ship_manifesto

Title: Everything to Everybody

Author: Tristan der Tanzer
Fandom: Riptide

Pairing: Nick/Cody/Murray

Notes/Warnings: Explaining why no one gets left out of the fun aboard the Riptide, the happiest, slashiest place in the world. Spoilers for a multitude of episodes.
With much help and unending support from the able catyah, who's way better at choosing pics, and wrote some really good stories for you all!

Riptide: Everything to Everybody

Featuring Nick Ryder (dry and witty helicopter pilot), Murray Bozinsky (scientist, computer genius, and all around geek), and Cody Allen (smooth talking boating enthusiast).

All three were in the Army during the Vietnam conflict. Nick and Cody served together in country, while Murray served stateside in Special Weapons Technology. Canon is unclear as to just when and how Nick and Cody first met, but it’s generally accepted that it was somewhere in the jungles of Southeast Asia. Cody is a notoriously reluctant flier, although whether that is because, or in spite, of his service is also unclear.

The three came together for the first time post-war when Murray was convicted of assaulting a superior officer, and Nick and Cody, then in the MPs, were assigned to take him to jail. They developed a fondness for the skinny little captain (later colonel), made a stop in New Orleans where they hatched a plan to get him a new trial, and a lifelong friendship was born.

Little is known about the next eight years, except that Nick and Cody spent much of that time together, while Murray pursued his post-military career of video game design and software development. Canon begins two weeks into the life of the Riptide detective agency, when Nick and Cody, having just been beaten up by their first client, decide they need a partner. Murray, having lost most of his money and being currently on the brink of arrest (again), is happy to be rescued (again) and begin a new life aboard Cody’s yacht, Riptide (a 1939 Elco MY-54), in the role of hacker, researcher, and inventor of tiny, sneaky devices.

A telling scene in the pilot is when Nick and Cody arrive to save him from this second arrest. There’s no indication that they’ve even spoken since the trip to New Orleans eight years ago (when Cody tells Nick what he knows about Murray’s current situation, he says he read it in a magazine), yet when they knock on the door and give just their first names, he knows who they are. It’s as if they were just there yesterday. He’s surprised to see them, but it seems more like wow, what great timing than what brings you here after all these years. From the moment they decide, without question, to risk their own necks saving him and his equipment, just because it’s his, you know he’s destined to be a full partner. They never deny him anything.

There is no doubt in anyone’s mind from the very beginning that Nick and Cody are in a lasting relationship. They’re way too cute and charming to catch so few of the girls they chase, for one thing. And they’re way too close. Although, before Murray’s arrival, they do sleep at opposite ends of the boat, we assume that’s to keep the neighbors off the track. Apart from that, these guys are not subtle. There’s way too much hugging, touching, and once in a while, actual hand holding. It’s just so casual and somehow masculine that it passes without question or remark.

What is often missed by the diehard Nick/Cody fangirl, is how quickly and easily Murray fits into this. Okay, he gets Nick’s old cabin in the bow of the boat and Nick moves in with Cody. This is an obvious attempt to dodge the network censors, who would have to question why three men would be sharing one cabin. And the presence of separate bunks isn’t fooling anyone. If you can fit two into one bunk, you can fit three. (Take a moment to imagine that.) But the strongest argument is simply, how could Murray live with them and not be involved. I mean, could you?

The careful observer will see how when all three are walking together, Murray is always in the middle and both Nick and Cody touch him constantly. They have a casual attitude toward picking him up (don’t tell me you don’t know where this scene ends…),

and Cody always holds his hand or arm when they jump out of the helicopter. And, while he may be clumsy, after three years I think he could board the boat without help. But someone always stops and gives him a hand, and he always takes it. After a while, it becomes evident that Nick and Cody need it as much Murray does, if not more.

Looking after him is something they do together, almost as if he were their child, but they never actually treat him like one. Neither ever really forgets that he’s a grown man, and they often remind him, and others, of that fact. His own insecurity is his biggest obstacle in life, and Nick and Cody are quick to lend him confidence and support. They tease him more gently than they do each other (where Nick calls Cody a moron, he just smiles and shakes his head at Murray), and they don’t allow outsiders to tease him at all. (Just using the word geek can provoke a fistfight.) Protecting Murray from the world is a primary objective in a dangerous job; one that they probably wouldn’t work so hard at for a mere ‘friend’.

Murray rapidly gains insight into Nick and Cody’s private communications, and soon becomes a full participant. The purely visual communication is more between them, usually because they’re usually doing it behind Murray’s back when they don’t understand what he’s talking about. However, it’s clear that he shares the ability, based on scenes such as the kidnapping in Be True to Your School, where he thinks up a plan, communicates it to Cody with looks and a single hand gesture, and Cody passes it on to Nick.

I was very young when this show was first on, but I fell in love with Murray right away. Unpopular, smart and too sweet for his own good, he made me want to protect him, too. I didn’t understand the concept of slash, but I knew love when I saw it, and he brought out a loving, tender side to both Nick and Cody that otherwise might not have been there. They weren’t exactly hardened vets, but they could have degenerated into it without someone who both understood them and exposed them to a gentler, more morality based approach to life. When I started searching for fanfic, it was hard to find any that included Murray in the relationship, but I can’t see how it would survive without him.

Nick and Cody are both short tempered and prone to blowing up at each other, and Murray gives them a reason to keep it together. He’s a peacemaker, and doesn’t assert himself enough to cause many problems at home. And when he does, he ultimately brings them all closer together. (Also note at the end of Harmony and Grits, during the aborted packing sequence, Cody brings Murray’s clothes up from the stern cabin, when Murray is supposed to be living in the bow.)

The second season episode Boz Busters is often used against the OT3 interpretation, because Murray chooses to leave to pursue a new job opportunity. But I maintain that it’s because he didn’t know how much he would be missed. His own lack of confidence in his innate lovability could easily make him think he wasn’t really needed, and Nick and Cody’s desire to be supportive of his decision only served to confirm that in his mind. They could have said ‘stay’ and he’d have stayed, but they didn’t want to stand in his way, and he didn’t know they really wanted him. Nick and Cody decide to deliver his equipment in person, because they miss him so much after only two days, and then discover the job offer to be a kidnapping plot. They stage a daring rescue and take him home with no questions or recriminations. After that, it’s clear he understands the depth of their love and would never betray them by leaving again.

This is a pure love, utterly lacking in the common betrayals. No one cheats, no one lies, and no one leaves. Cody considers going back to an old girlfriend at one point, but he’s up front about it and Nick is supportive, because he wants his best friend to be happy. Nick even tells the girl to keep Cody if she takes him, because anything is better than seeing his heart broken again. Murray’s advice in this episode, to keep being his friend so they can pick up the pieces again when it’s over, is a rare moment of insight from the socially inept scientist, and you know that he will take care of Nick if Cody did leave them.

In this scene, from Something Fishy, we’re left wondering if Nick is smiling because Murray has finally forgiven him, or if he’s amused by the fact that Murray doesn’t mind dying so long as they’re still friends.

Every episode ends on a peaceful, if not always happy, note, and when the series ended abruptly, we were left confident that they stayed together ever after. While a lot of people see Murray as an outsider who came late and could leave early, I believe he’s smarter than that. He knows what Nick and Cody learned at least ten years before: that no one, man or woman will ever love him more, and he returns that love in every way.

This is a small fandom, with only three sites that really bear investigating:
pier56, for all things Riptide

Double Your Pleasure for adult fic of all kinds

Riptidefans which has episode guides, photos and a great collection of gen stories not found anywhere else.

Not all authors include Murray, so to fully appreciate the OT3, your best bet would be the writings of catyah, arouette, and your humble servant,little_tristan, der Tanzer. Some of my favorites are:

Ways to Man series by Arouette (Friendly BDSM)
Four TIme Nick Didn't Tell Murray the Truth and One Time That He Did by Catyah(Insight into characters and episodes)

Metamopha Hiss by Catyah (Exploring the funloving, silly side, while staying in character.)

Sharks by Tanzer (Pre-slash, sort of.)

Peaceful the Knives series by Tanzer (21 drabbles showing how a couple becomes a threesome.)