Just another one of those days... is an ongoing The Brittas Empire fanfic written by SpacePenguin11
. It begins during the piano recital depicted during "Mums and Dads", which goes much differently in canon when Brittas decides to pounce on Laura on a romantic level, ending with Helen attacking Laura when she thinks that Brittas is cheating on her with Laura. As Laura recovers from the night at Brittas' place, she assesses her feelings for her Manager and slowly falls into a relationship with him.
It can be found here
Tropes:
- Adaptational Angst Upgrade:
- Unlike in the series proper, the death of Brittas' mother is explored in slightly more detail and he's shown to have been affected by it more so than in canon. He is also given an abusive wife before Helen who never existed in the show proper. Finally, whilst in canon, he seems blissfully unaware of the true feelings of his staff towards him, here we see that he's fully aware, even discontinuing his Good Behavior Points system under the realization that people were doing anything to not have dinner with him.
- Whilst the show implies that she didn't have the best upbringing, at no point does it ever suggest that Laura's father walked out on her when she was younger as this fic would suggest.
- Adaptational Early Appearance: Despite the events of this plot first occurring only several days after what would have been the events of Series 2's "Mums and Dads", Michael, whose first appearance is in Series 3's "Sex, Lies and Red Tape" and Horatio, who doesn't appear physically until Series 3's "Two Little Boys", make appearances in the plot.
- Adaptational Jerkass:
- Whilst Helen was never a saint in the series, her bad behaviour is made even worse here, turning her into a Manipulative Bitch who coldly attacks her friend when she thinks that she cheated on her with Brittas, loudly reveals all of the secrets that Laura had told her on the streets, and gives her children the cold shoulder (complete with calling Laura "daddy's bit on the side") when she shows up at Laura's house in Chapter 11.
- Laura is snappier compared to her canon portrayal, being much more willing to insult Brittas out of anger and shout at the others, to the point that Tim even calls her "a female Brittas in the making".
- Adaptational Karma: In canon, Helen’s affairs with other men are never found out by Brittas, and the others are willing enough to hide the truth from him, thus making her a Karma Houdini. Here, Laura eventually tells Brittas the truth and he confronts Helen over it. She promptly pulls a Screw This, I'm Out of Here!, moving out of the family house to live with her mother, and Brittas intends to divorce and gain custody of their children.
- Adaptation Name Change: The names of Brittas and Helen's three stepchildren are given as Jonathan, Sam, and George in the fanfic. In the series proper, whilst there is a child called Jonathan, the other child who is actually named is called Tom instead.
- Adaptational Nice Guy: Whilst Brittas is still an obnoxious git, he’s notably much more caring than in canon, and the fic spends a fair amount of time showing off his more positive qualities. It’s most notable in his parenting - whilst the show implies that his parenting is annoying enough that his stepchildren view him as an Amazingly Embarrassing Parent at best, here we see that he’s actually a caring parent and his stepchildren prefer him to their biological mother.
- Age Lift: Implied - In the show proper, whilst Jonathan never gets a proper age, he is mentioned to be doing GCSEs by Series 5, which would place him as a preteen at least by the beginning of the series, and he's not the youngest stepchild, that honor instead going to Tom. Here, he's mentioned to be the youngest of the three stepchildren, acts younger than Sam and George, is young enough to require a booster seat whilst the others don't, and is the only one of the stepchildren to engage in Baby Talk.
Word of God acknowledges that his age doesn't add up with when Brittas and Helen first met, suggesting that he's under 8 years of age, but had wanted scenes where Brittas interacted with a small child. - Alcoholic Parent: This fic delves a little bit deeper into the fact that Helen is an Addled Addict with 3 children at this point in the series - Chapter 1 has a brief mention of Laura constantly coming into the Brittas' family household to find Helen nursing wine amidst dirty dishes and other unfinished chores, Brittas clearly being the one in charge of completing these chores. Later on in Chapter 11, George mentions sneaking past his mother whilst she was passed out on the couch with an empty bottle in her lap, much to the shock of Laura. It's even mentioned that this is one of the reasons why Sam and George would rather spend time with Laura than be with their mother.
- Alternate Universe Fic: Let's just say that "Mums and Dads", which ended on the light-hearted note of Brittas showing off his Dreadful Musician abilities in canon, end up with much more serious and long-lasting consequences for Laura, Helen, and Brittas in this fic. Additionally, it goes with the idea that Laura was already aware at this point that Carole was impregnated by Brittas, although canon has her not discover this until the later "New Generations".
- Apology Gift: It's revealed that when Laura and Michael fought whilst together, Michael would try to apologize to Laura by leaving her a teddy bear with an apology note. Laura ended up sending away all the teddy bears into charity, and she ends up briefly chucking a teddy bear gift from Brittas into the bin under the impression that the gift was from Michael.
- Ascended Extra: In the show itself, Brittas' stepchildren make only a brief appearance in the first episode and very little is known about them as a consequence. Here, they first show up late in Chapter 9, and some time is spent both giving them lines and exploring their relationship with their parents.
- Bigger Is Better in Bed: Laura finally gets a view of Brittas' dick in Chapter 15, and some time is spent giving it a lot of compliments, including the fact that it is fairly big, and certainly bigger than Michael T. Farrell's dick at any rate. Tellingly, whilst Brittas and Laura have yet to properly have sex yet, Helen is willing to compliment her husband when it comes to his sexual activities, and Carole has fond memories of her accidental act of sexual intercourse with him.
- Call-Forward: Some references in the series are mentioned in this fic at an earlier time period than in canon:
- In Chapter 1, Helen tells Laura that Brittas looks a little bit like Harrison Ford when viewed from the right angle, something which she also tells Penny in canon during the Series 6 episode "At the Double" (although there, she claims that Brittas looks like Ford when she's on the right pills).
- In Chapter 11, Laura manages to convince Brittas out of being a referee for a football match by telling her that she needs an arbor built. Series 4's "Shall We Dance?" had Brittas get closer to Laura by coming over to her house and building an arbor for her.
- Canon Foreigner: At no point was it ever stated in the series that Brittas was married before he met Helen, but here, we see that he did have another wife named Mandy.
- Cerebus Retcon: That strange wart of Brittas? The one whose only relevance to the plot is for Penny to mock and to use to distinguish from his doppelganger in "At the Double"? Actually a scar inflicted on him by an abusive ex-wife, causing enough mental trauma that he would rather people not know about its origins.
- Closet Shuffle: When Michael comes in looking for Laura in Chapter 8, she quickly attempts to hide Brittas by herding him into one of her cupboards. Unfortunately, Brittas can't quite resist telling Michael to bugger off when he refuses to leave, blowing his cover in the process.
- Confidentiality Betrayal: In Chapter 6, Helen shows up at Brittas' house, having got it in her head that he and Laura were in a relationship. Helen, realising that Laura is in the house, decides to try to make her sound more unenticing by telling Brittas secrets told in confidence between her and Laura, such as the fact that Laura has a "hideous" scar on her abdomen, that she only had one sexual partner (Michael T. Farrell III) beforehand, that she was so nervous in regards to sex that she would keep reading a sex education book until the pages wore down, and that she ended up faking it when actually having sex with Michael, having not enjoyed it at all. Laura is not pleased and punches Helen in the face for it.Laura: YOU BITCH! I told you those things in confidence!
- Dies Differently in Adaptation: How Brittas' mother died here is slightly different here - in the series proper, it’s implied that Brittas’ piano playing was so dreadful that it killed her. In the fanfic, it was Stage 4 breast cancer that kills her, with her dropping dead during one of Brittas’ piano recitals being a coincidence.
- Disappeared Dad: Chapter 8 reveals that Laura's father knocked up their neighbor and moved to Australia when she was 15.
- Domestic Abuse: Chapter 9 reveals that Brittas had a previous wife, named Mandy. Apparently, she inflicted abuse on him, attempted to murder him with food laced with arsenic, and is why he has a scar on his jawline.
- Fear of Thunder: Both Laura and Horatio are revealed to have a fear of thunders - Horatio in particular used to run into his brother's room and ask to stay with him during these thunderstorms, and it is used to emphasize Brittas comforting Laura after she rebukes his love confession. Later on in the story, Horatio ends up at Laura's house, not wanting to be alone at the Brittas' family household during a thunderstorm, something which Laura sympathizes with.
- Foreshadowing: In Chapter 12, Laura snaps at Brittas on the topic of her pay, which she explains as being her PMS caused by a period due in a week. Guess what happens two chapters later to cause havoc.
- Fright-Induced Bunkmate: In Chapter 12, Brittas and Laura try to have sex, but they are eventually interrupted by Jonathan, who has had a bad dream and wants to sleep with them.
- Good Parents: Gordon is revealed to be this to his children in Chapter 11, being gentle with them and instilling proper values in them such as (ironically) being polite.
- Has a Type: As Chapter 9 reveals, Brittas seems to worryingly have a type for mentally unstable women, with Laura being the one exception (although it doesn't stop her from worrying that she'll turn out like them).
- Interrupted Intimacy: In Chapter 13, something has broken into the centre and Brittas and Laura try to figure out who it could be. Laura eventually finds out who it is when she walks in on the perpetrators, Michael T. Farrell III and Helen, having sex naked on the couch. Whilst the two lovebirds aren't too bothered by the interruption (at least until Brittas punches Farrell in the face), Laura has to fight the urge to puke.
- Loving Details: In Chapter 7, Laura wakes up to find that Brittas served her favorite dish for breakfast, Brittas having apparently been silently observing from a distance and learning a lot about her as a result. Whilst Laura sees it as a bit creepy, she also admits that she is a bit flattered, especially since her husband wouldn't have known this despite their several years together. This is expanded on in the next chapter, when Michael shows up and Laura challenges the two men to see how much they know about her. Whilst Michael completely fails, Brittas passes with flying colours, showing that he genuinely loves Laura.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Brittas says this almost word for word when he loses his self-control and starts making out with Laura.
- Named by the Adaptation:
- All three of Brittas' stepchildren are given names here, unlike in the series proper where one child is never named.
- Whilst Pam's son goes unnamed in the show, Chapter 12 has George call him Barry.
- Parent with New Paramour: By the time Brittas' stepchildren are introduced into the plot, Brittas has already learned about Helen cheating on him and has gotten into a relationship with Laura. Whilst Jonathan is attached to his mother and doesn't want her replaced, Sam and George are clearly more interested in spending time with Laura instead of Helen and hope that she'll make Brittas happier than Helen ever did.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Laura gives Brittas an epic one in her attempts to deflect her growing romantic feelings for him in Chapter 5.
Laura: You seriously believe that I have feelings for you? How deluded are you? Have you looked in the mirror lately?! You’re not exactly god’s gift to women Mr Gordon Brittas! What with your scraggly, ferret like face, and your supersized nostrils! Not to mention that disgusting warty thing on your jaw that could give Colin’s acne a run for it’s money! And then there’s your personality! You’re ignorant, obstinate, you never listen! You always think you know what’s best for people don’t you? But you get it wrong every single bloody time! And then there’s that irritating voice! You know, we all take turns doing impressions of you in the staff room, in fact we’ll gladly take any opportunity to rip the shit out of you whenever and wherever we can! Because you’re a useless, jumped up, arrogant prick of a man, whose wife hates him and whose staff think he’s a complete and utter joke!
- Scars Are Forever: What is described as a wart on Brittas' jaw in the main series is recontextualized here as a scar, which he received as a result of an argument between him and his first wife Mandy. He doesn't like people knowing about it however and usually calls it a wart.
- Second-Face Smoke: When Brittas finally confronts Helen on her cheating in Chapter 10, she responds by blowing cigarette smoke into his face and stubbing it out close to his foot, all whilst telling him that he's never going to see his stepchildren again.
- Self-Harm: According to Chapter 9, Helen cuts her arms fairly regularly, presumably for attention.
- Tampering with Food and Drink: Brittas' previous wife Mandy once tried to kill him with a lamb casserole laced with arsenic. Thankfully, he survives, courtesy of an irate neighbor taking pity on him and calling the ambulance, but it does give him a Trauma Button related to any food products containing lamb.
- Take This Job and Shove It: In Chapter 9, when Julie is led to believe that Laura and Brittas have been having sex, she pours hot coffee over Brittas' crotch and angrily claims that she's quitting.
- Taking the Kids: In Chapter 10, upon being confronted regarding her cheating ways, Helen tells Brittas that once she leaves to stay with her mother that evening, he should expect to not see the children ever again.
- Title Drop: Not exactly for the fanfic, but for the show itself by Gavin in Chapter 9.Tim: I can just see the Leisure centre full to the brim with a load of mini Brittases!Gavin: Oh god, that would be living hell wouldn't it, Timmy! A full to the brim Brittas empire!
- Ultimate Job Security: Julie's quitting in Chapter 9 is perhaps one of the most violent ways to go about it, namely by dumping a cup of hot coffee on top of Brittas' crown jewels. Yet several chapters later, when Julie asks for her job back, Brittas is happy enough to, much to Laura's dismay.
- Woman Scorned: When a drunken Helen notices that Laura smells of her husband's cologne, her response is to start beating Laura up and call her a cow, all whilst sobbing to her husband about her belief that he's finally traded her in for a new model.
- Wounded Gazelle Gambit: When Laura finds Michael flirting with Carole, Michael tries to gain sympathy points by telling Laura that Brittas had fractured his cheekbone. Laura points out that whilst Brittas did punch him in the face, he couldn't have injured Michael that severely, as Michael would have been hardly able to talk otherwise.
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are: After Brittas discovers that Helen had been cheating on her, he falls into a minor Heroic BSoD, telling Laura that he feels ashamed for not realising his wife’s philandering ways and allowing her to treat her children poorly. Laura reassures Brittas that he has nothing to be ashamed of and that he’s a great father. It’s what leads Brittas in to his first real and calculated attempt at having sex with Laura.
