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When their parents told them that the pre-teen years would be some of the hardest years of a kid’s life, Jason and Billy didn’t take it as seriously as they should.
Puberty
ugh. Ethan, now he wasn’t
as
hard to deal with. Billy was
very
blunt with his son when it came to needing to start using deodorant, even
more
blunt when confiscating the
axe
body spray that he tried to use to overcompensate for it. Jason understood what Ethan was trying to go for...growing up...his room probably reeked of dude funk. Parenting was always
easy
when it came to their son.
As for their daughter...that was something they weren’t prepared for. A period talk, a training bra. These boys were treading into the deep end. Shelby was becoming
obsessed
with boys having an absolute obsession with a band called the N-Zed Boys. Over the years Jason had grown close with Shelby and Ethan’s first grade teacher...Aisha was more than helpful with Shelby when it came to
changes
in her body that the boys weren’t as equipped to talk about. The first time Aisha took Jason and Billy to the store to buy pads and tampons was an eye opening experience. There were so many types, thick, thin, absorbent. Jason didn’t want to hear the word
flow
for
good
long time. Billy’s comment on how it was similar to buying pampers did not go over well with Mrs. Landsdown.
13. While it didn’t technically count as being a
pre-
teen it still felt so young to the pair of fathers. They were so vulnerable at this time. Socially school was such a jungle and kids were crueler now than ever when it came to making comments on instagram posts or hyper analyzing a vague Facebook status. Jason and Billy watched as best friends Shelby and Hayley argued about stupid things and then go right back to texting each other
all
day. Ethan on the other hand, Jason and Billy had to make sure that he wasn’t talking to complete strangers on the internet. The kid was so obsessed with gaming and voice chatting that it was easy to worry about who was on the other end. With twins all of these changes were happening at once, but like anything else, the Cranscott dads tackled it together.
One night when it was
far
too late to be
blasting
music from her room, Jason had to knock on his daughter’s door. “Shelby! Turn it down!”
“Sorry dad!”
“Did you do your homework?”
“Uh duh” He could practically hear her scoff from the other side, as if that was a question? Shelby and Ethan were the rare kids that didn’t
mind
homework, and did it as soon as they came home.
Jason felt that something was a little off so he knocked on the door once more, “Can I come in?”
“Um...give me a second!” Jason could hear his daughter moving around in the room, tidying up before opening the door with a wide smile. “What’s up?”
The stay at home father rose a questioning brow upon seeing his daughter’s face, “What did I tell you about makeup?”
“...That I’m too young for it” She slowly responded, her brows furrowing as if she was confused to why he even brought it up.
Jason walked into Shelby’s room to grab a tissue out of a bright pink box, offering it to his barely teenage daughter. “Take it off”
“I’m not” Shelby tried to laugh it off, but with one gesture of his arm Jason
insisted
that she take the tissue. “Ugh, how did you know?” She grumbled, starting to wipe away the foundation, “It’s not a big deal you know”
“You’re too young” Jason knew that this was Hayley Park’s doing. What Tanya and Adam let their daughter do, was their business. He didn’t want his daughter growing up too fast, or falling into self esteem issues. “And you’re beautiful”
“Yeah
okay”
Shelby didn’t seem to believe him, she huffed out a deep sigh and sat on her bed. “Then why do I feel so invisible all the time? If I want K-” She froze, her eyes went wide, so she had to quickly recover, “If we all wear school uniforms how am I going to stand out? All the cool girls wear makeup…”
“Hold on, hold on” Jason grabbed Shelby’s computer chair and took a seat in it, he was going to have to buckle down for a father daughter heart to heart. “You want someone to notice you...a special someone?”
“Maybe” She paused, “I don’t know” Shelby guilty looked up to the poster of the boy band on her wall. Oh Jason was
not
ready for her daughter to be interested in
boys
this way. Teenage boys were dumb, and played mind games and really he could speak from experience when he said they were so curious about sex that it was all they could think about. He wasn’t much older than Shelby when he saw his first porno video with his best friend Tommy Oliver...except while Tommy was fixated on the girl...Jason’s eyes couldn’t leave the dude. It left for one very confusing night.
“It’s just a dumb crush” Shelby concluded, confirming Jason’s suspicions. “I don’t really have a chance”
“Hey don’t sell yourself short. Any guy would be lucky to be your boyfriend”
“Ugh” Shelby rested her hand to cover her eyes, she really didn’t want to be having this kind of talk with her father. Nor did she want the
sex
talk. “You have to say that, you’re my dad”
“I only tell the truth” Jason laughed, leaning forward to rest his arm on the back of the chair, “Maybe you should talk to them, tell them how you feel?”
“Are you crazy!?” Shelby shot up, horrified that her father would suggest such a crazy thing. Telling the person she had a crush on that she liked them!? Oh no. Oh no no no no.
“What’s the worst that can happen?” Jason sighed, “They say no...and then you can move on”
“No the worst thing that can happen is that I
die”
Shelby was a bit over dramatic with that claim, “What would I even say…? It’s totally humiliating”
“Liking someone isn’t humiliating” He could only smile, “Making the first move is a good thing, shows confidence. You won’t ever know unless you take that leap of faith”
Little did Jason know, in the room right next door...Billy was having a similar chat with their young son.
“Practicing for a speech?” Billy caught Ethan looking into a full size mirror, the sudden appearance of his father scared the hell out of the teenage boy. “Sorry, I know public speaking isn’t your favorite thing”
“Ah jeez you scared the hell outta me!” Billy tilted his head to the side,
“Heck”
Ethan corrected, Billy was a stickler when it came to language. He was pretty good at getting Jason to put money into a swear jar to curb his husband’s bad habit.
Billy tilted his head to the side, he noticed that Ethan was wearing a
Panic! At the Disco
band t-shirt and some baggy pants...
much
different than his usual style. Billy would know, he was the one that tended to take Ethan to the store and buy his clothes. He could say that he had a lot in common with his son when it came to fashion choices. Ethan wore a lot of blue plaid, gamer t-shirts or just dumb shirts with nerdy puns on them.
“...What are you wearing?” Better question was when did he even
get
a band t-shirt? “Since when were you into…”
“I’m not” Ethan confessed, “There’s this girl I like, she’s a year older and...really cool” He started to scratch the top of his head, sighing in defeat, “I thought if I’d look like I’d be interested in what she’s interested in…”
“But that’s not you” Billy took it upon himself to step into his son’s space, “If you’re pretending, she’ll never know the real you”
“What if she doesn’t like the “real me”? I’m not
Conner
I’m not a giant ladies magnet” Ethan’s best friend Conner McKnight was blessed with being tall and athletic, to Ethan he was his closest friend at Eastland Academy...but sometimes he felt like the nerdy sidekick to his show. “There’s no wow factor here”
“Hey, hey, now don’t be so down on yourself. Nerd is the new
it
thing” Billy smiled, “Technology is the future, comic books? Video games. Take it from your pops” He couldn’t help but laugh, pretending to snap invisible suspenders like he was a hot shot, “I scored a jock”
“Didn’t you guys meet because some frat guys were trying to throw you into a lake?” Ethan asked tilting his head to the side, his arms folded. “I’m pretty sure
dad
was the one who saved you”
“Sure, sure, sure” Billy did not forget
that
fun day. Rush week at Corinth University wasn’t Billy’s
favorite.
He wasn’t even
trying
to join a fraternity, but was somehow a target for young freshmen to try to win over the older guys. “But who do you think was the one who asked who out?”
“Dad”
“No!
Me”
Billy patted his chest, “I was the one to ask him out on a date. If I didn’t and waited around for him? Oh boy, that’d take awhile” He laughed, “I love your father but he would’ve taken
weeks
before making a move. Be yourself Ethan, I promise you that will go a long way”
“I guess if you could score someone as hot as dad…I’m just...nervous I guess”
“Putting yourself out there is always hard. I know, but if you don’t take that risk every now and again...things will never change” For better or for worse, “If I didn’t have the courage to ask your dad out, well, we wouldn’t be sitting here in this room talking about it. Now would we?”
Ethan rubbed the back of his neck, “I guess that’s true...thanks dad”
That night Billy and Jason laid in bed, trying to lull themselves down for the night. They were both buzzing from the conversations they had with their kids…only thirteen and they wanted to
ask
someone out on a date. Oh their first
crush.
“So I had to give Shelby some advice tonight” Jason was the first to bring it up, he turned his head to look at his husband. “She has a crush on someone at school” And many celebrity boys, but those didn’t really
count
in the same way.
“Huh” Billy frowned, “No kidding. I
just
had a conversation with Ethan about the same thing”
“What’d you tell him?”
“To go for it” The engineer didn’t hesitate, he shrugged his shoulders, “The worst she can say is no. Right?”
“That’s pretty much what I told her” Jason laughed, “But you know what it was like back then,
everything
is 100 times scarier than it actually is”
“I hope it goes well” Billy sighed, “It’s not
fun
to be rejected at that age” Or
ever,
“I am so not ready for Shelby and Ethan to be dating”
“They’re good kids” Jason wasn’t worried about his kids wanting to go anywhere past kissing. The two were so shy and nervous when it came to expressing themselves that he couldn’t see them taking a
relationship
too quickly. “Besides, without a car. What’re they going to do? Go
bowling?”
“I wouldn’t know” His husband shrugged his shoulders, “I didn’t start dating until senior year of high school and by then I could drive my mom’s van”
“We’re going to have to give them a sex talk aren’t we?”
“Oooh. Let’s put a pin in
that”
Billy would need time to properly prepare himself for
that.
He would have to find some sort of pamphlet, or make up his own powerpoint to work off of. The two dads didn’t want to get
ahead
of themselves...after all...this was only a first crush. No one’s come home with a
girlfriend
or a
boyfriend
just yet.
*****
Ethan never felt this anxious over
anything
before, and that includes numerous timed boss battles over his 13 years of video gaming. He could feel his palms starting to sweat as he walked down the hallway of the
high school
lockers.
A….B….C
Maybe he wasn’t ready to do this, maybe she was out of his league. After all, she was in
high school
while he was still in
junior high.
A one year difference could mean the world between 13 and 14.
D...E….
F.
That’s when he spotted his equally nervous sister, standing at his destination.
Kira Ford’s
locker. What the hell was
Shelby
doing here?
“Ethan?” Shelby frowned, clearly on edge as her arms now were folded, “Go away, I got here first. I really don’t need you cramping my style right now”
“What?” Ethan shook his head, he wasn’t planning on going anywhere. “Kira’s more
my
friend than
your
friend” Kira, Shelby and Ethan all met through the
band.
While Ethan played Trumpet and Shelby a clarinet...Kira was a
drummer.
A cool,
badass
chick when a pension for music and a
voice
oh...man...one day Ethan stumbled upon Kira practicing a solo for choir. It was that moment he was struck by cupid's arrow. Conner, for his part, did his best to get Kira to hang out with them outside of school but Kira had
no
interest in the jock. Something about rejecting the pretty boy, made Ethan feel a bit better about himself. She wasn’t shallow.
“Yeah, well, um I’m hoping to change that” Shelby glanced down the hallway, the drummer should be out any minute and there were
two
Cranscott’s waiting at her locker. “I was...going to ask her out on a date” She chose her words carefully, this was the first time she let
anyone
in her family know that she was interested in a
girl.
Ethan was pretty unphased by her confession,
“Kira?
C’mon…” What luck. He and Shelby were both enamored by the same girl. He supposed he couldn’t blame his twin sister...Kira
was
pretty sexy with the way she would adjust her uniform to be a bit more rebellious. “You’re on the basketball team! Can’t you be gay with one of them? Probability says...”
“What!? Are you kidding me right now?” Shelby sure the hell wasn’t going to back down now, if anything she was about ready to lock horns with her brother.
“Shelby...I
really
like her” Ethan sighed, resting his back against the neighboring locker, “I don’t ask for much from you...I already feel like I don’t have a shot...please just back down from this one”
“You don’t think
you
have a shot?” Shelby swallowed the lump in her throat, mirroring her brother and leaning up against the
other
neighboring locker. “Hello, coming out here, that’s pretty damn scary”
“You think Kira’d...be into girls?” He asked, glancing over, at the end of the day Shelby was his sister...his
twin,
he didn’t want to see her getting hurt. He didn’t like winning if it meant she had to lose. “I mean maybe”
“I don’t know”
Ethan’s head dropped down, “Do dads know?”
“No” The normally loud and proud obnoxious Shelby Cranscott’s voice went soft, “I’m not really
ready
to tell them that…”
“That you’re gay...Shelbs, they’re not gonna
care”
Hello, it’d be pretty hypocritical.
“I’m still into guys” Shelby corrected, god she would date Rata from the N-Zed boys in an
instant,
yummy. “But I like girls too…I just want more time to figure it out before
announcing
something or putting a label on it” Her eyes traveled over to Ethan, “Do you like boys?”
Ethan chuckled, scratching his cheek, “Nope, very into ladies” He wasn’t going to tell Shelby that he was
curious
about it. “I like boobs” Couldn’t wait to touch real ones, hopefully Kira’s. “But uh, guess we can have that in common” He paused, “What’s a girls locker room like?”
“Ew don’t be gross” Shelby’s lips contorted into a disgusted frown, “It is probably the
least
sexy place ever and god. I don’t
look.
No one actually
looks.”
Hazel, Hayley, Gia and Emma were her
friends.
She wasn’t going to creep on them after a basketball game. “Dad said to
go
for it, but I’m scared”
“Yeah, same” He paused, “Other dad, who is way cooler than we give him credit for”
“Well, duh” Shelby rolled her eyes, to her; her father Billy was the coolest guy on the planet. “I
really
like her Ethan”
“I do too” He rested his hands on his forehead, letting out a deep sigh. They both deserved an opportunity to go after what they wanted. “Rock, paper, scissors to see who gets to ask her out first?”
Shelby eyed him, “Seriously?”
“Unless you’d rather flip a coin, let fate decide? Do you have a quarter?” Ethan felt like that was
also
a dumb way to decide something as serious as this, “I don’t know what else to do!”
The hallway door opened, snapping the twins immediately into better posture. Kira entered the hallway, a boy named Trent had his arm wrapped around her waist. Oh. That was
way
too intimate. Shelby looked over to her brother, she had come to the same conclusion. Kira and Trent were
dating,
but haven’t moved to the step of being
Facebook Official.
Crap. The future punk rocker looked confused to why the Cranscott twins were standing at her locker, even more perplexed when Ethan suddenly yelled. “Abort mission!” Slapped Shelby’s arm and ran in the direction of the door.
They had dodged an embarrassing bullet of putting themselves out there to a girl who already
had
a boyfriend.
“Well that
sucked”
Shelby groaned once they hit outside, ugh and now the
bus
had left which meant the two had to
walk
home. The two didn’t want to call Jason to pick them up and
ask
how their day went.
“That definitely blew up in our face” Ethan started walking in the direction of their home, the more out of Kira’s sight they could be...the better. “Guess we’ll never know who she’d be more into”
“I guess so” Shelby laughed, a weight lifted off her chest. Even though it
sucked
to see the girl she liked with someone else...at least she didn’t make herself vulnerable to get rejected. Knowing that Kira had a boyfriend, well, that’d make it easier to get
over
her crush. “Hey...Ethan...about what we talked about”
“Your secret is safe with me” Ethan smiled, this brother was always out to protect his little sister. “And Shelby?”
“Hm?”
“When you’re ready, just know that I’ll be proud of you.” Ethan would be the first to get a t-shirt that read,
I love my gay dads AND my bi sister.