#scattering braincelles

Final verdict:

That shit hurted

From the bottom of my heart, the most realistic sibling relationships I've seen in children's media

Prime Rick, for whatever reason, made himself immortal when he was younger, probably as a subsequent reaction to something that made him fucking insane. It's why he doesn't look any older than he did a solid 40 years ago, it's why we see blood before his skin knits itself back together, and it's why he says that he's been asking himself why he's here for so long. Permanent regeneration likely fucks with someone's mind, especially as it's implied that Jerry's attack was meant to be fatal but healed in seconds. Like Deadpool, a constantly regenerating brain would probably be terrible t remembering things long--term.

That, or he's a robot, cause season 5 established that the robots can bleed if they're well enough programmed and the robot has been given a sufficient simulation of Prime!Rick's personality to be a fucking asshole genius, but not free will or full sentience (whether or not he's overriding that bit is a different story) and therefore he genuinely doesn't know (also likely that he killed the og Prime!Rick in that case).

(Tw: first 3 are about bullying and ableism as I think they would tie into Dexter's backstory based on how they affected me at the time)

- Dexter has undiagnosed adhd. He was bullied a lot for being the weird kid in middle school, including stuff like having his backpack thrown into the trash, people mocking his interests and way of moving/talking, and being fake asked-out. As everyone's matured a bit, almost all of this had ceased by the time they were in high school. Dexter also finally had his brain kick in a bit more 'socializing/masking/expressing emotions' ability and also has an easier time with people now.

- Dexter still feels very awkward talking to the student body that used to constantly make fun of him, but there's some new kids and some people he'd never spoken to and some former jerks who have apologized. He's currently a social nobody in the sense that he's just not super popular, but he does have friends over common interests and he and Steph bonded a bit after she said sorry for standing him up on a joke date back in eighth grade.

- The few people who do occasionally bully Dexter do it over his vocal tics (stuttering, awkward speech patterns, etc) and occasionally for having been weird in the past. Most of the student body tends to not join in. Duncan has made it very clear to a few people that making fun of Dexter for being a nerd is one thing, and making fun of him for the stutter gets you punched.

- Duncan will very much make fun of Dexter though. Just more of 'older sibling who's still a teen' way and less 'constant jerk' way.

- Steph plays baseball/softball and is head of several school clubs. She's one of those people who's a little involved in almost everything.

- Freakazoid likes to snoop in on most of Dexter's classes and make snarky comments. He'll tune out most of the lesson, or complain a lot about a major misconception the teacher is imparting on the students. Dexter has gotten very good at holding a resting focused-face.

- Steph has tried to teach Dexter sports-ball rules. He doesn't get it. He does, however, make a whole chart for all of it and become the team's unofficial statistician. Their victory percentage goes up by about 20% after this.

- The Douglas parents were raised in the 'American as apple pie' type of households and don't really know how to raise one heavily neurodivergent teen and a teenager who may have some type of dyslexia or attention span difficulty. They still very proudly celebrate the kids' accomplishments, even if they have no idea what any of the words involved mean.

- Dexter gets really mad about having to pause mid-coding session to do chores. Duncan likes to sleep in more than anyone in the family. The Duncan-Dexter Compromise of Last December trades all of their chores into a time-sort instead of name-sort. Dexter does morning stuff, Duncan takes evening, and they split middle unless one of them has a football game or emergency hackathon.

- The Lobe actually realizes pretty quickly that Dexter and Freakazoid are each other's alter egos. He lives by a pretty strict rulebook though, and defeating his internet-powered nemesis by targeting a scrawny kid with an older brother and a normal high-school life is against the rules. It's not defeating Freakazoid, just Dexter Douglas.

- With that said, Lobe doesn't breathe a word to the other villains. If they suspect it, they might go after Dexter.

- Based on the absolutely brilliant 404 fanfic, but I do love the idea that telekinesis is Dexter's power. I think it got activated with the birth of Freakazoid as a sort of safeguard. If Dexter starts panicking, it acts up. Freakazoid does his absolute best to fix the problem/calm Dexter down whenever this happens.

- Dexter will analyze the fights Freakazoid has with his enemies and try to make plans up on the fly. He's better than you would think.

- Freakazoid occasionally buys things that he thinks will be cool for Dexter, like loud jackets or extra ice cream. Dexter makes sure that all of Freak's preferred stuff (hair creams, civilian clothes should they be needed, commonly used things) is in good shape and will let Freakazoid have some input on the grocery list (no dynamite, no thirty kitties, and no giant cake mixes).