A Shy ENFJ: Chuck is an extrovert in the sense that he’s energized by being around other people - he tends to only hide away when he’s depressed. However, he’s also more quiet than extroverts are stereotyped as being. He’s fine in big crowds, but prefers a lot of socialization with a few very close friends to a big party full of strangers.

Leadership: For most of his life, Chuck would have claimed to be a follower. This was just a manifestation of his lack of self-confidence. He usually finds himself in leadership positions accidentally, out of his own aptitude for it.

Chuck’s favorite holiday is Christmas. He and Ellie formed their own little traditions when their parents left, like their Twilight Zone marathons and copious amounts of eggnog. It’s never anything extravagant, always affordable, but they take their traditions very seriously.

His least favorite holiday is St. Patrick’s Day. Usually he has work and the Green Shirts love to take advantage of the fact that there’s no green in the Nerd Herders’ uniforms. It’s a day of avoiding getting pinched and dealing with drunk customers who spilled their beer on their computer.

The Bartowski family also has their own invented holidays. These include Mother's Day in October* (the 22nd, to be exact) and Memorversary on August 18th (invented in collaboration with BrokenSpy) which is a sentimental holiday celebrating the return of Sarah's memories.

• Sarah taught Chuck ballroom dancing*

• Stephen made Chuck learn how to play the flute* - it didn’t go over well

• Chuck was in his high school production of Fiddler on the Roof, he played Perchik*

• Chuck has a guitar, a small drum, and a record player in his room*

• Chuck has a lovely singing voice, which has featured at many a karaoke night

Chuck’s great with animals and gets very affected by those animal shelter commercials. His father likes to tell a story about how, when Chuck was very little, he’d ‘save’ earthworms from the sidewalk - most were dead already, but Stephen never had the heart to tell him. Chuck loves dogs and horses, but is horribly allergic to cats. They’re appreciated from a distance, but he’s also been known to pet ones when they insist on cuddling next to him, despite increasingly itchy eyes.

As a kid, he had two dogs Peaches and Peaches II. In the post-series "Shadow of the Spy Life" verse, the Bartowskis have a small, shaggy dog named Sandworm or Sandy, for short. Sandy really, really likes to dig.

The experience of a Flash is like having the channel changed on the world around you, just for a moment. Everything vanishes and is replaced by the intel. Depending on the detail, it can feel like an incredible piercing pressure, like a migraine, combined with standing up too fast. This fades almost immediately (with the exception of when the Governor isn’t functioning or before its use).

Physical or skill Flashes produce something similar to a temporary instinct. The urge to act on them is very strong and it takes a conscious effort to stop; this is how Lester once got kicked in the face.

Downloading the prototype Intersect when he was ten served as a primer for receiving the completed version later in life. It was in no way responsible for his innate intelligence (with the exception of his exceptional test scores in his Psychology and Symbolism class) and simply prompted the creation of new neural pathways that wouldn’t have otherwise been there.

It’s the reason he was able to survive the download whereas some others (such as the Fulcrum agents who tested their Intersect on him) were overwhelmed and suffered a brain aneurysm. It’s also why he was able to ‘reboot’ rather than succumbing to it entirely.

Technically, because of this, he doesn’t need to Governor but without it the pressure from the Intersect would, in a cycle, build up and cause a ‘reboot’, which would have resulted in more hallucinations and the development of a condition most closely compared to epilepsy.

Chuck suffers from reoccurring migraines, which usually follow an excess of Flashing the day before (these soften after he starts using the Governor). As there’s not often the option to hide in bed all day, with either a Buy More shift or another mission, Chuck’s learned to cope with them.

When Stephen left in 1995*, Ellie was 17 and Chuck was 13. They hid the truth for almost three months, until after Ellie’s 18th birthday, before reporting him missing so as to avoid being separated. She was Chuck’s legal guardian for the next four years.

Because of this, Chuck’s high school years were… strange.

His father left shortly before Chuck started Freshman year and Ellie was already accepted into her undergrad program. She ended up taking night classes so she could work during the day to help support them. Chuck started tutoring some of the other kids, to try and make a bit to help her. Mostly, though, she insisted he save it for himself and that she could take care of them.

Chuck was a regular fixture at Morgan’s house, staying there when Ellie seemed overwhelmed. Ellie was always there, when he needed her - she raised him - but often there was little supervision of how he spent his days.

Mary came from a Catholic family. Stephen's an atheist. This was a point of contention between them - she'd occasionally win this ongoing battle and take the kids to church on Sunday but, particularly as she was often away for work, this was a rarity. Both Chuck and Ellie ended up agnostic. However, Ellie does go to church with Devon, on occasion, as he and his family are Christian. Chuck avoids getting dragged along whenever possible.

In high school, Chuck was one of those guys who got along with people in a lot of different cliques but never really had one group he hung around with a lot. Looking back, it was mostly just him and Morgan. He hung out with Morgan’s audio/visual club friends, and in junior and senior years with the theatre techies.

Chuck's first girlfriend and first kiss was Kayla Hart - she lived next door back in 1999, and they dated over the summer between high school and college. Her aunt , Mrs. Heditsian, lives in that apartment until 2010 - it's the one that Ellie and Awesome eventually move into.

Morgan came up with the hacker name Piranha and Chuck, finding it funny, stuck with it. It was related to his favorite hack, which was to go onto a site and drop in random photos in the most bizarre places. Often, he picked pictures of fish, as they stuck out like a sore thumb in nearly every context but weren't too inappropriate - hence the fishy hacker name.

Chuck stopped believing in Santa at 10. It was his first Christmas after his mom left and Ellie took over Santa-duty. It didn’t escape his notice that his once neatly wrapped presents from Santa - which would pile over the living room floor on Christmas morning - turned to one or two things in messy wrapping and signed, from Santa, in his sister’s handwriting. He didn’t let on that he knew, but the next year he made sure that she got presents from Santa too. They’ve kept the tradition going ever since, although eventually it got scaled down to just stockings.

During his college years, Chuck spent each summer working at a movie theater. He worked as a cashier in the box office - he preferred being up in the booth, so that he could actually watch the movies. During the semester, as a work-study student, he also had an on-campus job setting up equipment for school events.

In college, Chuck joined Gamma Delta Phi*, partially because he got in on a scholarship and his housing was through the frat, but also for that sense of community he’d not really known in high school.

Best Subjects:

• Electrical Engineering

• Calculus

• Psychology

• English Literature

• Theatre

Worst Subject: The only thing he was truly terrible at was biochemistry*. He aced almost every class in college… except for that one. He took it because he thought there would be less chance of dealing with blood in biochem than there would be in regular biology - he was right, but unfortunately biochem turned out to be mind-numbingly boring. It was like listening to Ellie recite her medical textbooks aloud.

Chuck was sent to see several therapists throughout his childhood. The first was after his mom disappeared, then again after his dad left. Both times, he blamed himself - for his mom leaving and then for being a burden to his sister when she was left to raise him.

Chuck is very sensitive to other people's emotions and has a talent for noticing small details about someone*. Seeing someone in pain distresses him terribly*. This does not, however, help with his anxiety as he has a tendency to over-read people's reactions.

Chuck has undiagnosed depressive episodes. Morgan refers to these as "going to the Dark Side" or the "dark place" - a lack of shaving and cheese puffs are generally involved*. The only time he's felt suicidal is on the day that was meant to be his graduation day.

Chuck is bisexual, but doesn't have much confidence when it comes to attraction to men... honestly he doesn't have much confidence where women are concerned either.

Back in college, Chuck’s first time with Jill was much quicker than he’d have liked - he’d imagined a romantic evening, but instead he was over at her dorm, helping her study for a biology exam and it just… happened. His first time with her was also his first time with anyone, although not hers, and he frustrated her by being too gentle. It happened, then it was over, and Jill insisted they go back to studying. After all, she had a test in the morning.

Chuck isn’t exactly the most experienced lover. He’s only ever been with three women - Jill, Hannah, and Sarah. Because of this, he has a tendency to ask questions - whether or not they like what he’s doing - and seek out affirmations throughout. This begins to fade after being with Sarah for several months, after he learns what she likes, and he becomes a bit more confident.

Chuck is a very affectionate person and thrives off of receiving affection in turn. He enjoys and needs physical contact with his loved ones, romantic and familial/platonic; there’s a lot of hugs and, with Sarah, they’ll often rest their heads or their feet in each other’s lap. The lack of affection, for whatever reason, hits him very hard and he gets touch starved very easily.

Chuck's first girlfriend and first kiss was Kayla Hart - she lived next door back in 1999, and they dated over the summer between high school and college. Her aunt , Mrs. Heditsian, lives in that apartment until 2010 - it's the one that Ellie and Awesome eventually move into.

Sarah did recover her memories, and this led to the annual celebration of her Memorversary (which started as a composite holiday for all the special occasions they missed while her memories were returning). This is celebrated on August 18th.

(Memorversary was invented in collaboration with BrokenSpy.)

Sarah’s became pregnant on the Bullet Train and contending with the pregnancy was part of what helped her and Chuck to bond again as she regained her memories. Their daughter was born October 10th, 2012, and is named Stephanie Leia Bartowski. She has dark, curl hair and brown eye like her father, but there’s a lot of her mother in her face. She’s a spitfire, just as clever as the man she was named after, geeky as her middle name promises, and brave as all those who share her last name. .

(Please be aware that Stevie is written in the context of the Shadow of the Spy Life verse, but Stevie is considered canon for this blog in any verse that comes close to canon.)

Chuck takes Stevie to Comic Con every year. One year, they even got Sarah to come along too.