#actual himbo and nerd friendship supremacy

[papasmistakeria]

I saw a video saying that in the original TNG concept, Data and Riker were supposed to be the best friends transferring from a different ship and as much as I love Geordi and Data's dynamic, I simply can't ignore this concept cause of how much I love it so-

AU where instead of Data and Geordi being besties, it's Data and Riker!

Their friendship would be similar to a brotherly dynamic. Data would consider Riker to be his older brother, someone who's always there to support and look out for him, and Riker would consider Data to be his little brother, the only family he's ever had (not counting his dad)

On their previous ship, Data constantly gets harassed and Riker would always step in to his defense. Riker got into fistfights with the Tactical team for calling Data an 'it'

Everytime Riker gets injured from fiercely "defending Data", he never goes to Sickbay cause then he'd have to explain to the doctor why he got the injuries so the duty would fall onto Data to patch him up as best as he could

Riker willingly spent days and nights not sleeping just to learn about Data's inner workings. He isn't a cyberneticist. However, that doesn't mean Riker would be completely useless in helping his friend when issues rise. He knew the basics enough to help Data with minor injuries or malfunctions

During his first few weeks of practicing the violin, Data would only play if Riker was there to accompany him with the trombone. They've written and composed several songs together but no one knew what they were about

At first, Riker tried to set Data up on a date with someone, but after an incident that left Data almost dismantled, he stopped and from then on, became wary towards anyone who wanted to be close to Data

Riker likes to invite Data to playing sports in the Holodeck, much to the latter's dismay. Let's just say, everytime Riker manages to pull Data for a sport and convince him to "give his all", Riker would leave with broken ribs, limbs twisted in weird ways, bloody nose, and a chipped tooth while Data left with guilt and a lot of apologies to offer

First few weeks on the Enterprise, Data befriended Geordi and the first person he told was Riker. The next day, Geordi received a warning from the First Officer, that if he ever try anything funny on Data, Riker would personally hunt him down. Geordi took his words seriously and promised his intentions were good

When Data took up painting, he painted a sleeping alaskan malamute puppy with the fur colored after Riker's own hair and gave the painting to said person (who loved it). The first thing everyone sees when entering Riker's quarters was the painting

Outside of poker, Data and Riker have secret card game nights. Usually they play Yu-Gi-Oh or incorrectly play Pokemon cards

Riker likes to ruffle Data's hair like your usual older brother and he's one of the very few people Data actually allowed to touch his hair

Data doesn't like to be touched by other people without a reason, it's dehumanizing. However, he found there are certain people's sensory input that he actually enjoyed (even craved). Riker was one of them and his favourite touch from him are the head pats. When the emotion chip was fused into his neural net, Riker's head pats introduced him to the emotion of pride. Also whenever he's having a breakdown, the head pats helped ground him

They also do Holodeck mystery LARPing but instead of Sherlock Holmes, it's Professor Layton. Riker likes the thrill of adventure and beating villanous asses up while Data enjoys a good puzzle and theatrics

Riker once bravely drank Data's bio-lubricant cause some officer was insulting Data for drinking it in public and Riker wanted to prove a point and (once again) defend his friend's honor. He did succeed, but let's just say it ended with him in his bathroom, puking into the toilet bowl while Data gently pats his back. That day, he had the worst tummy ache and the most digusting vomit he ever had in his lifetime

Riker has his own "List of Data's Red Flags" where he listed several things Data should avoid (which Data himself wasn't aware of cause he was just that innocent) which Data happily complied since that meant Riker was looking out for him. Though it took him awhile to convince Riker that "engineers" aren't exactly red flags