“Come home.”
I’m tryin’, Tina girl. I’m tryin’.
As he passed another pine he paused, looking at the bark then at his knife. After a moment of deliberation, he went over and got to work. When he was done, he observed his work for a moment before giving it a satisfied nod and walking away, trudging through the snow.
On the trunk of the tree was a carved heart with a name in the middle of it:
TINA
See More Seymour's Week- Platonic Relationship Day
It's platonic relationship day for See More Seymour's Week (@seemoreseymoursbay) so I'm posting about one of my favorite background platonic relationships on the show- Rudy and Zeke! Alas, I don't have a fic about them to share but I still want to talk about them!
I always think it is interesting when the show shows relationships between kids at Wagstaff that don't involve the Belchers, and especially when it's kids who aren't in the same grade. And Zeke and Rudy are such a fun pair because they have some clear similarities (they are both really friendly and good natured) but also some notable differences (Rudy's pretty sensible, Zeke has a problem with impulse control).
Some canon highlights:
Them acting opposite each other in "Work Hard or Die Trying Girl"- with Zeke throwing wrestling into their number (to Rudy's approval despite getting crushed).
Rudy telling Zeke to shut up- and then immediately apologizing-in "Midday Run".
The flashback to them playing basketball in "Y Tu Ga-Ga Tambien"- honestly this is one of my favorites as it indicates that Zeke just really enjoys hanging out with Rudy- because Zeke is clearly not getting much athletic competition there!
Them being big fish and little fish in "A Fish Called Tina"- "I still think that Zeke might be my soulmate"
Zeke's concern over Rudy's broken arm in "The Hawkening" including feeding him tater tots (pictured)
Some headcanons/fic ideas:
They are both children of divorce and Zeke has experienced a parent getting remarried and having a younger half-sibling. If Rudy goes through the same thing at some point, it's easy to see him turning to Zeke about that.
Generally I see Rudy seeing Zeke (and Gene) as his surrogate big brothers and turning to them for advice about growing up, dating, etc. It's probably not always the best advice, but it's well intentioned.
I think that they play basketball together into adulthood (Rudy eventually becomes somewhat better but neither of them are great at it: they just like hanging out and getting exercise together.)
One day I hope to come up with a fic idea worthy of these two! (Also, hope I get the confidence to try to write for Zeke- he has a distinctive voice and I've never written for him.)
14. Do they enjoy PDA, or are they more private with affection? Tina and Zeke are the grossest, most syrupy-sweet PDA couple. They're the couple who get distracted at work flirting. They make out at the drop of a hat. Zeke thought that he was the most physical person that he knew; he was wrong.
19. Do they wear each other’s clothes/jewelry? Tina loves wearing Zeke's shirts. She's a dyed-in-the-wool romantic and wearing her boyfriend's wrestling jersey or his torn tee shirt is the highlight of her day. Zeke wears Tina's necklaces and rings and will take any opportunity to tell bystanders exactly where Tina got them, what they mean to her, what they mean to him, etc.
the kids need to actually have friends. like, okay, Louise has Rudy. Gene (very occasionally) has Alex.
Tina I guess is kinda friends with Susmita but mostly hangs out with Zeke and J-Ju, and Tammy and Jocelyn. But it's pretty heavily implied that she doesn't really enjoy Zeke's company much and just has a crush on Jimmy Jr. Tammy and Jocelyn actively dislike her. I don't know why they've given her no other friends that actually get along with her in a real way. Darryl might count but he isn't in her grade so idk it's not super realistic.
Louise also has Millie and, yeah, there was that one episode in season 12 where Millie, RSR, and Louise hung out and were pretty decent friends but other than those two and the Pesto twins (who are almost offensively under-utilized), we know no one in her grade in a real way.
Up until season 7 we literally hadn't met someone that Gene was friends with in his own grade. Peter Pescadero has been mentioned but I'm pretty sure that he's the only sixth grader other than Courtney that's come up in the show pre-Papasian. More recently, Courtney and Gene have sorta become friends but it hasn't been explored enough for me to really be able to claim that with anything to back it up.
idk just let the kids have friends and no crossover of friends between the kids.
Predictive text has given me my most ridiculous idea for a fic yet. I sometimes (okay, maybe often) talk about how I love the idea of Gene, Zeke, and Rudy being future brothers-in-law. Apparently, I use the phrase "future brothers-in-law" enough that, earlier today when was I typing something about "Back to the Future" in a text to a friend predictive text suggested that I wanted to add "brothers-in-law" to that.
So, now I feel obligated to add "Back to the Future Brothers-in-Law" as a story idea on my list of fic ideas.
What's it about? I don't really know. Obviously something involving Gene, Rudy, Zeke, and time travel.
Will I ever write it? Quite possibly not. But I also don't think I will ever forget it, either, so you never know...
What made you ship it? Literally all of their interactions have ship tease. Jimmy Junior being so jealous over Zeke, Tina being so jealous over Jimmy Junior, Zeke just being so happy to be with both of them. I ship them in any capacity or configuration.
What are your favorite things about the ship? @br1ghtestlight basically already said everything relevant right here.
Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship? While I enjoy any form of shipping for these three, my favorite is a closed, equal triad. A QPP of zekina with Jimmy Junior seems to be the most popular configuration. That's perfectly fine; I just prefer polycules where everyone is equally in love with everyone else.