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str4ng3rdanger · 1 year

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what're your headcanons for how chuckerboose got together?

ooh boy. oh man oh man you’ve done it now

p.s. i headcanon church with they/he pronouns and that’ll be shown throughout the text (+ she/they tex. i think theyre both nonbinary in opposing masc/femme directions)

double p.s. — i haven’t seen past s15 yet and so anything from really later on could affects things but definitely not by a lot but if it does i’ll update this post

Even from the first episode, the dynamic between Church, Tucker, and Caboose is unparalleled, to me, and yet, just from there I believe they have some kind of attraction for each other and with how early on it begins, it only gets to manifest even longer over the course of the series.

If we look to Season 14, Episode 4, the first interaction with Church is finding Tucker annoying, although this applies to most ships in the franchise, so we will obviously just build up from there. Considering Flowers is often checking on Vic and being somewhat melodramatic on his own, it could be assumed that Church and Tucker get a lot of time on their own to bond together. Also, considering a vast majority of the time the Reds and Blues are willing to do anything out of boredom, Church and Tucker must have had many conversations or done things the other suggests because they merely have nothing better to do. By this concept, they’d have learned things about each other that go below the surface of “Tucker is annoying” and “Church is mean” and also find out things the other likes to do. I imagine it’s also part of why Tucker seems so content and even happy with how their situation was before with just him, Church (his normal “best friend”) and Flowers (his NOT father figure that he would NEVER project onto WHAT are you talking about) being on Blue Team. I also assume that because he loved the team dynamic then, that it plays into why he shows so much scorn for Caboose early into Caboose’s arrival—but first, I imagine Flowers’ death plays into things a bit as well.

Depending on how long it was between the death of Flowers and Caboose’s arrival gives way for even more Chucker-related events before we even hit Chuckerboose. Tucker only calls dibs on the armor but I imagine that with how content he was before, he’d find it was a bit weird feeling with Flowers not leading them anymore, and considering at the time he never expected to be leading anything, he likely would find himself looking to Church more than ever to not just keep him company, but now to be all he has in the canyon. This is where I believe the attraction really begins and he tries to be around Church all the time (excluding … “alone time” … 💀) and it would also be why Caboose’s arrival throws things off so much for him.

Maintaining the Tucker focus for a bit, we only find out that Church has a “girlfriend” (just you wait until you find out for yourself how divorced you and your “girlfriend” are and how much you’re only “together” out of obligation due to your weird sense of memory and need to do what the residual memories of who you’re based on state and how you’re much better as a mlm/w/w bestie duo) around Season 1, Episode 4 and that likely causes some internal struggles with Tucker. For one, I imagine that he is totally bisexual but at this point in time is just now realizing it—so he wonders why he is so upset learning that Church has a girlfriend, because why should he care? Why is that something that won’t get out of his head? There is no way he could be jealous of his “best friend’s” girlfriend because obviously he and Church are just best friends. He also likely finds himself slowly growing jealous of Church spending more time with Caboose as well, and it leads to a lot of frustration for Tucker that he doesn’t express for a while and tries to shove away and ignore. I imagine that by Season 1, Episode 13 Tucker finally admits it to himself that it is in fact a gigantic crush that he has on Church that is the source of these feelings, as he knows for certain that is what it is due to the envious feeling he has reaching an all-time high at knowing Church and his “girlfriend” are to be reunited soon and how that could ruin his chances of being with Church—because that is what he wants.

With all this Tucker focus you’d think this was a Chucker post—so, onto Caboose. Caboose ended up in Blood Gulch was a fluke, as seen in Season 14, Episode 4. I imagine he was rushed out to Blood Gulch as the death of Flowers was not only very sudden, but they may not have even registered the list change at the time (but why question it, when it was part of a plan and most certainly not a fluke?) and so Caboose was not given much time to really process what was going on. He may not have even made it too far out of basic training if he got through it at all, and so I assume that Caboose was very anxious about being sent out to an actual outpost so soon, and it was likely made out to be far more important than it really is as well, so I assume Caboose was under a lot of pressure showing up at Blood Gulch (which is also why I imagine it takes a few episodes for him to really develop the personality he maintains later throughout the show. It isn’t just me who thinks that Caboose felt way out of character in early s1 compared to later on, right?) and he tries to mask (which is why he seems out of character, that’s his masking attempt that he doesn’t really ever do again due to the following) but Church is able to see through it even if it’s somewhat got Tucker fooled, so Church approaches Caboose alone at some point and asks him how he’s really doing and Caboose is nervous but he’s also too afraid to not say anything so he tells Church about how confusing things are and how this isn’t what he thought he was getting into at all (considering the simulation troops all seem to have believed they’d be fighting aliens, who knew what Caboose expected? … it probably wasn’t this) and so he was super worried about everything, especially how he acted around Church and Tucker due to how hyped up this mission was for him. Church, in a quiet moment of sympathy, comforts Caboose. This is something Caboose is so unfamiliar with at the time, that he immediately latches onto Church from then onward—what could possibly be wrong about Church? Church is the one that made him start to feel at home in Blood Gulch, the first person to show him kindness in his experience being enlisted thus far, and decidedly now his best friend. Nobody is more important than Church—and that is a completely normal and totally straight and normal platonic thing to imagine! (i say before sarcasm emits from my body into the air like a noxious gas)

This conflicts with Tucker’s view of Church, of course, as for Tucker, Church is supposed to be his best friend (-turned crush) and now Church is spending time with Caboose the same way they would spend time with him. At the time, Tucker hadn’t really taken the chance to spend any quality time alone with Caboose, instead brooding internally about how Church wasn’t giving him the same attention he got before when it was just Flowers, Church, and himself. Around this time as well, the narrative is picking up. However, we’ve gone over the attraction to Church from both Tucker and Caboose, but what of Church himself…?

Church, at least per my main headcanon, doesn’t love Tex—not romantically, anyway. Church thinks he loves Tex. They think they have to love Tex because she is supposed to be their girlfriend because that’s what they remember of her. Tex plays back into it, though it never feels genuine, because she also has residual memories telling her what to believe, but she doesn’t feel anything romantically towards Church and is only stringing along the concept of them and Church being in a relationship because “if we both are thinking we’re supposed to be together, and our memories imply we’ve been together—even if that’s a bit jumbled for one or both of us, it may as well be how things are, isn’t it?” This is why I imagine that Church chases after Tex as desperately as he does—he likes Tucker for all the reasons Tucker likes him. He’s grown to find Caboose sweet and endearing, especially when he has such a cynical view of things. Tex is just … who he thinks he should love. That’s why he never says anything to either Tucker or Caboose—for one, he is supposed to be with Tex, so how could he be with either of them? Then, there’s the fact that he likes them both. How are they meant to deal with that? … they don’t, at least, not for a while.

Come Season 3, Episode 6 where the “time travel” occurs. Throughout the season until Church returns to the main group in Season 3, Episode 14, Tucker is constantly insisting that they need to “go find Church” and even Caboose seems to handle it better than Tucker, which is very surprising (to be fair it’s only the first time Church disappears by mysterious means outside of when he’s initially “killed”), which is NORMAL behavior from a COMPLETELY PLATONIC BEST FRIEND. yeah. At any rate, I imagine that Tucker is given, in reality, his first chance to get to know the others from his canyon outside of Church considering how much he avoided people that weren’t Church, and I think that Caboose would empathize with Tucker’s behavior and it’d give him some more appreciation of Tucker—but he won’t admit that yet, because when they find Church, he needs Church to know that he wasn’t trying to replace him with Tucker and that he knew without Tucker saying anything that they needed to find Church. “Stupid Tucker”, he’d comment, because they would obviously find Church, so why mention it so much? … even if he’s thinking the same thing and wants to say so twice as much as Tucker? (god they are so dysfunctional without church)

Jumping a bit ahead, we reach Season 4, Episode 9 where all the Blues except for Church go on the quest with Honk-Honk, and I believe the biggest reason why Church wanted them all to go without coming along himself is that after getting through his whole mess of finding his way back to the guys, he’s a bit overstimulated and tired and wants some alone time before he has to be surrounded by them all again. This gives Tuckboose some time to develop—with it being a smaller, more selective group now (especially since Tex doesn’t tag along formally until Season 4, Episode 11) and Tucker and Caboose likely being told by Andy at some point to stop asking questions about the quest, they are left with each other to talk to. They find that they have some more things in common than expected and are more interesting to the other than they’d have thought. Plus, when they go on their way back from the quest in Season 4, Episode 14, they don’t even have the alien with them (though it may mean Caboose had to carry Andy the whole time. Yikes.) and don’t have the quest to talk about (aside from how much it sucked) and so they get even more bonding time. I imagine at some point, Caboose would bring up how excited he is to see Church again and this would be Tucker’s turn to realize how he and Caboose feel so similarly, and it leaves him to think about it (amidst the fact that he’s starting to feel “sick”) and reevaluate the dynamic between himself, Church, and Caboose.

Season 5 has so much happening, but I think it’s when Chuckerboose begins to become comfortable with the fact that they all like each other, just not with the concept of telling it to each other. They act gay as hell and might even be a little scandalous with one another but of course they would make up excuses as to why that is and why they are DEFINITELY NOT GAY for each other. Why would you even think that.

At any rate, Tex’s ship exploding in the sky may have been bad news to Church (even if he isn’t romantically invested with her, they care about her on a deeper level and it devastates him all the same) though for Tucker and Caboose, while they recognize how it affects Church, realize … “hey. doesn’t that make him kind of single.” This gives them both some kind of hope that things don’t have to be left the way they are, with pining on all sides … and then before either get the courage or ability to ask Church to date them, they’re transferred out of Blood Gulch.

What makes it so hard for Tucker, is he has such a low self-esteem that he can’t imagine Church (or Caboose) saying yes back to him, even if he and Church (and Caboose) already seem like they’re a couple at this point. Caboose’s difficulty with it is he knows it’s a different, deeper feeling than he’s used to, and he doesn’t know how to articulate it. Church, meanwhile, is worried about ruining what they have going on already—they’re already bickering at each other (affectionately) enough as is, why would he want to potentially send the team into a spiral of scorn for each other? Plus, Tex just went away—he should have more respect for them, shouldn’t he? Immediately asking two guys out after her death would be a bit. Rude. So he thinks.

Then, they’re all split up and Washington is there to bring them back together—kind of. Season 6, Episode 4. Bro. Caboose’s “I know that voice!” and Church’s … reaction. I believe Church tries to shoot Caboose because, well, firstly, none of them have a grip on the concept of actually killing each other and at this point in time probably expect them to pop up as ghosts, too, and secondly, Church just spent nearly two years alone. To suddenly realize he’ll have to confront feelings he’s been pushing away for a very long time again is likely somewhat jarring and panic-inducing. Caboose, meanwhile, faces it more simplistically: Church is there! He gets to see the guy he loves again! That’s great! It’s fantastic! … and then boom. The rest of season 6. The way Caboose is so complacent and tolerant of everything going on around him as Church is following Wash around for most of what’s going on just shows how he wants to simply be there for Church. In Season 6, Episode 19, Caboose even mentions how Church will want his body for when they get out of this, which means that Church likely lied to Caboose about making it back (as he knew what he was doing was sacrifice, no matter how much he played it off) so he’d remain positive for the rest of the mission, and hoped that Caboose would be okay after he found out what Church had done—and as expected, Caboose goes along with things. In the final shot of the drive-away scene, Caboose drives off a CLIFF for (essentially) Church. oh yeah he’s in love man

One devastating thing is Tucker would never again see Alpha Church after they move out of Blood Gulch—I imagine that when they left, Church gave Tucker some locket he meant to give to Tex, and told him to “not think too much into it” and left it at that—and in Tucker’s time before he’s found in Season 7, I imagine that keeps him going. Caboose is (very clearly) losing his mind alone in Season 7, trying to frankenstein up a robot body for Epsilon so he won’t feel so alone, speaking to it about the stories of the adventures he and Church have had as if it were the same Church, and trying to cope with his loneliness and the fact that the Alpha Church died are all things that impact Caboose for a long time—so long, in fact, that I imagine by post Season 8, when things die back down for the Reds and Blues, that Caboose sleeps with Tucker because he’s afraid of being left alone in the dark and it’s too scary for him to sleep like that. Tucker pretends he can’t stand it but it somewhat overjoys him.

Back to S7-8, Caboose at the time is fixated on getting Church back again, because he has to—he always has to, because he needs Church. Church makes him feel validated and safe and loved—Tucker is trying to process everything going on, and so he’s going through the motions and is even upset by the time we reach late S8. Caboose follows Church’s orders like crazy—helping them get into a body and helping them get where they need to go and helping them with anything, even with bringing Tex back (which is a roadblock in their relationship), all because he loves Church. Epsilon Church, though while he does love Caboose and Tucker (I imagine Caboose left Tucker out of the stories he told Epsilon out of a partial unfair spite at Tucker not being there with him and out of a crazed hope it’d mean Church would love him more when he got Church back), he’s trying to figure out what is going on in their memories first—so he becomes focused on Tex again. This focus takes him to the Season 8 finale, where he feels so morally obligated (even down to his code) to go after Tex that he has to leave Caboose and Tucker behind—and Caboose just watches as he does so. It hurts like betrayal, but it hurts worse that Church is gone.

Before Church is rescued in the Season 9 finale, Caboose and Tucker have to get used to Washington being their leader. Caboose tries to pretend it’s Church to make it hurt less, and Tucker tries to convince Caboose that it isn’t Church, no matter what Caboose tries to think. They comfort each other and keep each other going during this weird period of adjusting, and when Carolina comes along to boss them around. For Church—when he forgets Tex, I imagine him not following the others along on their adventure is his way of “forgetting” them, without actually doing so. With Tex, he tells them about how they’re stuck in a loop of going down each new iteration of theirselves to try and find each other again, only to have less and less of the feelings the previous versions of themselves did. So, he genuinely wants to be done chasing her down, and wants to be done saying “she’s my girlfriend” as an obligation—he “forgets” Tucker and Caboose by letting them go because he wants to be at peace in his final moments, and for that, he wants to sit with his thoughts alone. Then he’s rescued.

I imagine that Church’s initial frustration comes from the same place it always done—he’s finally come to terms with being alone and never seeing his two lovers again, but then they come back and he’s likely scared that he’ll have to go through it all over again (they haven’t even admitted it to each other!!! got damn!!!!) and so he lashes out, as that’s his typical response to things. Caboose has been steadily readjusting to Washington not being Church, which is why he slips up with calling Wash by Church’s name in Season 10, Episode 1, and all three of them are glad to be reunited, no matter how scrambled things feel.

Then, there’s everything from Season 10. Church has gotten the chance to remember himself and has his priorities set on bringing the Director to justice, and assumes that Tucker and Caboose would have his back like always, but they’re tired—physically and emotionally. They spent so much time trying to just get Church back, and then Church has something new to run off and do, and they’re scared and upset by Carolina—they realize at the last second about how they should be there with Church—lashing out is just what he does, but … Season 10, Episode 18 … bro. This episode is the culmination of Chuckerboose’s struggles on all sides. Tucker is wondering why Church is so peeved, Church snaps at everyone, and it’s so much that even Caboose walks away. The three all have expectations from each other and are dealing with so much (not to mention, again, they all likely are still thinking of how to tell each other how much they like each other!!!!!) that they’re feeling such a strain, but they come together at the end, because Caboose and Tucker realize how they would usually never let Church down like this—and Church says he’ll apologize profusely when they get the chance. They all realize they belong together. Too bad it doesn’t stay that way, again!

Season 11: Tuckboose cope with missing Church again. We see this throughout the entire season, with Tucker being defiant to Wash and wishing things were how they were back in Blood Gulch, and Caboose having “off days” (Washington saying “one of his off days” implies it happens frequently, and Tucker seems highly aware of it, too) go to show that they aren’t doing well—if anything, they’re doing worse than before because they know that Church isn’t “gone forever” as they thought, and they’re having to deal with the fact that he’s out there…just not with them. He always has something to choose over them, no matter how much they love him and he loves them. The Tuckboose is violently potent at this point with how much Caboose and Tucker can empathize with each other and care for each other—they’re trying so hard to get each other through this.

Then, in Season 12, Episode 10, Chuckerboose is finally reunited once again. You know how it goes. Tucker is so violently upset and yet glad to be back with Church that he curses him out and then goes to try and hug him the second they lock eyes. Caboose is immediately relieved, like every other time they finally get Church back—he never wants to harbor hatred towards Church for the same reason he tells Tucker: if he did that, then him and Church would just be upset and it’d make a cycle of being unhappy when they’re literally in love with each other. Church is mad because that’s their default reaction to things—they want to apologize, but don’t know how. I headcanon that when Tucker goes to talk to Church, he asks Carolina if it can be alone, and has Caboose with him.

FINALLY: WHAT WE ARE HERE FOR. When apologizing to each other, Tucker finally admits that he likes Church and Caboose to their faces and says it’s why he’s so upset every time Church goes away, because he loves him. Church and Caboose are surprised, mainly since Church didn’t expect to be so called out and Caboose didn’t know how to say it himself, and Tucker didn’t expect them to reciprocate but they DID. Caboose then says something about how when people have been in love that long they’re usually married and Tucker gets all sheepish and says he’d. considered. something like that, and gets out some rings he’d had since SEASON 7 WHEN HE WAS RELOCATED. Tucker stated in Season 7 that he knew Church was an A.I. all along so he tells Church to “just make them appear” and Church is like “🙄 (affectionate)” and does so, with Tucker and Caboose exchanging the physical rings—they all swore to actually be married when they finished dealing with things on Chorus. It’s a small moment of things being alright before they become the worst ever of all time possible. We already know … (begins to weep) … before we get into that, brief mention that Church mentioned he “wanted to have faith” in Tucker’s plan—he didn’t even know if Tucker’s plan for the S12 finale would work, but he went through with it anyway, because it was the best hope they had—the admiration Church has for how far Tucker has come…bro. okay back to sadness

Season 13, Episode 20. It pains Church so much to have to be apart from his lovers, and for the final time, too—but he does it for them. Again, he knows they won’t know he’s gone until after the day is saved, which is what the Alpha did, too. Until the events of Season 15, they’re left to be together coping with the loss of Church again, but this time they know Church isn’t going to come back—mainly.

there’s more I could add but this post is so long so like yeah

tl;dr: they get engaged in s12 and are gay gay homosexual gay

#red vs blue #rvb #chuckerboose #rvb church #rvb tucker #rvb caboose #stranger asks #stranger static

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