#Mike went into the season already cutting any romantic closeness as short as possible

[bugsbenefit]

i'm still hung up on how El and Mike didn't kiss in s4 anymore after the peck in the airport (which was also cut off by Mike shoving flowers in front of him and telling El to back up so she doesn't squish them). like. yes that is a Statement to make for any couple on a show... but that's also just genuinely insane for them, by Their standard

it completely subverts their relationship dynamic we've seen. had this been any other couple on the show it would still be a bad sign for them but it wouldn't stand out so much. but they made out on screen Twice in s3. on Two Separate Occasions. so this was clearly NORMAL for them. people Complained about them just kissing even the Audience did, it was kind of a running joke back then. but then come s4 and neither of them even try to initiate it anymore? not even before they get into their fight? does kissing just not do it for them anymore? why? (they're both ga-)

Mike got that Horribly uncomfortable kiss he didn't want at the end of s3 and went "okay, so that was enough of that forever now😁👍"? and El Also didn't bother anymore? she might have been mad about the "From Mike" thing but she still wanted to have a cute date but kissing clearly never came up regardless

they don't try to initiate anything. not even when reuniting in the desert, which would feel like the most Natural moment to kiss, from relief, closeness, being separate for a while, etc. but no. neither of them leans in. neither of them seems to have interest in kissing each other anymore

pressing their foreheads together and hugging is enough. that's the closeness they want. kissing doesn't even seem to cross either of their minds there's not even a millisecond glance down to lips at any point

s4 was the final nail in the coffin for them. but the fact that the season already Started with the downgrade form making out as the opening of s3 to quick peck on the lips sometime in e2 that Mike stops and neither ever try to repeat... okay

[singingaboutwishingx]

ok next question (i’m going to send in so many i’m sorry) what are some other couples in this universe or significant, self-fulfillment changes that you made just for fun!! i’m dying to know more about this universe

(please do not be sorry. i love talking about writing and aus and these characters. once again, i’m also an attention whore who lives for this.)

okay! so i put a great deal of thought into how josh and donna existed without each other, and that very much includes relationships, so here’s a bullet point list, all in the style of the pretty little liars season one, episode two title: “the jenna thing”.

(spoilers for all of the west wing under the cut)

josh and donna

the assistant thing: obviously, josh no longer has donna as his trustworthy girl friday. i touched on this, but i think that josh’s assistant was a woman named jamie. she’s quite close to his age, but she was already married by the time she got the job (no feelings from either side). they had a fairly close relationship and worked well together. jamie (short, dark hair) and her husband, mike (tall, gangly redhead), worked on the bartlet for america campaign in lower-level positions, but she made such an impression on josh and he made such an impression on cj that they got jobs in the administration--hers as josh’s assistant and his in the communications bullpen. a glow-up for both of them. we love to see it. i literally invented this character as an ideal placeholder and then got so invested in her life. there’s actually an unfinished transition-era scene featuring the two of them that i just ended up cutting because it just didn’t need to be there. in it, josh, lou, and donna go to the white house to recruit some staff and meet jamie and mike. it was heavily implied that jamie and mike accepted offers from josh and lou, respectively, to reprise their roles in the santos administration.

the joey thing: i also touched on this. i believe that, without donna there, joey would have actually entertained the possibility of seeing josh in a romantic capacity. they went on a few pretty great dates, but they ultimately realized that something wasn’t quite there. they still remain friends (quite a feat for josh, but it helps that the breakup—not that you could really call it a breakup because they weren’t quite at that point yet—was mutual and amicable).

the amy thing: this is the one i didn’t include. i debated long and hard on whether or not to allude to amy in sigue andando..., but, in the end, i decided that it was an unnecessary thing to add. i did decide, though, that amy and josh pretty much broke it off after “the two bartlets” and its tahiti incident. josh wouldn’t have really thought to make such a grand gesture without donna, so josh and amy’s brief relationship ended on somewhat of a sour note. they were still kind of able to work together after that, but, let’s be real, they weren’t really able to work together so well while they were dating. they hooked up a couple of times after they broke it off, but nothing significant came of it.

the donna thing: i don’t believe donna had any truly serious relationships during her time in new york. she casually dated several people, and there was one guy that she did see for a little less than a year (most of that time exclusively), but she eventually realized that it didn’t ever feel like it was going anywhere, so she broke it off. she was so young when she got together with freeride that she just needed time to heal and be young and unattached.

others:

the president thing: yeah, matt santos was a one-term president. i mean, people on both sides of the aisle liked him okay enough, but unless the republican candidate in the 2010 presidential election was an actual axe murderer, there was no way in hell that democrats could have been in the white house sixteen years in a row. twelve was pushing it. honestly, i believe this to be true of the CANON universe, but i feel like it should be established in this one as well.

the leak thing: as implied in the end of sigue andando, toby is on good terms with the rest of the bartlet senior staff. this is because, in this universe, toby was not the leak. in fact, the leak actually never happened—the space shuttle simply functioned as intended, meaning there was no reason for anyone to leak anything. greg brock did not go to jail, and no relationships were almost irreparably damaged. this also means that will bailey was never the communications director—he continued to work under bingo bob for the remainder of bartlet’s second term.

the cj/toby thing: she and toby decide in season seven that they’re going to stop dancing around each other and actually, seriously be together. andy supports the fuck out of this because she couldn’t imagine anyone better to be huck and molly’s stepmom.

i’m hosting a new york donna q&a in my ask box because i require attention. come ask me things!