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Super early pass on the Brick encountering Blossom in the dance studio scene of TEF.
(I am pretty overwhelmed by the fan tumblr right now. You guys floor me. Absolutely floor me. ♥)
I went poking about my files to try and find an early draft of the ch1 party scene where Boomer and Bubbles chat on a porch swing (note that in the final draft Boomer was not even remotely interested in Bubbles until ch2), but it's hiding somewhere and I can't track it down. I do, however, have an early draft of Brick encountering Blossom in the dance studio. The final draft of this is the scene that winds up getting drawn a lot :)
---
Blossom had finished shoveling the rest of her locker contents into her duffel and was on her way out of the studio when she slowed, then turned, giving the expansive area a final once over. There was a wistful little sigh that tugged at her chest as she let her gaze linger on every corner of the room, every reflection of light in the mirror, even the lines of the waxed floorboards. She would likely never set foot in this studio ever again.
Not with Brick, anyway.
Her brow furrowed and she shook her head. What did that matter, anyway? Now they—she could move on with the last remaining year of her high school life, unfettered by irrational attractions and coincidences that had no real bearing in the cosmic universe, no matter how soul-moving they might appear. What Brick was moving on to, she didn’t know. And there was no need for her to care. This chapter of her life was over.
Over. She mouthed the word, followed by The End, Finite, and Goodbye.
After a long moment she set her bag on the ground, stepped to the center of the dance floor, and closed her eyes. She exhaled, mouthed, First Position, and curled her arms.
This is my last little love letter to you, she thought at the studio, and for all the happy memories you left me. Even if they did involve Brick.
Second Position.
But I won’t hold it against you.
Third Position.
Even though…
Fourth Position.
You never permitted me a passing thought…
Fifth Position.
I’ll miss you all the same.
The sudden click of the door jolted her out of her senses, and Blossom twisted to confront the intruder.
Brick let the door fall shut behind him and crossed his hands behind his back. “Hey.”
She blinked, and immediately wiped her hands on her jeans, feeling fidgety and embarrassed. “Hey… um, hey.” She swiped the hair out of her eyes. “What are you doing here?”
“I can’t find my jacket,” he explained, apparently deciding not to press for details about her arbitrary decision to practice ballet positions in their old rehearsal space. “I thought I’d check the locker room.”
As he passed her, she noted, “Sounds like a good idea.”
“I get a lot of those,” he shrugged, ruining the moment, but instead of rolling her eyes she smiled. He caught her reflection in the mirrors and stopped. It was a long second before she realized he was staring at her, clearly fixated on him with the most ridiculous grin on her face.
She could’ve slapped her stupid self. And just when she was having this thought, Brick shocked them both by what he said next.
“Are you going to miss me?”
One of those horrifically familiar chills shivered through her. The look on Brick’s face—she could see it, in the mirror—was suddenly unreadable; it seemed he had closed it off instantly following the flicker of surprise that was riveted to Blossom’s.
“I—I hadn’t really thought about it,” she lied, and what softness remained in his reflection disappeared, hardening into an expression more familiar. She looked away, not meaning to cling to the memory of his voice, oddly small and childish, when he’d asked her if she would miss him. “I was… thinking about the studio and how much I’m going to miss it.”
He looked around, slowly taking in the surroundings once more. “I can… see the attachment.” He glanced at her. “But Kris will be happy, won’t he?”
She felt a little zing, and tightened her lips.
“I mean, he won’t have to worry about this sucking up all your free time—”
“We broke up,” she interrupted abruptly. That seemed to kill the conversation, but if anything, the awkward silence was infinitely worse. Struggling for something to conclusive to say, she started, “It wasn’t him—”
Brick gave a short laugh as he finished, “‘It was you?’ Please, you gotta have something more original than that.”
“It’s the truth,” she said defensively. “Kris was a really good guy—”
He shrugged. “Kinda bland, if you ask me—”
“Well, you’re not a very good judge of character,” she snapped, genuinely hurt on Kris’ behalf because… because…
“He deserved better,” she continued, her gaze falling to the floor. “And… it wasn’t right, that he was so into me, and I…”
Suddenly it felt as if Brick’s eyes were drilling into her, but instead of looking up she fixated on the wood grain next to her foot. She could practically see the events of her Junior Prom playing out against it. “I couldn’t—”
“You felt guilty about not being in love with this guy?” Brick asked, voice incredulous, and she looked up.
Blossom knew, without needing to look at him long, that Brick thought it was stupid, that he thought Kris was stupid, that Hell, the entire human race was stupid, and that Blossom was no exception.
She felt her face harden, and she crossed her arms and said quietly, “Yes. I felt guilty, because I let him think… that I really cared about him, when I was really just…” Lonely. Heartbroken. Crushed. “…Upset.”
“About what?”
About what, indeed. “None of your business.”
He shrugged and huffed, “I don’t really care.”
That’s kind of the problem, isn’t it? “Maybe you shouldn’t bother asking, then.” She turned away and made toward her duffel bag.
---
It's not evident from just this segment, but this was written well before Brick's character had become firmly defined in my head. As soon as I started reading I remembered. Originally (and I mean YEARS ago) TEF!Brick was a much more apathetic character, a tried and true Stoic with a capital S, significantly different from his eventual iteration due to the fact that even his interactions with Blossom had little to no emotional effect on his person. As a high schooler I think I was really fascinated with the completely emotionless, practically-a-robot character developing emotions and falling in love, but trying to foist that archetype onto Brick didn't make him mysterious or interesting - it just made him super hella boring. When I used to mull this over in my head a part of me would always go "But WHY should anybody want him to get with Blossom if he doesn't even seem to care?" And I'm talking about a character that's very nearly the opposite of what TEF!Brick is now - his current iteration's stoicism is, frankly, kind of a put-on, a mask that he dons in an effort to appear more mature and adult, but it is clear when he is under duress just how much anger and resentment he's got welled up inside him. (I'm probably talking about this too much, now.)
Anyway, his previous iteration - the genuinely emotionless one, the Spock!Brick - just wasn't a character that I could see Blossom wanting to be with. I mean, I can understand it from a story construction standpoint - oh, here is this emotionless robot boy, but he can be taught to love, if only the right girl finds him! And, well, that's obviously a problematic trope, not to mention wildly out of character and kind of demeaning with regards to Blossom, that she should want to "fix" him with her kisses. She should want to be with him because she wants to be with him, not because she believes she has something to teach him about the magical, transgressive, healing power of ~love~. It's not like women are magical founts of knowledge when it comes to this stuff, despite what the romance section may tell us. (Which, incidentally, is more about fantasy than it is about actual love.)
And that all aside, a character being completely robotic has much less at stake. I personally couldn't think of a good reason why I would want him to succeed despite his flaws, because his only flaw was that he didn't care. True, current!Brick doesn't care either, but he's also massively egocentric and selfish and proud, whereas this Brick was basically a blank slate to be projected upon. And I don't like blank slates. Blank slates are blank slates, not characters. Characters have something to lose.
Oof, that was a long aside. There's more in my head about this, especially as it pertains to depictions of the various "romantic leads" in the PpG fandom - mostly revolving around fannish depictions of the RrB, and Ace - but then I'm going to digress completely into yammering on about woobifying characters in a cheap attempt to get us to like them, but who has five hours? HA. Not I!
Why did he even ask her if she would miss him? That was a completely unmotivated question. But hey, that's why it's tfr.
I went poking about my files to try and find an early draft of the ch1 party scene where Boomer and Bubbles chat on a porch swing (note that in the final draft Boomer was not even remotely interested in Bubbles until ch2), but it's hiding somewhere and I can't track it down. I do, however, have an early draft of Brick encountering Blossom in the dance studio. The final draft of this is the scene that winds up getting drawn a lot :)
---
Blossom had finished shoveling the rest of her locker contents into her duffel and was on her way out of the studio when she slowed, then turned, giving the expansive area a final once over. There was a wistful little sigh that tugged at her chest as she let her gaze linger on every corner of the room, every reflection of light in the mirror, even the lines of the waxed floorboards. She would likely never set foot in this studio ever again.
Not with Brick, anyway.
Her brow furrowed and she shook her head. What did that matter, anyway? Now they—she could move on with the last remaining year of her high school life, unfettered by irrational attractions and coincidences that had no real bearing in the cosmic universe, no matter how soul-moving they might appear. What Brick was moving on to, she didn’t know. And there was no need for her to care. This chapter of her life was over.
Over. She mouthed the word, followed by The End, Finite, and Goodbye.
After a long moment she set her bag on the ground, stepped to the center of the dance floor, and closed her eyes. She exhaled, mouthed, First Position, and curled her arms.
This is my last little love letter to you, she thought at the studio, and for all the happy memories you left me. Even if they did involve Brick.
Second Position.
But I won’t hold it against you.
Third Position.
Even though…
Fourth Position.
You never permitted me a passing thought…
Fifth Position.
I’ll miss you all the same.
The sudden click of the door jolted her out of her senses, and Blossom twisted to confront the intruder.
Brick let the door fall shut behind him and crossed his hands behind his back. “Hey.”
She blinked, and immediately wiped her hands on her jeans, feeling fidgety and embarrassed. “Hey… um, hey.” She swiped the hair out of her eyes. “What are you doing here?”
“I can’t find my jacket,” he explained, apparently deciding not to press for details about her arbitrary decision to practice ballet positions in their old rehearsal space. “I thought I’d check the locker room.”
As he passed her, she noted, “Sounds like a good idea.”
“I get a lot of those,” he shrugged, ruining the moment, but instead of rolling her eyes she smiled. He caught her reflection in the mirrors and stopped. It was a long second before she realized he was staring at her, clearly fixated on him with the most ridiculous grin on her face.
She could’ve slapped her stupid self. And just when she was having this thought, Brick shocked them both by what he said next.
“Are you going to miss me?”
One of those horrifically familiar chills shivered through her. The look on Brick’s face—she could see it, in the mirror—was suddenly unreadable; it seemed he had closed it off instantly following the flicker of surprise that was riveted to Blossom’s.
“I—I hadn’t really thought about it,” she lied, and what softness remained in his reflection disappeared, hardening into an expression more familiar. She looked away, not meaning to cling to the memory of his voice, oddly small and childish, when he’d asked her if she would miss him. “I was… thinking about the studio and how much I’m going to miss it.”
He looked around, slowly taking in the surroundings once more. “I can… see the attachment.” He glanced at her. “But Kris will be happy, won’t he?”
She felt a little zing, and tightened her lips.
“I mean, he won’t have to worry about this sucking up all your free time—”
“We broke up,” she interrupted abruptly. That seemed to kill the conversation, but if anything, the awkward silence was infinitely worse. Struggling for something to conclusive to say, she started, “It wasn’t him—”
Brick gave a short laugh as he finished, “‘It was you?’ Please, you gotta have something more original than that.”
“It’s the truth,” she said defensively. “Kris was a really good guy—”
He shrugged. “Kinda bland, if you ask me—”
“Well, you’re not a very good judge of character,” she snapped, genuinely hurt on Kris’ behalf because… because…
“He deserved better,” she continued, her gaze falling to the floor. “And… it wasn’t right, that he was so into me, and I…”
Suddenly it felt as if Brick’s eyes were drilling into her, but instead of looking up she fixated on the wood grain next to her foot. She could practically see the events of her Junior Prom playing out against it. “I couldn’t—”
“You felt guilty about not being in love with this guy?” Brick asked, voice incredulous, and she looked up.
Blossom knew, without needing to look at him long, that Brick thought it was stupid, that he thought Kris was stupid, that Hell, the entire human race was stupid, and that Blossom was no exception.
She felt her face harden, and she crossed her arms and said quietly, “Yes. I felt guilty, because I let him think… that I really cared about him, when I was really just…” Lonely. Heartbroken. Crushed. “…Upset.”
“About what?”
About what, indeed. “None of your business.”
He shrugged and huffed, “I don’t really care.”
That’s kind of the problem, isn’t it? “Maybe you shouldn’t bother asking, then.” She turned away and made toward her duffel bag.
---
It's not evident from just this segment, but this was written well before Brick's character had become firmly defined in my head. As soon as I started reading I remembered. Originally (and I mean YEARS ago) TEF!Brick was a much more apathetic character, a tried and true Stoic with a capital S, significantly different from his eventual iteration due to the fact that even his interactions with Blossom had little to no emotional effect on his person. As a high schooler I think I was really fascinated with the completely emotionless, practically-a-robot character developing emotions and falling in love, but trying to foist that archetype onto Brick didn't make him mysterious or interesting - it just made him super hella boring. When I used to mull this over in my head a part of me would always go "But WHY should anybody want him to get with Blossom if he doesn't even seem to care?" And I'm talking about a character that's very nearly the opposite of what TEF!Brick is now - his current iteration's stoicism is, frankly, kind of a put-on, a mask that he dons in an effort to appear more mature and adult, but it is clear when he is under duress just how much anger and resentment he's got welled up inside him. (I'm probably talking about this too much, now.)
Anyway, his previous iteration - the genuinely emotionless one, the Spock!Brick - just wasn't a character that I could see Blossom wanting to be with. I mean, I can understand it from a story construction standpoint - oh, here is this emotionless robot boy, but he can be taught to love, if only the right girl finds him! And, well, that's obviously a problematic trope, not to mention wildly out of character and kind of demeaning with regards to Blossom, that she should want to "fix" him with her kisses. She should want to be with him because she wants to be with him, not because she believes she has something to teach him about the magical, transgressive, healing power of ~love~. It's not like women are magical founts of knowledge when it comes to this stuff, despite what the romance section may tell us. (Which, incidentally, is more about fantasy than it is about actual love.)
And that all aside, a character being completely robotic has much less at stake. I personally couldn't think of a good reason why I would want him to succeed despite his flaws, because his only flaw was that he didn't care. True, current!Brick doesn't care either, but he's also massively egocentric and selfish and proud, whereas this Brick was basically a blank slate to be projected upon. And I don't like blank slates. Blank slates are blank slates, not characters. Characters have something to lose.
Oof, that was a long aside. There's more in my head about this, especially as it pertains to depictions of the various "romantic leads" in the PpG fandom - mostly revolving around fannish depictions of the RrB, and Ace - but then I'm going to digress completely into yammering on about woobifying characters in a cheap attempt to get us to like them, but who has five hours? HA. Not I!
Why did he even ask her if she would miss him? That was a completely unmotivated question. But hey, that's why it's tfr.