im sorry but seeing any animosity between 1x362 shippers and nizzie shippers is always the funniest thing. Maybe I'm too much of a multishipper but like, where's the problem???? Shipping common sense aside, as far as I'm concerned and my headcanons go, Rachel and Lizzie are raging bisexuals and Nigel has 2 (COUNT EM' TWO!) hands to hold his girlfriends. In a fandom with tons of queer ships and headcanons we CANNOT draw the line at polyamorours relationships, I see too little of them around here and these three sound like prime throuple material.
"But Agent! Lizzie gets jealous too often to ever consider opening up her relationship with Nigel! And Nigel probably would have a problem with people coming up to his girlfriend after Op. S.N.O.W.I.N.G!!" and while YES that's CORRECT! I think they're too dysfunctional for that FOR NOW! That's why I view this ship more of a endgame post-nizzie-breakup deal. Please just hear me out on this.
Whole GKND debacle right? Nigel pushes the button to decommission Earth, Lizzie betrays the GKND and warns Earth KND, that manage to protect themselves from the attack because of her warning. Her previous human cover is blown and everyone discovers she was an alien there to recruit Nigel. Most of Sector V and other operatives hate her but Numbuh 5, now the KND's Soopreme Leader, demands she stays on the moon base so she can help with upgrading their weapons so they can match the GKND's more advanced 2x4 tech.
She quit being leader a bit after Nigel left Earth and was probably sent back to the moonbase to help build battle tactics after this whole war started. And out of everyone there? She's the one that shows most disdain towards Lizzie. If she hadn't come to Earth and ruined Nigel's life (the guy she had a huge fat crush on for a while but wouldn't admit to keep things professional and also because he was taken), but ultimately they're forced to work together. Good ol' enemies to lovers deal. They bicker, fight and try to one up each other because taking out their anger one another is much easier than dealing with the grief that someone they loved is gone, possibly twisted beyond repair and now trying to destroy everything he once stood for.
Despite being soopreme leader for most of the series, we never had any evidence of the GKND wanting to pick 362 as they considered Numbuh 274 and Numbuh 1, despite her probably knowing of them due to her rank. And I think that's because she never had the best relationship/opinion of them. Rachel deeply knows that her daily sacrifices are done because of her cause: Protect children and guarantee that they don't have to fight and lose their childhoods. I best she would have gripes with an intergalactic organization that seems to be more concerned with hating and eradicating adults then protecting children themselves, and I think she'd eventually see she was right with what happened to Lizzie. Dehumanizing the operative as being "part of something bigger", saying they're important and pressuring them into their role because they were chosen out of thousands of operatives of their planet, only to force them to leave said planet and everyone they ever loved behind. Kids aren't supposed to choose if their entire planet should be decomissioned because they're "too far gone", it's prime cult mentality, and she'd eventually see it. How it doomed Nigel, how it made Lizzie almost lose it with guilt.
She starts hating her, seeing Lizzie as a parasite that only ruins the lives of those around her including herself, but as time went on, she'd also see what made Nigel fall in love with Lizzie in the first place. The grounding presence, someone loud and stubborn but ultimately with a kind heart. The big shows of affection, how she'll prioritize you like everyone's irrelevant, the bravery, the moxie. She'd see how Lizzie cares, how she wants to be better. I think eventually she'd want to help Lizzie in that journey while they fight for a common goal (saving Nigel), and I think the same goes for Lizzie.
Jealousy is founded on your own insecurities, but all of Lizzie's jealous outbursts everytime Nigel mentioned Rachel were confirmed when she actually met her. She doesn't only envy Numbuh 362 and sees her as a threat, but is also enchanted by her. She's a conforting presence, a stern workaholic who forgets she's supposed to be a kid herself sometimes, but incredibly compassionate above all else. She's independent, smart, sharp, confident, kind and level-headed. I think she'd also think it's neat Numbuh 362 also worked as a spy before. Despite having to be defensive around her and lashing out for having all the blame thrown at her face by 362, deep down she appreciates someone that represents and reminds her of the consequence of her actions.
Along them working on dangerous missions to literally save the Earth and stop a war, they'd get along more. Enemies turned to begrudging allies, then respect would make them friends, and then love would find its way to blossom.
When Nigel is finally rescued, it would be a whooole ordeal. I like to think the three of them get some time before being decomissioned, either the decomissioning age got extended by a few years because the KND couldn't afford to lose people to their own rules between the conflict going on or they were ALL accepted into the Teens Next Door, but they need that time because things are obviously going to be complicated. I've detailed how I think Nigel and Lizzie's reconciliation would go in another post so I'll spare my breath here, but in Nigel's process of getting out of the GKND'S influence, adapting to life back on Earth and reuniting with his friends, I think Rachel would be a pretty big part of the process. Aside from Sector V (his besties for life), Rachel would've been one of his closest friends and one of those who accepted him back into her life despite everything. And now that he's finally thinking about the future, he allows himself to accept the puppy crush he had on Rachel all along and acknowledges all the times he tried to mask it as just being him admiring his "daring soopreme leader".
He's trying to adapt, really, but he's dealing with trauma. They all are. And his feelings won't get less complicated. He loves Rachel, but he's still not over Lizzie- He never had the time to even get close to that point! And now both Rachel and Lizzie are dating, he should just focus on rebuilding his relationships with his Sector and let that be it, shit's too complicated and Numbuh 1's always sucked at showing vulnerability.
But Rachel is observant, Lizzie can read him like a book, and they love him. And they love eachother, so they make things a little easier for him. After Nigel is at the very least friends with Lizzie again, they propose a throuple. Nigel considers it hard, none of them have the experience with this, really. But they love each other enough to try. Now that there's no secret alien identities or any power imbalances on the way, maybe they can do better than ever!
So yeah. 1x362xLizzie !!! I think they'd be cute so I rest my case. If you actually read all of this, thank you very much! Hope you see my vision, at least a little bit ^^
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