Chapter 31: Me and My Assumptions

Crunch crunch crunch. Large garden boots crunch against the thin layer of snow lacing the Isles. Gilbert pushes his foggy glasses up as they slide down his large nose. He waddles through the streets with Harvey.

Despite Boscha's request, Harvey insisted on not bringing Willow. Because Titan knows he wouldn't have the heart to tell Boscha off if Willow was there. Willow would be heartbroken, and she would sniffle, and call him a terrible father.

Harvey shudders. But he assures himself it's for Willow's safety.

"So how are we going to tell her?" Harvey, donned in three layers of clothes and scarves, asked.

"I already told you to give her a chance."

Harvey huffs and pouts, folding his arms closer to his chest. "But—"

Gilbert pinches his ears with his gloved fingers. "You're being such a grump! You should know to trust our daughter. You promised."

"Oh yeah, trust our daughter," He states almost mockingly. "I can trust her. It's Boscha I don't trust. You know how kids can be! What if she's pranking her. What if she just—What if she just wants Willow for… kisses. And once she gets what she wants, she'll leave her!"

"She seemed nice when she slept over."

"Oh," Harvey hums, fumbling with the loose ends of scarf. "Wait… When she… SHE WHAT?!"

"Oops," Gilbert laughs. "Did I say that—"

Harvey yanks Gilbert's scarf. "YOU LET HER SLEEPOVER?!"

"You're being such a worrybug, honey! She's 15. Its natural—"

"It's not that!" He wails and groans. "My baby is growing up too fast and my own husband is hiding it from me!"

A passerby coughs just loud enough for them to hear.

Harvey stammers, flustered at himself for causing a scene. He coughs, blushing as he 'casually' dusts off Gilbert's scarf before composing himself, grumbling to himself.

Gilbert swings his arm around his shoulders. "I'm sorry… Sometimes you can overreact, and I just wanted Willow to experience her teen years."

Despite the betrayal he feels, Harvey can't help but see his point. "Hhh… Fine. We'll just have to see. But if she shows even the tiniest sign of being… a weirdo, then. Then I don't know what I'll do but I sure will do something."

Gilbert chuckles. Harvey is about as intimidating as a kitten.

The two husbands arrive under Dead Man's Curve and spot Boscha and Larry. Somehow not covered head-to-toe in the cold.

Is this a Ferburn thing?

Larry catches them in the corner of her eye. Boscha follows her gaze and spots them as well.

The teen wore a yellow sweater with a large hood. In the hood was her palisman, a small crab with a crack on its left claw.

The Parks thought nothing of it. Maybe it's just cold.

"Ah, Parks!" Larry waves at them. "Glad to see you here!"

"Of course!" Gilbert exclaims eagerly, patting Harvey to not be a buzzkill.

Meanwhile, Boscha tries to look behind them.

"Your kid not here?" Larry asks.

"She said she was busy." Harvey states. In reality, he didn't even give her the chance of knowing where they were going.

They walk, they chat. It's mostly Gilbert and Larry picking up on a previous conversation they had, Boscha assumes. Mostly gossip and complaints about a certain Blight, and gossiping over a potential divorce they see in the near future. A friendship between a gay man and a lesbian is a force to be reckoned with. In stark contrast, Boscha and Harvey had not muttered. Only exchanging quick glances behind their respective family, and the occasional coughs from Boscha. Without knowing it, the two chatterboxes have already led them to a small table outside of a coffee shop.

"Why don't you two stay here while we order coffee?" Larry says, gesturing at the two.

"Sure." Harvey simply states.

Off they went, equipped with the knowledge of exactly what they would want of course.

"Sooo…" Boscha starts off. She's ready to earn the favor of her girlfriend's father! "Mr. Park."

"Harvey."

"Yes, Mr. Harvey" Boscha coughs, she can already feel Maya's claw on the back of her neck. "Thanks for uhm err…—I'm pleased to meet you?"

Is she doing this right?

"You too…"

He doesn't seem very pleased, though.

"Are you sick?" He asks.

"Wh…Why do you ask?"

"You've been coughing up a storm on the way here."

"Oh. No, I ain't sick. I kinda just got a thing… I might've needed to drink more medicine."

"Allergies?"

"Sure." Maya pinches her for lying. "I mean! No. Kinda close? It's more like a birth defect."

Harvey quietly ponders to himself a bit, leading Boscha to all kinds of wrong conclusions about what he could be thinking. "Would it kill you?"

"Ermm… I don't know."

And who would ask that to a child?!

"Coffee's here!" Gilbert sets down the tray of warm goodies on the table. The dark smell of bitter coffee already works up Boscha's appetite, especially with the soft donut she regularly orders set ready on the tray. But before she could grab anything off the tray, Maya pinches her again. " Thank you," Boscha hisses.

Larry gives a satisfied smile.

They chat for a bit, but obviously, Boscha, being a teenager, doesn't have much to relate to. Still she tries her best to look as polite and "favorable" as possible, but her mom is doing most of the effort for her. Insisting she's all this and that. It's honestly embarrassing but hey, at least it's harder to say she's lying.

Boscha coughs and sniffles again.

This time, her vision blurs for a second.

"Ack…"

"You okay, kid?" Gilbert asks.

Boscha nods. "I think I just need to use the bathroom for a second. I'll be right back."

She leaves, prompting Harvey to ask blunter questions. "So, your daughter really wants to date Willow?"

"Well, yes."

"Are you aware of everything she's done to her?"

"I—Well, yes."

"And you've done nothing at all to stop it?"

Larry visibly stiffens up.

"Honey." Gilbert gently grasps his husband's shoulder. "Let's tone it down."

"No, let me finish!"

"She just had some bad influences, who am I to tell her who she can't be friends with—"

"That's ridiculous!"

"Honey—"

"They're on good terms now, Boscha's young and she's learning—"

"I'm not just going to pretend everything is okay now!"

None of what they said even mattered to Harvey. The fact that they would just find ways to excuse her behavior is insane! Is he the only one who actually cares about Willow's feelings?!

He doesn't know where he wants to go exactly. He just wants to go far away to think.

That's always been his problem.

Never facing them. Never stopping to think or talk. Always assuming that everyone can somehow read his mind. So much so, he groans as he hears footsteps following him all the way up Dead Man's Curve.

Authors Note:

trying not to apologize for taking so long to update* ..r..right on time...? See y'all... Soon..ish?