20s. she/her. stuck in a time loop (again). germany. of sunsets and earrings and unmade beds. something different bloomed, writing in my room. at the beach, in every life, through every door.
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@kingdonmicrofic july 10, feast (wc: 470/301)
(dedicated to noah wyle)
Privately, Robby likes to keep a pretty close score. It’s for the best. If his sabbatical taught him anything, it’s that he can’t handle the loneliness and the disappointment anymore, so he has to do this, for his own sake, he has to keep count, a mental tally on who he can trust and who he can’t.
Frank Langdon, he’s learned, he can’t trust. Not by quite a large margin.
Which is maybe why he gets so annoyed when Langdon turns up at the Friendsgiving thing. He wasn’t even in the groupchat, the one Shen had started and called feastie boys🍗- it was just supposed to be the fuck-ups with nowhere better to be. Robby certainly qualifies, single and childless. But Langdon has a wife. Two kids, a dog, medical debt, a long recovery road ahead of him. It’s the holiday weekend and Langdon is supposed to be at home. He shouldn’t be here, and he really shouldn’t be all pressed up against Dr. King as if there’s not plenty of room around the table at this shitty all-you-can-eat homestyle buffet place.
He can’t stand it: Langdon keeps leaning in and King just smiles at him, probably doesn’t even realize he’s flirting. It’s egregious.
He should pull Langdon aside. Be careful, he should say, You've got enough on your plate. Don't blow everything up over a woman who sees you as a brother at best. But then Langdon would snap at him, make some snarky comment about his extended sabbatical. Because, as much as he wishes otherwise, people don't really change. Not at their core, even when they try.
By the time they all go around and say what they’re thankful for, Robby has to take a second to swallow down all the bitterness before he can say he’s grateful to be sleeping in his own bed again without sounding like a psycho.
Langdon says he's grateful for his support system. He says he’s lucky to have his friendships. He's looking at King when he says his life has been “greatly, greatly enriched” these past few months. That he's learning to be a better father. A better man.
No better husband. Robby notices, adds it to the tally.
It’s ridiculous, and no one else seems bothered, which makes him wonder if this is just the new normal since he’s been gone. This is why he shouldn’t have left, he should have been here to make sure Langdon was staying the course.
The fucker is just so - relaxed. It’s like he doesn’t care, or like he’s not struggling, which is absurd. When he smiles his face looks completely different, like he’s a whole new person.
Robby keeps his mouth shut and eats his food. He doesn't know what to make of any of it.
noah needs to stop trying to make langrob happen. it’s not going to happen. if two white dudes with an emotionally charged but fraught history don’t get the fujos going, it doesn’t have the sauce and you can’t make it have the sauce. if they were shippable then langdon would be getting his cervix destroyed on ao3 dot org but robby’s energy is just so rancid, no one is touching that with a ten foot pole
Some of my thoughts and wonderings on Mel and Frank’s involvement in potential season 3 storylines.
From a storytelling perspective, Langdon’s marriage is doomed. The only part Abby has played in the show is as an off-screen exhausted stay at home mother who almost divorced Langdon or has probably separated from him between season 1 & 2. I don't think anything positive has been said on-screen about their relationship, just that individually they’re good people. I don’t think it would be resolved off-screen, so we might see some resolution or at least some progression towards a resolution in season 3.
Langdon tweaked his back in season 2 carrying the boy with heatstroke and later references it when he bends over to look at the Styx guy with a facial injury. He takes some Advil in the breakroom soon after. A relapse might push his marriage to breaking point - is Abby willing and able to support Langdon if he calls for help? In the season 2 breakroom scene between Mel and Langdon, he is fiddling with his phone when Mel comes in. Did Langdon try to contact Abby for comfort because he's doubting himself and got no reply from her or worse - a brush off?
In season 2 we see evidence of self-harm by Santos and later she pockets a knife, foreshadowing a storyline for season 3. Mel, being friends of both Langdon and Santos, could be stuck in the middle. Does she have to act as a temporary caretaker for Langdon and/or Santos? What does that mean for Mel in terms of doing things she wants to do for herself? Can she do that if she’s worrying about her friends?
Whitaker will probably be involved in Santos’s storyline since they’re also friends. McKay has offered support to Langdon. Dr J. is on a mental health track. There’s a lot of tie in since mental health is a big part of the show.
langdon asking mel “what are you still doing here” in the ambulance bay scene kills me, like sir what are YOU still doing here, go home to your wife and kids 😭
‘That doesn’t answer my question,’ Mel grits through her teeth, hoping if she allows her frustration to take precedence it’ll mask the fear that threatens to take control. ‘What’s happening?’
‘What’s happening is that today is yesterday and yesterday is today. And tomorrow. And the day after, and the day after that.’ Frank keeps on gesturing as he trails off, a continuous motion that makes Mel feel sick. ‘One of those infinite time loops, Groundhog Day kinda situations,’ he shrugs.
Her vision blurs for a moment, everything in sight doubling before suddenly snapping back into place in aggressive sharpness. ‘Am I hallucinating? Are we both hallucinating? Are open air gas leaks a thing? I know we’re not too far from the hot springs, maybe they're emitting mass amounts of carbon monoxide. We should probably evacuate the area, just in case.’
‘I think the odds of mass psychosis are pretty low, so… no.’