#groopert

we have transfem Cindy Lou, aroace Grinch, demiboy Groopert, and asexual Bricklebaum!

53 years of his life, the Grinch hated Christmas because the Whos celebrated this special holiday together, and he was all alone with no friends or family to celebrate with. The only companion he had is his dog, Max, who was been loyal to him for years. Because of his jealousy towards the Whos for being excited every Christmas, the Grinch planned to steal Christmas by taking their decorations, presents and stuffs from them to fix the sadness he had for years, but he realized it can't ever since a little girl name Cindy Lou Who taught him the true meaning of Christmas. When he returned the stuff he took from the Whos, the Grinch confessed and apologized, and moved back to his home at Mt. Crumpit, which he decided to celebrate with Max. To his surprise, Cindy Lou invited him to their Christmas dinner. At the dinner table, the Grinch confessed it wasn't Christmas he hated, it was being alone. From that on, he was never alone anymore, thanks to Cindy Lou, who changed his life. The Grinch kept himself socialized with the Whos to start the beginning of his new life.

Technically, his new life hasn't started just yet.

One morning, the day after Christmas, the Grinch woke up from his slumber with a smile on his face. He doesn't remember what happened last night for a moment, until the memories came back to him, and it was the happiest time yet. He finally got what he always wanted; being with the Whos to celebrate Christmas and not being alone anymore. He just remembered that he destroyed his own alarm clock days ago and he can't tell what time is it, much to his dismay. Believing that it may be early morning, the Grinch got off of bed and went downstairs, straight to the kitchen.

When he arrived there, he took a peek behind the curtain of his dog's bed where he saw him sleeping well. The Grinch smiled as he decided to make breakfast for him and for his dog this time, just for a change, if only he could remember how to work the coffee maker that only his dog can operate it. Successfully, he made coffee in his mug just for him, and another coffee in a dog bowl for his dog.

Max woke up from his sleep as he yawned and shook his head to keep himself awake. To his surprise, he saw his master in the kitchen, preparing breakfast. The dog barked to get his master's attention.

The Grinch heard that bark and turned to see his dog awake on his doggy bed, "Oh, good morning, Max! Glad you finally awake. I made breakfast." He saw his dog staring at him in confusion. "Umm, I just thought that we can make a few changes in this house from now on. So, I'm making breakfast today. Enjoy your morning off," He put the dog bowl in front of the dog.

Max jumped and barked happily as he licked the coffee from his bowl. He enjoyed it.

The Grinch chuckled and enjoyed watching his dog liking the coffee he made for him. When he took a sip of the coffee from his mug, he almost spat it out when he heard someone knocking on his door, "Now, who could that be?"

He walked towards the door and looked through the window to see who was outside. There was now one there, until he noticed two blonde ponytails with red ribbons around them. He recognized those ponytails before as he quickly opened the door to find little Cindy Lou in front of his door.

"Good morning, Mr. Grinch," Cindy Lou greeted.

"Good morning, Cindy Lou," The Grinch replied, "What are you doing here so early?"

"I hope I didn't interrupt your morning, but I came here to check on you to see if you're not so… well, grinchy," Cindy Lou laughed, as so was the Grinch. "Oh, my mom made you waffles and I brought different flavors of syrup. I don't know which one you like, so I brought all of them."

"Why, thank you. Come inside. Let's eat breakfast together," The Grinch opened the door wide and moved aside to let the little girl in.

"Okay," Cindy Lou rushed inside and the Grinch closed the door.

As Cindy Lou rushed to the kitchen, Max noticed her, rushed off from his doggy bed, and licked her happily.

"Whoa, hi Max," She said as she took out a waffle and two bacon strips from her bag and placed them on Max's doggy plate. "Here, bon appetite!"

The dog ate the bacons happily. It's one of his favorite food.

When Cindy Lou found a chair for her to sit in the dining table, the chair is too high and can't reach it, even if she tried to jump up to it.

"Here, let me help you," the Grinch picked her up and placed her on the chair.

"Thank you," Cindy Lou took out four waffles and five flavors of syrup (chocolate, strawberry, blueberry, blackberry and plain) from her bag. She placed two waffles on the Grinch's plate, and the other two on her plate. She handed the Grinch's plate to him, "Here you go, Mr. Grinch."

"Thank you," The Grinch nodded. When he was about to take a syrup, he can't choose one of them. It's hard to decided a flavor for waffles.

"You can choose any flavor you want," Cindy Lou said.

The Grinch just shrugged as he chose the chocolate syrup, poured it on the waffle, and took a bit with a fork. "Mmm, this waffle is so good."

"It's my favorite breakfast…, and my friends' favorite too. My mom makes great waffles," She complimented.

"She really does," He agreed.

"That reminds me. I also came here to tell you that, well…, are you busy today?"

"Why do you asked?"

"Well, since Christmas is over, Mom is heading to work again, and no one is going to watch me, Bean and Buster today. Our previous babysitter is occupied and my mom has no one else to ask. So, she asked you to babysit us."

The Grinch was speechless. No one has ever asked him to watch over children before. Of course he finally interact nicely to the Whos, but why it happened so fast? Cindy Lou's mother, Donna Lou, asked him to watch over her children? Why she trusted him? They just met yesterday.

Cindy Lou noticed the Grinch just froze right there, even !ax noticed, "Umm, Mr. Grinch, is everything okay?" She asked.

The Grinch snapped out of his thoughts and back to reality, "Wha-What?"

"It's okay that if you don't want to. I'll just tell mom that you can't watch us today," the girl frowned.

"Oh no! I never say that!" The Grinch protested. "I was just thinking about it, and… sure. I'll babysit you today."

"Really?!" Cindy Lou gasped excitingly.

"Sure. I have nothing else to do anyway."

Cindy Lou left her seat as quickly rushed to the Grinch and jumped to hug him, much to his surprise, "Thank you so much, Mr. Grinch. I knew you can do everything for my mom."

The Grinch slowly returned the hug, "Sure, of course."

Cindy Lou broke the hug and hopped off on the floor, "Well, I better go." She took her bag from the chair, "I'll just leave the syrups with you. I brought those for you anyway. Just go to our place later. 9am. Don't be late!" The little girl rushed at the door and closed it.

Max stared back at his master if what he said earlier is true. The dog barked if he was asking if they're going to town to look after Cindy Lou and her brothers for Donna Lou.

"Well, Max," the Grinch spoke. "We're going to have busy day today."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Later, after getting ready for the day, taking a bath, cleaned himself, and wore the right clothes (which all clothes match his whole body) with a scarf, the Grinch and Max traveled all the way down from Mt. Crumpit to Whoville. It was almost a long walk, but never got tired. When he reached town, everyone in Whoville greeted him with 'Good morning's and 'How are you?'s. He did greet and reply them, but he's still nervous and guilty for stealing their Christmas. Since they already forgave him and forgot all about what happened, he tried to forget it too. It's almost hard to forget sometimes.

When they reached Cindy Lou's house, the Grinch fixed his scarf and cleared his throat. Before he could ring the bell, the door was already opened by Donna Lou while carrying her two infant sons with a arrow plunger in her handand wore her nurse uniform.

"Oh, Mr. Grinch, I'm so happy that you finally came," She said surprisingly.

"Umm, thank you," The Grinch replied nervously.

"I hope you don't really mind watching the kids for me while I'm working today."

"I don't mind at all, but why did you ask me?"

"Because, first, the last babysitter I asked was quite irresponsible and left the sink back up, and secondly, Cindy Lou trusted you the most. I can't ask anyone better than you, Mr. Grinch," Donna Lou smiled.

The Grinch felt blushing and rubbed the back of his neck, "That's… very kind of you to say something like that to me."

Donna Lou chuckled, "Oh, please, sure there's someone else who was kind to you before. Like an old friend?"

"Not exactly." Then, the Grinch smelled something, like a smoke, "Do I smell something burning?"

"Mom, the toast!" Cindy Lou yelled.

"I got it, sweetie!" She responded. "Could you hold them for me for a moment?" Donna Lou handed the twins to the Grinch, who almost hesitated to hold them, but they were already in his arms. Donna Lou threw the arrow plunger at the toaster to eject the two toasted bread in the air.

"Mom, catch!" Cindy Lou threw two plates and a bottle of strawberry jam in the air.

Donna Lou caught them in the nick of time, the toast fell onto the plates, she squeezed the bottle of jam on them, and threw it back on the table with a mess.

The Grinch watched the whole scene of what the mother and daughter were doing as he was really impressed, "Wow, very impressive. It's like you two are a team."

"Thanks. Cindy Lou helps me a lot in the house since her dad died," Donna Lou replied sadly.

The Grinch frowned when Donna Lou mentioned her deceased husband, and he hated it when she saw her sad, "Oh. I'm so sorry."

"No, it's fine. I'm fine," Then, she realized the twins are still in the Grinch's arm. "And I'm sorry about them."

"It's okay. They're quite peaceful for a moment," The Grinch said.

The single mother checked her watched, and began to panic, "Oh no, I'm late! I better go!" She turned now to her daughter, "Cindy Lou, sweetie, come over here!" When Cindy Lou came close to her mother, Donna Lou kissed her on the forehead. "I'll see you tonight." Then, she kissed the twins' cheeks before heading out of the door. "Be nice to Mr. Grinch!"

"We will, Mom! I love you!" Cindy Lou waved goodbye at her mother.

"I love you, too, sweetie!" Donna Lou waved one last time and rushed towards the bust stop.

The Grinch smiled when he watched Donna Lou run off, and entered inside the house with Max, Cindy Lou, and the twins, who were still in his arms.

"So, should we go out to town, Mr. Grinch," The little girl asked.

"What? Why?" The Grinch asked.

"Because it's almost New Year, and we have to buy something so Mom won't buy them by herself," Cindy Lou explained. "Are you excited for New Year's Eve?"

"I wish I could," He answered. "It's just that I never celebrate New Year with anyone before, except for Max." It's true though. The Grinch always locked himself in his cave with Max, and only watched the fireworks burst above Whoville every New Year.

"Well, I hope you would join us for New Year's Eve. But we have to buy some fireworks and stuffs first."

"Sure. Besides, I think I need to buy a new alarm clock since I kinda destroyed it few days ago, but how can I carry these two mischievous beasts?"

Cindy Lou laughed when the Grinch described her brothers as 'mischievous beasts', and she rushed to a closet to take out a baby stroller for twin infants, "Here, it's very helpful to carry Bean and Buster."

"Well, what are we waiting for then?" The Grinch smiled.

Working together, the Grinch, Cindy Lou and Max bathed the twins, changing their diapers, dressed them up with their winter clothes, and buckled them up on their baby stroller. When they are all ready, Cindy Lou rushed out of the door excitingly while Max followed her and the Grinch locked the door with the keys.

"Slow down there, Kid. Don't get too far," He warned as he pushed the baby stroller with the twins on them.

When the five reached the market place, the stores are now filled with New Year stuffs, like fireworks and candle. Ever since Christmas is over, the Whos started to sell things for New year. They are all really excited for that holiday.

"So, where can we find some fireworks around here?" The Grinch whispered to Cindy Lou.

"Oh, look, there's my friend, Groopert!" She pointed her friend as she rushed to meet him, and the Grinch and Max followed her.

Groopert sat on his own stall, selling snow balls, "Here you go." He said to his costumer.

"Hey, Groopert, how's business?" Cindy Lou asked her friend.

"Good. When I can't sell, I can always eat," Groopert unflipped the sign that covering the 'ball' from the sign 'snowballs', and replaced with 'cones', and squeezed the bottle of grape syrup on the snow ball.

"You do realized you got the snow ball from the ground, right?" The Grinch reminded the boy.

"Yeah, I know. But I cleaned them up," Groopert put the purple snow ball on a cone, and offered it to the Grinch, "Here you go, Mr. Grinch. It's in the house… just now, if you like it."

The Grinch hesitated since he doesn't want to eat snow from the ground, but he can't reject the little boy's off, "Well, okay then. Thank you," He only took the cone, but couldn't eat the snow ball.

"So, what are you doing here this early?" Groopert asked Cindy Lou.

"Oh, we're just looking for fireworks for my mom," Cindy Lou replied.

Groopert then leaned a little closer to his friend, "Just asking, alright? Is Mr. Grinch gonna be your new dad?"

"WHAT?!" Cindy Lou screamed.

"What?!" The Grinch almost dropped the snow cone, "No! I was just babysitting for Ms. Who. We're just friends."

"Yeah. That's too soon, Groopert," Cindy Lou glared at him.

"What? I was just asking," The boy smirked.

"Okay! I think we're done here! Come on. Let's get some fireworks and then my alarm clock," the Grinch turned to the other direction and kept moving to search for fireworks as Max followed him.

"I'll see you later, Groopert," Cindy Lou waved before catching up with the Grinch.

"All right, bye," Groopert waved back, then murmured, "He is definitely gonna be her new dad." Just then, a big snow ball hit him on the face.