❛ They can't take what's ours
The stakes are high, the water's rough
But this love is ours ❜
- Ours, Taylor Swift

Cheerleading practice is way harder than I thought.

My core muscle have never been this sore, and my uniform is absolutely drenched in sweat. On top of everything, it's a Saturday. What type of cruelty its that?

I decide to immediately go home instead of taking a measly shower at the school's gym. I'd much rather have a proper bath.

I get home and the first thing I do is dump my uniform in the laundry. I chug a large glass of water and beeline to the bathroom where the tub is already running hot water.

I take a long, delightful bath, neverminding how long I hog the bathroom since I'm home alone.

I come out of the bathroom feeling like a new person. So, I put on a nice shirt and my trusty jeans.

It takes me some time to brush up on some homework and organise my schedule for the next week. I hadn't realized just how behind I am with all the cheerleading stuff distracting me. The thought of all of it makes me anxious and a lump forms in my throat.

I decide to let it go after hours of completing some homework and I walk over to the kitchen to heat up some leftover lunch.

After finishing up, my curiosity as to what the Wilkersons are up to gets the better of me and I go next door. I notice Lois' car missing from the garage, even though she should be back from work by now, but I simply shrug it off.

As I enter the house, I'm met with the sound of the TV and Hal's voice speaking. Lois never lets anyone turn up the TV that high. I walk further in and I see Hal hang up his cell-phone and disgruntledly type into the device.

"Hey, where is everyone?" I ask as I look around the house. There is no sign of the boys except for Jamie crawling around.

"Oh! Tessa, perfect," the man exclaims as he runs over to the counter to pick up some car keys. "I've got to get to Lois, so could you please watch Jamie while I'm gone? Thank you, you're really a blessing!" He neurotically puts on his jacket and stumbles out of the door. I'm left standing dumbstruck in the middle of the house.

I turn to the blaring TV and see the news channel on. A large crowd of people is on screen, and then it cuts to the camera rapidly zooming into a billboard—three boys standing in front of it.

Hold on! Is that—

I gasp at the sight of the Wilkerson boys' grainy faces on the screen.

Bastards! They went out and got on the news without me!

I didn't process what billboard they were standing on, though. When I do, my jaw just gets slacker. A giant stripper with a chat bubble saying 'I Want Respect'?  Those weirdos—my weirdos! It seems like they've actually decided to use their brains for once and stand up for what's right—as hard it is to believe.

The broadcast continues. "These three youngsters seem to have struck a nerve among likeminded citizens who've had enough of this degrading depiction of women," a news presenter reports. I feel my chest swell up with pride. It's so crazy that the boys are on the news!

The camera then cuts to another reporter. "Over here we have the proud mother of these three young protesters. What do you want the nation to know about your boys?" Then, an agitated Lois glares right through the screen, sending a shiver down my spine. This can't be good.

"No comment." She walks away, and the camera whips to Hal. He was just here 30 minutes ago, and he left me to babysit Jamie while he could be on the news.

"So, you must be the father. Can we get some comment from you?"

Hal visibly tenses up as the camera points at him and he brushes his hair with his hand. "I—I don't know that I really want to sound off."

"How do you account for your sons' extraordinary sensitivity to women's issues," the reporter boasts and an amused smile spreads across my face as the word 'sensitivity' is used as a trait those boys have.

Hal goes on to make up a ridiculous lie on how he has raised his sons, which makes me laugh in disbelief.

I spend the next few hours glued to the screen as the protest grows all the more ridiculous—with signs and t-shirts popping up—while the boys get more passionate. Hal continues on with his interviews, and although she's not on screen, I just know Lois' anger is growing by the second.  No movie could rival this level of entertainment. I almost forget about Jamie as I stop looking from the screen and find him playing with a bag of dry macaroni from the cupboard.

The FOMO of missing out on all of this eats me up and it seems like the clock is ticking backwards as I wait for Jamie's bedtime.

Lois practically walks into the camera after hours of commotion. "I want the world to know how proud I am of my boys for making this statement, despite the wind and the cold and... little Dewey's medical condition."  I cock my head at the screen upon hearing her words. "And I want to thank the Police Commissioner for letting my sons stay up there, even if it means rolling the dice on a diabetic coma! It's nice to see someone who cares about principles more than they care about the life of a little boy:"

I let out a loud gasp and Jamie responds by making a 'what?' sound at me.

The next moments of the coverage show the mortified boys being forced down the billboard by the police. God, they're gonna get in so much trouble for this. I wonder what made them carry out a protest like this in the first place.

The crowd boos them as a giant forklift thing brings them down. I watch intently to see their pixelated reactions.

Reese's voice calls out to the crowd, and although he sounds far away, I can hear his words. "You can take us down, but first, I have something to say! I realized something up here... This woman is beautiful, but you know what? She isn't real! If she was real, she'd be different." My eyes widen as his voice becomes clearer and the cameras get closer to his face. He sounds and looks so... genuine. More mics go up to him and cameras flash in his face as he continues, "I know that if I was real I'd want people to listen to me—I'd want people to care about what I think and not ignore me. I guess what these protesters are trying to say is that women—real women—aren't that different from regular people. They want the same things that men want, only men don't have to hold a big protest to get them... and women shouldn't have to either!"

His speech ends and tears almost well up in my eyes at his words. I never knew he could speak such truth. It makes me grateful that he can empathise with me on that level. My excitement to see him builds up and I zone out as Lois drags the boys away on the TV.

I had totally forgotten about Jamie who is now fast asleep on the couch next to me. I pick him up and place him in his crib. He is breathing rhythmically and I take a moment to watch his peaceful expression. He looks just like Reese, yet he's so different. I know if I was babysitting little Reese right now, I'd probably have a broken nose.

A couple minutes later, and the door unlocks to reveal Lois, Malcolm, and Reese. Lois walks into the house with an exasperated sigh. Reese's somber face turns to one of joy as he spots me on the couch.

I practically run over to embrace him and Malcolm in a hug. When I pull away, I see that Malcolm still has a frown on his face while Reese is simply happy to see me.

"Don't forget everything I said," Lois remarks before going into her room.

Now it's just Reese, Malcolm, and I. I grab Reese and take full advantage of the opportunity to pull him in for a kiss.

He smiles into it and I can hear Malcolm groan at us.

"Thank you for saying all of those things. It was amazing," I say after pulling away. His words at the end really touched my heart, and it makes me proud that he's maturing enough to recognize such important issues.

"The protest was my idea," Malcolm says from over on the couch. I roll my eyes at him.

"Come on, for you, it was just a ploy to get Mom off our asses," Reese replies snarkily.

Malcolm turns to face us. "You're acting as if you weren't involved in that!" He looks at me. "Do you really believe him?"

I open my mouth to speak but Reese interjects.

"Hey, it might have started off as a shallow attempt to cover up our vandalism by pretending like we actually cared about women's issues, but I came out having really learnt something," Reese states with confidence. "Even though Mom is making us clean the chimney and the garage with the dead skunk, I'm glad it happened. Otherwise, I would've never opened my eyes to all the struggles that women deal with every day..." He turns to me, and there's a light twinkle in his eyes. "I would have never realised just how lucky I am to have a real, smart, sexy girl in my life."

I scoff at the last word he used to describe me, but my face turns a bright shade of red and I look away coyly. It's still baffling to me that Reese is being this empathetic, kind person right now, but I'm savouring every second of it. Plus, he looks so cute with that righteous look on his face.

"Reese..." I whisper as I stare at him lovingly. He responds by placing a chaste kiss on my lips.

"Also... I realized that you deserve better than being strung around like this—being kept a secret. You deserve my full commitment," he grins.

Butterflies erupt in my stomach. Is he asking me to be his girlfriend? I don't know why this feels like such a big deal to me.

"Tess, will you be my girlfriend?"

My face gets even redder. Just hearing him say 'my girlfriend' is wild to me... as if I haven't had his tongue down my throat before.

I stare at his warm green eyes wordlessly, and it's not until I notice his eyebrows raising in worry that I realize I should probably answer his question.

"Yes, of course," I smile.

"Really?!" he shrieks and engulfs me in a tight hug. "Oh, thank god!" He lifts me up and spins me around, eliciting a laugh from me. I don't understand his surprise, I don't think there's any universe where I would have said no—but his excitement is contagious.

He sets me down on the ground and cups my face, scanning my features as if he wants to memorise every pore before kissing me again. Like every time, I melt into it. Inhaling his scent and clutching the collar of his jacket.

"Oh my god, get a room. As if the idea of you two isn't already weird enough," Malcolm grumbles and gets off the couch to go into his room.

I put some distance between Reese and I and pull him by his hand to go sit at the kitchen table. "So, this means we'll tell everyone else."

He pauses for a second and then shrugs. "Yeah, no biggie,"

I try to let his words take effect, but the nervousness rises up to my throat and I gulp. I try to push away how daunting this reveal is going to be and I think of how great everything will be once everyone is used to us dating.

It's already past midnight, so we say a couple sweet goodbyes and share a few kisses before going to sleep in our own beds. I'll just go over tomorrow at breakfast and we'll tell Hal and Lois together. No biggie... right?"

So that is exactly what I did, I woke up extra early and rushed myself to the Wilkersons' to have a perfectly ordinary breakfast with them.

Although, right now, I'm starting to scrape mere crumbs off off my plate and Reese keeps kicking my shin from under the table to get me to initiate the announcement.

He does it significantly hard when Lois gets up to clean the table and I glare at him. In return, he gives me a disappointed scowl, which makes him look eerily like his mother.

"Mom, Dad," he starts instead of me and my eyes widen, "Tess and I have something important to tell you."

"What did you get her into now?" Hal immediately grumbles and I take that as my cue to speak up. They're never going to hear Reese out without it ending badly.

"No one got anyone into anything. We just wanted to update you on something..." I trail off and look at Reese who's smiling encouragingly. However, Lois dropping the cloth from her hand and turning to listen intently does not soothe my anxiety. Even Dewey stops chewing his banana to look at me. I stare into Lois' cold eyes. "Reese and I wanted to tell you that..."

"We're dating! We're boyfriend and girlfriend now." Reese finishes my sentence and my mouth opens in shock at his brash attitude.

I look around to examine everyone's expressions. Malcolm is obviously nonchalant. Dewey looks horrified. Hal's eyebrows are raised in surprise. Lois, however, has a blank look on her face.

The horrid silence is broken by Jamie cooing and clapping.

"You think this is some big announcement?" Lois scoffs. "I already knew. You two aren't as snaaky as you think you are." She turns around and continues wiping down the kitchen counter. My mouth opens even wider, making me look like a fish.

The silence is broken once again by Hal. "Well, I think this is great! You were always meant for one of our boys, congratulations." He smiles at me and it calms my nerves to see that someone is supportive.

"Hey! What do you mean, one of your boys?! She isn't meant for anyone but me!" Reese yells at his father.

Hal stammers and tries to defend himself, but it just gets worse and Reese gets angrier. Malcolm even joins in as Reese makes a comment about him being undesirable.

Lois sighs and looks at me from across the kitchen. "Come with me," she mouths.

I take advantage of Reese being distracted and follow her into her room, shoving down the complete explosion of anxiety at the fact that she wants to talk to me in private.

This will be the day Lois Wilkerson finally realises how much of a nuisance I am for imposing on her family all these years.

She shuts the door and I take a seat on the bed as my knees shake.

"So, you decided on Reese."

My brows furrow. "What?"

"You know, I always hoped you'd end up with Malcolm, but I knew that wasn't plausible."

My eyebrows furrow even more at the thought of being with Malcolm. "No... I've liked Reese for a while now, I don't..." I shake my head at her.

"Yeah, and he's liked you ever since he realised you were a girl." She sighs. "...I just want to make sure that you've really thought about this. You have a bright future ahead of you, and Reese... I don't know. Look, I know you care about him, but he's not the only guy out there for you." She sits down next to me, and there's that compassionate motherly look in her eyes that I rarely see.

"I don't understand what you're trying to say... " I mumble.

"What I'm trying to say is, you can do better."

It suddenly feels like it's a thousand degrees in the room as a combination of anger and sadness rises in my chest. "No! I'm sick of this family putting him down!" I stand up but quickly recollect myself. I've never yelled at Lois, and my fear of her definitely overpowers my emotions right now. "I love Reese—and Reese only. He's not as bad as everyone tries making him out to be, and he's even better when he's with me. I'm better when I'm with him too..." I'm staring at the floor now, too afraid to see her reaction.

I feel her hand touch my shoulder, and she pulls me in for an unexpected hug. "Aw... I didn't know you were so sure about this... I'm sorry. He's my son, I know his faults and I'm trying to look out for the both of you," she speaks softly into my hair.

I don't know why, but I start to tear up. I don't know if it's because of my feelings for Reese, or the outburst I just had, or the way that Lois is embracing me right now. Maybe it's everything combined.

I pull away and mumble a "Thank you", trying to hide the fact that I'm about to cry.

She opens the door for me before pausing to speak, "You realise that this means there'll be some new rules, right? No more sleepovers—that's the first one."

I giggle underneath my leftover sadness. "Yes, Mrs. Wilkerson." She frowns at the title and we walk back to the kitchen.

My eyes connect with Reese's as everyone continues to converse and move around—Lois getting back to cleaning, Hal feeding Jamie, Malcolm and Dewey talking. With that look, Reese and I share a mutual realisation that this whole relationship is gonna be awkward, and messy—but nonetheless, we're diving headfirst into it.

AN:

I recently received a message from someone asking to write a Spanish translation for one of my stories, and I'm assuming they were talking about this one. If you're that person and you're reading this, then please update me on whether you're still interested!
I know the Spanish and French dubs of Malcolm in The Middle are really big, and the French/Spanish-speaking fandoms are bigger than the english one. If I could write a translation of this story in one of those languages, I definitely would, but I don't know nearly enough French and I sadly don't know Spanish.
Therefore, if anyone is interested in translating this story in either French or Spanish or any other language, it would be such a big honor!!! I want this story to be as accessible as possible to all the Reese fans out there, so any help would be appreciated. Feel free to dm me or comment under this chapter if you're interested. <3