In the long-forgotten fallout shelter Jessica and Millie were waiting for the pair. Louise entering first they nod in acknowledgement before returning to earlier tasks – reading and clipping magazines. - Their heads quickly snap back to the entrance upon Rudy’s descent.

“WOW! Reg size, you got the surgery?” said Millie. Jessica laughed in shock and amazement

“W-what? No, I just grew a bit-”

“A bit? You’re huge, man!” Jessica chimed in.

“You could probably get us beers sometime!” Millie added.

“No, not doing that.” He rightfully protested, Millie shrugged,

“Worth a shot.” She continued to cut pictures from a magazine while Jessica saved her page in the book she was reading before laying it down on a rusted step stool they were using as a side stable. - the hideout of every D.I.Y, as to be expected from a middle schooler. - “You know Louise, this could work for us and... The Plan.” She alluded casting eyes towards Rudy.

“Hold that thought-” Louise turns to Rudy and gestures for him to take a seat, he chose the beat-up bean bag that he found the first day of summer. It reminded him of the train rides he took with his dad. well, they were on the same train at the same time. Something about that chair made him more open to crazy schemes thought up by his friends, though this time might not be one of those times.

“Look, I brought you all here today to discuss The Plan-” slowly making eye contact with everyone before turning to an old chest, she pulled out a rolled-up piece of paper, “The Plan.” Millie and Jessica say in unison, smiling maniacally as if they were part of a cryptic cult. Rudy turned to look at them with confusion and a little terror.

“What’s ‘The Plan’?” He asked.

“Well, Rudy. The plan is how we are going to push our way to the top of the social high Archy. Our first year will be a documented moment in history! I’ve got all the intel on how high school works by living with Tina and this-!” she unfolds the paper, “is everything we need to know before the semester starts.” Everyone leans in o examine the paper,

“We’ve got less than a month to commit this to memory, so I suggest frequent meetups-”

“Louise.” Rudy whispered.

“I know, Ruds. I’ve accounted for that.” She reassured me she hadn’t even begun to process the new possibility. She pushes the thought to the back of her mind and continued, “These here are the teachers worth befriending and here are the educationally jaded. Full seating layouts to stay clear of possible call outs and out of the line of sight for perfect note passing. This works best if we all have similar schedules, if we’re slit it’d be harder for us to rise to power.” Jessica sits up to interject,

“Height is a form of status, right? We’ve got Rudy! He could be used to catch the attention of sophomores and juniors, get invitations to parties and we come along as secondary guests! So, we can scope out the top dogs.” she excitedly explained. Rudy shoots a nervous glance towards Louise.

“Right, um. Rudy has something to tell us.” extending an inviting hand towards him, “Rudy?” He sits up in his seat, well, as much as he can in a bean bag chair. Locking his fingers together, taking a deep breath, and made brief eye contact with Millie and Jessica before speaking.

“My mom and stepdad want me to move in with them. Full time.” He quickly pushed out the words but still had trouble breathing, trying to fix it, taking a puff of his inhaler, but the lack of air came from his heart and not his lungs. The girls sat in silence for a bit before looking at each other then back to him,

“Well, are you?” They both questioned.

“I haven’t decided yet. There’s just a lot going on right now and I'm a little freaked out.”

“Yeah, I would be too.” Jessica sympathizes.

“But if you do stay, you’d be okay with being our buffer?” Millie pressed. “I’m sure Cloe Barbash would be at most of those parties.” She says knowing he still had eyes for her. The perfect manipulation tactic and Louise tried her best to hide the proud smile as Millie tries to sway his decision.

“That’s a good point.” leaning back in contemplation, his crush had unknowingly started to fade but Millie’s comment sparked new possibilities for something real to happen. Louise, knowing that face he makes still tries to still be unbiased, but the hope starts to fill her head. There was no way Rudy would leave if Cloe was still here. Plus, he’s taller. Bye a lot.

“Wait, isn’t-” Jessica tried to interject but a hand on her forearm silenced her. Louise and Millie both gave looks telling her to not ruin what was happening. Rudy was paying no attention, obviously. He was stuck finitizing about all the ways he could grab Cloe’s attention.

“Hey guys, do girls really like tall guys?”

“100%” Millie quickly answered.

“Oh yeah, girls go nuts for tall and mysterious.” Louise added. Rudy nodded,

“Well, I’ve got the tall part. I can work with that.” Feeling a surge of confidence, he relaxes back into his seat.

“So... Have you decided?” Millie asked as the others leaned forward in anticipation.

“I- I still don’t know.” He sighed and all his confidence went with it. The rest of them sighed as well, disappointed in his indecision, they fell back into their seats.

“Come on, Rudy. What’s ~Dave~ got that you need to think this long for?” Jessica finally asked.

“Well, the new house is huge! It’d be a pain going back and forth, the drive is almost an hour both ways, plus I've grown, and I don’t have any new clothes at my dad’s- my biological dad, I mean.” he nervously clarified, “Lastly, Dave isn’t a bad guy. He wants to get to know me- he takes an interest, and I want to get to know him. He’s family now and I don’t want to keep seeing him as ‘just Dave’, you know?” The grouplet out an understanding “Oh.”,

“That’s a good point, Ruds.” Jessica nodded. Millie and Louise nodded as well, now knowing there was more to the decision than a bigger house and Cloe Barbash.

“So, the Rudy buffer plan will be put on the back burner till Rudy decides.” Louise exclaimed. Everyone agreed. She then slapped her hands together to end the meeting. Everyone promptly clears out. Once the bunker had cleared, Louise covered the entrance and walked Rudy to his dad’s house. On the walk Louise had something she wanted to say,

“Look Ruds, as much as I want you to stay, I think you should move in with your mom and Dave.” The words fell out of her mouth almost unwittingly. Her conscience couldn’t hold on any longer.

“Thanks, Louise. I just want you to know that this isn’t just about Dave. It’s you guys, too. I’d miss you and I’d be going to high school alone, plus, the Cloe Barbash thing Millie mentioned- I can’t believe I didn’t even think of that.” he laughs, causing himself to trip over his own feet.

“Whoa, careful.” Louise cautioned, raising her hands to potentially catch him.

“I’m good, I’m careful.” with his hands extended in front of him. As they approached Rudy’s dad’s house the mood shifted. Silent, a hint of somber, almost as if they were mourning the future. They both had a good idea of what was to come once the summer ended. They stopped right at the driveway and Rudy turns to Louise to say bye when his dad walked outside,

“RUDY! Glad I caught you; I was just about to call. Let’s hit the mall before they close, I wanna get you some threads- kids still say that right? Probably not, I- never mind.” He rummaged through his pocket for his keys, “Louise! Would you loke to join us? At the very least, let me drive you home.” Pointing towards the car he tries to smile warmly- he looked more strained than anything.

“No thanks, Mr. Stieblitz; I’m sure my parents are still waiting for me at the door.” she smiles to herself, knowing they wouldn’t get the joke. They both looked confused like she expected but she decided to keep walking. She turned and said, “Sorry, it’s a family thing so I should get back. Later Rudy! Have a good evening Mr. Stieblitz.” He waved to her, but she didn’t see due to her back being turned. Meanwhile, at the Belcher residence. Teddy managed to help both Bob and Linda back upstairs, Gene had come home in the middle of it and helped. Doing so had upset him a little seeing as he had been gone all day to avoid helping. Now they were all inside and on the couch, Bob and Lynn both hunched over an arm, still in great pain with ice packs in hand while Gene placed himself in between the two and texted with his friends- Kourtney and Alex. They joked with each other as his parents ached on either side of him. “Gene, who are you texting?” asked Linda.

“Just Kourtney and Alex. We have a practice session in a little bit, can we use the basement?”

“Sure.” she sighed as she stretched over body over the arm of the couch, allowing her muscles to pull for slight pain relief. “OH, that stretch, feels good.” Gene smiled in excitement- there was an audition coming up for him and he wanted as much practice as possible, seemingly out of the ordinary for Gene but since his first high school talent show he really started to take being a musician seriously. -

“Lynn, we haven’t been downstairs for the dinner rush.” Bob complained.

“It’s fine, Bobby. The new guys got it.” She assured him. - sometime last year Bob’s Burgers got an uptake in foot traffic, courtesy of Louise. She wrote for a school project; write about a place important to you. She didn’t think it would be published but when it was a lot more eyes were on the Belcher family and their business. She only used the project as an opportunity to express everything she had loved or came to love about her family and home. She made the restaurant a townie favorite. Eventually they were ahead on rent by two months and could finally hire one new employee. -

“Lynn, he must be overwhelmed by the orders coming in.”

“The new guys fine, most people come in for lunch.” She shrugged. “Go down there now and you’re gonna see like five people- not including Teddy. I guarantee it.” she pointed. Both sat in a slumped silence for a bit before Bob decided to drag his bruised body towards the stairs. Linda protested, “Bob! Come back, ya gonna get yourself hurt even more than you are now!” She shouts from the couch. There was no reply, just grunts and sighs from him struggling to make it to the door. As he reached the top of the stairs, he runs into Louise coming back,

“Dad! You can still move?” she spouts as she was taken by surprise.

“I gotta get to the restaurant.” he huffed. Taking slow gliding steps and supporting himself by leaning on the wall, Louise watched on knowing there was nothing she could do to change his mind.

“Go get ‘em tiger.” she unenthusiastically cheered as she stepped aside to let him pass. She watched as he slowly slid his way down, whimpering the whole way.

“So, you managed to get the bed upstairs?” she asked

“Yes-I mean, Teddy and Gene did, and Teddy did call the guy who cracks his back- it hurt a bit. A lot. I’m still in pain but I can move! So now I’m gonna go down to the restaurant.”

“Okay, have fun.” said Louise, she managed to ask a question before going to her room,

“Doesn’t the new guy do the slow hours?”

“JUST LET ME DO THIS!”

“Bobby! Stop shouting!” Linda hypocritically shouted from the living room. Bob wabbled and slid his feet some more, once he was outside, he peered into the restaurant as he passed the window.

“Linda was right.” he sighed to himself, there were about six people inside and the new guy had most things covered. Though, he didn’t want to shuffle his hurt body back upstairs and admit to Linda she was right, so he continued, clumsily swinging the door open and turning unsuspecting patron’s heads.

“I’m here don’t worry. I’m here to help.”

“Help with what? We’ve all been served.” remarked a random customer.

“Well, I can still bus and clean.” he responded proudly.

“But that guy already did all the stuff.” the same random customer chimed in once more.

“Will you let me have this?!” Bob hissed.

“Okay, geez.”

Meanwhile. Upstairs Gene was getting his things prepared for his band practice, grabbed his new keyboard, pulled some cords from his closet then laid on his bed to send a few text messages, laid on his stomach and locked his ankles girlishly.

Text Chain P.O.V:

Kourtney- I think I got us the venue

Alex- No frickin way!

Kourtney- Look, I gotta double check, but I think we’re a shoe in

Gene- Practice full set at mine. Basement of the restaurant.

Alex & Kourtney- Copy that!

End of text chain:

He unlocked his ankles and rolled off his bed, at once he started getting things downstairs grabbing his newly upgraded equipment. Well, new to him. Despite having more funds to splurge, they stayed mindful of their spending. He was gifted the set two Christmases ago and he has really put it to good use. - He shuffled out of his room with his stuff in hand. He and Louise crossed paths and hardly spoke a word to one another,

“Hey, you good?”

“Yeah, I got it.”

“Okay. Later.”

“Later.”

Being apart in school put some distance between them. The familial love never left but there were fewer hangouts between them now that they had their own lives and friend groups. There were times when they all got together but it wasn’t like when they were all in the same school; they had proximity, it’s different now but not for long. - Louise continued to walk to her room when Linda decided to go down with Bob because she started to get board from sitting by herself. She struggled and huffed her way there just like Bob, but she made it down a little faster due to the stretching, but she was still feeling the burn. She had just missed Louise heading to her room. Louise looked at her new bed sitting in the corner of Tina’s old room, now her new bedroom. Her eyes panned over everything in order to decide, what should go or stay. - Tina had left a lot of stuff behind, Louise of course claimed everything was going to go and made sure to tell Tina to take everything, but Tina’s tiny dorm could only hold so much. - So many boxes still scattered on the floor, for some reason Louise couldn’t decide what to throw out. After Tina moved out Everyone felt the shift in their own way, Louise couldn't just let these heavy boxes collect dust, so she finally decided to this would be the day she would throw most of the stuff away, “Okay, where to start. Where to start?” She walks over to the nearest box sitting by the closet, leaning down, she sifted through some clothes and found an old choker from her old witching days and spied her old camo boots – after Louise’s bunny ears ripped in the dryer mid-year of middle school, she was looking for something to make her stand out a bit. Something that was specifically Louise but until now, nothing really clicked. - some time passed, and she had finally gotten everything out and set aside some things she wished to keep. Though her closet was bare and filled with old outfits she could hardly fit in anymore. Meanwhile, in the restaurant, Linda and Bob were stewing in their pain and boredom.