loversomeloki

[loversomeloki]

i mean obviously jaw is ripped af but like do we think canon carmy can fight???? he gives sleeper build but like with fighting to me, does that make sense??

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i hate when i start writing fics and then when i finish the most recent season of the show im like completely unmotivated😭 i always somehow stay canon with fanfics and it sometimes drives me NUTS cause if the next season drops and my plot points don’t align i will be so sad

[loversomeloki]

i was summoned so here’s a lil sneak peak on this good thursday 🤣 @half-bloodorange tytytyyyyy 💗 this was genuinely my reminder to post soon 😭

but whatever we’re still saying

WIP WEDNESDAY

this is a quick excerpt from my 3rd chapter of “the right kind of attention” —sydrichie

wanted something a lil light—and to highlight Nat and Syd’s relationship cause i love them so much 😭 do with this what you will! tagging @sutherlins and @sydneys-adamu because yall are the bomb dot com! <3

WIP WEDNESDAY

A couple days late but was tagged by @juniper-is-in-the-house thanks bby 😊

•••

I’m going to tag @jezuschristsuperstar and @loversomeloki + whoever else wants to post their WIPs because I am nosey and want to see what everybody is working on.

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Me evrrytime a new SydRichie fic hits AO3

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i am literally dying to see pete defend somebody

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i love this man your honour

just cried over richie’s arc again. he means so much to me your honour

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if you feel personally victimized by chris storer, please step forward 

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It's actually very sinister work that we got a Syd and Richie, Claire and Carmy, hell even a Cicero and Syd dance and not a Sydcarmy one like fuck this man

This shit better pay off

[loversomeloki]

Private Life versus a Public Affair

I might be wrong about this, but I know fandom hivemind will correct me if I am.

There seems to be an aspect of Carmy's psychology where his relationship with Claire is sort of public property, whereas he is a locked vault about all aspects of Sydney. The Sydney exception, if it exists, is that he might talk about her to Sugar and Pete. I think he doesn't, but also, when he wants to create a partnership agreement involving her, that goes to Sugar, Pete, and Jimmy-Computer. But we never ever see him discussing her with a third party in like any dimension? Most of their moments happen when find a moment to be alone together.

@hamachibloodmagic noted that when the Tribune review came out, Sydney told Carmy that she had extra that she handed out, but Carmy phrased it as she "accidentally" gave it to the guy. He was trying to protect her, but also, more broadly, Sydney's conduct was not something he was going to address, publicly or privately, with anyone, including Richie.

Compare to his relationship with Claire. Oh my gosh everyone feels entitled to comment on Carmy and Claire. The Faks are outright meddling. Carmy asks Neil if Claire is his girlfriend and the Faks call her a piece of ass and "pimp's lady" in front of him and Carm doesn't even blink. Carmy all but tells Fak "I'm going to get laid tonight please leave so I can have sex." Richie repeatedly pushes Carmy around about it. Gary knows what's going on. Jimmy seems to refer to it during the wedding. Marcus knows about it enough to be annoyed that Claire is going to the wedding.

Claire-Carmy is given this very sitcomy vibe, basically "bumbling moron has first date." His Claire-adjacent "I'm a psycho speech" is so unhinged that it becomes an internationally famous TikTok track. Sydney and Sugar "talk shit" about Carm during this time and his sister declares that Carmy sucks. The relationship is discussed at restaurant staff meetings.

Sydney? Carmy loses his fucking mind if anyone even looks at her weird. Richie talks shit and she stabs him? "Great work babe stab him again if he doesn't mind you." Marcus raises his voice during Friends & Family and Carmy gets between them instantly. (Marcus is Carmy's favorite.) Jimmy calls her "honey" and Carmy makes "I'm angry but not actively biting or growling" face. Computer is sassy and dismissive to everyone—but very politely calls on her, like a schoolteacher calling on best student, during a restaurant meeting.

Past 2x03 when Richie makes his "ooooh you're in trouble" sound no one in that restaurant would dream of asking about Sydney, talking about Sydney, volunteering a negative opinion about Sydney, or sassing Sydney, above all in front of Carmy. Why? Three reasons. 1. Sydney is unequivocally awesome in her own right. 2. Carmy has put the fear of god into them all. 3. They're all silently afraid to be responsible for mom and dad fighting.

Sydney is off-limits in every way. You respect and obey her or you'll answer to Carm and you won't like that at all. Even the Faks manage to keep it together, although they're always on the knife's edge.

All of which is to say, Carmy's relationship with Sydney is the most private and protected part of his life, even though a huge percentage of their relationship plays out on the very public stage that is the restaurant kitchen. This is all equally true for Sydney. She weakly asks "Who's Claire?" and that's all anyone else except Carmy ever hears about it. They whisper to each other when they can't be telepathic. They both shut up instantly once Richie enters the black box theater for "Goodbye." They both reflexively defend each other to everyone else, even if they would turn around and be furious one-on-one about the same behavior. They are absolute vaults about each other.

Absolutely no one but no one gets a say in what happens between Sydney and Carmy. (The one possible exception that's never been tested is Syd's dad.) But absolutely everyone gets a say in what happens between Claire and Carmy.

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no but it's like

carmy with cl**re: being with you felt like fire, no, no, it wasn't awful, it was great, you're peace, i love you, you're wonderful

carmy with sydney: you're considerate, you allow yourself to feel things, you allow yourself to care, you're a natural leader and teacher, you're doing all this stuff for every right fucking reason, and i'm gonna do everything i can to set you up for success, any chance of any kind of good in this building, it started when you walked in, and any possibility of its surviving, it's with you. i belive in you more than i ever believed in myself. you're the bear. (aka the dream i had and built with you)

and i'm supposed to root for the first one?

for the gods of the fucking narrative, be for REAL

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i think chris storer is actually pissed cause we figured it out

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notice how sydney spanks the table and carmy caresses it

what is this

christopher storer what is this

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literally if we made parents syd and carm canon i would not know what to do with myselfffffff

Expecting me not to ship when these two cuties were holding the little ones this season.

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The best tweet!!!

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so for this next one, he will be proposing to syd and their wedding will be in front of that house 😭

Something to draw on The bear 3x01, 4x05

[loversomeloki]

If Carmy ends up with Claire -> bad ending. Never moves on from Mikey’s death.

If Carmy ends up alone but never deals with his issues -> bad ending. Could lead to his death.

If Carmy ends up alone but in therapy and doing some sort of job he cares about -> good ending. We’re all happy for him.

If Carmy ends up kissing or something else with Syd but never going to therapy -> bad ending. Syd will leave him eventually.

If Carmy ends up in therapy, works through his issues, finds a way back into some job he cares about (hopefully cooking adjacent) AND kisses Syd -> perfect ending. Syd and him end up going the distance.

[loversomeloki]

There is only way to finish this story

Maybe someone already said this, but I just finished rewatching all 4 seasons, and i just need to say, it has never been clearer there is only one way this story can end.

Carmy grew up learning that love meant tension and hurt. His mom’s affection could flip to anger without warning. Michael loved Carmy deeply, but he also hated himself. He saw Carmy as bright, talented, full of potential, and thought he’d ruin him if he got too close. So Michael pushed him away, but never clearly explained his real reasons, never truly communicated his love.

This silence, this unresolved grief, became Carmy’s internal truth, he felt he was fundamentally unworthy of love, that he would never be chosen, and that belief became the fuel for his perfectionism, his self-destruction, his need to constantly prove himself. And then Michael died, and all that was left was silence, confusion, and this intense feeling of abandonment.

Carmy poured all this pain, longing, and grief into a dish, unknowingly sending a message out into the universe. Sydney tasted it, recognized it, and their souls connected before they even knew each other’s.

Sydney lost her mother young, and that shaped her as fiercely independent and deeply guarded. She’s been overlooked, dismissed, and not chosen repeatedly throughout her life professionally and personally. She protects herself because love, for Sydney, has always come with loss.

And when they meet, they ground each other but they also challenge each other’s worst instincts, because they met where it hurts.

Sydney holds everything too tightly, afraid of taking up space or asking for too much, and Carmy gives her space, gives her weight, shows her that her ideas matter. They both understand what it means to live with the absence of being seen; and they see each other.

So Carmy is terrified. The closeness he feels with Sydney scares him deeply because letting her in means confronting his original wound, his fear of abandonment, his sense of unworthiness, his terror of being fully seen and then rejected. So he pushes her away, again and again. He’s now repeating the pattern.

The pattern of running away, of love that is there, but it isn’t said, and care that is present, but it isn’t recognized, waiting out of fear, shame, confusion until it’s too late, until silence has already done its damage, and replicated itself because it was never fully understood, only interrupted. This is the pattern the show aims to break.

Throughout the seasons, Carmy slowly understands that Michael truly loved him. But understanding isn’t healing because the cycle has already been internalized. Because, when is too late, even if the words finally come, even if the love is finally named, it can’t undo the way it was withheld, it can’t rewind time or soften what it hardened. And this is the most important part of the pattern, saying it too late means it lands on someone who’s already learned to live without it, who’s already built an entire worldview around the idea that they weren’t worth it. This is why the series constantly highlights clocks and time running out. This is why Donna and Carmy’s conversation is shown just now.

The countdown is for Carmy to break the cycle, to choose differently, to not repeat the pattern.

This is why they were never allowed to become too close physically or emotionally because it was not the right time yet, they were not ready for it. The narrative holds them apart intentionally, showing Sydney getting close easily with Richie, and parallels how hard it was for Carmy to bridge that same intimacy with Mike, now is happening with Sydney. They can’t be intimate without facing everything that’s unsaid between them. It’s why their fight stops abruptly, leaving crucial things unsaid. They need to finish this conversation clearly, honestly, and fully. Them addressing their feelings is the story’s final act: the breaking of the pattern.

Carmy doesn’t know how to receive care without folding in on himself, doesn’t know how to exist outside of chaos, outside of punishment and pressure and silence; and Sydney doesn’t know how to believe in herself fully, how to let someone in without the fear of becoming a burden or being left again.

To break the pattern, Carmy has to stay when it gets hard, acknowledge what’s there, say what he feels before it becomes distance.Sydney has to learn that she can lean on someone without losing herself, that showing up doesn’t mean being invisible.

Part of the pattern has been broken already.

Carmy has never been chosen, he cannot understand being chosen unconditionally, without needing to earn it or prove himself. And also has never really chosen anyone or anything, he has been always been pushed towards or away.

But now Sydney has chosen him over and over again. Even after he chooses Claire over her, even after he chooses fear and avoidance over trust and vulnerability, Sydney stays. Each time Carmy disappoints her once, twice, three, four times. This is so important, because Sydney’s unwavering choice is exactly what Carmy needs most, but fears most deeply. I understand now why we spend almost 2 seasons on her decision about Shapiro. Now is Carmy’s turn, he has to choose clearly, openly, not just rely on silence and he has to show he will commit by it.

The only way to break the pattern is through explicit choice, acknowledgment and commitment.

And all this is romantic, not platonic. They brought Claire, just when they started getting closer (but now we know they would never have been able to get closer without akwnoledging their feelings); because her purpose was always to push Carmy towards a painful but necessary realization about what real love feels like. He needs this contrast to understand.

The series has quietly been guiding Carmy and Sydney toward a place where cycles break, where love is clearly chosen and freely given. So the only ending that makes sense is with Carmy recognizing his feelings, acknowledging his fears and choosing to stay with Sydney, and Sydney has to finally be chosen and allow Carmy into her personal world by letting him met her dad. I believe this the only way of closing their arcs and breaking the cycle of silence and self-isolation.