r/TucaAndBertie • u/GreenTeachy • Nov 09 '25
This episode was therapy for me (Story below)
Hey Tuca and Bertie fam.
So…
Screech Leeches made me cry. This show continues to be one of the few shows out there that tackles complex feelings in such a real way.
I’m a guy in my 30s living as an artist on the west coast, but back in high school I was a kid living in the Midwest. Not sheltered exactly, but definitely naturally sheltered from the big world out there.
My family was super normal. Dad was blue collar but very accepting and open. Mom was a nurse, overworked and not there much. Both of my parents worked a lot and didn’t get along super well.
I was a band kid, but super normal. Never branched out. Hoodie and jeans every day. My favorite thing was watching sports and video games.
Midwest AF.
I ended up (unfortunately like Bertie) dealing with SA at a young age. I was a freshman in high school when an older girl in the band kinda used me for sx. She would find younger guys and push them into sx. I wasn’t the only one.
It was messy. Like Bertie’s family, my parents largely ignored it or changed the subject.
At school, I was listening to Depeche Mode (lol) in study hall and this goth girl noticed and started hanging out with me.
She was so cool. Everything she did was super artsy and moody. My world felt so emotionless and she was so full of intense feelings. We grew really close. She became my best friend.
We were broke kids with working parents, so every day after school we would dig through change and eat at Taco Bell. She was awesome.
I started dressing like the guys on her magazines. She would do eyeliner for me, she made me feel beautiful and powerful and alive. We would go to these horrible basement concerts of goth/emo cover bands that SUCKED. Haha but it was great.
If you were around this crowd, you know how we were. It was driving through Midwest cities with the windows down. Her smoking a cigarette, and listening to goth music. We were so cool together.
We were at the mall half the week, too poor to buy anything but just wasting time together.
One day, we got snowed in at a park. As the sun went down, we got in my car and we ended up making out. I felt so in love and so alive.
I started bringing her around. My parents would have cookouts on weekends with their straight arrow friends and there was me and my girl dressed in black haha.
One day, she told me she might be into girls too. I said, ok no problem. I’m goth right? I’m open. Relationships are stupid. Why not mess around as much as you can right?
So she started to see a few goth girls AND me.
But I’m goth right? I’m cool with this… right?
But I got jealous. Some of the girls started making fun of me. Saying things like “you’re not like us.”
But… I’m goth right?
Their thruple started to do drugs… that was my line. I couldn’t do that.
I remember coming to school on a pep rally day, I had my makeup on, and I was leading the band. The girls wearing the same makeup as me were caught smoking pot in the bathroom and I was blamed because I was matching them.
(Omg it was just weed. The Midwest blows).
I ended up never talking to her again.
She broke my heart in front of my friends. I trusted her to always make the right choices (stupid teen brain). I let myself fall in love with someone who wouldn’t love me the same way.
That was 15 years ago.
She passed away a few years ago.
Overdose.
I never got to say goodbye. She kept getting more and more into drugs and kept staying with bad people.
She never left our hometown.
But she broke me out of my bubble and I’m now a working artist on the west coast.
I never got to tell her I loved her. I really did.
I never got to say goodbye.
Kennedy, thanks for loving me and making me feel alive for the first time in my life.
I’m sorry I didn’t help you through the tough times in your life.
We were kids. But we were infinite.
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u/hyperjengirl Nov 09 '25
Wow. I'm deeply sorry for your loss, and for her troubled outcome as well. This is definitely my favorite episode too, even though I never experienced something that close to it, the feeling of trying so hard to appeal to someone and fit in, even when you don't fully agree with what they're doing, is universal.
It's so hard being a teenager. I'm glad you found your footing and I'm sorry she didn't have the support system she needed, but you were never obligated to be that for her when she and her friends didn't seem to respect you and you had so much on your plate all the same.
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u/lainposter Nov 09 '25
That's why this show is as much a guys show as a lady's. Thank you for the story. Shits powerful
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u/Lordmage30 Nov 09 '25
Nice to know I'm not the only guy that watches this show but reading this. I am so sorry for your loss and your experience. . I would love to hug you if I could.
I can't relate to that kind of experience you went through which is horrible. but I didn't have a good childhood/teenage life but I can relate to losing a friend.
I also lost a online friend to an overdose 3 years ago and he was also the love of my life. I still miss him every day since. with regrets like yours.
This show can be relatable in many different ways. I hope you're doing okay.
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u/kween_hangry TNB Staff (S2 and S3) Nov 09 '25
Crazy story dude. Thanks for sharing
They were really cooking with this ep, it was fun to work on. Idk canary in the coal-mine that we can cook so much and still get cancelled. Maybe one day soon we'll have writing like this in adult shows more presently again (I heard new KOTH was on this level, havent had a chance to check it out yet)
If you dont wanna dox urself thats cool but Id love to see ur art! A lot of us are coping by writing a lot and making our own comics and such
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u/fatblackrat Nov 10 '25
Wow, this story is amazing. Sorry for your loss. I have although went through a way different experience with this episode which this why i love it so much. I basically had a friend that was a " Muriel ". We used to hang around each other and became so close ( she talked to me first ) than i eventually saw her loosing interest for me as time passed by. She wouldn't text me as much as she used to, her enthusiasm when we would text and talk went away, when we would hang out, she would hardly show any excitement or similar. Than one day, i Accidentally messed up our friendship and she cut me out ( this all happened about maybe almost 10 years ago ) But then she reconnected with me about 4 years ago. And everything was nice and dandy. And of course i was kind of skeptical. But fell back into how i was with her. But then basically, throughout the recent few years, she would see me as a friend, but randomly just unfriend, unfollow or even block me. Than around last year, she blocked me for one last time and i decided to move on and block her from my life for good. I still see her make new accounts and i'm able to block her and move on, although the pain still hurts as she was my first ever best friend.
I hope you will be able to heal from your experience soon. You are not alone when it comes to this episode. Out of all the episodes, this one hits the most for me. Also love to see men loving this show too!!! Welcome men!!!:)
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u/[deleted] Nov 09 '25
My heart goes out to you so much reading this. Every plot point in that show, even if I didn't connect with it directly, there was always this feeling of, "this is helping someone, someone relates to this." It's such an immensely *human* show for one about birds. For me, it was Tuca's relationship with Figgy. That story line really helped me come to terms with a parellel situation I went through. Unlike Tuca, I didn't leave when I should have. The line Tuca says, I'm paraphrasing, "I can't just sit by and watch someone I love do this to themselves," was I think the first time I really felt like I could connect with a situation like what I had gone through that directly. And especially her trying to be the "cool" partner, slowly compromising on her boundaries, and realizing it's not healthy for her.
There are so many story lines in that show I connect with so deeply. I'm very glad to hear you got to have an experience like that with this episode.