Candybooru

paulo third-wheeling scenario i hope happens someday

i guess it isn't really well explained, oops
this is just kind if a reflection of some mike x sandy thoughts that have been swirling around in my head recently. if i may ramble for a bit:

the scenario is supposed to be... sandy visits, they go out, mike invites paulo along for reasons paulo can't really identify.
the entire day, sandy is generally backhanded and dismissive of mike in the same kinda way she was in Model Girlfriend. (i will fully admit i'm probably not getting a perfect read of sandy's behavior, i'm aware vilifying sandy isn't the point of bcb, she's just a hard character for me to sympathize with pretty often >_<)
a couple times she says something with a little less tact and paulo notices.

paulo, who by this point has spent years wondering what mike's problem is, and still barely knows anything about sandy, is suddenly faced by someone who he isn't sure he likes very much. she's a little prissy for his tastes, sure, but above that, he doesn't like the way she acts around mike. and he really doesn't like the way mike acts around her. he spends the whole day watching mike trip over himself to coddle and please sandy, who seems to just get more and more fussy whenever things don't go the way she planned.

finally, sandy goes to use the restroom, and paulo, holding himself back from snapping, grips mike by the shoulders and asks him what's going on, absolutely desperate to find out that this isn't normal.
and mike doesn't even know what he's talking about.

now frankly, as much as i hope something KIND OF like this happens someday, i'm aware that this isn't super canon-compliant. sandy and mike probably aren't perfectly in-character (there are nuances to how mike views sandy that i'm not really capturing) and paulo probably isn't emotionally mature enough to like, identify this and start pressing mike about it.
i left it out, but i kind of imagine that this whole thing takes place in a point in the story where paulo has already been paired off with whoever his endgame ship might be. i don't think paulo needs "fixing" but i like the idea of paulo being positively influenced by whoever he ends up with, and the experience of being in that relationship informing how he sees mike and sandy.
SHRUG!!! MAYBE SOMEDAY

ahhh gotcha, yeah that makes sense! i was worried it would be too cartoonish if he just immediately whipped around and started complaining. i wanted to have him keep his composure just a liiiittle longer. i'll keep that in mind next time, thanks! glad you liked it X)