Mike, Lucy, and their relationship (and lack thereof) are one of the biggest parts that make this comic what it is. But the thing that I find the most interesting is how we got to this point in the first place. When things started they had great chemistry and were on good terms and now...
Well not so much.
But just how did we get here? How did we go from them having each other's backs at the end of Confrontation and mostly understanding each other to both of them being such a mess? This is going to be very, very long so I'm putting the whole thing under a cut and it will be covering mostly chapters where the important stuff for Mucy happens.
I'd like to begin where I believe things started to fall apart. Where Mucy could no longer be at that point due to the actions and inactions of these characters.
Unfulfilled Fantasy
That happy smiley face is the face of lies.
"Unfulfilled Fantasy". Where Mucy's slow descent into December started. Lucy discovers Mike still writes to Sandy and probably never stopped from the moment she left. Then Lucy takes Chripy and Yashy home while Mike tells Lily about Sandy.
Lucy puts on a brave face here but this and our next point are the catalysts that lead to her amping up her prickliness and violence towards Mike. Sandy is a really big sticking point to Lucy after she had been ignored by Mike for an entire year because he was with Sandy. Knowing Sandy's still there in the background really doesn't help Lucy put her faith in Mike and holds her back from confessing her feelings for him.
Meanwhile Mike is going on about how he keeps ping ponging between Lucy and Sandy but acknowledges that though Lucy is here one letter from Sandy is enough to pull him away from her. He's still so hung up on Sandy that it makes sense that Lucy would be hesitant to put herself out there after what happened before.
Her methods of trying to hide how she feels and push Mike away from getting too close end up becoming her undoing though. We even start to see her start immediately in the next chapter - "Farewell, Middle School".
This is when Lucy begins being harsher to Mike when he tries to be affectionate with her. She even makes a comment about him being unfair to his girlfriend by doing so.
On Mike's end we see him feeling guilty over Sandy, Lucy, and how he ignored the latter. He feels torn between his third grade love of his little kid life - their promise to be together - and the girl who depends on him that he, while initially put off by her abrasive nature, had come to truly love and care for.
When Lucy first sees the letter you can see his expression is less than pleased and he starts with "Lucy please dont" before being surprised by her being a good sport about things. This isn't the only time he does this either. In "Farewell, Middle School" he has much the same reaction to her teasing him about getting into Honors.
He has an entire discussion with Lily about his feelings and what he should do and seems to be leaning towards Lucy by the end of "Unfulfilled Fantasy". We even get a really cute moment when he apologizes to her for the way he treated her back then! You'd think that maybe things could be okay between them after all! And then hop a few intermissions and chapters and we get to
Hot Pursuit
There is so much in this one chapter alone that is damning for Mucy. Where "Unfulfilled Fantasy" was the match, "Hot Pursuit" is the flame burning down the S.S. Mucy.
We start with Mike thinking he sees Sandy on a broadcast live in Maraschino. He rushes to leave, completely forgetting what he and Lily talked about in "Unfulfilled Fantasy". All it takes is a flash of Sandy and Lucy doesn't exist as far as Mike is concerned.
In his rush to make it to the bus on a windy day, his scarf flies away. He pauses for a moment to comment about this happening before deciding Sandy is more important. We find out MUCH later in "Eternal Flame" he picked that scarf out thinking about Lucy's eyes. So a reminder of Lucy gets discarded in favor of his mission to find Sandy.
Next we see Mike run past Lucy. She asks him where he's going and why and he brushes her off saying he's in a hurry. She stubbornly decides to go with him and they get in a short argument before the bus arrives. This is where the comparison starts in Sandy's favor.
Lucy wakes Mike from a nice dream and they commence the search. So many shenanigans ensue until Mike sees someone that looks like Sandy on an escalator. He rushes off calling out her name while Lucy is left in the dust to realize what he was searching for. She's left behind for Sandy again.
They get back to Mike's place after everything and find out Sandy was there just earlier that day. Mike gets upset over missing her and Lucy offers comfort before taking Yashy and Lily home. She's rattled by Sandy's return and not paying attention to Yashy as she and Lily walk. It's more and more obvious that Sandy isn't going away.
Mike puts the bonsai present he got from Sandy on his desk and notices something in the tree outside his window. He thinks it's Sandy but in reality it's the scarf he lost at the beginning. The one that represents Lucy. He's seeing Sandy where there's actually Lucy again. He roughly tosses it on his desk where he carefully put the bonsai.
From there we officially end our summer and go straight to the problems that come up upon entering high school. Mike and Lucy themselves aren't the only factors that helped end their relationship. High School both introduces characters that pour on gasoline and spurs existing ones to fan the flames. Specifically starting in
A Difficult Choice
Lucy's not letting Mike get away with putting the bonsai back in the box.
Mike tries to deny having a girlfriend and Lucy is having none of it. When Yashy finds out about there being someone else from Paulo, Lucy tries to act like nothing's wrong and fails horribly. Lunch time rolls around and we get more napping Mike dreaming of Sandy as Tess starts poking the bear with Lucy. He wakes mid dream hugging Lucy for a moment, calling her Sandy in his dazed state before realizing what he did.
Lucy leaves as Tess starts in on Mike. Thanks to Tess's meddling, Mike realizes that Sandy did wait for him. Paulo is ready to pounce on his chance at Lucy now that Mike is seemingly out of the picture. When he notes that Mike is jealous, he kickstarts a campaign against Mike with future repercussions.
The calls of "Cheater" follow Mike all the way up to Dial Tone AT LEAST. The guilt of pining after Lucy being a betrayal to Sandy really settling in and becoming a reason to distance himself from Lucy later on. Paulo is soon joined by a bunch of girls who start beating up Mike. Lucy sees him during dodgeball in gym class she's shocked to see him all beat up. He apologizes to Lucy for pretending that Sandy wasn't like a girlfriend to him and Lucy brushes him off. He tries to hug her only to get further abuse thrown at him by Paulo and the girls calling him a "filthy cheater".
A New Leaf
Mandy is official! Mucy is dead! Though not quite yet. We have a few major nails before we're done with this coffin. This chapter does establish something else though. Mike's distaste for Paulo being near Lucy romantically. Here it manifests as protective but that tune changes.
I'd also like to give an honorable mention to "Wardrobe Malfunction" where Mike's scarf is revealed to have been discarded in his locker after a beatdown from Paulo and the girls. The scarf he picked based on Lucy's eyes is now gone in the wake of his confirmed relationship with Sandy.
Humble Approach
Our next meddler is introduced with Abbey. He initially approaches Daisy but he does also interact with one gloomy little Lucy as well. He tried to get her to open up and talk because it seems obvious to him that something is bothering her.
Before she smacks him for touching her. It's small but lays the foundation for him to join Tess in meddletown in a couple chapters.
Left Behind
Tess meddles her way into finding out what happened to make Lucy the way she is from Mike. He tells her about their shared past and Tess calls him out a little for being a jerk. Then storytime is up and she gives him a new scarf. The yellow and orange scarf he has all the way up to December. He thinks about the changes as he walks into Paulo. Who calls the girls in upon noticing Mike got a new scarf from Tess and further beats the cheater trauma into Mike.
Flirting With Disaster
This one starts with Tess and Abbey gossiping together about Mike and Lucy, much to the irritation of Mike. Tess questions Lucy about her first crush while Mike punches Paulo for making a pass about Sandy. Mike is so sure it's him but is shocked to find it's not. The heart to heart between Lucy and Paulo is short lived when Paulo tries to put the moves on Lucy. Paulo says Mike's jealous that Lucy would have sex with him first when Mike is less than impressed with Paulo trying to hit on Lucy. Then Paulo teases Mike in a way that also follows Mike for a good while. He calls Sandy an imaginary girlfriend which goads Mike into attacking Paulo.
Lucy's Birthday
The first birthday Mike doesn't try to surprise Lucy which is kind of a big deal considering he did something to try to surprise her EVERY year. She's excited to get something from him but is shocked and annoyed that it turns out to be a gag gift about her prior feelings for Paulo. Not a ton happens here but it does lay out some groundwork for "Pillow Talk".
Follow Me
The next major chapter that introduces maladaptive behaviors that inevitably leads to Mucy's end. Lucy asks Mike to pretend Sandy doesn't exist when Yashy is around. Not only that, in this conversation alone instead of pulling him aside like a reasonable person her first instinct is to throw her juice box, kick him in the shin, and attack him multiple times under the table due to Yashy's comments. He even looks pretty annoyed at her initial attempts to shut him up, thinking she's just jealous.
Her smacking him around more than usual doesn't stop here either. The behavior continues to worsen in the following chapter "Under Pressure". He continues to be annoyed but keeps putting up with it for now.
Way to use your kid to get out of listening about Sandy, Elle.
A Different Side
Daisy's in her cheer uniform - letting Mike know there's a pep rally today. In the past Lucy has just been kind of unconcerned about them but here she decides to be deliberately cruel.
He has sensitive hearing and she KNOWS he does. It's pretty cruel on her part to purposefully be as loud as she can.
Later during gym class Mike actually attempts to talk to her about her behavior a bit! He asks her why she's so aggressive and she gives a non answer. Then during kickball she kicks the ball directly into his face after threatening to do it. When he wants some sympathy over his pep rally woes she just tells him to get over it and calls him a loser. She even seems to be taking some joy in his pain during the pep rally.
Rising Temperature
This chapter is up there with "Hot Pursuit" regarding being pretty damning for Mucy. We start off with Paulo calling Sandy imaginary again and Abbey asking Lucy about her feelings when she's clearly ruffled over Mandy only to get her deflecting about an essay. Things seem as dysfunctional in Mucy as ever until we get to the arguement between Abbey and Mike.
Then we find out it's even worse! Mike claims that Lucy follows him when Abbey brings up how dedicated he could be to Sandy when he's got his questionable relationship with Lucy. Callously keeping her hope alive by consoling and comforting her. Then Abbey keeps pushing and pressing and berating Mike about how Daisy feels and that's when Mike snaps.
This only stops when Molly intervenes but the feelings stick with Mike. Both how he's starting to feel about Lucy and how others perceive their friendship. His guilt spills over into his guilt with Daisy and he's quick to say things didn't mean anything when Daisy brings up a trip to the carnival he went on with Lucy in middle school near the end of the chapter.
Silvershore Isles
This arc is the biggest turning point in the Mucy relationship. The 'reward' that Lucy has been reaping all this time with her behavior. The consequences to her actions that leads to her trying to change but a tad too late. Meanwhile to Mike, how he's starting to feel about Lucy gets reinforced when she starts clinging to others as soon as he's gone.
Lucy tries to get out of going on the trip when she finds out Mike isn't going but agrees when he decides to go on the trip since Sandy is on a business trip all summer. Stellar function capabilities Lucy. Then Lucy keeps taking Mike's things to throw at David and Paulo on the flight. Then Paulo pulls the imaginary girlfriend stuff again and Mike gets relegated to the floor in their hotel room. Mike does not have the best time on the trip at the beginning.
They go to the beach and Mike has to save Lucy from the water because Yashy was in danger. Which is followed by Mike and Lucy having an argument about Mike not wanting to keep his relationship with Sandy secret anymore when Lucy tries to use the 'Yashy can't know yet' excuse to stop him from talking about his girlfriend. She looks smug when he backs down and goes along with her again but there's clear disdain in his 'darling' comment.
Then we get to the hike on the bridge. Mike saves Lucy from falling into the river when she goes unconscious but ends up falling himself. Lucy wakes up before they find Mike and she spirals. In her spiral she goes on about him dying to Yashy and starts laughing and crying. Lily notes that Lucy is quick to rebound and when she's not holding onto Paulo she latches onto Zachary who proceeds to make her go unconscious again.
They find Mike and he's disappointed to find out she woke up for a bit. When Lucy wakes and sees a safe Mike she claims to need the bathroom and Mike offers to walk her. Zachary goes to wash his face and finds a sobbing Lucy and a very much done with this Mike just apologizing over and over to her which confuses him.
Mike catches Zachary watching them and scoffs when Zachary claims that Lucy loves Mike. Zachary tries to defend Lucy but Mike makes it clear that Lucy needs Mike and that's it. Lucy later has a chat with Zachary where she finds out Mike hates her. He tries to tell her that Mike's a lost cause due to Sandy and that she needs to improve her behavior and do something to prepare herself for Mike to leave her. If she didn't fight and abuse him as much as she did things wouldn't have gotten to this point. Lily tells Lucy she should tell Mike how she feels anyways despite Sandy's existence. I'm sure that'll go well.
Pick Me Up
Our ride has reached the top of the roller coaster hill and it's all downhill from here. Mike tells Lucy to her face that he's sick of the way Lucy treats him and how he won't tolerate it forever. He communicates! Lucy gets upset and Paulo finds her crying. He waits it out and tries to get her to talk about what happened.
She confesses to Paulo the reason she argues with Mike so much but notes that he's angry with her and it's too late now. Paulo tells her to just apologize and that Mike's nuts about her. She's giving Paulo a hug and thanks him when Mike comes up and catches them together. After Paulo bounces Mike and Lucy both start apologizing to each other at the same time and she thanks him for what he's done for her. She chickens out of confessing her feelings for Mike but finds her resolve after a dream in "Wonderland".
A Distance Apart
Lucy tries to be nicer to Mike and he just thinks she's being weird. When gym rolls around Mike comments about Lucy always trying to beat him when she just wants to have a conversation. He turns around saying he's all ears before just ditching her again when he notices she can't say what she wants to say.
At the end of school Mike calls her out for something being up. She tries to talk and he offers her insults to call him when she calls him cool. He tells her to get to the point and she confesses. He says no. He used to like her but after everything she's done it's just a no now. A girl a hundred miles away means more to Mike than Lucy does. And at this point Lucy can only really blame herself.
Unrequited
Mike and Lucy's relationship is very strained in this chapter. Due to her hurt feelings she starts being barbed again when they argue at lunch. When the girls find out about how Lucy's confession went they're outraged on her behalf leading to a confrontation. Everyone is questioning why he doesn't just get with Lucy, putting his relationship with Sandy down AGAIN. It's not about how Mike feels here at all, only Lucy. Sue does try to reach out to Lucy as a friend and that line seems to hold through "Mischief Night" at least.
Another Shoulder
Mike is fully done with Lucy and lets her know it. She walks off defeated saying he hates her. When he doesn't go after her Daisy reprimands him but he keeps walking anyways. Lucy rebounds onto Paulo and begs him for help. He keeps her at his place to cheer her up. Then she throws herself at him because she's scared to be alone. Way to cope Lucy. She's starting to avoid Mike by the end of the chapter.
Casting Call
We're in the last push before December - The Play preparations! Sue plans to use her play to fix Mucy. Mike is picked for the male lead despite sucking so much. Sue forces Lucy away from the door to detention and onto the stage to be voluntold she's the female lead for the play. They realize they're going to be the main parts together and Lucy tells Mike to break a leg before smacking him in the face. Things are only going to get worse as we approach December.
Back and Forth
Lucy and Paulo chemistry is through the roof until David gets to him. After some dating around we find Paulo and Mike talking about the play. Mike is frustrated that nobody takes him seriously and then he finds out Lucy threw herself at Paulo? He gets irritated at her and they start arguing before a bigger scene gets made and they all go back to class. But Mike doesn't forget about Lucy rebounding on Paulo after her 'tender confession'.
Feline Filibuster
The Mucy footprint on this one is small but pretty darn impactful. Lucy still uses Mike's scarf as a tissue and Abbey once again furthers the anti-Mucy agenda with his speech on how bullying and violence should never be tolerated. Real subtle glare there Mike.
Pillow Talk
It's Lucy's birthday again and just like last time Mike doesn't have anything prepped. Not even so much as a 'Happy Birthday'. Lucy begins to fall into depression.
But lo and behold she has been rescued! By Augustus of all people. But at the moment she wants nothing to do with him because of Daisy. Fast forward to Daisy throwing Lucy a party and we get both a mention that Mike isn't speaking to Lucy at all when he can avoid her and a flashback to Lucy's first kiss with Mike! Baby Mike promises to wait until Baby Lucy is ready after he kisses her. Then Lucy goes to bed after the flashback ends.
Call Waiting
Mike gets a new phone and brags about it and being able to text Sandy during lunch which drives Lucy towards Augustus to get away from the table. Mike catches her ribbing with Augustus and is not a happy daisy.
You're supposed to be done with her Mike! Why do you care what she does? Clearly he remains bothered when he completely flat out ignores her in "On The Sidelines".
Carry Me
There's barely any Mucy to ruin left here. Lucy's depression is in full swing with her dead eyes and Mike is sick of her clinging to him. He likely hasn't spoken a word to her in a good while.
December
We're here at the end now. December is where Mucy blows up for good. Mike ends the friendship and Lucy loses all hope for them to be friends again. Starting with Mike complaining about being paired with Lucy. Making him be stuck paired with Lucy because of his complaints. Then they run into what Mike has assumed as rebound #2 at the library only souring his feelings about Lucy even more. Lucy talks to Augustus about handling rejection and moving on. Mike interrupts, clearly very irritated at Lucy interacting with Augustus, and tells her to be a little less obvious when she says she doesn't belong to him.
They move on to his place so they can finish up the essay since Mike doesn't want to meet up with Lucy again. In the middle of the essay Lucy convinces Mike to play games with her. They seem to be having a good time until Mike gets a text from Sandy. Then he looks at Lucy and goes from 0 to 100, telling her to leave. Lucy badgers him asking what Sandy said until he tells her that Sandy was coming next week. She says she's happy for him and he's just angry with her. And then the full on rant begins. He tells her he hates her and calls her a parasite and Mucy is done and dusted. Mike abandons Lucy to tell his mom the good news, Lucy throws up in his trash can and texts Sandy that she'll leave Mike alone for good as we find out in "Just Beautiful" before she just leaves and does the essay by herself.
And that's how we got here. After Mike goes off on Lucy, Sandy tells Mike to make up with her. What he doesn't know is his attempt to finally make up with her comes in the wake of her family making her move because of her depression. He doesn't know this is the last straw that causes her to attempt suicide. Not until much later when he's filled with regrets.
ohhh god ive been reading bcb for a decade now. i dont even know what to say really, just. this comic has meant so much to me and it continues to do so. I LOVE YOU LUCYYY!!!!!!! heres to another year of bcb :]
Happy 20th anniversary BCB! I may have only started reading last year, but this comic is probably one of my favourite things ever! Here’s to another 20 years!
(Also yes, I drew Lucy and Mike as Gatomons. I really like Digimon, ok 😅)
my version of the dtyis for bittersweet candy bowls 20th anniversary! saying ive been reading this comic since i was in middle school makes me feel old, and yet this comic is like, just under a year older than me!
and boy, has it meant a Lot to me over the years. lucy was always my favorite (it took until last year to ever draw a bcb character other than her) but as ive grown without any real intentionality her relatability factors for me went from "haha we're both rough but genuinely care about others" to, well, actually resonating with the darker aspects of her story to keep it simple. and hell, despite the people ive met who remind me of mike and make his character all that more personally frustrating and hard to rank high, my heart pangs for the kid too. i hope they both find their happy ending, with or without each other
this comic is definitely one of my all time favorites, and i say that having read a Lot of webcomics (and even having found bcb through an ad on housepets). its one of the main comics i recommend to people, albeit with the caveat of "if you dont like reading about angsty teenagers, this isnt for you". hell, im not even the biggest fan of stories set in school anymore but im just forever hooked on this comic til the end. it feels honest in a way other media can lack. these characters are messy and all the more realistic for it
heres to how many years more of crying over teen cats and dogs and debating people on discord for hours about mucy drama every page even on the pages where neither of them have been onscreen all chapter!
