#the wilbur van
To put my thoughts into more detail (because i only just finished reading hitting on sixteen…or…the wilbur van)
It actually caught me off guard just how much good will Quackity extended to Wilbur there. He stayed relatively civil throughout their first discussion up until Wilbur started hitting as low as he could go, he offered Wilbur a government position very respectfully because he had a seemingly genuine faith in Wilbur even after everything, despite the harsh way their initial discussion ended Quackity was still hospitable to Wilbur the next time they saw each other- offering him a seat and a drink- and even told Wilbur that the offer to be part of the government was still open, hell, even as Wilbur led him into an obvious trick..Quackity seemed to trust that Wilbur meant no harm…I mean..his first assumption was that Ranboo was gonna do a little graffiti while Wilbur was distracting him!
Meanwhile it’s Wilbur who spends the entire story acting completely entitled and deranged. He starts yelling the moment Quackity asks him to meet before he even knows why he’s there, he makes it clear that he thinks Quackity’s respectful offer of a government position is beneath him and that Quackityis beneath him, he devolves the conversation into screaming and unacceptably low blows while the worst Quackity actually does is tell Wilbur he doesn’t return his obsession and imply Wilbur should be embarrassed by his behaviour, then Wilbur decides to brutally murder Quackity’s horse in front of him via detonation and laugh while Quackity cries because Wilbur found an invitation to be vice president of an entire fucking nation insulting somehow?!?!
This….rivalry….doesn’t even feel equal to me at this point??? Like, Quackity wasn’t trying to hurt Wilbur. Quackity tried to stay calm even when Wilbur immediately jumped to causing a scene. Quackity gave Wilbur an offer that any normal person would find flattering and kept it open even after Wilbur’s response to said invitation was “Quackity, you forget where you stand next to me. You are in my shadow. Act like it. Maybe it’s not a coincidence that every single idea you’ve had has failed under your guidance. You are a walking second place medal”. Quackity smiled at Wilbur and offered him a drink while Wilbur was getting ready to blow his beloved pet’s guts out in front of him! Wilbur’s obsession genuinely honest to god feels one sided and all Quackity does through most of this story is act hospitable and in good faith to the best of his ability even through Wilbur’s insane arrogant tantrums.
The only time they seem to go at each other in equal measure is at the end when Tubbo’s locked in with the bomb. Which, quite frankly, feels less like Quackity ~giving in to the petty rivalry~ and more like Quackity finding out one of the people he cares about most was locked in with a bomb primed by Wilbur to blow at any moment. I mean, if you look at that scene, Quackity is frantic. Quackity doesn’t even seem to process that Wilbur’s genuinely trying to help Tubbo, he keeps dropping lines like “I won’t let one of my citizens die to a terrorist!” and “He’s my friend as much as my citizen, I’ll protect him at all costs!” as he fights Wilbur, like, it fully seems that Quackity doesn’t realize Wilbur’s actually trying to help. Which makes his decision to attack Wilbur decidedly not petty and decidedly necessary from his perspective as he believes Wilbur’s actively trying to kill someone he loves.
And one could argue that Quackity should have calmed down enough to listen to Wilbur when Wilbur decided to help Tubbo, but throughout the book Quackity’s done nothing butlisten to and try to extend trust to Wilbur and it led to that absolute maniac building a bomb designed to kill! Like, gee, I wonder why Quackity wasn’t interested in giving Wilbur the benefit of the doubt anymore at that point with Tubbo on one life strapped to a bomb WIlbur designed specifically to kill because he was pissed Quackity ‘insulted’ him by offering him a high ranking government position?!? We have the benefit of being third person viewers who don’t have to deal with the emotions of the moment and who know that Wilbur honestly wants to help Tubbo, but Quackity shows no sign of fully processing that fact and it’s absolutely reasonable that he wasn’t jumping to step aside and let Wilbur do whatever he wants. In fact, it would have been LESS understandable if Quackity hadn’t freaked out and tried to keep Wilbur away from Tubbo!
Damn. But like. If a terrorist known for detonating his own nation even with the possibility of the explosion hurting/killing people led me to his van and showed me one of the people I care most about tied up to a bomb ready to explode….I….would in fact alsopanic and refuse to let said terrorist anywhere near said person or bomb even if he said he was helping.
LUV THIS FIC
