#Credit to my girlfriend for the pun

[camping-with-monsters]

who is this sassy, lost child?

[sanaexus]

social's as yukimiya's girlfriend

-liked by megubachi, otoya.eita and 123.56k others

yourusername: i can't see i'm bliind BLIIIIND BLIIIIND (pun intended)

tagged: yukimiya.kenyu

oliver.aiku: THE CAPTION HELP FOUL ASF 😭😭 ↳yourusername: BITCH YOU NOW I'M SEXY ↳megubachi: UH DON'T CALL JUST TEXT ME ↳chigi.who: BITCHES SLOW CAN GET ON MY SPEED ↳kuniisuke: THEY STARE AT ME CAUSE THEY KNOW I'M THE ↳rin.itoshi: I-T-G-I-R-L ↳karasu_tabito: ok what the fuck is up with this edgelord ain't no fucking way he typed that ↳yourusername: you're right he didn't i did he went to let out expired water from his wonka ↳reo.miikage: what 💀 ↳hiyori: piss she meant piss

↳yourusername: SAME THING ↳nikkoki: are we going to ignore the original comment? ↳nikkoki: ok yeah ignore me too

yukimiya.kenyu: okay now who the fuck edited that 2nd image better sleep with one eye open ↳oliver.aiku: it won't matter if you sleep with both of your eyes open because you're blind anyways ↳yourusername: HEY DONR BULLY MY BF 🤬🤬🗣🗣🐺🐺ONLY I CAN BULLY MY POOKIE WOOKIE DOOKIE CUTE PATOOTIE APPLE HONEY SUGAR MELON PLUM PIE 10PC CHICKEN MCNUGGETS ↳yukimiya.kenyu: sigh why do i like you ↳yourusername: YOU DONR LOVE ME 🙁🙁☹☹ ↳megubachi: YOU MADE HER SAD NOW WOWOWOW ↳yukimiya.kenyu: no i'm sorry i'll let you paint my nails ↳yourusername: YIPPEE TY BACHIRA ILY 😘😘 ↳megubachi: ILYT POOKS 😘😘

isaichii: hear me out MAYBE just MAyBE giving me picture credits for the first one would be nice. a fucking dog nearly pissed on my show bc of y'all ↳yourusername: AND?? I NEARLY DIED BC THAT HOE IS A BLIND BITCH AND WALKED STRAIGHT INTO A BUS ↳yukimiya.kenyu: BRo?? DONR BLAME IT ALL ON ME ↳yourusername: I DIDN'T EVEN TAKE YOUR NAME WHY ARE YOU THINKING IM TALKING AB U ↳yukimiya.kenyu: BC OF THE FACT YOU CALLED ME A HOE AND A BLIND BITCH AND I WAS THE ONE WHO WALKED STRAIGHT INTO A BUS AND WAS THE ONLY OTHER PERSON IN THE PICTURE UNLESS YOU HAVE A SIDECHICK ↳itoshi_sae: so you admit you're a hoe who's a blind bitch? 💀 ↳yukimya.kenyu: what

user1: jokes aside they're so cute (i fucking hate couples) ↳yourusername: ty pooks (ikr same couples are so cringe imagine not being single) ↳yukimiya.kenyu: w h a t . ↳yukimiya.kenyu: WE'VE BEEN TOGETHER FOR LIKE A YEAR?? ↳yourusername: what idk who u are :x ↳nagi.seishiro: srop txting like me :x ↳yourusername: fuck off

-liked by reo.miikage, julian.loki and 122.8k others

yukimiya.kenyu: my fav side chick xoxo

tagged: yourusername

megubachi: NO WAY BRO REALLY SAID THAT ↳yourusername: mom told me honesty is the best policy 🤷‍♀️ (also you're right he didn't it write the caption i did i stole his phone) ↳chigi.who: yes girl gaslight gatekeep girlboss ↳yukimiya.kenyu: AND WHY ARE YOU GUYS ENCOURAGING HER?? ↳yourusername: bc has balls = no opinion /j ↳yukimiya.kenyu: i see how it is ↳shiidoryu: BALLS MENTIONED RAHHHH 🤬🤬🐺🐺🗣🗣‼‼💯💯😎😎🔫🔫💣💣🔥🔥🔛🔝 ↳hiyori: who let this creature out

user2: my roman empire is how their faces fit together ↳julian.loki: that looks so fucking weird when you write it but ok ↳yourusername: SROP BEING A HATER JS BC U DON'T PULL ↳julian.loki: I DO PULL TFYM 🤬🤬🐺🐺I'M THE ALPHAEST ALPHA ↳yoursername: NO YOU DON'T YOU'RE ALMOST ALWAYS SURROUNED BY SHIRTLESS SWEATY BALL LOVING MEN WHO HAVE "MONSTERS" IN THEM ↳hiyori: soccer players just say soccer players please ↳mikka.kaiser: FOOTBaLL PLAYERS* ↳yukimiya.kenyu: ignoring these dried pieces of celery tysm me n her are meant to be ↳yoursername: OMGOMGOMG THE KUYIMIYA YENYU WANTS ME 😍😍🙀🙀 ↳shoei.barou: kukyimiya yenyu 💀 ↳yourusername: SHUR UP 🙁🙁

yukimiya.kenyu: i'll ignore the caption AND YOU STEALING MY PHONE for now but aside from that have i told you look very pretty ↳yourusername: but you can't even see? 🧍‍♀️ ↳shiidoryu: Y/N TAKE THE FUCKING COMPLIMENT WHEN SUCH A GORGEOUS MAN COMPLIMENTS YOU, YOU ACCEPT IT ↳shiidoryu: also real you can't even see ↳yukimiy.kenyu: i will actually feed you both toilet water ↳yourusername: you're gonna feed me? 🥺 ↳shiidoryu: you're gonna feed us? 🥺 ↳yourusername: FUCK OFF HE'S MY BF?? ↳shiidoryu: tell sae to unblock me and i'll leave him alone ↳itoshi_sae: don't even think about dming me ab this

-liked by nikkoki, alexis.ness and 134.2k others

yourusername: right now, right now baby, i don't care about the other summer (kenyu is the rat, rat is kenyu)

tagged: yukimiya.kenyu

yukimiya.kenyu: first of all i am not your crush i'm your bf?? second of all I DO NOT LOOK LIKE A RAT ↳kuniisuke: seems like something a rat face would say ↳megubachi: no bc y/n said it so it's canon ↳yourusername: still my real one fr ↳megubachi: twins ↳isaichii: bsdhira hiw ciulf yoi do tijs to me ↳rin.itoshi: some please translate that AGAIN ↳yourusername: "bachira how could you do this to me" ↳megubachi: sorry shnookums ↳isaichii: sorry guys kaiser got out of his cage (again) and started chasing me like a duck (again) ↳mikka.kaiser: you still haven't come to papa ↳reo.miikage: again what the fuck?

user2: the moment my f1 addicted brain saw the second picture it instantly said "i have never looked so good" ↳hiyori: LECLERC 🔛🔝 ↳yoursername: NAHH VERSTAPPEN ALL THE WAY🔛🔝 ↳yukimiya.kenyu: said it before and i'll say it again HAMILTON DOMINATION 🔛🔝 ↳julian.loki: hear me the fuck out. logan sargeant 🔥🔥🐺🐺 ↳shiidoryu: RAHHHH WHATS A KILOMETER 🔫🔫💣💣💯💯‼‼😎😎🐺🐺🔛🔝 ↳rin.itoshi: please seek help

mikka.kaiser: NEW JEANS MENTIONED RAHHHHHHH ↳mikka.kaiser: and we can go high 말해봐 yeah 느껴봐 mm-mm ↳alexis.ness: take him to the sky you know, i hype you, boy ↳mikka.kaiser: i raised you well, good boy ↳itoshi_sae: please be kinky, disgusting and possibly gay somewhere else ↳mikka.kaiser: we're not gay ↳alexis.ness: we're not?

yukimiya.kenyu: i see a drop dead gorgeous person right there ↳yourusername: awww ily 🥺🥺 ↳yukimiya.kenyu: oh look you're there too ↳oliver.aiku: LMFAO

nikkoki: jokes aside the first picture is so cute ↳yourusername: thank you 👉👈😝

aryu.jubei: did he try yanking your hair (send hair care routine pls) ↳yourusername: no he didn't SUPRISNGLY (ofc pooks) ↳kuniisuke: dammit ↳yourusername: WHY DO YOU WANT ME HURT SO BAD 🙁🙁 ↳rin.itoshi: surpisngly* ↳shiidoryu: YOU GOT IR WRONG TOO LMFAO

HI CHAT!!111!11 I KNOW I WAS SUPPOSED TO POST THIS LIKE A CENTURY AGO BUT ITS FINE (i had school and i came home at like 5 and i had volleyball and track practice and i had to study bc i have exams every week pls save me also i had parent teacher conference and i didn't get cooked) HAPPY SATURDAY GAYS!🐺🐺

also if you took offense to any jokes i'm sorry i really don't mean any of it. i made references to some previous posts bc why not and i love f1 jokes so 😝😝

[twig-tea]

Twig's GL Recs for March-July 2024

[Here’s my rec list for GLs through to Feb 2024 ]

Fake Buddies Korean, YouTube, 7 episodes (one ep BL, one ep GL, one ep crossover, and then 2 more BL prequel eps and two more GL prequel episodes), approx 45 minutes when compiled, Apr 27-Jun 28 2024

At first this was a little three-part series in which it turns out both members of the couple are secretly in a homosexual relationship with their best friends and using the other as a beard. Lots of comedy of errors and puns (“I like lilies better than roses”) as the characters try to make each other understand the situation they’re in. The backstory prequels were really cute friends to lovers, and it was really nice to see these couples land in solidarity! This series is short and cute and pure fluff.  

To the X Who Hated Me: YunO x Jane Korean, YouTube, 3 episodes ~6 mins each, aired May 22-29 [microseries complete, X who hated me series may be ongoing]

When the previous 2-ep miniseries under this umbrella landed (which I wrote about here: ), I had no idea it was going to be a series of microseries! These are all short but good second chance romances. This one has a “reality”-show-within-a-show format, with a frustrating misunderstanding, and a good kiss. Be sure to always watch past the credits for this series! 

You Are My Star, Thai, YouTube, 1ep 37 mins (aired as 3 12-min eps and then they compiled into this one short film), May 18 [complete]

This was a cute Thai GL that I enjoyed mostly because of the very clear cribbing of specific scenes from recent BLs. It was mostly trope-y (both cuteness and drama), with good kissing. See if you can spot the BL references.

Xiao Xiang Yi Jiu, Chinese, YouTube, 7 episodes 2 mins each, May 20-June 3 [complete]

This little microseries is about a girl becoming an intern for her crush/idol. Happy ending, and they do become explicitly girlfriends! No kiss because censorship.

Lonely Girls Korean, YouTube, 4 episodes 8 minutes each (32 mins compiled) May 14 [complete]

This is about a couple that struggles with the closet, lack of communication, and how to make their relationship last in the face of uncertainty. Also there’s good kisses. SukFilm have done other series before and since, but this is my fave GL of theirs so far. 

The Two of Us Deep Night spinoff, Thai, YouTube, 6 episodes, 15 mins each, airing May 30-July 4 [complete]

I was so confused at first, because I didn’t realize this was supposed to be their story during the events of Deep Night that we didn’t get to see. I was excited about this one but bummed that we started the miniseries with a health scare and then a threat by Meiji to marry some guy just to make Freya jealous? I found it a little frustrating that two women in their 40s could not be honest with each other. The couple is so cute, but the storytelling is not, so take this rec with a grain of salt. Still, it’s so nice to see women in their 40s being super cute and in love in between the drama so I’m keeping it on this list! I am very glad to have gotten the dance sequence and the bath sequence. 

******

And of course currently airing right now so take with a grain of salt because i don’t yet know how they end, but 

Ayaka is in Love with Hiroko Japanese, 8 episodes, 25 mins, airing July 4- August 22 [ongoing]

This is a laugh-out-loud funny office comedy in which Akaya flirts desperately with her senior colleague at work, Hiorko, who then spends her evenings complaining to her friends at the lesbian bar about oblivious straights who don’t understand the meaning of what they say. I've written a little more about this show here. It is my favourite GL of the year so far and if it stays this good is on its way to being one of my favourites of all time!

The Secret of Us Thai, 8 episodes, 50 mins each, airing June 24-August 15 [ongoing]

This series starts with the cutest episode of all time and then devolves quickly into serious drama lol but it did a good job avoiding pure “noble idiocy” so I’m hopeful it will continue to hold up. As of ep3 things are happening that I did not expect, so I’m really curious how this one will go. In the meantime, it is also worth noting that these actresses are excellent kissers.

[UPDATE: Of these two that were airing, I ended up thinking I was going to have to retract for The Secret of Us but instead retracted for Ayaka Is In Love With Hiroko. I had way more fun with Ayaka week to week but the ending was really disappointing; The Secret of Us in contrast nailed the ending. I wrote about it a bit here. ]

[visualtaehyun]

Back on my bullshit! Silly vampire romcom edition 🧛‍♂️🩸

Disclaimer: not a native Thai speaker, still learning 🙏

The title

Pun พัน /phan/ means 'thousand' so the English title is a fucking pun on the character names/ship name which I only realized because of MDL: 1000 Years Old -> 1000YO -> PunYo (พันโย)

And the Thai title อายุมั่นขวัญยืน /aa yoo man khwan yeuun/ means 'long life'!

Master

In the intro, every character and every single other credited person or group (yes, the cat too lol) is presented as ท่าน (...) /taan .../ - probably because that's how Pun addresses Yo:

กลิ่นท่านหอมเหลือเกิน /glin taan haawm leuua geern/ = Your scent is too good.

Subbing ท่าน /taan/ as Master that one time is a nice choice because it can be both a pronoun and a title and it's very formal, polite and respectful. It's mostly used for someone of high authority or prestige or when publicly addressing an audience (like- Ladies and Gentlemen) or when speaking to an important customer, for example. So I'm a bit surprised that Yo hasn't commented at all on Pun's pronoun choice lmao

Whomst

She's just there?? Not talking??? Like all the time! My headcanon right now is that she's Pak's girlfriend, based entirely on how she keeps sitting next to her and that she fed her fruit in the car.

Whomst 2: Electric Boogaloo

I dub thee Mystery Lady, you funky colorful little gumball you

The landlady

Almost bulldozes right into Yo, clearly pushes him into the haunted apartment and funniest of all (to me at least lol)

เย็ดแม่มัน /yet maae man/ = "Fuck its mother" or "Motherfucker, it-"

The one time a swear is faithfully subbed and also the only time I've ever heard anyone swear to this extent in a Thai show 😂 Caught me so off-guard that I had to pause for air djdhsjds

[noneedtoamputate]

Band of Brothers Olympics AU - Chapter One

I don't have a great title for this yet. I was thinking about The Vault in Our Stars, a pun on another Shakespeare quote to go along with Band of Brothers. If you have any ideas, please let me know.

This came out of my Olympic obesession, and I've tried to include a lot of details that came out of the Paris games in the fic.

I can't thank @mercurygray enough for helping me flesh out this story and providing some much-needed details. She deserves co-author credit on this chapter, but any mistakes or sections that don't work are on me. And thanks to @shoshiwrites for beta-reading and telling me it was a fun read. That's exactly what I am going for with this fic.

Hope you all enjoy!

Tuesday, July 23, 2024

Five days before Opening Ceremony

Four of the five members of the United States men’s gymnastics team lounged in the larger of the two bedrooms in their Olympic Village suite after their designated practice time. Harry Welsh texted his girlfriend, Kitty Grogan, a member of the U.S. women’s gymnastics team and America’s current sweetheart. High bar specialist George Luz balanced a plate of French baked goods on his lap. Team himbo Floyd Talbert read the newest issue of Field and Stream. Carwood Lipton, the youngest member of the squad, sat on the floor doing a v-stretch. 

“My mattress here is worse than the one in my dorm room,” Carwood lamented, grabbing his foot and reaching his head to his knee.

“Yes, but it’s environmentally friendly,” Harry pointed out without looking up from typing. “You can save the world or save your back, but not both.”

“Fuck, this pain au chocolat is good,” George said, his mouth full and his pronunciation terrible.

“You don’t say the last letter of the word,” Tab explained, hardly looking up from his magazine. 

“Whatever.” George considered the pastry again. “I think I’m going to record a review and put it on TikTok.”

“You know French?” Carwood asked Tab. It wasn’t impossible, but Carwood didn’t take Tab as the … cultured type. He knew Dick and Harry pretty well - he was a few years behing them at Penn State, after all - but he was still getting to know George and Tab. Both men liked to joke, although their senses of humor worked in different ways - in strong contrast to Dick, who didn’t really go for jokes when it came to his team and his sport. 

“Kinda. I’ve been doing twenty minutes of Duolingo a day for the past two months. I’m up to Level Six,” Tab explained proudly.

Harry laughed and shook his head. “And here I was thinking the only French Tab knew was mènage à trois.”

“I resent that you think that low of me, Harry - and that’s an important phrase,” Talbert defended, finally looking up from his reading. “Speaking of, any chance Kitty introduces us to her teammates?”

Harry put his phone down. “Kitty’s already told them all about you. And if that didn’t scare them off, she threatened  that if they so much as shook your hand, she’d send their names to the doping agency and they’d have to take extra urine tests.” 

“Shit, I wouldn’t cross Kitty. She scares the hell out of me.” George admitted, brushing crumbs off his chin. 

“If only the American public knew about the real Kitty Grogan,” Carwood agreed. Harry’s girlfriend had worked hard for the America’s Sweetheart nickname, but George was right. Her tiny frame and blond curls hid a ruthless sense of humor, a deceptively strong arm, and a very, very strong protective urge for the other women on her team. (Necessary equipment, she would have said.)

“Well, there’s lots of other women in the Olympic Village,” Tab said, unbothered and unashamed. “And I’ll need some more condoms, too, since someone -” he glared at George - “wouldn’t share.”

“Christ, will you let it go? Harry asked for mine first. And everyone got five to start with. If you need more than that, walk your lazy ass downstairs to the clinic. They have more there for the taking.”

The suite door opened, and team captain Dick Winters walked into the room.

“Hey, have you had any of these, Dick?” George asked, gesturing to the remnant of croissant on the table. “They’re really good.”

Dick looked at the pastry like George had just suggested he eat something toxic, and gave a brief shake of his head.“I just got through talking with Coach Taylor, and he was really happy with the way practice went this morning.”

“Well, that’s why I came to France. To make Coach Taylor happy.” Harry rolled his eyes. He wasn’t on the best of terms with the national team coach, and he wasn’t afraid of letting everyone know it. 

“Hey, Tab, you should ask Dick!” George suggested. 

“Ask me what?” Dick looked over Tab’s way.

“Can I have the condoms that came in your welcome pack? George already gave his to Harry.” Tab still sounded put out.

Dick looked even more offended about this than he had about the chocolate croissant. “No!” 

“Why? Did you use them already?” Tab sat up and looked at Dick, interested in his answer.

“No!” Dick shouted again, even louder this time. “And nobody is no going to need the condoms, because nobody on this team is going to have sex until we’re done with the competition.”

“What?” Tab asked incredulously. “There are 5,000 women here. And 5,000 men, if that’s your thing. Ten thousand people, all of us at the peak of our physical well being. And you want us to refrain from doing anything that requires a condom for a week?”

Dick sighed, more than a little agitated he had to explain this to his teammates. “We have a chance to do something really special here. I know it's a long shot, but we could medal. It would be huge for men’s gymnastics back home. We owe it to ourselves and our sport to do our best, and that means focusing. Abstaining for a week isn’t going to kill anybody.”

Harry shook his head. “Look Dick, I understand what you’re saying, but you know how superstitious I am, and I always sleep with Kitty before a big meet. She does this thing where … ”

“STOP!” interrupted Dick, eyes closed in pain. “Nobody is interested in what you were about to say.”

“I am,” Tab answered honestly, and George laughed.

“Look, I didn’t come up here to talk about condoms,” Dick said, desperately wanting to change the subject. “I’ve been thinking we should skip the opening ceremonies.”

The rest of the team stared at him.

Dick sighed before starting again. “I know we’ve all been looking forward to it, but it’s only two days before our qualification round, and we’ll be on our feet and it will throw off our sleep schedule.”

“C’mon, Dick. It’s one night,” George said.

“I know it’s not a big deal for you, being in just one event,” Dick said, sounding judgmental. 

George sat up straighter. “Yeah, I only won the silver medal at last year’s world championships for the high bar. I have no idea how I even got picked for the Olympic team, because that’s not a big deal.”

The three other teammates turned their heads back and forth, following the heated exchange.

Dick grimaced. “That didn’t come out the right way, George. I’m sorry. But you have to see my point. You get it, don’t you, Carwood?”

Everyone looked at Carwood. 

Carwood looked up to Dick, both as a gymnast and a person, so he was slow to voice his dissent. Truthfully, he’d been looking forward to the ceremony quite a bit, and the idea of not going for something like a sleep schedule sounded … well, lame.  “I want to do well, too, Dick, but there are so many things about the games that we don’t want to miss out on. The opening ceremonies, meeting new people …”

“Mènage à trois,” Harry added with a huge grin, and Tab threw the magazine his way. 

“You know what, forget it,” Dick said, clearly agitated. “Let’s just treat this like one big frat party and forget about representing our country and bringing home a medal.” He walked out of the room.

“Aw, Dick, come on!” he heard Harry call out to him, but he didn’t respond. He’d shared his feelings with his team, and they’d shared theirs. 

How was a captain supposed to lead when his team didn’t want to be led?

-

Dick decided to take his frustration out in the weight room, and then he got a massage. Back in the locker room, he checked his phone and saw Harry had messaged him.

Harry: Hey, you okay? We’re going to grab dinner, but I understand if you need to cool off.

Harry: I don’t think that conversation went the way anyone wanted it to.

Harry: They’re all good guys and they care a lot, but we all need a little fun, too.

Harry: You don’t have to be perfect, Dick. You’re already a good leader.

Harry: You know I love you, man. Kitty says she loves you, too (but not like she loves me).

Dick smiled briefly at the words on the screen. Harry was more than just a long time teammate. He’d been his freshman year roommate, one of the first friends he’d made at Penn State, and the guy on the team who understood him the best. They had shared wins and losses and ups and downs. Dick was even there the first time Harry laid eyes on Kitty, and she quickly became one of Dick’s people, too.

Thanks. Dick texted back. Grabbing dinner with Lew. Appreciate the invite, though. I’ll catch you before lights out.

He would need to apologize to them all later - he could see that now. Sometimes he forgot that other people saw the world a little differently than he did. But that was part of being a leader, too. 

It’s good to have people who care about you, he thought.

-

An hour later, Dick took the Metro and walked a few blocks to meet team sponsor Lew Nixon at a bistro. A second-generation tech titan, Lew and his sister, Blanche, needed a way for their father’s software company to save face after Stan’s headline-making fourth divorce. Blanche suggested adopting two Olympic teams that needed financial support and didn’t mind the backing of NixWorks, despite the reputation of its founder. 

So Lew met with men’s gymnastics, promising free housing for its national team members, as well as covering travel expenses and extensive social media coverage. Blanche did the same with the women’s rugby team, and both teams were happy to accept. 

Nix hated athletics - his idea of weight training was 12 ounce curls - and Dick had nothing in common with the San Francisco tech bro. But in spite of their differences - or maybe because of them - the two had become close friends during the past year. Dick appreciated having someone he could talk to outside of the gymnastics bubble he placed himself in leading up to the games. 

Dick spotted Lew sitting at a table for two on the outdoor patio, looking at his phone, a glass of red wine already in front him. 

“Dick!” Lew said, greeting him a little too loudly. Dick thought the glass of wine may not have been Lew’s first of the evening. 

“Have you seen the new dating app we created for the Olympians?” Lew turned his phone around so Dick could see it.

“Yeah. Light My Fire. Great name,” Dick said.

“I know, right?” Lew missed the sarcasm from Dick. “You know, because the torch and everything.”

“I get it,” said Dick.

“And my dad is a huge Jim Morrison fan. Once I told him the idea and the name, he had the programmers start working on it right away.” The waiter came over to go over the specials and take Dick’s drink order. Lew translated and answered back in perfect French.

“Dick, it wouldn’t kill you to try some new things while you’re here,” Lew said, considering his friend over the candle in the middle of the table.

“I don’t like sparkling water. I just want tap. And what’s wrong with ranch dressing?”

Lew tried to hold in his smile.“They call it still water here, Dick. And nothing is wrong with ranch dressing ... if you’re in State College, Pennsylvania. But you happen to be in the culinary capital of the world, and I’m going to let you in on a little secret,” Lew said conspiratorially, leaning a bit closer to Dick across the table. “Champagne vinaigrette won’t get you drunk.”

Dick rolled his eyes. 

Over the meal - Lew had steak frites, rare, and another glass of what Dick learned was Bordeaux, while Dick stuck to water, still, and a grilled chicken salad - Dick shared what had conspired earlier in the day. Dick would have never guessed it when they first met, but Lew was a good listener, always taking in facts and asking pertinent questions. 

Lew took a long sip of wine before sharing his conclusion.

“Listen, I know you don’t have beaches in Pennsylvania, but I’m sure you’ve held sand too tightly before,” Lew said. “I don’t think I need to tell you it usually doesn’t work.”

Dick couldn’t help but laugh. Lew was right.

“I’ve seen all five of you work hard, make sacrifices. You’re all ready for this. Give them a little space, a little freedom. This thing only happens every four years - enjoy it a little!” 

Dick nodded.

When he got back to the room, the team was half-watching an action movie dubbed in English on the television while Kitty was recording George eating another one of those chocolate pastries. Several sets of eyes swung to him and the door as he came in, just as quickly going back to the movie.

He looked down at his feet for a moment. “I owe you all an apology. I came on a little strong earlier, and I’m sorry. I’ve … got a lot on my mind at the moment.” The group continued to watch the movie, but George’s frown had softened a little.

“Here’s the deal,” Dick said in such a way that everyone turned around and stared at him intently. “We’re going to work like hell for the next two days. Then we’ll go to the opening ceremonies. And then we’ll kick some ass.”

His teammates look stunned. They never heard him swear once before, let alone twice in one speech. 

“Fuck yeah,” George answered back, smiling.

“Fuck yeah,” Harry and Tab said at the same time.

Carwood took his time. He didn’t swear much, either. “Fuck yeah,” he finally said, and Harry patted him on the back.

As Kitty recorded the moment on George’s phone for posterity, she knew this group was something special. 

[funishment-time]

long DR post of the day

everyone is free to have their own DR Opinions forever, but it hurts my heart a bit when people say Kodaka hates or favors X character because half the time it's...Patently Wrong. i mean objectively.

like, as an example per the DR1 art book, Hifumi's his (and Komatsuzaki's) absolute favorite, hands down. i don't expect everyone to go looking for the fan translations of the art books or anything but i also wouldn't seriously say something like "yeah so i know Hifumi's just there to be the Fat Comic Relief that no one likes" without doing a bit of research first. that is not a thesis that holds

Kodaka created all these characters with love by his own admission. these are His Blorbos and he is the main person directing all the writing on them. (seriously. go look up the DR credit rolls on the main franchise games. this isn't a team in a board room Doing Things For Marketing, this is him overseeing people teasing out his outline with his little guys.)

anyway. to him, they are all main characters: i'm not making shit up and assuming something about a Random Middle Aged Japanese Guy, this is fact. see his BlueSky stuff, see the fact that he does birthday Tweets in-character for almost every character still every year, or see his lecture from 10ish years ago on character creation. (it's online, and translated as it was done here in America. i'll have to find the link and add a reblog when i do)

now: this doesn't mean the characters' writing isn't XYZ Problematic Thing in execution, no pun intended. but in terms of intent, sometimes the fans' assumptions aren't right, esp if it's kind of a rude one.

another example: the one that makes me the most sad is when folks genuinely assume Kaede was there just to be a sexist girl death in service to Shuichi's character development and nothing more. in execution? we can debate all day 'n' night about it. that's fine, that's worthy of essays. as for intent? Kodaka STILL gets emotional when her birthday trends. her Japanese VA was his friend (source: V3 artbook), was Junko's stage show actress, and unfortunately committed suicide in 2021. let's not contribute to the attitudes of the folks that spam him demanding he apologize for murdering Shuichi's girlfriend for his Man Pain, huh?

i fall victim to making Serious Assumptions about creators too! no one's perfect! but i think we could all stand to see if our initial theses actually hold first

[sadly-never-after]

Music in the EAH Universe and who listens to them Part 6.

This is just an excuse to try to make music puns and share music I think the characters would listen to. (Some of these are even canon by the books!) I don't even like a majority of these musicians but I am fully convinced of my choices here. I marked in colours the one that are canonically part of the EAH Universe.

Since Tumblr only allows 100 inline links for a post I have to make different parts.

Part 1 (Alistair, Apple, Ashlynn, Blondie, Briar, Bunny)

Part 2 (Cupid, Cedar, Cerise, Chase, Courtly, Daring)

Part 3 (Darling, Dexter, Duchess, Farrah, Faybelle, Ginger)

Part 4 (Holly, Hopper, Humphrey, Hunter, Jillian, Justine)

Part 5 (Kitty, Lizzie, Maddie, Meeshell, Melody, Nina)

Part 6 (Poppy, Ramona, Raven, Rosabella, Sparrow, Tucker)

(❀❛ ֊ ❛„)♡-ˋˏ✄┈┈┈┈☁︎‎‎‧₊˚ Poppy O'Hair (❀❛ ֊ ❛„)♡-ˋˏ✄┈┈┈┈☁︎‎‎‧₊˚

Mayhem! in the Ballroom (Emperor's New Clothes, Victorious, She Had The World)

Lady Yaga (Born this way, Alejandro, Bad Romance)

Katy Fairy (Firework, Part of Me, Roar)

April Vineyard (Girlfriend, Sk8er Boi (if you guys listen to the entire song instead of only the first verses you'll understand), I Fell In Love With The Devil)

Truelove (Raspberry, Tongue Tied, Schoolboy)

·:¨༺ ♱🐺♱ ༻¨:· Ramona Badwolf ·:¨༺ ♱🐺♱ ༻¨:·

Rabbit Hole (Jennifer's Body, Credit In The Straight World, Northern Star)

Corset Suffocation (Feels Blind, Rebel Girl, Alien She)

Incandescence (Bring Me To Life, Everybody's Fool, Sweet Sacrifice)

Fall Out Book (Centuries, I Don't Care, Fake Out)

Writtin Park (Bleed It Out, Burning in the Skies, Runaway)

⋆˖⁺‧₊☽🔮☾₊‧⁺˖⋆ Raven Queen ⋆˖⁺‧₊☽🔮☾₊‧⁺˖⋆

Taylor Quick (Anti-Hero, Enchanted, You're On Your Own Kid)

Royale (Royals, 400 Lux, Ladder Song)

Lady Yaga (Bloody Mary, Monster, Government Hooker)

I DONT KNOW HOW BUT THEY CURSED ME (Mad IQs, New Invention, Absinthe)

Spellannah Joffe (Die Your Daughter, Nobody Wants Me Tonight, My Dog Died)

༉‧₊˚🕯️🥀❀༉‧₊˚. Rosabella Beauty ༉‧₊˚🕯️🥀❀༉‧₊˚.

Penelorepe Scott (Rät, Dead girls, American Healthcare)

Bob Dalan-a-Dale (Blowin' in the wind, The Times They Are A-Changing, A Hard Rain's A Gonna Fall)

Joan Bard (We Shall Overcome, Diamonds & Rust, Girl of Constant Sorrow)

Mirra Simone (Sinnerman, Mississippi Goddam, Revolution)

Sam Book (A Change is gonna come, Mean Old World, Jesus gave me water)

🎸⋆⭒˚｡⋆♪ °˖��જ⁀➴ Sparrow Hood 🎸⋆⭒˚｡⋆♪ °˖➴જ⁀➴

Knight Chloe (Too Close, Hooves, Michelle)

Black Rebel Carriage Club (Beat the Devil's Tattoo, American X, Weapon of Choice)

Wolf Killer Kids (Hang Me Up To Dry, First, Robbers)

The Legacy Keys (Lonely Boy, Weight of love, Little Black Submarines)

Prince Ferdinand (Take Me Out, Love Illumination, Lazy Boy)

Wands N' Roses (Paradise City, Sympathy for the devil, Sweet Child O' Mine)

He gets an extra one because the Knight Chloe ones are all very shippy.

✩°｡ ⋆⸜ 🎧✮🎸⋆⭒˚｡⋆ Tucker ✩°｡ ⋆⸜ 🎧✮🎸⋆⭒˚｡⋆

Giantz (Feel Good Inc., Kids With Guns, Momentary Bliss)

The Spells (Little Girl, Is This It?, The Adults Are Talking)

The Legacy Keys (Fever, Go, Psychotic Girl)

Black Rebel Carriage Club (Red Eyes And Tears, Going Under, Restless Sinner)

Prince Ferdinand (The Dark of the Matinee, Curious, Billy Goodbye)

You are trapped on an eight-hour long road trip with these guys and you have to give one of them the aux chord.

[lildreamycyclone]

My Banana Pie

(Spive Fluff)

WARNING: TEETH ROT

"So, we got everything we need, Bivey?" Split tied up her yellow spotty apron, then looked at Bive, who struggled with a heavy bag of flour. The centaur chuckled. "Phew! T-That's HUGE, Splitsy!" Bive huffed, putting the bag on the kitchen table. She wiped the sweat from her fuzzy forehead. "Oh, Bivey!" Split giggled, caressing Bive's face, and gave her a soft little kiss on the temple. Then, she took a big book from the cupboard, and turned it on the right page. "There we go!" She said, clapping her hands and licking her lips in appetite. "Oh, i 'loaf' mommy's banana pie!"

"First, we need some eggs!" Split said, putting the bowl on the table. Bive rushed to the fridge, and took out a carton of eggs with her shaky hands. She trotted back to Split, but she tripped, making one egg fall and crack on the tiled floor. "S-Sorry.." she whimpered as quietly as a mouse, counting rest of the eggs. "Don't worry, Bivey! You still did an egg-celent job!" Split giggled warmly, wiping away the golden splat with a cloth tissue. Then she started gently cracking other eggs, which plopped into the bowl as golden yolk. "I-I need to ask you something…" Bive peeked from Split's shoulder, watching her girlfriend's paws doing the work. "W-Why do you add eggs to the pie crust, if it's not even necessary?.." "Oh! It makes it richer and more delicate, so it makes it 'batter'!" Split answered, chuckling at her own silly pun. Bive then poured some flour, a big white dust making her sneze very loudly. She sniffled, and looked at Split, who smiled softly. The centaur cutted a small chunk of butter, before adding it to the bowl. "Togheter is 'butter'! Especially with my dearest girlfriend!" she said, making Bive blush a tiny bit. After adding a teaspoon of sugar and salt, Split grabbed a whisk and started carefully stiring the dough. Bive watched it, hugging Split from behind and nuzzling on her shoulder. She looked like a curious black cat. "Your turn, Bivey!" Split said after a while, handing the bowl and whisk to Bive. The detective slowly and hestitantly took it from her paws. Her hands were trembling, and she stirred too frantically, making the batter splat on the table, the floor and Bive's apron. "Oh, Bivey! That's a bit whisk-y!" Split said. "Lemme help!" She stood behind Bive, and held her hands. She started stirring the dough with Bive's hand, while the other blushed. It seemed a bit intimidate for some reason. Once the dough was all mixed, Split poured it to a pie form, and putted it in the oven.

"Here we go!" Split said cheerfully, entering the dining room with delicious, hot banana pie. She had gloves on, so she won't burn her hands. Her paw pads were very sensitive! Bive looked at the dessert, tilting her head. Split smiled, as sweet aroma filled her nostrils. The steam made her glasses a bit foggy. She putted the pie on the porcelain plate. She putted the pie on the porcelain plate, putting of the gloves and wiping some sweat from her forehead. She proudly looked at the baked good with creamy custard filling and banana slices on top. Split gave Bive the first slice. Bive grabbed a fork, and took a bite. Soon, all what left from the slice were crumbles. "You know what is sweeter than my mommy's banana pie?" Split said, munching her slice. Bive curiously blinked. "It's you, Bivey!" The centaur giggled and kissed Bive's cheek. The other blushed and cackled bashfully. "Oh, please, Splitsy…"

Credits to vitisy for gif <3

[neighboursdaily]

‘She watched us make out … then my girlfriend gave me a high five’: Maria Thattil on the reality of sex scenes

Link to the article from Stellar Magazine

To some, sitting with your partner to watch yourself make out with another might be uncomfortable. To me, it’s just part of a job – and I scored a high-five from my girlfriend afterwards.

You see, I recently joined the cast of Neighbours playing Amira Devkar and had the pleasure (pun intended) of an on-screen romance with Nicolette Stone, played by Hannah Monson.

To viewers, the scene was uninhibited, passionate, intimate and electric. The reality? Technical, safe and most importantly, comfortable.

Many people aren’t familiar with an intimacy coordinator (IC) but I credit those scenes to Bayley Turner of Create Consent, who was on set with us. Intimacy coordination is a new field; according to CBS News, the first production to hire and credit a designated IC was the 2017 HBO drama The Deuce.

Today, there are more than 100 certified ICs working in film and TV, and I’m grateful.

Before I worked with one, the discourse I noticed about ICs was varied, with big Hollywood names weighing in.

Michael Caine asked “What are they?” and argued that in his day, “You just did the love scene and got on with it without anyone interfering.”

Filmmaker Mia Hansen-Løve referred to them as “virtue police”, and Michael Douglas likened them to “executives taking control away from filmmakers”.

Sean Bean claimed ICs “spoil the spontaneity” of sex scenes and Jennifer Aniston – who said she was from “the olden days” of filming – argued that having an IC ask if you’re OK is uncomfortable when shooting those scenes “is awkward enough”.

To echo Emma Thompson’s sentiments, I think ICs are “fantastically important”.

These scenes shouldn’t be “spontaneous” – I, for one, wouldn’t want to be touched unexpectedly. As an actor, your job is to make them look fluid, sensual and natural, and ICs play a crucial role in this. They choreograph intimacy safely.

They help you establish boundaries, rehearse sounds, coordinate touch and design the intimacy so your private self is protected. Like a fight or dance scene, you then perform the “choreography” freely.

In our scene, viewers saw passionate kissing, touching and moaning. Behind that were dedicated sessions where our IC got us comfortable with being physically close, and facilitated conversation about what zones of our bodies we were/weren’t comfortable having touched.

We rehearsed every moment, coordinated movements, practiced sounds and regularly checked in with each other.

Having the IC there ensured that we were protected to enact an intimate interaction without offering up our private selves, because all we did was perform a series of technical movements.

ICs play a crucial role in an industry that’s rife with sexual abuse.

An environment where actors are empowered to have a say and consent to what they’re performing creates a safe space where no-one is taken advantage of. It also protects from power imbalances on set.

My first intimate scene wasn’t as graphic as one could be, but I’m nonetheless grateful to Bayley and the Neighbours production team for fostering a safe environment, so the scene could be achieved professionally and respectfully. It’s not every day your job requires orgasmic simulations, but when it’s achieved so safely, a high five is in order.

Which is what – like me and my girlfriend – Hannah and I did after we finished.

Job well done.

[nerdiel-has-no-braincells]

Reasons

feat: gojo satoru x fem!reader

summary: gojo finds out the secret that you’ve been hiding from him, which is the real reason why you refuse to move in with him

a/n: not gonna lie, i was listening to raon and came across this cover and it just gave me this idea so i had to write it out while it was still in my mind. i’m also working on a suguru angst

please refer to this video for the song mentioned: https://youtu.be/FRE0IBAGD9o?si=fKzmdX_OuvOqwryx

You were at your apartment, spending time with you boyfriend of 3 years, Gojo Satoru. You were watching a new rom-com movie that just released and Satoru promised that he wouldn’t make puns and jokes at the movie for you.

One thing that kept tugging at your mind was the fact that Satoru had been asking you to move in with him.

It wasn’t that you didn’t want to, you were just nervous because of your secret that you knew he would tease you about.

The credits roll as the movie ends and Satoru looks down at you with a smug smile on his face, indicating he was up to no good. Narrowing your eyes, you met his gaze, waiting for him to break the silence.

“Soooooo…” He began as he reached into his pocket to grab his phone. “I found a little something when browsing the interwebs.” Unlocking his phone, he went to YouTube and it made you nervous as you watched him scroll through until he found what he was looking for.

“I found out something about you that I never knew.” He continued.

He knew you were caught red-handed since your body jolted. You began to slide away on the couch but Satoru was faster by wrapping an arm around your waist and pulling you closer to him, his grip on you strong enough so that you couldn’t easily get away.

Music filled the room and shortly you heard your singing.

Satoru looked at you while showing you the screen on his phone that was held horizontally so the video was bigger.

“I never knew my beautiful girlfriend was a YouTube singer.” He teased, his grin as wide as it could be.

He enjoyed this. You had an extra room in your apartment that you kept locked when he was around. Sure he could have teleported there, but he would be an idiot to betray your trust. And he did find the video by accident. As accidental as scrolling through the millions of videos.

Satoru was specifically looking for songs to fall asleep to. He had a hard time falling asleep without you and you were away on a mission that time.

He then suddenly found you, singing a cover to a game that was pretty popular and he felt his heart fill with love. He had never heard you sing before and your voice was so lovely.

Why did you keep this from him?

Was this the reason why you refused to move in with him?

You covered your face with your hands to hide your embarrassment. It wasn’t that you weren’t proud of your videos, it was the fact that you knew the teasing would be relentless.

“Shut it off!” You demanded, your voice muffled behind your hands.

Satoru chuckled and kissed the top of your head as he complied with your demand.

“Why did you hide this from me?” He asked, leaning his forehead against yours.

Lowering your hands so that your eyes were revealed, you stared into Satoru’s cerulean eyes. He had a mixture of blues that made them much more beautiful.

Sighing, you continued to lower your hands until they rested on your lap.

“I don’t know. I’m proud of my videos, but I felt like you would tease me. And I was right.” You confessed.

A huff of laughter came out from Satoru’s lips and he moved his hand from your waist to instead gently place it behind your neck, rubbing his thumb against it.

“I only wanted to tease you for keeping it from me. I wouldn’t tease you for your videos—your voice is beautiful. It actually helps me sleep at night when you’re gone.” Satoru confessed.

You felt heat reflected in your cheeks and ears with his confession. You glanced down, unable to look into his eyes due to his words.

“I do have a question though.”

Glancing back up, you could see the determination in his eyes. Sighing, you respond.

“Go ahead.”

“Is this why you didn’t want to move in with me? Because you didn’t want me to find out?” He asked.

“Yes and no.” You responded. “Yes I didn’t want to move in with you because I was hiding it from you, but it’s not like I didn’t want you to find out, I just wasn’t ready. I wanted to wait until I was ready to tell you.”

Satoru blinked before he laughed. This made your ears and cheeks burn more, causing you to puff out your cheeks.

Wrapping his arms around you, he laid his head on top of yours, closing his eyes and smiling.

“You’re so cute.” He said in a low tone.

“I hate you.” You responded.

Chuckling, Satoru kissed the top of your head.

“I love you too. Now will you finally move in with me?”

Groaning into his chest, you nodded your head, giving in to him.

The two of you sat in that position for a bit before you pulled away. Placing a kiss to your forehead, cheeks, nose, and finally your lips, Satoru’s eyes sparkled.

“I can’t wait to live with you. Have you laying next to me in bed, greeting me when I come home, and even your home cooked meals.”

You smiled at the thought of giving Satoru a kiss goodbye before he left to train his students, a kiss when he comes home, and nights spent cuddling. Even the mundane stuff sounded like heaven so long as he was there with you.

“I can’t wait either.” You confessed.

taglist: @mrsyixingunicorn10 @cinnaa-x @xamilarin @cloudsinthecosmos @rivaiken @vr00m-vr00m @shycreatorsandwich @the-fab-killjoy @yoriichiswife

For anyone who would like to join the taglist, please go ahead and let me know here

Jujutsu Kaisen belongs to Gege Akutami

©️nerdiel-has-no-braincells 2023 Please do not copy, translate, and post as your own. Reblogs, likes, and comments are ok with me!

[darkcloud-kcalifornia]

We’re apparently ending this volume of 100 Girlfriends with another girlfriend. This one is Uto, a wandering bard, in search of whatever meaning may come her way. Or more accurately, this girl is a middle school chuuni who likes to pretend she’s a wandering bard, despite the lack of wandering. Or musical talent. Really just one of those know-nothing-know-it-all’s who loves spouting a bunch of fauxlosophical nonsense. But to her credit she tries, actually can be somewhat observant, and despite her delusions of bard-hood being stronger than a Fflam’s she’s not the craziest of the bunch and can give the occasional sensible answer.

...I'mma call her Spoony. I mean, her name ain't hard to remember, and I actually know the bare minimum of Japanese to have an idea of what the pun of her name is supposed to be this time around. But come on, this girl spoony.

Anyway, Spoony's intro to the Family was pretending to have answers to whatever questions might be asked. Some of her responses were complete hogwash, others were surprisingly sensible. I actually liked her answer about Kurumi’s question about what Kurumi’s favorite food is, as that’s actually my opinion on favorites: depends on any number of factors at a given time. As well her answer to Shizuka’s question about what the most interesting book is was actually interestingly argued.

Though I do have to wonder once again if this is a localization change like the Scooby-Doo joke with Kurumi. It'd be ironic for that kind of a rational being given to something the translators felt they had to change as their audience wouldn't get the reference, thus it being believed to be inaccessible.

And finally, funniest moment actually goes to Hahari this time.

Let’s face it, this woman is going to the special hell. Though also funny was the advice to Meme that she could overcome her shyness by practicing nudism.

No, I'm not giving you a screenshot of that imagine spot. You wanna see Meme's imagination causing her to bamf out again then go support the official release and go buy the manga yourself.

[tntummin]

Thursday Night Tummin' || Week 14 - Vs. Boyfriend

Well, this one was fairly overdue, wasn't it?

Boyfriend, Boyfriend... Boyfriend. Boyfriend.

...I swear I have more to say than this, I promise.

Ehm, wait, what was it again?-

Oh, ruh-hiiight... Some kind of joke along the lines of "blue gremlin, blue-er girlfriend"... Or some other pun about permaberries.

Oh, wait, I'm not supposed to say it like th-... Okay, look, I got kinda thrown off from thinking about Boyfriend's name, not my fault!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Special credits to @friendlyfox34 for being my Girlfriend. :)

...And if anyone wants to ask about Permaberry GF, yes. It's a long story, but it's also a short one.

[hiccanna-tidbits]

Jackunzel February Special Week 1 - Spring Lingering Chills

After a very strange winter, Jack and Rapunzel are more than happy to see pastel buds on the trees.

Spring has sprung, and that means beautiful blooms, sunny picnics, verbena and candytuft weaved into braids, lying in wildflower meadows with a book in hand, and days finally warm enough to take an easel outside. Rapunzel gets straight to work planning an activity itinerary for her and her boyfriend, excited to see the neighborhood come to life again.

It’s a welcome distraction from Jack’s January hair-bleaching disaster. Rapunzel did tell him not to order white hair dye from some sketchy, off-brand Arctic Fox company, but Jack always preferred to veer on the wild side.

The moment her boyfriend walked into school with fluffy, cloud-white locks, Rapunzel could tell more than just his hair color had changed. His hand was a little colder when she held it in the hallways. Sometimes when she woke up in his bed after a night of cuddling, the tips of her hair were iced over.

She doesn’t think Jack is an “ice zombie” of sorts. He still has a beating heart and functioning lungs. Also a working digestive system, if the copious amount of pastries he can devour in one setting without consequence are anything to go by.

Nonetheless, they keep Jack’s new “talent” their little secret. No need to get the press knocking down Jack’s door, or teachers and classmates alike avoiding the “freak.”

But it comes in handy that season. Jack can make ice cubes for Rapunzel’s boba--in the exact shape of the butterflies drifting by them in the park, no less. And they’re never in any danger of their picnics going bad--certain resources always keep their mini cheesecakes, strawberries, soda, and fancy cheese wheels (which Jack insists give an automatic +4 to culture and class when consumed) cold.

And, of course, no one’s going to notice if it takes just a little longer for the snow to melt on their street.

***

...welp. This was meant to just be a fun little springtime drabble and then it decided to take an unexpected magic realism/urban fantasy spin XD Modern AU Regular Guy Jack has snow powers now, but they’re chill (no pun intended). Like he’s just vibin and tryna go on picnics with his girlfriend and take nice little nature walks for his health. He can make ice sometimes, but it’s no big deal! Let’s hope the government doesn’t come for him to try and use his abilities as a combat weapon! :D

YOOO LAST SPRING MOODBOARD BUT IT’S A BANGER

...at least I think XD

I’m just been wanting to use that pink-drink-with-butterfly-ice-cubes picture forever tbh lol. ALSO while (as so often happens) looking for OTHER moodboard pics, I stumbled across a pic with a white-haired dude lying in a flower field??? Literally made for this prompt wtf???

And of course!!! The flower meadow painting had to be used for at LEAST one of the spring prompts or that would be illegal. The moodboard police would come for me because that would be an insult to #aesthetics everywhere to leave it out XD Also a jacaranda cameo again because I gotta. I just gotta.

It’s always hard to choose a picnic pic for these things btw because they’re all so pretty and delicious??? I get a pretty aesthetic but at what cost??? My own hunger??? Unacceptable. I must eat a croissant and a strawberry cheesecake post haste.

As always, pic credits available upon request!

[heartsofminds]

okay so finally got settled down after getting off the high of senior year of undergrad to read this and leave my full annotated reblog and OH MY FUCKING GOD!

sweet boy! i just want to hold you like a newborn and take you home with me! jordan, you never fail to amaze me with how much care you put into this couple and how human you make them. you truly amaze me with your writing and characterization and imagery and you do not get enough credit! now all my cheeky and stupid brain-rotted commentary below

"Last year, when he’d gotten back from three months out near Guam, he’d unabashedly cried from behind his sunglasses when he saw Maverick, Penny, and Amelia waiting for him. Amelia had even made a sign for him with terrible puns and lots of glitter. They’d had Bradley over for dinner - a family dinner - and he had felt on top of the world. Until he’d had to go back to his brand-new, empty house. Bitter with the sweet, he supposed." - oh my god oh my god oh my god!!! this is what I mean! this is the boy i want to put in my pocket and take home with me and snuggle like no other! ugh i'm just a SUCKER for kicked puppies!

"With nary a glance back at Maverick, who Bradley had just realized was standing next to you, you ran towards Bradley and into his arms with so much force that he staggered backwards." - time standing still! i love this so so much

"His wonderful girl. His sweet girl. His smart girl. His, his, his, his -" - jesus he loves her so much! bring back pathetically in love men 2024!

Bradley’s stride momentarily faltered. Right, he forgot about that - your little lunch dates with Maverick. Was it a little annoying and did it make him irrationally jealous? Sure. But it was also oddly sweet. There were a lot worse things than having your girlfriend genuinely like hanging out with your dad. Plus, Bradley’s didn’t think you really knew you had a crush on him. - the mav crush OMG!!! but honestly, wouldn't we all have a silly goofy little crush on mav?? like c'mon, it would be impossible not to.

"“I’m sure you two had plenty of time to catch up while I was gone, but now you’re all mine, kid.”" - the kid agenda! love to see it!

"Originally, Bradley had wanted to get you some frilly old thing, dainty and cute and proper if only to feed some long repressed kink of his. But the denim apron was practical and you would get use out of it for plenty more years to come. " - housewife kink mention is so SICK AND TWISTED!!!! especially coming from him because he knows that i would know my place with him lol

i would've copied and pasted damn near the entire bit about the email from the thirtieth and oh my GOD i was blushing and kicking my feet the entire time! he's so gentle with her? and they fit together so well?? the chemistry is def on par with phd level chemistry and i had to take several breaks to get through this part because i was soooo overwhelmed with butterflies

"“I love you so much - sometimes I’m scared that I love you this much and that it’s not quite been a year since we met. And I never thought I’d be so heart achingly in love with someone in the Navy, of all things, and just - sometimes it hits me that you’re not even fully mine? That a part of you will always want to be in the sky or out at sea because you have this other entity that tells you what to do? And when to do it and what to wear and how you should act? Where you’re Rooster and not my Bradley?”" - GOD this line tore me up; "when you're Rooster and not my Bradley?" jordan i'm literally SOBBING! tears rolling down my cheeks at an alarming pace.

"And he didn’t want to put you and any future little nuggets through that. He didn’t want to be a rocketman with them. . . .Bradley wasn’t dying in an F18 with a family at home." - annnnnnd yeah. i'm ruined. the mascara is freely flowing down my face now. i genuinely cannot get it together.

"“Got a feeling you’re gonna be my last one,” he murmured against your neck before he pressed kisses against it." - OH MY GOD!!!!! if a man ever said this to me (and was as hot, honest, and sincere as bradley is, of course) i would be on my hands and knees in no time. like full stop could not differentiate me from the walnut hardwood floors i def know he has.

"Maybe if he just closed his eyes for a few minutes. Maybe if he just took a quick nap…" - smart aleck is a SAINT because i would never forgive him if he fell asleep on me like that! you're looking that good, talking ALL this game, and away for THREE MONTHS???? and we're not even gonna bone? that's a damn shame!

overall, i genuinely cannot say anything other than OH MY FUCKING GOD! between blushing so hard at all the dirty talk and cheekiness (the way it would be stupidly easy to let this man in my pants irl is kind of ridiculous) and having a wobbly lip because of their sincereness and deeply special they are to each other, I think I've read this a grand total of five times between my initial reblog and this annoted post reblog. jordan, i said it once and i'll say it again, you amaze me like no other and bring such a charming and realistic viewpoint to bradley that i have not seen any other person bring to him before. so excited to see more from these two in the near future and even more ecstatic about the little daydreams I get to make up of them for the next week!!!

rocketman: part ii - from the back of the cab

Summary: in which lieutenant commander bradshaw finally returns stateside for just about the best damn homecoming he's ever had. it's been three months of countless emails and facetime calls between the two of you, but what awaits you both now that bradley's back? and what does it mean for your relationship going forward? [read part i here]

OR a homecoming 159 emails in the making

Pairing: Rooster x Fem!Reader 10k

Warnings: 18+, explicit language, suggestive dialogue, and suggestive content. a lot of the italic words are direct references to the emails in part i or direct quotes from the rocket man by ray bradbury (read at your own risk because if you picture bradley as the rocket man, you'll cry). the next part will pick up right where this one leaves off and hopefully won't take too long to get out!

from the back of the cab to the airport // i am happy you and i got this hour

Having multiple people, let alone multiple people who loved him more than anything in the world, waiting for him when he got home from a deployment, no matter how brief or long, was definitely a newer experience for Bradley. There was almost a giddiness about him as he said his goodbyes to Bob and Payback and the other pilots he’d flown with from Lemoore. He couldn’t wait to see you in twenty seconds after it’d felt like he’d been gone for twenty years. 

The countless (actually one-hundred and fifty-nine - he’d counted) emails between the two of you had been his saving grace these last three months. You’d emailed him almost every day, sometimes multiple times a day, much to the jealousy of his colleagues. He’d become addicted to them almost. 

How did your cooking class go? What was your day like at work? Yes, he would love to go on a trip to Mexico. No, your mom is an absolute idiot. How did you touch yourself at night? Were you being a good girl for him?

And in twenty seconds he’d have the real thing. He’d have you in his arms, hugging him, kissing him, talking a mile a minute about any and everything under the sun. 

(He knew Maverick would be there, too. He wasn’t being flippant about it or anything - all Bradley had wanted for the last thirteen years was for Maverick to be there when he got home. Last year, when he’d gotten back from three months out near Guam, he’d unabashedly cried from behind his sunglasses when he saw Maverick, Penny, and Amelia waiting for him. Amelia had even made a sign for him with terrible puns and lots of glitter. They’d had Bradley over for dinner - a family dinner - and he had felt on top of the world. Until he’d had to go back to his brand-new, empty house. Bitter with the sweet, he supposed.)

Off to his right, Bradley could see Bob and Callie hugging, and Reuben fussing over his wife’s noticeable baby bump. He smiled at the sight and the thought that he wouldn’t want to leave you while you were pregnant briefly floated through his mind. 

And then, like he had conjured you up, there you were. You hadn’t seen him yet. But Bradley could see you as you craned your neck and stretched on your tiptoes, bobbing and weaving and stretching to try and find him in the crush.

He'd known you were taking a half day to pick him up and you looked so soft and lovely in your off-duty clothes - a simple pair of cropped jeans and a pale blue oxford that he'd later realize was his. Pale blue in a sea of khaki with your sunglasses perched on the top of your head as the sun still beamed strongly onto the asphalt. 

Like something out of a movie, you turned your head and locked eyes with him. The two of you couldn't have been more than thirty feet apart and it was like everyone and everything around you had stopped - just for a moment. A blip in time. And then a smile crept across your face and your eyes lit up and the world started again.

“Bradley!”

With nary a glance back at Maverick, who Bradley had just realized was standing next to you, you ran towards Bradley and into his arms with so much force that he staggered backwards. His seabag made a solid thud on the ground as he wrapped his arms around you - one around your waist and another around the back of your neck. You burrowed your face in his neck and he couldn't resist holding you tighter, lifting you slightly so that the tips of your shoes kissed the asphalt. 

This - this is what he had been missing for the last three months. Home. Home. Home. Bradley was home. With you. And holding you. 

"Hey, kid." You tightened your hold on him at the moniker. "You miss me?"

“More than anything.” Not even a second after he put you down, your hands were running across his cheeks and neck. "Are you alright? Do you need anything? I have snacks in the car if you're hungry or -"

He cut you off with a kiss, your first kiss in three months. Thirteen weeks. Ninety-one days. Two thousand one hundred ninety-one hours. 

Bradley knew he would have a lot more of these homecomings - had even had some with you already. But he would never forget this one - his favorite homecoming. Two weeks, ten days, three days; it was nothing. Nothing compared to being in your arms again after three months apart. Nothing compared to kissing you again after three months. 

There was so much genuine love and longing in you - in him - that Bradley already dreaded when he’d leave you again. Because there would always be another time. 

At least until he broke the cycle. 

(Don’t ever be a rocket man. Promise me you won’t be like me.) 

But for now you were safe in his arms, feeling and smelling and sounding like home and god - for now that was enough. 

Your voice was similarly muffled. “Oh, bubs. I missed you so much. I can’t believe you’re finally home.”

“And I can’t believe you’re in front of me right now.” 

He wanted to touch you everywhere. Your cheeks, your hair, your shoulders, your legs, your breasts. Everywhere. There was no way he could ever get enough of you. 

You tilted your head up and smiled at him. “I love you.”

“Love you, too. Let’s go home.” The smile that lit up your face could guide Bradley home on even his darkest days. 

Before setting off, he gave you another kiss, this one just as sweet, and the two of you started making your way to the gate and by the other families milling around. It was a bit awkward balancing his arm around your shoulder with his seabag, but it was all worth it to have you tucked into his side again. You were so soft and warm and smelled so pretty. He couldn’t get over it. Everything about you felt safe and precious. 

“I can’t wait for you to see the house! I have almost everything situated, just a couple seasonal clothes and coats at my old place. I thought maybe we could go after work on Tuesday - unless you’re in a debrief or something or have other plans?”

Bradley squeezed you closer to his side. “Nah, I should be done by Monday afternoon, so Tuesday’s perfect.”

You nuzzled your face against his chest. “I can’t believe you’re home.” And then softer still, “I’m gonna keep saying it because it still doesn’t feel real.”

“Well,” Bradley steered you both away from the crush, “I’ll try my hardest to make it feel real for you later.” 

And, God, it went straight to his cock, the way you peered up at him, eyes slightly widened. You even bit your lip, cheeky thing. His seabag slipped from his grasp and he wound both arms around your waist pulling you close to him again. All he wanted to do was play out one of those cheeky little emails of ours in excruciating detail. With his girl. 

His wonderful girl. His sweet girl. His smart girl. His, his, his, his -

It was definitely verging on improper, the way he was kissing you now. But Bradley didn’t care. Not when you felt and smelled and tasted so fucking good -

“- Lieutenant Commander Bradshaw!” 

You whined against Bradley’s lips when he pulled away. It felt like he’d just gotten caught necking his girlfriend behind the bleachers by his father - and well…

Bradley cleared his throat and hoped his cheeks weren’t too red. “Captain Mitchell…”

They exchanged salutes, Maverick’s face all serious until Bradley could see him fighting a smile. There was a beat and then Bradley wrapped his arms around Mav in a tight hug. 

“Good to see you, kiddo.” 

“You too, Mav.” 

He let Bradley go to look him over much like you had. It warmed his heart to be fussed over by his dad. To have the two most important people in his life be there to pick him up and bring him home.

“Come on you two, ice cream? My treat?”

You gasped. “Now Captain Mitchell, you wouldn’t be suggesting we spoil Lieutenant Commander Bradshaw’s dinner with ice cream, would you?”

Bradley hadn’t had ice cream in weeks. And a vanilla soft serve with chocolate jimmies sounded like absolute heaven right now. But as much as he wanted to have ice cream with you and Maverick like he was celebrating a little league baseball win, Bradley wanted to go home with you even more. He would see Mav during the week while you were at the office. 

Right now, he just wanted to go home with his girl.

“Nah, I think we’re gonna head home. But I’ll take a raincheck for Monday?”

Mav nodded. “Sounds good to me, I’ll bring the car round then?”

“Sounds good, thanks!” you chirped.

Wait, what? Before Bradley could even question him, Maverick was off towards the parking lot - leaving you in his direct line of fire. 

Which, to be fair, you did look contrite. “Pete thought it would be easier if he drove, especially with all the people around…”

And was Bradley really going to be mad at Maverick for caring too much? For wanting to spend time with his kid after he got home from a three month deployment? No. Not even at the expense of a twenty minute car ride home alone with you. 

“I should’ve told you earlier he was driving, sorry.”

“No, no, it’s fine.” You both started making your way to the gate again. “Probably gave him an excuse to take the rest of the afternoon off, too.”

You giggled. “I asked if he wanted to get lunch beforehand, but he said he was wrapping something up.”

Bradley’s stride momentarily faltered. Right, he forgot about that - your little lunch dates with Maverick. Was it a little annoying and did it make him irrationally jealous? Sure. But it was also oddly sweet. There were a lot worse things than having your girlfriend genuinely like hanging out with your dad. Plus, Bradley’s didn’t think you really knew you had a crush on him.

“I’m sure you two had plenty of time to catch up while I was gone, but now you’re all mine, kid.”

You wrapped your hands around his upper arm and gave it a squeeze. With a few nods at his fellow aviators and other assorted crew members, you two made it through the gate and to the parking lot where Maverick was waiting in his 1962 Ferrari 250 GTE. 

Otherwise known both as the smallest car in the world and Bradley’s inheritance. 

The car was in really good shape and drove like a dream. But it was very much not designed for a 6’1” naval aviator - especially when one was relegated to the back seat. Because Bradley didn’t want you to be in the back seat alone and you had refused to sit in the front. 

So, now his knees were up to his shoulders and you two were separated by an armrest because the damn Italians hated fun and had foregone a bench seat. 

Though this did not stop you from laying a cheeky hand on his knee, inching it higher and higher up his thigh as you crossed the Coronado Bridge. You glanced over at Bradley and winked, stopping yourself from getting higher by holding his hand instead. 

It was never a long drive back to his - your house, but today it seemed to fly by ever faster. Maverick was unusually chatty in the front seat, asking about your upcoming trip and if you needed a ride to the airport on Thursday morning, while also telling Bradley about the newly renovated ready room on base. 

The chatter petered off into the background as Bradley suddenly zeroed in on the song playing on the radio - Everlasting Love. He found himself mouthing the lyrics. 

Need you by my side, girl you’ll be my bride 

You’ll never be denied everlasting love 

That was you. That was you and him. Everlasting love. 

He squeezed your hand and brought it to his lips for a kiss. And while you and Maverick chatted and told Bradley some of the more lighter happenings of the last three months - mainly the raccoon garage saga - he was counting down the minutes till it was just you and him. Peace and quiet with his everlasting love.

Which was really everything he could ever want. 

------------------

After a long shower with all his favorite products and even some new ones you had brought over, Bradley made his way downstairs and was greeted with the unfairly adorable sight of you chopping potatoes at the kitchen island. There was music playing, candles lit, and the smell of something delicious coming from the kitchen. He smiled, seeing you wearing the apron he’d picked out for you all those months ago and was relieved to see that it looked broken in from wear. Because, to be honest, it was nearly impossible to pick out clothes for you.

Originally, Bradley had wanted to get you some frilly old thing, dainty and cute and proper if only to feed some long repressed kink of his. But the denim apron was practical and you would get use out of it for plenty more years to come. 

And he could always get you another one for special occasions. Because he had had a lot of time to think about all those special occasions with you while he was away…

A beautiful smile lit up your face as you saw him pad down the stairs. “My, my, don't you look cozy?”

Once his socked-feet were firmly on the hardwood floor, Bradley spun on his heels showing off his comfy joggers and plain, grey t-shirt. “Do I pass muster?” He pressed a kiss to the cheek you tilted up for him. 

“I’ll think you’ll do, bubs.” He pulled you in for a hug from behind. “Mmmmm, you smell so good.”

He swayed you back and forth in his arms. “I should, I used all your shampoo…” 

“Cheeky boy.” You craned your neck and pressed a quick kiss to his lips. “You want a drink while I make dinner? You can lay on the couch for a bit if you want? You must be exhausted.”

“Oh?” He hadn’t even considered going into the living room, not when you were in the kitchen. “Uhhh, sure, yeah. I’ll take a drink.”

You smiled and pulled back from him. “Old fashioned?” He nodded. You got out a rocks glass from the cabinet and went over to the bar cart in the dining room for the whiskey and bitters. “I got those fancy bitters at that liquor store you like.”

“Did you take care of everything?” He said it to hide his own reddened cheeks, but you appeared equally as bashful.

“Tried too.”

“You gonna have one, too?” 

You nodded. “Yeah, but we’re also having wine with dinner, so just one for now - here you go. Got to start you off slow, Bradshaw.” You slid the glass over to him and held your own out to toast. “To your long awaited homecoming.”

Your eyes locked over the rim of your glasses and you had both barely set them back down on the table before Bradley pressed a kiss to your lips. You tasted like sugar and whiskey and felt like home. 

“Missed you, kid.”

“Missed you, too, rocketman. You have no idea how happy I am that you’re home.” You kissed him again. “Now, you gotta let me finish cooking. The table’s already set, so there’s nothing for you to do, but relax.”

“Fine, fine,” he heaved out a great sigh, “banishing me already and I’ve only been home for a few hours, I see how it is - owww!” You smacked his ass with a dishtowel. “Alright, I’m going, I’m going.”

The living room looked nearly identical to how it had when Bradley had left in December - minus the Christmas tree, of course - but there were still little touches of you everywhere. The pillows were arranged far nicer than Bradley had ever been able to manage and there were three new candles of differing heights on the coffee table. Plus, the cream colored cashmere blanket from your apartment that he always stole was artfully strewn across the back of one of the leather sofas. 

With one glance back towards you in the kitchen - you were completely focused on some Russet potatoes - Bradley flopped onto the couch and tucked himself under the blanket. It was warm and cozy and so comfortable under there in his couch clothes in the house you two shared. Quiet, too, even with some Van Morrison playing from the kitchen. It was the kind of quiet that could lull Bradley to a peaceful sleep, especially after having been ensconced in constant noise for the last three months.

And he tried for half an hour - he really did. He thought of how excited you were to show him the perfectly organized closet and how you’d put all the little bits and bobs you’d gotten for him over the last three months in the guest room for him to look over at his leisure and how he’d corrected you on where the mail should go. 

It was just - it was too quiet and too perfect and too comfy and he just wanted to be with you. Even if it meant sitting on one of the uncomfortable kitchen barstools. 

You shook your head, but smiled as he approached. “You don’t have to watch me, you must be exhausted?”

Bradley shrugged. “Just wanna be near you, kid.” Were you nervous about cooking? Was that why you didn’t want him in the kitchen with you? He backtracked. “If that’s alright?”

You bit your lip and gestured for Bradley to sit at the island in front of you. There were a couple mise en place bowls laying around, but you quickly made room for Bradley and his drink. 

“It’s like a taping of the Barefoot Contessa.”

You chuckled. “Let’s just hope the food’s as good as Ina’s.”

“Walk me through it.”

With a teasing smile on your face, you went back to mincing the garlic - with a glowing comment from Bradley on your newly acquired knife skills - and he just sat there, chin propped up on his hand watching you explain the next couple steps. You even got a yes, chef out of him when you asked him to turn the music down. The roasted potatoes smelled absolutely divine cooking in the oven and you had just finished snipping the ends off the asparagus when your demeanor suddenly changed. You fiddled with your apron tie and abruptly turned around to face him, looking almost surprised by the action, though you wouldn’t exactly look him in the eye.

“Actually, now that you’re here - or here at the table,” you huffed out a laugh, “there’s something I want to talk to you about that happened while you were gone - no, that’s not - something I was thinking about while you were gone?”

You put the burner down on the sauce pan, leaving the minced garlic to simmer before you were facing Bradley yet again. You looked nervous, unsure of yourself, as you played with the bracelet he had gotten you for Christmas. Had something happened while he was gone that you hadn’t told him about? Were you sick? Hurt? Was there someone - no, no, you’d never.

Bradley leaned back in his chair and hoped he sounded surer than he felt. “Sure, uhh, yeah, go ahead.”

“It actually has to do with some emails I sent you - last week, in particular. One of them is actually that email.” You looked down at the granite countertop as Bradley tried to think of which email would constitute italics. “But I also want to talk about one of the other emails, when I messaged you about that dream I had and kind of how that all falls into everything that we’ve been going through and probably will be going through -”

“- Because this is it,” he interrupted. Because you and I are it.

“Yeah. Because this is it,” you returned, equally as resolute. “So…”

Bradley sat up straighter in his chair and cleared his throat. “Which one do you want to talk about first?”

You fiddled with your apron bow. “Maybe the one from the thirteenth?”

“Which one was that?”

Now you definitely were avoiding looking at him. Your words came out slowly, like you dreaded saying them and Bradley had a sudden inkling that he knew exactly which email you were referencing. 

“The one about me needing you. Needing you to take care of me,” you whispered the last part.

He could feel his cheeks coloring. “Oh. Right, yeah.” 

Bradley had never received an email like that before. Had never even received a text like that before. It was just so raw and almost animalistic the way your need for him jumped off the page.

nothing soothes the ache inside me like you do. need you to call me good girl, pretty girl, sweet girl, anything as long as it’s yours.

“I shouldn’t have sent that one to you - especially since if I could’ve waited five more days, none of this would’ve happened. It’s just - I needed you so badly and wanted you - ugh, no! No, I shouldn’t have sent you that email. It wasn’t proper, it was embarrassing for you and me and I was just missing you so much and in such a different way that I’ve never experienced before when you’d been gone and - I couldn’t bear not telling you for another moment. Because no one was there to tell me what to do or -”

You threw your hands out and put them on the top of your head. God, it looked like you were about to cry. And it broke Bradley’s heart. He pushed his barstool back from the island and padded over towards you. 

“Come ‘ere, kid.” 

You let out a sigh and your eyes were swimming with tears as you fell into Bradley’s arms. You felt small in his arms - not necessarily in the physical sense, but like you were folding in on yourself. He needed to take care of you - take you, take you, take you - 

“Shh, shh, it’s okay, whenever you want, it’s fine.” Bradley pressed a kiss to your forehead and squeezed you tighter. You held on to him tightly, which muffled your next words. 

“I’ve never had someone who I need in that way. And it’s not even necessarily about the sex, itself. I could go months without having sex - had before I met you. It was never something I really needed to get by, I guess? I could take care of it on my own. 

“But then - then I met you and you just? You make me need you - make me crave you, you tell me what to do, make me want to please you. And then you just leave for three months and I have to learn how to do all that on my own and it was just so hard? It felt like I dropped? Like everything caught up to me after all those months and weeks and I felt scared and lonely and needy and desperate for you and for you to tell me I’m a good girl and take care of me and be my d - be dominant with me.”

Your breathing quickened as you talked and Bradley felt you getting more worked up. He rubbed his hands across your back, hoping it would soothe the ache inside of you, if only a little bit. “Shh, shh, it’s okay, kid.”

i need you i need you i need you i need you bradley bradley bradley bradley

You sniffled. “I guess I just didn’t think - I mean, I knew other people would see it - and I did think that was kind of hot, especially when you called me out for it - it was only after, when I’d realized what I’d done that I saw how embarrassing it was for you. 

“Like Joe from Comms being like hey, did you know Lieutenant Commander Bradshaw’s girlfriend is a horny, pathetic, subby mess for him? You gotta see it, man. She couldn’t even make it three months without getting fucked. He can’t even take care of his g -”

“- Stop it.” Bradley grabbed your chin. “You know that’s not true.” 

“Maybe.” You shrugged. “But I was already feeling shitty about my mom and being so busy at work and how I loo -” you broke off and Bradley desperately wanted you to finish the thought. “I guess it all caught up to me.”

“But I wrote back. I wrote back and told you everything I wanted you to hear and what you needed to hear. And god, I’d do it again, I’d do it in a heartbeat if it brought you comfort and I probably should’ve done it sooner.” 

nothing stretches me out like you do, nothing makes me feel as small as you do, nothing makes me flush like the sound of your voice against my neck as i come, nothing soothes the ache inside me like you do

You squeezed your arms around his stomach and breathed him in. God, he loved you so much, he’d say anything and do anything to make you realize that. 

“I needed it, what you wrote me, and I needed to tell you what I said, but I should’ve waited so, I’m sorry, can you forgive me?”

“There’s nothing to forgive, kid. You message me when you need me, no matter how.” He kissed your temple. “I know we’ve never really talked about how that part of our relationship would work while I was gone, so maybe next time we just make a plan?”

You nodded. “I’d like that. I know it’s not like that all the time between us, so I didn’t even think of it before you left.”

“I hadn’t either,” he confessed.

Long distance d/s relationship reddit would be Bradley’s best friend over the next few days. Neither of you would have to go through that again, not if he had something to say about it. The whole idea of not being allowed to use anything besides your fingers to masturbate was a good start, but it was just that - a start. Because like you’d said, you two weren’t in that dynamic all the time, but you both needed it. It was new for both of you. You’d just have to come up with a list together. 

But just to give you a little encouragement in the meantime…

“And let’s not forget…” You peered up at him. “You did tell me you read my email seven times…”

You giggled and shoved his shoulder. “Might’ve been an understatement.”

“Oh?”

“I think I came three times that first night alone.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Mmmhm.” You wrapped your arms around his neck and played with the ends of his hair. “‘Kept picturing you in your bunk writing it while fisting your cock. And then I was laying next to you in your bunk - and it had to be a secret. I had to keep quiet - just like at Thanksgiving - and not make a peep.”

“But you don’t like to be quiet…” 

He crowded you against the island and rolled his hips against yours. The thin fabric of his joggers did little to hide how much he desired you, especially after the conversation you’d just had. 

His subby little girlfriend. God, he couldn’t wait to take you apart bit by bit later. 

Now say thank you Bradley. Good girl. 

Though, that’s not to say that you couldn’t partake in a little preview now. Bradley’s lips crashed against yours, caught up in the furor and headiness of it all, and your body melted against his. Three months later and you still responded so well to him. Your breathy little sighs as he bit your lip and pressed countless kisses along your jawline and neck sounded like heaven. You smelled so sweet, tasted so sweet, felt so sweet - he kissed you again, coaxing your mouth back open.

“Bradley, bubs, I -” you gasped against his lips, “I need to turn the stove off if we’re going to -”

Without taking his lips off yours, Bradley reached behind his back and turned off the gas burner. The garlic still sizzled in the pan, but now without the risk of burning the house down. You could put fresh garlic on later, now he just wanted you. 

His hands went back to their place on your hips before the left slid underneath your oxford and up your body. You stiffened slightly, but welcomed his touch, if only for a moment before you pulled back from him. 

“We have to - I have to finish dinner.” He nodded, albeit reluctantly. You pecked his lips again. 

There was something deeply erotic about waiting - even if it was just for a couple of hours. 

Where are you going to have me first?

In our bed, in our house, after you make me dinner in our kitchen. 

Bradley cleared his throat. “You said you wanted to talk about another email? The one about your dream, right? The one with our kid.”

It felt right saying it - our kid. 

God, Bradley, I wish you were here right now so you could hold me and tell me you loved me because I just want to feel your arms around me and know you’re real. I want to tell you about the little boy - the perfect mix of me and you

“We can wait until dinner - or even after dinner, if you want?” You didn’t give him a chance to respond. “I’m sorry I’m dropping all this on you. I know you’ll say otherwise, but I shouldn’t have done this right when you came home - the dryer hasn’t even finished your first load yet. I know you’re exhausted and definitely have your own stuff to work through after being gone and we should be having sex on the floor or over the arm of the couch, not listening to me blubber -”

Bradley shook his head and interrupted you. He didn’t want to give you another moment to doubt yourself. 

“- Hey, hey. I wanna talk about the heavy stuff with you, it’s okay. And I’d rather we do it now so we can really enjoy these next few days together - and maybe then have sex on the floor and over the arm of the couch. I don’t want this hanging over your head, kid. 

“And you’re not alone in thinking about that over the last few months - it’s probably been even longer for me…”

You wiped at the tears pooling in your eyes. “Really?” 

“You know you’re it for me, kid.” Have been since our fourth date went unsaid. “So, come on, walk me through it.”

You leaned against the back counter near the stove, while Bradley mirrored you against the island. You sighed. 

“I love you so much - sometimes I’m scared that I love you this much and that it’s not quite been a year since we met. And I never thought I’d be so heart achingly in love with someone in the Navy, of all things, and just - sometimes it hits me that you’re not even fully mine? That a part of you will always want to be in the sky or out at sea because you have this other entity that tells you what to do? And when to do it and what to wear and how you should act? Where you’re Rooster and not my Bradley?”

Bradley frowned at the use of his callsign coming from your lips. It didn’t feel right, it didn’t sound right. He didn’t want to be Rooster around you. He liked that he didn’t have to be Rooster around you.

“And it makes me absolutely crazy because you love it and you’re not going to stop - and you shouldn’t stop, not for me! But, god, Bradley, sometimes I want to shake you and hold you down and beg you to stay. Like that fucking story.” You wiped your eyes. 

“It’s all I wanted to tell you when I had that dream. About how I want you to come home so badly. I want you to stay here with me forever and never leave and to have that cute little boy who was the perfect mix of me and you and to have you here in my arms every night. And I know it’s selfish of me to ask or even make you think about it, but I want you right here. I don’t want you looking at the sky when you’re here and wanting to be up there. And I know you don’t either, Bradley. You give everything to everyone, you don’t do things by halves.” 

You both stood there, Bradley stunned by your words, and you, seemingly stunned that you’d actually said them. He took a step towards you, but didn’t cross that final barrier to touch you. He remembered highlighting a particular passage from the story in his response back to you and how he never wanted you to feel the same way as Lily. He didn’t want to let it - flying, the Navy, all of it get a hold of him.

“Don’t ever be a Rocket Man.” I stopped. “I mean it,” he said. “Because when you’re out there you want to be here, and when you’re here you want to be out there. Don’t start that. Don’t let it get hold of you.” “But-“ “You don’t know what it is. Every time I’m out there I think, If I ever get back to Earth I’ll stay there; I’ll never go out again. But I go out, and I guess I’ll always go out.”

You sniffled and wiped your eyes on your sleeve. “And I was so scared when you didn’t get back to me right away. Thought I’d scared you off…” You glanced down at the floor and played with your bracelet. It looked so fragile and dainty on your wrist. “I think I wrote five different responses to you after - deleted all of them.”

Bradley nudged your foot with his own and got you to look up at him. Even though it felt like his tattoo was burning into his skin - xxxix, xxxix, xxxix, the number ran through his head constantly as of late - he tried to put on a brave face. Everything you were saying was what he had been mulling over for the last three months. Thousands of miles apart and you both were still so in-sync. He cleared his throat before speaking. 

“You turned my life on its head when you sent me that story.” Even weeks later, he was still in disbelief. “And I know it wouldn’t have changed anything - not really - but I kept - I keep wondering how my dad would’ve reacted to it? Or my mom? I don’t think it would’ve made anything different, but just knowing about it? Because I don’t want us to have kids and still be a ‘rocket man.’ I don’t want them - that little boy in your dream - to wonder if I want to be up in the sky more than I want to be with him. And be with you. I want to be around, I want to be their dad and your husband. I love it, I love flying. But I don’t love it more than being with you and having a family with you. I don’t want to die in an F18 with a family at home.”

You let out a sob and he wrapped his arms around you and slowly swayed you from side to side. “Kid, I got six more years and then I’m all yours.” He could feel your tears seeping into his shirt as you cried. “It’s like what I said after you sent me that story - I don’t want our kids chasing ghosts. Not like I did.”

“You’d give us your wild?” you whispered. 

Bradley nodded and felt his own eyes welling up. “I want us to have what my mom and I didn’t. And it’s not that my mom wasn’t enough, but there was always a piece missing for both of us - Maverick, too.” You wiped the tears away from his eyes. “I love you, so, so much, kid. You know I’m gonna marry you. And I just want to be yours when it comes time for us to have a family.”

Honestly, it was a relief that you’d brought all this up. It only reaffirmed the thought that had been bouncing around Bradley’s head lately.

You two wouldn’t have kids until he was out of the Navy. 

There were six years until Bradley could put in his twenty years and retire. It was a little fucked, honestly, and he was sure his therapist would have plenty to say about it. But why not avoid something that could end in tragedy for everyone involved?

Why run the risk?

Bradley wasn’t dying in an F18 with a family at home.  

And he knew his logic wasn’t exactly sound. It didn’t entirely make sense even to himself. There would be plenty of times over the next six years where he could get into an accident or not come home from a mission. He understood that. 

Except, currently, there wasn’t a kid waiting at home for him. There wasn’t a three year old Bradley waiting at home and being told by his mom that his dad wasn’t coming home. He knew that if you had a family, it would be harder for you to move on if something happened to him. And he didn’t want to put you and any future little nuggets through that. He didn’t want to be a rocketman with them.

Bradley wasn’t dying in an F18 with a family at home. 

He wasn’t going to do that to your family. So, why not just wait to have a family until after he got out of the Navy? It seemed obvious. Perfectly so. The words had been ready to pour out of his mouth, except you beat him to it.

“I know,” your cleared the scratchiness out of your throat, “we talked about waiting to have kids until a couple years after we get married, but if you want to wait until you retire, we’ll do it. And then we’ll get all of you. I want to do everything with you, Bradley.”

Give you my wild, give you a child.

Bradley wrapped you up in his arms and squeezed you hard. “I love you, I love you, I love you. God, I love you so much.” He kissed your forehead and cheeks and lips and tried his damndest to pour all the love he had for you into it.

“I love you, too, Bradley,” you said simply. 

And maybe it wasn’t exactly healthy to wait and almost be consumed by this desperate need to control both your lives and have a countdown clock to when everything would be okay. Because maybe things wouldn’t be okay in six years? And maybe you and Bradley would get in a car accident tomorrow or maybe you both would have trouble having kids or or or…

But Bradley wasn’t dying in an F18 with a family at home.  

He would need to talk about this with his therapist at some point. The therapist the Navy gave him eighteen months ago after he ‘recklessly’ went back to save Maverick. The therapist that he just never stopped seeing even though he was cleared from last April. 

“We’re a bit of a mess, aren’t we?” Bradley asked after a moment.

You pulled back. “Maybe? And maybe it’s a little extreme for both of us to think like that, but we’ll make it work, okay? However we have to, we’ll make it work for us.” You punctuated your words with a quick kiss over his heart. 

“Oh dear,” you said suddenly. Bradley tensed up. “I got tears on your shirt.” 

He chuckled. “Don’t worry about it, I know you can afford to get me a new one.” You shoved his shoulder and you both laughed. And just like that, the mood was lifted. 

Bradley had been right earlier - he felt lighter. You looked lighter. And that wasn’t to say that you’d looked gloomy or upset or scared before, but your shoulders weren’t as tense and you kept smiling, at him, at whatever you were cooking, at nothing.

This could be his life every night. You could be together like this forever. Cooking dinner side by side, talking about where the mail should go (it very much was not on the hall table, that was for damn sure), complaining about Mr. Harrington next door or arguing over who should vacuum. All the little things that made that big life together. The one you both wanted so badly. 

And contrary to your earlier statement, you did make you and Bradley another drink before dinner. In fact, it probably was what gave you the courage to attempt to flip the chicken in the saucepan like a regular José Andrés. (Even more surprising was the fact that you didn’t drop any.)

Once the potatoes finished, you swapped them in the oven for the asparagus, hoping the former would cool while the latter was roasting. All the while, you talked Bradley through everything - how much oil you added to the asparagus, where you’d gotten the potatoes, and the recipe for the chocolate cake you’d made for dessert. 

It was - well, Bradley didn’t really have a word for what it was. His first thought was how nice it was seeing you so confident and capable and proud of yourself. But his second thought was that it was also oddly stirring seeing you do all this for him while he just watched. 

Watched his pretty little girlfriend bopping around the kitchen, bopping around the house making sure everything was perfect for him. All you needed was a pretty little dress and a string of pearls to match your earrings. His pretty little housewife. Mrs Bradshaw. Bent over the kitchen island, wearing nothing but a frilly white apron and a pearl necklace as he fucked you from behind -

“All set!” Your cheerful voice interrupted Bradley’s fantasy before it could really start. He had zoned out while you’d been prattling on about the herb cutting scissors you wanted to get at Crate & Barrel. “Shall we?”

Bradley readjusted himself before getting up from his seat and helping you bring the drinks and serving dishes into the dining room. 

Mrs Bradshaw.

-----------------

“So, how is it?” you asked once the food had been served and the wine had been poured. You had your chin propped up on your fist as you watched Bradley take the first few, slow bites of food. 

It was good. It was more than good, it was excellent. It was hot and perfectly seasoned and all the textures were just right. And it wasn’t just because he’d been on an aircraft carrier, eating out of the officer’s mess everyday. Because the food was actually pretty good on the carrier and the Aussies had even treated him to a couple meals. 

But he wouldn’t be Bradley and you wouldn’t be you if he didn’t mess with you a little. He tilted his head back and forth, trying to look like he was mulling it over. “It’s good…”

You nudged his foot under the table once you saw the smile threatening to break out on his face. “You ass.” The words lacked any heat.

Bradley took another bite of potatoes before speaking. “It’s really good, kid, seriously. You killed it. Seemed like you really enjoyed it, too.”

“I did,” you nodded, “I just always used to be so nervous I’d undercook something and make everyone sick, you know? Or that people would be lying to me about the food and that it was burnt or under-seasoned or something? But those lessons really helped and made me more confident, which is exactly why you gave them to me, so thank you.”

Maybe it wasn’t exactly why he had given them to you, but…

“You’re very welcome.”

Dinner continued on with only light hearted conversation after that. What Reuben and Bob were planning for their leave (Reuben and his wife were going up the coast for a mini-break and then building out the nursery for their baby, while Bob was going home to see his parents), the work you had to finish up before your trip, and what you both were hoping to get out of your vacation (good food, a tan, reading plenty of books, and having copious amounts of sex). 

All the while, Bradley had another helping of everything, except the potatoes, of which he had two additional helpings - you refrained from seconds entirely. You two must have sat at the table for over two and a half hours, talking and eating and laughing. It was perfect. Bradley helped you bring the dishes back into the kitchen; both of you were more than happy to deal with them a little later. 

And then there was the dessert. The chocolate cake looked heavenly - Ina’s recipe, of course - and you asked Bradley if he wanted an espresso martini to wash it down.

“What? ‘You trying to get me drunk?” 

You put your hand over your heart. “I would never! Though, I know your tolerance might be a little shot. Did that affect your stamina, too?”

“Ha, ha, ha hilarious.” He took the cake plate and knife from you while you went over to the bar to make the martinis. “I’ll have you know that the Aussies were very accommodating hosts.”

“The Aussies, huh?”

Bradley shrugged. It wouldn’t be an issue to tell you now, not after he’d been dying to mention it for the past few weeks. “It’s not classified or anything, they just don’t like us talking about it in the moment.”

“Wait,” you came back into the dinning room with a coupe half filled in your right hand. “Did you go to Australia?” 

“Possibly…” You shot him a look. “We do this joint training exercise with them every year. Last year was my first year.”

“That’s so cool! Did you spend much time actually on land or…” You went back to preparing the drinks and tossed your next question over your shoulder. “When was it? I think I saw something about it in the news.”

“After you got back from London. It was just a week for the actual exercise, but there were a lot of meetings in the lead up, we did a couple war-games, too. We were mainly in New South Wales with the aviators, but went up to the North Western Territory for the actual exercises.”

Last year, Bradley hadn’t had the opportunity to really get too involved in the planning aspects and being on base - his promotion hadn’t come through yet, so he had been just a lowly lieutenant - but his elevated rank granted him that privilege this year. 

“Wait, that’s so cool, I’ll have to read up on it more! I definitely remember hearing about it on the news, should’ve made the connection.” You came back over with the drinks. “How were the other pilots? This isn’t going to be some Manchurian Candidate bullshit, is it?”

Bradley barked out a laugh. “Nah, that’ll be Bob.”

“Did it have a fun name? They always seem to!” 

Bradley took a sip of his martini. Damn it was delicious. “Exercise Talisman Sabre - R-E. You want me to cut the cake?”

You nodded. Bradley pulled the cake stand closer to his seat. The cake was stunning. The frosting was definitely homemade and the white piping on the top looked perfect. “‘You take a picture of it yet?” 

“Of the cake?”

“Gotta commemorate this, it’s gorgeous. Need one with you, too!” You smiled bashfully as Bradley snapped a couple pics with his phone and then put it face-up on the table. The picture of the two of you at your Christmas party before his deployment smiled back up at him. 

You sat back down in your chair. “Here’s hoping it tastes just as good.”

There would still be plenty of cake for leftovers, but Bradley thought the two of you deserved a little something extra tonight and measured the first piece a little bigger than he normally would. 

“Oh. You can have that one. I’ll take a smaller piece.” He went to cut another piece, slightly smaller than his. “Little smaller.” He kept scooching the knife closer and closer for your approval until it was only about a third of the size of his piece. “That’s perfect, thanks.”

You took a huge first bite of cake and Bradley did the same. “Oh, god. It’s so good,” he said. “I need the recipe so I can make this every week.” 

Your fork froze midair for a moment, before you took a slightly smaller piece this time. “I don’t know if I can handle this every week...” You chuckled. 

Bradley moaned. “But the ganache! The whipped frosting on the top! Sweetheart, it’s so good. The world cannot be deprived of its beauty.”

That got a proper laugh out of you. “‘You writing sonnets about cake now?”

“I’ll write sonnets about you, this cake, anything you want, you got me in a good mood, kid.” He licked the frosting off his fork and then went back in for the final two bites. 

“That might just be the martini talking, bubs. Here,” you slid your barely eaten plate over towards him, “you can have the rest of mine.”

Bradley frowned. “You sure?”

“Yeah, I had extra batter and made some cupcakes. Had one this morning. I’m chocolate cake’d out.” 

He was a little dubious since you loved chocolate cake, but took your words at face value. 

“But first,” you swiped some extra frosting off your plate and streaked it across Bradley’s cheek, “you got a little something on your face, bubs.”

“Oh no,” he laid it on thick, “guess you’ll have to come over here and help me clean it off.”

In a flash, you were on him - arms wrapped around his neck, legs astride his thigh. Your feet remained firmly on the ground, but Bradley wanted all your weight on him, reminding him that he was here in the house you shared and not back in his bunk on the carrier. 

“There we go.” You swiped the frosting off his cheek and sucked the excess off your finger. “My pretty boy again.”

He smiled. “You say that like you haven’t wanted to fuck me since we got home.”

Your jaw dropped at his words. “I’m trying to draw out the anticipation!” Bradley squeezed your hips and you shifted your weight on his thigh. This time your words came out quieter. “Thought you wanted me in our bed the first time back?” You pressed light kisses across his neck and jawline until you nipped at his ear. “The same bed I’ve been getting myself off in every night since I brought my stuff over.”

“But just like I asked, right? Just your fingers?” You nodded. “Good girl.”

You ducked your head at the praise and then pulled yourself even closer to him before capturing his lips in a deep kiss. You tasted like espresso and chocolate and Bradley wanted to take you right there on the dining room table with little regard for the state of his stem and dish-ware. Slowly, you rocked your body on his lap and let out a breathy gasp against his lips. The seam on your jeans must have been driving you absolutely crazy, but you didn’t let up. And, frankly, Bradley didn’t want you to - all he wanted right now was to keep kissing you, keep pressing his chest against yours, keep grabbing at your hips over your shirt. Except that soon wasn’t enough. 

He slipped his hand underneath your shirt and went straight for your lace bra. He smiled against your lips. Good girl. You wore his favorite one. His hand slid lower to drag his fingers across the soft skin of your stomach and side. God, you were so warm. So soft. But he couldn’t linger on the spot for too long after you pushed his hand away and gestured for him to get up.

Without separating yourselves for too long, you and Bradley made your way from making out on his dining table chair to making out on the couch. You were on your back, half wedged between the back cushion, and entirely under Bradley’s bulk. 

God, had he missed this. Touching you, kissing you, holding you, fucking you. You’d already talked for hours, now he wanted to kiss you for them. 

The couch felt ten times more inviting with you now than it had earlier in the evening when it had just been Bradley. Because now he had you underneath him with your head on the throw pillows he had made note of earlier, now the candles on the coffee table were lit and were the perfect complement to your perfume, and now the cashmere blanket he had always loved was half draped over you both.

This was where you’d watch movies together at night, where you’d open Christmas presents, where you’d ride him after a long day at work, where you’d have meals with the news on in the background, where your kids would watch TV. 

“I love you,” you rasped against his lips. “I love you so much.”

“Love you, love you, love you,” he repeated.

It could have been twenty minutes or an hour later, but now the two of you were just laying side by side on the couch. You were wrapped in Bradley’s arms, nestled against his chest, where you had been pressing little kisses against his neck for the last five minutes. Occasionally, you’d play with the ends of his hair or drag your finger across the scars on his neck. 

Bradley pressed a light kiss to your temple. “This has been really nice, thank you. I’ve never had someone to come home to - not like this.”

You tilted your head up and bit your lip, looking adorably flustered. “I always want to be here when you come home. And I wanted to do something nice for you, make you happy.”

“You made me very happy, always do.”

“Always, huh?” you teased. You kissed his neck. Nipped at his neck. 

Bradley mimicked your tone. “Well, not when I saw the way you put the mail on the hall table…” 

“You gonna punish me?” There was a little glint in your eyes as you said it.

While the idea had plenty of merit, Bradley didn’t want that tonight, he wanted everything to be soft and slow, so he could really get his fill of you. Plus, you’d be so fucking tight for him, so responsive to his touch, he wanted to make that drag out as long as possible. He wanted you to babble, he wanted you to beg.

“Not tonight, but maybe tomorrow if you’re good for me?” He pinched your side and you let out a giggle and then suddenly sat up on the couch, almost startled.

“I should do the dishes, don’t want to leave them for too long. You can head upstairs, though.” You cupped his cheek and pressed a kiss to his forehead.

“You sure you don’t need any help?” he said the last word through a yawn. 

“Nope!” You smiled over your shoulder and headed off to the kitchen. “You’re off the hook. I’m gonna finish putting these in the dishwasher and lock-up while you go upstairs and get ready, okay?”

Bradley scrunched his nose. “Is this gonna be a normal thing? You doing all the housework? Because that’s not gonna slide, roomie.”

“Oh, so I’m just your roommate now?” you teased. You bent over the dishwasher to put some larger plates in the back. “I see how it is, Bradshaw.”

He doubled back over to you and wrapped his arms around your waist, pulling your back against his chest. “Got a feeling you’re gonna be my last one,” he murmured against your neck before he pressed kisses against it. 

It was like you melted against him. God, you smelled so pretty and tasted so pretty and looked so pretty and sounded so pretty giggling. And Bradley had never felt so welcomed home before. He couldn’t wait to do this with you every night. 

“Bradley,” you sighed and turned around to face him. “The sooner you let me finish, the sooner I can come upstairs…” You pecked him on the lips. 

Upstairs. Where Bradley would take care of you. 

Take care of you. Take you. Take you take you take you -

He groaned and gave you a longer kiss. “Okay, okay, okay.” He kissed you between each word. “But this is the last time you’re getting away with this...”

“I’ll hold you to it.” You kissed him again. “Now go! Get into something comfortable, powder your nose, touch up your hair -”

“I’m going, I’m going,” he promised. “Don’t be too long, we can always do everything tomorrow morning.”

You waved him off good-naturedly and went about setting the kitchen to rights. Bradley smiled at the sight of you already appearing so at home in his house - your house and headed upstairs. With startling alacrity despite the numerous drinks he’d had and the late hour, Bradley quickly brushed his teeth, did his skincare routine, and turned down the bed for your arrival. 

Even a floor apart, he could still hear the sounds of you puttering around downstairs. If he concentrated really hard, he could imagine exactly what you were doing. 

You had just opened the silverware drawer, probably had just washed and dried something - oh right, he had noticed you used the hand-wash-only salad tongs for the asparagus. Then you opened the tupperware cabinet and got out some snapware and eventually opened the freezer, putting the leftover chicken piccata away for another meal. Then there was the sound of the cake plate on the granite countertop and more snapware. He was still surprised you hadn’t eaten much cake, much of any of the food really, but chalked it up to nerves or excitement at his homecoming.

With a sigh, Bradley laid back against the fluffy pillows lining the headboard. God, he had missed this. His high thread count sheets, your fancy Laundress detergent, his side of the bed - and more importantly, you being on the other side. He stretched and let out a groan, getting comfortable. 

This was perfect. He was home - in the house you now shared. You were going to come upstairs - probably in some cute little outfit - and give him a proper welcome home. Bradley bet you even got a new matching set just for the occasion. The two of you had gotten all the tough conversations out of the way - for the most part - so now you could really enjoy these next few days together before your trip. 

And Bradley was so excited to go to Punta Mita with you. You had done such an amazing job planning everything. He had done some additional research on his flight home earlier and definitely wanted to hit up the spa and maybe sneak in a round of golf over the ten day trip. Plus, you definitely had the cutest fucking outfits planned. He always liked that, imagining what you were wearing while he was gone. The sporadic pictures hadn’t been enough. You always looked so pretty and he always needed to tell you. 

Pretty, pretty, pretty. His pretty girlfriend. Downstairs, making sure everything was all set. He yawned. Mmmmm, he hoped you’d be upstairs soon. His eyelids were getting heavy. 

And it was so warm and comfy and his stomach was full and everything smelled so good and he was here. 

Finally, he was here with you. 

In your house, talking about your future. 

Maybe if he just closed his eyes for a few minutes. Maybe if he just took a quick nap…

a/n - sorry for the cliff hanger, but it's the PERFECT spot for a break! next part will have that first night back AND the lead up to their trip, which will be in the final part! couldn't have gotten this done without all the encouraging messages and texts over the last few weeks - special shout out to @sometimesanalice @callsignspark @notroosterbradshaw @ofstoriesandstardust @cherrycola27 @heartsofminds and @greenorangevioletgrass xxjordan

[yibennianyaji]

So Bride of Re-Animator is kinda hard to find on any streaming service. I snatched a DVD, so I am taking the opportunity to live blog it. For science

HILL’S HEAD IS FLOATING IN THE DARK LIKE THIS IS THE ROCKY FREAKING HORROR SHOW. CLASSY. Clearly a step up from those neon anatomical drawings in the original. Please forget that bit where it was messily crushed to death in the original. Forget a lot of things.

“You killed my girlfriend and now you want to go to a Peruvian warzone? MY MULLET AND I ARE ON BOARD.” 

DAN WE ARE EVEN MORE DIRECTLY BEING FRANKENSTEIN NOW WHY DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND. 

“Let’s go home.” 

Oh no I take it back we’re just going to plain REDO the floating Grey’s Anatomy credits from the first flick. Now with….floaty romantic music? BECAUSE LADIES?

My name is Doctor Daniel Cain, and I cannot maintain proper doctor/patient boundaries. This is my associate Doctor Herbert West, who does not approve of me being in the same breathing space as women. 

AND NOW. Exposition with the obvious greedy bastard and some guy we don’t really care about. 

LOL BODY PARTS KEEP DISAPPEARING FROM OUR MORGUE NBD THOUGH

THAT LAUGH. THAT LAUGH IS A DELIGHT ALWAYS

HERBERT MAKES BAD PUNS. DAD PUNS. THAT IS CANON THANKS TO THIS MOVIE. 

This chest of drawers will SURELY protect us from the undead I’ve been experimenting on next door! I SAW IT IN A ZOMBIE MOVIE, DAN. 

Paper Mache iguana has nothing on hilarious puppet cat.

DAN. DAN LOOK AT MY ARTS AND CRAFTS. DAN. DAN IT’S VERY SCIENCEY. DAN WHY DON’T YOU LOVE MY EYEBALL PET. WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU’RE MOVING OUT.

I’m so disappointed I hadn’t seen this before that Steven Universe episode.

HERBERT DON’T BRING UP THE DEAD GIRLFRIEND THAT IS RULE ONE. 

“LOOK I SAVED YOU HER HEART WILL YOU LOVE ME NOW”

Oh wow, Dan and Herbert have a nice lil place. It probably came prefurnished, but I like to think of them arguing over curtains.

There is an eyeball hand skittering around and it looks like a scene from MST3K AND I AM PLEASED. 

How do pacing.

Ohhhhhhhhh doctor dude you can’t play with the green ooze. ONLY WEST CAN PLAY WITH THE GREEN OOZE STOP FOR THE SAKE OF YOUR LIFE

See, now he’s being attacked by wires. 

Dan and Herbert’s brilliant corpse stealing scheme involves Weekend at Bernie’s sunglasses. Of course it does. 

Let’s all have a hilarious comedy of errors about hiding our reanimated body parts! 

Hello my baby, hello my honey, hello my ragtime heaaaaaaad

OH FRANCESCA HONEY. DON’T DO IT. You seem nice, and nobody makes it out of kissing Dan alive. RUN. 

Dean Halsey: the only one who didn’t make it out of this retcon alive

Isn’t a sequel supposed to be LESS ponderous and slow than its predecessor? 

THE DEAD CAN SENSE THE PLOT DEATH ON YOU. RUN.

Can this whole movie just be Dan and Herbert sciencing over low-end practical gore effects? These scenes are fun

Ahhhh, Herbert’s paranoid now about his work being stolen. A shred of character continuity!

Aaww, Herbert’s so cute when he smiles about living, disembodied limbs. Then immediately glares up when he realizes Dan has left him to see this alone. 

Aaaaaaand that’s a foot-hand. Fand.  A walking fand. That’ll…show him?

Oh hey, Dan owns the perfectly white sheets found only in that “Total Eclipse of the Heart” music video!

Herbert no. Do not jealously spy on Dan having sex. That’s weird. That’s not going to help your wooing. Why are you wooing him with corpses.

DON’T KICK HIM WHILE HE’S DOWN, DETECTIVE CREEPO

That is some REAL GOOD SEX if Dan doesn’t hear all this shouting and banging around down in the Lab of Secrets

I mean technically he does a lot of self defensive murdering and using of natural corpses. Cinnamon Herbert 2023?

YOU KNOW WHAT THIS REMINDS ME OF. YOU KNOW WHAT. HERBERT IS MRS. LOVETT AND DAN IS SWEENEY TODD. HOLY SHIT. IT ALL MAKES SENSE NOW. 

Smol scientist gets tossed around a lot in this’n

DAN HE BEATS UP LADIES IT IS TOTALLY OKAY TO KILL HIM AGAIN GO FOR IT

FRANCESCA YOU WERE A DOCTOR IN A WAR ZONE SURELY YOU HAVE BETTER PRESERVATION SKILLS THAN THIS

NO NOT THE DOG. FUCK YOU, MOVIE

“Hey Dan I reanimated your girlfriend’s dog do you love me now? Does this count as a Good?”

“YES I gave him a human hand, what did you not want me to IMPROVE him?”

Whaaaaaaaat do you mean that caused her to leave you well I GUESS THAT MEANS WE CAN GO BACK TO SCIENCING NOW.

Why won’t he talk to me I AM CONFUSE. 

every second of Herbert West, Confused Scientist Courter is gold

“Y’see, terminal patient, I sort of like to think of you as my dead girlfriend. That’s not creepy, is it?”

Oh movie. You had to put literal blood on his hands, didn’t you.

….Have you actually left that room in these several days, doctor whose name I didn’t actually catch?

Remember how Hill could control the dead in the first movie and it made the least sense? WE’RE BRINGING IT BACK WITH LESS SENSE NOW

YES. PUT HIM IN THE TRASH. BUT STOMP ON HIM FOR GOOD MEASURE.

REALLY FURNACE SCHMUCK? Surely West’s GROSSLY RAMPANT MISOGYNY is pretty apparent at this point

AH THERE IS THE GAY I HAVE BEEN MISSING. Sad puppy eyes Herbert. Just wants Dan to SCIENCE with him like they used to.

Herbert this is the worst seduction speech ever. YOU STOLE HIS PILLOW TALK TO USE ON HIM

Well this is officially the best scene. Good job Jeffrey Combs

WHY IS HILL EVEN IN THIS MOVIE

Uh…..yeah Dan. We have rats. just rats. Totally not my experiments

And there’s a thunderstorm. Of course there’s a thunderstorm

“OH MY GOOOOOD HE WANTS TO PARTICIPATE WE ARE GONNA BE SUCH GREAT DADS TO THIS CORPSE.” 

There is a head with bat wings for ears. It is flying around the living room

Just

thought you might all like to know that

Also undead abuse victim is getting her reanimated revenge on undead dickwad cop. So….that subplot happened

All of the budget went into the makeup work on the Bride, didn’t it

I mean it’s a pretty lovely guro design

Dan please don’t try to bone her she was just born what are you doing she doesn’t know what consent is

What is your fascination with the undead old lady, movie

Herbert does not know how to empathy. That is not how you treat the newly sentient

Herbert you wouldn’t have this problem if you didn’t leave so many zombies running around

Whoaaaaaaa Dan has skipped merrily right off the deep end

“MY GOD. THEY’RE USING TOOLS.”

FUCK YEAH COMBS DOING MONOLOGUES

Ah, he’s gone from /I/ created life to OUR girl. And then to “dead tissue.” Whatever will keep Dan on his side, I suppose.

DAN THIS IS NOT HER FAULT WHY ARE YOU BEING A DICK

The recurrence of the spurned lover offering the heart as a gift. Poor Bride. Poor Herbert, even if he’s also a terrible human

Okay now, this is just a poor excuse to have a corpse party

Ooooh, nice decomposition effect

Head. Bat wings.

AND the zombies are poorly lit. Boooo

I believe this is what they call hubris, Herbert

THAT IS THE WORST ENDING. GO BACK AND TRY AGAIN. 

Pacing’s poor, flabbiest 90 minutes I’ve ever seen. But I DID enjoy the bits where Dan and Herbert got to play off each other again (and wow is Herbert the jealous type). Worth watching for that. 

[absolutebl]

This Week In BL - Japan is BRINGING IT

June 2022 Wk 2

Being a highly subjective assessment of one tiny corner of the interwebs. Organized by which ones (in each category) I’m enjoying the most.

Ongoing Series - Thai

Triage (AISplay Mon) Ep 7- This ep was mostly to give movement to the romance plot and since (oddly for me) that’s the bit I find the least engaging I wasn’t as wild about this installment. Next week looks VERY dramatic tho. 

Check Out (IQIYI Sat) Ep 1 - This season’s messy gays be messy series! I gotta say I love the intro credits on this one: character + actor names. I need that in all my BL. Our leads are Nine (Chahub) and Daonuea (Best). (My boy Plustor is coming too!) So Daonuea is pining for the boy who ghosted him after a hot fling AND a boss/ex/cheater that wants to date him again. Of course boss & fling turn out to know each other. Best is GOOD. I like an office setting but I’m not wild about the execution here. But the messy exes drama is relatable and fun/different. Captions are quite poor. 

KinnPorsche (iQIYI Sat) Ep 10 - Well KimChay moved fast. Meanwhile Kinn’s bodyguards are all pretty naff, letting Tawan get away. The traitor(s) = no particular surprise. Oo death! Also dumb crazy drama gay, but whatevs. I’m mad that everyone looked for Porsche but no one looks for Pete? I guess it’s good to be the boss’s f-toy. Oh, I’m salty abotu this show. Sigh. At least it was an exciting ep? 

Sky in Your Heart (Fri YouTube) Ep 2 - It’s perfectly serviceable. I’m not wowed by the chemistry but it’s fine. 

My Secret Love (YouTube Sat) Ep 3 - Fake relationship is a go and watching them lampoon BL tropes is kind of fun. No screen caps because, you know, fakel but they covered (deep breath): head in lap, picnic, feeding, back hug, movie date, sharing earbuds, and library assignation. Just because I am having a really hard time keeping this straight (pun intended) here is the character breakdown (aside from the leads): campus star = P’Tim (he comes with portable adorable bestie); pair in the 7 year relationship = P’Park & Lee (who switched departments) - they use rao/ter with each other (cutesy). Everyone else = unimportant. 

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

To My Star (Korea Viki) Ep 1-2 - YES FINE I’m watching it. I said I was gonna wait but... I CAN’T. OMG I’m so scared. The doorway being used for transition shots between past| |present was very clever. Also my goodness I almost forgot what really good acting looked like in BL! The year separation after a break up is a classic Korean drama plot point that usually comes at the end of a show, not the beginning. It’s going to be interesting and bumpy to watch them deal with this reverse plotting. They better come up with a really good justification for Ji Woo leaving and being that cruel or heads will ROLL. Also, that better be his sister and not an ex girlfriend, I have it up the here with faen fatales. Please don’t betray our trust Hwang Da Seul. 

Love in Spring (Korea grey) Ep 5-8 - I love to see a brushing hair trope (in a way I don’t love the usual hair dry trope we get in BL). I have no idea why. Also we had an example of the boy protecting “the girl’s” reputation with fisticuffs. This story reminds me a little of those girl disguised as a boy host club shows we got from Japan for a while – same kind of comedy that is a little beyond my ken and slightly jarring. At ep 7 it finally got good as the leads develop a genuine friendship. The snake thing was odd though. To be fair there’s a lot of odd in the show. I’m enjoying the tension and liking it more each ep. 

Plus & Minus (Taiwan Viki *rec* & GaGa Fri) Ep 10 - The dreaded unnecessary break up. At least we understand the bar owner’s motivations. I don’t know where I am with this show now, but I do like that its general assumption is that everyone is at least a little bit bi, and since I too like to give everyone the benefit of the doubt, I’m not opposed to seeing it on screen. 

Want to See You (Vietnam YouTube) Ep 1 - Boy likes his baths, that’s for certain. Standard psycho female character and a basic but uncommon servant/master set up. I’m getting Jane Eyre or something. Nice kisses already but this is no Mr. Cinderella. (The bar has been set, VBL, now I know what you can do.) 

Getaway (Singapore Mon YouTube) Ep 2-3 - Look, I’m the first to admit that there’s a lot of bad and awkward acting in this genre, but for some reason… it feels a lot worse in English. I like how unabashedly gay this show is but (how do I put this nicely?) if I’m gonna watch English language gay-vacay shizz – I’d rather watch Fire Island. Still, as one might expect, the heat execution is good (Taiwan still holds the crown, tho). 

BLs That Finished this week!

Dear Doctor, I'm Coming for Soul (iQIYI Weds) Ep 12fin - I was mixed over the sides, but in the end, they were a cute couple (weird kisses thing notwithstanding). This show had a very Korean style unnecessary-separation in the last ep. But I guess I’m used to that now. Are KarnNat the best Thai origin couple at domesticity? Seems like. The show’s ending reminded me A LOT of Love: Life on the Line (Director’s Cut) so if you like that you’ll like this one, but it’s not strictly HEA. I thought it suited the narrative so I’m not mad. But I’m not sure I’ll ever rewatch it either. Like Peach of Time, everything was set up for us, so the end wasn’t surprising and it managed to be substantially happier than Peach or Grey Rainbow (shudder). So maybe I rate it higher because it could have been a lot worse? ARGH. Decisions. 7/10 RECOMMENDED WITH RESERVATIONS Full review here. 

Close Friend 2 (Viki Thur) Ep 6fin - I liked the dealing with celebrityhood and fandom storyline, although I thought it was too generous to those fans. But in the end this is, like the first installment, fine but forgettable. I did like the breaking the fourth wall and mentioning each other‘s projects at the end. That was fun insider trading. (I guess we get a season 3 featuring DunBas, not my favorite. Shrug.) Anygay, both pairs did well but in terms of content and story, I wasn’t wowed. 6/10 WORTH WATCHING BUT FLAWED 

Fukou-kun wa Kiss Suru Shikanai! AKA Mr Unlucky Has No Choice But to Kiss! (Japan GaGa *rec*  & Viki Fri) Ep 8fin - since this is in the My Love Mix-Up vein of JBL, I was not expecting a final kiss. I consider us lucky that we got the launch kiss, quite frankly. That didn’t stop me from being a touch disappointed, but the final boyfriends cuteness wrestling in bed (VERY Cherry Magic of them) was perfectly serviceable. A solid little JBL. 8/10 RECOMMENDED 

Gossip

I still can’t believe they’re allowing it but it really does seem like Korea is bringing us A Shoulder To Cry On starring Jaehan (oldest) & Yechan (maknae) BOTH from Kpop group OMEGA X. Enemies to lovers, school set, 12 eps, due out in the fall. 

Also in Korea announced adaptation of Lily's comic Heesu in Class 2 . About a shy unpopular boy with a secret crush on best friend. Looks pretty pat but I’m always open to KBL school-set stuff. 

Japan announced BL adaptation of Minamoto Kazuki's comic: Kabesaa Doujin Sakka no Neko Yashiki-kun wa Shounin Yokkyuu wo Kojirasete iru starring Matsuoka Koudai (I know him from Five) and Nakao Masaki (Kakafukaka, Bow Then Kiss - he’s a BIG DEAL ya’ll) slated to be released in October. (source) The description from Crunchyroll is up on MDL but it’s incomprehensible. 

Cambodia released a trailer of upcoming Khmer BL មើលបានហាមសម្លឹង AKA Eye Contact. We are in “don’t bet on it happening (or finishing)” territory. 

New Thai drama My Coach seems to have a BL side plot. 

Art Adore En got a trailer. Country boy studying at a university in Bangkok catches the eye of his senior. 

2 Moons 3: The Ambassador announced a cast. That came out of nowhere. 

PRIDE! 

This is one of those times that I really wish I read Thai and could confirm it, but Thai BL actor Copter Panuwat seems to have come out as non-binary. Copter has always been super supportive since the 2 Moons days. Someone at MDL is ON IT and has updated Copter’s profile to they/them in the bio section, even if the MDL system doesn’t offer it as an option (someone oughta change the back end code on that). 

No matter what, happy pride! 

In Case You Missed It

Korean BL Blueming is getting a movie version. Since this aired on iQIYI not Viki, not sure if inter fans will get to see it. 

iQIYI has picked up SantaEarth’s friends-to-lovers (possibly sad) BL My Only 12% from Wabi Sabi, coming late summer. 

Japan is airing a BL comedy-drama adaptation of Naruko's Fudanshi Bartender no Tashinami AKA Accomplishment of Fudanshi Bartender streaming on FOD. About a fancy pants bartender who is secretly a nerdy BL fan. 

3 BLs have been submitted for consideration to the Seoul International Drama Awards 2022: Semantic Error (Korea), I Promised You The Moon (Thailand), and My Beautiful Man (Japan). 

The boys from Kissable Lips are pair branding. (They are rumored to have a new series The Circumstances Of Pungdeok Villa Room 304.) I mention this because it’s my first time seeing a Korean pair consciously use Thai techniques on their social media. 

Next Week Looks Like This: 

We’re hitting the Thai summer slow down season, thank heavens. There was too much for even me to keep up with for a while there. I could used some down time, except Japan won’t let me!

Monday: Japanese BL Old Fashion Cupcake adapted from the manga of the same name by by Sagan Sagan (trailer on FB). Seems to be a hyung romance: office set, employee/boss, age gap. About a subordinate with a crush on his boss - seems a bit Cherry Magic light? Only 5 episodes, coming to Viki! 

Thursday: Kimi no Koto Dake Mite Itai AKA I Only Want To See You only 4 eps, starts June 16, Hulu JP. Not sure on inter.  

Friday: Senpai, Danjite Koidewa! AKA Senpai, This Can’t be Love! is taking over Mr Unlucky’s time slot on Fridays, reported as picked up by GaGa for international although I’m showing it listed for Viki. 

Oh yeah and then also: Love Mechanics disaster muffins start Saturday on WeTV. 

This week’s best moments?

I didn’t pull any. Sheesh, I guess I was disappointed this week. 

(last week)