8 Days, A Week, Story 8: The Profound Frolic of Theodore “The Roach” Roachmont
(also on AO3)
We bring our peek into the lives of these Cornbury middle schoolers to a close with an attempt to peer into the life of Theodore "The Roach" Roachmont. The Roach is many things, and yet also he is hard to describe. An oddball, sure, but what exactly is it that goes on in his head every day? In an effort to answer that question, what we find is hardly what we expect.
The Roach is notoriously difficult to characterize, and I've certainly had no shortage of trouble trying to do so over the course of the Josh stories. A lot of this is because canon failed to characterize him consistently. But that opens up its own opportunity, as much as it is a nightmare to tie all these threads into something coherent. The product here is something that was difficult to write, but also something that I hope helps to illustrate how I've tried to square this circle — that Roach is a boy with untold depths that he simply does not care to seek introspection on.
Putting a lid on 8 Days, A Week as a whole, this story ended up being a year-long detour from the main Josh storyline that I hope has delivered greater detail on some of the people we so intently follow here. I think some of the exposition stories have fared better than others in that aim, largely as a product of there just being stronger storylines for some of the characters, at least in my mind. That said, I feel there are also a few new doors I've opened up along the way that beg their own questions, which is always a good thing to leave one with.
I'm most of the way through a playlist for Roach, but I'm not happy with it yet, so it's not being made public right now. An alternate version of the chapter image is under the cut.
Previously in 8 Days, A Week: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
A Future Super-Something, the first story: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Perfect Disasters, the second story: 1 2 3 4 5 6
Over and Out, the third story: 1 & 2 3 4 5
Diamonds on the Rebound, the fourth story
Reminiscence, the fifth story
A Hero’s Prelude, the sixth story: 1 2 3
Dancefest, the seventh story: 1 & 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
Sorry Can’t Save Me Now, the eighth story: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14













