#yes i have been ruminating about gregory indirectly telling janine he likes jacob since story samurai

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SORRY I’M GOING TO BE INTOLERABLE ABOUT THIS I AM GOING TO BE UTTERLY ABNORMAL MY CROPS ARE WATERED MY HEART IS BUOYED BY THE JOY OF FRIENDSHIP

I just know that this whole time, even as Jacob’s been growing on Gregory, Gregory has been holding back, has been telling himself that no, he’s not going to reward this annoying behavior. He keeps most people at arm’s length like it’s his job, so why should he even vaguely entertain this desperate desire for friendship for any other reason than the fact that this person he really cares about just happens to care about Jacob too?

And he’s right, of course he’s right. He’s not obligated to even like Jacob, and definitely not obligated to be his friend. We’ve seen many times that Jacob has a lot of faults, up to and including a bad habit of making himself everyone’s problem.

But fine, Gregory will fully admit it: Gregory likes Jacob anyway. He’s Gregory’s friend anyway. So, feeling unmoored and needing support, Gregory knows who he is willing to turn to for that support, and he decides to just…let this friendship breathe.

He is the one who offers a hug first! Even if it’s awkward, that means so much! The first time Jacob ever met Gregory, he tried to hug him, which, understandably, Gregory found weird and off-putting. He didn’t even know the guy. But now he does, and when he wants to communicate that he genuinely appreciated Jacob, he doesn’t go with a dubious “thank you,” he invites a hug, which we’ve never seen him do before, so he could’ve just…not done that. Jacob was impressively cool about it, but it doesn’t seem like he expected it.

And the thing is that it seems unlikely to me that Gregory, chronic overthinker, occasional unwilling study of human character, doesn’t know that outright offering a hug will cement in Jacob’s head that they’re totally besties, which means he doesn’t care if Jacob gets the wrong idea. Which means he doesn’t really think he’s actually giving him the wrong idea.

And then! Then he accepts another hug, because you know what? He needs one. And he is the one who goes for the full hug because he knows he can, he knows it’ll be okay! He trusts Jacob enough to communicate to Jacob himself that yeah, they do have a connection and he appreciates it and wants it to continue!

He lets himself lean on his friend.

Meanwhile, Jacob lets himself be redirected without feeling shut down or being shut down. He matches Gregory’s energy, realizes that he doesn’t have to try so hard. That he has things to offer Gregory and he doesn’t have to shove them at him, he can just show him. He can just be who he is, and demonstrate that he accepts Gregory for who he is. That his liking Gregory isn’t performance—he genuinely enjoys him. Jacob calms down, and he’s exactly what Gregory needs.

This time, Jacob doesn’t threaten to scream, and Gregory never tries to walk away.

I’m wrecked, I’m walking on air, this is everything to me, I reiterate that I am NOT normal about this in any possible way.

#abbott elementary #abbott elementary spoilers #gregory eddie #jacob hill #this is ridiculous and soppy but it took me like an hour to write #i love hugs #not irl #in fiction #i REALLY love hugs in fiction #long post #does anyone care about my abbott friendship thoughts? almost certainly not #still i inflict them #yes i have been ruminating about gregory indirectly telling janine he likes jacob since story samurai