A Family is Love

by Godslittleprincess

Chapter 2: El Cambio Puede Ser Bueno

The next morning, Flash woke up to a group text from Micro Chips.

“Hey, guys,” the text read, “let’s meet at the park in 30 minutes. I’m bringing condensed milk.”

Flash read over the text a few more times, going back and forth between smiling nostalgically and frowning quizzically.

Sharing a can of condensed milk was a deeply personal bonding ritual that he, Micro Chips, Derpy Muffins, Lyra Heartsrtings, and Sweetie Drops started back in fifth grade. Micro Chips used to sneak the sweet, sticky stuff and a can opener from his house to either the school cafeteria or the playground, and all five of them would go at it with either spoons or bare fingers. As the five of them got older and more germaphobic, they eventually switched from spoons and fingers to dippable snacks and stopped double dipping. Micro Chips was always the one who arranged these meetings since he was the one in charge of the condensed milk, and he had not arranged one in a long while.

Flash got himself ready for the day and went down into the kitchen. He took a box of graham crackers from the pantry and walked to the front door. On the way to the door, he grabbed two slices of toast from the dining room table. His family, Honey Bee, and Ocellus were there having a breakfast of either cereal and milk or oatmeal.

“Micro wants to meet up with me and our friends at the park,” Flash said to everyone as he continued his way to the door. “I’ll be back for lunch.”

“Okay,” Aunt Flare called back. “Drive safely.”

---

When Flash got out the door, Micro Chips was already waiting over by his car with a plastic bag in his hand. Flash assumed that Micro was carrying the condensed milk and a can opener inside of it. Judging by the sharp corners he could see under the plastic, Micro also seemed to be bringing what Flash assumed to be a box of saltines.

“’Sup?” Flash greeted.

Micro didn’t smile back and just shrugged. Flash replied with a frown and unlocked the car, and the two of them got in.

“So,” Flash continued as he pulled the car out of the driveway and began driving towards the park, “Aunt Flare and Grandma said that they and your parents met with Thorax to talk about fostering the kids for longer.”

“That they did,” Micro muttered.

Flash’s frown grew deeper at Micro’s answer. “Is everything okay?”

“I suppose so.” Micro’s unmoving, stone-faced expression was very reassuring, not.

“You don’t sound okay.”

Micro growled under his breath and replied, “It’s pretty complicated. I’ll tell you when we get together with D and the girls.”

The two of them were the first ones to arrive at the park. They found a picnic table to wait at, and a few minutes later, they saw Derpy approaching from the bus stop and waved her over. Lyra and Sweetie Drops were the last two to arrive.

“Alright! Let’s do this,” Lyra cheered as the five childhood friends unpacked their snacks. As Flash predicted, Micro had brought a box of saltines along with the condensed milk. Derpy had brought a package of animal crackers. Lyra brought pretzel rods, and Sweetie brought vanilla sandwich cookies. How Sweetie can eat something so full of sugar dipped into even more sugar without getting diabetes or becoming Pinkie Pie Flash will never know.

“Mmmmmm-mmmmmmm-mmmm,” Derpy moaned with a happy, little seat wiggle as she popped a freshly dipped animal cracker into her mouth. “So good! We haven’t done this in forever. What’s the occasion?”

“Oh, no occasion,” Micro replied, nibbling on his cracker. “Just wanted to talk.”

“About?” asked Sweetie Drops.

Micro paused, taking a deep breath to collect his thoughts. “You guys remember how my mom is super protective of those rose bushes in our backyard?”

Flash pursed his lips as he tried to remember. “Vaguely.”

“I used to keep asking my parents why they were such a big deal, and they used to say that they’d tell me when I’m older. Well, I’m older now.”

“They finally told you, huh?” Lyra noted.

“Yup.”

“Okay, well, what’s the story?” Flash asked.

Micro Chips took a deep breath and replied, “So, it turns out that back when my parents first got married, they had both wanted a big family with at least five kids.” He gestured to himself. “As you can see, that didn’t happen.”

Micro looked down at the table as he listlessly swirled a saltine cracker into the milky white syrup.

“Let’s just say there’s a reason why Mom’s rosebushes have tags with names on them,” Micro explained, “and why two of them are red and four of them are pink.”

The implications were not lost on everyone else at the table.

“Okay, not trying to be rude, but you being a miracle baby doesn’t sound like something you would normally make a big deal of,” Lyra pointed out before biting into another pretzel rod.

“It’s not,” Micro agreed. “I only brought it up because the thing I want to talk about is sort of related to that.”

Flash shared a look with everyone else at the table before all eyes returned to Micro Chips.

“My parents believe that, thanks to current circumstances, they may have been given a second chance at get that big family that they always wanted,” Micro bluntly stated.

Flash’s eyes widened and his mouth broke into a smile as he realized, “Dude, are your parents thinking about adopting Gypsy and Gale?”

“And Robby when the police find him,” Micro muttered in affirmation.

“Gosh! That’s great. God knows those kids need a family,” Flash cheered before noticing the troubled look on Micro Chips’s face. Derpy noticed it too and shared a look with him.

“You don’t seem very happy about that,” she said to Micro.

“Why wouldn’t I be happy about that?!” Micro suddenly shouted. “A very good thing is happening in my family. My parents are getting the family they always wanted but thought they’d never be able to have, and three good kids are going to end up getting some great parents. I SHOULD be happy about that! It would make absolutely no sense for me NOT to be happy about it!”

“So, why aren’t you?” Lyra blurted out as she and Sweetie Drops started at Micro in surprise.

“That’s what I’ve been asking myself!” Micro cried, covering his face with his hands.

Sweetie frowned thoughtfully as she split apart a sandwich cookie and dipped the cream-less half into the condensed milk.

“I think I know why,” she said to Micro as she finished eating her cookie. Micro looked up at her with an eyebrow raised in confusion. “For your whole life, your family has just been you and your parents, but now, three other people are suddenly going to be a part of it, and everything is going to change. Sure, you know it’s supposed to be a good change, but it’s still totally unfamiliar to you, and the part of you that likes your family as it is now is completely freaking out about that.”

Micro growled under his breath and face-tabled, hating the fact that Sweetie was totally right.

Flash put a hand on Micro’s shoulder and reassured him, “Hey, I know the day I became an older brother was a LONG time ago, so I don’t remember a lot of details clearly, but I do remember that I had the hardest time adjusting to having to share my parents’, well, mostly my mom’s, attention. I know Base and I get along great now, but having him around took some getting used to back then.”

Micro didn’t pick his face up from the table.

“Look, man, I can’t promise you that nothing is going to change between you and your parents, but I do know that having three other kids to raise isn’t going to make them love you any less.”

“Oh, I know that,” Micro retorted, finally picking himself off the table. “I mean, I’m going to be nineteen soon, so of course, I know that. It’s just…” Micro sighed. “What if I just can’t handle the change? What if I never get used to having them around? I mean, logically speaking, I should be able to since I’ve adjusted to lots of other changes already, going to college out of state being one of them, so why am I so terrified? If am honest with myself, I’m feeling a lot of things that make zero sense to me right now.”

For a few seconds, no one said anything but continued munching on the snacks. Finally, Derpy spoke.

“You know, Micro,” said Derpy, “getting adopted is a pretty huge change for the kids too. Maybe they’re just as terrified as you are.”

“Maybe but I don’t see how that’s going to help me,” Micro replied.

“Maybe you can work together with them to help each other adjust.”

Micro sighed again and shook his head. “That’s the other thing I’m worried about. I don’t think the girls like me very much, especially Gale.”

Flash made a confused grimace. “What makes you say that? You spent a whole week with them last year, and they seemed to like you just fine.”

“Well, yeah, but last year, I was just a temporary assistant babysitter,” Micro replied. “Now, I’m their future older brother. On top of that, in the time they’ve been staying at my house, the three of us haven’t really clicked. We’ve just been peacefully coexisting.”

“They just got rescued from being trafficked for sex, and one of them is missing her brother and is probably going out of her mind over him,” Flash pointed out. “That’s a lot to recover from.”

“Well, what if the police find Robby and bring him back, they get over it, and we still don’t connect? Let’s not forget that I’m going to be away from home for most of the year and that I’m not all that good with people, especially children. All that’s going to make connecting hard.”

“Lucky for you, hard doesn’t mean impossible,” Lyra quipped.

“Besides,” Sweetie added, “you LOVE those kids, don’t you?”

Micro paused to think but answered emphatically, “Of course I do. It’s just buried under a lot of worry and uncertainty.”

“Then, find a way to unbury it. When you really love someone, you’re willing to do the hard stuff in order to show it,” Sweetie replied.

“In your case, that means getting over yourself and finding a way to connect with those kids,” Lyra added bluntly. Micro replied with a scowl.

Flash gave Micro’s shoulder a squeeze and said, “It’s going to be okay, Micro. Just take it one day at a time.”

Micro gave Flash a small smile, which disappeared when his phone rang.

“You make me un poco loco, un poquititito loco,” Micro’s phone rang. “The way you keep me guessing, I'm nodding and I'm—”

“Yes, Mamá?” Micro answered.

“Mijito, Papá and I are about to head out with the truck,” Micro’s mother reminded. “Don’t forget that you need to come home and watch your sisters.”

Micro tried very hard not to cringe. “Don’t worry, Mamá. I was just about to leave.”

“Oh, gracias, corazón. I’ll see you when you get home.”

Micro said his goodbyes and hung up the phone.

“She just called them my sisters,” he pointed out to everyone at the table. “They haven’t even been officially adopted yet, and she’s already treating them like family.”

---

Meanwhile at Micro Chips’s house, Nightingale was in the room she was currently sharing with Gypsy Scarf, lying in bed staring up at the ceiling. She had been there since after breakfast.

“Hey, Gale, you okay?” Gypsy asked, walking into the room with a ball of yarn, a pair of crochet needles, and a sheet of instructions She planted herself at the foot of the bed and begun to crochet.

“Fine, I guess,” Gale replied uncertainly.

“Still not over the news that Mrs. Canela and Mr. Skeeter told us last night? Or maybe we should start calling them Mom and Dad now.”

Gale groaned, burying her face in her pillow.

“What’s wrong? I thought you’d be more excited about getting adopted.”

“I am,” Gale insisted, sitting up abruptly. “I mean, having a real mom and dad and a place to call home is great and all. It’s just…I don’t know. I’ve only had one mommy and one daddy my whole life, and both of them are dead, and I don’t even remember my mommy all that much. Now, I’m getting a new mom and dad, and,” she paused, “and I’m scared.”

“Of what?”

“What if having a new mom and dad makes me forget the mommy and daddy I had? What if I stop loving them?”

Gypsy stopped crocheting as Gale’s words sunk in.

“You don’t think they’d make us forget about our old families, do you?” Gypsy asked worriedly. “I mean, Mrs. Canela and Mr. Skeeter seem really nice. Sure, Mrs. Canela is really loud and wordy and busy, and Mr. Skeeter seems to only have three different faces, and two of them sorta look the same, but they don’t look like the ‘stop loving your old family’ type of people.”

“I mean, what if I stop loving them on my own?” Gale clarified in annoyance.

“Oh,” Gypsy realized. Then, she huffed, “That’s not going to happen. I mean, look at Mr. Flash. He still loves his grandpa, and his grandpa’s been dead for longer than your dad has been.”

“Yeah, well, Mr. Flash doesn’t have people going to him wanting to be his new grandpa,” Gale pointed out.

Gypsy pursed her lips as she tried to think of a better example. “Well, if having new parents means that we stop loving our old ones, then won’t that mean that Mrs. Canela and Mr. Skeeter will stop loving Mr. Micro because they’re getting new kids? Besides, your dad obviously didn’t stop loving you just because Robby was born.”

“That’s different! Mr. Micro isn’t dead, and I wasn’t dead when Robby was born!” Gale snapped.

Before Gypsy could get another word in, a deep, steady male voice with a Texas accent called up the stairs, “Girls, Mom and I are heading out, and your big brother just got home.”

“Okay, Mr. Skeeter, we’ll be down in a second,” Gypsy called back.

Gale cried out in frustration as she face-pillowed once again. “They’re already treating us like we’re their actual kids. Now, I feel bad for feeling scared.”

---

Five minutes later, Micro and the girls were sitting at the dining room table sharing lunch, having just seen his, soon to be their, parents off. Lunch consisted of last night’s leftovers, and last night’s dinner was brisket enchiladas with charro beans and vinegar coleslaw. Micro Chips got two helpings of everything just as he usually did. How he could eat so much and still stay his normal, lanky self is a mystery that not even science had an answer for.

The three of them wordlessly ate their lunch and shared uncertain looks with each other. No doubt, they all had last night’s announcement on their minds. Every one of them wanted to say something but kept their mouths shut either out of fear, difficulty finding the right words, or both. Finally, Micro decided that as the adult in the room, he had to be the one to break the silence.

“So, what did you guys think about my parents’ announcement last night?” Micro asked hesitantly. “You, uh, excited about getting to be part of a family again?”

Gale and Gypsy shared a look with each other.

“It’s fine, I guess,” Gale answered unconvincingly.

“Gale’s scared that she’s going to forget her birth parents though,” Gypsy blurted. Gale glared at her incredulously and kicked her from under the table. “Ow!”

Micro’s eyes widened as he frowned in confusion.

“Why would you forget your birth parents?” Micro Chips asked Gale.

“Well,” Gale began haltingly, “it’s just that they’ve both been dead for a while, especially my mommy since I don’t even remember her all that much, and what if having a new mom and dad makes me forget about them?”

Micro paused trying to come up with the best way to answer Gale’s question. “Are you worried that my parents are somehow going to end up replacing your birth parents?”

Gale looked away from him before nodding slowly.

“Oh, Gale,” Micro sighed, “my parents aren’t trying to replace your birth parents. It’s just that, well…” Micro bit his lip before continuing, “Having you two around made my parents realize that they had a lot of love to give away, and, well, you two needed it, so they decided that you should have some of it and that bringing you into our family was the best way to give you the love you guys needed. Do you understand?”

“I think so,” Gale replied, pushing her beans around with her fork, “but I’m still pretty scared.”

“That everything is going to change and that you’re not going to like it even if it’s supposed to be a good change?” Micro noted.

“How did you know?” Gale gasped in surprise. “Not even I knew I was scared of that.”

Micro sighed again, put his forked down, and looked the little girl in the eye.

“Because,” he replied, “that’s how I felt about you, Gypsy, and Robby getting adopted.”

Gale and Gypsy shared an offended look with each other at his reply.

“You don’t want us to be part of your family?” Gypsy asked.

“No!” Micro cried before backpedaling, “I mean, yes. I mean, look, I know that having a family would be good for you guys, and I’m okay with you becoming part of mine. It’s just that I’m not used to having other people in my family, and having you be part of it is going to take time to get used to, and I’m worried about all the ways that this adoption can go wrong. I mean, what if the four of us end up not liking each other?”

“Well, Gale, Robby and I already like each other just fine, so are you scared that you’re not going to like us or that we’re not going to like you?”

“Well, it’s a little of both but mostly the second one,” Micro admitted. “I mean, one, I don’t know a thing about you except for what I was able to find out in the last five days and at camp last year. Two, I don’t know anything about being an older brother except for what I’ve seen with Flash and First Base, but I’m not Flash, and you two and Robby aren’t Base. I can’t just copy what Flash does with his brother and expect the three of you to like me. That’d be unreasonable.”

The girls shared another look with each other.

“Well, for what it’s worth, we don’t know much about you either, Mr. Micro,” Gale replied, “and I don’t know about Gypsy, but I’m scared that you’re not going to like us too.”

“If it makes you feel any better, I want to like you guys,” Micro admitted. “Maybe we’ll all be a little less scared about this whole adoption thing if we got to know each other better.”

“Okay,” Gale agreed. “So, what do you want to do?”

“Firstly, I think the two of you should try to stop calling me ‘Mister.’ I know it’s going to take some getting used to, but try to start calling me ‘Micro’ or ‘Micro Chips,’ whichever one you’re more comfortable with.”

“Okay, Micro Chips,” Gypsy agreed with a giggle. “Wow, that does take getting used to.”

Micro Chips and Gale each suppressed a snicker of their own.

“So,” Gale asked, “what are we going to do today?”

Micro Chips paused to think. Then, he smiled.

“Why don’t we start with something simple?” Micro suggested. “How does watching a movie together sound?”

Gale gasped in excitement, “Do you have Tangled?”

Micro stifled a laugh, replying, “Somehow, I just knew you were going to ask that.” Then, his smile faded a little. “But unfortunately, the answer is no.”

“The Princess and the Frog?”

“Gale, does Mr., err, I mean, Micro Chips look like the kind of guy who would own ANY princess movies?” Gypsy asked exasperatedly.

“Do the Star Wars movies count?” Micro tentatively asked. Judging by the blank stare Gale was giving him, the answer seemed to be no. “Okay, let’s try this. Let’s look through the movies we’ve got in the living room and pick one that looks like one we’d all enjoy.”

To Micro’s disappointment, the girls decided to pass on not only the Star Wars movies but also the MCU movies. The three of them managed to narrow their choices to the Chips’ collection of PicsArt movies and both PlayPiece movies. Since none of them felt like crying after the deeply emotional conversation they had over lunch, they wisely decided to pass on the PicsArt movies.

The three of them not only watched the first PlayPiece movie, but they enjoyed it so much that they also watched the second one. Who knew that a movie franchise about a world made from plastic, interlocking bricks could end up connecting three people as different as Micro, Gypsy, and Gale?

At the end of the second movie, Micro decided to break out his collection of PlayPiece bricks and build something with the girls. Micro felt mildly embarrassed by the fact that he needed both the girls’ help to move the tub of bricks from his room to the living room, but in his defense, it was a HUGE tub. However, all negative feelings were quickly forgotten the moment the plastic bricks cascaded onto the living room floor with a loud, satisfying CRASH! After a short debate over what the they should make with the bricks, the three of them spent the rest of the afternoon building a bright purple castle with sky blue towers protected by gold and silver robots and spaceships of all shapes and colors, an odd combination of aesthetics for sure, but hey, so were they.

Author's Note:

Yeah, I kinda had the headcanon of Micro Chips being a miracle baby for a while. I also knew I wanted some of the kid OCs I created to be adopted out into the families in Flash's neighborhood.

I also knew I wanted Flash and his friends to have some sort of bonding ritual, and for some reason, I chose to center it around condensed milk. What can I say? That stuff's good.

By the way, PlayPiece is this world's version of LEGO just in case it wasn't clear.

Comments

[Foxhelm]

Micro Chips, Derpy Muffins, Lyra Heartsrtings, and Sweetie Drops started back in fifth grade.

Wait no Sandlewood?
Aw great bonding between Micro and the girls

[SuperSonicHeroes]

I’m sure Micro will get used to his new sisters eventually.

[Ro994]

As an only child, I 100% get where Micro's coming from. A lifetime of not sharing your parents (just mother in my case) and suddenly having it change is not something you easily get used to. Both of the times my cousins from the states came over and stayed with us for a month, I felt really uncomfortable and weirded out, even if I knew it was temporary. I can't imagine what it must feel like for Micro knowing it's gonna be permanent. But still, they're starting to bond, which of course is a good thing!
Long personal comment, sorry x'D In conclusion: Good chapter!