no idea… I knew that he died, but I didn't hear about the retirement." He rubbed the back of his head. "I'm so sorry for bringing it up. I didn't realize."
Shrugging, the older man clapped the boy on the shoulder. "It's fine. Anyways, how's your old man doing?"
The teen tensed up slightly and twiddled with his hoodie strings. "Actually, he died last year." He stuck his hands in his pocket.
A saddened-expression crossed the man's face. "I'm so sorry to hear that." He thought about his daughter and how she had to go through the same thing two years ago and thinned his lips. The poor boy in front of him wouldn't be able to see his father at his graduation ceremony, or at his wedding if he ever had one, and he couldn't help but bite his lip. He was sure he appeared visibly distraught, but he tried his best not to show it.
Picking up on the tough atmosphere despite the other's defenses, the teen continued on. "It's alright, though." That shocked the other, prompting the teenager to elaborate. "We found out last year that he had been cheating on mom for the past three years. While we're still sad, we also feel incredibly betrayed. We're trying our best to move on without him." The green-painted boy shivered slightly. "Mom's been doing pretty good, though. She has a boyfriend right now, and he's really nice. Pixel doesn't get along with him, though. Still in denial and stuff, ya know how tough it can be."
Robbie nodded gently, patting the younger man on the shoulder. "Poor kid…neither of you should have to go through that."
Jives gazed off to the side and sighed before flickering his eyes back forward and switching the subject to a much friendlier one. "Have you considered taking your job back? I've heard from Pixel how much the new drama teacher sucks, and they could definitely use a new one."
Smiling softly at the memories he had as a drama teacher, he shook his head. "I don't know. It's true I used to love my job, but…Even if I wanted the job back, it's been so long. I'm out of touch, ya know? I haven't made a costume in two entire years."
A smirk lined the teen's cheeks as he glanced back at all the kids that held eager gazes at the two. "Well, I think you have plenty of test subjects, if you're up for it."
Catching onto what they meant, Ella bounded out of her seat and over to her father. "Dad, do you mean you're going to start making your costumes again? That would be so cool! Maybe we could go to karaoke all dressed up, like we used to do!"
Right away, a gasp left Stingy's mouth. "Costumes? You mean, you could make me look like a prince?"
Trixie rolled her eyes. "Stop trying to be a prince all the time, it's not gonna happen. Princes aren't elected, they're born into that role, dingus."
Huffing, the boy crossed his arms. "Not true! Sometimes they can marry into that position!" He stuck his tongue out at the girl before turning his head back to the ex-teacher.
"As if anyone would marry you, Stinky." Trixie spat, causing the boy to lurch forward, prepared to start wrestling with his kid-sister, when Jives stopped him, and the sound of the cheerful Stephanie's voice pulled the two's attention away.
"And can you make me look like a princess?" Stephanie asked gleefully, flapping her hands around in excitement.
Glimpsing between the ex-teacher and her friends, Trixie couldn't help but feel left out. "If Stingy gets to be a dumbie prince, then I want to be a knight!"
Paul and Gabe glanced between each other, as if trying to figure out a duo costume. They whispered to each other for a moment before Gabe gasped and turned his head. "We want to be soldiers!"
Gina and Tina glimpsed at each other and both smiled at that. "We want to be dinosaurs!" The signing sister expressed, gleefully shaking her fists after her request.
Puffing his chest out proudly, Ziggy threw his hands onto his hips. "I wanna be a superhero!" He leaped off the cafeteria table and landed in a superhero-like pose before rubbing at his feet.
"I want to be a porcelain doll!" Ella giggled, throwing her arms around her father. "I miss not getting to dress up anymore. Can you please, please, please with sprinkles on top make us some costumes?"
Robbie couldn't help but hold a small amount of resentment in his heart towards the teenager for bringing up his past, and it was showing. The teenager picked up on the discomfort and quickly grabbed the attention of all the kids, by playing some background music on his phone and beginning to rap.
The kids were entertained and laughing at the spectacle, but still the topic of a possible karaoke night complete with costumes came up again after the teen ran out of rhymes.
Stephanie nudged Ella, a nervous look on her face. "Do you think your Dad will really make us costumes?"
Biting her lip, Ella held an uncertain expression. "I'm not sure… but if he does, he'll do amazing, I promise!" She cheered, an innocent smirk flying onto her face. "And he could maybe do our makeup, too!"
Robbie cleared his throat. He felt like there was a chance he would regret the decision, but his daughter's glee made him agree. "I…I guess we can do that."
The kids all threw their arms in the air and cheered enthusiastically at that, and Robbie could already feel the migraine of the day it was going to happen sinking into the back of his mind.
"Well, I don't know if the kids have ever tried it, but I know a perfect bowling karaoke place downtown that's got cheap pizza that my boyfriend and I go to every Friday night." Jives suggested to the man, who was now stuck in his own mind at the predicament.
As Jives continued to chat with Mr. Simpcan, who was interrogating Jives over the places name, address, and prices, Robbie groaned. "I don't know how I'm going to handle all of that…" He said quietly.
He tuned to the table of adults, three of which stared at him in lovestruck awe. Only Sportacus snapped himself out of it quickly. Robbie sighed. "What is it? Why are you all looking at me like that?"
"Sorry, you're just so good with kids." Richard sighed, leaning on his hand.
Jolene nodded in agreement. "You're such a natural leader and father. You really should give teaching another go."
"Maybe… I don't know, it'd be a big change, I'm not sure if I'm ready." He mumbled, staring at his hands.
Leaning forward, Jolene placed a hand on the other's hand. "Sure, you are! You just have to try."
"Yeah…" Robbie mumbled, clearing his throat suddenly. "Anyways, I've probably got myself into too much sewing work." he laughed slightly, clearly uncomfortable.
Right away, Sportacus leaned forward and grinned. "I could help. I'm sure the other adults feel the same! I don't know how to sew that well, but a sewing machine can't be that hard to use, right?"
Jumping at that, Richard let out a small laugh. "Oh, I love sewing! I'm pretty good, I could definitely help!"
"Thanks, I'd appreciate that," Robbie said, smiling very lightly.
"God, you're beautiful." Jolene blurted out, a wide grin on her lips.
"Uh...thank you..." Robbie just shifted in his seat until Sportacus pulled a deck of Uno cards out of God-knows-where and suggested a game, saving Robbie from at least the embarrassing comments yet again.
As Robbie hopped into the car that night, instead of driving directly home, he drove to an oddly familiar store that had the words 'Fabric Labyrinth' planted up in large neon colors above it. Ella cautiously followed her father inside, not recognizing the place at first.
"Dad, where are we?"
A bit taken aback, Robbie looked down at his daughter, who clinged closely to his hand. "You don't remember this place?"
The girl shook her head. "Not really."
Sighing a bit, he pulled his daughter into the building and watched as she gasped. "Dad, is this the 'Threading Needle?"
Robbie just nodded. "They changed their name last year, but I didn't think to tell you. We haven't been here in a long time, but they still have all the stuff we will need if we're going to be making costumes again."
The girl ran swiftly up and down the nostalgic isles until she found the one that began the rows and rows of fabric. She took a slow, shaky breath before letting out a laugh. "It's been so long since we've been here! It's still such a beautiful, store, though… I wonder if Mrs. Crawford still works here?"
Robbie shrugged. He really had no clue if the old woman that used to talk to them for hours on end in the store still worked there, or at all, for that matter. Excitedly, the child raced off to the front desk and asked, but returned, deflated. "She retired."
"She was an older woman, sweetie. You have to understand that when people are old and tired, even things they love can be harder to do."
The girl nodded and remained solemn as they strolled through the isles until she spotted a pastel purple sheet of lace, clinging to it as if it were a lifeline.
Her father chuckled. "Do you want lace on your doll costume?"
Rolling her eyes up to him, the girl tossed it into the cart. "Of course, I do! What kind of doll doesn't have lace?"
Robbie could only laugh again as the two strolled through the aisles. As the two were standing in the checkout line with everything they would need for Ella's costume and a few other sewing necessities, the girl yawned and leaned against her father tiredly.
As the two made it back to the car, the girl could barely stay awake as she slipped into the passenger seat and dozed off instantly.
When they arrived home, Robbie carried her in with tender care and couldn't help but smile down at his daughter as he tucked her in, as he had been doing since their last heart-to-heart. He pushed the bangs out of her eyes and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead, leaving the small child smiling in her peaceful slumber.
As Robbie slid under his own blankets, he found his mind blank, yet content, for the first time in a while. Of course, painful memories of his late husband still hid in the crevasse of his mind and heart, but at least they were not on the battlefield at the moment, letting him close his eyes and sleep comfortably.
Once again, Robbie could sleep knowing that everything was going to end up alright for him and his daughter, even if hardships followed them; they were still far ahead of their trailing troubles.