#tf2rarepairmini2023

[spuggathy]

Day 2, Sweet :-) 💥💥💥

If pyropauling has no supporters I AM DEAD

@\tf2rarepairevents

[verchielmarch]

Mediscout for party prompt :)

[sgt-scrimblo]

Day 1: Vacation | Relaxation | Holiday

Day One of the mini rare-pair week hosted by @tf2rarepairevents !!

I experimented a bit with the shading. does it make sense in some areas? no, but I kinda like it anyway. Also big shout-out to @dinoburger for making me love these guys so much. Check out Mortality Machines if you haven't already!

[racmune]

day two: spicy

@tf2rarepairevents

[distorted-graffiti]

Friday (July 7) : Vacation | Relaxation | Holiday

i thought it was funny that on the same day vacation was one of the rarepair prompts, i was going home after being on vacation :]

[tf2rarepairevents]

Announcing Summer 2023's Team Fortress 2 Rare Pair (mini) Week!

The event will take place between July 7th and July 9th, 2023.

Join us in celebrating our lovable, but underappreciated, ships! This will be a 3-day event dedicated to making fanworks and putting a spotlight on the rarer ships of the fandom!

Prompts:

Friday (July 7) : Vacation | Relaxation | Holiday

Saturday (July 8) : Spicy | Savory | Sweet

Sunday (July 9) : Party | Music | Games

The hashtag for the event is #TF2RarePairMini2023

Check out the links below for more information about the event:

RULES || FAQ || DISQUALIFIED SHIPS || AO3 COLLECTION

[uncle-festering]

[just-mebs]

Day 3: Party | Music | Games

This took me SO long to make and render, but god was it worth it. I was almost afraid that this wasn't going to render how I wanted it to but I think it still came out as well as I had hoped it would! A little game day, Mann vs Machine style!

[bobamilkk]

Rare pair weekend? Did you mean: an excuse to draw my freedom fries ocs more???

[wolf--rot]

A late day 1 entry for @tf2rarepairevents

Vacation gone awry when a werewolf drops by

Bonus unedited closeup

[hankwritten]

Slake Her Thirst

Pauling/Pyro, 2k Warnings: binge drinking

Sunday (July 9) : Party | Music | Games

Escape was before her. A thin band of light under a closed door. And just as easily, that chance was whisked away by being a second too late to leap on it.

“You’re not staying for the party?” Demo asked, a lager in each hand.

Pauling groaned internally, her hand on the doorknob now as useless as an ice screw left lying on the ground. She drew it back and tried rustle up a smile.

“I didn’t want to impose…” she said.

Which was a bad start because Demo immediately replied with, “Ach! It’s no imposition. We hardly ever see ye lass, it’s good to have you come every now and then.”

Damn. She’d walked right into that. “Seriously, I’m kind of don’t do well at parties, just going to bring the mood down…”

“What’s the matter? Ye got somewhere to be or something?”

There. No way out of this one, not when she’d already tipped her hand and let slip this was her day off. Her palm glumly fell from the doorknob.

“…No. I guess not.”

Demo took this opportunity to shove one of the lagers into her now unoccupied hands.

“Good!” he boomed. “Drinks on the house lassie, so start throwing ‘em back!”

Actually drinks were on TF Industries, and the generous salaries it was doling out to these guys, but she wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth. She tipped it back and drained it in one, long-running gulp (much to Demo’s enthusiasm as he cheered her on) and wiped her mouth on the back of her sleeve when she was done. She was probably going to need several of these to make it through tonight.

Because mercenary parties were nothing to sneeze at. Pauling wasn’t a fan of normal parties—of their prying, incessant purpose to crack you open and get you to spill yourself onto confetti and barely trustworthy acquaintances—and the mercs of 2Fort didn’t stop at too loud music and a lot of beer. No, a lot didn’t even begin to cover it. It was a stupid amount of beer. A disaster-waiting-to-happen amount of beer. And she was right there in the middle of it.

Sniper had brought his family’s moonshine. Heavy, as she watched, hauled a truly massive keg into the base common room. Even Pyro was drinking a beer through a curly straw.

That last one was pretty adorable, actually.

“Ah, so you decided to stay after all!”

The sudden appearance of the team’s Medic made her jump, and if there were still beer in her mug she certainly would have sloshed it over herself. Medic, immediately categorizing this as a deficiency, replaced her lager with a full one.

“Oktoberfest!” he cheered warmly.

“It’s July,” Pauling said.

“Not if you find the spirit of the season in your heart,” he said.

She shrugged, and began to imbue from the new one as well. Still, her eyes kept finding her way back to the Pyro, even as she hid it behind glass and glasses. Medic, of course noticed.

“He was very much hoping you would stay,” Medic said. “It was his idea to do the briefcase pre-check, thought you would be more inclined if we did so.”

That had been a welcome surprise when she’d first stopped on base, saving her the hassle of going through the checks herself.

“I should go say thanks then,” she said honestly. “Maybe try to get him to itemize my other classified documents too.”

It was a joke, but one not too far from the truth; she trusted with secrets, and that trust went both ways. Namely, the fact that ‘he’ wasn’t an accurate descriptor.

Or at least, that’s what the Administrator said. She hadn’t really provided any proof, or what Pyro might look like under that suit—that was left to Pauling’s imagination and it was something she really shouldn’t be thinking about while drunk and approaching Pyro’s sofa. She waved the thoughts away.

It wasn’t hard to guess the reason for the deception. This was a man’s job, and no one was going to let you forget it. Every other person in this room was showboating and getting hopped on testosterone, and even if they’d always treated her kindly, she’d never be treated the same. The Administrator wasn’t immune to either—to work for Helen you did assassinations in heels and you negotiated weapons contracts in a skirt, and if you couldn’t do that you went home. Even now, she could feel Scout’s eyes on her, desperate to come over and wind up another ill-fated schmooze on her, only screened by the Engineer trying to convince him of something.

So no, she didn’t begrudge the Pyro for being private. And she certainly wasn’t going to be the one to blab to the guys.

“Heyyy buddyyy~” she said upon reaching Pyro and wow was she drunk if her voice was already doing that thing.

Pyro didn’t mind, immediately sweeping her up into a bone-crushing hug.

“Good to see you too. Thanks for um…the um…briefcase thing.”

Though, maybe if she’d still been stuck in the intelligence room, she would have had a valid excuse to skip the party. Oh well. She was actually starting to enjoy herself.

And becoming a little afraid of what that meant. Quashing the little part of herself that hated losing composure, hated becoming uninhibited.

“Hudda huh?” Pyro asked, setting Pauling down.

“Noooo…I’ve only had like. Two.” Within the span of ten minutes.

“Mmph,” Pyro said, tapping her own straw.

“Contest? Oh hell yeah. You’re on.” Then Pauling’s brain caught up with her words. “I mean, actually, I probably shouldn’t stay for too long…”

“Pssy.”

“Oh fuck you! You’re the pussy.”

So Pauling chugged the party down thoroughly, Pyro by her side and matching her drink for drink. Until the straw proved to be too much of a limiter, and Pauling started taking on extra drinks while waiting, taunting Pyro to catch up.

She found herself on the dance floor, maybe being a bit too clingy to her ‘favorite buddy’. But she quickly soothed that spike of worry—they guys were taking notice, and maybe having a bit of a laugh as Pyro and Pauling made clumsy fools of themselves to the overly sugary music, but as far as they knew there was nothing wrong with it. Sure Scout was oddly put out, but that was a blessing really, and the whole situation became almost comforting. That for one night, maybe things would go well.

“Huddah huh!”

“Keg stand? I can’t do a keg stand! I’m in a skirt!”

“Hudd mmrr huh.”

“Pantyhose don’t count as pants. They’re underwear, Pyro.”

“Nuh-uh.”

“Yuh-huh!”

Somehow, maybe a testament to her level of inebriation and a sign that she should stop this, Pyro convinced her to do a keg stand under the conditions she would hold up her skirt while she did it. The nearest mercenaries cheered when she finished, and she put both fists up in victory.

“Wooo!”

“Mmmm!” Pyro echoed.

“This is great! I’m having so much fun. I can’t even remember why I didn’t want to have fun in the first place.”

“Great to hear it, lass,” Demo said.

“You guys are my best friends! I feel like my skin is on fire. I could kill every person in this room and no one would even care. I’m holding together the world’s most expensive corporate conspiracy with packing wire and multicolored sticky notes and I can’t even get a government mandated sick day! Isn’t that funny? Ha. Haha. HAHA.”

It wasn’t that funny.

“Pmmph hudd?”

“I’M HAVING SO MUCH FUN.”

She doubled over laughing. She tried to wrap her arms around her stomach to keep the fun inside her, but it wasn’t helping. The laughter was shaking every cell in her body, threatening to tear her apart at the seams.

The mercenaries were milling about in concern, and it was only Pyro holding up a hand that kept them back.

She found herself in Pyro’s room. Minutes blurred by or when on achingly slowly with no rhyme or reason, and the hysteria only started to lessen when the thrum of the party was applied through several layers of base walls.

“This,” she said, still trying to hold herself with arms and elbows. “This is why I can’t. Can’t let it go for even a second.”

“Mmm hurr?” Pyro sat by her on the bed.

“It’s like molecules in a solid. Stress is keeping you together. But then you start bombarding them with energy and they bounce off each other and then the whole structure goes bleh and leaks like goo out of the edges.”

Pyro was rubbing her back. Pauling’s hands found her shoulders, her neck, the edge where the suit met the mask. She was barely thinking, here whole structure, her whole all of her leaking over the edges and on to Pyro.

“And I just…I can’t let my guard down for even a second…”

Except for now maybe. When her lips were bumping against rubber mask that was just close enough to skin it could trick her brain into believing something else.

What was she doing? What was doing? They other guys might know Pyro was a woman, but Pyro knew was a woman, and here she was now doing something that definitely couldn’t be brushed off as being too drunk or too out of her mind…

But Pyro wasn’t pushing her away. Even as Pauling straddled her, gloves came up the back of Pauling’s neck, undoing her chignon and letting her hair fall black and cascading around them. They were suddenly kissing in a tent of darkness, and Pauling was here, on pushing her flat onto the bed, her finger’s searching for the zipper of the chemsuit-

“Prrmmng.”

It had to be here, somewhere along the neckline-

“Prrmmng,” Pyro said more firmly, guiding them back into a sitting position.

“What?”

“Hudda mur hhrm.”

Pauling tried to follow the finger as it moved from one side of her face to the other. She really did. But suddenly one finger became six, then down to two, and then her eyes started to hurt for no reason as the scrutiny of the blank lenses kept her pinned. Pyro shook her head, and gently moved Pauling off her lap.

“Shit. Shit, Pyro I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to-”

Pyro silenced her wish a shake of her head, and gently cupped Pauling’s cheek with a gloved palm. An assurance that everything was alright.

It didn’t feel alright. But she was suddenly so, so tired, and didn’t have it in her to fight anymore. She could only manage one last surrender, obeying when Pyro told her to get some rest. Collapsing unfamiliar pillow, her hair spread out in an absolute mess, she let the mercenary take off her kitten heels and pull a thin blanket over her shoulders.

The rim a plastic filter nudged her temple, a kiss goodnight.

[spuggathy]

PyroPauling dancing to TV girl

(#1 bgf stands for number one Boygirlfriend)

And Bushmed playing Life the game

@\tf2rarepairevents

[verchielmarch]

Lesbian Missfire drawing for the Spicy prompt >:)

(Pyro is a he/him lesbian. to ME)

[kellanved-ammanas]

Rarepair Weekend Day 2: Pyro/Medic - Spicy | Savory | Sweet

For @tf2rarepairevents Rarepair mini weekend event!

~

With Pyro’s tendency to get a bit excited about the stove top burners, banning him from using the stove without supervision was probably fair. He did almost burn the kitchen down not long after they’d moved to this base. But he was having one of those ‘wanting to try something new’ moments that were hard to ignore. The something new he wanted to try was cooking and so… sneaking into the kitchen in the middle of the night it was.

He could do it in the daytime and just have someone watch to make sure he didn’t set the burners too high but… he wasn’t a child. Being supervised like one was annoying even in cases where it was warranted. Also, he wanted to be able to taste it which he had to take the gas mask off for which he couldn’t bring himself to do when just about anyone could walk in without warning. He could handle being in the presence of flames without being overwhelmed by his desire to feed it until it grew into a roaring blaze.

His resolve almost broke as soon as he started the burner. It was so pretty but so small, making it bigger would mean more pretty to look at it. He reached for the dial but… no! More pretty was also more dangerous and bad for cooking. It would burn the food and that would be bad so he had to refrain. He put the skillet over it, reducing temptation by hiding it.

There not being much of interest in the pantry and not knowing much about what he was doing anyway, he went for something simple; eggs and pancakes. His first attempt at scrambled eggs was underdone and then upon being put back on the stove, burnt. His second attempt was a bit better. He seasoned it with all the spices they had in the cupboard. Which probably would’ve been a poor choice if they weren’t so limited in their spice selection out here in the desert. As it was though, it tasted good enough, to him anyway.

Next was pancakes. Except… how did one make pancake batter? There was flower and vanilla, right? Probably baking powder too. Was that it or…

“Huh? Didn’t expect to find you here.”

Pyro jumped, snapping around to face the kitchen entryway where Medic stood. He wore his pajamas, indicating he’d gone to bed but was now up again and probably looking for coffee. But of all people to catch Pyro here, he was the best option because he already knew what Pyro’s face looked like. And he’d be a hypocrite for caring about anyone else breaking the kitchen rules when just last week he’d done so himself via putting another experiment in the fridge because his personal one in his lab was too full.

“I’m banned from using the burners so I gotta use them at night. I’ve been good though, promise.” Especially now that burners were off while he tried to figure out this pancake batter thing. “I’m not gonna burn the kitchen down… probably.”

Medic gave a tired hum of acknowledgment before walking over to counter where Pyro had left the plate of eggs for now. He picked up the fork next to it and tried a bite. Whether he liked it or not as impossible to guess as his expression didn’t change. But as long as he was here and awake…

“Do you know how to make pancakes?”

“It’s been a long time but I think so. Why?”

“I wanna make some but I’m not sure how to make the batter. Could you write it down for me? I’ll give you some if they turn out good.”

Medic thought about it for a few seconds, still holding the fork. “I’m up anyway so I could just show you if you want.”

“Oh, okay, sure!” That would be even better and a fun time besides.

[racmune]

day one: vacation

@tf2rarepairevents

a shitty doodle but i wanted to make something for this event :3

[distorted-graffiti]

Saturday (July 8) : Spicy | Savory | Sweet

honestly was a bit stumped trying to draw something for this prompt, but i think my finished product is cute enough :] spy himself does not know how pyro drinks milkshakes (let alone share one with him), they just can.