-Get distracted by jingling keys-(Part 3)

Miz, on the other hand, was more focused on the other twin. She wanted to see if little Sixer could learn to talk to people. After all, being a successful scientist wasn't just about being book smart; you needed a level of charisma to get anywhere in life. Heck, his hero Tesla was as successful as he had been mainly due to how intense his personality had been. Tesla had been eccentric, but he'd also known how to charm people into letting him get away with being the weirdo that he'd been.

And yeah, if Sixer wanted to get anywhere in life, he'd need to learn how to talk to people better -- Stan agreed with her on that point. Sixer had seemed a little miffed at their evaluation of his ability to socialize, but Lee had outnumbered him, agreeing with the other two instead of him.

Stan watched the twins at a distance, and as he kept half-an-eye on the kids, Stan also kept up a conversation with Miz.

"So you're thinkin' of making that dragon illusion thing, like, what? A local cryptid?" Stan asked Miz as he sat with her on the beach.

(The kid and Ford were back at the boat, doing who knew what. Stan wasn't too worried; his brother didn't seem 'addicted' or nothin', and neither of 'em seemed to be at each other's throats, even after being left 'all alone' to each others' company the previous afternoon. Hell, Ford hadn't even seemed that annoyed, until Sixer had said something that had had Bill getting all… y'know, demon-y talk and stuff at them. And the two of 'em had both survived yesterday together without killing or maiming each other to death or disfigurement, so Stan figured Ford and the kid could probably handle not-killing-themselves-or-each-other-maybe for a second day in a row, right?)

(...Eh, the two of 'em were both out on deck, and sound traveled. He'd hear them fighting, if anything went really wrong...)

Miz nodded. "Like how that one town's got the mothman or something. I know Jersey's supposed to have the Jersey Devil, but the dragon's cooler, more noticeable, and I can ensure that it won't attack anyone. I can make it so that it'll stop being solid if anyone gets too close, so it literally couldn't hurt anyone."

Supposed to have a Jersey Devil? --They absolutely did! ...Uh, assuming they hadn't scared it off after that thing with the Sibling Brothers and the net, way back when. But… yeah, a 'real' attraction would be too dangerous; Stan had learned that from the Shack. (Hell, you couldn't even get the a gnome to play nice for a day, even for a whole jar of jam. The crazy little buggers couldn't keep it together for more than a few hours without trying to bite the hell outta anybody who got too close to 'em. And don't even get him started on that Mothman guy...)

So Stan thought about it for awhile, before he said, "Well, wouldn't people get suspicious, if it ain't all that solid? How're you gonna keep folks from thinking it might be somethin' other than what it is? And how're you planning on setting up this safety thing, here? Y'know, specifically?"

Miz tilted her head. "I can set it to be able to put on a Perception Filter to escape and leave the area when it gets surrounded."

Stan sat back and shrugged. "Kid, why do you need it to get close enough to people that that's even gonna be a problem? Just make it keep its distance and always be non-substantial, all the time. Loch Ness monster does just great drawing tourists in, and it's camera-shy as anything," Stan told her. "You'll need a good hook for why the thing's insubstantial here, though," because Nessie had all that natural fog over by its lake; Glass Shard Beach, not so much. "Like… maybe it's made outta fog for people who it don't trust? Something like that? --The keepin' it insubstantial idea's good for keepin' people from getting hurt outright," Stan told her. But he wasn't so sure about the rest of it, and, "You gotta have a reason for it bein' like that now that people'll buy, too. Because everybody and their dog saw how it got hurt stompin' around on the beach yesterday, and how the twins were able to grab and touch it all over, and clawing at that net instead of fogging right outta it..." Sta said said leadingly.

Miz nodded at that, accepting Stan's input. "Okay. So there wouldn't even be any issues with people getting hurt. Fog would make sense. Or sea foam." She looked over at the ocean, calculating how that would work. "Like, maybe it only takes physical form when hungry, hence why it came up on land. Since there's less food in the oceans?"

"That's a good start," Stan told her, the master storyteller of the Mystery Shack sitting back, relaxing, and having a little fun at him getting to be the one poking at holes in stories for once, instead of some of his more smart-alecky of customers being the ones to try and poke holes in his. "But why would it come up onto the beach this time, when it usually eats stuff outta the oceans?" Stan asked of her next.

---

Over with the younger twins, Lee was counting out how much money they'd made from having Sixer lead people closer to the sedated dragon to take a photo of it. The animal control guys had finally showed up that afternoon, but they'd all been actually pretty honest about how they all weren't so sure how to handle a creature as large as DragonMiz. (New Jersey wasn't exactly known for its beached whale problems, and whales tended to not have lots and lots of rows of sharp and pointy teeth or a slew of wicked-looking claws.) The dragon had protested being touched by anyone who wasn't one of the twins, so they had been at a loss as to how they were going to safely move it.

"Well, its leg was only cut up a little from the glass," Sixer had pointed out. "I've looked at it's paw, the cut isn't deep. It should be healed up within a few days if it doesn't try to move and hurt itself."

The animal control guys had understood his point, "But we can't leave it here in the middle of the beach," one of them had said.

Sixer had nodded. "I can try and lure it slowly to an out of the way part of the beach with some food," he'd told them. "I actually don't think it's dangerous. It seems more curious about humans than anything else." He'd scratched the dragon's head to prove his point, and the animal control guys had all watched the beast, as it rumbled and nuzzled its large head against Sixer's hand.

And that was how animal control had ended up leaving it alone, and how Sixer and Lee had managed to move the dragon down the beach, set up a small area for people to come and 'See the seadragon' (pun courtesy of Lee), and begin running their own little beach attraction for money -- instead of the impromptu thing that Stan had done out on the beach the previous day, which had only been a 'take pictures of', not 'take pictures of or with', kind of thing. (Though they charged more for taking their pictures with their camera for them, getting them actually in the frame, as they kept the dragon calm enough to be cool with it.) They were doing pretty well, too.

After Miz and Stan got finished talking, Miz had decided to put herself on 'food duty', going off to bring back 'food' for the dragon from time to time (all illusions, of course).

Lee grinned a little and hammed it up, when even some kids from school ended up coming by to gawk at it.

Miz was quietly preening (from where she was sitting on the beach by Stan) at the awed looks her dragon construct was getting. Yes! Be amazed! Look at how impressive it was! (And, unlike Bill, she actually noticed when Stan saw her getting all excited and excitable, and started patting her on top of her head. ...And she purred a bit, quietly, as she slowly began to calm down, under Stan's not-quite-petting head-patting.) She resisted the urge to just nuzzle against Stan, he wasn't her brother, it would be weird.

The younger twins were enjoying their moment in the spotlight, as it were. Their fellow classmates were so amazed by it. Miz was quietly scanning everyone to see what they thought, how impressed they were of the twins…

...Carla was there, and she was pissed...

Well... Miz wasn't quite sure what she'd been expecting...

Miz had been having trouble figuring out how to drop the fact that Carla was the one who broken Sixer's project. She was torn between telling or not telling people. Stan hadn't wanted that knowledge spread. Ford clearly wanted to know but hadn't really had the time to investigate himself. Lee was all for just forgetting about it and working to try and support his brother. Sixer… wanted to know but... he was still of the opinion that it was 'better this way' and that sort of mentality made Miz a little worried. She'd already told him not to abandon his brother, but she wasn't sure he was going to listen.

Well, even if Sixer DID go off to college on his own, leaving Lee behind without a single glance, at least Lee would have the boat. And wasn't going to be out on the streets, starving and getting mixed up in the crime underbelly out of desperation. This was something that Miz and Stan both agreed on, not letting Lee turn out homeless for ten years like him or without a high school degree. (Stan had been pretty vocal at dinner, the last time Lee had tried to bring it up, about how people tried to shaft you on pay if you didn't have your diploma.)

(Lee had been surprised at how vehement the two of them had been about it. Ford himself had ended up a little bemused -- though mostly suspicious -- at the man-eater acting so much like she actually cared. If Ford hadn't known she was a demon, he felt he might have even made the mistake of believing her...)

Miz got up and made her way over to the twins, in her older teenage form once more, since there were some classmates around.

"Hey Lee. How's it going?" she asked. He looked up from where he was counting the profits, eyes gleaming at all the sweet, sweet greenbacks that they'd been making hand over fist -- literally.

"Good! Is this what older me does all the time? This is amazing," Lee told her.

Miz giggled. "Well, he's sorta retired now, passed the torch down to the next generation as it were…"

"He's got a kid?!" Lee asked, eyebrows raising. He hadn't exactly thought about anyone or anything about 'life after Carla', yet. (But if the older him had a kid… well, hey, he had to have gotten over her eventually, right?)

Miz paused. "Not in the traditional sense. He didn't really get the time to really settle down and start a family; the older Ford kinda got into some trouble and was lost in space, so Stan had to spend 30 years fixing a portal to bring his brother back to Earth…" she mumbled. "Though a different Stan in another dimension actually stayed together with his Carla, things went down very differently there and he had a son with her, but that's not the point right now--"

Lee's eyes widened. "Uh. Right, that..." He remembered that she'd mentioned that before, the thing about fixing a portal. (The another-him staying together with Carla was new, though. Made him feel kinda weird about his own ex...)

Miz was going to tell him not to worry about it, but then thought better of it. There was something she was worried about.

"I don't know if that'll happen here, since we've changed things already. --The portal, I mean." She frowned. "But more importantly, please take care of Shermie," she told him. "Even after Sixer goes off to college and you're off on your boat, please make sure you keep in contact with Shermie. Please make sure that Shermie would have a way to contact you, if they were ever in trouble."

Lee blinked, confused about this sudden change in topic. "Uh… well, yeah. Of course I'll keep in touch with Shermie? But Shermie's just a toddler…" Lee frowned as him saying that didn't seem to leave the demon-dragon looking any happier at anything. ...Which meant he must be missing something. "Okay, look. I'm stupid, remember? What are you sayin' here, straight-out."

"You're not…" Miz started, then stopped, and sighed. "Visit your mom sometime, meet Shermie when they're older. Make sure that… if something happens in the future, you'll be able to take care of Shermie. That there's some place where Shermie can go to find you for help when they need it," Miz told him quietly, making sure that neither of the Fords could hear. "Also, you're not stupid. The older Stan self taught himself to build an interdimensional portal without ever getting a college education. He's not stupid and neither are you."

Okay, Lee was stupid? But he wasn't that stupid. He didn't try to touch upon his own level of intelligence (or not), and instead went straight for the important stuff that she'd just said. "What's… what happened? Will happen?" Because they were from the future right? Lee was getting really worried now, because... "Is something gonna happen to--" his ma and pa? Was something gonna happen to his family? His Ma? Why would he need to be able to help Shermie-- Was his pa gonna throw Shermie outta the house at some point, too? Was he gonna have to… take care of Shermie himself? With Sixer? If so, then the demon-dragon had better tell him--!

"Shhh!" Miz shushed him, glancing around to make sure that none of the other Pines were listening. "Look, this is just a precaution. And your family will be fine. Just that…" She sighed. "You know those two kids who were here before? That first day? Those two are Shermie's grandkids."

Lee's eyes widened again. --Little baby Shermie's grandkids? That was… wait. Lee frowned. If those two were Shermie's GRANDkids… and Shermie was just a baby now… and the older thems were what, 60-something, maybe? Only 60-something, and grand-uncles? Then that meant that...

Lee got quiet as he looked down at Miz. "You mean…" Oh. Oh, man. ...Yeah, their old man would not be happy about that...

Miz nodded. "Yeah, teen pregnancy. Needless to say, your father wasn't happy." (Lee grimaced.) "And well, back in the other dimension, Shermie ran away, went to Stan and he took care of them, made sure Shermie was alright, and that the kid was alright."

Lee nodded slowly. "Right. So… you just… want me to make sure that this time around, I'm still around here someplace for Shermie to go to for help," instead of out sailing on his boat in the back beyonds of who-knew-where, looking for treasure. Miz nodded. "You can still go sailing, but it would be nice to have some location like a house or a base that Shermie could find you at." Lee frowned. "Why can't my brother know about this?" Lee asked next. Because Sixer was gonna be around this time to help -- or he'd better be, instead of lost in some other-dimensional place, or Lee would sock him one in the jaw for being so stupid as heck! -- but... it was pretty obvious to Lee that Miz didn't want Sixer to know about any of this stuff, at all.

She sighed. "If you want to tell him, you can, just do it after we leave." She sighed again. "I really don't want Stan and Ford getting into another argument about it. So, just don't bring it up until after we're gone." And she sounded so weary that Lee sighed and nodded.

"Alright, I won't bring it up with Sixer until after you guys leave." Lee didn't exactly blame her, either. He'd seen those guys argue at each other a couple times now, and it hadn't been pretty. He didn't want to be the one to accidentally start something else up between them. (that would be really messed up.)

Miz gave him a grateful smile. "Thanks," she told him. With that said, she turned away from him and began making her way back to the boat, grinning as she went. --Ok, there was one worry addressed. It would be sad if the twins weren't born in this world… like they hadn't been born in that other dimension…

She clambered up onto the deck, and glanced over at the older Ford. Yet another difference between Stan and Ford's dimensions that, hopefully, they wouldn't notice. Not until they got back, so that brother could bring Stan's brother back to life and… hopefully Stan wouldn't be too mad.

...and Ford wouldn't be able to do anything about it. He'd realize that this Stan wasn't his brother, that he wasn't home, that he was still in the wrong dimension, and then...

Miz thought about that. Was it… mean to not allow that Stanford to try and go home to his own dimension? Because Bill needed him here -- well, there, with the rest of them -- because he was part of Bill's Zodiac. But was that… mean? She shook her head. She shouldn't care so much about what that jerk wanted… but why did she still feel so bad for him?

Miz sighed. Whatever, this wasn't her business; it was between Bill, that Stanford and Stan. They could deal with it all themselves.

...besides, the last time she'd tried to butt in on their business, she'd just made everything worse.

Like she always did when she got in an argument between adults…

Miz shook her head. Right, that wasn't important.

She walked over to Stan (who was also back on top of the boat again, not sitting on the beach, or she would've gone over there) and sat down next to him. After a bit of companionable silence (underscored by the sound of low-grade grumbling from Bill, who was sitting at the opposite end of the deck from Ford, now, with Stanley sitting about halfway in-between them in a nice folding beach chair, soda in-hand), Miz spoke up. "The government agents will be here tonight."

Stan nodded. "Was expectin' them earlier." It was fine; they'd planned for this. Friday or Saturday night, it made no difference (...well, except the amount of money the younger twins got to fleece off of the locals). Miz knew what to do for her part.

Stan finished off the last of his soda, then stood up with a groan. He folded up the chair, carried it over to stow it away again, and tossed the can while he was at it, and…

...he took his sweet and leisurely time getting himself down the ladder, to let the kids know what was what, and that it was time to get rid of the makeshift booth, and finish setting things up.

And hey, if these government guys were as stupid as the ones who'd arrested him back in Oregon? This was going to be annoying.

---

"...well… THAT happened," Stan deadpanned as they all watched the dragon escape into the ocean. The government agents were shouting in disbelief and frustration.

And the man (supposedly in charge) standing next to Stan groaned out, "How did--?"

Stan shrugged. "Eh, I guess its paw was healed."

The agents had come, just as Miz had said they would. They'd demanded for the twins to hand over the dangerous creature so they could bring it back to the labs for testing. Sixer and Lee had played their parts well, protesting rather loudly, "No! You're just going to cut it open!"

Some of the tourists and locals had also protested. They'd grown a little attached to the creature over the last day and a half, what with the creature acting quite docile once they'd started contributing their own food to feed it. (All the real food had been teleported away by Miz into a subspace she'd built into her OWN hat, copying her brother, to snack on later.)

DragonMiz had still been somewhat skittish before then, but had calmed down after people continued to be non-hostile towards her and feed her all that yummy food -- like those hotdogs! Sixer and Lee had always been nearby to give her some scratches and soothing words.

And, the end result of all of this? --The dragon had captured the hearts of the people. And those same people had then become very upset that the government had been going to take her away.

So some people had blocked the agents' path, and others had urged for the twins to get the dragon to safety. There had been some struggle back-and-forth, the agents being afraid to open fire when there had been so many civilians nearby on what was a very crowded beach, besides. The police in the area hadn't wanted any violence to break out either. The commotion had startled the dragon, who had thrashed around on the beach a bit more, and was eventually herded towards the ocean by the twins, where it dove into the water and had finally swam away.

...to the consternation of all the agents that had come to take it away, up to and including the one standing there groaning at Stan's side right now.

Stan hid a smile. Well hey, it looked like they'd done it. (Not that Stan had worried all that much about the three of them being able to pull it all off.) Hell, the onlookers were even cheering. (Heh. Crowd participation was always kinda fun, when you were able to really pull it off right.)

Stan stood there and watched, as the agents cursed and ran off back to their cars, grabbing their communication devices to begin barking orders to stuff like some helicopter pilots, and the coast guard. Stan left them to it -- not like they were gonna find it again -- and turned away to make his way back to the kids.

"Well, looks like the dragon escaped," he said to them with a Mr. Mystery smile.

"Looks like it has. Well, maybe this is for the best," Lee said with a shrug, as he patted his brother 'consolingly' on the back. "Hopefully it's goin' back to wherever it came from."

"I suppose so…" Sixer said himself, rather dourly. It wasn't even all that faked. He wanted to study that solid light projection more, how did that even work? Light? As a solid? Sadly it became insubstantial if any damage occurred that Miz didn't approve of and he never got a chance to really inspect it.

After making a show of gazing out at the ocean for a while, they all walked back to the boat. Once they were within the bubble of the perception filter, Lee bent over his knees and started laughing. "Holy shit! That actually worked?!"

"Yup." Stan grinned. "So how's it feel? Your first con?"

Miz was wiggling cheerfully. "Did I do good?" she asked. Bill patted her on the head with a smile.

"Yes. You did great," he praised her, and Miz looked very pleased with herself.

Ford was pinching the bridge of his nose. "This was a risky plan. Lying to the government," and getting one of the demons involved, but no-one had listened to his concerns on that front before, so why repeat them now when he knew they'd be completely ignored.

"Like you did when we mind-zapped those agents that one time?" Stan raised an eyebrow. Ford had even used Mabel's drawings as his 'important documents' for that little act.

Ford twitched and gave his brother a sour look. "This and that are different," he defended himself. "I was trying to protect us! After whatever you did to bring them down upon our heads," Ford grumbled.

"Yeah, whatever," Stan shrugged, ignoring the mild jab. "We didn't get caught this time, no-one was hurt, and hey, a bunch of people paid out the nose for some really unique pictures, and a story to tell. It's all good."

"And we're rich!" Lee grinned.

Sixer rolled his eyes. "Several hundred dollars isn't going to last us through the rest of the months left until graduation."

Lee scoffed. "It's still more money than I've ever held at one time." Yeah, he technically had more than this in his bank account for the boat, but held in his hands all at the same time? He'd never earned so much, so quickly, and actually gotten to hold all that cash!

"Actually, with the other profits from the newspaper interviews you and your brother did, you've got over a thousand dollars altogether," Stan told them, having kept track of all the transactions. "Still ain't THAT much, but it'll last you if you're careful with your spending." Stan turned to nod at Miz. "The coupons should help with keepin' the costs down on food. The boat's pretty self-sufficient now. The rest of the school year is paid for, in terms of school lunches," which Stan had gone and paid off while he'd been in the office Friday morning and had the cash-money on him, "So all you need to do now is remember to eat and sleep, attend your classes, and do your damn homework," he said, giving Lee a pointed grumpy old-man stare, "And then turn it all in on time, take your final exams, and graduate."

Lee saw Stan glancing at him while he said that. Right, yeah. Lee still wanted to work, but after Miz had told him about how the older him had been kicked out and never graduated, and the older him had told him about the really-low-pay thing... Well, Lee kinda understood why the older him wanted him to graduate so much. Wanted him to do the thing that he'd never been able to do. And… fine. Lee would attend school. If they really had the money to stay afloat, then...

"I want to be sure that we have enough, though," Lee told the older him.

"Write up a budget, just like we did with the boat," the older him told him. "I'll look it over; give ya some pointers." (Upon hearing that, Lee relaxed a good bit.)

"I'm hungry," Miz declared. "There's a food challenge with a cash prize happening at that pub down on Main Street." She looked at Stan. "Can I go?"

Stan nodded at her. "Yeah. Go get some food, kid. --Bill, you wanna go with her?" The kid nodded, and they both set off together. (Stan saw the look Ford sent after them, and Stan grimaced and waved him off, too. ...Not like he could stop Ford if he tried, even if his brother looked about as happy at following the demons around as Stan was at the idea of them maybe ganging up on him, again. ...Eh, what the hell. Give him a minute, and he'd follow after them, too. Grab a few extra things to make the hold a little more homey, after that.)

After Miz and her brother walked off, Ford in a slow striding pursuit, Lee sighed and turned to the older him. "Miz is trying to earn more money for us, isn't she?" The older him nodded.

"She'll probably try and hand you the cash, sayin' that she doesn't need it or nothin' herself," a lot like the demon-lady had done with all those coupons. A kinda roundabout way of helping, that maybe wouldn't set off that karma thing of hers.

...Since it wasn't money she was getting because she wanted it, just earning because she was eating a lot -- which was what she was really wanting to do, eat herself full -- then she could just decide that the money and coupons she received for doing that were kind of a side thing, not important -- if Stan was understanding that karma problem thing right. He'd talked with her a little bit more about it today, off and on when they'd been sitting together on the beach, and…

If he understood it right, because she wasn't claiming those coupons as the point of her eating a lot and winning the challenge, and because what she wanted out of those food challenges herself was to eat a huge amount and that was it, then she could give the stuff she won from doing that away to somebody else with no problem. ...Yeah, Stan felt like he had a better handle on this stuff and how it worked now.

Miz wanted to help. But because of that karma junk, she couldn't help. Not directly; not without her karma-whatever stuff making her itch and feel bad. So she'd had to do it in a roundabout way, with the coupons and the washer and dryer, and all the rest of it. Stan worried a little bit about this junk, because it sounded like a serious problem -- a hell of a lot worse than she seemed to be thinking it was -- but Miz seemed to be handling it all well enough, for now.

Stan remembered what the kid had talked about, though. If this 'good' and 'bad' stuff was impacted by other people, and stuff could change over time, and somebody could only fool this system-thing for so long...

...Well, he could probably just leave it up to the kid. The demon-kid didn't like the idea of stuff maybe boomeranging back on his little sister any more than Stan did. Though Stan was more worried about the possible blowback on everyone-else around her, like his family, than her. She would 'come back to life' after exploding, all on her own, but his own family sure wouldn't…

"You'll need to think about whether or not to take it from her, though," Stan told him. "Cash is a kinda different thing." Coupons came with strings attached, because they had to use them that way. "Cash isn't coupons; you can use it for anything." And taking handouts was a little… "You better make sure you know whether it's an actual 'gift' with no strings attached, or some kinda loan," he warned the younger him. "You might need to even stuff out with her still, at least a little." That''d be safer for everybody involved, if he understood this thing right; transactions worked differently, if you were really doing it tit for tat.

Lee rubbed his arm at the mention of a 'gift', then winced at the talk of a 'loan'. "I don't actually gotta pay her back, right--?" Then he paused and thought about what Miz had asked of him. Take care of Shermie. "--Wait, nevermind, I think I know what I need to do for this stuff to work out even." And, yeah. It wasn't like it was something he wouldn't have done anyway, if Shermie was in trouble.

Stan raised an eyebrow at him but Lee waved him off. "It's nothing. I got this."

Stan frowned. He wasn't so sure about 'nothing' from a younger himself, but he wasn't gonna dig into it right then. Instead, he sat the twins down and had a quick talk about their finances -- and not just because he wanted to give Lee a better example of how to handle a budget.

That was when Stan revealed to them exactly how much money he'd been making along the boardwalk this whole time.

"What? You're joshing me--" But then Lee gasped when Stan flipped the lid off of the crate that they were using as a table, right in front of him, and they saw…

And then the older him pulled out a wad of cash from a pocket… and another wad of cash from another pocket, and another... and Lee saw with his own two eyes the sheer amount that his older self had actually managed to earn within the past few days, that his older self was only now adding that single day's take to the full crate and pile of.

"We… we can't take this!" Lee stammered, even though he really, really wanted to...

Stan snorted. "Well I ain't got no need for any of it," Stan told them truthfully. "S'not like I can use this cash back in my dimension," he said, lying just as easily to the two of them in the very next breath. He sat back and folded his arms. "We're not staying here forever. We're gonna leave and go home, and then all this cash would be nothing more than dirty slips of paper. Can't use this stuff back home, anyway," Stan lied again, easily.

"But this is--" Lee didn't feel right just accepting all this cash. "How can I pay you back for--"

"Stay in school. Graduate. Work in the meantime if you really gotta," Stan directed specifically at Lee. "I know you talked to them already about me makin' you miss work for the next week or so," Stan told him, though he'd gone around and talked to each of his bosses personally first, making sure that they knew what was up. Word got around town quick, and Lee had gone to talk to them all in person himself, bein' responsible about things, but Stan had still wanted to make sure that they were gonna be okay with Lee missing a few nights that week, and that weekend, as he settled into his new routine -- and weren't going to give him any guff, trying to get him to work any longer shifts or hours until after graduation was over and the summertime really hit. Hadn't told Lee about it at all; he hadn't wanted the argument, or the push back on it.

"I can't stop you from working the jobs you've already got," Stann told him. "But you make sure you get your homework done, and don't go skipping school anymore until the end of the year. After that? I don't care. You'll be eighteen in June; you can do what you want then, and nobody'll be able to say boo about it," Stan told them plainly. Sixer looked down at the crate filled with cash, neatly sorted into stacks of the same domination and held together with a rubber band. "Look you two, I'm going to have to trust that you'll be alright." Stan told them. "I ain't your boss, I ain't your parents, there's technically nothing stopping you from droppin' out of school. But you shouldn't. You shouldn't have to go through what I did."

Lee winced. He didn't know exactly what the other him might have gone through, but from what he was picking up, it hadn't been good. After all, Lee had heard that stress made someone age faster, and well… the old-man him looked at least ten years older than the older Sixer. (Or at least, he seemed more…)

"Alright," Lee said, letting out a breath. "I'll stay in school. I'll graduate. And… then what?" Lee asked, looking up at him.

Stan shrugged. "Heck you askin' me for? --Like I said, it ain't my problem after you graduate. You'll be an adult." They'd be turning eighteen just as their last final exams were finishing up, and classes were gonna be over, forever. "So, you're gonna be makin' your own decisions, then. No lookin' to anyone else; it's all on you."

Lee pulled in a breath as he thought about it. "Yeah, okay. That's fine." He glanced down at the stacks of bills again. "So... I just gotta graduate?"

"Yeah. That money there is for keeping you and your brother in the clear up until graduation. If you still have any left over once you've graduated, eh, keep it for whatever else you feel like," Stan told them. "That's where the budgeting comes in."

Lee was deep in thought. "Like a deposit for a house…"

"Whatever you want. I won't be here to say nothin' about it. Just remember that a house is a lotta work, more than you might expect, and it'll keep you tied down, whether you want it to or not. It's a bigger investment than the boat," Stan told him. "Won't be able to buy one and sign all the paperwork until you're eighteen either, if that's what you want." Stan shrugged.

After a bit more deliberation. Lee nodded. "Fine. So, this is just bribe money to get me and Sixer to stay in school." He laughed. "I'm good with that."

And that would be that. Lee was going to stay in school, graduate like the other him wanted, and then… and then he would go sailing with his brother, like they'd been planning to since forever. Shermie couldn't get into any teen pregnancy trouble until… y'know… teenager-hood was a thing. So that was maybe gonna only happen at least eleven or twelve years from now. He'd have time to buy a house and plan, to be able to take care of Shermie okay, if he ended up not being there to stop it, in case the thing did actually happen. (...Was stopping it the right thing to do? That would be taking care of Shermie, too, right?) --But that was a long ways off. He and Sixer could go sailing in the meantime, doing the treasure hunting thing!

He'd need to sit down and talk to Sixer about where they'd go first, though; it was their boat, and their home right now. He realized that he hadn't actually talked about this stuff with his twin in weeks, with how focused Sixer had been on his science fair project. As long as he kept in touch with their ma, he could still keep in touch with Shermie, too, no matter where they were, or what they did. ...Well, once Shermie was old enough to be able to communicate.

And… staying in school would pay off the old-man him for his help. Taking care of Shermie in the future would pay off Miz for her help. Lee felt the uncomfortableness inside him at taking all of this money he was just being handled for nothing, settle and slowly dissipate. Because it wasn't actually for nothing; he was gonna be doin' stuff, family stuff, to earn this. (For one thing, getting his diploma sounded like he could make more money to take care of him and his brother, if the treasure hunting thing ended up not working out.) It made him feel better to have a way to pay them back, to not be in debt to them, for all that they'd done for him and his brother. To feel like he was useful in some way. So, yeah. He could do this.

"...Just, y'know, remember that if you want to go treasure hunting anytime soon, that gold is some kinda… rare metal," the old-man him cautioned him, and Lee nodded.

Lee would keep this all in mind. And once the older thems had left, he'd tell Sixer about the Shermie thing too. Shermie was their sibling, they would be ready to care of Shermie in the future. And if Sixer tried to make a stink about it for some unknown, dumb reason, then... well, tough. Miz was counting on Lee to do this. She seemed legitimately worried about Shermie ending up in trouble, and maybe not having anybody to go to for help, like the older thems had done for him and his brother. And Lee would do it, and not just to pay Miz back for her help. Shermie was family. Shermie was going to be counting on him to do this, too.

And if it really ended up being some huge problem with Sixer somehow, that it just wouldn't work out for whatever reason? (Like, baby screaming keeping him awake when he was working on something science-y that was gonna make them both millions, like he'd been muttering about to himself lately?) Well… then Lee could figure out a way to take care of Shermie himself, for the both of them.

After all, Shermie was his little sister. Lee wasn't going to let her down.

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