free my mugshawtys ⛓️💥 the only thing they guilty of is stealing my heart 🫀 hope bae gets bail 🙏 💸
I had a lot of thoughts about what happened to these four losers after the fire so I wrote out some headcanons for each of them.
(I'm aware that my headcanons might not be accurate to the way any of them would've been sentenced In real life, but I mainly wrote general ideas about how the characters would feel.)
•Bill was surprised he didn't die from the fire or from that kiddie pool almost shattering his neck irreparably. He was disoriented when the police pulled him out of the rubble, and the first thing he did was resist arrest and run his mouth. Bill is the type who never shuts up so he ended up ignoring his right to remain silent in the middle of being arrested and getting his rights briefed. He lashed out at the cops while throwing a tantrum, trying his hardest to deflect and blame his friends, claiming he didn't do anything. The cops practically dragged him out of there crying and screaming, thinking to himself that he wished he actually died in that fire.
•Pete laughing at Bill's whining just made him lash out more. Pete kept baiting Bill into another argument. Bill took the bait instantly, and they both snitched themselves out in the process through their insults. Pete calling Bill a pussy for not being able to follow through with k1ll /ng himself and Bill screaming that he should've dragged Pete down with him said it all. Jerry stayed silent and tried his hardest to quietly mouth to both of them to stay silent. Bill ignored him, and really didn't consider that all of that was gonna be used against him in court.
•Even if Bill and Pete were both handcuffed, it didn't stop them from fighting again. Pete kicked Bill in the balls for saying he should've dragged Pete down with him in that fire. The fight got messy again when cops tried to separate them and they tried fighting back. They ended up getting tased to get them off each other. Bill ended up having to be dragged into a separate car on the way to their holding cell.
•Bill sort of calmed down on the way to jail since most of the adrenaline wore off. His injuries were treated first, but they focused more on treating his burns than worrying about possible fractures since Bill never considered it or spoke up about it. Bill was still feeling some of the adrenaline from the fight so the pain didn't fully kick in yet either. They also took his glasses away to prevent him from hurting himself or someone else. The moment he got put in that cell, him and Pete were back to talking shit to each other. Getting tased and having all those injuries inflicted on him really didn't give him enough energy to fight anymore even if he wanted to. They tried fighting again, but it was nowhere near as intense. It was just pathetic on both their parts. Bill ended up passing out from the stress and pain once it kicked in and the medical staff had to make sure he wasn't dead.
•I headcanon that Bill's mom is a lawyer, which is part of why he manages to get away with so much of what he's done previously. Despite that, she wasn't in a rush to bail him out. Bill's mom never handled any of her son's issues well, and she reacted dismissively when she found out about the fire. She was more concerned about how this would affect her personally than what led her son to do this point in the first place. She ended up hanging up on him when he whined and angrily begged her to bail him out. Josh and Jerry were bailed out first, and Bill ended up staying with Pete in jail. They couldn't stand being alone with each other, but the cells were too full to separate them. They were scared of getting tased again by the cops so they tried to keep their fighting on the down low. Both of them tried to bait the other into hitting them again just so they can scream for security and hope the other gets tased for it.
•Luckily Bill ended up getting transferred to a medical facility in jail so he didn't need to deal with Pete anymore. He ended up finding out his injuries were way worse than he thought they were. Sure, he was in pain all around, but he never thought he had fractures in his neck and other bones in his body since he could still move. Just cause he can move, doesn't mean he should be moving though. Bill ended up stuck in a hospital bed with his mom barely visiting. She only ever did to tell him she was sending him away to live in Michigan once this was over, and to advise him on the upcoming court hearing. Bill just wanted her to go away because he could tell she didn't care about his wellbeing, she just didn't wanna have to pay for the damages or fines.
•Bill was nervous about the court hearing, but he knew he was fucked either way. Even if his mom got multiple lawyers to advise him, and advised him herself, Bill couldn't act accordingly or keep it together. He broke down a lot, but that's expected after everything he went through. Bill had multiple lawyers work on his case since his mom has connections, but he couldn't help but sabotage himself during this. Watching the remaining video recordings the police managed to salvage, and hearing the audio recordings from the police just kicked up all those negative feelings he felt after the aftermath.
•Hearing Jerry, Pete, and Josh all testify in court against him hurt him in different ways. Out of all his friends, Bill was the closest to Jerry and he took it personally when Jerry told the truth, even if Jerry was obligated to do that under the law. Bill expected Jerry to stick by him no matter what he put Jerry through. Seeing Jerry do this made him so angry that he couldn't see that Jerry was hesitating to even speak up about what actually happened. Bill expected Pete and Josh to throw him under the bus since those two were hoping for his downfall for a while. Pete more than Josh at this point. Bill hated that Josh skated by being punished as harshly as he was getting punished. Bill told them they deserved the death penalty for that and threw a tantrum about them not getting it.
•Bill's lawyers tried to defend him to the best they could, even if he sabotaged himself again. Bill ended up with a year long prison sentence, which wasn't as much as he would have gotten initially but he still hated it. Bill went through hell in prison, he was gonna be eaten alive in that setting being the way he was. On top of that, he hated not having any of his comics around to drown out how depressing it was. I expanded on this idea in this post.
•When he got out of prison, Bill even more unstable. Being in a prison environment for so long brought out his worst qualities. He was even more neurotic than he was when he first got to jail. Bill already wasn't gonna survive in a prison setting, and he slowly had to relearn how to keep his shitty personality under wraps again. First thing he planned to do was violate the restraining order put on him and contact his friends again, but luckily his mom stopped him. She dragged him away to Michigan with her as soon as she could. Bill was already experiencing culture shock after getting out of prison, but being forced to be so far away from where he lived his whole life made the isolation so much worse. Bill's the kind of person who holds grudges forever so he spent most of hist time just obsessively stalking and trolling all his old friends online.
•Josh played it smart when the cops came, and decided not to run his mouth the way Bill and Pete would... Well he didn't incriminate himself he just cried and begged for his parents and a lawyer. He also cried and panicked over going to jail, and anticipating the potential sentence he was gonna get after the court hearing.
•Josh was terrified while he was in holding, and he wanted to get out as soon as he could. He spent the entire time crying while trying to stay silent, and not give into Bill or Pete's insults. Telling them off wasn't worth incriminating himself, but Josh couldn't help but run his mouth when they pissed him off enough. He didn't try to fight them like he normally would because being monitored in jail terrified him. Luckily, Josh's mom rushed to bail him out since his family had the money for it. Josh was relieved he was out of jail now, but he was still anxious about how his dad was gonna react though. He knew his dad lashing out was inevitable...
•Having rich parents meant they could easily get Josh good lawyers that made sure he didn't get a harsh sentence for everything he did. Even if Josh's parents saved him from having to deal with all the consequences, his dad continued to be emotionally abusive towards him. Things weren't the same between Josh and his dad after the heart attack incident, and they got even worse after the fire. Sure, his dad was willing to provide, but Josh could tell his dad didn't care about him the way he used to ever since the zombie crawl.
•When the court hearing came along, Josh did exactly what he was advised to do by his lawyers. He didn't have any qualms about snitching Bill and Pete out, he was mostly concerned about saving his own skin and not getting punished as harshly by the court. Bill and Pete hated him for ratting them out, and Josh and his lawyers tried their hardest to make him look like a victim even if Josh did contribute to the damages. The remaining video footage from Joe's shop and the audio recordings from the cops didn't exactly help Josh's case though. Josh ended up getting community service and having to pay a huge fine. His parents paid for the fine, but only because Josh's mom decided to. His dad would've made him get a job to pay it off himself.
•Josh was the only one who went to college out of everyone in the Club, but having a criminal record made it tough for him to get in. Josh is smart, really smart, and he already had college plans and a list of universities his parents wanted to him get into. Having a criminal record screwed him over when it came to those opportunities, and he ended up having to start out in a local community college before transferring. Josh's parents expected more from him, and they made it clear they were disappointed that he didn't live up to their standards. Going to community college isn't bad, but everyone knew him as one of the guys involved in the fire. He didn't make many friends or manage to keep the ones he made. Josh ended up failing a few courses because of everything he went through. It's not that he isn't smart or passionate enough, it's that it's hard for someone to handle all that work while they spiral.
•Josh's parents were harsh with him for failing his college courses, and it didn't help anything. Josh just sunk further into using fandom culture to fill a void. The whole reason why he decided to pursue writing was because he thought that getting a fandom related career would finally give him fulfillment. Having a criminal record barred him from a lot of other opportunities so Josh figured he should make a career out of something he's passionate about. Josh's parents weren't supportive of this in the slightest. They both thought Josh was pursuing a "useless" degree in writing. They still paid for his education, but they weren't happy with his choices until he changed his major to business.
•Pete was power tripping in the worst way after beating Bill senseless that he didn't stop talking shit to Bill even when the cops came. Pete wasn't thinking straight when he got arrested and the first thing he did was try to act tough. Just like how they did with Bill, the cops tried to brief Pete on his Miranda rights but he talked shit to Bill in the middle of it and completely ignored them. Pete kept provoking Bill on purpose cause he thought that seeing Bill throw a tantrum after losing a fight to him was the funniest thing ever. Pete didn't really consider that he was incriminating himself while he did this, but he kind of regretted it after. He's too prideful to ever admit that though.
•Pete thought he had the upper hand, but Bill managed to get under his skin too and Pete ended up kicking him in the balls. When Bill told him he should've dragged Pete down with him, it struck a nerve and kicked up bad memories that I wrote about here.
•Pete's dad didn't bother to bail him out either, but it's not like his family had the money to. Pete's mom was worried for him while he was in jail, and he did get calls from her and some of his brothers at least. Pete's mom was disappointed, and whenever she tried putting his dad on the phone Pete hung up. Pete's brothers had mixed reactions ranging from disappointment to being impressed he won that fight, further perpetuating toxic masculinity towards him.
•When Bill was moved out of his cell, Pete was stuck in jail until the court hearing. He was there for months, wasting his entire summer there. Pete tried to act hard with the other inmates, thinking he could fight since he survived that fire. It didn't take long for him to find out that the other inmates were nothing like Bill, and actually kicked the shit out of him.
•Unlike the other three, Pete's family didn't have the money to get him a lawyer so he just had a public defender represent him during the court hearing. Public defenders are usually underpaid, and don't have time to focus as heavily on individual cases. If you combine that with the amount of evidence against Pete, it's not like there was much a single public defender could do. Pete actually tried to act accordingly and follow his lawyers advice, but he ended up running his mouth again just like Bill did. Not to the same extent since he didn't throw a tantrum, but he didn't hold back from insulting Bill in front of the entire courtroom. Pete doubled down when the court was listening to the audio of him saying Bill should've died in the fire, which really didn't look good on him.
•Pete was going to be sentenced to serve a year in prison and pay fines just like Bill, but his circumstances were different. Pete flunked his senior year of high school and had to repeat that grade so he got a sentence that was more lenient. Pete was put on house arrest instead so he could continue going to school, which was the only other place he was allowed to go other than his house. Pete already hated being stuck at home, and back then he always did everything he could to stay away from his house. He always tried to crash at his friends' houses, but that wasn't an option anymore since he had a restraining order put on him. Pete couldn't even run away and sleep on benches, and he had to find something to drown out all the negativity that wasn't horror media. Watching p* rn wasn't working all the time anymore so Pete got into drugs and alcohol to numb anything he was feeling. It started with stuff he could find at home easily like alcohol, pills, and cough syrup before escalating into harder and harder drugs later on. Sometimes he wondered if he would be better off in prison.
•When Pete had to repeat a grade, everyone at school either avoided him or wanted to talk to him for the wrong reasons like Jane. Everyone just knew him as the guy who jumped Bill Dickey and made him try to k/1 /ll himself. Sure, the attention felt nice for Pete at first since people seemed to actually care about his existence now. The attention he got was short lived, and any new friendship he made didn't last since it was built off the wrong reasons. Nobody genuinely liked him, and they mostly stuck around to see if he'd do anything extreme again so they could egg him on. At least people didn't try fighting him anymore cause they didn't wanna end up like Bill. Pete never ended up finishing high school and just decided to drop out midway through. He was already failing his classes all over again and felt like school was a waste of time so he didn't see the point in finishing.
•Other than not being able to handle high school, Pete also dropped out because his parents pressured him to find a job so he could pay off the fines. After Pete dropped out, his dad threatened to break his legs again and kick him out of the house if he didn't find a job. Pete's dad constantly held basic needs like housing over Pete's head just to make Pete comply with him, knowing Pete had nowhere to go at this point in his life. Pete struggled to find a job because of his criminal record so he settled for doing a variety of odd jobs. Some of Pete's brothers tried to find him entry level jobs by getting him hired through nepotism, but Pete couldn't even keep those jobs. Pete either got fired or quit, always for the dumbest reasons. Usually for showing up to work intoxicated from something or getting in fights.
•Pete's reputation got him a lot of bad attention since a lot of people knew him as the guy who drove Bill Dickey to burn down Joe's shop. Pete got a taste of his own medicine after a couple people tried to provoke him into fights while he was at work just like what he did to Bill in the past. Pete usually fought back, but not to the extent he did in the fire. Not fighting back as hard led to some people egging him on further in the harshest way like asking him if he's gonna try to k/ 1 ll himself after getting his ass beat like his old friend did. Pete burned a lot of bridges with his brothers for constantly getting fired since they referred him for those jobs. Pete's behavior reflected badly on them and nearly cost them their own jobs too.
•All of these factors led to Pete latching onto Butchie and idolizing him despite Butchie exploiting him and treating him worse than his family ever did. Evan Dorkin said in this post and another post that Butchie is worse than everyone in the Club because he exploits people, Pete included. It's likely that Butchie saw Pete was young, vulnerable, and impressionable so he took advantage of that. Butchie offered Pete a job at Sick Mofo, making Pete believe that he was getting an opportunity to leave his abusive home and finally pursue working in the horror industry. Pete wanted to work with Butchie for the worst reasons, but he never expected to have even more abuse inflicted on him. Working for Butchie in Sick Mofo was far from ideal, and Pete endured a lot of abuse throughout the years but he had little incentive to leave. Butchie kept him there through blackmail and keeping Pete dependent on him financially. Butchie also got Pete hooked on various addictive dr/ /u gs that led him to rely on Butchie as his main plug. Butchie also contributed to Pete eventually dying from an overdose after Pete was caught. (Referencing an old Tweet from Evan back when he had a Twitter. He said Pete eventually dies at 36 from an overdose. The information is still available on the Eltingville Club TV Tropes page)
•By the time we see Pete in the Epilogue, he probably sees everything Butchie put him through as "normal" when it isn't due to how highly he speaks of Butchie despite Evan Dorkin clarifying that Butchie exploited Pete and sees him as disposable. Pete continuing to idolize Butchie despite it all might be from repeated drug use distorting his memories as well. As much as I felt bad for Pete as a child, he's just reprehensible as an adult. He went from being a vulnerable abused kid to becoming just as bad as the man who abused him.
•When Jerry got arrested he played it smart like Josh did, and didn't say a word. Most he did was try to mouth to Bill and Pete that they shouldn't be fighting. He was practically begging them to stop without actually saying a word, but it's not like they would listen. Jerry was so used to prioritizing his friends, especially Bill, over his own wellbeing that he worried about them instead of being angry at them for nearly getting him killed.
•Jerry was terrified while he was in holding, but he still brushed aside his own feelings to make sure the others were okay. He constantly had to deescalate fights between them even while they were all in jail. Jerry already felt like he was walking on eggshells whenever he was around them, but having to do that in jail was even more emotionally taxing for him. His mom bailed him out of jail when she got back from work. As much as Jerry wanted to get out of that cell, he worried about Bill and Pete being alone there together without him there to stop them from fighting.
•When the court hearing came along, having to testify against his friends and tell the truth in court was hard for him. Jerry knew what they did to him was wrong, but he couldn't help but still care about them. Jerry knew Bill and Pete were gonna get punished the most, especially with the overwhelming evidence against them. Even if he knew telling the truth was the right thing, part of him still felt like lying and covering it up for their sake. He still pushed those feelings aside and decided to be honest, even if it was hard for him. It was the right thing to do, but he hated seeing the look Bill and Pete gave him when he decided to tell the truth. Jerry was used to lying to his parents to keep his friends in his life, but lying to the court was way different. He knew there wasn't anything he could do to cover for them this time.
•Jerry tried to deescalate the fight before it happened, and at first he doubted that saying that would've held up in court. At least there was some camera footage that wasn't totally destroyed after the fire that served as proof that Jerry was trying to stop them all from fighting. He ended up getting community service, and a fine for the damages. Jerry felt like he deserved worse for what happened, since his friends easily could've died that day. He blamed himself for not being able to stop it even if his friends' actions aren't his responsibility. Community service and having to find a job to pay off fines was one thing, but he saw getting a restraining order put on all his friends as the most excruciating part of the outcome. Jerry's parents filed for one as an attempt to protect him, but Jerry didn't understand that and he felt like they ripped away the people closest to him.
•Getting a restraining order put on all his friends affected Jerry the most emotionally. Even if he didn't get severely punished by the court, the aftermath of everything still wrecked him emotionally. Jerry missed them so much, and this was the loneliest he's ever been in his life. Jerry shut people out for a while because he felt like any new friends he made would never be the same as what he had with the Club. He just didn't understand that the kids he knew when he was younger were gone long before the fire happened.
•Jerry's parents made him go to therapy, and it really helped him be more well adjusted. Sadly, years of therapy didn't stop him from running back to his friends a decade later. Jerry does try to apply himself to what he learned in therapy, but he still struggles to let people go that aren't good for him.
(For anyone wondering, I used Spring Breakers as a reference for the poses. It's a movie about the toxicity of party culture that doesn't pull its punches, similar to how Eltingville is unapologetic with how it portrays the toxic parts of nerd culture)
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