#bcc book club

[nextstopwonderland]

“Oh, Tony’s gonna be mad at me for that one...I know, I book my own shit sometimes.”- Jon Moxley’s promo after his DEFY Wrestling match against “Filthy” Tom Lawlor in Seattle, asking the crowd if they’d like to see him return with local boy Bryan Danielson in a tag team match. The crowd goes wild at the mention of Bryan and Mox eats it up. April 30, 2022.

[danwhobrowses]

While I appreciate the Elite/Hangman stuff being brought back up to continue, I also don't want AEW to diminish Dark Order by simply swapping them out.

Initially I had hoped that we'd put Dark Order over by having them rise to meet the BCC, since they are still good wrestlers who made the Trios finals, at Blood & Guts. But with the Elite coming in it does feel like they are at risk of being job guys again.

Instead, I want to encourage AEW to go a different route, make this a 3-way battle for Hangman's soul: you have the BCC who respect Hangman but want to literally beat him into submission (we could have it be like a recruitment angle), the Elite are his old friends capable of standing to the BCC and penitent for their rift, and Dark Order are the friends who stuck by Hangman at his lowest but seem a little out of depth. We put a fourth for Elite and BCC (Adam Cole for Elite and maybe someone like Hobbs for BCC since he did roll with Mox for a bit, or Shota, may be too soon for heel Danielson) while keeping Stu because Stu is great and then we have a great narrative feud as well as a great in-ring feud.

Hell, 3-Way Anarchy in the Arena it with Hangman making a choice on who to side with, just don't shuffle Dark Order to the side.

[silvershadow989]

Right right okay so, I had a dream about HoB vs The Elite feud and --

(In this dream Revolution was middle of March instead, March 18th to be exact.)

Rampage happens on the 24th Feb, and the Bucks have their match against Aussie Open. Middle of the match, lights go out, come back on after a few seconds - HoB are on the outside. Aussie open use this too their advantage and pin Matt. They then skedaddle out as Kenny comes down the ramp, followed by Don and Nak.

Once the Elite are in the ring HoB climb in, almost circling them and leaving them back to back pretty much. Malakai talks about how there's a parasite in AEW, on that's been around outstayed it's welcome. The parasite is the elite, and HoB are the ones who will save AEW. They all stop circling. Julia's in front of Matt. The crowd go silent as Malakai get's in Kenny's face.

Nick dart's infront of Matt and get's the mist to the face. Matt catches him as he falls back yelling and Kenny is torn between getting back in Malakai's face and checking on Nick.

HoB leave, their work temporarily done. The Elite follow after, Matt and Kenny supporting Nick.

BTE is interesting that Monday, Nick's weirdly quiet, stays in the background, never looks the camera head on. Matt, Kenny and Brandon have a discussion about how he's doing other weird things too - watching Matt sleep, snapping at Kenny ect. Brandon forgets to turn the camera off.

March 1st Dynamite. There's a backstage segment that have Matt and Kenny raging over their gear going missing and locker room being trashed. Matt asks Nick (who was in the room when it happened) what happened and Nick just shrugs. He's got light purple all around his eyes and across his nose. It looks like he's been punched in the face.

They have a match that Rampage - against the local jobbers. Matt get's the Meltzer Driver set up. Nick doesn't take it though. He just sits on the top rope, looking up the ramp.

Malakai's stood there watching. Kenny has to use the One Winged Angel to win.

Nick's not in the next BTE. Matt's noticably stressed the entire video but pretends nothing's wrong.

He keeps pretending until March 8th Dynamite, when he's attacked in the ring by his little brother. HoB are also there, targeting Kenny and restraining Brandon.

But Nick's focused on Matt. The purple has darkened too black now, and his eyes seem hollowed out. Like he's a puppet. A puppet that's trying to choke him.

Again, Hanger has to save them. HoB backs off, but Nick's still in the ring. Staring Adam down. Malakai whistles and Nick backs off.

The House Of Black have Nick now.

Adam leaves the ring afterwards, he's still in shock, and looking at Kenny makes his head hurt. Matt and Kenny are left to limp out by themselves.

Nick has a match against a jobber that Rampage. He decimates them. Matt is watching on a moniter, eyes suspiciously teary.

(This is where my memory gets patchy and I can't remember the details but-)

Nick has three more singles matches before Revolution. Matt and Kenny have a tag match or two. The Nick situation is a looking shadow.

The Revolution match is set to be Matt vs Nick. If Matt wins, HoB will release Nick. If Nick wins, well, he'll belong to the House. Like Julia.

It's a tense match. 40 minutes. Both are bleeding by the end but it's Matt's wrist raised. Kenny joins him in the ring to celebrate, giving the still lying Nick a wide berth when HoB attack them. Properly.

Starts a feud that lasts 'till Double Or Nothing. Adam joins the Elite *temporarily* to boost their numbers. HoB almost mist him too. They miss.

Malakai spends a lot of time taunting Kenny about how horrible he used to be, how he was so bad that a certain former tag partner couldn't stand him.

Matt keeps finding pictures of Nick - face covered in blood, eyes glassy and dazed from the concussion Matt gave him when he dropped him on the ramp - everywhere, it's tearing him apart.

Nick clams up, won't talk to anyone, insists he doesn't remember anything. The far-away gaze and the way he flinches when someone says his name suggest otherwise.

Meanwhile the BCC spent the time between March and May dragging Bryan back into the fold and making sure he stays put. They have their eyes set on the trio's champions as well, seeing it as easy pickings due to Matt, Nick and Kenny being so distracted.

They have their match, just before Double Or Nothing. HoB interfere, leading to a disqualification for BCC. Mox is mad about it. Tony gives him BCC vs HoB vs The Elite for DoN.

The match is carnage.

Then I woke up so I don't know who won. Feel free to guess though!!

[regalityandcoffee]

Yet Another Missed Opportunity: Why Bryan Danielson should have been the one to cause chaos in BCC instead of William

(At least for a lil bit)

Sup hoes, I'm back with another ramble!

(*pets Bryan's head*) this is nothing against you boo this is against Khan yet again missing the obvious potential for a decent storyline involving BCC.

CW: betrayal, Anarchy at the Arena, Chris J*richo, M*xwell Jacob Friedman

LETS BEGIN.

Okay, so this is Bryan Danielson, right? Look at him.

I think he's a lil neat

Bryan is not only one of the members of BCC, he's one of the three founding members. Him, William, and Jon.

Ah the good old days before everything went to sh-

Now you're probably wondering. Why would Bryan "turn" on BCC? Arguably he's the most loyal member if the whole group, even going after M*xwell after he attacked William, even though William betrayed Jon?

Easy: Peer Pressure and Ego.

Let's circle back to when the group first formed, their first few matches. How William constantly sang Bryan's praises, calling him one of greatest wrestlers of this day and age, everything he wishes he was when he was still active, etc. Etc. Imagine hearing that everyday from someone you looked up to for not just years but decades. That's gotta put some pressure on you right? To always want to perform well, to be seen as a star pupil and a leader.

Let's talk about Bryan and Eddie Kingston

Hi Eddiiiiiiiiiiiiieeeeee, ily

Remember how much they hated each other? I mean , you can argue neither of them like anyone but they were constantly butting heads before Anarchy at the Arena. Almost like... what if Bryan saw Eddie as an interloper? What if he was resentful at Jon for having BCC help him, Santana and Ortiz? They could be going after tag gold or the AEW and FTW championships? Why were they devouring to help Eddie in his insane fued against the J*richo Appretion Society/JAS? (or as I like to call them: the No Bitches Brigade djsjejdu). Maybe, just a bit, he doesn't believe Jon is taking the group as seriously as he is.

And to him this group is part of his legacy. Of course people will remember Jon and William, but will they remember him after he finally retires?

Now let's add Bryan's relationships with Wheeler and Claudio into the mix.

To Bryan, Wheeler is beneath them. He may be their teammate, but he is not on their level. He is their pupil, not their equal. And then he slaps Wheeler the moment he shows that he has a mind of his own. He lost his cool. To him he believed he's been disrespected, that Wheelers being ungrateful. Hmm.

And Claudio? Oh, deep down he sees him as a rival. Of course he stands side by side with him but he kind of envies Claudio for how... effortless everything seems to be for him. He's Claudio Castignoli. Williams’s last (tv) opponent. He's one of ROH champions. Bryan still hasn't gained a title months after the group formed.... HMMMMM.

So how would it happen, and how long would it last?

I can't see Bryan being jealous if Jon being AEW champion, I think after AATA is when things begin to crumble. A combination of feeling guilty for being the one who got pinned/lost them the match and being mad they were ever in the match to begin with would cause him to spiral. He's losing his peers respect! He's losing his mentors respect! Of course, its all in his head. The boys still see Bryan as the American Dragon Jake Long and are worried about him. He's lashing out more, he's distant. He's opting out of tag matches, letting the other boys go instead.

And one day... maybe he does participate in a tag match he's at ringside for. Maybe it's after his argument with Wheeler. Maybe the argue a bit more during the match. Wheeler's on the mat, trying to reach Bryan...

And Bryan just jumps down from the mat, walking away from the ring. Letting him get pinned. The boys are confused. The crowd is confused.

He's confused.

Bryan Does the Unthinkable: talks about his feelings!!!

He's confronted by Jon and William, Jon's pissed, Williams’s clearly confused and disappointed, and he justs...snaps. He pours put about how hard it is keeping up the guise that he's confident, how pissed he was that they had just formed the group and Jon was already involving them in shit that wasn't their business (even though Eddie is his bro tf was he supposed to do keep letting him get jumped?), all that stuff.

It's not so much of a turn as it is a confrontation, a discussion. William realizes how much pressure he's accidentally been putting on Bryan, Jon wonders if he only joined BCC to get Bryan off his back and to be taken more seriously be he and William. Wheeler wonders why he really turned on Best Friends and if he joined BCC to better himself or for glory. And Claudio? He becomes a bit distrustful of Bryan after learning how envious he gets of him.

Of course, in the end they all accept him back...but it opens up questions.

Now, why would this have been ideal rather than what went down between William, Jon, and MJF?

Personally, I think it would have added a lot of depth to not just him but everyone for him to be shown struggling with being a leader and keeping up his status as one of the best wrestlers in the company, even making his dynamic with William more nuanced instead of him just being a teacher's pet. And also...

(*deep breath*)

BECAUSE WILLIAM'S BETRAYAL MADE NO FUCKING SENSE

YOU'RE GONNA LOOK ME IN THE EYE AND TELL ME AFTER ALL THAT TIME HE SPENT IN NXT MATURING AND BEING A KIND AND RESPONSIBLE GM AND HELPING TO SHAPE THE NEXT GEN OF WRESTLERS IT MAKES SENSE TO THROW AWAY OVER A DECADE OF CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT FOR ONE POORLY PUT TOGETHER MESS NOT EVEN WORTHY OF BEING CALLED A STORYLINE? FOR FUCKING MJF?! BULLSHIT.

And even if it was because of his fued with Dean in FCW (which Khan couldn't even begin to understand how complicated it was) that makes no fucking sense unless the goal was to have William and Jon fight one more time, considering the fact Dean only won because William was no longer able to compete! THE ONLY POSSIBLE-

(*deep breath*)

Anyway in conclusion that's why I think It should have been Bryan okie bye ♡♡

[lovevalley45]

Chapter 58: loopholes, murder, and old women

The Legends find a loophole in their retirement contracts while talking about Vegas and past murder attempts.

[deathjitsus]

i mean the entire origin of the bcc was that it was a fight club designed to improve the next generation of aew wrestlers! forged in combat! mox targeting private party because pressure makes diamonds, because they've been booked like shit not been put through enough to force them to grow. i think the New BCC (whatever they are) is going to carry out that original mission but instead of peace and love and taking people under their wings like bryan would have they're going to be targeting young guys with potential and forcing them to prove themselves to them. it's going to be aggressive and it's going to be cruel and i think it is going to be very very fun to watch

[bullet-clubs-bitch]

Single Mother

Blackpool Combat Club X Fem Reader

The Blackpool combat club’s reaction to you becoming a single mom

Main Masterlist

I woke up in the morning feeling like absolute garbage. This whole week I had just been feeling off. I thought it might be stress with everything going on lately but I knew what stress felt like. I was sick, not sick as in I have a cold, just sick. Tony hadn’t been booking me TV due to my sickness and I was grateful for that. However, being a part of the Blackpool Combat Club meant I would still have to be at every show and be ringside for the boy’s matches. Currently, I sat on the large couch in our private locker room eating crackers since it was the only thing I could hold down. I had never felt so sick in my entire life, this was unlike me. I never was sick, I was always ready for a fight. I needed to be. I know this frightened the BCC, they didn’t know what to do. Alone with my thoughts, Bryan entered the room with a concerned look in his eyes. 

“How are you feeling?” he asked nervously. “Like shit” I responded. I could see the gears turning in his head, I wondered what he was thinking. “What are your symptoms again?”  “Nausea, dizziness, some morning sickness. I just feel horrible. Why do you ask?” Bryan knew my symptoms, he and Mox were dealing with my sick ass all week. “I’m just thinking. Do you think that you could be pregnant?” Bryan oddly calm. “Why would you think I’m pregnant?” I asked him confused. “I’m just trying to think why you have been so sick recently. I also have two kids, ya know. I think I know pregnancy symptoms when I see them” This whole conversation between Bryan and I made me uncomfortable, yet he had a point. The more I thought about it, maybe I was pregnant. I didn’t even realize that I missed my period. 

It felt like the longest five minutes of my life as I awaited the results from the piece of plastic I held in my hand. This couldn't be happening right now, no way I could be pregnant. I paced around the small washroom as I awaited the results. The entire BCC stood on the other side of the door, guarding it like their lives depended on it. “What does it say?” yelled Mox through the door. “Nothing yet” I responded. After a few more moments of panicking the five minutes were up. I was too scared to look at the results. I wasn’t ready to be a mother, let alone a single mother! How would I explain this to everyone?

I looked at the test and felt my stomach drop. Two lines, I was pregnant. I didn’t know what to do, I didn’t know what to say. “Is everything okay in there?” Bryan asked carefully. I said nothing as I opened the door. They could tell by the tears that I was pregnant. I was greeted by a big group hug as I sobbed. We were the most badass faction in this company, what would people say about this? “It’s okay, It’s okay Y/n,” They told me as they ushered me back into our locker room. “No, it’s not okay. How the fuck am I supposed to raise a child!” I confessed 

“We will all help you” Bryan assured me “You don’t have to make a decision right now but whatever you do we will be there for every second” Claudio explained “We are family. You have nothing to worry about Y/n” I didn’t know what would happen, this was a lot to take in but I was grateful I had these guys who would be there for me for every second of it. 

[mjfass]

I think someone in the BCC (probably Claudio because he is the most active on social media) should post what book the BCC Book Club is reading, so all of us can read it at the same time as them.

[dalekofchaos]

It's really fucking gross to watch Jon Moxley get all this praise for cosplaying and outright quoting a Neo Nazi character.

I trust dipshit writers about as much as I can throw them. But I asked a friend who's actually seen the movie if he can see any comparisons between the movie and Moxley's new gimmick. He says it's 100% the same thing.

At first I thought this was a sort of Fight Club type character. Mox and Marina as a duo and even the BCC implosion was a good idea. Then I heard what Mox was basing his character on and the promo from last night...

I'm not saying Moxley has any racist beliefs, but why would you choose Romper Stomper as your inspiration for a wrestling gimmick in today's political climate and why would he think this is a good idea? How does no one else that works there thinks not to speak up about how dumb this is? If people start quoting Nazi/Fascist rhetoric because they think Mox's group are "bad ass heels" that is just going to blow up in everyone's faces.

If his only reasoning for choosing this inspiration because he thinks it's "badass" Jon, there is nothing badass about Nazis. I don't care if you personally like the movie or found the character to be intriguing, but there is nothing badass about fucking Nazis. You are a father and you work with POC and LGBTQ+ people. Do better.

Look, I'm all for using movies for inspiration for your wrestling gimmick, but in what fucking world do you think using this in 2024 for a wrestling gimmick is a good idea? Why do you think no one's used American History X in the last 20 years? BECAUSE IT'S A FUCKING STUPID IDEA!(I don't want to hear it's been done on the indies, it's a stupid fucking idea to even entertain the thought of basing your gimmick on a fucking Neo Nazi)

I'm sorry, but unless they do a complete 180 and change direction of where this story is going, I have completely lost respect in Jon Moxley as a professional wrestler and as a person.

There are plenty of other movies or characters that are villains that AREN'T FUCKING NAZIS to take inspiration from. Sometimes you should not let some people in wrestling to be creative and sometimes you should keep some ideas in your head and not tell them you want to do a fucking Nazi character in 2024.

Final notes. The dipshit who wrote the gross and disgusting Katie Vick storyline pitched that Heidenreich be a frozen Nazi unthawed and Managed by Paul Heyman(who is Jewish) once….

Vince McMahon just stood up and left the creative meeting

If a Nazi character is too much for that rapist racist Vince fucking McMahon 20 years ago, what does that say about your company? Tony be a fucking boss and learn to say fucking no.

There's a fucking reason why Nazi characters were used mainly in the old territory days and not in the modern world of wrestling.

Shame on Jon Moxley for even thinking this was a good idea for a character. Shame on Tony Khan for even greenlighting this idea and shame on anyone at AEW for not telling Mox and Tony what a stupid fucking idea this is.

Update. Last night Jon and Claudio beat down Private Party. Bald white dudes inspired by a neo Nazi movie beating the Black guys up huh? That certainly is a booking choice. This is not a good look.

[bang-bang-gang]

really the only thing stopping yuta from fucking any other bcc member when he asks is them (bryan) going "first you must clear my ten trials and answer my riddles three" which is just foreplay so its basically yes anyway

bryan will only sleep with him AFTER they discuss the book for book club and there better not be any cheating with sparknotes bryan can tell. if yutas analysis sucks then well he's also out of luck.

also to get back on track to the problematic age difference dynamic, bryan would LOVE to roleplay as yutas english teacher but unfortunately he would be really bad at it

[nextstopwonderland]

“The BCC book club helps us stay connected.” - Bryan Danielson, April 2024

[softambrollins]

seth rollins does not want to be in the bcc. he just wants to wear his boyfriend's bcc jackets and judge their book club picks and know every detail of what's being said in their group chat. that's all.

[junglemax]

it’s funny to me that one of the main jokes for the bcc is that they have the ever exclusive bdsm sex dungeon but like. in actuality they’re like “yeah we have a book club and are constantly teaching each other new things” like they don’t have a bdsm sex dungeon, they’re more like teachers of the weirdest electives ever at some random community college

[blackpoolcombatwriter]

If Bryan is on the scrum, I hope the reporter who always asks what he's reading is there. Then we might know the BCC book club book.

[banannabethchase]

a prompt inspired by your own post so this is your fault, really.

hanger being quadruple teamed by the bcc. my first thought was a winner's room sitch but I'll leave that part up to you.

"A prompt inspired by your own post so this is your fault, really" isn't this the fuckin truth? Anyway here have whatever this is.

~

Control

Adam grins, and fights the urge to lick his lips. "What," he asks. He lays back on the bed, arms behind his head. The comforter is cozier than he expected for this MMA Fuck Club bunch. Maybe this is Claudio's bed, something a little more European about it. Works for him. "Now that it's real, y'all aren't ready to commit?" He laughs a little, adjusting so his erection is a little more obvious. He didn't wear tight jeans for nothing. "Not as tough as you seem, BBC."

"It's BCC," Yuta snaps. Adam turns his eyes on him. He looks genuinely angry, no mask, no control.

"I know," Adam says, "but it's so much more fun to piss you off, isn't it?" He glances over to Mox. "What about you? Talked about choking me out in the past. Wanna make good on that promise?"

"What is happening," Bryan says. It's quiet enough it seems like he hadn't meant to say it out loud.

"What's happening is that you four have had an attitude for, like, a year, and if I have to deal with it without any of the fun stuff, that seems unfair." Adam looks over to Claudio. "How about you? Stuffy European guy, lets loose in the ring. Same in bed, big man?"

It's an approach he didn't exactly plan on, if he admits it. But with his time around the Dark Order, he's discovered that, sometimes, the best way to win is to throw people off guard. And Silver, whose horniness has permeated most if not all of his interactions, seems to be pretty successful using that method. And so here he is, stretched out on a bed, hands slowly undoing his belt, waiting.

"You really are a fuckin' brat, aren't you?" Mox says. He makes his way over to the bed, puts his hands over Adam's where they're messing with the belt. "Jesus. You don't know when to quit."

"I know when to quit," Adam says. "I just never feel like I need to, when it's you four." He deliberately licks his lips and pulls his hands out from under Mox's. He locks eyes with Mox as he pulls his belt off, feeling Yuta's, Bryan's, and Claudio's eyes as he lifts his hips and rolls them back down. In a moment of possible divinely stupid inspiration, he winds it back and smacks Mox with it, right in the back.

Bryan laughs. And Adam knows, very quickly, that they've accidentally given him control in the room.

"The fuck are you doing?!" Mox asks. But his pupils are blown. And Adam's got him read like a Spot book.

Adam grins and yanks Mox down by the back of his neck, leaning up to come a breath away from meeting Mox's lips. "Whatever I want."

[allgoldenelite]

idk if this makes any sense, but.

so recently, i've seen the following interpretation floating around: whenever kenny talks about don being family in his promo and stuff, and whenever he makes it clear that BCC crossed a line now because they hurt somebody who can never reasonably consent to what the elite is used to, he is in reality not talking about don at all, or at least, the work is commenting on kenny lying or using don as a sort of mental scapegoat for the people he actually cares about [insert names here, in this case from most people i have seen it being hangman], because this is juxtaposed with kenny accepting the screwdriver from matt (who says "for hangman?").

and it made me think.

because a) there's precedent for this: especially as a heel (right now i'd say the elite are in the process of being faces again), kenny has a tendency to avoid (especially the names of) people close to him, or transpose the pain or caring he associates with those people onto something else (championships, matches, other responsibilities). everyone remembers "AJ styles, prince devitt, and who?" but there are a couple of other examples. notably, as the collector, he put so much emphasis on him and don; it was always "me and don, we are family", "don this, don that", instead of mentioning or talking what was really going on (his tensions with the bucks). later this would even spill onto other characters (saying that him and the good brothers make a really good trio/team, which is just explicit enough to pass as commentary on kenny's avoidance of the bucks at that point).

and b) i feel almost like if this were another medium, like a theater play or a book, there could very reasonably be a twist that don isn't real. that his existence is a product of kenny's psyche as he tries to avoid confronting reality (sort of like some apparitions in silent hill). that by focusing so much on don, it's easier for kenny to blend out the things that would cause him to otherwise shatter into a million pieces. he always styled himself as an "unstoppable android", and a machine needs a version of reality parsed through its OS that allows it to march on in spite of how frightening the actual happenings behind the veneer of said OS are. in a way, it could be said that don is kenny's OS rn. don is still his own person who does things kenny wouldn't do or doesn't do things he would do, but it would imo fit with kenny's arcs that often thematically feature isolation and self-hatred, to "invent" a companion who has totally always been your bestest buddy since you were 6 years old and played the invisible strings to help you be where you are now.

don entered the stage as a true character in the elite's story around the jericho feud back in new japan, but it wasn't until the collector that he was heavily cemented by kenny as an important existence, someone whom he had secretly plotted with "for years" in order to orchestrate his belt-hunting run (among other things), and by then he began interacting with other characters in way that deviated from our then current understanding of kenny's morals and ideas, despite how close the two claimed to be. i've written before about how to me, the collector is a paradoxical being and the final manifestation of all the ugly and dark parts inside kenny that he couldn't exorcise, "much, much worse" than the cleaner could ever be. think if the cleaner is a juvenile street thug, the collector is the boss in his penthouse making a fortune off of people's suffering.

but, it's important to remember that kenny isn't fundamentally evil. he has gone on record in character to state that it was his own fear of confronting his darker feelings about ibushi that pushed him towards joining bullet club and turning into the "pitch-black devil" he became. heartbreak makes a villain, etc. it's not that boilerplate simple, humans are complicated beings even (especially) in wrestling, and that is also true for kenny's story in AEW, which started to take a turn for the worse as soon as he started tagging with hangman. the collector is paradoxical because he both wants to and doesn't want to exist, because he thinks the things he's doing are necessary and cruel at the same time, because he desires what he fears and fears what he desires (finding true fulfillment in tagging, hangman becoming champion, corrupting the bucks, the list goes on). it would make sense to me if such a being required a mental shield to focus on and withstand the pressure of the two sides of the paradox constantly pulling at your psyche, threatening to destroy it. as it fits within his own machinations, don is the perfect candidate for that.

now, this isn't to say i think kenny is going to turn heel again because there is an increased emphasis on him and don "being family" again. it's just a piece of the text that i find interesting to analyze. even if kenny doesn't turn, in order to inflict upon BCC the brutality that they inflict on people you care about, you have to go to some pretty dark places. and every time kenny does go to such places, the past has shown that he pushes others away so that his true feelings—kindness, compassion, an arrogance that's more a beautiful sibling of pride than an ugly child of hurt—do not get in the way. it just depends on how he emerges on the other side once said brutality is inflicted.

either way, i have to imagine that under normal circumstances, when/if (?) the thing happens that finally tips the bucket over and causes kenny to shake off all that hair dye from 6 years ago and see don for the fucked up manipulator of himself and his friends that he is, it's going to deal a pretty heavy blow to him. it's not too dissimilar to an abusive relationship: from the outside it's so easy to see and go "oh this guy is a grade a asshole, they need to dump him already", but when you're in it, it's everything but easy.

i say normal circumstances because i have a feeling that the way this is actually going to be resolved in the work is going to involve some kind of hook that if not fully, at least partially avoids such shattering of the mind. that could be a number of things: the "betrayal" (really that's been going on for years, but see above) being so brutal and surprising that kenny's mind snaps right from heartbroken into justified, or the situation involving a bright light that makes it much easier to bear. i'll leave it up to you to decide who or what that's gonna be.

thanks for coming to my ted talk ¯\_(ツ)_/¯