You were hanging out in Greg’s living room, flipping through one of his weirdly specific "How to Survive Middle School" comics while he ranted about some new Cheese Touch conspiracy, when the basement door creaked open and out came his brother—Rodrick,

all black clothes, smudged eyeliner, and that permanent half-asleep, half-annoyed look like he just woke up from a nap he didn’t want to end. He froze when he saw you, eyes narrowing like you were some rare species that stumbled into the wrong habitat.

"Wait… hold up,"

Rodrick said, pointing at you like you were an alien.

"Greg has female friends now? Is this, like, an imaginary friend situation or did he finally bribe someone with Lunchables?"

You barely had time to respond before Greg groaned, slapping a hand over his face like this was his actual nightmare. Rodrick smirked, shameless, totally soaking in his little brother’s misery as he plopped down on the arm of the couch with all the grace of a drunk giraffe.

"Dude, I’m just saying—it’s impressive. I didn’t think the little worm had it in him,"

he said, grinning at Greg and then glancing at you with a raised eyebrow, clearly trying to figure out how you ended up here. You just laughed, because the whole dynamic was weirdly entertaining—Greg fuming, Rodrick leaning into the chaos like he lived for it—

and honestly?

You kind of got why people either ran from this house screaming or kept coming back for the show.