An Unpleasant Surprise is a The Ghost and Molly McGee One-Shot Fic by roofpigmu where Molly and Libby are in a romantic relationship and Molly receives a call from an old friend who doesn't approve of their relationship. This fanfic story is a sequel to Teachers Outside of the Classroom.
This fanfic can be read on Archive of Our Own here
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An Unpleasant Surprise provides examples of:
- Adaptational Sexuality: In canon, Molly develops a crush on, and eventually, enters a romantic relationship with a boy named Oliver/Ollie. Libby’s orientation, on the other hand, is currently left ambiguous in the show. In this story, Molly and Libby are presented as a couple in a happy relationship for 3 months now. Furthermore, Molly explains to Ashley Harris she's never been attracted to a boy before and Libby is her first crush.
- All Gays are Promiscuous: Invoked and Defied. Ashley thinks this stereotype applies to Molly, a lesbian, only for the latter to refute this accusation stating she only has eyes for Libby, being baffled and unimpressed that she would imply that.
- Armor-Piercing Response: Molly gets depressed after her old friend Ashley reacted poorly to her dating Libby due to them both being girls and Molly ends up breaking ties with her. Scratch tries to cheer her up by bringing up that she stood up against the Ghost Council and destroyed the Chairman because they disapproved of their friendship and asks why she's letting Ashley get to her. Molly's response is what finally causes her to break down crying and Scratch at a loss of what to say to comfort her.Scratch: Come on, Molly. You confronted the entire Ghost Council and even destroyed The Chairman, all because they didn’t believe a human and a ghost could be friends. So why are you letting this little self-righteous Hypocrite get to you like this?Molly: She was my friend.
- As You Know: When Molly gets a call from her old friend Ashley, Molly loudly explains who she is for her ghost friend, Scratch. Ashley playfully goes along and returns the favor, not seeing the ghost's presence.Molly: (To Scratch) Still, that's no excuse for ignoring my old best friend, Ashley Harris, from when I lived in Dayton, Ohio.
Ashley: Don't sweat it my old friend, Molly McGee, who currently lives in Brighton. - Be Careful What You Wish For: When Molly's phone rings, Scratch hopes whomever is calling will get Molly's mind off her Birthday party two months early idea. Afterwards when she ends the call and friendship with Ashley, a depressed Molly cancels the party and even calls it stupid due to it being two months before the actual birthday, making the ghost worried about her well-being.
- Blunt "Yes": Ashley's answer to Molly's question if she really finds it that hard to believe that Molly and Libby just developed feelings for each other naturally, without any outside influence.
- Break the Cutie: Molly goes through this after talking to her old friend Ashley Harris from Dayton, Ohio. What started out as a friendly chat between two old friends turned sour once Molly revealed she was dating Libby and Ashley starts spouting homophobic rhetoric about it causing Molly to break it off between them. This causes her to break down sobbing once the weight of the situation finally hits her.
- Broken Pedestal: Molly gets a call from her old friend Ashley from Dayton, Ohio. The two chat as they catch up with each other but things turn sour once Molly tells her she has a girlfriend. Ashley reacts poorly and believes she and Libby are brainwashed into being gay and spouts homophobic rhetoric. Molly is heartbroken to hear this and ends their friendship.
- Call-Back:
- While catching up, Molly mentions Signing up for softball, helped rebuild the town bandshell, uncovered the truth about the town founder, and reunited two old loves.
- When trying to cheer Molly up, Scratch brings up that she stood up against the Ghost Council and destroyed the Chairman because they disapproved of their friendship.
- Libby mentions she talked to Mrs. Roop about asking out Molly, back when she pretended to interview her for the school paper.
- When Molly asks if Libby's scared of people not approving of their relationship, she counters that she was scared helping Molly deal with Howlin' Harriet, performing in front of everyone at the talent show, and trying to get a cursed penny from Andrea.
- Celebration Miscalculation: Downplayed. Molly wants to plan a surprise birthday party for Libby, despite Scratch pointing out they both know its not for another two months from now.
- Commonality Connection: Implied. Libby asked Mrs. Roop for advice on how to ask Molly out, being open lesbian who's happily married, making her one of the few people who knows Libby is gay.
- Condescending Compassion: Ashley believes that Molly has been groomed by her parents into becoming a lesbian with Libby and wants to turn her back to "normal". Molly is naturally hurt and offended by this accusation.
- Cooldown Hug: Libby gives a much needed one to Molly after her call with Ashley.
- Curse Cut Short: Sharon about to end her call with Dan Harris by telling him to go fuck himself when screams from the Harrises from Scratch scaring the daylights out of them cuts her off.
- Dramatically Missing the Point: Molly's reunion with her old friend Ashley turns sour when Ashley takes the news about her having a girlfriend poorly. Molly gives a passionate speech about how Libby makes her feel, only for Ashley to completely ignore all of that in favor of fixating upon a passing remark she'd made about how Ashley looked good without her glasses, making her fret that Molly was attracted to her now. Molly declares that she is not, nor will ever be, attracted to her. Missing her friend's mounting frustrations and how she's losing her respect, Ashley sighs with relief, declaring there's still hope for Molly to not turn completely gay. Molly then tells her off and hangs up.
- Everyone Has Standards:
- While Scratch is cynical and can be unpleasant at times, even he's appalled by Ashley's homophobia. The only reason he doesn't call her a more profane insult than "brat" to describe her is because he doesn't want to swear in Molly's presence.
- While Sharon is pissed off at the Harrises for their homophobia and making her daughter cry, she's worried for them when she hears their screaming from the other end of the phone and only takes comfort when she finds out it's just Scratch scaring them, knowing he wouldn't physically hurt them.
- False Friend: Molly now sees Ashley as this after revealing her homophobic views to her.
- Five-Second Foreshadowing: When Molly finishes describing her girlfriend Libby with a romantic sigh, Ashley raises a Fascinating Eyebrow at her.
- Foil: Ashley is this for Libby. Both were Molly's closest friends, but while Libby eventually upgrades to being her girlfriend, Ashley is disapproving of such relationships and finds the idea of Molly being attracted to her cringe worthy. Molly decides to cut ties with the latter.
- Foreshadowing: When Molly says she felt no attraction to any boy, Ashley is in disbelief. She tells her that she's just not found the right boy and once she does, she'll forget about Libby. This ends up being the main conflict of The Last Temptation of Molly.
- The Fundamentalist: Implied with the Harris household. They ban modern cartoons with LGBT-friendly content like She-Ra and the Princesses of Power from being watched and look down on those that don't conform to outdated gender roles.
- Gayngst: Molly goes through this after her phone call with Ashley. Fortunately for Molly, Libby is able to get her out of it.
- Genki Girl: Molly, true to form.
- Hard Truth Aesop: Despite all of the progress society has made, homophobia is still alive and well in the 21st century and it continues to be a very serious issue. If your friend holds bigoted views and is unwilling to change them or consider they might be wrong, its best to cut ties with them, especially if you're the demographic they're prejudiced against.
- Heal the Cutie: Libby successfully does this to Molly at the end of the story.
- Heteronormative Crusader: Molly's old friend Ashley is revealed to be this once she finds out Molly and Libby are dating and fears they were brainwashed. Her parents are this as well.
- Hidden Disdain Reveal: Sharon mentally notes she never did like Ashley's parents Daniel and Tiffany; having always found them to be noisy, opinionated, and judgmental, especially when they criticized her children's clothes. She only put up with them for Molly’s sake because she was friends with their daughter at the time.
- Hypocrisy Nod: Libby notes that while it may be hypocritical coming from her of all people, she tells Molly if they completely avoid the public out of fear of homophobic people, then they’re letting said fear control their lives and that's no way for them to live happily.
- Hypocrite: When Ashley tells Molly that she's too young to be making such a life-changing decision like being attracted to girls, Molly points out that the former mentioned that boys would probably line up to ask her for out on dates, despite being the same age as her, which Ashley justifies by saying girls liking boys is "natural" while girls liking other girls isn't. After Molly ends the call with her, Scratch refers to Ashley as a "self-righteous hypocrite".
- Is This a Joke?:
- An unimpressed Scratch asks Molly if he's pranking him when she declares she's going to plan a surprise party for Libby... two months before when her actual birthday is.
- A more Played for Drama version. A hurt Molly initially assumes Ashley's homophobic views are some kind of tasteless joke. Unfortunately, the latter genuinely believes what she's saying.
- Knight of Cerebus: Ashley Harris, once she reveals her homophobic beliefs to Molly things take a much more serious turn in the story.
- Lipstick Lesbian: Molly and Libby are both feminine girls that are happily dating each other.
- Mama Bear: Sharon gets a phone call from Ashley's father regarding Molly's relationship with Libby, having heard from Ashley about it from their conversation earlier. Sharon is having none of it and tells him off, letting him know her daughter’s sexuality is none of his business, telling him she doesn't want him, Ashley or any of his family to contact her or Molly again. She's about to end it with telling him to go fuck himself when screams from the other line cuts the call off. After confirming it was just Scratch scaring the Harris's, Sharon took satisfaction from it.
- Morality Pet: Scratch flies all the way to Ohio in no time at all to put the fear of God into Ashley Harris and her bigoted parents, because they were responsible for making Molly, his best friend, cry.
- No Social Skills: Downplayed. Scratch wants to help Molly in her moment of need but struggles to help her since emotions aren't exactly his strong suit - so instead he makes sure someone is there who can help Molly (that is, someone like Libby) before going off to help out the best way he knows how.
- Not Brainwashed: Ashley honestly believes that Molly and Libby have been groomed and brainwashed into believing that they're gay by both of their parents. An offended Molly repeatedly tells Ashley that her attraction to each other is natural with no outside influence. Unfortunately, Ashley won't hear it.Molly: I can assure you Ashley that no one brainwashed me into liking Libby. Libby told me about her feelings for me one day and after reflecting on it I realized that I felt something more for her too and decided to give a relationship between us a chance.
- Oh, Crap!: This is Libby's muted reaction to finding out from Scratch that Molly experienced homophobia for the first time and, to make it worse, it was from her former friend Ashley back from Ohio.
- Open-Minded Parent:
- Sharon has no problems with Molly dating a girl, noting at the end that their relationship was one of the best things that ever happened to her daughter, and to hell with anyone who thought otherwise. There's no reason to believe Pete wouldn't feel the same way.
- Leah is also mentioned to know that her daughter Libby likes girls and doesn't appear to have an issue with it at all.
- Pop-Cultural Osmosis Failure: Due to her parents believing modern cartoons have gay agendas, Ashley has never watched the same shows Molly did growing up and was more familiar with older and more retro cartoons her own parents watched growing up.
- Psychological Projection: Ashley believes that Molly and Libby have been Brainwashed and groomed into being gay by their parents. Reading between the lines, it becomes clear Ashley is the one that's been indoctrinated to hate gay people by her own parents, parroting the same crap that she's heard from them.
- Queer Romance: Molly and Libby are a couple in the story and are both girls.
- Right for the Wrong Reasons: When Scratch informs Libby that Molly could really use her help right now, Libby guesses that Molly spent all night obsessing about what to get her for her birthday, despite it being two months away. Scratch admits she did do that but she's much more upset with something else completely unrelated.
- Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: Scratch flies all the way to Dayton, Ohio to scare the living daylights out of Ashley and her parents for upsetting Molly to the point of crying, despite admitting Ohio is outside his ghostly jurisdiction. It does help that, with the Chairman and The Flow of Failed Phantoms gone, Scratch won't be punished for it.
- Shut Up, Hannibal!: When Ashley says to Molly there's still "hope" for her to turn straight again, Molly responds that she doesn't have much hope for her now former friend left as a good person when it became clear her words were falling on deaf ears, before hanging up on her.Ashley: I was just thinking about earlier and how you said you thought I looked good without my glasses. When you mentioned it I just took it as a compliment and didn’t think much of it, but now…..Are you attracted to me McGee?
Molly: No Ashley, I am not, nor will I ever be, attracted to you.
Ashley: (Sighs in relief) Good. Then maybe there’s hope for you yet.
Molly: Maybe, but I fear I don’t have much hope left for you. Goodbye Ashley.- Sharon later gives one to Dan Harris after he called to talk about Molly's relationship with Libby.
Sharon: Oh, shut up Dan! I don’t know where you think you get off, but my daughter’s sexuality is none of your business.
Dan: You’re right, it’s Child Protective Services business. Maybe I should give them a call. I’m sure they won’t be too thrilled to hear that you let pedophile's groom your daughter and her friend.
Sharon: Go ahead, and I’m sure they won’t be thrilled that you’re wasting their time, just like you’re wasting mine. So I’m going to go and I don’t want you, or anyone in your family to ever call here again, and I better not hear about your daughter harassing my daughter again. Have a nice life, and go fu- - Single-Target Sexuality: While Molly denies having feelings for boys, she also admits she never felt anything for girls other than her girlfriend, Libby.
- Strange Minds Think Alike: Molly's former friend Ashley correctly guesses that she's planning a party for Libby long before Libby's actual birthday arrives. Later on, it's revealed that Libby also accurately predicted the same thing.
- Stealth Insult: When a disturbed Ashley asks Molly if she's attracted to her after remembering her say she looks good without her glasses, an incredulous Molly states she is not, nor will ever be, attracted to someone like her. Ashley completely misses the true meaning of her now former friend's words.
- Suddenly Shouting: When Ashley smugly claims that Molly and Libby were conditioned into thinking they're attracted to girls, Molly loses her temper and shouts “You’re wrong!” catching the blonde off guard.
- Travelling at the Speed of Plot: Scratch is able to fly from Brighton all the way to Ohio within presumably an hour, despite not being as fast as an airplane.
- Unwanted Assistance: Ashley honestly believes she's trying to help Molly by trying to turn her straight. Unsurprisingly, Molly does not need or want that sort of "help" as she's happy the way things are.
- We Used to Be Friends: Needless to say Molly no longer regards Ashley as a good friend anymore after their call.
- Wham Line: Molly video chats with her old friend Ashley Harris from Dayton. As they catch up, Molly cheerfully tells her she's dating Libby. Instead of being happy for her, Ashley solemnly says the following... and the conversation starts to go downhill from there.Ashley: ...Oh Molly, they got to you.
Molly: ...W-What?
Ashley: It’s OK though. I can tell my parents about this and then they can talk with your parents so they can find a way to help you.
Molly: Help me with what? What are you talking about?
Ashley: (Heavy sigh) ... Molly, you and your friend Libby have been groomed and brainwashed into believing that you're gay. - Where The Hell Is Brighton: When Molly explains to Scratch that Ashley is her old friend from Dayton, Ohio, Ashley plays along and states Molly is currently living in Brighton but not saying the State it's in.
- Youthful Freckles: Ashley Harris is described as having these and is about the same age as Molly, 12-years old.
