#but since more people have seen this I hope that y'all can reblog this version

[tavina-writes]

Reblogging this to say that I feel very heartened by the support I've seen on this post, and Peridot's post (which is much more articulate than this one) about why the post (since been deleted) that I wrote this in reaction to was just. So appallingly in bad taste. By no means do I think people should go over and tell them that anymore given that I think they figured out that it made a lot of people angry. I wrote the original post up there with the thought that "oh maybe like three of my mutuals will like it!" so it was made in anger for venting and wasn't super articulate about anything at all. And I think there's a place for that, but given that more people have seen this than I thought, I feel that it might be better to be more articulate (if also more wordy) about this.

This whole thing has brought up a lot of irl memories into my fandom space, where like, I've been musing a lot on the nature of how my identity is intrinsically tied to my past and my culture, in ways that cannot be erased or even avoided by masking. Even online, these things bleed through.

I think we often think of online spaces as places where we can truly be anonymous, or share just as much as we want to about ourselves. But I think the events of this past week has reminded me that while I can share as much or as little about my brickspace life as I want online, that doesn't mean that I am not impacted by the racism and other microaggressions that come with being a second generation Chinese-American woman. I can no more take off my skin online than I can in person, it's just that people are far more likely to make split second judgments about who I am in person based on how I look.

There have been many instances of microaggressions over the course of my life, both large and small, and I won't delve into them here because ultimately this is a fandom blog where I come to have fun and talk about fictional characters on the internet. But I think every POC I've met and spoken to for any length of time has had those moments, large and small, of being discriminated against, of being insulted for being their identity, for being asked weird intrusive questions about their past or their cultural practices, of being made to feel afraid of existing in a space because of their heritage.

I've also seen a lot of solidarity from other POC in the notes of both this post and Peridot's, noting their own experiences with racism both irl and online, and while it makes me feel less alone in the knowledge that other people have shared my experiences and understand what it's like, it's also heartbreaking to know that truly, none of us are exempt from this. So often, we are divided and conquered by being told that we "have it better than [x]" or we're "not as oppressed as [x]" or that "[x] has it better than [we] do." Ultimately, racism is not special. To have survived it is neither a badge of honor or a source of shame, just something that I hope one day other people will not have to experience, as perhaps, people who came before me wished for my generation.

On the subject of names -- my family is both radical and traditional. Traditional in the sense that I share the same generational stem as all of my paternal first, second, and third cousins. Radical in the sense that my parents chose very ambitious, far reaching names for their daughters. I've always felt that my given name is beautiful. It means 'to narrate infinite breadth,' given in the hopes that I would witness an infinite number of things, and that I would encompass all of them. When matched with my childhood nickname, which means 'pure, unmixed, and unsullied,' it explains the hope that I would be able to see and encompass an infinite number of experiences while retaining who I am at my core.

There is so much ambition and beauty to my given name that the years I've spent being bullied for it has been especially...ironic, I suppose. In some ways. In other ways, it's just really sad. It's neither the worst nor the least terrible thing that has happened to me in the line of racist remarks, made both by my peers and by adults and teachers that I've had the pleasure of being in a classroom with, but it's one that's remained with me. I have a legal English middle name that I could use for ease of access, but I want people to feel uncomfortable with my parent's language and all of their hopes for me on their tongues whenever they want to speak to me, as English has never been able to sit entirely comfortably in their mouths. Even after decades.

I would never presume to tell another POC to not adopt an English name. Sometimes it fits with your journey. Sometimes it's safer for you to do that. Sometimes at your local Starbucks you just want to be something spelled right and said right for once. I understand. I've done that. I guess I'm writing this to tell us that we are not alone. I am not alone. If anything good has come of this experience and these posts it is that we know we are not alone, because there are many of us, and we are still here in this fandom and others together.

Do we really gotta do the psa where we tell people that assigning English names to Chinese characters is racist again :/ like is that really a PSA that I am typing with my own goddamn fingers in 2023.

Like, this is actually a thing that East Asians go through in the west where our own names are deemed too difficult or different to say or use properly so we get assigned or be forced to pick an English one for other people's convenience. Being made fun of for having a different sounding name was a MAJOR part of my classmates bullying tactics through pre-k to 12th grade. Like that's a pretty standard thing to have been bullied for in a racially targeted manner for pretty much every Asian friend I know??? Names and food are the big ones????

I thought that as a fandom given the amount of time mdzs has been this would no longer be a thing???? Also lmao the literal irony of having to block people in the notes of that post with "end otw racism" as their profile photos like hello congrats YOU are the problem here.

I KNOW it's meant to be "funny" or whatever but that thing is in such poor fucking taste. It's not remotely funny.

[shadeysprings]

Deal or No Deal.

—Pete Brenner x F!Reader

Summary — You work hard to entice the biggest possible client for your company, but he has his own ideas for you to make him say yes.

Warnings — implied noncon/dubcon, coercion, power imbalance. There may be more that I forgot to mention but please read with caution.

Word Count — 986

A/N — Another impromptu fic because the muse was calling for it. Plus, the babies were wanting and who am I to say no and not deliver. Un-beta and no editing has been done so may be sloppy. But we all love some slop anyway haha!

As always, your feedback is highly appreciated and your reblogs would be amazing. And of course, I hope y'all enjoy! ❤️

The bored look on Pete’s face has you feeling even more nervous since you walked into his company. You never should have agreed to take on this project, you should have just stayed quiet and allowed Janice to take it. But no—you had to be proactive, you had to shove it in her face that you are just as good as a sales rep as her, maybe even better. Yet now, as you continue on with your spiel, the presentation you’ve worked so hard on only looks to be going down the drain. 

“Next slide.” Pete says, making you stutter in surprise but simply doing as you’re told and leaning down on your laptop to tap the key. The audible groan that emits from him has you edge as you do.

“Our product not only surpasses the ones like it but it’s tested and proven to do more.” You say with the remaining enthusiasm left in your system. “If you can see from the studies we’ve conducted, Jan—”

“Yawn.” Pete utters while actually doing so, leaning against the seat and resting his elbow atop the table, his cheek leaning on his fist. “Is there any version of this where we end up fucking?”

That stops you. Your brows furrowed in confusion with the words that just rolled out of his mouth. 

“Excuse me?” You say, disgust and shock curling in your voice.

He chuckles and stands from his seat, exaggeratingly stretching his arms before walking over to you at the end of the long table, fingers grazing over the wooden surface.

“You heard me. That presentation of yours? I’ve seen so many just like it from so many people who, just like you, are desperate for me to say yes.” You hear your heart beat frantically against your chest as he comes closer, your feet taking a step back but no more further as you’re suddenly frozen in place. 

“But just like them, I’m going to say no. You know why?” 

You don’t know if he’s asking a serious question or simply playing with you, trying to intimidate you with the unknown power he holds over your head. 

You don’t respond.

“Let me tell you why. Because it’s boring.” His words are like a vice to your chest. “I’m sure you’ve spent all night perfecting this powerpoint and practicing that speech, but, it just ain’t selling. Nothing about it interests me. Nothing about it makes me want to throw my money at it. And nothing about it makes me say ‘Wow!’”

His large hands trace the edge of your laptop before shutting it close, the room going dim, except for the light coming from the projector as your presentation vanishes.

“Nothing about them draws me in. Except you—” The way he says it makes your skin crawl and you take another step back when you see his eyes run up and down your figure, trapping his tongue between his teeth in the process. “There’s a fire in you. Like you would do anything to prove yourself.” He teases. Stopping just in front of you and framing his hip with his hand, in a way that has you seeing the bulge that has formed in his pants, while his other hand taps against the table, waiting, anticipating your next move. 

“So either, you walk out of this room with nothing—a loser like the rest of those chumps waiting outside to talk to me, or you go back to your boss with a big fat sale you can rub onto the one you took this project from.” 

Your hand visibly shakes with the tension that’s swirling around you. Is this what you want? To allow this man to order you around and do as he pleases for the sake of your career? What face would you show Daniel if he says no? Pete is one of the biggest clients he’s been chasing and you’ve been stupid enough to try and show off. 

Letting out a quivering sigh, you bite your lip and place your notes to the side, looking up at Pete’s face before clenching your fists and looking down at your feet. 

“A thousand pieces.” You argue. If you’re losing your dignity, you may as well get something bigger out of it. 

“You bend over this table and show me that ass and I’ll think about giving you seven hundred.” He bargains, a playful smirk forming on his lips—a sign of his victory and your defeat. 

It’s less yet still more than your initial ask. 

Nodding and once more releasing a breath, you lift up your pencil skirt to reveal your backside and lean against the table just like he’s asked. You bite your tongue to stop the yelp that wants to push from your lips when he slaps your ass and whimper in fear and hatred for this man when he grabs you by the waist and presses his clothed erection against you. 

“Make it worth my while, Sweetheart. My time ain’t cheap.”

“There’s our superstar!” Daniel says in oblivious excitement when you walk back into your department, Janice and the rest of your co-workers looking at you with expectation in their eyes. “Well?” Daniel prompts. “How many did he get?”

“Fifteen hundred with a possible order next month.” You say in resignation and present him the order slip signed by Pete with a note requesting for another meeting next week. Shock fills his eyes as he stares down at the paper before he punches the air in obvious celebration.

“No fucking way!” Janice says in disbelief, yet the others surround you, bidding their congratulations. 

“What did you tell him?” One of your co-workers asks.

“What did you do?” Another.

“She did her fucking best, that’s what.” Daniel says in excitement before hugging you tight. “I never doubted you one second, champ. I’m glad I gave you this account.”

If only you can say the same.

[sapphire-weapon]

I used to draw for other small/rare ships (apparently I'm drawn to those kind of ships lol), only one of them got huge enough after they were given some time alone in the manga which got the ship more talented and known creators and amazing fan art.

Unfortunately it also got more hate on since it was a ship that "got in the way" of other huge popular ships and going through the tag got annoying bc the haters tagged every post shitting on the previously rare pairing, plus if you reblogged or made content for it they would harass you. I just blocked everyone sending me hate lmao.

Lots of people now hate Leon/Ashley but I think this increased hatred also shows how the haters can see that it is a thing now unlike before. They see it as a real threat. You can see the insecurity in some of those antis, it's too obvious and also just sad imo. I don't get why antis take shipping too seriously like they're not even having fun anymore and that's supposed to be the point, no?

Truth is I've seen so many Leon/Ashley fans online and even irl, Reddit for example loves it and Remake Ashley is a fan favorite now. A lot of them are more casual fans that maybe don't engage that deeply with fanon (which tbh is the smart thing to do).

Finally I have to say your blog and the amazing fic writers have inspired me to go back to drawing fan art and just creating content for Ashley/Leon or EagleOne. :)

Since this is my new otp and the only thing I love shipping rn I'm also just creating a new blog for that purpose. I'm not an amazing artist I'm just an amateur but I'll try to do something soon when I'm less busy. I'll absolutely tag it as EagleOne. Hopefully I can motivate others to do the same.

anon what the fuCK i got all emotional reading this wyd 😭

i know that the antis are coming from a place of insecurity, which is why their arguments are so disingenuous (i finally found the "the devs went out of their way to make sure that leon and ashley weren't seen as romantic" tweet and hoo boy the desperation is stinky) -- and that's also why i don't engage with them. as easy and perhaps fun as it would be to just QRT it and be like "oh it makes sense now, you're all using text to speech because you don't actually know how to read" there's no point in doing that.

i said it a while ago, but i want to say it again for good measure -- i don't want us to become them. my humble goal for eagleone fandom is to be a haven for ppl. we've been the black sheep of this fandom for so long, and aeons are still accusing us of being predators or someshit (idk i'm only semi-fluent in delusional) that i feel like we all have an obligation to stay humble now that capcom's given us a fairy tale version of RE4 where our ship is the front-and-center romance and people are finally actually being drawn to the ship. no one knows how bad this fandom can get better than eagleone folk, so it's on us to not do unto others what has been done unto us.

idk maybe that's just my whole jewish "because you were slaves in egypt..." mindset coming out but

i want us to be a place where people can just come and hang out and make friends over our shared love for resident evil. i know that i have serennedy and cleon and chreon and metaltango people all following me, and i love all of them dearly and i'm happy that we've all found each other. i feel like that's what fandom should be.

that's why i don't fight with aeons out in the open. i don't want to become them. i'll swing back if they ever come here (though i hope valuable lessons were learned the last time someone tried to come in here swinging and i took them out in exactly two responses LMAO), but i don't want to go out picking fights and i don't want any of y'all to do it either.

so it makes me feel really warm and fuzzy and happy to hear that i've inspired you in some way. i know that our little corner of the fandom over here on tumblr is small, and i know that i don't exactly have the kind of welcoming personality that will give me any sort of real platform in this fandom (at least, not like the one i had back in the day when i was a fake ass bitch LMAO), but to know that i've made at least a little difference is everything for me.

[fill-me-with-your-memes-daddy]

Watching the Rise of the Titans movie and I'll be documenting all of my thoughts/reactions here. [Spoiler Warning]

So instead of reblogging every new update, I'm just going to have this post up on my phone as I watch and type my reactions in a bullet list format.

Nari's human disguise is so cute. As someone who does have a cottagecore aesthetic, I want to cosplay her so bad

Are Skrael and/or Belroc non-binary coded? Regardless, I'm also obsessed and I want to fuck Skrael and be Belroc.

STEVE CARING ABOUT JIM BEING HURT YESSSS!!! My god his redemption has probably been one of the greatest there is because he doesn't just suddenly go from being a bully to a completely good person. You can see the gradual shift in learning better throughout the shows which is awesome.

IN NEW YOOOOOOORRRRRRRK!!!!!! CONCRETE JUNGLE WHERE DREAMS ARE MADE OFFFFFFFFFFFFF!!!!!

The mugshot montage reminded me of season 1 of trollhunters when toby and Jim were arrested at the museum.

STRICKLER PUT A RING ON IT??? HE'S THE ONLY DILF IVE EVER ACTUALLY AGREED WAS HOT WYM I CAN'T HAVE HIM??? well I'm still really happy about his arc over the series probably one of my favorite character growths.

Eli my guy got his growth spurt!!! As an 18 year old who is still 5'0", I'm happy but envious for him

So I went into this movie without watching any trailers or promo, but I doubt anything could have prepared me for the existence of mpreg. In fact, I wasn't going to document my reactions until I saw that.

NAMURA!!!!!!!!! MY BELOVED!!!!!! I CAN STILL THIRST FOR YOU WITHOUT GUILT

The coach teacher just called the kids zoomers so I have to dock one point from my final rating just because of that. Unforgivable

Those husky animation models suck lmao

Oh fuck the titans got power ranger zords!!

God why did they include the mpreg??? This movie would have been perfect without it.... After that plot point being revisited only one time I'm already beyond done with it

Like it's bringing me back to the v*ltron days where they're was a suspiciously high amount of klance omegaverse and mpreg fics and art created and it physically hurts because Steve and Keith's voice actor is the same person meaning this is especially cursed to me since I was unfortunately in the v*ltron fandom and remember all of that

But like on another note, how old are these characters again??? I haven't checked any wikis because of spoilers but is Steve an adult??? I know aja might be technically a lot older than 18 because alien but is whatever age she is equivalent to an adult as far as emotionally and physically in Akaridion development??? IS THIS A TEEN (M)PREGNANCY IN A KIDS SHOW????

Like bruh I saw a singular post on here before going into the movie that was like "rott spoilers without context" and there was a pregnant belly but I was absolutely not expecting the actual context of it. I'll find the post after I finish and edit this post to tag the creator right here: @makoden

This entire post is just gonna be me ranting about mpreg huh

Anyway I love the whole roundtable allusion to the legends of king arthur (not the toa version but the one he's based off)

THERE'S 3 TO 5 BABIES????? I need to take a break bruh this is just too much

Alright I've taken a 30 minute break got some food and did some things i love (decompressed by tactile stimming with some owl plushies and watched some videos on my favorite owl, Garu. He lives in Japan with his owner and is a domesticated eagle owl who basically just acts like a sky cat. If anyone else needs some eye bleach, here is their YouTube channel)

Blinky and ARRRGHHH!!! saying their "if one of us doesn't make it" talk my god one of them is going to die I can see it and I will be utterly crushed. Jim can't lose another father figure and Toby can't lose his wingman again I will riot if this happens

On a similar but unrelated to the movie note, can we just talk about how toa started with Jim having 0 dads and (if strickler and blinky live to the end) will end with 2 dads? Like I just really feel happy for him that he has two dads who actually figured out how to put the past behind them to not have any infighting between them so that both of them are healthy father figures. Jim has already been through literal hell and back losing his actual humanity in the process so if he loses one of them, I'm going to be really pissed because at this point, this is just Jim torture porn. Y'all know how as SpongeBob SquarePants went on, the show just became Squidward torture porn? It's starting to feel that way for toa and I really hope they cut the shit by the ending

Jlaire is such a good ship but like I feel like it's too perfect they never disagree with each other

YESSSSSSS Someone finally doesn't treat toby like a fat waste of space who messes stuff up!!! I think out of all the characters that would have been most deserving of a rewrite, it's Toby. Sometimes I just feel he's only comic relief and any heartfelt moments he's had in the series was also born of stupidity (ie his flour baby project being unharmed was seen by him as divine intervention from his parents but was actually just Eli and Steve behind the scenes).

Ohhhhh yesssssss Archie's father!!! I was hoping I'd see him again because we got so little of him last

Ooooooooooh Asian trollmarket!!!!!

Oh never mind slavery trollmarket

Bruh titanic camelot

I feel like we're not seeing enough of the villains because I completely forgot about the power ranger zord things

NAMORA NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO MY LAST CRUSHHHH

STRICKLER NO NOT YOU TOO PLEASE

WHAT THE FUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

THE ONLY TWO CHARACTERS I SIMP FOR ON THIS SHOW DIED WITHIN FIVE MINUTES OF EACH OTHER

THAT WHOLE ASS RANT I WROTE IS COMING TRUE FUCK THIS MOVIE THIS SERIES IS JUST JIM TORTURE PORN

WAIT JIM'S SPERM DONOR INFO?

Oh thank God I don't want to know anything about that person

For the record, I call that man Jim's sperm donor because he has no business being called a father to him. All he did was donate some swimmers to the creation of him and give him abandonment issues

Oh another blind troll elder???? This fucker is just if vendel was a bad guy

Bruh I was grieving

PACIFIC RIM WITH GUN ROBOT VEX AND THE BELROCZORD? I've never seen that movie but I know the reference

Bruh Blinky doesn't read horoscopes? Does he realize conspiracy theories are just the manly version of horoscopes?

NO DON'T KILL VEX STOP KO-ING FOUND FAMILY MEMBERS

Oh thank God he's okay

NO NOT ARCHIE AND CHARLEMAGNE OH MY GOD

oh never mind they're just gonna coup de tat I believe in them :))

But I want to see him again

But I'm glad to see vex

Yay they're in arcadia!

But yeah I wondered why the trolls and Merlin didn't keep the whole "daylight doesn't hurt trolls" feature from the eternal night but now Guillermo del Toro I see you were playing the long con in that just to kill my girl Namora :(((

Oooooh I love the animation of the Narizord over Chihuahua!! It looks very good and realistic (if only they could have put some of that into those huskies from before smh)

Bruh the character designs of the arcane order are so good I want to be them

Nari making sure the Skraelzord doesn't crush the bus

DAMN DOUBLE HOMICIDE

Bruh I'm just glad we finally have an answer on why arcadia had everything going on as opposed to literally anywhere else!! I always found that as a weird coincidence for plot convince.

BRUH WERE BACK TO THE MPREG IM SO JEALOUS I FORGOT ABOUT THAT EVEN THOUGH IT WAS BECAUSE I WAS GRIEVING THE LOSS OF MY LOVELIES.

Oh that's real convenient that the ninth configuration meant all of them. Way to not decide which character gets more attention. Though it probably was a smart way to not have any infighting in the fandom between each character's stan group.

Bruh I just realized where is Barbera did they just ditch her on the Camelot ship???

And where are the other trolls that migrated at the end of trollhunters s3? They said something about new jersey but obviously Jim and the other main characters got on Camelot instead.... This feels like a plot hole

And we never learned the process of how changelings are made and bonded to humans and stuff. We just know it's super painful but I'm curious ffs!!!!

THE DONT THINK BECOME HERO SPEECH ALL SAID TOGETHER!!!

BRUH THEY REALLY HAD TO SHOW HIM GIVING BIRTH??????? WAS THAT AN ABSOLUTE MUST??????

Plus the main audience for this series is little children (the rating for the movie is literally TV-Y7) so even though my adult ass is not in the target audience, I STILL DONT UNDERSTAND WHY WOULD MPREG AND ANAL BIRTH WOULD BE AN IMPORTANT THING TO 7 YEAR OLDS???? THIS IS A LITERAL FETISH HIDDEN IN KIDS CONTENT ITS ELSAGATE ALL OVER AGAIN Y'ALL 😭😭😭😭😭

Though it's probably hypocritical of me to think fetishes don't belong in kids tv when I've openly admitted to thirsting for strickler and namora

HUZZAH

NEW AMULET WAZ GOOD????

STAB THAT BITCH JIM

WAIT NO I SAID STAB NOT GET STABBED

Alright good job just missed the directions at first but you fixed it

SEVEN KIDS?????????

T O B Y ????????????

W A I T NO

N O

IS HE ACTUALLY

OH MY GOD THERE'S HOPE

NO THERE ISN'T

F U C K THIS SHIT THEY REALLY JUST HAD HIM TO BE BULLIED THEN KILLED

Y'ALL IM ACTUALLY CRYING THIS NEVER HAPPENS

I NEVER ACTUALLY GET SO EMOTIONAL OVER MEDIA THAT I CRY IT ONLY HAPPENED ONCE AT THE END OF VOLTRON BUT AHHHHHHHH

W A I T

HE'S GONNA BE BROUGHT BACK?????

HOLD UP THEY'RE JUST GONNA BRING ALL THOSE DEAD PEOPLE BACK??????

WAIT IS HE

BLINKY CALLED HIM A SON

HOLD ON IS THIS GOING TO BE A CLIFFHANGER???????????

BRUH THEY REALLY JUST CAN'T END THE SERIES WITHOUT CLIFFHANGERS like there's always an open ending

TROLLHUNTER TOBY????? You know what forget the whole rants I had on how toby was written they just redeemed it all

And that's all! I'd rate it a 6.5/10 because it's definitely the weakest of all the sequels but still had amazing animation and some good plot points. It's just really hard to look over the bad stuff enough to rate it any higher.

[sometimesanalice]

JORDAN!

I love your reblogs I hoard them the way a squirrel hoards their little nut stash, lol.

It absolutely would not have been a Thanksgiving fic without invoking your patron saint! I'm so happy that their get together got your thumbs up too!

And I hope you'll forgive me for withholding [redacted] from you this time! You get all my fic planning (and editing) nonsense, but I like to make sure you surprise every now and then! A little treat that I haven't talked you ear off about! (BUT IT IS SO HARD BECAUSE I AM ALWAYS DYINGGGG TO TELL YOUUUUUU!)

more for you!

And maybe if you had asked him when the sun was up instead of at 3 AM he might have known better than to give you such a noncommittal answer. - i can absolutely picture her sitting up straight in bed at 3am GASPING about the cranberry sauce - AS SHE SHOULD, MIND YOU!-- CRANBERRY SAUCE MATTERS! and people have OPINIONS! SG isn't about to dial in her first big Thanksgiving hosting duties! And bless Bradley, but he really should have known better, lol. It's 3 AM sir, IT MATTERS EXTRA BEFORE THE SUN IS UP!

Your mom had always made it clear that he had an open invitation to join in whatever merry festivities were happening with your family - her mom is so sweet! i just know she was so excited when she found out they were a couple! i love how often she’s mentioned in the fics too?-- Oh I think it made her so happy. Bradley is her Sweet Boy and them together? Like the moms never did the "oooh look at them thing" because that's so weird and puts so much pressure on kids. But I think she's always loved how he's looked out of her daughter. I just love the history that is there and how entwined their families were at the start.

There was a display of pumpkins, ribbons, and a garland of strung dried orange slices that decorated the fireplace - okay i’m obsessed martha stewart?!!? and then the pinecone place cards to say nothing about the new green lower cabinets???? i love their house so so much it seems so cozy and lived in (even though they’re not real…) and don’t even get me started on how camp the oversized confetti is (do i reread the first time fic? mayhaps)-- Pinterest came THROUGH for me. But the camp confetti is the crowning glory, I GIGGLED when I thought of it, haha!

“Don’t think that’s what I was hearing thirty minutes ago when we had that pretty green dress of yours bunched around your hips. Sounded something like ‘more, Bradley, more’ to me.” - 🫠🫠 pls just take me against the dishwasher i’m BEGGING and the pretty GREEN dress that gets bunched up around my hips?! PLUS IT’S VELVET?? say less pls-- we know how much they like their kitchen! She's always worried about the neighbors getting an eyeful, expecially when they have a cute al fresco brunch on their deck and she's only wearing his shirt 💁🏼‍♀️ but also bradley's favorite color and that soft fabric??! man is definitely not trying to keep his hands to himself, sorry y'all dinner is going to be delayed

“I was kidding,” you say, stopping your agitated whisking to go fluff the stuffing instead. - i love her so much. like all the mannerisms and whatnot they’re so in character and in tune and realistic to what we’ve seen from her?-- she's like "how dare you call me out like that it was a joke??" when they both know it was not a joke in the leasttttt, lol. Sweet Girl, anxious girl! But also that is the best compliment to get! It had been awhile since I've focused on them and I really wanted this slightly older version of her to still seem like her. (which means I just need to write more of Them™️)

He reaches for a couple plates, holding them up for your approval and you point to the one on the right. - i’m actually obsessed with this line which seems so random BUT IT’S SO REALISTIC?!? my mom and i spent 15 minutes doing this earlier today!- He learned his lesson quickly after the cranberry incident! If he doesn't have an opinion, he knows she's going to. But I really wanted there to be a moment showing how in sync they are together as a team? Like the type of conversations without words and how they understand each other?

And sometimes when he looks at you he can so clearly see the little girl he’d been forced to entertain for hours when your moms were hanging out. You went from being his favorite nuisance to his best friend to his everything. - i think this is one of the reasons why i love them as a couple so much? there’s just SO much history? and bradley being like “i was FORCED to hang out with her” lol sure sure i get it, suuuuure (i need more of younger them)-- I LOVE THEIR HISTORYYYYY! I was so soft over this line. He was always appeasing his mom until he realized he liked hanging out with her. He's always loved her but now he gets to be in love with her 🥰

After nearly two decades of hard beds on foreign bases and on lumpy carrier mattresses, he’s never slept as well as he did since the two of you found your way to each other. His peace was found under a fluffy green duvet on a wooden canopy bed with you tucked under his arm. - NO BECAUSE WHAT THE FUCK?!!?! how could you do this to me - question mark? it’s so pretty and lovely!!! and then her emphatic “no. no i wouldn’t” (it reminded me of That Line)-- OK BUT CAN YOU BELIEVE I FORGOT ABOUT THAT LINE UNTIL YOU REMINDED ME OF IT HERE???!!! Like we KNOW how soft, how delicate I am about Delployment!Bradley. But that THEY both know what it means for him to have a home and a bed and a wife and a dog and a family of his own???? anywaysssss im weeping its fine

“‘In Ina we trust’,” you say with a serious nod of your head. - i’m fucking GAGGED!??!!! MY QUEEN! MY PATRON SAINT!?! (also bradley kind of IS jeffrey like career wise so…)-- i did it for youuuuuuuuu! 💖

It fit a little more snug that he remembered it, but he thought he still pulled it off well. - i told you this earlier but this is so fucking hot like godddddddd daddy?!?! his big arms!?!-- LITERALLY 😵‍💫 😵‍💫 😵‍💫 😵‍💫 😵‍💫 😵‍💫 😵‍💫 😵‍💫 like no wonder miss ma'am like needed a moment with him even as the countdown was on, sheeeeshhhhhh

He still doesn’t know how he ended up with a dog named Duck. - MOTHER FUCKING DUCK THE DOG MY SWEET BOY!! also it’s duck, like quack is HILARIOUS and i can just see the look on his face saying it-- i'm going to write this one, i'm going to write this oneeeee!

He couldn’t wait to surprise you with the golden tennis ball that the shelter sends out as a thank you after a decade of donations. - golden balls!!!! also i hope he has to get it in person and sees casey and is like HA I WIN-- he's playing the LONG game! he saw the potential! the opportunity! and he's running with it! I also think he genuinely loves the idea of being able to surprise her? Like they know so much about each other so when they get to surprise the other, it's like the best thing to them!

“Woah, woah,” he says as he catches you on the way to the fridge and pulls you to his chest, “C’mere, my sweet girl.” - MY SWEET GIRL (CAPITALIZED!!!!) i love this so much! the faulty stemware! then the butter! this is so sweet and i love that it’s what gets us the big reveal!-- the MY sweet girl absolutely SENT ME. that's his pregnant best friend and wife and soulmate! I knew it had to be something silly, like chilled butter, something that any rational person would be like "thata's not a big deal" but would be devastating to someone cooking up a baby Bradshaw (or two 🤗)

There are times in the soft quiet of night, usually when you are asleep and his mind won’t quite settle, that he sometimes thinks he was put on this Earth to hold you. - how do you write this beautifully? it’s really not far to me of my (pregnancy less) hormones? this is so lovely-- 😭💖 i just love them so muchhhhh, i want thissssss

“Hey kids, I brought the turkey,” Mav calls out from the entry. - i too PANICKED when i first read this line-- bradley is trying to keep it together! he just calmed down his wife and now he has to worry about his dad going off script?!! THE OVEN SPACE MAV!

“Cooper Mitchell Ford Bradshaw, you are without a doubt the cutest turkey I have ever seen,” - alexa…i’m really not over this name? it is so so soooooooo perfect? like i think it’s the best baby boy name i’ve ever seen in a bradley x reader fic? and i’m being so serious. like im speechless COOPER? MITCHELL? FORD? goodnight y’all!-- I AGONIZEDDDDDDDD about the name!! Like HOURS of combing baby names and trying to get the combo just right! And COOPER MITCHELL FORD BRADSHAW HAS MY HEART! With his chubby cheeks and precious curls 😭 Like the Bradshaw line is continuing but I wanted there to be some MavDad love and then something of JUST Bradley too.

The man had always been his father in everything but name. That is until he’d seen the man who raised him hold his son for the first time. “Yeah, Dad,” Bradley says, clearing his throat a bit, “Everything’s perfect.” - i actually started crying when bradley says “yeah dad” because like??? we have him think it a lot and it’s clearly something that means a lot to him, but to have him verbalize it is just so wonderful and lovely?-- THAT'S HIS DAD! THAT'S HIS FAMILY! Like it's one thing for him to think it, but I also needed him to say it and for it to be like a normal thing?? That they've been able to reach that point and heal that hurt? oh now i am crying

There are no words for the pride and love that washes over him every time he looks over and sees you with his son propped up on your hip and the way your pretty dress stretches around your growing family. - 🤭🤭🤭 this is so so lovely i don’t have anything else to say-- His Kid and his kids.

Cooper grins when he sees him, his tiny hand reaching out for his dad. For him. - stop 🥺🥺 i’m crying again-- THAT'S HIS KID HE'S HIS DAD! Part of him, part of her. His place in the world is with themmmmmm

Now I need to reread this fic because them and their family mean so much to meeeee! thank you for loving them with me!

In a Place Just Right

Summary: It's your first year hosting Thanksgiving in San Diego for the Daggers and Bradley can tell you're a little nervous about it. But he already knows it's going to be one for the books, because any holiday spent with you better than anything he could have imagined.

Pairing: Bradley ‘Rooster’ Bradshaw x Female Reader

Length: 5K

Warnings: fluff and allusions to smut (minors dni)

(author's note: this fic is set in the 'Like I Can Universe', but can be read on it's own! Happy Thanksgiving, friends!)

For the last six years Penny has been the one to host Daggersgiving, but this year hostess duties had fallen on your plate. Needless to say, Bradley knew you were more than a little stressed about it.

When you had asked him about his opinion on the merits of canned cranberry sauce versus homemade he’d blinked at you a few times before asking, “Is this a thing people care about?”

He’ll never forget how adorably aghast you looked to learn that he had no preference on the matter. And maybe if you had asked him when the sun was up instead of at 3 AM he might have known better than to give you such a noncommittal answer.

“Both, we’ll have both,” you’d stated resolutely.

“Whatever you want, kid," he’d murmured as he’d pulled you to his chest and wrapped an arm around your stomach. His smart and beautiful wife. "Now go back to sleep, you’re supposed to be dreaming of sugarplums not cranberries."

“Wrong holiday, Bradley,” you’d sighed, relaxing against him. And it hadn’t taken you long to fall back asleep with that cranberry crisis having been averted.

But now people were due to show up in less than an hour and you were fluttering around the kitchen like a madwoman in a very pretty green dress, "I knew that quickie was a bad idea. You're never quick, Bradley."

He’d been away and missed many holidays over the years due to his career.

Your mom had always made it clear that he had an open invitation to join in whatever merry festivities were happening with your family, but more often than not it rarely aligned with him being stationed all over the world. But he’d always been happy to get to have a phone call with you and eat the homemade cookies you’d sent him on those years spent apart.

But now Bradley got to look forward to spending every holiday with you in the home you shared with him.

Over the last week the house had slowly but surely transformed into something that was straight out of a magazine.

There was a display of pumpkins, ribbons, and a garland of strung dried orange slices that decorated the fireplace. And overpriced candles from your favorite store flickered cheerfully on every surface that wasn’t a fire hazard to a bunch of enthusiastic Naval aviators. The dining table was dressed up to the nines and everyone spot with their names painstakingly written in your pretty script on a place card sitting in a pinecone.

You had even made some oversized confetti in the shape of oak leaves out of some old books, the copy of ‘Why Men Love Bitches’ that Nat had given him years ago as a joke was finally repurposed and recycled into something more festive over where the beverages had been set up.

The whole house smells amazing. Warm cinnamons and nutmegs mixing with bright citrus and warm vanillas. The kitchen island and countertops were filled with various plates and platters and bowls of dips, charcuterie, fruit and vegetables, nuts, and other savories. All the other dishes were being kept warm in the ovens for when everyone arrived and was ready to settle around the dining table for dinner.

Bradley was positive that no one would leave feeling hungry. He also wasn’t entirely sure where the things his friends where going to go, but there were worst problems to have.

Penny had taken Amelia with her to visit her family on the East Coast. They’d decided it would probably be better for Mav to hang back in San Diego for the holiday, those tensions with her dad were still a bit strained even though they’d been married for almost four years now.

Which is how the Bradshaw’s were hosting their first Thanksgiving for everyone.

This morning had been organized chaos. Some of the last minute-things had only managed to be checked off with the assistance of strong coffee and a good playlist.

However, he’d still managed to sneak in the opportunity to spin you around the kitchen to your wedding song when it came up on shuffle. After all the cranberries were still popping and boiling down; there was time for it, he'd always make time for it.

But that was then.

Now, you are glaring at him like you’d been personally victimized by him and his cock.

“You complaining, sweet girl?” he asks with a smirk, leaning his hip against the kitchen island watching as you briskly stir the gravy heating up in the copper sauce pot on the stove. “Don’t think that’s what I was hearing thirty minutes ago when we had that pretty green dress of yours bunched around your hips. Sounded something like ‘more, Bradley, more’ to me.”

You shoot him a look that would make a weaker man wither, but he’s built up an immunity to it over a lifetime of having it directed at him.

“I think that’s quite enough out of you,” you reprimand, but he sees the amusement in your eyes even as you fight to keep the annoyed façade on your face. “We’re behind schedule now. I thought I buffered in enough time, just in case-”

“Just in case you begged me to give you an orgasm to, and I quote, ‘help me chill out’?”

“I was kidding,” you say, stopping your agitated whisking to go fluff the stuffing instead.

“All I’m saying is that if my beautiful wife is begging for me, I’m certainly not going to say no. I’m only human,” he says with an all too pleased shrug.

Bradley grabs the can opener and works on opening the canned cranberry sauce. He reaches for a couple plates, holding them up for your approval and you point to the one on the right. The scalloped white one with gold rim it'll be.

“For the record, I certainly did not beg,” you say primly, glowering into the homemade stuffing that you’d had him get the bread from the nice bakery across town for.

“Sure, sure,” he drawls, the smirk growing wider on his face as he sets to freeing the jelly from its rippled container.

He knows he shouldn’t tease you right now, but you’re so cute when you get huffy that he can’t help himself. He’s known that petulant raise of your chin his whole life. And sometimes when he looks at you he can so clearly see the little girl he’d been forced to entertain for hours when your moms were hanging out.

You went from being his favorite nuisance to his best friend to his everything.

“Do I still look ok? Or do I need to do a quick refresh before everyone gets here?” you ask. You turn to fully face him, tilting your head one way and then another for his inspection.

He would happily stare at you all day if you’d let him. He loves your pretty eyes and what you’ve done with your hair.

“You’re beautiful,” he grins, “And if anyone asks, we can just say you’re flushed from all the cooking.”

“Bradley,” you whine setting down your wooden spoon down on the counter with a sharp thwack.

“Ok, ok. I’m done, I promise,” he says putting his hands up in surrender with a chuckle.

He pushes off the counter and grabs a glass off of one of the floating shelves and fills it with some ice water.

“Good,” you tut haughtily, as you fiddle with the white and orange striped kitchen towel hanging on the oven door, “I was about to threaten to make you sleep on the couch tonight.”

“You wouldn’t.” Even the thought of it makes his stomach feel unsettled.

After nearly two decades of hard beds on foreign bases and on lumpy carrier mattresses, he’s never slept as well as he did since the two of you found your way to each other.

His peace was found under a fluffy green duvet on a wooden canopy bed with you tucked under his arm.

“No. No, I wouldn’t,” you agree, leaning in to place a soft kiss to his cheek in thanks when he presses the cold glass into your hands.

Bradley tugs you away from the warm stove and you reluctantly follow and sit on the barstool he’s pulled out for you on the other side of the kitchen island.

He runs his hand up and down your back comfortingly as you take a few sips, “We’re in a great place, sweet girl.”

“Mhm, yeah. Sure, of course.” You couldn’t sound less unsure if you tried. “It’s just… I’m nervous about the mushroom and leeks bread pudding. I’ve never made it before. And what if we run out of wine?”

“What’s been our motto?” he asks, taking over the helm at the stove whisking the gravy together as it begins to thicken.

“‘In Ina we trust’,” you say with a serious nod of your head. 

“Atta girl, we sure do. And Nat said she’s is bringing a few bottles she picked up from when she went to Napa, the good shit. It’s going to be great. Trust me,” he says giving you a warm smile. “Will it make you feel better to go over everything again?”

“Yes, please,” you say, anxiously drumming your fingers along the side of your water glass.

He’d stepped up where he could like making sure the house was pristine and cleaning up the yard by blowing off the wrinkled remainders of the yellow Tipuana flowers. He’d even been able to source and rent some more chairs to make sure that everyone would have a seat at the table.

Bradley wasn’t a schlump in the kitchen. He knew his way around a cookbook and a stove. His knife skills were pretty damn good too, if he did say so himself. But he also knew when somethings were out of his wheelhouse. So he’d taken to being your sous chef, and had taken to washing and prepping the ingredients for you so that all you had to do was toss them in whatever shiny pot they were destined for.

He even made his mom’s favorite pie. It had been years since he's had it, and he was excited to share it with everyone.

Your mom had mailed the copy of the original recipe she had that was written in Carole’s rounded, flourished script. You had made a photocopy of it to use so that the original didn’t get ruined, and then pointed out a spot on the wall where you said you’d thought it would look nice in a frame hanging in the kitchen. And he'd fallen a little more in love with you.

“Ok, hit me with it,” he says turning the heat to low for the gravy and putting the lid on.

This was a partnership through and through, he was going to give you all the support you needed.

“The turkey?”

Bradley picks up the fancy digital meat thermometer he’d bought for the occasion to check, “Big Bird has an hour and twenty more minutes to work on his tan and then he’ll rest for another thirty. Giving people time to graze and mingle and get some drinks in them, just like you wanted.”

You nod and hum contemplatively, “I’ve been thinking we need a salad. I don’t feel like we have enough vegetable options.”

He knows better than to point out that you’re currently snacking on snap peas from not one, but three, of the veggie platters the two of you had put together the night before.

“We’ve got the crispy brussels sprouts, the garlic and hazelnut green beans, and the honey glazed carrots with lemon. We’re more than fine on the fiber and beta-carotene. Michelle Obama would be proud, kid.”

That gets a little laugh from you.

“Well, as long as you think Michelle would be happy than we’re probably fine,” you say with a smile around your water glass that tells him you know exactly what he’s doing invoking your favorite First Lady.

“What else are you thinking about?” Bradley asks peering in the lower of their double ovens, where foiled covered dishes are lined up in perfect symmetry are warming away having been prepared in advance.

“Do you think two bags of rolls will be enough? Or should I text Mav and ask him to grab one more?”

He doesn’t miss the way your eyes dip down to his ass in his gray slacks. So he might linger as second longer than necessary to let you enjoy the view, since it’s for the female gaze and all.

He’s never understood wearing the most restrictive clothing on the holiday that involves the most eating, but that was Penny’s tradition to have everyone dressed in their nicest and you had insisted on keeping it going even if she was on the other side of the country.

You’d teased him earlier when you’d seen him emerge from the bedroom wearing the short-sleeved green cashmere polo you’d gotten him a couple years ago. It fit a little more snug that he remembered it, but he thought he still pulled it off well.

“When did we become the couple that matches?” you’d asked gesturing to your dress as you gave him an appreciative onceover.

If the past was anything to go off of, you would be running your hands over the soft material covering his chest and back all night.

“I just like reminding people who I belong with, sweet girl.”

He might have had something else in mind to wear for the evening before he saw you in that dress, had ironed the shirt the night before and everything, but last-minute pivot it was well worth it when you looked at him like that.

When he stands back up, he gives you knowing wink.

And in return you throw a baby carrot at him with a laugh.

Bradley isn’t surprised in the least to hear the quick clack-clack-clack of nails on the wood floors as their fluffy black and white Portuguese Water Dog rounds the corner. Having been summoned by the sound of food hitting the floor from where he had been dozing near the fireplace in the living room.

The carrot is gone in an instant and he comes to sit at Bradley's feet by the stove, looking up at him from under his curly eyebrows clearly hoping he'll get another snack.

“Nah, bud. You’re barking up the wrong tree over here,” he says leaning down to scratch his floppy ears.

“Ah, come here, Duck,” you croon, calling him over to your side of the island. “He’s so mean for a man who claimed he just saw God not too long ago, isn’t he?”

Bradley snorts and shakes his head at you amused.

He still doesn’t know how he ended up with a dog named Duck.

At the dog park, more often than not people mistook it for ‘Buck’. And you were usually off to the side more than happy to let him take the lead, biting your lip to keep from laughing at his less than enthusiastic expression when he’d have to warily explain yet again It’s Duck like quack.

You’re not even subtle about the piece of cheese you pull from the charcuterie board to feed him.

“I saw that,” he says, giving you a pointed lift of his eyebrow, “You know Bob is going to be spoiling him all night.”

“It was just a little piece of cheese. Plus, I don’t know who you think you’re fooling. I saw you go over there and deliver him his own little veggie platter with some of the leftovers we had while I was making the apple cider sangria.”

“That’s different, that’s good for him,” he says rounding the island, reaching over and snagging his own slice of cheese to snack on.

“And cheese is a protein. He’s just a baby, Bradley, what am I supposed to do? Not give him a piece of swiss?” You slide off your chair to squat down and rub Duck’s belly, you’ve always been his favorite.

“He’s almost five,” he replies flatly.

“A youth!” you exclaim, “He’s a growing boy.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Bradley says affectionately with a little roll of his eyes. He knows a losing battle when he sees one.

He offers you his hand to help you stand back up, but you wave him off and pull yourself up using the edge of the island. You take a moment to readjust your dress before making your way to the sink by the big windows that look out into the backyard.

“Speaking of Bob, do you know if he’s bringing his fiancée?” you ask from over your shoulder as you wash your hands.

“Not this time, sweetheart. I guess she volunteered to cover a shift in the NICU when she heard they were short staffed.”

“Oh that’s too bad, I was excited to see her ring in person,” you say drying off your hands and heading to the pantry.

“It’s all he can talk about at work. I guess they’re thinking about a Spring wedding next year. They don’t want to wait too long to get married.”

“I’m so happy for them,” you say, digging around for a moment and then emerge with a stack of some sturdy plastic plates and set them on the last free spot on the countertop. “Don’t let me forget to make them up a couple plates that he can bring home for her, before Fanboy declares it time for ‘second dinner’ and eats all the yams like he did last year.”

“I won’t forget, promise,” he says fondly.

If you were facing him, he knows you’d probably tease him for the look on his face and just how gone he is for you.

You’ve always been so generous, it’s one of the things that he loves most about you.

You were always good about hustling him out of his well-earned money from is part time job scooping ice cream in high school, like with the fundraiser you did for the local soup kitchen and the one for the elementary school summer arts program.

He’s always been wrapped around your finger, it just took him awhile to realize why.

It’s the same reason why there’s been a donation that comes out of his bank account every month for the last five years for one of the San Diego animal shelters.

Bradley had made a rather sizable donation and then set up a smaller reoccurring monthly one after the chaos that was the time Bob had set you up with his friend who worked at the shelter, back before the two of you had gotten together.

Even after all these years, he still can’t help but get a little irritated every time he sees that guy’s face in the monthly newsletter that comes to his email. On newsletter day Bradley always finds himself giving Duck extra treats.

He couldn’t wait to surprise you with the golden tennis ball that the shelter sends out as a thank you after a decade of donations. Only five more years to go.

You’re over by the bar that’s been set up off to the side, straightening the already very straight rows of gleaming wine glasses when he hears you suck in a sharp gasp.

Bradley drops the dish cloth he had in his hands as he attempted to give what little counter space there was left a final wipe down and is in front of you in half a heartbeat. Was there a fluke with some faulty stemware? Are you bleeding? There’s a reason Thanksgiving is one of the busiest days at the hospital.

“The butter!” you cry out as you whirl around, your pretty eyes welling up with tears, “I let you fuck me and I forgot to pull the butter from the fridge. It’s going to be too hard for people to spread now!”

He knows it’s more than just hosting jitters that’s got you like this, but it still catches him by surprise sometimes.

“Woah, woah,” he says as he catches you on the way to the fridge and pulls you to his chest, “C’mere, my sweet girl.”

You make a distressed noise but allow him to keep his hold on you, “But the butter…”

“I already pulled the butter, see?” He points to the sticks that are already softening away on the counter. “Will you take a couple slow breaths for me, please? This place looks and smells amazing. We did good, baby.”

Bradley feels the moment your body relaxes into him.

He presses a kiss to the side of your temple as he smooths his hands down your soft, pretty green velvet dress and the warm, firm curve of your rounded stomach soothingly.

“Ugh, I’m sorry. It’s the hormones,” you sigh, as you lean your head back against his shoulder.

He hums empathically as he sways gently side to side with you in his arms.

“I would like to go on the record saying that I like pregnancy hormones, especially the ones from earlier,” he jokes lightly.

“That makes one of us,” you say with a watery laugh, “Just wait until I am waking you up at 4 AM because I am craving something from a drive-thru that’s not open.”

“Mm, can’t wait,” he murmurs before dropping a few kisses along the soft line of your jaw.

Bradley still can’t believe he gets to be this lucky in life.

He doesn’t want to forget a single moment of this. With you, with his family.

“We did a really good job with this one,” he whispers into your ear, still stroking your stomach, not wanted to disturb the magic in the domesticity.

“We really did, da--” Bradley groans and cuts you off with a kiss. He can feel the impish smile plastered on your lips as he kisses you. His favorite menace.

He knows you’re pretty sure it was the spontaneous hook up in the storage closet at the Hard Deck on the Fourth of July that’s responsible for the noticeable bump you’re sporting. Call him a romantic, but he likes to think it was that night in the Bronco overlooking the ocean when he’d taken the long way back home.   

You pull away all too soon for his liking to grab his left hand. He sees the flash of the two diamonds on your engagement ring, one from his mom and one from yours, as you take it and press it to a spot near your bellybutton.

The feeling of the fluttering under his palm will never get old. He’s not too proud to say he’d shed a tear or two the first time he’d felt it.

Bradley lets himself bask in this moment as he two of you stand there in the kitchen of your dream house.

There are a few pops from the wood in the fireplace, the refrigerator is humming away in the background, and he can just hear the sounds of a melodic piano from the playlist he queued up earlier playing over the speaker.

Of all the delicious scents that waft through the house, the smell the floral and musk notes in you perfume is still his favorite.

There are times in the soft quiet of night, usually when you are asleep and his mind won’t quite settle, that he sometimes thinks he was put on this Earth to hold you.

It’s the only reason he can think of that explains why you fit so perfectly against his body.

Why his hands can fit so perfectly over your rounded stomach.

Why it’s his hands that you have trusted to protect your heart.

And he’s still holding you in the warmth of the kitchen when he hears the front door open.

Bradley knows he’s going to have to play host soon and he just wants to keep you in his arms for just a little longer.

“Hey kids, I brought the turkey,” Mav calls out from the entry.

You spin in his arms, looking at him wide eyed and confused as you two exchange a look. He presses one last kiss to your cheek before letting you go.

“Thought you were going to bring the rolls, Mav,” Bradley calls out just in time to see his dad round the corner.

Pete stands there proudly grinning holding a few bags of bakery rolls in one hand and a turkey in the other.

The sound of your delighted laughter makes his heart swell in his chest as he takes in the sight.

“Cooper Mitchell Ford Bradshaw, you are without a doubt the cutest turkey I have ever seen,” you gush as you go to greet Mav with a warm hug and a kiss on his cheek. Your son’s chubby arms reaching out for you.

Mav has dressed your almost two-year-old son in a soft, plush turkey costume that is complete with tailfeathers and a beak. He’s clearly a fan of the outfit too because he is grinning widely, showing of the more of the baby teeth that have come in over the last few months.

Mav had swung by earl this morning to take him off your hands to get ready for Daggersgiving without chasing an almost-toddler around. While it was nice to have some time just the two of you while you got the place in order and took care of the last-minute things, like that homemade cranberry sauce, but he’d missed not having his son around.

The sweet sound of Cooper’s giggles and your coos fill up the kitchen as he watches you pepper his face with kisses. You bounce him a little and do a little spin, making the little boy laugh even more. The two of you in your own little bubble.

“You doin’ ok over there, kiddo?” Mav asks, a soft grin on his face as he sets the rolls on the counter to pull him in for a hug.

The two men had made their way back to each other over the last few years, just another thing that Bradley was grateful for in his life. The man had always been his father in everything but name. That is until he’d seen the man who raised him hold his son for the first time.

“Yeah, Dad,” Bradley says, clearing his throat a bit, “Everything’s perfect.”

From there it’s a flurry of activity as people start to arrive.

Nat comes with her longtime girlfriend and the extra bottles of the fancy Napa wine she promised to bring. Only handing it over once he promised to give her the name of the contractor the two of you had worked with and the exact shade of green that was used on the lower cabinets during your kitchen renovation.

Payback and Fanboy and their girlfriends show up wearing oversized turkey hats on their heads each carrying a bakery box of pie.

Bradley isn’t surprised when Duck ditches the attention that Coyote was giving him the second Bob shows up with the famous Floyd family scalloped potatoes. Bob has always been a sucker for a pair of puppy dog eyes.

And in between checking on people’s glasses, swapping out empty appetizer trays for fuller ones, and making sure Jake doesn’t tamper with his perfectly cooked turkey, he’s got his eyes trained on you.

There are no words for the pride and love that washes over him every time he looks over and sees you with his son propped up on your hip and the way your pretty dress stretches around your growing family.

He had missed this stage of your pregnancy when he was deployed and you were pregnant with Cooper. He was determined to savor every second of this one. Every butter related freak out and every late-night milkshake run.

Being in his house surrounded with all the people he loves, minus a couple who are here in spirit, isn’t something he could ever take for granted. It’s more blessings than he ever hoped to receive in this lifetime.

You look over your shoulder at him and everything about the way you’re looking at him is picture perfect.

Your smile sunshine gold and just for him as you hold his gaze for a moment as time ticks on around the two of you. You send him a little wink before turning back to Mav who has his phone held up for a FaceTime call with Penny and Amelia.

Bradley sees his son peek his head up from where it had been nestled into your neck. Cooper grins when he sees him, his tiny hand reaching out for his dad. For him.

As he makes his way over to the two of you with his heart full, he makes a mental note to ask Mav later where he got that costume. He’s already planning on running out tomorrow to see if they have any more in stock now that it seems they have a new Bradshaw tradition on their hands.

He’s going to have three little turkeys running around this time next year and he couldn’t wait.

Cooper and him were going to be outnumbered soon.

The two of you had found out earlier in the month that Everly Caroline Bradshaw and Olivia Saylor Bradshaw were going to be the newest members to join your little family.

His girls.

It was an announcement the two of you were excited to share later tonight with everyone else when the slices of pies were being passed around.

He scoops up Cooper from you with one arm, dropping a kiss onto his little boy’s perfect curls as his small fist clutches as the soft fabric of his shirt. And then Bradley kisses the crown of your head as he wraps his other arm around you, his thumb stroking the swell of your belly.

With you- because of you- he gets to have it all.

The wife. The family. The house. The dog. The life. The dream.

He’s right where he wants to be.

He’s right where he’s supposed to be.

Happy Thanksgiving! This was such a joy to write, thank you for reading!

It might not be Carole Bradshaw's famous pie, but it's one of my favorites! And who better to share it with than you! Cranberry-Lime Pie

If you haven't read the 'Like I Can' series you can read it here!

You can read my other stories here!

Taglist:

@gretagerwigsmuse @sehnsuchts-trunken @notroosterbradshaw @tongue-like-a-razor @laracrofted @bradshawsbitch @starryeyedstories @top-hhun-main @startrekfangirl2233 @callsign-viper @teacupsandtopgun @shanimallina87 @angelbabyange @oneelleandaneye @mizzzpink @cornishkat @alana4610 @20th-centu-fairy-girl @pono-pura-vida @donttouchmycarrots @eg-dr3amer3 @whaledots-blog @a-beaverhausen @hangmanscoming @mandolin22 @theweekndhistorybook @lilpeekabooze @high-bi-imgonnacry @ahintofkiwistrawberry @ruewrote @spiderman-stilinski @jayniebop @my-soulmate-is-mycroft @imaginecrushes @keyrani @chicomonks @artemissunn @mayempress @eddiemunsonreader

[minalblood]

Ok this isnt my usual way of doing things cuz... Well, tbh i dont really care enough to actually make a post bout most things, id just rather reblog shit, but I've now seen several posts comparing the Loki finale with spn's and just... Where?

Spn ended as a show with one of the most hopelessness inducing shit I've ever seen, taking a character thats been consistently seen as at the very least depressed and killing him off with a 'that's what his happy ending looks like' plastered on it, another character who's whole ark was reconciling with himself about who he is only to make him essentially cut half of himself out for a kid and also still be unhappy, and a third who's whole thing was learning what free will is and that he too deserves free will only to have him go back to obeying orders in heaven. It was absolutely against everything the show had portrayed for 15 years, including in the actual season this finale was a part of.

Loki is an on going show (s 2 confirmed), but even if it hadn't been, the shows main narrative themes remained true to the end, Loki did in fact grow as a character, the shows ultimate plot is about free will, tackling also the fact that free will means shit will also happen, its not only roses and happiness and Sylvie stuck to her actual goal and achieved it, aka killing whoever was behing the TVA. Loki's goal throughtout the show wasn't killing the Time keepers, it was having the free will to write his own life story and he's done and doing exactly that, sometimes that means shit happens, no characters died needlessly in my opinion and as I've said, in no way did it go against its own themes that it established initially. Not to mention the fact again that it's ongoing!

Finally to touch on what people are really complaining about (the more vocal post I've seen circulating, I've no doubt some people just genuinely didn't like it and thats fine) which is the Sylvie/Loki thing. Ok lets discuss. Firstly, if it's not ur thing that's entirely fine, its not mine either, but to claim it's a problem for u cuz it's, as Ive seen multiole people say, heteronormative is hella problematic to me since it seems to erase the fact that both characters by their own words are bi/pan. That's shitty. Number 2: 'if Sylvie was male presenting they wouldn't have gone there'... Now while I do think Marvel/Disney wouldnt likely have the balls, I still find issue with this statement since it feels very... Sexist to me. I dunno what exactly about it, but it very much reads like y'all would not complain bout the pairing if Sylvie was male presenting more so than a dig at Marvel/Disney and that is not cool with me. And finally, C the selfcest thing as incest stand-in. Ok so I get that selfcest aint for everyone, which again, fair point if u just dont vibe at all, but the actual issues people seem to have is less with it being selfcest and more that its not mlm, which is highly hypocritical. Now to the people who do just dislike it for being basically incest, ur perogative, ur view , but I'd've hoped that the whole multivers aspect of this show could've made it clearer that while they are variants of each other they are not actually the same person. Also also since the spn parallel is what began this, to the spn fans I ask, how tf can y'all not see this, the multuple versions of Sam and Dean alone should have you realize it's someones history, experience, surroundings, accuaintances that mould a person. We don't even know for sure if they share parents! Its a dif universe they've been born in, oddly enough that means they couldn't be more physically different, even if they may share some personality traits or some history between them. Again, i dont ship it, it feels awkward to me based on their interactions, but that doesnt mean imma say some bullshit bout incest just cuz I dont like the idea. Fact is they're not actually related and, as an aside, the would u fuck ur clone talk has been around for ages with little issues about incest because its already covered in the meme as is the pollar opposite.

Ok this was rambly and well, hopefully some of my points have been made clear. To end I just wanna say I do look forward to season 2, I can't wait to see Mobius and Loki reacquaint now that we have a Mobius that doesnt remember/know Loki it'll be a nice juxtapose to their relation this season (yes i ship it, whatever) and also also wanna see what's gonna happen with Kang overall and with Sylvie. She wasn't having a good time there.

Edited below:

So quick add, I just realised why the comparison fucks with me so much more than other shit and it's cuz it reduces both finales to shipping, thats why it annoys me, it essentially undermines Loki's whole arc and reduces it to shipping and it also undermines just how bad spn ended and why its bad since it also reduces it to a ship. Neither are bad or good because of a ship being canon or not on its own and seeing this comparison makes it seem very much like thats the reason spn ended bad and equally makes Loki ending bad because of course it would if the ship didnt go the way you wanted it. But thats not the way to measure a show like Loki or Spn, or at least def not the only measurement to apply for the end conclusion.

[theveryworstthing]

update/note for patrons

I will not be taking prompts for June. I have no idea when I'll feel okay with posting fun, casual art, but hopefully I'll have a few sketches for y'all this month.

If you want to reduce your prompt tier pledge, please consider donating that extra cash to bail funds or other BLM focused causes. You can find some resources here:

https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/

And this is a fundraiser to make sure George Floyd's young daughter will be taken care of:

https://ca.gofundme.com/f/gianna-floyd-daughter-of-george-floyd-fund

There are many more resources out there, search them out. I haven't seen many for queer black people, but it's June so y'all better hop on those if you see them. Take care of everyone that you can.

And now some personal stuff.

Ew.

Real talk, I have not felt....suitable for the internet these last few days. I am not a 'scream for help when hurt' person, I am a ‘crawl under a porch to die quietly and bare my teeth at anyone who tries to drag me out' person, So writing this down and revealing my soft underbelly blows.

I'm currently in the angriest depression spiral I've ever had and since I'm not in a position to do much more than watch everything go down, I've been checking the news/social media compulsively for the last week . What I see makes me too overwhelmed to even interact with the posts most of the time. I just read and scroll, maybe check out some links for donations or watch someone get stomped into the ground by a cop, and it's really weird because when I'm doing it it feels like the social part of social media fades away for me. I don't like people seeing me in this kind of pain and the few times that I did go to reblog/retweet something I froze up because it felt like inviting more "are you okay?"s and "how can I help?"s and I've already gotten enough of those mixed in with finding out just how racist some of the people around me are (I literally had someone on my friends list in Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp dress up like a cop and turn their cute babby dollhouse phone game cabin into a police station with a jail full of gorilla villagers. Shout out to 'Crystal', goodbye forever, your campsite theme is ugly as sin, and I hope you choke on a fucking boot you ditch-chugging piss-rat).

Anyway, I'm already a cryptid who's bad at internet friendship and now I might like a post if it breaks through the noise in my head (art sometimes does it) but everything else is just me in the void alone taking in The Worst Shit. And I know it's bad for me, like, it feels like the mental version of self harm or a weird 'productive pain'. If I can't help 'properly' then I can at least witness it.

I don't really know how to explain it properly. It probably has something to do with how I wrangle my personal black identity and my experiences in the black community but we are not talking about that today. Unless I know you personally we are probably not talking about that any time soon.

This is all just to say I'm really going through it right now. I don't really know what I want y'all to do with that information, it doesn't really make a ton of sense to me as i re-read it, but at least you know why I went full ghost.

In closing: Black Lives Matter, All Cops Are Bastards,  and I don't give a frog's fat ass about a burning Target. There are more important things to focus on.

[kassaunjra]

🍀 || ROLEPLAYING RULES AND GUIDELINES

🍀 [About the Mun] 🍀

• Hi and hello, I'm Rosaiel but you can call me Rosa for short! My main blog is Rosaiel; it's mostly for posting my art and reblogging stuff in general.

• I'm a 25-year-old digital artist who's technically a veteran roleplayer, as I have been making characters and roleplaying since my wee middle school years!

• I sort of took a couple years off from roleplaying due to some really bad experiences on a roleplaying website that with stay anonymous for now. However, I'm trying to get back into the swing of roleplaying as I genuinely miss it, so please bare with me!

• I'm non-selective for the most part; so long as you give me a little something to work with, then we're good to go!

• I usually try to match what you write, but sometimes I go overboard! I just really like to write; if I end up writing ten paragraphs, you by NO MEANS have to match that! Go to your own pace; contrary to popular belief, I will NOT be upset if you don't write the same anount as I do! xD

• If you don't want to roleplay and would much prefer to send asks instead, go for it!!! I love asks that delve into character development to be honest. I love thinking about my characters and asks often help me develop my characters in ways I never would have thought of myself. 👀

• I love reading tags??? Seriously some of y'all put some really interesting and funny comments in the tags. Keep 'em coming my funky lil' dudes!

• I also love talking to folks OOC (Out of Character)! If you want to send me an ask that's OOC just to talk, go right ahead! Just make sure you clearly mark it as OOC so I don't mistake it for an in-character reaction.

• Most of the artwork you'll see on this blog is mine; if it's not, it's either reblogged from another artist or it was a commission that I had permission to post here!

• I'm very friendly but also very shy, so if you want to roleplay, it might be easier if you approach me first. Sorry about that.

🍀 [ Roleplaying Rules ] 🍀

I know, I know. No one likes rules, but given the bad experiences I've had in the past, I need to lay down some rules.

• First of all, no hate. What-so-ever. I don't care if you don't like me, my character(s), someone I roleplay with, a character I interact with, or if there's oc x canon content on my blog; hate will NOT be tolerated. Also there's nothing wrong with oc x canon; y'all just want to normalize bullying through silly, trivial things. :)

• I have anonymous asks on currently. If people abuse this and harass me or make me feel uncomfortable through it, anon asks WILL be turned off permanently. No exceptions.

• If I follow your blog on my main account, that means I want to roleplay with you at some point! I'm just very shy. ;; I am open to roleplaying with both RDR OCs and Non-Fandom OCs! I love AUs and fully welcome them as well! I am Crossover friendly, and Multi-ship friendly as well! 🍀

• Do not rush me to reply. I understand being excited about a roleplay and wanting it to continue asap, but please understand that I suffer from severe depression and some days, I just don't wanna reply. I will get to it when I get to it. I promise. ❤ If you have any concerns about if I got your reply, if I'm still interested in the roleplay, or just want to check in, that's a-okay! I understand that Tumblr can sometimes be fickle and doesn't always send notifications, so I'm okay with folks checking in! All I'm asking is for y'all to not be forceful, pushy, or demanding. I've dealt with this before in the past and it is not a nice feeling. :(

• I sometimes drop roleplays because I am a poophead and I'm either feeling the Big Sad, I genuinely forgot, or because I just sometimes lose interest/don't know how to continue the plot. If you want us to continue a roleplay I dropped, let me know! I'll try my hardest to pick it back up! ;v; If I can't, I'll tell you. ❤

• Upon our first roleplay, please assume that our characters have not met, even if you've seen me interact with another version of your character on someone else's blog; I treat each roleplaying blog as their own character, so if I have not interacted with your blog before, then it's to be assumed that our characters have not met! Unless we have previously discussed this matter, of course. xD

• You don't need to discuss a plot with me beforehand; if you want to send a starter out of nowhere, go ahead! Just please nothing that would make me uncomfortable. I also reblog a ton of sentence starters, which can be used at any time!!! ❤ Doesn't matter how long ago I reblogged it; if it's on my page, it's good to go!

• Nothing extremely NSFW please. I'll answer some more 'risky' questions, but if you're specifically looking for ERPs and straight up porn, I'm not your girl. That kind of stuff makes me very uncomfortable. I'll imply it happened if plot comes to it, but I'm not gonna sit there and write it out and upset myself. Sorry, but no. ESPECIALLY IF YOU'RE UNDERAGE. I will not hesitate to block you if you're underage and are trying to get me to ERP with you; I'm not about to get myself in trouble just because you can't control yourself. Blood and gore is fine with me and so are fights, magic, ect. Just do not God-Mod (making your character overpowered and making the fight unfair by always landing hits and always dodging attacks), take control of my character, or Perma-Kill. Severely injuring or wounding my character is okay though!

• I will give out my Discord to folks that I am comfortable with and have interacted with quite a few times with! I'll let you know if I'm comfortable with you yet or not. C:

• I don't know what else to put right now, so more to come later if need be!

Anyway, hope to hear from y'all soon! ❤

[kidgezine]

FAQ

General Questions

Are these the same mods that did [insert failed zine here]? No. None of our mods have ever run a failed zine. Some of us have been contributors for them though so we know your pain. We are doing everything we can to be sure that doesn't happen to us. All our mods have access to the zine email and socials as well as contributor submissions so if one of us were to disappear the rest would be able to pull it together. Finances are being handled by our head mods (umbraja and kdxart) who are both professional graphic designers with experience in small business management and print publications. The rest of the mods are being given updates and could take over finances if the head mods were to die in a firey laptop explosion.

Are these the same mods that did last year's Kidge Zine? Yes. Most of us anyway. We lost a few but also added some new faces and learned a whole lot - mostly about the horrors of shipping and taxes. We did a good job last year and hope to do even better this time around! We've also padded our schedule so there shouldn't be as many delays.

I'm so excited - when will the zine come out? As of right now we are shooting for a delivery date of early June, 2020. We may have an early (kickstart) round of preorders in the new year (with Valentines Day merch) for those who are super dedicated to getting this thing made but that's not set in stone. We may modify the schedule if we fall behind or need to take more orders to reach our stretch goals. See our Tentative Schedule for more information.

OMG I NEED this, how can I help make this zine a thing? The best thing anyone can do is reblog our posts to help get the word out. If you want to do more you could make a money donation to help cover costs (and enter to win a Limited Edition Bundle). Just buy Pidge some coffee on Ko-fi: ko-fi.com/kidgezine.

Zines are usually self-financing so why are you talking about money donations? Because it lets those of us who have extra money subsidize the cost for those that can't afford it so we all get a better product. A self-financed publication has to price itself to cover the full cost of production but that severely limits the number of artists and writers we can put into it and what merch we can sell alongside it. Last year we had over 50 contributors create a 200 page full color book with lots of merch and priced it all considerably under cost so that our community could actually afford to buy it. We still lost money in the end but it was less than our finance officer had put aside to cover it and that is thanks to the many, wonderful people who were willing to kindly donate.

How do I go about donating to help cover costs? First, thank you so much for the willingness to help out. All you need to do is buy Pidge some coffee on Ko-fi: ko-fi.com/kidgezine. This will also enter you for a chance to win a Limited Edition Bundle when the zine comes out.

Are profits from zine sales going to a charity of some kind? No. Unless you would consider next year's Kidge Zine a charity, then sure. Truth is we don't expect to make money. We hope it does better than last year so we don't end up covering a loss but we're pretty sure it's not going to profit. In the very unlikely event that we do turn a profit the funds will stay in the Kidge Zine account for use next year.

Contributor Questions

Will contributors be paid for their work on the zine? We would love to pay our contributors but, due to legal and logistical concerns, the staff voted that no one should get paid for this endeavor - not even the staff. We are giving contributors a free digital copy of the zine and a discount on buying the physical copy and merch. The discount amount will depend on stretch goals so we can't provide specifics at this time.

I want to give you content for this zine, how do I do that? Read over the Requirements and fill out the applications listed there.

What kind of content is allowed? We're pretty chill but we do have a few Requirements to follow. Check that link for specifics but the short of it is pretty much anything featuring Keith and Pidge in some sort of fantasy situation. It doesn't have to be romantic, AUs and canon are both allowed, so long as those two are together in some way. We're not even going to limit it to the usual digital art and narrative writing so if you want to do something unusual give it a try. We'll accept: cosplay photos, sculptures, journals, poetry, songs, schematics, editorials, things I can't even think of right now - pretty much anything Kidge related is welcome.

I want to write but English is not my first language, is that OK? Some of my favorite authors don't speak English at all and some of my favorite fanfics are written by people who only know it as a second or even third language. So long as you can get your writing translated to English our staff will work with you to get it polished and sounding natural. You just have to be willing to go through that editing process with us.

Will everyone who applies be accepted as a contributor? We're going to try and include everyone but since the zine is a print publication it's going to cost real money for every piece we include. If we get too many submissions and put all of them in the book it would end up costing too much for most of y'all to afford. Nobody wants that. So we might have to leave some things out of the book itself but will be more than happy to include any work that gets left out in the pdf version so long as it follows all the rules. This will allow us to produce a better product while not excluding anyone from participation.

How will contributors be chosen? Our staff will use the samples provided in your application to judge your average quality of work so be sure to give us good examples. We will be looking at your work only, not your popularity or participation in the fandom, so don't worry if you're new to the ship or just don't know anyone. Some of our staff don't know many people and our production designer hasn't even seen the show (she just does very good work). Art will be judged on overall aesthetic, perspective/proportions appropriate for the style, composition/balance, and technique. Writing will be judged on overall readability, characterization, plot, style, and flow. We will not judge grammar because we want to include non-native English speakers. Just be ready for an editing process where we'll help you get the grammar fixed before publication.

When will I know if I'm accepted as a contributor? Acceptance emails will be sent out November 1st. Everyone should get an email so if you don't get yours then ask a mod to see what's up. We had trouble with emails getting lost in junk filters last year so be sure to check for that.

Do you have a deadline for submissions? We have multiple deadlines to keep y'all on track but the finished work should be turned in by February 15th. See the Tentative Schedule for more information.

Is this canon only or are AUs allowed? We're not gonna limit setting so canon or any other universe is allowed. Have fun with it.

What if I don't want to write/draw something Fantasy themed? Fantasy is such a broad theme that we are going to be strict about it this time but we're certain y'all will be able to find something you like that fits. Pretty much anything that's not limited by real world physics is, technically, Fantasy. So canon universe is Fantasy. So are superheroes, any sort of mythology, folklore, most horror, sci-fi, steam punk, supernatural, occult, and way too much else for me to list.

[early-sxnsets]

Scales, Fins, and other Fishy Daydreams

Archive Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18215168/chapters/43151156

Chapter 3/10 of It’s A Handheld Disaster

Word Count: 1553

Chapter Summary: Baz takes Simon's shitpost text a step further, and the outcome ends up spreading a few rumors.

SIMON

bi-sammy: sammy would still fuck huxley if he looked like the fish from shape of water

I grin smugly at my screen, sitting in a dark room with nothing shining but my mobile. The shutters stay shut, and the light from the bottom of the doorway barely filters into the room. It’s just me, this scratchy blanket, and Baz, somewhere else in England on another screen. I absolutely adore that.

gaystrell: why would you say something so controversial yet so brave.jpg

Sometimes, I catch myself smiling. Other times, I elect to ignore how real it feels. It’s weird, given that it feels like I’m just chatting with someone who I see everyday. The casualness of this reminds me of texting Penny in the afternoon on a Thursday.

Except, given the current time, it could be interpreted as more intimate than that of a friend’s text.

8am on a Saturday is usually a time reserved for comfort. For staying warm with someone you care about. Instead, I’m just messaging Baz.

bi-sammy: because im right

bi-sammy: hear me out here ive got a brilliant idea

gaystrell: whoever taught you the definition of a brilliant idea was clearly misleading you

bi-sammy: dont be an arse until youve heard it

bi-sammy: wanker

gaystrell: you’re truly proving your point

bi-sammy: ANYWAY

bi-sammy: shape of water au

bi-sammy: thats all

gaystrell: i’m appalled.

gaystrell: hold on.

I don’t think much of it. Occasionally, he disappears for an hour to two. I don’t bother asking, assuming it’s none of my business, but I do tend to worry a bit. I hope he’s alright.

After clicking off my phone, my head settles against my pillow as my eyes fall shut.

There’s something about this. There’s something about him. It’s a bit hard to pinpoint what it is, but the overwhelming feeling of comfort I have in the notifications I get from him just answering my bullshit is incredibly welcomed. He’s semisweet. I don’t know why I didn’t see it earlier, but he’s a fantastically bitter person.

My head slowly turns over, eyes opening and straining in the darkness.

I hate my empty room.

I hate the absence of comfort--I hate the plainness of these walls.

I want to say I hate my foster dad, but I also feel like I’m not allowed to say that. Not because the system will take me again and throw me back (even though I could have left a year back, if I was still in it). Instead, I feel like I shouldn’t hate him. Theoretically, I should be thankful for what I have. I’m not in a boy’s home, and I haven’t been since I was 11, but the remnants remain. The fights don’t go away, and neither do the weeks of starvation.

Still, I sort of despise living here under Davy.

That’s what he makes me call him. His name. His nickname. Not dad; of course not dad. He’s had me in his care for roughly six years, but he’s still Davy to me.

Shitty fucking Davy, with his strict curfews and practically using me as a housemaid because he’s too cheap to care for himself.

Shitty fucking Davy, not letting me add anything to my room because the day I turn 18, I’m out of here until his next kid (and cheque, apparently) come in. Told me I’d wreck the walls and ruin his furniture if I did put anything on it, too.

So that’s what I’ve got. Blank walls, blank furniture, blank everything. It’s like a jail cell for a bedroom, and everything I’ve got to show for myself is in a backpack and two dresser drawers/

But, at least, I own my mobile.

Every summer job, mixed with odds and ends shit and whatever I can do for my bill. It’s all mine, and Davy can’t fucking touch it.

Maybe that’s why, when I feel it buzz against my chest, it makes me feel more alive. It’s a reminder of all that work just to be able to talk to someone freely.

Arguably, the best feeling in the goddamn world.

I grab it and flip it over. It’s just an email about uni.

Fuck.

I end up scrolling through tumblr for a little while, doing nothing but liking and reblogging a thing here or there. It takes a little while before a little drop down falls from the top of my screen.

gaystrell: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1r7Wkwj7MSFk0--DgquHGhYVBbqneEYq0J01t0uMRmxA/edit?usp=sharing

gaystrell: feel the need to apologize before you click the link, but then again, you asked for this hell

When I click on it, it pulls up a doc titled just “crackfic”, and I’m floored with the first sentence alone.

“Fuck my fish ass harder, daddy.”

My hand flies up, covering my mouth as I practically wheeze as quietly as possible. A few paragraphs in and I’m nearly crying into my palm, muffling my laughter as I read through pages upon pages of the most ridiculous fic I’ve ever laid my eyes upon.

I check the word count out of pure curiosity, and it somehow makes me laugh harder.

bi-sammy: holy fucking shit

bi-sammy: i swear to god if you don’t post that i will

gaystrell: already in the process of making the archive post

gaystrell: i seriously believe you underestimate my sincere ability to be the biggest dick on the street

bi-sammy: i dont know whether or not u meant that as ur literal dick or the big dick energy in making that a post but id probably agree with you in both

bi-sammy: tag me in the post pls i want to be the first to reblog it

gaystrell: you’re a ridiculous, sad, little man

gaystrell: of course i’ll tag you

Within minutes, it’s uploaded with the absolute worst slew of Archive tags attached to it, and as soon as he tags me in his post, I tap the notification.

Scales, Fins, and other Fishy Daydreams

Word Count: 3,192

Summary: Fish!Huxley and Sam get it on Shape of Water style

@bi-sammy this is your fault (you're welcome)

I immediately slam like and pull up reblog, rapidly typing out my response before posting.

absolute madman. cant believe youve done this. i trust you with my entire life.

As usual, he's quick to reblog back.

anything for the absolute pain in my life x

Smiling shamelessly, I ride on the moment's high as our conversation stays out in the world. I quite enjoy this version of his softness. The public, taunting replies to mine. In all this time of following him, I can't really recall him ever being this friendly with anyone but me.

Makes me feel special. Maybe too much so.

BAZ

The jarring shock of the seemingly endless notifications rattles me momentarily speechless.

It isn't even 15 minutes after I'd replied to Snow and there's already a few people reblogging it with comments about him and I. A quick “i ship y'all’ to “powermove of the century”. Each make me flush deeper as the replies flood in.

If I were to be practical, I'm aware that I shouldn't be so flustered over the concept of us being a couple. It's most likely my overactive, sad, lonely imagination, but the idea of being loved just makes me blush. Especially since it's someone who doesn't seem to absolutely loathe me.

gaystrell: are you reading these?

bi-sammy: the what?

bi-sammy: i have. nothing to read. i cant read.

gaystrell: use your two remaining brain cells look at the notes for the crackfic

bi-sammy: holy shit

bi-sammy: im cackling

A notification pops up, making me snort this time. I pull up the post and send it off to him without a second thought.

gaystrell: sent a post

gaystrell: “sounds like something huxley would do for sam”

bi-sammy: stop im gonna piss myself shits too fucking funny

I pull it back up, scrolling down to reblog and adding a quick reply that, in all honesty, I should have thought out more. Secretly, part of me is glad that I sent it.

huxley wishes he was this smooth ;)

Within seconds, replies flood in from everywhere. From jokes about Snow and I possibly dating to the concept of Huxley writing (purposefully) shitty homoerotica about himself as a fishman. I quite like the conversation about the latter, while the former makes my chest knot in ways inexplicable.

Going through the notes makes me smile, even if it's mildly embarrassing. The amount of times I've seen the eyes emoji used is definitely excessive, but still somewhat welcomed.

Even my archive has a few comments already, although more based around the fic itself. More ironically, though, is the one person who probably took it seriously and just commented, “Nice fic!” I love the abundance of shameless appreciation for obscure fanfiction in the depths of this community.

Snow's messages roll down my mobile screen as I'm checking the comments, continuously replacing the previous message for the top slot.

bi-sammy: mate

bi-sammy: i love you

bi-sammy: also every time you reblog something of mine i get like 5 followers

bi-sammy: if you mention me i get 10

bi-sammy: youre???????????? a god????????

bi-sammy: can i marry you????????????

I slowly close my laptop, eyes on my phone with an absolutely gleeful grin.

gaystrell: when and where?

[architect-arcane]

Because I feel like it, I'm gonna throw in my two cents about the new poster. Feel free to reblog or comment with your thoughts or agree/disagreements!

Honestly, I'm torn. Like 53-47. I am more on the why a girl and why a light fury side, but at the same time I’m kind of excited. The only reason that I'm not majorly on one side or the other, is because I prefer to wait until I watch the movie to decide. Like, y'all can complain and get all your initial feelings out (I will later in this post), but there’s no changing it. This new dragon is going to be in the movie no matter what. Might as well get used to it while you can.

My split:

47% -- I’m so ready for this movie!! I’ve been in the fandom since the first movie cam out, and I’m just happy for the next installment. I also (finally) took the time this year to finish watching Race to the Edge and that was great too. I hope some things from it are mentioned in the movie. But who knows? I’m only casually in the fandom, so I have no idea if the show is officially cannon or not, but I think it would be cool if it was.  As far as the poster goes and the released character designs, I am very much ready for this movie. It’ll take some getting used to (especially tuff) but I am glad they’re aging up these characters again. And just the poster in general! 😍 I love the idea of a Hidden World and can’t wait to see what shenanigans happen there and what dragons are discovered! On that note, while I'm not the hugest fan of the “light fury” I still like the general idea of it. We finally know that Toothless isn’t the only one of his kind!

(There’s really not anything super negative I'm going to say - most of it you’ve probably seen already - but I'm putting it under a read more incase there are people out there that don’t want to see anymore complaints) especially this early in the game

53% --  At this point we don’t really know, but it can pretty much be assumed that it’s a female. And this is what’s pissing off a lot of us fans. What is the point of a female? Just a ‘love interest’ for Toothless? I hope not, but give me a break. And why is she white? To make her more girly? Idk, I honestly don’t think that’s necessary. I’m pretty sure since the first movie came out, there have been girl clothes and toys for this franchise. So it’s really not super necessary to have a girl dragon just to market to girls.....also, Stormfly is a girl sooo? Like I said, I love the idea of the “light fury” but I'm apprehensive. For basically the reasons I've stated above. I have read a few other posts and found the most interesting to be that maybe she’s just an albino, or that she’s evolved into an underwater dragon (due to lack of nubs, etc on poster). If either of these are the actual reason, I'd be happy with that. I also saw some that said something about her basically being a “day version” of Toothless - hunting during the day and hiding in the clouds, etc - which honestly makes no sense to me. They’re called night furys for a reason. I understand that that’s the whole reason she’s being called a light fury, but still. Not down with it. These are obviously all head canons at this point, since we still don’t really know anything. but that will change when the first trailer drops next week!! it probably won’t answer many if any of our questions, but it’s still exciting! I think I may have read this somewhere too, but I can’t remember...it is also one of my headcanons though. What if she’s a baby?? Or at least younger that Toothless? Maybe night furys gradually turn black/don’t turn completely black until a certain age? Because while night furys can camouflage into the night sky, they’re clearly not nocturnal. This also explains the lack of nubs. If she’s young, maybe they’re small or haven’t grown yet.

And while we are all assuming she’s a girl, nothing has been announced, so it may be a male (but I doubt it). Basically my main thing is that I hope that she’s not just a new dragon for fan pandering purposes or for Toothless to make heart eyes at.  Anyways, those are my thoughts. Thank you for coming to my ted talk.

[onotherflights]

LONG ASS POST WARNING ⚠️

This is for people who have read my fic Guys my age / Pure… it's a messy stream of consciousness big surprise.

Okay so if you're here, you either follow me on tumblr and are curious (thank you) but may be confused because I'm in the YOI fandom or you're from the 5sos fandom and are confused because when did I become a YOI blog? Well, I didn't expect the show to eat me alive but that's what happened oops.

Anyway, this is about Pure. Because I didn't update for a long time but now I've finished it and I'm going to be releasing the last chapter so I just wanted to talk about that and my A/N was already too long lol.

For one, I just want to be very upfront about saying that writing Pure was a turning point for me, both in my writing and just in life. When i first started writing Pure, I was getting over a bad breakup, my first real one ever actually. In the relationship I was in, I was very emotionally uncared for. I wouldn't say it was abuse by any means, but I wasn't understood. I wasn't supported emotionally. My views were seen as naive and in time surely I would begin thinking “the right way”. I was very suppressed, and parts of me have been suppressed my whole life, even out of a relationship. In this relationship, I never felt desired, I never felt beautiful. “Cute”, “quirky”, “smart”, sure. But those are things anyone can pick up from the outside (or not). But I never felt like the person I was with could see me for who I really was, or who I wanted to be, no matter how much I tried to tell him.

Since then, I've gone through another breakup and a series of failed dates. I'm young, I'm going through that time in my life where this is to be expected.

But writing pure helped me so much.

I wrote Luke that way for a reason, and I wrote Calum that way for a reason. (And Ashton and Mike too). Luke is me, he's young and he doesn't have a clue what he's doing but he finds someone he connects with and not just on a level that people can see from the outside, but on a level that is very private to them and it's more unspoken, indescribable. They're soulmates.

At the end of the day, Pure started out as just a weird au where Luke finds a boyfriend on a bdsm blog but it really turned into me exploring who I am, what I want in a relationship, my sexual awakening tbh… everything. Writing this story showed me that I deserve someone who understands my mind, body, and soul. Someone who can love me patiently and passionately…. I guess it helped me realize I need my “cal” lmao.

But anyway, this isn't about my personal/writing journey. To the story.

I really hit a block after chapter 10-11. I feel like people did not like that Calum was a designer, more specifically that he designed lingerie. I actually got really pissed off because of this perceived thought that people didn't like it because there was little to no positive comments about it, but some just didn't even comment on it at all. I got pissed and I was like, fuck this, I'm going to stop writing this story and then I started writing Otayuri and threw caution to the wind.

But then I promised I was going to finish Pure (a while ago) and that wasn't because I feel like I owe anybody anything, it's because it really was my baby. It helped me. It's my story, and I wanted to take my time and finish it for myself. I think one thing I really learned was that I was looking for validation or approval, that what I was writing was good.

I've been writing fanfic on the internet since like 2011 or something. I've always been affected by comments, I've always wanted to hear that I am capable.

And chapter 10 was something I was nervous about. I had this whole idea of my version of Calum in my head and when I didn't get the reaction I was hoping for, I felt so defeated. And I fell out of love with writing this story that up until that point had consumed me the way writing should. Now I'm not saying that my writing is a masterpiece and I demand hundreds of comments, I never expect that. But at the time I was really butt-hurt tbh.

I see so many fics (especially now in the YOI fandom no tea no shade) that are so dry and boring and try to be funny but are not. And these are often stories that are the most popular in the fandom/for the ship. I understand that a lot of this has to do with taste, and I'm very sure that Pure was not everyone's taste, certainly not everyone's humor. But something awesome happened when I re-read it and was determined to finish it … it was like I had just started writing it again.

And writing the ending was perfect (for me). Every creator knows that “full circle” moment where you know your work is done. Not perfect, not what everyone wants, but done. And I'm so content with how it ends.

I learned that I don't need comments to validate me, because I love my writing. It has mistakes because I don't have a beta. It's not perfect, or popular, or moving prose. But I love my style and it makes me happy.

But what I'm trying to say, and I've reblogged so many posts about this, but comments are important. I kind of have this “I don't give a fuck I'm going to write when and what I want” now, but that's very recent and I might still be insecure about it sometimes. But not every writer is in the same place. If you're a writer yourself, you understand how hard it is to share a world you built in your mind and have no one else care. It's not a good feeling, it's definitely not motivating.

So please, PLEASE leave comments on every fic you read. It literally takes five extra minutes. I'm guilty of it too, but I sincerely try.

I also want to address that I'm basically out of the 5sos fandom, like that even needs to be addressed? I'm not really embarrassed of them or anything, I love the boys and I am so happy for Michael MY BABY like y'all don't even understand how good it is to see him so happy lately. I don't even care if people don't like crystal she's an angel for making my boy happy.

I'm still going to support the boys, I just don't care to be in the fandom anymore. I feel like it's dying out and it's so sad because I remember the good old days when things were so fun (how fleeting they were). If any Michael girls out there ever want to reminisce about the good old days I'm here for it lol.

But once I'm finished updating Pure, I'm not going to be writing any more 5sos fanfic or be posting any more 5sos content here (obviously). If you're still following me and you don't even like YOI, I love you so fucking much. Seriously talk to me anytime because you are so sweet.

And honestly, I don't know where my writing will go. I'm super happy writing for YOI now, I have a lot of ideas, but I had to finish Pure first because I owed it to myself. It's literally closing a book in my writing journey.

I don't know how long I will continue writing fanfic for (probably forever because it's my hobby), and I don't know what fandoms I will write for in the future. Will my writing ever be better? I don't know. Will I ever be a popular fic writer? Probably not. And I'm actually okay with that now, because I'm just writing for my own enjoyment now, and if you like it then that's awesome and I love having your support.

I also want to say thank you to everyone who did leave comments on almost every chapter of pure or messaged me about it here. Thank you, and I hope the ending was at least a little worth the wait.

Alright, my rant is over. If you scrolled down to the end here's a recap:

I was butt hurt

I am now slightly less butt hurt

I learned some things while writing

I finished Pure (my demon baby) !!

Luke is an angel

Yuri is an angel

I like writing about angelic blondes

I may continue to write about angelic blondes.

Thank u for ur time.

(I love you)