#hambone i love you so much

[trashbag-baby666]

-

hs au instagram posts!!! Liked and reblogs highly appreciated!!!

[mercyedes]

more hambone behind the scenes 🤍🤍 -> from jordan's insta!

[ckret2]

Chapter 31 of human Bill grudgingly enduring being the Pines' prisoner because the Henchmaniacs won't take his call: Summerween night! Everyone gets ridiculous costumes!

The Summerween Trickster's buddies are attempting to resurrect him. Robbie's making a music video. Bill's attempting to woo Ford back into friendship, to terrify Dipper with cursed knowledge, and to recover his dignity from THE most gentle chastising imaginable, and he only succeeds in 1 out of 3 of these endeavors:

It's not this one. He's just gotta process these emotions while wearing that stupid wig.

####

Soos was putting the final touches on his cosplay (the suave and mysterious Masked Guy In A Suit, love interest of the heroine from the classic anime Teenage Planetary Soldier Girls) when he heard the phone ring in the office. "Hold on, I'll get it!" He hurried downstairs, ducked under a construction paper chain Mabel had strung over the door, picked up the phone, and said, "Hello?"

A mysterious voice droned, "The sun sets a deep blood red."

"Oh, no thanks, we don't want any." Soos hung up, sighed happily, and said, "Ah, Summerween. Always brings out the weirdos."

"Hey Soos!" Mabel ducked into the doorway. "Where's the candy bowl?"

"Oh, hey Hambone. It's in my bedroom." He put on a stage whisper. "I put it in there so Bill couldn't steal it."

"Thanks Soos!" She ran upstairs.

Dipper and Bill waited downstairs, the tension thick between them (on Dipper's side, anyway; Bill—watching a black-and-white horror movie, sipping at a can of cider, and brooding over going to voicemail—didn't notice). Dipper was waiting by the door in a folding chair; but he kept glancing toward Bill in the living room. When the silence got too much to bear, he asked, "Okay, what are you dressed as?"

Bill was wearing a brown bedsheet toga (the most historically-accurate part of his costume); a cheap wig of a teased mullet that had ended up mostly red with yellow streaks, forming a plume of hair right over his head and then a long straight tail he'd draped over his shoulder; and a bunch of paper faux-Greek homes taped all around the hem of his toga, forming a ring around his calves.

"And are those my sandals?" Dipper asked.

"Take it up with Mabel, she loaned them on your behalf," Bill said. "I'm not telling my costume. You have to guess it."

"Seriously?" Dipper sighed. It had to be a god, gods towered over their mortals' temples. What god would wear brown? "I don't know—Demeter?"

"What? No. Do I seem like the Demeter type? Pathetic." Bill waved off his guess. As Mabel ran downstairs, Bill said, "Hey, Shooting Star, you haven't made your official guess yet."

Without hesitation, Mabel said, "A time-traveling hair metal singer touring the Roman Empire and trying to find a way home before his hair dye runs out."

"Wrong, but I would love to live in the world you've dreamed up." He meandered into the entryway to join Mabel as she plopped down in the second chair by the door.

Dipper screwed up his face. "Are you helping us answer the door?"

"No, you're helping me answer the door. I'm cursed, remember?" Bill leaned over Mabel's shoulder, dug into the candy bowl, and popped a lollipop in his mouth. "But you're not getting rid of me, if that's what you're asking."

Soos headed to the door, cape billowing dramatically behind him. "Hey dudes. Hey Bill." He paused in the door, studying Bill. "Hey! Is that a Bobo the Uncouth Berserker cosplay?"

Bill blinked. "Who?"

"Bobo the Uncouth Berserker! You've gotta read Bobo. He's this primitive hero descended from lost Lemuria who goes on daring adventures through the lush impenetrable jungles of Central Europe. He's got this comic that was so popular it spawned an anime, which got an American movie adaptation, which formed the basis of a second comic continuity that isn't as critically acclaimed as the original but has drawn in a lot of new fans... and..." Soos petered out. "You're not Bobo, are you."

Bill shook his head. "Thanks for playing."

"Aw." Soos's shoulders slumped. "Anyway—me and Melody are gonna be at the cosplay contest at the theater. I'll keep my phone on in case of monsters."

"We'll be fine!" Mabel said. "Go have fun!"

"You too!" With a dramatic flourish of his cape, Soos disappeared into the night.

Bill watched Soos go enviously. He could have been given a human body that looked that good in a suit and top hat, but was he? No. It wasn't fair. And Soos didn't even wear the right hat size.

Dipper glanced sideways at Bill. "Hey. Is... Lemuria real?"

"Not anymore." Bill perked up as Stan passed by, dressed like Frankenstein's monster. "Hey, Stanley! You haven't guessed yet. What am I?"

Stan surveyed him. "White columned buildings, Statue of Liberty dress, and a red clown wig. I dunno, the American government?"

Bill squawked in laughter. "That's my favorite wrong answer so far. I like you, Stanley." He fished a chocolate bar out of the bowl and held it out.

Stan grunted in disapproval, but accepted the candy. "If any of you need me, I'm gonna be up on the roof, terrifying kids." He held up a boombox and a cassette that said "Spooky Sound Effects of Halloween". "If you hear screaming children, don't worry: that means I'm winning."

"Where's your brother?" Bill asked.

"Avoiding you." Stan passed through the living room and left.

Bill's shoulders slumped; but he just dug into the candy bowl for more chocolate. Then the first trick-or-treater knocked on the door, and Dipper jumped up in relief to answer it.

The shack didn't attract quite as many trick-or-treaters as the houses closer to the center of town, but they got a steady stream of children, and more than they'd gotten the year before. Between visitors, Bill dug into their candy stock, gleefully ignoring Dipper's complaints. After the fourth or fifth visitor, Dipper and Mabel realized that Bill was covering up the amount of candy he'd pilfered by meticulously re-folding the empty wrappers and putting them back in the bowl.

"It's fair play," Bill said. He untwisted one end of a Twisty Roll tube, squeezed out the candy, blew into the wrapper to re-inflate it, and twisted the end shut again. "The kids are trick-or-treating, right? Sometimes they get treats and sometimes they get tricks."

"Come on, seriously?" Dipper said. "Even for you this is low. You're literally taking candy from babies."

"The babies are trying to take candy from us. I have no sympathy." With the precision of an origami master, Bill refolded a paper fruit chew wrapper into a box and dropped it back into the bowl.

"They're supposed to take candy from us, that's how the holiday works." Dipper looked at Mabel for support.

But she was holding up an empty 3 Fencers wrapper and squeezing it lightly between her fingers. "Wow. How did you make the wrapper puffy again? It's so convincing."

Bill shot Dipper a nasty smile, then turned to Mabel and said magnanimously, "I'll teach you everything I know." He twirled a glue stick between his fingers.

Another trick-or-treater knocked, and Dipper answered.

"Trick or treat! Please give us the worst candy you have."

Mabel blinked, leaning around Dipper to see who was outside. "Wait, what?"

Outside stood a purple-furred monster with a dozen limbs from a dozen different creatures. He gasped in surprise. "Ohhh, twin costumes! That's so cute! What are you two, haunted dolls?"

Dipper took a surprised step back. "Limby Jimmy?"

The monster was silent a moment, taken aback. He took off a bear mask he'd made out of a paper plate. "Is it that obvious?"

Mabel asked, "Have we...?"

Dipper said, "Oh! Sorry—Mabel, this is Limby Jimmy, I ran into him last year in the Crawlspace under town when I was trying to get your face back—"

Helpfully, Bill threw in, "He's Gravity Falls' most accomplished arms dealer. And legs dealer, and tails dealer, and ears dealer..."

"Limby, this is my sister Mabel. Actually, I don't know if I ever introduced myself—"

Limby Jimmy cut in, "Ohhh, yeah, I remember you! You're Troll Boy, right?"

Dipper winced. "It's—it's Dipper, actually." He paused. "Wow. We meet a lot of weird people."

"Nice to meet you, Jimmy!" Mabel held out a hand. After a moment of thought, Jimmy elected to shake it with a tentacle and a dog's paw.

"What are you doing up here?" Dipper asked. "Is Summerween the one night of the year that Gravity Falls' monsters can walk among humans without fear?"

"Oh no, I'm terrified. I wouldn't be out here if I wasn't collecting donations," Jimmy said.

"Donations?"

Jimmy hesitated, then lowered his voice. "You've been in the Crawlspace, so, you and your sister are cool, but is the lady...?" He wiggled a hoof toward Bill.

Coolly, Bill said, "I'm actually an ancient interdimensional energy being cursed to wear a human form."

Dipper and Mabel flinched in alarm and rounded on Bill, hissing, "Bill!" "Shhh!"

Ignoring them, Bill said, "So, continue."

"Oh," Jimmy said brightly. "That's all right then, yuk yuk." He wiggled his multitude of right arms. "I don't know if you humans have heard yet, but the Summerween Trickster got eaten to death last summer! It's really sad!"

Dipper and Mabel, who had watched as he was eaten to death, stayed quiet.

"But probably happy for him?" Jimmy mused. "Since I think that's what he wanted? But it's sad for the rest of his poker group, we all miss him! So I'm out here with Doug—"

"Who?" Dipper asked, looking around the porch for a second monster.

"Oh, he's back there." Jimmy pointed toward a tree at the edge of the clearing around the Mystery Shack. The tree chittered unnervingly. "We're going around collecting donations to resurrect the Trickster! Or... re-summon him? Or however this works. We never really asked him how he came to exist, it seemed rude."

"Naturally," Bill said. "You can't just ask a freak what made him so freaky. It's a sensitive topic."

"Right! You understand," Jimmy said. "Anyway, we need a lot of crappy candy!" He looked at their bowl. "Which pieces have the kids been ignoring this year?"

Mabel had started bouncing on the balls of her dusty Victorian ghost shoes; and the moment she had a turn to speak, she squealed in excitement. "You're the Summerween Trickster's friend! That's perfect! Stay here, I'll be right back!" She shoved the candy bowl into Bill's arms and zoomed up the stairs. "I've got some stuff for him!"

Bill looked at the bowl, looked at the stairs, shoved the candy in Dipper's arms, and followed Mabel. "Hey, Shooting Star? What are you doing?"

Her voice drifted down the stairs: "Getting a donation! I'll be just a minute!"

"Hold on, you're actually helping that guy?" Bill laughed. "Why?" He climbed high enough to poke his head above the attic floor  and lowered his voice so Jimmy couldn't hear. "I wasn't paying that much attention last Summerween, but I got the impression from your little costume store brawl that the Trickster was trying to kill you kids. Am I missing something?"

"I mean, yeah, he was—but he was in a really bad place back then, that doesn't mean he deserves to be dead for it. And now he knows someone out there wants to eat him, so maybe he'll be less insecure and evil." Mabel laughed, "Anyway, the Trickster isn't that bad! He didn't try to kill me half as hard as you did!"

Bill froze a couple of steps from the top of the stairs. He didn't move for a few seconds; and then wordlessly, he slunk back downstairs.

Dipper watched as Bill, face beet red, trudged into the living room. "Hey. What's Mabel...?"

"How should I know." Bill curled up on the couch, picked up the can of cider he'd been drinking earlier, shotgunned it, and glowered at the horror movie on TV.

Dipper considered Bill—all alone in the living room and not doing anything important—and considered Mabel, upstairs; and said, "Hey, Jimmy. Do you mind waiting out here until Mabel gets back."

"Sure! I don't have any plans." Jimmy rocked back on his many heels.

"Cool. Thanks." Dipper shut the door.

He sidled oh so very casually into the living room and leaned against the TV. "Guess it's just the two of us right now."

Bill's gaze didn't waver from the TV. "Terrific counting skills, Troll Boy." He popped open another cider can.

Dipper grit his teeth. Let it go. "Sooo! You're from the second dimension, huh? What's that like?" (His voice cracked embarrassingly on "that.") "Just—just curious. Making friendly conversation. Caaasual conversation." He flashed a pair of finger guns at Bill, to underscore just how casual he was. "Yyyep." Witness the junior paranormal investigator in action.

Bill turned the cold, empty eyes of a killer on Dipper. He took a long, slow sip from his cider. And he asked himself: what can I say that will make this stupid boy regret ever daring to speak to me?

Bill smiled. "Yeah. Sure. Okay," he said. "You wanna know what it's like? Have you ever read the Allegory of the Cave?"

Dipper hesitated. "By... Plato?"

"That one. You know—ignorance is like being a prisoner chained in a cave, watching shadow puppets being cast on a wall, and thinking they're reality; and having knowledge is like being outside the cave in the sunlight, seeing the real shapes that are casting the shadows—"

"I have read it, actually," Dipper said, a tad defensively. "It was for extra credit in—"

"English class, I know."

Dipper frowned; but he soldiered on. "So... living in the second dimension is like being chained in a cave, staring at the shadows on the wall, and thinking that's reality? Bleak."

Bill laughed so loudly that Dipper started. "Wow, you're so dumb! Use your brain, kid: it's the second dimension. You're not the prisoner: you're the shadow on the wall." Bill's lip curled in a sneer, "An illusion in somebody else's allegory. And the only one who can see the cave's exit... is you. That's what the second dimension is like!" He laughed again. It sounded forced.

"Oh," Dipper mumbled. He tried to wrap his head around the idea of being a living metaphor for ignorance. "Sounds... pretty bad?"

"Awful," Bill agreed. "Doesn't hold a candle to what your dimension has going on, though."

"Wh... why, what's going on in the third dimension?"

Bill gave him a malicious smile, and Dipper had the sinking feeling he'd just walked into an obvious trap. "You idiot, you still think you're in the third dimension? Really?"

Was that a trick question? What answer was Bill looking for? What could this be if not the third dimension? "Nnooo?"

"Wow. I can really see why you're a straight-A's honors student," Bill said. "You're so good at figuring out what answer the test wants and regurgitating it—even if you don't actually understand it at all." He heaved himself back to his feet; and Dipper was sure there was something threatening in the movement—something that reminded Dipper that he was talking to a dangerously unstable extinction level event precariously packed into an unsteady human body. "Although copying the year of the Louisiana Purchase off of Brandon's test in fifth grade  probably didn't hurt, did it."

Dipper's stomach dropped. The secret shame buried beneath the foundation of his honors roll-worthy record. Pull that out and his entire academic career came toppling down. He'd get kicked out of the honors classes. He'd go to jail. Was cheating against the law? "H... how did—?"

"What year was the Louisiana Purchase?"

Dipper's brain immediately went blank. He was silent, trapped in the paralyzing intensity of Bill's gaze. After several terrifying seconds, he croaked, "1803?" and hoped he was right.

"Attaboy. Too bad you couldn't have learned that a little sooner, isn't it?" As he spoke, Bill had closed in on Dipper until he'd backed him into the corner behind the TV set, filling Dipper's exit route with one hand on the TV and the other on the wall. "But we were talking about dimensions, weren't we! Whaddaya like to read, kid," Bill asked too casually, "do you like cosmic horror? Do you know what real 'cosmic horror' is?"

Dipper regretted this conversation completely.

"It's having an eyeball on the inside of your body, and seeing another dimension through it. And ohoho, I think you'd be amazed at the things I can see from here—"

Dipper got the distinct impression that if he didn't get out of this conversation, he would only hear things he'd be telling his therapist about for months. "Cool! Good talk, man. Hey Mabel?" (That was an absolutely humiliating voice crack.) "How's it going?"

A pause. "I think I need help!"

"Coming!" Dipper ran behind the TV to escape Bill and gratefully bolted upstairs.

The kid had caved so fast. And Bill had only just been getting started. He smirked, sat, and turned back to the movie.

A moment later, Mabel and Dipper came back downstairs, carrying four bulging plastic grocery bags. Mabel set one by her feet, opened the door, and shoved the first bag into Jimmy's arms. "Here! You can give these to the Trickster!" She shoved over the second bag.

Jimmy stumbled back under the weight. "Whoa there! What is this?"

"Candy chalk-hearts! I completely bought out the leftovers after Valentine's Day," Mabel said. "I wanted to make sure that if we met the Trickster again, I could let him know he's loved and appreciated as the terrifying avatar of spooky holiday spirit that he is! And that I also respect that he's made out of gross candy nobody likes to eat." She picked up a chalk-heart box and waved it in Jimmy's face. "So here's a gross candy that expresses love! See, the little hearts say things like 'You smell nice' and 'I heart ur face,' but they taste like if dehydration was a flavor."

Dipper handed his bags to Jimmy. "Wait—Mabel, that's why you got all these? You've been planning to help the Trickster since February? I thought you were gonna build a chalk-heart house or something."

"Oooh, that's such a good idea. I should do that next year!" To Jimmy, she said, "I was gonna give these to him personally, but if he's still dead, I guess you can add it to his candy sacrifice pile or whatever? And make sure he gets this!" She handed Jimmy a store bought Shimmery Twinkleheart Valentine's card. It read, "I BELIEVE in our friendship! Happy Valentine's Day!" Mabel had scratched out "Valentine's" and written "Summerween".

Choked up, Jimmy said, "Oh—wow. That's the nicest thing anyone's done for us all night. I'm sure the Trickster will really appreciate it when he's not dead anymore."

Dipper was a little more vengeful. Dipper didn't want to do anything for one of the many guys that had tried to kill them last year. But, on the other hand, Mabel had just gone all in on this, and Jimmy seemed nice enough, so... Dipper sighed. Whatever, it was Summerween and this was a trick-or-treater. "Hey," he picked up the candy bowl. "There's really only one bag of good candy in here. The bottom of the bowl is filled with after-dinner mints our great uncle's been stealing from restaurants for the last six months. The Trickster would probably love that, right?"

"Aww—thanks so much, you guys! We'll have the poker group back together in no time!" Jimmy dug past the good candy and started scooping mints into his bag. "Oh—since I'm here, can I ask about our other poker buddy? Do either of you know Mr. What's-His-Face? He disappeared around the time you were visiting the Crawlspace, maybe one of you saw something? Any information would be helpful." Jimmy looked at them with weird, plus-shaped, but very hopeful eyes. "Between the Trickster's death and Whatsis disappearing, the local paranormal community's been hit hard. Especially us guys in their friend group. I'm—I'm not gonna lie," Jimmy heaved a sigh, "It's been a really hard year."

Dipper and Mabel, who were directly and personally at fault for Mr. What's-His-Face's disappearance and knew he was frozen in stasis in Ford's bunker at that very moment, exchanged a look and came to a silent agreement.

"Nope, don't know anything," Mabel said.

"Sorry, buddy," Dipper said.

Like the Summerween Trickster, Mr. What's-His-Face was a weird faceless shapeshifty monster that had tried to kill them. But they felt like that was where the similarities ended.

By the time of the Trickster's death, Mabel and Dipper had realized that his deepest inner longing was to be called good enough to eat. Mr. What's-His-Face's deepest inner longing was to steal innocent people's faces. If Mabel and Dipper helped resurrect the Trickster, he'd probably go back to ensuring everyone displayed sufficient holiday spirit, while hopefully mellowing out about eating people now that he'd been consumed once. On the other hand, if Mabel and Dipper helped free Mr. What's-His-Face, he'd probably just keep stealing faces.

And on top of all that, they could help resurrect the Trickster without admitting they knew the guy who ate him. They couldn't really lead Jimmy to Mr. What's-His-Face without admitting their great uncle was keeping him captive. And that would be a problem for the whole family.

"Oh," Jimmy said. "Okay, that's fine. Thanks for all your help. You know where to reach us if you hear anything."

Mabel shook her head. Dipper nodded. "Yeah, we'll let you know."

Jimmy hopped off the porch, shouted, "Hey Doug, can you help me carry these?" and chucked a couple of bags of chalk-hearts toward the tree line. Dipper and Mabel stared. Nothing emerged to pick the bags up.

They shut the door.

"Man," Dipper said. "We kinda devastated the paranormal poker group last summer, didn't we?"

"Yeah." Mabel sucked in a breath between her teeth. "Wow. Feels... kinda bad."

Dipper offered her the candy bowl. "Drown our feelings in chocolate?"

"Please."

They grabbed a piece of candy each, tore open the wrappers—and frowned. Mabel stomped a foot. "Dang it—Bill!"

"Hm?"

"How many of these wrappers are empty?!"

Bill poked his head out of the living room and said, smugly, "Like candy from a baby!"

####

A knock, and Dipper opened the door. "Wendy! Hey! Good timing—"

"Hey." Wendy lowered her voice. "Quick question—this is super important—is Goldie here?"

"Uh—yeah, why—?"

"Yello?" Bill carefully wove his way out of the living room, already less steady on his feet than when he'd sat down. "I heard my name, who's summoning me?"

Wendy pointed over the twins at Bill and turned to shout into the dark, "Ladies and gentlemen! I present to you! Live and in person... Toga Lady!"

A half dozen teenagers immediately went bananas. Hooting and hollering and cheering and whistling: "To-ga! To-ga! To-ga!"

Bill's entire face lit up. Without missing a beat, he pushed past the baffled twins out onto the porch and spread his arms wide, basking in the cheering. "That's right, keep it coming! Worship me! I'm the greatest!"

"Yes!" Robbie pumped a fist in the air. "The legends were true!" Nate immediately added, "The prophecy! The prophecy!" Tambry snapped photos of Toga Lady's fresh look as fast as her phone could save them, muttering, "Everyone's gonna flip when they find out you're still in town."

Wendy waited, grinning, until her friends' faux hysterics had died down. "Okay—okay, after getting you hyped up, I should probably say that Toga Lady is actually Toga Guy." She glanced questioningly at Bill. "I think?"

"Eh, I'm not picky."

"Anyway this is Goldie, he was stuck in another dimension for thirty years, it's crazy, and now he's like my illegal backup cashier. He actually... doesn't usually wear togas?"

Bill laughed. "If you can't wear a bedsheet on Summerween, when can you?"

Lee said, "Thompson wore a bedsheet to homecoming."

"Hey."

Bill pointed at Thompson. "A man of impeccable fashion! I like it!" Thompson gave him a look of eternal gratitude.

"And Goldie, this is the gang! That's Thompson, he's the guy with the van; Robbie and Tambry, they're like, gender-swapped versions of each other, they even share their hair dye..."

As Wendy did introductions, Mabel whispered to Dipper, "Did you know she was gonna introduce Goldie to everyone?"

"No! This is bad, I told her not to trust him..."

Bill was responding to a question, "No, no, you've gotta guess, I'm making everyone guess!"

The teens considered the question. Robbie offered first, "Punk caveman?"

"Nope!"

Hesitantly, Thompson tried, "Nero fiddling over the burning of Rome?" He winced when Lee laughed.

"I like where your head's at, but no! I can't fiddle."

"The gremlin king from Huge Maze?" Tambry said.

Mabel piped up, "No, but the wig came from a gremlin king costume and I appreciate you for recognizing that!" Tambry nodded in cool approval.

Bill dispensed of Lee, Nate, and Wendy's guesses—Greek Christmas tree, that one guy who keeps painting burning banks, and hair metal Hades—before Robbie loudly cleared his throat to cut in. "Anyway, would love to stay and chat, but we've gotta move if we wanna be in position before sunset. Dipper, Mabel, you ready?"

"Ready to ghost it up!" Mabel said, squeezing around Bill with Dipper onto the porch.

Robbie surveyed their makeup—deathly white skin, ashen grey lips, and dark circles around their eye sockets. "Yeah, that's pretty good. Could use a little color, maybe. Like bloody tears?" He turned toward Tambry.

She said, "I think I've got some red eyeliner."

"'In position'?" Bill asked, giving Dipper and Mabel a questioning look.

Wendy said, "We're helping Robbie film this music video tonight."

"We're the creepy ghost twins!" Mabel announced proudly. "We get to sing the chorus."

Robbie said, "Yeah, the song's about childhood and growing up, but like, with ghosts? Because once you've grown up, your childhood is all dead? It's metal, but introspective. I'm calling the genre 'intrometal.'" He flipped his bangs dramatically. "It's a super deep song. Metaphorical layers."

"Oh yeah?" Bill stared Robbie down. "Sing some of it."

Robbie blinked. "Oh. Yeah, okay uh, I haven't warmed up my voice but, the hook is like—" He pantomimed playing a guitar and whisper-screamed, "'BABY DOLLS! BASKET BALLS! BASKET CASE! HUMAN RACE!' Like that."

Bill nodded slowly, face expressionless. "Ah, yeah, I see. Really deep stuff. Makes you think."

"Thanks." Robbie looked at Dipper and Mabel. "Anyway, if we're gonna get any footage in the graveyard before the jack-o'-melons start burning out, we've gotta move. Let's go, Creepy Ghost Twins."

"Wait, you're going out?" Bill asked Mabel. "Like out-out? Leaving me here? By myself? On Summerween?"

"Wh—yeah, we're only handing out candy for half the night," Mabel said. "I told you that."

"No you didn't!"

"Yes I did!"

"When?"

Mabel thought. "No I didn't," she admitted. "Sorry!"

Wendy punched Bill's arm. "Sorry to steal them. We'll be back in a couple of hours," she said. "Or you could come help—?"

"No!" Dipper and Mabel both shoved Bill back into the house before he could accept. Dipper said, "You've gotta—guard the house." Mabel added, "And hand out candy!"

"Right," Bill said flatly. "Yes. That. Ha."

"See you later!" Mabel said, and then shut the door in his face.

The last thing he heard was Wendy explaining to her friends, "He's on house arrest for, like, academic plagiarism and war crimes or something..." and then they were gone.

Bill's shoulders slumped. Well, now what? He couldn't celebrate a holiday by himself. What was the point of wearing a costume if no one sees you in it. He picked up a piece of candy, discovered it was one of his decoys, and picked up another. 

Someone knocked on the door.

"Yeah, yeah," Bill sighed. He picked up the candy bowl, turned toward the door, and paused. Ah. Right. What was he supposed to do with this impenetrable portal-blocking slab of wood.

Who was left in the house? Stan on the roof, Ford in the basement, Abuelita probably already in bed... were any of them worth harassing to help him answer the door? Maybe Stan, he'd gotten all dressed up, he liked the holiday even if he didn't like Bill—

The trick-or-treater knocked more insistently.

Or. Or.

He could pick up the bowl, peer out the small window in the door, and make direct eye contact with the children outside while he ate candy.

As a piece of mid-tier chocolate melted on his tongue, he saw three trick-or-treaters' faces fall as their faith in a kind, caring universe died. He grinned at them and ate another chocolate.

Oh yeah. He grabbed the rest of his cider from the living room and set up post next to the door. This would keep him entertained the rest of the night.

####

He made seven small children cry.

####

Stan watched from his post on the roof as yet another sobbing kid ran away from the shack. "HA! Gottem! Sucker!" He affectionately patted his boombox. "Creepy ghoulish laughter, you never disappoint! Terrifying moochers since 1989!" He paused the cassette and rewound it a few seconds to replay the best part.

He heard a scraping sound above him, and looked up just in time to see Ford sliding down the roof to join him. "Oh, hey! I didn't think we'd see you again tonight."

"Mabel made me promise to celebrate Summerween a little."

"Good for her!"

Stan had already claimed the sun lounger, so Ford brushed some dust and leaves off the roof's cooler and sat. "So, what are we doing? Scaring trick-or-treaters?"

"Yep. This year I'm taking a more atmospheric approach." He gestured at his boombox, which by now was playing haunting organ music. "Nothing like screaming zombies and rattling chains from nowhere to freak out the kids."

Ford nodded. "Psychological torment. I approve."

"Not quite as good as getting to see the terror in their eyes, but." Stan shrugged. "Bill was hanging out with the kids. I didn't want to put up with him."

"Mm. There's a reason I was spending the holiday in the basement."

"Heh. Well, there's always Halloween."

They were silent for a moment, listening as the cassette moved on from organ music to werewolf howls. Stan asked, "Think we'll be rid of him by then? I know we were hoping to be done with him before the Fourth of July—but since I haven't heard anything lately, I figure you hit a roadblock."

Ford winced. "Guilty as charged." He was still relearning how to keep other people in the loop. Even Stan. "You're right. I have a weapon that can destroy him, but I can't find a fuel source without restarting the portal. I'm hoping Fiddleford will come up with a solution I haven't."

Stan nodded. Ford had told him he was getting Fiddleford involved; even as reluctant as Ford was to admit how little progress he'd made, he wasn't going to tell someone outside the family about Bill without letting Stan know. "Any breakthroughs on his end?"

####

During the credits between episodes of the retired samurai period drama (most recently, the samurai had been asked to use his sword to help cut flowers for a bouquet), Fiddleford leaned over and whispered to Ford, "So I've been a-lookin' at those blueprints you left me."

"And...?"

"And I've constructicated a power adaptor. Just jimmy out the fuel tank, swap it for the adaptor's cord, and you can power that weapon by pluggin' it into the wall! It'll just drain all the power from the town for a few seconds, that's all."

"Fiddleford, that's amazing—"

"Now, hold on. There's bad news," Fiddleford said. "Try as I might, I can't quite get it to draw enough power to activate those energy-destroying features what you'd need to disintegrate Bill. It'll work like a powerful laser, but nothin' else."

Ford sighed. "It's a starting point, I suppose."

"I'll send you home with the adaptor anyway. Never know when you'll need a big laser."

"Very true. Do you have any promising leads on other alternative fuels?"

Fiddleford shook his head. "It's the NowUSeeitNowUDontium or nothing. But I've got a hunch we could synthesize it under lab conditions. I'll letcha know in a few days."

And then the next episode started, and they dropped the conversation.

####

Ford let out a heavy sigh. "He's only had a partial success so far. But I'm hopeful he's on the right track."

"So, if he's working on this weapon, what are you doing?"

"Waiting, mostly. I don't know what else I can do."

Stan frowned. "What—that's it? You've been downstairs all day every day—if you're not figuring out how to destroy him, what are you doing?"

"Passing time somewhere I can be on call if he gets up to something—but I don't have to look at him," Ford said wryly. "And—as long as I'm waiting to hear back from Fiddleford, I've been... picking apart that list of spells Bill gave me. To see if any of them are tricks or traps."

Stan couldn't say he was surprised. That was his workaholic brother. A pamphlet of demon magic was like catnip to him. If anything, Stan was almost glad Ford had that letter to distract him. Over the past year...

Well, Ford was fine on land—when he temporarily had a mystery to solve, an adventure to pursue, an anomaly to study, a distraction to fill his time—but at sea, when his mind was unoccupied, he was listless. He had books he didn't read, field notes he didn't enter into his journal, games he didn't play. He fed himself and exercised and did chores around the ship like a robot programmed to take care of itself, and he stared out at the sea.

Last summer, Ford hadn't seemed happy but he'd seemed alive. Tired and angry, but alive. But after Weirdmageddon, a light in his eyes went out. Stan didn't know if it was the end of summer, or guilt over the memory gun, or the gap between finishing a thirty-year-long quest and discovering the next one. All Stan knew was the light hadn't come back on until the moment Bill Cipher, clad in a new body and a purple cartoon bedsheet, tried to cave Ford's skull in.

Ever since they were children, Ford had had a tendency to develop obsessions. It was somehow simultaneously both what made him most interesting and what made him boring. Depended on the obsession. But these all-consuming interests had always tended to last a few months, at most a year; and he'd never seemed to be without one, much less for nine months. Stan had no idea what carrying a single obsession for three decades might have done to Ford's mind.

Stan was glad something had woken Ford back up, and he worried that losing that focal point again might leave Ford permanently adrift. But another part of him worried that, this time, Ford wouldn't let the object of his obsession go. He tended to collect things related to his obsessions.

But then, he usually tended to like his obsessions. He hadn't seemed bothered to burn the contents of his creepy Bill shrine last summer. Ford wouldn't do anything stupid, Stan told himself. Ford hated Bill. "So? Were any of the spells traps?"

"Not... so far, no." Ford sounded irritated by this.

Stan shrugged. "Makes sense. He's trying to butter us up. If that idiot thinks being nice to us for a week or two is gonna make up for the years of grief he's given us—"

A loud rattle-clattering below made them both start. Stan sat bolt upright. "What the—?"

Ford inched to the edge of the dormer roof, knelt down, and leaned over the edge just far enough to see the window.

Bill's face was pressed to the glass, eye rolled up toward the roofline. He grinned in surprised delight and shouted through the glass, "HEY, STANFORD! What are you doing up here?! I thought you were downstairs!"

"Ugh." Ford turned to grimace at Stan. "Speak of the devil."

Bill pounded on the glass again. "Hey, Sixer! SIXER! Open the window!"

"Why?"

"I wanna talk!"

"No."

"Come ooon, the kids ditched me and I'm bored! There's no one in the house to talk to! The old lady's asleep and Stanley's on the roof, so—" He abruptly fell silent, squinting with deep suspicion at Ford-who-should-be-in-the-basement kneeling on the-roof-where-Stan-should-be, and said, "Wait. Are you Stanley right now? Show me your hand."

Ford did not. "Go away, Bill." He left the edge of the roof for his cooler seat.

"Get back here!" The pounding redoubled. "I don't care which Stan you are! If you don't wanna talk, I can always go wake up Dolores!"

Ford looked at Stan. "Mrs. Ramirez's name is Dolores?" He had gotten used to everyone calling her Abuelita.

Stan stomped on the roof, "Shaddup!"

Bill did not shaddup. "Come ooon!"

Stan sighed in defeat and heaved himself to his feet. "If he keeps that racket up he's gonna break that window, never mind that hex you put on him." When they'd taken out the original Bill-shaped window, Stan had replaced it with the cheapest window he could find. He didn't think it was very durable. "How much trouble can he get in with one open window twenty feet above the ground and both of us watching him?"

Ford Frowned.

"Don't gimme that look. Do you want to pay for a broken window?" Stan flipped through his keys for his key-shaped emergency lock pick, leaned over the edge of the roof, and wedged the pick into the window frame. The latch popped open. Lucky this window was so cheap, that wouldn't have worked on one with deluxe features like "airtight weatherstripping" or "a properly-fitting frame." Stan swung open the window. "Okay, you have our attention. Now what's the fastest way we can get rid of you?"

Bill clumsily climbed out to sit on the windowsill with his legs in the shack, and leaned back so he could see up onto the roof. "Hiya Fo—" He lost his balance, flailed, and yelped as he toppled backwards.

Stan and Ford lunged forward to seize an arm each. Stan snapped, "What are you doing, you maniac?!"

Bill stared up at them both in wide-eyed amazement. "You do like me."

Stan made a noise of disgust, let go, and wiped his hands on his pants like Bill had cooties.

Ford said, "We like you trapped in that body and not free to cause the apocalypse."

"I heard 'we like you'!"

"Shut up." Ford managed to haul Bill back upright. (Touching Bill felt wrong—all soft flesh and skin and the suggestion of bones underneath. Even when looking right at Bill's human body, Ford still expected him to feel like heavy shadows and heatless flames.) From this close, Bill reeked of cider. "Just how much have you had to drink?"

"Not so much I won't remember whatever you say in the morning, so be nice to me!" Bill laughed. He leaned back, this time hanging by one hand off the window frame to precariously maintain his balance, and grinned up at Ford. "So! The least fun person in the house has finally emerged from his lair? And you didn't even come into the house to join in the Summerween festivities! 'All work and no play'..."

Ford had to crouch at the edge of the roof, hovering nearby in case Bill lost his balance again. "I wanted to participate in Summerween, actually. It just so happens that the last person I'd ever spend a holiday with is in the house."

"Listen, Stanford. I know you're holing up in your study for days on end just to hurt me. But let's be honest, you're hurting yourself more! When's the last time you saw the sunlight! Look at how pale you're getting, you look like a vampire."

Stiffly, Ford said, "It's costume makeup. That's my vampire costume." Stan laughed.

"It what." Bill flipped up his eyepatch and squinted blearily at Ford's face.

Wordlessly, Ford bared his teeth to show off his plastic vampire teeth.

"Oh." Somewhat deflated, Bill said, "Nice work, it's convincing."

"Thanks," Ford said grudgingly. Giving in to his curiosity, he gestured toward Bill's (somewhat disheveled) reddish-yellow wig. "What are you."

"Oh!" Bill perked back up. "You've got to see the whole thing. Hold on—" He turned around in the window, ignoring how Ford half reached for him in case he needed steadying, until he got his legs outside to dangle on the roof. "What do you think!"

Ford looked over the brown toga flared out like a cone, the eruption of red hair, the small paper city below, and said, "Mount Vesuvius and Pompeii? Very clever."

Bill's face lit up. "Finally! You're the first person all day to get it!" He smoothed out the skirt proudly, his jerky gestures just a bit more exaggerated than usual. "Do you know how long I've wanted to go to a costume party as Vesuvius? But nobody off Earth would get it! And now that I'm finally here, I can't go to parties and I'm shaped more like a mandrake than a volcano." He flung up his hands, wobbled, and caught himself before Ford had to intervene. "But at least you got it. I knew I could count on you, IQ."

He sounded so sincerely grateful. Ford regretted calling the costume clever. It was, but Bill didn't need the ego boost.

"Oh! By the by—I didn't think you'd emerge before the day was over, so I saved this." Bill fished around in his toga until he retrieved a mini pack of jelly beans. "Here!"

Ford eyed the pack. "Why is it open?"

"Because you only like the weird-shaped jelly beans, so I ate all the normal beans and saved the weird ones in one bag."

"I don't want this. You touched every one of the beans, that would be disgusting even if they weren't coming from you," Ford said. "Anyway, this is a patently transparent attempt to buy your way into my good favor—"

"It sure is, Ford, and if you don't accept it I'll get to be annoying about your ingratitude for weeks! Is that what you want? You know I'll do it. Everyone will be on my side—"

Ford sighed, but snatched the bag from Bill's hand. "Fine. Now drop it."

"That's more like it!" Bill favored Ford with an approving smile. "Anyway, it's just about the only candy left in the house, I ate everything else—hey, have you ever been cross faded on cider and a sugar rush?"

Ford was still trying to decide whether he wanted to engage in this one-sided conversation enough to ask Bill what "cross faded" meant when Bill moved on without him: "It's—not that interesting, actually. 6 out of 10. Anyway, all that's left in the bowl is mints and wrappers. And Mabel even managed to give most of the mints away—hey, she's so nice, did you know she's helping to resurrect the Summerween Trickster?"

She was doing what? "No. Why?"

"She's so nice."

"You just said that."

"What is she so nice for. What's she getting out of it," Bill asked, more to the universe at large than to Ford. "If more humans were half as nice to freaks as she is, your rotten planet wouldn't need people like you and me to save it."

Ford didn't even know where to begin with that. He looked to Stan for help.

Stan was sitting straddling his lounger, elbow on one knee and chin in his hand, watching this exchange like he was watching a weird bug on the wall try to navigate around a picture frame. At Ford's glance, he rolled his eyes and pantomimed sipping from a drink.

He could say that again. Ford cleared his throat. "Bill, maybe you should..."

"Hey," Bill said. "Great talk, we really should catch up more sometime. And pull your weight next time, I always have to do all the talking. But right now, I'm..." He gestured vaguely off to the side. "I'm gonna lie down and try not to throw up. Ciao!" He swayed as he tried to get back in the window, tumbled backward into the shack, and thudded heavily on the floor. "Ow."

Ford gingerly shut the window.

Stan turned up the boombox. "Chatty drunk, isn't he."

"He's chatty sober, too." But in front of the kids? Neither of them saw Bill as a role model, but they still didn't need to be exposed to that kind of behavior. Especially when the responsible adults were outside or asleep... "Did we really leave Bill alone in the house with the kids?"

"W—I—" Stan shrugged defensively. "They were all right! They can take him! They're doing karate or whatever! You didn't see how Mabel flipped him at the mall! It was like David wrestling Goliath."

"David and Goliath didn't wrestle."

"You know what I mean."

Ford supposed he didn't think Bill was any threat to the children. At least, not right now, and not physically. He felt like he'd know if Bill was about to try anything.

He looked at his open bag of gross felt-up jelly beans. Speaking of trying to butter them up... Ford wound up and chucked the bag as hard as he could.

He stared into the dark after it.

A small part of him was beginning to wonder whether this wasn't all just an attempt to get Ford's guard down. The gifts, sure, that was as clear-cut a case of bribery as you could get. Nothing ambiguous there.

But the endless chatter... Back when Ford had called Bill his Muse, this was exactly how he'd wanted Bill to talk to him. Not in the flighty half-distracted way of a friendly businessman catching up on a work project's progress before hurrying on to the next meeting; but just talking for talking's sake, talking for the company.

Getting what he once had longed for made his skin crawl. And he couldn't even tell if Bill was acting.

The boombox let out a ghastly banshee shriek. Ford and Stan both jumped, then laughed awkwardly.

Ford sat on the cooler again. "Is it just me, or... did Bill completely ignore you as soon as he realized I was up here."

"Well. I wasn't gonna mention it. I didn't wanna sound jealous of the attention. But yeah—he's been doing that since he got here. If you're in the room, he tunes everyone else out."

"I thought it was in my head." And he hadn't wanted to sound like he wanted to imagine Bill was favoring him.

"And you do the same thing around him," Stan said, and laughed at Ford's flinch of alarm. "It's—it's fine, I get it. Keep your friends close and your enemies closer, right? You've got some kind of superhero-supervillain nemesis thing."

Ford got the distinct impression that Stan was offering him a convenient excuse for the tunnel vision. He took it. "I suppose that's true." The way his jaw clenched and his shoulders tensed around Bill certainly felt like a "nemesis" reaction.

But if Stan thought Ford was a bit too preoccupied by Bill... well, maybe he was right. Once Ford had gotten over his initial wave of fear, of despair, of outrage at the injustice, at finding Bill was still alive—there was a part of him that was almost relieved. A part of him that had been on guard against nothing for the past year, twisting around looking for an absent threat. Now that it knew where the threat was, that part of him could finally settle down and watch Bill with steady, certain eyes. Having nothing to worry about made him more anxious than having one thing to always worry about.

(Maybe Shermie's kid had been on to something when he suggested Ford might benefit from therapy.)

Knowing Bill was back didn't put the old starlight and awe back in that hole Bill had left in Ford's chest. But dread could fill a hole all the same.

Ford tried to push Bill out of his mind and the conversation. "You think I'm like a superhero?"

"You run around fighting monsters with a space laser. What else would you be?"

"Huh." Well. That made his night.

"Just as long as you don't pull that 'hero spares the villain to show how good he is' shtick."

"Never." Ford laughed ruefully. "I think I left 'good' behind a few felonies back." He'd probably left "good" behind the night he accepted the portal blueprints.

"Couple stragglers," Stan said, nodding out into the dark. It took Ford a moment to spot the costumed kids and remember it was Summerween. "I recognize those costumes, I scared them off an hour ago. What are they doing back?"

Ford squinted at them. "Are those toilet paper rolls?"

"Wh—Hey! What are you little runts— Hey!" Stan leaped to his feet, shaking his fist at the kids below. "Get away from my car! Stop that! I'll have you know that's a classic— No, not the eggs!"

Ford slid out his freeze ray, turned down the power, and offered it to Stan. "Here. At this power and distance, it'll feel like getting pelted with invisible snowballs."

Stan snatched up the weapon. "Eat this, twerps!"

The Summerween night air was filled with the screams of terrified children and the evil laughter of an old man.

####

Wow. It sure sounded like everybody was having fun. Outside. Without him.

Bill was nauseous.

He stared at the spinning ceiling, flat on his back, one leg on a cushion and the rest of him on the floor. 

Bill was nauseous and alone. The loneliness tore at his throat. Even Mabel had ditched him. Of course she did—he'd tried to kill her. He'd barely even remembered he'd tried to kill her until she brought it up. Had he tried to kill her? No, surely not—he liked the kid, he'd always liked her—he'd been faking to force Ford's hand, he never would have gone through with it. He would've teleported her into another room and pretended he'd disintegrated her. She didn't know he hadn't meant it. She was just mad he'd scared her. She couldn't take a joke.

But, Ford talked to him. Ford even liked his costume. It wasn't much, but it would get Bill through the night.

When he saw Kryptos again—when, not if—he was slicing him into a jigsaw puzzle for not taking Bill's call. The nerve of that guy, hanging up on a human without even waiting a few words to see if they had anything interesting to say. 

(What if it hadn't been an accident, he wondered? What if Kryptos had realized it was Bill and still hung up?)

(No. Of course it was an accident.)

He shut his eyes. He was probably too drunk to dream tonight. Well, he could try again tomorrow. His little lucid dreaming guide was currently teaching him to influence the next night's dream by focusing on a topic before sleep. Maybe tomorrow he could dream about the Nightmare Realm.

He missed home.

####

(Congratulations to the approximately 50% of respondents who correctly figured out Bill's costume when I posted the art on Halloween, you're officially smarter than everybody in Gravity Falls except Ford. This is one of those chapters with a whole lot going on so if you enjoyed, I'd love to hear your comments!!)

[precious-little-scoundrel]

Can you write something with gale and Maureen? Like him taking care of her when she’s sick? Or trying to help her fall asleep?

Love this request doll, thank you. I’ve gotten quite a few requests asking for a fic of him taking care of her when she’s sick/cold, etc, and while I’ll certainly write another corresponding with those, I felt like yours gave me a chance to establish a little chronology of his doting on her. Which leads us to—helping her fall asleep on the:

First Night

It had been lights out for over an hour now, and still, Gale could sense the shifting restless around him. As the men’s initial post-battle fatigue had lessened and the dull predictability of one’s camp days settled in, the nights became longer, less restful and more of a routine than a respite. They could lay in their beds most the day or else walk and sit and lay somewhere else, there was no exhausted relief to be found climbing into a bunk. Gale missed the taxing demand for rest that came with a regimented military life. He knew he wasn’t alone in it.

Now there was the invigorating addition of the presence of the women at camp, and like kids at a sleepover -or so Gale heard sleepovers were like that, he’d never been to one- all rooms were filled with restless chit chat and lack of calm. He’d had to go along the hall of his integrated combine before lights out to warn everyone to shush it.

At least they were amalgamating well.

There was so much to catch up on by each crew and any new bit of information a new prisoner carried in was worth more than Broadway tickets back home, added to that was the old natural way of men not knowing when to shut the hell up around the fairer sex.

So Gale had knocked on doors and doused lightbulbs like the bucket of cold water that he was, and then returned to his own bunk in the subsequent quiet, only to cave and allow John Brady thirty more minutes of risky light use to keep mending -and watch his tolerably death-like and unconscious sister as she shallowly breathed on a lower bunk.

Gale had once hauled himself up and out of his second tier bunk opposite her to put his hand in front of Ida’s lips, she had gotten so still for a bit. “You should sleep by her.” he told Brady, recalling times his father’s warmth had been the only thing to keep him alive some nights in the park. He was rather certain Johnny meant to do it anyway, but he wasn’t a readable fella and his curt nod was all Gale got along with the ever faithful, “yes sir.”

When Gale had finally demanded they cut the bulb, he watched as Brady carefully climbed in and lay behind Ida without disturbing her, two lanky, stacked sardines with plenty of room and not enough fat on either of them to keep a water bottle thawed in this weather. Gale shrugged and flicked the light -family genes couldn’t be helped.

What could be helped was Maureen’s dripping hair. After the showers she had sat herself down at the table and demanded they deal her a hand of cards, burnt auburn hair dripping ice water down the back of her borrowed shirt.

Her shivers rattled her so badly she had dropped her cards multiple times, made worse by her mangled hands. They’d paused the game to have Hambone and Tallulah come in and wrench her middle and fourth fingers straight. Hamilton swore he had experience from his own injuries and T. Smith had grown up on a farm, excellent referrals both. The ordeal could’ve been worse, Gale supposed.

Benny had gagged while watching it, Gale had wanted to while holding her wrist down, Hambone had growled “fuck” more times than John had ever heard him during a mission and Ida didn’t even wake from Maureen’s yells -so out of it was she on the bunk she’d wobbled into and fallen asleep on.

Now Maureen sat stubbornly at the table in the dark, still consulting her deck of cards as if she could discern a diamond from a spade.

“Bed.” Gale told her despite her petulance, and the boys were good enough not to encourage her rebellion for once, taking themselves to their own bunks with little fanfare, “Don’t wanna get us in trouble for lights on your first night do ya? Make Ida stand out in the cold for inspections? Good, because I don’t want you out there with that hair.”

“It’s taking forever to dry and I don’t want to get my pillow wet.” Maureen protested.

“You can’t just sit here in the dark.” he muttered.

“Johnny would’ve.” she hit back. Gale wasn’t sure since when John Brady had been the yardstick by which Maureen measured human behavior, but it had been about as long as Gale knew her.

“Yeah but now Johnny’s in bed like a good boy.” Gale observed.

He heard someone titter and if he had to throw a dart at the offender in the gray dark it would be aimed towards Demarco’s bunk. “Johnny hasn’t got my hair. Ida either…anymore.” she added with childlike insensitivity.

“You should braid it.” Demarco’s voice suggested from the dark of his bunk.

“Hands can’t do squat.” Maureen was starting to sound offended by how often they forgot about her hands. She’d dropped her cards as often from their gnarled swelling as from her shivers, and every time one of the guys tried to ignore it or give a kinder explanation she would hold them up like she wanted them to recall what she was working with. Most of the fellas would’ve rather looked into hell’s portal than keep contemplating her hands or what they meant.

“Lemme braid your hair.” Gale told her, he didn’t ask and he didn’t thank Benny for the suggestion.

Maureen scoffed as he scooped up the frigid, wet strands from her shoulders and began to divide them in his hands. “Like you know how.”

“I do.” he patiently insisted after a few moments of the more convincing argument of his actually braiding it.

“Who else have you done this for? Who taught you?” Maureen’s jealousy was palpable to everyone and even Brady snickered softly at her this time.

“Horses, Maureen. My uncle had horses.”

Maureen didn’t reply to that, in fact, besides brawling japes during cards and her arguments against bedtime,

she hadn’t said much since coming back from the showers. She was cold to the touch when Gale finished his braid and squeezed the last bit of wet he could from the woven rope and then he bodily deposited her in her bunk. An adjacent one to his, on the same level, their heads were nearly beside each other’s in the cramped stack.

And now, an hour afterwards, everyone was still tossing in the dark except for Ida and her brother, and Gale had no peace with Maureen’s chattering teeth just a few inches away and her crushed hands dancing in front of his eyes everytime he closed them.

He thought of a lot of things to whisper to her, questions, comforts, even jokes. They never got out of his tightening throat as sixty minutes ticked by and he kept staring up at the slats of the bunk above him like that would keep the flashing image of her hands away. Suddenly the chatter of teeth stopped and he felt himself begin to relax in turn, hopeful she’d drifted off.

The unmistakable sound of a sob followed shortly after and it messed with the rhythm of his heart worse than jumping from his spiraling plane had.

“Maureen?” he questioned softly, as if there could be any doubt.

The sobs only gained frequency and vigor. Gale rolled himself over on his belly, and without thinking it through for once, impulsively threaded his arm through the divide to her bunk, laying his arm along her pillow and cupping the cheek closest to him. The humid blast of her breath against his palm tore at him and he thumbed over her wobbling lips. “Maureen,” he begged again, hoarse from his damn throat and in an effort to be quiet, “what- what is it?”

What can I do?—is what he meant.

“Having a cry Cleven.” She informed him angrily and without discretion in her volume except for what her sniffles required, “Can’t a gal have a well earned cry? Told you I wouldn’t manage to sleep.”

Ah, so the cry was his fault. Gale sighed and couldn’t help his sideways glance at Ida’s bunk. Not that he wanted such unnatural, deathly peace for Maureen. It would scare the fuck out of Gale, just as it was scaring the fuck outta Johnny who Gale knew was owl eyed awake right across from him and his now sobbing bombardier.

“I’m sorry.” Gale offered her impotently, childish habits coming to the fore in his helplessness, -how sorry he’d been time and again growing up, sorry for wall street crashing and Hoover having won that last time and the fact there weren’t any more quarters left for a soda and that the malnourished dog lost that one race and being sorry, so goddamn sorry all the damn time just so his father would finally absolve him with, “it’s ok, son” in return.

“And now my pillow’s wet!” -Maureen never absolved him of shit, she piled on and somehow Gale found himself devoted to that honest cruelty too, in a more mature, twisted, fucked sorta way. “I told you my pillow would get wet and I’d be cold!”

“You can have mine.” he tried.

“Oh yeah, and get it wet too.” her anger huffed out into his palm and it made him feel funny, like he was feeling her breath all along him, her emotion too, her outright disapproval of him. It always made him feel funny, feel desperate without feeling wrong or sorry. He’d never taken the fall for something that wasn’t his to own up to, not since he became a man. Not until her. He felt himself swelling against the mattress and wanted to say sorry for that, too.

—can’t help it around you.

He’d taken up excuse making as well since her, it proved so damn effective. Way more than his apologies.

“I could use cooling down.” he realized aloud and tugged her damp pillow out from under her head without warning, “Don’t fuckin’ test me Kendeigh, not tonight.” he warned at her stiff neck as he used her braid to lift her head and slide his under her head.

He settled his confiscated pillow closer to hers, his cheek pressed to her tears and shower wet, their heads practically aligned and in the dim light he could make out the curve of her nose. Such a pretty nose, he’d been enchanted with it from the minute she cocked her head at him in the glass nose of Our Baby.

Maureen had stopped crying. Her arm swung above her head and slithered under his blankets until she’d grabbed hold of what she wanted, bringing his hand up by the wrist until it was cupping her cheek again. She nuzzled her face into it and kissed his palm, the glitter of her eyes discernible between his fingers to the scrutiny of a lover as enamored as Gale.

“Sorry.” she whispered at long last into his palm and he shuddered.

“Don’t be sorry.” he commanded.

“I feel better.” she said.

“Good.”

Her hand darted out the top of her blanket and cupped his cheek, mirroring him. She thumbed at the smooth skin of his face with a swollen thumb until she found his poorly healed scar. “Wanna give it a try?” she asked. “We swapped pillows, it’s wet anyway, no one would know.”

“I don’t need a cry.” he declined gently.

“Ooh, does my Major need other things?” Maureen’s voice had gone saucy -and thankfully hushed- despite the stuffed up quality of her nose but the thought of her hands curdled his reaction to the tease immediately.

“No.” he breathed, hating the crowded room and the faux intimacy of this moment. Maureen was always more immune to intrusion but he couldn’t pretend to match her. “I just need you safe.” he begged, for if her ordeal had ended at her arrival here, he felt his had just begun.

The thumb stroking Gale’s cheek dipped lower until it was tracing his upper lip, slipping to the crease of his mouth, gently parting his plush lips until she had her finger past them, resting on his teeth. “I’m with you.” Maureen muttered, “Of course I’ll be safe.”

Gale closed his mouth around her, tongue lathing at the pad of her thumb, cheeks hollowed in an innate impulse for suction. Maureen’s presence made him feel odd, always had. Her nose came to rest against his and that was the last he recalled of the night, the gusts of her breath evening out against his face, the weight of her thumb on his tongue, the drowsy and unheeded regret that he had already compromised so far on their first night.

When he was startled awake next morning by a shake to the shoulder, mouth dry and her thumb still between his teeth, Cleven could only be grateful it was by Brady and unseen by the rest of the still sleeping men. The fact Maureen seemed to have been already awake and merely staring at him while he slept was another unsettling matter. As were the deep circles under Brady’s soft eyes: the kid looked like he hadn’t slept a wink and Gale wondered briefly how long his poor subordinate had stared at his bunk and hoped the thumb would fall out before rousing his superior. Or if Maureen had made eye contact during it. Oh for God’s sake...

Obviously Brady’s patience had run out with a hard shake, because -“It’s Ida, she won’t fuckin’ respond but she’s bowin’ up till I think her neck might snap.”

Well that got Gale tumbling out of bed.

💋 Hope you enjoyed! Feedback is a writer’s lifeblood, please feel free to scream in comments or the inbox, I love it and wanna hear it all. Trust me, nothing is “too dumb”. Your thoughts mean the world to me.

MOTA taglist, I only have one so ignore if this is not the universe you signed up for:

@stylespresleyhearted

@ab4eva

@earth-to-lottie

@suraemoon

@blurredcolour

@steph-speaks

@crazymadpassionatelove

@rubyfruitjungle

@taestrwbrry

@storysimp

@javden

@sexualparkour

@jointherebellion215

@sunny747

@ask-you-what-sir

@xxanaduwrites

@pretty4u

@yorkshirekiwi

@waitedforlove743

@elvismylove04

@blikebarbie92

@luminouslywriting

@euryno-j47

@justheretoreadthhx

@bookotter01

@mads-weasley

@ka-ski

@darkestbeforethedawn16

@slowsweetlove

@richardslady121

@barbeygirl

@prfctplcsreads

@vaf24

@harrys-housewife

@claireelizabeth85

[lostloveletters]

Love Like an Ache in the Jaw (John Brady x OC)

Summary: Kate "Woody" Woodward isn't quite sure what to make of love when she's finally got it, presented to her with unwavering devotion by the freshly promoted Captain John Brady.

Note: This is an expanded version of With a Rose Between Your Teeth (Is That Blood in Your Mouth for Me?) Title comes from Sweet Dreams, TN by The Last Shadow Puppets. Also, a million thanks to Kara @karasnonsense99 for letting me ramble about these two all the time ilysm🖤 Do not interact if you're under 18, terf or radfem, or post thinspo/ED content.

Word count: 2k

Warnings: Inevitable historical and technical inaccuracies. Depictions of blood. Sexually explicit content involving oral sex (m. receiving).

The shining double bars on his collar said it all, catching the sunlight as he walked over to her on the tarmac. Unprecedented pride bubbled up in Woody’s stomach at the sight of him, and for a careless moment, she allowed it to boil over into a congratulatory kiss on his cheek. John didn’t protest, his hands on her waist, kissing her as best as he could with his lips pulled into a smile. Whispered about going out that night to celebrate. Not alone. Never alone, but typically with good enough company that she didn’t mind.

They were joined by most of his crew, guys she’d gotten to know well enough by virtue of hanging around John, but she managed to talk Darla into coming along when Holly declined her invitation, a regretful tiredness in her smile when she insisted Woody go out without her. But her fellow mechanic was fun, if not a little rowdy—perfect for a night of celebrating.

In all honesty, the night panned out to be a bit tamer than she’d been expecting. She zoned out from Hoerr and Hambone’s argument over whether Rita Hayworth or Betty Grable had better legs. John didn’t hesitate to input his preference for Hayworth, something Woody occasionally teased him about, asking if she should dye her hair red just to watch his ears burn the same color. Always muttered something about liking her the best, taking her into his arms and kissing her as if she needed the reassurance she wouldn’t lose him to the likes of the bombshell actress.

No, the conversation being held behind them caught her attention, a man musing at the billiards table over finding someone to play eight-ball with, having just been paid and ready to supplement his payday. Her fingers twitched as she brought her cigarette to her lips, inhaling as her mind raced. She’d played plenty stateside, back when she was still going by Kate.

Woody wasn’t sure what the hell he meant by quid, but her serpentine confidence slithered over the necessity of understanding exactly how much was on the table. When the car business was slow, hustling pool had been her next best bet. Good enough that she was sure even after two years of eschewing such habits, she would come out on top. 

She turned around in her seat, and before she could stop herself, said, “I’ll play you.”

An RAF pilot and his buddies. They shared incredulous looks, snickering amongst themselves until one chuckled, “That would hardly be a fair game.”

“Double it.”

“I beg your pardon?” he asked.

The corners of her lips twitched, and she snuffed out her cigarette in the ashtray in the middle of the table as she stood up. “Whatever you’re betting, double it, if you’re so sure.”

The voices at the table fell to a hush, and she felt John’s fingers brush the small of her back through her blouse, as if to give her an out if she wanted. Too late. She let the beast rear its ugly head, forked tongue and all, as she stared down the pilot. He relented, holding out the pool cue for her. Probably figured it’d be an easy win. Line his pockets with her misguided cockiness.

Woody grabbed the cue. Watched with curiosity as they set up the rack, placing the eight ball at the foot instead of in the middle. Licked her lips as she realized there may have been differences in the way the British played than how she was used to, but she wasn’t about to betray her own ignorance by asking what exactly the rules were.

Instead, with a deceptively bored-sounding self assurance asked, “So am I stripes or solids?”

He considered her for a moment. “Stripes.” Motioned to the table. “Ladies first.”

She scoffed, cooly rolling her eyes at his false chivalry as she leaned over to break the rack. Spared a glance at John, his arms folded across his chest, watching her with an intensity that nearly sent a shiver down her spine. She hit the cue ball, sending stripes and solids across the felted table.

Standing up straight, she followed the striped ten as it rolled into a corner pocket. Missed the next one, but so did the pilot, and it was her turn again. She made up for her sloppy performance with nine and twelve in another corner pocket. 

Woody stalked around the table and leaned over in front of John, making a bit more of a show than was necessary in shifting her hips to make the hit. Fourteen in the middle pocket. Looked over at him, the slightest smile on her face when they locked eyes. Everything else faded into the background, white noise and static compared to the way he was looking at her. 

Acutely aware of his attention, drinking in the sight of her as she leaned over every so often, deliberately biting her lip or sticking her tongue between her teeth just to see his reaction, playing a different game entirely by the time she hit all of the stripes into the pockets, finally finishing off the eight ball.

Darla laughed. “Goddamn Woody, I didn’t know you could play like that.”

“She must’ve cheated somehow,” the pilot said dismissively to his friends, as if she weren’t even there.

“Jesus Christ, these guys,” Hambone muttered.

“There’s no way she could have cheated,” John said. “Be a man and pay up.”

“Or what?”

Woody shot him a glare, leaning against the cue. “Or I’ll shove this up your—”

It happened so fast. Too fast. Before she could even blink, a wad of spit landed on her face. 

John grabbed Woody’s shoulder, pushing her behind him. Scraping chairs and mangled shouts drowned out the music playing from the jukebox. She wiped the spit off of her cheek with the back of her hand, cringing as she shook it out. Her stomach sank. Why the fuck did she say that? Lost herself for just a minute, let herself be the person she tried to leave behind in San Francisco, and it all went to shit, like everything Kate touched tended to do at some point.

Her eyes frantically searched for John in the fight that erupted. The sinking feeling in her stomach warped into something else entirely at the sight of him, taking a punch to his jaw before throwing a solid one in return. Always found guys who fought for their girls teeming with unearned bravado, something to prove. But John’s bravado had been wholly earned. Proved himself with his promotion to Captain, which he was putting in jeopardy on her behalf. More than that, it looked good on him.

Still, she wouldn't let him bear the brunt of her mistake if she could help it. She shuffled forward, narrowly avoiding an elbow to the face as she grabbed his arm.

“John, come on! He’s an idiot!”

She practically had to wrestle him away from the chaos and into the bathroom. A cramped space with peeling paint and a naked lightbulb that almost didn’t let her close the door behind them until she forced it shut.

“You shouldn’t have done that.”

“Why not?”

Water poured freely from the faucet. She watched as he splashed some in his mouth, swishing it between puffed up cheeks. 

“People might think we’re in love or something.”

He spit into the sink. Water pink with blood pooled at the rusty drain. It dripped from his chin as he stared her down with blown out pupils, reflecting her own unspoken desire. “We are.”

She reached out and wiped his chin with the pad of her thumb. Glanced at the glistening residue on her finger before sticking it in her mouth, letting the faint coppery taste settle sweetly on her tongue. 

“Yeah. We are.” 

And all at once she was consumed by it, the fiery desolation of being loved and loving in return. Made her skin burn, feel more alive than she had in months. No wonder it made people go crazy. Like him, her calm and collected pilot who suddenly didn’t hesitate to throw punches over a woman with no honor to defend except for the fact that he loved her. 

He loved her.

She kissed him with a ferocity that forced him to grip the sink to keep himself steady. The faint traces of blood still in his mouth sent an almost vampiric fervor through her. Brought her hand up to his neck and felt the way his Adam’s apple bobbed at her touch. Always privately lamented that she couldn’t mark up his throat the way she desperately wanted to, sink her teeth into him and let everyone know he was hers.

She wanted more of him. Always more. Lowered her hands to unbuckle his belt.

“Sweetheart, what are you—”

“Got that handsome face of yours roughed up over me,” she rasped, pressing her lips to his jaw as she unzipped his pants. “‘S the least I can do, Johnny.”

He uttered a low ‘fuck’ as he watched her drop to her knees in the tight space. Nuzzled her nose against his crotch, the dim lighting nearly concealing the playful smile that's spread across her lips. She pulled his pants and underwear down to his knees. He swallowed roughly, licking his lips in anticipation. 

She spit into her palm, then took his cock in her hand, wet and calloused as she pumped his length. Pressed a kiss to his head before wrapping her lips around it, her tongue warm and inviting. He threaded his fingers through her hair, his blunt nails scratching against her scalp. 

She watched him intently, his face contorting with pleasure as she took more of him in her mouth. Noticed with obsessive observation what made him moan louder or tug on her hair a little harder. All of the noises he made echoed in the cramped space, and only served to drive her wild, give her more motivation to bring him to climax. 

Her fingernails pressed crescent-shaped marks into his thighs when he thrust in her mouth. Didn’t matter that her jaw started to ache a little, lips were probably swollen and puffy. She wanted him to feel good, to know how much he meant to her, to use the memory of her on her knees in any fantasy he conjured up for himself in his private moments. She wanted to be it for him.

“Fuck, sweetheart,” he forced out, his voice low and gravelly. “I’m close.”

She choked a bit when he thrust harder, the tip of his cock hitting the back of her throat. It twitched against her tongue, pulsing and veiny, his length almost too much for her to handle when he came, her name falling from his lips like a prayer though she was the one on her knees.

“That’s my good girl,” he praised as she swallowed his cum, fondly stroking her messy blonde hair. “Such a good fucking girl.” Her body purred at his words, claiming her with a gentle ownership she keened at the thought of. 

She figured she loved him for much longer than just that night, except she hadn’t realized because it felt so different from the way other people described it. Not particularly soft or sweet, but it made her feel powerful, alive.  Like staring down everything she feared and finally feeling able to conquer it all instead of running—she was so damn tired of running.

He offered his hand, pulling her up from the floor. His lips brushed her cheek, adoration pouring from the simple gesture of affection. “I love you,” he whispered against her warm skin.

“I love you too.”

Woody leaned against the door, catching her breath as John pulled his pants back on. Took a look at himself in the mirror, straightening himself out to appear every bit of the no-nonsense Captain who had her wrapped around his finger. 

Turning around, he gave her a once over, taking in her ragged appearance in comparison.

“Your nylons—“

She looked down, finding a tear at the knee. “I don’t give a damn. Let’s just get outta here, Johnny.”

“You sure?”

“We can sneak out the back and spend the rest of the night alone. They all probably think we left already.”

“Sounds like you have somewhere in mind.”

Woody smiled, turning the knob to crack the door open, checking if anyone would notice the two of them slipping out together. Taking his hand in hers, she gently squeezed it. “I might.”

[hotvintagepoll]

I am adoring all of these polls and gif sets and just being fed so many hot vintage people. As someone who really hasn’t watched very many classics, are there any movies you’d recommend for someone just starting to dip their toes in older media but unsure where to start?

Sure! I don't want to sway any voting, but I'll put an incomplete list of favorites that involve hot men not still in the bracket below the cut.

Something to note that applies to most of these old movies—older movies have different pacing than modern movies, so some of these might seem really slow or weird to start. There are also different ways of framing gender and agency, for better and for worse. I've italicized the ones that I think are the best for starting with, but go with whatever genre/aesthetic sounds best.

The Court Jester (Danny Kaye, Basil Rathbone)—a circus performer working for a quasi-Robin Hood infiltrates the royal court. Fun comedy that's incredibly accessible and still so light on its feet. Swordfighting, glamorous medieval costumes, court intrigues, and silly accents.

Singin' in the Rain (Gene Kelly)—fun polyamorous musical comedy. The dancing is incredible, but so is the sense of joy and camaraderie between Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor, and Debbie Reynolds. Genuinely captures the feeling of hanging out with your best friends. 1920s Hollywood, big movie studios, backstage drama, goofy hijinks.

The Adventures of Robin Hood (Errol Flynn, Basil Rathbone)—classic swashbuckler/romance. It could read a little slow to modern tastes but the action scenes are absolutely killer, as is the sentiment of seeing little guys pull down big capitalists evil monarchs. Swashbuckling, labor activists merry men hanging out in the woods, hot men in tights, social commentary swords, a Maid Marian who really holds her own and falls in love with the socialist

Charade (Cary Grant)—thriller/romantic comedy. Audrey Hepburn's husband dies and leaves her a hidden inheritance, and she's racing some skeevy characters to find it. A little bit scary but mostly charming and gorgeous, and you can find it high quality virtually anywhere because they fucked up the copyright trademark in the opening credits. Romance, murders, Paris, 1960s fashion, chases in the night.

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (Dick Van Dyke)—this movie is divisive for some reason—I personally like peace, love, and joy, so it makes the list. This is a James Bond movie if James Bond had two kids, lived in a windmill in the south of England, and was into cottagecore inventions more than martinis and racism. This is very much a kids' movie so go in with that expectation, but enjoy the gorgeous production design, the wonderfully silly performances, and Lionel Jeffries pulling out every stop as an insane old man. Dick Van Dyke has excellent DILF energy. Magical cars, big musical vibes, fun inventions, and romantic fantasy.

To Be Or Not To Be (Jack Benny)—comedy/drama. A ragtag Warsaw theatre troupe stands off against the Gestapo after the invasion of Poland. TW for Nazis, obviously, but overall this is a comedy with some heft, and kind of shocking to be this ballsy about fucking hating Hitler's guts in the 1940s. Hambone actors, Shakespeare, spies, 1930s gowns. It's been a minute since I watched it so I don't think there are any TWs here, but go forth with caution.

Witness for the Prosecution (Tyrone Power)—mystery/legal drama based off an Agatha Christie story. The performances are campy fun and the twist would be at home in something like Knives Out. Big dramatics, hambones, lots of talking, a bit of a mindbender.

The Lady Vanishes (Michael Redgrave)—mystery/suspense/romantic comedy. It's a little slow to start but roll with it—once the action moves to the train the pacing really picks up. This gets slotted as a thriller sometimes but it's much funnier and gentler than that. There's some period-typical snarkiness directed at anyone Foreign™ by some of the British characters; the British characters are also made fun of. Trains, British people, international shenanigans, mystery, and humor.

All About Eve (absolutely none of these hot men, lots of hot women though)—a legendary actress fights for her life against the rising star who supplants her. Big drama, big performances, lots of gasp! and dahling! and vicious little quips. New York, theatre pronounced theahhtah, drama queens and plotting.

The Philadelphia Story (James Stewart, Cary Grant)—talk-heavy comedy, lots of quick banter and period transatlantic accent fun. It's a bit shouty and conflict-heavy at times, but I don't think James or Cary have ever been hotter, and Katherine Hepburn is just wow. Very funny dialogue, relatable characters, incredibly hot across the board. There is one instance of a racial slur (not directed at anyone but still there) and one shove. Some people won't like the discussion of Hepburn's character's choices as a daughter and a wife. With all of these movies you'll see a a range of how female characters are presented and treated, and while some period movies fall hard for sexist tropes, I personally think the performances, direction, and subtext of many of these films actually prioritizes the experiences of the female characters and shows them as living, breathing people, even if they're not framed the way they would be today.

[wexhappyxfew]

How about “you can kiss me, you know” for Kennedy and Bucky if you think it fits them? 💜 I can’t wait to see what you cook up from these!

HI SWEET ANON!!!! i must say, upon receiving this prompt - my entire world shifted on its axis a bit so THANK YOU!!!!! the way this prompt fit them was SO INSANELY WELL. it just seemed to scream KENNEDY X BUCKY to me. and i just. ate it up. truly. this was a JOY and a TREAT to write and just. safe to say - bucky's POV of kennedy farley is one of my favorite things ever and just - THEY DESERVE THE WORLD !!!!!! they deserve all that is good and well!!! <3333 THANK YOU AGAIN ANON - positively *obsessed*! kennedy x bucky girlies this is for YOU! :D

you found me

(a/n): POV: we're in Bucky's POV, opening scene is when everyone is getting letters from home and he hasn't gotten a single one. that one post about the way the show seemed to portray bucky not getting letters left me reeling and just. do with that what you will. and also. yeah. kennedy makes bucky's mind got scatter-brained at every given opportunity lmao. COME AND GET IT !!!!!!!! THESE TWO JUST. INSANE. INSANE INSANE INSANE. (this prompt was everything) cue: you found mehhh, you found mehhhh, lying on the floorrrr...... (don't mind my horrible puns, it's in the title lmfao, i couldn't help it, but it's a kennedy quote so haha!)

The place was changing him.

He knew that much.

He could tell when he woke in the morning and went to bed at night, and his mind was an even deeper and darker place than it had been 12 hours earlier. Seeing the women the way they were, the men, the food situation, the general health of each and every person crammed in that bunk room, seeing the new guys coming in day in and day out, walking in circles convincing himself he wasn't crazy.

It was changing him and he couldn't wrangle in that change in any way that would be manageable.

And seeing those letters.

Goddamn, it made him a little crazy inside - those words, the smells, the feelings, the evident love and care that were in each and every one.

Something deep in his chest hurt a little more than he wanted when mail call would come and peoples' names would be read out and they'd get their letters and be reading it with such gratitude and genuineness in their gazes.

It usually made Bucky snippy, a little more irritated in a way he didn't want. And without fail, Buck could usually get a whiff of that the second that he grew quiet and withdrawn.

Curse his customary loud mouth!

"I think you were right," Buck said as they walked side by side, kicking up dust, grimacing at the slightly bitter chill of early-morning air racing across the open patch of brown dirt and sand their barracks were on, "we should've made a run for it while they were out chasing those Brits." Should've, could've, would've. Bucky bit back his lip and glanced sideways at Buck a bit before looking forward a bit with a shake of the head.

"Maybe, but I can't help thinking you were right. Better to play it safe." Bucky answered quietly back, a worn tone to his voice, sudden agitation lingering in his throat, "The hell am I rushing back home for?" It grew quiet for a moment.

What the hell was he so hellbent on getting out of here for anyway? A life? A home? A girlfriend? He shook his head.

"Other guys get letters. You get letters. Bessie gets letters. Hambone gets letters." Bucky said, "To get a letter, you need someone to get it from." Bucky watched as he kicked a stone forward, hands shoved deep into his pockets, the cool wind back again, blowing up his neck and across his face, "Guess I never set that part up right." Buck looked over at him slightly.

"That's just this place talking. You're tired."

"I am tired."

"You'll have plenty of time for that when you get out." Buck said, his ever-present tender tone, his voice a pleasant escape from the world around them, so hopeful and yearning for a future outside of this.

"You'll set it up right next time." Bucky wished he was a little more like that.

"They're only gonna know this me. Not the old me." Bucky said quietly, with a sigh. "Me before I got here. That's if we even get out."

"We'll get out. And this you will be the one worth knowing." Buck said - this you will be the one worth knowing? Would this Bucky be worth it? Knowing him? His tendencies, his way about looking at life like it were some sort of rock to throw in the water on the side of a river? Like hazardously tip-toeing around something without taking that extra care to see it through? The Bucky who lost all composure when Buck had gone down, when men went down every day, when Kennedy had come in looking more ghost than waist gunner.

"You sure about that?" he asked Bucky, glancing over at the man with a stern look in his gaze, "I wouldn't be convinced."

"Farley seems convinced." Buck said and it took all of two seconds for Bucky to freeze.

Farley?

Listen, Bucky was a fan of Kennedy Farley, always had been, always would be - even if she was a Red Sox fan - but he had lost the point where Farley was connected to the conversation.

"What's Farley gotta do with this?" Bucky asked, turning to look at Buck with a slightly standoffish look in his eye, "I don't think she needs any sort of convincing. She just….thinks what she thinks and does what she needs to do from there, you know? Don't get me wrong, Farley's a good someone to have in your back pocket - hell, we're in each other's by this point but-" Buck stopped and looked to him, placing his hands on his hips, giving Bucky a look, stopping Bucky in his rather rambling attempt to cover his ass - for whatever reason, he wasn't sure.

"You know what I'm talking about, Bucky," Buck said, his voice quiet, "don't tell me you're confused." Bucky looked at him.

"Cut the crap, Buck." Bucky said quietly, watching as Buck smiled the slightest bit.

"You can't keep your eyes off her, Bucky," Buck said quietly, "and here you are saying you got no one." Buck stepped forward and gently patted his shoulder. "She's been there the whole time."

Bucky followed Buck into the bunk room and immediately let his eyes become drawn to her there at the table in the center of the room, her ginger hair falling over her shoulders, her eyes looking more tired than they had been in days, and her nose bright red - still fighting off that damn cold everyone had seemed to catch.

Bucky had paused a bit in the threshold, his body locked up in a way that he was sure even a fire couldn't melt and briefly caught Buck's gaze back at him as he went to lift himself onto a bunk.

It was pretty quiet in the room for one and going directly over to Kennedy, and asking her just to talk real quick would probably make things more obvious than needed.

And a sudden bit of jitters hit him as he stood there, eyes locked on Kennedy, hands shoved in his pockets, heart pounding. With the way the sun seemed to be hitting her from the windowpane that they had stood by those few weeks in the middle of the night, he couldn't help but seem to swallow all his thoughts and words into a pit in the middle of his stomach.

"Sir?" Bucky blinked quickly to find the group at the table looking up at him, the familiarity of Margie's voice hitting his ears as he glanced at her, sat at the table, flipping through a book - a mixture of mild confusion and concern contorting her face.

"Uh," Bucky started, clearing his throat awkwardly and then looking to Kennedy, "can we talk?" His voice came out slightly hoarse, muffled and choked as he asked her and he knew he needed to get it together quick or he'd look more like a clown than anything.

Kennedy gave him a weird look - she was always giving him weird looks, admittedly, if she wasn't, he'd probably be more concerned. But then she nodded, placing down her own book in her hands and got to her feet, a slight smile on her face.

That smile was enough to send him into a new dimension, he was sure of that - and he wasn't sure of a lot of things - the war, the future, even right now. He was sure of that smile though.

And Kennedy.

"What's up?" she asked him, coming around the table and looking up at him.

Words, words, words.

"Not here." Bucky said quickly, not missing the slow smile rising on Buck's face from somewhere in his goddamn peripheral that was enough to make him squirm, "The library?" Kennedy eyed him.

"Sure." she said, vaguely suspicious sounding. She slid past him and it seemed it got his own legs moving as he caught Buck's eye again - who winked enthusiastically. Bucky gave him a look, briefly catching Margie's second of growing suspicion before following after Kennedy to the library at the corner of the building.

Stepping inside, it was empty and if anything - quiet. Bucky could get a wrangle on his thoughts and hopefully not sound like a fool in front of Kennedy.

Kennedy turned to him as he slowly shut the door behind him, her eyes running over him worriedly, stood with her arms folded across her chest, a quiet look on her face that was beyond enough to make his insides warm.

He'd seen Kennedy Farley as a more stripped back person of herself out here and to say it made him yearn for that time back in Thorpe Abbotts everyday, made him go a little crazy. If he hadn't been so….just chasing after anything, so blinded by the alcohol and the women and the music. If he'd just taken a moment to focus and see Kennedy Farley had been there all along. With that laugh, that smile, her comforting words, her willingness to put herself all out there just for the hell of it.

"You okay?" Kennedy asked him, her eyes searching his face, a small smile darting out with a chuckle, "You look a little pale."

"For Chrissake, the sun don't ever come out, Kenny," he said, his nervous chatter slipping out as a small smile graced his presence and it seemed to echo in Kennedy's smile back to him, "no, no, I'm fine, serious, just. Needed to talk. To you."

"Yeah." Kennedy said, watching him, slightly confused, "We….sorta established that back in the bunk room."

"Right." Bucky said, his brain malfunctioning in every improper way that a brain could in a moment like this, "Need to talk. Yes." Kennedy laughed slightly, before simply smiling that gorgeous grin.

"So, what's up?"

Two feet between them felt like the farthest they'd been.

"Not much, just…..with Buck getting that letter and all. From Marge…." Bucky started, his voice steady for once. Confident.

"Marge." Kennedy echoed, "Seems like a sweetheart. The two of them."

"Yeah," Bucky choked out and nodded, placing his hands on his hips, "yeah, just….thought a lot and. Talked to Buck about things and just. This. Where we are. It's…." Kennedy watched him, the previous bit of light-hearted joking in her eyes dwindling away as she watched him.

"What's going on, Bucky?" Kennedy asked, her voice serious in a way that made his words pull themselves together - because that's what Kennedy deserved. None of his stumbling, mumbling, jumbling self.

"I just…." Bucky started and then couldn't help but slowly reach out and placed his hands on her shoulders, slowly moving in small circles near her clavicle and towards her shoulders, squeezing gently as they stared at each other, her face so close to his, he could see green specks in her brown eyes, "Getting downed. In that plane. And having you show up. All those talks we've had. All those nights. I just. You've helped me to realize a lot of things about life that wouldn't have fucking come to my attention if I hadn't talked to you." Kennedy stared at him, slightly taken aback.

"And…..Kennedy, I just," Bucky started, holding her gaze, his eyes on her lips and her bright-red nose and her eyes and back to her lips again - God, if he could just get a taste right here, right now, "even when the war ends, I don't…. I don't want to stop knowing you." A moment of silence stilled around them as Kennedy let out a small breath and slowly nodded at him.

"Me either, Bucky," she said, and then tilted her head, "what's going on, Bucky, seriously. Are you running a fever? Did someone say something to you? You're gonna live through this, ya know?"

"I know!" Bucky exclaimed, his voice louder than wanted as he looked back to her and shook his head and sighed, "I know, it's not….it's not that. It's….it's more. Us. You and me."

"What about you and me?" Kennedy asked him, a small smile growing on her face before gently bumping his shoulder with a first, "We're good, you know that. You and me." Bucky watched her, the corners of his lips growing upwards into a grin.

"I know that." he said with a slow nod and smile that got her grinning wider.

"Then what's got your mind racing?" she asked him, stepping closer to him. Bucky swallowed.

"You." he said, confident as can be - he was always confident looking at her, at them. Her back hit the wall next to the door, their faces intermingling in front of one another as they continued staring into each other's eyes, her slightly lower than him but all just the same.

"Me?" she asked, as if to spur him and his pounding heart on, "Highest honors, Bucky Egan. What did I ever do to deserve lingering in your mind so much, huh?"

"A lot," admonished Bucky, verbalizing his thoughts for once, "everything you do. Even just standing there like this. You make me crazy, you know." Kennedy's eyes flitted to his lips and she sucked in a breath as she met his gaze again.

"Well," Kennedy whispered, slowly reaching up to wrap her fists in balls of his brown A2 near the collar, smiling slightly, "if you must satisfy such a need and displeasure, you can just kiss me, you know."

Everything around Bucky practically dissipated in his peripheral vision, his hands freezing on her shoulders, acutely aware of the death grip she had on the front of his A2, along with that look in her eye.

Watching her, knowing she was watching him back, suddenly made him realize what words had just slipped from her mouth. Kennedy Farley's mouth. He must've pulled quite the 'slap-in-the-face' sort of look because Kennedy smirked, rather confidently, and pulled him slightly closer, her warm breath fanning his face, that look in her eyes making him feel like ice next to fire.

"When were you gonna tell me you wanted to kiss me, huh?" he whispered, voice low, briefly noticing her cheeks bloom to a light crimson, enough to make him chuckle as he found himself now, stepping closer, caging her practically against the wall with his broad-shouldered form.

Months ago, if you told him, he'd be standing there, inches from Kennedy Farley, he would've laughed. He really would've. For it seemed that what it was worth, Kennedy Farley wanted nothing more out of him than simply a friend and a leader. And suddenly, she was standing right there, her eyes on his lips, his hands slowly creeping towards her neck, brushing the skin beneath her jawline and he felt the collar of his neck grow hot.

"When were you gonna tell me?" she whispered back, looking up at him; enough to make his mind feel quickly scattered and Bucky couldn't seem to help it.

Bucky heard those words from her lips and didn't think twice, as he leaned down and engulfed her lips with his own, a groan leaving his mouth as she pulled him towards her even more so, kissing back with just as much urgency as he had to her.

His hands were pressed into her rosy cheeks, her fingers were into his hair and he could feel every inch of her lips on his - kissing back in a way that did make him crazy. He didn't know how fast things were moving when a whimper left her lips and he slid his tongue into her mouth, this slow, sanguine pull inside him making him yearn for all of her right then and there.

It was desperate, maybe a little bit messy, but Bucky had never wanted someone so bad that made him so nervous like a schoolboy.

He had never wanted like this.

He couldn't help it when his hands moved to her waist and a moan left her mouth as his lips trailed to her jawline and then to her neck, nibbling at each and every soft part of her skin that was flush with the feel of her underneath his lips. She was groaning quietly in his ear, enough to make all of his senses suddenly….something he hadn't felt in quite some time, as he pulled back briefly only to capture her lips in his again.

And for a moment, they had to pull back, he had to pull back or he wouldn't be able to control himself, gently pressing his forehead against hers, the two of them panting like some sort of other worldly creature.

Being so close to her, intoxicated by her touch and her being, her felt crazed by what the feel of her lips on his had been. Her hand slowly trailed up to the side of his slightly stubbled face, her fingertips making him shiver and an almost desperate, groaning noise leaving his lips just at her touch. It was like fire - good fire - and how fire was good he would never know because though it could keep you warm, it always brought some form of destruction with it all. But her touch, her flame, the fire, it made him completely undone.

"I feel insane around you," Bucky whispered softly against her lips before deeply pressing a kiss against her evidently swollen lips and pulling back, "you know that?" He couldn't open his eyes, he felt drugged under her touch and simply her, but he heard her let out a quiet laugh, her hands gently tapping along the sides of his face again as she did so.

"Didn't know I had that sort of effect on you, Major Egan." she whispered quietly, her voice slightly hoarse. Bucky let out a quick laugh, before squeezing his hands against her hips again that were so deeply pressed against his own and he sighed, a pathetic sigh.

"Longer than I thought actually, Kenny," he whispered quietly back, "way longer than I thought."

Kennedy giggled - she giggled.

Bucky's brain actually stuttered a bit at the thought of Kennedy giggling - like that - because it seemed the last thing she'd do. But it sounded so adorable and he was the only one that had heard it and for a second, he felt like the luckiest person to be standing there right now.

Slowly, he opened his eyes and found Kennedy and her big, deep brown eyes already staring back at him - catching that brilliant gaze that watched him back - slightly giddy, soft and enthralled all at once. A sight he'd probably remember until his death bed.

And he couldn't help but grin and bring up a hand to cup the side of her face, touching her skin, her hair, her. He felt like had was under a spell and she was the culprit in every right way that she could be one.

"I can honestly say much of the same," Kennedy whispered quietly, her eyes growing squinty for a minute as she smiled and laughed, "you always looked at me different, Bucky, I knew that." Bucky watched her, his smile seemingly plastered on his face and he couldn't fight it down.

"What are you talking about?" he whispered back, leaning closer, their noses brushing, his other hand escaping up under her shirt to her bare skin, caressing her softness, "Different, huh? You noticed?"

"And you're admitting to it?" she whispered back with another chuckle, "Bucky Egan, you are really surprise after surprise, aren't you." She chuckled and he couldn't help but watch her eyes again so close to her.

"Nah," Bucky whispered, "just….." He watched her smile. "I always thought about you, ya know. And I wasn't lying. Back when I heard Silver Bullets took a hit and it was Margie. I thought of you." Bucky grinned wider.

"I'd think of you at night, too. Sometimes I wondered if I could try and find you at night, just to talk to you," Bucky whispered, "but I'd shove it out of my mind. Didn't think you thought like that. About me. About us." Kennedy watched him, a small smile lingering on her lips.

"You could've come and found me," Kennedy whispered back to him, her thumb brushing his cheek, a grin poking out, "would've been better than….I don't know, wrestling with some fucking nightmares, ya know?"

"I'll be honest, Farley, I probably would've kissed you way sooner then if I had done that," Bucky said with a winning grin, "a helluva lot sooner. Coming and finding you." Kennedy watched him, her eyes shining as she let out a laugh.

"You found me." she whispered back and Bucky couldn't seem to help the grin on his face as he came to cup her cheeks.

"I'd see you at the flying club," Bucky whispered, softly pressing his lips to her nose, "dancing and drinking and twirling and singing….." Kennedy watched him from right there across from him, inches from his face. "I've always liked you, Kenny."

"Always?"

"Always." Bucky said, "Back when you were my waist gunner - you always had that confident look in your eye, I knew you could probably shoot better than the rest of the guys, and you sure as hell were one tough nut to crack and I…you're just always in the back of my mind, ya know?"

"John Egan." Kennedy whispered, reaching up to loop her fingers into his hair and trace down the sides of his face, "I don't deserve you."

"You're telling me," Bucky whispered, "I don't deserve an ounce of you, but here we are and I feel like the luckiest man in the world. Fuck." Kennedy watched him and continued this gentle touch along his head, with the most genuine, soft look in her eyes.

"Telling my parents that the man I'm in love with is a Yankees fan-" Bucky's heart pounded. She continued talking, but he missed whatever else she had just said. His thoughts honed in on her first sentence.

That word.

"What?" Bucky said quietly, looking at her fully, his smile gone, his eyes bright, "What'd you say?"

"I'm gonna have to tell my parents that you're a Yankees fan - and my brothers! They're gonna-"

"No, no," Bucky whispered quietly, a smile growing on his cheeks as he softly pressed a kiss to her lips before pulling back, "the other thing. The other part of that." Kennedy stared at him and then let out a soft chuckle.

"I'm in love with a Yankees fan."

"Who is me?"

"Who is you."

"And who you love?"

"For quite some time." Kennedy whispered, her eyes glossy, "I don't tell people about much more than what you can see of me, much less what's inside of me. You know more than what my mother might know." Bucky chuckled against her lips and pressed another kiss there, holding her there so deeply and strongly, he didn't want to let go.

"What I'm trying to say without it sounding all over the place," Kennedy whispered as he pulled back, "is that I'm in love with you and that I love you." Bucky watched her, smirking, so widely, so genuinely, so proudly, that if they weren't here, he didn't know what he'd do with words like that. He had a few ideas, but he was so focused on her right now that he couldn't think straight.

"I'm really fucking in love with you, too, Kenny," he whispered, his free hand on her bare skin on her back pressing against her and making a small whimper escape her lips as he sighed pleasantly, "and I really want to kiss you again. For a while." Kennedy stared at him - her face was glowing, he swore to God, and she smiled. His heart pounded.

"Then kiss me, Major," she whispered against his lips, "kiss me hard."

And he did just that.

[luminouslywriting]

this doesn’t need to be a full headcanon because I don’t think you can put much substance into this but who do you think tries to dirty talk in his letters? I just know if Bucky were the pale pal type he’d write the 40s equivalent of 50 shades whereas buck would never even think about asking his girl to send a booby pic in her next letter.

Nonny, you’re so right is the thing 😂 And I do have a few thoughts below. Cut for length, more under the cut, light spice sprinkled in.

Bucky Egan:

My entire evidence for this is @precious-little-scoundrel and her Julie Jean and Bucky letters….so if you haven’t read those, you’re missing OUT and you need to go read it immediately. The archetype for everything tbh. But I have a few thoughts as well. Bucky is the type of person who writes out all of his intrusive thoughts in a letter—even the dirty ones, albeit very sweetly. He doesn’t mean to be crude, it just kinda happens. Would send saucy pictures for you as well 🤭

Hamilton Hambone:

This man, on the other hand, is the 1940s equivalent of a tumblr girlie writing x reader smut, okay?? Like those letters have to be BURNED afterwards because they make you blush and burn for one another. Absolutely treasures the letters you send him and hopes you’ll write things just as spicy.

Benny DeMarco:

Listen, I think it’s an accident but he just starts writing, doesn’t intend to send it to you AT ALL, and then tiredly sends the spicy letter before realizing his mistake. So there’s light amounts of wet dreams included in his letters along with missing certain parts of you, but it’s all balanced out and still pretty nice.

Rosie Rosenthal:

The definition of class and how to imply things between the lines. You can say quite a lot by not saying anything at all and he absolutely takes advantage of that. It’s on par with tactful smutty poetry tbh, but all still very respectful and loving.

[irregularcollapse]

so i'm writing if that isn't love part 2 and there's a scene in the bunk at stalag luft, and i realised thanks to this Much To Think About™ post (thank you sm @johnslittlespoon and @curtsbigspoon i'm truthfully indebted) that i'd made soooo many mistakes about the layout of the room and the bunks etc.

so to help myself keep things straight, i went back to the scenes to try and figure out what the furniture is doing and i made myself a little map, which i am sharing because! idk! may be useful to people!

it's not to scale sorry i don't have Alex-level cartography skills

so a full bunk would have 13 guys in it (oh nooo unlucky) unless they're doubling up a bit (feasible for a POW camp, but unlikely given that Eight seems to have a few free bunks), but i think the bunks themselves are stackable so 2 more pallets could maybe be added on top of the 2-level bunks.

i'm pretty sure they only have enough chairs for the table (which would be 6, two on each side and 1 on each end) but i'm not 100% confident about that.

poor quality reference screencaps under the cut :)

Gale babydoll why are you sitting up there lol (this is also the bunk he leans on to read the letter from Marge, but there seems to be a lot of "sitting on random bunks" in general, and as shown below this bunk may even be empty)

this is the scene where Bucky is in the bunk on the left, and that's a different guy in the bunk on the right, even though Bucky has been Spotted™ in the bunk on the right. so do with that what you will 👀

the bunk on the left also doesn't seem to have any pinups decorating it? it's hard to make out all the time, but there are some generic pictures and a bunch of cans on the shelf, which would track for Gale because he left his picture of Marge in his locker.

there's someone asleep behind Alex here? lmao but it's a little confusing re: allocations, because Alex takes the top bunk (he's shown drawing in the 62 bunk later), Macon is in the middle, and little Sleeping Beauty there on the bottom. when they arrive, fuckass racist Hambone jumps out of the top bunk—but where does he move to? was that his bunk, or was he just sitting there? do they have another spare (12 guys total, or 13 guys total when Alex and Macon arrive)?

and actually, looking at this double bunk between the doors, there aren't any pinups and only a couple of things on the shelf. so maybe it is empty, or maybe it's Gale's (having been spotted there twice) and he's just a boring bitch, or maybe something else.

anywayyyyy this is such a fun set there are so many little details i love it sm and hopefully other people get some use out of my silly map as well! have to try and figure out how to get two grown men into a bunk now, wish me luck 🫡🫡🫡

[dmercer91]

ebug's sister, dm91

taglist, @whenmypartysover

part one / part two /part three / part four / part five / part six / part seven / part eight

blakefriarr_

liked by luca.fantilli, nicohischier and 7,103 others

blakefriarr_: my brother's an ebug my boyfriend is a new jersey devil, episode six!

i would like to start this by saying that @/adamfantilli is the worst if anyone wants to replace him comment below (i would never replace you u fucking buffoon)

second, MY BOY SCORED A FUCKING HATTRICK

now, i am going to try and very calmly type this with minimal use of capital letters.

i have never been so proud to be able to kiss someone on the mouth before in my whole life.

dawson, you are by far the sweetest, most gentle soul i have ever met and i cannot wait for what's to come for you both professionally and for us.

you are the most deserving person on this earth <3

i will not keep from exposing myself with the fact that i literally started crying when people started throwing hats, and the poor guy sitting next to me was incredibly worried for my mental state

and then when nico came out of the locker room i jumped at him with such velocity i landed on his shoulder.

i was still crying.

when daws came out i clung to him like a koala.

i am still clung to dawson as i am typing this.

i decided since he didn't let me flip over his shoulder and fall on my head, neeks gets a photo of him actually looking rather pleased.

oh btw @/jj.friar31 you have the apartment for the next couple days and if i sense that you've been in my room you will be promptly decapitated, love you <3

view 667 comments..

adamfantilli: acting like i'm wrong

→ blakefriarr_: @/luca.fantilli

→ luca.fantilli: hi?

→ blakefriarr_: can you go slap your brother for me

→ adamfantilli: ow.

→ luca.fantilli: does this make me assistant coach

→ blakefriarr_: unfortunately theres a ranking system. it goes jj, rookie, just some guy, assistant coach, quinn, coach

→ luca.fantilli: i'll take just some guy tbh

→ blakefriarr_: you weren't given a choice but i love the positive attitude

adamfantilli: now that you've gotten your revenge can you stop being dry i miss your chaos

→ blakefriarr_: that's so sweet fants

→ adamfantilli: is that a yes

→ blakefriarr_: i suppose. love you, rookie

→ adamfantilli: love you, coach. call me, eddy and mark are being annoying and i think you'd like to watch

→ blakefriarr_: it is the highest honour that you thought of me you're the best

dawson1417: thank you, sweet girl <3

→ blakefriarr_: proud of you, baby

dawson1417: you look so pretty with my name on your back

→ blakefriarr_: if anyone was wondering why it's taking me forever to reply to comments, blame dawson.

→ jj.friar31: EW

→ blakefriarr_: grow up you'd fuck him too

→ jj.friar31: ??????????

nicohischier: you should do high jump that was talent

→ blakefriarr_: thanks for catching me <3

→ nicohischier: you're lucky i'm legally obligated as your captain to love you

→ blakefriarr_: you're not even my captain???? you just love me

→ nicohischier: perhaps i should've found a better excuse

jackhughes: i can't believe i had to watch you cry on nico for like fifteen minutes cause mercer was still in his scrum

→ blakefriarr_: you jealous?

_quinnhughes: next time maybe check the canucks schedule before you facetime me 182 times

→ blakefriarr_: next time get off the ice??????? what if i was dying

→ _quinnhughes: you think i just bring my phone to the bench?

→ blakefriarr_: is this really what we should be talking about right now

→ _quinnhughes: @/dawson1417, congrats bud

→ blakefriarr_: better

dougieham: all that emotion and no warning ????? no viewer discretion is advised???

→ blakefriarr_: i'm sorry hambone i'll do better

lhughes_06: when i become a devil i better get this much attention

→ blakefriarr_: that can be arranged.

→ lhughes_06: is it too late to change my mind that was very ominous

→ blakefriarr_: i happen to know someone who can give you this with (slightly) less chaos

→ lhughes_06: ... i'm listening

jj.friar31: you can sense when i'm going into your room?

→ blakefriarr_: yeah?

→ jj.friar31: i don't believe you.

→ blakefriarr_: you wanna find out if i'm kidding?

→ jj.ffriar31: do i?

→ blakefriarr_: get out of my room james.

→ jj.friar31: what in the sweet jesus fuck

mommafriar2023: can't wait to meet him!

→ blakefriarr_: WHEN DID YOU GET HERE????

→ dawson1417: can't wait either!

→ mommafriar2023: i've heard so much about you

→ blakefriarr_: MOM STOP IT

→ dawson1417: aw baby you talk to your mom about me?

→ blakefriarr_: i hate you

→ dawson1417: i can make it up to you

→ blakefriarr_: MY MOM IS IN THIS THREAD DAWS

view more comments..

[trashbag-baby666]

I think there needs to be more Hambone girlies in my opinion 🫣🫣🫣

[anachilles]

whiskey neat, coffee black 🥃 || ch 1.

aka: firefighter!bucky x bartender!buck (chapt 1), as detailed [here]

“Well, Curt? How do I look? Do I look gorgeous tonight?” Bucky asked, popping the collar of his jacket a bit, then scrubbing his fingers through his hair. In all honesty, he wasn’t sure whether exactly he was trying to tame it into submission or zhuzh it up a little. Curt turned a discerning gaze to him, eyes narrowing as he took a draw from his cigarette, and let the smoke blow out slowly into the cool, crisp autumn air. “Well you did take a shower straight after shift, so I guess you have that goin’ for ya.” As much as it was a rib at Bucky’s expense, it was also well known amongst the firefighters based at Station 100 that those showers never ran even so much as lukewarm. So choosing to brave them, for any reason, rather than going home to wash up was actually indeed a sacrifice worthy of commendation, and that any such reason for doing so was held in very high esteem indeed. A cheeky, knowing sort of smile started to curl at Curt’s lips, the fluorescent light from the bar sign growing closer as they walked towards it illuminating his face in an appropriately devilish red tint. “Seriously though, you look good, don’t worry.”

-> read here on AO3 <-

Bringing up the rear, Hambone took the very last drag he could get from what was left of his own cigarette, before flicking the stub to the ground and promptly stamping it out. “Why the hell does it matter what you look like here?”

Curt’s smirk only widened. “It’s a Thursday night, isn’t it?” It was the sort of smile from his best friend that Bucky’s own lips couldn’t help but mimic, regardless of it being at his own expense.

Confusion lingered on Hambone’s face for a moment before realisation visibly dawned, leaving behind a teasing smirk of his own as he jogged to catch up with the other two men. “Aw, Bucky , you’re still stuck on this?” he goaded, sticking his elbow out to nudge him. “C’mon man, he’s never gonna fuck y-” He didn’t get to finish his point though, when after an extended moment of dangerous stillness, Bucky lunged, getting his arm around Howard’s neck in a light, good-natured headlock.

Some may say he had a point at this stage, but did he really , if he couldn’t even finish it?

Curt whooped with laughter, finally abandoning his own cigarette to the pavement below, running along beside the two of them like he was watching a boxing match, having to take two strides just to match one of Bucky’s own. “No, man! C’mon. Don’t talk about his husband like that! Be respectful, be respectful…”

“Some husband who’s name you don’t even goddamn kn- ” Already slightly breathless as he scrambled to fight back, the rest of his sentence was strangled from his throat as Bucky momentarily tightened his hold. His own smile only grew as Hambone struggled along beside him. With the door finally within touching distance though, he took mercy and released him.

Aptly named by whatever genius had acquired the bar last, The Firehouse had, for time immemorial, been the regular haunt for firefighters based at the local fire station a few blocks over. For all that the guys loved it, were devoted to it, the place was admittedly a bit of a dive. With sticky floors you almost felt bad subjecting the soles of your shoes to, ancient, tattered pool tables that were probably in existence before the fall of the Berlin Wall, and a mere two single-person bathrooms tucked away at the back that ensured massive lines on any busy Friday or Saturday night, it was easy to see why the clientele they did get tended to be the ol’ faithfuls that had been coming for years.

But at the same time, they offered dirt cheap drinks, specials hand-written on the wall that could only have been made so skillfully by cool, but generally part-time, staff who had much more going on in life to give a shit about than their side gig bar job, in an opportune location. There was something comforting about that kind of ambience; a little rough and ready but full of heart and soul underneath the scuff marks. So at the end of the day, it was actually Bucky’s kind of place. None of that really mattered, though, because as soon as he saw him , regardless of how badly the place probably needed a lick of paint, The Firehouse may have found a life-long patron in him.

“It’s called playing the long game, Hambone. And I got plenty of time,” Bucky said as he pushed open the front door, letting the other two men in behind him.

It was odd, the conviction with which he said that. He’d been told enough times in his life, whether by teachers at school, any number of CO’s and higher ups in the Air Force, or even his goddamn parents, that, despite his wide-ranging natural abilities, he was also an impulsively headstrong, trigger-happy son of a bitch. Any such assessments, phrased in any such language, tactful or brutally honest, he’d accepted. Understood it, even, and taken it on the chin. He was a guy who knew his own shortcomings. An inability to wait for what he genuinely, truly wanted however just wasn’t one of them.

“The only thing you’re playing the long-game with is your right hand,” Hambone chipped in once they were inside, all three now enveloped in contrasting warmth from the chill outside and the dim glow of the table-lamps. It was still relatively early and they wouldn’t have been long open, so there weren’t too many people around yet. Hambone smacked Bucky playfully on the arm then, almost in commiseration, his distinctive gold tooth glinting as he asked. “What d’ya want? It’s my round.”

Bucky wasn’t looking at him, though; hadn’t been since the second they stepped through the door. Eyes dead set on the bar, he said “I got this one, guys,” shooing them away to go find a table without even having to say it.

Behind his back, Curt and Hambone glanced at each other, exchanging a quick look of affectionate mocking, before making themselves scarce.

He assumed it would abate by now, if even just a little bit. The velocity of the swoop in his chest to just walking in and seeing him standing there, like he's in the pilot's seat again and his plane's just taken a nosedive. Approaching the otherwise empty stretch of bar, Bucky parked himself directly in front of him, leaning down on the bar top on crossed arms. Behind the bar, he was busying himself counting change from the drawer of the cash register, eyes cast downwards as long elegant fingers work quickly flipping through the crinkly bills, plump lips moving silently, counting in his head.

God, those lips are downright sinful.

He could see him, Bucky knew he could. Waiting patiently, he watched as he finished counting one stack, dropped the pile onto the counter beneath him and fixed them neatly into formation. He slotted them back in the drawer, paused… then started another stack . Bucky’s small, fledgling smile only bloomed further.

He shifted his gaze then, the movement edged with only a hint of reluctance, fixing on the dark-haired man crouched down behind the bar, restocking the fridges.

“Hey, Croz. How’s it going?” Bucky greeted him, the other man’s head snapping round at the sound of his voice. His smile was quick, easy, and he nodded in acknowledgement. The firefighters’ patronage, of which Bucky’d been a part of for just coming up to a year now, was so serious they tended to know all the bartenders by name. Mostly .

“Bucky! Hey, not too bad, actually,” He rushed a little to finish the row of Blue Moon bottles he was on, before fully turning towards him. “Another night in here, so y’know. Same old, same old.”

“How’s Joe?”

Harry, predictably, lit up a little at the mention of Joe, his boyfriend who he’d notoriously never fail to drop into nearly every conversation you had with him, no matter what it was about. From what Bucky had heard of the story, they’d been high school sweethearts and all, then followed each other to college thereafter. It was sweet, he supposed. Not only the idea of finding ‘ your person ’, a concept that had itself long been alien to him, intangible and abstract like the blurry shape of a ship out at sea on a perpetually foggy day, but find that person as young as they had. Of being so sure right off the bat, no more searching required. Sweet, but wholly unrealistic. If it was true and possible for anyone though, it’d be for people like Croz and his Joe.

Knowing the bartenders at their local was one thing, knowing about their partners, their dogs, and their personal lives was another, and wasn’t something Bucky was necessarily accustomed to. On reflection, it wasn’t unwelcome, though now that it had happened.

“He’s great! Yeah, we just found out he actually got into that masters program he applied for, so…” he beamed, before trailing off, like he was almost willing himself to shut up. Bucky was sure then that he wasn't nearly the first person he’d told, probably even today. The pride shone so clearly in his face, Bucky couldn’t help but smile too.

“That’s awesome, Croz. Congrats. Be sure to give him my best.”

Comfortable silence fell between them as Harry half-turned back to continue his work. It turned expectant, though, when it started to occur to him that he hadn’t stopped counting change to take Bucky’s order. “Buck, do you mind? I’m kinda-”

In contrast to his demeanour thus far, his head turned immediately, acknowledging his co-worker with a nod. Like everything around him had been on mute and then someone just suddenly turned up the volume. “Yep, of course.”

Bucky shook his head. ‘Buck’ wasn’t the guy’s real name, evidently, that would’ve just been divine coincidence. He liked to think the whole charade of the ‘refusing to tell Bucky his name’ thing was more a running joke at this point than anything else, but regardless, needs must. For logistical reasons, he simply couldn’t carry on being “Smokeshow Firehouse Bartender” in Bucky’s head, like a dodgy Tinder hookup's contact in his phone, for the rest of the days that they continued encountering each other. And, well, if he wasn’t going to tell him his name, then they might as well share his.

Setting his latest stack back in the register and pushing the door closed, ‘Buck’ finally looked up at Bucky for the first time that night. He wasn’t technically smiling, but his steely blue eyes were alight with a mirth that had pretty much the same effect as if he was.

“You didn’t see me, here? Or hear me?” Bucky chanced, the corner of his lip quirking, like he was laying down a challenge.

Unfortunately, Buck didn’t take the bait. “What’re you having, Bucky?”

Bucky exhaled slowly, taking a moment to once again savour the way the other man’s deep, drawling timbre stretched around the syllables of his name, powerless but to bank yet another superfluous version that’ll inevitably turn up in ongoing late-night fantasies.

“Three PBR’s and three shots of Jameson.”

Buck nodded, whistling low as he moved to set out three pint glasses beside the tap, and got to work pouring the first. “You mean business, tonight.”

“Oh, I always mean business, honey.”

Buck’s eyebrows jumped as he finished one pint, reaching for the next empty glass. “Oh, I’m your honey tonight, am I? What happened to ‘doll’?”

Bucky smirked. That had been the teasing pet name du jour last week, one he’d only had the courage to deploy after a couple of (well, maybe a few) stiff drinks leading up to it. He wasn’t sure if the way Buck’s dutifully placid expression momentarily cracked at the time was more in the realm of scandalised shock, or verging closer to much preferable affectionately exasperated surprise; the edges of his vision had been starting to blur a little by that stage too much to know for sure.

Not blurred enough, however, to miss the delightful pink hue that bled into the other man’s cheeks after he said it. It was exactly what Bucky either needed, or very much didn’t, unwitting or not. Encouragement .

“Oh, you like that one? ‘Doll'?” He paused, giving Buck a chance to jump in, but once again he didn’t bite. Shame. In the end, Bucky easily filled the gap himself, the boldness of the sentiment tempered with casualness. “You know you can be whatever of mine you want to be.”

It was a hard-won, but now easy-as-breathing rhythm they’d settled into, the mindless flirting, the teasing banter, the sort of cat-and-mouse dynamic. It was fun, and they both seemed to enjoy it. He’d even go so far as to call it a friendship of sorts.

Sighing, but visually giving nothing away, Buck flicked his tongue against the trusty, ever-present toothpick resting in the corner of his mouth, avoiding Bucky’s eye as he murmured a seemingly distracted ‘Noted.’ Because he’s a weak, weak man Bucky couldn’t help but follow the movement of his tongue, eyes flicking down and then quickly back up again.

Buck set all three filled pint glasses up onto the bar, and got to work on the shots.

Fingers closing around the neck of the Jameson bottle, he only spoke again as he tipped it up towards the glass. “Hard day, then?”

The question felt like a sharp pivot, and it succeeded in pulling Bucky out of the sort of heady state of mind he’d let himself meander into with the flirting, and the pet names, and the inability for him to look away from his goddamn lips. It somehow didn’t feel like a distraction tactic, though. He asked it quite often; nearly every time he was in, in fact. It was like he genuinely wanted to know, every time he did ask. Suppose that’s why Bucky actually tended to tell him.

He must have paused a beat too long in answering, as that was when Buck’s piercing gaze rose to meet his own. Turns out, he didn’t even really need to properly look at the shot glasses anymore to judge an accurate pour. His eyes, steely blue like a storm at sea, were searching, but his look tinged with a hint of something else uninterpretable.

Well, Bucky’s an open book, and had never been good at beating around the bush. “A whole lot of nothing for the first few hours, but then a couple of RTCs later on. The second one was pretty gnarly; involved a bit of a difficult extraction for one of the passengers. Had to do some unorthodox manoeuvring just to get her out.”

Buck’s face twitched with genuine sympathy, finally finishing up with the drinks. “I’m sorry. Is she going to be okay?”

“I think so. Last we heard she was stable, but in serious condition.” He tried to hold the words at arms length away from himself, though even from there they threatened to weigh on him as he said them. He shook his head against the drag, as if he could shake the weight of the concern off. She was only 17 years old. Physically shrugging, Bucky said, “We got her out of the pretzel the car had been turned into, though, apparently without exacerbating her injuries. So we did our part.”

It could have come off sounding callous to some, he guessed, especially with the slightly forced levity inflected in how he said it, but Buck’s face remained unchanged. Solemn in not quite understanding, but something close. Whatever it was, Bucky felt lighter for being on the receiving end of it; for even being asked about what had gone on at all, even. Which was weird, when he hadn’t even realised he was holding onto anything from earlier in the first place.

“Is it just you and those two out tonight, then?” Buck asked then, after letting them sit in a moment of easy silence, crossing his arms and resting his weight down onto the bar top. So effortlessly cool; so casual. Bucky, on the other hand, felt decidedly less so with those couple extra inches closer Buck’s face now was to his own, leant forward as he was, across the lines of demarcation the line of glasses were serving as. That fuckin’ aftershave…

Trying for somewhere between ‘cool’ and ‘casual’ himself, despite the other man’s signature scent teasingly lingering at the back of his palate, Bucky shrugged. “For now, yeah, we just got off. Douglass might join later, though, I think.”

“Ah…” Buck said, suddenly biting back a smirk. “Everett’s coming in in a couple of hours, on the closing shift.”

Ah , indeed. Because if having one firefighter pathetically lovesick over a bartender at their favourite local place wasn’t enough, their team would have to go and have two, right? The drunken fog-shrouded voice of Chick Harding echoed somewhere in the back of his head then, warning the whole lot of them to 'not shit where you eat’ , or something like that.

Honestly though, Bucky wasn’t overly sure it was definitely love between them, anyway, Dougie and Everett, more than it was flirting by proximity, reinforced by audacious horniness on Doug’s part and a bit of ‘opposites attract’, ‘Lady and the Tramp’ magnetism. See, from what Bucky had gathered, whether through gossip, or stories, or even just in the man’s eloquently rounded syllables, Everett Blakely came from the nice side of town. And, well… he loved the guy dearly, often trusted him with his life, but regardless of what side of the tracks he was from, Dougie could be a bit of a dog. Coming from Bucky , too, that’s saying something. But there was definitely something , and the more Everett gave Douglass the run around, held him off before reeling him back in again, the more obsessed he seemed to get. It was kind of fascinating to watch.

Not that Bucky could relate, or anything.

“Ah…” he mimicked Buck’s tone, eyes narrowed in knowing, pulling on the thread of the other man’s amusement, desperate to see it unravel further. “And what exactly has that got to do with anything?”

Buck shrugged, holding his hands up, as if protesting his innocence. “Just making conversation.” He smiled at him then like they were conspiring, eyes alight with a glint of mischief, and Bucky felt success warm in the pit of his stomach like a downed whiskey shot. “...but you didn’t hear it from me.”

Wrenching his attention from the man in front of him, Bucky pulled out his phone. In a rather uncharacteristic turn of events, Douglass had seemed to be on the fence about coming out to meet them in his last message to the station group chat, causing genuine worry among the ranks that he was seriously ill. Or abducted. Or both.

Bucky 🔥 : ‘We’re at FH now. Top secret intel says Everett’s working the closer’ was all Bucky had to say, not even trying to pretend he wasn’t obviously meddling, followed not 30 seconds later by a ringing chime and Douglass’s reply.   Dougie: ‘Give me 30 mins’   Benny 🐺 : ‘This is what it looks like to have 0 dignity, btw’   Hambone:  🐕🚶   Benny 🐺 : ‘I wonder who’s who’

Bucky scoffed out a laugh, turning his phone to show Buck the chat log, and the other man rolled his eyes through the remnants of a smile.

“Knew that’d get him off his ass…” Bucky trailed off, his focus stolen momentarily by the open chat as he turned his phone back around, just in the nick of time, as a new message pinged through.

Veal: ‘Isn’t Thursday supposed to be Buck’s night closing? Surprised you’re not off sulking in a corner somewhere @Bucky’

And then another.

Benny 🐺: ‘Tell me you boys have at least bought the man a drink to drown his sorrows in @Curtyyy @Hambone’

And then …

Curtyyy 😝 : ‘he’s been up at the bar for 15 minutes now and this place is a ghost town. you do the math on whether buck’s here or not’   Curtyyy 😝 : ‘we’re thiiiiirsty’

Confronted with the reminder that he had actually come here for some other purpose than to stand at the bar and flirt with Buck, the conspiratorial intimacy of the moment started to dissipate into the air around them with each jibe, remiss as Bucky was to let it go. Even more so when Curt materialised as if from nowhere by his side, summoned solely from Bucky’s acknowledgement of his text, silent and unannounced as the goddamn grim reaper. Had he always been that light-footed? 

“Don’t mind me, fellas, if I can just… take these off your hands…” Curt said, leaning impatiently around Bucky and, rather skilfully, managing to pick up two of the pints and two of the shots all in the one claw-like grip. It was actually rather impressive, clearly the result of extensive practice. Even Buck looked impressed with the manoeuvre. Not even slightly bashful, Curt smiled up at him.

“Thank you, Bucky, ‘ppreciate it. And don’t worry, I’ve been keeping your seat warm for ya, for whenever you decide to use it.”

He should’ve probably had the decency to look abashed, it pointed out just how long he was very clearly deliberately taking, but couldn’t quite manage it. With a roguish smirk, he let his eyes flick from Curt’s retreating form to Buck’s gaze, holding it steadily. 

“Suppose I should let you get back to whatever you were doing,” he acceded, a whisper of a challenge, or maybe an appeal, to give him a reason to stay. It didn’t come, though, and all he got was a nod from the other man as he pushed himself back up off the bar, just that little bit extra further away once more.

After a beat, and a sigh steeped in playful resignation, Bucky downed his shot, then picked up the remaining pint. The trail of fire the whiskey mapped out from his throat all the way down to his stomach was familiarly pleasant, and he took a moment to savour the burn. Let it give him the tailwind to convey his thanks, and turn to follow Curt back to their table.

“Hey, John,” Buck’s voice carried from behind him, probably as raised from its mellow tone as he’d ever heard it, emanating from the backdrop of some pretentious indie playlist Bucky would bet any money is Buck’s own, and the dull chatter of the sparse crop of patrons around them. His head snapped around embarrassingly quick, to find the other man with his toothpick now in hand, biting the inner corner of his lip against a smile.

“You forget something?”

Bucky’s eyebrows pinched in confusion.

“Look, I know you boys are regulars, and we trust y’all, but I do have to insist you at least open a tab.”

Fuck . He’d been jonesing so damn hard for that conversation, had let himself get so caught up in the current of it, that he’d tried to rob the place. Turning swiftly back, already his wallet half-pulled out by the time he got to the bar, now he did at least have the humility to look apologetic. Buck was trying to look stern, head tilted and his pretty features all set and serious, and the urge to giggle tickled at the bottom of Bucky’s chest.

Shit, he’d always had a bad habit of laughing when he got in trouble and was having to face the music. Whether that was staring in the faces of unimpressed school teachers, disapproving parents, or stringent superiors who maybe (definitely) either didn’t get, or just straight up didn’t appreciate his sense of humour much. He couldn’t help it, he’d always giggle, even when he actually gave a shit about what he’d done wrong.

Cheeks flushed, he handed over his card to start a tab, before dipping back into his wallet for a couple of spare bills, holding them aloft for Buck to take as a tip.

Examining them in his hand, the joviality hardened in Buck’s expression. “This is too much. Take one of these back,” he insisted, holding it out, but Bucky had already sprang back a couple of steps. Well out of reach, but nearly tripping over a nearby chair in the process.

“No! No, I tried to stiff you, so fair’s fair,” he laughed, even more so at Buck’s silently protracted, long-suffering look. Truly only he could manage to have a stick up his ass about someone trying to give him money, which he was still holding like it was going to grow sentience and take a bite out of his hand any minute.

“Anyway,” Bucky continued, “Consider it partly for that tip about Everett earlier, for helping us get Douglass out. A tip for a tip, if you will.”

"Who’s tip for what tip?”

Both of them whipped round in the direction of the voice, timed perfectly in the sudden silence between songs so it broadcasted crystal clear to everyone in the joint. Crosby wore an innocent enough look, hands full with a box of lemons ready to be sliced.

Not so innocent were those of Curt and Howard over in the corner, both with eyes like saucers, who’d overheard the whole thing.

“Who’s tip are we talkin’ about?!”

[onyxsboxes]

*comes crashing in through the window* I was going to wait to comment on ao3 but I just need to talk about Curt's absolute denial because it was hilarious 😂 He was so precious being angry on Gale's behalf and even using his first name 🥺 I love him calling Bucky out on his alleged bs 😂 And then him immediately wanting to be part of the chaotic propaganda of Bucky being the werewolf with Benny and Brady who are so suck of Clegan being the epitome of soulmate 🫠 Buck being an overgrown cat on Bucky's lap 😭 "MY LITTLE WOLF" I am in shambles.. I adore them with all my heart🥰 Also I had a question, chronologically wise, does Curt know before Ken ? Did they manage to keep it a secret through all of their training in 42? I have so much questions for this au but I don't want to overwhelm you so I'll come back later 🫡❤️

*Open the window for you* Nice to see you, come in, come in Thank you for the ask dear. It made me all happy.

Curt is a good friend of Bucky, not afraid to call him on his bullshit, and if he can get back at Bucky for everything he's put him through, even better. And he may or may not have a little crush on Buck.

Mr. “please let me take your place, i'll own you one” with a “let's add fire and fuel to the burning bulding” attitude Curtis Biddick was so mad that they didn't let him into it from the beginning. This club is what he lives for. After learning the truth, he's still one of the most involved in the “Why Major Egan is a Werewolf” meeting, but he's first and foremost a chaos agent for the “How to mess with the 100th” group. He lives his best life making up increasingly ridiculous stories (and everyone believes him).

It's more talk than actual annoyance. Brady and Benny were super happy for them, but after discovering that they're even more in their own bubble after they're officially together, they decided to act like this. Brady, Benny and Clegan (B4) have a sibling relationship and with that duty, Benny and Brady feel obligated to act like a sibling to them. They all have their differences, but are always very protective of each other -> “I'm the only one allowed to annoy you” between Brady and Bucky and "Let me help you" between Benny and Gale. Brady acts as Bucky's little brother and Benny as Gale's big brother.

I headcanon Buck as a cat-coded person (I use this hc more in the kitty gale series) so naturally wolf!buck will also have cat behavior. He already likes to be on top of things. And they're so fhruqfgq cute together🥰🤗, I get cavities just thinking about them (a bit of fluff in the midst of all the wonderful angst that exists in this fandom).

The fic is not in chronological order (I had planned to do this at the beginning but finally ....) So Ken doesn't learn before Curtis. That's kind of how it goes chronologically (other characters could be added of course 😉) :

The higher-ups know it from the start (instructors, ...)

Bucky

Brady and Benny

Red and Kidd when they become majors

Curtis

-> Departure for England

Meatball

Harding

Kenny

-> Stalag

Hambone

Alex

-> Back to England

Rosie and Crosby

Douglass

Does it remain a secret during their training years? Yes, and they don't even try to hide it. The only time Buck actively tries to hide it (for safety reasons) is during stalag. Otherwise, he doesn't talk about it because it's a childhood habit.

I think I don't forget anything 🤞. Hope this responds to your interrogations. And don't worry, send them in, I'll get through them when I can 🥰

[latibvles]

also this is purely bc inez is the light of my life — and with anyone you wish with her!!! [ silence ] sender and receiver comfortably exist in silence together, both of them working or reading or focusing on something different :D thank u thank u!

silence.

listen. whenever I am given a "whoever you want!" I take that as a moment to essentially get as weird as possible. this is prime example of that but it works to me. and is also a fun way to step out of my comfort zone and write somebody new. so thanks for the prompt, friend! <3

—

Inez really did treasure her quiet nights in the front room, right by the snack bar.

She’d always been that way. Inez was more often the type to find herself hiding in the residence hall as opposed to tagging along with her roommate on an escapade back when she was in school. Now, it was often at her crew’s insistence that she follow them off base and into town, but sometimes, they could be merciful upon her dwindling social battery and allot her her rationed moment of quiet time in the front room.

It’s mostly empty, too, which is a welcome relief as Inez makes her way over. There's a couple stragglers, all preoccupied much like she was soon to be, and she gives Helen a warm smile that the woman returns.

“Coffee, Lieutenant?”

“Maybe in a little, thanks Helen,” she says and makes a beeline for one of the wicker chairs by the window, settling her newest recommendation in her lap as she fiddles with her glasses to get them back onto her face.

There were many reasons to be thankful for Josephine Alden: her listening ear, her natural pension for diffusing things, her willingness to wrangle the curious village children and answer their questions. And of course, the massive set of books that she’d dragged with her across the ocean like priceless artifacts. Which, in a way, they kind of were: each book well-loved, annotations in their creased pages, some of their spines cracked. If Inez is completely honest, she’s terrified to touch the battered copy of Little Women that Jo never seemed to put down when she had the time for it.

This copy of The Hobbit is fine though — and Jo sounded nearly scandalized by the fact that Inez never read it until now.

She’s really only a few pages in when she notices a figure in her peripheral vision, standing in front of her, and she looks up again.

“You’re upright,” Inez greets, “Did I take your seat? I can mo—”

“No, no, s’fine,” Hambone waves a hand dismissively.

She heard about the stomach flu that was creeping around base, taking out crewmen like a silent killer, Howard Hamilton being one of them. But he looks pretty okay right now, looking down at her with an unreadable expression on his face. Not that she’d be able to read it in any meaningful way, she didn’t know him all that well to begin with. Just that he knew all the right buttons to push to make June mad (which wasn’t hard) and that he was from Kansas.

He takes a seat in the other wicker chair, the two of them separated by the small coffee table between them. She’s used to him being loud, so this, too, is unexpected. Maybe it’s because he’s shaking off that stomach flu, and the absence of Murphy or Douglass here to spur him into causing some type of trouble has him quiet. She can’t really tell if he’s subdued by the last remnants of the flu or if this is how he always is when not surrounded by those he’s wholly comfortable with.

“You always wear those?” He’s still holding her stare, but in a way that’s… boyishly curious, and Inez has to remind herself that he’s really not that much older than Carrie. They’re so different though: the round face and big green eyes of her friend are the direct opposite of Hambone’s gangly limbs and the sharp angles of his face, making him look older than he really is. Never mind the slivers of gold in his teeth that seem to glint everytime he talks. Inez comes to the quick and tentative conclusion that maybe there’s just a few things about Hambone that didn’t make sense — at least, not to her.

But his question has her immediately far more aware of the barely-there weight on the bridge of her nose, and presses her lips into a line, bracing herself in a way for the inevitable teasing at her expense as she shakes her head.

“Only when I need ‘em. For uh… small text,” she offers, feeling small.

People could be cruel over the tiniest of things. An accent that didn’t “sound smart” or thin-wire frames; the most miniscule of things could lead to doubting her intelligence, her abilities, and she hated that. Yeah, yeah, a navigator who can’t see her maps, laugh it up.

The jeering doesn’t come: instead he smiles a little, and she’s not really used to this expression on his face. It’s softer, with a little bit of a nod and a small shrug from him. She’s used to his dastardly grin, his pointed canines, sharp-edged humor travelling over the din of a busy pub.

“Would take that over the airsickness.” Hambone points out and Inez can’t help the small laugh that escapes, hiding it a bit behind the pages.

“You might have a point,” Inez assents, and they hold each other’s stare for a moment longer before Hambone’s slumping a little more in the chair, and Inez’s attention is reverted back to her book.

The silence there is significantly less awkward than she’d initially anticipated. Every now and again she’ll see him look over at her from the corner of her eye — eventually Helen comes with two coffee mugs. Inez pretends not to notice the face he pulls on the first sip, but she can draw her conclusions on how often he actually drinks the stuff. But it’s… comfortable, in its own way. Unexpectedly so. There’s not much said between them, Inez resigned to her own quiet and Hambone, seemingly, content to sit in it between sips of coffee. She didn’t peg him as much of a people watcher, but that seems to be what he’s doing while his idle hands mess with what looks to be a piece of string.

She finds herself getting lost in the pages and understanding why Jo was so scandalized at the fact that she hadn’t read this one yet. She isn’t really sure just how much time actually passes. When Inez looks up once more, Hambone has effectively dozed off — long legs outstretched in front of him, arms folded over his chest. Sleep relaxes his features further and now he starts looking his age. Inez smiles to herself, endeared a bit at the sight.

Unexpected. It’s a fair way to describe Howard Hamilton and the space he is at present taking up. But somehow the silence, and him, both just... fit, with the way she planned to spent her evening. So even when he wakes after fifteen, twenty minutes, Inez doesn’t rush off, more than happy to keep him in her company if that’s what he seems content to do.

[dollmelaniee]

bomika season 1-3 (their development ‼️)

Season 1

bomika season 1 was so adorable. they didnt know each other that much but it seems they bonded quite well even if their opposites (clueless and smart). what really got me was in episode “The Thousand Prank Wars”. the bond went up so many levels especially in that moment. we learn that their relationship is more then just two friends who got their powers together. the trust level was on and off. we saw angst fluff and so much in one part 🤧 they really gotten more close and trustworthy in the episodes that went on and on in the season. halfway in there they were acting like married couple with 2 children like 😭. we saw jealous mika. period thats all i needa say, thats pretty much it , i can do more but its just gonna repeat what i just said sooo

Season 2

oh my gosh YOU DONT UNDERSTAND HOW MUCH I LOVE SEASON 2. their relationship was top tier, literally dating. we saw how they care for each other, literally saving each others backs every episode. like i said in season 1 we saw jealous mika AND jealous bose. literally idk how u say their not in love. it canon confirmed and everything. the finale episodes in season 2 honestly>>. UNCLE HAMBONE WILL FOREVER BE MY FOREVER FAVORITE SEASON 2 EPISODE. they basically got together in that episode. they just carried honestly. (hc: after uncle hambone bose took mika on a dinner date 🤫) UNMASKED. oh my gosh they just ate. the fake dating, flirty bose, acting like a married couple. THEY JUST DID THAT. i swear i loved them so much. HOLDS A SPECIAL PLACE IN MY HEART!! they were so silly i loved them

Season 3

woahh they look so badass in that picture

ANYWAYS season 3 was a roller coaster. i said in my earlier post that they couldve gave us more in the series. i still stand by that 📢📢❗️❗️. they were cute ig in the first episode, but its like they never had anything in seasons 1 and 2. i love bomika and i say that so many times but seriously, where is the fake kiss mentioned 🤨🤨, we did see jealous bose (i hear bapa stans coming for me because i said bose was jealous in episode 4) anyways… they were cute and stuff per usual but it was not the same as it was. the moments they had was NOTHINGGGG compared to season 1 and 2! i know i said this before but we couldve gotten more man 🤧

thats pretty much it honestly, i might do chiles next bc i have so much to say!

[precious-little-scoundrel]

https://www.tumblr.com/precious-little-scoundrel/752482293108686848/do-you-think-youd-ever-write-for-hambone

"Hammy has grown on me so much, I honestly love that fella and I’m terribly fond of his Gerry. Her accounts of marrying him and after the war are heartbreaking and beautiful."

Do you have any links/book titles you could share re these accounts you mentioned? I'd be really interested in reading them. Thanks!

I love your Those Who Can universe, BTW. I'm writing my own Integrated AU, and I'm getting some helpful historical references and general inspiration from your stories and all the lovely asks.

-- lestweforget5

Oh I love giving links, thanks for the chance, I do know I’ll also forget to add all the ones I wish.

Everyone please feel free to add on.

Ok so, the one I mentioned and got to sneak some peaks at while in process is by dear @steph-speaks and is just the absolute loveliest growth story in a teacup of yumminess. Linked here

Another I just read today and found utterly delightful is this one- by @probably-not-a-rocketscientist

And perhaps my favorite just in terms of both an authentic feeling character study of Hamilton and also the general setting, the thought processes, the contentions, the loyalty between crews etc, is by my babe @mercyedes and is on AO3, linked here. 💋

My own tiny and sleazy contribution to musings on hambone is here.