#but Grimmons didn’t even have that

[blazesurrender]

It happened to me TWICE!

“go to hell” is basic.

“i hope you get queer baited for 21 years by 2 of your favorite characters, get strung along into thinking theyll be confirmed as canon soon only for none of that to happen and instead watch them go their separate ways in the end" is smart. it’s possible. it’s terrifying. It happened to ME

[whizzermania]

what your favorite fua ship says about you

raddlove fans: you desire every inch of hopepunk yuri in this show and you want these weird ass gals to have a happy ending with their potato child and plant dog. you’re the mfers who listen to every single interaction they have closely and watch as they receive the most amount of character development for a lesbian couple because you’re upset that there isn’t a lot of wlw representation in media. and thats fine. we needed this. every inch of it. i love you.

harlanc fans: you’re a jonmartin liker that has been traumatized by tma so much. you got into fua hoping this show would heal your wounds but the moment you landed on ep 10 you see the vision despite harley and lancaster only having the relationship of fairly acaquianted coworkers. despite this: you see their struggles and you see the potential outcome that it WILL work out: because theres nothing more delicious than mentally ill yaoi of the most depressed faceless communications officer and a even more depressed psychologist. you don’t care if harlanc becomes canon but you would be OVERJOYED if it was: because after reading several fanfics of this ship you would be crying on the floor.

kleinves fans: klein is your favorite character..and you couldn’t think of who she’d be paired with at first..until alves was introduced. seriously: one of them does not have a voice in the show and every single mention of her theres always some funny ass divorce beef between them. then anna “raddagher formally known as tanfaradd” maguire headbutted and kidnapped you to listen to episode 35 and beyond and now you will NEVER RECOVER. you LOVE the girlfail divorced yuri. you’ve been fed so much. you didn’t think it was gonna happen but it did.

grimmons fans: these characters do not have a voice. these character have only been mentioned four or five times: one of them having their very own episode. what is the point of this ship? the thing is there is no point and it started out as a joke. but its funny as fuck: and we respect that.

[ashyybees-art]

As much as I love Grimmons and was semi-jokingly hoping for them getting together at the series close-

-seriously speaking in narrative terms, Grif and Simmons choices of their paths makes sense and is a good way of bringing their characters full circle. Grif was drafted and didn’t have a choice, Simmons was always trying to prove himself and be more. They both grew so much over the adventures. At the final adventure they both made choices for their characters of where they want to go forward as everything is finally laid to rest.

And each gave the other the chance for those paths for each other. Simmons gave Grif the chance to go home and stop being a soldier. Grif supported Simmons for this last fight together and letting him be the leader without disparage. He even offered for Simmons to come with him, but understood and fully accepted that Simmons wants something different.

And even then, them physically separating doesn’t mean they disconnect from one another completely. They joke about how Simmons will never come to Earth, but who knows. The way it ended they could easily keep in touch and room for so many headcanons and ideas. (Aka this is still a sandbox, go wild lol)

[websurfshark]

season 19 was a let down 😭😭

spoilers below!

i’m sure that over a year of hype doesn’t help my case here but i really was expecting something a little better 😭

i don’t mean to be too much of a critic in this post and sorry if i seem like i’m complaining but man 🧍‍♂️ full review here we go

sarges death was expected and the character arc that simmons got from it was pretty well done , he was cool — sarges death did just seem kind of rushed but that’s probably also time constraints , nobody seemed super affected by it tho and that kinda put me off ☹️ sure the reds were like Sad right after he died , and grif + simmons had the moment at his grave, but it’s literally not brought up again ? simmons just gets to be a leader kinda and tucker doesn’t get told he killed sarge, nobody else brings it up after the climax?? not even during the climax as they fight meta again ?

^ although sarges final moments were done very nicely and the va’s had a ton of emotion ❤️

along with that, wash’s acting was amazing as always

grif was characterized really weirdly throughout the first half of the season - i’m guessing they tried to make him the “straight man” of the group but it kinda fell flat because he just seemed irrationally angry every single time he spoke 😭 he kinda evened out as it went on tho so that’s better than nothing

Simmons was very kind this season that was interesting and cool He didn’t have a care in the world

animation was wonky at times but it was there - fight scenes weren’t monty oum style of crazy but they were creative with them and ill give them that! good callbacks during the fight

character callbacks were cool! i’m glad we got a little bit of kai (no reunion with grif tho so that sucks), dylan was there but she was kinda characterized weird, grey there, agent one (???) for some reason, 479er!!!!! she was well done and she fit really well into the plot!, no checkup on chorus life which was kinda sad (no lieutenants boohoohoo) some of the callbacks felt out of place tho

i don’t like how they handled tex cause even though it was cool she was back , i feel like we’ve done this dance a thousand times

also carolina quite literally came out of nowhere ?? how did she just ? drop from the sky what ??? LOL

absolutely no donut at all ? there was like one mention of him that i can remember ? lopez is just forgotten about back at the bases ??? i don’t know if the donut thing was something behind the scenes but Uhh

music wasnt up to par - they just reused old songs basically , the weird song that played during the “Memories” sequence wasn’t good

i’m not the hugest fan of the ais in general so i don’t think about them too much but i feel like sigma wasn’t characterized in the same way he was in the freelancer seasons — in pfl he kind of subtly manipulated maine into becoming meta etc etc but for tucker , he basically just like😭 tortured him WHICH IS PROBABLY CAUSE LIKE tucker knows This guy is evil Ahhhh!!! but still that was a little weird

no grimmons sad day for the rvb fandom - some scenes could be read as grimmons, like grif basically inviting simmons to go with him , i’m confused on why simmons stayed because simmons himself literally said One last mission ? so idk what he’s doing bro idk if he’s staying in blood gulch or what — grif just straight up leaves and like ? are they gonna see eachother again orrr ? what’s happening

the ending felt rushed and kinda weird - just vibes , i think i’m biased because i now realize that not a lot can beat the s13 ending , but even so , grif just kinda leaves and that’s the end 😭

i feel like we didn’t get a whole lot of conclusions for all the characters even tho that’s what was promised

overall i’m probably giving this a solid 5-6/10 , the season was overall very hit or miss in some aspects and scenes

ANWYAYS😭 don’t let my opinions take away from your experience with season 19! this is just how i felt about it after my first watchthrough and my opinions might/will change!

[sco07ut]

what just happened!!!!!!!! s19 rambles (negative) ↓

going to be messy cos im just planning on writing whatever outrageous moments stand out as i go along

first of all????? DOC FUCKING DIED?????????? i literally had to rewatch a few times to realise that’s what they were saying 😟 when the fuck did he die bc doc eas Inside the staff of charon and wash was fuckijg idk?? on the surface of chorus right?? how did doc die saving him what (genuinely someone smarter than me if you’ve figured it out please tell me) bc like the point of the charon fight is that they were stuck in the mementos room right? idk

anyway he was done so dirty i literally do not think there was a reason to reveal doc was dead in the last five minutes

on that note, where was donut?? did he die too ? how long after chorus is s19 set like was that undisclosed location iris or what. did he do his whole ‘tour of the universe’ thing early? like i would’ve been fine with even just a passing comment but they were so vague with it

WHY DID SARGE DIE AND THEN PROMPTLY BECOME IRRELEVANT????? aside from simmons grif & caboose not a Soul mentioned the fact that a whole man was dead. i was so convinced that there would be some big funeral with everyone attending at the end

i did sort of like the plot though, simmons getting a leadership role was kinda fun

tbh i did like simmons this season it was so great seeing him finally get recognition but good grief i cannot talk about simmons without bringing up the ending/lack of grimmons

it makes sense that they wouldn’t get together if grif went home and simmons stayed in the army BUT WHY DID SIMMONS STAY IN THE ARMY?? RICHARD YOU DO NOT HAVE A FUCKING TEAM ANYMORE (on that note. where did lopez go. i’m only just realising that he literally vanished) i’m so insane why did they do that. they could’ve gone home together. and kissed about it idk

i mean i didn’t actually expect grimmons to happen but i thought they’d stay together?? it’s always been them. like that’s the whole point of their characters. every other person who’s been on their team before has died and left them (grif sleeping through being glassed, hammer dying during basic, the red team at rat’s nest and now sarge and donut i guess?????) why did they not stay together

also on the grif family note, the kai cameo was nice (though i will say i do Not understand the point of the whole retro con thing, i feel like it went on for ages, did nothing to set up the plot. the meta could’ve been introduced some other way surely)

also while i’m thinking about it, why did it take tucker/the meta months to get from chorus to a point where he was actively searching for epsilon ?

anyway sorry kai cameo fun but she should’ve had a bigger role idc

it kind of feels like they suddenly realised almost all their female characters were overlooked and they tried to shove them in to be like ‘ohhh look we care about our female characters’ and then screwed them over by making them either insignificant or nothing more than a cameo

with the exception of tex maybe. i fully did not expect her to come back prior to watching but when caboose was like oh help me remember i started to get a feeling it wouldn’t be church. i’m also so glad they addressed the whole ‘created from failure/destined to fail’ thing, tex fuckijg deserved that win. sad that she died though (i wasn’t expecting that either and was like fully geared up to start making post restoration fanart of carolina and tex hanging out and learning how to be friends/family again)

idk i just feel like we missed out on so much stuff due to time constraints, there were so many scenes that should’ve been put in imo like carolina and tex having some sort of moment together, grif and kai having a moment, carolina & wash seeing 479er again

ok wait different chain of thought. everyone was like really eager to kill tucker. there was no moral dilemma of everyone being like ohh beneath the meta hes our friend we can’t hurt him but we still need to take him down what’re we gonna doo. although on second thought it was red team so . yeah the mindless attacking does make sense a bit

new thought again overall it just felt weird like everyone had their assigned pairings and couldn’t acknowledge anyone outside of them?? like during the fights there wasn’t much of a reunion when tex/carolina joined and then wash (and apparently not fucking doc) like idk. i was under the assumption thatvthere would be a sweet little scene where they got the gang back together

whatever man that’s everything off the top of my head. i had no expectations going in and still somehow left disappointed. i Will be making an au version that fits all the things i wanted to see

[jade-kyo]

Season 15 post Restoration thoughts

Back when Restoration was first announced I rewatched the shisno trilogy to weigh the pros and cons of everything getting retconned. I’ve decided now that Restoration has aired to do another rewatch like that but this time more just general thoughts and headcanons

welp let’s get started!

Oh hey this is actually funny

Still say Dylan’s original cameraman was funnier, they should’ve kept him instead of Jax. Frank you will always be famous to me.

KAIKAINA MY BELOVED

Bringing back Vic was a big brained move fr

On the topic of Vic I’ve always liked the theory that he was actually one of the alpha fragments, specifically the love fragments… hmm things to consider

The whole situation on chorus is also interesting… further things to consider

Oh hey look at that Dr. Grey actually sounds like herself. What a wild concept.

The reds and blues are actually friends and act like it? WHAT A WILD CONCEPT

Grimmons closet sex you will always be famous to me

But also Church basically writing gay smut of his friends is very funny

Man this is actually funny. Wild concept.

Nah but there’s a legit joke about them getting a bad movie bro predicted the future

Canon band au

I love how all the things Carolina mentions happening are so low key compared to the others. Like yeah Grif convincing Simmons GoT was real is wild meanwhile there’s actual dinosaurs

Yeah the whole red team and blue team thing IS outdated. Concept wild.

Genuinely love how you can tell just how much Carolina loves these idiots and their shenanigans. Such a concept.

“No he means Church” frothing at the mouth

OH HEY THEY GENUINELY CARE ABOUT EACH OTHER AND ABOUT CHURCH. WILDEST OF CONCEPTS

“I’m not in the military anymore” yeah Grif that sure is a GREAT point. Concepts are wild.

But also can’t believe we’ve had to watch grimmons get divorced twice

PROTECTIVE TUCKER MY BELOVED

Dead beat dad Tucker jokes my BELOATHED

Man remembering the characters ranks. Really concept the wild.

“We’re having fish” bro why did you say it like that makes you sound like a cannibal 💀

Loco you will always be famous to me

“You don’t have to destroy the past to have a future” what a great way to show that you can let go of the past and trauma while also honoring the memories of those you lost. Concepts really do be wild sometimes.

Damn I think I’m coming back around on carwash- I am not immune to hand holding and funny take off your suit bits. Platonic or romantic they make me feral. I’ll take it either way.

Freelancer death room is a genuinely cool and fucked up scene

As much as I’m enjoying this rewatch I still can’t stand the Sarge butchering that starts in this season and just get progressively worse

SERIOUSLY VIC IS A FRAGMENT HE LITERALLY SAYS “it’s me!” IN REFERENCE TO THE ALPHA

Y’all were right Temple is totally gay for Biff

Oh god I forgot about the shitty animation

Also werent the simulation bases started after Tex fled from PF?? And also after Carolina went MIA???

Rip Biff bro did not deserve that but to be fair the second he said his girl was pregnant he was doomed by the narrative

Caboose cursing my beloved

Donut is a furry confirmed

TUCKER ASKING CABOOSE HIS THOUGHTS AND EVEN AGREEING AHDKGAKSH

While I am enjoying this rewatch I think I figured out what always bugged me about this season. The reds and blues are the wrong kind of dumb. Like yeah they’re idiots but you seriously didn’t consider once that the blues and reds might be lying to you? Especially after everything that happened on Chorus?? But especially Carolina and Wash not really questioning it??? Like idk it just feels off

Temple has so much potential as a villain cause like he’s not wrong… and I think evil sim troopers is such a cool concept…much to be considered

Oh actually acknowledging how much they’ve accomplished especially on Chorus?? Of concepts to be wild

Another thing that bugs me is this constant use of “good guy/bad guy” language. just feel off for the themes of RvB.

Ah yeah Grif’s volleyballs

Grif might be able to give Wash a run for his money on that Sarge impersonation

LOCUS!!!!!

Locus-Grif team up my beloved

METAL GEAR REFERENCE SPOTTED !

EVERYONE BEING PROTECTIVE OF CABOOSE

But also I think Caboose not understanding death is weird like yeah he’s dumb but again not that kind of dumb??? Idk just one of those things that doesn’t entirely sit right with me

I do like the interactions between him and the team tho

Loopy Wash my beloved

Again will never forgive what they did to Sarge

Locus is gonna steal yo kneecaps

Ah yes Church’s obsession with fucking up Wash continues.

Honestly in hindsight I don’t actually love Wash getting shot. It really feels like they just use him as an angst punching bag because he’s a fan favorite. And this is coming from someone who LOVES angst

Also I feel like Tucker rushing out is ooc when a big part of his arc on Chorus was him doing that, getting people killed, and then learning that sometimes you gotta think things through. Kind of the start of how they undid and then redid his arc

OKAY BUT GRIF AND TUCKER MOMENT!!!!!!

Okay again this weird insistence of all the enemies being comically evil shitty people is very antithetical to the core themes are RvB

Everybody shut the fuck up the Caboose and Tucker moment after Caboose ties the guys shoelaces together is so fucking cute holy shit I am frothing at the mouth I love them so much

My hatred for anything time travel related remains

AUDIBLE GASP

GRIMMONS WHY ARE WE HERE MOMENT MY BELOVED

Yeah Sarge your monologues ARE better. Sure wish they’d remember what those monologues actually meant for your character development. Wilds the concept huh.

Man Grif choosing to stay with his friends no matter what. Truly concept in my wilds.

LOCO NOOOOOOOOOO!!

Oh god they hit you with the Caboose feels that should be illegal

Still don’t like that Caboose got to say goodbye tho. I said it last time but it’s too- fairytale-ish. The themes of grief in rvb have always been about how it’s unfair and a lot of the times you don’t get to say goodbye and you don’t get closure but you still have to learn to let go and move on despite it all. Want it noted this is also a criticism I have of the Chex stuff in restoration.

Furthermore Tucker really was prepared to create a time paradox in order to bring back Church AND THEY JUST NEVER CIRCLED BACK AROUND TO THAT???? Bro Tucker grieves Church so much and they just never address it

Also Vic’s sacrifice is further proof that he’s an alpha fragment

GRIF SIBLINGS MY BELOVEDS!!!!!!

Dylan’s speech at the end is very good and it makes me love the simulation headcanon more cause that means it’s technically Church, or at least what Church believes/hopes the world would think of the reds and blues.

Also can’t believe Temple, Bucky, and Cronut are all still alive and they just never brought them back in any way.

ALSO CAROLINA SINGING AKHSKAHSKHDKSJ

CABOOSE DRUM SOLO

Alright then that’s seasons 15! …. On my hands and knees begging for forgiveness S15 TAKE ME BACK IM SORRY I WAS EVER MEAN TO YOU!

But in all seriousness I’m way more open to this as a possibility of what happens next than I am Restoration. This is just glorified fanfiction and like it’s fun! I have fun watching it! I’ve got my complaints but still at least it gets that these characters care about each other. It may not have the strongest writing but it’s not terrible and you’ll catch me rewatching it and enjoying it from time to time.

… do I have to watch s16- can’t I just skip it? Please no amount of Restoration sucking is going to make me like that season. I might just skip it and if I’m ever feeling more up to it I’ll circle back around to it. In all honesty I think 16 and Restoration are on the same level for me. Bad seasons that I mostly ignore but I will on very rare occasions rewatch them if not just to bitch and complain. I do think Restoration is a little better than 16 but still easily in the top 3 worst seasons of RvB.

Welp in that case you will most likely see me talking about s17 next unless I’m just really feeling the self hatred enough to watch 16

[shutthehellupcaboose]

I’m gonna spoil restoration I lied im tired and I wanna talk about it cause I sorta hated it? Like. Even more than zero. Spoilers are under the cut and if you read it and don’t like what I have to say cause it’s my opinion, that’s okay I’d love to hear what you have to say

So Grimmons not being canon is actually fine. What I didn’t like is Grif getting what he wanted because I think the Grif we know now didn’t want to leave after everything, I think he grew past that and decided he would rather be with his friends than be back on earth.

Simmons got the respect he always wanted but at the cost of Sarge’s life.

I couldn’t care if Grimmons was canon or not, what I care about is the way everyone was handled. It felt like we were taking away development and we were rewriting characters into characters from season 8! Grif if I remember correct had a whole big speech about how they always follow church and the blues because that’s what they’ve always done and none of this would have happened if they didn’t and then he QUITS and stays on iris until he goes insane and then once he’s back with Simmons and the rest of them he agrees to stay by their side.

And I think that was Grif GIVING UP the idea of leaving in favor of the people he cares about. What the fuck is on earth for him besides retiring? Like really. If Simmons HAD gone with him that would have been something but deciding to give Grif the ending he DIDNT need, or in my opinion, really want really feels underhanded and like it’s just easy?

I understand they were on a time squeeze and COULDN’T make something of the caliper of the rest of rvb, I’m not complaining about the quality of it, but parts of it felt so rushed and unplanned and I wish they had taken time to actually close the doors rather than blowing them off their hinges??

I feel like Tex also wouldn’t call herself Allison. Church calling himself Leonard makes sense but Tex tells Tucker Meta that she isn’t Beta she is their memories and she is THEIR Tex and I think the idea of her embracing herself as Tex the robot built to fail over and over again makes sense! She is doomed to fail, but that doesn’t mean she’s not going to try. But I will say church and Tex did get a good ending in that regard even if I don’t like the outcome it was a good ending really.

And I wish I had more information on doc and donut. We (partner and friend) tried theorizing about why they were gone and we honestly couldn’t figure out why because they tried so many things at once and I just wish there was like a line that was like “oh when donut / doc died” or “donut quit” or something

I just feel like Wash, Grimmons and Sarge got a really shitty deal, and maybe that’s just me but I feel like there could have been a bit more and sadly I think with everything going on they didn’t have a choice BUT to rush to release it.

I mean to Me season 13 is a perfect ending, and having church dissipate and being an open ending that’s like “okay now you decide what happens” is better than this personally.

[rubykgrant]

(this is part of some very early Grimmons character-study/interaction stuff I wrote a while ago, about how they wind up sleeping together a lot... literally sleeping! it's still amusing to me, so I'm sharing it again~)

The first time they slept together had been because they were both wiped-out after running training drills all day; they flopped down in the barracks, intending to head to the showers, but were too tired to get back up again. They landed on a cot… it wasn’t either of their cots, just some cot, nobody tried to move them, and they fell asleep next to each other, still in their armor. They woke up about 4 hours later, now irritated because they felt gross (no shower), and hungry (no lunch). They didn’t even acknowledge the fact that they had been half-way all over each other, they just got up, muttering and complaining, with Grif stumbling off to find food and Simmons finally going to get clean.

Between then and being sent to Blood Gulch, there was maybe 5 or 6 more times when Grif nodded off sitting next to Simmons while they were supposed to be waiting for orders, or riding in a transport. Simmons would try to shove the other guy off, but Grif always fell back onto him (sometimes nearly crushing him).

Once, Simmons had stayed up late re-reading some handbook about how to not get shot, and fell asleep sitting at a desk. Grif had been nearby, pretending to read a different handbook but REALLY sneaking some chocolate snacks he smuggled in. Simmons wound up leaning over, until he was pressed against Grif. When Grif realized the dude was passed-out, he kind of just shrugged (thinking that Simmons was basically a human-shield to block the view of his snack), and went back to the chocolate.

The next time they slept together was at Red Base, when Grif had fallen asleep in Simmons’ bed and refused to move. Simmons did everything but literally kick him off the mattress (though such a thin little mat of fabric could BARELY be called that). Once again, they were wiped-out from running around all day… Sarge was merciless, and Blood Gulch was hot as hell. Simmons’ bed just happened to be closer to the door than Grif’s, and Grif wasn’t going to take another step.

Simmons sat down on the side of his bed next to the wall and tried to roll Grif away… and even that was too much trouble. He’d only managed to make enough space for himself, so he gave up, pulled the only pillow out from under Grif’s head, and scrunched as far away from the bed-stealing a-hole as possible, until Simmons was pressed up to the wall. At least this time, they had both managed to shower first. Later, when they woke up (and discovered that they once again wound up half-way all over each other), Simmons had chewed him out for being so inconsiderate and annoying. Grif simply flipped Simmons off (he was far less concerned about sharing sleeping space, having grown up with a little sister who was always right THERE).

A few more times where they were supposed to be keeping a look-out, and Grif would start napping. A few more times where Simmons stayed up too late and then just passed out. Whoever fell asleep first, the other one was always nearby, and somebody would lean against somebody else.

/////

The first time they slept together on Iris had actually been after staying there for a few weeks. One evening, they had been sitting together on the couch, talking about movies. Stuff they liked, stuff they hated. Mostly they agreed, and occasionally they argued. Nobody was getting really mad though; this was fun. They talked all night, leaving movies behind, finding other topics that amused them both, leaning closer and closer together, and discovering that it didn’t feel uncomfortable to be like this.

They drifted off like that, and slept better than they had in a long time. The next day, Simmons woke up first and didn’t even try to move Grif… he didn’t have anywhere to be, and besides; he was worried it might turn into something awkward again if he called attention to it. Simmons just wanted them both to be at ease with each other again. When Grif finally started to stir, he blinked and sat up, asking Simmons if there was any coffee yet.

Relieved, Simmons went to start making some, and they drank their cups together, ate some breakfast together, and talked about stupid stuff again together. It was finally normal again, and it was what they both wanted (and even if they wanted MORE… they were too worried to try and talk about it, or even think about it). They fell asleep like that several more times.

Then something happened, Simmons left, and Grif stayed.

Neither of them got much sleep for a while… they felt angry, lonely, guilty, and sad. Simmons tried to keep himself awake as long as possible, hoping he’d exhaust himself and then just pass out (this had happened before, many times). It didn’t work, he just wound up being painfully AWAKE for nearly 45 hours straight, so he took some sleeping pills to knock himself out. He finally slept, but still didn’t feel rested.

Grif slept in little bursts, nothing but short naps that barely gave him what he needed. They were full of stress-dreams than made him wake up with a panic, a bundle of anxiety, and he would rush around trying to find something to do. He now had the whole place to himself, and he wandered into other people’s rooms… he didn’t take anything, or snoop, he was just… missing them. Several times, he would up sleeping in Simmons’ bed, and this was the only time he managed to get any rest for an extended period of time. He always made the bed after he woke up, because… if Simmons was here, he’d hate seeing the covers all messed-up.

Then Grif and Locus went to find Grif’s friends, and even though lots of bad things were happening, it was good to be part of a group with them again. Simmons felt like he had been dealing with a long, painful headache, and now that Grif was back, it finally passed. Grif expected Simmons to have an axe to grind over the whole situation, but for once Simmons just didn’t bother. To himself, Simmons thinks about how things just didn’t work without Grif. He doesn’t want to push Grif away, even if he has sore feelings. He just wants them both to be together.

Other stuff happened, nonsensical stuff, stuff that made no sense and nearly killed them and destroyed all of reality… but eventually it was over (or had never happened? Time travel was weird like that). Grif was there, Simmons was there, they could have a chance to just be around each other again. It was what they both wanted.

The next time they slept together, they were on a ship, going to visit Wash to make sure he was alright. Grif was embarrassed over how clingy and jittery he had gotten during his time being alone, and Simmons had immediately recognized this behavior (it was almost like looking in a mirror… how often had he talked way too much, just to fill the silence of other people ignoring him? How often had he been overly eager, trying to please somebody, just for a little positive attention?).

When he notices that Grif looks sleepy but is refusing to try and rest, he realizes this is because Grif simply doesn’t want to be alone. Without a second thought, Simmons pulls him aside so they can sit together, and mentions as casually as possible-

“I think I’m gonna try and take a nap…”

He wasn’t usually the one who initiated this kind of thing, but Grif needed to know; it was OK. They were both right here, and they were both tired, and this was alright. Grif leaned against him, and they wind up… just barely, but not quite, kinda-sorta holding hands… that is, Simmons has his arms on his lap, the organic one palm-up, and Grif is letting his own arms dangle down as well, so really; their hands are just touching. A little bit.

They return to Chorus again. This is for Wash, to be with him while he recovers, but also because nobody wants to split-up yet (even Donut, who was the one that suggested they needed time apart).

They fall asleep together on the couch, they fall asleep together when a visit to somebody’s room turns into what Caboose calls a slumber-party. Even if other people are there, Grif and Simmons wind up close together, half-way all over each other. It has always been like this… and it probably would keep being like this, forever.

Neither of them thought that this was what their lives would be. When they first met, they didn't think they would eventually become so close. Grif drove Simmons crazy, and Simmons annoyed the heck out of Grif. However, after all these years... it was just out of the question to imagine being apart. For better or worse, they've come to accept that they actually want to be with each other, always together

[mincedpeaches]

rvb19 post

So I’m writing this post without looking at a single other person’s post about the season so my thoughts may solidify more after this and even change a little bit, because a lot of times people are better at putting into words and meta my own thoughts that I’m not as good at articulating. But at the immediate aftermath. I’m like. It’s fine? I suppose? And I think I will sour more on it over time. Maybe even by the end of this post. I definitely would not call it good. The best way I can describe it was:

It was a collection of scenes.

And you might say, what? For years Red vs Blue was a collection of scenes, the show was broken up into five minutes episode chunks! And I would say yes, but also it was masterful in that those episodes felt like they were woven well into a complete story too. This felt like it had story beats that it wanted to hit in the script (Tucker!Meta, Sarge Dies, Tex and Carolina in cool (“cool”) fight scene) and did it without regard to character. Except the Grimmons scene after Sarge died and Wash/Doc bit. Which I’ll get to later.

The info dumps were odd, it felt like the first ten minutes clearly wanted to remind us of some things (in case we forgot I guess), but took other things at face value (479er+freelancer cameos for example). If you think about the plot for more than five minutes I think breaks apart easily (why did the Reds+Caboose end up at bases again after Chorus, why/how did Tucker leave with all the AI, why did Epsilon leave messages for the reds and blues instead of CAROLINA)

Also going back to story beats w/r/t to character, I think it also really failed to expand on anything that the previous seasons had laid down. It’s always been a tall order after the character arcs of Chorus, but the bits where the Reds didn’t help Caboose and then did after re-consideration felt like going through the motions at this point. So it definitely wasn’t a funny gag, and since they’ve done that SO many times before it almost felt cruel to have the Reds refuse to help at first. The conclusion at the end of series, wasn’t really informed by anything done HERE. In this movie. I mentioned in my liveblog I was having trouble articulating this, and I still am. I’m kind of hoping someone will put this into words better than me.

Tucker!Meta might as well have been a completely different guy for how much it informed the story. There was the one bit where he lets Caboose get away, that’s it. Otherwise he had a COMPLETELY RIDICULOUS evil laugh and mannerisms for NO REASON and it sucked. If this was supposed to contrast with Tucker for angst reasons it didn’t work. Meta’s entire thing was he was huge, threatening, non-verbal, and was mentally unsound from so many AI. WHY would having all the AIs coalesce into this mustache twirling thing.  I liked the scene where the AIs are piloting the ship and they’re all talking while Tucker is groggy. THAT was suitably creepy and threatening. I could not take Meta!Tucker seriously most of the time.

And then since they had so many guys gone by the campfire scene (Tucker trapped as the villain, Donut not there with no explanation ever, Lopez missing after his first scene(where did he go?), Epsilon dead (still), Sarge dead (newly), Carolina not there with no explanation, Wash not there with no explanation, AND not to mention different Caboose voice actor) the reminiscing felt a little hollow.  Its like a metaphor for the state of Rooster Teeth when they were working on this lmao. Same with the scene when Grif and Simmons go to confront Tucker!Meta, it felt kind of hollow with just the two guys. That worked a tiny bit better because it was supposed to be sadder, but then the save in the form of Carolina & Tex wasn’t as character driven either. Remember scenes like the season 8 Meta fight, the Season 10 rescue of Carolina, or the final shot of Season 13. The entire team come to together, not just for the cool action scene, but as character conviction (Sarge’s speech, choosing to help Carolina, choosing to help the people of Chorus).

Okay this is already getting a little long and ramble-y and its getting VERY late right now. Let’s take it a step back and bullet point the Pros and Cons.

BAD:

NO DONUT. Why was Donut not there. If he couldn’t be there for voice actor scheduling reasons, why wasn’t his character acknowledged in a way that was good and respectful and made sense at all. First it’s the gay angels now it’s the gay simulation troopers. I can’t win.

GRIMMONS SEPARATION. FUCK. ESPECIALLY after I was cock teased with the “come with me”. God.

Wheres the fucking post. The found family FUCKING post. Hold on I'm reblogging it before I post this. To be linked here.

Carolina was done dirty in terms of getting no screen time and her character beat(ish) deferring to making Wash feel better. Man. I really thought she was gonna be involved here. This was a CHORUS follow up.

The action was soooo whatever. Budget who. But this wasn’t really BAD bad. It was just like. Sure this is there and happening I guess. I was never one for the action in rvb though.

OKAY:

Wash angst was good, had a throughline, BUT it was at the expense of not having him interact with the Reds and Blues and also Carolina should have got some of that. Getting serious flashbacks to Seasons 9 & 10 where Carolina was shafted in this department as well.

There were a number of jokes that I laughed at. You may think that this is a given for rvb but remember we last came off rvb zero. Also the teaser that had humor that was really off. So I am happy that there were jokes that I could laugh at.

Sarge death scene was good, especially in a vacuum. I think it would have struck better if the buildup and stakes had been better (collection of scenes….) but it was still good.( <- This may be the emotions talking. TBD.)

The scene where they go back to bury Sarge at Blood Gulch. VERY GOOD. I think the best scene in the whole thing. THIS, more than the last scene of the entire series, felt like the goodbye to Red vs Blue. Then when Simmons offers to discharge Grif? Ten out of ten. Acting was happening here. Grimmons acting.

Tex showed up! Fun surprise. Feel like she could have been utilized better though (more character moments less action)

It’s past midnight and I can’t think of any more things... but there may be more. Time to sleep on this. And reblog posts.

I will stand by my summary though: It was a collection of scenes.

[hazelplaysgames]

something i don’t think i actually noticed before, in Dusk, is that the early game areas that the games asks you to go to for the Union quests are actually easier as a whole than any of the optional areas. i don’t think Limit Velley would be hard even if i didn’t have a single Champion on my team.

that said, Seasarmon, Grimmon, pretty much the exact same as Dusk. the Bronze tamers had their time in the sun.

[duraraross]

Grif and Simmons are inseparable. They have been by each other’s side since the very first episode. They are THE most iconic red vs blue duo, even moreso than, and this hurts me to say, Locus and Felix. They’re best friends, but something more. Grimmons is the ship that everyone assumes you ship because it is the default. Because they are so obviously in love. They are always together. You literally never see one without the other, and the one time it DID happen, it was because of a huge plot point.

Grif fell off a cliff and almost died, and Simmons held on as long as he could before Grif slipped from his grasp.

Grif literally has Simmons’ organs inside of him because Simmons gave them to him after an accident.

You know that trope in shows where there’s a real one and an imposter and someone who knows the real one asks a question only the real one would know? Yeah, that happened with them.

They have canonically had sex at least once. It was a sex pollen thing.

They ran a Q&A show that told us that Grif didn’t want to run a Q&A show, he just *wanted to do it with Simmons*.

A vote for Grif and Simmons is a vote for soulmates.

Round 1, part 4

[dynamitedragon]

RvB Fanfic Ideas

Tuckington

Fake Dating

Werewolf AU (specifically teen wolf but that’s not too important)

BDSM PWP

Fuck Buddies

Catfishing

Jealous Tucker

Bodyguard

Grimmons

Temple of Procreation PWP

Romcom

Everybody Bets

Girlfriend

Churbex (Church/Caboose/Tex)

I kissed you and your girlfriend at a party

Quick Summaries under the cut!

Fake dating:

This is actually Texas-Hates-Taxes-Too’s idea who wrote that the Lieutenants keep trying to set Wash up on dates and eventually he just gets fed up enough that he just says he’s with Tucker to get them to back off. Then he asks Tucker to pretend for him just until they go to Iris. In my interpretation Tucker only agrees after Wash offers throwing knives lessons and the lieutenants keep trying to make good dates for them in apology. (Hopefully it’s ok for me to take this idea and run with it.)

Werewolf AU:

If you’ve seen Teen Wolf (the tv show) this is based kinda on that. Tucker is Stiles a human with a little something extra who runs with werewolves. Wash is a hunter who comes to investigate the nemeton (an old tree thats power has been regained and is calling supernatural creatures to the town). I guess for a werewolf au it’s a bit different cause neither of the two love interests are werewolves lol. This one would be a big one when I get to writing it, so I have a lot of thoughts on it if you wanna chat lol.

BDSM PWP:

I feel like this one is pretty self explanatory, but the little plot that there is is that Sometimes Tucker can’t take being in charge anymore, being the reason some people live or die? It can be too much sometimes and he just wants to go a little mindless; Wash can help with that.

Fuck Buddies:

Tucker realizes his attraction to Wash and wants to fuck but he doesn’t think he can do relationships and they actually agree on just a friends with benefits thing. However, Wash grows feelings and decides to end it to save himself from pain. For some reason this hurts Tucker more than he thinks it should and goes about figuring out if he can actually do relationship.

Catfishing:

Tucker and Wash meet online playing video games and for some reason Tucker thinks that Wash is a girl. They do a lot of flirting and decide to meet in person, but when they do Tucker realizes the truth. Once he knows this he says he just wants to stay friends, Wash is a bit disappointed but ok with it. But even as friends Tucker falls in love with Wash all over again.

Jealous Tucker:

Doc, Locus and Donut all fall for Wash at different points and Tucker doesn’t understand why the idea of Wash with any of them makes him want to rip his face off.

Bodyguard:

Tucker’s name gets added to a hit list and needs a bodyguard, enter agent Washington who some (not many) call the best in the business. Having a bodyguard wasn’t new for Tucker, as Church had been his for a while, but there hadn’t been any danger before now and Tucker has to adjust to this new hardass who won’t let him screw around. (Not sure if I want to make this full on mafia au or just Tucker heard something he shouldn’t and now his life is in danger kind of thing)

Grimmons

Temple of Procreation:

Aka what really happened in that closet. Literally just a PWP but maybe with an extra chapter of ‘hey should we talk about this since we almost died. Again!’

Romcom:

Grif may love romcoms but he doesn’t love when he’s accidentally pulled into one and his love interest appears to be Simmons. It’s not the fact that he has to have meet-cutes and flirt with Simmons but that it isn’t his Simmons. And he thinks the lovey-doveyness of it all may kill him if he can’t get back to reality.

Everybody Bets:

Everybody bets on how and when Grif and Simmons will finally get together and they’re all so invested in it that they keep setting up their own version of the bet. Told from each other characters’s pov. Haven’t decided how to end it (either they’re already together or it was one of cabooses wild stories that didn’t seem physically possible to work).

Girlfriend:

Simmons gets a girlfriends and Grif is kinda heartbroken because thought they were solid, not necessarily together, but surely they didn’t need anyone else. Now though if he hopes to get back to normal he may have to actually talk about his feelings, even if it kills him.

Churbex:

(Idk if this is the ship name for Church/Caboose/Tex but I like it and wanted to do at least one story with them)

I kissed you and your girlfriend at a party:

Basically that tweet where someone kisses a girl at a party and to make sure her boyfriend isn’t mad, kisses him too, but it’s Caboose kissing Church and Tex. Except in this case Caboose thinks he’s ruined their relationship and doesn’t know how to tell them, even though they’ve already accepted him into the polycule. Misunderstandings ensue.

[clocks-are-round]

i might’ve shared these thoughts before in reblogs discussing these concepts but i don’t think i’ve made my own post about them.

Red Team Flings

Sarge and Donut definitely fucked. At least once, but I think it was recurring. Sarge was homocurious though he wouldn’tve admitted it. Sarge be like “internet, is it gay to sleep with an attractive man even though you’re straight”. Donut had never been in a relationship before so he was curious about that and also Sarge was his BOSS so the rookie wanted to be in his good graces (power dynamics are very relevant in relationships and should be addressed immediately so shit like this doesn’t happen; better yet avoid relationships with big unequal power dynamics altogether). Grif at least caught on eventually, “Sarge was talking about glazed donut holes if you know what i mean.” It probably wasn’t romantic, just sexual. it went on until Donut was just like, “Yeah, Sarge, I don’t really want to do this anymore.” and Sarge didn’t put up any fuss about that so it just ended. Sarge is just thinking, “huh. I don’t know why more straight men don’t sleep with guys. Why are we leaving all the fun to the gays?” Sir, you are straightn’t.

Apparently there were implications somewhere about Donut and Grif potentially having a fling (if you know the source please let me know— I have the book so if you know the page please tell me). Assuming I can see the source for that, I am not opposed. Grif’s vague dislike of Donut in the beginning (headcanon) just makes it more interesting. I’m on the fence on whether it was a one-night or if they genuinely tried to date. Will decide later.

We know Kai gave Simmons a lap dance, but that’s all we know for sure. I highly doubt they boned and maybe at most the only other thing that may have happened was making out. Simmons was flustered for the next week and used that to tell himself, “Yeah, I’m straight. I can’t be gay because I’m definitely attracted to Sister.” *cough* straightn’t

Sarge flirted with Lopez quite a bit. It wasn’t that he was actually attracted to his creation, more like he could pretend he had that kind of romantic connection within reach. Like a kid practicing asking someone out with their pet or an inanimate object. Lopez put up with it. It was just one of Sarge’s annoying quirks. Like calling himself his mother. (lol adjacent vibes to Frisk asking Toriel if they can call her Mom and then flirting with her)

Donut has flirted with everyone on red team. The innuendos later on were mostly unintentional but he did also drop not-as-subtle-as-he-thought-they-were hints. Prior to enlisting he didn’t feel very secure in his sexuality. Hell, his dad had sent him to conversion therapy (it was later that his mom remarried to a woman). He was shocked that everyone on his team set off his gaydar, and with some prodding and investigation, he was pretty sure he was right. This helped him feel a lot more comfortable— not coming out publicly, but dropping hints and letting the (attempted) macho facade drop over time. He wanted to try to navigate and understand his own sexuality through others, and he grew a lot more comfortable with himself at red base. He and Sarge had a purely sexual relationship for a while, he and Grif may have dated very briefly, Simmons turned him down which just further solidified his suspicion that Grif and Simmons had some real feelings for each other despite their insistence after he’d walked in on them that it didn’t mean anything because they were just kinda drunk, and Lopez of course turned him down because he looked down on humans too much to even consider a romance with one.

Not gonna go in depth with grimmons because I talk about that all the time. Bickering teammates to secret lovers to best friends to boyfriends/possibly skipping straight to marriage at that point. Not a fling, very much a genuine endgame couple.

[sco07ut]

oooo you are not immune to miraculous au grimmons angst oooooh

so for the people who haven’t seen miraculous ladybug Or just stopped watching the episodes (based, i completely understand u) ik this scene can seem a bit like simmons is just going off the deep end but technically

technically

neither of them r actually at fault. grif is totally right abt not wanting to take advantage over someone who he Thinks is just a fan (since he doesn’t know simmons is his own superhero partner, Beetle Bordeaux), and although he didn’t exactly handle the situation ideally, he did the right thing. even though he Does have feelings for simmons as grif, simmons isn’t reciprocating them anymore and despite the fact that simmons is seemingly into Calico Cat, it still doesn’t seem entirely right?

on the other hand, simmons does know he’s Calico’s partner and obviously cares about him as more than just an obsessed fan, as far as he’s concerned he’s well within his right to be in love with Calico Cat, at this point they’ve been working together for ages, and to be lead on that far before Calico suddenly shut him down would’ve been pretty nasty.

it could be argued that simmons should’ve realised what the situation looked like from Calico’s perspective, and maybe grif should’ve been more gentle letting him down, but at the same time they are actually both human, and are also lovesick teenagers, they’re not going to get everything right so basically all i’m trying to say is relationships r tricky and nobody in this situation is more at fault than the other

anyway on another note, if you’re a fan of the show you may notice that this scene isn’t entirely canon compliant ! the ending concludes with simmons being akumatised while marinette manages to break free from the akuma’s hold (arguably only because chat noir kissed her but i digress). i wanted this to be a little more angsty so i just had Calico leave instead, and simmons ends up as a temporary villain. if i get the energy i’ll draw the aftermath of that but for now have this 🫶

[rubykgrant]

(Hello, I have made the science that makes it possible! Prepare for unimaginable adorable over-load with my story of Grimmons Kids~)

It was dark out by the time they arrived home. Dark and cold. Grif could practically hear Simmons’ thoughts as his husband internally worried, but Simmons had entered a funny state of being like the eye of a storm; deceptively calm, despite so many things that could go wrong. Instead of fussing or panicking, Simmons took action in a steady, decisive way… he had several contingency plans for their return, ready to deal with any problem (snow, rain, bad traffic, a volcano suddenly appearing in the middle of the city like that one movie, the moon falling out of the sky and crashing into Earth, a portal to another dimension opening up thus spilling forth mutant-demons that sucked out your soul… you know, the typical kind of stuff they often encountered).

Before getting out of the backseat of the car, he handed Grif a small, soft blanket. He also had one to use himself. Grif smiled at Simmons, silently telling him that he was doing a good job, and they would be fine. Together, they draped the blankets over their shoulders and across their chests, covering up the small bundles they carried. Two bundles each. Four bundles all together. So small, barely weighing anything even with two in both of their arms, but… it felt like carrying the whole WORLD. Two worlds each. Four worlds all together.

Certainly very precious cargo, which naturally needed to be protected from the cold.

The car came to a slow stop, and then men in the backseat waited; with their arms occupied, they needed help getting out of the car. The side door beside Simmons opened, and there was Sarge. He let out a chuckle when he looked at Grif and Simmons, both amused by how they looked (like grannies, with shawls), but undeniably fond and proud of them. He leaned in, un-did the buckles in both their seatbelts, then stood back so first Simmons could step out, followed by Grif. Sarge gently held them by the arms as they stood, for balance. Once they were both up, he shut the side door, then went around back to get something out of the trunk.

Simmons could see his breath in the air, rising like clouds in front of him before fading away. He made a small sound, a sharp inhale followed by a sigh, implying that he wanted to HURRY, and not stand out in the cold a moment longer than necessary. Grif nodded, and turned to start down the walkway to their front door. He saw that the driver was already there, unlocking it and holding it open wide for them.

“Thanks, Lopez…” Simmons told him.

“Sí Sí. No hay problema. Cuidado al entrar,” Lopez was certain both men were going to keep taking careful, even strides as they came in, but just like Simmons, he was aware of all the things that might happen; all the human error that could occur, and if one of them tripped or stumbled right now… well, best-case scenario, it would result in crying. Worst-case was... no, never mind. He might be a concerned (and usually pessimistic) robot currently in the company of some of the MOST chaotic people he’s ever known, but he will think POSITIVE. That was exactly why he’d insisted on driving back; Grif and Simmons had an important task that needed their attention, and Sarge would have tried to beat the sunset home by flooring it and running red lights (“They mean GO for ME!”).

“Me aseguré de que la casa estuviera caliente,” he added as Sarge finally caught up, shutting the door behind him.

“Man, I didn’t even think of that. Really glad you’re here, Lopez. This is perfect,” Grif said, feeling the warmth slowly wash over him. Lopez and Sarge were here earlier to grab some items for Grif and Simmons before going to pick them up, and had closed the doors up stairs and to the back rooms before he left, also put a large chunk of wood in the fireplace.

Grif and Simmons had several discussions (arguments) about keeping the house warm; Grif hated coming back to a cold place, but Simmons didn’t like wasting power by running a heater when nobody was home, or leaving a fire burning without anybody watching it. Their fireplace here was well-built and as safe as could be, so Simmons finally relented. If the dampers kept the fire low so it didn’t blaze wildly, but also didn’t smoke up the house, it was an acceptable option.

Lopez had chosen the perfect piece of firewood, and adjusted the dampers perfectly, thus resulting in the house being nice and cozy. In other words, perfect.

“Alright, let’s get settled,” Sarge put down his own armful of several bags and a suitcase. The old man was clearly a bundle of energy, but somehow was managing to keep his voice low. He took off his jacket and then went to Grif and Simmons, very carefully lifting the blankets off them both.

Lopez had left one lamp in the living room and the light over the sink in the kitchen on so the house wouldn’t be utterly dark, but also not too bright. Instead, the four of them stood close together in a dim glow, enough to see by, and as cozy as the warmth of the fire.

In his arms, Simmons held two tiny infants. Grif held two more in his own. Two sets of twins. Four babies all together.

They were bundled up, gently swaddled by the nurses at the hospital. One child in Simmons’ arms was just slightly larger than the other four, even the twin they matched. One of Grif’s was a bit smaller than all the siblings. That was one reason they stayed for a while at the hospital; they wanted to make sure there wasn’t anything wrong with the smallest baby, or any of the others (something potentially unseen or unnoticed). The twin of the smallest baby had a somewhat rapid heartbeat at one point. Only for a few moments, but it was enough to cause concern. The twin of the largest baby initially seemed lethargic. The baby finally perked-up and seemed perfectly responsive, but it was better to be safe and CERTAIN than sorry. Simmons entered that calm-yet-panicked state there, making all sorts of suggestions for the doctors and nurses, checking and double-checking everything.

Grif knew better than to even suggest Simmons should chill in a situation like this. Instead, he had wrapped an arm around Simmons’ waist, pressing his face into Simmons’ shoulder. In response, Simmons had pulled Grif’s hand up from his waist to his chest and held it there… because he knew, Grif wasn’t just offering comfort right now. Grif needed it for himself (he had no idea how many medical issues there could be or what kind of life-threating problems might arise, and he absolutely did NOT know what to do about any of it. Simmons did, that’s why Simmons was talking to the hospital staff, Simmons knew what to look out for, and Simmons also knew how to fix it. If something wasn’t OK, Simmons would figure it out, and try to make it OK, or if it wasn’t going to be OK not matter what they did… they would at least be able to comfort each other).

Thankfully, they hadn’t been alone; even though Grif and Simmons hesitated to call anybody, after about an hour or so of being stressed at the hospital, Doc seemed to just materialize out of thin air. At first, neither of them questioned his presence, it was just good knowing he was close by. Some of the staff tried to get Grif and Simmons to shuffle off to a waiting room, and both men were momentarily too out of sorts to properly argue. Doc AND O’Malley put their shared foot down, and when it became clear that the two worried parents had somebody with them that was a force to be reckoned, the staff allowed them to stay and speak with the other doctors.

Once they had time to think, it made sense for Doc to be there… he was a REAL doctor now, so when they decided they were definitely going to have their children, it just made sense to keep him informed. They had even requested that Doc be allowed to receive up-dates on the progress of the babies from the hospital. Today, he had not only been notified about the births, but the situation regarding the smallest infant (and other possible issues) as well. So, he came right over. As fast as he could. Having him there was more than just a relief… there wasn’t quite a word for it. He made sure nobody bullied them into backing down, he went to the drink and snack machines for them so they could stand watch, and when one of them went to the bathroom, Doc waited with the other to keep them company.

Simmons had briefly broken down when it was just him and Doc, the calm losing to the panic, the storm inside threatening to tear him apart. He couldn’t let Grif see him like this, not right now. It would be too much, and he’d never be able to compose himself again. Doc held him tightly for one long moment, letting Simmons vent his turmoil by crying until it was drained away… and then O’Malley whispered-

“You just need to keep going, keep paying attention to everything that’s happening, until you have the answers. THEN you can fall apart or celebrate. Maybe you’ll need to be strong for Grif, maybe he’ll need to be strong for you, but you don’t know yet. You don’t know what’s going to happen. If there’s a chance that you can do something that makes today have a happy outcome, you need to keep watching… because you aren’t stupid, Simmons. You know as much about what’s happening here as all these doctors and nurses. You also aren’t a quitter. You’ve turned losing battles into victories, and you’ve literally changed history. Maybe there’s nothing you can do, and maybe there’s nothing you need to do. You don’t know yet, so… just take a breath, suck all that snot running down your face back in your nose, stand up, and KEEP GOING,”

When Grif returned, Simmons and Doc were standing side by side, with Simmons cybernetic arm curved around Doc’s shoulders. Doc was patting his back, and smiled reassuringly at Grif as Simmons sniffed. Now they traded, Grif remaining with Doc while Simmons went to the bathroom. It was a less dramatic interaction, though Grif cried himself (just a bit more quietly). Doc offered him moral-support as well, explaining what certain tests were for and how it worked. Grif wasn’t stupid either, he just wasn’t much of a “science guy”… still, he understood what Doc told him, and while it was still a little scary to just not KNOW what was going to happen, it helped. Listening to the voices of people who had known Grif before today, and would continue knowing him after today, helped. It felt like today was one of those defining moments, with a BEFORE and AFTER…

All the babies were thankfully, WONDERFULLY, fine. One a little big, one a little small, but all four perfectly healthy. Doc called Sarge and Lopez to come pick up Grif and Simmons, while he went to meet Donut, who had been blowing up his phone with dozens of texts and messages (he initially didn’t want to be nosy, but when Doc suddenly dropped off the radar, AND the expectant fathers weren’t anywhere to be found, Donut knew something was happening). Doc was going to get himself some food, catch Donut up on what happened, then meet everybody back at Grif and Simmons’ home later.

There was still lots of paperwork to go through, but Grif and Simmons moved through it like a blur. At last, they had reached the AFTER part of today. Finally here, in their home with their children, the two new fathers let it really sink in; these babies were THEIRS. They were alive, safe, and home.

Grif looked down at the two he held, lifting his arms up slightly to bring their faces closer to his. Their dark hair was short and thin, but already looked soft and wavy (just as his sister’s and his own had been as infants). Their features were both smooth and delicate, yet defined; their noses just round little bumps, but their tiny mouths already looked like his. He can also see the shape of their ears, and it reminds him of Simmons. Grif smiled, and felt himself tremble slightly… he wanted to just burst out laughing, but didn’t dare disturb the babies in his arms. He felt two streaks of tears run down his cheeks, all the stress and fear he hasn’t been able to articulate finally leaving him. At last, he can just feel HAPPY.

Simmons was looking at the babies in his own arms, his organic eye watering up as well. These two take after him a little more, skin just a shade lighter, hair slightly frizzy just like his used to be when it was short. Their cheeks are rosy, but not as flushed as when they’d let out their first cries. He can see how their eyebrows are curved, how their small chins poke out of their round baby faces, and he can tell they look like that because they look like him. He can also tell that their eyes resemble Grif, even closed. Simmons turns toward Grif and steps closer. Grif does the same, so they now stand facing each other, holding all four babies side-by-side. They see each other in the small faces, and also see how these are entirely NEW individuals, who have traits in common with both their parents, but in unique combinations that make them different, and they will grow-up to have their own personalities, be their own people.

Simmons tilts his head forward, touching it to Grif’s but never taking his eyes off the babies. He loves them. He doesn’t even “know” them yet, and he loves them so MUCH. Grif had been aware of the fact that he wanted to be a father, and understood that he was ready to take this step with Simmons… however, neither of them expected to have more than one baby. Then, they found out the samples of their genetic material that had been combined together developed into twins. Twice. If anybody had asked Grif “Do you want four kids at once?”, he would have said NO. However, nobody asked, the option was just suddenly there, and Grif was shocked to discover that he absolutely wanted all four of them. He had no reasonable explanation, he just did. Now he has them, and Simmons has them too, they all have each other. Grif gently nuzzles his forehead against Simmons’, as they both continue to cry tears of joy.

Sarge and Lopez watched, and Sarge couldn’t help but react; this was a VERY emotional situation, one that was downright beautiful, because these two men were his boys! Over the years, Sarge had finally opened his eyes and really SAW Simmons, seeing everything there was to be proud of, everything to be in AWE of. Sarge had also seen Grif at last… seen the importance of him, the value of him. Not just as a soldier, either. Sarge had seen them survive battle after battle, he had seen them find each other after standing so close yet being distant for years, he had seen them exchange vows, and now… he saw them become fathers. Sarge was more than a little choked-up; in a fitting old-fashioned gesture, he clasped both his his hands together and held them to his chest.

Lopez nudged Sarge lightly with his shoulder, prompting him to step forward, as did Lopez himself. The gruff military man and the robot who was a perpetual suit of armor walked toward the two men holding four babies, one man with patches of lighter skin, one man with cyborg prosthetics, and they reached out, embracing. What an odd sight they were, and yet undeniably a family.

“Holy shit, we have four babies,” Grif whispered, and Sarge let out a snort.

“We sure do,” Simmons agreed, trying his best not to laugh. “And they’re gonna turn into four toddlers, then four kids, then four teenagers, then four adults…”

“They grow up so fast…” Grif said wistfully, as if it had already happened.

They allowed themselves quiet hums of laughter, and then Simmons tilted his head, glancing toward the stairs.

“It’ll still be cold upstairs… I guess we should turn the heaters on, get the house all warmed up, before we take the babies anywhere,”

“On it,” Sarge said, going to fiddle with the thermostat. The air kicked-on. It would be a few minutes before the rest of the rooms got warm.

From outside, the group heard a car pull up, followed by the engine going quiet, then doors opening and shutting.

“Well, the rest of the gang’s here,” Simmons smiled, turning to look at Grif again.

“The heck took them so long?” Grif wondered.

The door opened, and Donut peeked inside, an excited expression on his face. He gave a little wave, then opened the door wide. Behind him was Doc, and… somebody else. It took a moment for the others to see who, but as the visitors stepped in from the shadows and into the soft light of the house, they realized it was a familiar face.

“Hey guys~” Donut greeted them in a cheerful but hushed voice. “Sorry we’re late,”

“We had to go pick up somebody,” Doc explained.

Grif lit up when he saw his sister; he had meant to call her as soon as they got to the hospital… but then there had been so much to worry about, so much to do, and at one point he had been horrifically frightened that he might have to call her with BAD news instead of GOOD. So, he waited. Grif waited for hours, his gut twisted in an anxious knot, and by the time he was absolutely certain nothing was wrong, it was late in the day (the night, really). He and Simmons just wanted to get home. Now that she was here though, Grif was happy.

“Move, move, lemme see the babies~” Kai shooed Donut and Doc out of her way, walking directly toward Grif and Simmons. The two stood shoulder to shoulder, and proudly held their children up so she could see all four clearly. Kai leaned down slightly, looking at the tiny faces, her hand clasped over her mouth to hold in a scream of delight. After a moment, she took a deep breath and spoke softly. “Hi babies. I’m your Auntie Kai. I’m gonna love you, and spoil you, and take you to PG-13 movies when you’re 10, and buy you all the junk-food you want to eat, and all the expensive birthday presents that make what your dads get you look lame, and I’ll always be ready whenever you need an alibi for anything…”

“Basically, you’re going to be a bad influence on our children,” Grif rolled his eyes, but couldn’t help smirking at his sister.

“Absolutely,” she agreed, then straightened up to look at the parents; her brother, and her brother-in-law. She could see that they had both been crying, and felt her own eyes start to tingle (the tears not far behind). “Guys, seriously, they’re beautiful. And you both… you really LOOK like DADS, you know?”

Kai reached up, placing one hand on her brother’s cheek, the other on Simmons’.

“I never thought Dex would actually settle down and have kids with somebody, especially after how messed-up our childhood was… but you two? Together? I’ve seen how much you love each other, and I can already tell how much you love your babies, so it’s just… it’s kind of perfect, but better than the fake-perfect you see when families TRY to look perfect, because this is REAL. It’s real love, and you’re real dads, and it’s perfect…”

“Thank you,” Simmons told her, almost too quiet to hear. Grif was still trying to get his words under control (they wanted to just spill out, like the crying and the laughing, but he needed to say the right thing).

“I love you, BOTH of you. And you’re lucky I do, otherwise I’d be kicking your bitch-asses for not calling me earlier when the kids were born,” she then squished their faces with her hands, pinching their cheeks lightly before letting go and giving them a few affectionate pats. Simmons had to bite his lip to keep his laughter down.

“Sis, I- I remember, when mom and dad brought you home for the first time…” Grif said, swallowing the stupid lump in his throat, trying and failing to keep his voice from shaking. “and I was still pretty little, so I had to sit down to hold you in my lap. You were the first REAL baby I’d ever seen up-close. I didn’t want to let mom or dad take you away, even when I got so tired I couldn’t keep my eyes open… because you were my baby sister, and I was your big brother, and I just- I loved you right away. Then I found out what a pain in the ass you could be when you got older,”

One of Kai’s hands went back to cover her mouth again, with her other hand she flipped-off her brother (which was as much of a symbol of endearment as a hug between them).

“And you’re right, our childhood WAS a disaster. I figured I’d never want to worry about anybody the same way I worried about you… but look at me now, I’m all grown-up, and I’m holding TWO babies,” Grif looked toward his husband, seeing the very open and tender expression on Simmons’ face. “and if I needed to, I’d hold all four of them on my own… but I’ve got Simmons. We’ve got each other. We also have you, and the rest of our friends. Our babies have a really big family that loves them,”

“And I suppose… that includes the BLUES…” Sarge added, trying to sound reluctant (as if he hadn’t gone camping with the Blues, or never had cook-outs with the Blues, or didn’t go to movie-nights with the Blues).

“Yes, sir. It does,” Simmons agreed, no false resentment from him. “Especially considering Kai is technically a Blue,”

“Enough color theory. My turn to fawn over the little darlings~” Donut walked up to peer over Kai’s shoulder, Doc stepping closer with him. “Oh my gosh…they’re the most adorable babies that have ever existed, and I say that as a fact, with absolutely no personal biases,”

The fathers stood up a little straighter; they agreed, they had the best babies. Ever. Of all time.

“So, tell me the names. Doc wouldn’t give it up in the car- I mean, he kept me in suspense until we got here. Shut up, I heard it…” Donut ignored the muffled snorts of amusement at his almost-innuendo.

“Well, this is Daisy…” Simmons nodded to the larger baby he held in his left arm. “and Darien,” he nodded to the twin nestled in his right arm.

“I’ve got Davis,” Grif turned his head down to the smallest baby that rested in his right arm. “and Delilah,” he turned toward the twin he carried in his left.

“You used one of the names I picked?” Kai asked happily. She had chosen Delilah when she found out they were using names that began with the letter “D”. Not because of the story about Samson and Delilah, which Kai was only vaguely aware of, but because of an old cartoon show she had watched with her brother and Simmons (“These Gargoyles are HOT!”).

“Aw, I love them all. It must have been hard picking out four names,” Donut remembered what it had been like early on, with Grif and Simmons making long lists of names they liked (mostly revolving around fictional characters and authors of science-fiction).

“Yeah, but once we settled on using the letter D, it helped narrow down the choices,” Simmons explained.

“Now we all kinda match, since he’s Dick and I’m Dexter,” Grif added.

“Oh, wait, I’m Donut, and we’ve also got Doc! We match too,” Donut threw and arm around Doc’s shoulder.

“Hmph, I still say we should have gone with MY ideas for baby names…” Sarge mumbled.

“NO, there was never any chance whatsoever that we would name our kids Crimson, Scarlet, Bloodstone, and Strawberry. Get over it,” Grif gave Sarge a sarcastic look, one eye squinted with the other brow raised high, as he shook his head. Sarge scowled back. Simmons turned his face away, because if he kept looking at Sarge right now, he would finally lose control and fall into a giggle-fit.

“I think Bloodstone would have been perfectly as a suitable middle name…” a voice, so quiet and yet like gravel, spoke up.

“See, O’Malley gets it!” Sarge raised his hands triumphantly.

“That doesn’t help your cause,” Grif rolled his eyes.

“Alright, come on. We named them, and the only ones who’ll get to change the names will be the kids when they’re older, if that’s what any of them want…” Simmons said.

“Even if one of them wants to be named Bloodstone?” Grif looked horrified.

“Yes, Grif. We’ll just have to adjust and keep loving our kids, no matter what,” Simmons sighed.

“See, you’re already wonderful parents!” Doc complimented them. “These four are so lucky to have you both as dads, and even though they were a little late arriving, they were born on a lucky day. They’ll get to have their birthday on the first of October, and then at the end of the month, they can enjoy Halloween. That’s like, every kid’s dream!”

Both Grif and Simmons had thought about that to themselves; it wasn’t fun if your birthday was TOO close to a holiday, because you’d get over-shadowed or forgotten… but October was a long month, with the first and thirty-first having enough distance between them. Also, yes, Halloween was a day they still enjoyed as adults, and knew it was a blast for kids (it combined candy AND spooky stuff, the best of both).

"I'll make a height-chart for them, so they can see how much they've grown on their birthday each year..." Doc continued, with more enthusiastic ideas from O'Malley. "And I'LL make sure they see all the classic horror movies every Halloween!"

“This is gonna be a whole thing with him, isn’t it?” Grif sighed.

“Oh, come on, Grif. It’ll be fun,” Simmons replied. “And you know what? I didn’t have ANYBODY who cared about me actually enjoying my childhood… I like that we’ve got so many people who want to be part of out babies’ lives, and it’s great that they’re making plans for when the kids grow up…”

“How’s about we get these bundles of joy to bed, before we start talking about sending them off to college?” Sarge joked, grinning at the others.

They smiled back, nodding in agreement.

The group slowly went up, Grif in the lead with Kai behind him to help make sure he didn’t lose his footing, followed by Simmons with Donut doing the same for him. Next was Lopez, Doc, and finally Sarge (who grabbed the bags with the baby supplies).

At the top of the stairs, Grif turned and walked toward his and Simmons bed room; there was another room down that hall which they had turned into a nursery, but after thinking about it, decided to keep the babies in their own room for a while (making it easier to check on them in the night if they needed food or changing… besides, Simmons would never totally trust a baby monitor. He would constantly want to check the batteries for fear it wasn’t working. They might as well just skip that and have the children close by, within arm’s reach and hearing distance).

“Hold on, let me go get the BIG crib!” Sarge said eagerly, walking to the nursery, returning quickly.

Sarge rolled in the large baby crib, maneuvering it around people and furniture until it was beside Grif and Simmons’ bed. The wheels at the ends of the legs could be locked, so it stayed still when you didn’t want it moving. It was red, naturally, and very sturdy with all the edges smoothed down. Sarge had built this larger crib himself for the babies to use, until the new parents got a decent handle on what to do, and wouldn’t have separation anxiety with the babies sleeping in another room. When the expected due-date for the births arrived, he brought it to their house… but, it seemed the babies weren’t ready just yet. They stayed where they were for a week longer, evidently in no rush to be born (“They already take after YOU” Simmons told Grif, as if the desire to sleep-in was genetic). The crib waited in the nursery, and now it was finally being put to good use.

“Oh, that’s right! I have something for the crib, too…” Donut began to pull something out of the large tote bag he carried. “It’s a baby blanket. I know I got you guys four other blankets for the baby shower already, but this is going to be one big blanket they can share,”

He unfolded and straightened it out so it fit inside the crib.

“Donut, did you make this?” Simmons asked.

“Yep. Well, I gathered the material and sewed it all together, but the designs were already there. I went to a special fabric store, because I wanted something that wouldn’t be rough or irritating to new-born baby skin,” he explained. “When Doc let me know you were finally bringing the babies home, I washed it with some gentle soap, so it would extra soft and fluffy!”

The blanket was made from several fabric squares, all with different patterns of flowers and animals… it also had a theme; the colors in each square always contained a shade of pale pink paired with other colors (everything from red to blue, and all the combinations in between), creating a pastel rainbow pattern. The blanket was very soft indeed, and it had a comforting scent (the same as the baby shampoo and baby lotion Donut helped them buy several months ago).

“Donut, man, thank you… no, seriously, do you know what MY baby blanket was? A beach towel. It had that Pink Floyd thing- that Dark Side of the Moon light prism on it,” Grif looked at Donut, smiling with a look of honest appreciation and gratitude (it was an expression Dexter “Doesn’t Give a Fuck” Grif didn’t share with too many people, but he knew it was hopeless to try and play it cool at this point). “But because of you, these four have their own blankets, and now also this big one they can share here, and we can wrap them up in it when we take them outside, and spread it out downstairs for them to nap on… this is really great,”

Donut wiped some tears that were almost ready to spill from his eyes; he wasn’t sure what to say, but maybe that was alright. He was more than happy to offer help and comfort to the people he cared about, whether that meant getting them gifts or helping with work around the house while they focused on the babies, even if he didn't get any praise in return. Still, hearing the appreciation and acknowledgment made his heart swell. It was more than the words, but what they meant; Grif and Simmons recognizing that the gesture wasn't an empty one, and while the blanket was lovely on it's own, it was especially important because Donut was important to them.

Sarge adjusted the wooden, hand-carved crib to a decent height, locked the wheels, and began taking some baby blankets and pillows from one of the bags. With it all ready for the babies, their fathers gently lowered them down, placing them on the soft cushion that was the crib’s mattress (now even more comfortable thanks to Donut’s blanket). Two babies on each end, their feet pointing to the middle. After being being held for so long, all safe and comfortable in the arms of their fathers, the babies stirred slightly; Davis squirmed, stretching and kicking his stubby legs. Two others, Delilah and Darien, let out tiny little huffs and sighs. Daisy’s eyes fluttered open for a moment. Everybody froze, each holding their breath, waiting to see if this would lead to fussy noises and crying… but no. The babies calmed themselves, and when their fathers reached out to carefully tuck them, stroking their cheeks comfortingly, they went back to dozing.

“They had a big day. They’re all tuckered out,” Doc whispered. Grif and Simmons nodded.

“We fed them and then changed them right before we left the hospital,” Simmons said. “They’ll probably be hungry again soon, but yeah… they’re still pretty tired,”

“Do you have enough of the special new-born milk for them?” Doc asked.

“Yep. The hospital gave us plenty. We’ve got a small portable hot-plate in here for heating up water too,” Grif explained. “Like, it’s for coffee or tea and whatever, but we can use it to warm their bottles,”

Grif leaned down, folding his arms over the edge of the crib, resting his chin on top. Simmons did the same on the other side. Sarge wasn’t worried about the weight; he had made sure this crib could handle a grown man and a robot sitting in it (a very specific grown man and robot had tested it out). He knew the babies wouldn’t be that heavy, but he took pride in his work; anything that held these kids was going to be STURDY.

The solid sides of the crib below the safety-railing had been painted with what most people would assume was an illustration of a desert, general western scenery… for those in the know, it was a very specific canyon called Blood Gulch. Now that enough time had passed, Grif and Simmons could remember it with amused irony instead of loathsome resentment. Besides, it genuinely looked pretty as a painting.

“Who did the pictures?” Doc asked, reaching out to touch the side of the crib, tracing the shapes with one finger.

“Lopez!” Sarge answered.

“Wow, really? Lopez, it’s beautiful!” Donut complimented him.

“No es gran cosa,” Lopez’s voice basically always kept the same monotone, but those who knew him well could detect slight hints of his true feelings when he spoke; right now, he sounded just a bit bashful (trying to act like he didn’t care one way or the other, but clearly happy to be appreciated). “pero, gracias...”

“It really is amazing. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, we all know you’re talented and creative. Hey, could you do a mural in the nursery?” Simmons smiled brightly. “Sarge wanted us to just paint it all red-”

“Because why wouldn’t he,” Grif muttered.

“-but, maybe you could do a sunset scene, or something?” Simmons finished.

“Sí. Definitivamente podría. De hecho, me encantaría hacer eso,” Lopez was already imagining how he would shade the colors, adding in clouds and stars to the sky, and shapes of trees to the landscape. He also knew that Grif and Simmons had rooms set aside in their house for the kids to pick out for their own as they got older… perhaps he would make more individual murals later, special illustrations that were unique, depending on what each child wanted (even a robot was not immune to wistfully thinking about all the joys that would come with watching children he loved growing up).

“I’m surprised Sarge didn’t make you turn it into a military military bunk,” Grif joked.

“Oh, don’t you worry. When they get bigger, I’ll definitely be making them all kinds of forts, and treehouses, and those’ll have some proper bunks for my little grand-baby soldiers…” Sarge glanced down at the four of them; he was looking froward to teaching them so many things, playing with them, showing them the world and the rest of the universe, everything a good grandpa does.

“We know. And seriously, this crib is beautiful. Thank you so much for this, for everything,” Simmons reached out to put a hand on Sarge’s shoulder.

“Yer’ welcome, boys. I’m just glad I could be here for this,” Sarge smiled back.

“So are we,” Simmons reached out across the crib, and Grif took his hand.

“Yeah. All of you… we’re really glad that you’re all here,” Grif squeezed his husband’s hand, watching as Sarge leaned against Simmons’ back. At the same time, Grif felt his sister wrap her arms around his own shoulders. They were joined by Lopez stepping closer to embrace Sarge with one arm, holding Doc with the other. Doc hugged Lopez back, and Donut completed the circle with one hand on Kai’s shoulder, the other linked with Doc. This group hug was even bigger than the one earlier, but it was still undeniable to see what it meant; family.

It was comfortable and easy to rest against each other for a while, and they were all content to simply gaze at the babies. In fact, it was more than twenty minutes later when Donut murmured that it was getting later, and they should give the proud new parents some space… but Grif said they might as well stay the night (“You’re all just gonna come back here in the morning, anyway”). They certainly had enough rooms here. Sarge and Lopez were already planning on staying for a while (until Grif and Simmons got a handle on taking care of the children on their own). So it was decided, they would all sleep here, and then welcome the others tomorrow when they arrived to celebrate the happy occasion. Kai gave her brother and Simmons kisses on the cheek, as did Donut (on the opposite sides so it was symmetrical). Sarge gave them both firm hugs, while Lopez paused a moment to grasp their hands between his; he didn’t say anything, he just pressed Simmons cybernetic hand to the one Grif had with his own skin, so they were back to back, and held together by his own (a metallic hand, another metallic hand, an organic hand, and a metallic hand again). They gave his hands a squeeze, and he nodded the helmet that was his head, then let go. Last to say good-night was Doc.

“You kinda saved the day at the hospital. Both of you. I hope you know that,” Grif told him.

“Aw, heck guys… I didn’t really DO anything. It all would have been fine even if we weren’t there-” Doc tried to shrug it off, but Simmons wouldn’t let him.

“NO. We had no idea if things would be OK, and it was hard to even think they could be OK for a while…” Simmons hugged him, but unlike at the hospital, he didn’t half-way collapse. He stood, solid and certain, but his embrace felt kind. Grif joined them, adding his warmth to the hug. “You made sure we kept going, and we finally got here, the part where everything is OK. Because of you, and O’Malley…”

Doc didn’t say anything right away; he shut his eyes, resting his head against Simmons’ chest, absorbing this moment. It had been a long time since he admitted to feeling left out and forgotten by the group… and he knew, deep down, that it wasn’t always intentional. They all had issues and problems (who DIDN’T have trauma?), they took each other for granted, they resented the annoying times, felt petty over all the unfair arguments, and so on. They’ve all gotten better at paying attention to their friends, including Doc himself (he expressed how much he cared about his headmate O’Malley, and in turn, O’Malley no longer rejected that he cared about the others as well).

Even though he’s felt more connected to everybody for several years now, this was, well… it was something special. Both Grif and Simmons weren’t just including them in the larger friendship they shared with everybody, this was something deeper.

“I, um… I know we don’t always get what we want, or what we deserve… so I just had to hope that you would both get this chance, to be parents and to love your children… and now you do, and-and that’s not all, your children are going to love you too, that’s the best part, you’ll be a family that loves each other…” Doc spoke slowly, his voice sounding muffled from being wrapped up in the center of the hug, and thick from emotion. “That’s good enough for me, the fact that you did get what you want, you did get what you deserve. You deserve to be happy, and those babies deserve to have you as fathers…”

Doc held his breath a moment, keeping a harsh sob from escaping. Finally, he let out a sigh… and O’Malley let them know his own sentiments.

“But, if you really DO want to thank me… the next batch of children you have, I get to pick the names!” hearing this, Simmons sputtered as he choked on his laughter, and Grif let out a chuckle. As they pulled away, they could see a grin that let them know O’Malley was kidding.

“Yeah, OK, sure- next time, we’ll have three sets of triplets, so go ahead and get nine names ready,” Grif gave him a light, playful shove.

“You fools just don’t appreciate creative vision, picking bland, BORING names,” O’Malley said, making a dismissive hand gesture, then turning to walk away.

“Well, we still haven’t decided on the middle names. Bloodstone, and those other suggestions, are absolutely out of the question, but-” Simmons glanced at Grif.

“But, we were going to ask, before making it official… how about, maybe, Deke? For Darien’s middle name,” Grif finished.

He paused at the door, before turning to look at them again.

“That… that would be really nice,” Doc told them.

“If he can be normal about it, which I doubt, but we’ll give him a chance, Sarge can pick another middle name. Same for Donut and Lopez,” Grif continued. “Kai already picked out Delilah, so it seems fair to let the rest of you add a name,”

“I’m sure they’ll love that,” Doc said.

Simmons hummed, thinking something over, then seemed to have an idea.

“O’Malley? We’re probably NOT going to have any triplets or quadruplets for you to name, but I know something else you could do… I’m not sure what the birthstone for October is-”

“Oh, I do, it’s opal!” Doc informed him.

“OK, but… ACTUAL bloodstones are pretty good for a Halloween theme. Maybe we could, like, start little bracelets for the kids. Every year for Halloween, we add another bloodstone bead. It’ll be like their second birthday for that month,” Simmons smirked when he saw Grif nod with approval. “You know, since SOMEBODY liked the name Bloodstone so much…”

The reaction they got from O’Malley was perfect; he rubbed his hands together and let out a quiet yet maniacal giggle, like a villainous master-mind plotting some grand crime (rather than an excited honorary-uncle planning a series of gifts for children).

“Yes! Oh-oh, and when they get old enough to add the beads to the bracelets themselves, I can set up a little haunted house for them, and they can each trick-or-treat for their new bead, and I’ll change into different costumes for each one, and I’ll get a fog machine, and one of those giant animatronic spiders, and some life-size glow in the dark skeletons, and-”

“Just don’t awaken some kinda vampire curse or piss-off any REAL ghosts. I think we’ve all had enough of that,” Grif said.

They all smiled once more, told each other to sleep well, and at last; Grif and Simmons were alone with their babies. Two sets of twins. Four all together.

They kept the dimmer-light in their room low, and began to change into more comfortable clothes to sleep in. After getting pajama pants on, Simmons was the first to reach for a tank-top, but he heard a sound that made him stop. Just a little whimper from one of the babies, but he immediately dropped what he was doing and went over to the crib. It was Darien, who seemed to be wiggling in discomfort.

“Changing time?” Grif asked.

“Yep,” Simmons answered after checking the diaper. “They others won't be far behind, so we’d better get everything ready,”

Grif gathered up the supplies they needed as Simmons lowered one of the side-railings. The crib was large enough to use as a changing table without moving the other babies out of the way. Sure enough, as soon as Darien was all finished, Davis made a tiny noise (it sounded so much like a grown-up grumble of frustration, it made Grif and Simmons laugh). Daisy and Delilah followed, and it wasn’t long until all four babies were freshly changed.

“Wait for it…” Grif said. The babies were still for about a minute, awake but calm… and then, as if they had communicated telepathically, they began to let out the beginnings of what would turn into loud cries. “There it is,”

Naturally, now that they were officially empty, the babies were hungry again. Grif had turned on the hot plate on a side table across the room before, when the changing began, and now Simmons stepped aside to fill up their bottles. These new-born ones were about half as big as the bottles they had in the nursery (those would be fore when the babies were a little bigger, and thus capable of eating larger portions). Each bottle was a pale-yellow color, and shaped sort of like an oval, so it was easy to grip. Simmons filled them up, tested the temperature on his organic arm (he caught himself before he nearly used his cybernetic one, just out of habit from picking things up with his right hand first, and switched so he held the bottle in his left). It felt almost identical to his body temperature, just right. He brought the bottles over, setting two on the night stand and handing one to Grif. They both proceeded to lift up the babies who seemed the most fussy at the moment (Davis and Daisy), and sat on the side of the bed to feed them.

Neither man had put on a shirt yet, so they held their children against their skin. The babies could feel the heartbeat in Grif’s chest, and the vibration inside of Simmons. This seemed to soothe them as much as the food in the bottles. At the hospital, in between all the tests and check-ups, Grif and Simmons had held their children as much as possible, making sure each baby knew them as a source of comfort, bonding as parents and children. Simmons felt Davis snuggle against him affectionately, and fresh tears rand down one side of his face. When she finished off her bottle, Grif held Daisy’s hand in his own, his thumb filling up her little palm entirely.

Two down, two to go; Grif and Simmons put the satisfied babies back in their crib, now picking up the others who had been waiting patiently (or at least, as patient as new-borns can possibly be). Grif lifted up Darien as Simmons held Delilah. They also reacted pleasantly when they were held by their fathers; they knew relatively nothing of the world yet, but seemed to understand, in a natural and intuitive way, that these people represented safety and love. Darien made a funny little hum of approval when Grif touched the bottle to the baby’s mouth, as if to say “Oh, don’t mind if I do”. It made Grif cry, a mixture of joy and pride filling him, and he had to tilt his head so the tears didn’t drop onto Darien’s face. Once Delilah was done, Simmons chuckled a little as the baby sort of stretched out in his arms.

Now all the children were back in the crib, tucked in once more, comfortable, clean, and fed. Their parents waited for any signs a baby might need to be burped, or was going to spit-up, but they all kept their food down like champs. Simmons leaned on the railing once more, looking down at four small faces who looked back at him. It occurred to him that ALL of them had eyes like Grif (just like they all seemed to have his ears). Same shape, same dark color… it made Simmons think of a deep pond with very still and clear water, letting you see all the way to the muddy brown earth at the bottom. They were so beautiful. He wondered if the babies “recognized” their fathers by sight yet, but that would probably come later. They were very fresh to the world, after all. Grif slipped his arms around Simmons’ waist, chest against Simmons’ back.

“I love them so much,” Simmons spoke, voice tender and warm.

“So do I,” Grif said, kissing Simmons on the neck.

Silently, Simmons promised he would never make his children feel like they had to “earn” his love, either; they didn’t have to be perfect, they didn’t have to be anything but THEMSELVES. They wouldn’t have to worry about disappointing him, because he wouldn’t treat failure like it was the end of the world. He would be supportive and encouraging, but not push them to try and attain impossible ideals of success. When they wanted to share their interests and hobbies with him, he would pay attention. If they ever had an argument, he wasn’t going to “shut them up” by threatening to break everything in their rooms or by physically hurting them. He was NEVER going to do that. His children wouldn’t ever be afraid of him or see him as some kind of monster.

In his own thoughts, Grif was thinking about how his children would never feel abandoned; they wouldn’t have to wonder where he was for days, or weeks. They wouldn’t go to sleep hungry, or worry if there was going to be anything to eat the next day. He wasn’t going to ignore them as they out-grew their clothes, or just watch as their shoes fell apart. They would always have good food to eat, and comfortable things to wear. He wasn’t going to get so drunk he forgot to pick them up from school, forcing them to walk home in the pouring rain or the blazing sun. He would be THERE for them, whenever they needed him, for whatever they wanted, no matter what. His children would never feel neglected, desperate, or hopeless.

They both sighed, somehow each guessing what thoughts the other had. Simmons turned his head, kissing Grif on the mouth.

“And I love you,”

“I love you, too…”

One by one, the babies blinked their eyes shut, and the fathers finally climbed into bed. Grif slid across the mattress, letting Simmons snuggle up next to him, before turning off the light. It felt so good, knowing that this bed was theirs, this home was theirs, the people visiting were their family, and right beside them slept their children. The very strange life they had finally reached a point where things were arguably “stable”, allowing them to properly enjoy it… so many things they once wished for but thought were impossible, and even more things they never even knew they wanted.

“Grif, you know what?” Simmons whispered in the dark.

“What?”

“We’re DADS,”

Grif rolled over, half-way on top of Simmons, so he could bury his face in the crook of Simmons’ neck, unable to stop the gleeful giggles from escaping. This eventually just turned into cuddling, and Grif had another moment when it hit him hard; how something so soft and simple felt extraordinary. Married life, starting a family… it was hardly unusual. However, after the nonsensically complicated events of their lives? What an unexpected result. It was also one that neither man cared to change in the slightest.

They were both exhausted, but that didn’t stop them both from rising multiple times in the night whenever a baby made a peep. All things considered, it wasn’t as bad as it could have been (but this was just the first night… there was a long road ahead).

i was literally living my best life here in 2023. then i remembered "and he's secretly in love with simmons. and they're gonna have a baby together, one day, when science makes that possible" and now i'm just. in pain

[jade-kyo]

RvB 20th rewatch: s2

Continuing the rewatch onto season 2. This is my first time watching the show on dvd and honestly it’s so fun seeing the menus and watching the extra stuff and also- getting to listen to Trocadero. That’s the best part man fucking love Trocadero.

DOC MY BELOVED

As yes the beginning of Vic being a little weirdo

The whole “you’re the thing that babies suck on” bit is still one of the funniest jokes in early rvb it cracks me up so much

Caboose only has nine toes

Remember when Doc was a fairly normal dude? Exposure to the reds and blues really does just turn you into a freaky little weirdo 😂

Also Doc’s willingness to distance himself from Grif simply for being unpopular is so funny it’s like they’re fucking high schoolers

I always say that out of everyone Church and Tucker feel the most like actual friends

Tucker character development really does go hard- he starts out as this kinda young seeming idiot who makes a lot of sex jokes and grows into the most competent soldier among them and a leader.

But also he just sounds so young in the early seasons and it’s making me emotional

Remember when Lopez didn’t hate everyone and was genuinely loyal to Sarge? Good times

BISEXUAL SHEILA

Also the beginning of the most insane love triangle ever. Of all time.

Donut actually does call himself pink here

I think it’s funny that Tex tells a story about Church being pantsed in high school even tho Allison and the Director didn’t meet until they were both adults meaning the Director either told Allison that story and Tex had that memory or Tex is counting on Alpha having faulty memories and is just straight up making shit up for the lols

Ahhh Cabooses mind- a very good bit

My personal headcanon is that Donut is 100% aware of all the innuendos and is doing it intentionally to be a little shit cause they kept making fun of him for the pink armor. No I don’t care what s17 said.

CHEX YOU ARE INCREDIBLE GOD I JUST AKDHKAHSKDHKSBD I LOVE THEM

DOC OMALLEY MY BELOVED

Possibly one of my favorite villains in the whole show just for the sheer hilarity he brings

Ah the grimmons cyborg surgery

Okay but Donut trying to jump on top of the base from the inside is so real. I never played all of halo but I did have the demo on the computer as a kid and blood gulch was like the only playable map on the demo and I would spend so long trying to jump on top of the base. I was so annoyed that you couldn’t do that

Grif smokes

“Simmons… I need your ovaries” another one of my most quoted lines

Everyone else: man Donut is so dumb and annoying // me: that is a man who knows exactly what he’s doing

“I will devour their hearts and crap out their souls!” Also one of my most quoted lines.

The fucking mayonnaise bit is so random and funny like where did that even come from

Church’s inability to speak is one of my favorite bits mostly cause me too. He just like me fr.

The brief Caboose-Donut friendship is so good

Church being able to read binary code omg how was the alpha reveal not planned I’m screaming

Tucker the first believer in grimmons

I love how Tucker was the first to realize there was a conspiracy and then everyone proceeded to ignore him and then turned out he was right.

The irony debate is another very quoted moment for me

There’s a bit at the end of the credits where Vic tells you the movies over and now I’m wondering if the bit in the restoration credits with Tucker is a call back to this

And that’s season 2 done- I don’t have a ton to say here other than I love this show and I’m having so much fun rewatching and seeing all the extra stuff on the dvds that I’d never seen before. There’s more than I expected!