Pencil Shavings - Blog Posts

santos and whitaker scenes i want to see in season two:

sharing a tupperware of lumpia for lunch.

whenever one of them finds out about gossip, the first thing they do is try to find the other one.

santos, while trying to get a reluctant whitaker to do something for her: c'mon huckleberry! den, denny- c'mon.

silent communication using the eyes, even better if it's blatantly in front of other people.

santos turning to whitaker, about to ask him to fetch her something, and the camera pans to whitaker with said thing already in his hand.

just one mention of a shared spotify playlist between them. please.

both of them sitting in santos' car and silently decompressing after the shift.

so, season two will be langdon's first day back from rehab, right?

i hope no one tells him about santos and whitaker. obviously when langdon comes back there's going to be some tension between him and her, like there was when he came back during the crisis.

so, whitaker's got constant one-sided beef with him in the first couple episodes. it's subtle enough that no one picks up on it, just hard stares across the room and terse words whenever it's just the two of them. and he's not even doing it for santos or anything—she would hate that—he just can't act like he doesn't see the way langdon behaves with her.

langdon's really confused. whitaker seemed like a nice kid when they met, so what gives?

then there's a scene where it's him, mel, and whitaker. mel asks whitaker what his plans are for after his shift and he offhandedly mentions movie night with a "trin" and eventually (an embarrassing amount of time, actually) langdon makes the connection and curses under his breath.

Absolutely obsessed with your santos and Whitaker headcanons please keep them coming! I’ve gone through all the fics on ao3 already lol

thank you! it's nearing the end of the school year for me, so unfortunately i'm too busy to make much fanfiction/art for them even though i dabble in both.

here's more headcanons, because i can't stop thinking about them:

santos has a major sweet tooth. once or twice a week, she buys herself an iced mocha and a slice of strawberry cake from this cafe that's en route to the hospital.

whitaker's bible has a small lamb embroidered onto the front. it's one of the two belongings he still has from nebraska. the other is a sweatshirt from the university he did his undergrad at.

she has to keep an eye on whitaker at all times when they visit the local asian market because he's too busy staring in awe to notice what's going on around him.

whitaker is very obsessed with banana sauce. he puts it on everything once he's tried it.

santos gave him buldak ramen without telling him how spicy it was once. it was funny for about a minute until she realized that this white boy really can't handle spicy food. he tries eating the whole thing because wasting food makes him feel guilty. santos stops him after 3-4 bites because this looks like actual, physical torture for the guy. she still makes fun of him after, of course. while handing him the whole milk jug.

santos gets way too into his stories about animal slaughter. one time he had to leave in the middle of talking about how he dissected a rat when he was first curious about studying medicine and the first thing she did when she saw him again was demand to hear the rest.

favorite things about sangihun

favorite things about sangihun?

how you can see the forty years of history right under each word of their conversations.

how, even after his death, gi-hun hangs on to every word sang-woo says.

how sang-woo spends all of the games trying to avoid his past. how gi-hun continues to drag him back to it. how it ends with him in gi-hun's arms.

i love to think about what could've gone differently with them. what could've given them that happy ending that they so desired.

i love to think about the moments they've stolen over the years. the ones they don't talk about. the ones that they told themselves were accidents.

i love how intertwined they are, most of all. no matter what, they always will be.

(potential) ways people find out santos and whitaker are close/living together:

whitaker calling santos "trin" in front of their coworkers, santos not batting an eye and answering to it, and both of them pausing suddenly when they realize what happened.

santos putting an arm around whitaker's shoulders and ruffling his hair at random intervals throughout the day.

one of them instinctively stepping in front of the other when a fight breaks out in the hospital.

accidentally falling asleep while leaning on each other in the break room after a long shift.

santos handing whitaker a shopping list while passing him in the hallway.

one getting injured/passing out and immediately asking for the other when they wake up, still half-asleep.

^ alternate scenario: getting put on meds and saying something disgustingly sentimental. if it's whitaker, santos would get a bit emotional in the moment but will definitely make fun of him when he's sober. if it's santos, she'll be stuck wondering why whitaker looks so pleased with himself until someone tells her what happened.

discussing what they're going to eat for dinner while everyone is clocking out.

santos' drunkenly revealing to (equally drunk) whitaker those parts of her past. and for a moment, she just studies him. expecting him to get a little sad, maybe. unintentionally pitying. tell her he's sorry that happened. but he's just sitting there, staring at the wall. and when he opens his mouth, it's this pure, raw anger that she wasn't even sure he was capable of. it's low and shaky and she can't find herself a voice to interrupt him because what the fuck was even happening right now? the morning after, he's making breakfast and two prairie oysters before santos even wakes. they don't mention it again.

thinking about santaker and sharing things again. i have more thoughts.

santos and whitaker are around the same height. so, theoretically, their clothes decently fit each other.

i have a feeling they won't tell anyone they're roommates straight up. this leads to interesting scenarios.

javadi about to point out santos is wearing whitaker's hoodie and she just starts threatening her like she does to whitaker when she was mad about the chest-tube thing.

whitaker getting a bodily fluid on him again because it's his personal curse now and straight up wearing definitely santos' shirt when he clocks out.

sharing whitaker's airpods while they fight over the music.

sharing food!

frank "santos is trouble" langdon fresh out of rehab wondering why whitaker has gotten so close with her and then he's sitting there in shock as she willingly gives him half a kitkat bar (she's only doing this because he hasn't eaten anything all day).

king pointing out that she saw them leave in the same car yesterday and everyone's like what. when did that happen.

and:

tags from @doughnuts-5ever

trinity santos + dennis whitaker: roommates || post-canon headcanons

whitaker wakes up around an hour before santos does. it's an old habit from when he used to work on the farm. he makes breakfast for the both of them, usually.

after a month of living together, santos started stealing whitaker's hoodies. they're around the same size and she tells him that it's part of his rent. javadi is the first one to notice.

santos practices martial arts after a long shift. when she's back home, she can hear whitaker reciting scripture in his room.

they watch a movie together once a week. sometimes it's horror, which santos is pleasantly surprised to know does not affect whitaker—despite his "really needs a xanax and a weighted blanket" aura.

all of santos' sincere compliments are in filipino. she knows he doesn't understand shit.

since all of whitaker's friends/family are in nebraska, santos is his emergency contact.

"[character] is my husband <3" "[character] is my son!!"

ali is a family friend. he's at the dawat. he comes in with a stack of pizza boxes for the kids. he's watching them play hide-and-seek in the house. he opens the door when one of them gets stuck in the pantry. he's smiling as he hands his son off to an auntie. she's gushing over how cute he is. he's at the masjid. you can see him in the corner, plain tasbih in hand. he stays for the khutbah. he talks to the other men outside, wishing them goodbye. he leaves a styrofoam plate filled with cat food out by the fence. he's at your house. he's in the doorway holding an aluminum tray of biryani. it's for iftar. he can't stay for long, he insists. really, he does. he's sorry. the food's from his wife. he warns that it's spicy. when you go to take a bite, it's still warm.

ali "gi-hun's angel" abdul was sang-woo's angel, too.

not in the same way, of course.

...

to sang-woo, ali was this wide-eyed, clueless foreigner who was far too kind to be talking to someone like him. he's thankful for the simplest things, while sang-woo strives for perfection to the point of killing him. he said he lived in ansan. he says he'll walk. how can he say that? expecting sang-woo to what, let him? yes, sure, he can't really spare the money, but the idea of this relatively-puppy-looking guy wandering the streets until he finds his way home is not something he needs on his conscience at this time. so he gives him the money, and tells him to stop calling him that damn honorific. there's no need for that. when they get back to the games, ali's back. sang-woo makes a mental note of his strength when gi-hun points it out. he was willing to risk his life for others, too. those are good traits for an ally. sang-woo can make up for any lack of knowledge that might arise. they're a perfect team, when he thinks about it (oh, he'll end up thinking about it alright).

...

after the fight—when they were all banded together like a real team—they now sit to recover. ali looks embarrassed when he mistakes gi-hun's (their) hometown as his name. sang-woo asks for his, because he's a good ally friend. sang-woo hasn't had a friend in years. something about being in debt and going through depressive episode after depressive episode and not being able to look anyone you know in the eyes because how could you? after failing that badly? how could you?

it doesn't hurt like that when ali looks at him. sure, he feels the normal amount of guilt. ali thinks he's pretty kind for that move at the convenience store. he isn't; he knows he isn't. but ali doesn't look at him like gi-hun looks at him, like he's hung every star in the damn universe. ali thinks like that about anyone who treats him like a human. it hurts less, knowing that. sang-woo knows that in order for him to win, ali will have to die. everyone will have to die. he'll worry about that later.

... while they're on a night shift, ali shares his food with him. he's still thinking about the bus fare. why? he's already eaten. there's no reason for ali to starve. he splits it, though, because he doesn't want to refuse for another time.

ssajangnim. ssajangnim. ssajangnim. no one else ever corrects him. sang-woo doesn't know why. it's uncomfortable. he smiles when ali calls him hyung. he doesn't remember the last time he's smiled like this. a genuine smile. it quickly wipes off his face. he's here for money. of course, so is sang-woo. but sang-woo's here for his mom, mainly. he doesn't know why he was stupid enough to use her in his rabbit hole of debt. too late to lament that now. is ali here for his parents?

ali is a parent. he's got a kid. one. a one year old. sang-woo's going to vomit, his eyes prick with tears. he doesn't cry though, he never does. there's no way someone this... good is ever going to make it out of here. he's only taken out of his thoughts when ali asks him the same.

his reason sounds kind of pathetic now. he says it's about money, too.

...

the next game is duo-based. it's a no-brainer. ali's kind enough to look over at gi-hun. sang-woo needs to win. ali needs to win. they could do this.

the rules of the game are explained. sang-woo can't. he can't do this. he's not going to die.

ali's kindness isn't a virtue anymore. it's a liability. the clock is ticking. his flaws get glaringly bright like this. how do you not know what an even number is? sang-woo explains as patiently as he can. how is he winning. sang-woo was the intelligent one, wasn't he? he was the one who went to business school. hell, this is a guessing game. how the hell is ali winning? it's just like his debt. he's failing. he's failing at the one thing he's supposed to be good at. ali must be cheating. he has to be. sang-woo can't be failing again. he can't fail again.

the clock is ticking. sang-woo feels sick to his stomach. he begs, he pleads, he... he's looking at rocks. he turns to ali. he has a plan.

... "player 199, eliminated." sang-woo feels like he's being compressed by a machine. he breathes out and everything aches. he keeps walking. ... sang-woo's eating alone. funny, how most of his meals would be by ali's side. shared with him. shared with a friend. but friends come and go. he only knew ali for a couple days. it's not that special, he thinks.

his hands are shaking. ... he's fucking outraged at that husband. how could he not go on, huh? didn't he love his wife? didn't he care about her? how could he sit there, knowing her corpse is somewhere out there where he can't even retrieve it. he wants to give up the money? he wants to make her worthless? he grabs that man by the collar and gives him a piece of his mind. that night, he thinks about ali. really thinks about it. fuck, he was such a bastard. that man had a wife, a kid... things he'll never have. things he took away from him. kind, naive ali. he had more heart than sang-woo ever had, that's for sure. deserved more too. an angel, he remembers gi-hun saying. well, he doesn't have ali anymore. he tore those wings out when he betrayed him. he doesn't need an angel, in here. he needs to survive. he'll do whatever it takes. he can't fuck up now. he couldn't before, either. but not now. not after what he's done. ... player 069 is hanging from the metal frame, lifeless. was it what he said? no time to dwell on it, he thinks to himself, swallowing the feeling of guilt that blooms in his chest.