~ Fetchen Angst In Which Gretchen Cant Help But Be Jealous Of How Quickly Karen Takes To Cady.

~ fetchen angst in which gretchen can’t help but be jealous of how quickly karen takes to cady.

karen’s always clung relentlessly to gretchen…and then the new girl from kenya upended it all. gretchen sees karen holding cady’s arm the way she’s always done with her and, for some stupid reason, everything comes crashing down around her and she feels the corners of her eyes prickle with tears.

then again, she’s always felt this way. she’s always hated it when karen was touchy with other people. not to sound selfish or anything, but she always wanted something that belonged to only her and karen.

maybe she just wants karen to belong to her.

she hates knowing that karen wants to be just as close with other people as she does with her. it’s not fair. first, karen’s holding cady’s arm and what next? what if gretchen gets replaced? what if karen wants someone else to be her best friend?

it has nothing to do with the fact that gretchen loves karen so much it physically hurts when she thinks of her being with someone else. it couldn’t be- they’re not even together.

it’s just the principle.

this is what i mean when i say “ur faves are autistic”

omg pls elaborate on how you think all the plastics are autistic

ok omg excuse me if this is bad

gretchen: autism and anxiety for sureeee she’s always so stressed but also I’m pretty sure she has like a million notes about everyone at their school on the notes app and writing about everything you’re obsessed with on the notes app is something i relate to

karen: dyslexia, dyscalculia, autism, maybe adhd?? do i really need to explain? i bet she has a hard time in classes like math, but i hc her as having gotten a 100 in psych because she’s insanely good at seeing things other people tend to miss

regina: autism and adhd i think bc miss renee has adhd and it’s fun to just have the characters share traits with the actors also she gets really obsessive over small things and you KNOW she’s the one that made the rules about what the plastics wear, maybe bc she gets uncomfy in certain clothing? a lot of the stuff she wears especially in the 2024 movie are very reflective of clothes i would wear because anything else would be really uncomfortable

cady: the most autism to ever autism like do i need to elaborate on her? everything she’s interested in becomes a personality trait and i relate to that so hard

bonus!

janis: autism and i hc synesthesia bc i think it’s really show in her art “it’s like the paint is the facts and the threads are the feelings” i don’t think i could ever explain it better than that

please let me know if y’all have any additions! i love to hear other people’s thoughts and opinions

omg i had no idea bebe was queer!!

yeah she is ^__^ it’s super cool but she doesn’t talk about it all that much

i didnt know avantika is queer too?? omg

yeahhhh neither her nor bebe talk about it very much or anything but it’s very cool !!!! ^___^

SOMEBODY PUT ME DOWN

3 for gretchen/karen?

3. A kiss on the forehead

There are many things Gretchen would not recommend about being in love with your best friend.

For one thing, it's exhausting—it's not like a normal crush on someone you kinda know, someone you see around the halls and maybe in a couple classes. No, Gretchen spends time with Karen every day, sometimes all day, on the weekends.

Luckily, Karen is either oblivious to or doesn't mind Gretchen constantly sneaking looks at her, almost against her will, like her eyes are magnetized. Everything that Karen does is cute, which means that Gretchen is perpetually flustered. She's pretty sure she bombed a math test because she couldn't focus on studying when Karen was doing that cute thing where her tongue peeks out of the corner of her mouth while she concentrates.

Another—perhaps larger—problem is that Karen is naturally affectionate. She's handsy. It's no big deal to her to casually hold hands, or pounce on Gretchen with a hug, or press a kiss to the top of Gretchen's head. It makes Gretchen's heart rate increase with such frequency that it might be pathological at this point.

Most maddening of all, Karen is like this with everyone. And, okay, maybe she is more affectionate with Gretchen and maybe she tells Gretchen that she's beautiful or hot a lot more than she does with, say, Cady, but there is simply no way of knowing if it means something. Anything.

And it is driving Gretchen insane.

It's another such afternoon spent in Gretchen's bedroom making TikToks and impulse-buying clothes on Poshmark that Gretchen finds herself seated in her desk chair while Karen does Gretchen's eyeshadow—a particularly unique form of torture that involves their faces being close together for an extended period of time. At least Gretchen has to keep her eyes closed, so she doesn't have to battle against the urge to stare at Karen's lips.

"Okay, and... done!" Karen says with a final sweep of the brush. She sets aside the palette, and Gretchen opens her eyes and turns to look in the mirror. Her eyes look wide and bright, subtly shimmering with pink shadow.

"Looks great," Gretchen says. She turns back to Karen, who is still seated in front of her on the edge of Gretchen's bed.

Karen grins and gently rests her hands on Gretchen's cheeks. Before Gretchen can process this, Karen leans in, her face getting closer and closer, until she's close enough for Gretchen to feel her breath on her face and—

Kisses Gretchen on the forehead.

The next few seconds tick by slowly while Gretchen wills her heart to stop beating so hard. She really thought Karen was going to—

"Is something wrong?" Karen asks, frowning. "You're all..." She tenses her face and shoulders exaggeratedly.

"Oh, yeah," Gretchen says shakily. She forces a little laugh. "This is going to sound crazy, but I thought you were going to kiss me."

"I did," Karen says, now looking confused. She taps the spot on Gretchen's forehead where he lips had been with one finger. "Right here."

"I meant, um," Gretchen says, "on the lips?" It comes out like a question.

"Oh!" Karen brightens. "I can do that, too."

Gretchen is sure her eyes are comically wide. "What?"

"I don't know why we haven't," Karen muses, looking thoughtful. "This is the longest I've dated someone without kissing them."

Everything in Gretchen's brain screeches to a halt. "Karen, we... Do you think we're dating?"

"Well, yeah," Karen says. "You called me your girlfriend, so..."

Gretchen mentally searches her mind for when she apparently said this.

"Remember when we saw that lady outside your house, and you said I'm going to the mall with my girlfriend?" Karen recalls.

Gretchen does remember this. About a month ago, her neighbor had been walking her dog as they were getting in Gretchen's car and stopped to chat. Is that how Karen had interpreted that?

"Oh, I meant.... Like, my friend who's a girl. People say that sometimes," Gretchen says, and Karen's face falls.

"Oh," Karen says. She looks down at her lap. It physically hurts Gretchen to look at.

Then the confusion dissipates, and it clicks in Gretchen's brain. Karen thought they were dating. Karen offered to kiss her. Karen... likes her? Feels the same way?

"But..." Gretchen says tentatively, touching Karen's hand. "Do you want to be dating?"

"Of course I do," Karen says, like it's the most obvious thing in the world. "I mean, I've been dating you for a month, even if you weren't dating me."

Gretchen can't help but laugh. A giddy, happy laugh. A relieved laugh.

"Karen, I've liked you for so long," Gretchen whispers—it is still, technically, her biggest secret. "I would love for you to be my girlfriend."

Karen looks up, her entire face brightening, and she grins.

"Oh my god, yay!" she says, bouncing a little where she sits. "Should I kiss you now?"

She asks it so casually, as if it hasn't been all Gretchen has been fantasizing about for as long as she can remember. It's all Gretchen can do to nod.

So Karen leans in again, and this time, her lips meet Gretchen's.

b-boop >,<

oh fr