#in other words: jake and rachel describing saddler as 'a huge jerk' are blissfully unaware that saddler is only 50% of the problem

[thejakeformerlyknownasprince]

Do you have any headcanons for Jake and Rachel’s relationship as kids?

So I put this in a fic, but [Tom's narration]:

Not being that old or responsible myself at the time, I would order Jake not to cause trouble and run off on my own, usually to shoot baskets in the tiny hoop they had nailed above the garage door.  What happened as soon as I left was as regular as clockwork: Saddler would start harassing one of the younger kids, Jake would tell him to cut it out, Saddler would start beating up Jake instead, Rachel would either decide that Jake needed defending or that any fight was worth having and start attacking Saddler, and I would have to come running back over to wade in and pull them all apart.  The only aspect of the whole scene that varied from year to year was whether Saddler decided to tattle, which, when it happened, resulted in Aunt Ellen yelling at Rachel while my own parents yelled at me for not keeping a closer eye on them, as if I'd had anything to do with anything.

After the drama of the scene ended and the adults determined that Rachel had not yet succeeded in permanently damaging Saddler, and that Saddler had not done anything to Jake that Jake couldn't shrug off with an eight-year-old’s version of stoicism, they would go back inside.  And then just as I'd be making my exit, Saddler (pissed off about being beaten up by a girl) would decide to take out his feelings by punching Jordan.  And the whole cycle would start again.

#animorphs #berenson feels #in other words: jake and rachel describing saddler as 'a huge jerk' are blissfully unaware that saddler is only 50% of the problem #put too many berenson kids in one place for more than 15 minutes and violence WILL ensue #let's not pretend it's all or even mostly saddler's fault