Certainties Chapter 4, a rugrats/all grown up! fanfic

Certainties

an All Grown Up fan fiction story

by Lord Akiyama

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Chapter Four

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Just moments before, he had confessed his feelings to his best friend's sister about having a relationship that was more than just friendship. And she returned the same kind of confession to him. Then they noticed that her brother had followed her. At first, he thought he should be worried about his best friend's reaction to all this. He still was, but it just wasn't the dominating concern on the moment. Instead, it was concern for his best friend's well being.

"I can't believe you followed me!" Kimi screamed at the top of her lungs at her brother. "I promised you that I'd tell you all about it, but oh no! You couldn't wait! You couldn't trust your own sister!"

"Well, I, I, I was concerned!" Chuckie responded in his own high volume voice. Only it wasn't as dominating, sounding more like he was scared of what might happen next. "You went out at a strange hour and, well, I just wanted to make sure you were going to be okay."

"Chuckie, I'm only half a year younger than you!" Kimi continued to yell. "And we both know mom has taught me enough about defending myself if I ever get into any trouble. Geez, Chuckie, I know you're looking out for my well being, but why do I get the feeling I'm gonna hafta look over my shoulder for another fifteen years before you finally stop following me, thus allowing me to live my life peacefully."

She sighed before crossing her arms and looking away from her brother with a stern look on her face. Chuckie gave a sigh of his own, hanging his head in shame and watching one of his feet play about on his toes. Moments later, he glanced up to look at Tommy. The other gave a nervous smile at his best friend.

"Well, aren't you gonna say something?" Chuckie asked. "You haven't said a word since you spotted me."

"That's because I wasn't sure of your reaction and figured it would only make the situation worse if I opened my mouth," Tommy replied. "Figured would be best if I didn't speak until I was spoken to."

"Ah," Chuckie said. "Well, if it makes you feel any better, I kinda forgot what exactly as I was feeling as soon as Kimi started making me feel bad what I did. Which I know is wrong, but you know me."

"Yeah, the ever concerned older brother," Tommy responded with a nervous chuckle. "Which was why I wasn't sure of how you would've reacted to the sight of your best friend holding your sister's hand in a more than friendly manner."

"I might've been a little upset," Chuckie said. "But I heard part of what you guys were saying. And even that didn't really quite really help me understand just what was going on and what you guys were talking about."

She gave a heavy sigh before losing the stern look and faced her brother. "Okay, here's the deal," Kimi began. "Tommy and I decided just now that we've began to develop a relationship that was more than just friendship. It came about last week, but we weren't really sure if these feelings were gonna last or not. So we decided to wait a week and see what happened. That's why we're here, to see if we were gonna end up dating or not."

Her brother nodded as he was taking in everything that was being said. "So you guys just decided when you found me," Chuckie summarized. "Well, at least you guys didn't keep that a secret. Or were you."

"We were about to talk about how and when to tell you guys when we spotted you," Tommy said. "So, in a sense, we weren't gonna keep it a secret. We knew you guys needed to know."

"Okay, so this thing wasn't exactly gonna be a secret," Chuckie sighed. "Makes me feel a little bit better. But then... you said that it came about from last week. When Tommy got his license? How exactly did that happen?"

This was the part that made them nervous. Just how exactly was he gonna react. She took a deep breath. "After the mall closed, we, um..." Kimi began with a bit of nervousness. "We accidentally... kinda... kissed."

"Whoa, you guys kissed?" Chuckie responded. He sounded more confused than anything else, which made it hard for the others to get good read of how he was taking it. He was silent for a moment, scratching the top of his head with his right hand. "So, um... how did this 'accidental' kiss came about?"

"We, um..." Tommy began, still not show how exactly his best friend was really reacting. "She thanked me for bringing her along, we shared a laugh, and then... we kinda kissed and quickly pulled back."

"It was a quick kiss?" Chuckie asked. The others nodded. "I see." Chuckie turned his head away for a moment, taking a deep breath as he let this information process in his head. "So... you kissed, realize what you were doing, weren't exactly sure about if your feelings for each other were positive or just some minor phase, waited a week to see if it would last, and decided just now that those feelings stuck and were going to officially date." The other nodded more slowly, still not sure at exactly how he was taking this. "Well... if you guys just decided upon this and weren't gonna keep it a secret from the rest of us, than I guess I'm fine with it."

Now they were really taken aback by his response. "Really?" Kimi asked. "You're not mad or upset or anything?"

"I really dunno if I should be," Chuckie shrugged, still looking rather confused. "I mean, this is the strangest way of two people hooking up that I've ever seen. And its between my best friend and my sister. I really dunno what to say, but if you guys are serious about it I'm all for it."

"Wow," Tommy managed to mutter. "That's kinda... Well... Thanks for understanding."

"I may be overprotective of my sister, but I don't think there's much to be upset about if you guys just decided upon all this," Chuckie responded, growing a smile and then shrugged. "Besides, I'm probably more at ease that it's my best friend she's going out with than someone I never heard of."

"Glad you're taking this well," Kimi said, smiling with relief.

"No problem, sis," Chuckie said. He suddenly shifted from smiling to looking a bit worried. "Although, since it is Tommy you're about to date, it might be a long night if I end up having dreams about you two..."

"Don't you dare finish that sentence, Chuckie!" Kimi cried, her face turning crimson red with embarrassment just as Tommy was. "I don't want to be thinking about that until I am absolutely sure I'm ready!"

"Geez, Chuckie," Tommy said with a nervous smile, feeling his cheeks get increasingly warmer. "I was nervous enough just trying to tell your sister how I felt about her."

"Oh, uh..." Chuckie muttered with an embarrassed chuckle. "Sorry about that."

---

"Whoa, you're going out with Kimi?" Dil asked. "That's pretty cool, T."

"You think so?" Tommy asked curiously, lying down on his bed and momentarily look at the ceiling before his eyes turned to his brother. There was a feeling he had a not-so-good idea where the younger Pickle was going.

"Yeah, bro," Dil replied. "I mean, it's really cool to see you get a girlfriend, and all. Mom and dad were kinda worried that if went dateless too long they might have to ask me to set you up on blind dates."

"They asked you to what?" Tommy responded, nearly raising his voice loud enough to escape his bedroom.

"I know, it was a weird thing for them to ask me," Dil said. He watched his brother glare at him for a moment. "Well... okay, so mom and dad didn't really ask me to do that, I thought of it on my own. But they were worried that you might be dateless before your senior prom."

"Oh my God, what kind of family have I gotten myself into," Tommy groan, slapping hand upon his forehead.

"Well, at least you don't have to worry now that you do have a girlfriend," Dil said. "Even better is that it's with Kimi. She really cool, and I think you two will do just fine."

"Thanks for that support, at least," Tommy sighed. "But I have to say, you just made things a lot more embarrassing. After Kimi and I decided to make it official, just immediately after mind you, we found Chuckie spying on us."

"Whoa, Chuckie followed her?" Dil asked with a bit more excited enthusiasm than he should. "Ah, dude, this is even cooler. I can just so see this in a movie. Whoa! Inspiration, bro! You could make the movie!"

"Geez, Dylan!" Tommy shouted, in a bit of a complaining manner. "Can you please stop this so that I could actually get a good night's sleep? I know it's Saturday, but you're just making me that much more nervous."

"What's there to be nervous about?" Dil asked curiously. "Did Chuckie threaten to beat you up or something?"

"No, he was surprisingly cool about me dating his sister," Tommy replied, feeling a little more relaxed. "It's just that after we explained everything, he kinda made things embarrassing by almost mentioning how far our relationship could go."

"Almost?" Dil repeated with a raised brow. Then he got it through his head. "Oh, he was talking about you two..."

"DYLAN!" Tommy screamed. He then slapped both hands on his face and groaned with embarrassment. "Why did you have to mention that? Just the thought of it is enough to make me afraid of sleeping tonight in fear that I'll dream it."

"What's so bad about that?" Dil asked, confused but retaining his enthusiasm. "You've stated that you really like Kimi. And it's perfectly normal for us boys to dream about it, right? What's so bad about dreaming about it with her?"

"Because it will make us even more nervous whenever we're together," Tommy replied with a moan. "I mean, if we think about it too much, we're gonna pressure each other to throw caution to the wind and give it a shot. And we don't want to because lord knows we're not even ready to take that big of a step. Not to mention that's probably the biggest concern both her parents and ours have when we tell them about our beginning to date."

"Okay, okay," Dil said. "Geez, I'm sorry, bro. Didn't think you'd get all worked up like this. Figured you'd be very excited about having a girlfriend."

"I should be, too," Tommy sighed, calming down a bit. "But it's just that there's this whole sense of nervousness to the fact that we've been friends since we were one and we really want to make sure that by taking our relationship to the next step past friendship we won't be hurting each other if it ends up not working. And now our brothers, both you and Chuckie, are just killing us with embarrassment about something that we are so not ready to think about yet."

"Whoa, that is pretty heavy, T," Dil said, scratching his head. "Guess I never really thought of that. Man, I guess having a girlfriend is a pretty big deal."

"You have no idea," Tommy muttered.

A pair of knocks were made on his door. "Tommy?" said the muffle voice from the other side. It was the all too familiar voice of their mother. "Is everything alright? I heard you screaming."

He closed his eyes and groaned. "Oh God, I can't believe this," Tommy said. "I screamed so loud that I caught mom and dad's attention." He sighed as he rolled out of bed. "Now I have to tell them about the whole thing."

---

"So you and Tommy-san are going to be dating?" Kira asked her daughter as they sat at the kitchen table. The other nodded silently. "When did you decide this and how soon were you going to tell us?"

"Well, Tommy and I decided on it tonight," Kimi replied. "We were about to figure out when to tell you when we spotted Chuckie. We ended up having to tell him everything. I got really nervous about when exactly I was going to tell you and dad, so I figured I'd better tell you now if you were awake. Guess dad isn't back from The Java Lava yet, huh?"

"No, there were a couple things he needed to finish up," Kira nodded before she sighed. "Well, I'm glad you told me as soon as you did, Kimi-chan. I guess I don't have to go into the whole 'being worried and concerned about your well being' talk after you found out Chuckie followed you."

"I was prepared for it," Kimi began to giggle, relaxing a little more about speaking with her mother.

"Don't worry, you won't hear it again tonight," Kira assured. "Your father might tomorrow after I tell him tonight, but I'll try to keep him from doing so."

"Thanks, mom," Kimi said.

"That's what mother's are for," Kira responded with a smile of her own. "I'm very happy that you're taking the steps that you are in making your decisions, Kimi-chan. You waited until you were sure that you and Tommy-san were ready to start a relationship beyond friendship and you didn't keep this a secret. Not a whole lot of parents get to have children who are careful about engaging relationships as you were."

"Yeah, I'm quite glad I did so, too," Kimi sighed. "Although we were kinda afraid being that we've been friends since we were one and we honestly didn't know how things would go both between us and with everyone else."

"It is perfectly normal to be concerned about being in a relationship with someone, Kimi-chan," Kira said, placing a hand on her daughter's. "It is not something you can just figure out immediately, even after you read about it or hear about from others like myself or any of your friends. The first experience of really developing a relationship with someone is always the most nerve-racking, because you always feel that you should get it right the first time. I can only imagine it being even more nerve-racking since Tommy-san has been amongst the closest of your friends and that you're afraid that if this relationship doesn't work the friendship you two developed will dissolve."

"That's the biggest of our concerns about engaging in a relationship, that's for sure," Kimi said.

"Just remember this, Kimi-chan," Kira said. "No matter what happens, nothing can ever take away the memories and the experiences you two shared with one another. Both as friends and now as a couple. Even if everything were to end, those fifteen years you had together will never be erased. Cherish them and they will live on forever."

She took a big sigh after listing to her mother's words. It was perhaps the exact thing she wanted to hear ever since she and Tommy even thought about developing a relationship. The assurance that their friendship will remain, even if for whatever reason it were to end.

"Arigato, okaasan," Kimi said with a smile.

"Your welcome, my musume," Kira said in return.

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October 8, 2005