i've had a fic in my drafts for multiple years now (first version of it is from shortly post witch in the web) about paul becoming something of a surrogate dad for hannah (or, more accurately, just beginning on that journey, and then the events of tgwdlm happen).
and now i have an idea for a similar story that i think i'm even less likely to finish, so i'm gifting it to tumblr:
bill becoming grace's new, better dad (potentially leading to, depending on how much you want to balloon the scope, the full ccrp gang (minus ted, for timeline reasons we'll get to shortly) becoming psuedo-parental figures for the full npmd protag gang)
to start: bill and grace. i think we can all agree that grace deserves better parents, right? well, there's one reason i think bill is the prime candidate to step into that role for her: they're canonically the same denomination and go to the same church. meaning that a) bill has seen this girl once a week for probably her whole life, so he's got to at least know her a little bit by now, and b) grace probably has a baseline level of respect for and willingness to listen to him, at least compared to any of the other ccrp adults (who are all different denominations).
them having their church in common gives them a starting point, but we also know just how different bill is from grace's parents (for one, he has no problem with his daughter being gay and dating). so being around him could give grace another perspective on life, one she wouldn't be so easily able to dismiss out of hand. there's a chance, however slight, that grace might actually believe him when he shows her there are other ways to be good. other ways to Be.
i guess there's also the possibility that grace's family (and thus grace) could secretly despise bill for not adhering to their version of their denomination's beliefs? but i still think it could work given the right circumstances.
what would be those circumstances, you ask? here's what i think:
the workin boys timeline, post workin boys (gals).
think about it: bill was there, and he has to know grace was there, since she's the one who Dealt with hidgens. imagine being him, and going to church the next sunday, and seeing her there. you'd be at least a little concerned about how she's doing, right?
now, answer me this: do you think grace's parents would be at all equipped to give grace the emotional support she would need after that experience? do you think they'd react at all rationally when they found out about this whole thing?
do you think grace would be able to fully keep up appearances the next time she went to church, after smiting someone in the name of god?
which is to say, i think bill, for as obtuse as he can sometimes be, would notice that she's not okay. and knowing how much he misses alice when she's not around, and how much he always worries for her... i think it's a fair jump to make that bill's fatherly side would start coming out. that he'd offer to be there for grace, and maybe start looking into her family on his own.
and grace, after a short while doing her best to hold things together on her own, cracks, and decides to take him up on that offer.
i think bill would have to do some more developing himself in order to really help grace, because we do see in his relationship with alice that familiar strain of overprotectiveness, even if it's much less dominant than in the chasitys. in that respect, i think setting a version of this idea in the watcher world timeline could be easier, because bill goes through some serious development there... but overall i find that version less interesting for grace, so instead, bill is gonna have to learn the longer way.
it would take a while for bill to start getting at the heart of how grace got messed up by her parents. but i think, with enough time — and maybe some help from a certain social worker and his specially gifted (girl)friend, if we say this timeline is one of the better 50% — he could get there.
now, i mentioned the other npmd teens up top. for the sake of this story, i like imagining that ruth actually survived; she hid when hidgens started murdering and he didn't get to her before the curtains went up. so she gets to be here! yay!
but, uh. none of them are doing too hot. obviously a ruth who lived through that would be traumatized; it might even ruin her love of theater entirely. ritchie saw it all, and i figure ruth wouldn't come out of hiding until after it was all over, so there were a good few minutes at least where he genuinely believed his (maybe best) friend was dead.
and, pete... he wasn't there, but, ya know. he lost his brother. so.
all the kids need help, is the point. and if bill is starting to look after grace, then it's basically inevitable (heh) that he'd start seeing some of ritchie (since he and grace were already kind of friends in this timeline, and i can imagine them developing a trauma bond in the aftermath of the event) and then, by association, ruth. i can even imagine him encouraging grace to hang out with them more as part of her healing, and then they could start having hang-outs at his place, and...
plus, i figure the other ccrp adults probably at least vaguely knew about ted's younger brother, so bill doing at least one courtesy check-in on pete makes sense. and pete is friends with richtie and ruth, so, it all comes together!
and at some point, if bill is gonna end up helping out all these teens to some extent, it'll probably become part of his small talk at work, and that's how, if you wanted to, you could get the other adults involved.
like, we know paul has babysat for alice before, so i think bill could probably convince him to help out here too... eventually. i mean, it's not like he'd ask him to take them to a musical, given Everything.
if paul has started pursuing something with emma, then she can be here too!
and charlotte... well, i don't know if we know anything about her opinion on children, and i don't want to stereotype her given she's the only woman of the group. but she's at least generally a nice person; i think she'd be willing to help out when she sees bill starting to get overwhelmed.
which basically just leaves the question of how steph gets involved. my answer: she hears about what happened, then learns that pete's brother was one of the casualties, and through some combo of feeling obligated and having a spark of an interest in pete, reaches out to him to ask how he's doing. so she gets pulled in through him. with this set-up, tho, i figure she probably wouldn't be a major player (though she definitely also deserves a better parent... that can be its own story).
to kind of wrap this up, the point of this whole story concept is that bill accidentally gets a second daughter, figuring out how to be a better dad in the process; and grace, on the precipe of entering adulthood with some fresh trauma, gets a real chance at salvation. a chance to be, relatively, normal. or, whatever she wants to be when free of her parents' expectations and religious standards. anything else for any other characters is a bonus.
(there can also be some alice — bill drama when alice next visits and starts noticing how much bill is devoting himself to this girl that isn't even his daughter. drama that, eventually, results in the two of them becoming closer, and grace getting an honorary older sister!)
(also remember that duke and holloway can be here helping with the kids, if you want them to be. and why wouldn't you?)
like i said up-top, i have no plans to actually write this. y'all can take it and do whatever you want with it. i just hope at least one other person gets something out of this bain blast i had :D
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With Grafaiai being a thing now, I can't stop thinking about a scenario with the Submas where they're investigating a string of random graffiti appearing through out the subway tunnels and stations.
Ingo is convinced it's just some dumb kid who thinks they're being funny, but the cameras never pick anything up that would indicate that, and even then graffiti seems to happen when no one is around. Emmet is pissed because not only has this been going on for weeks and they've had no luck whatsoever finding the culprit, but he's also now having to keep his poor Galvantula inside because he's mysteriously drawn to the graffiti and keeps trying to lick it which results in him getting sick and unable to move. This has happened to Crustle too, who also seems drawn to the graffiti, so Emmet believes it's not a coincidence that the graffiti keeps happening and it makes pokémon sick.
Finally, one night by SHEER accident, they find the culprit. And instead of being some kid or angsty teen, it's this little fucker.
Emmet's immediate response is to basically go "what on God's green earth is that ugly little thing?!" Ingo thought it was a very dirty Pansage at first till Emmet pointed out it's fingers were FAR too long it to be a Pansage, or any other monkey pokémon they could think of. They'd never seen anything like it before and were almost in awe.
But before either of them can get close enough to try and catch it however, the small primate hissed and sprayed some toxic "paint" from its mouth at them, before skittering away far faster than they thought it'd be.
This leads to the equivalent of a Benny Hill chase sequence, with the Submas trying to catch the little creature and failing because not only is it extremely fast, but anytime they manage to corner it, it sprays more "paint" at them and manages to escape. After several failed attempts to catch it, they finally lose track of the creature and have to call it a night. Ingo is exhausted, covered in "paint", and frankly has given up hope that catching it is even possible. Emmet though, who is just as covered with "paint" as Ingo is, is bitter af and VOWS to capture it because now it's a matter of pride. He refuses to be bested by some smug little gremlin monkey with freaky long fingers.
Several more attempts were made to capture the pokémon with no success, and Emmet, now covered in even MORE "paint", FINALLY admits defeat. Of course as soon as he does, you appear. You explain that you're a tourist from the Paldea region, and you're looking for your little companion pokémon as he got separated from you. You remark that the "paint" that covers Emmet after his latest failed capture attempt looks JUST like the stuff your pokémon uses.
Emmet is incredulous, insisting that the pokémon who made the paint is a terrible little monster who can't be caught, and there's no way anyone would willingly live with such a creature. Ingo doesn't believe it either, having witnessed his brother's several failed attempts to catch it. Sure enough though, you whistle and shout "Grafaiai! Comere' baby!" and the little creature comes running in out of nowhere and leaps into your arms, crooning and making sweet little monkey noises as you kiss its little head and cuddle it. "There you are! I've been looking EVERYWHERE for you, you little stinkpot! I missed you~ Yes I did~ Yes I did~"
Ingo is in complete disbelief that this is the same creature that's been running amok around the station for weeks and combating any attempts to capture it with utmost hostility. Emmet looks like he's going to have a stroke as he congratulates you on the reunion in a hollow voice. Ingo asks you what the pokémon is, remarking that he's never seen anything like it.
You giggle, and explain that "this little ball of mischief" is a pokémon called "Grafaiai". You explained how it's a poison and normal type pokémon native to the Paldea region, and it's known to be very moody and fastidious so they tend to live alone. But it's mostly known for its habit if painting its colorful and toxic saliva on trees and rocks as a way of marking territory and capturing prey. "Yeah this little guy has a mischievous streak, but he's also very sweet. I hope he didn't cause too much trouble for you both."
Emmet proceeds to laugh hysterically and walk away, probably to go have a mental breakdown somewhere. Leaving Ingo to explain to you how they'd been trying to capture your "sweet little baby" for weeks, because he kept painting on the walls and trains. "Yeah that sounds about right. He's a little menace, I wouldn't be shocked if he thought you both getting angry and chasing him was funny. Which of course would only encourage him to paint everything even more." The smug little grin the small primate gives Ingo confirms your suspicion that he was mostly doing everything on purpose.
At least now they don't have to clean up anymore graffiti.......Until you start dating the Submas, and now they have to deal with the mischievous little Grafaiai everyday. They love you though, and eventually Grafaiai grows on them. Now when Ingo cooks dinner, Grafaiai hangs out on his shoulder and Ingo sneaks him little pieces of food as he cooks. And Grafaiai will curl up on Emmet's lap if he's sitting on the couch as a way to get ear scritches.
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