In Security by Bea R. for July 31, 2018

That’s kind of my pattern, actually: When I fall for someone it sorta sneaks up on me over time, as opposed to hitting me over the head with an oversized novelty mallet. ✨❤️✨

Seven onlookers in Panel #5 (… of 5!) ✨❤️✨

Sound effect for Panel #5, with a theme song tacked on immediately afterwards for good measure …

https://youtu.be/fk_eBxEiWfc

Thinking on it, one of the templates for this phase of the Hubbs/‘Al’ dynamic must be the Luffy/Hancock relationship from “One Piece.” ✨❤️✨

… and I’m pretty much the only one awake tonight, huh? ✨

@Brick flag

Bea herself has said that Hank is Ellie’s secret admirer. Despite the jock appearance, he is still obviously shy.

If you have followed the strip long enough, you will have seen how he stutters around her while visiting the diner where she works.

To assume he is gay because of his shyness is the behaviour of a nudnik who cannot think for himself and is helplessly following the patterns of an inattentive and arrogant hive mind.

It is your kind of sociotypical conditioning that drives other people into extreme shyness and dismisses the possibility of genuine emotiveness and sensitivity amongst the present generation.

There are those who are just not comfortable with socializing while they excel in other areas. Which is what, in subtext, the first four seasons of “Big Bang Theory” were about.

To call a shy person such a homophobic slur as that is a bullying, inconsiderate, insensitive and dismissive example of institutionalization of the limbic brain.

Ergo, you think with the wrong head.

And that is one of the reasons there is widespread misogyny and homophobia in the world.

Hank’s kawaiiness around Ellie unmasked, coupled with his quietness in the cubicle and his devotion to the sport, make him a reserved if acceptable alternative to a dumpster fire like Roy, or a haphazard equivalent to Sam.

Shyness around the opposite sex is a real thing. And because predators have been using sensitivity as an act or a long con for so long, women become wary of genuinely gentle guys. The #MeToo movement complicates things further and makes these genuinely gentle guys even more fearful because of social conditioning against them.

Just because someone is considerate is NO REASON, repeat, NO REASON, to assume they’re gay. They might just be afraid to get hurt.

Besides, this whole arc has been a saga of mistaken identity. Which is what makes “Twelfth Night” so relevant even today. (If you don’t have time to read the play, Google “Manga Shakespeare” and buy it.)

“You read me wrong

I wasn’t tryin’ to lead you on

Not like you think

I didn’t mean to turn you on"

You know this kind of makes me wonder why Hubbs didn’t go to these lengths to make friends with Sam? They’re both athletes, they’ve socialized, and Hubbs says he needs players.

Well I guess she’s right in panel#5…by which I mean I think both she and Hubbs share the “Virgo” sign…

When it comes to this I say Ellie scored a “home run”. A good score, but in the wrong game! XD

Ellie is so smitten that it does not register that Hubbs just called her Al. This courtship is bound to be a roller-coaster ride of miscommunication and good intentions gone awry. “Twelfth Night,” indeed.

Now Ellie, prepare to live a second life.

Ellie lives up to her about description.

Lay it on the line. Hubbs thinks Ellie is Al, a guy, and Hubbs is straight. Let us hope that Hubbs gets a little flexibility about it before any big reveal.

She should try showing him her mating call.

Of all the myriad ways this scenario can be resolved, my preference would be for Ellie to avoid going to Chix ‘n’ Wings with Hubbs, pleading that she has to get to work. Later, when Hubb’s gang is in Chix ‘n’ Wings, and Hubbs reverts to his usual Elliephobic self, she should take his barely-articulated order, then place the football on the table in front of him with the comment, “You left our baby at the field, Hubby” with the sweetest grin ever.

I wonder what Hubbs’ reaction would be if “Al” tried to kiss him?

It’s for the best things they didn’t kiss yet. Hubbs is driving, after all…

One thinks it’s a date (one of the odder first dates ever) while the other likes his new sports friend “a lot” (one of the odder, one-sided bromances around)

I think I can see how this scenario will play out:

I’m betting that Hubbs is going to confess to “Al” that he has the biggest crush on a certain girl who works at Chix ‘n’ Wings—and will mention “Ellie Gardner” by name. At that point, Ellie will realize that Hubbs thinks she’s a guy (how can she not have seen herself in a mirror at Sedine’s?). Before “Al” can respond, Hubbs will confide in “him” about his fear of beautiful women, and ask “Al” for advice. Ellie (and I don’t think she’s quite that clueless regarding situations which really matter) will then be faced with two choices:

(a) Reveal herself right then and there, and risk losing him on the spot, or

(b) More likely, decide to play along and try to help him through his phobia so that she can reveal herself to him as she truly is.

It’ll be interesting to see if this plays out according to my suspicions. ;-)

It’s the smoothest Hubbs has ever been on a date and he doesn’t even know it!

Love the detail in panel 1. Panel 3 is a scenario some of us guys have tried and one of two things happened: they kiss back or you get slapped. I had a girl initiate a kiss just like Ellie is trying. I liked her. We were friends for like ever but even though she always dressed like a girl, I never really connected the dots. We were only 12, I think. Crazy kids, even went skinny dipping and even though our hormones were kicking in like crazy, we never thought of each other other than close friend, until she kissed me that day. I returned the kiss and then after 30 minutes or so, I guess, we pulled apart, and both walked away. Never saw each other again after that.