They Grow Up So Fast
Maybe Mom and Dad knew of Dexter's increasing maturity, and felt they could trust him in situations like this. But how situations like this can change, with a small revelation. One-shot.
(puts on "treading-in-uncharted-territory" boots) I'm taking my first tentative steps into Dexter's Lab territory... So far, so good... (Dexter's Lab reruns on YouTube, don't fail me now.)
Disclaimer: I don't own Dexter, honest. In fact, I actually "borrowed" his surname from reading those Satine89 fics (coughpleasedontwackmewiththatfreakyrulercough)… But I have the ability to make Mandark action figures! (switches on doll-making machine seen in "Figure not included")
It was no secret that Dexter McPhearson was growing up fast, even for a super-genius. Over the 11 years he'd been in existence his mind had matured at an alarming rate (even though his 2-foot-nothing body still had a lot of catching up to do). Yes, the boy had pretty much done it all by now; discovered increasingly new species, ended world hunger, managed to find a foolproof way to stop his "stooped" sister DeeDee from getting into the lab... and he could do a mean tango.
So when it was leaked out that he'd fallen in love with someone named Susan (thanks a lot, LeeLee), his parents has reacted a lot less... what was the word? "explosive" than he expected.
At first.
True, in most people's eyes, 11 was far too young for a relationship, or even a romantic encounter. But let's face it – you can't tamper with the mind of your babysitter's (ex-)boyfriend/read poetry to a girl you admired from afar without learning a few things about heartbreak and stuff. And it wasn't even as if it were serious with those girls. We all have infatuations now and again, don't we. It's in our nature. We swoon over them, then we see someone cuter, pack up and move on. Girls do it, boys do it. There's even an expression for it – "they'll fall in love with anything wearing trousers".
Or a lab coat.
Or a ballet tutu.
Or a rugged orange beard.
Or a medieval-looking wizard suit controlling an inter-dimensional beast, but that's not the point.
The point is; Dexter was convinced it was for real this time. (aren't we all.) In fact, the two of them had even made out once in a while.
So even though he was only 11, Dexter was old enough. He could cope with these things.
Maybe that was why Mom and Dad, for a while, weren't as mad as Dexter had imagined. Maybe they knew of Dexter's increasing maturity, and felt they could trust him in situations like this.
But how situations like this can change ---
Actually, let me rephrase that. How any situation, in any alternate universe, in any McPhearson family, can change, with a small revelation. You know? A little detail they neglected to tell you earlier, like, um, "oh, by the way, that thing you thought was a toy submarine, yuh, it's really a mutation ray".
Or, oh, maybe, the fact that the Susan Dexter had fallen in love with was really a Mandark.
Ha ha ha. Ha ha ha ha ha.