Hello! Sorry for the delay!

"So, she was like, get away from here, you rascal! And I was like hey! I didn't steal your pie! That was Stan! And then she got a broom!"

Stan laughed without any shame at all as Seb complained during their walk to school about how an old lady got it out at him for one of Stan's crimes.

"You DID enjoy the pie! It was a little price for deliciousness~You should be blessed you share a face with me ~" Stan grinned.

Seb groaned loudly. Well, true. They were totally identical after all, from head to eyes to toes…

"Stealing is wrong, Stanley." Ford sighed, two little 6 fingered hands holding his backpack.

"Oh shut up, you also enjoyed the pie!" Stan stuck his tongue out and when Ford blushed pink, his younger triplets laughed out loud.

They reached school and the Stans rushed inside. Seb followed them, skipping and jumping every step of the stairs, and caught his reflection on the window. 2 brown eyes stared back at him and for some reason, he smiled wider. He didn't remember ever feeling this excited about being at school…ever.

"Yooo Stan!" Seb screamed as someone tackled him to the side. It was some kid from Stan's team. "Not Stan, he's ahead." Seb laughed.

"Ughhh you 3 look the same dammit…not my fault you dress the same." The boy stomped away to find his real friend and Seb felt himself smiling even more.

Now that he thought about it… yeah, the 3 of them had been wearing jeans, the same sneakers and a white shirt, their jackets being the only difference…And probably Ford's glasses. A little squee escaped him, making tiny jumps.

(Seb was so excited running off to class that he didn't notice the girl watching him from around the corner. Miz's face was unreadable as she observed this Dream Sebastian was having. A life where he hadn't been born with the mark of Bill Cipher, and was treated as just a normal child. A life where his brothers matched him. A life where he could feel closer to them. Miz didn't create this dream, but she was keeping an eye on it, ready to step in if it tried to turn into a nightmare. She might be annoyed by Seb's new eye, but that didn't mean she didn't want him to be happy.)

(But...it would be nice to have this all turn into a nightmare wouldn't it? Show him SHE was right…)

(No! Bad Bill! Miz groaned, shoving down the hungry longing that tried to consume her.)

Before he realized it, they were running down the street to get home and the 3 loud boys burst into the Pawnshop, startling some customers.

"DON'T RUN!" Filbrick screamed and the 3 slowed down. As the Stans made their way to the house through the employees only door, Seb stayed to watch Filbrick for a second.

"Dad. Dad, dad, dad, dad."

"What do you want now?" The man looked at him, as impatient as always.

"Look." Seb got closer and pointed at his face. Why was he still trying to seek approval from this man? Get him to be proud ? Damn, he was a lost case even in his dreams… (Miz sighed, getting tired of following Seb around.)

Filbrick pushed him aside "There's nothing there, boy. Go bother your mom."

Well, at least that was familiar.

His mom caught him in a hug when he got upstairs and kissed his forehead like she did with the Stans moments before.

Shermie appeared and rushed to his big brothers. "Teb!" He shouted at Seb. Seb moved him aside "I'm Stan!" And rushed to his brothers' room.

The Stans, getting some water at the kitchen, giggled at his confused face. Stan snatched Ford's glasses.

"I'm Ford." Stan rolled his eyes at the toddler and ran after Seb, waiting for them. Ford shook his head. Shermie's lip wobbled.

"Teb?"

"Greetings, Sherman." Ford ruffled his hair.

Shermie whimpered and rushed to his mommy. Kari groaned. "Boys! Don't confuse your brother, dang it!"

The triplets laughed as they went into the Stans' room. Seb carefully walked inside.

His eyes sparkled a little seeing 3 beds. It wasn't a normal bunk bed. The bed on top was basically on the wall horizontally and had a ladder, and under it were 2 beds facing forward. Guessing by the toffee peanut bags on one, the other one down was his ...

He sniffled, but was quickly shoved out of the way by Stan who rushed to lay down in bed to finish reading his comic and Ford quickly climbed up to meet with his book.

Seb laughed and jumped into Stan's bed to cuddle with him and watch him read his superhero comics. Stan rolled his eyes but gently patted his hair.

-.-

Wanda grumbled as she felt her annoying husband twitching a lot. Guess she couldn't sleep anymore.

Seb opened his eyes and yawned. Wanda felt him shift and hug her. Ooh~ Nice~ He hummed and laughed softly as he began nibbling her arm.

"Well, someone's in a good mood." Wanda teased sleepily. She gave a warning squeeze. Bite her too hard and she was kicking him.

"Had a nice dream." He had had it before, but he had forgotten how nice it…actually felt. And now, it felt even closer and real than EVER.

"Wanna share?"

"No~" Seb smiled. It was a little embarrassing, so he wanted to keep this his own little secret.

(Miz, back in her room, laid in her nest and sighed. He really was happy about this, huh? She felt conflicted. She didn't like Seb looking not-familiar to her. She didn't like how much he looked like Ford, it was weird!)

-.-

A month away from Christmukkah, and Seb was practicing how to show off his eye. Of course now he'd go grocery shopping, to get used to it, and when neighbors noticed, they went "Oh my gosh! Sebastian!", he'd say "YUP! That 's me! Look! I've got a new eye!" They seemed to like it, and because Seb thrived from people's positive comments, it just made him more confident.

There was also a moment with Carol. She didn't seem too sure if she was talking to him or not so Seb got to act as if he was a stranger. She couldn't do anything else but apologize awkwardly and walk away. That was the best thing that's ever happened to Seb, if he was honest. She'll figure it out soon though.

Amanda had seen Seb from when he picked up the twins from school and she looked at him with a giggle. "Your dad looks good."

"No he doesn't. Don't get used to it!" Zoe shook her head. "That's not how it's supposed to work. My uncles have 2 eyes, daddy has 1. He doesn't need a FAKE one!" She'd also seen him taking it out to clean. And she didn't like it. "I have a plan~" she rubbed her hands and cackled evilly.

-.-

The first step was getting her mom and dad's phone.

Most of the time they had their door locked, so she'd have to be extra careful when she snuck in. She also couldn't afford Zach or Miz knowing. They'd begin their rant of "Think before you act!" "You'll hurt someone's feelings~"

She crawled to her parents' room while Zach was soundly sleeping. Miz wasn't home, so it was a plus to not have a demon watching you. Zoe struggled to open the door because it was locked, but fiddling with her powers finally managed to open it. She crawled inside and carefully approached their nightstands.

Dad rolled in his sleep and Zoe froze, but he just sighed and turned around. Why was he shirtless? Wasn't he cold?! Whatever, if mommy and daddy wanted to sleep without shirts on, it was on them if they got a cold! She was on a mission!

She grabbed his and mom's phone and carefully floated them away. Zoe went to the living room and unblocked the phones. Ok let's see~

She found the adult group chat and, watching her grammar, she typed down from mom's phone 'Hey guys Seb has something to say'

Then she grabbed Dad's phone. 'It's very early but listen! Let's do a game for Chrsmukah! When I say I wann show you something that's the signal to start the game, everyone needs to speak the opposite of what they think! And you lose if you speak the truth! :D' Zoe added emojis, because dad used emojis a lot.

Some replied with thumbs up, uncle Stan said he'd better get a good prize when he wins, his cousins also agreed. So now, as the tech kid she was, she selected all the messages and erased them, leaving no trace of her evil deed. Mwahahaha~~

She floated the phones back to her parents room and closed the door, and just in time because their alarms went off. Fiuf! That was close!

And finally, FINALLY! It was the holiday season. Christmukkah was here and Seb and Zoe were vibrating in anticipation. For entirely different reasons, that is.

Like always they met in Gravity Falls (because "Daddy Ford can't move from his nest HAH!" "Stop calling me that, Stanley.") for their traditional mixture of Christmas and Hanukkah, with gifts, food and their happy big smiles.

Everyone cooed at the octuplets and nuzzled them, while Ford beamed like a proud dad (and Yun melted with love at the sight of her partner watching over their brood) Seb laughed and patted his shoulder.

Unbeknown to him, everyone was mentally preparing for the game. Even the older niblings (Dipper and Mabel) were rubbing their hands in anticipation as their partners rolled their eyes. Being a Pines made you competitive, can't get rid of that!

Zoe rubbed her palms in anticipation. Hehehehe.

The only adult not in the know about this 'game', was, of course besides Wanda and Seb, Yun. She wasn't in the group chat, since she normally just read Ford's phone. But she'd been too busy, and Ford hadn't told her because he forgot.

So after a HUGE, delicious dinner, and after Mabel carried Maria to put the star on the tree (followed by the octuplet's sobs and consequently their own tries to put the star on), Seb coughed. "HEY LISTEN TO ME."

Everyone looked over, was the game starting soon? Zoe hid a smile. She looked around. Oh damn, uncle Shermie wasn't here, oh well, it could work without him, but he was very competitive, so she'd miss his participation in the game~

"Got something to show y'all! I've been dying to show it today so it was a surprise!"

"He did." Wanda agreed. Everyone grinned. It was starting.

"Tadah!" Seb pulled off his eyepatch.

Everyone gasped and remained in silence for a second, trying to process what things they should say to not lose. He looked so good!

Zoe waited for the 'game' to bear fruit.

Grandma Kari started coughing after that, choking on an adult drink so...that was something?

"Um…that's very very bad!" Mabel was the first to react with a big smile as she hugged Max's arm. Max nodded. "Yup! Bad. Very bad… look on you!" Both seemed very proud of what they managed to say. Zoe covered her mouth to snort.

Zach glared at Mabel. What the?!

"Oh…" Seb deflated just a little bit. "Ok..thanks...for the honesty, Shooting Star…" It-It had to be a joke right? Mabel wouldn't really say that kinda stuff?

Dipper looked at Seb and pointed. "That's a horrible thing! Yup! The most disgusting and not at all comfortable thing to look at!"

"Hah! That looks hideous! What have you DONE TO YOUR FACE!" Stan laughed, punching Dipper's shoulder (as he was the closest)

"...what's wrong with you guys?" Yun stared. "I can practically smell the lies." But they didn't hear her over the toddlers she was wrangling.

Carla and Abi simply said "Yeah, it doesn't look great." To not stay behind as Stan and Ford kept surrounding Seb. So Seb wanted some weird way to get compliments and praises for this…new look! Fine! They'd get that prize!

"Hot belgium waffles, Seb, I hate it so much, really, you wasted time on this? Blegh."

"Please stop, I get it…" Seb trembled, wrapping his hands around himself.

"Oh you want us to stop? Um…Um…" Ford stuttered and Stan pushed him. "Man, that's the most disgusting look on you, why did you do this?! You'll scare everyone and that'd be awe-um-horrible and mean!"

"STOP!" Seb pushed him away. "Stop, I get it! I get it…" He sent Wanda a pleading look to make them stop, she looked even more shocked than him. Seb's feet were stuck to the floor, with his chest tight and about to burst, as if weight was just piling up on top of him.

"HAHAHAAHAHA!" Zoe was rolling on the floor with laughter as everyone fought each other to address Seb.

"You're so wrong, Uncle Stan!" She played along and Stan huffed. Of course he was! He picked her up when she raised her arms up.

Zach was horrified. He was looking at everyone laughing and still being so weird and mean to each other! Even Granny Kari?! "Stop it!" His eyes welled up in tears. Why was everyone being so mean to his dad?! He only wanted to share with them!

"Seriously, stop!" Wanda found her voice again as she stared in pain as Seb fumbled to put his eyepatch back on. She held his hand tightly. "You're all crazy, like, this was important! I-" The so-well spoken woman was at a loss of words.

"It's ok...I...I get it…" Seb squeezed her hand.

Zoe cackled.

Yun stood up after she was done separating the fighting octuplets, her eyes Flickering as she tried to figure out what was going on here. And then-

"ZOE! WHAT THE FUCK?!" Yun snarled. The little girl's eyes widened. Shoot! She scrambled out of Stan's arms, to her feet and ran when Yun took a step towards her. Yun made an attempt to catch her but she sprinted away fast. The alien was FUMING.

"OK, Time's over. Stop. The game is done." Yun waved her hands at everyone.

"And who won? Ford freaking slipped like 3 times." Stan laughed, spilling some drink as he leaned against his brother.

"No I didn't! I know how to use synonyms!"

"No one fucking won, dumbass, it was not game." Yun glared. "Zoe stole Seb and Wanda's phone and made this up." She explained. "Seb was hoping for genuine comments about his new eye. He was… really worried about it." Yun bit her lip.

Wanda blinked and stomped up straight to find her daughter. Zoe was in SO much trouble!

Everyone stopped bickering and laughing. ""What?"" Dipper and Stan asked at the same time.

Mabel clutched Max's arm so hard the young man shouted in pain and tried to pull away. "Are you saying I freaking told my uncle his amazing eye looked horrible and he thought I meant it?!"

"M afraid so."

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" The young woman was, rightfully so, horrified. Max managed to free his arm and looked so guilty himself.

"I can't believe I missed this." Yun groaned. "Anyway, you idiots! Go and comfort Seb right now!" She pointed at the kitchen, where Seb had walked off to, tense and upset.

Mabel scrambled to the kitchen, followed by Kari who finally managed to shake off the shock. She did NOT just participate in this…

Wanda finally managed to find Zoe, she was hiding in a closet in Ford's room so it was really a place Wanda didn't think of looking. "Get out!"

"No."

Wanda flung open the closet and grabbed her arm harshly. Wanda pulled her out as Zoe whined. "Mommy!"

"You've got ANY idea what you've DONE?! Are you crazy?!" Wanda practically shouted. She was SO mad right now. "Where do I EVEN BEGIN with you?! You used our phones to send lies to your uncles and cousins! You took our phones without permission, Zoe! And you made OTHERS hurt your dad! Like- FOR WHAT?! You wanted others to tell your dad he looks bad?"

"Yeah! Because he's annoying with his fake eye!"

"That's not FOR YOU to decide! It's a decision your father made because he's an adult! And you had NO right to go out and make others make him feel like that! And you thought that was FUNNY!" Wanda cried. She was so disappointed in Zoe. The extent she'd go just to…make Sebastian stop wearing a prosthetic eye, for god's sake! It was madness!

Zoe huffed.

"You're gonna come out RIGHT NOW and apologize to your dad!"

"NO!"

"NOW, ZOE!" Wanda was losing her patience. "You are GROUNDED, you know that?! There's no more play dates for you! No screen time, and you're not opening the presents until I say so."

"...W-What?! No!" The girl sobbed.

"This is not a discussion! And I won't even talk about negotiations until you apologize to your dad and MEAN it!" Wanda said firmly.

Zoe began crying, hugging her knees and refusing to come out. She let her legs give out so she was on the ground, limp.

Elsewhere, everyone was fighting to get into the kitchen first, which Shermie, who just came back from the bathroom, found extremely weird. "Did… I miss something?"

The ones who won the pushing managed to get inside and found Seb sitting on the table just scrolling through his phone. He jumped when they got in.

"I'M SO SORRY I DIDN'T MEAN TO SAY ALL THAT, I LOVE YOU UNCLE SEB! AND I PROMISE YOU LOOK FREAKING GREAT!" Mabel sobbed as she hugged him.

"It's fine, Shooting Star." Seb smiled slightly at her. "You don't have to lie just because Yun or Wanda told you to."

"We're not lying." Stan stressed, embarrassed he needed to apologize for this. Ford rubbed his temples. "We were framed."

"Show him your chat logs!" Yun yelled from the other room. She went back to tending to the wailing kids who were upset by all the commotion. Invidia was helping by patting Ira's head.

Dipper pulled out his phone to show Seb the chat.

"I don't… I kinda wanna be alone right now?" Seb sighed heavily, not looking at Dipper's phone.

"Look, pleasee." Dipper insisted. "We got this message, it came from you and Aunt Wanda! How could we not think it was you?"

Seb looked at it. His eyes widened, "I didn't send that message...What monster uses green hearts?" He scoffed. Everyone knew the yellow ones were better!

Ford rubbed his hair and Dipper winced "...Zoe...kinda did. That's why we were...fake insulting you? I-the game was about saying the opposite of what you meant, we thought it was part of the game."

"...Zoe? As in, my daughter ?" Sebastian was so confused.

"The little gremlin framed us!" Stan wailed, feeling so sorry. Seb kept staring at Dipper's phone, feeling confused, hurt and also kinda impressed by this. If only it was not used against HIM!

Kari quietly rubbed Seb's shoulders. Seb looked up at her and smiled sheepishly, with 2 brown eyes looking up at her. She couldn't believe how similar Ford and Seb were, it was a good look on him, she liked seeing all of his cute face.

"We didn't want to hurt you…" She finally whispered.

Seb stood up. "Y'know, it's ok! My own daughter just-just wants everyone to hate me, it's ok, I...I'm not crying !" He pointed out, as if that was a big achievement. And considering it was Seb, it kinda was…

The others weren't still so sure. Stan blocked Seb's pacing and as soon as his face went into contact with his chest, his eye welled with tears. There it was~

Stan rubbed his back as Seb whimpered, out of relief or fear of rejection, he didn't know, he just had something to let out. "You sure you don't hate it, right?"

"It looks weird, but in a good way." Stan nodded.

"You look amazing and so handsome!" Mabel chimed in.

"Thanks…" Seb rubbed his arms, sniffling.

—

Back in the living room, Yun had shifted into Xin because his skin was tougher. Avaritia was biting, and Yun wasn't going to be able to handle that. The distress in the air had set them off, but then the kids had started their own drama when Avaritia tried to take Maria's present.

Xin held Avaritia in his arms. "You need to stop picking fights with people." He told the child. "Nngh mine!" Avaritia complained, pointing at the present that Maria was holding. "No, that's Maria's gift. You have your own over here." Xin brought the boy over to a dark blue present. "You're the dark blue. Maria's is a light blue. It's different."

Avaritia whined. "Blue mine!"

"Oh thank void my brother isn't here." Xin muttered. "No, not all blue things are yours." He smiled when he saw Seb coming out, Ford hugging his little brother. Oh great, he was doing ok.

—

Seb was feeling a little better after the misunderstanding was cleared up. Everyone (except Shermie, who was glad he wasn't present to fuck up) was kinda pampering him, bringing him cookies and drinks. He liked being pampered so the lump in his throat didn't hurt that much.

He was happy enough to bring up something else he'd been dying to do ever since… forever, actually. As they all filed back into the living room to calm down and get back to enjoying the party, Seb cleared his throat.

"Sooooo~ I brought something for ya~" He smiled at Stan and Ford.

"Ooh~ Is it rum?"

Seb showed them a bag with clothes. "Better! Ta-dah! Now we can dress the same! Put this on, the outfits are adorable and they're Christmas themed~" He had made them all from scratch, from the shirts to the blazers to the pants. They were so cool, if he could say so himself~

Stan and Ford blinked. "You're kidding right?"

"NO!" Seb smiled. "Pleaseee? I've been waiting FOREVER for this! They're not ugly sweaters!"

"I don't want to change. Sorry." Ford sighed. He didn't see the point in changing out his turtleneck for some other sweater. He was already warm and comfortable, he didn't want to have to lose all that heat by changing clothes.

"But we can finally look the same! Look, I found these triplets online and they always dress the same and they look so cool even though they're kinda ugly! We'd look a thousand times better, wear it!" Seb looked back and forth between Stan and Ford. "Please." Sebastian insisted softly once again, heart beating faster, the lump getting tighter.

"No way!" Stan laughed and Carla nudged him. "Just do it for your brother, Lee" She whispered.

Stan raised his arms. "Look. The only time we were dressed the same was when we were babies and it's not happening again. It's not a big deal. You can wear the "cool" outfit. You are the fashion guy, remember? And I'm sure Mabel will love to take a lot of pictures of you."

Seb couldn't stand it. His emotions were always volatile. He'd already been yanked down and back up from what had just happened today. And now, with his brothers refusing to even grant him this one small thing–

Seb threw the bag to the floor, turned without a word and went back to the kitchen. Stan blinked. "And… he's upset again." He groaned. What a drama queen!

"...Why does he want us to dress up so badly?" Ford winced. He hadn't realized Seb was so… serious about this.

"Because he was always the odd one out." Xin said quietly, looking away and rubbing his arm. Ford blinked. "What do you mean?"

"Well… you two can pass as each other. Seb never could. He never… fit in, he was always kept apart from you. Different room, different treatment… didn't even get to be in space with the two of you…" Xin listed off. "He felt left out. Heck, his name doesn't even match the naming scheme of beginning with 'Stan'."

"Hold on, being in space was not GOOD!" Ford complained.

"Why would he want to have the same name?" Stan grimaced.

"That is NOT my point, Fordsie and dumbass." Xin deadpanned. "He spent more of his life separated from you two, than together with you two. And… I think… he wanted to match with you two at least for a little while."

Stan massaged his temples as Ford put his hands behind his back, pulling at his fingers. Oh. They were really fucking up a lot tonight.

Kari's heart ached with Xin's words. It was painful to be reminded how she allowed all that to happen (what a horrible job she did…) But that was the past, and she was here now. She could be for her son now. She went into the kitchen to comfort her son once more. Seb was looking annoyed, claiming it was FINE, everyone just hated him today, WHATEVER.

Kari wrapped her arms around his shoulders and rested her head on his. She knew he hadn't gotten over the unfortunate game. Zoe and Wanda hadn't even come down yet.

"Your brothers love you, Sebas. They always accepted you with your yellow eye, and later when you wore your eyepatch. And frankly, Shermie liked your eye way too much to be healthy." Kari mumbled the last part. "So they're not rejecting you, you know?"

"They don't even want to do something as simple as wear stupid clothes with me." Seb whined.

"Sweetie, Stan and Ford always hated to be dressed up the same. They hated it. I used to get the same clothes for you when you were small, it was cheaper, and I kinda wished you'd want to dress the same, twins and triplets dressed the same is the cutest-"

"I know right?!"

"-but the Stans were so annoying about it I was forced to find at least different colors or different animals on the clothes. I didn't know you liked it that much." Kari rubbed Seb's palm.

"I wanted to, but it didn't MATTER, because even if I was wearing the same clothes, we didn't look the SAME, I was always the freak one." Kari stroked his cheek.

"I know, but I think you also need to hear your brothers' feelings on what they like and don't like too…"

Seb wiped his eye. "Urgh, I hate when you're right...Witch."

"It's a talent o'mine." Kari ruffled his hair.

Seb came back to the living room, taking deep breaths to calm down, again , and grabbed the first octuplet in his way (Luxuria), to have something/one to hold. His brothers looked at him and he poked Luxuria's belly. "I'm sorry for acting like a child and forcing you to do stuff with me. The process to get my eye has just been so emotional and hard and... I should have asked first…"

Stan walked up to him and hugged him tightly (but careful with his drooling nibling in Seb's arms). "Hey, we…" he sighed. "We're sorry to make you feel bad today...You don't have to look like us, ok? You're our brother no matter what. But if you want to, then that's fine too and we'll still be here for you." Stan rubbed his back in circles, and Seb sniffled.

"Thanks…Tell me you love me."

"Ughhhh!"

"Tell me." Seb pouted. "Or I can't believe your words."

Stan was not saying that. He was too masculine to express his love that way. Instead he decided to go with "Brother, I'd KILL for you two!...And maybe hurt someone non lethally for Shermie-"

"Why wouldn't you kill for me!" Abi stared at Shermie in were talking about murder and THAT bothered him?!

Seb laughed a little. "Ok that works too, I guess…" He looked at Ford, waiting for his kind words. Ford shifted awkwardly, rubbing his hair.

"Umm~ "I'd make it look like suicide AND leave no suspects." He grinned and with those kind words, Seb pulled his triplets into a hug and the three squeezed and smooched each other. Luxuria, cuddling in between their 3 dadas, was thrilled for all the attention.

Mabel sniffed and snapped a photo of the 3 laughing together. Dipper and Diego looked slightly freaked out. Zach was just smiling because daddy was not sad anymore.

"I don't know why they cry so much. They're all the same one dumbass." Carla sighed, sad Wanda was missing all this.

"They share one brain cell, and I don't even know which of them has it." Xin purred, gazing at Ford lovingly.

Mabel stood up from the blanket she was sharing with Max (you could hear his sad whine as his source of heat walked away) and went to grab the presents she brought for the triplets and smiled sheepishly.

"Hey… I Know we should open presents tomorrow but~ Maybe you could open your presents now, you know? I also thought it'd be adorable to see you with the same clothes so I made you all something~"

Seb tore open the paper (three of the octuplets began fighting for it once it reached the floor) and gasped. "Oh circles, knitted hoodies!" He pulled out his to admire. The only difference was that his had a little triangle in the left of the pocket , while the Stans had their own Zodiac symbols. "Please?" He begged the Stans.

Stan pulled out his and blinked. "Ok yeah, I can deal with this one." The three put on their freshly knitted hoodies made by Mabel Pines herself and said girl squealed before reaching for her phone again to take a picture of them.

As Mabel took photos of the triplets making serious and silly poses (And some photobombed by her dad, "Get out of here, Sherman!" she raged), Wanda returned to the living room with Zoe holding her hand. Zoe's eyes were red but she didn't seem angry anymore.

"Hello, there." Seb nodded, deceptively calm. Wanda nudged Zoe closer to Seb. Stan nudged Carla softly. The curly haired woman looked down and took a sip of her eggnog. Hoo boy, she hoped things weren't going to get ugly.

"I'm sowy for telling everyone to hate your ugly eye." Zoe muttered.

"HEY! Zoe!" Wanda sighed exasperated.

"Not now, Zoe." Seb told her firmly.

Zoe blinked and looked up at her mom. What? That wasn't supposed to happen. Daddy was supposed to forgive her!

Stan snatched Carla's eggnog and gulped down. Drama incoming.

"You did something very bad. And it hurt. And I'm not going to forgive you right now, especially not when you're not sorry at all."

"I am sorry." Zoe insisted.

"Ok, Zoe…" Seb nodded. He was tired. He didn't have the mental energy to accept an 8 year old apologizing to him for the 5th time this week. He let her get away with a LOT. And he loved her, but he was tired today. "Whatever. Let's just get back to the party."

Stan glanced down at Diego, who was awkwardly looking down. Yeah, look at that, learn something.

Everyone was silent for a moment, not really knowing what to do. Mabel awkwardly let the music play again. Zoe looked at her family, confused.

"Dad?" She looked at her father, who wasn't looking at her. Refusing to look at her. She turned towards her twin, who simply glared at her and huffed, before going to hang out with Diego and not her.

She looked at her mom, who was whispering something to Seb and Seb whispered back.

Zoe sighed. She sat down with the babies who kept fighting for the paper. It wasn't fair. Why was Dad being so mean...She didn't understand …

And Zoe couldn't even play with her big sister because Xin was busy being a mom and trying to get the babies to stop eating the wrapping paper. ("Just because I can eat everything, doesn't mean you can!")

Zoe cried when Ford almost stepped on her to pull some paper out of Invidia's mouth. ("Sorry, Zoe!") The two year old looked so offended. He solemnly glared at his father for the rest of the night. Zoe huffed. Agreed, brother.

Shermie got annoyed at the octuplets pulling his legs, so he asked for the kids to open the presents and go to sleep. Diego, Zach and Maria cheered and Zoe stood up, kicked a box and left the room. She wasn't allowed to open any of the presents after all.

Seb fumed at her behavior. Wanda rubbed his shoulder and quietly explained she grounded her. "It's ok, just let her…"

"She's a brat!"

"She's a lot like you, Sebas." Kari sighed with a little smile.

"Sure, because I-I clearly tried to humiliate and make Filbrick's life miserable on purpose"

"Sebas-"

"Oh wait! I-I did, didn't I? I made him miserable that's why -why he hated- It's ok-I-I-" Seb scratched his arm nervously, taking deep breaths and digging his nails. Wanda grabbed his arm. He probably had too many emotions to handle tonight. "We'll go rest...We're sorry."

The family nodded awkwardly and waved. Kari was covering her face, feeling like the worst mother for making her son snap for the 3rd time today. Xin told Wanda he'd put the twins to bed so they didn't have to worry about that. Wanda was grateful for that.

Once they were gone, the Stans shared a look.

"Merry christmukkah…" Shermie muttered as he sipped his wine.

—.-

Seb and Wanda curled up around each other. Wanda was asleep. Seb was stressed.

He'd been so happy, with his dream of what life would have been like if he'd been normal. If his triplets were with him, the three of them together and identical and…

But he couldn't get that in real life. His brothers didn't want to match him. They didn't want to dress up like him. They didn't want to look like him. His sleep was ruined after thinking of Filbrick. Because now he was thinking of him, the man beating him up, still picking on something that didn't make him like his brothers. Half blind, small, weak, messy, sooo many things to hate.

And… his own daughter hated his appearance. It hurt. A lot. (And of course he was a bad dad, wasn't he? Not wanting to forgive her, not now. But he was bad, he was so horrible but he couldn't get himself to do it!)

And Seb laid in bed, stressed and unhappy. Disappointed. Let down. The reaction to his new eye hadn't been what he'd wanted. Even if they assured him afterwards that they really liked it, Seb's heart didn't accept it, because he'd been hurt. His feelings were hurt and he wasn't over it.

Doubt was coming out again. What if he had done something wrong? What if it had been a mistake?

As nice as his new eye was, something still felt off. He didn't feel fulfilled. Seb hugged Wanda to himself, and silently cried.

-.-

The next morning was cold. Until Xin did something with his antlers glowing, and the house felt much warmer. He offered to make breakfast and everyone else should just relax and open their presents.

Zach didn't want to open presents without his twin. It made him sad, even when granny Kari was doing gingerbread houses with Zoe to distract her. Maybe~ He should open some presents and save the rest to do it with Zoe. He didn't make dad sad yesterday!

Zach got some clothes, which was boooooring. But he also got some dinosaur action figures, which roared when he clicked the button, which was cool. He also got a new stuffed animal from his big sister. Miz had obviously handmade this. Zach hugged the doll, it was shaped like a jellyfish, and smelled like shortbread cookies. He loved it. Definitely new Top 5. Uncle Ford had gotten him a build-your-own-solar-system set. That was cool. There were magnets so you could make the planets actually look like they were floating! Zach tore open the gift from uncle Stan. Um… Zach raised his eyebrow. Gift cards. Wow. One was for video games though! He tilted it, "How much is on here?" He asked.

"Twenty five big ones!" Stan said proudly. Carla buried her face in her hands. "You stingy asshole." She muttered.

Zach laughed at the swear word before sighing dramatically. "It's ok...I wanted the new game of Creature Walkway...maybe I'll have to wait until next Christmukkah...to have enough money…"

"AAAWW sweetie." Carla got Stan's wallet when he stood up (if your husband knew how to pickpocket, you eventually learn too), and handed him the rest of the money. She said half was for his sister though. Uncle Stan was horrified. "But Carla!" ("Shut up Stanny. You're a goddamn CEO, you can afford to actually give your adorable nephew some money.")

Zach grinned evilly. Ford and Shermie laughed in the background.

Zoe hugged her mom's ipad to herself and navigated towards her Dad, who was making faces to Isaac as he put him on in his new outfit. "Daddy...there's a new disney movie...we can watch."

"It's ok, you watch it yourself." Seb told her in a distant way.

"We should watch it together…" Zoe pouted. "They have powers like us…"

"Yeah? Maybe see if that movie teaches anything about lying and hurting your family." Seb snipped, still upset at her. Zoe noticed he was covering his eye with his eyepatch again. Hm...The whole thing just made her upset, she wanted funny dad back. She should have told Zach...He would have told her it was a bad idea... This was his fault, technically , for not stopping her!

The little girl sniffled and went to her guest room to watch the movie...alone and without Dad to explain if she got confused.

-.-

Dad seemed upset the rest of the week they were in town. She told him about the movie, because it DID say something about family being hurt by others. The grandma hurt her granddaughter. Dad just acknowledged her curtly and said he was busy.

She felt so guilty and uncomfortable. She asked mom if dad will hate her forever. "He's upset. Give him time, Zoe. People get upset when you hurt them. But he could never hate you. He loves you." Wanda said sincerely.

Seb looked back at them and with a long sigh, pulled Zoe into a hug. He was still so angry, but he couldn't hate her, ever, she was his lil baby daughter. "I don't hate you, Zoe, never, ever, ever...but when you make someone feel upset, they don't have to forgive you right away, I need time."

Zoe nodded slowly, still wanting him to forgive her, but at least he was talking to her again. "Wanna watch the movie with you again…"

"I said no screentime though!" Wanda called.

Seb let out a long sigh. "Ok. I'll allow it because I also wanted to know why no one can't talk about the uncle!" He smiled a little. It wasn't much, but he couldn't hold onto his anger at her forever. He stroked her cheek and Zoe giggled.

"They're triplets!" Zoe informed him as she dragged him to their guest wing.

"No way!"

Zoe was beaming, realizing daddy didn't hate her was the best thing. She might not like his eye, but she'd take a million eyes if it meant never seeing daddy this angry and meanie again.

(Miz watched all this, and was reminded once more that Seb was a much better person than her. She tried not to let that get her down.)

Stan laughed at Ford's worried look. The guy was shitting himself at the idea of confrontation with his own kids if a fight happened between them like this. He could feel it, triplet connection ~ Meh! Kids can't walk all over you. He'll be fine. Stan patted Ford's arm. "Look, if your kids ever act up and do something awful like Zoe did, just scold them or something. Ground them, that'd teach 'em"

"..." Ford really didn't know what he would do for discipline. And Stanley's advice didn't sound so useful…

He heard Diego screaming at a distance, probably fighting with one of his own kids (who couldn't seem to stay out of confrontation). Stan shouted, waving his fist. "Quit it, Diego!" To no effect.

Ford tugged at his fingers with a deep frown. Aliens and surviving strategy in space? Sure. Easy. Parenting? The idea was terrifying to deal with.

Seb and Zoe have a close bond, but Zoe will be Zoe and Seb being Seb, has trouble dealing with her sometimes

Comment what you think and what youd like to see guys!

thank you!