To celebrate one week since the ending of Such Stuff, here are some headcanons about the future that awaits our boys 🥰✨
Such stuff future headcanons 🎭
They make it work, obviously. It takes a while for things to go smoothly, they fight some more, but they both do their best to find solutions and in the end it pays off. John learns to speak up when things are bothering him without fearing a negative reaction from Gale, and Gale learns to ask questions and not to assume he knows everything that goes through John's mind.
Gale doesn't become a full-time professional actor but he keeps acting with amateur groups and sometimes he joins the Hundredth's productions in smaller roles and John always brings him flowers at the stage door, even if he was acting too.
It's ok, though: at some point he realizes he actually likes teaching and once he's not a substitute teacher anymore he likes it even more!
Gale also runs the drama club at school, and every year there's a different actor from the Hundredth working with him to teach the kids. They put on a show that goes live for one night at the Abbotts at the end of the school year, and soon the other schools in the area want the same kind of extracurricular. Bonus: Tabitha does actually become an actress!
Marge becomes the Hundredth's official costume designer and even when she moves on to bigger clients she still takes time to design things for them for (almost) free. And after a long on again-off again stage, she and Rosie actually do get together for good and become the Girlboss/Malewife duo that was missing from the group.
John's career takes off after the Tempest, he remains in the Bloody Hundredth but also participates in productions of bigger companies. He ends up winning different awards, most importantly a Tony, and dedicates every single one to “his partner, his Buck”, and later to “his husband, his Buck.”
John and Alex act together in something at some point and Gale risks having a stroke because he didn't know he could fangirl so much.
Gale and John start thinking about moving in together around a year after the Tempest, but Gale feels guilty because he doesn't want to leave Benny with the burden of a rent too high/a house too big for a single person. What he doesn't know is that Benny is hesitating about moving in with Brady for the exact same reason; luckily for them Bucky and Brady figure it out and make the other two talk about it.
They end up finding flats in the same building, one on top of the other, which is great so Meatball can have all his four dads with him.
Benny and Gale still have lunch together at their diner on Sundays, once a month without exceptions.
When Bucky's mom and/or sisters come visit they always want to see Brady too and bring food and other stuff for both their boys.
John tries reconnecting with his father but since he still disapproves of his career he decides to cut him loose. It hurts him a whole lot, and Gale does his best to comfort him because he knows exactly what it's like.
Three years after they first met Gale decides that he wants to ask John to marry him. He goes at great lengths to plan the perfect proposal because he knows John would like something big and extravagant; he chooses the Abbotts as the perfect spot, prepares a picnic to eat on stage and vows everyone else to secrecy.
Still, the proposal doesn't go as planned because John can't keep his mouth shut (we'll see this moment in the future, I promise). But they still get engaged and they'll have a funny story to tell their guests!
John's vows at the wedding are super elaborate with quotes from good ol' Will Shakespeare, math puns, and whatnot, but he gets so emotional that he starts tearing up so his sniffles the whole time he reads them. Gale affectionately gives him shit about it after the wedding but in that moment he is so incredibly happy he feels like crying too.
Gale wouldn't mind taking John's last name after the wedding but he suggests to hyphenate them so Gale won't lose part of himself, and Gale accepts.
Benny and Brady adopt a little girl from the foster system, it's Brady's idea because he wants do be for someone else what Bucky's family has been for him. The girl instantly becomes the mascot for the Hundredth as everyone loves her, and auntie Marge makes her beautiful dresses.
The question of having kids or not creates a little bit of tension between the Bucks because they both want them but John fears Gale doesn't because of his father, and Gale fears John doesn't because of his career. They both talk about it with their sleep deprived ex roommates and they force them to fucking get it together.
They end up adopting a kid too, a few years later than their friends, when John's career is at a point where he can take some time off without risking losing too much money and opportunities. It's a little girl and her name's Viola, like the main character in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, so they take it as a sign from fate.
She becomes the Hundredth's second mascotte, and best friend/cousin to little Amelia DeMarco. When they're a little older they put on mini plays for their families, because of course theatre is a big part of their upbringing! They like to watch their dads act and the Abbotts is basically their second home. The Colonel pretends to be annoyed by it but they're his uttermost delight.
John doesn't die at 45 in this universe but he still has a health scare around that age, like a worrying bout of tachycardia right when he's working on a new project. He only goes to the doctor because Gale pushes him, he's convinced it's gonna be nothing but the doctor tells him he's actually at risk of heart conditions.
Gale immediately puts him on a healthier diet and starts worrying immensely about him, always checking where John is and what he's doing, until one day he fully has a panic attack because he can't reach him (John's simply rehearsing) and it's John turn to drive him to the hospital.
They talk about it because they can't keep goin on like this. John promises to take a break after this new show is over, then he'll talk to the doctors about a pacemaker or something. Gale makes him install an app on his watch so he can monitor his heartbeat remotely, and with the help of his friends and daughter tries to keep his anxiety in check.
They have a pretty ugly fight when John tries to launch himself into another project after this one, Gale accusing him of not caring about himself or their family.
Their friends help them riconciliate, and Crosby saves the day asking John to help him write and direct a new play; it's less stressing on the body than acting, and John finds out he's actually pretty good at that too. They win some prizes, but after the run is over John goes back to acting.
He doesn't present it as an ultimatum to Gale, he even tells him he'll quit if that would make him feel better, but Gale knows what theatre means to John and by now he's learned how to cope with his anxiety so he gives him his blessing. And oh boy, John shows him well how thankful he is for that...
That's it for now, but more may come in the future!