#nuke night

Pete absolutely shipped Nuke. 

Pete was the #1 Nuke shipper. 

Uncle Pete never missed an opportunity to tease Nick about his crush on Luke and Nick used to get so flustered that his face would become beet red and he’d storm off while Luke remained oblivious. 

it wasn’t until Pete pulled a Javi and was like “Boy, you know Nick cares about you, yeah?”

“Of course! He’s my best friend! :D” 

“No, I mean, he loves you.”

“Well, I love him, too. I’ve never had a better friend than him! :D”

Y’know, I never got that bit myself. 

Like... is it supposed to be an uncomfortable joke? 

Is it supposed to give the impression that Kenny’s a jerk for insinuating that Nick and Luke are together? Like “Haha are you two gay? You two look gay.” and that’s.... bad? Because Nick and Luke get super offended? 

Was is implying that they did have a thing going on but were defensive because they weren’t out to anyone? 

Did they want to do something but decided against it because they were afraid they might get backlash for having a gay couple? Even though this season literally has Walter and Matthew as a gay couple? though they aren’t actually shown interacting together and both die just as quickly as they’re introduced...

I dunno. 

Maybe they thought nothing about it at all. 

Yes

We always poke fun at the fact that Clementine only has a 1st-grade education, so how great would it be for Luke and Nick to set up some sort of schooling for her and AJ? Like, just imagine with me a moment that the four of them made it to Wellington, or some other community, and they all have a place together.

Clementine mentions that she misses school and that Lee wanted to set up a little classroom for her so he could continue her education. Nick and Luke fulfill this dream by doing what Lee no longer could- they find a couple of old desks, write Clem and AJ’s names on them [+one for Nick because why not], and they set aside some time every day to hit the books, as well as do physical training with guns and self-defense within the community. 

Just think about Big Brother Luke giving a math lesson but Nick keeps being a dingus by throwing paper balls at him and blaming it on AJ and now Clementine really can’t pay attention to her subtraction problems because Luke made Nick a time out hat. 

Or them doing art projects together? Clementine writing reports that she reads out loud for them and they clap and holler at how great she does?? 

But then when that community falls, they have to abandon that classroom set up for a long time until they end up at Ericson. 

Now Luke has a whole group of kids to teach and he’s so damn excited.

Of course he’s smiling, he’s excited for Luke to tuck him in. 

Oh Nick would’ve been pissed. 

For starters, Rebecca’s two seconds away from popping a baby out and Luke was supposed to be on walker watch. Second, Luke just hooked up with Jane and now Nick’s not only pissed, but heartbroken that his best friend [the man he loves] just... banged this random girl! At the worst time possible!

Though this makes me think of a scene after AJ’s born where Nick is sulking in the corner, and Clementine goes over to talk to him and he hints that he feels betrayed by what Luke did and Clementine would try and comfort him. 

Then, when Luke’s all pissy that Jane left, Nick just... blows up on him. 

Like, Nick lost Pete. Alvin’s dead, Carlos and Sarah are dead, and now they have a baby to care for. All that piles up on both of them and it turns into this huge argument that Kenny has to force his mustache into but ultimately it leads to Nick kind of confessing why he’s upset before storming off. 

Then Clementine calls Luke a dingus and he realizes “...yeah, okay, I am a dingus. I’ll stop be terrible now.” 

And then he continues to be good ol’ Big Brother Luke who goes after Nick, they make up, and end up together in the end. 

It is NOT Lick. 

It’s Nuke.

It’s Nuke night, y’all!

I’m super excited to talk about Nuke once more! I think a good chunk of us can agree that we were totally robbed of three things in s2: a terrific character arc for Nick, consistent writing for Luke’s character, and Nuke. 

I’ve come to realize that I’ve ignored just how bad Luke is written after ep2 because I love the idea of Big Brother Luke. Plus, for my own sanity, I try not to think about how poorly Nick’s character was handled and killed off for the sake of this nonsense plot s2 decides it has..... 

But fuck it, I can pretend that there’s an AU where Luke isn’t abducted by aliens, Nick gets the character arc he deserved, and they’re allowed to be in love. 

I adore Nuke, and will be forever salty that they weren’t canon.