A/N: Some of you wanted specifics on my condition, I'd rather not say exactly what disease I have but the doctors say that with continued treatment it'll be another 15-20 years before I perish. And u/roger_the_gay_alien, love your username by the way, you came the closest to guessing, it's not ALS but it is similar. I'm 16 going on 17 now so I have a whole life ahead of me, and unlike what my parents think, this is a great use of my life, even if it's not turning any profit.

- XOXO Kimiko

"Look one of us has to get her to a psychologist, and you're the only one she'll willingly go anywhere with and not curse out!" Duncan tried to explain.

Gwen scowled, "Then tell me why I need to wear these dumb church clothes!" She ordered.

Duncan sighed, "We need to convince her that we're not gonna try anything suspicious, you gotta make like you're just another brainwashed person and offer to drive her to church." he explained, "That way she'll trust us."

Gwen rolled her eyes, "Fine, but know that this'll be incredibly humiliating. You owe me after this!"

"I know, I know. If I was wearing a scratchy suit I'd be pissed too." Both the punk and goth were atheists, both came from different backgrounds, but both knew that there was no god. Gwen was raised without religion and had never second guessed whether or not there was a higher power. Duncan's father was a right wing extremist and forced his children to worship but Duncan never caught on to the ideology, he once said that Christians should just let it go since there was enough evidence that it wasn't real in the first place. At his argument a few of his friends even dropped their religions. (A/N: No offence to you if you're a christian.)

If this was how they could get Courtney to follow them though, they'd have to try it.

…

Up ahead of her, Gwen could see Courtney exiting her apartment, now was her chance. Gwen reluctantly drove up the street and pulled over when she pretended to just notice Courtney. "Courtney?" she called.

The miserable brunette turned to see her, "Gwen? What the hell are you doing here?"

Gwen stuck to the script, "I was on my way to church, I want God to love my child you know."

Courtney considered, "Hmm, I guess even if it has no matrimonial father, it is still one of god's children." she said. "I'm on my way to church too, if you're going maybe we could carpool? Save a little on gas." she suggested.

Mission successful! Gwen thought. "Sure, hop in."

…

With a slight amount of struggle, Gwen was actually able to convince Courtney to get into a psychologist's office. Gwen did have to attend the service, she knew she would have to or little Ms. CIT would never get off her case about it, afterwards though they got her the help she needed. Duncan laughed, "I still can't believe she actually fell for that!" he quipped. "You're the last person I'd expect to say anything like that." They laid back on the basement couch together.

"I think after sitting through that I need to be cleansed in the blood of Satan!" she joked.

Duncan smirked, "We could also use the mercury water from Flint Michigan to detox you." he suggested before realizing what he just said, "Ah crap here come the angry PC reviews."

*Dear Asian Writer,

Fuck you and your slightly cleaner drinking water! Check your privilege you fascist white misogynistic rapist! I hope you get arrested for maybe owning Nazi paraphernalia and being a potential pedophile! And you're Japanese so you belong in an internment camp!

Unkind Regards.

Every Psychotic "Feminist"*

"Wait did you have a plan B?" asked the goth.

Duncan shrugged, "Well security has confiscated chloroform a couple times, we could have used that and left her there." he offered, "No, no I'm kidding! I was going to request that someone else should talk to her."

Gwen smiled up at him, "I feel like we did a good thing." she laid back into his chest. "I know we can take care of Raven if she ever feels that way."

Duncan rested his hand on Gwen's exposed stomach and rubbed small circles around it. "I kind of hope she'll have no reason to be upset." he hugged Gwen closer, "I know that's unrealistic but still, I want Raven to be happy."

Gwen kissed his cheek, "You're such a sucker sometimes, you know that?" she teased.

Duncan scowled even though he knew it was a joke, "Hey! It's perfectly normal for me to have feelings! I care about other people!"

Gwen giggled, "Maybe you should start with yourself." She suggested.

Duncan went silent.

The truth was that Duncan never had high self esteem, even his ego didn't help him feel any better about himself. A lot had led him to loathe himself and it started when he was a child. When he was 2 years old he was running around his house like any normal toddler, but at some point he tripped over one of his brothers' toys and hurt himself. As any child would he cried in pain, his father was the only witness and had been drinking, instead of helping his son he shook Duncan hard to make him shut up. It kind of worked. Little Duncan decided to get stronger after that so he wouldn't cry.

During his first couple trips to juvie he did alright, but after a mixup during a convenience store sweep he was wrongly arrested. At first going back to juvie didn't sound so bad, at least people payed attention to him there, but he was very wrong. A guy named Mal (yes, that Mal.) with MPD was his cellmate, it didn't take long before Mal overpowered Duncan and made him his bitch. One night Mal hurt him so badly that he was hospitalized, he refused to tell anyone what happened to him because he learned at a very young age to keep quiet.

For a long time he kept every one of his problems bottled up inside, until he met Gwen. Part of him didn't realize that he was a better person when he was with her. When they first tried a relationship together it didn't work out because there wasn't enough communication, with Gwen's focus on making things right with Courtney she didn't realize that he was hurting too. Duncan felt neglected, a feeling he was accustomed and oblivious to. Once both of them realized their mistakes they slowly rekindled a friendship that later blossomed back into what it was meant to be: A relationship.

Another part of Duncan wasn't fully aware of his depression either, he just knew that he needed Gwen in his life, that was everything. He wondered what had happened to the frightened little boy who wanted to run to his Ma's side and tell her what daddy did. It didn't matter anymore. It never will again.

"Hello? Earth to Duncan?" called Gwen.

Duncan snapped out of his thoughts. "What? Sorry I was distracted."

Gwen smiled, "Yeah I can tell. You look like you just went really far away, little butterfly."

Duncan tilted his head to the side, "Butterfly? What do you mean?"

She sat up, "There's an ancient Chinese philosophy called The Butterfly's Dream." She explained, "A philosopher named Zhuangzi had a realistic dream that he was a butterfly, he woke up and said; 'Now I do not know whether I was then a man dreaming I was a butterfly, or whether I am now a butterfly, dreaming I am a man.' Basically that means whatever you were thinking about may be your reality."

Duncan looked to the side, "The thing I was thinking about was my reality at one point." he admitted.

Gwen rested her hand on top of his, "You're thinking about your dad again, huh…"

He nodded. "I wonder if little me is just coping with all the abuse by thinking about being a grownup." he asked himself aloud.

She shook her head, "I assure you, I'm real." She clarified. "Now that you mention it though, I kinda wonder the same about myself."

Gwen didn't exactly have an ideal childhood either. Her mom was a nurse at a hospital in downtown Toronto, she worked nights so Gwen and her brother stayed with their grandma a lot. Now, her grandma wasn't the kind who knitted sweaters and baked cookies, she was a goth and had a large influence on her innocent little granddaughter. When it came time for Gwen to start school she realized that she was an outcast, the other kids hated her just because she wasn't like them. She wanted friends but didn't know how to make them, but her grandma was always there for her to talk to, she was so grateful for her.

When she hit high school she screwed up her first impression miserably, others actively bullied her everyday, even when she wasn't in school. She tried her best to ignore them since their opinions didn't matter, but like the mind of any teenager all of it got to her head. She never had high self esteem in the first place either, but she began acting without thought in some cases, at one point it got so bad that she tried to strangle one of her Comtech classmates (Though in her defense the guy was terrible, he threatened to hurt her because she coughed). When everything was said and done, nobody really understood her the way her grandma did.

It took years of medication before the doctors realized that Gwen wasn't mentally ill, she was just different from other people.

"Wow, that kid will grow up to be awesome." she thought out loud.

"You'd think a juvenile delinquent would grow up to be horrible, but I turned out alright." He pointed to his face and smirked. "Although this was never a problem."

Gwen giggled, "Well it is for your dad."

He shrugged, "I don't like my dad enough to defend him on his looks, he wears the same kind of hairpiece as Donald Trump so there's even less chance of me getting along with him." He ruffled Gwen's hair. "Hey by the way, when are you gonna tell your family about the baby?"

Her eyes widened. She didn't know how she was gonna tell her mom and brother. She knew Hayden would be pretty emotionless about becoming an Uncle, her mom though… she's a middle aged woman who's too self conscious about her age, being a grandma would scare the shit out of her. Gwen would leave it up to her weirdo step father to take care of her, but it would still be a difficult task. "I-I'll get to it when I feel like it." she replied sarcastically.

"Gwendelyn Le Noir, you listen here. I told my mom already, if you're not gonna tell Hannah, I will." he half threatened.

She scoffed, "Fine I'll tell her!"