#belmerttons

He’s canonly the youngest of 9 so like. Damn. I only have one sibling and I can’t imagine how much that would suck.

I imagine him having 4 brothers and 4 sisters so El was the tie breaker.

After him his parents go yeah we’re done.

As far as I know Elmer’s siblings don’t have canon names so it goes like this (in 1885) Elmer (0), Hope (1), Adam (3), Jarek (5), Ada (7), Hubert (8), Karina (9) Filip (10), and Irena (13).

Anyway Hope is only a year older so Elmer isn’t even of the baby of the family by that much.

So by the time he’s like 6 he doesn’t get much attention anymore. Everyone’s more interested in his oldest few siblings getting their first jobs and Irena and Filip getting their first partners.

When he was really young, Elmer always tried to play with Adam and Jarek, but they already had each other as playmates, so they excluded him a lot.

And of course Hope finds it annoying when he sticks to her (like glue haha) so she lashes out.

Hubert, Karina, Filip, and Irena are so much older that they just don’t have anything in common or any time for him.

So Elmer gets used to fading into the background because Ada is the only one who ever pays attention to him and even then she’s enough older that they can’t have much in common.

In modern AU he meets the others in about 6th grade.

In canon era he meets them when he’s 9 (3 years younger than Jack) after Irena gets married and the family needs to send another kid to work to make up for losing her factory income.

Either way Elmer is kinda just... baffled by all this attention and affection he’s getting suddenly.

Like his friends roughhouse and joke around and sometimes jokes are at his expense but it’s never in a meanspirited way.

They listen when he talks and actively choose to be around him and in general just notice he’s there and he’s... never had that before.

Elmer is super touch-starved and once his friends figure that out they’re all eager to give him all the hugs he wants.

In both eras, it’s Jack who first notices that he has dyslexia and assures him that he’s not stupid, it’s just that reading is harder for him than most people.

In modern era since there’s a word for it there he gets tested and diagnosed and all that but in canon era for the most part Jack or Race just read the headlines out loud every morning to help.

In canon era Jack, Race, Buttons, and later Davey are the only ones who know.

Speaking of Buttons...

In canon era, he shows up when he and Elmer are 10.

They hit it off immediately because they have something in common the other kids don’t; they both still have families and multiple siblings.

The two of them start staying at the Lodging House most nights to escape the craziness of their families at age 12.

Elmer is a little clumsy, so Buttons often ends up patching up torn clothes.

And sometimes more than clothes which is totally not because Elmer keeps standing up for those no one else will stand up for.

In all seriousness Elmer is 500% ready to throw hands for literally any random stranger who needs his help, and also horses, cats, dogs, and one time a cow.

Buttons is pretty sure he’s got a death wish because he’s had to figure out real fast how to patch up wounds from broken bottles, wooden boards, and crowbars, among other things.

He angrily lectures Elmer to be more careful more than once and basically cue Elmer all like hot damn.

Something about Buttons’s fierce brand of kindness... he gets stuck on that. He needs to be near him.

He doesn’t realize he’s falling is love until during the strike—when they’re 14–and they don’t get together until they’re 18 and they’re leaving for better jobs and Elmer asks Buttons to stay.

Not in the Manhattan Lodging House, but with him.

Anyway in modern era, Elmer is just as eager to throw down in defense of others but gets a lot less opportunities.

He and Buttons take longer to get close.

They kinda know each other cause they’re friends with the same people but then one day some bullies decide to pick on Buttons and Elmer is naturally all just oh okay time to throw down now.

Cue Buttons all like hot damn but definitely too shy to do anything about it.

They don’t talk much for a couple months after that despite how Elmer does think Buttons is cute too.

Anyway Elmer spends a lot of time at other people’s houses in this era (mostly the Larkin and Dasilva houses) just to get away from the crazy crowdedness of his own family.

Then one day Jarek forgets to pick him up from mathletes (because you can pry modern!Elmer being Cady Heron’s national-level math nemesis out of my cold dead hands) and it’s pouring down rain outside.

Still, instead of calling someone to come get him Elmer naturally thinks I can totally walk 2 miles to get home through that and puts his hoodie hood up and gets moving.

Not even half a mile later he’s freezing, soaking wet, and starving cause he hasn’t eaten since lunch.

He’s pretty sure he’s about to pass out, and he really doesn’t want to do that on the sidewalk so he starts thinking about friends who live closer to the school than he does.

The nearest house happens to be the Davenports’.

Needless to say Buttons is pretty shocked when his crush shows up on his doorstep soaking wet but still with a big smile, all just hi Buttons can I crash here for a bit?

Unfortunately Elmer meant crash quite literally, as he straight up faints right then and there and Buttons has to drag him inside.

It’s probably a good thing Buttons is home alone at the time.

When Elmer wakes up he’s pretty disoriented but warm and (relatively) dry under a blanket on Buttons’s couch.

He looks over to realize that Buttons is sitting in a chair nearby just watching the movie he put on quietly in the background and just. Oh shit I just passed out in front of a cute boy.

He kinda panics like I should go sorry for barging in but Buttons is like wtf no you literally passed out you’re either calling someone to come get you or staying the night. Now drink some fucking hot chocolate and get some self-preservation instincts you idiot.

And Elmer feels like he should call someone to come get him but he also doesn’t really want to cause hot damn.

In the end he does call Jack to pick him up and Jack chews him out for trying to walk home in a storm but he also notices the look he and Buttons share at the door.

Elmer ends up texting Buttons and asking if he wants to meet up for coffee as a thank you for not letting me freeze to death in the rain.

They end up spending a lot of time together and eventually get set up by Jack by their friends who are all tired of their shit like good god guys we all know you’re in love just kiss already.

If Elmer was confused by all the affection he was getting from having a good platonic friend group, he’s very confused by the affection he gets being in a romantic relationship.

Buttons kinda wants to throw hands with his boyfriend’s big siblings for that but that’s besides the point.

Anyway it takes him a while to get used to even just small gestures like holding hands but once he gets used to it Elmer is 100% the cuddliest boyfriend ever.

He’s still super touch-starved so he’s lucky he’s got a bf who also loves physical contact.

He’s so in love with that boy and he’s happy and seen and finally has a family that appreciates him.