#I just feel like I understand carmy a little more now. love this guy so much

[butchcarmy]

you know what im thinking about rn what made Carmy stop drawing in the first place like yeah he did it for the menu but only coz his little perfectionist ass needs that visual aid to show stuff (he def deals with dyslexia and dyscalculia)

I just looked up what dyscalculia is and I burst out laughing. I’m thinking of the scene in s2 ep1 where he’s budgeting for The Bear on the cardboard pizza (?) box and just does an awful job. You are so right

Interesting thinking about him with dyslexia though… he has so many books in his house that I never considered that, but obvs ppl with dyslexia can still love reading! Would love to hear more thoughts on that. It would make sense since he struggled so much in public schooling actually…….. maybe he didn’t realize he was dyslexic until much later in life?

But YEAH I think he’s way more of a visual and hands on learner. Once he does something once or watches someone do it, it just clicks. I bet that rly showed in his art.

I LOVE carmy’s art, and as an artist when his drawings dropped in s2…. Oh I was absolutely giddy. His talent! He’s an artist through and through!! I can totally see him doodling on the edges of his school work.

But ANYWAY like you were saying abt him drawing for the menu—he has a hard time with words, so of course he can most efficiently express his thoughts through art (and food). It helps him if he has pictures to explain it with.

…So what I’m hearing is that carmy needs to get into making PowerPoints? Yeah? Anyone?

[thebearer]

honestly, thinking about the last episode and thinking about pete, and i am an honest to god pete defender.

like he is so good to sugar, and tries to hard to be good for her, good for the whole family. he knows how fucked up they all are, and he's just there- a little sunshiney boy trying to keep everything together. he has the best of intentions, he really does.

the scene with donna outside the restaurant. how he's just trying to do what's best and he feels empathy for her? he sees the best in people and honestly, i get why they're hard on him- he's not their usual type in the family, but pete deserves all the love and support genuinely.

just picturing your first true berzatto family get together. donna wants to see the new baby, so they have it at the restaurant. steven and michelle from out of town, jimmy, leo, donna, everyone- the whole gang. you're overwhelmed, especially when donna starts drinking.

pete just kinda comes and sits by you, while you're alone and unsure in the corner. you'd already been hounded with a million questions, carmen is trying to keep the peace in the kitchen, trying to check on you, trying to keep everyone from killing each other.

"how are you doing?" pete asks, sitting beside you, baby mikey in his arms.

"i-i'm good." you muttered, eyes darting around the room.

"it's a lot." pete sighed.

"it is a lot." you muttered, nodding slowly. "i mean, i knew it was gonna be a lot. carmy warned me on that but it's like..."

"so much worse than you thought it would be?" pete looked at you carefully.

"yeah." you nodded. "i, uh, i understand a lot more now."

"they're, uh, they're actually really nice. all of them, on their own." pete offered. "like steve and michelle, they're great, really. easy to talk to, always really nice, super fuckin' funny. and...and you know jimmy. leo is... leo's kinda a ball buster. got this dry sense of humor, but he'll be nice to you, a little invasive you know? but he's got good intentions."

you nodded slowly, eyes scanning around the room towards each person. "what about his mom?" you muttered, looking at the white haired woman nursing another glass of chardonnay. "she, uh, she hasn't spoke to me the whole time. i tried to introduce myself and she walked right past me." you tried not to sound hurt, carmen told you to shake it off, but it did hurt. that was his mother, no matter how he tried to play it off.

"donna is... donna is a lot." pete hummed. "she... you can't force donna. ok? she'll come to you when she's ready. right now, she doesn't know who you are. and as fucked up as it is, it's her way of looking out for carm, looking out for herself. just give that one time. she's watching you."

you scoffed lightly. "yeah? that supposed to make me feel better pete?"

"no. no not at all." pete laughed. "but, just some advice. you gonna leave carmen anytime soon?"

"no." you furrowed your brows, shooting a glare at him.

"then you show her that. she'll ease into you. i promise." pete said.

"thank you, pete." you nodded sincerely at him. "thanks for this."

"of course." pete grinned. "it's a lot and they're all too caught up in their own to try and help so... we outsiders gotta look out for each other."

you laughed lightly, looking down at the baby in his arms. he had the berzatto nose, carmen's and mikey's. "you're not an outsider anymore." you grinned. "not with this little guy."

pete smiled proudly. "i'm still an outsider. just got like a lifetime pass in." you laughed, reaching out to stroke the baby's soft tuft of hair. "you wanna hold him?"

"are you sure?" your eyes flashed to him. "i'm not great at it."

pete shrugged, fishing his hand sanitizer out and tossing it to you. "just don't drop him. i won't abandon you with him. promise."

you freshly sanitized hands shook lightly, grabbing the baby a little unsure, shifting the weight in your arm until it was comfortable. baby mikey gurgled, face scrunching for a moment, before he settles, lulled back into whatever rest he was in before.

"ah, he likes you." pete boasted. "must know you're gonna be a vip like me."

you snorted lightly, swaying back and forth with the tiny baby. "yeah. hopefully."

"you will be." pete nodded, his eyes cutting over to the figure by the windows. "judging by carmy's face, you definitely will be."

you looked up, seeing your boyfriend standing there, a water in his white knuckled grip staring at you. you smiled gently, nodding him over.

"they got you on baby sitting duty?" carmen grinned, trying to play off how flustered he was before, how his heart was skipping a beat seeing you like that.

"somethin' like that." you hummed. "pete just asked if i wanted to hold him. he's cute. kinda looks like you."

carmen scoffed as pete boasted. "he does, doesn't he! i told nat that and she told me i was crazy! see, nat!" he stood, going to get his wife from across the room, a promise he'd be right back.

carmen slid into his spot, leaning over your shoulder to look at the baby- his nephew. "he's cute." he nodded. "sorry you got stuck with pete." his tone snarled, rolling his eyes gently.

"hey, stop that." you frowned. "pete is very sweet, alright? he's a good guy, carm."

carmen could feel his shoulders tense. he was a good fuckin' guy, he knew that, that's why they gave him such a hard time. "you're right." carmen muttered. "he is a good guy."

"what were you two talking about?" carmen asked, letting the baby wrap his tiny fist around his finger.

"he was just telling me about your family."

"oh." carmen rolled his eyes sarcastically. "i'm sure that was great."

"it was." you said firmly, looking at him. "all the good stuff, baby. promise."

carmen blushed, resisting the urge to kiss you while his sister and pete came back over, pete exaggeratedly talking about how the baby did look like carmy and mikey and you agreed, which then brought jimmy over to give his opinion, stevie and michelle following, until everyone was around you bickering and throwing back and forth about who was right.

[nolita-fairytale]

don't want to walk alone | carmen 'carmy' berzatto x fem!reader | epilogue: november

summary: sugar has her baby marking the beginning of a new chapter for the berzatto family.

warnings: husband!carmy who comes with a warning label of his own, swearing, lots of tooth rotting fluff, marriage, no use of y/n, second person pov, she/her pronouns, the end

wc: 1300

listen to: 'lean on me' -- bill withers & 'chinatown' -- bleachers (because it's so make my heart surrender au coded) on the official don't want to walk alone playlist

a/n: well, folks! this gets us from here to the carmy as your baby daddy au. BUT i think it's time for me to let these two ride off into the sunset and go on their merry way. i have loved this story, these characters, this world since it filled my brain with a story that begged to be told, and forced me to write it because i couldn't stop thinking about it. i wrote something quite sappy in the a/n a few chapters ago, so i'll spare us an encore performance of it and just say this: thank you for reading. thank you for being a part of this story. thank you for being a part of their journey. i will pop into this world and perhaps maybe write oneshots from time to time, but... it's time, my loves. :) would anyone be interested in a behind the scenes look at this world like i did with 'burn your life down?' let me know!

part five | masterlist

November

After sixteen long hours, Sugar’s baby comes: a perfect, rosy-cheeked, healthy baby boy that sends you and Carmy rushing to the hospital. Sugar hadn’t wanted you to come till she was ready to push, and by the time you got the text from Pete, you’d sped to the restaurant, ready to drag Carmy out of there, regardless of how busy it had been. 

Besides, everyone knew what was going on – on the edges of their seats, phones at the ready to hear any and all news about the new member of the family, and more than happy to support so that you and Carmy could show up for Sugar. 

“Carm?” Sugar asks for her brother, as you and Pete hug it out in the waiting room. You can’t even tell that the man’s been up all night; the excitement and joy in his eyes overshadowing any and all fatigue. 

Carmy excuses himself from you and Pete’s congratulatory embrace, making his way into the hospital room where his sister lays, propped up on her bed, baby in arms. 

So much has changed for the both of them: his sister, now a mother, and he, an uncle. Carmy takes cautious steps forward, the reality of it all beginning to hit him. 

“Hi,” she smiles, in complete awe of her new baby. 

“Woah,” Carmy says, though completely incapable of hiding the smile that begins to form over his face. “You made that.”

“I made that,” she chuckles with an eye roll, glancing from the baby, to her brother, then back to her son. “And he’s the most perfect thing in the world. Baby boy, I want you to meet someone. I want you to meet your uncle.” 

Carmy carefully sits in the chair right next to the bed, turning his attention to the baby. 

“Can you say hi to your Uncle Carmy?” Nat coos, shifting so that she can properly introduce her son and Carmy. 

“Oh my goodness… look at you,” Carmy says, his eyes full of wonder as the sleeping baby shifts in Sugar’s arms. 

He’s not sure what to say, the words caught in his throat. He can feel it – that this is something momentous – but it’s as if he doesn’t know where to begin, lost in the magnitude of what’s happening right now. 

“Hey, little guy,” Carmy finally manages to get out, his voice stuck in his throat. 

Sugar chuckles again, letting out an exasperated sigh. 

“How ya doin?” Carmy asks, looking over at his sister this time. 

“Great. Just great,” she replies dryly, earning a laugh from Carmy, because it really has been one hell of a night. 

When she opens her mouth to answer this time, her words come out much more genuine and soft as she adds, “I am though. Really. I’m great.”

Carmy nods in understanding, his eyes searching his sister’s face for any more of a reaction. But he knows that this is a dream come true for her -- that being a mother had always been the plan. Carmy chooses to focus this time on the sleeping baby, who’s tucked his head into her chest, seeking out warmth and comfort in this strange, new world. 

“Bear?” Nat asks, as Carmy lifts his head to look at her once more. 

There’s something urgent in her voice that grabs his attention and he’s not sure what she’s going to say next. 

“Yeah?” he asks back, his eyes wide. 

“So I want to talk to you about something,” Sugar says, his voice softening even more as she looks down at her baby boy. Carmy nods once, letting her know that he’s ready as Nat continues. “I uh… well, Pete and I have been thinking a lot about this. And… I wanted to talk to you about it before we move forward with it.”

Carmy swallows, leaning in this time. 

“After we found out we were having a boy, Carm, we talked a lot… about what we would name him and… with his due date being in November… I don’t know. And look at him now, meeting him... it just feels right,” she begins, emotions welling in her voice. “We-, well, we want to name him Michael. If that’s okay… with you.”

Carmy has to stop for a moment, frozen in time as he hears the name. It’s not like he gets emotional about these kinds of things very often, but then again, this is all new to him – new to the little families they’re building; a new generation of Berzattos. 

“Uh,” Carmy croaks out, his voice stuck in his throat as he realizes he’s much more moved than he expected to be. “Uh yeah, Sug. I… it’s okay with me.”

“Are you sure? Because I didn’t know if you wanted to use the name or-,” Sugar begins to explain. 

“No, it’s-, it’s okay,” Carmy is quick to interject. “If it feels right. I mean we haven’t even-, you know, we’re not talking about… yet….” 

Sugar nods in understanding, because she knows that you and Carmy have only been married for two months now. Hell, she's your best friend; she'd know if either of you were talking about having kids.

“So,” Carmy says, his eyes suddenly feeling watery. “Guess there’s a new Michael Berzatto then?”

He takes another look at his baby nephew, joy and grief both trapped inside his chest. Carmy's overwhelmed by it all: hearing his name, what this means for the Berzattos, this new beginning. He thinks back to what you said to Sugar on your wedding day -- that this could be the start of a new chapter for all of you -- the reality of your words reflected back to him now, all in one tiny package of new life.

"Welcome to the world, buddy," Carmy manages to say, his voice soft and full.

And it's as if every single thing that's led to this moment, and every single possibility that the future may hold rush before his eyes.

“Welcome to the world, baby boy,” Sugar whispers, suddenly overwhelmed with emotions.

*

Wanting to give Carmy and Nat time alone together, you spend the first part of your hospital visit with Pete in the waiting room, as the teary-eyed man recounts the intensity of the last eight hours. You can see it in his eyes, hear it in the way he speaks, that this is a dream come true for him – becoming a father. 

Soon enough, Pete is ushering you into the hospital room, more than eager to introduce you to your new nephew. By the time you and Pete join her and Carmy, the new Berzatto is fast asleep on her chest, while Carmy sits quietly next to her. There’s an energy between the siblings, something you notice right away, and you can only imagine that this is emotional for the both of them on so many levels. 

“Hi,” you grin, looking from Sugar to Carmy, as you join him by her bedside.  

“Hi, sweetie,” Sugar greets you. Carmy smiles at you, as your hand comes up to rub comforting patterns over his shoulder and back. 

“Pete,” Nat begins again. “Carmy and I were just talking… about his name.”

“Oh yeah?” Pete asks, smiling hopefully as he exchanges a look with his wife. 

She nods, a full conversation happening between the new parents with just one look. Pete lets out a heavy exhale, smiling at his wife as Nat answers with:

“Yeah."

Carmy clears his throat, his arm closest to you squeezing you closer to him, gently leaning his head against your side in search of comfort. 

“What’d you decide on?” you ask curiously, the air seemingly tense with feeling. 

“Michael,” Sugar answers, exchanging a look with her brother this time. Carmy squeezes your hip, and as you search his face for a reaction, you can tell he's holding back tears.

“His name is Michael.”

[paracosmenthusiast]

I Can Do It With A Broken Heart

I Can Do It With A Broken Heart part 1~!!! yay!

~~

Chapter 1: Innocent

This one is going to be a lot more angst than what I usually put out, but I think it’s suitable not only for the universe of the Bear, but for what I’ve learned about the industry from my very own Carmy.

WARNING: 18+ - mention of substance use and mature themes.

~

I’m sitting at the kitchen counter with all the lights off and the curtains thrown open so the lights of the city dimly illuminate the space.

Phone face down on the counter in front of me. I don’t want to pick it up because all the evidence is right there (not that it was hard to put together) and looking at it made me sick. I threw up six times already and it was mostly bile and saliva but, my throat hurts. My chest hurts. For more than one reason.

The door shakes, a key jammed in the lock, I know the sound like the back of my hand after almost six months of hearing it. I can probably tell with my eyes closed now whether it’s Carmy or someone else coming in. This time it’s him.

What’s the point of talking? I asked myself this more than a few times in the last couple of hours waiting for him to get home. What’s the point of talking when the conversation is only going to have one conclusion and I’m going to have to go pack my bag either way? But for some reason (becauseIwanttostay) I didn’t pack my bag first and for some reason (becauseIdon’twanthimtogo) I’m having this conversation with him.

He doesn’t realize I’m here at first until he flicks on the light and has a little jumpscare. When he catches his breath he says: “Why are you sitting in the dark? You scared the shit out of me.”

I turn around and I have to smile at the sight of him, his hair is sweaty, he always comes home sweaty, and his tousled button up open to the white undershirt underneath. Then I think I’m a fucking psycho for smiling at a time like this and the look wears off quick.

He’s a smart guy. He picks up on the somber atmosphere right away. “What’s going on?”

The world’s kinda traveling in slow motion at this point. I can’t pick up my phone to show him and I’m too tired to get all the words out. All of a sudden it’s all gone. All my energy. All my desire to fight. I should’ve said, do you have something you want to tell me? I should accuse him, should throw it all in his face, but I can’t, suddenly, it’s all gone. I’m all spent, used up. I get up from my seat and then my feet are going one in front of the other toward the bedroom. “I know.”

“What are you talking about? You know what?” He has to raise his voice because I leave him in the foyer.

Don’t look at the bed. I get my duffel out of the top shelf in the closet. Just some essentials and we can divide everything else up later. He’s followed me to the doorway by now. “What are you doing?”

“I know,” don’t make me say it, I can’t say it, I’ve seen the pictures, “I know, Carmen.”

Turn around to show him that I’m filling up a bag of my things. He gets this look sometimes that makes me sad now because I used to love it–the problem solver, crunching the numbers, riddling out the situation.

Except this time the color just leaves his face when the recognition flicks on and he swears, turns away from me, starts running his hands through his hair.

That’s right, don’t say a damn word in your defense, just watch me walk away, don’t tell me not to go, just watch me leave;

I want him to plead for forgiveness but, he is silent,

I say, “I’ll be around to get my stuff.”

Glittering shimmering iridescent soap bubble of a six month relationship, burst. Gone. Not a trace.

“What? Come on. I’ve been working a lot, not that you can possibly begin to understand that, and I’m fucking tired. Sorry I’m late to come home, I didn’t realize it would be a huge thing.”

The anger I feel comes out of nowhere, and burns hot and quick, the words rushing over one another and then stumbling and faltering. “This has nothing to do with dinner, Carmy, I know about the other girls, you, you, … Slimy bastard?”

“Hey, fuck you. Why are you going through my phone?”

“Why am I–” Calm down. My voice is ascending to the high heavens where only dogs and Ariana Grande can hear it. I take a breath. “My actions aren’t under scrutiny right now, Carmen, you fucking cheated on me. Fuck me? Really? No, you haven’t been, that’s kind of the fucking problem, you’ve been fucking everyone else! And I do mean everyone.”

“Fuck you. Stop yelling at me. I never met anybody.” And he does this thing he always does, looks around for something else to do, like he has better places to be than having this conversation.

But I do too. I yank open the dresser drawer and dump a handful of my underwear into the duffel. Slam the drawer shut. My voice is still shaky: “Oh my God, I’ve seen the pictures. ‘Thick Amanda xx’ sound familiar? What about Throat Goat Amber?”

“Jesus Christ, I didn’t meet up with anybody. I didn’t do anything.”

Anddd we’re back to Ariana Grande octaves again. “Sending and asking for nudes and telling them all the gritty details of what you’d do to them is fucking cheating to me, Carmen!”

“Fuck you. I don’t have to do this shit right now, I’m tired. I just got off work.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry that I’m confronting you at a time that isn’t convenient. You dumb bitch. Don’t fucking avoid the subject.”

“Why? What is there to say? I didn’t do anything!”

I’ve never wanted to strangle him so badly in my life. When I stop shoveling my clothes into the duffel and look up at him, he’s not even looking at me. Just fidgeting in the doorway, smoking already, one hand angrily combing through his hair.

“Yes you did,” is what I actually say. “You cheated on me. And that’s just the start– I–I think I hate you.”

Oh, he wasn’t expecting that. He snaps back to the moment like he never tried to wriggle out of the situation. “What?”

I’m floating out of my body and looking down on it from far away. “I think I hate you.”

What a sick realization on our six month anniversary.

“Six months and you think you hate me? I told you from the start I’m fucked up, I have issues.”

And you wear that excuse like armor, I think, but I put my hands to my face, pushing back on my temples. “Are you sorry you did it?”

It takes him a minute to answer, but not because he’s lying. I can see all the emotions filter over his face as he processes. He’s relieved. He thinks that he’s de-escalated the situation and at least put a stall to me packing my shit. “I mean, yeah. Yeah, it’s really fucked. I’m sorry. I just don’t have time to really think about this right now.”

Whatever beginnings of sympathy he had drummed up in me fall completely flat at that. “Oh, yeah. Sorry, my bad, it’s not the right time. Fuck me, Carmen, it’s never going to be the right time.”

“That’s not what I said,” he says. “Fuck you. I don’t need this right now. I just got off work–”

Use it like fucking armor, ‘I just got off work,’ like you always do–

“No, don’t bother walking out,” I say. “Let me do it this time.”

My duffel only has a couple shirts and a pair of pants but I don’t care. I have to come back later to get more and right now I just want to get to the hotel. I pick up the bag and zip it shut even though it doesn’t feel like my hands are working and I can’t look at him.

He gets out of the way when I go to leave our bedroom. Doesn’t say anything just backs up, until he hits the wall of the hallway,

I glance back at him as I’m fumbling with the front door,

He’s just… Standing there. Like he’s in shock. Like he doesn’t quite get how his actions lead him here. Fuck this.

I slam the door on purpose because I know he hates it.

-Four Years (And a different failed relationship) Later-

“I can’t get this out of my head. Look. This picture with her arm up and that smile–”

“Shut up, shut up, look, we’re here!” Actually we’ve been in Chicago for a minute, but as much as I thought I could take talking about the Eras Tour for sixteen consecutive hours on the drive up, I was wrong. So wrong. So I deploy distraction strategy number 1: Pointing out scenery.

Kendra falls for it, whipping around in her seat. “What, where? None of these buildings look like a habitable apartment. Except that one–Wait, that’s a restaurant. The Bear. What a funky name.”

It worked. I glance in the direction she points, because I’m starving and I promised to take her somewhere nice tomorrow as thanks for helping me move. “What restaurant?”

My question was redundant because the restaurant is very obvious, the nicest exterior on the street. And I glanced at exactly the right moment because the front door opens, I can catch a glimpse of a ritzy interior, and someone walks out. I know the look of that shirt, it reminds me of a guy I used to date, and actually, funny anecdote, his hair does, too.

Then I slam on the brakes knee-jerk reaction and the strangled ghoul-like voice that comes out of my mouth certainly doesn’t belong to me: “Oh my fucking god, Kendra, that’s the guy!” Pitches up into hysteria at the end.

I’m staring right into his face! It’s Carmen! It’s fucking Carmen staring right back at me!

Kendra whips around in her seat in the most overt way possible and I realize how fucking insane it is to stop in the middle of the road, the guy who at least looks just like Carmen is looking our way probably confused by me slamming on the brakes, so I do the opposite (and weirder) thing, and I HIT THE GAS. Oh fuck, this day could not get worse.

“WAIT! I didn’t get a good look!” Kendra smacks my arm. “Way to be low-key.”

But I can only breathe once I’ve turned the corner (I wasn’t supposed to turn according to my frantic GPS, but who cares, I have to pull over, if just for a second).

This is crazy. I’ve been in Chicago for one day, four years later, who’s the first person I see? Carmen fucking Berzatto.

Well, I barely even recognized him. Actually who’s to say that was even him. Yeah, joke’s on me, I’m seeing ghosts because I’m stressed by the move and by the breakup and by the long day of driving, yeah, that’s it. It’s gotta be.

“Sorry,” I say, carefully returning to traffic. Both hands on the wheel, both eyes on the road. “I think I mistook that guy for somebody else. He looked like the guy I used to date in New York, a little bit.”

Kendra’s the ever-vigilant internet super sleuth and she already has her phone out. “Oh, no, that was definitely him. Says he just reopened and revamped his brother’s business. The restaurant’s called The Bear now. Carmen Berzatto. That’s the guy, isn’t it?”

And to add insult to injury she shoves her phone with a picture of his face pulled up right in front of my eyes.

I swat it away but not before I catch an unfortunate glimpse. “Don’t distract the driver.”

“Hmm,” she says. Gleeful. “Come on, let’s get to your new place, we need wine so we can discuss this.”

Discuss? What is there to discuss? Nothing. We have nothing to discuss and there is no reason to go hunting for ghosts. “Stop it, Kendra. I mean it.”

I haven’t thought about it in a long time but a memory comes back to me, the look on his face when I left. He helped me carry my boxes out at least. But I still think about that look–like he was in shock, like he couldn’t believe how his actions could’ve lead to the point of us dissolving.

“What if I buy the wine?”

Actually, how is a six month relationship from four years ago even remotely in my head right now? I just broke up with my fiance to move here. Oh, God. Another relationship that didn’t even make it to a year. I am not doing well on the scoreboards these days.

“Hey, are you listening? I said what if I buy the wine. I can even DoorDash it, I think. Or UberEats. Or I could just take the car to the liquor store…”

Fuck, my apartment is coming up on the right. How did I end up so close to his restaurant? What a sick twist of fate. Why didn’t I look closer at Google maps before I picked this place? No, I deserve this. This is what I deserve for snapping off a relationship so coldly the way I did and then dropping out of town like I was entering witness protection.

“Hey!”

I jolt from my reverie as we approach a red light. “Sorry. Yes, wine. Please. Lots of it.”

An embarrassing thought flies into my head: Oh God, what if he saw me when I slammed on my brakes? No. No way.

If I keep thinking about this I’m going to ascend right out of my skin from the mortification, so I focus on directing myself to park the damn car so I can get out from behind the wheel ASAP. And preferably get inside where I can hide behind closed curtains. And wine. Closed curtains, and a lot of wine.

---

Part 2: Chapter 2 - The Black Dog

masterlist: Paracosm Enthusiast Masterlist

[cwritesforfun]

The Bear: Carmen 'Carmy' Berzatto x Fem!Reader: The Date

Part two to Crush & I do not own the Bear characters!!!

Y/N = Your Name

Your POV

You feel warm and as you notice that Carmy's arms are tightly wrapped around your chest. Someone got awfully comfortable last night not that you mind. Carmy stretches next to you and says, "Morning." You say, "Morning. How was your rest?" He answers, "I feel great and it might be the best I've felt in a while after sleeping. I feel rested for once in my life." You reply, "You should make this a thing. You should take off once a week. You work so hard. You deserve it." He replies, "Maybe so. It could also be our thing." You kiss him on the cheek and reply, "It should. That's cute." He smiles and asks, "What do you have for breakfast?" You answer, "Several options... I mainly have stuff for breakfast burritos or pancakes." He asks, "What do you want? I want to make you food." You reply, "We can have breakfast burritos. I'll show you where stuff is."

You show him stuff in the kitchen then you notice your phone buzzing, so you talk with your mom. She's surprised that a boy is at your place and that he's technically your boss. She also is happy for you because she loves and supports you.

When you get off the phone with your mom, you go to see how Carmy is doing and he has everything organized. It’s like he’s a Chef for a living or something. You lean against the counter and ask, "How's it going?" He answers, "Good. I like how many kitchen gadgets you have." You laugh and say, "Yeah I like fun little things that make cooking easier for me." He says, "I understand that. Who were you talking to?" You answer, "My mom. We talk at least once a week to just catch up about how our week went." He replies, "I heard my name mentioned. I hope you said good things about me." You smile and say, "Of course, I did. My mom was just surprised a guy was staying over at my place and that it was technically my boss. She told me to be safe and to have fun. She supports me." He replies, "I think we'll have fun and be safe. You can tell her I will always keep you safe. Changing topics, but breakfast is ready, but I don't know if you want something to drink or what you have." You reply, "I'll make some coffee."

After enjoying breakfast as you watch TV, Carmy asks, "Can I tell you something?" You answer, "Sure." He replies, "I think you're just really amazing and beautiful and perfect. I am so lucky I get to take you on a date today and I want you to know I'm really happy. Usually, dates make me really anxious, but being around you makes me feel comfortable. You also always make me feel supported and understood whenever I'm around you. Every day, you make me feel loved and we weren’t even dating until now. I appreciate that." You reply, "That's so sweet. Thank you so much. Speaking of our date, what are we going to do today?" He answers, "I don't really know. I was hoping we could talk through some ideas. I honestly didn’t think you would even like me back.” You ask, “Why not? You’re a great guy. Any girl would be honored to be with you.” He answers, “I … I’ve always thought that I wasn’t worth all the time and effort people put into relationships. I thought I was more of a low-commitment guy with only friends with benefits who show up once a month when I take a day off. I never thought I would be someone to like this amazing girl and them like me back." You smile and say, "This amazing girl really likes you." He smiles and asks, "Is it okay if we kiss?" You answer, "It's more than okay." He cups your face gently and presses his lips gently to yours.

You both get dressed and get into your car. Carmy drives you to pick up food for a picnic at a park. You get all your favorite snacks and drinks. It'll be so fun.

The picnic at the park goes really well. You both spend it getting to know each other more and just enjoying your day off. The sky gets dark and you make it to your car just before it starts to pour.

You both then go to the movie theater and you go see some new comedy that is out. You get snacks and drinks there too.

After the movies, Carmy asks, "I know this is a long shot, but uh is there any way I could stay with you again tonight? I just had a really good night's sleep and I want to be ready for Monday." You answer, "Of course. You might need a change of clothes though. Do you want to borrow my car tomorrow? I work from home tomorrow and I trust you." He asks, "Are you sure?" You answer, "I'm very sure. Drop me off at my place on the way back so I can get started on dinner for us then go pick up your clothes. Just make sure to park my car in spot 120 in the parking garage on your way back." He replies, "Ok. I'll hurry. I don't want you doing all the cooking for our dinner." You reply, "It's okay. I like cooking." He replies, "That's something we have in common." You smile.

Carmy drops you off and you start dinner. You decide to make homemade pizza, salad, and cookies. Luckily you have cookie batter from 2 days ago that you needed to bake, so that part is easy. You have homemade pizza dough that you were going to cook tonight anyway, so this works out. You just need to cut some toppings for the pizzas. You don't know Carmy's favorite pizza yet.

Someone knocks and Carmy walks in with a bag. He tosses it down and you both go to the kitchen. He exclaims, "It already smells good in here. What are you making?" You answer, "I had planned to have homemade pizzas tonight, so I'm chopping toppings for that. I also baked some leftover cookie dough that I had. I want to make a salad too. I don't know what you like on your pizza though. What else do you think we need?" He looks around and answers, "Honestly, I think we're good. I'd eat all this on a pizza. What do you like on your pizza?" You answer, "Cheese or pepperoni are classic staples. But, pulled pork and pear on pizza with mozzarella is to die for." He replies, "God, that sounds delicious. I like Margherita pizza with some sausage and extra cheese." You reply, "That sounds good too. I think we have everything for that, but sausage." He replies, "I'm willing to try it with the pulled pork." You reply, "Cool, we can each make our favorite pizza so we can both try it." He nods.

After cooking the pizzas, you both set the table with all of the delicious food. This looks like heaven.

Carmy LOVES your pizza and you enjoy the one he created. You won't tell him, but you still prefer your own.

You watch another movie that night before going to bed. You both take separate showers then you cuddle in bed.

Masterlist

[gingergofastboatsmojito]

The Pacino Variant

Since I found out that JAW got inspiration from Al Pacino to play some of Carmy's layers I immediately started thinking about Frankie and Johnny's dynamic and how it was all so messy in their relationship before it got to the good part. Granted, JAW was not inspired by Johnny, but by a different role Al Pacino played, but still. It got me thinking about how this very Austenian love story, of course, very realistic and bittersweet had certain points in common with Sydcarmy and once I started I just couldn't stop drawing parallels between the sydcarmy dynamic and the frankjohnny one because F&J was a very atypical comedy, just like The Bear and that's why many viewers now don't even understand how The Bear is a comedy, which it is, of course: A noir one. Back then, something similar kinda happened with Frankie & Johnny, it flopped as a rom-com but it became a cult movie and was critically acclaimed.

Here's a clip:

Context: they met while working together at a diner.

The main characters were described as: "lonely little people struggling to find love."

Rolling Stone's review back then read the following:

"Somehow Mr. Marshall, Mr. McNally, and their superb leading actors are able to retain the intimacy of their material. They also retain the story's fundamental wariness about romance, even when everything about Ms. Pfeiffer and Mr. Pacino has the audience wondering why they don't simply fall into each other's arms."

See? Sounds very Sydcarmy to me, building intimacy while NOT dating, Frankie (Michelle Pfeiffer) is all business-no love, a tough cookie, she's been burnt before so she doesn't let any new guy into her life

and Johnny has to do the hard work to convince her (which Carm is not doing bc he rather denies his own feelings and deflects onto Claire as both this amazing meta by @Chefkids and my own humble opinion point out). In Johnny's case, there's no Claire but there is a rather complicated past that also conditions his choices and Frankie doesn't make it any easier on him, etc.

So my point is that the whole Sydcarmy back and forth before it actually happens, which I already mentioned here I think is gonna be more of a cliffhanger kinda thing bc before we get to that part they need to be at each other's throats, Carmy's relationship with C has to crash and burn, The Bear needs to win a bunch of awards and hopefully get out of debt, which will be S3's main focus, along with Nat's baby that's gonna be a total game changer in terms of the Berzatto family's dynamic, etc... when all of those boxes are checked ✅✅✅ then we will venture into Sydcarmy territory on Storer's terms. And I can't help but wonder if that transition from friends to lovers is gonna be kinda like F&J's, I think it might, because it sounds Storer-friendly. I'm not talking about the endgame per se, just the transition.

Would love to know what you all think about this theory.

If you haven't seen the movie and now feel curious about it, here's a playlist, and those short clips pretty much sum it all up.

❤️‍🔥

[loveabledirtbag]

2.02 - pasta

there’s something about opening on a black screen with a catchy, familiar song that just makes me into what i’m watching. i don’t know what it is about that particular edit, i fully recognize it about myself, and i don’t even strongly like the song “she drives me crazy” by fine young cannibals. BUT black screen, song comes on, quick cut to an arial shot of chicago in winter and it’s just got me going, “hell ya. let’s go.”

i liked the quick cut of a printed sign on the bear’s wall as they’re making plans, crossing off things they’re accomplishing and working on renovating the space for their grand opening, but there’s just a little printed sign that says “bear part two”, which is funny. because this is the bear, season two. but it’s also the first iteration of the bear, which makes the “in world” meaning of “the bear part two” kinda odd.

i love the familiarity between carmy and syd. it’s only on this, my 90th rewatch that i realize this is really the first time we see them sort of acting like friends and partners, more than work colleagues, and especially boss and employee. all last season they had friendly moments, but there was always an edge of: carmy is the boss, and syd is the employee. and no matter how friendly they were, and they were pretty nice and friendly, the two did an excellent job of having an element of feeling like they worked together. like if one of them were to introduce the other to a friend or family they would say: “oh, we work together”. even in the first episode of season two, they’re still friendly, and the power dynamic has shifted nicely since season one because they’re partners now, but they still have this air of “work friends”. but right away in episode two carmy and syd are walking through the shop talking about how syd’s dad is sem-supportive but doesn’t understand syd, and i’m only just realizing that it’s the first time they’ve really talked about personal things with each other non-chalantly. this is the first time in the show we’ve ever seen them be “friend friends” not work-friends…and yet, it’s so natural and easy i didn’t even realize the shift had happened until just now.

in one second we received; the first mention of syd’s mom. that she and her dad are going to her mom’s birthday dinner. AND, the fridge guy is on the phone, but because marcus threw the phone without anyone ready, it shattered on the ground. carmy will call the fridge guy back….right….?

i hate that the moment nat comes into the scene casually eating food while walking, my brain (which is so accustomed to stereotypes in media) said “oh! she’s pregnant!” and not “oh! she’s working hard and doing most of the detail work for the restaurant, so she’s eating on the go!” but, media tropes being what they are, my mind went to: PREGNANT

“you feeling okay, nat? you look a little pale”, “yeah. it’s just that sometimes i look like february.”, “….sure…” 1) amazing line. truly fantastic. 2) come on. nat’s pregnant.

fak and natalie’s “mom & son” relationship is so weird and i love it. “yes, my honey?” who actually says thay to another adult in a non-actually being someone’s mom, or a “non-bdsm” capacity? apparently nat.

“you alright? you want a sprite? you look kinda green.” 1) this line that richie says to nat will come back to be important in a few episodes. 2) this is the second time in like a minute that someone’s commented on nat’s appearance and her not looking great. so, she’s definitely pregnant. like, they’re not even trying to hide it, as they hide it.

ebra’s hesitation about going to culinary school BREAKS MY HEART. ugh. i love ebra. sad ebra makes me sad. “i don’t want to wear a uniform” and tina’s immediate “it’s not that kind of uniform.” implying he was thinking of his time in the army in samalia….UGH, EBRA!

however, excited tina, giddy at the thought of culinary school, is such a vibe.

fridge guy debacle continues: carmy calling the fridge guy, but getting interrupted as richie, fak, and marcus are trying (and failing) to move the lockers out of the space right outside his door.

also, (because of stereotypes in media) when carmy gives his number to the fridge guy, my first thought was “…so that’s gonna come up later.” because it’s easy to have written this scene without the phone number. sometimes a scene requires a number to be given and that’s that. but in this scene, it easily could have been different. so when carmy gives it, i knew we’d hear his number again. especially with how easy the number is to remember. (the classic 5-5-5 in the number. that happens in tv shows so often. someone has 5-5-5 in their phone number)

ok….so….again, i’ve watched this season like 100 times, and i think, I THINK, i understand why they have to open mikey’s locker to move it out? because it’s always confused me. the guys are struggling to open the locker, and they realize they have to open mikey’s locker which has been locked since his death. it’s a nice scene, and shows everyone’s acceptance and growth in the time since mikey has died. especially as richie puts a hand on carmy’s shoulder as carmy takes a moment right before he opens the locker. the tenderness and love between these two since season one is just incredible. but my thought was the stuff in the locker was too heavy making it harder to move? but the only thing in the locker is a hat from an event they worked in 2010. so, i’ve always been confused. the hat couldn’t weigh enough to make them not able to handle the lockers. i thought it was a clumsy way to get us to the emotional moment of finding the hat. BUT now i’m realizing that i think fak needed the locker open so he could get a better grip on his side of the locker and maneuver it easier? is that right? does anyone else actually know?

so syd and carmy go to carmy’s apartment. and in repeated viewings i’ve realized that it IS the same apartment from season one. we’re just getting better shots of it. and now i realize that his apartment is A DREAM! i mean, his kitchen is great, but the rest of his apartment is really nice. i’m legitimately jealous. they did a really nice job in season one (whether intentionally or not) making it look kinda like a shitty apartment. but there’s enough things i recognize in shots of his apartment in season two, that it’s definitely the same apartment.

the way carmy and syd avoid saying “michelin” in conversation, so that the show doesn’t have to pay for the copyright, is just fun. but i also love the two sides of the michelin chef spectrum. carmy who has experienced the shit you have to deal with of having them, and syd who is fresh and wants the recognition that comes with having one. in the light of how many restaurants and chefs are abandoning the michelin system, or are returning their stars, i think it’s a fascinating subtle storyline woven in this season. i’d love to see if it carries on into season three. knowing that it costs so much money to have a michelin star and that only one star has to do with the food.

“i will grant you [mold] has gained some traction in recent media cycles. it’s a buzzword, yeah, for sure.” what an iconic line from richie. as someone who has always been scared of mold….how is mold a recent buzzword? richie is unhinged and i love it.

once again, fak and richie getting their faces closer as richie dares fak to call mom (nat), and fak says he will, and they go back and forth just getting closer…..it has a weird sexual energy with it. i didn’t start this show shipping fak and richie, but i think they’d be cute together…

the scenes of ebra struggling at culinary school honestly break my heart. and tina encouraging ebra in his skills and him shakily saying “yes chef”….😭😭😭

i think it’s interesting that there’s a season long arch where just about everything syd cooks and makes tastes terrible. i think watching the show all at once makes the problem seem bigger than it was meant to be (at least to me), because we’ve been told how good of a chef she is, but we see her cook HER OWN creations and they all suck. it made me wonder how good she really was. which is maybe some of the point, but i think it’s showing that syd is still a chef that’s up and coming and learning. like carmy said last season, she’s very green. carmy is a chef with no end of awards and recognition, but we see him struggle with details and management. syd is inventive and quick on her feet, but we see that when she’s coming up with a recipe she fails a lot first. i think it’s meant to humanize her, or it’s a season arch to show her growth as the season continues.

the weird….dynamic of carmy thinking syd’s mom is alive (because she said “it’s my moms birthday dinner” and has never said “she died” or anything, so it’s an earnest and easy mistake). but when carmy asks her about her mom she just kinda….lies…?

i love the detail of signing “sorry” when something happens to just say “hey, let’s move on. this isn’t a big deal, and i’m sorry” is amazing. i’ve had little codes like that in service industry in the past.

nat’s lil’ monologue while sitting next to the messed up toilet while she’s on the phone with the plumber is great. and i love that she reveals that she’s pregnant (which again, easy to guess), but mostly i love that we’re not fulllllly sure if the plumber is a family friend, or a complete stranger. there’s SOME familiarity here obviously, but we’re not told if it’s enough familiarity for nat’s emotional word vomit or not. and that’s beautiful to me.

the pure comedic GOLD of “these ceilings are practically styrofoam, were we to have mold they would collapse when i go like this-“ hits ceiling. ceiling immediately collapses and proceeds to dump a pound of dirt, dust, and mold onto richie’s face. and then a kickball. and then richie looks up and goes “that’s it?” and a firefighter hat falls and hits his head. ugh. i can’t help but burst out laughing.

the reveal that syd’s mom is dead is so well done. the happy story, the smiles, and then lighting a candle on cake and them blowing it out while holding hands. the realization that what we, the audience, assumed was going to be a tense, awkward meal between two parents who had divorced but still got together to celebrate the moms birthday (for some reason), or maybe even the amicable celebration of a couple that divorced because they realized they weren’t good for each other and are “friendly” with each other. but instead it’s two people very much in love with a woman who has clearly died. ugh. it’s beautiful, it’s funny, and it’s heartbreaking, and it’s SUCH a simple and quick scene.

AND THEN, we move onto this scene at the grocery store. ok. here’s the thing. claire gets a LOT OF SHIT from people. a lot. and some of its fair and some of its not. SO. i’m gonna put my thoughts in their entirety HERE about her, and then when those instances come up in later episodes i might talk about them more in depth.

so, firstly, for the people who loved that the bear was a “sexless” show in season one, or that carmy seemed to be ace, or are carmy and syd shippers, or even those who claimed he was queer coded, there’s not much i can say to make you feel better. other than to say that the balance of work life and personal life is a super important one, especially in a show about a guy who has no personal life so that excel at his work life and has become burnt out by that process. so a romance or a deep relationship of some kind was a good choice for the show, because it brought about a storyline that i think is needed on carmy’s mental, and emotional health journey.

BUT the show trying to deepen that relationship with claire does so by simply “saying” it, and not showing it. which is the eternal issue with writers, especially when you have time, money, budget, and length of movie/tv series to deal with. but in a ten episode season, and this is already the end of the first episode when you introduce her, so you really only get to know her in episode three. that really only gives 8 episodes to know claire. and she’s not in like…3 or 4 of the episodes moving forward. meaning you have to: set up their history, set up how important she is, AND deepen their relationship to a place where we, the audience, are emotionally invested in them, AND when it hurts when they ultimately break up. but with only 4 or 5 episodes to do that, we can’t SEE it happen, we have to be TOLD it happens.

so we are told that carmy had a crush on her, to the point that he would draw her in his notebooks and his whole family knew he liked her, because mikey, richie and…john mulaney…tease him for it in the flashback episode. we are told how much claire likes carmy. we’re mostly told how good their relationship is, instead of seeing how good it is (carmy shows up to the restaurant a few times and says “i was talking with claire when….). we’re also told how close claire was to the fak’s and to richie (claire calls fak to get carmy’s number. she calls richie cousin (the only other person to do that other than mikey and carmy). there’s a lot of their relationship we don’t get to see, and it makes some sense because those scenes would be slower, deeper, and take time. and you only have 30 minutes and 4 or 5 episodes to accomplish this.

which makes the sort of hypocrisies in their relationship just not believable. carmy was obsessed with claire growing up, but when they meet he gives her a fake number so she can’t call him, because he knows she’s looking to date him after they run into each other. and he’s a little slow to open up to her, but finally does and she helps him a lot in his mental health and panic attacks. and on claire’s side, she gets labeled a manic pixie dream girl, which isn’t necessarily unfair, but her less than realized character (her main defining character trait is: i like carmy) is only because we don’t get to see much of her, and she was brought in to be a love interest to carmy. so she’s not fully realized, and her only real trait is liking carmy. plus, carmy is so aloof, and closed off that from a writing standpoint we needed claire to have this manic pixie love and attraction in pursuing carmy, because that was the only way they were going to get together. carmy would never have pursued claire, because he sacrifices his own enjoyment and personal life for cooking. but it doesn’t make sense then, that claire has kind of an obsessive love for carmy from the moment she sees him at the grocery store, and she admits that she liked him in high school, but she never made a move and he didn’t even really know she knew who he was.

these sort of conflicting narratives: carmy is in love with claire, but gives her a fake number when they run into each other as adults (he even forgets her name when we’re introduced); claire is in love with carmy from the beginning of them running into each other as adults (which would hint that she was in love with him when they were young) but never paid him any attention when they were young, BUT was so close to them that she remembered the name of their planned restaurant all these years later…they all could have been made possible and been written in a way that was believable. but not with the time constraints the show had and the other storylines the show focused on. so we are simply told a lot of this, not shown a lot of this. it maybe could have worked if they built claire and carmy’s relationship up this season; a sort of will-they-won’t-they, and then once carmy is sold on the relationship, build that up in season three, for the big collapse at the end of season three. but that would have ruined the season long arch and left carmy without a deep, traumatic emotional arch and more of a rom-com, fluffy arch this season and that’s not really the show’s style.

so, i don’t hate claire. i think she, as a character, wasn’t given the time to breathe and grow and show the audience why we should care about her. i would love if they brought her back for season three, to see her grow and get fleshed out as her own character, especially as a character outside of her love for carmy. but since she broke up with carmy, i don’t see much of a road into the show moving on and it would also make a lot of sense if we never really see her again. even despite her “close” relationship to the fak’s and to richie.

as someone who has had to have the conversation with my parents about my weird working situations, like being paid for a month, but then not being paid for six months even though i’m going to work and working 12 or more hours because i’m starting something…uff, i feel syd’s frustration as she tries to explain it to her dad. and the fact that the budget is paying everyone in the shop except carm, nat, and syd (the bosses) is so fucking good. because that’s how it fucking should be. you pay the people who need it, because you need them to be there when you get back. it’s how you keep workers, especially good ones. bosses and leaders of businesses need to actually sacrifice for the shop and for their workers if they want it to work. plain and simple.

but, we see some of that writing magic i was talking about earlier when carmy gives her a fake number. he told the fridge guy his number earlier, and then he gives claire a different number. we know that he wouldn’t give fridge guy a fake number. so we realize he’s giving claire the fake. that’s why we saw him give the fridge guy his number.

AND that’s the episode! episode two down! it’s a great episode. and it sets up a LOT for the rest of season two. looking forward to episode three!

SEASON ONE: Episode One | Episode Two | Episode Three | Episode Four | Episode Five | Episode Six | Episode Seven | Episode Eight

SEASON TWO: Episode One | Episode Two | Episode Three | Episode Four | Episode Five | Episode Six | Episode Seven | Episode Eight | Episode Nine | Episode Ten

[diningwiththeasquiths]

A Syd x Carmy x Richie ficlet (from Richie's POV) Because I'm stuck at home with COVID and they're my latest OT3

Things are good. They're good again. Which is great, it's really nice, and it's more than a little scary. And well, sometimes ye olde feeling creeps up on Richard. That feeling that he's good for nothing and nobody.

Syd and Carmy flit through the bustling kitchen (corner, behind, behind, behind, behind), completing each other's sentences while speaking an entirely different language than the rest of them. They're probably in the middle of creating some mindblowing, next-level dish, another culinary love child to add to their evergrowing collection. The intense enthusiasm on their faces makes them look even younger than those fuckers already are, and Richard suddenly feels every year of his four and a half decades.

So yeah, maybe he's a little more cranky than usual when dealing with Fak's idiocy today. And maybe he slams the door just a little too hard on his way to his smoke break. And maybe he's a little too quiet that evening, when they're at Carmy's place together. (Who—out of the three of them—has the biggest bed and no cohabitants.)

He's on the couch next to a pile of faded denim, his eyes on the TV screen but his ears busy trying to pick up what they're talking about in the next room, their voices hushed and serious.

And then it hits him. This is probably it, this is Tiff all over again, this is-

"Hey Richie?!" Carmen's voice calls out from the bedroom.

"Yeah?!" he yells back, somehow managing to not sound like his world is crumbling around him.

"Come get dessert!"

It takes him a moment to recalibrate. Alright. Okay. Carmy wouldn't call a break-up 'dessert', he's not that mean. Syd might, if he really fucked things up between them, then yeah, she'd probably ask Marcus to bake a cake that says 'you're single again, you piece of shit' and serve it to him. But Carmy wouldn't stoop that low, and therefore he is freaking out about nothing so he's going to stop freaking out now. Things are good.

Things are good.

Things are really fucking good, because there's homemade chocolate sauce smeared on his lips, across his chest and currently being lapped out of his belly button, which kind of tickles but it's also en route to his dick so he's very excited about that.

Carmen pulls back from his now-clean belly button and reaches for the half-empty dessert bowl just as Sydney gives him another deep kiss that tastes like chocolate and something even sweeter. It's kind of overwhelming to be the center of their attention and adoration, being fussed over like plated food and devoured at the same time, and he finds it difficult to let them in—really let them in—even on a good day.

It doesn't help that they keep telling him nice shit, real sappy shit, except that it does help because it hurts but somehow it also makes him feel better about today. And then Carmy proceeds to give him a chocolately handjob that ends in a very messy blowie, all the while rubbing comforting circles on his inner thigh with his thumb, and Syd pinches his nipples just on the right side of too harsh and kisses him breathless until his toes curl and he replaces the taste of chocolate in Carmy's mouth with a flavor of his own.

After their shower (somehow Carmy ended up covered in almost as much sauce as him, the messy freak) they cuddle up in bed, placing him in the middle, and he tries to somewhat regain control of the situation, of all these feelings that they're making him feel, with their caring, with their seemingly endless understanding, and patience. And love.

"You guys are some real needy bastards, y'know that? Got absolutely no fucking chill. You're lucky I don't mind all that crap," he says, tearing up for the umpteenth time that night and grateful that nobody says a thing about it, they just hold him even tighter, until he can't tell where he ends and the others begin, and with that thought he drifts off to sleep.

[carmenized-onions]

Okay so I needed time to let my thots on the carmy pov percolate in my pea brain for a bit before I sent you my thots but FEAR NOT !! im here to send them to you (idk you may not care but I CARE)

N e way these r disorganized bc its been a bit since I read it BUT BUT BUT

Like okay Carmy is me I am Carmy but I am also Tony like I take care of everyone religiously so i feel her pain but I also think everyone hates me and just tolerates me being there and like the fill in line abt Carmy like, wondering if he was just a sub in Mikey absolutely SHATTERED ME like

Also I love the parallel bc like, idk if you did this consciously (im sure you did) but like from Carms al anon thing (one of them, i think from his lil monolog in s1) he said how he thought mikey was his best friend but it turned out he was everyone's best friend and hes realizing Tony isn't just his guy, she's everyone's person, ans like, that would GUT ME

Also also also

Like them sharing spoons is so cute

ALSO TONY REMEMBERING CARMY'S FAV FLAVOR BC MIKEY TOLD THEM THAT IS SOOOOOO

IM SICK IM SO SICK YOU MAKE ME SICK

Anyway as always i am obsessed w Chicago's Finest and with you 🫶🫵

I FEARED!!! I FEARED A LITTLE BIT!! But I'm so glad you're here now. I will literally always care to hear your thoughts.

And yes, yes yes yes. I think a golden not rule but like... Known adage with writers is that with every character you write, you put at least a part of yourself in. And like, listen. I'm the youngest of 3 pursuing a career in the arts that no one understands and I have a heavy inferiority complex.

I am. The bear. So when I write in Carmen's perspective, there's very much a lot of me in there. SO I TOTALLY GET IT. Tony's got the more nuturing side of being the one that takes care of people; Carmen's the aftermath of being the one that takes care of people. Two sides of the same fucked coin.

AND YEEAAHHHH BABY!!! It was like his whole little spiral with like, realizing that you were actually Michael's friend was very much also a part of that. Like, he had finally figured out the fact that Michael was everyone's guy-- And then you show up, and he figures out, oh-- you were Mikey's guy, like, he DID have a best friend, at it was fucking YOU.

And that's where the whole 'he'll never be as close as you two were' comes in, cause you're also everyone's guy, so that really only leaves, two people that are everyone's must also be each other's key guy. Ohhhhh I'm sick. I've made myself sick. I'm tortuous.

THE SORBET WAS VERY CUTE I was sitting staring at default italian ice flavours for a bit and going like,,, hmmmmmm ,,, which one feels right,,,,,, And I feel like black cherry fit best-- But also maybe that's because I fuck with cherry flavours.

ANYWAYS THANK YOU AND I ALSO DIDN'T NOTICE UNTIL RN IT'S KINDEST NOT FINEST!!!! IT'S SO EASY TO MIX UP I DON'T BLAME YOU!!! but whenever the mix up happens i do have to give a little punch buggy ACAB or it's bad luck.

[laiwater]

current white men i, as an aspec woc, am currently attracted to.

Firstly, I would like to preface this post by apologizing to myself and my online persona that this is the very first post I am making (though I am no stranger to Tumblr) and will definitely be looking back and cringing. But, I digress, this is purely for personal enjoyment and the fact that I love anonymity.

Second, there is no particular order in which I rank these men, I just enjoy them and their existence and their creations. So, I guess that's how this list came to be.

Now. On to the white men!

Number one, the one and only, Matthew Gray Gubler. Not sure how this obsession spiraled, but I'm positive that it started with an edit of Spencer Reid on TikTok.

He is both a blessing and curse to my existence. I get a visceral reaction when I see him on screen as he spews out his little factoids. I also feel very ashamed and embarrassed as I watch, to completion, a thirst edit of him and all I can is a black screen with my stupid smile reflected back at me. I feel crazy.

It has come to a point where I started watching other things he stars in. (Yes, thirst watches. I am devolving.) Today, I watched The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou, which was very entertaining even without Mr. Gubler. Yesterday, it was Suburban Gothic and that one 15 minute bowling mocumentary where he humps the air. Tomorrow? Who knows. Maybe Horse Girl. Side note: I love Alison Brie.

To wrap up my blurb on Matthew Gray Gubler, I want to say 2 things. I love him as a creator and creative. He is the epitome of silly, which is something I think everyone can be just a little bit more, and he most definitely is Tumblr if Tumblr was a person. His history with art and creating is really intriguing and something I look up to! He models, acts, directs, writes, draws, and more. I just love creative people.

Next white man is Irish, has long beautiful locks, and is gigantimasaurus: Andrew John Hozier-Byrne! Professionally known as Hozier!

Unreal Unearth is actually the very first Hozier drop that I got to experience as a new-ish fan of his work. I love everything he creates; his lyrics, voice, sound has so much emotion and power. I was literally in the shower singing out Francesca as the water beat down my back.

My love for Hozier doesn't just stem from his music but also the content of his music, where he draws inspiration from, and how he's literally just some dude. Cue his handsome Squidward story and the one where he was cursing out some badgers.

The best way to describe the content of his music, in my opinion, is yearning for various releases in terms of love, hope, despair, a better understanding etc. He writes so well, and his feelings can be viscerally felt through paper and sound. He always sounds like he's on the edge of something, always anticipating a moment.

Last one, because everything comes in threes, is Thomas Straker, which is the "all things butter" guy, in case you didn't know. VERY random, I think, but I also don't think so.

Love, love, love a man that can cook. Even more so when he is nice to look at, and doesn't desecrate the food he makes (if you've seen those gross cooking TikToks where they completely violate their ingredients, you'd understand.)

Personally, I've been obsessed with this man ever since his butter series because 1) his voice is really really smooth, 2) he unapologetically loves food. Him creating these recipes and watching him eat his own dishes like they're the best thing to exist is elation.

Not sure if I'm starting to sound weird, but I think it's the same way people feel about Carmy from The Bear. Also, I cook. And it's just attractive how he cooks and enjoys cooking despite his comments telling him he uses too much butter - which is ridiculous because butter is what makes so many foods taste rich and good. Literally go shadow Gordon Ramsey as he makes a steak.

Anyways, that's it. That's the post. My laptop is about to die because I decided to write this in one sitting instead of packing because I'm leaving for school in two days. Crazy.

[devitalise]

i agree with ur thoughts on s2, here some of my in depth thoughts though:

stuff i didn't like

- i totally agree about carmy not being as big of a presence in this season, i understand they wanted to show that he absolutely isn't ready for a relationship, but imo if ur gonna do that u gotta go bigger? crying in the fridge and getting in a fight with richie who we know he'll easily make up with isn't that big of a deal to me.. i would have loved to see a huge break up that made him confront his inability to let himself be happy AND claire reminding him of hs, home and michael (they kept hinting at this and all we got was one panic attack scene? ok)

- i actually didn't mind claire. it was very clear she was just a plot device from the start and i def wouldn't mind there being more depth to her character, but they had chemistry and the actress did a great job. idk i rly liked her character, but disliked the narrative surrounding her (i started rolling my eyes by the 20th time someone mentioned carmy liked her in hs, we get it!)

- i hate what they did to marcus, i don't see him as a bitter guy who yells after getting rejected idk what the point of that was since it got resolved in 10 min

- ebra's arc felt a little unfinished, like a scene or two was missing? but other than that i think it was great to see him struggle with smtn and more of his friendship with tina

- maybe a me thing, but i missed some of the surreal elements s1 had (the cooking show, the literal bear, the cage, the nightmare..)

things i liked

- literally everything else. the acting, dialogue, direction, lighting, you name it i loved it. the comedic moments were so good this season, richie and fak were standouts for me.

- just when i thought this show couldn't possibly overwhelm me more, but the christmas ep proved me wrong. it could have been shorter (the tiff and richie scene was especially long), but jamie lee curtis was too captivating for me to care all that much

- despite there being a lot of things i dislike, this is such a short list for me? i fucking love this show sm, and s2 was a great comeback as far as i'm concerned. not as great as the first, but still a banger and i can't wait to see what they do next <33

hi babe sorry i kept remembering and then forgetting to answer this and then i didn't want to drop spoilers the same week as release because i can't put your ask under a cut but it's been a month now so i'll go under the cut to hit your points

i didn't completely hate the fridge breakdown like him not being able to be there for such an important career milestone because he kept putting things above the bear opening?? fitting and deserved to me!

yeah i feel the same about claire like after a certain point none of the claire carmy scenes were offering me anything new. i wasn't learning anything new about carmy and didn't feel like the plot was moving along either. and the sex scene?? EW (not in a puritan sex way but carmy is sooooo sexless to me i don't want to see him breathing into this woman's face all sensual like creeps me out)

yeah that was sooo???? HELP! glad they got over it at the end of the ep they'll be fine

agreed about ebra! not completely there but i think he'll shine in s3 if there is one in the same way tina came so completely into her own this season. (love tina!)

yeah absolutely! there was a whiff of it with syd in the last ep with the ticket printing and ep2 where she's going around eating food but more weirdness would have been appreciated idk

i'm gonna rewatch s2 in a couple months i think to really see how i feel about it the further removed i get from watching it the better my memory of it is for me so i'll see how that goes

[heardchef]

Ok so I just read your comparison original to final script for the pilot and yeah the age thing is stupid and I’m glad they cut it. Age on tv is hard but 25 no just no. Him and syd being around the same age is good though.

Thank God they cut all that physically violent stuff because thats one way to get people to instinctively hate your main character. It’s also something you can’t take back. There is always going to be that thought: will he get physically violent again if he gets that stressed and could that escalate? It becomes a harmful environment right off the bat and changes the tone to something that might be interesting but not what the show was overall going for, at least not as a final product. I also think it oversells the point they are trying to make. We get it, this is a hard time for our trauma onion (a term that I love so much thank you for bringing it into my life) but there are better and more sympathetic ways to show that. Now I’m a fan of stories with unlikable main characters, but that’s not what they were going for it seems. So I’m glad they cut it. There is also no way someone throwing gravy doesn’t look goofy.

yeah, i envision original pilot carmy in my head like:

i'm glad they dropped it too. it's interesting, i feel like original pilot carmy is a little more willing to explain why he's doing the things he's doing compared to final pilot carmy—i mean, the crew still doesn't listen, but he tells them straight up that he doesn't know michael's recipe for the spaghetti. he explains why he wants the bread cut shorter. he walks richie through his reasoning for getting the short rib beef instead of what they normally order and even says, "if you would have let me explain before you got in my face about it—"

then, when they keep refusing to listen carmy starts to close himself off and let them do what they want, and then he decides to make them listen. i wonder what his arc would have been like, would he have just kept ramping up more and more if the crew didn't change? or would he have mellowed out a bit and tried even harder to make the kitchen a collaborative place only to have an outburst even bigger than his first one?

i feel like final pilot carmy is a little, like the tiniest bit, more withholding when it comes to explaining the changes he's trying to make but is more understanding of why the crew is so reluctant to change. i don't think he views them entirely as equals, but at least he's not straight up apologizing to syd "for the people who work here." he's definitely still angry, overburdened, and maybe even a little out of his depth, but his emotions feel more nuanced. he's not angry to get a reaction, his anger has a weight behind it. like, sure on the surface carmy's losing his shit over not having his knife, but that's not the only thing he's upset by and you can tell. so when he finally does have his meltdown(s) it feels earned because you know it's not just about whatever he's initially reacting to.

also i'm glad you enjoy the term trauma onion haha! he's our little lexapro linguini, our rascally little rat man. and yeah, re-reading the script i noticed how he like, leaps over a table but fucking falls LMFAO so there's just no way he threw that gravy and looked scary doing it. a goofy goober gravy throwin' guy for sure

[comradeocean]

Alphabet Stew — can’t fix just one thing / Syd and Carmy and The Bear fic mixtape [download, youtube*]

*missing the Yumi Zouma cover of Wonderwall

O.K. With My Decay, Grandaddy || Two Words, Kanye West ft Mos Def || Beirut Al Kobra, Sami Hawat || Feel It Still, Portugal. The Man || Sacar La Voz, Ana Tijoux ft Jorge Drexler || Landing Guy, Liu Haolin & Kidult || Wonderwall, Yumi Zouma || Paradise, Sade || The Shining, The Neighbourhood || Mountain O Things, Tracy Chapman || Scotch and Soda, Kingston Trio || Taste You, Melissa Auf Der Maur || Tomorrow Wendy, Concrete Blonde || All the Places, Made in Heights || Going to Georgia, Atom and His Package || The Keepers, Santigold || Le coeur au bout des doigts, Jacqueline Taïeb || Baby's On Fire, Brian Eno || Nothing's Gonna Change My Love For You, George Benson || History Town, Mos Def/Talib Kweli/Max Tannone || I Guess I Planted, Billy Bragg & Wilco || Party in the USA (Remix), Rye Rye || This Bitter Earth, Dinah Washington || Head On, Man Man || My Heart Has A Mind of Its Own, Connie Francis || Time In a Bottle, Jim Croce || Hot Like Fire, The xx || Red, Okkervil River || Someday, The Strokes

O.K. With My Decay, Grandaddy the pressure put upon me / it goes and goes 'til it thinks it got me / on my decay / I have no choice / so I'll rejoice / I'm OK

Two Words, Kanye West ft Mos Def two words, United States, no love, no breaks

Beirut Al Kobra, Sami Hawat لبنان صغير (زغير ) بيروت كبر / بيروت كبرى هاى بيروتو بيروتو / يا سلام .. يا سلام [little Lebanon, big Beirut / greater Beirut, hey Beirut / peace oh peace]

Feel It Still, Portugal. The Man is it coming? / is it coming? / is it coming back?

Sacar La Voz, Ana Tijoux ft Jorge Drexler respirar un futuro esplendor / cobra más sentido si lo creamos los dos [to breathe a glorious future / makes more sense if we do it together]

Landing Guy, Liu Haolin & Kidult night to day, and day to night / all the sadness, you take my breath away / I don't really see much of anything / but I see you / that is crazy

Wonderwall, Yumi Zouma (Oasis cover) and all the roads that lead you there were winding

Paradise, Sade I'd wash the sand off the shore / give you the world if it was mine

The Shining, The Neighbourhood I've been hiding / you've been shining / like, diamonds blinding

Mountain O Things, Tracy Chapman the life I've always wanted / I guess I'll never have

Scotch and Soda, Kingston Trio all I need is one of your smiles / sunshine of your eye

Taste You, Melissa Auf Der Maur plug it in / so I can digest you, I will taste you

Tomorrow Wendy, Concrete Blonde it is complete now / two ends of time are neatly tied

All the Places, Made in Heights dead could, dead could start to feel and your eyes will start to flood

Going to Georgia, Atom and His Package (The Mountain Goats cover) the most remarkable thing about you standing in the doorway / is that it's you / and that you're standing in the doorway

The Keepers, Santigold ask me why a dream gets you by / but let it want, turns a dangerous thing / watch out for it, it snakes right past / then turns around and it sucks you in

Le coeur au bout des doigts, Jacqueline Taïeb il me dit: vous semblez triste / et je ne lui réponds pas / en levant un peu la tête  / je vois qu'il a les yeux bleus [he says you seem sad / and I don’t answer / lift my head a little / see his eyes are blue]

Baby's On Fire, Brian Eno rescuers row, row / do your best to change the subject

Nothing's Gonna Change My Love For You, George Benson our dreams are young and we both know / they'll take us where we want to go

History Town, Mos Def / Talib Kweli / Max Tannone it's where you been and where you be / and without understanding you cannot proceed / complete, the start and the end / then it just go round again... again

I Guess I Planted, Billy Bragg & Wilco but when it dawns way in the back of your mind / the big ones are made up of the little kind / union song, union battled

Party in the USA (Remix), Rye Rye this is all so crazy / party in the / this is all so crazy / yeah / it's a party in the USA

This Bitter Earth, Dinah Washington oh this bitter earth / today you're young / too soon you're old /

Head On, Man Man are you dreaming of death /  are there ghosts in your chest / are you always so restless, yes you are

My Heart Has A Mind of Its Own, Connie Francis I know forgetting you / would be a hopeless thing / for I'm a puppet and I / just can't seem to break the string

Time In a Bottle, Jim Croce if I had a box just for wishes / and dreams that had never come true / the box would be empty / except for the memory of how they were answered by you

Hot Like Fire, The xx (Aaliyah cover) you can't resist / kiss, kiss, and kiss and kiss and kiss and kiss...

Red, Okkervil River yes is my favourite answer / but I have seen some things that I cannot even tell to my family pictures / and I'm full of fictions and fucking addictions and I miss my mother

Someday, The Strokes see, alone we stand, together we fall apart / yeah, I think I'll be alright / I'm working so I won't have to try so hard / tables, they turn sometimes / oh, someday

[whereintheworldisclairerans-blog]

A month in Madrid!

Oh man you guys. It feels like it’s been an eternity since I’ve written anything! I can hardly believe that it’s only been a month since I’ve been in Madrid on my own - SO MUCH HAS BEEN HAPPENING! I’m not going to give you all the details because I would be typing until the end of time and I do kind of have a life, but here’s a little recap of what I’ve been up to!

Not even a full week after Jordan went home, I found myself at the airport again, this time headed to Sweden to see Hanna! I couldn’t believe how lucky I was to get to see her again after a mere three months after our big American road trip, instead of our typical 16th month stints. A short 4 hour flight took me from Madrid to Gothenburg and she surprised me at the airport! We took the bus into the city together, got lunch at my all time favorite restaurant Vapianos (See my post from the UK 2 years ago when they gave me an entire block of parmesan cheese in my pasta) and then hung out in her gorgeous apartment. We went to a fun Spanish language exchange that night and I got to meet a few of the friends she’s made in her masters program! The next day we tried to go to the archipelago.... but we are very special people and didn’t get off the boat ahahahaha. OOPS. We took a lovely ferry tour instead and then got some hot coco and pastries to eat along the dock before getting caught in a massive rain storm and getting soaked to our very cores. That night I went out with her and a bunch of other students in her program and they showed me a night out on the town in Gothenburg that was super fun! I wasn’t ready to head back to Madrid, but I left knowing that we would be seeing each other again very very soon. 

I still had another two weeks to kill in Madrid before I started work, so I spent my days sleeping, working out, furnishing my apartment and getting to know the city a little better. I was walking a fine line between not having any income and not wanting to stay home by myself all day - so I did quite a lot of window shopping, sightseeing by foot and making mental notes of all the places I wanted to check out once I started getting paid. I also reached out to friends of friends that live in the city and met two of my now closest Madrid pals, Dylan and Carmi. It’s amazing how lucky I was to meet people that I liked so much so early on! 

I still had a few days left on my Eurail pass and credit with AirBnb, so I decided to take advantage of cheap travel and went to San Sebastian during my last week before work. BEST. DECISION. EVER. I absolutely loved it there. San Sebastian is in the Basque Country in the very north of Spain, and as such is incredibly lush and green. It’s normally very rainy there, but the two days that I was there, the sun was out in full force. The city is nestled between the beach and the mountains and is famous for it’s amazing cuisine. The ocean, the mountains, and food? What more could a girl ask for? I spent my time alternating back and forth between lying on the beach, wandering through the old city, eating, and climbing up into the mountains to check out the amazing views. I don’t know if I have ever loved a place so much. I couldn’t wipe the stupid grin off of my face the entire time I was there and I very very strongly considered purposefully missing my train to go back to Madrid. Unfortunately, I am responsible person (thanks mom) and I did get back on the train to good old Madrid. I did however, look at apartments there for next year...... so prepare yourselves that I might be there instead of Denver next year. Ooops. 

Anyways, I hardly had time to unpack from San Sebastian before I had to head out again for my “staycation” in Madrid. The company that I am doing this program through, CIEE, had paid for us to stay in a hotel during orientation and I am not one to turn down free accommodation (aka the free food that comes with it ahahah). Turns out it was kind of a waste because the orientation was not super useful and I had to get up ridiculously early in order to enjoy the free breakfast. So I left a day early and headed back to sleep in my very own bed until noon. Ahhh how I miss those days. 

The following day, I started work! It was a bit of a slow start because I don’t work on Mondays and I only work half days on Tuesdays, but I was grateful for the slow introduction given my very limited teaching experience. For those of you who don’t know, I am working as a language and culture assistant in a bilingual primary school called Placido Domingo. It’s a MASSIVE school, with 600+ students, 50+ teachers, and 4 other LAs. The program allows us to work 16 hours a week, assisting the teachers with English instruction and sharing our cultural insights. I am mainly working with 5th and 6th graders, which is amazing because they have the highest levels of English and can pretty much understand me fluently. They can’t speak fluently, but they can definitely communicate extremely well and so so much better than I had expected. I’m not allowed to speak to them in Spanish, so I had been a little bit worried about how much time I would have to spend explaining things. Turns out, very little time at all! They know that I speak Spanish so they can ask me how to say things and I can help them translate when need be. My main role is to work with them in their English, social science, and natural science classes (all the classes they have instruction in English), but I also help out with PE for 1st and 3rd graders (which is lots of fun because I get to spend my Wednesdays running around with little kids and blowing off steam). I love the kids so far, and I also really love the other teachers! We get to have a coffee break for half an hour every morning, where breakfast and coffee is provided and I can get to know the other teachers and my fellow LAs a little bit better. I am also working as a private tutor after school for a few families, where I am helping the kids have a little bit more time to practice their English and to prepare for these massive exams that they have to take in 3rd and 6th grade. It’s a bit daunting because I am the one in charge of putting together the materials and preparing an hour or an hour and a half worth of material for lessons, but it’s excellent experience. (And excellent money!) As such, my schedule is pretty packed right now- for those of you who would like to know where I am at any given moment in the day, it goes as follows:

Monday: (Free most of the day) - 18:30-20:00 Private Lesson

Tuesday: 9:00-11:45 School, 16:30-19:15 Private Lessons

Wednesday: 9:45-16:00 School, 17:00-20:00 Private Lessons

Thursday: 9:00-16:00 School, 18:30-20:00 Private Lessons

Friday: 9:00-16:00 School, FREE FOR THE WEEKEND! 

Luckily I get a super long lunch hour at school and dinner isn’t normally until 20:30-21:00 anyways. Next week will be my first full week of this schedule though, so we’ll see if I make it through. I got super super super lucky this past week because it was a national holiday on Thursday, so I got a long weekend just in time for Melanie and Anthony to come down to visit for their honeymoon! I was able to pick them up at the airport Monday, show them around my neighborhood and see the main sights before my lesson in the evening, Tuesday they slept while I went to work, and during my break we went for a picnic in Retiro and then while I taught my lessons they went to the Prado! On Wednesday they spent the days being tourists while I worked, and then we had all day Thursday to hang out together! We missed the parade but they got to meet (or catch up with in Mel and Carmis case) my new friends! I wasn’t ready to say goodbye to them on Friday, but they were off to Italy and I was off to bed! Being a tour guide is tiring y’all. 

And that pretty much brings us to today! I went out this weekend a bit and was a grown up and did laundry and grocery shopping and all that jazz. Now I’m headed to picnic in the park with a friend and will spend my day tomorrow running errands and preparing all of my lessons for the week. Hope all is well with you all! More soon, I promise! xx

[gingergofastboatsmojito]

THE BEAR S3 Predictions

Just a mental note I'm putting out here to be able to revisit it when the time comes to check its level of accuracy. I have the feeling that S3 is going to be the season of the reconciliations.

The relationship between Richie and Carmy is completely broken after the walk-in incident and Richie walks from The Bear. He happens to get some kinda job offer and accepts it just to prove Carmy wrong. They will later spend a good portion of S3 trying to repair their bond. By the end of S3 (hopefully sooner) there should be a reconciliation of some sort between them and Richie should go back to The Bear.

Nat gives birth to her new "cub" and this brings the family together. There is a reconciliation with Donna, which in some capacity benefits not only the siblings but the entire team, the restaurant as a whole. Not exactly sure how this will play out, but Donna will quit being this negative and toxic influence on everyone. Maybe she gets clean because she takes this baby as a new chance to start over and be a better grandmother than the mother she was. IDK...

Marcus' mother dies and this juxtaposition of new beginnings, births, endings, death, etc is going to be a theme throughout the whole season, that is why I actually think this funeral will be the opener.

There will be some kinda flashback episode, like 7 Fishes or a montage of some memory that has a huge impact on one or more characters. I have my $ put on the Sundays, Mr. Adamu and lil Syd would spend at Mr. Beef's. I strongly disagree with the weak argument that just because the Berzattos are catholic, their restaurant didn't open on Sundays. The gastronomic industry cares very little about those traditions especially if the place is struggling. I bet they were open every Sunday part-time, just for lunch, to get all the demand of those who went to church just because business-wise it makes total sense.

Carmen will apologize to Claire. Not sure what she's gonna make of that apology, whether she's gonna accept it or not, I hope she doesn't. I'm pretty sure there will be no reconciliation here. I don't necessarily oppose Carmy having a romantic partner and as much as I ship SydCarmy like nobody's business, I'm 100% sure they are not gonna happen any time soon. Maybe and this is a HUGE maybe, they could be the perfect cliffhanger for S4. But that would be a stretch. Not that Store & Calo couldn't pull it off, but still. So, basically, I am all for a new love interest being presented to Carmen just to see how he responds to it. After Claire he should go back to his old lone-wolf ways, I need to test that behavioral theory though, so I need a new female character to do it.

Last, but certainly not least, Miss Adamu needs her man and I'm not talking about Bear. I want to know more about Sydney's past and see her letting her hair down, putting her records on, and all that jazz. So, maybe an old flame can re-appear in her life and they can try to "reconcile". This reconciliation shouldn't work either because she's now devoted to making The Bear work and is basically a workaholic and both, Carmy & her get into this synch of type As on Speed and Red Bull, non-stop working machines, well-oiled now that they had already learned from their mistakes and The Bear succeeds but Sydney's relationship with her guy from the past fails, again. The guy feels like a 3rd wheel and lets her know that she's not in a relationship with him but with her job. Sydney understands the subtext, and this break-up is actually a wake-up call for her. She starts seeing what we all shippers are already seeing. It's not just about work for her. Yes, The Bears are too absorbing and demanding, both, the restaurant and the chef, but she doesn't mind. She loves it. Love is the operative word here. This realization should hit her hard by the end of the season.

The background of all the things I just mentioned above will be the BOH, fast-paced, chaotic, and working like a Swiss clock, just like Carmy likes it.

Am I missing something? Probably. Can't wait to find out.

Bonus tracks: I am pretty sure the wedding will either be Teff's or Fak's.

And lastly: When Sydcarmy happens, it will "officially" start with something small and inane like Syd accidentally finding out Carm has been drawing portraits of her all along... CHECK THIS OUT, I think Storer & Calo have something like this in mind or along these lines, and it should come along in S3, minus the sex part.