We all know Penny is Rudy's best friend and possibly more. But what happened before they met? What kind of dark secrets lurk in the past of the Great Creator? Join us as we find out… Written by DarkHououmon.
Stories in this AU
DarkHououmon's Dark Days Before provides examples of:
- Affectionate Gesture to the Head: When Penny is comforting Rudy after he's shared the story of Toroh with her, she gently strokes his hair
- And the Adventure Continues: The ending of "Trust" takes place at the beginning of Penny's first trip to Chalk Zone.
- Anything but That!: Fully Played for Drama during Rudy's Exact Eavesdropping, with the narration (from his point of view) saying the following.That voice...No, not her...Anyone but her...please...
- Armor-Piercing Question: Snap asks one in the aftermath of the fight.Well...did you trying talking to her?
- Bad Liar: Rudy is pretty transparently lying about why he took so long to ask Penny to hang out and she picks up on this quickly, though she doesn't press him; what she doesn't pick up on is why he's so scared. His parents even say they should have realized that Rudy hadn't hurt Penny because on the rare occasions he tries to lie to them, he's awful at it.
- Bait-and-Switch: When the Tabooties and Mrs. Sanchez hear banging coming from Rudy's bedroom after Penny has gone up to apologize to him, they assume the kids are fighting. However, when they reach the bedroom, they find Rudy and Penny play-fighting and laughing.
- Because You Were Nice to Me: While it takes a more roundabout path than most examples, this trope is the foundation of Rudy and Penny's relationship; because she was the first one of his peers to be genuinely kind to him with no ulterior motives and sincerely apologizes for wronging him, he's completely devoted to her.
- Berserk Button: Rudy responds badly to having his trust betrayed while Penny takes having her projects insulted and what Toroh did to Rudy very badly.
- Big Sister Instinct: When Penny finds out the truth about Rudy's trust issues, she's overcome with a fierce protectiveness and vows to never let anyone hurt him ever again, a vow that strengthens when she finds out she's the first person to call Rudy her friend (the narration stating that he acts as though she's speaking in a foreign language when she calls him her friend). And even before that, she tears into Reggie for insulting Rudy.
- Crush At First Sight: It's clear at Penny's first actual appearance that Rudy's crushing on her, even as he's scared of how she's going to treat him.
- Disappointed in You: Snap is disappointed that Rudy jumped to conclusions about Penny.
- Double Standard: Abuse, Female on Male: While a schoolyard fight instead of traditional abuse, Mr. Wilter immediately blames Rudy for the fight between him and Penny (not helping is Reggie gleefully placing blame on Rudy and Mr. Wilter's grudge over Rudy's drawings) and punishes him; his parents also start off assuming that he started the fight, implying that the principal refused to believe that Penny hit first and that Rudy didn't hit back. Mrs. Sanchez on the other hand insists on getting the full story and scolds her daughter for starting the fight, later lampshading this trope in a grim fashion when the children are apologizing to each other.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: Rudy and his parents talking about his new friendship with Penny and his reservations because of Toroh sounds eerily like a discussion about an abusive ex's actions interfering with a person's dating life.Rudy: (about hanging out with Penny either at his home or her place) But that's moving a little too fast, don't you think? Maybe I should take it a little slower than that. I don't want to mess this up.
- The Dreaded: Toroh. Rudy is terrified of trying to make friends because of him, Snap freaks out at the mention of his name and all the adults despise him. Penny herself realizes that he's traumatized Rudy somehow by the venom in his statement "You're just like Toroh!" and is murderously angry when she finds out how badly he treated Rudy.
- Education Mama: Mrs. Sanchez.
- Exact Eavesdropping: Rudy overhears Penny calling his drawings stupid and is naturally deeply hurt and accuses her of betraying his trust. What he didn't know (due to when he walked in) was that she was tearing into Reggie for insulting them and that her compliments were her true opinion.
- False Friend: Toroh, who pretends to care about Rudy in order to use the younger boy in a drug smuggling ring.
- Good Parents: The Tabooties naturally and this trope is the reason Rudy's mom encourages him to give Penny a chance; as we soon see, she's exactly right.
- Heroic Self-Deprecation: Rudy's inner voice is vicious to him, repeatedly telling him he'll never have friends and gleefully pouncing on any opportunity to push him deeper into his shell.
- He's Not My Boyfriend: While she likes Rudy a lot, Penny doesn't enjoy Reggie taunting her about her "boyfriend".
- Lampshade Hanging: Despite the highly non-comedic nature of the story, Snap does lampshade Exact Eavesdropping, asking Rudy if he's sure he heard what he thought he heard and if he's sure that's all that was said. A section of the narration from Penny's POV after the incident even shows the perspective of the person who was misheard in an Exact Eavesdropping scenario.
- New Transfer Student: Penny, natch.
- Only Friend: Snap was the only person who has managed to get past Rudy's shell without having ulterior motives before Penny came along.
- Poor Communication Kills: Between Rudy's secrecy about his past and the above Exact Eavesdropping incident, he and Penny have an extreme rocky road to friendship that nearly ended in disaster.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Short one but Rudy's anger at his parents when he calls them out for refusing to believe that he didn't hit Penny until Penny tells them it's the truth is both clear and understandable.
- That Came Out Wrong: Rudy is completely befuddled when his father suggests he bring Penny over some time. Mr. Tabotie then clarifies that he doesn't expect them to be a couple yet and that he just meant Penny should come over to hang out.
- Penny tries to make Rudy feel better about his experiences by telling him other people have had it worse. When he questions why that's meant to be comforting, she sheepishly explains that she wants him to understand that she understands what he's going through.
- When Mrs. Sanchez is trying to help Penny figure out a way to mend her budding friendship with Rudy, she suggests that Penny be more forceful in trying to get Rudy to listen to her. Penny goes red at the image her mind conjures up and her mom quickly explains she just meant either bringing him over to their residence or going to his.
- Understatement: Initially the only thing Rudy will tell Penny about his past is "Let's just say not everything is so...peachy for me." Boy howdy, is that really not the whole story.
- Would Hurt a Child: Toroh's boss in "Obey", who masterminded a scheme that involved basically using Rudy as a human drug dog and implied that he had no qualms about hurting Toroh if things got out of hand.
