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yoyomarules · 4 years

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HI! i love your writing and blog SO much- thoughts and headcanons for cj and toby? feel free to ramble or write a mini-fic- anything you want😂 have a great day!

Thanks so much and sorry for taking so long to answer this @loudwithlaughter! I don’t have loads of super in-depth thoughts on these two (though I ADORE them), but I do believe:

It took Toby approximately eight minutes after CJ joined the Bartlet campaign to tell e v e r y o n e about “The Jackal”. ‘I’m sorry,’ he says, when she confronts him about it. ‘I wanted people to like you.’ Which immediately squashes any real irritation. Toby can be very disarming when he wants to be. ‘I’m likeable with or without Ronny Jordan’s help,’ she reminds him, ‘but you provide the alcohol and I’ll do the damn party trick.’ It’s the closest to delighted Toby’s ever looked.

Toby has a hard time trusting that anyone will actively make his work better, but CJ’s suggestions he’ll take on board more quickly than most people’s. He’ll deny it completely, of course.

The only person who acknowledges there’s maybe something between them—aside from CJ and Toby themselves, and that just barely—is Josh, having pitched up drunk and mopey at CJ’s place late one night. He’s chosen CJ’s over Donna’s because, well. It’s getting difficult, this unspoken thing with his assistant. He’s not going to remember, so CJ tells him that probably one day he and Donna are going to fall into each other’s arms and that she fully expects to be honorary aunt to their gaggle of adorable kids, but if anything happens before it’s appropriate she’ll hide Josh’s body somewhere no one will ever find it. And Josh takes this very sincere threat on the chin and notes that it’s probably hard for her and Toby, too, which shakes CJ enough that she lets him spend the night on her couch and only mocks him a little the next day.

When he needs to feel inspired, Toby watches her briefings; when she needs to feel inspired, she reads his speeches. There is something about watching someone you love excel at what they love.

She doesn’t ever learn to make that chicken on her own, but much later he’ll come out to California and teach her himself.

#loudwithlaughter #cj x toby #the west wing #ask

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etraytin · 4 years

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hi! i don't know if you've talked about this before, but what do you think donna does career-wise after the santos white house? also! thoughts on sam running for president? sorry i'm writing a fic and i need help with donna's job lol. i hope you're doing well<3

Whee, headcanon time!

Donna has a ton of opportunities available to her after she leaves the Santos White House after eight years at the top of the East Wing. With real world experience and connections like she’s got, it really doesn’t matter if she doesn’t have a degree hanging on her wall. She thought about getting one once she stopped working fifteen hour days for Josh, but it turns out that her new job was pretty demanding as well, even before she added on her relationship with Josh, getting married, and having a family. The White House taught her far more than the University of Wisconsin ever did, anyway. And it certainly doesn’t stop the job offers from landing on her desk!

She could decide to stick with Helen, who probably still needs help managing her speaking and appearance schedule even once they are out of office. The two of them became close friends during eight years of working together, despite a few blowout fights over things like campaign schedules and vacation security. They were collaborators against their husbands far more than they were at odds, and they got a lot done! But Annabeth is perfectly capable of managing Helen’s post-First Lady affairs, and Donna’s ready to try her hand at something more.

She could find another candidate and run their campaign; that’s something she’s got a lot of experience with after two Bartlet campaigns, the Russell campaign, and two Santos campaigns. Donna’s been in the mix for a long time now. Important people in the Democratic party know her name, and not just because of Josh. Even if she’s not quite ready to manage a major presidential campaign, she’s more than ready to be a deputy or a Communications Director, somebody who’d get a West Wing office if they won the election. The problem with that, of course, is that she’s already been in the White House for sixteen years, and she is tired. Not nearly as tired as Josh, who needs the next four years just to finally get some sleep, but certainly tired enough. The White House has sort of lost its luster and she doesn’t have the hunger for it that a campaign manager needs. Plus with the kids still pretty young, she doesn’t want to leave them with a nanny or be dragging them around the country on an old bus.

The private sector offers plenty of opportunities as well. She could get a job as a lobbyist in a hot second. Amy Gardner left the White House after just a couple of years, but there’s no hard feelings left after all this time and she knows what a get Donna would be for women’s rights issues. Quite a few nonprofits would also be eager to have someone on board with Donna’s unique blend of political savvy and personal idealism to shepherd their organizations through all the political minefields of Washington. It would be a good option for her for a few years, certainly, make some good money and come home at reasonable hours and on weekends. And she could always do like Josh and write her memoirs of the White House, a potential humor bestseller if she includes all her coworkers’ antics over the years.

Eventually though, I think Donna does get that degree, just in time to start going for some of those big chairs herself. Wisconsin has plenty of opportunities for Democrats, especially in blue areas like Madison, and Josh does owe her big time. He could be the guy the girl counts on for once, and Congresswoman Moss-Lyman has a certain ring to it.

#the west wing #headcanons #fanfiction #donna moss #loudwithlaughter

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yassnape · 4 years

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OKAY CJ TOBY ASKS- hmm fic wishlist?? like fics you would like to read or write- they can be aus or set in canon or anything!! also! maybe talk about your favorite cj/toby headcanons and if there’s anything you really want to talk about with them, please do!! i could talk / listen to people talk about them for hours😂

Oh, I was just talking with @ginghampearlsnsweettea about this. Even though I hate Toby's arc in the last 2 seasons, I love his last scene with CJ. I have 3 different scenarios for that scene in my head.

1. when he asks her what she wants, she makes the whole speech about not knowing, and when he gets up to send her away, she grabs his arm and says “You. You’re what I want.” In a very quiet way. And they kiss and have sex right there in his living room.

2. This is a more unfulfilling one. When she’s going and they’re hugging at the door, she whispers in his year. “Ask me to stay.” And he answers “No, I’m going to prison. It wouldn’t be fair to either of us. You deserve to be happy.” He sends her away and she marries Danny.

3. This would be when she gets to her car and hesitates. She turns around and goes back up to his apartment. “You don’t have the right to send me away. You don’t get to decide what makes me happy. I’m staying. We’ll figure it out. Together.”

While I was writing this, another scenario came into my head. It has to do with scenario number 2. CJ goes to his apartment to deliver the news about his pardon to him. When she gets there, she just smiles at him after he opens the door and says "You make me happy... Ask me to stay." Toby smiles, his genuine smile, leans his forehead against hers and whispers "Stay." I know, I know, I'm a hopeless romantic at heart. Look, I was watching Pride and Prejudice and Austenland last night... lol

#the west wing #loudwithlaughter #tww #west wing #cj cregg #toby ziegler #cj x toby #ask #headcanon

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jonismitchell · 3 years

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ALSO favorite evermore lyrics so far

you won’t remember all my champagne problems....

#loudwithlaughter #this is obnoxious AND true #asking with you

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smallblueandloud · 4 years

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📂

send me a 📂 and a fandom/ship/character and i’ll give you a random headcanon!

leo met toby for the first time after cj left for california, which means he originally knew toby as this ornery guy who rarely got along with anyone and would only lighten up when andy was around. he hires him for the bartlet campaign anyway, of course - everyone knows toby’s one of the best speechwriters out there. more importantly, everyone knows toby backs good people, not good politicians, and that distinction is gonna give some much-needed ethos to this dark horse campaign that leo is running through stubbornness and love for jed bartlet and not much else. this all goes to say that leo is pleasantly surprised to see toby getting along with the campaign staff, and making friends with them, and even laughing with them sometimes. he’ll even lighten up without his wife around as long as cj is there.

(in retrospect, leo will think it’s his own fault for not realizing about cj and toby and andy sooner.)

#loudwithlaughter #the west wing #tww headcanons #toby ziegler #leo mcgarry #cjandytoby #andy x cj x toby #leo and toby #you didn't specify a fandom but i Knew lmao #I WROTE A WHOLE RESPONSE FOR THIS AND THEN IT GOT DELETED #[screams]#sb and l rambles #sb and l answers

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aerielz · 4 years

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1, 2, 3, and 4 for the writing ask meme!!!

So many!!! You are the nicest person!!!

Here we go!

Tell us about your current project(s) – what’s it about, how’s progress, what do you love most about it?

Geez. Ok. There’s about a million things going on right now, bc I can’t control myself.

- The Gaza Arc AU: originally a prompt from @donnaslyman, it became a whole thing. Josh doesn’t quite leave when Donna tells him to, in Germany, and from there their friendship deepens even further when she’s forced to deal with the consequences of what happened to her. Josh has some experience in trauma himself, so... maybe they can help each other. Or not. I think what excites me the most is to FINALLY have them talking about it.

- The Rosslyn Arc AU: Ah. The one that started it all. It’s Donna shot at Rosslyn instead of Josh, and then all kinds of hell break loose. Josh deals with it the worst way possible and everybody’s been shot at, too. Part II will feature a lot of bad jokes and sad people screaming at each other and writing that is so so so so fun.

- Yet untitled smutty thing. Maybe?: Should I tell people about a thing that might never happen? Better yet, is this the place to be telling people about NSFW stuff? Suffice to say it’s about reaching new levels of intimacy, and about discovering new things together. Probably a lot more romantic than smut about tying people up should be, but I’m a sap, so...

Tell us about what you’re most looking forward to writing – in your current project, or a future project

For sure the CoS!Donna AU and our scenes inspired by Much Ado! I’m absolutely going nuts with the fact that I haven’t been able to start work on those two yet!

What is that one scene that you’ve always wanted to write but can’t be arsed to write all of the set-up and context it would need? (consider this permission to write it and/or share it anyway)

oh. god. ok, there’s a few of those. Here are the highlights:

- I once heard that whenever POTUS has to enter an elevator somewhere, there’s A BUNCH of secret service agents in the elevator control room bc, as it turns out, being in in the control is the best way to cause problems. Of course: I would love to write a fic in which problems happen. Jed gets trapped inside an elevator with Josh, who is absolutely loosing his mind. It’s supposed to be funny and kinda sweet.

- a scene in which josh finds out donna talks in her sleep and then proceeds to hold an entire conversation with her. the topics range from absolute nonsense to the very very cute.

- there’s absolutely no way I could make this scenario work but i wrote dialogue for a scene in which donna is some hotshot congresswoman. it’s all hate-date, and they really dislike each other at first, but after a while they start dating and cj finds out through the press room.

“Donnatella Moss, Joshua?,” she cries out, hitting him with the clipboard at every syllable. “Why do you do this to me?” “Hey-- I-- It was an accident!” “What, you’re gonna pull a Sam Seaborn on me, now, and tell me you didn’t know who she was? Or, what, you just happened to fall with your--” “Oh god, please don’t finish that sentence.”

Share a sentence or paragraph from your writing that you’re really proud of (explain why, if you like)

Silence falls over all of them. Surrounded by that heavy blanket, the cold rage that she feels evaporates all at once. CJ watches as Josh’s eyes immediately fill with tears. She feels her own do the same.

Thanks so much for asking~!!!!

#az answers #loudwithlaughter #az writes tww fanfic

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regardstosoulandromance · 4 years

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hi! this is random but... tell me about your wips if you want!

heyyyyyyyy how are you? I’m working on two tww fics, that post-admin fic ive mentioned before and a Christmas fic based on the summary of a bad looking hallmark Christmas movie. To summarize, exes CJ and Toby are surprised to reunite at their mutual friends’- Josh and Donna’s- wedding.

#loudwithlaughter #answer #I started super early because I’ve been writing so slowly lately and I want to write Christmas fics for all my otps

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donnajosh · 4 years

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hi!! your gifs are AMAZING and i was wondering how you make them exactly? you said you use mpv player but i’m VERY stupid when it comes to gif making, how do you use it? thanks so much! you’re a godsend and everyone in the tww fandom thanks you

thank you!! there’s a great tutorial by @kylos that’s really close to my process! they explain how to use mpv player in it: https://kylos.tumblr.com/post/178497909311

thank you for your sweet words, I really appreciate it!

#loudwithlaughter #ask

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montygreen · 4 years

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okay your icon is my favorite thing on earth- how did you make it? or did someone make it for you? i just love it SO MUCH the TALENT

The lovely @coulter made it for me! I WISH I had the icon making skills to make something as pretty as it lol

#leila answers #loudwithlaughter

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joysmercer · 4 years

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hi! i am in life with tww- do you have any headcanons about the characters or ships? like how c.j. and toby met? sorry i just love talking about this show

no don’t apologize!!! I love getting asks like this 😄

Didn’t Toby mention in “Access” that he met CJ on a previous campaign? I may be wrong though

tbh I’m not that good with headcanons in general, but let's see:

CJ and Danny end up having two children. One of them is named Gail (after the fish that started it all)

Charlie proposes to Zoey the day she graduates grad school

The tww wiki says Toby and Andy “reconcile” in season 7, but I don’t remember that happening…in any case, they do get back together romantically when Huck and Molly are around 6 years old.

Toby doesn’t tell them much about his time in the WH, mostly because of how it ended.

Sam and Ainsley have a short fling after she starts working as WH Counsel for Santos. It ends once she realizes she’s too good for him

Josh proposes to Donna in February of 2008, exactly 20 years after she first started working for him. They have multiple kids, all of whom drive Josh crazy (but in the best way)

I have a few random thoughts about Josh as a father but I’ll save those for another post lol

------------

Toby never fully reconciles with Bartlet but does with everyone else within a year or two of Santos taking office.

CJ wins a Nobel Peace Prize the same year Danny wins a Pulitzer

Josh successfully runs Santos’s reelection campaign. He later takes up a professor position at Georgetown, where he stays until Charlie recruits him to his campaign a few years later.

He’s often asked if he would consider running for office himself, but he always declines. He’s better with behind-the-scenes work, and that’s where he likes to be, anyway

Donna…I’m not actually sure of what she does after Santos’s presidency, but it’s definitely something perfectly suited to her strengths

Bartlet hosts an annual Christmas dinner in New Hampshire. Everyone does their best to attend, but Charlie is the only one who never misses a single year

#this was fun!!!#and excellent procrastination for my midterm tomorrow #thank youuuu #the west wing #tww headcanons #myposts #loudwithlaughter #asks

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glassesandkim · 4 years

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OH MY GOD I KNOWWW the teddy/cristina possibilities... the teddy/ANYBODY possiblities!! i love her being bi but they just. threw it away! and kind of used it to explain her being a cheater which was WEIRD and BAD. but anyway teddy/cristina is just amazing and i would have killed to see that!!

cristina was READY to be with teddy!!!! that would’ve been a grand ol’ time and it would’ve been amazing T_T

also this: “and kind of used it to explain her being a cheater which was WEIRD and BAD”. it IS WEIRD and BAD! it feels like jk rowling all over again. btw! this character is queer so you can’t call me a bigot and oh cas is actually gay for dean but he’s dead now skdjasldasldjsjlksdjalskdkjs

can we move on from that? it’s just bad blood what with queer people who have had to go through their whole lives seeing themselves being done dirty or killed on screen and irl like... im tired!!!!

anyway, imma rec some queer media that i’ve consumed lately (bold with poc) to combat the bs: one day at a time feel good half of it where your eyes linger mr. heart i told sunset about you tharntype love victor god’s own country schitt’s creek

radio silence by alice oseman heartstopper by alice oseman wayward son by rainbow rowell red white and royal blue by casey mcquiston

FEEL FREE TO COME AT ME WITH MORE RECS i did one a while ago but i didn’t tag my post properly and now i can’t find it :(

#queer resources #grey's anatomy //#loudwithlaughter #gk asks

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etraytin · 4 years

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ooh i know the cj/toby fic you’re talking!! lost, by rhonda dosset- it took me a while to find but i’m almost positive this is the right one. i’m not able to send a link in a question but i can message you the link- or you can look on the national library, the L page. the sequel’s there too! i’m so glad i could help<33

You are amazing, thank you so much! The National Library did have the story at one time, but unfortunately it was one of the chapter fics that got eviscerated when the site went offline. Only one chapter is still available, and only one chapter got ported to AO3. But armed with the author and title, I was able to find the author’s old page, which does have both stories in their entirety! That is so awesome, and it’s really made my day!

For anyone curious, the story I was looking for was “CJ and Toby are in a plane crash far away and have to survive.” And here’s the links, if anybody wants them! I’ll be dropping them off with the person who was looking on Facebook in just a minute.

Lost, by Rhonda Dossett

Lost and Found by Rhonda Dossett

#fanfiction #the west wing #fanfic search #loudwithlaughter

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elliesattlers · 3 years

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1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12!!! that’s SO MUCH i’m sorry

1. favorite episode evidence of things not seen (+ 100,000 airplanes, debate camp, manchester, drought conditions top 5) 2. favorite character c.j. cregg is my favorite west wing character in the sense that she is my favorite character across all media 3. favorite ship c.j./toby 4. favorite secondary character amy, but also nancy mcnally and margaret 5. favorite season 3 8. scene you watch over and over again no question it has historically been the shubert alley scene in posse comitatus, i simply luv 2 watch that kissing 9. plot you pretend didn't happen every instant of danny concannon's screentime in s7 is bad and i hate it 10-12! 😘

#loudwithlaughter #tv: the west wing

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jonismitchell · 3 years

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OKAY LIKE. gold rush can’t be straight i’m so sorry taylor, can anyone else not stop thinking about this song in relation to kaylor? and like, the victoria’s secret fashion show? i’m not one to pry into her personal life at all! but COME ON. god i love this album so much. anyway what’s your ranking so far??

gold rush!! gold rush i project onto my emotional support straight couple but otherwise that’s very interesting. i haven’t really figured out a concrete ranking yet, but i know my favourites are champagne problems, gold rush, evermore, and Coney Island.

#loudwithlaughter #asking with you

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smallblueandloud · 4 years

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HEY HI WHAT'S UP so i'm almost at the point where i can FINALLY read the tww sense8 au, i'm so excited, you have no idea. so anyway- whenever you're in the mood to write for this verse- how did early cj/andy/toby work? how did they meet, and figure out they were in the same cluster (yes including will i'm so in love with him as a part of this)? what were/are the individual relationships like within it? literally talk about anything- any relationship- within this au, i love the concept so much. ❤

(the sense8 au in question)

hmm, okay, so as i mentioned to you i actually had written a bit about their relationship in some snippets that will probably never be posted. but i don’t LIKE what i wrote, so i’m gonna change it, and we’re all just gonna pretend it was like this the whole time lmao.

andy and toby met first, as always, in boston because i am predictable. in this au you don’t know you’re in the same cluster until you make eye contact without being on blockers (which are telepathy-supressing pills, essentially), so they had no idea it was coming, but toby is running a campaign that one of andy’s college friends is working on and andy’s there because her friend was supposed to go to lunch with her an HOUR ago and toby glances up from the papers he’s holding, and-

well. that’s that. toby isn’t so militant about refusing to get close to andy, although he does still feel a bit odd about their age gap and still doesn’t agree to date her for a while. richard schiff is 6 years older than kathleen york, so i’m gonna say that andy was 24 and toby was 29. but, as andy points out: she’s just as smart as he is, and besides, something in their souls said they were equals, and there’s nothing he can do to avoid it. so they date.

they come up with some ground rules for their relationship. no blockers while they’re together in person. no blockers without a good reason, because they both like being connected. if one of them finds one of the other members of their cluster - because the cluster isn’t complete, they know, they don’t know how big it’s going to be but they know it’s not JUST the two of them - they have to call the other IMMEDIATELY. both of them are idealists like that. they know they’re going to share their lives with their other cluster mates, even if it’s not quite romantic.

and then about a year later, when toby is 30 and andy is 25, toby gets introduced to the new press representative of his latest campaign, a 26-year-old cj. and i think they actually even manage to get into an argument before they make eye contact - but it happens, and toby takes a step to the right into the office where andy has a meeting today.

“i found her,” he says. “the third one.”

andy, forgoing any other kind of conversation - that would only waste time - turns to the politician she’s meeting with. “i’m so sorry, something’s just come up,” she says. “we found another member of our cluster.”

“oh, of course,” says the politician. he smiles at her. “we’ll reschedule, naturally. and- good luck.”

andy thanks him and hightails it out of there. back at the campaign, cj and toby are still staring at each other. toby says, “you’re-” and cj says, “come here,” and grabs his arm to pull him into a broom closet, because you KNOW that was cj’s first reaction.

toby’s still kind of staring at her, because let’s be honest, young allison janney. cj says, “are there any more?”

toby says, “what?”

“in the cluster. have you found any others?”

toby blinks. “yeah, i’ve- yeah. she’s on her way. my girlf- my partner, andy. wait, wait, does that- have YOU found any others?”

cj shakes her head. “not yet. i’m cj, by the way.”

“toby ziegler.”

andy breaks SEVERAL traffic laws but gets to the campaign in a record ten minutes, which by the way are possibly the most awkward ten minutes of both cj and toby’s lives. she makes a beeline for the broom closet and makes instant eye contact with cj, because she is NOT going to lose this connection.

later, cj will think that that’s about when she fell in love.

it’s 1985, and bartlet is elected in 1998, so they still have a ways to go. they eventually fall into a collective relationship, as andy and toby realize that their relationship is never going to be able to return to a pre-cj dynamic. they met her a year after each other, but she’s just as important to the relationship as the two of them are.

cj moves to california eventually, fed up and cynical about the public sector. she takes a job with a media consultation firm, as she does in every world, they’re better at communication in this au. hard to be bad at it when you share a soul, bodies, talents. andy and toby move back to andy’s home state of maryland and andy starts to get closer to her goal of running for congress, while toby just keeps losing campaigns for honest politicians. i’ll say that cj moves to california in 1992, and toby and andy get married in 1993.

it’s a lot easier for you to stay in contact when you’re in a cluster. cj watches tv with toby and andy every night. it’s less of a breakup, in this au, and more of cj saying “i want to go work in california, and we have to be more careful”. she’ll only do romantic things in the psycellium, which is where, say, andy would perceive her if cj was visiting telepathically. no one else can see her, is the point. but she sits on their couch and watches tv with them and heckles toby when he makes dinner and goes to lunches with andy, where she sits on one side of the table and eats while andy makes herself at home in the other chair.

and it’s not great but it WORKS, and it works until jed bartlet calls them all in and cj closes herself off even MORE for the sake of andy’s career and andy and toby’s marriage falls apart. and then we get to their approximate relationships in canon.

toby and andy are divorced and spend a couple of years not speaking, but they’re still CLUSTERMATES and that MEANS something. they still hold to their rule of no blockers when in the same room and, once they start talking again (i think around mid s1), they start talking to each other for comfort and catharsis. oftentimes they’ll argue to get out their frustration with everyone else in their lives. it works.

toby and cj are as non-flirty as cj can manage, which is to say that they’re at canon levels of flirting. i would say it’s PRETTY FLIRTY. they’re keeping their cluster under wraps, and they’re even pretty good at it. senior staff knows because one time they got REALLY drunk during the campaign and had a conversation at normal volume about the boston globe. from opposite ends of a bar. but most of the press doesn’t know, except MAYBE danny, and they do their best to keep it that way. exceptions are at rosslyn and other situations like that.

neither of them generally take blockers, so toby’s attempts at briefing are SLIGHTLY less catastrophic than in canon, since cj can stand next to him and quietly advise. she doesn’t take over his body to do it, though, and they try to limit her advice, since it can get really obvious really quickly. toby takes blockers whenever they hide something from cj.

and cj and andy... are the most romantic of the three, just because cj and toby can get away with flirting and cj KNOWS that toby knows she loves him, but andy has always been better about physical affection - and they generally see each other in the psycellium, anyway. (look, i just want them to KISS.) if marriage equality existed at the time, they’d have probably gotten married and toby would’ve had a Crisis about it, but it didn’t and they don’t. they only very rarely see each other in public, generally at balls and the like, during which they both have to pretend they’re not about to burst out laughing. someone ALWAYS tries to introduce them, assuming they’ve never met before, and it’s worth it for the simultaneous “oh, no, we’ve met.” it’s explained by “cj was toby’s best friend while he was dating andy”, but you and i know the Truth.

okay, and then sam goes to california and meets a spirited young speechwriter and sends him back to the west wing, and he walks into toby’s office first.

toby looks up, meets will’s eyes, and something clicks into place. the last piece of the puzzle. the last member of their cluster. and toby goes, “oh no.”

will says, “uh- can we just. uh.”

“come in,” says toby, sighing and waving a hand. “we’ll handle that later. you have an appointment, right?”

they have their canon conversation, in which toby critiques will’s writing and refuses his help on the inauguration speech, and blah blah blah we get to the end of the episode where they’ve both revealed that they respect each other.

it’s the middle of the night, two days after they met, they’re sitting in the mess hall writing, when will goes, “and the cluster thing?”

“what?” says toby, glancing up. “oh, yeah. there’s two more of us. i’ve gotta introduce you.”

“i went home and looked it up,” says will. “there’s nothing on your cluster anywhere.”

“yeah, well, that’s on purpose,” says toby. “and it’s yours too, now. do you know cj cregg?”

he introduces will to cj the next morning, then gets andy to come into the west wing so she can pass will in the hallway and meet eyes with him. they’re very serious about keeping their cluster under wraps, and it would look REALLY suspicious if toby ziegler’s ex-wife came to the white house to meet the california speechwriter that sam seaborn recommended after two months of casual acquaintance. donna is the only one who notices it, but that’s another story.

the dynamics: toby and will are basically the same as in canon, complete with the s6-7 Rift™. toby isn’t as comfortable with will, hasn’t known him for as long, but they understand each other. they’re both writers. it’s something that andy and cj don’t know, even if they love toby more than will ever will.

as for cj and andy, they basically adopt will as their brother and move on. will and cj can’t be seen getting too cozy, but they talk through problems with each other a lot. andy and will can’t be seen in public together at ALL, but they make it a point to sit with each other in the evenings while they’re doing paperwork or reading or writing. it goes more easily with company, and they want to get to know each other.

and everything’s well and good and happy until toby commits treason. but that’s another story altogether.

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