Brnine/Gucci

Brnine/Gucci (a.k.a. Bucci, Brucci, or Brnucci) is a popular Friends at the Table ship featuring Kalvin Brnine and Gucci Garantine from the seasons PARTIZAN and PALISADE. In canon, Gucci is Brnine's commander who has been strongly implied to have feelings for them.
== Canon ==
Brnine and Gucci first met in PARTIZAN, where Brnine (then known as Broun) was a mechanic and member of a mercenary group that Gucci occasionally hired for work with her "radical reformist" organization. During this period Brnine exploited Gucci, who is an aristrocrat, by wildly upcharging her for goods and services. 
Over the next several years of canon, they both became members of the revolutionary organization Millennium Break, fought together on several occasions, and ultimately joined the revolutionary cause on the planet Palisade with Brnine as captain of their own ship and Gucci as their commander. In PALISADE, their relationship develops from a working relationship to one in which they both care about each other on a personal level, and it is implied that Gucci has romantic feelings for Brnine.
==History==
While Brnine and Gucci had numerous interactions during PARTIZAN, the ship had little if any presence during the time in which that season was airing; instead, the most popular ships for their characters during that time were Balence and Clem/Gucci. 
PALISADE began airing in March 2023, establishing quickly that Gucci had become Brnine's commander over the five-year timeskip between seasons and featuring in its second episode an awkward interaction between Brnine and Gucci, and fan interest in the ship began to pick up shortly thereafter. For example, two Brnine/Gucci fics were posted to AO3 in April 2023,baby put your arms around me, tell me i'm a problem Archived version by lailou (Apr 5, 2023) and Using me (in a different way than I was using you) Archived version by keelah_seyah (Apr 18, 2023) and an anonymous poster on FFA mentioned that the interaction in the second ep had sold them on the ship.Anon, "The most recent episode suddenly sold me on Brnine/Gucci, even though their scene was so short!" (Apr 6, 2023), comment on Fail-Fandomanon. By early May, one anon on FFA said:
On Aug 11, 2023, the 21st episode of PALISADE aired, featuring a fraught phone call between Brnine and Gucci with shippy overtones. In it, Gucci expressed anger and concern about Brnine's willingness to recklessly throw themself at a dangerous mission, asked why they pretend to care about her, and perhaps most importantly, confessed to Brnine that she had imaged the two of them could work together on the planet Palisade "like a Primary and a Satellite." This is a reference to historical roles in the setting that appeared in a previous season, Twilight Mirage, in which the Primary and Satellite pair who appeared "onscreen" were the fan-favourite canon queer couple Demani Dusk and Gray Gloaming. 
Fans quickly picked up on this reference, produced fanart of the conversation, posted fic, and made reaction posts, many of which characterized Gucci's feelings for Brnine as romantic.e.g., tags by cossont: #gucci garantine: okay but WE can recreate harmful historical structures in a way that's sexy AND unproblematic #babe even if that was possible. kalvin brnine would not be the partner who could help you with that. #god. I love mess. :) (Aug 12, 2023). Tumblr. (archive link) A popular Demani/Gray quote from Twilight Mirage describes the Primary/Satellite relationship as inherently violent: "I love you, Satellite. I love us. But we are a loaded gun, and the second that you start thinking that a loaded gun is romantic is the second you stop being like us, and start being like them." bodyfrmabalcony posted a Wow cool robot meme using this quote alongside Gucci's speech to Brnine, with the text "wow!! what a romantic loaded gun!!!"Post by bodyfrmabalcony (Aug 20, 2023). Tumblr. (archive links: Wayback Machine, archive.today)
Another popular Tumblr post from this period humorously re-envisioned Brnine and Gucci's relationship in light of the romantic overtones of that canon phone conversation:
The 29th episode of PALISADE aired on Oct 15, 2023. It featured a conversation in which Gucci seemed to confess to having romantic feelings for Brnine. Following the episode's airing, the ship saw another surge in posts and fanworks. Some artists depicted the interaction itself with a decidedly shippy bente.g., 🤕🫡✨💕 Archived version by mrmarielda (Oct 20, 2023) and What should we do next? Archived version by guccigarantine (Oct 22, 2023)Honesty and Integrity by nvrlernd2-reid (Jan 28, 2024). Fan song posted on Tumblr. (archive link) while others began to post art speculating about scenarios in which Brnine and Gucci are in a relationship going forward.e.g., do u ever go on the fatt wiki and suddenly remember how brnine has set up their room Archived version by bodyfrmabalcony (Oct 22, 2023) 
That same fall, Brnine/Gucci tied with Balence for the most-requested ship in the 2023 round of Secret Samol.secret-samol (Nov 13, 2023): Drumroll Please…..🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁. Tumblr. (archive link) Balence had previously maintained its position as the most-requested ship for two years running in 2021 and 2022.
== Creator Response==
Brnine's player, Ali Acampora, is herself a Brnine/Gucci shipper. Following PALISADE episode 21 she has repeatedly referred to Gucci as her "girlfriend" during episodes of the show, even going so far as to correct another player when they described Brnine as Gucci's ex: "Hey, when did we break up? Excuse me?!"PALISADE 29: Honesty and Integrity Pt. 2 (Oct 15, 2023). Friends at the Table. (archive link) 
She has also made multiple jokey tweets about the ship. In one such tweet, she quote-retweeted dril with the caption "[insane voice] brucci", inspiring at least one fan to make fanart.brucci is real and hurts me everyday by ahcoffeebeans (Aug 19, 2023). Tumblr. (archive links: Wayback Machine, archive.today)
==Example Fanworks==
===Fanfic===
*baby put your arms around me, tell me i'm a problem Archived version by lailou. A PWP and the first Brnine/Gucci fic posted to AO3.
*high pressure days Archived version by inward_outward. A Brnine/Gucci pre-relationship fic set during the timeskip between PARTIZAN and PALISADE. This was the first Brnine/Gucci fic posted to AO3 after PALISADE episode 21 aired.
===Fanart===
*"What do you need?" by courbet-nft. Fanart depicting the phone call between Brnine and Gucci in PALISADE's 21st episode.
*"I got it in my head that you and me were like a Primary and a Satellite" by guccigarantine.“I got it in my head that you and me were like a Primary and a Satellite” by guccigarantine (Aug 16, 2023). Tumblr. (archive links: Wayback Machine, archive.today) Depicts the same scene as the above work by courbet-nft.
*How long do you think they feel cold by dancy-nrew.How long do you think they feel cold by dancy-nrew (Sep 11, 2023). Cohost. (archive link) Refers to the canon arc in which Brnine goes on a mission near the sun, which was airing when this art was posted.
*🤕🫡✨💕 by mrmarielda.🤕🫡✨💕 by mrmarielda (Oct 20, 2023). Tumblr. (archive links: Wayback Machine, archive.today) Fancomic illustrating the conversation between Brnine and Gucci from episode 29, with the artist's interpretation of what was happening visually in the scene.
=== Other ===
* Honesty and Integrity by nvrlernd2-reid. Fan song from Gucci's point of view.
==Archives and Communities==
*Kalvin Brnine | Kal'mera Broun/Gucci Garantine tag on Archive of Our Own
*Tumblr tags: Bucci, Brucci, Brnucci, Brnine x Gucci
==Other Fannish Resources==
*Relationships § Gucci Garantine section of Kalvin Brnine article on FatTWiki
*Relationships § Kal'mera Broun / Kalvin Brnine section of Gucci Garantine article on FatTWiki
==See Also==
*Balence
*Gurbalence
*Clem/Gucci
*Kalvin Brnine's polycule
==References==
Category:Non-Binary Pairings
Category:Friends at the Table Relationships