middlingmay

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coming to a @blixabargelds ao3 near you

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Yo is elementary tumblr still a thing??? Im hyperfixating on it again

Have some art :)

Realised I couldnt draw Joan like, at all, decided to change that because she beautiful and she deserves better

And I did better! Not perfect, you mind, but good enough I suppose.

Rewatched no lack of void, turned to quick art trying to direct all those feelings somewhere else because that ending BREAKS me

And, of course, drew the blorbo himself a few times 🫶

Sometimes a bit more successfully.. ish...

And sometimes neither true to my style nor to sherlock...

Too lazy to devide this post, so yall get everything at once

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rewatching elementary now with the knowledge Jonny Lee Miller had started with his own sobriety and recovery whilst filming is honestly transcendent. He is so GOOD. he is gut-wrenching. The scene where Sherlock explains his sobriety feels like a leaking faucet that requires constant maintenance and offers only not to drip in return - jlm does this thing with his voice where he's on the verge of tears but bored all at once. He's wrecked by a feeling he's utterly sick to death of having. It's such a compassionate performance. On another level it is truly crazy to me that we have so many Sherlock Holmes adaptations so eager to make Sherlock an addict, but Elementary is far and away the only adaptation that does that and takes the addiction seriously. Perhaps in part because of JLM's real life recovery, but we'll never know. On a rewatch, it's a lot :')

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Elementary!Sherlock is superior because when he was angry and had to make several phone calls he dug out a rotary phone from his storage closet to be able to hang up on people with more emphasis

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As the discoverer of the species, the privilege of naming the creatures falls to me.

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“What kind of date would I be if I left you all alone, huh?” John hailed the bartender for their drinks and patted the stool next to him for Gale to perch on. “All unprotected against the wolves waiting in the wings?” Gale snorted, showing gum and teeth in the snigger John loved so much. “The kind that knows I’m not going nowhere. And doesn’t feel the need to keep an eye on me.” Freedom and liberation. Independence. Those were the dreams Gale was chasing. “That’s not what I meant,” John tugged Gale closer by his belt loops, pulled him to the edge of his stool. “I know.” Gale’s soothing hands ran up the warm heft of John’s arms. “But you like dancing. And I like watching you have a good time.” His hands slipped down John’s chest fingertips trailing over his thick belly and running along the line where his shirt met his pants. “Just…nothing below the belt.” He looked up at John through soft, golden lashes that did nothing to soften the sharpness in his eyes. “That’s for me.” John licked his lips. “Maybe…maybe just a dance or two.” Gale grinned, dipped forward and gently nipped John’s bottom lip. “Get.”

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[name] + core aesthetic

to make, search up your name and "core" in pinterest or other vibe-finder of your choice!

Thanks @amiserableseriesofevents for the tag 😊 Fun thing to wake up to today. No pressure tagging @avonne-writes @caustinen @crowthis and @jjubilee-fluff

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fin’s fic recs: little beasts series by @swifty-fox

“Forgive me Father for I have sinned. It has been fifteen years since my last confession.”

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There, half covered in shadow and the rest blessed in the muted glow of street lights stretching to their furthest reaches, Gale Cleven was half collapsed against the brick wall, with Bucky Egan pinned between the long sprawl of his legs, his back held to Gale's chest by hands pressed flat against his heart.

But it was Gale's face that stuck Alex where he stood. It wasn't a fight; that much was clear. Egan pushed back just as much as Gale pulled him in. And Gale looked...exquisite. Pained. Furrowed and harsh. Rapturous. Like the fury of Heaven hooking its chin over Bucky Egan's shoulder.

It spellbound Alex. Spellbound him so much, it took him a minute to realise what had carved that look onto Gale Cleven’s marble face in the first place.

Like they gave him orders, Alex followed Gale's eyes down. Down past Bucky's jacket fallen over his elbows. Down past the shirt rucked up at the thick of his middle. Down the open belt and popped buttons, to Egan’s hand in his own jeans, fumbling and touching.

"Slow down." Alex pressed down on his lips at the rough sound of Gale's voice. "Slow down, darlin'. I wanna see."

Yeah...I think you'll like the next chapter? 🤞

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we're so back btw

“Right now?” John asks, “Right now I want to take you into the backroom and make you come down my throat.”

He hears Gale’s throat click on the swallow, watches him toss another glance over his shoulder. Scoffing, John crowds forward until Gale’s elbow brushes his belly, lets his head fall forward until the near-invisible flyaway hairs around Gale’s ear brush the tip of his nose. The other man goes still, staring straight ahead like he was faced with a predator. 

“This is my confessional, Father,” he teases, “Nobody can see us. Just you, me, and God.” 

“He don’t need to be watchin’ this,” Gale snips, words clipped with accent. 

“Maybe he wants to,” John lets his voice rumble, still teasing his nose along the heated shell of Gale’s ear, “Maybe he’s got one hand in his holy robes working over his godly cock, watching one of his good little boys take his name in vain with a cock up his ass.”

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-The Lady of the Camellias-

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And you will not regret it, let me tell you ❤ Even beyond the fic I commissioned it for, I have this as the background on my phone. I'm going to get a print to put on my wall. It's a treat I get to enjoy forever.

ar. are your commissions open do u have a sheet i cn look at PLs

forgot some people dont know I am also an artist LOL

My prices vary depending on what you want! They can be anywhere from 70-500USD! If you'd like you can shoot me an email at rmarydougherty@gmail.com with some art pieces of mine you like and we can discuss price!

@middlingmay commissioned me recently for an art for That Ol' Devil

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Thank you for blessing us with the love song update!!! Can’t wait for the next couple chapters 🥰

thank youuuu!!! Next chapter will have a little peek into their first meeting

Their numbers were dwindling every day, and with it comes constant room shuffling to the point that John keeps most of his things packed in his footlocker even without knowing an inspection was coming. So it’s no shock to find the other cot empty when he comes back from evening mess. He takes a moment to send some well wishes up to God for the washed out recruit, plucks his latest paperback read from his footlocker and flops onto the bed to knock out a few chapters before evening classes. Hardly notices another presence enter the room until a duffel thumps down on the other cot. 

“Sorry,” says a smooth-smoke voice that John’s only heard in passing and giving correct answers in classes, “was tryin’ to not disturb you.” 

John stretches, drops his book open-mouthed on his chest and grins over at the newcomer, “Nah, should be gettin’ in gear for evening lessons anyhow.” 

Gale Cleven blinks at him, baby blues pale like a winter morning and lips that belonged more on a woman than any man in the army wrapped awkwardly around a toothpick, like he wasn’t quite used to the habit yet. The amry issued fatigues don’t fit him well, a scrawny twenty-something who– like plenty of other guys– looked like he’d never quite gotten enough food or care to thrive. Pretty though, for a man. 

Delicate wrists and lean thighs and a body that carried itself with a certain attention to itself that John usually only saw in women who were well done up in their sunday best. Like every move mattered to the utmost.

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BACKWARDS BASEBALL CAP SHIRTLESS BUCKY!!!!

(everyone assumes Gale is more reserved and innocent and then during a frat party he comments on how much he loves johns nipples and how he's going to bite them later)

I am genuinely unwell over that picture… I thought I was out of my fuckboy loving phase and yet here we are 😔🤣

Imagine Gale accidentally eating pot brownies, his wretched sweet tooth really screwing him over, and no one notices because he’s just his chill quiet usual self until John takes his shirt off while playing beer pong or flip cup or whatever. The absolute filth that comes out of his mouth has even Curt blushing and that’s when he realizes something is very very wrong and gets Gale up to John’s room asap before someone outside of their inner circle hears him.

He does not shut up the entire way and Curt is thanking all things holy he already knew all of this about his best friend’s sex life thanks to John himself or he might have actually perished on the spot. He’s still squirming a bit because it’s coming from Gale which is blasphemous and hot all at once.

He gets Gale all tucked in but the child whines and tumbles out of bed when Curt tries to leave, but thankfully John has been informed that his boyfriend lost his goddamn mind and bursts in before Curt gets accosted too much. Curt has to bunk in someone else’s room that night because his room is right next to John’s and the sounds he hears coming out of there should come with a XXX warning.

And that’s how the frat found out that the Buckies were freak4freak 🤣

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Gale's first time crying since the war started being when he first sees John with his face busted up and injured when they reunite in the Stalag

at first he can't even feel anything, doesn't know how to feel anything when he sees John walk through the gates with his head practically caved in, still looking beautiful and charming even through the blood, and it's like his brain is on a lag or something because he doesn't quite feel anything yet

but when John finally gets processed and is shoved into Gale's bunk by cruel German hands, Gale can feel his emotions well up inside of him

Gale finally cries when he insists on washing John's wounds, refuses to let him see the doc because HE needs to be the one to do it, he needs to see if John's okay, and when John winces when Gale presses a damp cloth to his eye, the dam just fucking breaks

he sobs like a child, all heaving and hiccupping and shaking as he tries to do what a Major should do, tries to help his comrades but he can't... can't fathom that John got this hurt... but he's also alive, after seeing Brady and not John enter the Stalag he had thought for sure John was dead... but he's alive, goddamnit John is alive

and John holds Gale while he sobs, arms strong around him and Gale heaves shakily into his neck, doesn't say anything which only makes Gale sob even more because John always knew what to say, always had a word of encouragement for him, and oh, how the fucking war has changed them, hasn't it?

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Queer WWI Literature

This is a very niche and limited category, so I’ve been trying to throw together a list of what I can find out there for anyone else who might also be interested. What follows are all books that contain LGBTQ+ rep of any kind, that also involve the First World War as a central theme.

Titles with an asterisk* are the ones I have personally read, and would be more than happy to talk about/answer any questions about their content/rep!

Written in the 20th Century

Alf, by Bruno Vogel (1929)

Despised and Rejected, by Rose Allatini (pseud. A.T. Fitzroy) (1918)*

Lads: Love Poetry of the Trenches, edited by Martin Taylor (1989)

The Memorial, by Christopher Isherwood (1932)

My Father and Myself, by J.R. Ackerley (1968)

The Prisoners of War: A Play in Three Acts, by J.R. Ackerley (1925)*

The Regeneration Trilogy (Regeneration, The Eye in the Door, The Ghost Road), by Pat Barker (1991, 1993, 1995)*

A Scarlet Pansy, by Robert Scully (1932)*

Strange Meeting, by Susan Hill (1976)

Written in the 21st Century

The Absolutist, by John Boyne (2011)

Across Your Dreams, by Jay Lewis Taylor (2016)

Alec, by William di Canzio (2021)

Ashthorne, by April Yates (2022)

Awfully Glad, by Charlie Cochrane (2014)

Bonds of Earth, by G.N. Chevalier (2012)*

The Boy I Love, by Marion Husband (2005)*

The Daughters of Mars, Thomas Keneally (2012)

Eleventh Hour, by Elin Gregory (2016)

The Fallen Snow, by John J. Kelley (2012)

Fighting Proud: The Untold Story of the Gay Men Who Served in Two World Wars, by Stephen Bourne (2017) – (I know I said fiction, but I’m going to leave this one here anyhow)

Flower of Iowa, by Lance Ringel (2014)*

The Great Swindle, by Pierre Lemaitre (2013)*

The Indian Clerk, by David Leavitt (2007)

The Inheritance of Solomon Farthing, by Mary Paulson-Ellis (2019) *

In Memoriam, by Alice Winn (2023)

The Lie, by Helen Dunmore (2014)

The Paying Guests, by Sarah Waters (2014)

A Pride of Poppies, short story collection published by Manifold Press (2015)

Promises Made Under Fire, by Charlie Cochrane (2013)

The Shell House, by Linda Newbery (2002)*

Spectred Isle, by K.J. Charles (2017)

The Stranger’s Child, by Alan Hollinghurst (2011)

The Warm Hands of Ghosts, by Katherine Arden (2024)

Whistling in the Dark, by Tamara Allen (2008)*

Wild with All Regrets, by Emma Deards (2023)

The World and All that it Holds, by Aleksandar Hemon (2023)

This is a dynamic list, which I will continue to update whenever I find something new. If you know of anything that isn’t on this list and needs to be, please let me know!