#mr boss and pim die and don't come back

[kindheart525]

Tragic AU idea: Pim and Mr. Boss are officially executed in Spamtopia. Allan, Charlie, and Glep have to figure out what to do with themselves and the Smiling Friends business as time goes by with no word from them, wondering when—or if—their missing boss and friend will come back, and what they're going to do about Jason dying on their watch in the meantime

[kindheart525]

Pim & Mr. Boss die and Don't come back Au:

I sorta imagine Allan, Glep, and Charlie wondering who's in charge while the Boss is missing. Maybe Glep or Allan, or maybe they all Co-Operate it. Maybe they see a LiveLeak video or smthing of the execution and freaking out, Maybe a sprinkle of Charpim angst if you want.

I love these angst Aus :3

I’m so glad you’re invested! It was a little angst prompt I thought of on a whim and didn’t expect to go anywhere, but I’m happy to expand upon it if folks ask as I love angst AUs too!

Considering how much Allan and Charlie were fighting in that episode, I don’t imagine the process of delegating responsibilities goes very smoothly. While Charlie might not initially want to be the de-facto boss, he does still need this job to pay his bills and he does not like the idea of Allan being his superior, especially as more time goes by where Pim and Mr. Boss remain missing. He and Allan would definitely get into a power struggle of sorts

“Dude who put you in charge? You don’t even interact with clients like you just sit around and count paperclips all day, I at least actively try to help people smile so maybe I should be the boss.”

“I’m the one who’s keeping things organized around here, asshole!”

And they keep going back to arguing about who killed Jason despite the critter’s father not having come back to learn this fact. They’d just keep running in circles with their petty fights until Glep puts himself in charge or something. They both agree on Glep’s ability to lead even though he just continues sitting on his iPad all day lol but at least they aren’t arguing as much anymore

When I first came up with this idea I didn’t think of how they would find out Pim and Mr. Boss are dead, but LiveLeaks seems like the most likely option. Charlie’s the edgy type who probably watches LiveLeaks for fun, but maybe this time it’s part of the remaining Smiling Friends’ broader search for news from Spamtopia (a country that seems very cut off from the world) to find out what happened to their friend and boss. Yes they are all absolutely shocked and Charlie is completely devastated realizing that Pim isn’t coming back

Then they have to figure out what to do from there. Figure out a long-term future for the Smiling Friends business; can they keep it going or should they let it crumble? Part of Charlie wants to go to Spamtopia himself and avenge Pim, but he could very well end up dead himself so that might not be such a good idea. All in all they’re very lost and confused, not only not knowing where their next paychecks will come from but especially grappling with their new reality without two people they cared for very much

[kindheart525]

In the "Mr boss and pim die and don't come back" au, what do you imagine happening WHEN they get a client during the whole thing?

How much of a toll does everything take on their mental health?

Also, Mr. Boss owned 1/4 of Hell, so that could be a plot point or something! :3

Thank you so much for your continued interest in this AU! It means a lot ❤️

I think when they get a client in this AU that Charlie gets most of the jobs since he worked the most with clients before. The thing is, now he is attempting to do the work of two people and it's a struggle. His practical and cynical approach, while it can be useful, is a bummer without Pim's optimism to balance it out. When he tries to imitate Pim and his tactics, it ends up feeling really unnatural and even the clients can see that. It doesn't help that Charlie himself is not in much of a smiling mood these days. Sometimes he does succeed regardless of this struggle, but he's failing a lot more often than he and Pim used to before. Even the smiles that do come feel more like lucky accidents than Charlie's successes.

I'm still trying to decide on the long-term future of this AU. I do think Charlie isn't working completely on his own and that he sometimes brings Allan and/or Glep on missions. Allan isn't much of a people-person though, and he and Charlie already have a tense relationship, so that doesn't always work out. Glep and Charlie seem to be friends so they could probably have some luck together, but it's nothing like how Charlie and Pim were as a team. I could go the pessimistic route and say they eventually get burnt out and have to shut down the business, or I could be more optimistic and say that Charlie, Allan, and Glep eventually learn to cooperate and make people smile using their own individual strengths. I would be interested in your thoughts on these scenarios! In the immediate future though they are all very stressed and struggling and it definitely takes a toll. Lots of angry blow-ups and arguments.

You're right I didn't think of that at first! The Boss owning 1/4 of hell definitely helps because that is where he and Pim are. (Sorry I love Pim but if Charlie's grandma could get sent to hell for saying "damn" once then Pim has surely done something to get sent to hell under those standards.) Mr. Boss has probably used his power to make that section of hell "better" for himself and Pim, so they're not really being tortured too badly except for being hot and missing their friends in the living world. I don't know if Jason in the Spamtopia episode was actually "dead" or in some sort of dormant state so I don't know if he'd he in any sort of afterlife or not. If he's not also in hell then Mr. Boss would probably be trying to get back to the living world to not leave him and his other boys, and Pim would follow him because he also wants to return to his loved ones and life's passion. Pim deeply regrets the mistake that got them killed and has witnessed a lot of violence in hell (some caused by Mr. Boss) but he is trying to be optimistic anyway. He has someone looking out for him so he could definitely be worse off than he is.

And maybe Charlie, Allan, and Glep are also researching ways to get Pim and Mr. Boss back since they remember hearing that the latter owns part of hell. But it's hard to do that with all the interpersonal conflicts and struggling from paycheck to paycheck so the process is going slower than they would like. I haven't decided if Mr. Boss and Pim would actually succeed in coming back or if they would all eventually have to make peace with their new reality, as both have potential for interesting character exploration.