#but to my surprise mctoye has been the pressing issue

[onelungmcclung]

Any Speirgott HC's you'd like to share or discuss? :) I'm dying for content.

f i n a l l y

if only you had found me back in my original stint in this fandom when I was thinking about them daily. it’s a great ship, you’re so right. (we don’t like to use the word hyperfixation around here, but I sometimes wonder if this one’s in my future.) do feel free to dm me, if that suits you.

I’m just gonna go all out on my Thoughts and you can do what you want with whatever, you know? 

it’s just such an interesting dynamic. the whole “self recognition through the other” vibe, and a slight undercurrent of outsiderhood (though differently experienced). the tension between the mutual recognition of each other as equals (on a personal level) vs the hierarchies and protocols of rank. there is such synchronicity between them when they are clearing the house and liebgott is translating for speirs, which doesn’t occur in their interactions with other characters, even where there are friendships. the undercurrent of humour between them in speirs’s hey liebgott, you want to sit this one out? is small but quite striking.

speirs is able to compartmentalise his emotions and fears whereas liebgott doesn’t; liebgott brings everything into his fight, love and anger and family and history; he is fighting for his people to a greater extent than anyone else in the company. they share a ruthless attitude towards combat and they both adapt relatively well to the environment of war. liebgott, I think, is likely to have a delayed reaction to the horrors he has seen. (he does break down in the camp, but it’s very brief, both because his priority is the wellbeing of the prisoners and because his grief is too raw and personal to display openly in front of the entire company.)

liebgott knows he’s seen a little as an outsider, as the only jewish man in the company, and he’s proud of that identity but he doesn’t talk to anyone about what it means to him; it’s a very personal part of himself, and we only see that vulnerability in the camp. speirs accepts, even welcomes, being seen as an outsider; there’s a value to being feared by one’s men. he references roman history, and so I think it’s nerdy relevant to mention that the latin word vereor means both respect and fear; that is a philosophy he embraces. liebgott does respect him, more quickly than he respects other superiors, and he does, upon occasion, show a degree of fear – namely in the pistol whipping scene – which is unusual for him. that scene is also interesting in that liebgott is the only one who keeps his eyes on speirs the entire time, unlike the others who draw back slightly. (this is in fact the scene where I first started to ship it. a lot.)

they both keep certain things back: liebgott doesn’t show vulnerability if he can avoid it; speirs represses the emotions he can’t wholly compartmentalise. there’s a desire, I think, an instinct, to trust each other, and a reluctance: a tension between letting their guard down vs keeping their distance. they secondguess themselves rather than each other. liebgott is a pretty shrewd observer of other people; speirs, I think, finds interpersonal dynamics a little harder to gauge precisely.

they’re both deeply protective of the people around them: liebgott with tipper, tab, alley, the jewish prisoners; speirs with grant. neither of them default towards gentleness but they’re both capable of great compassion when others need it.

I don’t know if I have many headcanons as such. I think speirs sends liebgott to interrogate/kill the commandant because he trusts liebgott, in this more than anyone else, and because he believes it’s a mission liebgott would want. (speirs has… idiosyncratic ideas about being nice, lol; just ask blithe.)

I think they probably never interacted directly before speirs took over easy company, or certainly not pre-normandy, though they may have been aware of each other. I don’t think liebgott ever cared about the rumours; he had no qualms about speirs killing the german prisoners and, if he was at all disturbed by the rumour about speirs shooting his sergeant, he wouldn’t have shown it. however, they did probably cross paths on the night of the bayonet, when lieb rushed in to help tab and speirs went to investigate the disturbance, and so speirs identifies liebgott as someone who is good in a crisis.

I think speirs much prefers working with liebgott as translator than with webster, in that liebgott is faster and more colloquial but – just as importantly – they fall fluidly into a rapport when working together. on some level, speirs is glad to pull liebgott off the patrol in haguenau; he doesn’t want to lose anyone in the company, but particularly not liebgott.

(I’m not fluent in german but listening to webster’s gives me secondhand embarrassment)

in general I don’t have sexuality headcanons re. any of the characters; but when I write speirgott, my feeling is that this is the first time liebgott has been consciously attracted to men. I don’t think this causes an identity crisis for him; the circumstances of war are too extreme and speirs is, in many ways, an exception to normal rules. pursuing a relationship beyond what is allowed is fraught with difficulty, because of the high stakes and the obstacles of rank and the background of homophobia; I don’t think internalised homophobia is a particular factor. I don’t think it is the first time speirs has been attracted to men, but that does not make the situation simpler. they are all just trying to stay alive and keep the others alive; acting on their attraction may somehow jeopardise that, but also they may never have another chance. their relationship is on a knife-edge at all times: between personal and impersonal, hierarchical and equals, vulnerability and guardedness, secrecy and discovery, life and death.

speirgott has the best potential for all the most gripping AUs, I will stand by that

… anyway, I know I should write more for them – slightly longer fics, I hope – and it’s my tragedy that I seem to have very little control over whatever I next write, but I am extremely glad to know there’s an audience for this ship. I hope I come through for you. 

ps. I am entirely up for bouncing ideas/headcanons/plot bunnies around.