Pines Triplets - Tumblr Posts

Henry looked at his family in the living room, and finally spoke the thought that had been on his mind for quite some time.

“Perhaps we should start child-proofing the house?” Mabel put the purse she was sequinning down on her stomach (her stomach already big enough to use as a table.)

“Do we have to right now? I mean, it’s going to be like, at least a year before we even have to worry about that!” 

Stan nodded, then swore and got up to fix the TV; the TV being one of seven things plugged into a socket dated from 1965 meant for at most two things. 

Dipper popped in, covered in blood which then immediately puddled around him. “Childproofing? With me around? That’s like, a box of twinkies level deal.”

Henry folded his arms. “There’s some twinkies in the pantry; why don’t I go get them?” “But I mean, like, the triplets aren’t going to be here for a while, so what’s the rush?”

Henry decided to let it go. 

—

The problem with Henry, Dipper thought as he frantically dulled a fingernail before sticking it into Hank’s mouth to fish out a sequin, was that he never said, “I told you so.”

He didn’t even act smug or make snide remark- oh god Acacia was going for the plug with a knitting needle.

Nope he did not say a word or even act differently; Dipper could see it in his aura and how did Willow get a hold of one of Stan’s cigar butts? He threw those in the outside trash!

No, Henry didn’t say anything like that all, and the lack of saying anything stung far far worse.

(for a human, Henry played a remarkably good long game.) 

thanks to @marypsue for that one convo on text like two months ago that helped me with this idea and now i’m actually writing it out, 12/10 friending

——-

He looked at the clock. 2:44. 

Though this was his third sleepless night in a row, Henry could appreciate Mabel snoring away next to him. Nothing got between Mabel and a good six to eight hours of sleep: not a demon brother, or Stan’s poker nights, or three babies suffering from colic all at once-

Or one of their children being kidnapped.

Or what Henry did to get her back. 

A split second memory, of the feeling of bones breaking and healing and breaking and healing over and over in rapid succession as his body got the orders to grow, of the anger that fueled that growth…

He had been so angry.

No.

Henry turned over and away from Mabel, as if doing so would let him ignore the flush and heat of his skin that still hadn’t gone away, the twitchiness of his muscles that let him know it could happen all over again-

He still was. 

That wasn’t the problem. 

There was a small part of him (and indeed, in his head that part of him looked just like he did in kindergarten, black t-shirt from K-mart and unruly hair and missing baby teeth that didn’t all fall out on their own) that was always angry. That had started being angry when he was three and already had learned not to talk back, and had only grown in strength since then.

He was used to that.

He was used to ignoring that. Hell, Henry prided himself on never acting on that anger. And even when he did lose his temper, he never raised his voice, much less his hands. He swore to himself, long ago, he would never do either.

Henry couldn’t say that about himself, not any more. 

It didn’t matter that it was “for the best possible reason” (as Mabel had put it this evening.) Maybe this time it was- but what about the next time? And the next time after?

Because, Henry had a sick feeling there would be a next time. And a next time after that. And after that as well.

Because 45 years of fighting had fallen away, all too easily, in one second. And he had done everything he did without a second thought, without any hesitation at all. 

He looked at the clock. 2:46. 

Do Henry or the Triplets ever manage to have time travel adventures?

“So.”

Ugh. Acacia hated when Hank used that tone on her.

Hank pushed his glasses up on his nose. 

“You think it’s a good idea to go with this weird guy-”

“Blendin Blenjamin Blandin!”

“-the weird guy who accidentally killed Time Baby.”

“I did not kill Time Baby, Time Baby did not die and further more-”

Hank shot Blandin a look he totally stole from Dad. Acacia was surprised that it worked.

“Anyway, you think it’s a good idea to go with him to, what was it?”

“GLOBNOR!!!!!”

Mom mentioned Blandin having a mute button, why didn’t she say where it was? 

“Come on Hank!” she pleaded. “Remember all the games Mom and Uncle Dipper mentioned? The lightcycle races? The hot dog eating contests? Testing your mettle against monsters from across the galaxy? Five dimensional chess? Doesn’t that sound cool?”

“It sounds dangerous,” Willow finally chimed in, plopped in her bean bag chair and reading a magazine.

Acacia huffed. “Okay, doesn’t it sound fun?”

Hank shook his head. “For two seconds until you remember that Mom and Dad would ground us forever.” 

Willow looked up from her magazine at Acacia with a slightly vacant stare. Acacia tried not to squirm. When Willow looked at people like that…she usually was seeing things that people didn’t want her to see.

Finally, Willow looked back down and flipped a page. “I think your version of fun is different from ours Caci.”

Time for the big guns. “Don’t either of you want a time wish? That’s, that’s a big fucking deal right?”

Hank snorted. “Our uncle is a demon. Why do we need a time wish?” 

Not looking up from her article, Willow said, “Look, just admit you want to get into a fight, and you’ll be a lot happier.”

“I- what?” What? That was totally not the reason. Not at all! Acacia couldn’t believe that her own sister said that.

“Are any of you coming?” Blendin asked.

“Unlike these boring babies, I am!” Acacia looked at her siblings to see if her sick burn landed, and was disappointed to see neither of them were looking at her.One last chance. “Aren’t you all worried about me going off on my own?”

Hank was fishing under his bed for something. “I’m worried about the massive grounding you’re going to get.”

Willow finished her magazine, and leaned over to get another one from the pile. “I’m worried you’re going to come back covered in other people’s blood.” 

“That is a highly specific concern!” Blendin said, completely unnecessarily. 

Acacia rolled her eyes. “Whatever, let’s just go.”

(she had never had more fun, never felt more alive. And when Uncle Dipper finally appeared to get her, she had no idea why her saying that made him turn ghost pale.

Willow was right. She did have blood all over her darnit.)