"Don't you know that danger is my friend."

Dude, you're super welcome! There's actually a whole bunch of us that still love Life with Derek, it's just a lot of the fandom are shy. That's not a character trait God gave me though, and so here we are.

I'm gonna be perfectly honest with you: my biggest evidence that Derek was very influential to Edwin's raising is that Edwin is kind of a little shit. Unlike Casey, who takes a lot of pride in giving good advice to the kids and trying to help out, Derek... Doesn't. Now, does he care about his siblings? Very much so! But with Marti, he's more concerned with keeping her safe than actually disciplining her, and as long as Edwin doesn't do anything to hurt Derek, he doesn't really care what the kid does. Even Lizzie, Derek helps as long as it helps *him*, I'm mostly thinking of the He Scoots, She Scores! episode where he teaches Lizzie hockey because he can't have someone in his family being bad at it.

(but please also note that in this episode, he is protective over Edwin getting used by the girl who is bullying Lizzie and actually negotiates with Casey in order to keep him safe)

Edwin also clearly worships his brother -- he does a lot of the same things as Derek, like pranks and blackmail and flirting with girls, or gets involved in the things Derek likes, like hockey or D-Rock. While part of this is probably because Derek is a genuinely cool dude, Edwin doesn't follow George's lead like he follows Derek's. And although there's a part of Edwin that clearly resents Derek's bossing him around, he either gets his revenge in small ways, or recognizes that Derek *trusts* Edwin to do these things for him. Edwin may be Derek's henchman, but he's Derek's most TRUSTED henchman. And that's quite a compliment when you're competing with an entire kingdom. And, like, Derek obviously has a soft spot for Edwin, in that he lets Edwin do tasks that... He probably shouldn't have him do? Is part of that because Derek is lazy? Sure. But he also has an entire high school that likes him; he could find someone else. But he trusts Edwin. That's because for a long time... They had each other.

There's also the fact that Edwin is still learning to be a person and who he is, and I think the McDonalds in his life help him stand up to Derek and explore who Edwin Venturi is. And, like, how the coolest thing about this blended family is how they all help one another grow and be better.

But yeah! Those are my thoughts on why I think Derek was a big part of Edwin being raised. There's something about Edwin's loyalty to Derek, and Derek's protectiveness over him (that he tries his best to play cool about), that gives the impression that they went through some trauma together. And while I think Derek tried to keep as much of it from Edwin as he could, Edwin is very clever and very observant, and I think he knew what was happening and the weight Derek carried. I also think he sees how people perceive Derek, especially their parents, and it may be one of the reasons he lets Derek treat him like he does; because he gets that Derek is trying to regain control in one aspect of his life when he's lost it in another (although, I think that's something Edwin would never be able to word, but also may be why? If that makes sense? Like, he does it without knowing WHY he does it).

George's advice is almost always just... given. Not asked for. And I'm not saying it's bad advice (although it's usually questionable, but then again, so is Derek's) but his boys rarely ask for it.

No you're so right!!! Edwin always ALWAYS goes to Derek for advice. It's... Honestly, sometimes they treat George like a combination friend/landlord? Like... He's definitely not a FATHER, you know? Dad? Sure. But, like, not in a way that they really depend on.

Or, maybe they depend on George to be like George, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but they depend on him for other things.

And like... So, there's something about the differences in how Derek vibes with George vs how Edwin vibes with George that also makes me think that Edwin did what my little sister used to do: watch. My parents often tell us about how when we were young (admittedly, my sister and I are much closer in age (15 months difference) but still), my sister would watch *everything* I did. And if it got me in trouble, she wouldn't do it. I think my sister as a result has been the least disciplined of all of my parents' offspring, and she's still, like, one of the best people I know (I was the oldest, so I got disciplined... A lot because I was the first one and stubborn. Someone had to learn so the others could).

So it makes me think that Edwin just watched how Derek acted and was reacted to, and how he treats George and Abby, and just... Taught himself. He's smart, he could do it. And I think that's also why he mimics so much of Derek's behavior, but also why -- although he doesn't go to George for advice, there seems to be less... Tension between that dad-and-son duo.

ETA2: we do use inches/miles in poetic ways ("he was lost in thought/miles away" or "his lips were a bare inch away").

I used to use Google docs, but the white mode only was really annoying me (tires my eyes), so I swapped to Ellipsus (which I genuinely love and recommend), but it was bothering me a bit that I need wifi in order to use it, so now I switched to LibreOffice Writer, which I do like.

It very much has a Microsoft Word feel, but is open source and you need no accounts to use it. It's local on your device, so no AI can scan it, and no wifi is needed.

do not resent the fact that

people live in them

Google set out about a decade ago to push their (relatively unpopular) chromebooks by supplying them below-cost to schools for students, explicitly marketing them as being easy to restrict to certain activities, and in the offing, kids have now grown up in walled gardens, on glorified tablets that are designed to monetize and restrict every movement to maximize profit for one of the biggest companies in the world.