#tww headcanons

[thebartlets]

okay well nOw I wanna hear your theories on Abbey’s history (and thus Jed’s history) with Ron Erlich!!! I looove thinking about Jed and Abbey in their early days

julie you're spoiling me and I'm thrilled <3

GOD I love talking about Jed and Abbey. Frankly not sure I believed in marriage before them and they're fictional.

okay, so! we only get one episode where they talk about Ron Erlich and then he never comes up again, classic TWW style, but we actually get quite a lot of information nonetheless. and there's other information about Jed and Abbey's relationship that we get from other points in the series that's relevant here.

so what do we know?

• Ron Erlich dated Abbey Barrington at university

• They dated for nine months

• Abbey misremembers this as a shorter six month romance

• Jed and Abbey were married in 1967 right out of college*

• Jed gave up priesthood and switched majors for Abbey

• Jed studied economics at Notre Dame

• Ron Erlich is a top candidate for Fed Chair in 2000

Between all of this, we gain a fuller picture with things for certain: Jed, Abbey, and Ron were all at the same university at the same time (or at least Ron overlapped significantly.) Technically speaking, Notre Dame was a boys-only school in the 60s, so most likely Abigail attended the 'sister school' nearby, Saint Mary's. But this doesn't significantly impact our story so for the sake of continuity it's all one thing. We also know an academic year in the US lasts roughly nine months. And we know Jed and Abbey got married young, right after undergrad and before/during their first year of grad school when Abbey started medical school and Jed went to the London School of Economics.*

And we know that 32 years after their marriage, Jed is still angry enough about Abbey's affection for Erlich that he risks the economy for an entire day because he doesn't want to look like he likes the guy. He's quite rude about it in private - "I'm not ready to jump into bed with Ron Erlich yet. I'm one of the few people in my family who can say that" and "I name Ron Erlich now, which I was going to do anyway, and it makes me look like I'm taking instructions from my wife!"

So Jed... what the fuck?

My pet theory, and the thing that I truly think makes the most sense with the information we have and the behavior of the characters, is that Jed met Abbey sometime during their first or second year at school, immediately lost his head - as one does upon meeting Abbey - and switched from a theology track to the economics track for her...

Only for Abbey to turn up at the start of the next school year on Ron Erlich's arm.

And then continue to date him for all or most of the academic year.

Meanwhile, Ron is almost certainly also on the economics track. 30 years later and he's basically the heir apparent to the Fed Chair, a prominent Executively-appointed seat with a great deal of influence over the Federal Reserve and the US economy at large.

This is why Jed is pissed. This is why he's willing to drop the ball on the appointment to the detritement of his administration and 24 hours of the US economy. This is why Abigail remembers it differently - it wasn't as important to her, just the man she dated before Jed - whereas her husband remembers it bitterly as That Finance Dick My Wife Ignored Me For Even Though She Already Owned My Soul.

Our boy rearranged his entire life and mindset for Abbey and she, likely oblivious to this, started dating another economics guy. Jed probably spent that particular year of university absolutely crushing it academically and then screaming and crying into his pillow every night until Abigail finally dumped Erlich, at which point I'd imagine Jed swooped right in.

He wasn't about to risk that again.

*small timeline correction in the comments

[donnatellaamoss]

a bunch of domestic joshdonna headcanons that i shared on discord ages ago but forgot to put here:

they move in together, get engaged and get married somewhat quickly because they've known each other for so long and been through so much together that they cleared the pre-marriage "can i tolerate spending the rest of my life with this person" checks/hurdles years ago lol

josh presents the idea of moving in together as a smart move to save on rent money and commuting hassle, immediately realizes how this might sound, and then hastily adds that he would also like to move in together because he loves donna and loves spending time with her. donna just laughs because it's such a josh move

the unfortunate part about being close friends with many Important People, including a president and a former president, is that any time one would like to gather them all together for some large event (say, a wedding), it involves an insane amount of secret service members, security checks, etc. josh and donna are stressed tf out about this but resigned to it as a sacrifice they have to make in order to have people they love at one of the most special days of their lives. mama lyman is secretly a little bit excited/dazzled by all the fuss

speaking of "the most special day of their life," it's not their wedding! when they use that phrase they're really talking about the day they got santos elected (together!) and it's a bit of an in joke for them because everyone assumes they're talking about their wedding and they never bother to clarify

i think first kid probably comes pretty early on in their marriage, second kid comes twoish years after first kid, and third kid is either threeish years after second kid OR a bit of an oops baby five to seven years post-second kid. after maternity leave donna brings baby moss-lyman no. 1/2/3 (if the dates work out, which they probably don't for kid no. 3) into the east wing during the weeks (with a nanny or some other childcare arrangement, obviously) and the baby grows up in the white house! either two girls and a boy or three girls, and they're all named after various important people. (for the record, i’m aware it’s probably not possible to successfully raise two to three children while both parents are Important White House People, but let’s pretend it works)

the moss-lymans live in a suburb of the DMV close to DC. they have a nice big house with a porch and a dog to sit on the porch and bark at passing cars. josh does a bit where he pretends to hate the dog but the pup cups on his coffee shop receipts tell a different story

speaking of the moss-lymans, donna hyphenated! the kids all have two middle names, and of course the the second one is "moss”

at least one joshdonna baby has absolutely no interest in government/policy/the humanities and is instead a super STEM-y person who goes on to be a surgeon, or get a PHD in molecular biochemistry, or studies rocks really intensely or something like that. josh and donna are obviously very supportive of their kid's passions, but once the kid hits high school and starts taking advanced science and math courses josh and donna regularly have the following experience:

glancing at their kid's homework

going "WHAT"

and then politely inquiring about the subject matter but not asking in-depth questions for their own sanity (donna) or asking way too many in-depth questions and going off the deep end when none of it makes any sense (josh).

they’re very relieved when their other kids turn out to be humanities students

[jessbakescakes]

au where Helen and Matt end up expecting a white house baby... and Donna and Josh end up expecting their first kid at the same time?

Okay this is delightful, let's go!

They're just out of the first 100 days, and Helen pulls Donna aside to tell her that she and Matt are expecting their third baby. This, of course, is A Lot for Helen because Helen has never loved the spotlight. She goes along with the parts of being a politician's wife that she has to, but this will bring even more attention to her and her family at an already vulnerable time for them. Donna's prepared, though... even though when she signed on to be Helen's COS, she didn't think this was in the cards, Donna is ready.

... until Donna realizes a week after the meeting that she missed her period. It's the beginning of May, and she and Josh have only been together-together since November. (She thinks she's kind of excited, though? Even though their timing couldn't be worse, and Helen is also pregnant?)

Donna waits for Josh to get home that night and takes a test to confirm that she is, in fact, pregnant. Josh is his typical mix of cocky (they were actively trying to prevent this, after all) and soft... he's excited to be a dad! Please picture the silly goofy conversation between Matt and Josh when Josh tells Matt that Donna is also pregnant.

The press is... interested in this story. Helen and Matt get the most attention nationally, of course. For the LemonLymans and the DC vets who have been following the Josh and Donna tomfoolery for nearly a decade, this is the icing on the cake. (Additionally, poor CJ is getting emails and texts about Josh and Donna... she's very happy for them, but they are NO LONGER HER RESPONSIBILITY, she's begging for some peace!)

Matt and Helen and Josh and Donna each have a baby girl... their girls get to grow up in the White House together and run their parents' lives. They're tiny chaotic BFFs.

Send me a fandom/pairing and an AU and I’ll give you 5+ headcanons about it!

[bartletslesbians]

One of my favorite little timeline things is that when CJ and Danny make it clear that they hooked up (presumably for the first time) without Any words a week earlier on Wednesday, they say that the day of Leo's funeral. Which makes last Wednesday night the night after Leo died. Like, the first real bit of free time CJ had after his death, she went and sough out Danny to say Nothing but have sex with him.

Which is such a fascinating thing and I've posted before about that as a thing CJ has done before (with the guy from high school as a reaction to her father's Alzheimer's). And it's great Danny was there and that while she has this response of, seeking out sex to cope with such heavy grief, that's (as far as we see on screen) consistently with someone trustworthy.

But, with zero intention of diminishing Danny here but just as a fun little AU thought game, it also makes me think of which other characters could have been that person for her in that moment. Because there are a bunch of options actually and they all provide something Just a little different.

There's Kate, who's right there at the White House when the news about Leo breaks, and who's not as emotionally involved with Leo and this administration but has still been a very solid person for CJ to work with and could absolutely be such a good and trustworthy person to have this with. (Similarly, Kate is a really good option when it comes to CJ potentially doing a similar thing when Toby confesses to the leak.)

Similarly, Cliff Calley is kinda forgotten about after season 6, but he is technically still CJ's DCOS and he has a longstanding... not a close relationship but definitely a respectful working relationship, with Leo. He and CJ have some serious tension in season 6 which is fun. He can be there.

Carol's there, and Carol loves CJ, CJ trusts her so much. Carol has worked for CJ long enough to potentially expect this, especially if you place it in the context if an existing crush or romantic history between them. Carol isn't about to leave the White House after Leo's death without checking on CJ. (In that same vein, while CJ/Margaret doesn't do much for me, and I don't think Margaret is the type for this. If you do? She's right there and grieving a lot too that night.)

Andy is having just one hell of a night, too. We never find out if she won or lost her election, but it's a big night either way. Placed in the context of a longstanding history between them, she's a very safe choice here, and there's a 50/50 chance she's expecting the call. (This goes double so in the context of any kind of Leo & Andy shared sobriety headcanons; in which case this really really hits her, too, and CJ is a nice distraction from a bottle of wine she can't open.)

Can't mention Andy without mentioning Toby. I'm not too much of a cjtoby girly, but if there is ever a night to get really truly messy with it? Oh. Toby is getting this news either from the news or from Donna, maybe. Maybe from Andy. Depending. CJ and Toby haven't spoken since the leak and she doesn't want to, but she also didn't technically want to see Danny until the inauguration either; this is a special night. This isn't forgiveness. But he's still a special person to her, they have this relationship, and he's there.

There are more options, surely, but. Finally. In a really heavy way. There's Mallory, too.

Who's just lost her father. With CJ as this daughter-figure to the dad Mallory lost; this longstanding friendship (and you can add all the potential other history to it that you want), the challenge in CJ having seen so much more of Leo in her day to day life than Mallory got the chance to due to the work they do. The resentment in that, the grief. The fact CJ holds her father's title right now. That shared grief and the unfairness of it all. There really is very little comfort in this one, but god it's cathartic as hell, and that counts for something too.

[broadwaybaggins]

would you spare a headcanon about evelyn baker lang?

I'll give you two! A silly and a sad/serious.

She loves history, as befits a law scholar and judge, but she goes a little bit further than that and has done living history interpretation at Colonial Williamsburg, when she was in college. She'll still tell you that when worn correctly, some of those costumes are more comfortable than half of the stuff she had to wear when she was still a trial lawyer, before she became a judge. Her favorite woman of history? Abigail Adams, of course. She has a button that says "Remember the Ladies."

The more serious one is that the pregnancy that she aborted in law school was with the man who would eventually become her husband. She knew they were going to get married one day, but they were both in law school, drowning in work, doing clerkships, and it just wasn't the right time. He understood and supported her decision, and she's never regretted it once. They went on to have two children later. (They do refer to her as Miss Lang in the episode, so I'm not sure if she's divorced, or that was an intentional snub to her in order to make her seem lesser, and/or the actors/writers didn't realize the difference between Miss and Ms. But anyway!)

[heathtrash]

bella ramsey's mildred hubble is now a nonbinary icon

bella ramsey revealing themself as a nonbinary icon is not what i had on any kind of bingo but i am so proud of him!!

i LOVE the dimensions this brings to mildred hubble's character as well - there are so many aspects where mildred's gender feels at odds with the other students'/witches' attitudes towards gender, such as their use of things that are "for boys" such as a staff, and casual attitude towards socialising with boys (which is for some reason made a huge deal out of, in 2017)

it just makes so much sense the more you think about it!

mildred hubble has always felt like a character who exists outside the binary to me (that might be because i'm nonbinary though) and i'm so thrilled bella has felt comfortable enough to come out. really feel like doing a watch party of bella's era to celebrate and find new readings for!

annoyingly she pronoun-only article source for the quotations above (but what do you expect from the transphobic NYT at this stage): x

[regardstosoulandromance]

College professor!AU for TWW please?

i love a good professors au

josh is 100% the guy who takes his whole class outside on nice days for lectures

cj- english professor, strict but nice- is always talking about how sweet her husband is, how he brings her coffee and and flowers and kinda overshares sometimes. she says her class is better than toby's and they have a rivalry over who's class can get better grades

toby- also an english prof- is very gruff and tough but if you get an a in his class you can survive anything. he's very private but wears a wedding ring and insists his class is superior to cj's

they keep arguing about literary interpretations in the hallways

leo is the long suffering dean tired of telling them to stop fighting in the hallways

everyone thinks they hate each other

they're married.

sam initiates a rule that if you're late but bring him starbucks he won't count it against you

will's office gets pranked once a semester and it's definitely not josh's fault

send me an au and i’ll give you 5+ headcanons about it

[smallblueandloud]

uhhh. cj and toby, toby and andy, andy and cj, and… cj and josh

send me two characters and i’ll talk about their dynamic!

cj and toby: MY BELOVEDS. GOD i love these two. they just! they know each other! they trust each other! past everything, the pain and the secrets and the arguments, they still trust each other, and i love them for it. toby hadn't seen cj in YEARS when he flew out to recruit her for bartlet's campaign and she STILL went with him! that's love, my friends! toby is the straight man to cj's frivolity. cj is the faithful to toby's cynic. they hold each others' secrets and lie to each other and it's just. they kill me

toby and andy: andy makes fun of toby and he takes it. that's it, that's the dynamic. (not really, but-- toby would do a lot for andy. she would do a lot for toby. neither of them would sacrifice their goals as government officials for the other, and i think acceptance of that is when their relationship finally stabilizes.) (that is, until toby throws away his job and his future to cover for andy leaking the shuttle.)

andy and cj: cj, like toby, is cautious. andy is not. their best moments come when they accept this. their worst moments come when andy needs something from cj and cj can't give it to her, or when cj has a plan and andy will not follow it. luckily, since they're both better prepared to talk things out than toby, they worked this out fairly early on, and have functioned pretty well since then. except for the time cj walked out on andy (and toby) because she had a plan. and the time andy asks cj to ask for toby's pardon. but aside from that everything's perfect!

cj and josh: i LOVE your headcanon that cj really, strongly reminds josh of joanie. she's his older sister! he's her little brother! it's phenomenal and i love them. they tend to take out their general anger on the other, because they know they can take it, which isn't like the MOST healthy thing but it works! cj, who's much better at being a normal person, is good at telling josh when he's too deep in his own head. josh, stalwart that he is, will show up and do what she asks for him. what else do either of them need?