i find it incheresting how the 2005 movie sets charlie and mike up as narrative foils even more than the book (and also they're the most popular ship) yet they barely talk to each other
they are polar opposites, charlie representing kindness, pure imagination and childish naivety, and mike being his bitter, edgy, whimsiless counterpart.
they both often question wonka, but while mike's questions show his distrust, charlie does trust him and wants to know him closer (do you remember being a kid? when did you try your first candy?)
(someone here pointed out how mike side-eyes charlie while he questions wonka ... as in "he's asking the right thing, answer him wonka")
but their differences never lead to real rivalry!
mike is shown to be the worst of the kids yet he never bullies charlie unlike the others BECAUSE they barely interact
we'll never find out what do they actually think of each other...
even the "candy doesn't have to have a point" dialogue ... is it more about tvbucket than it is about wonka?
they wouldn't pass the wonka bechdel test where they have an interaction unrelated to wonka
all THREE of them are narrative foils...
and the way the russian dub accidentally ADDED UP to all these parallels... there's a line in russian version of mike's song, "he doesn't know love and friendship, he only watches tv"
what do you mean he abandoned love and friendship for his obsession. i wonder what does it say about his parallels w wonka. this sure says nothing about his parallels with charlie who's like an epitome of love. this all could mean nothing ohhhh don't get me started
Warnings: Mentions of bullying, mentions of chronic pain, mentions of the blueberry fetish (ONLY TO EXPLAIN MIK’RY’S ORIGINS AND BACKSTORY! ANY ACTUAL BLUEBERRY FETISHIST THAT INTERACTS WITH THIS WILL BE BLOCKED!)
Summary: Charlie, not confident in his ability to run Wonka’s factory on his own, offers the other four ticket winners a job…and a home within a factory. While most of them won’t be moving in until the end of the school year…Mike…the kid he’s had a crush on since he saw him during his ticket interview…is now being homeschooled by his father and moves in right away. It’s too bad he’s too shy to confess…
Meanwhile, Mike reflects on his life after the tour…and his growing feelings for Charlie
He really didn’t think they’d accept his offer, especially after everything they went through in that place.
When it became apparent that Charlie wouldn’t be able to run an entire factory by himself, he had decided to get in touch with the other four winners of the contest, and not only offer them a job working with him and Wonka, but also a home right there in the factory. He had expected they would, at best, write back to tell him they were not interested and, at worst, burn his letter in their family’s fireplace or something.
But they didn’t. They all accepted, although they would wait until the school year wrapped up and then move over the summer. Mike, however, had been pulled out of school by his father after a harrowing incident, and was ready to move straight away. So for now, it was just him and Mike. And Mike was certainly…different than he remembered
On the tour he was cold, snarky, and was always sniping at someone. The only time Charlie saw him smile was when he was floating in the teleportation…thing doing all those goofy dances.
But now…Mike is timid, scared, and will cry at the drop of a hat. His dad claims it’s a combination of all the nightmares he’s been having as well as his horrible joint pain. He has also become terrified of loud noises, as when a very loud ‘severe thunderstorm warning’ was broadcasted when they were watching a cat show, Mike went into a full blown panic attack (to say nothing of what happened when the storm actually hit…he was apparently screaming that the world was ending).
Charlie had tried to get Wonka to help him; perhaps he could make a candy that could completely cure joint pain? Or maybe he could create a type of Marshmallow pillow that chases away nightmares when it’s slept on? But Wonka refused to waste his resources on a ‘television brat’ and he only agreed to let him stay in the factory to make Charlie happy.
But that didn’t stop Charlie. He promised Mike that if Wonka wouldn’t help him, then he would. Even if he had to wait for Wonka to pass away, he would find a way to help Mike. It was at that point when Mike did something the older him wouldn’t even dream of doing.
He hugged Charlie.
From there the two bonded incredibly quickly. Mike was always eager to talk about his latest video game obsession (which lately seemed to be the Mario series) and Charlie, in turn, told him about all the cool stuff he had seen in Wonka’s factory. Charlie had also learned that Mike didn’t actually hate chocolate…he was just incredibly allergic to it (a terrible fate, Charlie must admit), and that he had sought a golden ticket because he was hardly getting any attention at the time (not even from his parents) and saw that everyone who had found a ticket was getting a lot of attention.
When Mike was knocked out with joint pains, he would, more often than not, be at Mike’s bedside, watching cat shows with him, and if he wasn’t able to be with him, he’d get Mik’ry, a masterbug that Mike had befriended to stay with him instead.
But living with Mike was a double edged sword for poor Charlie. He had always had a crush on the boy (ever since he saw him in his interview), even secretly doodling romantic pictures of him in his journal. Now with Mike living with him, he theoretically was in the best position…all he needed to do was confess right?
Well…Charlie was way too shy for something like that, not to mention, Mike didn’t strike him as a guy that was into romance; he seemed to be more into Super Mario Sunshine.
Still though, stranger things have happened, such as him winning a golden ticket, becoming Wonka's heir, and finding out there’s another fully sapient species…that spawns from weird fanworks.
If those things can happen, then surely Mike can love him back…right?
——————————————————————————————————
Theoretically, Mike should be happy right now.
After returning from Wonka’s chocolate factory on February 2nd, his life had taken a turn for the worse. He was plagued by all kinds of nightmares regarding his and the other kids’ fates. The most common (and most terrifying) one involved the oompa loompa in the shower actually stabbing him and leaving him to bleed out. But he’s also had nightmares of drowning in the chocolate river, burning up in the incinerator, and becoming a blueberry. That last nightmare had, at one point, spawned a creature known as a ‘nightmare’ which could evolve into something called a ‘masterbug’ if someone posted a fanwork depicting his nightmare online. To the nightmare’s credit, he DID try to keep Violet’s fate a secret, only disclosing his origins on a highly private site. But on March 3rd, some degenerate hacked the site and leaked everything on it to the public. From there, it took less than 24 hours for an entire community dedicated to Violet’s fate to form. And on March 13th, Mik’ry became a masterbug, to both his and Mike’s dismay. But despite that, Mike had actually befriended Mik’ry when he had saved him from being stabbed to death by his father. It wasn’t Mik’ry’s fault this entire thing happened…nightmares have a less than 1 percent chance of spawning when the circumstances are right, so it was nothing more than incredibly bad luck that the blueberry transformation was out in the public eye now.
But nightmares weren’t the only thing bothering Mike. Although he had thankfully returned to his normal height after about 5 days, his entire body was coated with stretch marks. Practically the only place he wasn’t marked was his head. He had tried to hide them under long sleeves and jeans, but during one particularly hot day in April, his dad wouldn’t let him, being worried he would overheat. (That was another thing that had changed. Before the tour his parents barely paid him much attention. Now they’re incredibly protective of him, to the point his dad can’t sleep unless he knows he’s safe.) That went over like a lead fart, however, as not even 20 minutes into the school day, he got a call saying he had to come get Mike because he had an ‘anxiety attack.’ Turns out his classmates had harassed him about his marks so much that he tried to run away. Norman has since then pulled Mike out of school, and began homeschooling him.
And then there were his bouts of chronic pain, which left him bedbound for the day, unable to do anything but watch TV, having to be fed by his parents because he can’t even lift utensils.
But that’s when Charlie reached out, and offered him a home and job within the factory. Of course, he accepted, if only to get away from Denver and all his horrible classmates. The other children wouldn’t be there until the end of the school year, so he had Charlie all to himself. When he told Charlie about everything he went through those past two months, Charlie promised to help him.
Of course, Wonka was less than pleased that Mike came early, and he refused to let Charlie spend any time working on things to help him. But that didn’t stop the boy…Charlie simply stated he’d wait until Wonka died to help him.
From there, he and Charlie became fast friends. Mike would infodump to him about all the Mario games he’s played lately (He seems to be most interested in Super Mario Sunshine), and would even watch him on occasion. He didn’t ridicule him when he found out he liked cute things, instead giving him some cute cat socks and a cat tote. And when he was bed bound for the day because of his joint pain, Charlie was there by his side, watching TV with him, and feeding him.
Theoretically, Mike should be happy…and technically he is. But there’s one problem.
Mike is hopelessly in love with Charlie.
It didn’t start that way. He only saw him as a close friend, someone that he could infodump to without being ridiculed…but then Charlie had overheard him crying in his dorm room. Charlie was supposed to go to candy training at that time, but instead he went to go help Mike, who as it turned out, was only sad because one of his stuffed animals had a hole in it. (Which Mrs.Bucket promptly fixed for him). He had skipped his training (and endured Wonka’s wrath because of it), for him, the kid who said candy was a waste of time. And now that he got a good look at him…Charlie was rather cute.
But he couldn’t bring himself to confess. What if Charlie laughed in his face? What if he broke off their friendship? What if…oh god…what if he yelled at him? No, it was better that Charlie didn’t know.
But the more he spent time with Charlie, the more he fell in love with him, and the more he hated himself for being too cowardly to confess. His nightmares about his fate were starting to get a bit less frequent, but they had been replaced by nightmares about his confession to Charlie going wrong. He knew these ‘recurring dreams’ as they were called were a nudge by his brain to take care of something bothering him. He knew that once he confessed, they would most likely stop.
Uhmmm possible tvbucket fic snippet???? We’ll see ig
“Charlie, I’m right here. I’m right in front of you. Time and time again, I keep trying to reach out and help but you just run away and act like nothing is happening.” Mike holds the notebook in his hand, the writing on the pages is clearly not his, too neat.
Charlie stays silent, he won’t respond, he won’t even try. He just looks away, trying so desperately not to look at the other for fear it might hurt him.
“I don’t want you to just live in radio silence. I want you to be okay, okay? I need you to talk to me- to Violet or Veruca, even! Just talk to us. Please.” He’s practically pleading, almost tearing up in such a non-typical-Mike way that Charlie almost wants to laugh.
Any other day this would be reversed, Charlie would be chiding the other about opening up and communicating clearly. instead of letting his anger bottle up and overflow. Any other day, Charlie would be sitting there ignoring his own hypocrisy.
“I’m sorry.” Is all he can mutter out. Because his emotions do not boil over, he doesn’t seeth or get angry. he lets the bottle fill up to the point where there’s cracks with water spilling out the sides. Charlie can’t respond with frustration because he’s not a frustrated person, he’s just sad. And he doesn’t really even know why.
Sometimes, I imagine a little Mike x Charlie crossover (1971 and 2005), usually as a mini-comic.
Charlie carries Mike on a piggyback (Hi-Yo, Silver!). The 05's are watching from afar. Charlie gives Mike a sidelong glance and Mike mumbles back "No–way" (he's the shortest).
