The World-Famous Annual Heffley Puppet Show [Rodrick Heffley x Reader] (Diary of a Wimpy Kid)
(~from the vault~)
Susan invites you to watch one of the Heffley's weird annual traditions, and you're expecting anything but this.
Word Count: 1,479
[...]
Dating Rodrick Heffley was… an experience. Not in a bad way at all, it was only that it could be… weird, for lack of a better word to describe it, at times. Like right now, for instance, when you were sitting in his living room while his parents told an extremely over-complicated story through… puppets.
You weren’t exactly sure how you'd gotten yourself into this situation. Okay, well, that was a lie, actually.
Susan had been incredibly persistent about you coming to the ‘World-Famous Annual Heffley Puppet Show’, as she made sure to announce extravagantly, adamant about you being present to witness the oh-so-great performance, and, despite Rodrick´s ridiculous attempts at making faces at you from behind her that quietly told you to not, in any occasion, agree to it, you just couldn’t get yourself to say no.
“Why would you say yes? You could have just said your grandma just died or something!” Rodrick questioned you, exhasperated.
“Dude! Don’t say that about my grandma!”
“Okay sorry. But you could’ve said absolutely anything! Anything!"
“I tried! She kept finding solutions! She even said she’d move the date up.”
“She said that?”
“Yeah. Why?"
“Shit. She’s never moved the date before. She really wants you to go.”
“Why is that?"
“No idea. I think she just really likes you."
“Why do you sound so shocked about that?”
“She’s never really liked any of the girls I went out with.”
“Okay, James Dean. You’ve gone out with like one girl before me when you were like sixteen.”
“Hey I got laid! Occasionally.”
“Ew."
“It’s true!”
“Yeah right.”
“Fine. I got laid twice. Happy?"
You shrugged, grinning at him as you poked fun at him some more.
"Well now that you said yes to her I guess we’re gonna have to go.”
“It can’t be that bad!”
It could. It definitely, 100%, without a doubt, could. The ‘performance’ had been going on for about half an hour now, and it didn’t look like it was heading towards an end any time soon. You were all sitting in chairs, which were lined up in front of the couch, your seat between Rodrick's and Greg's, with Rowley by Greg’s left and Manny by Rodrick’s right.
Okay, yeah, maybe this time you should have listened to Rodrick.
You really, really tried, but you could not, as much as you desperately wanted to, figure out the plot of the story Mr. and Mrs. Heffley were trying to tell. It had something to do with dragons and fried chicken and at some point you could swear there was a clown. How any of that tied up together was beyond you, and, as you could see, Rodrick and Greg too.
The only ones who seemed to be having any fun at all were Manny, who was standing up and clapping like crazy throughout the entire thing, probably props to the very questionable voices his parents were making for the ridiculous amount of different characters that seemed to progressively look worse in appearance as they showed up, and Rowley, who also didn’t seem to understand any of it, but looked entertained nonetheless, occasionally even shooting Greg a few comments, to which Greg just smiled and mumbled something incoherent under his breath in response.
You leaned over to Rodrick, who was wide-eyed at this point, looking borderline terrified at the scene that unfolded in front of him. “You said it was bad, not that it was gonna give me nightmares!” You whispered.
He looked genuinely embarrassed, and for Rodrick Heffley to be embarrassed of something, oh that was something. “I tried to warn you!”
“What are you guys talking about?” Greg whispered too, making himself a part of the conversation.
“Shut up dickhead,” Rodrick let out under his breath, to which Greg replied by sticking his tongue out at him, earning a middle finger in response. Oh, brothely love.
“Do you guys really have to go through this every year?”
They both nodded. “It’s like it gets more terrifying every year,” Greg commented, and you took a quick glance back at the couch, where Mr. and Mrs. Heflley were crouched behind. Apparently a pig who was wearing a bow tie was hunting down a rabbit for sweets now.
“Do you guys think they’d notice if we left?” Greg asked and you pondered on it. Then you had an idea.
You turned to face your boyfriend. “Okay look. You gotta be fast alright? And you can't let your mom be upset at me."
“What?” Rodrick questioned you, finally managing to look away from the trance the puppet show had kept his eyes in.
“When I say I gotta go you say you’re coming with me.”
He nodded, though he hadn't really gotten the gist of where you were going with that.
“Wait can I come?”
“No,” Rodrick promptly replied.
“Come on give him a break," you nudged his arm, to which he rolled his eyes, letting out a sigh.
“Fine. But only ‘cause she asked.”
Greg smiled, looking at you. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!”
“Alright we gotta get out fast. Just grab Rowley with ya.”
Greg nodded in understandment.
“Hey Mrs. Heffley?” You spoke up.
The voices stopped. You were already grateful just for that moment of silence. Susan’s head appeared from behind the sofa. “Yes dear? Something wrong?”
“I'm really sorry, but um I really need to head home, I think.”
“Oh but we’re only halfway through-”
“I’ll take her home!” Rodrick exclaimed at lightspeed, yanking you by your wrist and sprinting towards the front door.
“We’ll come with!” Greg yelled too, doing the same with Rowley, leaving only Manny as an audience for the remainder of the story.
“But-”
“Bye! Thnak you for inviting me!” You yelled over, already out by the front yard.
“Uh- bye sweetie!”
You got to Rodrick’s van, which was parked on the street, all panting and out of breath from running so fast.
“Okay, get in demon spawn.” Rodrick unlocked the back door and waiting for the boys to enter.
“Hey!” You exclaimed in feighened offense.
“Not you. You’re a… sexy little demon...ess,” he smirked, knowing he’d get a laugh out of you.
You could hear Greg and Rowley say ‘ew’ from the back as you got in the car.
“I agrre with them, ew. I think I prefer demon spawn.”
Rodrick got in himself, turning the engine on. “Okay any ideas?”
“Can we go to Chipotle?” Rowley asked.
“No we should go to Taco Bell!” Greg yelled, and they immediately started arguing about it, talking over each other so loud you couldn’t understand a single word they were saying.
“Hey! Dickheads! Shut up!” Rodrick yelled, and, surprisingly, they did. “Y/n chooses.”
“What? Why?” Greg asked, offended.
“She has girlfriend privileges!”
You laughed at Greg’s angry expression. “Well I think we should go to Subway.”
“We’re not going to Subway." Rodrick deadpanned.
“What? You said I had girlfriend privileges!”
“Not if you choose fucking Subway!”
“Fine. Domino’s?”
“That's a decent option!” He smiled, and started driving.
You got yourselves a large pizza, Greg and Rowley quick to leave the table and go chase after each other around the place.
“You have grease on your chin,” you informed Rodrick when you looked at him. He wiped it off, his mouth full of food. He tried to say something, but quit as soon as he started, the sound muffled.
“Dude swallow the pizza first, that’s gross!”
He did so before trying again. “I said thank you.”
“It was looking all greasy and gross!"
"Oh shut up," he smiled at your teasing. "I meant for saying yes to my mom. She was actually like super excited about it.”
You furrowed your eyebrows together, confused. “Wait I thought you wanted me to say no.”
“Well yeah. But she clearly liked that you did go or whatever. She likes you.”
“That good?”
He shrugged his shoulders. “I guess. Maybe he won’t be so up our asses if she likes you.”
“Well you’re very welcome. Cause that was… something.”
He laughed. “You thought that was bad? You should see the Christmas one.”
There was no way. “They do a Christmas puppet show too?”
“Oh no it’s much worse. They actually act in it.”
“Jesus.”
“Yeah. And you’re officially invited by me.”
“Oh no don’t bring me into this again-”
“Too late! I-” he took a sip of his soda- “will be telling my mom you had a wonderful time today, and you were so, so bummed you had to go home early!”
“You’re a jerk!”
“What's that I hear? You’d be thrilled to attend the Yearly Heffley Christmas Play?"
“I hate you.”
“No you don’t.”
You smiled. You supposed you signed up for weirdness the moment you said yes to dating Rodrick Heflley of all people.
“I do, actually!”
He smiled at you. No, you don't.
[. . .]
A/N: heyy rewrote some thingies but its mostly the same as when i first wrote it. so here ya go with some more rodrick content! :)
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I dont think Mob is naive as much as he's socially unaware, like the reason why he trusts Reigen so blindly is a bit more complex than just him being naive
Cause Mob reached out to Reigen because he was desperate to find someone like him, someone who understood his psychic specific issues, someone that could truly know what he's feeling and going through and give him guidance and support
Post incident Mob's thinking process was something along the lines of my powers hurt people -> my powers are bad -> my powers (my emotions, my instincts, myself) cannot be trusted
So he lost all confidence and trust in his own actions, resigning to being as passive as possible to avoid any further damage to anyone else, thus he started doubting his own perception of reality too
He's a kid already struggling with being ostracised for being socially inept, who just got traumatised and all of his insecurity increased by the tenfold, he doesn't know how to process what he's going through. He needs help.
And here comes Reigen, seemingly reliable, a responsible adult in a child's eyes, someone who claims he can understand him
Even tho Reigen doesnt. But it doesn't matter, because Mob finds comfort in his words and takes them to heart
Even if Reigen doesn't fully get it, even if he doesn't see the bigger picture, even if his advice isn't always the best
Eventually, Mob grows up, realises Reigen isn't as honest as he seemed through his 11 year old perspective, but like most things, he refuses to acknowledge it on a deeper level
Mob knows, but never tells Reigen, never thinks about what all those lies mean to him (ofc until he forces himself to face those doubts regarding Reigen, to properly acknowledge both of their flaws and accept them as they are, I should scream into the void about Confession Arc more God)
Due to his lack of trust in himself, Mob has relied on Reigen for years now to shape his moral compass, his thoughts, his decisions
Because well, Reigen lies, sure, but he isnt a bad person. When he hurts Mob, it isn't intentional or with ill intent, he still wants the best for him, what's the issue?
Except that it stunts Mob's growth. He doesn't develop as a person, doesn't have goals or wishes or ambitions, can't make choices on his own, he doesn't even let himself acknowledge his own emotions, he refuses to let himself exist
But Mob realises in time that he wants more than that, he wants to become better and be independent and feel again
Still, he puts the acknowledgement of the lies on hold for as long as he can, unwilling to question the way things are
This can make him feel a little naive, he constantly relies on Reigen and trusts his decisions and raises questions rarely until separation arc when he finally puts his foot down
And I do think that moment is the most resounding proof we have that Mob knows and allows himself to be used by Reigen, not wanting to shake the status quo, until he gets fed up
I mentioned the social ineptitude at the beggining but idk if I should even elaborate on that, you've watched the show, you know what I mean
He's blunt and can't read social cues or tonality that well and can't speak in front of crowds and is overall pretty awkward and I do think some people conflate that with naivety
Mob is still a child, he doesnt fully understand how the world works at the ripe age of 14 years old, but some folks take that as him being inherently naive/innocent/whatever which I don't find true
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