#poly-stics | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

maybeimamuppet · 2 years ago

Text

i love you three

hello happy wednesday have this yeeha

requested byyyyy gracerailly on ao3!! fun lil getting together thing!!

tw for

panic attacks

strongly implied bpd

slightly disordered eating habits/mentioned ED

and as always if i’ve missed something please let me know so i can add it!

enjoy!

————-

It’s not often that Regina George gets stressed. It’s even less often that she gets stressed to the point of pacing around her room in a fury. And even less often than that does she get stressed enough to ask for help. But today is one of those days.

So she texts her friends.

georgewashington: Why did you guys forgive me?

africabytoto: Uh… are you okay?

gaylien: you really just dive right in huh no hello nothing

georgewashington: I’m sorry but this is important and I’m freaking out.

africabytoto: I mean… I forgave you because I hurt you just as bad as you hurt me but I don’t really think that’s the answer you’re looking for

georgewashington: I’ll take anything. I just want to know why.

gaylien: i’m still working on it but i forgave you bc i could see you’re really working to change. and i know that’s not easy, and plastic regina never did anything the hard way. so that means you must’ve already done some changing for the better

georgewashington: Oh.

gaylien: and ik it really sucked but getting hit by a bus also did you a couple favors

africabytoto: Janis Olivia Sarkisian

gaylien: uh oh

georgewashington: No, that’s a fair point.

africabytoto: Really though, are you okay Regina ???

georgewashington: I don’t know.

africabytoto: Do you wanna talk about it?

Regina calls her immediately. She has to tell someone. And Cady and Janis are both trustworthy. Well, trustworthy enough.

“Hey, Regina,” Cady says. Regina can hear the concern in her voice. “Janis wanted to hear too, so you’re on speaker, but if this is personal you can just let me-”

“I’m in love with Gretchen! And… and Karen,” Regina bursts out. “Both of them.”

“Damn, Reg, you really know how to pick ‘em,” Janis laughs. Regina groans and buries her face in her hands, even though they can’t see her.

“I don’t know what to do,” she mumbles. “I can’t tell them, but… hanging out with them is so hard now, I’m always trying not to let it slip. If I don’t tell them I’ll lose them and if I do tell them I’ll lose them. I just… I don’t know which one I’d prefer.”

“Why do you think you’d lose them?” Cady asks gently.

“Because look at what I did to them,” Regina groans, rolling onto her back on her pink bedspread and staring at her ceiling. “Everything. I tormented them from the moment we met. I ruined Gretch’s self esteem, and Karen didn’t make it out unscathed either. I could’ve killed them. I’m lucky they’re even still willing to be around me.”

“But they are,” Cady says. “And that means they forgave you too. They’re still your friends.”

“Yeah, friends,” Regina says. “And they’re together, they belong together, and they’re happy, and here I am trying to wiggle my way in and ruin it again. There’s no chance they’d ever stick around if I told them.”

“I stuck around,” Janis says. “In middle school. There’s always a chance they will.”

“But how would… they’re already together,” Regina mumbles.

“People can be polyamorous, Reginald,” Janis chides. “What’s the worst that would happen if you told them?”

“They’d leave me forever and hate me,” Regina says immediately.

“And what’s the worst that would happen if you didn’t tell them?”

“I… I would leave them forever and they wouldn’t know why,” Regina says quietly.

“This should be your choice, but I think I know which of those you’d rather have happen,” Janis says. “If you care this much about them, and we know damn well you do, then I think your choice should be pretty easy.”

“But you guys are friends with them too, I don’t want to… cause a rift, or anything,” Regina says.

“I don’t think you will. But you deserve happiness as much as any of us, I think you should take the chance regardless. The rest of us can deal with whatever happens. We’ve all been through a lot together, we can do a little more,” Cady says.

Regina is quiet for a long time. “You guys really think they like me back?”

“I think Karen definitely does,” Cady says. “And I’d be surprised if Gretchen never had feelings for you.”

“After everything?”

“Yes, after everything. They’re still around,” Cady chuckles. “And we already went through the worst case scenarios. I think you’ll have a better result than either of those.”

“Okay,” Regina mumbles.

“You gonna tell them?” Janis asks.

“Yeah. At some point. Gretchen is coming home for the summer, she gets here tomorrow. I’ll have… two and half months, roughly,” Regina sighs. “I’ll… I’ll tell them before she leaves again. Then we’ll be apart if they don’t react well and they won’t have to see me again.”

“I think that sounds like a good plan,” Cady says. “But you should give yourself some more credit, Regina. You’re a really good person now. I think you have a solid chance here.”

“I hope so,” Regina whispers. “Thanks, guys. I’ll… uh… I’ll let you know how it goes, I guess.”

“Of course! Good luck,” Cady says kindly.

“Thanks.”

I’m gonna need it.

————-

Regina goes with Karen to pick Gretchen up from the airport.

Karen is bouncing slightly with her eagerness to see her girlfriend in person for the first time since winter break, and Regina stands next to her anxiously biting her lips. She really needs to stop doing that. It makes her lipstick all patchy.

She’s in the middle of thinking that they probably make gross lipstick to stop habits like that when Karen suddenly runs forward, sprinting full tilt at something. Or someone.

Regina follows as quickly as she can, her heart aching slightly as she sees Karen throw herself at Gretchen and Gretchen squeeze Karen back just as tightly before slamming their lips together. How she longs to be sandwiched in one of those hugs. Feel those lips- stop it, Regina.

She gives them a moment alone before she moseys over and gives a quiet cough to announce her presence. Gretchen breaks away from Karen with a startled gasp and looks her way.

“Oh my god, Gina!” Gretchen squeals happily, wrapping Regina in a hug of her own. Regina smiles happily and returns it. She notices absently that neither of them tense anymore. It’s a nice feeling. “I didn’t know you were coming to get me too, I’m so happy to see you! I brought you the most delicious macarons from this bakery, I-I hope you like them…”

Regina squeezes her best friend. “You have good taste, Gretch. If you think they’re delicious then they must be. I can’t wait to try them.”

Gretchen smiles in relief and gives her another side hug. “I hope they didn’t break. Let me go get my bags and then we can go.”

——

“Gretchen. I need, like, seven hundred more boxes of these,” Regina groans happily around a mouthful of macaron. She flops backwards onto Gretchen’s bed in delight. “Or just take me back with you.”

“You just want to eat cookies all day while I’m at school?”

“Yeah!” Regina says. “You be the breadwinner and I’ll stay home and clean and eat cookies. Do trophy wife shit.”

“What about me?” Karen adds, stealing one of Regina’s macarons. Regina bats her hands away with a whine.

“You have your own!”

“Yours are strawberry!”

“Then gimme a chocolate one,” Regina says. Gretchen giggles at their antics as she hangs all her clothes back in her closet. “You can stay home with me and eat cookies. But you have to share.”

“I can live with that,” Karen nods. Gretchen hangs up one more sundress before falling backwards onto her bed in between them.

“You two are nuts.”

“Hey!”

“Ooh, do they have ones with nuts?” Regina asks. Gretchen laughs freely at that, and Regina smiles too. It’s good to see her happy.

Just don’t kiss her.

Yet.

————-

Gretchen invites Regina, Karen, Janis and Cady over the next week for a get together, now that she’s had a bit of time to get settled back in America and recover from her jet lag.

Regina gets there a bit early, like she always does. Punctuality is everything, after all.

Gretchen opens the door for her and immediately pulls her into a hug. “Hi!”

“Hi,” Regina says back, resting her chin on Gretchen’s shoulder and giving her a gentle squeeze. Gretchen always smells like freshly baked muffins. It’s comforting.

Much sooner than she wants to, Regina pulls back and follows Gretchen inside. Gretchen gently closes the door behind them and leads her to the kitchen.

“There’s cookies if you want, I just made them,” she offers. “But I know you don’t eat desserts.”

“That was before,” Regina whispers, almost ashamed. She’s made a lot of progress in her recovery, but she also still has a long way to go.

Gretchen seems to pick up on her discomfort and hesitancy, because of course she does. She heads to the plate and picks up two of the best looking snickerdoodles. One gets gently offered to Regina, not pressuring, just… there. The other stays in her other hand.

Regina takes the offered cookie. Gretchen holds out hers and gently bonks them together. “Cheers.”

“Cheers,” Regina says back with a small grin. She’s hardly even thinking about it when she takes a bite at the same time as Gretchen. “Oh my god.”

“Good?”

“Amazing,” Regina replies. “You’re really talented, G.”

“Thanks,” Gretchen says sheepishly. Regina thinks she spies the slightest hint of a blush on her cheeks. Nah, probably just reading into things too much.

Some kind of tension or another continues building, and they’re both almost relieved when Karen comes parading down the hall to find them. “Hey, girl gang. Ooh, cookies.”

“Hi, honey,” Gretchen giggles, giving her girlfriend a snickerdoodle-sweetened kiss. “I missed you.”

“I missed you too,” Karen says, giving her one more kiss before raiding the plate for her own cookies.

Gretchen sneaks up when she takes a bite of one and steals the other half from her mouth with a sly smirk. Regina feels her heart give a painful squeeze and looks away, wondering if she should go to another room to give them a moment alone.

Right when she’s about to, they break apart from each other and turn to her, blushing like they had forgotten she was there. She doesn’t blame them.

“Sorry,” Karen chuckles.

“Don’t be,” Regina says. “You guys are cute.”

They both look at her a bit oddly at her omission of the word together, but Regina looks away before they can read her expression.

“Hi,” she continues, fiddling with a stray thread on her pants. She’d never pull on it, knowing how quickly that leads to disaster. A fashion sin. But it gives her something to focus on.

“Hi,” Karen grins. “This is nice.”

“Yeah,” Gretchen agrees, perched on the counter. “Like old times.”

“Really old. All we’re missing is fifth grade homework to do,” Regina chuckles. “It is nice, though. I’ve really missed this.”

“So have we,” Karen says. Gretchen nods with a bittersweet smile.

“We have a lot of time to make up for,” Regina says.

“So we will,” Karen says. Matter of factly, no ifs ands or buts about it. With a smile. Regina is almost blindsided, but she smiles back.

“Yeah. Starting today.”

Gretchen and Karen both beam at her. Regina keeps her smile as they reach for a group hug.

“I love you guys,” she whispers. Her friends may never know what she means.

They haven’t hugged like this since they were in elementary school. Regina can hardly remember the last time she’d even hugged them individually.

It feels amazing.

“We love you too,” Karen replies. Gretchen is quiet, but they both know she loves them too. They’ve always been able to read her best, even without speaking.

—-

Cady and Janis show up a bit later, both suspiciously missing their lip makeup. Nobody bothers to question it.

Cady makes easy conversation with everyone, ever the extrovert. Janis seems much more hesitant, following her girlfriend around like a lost puppy and only joining in on the conversations periodically. Regina supposes they still have a long way to go with her.

Eventually, the chatting loses steam, and they don’t know what to do with themselves. They’re all scattered around the living room, staring aimlessly at something or another.

“Do you guys want to swim? We just got the pool all set up for the summer,” Gretchen says anxiously after a while.

“Fuck yeah!” Janis agrees immediately. Cady gently flicks her ear. “Yes, please.”

“Okay,” Gretchen giggles. “I have plenty of bathing suits, you guys can just borrow one. We’re all… close enough to the same size.”

Everyone follows Gretchen up the stairs to her bedroom. Gretchen herself picks her favorite swimsuit, and tosses the rest onto her bed for everyone else to look through.

Regina is the last one to go, since she’s working on patience and not always getting the best option. She winces a bit when she sees the only one left is a bikini, and a rather small one at that.

“What’s up?” Karen asks. Regina looks around and sees they’re alone together now, everyone else having scattered to one of the many, many rooms in Gretchen’s house to get changed.

“Nothing. I just… don’t feel like swimming today,” Regina lies quickly, trying to keep her tone upbeat so Karen doesn’t catch on. “I’ll just watch.”

Karen shoots her a look that tells her she sees right through her. Regina sighs. She should’ve known. Karen’s always been able to read her better than anyone. Better than she can read herself.

“This bathing suit would show my back,” Regina mumbles, twisting the fabric around in her hands. “I still have scars. From… you know.”

“Oh,” Karen says. “You know we’d never judge you, right?”

“I know,” Regina nods, still refusing to look her in the eye. She jumps a bit when Karen’s hand suddenly takes the swimsuit from her and shoves another into her grip. “Wh-”

“That’s a one piece. I’ve worn it enough times to know it’ll cover enough of your back,” Karen says with a grin. Regina gives her a grateful one back.

“Thanks.” Karen just nods. She gasps quietly when Regina wraps her in a tight hug. “Really. Thank you.”

“Of course,” Karen says back, returning the embrace. “You don’t have to hide, but if it makes you more comfortable for now I’ll do whatever I can to help.”

“You’re so wise,” Regina teases. Karen huffs a bit. “No, really. You’re more emotionally intelligent than all of us combined.”

“That’s not saying very much,” Karen grins. Regina scoffs sarcastically and rolls her eyes.

“We’re working on it,” she huffs. “I’ll meet you out there.”

“Okay. Love ya,” Karen replies, blowing her a kiss and heading to get changed. The meaning behind their usual salute is… different, now.

Regina likes it much better this way.

——

Karen keeps shooting her glances throughout their time in the pool, seemingly checking on her. Regina tries to reassure her every time, but she’s also not trying to stop her. It’s kind of nice, knowing someone cares enough to keep making sure she’s okay.

After about the tenth check in, Karen seems content that Regina is comfortable enough in their swapped swimsuits and with everyone around, and manages to rope everyone into playing mermaids with her.

“Do you guys remember that time when we were, like, eight and playing this? And Karen was convinced she could actually breathe underwater?” Janis laughs as she rides around on Cady’s back piggyback style.

“Oh my god, yeah!” Gretchen cackles. “Poor thing almost drowned.”

“I did not! I was only in the hospital for one night!” Karen defends.

“No, but the worst part is the rest of us almost tried it too! You were so convincing,” Regina laughs, bent over slightly with the force of it. “Until you got a good lungful of chlorine. That was scary.”

“Oh, yeah, you were scared,” Karen huffs with a laugh. “I’m the one who almost died.”

“You just said you didn’t almost die!”

Cady seems very confused as the rest of them get into a good natured argument, but she has a smile on her face watching the lot of them.

She doesn’t even feel the need to reprimand Janis for joking, “Don’t look, Regina, there’s girls in their bathing suits,” when they all get out for a sandwich break.

“Shut up,” Regina chuckles. “Like you haven’t been staring at Cady’s ass since before she even put on the bathing suit.”

“I’m allowed to,” Janis pouts. “Not my fault Caddy’s pretty.”

“I never said she’s not,” Regina hums. “But you could stand to learn some subtlety.”

“Like you haven’t been-”

Regina decides she can’t risk Janis finishing that sentence and promptly tackles her back into the pool.

“Hey, my peanut butter!” Janis whines as soon as she’s back above the water, holding the soggy remnants of her peanut butter sandwich.

“It’s your own fault,” Regina huffs.

“I was just gonna-” Janis tries. Regina tackles her back under the water. Janis manages to wiggle free this time, popping above the surface to gasp for breath before she pounces to get her revenge. Even Janis is careful with her back.

“Should we stop them?” Cady asks in concern.

“Nah,” Karen says. “Rule of twos. They’re figuring something out and having fun at the same time. Bikini emoji. Hey, that’s another one!”

“Should I make Janis another sandwich?” Gretchen asks, laughing as Regina lets out a sort of squawk as she briefly pops above the surface.

“Nah, don’t worry about it,” Cady says. “She did deserve it.”

“Do you know what they’re fighting about?”

“I have a hunch,” Cady sighs. She looks up to see Gretchen and Karen both looking at her expectantly. “Oh, but, uh… who can tell with them, y’know?”

They both look like they want to press further, and Cady finds herself already wondering what town she’s gonna have to move to in order to avoid Regina’s wrath if she tells them what she knows.

But luckily for her, they both sigh affectionately and look back to their friends.

“If they drown each other will you guys act as my witnesses so I don’t have to pay a bunch of money in a liability lawsuit?” Gretchen asks softly.

“We got you, girl,” Cady sighs.

————-

A week later, Regina has some very important plans to make. She starts off by texting Gretchen.

georgewashington: Do you have plans for Karen’s birthday?

Gretchen, as always, answers almost immediately.

fetchen: no i’m panicking about it!!

fetchen: her 21 is a big deal but i have no ideas!

georgewashington: Do you want to plan together?

fetchen: yes

fetchen: omg regina ur a lifesaver

georgewashington: Don’t speak too soon.

fetchen: oh boy

georgewashington: Can you handle getting her cake and some snacks and stuff she likes? You know her tastes better than I do.

georgewashington: I’ll find a place and invite people.

fetchen: yeah i can do that!

fetchen: where are u thinking of doing it??

georgewashington: Oh just leave that to me.

fetchen: should i be scared?

georgewashington: Probably.

————-

Gretchen and Regina both spend weeks getting everything ready for Karen’s birthday. Karen knows they have plans with the three of them together, but she has no idea of the actual scale of what Regina and Gretchen have been preparing.

Gretchen isn’t totally sure either. Regina told her how many people to buy food for, and Gretchen baked the cake herself. It’s strawberry, Karen’s favorite flavor.

Regina picks Gretchen up on the day, managing to stuff everything into the trunk of her small car before they’re off to pick up Karen.

“Wait!” Regina says before Gretchen can get out of the car and run to her girlfriend. Gretchen freezes and turns to her.

“Wh- oh my god,” Gretchen laughs. She puts on the party hat extra carefully so as not to mess up her hair and takes the party popper. Regina does the same, and they head up to fetch Karen.

“Happy birthday!” they both yell when Karen opens the door, pulling the strings on their poppers and covering Karen in confetti.

Karen shrieks in surprise, but laughs when she sees it’s just them. Regina lets her kiss Gretchen in greeting, used to the ache in her chest by now.

“Happy birthday, baby,” Gretchen murmurs.

“Happy birthday,” Karen whispers back absently. “Wait.”

“Thanks,” Gretchen giggles. “Come on, we have to go!”

“Go where?” Karen asks.

“To your surprise, duh!” Regina responds, wrapping her in a tight hug and spinning her around. “Oh, here.”

Karen laughs as she gets a birthday princess sash and a matching tiara. She’s not so keen on the blindfold that follows it. “Hey, what?”

“It’s a surprise, you can’t see where we’re going,” Regina says like it’s obvious, tying the blindfold behind Karen’s head and smoothing out her soft blonde hair beneath it. “Come on.”

She gently takes Karen’s right hand to guide her, while Gretchen takes her left. “Watch the step.”

“I don’t like this,” Karen whines.

“Shush, you’ll be fine. Don’t you trust us?” Regina asks.

“No.”

“Hey!”

—-

“Oh. My. God,” Gretchen laughs when she sees where Regina has given them. “Regina, you’re kidding.”

“I would never, how dare you,” Regina replies with a smirk. “KK, you ready?”

“I don’t know,” Karen replies nervously. “Teeth emoji.”

“You’ll be fine, c’mon,” Regina chuckles. She climbs out of the car and smiles at Gretchen as she goes around to help Karen out of the passenger seat. Gretchen helps walk Karen to the best spot for the reveal. “Ready?”

“Yes,” Karen says, still anxious, but a wide smile on her face. Regina carefully removes the blindfold.

“Surprise!” they yell.

“No way!” Karen squeals when she sees all her friends and close family standing in front of Chuck E. Cheese.

“You said your favorite birthday party was your ninth when we had it here,” Regina replies, wrapping her arms around Karen’s shoulders to hug her from behind. It’s pushing the limits of platonic, but it’s believable enough for best friends to do. “Do you like it?”

“Yes! Can we go in?!” Karen asks eagerly. Regina nods and laughs as Karen grabs their hands and runs them towards the doors. Gretchen holds onto her party hat with her free hand so it won’t fall off as they hurtle towards the building.

Karen bounces eagerly as she gets her invisible ink stamp on her hand and laughs as she sees the whole party set up at one of the actual tables they have for kid’s parties.

“You actually paid for a party for me?” she asks.

“Yeah, of course,” Regina shrugs. “I think Chuck himself is delivering the pizza when it’s ready. And you get to catch tickets in the wind tunnel thingy.”

“I thought I was too old,” Karen says, looking around at everything with a smile.

“They said they’d be happy to as long as nobody gets ‘intoxicated,’” Regina chuckles. “Come on, we have to play the basketball game.”

“Oh, yeah, yeah!” Karen says eagerly, running off in that direction.

—————

Regina smiles seeing Karen running around to all the different games, greeting all her relatives and friends and taking all sorts of selfies with Charles Entertainment Cheese himself.

“This was really nice,” Gretchen says as she plays a round of skee ball against Regina. “You did a great job.”

“So did you,” Regina replies. “That cake looked amazing. And it tasted even better.”

“I’m glad you liked it,” Gretchen says with a smile. “Thank you.”

“For what?” Regina asks in confusion, looking at her and entirely missing the target. “Dammit.”

“For this. And… just, everything, lately. You have no idea what our relationship now has been doing for me,” Gretchen mumbles. “My therapist even noticed.”

“Because you were only in therapy in the first place because of me,” Regina sighs.

“No, Regina,” Gretchen says. “My anxiety is genetic, it’s not your fault.”

“I didn’t help,” Regina replies. “You can’t tell me you wouldn’t have been in a better place without me.”

“Maybe I can’t,” Gretchen agrees softly. “But I wouldn’t have you now. The way you are now. And I don’t know if I could handle that.”

“I’m glad to be here,” Regina murmurs. “I’m sorry.”

“You’ve apologized plenty,” Gretchen comforts. “And seeing you working on yourself means more to all of us than any apology could. No more ice queen.”

“I think I can leave that to Elsa,” Regina giggles. “It feels so much nicer to not be… like that. Like… it feels like I’ve been kinda… behind a mirror this whole time. Like I was me, but not, you know?”

“I feel like that a lot,” Gretchen says with a nod. “And the kicker is you locked yourself in the mirror.”

“Yeah,” Regina sighs. “But we’re punching through it now.”

Gretchen smiles at her as she nudges her with an elbow. “Yeah, we are. And I’m gonna punch you if you don’t stop cheating.”

“I’m not cheating!” Regina scoffs indignantly. “You’re still winning.”

“Ha, so you admit it!” Gretchen practically cackles.

“I’m gonna steal all your tickets.”

“You wouldn’t dare.”

“Wouldn’t I, though?”

—-

Regina smiles as she looks in the rearview mirror on the drive home and sees Karen and Gretchen cuddled up together, decked in too-small plastic jewelry and holding various little trinkets they ‘won’ with their tickets.

She wasn’t sure how Chuck E. Cheese would be received for a twenty-one year old, but Karen really seemed to enjoy it, and that’s all that really matters to Regina.

Gretchen wakes up a bit when she feels the jostle of them pulling into Regina’s driveway, but Karen is still deep asleep.

“KK, come on,” Regina whispers, gently shaking her awake. “Let’s go inside.”

Karen yawns and stretches, looking around to see where she is. She smiles sleepily when she sees Regina, and it grows when she sees Gretchen cuddled into her.

Regina helps them out of the car and up to her bedroom for a sleepover, tossing pajamas at the both of them and heading to change into her own. She rolls her eyes when she comes back to see them lying sideways in her bed instead of on the floor beds she set up.

“Make room, losers,” she whispers, finding her way over in the darkness. Karen scoots closer to a sound asleep Gretchen so Regina has room to lie down.

“Happy birthday, Karen,” Regina whispers.

“Thanks,” Karen replies, slurring a bit with her exhaustion. “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight.”

“Love you,” Karen yawns, rolling onto her side and cuddling into Gretchen. Regina tenses.

“Love you too.”

Way more than you know.

—————

Regina always throws a rager for the Fourth of July. It used to be her parent’s deal, but she had taken over all the party planning by the time she was seven. This year is no exception.

She’s spent months looking for the nicest quality fireworks (i.e. the ones least likely to explode on them and cause severe injury), buying hot dogs and burgers and other snacks, and buying up all the red, white and blue decorations she could get her hands on.

“Mom, wait, those are supposed to go on the railings outside,” she says when she sees her mom about to hang some streamers from the ceiling.

“Oh, sorry, baby! On it,” her mom says rapidly.

“It’s alright. They looked good there, if we have extra you should put some there too,” Regina replies. Her mom smiles, and Regina feels her heart ache a bit at the relief visible in her eyes. Her relationship with her mom was the first one she started working to repair after coming home from the hospital. “Kylie, can you start setting the food up? Leave everything cold in the fridge, we’ll get that out closer to when people start getting here. But chips and stuff?”

“Fine,” Kylie whines, trudging off to the kitchen to help. Regina rolls her eyes and grabs her own box of decorations for the front porch.

She ties some balloons to the posts in front of the house, and hangs a sign next to the front door. She’s jumping up and down trying to hang some swirly things from the archway when she hears voices behind her.

She whirls around, seeing Gretchen and Karen walking up the driveway towards her. They both wave and pick up the pace to a sort of jog to come greet her.

“Hey,” Regina says. “What are you guys doing here, it doesn’t start for-”

“We figured you might need some help setting up,” Gretchen says. “I brought ice, by the way. Can never have enough.”

“Oh my god, I totally forgot ice,” Regina says frantically. “God, you’re a life saver!”

“It’s no problem,” Gretchen chuckles, accepting the hug Regina gives. “What do you need?”

“I don’t even know,” Regina sighs, looking around at everything left to be done.

“You’re not even dressed yet, we have to do that!” Karen says. “Come on.”

“Karen!” Regina yelps as she grabs her hand and drags her through the house, up the stairs to her bedroom. “What about Gretchen, she doesn’t know what to do!”

“We’ve helped you set up enough parties to know how you like it decorated, she’ll figure it out. Now get dressed,” Karen insists, rooting through the makeup on her vanity.

Regina pouts a bit and grabs the bag of clothes she bought the other day. She hadn’t meant to buy an entire new outfit for yet another party, but some habits die hard.

She pulls on her red and white striped off-the-shoulder top and ties the knot into the fabric by her bellybutton. Cady has recently re-introduced her to a wonderful world of proper denim, so she’s paired it with some jean shorts.

“You look nice!” Karen compliments when Regina comes out of her en-suite. “Haven’t seen you wear blue denim in years.”

“It’s so comfy,” Regina says in wonder, tugging at the fabric. “I had totally forgotten.”

“Yeah, clothes designed to actually fit a human person are usually like that,” Karen teases. “Can I do your makeup? Pleeeeeease please please please?”

“Yes, fine,” Regina giggles. “Make me pretty, Miss Smith.”

“I can’t do that,” Karen replies as she brushes primer over Regina’s face. Regina scrunches up her nose as the bristles tickle it, making Karen laugh. “You’re already pretty.”

“So are you,” Regina replies softly. “In so many ways.”

“Thanks,” Karen replies, flushing a brilliant pink. “Hold still.”

Regina does, sitting obediently while Karen tenderly covers her skin in a BB crème and perfectly swipes some blue eyeliner on. She’s always been unfairly good at eyeliner.

“What do you think?” Karen asks when she’s finished. Regina looks at herself in the mirror. Her freckles are visible beneath her makeup, and she only has on a bit of blush. Blue eyeliner and red lipstick, and Karen filled in her eyebrows.

That’s it.

It’s much less than Regina normally does, and she’s not sure how she feels about so much of her actual human skin being visible in public. But she looks and feels absolutely beautiful.

“I love it,” Regina says. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” Karen beams. Her smile is so cute.

“Now how do I do my hair?” Regina sighs, puffing a stray blonde strand out of her face.

“Ponytail,” Karen says immediately. “Halfway up.”

“Really?” Regina asks, holding her hair up behind her head. Karen nods eagerly, so Regina grabs a hair tie from the vanity and pulls it back. A few strands fall out as she’s tying it up, but she decides to leave them. She fluffs up the ends of the ponytail a bit and looks at herself in the mirror.

“Definitely,” Karen nods. “You look great.”

“So do you,” Regina says, gently bumping their hips together. “Alright, time to party.”

“Yes!” Karen squeals. Regina chuckles as she runs back downstairs. She follows a bit more slowly; she has a lot of partying to do and doesn’t want to upset her back now.

“Wow,” she whispers when she sees the lower floor. Gretchen, her mom, and Kylie have made a remarkable amount of progress. Some things aren’t quite where they were supposed to be, most probably her mother’s doing, but it still looks great.

“Hey,” Gretchen greets eagerly. “Is everything in the right place? I had to guess for a few things.”

“Yeah, it looks great,” Regina nods, tugging self consciously at her ponytail.

“So do you!” Gretchen chirps. “I haven’t seen you in a ponytail in forever, you look amazing.”

“Thanks,” Regina mumbles sheepishly. “Karen’s idea.”

“It works,” Gretchen says. “Do you need anything else?”

“No, you guys just relax,” Regina says. “Should probably wait to get the fireworks set up, anyway.”

“Can’t wait,” Gretchen grins. Regina smiles back and takes her hand to lead her to the kitchen and wait for the other guests.

——

The party goes amazingly. Regina is usually stressed during her parties, frantically running around and making sure everything is going perfectly. But, for whatever reason, she doesn’t feel a need to this time.

The decorations look great, the food is expertly prepared by Karen’s dad, the playlist Gretchen put together is perfect for the mood, and people seem to be enjoying the various activities.

Regina lays a blanket on the roof just outside her bedroom window for them, lying in between her best friends to watch the fireworks set off in the backyard.

“Are these legal?” Karen asks as she watches the colors burst over their heads.

“Probably not,” Regina says. “Nobody ever gets busted, though.”

“They’re pretty,” Gretchen whispers. “Maybe the best you’ve gotten.”

“I think so too,” Regina nods. “I think the party as a whole was.”

“Definitely,” Karen says.

It’s quiet for a long moment, all of them just watching the show and feeling the warmth of the others next to them.

Eventually, the last one pops off, and they hear the cheers of the other guests below them. None of them move.

“Will you guys sleep over?” Regina whispers after a while.

“Of course,” Gretchen hums, turning onto her side and resting her head on Regina’s shoulder. Regina rests her head against Gretchen’s and smiles, looking up at the smoky sky.

Best party ever.

—————

Every year towards the end of the summer, the three of them have a sleepover to celebrate. Even the year Regina spent most of the summer in the hospital recovering from the bus, they had their annual sleepover.

Regina smiles fondly remembering that year as she packs her bag to head over to Karen’s house. She’d begged and pleaded with her nurses to let them stay past visiting hours for one night, and managed to get away with it. Gretchen and Karen had slept on cots borrowed from the maternity ward, and they’d stayed up late talking and apologizing and everything they could think to do.

It was an odd sleepover, but one of her favorites.

This one seems like it’ll pose some stiff competition, as Regina walks through Karen’s house to find everything set up in the backyard. The biggest tent Regina has ever seen is in the middle of it, practically taking up the whole yard. She ducks into it to see what Karen’s plan is this year.

“Hi!” her friends greet eagerly when they see her face pop into the tent.

“Hi,” Regina replies. “This is so cool!”

“Thanks,” Karen grins, leaning back in her beanbag chair. “Cady let me borrow an old tent her family has.”

“Wonder if this is the one she lived in,” Regina replies. It certainly seems homey enough. Karen set everything up beautifully. Three air mattresses with sheets and nice pillows, beanbag chairs, and a truly unholy amount of snacks. Gretchen made cookies again, chocolate chip this time. Regina’s favorite.

Karen also managed to bring the TV out, hooked up to an elaborate series of extension cords that are probably a fire waiting to happen. It’ll be fine for one night. A stack of their favorite DVD’s sits next to it, making Regina smile wider.

“What do you think?” Karen asks.

“This is amazing,” Regina grins. “You did a great job.”

“Thanks,” Karen beams. Regina nods and takes the last available beanbag, to Karen’s left. “What movie should we start with?”

“Legally Blonde!” Gretchen and Regina say at the same time, locking eyes and smiling over Karen’s head. Gretchen crawls forward to put the DVD in, and they settle into their spots to watch.

“You’d be a good Elle, Regina,” Gretchen mumbles during a quiet part of the movie.

“But I’m not blonde,” Regina replies, pointing to the roots of her hair she’s been allowing to grow in. “I’m dark blonde.”

“I’m sure you’re close enough,” Gretchen snorts. “You’d be a good lawyer.”

“I guess so,” Regina acknowledges. “I don’t like arguing very much anymore, though.”

“Yeah, I definitely think you’ll be a better therapist,” Karen says. “But you would be good. Pink pantsuits on Wednesdays.”

“Oh my god, no way,” Regina laughs. There’s a pensive pause. “Should we do that?”

“Maybe when we’re forty year old soccer moms,” Gretchen says.

“Deal.”

————

After Jennifer’s Body, The Devil Wears Prada, Bend It Like Beckham, and half a season of Gilmore Girls, they decide to take a break from watching anything and gorging themselves on all their snacks.

They could use some fresh air, so they all decide to poke their heads out of the door to the tent, leaving their bodies inside so they don’t get eaten alive by mosquitos.

“It’s a nice night,” Gretchen murmurs, looking up at the stars.

“Yeah,” Regina and Karen agree at the same time.

“It’s so clear,” Regina says. “For summer, anyway.”

“I’m glad it rained the other day,” Karen says. “Not so muggy.”

“Yeah, it feels nice,” Gretchen says, inhaling the night air. “Smells like second grade.”

“What?” Regina laughs.

“What?”

“How does second grade have a smell?”

“I dunno, it just does! It smells like a memory,” Gretchen chuckles. “From second grade.”

“Which one?” Karen asks.

“Huh?”

“Which memory?”

“Mmm… when you broke your arm at the playground jumping off the swingset. And me and Janis and Regina came over after you got home from the hospital to make you feel better,” Gretchen begins. “It was a night like this. Warm but not too warm, clear sky. And you couldn’t move too much, so we just watched movies and then caught the last fireflies of the season.”

“That was the best night,” Regina murmurs. “We all drew on your cast. And I had to be the first one to sign it, obviously. And your dad let all of us sleep over, so we stayed up extra late watching movies we weren’t allowed to watch and then tried to name all the fireflies.”

“Oh yeah,” Karen recalls fondly. “I forgot about that.”

“I think you hit your head, too,” Gretchen giggles.

“Maybe that’s why I’m so stupid,” Karen jokes.

“Hey!” Regina insists, sitting bolt upright and glaring at her. “Take it back.”

“What?” Karen asks.

“Take it back. You’re not stupid.”

“I am-” Karen begins, blinking in surprise when Regina puts her hand over her mouth.

“You’re not. You’re brilliant,” Regina demands. “What was your GPA?”

“3.0,” Karen says, muffled behind Regina’s hand. “But-”

“That’s amazing, K,” Regina insists. “You worked so hard just to get into college, and you’re still doing it? You graduated with a 3.0. That’s amazing. And you’re not just book smart, you’re wise, and you can read people like nobody’s business, and-”

“Gina, I can’t breathe,” Karen interrupts. Regina gasps and pulls her hand away.

“I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Karen laughs, panting a bit to catch her breath. “Thanks.”

“It’s just the truth,” Regina mumbles, flushing bright red and looking away. Gretchen and Karen both smile at her, making her blush harder and curl into her knees.

“Oh, look!” Gretchen says eagerly. Karen and Regina both look where she’s pointing. They’re briefly confused, but then they see a twinkle.

“I’ll get a jar!” Karen says, running into the house. Regina and Gretchen both scramble up to run after the firefly.

“Dammit,” Regina grumbles when she swipes for it and misses.

“I got it!” Gretchen cheers. She comes back to Regina with her hands firmly held closed so the bug is contained. “What should we name it?”

“Mm… Fiona,” Regina hums.

“Fiona the firefly. I like it,” Gretchen grins. “She tickles.”

“What, you don’t like tiny little bug feet crawling all over your hand?” Regina giggles.

“No! Ew,” Gretchen whines. “Don’t say that.”

“Sorry,” Regina says. Karen comes running out with an empty peanut butter jar, with a few wet leaves inside and holes poked in the lid. Gretchen gently plops their new firefly friend inside and slams the lid back on so she can’t escape. “There’s another one!”

They’re a bit hard to find, being so late in the season, but the three of them spend the evening running around catching every little firefly they see.

When the jar is sufficiently full, they head back into their tent and get comfy on their air beds. Karen and Gretchen push theirs together so they can snuggle. Regina wants to join, but she figures that’s more than a little bit creepy and settles for keeping her own bed close by. The jar rests in between them, the bugs twinkling and illuminating their tent like a nightlight.

“Goodnight,” Gretchen yawns, cuddling into Karen’s back.

“Goodnight,” Karen replies, turning around for a second to kiss her. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” Gretchen mumbles sleepily. “Love you, Gina.”

“I love you too,” Regina replies softly. “Both of you. Goodnight.”

—————

Regina remembers on August first that she signed up for a portrait photography class this semester. She also remembers she’s never tried portrait photography before. So, as always, she reaches out to Gretchen and Karen for help.

reginald: Why is this my name?

reginald: You know what, never mind. Do you guys want some couples photos?

fetchen: uhm… sure!!

sexymouse: 📸📷🤳

fetchen: she says okay too!

reginald: Okay, great. I signed up for a portrait photography class this semester but I’ve never done portrait photography. So everybody benefits.

fetchen: you’d make a great photographer!

reginald: Thanks, Gretch.

—-

“Hey, Gina,” Karen calls as she and Gretchen make their way over to her in the park.

“Hi,” Regina grins. “You guys look beautiful.”

Karen is in some denim shorts and a slightly dressy top, and Gretchen is in a sundress that compliments Karen’s outfit perfectly.

“Thanks,” Gretchen grins, doing her signature heel pop. Regina laughs, pulling her camera out of her bag and looping the strap around her neck. “What do you need us to do?”

“For now, just… act like you’re on a normal date. Pretend I’m not here,” Regina says.

“But you are here,” Karen says, almost pouting.

“Just do what you normally do, don’t look at the camera,” Regina giggles. “You don’t have to totally ignore me if you don’t want to.”

“Oh. Okay,” Karen says, seeming much happier with this arrangement.

Regina stays behind them while they walk hand in hand down one of the many walking paths around. She snaps the occasional candid shot of their hands intertwined or them looking at one another as they make conversation, lit by the not-quite setting sun overhead. Regina wanted a few shots with broad light, and some after golden hour begins.

Eventually they make it to a small creek. There’s a few other people; couples or families with kids taking them fishing or to hunt for crawdads with nets they probably got from the dollar store. Karen immediately kicks off her sandals and wades in. The deepest of the water doesn’t even come up to her knees.

“Come on,” she coaxes, as Gretchen stands on the shore looking rather more apprehensive. Regina crouches down a bit and snaps a few photos of Karen alone in the water, reaching out to Gretchen with a wide, but natural (and unfairly beautiful) smile on her face.

“You’ll get blisters walking with wet shoes,” Gretchen chides lovingly.

“So I won’t put them back on,” Karen retaliates. “Come on, it’s not that bad. It’s just cold.”

Gretchen sighs and kicks off her own shoes, wading over to her girlfriend. She squeals at the frigid temperature of the water and rushes over to Karen as fast as she can. Karen wraps her in a hug, lulling her into a false sense of security.

Gretchen squeals as Karen suddenly kicks at her, showering her in icy cold water. “Hey! That was mean.”

Karen shuffles over as Gretchen turns around and pouts, seeming genuinely upset. Regina herself is about to go see if she’s okay when Gretchen suddenly whirls around and dumps a handful of the water down Karen’s shirt.

She cackles when Karen gasps at the chill with a, “Hey!”

“You started it,” Gretchen giggles, squealing and ‘running’ away as fast as she can. Karen chases after her, but their top speed is quite slow and Gretchen has a head start. Regina takes several action shots of them chasing each other around and cackling like mad witches.

“Don’t you drag me into this,” Regina says as Gretchen hides behind her for protection.

“Your camera is expensive,” Gretchen retaliates, peeking around her shoulder to see where Karen is. “I’m safe here.”

“Fine,” Regina sighs. Gretchen hums happily as Regina leans back in her hold, resting her head on Regina’s shoulder as they wait for Karen to slosh her way over.

“My feet are cold,” Karen says when she finally makes it.

“I did tell you, honey,” Gretchen giggles. “Go get our stuff.”

“Aren’t you coming?”

“You go first,” Gretchen says. “Don’t trust you.”

Karen pouts. Gretchen rolls her eyes lovingly.

“I trust you in general. Just not around water,” she amends.

“Hmph,” Karen continues pouting. Regina tenses a bit as Gretchen leans around her to kiss Karen’s pout away, accidentally sandwiching Regina between them.

“Go on,” Gretchen murmurs. Karen smiles a bit and sloshes her way back to the shore. Gretchen pulls away from Regina and starts to follow, but pauses when she doesn’t hear Regina’s footsteps coming after her. “What’s the matter?”

“Nothing,” Regina whispers immediately. She can feel the words resting on the tip of her tongue, threatening to tip out, to spill. She bites her tongue so hard tears start to well in her eyes. Bites the words back so hard she tastes the tang of blood.

“Are you sure? We can take a break,” Gretchen offers, taking small steps back in her direction.

“No! I’m fine, Gretchen,” Regina bites, falling back into the comforting embrace of anger she found herself in for so many years. Gretchen’s face twinges, falls, and Regina finds herself face to face with something she’s spent years desperately trying to avoid. “Shit. I’m sorry, Gretch, I didn’t… I know you’re just… I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Gretchen says gently.

“No, it’s not! It never has been, I just…” Regina begins. “I’m sorry. For everything.”

“I know,” Gretchen says. “I know you are. And I can see you working on it. I know this isn’t you.”

“I think it is,” Regina mumbles. Gretchen shakes her head, her dark hair swishing around her shoulders with the motion.

“I know it’s not. If it was we never would have seen you be kind again. That’s you,” she insists. “I don’t know what happened, but you only do this when you’re hurting.”

You’re protecting yourself, Regina hears her therapist’s voice echo in her head. Just in an unhealthy way.

But how do I stop? Regina’s voice begs back. I can’t do this anymore.

Work on healing, and find the right people.

The right people are right in front of her.

“You should go get Karen, she’s waiting for you,” Regina sighs shakily. “I’ll… I’ll be there in a second. I just need a minute.”

“Okay,” Gretchen says gently. She rests a caring hand against her arm before pulling away, turning around and making her way out of the creek.

Regina sighs and blinks back tears. She thinks about splashing some of the water on her face, but it’s green, and she decides it’s not worth risking some kind of brain-eating amoeba.

She gives herself three minutes, carefully counting each and every second that passes. Any longer and her friends will start to worry more than they already are. Counting gives her something else to focus on, helps her ground herself the slightest bit and pull her thoughts away from the swirling cesspool they’re threatening to dive into.

“There she is,” Karen says with a bright smile as she sees Regina claw her way through the tree line that outlines the creek.

“Hey,” Regina says softly.

“Hey,” Gretchen echoes. “You okay?”

“Yeah,” Regina says immediately.

“Do you need any more pictures?” Karen asks.

“I have a few more I want to get, if you guys have time?”

“Of course,” Gretchen says. “We have all night.”

“Well, I don’t have the lenses for night photography with me, so it won’t be that long,” Regina teases. “But, um… I brought props. To try.”

“Ooh,” Karen says immediately. Her eyes brighten as Regina rests her bag on the ground and pulls out two flags. The pan one gets handed to Karen, and the bi one to Gretchen. “Ooh!”

“Wait, don’t be cute yet!” Regina says as Karen holds her flag over her head and twirls around. She scrambles for her camera and to get a good angle, adjusting her settings for the motion and snapping as many good pictures as she can.

Karen eventually slows down, her hair wild around her from her twirling as she pants to catch her breath back. “I’m dizzy.”

“Your hair looks fantastic, though,” Gretchen giggles. “Like you just got a blowout.”

“Thanks,” Karen replies, jokingly tossing her hair over her shoulder. Regina still almost chokes, and Gretchen is practically drooling.

Regina leaves them to do whatever feels natural with their flags, taking some beautiful shots of Gretchen with hers held triumphantly over her head, practically glowing in the light of the setting sun.

She feels her heart seize a bit when they both wrap their flags around their shoulders like superhero capes and lean in for a kiss. Regina continues taking pictures, but she feels her eyes start watering and knows her knuckles are probably white with her grip on her camera. God damn it, not now.

“Gina?” Karen asks knowingly when they break apart. “What’s going on?”

“Nothing,” Regina whispers.

“Yes thing,” Karen retaliates childishly.

“You can tell us,” Gretchen says kindly. Regina blinks back tears at the lack of malice in her voice, the gentleness of her grip as she takes and squeezes her hand.

This is it.

“I…” Regina tries to begin. She pauses and takes a deep breath. “No, I can’t.”

“What is it?” Karen asks. She looks to Gretchen in concern when Regina bursts into tears in front of them. Regina hunches in on herself, crossing her arms over her chest protectively. Protect your heart. At any cost.

“Regina,” Gretchen says, reaching for her again. She gets a wounded look when Regina steps away, but respectfully pulls her hand back. “It’s okay.”

“It’s not,” Regina sobs. “I-I-I-”

“Deep breath,” Karen says in the same tone of voice she uses when Gretchen has a panic attack. “Take your time. I promise you can tell us, it’ll be okay.”

Deep breath. Take your- “I love you! I-I’m in love with you. Both of you. And I-I know… I know you d-don’t feel the same, I just… I had to tell you, I can’t… I can’t live like this anymore. I’m-I’m so sorry.”

Gretchen and Karen look at each other with wide eyes. This was most definitely not something they were expecting to hear. Neither of them get a spectacular amount of time to process as Regina suddenly starts hyperventilating and nearly collapses to the ground in front of them.

“Whoa, Regina,” Karen says, immediately going to help her. Gretchen quickly follows, sinking to her knees in front of her. Regina starts panicking harder and trying to get away, but this time they don’t let her.

“Gina, hey. Look at me,” Gretchen says gently. “We’re not mad at you, okay? We’re not upset. I promise. We can talk about this when you’re ready, but for now we just want to help you, okay?”

Regina looks at her and sees nothing but warmth and concern in her eyes. She can barely move her hands, they’re shaking so hard, but she forces herself to hold Gretchen’s outstretched one and nods. Karen sits on the ground behind her and hugs her; squeezes her to apply pressure to ground her. She supports Regina’s spine so it isn’t aggravated and seems content to just be Regina’s anchor. Tether her to Earth. Regina can feel her breathing against her back and tries desperately to match it before she sinks too far into this panic.

“Good, breathe with Karen,” Gretchen says gently. Regina can feel Karen nod against her shoulder. She does her best to and continues looking at Gretchen’s eyes. Why is she being so nice? Why are both of them being so nice?

Gretchen also seems to be panicking slightly as she tries to work out what she can do to help her.

“Okay, uhm… just try to stay here with me, okay? Nothing else matters right now. Just… do your best not to think. Uh…” she stutters. Karen’s usual go to for her is the countdown strategy, but Regina seems too upset to even do that. So, Gretchen starts talking. She’s not totally sure what to talk about, but she just goes for it. “Do you remember the day we met?”

Regina looks at her and nods shakily. Gretchen gives her a sad smile and continues talking.

“In preschool. I was crying because my mom left and you came over,” she recalls fondly. “You didn’t say anything for a long time, you just sat next to me while I cried and held my hand. And then when I calmed down you said we had the same shoes on and that meant we had to be best friends. And you took me to your table with Karen and Janis and showed me the play-doh. And then KK kept eating it and got it taken away.”

Regina lets out a strange, harsh sound, a mix between a laugh and another sob.

“I never told you, but I’ve remembered that day forever,” Gretchen continues softly. “In middle and high school, when you were… you know. I would think about that day. And it helped, a lot. Because I knew that little girl who held my hand while I cried, my best friend, was still in there somewhere. And here you are. I’m so glad we’ve managed to stay friends all these years.”

“I am too,” Karen adds quietly from behind her. “You were always a good friend. Even when you weren’t.”

Regina is stunned almost quiet. She’s so busy trying to process what Karen means that she forgets what she was originally panicking about in the first place. Gretchen squeezes her hands once more to get her attention and gives her a gentle smile.

“Can you count backwards from ten with me? Just focus on us again. And take a deep breath with every one,” she says kindly. Regina nods shakily.

“T-ten.” Regina says. In through the nose, out through the mouth.

“Nine.” Focus on Gretchen.

“Eight.” Her eyes.

“Se-sev-seven.” Her hands.

“Six.” Her heart.

“F-five.” Deep breath.

“Four.” Focus on Karen.

“Three.” Her hold.

“T-two.” Her warmth.

“One.” Her.

“Good,” Gretchen says.

“Are you feeling any better?” Karen pipes up, massaging Regina’s arms gently and helping her stand again. Regina nods with a shaky sniffle.

“I’ve really done it now, haven’t I?”

“You haven’t done anything,” Gretchen says. Karen nods, now that Regina can see her again. “I-I… I’m not going to lie and say I’ve never felt the same way.”

“I definitely have too,” Karen adds. “I’m sorry we can’t give you a solid answer now. But we… need to talk this over. Make sure we’re using the same emojis, you know?”

Regina gives a watery chuckle and nods. “I know. I’m sorry to dump this on the both of you now.”

“No, Gina,” Gretchen says. “We’re glad you told us. We just need some time before we can do this the right way for all of us.”

“I understand. You-you guys take all the time you need,” Regina says as she packs all her things back up. “I’ll be here. Uh… thanks. For helping me, and everything.”

“Anytime,” Karen says. “Bye.”

“Bye, Gina.”

“Bye, guys.”

Regina can feel it burning the whole drive home. For the first time in almost fifteen years, she sinks into her mother’s arms for comfort, and cries.

————-

Regina doesn’t hear anything until two days before Gretchen has to fly back to France. She’s spent most of the week hiding in bed, cuddling her pillows and watching Netflix in a ditch attempt to not think about the situation. And crying, she spent a solid amount of time crying.

But she wakes up to a text.

sexymouse: 🥞🧇🍳 ???

reginald: Sure. Usual place?

sexymouse: 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

fetchen: we’ll meet you there at ten :)))

reginald: Okay. See you then. :)

Regina sighs as she removes herself from her blanket cave for the first time in four days and pads to the bathroom to take a shower. What could this be about?

She nearly works herself into another panic attack as she brushes and blow dries her hair. What if they’re about to let her know they don’t feel the same? And that they don’t want to see her ever again?

No, they wouldn’t do that, she thinks to herself as she brushes her teeth. Would they? The texts didn’t sound any different than normal. Well, it’s hard to tell sometimes with Karen, but Gretchen sent a smiley face. With three mouths, that must mean something at least okay, if not good?

“God, girl stuff sucks.”

“Hey, Gina,” Gretchen greets as Regina slides into their usual booth across from her friends.

“Hi.”

“We ordered for you,” Karen says, pushing a plate of strawberry banana crepes closer to her. Regina smiles slightly when she sees they remembered her favorite. They haven’t even eaten here together since seventh grade.

“Thank you,” she says genuinely, pouring some syrup out on the side like she always does. “How-uhm. How are you two?”

“We’re good,” Gretchen replies. “How are you? Feeling any better?”

Regina nods. “I… yeah. I mean, you get why I’m not… totally back to myself, yet. But I’m much better than the other day.”

“Good,” Karen nods. Gretchen smiles fondly as she follows it with an entirely too-large bite of waffle. Regina grins as well, giving a slight chuckle when Gretchen helpfully dabs some stray syrup off of Karen’s chin. They deserve each other.

They continue making light conversation throughout their meal, but there’s a thrumming undertone of anxiety and anticipation that has Regina practically shaking in her Louboutin’s. Regina pays for the food, batting both other cards away and throwing her own at their waiter and shoving him back to process it.

“Thanks, Gina,” Karen says. Regina just nods.

“Of course.”

—-

“So, Gina, uhm…” Gretchen stutters about a quarter of the way through their walk in the park to get rid of the sticky full feeling in their bellies. “We have a… proposition for you.”

That doesn’t sound good, Regina thinks. She says, “Um… okay. Shoot.”

“Will you date us?” Karen asks. Regina freezes mid-step and chokes on air.

“Wh-what?”

“We know this isn’t a great time,” Gretchen says almost apologetically. “Since I’m leaving again. But we talked it over, and we’re willing to try if you are.”

“You’re serious?” Regina checks, looking at both of their faces for even the slightest hint of insincerity. Nothing. All she sees is two of the most loving faces she’s ever been confronted with. “Yes! Oh my god, what?!”

They both laugh as she rockets in between them for a hug, and press in on either side to kiss her cheeks. They pause when they hear a sniffle and can taste the few tears streaming down her face. “Why are you crying?”

“I’m sorry,” Regina sobs. “I just… I thought you both would hate-hate me, when I told you. I never thought this-this would… actually happen, you know? I’m-I’m so happy.”

“Aww, honey,” Gretchen coos. “If we didn’t hate you when you were a raging bitch, we definitely won’t hate you for loving us.”

Regina gives a watery laugh at that. Gretchen isn’t usually so frank or vulgar, so it’s almost a shock, but she’s most definitely not wrong. “I do. I love you.”

“I love you too,” Gretchen hums. “Can I kiss you?”

Regina nods eagerly and leans in. Gretchen meets her halfway and kisses her so gently. Her lips are slightly chapped from her habit of biting them, but so, so soft. She can faintly taste the delightful flavors of cinnamon and maple off her lips, and smell the enchanting aroma of baked goods that always manages to follow Gretchen. It feels like home.

They smile at each other when they break apart. Regina repeats, “I love you.”

“I love you too,” Gretchen beams, pecking her gently one more time.

“I love you… three,” Karen pipes up. “My turn?”

Regina laughs and leans in. Karen is more confident, eager in kissing. Gretchen was more anxious, more careful. Karen knows what she wants and isn’t afraid to take it, swiping her tongue at Regina’s lips and allowing her to taste the powdered sugar and maple syrup faintly left from their breakfast. Regina’s close enough to faintly smell the fruitiness of her perfume. She wants more.

“I love you, Karen,” Regina murmurs when they break apart. Karen smiles back and kisses her cheek. “Was… was that a date?”

“It was supposed to be, yeah,” Gretchen giggles.

“Oh.”

————-

“I don’t want you to go,” Regina whimpers into Gretchen’s shoulder at the airport. “I just got you.”

“I know,” Gretchen attempts to soothe through her own tears. “I’ll be back in December. You and Karen have four and a half months to think of a perfect Chanukah present for me.”

Regina gives a watery laugh into her shoulder and squeezes her tighter. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” Gretchen says. “Karebear, come here. Group hug.”

Karen comes over and worms her way in between them. She gets her own few kisses from Gretchen and stays in the cuddle.

They stay huddled together as long as they can, all crying quietly and peppering kisses on whoever they can reach. A falsely kind woman’s voice rings out over the speakers to announce Gretchen’s flight boarding.

Gretchen cups Karen’s face and gives her a solid kiss. But this time, she turns to Regina after they break apart and does the same to her. “I love you. And I love you.”

“I love you too.”

“I love you three,” Regina chuckles around a sob. Gretchen kisses their cheeks one more time before she turns around and heads off to her gate. Regina and Karen stay and wave until she’s out of sight before leaving the airport hand in hand.

“It never gets easier,” Karen sobs quietly. Regina squeezes her hand and nods. “But now I have you.”

Regina looks at her and gives her a watery smile. “And I have you. I love you.”

“I love you too.”

They can feel Gretchen’s ‘I love you three’ from thousands of miles away.

—————

thanks for reading! hope you enjoyed!

#polystics #poly-stics #poly plastics #regina george x gretchen wieners x karen smith #regina george #gretchen wieners #karen smith #cady heron #janis sarkisian #mean girls #mean girls broadway #mean girls musical #mean girls on broadway #mean girls the musical

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maybeimamuppet · 3 years ago

Text

it takes a village

hey hey little muppets!! happy wednesday!! this is a request fill for gracerailly on ao3 who requested the poly-stics babysitting cadnis' kids.

cw/tw for depression/depressive episodes

otherwise, enjoy!!

---

Cady wakes up to chattering coming through the baby monitor.

Which is unusual, because Janis usually wakes her up with their twins. But today, Janis is still in bed next to her and gives a quiet groan when she hears the noise.

“Jay?” Cady asks groggily. “What’s the matter?”

Janis groans again and flops onto her back, bringing her hands up to sign. That’s never good, Janis only uses sign language when things are especially bad for her.

“Can’t move,” she signs. “Feel… heavy. Slow. Dead.”

“Oh, my love,” Cady hums sadly, leaning down to kiss her forehead. “Do you think you’re having a depressive episode?”

Janis nods slowly. Cady can tell she’s using a great deal of energy to bring her hands up again. “The girls.”

“I’ll get them up for today, don’t worry about it,” Cady says immediately. “You relax. Everything’s okay.”

Janis pouts but nods again, letting her hands drop back to her side. Cady pecks her nose gently before she goes to get their daughters up.

They’re both awake, standing up in their cribs and waiting for someone to come get them ready. Both of them look her way when Cady switches the light on, with their adorable frizzy curls and sleepy blue eyes.

“Good morning, my little loves!” She says happily, going to give them their morning kisses. “Did you have good dreams?” Both twins nod happily. “Good, that makes Mama so happy.”

“Where Mommy?” Layla asks, rubbing her eyes and holding onto her stuffed elephant. Cady pauses for a second. How does she explain this in terms they can understand?

For now, a white lie won’t hurt anything. “Mommy’s still asleep, Mama gets to get you ready today.”

Leo reaches out first, so Cady grabs her and carries her over to be changed before swapping her out with Layla to do the same.

“There we go, all clean! Let’s go have breakfast,” Cady says happily, scooping them both up and carrying them downstairs to the kitchen.

“Mama?” Layla pipes up. Cady smooches her chubby little cheek a few times.

“Yes, Ladybug?”

“We hab f’uit?” Layla asks. “P’ease?”

“Yeah, of course you can have fruit,” Cady says. “Good pleases, too, that’s a good girl. Bumblebee, do you want fruit too?”

Leo just nods. She’s less of a morning person than her twin. Cady sets them both in their high chairs and buckles them in for safety, then washes some blueberries for them to eat.

Leo picks at hers, resting her elbows on her tray and holding her head in her little hands.

“What’s the matter, Lolo?” Cady asks sadly while she gives the pets their own breakfast and prepares some quick cereal for herself.

“Miss Mommy,” Leo says with a precious little pout. “Want cuddle.”

“Aww, sweetheart,” Cady says. “Mommy’s still here, she’s just upstairs. And we can go see if she wants to cuddle after breakfast.”

Leo perks up a little bit at the reminder that her mommy is still there, just not at breakfast, and starts eating her blueberries with a bit more speed. She and Layla chatter away about their plans for the day while they eat. Cady can’t quite understand what they’re saying, but she grins at the interactions regardless.

“All done,” Layla says when her blueberries are finished. Leo shoves her last few in her mouth and chews them with a nod of agreement.

“Good job, girls! Okay, let’s wash our hands and then we can go see Mommy,” Cady says. She grabs each from her chair and helps them wash the berry juice off their tiny hands, then carries them back up to the main bedroom to find Janis. “Jay? You up for a cuddle?”

Janis rolls over and gives a weak grin when she sees her whole family there waiting for her. She nods and gestures them over with a hand, so Cady sets the twins down to run over to her.

“Be gentle, girls,” she says quietly, following after them. She scoops Leo up and helps her get on the bed since she was struggling to make it. Layla sits and cuddles in on top of Janis while Leo nuzzles into her side. They both can clearly tell something’s off.

“Mommy sick?” Layla asks. “Need med’cine?”

Janis chuckles weakly and brushes a hand through Layla’s messy hair. Cady can tell it’s taking nearly all of her energy just to cuddle their babies, but Janis forces herself to keep going.

“Kind of, but medicine won’t fix it this time,” Janis says quietly. “I just need cuddles and sleep.”

“Wha’s wrong?” Leo asks, unfortunately curious. How do you explain depression to some barely two year olds? Cady thinks for a second before she tries to explain.

“You girls know how Aunt Reggie is a doctor? And she talks to people who are sad or scared or mad a lot, to help them feel better?” Cady begins. Both twins look her way and nod. “Some of the people Aunt Reggie talks to have something called depression. That’s a tough word, can you say it?”

Both girls try, sounding closer to ‘press in’ than anything else.

“Yeah, good job! But Mommy has depression too. Sometimes it makes her sad, or sometimes angry, or scared. Today it’s just making her really tired. But she’ll feel better soon, and then she can play with you again.”

“I can fissit?” Layla asks, wanting her mommy to be better now.

“You can’t fix it this time, Ladybug,” Cady says sadly. “But we can help Mommy feel better by giving her cuddles and letting her rest. We love her bunches, huh?”

Both girls nod and cuddle in again, trying to squeeze every ounce of love for their mommy into the snuggles. Layla even leans in to leave a wet, but sweet kiss on her forehead. “Mmmmwah!”

“Thank you, girls,” Janis says with a weak chuckle. “What did you have for breakfast?”

Cady knows that the twins are going to talk for a while, which buys her some time to track down a babysitter. She pulls out her phone and is about to shoot off a text to Damian before she remembers that he’s out of town visiting family. Aaron went with him, so that just leaves the Plastics. Oh boy. It’s worth a shot.

spacecadet: Hey is there any way you guys could take the smalls for the day?? Janis is having a depressive episode and I need to be able to take care of her

georgewashington: Are you sure you want us to? What about Damian?

spacecadet: He’s out of town for the week. I wouldn’t ask if I wasn’t desperate, I know you’re still sorta wary of them

georgewashington: I just don’t want to hurt them, or make you guys upset. Janis would never forgive me if something happened to them because of me.

spacecadet: Regina, you don’t have to worry about stuff like that. Unless it was something major we could never be mad. And Janis does trust you, she’s just protective

georgewashington: If you’re sure, we can take them. Gretchen’s working from home today, so we’ll all be here. What should I do?

spacecadet: Oh, thank you so much!! All they’ll really need from you guys is somewhere to nap and someone to play with. I’ll pack them some toys and things they’ll need and I can drop them off

spacecadet: Just maybe hide anything stainable, breakable, or expensive :/ they are toddlers

georgewashington: Okay, I’ll prep what I can. See you soon.

spacecadet: Thank you so much, Regina!!

Cady switches her phone back off and rolls out of the bed. Once she’s changed out of her pajamas, she goes to get her babies. “Okay girls, should we go get dressed?”

Layla crawls over when she reaches out, but Leo doesn’t want to leave Janis.

“Wha’bout Mommy?” She asks sadly.

“We can come see Mommy again for a little bit when you’re done, Mama will go fast,” Cady coaxes. Leo thinks for a second before she also comes to be picked up. “Yeah, there we go.”

Cady carries both babies back down the hall to their bedroom and sticks both in Leo’s crib to keep them contained.

“Do you want to match or dress different today, pumpkins?” She asks, rooting through their dresser for some outfits.

“Mash,” both twins say at the same time. Cady chuckles and pulls out two of everything she needs. Two green shirts, two pairs of soft black jeans, two pairs of socks. Layla reaches for her first this time, so she heads to scoop her out and rests her on the ground in front of her.

Layla giggles when Cady pops her shirt over her head and surprises her with a kiss on the other side. Cady smiles back until they reach the socks, which are always a struggle. Luckily for her, Layla cooperates and is quickly dressed and subbed out for Leo.

Cady repeats the process on her second daughter before she heads to their closet to grab the finishing touches. Two tiny pairs of white high top converse that match her own, and two of the jean jackets Janis painted to match her old ones. These have teddy bears on the back, which are absolutely adorable.

“Mommy painted these for you while you two were still in my tummy,” Cady says, resting them on the rail of Leo’s crib.

“In you tummy?” Leo asks interestedly. Cady nods and carries them both to see the pictures on their bulletin board. That’s a more recent addition to the room, and full of pictures of all the people important to the twins.

Cady points to one of her maternity photos, specifically at her belly. “You two were in here. That’s where you grew for a while.”

They both look curiously at the photo, then down at their own tummies. “How we come out?”

“Um… we can talk about that another day, let’s go do your hair,” Cady says quickly. Before the twins can say anything else she carries them into the bathroom and pops them down on the counter. She gives them each a comb to play with and then sprays them down with some detangling hairspray, brushing their dark curls out to a more manageable state.

She splits Leo’s down the middle and ties hers in space buns on top of her head, then gives Layla one ponytail so the Plastics can tell them apart more easily.

“I have a surprise for you, girls,” Cady says as she roots through the basket for some hair bows, per Leo’s request. They both perk up at the mention of a surprise and look to her interestedly. “You guys get to go to Aunt Reggie’s house today, isn’t that cool?”

“Aunt Weggie house?” Layla asks curiously. They’ve never been to Aunt Reggie’s house, Uncle D is their usual babysitter.

“Yeah! You get to go play with her and Aunt GG and Auntie Karen and Nutmeg,” Cady says, clipping the green bows to their hair ties.

“Wow,” Leo says excitedly. Cady laughs and picks them up again to carry them back to Janis.

“Mommy,” Layla calls happily, running back to Janis’ side of the bed. Janis helps her back up for another round of cuddles. “We go Aunt Weggie house!”

Leo wriggles her way up again as well, and Janis grabs her for snuggles too. Once she has her babies safely back in her hold, she raises a suspicious eyebrow at her wife.

“Just for the day, they’ll be fine,” Cady groans. “Damian’s still out of town and I want to be able to give you my full attention.”

Janis shrugs and brings her daughters up for some kisses, making them both giggle in delight. Cady takes the time to go pack some supplies for the girls while Janis has them occupied.

She packs enough diapers to last them each a week, some extra clothes in case of disaster, a few of their favorite small toys and activities, their pacifiers, and their stuffies. They already have sippy cups and other dishes there, since Damian insisted on buying everyone some just in case there was ever an emergency and they had to babysit. Turns out it was a great idea.

When Cady brings the jackets, backpacks, and shoes back into the bedroom to finish getting her daughters ready, she finds Leo carefully stroking her little hands through Janis’ hair, while Layla sits on Janis’ belly and is thoroughly explaining all the things she wants to do at her aunts’ house.

She chuckles at the precious sight before she enters the room and snatches Layla up for tickles and kisses. Layla shrieks in surprise, but quickly starts laughing and trying to push her away. Cady carefully rests her down and gets her tiny shoes on, and Janis grins when she sees the cute jacket Cady tugs onto Layla’s arms.

Leo goes next, giggling anxiously and curling into Janis for protection as Cady looms ominously overhead. She squeals when she’s snatched up by the mama claw and brought in for her round of kisses and tickles. Once her shoes and jacket are on, it’s time for them to go.

“Okay girls, give Mommy hugs, we gotta go,” she says quietly. Janis grunts slightly as both twins jump on top of her for one last cuddle before they head off.

“Bye girls,” Janis whispers. “I love you.”

“Luh you, Mommy!” Both twins call at the same time. Janis chuckles and kisses them one last time before Cady scoops them up and rests them on the ground.

“Get some rest, love,” Cady murmurs, bending down to kiss her wife. “I’ll be back soon, text me if you need anything.”

Janis nods and curls back into bed. Cady flips the light off on their way out and follows the twins to the car.

—————-

“Whoa,” both twins say when they see the apartment building. Cady realizes she probably should have explained that their aunties don’t live in the whole thing.

“Big house,” Leo says slightly anxiously. Cady chuckles and picks them both up to carry them in.

“Your aunties live here with other people,” Cady explains. “There’s a bunch of little houses in the building that other families live in.”

Cady carries them past the main desk and to the elevators. Leo gets to push the button to call it, and then Layla pushes the button to get up to the right floor.

“Can you knock?” Cady asks, since both her hands are full. Both of them helpfully rap their little fists against the door. “Good job. There’s Auntie Karen!”

“Hey!” Karen says happily. “Come in!”

Cady enters and sets the twins down. Layla toddles off immediately, making a beeline for Nutmeg.

“Dog, dog, dog,” she says happily on her way. “Doggy! I pet, p’ease?”

“Yes, you can pet her,” Karen chuckles. “Hi Leo.”

“Hi,” Leo replies quietly, pressing against Cady’s leg with a heartbreaking pout. Leo’s always been her anxious one, and is clearly frightened at the prospect of facing a new environment all alone.

Cady crouches down to comfort her, stroking some stray hairs away from her baby’s face. “You’re gonna be okay, Bee. Aunt Reggie and Aunt GG and Aunt Karen are gonna play with you, Mama put all your toys in your backpack. And you have Georgie in there too, he’ll give you cuddles if you get scared. And then you get to take your nap, and probably have lunch.”

“Wha’ lunch?” Leo asks.

“I don’t know, we’ll have to see what they have for you, but I bet it’ll be so yummy,” Cady says. “But you’re gonna be safe, little love. Your aunties will protect you, and they can call or text me on my phone if you need me. And I’ll be back to get you in a while, okay?”

“Okay Mama,” Leo says.

“That’s my brave girl,” Cady says happily, pecking her forehead and standing up. “Oh, there’s Aunt GG!”

Leo runs over immediately for a hug. She and Gretchen have a special bond, which Cady is always happy to see. Regina pops out of the kitchen too, upon hearing the commotion that the twins bring everywhere they go.

“Aww,” she coos when she sees Leo cuddled up with her girlfriend. She comes over to Cady to urgently ask, “Which one is that?”

“Leo,” Cady chuckles. “She has space buns, Layla has a ponytail.”

“Got it,” Regina says. She looks down when she feels something tug on her pant leg. “Oh, hi Layla.”

“Hi!” Layla says excitedly. Regina just looks at her for a second, not totally sure what to do. Layla reaches to be picked up, so Regina bends down and scoops her off the floor.

“I should get back to Janis soon,” Cady says. “I’ll have my phone, you can text or call if anything comes up.”

“Sounds good,” Gretchen says, still holding Leo. She sets her down for a second and says, “Go say bye to your mama.”

Regina sets Layla down too, and both twins run to give Cady a goodbye hug and kiss.

“Mwah. I love you, girls. Be good, I’ll be back to get you later,” Cady says, kissing both of their foreheads and holding them close before releasing them back. “Have fun!”

—-

Regina notices Leo hunch in on herself a little bit and look around anxiously when Cady leaves. Layla is fine and very occupied trying to play with a lazy Nutmeg. Regina still doesn’t quite know how to handle the twins, but Leo is clearly frightened. She knows how to deal with that.

She heads over and crouches down in front of her, but leaves some distance so Leo doesn’t feel crowded. “Hi, honey. Can you show me what you have in your backpack?”

Leo nods and sits down across from her, removing her little backpack and resting it on the ground in front of her. “Help p’ease?”

“Okay,” Regina says, undoing the zipper for her. “What do you have there?” Leo reaches in and carefully pulls out her stuffed giraffe. “Who’s that?”

“Georgie,” Leo says quietly. “He gi’affe.”

“That’s so cool,” Regina says. “Should we show Georgie around so he knows where everything is?”

Leo nods, so Regina stands and picks up the baby to give her a little tour. Leo holds tightly to her stuffed friend and looks around curiously.

“This is the kitchen,” Regina says. She lets Leo look around at all the things on the walls, giving her time to adjust. When Leo looks back to her, they move on. “And this is the living room.” Leo’s seen this, it’s where the entryway leads to and where Layla is currently playing with Karen and Gretchen. She looks around for a short while before she’s ready to move on. “And this is the office, this is where we do our work, and over there is the bathroom.”

“Where sleep?” Leo asks, so Regina shows her the two bedrooms.

“This is where Aunt GG and Aunt Karen and I sleep, and then this is the bedroom for when we have people come sleep over,” Regina says. Leo looks around curiously before giving a nod. “What do you think?”

“Big,” Leo says. Regina chuckles and nods.

“It is pretty big. Oh, do you want to see something fun?”

Leo nods interestedly, so Regina carries her to see the axolotls in the tank in their bedroom.

“Fishy!” Leo says excitedly, pointing to the tank. “Ooh.”

“They’re called axolotls,” Regina explains. Leo tries to say it, but it just sounds more like ‘blelele’. “Yeah, close enough!”

“Name?” Leo asks, looking curiously at the strange creatures. Regina holds her at a different angle so she can see better and points to each one.

“This one is named Versace, and this is Gucci,” she says. “And then waaaaay back here is Louboutin The Second.”

Leo giggles. “Silly name.”

“They are, just a little,” Regina agrees. “Okay, let’s go find your sister, hm?” Leo nods, so they head back to the living room. Layla has finally been satisfied with the amount of doggy cuddles she’s been given and left the poor creature alone. She’s now busy explaining her toys to Gretchen and Karen.

Gretchen looks up when they come back, and smiles when she sees Leo cuddled into Regina’s shoulder. “Do you wanna come play?”

Leo nods, so Regina sets her down and lets her run over to her twin and their toys. Regina jumps a little when she feels an arm slide gently around her waist to rub that one spot on her lower back, and a sweet peck pressed to her neck.

“You’re really good with her,” Gretchen whispers. “It’s cute.”

Regina shakes her head and pulls her closer. “I’m not. I just know how to calm people down. I don’t even know how to play with them.”

“Just try,” Gretchen says quietly, kissing her cheek gently and heading back over. Regina watches as Karen and Gretchen play legos with the twins, building masterpieces and then taking them apart to make new ones. Gretchen makes it sound so simple, just try. But Regina wouldn’t even know where to begin.

So she just watches. Leo sits on Karen’s lap and builds her creations, and Layla stands in between the couch and the coffee table in order to make hers. Regina takes a sneaky picture of Leo explaining her tower to Karen.

“Aww,” she coos quietly when she sees how it came out.

“Send that to Janis, she’d like that,” Gretchen chuckles.

Layla looks over at her curiously. “Aunt GG?”

“Yeah?”

“Who… um… Janis?” Layla asks, lisping the end but managing to get the sound out.

“Janis is your mommy, that’s her name,” Gretchen explains.

“No,” Leo says with a head shake, joining their discussion.

“No?”

“Mommy name… uhm… love,” Leo explains. The Plastics all fight to contain a coo, looking at each other.

“Mommy’s name is love?” Karen asks. Both twins nod. “And what’s your mama’s name?”

Janis tends to switch between nicknames for Cady more often, so they’re curious to see what her ‘name’ is.

“Baby,” Layla says.

“No,” Leo disagrees. “Mama Bullaf’y.”

“I don’t know.” Layla says eventually.

“That’s okay,” Regina chuckles. “You’ll learn it soon.”

—————

“Hey, Jay, how you feeling?” Cady asks gently as she heads back into her bedroom. Janis groans quietly when she flips the light on. “You know it gets worse if you just sit here in the dark all day. You need light. You’re like a plant.”

Janis pouts at her. Cady kicks off her shoes and crawls back in next to her for a snuggle.

“The girls are fine, the Plastics seemed really excited,” she says quietly. “It’s kind of nice, isn’t it? Just us for a day.”

Janis nods. They both love their daughters more than the world, but it is nice to have a break from time to time. Even if the circumstances surrounding it are less than ideal.

Cady’s phone dings in her pocket, so she fishes it out to see who’s messaging her.

“Speak of the devil. Aww,” she chuckles, holding it so Janis can see.

reginald: Sent a picture: Play time

reginald: Also, just thought we’d let you know, they don’t know your names.

spacecadet: Really?

reginald: They can’t decide if yours is baby or butterfly, and they think Janis’ name is love.

spacecadet: Oh my goodness

reginald: It’s actually really cute. Gretch said to send that picture to Janis and Layla didn’t know who that was.

spacecadet: At least they don’t think our names are mama and mommy anymore. Are you guys still good?

reginald: Yeah, everything’s good. Leo just needed a little tour and now she’s all settled in. And Layla and Nutmeg are best buds.

spacecadet: Haha, poor pooch. She’s always after Daffy and Ellie too

reginald: Oh, Nutmeg loves it. She just gets to lay there and be cuddled, it’s her dream come true.

spacecadet: Well you guys can have the twins anytime so she can get her snuggle seshes in

reginald: Sounds like a plan, I’ll let Nutmeg know. We’ll probably keep sending you stuff, too.

spacecadet: Please do, you guys are so good with them. Thanks again <3

reginald: Of course.

Janis chuckles as she reads over their conversation too. Cady cuddles her closer and pecks her forehead.

“Did you eat?” She asks. Janis shakes her head. “Okay. I’m gonna go get you something, I’ll be right back.”

Janis pouts again, so Cady leans down to kiss her a few times before she leaves. Janis grins contently and settles deeper in under the covers.

——————

Karen continues playing with the twins for a few hours, and Regina stays to watch. Gretchen has some new designs to work on and heads into the office for some quiet.

Regina’s making progress with the twins, eventually even coloring a picture with them once they pull out some crayons and paper. They both eagerly compliment her drawing of a rabbit.

It’s almost relaxing, in a strange way. Karen makes conversation with everyone as she draws a duck, and the twins seem to be warming up even more to the environment.

Relaxing until Layla suddenly snatches the same crayon Leo wanted to add another beautiful scribble to her page. Leo whines a, “Hey!” and scrambles to take it back. Layla shrieks and holds it out of her reach, and suddenly they’re both in tears.

Karen and Regina look to each other in concern at the two little tantrum tornados they now have to deal with, and each gently pick up a twin so they can’t reach each other. Karen looks very anxious as Leo thrashes in her hold and releases a shriek that so loud they can’t quite figure out how such a small person managed it. Apparently quiet little Leo is actually the screamer of the two.

Layla seems to be more physical, wriggling to be put down so she can get back at her sister. Regina refuses to let her down, knowing it’ll only get worse if she does. Time for some desperate measures.

She manages to carry a wiggling and screaming toddler into the kitchen in one arm, doing a strange sort of fireman’s carry. It works well enough. She grabs two of the sippy cups they have and fills them with some cold water.

Karen is now holding Leo as far away as she possibly can, trying desperately to keep her grip as Leo kicks and shrieks like a banshee in her hold.

“Good lord,” Regina murmurs under her breath. “Hey!”

Her tone isn’t mean, or harsh, just loud. Both twins briefly stop their antics to look at her, knowing they might be in some serious trouble here.

She hands Karen one of the cups to give to Leo. “I need both of you to take some big drinks for me, okay? You’re gonna run out of tears to cry, we have to give you more.”

They both take their cups with a very serious look in their eye and drink a good bit of their water. They don’t want to run out of tears, that would be bad.

“Good job,” Regina congratulates when they pull away with a gasp. It’s a trick she was taught in college, that actually regulates their breathing and helps calm people down in intense moments. “Now you’re gonna take a nap. And we can have a talk when you wake up.”

For safety, they decide to keep them apart. Layla gets set up for her nap in the master bedroom, and Leo in the guest room. They make little barriers with pillows so they don’t fall out of bed and give them the best blankets, then leave them with their stuffed animals, pacifiers, and cups of water to rest.

“Fucking hell,” Regina breathes when she shuts the door to where Leo is resting. “Where do they get the energy for that?”

“Revenge is a big deal for toddlers,” Karen shrugs. “They don’t like when things aren’t fair.”

“Christ,” Regina sighs, sitting down and rubbing her temples. Karen sits down as well. “They’re so sweet, usually, what-what happened?”

“I know what you’re thinking, and no it’s not,” Karen responds. Regina looks at her in shock, wondering how she could’ve possibly known. “It’s not your fault, and you’re not a bad aunt. Do you know how impressive what you just did is? You got two toddlers to stop having a tantrum. That’s, like, really special.”

“But they only started getting upset when I started playing with them. All I can do is… stop them crying or whatever,” Regina grumbles. “I don’t know how to interact with them, or-or play with them.”

“They were upset because they were overtired,” Karen hushes, letting Regina lean onto her shoulder. “We just should’ve had them nap sooner, that’s all. But you’re really special, you know.”

“Hmm?”

“You treat them like people,” Karen says quietly. “That’s, like, super rare. You showed Leo around when she got here instead of just making her go play, and you helped them calm down instead of yelling at them for being too loud or whatever. That’s what’ll help them the most.”

Regina gives a noncommittal hum and accepts the comfort offered by her girlfriend.

“And even if you don’t really play with them that much, they still like you,” Karen continues. “You still talk to them, and give them cool stuff. Playing isn’t the only way to interact with them.”

“I guess,” Regina agrees. “You’re good with them too.”

“They’re easy!” Karen says happily. “But I’m still a kid at heart, I guess. They’re easy for me to relate to, or whatever.”

Regina chuckles. “I can see that. You’ve always been the fun one.”

“Thanks,” Karen laughs back. “You okay now?”

“Yeah. Thank you, honey,” Regina says quietly, leaning in for a quick kiss. “I love you.”

Karen beams, it’s quite rare that Regina says ‘I love you’ first. “I love you too.”

——————

Leo wakes up from her nap first. Gretchen had been hiding in the study throughout the crayon debacle, leaving it to her girlfriends to handle. But the office is closer to the bedrooms, so she decides to be the one to go comfort Leo as she hears her start to cry.

“Hey, Leo lady, good morning,” she says gently. Leo scrambles down off the big bed she’s on and runs in for some comfort. “What happened?”

“Dark,” Leo whimpers, sniffling into Gretchen’s shoulder. “‘N big. Scared.”

“Aww, I’m sorry, sweetheart,” Gretchen hushes. “You don’t need to be scared, nothing here can hurt you. See?”

Leo nods in relief when she flips the light back on. “T’ank you.”

“Of course, honey. I think Karen is making lunch, are you hungry?” Gretchen asks, shutting the light back off and carrying her back into the kitchen. Leo nods and rubs her eyes blearily. She’s not quite awake yet.

“Hey, Leo,” Regina says quietly. “Good morning.”

“Hi,” Leo yawns. Regina chuckles gently.

“Do you feel better?”

Leo nods again. “Wha’ lunch?”

“I don’t know, we have a lot of things here,” Regina answers. “What would you like?”

Leo shrugs, so Gretchen carries her in to see her lunch options. Karen looks up from her sandwich when she hears them come in. “Hey, kiddo! Did you have a good nap?”

Leo nods with a little smile. “Auntie Kawen lunch?”

“Yeah! I’m having a sandwich, do you want one?” Karen asks. Leo nods. “Okay, what kind?”

Leo wiggles a little bit, so Gretchen sets her down to go look at the options. She and Karen both chuckle as Leo picks a large jar of peanut butter out of the cabinet and hands it to Karen.

“Dis p’ease,” she says. Karen takes it from her and unscrews the lid.

“Okay, do you want jelly in it too?”

“No t’ank you.”

“Okay, good job! I’ll bring it to you in a second,” Karen says. Leo runs back to Gretchen to spend some time together while they wait on lunch.

When they head back to the living room, Regina is gone. Leo looks around in confusion until she comes back with her twin. Regina beckons her over, so Leo lets go of Gretchen’s hand and heads over to her other aunt.

Regina sets Layla down next to her. “Do you two feel better now?” They both nod. “Good. Being angry like that is no fun, huh?” They both shake their heads. “Say sorry for fighting, then we can go play again.”

“Sorry Leo,” Layla says sheepishly.

“Sorry Lala,” Leo replies, wrapping her twin in a hug. Layla hugs her back for a second, popping up on her tippy toes to squeeze her sister.

“Sorry Aunt Weggie,” Layla adds. “Fer sc’eaming.” Leo nods to agree.

“Thank you for your apology, girls. Layla, let’s go pick your lunch and then you can play some more,” Regina says, picking them both back up and carrying them to the kitchen.

“There they are,” Gretchen says when they return. “Leo, your sandwich is ready, do you want something to drink with it?”

Leo nods and heads over to see what they have in the fridge, while Layla goes to Karen to pick her meal. She also just picks a sandwich and is quickly released to go pick her own beverage. Leo chooses apple juice, and Layla picks milk.

Surprisingly, each twin finishes about half of her sandwich. Karen helps them down off their chairs and releases them back to the living room for more playing. Leo dives right in and pulls out a small puzzle she brought, pulling out all the animals and trying to work out where they go again. Layla does her own for a while, but gets bored pretty quickly.

So she decides to go on a short adventure. Her Aunt GG disappeared into a room a while ago, so Layla heads off to find her.

Gretchen turns when she hears noises at the glass door to the office, spinning around in her chair to find Layla on her tippy toes trying to reach the doorknob. It takes a few tries, but she manages to open it and toddles into the room victoriously.

“Hi GG!” She chirps happily. Gretchen laughs and beckons her over.

“Hi Layla. What are you up to?” She chuckles, pulling her into her lap and re-doing Layla’s ponytail since it got messed up during her nap. Layla seems delighted to be sitting at the big desk where her aunties do their work.

“Lolo do puzzle,” Layla explains. “Don’t wan’ to.”

“Aww. That’s okay, do you wanna help me with a few things?” Gretchen replies. Layla nods eagerly, so Gretchen wheels them closer to the desk and pulls over a design she’s working on for a client.

“Ooh,” Layla says. “P’etty.”

“Thank you,” Gretchen chuckles. “I have to draw it first, and then I make it a real dress people can wear later.” Layla looks at her in awe. “I know, right? Here, help me with this. What color should I make these flowers here?”

Layla suddenly feels a massive amount of responsibility weigh on her two year old shoulders. This is very important. “Uhm… uh… lellow.”

“Yellow?” Gretchen asks. “That would be really pretty, actually, good job! Yellow would look nice with the blue here. Good pick!”

Layla gives a happy little wiggle on her lap, and watches eagerly as Gretchen sketches the flowers in with a yellow pencil.

“Aunt GG?” Layla pipes up as Gretchen moves onto another area.

“Yeah?”

“Me too?” Layla says. “P’ease?”

Gretchen chuckles. “You want a dress?” Layla nods. “Okay, we can try that. Here.”

She sketches out another model, with about the same proportions as Layla.

“Here, stand up, that’ll make this easier. How long should we make the skirt?” Gretchen asks, popping Layla onto her feet and crouching down in front of her. She points to her ankle, just below her knee, and just above her knee. “Which one?”

Layla looks at her legs for a long moment before she points above her knee. Gretchen smiles and nods.

“That’s what I would have picked too. And should it go out big or be closer to your body?” Gretchen asks, demonstrating where each type would fall. Layla picks a big poofy skirt. “Oh, yeah. You got some good style, chica. Now the sleeves, where should they go?”

Layla watches as Gretchen points to her wrist, just above her elbow, and her shoulder. She points to her shoulder when Gretchen takes her hand away and giggles as Gretchen tickles her.

“Okay, come see,” Gretchen says, picking her back up and resting her on her lap again. Layla smiles happily when she sees the form of the dress. “Now we get to pick what colors and patterns it has. What’s your favorite color?”

“Uhm… g’een,” Layla replies, pointing to her t-shirt. Gretchen grabs two different greens that would look good with a dress this shape, one closer to an emerald and the other a lighter fern sort of shade.

“Which green?” She asks, holding them in front of Layla. Layla picks the lighter one. “Ooh, yeah.” Gretchen carefully makes the skirt green, a plan for fabrics already starting to come together in her mind. “Now what should we do with the top bit?”

“Uh…” Layla says. “Sparkledy.”

“Sparkly? I didn’t even think of that,” Gretchen hums. She pencils it in the same color and adds marks to make sure she knows the bodice should be sequined. “You could be a designer too, Lala, look at this cool dress we drew!”

Layla giggles and looks proudly at the drawing. “Now make it?”

“I can’t make it right now, but yeah, soon! All my stuff to make it is at my work,” Gretchen explains. “Here, let’s take a picture to show your moms, they’re gonna be so proud of you.”

Layla smiles when Gretchen holds her phone up for a selfie, and laughs as her auntie kisses her cheek with an exaggerated smooch sound. “Cheeeese.”

————-

Cady reaches an arm out of the bath she’s dragged her wife into taking when her phone pings with a text. She carefully unlocks it to find a few messages from Gretchen.

fetchen: Sent a picture: i have a new assistant!

spacecadet: Aww! She looks so happy <3

fetchen: Sent a picture: no, seriously, she designed this dress basically herself

fetchen: are you open to having the girls as models at some point?? i’m kind of thinking i should start a children’s line

“No,” Janis pipes up quietly, having read through the conversation as well.

“Not even for Gretchen? It’s not like it’s a huge company. And how cute would they be in outfits like that?” Cady pleads. She’s wary of the idea as well, but knows Gretchen would handle everything safely.

Janis considers this aspect, and has to admit her daughters would make excellent models. Maybe she can make an exception for Gretchen. “Fine.”

spacecadet: You should, we’ll buy all your designs

spacecadet: And if they’re into the idea I don’t see why they couldn’t model for you. Layla loves a camera

fetchen: haha i’ll have to get Gina to take some pics of her then! she’s been looking for a way to connect with them anyway

spacecadet: Aww, how sweet. They love all of you

fetchen: that’s what I keep trying to tell her! anyway, I should probably get back to work with Lala. tell Janis I say hi!!

spacecadet: Of course!! Thank you <3

Janis nuzzles into her neck as she flicks the phone back off and sighs, in a mix of exhaustion and contentment.

“Layla must take after you,” Cady murmurs. “Little artist.”

Janis grins gently against her. “We’ll see.”

—————

“There you are,” Regina says as she enters the office to find Layla with Gretchen. “What are you two up to?”

“GG make d’esses!” Layla says happily. “I helpin’.”

“Oh, you’re the best helper,” Regina responds. Layla beams at her. “What did you do?”

Gretchen smiles too as Regina tips her head up and kisses her forehead, then starts gently looking through the designs. Gretchen pulls out the one she designed with Layla’s help and shows it to her.

“She did this pretty much herself,” she says. “And now I kind of want to start a children’s line.”

“You should,” Regina says. “You could make little matching ones of the adult designs you do. Have, like, a mommy and me line. I’d buy that and we don’t even have kids.”

“That’s a good idea,” Gretchen hums. “I’ll think about it more later. We’ve done enough work for today, let’s go play!”

Regina chuckles as Layla runs out of the room when Gretchen sets her down, her little ponytail bouncing behind her.

“You two are cute together,” she murmurs. “You’d make a good mom.”

“So would you,” Gretchen says, wrapping her arms around her waist. Regina shakes her head and tries to move away, but Gretchen refuses to let her go. “No, look at me.” She gently cups Regina’s chin and makes her look into her eyes. “If you wanted to, you would make a wonderful mother. You’re not your dad. You’ve made so much progress, sweetheart.”

Regina flushes at the pet name and buries her face in the crook of Gretchen’s neck. “We’ll talk about it?”

“Yeah,” Gretchen agrees quietly. “Always. Whenever you want, we’ll talk about it. You know you can always talk to us?”

Regina nods. “You know too?”

“Yeah,” Gretchen murmurs. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” Regina whispers, unfortunately having to pull away from one of her favorite places, since her spine is beginning to ache at being hunched over to cuddle her smaller girlfriend. “We should probably go save Karen.”

Gretchen laughs and takes her hand, leading her back out to the living room.

—-

A short while later, Regina half-watches Karen giving the twins ‘airplane rides’ around the apartment, weaving around the furniture and in and and out of rooms. She’s also half-watching her Tiktok feed for the day. Hmm.

She brings up her text thread with Cady to ask a very important question.

Cady peeks at her phone when it chimes, picking it up from the bathroom counter to see the message. She laughs when she sees what it is, and heads back to the living room where Janis is lethargically sprawled on the couch.

“Regina wants to know if she can put the babies on Tiktok,” she giggles.

“Absolutely not,” Janis grumbles.

“Oh come on, grumpy pants,” Cady coaxes, turning their show back on and dimming the lights a bit. “Some of them are cute, and Gretchen says she’s having a hard time connecting with them. She said she’d send them to me for us to check before she posts them. Please?”

Janis does kind of want to see how her daughters react to a few of the trends she’s seen, and knows she’s wary of the idea simply because she still has a hard time trusting Regina. So, begrudgingly, “Maybe.”

Cady grins and kisses her hair, and they wait for the videos to come in.

They only have to wait a few minutes before the first one comes through. Cady pauses their show again and waits for Janis to turn onto her back on top of her, then brings up the video so they can both see.

Layla and Leo sit side by side on a very nice couch, their little socked feet not even making it to the end of the cushion. Regina hands each one a little gift bag, and they both tear in to see what present they’ve gotten. Layla gasps excitedly when she pulls out a banana.

“A ‘nana!” She says happily. Leo pulls out one of her own and looks at it in confusion. “Leo, we got ‘nanas! Aunt Weggie, open p’ease?”

Leo’s eyes go wide and and she gives an excited gasp when she realizes she actually has one of her favorite fruits in her hand, and asks for hers to be opened in sign language. Regina laughs and peels both bananas. Each girl takes theirs back and munches happily on it while the video closes. Just before it cuts, they both say a muffled, “T’ank you!” around their bites.

Cady and Janis both laugh, and Cady sends back a message to explain that they usually give them their bananas pre-peeled, so that’s why Leo didn’t recognize it.

The next video comes through a few minutes later. Leo and Layla have finished their bananas and are still on the couch. Regina enters the room filming, rests her phone on the coffee table, and leaves the room.

It takes a second for them to notice, but Layla clocks the phone first. She rolls onto her tummy and slides off the couch before going to pick it up. She sees herself on the screen and pauses for a second to smile at her reflection before she goes running to find her auntie in the kitchen. The background moves wildly as Layla pokes her little tongue out in her concentration, and the rhythmic little thumps of her footsteps can be heard.

“Aunt Weggie!” She calls happily when she finds her. “You left you phone!”

“I left my phone?” Regina says in fake shock. Layla toddles over and gives it back. “Oh, thank you! You’re very responsible.”

The camera flips around to show Layla wrapped around Regina’s legs, giving a wide smile up at her just before it cuts.

“Aww,” Cady coos. “We’ve trained them well.”

“She’s so cute,” Janis chuckles, tapping the video to play it again.

The next one features Leo, sitting on Regina’s lap in the kitchen. Regina explains that Leo had asked for a drink and they’re going to see how well she can pour it herself. A small glass is put in front of the toddler, and she’s offered a bottle of almond milk.

Leo takes the bottle carefully and tips it over the glass, slowly pouring some into the cup. She has the right motions, but quickly gets carried away and fills the cup too much. It spills over onto the counter, and Regina quickly grabs the bottle to stop it. Both Leo and Regina pull the same face, wide eyes and lips pressed into a thin line as they look into the camera.

“Oh no,” Leo says. “Needa towel, p’ease.”

Someone else, most probably Gretchen, hands over some paper towels, and Leo carefully swipes it over the counter to clean up her mess.

“There we go,” she says, sounding more like ‘dairy doe’.

“Good job!” Regina congratulates as Leo ever so carefully picks up her very full cup of milk and takes a sip. Regina helps her get down off her lap, and a ‘T’ank you!’ can be faintly heard. “You’re welcome!”

“Oh goodness,” Cady laughs. “At least she cleaned up after herself. Poor Regina.”

“And she’s polite,” Janis chuckles quietly. “Her sweet little voice.”

“We’re doing a good job,” Cady says quietly. “With them.”

Janis nods in agreement and scrolls back up to the video with the bananas.

It takes a long while for the next video to come through, and Regina explains that they’d taken a break to eat dinner (alfredo pasta) and then to clean said dinner off the twins. Layla had apparently taken a special liking to the meal and managed to get it in her hair, so that took some extra time.

But a video of two clean babies comes through. Regina is sitting on the ground wrapped in a fitted sheet so just her face is visible. Karen seems to be filming this time, and encourages the girls to go get their auntie. Leo seems a little concerned, but they both run over to Regina.

When they just make it, Regina suddenly opens the sheet and snatches both inside like a venus flytrap. They both scream in surprise, but their adorable giggles are quickly heard. The video cuts, and they both run into the trap again, and again, and again.

Another one comes through, and this time Gretchen is the one in the sheet. The twins don’t stop laughing the whole time, their giggles making a precious audio for the video. Just before it cuts, Gretchen is looking exhausted, but Leo calls a delighted “‘Gain!”

So, another one comes through with Karen in the sheet. The twins’ hair is frizzy and their cheeks are pink by this point. Cady is just glad they’re getting some energy out before bedtime.

Janis laughs gently at each video, wondering how she hasn’t thought of this. Apparently her daughters are easily entertained. “I miss them.”

“I miss them too,” Cady sighs. “I’ll need to go get them soon, though, it’s getting late.” An alert suddenly comes through her phone then, letting them know a thunderstorm is approaching. “Uh oh.”

“Maybe not,” Janis chuckles. “You shouldn’t drive in that.”

“But they freak out during storms,” Cady says anxiously. “Especially Leo. But I can’t get there before it hits.”

“She’ll be fine,” Janis comforts. “Regina can handle that.”

“I hope so.”

—————

Regina grins happily as she reads the comments for the videos she’s posted so far, everyone delighting in her precious nieces. She’s reading one that seems nearly distraught at how polite they are when a text comes through from Cady.

spacecadet: Hey, I just saw that a storm is coming. Jay doesn’t want me to drive in it but both of the girls get really scared

Regina checks her weather app and sees that a small but strong storm is rapidly approaching. She peeks out the window to find that the sky is already grey with dark clouds.

reginald: Yeah, you definitely shouldn’t drive. I think we can make it, you come when it stops.

spacecadet: Are you sure?? I know they’ll be fine but you shouldn’t have to deal with both of them screaming

reginald: Oh, it’s fine, we already have. There was a little incident before naptime. And scared babies are easy, we’ll be fine.

spacecadet: Incident?

reginald: Bad word choice. Both had a tantrum, they were tired and wanted the same crayon.

spacecadet: Oh goodness, I’m sorry

reginald: Cady, they’re two, it’s fine. We dealt with it and they’re fine. Is there anything you usually do with them during storms?

spacecadet: If you say so. If we know they’re coming we usually warn them, and if it’s really bad we hide in the basement so the noise is muffled. But you can do whatever you need to

reginald: Sounds like a plan. See you whenever it passes.

spacecadet: Thanks, Regina :)

“Girls!” Regina calls gently as she clicks her phone off. Leo and Layla come barreling down the hallway to her when they hear her call, and Gretchen and Karen quickly follow. Regina crouches down to the smalls’ height to explain the situation. “There’s a thunderstorm coming, but you don’t need to be scared. We can all have a storm party!”

“A pawty?” Leo says anxiously. She instinctively reaches for Layla’s hand, nervous at the prospect of a storm. Especially without Mama or Mommy there to comfort them.

“Yeah!” Regina says excitedly. “Come on, let’s get ready.”

Gretchen and Karen seem confused, but follow along with Regina’s plan. They open the curtains on one of the floor-to-ceiling windows so they can see out, and the twins helpfully grab all the couch cushions and pillows they can carry. Regina gets blankets, and they build a little fort in front of the window, held up by a lamp.

Regina, Gretchen, and Karen head inside, and the twins sit in between them to wait.

After a few minutes, the first flash of lightning lights up the dark sky. Both twins let out a whimper of fright and scream when a crack of thunder follows.

“Shh, it’s okay,” Gretchen comforts as they both bury their faces in her chest.

“Loud,” Leo whimpers.

“I know,” Gretchen hushes. “The storm can’t hurt you, it’s just a scary noise.”

“Let’s play a game,” Regina coaxes. Both twins peek their little faces out to see her. “Come here.” Anxiously, they both crawl into her lap and look out the window. “Let’s count.”

“Count?” Layla asks anxiously, jumping and letting out a squeak of fright at the next lightning.

“Yeah, let’s go,” Regina says, coaxing them to look. “One… two… three… four… five… oh, there’s the thunder!”

“Why count?” Leo asks, poking her face out when the booms stop.

“If we can count high that means the storm is far away,” Regina explains. “It’s gonna get closer, and then it’ll move away and be done. And we’re safe in here.”

She smiles as she sees the twins take some deep breaths to calm down and cuddle closer into her. They still jump when the lightning goes by, but this time they count with her.

“One… two… free… four… fibe,” they say anxiously. This time, they giggle when the thunder hits. Layla says, “I did it!”

“Did you make it thunder?” Regina chuckles. Both girls nod. “Good job. Oh, here we go, do it again!”

They only make it to three this time.

“Get close?” Leo asks curiously, looking to her aunties.

“Uhhuh,” Regina confirms. Karen and Gretchen switch to be on either side of her and cuddle in close with everyone. “It’s getting closer and then it’ll go away.”

A few more rounds go by where they get as high as three, and then they start only making it to one or two. Luckily, they don’t seem scared anymore. They look excited to be tracking the storm and making the thunder happen.

“Oh, we can count higher now, the storm is leaving,” Regina says happily. “You’re doing so good!”

Gradually, the rain slows and the storm dissipates. Leo and Layla look curiously out the window the whole time, and make no effort to leave Regina’s lap once the sun gently peeks out from the horizon, beginning to set for the day. Strangely, Regina finds herself not wanting to let them go, either.

Gretchen and Karen gently exit their little tent to get all the twins’ things packed back up, and find their shoes and jackets once again. Gretchen is just tying on the last little shoe when they hear a knock at the door.

“Who could that be, girls?” Karen says excitedly, also trying to stop Nutmeg from barking at it too much. “Go see!”

Both twins eagerly run down the hallway to the front door, and Leo stands on her tippy toes to open it.

“Mama!” They both call happily, wrapping each of their little bodies around one of her legs.

“Hi, sweet girls!” Cady says happily, bending to pick each of them up and kiss all over their little faces. “Oh, I missed you so much! What did you do today?”

Both girls immediately launch into a story, explaining in as much detail as they can the exciting events that happened with their aunties. Cady enters and shuts the door behind her as they rattle off their favorite parts.

“Really? Did you have so much fun?” Cady asks when they finally have explained everything they wanted to. They both nod eagerly. “Good. We have to go home now, can you go say thank you?”

Both twins wiggle to be set down and run back to their aunties, giving hugs and saying thank you for a fun day. Cady follows suit too, and grins as her daughters seem to linger for just a while longer with Regina.

“Thank you so much,” Cady says gratefully. “You guys are so good with them, thank you.”

“Anytime!” Karen says happily. “Bye girls!”

Both girls wave goodbye and call a, “Bye-bye!” over their mama’s shoulder as they’re carried out of the apartment and down to go home. Cady chuckles and kisses each forehead gently as she buckles them into their car seats.

——————

“Mommy, Mommy!” Both girls call happily when Cady unlocks the front door to let them in, toddling full speed down the hall and over to Janis on the couch. Cady stays behind for a second and gives a small grin at the wide smile her wife gets upon seeing their children.

“Hi, girls!” Janis says happily, sounding like she already has a bit of energy back. It usually takes her a minimum of a few days to recover from an episode, but she’s already making good progress through this one. “I missed you.”

“Miss Mommy too,” the twins say at the same time. Janis grins contently as they both worm their way up on top of her for a snuggle.

“Aww, my sweet girls,” Janis coos. “Did you have fun with your aunties?”

Cady rolls her eyes lovingly, knowing Janis just opened a whole can of worms for herself. At least she has enough time to go get the twins’ bedtime things ready for them while they explain their whole day to their mommy.

The twins apparently gave Janis an abridged version of the story, because when Cady comes back she finds them all silent. Both twins are cuddled into Janis’ chest, one little head on each of her shoulders. Janis has a hand resting on each of their backs, holding them close to her. Her eyes are closed contently, and she looks the most at peace Cady thinks she’s ever seen from her. She’s glad to see it.

She sneakily snaps a few pictures of her perfect little family before she does unfortunately have to break up the little cuddle party. “Alright, munchkins, it’s bedtime.”

“I can get them down,” Janis says quietly, opening her eyes when Cady kisses her forehead.

“If you want, of course,” Cady agrees. “I got their jammies ready and everything.”

Janis nods and picks up both of their sleepy girls, standing carefully and carrying them upstairs. Cady flops onto their bed and listens down the hall as Janis gets them into their pajamas, brushes their teeth and hair, and reads them some bedtime stories.

The end of story time is her cue, and she hauls herself up to go to the nursery to kiss their babies goodnight. Janis is hunched over and pressed against Leo’s little face, giving her her goodnight kisses and having their little nightly chat. Cady goes to Layla first.

“Did you have a good day today?” She whispers. Layla nods. “Good! What was your favorite part?”

“Uh… doggy,” Layla responds.

“You liked playing with Nutmeg?” Cady chuckles. “I bet she liked you too. What part did you not like?”

“Fundersto’m,” Layla says.

“I know, that must’ve been scary,” Cady replies. “But you made it through the whole thing even though you were scared! You were so brave, Ladybug.” Layla beams at her, and Cady smiles back. “Are we gonna have our best day tomorrow?” Layla nods again. “Good, get some good sleep so you’re ready for it.”

Cady leans down to kiss her forehead and down her little nose.

“Goodnight, my sweet little pumpkin, have sweet dreams,” Cady whispers. “I love you so much.”

“Luh you, Mama,” Layla says quietly, followed by a yawn.

Cady and Janis switch twins then, repeating their process on the other girl before turning on the white noise machine and nightlight, and leaving them to sleep.

—————

Across town, all three Plastics flop into bed early, exhausted after a very, very long day. It’s Regina’s turn in the middle, her favorite nights. She’d never admit it, but she loves having each of her girlfriends cuddled up on either side of her all night.

“We did good,” Gretchen yawns. Her girlfriends nod in agreement. “We… we should have a chat tomorrow.”

“Stop yawning, you’re making me yawn,” Regina grumbles. Gretchen chuckles and leans in for a kiss. Regina suddenly forgets her complaints and kisses her back.

“Ahem,” Karen coughs. Regina rolls her eyes lovingly, but flips over to give Karen some affection too. “Thank you.”

“I love you,” Regina whispers, kissing both of her girlfriends and cuddling in under the duvet.

“I love you too,” Gretchen murmurs, also kissing both of them before cuddling in on Regina’s right side.

“I love you three,” Karen says, getting her kisses in and settling in on Regina’s left. They say this every night, and still always giggle at ‘I love you three.’

They drift off tangled in each other, completely exhausted but completely content.

It takes a village.

---

hope you enjoyed!!

i’m still undecided on whether to give the plastics kids, which is why i left the ending sort of intentionally vague in that regard :))) so let me know!! if you guys want i can totally do a kid fic for them, or just give them a kid and not write about it. or not give them a kid!!! up to you guys!

im hoping to have requests re-opened by next week! I'm just finishing up some last little things here and there and then they should FINALLY be reopened bc its been forever omg. anyway!

thank you all so much for reading and have a lovely day!

lots of love,

ezzy

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