#lightning jackson

omg i've been meaning to make headcanons for the new cast, so i'll use this to start me off 😼

lightning was 16 during tdroti, which took place about two years after total drama started if i remember correctly — so i think the two of them have a twelve year age gap with lightning currently being twenty-nine and bowie being seventeen.

bowie is constantly making jokes about lightning about to be turning thirty and how his hair is gonna go gray — it always terrifies lightning despite him literally having white hair.

"bowie" is a nickname meaning blond, which lightning started calling him and then the rest of the family and bowie's friends caught on and it stuck.

speaking of which — he decided to dye his hair blond to look more like his older brother, who he's always viewed as his idol.

despite their age gap, they're pretty close. lightning was extremely excited to have a younger brother and constantly yammered on about all the sports they were gonna play together.

when bowie was too little to actually play with lightning, he simply cheered on his big brother. lightning would take bowie to his football games and have him hangout with the cheerleaders, bragging about how his little brother motivates him more than any cheer team could.

lightning used to tease bowie about how he got to hang around with pretty cheerleaders all day... turns out, bowie was more interested in the uniforms than the girls!

bowie's parents always suspected he was queer. he liked playing in his mom's makeup and would have fashion shows in her clothes and heels. lightning was the only one who didn't catch on to that; which made bowie coming out to him the biggest shock of his life. after a bit of explaining on bowie's part about his feelings and everything, lightning burst into tears upon realizing his little brother choose him to be the first person he came out to.

lightning helped explain things to their dad since both of them knew he could be a bit stubborn and understanding at times. lightning was fully ready to have bowie move in with him (as he was already in his mid-twenties at this point) if anything went south, but their family was very loving and accepting of bowie.

they go to pride every year together, sometimes with their parents or some of bowie's friends.

bowie finds it a bit suspicious how lightning seems to study other men in the gym sometimes, but he keeps his theories to himself.

same as lightning, bowie is also very athletic. his best sport is track due to how tall and agile he is. the two of them would go on morning runs everyday whenever lightning was on break from university. lightning encouraged him to join the cheerleaders squad, but bowie declined due to "how gossipy those girls are." they then went into a two hour conversation where lightning told bowie about all the crazy shit the cheerleaders who would babysit him would do, and how, "cheerleaders are all evil. that's why you'd be a perfect one!"

bowie was about four when lightning went away for total drama, and he was absolutely terrified everytime he turned on the tv to see his brother being put in life-or-death challenges. his mother used to have to put him to bed everynight and assure him that his big brother was okay.

he still remembers how proud he was when he saw lightning make it to the finale.

if the two of them were ever fighting, lightning would force them to settle it with an arm wrestle since he knew he'd always win. this worked for a few years until bowie figured out the trick where you twist your opponents' wrist. lightning never understood how he always lost after that and eventually they found a new way to settle their disagreements.

lightning was having the craziest mood swings while watching the new season. on one hand, he was super proud of his brother, but on the other... WHO DOES HE THINK HE IS TO BE KISSING BOYS ALREADY? WHO DOES THAT GUY THINK HE IS TO BE MAKING MOVES ON HIS LITTLE BROTHER? TEENAGERS THESE DAYS—

anyways, lightning interrogated and scared the shit out of raj upon meeting him before completely falling in love with the sports loser he brother choose. bowie debated leaving the restaurant they were having dinner at just to see of they would notice or if they were too busy talking about the latest college hockey game to care.

13th. Dakota (Sam competing in All-Stars hinges directly on Dakota still being a mutant, and there’s no way anyone’s keeping her when the merge comes)

12th. Scott (A. The others aren’t stupid, B. He’ll be carrying All-Stars anyway, and C. He’s probably still disoriented from the incident last season)

11th. Cameron (He merges in AS, and made the finals already, so I went the Action Gwen route and booted him early on)

10th. Mike (Basically reverse of Cameron’s)

9th. Staci (Can’t have two Ezekiels)

8th. Lightning (The farthest I could get him without reaching the merge, as a balance between his canon seasons)

(Merge)

7th. Zoey (If Duncan and Owen can reach the merge every time, I don’t see why she can’t. Honestly, I could probably switch her with Cam, Mike, or Lightning for this slot)

6th. B (Here’s where the rationales change to “because they didn’t merge beforehand”)

5th. Brick (Oh, btw, Jo’s the antagonist of the season. This just seemed like a good place to put her biggest rival)

4th. Dawn (Just seemed logical)

3rd. Jo (Since Scott finished fourth and Mal was a finalist, Jo gets third)

2nd. Anne Maria/Sam (WHO wins doesn’t really matter, but Sam being a finalist helps to justify his inclusion in All-Stars better…)

LIGHTNING!!!! 🔥🔥🔥 (crowd goes wild)

maybe it's the whole football thing, but big american vibes — specifically from new yorker.

his nickname stems from his childhood when he was playing on a junior (flag) football team and was the fastest member, and all his other little baby team members were like, "woah you're lightning fast!" and then it just eventually involved into his name because children would think lightning is the coolest name it the world, especially over rudolph...

his dad got a sports related injury when he was younger so lightning helps take care of a lot of stuff around the house like moving heavy boxes and whatnot. his dad always complains about how lightning's treating him like he's some old man, but he just wants to make sure his parents aren't overworking themselves. plus he gets to show off how strong he is so that's always a bonus.

definitely only drinks water and gatorade. wouldn't even think about having a soda because those are unfit for professional athletes such as himself. also, theyre so sugary and would stain his teeth, and how will he be able to pose in his future football cards if he doesn't have a winning smile?

he also eats super healthy and makes sure he gets all the food groups and extra added protein, which involves a lot of time spent working in the kitchen with his mom. the second he gets home from practice, he runs to go help her make dinner and gives her a thank-you kiss to the head for packing him lunch.

they're pretty well off due to his dad's success, so his mom doesn't technically need a job for the money which allows her to pursue things she actually enjoys; such as being the organizer and coach for junior sports events for girls. she'd often drag lightning along when he was younger and he'd develop a crush on a new girl every visit.

because of his mom and her job, he's very passionate about women's sports and makes an effort to check out some of the girls' teams at his school, at least for their championships. he's also very grateful to all the cheerleaders who work hard to keep him and the team motivated during tough games.

definitely a little girl crazy in the sense that he thinks every women he meets is the most beautiful person in the world and he should totally get on that, but he also prioritizes sports and his future career a lot so most of his relationships are very casual and short and typically end with the two just being friends — maybe liking a flirting type of thing where they're each other's dates to parties and stuff but not actually dating.

y'know how straight guys act about ryan reynolds? yeah, that's how he is with tom brady. "i am not sha-gay but if the lightning was—"